Warning: Loki whump contained within, thought not overly descriptive. You have been warned.

Outlet For Outrage

Loki adjusted his clothing for the tenth time in as many minutes. He wore plain, black leather breeches and a dark emerald green, long sleeved silk shirt. The fabric would shred quickly during his upcoming penance, giving the crowd a quick view of his bloodied back while concealing the pre existing scars that lay beneath. He fretted with the lacing at his collar. He could not remember the last time he had appeared in public wearing so little.

Warm little hands clasped his and just held them still for a moment before easing them away from the thin leather bindings. His little wife moved to stand directly in front of him and retied what he had fastened and unbound a dozen times. She was no longer smiling, no longer was her hair a riotous mess and no longer was she moaning his name. She stood composed, tidied and silent, the picture of fortitude at a time when he felt little. This punishment should not be worrying him. He had suffered pain and humiliations far worse than this. Far, far worse. Yet he'd never felt his pulse race as it did now and he'd never felt so out of sorts. For the life of him, he could not understand why this was causing him such disquiet. It would be the least painful of any he'd undergone. It would last for a shorter duration and in the end, it was one he'd designed himself. He let out a slow breath, trying to hide his internal struggle from the calm acting woman in front of him.

They said nothing to one another, had not said anything to one another for several hours. Neither slept and their night had been filled with bouts of fierce passion, interspersed with lingering touches and a few quiet words. The final time had been a silent affair, methodical and drawn out. He couldn't help but be grateful for how much of herself she had given last night.

He looked down at her small but sure hands, remembering her question to him, one that had not left his mind since she'd spoken it. 'What have you ever given me… just given me without any gain in it for you?' Yet again she had done all of the giving and he had done all of the taking. He pushed the thought away as she finished and lay her hands flat against his chest, staring at her work. His shirt forgotten, he raised her chin and looked into her dark eyes. Her outward appearance may have spoken of a brave calm but her eyes, ever a window into her inner feelings, clearly displayed the worry she currently tried to keep hidden. Her inner turmoil should not improve his state of mind but he could not deny that it did. He ran his thumb across her lips just as a knock came at the door.

It was time.

Loki turned and let his arms fall to his sides as he squared his shoulders. He could feel her as she stood to the side, just barely behind him. Thor stepped into the room, a grim look on his face. He nodded to Loki and gave a tilt of his head to Kenna.

"Are you prepared brother?"

"I am."

"Then let us begin this regrettable business, the sooner to end it." Thor echoed Loki's conclusion from the day prior. The prince moved to Thor's side and prepared to depart.

"Wait!" Kenna ran to stand in front of him once more and reaching up on her tiptoes, cupping his cheeks, she pressed a heartfelt kiss to his lips. With closed eyes, she spoke. "I will be waiting." She whispered against him. "Always."

Her words filled him in a way he'd never known or simply could not remember. While she broke some of his resolve as he returned the gesture with the same passion, she also cleared his mind. No longer did he feel that suffocating restlessness. She stepped back as Thor moved to place the gag around his jaw, the odd numbing hitting first his lips, then his tongue and finally the entirety of his mouth. Though he would never admit to it, the device caused him a fair amount of fear. It truly did remove his ability to use magic with just as much certainty as Odin's spell about his prison. Once they walked through the threshold, he would be able to feel his magic's ebb and flow once more as it tickled at his mind and caressed his soul but as long as the gag remained in place, he had no way to access it. Thor then secured the cuffs, a simple reminder and visual display of his captivity, onto his wrists. While the golden King looked less ill at ease after witnessing the display of affection between his brother and Kenna, he still clasped Loki on the shoulder, giving a reassuring squeeze before they departed the cell.

"I will have him returned to you as soon as I can sister." He gave her a weak smile and the two gods walked out, leaving the former healer alone. Neither man heard her quietly cry as her façade melted away with the closing of the door. Thor escorted his brother to the entrance of the dungeons but that was where he stopped. As per their discussion, Loki would be taken the rest of the way by a contingent of palace elite on a long journey through the city. He would be paraded among the citizens so they could unleash their pent up aggressions on the dark prince, directing their passions away from the throne and the King that occupied it. This entire charade was an exercise in redirection. Give the masses an outlet for outrage and allow the crown to remain strong. Thor had more important matters to worry about than the petty swell of emotions of the mob. He had two realms to protect from a warrior race that was currently bent on their destruction.

Loki kept his head high the entire time but he tried not to affect an air of indifference, not something he excelled at. Ideally, he would act shamed but as much as it might help, even lessoning the number of days he would have to endure this, his pride simply would not allow it. He would give them his moans and sounds of pain but that would be all.

Loki was surprised at how long it seemed to take. He'd come up with the route himself, highly visible and densely populated. At first, the people had been eerily silent, much like they had been when he'd first arrived back in Asgard. It was as thought they could not quite believe what they were seeing but it only took one bold man who yelled about his treasonous ways to get the crowd going. In no time, he'd heard himself called every manner of derogatory name, every slang and accusation. He didn't look at a single one of them. As individuals, they were beneath him, not worth his notice. He didn't endure this punishment for the woman who called him a monster. He didn't do it for the youth that threw mud at him. He didn't do it for the man who shouted that he was happy the prince would suffer. It wasn't for the individuals, for alone; they were weak, stupid and insignificant. But put them all together, band them as one and give them a single purpose and the weak became strong, the stupid became dangerous and the insignificant could change the course of history. That was why he suffered this degradation, the walk and it was why he offered no resistance when his arms were hoisted above his head by the chains that bound him and connected to a beam above him.

The mob gathered around, from all sides, hissing insults, shouting repeated vitriol and ridicule. It became little more than a buzzing in his ears as he let the feeling of their hate, what they'd always harbored against him but had only now been given an avenue to express, wash over him. Kenna was right, it was wrong of him to see Asgardians as superior to humans, rather, they were just as pathetic and just as worthy of his condemnation as were the short lived Midgardians. It wasn't the lesson she'd wanted him to learn, he knew that, but it was the realization to which he'd come.

So filled with his own thoughts he was that he forgot to moan as the first lash of the whip collided with his back, tearing into the already imperfect flesh of his mid back. He remembered by the second time and by the twentieth, he no longer had to pretend. It wasn't the greatest pain he'd ever known by far, but each successive stroke bit deeper and deeper into his body. He looked up once, to the palace that stood before him. He'd chosen this location for many reasons and this was but one. From here, the members of the court could watch from a distance, not have to mix with the commoners. From there, Thor could see and even though Loki could not make out his form, he knew he was there, just as he knew his mother was there. After the fiftieth stroke, he let his head hang down. After the seventy-fifth, his legs gave way beneath him and he hung from his bonds. After the hundredth and final strike, he was no longer moaning or making any sounds at all. He didn't notice it but the sounds of the crowd had died down as well.

Though he was not thinking of this now since the only thought that readily stayed there were images of her eyes, he had chosen this punishment for that very reason. Public humiliation among the Asgardians was not uncommon. Loki once had his mouth sewn shut and was forced to stand among the people for weeks on end but actually torture was usually kept from sight. Asgard knew it happened, knew of the methods employed, told stories of it with mugs of ale and mead in their hands but they had never been able to witness first hand anything of this magnitude. They'd never watched anyone, common or noble and certainly never royal, hung in the courtyard and beaten until blood pooled beneath him. But this had been his intention, shock them, mollify them and in the end, keep the realm from turning in on itself. Loki had given the masses the outlet they needed and they would never know what he had done or why. The dark prince wouldn't call it sacrifice because he did it for selfish reasons but what he didn't know is that the king, who watched the entire scene from close by, disguised as a commoner, saw it for the selfless act it was.

Thor watched with sad eyes and a heavy heart as his brother underwent his punishment. He sighed heavily at the manners of his people, of their wroth. He was the only one among them that had any idea just how misdirected it was. Had this been Midgard, he could understand. Loki had wronged them greatly, bringing death and destruction to them but the people that surrounded him now had never been subjected to that madness. Thor knew all that Loki had done. If not for his brother, what kind of man would he be now? Despite that it was through trickery, Thor had nearly started a war with another realm. Trickery or no, that was his choice to rush into the Jotunheim. Without Loki, he would never have fallen to Earth and discovered what it meant to be wise, never would have learned the value of life in all its forms and never would have learned that war was not a tool for subjugation but a last resort undertaken only to preserve peace. Loki made it possible for him to be a good king and yet his brother was the one that now hung in shreds.

Loki's punisher turned to the crowd and delivered yet another blow to the people that were already somewhat stunned by the display.

"Loki, Prince of Asgard, for his crimes against the realm eternal will now be taken into the bowels of the city to receive his next form of punishment." As he spoke, a woman who clearly wore the robes of the society of sorcerers, stepped forward and produced a jar from which she began to toss handful after handful of white powder onto the prince's back. "What you see now is a powerful magic that will not allow his flesh to heal properly so that he will forever bear the marks of his treachery against the realm." Loki was then unchained and dragged to a cart, his blood dripping behind him. What the crowd did not know was that the powder was nothing but finely milled flour. The mass of people slowly ebbed back from the scene, afraid to be touched by what they believed to be a terribly caustic substance.

Loki felt when the cart pulled away, the pain already subsiding and he felt his skin cease its weeping. He didn't know how long he'd been gone from her but he knew that at least it was over for this day. A small smirk played across his lips. Yes, he could handle this, he thought, as they took him back to what they believed was his prison but in actuality, they were just taking him back to his wife, the only respite from his unhappy life that he'd ever known.

XxX

AN: Well, I don't think that was too graphic but still got the point across. I hope you… well didn't enjoy it necessarily but I hope… well I don't know quite how to put it so I'll just leave it at that.

CoreyBuerella: I'm happy that you're enjoying it! Thank you!
reader204: :)
WeasleyFan93: (6) ROFL. I'm sorry… I guess. Lol. I hope my story didn't have too much of an impact on your studies. I'm so pleased that you really like it. And I'm more than happy to provide you with the whole package. Loki is a spoiled royal who feels slighted by everyone around him and then doesn't know when to turn it off when he gets around someone innocent who doesn't deserve it. He is most certainly a dick. I don't think he's evil deep down, just misguided. Thank you. I'm so happy you like Kenna, I always love hearing that. (14) Yeah, I had some major Loki feels going out in that one. (33) ROFL. Sorry? :)
gameofshadows: That it has. Kenna is a sucker for a sob story, especially Loki sob stories. What do you think of my depiction? I hope it was up to standards.
jennigirl: haha, I had Kenna describe the human race as "mostly harmless" which is what the original entry in the guide had as its description for Earth. :) I need to read those again; it's been a long time for me too. I'm excited for the return of the man of iron as well!
Mzfeebs: That's cool to hear that it kept your attention so well. I will do my best to keep your hunger sated. :)
(Fushsia)Grasshopper: Yeah, I have to butcher your name, I think it must be some coding disconnect with the periods in your name because that's the similarity with happydeath… like they think I'm typing in a link or something. Anyway, yeah, they finally got to relax and let go of their ever-present troubles for a little while. I'm eager to get to Tony bits; he's a hoot to write. Oh Loki, will he be that mean to keep her away? We'll see. I hope the torture wasn't too traumatic; Loki seems to think he can take it.
(HappyDeath)Executioner: ROFL. I'll try to keep you on your mental toes.
Manara: Usually when someone tells me that they don't like my story for whatever reason: too much sex, poor characterization, etc, I just respond with something like, "I can't please everyone and I hope you find something you enjoy." It's not like your review could even be considered a flame but you… on my goodness, I was going to write that for you as well until I noticed something. You wrote, "But I agree with the terms: Do not like, do not read." And proceed to tell me you will stop reading there. That's fine but then why oh why did you add this story to your alert list? If you don't want to read it, why do you want to know when I update? I don't mind people not liking my overly sexualized Loki, I can even understand it even if I don't agree but you… hypocrisy is a nasty trait. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Secretly reading my pervy story while publicly condemning it… (Maybe you just wanted to see my response to your review? Gosh, I hope that's it, please restore by faith in humanity.)
Guest: Thank you, I do try to give it the old college try. :)