Loki didn't know how long it was before his sister stopped sobbing. He had his eyes closed as he kept his cheek resting on top of her head, his breathing even. He had found himself crying silent tears in comparison to his sister's loud sobs. She hadn't moved from his embrace, choosing to stay where she was. Loki had run his hand down the back of her hair, his fingers tangling in her soft hair as he longed for her to sleep. But sleep never came to him. Sleep never embraced him nor did it embrace his sister.

"How are you here?" she final asked from him.

"Thor let me go free for this night," he whispered down to his sister. "Well, he has put a tracking device on me so I am not entirely free."

"I suspect you could escape it if you wish to," Ella mumbled and Loki's brows quirked upwards.

"I doubt it. It is rather advanced…but…did you think that I would do that?" Loki wondered from her, lifting his cheek up from her head as she moved to look him in the eye. "Ella, I have no intention of running away from this…from you…"

"Why?" Ella wondered from him. "You do not want to be in the dungeons. You always prided yourself on saying how we are-"

"-Forget what I said," he interrupted her. "Just forget it, Ella. It matters not now. Mother has died and I…I understand…she might not have been my mother by blood, but I loved her. I loved her and I would have done anything for her, just as I would do anything for you."

"That is not true," Ella said. "You did not stop the madness you created for me."

Loki looked down for a moment, his eyes hooded as his sister continued to stare at him. It was another moment before she closed her eyes and resumed her place against his shoulder, shifting in his grip. Loki looked down to her as he noted her lips part slightly and a silent tear run down her cheek.

"I do not want to discuss that," she decided. "It is all my fault, Loki. Mother died because of me. She died because I could not protect her…because I was too weak…"

"No," Loki said with haste, his arms around her holding her tighter to him. "Mother died because of Malekith. He will be the one to answer for his crimes. He will be the one to pay."

"But I could have done more."

"Everyone on Asgard could have done more," Loki informed her. "Ella, you did all that you could. You need to believe that. Mother would have been proud of you and how you tried to help. She would always have been proud of you."

"But that did not save her, did it?" Ella said in a bitter tone. "And then I blamed Thor for bringing Jane here. I said some horrible things to him about Jane. I…I need to apologise."

"In the morning," Loki said to her.

"And where will you be in the morning?"

"Back in my cell," Loki told her. "There is no use trying to escape with this device on my wrist. Thor would find me instantly."

"Everything is falling apart," Ella whispered to her brother in a soft voice and Loki nodded his head. "Why can we not go back to how it used to be? Why can we not go back to that time?"

Loki inhaled a sharp breath and gulped. "Because things have changed. We simply need to accept them."

…

Thor had expected Loki to try to escape, but he had returned to his sister's chambers early the following morning to see his brother carrying Ella to her bed, cradling her in his arms before laying her down. Not once did she stir or fret. He pulled her blanket over her and brushed her hair from her face before looking to Thor. He nodded his head once and moved over to his brother, falling into step after Thor had handcuffed him to stop him from escaping.

"Did she suffer?" he asked from his brother as the two of them made their way back to the dungeon.

Thor said nothing for a moment, his grip on his hammer tightening as he looked straight ahead of him and said nothing in response to Loki's question. Yet Loki continued to talk, his voice soft and inquisitive in comparison to usual.

"She does not mean what she said to you," he said and Thor ground his teeth together tightly. "Ella means to apologise. She was angry and upset. She just needs time to grieve."

Thor continued to remain silent.

"She blames herself. She blames herself for what happened and that is not fair, Thor. You need her to see that is not the case."

"And it is all on me, is it not?" Thor snapped at his brother, finally losing his temper slightly. "I am the one who has to cope with everything…look after our sister…make sure our father stays well…defend Asgard. I do all of this while you rot in that jail cell in the dungeon."

Loki stood still then, both of them in an open corridor where they could be seen. Thor watched his brother for a few moments as Loki ground his teeth together, clenching his fingers into fists. Rage coursed through his body as he listened to Thor speak.

"And why am I in that cell, brother?" Loki demanded from him.

"You know why you are there," Thor snapped back. "You are there because of the decisions that you made. You are there because you are the one who chose to go to Earth. You-"

"-I am only doing what I should do," Loki snarled back at his brother. "I would never have gone there if it had not been for Odin. If he had told me the truth then none of this would have happened, but no one blames him, do they? No one thinks to blame him."

"He lied, yes," Thor nodded his head. "And Ella still refuses to converse with him for that, but he did not force you to fall. He did not force you to go to Midgard. You need to start taking responsibility for your own actions, Loki. You need to realise that this is all on you."

Loki blinked profusely as he heard that and he shook his head, beginning to move forwards and brushing his shoulder past Thor's. "Just keep Ella safe," he hissed at his brother as Thor rolled his eyes and led him back to the dungeon, knowing full well that the relationship he had with his brother was strained now more than it ever had been.

…

Thor was in trouble. Ella knew that Thor was in trouble. She had been summoned to the ruined Throne Room alongside him. Odin was currently in the midst of a council meeting, yet Thor interrupted, his hands flapping by his sides as Ella walked in by his side. He looked to his father, his glare increasing as he flapped his hands by his sides.

"You summon us here on the eve of our mother's funeral to scold us?" Thor demanded from his father. "Do you think now is the time for this talk?"

"I know what you did."

"I expected you to find out," Thor said in honesty. "I had to do something."

"You released Loki from the dungeon," Odin said in a harsh voice as he stood at the top of the steps and looked to his children with annoyance. "You freed him from his cell and you risked the entirety of Asgard by doing so. Do you know what he could have done? Or do you forget what he did on Earth?"

Ella scoffed then. "Asgard is at risk every day so long as Malekith is out there," Ella said, pointing to the balcony and the wider city. "And Thor only released Loki because he grieves, as we all do. Mother loved him like her own son. He should not be punished for being allowed to grieve."

"But he should never have been released from the dungeon," Odin snapped back. "He can grieve down there and in solitude. He does not deserve to be freed or have the right to wander freely around Asgard."

"He did not wander freely," Thor said with a shake of his head. "He was restrained and I saw to it that he could not escape."

"Thor did it for me," Ella said with a hoarse snap as she watched her father turn his gaze to her and she looked down to the floor. "He sent Loki to me because he knows…because he…because he thought that Loki would be the one I wanted at that moment in time. He thought that he would be the one I longed to see."

"And we are not good enough for you?" Odin said and Ella looked up to him, her eyes widening as he stepped down the steps. "We grieve for Frigga, Ella. We are here too. Were we not enough for you?"

"It is not that," Ella said with a shake of her head. "Do not twist this."

"You have always sided with him. You have always defended him. He cannot help you, Ella. He is not here."

"But he is still our brother," Ella said in a harsh voice. "And he should be there tonight when we say goodbye to mother. He loved her, despite everything. Loki loved her and adored her as we all did."

"And he threw that love back at her when he did what he did," Odin said. "Loki will not join us this evening. He will stay in the dungeon."

Ella ground her teeth together and nodded once. "I understand."

"And if I hear of you going to him again, then I will find myself enraged…with both of you."

…

Ella finished preparing as the sun slowly set and she heard a knock on the door. Moving to open it, she let Thor enter her chambers as she took a seat back at her dressing table. She continued pinning her hair on top of her head, but finally gave in, letting her curls bounced back down her shoulders as she buried her head into her hands and shook her head. She picked her chin back up and looked in the mirror, a sad smile on her face.

"Mother always used to do my hair," she said to him. "I was useless as this kind of thing."

Thor's lips also quirked and he took a seat at the bottom of her bed as she spun around to face him on her stool.

"I am sorry," she said to him. "I said some truly horrible things to you and I should…I should not have said them. I do not blame you or Jane for what happened. I was angry and upset. I blamed myself, Thor. I blamed myself and I lashed out."

"Ella, it was not your fault."

"But it was," Ella said with a sharp breath. "If I had been quicker then I could have saved her."

"Ella, mother would not want you to think like this."

"But I cannot help it," she responded with a shrug. "I am sorry, Thor."

"There is nothing to apologise for," Thor informed her and she nodded softly. "But there might come a time soon when I need your help, Ella. I think that father does not intend to go after Malekith. I think he intends to let him come back here and fight us on home soil."

Ella shook her head. "That is foolish."

"I know," Thor said, "but I think that is his plan. If he intends to do that then I might need your help to go against him. I need you to trust me."

Ella moved to Thor and took hold of his hand. "Always," she responded.

…

Ella knew that she could get in trouble for what she was about to do. She only hoped that she could get away with it. Loki was in his cell and she saw him laid there on the bed, his hands behind his head as she appeared in the cell. Loki sat up straight at the sight of her, his brow arching as she slipped the hood from her head and took a deep breath.

"I need your help," Ella said to him and he arched a brow and sat up.

"With what?"

"Can you take over the illusion that the force field is still protecting your cell?"

Loki's brow furrowed and he looked to his cell, seeing the soft shimmer of the yellow force field that kept him contained inside of his cell. But then it disappeared and Loki's mouth gaped slightly as he looked to his sister.

"What have you done?" he demanded from her.

"I managed to conceal myself down here and turn off the force field to your cell to sneak in here, but I need you to keep up the illusion that it is still working," she demanded from her brother and with a flick of his wrist, he did just that and Ella let out a soft sigh of relief. "The guards are all at the funeral this evening. The dungeon has only two guards on duty. Can you conjure up the illusion that you are alone in the cell?"

"I suspect so," Loki responded with a nod of his head. "And where will I actually be, sweet sister?"

"Besides me at mother's funeral," Ella said to him, holding her hands out to him and Loki looked to her, wondering exactly what he should be doing as he watched her with intrigue. "I can conceal you there so long as this illusion remains in place. I suspect you can conceal yourself too?"

Loki nodded. "I can change my appearance," he informed his sister.

"Then that should be enough," she said. "Come on."

She began to drag Loki from his cell, but he tugged her back, stopping her from moving any further. She looked back to him, her eyes meeting his as he arched a brow and his gaze softened slightly.

"Why?" he asked from her, the question simple.

"Because you loved her just as we did," Ella said. "And she loved you too."

"And you trust me not to escape? Ella, Odin…if he finds out…"

"He will not," Ella said. "And you will not escape because I know you. You know how Odin would never forgive me if he found out and you escaped. You would never let me get into trouble for anything. You never have done and you never will…because you are my brother…just as I would do the same for you."

Loki said nothing, hating to admit that she was right as he took hold of her cheek in his grip and smoothed his thumb over her cheekbone. Looking down into her eyes, he took a moment before he nodded his head and bent down to peck her on the forehead. She led him away from the dungeon and watched him change his appearance, his hair turning short and grey while his eyes turned into a dark blue. His face seemed to alter too, shifting slowly as his green clothing turned blue.

He dropped his sister's hand as they made their way towards the edge of Asgard, following the congregation of people. Ella took her place at the front of the crowds by Thor's side while Loki loitered back slightly. Ella had turned to look to him once she had taken her position and he had nodded once, assuring her that he was fine.

Jane Foster stood to Thor's other side while Odin stood in front of them. Moving to take hold of Thor by the hand, she gripped onto it tightly as she saw their mother's body come into view on the water. She was dressed in her best dress, her hair neatly coiffed. A sword was resting against her chest while a veil covered her face. Ella felt tears form in her eyes as she blinked them back and tried not to sob openly.

"This should never have happened," Ella whispered so that only Thor could hear her.

"I know," Thor responded. "But we will avenge her."

As Ella watched her drift further into the water, she nodded her head sternly. She was certain that they would avenge her mother's death. They owed her that much.

…

Ella needed to be certain that Loki had returned to his cell. She had followed him towards the dungeon and waited a moment before concealing herself and slipping in. She managed to get into his cell and he was back there in his true form, leant against the wall as he sat on the floor. Ella moved to sit besides him, her hands in her lap as they both stared forwards.

"This is not an illusion, is it?" Ella asked from him.

Loki moved a hand out, taking hold of hers and holding it in his grip, proving to her that he was real. She nodded once and closed her eyes as Loki kept hold of her hand.

"Thank you," Loki managed to speak to her.

Ella said nothing back. Instead she pecked him on the cheek and they both lapsed into silence, remembering the better times they had with their mother.

…

A/N: Do let me know what you think!