In the Asgardian Palace of Valaskjalf, the sound of chains clanking echoed through the halls as their prisoner walked on. His neck, wrists, and ankles bound together in heavy restraints, Loki, Prince of Asgard, was escorted by an octave of Einherjar guards to the throne room, where his adoptive father, Allfather Odin, awaited him for judgement.

Thor came in the throne room first, approaching his dad.

"My son." Odin greeted. "You've retrieved the criminal and the Tesseract, I presume?"

"Forgive me, Father." Thor bowed his head with a mix of respect and shame. "I captured Loki, but the Tesseract is lost. He said it was taken with him to some place called the 'TVA,' shoved in the drawer of a man named Casey, and 'pruned' by someone named Kang to a void where it got eaten by a cloud monster. That is the story he insisted upon when I found him, after his escape from Stark Tower."

"Then how did the two of you arrive here?"

"He led me through one of his secret passageways from Midgard. Strangely enough, I found him in the Gobi Desert, peacefully consuming barbecue with a handful of the Midgardian locals. He was… surprisingly willing to return with me. He even-"

"Yes?"

Thor cleared his throat. "He hugged me. Tightly. He even wept what appeared to be tears of joy when he beheld my arrival. I'm not certain if he's genuinely sorry or if he's trying to trick me yet again."

"Hmm… Keep your guard up; he is most likely up to a scheme of some sort." Odin advised. Thor nodded as he left him.

As Loki and the guards entered, he noticed his adoptive mother, Frigga, standing at her husband's side, looking concerned for her younger son.

"Mother." Loki looked remorsefully at her. "I'm so sorry."

"Loki." Frigga attempted to hug him, but Odin signaled for the guards to step between his wife and son, ruining the heartwarming moment.

"What, is it not enough to have me chained like a wild animal with 8 Einherjar dragging me about!? You cannot allow me one warm embrace from my own mother!?"

"Enough!" Odin rudely interrupted. "I will speak to the prisoner alone."

"'The prisoner,' is it now?" Loki thought as his mother reluctantly started to leave the room. "Have you forgotten my name already, Odin?"

"Your mother is dead, slain on the battlefield of Jotunheim. Frigga is Thor's mother, if you recall, though erroneously, she yet believes you are hers."

"Hold on!" A voice shouted as they heard running footsteps coming from an adjacent hallway. Frigga stopped in her tracks as a grey-haired mustached man in a brown suit almost collided with her in the threshold. "Excuse me, Mrs. Lokimom."

"Mobius!" Loki thought in silent shock.

"What is this!?" Odin asked apprehensively. "Who is this mortal to barge in on royal sentencing?"

"Oh, I'm Mobius M. Mobius from the Time Variance Authority, or TVA for short. My job was to monitor the timeline and help the team catch time violators, particularly different versions of your youngest son there, but that's not what brings me here today. Mr. Odinson, do you have a lawyer for this 'sentencing?'"

"I beg your pardon?"

"I'll take that as a no. Then I'll be happy to represent you today!"

Loki smiled until Odin interjected. "This is none of your concern, 'Mobius M. Mobius': this is an Asgardian matter, and as far as I'm concerned, this prisoner is no longer any son of mine."

"Harsh!" Mobius thought as Loki winced at the disowning remark.

"So, that 'I love you, my sons,' line Odin spoke from the time theater's memory, was that exclusively directed at Thor and Mjolnir?" Loki asked Mobius telepathically and slightly sarcastically.

Mobius shrugged. "Well, son or not, he deserves a chance to tell his side of the story! I may not be Asgardian, but I'm a Midgardian from the planet Loki tried to conquer, and I'm here to represent Earth. It's also pretty unfair to slap a sentence on the guy without giving him a proper trial, you know, with his whole adoptive family and witnesses from his targeted planet, not to mention evidence."

"Witnesses? Evidence? He is guilty, deserving of death, though because of my wife's persistent defense of him, I have lightened it to life imprisoned in Asgard's dungeons. Not only has Heimdall watched the whole event from his post, but I sent my own ravens with Thor, who have relayed to me Loki's guilt. What more evidence do I require?"

"Yeah, your ravens followed Thor, but how much did they see from Loki's perspective? And Heimdall… if his eyes can see everything, then how come he didn't find Loki until he was already on Earth, a whole year after he fell from the Bifrost?"

"How do you-" Frigga began. "How could you possibly know that!?"

"That's not all I know, ma'am! I have never-before-seen footage from the TVA of every moment of Loki's lifetime, including the real villain who gave your son the Mind Stone and used it against him, so he could turn Loki into your personal scapegoat. Did any of you even think to ask Loki what happened to him in the abyss, who tortured him into submission?"

"Tortured!?" Frigga gasped, running to Loki's side in concern. Loki gulped, remembering those torturous experiences like they were only yesterday, wondering if Thanos knew where he was, and wondering if Odin would drag him back to the Mad Titan for punishment, a fate worse than he could imagine. Odin remained calm and unflinching, pondering this new information and Mobius's suggestion.

"Very well." Odin responded. "We shall gather here and hear this evidence you've acquired before Loki receives his judgement."

Soon, Thor joined his family in the throne room, and so did a jury of unbiased Asgardians and some witnesses from Earth. Mobius stood before Odin, ready to defend Loki.

"So, the charges are the attempted destruction of Jotunheim and the attempted invasion of Earth, correct?" Mobius reviewed.

"And multiple attempted murders of my son, Thor."

"How do you plead, Loki?"

"Guilty."

"Really? Even though you were at war with Jotunheim when you attempted to stop them, and you weren't in your right mind for either attack?"

"I still made my own decisions, and I fully regret them." Loki told him. "True, the Mind Stone brought out my latent anger and aggression, clouding my judgment, but those traits were mine to begin with."

"Well, why don't we dig a little deeper? Let's start chronologically, shall we? Ladies and gentlemen, first I'd like to get a testimony from the defendant himself." Mobius addressed the room. "Loki, if you please."

Loki reluctantly joined him in front of Odin, still escorted by his guards.

"Loki, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"

"I will if he does." Loki sassed, his eyes hinting conspicuously at Odin.

"Hey, you need to take this seriously! I can't help you if the people here think you're being untruthful!"

"Please, they've been thinking nothing but that about me from the day I was brought to Asgard: why should they think any different today?"

"You're making this worse; just raise your right hand and swear to tell the truth. Prove you're more than what people think of you."

Loki sighed. "Yes, alright, I swear to tell the truth."

"Good."