Author's Notes

In case someone is curious, here's a quick profile of Luciana~
document/d/1TqqLkdcU62O28qiUJYIiK1NC_52oqvDpka9lnpo5J9k/edit?usp=sharing

Also here's the playlist with all the songs I use~
I'll expand on it as I continue with the story
/playlist?list=PLb-h0TgZRJZooJ-TPIjxWEFoYEnXi2vcl

Song Lyrics from Halflives - Empty Room
watch?v=Jq4ocISBA60

"Well, what is my favorite troublemaker up to today~?"
The young woman ran up to the man walking in front of her with expectation in her voice. Her usual bright smile displayed on her lips. However, he only momentarily glanced at her before letting out a somewhat frustrated sigh. "Not today Lucy. I'm busy."
"Busy!? Did you just say busy? Loki, do you have a fever?" She reached out intending to check his temperature, but her hand was swiftly swapped away before it could reach his forehead.
"Nonsense. My brother will be crowned King today. Don't tell me you forgot about that."
"Ahahaha… No, of course not. I don't think I could, even if I tried. Not with Thor yapping about it every five minutes."
"Well, my brother is… of a special mind." he scoffed.
"I think what you're looking for is simple-minded."
He chuckled. "Now those are your words."
"But it's what you thought." Luciana replied, a smirk on her lips. Loki crossed his arms at the sight, but soon the corners of his mouth also turned upwards and he asked her in a playful tone "My, since when is the Lady a mind reader?"
"I am a woman of many illustrious talents~"
"And I suppose none of those talents can help us make an escape from this ceremony." he said right before coming to a stop in front of the huge door leading to the throne hall. The brunette passed him, scoffing at his words. "Hey! The disappearance act is clearly your responsibility Mr. Magician!"
"Heh. Touché."

The ceremony turned out exactly how Luciana expected it would. The grand throne hall of Asgard's castle was filled to the brim with the realm's citizens, who were excitedly cheering as their soon to be King made his way towards Odin. While the Allfather was seated on his throne with his wife beside him, the older prince's friends and comrades had aligned themselves on the stairs that lead up to the throne.

"I am getting second hand embarrassment from watching this."
The black haired prince next to her let out a chuckle. "And here I thought you liked watching and playing with children."
"Yes, children. But not a manchild."
Another half suppressed laughter.
"I have the urge to make Odin say something ridiculous when Thor gets to him. Maybe that will make this whole thing bearable." she confessed, only half joking.
"While I personally think that's a splendid idea, I don't think my father is gonna be very fond of it."
"Well, he doesn't like me very much anyways."
"Oh no, I can assure you he is quite fond of you."
Skeptical, the young woman raised an eyebrow. "Now, if that's how he shows his affection, then I pity the poor girl that will marry into this family in the future."
"Now why does this sound like you're excluding yourself from this equation?"
"Well, for once I am far from qualified as I'm not of noble blood. And second, I would much rather marry a Frost Giant than spend the rest of my life closely entangled with… this ." Making a face of pretended disgust, Luciana motioned towards the blonde, who was currently bathing in glory.
"Heh, well… I wasn't talking about Th-"

It was at that moment when Odin's mighty voice interrupted the ceremony.

I'm feeling like an empty room
And everyone can see right through

The infiltration of the vault through the Frost Giants came as a great shock to everyone and especially Thor was not happy with his father's decision to not pursue the circumstances of the incident any further. Hence, it came as no surprise to Luciana when the first-born prince decided to take matters into his own hands.

"I'm not going. You guys can get yourselves killed on your own." the brunette declared, making it clear that she couldn't be persuaded otherwise.
"Lucy, my dear Lucy, always such a worrywart. Have a bit more faith in the abilities of the future King of Asgard."
The brunette stared at the prince in front of her, unimpressed by his boastful confidence.
"The future King of Asgard should know that it's a dumb idea to oppose the whole population of Frost Giants, when the Allfather himself needed the entire Asgardian army to fend them off in the past."
"Well, there are far fewer of them now." he tried, still thinking he could somehow convince her to tag along.
"Leave her be Thor. She's a coward."
"Sif!"
"It's fine Thor. I'm gladly a coward if that means I'm not gonna get turned into a popsicle by some big blue monster. Don't come crying to me later though."

With that Luciana made her way past the blonde prince and his companions, heading towards the exit of the room. However, as she passed Loki, who had been quiet the whole time, she couldn't help but give him a look that signaled both incomprehension and disappointment while simultaneously conveying a single question: Why?

Don't know what's my aim
Don't know where's my flame

Luciana was a person that normally loved to be right, but in this case she rather wished she wasn't. Her friends had not only come back with one of them severely injured, no, they had crushed the truce between Asgard and Jotunheim. It was no wonder that they were hence faced with the Allfather's fury, although the brunette had never expected him to outcast his first born son as punishment. Naturally, every one of them was visibly upset and on edge after what had transpired and soon their frustration pinpointed on the one person that had always been a bit different than the rest of the group: Loki.

It didn't seem fair to Luciana, but she was still irritated by him going along with this idiotic idea, so she did nothing to defend her friend. A mistake as it later turned out. Because the next time she saw him he was a wrack. Only later did she learn about the Allfather's collapse and his condition, as well as the second prince's circumstances and involvement in it.

"Loki? Is something wrong? Did anything happen?"
"..."

She had found him alone in the group's usual meeting room. At first Luciana had been set on turning around on her heels and leaving immediately again. But something about the way he was sitting alone on those stairs had made her stop in her tracks, leading her to approach him instead. However, when calling his name, she didn't get any response from him. She took in a sharp breath when she saw the expression on his face. Over the years she had seen all kinds of emotions on the God of Mischief's face - sadness, happiness, anger, annoyance etc.. But not once had Luciana ever seen the kind of devastation that he currently displayed. His eyes were completely blank, staring at the empty space in front of him. Not a hint of the mischievous spark that normally shined in them. He just stared ahead, completely detached from his environment. As if he was completely… broken.

An unsettling feeling spread inside the brunette's stomach and for a second she had the impression that the room around her was spinning. And suddenly she recognized the feeling.

Fear.

She was scared. Scared that the Loki she knew was gone, replaced by the empty shell in front of her.
No, that wasn't the case. He definitely was still there. He surely was still here. She needed to make sure he was still here.

In an attempt to get rid of her seemingly ridiculous panic, she wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace, calling his name once more.
He was cold. Had he always been this cold?

To her surprise this seemed to snap him out of his trance like state.
"... Lucy? What are you-"
"I just felt like it~"
"...Is that so?" he replied half-heartedly.
"Hm, Hm. But more importantly, did anything happen? You seem a bit out of it." she asked with a worried expression.
"Well, I guess… I just found out that-"

"And second, I would much rather marry a Frost Giant than spend the rest of my life closely entangled with… this."
"I'm gladly a coward if that means I'm not gonna get turned into a popsicle by some big blue monster."

"!? DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Without warning the second prince pushed her away from him with great force, jumping to his feet in the process. Surprised and stunned by his sudden rejection, Luciana could only stare into the pair of blue eyes that were now looking down on her.

I'm cold. She thought for a brief second. Why do I feel cold?
Ah, it's the way he looks at me.

Cold. Distant. Scornful.

But there's something else. What is it?

Fear. Sadness. Loneliness.

Luciana wanted to say something, anything. But she didn't get the chance, as the man she thought she knew so well turned around and stormed out of the room.

I'm crying, I'm fading
I lost all my faith and
I'm driven so crazy, I can't stand it no more