Chapter 6 - Grief and Recovery

It didn't take long for the guards return to an empty cell. Before the day had even ended, everyone was aware and alert for any signs of Loki. Security was doubled, guards were on the lookout for anyone who even remotely matched the fallen prince's appearance, and all travel outside of Asgard had been stopped – the entire realm had been locked down. Asgard couldn't risk having Loki cause any destruction any of the realms after nearly going to war with the Jotuns due to his actions. Last time he had disappeared, Loki brought back an army and attempted to enslave Midgard. With his crimes and need for vengeance on everyone's mind, fear began to grow of the safety of their home world and when Loki would come back to burn Asgard to the ground.

While the citizens panicked, the royal family prepared. They prepared for the backlash of Loki's escape, prepared for the grief from the death he would bring, and prepared for the heartache of going against a beloved family member again. At this point, it was obvious that a new cycle had been born. Loki escaping to take out his pain on the universe, him being brought back home in an attempt to rehabilitate him, escaping, and repeat. There was no stopping Loki now in his desire for conquest, but none of the royals could have him executed and end the loop. He's family. No matter what he does or who he becomes, all of them will remember the movements before he went insane and the love they had felt – the love that they still feel. Even when he denies them, rejects the past, and breaks their hearts with his horrible words, Loki will always be a brother and son to them. He will always be a part of their broken family.

So, back in the dungeons, Frigga silently weaved through the guards and sorcerers, both looking for clues to how Loki escaped, and gazed at the room that had housed her wayward son only a few short days ago. She walked over to the stacks of books and slowly, cautiously pick one up - as Loki himself would appear and scold her for going through his belonging, as she had done centuries ago when he was just a small boy – flipping through the worn out pages. Maybe the secrets or even a clue to finally understanding her son's mind lied within these pages But just like every other time she came down here, she was left confused.

"Mother, what are you doing down here?" Thor said. When had he arrived?

Startled at his appearance, Frigga quickly placed the book with the others and looked to Thor. "I could ask the same question." It was then that she noticed everyone else had left the room – must have been Thor's doing.

Thor sighed, "I was worried about you, Mother." He took her hand, surprisingly gently for a man so brash, and guided her out the cell. "You shouldn't be alone and wandering in places such as this, not now."

He was right, having no companion to talk to or to be able to go from one place to must have been horrible. Unlike the real prisoners down here, Frigga could actually leave. It must be so tempting for them to try and escape. "No, none of us should ever be alone down here," she looked back at the cell one last time before climbing up the stairs that led out of the dungeon.

The sound of the guards beginning to question the dungeon's inhabitants again could be heard as they left.

"Mother, I didn't mean to—"

"You did nothing wrong," Frigga said. "You were not the one who brought this upon him nor were you the one who watched from afar as he began to lose himself." Of course, it was never Thor's fault. It was she who had raised him, who should have seen the signs of his insanity just as any mother would. As Loki's mother, she should have known when he began to act out of character. But she didn't and the knowledge of that would not leave her be.

"Never say that again! We are all at fault for what happened, even Loki himself," Thor stated before stopping to pull Frigga into his embrace, to protect her from the lies she has fed herself. "Don't place all the blame onto yourself. You were, and still are, and wonderful mother. Even when Loki was stubborn, you remained visited him every time you had a spare moment. Mother, I cannot picture anyone else putting so much love and care into his safety and comfort other than you! So please, don't ever believe that who he has become is your work."

Frigga was quiet for a moment, staying in Thor's arms and hugging him as well. "Thor, I tried when it was too late! I was only able to give him what he truly needed when he was far too lost for my efforts to even come close to mending his mind." At this point, she was crying onto Thor's shoulder, letting out all her grief and sorrow.

Hearing her pain, Thor gently lifted her up and quickly took her to her chambers. The whole entire way, he whispered reassurances and how she was not to blame; unfortunately, her tears did not stop.

As they entered the room, he laid her down onto her bed. He watched over her as she released all the pain brought upon her since Loki's first fall from grace, letting his presence ease her pain as he sat beside her.

"I promise, Mother, I will do my best to make this right."

"MATSUMOTO!"

Just another day in the tenth division, meaning a certain lieutenant was slacking off again while her captain is forced to do her work. If anyone had heard the scream of one Toshiro Hitsugaya they would probably just shrug it off as a part of the day's usual routine and silently wonder what Rangiku Matsumoto had done to anger the little prodigy today. Although, to be honest, they would just want to know to have a good laugh at the story. It was amazing what she was able to do in a short amount of time, like when she got the sixth division lieutenant drunk and convinced him to streak across the entire Seireitei.

Said lieutenant could be seen running down the halls, away from Captain Hitsugaya's office. Followed by Toshiro who came out to yell at her again.

"IF YOU COME BACK DRUNK, I WILL DUMP OUT ALL YOU SAKE!"

As the small boy glared at her retreating form, Matsumoto spoke up, "Sorry Captain, I moved my sake to a different spot!"

Immediately after hearing that, the temperature quickly dropped as he let out a frustrated groan. Every single she had the chance, Matsumoto always left. Only coming back when she knew Toshiro was almost done with the paperwork. Honestly, how did he end up with such a lazy lieutenant? The amount of work she leaves him with is insane!

"Hmm, it's not often you see a lieutenant actually run away from their captain," someone said behind him. "You know, Captain Hitsugaya, if you need any help with your paperwork, I'll help."

Quickly turning to the sound of the voice, Toshiro saw Takuma Nakamura. There wasn't any special about the man, other than the fact that he tended to try to get on high ranking officers good side – which is how he is a seated officer despite not even knowing his zanpakuto's name. He's only an inch or so taller than Matsumoto with light brown hair and blue eyes, again nothing particularly interesting about the man. Although Toshiro have to admit, he was quiet skilled in using kido, probably to make up for falling short in actually using his sword. Overall, he was a decent Shinigami but an extreme kiss-up to his superiors.

A kiss-up who was trying to do that exact thing to him.

"No thanks."

"Are you sure? I work pretty fast, we can finish this in no time."

"No."

"But-"

"If I said no the first time that means it'll be no every other time. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

Without further ado, Toshiro walked into his office and shut the door at the shocked Shinigami. A small smirk sneaked its way onto his face when Nakamura began to curse at his inability to convince Toshiro. Honestly, when will people learn that his age doesn't mean he needs people to his own work? He puts more effort into his duties than any other captain in the Soul Society, keeping his division maintained, and even taking on some of his own lieutenant's duties as well! He wasn't just some child that they could sit back and look down on – something the men in his own division knew very well.

Suddenly, Momo's laughter broke out in the room.

Suddenly, Momo's laughter broke out in the room.

"That wasn't funny Momo," he scowled at his childhood friend

"Aw, Shiro-chan, you need to lighten up a little," she said, smiling at the prodigy.

"And you need to go to Granny's place and rest."

Momo stopped and frowned at his statement, "I am resting, that's why I'm here with you instead of own division." She walked over to Toshiro and looked down his work. "I haven't had the chance to spend time with you anymore and you're always working when I come over."

Ever since Momo recovered the war with Aizen, she's been wanting to spend time with him to "reconnect" again, to try and close that gap between them. After going to visit their Granny, she became more persistent, actually coming to his office to talk to him and help instead of simply dragging him to places he doesn't want to be. It was a nice change, but there are still moments like this where an offhand comment will make her go quiet. She was still recovering though, it was to be expected. Unohana had reassured him it was normal and to just avoid anything related to Aizen.

Sighing, Toshiro stopped writing, "If I finish early tomorrow, I suppose we could do something together." That should appease her, at least for now. "But only if everything's done, deal?"

"Deal," she agreed. When Toshiro returned to his work, Momo took that as her queue to grab one of the piles of paperwork and take them over to Matsumoto's desk and began filling out the reports as well. Occasionally, she would ask for the information need on the reports.

Together, they worked late into the night. Of course, Momo convinced Toshiro that they should take breaks – which he begrudgingly accepted – and managed to finish a majority of the paperwork.

With her hand aching from writing for so long, Momo finally set her pen down. "Shiro-chan, this pile's don—"she stopped talking when she looked up see him laying down with his head on his desk. Walking over to him, Momo gently probed Toshiro, "Shiro-chan?"

Lazily, he batted her hand away and mumbled a tired, "Go away." Smiling at him actually sleeping for once, Momo cautiously lifted him up. Unfortunately for her, Toshiro began to stir a bit, causing her to freeze in place.

Luck was not on her side when Toshiro began to open his eyes and looked around the room until he managed to find Momo. "What're you doing?" The little captain could barely keep his head up as he stared at his childhood friend, letting out a yawn every time his head dropped back down to her shoulder.

The next time his head landed on her shoulder, Momo placed her hand on her head to keep it there. "It's alright, Shiro-chan, just go back to sleep."

"But the paperwork."

"It's finished, just go back to sleep," Momo said. Humming a nameless tune, she carried Toshiro out of the office and down the streets. Whenever a Shinigami came by, she quickly silenced them and gestured to the sleeping boy in her arms. A few of them would even come up and look at him, mainly due to how they rarely ever see the child prodigy with such a peaceful face, before wishing Momo goodnight.

When she finally arrived to the tenth division barracks, it seemed a few of the Shinigami's from before had managed to inform the others that Momo was coming with their sleeping captain. In other words, they knew to be quiet for once by the time she came over. As Momo walked into his room, she couldn't help but notice how organized everything was. Not a single thing was out of place.

'You've always been so strict about keeping everything in its rightful place'

Gently, she laid him down and pulled the covers over him, stopping to look at how relaxed he seemed to be compared to how he normally was. He was nothing like this when he was younger, back when he didn't have the responsibilities of being captain and was able to spend time with his loved ones. Lord knows wonderful it would be to go back to the days when they were happy or constantly being torn apart by others. But that was the past and it was never coming back for either of them. So, after tucking the small boy in, Momo leaned down and gave him a small hug, "Goodnight, Toshiro. Sweet dreams."

'You've grown up so much'

Odin sat at his throne contemplating youngest son. It had been two weeks since Loki escaped and they had no clue as to where he went. With the cloaking spell Loki had created, Heimdall can't see him. While the prisoners in the dungeons refused to reveal what had happened the morning he had disappeared despite the guards interrogations. Why would they? None of them cared about the welfare of Asgard and many had even waited for Loki to return and bring the realm to its knees. The sorcerers had no such luck either, Loki had managed to cover any magical traces of his escape. They had absolutely no clue as to where he went.

At this point, Odin felt that it was hopeless to ever finding him again. They didn't even find him the first time he had disappeared, Loki had revealed himself for everyone to see, and it was becoming painfully obvious to Odin that no one would find Loki unless he wanted to be found.

He could not even seek the comfort of his own wife, who was sick with her own grief, nor find peace in the usual exuberant atmosphere that his eldest son creates, due to him being on Midgard in search of Loki. Thor had claimed it was his responsibility to bring his lost brother home, that he should be to blame for Loki's insanity after years of forcing him to live in a shadow. There was nothing left for Odin, but his own thoughts for company now and all they did was voice all his mistakes regarding his youngest. He was constantly reminded of his failure as a father and all the opportunities he should have taken to be closer to Loki.

The grief from Loki was all-consuming and had taken the whole royal family captive. Their love for Loki was tearing them apart.

But he no longer loves them. Loki has no care in the universe regarding his family, adoptive or not, over how his actions are killing them from within. If Loki could see them now, he would probably be relishing in his mere image breaks their hearts all over again. It was amazing yet gut-wrenching how easily he had been able to cast aside Odin, Frigga, and Thor after discovering his true origins… Did family not even matter to Loki anymore?

He was brought back to reality by the sound of a guard bursting in to the throne room. Weary as he approached Odin's throne, he bowed to his king. "Allfather," he began, "We managed to gather information from one of the prisoners regarding Loki's escape."

Odin was quick to respond, yet still maintaining his calm appearance, "What did they say?"

"A hooded figure came into Loki's cell and began to talk to him before freeing him from his restraints before opening a portal for them to leave in." He looked up to Odin, only to see the king being completely impassive to the news. Worried at Odin's lack of expression, he was quick to add, "Unfortunately, the two were not speaking loud enough for any of the nearby prisoners to hear their conversation. We trying to find the portal based of the descriptions given to us."

"I see, thank you," Odin said. "You may leave now."

The guard paused for a moment before nodded and leaving the king to his own devices.

As he left, Odin thought about the news. Not many would be willing to aide Loki with his current standing with the nine realms. Even those who use to ally themselves with him would not risk being caught or even be seen freeing Loki. The list was fairly short and it would be difficult to get in contact with certain people, but this changed everything. They now had a chance of finding him.

Only question now was who was under the hood.

Loki really knows how to leave people emotional damaged. This chapter mainly focuses on the effects that Thor, Odin, and Frigga. Personally, I always pictured Frigga taking it the hardest with Loki going crazy with attempting to destroy Jotunheim and become ruler of Earth since she was the one who probably spent more time with him when you compare Odin and her. Along with that, it would be pretty hard to have to try and rebuild a relationship with someone who's constantly denying being related to you, adopted or not. So, yeah, that's my reasoning behind her breakdown. Also, I'm not on the whole Odin practically abused Loki when raising him idea. He seems like the kind of dad who just didn't know how to treat someone like Loki, considering how different he is to the typical Asgardian in regards to his personality and just kept his distance when Loki brought up stuff like wanting to learn magic instead of fighting. He still loves Loki, but he's just very awkward about it and how he should approach him. Thor is pretty obvious, still loves his brother and hopes he'll come home. I'm having Thor recognize his history of being a jerk who forced Loki to do stuff he didn't want to (that's what sibling do people, they're jerks to you but you kinda have to love them in the end) and just not thinking about other people in general before being banished to Earth.

Just stating this in case some people forgot, Momo and Toshiro are not being paired up together. Their relationship is strictly childhood friends/siblings

Hope you enjoyed it!