I lose my way, and it's not too long before you point it out.

I cannot cry, because I know, that's weakness in your eyes.

Because of You, Kelly Clarkson.

Loki stared at Odin's inert body, a flood of emotions churning in his gut. On the one hand, Odin was his father. He looked up to the Allfather, and desperately craved his approval. Odin was his standard of greatness, and Loki would do anything for a single word of encouragement from him. But on the other hand, Odin couldn't stand the sight of him. Loki was a disappointment to everyone in Asgard, and Odin took every opportunity to remind him of this. From publicly humiliating him, to criticizing every aspect of his life, the Allfather constantly rammed Loki into the ground, leaving him crushed in a hole of depression. And yet, Loki continued chasing his affections and attention. It was childish, really. The prince ought to just accept the fact that he'd never be enough, and focus on the more important parts of his life.

Sigyn, who was sitting next to him, was a perfect example. If only Odin would stop lecturing him about the way he treated her, Sigyn would be the light and joy of his life. But because of his father, Loki couldn't help but feel a twinge of worry when he looked at his beautiful wife. "Stop letting her do whatever she pleases. She's not acting like a proper woman." Odin would tell him. "You are the leader of your family, tell her what she must do." And of course, he was under a lot of pressure to provide the Allfather with grandchildren. What if Father's right? What if I am treating her wrong? And she's just too kind to bring it up. What if she only pretends to love me, because she pities me? Does she actually want me to boss her around? Loki quickly banished the thought from his head. If Sigyn were lying to him about her love, surely the God of Lies would be able to know for certain. Still, the fear remained.

The princess glanced at him, smiling in the way that made him feel like he was worth all the nine realms together to her. He could feel his cheeks heating up. That was surely genuine, but how she could possibly adore him so much was beyond him. He was just the second prince. The shadow, unmanly, weak, and strange. Yet, somehow, Sigyn saw something redeemable in him, and Loki wanted, more than anything, to make sure whatever she saw stayed there. He longed to be the man she deserved, but he feared he'd already slipped too far.

"He can hear you, even now, if you wish to speak to him." The Allmother spoke up, like she always did. Loki glanced back at his father. There was never anything he wished to say to him, not when he was like this. It felt odd, and somewhat disconcerting, talking to someone who was quite obviously asleep.

So Loki shook himself, and got to his feet. Sigyn quickly jumped up beside him, gracefully wrapping her fingers around his arm. "I'm sorry, Mother, I wish to help Hela prepare for the feast, tonight."

Sigyn glanced up at him. "I didn't know there was a feast."

"Neither did I, but one of the servants spoke otherwise." Loki shrugged. "I believe it's for something Thor did."

Sigyn giggled. "Naturally."

Loki led her out of the room, and down the hall towards Hela's room.

"Wouldn't she be on the throne?" Sigyn wondered.

Loki shook his head. He knew his sister far too well. Hela'd been known to hold court in her sleepwear, in her bedroom. She really was not one for decorum, or standards at all.

Loki rapped lightly on her door, and she opened it almost immediately, her hair up in a messy bun, and she was wearing training clothes.

"What do you want, Loki?" She asked directly. She looked like she'd just come in from training, witnessed by her flushed cheeks, and the tense stance she was in. That, and she smelled horrible.

"Do I need a reason to want to speak with my sister?" Loki asked, placing a hand over his heart in mock hurt.

Hela rolled her eyes, and held the door open for them.

Loki inclined his head, and swooped Sigyn up into his arms, and carried her, bridal style, over Hela's extremely cluttered floor. He set her on a relatively clean portion of the window seat, and smiled at his elder sister, who stared at them with half-lidded eyes, entirely un-amused.

"I was just wondering what the feast, tonight, was for?" Loki asked amiably.

Hela snorted. "Do I need a reason to want to throw a party?"

"No, but you normally have at least an excuse." Loki agreed.

Hela smirked at him, flipping a small dagger through the air into the wall over his shoulder. "Let me think. A good excuse. Has Thor done anything reasonably spectacular, recently?"

Loki thought for a while, tapping his chin. He couldn't mention the escapade with Thrym, Thor would kill him. "Not that I can think of. Yesterday was my anniversary with Sigyn."

"Not good enough." Hela shrugged. "I need something the realm could get excited about."

Sigyn piped up. "Balder completed his weapon training a few weeks ago."

Hela snapped her fingers. "Perfect! See, Loki, I need someone around me who isn't entirely wrapped up in themselves. Thank you, Sigyn."

Loki bottled up the sting that comment had been barbed with, and nodded cheerfully. "Fantastic. Is there anything I can help with?"

"Two things, actually." Hela smiled savagely, flicking her dark hair out of her eyes. "First of all, tell Balder the feast's for him. Secondly, get out so I can sleep. I'll be up late partying for no good reason, tonight."

They call us irresponsible, write us off the page.

We Built This City, Starship

That night, Loki and Sigyn attended the feast, Loki in dazzling gold armor, with a flowing green cape, and Sigyn in a sapphire-blue gown, with peacock feathers in her hair. She couldn't keep her eyes off her husband, he truly commanded attention with proud angle he held his chin, and the confident stride in those boots of his. Sigyn really loved his boots. On Asgard, it was considered improper for a woman to wear boots, or she'd have her own pair.

After she had danced so long her feet hurt, and then ate a little of the food set out for the feast, Sigyn opted to wander around the ballroom by herself, as Loki was engaging in a conversation with one of the Einherjar he worked with. Sigyn recognized him as the same one who had whipped him the first time, but they appeared to be on entirely amicable terms, at the moment.

As she wandered through the crowd, her mind as restless as her feet, a few of the other Einherjar would recognize her, and greet her.

"Our captain speaks of you often, yet I have not had the chance to see you until this night." One of the younger ones told her. "I must say, he was not exaggerating your beauty, my lady."

She would thank thank them kindly, exchange a few pleasantries concerning the weather, if she didn't know them, or their families, if she did, and move on. She found Hodir and Balder behind a fountain, whispering about something, and stuffing their faces full of chocolate, but didn't speak to them, still a bit upset about Hela's nastiness toward her husband.

After some time, she went to seek out Loki's company, again, and found him, surrounded by children as he spun them a tale. She couldn't hear which story he was telling above the noise of the crowd, but his animated expressions, and the illusions dancing on the ends of his fingertips kept the children transfixed. Sigyn smiled fondly, and sat down on a nearby bench to wait for him to be finished, and to rest her tired feet.

"Good evening, my lady." A familiar voice spoke up. "You look stunning, tonight."

Sigyn looked up to see Fandral standing behind her shoulder. "Thank you, Fandral."

Fandral sat on the bench next to her, a bit closer than she'd like him to be. "The peacock feathers are a lovely touch. Somehow, it makes the red of your hair all the more brilliant."

"Thank you, Fandral." Sigyn fidgeted with her fingers.

"What might you be doing, sitting here, all alone?" Fandral asked, giving her a smile.

Sigyn nodded at her husband, kneeling on the floor twenty paces away. "I'm waiting for my husband to be finished with his tale."

Fandral nodded pityingly. Pity? "I'm terribly sorry, my Lady."

"Excuse me?" Sigyn asked, taken aback. "What for?"

"Well, I'm sure it can't be easy, being tied to... him."

"On the contrary!" Sigyn straightened defensively. "It's the best thing that ever happened to me!"

Fandral looked at her in surprise. "Well, you're certainly putting a brave face onto this."

Sigyn's face darkened. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Prince Loki... he's smaller than most. Weak and unmanly. Surely you know there are far better men out there, who would be far more pleasing than he." Fandral raised an eyebrow suggestively. "Don't look at me like that, Princess. We both know there's nothing appealing about him."

Sigyn was at a loss for words, righteously furious didn't even begin to describe her feelings toward the warrior. "And even if I agreed, what could I do about that?!"

Fandral gave her a look she didn't like at all, a hungry gaze that made Sigyn feel exposed. "I could show you what it is to be loved."

At that, the princess leapt to her feet. "You... you know nothing about love." She fumed. "All you care about is a person's beauty. Beauty fades, lust fades, but what Loki offers me, that's far beyond either. Loki doesn't want me for my good looks, he loves me because of who I am. And that will never change. He accepts me as I am, with all my flaws, and he would never grow tired of me. How could I possibly give him anything less? I love him for the sweet, kind, compassionate, funny man that he is, not for whatever he looks like. He could be... blue, and I wouldn't care. I know him for the real man he is, the one he has to hide from you, because you'd belittle him for it.

"And as for his being 'weak', Loki is the strongest man in Asgard. He has to endure far more than you could ever imagine, and he does so without complaint, with so much fortitude, I'm surprised he even lives. You are so hopelessly clueless about him, about me, about love. You don't even hold a candle to him. All you do is belittle him, mock him, so that he feels he has to keep up the mask of apathy around everyone, everyone except for me. On Alfheim, you would have been executed for treason long ago, but the Allfather has mercy on your rotten soul. So get away from me, and go seduce someone else's wife!"

Sigyn was shouting by the end, and she'd drawn quite a crowd. She looked around, her cheeks flushed from anger. Fandral was gaping, mouth open, face red with embarrassment. Most of the people were either staring at Sigyn approvingly, glaring at Fandral, or looking with scepticism at Loki. Loki was still kneeling on the floor, the children surrounding him, watching Sigyn with an unreadable expression. The princess shot one more challenging gaze around the crowd, nodded to her husband, and started stalking out of the room. She heard Loki scramble to his feet behind her, his boots clicking on the marble floor as he ran to catch up with her.

"Can we... can we talk about this?" He asked in a low voice once they left the room.

Sigyn sighed. "I'm sorry, I think I may have gotten a bit out of hand. I... I have a tendency to do that."

Loki gently brushed his fingers up her arm. "I know. But if you meant every word, none of them were amiss."

Sigyn smiled, calming down quickly. "I meant them."

"Wha- You... Truly?" Loki asked, his voice so full of hope, Sigyn almost cried. "I was just saying that to make you happy, I didn't think you actually... You meant it? I-I'm the strongest man in Asgard?"

"Of course." She affirmed, looking him dead in the eyes.

Loki looked likely to faint. "And... and you don't care how... hideous I am?"

"You're not hideous. Hideous is an opinion, and it's fluid and malleable." Sigyn countered. "And, no, I don't care what you look like. Even if you were a dwarf, I'd be mortified with my father, but I would love you the same."

Loki laughed, most likely thinking of the long and heated dispute held between elves and dwarves. "But... how could I be the strongest man on Asgard? You have seen Thor, yes? He probably has ten pounds of muscle on each arm. How do I compare to all that?"

"Strength is not only found in muscle mass, Thalionen." Sigyn pointed out. "You posses strength in character such as I've only seen a handful possess. You have strength in mind, enabling you to memorize pretty much anything you see, and strength in will, so you don't show emotion or any weakness at all before your enemies. Of course, you have immense power in your sedir, and you know... you're not exactly the least muscled man I've seen, either." Sigyn brushed her hand up his bicep, appreciating the bulging firmness of the muscle under his sleeve.

Loki glanced up from the floor, looking like he was going to cry. "Nobody's... Nobody's ever said anything like that about me, before..."

Sigyn frowned. "I need to be better about encouraging you, then. It's been a year, and you still haven't heard what I truly think of you, that's my error."

Loki bit his lip in an effort to hold back tears. "Y-you've been... been thinking these things about me all along?"

Sigyn nodded, a bright smile on her face. "Also, can I just say you look spectacular, tonight? That cape is really doing you wonders."

Loki stared at the floor, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. He glanced up at her, suddenly, a somewhat mischievous gleam in his eye. "Is there... anything else?"

Sigyn laughed, taking his hand and leading him towards their room. "You know, we have something in common."

"Oh?"

Sigyn stopped in front of their door. "We have a terrible habit of annoying Thor's friends."

Loki shook with laughter. "That we do, Melleth. Should we do something?"

Sigyn shrugged. "I think you ought to make it up to Sif. Thor told me she's miserably self-conscious about her hair, and she won't leave her room."

Loki frowned. "I didn't know that. I'll think of something."

Sigyn gave him a look. "You'd better. Her hair was her pride and joy."

Loki nodded, pulling her onto the bed. "May we discuss this tomorrow?" He whispered. "You're far too pretty, tonight."

Sigyn raised an eyebrow. "And I won't be, tomorrow?"

Loki grinned into the crook of her neck. "My apologies, Sig. I thought you'd already seen yourself in the morning."

Sig smacked his shoulder lightly, as a matching grin spread across her face. "Oh, hush! You're one to talk, Sir Drools-into-his-pillow!"

Loki sat up in mock-indignation, his eyes twinkling. "I do not drool, Sigyn."

Sigyn burst out laughing. "Are we really going to start this again? In the middle of the night?"

"If it keeps you laughing." Loki sighed happily, changing them both into their sleep wear with a snap of his fingers. "Let me think, what else do you find funny? Ah, yes. Would you care for some cockroaches?"

Sigyn turned to him seriously. "Funny you should say that..."

Loki's face turned even paler than normal, the grin dropping from his face, and he glanced around the room, nervously. "Why? Is there one in here? Kill it, please!" He shivered down into the pillows, as Sigyn burst into hysterical laughter. "That'll never get old!"

Loki gave her an martyred look. "Would you stop doing that? Permanently?"

Sigyn raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

Loki smiled, kissing the corner of her mouth. "No."

Next time, we'll have a quest Sigyn gets to go on, and some dwarves. Also, Balder acting weird.

A heart gets you a live cockroach to drop down the back of Loki's shirt, a review gets you a dozen live cockroaches to drop down the back of Loki's shirt in rapid succession. I wonder how loud he can scream...

Semi-sadistically, TheOnlyHuman.