Loki, Thor and Sif made camp when night had fallen, the bitter temperatures bringing them to crave the warmth of a fire. While Thor made himself comfortable, stretching out his limbs by the crackling fire and tossing his hammer around, Sif gathered up extra firewood for the night while Loki busied himself in fixing up the rations they brought along, as they weren't sure how long it would take them to locate the runaway winter goddess.

He tried to close his eyes and rest, but Loki found himself unable to. The thought of Skadi somewhere out there, terrified and alone, brought him pain. His heart yearned to see her, to touch her, to hear her voice. To tell her it's okay, and that she did no harm. That it was an accident. He hoped that she was okay, but somehow he knew in his heart that she wasn't. Loki knew Skadi better than anyone, so he knew she felt guilty and scared and ashamed of herself. She felt as though she had failed her mother's legacy. That her father would now disown her out of disappoint and the shame she had brought to their family.

But if only she knew how mistaken she was.

Ullr held no disappointment toward his daughter. In fact, Ullr loved his daughter more than ever, for Skadi was all the man had left in his life. He feared losing her, of being alone. The man wanted to help find his daughter, but Loki had assured him he would bring Skadi back or he should never return until he had. Before they had departed, Loki made eye contact with Skadi's father and there hadn't been an ounce of disappoint in his brown eyes, only fear and love and concern for the well-being of his only child.

By dawn, Loki still had not slept. He busied his mind by helping clean up their encampment before they began their search once more. A blanket of snow had fallen during the night, the fresh white powder covering the tracks they had been following. Loki knew that Skadi had caused the fresh snowfall, most likely to cover her tracks from the Asgardian soldiers she knew had to be following her on orders from their Allfather. Which only worried Loki more. He began to wonder if they would ever find her if she kept covering up her tracks as she did. Sif made it her duty to keep assuring the obsidian-haired prince when Thor wasn't listening that they would find Skadi.

"Blast this weather!" Thor grumbled from near as he kicked around the white powder in frustration. "The prints have vanished."

"It's likely Skadi covered her tracks," Sif said as they walked up an incline, treading over twigs and rocks. She almost slipped on a rock her boot caught yet her eye could not detect from the amount of white powder.

Thor huffed and started pacing the grounds, mumbling under his breath before pointing west. "This way."

To the west, they knew was a lake, but why Skadi go there? Loki shook his head and pointed ahead of them. "Brother, that is unlikely. What reason would Skadi have to go to a frozen lake? She would have gone this way." He pointed ahead of them. "There are caverns ahead. Perhaps she found refuge within one of them."

Sif nodded and wrapped her fur cloak around her arms. "Loki's right. Skadi is wise. She wouldn't risk putting herself out in the open when a cavern could keep her hidden from search parties."

Thor exhaled out through his nostrils. If Sif believed that Skadi was in the caverns, then so be it. The caverns they would go. But he would only go to prove them wrong, for he knew Skadi was at the lake. She needed food and water, and it was a perfect source of water. Though the lake frozen over, she was the winter goddess and could melt it upon at command.

"Very well," Thor replied.

Loki lead the way up the incline as Sif and Thor conversed behind him. When they came near the top, the obsidian-haired prince could not believe his eyes. Not only had he proved his brother wrong, but there she was. Skadi. She was alive and well and right before his very eyes. Standing at a boysenberry bush, she stared at them with an expression of surprise. His eyes scanned her body for any trace of injury, but he hadn't enough time. Before he knew it, Skadi threw the berries to the ground, turned and ran away from them ─ and suddenly he could breathe again.

"Skadi, wait!"

They dashed after the winter goddess, the heels of their boots diving deep into the white powder to push them harder. Loki continued to shout her name, Sif joining soon enough, but nothing was stopping Skadi from running away. He knew that she feared what would happen to her if they caught her, of what justice Odin had arranged for her. But as far as Loki was aware, his father had no intention of punishing Skadi. It's not like she had meant to freeze over Asgard. Besides, she couldn't have been the only Horae have this happen to her, right? Over the centuries of life, few Horae must have also lost control of their newfound power.

Several moments passed before Loki ran fast enough to reach out and take hold of her wrist. As soon as their skin touched, Skadi whirled around with a gasp. A radiant pale blue light and a cold sensation of energy surged from the terrified woman, throwing them backward and into the snow. Loki groaned as the cold that blasted them away began to spread throughout his body. The pain was numb. Like he had been holding snow for far too long in his fingers and they had lost all feeling, yet it licked at everything within his body like a white-hot flame.

At the sound of his suffering, Skadi's breath perished on her lips. She turned, wide cerulean-blue eyes watching as he writhed in agony in the snow. "Loki!" she gasped. She began to approach him with much hesitance, but then she recalled it was her skin that had brought him such pain. So she stopped and drew her clenched hands to her chest, her guilty eyes watching on.

Sif helped Loki sit up. A gasp slipped from her mouth at the sight of a singular strand of platinum hair that stood out amongst the obsidian. "Loki, your hair . . ."

Skadi's eyes grew at the sight of the platinum strand. Her breaths became louder, body trembling. She couldn't believe what she had done. Harming the man who she now knew loved her, who she realized the moment he kissed her she loved him all the same. "What have I done?" she whispered, stepping backward and away from them, scared to bring anymore harm to the people she loved.

Loki groaned as Sif helped him to his feet. He didn't care about the cool feeling coursing through his body; just Skadi. He moved away from Sif and began to approach the platinum-blonde, but Skadi backed away, shaking her head with tears glistening like frost in her cerulean-blue eyes. She feared hurting him, but he could never hold fear toward her. The closer he got to her, the colder the wind whistling around them became. Their hair whipped around them, goosebumps rising on their skin. And, as her fear increased, the surrounding temperature plummeted further.

"Skadi, it's alright," Loki said. His voice was gentle, loving, same as his eyes that stared into her own.

"I . . . I hurt you," Skadi whispered. Her lip trembled, and she stared at the platinum strand of hair atop his head with a heavy heart.

"I'm alright. I promise." He smiled at her, extending his hand for her to take, but she did not. She stepped away, and suddenly, it began to snow around them. "Let it go. All of it. The pain, the fear, the guilt. Don't allow it to control you. Don't allow it to keep you in these woods." He reached out to touch her cheek, but she moved away again. "Come with me, Skadi. Asgard needs you. I need you."

Tears cascaded down her porcelain cheeks and her face contorted in pain. She was in agony, her emotions and thoughts raging a war. "Asgard does not need someone who brings such pain to its people. I harmed them, Loki. I can still hear their screams. They were so afraid of what I could do. I . . ."

"Skadi." This time it was Thor who stepped forward, approaching the winter goddess with care so she wouldn't get spooked. "Our king will not do you harm should you come with us now. He wishes for the Horae to train you properly, to show you how to control your emotions so they do not take the reins of your power."

Skadi shook her head, tears falling. "I can't."

"You can. I believe in you." Loki stepped closer. So close they could touch, but she moved away once more.

"Please do not come closer. I do not want to hurt you," Skadi pleaded.

A gentle smile curved onto Loki's face. "You could never hurt me."

Skadi opened her mouth to argue. But before she could get a word out, to say how wrong he was, and she had hurt him; the platinum strand of hair he now had as proof of that, Loki stepped forward. He grasped her hands in his own and drew her close, causing her to gasp out loud. She tried to pull away, terrified of harming him again, but his grip on her was strong. Determined to not lose her again. He held her there, pulling her into his torso, where he wrapped his arms around her, trapping her in a hug.

"Skadi, please. Come home," he whispered against the flesh of her ear.

And Skadi said nothing.

Instead, the woman whimpered, letting out every emotion she felt into the arms of the man she loved with all her heart in the middle of the wintry woods. It was in his embrace that the snow and the cold winds ceased, that the dreary clouds vanished and the sun broke through them, beaming once again. It was in his embrace that the cold within Loki melted away and that Skadi realized that no harm would ever come to her. That she was safe. That nobody feared her. That she was loved.

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a/n: Yes, yes I did do that. Loki is Anna and his Elsa gave him a white strand of hair. And it's staying. Deal with it.