Chapter 44 - The Trial of Sigyn

Sigyn eventually tired of jumping up and down in a futile attempt to try to take the Norn stones back from Ikol, and stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest and her bottom lip jutted out in a pout. "It isn't fair."

Loki rolled his eyes at her. "Sigyn, will you please grow up? They weren't yours to begin with because they weren't Amora's to give to you. They belong in the treasure room."

"But what's the point of keeping them locked away, gathering dust?"

Ikol pocketed the little bag of stones. "Because they're dangerous, you twit, especially in the hands of someone who clearly has no idea what they're doing. What was the point of any of this, anyway? If this was all part of some misguided quest for revenge, all you did was show your hand."

Sigyn glared at him unappreciatively, but a moment later her lower lip began to quiver.

"Odin's crappy beard," swore Ikol, cringing away from her as if her tears might be venomous. "Please don't start crying. I don't know how to deal with that—look, here's some candy." He pulled a pack of gum out of his jacket pocket and thrust it at her. His reaction reminded Loki a bit of Tony the first time Loki had cried in front of him.

Loki rolled his eyes. "Don't be fooled, Sigyn. Gum isn't candy."

Were Ikol capable of shooting deathrays out of his eyeballs, Loki would have had the perfect opportunity to have that chat with Hela then about the whole "dead Asgardians are now stuck in limbo because there aren't any more Valkyries" thing.

Sigyn dropped to her knees and burst into tears.

"What exactly is her problem?" Ikol hissed.

"She's always been a bit melodramatic," Loki told him, enjoying the opportunity to call someone else melodramatic when it was usually him who was being accused of such. Then something occurred to him that should have occurred to him before. "Hold on, you're me. Don't you have a Sigyn?"

( •`_´• ) (;;o _o ) °(ಗдಗ。)°.

"You know, I don't recall. I've had quite a few princesses and princes; but if there was anyone like her among them, you couldn't blame me for choosing to forget about them completely."

Sigyn's volume increased as she began to hyperventilate. "Why—don't—you—love—me—as—much—as—"

"Sigyn, get off it," said Loki. "You don't love me. If you think you do, you seriously have a problem, you know that right? Perhaps you should talk to someone about it." Sigyn looked at him as if he was the one who was mad, so he clarified. "A therapist or a psychiatrist. Perhaps you could speak to Doctor Samson while he's here."

"I think that would be an excellent idea." A glance in the direction of the voice confirmed what Loki had suspected already; Frigga, who was too talented a magician to be defenseless to Sigyn's magic even when it was boosted by the reasonably powerful magical artifact, had only been pretending to be affected by Sigyn's spell. A glance towards the table she had left confirmed that neither Doom nor Zora had been affected either, and had continued to breakfast disinterestedly as the scene with Sigyn had unfolded.

Thor, on the other hand, had been frozen midway through stuffing an imitation toaster pastry down his gullet. All the power of the All-Father, and it still wasn't enough to protect him from a novice like Sigyn. Norns help them all if Amora was truly back and plotting revenge against Asgard.

Frigga stood in front of Sigyn with her hands clasped primly in front of her. "Sigyn dear, do get off the floor. You're getting your dress dirty."

Sigyn responded by launching herself upward and around Frigga's middle.

"There, there, dear. Everything will be alright," Frigga consoled her.

Loki arched an eyebrow at his mother. "I didn't realize the two of you were so close." Actually, Loki had been under the impression that they didn't get along at all, especially after whatever it was Frigga had done to get her to leave him alone all those years ago.

"That would be thanks to you. After your disappearance, it was nice to be able to talk to someone else who missed you. Loki, I know you find it hard to believe, but Sigyn really does care for you—in her way, anyway. You could be nicer to her."

"What did I do? I'm not the one who gave her gum and told her it was candy."

Frigga ignored him, turning all her attention to the bawling girl in her arms. "Sigyn sweetheart, could you please drop your spell now, so that we can all get back to breakfast?"

Sigyn nodded into Frigga's chest, and a moment later, the room came clamoring back to life with the sound of many dishes and glasses being dropped at once. Apparently, gravity hadn't agreed with time being stopped and then started again suddenly. A serving wench tripped, scattering the contents of her tray. The room cheered and whistled in response. In the meantime, at the head table, the All-Father of Asgard began to choke on his toaster pastry. He stood up and banged his hand on the table to draw attention to himself, and while the Asgardians around him stared dumbly, Tony leapt up and began to attempt the Heimlich maneuver. He was having difficulty reaching all the way around Thor, though, given his smaller stature.

Luckily, before Loki's brother asphyxiated, Bruce stood up, staggered a few steps, fell to his knees, and by the time he stood once more, he was considerably larger and greener. Hulk turned and leapt over the king's table, pushed Tony out of the way, and took over, wrapping his massive arms around Thor's middle. He was considerably more successful than Tony, and the chunk of toaster pastry that had become lodged in his throat flew across the room.

The Asgardians who had watched helplessly as their king was nearly slain by a bite of pastry cheered once again.

ヾ( Ò益Ò )ﾉ( ;;×o×)⌒o

Sigyn knelt at the foot of the All-Father's throne. She looked extremely nervous, and Loki was enjoying it immensely. "Well, Sigyn, what do you have to say for yourself?" he asked. "You've nearly murdered your king."

Thor pinned him with a stern look; though he was standing at Thor's right hand, that apparently didn't mean he was allowed to speak for the crown. "Brother, I don't think she meant for that to happen." But then he turned that same look on Sigyn. "However, I would like to know how she came across the Norn stones, and why she thought it permissible to use them to harass a prince of Asgard."

Sigyn sneered. "He's not even Asgardian, and everyone knows it."

What a little idiot, thought Loki. What benefit could she possibly think sassing the All-Father would be to her in this situation?

"Sigyn, please don't make this worse," said Frigga. Now where had he heard something like that before?

Thor leaned towards her. "Sigyn, you are very lucky I am not my father, or you may very well have spent the rest of your days in a cell beneath the palace."

"You're not going to punish her?" Loki objected. Of course, the bulk of her crimes had been against him, and as Sigyn had pointed out, he wasn't a real prince of Asgard, but a monster masquerading as a prince.

"Of course she's going to be punished. However, I think we have already established that Asgard's prisons are no place for a child."

"I'm not a child," sulked Sigyn, even though she ought to have figured out by now that it would be in her best interest both to be thought of as a child and to keep her mouth shut. Loki was almost starting to feel sorry for her. Almost.

It seemed a little unfair to him; he had spent several weeks imprisoned and nothing that had happened had even been his fault! "So after she tricked me into drinking a love potion, stole the Norn stones, and was nearly responsible for your death, she's not even going to see the inside of a cell?"

"Loki—" Thor began in a warning tone, but then his eyebrows furrowed. "What was that about a love potion?"

Oh, right. He hadn't told anyone about that other than Ikol, who was currently in his bird form and hanging out on the back of Thor's throne in the spot where Huginn and Muninn used to perch when Odin was king. "I didn't say anything about a love potion."

"Loki, I just heard you say that Sigyn forced you to drink a love potion, and so did everyone else here."

"Yeah, I kind of heard that too," Tony chimed in from where he was standing off to the side with the other Midgardians. Like his own hearings before the All-Father, Sigyn's trial hadn't been made into a public affair, but was only open to parties who had some stake in its outcome, including the families of both the accused and the accused's victim.

Sigyn's family hadn't shown, but Loki supposed they couldn't be bothered to travel all the way from Vanaheim to Asgard on such short notice.

"I didn't make him do anything," said Sigyn. "He chose to drink it, like an idiot."

"Loki, is that true?" asked Thor. "Did you drink a love potion on purpose?"

"Only because I thought Father was about to marry me to a stranger, and she convinced me that it would make things easier. Obviously, if I'd known it was you he was trying to marry me to, I never would have taken it."

Thor's eyebrows flew upwards. "Loki, you don't—"

"Don't worry, I'm not in love with you. I fell for Sif instead."

"Sif—you can't mean Sif Sif?"

"I don't know about you, but I only know one."

Thor scrubbed a hand over his face. He was starting to look tired, the way Odin had looked when trying to work out just why Loki had done something he found inscrutable. "Why did you not tell anyone about this until now, brother?"

Loki shrugged, even though he knew that it was because he had been too embarrassed to admit he'd done something stupid again. "Dunno."

He expected Thor to lecture him, but instead, the All-Father slumped down in his throne. "This is my fault. I should never have allowed you out of my sight."

Loki's heart skipped a beat. "You're not going to order me to stay here, are you? Because I won't—"

"This is not the appropriate time to speak of your future, Brother." Thor turned his attention back to Sigyn. "I trust you have an antidote to this potion?"

Sigyn lifted her chin and spoke in a manner that was too haughty for her own good. "There isn't any need for an antidote. It was only a temporary potion. It should have worn off after a couple of days."

"But it couldn't have been temporary," Loki protested. "It had to have been over a week after I drank the potion that I tried to kiss Sif in the elevator."

Sigyn arched an eyebrow at him. "If you did, that's on you."

"Are you trying to suggest that I have actual feelings for Sif? That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard!"

Frigga climbed the steps to the dais to stand before him. She put her hands on his shoulders and scanned him up and down, pausing briefly to stare deeply into his eyes. "I see no evidence that you are under the effects of a potion now."

"That's impossible. If I wasn't, why ever should I do something as disgusting as try to kiss Sif?"

Frigga's expression softened. "Has it occurred to you, darling, that deep down, you might have genuine feelings for her?"

It certainly had not. "Mother, if I were you, I would take a few steps back, because I think I'm about to be violently ill."

"If you are feeling ill again, perhaps you should go lie down," said Thor.

"I'm not going anywhere until I hear what's going to happen to her." Loki pointed at Sigyn. "Surely, she's not to get away with this."

Thor had the nerve to roll his eyes. "With tricking you, you mean? It's all fun and games when you play a trick on someone, but if someone does it to you, it's unforgivable, is it?"

"May I remind you that she also stole the Norn stones?"

"I didn't steal them," Sigyn protested. "Amora gave them to me."

"At the very least, she's in possession of what she had to know was stolen property, and she's been consorting with a known enemy of Asgard."

"I am aware of that, Loki. I never said that there weren't going to be consequences for her behavior." Thor straightened up, perhaps making an attempt to present himself as a proper king. "Sigyn, you are hereby banished from Asgard."

"That's it? You're just going to send her home to Vanaheim?"

"No, I'm not finished. Sigyn, I think it would do you some good to spend time on Midgard, in the form of a mortal."

The color drained completely from Sigyn's face, which Loki found incredibly satisfying. However— "Thor, aren't you the one that said something about recalling all of the potentially dangerous Asgardians that the last two kings sent to Midgard? And here you are, wanting to send another."

"If I believed Sigyn to be truly dangerous, I would not suggest it. And I won't send her to Midgard unmonitored, either."

Loki didn't like the sound of that, and he didn't seem to be the only one. "Point break, you're not expecting me to take her in, are you?" asked Tony. "As much as I seem to be running a half-way house for wayward kids now, I'm not sure that's a good idea when she and your brother don't get along."

"Actually, I thought Mother might take her back to Latveria." Thor looked at their mother pleadingly.

Frigga frowned. "Thor, as much as I would like to take Sigyn back to Latveria with me, I am not certain how Victor feels about taking on another child so soon—"

"Another?" asked Loki.

"Didn't I mention? Victor and I have adopted Zora."

"No, you didn't. Did Mother mention it to you Thor, that we have a step-sister now?"

"She did not," Thor confirmed. "Though would she be our step-sister or our half-sister?"

"Both, I think. If both Frigga and Doom have adopted her, she would be half our half-sister and half our step-sister."

"Does that not make her our quarter sister, then?"

"Look at you, doing fractions."

"I'm not a complete dolt, Loki. I may not have your talent for language, but I have never had difficulty with elementary mathematics."

Doom ascended the dais to address his wife. "I see no reason we cannot take in another child, especially when Zora will be returning to America for college."

"Uh, right," said Tony. "I've been meaning to say something about this, but after I was nice enough to let your daughter stay in my tower, she kind of ran off with something that didn't belong to her."

"She gave it to Mother, not to him," Loki told him.

"Oh, well that's alright then." Tony's sour expression made it clear that he meant the opposite.

"I assure you that the item you refer to is in a safe place," said Frigga.

Her villainous husband narrowed his eyes at her, but didn't immediately inquire as to what she was talking about. For his part, Thor seemed to finally catch on. "Mother, are you saying that you have the—"

Loki was the one to kick Thor in the shin, but he was far from the only one giving him a dirty look. "Ixnay on the talking about the epterscay in front of oomday, Thor."

Thor knit his eyebrows, but apparently Doom understood Pig Latin a lot better than Thor's All-Speak did. "What is this about a scepter?"

Oops.

Frigga turned the look she had been giving her older son on him, as if aware that what he had said hadn't been so much a slip as it had been the result of a compulsion to fulfill his role as the god of chaos. Then she turned to her husband and gave him a small kiss on the neck. "It's nothing for you to be concerned with, mon chou."

Thor smiled, although it was the kind of uncomfortable smile one smiled when seeing one's mother kiss a dictator's neck. "It's settled, then. Sigyn, you will go to Midgard with my mother and her cabbage, and you will stay there until you've learned something from the experience. And as long a you are on Midgard your magic will be sealed, not because magic is inherently dangerous, but because you've proven by your actions that you can't use it responsibly."

If Sigyn was to stay in Latveria until she actually managed to learn something, she would likely be there for a few centuries at least. Once again, Loki almost felt sorry for her. Almost. "Well, I suppose this is goodbye, Sigyn. Do have fun in Latveria. Hopefully you won't be too bored without your magic, but look at it this way—you'll have plenty of time to learn how to grow ridiculously large potatoes." He would have reminded her to pack plenty of long sleeve dresses, if long sleeve dresses didn't seem to be the only thing she ever wore to begin with.

Sigyn looked up at his brother with doe eyes that were beginning to fill with tears. "Sire, please don't do this. If I am to be banished from Asgard, at least allow me to return to Vanaheim, or to some other civilized realm."

"And you have just confirmed for me that I have made the correct decision." Thor stood and picked up Gungnir, which had been leaning against the side of his throne. Loki thoroughly enjoyed seeing Sigyn tense at that, but the joy he felt dissipated when Thor turned to him and held the enchanted weapon out to him.

"Loki, I believe you should do this. You are the one she wronged most, after all."

"You want me to—" No, there was only one reason Thor would be asking him to do this. "You don't know how to do it, do you?"

Thor smiled sheepishly. "You know I have never been a magician, Loki."

"You're All-Father now, Thor. You should be able to—"

"All the same, I would feel better if you did it. You've worked the spell on yourself before, after all. I don't want to accidentally turn her into a naked mole rat or something."

"And you trust me to not turn her into a naked mole rat on purpose?"

"If you do, you won't leave Asgard until you turn her back."

At least that meant Thor didn't intend to make him stay anyway. "Oh, very well then." Loki supposed he had no choice. As much as Sigyn got on his nerves, he didn't hate her enough to want her to be a guinea pig for his brother's still shaky grasp of the Odinforce. He took Gungnir from him. It felt heavy in his hands, perhaps because the last time he had wielded her things hadn't turned out too well for him.

He descended the steps of the dais and stood before Sigyn, then pointed the scepter at the middle of her chest. She backed up, and might have tried to run if there hadn't been a squadron of Einherjar standing behind her. "Please don't do this, my prince! Everything I've done, I've done because I still love you despite your true nature. At first when I heard the truth of what you were, I was angry I had been fooled, but then I knew that in time I would learn to see past it."

So she had cast herself as "beauty" in an Asgardian production of Beauty and the Beast. That, Loki thought, should have been enough for him to get over whatever hesitation he might have about carrying out Sigyn's sentence. But somehow, Gungnir still felt too heavy, and something about Sigyn's terrified expression was entirely too sobering. The entire situation just wasn't as funny as it had been when he had only been a bystander.

He wasn't sure how long he'd just been standing there, staring down Gungnir's shaft into Sigyn's eyes, when a metal gauntleted hand grasped his shoulder. Doom leaned in to speak to him in hushed tones. "Do not allow sympathy to stand in the way of justice. This is what it means to rule."

"But I don't want to—"

"A wise and benevolent ruler does not impose justice because they wish to cause their beloved subjects to suffer, just as a good parent does not impose consequences upon their child because they wish for them to suffer. Do you doubt your brother's judgment?"

"No," Loki admitted. "Spending some time as a mortal might actually do her some good."

"In that case, you should not hesitate to carry out her sentence, even if it makes you uncomfortable. You must put those feelings aside."

Loki wasn't entirely sure he should be taking statesmanship advice from Victor von Doom, but what he had said made sense. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes so that he wouldn't have to see the horror in Sigyn's, and began to work the spell.