In the beginning she hated him.

It was easy.

She knew at first sight, that he was a foxy jerk, with that stupid effeminate and freckled face, the stupid bright green eyes, the stupid gaudy red hair and especially that stupid, insufferable smirk, that made her want to bash his face in.

She still can't believe, that her father made her marry this man!

And to add insult to injury, he called her tiny! She isn't tiny! Just … vertically challenged.

She hated him and he hated her. Simple as that.

But when she found out, that he already had a family and children … maybe she hated him just a little less. Of course he would wish to be with them, rather than with an arranged wife, with whom he fought every day.

Sigyn knows, that she can be a colossal bitch, but she is understanding and she loves children.

In retrospect she knows, that this is what won him over.

When she met Loki's not-so-little ones, she adored them, still does, like they're her own.

Sigyn finds it really sad, that so much shit needed to happen for her and her husband to grow together.

When the triplets were taken away, it broke the trickster's heart and she remembers, how he cried every night … and how she hated it.

She still doesn't know what exactly happened, but something clicked in her head.

Something, that prompted her to go and travel all nine worlds, just to find them and ask them for a token. And that she got: a curl from a queen, a fang from the wolf of wolves, a scale from the world-encompassing serpent.

Loki has never said thank you, nor has he ever told her, that he loves her.

But she knows, knew from the very moment he first kissed her.

And when they finally had children together, she finally realised, that they were meant to be – and that she would follow him to the end of all worlds and back.

Sigyn is nothing, if not loyal.

All nine worlds know this.

Even when she hated Loki, she took her wedding vow seriously.

She has sworn to be his faithful companion in joy and grief, for better or worse, to share happiness and grief, to easy his suffering and to be true, no matter what.

Loki is a pathological liar and the biggest slut she has ever met and now he is also a murderer and a traitor. Of course she would never condone, what he has done. She would never attempt to excuse or even defend his actions.

But she will also never desert him. He is all she has left now, really.

This wily shapeshifter, who slowly but surely has won her love and devotion.

She will be by his side until the end, even if it means wasting her life away.

Breaking her word is not an option.

Defeat is not an option.

She, Sigyn, Bringer of Victory, daughter of the Father of the Slain, goddess of fidelity and constancy will be her husband's protector as long as she lives.

For she is Loki's wife and she holds a basin over his head, because this blasted snake up there is not allowed to cause him unbearable agony, not on her watch!

He may be a foxy jerk, but he is her foxy jerk.

...

Loki has never told his wife, that he loves her.

He doesn't know why.

But love her he does, has loved her from the very moment she accepted his children with Angrbo?a as her own. Seriously, it was comical; she was cuddling the Niflheim out of the triplets and fawning over how cute they were – and he blushed. And that after centuries of loathing each other and leading a marriage neither of them had wanted.

And when she gifted him what to this day is his most priced possession, he fell for her completely.

Loki doesn't know, what he has done to earn Sigyn's unwavering loyalty, but he has it.

He never says I love you, but he has a way with gestures and words.

When he calls her a diamond and she asks why, he laughs and tells her, that she is just like one – precious, beautiful and the toughest natural substance there is. And she chortles and tells him to quit being sappy.

It sucks, that it has taken him centuries to realise it, but she is the best thing that ever happened to him. If he wasn't currently chained to three rocks with the entrails of their son, he would even say that he's very, very lucky.

Wait, scratch that.

He actually is very, very lucky.

Because even after all he has done, she is still by his side, easing his suffering significantly and keeping him from losing his mind completely. Even now, that he is a murderer and traitor, even as he's chained to three rocks with the entrails of their own child.

She has been offered to stay in Asgard and live a halfway ordinary life as a de-facto divorcee … and refused. She chose to stay with him, even though they both knew that it would mean wasting her life away, even though she has every reason to hate him.

He doesn't deserve her, he knows.

And she knows it too.

She knows him.

Always has.

Sigyn is not a Pollyanna, not someone to see things through rose-tinted glasses.

She is realistic and intelligent, impossible to fool or deceive and she has seen him for what he is right from the start. His sparkling wit, his silver tongue and charm never worked on her. No wonder she hated him at first – and to be fair, he made it pretty easy for her too; Loki remembers how he never was home (because she was too shrewish to handle), how he had more lovers than he has freckles on his face … and how he always lied.

Sigyn's attitude hasn't changed much since, just because she's fallen in love with him.

But love him she does and he hasn't the faintest idea why. It makes literally no sense.

But he is grateful for it, even though he never says so.

This petite, starry-haired goddess, small but strong, volatile but kind, quick to chide him but never untrue, never breaking her word in all the millennia they have been married.

Dear, poor Sigyn, so full of sorrow, who unlike him has no more tears to shed.

His long-suffering wife, who has watched her own children die most cruelly by the hands of the ?sir and gets reminded of it every time she looks at the chains binding her husband.

Loki is rarely moved by someone else's suffering, but his family is the exception.

Often he has asked her, why she is still here.

Her answer is always the same: "Because I love you, because you need me and because we only have each other left."

She really is all he has left.

And he trusts her.

His trust in her is as unwavering as her loyalty to him.

So what if she still calls him a foxy jerk.

He is hers.

...

"Hey Sigyn."

"Hm?"

"Wanna hear something funny?"

She rolls her eyes, but humours him. "I'm all ears."

"I don't think I'll be able to shake my chains off, when Ragnar?k comes."

"How is that funny?"

"I hope my little ones come to pay me a visit, when Fenrir gets out of Gleipnir."

"I still don't see, how-"

"Remember how they called you 'Sigyn of the Starry Hair'?"

She smiles fondly; of course she remembers. And how J?rmungandr liked to snake around her body and rest his serpentine head in her curly black and star-spangled hair, hissing about how soft it was.

"And you, Loki? Remember how they took human shapes that one time, for your birthday? And Fenrir another time, for T?r?"

He giggles: "They were so adorable!"

That they were, she agrees.

The goddess of loyalty wonders what the Midgard Serpent looks like now, if he takes human shape. He probably has a scar on his head, where her half-brother ?órr hit him with his hammer. And the Fenriswolf surely looks ferocious.

"And they loved you", Loki whispers, "I'm sure they still do."

The feeling is absolutely mutual; Sigyn doesn't care how enormous they are now.

"You're beautiful."

Where the Niflheim did that come from?

"Shut it", she mutters and blushes. Loki chuckles, but complies.

Sigyn isn't beautiful, at least not as beautiful as she once was.

Her black and starry hair has lost its lustre and is completely dishevelled, she has grown very pale and thin and she is ageing. And the rejuvenating apples they still have won't fix this, because those grey strands and lines on her face are the result of her sorrow. Probably she has dark rims under her eyes too.

She must look hideous.

Loki knows her train of thought. "You're still a diamond to me", he consoles her. "You're just one in the rough now."

She snorts, but gives him a fond look.

He grins, but it fades quickly and his head sinks back onto the rock.

He's so tired.

Just a century earlier, he got to take a nap, because of ??inn's short visit, but that was a few hours of rest. Apart from that …

"It feels like I haven't slept in millennia", he groans.

"I don't think you have", Sigyn replies. "In fact I'm quite sure, that you haven't slept at all, since you … were imprisoned here. Apart from that one nap a hundred years ago."

Loki looks up to her again. "You're tired too, my Sigyn. You can't convince me, that you have got any more sleep than I have."

"You're right, I haven't", she confirms.

And she isn't just exhausted.

She is dying, both of them know this.

Century after century of being in this dark cave, holding this big basin and scarcely eating, drinking, sleeping or even getting fresh air, her incredible strength is waning and her life energy is slipping away. At this point she is so weak, that it's inevitable.

The thought makes Loki's heart shatter. The only thing he can do is hope that he will be free, before this happens. Not just because he doesn't want the venom to drop on his face non-stop. If she has to pass on before him, at least she should die in his arms.

Sigyn knows, how her husband feels about the prospect of her dying before him.

But she has sworn to last as long as he needs her and Sigyn will be damned, if she ever fails to keep her word!

At this point, it's probably pure obstinacy, which keeps her alive, because like Niflheim will she be defeated by something as minor as death!

"Hey, Sigyn?"

"Hm?"

"You're doing that thing again."

"What thing?" She knows, what he means, but it's funny hearing him say it.

Loki grins: "That thing, where you think about how death can kiss your arse as long as I need you. I can tell by the way your jar clenches and the way you frown and glare."

She giggles: "You know me so well."

"And you know me, my better half", he purrs.

Damn right I'm your better half, she thinks drily.

But he made her laugh and she is so grateful for that. Loki is so good at making her laugh, even now. It's one of the things she loves about him.

They sink back into silence for a while.

Then something unexpected happens and Sigyn is so surprised, that she nearly drops the basin. She manages not to, but decides to tell her husband of what just occurred.

"Loki?"

"Hm?"

"Guess what just happened."

His head is directly below the basin, so he doesn't see what's above it.

"What is it, my wife?"

"The snake just bit the dust."

The trickster's eyes widen. "No fucking way!"

"Yes fucking way. Give me a moment to empty the basin and then I'll see, if I can find something to open those fucking chains."

"Try the teeth of the snake", Loki advises.

"Will do", Sigyn says and goes to empty the bowl.

When she comes back, she has a sharp rock and a few herbs.

"Alright, let's see, if this works", she mutters and cuts the dead snake into pieces. Then she uses the leftover teeth and finds that, yes, they do cut through the chains.

The now free trickster tumbles from the rocks to the ground.

"Holy shit, am I free at last?", he groans.

"Yep", Sigyn nods. "It's finally fucking over."

Loki would stand up and laugh triumphantly, but he is just so tired and everything hurts. However, they both really want to get out of this damn cave and so she helps him outside, carrying the bowl full of snake meat and herbs.

They both blink at the bright light, but manage to drag themselves to a nearby river, before slumping against a tree, both groaning from exhaustion.

The trickster leans against his wife's shoulder. "Darling?"

"Yes?"

"I'm in no condition to start Ragnar?k", he admits.

She laughs: "Obviously. Come on. I'll cook us a nice snake soup and then you'll take a nap."

He smiles. "Sounds good, my diamond."

They have themselves the soup and then she lets him rest his head in her lap.

"Sleep", she coos. "I'll be there, when you wake."

He sighs and closes his eyes, knowing that she will indeed still be here, when he wakes up.

No one is truer than Sigyn.


"It takes courage and strength to make a man depend on you, but it almost always pays off."