A/N: A bit shorter than usual, but I think this chapter explains some stuff.

The House

- Chapter 4 -

The feeling of being crushed was the first sensation to greet Loki upon waking, but only a moment later he realized it was less crushing than he first thought. It was almost comfortable, and warm.

His eyes were heavy as they lifted, the darkness giving way to a bright yellow that tickled his face...

Frowning and opening his eyes wider, he recognized the yellow to be hair- and he only needed one guess as to whom it belonged.

Unable to move with any expediency, he attempted to blow the strands of hair away from his face. He sighed in annoyance, then tried again, feeling somewhat foolish. He gave it several more tries before most of his idiot brother's hair was away from his face. It was now obvious the crushing sensation was simply Thor holding him a little too tightly. Nothing new there. The thunderer was incapable of embracing anyone in a civilized manner, it was like being hugged by a bear while you wondered if it was trying to love you or kill you.

Wiggling and huffing, he soon realized it was useless. "Thor," Loki said, annoyed. "Thor," he tried again. Nothing. And snoring.

"Your brother has been asleep for only thirty minutes."

The voice made Loki jump, although he didn't have far to go. "Y-You again?" His voice was still scratchy; he must not have been sleeping very long.

He tried again to move, or at least extricate his arms away from his body, but with no success. He sighed and relaxed, knowing he would have to awaken Thor before he would be free. It had been some time since Thor had held him this way, but getting older had caused no shifts in their differences in raw strength.

"Irritating oaf..." Loki muttered. Why did Thor have to hold him so tightly? It wasn't as if he were going anywhere. And what if danger came to them? Well that would certainly wake the thunder god, with Loki's help or without. It had always amazed Loki, how Thor had an instinct about danger approaching, even in repose. It never ceased to make Loki feel safer when they were out in the wilds or on a quest in some distant land. He had once even tested it, waking up in the middle of the night to sneak about the camp as if he were a predator on the prowl. It was stupid, in hindsight, but Thor hadn't even stirred, as if he instinctively understood there was no danger. Of course, approaching Thor with a dagger in hand had been a mistake, but not for any obvious reason; Thor had grabbed him, even in sleep, then held him tightly in an embrace that was...sadly, exactly like how he held him now. Needless to say, Loki hadn't tried that foolish experiment again.

"How are you feeling?" asked the voice.

Pulled from his thoughts, Loki looked up and sighed. "Well enough, I suppose. Although my throat still hurts," he looked down, "as well as my leg." His arm was a little better, at least. He blinked at the familiar ceiling, feeling strange that this felt so much like home, but wasn't. "What happened?"

"You fell unconscious after you repaired me. I thank you for that."

"I...seem to remember drinking something. Was that Thor?"

"Yes. I instructed him to give you a potion. It is not what it appears, however, you didn't truly consume anything."

He frowned. "I'm sorry?"

"As you have guessed, everything around you is an illusion, a representation of the truth that your mind can comprehend. The Book chose your living space in order to help you with your task, and the liquid you consumed was simply a way to get something into your body."

"Something..." Loki said with some skepticism.

"You need not worry, neither I nor this House would ever harm you."

"And why not, what are we to you? And why do you speak as though this House is alive," he looked at the book still on the desk, "and that book?"

"They are extensions of what I am."

"And that is?"

There was a short pause. "An artificial intelligence."

That barely answered anything, Loki had already assumed as much. Artificial... A question jumped out at him. "Then, do you not have a name? I'm certain we will tire very quickly of calling you 'machine.'"

Again, there was a pause. "You may call me Lares."

"Lares?"

"Yes, Loki."

No further explanation followed. His mind filled with questions but he knew he wouldn't have time to ask all of them. He sifted through his thoughts to pull out the most relevant ones. "What is that...thing following us?"

"I do not know."

"You...don't know? Why did you tell me to go to the fifth floor, where I met it?"

"Apologies. My programming defaulted when the Door there was breached, I am uncertain why. I surmise that the intruder caused a massive surge throughout the House that caused my systems to malfunction and revert to their base programming." Loki tried his best to follow what she was saying, with minimal success. "While I am programmed to protect the wearer of the Tag, I am also programmed to protect the House. Since your Keeper was unconscious, I directed the only available-"

"Wait, wait," interrupted Loki. "I don't understand your terminology. Tag? Keeper?"

He could almost imagine the machine sighing. "You are the Reader, the wearer of the Tag. Your brother is your Keeper."

"And...what do these titles mean?" he asked, suddenly wary. Why would this House, this machine- whatever it was -give them titles?

"The Reader collects knowledge, the Keeper protects the Reader."

That was...overly simplistic. Loki decided to ask more later, he wanted to get back to the subject of the "intruder". Still, he had one more question. "And what is the Tag?" He was sure he already knew the answer.

"The metal around your wrist."

He sighed. "Of course," he mumbled. "And I suppose you won't tell me how to remove it?"

"The Tag cannot be removed."

"And why not?"

"I cannot answer that."

"Why is that?"

"I cannot answer that."

"Can you at least tell me what it's made of?"

"I cannot answer that."

With a hiss of frustration, he asked, "What can you tell me, then? Like what in the Nine Realms was that thing chasing me?! Or what we should do about it?"

"You should run." His breath hitched, those words sending a shiver down his spine. "If you ever encounter the intruder: run."

"How then are we to stop it? Or perhaps you can tell me how we might return home ourselves?"

"I have a theory that could return the intruder to its origin. To your second question, I have no answers to help you."

"Why not?"

"I cannot answer that."

Loki gritted his teeth, frustrated. He looked to his brother, annoyed suddenly, and too warm in the tight embrace. "Dammit, Thor, wake up!"

With a startled, caught breath, Thor woke up, eyes blinking and looking about. "...What?" He looked to Loki, squinting. "Brother? What are you doing?"

"What are you doing is the question. Let me go, you brute."

Blinking the last of his grogginess away, Thor let go and laid back against the bed, stretching. Loki, too, stretched, although less dramatically. He scooted a little away and sat up as he shook himself.

"Why must you always do that?" Loki asked quietly.

"Hm?" Clearly Thor wasn't completely awake. "Do what?" he asked as he yawned. He didn't wait for Loki's answer as he asked, "How long was I asleep? It doesn't feel like very long..."

"You slept for forty-seven minutes," answered the machine.

Surprised, Thor looked up. "Oh. You again?"

Loki smirked. "That's what I said."

"Apologies," said the voice. "You must run again."

Loki's body went rigid. No, not here, not yet. He was comfortable here. He was still tired, his leg hurt, he didn't want to run anymore.

"What do you mean?" asked Thor. "Run where?"

"It's found us..." Loki whispered. He rushed to the edge of the bed but promptly fell off the side and to the floor when his legs didn't catch him.

"Loki!" Thor hurried to his side and helped him to stand, although Loki's legs shook with the effort. "You still aren't fully recovered," he observed.

"Clearly," Loki returned, annoyed.

"Please run."

A door appeared where Loki's balcony had been, another corridor- not the one from before -stretching out of view.

"But-" started Thor, but Loki cut him off.

"Now! Let's go now!"

With Thor holding Loki around the waist, the two princes rushed out of the room just as the illusion of the stately chambers began to shimmer and ripple like angry water. Neither waited to watch as they hurried down the blank, doorless corridor.

At the end was another silvery disk on the floor, the blue light beckoning them to step onto it.

"Should we-?" asked Thor, but couldn't finish as Loki all but fell onto the platform as they were both rushed away.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

The machine-voice directed them the entire way, and was apparently leading them away from the intruder as best it could. Loki told Thor of what the machine had told him, about the titles the voice had given them and of what he understood- however little -of the so-called House.

"What is this House?" Loki abruptly asked the machine as they trudged along the second floor.

"It is not truly a House, nor even a place, but a representation of a construct that your mind cannot comprehend in its true form."

Thor frowned. "I...am certain I understood none of that." Loki lightly snorted.

"Your bodies are real, but what you stand on, the things you touch, even the air in your lungs, is not truly what you perceive it to be."

"Then," asked Loki, "what is it? I can accept that this is some sort of elaborate illusion, but where are we? If it is not a place, then what could it be? Are we simply experiencing this place inside our minds or..." he trailed off at the confused look Thor was giving him. "What?"

"Nothing, brother," Thor half-smiled.

They continued up a flight of stairs as the voice continued. "I cannot describe what this place is because your minds cannot comprehend it."

"Then where are we," tried Loki, "can you answer that? Are we at least still somewhere in the Nine Realms?"

"No." The direct answer made Thor's jaw clench. Loki looked even more concerned, his wide eyes turning worried. "The universe as you understand it is far from here- metaphysically speaking. There is no 'far' or 'near' in this place."

Thor shook his head. He really didn't like to do so much thinking in one day; it made his head hurt.

"What is this place?" Loki asked in nearly a whisper, looking about as if he could see it.

"I have no words sufficient enough to explain. This place is not a part of any universe."

"Then there are other universes?" asked Thor.

Loki gave him a look; he knew that look, it said: 'Of course you don't know the answer because you weren't paying attention when we were having our lessons.' Thor shrugged, smiling.

"Many, yes."

"Is that where the...intruder came from?" Thor asked next. This time, Loki's eyebrows lifted in an opposite reaction, as if impressed.

"Yes. Although I am uncertain what it is. I have not encountered such an entity before."

They had moved up two more floors and the machine told them to stop.

"You are on the fifth floor. Please proceed to the open Door."

"What?" Loki hissed. "That's where I encountered the intruder the first time- why are you sending us there? Do you expect us to close the Door?"

"Doors can neither be closed nor opened by conventional means. It should not have opened in the first place."

Loki swallowed visibly. "W-What do you mean? What are we to do when we get there, then?"

A short pause was enough for Loki to go pale, as if he already knew the answer. "You must walk through the Door."

A/N: There's just two more chapters after this one. Lol, the title the machine gave Thor might be funny if you've read my recent one-shot. Even funnier since I wrote them months apart.