Chapter One: Colder Than Ice

Thor watched as his brother was forced to the center of the Court Hall as he awaited his final sentence. Elders and many others continued to flock the room moments before the trial had begun, all the while, Thor's eyes stayed focused on the criminal below, Loki. He had not the slightest look of remorse on his face and in fact, he looked more deranged than ever. Perhaps, it was the fact that he'd finally done something worth noticing or, could it have been the fact that he was truly insane.

It didn't matter anyway, he was in trouble with the law on a very high level one that the Royal Family couldn't weasel him out of. It was all up to how he acted during the trial and mainly, the mercy of the Elders and of the people. Thor knew that in the end, his opinion would overrule everyone elses but nevertheless, he had to go according to the people or else he'd be accused of treason himself.

"Calm yourself," He continuously thought. "Loki is not an idiot, he'll speak with sense...he'll find something to say and if things do turn out negative, you are after all, The King."

About at that moment, his mother and father joined him taking the two empty thrones near him and they glanced down at their troubled son. Odin's face was a mixture of what seemed like sheer disappointment, not in Loki but in himself. Frigga on the other hand reflected pure anguish and sorrow. It seemed as if she'd neglected sleep.

As he saw his parent's reactions to the situation, Thor felt his insides turn to mush when the sound of the gavel was heard. Everyone's attention was taken by the head Elder whom looked less than pleased at Loki.

"Murder, Treason on the highest level, betrayal..." Began the Head Elder, glancing at a large parchment before him. For the first two sentences, Thor tensed slightly but felt particularly eased as the list continued on and on. He decided that looking at his parents was not at all the best idea so he kept his eyes fixed on Loki.

When finally, the Elder had finished the list, it was Loki's time to speak and Thor felt his stomach turn to mush once again. All eyes turned to the trickster as he pondered on what to say. Frigga gripped her husbands hand in her own while Thor twitched nervously in his seat as Loki's mouth began to move.

"Well," He began in a very casual voice. "I trust that it was a very wise idea to take note of all my crimes on a parchment. I hardly ever remember committing any of those. You my friend are very wise, I would have forgotten them all."

All of Thor's hope of his brother evading death seemed to have vanished with Loki's statement. His heart seemed to have fallen into the pits of his stomach.

On his side, both Frigga and Odin stared in shock; Frigga seemed as if she could burst into tears at any given moment while Odin, on the other hand, seemed bewildered.

Upon seeing their faces, Loki continued. "How funny. I can see the three of you, gazing down upon me like I'm some insect. A father, who never trusted me, a mother who never loved me, and a brother who received everything and anything he wanted." His voice became rather shrill as he glared up at them. "You of course, were never my family or at least, I was never yours. With that being said...I would happily greet death rather than stay in a place where I don't belong."

He could've easily been attempting to trick the three into letting him go free but it hardly seemed that way. There was no smile on his face this time, it was replaced by a very sorrowful expression: He was serious and Frigga easily caught on to this.

"That isn't true! You don't mean it!" She yelled, unable to contain herself as she rose from her throne. All eyes made their way towards her as she tried to keep tears from spilling down her cheeks. "You are insane! You need help Loki!" At that very moment, there was an uproar in the crowd. Some agreed with what she had said while others claimed that she was under some type of curse, all the while, Loki didn't dare make eye contact with her.

Thor and Odin glanced nervously at the crowd as it began to grow louder and louder, all the while Frigga was making her way down the center of the Hall towards her troubled son. Before she had a chance to even touch him, she was roughly forced back by two of the palace guards. At that moment, Odin had quieted down the crowd.

The Elders talked quietly amongst themselves, attempting to find a reasonable sentences for someone who had respectfully asked to be killed. On the brighter side it seemed, Frigga had finally gotten a hold of her son.

She forcefully pulled him into a tight embrace and received gasps from the Elder's as well as the crowd.

"Loki please," She began as he tried to push her away. "You're ill!"

"Get off of me!" Loki bellowed, pushing Frigga with a strong force and knocking her off of her feet. This still wasn't enough to convince her that Loki was a dangerous man; Lucky at that moment, the Elders had come up with the final verdict and this distracted Loki from inducing further injury on his mother.

"Seeing as though, the criminal brought forth is very well out of his mind and deranged, we find death unfair and unfitting." The Head Elder began and rose slowly, followed by the other Elders, Odin and Thor. "So instead of banishment or imprisonment, we will strip Loki of his powers as well as his title of 'Prince of Asgard' and we hereby sentenced him to eternal service to the royal family."

On the ground next to Loki, Frigga breathed a sigh of relief. Immediately afterwards, the same two guards came to her aid and helped her up while another punched Loki firmly in his gut, causing him to lose his balance and fall clumsily on the ground near where Frigga had been.

Everything became dark for him and he suddenly found himself drifting off somewhere else.

Loki didn't wake up in his old room but the dungeons. It is what he had expected after all, he wouldn't be given the treatment he was usually use to.

He forced himself to sit up and get a glance of his new "room". It was just a typical dungeon, nothing was special about it.

As he looked about, the dungeon door suddenly opened and as usual, revealed a guard. Loki turned to face him with not the slightest change of facial expression.

"I'm quite sure that you heard your final sentence, right? So you know what you're supposed to do. Of course, we can't have you living in the castle! Things are very different for you. I've received orders to have you out of here by nightfall and back by dawn. Everything you've owned has been destroyed so don't think about packing, just leave. No one wants you here, so it shouldn't be hard for you."

Painfully, Loki rose and exited the cell. He knew his facial expression had angered the guard more than anything, so he decided not to change it one bit.

This didn't serve him well at all as he was violently struck across the face by the guard's fists.

"Try your luck like that again and I'll do more to you than that, slave."

He wanted to say something back but no words made their way to his lips. Loki was stripped of his magic prior to his drop off in the dungeon so in a sense, he was very vulnerable and keeping his mouth shut at the moment would be very wise. Sadly, he still had a bit of his pride left.

"Well," He began, surprising the guard greatly. "Let's see what happens when I do try my luck."

Frigga was in complete turmoil. The thought of her son being treated as a slave nearly killed her; Odin and Thor didn't make her day any better.

"Rape?" Frigga stammered, turning sharply from the window. "You're saying that there is a high possibility of Loki being raped?"

Odin stood on the other side of the room, gazing out of the window and at the vast kingdom before him. He hadn't meant to worry his wife but he didn't want to lie to her either.

"Yes, being as he is, Loki. He is also powerless and nevertheless weak. Not everybody on the planet has good intention, my queen. Servants are very low; They'll do anything to break his spirits." He turned to face his wife. "We can only hope for the best."

At that moment, the two golden doors flew open and revealed a very confused Thor. Both his mother and father turned to him with worried expressions.

"Why must he serve me personally? Can it not be somebody else?" He bellowed, glaring at them both. "To me, it seems as if the Elders are trying to strip every single last bit of pride from him."

"Well perhaps you are right." Odin cut in. "Yes, Loki is very much a part of our family but he is a criminal at the same time. He, deserves what ever happens to him."

A loud wail could be heard from the right side of the room and in anger, Frigga marched out, not even looking at her husband and son.

Pain, that's the only way he could describe it. He kept a smile when he was around people, but alone he was able to face the facts. This was far from over.

The guard was almost as merciless as he was in fact, he was surprised he had a face. He had tried his luck well and he'd suffered the consequences of a bruised face and a fractured rib cage. On top of that, he had numerous scars from a few beatings he'd received. To make matters even worse, the servants mainly wore white which meant that blood was seeping through his clothes. He was a mess.

Loki quickly made his way to the nearest washroom and attempted to fix himself up. Sadly, because he was drained of his magic, he could do nothing to ease the pain or heal the cuts and bruises. So with a heavy sigh, he exited the washroom and continued to walk down the large corridor to the servants quarters.

Much to his dismay, he was not paying any attention to wear he was going and he bumped into a group of people walking ahead of him. The force knocked him backwards onto the ground.

Through his swollen eyes, he gazed up and felt is heart stop slightly. The four he had bumped into were no other than Sif, Fandral, Hogund and Volstagg. This had to be the worst day of his life.

Hopefully, he thought that because his face was ruined, they wouldn't be able to tell who he was. He was wrong.

"Well, what do we have here?" Sif asked, progressing forward. "A broken Prince it seems, oh, I forgot, a slave."

"Lady Sif, even a slave looks more kempt than he does." Volstagg corrected. "I'd say, this is an animal."

Loki tried his best to ignore them. He stood and almost advanced past them but Sif quickly sidestepped him and blocked his way.

"Excuse me but, we have not yet given you permission to leave!" She said in a very gleeful voice.

"Yes," Fandral added. "You're serving us greatly by just entertaining us! You see Loki, you really are just a joker."

He fought the urge to say something very vulgar back to them, he most certainly didn't wish for another beating but he didn't like being treated as an animal either.

"Let me pass." He said in a small whisper.

"And if we refuse?" Sif asked happily, walking toward him. "Will you have us killed or arrested? Prince Loki?"

Loki kept his head low and attempted yet again to advance past the group but this time, Fandral kicked him, causing him to plummet back down on the ground.

"You have not yet been dismissed, slave." He said, in a very authoritative voice.

"He must not understand yet," Sif began, walking around him. "I think we should make him. What about you boys?"

"This is a rematch I've been waiting for." Hogund suddenly said, emerging from behind Sif.

"I could not have stated it better myself." Volstagg added.

At the entrance of the hall, unknown stood Thor, watching as the four beat Loki until he couldn't move. After they were pleased, they left with Sif.

Loki on the other hand was lying on the ground un-conscience. Thor felt the strong urge to help him but it was won over by the pride of being king.

He slowly turned his back on the man nearly dead on the floor before him and left to attend to his business.

Talk about neglecting sleep!

Hey guys, it's the usual writer here, Yamiga. I just want to start off by saying, I've been thinking of this story for a long time. Due to some of the material, the rating my change over time but as for now, it's okay...I guess.

Anyway, if you like it, please, please, please review it just so I can know. I'm going out of town or out of the country tomorrow so... it would make me super happy to see reviews when I got back home. And speaking of that, how's your summer?

Anyway, I don't own any of the characters or anything like that...so just enjoy.

ALSO, Tell me if my grammar is messed up or if there are any errors...I haven't got the best eye site. Words literally float off of the screen and I try to catch them.

And, am I the only one getting tired of the image manager?