As he watched, he noticed the plant life around Ceres seemed to almost wither as if filled with a great saddness and no long felt like going on.

The fox's ears drooped sadly though his eyes glared at the others surrounding Ceres. Could he really convince them to leave? Not likely, but perhaps she could.

"I do not think he is here any longer" Thor spoke to Ceres as Loki approached from behind him.

"You never were good at hide and seek" the tricky god quipped, only to get every weapon in the group pointed at him. He tsked at them all and held out his hands in surrender, "and here I've come unarmed, with only good intentions in my heart"

"I doubt that" Sif commented in response.

"Lower your weapons." Ceres rushed past them and wrapped her arms around him, "Are you ok?"

"I've been hit by worse" Loki replied, hugging her back briefly, "My brutish brother likes to hit first and ask questions later."

"More often than not, the situations involving you call for it" Thor replied with a frown, "What have you done to her Loki?"

Loki shrugged, "Not a thing. She needed a vacation so I merely provided her one."

"And here I thought you disapproved of bringing the mortals of midgaurd into the other realms" Thor eyed him.

"Well, you could at least pick an interesting one, Brother"

"Hey. I'm right here." She waved, "And technically not mortal." She got up, brushing herself off from her overly dramatic hug. "Loki didn't do anything. I bumped into him and he simply asked if I wanted to get away. End of story. Besides, I've changed my mind, I'm not going back to Fury."

"Ceres, please" Thor stepped forward, "Your father is worried about you. Son of Cole has never stopped searching for you. Can you at least explain to them what has happened? I do not entirely understand it myself."

"I guess I did leave without leaving a note..." She hadn't thought of that. "I'll tell them in writing but I am NOT. going there. Because as soon as I'm back, you know what they'll do? Put me right back into my little cage of a prison. First it was the family estate and now it's a school... Bigger but still a cage. You know those nights where we went out for drinks? I had to get PERMISSION to leave the school grounds. Permission. AND I was given an amount of time before I have to return and check in. I wasn't living Thor. I was a prisoner. And I won't go back to that. Never. Fury can kiss my lilly white ass. He only sees me as a protentional thread to the world and keeping me locked away out of sight is all he cares about, just like my father."

Thor looked trouble, but then he eyed Loki for a moment before looking back at Ceres, "Are these your words, or his?"

"The lady can clearly speak for herself" Loki interjected.

"Then let her do so" Thor commanded, coming face to face with Ceres with a serious tone to his voice, "Tell me. If this is truly how you feel and not something that he has convinced you of... then why not tell them so? Speak your truth to Fury and your grandfather and I will see that they listen. There are even those in Azgaurd that may better understand what is happening with your stone and may put an end to your troubles so that you may return home."

"These are my words, Thor. I may have never spoken them but I've felt it for a long time. I've tried convincing them time and time again to loosen their grip on my lives but then... something happened and the grip just gets tighter.... I guess I didn't tell them because it was easier to just run..." She seemed uncertain of what to do but she did speak the truth. "... If I go, they won't listen, they'll pretend to listen and just lock me away again. Probably underground or something this time."

"Sounds like she's made her decision Thor" Loki sighed, "Well Ceres, shall we?" he offered her his hand but Thor stepped between them.

"Just a moment Loki" Thor glared at him, "there is still the matter of your treason at hand. You were sentenced to a lifetime, locked away and I intend to have you carry it out."

Loki pursed his lips for a moment, "Ah... I suppose that is an issue... well my dear" he tilted his head to the side to look around Thor's massive shoulders, "I don't suppose you would care to spend an eternity in the dungeons with me, would you?"

"Spend the rest of my life in another cage... Not really...Not to say I wouldn't visit if that is what you choose." She said.

"It's a shame there's no changing Odin's mind" Loki sighed, "nothing short of divine intervention could possibly convince him... oh... wait" he gave Thor a small grin before looking to Ceres again, "I know it's a bit of an inconvenience for you, but there's a chance he would listen to you"

"Loki, don't bring her into this" Thor growled

"I mean, Loki has been rather good since the whole school thing." She put a hand on Thor's arm, "I've encountered him several times around campus. Maybe not in human form but he has been behaving himself." She said trying to get Thor to see reason.

"He nearly brought about a war upon Azguard that would have ruined thousands of years of peace" Thor turned to Ceres.

"Yes, after finding out I was 'Adopted', otherwise known as stolen from my home world as a babe and raised with a brand new family that loved and cared and lied to me my whole life" Loki stated irritably, "Call it a rebellious stage."

"Althought that is indeed a bad thing to do, he does have a point Thor. Even on earth, children who aren't told and then find out when they're older can sometimes go through a very rough time... It's traumatizing. Although perhaps to earth standards, Loki went a little overboard, it's natural to go through this sort of thing...

...Had he done anything like this before finding out he was adopted?" She asked, seeing Thor's concern and also Loki's point in the matter.

"Mostly harmless pranks" Siv admitted, giving Loki a skeptical look.

"And now they want to lock me away forever" Loki sighed, "It isn't just."

"So... let me get this straight... He freaks out because he finds out he's adopted... Messes up big time... ONCE and you want to lock him away forever?" Ceres said, trying to get the facts straight. "And I thought my race of people had issues..."

"It is not as simple as you make it sound" Thor argued, "and furthermore, it is not my choice to make."

"He is right of course" Loki agreed, "the fact that it isn't his choice anyway. Talking about it here won't do much good at all."

"It never is." Ceres said, "But, Forever is a very long time..." She rubbed the back of her head.

Loki offered Ceres his hand, "I know you would more likely prefer to get back to your vacation, but if it wouldn't be too much trouble M'lady, would you mind coming to Azgard and speaking to my so-called father on my behalf?"

"This is not her problem Loki, it is ours" Thor glared.

"You aided in the murder of countless warriors" Siv agreed, "You are going back to jail"

Ceres took his hand without much thought, "I guess. I don't know if it would help...Maybe I could get your sentence reduced or something..."She wasn't really sure she'd have much power over Loki's father's mind but Loki had been very kind to her in showing her around and such. She could at least try.

"Thor, you continuously told me while at the school, you wanted nothing more than for Loki to come home. He's willing to come home and all you can do is fight with him?" She pointed out. "This matter is in fact none of my business. But Loki has been quite the gentleman and hasn't tried to hurt me in anyway. I can't just walk away without trying to repay what he's done for me. Even if he is has done terrible things I can not leave this debt unpaid... Much like my true father, he was designed with a very determined state of mind. If your father will listen to me, then I'll speak with him.
"

Thor looked away from her, he found he could not keep her gaze like this. Finally he caved, "Very well. I will request that my father speak with you, but I cannot promise an audience. That is up to him." he looked to Loki, "in the mean time brother, your cell is waiting."

"Hands out pretty boy" Siv stepped forward and with a sigh from Loki she put a pair of azgardian handcuffs on him.

"You always were my favourite" Loki gave her a sarcastic smile as Siv tugged him along with the group.

"All I can do is try." Ceres said, plain and simply. "So how do we get there from here?" She asked Thor curiously.

"We ride" Thor replied, whistling to summon a bizzare looking chariot.

"Could I have a moment with Loki, alone before we go?" She asked, politely.