Loki didn't know how long he'd been in this cell. Days, weeks? Months? Time was an incessant blur. He was curled up on the floor, pulling his knees to his chest. So painful. He looked at his hands, distorted by the endless blinding light. Long thin fingers, nails bitten down and blue veins showing up under paper-white skin. Not the hands of a king. The world flashed in front of him, and he balled up his fist and pounded the wall. It became opaque, and a sharp knife shot up into his shoulder. He hissed in pain then growled, pulling himself up onto the chaise, which looked completely out of place in the bleak cell. He felt another surge of anger rise into his throat, and he stood, kicking the wall again. The pain tempted the rage even more, and he kept kicking, his vision turning red as he struggled to hold back the tide of emotion.
Then the barrier fell, and a wave of anger and pain rolled over him, consuming him. In a trance, he was barely aware of the thuds and explosions in his foot as he kept kicking, releasing the anger at everyone, everything he had ever known. Finally, something inside him broke and he collapsed to the ground with a sob. He felt the anger rush away, leaving him weak and in agony. His foot was covered in blood and he could barely sit up. He ran trembling hands through his hair, whimpering. Loki leaned back on the chaise, too exhausted to move, and fell into a nightmare-ridden sleep.
Slowly, he slipped back into consciousness, and he was suddenly aware of two things: one, his foot reeeeeally hurt. Two, there was someone else in the cell. He sat up like one of Thor's lightning bolts, spots appearing in front of his eyes. As they faded, he realised who the intruder was.
"Son…" Frigga murmured. Loki shuddered. How long had it been since he had heard another voice?
"I am not your son, Frigga. Look at me." Frigga turned away, head held high.
"Look at me!" Loki screamed, throat burning, and Frigga recoiled and moved to leave.
"Mother, no, wait!" he cried, sudden tears brimming in his eyes. He felt like a pitiful child, abandoned and alone. Frigga was silent, and Loki struggled to stand.
"I'm sorry…" he whispered. Frigga didn't speak for a while, then murmured,
"We have looked after you all these years. Without us, without the kindness of your father- Odin's- heart, you would have died as a baby." Frigga paused, sucking in a breath. "Then how do you repay us? Destroy our kingdom, try to kill your parents, your own brother! Loki, all I ask- why? Why did you to this to us, to all of Asgard, and Midgard? Please." Loki felt as if he had received a blow in the chest from Mjolnir. He knew why. Jealousy. And it made him sick.
"Leave me." He murmured. He resisted the urge to yell as she turned back, just for a moment, and took a piece of parchment from her pocket. Then she shook her head sadly and dropped the parchment, striding through the cell wall as it rippled around her like water on the surface of a lake. Then once again, Loki was alone in the prison of his mind.
Loki felt a bitterness choking him.
He reached over and looked at the parchment again, but this time, felt no rage. It was a picture he had drawn, long ago. He had been a young child, before any of the problems that led him astray. He and Thor were small figures, half the size of their parents. They both had massive smiles on their faces, and he had drawn Thor holding Mjolnir like a stuffed toy. And they were holding hands. Loki remembered drawing that, filled with a strange kind of love and pride for his brother. He closed his eyes. No longer was life that simple. He dropped the picture and realised that the image of him was smudged with blood. The red fingerprint leaked outwards, blotting him out of the picture, and he clenched his fists, hard. Power flexed through his fingers and furniture and pieces of paper shot around the room. When he looked down, he noticed that his hands were covered in blood. There was something not quite right with it. Slightly too dark, too thick perhaps. Something that separated him from everyone else. Part Asgardian, part Frost Giant. All bad.