Chapter 5
The fall

Days had passed, it has been easy enough to keep track of the days. Maxine was growing tired of Lokis' games. He hadn't forgotten about her though whenever Maxine fell asleep she'd always awaken to food and fresh clothing.

It wasn't as bad a prison being locked in the princes bedroom but still infuriating, she'd worked out this was the third day of being locked in his room. She hadn't seen anyone including Loki. She wondered about her mother, if she was concerned or had Loki come up with some elaborate lie about where she was. Most likely she thought to herself.

She sat on the end of Lokis grand bed staring down at the large meal that had been sent to her, she sighed and pushed it away suddenly loosing her appetite. How long did he think he could keep her locked away for she thought to her self.

She rose from the bed and walked over to the window, it was beginning to turn dark once again. She suddenly noticed a the bi-frost was working actively, a little too much "What the.." he voice trailed off as she watched the Bifrost rip into the sky like she'd never seen before.

She began to feel fear stem through her body, she didn't know why but something in her gut told her it was Loki, she swallowed hard and turned back to the bedroom frantically gathering his bed sheets together.

One by one she tied them together as she said a prayer in her head for her plan to work. Any fabric she found was tied into her make shift rope. Once she was happy with the length she tied on end to Lokis solid gold bed knowing that it would support her weight. The other end she tied around her body.

She took a deep breath as she opened up the window and climbed onto the ledge. "Okay Loki" She whispered tightening the fabric around her waist, her heart was beating out of her chest.

"I'm coming" She whispered to herself. She turned her body around and let some of the fabrics slide through her hands, she began to descend down the wall every now an again letting the fabric slide.

The wind blew through her hair, at points covering her face. Not that she had her eyes open, Maxine wasn't a fan of heights and her eyes where tightly shut the whole time she descended down the palace.

She'd never noticed how high his bedroom was until now, she kept her eyes tightly shut as she lowered herself to the ground. She let out the biggest sigh of relief when he feet finally touched the ground, she wondered if she had been holding her breath the whole time.

She grabbed the hem of her dress and lifted it off the floor, she looked around now in the dark of night, she couldn't see the palace guards anywhere. She bit her lip and shook her head knowing something wasn't right. She wasted no time untying herself and running towards the stables holding her dress up so she didn't trip.

When she made it to the stable she called her horse over, there wasn't enough time so she didn't bother putting its saddle on before jumping on it. She grabbed a section of its hair for balance before giving it a tap on the behind and a cry to let the horse know to run.

She raced down the rainbow bridge towards the bi frost praying to god Loki wasn't the one to blame for the destruction. As she got closer she saw Loki inside, the inside was covered in frost, Maxine pulled the horse to a stop and jumped off.

The crashing sound of the Bi frost was almost unbearable for her human ears, the force of the power the Bifrost was giving off felt like it was pushing her back as she tried to walk towards it.

She battled through the feeling to get closer to him, as soon as she entered the small building a horrid chill bit her skin, she'd only felt temperature like this in Jotunheim.

She looked up and saw Loki staring into the Bifrost with a smile on his face. "Loki" She screamed over the noise. Loki carried on what he was doing not seeing her or hearing her, she waded through the power to try and get closer to him.

She noticed the skin on his hands was now blue as he watched the Bifrost work. Her eyes widened as she noticed the blue spread up his body reaching his neck "Loki, you will get hurt" She screamed running towards him battling against the power.

Loki turned and his manic happy expression turned to panic. "Max" He shouted in shock knowing full well the cold could kill her. He jumped down from the ledge he was standing on and ran towards her the power not difficult for him to navigate at all. His eyes wide with panic and fear, he noticed her staring at his blue hands.

She looked up from his hands and into his eyes, they where wide and filled with fear, she could tell. "You're hurt Loki, this isn't you" Maxine tried to tell him assuming this was all to do with an injury from Jotunhiem.

Loki gritted his teeth, he felt disappointment wash over him when he realized she still hadn't understood what was happening, he shook his head "It is me" He argued looking down at his own blue skin. He once again filled with rage remembering the lies of his father. "Odin is not my father" He declared with a mad look in his eye, Maxine's jaw dropped at the revelation.

The look on her face was a picture, Loki couldn't help but laugh at her, his laugh seemed so carefree it send a shiver up her spine and filled her with fear. He slowly walked over to her keeping his eyes fixed on hers "Oh but no. I am the monster parents tell their children about at night" He spat with a mad look in his eye his smile fading from his face.

Her mouth hung open and she gasped at the revelation "You're a frost giant" She whispered in shock. Even over the crashing noise of the Bifrost Loki heard the words and the fear in her trembling voice. His best-friend, his life line and his whole life afraid of him, the pure thought of it made his blood boil.

He snarled as he stepped closer to her, he was almost with in arms reach. "Laufeys son" He added, her eyes widened once more. Once he stood in front of her the blue in his hands began to fade back to his flesh toned colour.

Max was lost for words, a part of her wanted to run and tell everyone and the other half of her wanted to throw her arms around him and beg him to stop. Her heart was beating so fast she thought she was going to collapse, she felt frozen like she couldn't move of speak. Loki looked her up and down and raised one of his eye brows at her "You are supposed to be locked up" Loki broke the silence his tone suddenly returning to normal.

Her hands began to shake more violently, the thud of her heartbeat banged in her ear. Suddenly she couldn't hear the Bifrost anymore she could only hear her own heartbeat and how fast it was racing. She let out a shaky breath and looked up at him with tear pricked eyes. He stared down at her with an emotionless expression. She didn't even recognize him anymore. "Why, why didn't you tell me?" She screamed in a shaky voice.

Loki scoffed and shook his head. "You make it sound easy. Look at you, you are terrified and so you should be. I am a beast" He said viciously closing the gap of space between them.

She pushed him hard in the chest but he didn't move and inch. She hit him again, not with the intent of hurting him she knew she wouldn't hurt but more in anger. "No you're not, you're Loki Prince of Asgard" She cried as she continued to hit him.

Loki rolled his eyes and pushed her shoulder slightly sending her tumbling back and falling the the floor. She looked up at him astounded, he'd never even flicked her before let alone use his actual power against her to knock her down. He smirked at her reaction. "See beast" He spat making his point.

Loki turned and messed with the sword in the Bifrost making the machine grow more wild. Maxine looked around as the ice travelled around her at a rapid rate, the room grew to almost unbearable temperature.

She rubbed her eyes and tried to control her shivering. She managed to pulled her self up from the ground. The bitterness of the cold bit at her skin, she clenched her teeth together trying not to think about the pain the cold was causing. "What is this Loki?" She shouted over the noise.

Loki laughed as he watched the Bifrost work its magic "I am destroying Jotunheim. Asgard will see me as a hero, I have already killed Laufey when he made an attempt on Odins life" Loki called back with a smile on his face.

Maxine could see how unhinged he'd become, she knew there was no coming back from killing an entire race of people over a vendetta. "There's a better way you don't have to do this" Maxine begged as she tired to step closer. The power and ice was too much her skin began to burn red from the ice. She couldn't reach him she stood still instead focusing all her energy on standing her ground and not getting knocked away.

Loki smiled proudly at his work. "It is done already, why stop now?" He asked with a smug look on his face.

"You're not a monster Loki" Maxine screamed in frustration. "You're my best friend and-" She was interrupted by an all to familiar booming voice.

"Loki!" Thor called in a powerful voice. Maxine turned and her eyes widened in shock as she saw Thor in all his glory with Mjolnir in hand. She'd never been so happy to see Thor in her life, she knew he would help her talk Loki down.

Loki stepped down and walked through the power effortlessly until he was next to Maxine. He grabbed her freezing cold hand and yanked her towards him. Their wasn't an inch between them, he lowered his face down to her ear "You must leave now" He said in a low tone different to the one he'd taken earlier, he now sounded concerned.

Maxine frowned and yanked her arm back away from him "No" She argued.

Loki grabbed her arm and yanked her aggressively back towards him, their faces so close they almost touched. "You are the best thing in my life that is all you need to know, everything else I will explain later. GO" He said as he pushed her with enough force to send her flying out of the building.

She let out a cry of pain as she collided with the glass of the rainbow bridge. She clenched at her shoulder convinced it was now broken, as she led on the floor she turned her head to see the brothers facing each other. "Brother nice of you to join" Loki said with a manic smile on his face.

Maxine dragged herself up from the floor and stumbled slightly holding her shoulder tight.
She began to run down the rainbow bridge calling her horse after her knowing she was in no shape to ride. Her plan was to raise an alarm, suddenly she saw multiple people approaching her one of them the all father himself. Her heart began beating faster and her adrenaline kicked in.

"Odin" Maxine screamed not even bothering to use his title. Odin and his men reached the frantic woman, Odin eyed her injury and looked at one of his guards knowing Loki was truly manic if he'd gone as far as hurting her. Maxine could barely breath as tears began to stream down her face. "Loki is trying to destroy Jotunheim, please help him and make him stop" Maxine begged.

Odin placed a hand on her uninjured shoulder. "My child go back to the palace and straight to the healers" He said softly knowing she would be more distressed seeing the Asgardian army having to attack Loki. She nodded and continued to cry as she staggered past the men and carried on walking.

She felt as through the adrenaline was wearing off quick she began to slow, her breathing ragged and the pain of her shoulder burnt through her entire body. When she came to a stop to catch her breath she turned to try and see what was happening on the other side of the bridge.

She let out a loud cry as she saw Thor and Loki go over the bridge but took a sharp breath when she saw them both caught by Odin. For a second she could of sworn her heart stopped beating.

Max held her breath as she watched Odin try to pull both sons up, she shook her head as she watched, she was biting into her lip so hard it drew blood. As Odin lifted his sons Suddenly Loki lost his grip on Thor and began to fall through the night sky into space itself.

She let out a horrified scream and dropped to her knees, her scream would later go on to haunt the nightmares of the guards that witnessed her grief. She let go of her shoulder and her whole body sagged as the tears erupted from her eyes and cries left her body.

She felt like someone had began crushing her organs from the inside out. She fell forward to the floor using her one good arm as support, she scrambled to the edge of the bridge hoping some how a miracle would happen and she could jump after him and rescue him.

She almost reached the edge when she was grabbed from behind by a guard. "No" She screamed not caring about the pain anymore, she fought to get to the edge but the Asgardians where too strong for her. After a minute of thrashing around she went limp in the guards arms and screamed for Loki. A blood curdling scream that was so loud it echoed through the night sky.

Interrogation room 023
TVA
2021

Alone in the interrogation room Max rose from her seat and stared at the screen. Something she'd never noticed before. Her mouth dropped open and she began to sob, like that night she dropped to her knees in front of the screen. The screen had zoomed in on what truly happened that night, a detail so important she'd missed it completely.

"He let go?" she whispered in disbelief. All theses years she thought he'd fallen, Thor had with held the truth from her, Loki killed himself.

She slowly curled into a ball on the floor and began to sob "Oh my god" She cried as she rested her face on the cool tiles of the TVA interrogation room.

She cried for what felt like forever, wishing she could touch him one last time, tell him how she felt tell him she was there for him and he'd never need to hurt himself, she cared and loved him. The darkness she felt inside now knowing that he ended his own life almost killed her alone.

Her sobs didn't stop until she heard his voice again, she looked up from the floor her eyes puffy and red and frowned at the new images on the screen. She pulled her shaking up and sat facing the screen. "What the hell?" Her voice was raw from crying. The new image she saw was Loki in chains, something that had never happened.

Rage suddenly took hold of her and she rose too her feet. She looked around for the cameras that would be in there obviously recording her "What the fuck is this?" Maxine screamed looking up at the screen. Her blood began to boil, she turned and began to flip the furniture in the room the best she could with cuffed wrists. Her screams went unanswered as they echoed through the room.

She felt burning anger at the thought of them creating false images of him to taunt her, she knew they where trying to torture her, and it was working. Seeing his face, him painted as a villain was her worst nightmare.