Author's Notes

Song Lyrics from Paramore - When It Rains
/watch?v=QY9pbOPeLbM&list=PLb-h0TgZRJZpYbnvq7gW1FBvsBMdCI_mZ&index=10

Additional Song: Loneliest Girl from Carole & Tuesday
/watch?v=pEkpCS65XTA&list=PLb-h0TgZRJZpYbnvq7gW1FBvsBMdCI_mZ&index=11

Whole Playlist:
/playlist?list=PLb-h0TgZRJZooJ-TPIjxWEFoYEnXi2vcl

After their talk with the Allfather the group of three split up. While Thor set out to give Jane a tour around the castle, Luciana was on her way to the room the group of friends usually spend their free days at. Odin's words kept on repeating in her head.

"And do you also know how to get it out of my body?"
"I don't."

"She won't survive its power."

She didn't really know Jane Foster but from their short encounter she had judged her to be a good person. And she knew how important she was to Thor. She didn't deserve to die and Luciana didn't intend to give up on saving her just because the Allfather had deemed it hopeless. After all, the king apparently had a habit of giving up on people.

A second after they had left, the young woman had started to search through the contents of the huge library, snatching every book containing details about the Aether that had crossed her eyes. And now she was carrying quite the amount of them. On her way across the long hallway that led to the sleeping chambers and the leisure rooms, she spotted Frigga slipping out behind one of the big doors. But something about the usually graceful queen seemed different, she kept her eyes on the ground and Luciana could swear she had seen her wipe something from her eye. Had she been crying?

"My queen? Is everything alright?" she called out to her, concern in her voice.
Surprised Frigga looked up, but her muscles relaxed as she realized who had been calling her. "Luciana my dear… Yes, everything is fine. It's just, I just talked to Loki and- Seeing your child in a cell, it doesn't become any easier. No matter how often you see it."
Luciana had wanted to interrupt her the moment she had heard the queen speak his name, but she had swallowed her words, forcing herself to be patient until she had finished. "How, how is he?"
"Good. Fine. Or at least that's what he keeps saying. You know how he is, always hiding what he truly thinks." Frigga laughed sadly. She tried to play it off, but Luciana was sure that there was more to this. She could see it in her face. "He said something, right?"
"What?" the queen blinked.
"To you. He said something that hurt you."
"Yes. He did, but it's alright. I know he doesn't truly mean it, he just-"
"He does it to protect himself. He lies."
"You're right." Frigga smiled at her. "Luciana my dear, you've always been the first one to see behind the masks he puts on. The boy never managed to lie to you."
Luciana chuckled thinking back on their childhood days. "Oh, no he did. Quite a lot of times. I just managed to learn how to discern the lies from the truth over time."
Smiling, the queen reached out to caress her cheek. "You really should talk to him. I'm afraid you may be the only one who can get through to him."

"It has to be you."

Odin's words rang through her mind and for a moment she felt the anger surge up inside her again. But she took a breath to calm herself. This was Frigga. She was nothing like her husband. The queen was kind, gentle and fair to everyone. She had never shown anyone cruelty. If there was anyone whose words she could trust it were Frigga's.
"I wish I could. But I'm not allowed in the dungeons."
"But did you really try?"
"What?" The question surprised the brunette. The surprise and confusion must have shown on her face as the queen chuckled slightly.
"Luciana, I watched you grow up alongside my sons. I know what you're capable of. Once you truly set your mind on something, there's nothing that can stop you. Not my husband, not the guards and definitely not some measly prohibition."
It hadn't occurred to her before, but the queen was right. This wasn't like her at all. Suddenly a feeling of guilt washed over her. She felt exposed.
Hadn't she already come up with a plan during all those nights on the balcony? What had stopped her from acting it out? The uproars, her exhaustion, the Allfather's disapproval - those were all just excuses. Excuses she had made up because deep down she was scared. Scared to face him. Scared that she had failed him when he had needed someone on his side. Scared that he hated her for it.
When had she become such a coward?

Luciana looked away from the queen's eyes, down on the books in her hand.
"I can take these to the room for you, dear." Frigga offered, holding out her hands.
"Really? Thank you."
"No, thank you. And now go. I think there's somewhere you should be."
The young woman nodded and soon darted off towards the big stairs that led down to the dungeons. The queen watched her run with the books in her hands and a smile on her face.

And when it rains
You always find an escape

Tricking the guards had been rather easy. Imitating Thor's voice she had called for help and not a second later the two men had run off in a frantic, fearing for the safety of their future king. She mentally apologized to her friend as she slipped past, down the stairs. The blonde might have to give an awkward explanation to his father's underlings soon.
As she made her way downwards she felt an anxious feeling slowly rising up inside of her. She needed to distract herself if she didn't want to end up a mess in front of his cell. Before she could think about how to distract herself, Luciana had already started singing and the sound of her voice soon resounded through the halls of the dungeon.

[ The Loneliest Girl ]

"It's a little cold in paradise tonight
Love faded"

Loki lay on the bed in his cell, throwing the metal object in his hand up only to catch it again the next moment. He was bored. Incredibly so. Being confined in a cell definitely limited the things one could do and while he often attempted to chat up the other prisoners, most of them were clearly far below his intellect, making the conversations rather one sided. If they were even capable of talking in the first place. He wasn't allowed any visitors apart from his so-called "family". But other than Frigga none of them had even so much as showed their face to him. He would never dare to admit it, but he missed having a normal conversation with an equal.

An equal .

There weren't many people who he would count as such in the first place, as most other Asgardians were brutes and had the brain power of a goldfish. Smart people were a rare breed in this realm. When he really thought about it, there had really only ever been two people who had been able to keep up with him. One was the queen, who he desperately tried to refrain from seeing as "his mother" any longer. And the other one, she…
He refused to think about her all together, afraid of what it would lead to.

"I'm finding new forms, I write it out
It's fine for now"

He perked up as his ears caught the gentle voice that drifted from the long stairway down through the dungeon. There were nights where he couldn't sleep, there had actually been a lot of them, but sometimes as he had lied there, staring at the ceiling, he had heard the faint sound of someone singing. At first he had thought that his mind was beginning to play tricks on him. It wasn't unheard of for people starting to grow crazy in isolation. But for that it happened too irregularly. There was no clear pattern to it. Sometimes only a day went by until he heard it again and other times it took weeks. At one point he had found himself looking forward to it, as it was the only thing that posed a bit of variety in the never different passage of days.

"Then you come along and I cry
Liberated"

Loki sat up on the bed, turning his head towards the big magic glass wall that separated him from freedom. The voice was definitely louder today.
Was it even still daytime? He couldn't tell. And did he imagine it, or was the sound coming closer?

"I'm seeing clearly now, there's no turning back
And I'm overwhelmed"

He pushed himself up and slowly walked across the short space. It didn't even take him five seconds to reach the glass. He wasn't the only one who had picked up on the song, as a lot of the other prisoners had also assembled themselves in front of their respective magic walls.
The voice really seemed to get louder by the second.

"Do you really want to set the night on fire?
You're my only way out"

If he allowed himself to think about the sound then he would realize that the voice sounded familiar. Actually, it was from the start. And deep down he knew who it belonged to. He always had. Or more like he had always hoped to know. Hoped it was her.

"Do you really want to turn your life around again?
You know you're my last chance"

Slowly he reached out, placing his hand on the cold glass and as he closed his eyes he could hear the faint sound of footsteps mixed in with the soft voice. They moved in time with the melody, delicately and tentatively as if the person they belonged to wasn't sure whether they really wanted to reach the end of the long stairway.

"Can you feel my…
Can you feel my…
Can you feel my tears? They won't dry"

There was an unmistakable sadness in the song, amplified by the emotions its singer was delivering through their voice. It was the kind of melody one couldn't escape from once you listened to it. He took in a sharp breath, trying to escape the constricting feeling that had begun forming in his chest. And as he did the sound of footsteps faded.

"Can you feel my…
Can you feel my teardrops of the loneliest girl?
The loneliest girl"

Silence followed.
Loki couldn't hear anything anymore, apart from the sound of his own breathing. A few seconds passed in which he didn't dare to open his eyes. Bothered by what they would see if he did. Or maybe more so afraid of the possibility that they wouldn't. In his mind he saw her standing there, in front of the cell, her hand pressed against the glass where he was touching it, only from the other side. He needed to get rid of the image before the imminent disappointment would become too much to bear. He didn't want to see. But at the same time he felt that he had to. Another breath. Just one more before-

Slowly Loki opened his eyes.
And there she was.
Her smaragd green eyes stared at him, shining bright just like he remembered. She smiled, albeit at the same time she looked like she was about to burst into tears. "Hello." she said in a soft voice, barely louder than a whisper.
And all he managed was the same plain word as he struggled to regain his composure. "Hello, Lucy."