When Odin had announced that after much consideration the blame for Loki's actions on Midgard could not be punished by the normal means of Asgard, there had been much outrage and questioning. It wasn't until it was released that a healer had tried to help Loki's mind and had almost fallen into a state of shock at how broken and shattered he was, that the people of Asgard simmered down and accepted that there was no way to budge either Odin or Thor on the statement. Not four sunrises later it was told that in place of a punishment both Loki and Asgard were being given a second chance, a spell had been found that could be used to reverse Loki's time stream and bring him back to a point where he could be saved from the pits of madness. Along with this news came warnings of what were to happen to anyone who revealed to the new Loki what had happened over the last few years, and even more warnings about what would happen to anyone who dared harm the Loki that was to come based on old actions: those mostly came from Thor.

When the day finally arrived in which the spell would be placed upon Loki, who was currently under a powerful sleeping spell, there seemed to be a silence hung over Asgard. The Avengers, who had fought so hard to protect their planet from the man, had been invited to be present at the ceremony. Of them only Bruce had chosen to stay at the tower for rather obvious reasons. Like many of the Asgardians, most of the team members had been angered at Loki's lack of punishment, but this anger had turned to curiosity when Tony had brought up the fact that no one knew what age Loki would turn into.

Thor and Odin both had it firmly place in their minds that the spell would take but a few decades off of Loki and leave most of him remaining. Frigga had a bit more sight than both her son and husband and she had confessed to Steve that she would think Loki would return to the equivalent of his 20s. Hawkeye and Natasha both shared the same idea, as both of them had suffered through a fair amount of crap in their lives and neither of them could see Loki coming out as any older than 18. Steve had refused to give what age he thought Loki would come out, and Tony had guessed that he would be in his mid to early teens. Everyone had their own idea of what to expect as the spell folded itself around Loki's peacefully resting form.

No one had been able to foresee the five year old that lay where the man had once been.

A strange silence fell over the room as the room's occupants. Said silence lasted all of twelve shell-shocked seconds before the room burst into a flurry of noise and panic. Little could be made out between the boom of both Odin and Thor shouting at the same time, while the spell's casters were racing back and forth to check that everything had been cast correct. No one could really understand what was going on, thus nothing useful was really happening and the only thing all the chaos seemed to be doing was amusing Tony further. Though it was serving that purpose well as his armor was really the only thing stopping his from keeling over laughing.

It took almost two full minutes for the room to calm down enough so that someone could understand what was being said. Odin had taken the floor of the room with Thor barely stopping himself from growling at the casters. After a moment's quiet Odin spoke to the lead spell-caster "What error has caused your magic to regress my son far past the proper age?" as he spoke his voice boomed in a way that was clearly threating pain should an answer not be given that suited him.

"M-my lord, I am sorry but if there is an error in the spell then I can not find it. We checked the runes thrice fold before we even thought of casting the spell, I am afraid that it may be that the root of Loki's madness lies far deeper than was once thought." Stuttered out the caster in reply, the spindly man cringed in fear as he finished his statement. Hid head was bowed down and his eyes downcast.

It was only the presence of guests that allowed Odin to keep his temper in check and not strike down the caster before him, rather he breathed in deeply once before half speaking, half growling his reply "Then check them again. I want every available magician working to fix this error now." The casters took no time in seizing the dismissal before Odin could change his mind. They scurried from sight, taking their books with them.

Frigga, who had been standing right behind the throne in a state of shock up until this point, now brought herself back to reality enough so to understand that her youngest son was now a child laying upon a cold stone floor and could likely be hurt without anyone having checked on his health. Sweeping forward across the room, past Odin and Thor and down onto her knees next to Loki, ever so gently she reach out to touch his neck and feel for a pulse, and to her great relief she found one. It was pumping weakly as it always had: often it had worried her throughout his childhood at how much more fragile he was in comparison. It had been one of the reasons Odin had allowed Loki to pursue magic rather than swords.

The queen pushed the thoughts aside for later worrying as she ever so gentle scooped his tiny form into her arms and without paying her elder son or husband any mind, carried him down the hallway towards the healers.

The room she left behind was plunged into a silence as the subject of their shouting matches and in one case laughter exited the room. Now that the rage, panic and amusement had left the room, the only thing remaining was an awkward silence, said silence was broke when Tony decided to speak, his voice dripping with sarcasm "I think that went well."

A/N:

I'm sorry for lack of updates/sequel to Frozen Hearts Can Shatter Too. Lazy authoress is lazy. I promise I will have the second half of this up before the end of the month and with some luck I should have a fluffier sequel/companion piece to Frozen Hearts Can Shatter Too.

If I made any mistakes on this please feel free to tell me, this is unbetaed so any help is appreciated.

I now have a friend in real life betaing this for me! You should still feel free to point out anything he missed.