A/N: Thanks to Nako13yeh for reviewing.

In the three days that followed Thor's visit, I fully expected Odin to show up and demand to know what my plan was, but to my astonishment he didn't. Perhaps he wanted to test the sincerity of my intentions, or perhaps he was just sick of the sight of me and didn't want to get involved. Either way, he actually seemed to place his trust in Thor's judgment for once, and didn't feel the need to come and bombard me with questions.

On the third evening, just as I was finishing my supper and contemplating an early sleep, Thor brought the good news:

'The answer is yes. But before you congratulate yourself too highly, know this: I'm not taking chances with anybody's safety. I will come with you.'

'I'd expected as much.'

Yet again, the shackles were brought out. Accompanied by my brother and the Einherjar, I was led in disguise to the dungeons. Once the stone doors had grinded shut behind us, Thor surprised me by freeing my hands. I gave him a questioning look, to which he responded:

'If he thinks you're weak, he'll use your weakness against you.'

Deeper and deeper below ground we went, until finally we arrived at the lowest level of the dungeons. Here they housed not petty criminals, but Marauders and murderers. Internally, I was already rehearsing the things I would say, the questions I would ask; trying to organise my thoughts. I couldn't help but feel a little nervous, unable to quite wrap my head around the concept of meeting myself.

As the corner-cell furthest on the right came into view, I knew instantly who it belonged to. Mother's touch was everywhere – in the small but luxurious bed, the elegant wash-basin, the slender-legged wooden table upon which stood the carafe of wine and bowl of berries. Sure enough, lounging in a chair reading a book was…me.

'Hello.' Nothing had prepared me for the sound of my voice coming from another person's mouth. He was comfortably dressed in clean clothes, legs outstretched upon a footstool, ankles crossed in a nonchalant manner. 'Oh, I'm sorry – were you expecting me to faint in shock? They already warned me you were coming. I admit I was…confused when they explained the situation to me. But I suppose I should thank you. If not for you, Thor would never have come to visit me.'

I realised I'd stopped breathing. I took a steeling breath, exhaled slowly…

'Hello,' I replied.

My doppelgänger – or was I his doppelgänger? – rose from his seat and approached the barrier. I felt Thor instinctively tense at my side, his grip on Mjölnir's handle tightening.

'Come closer.'

As if magnetically drawn, I complied. Keeping his hands clasped behind his back, he leaned down to inspect me. Our faces were inches apart. Meeting his gaze was like looking in a mirror.

'You look well-fed. I assume they're taking good care of you?'

'Yes. They've allowed me back into the palace.'

'I see.' A flash of something – jealousy? – crossed his face. He straightened up. 'So. To what do I owe this pleasure?'

'I wanted to see you with my own eyes.'

'And now you've seen me. May I be left in peace now?'

Turning to Odinson, I asked quietly:

'Could you give us a moment? I don't think he will speak freely in front of you.'

Thor looked reluctant.

'The Einherjar can stay,' I offered.

'Very well. I'll be close by,' he said – more of a warning than a reassurance – and retreated to a distance of perhaps twenty paces.

'What happened to you?' I asked bluntly.

'A lot has happened to me.'

'I mean when I – when we escaped. What became of you?'

He looked a little taken aback by the forthrightness of my question, but gave a soft snort of laughter.

'Things didn't turn out quite so well for me as they did for you,' he said, 'You found your way home to Asgard – well done, very clever…while I was left behind. Alone. Friendless. Abandoned.'

'You were re-captured?'

He dropped his gaze, examining the floor.

'Yes.'

'What did they do to you?' I breathed.

'They…expanded my mind. I could feel myself weakening…crumbling. I was coming apart at the seams, my mind fracturing into unsalvageable pieces. But then they healed me.' He slowly paced around the cell. 'I was lost, but in the Tesseract's embrace, I found myself again. While you were still busy passing through space and time, I was being taught the secrets of the sceptre. Do you remember it? The feel of its power, the lure of its light?'

I stared at him. Is this…me? Is this what I would've become?

'The Cube gave me new life. All my weakness, my sentimentality, was stripped away. I grew in my exile. I became strong – strong enough to take my life into my own hands. The Chitauri helped me on my new path to glory. They gave me the willpower to harden my heart, to cast aside all weaknesses and doubts and fears, to take the sceptre and claim my birthright…claim the throne.'

'Except you failed,' I interrupted. 'You were defeated and now here you are. A rat in a cage.'

'Here we are,' he corrected me with a snarl. 'Just because they let you walk around, doesn't mean you are free.'

'Perhaps weaknesses and doubts and fears are good for something – they stop you from reaching too high above your station. You and I…we were never meant to be king. Ever. But you just couldn't accept that, could you?'

'Don't tell me you don't still crave power,' he spat.

'Not as much as I crave home. Perhaps if you'd shared the same feeling, you wouldn't now be trapped down here, buried beneath miles of rock and dirt. Abandoned. Unwanted. Tell me, when was the last time you met Frigga in the flesh? Does she ever visit you in person? No, only as an illusion. I am the one she embraces, the one she showers with affection…'

'Why have you come here?' he demanded, rounding on me and raising his voice. I flinched back. 'Ah, I see. You came here to assess the opposition. You think of me as an obstacle – a rival – and you wanted to gauge whether I would be a threat to you or not.' He looked bitterly amused. 'And if I were a threat? What then? Would you kill me?'

My mouth moved without noise. He had read me like a book.

'Did you honestly believe that eliminating me would redeem you in our family's eyes, and solve all your problems forever? That by ending my existence, you would validate your own? Are you truly that naïve?'

He laughed at me. My hands were trembling. The silent guards watched and listened, but offered no support.

'Surely you must know that you are the root of all our deeds, not I. Everything we did, everything that happened to us, began with you. All of this – ' he gestured around the dungeon ' – is the fruit of your labour.'

Shifting his gaze from me to Thor, he shouted over my head:

'Take care, Odinson! Don't put your trust in a liar. His heart is every inch as rotten as mine.'

Thor came over, scowling. He grasped my arm with a heavy hand and pulled me away from the barrier. I allowed him to, stumbling blindly, unable to tear my eyes from The Other Loki.

'That's enough,' he rumbled. 'You've had your talk. Come away, Loki.'

'He's already wormed his way back into your goodwill,' The Other Loki called after us. 'Watch out for a knife in your back, brother!'

'Are you satisfied now?' Thor muttered in my ear. 'I warned you it would be a waste of your time.'

I couldn't answer. My mind was still reeling. What had they done to me, to transform me into that…that thing, that creature? I had no way of knowing – and somehow, ignorance was worse than knowledge. I felt sick. Had they tortured me into submission, broken me with pain and fear? Or had I acquiesced and gone happily to subjugate a realm of mortals, sceptre in hand, of my own free will? Had I voluntarily let the Tesseract claim me? I shuddered.

'Loki,' Thor dragged my attention back to the present. 'We are returning to the palace.'

I realised we were almost out of the dungeons and I'd forgotten to don my disguise. Hastily I cloaked myself with a glamour, and allowed Thor to guide me onto a boat.

I could not…no, I would not allow myself to turn into that monster. He was a part of me, yes, but a part of me I didn't want. A poisoned limb that needed to be amputated.

The person sitting in that cell is not me. He is a stranger…an enemy. I will not become him. I will change for the better. From now on, I will be good.

But first, there is something I must do.