AN: At long last I have the final story for Loja! I have designed this story to stand on its own, so if you haven't read the first four of Anja and Loki's stories, you should be able to understand what is going on, but I would suggest you read the series in order before trying to tackle this one.

This chapter is mainly a prologue of sorts just to get the characters in their places for the events of the movie to occur. I have HUGE plans for this finale so… I hope I don't disappoint!

If anyone has any ideas as to where they would like to see Anja… please let me know in reviews/ pm's! I love hearing what my readers think. I write for YOU.

Now, enough with the chit chat. Have a go at the prologue for my fifth and final installment in the Loja saga: Stranger in a Strange Land.

"Enemy of mine,

I'll f*ck you like the devil.

Violent inside,

Beautiful and evil."

-Stranger in a Strange Land by 30 Sec to Mars

"Oh Loki, how the mighty have fallen…"

Her voice cut through him like a knife as he sat, book in hand against the cell wall. He did not look up from his book until the vision of her silver gown came into his line of sight. "And yet look who has fallen with me," he said with a light smirk.

As her hand stretched down to take the book from him, he let out a little breath. The touch of her skin, the smell of her, of lavender soap and her own unique scent… it was very nearly too much for him. As she took the book from him and extended her hand to help him up, he looked at it briefly.

This was a dream, had to be a dream.

And yet, as he reached for her warm palm, he could not deny the connection between them as she helped him up. For now he would let himself believe the fantasy.

"My Darling," he whispered with a grin as he rubbed his thumb over her cheek. "My dark goddess…"

She was the one woman he had ever taken seriously, the one person he had ever let see his weaknesses, and though part of him knew this little fantasy could not last, he still wanted to lose himself to it. Insanity was such a better expenditure of his time when there was nothing else left to fall back on.

"What have you done?" she whispered, stepping into him and wrapping her arms about his waist. "Have you been exploring the darker side of your magics to bring me back?" Her expression was worried, brow furrowing as she looked back at him. She bit her lower lip, taking his hand. "You didn't even think of the children?"

He turned away from her at that, letting out a hiss as his hands clasped behind his back. "I do not need your judgment, Anja. Believe me, the whole of Asgard has judged me time and time again since you… since you fell."

She licked her lips again, reaching out to place a gentle hand on his shoulder. Her image flickered in and out of being as she spoke, and had he been truly paying attention to her face, he would have seen the glowing red that mistook her once silver gaze.

"War is coming, Darling," she whispered. "I need your help."

"You're dead."

Silence.

He turned around to look at her expression, but it was exactly what he was expecting- cold, emotionless… but still riddled with the cracks of her inability to conceal her thoughts from him.

He looked down at her with a sardonic smirk, shaking his head as he stepped right up to her. "If you were real," he whispered, hand snaking around to the back of her head and tugging on her hair to meet her gaze. "You would be able to release me from this prison."

"And you think I would?"

He snorted. "I do."

He didn't give her time to protest, taking hold of the back of her head and pressing his lips to hers in a searing kiss. He nipped at her lower lip, knowing she would enjoy this just as much as he was.

The high pitched moan that escaped her lips was certainly an indicator that she was enjoying herself. That primal, animalistic instinct that had been coiling deep in his gut sprang forth as he scooped her up in his arms, pressing the fine fabric of her gown into his ruined undershirt.

Blindly, he staggered with her across the room as he made it to the bed in the corner of his cell. He laid her down reverently before slinking up her body and hovering over her. His lips trailed over her jaw, down her throat and back again. Then he made it to her lips again he plunged his tongue between her them with a guttural groan.

Her own whimpers met his ears as he ravaged her beautiful skin. His teeth left harsher marks than he would have intended had he been in his right mind. "Anja," he growled.

Then he felt her stiffen, and as he pulled away to look down at her the faintest flash of blue lit her irises. He didn't have it in him to care in that moment, merely taking it as reflection from the bright lights above them. She tilted her head away from him anyway, and he dove back down, trailing the flat of his tongue over her collarbone.

"The guards and other prisoners can see us, Loki," she said softly, turning her head to the side as he began to pull her skirts up. He already ached to be inside her. He'd not seen her in years…

He pulled away from his task, fingers stilling as he paused in slipping her gown completely off. Gently, his long fingers trailed up her waist, over the mound of her breast. Squarely, he planted open mouth kisses long the line of her throat that was formed when she tilted her head to the side. Her body began to writhe beneath him, and a whimper came across her lips as he paused to rest his cheek against hers, mouth close to her ear as he whispered huskily. "Do I look like I give a damn?" he asked, leaning in to trail his lips over her cheekbone. "When I get out of here we will be king and queen. Why not give them a show?"

Again, he gave her no time to object. She wasn't real.

He looked down at her. She was chewing her lower lip, a hand resting to the side of her head as she looked up at him. Blood rushed to another place other than his head as he began to rock his hips against her.

His need for her was painful, driving him mad.

"I need you. Now," he said finally, slipping a hand into her undergarments and tearing them off of her. He would make love to her while she was still half dressed. She was plenty wet enough. "Scream for me, Darling," he whispered.

And yet as he finally- finally- found himself sinking into her warmth, a blinding light flashed across him. He did not feel comfort. He was shaken, pulled brutally from the image of his wife spread out beneath him. She melted from his grasp suddenly, like so many of his own illusions.

"No!" he cried out, his consciousness attempting to pull forth the mirage his subconscious had created, but it was too late.

Red eyes overtook her once beautiful silver ones, and he knew the dream was over.

*o*O*o*

"Oi! You're scaring the other prisoners with all that talking in your sleep!"

Loki jolted awake as the last remnants of the dream left him. Loki's eyes opened, taking in the vast cell he was in. It was a brightly lit thing, and he was surprised he had fallen asleep in the uncomfortable position he found himself in. He was propped against the wall of the cell, long legs stretched out in front of him. If he looked a little farther away, he could see the surrounding room through the glass walls of the cell he was in.

He rolled his eyes, glaring back at the guard who dared wake him.

He had been talking in his sleep again, it would appear. The book in his lap lay open where he had left it when he had dozed off… Before Anja had come to him…

He rolled his eyes at the Asgardian, pointed face scrunching up in an unattractive scowl.

"Why in all the Nine Realms would I care about that?" he asked quickly, a condescending smile on his once handsome face. "That would be their problem, now would it not? You'd best be careful. My demons cannot reach the creatures trapped behind your glass domain. But those that strut about outside…well…"

An evil smirk touched Loki's lips at that and he glanced around the area pointedly.

The guard seemed a bit flabbergasted at Loki's quick wit, stammering a moment before looking over his shoulder and resuming his rounds. His shoulders were a little straighter though, and Loki let out a slight chuckle at the discomfort he had caused.

What was this strange fascination with his captors and glass cages? Loki sat with his head against the wall of the prison he had dwelled in for the past year. It had been far too long since he had seen the sun, far too long since he had felt anything that wasn't darkness, but his mind was too broken to care.

His children were shades in the depths of his memory at this point, blotted out by the rage that had consumed him when his spell hadn't worked. They had been taken away from him, of course, when the guards had come for him. Aric and the little girl that looked so much like her were somewhere safe with Frigga. That had been all Loki could deduce before insanity had claimed him once more.

She was supposed to have come back to him… or at the very least he was supposed to have found her… Instead the spell had backfired and now here he sat in a gilded cage until Odin decided what to do with him for his latest indiscretion; a sentence that was taking entirely too long to be decided upon.

He was angry. That was all he could feel. For days he had often sat where he was now, spiraling in an out of sanity. There had been times in the beginning of his imprisonment when he would swear he could hear her voice, a soft giggle, a whisper of his name…

But those times were long gone, and now all that peered back at him was a future of bleak prospects. The only interaction he had with anyone was that of the guard that would bring him food at certain points during the day. Even his own mother hadn't come to see him.

Turning back to his confinement, he let out a sigh. He turned for one of the books his mother had brought him, licking his lips- the lips he had just had on his dead wife…

A snarl broke free at that, and he pushed her from his mind. There was no more love in his life, no more reasons other than his own to keep going.

Hatred was a parasite… and it was eating Loki from the inside out.

*o*O*o*

"Awic!"

The voice of a young girl, irritated and high-pitched, echoed around the walls of the garden as she looked around with sharp silver eyes. Her forehead was wrinkled, distorted by the furrowing of her brow as she yelled out her brother's name once more.

"Awic!" She was still quite young, unable to pronounce her brother's name correctly. "Grandmother says you have to give my dollie back right now!"

She tossed her long wild curls over her shoulder, looking around as she searched for her older brother. She hitched her long skirt up, straining to keep her balance. She was three years old, soon to be four, and her brother had taken advantage of her seemingly lack of magical ability to steal her favorite toy and use his own magic to vanish.

"You have to find me first, Leena!" Aric called out, and his voice had Leena's head snapping around as she searched for him.

"Awic," she whined. "I'll tell father on you!" It was something that had become a habit for her, to resort back to an instinct that really made no difference anymore. Loki was far beyond being able to do anything for his children, let alone get a doll back for the girl that looked so much like her dead mother.

At that, Aric's form seemed to reappear. Just as quickly as the spell had lowered, his mood seemed to have as well. He blew a strand of raven hair out of his face. It was curly… and while everyone told him he was the spitting image of his father, he knew his mother had had curls just like this… His heart sank even more as he looked back at his little sister.

"Father can't do anything about it where he is, Leena," Aric said quietly. His tone was dark, and he knew that his words would upset his sister but at that point he didn't care. At a mere six years of age, he was practically on his own. He had always thought that his mother would return to him after she had fallen so many years ago… and then his father had been taken away from him too. Leena still seemed to think that Loki had some sort of say in what his children did, but Aric was old enough to know better.

Leena's lip curled as a small tear started to form in the corner of her left eye. "Please, Awic. I want my dollie."

Aric closed his eyes at that, nodding as he sobered up and walked over to his little sister. He handed the ragdoll out to her and she took it quickly, extending a hand and snatching it away from him. She clutched it to her chest, rearranging the yarn-like hair around the cloth doll's face.

"When will we get to see father again?" she said with another sniffle.

Aric wrapped an arm around his little sister's shoulders, looking down at his feet on the brick walkway. "Grandmother said it won't be for a while," he said quietly. The two hadn't seen Loki in a year. Leena barely remembered the way he had always been cold and stoic around her, but for one reason or another she had loved him all the same.

Leena nodded at her brother's words, looking down again as they made it to the edge of the largest fountain in the garden. She plopped down in the grass that surrounded it, cradling her doll like a child before motioning for her big brother to join her. Aric did, sitting gracefully down on the grass next to her.

The fountain in front of him looked cool and welcoming in the hot afternoon sun, but he stayed with his sister for a bit. Instead of walking to the fountain though, an idea went through his head.

"Leena," he said with a soft smile. "Would you like to see some magic?" He was on his feet again in an instant, brushing the grass off of his breeches and looking towards the water.

She cocked an eyebrow up, and in that moment she looked just the mother she had never met. She kept her doll clutched close, suspicious that Aric may try to take her from her again.

Aric's small hand stretched out towards the fountain. He had watched both of his parents perform this simple magic on numerous occasions. Even his cousin Andrew, who was ten years old by now, had done it when the two had been playing outside.

"Awic!" Leena said excitedly as her brother manipulated the water into a small stream and pulled it through the air like a ribbon. "Awic, that's boo-tiful!"

Aric let out a small smile as he pulled the water back and forth. Mother had done this so many times when she had been upset and now he knew why. His spirits lifted infinitesimally as he pulled it to and fro. Teasing his sister, he looked back at her with a gleam in his eye before sending it over her head. She ducked down a bit, looking back at Aric with an annoyed glance. He would have laughed, but at that point his arms were growing very tired. It was harder than his mother had made it look and he found himself struggling the longer he kept the stream in the air. He sent the stream over Leena's head one more time, but this time he lost control as he was bringing it back to the fountain.

Leena let out a shriek as the water he had been manipulating fell across her outstretched legs in the grass. Her skirts were ruined by the water, and a bit landed on the doll in her arms.

"You did that on purpose," she whined, standing up to toddle towards the palace. "You always do things like that. I'm telling grandmother on you!"

Aric pressed his lips together in a fine line, racing after his sister.

If his father had been there, maybe he wouldn't have had to teach himself… Maybe he would already have control over his abilities… and maybe his mother would have cared enough to have figured out a way back to Asgard by then.

He knew she was alive, so why wasn't she coming back?

Hope this did an okay job of getting everything situated! I'll be updating a chapter this evening if my luck holds. I'm seeing Thor 2 again.

So… should I keep this going? Part of me liked it… but then I also kind of… idk. What do you guys think?

-Sirius