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Willow was too concerned on keeping her facts in order to fully take in the sight of an alien planet until they got to where they needed to be. She looked around in mild interest as she followed them up a set of stairs that led to the massive palace seemingly built out of pure gold and shining proudly in the last of the light as the endless sky began to darken.

The doors slowly swung open as Lady Sif and The Warriors Three escorted Willow into what looked like a grand hall with soaring pillars and low-burning torches. At the end was a magnificent throne on which a man in armored garb sat and stationed near and along the sides of the hall were royal guards.

It was the sight of Loki, his back to them, that made Sif hold up a hand and direct them behind a pillar near the entrance. Willow could hear his voice—bitter and shrewd, the same tone he had taken with her many times when he let out an amused chuckle.

"I really don't see what all the fuss is about," he said with a perpetually casual tone of voice.

"Do you not truly feel the gravity of your crimes?" Odin boomed. "Wherever you go, there is war, ruin and death."

"What's gonna happen to him?" Willow whispered to Volstagg, peeking around the pillar.

"I cannot say. Loki will be tried according to the Allfather's command and once his sentence is given, it is set."

Orin's raised voice drew her attention back and she listened in surprise as the king of Asgard glared down at Loki.

"Your birthright was to die as a child, cast out onto a frozen rock. If I had not taken you in you would not be here now to hate me," he snarled.

His birthright? She thought.

Willow remembered him mentioning that it had been his birthright to be a king, so why would his own father say something like that?

"If I am for the axe, then for mercy's sake, just swing it," Loki muttered with a slightly exaggerated sigh, "It's not that I don't love our little talks, it's just...I don't love them."

"Frigga is the only reason you are still alive and you will never see her again. You will spend the rest of your days in the dungeons."

Frigga?

Willow watched with mixed emotions as Loki was led away by a few guards, catching sight of the thick collar around his neck that connected to the chains around his wrists. She felt herself taking a step forward the farther Loki got when the voice that called her name from behind made them all freeze.

"Willow?"

"Shit," she breathed before turning around with a big smile on her face.

"Thor? What are you doing here?" Her voice was bright as she edged behind Fandral at the sight of him walking over with an expression that clearly said you're-kidding-me.

"I live here. The same can hardly be said for you," he said flatly.
"What are you doing here?"

"I have to talk to Loki."

Thor shook his head.

"You've gone too far with this. Come. I'll take you home."

"I'm not going anywhere if that hasn't been made clear already."

"If you've come to prove something—"

"You sound like my brother," Willow interrupted him with a scowl.

"There isn't much you can do."

"I can try."

He gazed at her in silence.

"You trust him?" He finally asked.

His tone wasn't anything near disbelief or disgust, but genuine curiosity and, if Willow was correct, a hint of hope.

"Maybe."

"You'd do well to remember this is not Midgard," he suddenly entreated the young woman, "so keep your temper."

"I can be polite," she said a little defensively, "besides, what difference does it make? Why would I lose it?"

"It makes a difference between your life and your death. This is not your home, Willow. I implore you to keep your head—I really don't want to take it back to your brother when it's separated from your body," Thor muttered the last bit mainly to himself.

"That's comforting."

"I do not jest," he grabbed her hand, forcing her to look him in the eye, "it is for your own good that I warn you."

Willow patted his shoulder.

"I promise."

"You have little chance of getting what you want, but your efforts are...brave."

"Like I said, I can try."

The god of thunder looked a little worried, but he was a firsthand witness to how obstinate Willow was. There would be no getting rid of her and even if he scooped her up and took her to Earth, he was almost sure she'd find her way back somehow.

He moved to stand at her side and the both of them walked out together with the four warriors trailing after before arriving at the foot of the throne. The king of Asgard was more weathered and grey than Willow thought he was, but his stony-faced countenance expressed a side less relenting than he appeared.

"Father," Thor bowed his head, "one of my Midgardian companions humbly requested an audience with you. She is the one Loki took captive."

"Ah, the young woman you've all made such a fuss about. What is it you want? Is your freedom not enough?" Odin asked.

Thor nudged her forward when she said nothing and she flustered for a second before clearing her throat, her head inclined and her eyes focused on the floor.

"Loki has a lot to answer for and I came in search of such answers that I couldn't get back home, sir. When he took me as his prisoner, the both of us got trapped in a bunker. He gave me a few accounts of not only his life, but what happened leading up to the attack on Earth. If I may, I just want to speak to him and piece together his story and the conclusions I've drawn."

"And what sort of conclusions have you come to?"

"I...," Willow opened and closed her fists anxiously, "I believe that Loki is innocent."

Odin said nothing, merely staring at her long and hard until she finally worked up the courage to look him in the eye and continue.

"Under the influence of mind control, your actions are not your own and I've experienced this," she exclaimed, "Loki's scepter was the root of such a problem. He told me himself that he wasn't in his right mind when everything happened and Thor—"

She turned to the god of thunder who stepped up almost eagerly but Odin waved him away.

"Loki would say anything to save his own skin, of course he'd tell you what you want to hear."

"You don't understand. I experienced something that attests to the fact that he was under such an influence. I don't know how to explain it, but it hurts him—"

"You don't know how to explain it?"

"Believe me when I say I'm trying," she muttered in annoyance at how Odin remained inexpressive.

"And who is this mysterious being that has taken control over Loki and forced him to attack Earth?"

"I—he didn't tell me—"

"He wreaked unimaginable chaos on your home planet and you stand before me, representing your people, to say that you think he is innocent?"

"If you'd just listen—"

"I've heard enough," Odin said dismissively.

"I've heard enough."

"Take her away."

"Give it to me."

"I wasn't even seen as a son."

"We don't need you."

"He did it for you!" Willow blurted loudly, unable to control her rage any longer at his contemptuous behavior.

A shared look of disbelief between the warriors and Thor froze them in place as she took a step forward, closer to the throne.

"You don't know what it feels like to be treated like you don't matter and you say you've heard enough when you haven't even heard half of it!"

Thor moved to grab Willow by the arm, but she yanked herself away and pointed a finger at Odin.

"He thinks that all you see when you look at him is a disappointment. It's your fault!"

"Did he not have a choice? Did you see me forcing his hand?"

"Your neglectful behavior led to him thinking he has to prove that he's worthy of your acceptance! Can't you see that's fault in itself?"

"Who are you to accuse me of neglect?"Odin demanded, standing up from his throne. "Who are you to come into my home and attack and chastise me as if I am a child? You disrespect me!"

"I know! That's the point!" She shouted back before wincing at the remembrance of Thor's previous warning and suddenly wanting to swallow her tongue.

"I will have no more of this! Whatever rubbish that has been put into your head, I suggest you forget about it. Take her away!"

Two palace guards rushed to seize the young woman and grabbed her by the arms.

"No, Father!"

Thor quickly moved to put a hand on her shoulder.

"She is exhausted and ill in the mind!" He pleaded.

"I'm not mental, dipshit," she grumbled under her breath, earning herself a pinch on the back from the god of thunder.

"Please, Father," he continued, "she is ignorant and callous and she forgets her place, but she means no harm to anyone and is in an unstable condition. Let me escort her back to Midgard."

"You would vouch for this young woman?" Odin said, peering down at his son sternly.

Understanding what Thor wanted, she bowed her head compliantly while letting out a string of barely audible curses that would make even the drunkest soldier blush.

"She only wants to speak to Loki. That is all she has come for."

"Loki has chosen his destiny. He will see no one but the walls in which he is confined. You will leave Asgard and you will never return," he ordered with a fierce glare.

"But—"

Thor pulled her away from the guards and twisted her wrist in such an uncomfortable position that she immediately cut off as she bit back a pained groan.

"Thank you, Father," Thor said, nodding and dragging Willow off with him, leaving Sif and the Warriors to stare after them in awe at what had just happened.

He quickly led her out of the grand hall and into a random room, slamming the door shut before turning on the young woman.

"What in Hel's name were you thinking?" He hissed.

"Thor—"

"You could've gotten yourself killed! What would I have to tell your brother? That you came to my home, insulted the king and expected to leave alive?"

"He wasn't listening to me! Just like how none of you listened to me when I told you about the scepter and then shit hit the fan again!"

"I told you to keep your head, I warned you—"

"It doesn't matter anymore, does it?" She shouted over him. "I'm going back home and Loki's gonna be locked up for the rest of his life. Do you want me to say I'm sorry? Because I'm not!"

"It is by his own consequence that he is imprisoned! If he had not tried so hard for a throne that was never his—"

"That! That right there is exactly what he was talking about!" She pointed at him triumphantly.

"What?"

"It's not about that stupidly large chair. It was never about that, but you wouldn't know that because you've never understood him!"

"You know nothing of our relationship!" Thor snapped.

"And I won't bother trying to know, but I'm beginning to think it's you that needs to talk to your brother."

"I've tried!"

"Listening? Or just talking? Because it's a two way thing, not just you blabbering away like you've done since we got in here."

The god of thunder gave her a piercing look.

"What happened in that bunker that made you change your mind so fervidly?"

"He talked to me!"

Her tone was insistent when she realized that Thor was now paying full attention and her eyes shone with sudden agitation.

"In the bunker, at the Tower. He explained so much. Like that scepter of his that's able to control people? It's been controlling him—"

"Loki told you this?" Thor interrupted.

"No, but once he told me about what happened, it all made sense! And I know this because when I held it back at the Tower, I was so angry that I could have hurt all of you, but it wasn't me," Willow said hurriedly, beginning to pace up and down the room in a furious manner, "and I didn't want to hurt anyone, but that thing had such a strong negative force on me that I was acting against my will and who knows how it affected Loki if he's been hauling it around for so long—"

Her fervent muttering made it seem as if she were talking to herself and she suddenly whirled on her heel and pointed at Thor.

"And the seizures!"

"The what?"

"He has these—these seizures that incapacitate him," she was gesturing wildly at this point as Thor grew less angry and more confused, "I can't explain it, but it's like someone's torturing him when it happens. He goes into this fit and he can't breathe and he kind of flops across the floor like a fish, but not really—"

"I do not understand," Thor wrinkled his nose and Willow sighed, a little frustrated.

"Look, I know that Loki attacked Earth because he wanted something pretty to sit on, but he did it because he was trying to live up to you. You, the golden child, the favorite of the pack, everyone's first choice."

"That is a foolish reason," he scoffed.

"Well, how would you feel if you weren't a choice at all?" She said abruptly. "What Loki did...all of it is horrifying, I'm not gonna pretend like it isn't. But imagine having your free will stripped from you while under the control of something that won't let you let your rage go? That multiplies that feeling by a hundred and brings out the absolute worst and darkest parts of you and then unleashes it to create chaos?"

She was trying her best to put a meaningful weight on her words and she looked at him with pleading eyes.

"Imagine having to be compared to someone all your life, pushed aside and ignored because you were told you're not worthy?"

As Thor listened to Willow's words, his face softened and something seemed to dawn on him, a realization of some sort as he slowly sat down and previous arguments were called to mind.

"I remember a shadow...living in your greatness...I remember you tossing me into an abyss!"

"So you take the world that I love as recompense for your imagined slights?"

"I never wanted the throne! I only ever wanted to be your equal!"

"He was....," Willow's brows furrowed in remembrance of Loki in the bunker and she looked at Thor with a torn expression, "suffering. And as much as I really can't stand the guy, I'd hate to be in his place."

"Is what you say true?"

Both Thor and Willow quickly turned around in surprise to find a woman, elegantly dressed with a hopeful look on her face, standing at the door.

"Mother?"

"Mother? Meeting your dad was bad enough—oof!" She coughed as Thor elbowed her in the side.

"This is Willow Rogers. She wanted—"

"I know," the tiniest of smiles graced her lips, "I heard."

"Your Highness," the young woman did an awkward curtsy and Thor sighed in defeat.

"Willow Rogers. You oppose the king of Asgard because of your firm belief in Loki's innocence even when your life hangs in the balance?" She asked.

"I'm starting to regret it," she mumbled under her breath before raising her voice, "I do. And I just want to talk to him. That's all."

She tilted her head curiously.

"I will take you to him."

"You will?" Willow asked, looking at Thor who was equally surprised as she at the offer.

"He is my son," was her mere response.

The young woman could see in the softness of her eyes and the way she tightly clasped her hands together how much she herself longed for what Willow believed to be true.

As for Willow?

She was just hoping she'd be able to make it home with her head connected to the rest of her.

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☀︎ celine's corner ☀︎

why do these chapters feel
so long yet so short, I—