This is not my fault. THIS IS NOT MY FAULT.

New fanfiction. Post-Avengers, Thor 2 trailer AU. Loosely based on Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok. Enjoy.

Prologue

"You can't be serious."

A slim, silver eyebrow raised itself high, as the Allfather's one good eye studied his youngest son, whose mouth had been unbound but whose hands were still firmly bound, now, in Asgardian chains. He took careful strides down the steps and stopped just in front of the young Trickster, his one blue eye bearing, harshly, into the two incredulous green ones staring back at him.

"You heard me correctly, Loki."

"So, you're telling me that you're sending me back to the world I just tried to conquer...willingly?"

Odin's eye slid to Thor, who stood just off to the side, looking just as confused as his younger brother did. It was then that revelation dawned on the oldest Odinson and he looked at Loki.

"You're receiving my previous punishment," he said in understanding.

"Not only just," Odin added. "But you will be stripped of most of your powers—only in very specific situations will you be able to call upon any of your magic. And you will be confined."

"Confined?" Loki asked, his eyebrow raising high. "I thought this punishment was fair exchange for confinement."

"Not confined in it's most basic meaning," Odin replied. "You will be confined to your body."

Loki offered him a deadpan expression.

"As a child."

Turning to look at his mother and Thor, his face nearly begged for assistance. But they were silent—in fact, they had done their arguing with Odin before Loki had even been brought in. They were the reason he was being offered this (tentative) second chance.

"So, I am to live on Midgard for the rest of my days without magic in the form of a child?" Loki growled, finally turning a glare back on Odin.

"If you wish to act as a child, then you will be one," Odin replied. "However, if you wish to reclaim all I will take—if you wish to redeem yourself for your selfish, childish actions then you must prove yourself."

Loki's eyes narrowed. "And how do you propose I do th—" He was cut off by Odin reaching out his hand and squeezing his fingers together, Loki's mouth immediately shutting as if zipped closed at the seam of his lips. He tried to open it but couldn't. He glared.

"No more outbursts. You think I do this to hurt you, but you've no idea how very much it pains me to have to punish my son for his careless and thoughtless decisions!" barked Odin. "If you wish to prove you have grown in maturity, you will help those you once tried to hurt."

Loki's glare never wavered, but his eyes asked the questions his mouth could not. And how do you propose I do that?

"The method in which you enact your assistance is to be entirely your own. I cannot tell you what you must do to earn your magic or your body back," Odin replied. "You must find your own road to redemption, my son. It is the only way to tell that it is sincere and true."

Loki rolled his eyes.

"Are you ready?"

He could say nothing, and he averted his gaze. No, he wanted to say. I never will be. But he knew, at this point, he had no choice.

Odin glanced at Thor and Frigga, before reaching out his hand again. As a single tear drifted down his face, he jerked his arm back into a fist, pulling the magic from Loki's body, enacting strong, deep restrictions on it and then forcing it to float back inside. Again, he reached out, and with the strength of his own power, he closed his fingers.

Right before all of their eyes, like an avalanche, Loki's adult form crumbled away and in it's place stood a child—a boy with bright green eyes and hair long, slicked and black as ink. He wore a green leather tunic, much simpler than his usual attire, and black trousers with leather boots. He was himself, for certain, but also the child he had once been so long ago.

The child Odin has promised would one day be a king.

Snapping his fingers, Odin undid the spell on Loki's mouth. But Loki said nothing.

Thor wanted to reach out, to embrace his brother, to beg his forgiveness, to try and fix all the wrongs ever done against him, as if this were the past Loki, and not merely the present Loki in past Loki's body. But he knew better. So he stood, still, and looked on with sympathetic eyes.

It was then Odin turned his eyes on Thor. "Will you escort him to Midgard? I am sure you will have to explain his presence to your Director Fury."

"Of course, Father."

"Let them know he is no threat to them. Let them know that he, if anything, is there to help."

Thor nodded and approached Loki. He looked down on him with sad eyes. "Come, Brother."

Loki was still silent—angry, betrayed, contemplating. He turned to follow Thor.

"Loki."

Glancing over his shoulder, he met Odin's single eye with hateful ferocity.

Odin did not let it sway him. His one good eye was full of pity—and love.

"Do me proud, my son."

I know you can.

"I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." Ps 121:1-2

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