1 Day Earlier
Loki opened his eyes to find himself among the bookshelves of his room, he had just spoken to Thor who had apparently made some Midgardian friends and not surprisingly found himself to be imprisoned by the government on Midgard. Loki chuckled to himself at that fact until he heard the door of his room slowly open. Sif peered in and Loki drank in her beauty that he had admired for so long. "We will be leaving soon" Sif stated quickly and ducked back outside to wait for him. Loki wasted no time and left the room to walk to the Bifrost Bridge, as he walked next to Sif to join the others who could not help but notice the looks of the men and even some of the women of Asgard when Sif passed them. They had looks of envy, happiness, and love; much had changed since Thor had been banished to Midgard. Loki felt for once that not everyone hated his guts and hoped for his downfall even the warriors three had begun to warm up to him. Sif however had not warmed up to him even the slightest after all he had hurt her the most out of all the others. He took her long beautiful blonde hair and then replaced it with the dark hair that he himself wore, most had forgiven and forgotten about the incident including Thor who even tried to calm her down by telling her he liked her dark hair more than the blonde but she never forgave Loki for the trick. Thor's banishment also did not help the matters; everyone and their mother knew that she loved him. Loki could tell by the contortion on her face that she was deep in thought and pondered what she could be possibly be thinking, was she thinking of Thor and of his wellbeing or maybe just thinking about what was to come of this trip to Jotunheim. He knew that he should only be thinking of salvaging the debacle that Thor caused but he could not remove Sif from his thoughts.
"So how have you been doing?" he asked hoping to start some kind of conversation.
"Just fine" she said harshly as they finally reached the Bifrost Bridge and found Odin and the warriors three awaiting them.
"Where have you been my son we missed you at the feast this morning?" asked Odin. Loki nearly choked knowing that if his father knew of his visit to Thor both would be in trouble.
"Just resting father" he replied coolly using his very unique skill of being able to lie too just about anyone. The ride to the observatory was silent and soon they entered the domain of Heimdall.
"Good Luck in your mission, my king" Heimdall said refusing to remove his eyes from a fixed point on the wall.
"Thank you and are you prepared?" asked Odin looking Heimdall over.
Heimdall moved his gaze to meet the kings and replied "Of course, if need be I will pick you up from where the meeting is occurring." Odin nodded his head in acknowledgement, he didn't think he would need this insurance but he wanted it just in case, with Thor gone he could not risk losing Loki. The walls of the observatory began to spin as it lined up the path to Jotunheim. The portal opened and Odin, Loki, Sif and the warriors three were pulled into the cold jagged landscape of Jotunheim.
They all searched and looked for any danger as their senses returned to where they had fled from Laufey and the others with Thor. Odin soon led the group through the rocky paths to where the meeting was to take place. They stayed silent until Odin came to a complete stop. In front of them stood Laufey and behind him was an army of Frost Giants ready to invade Asgard. Odin stared into Laufey's eyes as the others raised their weapons ready to defend themselves against the horde of Jotuns. "Well well well, how long has it been Odin? Ever since the war I believe since we have truly laid eyes upon each other." Laufey stated with his yellow fangs protruding from behind his cold chapped lips.
"And still our two people are at the ready to destroy one another" replied Odin calmly keeping and even keel. A few Jotuns began to step forward and the warriors behind the king grew more tense and ready to strike. "We have managed to keep the peace between our two realms for so long Laufey. Are you truly ready to throw that away because of the simple mistakes of a child?"
Laufey visibly snarled at this and hunched over to bring himself face to face with Odin. "That child killed many Jotuns in his little mistake; I attempted to remain peaceful while your son brought war mongering and murdered Jotun warriors in cold blood."
"And he has been punished severely for it" called Odin not backing down from Laufey.
Laufey looked the group over carefully and noticed no Thor and began to chuckle. "So the rumors are true then? The golden son of Asgard has been banished and had all his power taken away" Odin looked woefully to the ground as Laufey spoke, he missed Thor dearly but what had happened could not be tolerated if Thor was truly going to be king then he needed to be taught a lesson about maintaining peace.
Loki could practically feel the happiness radiating off of Laufey after hearing of Thor's banishment. The frost giant king's gaze then fell upon him and he shuddered at the new cold sensation running through his body. "So that means that Loki is now the heir to the throne and soon Asgard will follow him for centuries to come" Laufey smiled as he spoke.
"Thor is banished and therefore no longer can do any harm to you or your people. No Asgardian will break the rules of the truce again so long as you and your people do the same" said Odin hoping to end this quietly without incident.
Laufey turned his eyes back to Odin "I agree as long as you give me one thing" Laufey stated as Odin brought his eye to meet the blood red eyes of Laufey "I wish to know the location of Thor's banishment, my people call for justice I cannot guarantee that they will not act if none is given to them" explained Laufey attempting to get his own revenge on Thor.
"No, you won't get anything more from us. Do not mistake our coming here as a sign of weakness we will destroy you if we must and you know as well as I that if we go to war you would certainly lose and then you will have nothing. We don't want to fight but we will if we have too" Odin scowled as he spoke before turning and walking back to where the portal would be waiting for them.
As he walked past Sif and the warriors three moved to follow him, as Loki moved Laufey moved himself to stand in his way "I assume I will be seeing you again" said Laufey obviously telling Loki that they were not done and that he expected some kind of atonement from him.
"Of course" replied Loki moving past Laufey and joining the others on the walk back to the portal. None of the Jotuns followed as they reached the portal. Sif and Loki moved to the edge of the portal zone near a cliff that overlooked a valley in which the monsters of Jotunheim lived, it was where those who were banished from the main Jotun people were sent to die. Loki heard Odin call for Heimdall and then heard cracking beneath him. "Look out" he cried as he felt the ground beneath him and Sif give way the duo fell and saw the others vanish to the safety of Asgard.
They were falling and Loki knew that they would not survive the impact he reached over and managed to grab on to Sif and teleport them to the safety of the ground in the valley. They still hit the ground rather hard and were dazed for a few minutes. Loki stood first and looked surveyed the valley they had fallen into. Sif sat up and just sat for a moment. "Why hasn't Heimdall grabbed us yet? All he has to do is pull us up what is he waiting for?" she asked frustrated at being saved by Loki. Loki rose his hand and conjured a simple energy and sent it into the air around where it fizzled into several million little lights.
"As I feared" he said simply.
"What is it?" asked Sif unsure of what Loki meant.
Loki looked at her and returned his gaze to the sky where snow had begun to fall "It's a Bifrost storm they do happen often but usually they are barely noticeable and harmless but this one is particularly nasty" explained Loki.
"Bifrost storm?" said Sif confused as she had never heard the term before.
"Basically it is interference in Bifrost travel, this snow is actually little shards of the same material that makes the Bifrost Bridge" informed Loki catching a few of the shards in his hand.
"That's nice but how does that affect us?" Sif asked kicking a large tree that they had landed near.
"Bifrost travel works because it is one solid point pulling in one direction but with all of these little pieces in the air your body would be pulled through all of them. Imagine being pulled into the Bifrost and finding the portal laced with millions of little razor blades and cut you to pieces. When we travel and find the occasional cut on the other side it is because we passed through a small Bifrost storm but this one is more severe pulling us through now would spell almost certain death for us. Heimdall and my father will leave us on our own until the storm passes and then they will pull us through to safety, all we have to do is survive until then" explained Loki seeing that Sif had already entered into survival mode looking for shelter. They found a cave and Sif left to gather wood to build a fire since it had already gotten very cold. They had worn the correct clothing for Jotunheim but even with correct clothing the cold here could easily kill an Asgardian. Sif returned quickly and Loki could tell by looking at her face that she was already getting very cold. He used his magic to light the fire and the duo was bathed in warmth. They sat in silence and watched the Bifrost storm continue to fall. Loki had dropped his cloaking magic to allow Heimdall to watch them so he knew where they were.
Present Day
Thor flipped a large dining table over after his father finished bringing him up to speed on what had happened to Loki and Sif and how the storm had not yet completely passed. "Thor! Calm yourself!" called Odin.
"How can I possibly be calm my brother is trapped in Jotunheim and he wouldn't be there if I hadn't done what I have done" said Thor walking to return to the observatory to watch over Loki and Sif with Heimdall. He let his mind wander as he strode through Asgard to the Bifrost Bridge. Many people attempted to stop him in order to speak with him but he sent them away quickly and remained focused on watching over his brother. He walked quickly until he reached the bridge where he broke into a full sprint to reach Heimdall quickly. He stopped as he reached the entrance of the golden observatory. "How are they?" he asked striding to stand next to Heimdall in the center of the room.
"Loki has started a fire but they are still in danger of freezing to death in the night" explained Heimdall. Thor sighed in frustration "Do not worry, the storm will pass by morning and I will retrieve them and they will be safe in Asgard once again" Heimdall assured. Thor simply nodded and remained silent.
Sif was freezing; this much Loki knew Asgardians were not built to survive in Jotunheim for extended periods of time. Her smooth skin was slowly whitening as her blood left her extremities to keep her organs warm. The fire he created was slowing the process but there was nothing more he could do, all that was left was to get her home and have the healers fix her. "Perhaps some extra clothing would help" he thought moving to remove his gloves. He removed the glove on his right hand and went to remove his left when he noticed his right hand. It was no longer the pale white of the rest of his body but a dark blue almost the exact shade of blue that the Jotuns were. Loki's face contorted in confusion and fear. He heard Sif move behind him and quickly put his glove back on and turned to face her. She was shivering next to the fire and moved to sit next to her. "We should lay together for body heat, the storm will pass by the morning and Heimdall will retrieve us but only if we don't freeze to death in the night" explained Loki moving to sit directly next to Sif.
Sif knew he was right as much as she loathed him she knew that she wouldn't survive the night if they didn't stay warm. She nodded in agreement and slid under Loki's right arm and took in his body which felt colder than hers. She suddenly felt guilty, it appeared Loki was in worse shape than she was and he was worrying about her which is the only reason he brought up laying together for warmth. Loki was never known for enjoying the company of others even if he did like her. She closed her eyes and began to slowly drift to sleep. "I must be nicer to him from now on" she told herself as she fell into a deep sleep.
Sif had fallen asleep an hour ago and Loki had hid himself from Heimdall sight again in order to be by himself. He took off his right glove again and found that his hand was back to its normal color. He shook it off and remained still in order to allow Sif to sleep. He didn't sleep not for a minute once the sun rose he left Sif to go outside. The storm had passed and Heimdall would certainly grab them as soon as Sif awoke but Loki needed to figure out what happened to his hand and why it had changed to that horrific shade of blue. He removed his glove and inspected his hand closely, it was still normal but as it was when he checked while he was lying next to Sif last night. "What was different from the when it was blue to when it wasn't? Something had to be different" he muttered to himself next to a tree. "The heat" he thought when his hand was blue he was alone and the cold had surrounded him and his hand was normal when he was around her and her body heat warmed him. He was about to test the theory when he heard Sif come out from the cave.
"Heimdall!" she shouted forcing Loki to drop his protection from Heimdall's vision and allow Heimdall to pull them to safety. The sky above them twisted and the duo was pulled to Asgard.