Loki was falling. The great, undefeatable god of trickery was falling into what would certainly be his downfall. The cold leather of Thor's hammer slipped out of his fingers while he felt the last of his fortune leave him too. Loki couldn't keep holding onto Thor, he would rather keep his pride. He'd rather be known as the god that fell to his death than the god that gave in.

Actually, he'd just like to be remembered.

Loki saw the pride in his father's eyes as he fell, but he didn't get the sense that that was for him. It was for his fair-haired son. The son that tried to save his brother's life despite all that the brother did to ruin him. Yet again, Loki felt a pang of jealousy for his brother. His wonderful, saintlike brother. The only thing he had done wrong was a preemptive strike against those who would soon attack his future kingdom. It was reckless, but it wasn't disgraceful.

As soon as Odin banished Thor, Loki was convinced he was in the clear. He would swoop in and take the kingdom for his own. His people would love him, and Loki would have everything he ever wanted.

But somehow… somehow Thor survived his ordeal in Midgard. And right from under Loki's feet he pulled out the rug, landing Loki on his ass while his brother took back the love of Asgard, his people, and the approval of his parents.

Loki couldn't stand the thought, and he tried to clear his mind of everything. Of all of his short comings. He tried to think about where he could be falling. He was much too scared to open his eyes, but he would never admit it. Especially not to himself. Loki was trying to pretend that he was going to sleep, trying to spare his pride.

But the thoughts of his brother came back to his mind, but they were different this time, they weren't jealous or reserved. He didn't feel weak anymore, suddenly he felt angry. Angry at Thor, at his father, his mother. He was angry as everyone who rejected him. They all rejected him because of his angelic brother.

He searched his mind for what his brother loved most. Then it hit him; Thor loved Midgard, filled with silly little spineless humans. And as his beautiful, wonderful, terrible idea hit him, so did the rocky planet he crashed into.

But it was different now. Loki was no longer scared to open his eyes, and when he did he saw yellow, murky clouds that reeked of sulfur, and two black figures above him that wouldn't quite come into focus. Behind them were two horse shaped objects, and to Loki's disappointment he lost his strength, and gave into the sleep that he so longed for.

Loki awoke in a dark cell. It was small, without even a window for him to look out of. The only light was through the crack under the door and a candle lit far above his head, hanging from the dark ceiling. He put his ear to the ground and attempted to look under the crack of the door. All he saw was a grey floor and a door directly opposite his. Footsteps however brought Loki scrambling to assert a cool dominance over the situation. But he didn't need to do this, it was only a tray of slop being pushed under the door. He brought it up to his nose and sniffed tentatively. Not smelling anything particularly terrible he dipped his finger in and tasted it. Yugh!, he thought. This unappetizing paste they called food was like nothing he had ever had in Asgard, the only thing it tasted like was the floor of Thor's bedchambers in Asgard; Thor had dared him to lick it one time when he was a small child. He pushed it away, and laid down on the cold floor. What could have been a day later or ten minutes, Loki heard footsteps coming towards him.

The door opened and Loki was blinded with more light, "Get up." The voice rough and authorative. Loki stood up immediately.

"Let's go." The man pulled him up by his arm, squeezing a little too hard for comfort. The guard, clad in silvery black armor and a black hood, pulled him into the hallway. Loki felt as if he were in an underground compound; the light was harsh and there were no windows to the outside. Six guards came to flank Loki, but he refused to be contained like some sort of animal and acted quickly, pushing the two guards on his left and right into the walls of the hallway. The two behind him grabbed his arms and he turned to kick them in the shins with his hard boots. They fell to the ground and the two in front of him, now recovered, grabbed him from behind and shoved him into the wall. Loki's face pressed against the concrete. The four guards stood up and pointed their weapons at him. The weapons were a strange mix of swords and strange looking firearms. The guard that pulled him out of his cell had a staff.

Loki focused the magic inside of him to make snakes come out of the guards' boots and gloves. They writhed out of the soft leather as if they were angry. Some snakes were rattling their tails. The guards pulled off their gloves and kicked off their boots, some yelling. He still couldn't see any of their faces. Loki stood laughing at the scene of the chaos. One guard even ran off. Loki wondered whether or not they'd ever seen a snake before.

"Get up, everyone! It's just a trick, get your shit together." The guard that seemed to have the most control, the one that initially retrieved Loki, pulled him closer. As he did this, the snakes disappeared.

He led Loki into a room to his left and stood him in front of a man leaning back in his steely grey throne. It was so uniform and had such clean edges that they disappeared into the grey wall behind it. The man had to be at least six and a half feet tall, and his skin appeared to be hewn of stone and his eyes were a vivid blue.

"I believe that introductions are in order, I am Thanos, king of the moon Titan and this planet known as Patea." Thanos said.

"I am Loki, of Asgard."

"Yes, I am aware. What brought you here?"

"I fell off of my planet," Loki said.

"Explain." Thanos growled calmly.

"Well, I fought my brother, fell off of a collapsing bridge made of rainbows, landed here," he said with a devilish smile that irritated Thanos.

"What was that back there?"

"What do you mean?"

"The snakes? My guards running? Explain that." Thanos glared at Loki, but Loki refused to squirm, something that he would have bet few people were able to do.

"The guards running from them was their fault, you should probably have better people protecting you, they were easily startled. The snakes, those were for fun. Simple magic, that's all." Loki stated.

Thanos frowned at Loki, and motioned for his guard to escort Loki back to his cell. As Loki walked back, this time with no guards but the one, he saw three slits following the lines of his cheekbones on an otherwise humanoid face.

Before Loki could see anything else on the guard's face he was pushed back into his cell. Now there was a pillow on the floor. He laid his head down on it and slept for the first time in what felt like forever.