The first clue the "Trickster" Loki had that something weird was going on was when he saw Dean again. Keep in mind that he was very, very well aware that he wasn't the true Loki, but that the odds of running into the actual one were pretty damn low anyway.

At first he thought Dean had said yes to Micheal...but that didn't explain why he still drove or stayed with Sam. Then he realized it wasn't Micheal, and his confusion mounted. Dean was Dean, but at the same time he wasn't Dean. And there was something strange about Sam as well.

"Loki" decided to test them to gain some more time to figure out what was different about them.

Its not like they underwent the Trials of Asgard and suddenly gained the powers of an Asgardian, right?


The moment Dean realized where he was, he grinned. He loved "Dr. Sexy, M.D.", no matter how much he would deny it if asked.

So when he realized that "Dr. Sexy" had the wrong shoes on, he was quick to slam the damn Trickster into the wall.

"So, we meet again. Which Trickster are you anyway?" asked Dean seriously.

The golden haired man grinned.

"You're getting better at this. And I'm Loki."

Whatever reaction he thought he might get from that announcement, it wasn't the look of incredulous disbelief followed by hysterical laughter.

"You're Loki?" said Sam, snorting before he about died laughing his ass off.

"You're kidding, right?" said Dean in disbelief, but his lips were clearly twitching upwards into a smirk.

"Loki" looked confused.

"What's so funny?"

"We know for a fact you're not the real Loki," said Dean, snickering. This was going to be funnier than he had thought.

"Because we've seen the real one and he's currently in the process of corrupting Castiel with pop culture with Tony Stark," said Sam, snickering.

"Loki" blinked twice, before his own lips twitched upward.

"I'd pay to see that. So how can you be sure he's the real one and I'm not?"

"Well for starters your aura is clearly that of an angel. Not sure what rank, but still an angel," said Dean flatly, his grin far more vicious.

"And let's not forget the most important fact that you can't possibly be the real Loki..." started Sam, smirking evilly.

"Because I am the real Loki," said Dean...before suddenly shifting into the form of the REAL Asgardian Loki, complete with devilish smirk in place.

"Loki's" response was immediate and loud. He swore in Norse, Enochian and Latin.

"So that's why your aura was wrong. I take it that means Sam over here is a newly fledged Asgardian as well?" said "Loki".

"On the nose," said Sam.

"Fuck."

"So who are you really?"

"Gabriel," said the busted archangel. No point in hiding it now...and then he suddenly grinned. "Please tell me that you have pictures of Micheal's face the minute he found out you're the displaced container for Loki."

"No, but I do have memories of Zachariah right before I dragged his sorry ass to Helheim," offered Loki.

Gabriel winced.

"What did he do to deserve that?"

"He threatened to kill Sam if Dean didn't say yes to Micheal. Seraph or not, no one threatens what's mine and gets away with it. Besides, Sam's quite the charmer. He has practically every one of my children, human or not, around his finger."

Gabriel snorted.

"So you're a snake-charmer Sammy?"

"And dog-magnet," added Loki grinning.

Gabriel let the illusion drop, to Dean's private disappointment.

"So how exactly does this work anyway?"

"When Dean was sent to hell to break the first seal, it wasn't just Lucifer's seals that were broken. The memory seal Odin placed on me was shattered and I was stuck in hell with Dean. When Castiel dragged us out of the pit, he accidentally resealed both our souls together. So I waited for Dean to drop his guard before I approached him. Fortunately he was willing to listen to reason since I'm not a demon."

Sam had asked the same question, only to be struck with the sheer possessiveness in Loki's voice and the overprotective tone of Dean's.

Loki didn't have many friends. Well, not friends in the same way Thor had friends with the three who followed him around. And eventually the few he almost had were converted to Thor's friends because they didn't like it when Loki tried to retaliate against the subtle rumors that had been following him around for years. It had pissed him off, and eventually he quit trying centuries ago.

So when he realized that Loki's sheer possessive nature and Dean's overprotective side overlapped, it was little wonder they refused to let Sam go.

Loki accepted that Sam was his own person, that he would need to make his own mistakes, even if they were big ones. Dean, thankfully, followed Loki's lead and found that Sam was even less likely to run away or leave as long as he gave Sam his space.

In a twist of irony, allowing Sam to be himself had brought them closer than ever before.

"I convinced Dean to let Sam make his own mistakes and not feel as though he has to automatically try to correct them. I didn't kill Ruby until after I went to Asgard and stole some books on magic and Sam was aware of what I was going to do. I can tolerate him sleeping with a demon, if that's what he wants, but I'd sooner go skinny dipping in Jotunheim during winter before I allow a demon to turn him into her bitch with demon's blood," said Loki flatly.

"Wait, so Sam has Asgardian magic now?" said Gabriel. He had to duck rather quickly when Sam threw a decently sized fireball at him. "Not bad, for someone who used to be human."

Sam smirked at him.

"So, Gabriel, which team are you on? Team Jackass or Team Soldier? Or are you on our team?" asked Loki casually.

"What's your team?"

"Team 'Go Screw Yourselves'," deadpanned Dean. Gabriel cackled.

"It's Team Free Will," said Sam tiredly. Clint had coined that nickname shortly after hearing about what the whole issue was about, but Tony had found the one Dean had made up funnier.

"Well considering the whole Apocalypse scene was screwed over the minute you remembered you were Loki, count me in on your team. Just don't be surprised if I end up conspiring with Stark or screwing with Thor's head."

"You kidding? I put the left over staff into an Iron Man costume dressed up as a dick and Rogers fainted," cackled Dean. Gabriel laughed with him.

This version of Loki was far more amusing that who he had been before.


Steve actually fainted from meeting the archangel Gabriel. Even if he was more like a sugar-addicted, winged version of Tony.

For someone who fully believed in God, being confronted with confirmation his faith wasn't in vain was a bit too much for the poor man. Gabriel took it with good humor and even answered most of the questions Steve had about his Father, and about heaven in general.

There was no doubt that when he died, Steve would end up in heaven.

Of course that was nothing compared to the two days in which Loki agreed to let people vent their frustration and grief on him for what he did to New York with the alien army...even if he wasn't entirely responsible for what happened.

It took him a week before he could fully heal from that ass-kicking, but the fact was that the stunt had allowed some people who had lost loved ones start the healing process on the right foot. Having a chance to actually vent on the main ringleader helped.

Thor was actually proud of Loki for doing it, because it had actually helped his reputation that he allowed physical harm to himself without worry of returning the favor.

Humans had a psychological need for revenge. It was hardwired into them. Giving them even a fraction of it for loss was a good way to get on their good side...or set the stage for neutrality.

As predicted, Gabriel got along well with Tony. Too well, in the opinion of the Avengers. With the archangel's ability to conjure items (namely sugar or candy) and the inherit mischief of Tony and Dean, chaos reigned for all of a week...before Pepper had enough and promptly dragged Gabriel into another room for a long lecture.

Dean grinned...right up until Pepper repeated the same treatment for him and Tony.

Loki's respect for the woman solidified. Anyone who could make him feel guilty about making Steve go that red from embarrassment was a woman on the same level as his mother Frigga.


In Asgard...

Frigga was rather...irritated...with her youngest son Loki. He had refused outright to return, citing that he "wasn't sure" that Odin had lifted the banishment order, despite knowing that anyone who passed the trials automatically had such decrees removed.

She would openly admit to spying on Loki...and his new brother Samuel.

She had begun to suspect that the entire reason Loki was loath to return was because he feared that Samuel would be converted into yet another one of Thor's friends, despite evidence to the contrary. She was ashamed to admit she hadn't noticed that the Warriors Three would subtly invite anyone who was more Loki's friend than Thor's on small hunts and other gatherings and slowly turn them into Thor's friend.

From what she saw though, Samuel however, appeared to be more the scholarly type than the warrior breed that was common in Asgard. He put up with Loki's snark and caustic words with a grain of salt, even throwing back some of his own.

And he tolerated Thor, which was blatantly clear from the way he acted around him.

Frigga's lips quirked upward. Perhaps it was time to remind Loki who got him started on his mischief in the first place...and trick her errant son into returning.


Loki and Sam both felt the bifrost gate open, and assumed it was one of the Warriors Three or Thor returning to visit Jane. Loki had more or less punted his brother to his mortal girlfriend in an attempt to shut him up, and aside from the slap she gave him, she was definitely pleased to see Thor again.

Dean was busy working on the Impala, which had thrown a rod, while Sam continued reading the Asgardian books. Bobby was out on a hunt and told them to go ahead and stay at his house.

So it was with some confusion when he realized there was a woman he didn't know looking around with some amusement at the yard.

Considering they had applied devil's gates around all the entrances around Bobby's house, among others, she wasn't a demon or other supernatural nuisance. In fact, if Sam was pressed he might say her garb looked similar to...

Oh.

Asgardian.

Well, there was no reason to be impolite. Sam got up and walked outside, and he noticed her eyes locked on him.

"Can I help you ma'am?"

"I believe you can Samuel. You see I'm trying to convince my errant son to come home and he's being particularly stubborn."

It took Sam a few seconds to realize that this was possibly Queen Frigga...Loki and Thor's mother. His grin was pure Loki.

"Well it would be interesting to see the Asgardian library first hand, and Valhalla only knows how much fun it would be to get Loki back for some of the pranks he's pulled on me before," said Sam grinning.

Frigga's smile was more of a smirk.

It took little time before they were gone, and it took less than that for Loki to realize the bifrost had activated too close to the house.

Thor had agreed to only use that method outside the grounds. And since he had the radio on, he hadn't heard the conversation.


It took Loki a solid minute before he figured out Sam was on Asgard, and another to stop swearing.

Someone was going to pay for this.

Sam fell in love the second he saw the library. Frigga was highly amused, and pleasantly surprised to see how genuinely respectful Sam was around her. Though the same could not be said for Sif or Thor's friends.

Apparently he had words with Sif, Fandral, Volstagg and Hogun the last time they were on Earth after Loki was considered forgiven by Odin.

As for Odin himself...well... he had been wary of accepting Samuel ("Call me Sam, please. No one calls me Samuel anymore.") Winchester because of his demon's blood. Then Sam proved to have all the good qualities of Loki the longer he watched, and he definitely had the amazing ability of keeping Loki in line without being hurtful or causing a rift between them.

Something that only Frigga could accomplish to date.

Sam genuinely cared about Loki and how he was feeling. The fact Loki had more in common with him than Thor didn't hurt either.

Odin had been impressed enough to accept Sam and allow him into Asgard whenever Loki visited, but not enough that he would declare him a member of the royal family by extension.

Sam took the victory for what it was, and didn't complain. It wasn't like he needed to be considered part of the family.

Which was why after he was told where to find the kitchens, Frigga lead him to Loki's favorite place in the castle, next to his room.

The library.

Seeing his eyes light up, Frigga smiled.

Loki's brother indeed.

Loki chose to take the older paths, and then land on the bifrost, just outside the city. Once he was safely on the ground, he switched to Dean and started walking.

No one looked twice at a member of the guard wearing his armor. So long as he looked like he belonged, no one would ask questions.

Loki was pissed, but was able to hide it well enough that no one bothered him.

It wasn't until he sensed Sam's presence in the library...and when he peaked in he found no guards... that he cottoned on to the only possible explanation for what was happening.

Do you think... started Dean.

Mother. It has to be... Odin wouldn't care one way or another, but Frigga has him wrapped around her finger sometimes. She must have gotten Heimdall to drop her off and borrowed Sam to force me to come back, said Loki, and you could sense him putting his hand to his face in exasperation.

Leave it to a mom to know how to blackmail her son, laughed Dean.

Loki sensed for Frigga, and found her close to the main hall where Odin held court.

He took a few short cuts and walked into the room, allowing the illusion of the armor to drop.

"Hello, mother," said Loki.

Frigga turned to face her son with a smug look. He just knew it was going to be one of those weeks.