A/N: Sorry that's it's taken so long to post this. I'm really hoping to post quicker from now on.


Three days ago.

Loki had about an hour before the council meeting he had to go to. He wished that Thor would have taken his place, and even though he had tried to bribe Thor into it, he hadn't taken the bait. Damn, his brother was getting smarter; years ago he could have easily bribed or tricked him into it. He supposed that it was a good thing, since Thor was High King.

Loki shook his head; it wasn't the time to think about such things. Not when he had a lot less time to practice his magic now that he actually had a desire for it. He had been advancing fairly well, but like always, he thirsted for more. At the moment he was studying a complicated spell that was actually several spells woven into one. It was meant to be a gift of sorts for Thor's birthday.

Loki looked over the spells' many components one more time before nodding, he was ready. He started stitching the spells together like one would a quilt, and so far it seemed to be going smoothly. It was when he was stitching that last of the spells together that he realized that something was going wrong.

It was always a possibility with magic that something might go horribly wrong, but it did not make it any easier. It did not make his stomach stop churning and it certainly didn't make him stop falling. Falling and falling, end over end, until he suddenly stopped. Loki's knees were braced, but even so he found himself on the floor on his hands and feet. Quite the undignified position for a King, even a lower king.

Loki scrambled up to a standing position as soon as he could get his legs underneath him. He recognized this part of the building; it was near his and Thor's sleeping quarters which were right next to each others. His lab was not too far, but why had he left it?

He felt dread seep into him as he remembered that something had gone very wrong with his spell. He had to make sure that his lab was okay! Loki darted up several hallways before he found himself in front of the door to his lab. He opened the door hoping to find it fine and not burnt, fearing for its complete destruction.

Loki frowned as he realized that what was in it was a bedroom, one that didn't seem to be being used. That was strange. The room looked the same, but his lab was not in it. Maybe he had the wrong room? The spell might have scrambled his brain a little bit. Loki closed the door and walked to the next door, which was locked, as was the next. His lab had a genetic lock so that only Thor and he could enter the door. Was this a prank of Thor's? Loki shook his head, Thor knew better than to mess with his lab. Loki had old spells on most of his things to prevent people from messing with them. Loki found himself spinning in a circle for a few moments before walking a few paces, then spinning again and going back the other way.

"What are you doing here?" Thor barked angrily and Loki turned around to see Thor looking at him very angrily, more angrily then he could ever remember him looking before. Loki frowned at Thor's tone and his accusation. It wasn't like Thor to sound like this.

"Thor I-" Loki started, but Thor cut him off before he could get his next words out.

"What are you doing here?!" Thor demanded again.

Loki replied, annoyed, "I was just about to tell you. What's got your knickers in a twist?" Thor's frown deepened for some reason at his words. There was something odd about this situation, something that he should know, but seemed just out of his reach. Like where was his lab?

"I can't seem to find my lab," Loki said, as his eyes darted up the hallway to where his lab was supposed to be, to down the hall where Thor had come from. There was something strange about all this, something tickling the edge of his mind.

"Lab?" Thor asked faintly, but Loki wasn't really paying attention to him; he was trying to figure out what was going on.

"Yes, my lab, I thought it was up there, but it's just a bedroom," Loki said, puzzled.

There was something off about all this. But before he could think much more about it, Thor's arm grabbed his wrist and Loki suddenly found himself pressed against the gleaming palace walls. The walls might have been cold against his head if it wasn't for his heritage.

Why was Thor pressing him against the wall? That didn't make any sense. Thor knew that they had to present a united front if they wanted their new leadership to work. Any revenge for pranks done had to be done in private, not somewhere would anyone could see. Besides, Thor hadn't even seemed all that angry after the last prank he had pulled. Loki moved his head so that he could see Thor and try to figure out why he was holding him against the wall.

"Thor what are you doing?" Loki asked, confused and slightly annoyed. His brother shifted his grip to get a firmer grasp on him and he felt Thor's fingers ghost over his scar.

Whatever was off about Thor didn't come to him immediately. Maybe because he was still a little bit nauseous. But then Loki suddenly realized: it was the way Thor was looking at him, like he was angry at him for some reason but at the same time shocked to see him. Loki frowned, wondering if Thor was maybe trying to pull a trick on him. Thor had tried before, but Loki was usually able to see an attempt to pull a trick before the trick fully formed in Thor's head.

"What are you doing here?" Thor asked, his voice full of rage, and Loki's frown deepened. "Where did you get that?" He asked, referring to the scar.

Loki felt anger course through him and hurt as well. "I thought we agreed never to talk about it again," Loki said. It had been a mistake and mainly Thor's fault that it was so big in the first place. Thor had agreed never to talk about it again, because he knew how much it upset him. Normally he wore a leather band over it, or put a spell over it, but in his lab he took both off. Loki must have been so confused about not being able to find his lab again that he forgot to cover it.

Thor was looking at him like he had no idea what Loki was talking about, like he hadn't been there when it had happened in the first place. "What happened Loki?!"

Loki's glare deepened. Thor knew what happened, just as he knew that Loki didn't want to talk about it. Why was he bringing it up? Had he done something? Something to make Thor go back on his promise?

"What game is this?"

Game? Thor thought that this was a game? Loki still played jokes on Thor, but small ones. Thor knew that he wouldn't play games with him and Thor wouldn't have asked him about his scar since he had been there. There was also the matter of his missing lab. Even if this was some sort of elaborate prank, his lab couldn't be moved without causing serious damage. Thor knew all this, and as much as his mind struggled to wrap his head around the idea that now took shape in his head, it was the only thing that made sense.

"Could it be?" he muttered to himself as his eyes met Thor's. "Thor why did you look so shocked to see me?" he asked in a combination of curiosity and fear. He wanted Thor to drop the charade if it was one – which he doubted because Thor was not that great of an actor. Loki was pretty sure that Thor could not ask about his scar in a way that suggested he had never seen it before, if Thor was the brother he knew and had grown up with.

"The last I saw you, you used the dark elves as a means to escape," Thor said. Loki forced himself to mask his emotions. It had been a while since he had done that with Thor, but then again this wasn't his Thor, it was some other Thor. Some other Thor who apparently didn't trust him, and from what it sounded like, this Loki had been imprisoned in Asgard and had used the dark elves to escape.

"How long ago was that?" Loki asked trying to get some sort of time frame established.

"What kind of game are you playing?!" Thor asked angrily and tried to dive to capture Loki again. Thankfully, Loki had always been quick on his feet and evaded Thor.

What should he do? He wasn't sure how he got there in the first place, except that the spell he had been working on had gone horribly wrong. How could he get back to his own world if he wasn't even sure what he had done wrong in the first place?

Thor looked like he still wanted to capture him. Loki knew that unless he wanted to hurt Thor or teleport away and have armies waste their time coming after him he was going to have to be honest with Thor. Loki sighed, because from the looks of things, even if Loki told Thor the truth, he wasn't sure he would be believed.

"I seem to have made a terrible mistake."

"By coming back to the castle to be punished again?" Thor asked, but Loki shook his head.

"No, I'm afraid that if I am indeed correct, that I am not your Loki. I am not the Loki from this world."


Of course, the truth had not gone over well and now he was stuck here in a cell serving time for crimes that he had never committed. Although, after Thor had told him of the crimes that Loki of this world had done, he found himself less angry and bitter that Thor didn't believe him. Loki supposed it might be hard to believe someone who tried to kill you so many times.


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