1. "Never doubt I love you."
The candle gutters. The shadows, emboldened, creep out from the golden walls, and Loki comes to Thor's side. A metaphor, maybe. The bitterness rolls in his stomach, as if he has drunk bad mead.
Thor turns to him, glowing. Is there anything brighter in the world? Loki likes to think he is dispassionate about Thor. There are many things that Loki likes to think.
Of course, a person is not a person without his shadow, unless he stands only in the dark.
But there is whimsy in the thought, and Loki shakes it off. He has a treason to make.
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2. "I will lead them into glorious battle."
A person is not a person without his shadow. Unless it is dark. Here, it is only dark.
So this is the question. Loki moves his arm up so the beast can better serrate the skin. Is his shadow hidden by the dark, or – the blackness verges on him again, a deeper darkness. His head snaps back against the rock. "I asked you a question." Or did he lose his shadow when he lost everything else, outstripped it on his long fall down, and now he is no person.
An easy question. "Yes," he says, and remembers how to laugh.
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3. "I am Loki of Jotunheim, and I have brought you a gift! I only ask for one thing in return; a good seat from which to watch Asgard burn!"
He has tasted the ash of Asgard's fallen towers on his tongue. He has lit the fuse and followed the flame with his eyes, smiling. He has burned. And if this is only in dreams, is it any less true?
A lie is like a shadow, drawing its shape from the truth, – or, more amusingly, a truth is a lie's shadow, the very thing that makes it seem true.
Loki lost his shadow, somewhere in the dark or in the light. He can only lie now.
He only can speak the truth.
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