Perfectly Imperfect, by PingeBreenColourficluver

Don't ask about the title; it may be pretty naf, but it's a big inside joke between me and my sister about the whole thing, so don't ask.

For my sister, on her 18th. Happy birthday sissy! ^^

All characters belong to Marvel Comics, not me, why would you think that? (With the exception of Sidra).

The sounds of fighting could be heard all around, clashes of swords and grunts of effort as blows were struck on either side. There were muffled curses as Volstagg, about twenty yards away, nursed his cold burns. Sif and Hogun had found a small alcove high up and were attacking from above, throwing knives and shooting and the hoards of frost giants below. Thor was about four hundred yards away, making mincemeat out of the Jotuns he was facing, Mjolnir singing with the excitement of it all.

A brilliant white flash lit the sky and a column of light and energy shot down into the earth. Everyone who was nearby turned to see who had arrived after them – Heimdall had said he would not tell anyone of the party's departure from Asgard. They could see the shape of a horse and rider, but the beast had eight legs instead of four. Fandral muttered an oath under his breath. Odin had found out, somehow, and had come to deal with the mess Thor's foolhardiness had made. The Warriors Three and Sif stopped their attack and moved towards the Allfather; Loki was about to follow when the giant he was fighting decided there was no longer another threat and whirled his club around to make contact with the Liesmith's ribcage. Thor was too far off to notice his father's arrival.

Odin was shouting at the warriors, something to do with irresponsibility, and where was his son so he could finally knock some sense into him. Loki crumpled under the impact, but picked himself back up and flicked a knife at his assailant. The Jotun dodged, spinning around and grabbing Loki's wrist just as he sunk a larger blade into the exposed stomach. Thick blood spluttered from the wound and the Asgardian's face lit up into a grin, but it quickly faded as he looked at his arm, which was still trapped by the giant's hand.

Laufey was making his way towards Odin, all the other frost giants that could walk closely following him. Apart from in the distance where Thor was battling on, oblivious to everything else, the fighting had stopped and everything had fallen silent. Loki couldn't help a small yelp escape his throat as he examined his hand, which was rapidly turning blue.

The Jotun King was glaring menacingly at Odin, his breathing laboured. Both their heads shot round when they heard the noise, to watch Loki wrenching the now dead giant's hand off of his wrist and stumbling back. They could see him put his arms next to each other, and in the light it was easy to see the colour difference between them.

Everything threatening left Laufey's stance, and he turned again to Odin.

"Allfather. I demand council with you. You will bring one warrior of your choice and I will bring one of mine, for protection. I have no wish for battle, but I do not trust you and you do not trust me. Once you have chosen, you will speak with me in this hall." He gestured to a nearby house with his hand, then grunted to the giant next to him. They walked towards Loki, the slightly smaller giant putting him in a double arm lock and marching him into the house. The sorcerer tried to summon some magic as a defence, relaxing slightly when he felt familiar heat spread along his fingertips, but a cold hand tightened its grip on his wrist, threatening to crack it – an obvious warning that attacking would be useless.

Odin looked around the battlefield. He could see no sign of his eldest son. Fandral was helping Volstagg with is burns; Sif and Hogun were also looking about for Thor.

"Thor?" Odin roared. "Where are you?" There was no response. "Hogun, where is he?"

"I do not know, Allfather. He went further down to fight the other Jotuns that were supposed to be an ambush. I do not think he saw you arrive. I could go and look for him if you want."

"Laufey will get impatient if I keep him waiting any longer. Yes Hogun, go and look for him, tell him what has happened. Sif, you will come with me." The warrior jogged off down the hill to look for his friend while Sif refilled her quiver with the arrows strewn over the ground. She smiled to herself – she knew it was a great honour that Odin had chosen her to accompany him in such a thing as this, and she should not waste the moment to prove herself as one of his finest warriors.

The Asgardian King and his companion made their way back towards the house, skirting the body of the giant Loki had recently killed. It was relatively small, by Jotun standards, and inside were few furnishings – a table, four chairs and a cupboard. Two of the chairs were occupied: one by Laufey, the other by a rather disgruntled looking Loki. Between them stood Laufey's choice of warrior, the corners of his lips turned up into a cold smile. Odin sat down, but Sif stayed standing behind him to match the threat of Laufey's companion.

"What is this about, Laufey?" The question was guarded; Odin was in a dangerous position, but one where he knew he could come out on top, if he was careful.

Instead of answering, Laufey lifted up Loki's wrist, which was now entirely blue, along with the rest of his arm and hand. Sif and Loki watched in horror as, upon contact with the Jotun King's skin, the blue patch began to spread. The Liesmith stretched his neck as coolness seeped up it. He shook the hand off him and tried to rub some warmth back into his chilled skin with his normal hand. It was unsuccessful – where he was blue was staying blue, and the point where the two skin colours met was remaining icy regardless of his chafing.

Odin's face was unreadable. Sif spluttered, questions flooding into her mind, but was signalled to silence with a hand gesture. He looked down at his hands, as if deep in thought, except there was nothing worth thinking about.

"You know something of this." The Allfather raised his head to meet Laufey's gaze. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, he nodded. The air tingled with electricity, the tension between the two kings unmissable.

"You know about this, Father? What is going on?" A hand was clamped over Loki's mouth. He flinched away, disgusted when he felt a chill over his skin again as his lips and chin started to turn blue.

"He is one of ours."

"No," came Odin's reply through clenched teeth. Neither Loki nor Sif had seen him quite this angry before.

"You cannot deny it, Allfather. You cannot deny that his skin returns to its natural colour when I or another of my kind touch it; you cannot deny he does not feel the cold like he should." The words were almost shouted; Laufey was clearly trying to restrain himself.

"Loki is of Asgard. He was raised there, he has family there, and friends, and if that doesn't make somewhere your home then I would like to know what does."

"But he is still one of us. When did you take him, Allfather? Did you come here, in the dead of night, and kidnap a child, or did you use your sorcery to create him?" Both kings were deadly serious, but that didn't stop Laufey's companion from grinning even wider, trying not to laugh. Both Loki and Sif were still staring at one, then the other king, incredulous. As much as she disliked him, and that was for reasons related to Thor only, Sif found it impossible to believe that Loki could be anything but Asgardian, and anything but Thor's brother.

"I found him. In the battlefield, in the last war between our people. He could have died at any moment in the bloodshed. I took him out of pity. A battlefield is no place for a baby." There was something akin to sorrow in Odin's voice, as if the memory pained him somehow.

Laufey was losing all control – he was close to roaring at Odin – but the Allfather just sat there, in a state of near-calm, listening. "And you just took him? With no regard to whether or not his mother would miss him, would think him dead and then shortly after have her own life ended out of grief and madness? And then his father to find her there, his son gone and his lover on the floor with not a breath left in her body?"

"I do not think we should be discussing this with Loki in the room."

"Right. Out, all of you. Helblindi, take Loki out and keep him restrained. Odin, your warrior must leave too." Laufey waved his hand at his companion who rapidly escorted Loki out of the room.

"Sif, you must leave too. Fair is fair. Keep an eye on what he does with Loki, and if Hogun has found Thor, explain to him what else is happening." The lady warrior left the building, closely following Helblindi and his captive to where Odin had originally arrived in the realm.

Once they had left, Laufey resumed his arguing, shouting uncontrollably at the Allfather, who had now begun to fight back. From outside it was difficult to make out the words, so the three that had been sent away just listened to the dull roar of the raised voices. Fandral had made his way over to them to ask what was going on, but on hearing the noise he grimaced and went back to Volstagg. Hogun hadn't come back yet, but Sif presumed he'd found Thor by now and was in the midst of explaining. She knew Odin had sent him because he could actually make Thor listen in a crisis; if it had been her on the job, Thor would have heard the words 'Odin', 'Laufey' and 'Loki captive' and immediately stormed his way back into the house, causing disaster all around.

The argument had changed now from how Loki had come to Asgard to his parentage. Laufey seemed suspiciously knowledgeable about what his parents had gone through after Loki was taken, but Odin was insisting that he and Frigga were the Liesmith's mother and father – they had raised him, cared for him, and made him their own.

Loki was fidgeting in Helblindi's grip, so the huge man whacked him with a large blue fist and he flopped forward in a daze. Sif sprung up to help him, but backed off when she saw the dark look in the Jotun's eyes. The argument had been going on for about half an hour by then, and still Hogun hadn't returned. The noise had faded into the background and Sif watched absently as the surviving frost giants worked to carry away the dead and injured. The giant Loki had stabbed was picked up by a small female Jotun, who slung his arm over her shoulders and dragged him away. She was only a little taller than Sif herself, which struck the warrior as curious, because usually Jotuns were about five heads taller than Asgardians.

It suddenly got quiet. Loki had come to again, and jumped at the silence, which seemed deafening. A few moments later, Laufey and Odin emerged looking grim. There was something close to tiredness in the Allfather's eye, and the frost giant's fists clenched.

"We have come to an agreement," Laufey's voice rang out clear in the dead air. "A deal which will result in peace for both our realms, and all previous feuds will be forgotten." He paused. Voices could be heard coming towards them. Fandral and Volstagg appeared and stood by Sif in silence, sensing the importance of the moment. Another pair of voices were also coming their way, but Laufey continued.

"A sacrifice must be made by both realms. Asgard will surrender one of Odin's sons to us, and Jotunheim will allow the rest of Odin's company to leave in peace, the great insult of their attack on us this day forgotten." He looked around at the Asgardians. The approaching conversation had shaped itself into Hogun and Thor, the latter of whom sounded furious.

"The Bifrost will be opened shortly, and Odin's company will return to Asgard. However..."

Thor could hear Laufey's voice clearly now, and as he stormed his way over the bank he could see the enormous giant standing beside his father.

"...Loki will be remaining here, as a boon for peace."

There was a sound like thunder, and a white column blasted down from the sky again, opening the Bifrost. Thor started to run, Hogun following behind him, towards his brother, who was staring in complete horror at his father. Odin ushered Sif, Fandral and Volstagg into the pillar of light, then mounted Sleipnir. Loki was struggling against Helblindi's grip in vain, shouting at Odin, desperately trying to free himself and escape into the Bifrost.

"I'm sorry, Loki," he muttered, kicking Sleipnir into a walk and moving to direct his son and Hogun into the light. Thor was charging forward, rushing past the portal and towards his brother who was still struggling, but less so now. Hogun tried to stop him unsuccessfully, but he did manage to knock him back in the direction of the Bifrost and Odin. The Allfather blocked his way with his horse, forcing him back, back away from Loki who was desperately calling out to his brother, the only person now who would listen to him.

Hogun hit the light first, and was gone in moments. Thor was trapped, and still being steered backwards, all the while crying out to Odin, to Loki, that he would go instead, that he wanted to stay to protect his kingdom.

He was finally shoved into the column, Odin following immediately on Sleipnir, and they were gone.