I own nothing but my OCs and plotline

"I've been believing in something so distant

As if I was human…"

~ "Lost in Paradise"

It was a strange feeling, falling for so long that one could not remember which way was up and which was down, or one's left from their right... If the dark haired man that was plummeting through space had even the slightest idea of who or where he was, he might have looked at the feeling from a scholars perspective. But in those moments, as the solar winds rushed through Loki Laufeyson's raven hair and battered his chiseled facial features, very few things penetrated his thoughts. His eyes were closed, and thick, black lashes splayed over high, pale cheekbones. All he could feel was the wind, the mind-numbing elements taking his energy, draining him in every way. This was what death must have felt like.

For another stretch of indefinable amount of time, Loki fell through these conditions. Death never took him, though many times he wished it would. Even if he survived these conditions and ended up landing in another realm or planet, he would be seen as the failure he was. The lost prince, the evil man that tried to kill his brother. Of course, to Loki, all of his actions had been justified. All he felt- when he felt anything- was hate for Thor.

And then of course, there was her. She shifted in and out of his thoughts when he was conscious enough to comprehend that he had left her. She had been the one good thing that he had left when he let go of the Bifrost. But, as had become a great habit to him lately, his rage at Thor pushed her from his mind. His anger was soon gone as his body fell into an even weaker state. His head was spinning faster than before and he fought to retain the shred of consciousness he still had, clinging to it like life itself. In this situation, that was all he had.

Then he felt it; a sharp tug directly in the center of his chest. It seemed to pull him off course of the endless fall, sending him to the side and jerking his limbs around him in odd fashions like a life size marionette. The tugging in his chest grew more insistent, and he squeezed his eye closed even tighter in an effort to see through his confusion. Again with the tugging, and he heard someone screaming as his speed increased through the endless nothing.

Loki did not ever register that it was his own screams that pierced the pressing darkness.

*o*O*o*

"Not yet, he is not ready for that," a raspy voice reached Loki's ears as he grew aware of his surroundings. He tried to reach out with his magical abilities to detect what was in the room with him, but found himself weak and shaky. Wherever he was was uncomfortably silent without the incessant rush of wind in his ears he had been experiencing. His body was lying flat on something solid and he registered that he was not falling as another voice spoke up.

"Sister, he must be. Odin knows him not to be dead, yet he cannot return to Asgard without payment for his sins." This voice was not as raspy, but it was still not entirely human. At that, Loki opened his eyes slowly, taking in the stars above him. He turned his head to the right to see three… he was unsure of what they were. They had gray, wrinkled skin in some moments, but in others they were young maidens. They shifted from one state to another as they walked gracefully around a giant woven tapestry of sorts, interweaving each strand with care. He watched them, taking in the ways in which they manipulated the complex blanket. At some points, the oldest of the three women would take a finger and rip out a strand, recoloring it with a flick of her wrist before sending it back down into the tapestry. All of his studies should have told him who they were, but in those moments Loki could not muster enough energy to think clearly. He could only watch as the hags went through the material, weaving, unweaving, clipping, and tying.

His surroundings became familiar gradually as he took them in. The place he was in was a perfect circle of grass, nothing more than twenty feet in diameter with a large, stone well in the very center. Loki's head rested near the well and he could sense the closeness of one of the… women? Hags? No… his instincts told him these were more than women. These were of the gods… quite probably above them…

Upon seeing him awake, the oldest one sitting by the well called his name. "Loki, God of Mischief and Lies. Stand."

Loki let out a huff. How dare this hag order him around? But he found himself standing nonetheless, shakily brushing his tattered armor off in an attempt to retain some shred of dignity. But something told him his dignity was far from being important at this time as he turned to look upon the women. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came from his silver tongue as he tried to speak to the women.

The oldest rose abruptly. "You have no power here, God of Lies," she said hoarsely. He could make out the outline of yellowed teeth in the hag's mouth and he tried to suppress a grimace. "You think your silver tongue can work on the keepers of the fate? The Norns?"

Loki closed his mouth, pressing his lips together in a tight line as realization hit him. He had been called before the Norns… what other force could pull him from the depths of space?

"You have brought dishonor on the house of Odin, Loki Laufeyson," the first hag said quietly. She stood from her place at the tapestry, trailing a ball of emerald yarn away from the threadwork. "And you have brought dishonor to yourself." She pulled the strand that stretched from the yarn into the tapestry tight and Loki felt a pain in his heart. That was his life force… the life force of a god. He noticed the different bits of yarn here and there. There was a ruby red one that glowed with the same intensity that his own did and the two were interwoven tightly together until they reached a hole in the cloth. At that point, the emerald green broke away from the red and green pattern, leading up to the ball of yarn that now sat in the first Norn's hand. The red had to be Thor's.

"Now you must learn to love again," the second Norn spoke and Loki realized it was the first voice he had heard. "To forgive, to forget, to heal, to remember… but most of all…"

"You must prove your worthiness to retain your godly powers." The first one finished for the second as the second went to work on a silver string that was as equally intertwined with Loki's as Thor's had been… only this time the silver yarn ended up leaving the tapestry shortly after the emerald, unweaving from another strand that was a dark blue in color that now sat in the hand of the third Norn. Loki did not have the faintest notion of whose that was.

"Your lover has made the same mistake as you, princeling," the oldest Norn spoke and it was a near whisper as the first handed her the silver yarn. "Dark magic is unpredictable and dangerous, yet she searches for you even now, even if she does not realize it." Loki's eyes went wide. Silver eyes flashed in his inner eye as the old hands of the third Norn ran over the silver of the thread. Anja.

"Do you think yourself worthy of her?" The second asked as she stretched out a bit more of the emerald yarn and turned a milky set of eyes towards him. Loki closed his eyes, gripping his head in both of his hands as he listened to the second's words.

"She will pay for her indiscretion, just as you will, Princeling," the oldest Norn said swiftly. Her words were dry, unemotional. There was no anger, merely a statement.

The three witches stood before Loki as they released their hold on the tapestry and walked over to him, circling him.

"A young girl fair, whose innocence you took," the first rasped out.

"Shall find refuge in a realm, masquerading as one of the beings you once sought to destroy," the second said quietly.

"Alone and powerless, a mortal life span you shall serve," the first spoke again.

"Lest you find her, whose memories of love are lost," the second rasped as the three laid a hand on his shoulder.

The third Norn spoke last. "To love, pure and chaste, without the temptation of power shall be your greatest lesson, Princeling. Do not take this lightly, for it is a rare offer for the Fates to give second chances to those already so far in the darkness." Loki felt the Fates release him and he stumbled backwards, gasping for breath as a darkening power shot through his system. No… it was not a dark power, merely the absence of his own sorcerer capabilities. He watched as his own, emerald green thread lost its glow and turned to the same texture as that of the mortals. "Seek this Anja out. Learn to love her. Be warned, she shall not know you, she shall have a whole new life apart from you, woven by our own hand. Her heart shall remain the same. It is your task, Princeling, to find her and relearn who you once were. She is injured, hurting and mourning. This is why she turned to your dark magic, and this is why you must find her and heal her. And by doing so… you heal yourself." The old Norn placed a shriveled hand over Loki's heart. Loki felt the air leaving his lungs. The Norns had plucked him out of space, saved him from death, for this? To humor them in their little idea of a game?

"Should you succeed and prove yourself worthy, you will be allowed to return to your home realm. Both of your powers shall be restored. But she must see you, love you, forgive you, and remember you." The second Norn was speaking and Loki cursed the ambiguity of these figures.

"Either way, Princeling, we shall not meet again in person." The third Norn spoke quietly now. As he felt the oldest Norn's hand push harder against his chest, he felt the solid ground slipping away once more and darkness took him. Only this time, Loki knew exactly where he would land.

Alrightie then, that's the prologue for this alternate sequel, guys! It felt really spaced out as I wrote it, but I can assure you things will solidify the more we move along. I want to hear some theories on who the blue string belonged to though ;)

With all the little plans I have in my head for this I think it will be very much like the first story I wrote for these two. I really enjoy the more emotional side of Loki rather than the 'bag of cat brains' Loki.

Review to let me know what you think?

~Sirius