A Marvel character will be introduced in this chapter. If you don't know much (or anything) about them, don't worry. It doesn't really matter at all. See the bottom Author's Note for more details :)

This is very much a dialogue driven chapter, y'all. Hope you enjoy! I had a lot of fun writing it!

"You say goodbye to her, Loki. That is my condition. Don't you just disappear. You owe her more than that."

Tension hung heavy in the air between the pair. Thor had remained silent for some time, weighing up exactly what it was Loki asked of him. Time dragged on as the God of Thunder stared him down until Loki was sure Thor would deny him but then Thor had finally answered. The very thought of attempting to explain his intentions to Rosa – actually looking her in the eye and telling her he was leaving – caused an icy feeling to wash through the pit of his stomach. He clenched his jaw before willing himself to remain calm.

"I am doing this for her." He replied with all the composure he could manage, his hands clasped tightly behind his back. He spoke without a single hint of emotion in his voice, sounding logical instead, as if they were discussing a battle strategy. "It is best that I leave her without farewells. She thinks not of the future but the here and now. It is redundant attempting any sort of reasoning with her, she is too stubborn to listen."

Thor shook his head, not having a bar of it. He did not intend to negotiate. Not about this. "You say goodbye to her. You tell her why."

Loki snarled in frustration. "I think you're missing the point of what is happening here, Thor."

"No, I think you are." Thor stared at the pale Prince with pleading eyes. "Have you any idea what you are actually asking? You know not what it was like for her. Those two years that you were gone."

That proved to be too much. "Let's not forget that this was your doing, Thor. You took her from me!" He spat. He had sworn to himself that he would keep his anger in check, but not when it came to this. Not when he had bottled it up for all this time. Rage rose up in him, white hot, fresh as it had been on that night. The night Thor had destroyed his world.

"Are you truly so blind, brother?" Thor shot back. "You think I am to blame? True enough I named her mine without her permission. I won't deny my actions rash but you, Loki… if you loved her as you claim, why did you not fight for her?"

"I did-"

"No... No, you did not. You said not a word to me on the matter and instead sought revenge upon me, Loki. You let your hatred overcome you and you tried to destroy me! You planned it, Loki, all of it. I know that now. Why could you not just come to me, to our Father-"

"Your Father."

"If you had said but one word to me-"

"You would have fancied it yet another competition in which to best me." Loki spat.

Thor moved forward with an imploring gaze. "No. Not if you had told me the truth. If you had told me, Loki, that you loved her… but you didn't. Your pride got in the way and instead of admitting openly that you had feelings for a commoner – instead of facing the fact that you are a coward – you turned the blame on me."

Loki turned from him in disgust, stalking back and forth across the room. Fury building up within him. "You are so quick to play the hero aren't you? The Mighty Thor, carrying the weight of all his wicked brother has done."

"You sought instead to destroy me."

"Oh, and how I wanted to, Thor," Loki crept forward, glaring daggers in Thor's direction. The room seemed to grow darker around them. The hate was back, bubbling over after centuries of being repressed. He wanted Thor to taste the hate he felt for him. "I wanted to tear your limbs from your body. I wanted to hear you scream for mercy. I wanted to laugh while you begged."

Once again Thor ignored Loki's angry stabs, continuing his speech. Keeping the focus on Loki and his actions regarding Rosa. "No even in privacy, when I spent hours fawning over the girl. You said nothing."

"I thought her to be no more than another one of your conquests!" Loki scowled. "And I was right in the end, though it was too late. Exiled to Asgard and before a new sun had a chance to rise, you cast your bride to be aside for a mortal girl."

"I did none of the sort. She told me of you Loki, from that moment I would not have touched her, but protected her for you. he searched for me so that she could find a way home to you, and all the while you were here, leading monsters into Asgard to murder our Father."

Loki growled, his hands curling into claws. He had not come for this. He had not time to argue with Thor over what was done. He wanted to forget those days. Erase them. Exist separated from them entirely. "You have no idea what I experienced Thor! You think you were so hard done by? Three days in a desert, with that mortal of yours? My lineage -my life- was revealed to be a lie! Odin stole me, from a race in which even there I would be an outcast. Small and weak. He never loved me, I was just something for you to compete against! I was a means to an end! I was not a son but a hostage!"

"Are you so quick to forget that I was unaware of your true parentage? I grew up loving you as a brother in my heart! Loki, you are my family. Did you think it changed anything, learning the truth?"

Loki expelled a hollow laugh. "It not only changed it! It explained it! Everything! I was never worthy in his eyes. I would never be anything compared to you… The laughable thing is that everyone saw it too. All the Gods in Asgard knew there was something different – abnormal – about me. I was just blind to it until it was too late... and I found Rosa. Someone who for the first time in my life did not compare me to the Mighty Thor and you took that from me too!"

Thor's eyes were wet with emotion as he gazed over at the man who had once been his brother. "I can be no more sincere than I am now in saying that I never wished to hurt you Loki… if I could take it back, make it right-"

"But you can't." Loki finished for him with finality.

Thor bowed his head. "Perhaps not, but this I might… Listen to what I say, Loki; it is not your choice to make. It would be a different case if you didn't want her with you. But you do care for her, just as you always have. You would not be here if you did not."

"Oh, do you know me so well, Odinson?" Loki sneered.

"You would not lower yourself to ask something of me if you did not live her." Thor made no attempt to hide the hurt from his eyes.

That silenced Loki at last. He knew Thor to be right, what point was there in denying it? He wanted Thor's help. If ever there were a time to damn his pride, it was now. However late it may be. Silence stretched on between them and a sort of calm… peacefulness... washed over the two men. Once again – at long last – it was Thor who broke the silence.

"If you would truly ask this of me… then I will help you. But I beg you, Loki, take her with you. It's her choice. It is what she wants."

Loki couldn't help himself. With a smirk he said, "You know, there's the implication there that you're actually going to let me escape."

"We were brothers once, Loki. I know you well enough to realise that if you wish not to be found, you won't be."

Loki took a moment to lean against crumbling surroundings of the Oracle's the hut. He ran his hand over his face and let out a deep breath. There was nothing he could say… no words to convince her that he would right. He could try, he supposed, but really it would do no good.

At least, a selfish part of him acknowledged, I get to see her one last time…

When the door swung open, instead of the musty smell of far too many candles, Loki was hit by the sour scent of rotting flesh. He drew back in disgust, covering his mouth and nose with his hand and glanced back inside the small rundown home.

He spotted her instantly. The Oracle, lying face down on the floor. Dead. There must have been two hundred flies that swarmed around her corpse. As if she had been dead for days. Weeks.

Loki moved inside cautiously, still covering his face against the repulsive smell. He gave the Oracle another disgusted glance before moving past her, deeper into the dwellings.

"Rosa?" He called.

"Loki?" she answered instantly and relief washed through him as she appeared around the corner and ran into his arms. Loki held her tight against him as he felt a sob shudder through her body. She balled her hands up into tight fists and rested them upon his chest, where she buried her face as deep as she could manage into his scent.

"Loki, she was screaming. She just kept screaming… I only touched her and it was as if she began to melt… she was begging for help and all I could do was stand there… she just kept screaming." Her entire body trembled.

"It's alright," he said, holding her close to him, "It'll be alright."

Suddenly, Rosa snorted and pushed herself away from Loki. "You know, you turn into such a girl when it comes to her."

She turned her back on him and moved towards the dead body, studying it casually with her hands on her hips. Loki's brow furrowed as he stared – his arms still extended slightly – totally thrown off by this sudden change in her.

"Honestly, it's enough to make me gag. The pining, the whining, the sacrifices… urgh!" She sat down leisurely in the Oracle's crumbling chair (the old woman, dead at her feet) and crossed her legs causing her dress to slip up, revealing far more skin than was normal. She leaned over and plucked a few fat grapes out of the bowl on the table beside her and popped one in her mouth. As she bit into it and let the juice trickle from her lips, she flicked her eyes back up to a confused Loki.

"I suppose I shouldn't complain though." She waved her hand dismissively. "If it weren't for you running off for Thor's help, I wouldn't have had her to myself."

Loki managed to form a thought through his haze of confusion. She knew he was leaving. "Rosa, I-"

Before he could go on, Rosa laughed. "Oh, that's right! You still think you're talking to her. How silly of me! No, my sweet... See, Rosa is gone. She made this little deal with me to save you… And now, well, I don't have to lug around that old, smelly, arthritic thing anymore. And I must say, it's nice having eyes again…"

Loki's eyes flicked from the Oracle's corpse back to Rosa, a horrid sickness rising within him. No, it couldn't be that. His heart began to race as he watched her – watched Rosa. It was Rosa, it had to be. Nothing could have happened to her… he'd not even been absent from her side an hour. He was fixing it, he was making everything right. She couldn't be-

"Rosa…"

Her eyes flicked to him with an incredulous look and she quirked a patronising eyebrow. "Uh… did you not just hear me? Rosa. Is. Gone. I took her body. I've done you a favour if you think about it, Loki. Now you're free! Now you can be what you're truly meant to be! With this doe eyed little twit out of the way." Rosa's shoulders slumped suddenly as if she were utterly exhausted by what she said. "And really Loki, she was such an idiot, I don't understand what it was about her that sparked your interest. She was downright painful. It was almost too easy, you know? I was almost put off by it. Just so stupid. And emotional… and gullible, ugh! I mean, the Oracle? Please." She finished with a snort.

"Who are you?" Loki snarled, moving closer to the thing wearing Rosa's skin. He felt heat rising up within him, from deep within his very bones it seared white hot. More than rage. More than hatred. If she'd truly been taken from him there wasn't a being in existence that could stop him from tearing the universe apart. He would obliterate everything.

His anger caused a piercing ringing in his ears which was so loud that her words seemed muffled when she replied, still rather at ease. "You'd have heard my name before, Loki. If you've paid any attention to Odin's history lessons, that is. He so loves to gloat doesn't he?"

She leaned back in the chair and gave Loki a sultry look up through her eyelashes, spreading her legs to grind her hips upward off of the chair.

"Daddy and I go way back, see." She then added as somewhat of an afterthought, "forgive me, adopted Daddy. No that still not right… Adopted Daddy who then disowned you. My, you are complicated aren't you?"

She drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair as she continued to study Loki, her head tilted to the side. "What's going on in that head of yours? When are you going to snap?"

"Tell me your name." Loki snarled. He needed to know. He needed to know how. He could do nothing until he understood that. If there were even the slightest chance that Rosa was still alive in there, he needed to hear it from this thing so that he might find away to get her back

"Tsk, you really are no fun at all." She said with a pout. "Alright, have it your way…"

She stood and moved towards him, closer and closer until she pressed her cleavage up against Loki's chest and her hot breath hit his neck.

"Karnilla…" she whispered against his skin.

Loki froze. All oxygen escaped from his lungs as the thing wearing Rosa's skin circled him, thoroughly enjoying the chance to soak up his reaction.

Oh, he had heard much of her. Her bewitchments of Odin's most loyal soldiers. She had enchanted them, convinced them that they had loved her and then when they had let their guard down she had encaptured their minds, taking over them entirely and willing them to kill the King. Odin had escaped narrowly with his life, managing to overpower the enchantress and banishing her from the realm of the living entirely.

The tale had stayed with Loki long after he had heard it. As a child he had thought his Father all powerful, far superior to any other being that could possibly exist. And so the tale of the woman who had almost destroyed him… the fear it had instilled in him was almost unimaginable. For weeks he had dreamed of the soldiers she had enchanted; he had imagined dead bodies, manoeuvred like puppets on strings, dragging rotting flesh up towards the Throne to suck the life from the King.

Loki's insides churned. Was that what had happened to Rosa? Was she a prisoner within her own mind? His wide glassy eyes shot to hers and Karnilla grinned.

"Oh… you do remember me. I'm glad. It saves us quite a bit of time."

"You're dead." Loki hissed.

Karnilla quirked her borrowed eyebrow. "Apparently not, my dear. When the king banished me, he had no comprehension of just how powerful I was. I controlled my life force, not him! He may have cast me from my body but not even for a second did I cease to exist… I was a shadow – a spirit. I searched for someone – something that I could sustain myself upon and I stumbled upon that little thing there." She gestured over her shoulder towards the corpse.

"I whispered in her ear for only a few hours about the powers I could help unlock within her and she offered herself to me eagerly!"

Karnilla sauntered over towards the dead body on the ground between them and gave it a nudge with her foot. "The girl was stunning, too. Far more to look at than this one, call it what you will but I really don't understand how she reeled you in... Anyway, the power was too much for her to hold... So before long her skin withered, her hair grew limp, her bones became brittle, her teeth rotted. And her eyes melted right out of their sockets... It was rather vulgar, the feeling of them running down her cheeks for days on end but then, I didn't really have to deal with it. She felt the pain, not me. And it shall happen to Rosa too, eventually... I do have hopes that she will hold out a little longer though.

"Because she is still in here Loki, as much as it pains me to have to share a body with this snivelling little brat... she'll quiet down eventually though. Would you like to talk to her? To hear her cry?"

With a casual flick of her wrist, Rosa sent Loki flying across the room. He collided into the ugly chair sat by the fire place and heard the sickening crunch of his own ribs cracking. He hissed and looked up to see Rosa's body moving towards him slowly, her hand curled into a claw. He could feel her power clutching onto his insides, twisting them. Every miniscule movement she made sent pain shooting through his abdomen. He gasped for breath, helplessly pinned to the ground as she reached him.

"What have you done to her?" he groaned through gritted teeth.

"To be honest, she never would have even caught my eye if it hadn't been for you." Karnilla smiled. It was a cruel smile, almost to be mistaken for a snarl. Not at all befitting of Rosa's gentle features. "You'll absolutely love this, you self-torturing, loathsome, little Frost Giant; this… is all. Your. Fault."

She crouched down beside him and grabbed a fistful of his hair, pulling sharply so that he would look up at her again. She pouted at him.

"You could have been great, Loki. You could have been the most powerful being in all the nine realms, and instead she's made you this. You're pathetic... Weak. Even the idea of being Thanos' lapdog was better than what you are now!"

She shook her head sadly, tousled hair falling in her face. "Like I said, the first girl I found was withering away to nothing… I needed a new body. But as you can see, I'd learned the hard way that not anyone would do. I needed to find a being capable of facilitating to my strength.

"For a while I even considered you as an option. I knew if I did not succeed I would be killed. After all you are so powerful… beautiful." Karnilla reached out and ran her fingers down Loki's cheek, genuinely admiring what she saw. "And like I said before I admire your efforts. You have so much potential, you could truly be so wonderful… I always saw it in you, Loki, that darkness you tried so hard to resist. And for that reason I took no pleasure from the thought of stealing your body…

"And then, just as my time was beginning to run out, along came little Rosa… weak, soft spoken, with a charming little crush on our Prince." Karnilla chuckled to herself, still crouching down beside Loki, parting her knees to expose her crotch and knowing just how furious it was making him, having to watch Rosa's body be used like that.

"I paid her no mind," Karnilla went on casually , "after all, even Asgardians would not be strong enough to withhold the power my consciousness would fill them with. They would merely age and wither and I would be left in wanting another body all over again. I needed someone special. But then... You, you glorious little creature, you showed her magic. You awakened a curiosity in her, and you showed her how. And all of a sudden, she was the one…"

A horrible dread filled Loki as he stared at woman masked in Rosa's face.

"It was too perfect, a persuadable little thing with this power awakened within her far beyond her understanding, she was right there for the taking! The only thing left to do was find a way around you, Loki. I knew you'd never let your new little pet out of your sight long enough for me to make a mental connection with her... But then... The stars aligned didn't they? You didn't just fall from Asgard! You threw literally yourself from it! And poor little Rosa was left all alone completely broken hearted. You should have seen her! It was pathetic! Hilarious. All I had to do was mention your name and the hope of finding you and I had her eating out of the palm of my hand!"

"Rosa... I won't leave you, I promise." Loki wheezed. She had said she was still in there. Rosa was still alive. That's all that truly mattered.

"But you were, weren't you?" Karnilla replied, feigning confusion. "You went to Thor for help… you wanted him to claim that she was under a spell… so that you could disappear again. And now you say you'll stick by her? Rosa, honey, I can't stand you but I think this is just low... Why would she believe you now?"

Loki pushed suddenly through Karnilla's magic barrier with all his might and for a moment he brushed against her consciousness, he felt it there, cold and ugly, coated over the pure warmth that was Rosa's. Karnilla felt it instantly and left out a shriek of fury. She pushed back and left Loki powerless once again, this time she curled her fingers around his neck and leaned over him, snarling.

"She's fighting you know," she breathed. "It's quite sweet actually. She can see what I'm going to do to you and she's fighting to regain control. I can see why you kept her around, she's like one of those dancing monkeys, isn't she?"

"Take me instead." Loki squeezed out past her crippling grip, his heart racing. He could over power her, he was strong enough. But he couldn't do anything while she was in Rosa's body.

Karnilla laughed cruelly, "do you think me a fool? I know what you're thinking Loki and it wouldn't work, I would have too firm a hold over you. And even if I were to switch bodies and let your precious Rosa go, what good would you do me? You're hated, known and wanted in almost every realm now!

"But in this body... Oh, just imagine what I would be capable of. I might take her to Midgard first. Can you imagine what those pathetic little Mortals would do for an Asgardian Goddess? There was this one she met there... Matt, I think was his name... The way he looked at her Loki, the things he must want to do to her... This silly little twit never had a clue, pining away over you all the while. He's going to be just delighted when she shows up on his doorstep wearing nothing but a black, lacey pair of those undergarments the mortals seem to love so much..."

Lokis rage boiled over, he pulled himself up and hauled his weight into her, snarling as he pinned her to the wall. Karnilla only laughed. A high pitched, cold laugh that didn't fit Rosa at all.

"What are you going to do? Kill me? Ha! Would you really risk it? Anything that happens to this body, she feels it, not me."

Loki glared at her with barred teeth, wanting nothing more than to watch her suffer – to make her suffer. He could do it too, the things he had learned in the abysses between realms… he could make her beg for death. His fist clenched.

But not while she had possession of Rosa.

Loki let out a cry of frustration and slammed his fist hard into the brick wall just beside Rosa's head. Karnilla giggled and quick as lightening, Loki felt her fling him across the room once again, totally at her mercy so long as she wore Rosa's skin. The perfect armour.

She stalked towards him, pure fury upon her features. She stamped her foot upon his chest, pinning him there and glaring down at him.

"You're not listening to me! Loki, you could be so wonderful! You're capable of so much! When did you turn into this? This weak, pathetic excuse for a God. Whining and carrying on when you could be ruling the nine realms! I admired you once! But now…"

She kicked him hard in the side and searing pain shot through his ribs as they cracked. Loki rolled over, still utterly incapable of fighting back.

"Poor little misunderstood Loki, a King adopts him and makes sure he could never want for anything but his brother gets to rule!" She shouted in a mocking tone.

Another sharp kick, more blinding pain.

"Poor orphan Loki, sleeping on a bed plated with gold but the other kids don't like him as much as Thor!"

She curled her hands into fists and Loki felt her magic writhing within him, ready to tear him to shreds with but a flick of her wrist. And the suddenly, just like that, the pressure was gone. Loki managed to open his eyes to look up at the blurry image of Karnilla. She stood there, breathless, and when she spoke again her voice wad gentle.

"It's her fault, Loki. She made you this… She's weak and she's made you just like her. Would you like to speak to her? Would you like to hear the fear in her voice? …Do you suppose she'll cry and beg for you to save her, or will she curse the day she met you? I wonder… Let's find out, shall we?"

Rosa's shoulders slumped for a moment before she shot up and sucked in a deep, gasping breath. Her hands began to tremble immediately and her fear filled eyes darted around the room blindly until they landed upon Loki.

"Loki!" She shouted, "you have to stop her, she's going to kill the King!"

As soon as the words had been uttered, q scream of outrage ripped from her throat and a snarl soon twisted her features. "Insolent little girl! I'll make you pay for that… no matter if he knows anyhow… it is not as if he would do anything to stop me. He won't hurt you."

There was a piercing pain in the side of Loki's head for only a moment and a flash of blinding light. He hissed and glared at Karnilla but strangely, she gave no indication of satisfaction. I was then that Loki heard the voice.

Loki…

Loki glanced up with uncertainty, he would have known that voice anywhere …Rosa?

I'm scared…

So Karnilla! Only loosely based off of the character in the comics. Basically all I've taken is that she is the only Asgardian to have magical powers that rival Loki's. I figure the movies really aren't linked in with the comics anyways. If you don't know who she is or what she's done, it really doesn't matter at all. I've made up the back story about her and Odin, it's not in the comics so you won't get lost along the way :)

Inevitably this story is coming closer to it's end… there are a few chapters left (not exactly sure how many that is exactly just yet) and the thing is, I know how it ends, but there's just a few things I'm thinking about that I'm not certain on yet. There is actually an idea I have that I'm interested in getting an opinion or two about before I post it, so if you'd like to help out and you don't mind the spoilers just let me know! If not, it's fine. I'll just do it anyways haha

Once again, thanks so much to everyone for reading and for reviewing! All my love! :) Next chapter within a fortnight I'm hoping – if all goes smoothly!