Judgment

The chains rattled as he walked up to the throne where the Allfather waited for him. Despite their unnatural heaviness that felt as though they were pulling him down, he held his head up high and continued to walk, forest green eyes locking with Odin's. He refused to lower his gaze or look away, and he stopped walking only when the chains pulled him as the guards halted a few feet from the throne.

Inclining his head, the trickster gave a slow, calculating smile. "Well well, a family reunion. How sweet of you Odin, I'm flattered." He said, eyes flicking to the sides to see Frigga standing to Odin's right, and Thor to his left.

"Loki, please. Don't make this worse." Frigga said softly, a touch of sadness written in her wizened eyes.

It tore at Loki's heart but he kept his face passive and managed a roll of his eyes as he turned his head her way and said, "Define 'worse', mother."

"Loki." Thor warned, and there was a storm in Thor's eyes as he stared at his younger brother. He wasn't so good at hiding his emotions, had never been good with hiding them. In spite of everything that had happened, Thor couldn't abandon his brother. Couldn't abandon the hope that somewhere in him, a piece of Thor's little brother still existed.

But with each time they fought, each time he saw the madness in Loki's eyes, Thor lost a little more hope. He was barely hanging on by a thread at this point, and that in itself tormented the god of Thunder.

"Thor." Loki responded and looked at him next, letting the anger he felt for the man replace the sorrow he felt at seeing Frigga's disappointment and sadness and hurt. "Have you all brought me here to tell me how proud you are of me?" He sneered.

Odin tapped the floor with Gungnir to silence them. "That is enough. Do you not feel the gravity of your situation, Loki? Do you not feel remorse for your crimes? For the people you hurt, the lives you cost with your actions?" Odin asked, his eye impassive and his expression unreadable as he stared at Loki from the throne.

"Why should I? They were mortals, their lives are fleeting. You can't honestly be that upset about what happened on Midgard. And remind me how many lives you cost during your rule?" Loki responded, his eyes narrowed up at Odin, staring at him defiantly. "I went to Midgard to rule the humans as a benevolent god, just as you once did. What exactly are my crimes concerning that?"

"Except you are not a king to rule anyone, and we are not gods! We are born, we live, we die, just as humans do."

"Give or take five thousand years." Loki interrupted Odin, blinking up at him like it was the most obvious thing in all the nine.

"You had no right to do what you did on Midgard or what you attempted to do to Jotunheim." Odin snapped, his eye blazing dangerously as he stared at Loki before the impassive mask fell back over his expression once more.

"I attempted to do what you didn't have the strength to do; wipe out the enemies of Asgard. How is fighting for our people a crime!? You do it all the time!" Loki spat back, the very mention of Jotunheim igniting the flame of hatred he had for the race -his own race. He straightened his back and tilted his head, a sneer twisting his expression.

Odin's grip on Gungnir tightened. "I taught you better than that. A wise king does not seek out a war." He said slowly, before leaning back into the throne. "All this because Loki desires a throne."

"I never wanted the throne!" Loki yelled, pulling at the restraints as he tried to step forward, but the guards held him back. His cuffed hands balled into fists, his muscles taut with rage. "I only ever wanted to be Thor's equal! It is my birthright to be his equal and you made me into his shadow instead!"

Odin stood up at that. "Your birthright was to die!" His voice raised and boomed throughout the throne room. He narrowed his eye at Loki. "A king admits his mistakes. I have made a grave one, and I admit it here, now."

Loki stepped back at that, eyes widening a fraction. He felt as if he had been punched in the gut from those words. "So there it is, you admit you never should have saved me. Is that it? Having a Frost Giant as a son wasn't as appealing as you thought it would be?" He asked, his voice cracking. He refused to let any tears fall in front of them, not anymore. His chest rose and fell raggedly while he fought the storm of emotions that threatened to consume him.

But he was better than this, he was stronger than what they thought. He wouldn't shed a single tear here, not now and not ever again. Not for them.

Holding his hand up, the Allfather shook his head. "You always twist my words. My mistake was not taking you from Jotunheim. I never regretted that. My mistake was not telling you sooner. Perhaps all this could have been avoided..." He trailed off, eye going distant to some other time and place before it sharpened with clarity again and he leveled Loki with a hard look. "But what's done is done. We have made our decisions. And you made yours. As have I."

The look on Loki's face, his eyes, it was tearing at Frigga's heart. "Odin," Frigga stepped forward then, looking at Odin pleadingly.

"Silence!" He ordered, not looking at his wife and queen as he continued to meet Loki's gaze. "You have thrown aside your family, your friends, your home and your people in pursuit of what? To prove Loki is equal to Thor. Thor proved himself worthy of his powers, of everything he once endangered due to your actions. Now your actions have put you in the same situation. I now take from you what you were not willing to throw aside in this pursuit."

"Father?" Thor looked at Odin, his heart clenching at what he knew was coming. He looked toward Loki quickly.

The man was standing rigidly, green eyes dark and mouth drawn in a thin line. "You can't." He tried to relax his muscles as he held his bound hands out and open while stepping forward again. "If I'm for the ax then please just swing it, but you cannot just take my magic like what you did to Thor's powers. You can't--"

"I can. I now seal your magic away, Loki, and banish you to the realm that you wrought chaos upon, where you will remain for the rest of your days. Never to see Frigga again, never to see your home and people." With those words resonating in the throne room, Odin tapped the ground with Gungnir, and the last thing Loki remembered seeing before a piercing pain in his chest caused him to lose consciousness was Frigga as he turned toward her, away from Thor and Odin.

The expression she wore and the emotions he seen in her eyes was more painful than his magic being sealed away for eternity.

Fin