Thank you to everyone reading this story. A special thanks goes to 'Midnight' for thoroughly reviewing all my stories!

Confused, Thor glanced around. They were standing in Odin's chambers. Thor took a look at his father who seemed utterly unmoved by what they had just experienced.

"Father!" Thor roared louder than he expected. He noticed Odin twitching with surprise at the magnitude of his voice.

"Father, Loki is seriously injured. He needs to be taken to the healers." Thor said, his tone still loud and unyielding.

Odin looked at the blonde god as if Thor was four years old and unable to understand even the simplest facts of life.

"Loki is a trickster, Thor. He knows that a just punishment is awaiting him. Didn't it occur to you that he is faking his weakness precisely for the reason to be taken to the healers so he can escape and cause more havoc?" Odin stated his opinion as if it was a fact.

"He is not faking it, father. I saw him; I talked to him. Loki is…suffering." Thor added desperately.

"You have always been naïve, Thor." Odin echoed the words Loki said to Thor earlier.

"Father. Please." Thor articulated each word carefully, trying to keep control of his voice. He knew that he was more pleading than discussing the matter with his father, but he was running out of ideas what to do.

"A king never begs, son."

"The kind of king I want to be protect the people he loves, no matter his pride." Thor replied looking Odin in the eyes.

Odin sighed.

"I am not letting Loki out of the cell. That is my decision and my decision is definitive." The Allfather looked at Thor wearily.

Thor didn't say anything for a while. He chose his next words with caution.

"Father." Thor made sure he had Odin's full attention. "If Loki...dies because of you, you will lose me forever."

Odin kept his expression blank, but Thor saw him clench his fists.

"You would choose that criminal over me?" Odin stated unnervingly calmly.

"Don't call him that."

"How am I supposed to call someone who decided to enslave an entire planet?"

"I believe it wasn't Loki's decision to attack Midgard." Thor uttered these words automatically.

For the first during their entirely conversation, Odin seemed at least mildly interested in what Thor was saying.

"What makes you say that?"

"Loki…he seemed relieved when I suggested that it may not have been his idea to attack Midgard. I...don't look at me like that!" Thor raised his voice when he saw the doubt in Odin's eyes. "Do you truly think me so gullible not to be able to sense when my own brother is finally letting his guards down? And if you do, why would you want Asgard to have such a naïve king?" Thor finished out of breath.

"Nothing that could have happened to Loki after he let go would justify his actions, Thor." Odin said sternly.

"It could explain a lot though." Thor decided not to openly disagree with his father now.

Odin sighed. He hated for Thor to be so much under the influence of Lok…the criminal but at the same time he was proud of his son for showing such perseverance to get what he wanted. And then…there was always Frigga. Somewhere deep inside his mind, a doubt was creeping into Odin telling him that if indeed Thor was right, and the prisoner was to die because of his injuries, Frigga would never forgive him.

Odin decided to choose the strategy of appeasement. In the end, he was not going to lose his family because of the ungrateful Jotun who ignored the fact that Odin saved him from dying as a child left on a frozen rock.

"Alright. I will allow the healers to enter Loki's cell and examine him. Provided that they find some injuries, they will be allowed to heal and tend them. During the process, the prisoner will stay chained in the cell, surrounded by guards."

Thor felt the urge to retort that it may not be the most efficacious way how to examine someone if the concerned is chained to a wall, but he kept his mouth shut for Loki's sake.

"Thank you, father." The blonde god said only, preparing to leave right away to be there for Loki when the healers treated him.

"Thor?" Odin's exclamation stopped Thor and made him turn to face his father.

"You are not allowed to be in the dungeons when the healers check on him. Should any of the guards see you there, they will be given a specific command to abruptly end the examination and leave the prisoner untreated. Am I clear?"

A sense of hopelessness passed through Thor's mind and he felt his stomach to be in knots. Odin had planned it well; had Thor disobeyed him, Loki would pay the price.

"Yes, father." Thor said only and with final look at his king he left the chambers.

Once in the corridor, Thor felt his head spinning. Judging from the way Odin was talking about Loki, Thor could clearly sense that Odin really held no affection for his brother anymore. Would Odin truly rather leave Loki to die not to risk him breaking free? Or was he only so convinced of Loki's twisted and deceitful nature that it made him unable to consider that his younger son could actually be suffering and may not had been acting with a free will?

Thor felt these thoughts to lie heavily on his shoulders.

He wanted to go to see his friends to drink and feast and forget about the world.

He wanted to go back to Midgard to finally visit Jane.

He wanted to be happy about the fact that his father was proud of him and fully trusted that he would make a good king one day.

Nevertheless, Thor couldn't do any of these.

Somehow, Thor knew that every time Loki was hurting in the past, he would have dismissed his little brother's distress as unimportant and his slights as imaginary. However, Thor did mature in his exile and being part of the Avengers showed him just how much strength there can be in true friendship, care and trust. Thor was determined to ensure that his brother understood that Thor would be there for him no matter what. Moreover, Thor was determined to find out what had really happened to Loki in the void.

Thor breathed out.

The victory on Midgard was truly pyrrhic for him.

But, of course, no one would understand that. No one on Asgard would understand why Thor couldn't simply be cheerfully victorious as they all have already denounced the unpopular mischievous prince anyway.

All but one.

Suddenly, Thor knew what he needed to do.

Without further hesitation, he set off towards his mother's garden.

Loki was in pain.

He managed to shift himself from his knees to a sitting position; resting his tied-up wrists in his lap. He could already feel his wrists to be itchy and sore as he was unable to relieve the metal from constantly irritating his skin.

Still, it wasn't as bad as the muzzle.

Thinking about the muzzle, Loki became once again conscious of his raw lips. He didn't drink anything since the muzzle was removed and he felt his raw skin to dry out as well.

On top of that, he was sure that he had had some ribs broken on Midgard as breathing was becoming increasingly difficult for him. Considering that no one was near his cell, Loki ceased to put an effort into appearing to breathe normally and let himself draw broken breaths.

Gods, it hurts.

The chains made it impossible for Loki to stand up – not that he would try to do that – for he would have to keep his back in a very crouched position to do so. When he realised that, he felt angry and humiliated.

After a while, he didn't care anymore.

Loki felt hopeless. He desperately wanted to bring his attention to something else rather than his pitiful and painful physical state. However, there was nothing to shift it to.

Loki understood that he couldn't really find any recent happy memory he could focus on.

Everything that happened to him lately was either mental or physical suffering or, in the case of the void, it was both.

Thor.

Think about Thor.

I will not think about the witless oaf.

Didn't you admit to love him recently?

No. At least not out loud.

You wanted him to stay with you when Odin came.

I didn't.

You squeezed his hand and begged him not to leave you.

I…

Loki gave up his inner argument. The sentimental part of his mind was right. He knew it. He knew he didn't hate Thor. In fact, Loki probably felt most loved when he was sitting in Thor's embrace in this very cell, crying but feeling the support and warmth of his older brother.

For the first time in eternity, Loki felt safe and protected.

Loki sighted. He was slowly but safely losing the energy to keep the mask on.

He started to understand what a curse it was to be the God of Lies; it was so exhausting to keep lying to himself that he hated Thor or Frigga. Or that he could ever have Odin's sympathy.

Finally, Loki decided to let go and surrender his mind to the comforting feelings. It made him terrible fearful that Thor had only played some trick on him and that in reality, he didn't care about him and when he came back he would only laugh at him and beat him.

Yet Loki was not strong enough to keep himself from feeling affection towards Thor anymore.

And so he let it fill his mind and heart.

The little comfort of finally feeling loved by his brother helped Loki to fall asleep for a while.

Suddenly, Loki felt a noise and opened his eyes. A countless number of guards were approaching his cell. Quickly fully awakened, Loki felt his muscles tensing. He didn't know what the guards were coming to do to him but he knew it wasn't anything good. Yet unable to stand up because of his restrains and his weakened state, Loki kept sitting on the ground and only followed the group of people with his eyes.

When the proceeding reached Loki's cell, they let the transparent wall disintegrate and went in without hesitation.

So much for the fears they held for him before they put the manacles suppressing his magic on him.

And the chains.

When they encircled him, the raven-haired god noticed that not all of them were guards.

Two of them were healers.

At that moment, panic erupted in Loki's mind.

Oh god. Odin must have sent them to torture me in some ways unknown to the guards.

He felt his lips tremble and his will to keep the vestige of dignity leaving him.

"Please." He said only.

The guards and healers looked at him in surprise.

"Please. Have mercy. I will do anything you want me to." Loki whispered, being fully aware of uttering the exact words to Thanos countless times before. The idea of being tortured by some wicked healers made Loki to lose the ability to think clearly.

The guards seemed to be taken by surprise as they exchanged confused looks. Some of them seemed to have pity in their eyes.

"These are healers brought to check on your condition. They are here for your own good. If you try to attack them anyhow, we will pacify you and they will leave you to your injuries. Do you understand?" A guard said sternly but his voice lacked malice.

Loki blinked in surprise. Then he understood that they expected him to react somehow and he found himself quickly yet weakly nodding in agreement.

He must not allow his fears to leave him as obsequious as he was in the void.

Slowly, the two healers slowly knelt in front of Loki's crouched figure. Loki didn't recognise any of them, but their soothing aura was calming him down.

They asked him many questions about what was causing him pain and he found himself answering honestly, not caring anymore about how weak it must have sounded to the guards. The healers would only nod and check on different parts of Loki's injured body, healing his injuries with spells when possible or tending to them with salves when not. The most severe proved to be his chest; Loki barely registered the healers telling him that several of his ribs were broken. He let them pull up his tunic and bandage his chest. They also tended his lips by applying ointment to his raw skin; the cooling effect made Loki breathe out in relief.

The healers cleansed the wound on his right cheek as well; Loki flinched when the healing liquid stung his skin. The healer only offered him a heartening smile and Loki wondered what could he have done to deserve their gentle and conscientious treatment.

One of the healers frowned when he saw the damaged skin under the manacles binding Loki's wrists together. They demanded the guards to remove them. The guards naturally refused to do so but a compromise was reached; sequentially, the guards took the manacle off Loki's right wrist. This enabled the healers to cleanse Loki's torn and bruised skin and to put a bandage around his skinny wrist. When they were done, the guards put the manacle back on and the process was repeated on Loki's left wrist.

When all injuries were cleansed, bandaged and tended to, Loki felt strangely peaceful. Without further words, the healers turned to leave followed by the guards. Loki was unable to supress the words forming in his throat.

"Thank you." Loki said. He expected to be laughed at for his gratefulness. Instead, the healers gave him a small smile.

"You're welcome."

When they left his cell, Loki leaned against the wall. He was still sitting on the hard ground but thanks to the bandages he finally felt relieved from the worst physical pain. Loki closed his eyes and allowed himself to believe that it was thanks to his older brother that the healers were allowed to treat his injuries. Knowing that Odin would never come up with the idea to heal him and he hadn't seen Frigga since he had returned on Asgard, who else could summon the healers to Loki than his oaf of a brother?

When Thor entered Frigga's garden, he wasn't surprised to find his mother sitting on her favourite bench. Silently, he approached and sat right next to her. When he looked into her eyes, he saw that they were full of tears.

"Mother, what is it?" Thor asked worried.

Frigga didn't answer for a while. Then, she decided to change the topic.

"I saw you with Loki earlier." She said with a barely visible smile that softened her gaze and let a single tear escape from her eye.

Thor didn't know how to react, and so he stayed silent.

"You still love your little brother, don't you Thor?" She said looking Thor straight into the eyes. Thor knew that she could read him like an open book.

"Of course I do." Thor said only. No more explanation was needed.

"Thor I…" Frigga had to take a deep breath in to calm herself down before being able to continue. "I know how Odin intends to punish Loki."