Catalina stood in the middle of her old room, a meager amount of sunlight slipping through the heavy curtains. She stood looking at the nearly empty room: the mattress stripped of it's linens and every decoration upon the dressers and walls gone; everything that showed evidence of her being there was gone.
"I have made arrangements for your things to be returned to their places. After your escape, Odin ordered everything that was yours be hidden away. The servants should be bringing them any moment now." Loki stood next to his sister in the center of the room. Her silence ill suited him, so in an attempt to lighten the mood, he nudged her gently with his elbow.
"Do not look so down my dear sister. Life is better here, and without Odin, you will have nothing to fear."
Catalina nodded and went to the window. Asgard stood still below the castle, and for a moment she wished to believe her brother's words. Yet she knew, in this place, she would never be safe again. This place was not her home, though it seemed she was welcomed back.
"Catalina!" The gasp of the queen made Catalina turn around quickly, and though she did not wish to say it, a stifled mother left her lips. She ran to Frigga, throwing her arms around her. The queen held her daughter, softly whispering words in Asgardian to her.
"I'm sorry Mother...." Catalina swallowed hard, trying not to cry. It seemed she had cried so much the past months, she did not want to anymore.
"There's no need to be sorry. I'm simply glad you're home." Frigga brushed her daughter's cheeks with her hands and kissed her forehead. "We'll start anew my dear." She smiled. "We'll pick up where we left off." She hugged her and brushed the twins' cheeks with her fingers, then left.
"Chin up Catalina," Loki lifted his sister's chin up with a forefinger and thumb, then followed his mother out.
Catalina watched him leave, then turned to the window to hide her shame as the servants brought her belongings back into the room. Their eyes stared at her back, their disapproval written in their eyes as Catalina observed them from the window's reflection. No matter how Loki assured her, Asgard would never forget.
*****
"I have been thinking," Loki began as he sat on one of the sofas that had been brought in a few moments ago, "of making you queen."
Catalina turned abruptly around to face her older brother. "How do you mean?" She knew her brother loved her, but not that way....
"Not the way you are imagining Sister. I apologise if I made it sound... Odd." Loki's cheeks turned a bit pink.
"Odd indeed. Please explain." Catalina went back to untying her boots, though somewhat uncomfortably and self-conscious.
"I just thought possibly, since Odin is not on the throne, you could take Mother's place for a while."
"Why would I need to do that? I am trouble enough by being here. People would never approve, and they may get the wrong idea." Catalina kicked off one boot then the other and sat down heavily onto her bed. Her brother stood up and knelt down at her feet, taking her hands in his.
"Catalina, I need you. I realize your attachment to Midgard, but you must forget it now. I need you to sit on the throne. Ruling Asgard is harder than it seems. I need assistance."
"Hasn't Mother helped you?"
"Oh tremendously-"
"Then she'll stay on the throne. Loki I cannot take her place. I am not worthy of her throne."
"But you are worthy of the Elven Throne?" Loki's green eyes sparked at her, the twins' tones raising for dominance.
"No. Not even the Elven Throne." Catalina replied and got up. A cold hand around her jaw stopped her, her brother's cold fingers tightening as she tried to pull away.
"Catalina...." Loki appeared in front of her, his hand sliding to her throat and staying there.
"Brother, no," Catalina grabbed his wrist and tried to pull it off her neck. "If you don't stop I'll break it."
His hand tightened.
"I find we don't have much in common." He said, ignoring Catalina's fingers digging into his wrist and knuckles. "Only your eyes are green, which does not prove much...."
"What- that's not true," Catalina stopped struggling and stared at her brother. "You're acting strange Loki..." She frowned at him. He was scaring her, but she did not want to hurt him. "Loki you're my brother."
"I'm not your brother," he hissed, his face coming within inches of hers and his grip tightening on her throat. "I never was!" He paused, a foreign look entering his eyes.
Catalina's green eyes widened. That phrase hit her harder than if Loki had simply punched her. He was a Frost Giant, she knew he was; they were twins, nothing could change that. Odin had to have told him after all. Or had he?
"Loki we-"
"You could be queen..." Loki's hand loosened, but Catalina grabbed his wrist.
"Loki, no I can't," she clamped her fingers around his wrist, making her brother's face drain of its color and his wrist start to darken. He watched as his arm and his sister's hand turned blue, their fingernails blackening.
"Why did you not tell me?" He backed away as if he had touched something vile.
"I had no time; I thought Odin or Mother would have told you."
Her brother stared at her, his once again green eyes looking extremely guilty.
"I- I'm sorry," he turned slightly away, cursing himself for thinking such vulgar thoughts of his sister.
"I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast," Catalina said softly, and her brother left her to stand alone, shaking her head at every odd event that she had somehow tangled herself into.
****
The next morning, the air seemed heavy as Catalina sat across from Loki at the long table in the dining hall. She sensed her brother's reluctance to speak, his guilt about the past night still plaguing his conscious. He had apologized twice since then, and had not bothered to speak of anything else. Catalina had already forgiven him, so it seemed irrational to her to keep the subject in mind.
After a long silent breakfast, Loki arose from the table, dismissing himself quietly. Catalina watched his green cape flow behind him as he walked down the hallway, and as she studied his movement, she sensed there was something wrong; something he did not want to tell her.
The princess went to her room and peered out the window. It seemed she no longer knew her brother. His green eyes were somehow different than they used to be, and his demeanor towards her was not as pure as she had always seen. He was distant, aggressive and guilty. He wasn't the brother she remembered.
Just as Catalina was turning away from the window, a spark out of the corner of her eye made her whirl back around. She fixed her eyes on the Bifrost, flickers of blue flashed from the Rainbow Bridge, and Catalina rushed from her room down the staircase, racing for the castle gates. She stopped suddenly in her tracks in front of Odin's chamber, where he lay sleeping, and Frigga knelt next to him.
"Mother," she called, making Frigga rise to acknowledge her, "stay here." She continued her sprint to the gates, but heard screams coming from behind her. Turning around, she ran back the way she had come, and found a maid, crouching low on the floor, shivering and shaking.
"My lady, what has happened?" Catalina put her hand on the woman's shoulder to console her.
"A f-f-f-" the maid pointed back toward the Allfather's chamber, unable to speak, a frost burn covering her lower arm.
Catalina rushed back. How did it get passed me?
She reentered Odin's chamber, where Frigga had been pushed to the floor by an enormous creature, the giant Laufey. He stood over the sleeping Odin and made a knife of ice.
"They say you can see what transpires around you. I hope you can, so that that you will know your death came by me."
Catalina called to him, a ball of fire forming inside her palm.
"Laufey I wouldn't if I were you," she held up the fire, catching the giant's crimson gaze. His eyes stared into hers, his mouth opening to say something, but a ray of sparks and flame shot into him, knocking him to the floor, and Catalina flinched as the flames burst passed her head. Loki stepped out from behind her.
"Loki why would you do that, I had this handled," she snapped and ran to the giant, who lay scalded, leaning on one arm on the floor. Frigga stood up, her hands going up to cover her mouth as she ran to Loki's side.
"Catalina-"
"Don't worry," Catalina stood over Laufey, her palm still holding a small flame.
The giant looked up at her, his pained red eyes looked up at her.
"Halla...." he whispered, reaching for her. Catalina frowned as he reached, but she would not give her hand to him. "Are you Halla?"
The princess shook her head slightly. "I am Catalina Laufeysdaughter....." She said quietly, "Laufeyson is behind me." She whispered quieter.
Laufey's lips quivered, and he reached again for Catalina, but this time, she gave him her hand. The coldness washed over her arm immediately, and her skin turned a dark blue.
"My daughter...." He looked to Loki, "and son. I thought you both dead...." He touched Catalina's face with a finger. "You look just like your mother, you have her eyes..."
"Who is Halla?" Catalina asked.
"Your mother...."
"What happened to her?"
"The war.... I told her to flee to a safer place.... I later found her on the temple steps.." his crimson eyes filled with saddness. "She was no longer with child when I found her.... I never got to see my child..." His hand tightened on her arm, but he dared not hurt her. "Now I've seen them," he smiled slightly in Loki's direction. "Twins." He chuckled and shook his head and went to hold his daughter's hand again, but a sudden burst of flame reduced him to ash and smoldering embers on the floor before he had the chance.
"Know that your death came by the son of Odin," Loki set down the scepter next to him, and Frigga hugged him. "I swear Mother they will pay for what they've done today."
Catalina sat on the floor, looking at the ashes littered around her. "Why Loki?" She said.
A hand pulled her shoulder up and she faced her brother. "Why would you do this?"
He didn't answer her as footsteps approached the door.
"Thor!" Frigga ran to her oldest son, who held her as if protecting her from his younger brother. Loki likewise held on to Catalina, almost afraid he would lose her if she stepped away from him.
"Why didn't you tell her?" Thor tenderly let his mother go. "Why didn't you tell her how you sent the Destroyer to kill our friends, to kill me?"
Catalina looked up at Loki, who began inching backward.
"Well I was just enforcing Father's last command." He said, standing on one side of Odin's bed, and Thor opposite him.
"You are a talented liar Brother; you always have been," Thor growled.
"It's good to have you back," Loki replied. "Now if you'll excuse us," he wrapped his arm around his sister's waist, "I have to destroy Jotunhiem." He shot Thor out of the window.
Forcing his sister onto a horse, Loki and Catalina rode to the Bifrost, where the king caused the Bifrost to build what looked like branches of ice to Jotunhiem.
As she watched the ice build, Catalina shook her head. "Loki, why are you doing this? Why did you kill our father?"
Her brother turned to her only partially, still watching the ice. "He was an enemy to our home, our father."
"Then that makes us enemies as well! What do you mean? He was still our father!"
"Think about it Catalina, the only reason he recognized us was because of you. He recognized our eyes, and what Jotun has green eyes? Have you ever seen one?"
"No, but-"
"Our mother was human! A mortal kept in the Jotun palace for 'fun'. We are neither of Asgard, Jotunheim nor the realms of Earth. Do you see now Sister? This is not just to get Odin's approval; this is revenge. Revenge for Halla."
Catalina turned her eyes downward, "he loved her; I could see it."
"She was nothing to him. If she had meant anything, he would have known us the first time he met our eyes. Yet he did not."
Thor walked to the entrance of the Bifrost, staring in horror at the ice branches slowly tearing apart Jotunhiem. Loki, upon seeing him, snapped his fingers, transporting Catalina back to her room in the castle.
Catalina beat against the large doors to her bedroom, throwing herself against the locked sheets of thick metal. Taking her scythe, she sliced through the doors and flew down the halls of the castle, to the Rainbow Bridge where her brothers fought.
"What are you doing?" Loki got up from where he had been helplessly laying. "If you destroy the bridge you'll never see her again!" He grabbed his scepter and prepared himself to stab his brother.
Catalina began to run again, Remembering Thranduil, Legolas, and the elves, but forgot them as she saw the imminent fate of her two brothers if she didn't act.
"Thor, Loki, no!"
The Bifrost exploded, leaving the three siblings hanging together off the edge, saved by Odin. Thor held to Catalina's cloak, she to the scepter and her twin brother's hand. She smiled down at Loki ,"it's going to be alright Brother."
But Loki was not looking at her. "I could have done it Father! I could have done it! For you, for all of us." He desperately looked up, searching for approval, searching for something.
"No Loki," replied the Allfather.
"Loki, it's alright," Catalina held his arm tighter, as she saw the life leave her brother's eyes.
"It's alright Catalina," he said, a smile gracing his face as he looked to the Allfather, still searching.
"Loki no," Thor pleaded, but Loki let go of the scepter.
"I'm not letting you go!" Catalina held tighter to Loki's arm, willing all of her strength to keep him near her, keep him with her. She could not lose him now. But his hand was slipping, and he let go of her, leaving her screaming his name, watching as he fell into the black abyss below.
Catalina cried, her hand still outstretched, as if she still had a chance to save him, but he was gone.