Warnings: None.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Note: Thank you for all the reviews and follows!
Many thanks to princesspomegranate who did the BETA work on this for me. Her stories are awesome and should be read as well.
During the journey back, Thor managed to persuade his father to give him seven cycles of the moon, until the beginning of the new year, to find Loki's mate before his brother's fate was to be carried out. But his heart was heavy. Once again he would have to break his promise to Jane and return her to Midgard. His brother's fate was in his hands and he must begin searching as soon as possible to have even the slightest chance of finding this unknown woman.
Frigga met them at the observatory, her mouth pinched in worry. Jane had been missing for three days. Heimdall had not seen where she had gone, having kept his gaze on Odin and Thor during their time in Jotunheim. Guards had been sent to investigate and search for her but they had found no one who had seen or heard anything. Thor rushed to her room, unwilling to believe that she was gone until he saw it for himself. Perhaps something had been missed or overlooked. But there was no sign of a struggle or disturbance save the flung pillow and the disheveled bed.
Thunder rumbled angrily in the dark sky for the rest of the day while Thor searched for Jane. But he too found nothing. Anger and illness churned in his stomach as he forced himself to give up the search. It wasn't that he could just forget her so easily, but his brother, whom he had known and loved for hundreds of years, was facing certain death if he did not do something. So, with a heavy heart, he gathered the muzzle from when he brought Loki home from Midgard and a set of cuffs, much shorter than last time, he was not going to be nearly choked again, and made his way to the room Loki was secured in.
Thor reasoned that having Loki with him while he was looking might speed up the process. After all, Farbauti said that it was a magical sense and he did not have nearly the knowledge that Loki did in those matters.
The hall was dark with no torches to light it. No one dared to venture down the hall anymore since it had become nearly as cold as Jotunheim. But he knew the way like he knew each bump, notch, and braid of leather on the handle of Mjolnir. He had been down this hall nearly every day since Loki's imprisonment, to slip notes under the door or just sit outside near him. Sometimes he spoke of when they were young, hoping that he could hear something; hoping that he could stir some sense of the brother he knew back to life. But now he knew that nothing he said could have ever brought him back.
He arrived at the door and reached out to find it icy. His hand jerked back automatically, reflexively cautious of frostbite, but he set his jaw and placed his hand on the doorknob. Feeling the cold bite at his skin, he turned the metal. The door opened just a fraction, ice cracking at the hinges. The room seemed blacker than the hall, if possible.
It was deadly silent.
The hair on the back of Thor's neck stood up and he swallowed hard. Was his brother already dead?
"Loki?" he breathed, edging the door open a little more.
Flashing red eyes snapped into existence before him. His head jerked back. They seemed higher than he remembered.
A low, predatory growl spilled from the room. The temperature plummeted. Cold breath washed over Thor's cheeks.
"Loki, I swear, this is for your own good," Thor said firmly, reaching out first with the cuffs, "I will make you better."
A bitterly cold hand closed over his, turning the metal into nothing more than brittle pieces that clanged on the stone floor. Thor bit back a cry of pain at his frostbitten flesh and grabbed at Loki's head, hoping to catch his hair. Loki snarled like a wild animal, rearing back and sinking his dagger like teeth into Thor's hand. He grunted in pain and jerked back before an ice dagger slammed into his armor.
"Loki, please! I am trying to help!" begged Thor, advancing again, "I know about the drumming. I can make it stop."
A dark chuckle, deeper than any noise he had ever heard come from Loki, crept though the dark, making ice in Thor's veins.
"You cannot make the drums stop," he growled.
Thor's heard skipped a beat. He sounded like Laufey.
"Loki, all we have to do is find your mate," explained Thor pushing aside his fear of his brother and hoping that there was still some part of him that could be reasoned with, "Once we do, you will be well again."
"It is too late," Loki growled, narrowing his eyes.
"No! It is never too late brother," said Thor, once again moving to subdue Loki.
Claw-like nails whipped across his face, leaving wet, burning trails down his cheeks. The shoulder of his armor turned brittle and fell away, Loki's hand coming down hard and sinking the frostbite down into his skin. Thor jerked back from the door again.
"Come at me again Odinson," he purred, allowing Thor to see the glint of his jagged teeth even in the blackness, "I have tasted blood. Will yours be as sweet?"
A thought struck Thor so suddenly that his heart seized and head swam.
"Did you kill Jane?" he barely managed to whisper.
"The little mouse that stumbled in here?" said Loki, his voice gravely and dark, "Oh yes, she was quite… delicious."
Thor kicked out his foot, forcing Loki back in the room before slamming the door shut. He slumped forward against the door, sinking to his knees, tears running down his face. A sob escaped his lips as his forehead pressed against the frozen door. His heart broke for both his brother and Jane.
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