There was a flash of bright light, and then there was nothing.
That 'nothing' indicated to Loki that he had been blindfolded. Well, that and the fact that some imbecile was making a brutal mess of his hair while tying a piece of cloth on the back of his head.
The bright flash of light, however, meant that Thor had successfully dragged him back to Asgard via the Tesseract. Joy. He was 'home'. There was a loud clank, followed by an abrupt tugging on his wrists. He deduced that he had been chained, and knew that he was currently about to be lead to an unknown location. Loki had his suspicions as to where, though; and if he was being sent to where he thought he was, he could only pray that his death would fly on swift wings.
"Take him to my father." Said Thor, confirming Loki's fears.
They began walking in silence. The people on either side of him urged him onward, tugging sharply at his chains every now and then. He attempted to count how many sets of footsteps were being made by the guards, but was unable to. Damn the incessant sounds of nature. Calculating the number of guards would be vital information if he were to attempt to escape, he thought.
It was sometime later that he heard a few low, indistinguishable murmurs. This preceeded the loud creaking of what Loki assumed were doors. From there they pressed on, his manacles bumping painfully against his wrists. Judging by the increase in volume of the footfalls beside him, he figured that they were now moving through the stone walls of the castle. This much was to be expected, considering their destination. However, this time it was the echoes that prevented him from knowing just how many people accompanied him, or indeed if his brother was still present at all.
Suddenly, his procession stopped. Then, the blindfold was veritably ripped off of his head- taking a multitude of Loki's hair along with it.
"Watch it, plebeian!" he hissed, wishing he could rub the back of his now sore scalp.
As the pain faded away, Loki acknowledged his surroundings. Ah, so he had been sent to the Throne Room. How very dramatic. The Throne Room was all pomp, and was only ever used on very special occasions. How nice of Odin to welcome him here.
The room itself was superfluously sumptuous; even the walls were made up of elaborate stone molding and minute relief sculptures. Smooth, white marble floors spanned across the enormity of the room, glittering like fresh snow beneath their feet. Columns made of a similar material supported the high-vaulted ceiling, giving the room the appearance of grandeur. Oh, how Loki hated the Throne Room. To him, it was nothing but a reminder of what he could never have.
At the head of said room stood a golden dais; on top of which sat the elaborate, over-sized throne. At this very moment, there was someone seated upon its red velvet cushion- the All-Father, King of Asgard. And he did not look pleased to see Loki at all.
"Leave us," he boomed to the guards on either side of Loki. They bowed, setting down his chains while leaving his manacles on and walking back out of the chamber. Even though there was no sign of Thor, Loki knew that any attempt at escape would be futile now. He had long since missed his chance.
Making the best of a bad situation as ever, Loki decided to have a little more fun before he died. Thus, he snapped his feet together in a mock-salute. "Hello, Odin. How are you this fine day? Enjoying the weather?" he enquired sarcastically.
"Enough. This is no joking matter," said Odin sternly.
"Oh, right. My apologies, Dad. I forgot why I was here; because it is so easy to forget that I am currently chained at your feet in the middle of this retched room and waiting to answer for my so-called crimes." he snapped back acidly, smirking up at his adopted father. "And just out of curiosity, what purpose did the blindfold serve? It isn't as if I have not seen Asgard before. Bit superfluous, don't you agree?"
Odin ignored his jibes. "Do you truly not see the gravity of your transgressions?"
"well, with the blindfold on, it's a bit difficult to see anything-"
"Loki!"
"And moreover, what transgressions? I only meant to rule the humans, 'with benevolence and honor'. Just like you, father."
"You have no right to rule them, no right to the throne! You nearly obliterated their entire planet!" Odin bellowed.
"Well, that is neither here nor there."
"If it weren't for Thor, the human race would no longer exist!"
Right, precious Thor. How could he forget? Even in the moments leading up to his death, Loki still had to be reminded that he truly had no one who cared for him, or treated him as an equal.
"And what now? What of him? Don't tell me you truly intend make that miserable oaf king?" Loki asked bitingly.
"Yes. He will be king."
"And... And what of me? Let's spare ourselves the idiosyncrasies of propriety, shall we? If my neck is for the axe then swing it, and get on with it. There is no use prolonging my sentence."
Odin seemed to calm himself before he answed. "As it so happens, you will not lose your life this day. You are, from this moment on, to spend the remainder of your days in prison." he remarked plainly.
"Prison? Do you mean to say that I shall be spared from execution; that instead I am to rot away in prison for the rest of eternity?" enquired a rather nonplussed Loki. He had already accepted his death, even welcomed it; now, to find out he was to waste away in loneliness and solitude, confined in chains forever instead? He could not understand the dubious reasoning behind Odin's 'mercy'.
"That is correct." Odin replied stonily.
"But... Why?"
"Because your mother still loves you. And as such, there is also... A condition..."
White. Really, that was all he could see- white walls, floors, bedspreads. Even the pages of his books seemed to glow with an abnormal and equally unpleasant tint of alabaster.
There was also light. Bright lights that shone, like everything else, a disgruntling and vexing white. That was, of course, until what he could only presume to be night fell- then, there was no light or white at all. He was almost grateful for it- the all consuming darkness shrouded that retched pallidness- but then, he had no reason to be grateful. After all, he was to be imprisoned in this insipid place for the remainder of his foreseeable future.
It had only been 6 days since Loki had first been incarcerated there. Contained within the highest security prison in all of Asgard were the most dangerous creatures in all of the realms- mass murderers, master sorcerers, assassins, prisoners of war- and, of course, Loki himself. Perhaps oddly, the prison itself was located in none other than the palace's very own dungeons.
A mere 6 days. It was funny, he thought, how slowly the time had passed since then. Even more mind-boggling was it when one considered how quickly time had seemed to move before; to think, it had been mere months since he and his brother were still amicable- since they were the best of friends! But things were different now. He had tried on numerous occasions to kill Thor; on earth, in Asgard, and everywhere in between. Things would never be the same between them again.
A sudden noise broke him from his reverie. Loki looked away from the spot on the wall, at which he had been idly staring. The sound of footsteps, noticeably gentler and more graceful than that of the stomping of the guards, was fast approaching.
"Loki," called a rather familiar voice. Having heard it in both his resting and waking hours throughout his life, it was a voice that he knew only too well.
"And to what do I owe this pleasure, Your Majesty?" he enquired scathingly, standing and moving towards her.
Frigga merely sighed. "When will you learn," she asked, "that no matter what, you are- and will always be- my son?"
"Perhaps when it starts being true."
"It was never a lie."
"Right. Just...everything else was."
"We were attempting to do what was best for you!"
At this, Loki rolled his eyes. "Why exactly are you here?" he asked abruptly, having decided to change the subject before he lost what little self-control he had been grafted in her presence. He turned his back to her, once again inspecting the spot on the wall.
"Tell me- did you come to gloat? To frown upon me, just as everyone else? To see what monsters lurk within the walls of your very own home? What is it?" Loki enquired with a smirk. "Why does the infamous Queen of Asgard waste her time visiting a lowly criminal?"
"Do you not wish to see me?" She asked.
"That is irrelevant. Just answer the question."
"Fine. I... I came to see my child, whose supposed death I had been mourning for no less than 2 months- only to find out that he is, in fact, alive," said Frigga. The air seemed to grow tenser with the passing of each second.
"Well, here I am- as I am sure you've heard, in all my evil glory- are you now satisfied, Your Highness?" he drawled.
"I do not believe that you are 'evil'. There is still good in you, my son. Perhaps your true self is merely... lost. Misguided, misplaced. I can only hope that underneath all of that anger and pain, you still-"
"Still what?" he interrupted. "That I am still the fool I once was, believing that I was your son? Still able to be fed those lies? That I am still willing to live in Thor's shadow, knowing now what I truly am- what you tried to hide from me? Because if you honestly believe that, then you are even more a fool than I thought possible."
"Loki," said Frigga quietly. He paused, and turned to look at her once more.
"Your father and I-"
"He is no father to me. After all, the only reason I have been spared execution is because you saw fit to stop him." said Loki, once again donning a smirk.
Frigga glared at him pointedly. "We have always loved you and your brother- no, don't interrupt me, let me finish- we love the both of you the same. It may not have felt like it at times, but it is true nonetheless. Everything I have done has been to protect you. I know that you are wounded, and confused-"
"Yeah, right," he muttered under his breath.
"-but that is no excuse for what you did. You took innocent lives- and for what? Where did it get you?"
"They were a mere handful compared to the number your true son has taken! It was a dagger to my back I recieved, and a dagger was it I sought to return. It was getting me precisely what I desired." Loki shot back.
"And then straight into a prison cell immediately thereafter!"
"And who is the one that put me here? Hmm?" He snarled.
"You know very well that it was your own actions that put you in this cell. And for what? Why, Loki, why?" She begged of him.
"Ah, well that is a different matter, you see. Besides- the sentence isn't permanent. The ends justifies the means, Your Grace."
"The sentence may only end if you are to show true remorse."
"And who says I cannot?"
"The fact that you still address me as if I had not raised you...as if I was not your mother. That speaks volumes." The air had become so tense that is was nigh on tangible.
"Well that might have something to do with the fact that you are not."
Frigga sighed once again. "I understand- believe me, I do. I am sorry. I... I only wish that you had chosen a different path," she conceded. Loki stiffened. With that, she then turned and walked dejectedly away from her now thoroughly miffed adopted son.
Damn that brightness.
Following his rather tense and strenuous encounter with his mother, Loki had contracted a migraine. He sat against the wall adjacent to his bed, leading back onto its soothing coolness. As he did so, he read one of the 20 or so books he had been permitted to keep on a small bookshelf in the opposite corner of his cell.
His cell was vexingly bland; however, considering that he was still sort-of considered a prince, he had been granted a few amenities that his fellow prisoners lacked. Where as most cells barely had room for a bed, his was large enough to walk around in and house a small amount of furniture. He had a bed, a table and 2 chairs, as well as the bookshelf. It was, of course, the latter that prevented him from expiring of sheer boredom.
The book he had picked up in this particular instance was nothing special- just an old story that he had read about 1000 times- but it managed to distract him nonetheless. By this point, he had already read every book at his disposal an appalling multitude of times; thus, he resigned himself to simply taking what he could get.
Still, when you've read something to the point of almost having memorized it, one's mind does begin to wander. His mind began trailing back to his brief time spent on Earth, or 'Midgard' as the Asgardians tended to refer to it.
He had only meant to rule Midgard as a benign God. Was that truly so horrid?
Was it worthy of shutting him up in this cell- wasting away the rest of eternity by reading- while his dunderhead of a brother became king? Was the sacrifice of a few not worth the benefit of the many? What was a mere handful of worthless human lives compared to the benefit of an universal ruler to unite them all, to stop all of their petty wars, and to instill peace? Why was it all so evil?
Loki couldn't fathom it. And it was that fact alone that irked him beyond belief.
Sure, he had lead the Chitauri in an invasion to earth. That one wasn't entirely his fault, however. They would have gone with or without him as their figurehead; Thanoes and The Other never were ones to give up. Besides, had his brother not gotten in his way, he would not have had to destroy anything. Everyone seemed to have forgotten that it takes more than one person to fight in a war.
He sighed. Clearly, this book wasn't working as well as he had originally thought it would.
No sooner had he stood up, in the vain hope of finding a better book to distract him, did the back door to his cell open. This was the door through which the guards brought him sustenance- it would be a crime to call it 'food'- and was the only way in or out of his cell.
"Odinson- you have a visitor," barked the deep voice of a guard.
Loki was intrigued. Who in the name of Valhalla would come to visit him? Yet as intrigued as he was, he was also angered. How dare anyone disturb him? How dare they mock him?
The door opened wider, and Loki was nonplussed as his 'visitor' entered.
A/N: This shall be the first and last Author's Note posted inside this story. Otherwise, all other information or Author's Notes will be posted on my profile page.
This story will, to some, seem like a parody. Not a parody of the characters in particular, but more of a parody of the OC romances that one might find in all corners of this site. However, considering the fact that I shall be putting forth my utmost and best efforts to ensure that the characters are not OOC, it may not seem like a parody at all to some. Truly, it is a matter of perspective.
Now, I do not know if anyone will read this. The only reason I am even posting this is because I find it cathartic, and it distracts me from my everyday problems. I am a long-time fanfic reader, but this is my first time writing. Thus, if you have any improvements or suggestions to make, please do not hesitate leave a review. I shall do my best to remedy the problem.
However, if you do read this- thank you, and enjoy!
Disclaimer- I do not own Thor, Loki, or any characters, sertings, or references to the past in this fic. They all belong to the good folks at Marvel. I merely own my plot and my OC's.