A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who's read/reviewed so far; your support means so much!
Here we go...
2. Svartalfheim
The moon had completed its slow cycle in the heavens by the time Thor was summoned to the Royal Chamber. Asgard had begun to settle. Not a word had been spoken regarding Loki's banishment; not a soul dared to even mutter the name of Laufeyson. All but Thor.
Now, as he strode through the palace towards the centre of the citadel, fear was turning in his mind. Not for himself. Not for the realms.
For Loki.
The gates groaned their greeting as they were hauled open by guards who avoided Thor's intense stare. Odin was there. Upon his golden throne he barely moved as Thor halted before him. He did not kneel.
"You worry, do you not?" Odin spoke in a measured tone, never averting his gaze from Thor's. Thor knew he was watching him, reading every minute movement. He raised his chin.
"Yes."
There was a pause. Thor could almost see Odin debating with himself.
At length he spoke. "Do you believe it unwise to leave Laufeyson's banishment to Svartalfheim unchecked?"
Thor bristled at Odin's avoidance of Loki's name.
Odin was a fool. Loki's banishment was in the name of protection, but Thor was all too aware of the danger it would bring to Asgard's borders.
He saw the danger because he knew Loki - knew him better than anyone in the Nine Realms. He knew that solitude allowed Loki's bitterness to grow. He knew Loki had fought all his life to keep his head above the water. He knew that however hard he tried, Loki would always slip beneath the tide. The mask Loki wore was his armour; Thor could see the mind working behind his piercing eyes, the grimace behind the smile. The pain behind the laughter.
The heart behind the hatred.
That was something Loki his well. In Thor's presence, not well enough.
Thor wanted to stop the rising tide before it was too late.
"Yes."
The Allfather leant forward slightly. "Would it set your mind at ease to see that his sentence is being served?"
Thor's pulse increased. "It would."
"Very well," Odin took something from among the folds of his cloak and threw it to Thor. "You have four journeys. Use them well."
Thor turned the small object in his hand. It sat in his palm; a round metallic brooch formed in the shape of Yggdrasil. Thor had only seen one once before. As children, he and Loki had crept into the armoury, marvelling at the stolen relics and the stories they held. There they had found a clasp like this, before being found themselves. Was it the same clasp, he wondered, that he now held in his palm?
Thor looked up at the Allfather and nodded.
"Four journeys," Odin echoed. "You know how to use it."
~oOo~
Tony's workshop was his sanctuary. Despite the noise, the heat, the smell of soldered metal, it felt like the only place he could find some semblance of peace. To be able to let his mind wander, shaping and reshaping both thought and matter until something tangible appeared; that was more than chemical bonds and theory. That was conjuration. It was the closest thing to magic the human race was capable of and he relished every moment of it.
His mind was so consumed by the spitting, hissing metal before him that he didn't notice a figure descending the stairs to the workshop. JARVIS announced their presence:
"Agent Barton to see you, sir."
Tony lifted his welding mask and turned to see Clint stepping into the workshop. The SHIELD agent nodded pointedly to the welding bench.
"New project?" He asked.
Tony ignored Clint as he wandered over to the workspace and started absent-mindedly rifling through the toolbox. "Something like that. Who told you the code?"
"Nobody. They didn't need to."
Tony raised an eyebrow and wandered over to the security panel. Clint smiled to himself without looking up.
"The mob's gone – should be safe to resurface." Clint called across the workshop.
"Huh?" Tony was muttering to himself, keying in the occasional number.
"The workmen," Clint said, crossing the floor to lean against the glass panels by the staircase. "They've finished. Fury says we're back online – he wants to see you as soon as possible. Now might be a good time to crawl back out of the Pit of Science and rejoin humanity. We've barely seen you for days."
"Sounds like you missed me," Tony cooed. "Don't worry baby, this pretty face isn't going anywhere."
Now it was Clint's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Whatever you say, Stark. Now get your ass upstairs before Fury comes looking you himself."
~oOo~
When the tip of a wicked, barbed blade was pressed to the apex of his jaw, Loki did nothing but grit his teeth. Slowly, agonisingly slowly, the searing pain was drawn along his jaw and a hot trickle rolled down his neck. There was a pause, before the blade returned to flash dangerously close to his eye. They expected him to flinch. They expected him to cry out.
But he'd dealt with worse. Much, much worse.
A defiant grin bloomed across his face.
"You'll have to do better than that." He spat.
~oOo~
Thor emerged into darkness. His hand was still pressed to the clasp, now fixed to his armour. The thought that had sent him between the realms still whispered in his mind:
IwanttofindLokiIwanttofindLo kiIwanttofindLoki…
The first journey.
The darkness was beginning to dissipate. He stepped forward as the shape of a figure became visible through the shadows, and his heart all but stopped when he saw what lay before him.
A figure was slumped against the jagged wall of what he now saw to be a cavern, the walls glistening with moisture and echoing with the occasional drip form a stalactite. The figure was strung up by chains bracketed directly into the living rock, bound by bands passed about their wrists that had already cut bleeding ridges into their skin. One arm hung at an unnatural angle. Was it bone he could see pressing against the skin?
The figure's chest rose and fell in a shallow, painful rhythm. Their eyes were clamped shut and every muscle was contorted into the same image; pain.
"Loki?"
~oOo~
He had heard his name. He was sure of it.
He had heard Thor say his name.
He didn't know if he should open his eyes; he would only see shadows. He had stared and stared until his eyes burnt but the darkness never left him. It clung to him like a mist. He could feel it crawling on his skin, pricking his eyes. It was choking; dark fingers closing around his throat and slowing the blood in his veins.
He had lost his sense of time. The only measurable entity he felt was pain and that had subsided. The blessed relief was unnerving. The anticipation sent his pulse racing. His thoughts wouldn't settle.
And now the thought he heard Thor.
The effort of looking up made his head swim, but he tried. Sure enough, there was darkness.
But he didn't need to see. When a hand gently, so, so gently, cupped the back of his head and supported it he knew what he had heard was no illusion.
"Thor?" He whispered. Even the slight movement caused the innumerable cuts around his mouth to reopen.
"What have they done to you?" The familiar voice whispered.
"No more than I deserve," he managed. "Not if your father is to be believed."
"Nobody deserves this, least of all you. This was to be your chance at redemption…"
"Perhaps I am unworthy of such a chance."
"You are wrong."
Slowly, the hand left the back of his neck so as not to cause him any more pain. Thor swore as he tested the chains. From the sounds he heard next he presumed Thor then tested their strength against that of Mjolnir, to no effect.
Loki could feel his strength fading as he spoke. "These chains stronger even than Gleipnir, Thor, no Asgardian hands could break them."
"Then I must seek those of another realm," the hand returned for a moment, the gentle touch sending shudders across his skin. "I will return, Loki.
"I will."
~oOo~
The Midgardian air was thick and clinging when Thor alighted on the landing pad at Stark Tower.
StarkTowerStarkTowerStarkTow er…
The second journey.
His heart was racing. Tony's machines would have told them of his presence by now. He only had to wait.
He began pacing. The fury of what he had seen inflicted on Loki coursed through his veins. Odin couldn't have intended such a punishment? Surely he didn't know of the brutality that had taken place while his gaze was averted? He could not wish such cruelty on he who he had raised as his own.
Surely not.
"Thor!" Tony strode from the tower, beaming and with arms spread wide in greeting.
His smile faded the moment he saw the blood on Thor's hands.
~oOo~