The walk down to dungeon seemed to drag on for centuries, the flaming brackets on either wall creating dancing shadows that played tricks on his mind, phantom intruders silently stalking their way through the Golden palace.
Thor's heart grew heavier with each step he took, the resonating clunk of his boots seeming to rip the void in his centre even wider open. He hadn't seen Loki since bringing him back to Asgard bound in chains and left to fend against the Allfather on his own. Thor hadn't even been in the Realm Eternal when he was locked away within his cell, fighting in Vanaheim to restore the peace to the Nine Realms. Loki had been left alone, sentenced to spend an eternity deep in the bowels of the palace. He' been forbidden any visitors, including Frigga herself, but the Golden Queen fought against Odin, making him relent to allow her to at least speak to their imprisoned son through projections.
Even though she wore a smiling facade, Thor could see the pain and sorrow swimming inside his mother's eyes, blaming herself for not being there to protect and help her child who would now spend an eternity locked away from her. Thor felt the same, but only to a degree. Loki's destruction of New York and lack of remorse for his heinous actions had finally hardened Thor's resolve. Loki wasn't his sharp witted younger brother anymore but an immense threat to all of the Nine Realms if he were left to run amok. No, even though it twisted his stomach into knots Thor knew Loki had to remain contained.
The doors to the dungeon swung open with a heavy groan, the guards positioned on either side standing attentively as their prince slowly trudged into the vast stone room, eyes surveying the damage caused from the earlier breakout. With a quietly muttered command they marched out, sealing the doors behind them and stationed themselves to stop any from entering.
Thor's heart had leapt into his throat, beating erratically while his hands trembled slightly. He clenched them, forcing down the violent storm of emotions raging through him as he calmly strode towards the third cell down in the centre column. Even though he'd readied himself for it, the sound of Loki's silky condescending voice made him tense.
"Thor! After all this time now you come to visit me. Why? Have you come to gloat? To mock?" Loki stood sneering at the edge of his cell, arms held loosely behind his back and posture relaxed, looking like a caged animal waiting to strike.
"Loki enough. No more illusions." Thor rumbled, stopping before the cell and watched as the illusion straightened, facing smoothing out into a perfect blank expression before fading in a green flash and revealing the carnage it kept hidden.
The sparse furnishings that decorated his cell were scattered in fragmented pieces across the stained floor. It looked as if a wild beast had been let loose inside the cell, decimating anything within sight. Thor had been expecting to find the wreckage of belongings but he was unprepared for the sight of Loki, his brother's state making Thor release a sharp breath.
"Now you see me, brother." Loki spoke, the scorn and malice normally lacing his words missing, leaving behind a broken hollow shell.
Loki sat slumped against the far wall, his usually neat person now filthy and resembling that of a common beggar, dirt and blood contrasting harshly with his pale skin. His hair fell as a knotted black waterfall around his face, his brilliant green eyes that shined with mischief were red and swollen and his tears had cut clean tracks down his devastated face.
"Loki-"
"Did she suffer?" Loki cut him off, his voice forced even and deceptively calm, as it always was before he lost himself to a vicious rage.
"No. Her ending was quick." Thor answered, his throat tightening with emotion and he cleared it roughly. "Father is with her now."
Loki's face closed off as Thor finished speaking, his chest rising and falling rapidly as his shoulders became ridged. Thor took a wary step back, feeling as well as seeing Loki's magic pulse and flit around his fisted hands, even though the gold barrier shimmered between them.
"I am sorry, Loki." Thor rumbled, his eyes sincere and filled with sadness.
"Oh, you should be. The Almighty Thor, protector of the Nine Realms. What good are you if you couldn't even protect your own mother!" Loki snarled, his voice strained and shaking, eyes burning colder than the biting winds of Jotunheim.
Thor recoiled in shock, the venom in Loki's voice hitting him like a physical blow. He stood dumbstruck before his own temper swelled, the air becoming thick with tension while thunder rolled angrily within the black clouds blocking out Asgard's sky.
"I was defending our home!" Thor roared, his words echoing through the dungeon as lightening cracked across the sky in blazing white slashes. "Where were you, Loki? What good are you in a cell?"
"Who put me here! WHO PUT ME HERE!" Loki screeched, flinging himself forward till he was but an inch from touching the golden barrier that kept him contained.
"You know damn well who! Neither Father nor I placed you in this cell. Your actions decided your fate for you. You tried to destroy Jotunheim and have Midgard bow at your feet." Thor growled at him, bright blue eyes reflecting the tempest seething outside.
"Odin is not my Father!"
"And neither am I your brother!"
Any retort died in Loki's throat, silver-tongue turned to lead, his face the most unguarded Thor had ever seen it since childhood.
And Thor was right, they weren't brothers. They never were. It hurt, surprisingly, to hear Thor admit the truth of the lie they'd been told all their lives, after he vehemently tried for so long to mend the bridge between he and Loki.
All the fight seemed to drain from Loki, leaving him the devastated shell Thor had found him as.
"No, you're not my brother. And Frigga was not my mother." Loki spoke quietly, Thor having to strain to hear him. He slowly backed away, face stark and carefully lowered himself to the floor, back to Thor.
Closing his eyes and releasing a frustrated sigh, Thor tried to curb his anger.
"Loki, I didn't mean-"
"Yes, you did. No matter how carelessly, you meant it. We're not brothers, Thor and I'm glad that you finally have accepted it." Loki spoke calmly, his voice once again a controlled monotone.
Thor opened his mouth to speak, but Loki cut him off just as quickly as he'd done before.
"She wasn't meant to die, Thor. Not like that. She was meant to grow old and beautiful, pass away peacefully in her sleep."
"She died honourably." Thor said, trying to stop the memory of Frigga's death from playing across his mind.
A sharp maddened laugh broke from Loki, "Honourably? She died protecting your pet, skewered by that monster like one of the beasts you hunt." Loki yelled, and though his heart twisted painfully at comparing the woman he always thought of as his mother, he needed something to vent his anger onto. And Thor never disappointed.
Loki's words pushed Thor over the edge he'd been precariously skating along, frustration erupting and vision bleeding to red as Thor roared and launched himself through the gold barrier and at Loki.
But Loki knew Thor would attack, had felt the air become charged and sat ready with the broken shaft of a table's leg in hand. As he felt Thor break through the barrier Loki whirled around, sharp point of the shaft just missing Thor's throat, who threw a punch into Loki's face. The force of the punch sent him sprawling, but Loki growled and nimbly rolled to his feet and threw himself into Thor, the two crashing loudly onto the debris littering the floor.
They screamed and cursed at each other, bones crunching under the pressure of each blow. Their fight contained none of the grace they'd learned in sparing, looking closer to the brawls they'd engaged in as children; clumsy and poorly aimed hits, meant only to hurt instead of severely injure. The fight ended with Thor having finally pinned Loki to the floor, face and neck covered in a variety of scratches and jaw throbbing from the brutal elbow Loki had driven into it. Loki laid on his back, bottom lip split and swollen and a dark bruise already forming on his cheek bone. Both their chests heaved as the tension in the air calmed.
Searching his brother's face for any sign he would attack again, Thor gingerly released Loki and sat back on his knees before standing. Loki watched with guarded green eyes as Thor backed away before carefully picking himself up, movement smooth given the ache in his body.
The brothers stood across from each other, the space between them gaping larger than Loki's fall from the Bifrost.
"She wouldn't want us to fight." Thor spoke, forcing himself to relax.
A small smirk crossed Loki's lips. "Well, she wouldn't exactly be shocked."
Thor couldn't help the tug at corner of his mouth, because Frigga wouldn't be surprised that her sons still fought like misbehaving children.
"I plan to find Malekith before he strikes Asgard again. Without the cities shield we will be defenceless against his forces." Thor said, every inch the Golden prince.
"Hmm, and let me guess you need my help in going after him." A wide smile split Loki's lips. "You must be truly desperate to come to me for help. What do I gain from helping you, apart from this cell afterwards?"
"Vengeance." Thor answered.
"What makes you think you can trust me?"
"I don't." Thor's reply was abrupt and served to make Loki's smile widen, tinged with a mad glint.
"Good. If you did, you'd be the fool I always took you for. Trust my rage."
"You should know that when we fought each other in the past, I did so with a glimmer of hope that my brother was still in there somewhere. That hope no longer exists to protect you. You betray me, and I will kill you." His words held a finality that would serve to make any other being quake with fear but only seemed to amuse Loki who hummed in approval.
"Hm. When do we start?"
Without a reply, Thor spun on his heel and marched through the golden barrier. Loki hesitated for a second, unsure whether he would be able to pass through as well, before slowly raising a hand and released a silent breath as it seamlessly went through.
He left his cell, giving a final look over his shoulder and strode beside Thor out of the dungeon, mind already plotting on how he could twist the situation to his advantage. And as Thor explained the plan to him, Loki couldn't help but laugh internally to himself. He, Thor and the mortal pet would be the only ones to travel to Svartalfheim, meeting Malekith head on with that monstrous beast they'd planted inside Asgard and destroy the Aether and Malekith along with it.
Oh yes, Loki thought, this will be perfect.
Thank you to everyone who read my fic! I hope that you enjoyed it and apologies for any grammatical and spelling errors. Any advice on how to improve my work would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks again!