I woke up a few minutes later, my body having already repaired most of the damage whatever the hell that had been did.

I still felt Loki clinging onto me, shouting hoarsely for help that he knew wouldn't come.

"Loki." I mumbled weakly, putting my hand on his – the one that was clutching my chest.

"Vey." He breathed, holding me so close that his cool breath touched my skin as he tilted my face up to his. "Vey? Oh gods, what was that, are you alright?"

"I…I have no idea." I said slowly. "I don't know what that was."

"May I pick you up?" He asked, sounding extremely shaken for some reason.

I nodded and he gently lifted me off of the floor and carried me to the bed and laid me down in it and sat next to me, one hand still on my chest.

I smirked weakly up at him.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you looked worried." I said quietly.

He stared down at me and I realized that I could in fact see worry in his bright green eyes, worry and… fear.

"Hey, it's fine. Whatever it was, it's over now." I assured him, placing my hand over his.

"I fear that it isn't over Vey. I fear that it's far from over." He replied, anxiety in his eyes as they flickered to the ceiling.

"Loki-" I began, starting to sit up, but stopped abruptly as white hot pain shot through my back.

"No Vey, rest." He said in alarm, coaxing me back down to the pillows. "That's an order. Please."

I scowled, but my eyes had begun to drift closed.

He smiled and leaned down to kiss my forehead.

"Sleep now, my little one..." He hummed, almost silently, his forehead lightly touching mine. "Can you do that for me?"

I opened my mouth to say that, yes, I could if I chose to, but at that moment, I fell into a deep slumber in which I dreamt of Loki's deep voice screaming hoarsely and the white blade of the dagger that I had used to end my old life…

§§§

Harsh yelling startled me awake several hours later and I jumped up in alarm, my eyes darting wildly around the room.

The lights were blindingly bright, even though it had to have been night now, and I blinked rapidly trying to see past them.

"PATHETIC!" An enraged voice shouted. "WORTHLESS! YOU – SHOULD – HAVE – BEEN – THERE!"

I leapt out of bed, throwing my hands up in an attempt to shield myself from the harsh lights and stumbled blindly, my feet kicking bits of wood and shards of glass that stuck into my bare feet. What the hell was going on?

The light was too much for me and I morphed into shadow and took shelter under the bed and squinted out. I could just make out the bright, blurry, towering shape stalking back and forth at the opposite end of the cell.

"YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE NEXT TO HER, YOU COULD HAVE PREVENTED THIS! BUT NO, INSTEAD YOU'RE DOWN HERE ROTTING!" The voice spat, rage coloring every syllable.

Who was that, was it Loki? It didn't sound like him.

I strained my eyes enough that the cell came into blurry focus and I saw that Loki wasthe one yelling, screaming enraged at another figure that was huddled against the wall, their knees tucked close to their chest as if they were trying to protect themselves from Loki's wrath.

Loki lashed out at the other figure and kicked them, sending them sprawling onto the floor and I got a glimpse of who it was: Loki.

I rushed out from under the bed and appeared in front of the Loki standing up as he prepared to kick the other one who lay unmoving on the cell floor.

He glared down at me as I blocked him, a rage filled fire blazing in his green eyes. I resisted the urge to step back; Loki looked truly terrifying in his fury.

"Loki that is enough." I said quietly.

"Move Vey." He said, no longer shouting, but still trembling in rage. "He deserves to suffer."

I teleported two feet to the right against my will and Loki planted a heavy kick into the other's chest and the Loki on the floor spat up blood.

"Loki stop!" I screamed, my stomach twisting horribly. "Stop it!"

But he didn't seem like he ever planned on ceasing and I couldn't stand there and watch his clone kick him again so I tackled him and tried to drag him away from the other one but it was useless; he didn't relent in the slightest and continued attacking himself. He didn't seem to notice my arms around his waist or my panicked begging.

Anger surged through me and I willed black chains to shoot from the wall and wrap around his wrists and drag him back from Loki.

"I said that is enough." I hissed, appearing an inch from his face where he was pinned to the wall. He tore his eyes away from the other Loki collapsed on the floor and fixed them on me.

He opened his mouth, likely to demand that I release him, but with a flick of my hand his jaw snapped shut and all he could do was glare hatefully up at me. I got up and rushed to the other Loki who was still lying on the floor.

"Loki?" I asked, panic making my voice squeak as I dropped to my knees and shook his shoulder. "Loki?!"

He stirred weakly and I sighed in relief.

"Thank the gods." I breathed as I hauled him upright to lean against the wall.

His nose was bloody as was his mouth, and he stared down at the floor as if he couldn't see me.

"Loki?" I asked, placing my hand on the side of his face.

"I was right." He rasped without looking up at me.

"What?"

"My fear was correct. Frigga is... dead, slain by the Kursed and as she died, you suffered her fate." He said heavily, a drop of blood dripping from his lip. "It's all my fault."

The clone Loki scoffed and I shot him a nasty look.

"Oh gods..." I whispered, turning back to the real Loki. "I…I'm so sorry..."

Loki looked up at me finally and I was startled to see that his usually sharp green eyes were hollow and red from crying. He looked destroyed, helpless and terrified, and in that moment my heart broke for him. We weren't different after all really; we were both angry scarred children with no one to help us. He was just as alone as I was.

…But not now. I was here, as useless as I was.

I held him and to my surprise, he not only allowed it, but he held me back, his body shaking with fresh sobs.

He buried his face in the curve of my neck and squeezed me tightly as if he was afraid that if he didn't hold onto something he'd be lost.

I raked my fingers through his tangled hair, wanting more than anything to tell him that everything was alright, but I knew that it wasn't.

"I'm so sorry Loki." I whispered uselessly, not knowing what else to say. "I'm so, so, sorry…"

He stopped shaking after a while and his cries quieted and his ragged breathing became deeper and more controlled.

I leaned my face on the top of his head and began quietly humming a very old lullaby that I no longer remembered the words to. I think Gwen used to sing it to me when I was a child. Loki went limp after a while, leaning into me and allowing me to stroke his hair. Gods I wished I could make this stop.

"You're not bleeding anywhere else are you?" I asked gently.

"I don't know. I don't care." He mumbled into my neck.

"Can I check?"

He nodded and slowly sat up, staring down at me sitting between his legs with dead eyes. I brushed a stray hair out of his face and rubbed his cheek with my thumb. Good gods I wanted to kiss him.

I looked down at his hands and noticed little shards of glass sticking out of his right arm, the angle of the shards and the blood smudges on the floor suggesting that he slipped in his own blood and fell in the glass. Dammit, I seethed to myself, Why the hell had I slept through this; he had needed me.

I used magic to make the bits of glass disappear out of his skin, leaving angry red little dots in his arm, but I couldn't do anything about that so I moved on to check the rest of him over. A large gash stretched across the bottom of his left foot which still bled. I glanced behind me to the barrier where the blue shards of a glass bottle littered the floor. I stretched out my hand and willed the shards to reconnect and the bottle, whole again and filled with water, leapt into my hand.

I made some black cloth out of shadow and began cleaning the crimson blood from his arm and his foot. He stared at the floor as I did this and I glanced up at him, concern clawing my stomach. I tied the cloth around his foot and scooted back up to his body. I made another cloth and I gingerly wiped the blood from his lips and nose. His hair was still a tangled mess and running my fingers through it the wrong way hadn't helped.

The clone, who I decided was the embodiment of Loki's wrath, was seething in the corner, unable to shout profanity at Loki like he obviously wanted to. I watched him, an unsettling fire blazing in his eyes. Had Loki intended to kill himself…?

I quickly looked back down to the Loki I was tending to and I sat on my haunches and began combing my fingers through his raven hair to fix it.

"Why are you being so kind to me?" He asked softly, his tired eyes looking up into my face like he couldn't comprehend this act of compassion.

"Because you're allowing it." I replied, brushing all of the hair away from his face and holding it in my hands. He stared up at me, a tiny bit of the pain gone from his worn face.

"My brother visited me while you slept." He rumbled quietly as I resumed combing his hair.

"What did he want?"

"He came to me for help."

I glanced down at him.

"Is he thick?"

Loki gave me a half-hearted smirk.

"He needs me to take him away from Asgard. An entire fleet of dark elves invaded when the Kursed attacked, they're after the Aether that Thor's little Midgardian is currently host to and he believes that it is best to lure them away from Asgard."

"I see." I mused, having paused fixing his hair, frowning.

"So one good thing has come of this."

"What?"

"We're getting out of here. Thor is coming for us at dawn."

I felt myself grin down at him.

"Really?" I asked hopefully.

"Yes." He replied, a ghost of a smile tugging on his face. "By this time tomorrow, you will be free of this place forever."

I tilted my head to the side, my grin fading. "Won't he throw us back in here after you help him?"

"I know not." He said slowly. "But if they do, I want you to escape."

I blinked. "But-"

"Vey please." He interrupted tiredly. "I can't bear the thought of you being confined here with me. It is worse a sin than crushing a bird's wings."

I wanted to argue, but as I stared down into his pleading, grief stricken eyes, the words died on my tongue.

"Fine." I said softly.

He relaxed a bit. "Thank you."

I sighed. "Well, you're not a hot mess anymore and if we're getting out of here tomorrow, we're probably going to kick some ass, and in order to do that, we need some sleep." I said with a yawn.

He laughed shortly without smiling. "I am not tired."

"Yes you are." I insisted, standing up and offering him my hands.

He looked up at me and I couldn't tell if it was with irritation or amusement.

I made a grabbing gesture with my hands. "Come on, then."

He rolled his eyes but let me haul him up and drag him by the hand to the bed. He got into it but I paused, unsure if he wanted me next to him tonight. He looked up at me and drew back the blankets, inviting me in. I crawled under the covers next to him and scooted as close to him as I dared to. He turned on his side away from me and I laid on my back, staring up at the now-dark ceiling.

"Goodnight Loki." I said softly.

"…Goodnight Vey." He replied.

It didn't take him long to fall asleep; his breathing soon became slow and rhythmic and after about half an hour he rolled over to rest his head on my boobs, something he probably never would have done had he been conscious, so I felt it safe to assume that he was truly asleep.

Silently, I willed the chains on the other Loki to disappear, but he didn't move.

"Are you going to attack him again?" I whispered, disrupting the silence.

"…No." He replied, nearly silent.

"Good." I relaxed, lifting the covers invitingly. "Get in."

The other Loki got up and walked slowly over to the bed and stared down at me, most of the cold fury gone from his green eyes.

"You would allow me to lie next to you?" He asked a hint of confusion in his deep quiet voice.

"Of course. I'm not about to make you sleep in chains on the cold floor. Ironically enough, I'm not that heartless."

The corner of Loki's mouth twitched up a bit and I knew that was the closest I would get to a smile.

He climbed into bed next to me and didn't hesitate to rest his head on mine and press into me. I wedged one of my legs between his and sighed deeply, feeling much more content than I cared to admit.

"Goodnight." He said quietly.

"Night." I replied.

I drifted off into a deep slumber, warm and comfy in the arms of two Lokis, not giving a thought to what tomorrow would bring.