'So you decided to return.'
Loki shivered as Thor's voice thundered through the hallway, his heart beating loudly, tears threatening to escape.
No greetings, no formalities. Loki turned around, meeting his brother's dark and cold gaze. He froze with fear, 'Thor, I-'
'You were supposed to stay here,' The Allfather stormed towards him, steps big and heavy. He grabbed his younger brother by his shoulders, his fingers wrapping tightly around his skin. He shook him like a ragdoll, teeth gritted in fury. 'You kissed him! You left, and you kissed him!'
Loki let out a sharp cry as Thor's fingers dug their way into his burned flesh, his cloak covering the wound. 'I-I can explain!'
The Allfather quickly let go, his eyes wide in shock. He looked at his hand, warm and wet with the trickster's blood that had soaked through the fabric. 'What happened to you…?' He looked his baby brother up and down and slowly pointed at his cloak, 'take that off.'
'Thor, I-'
'Take it off!' He ripped the piece of fabric from the trickster's body as he was too impatient to wait for his brother to do it himself. His eyes widened, breath stuck in his throat as he saw blood trickling down his arm and dripping from his fingertips.
'Brother listen to me,' Loki spoke carefully, choosing each word with extreme caution. 'It is not that bad, it will heal.'
'You could have died…' Thor whispered under his breath. His body turned static, realizing he could have lost his baby brother forever, joining his loving father and mother into the eternity of Valhalla. 'How did this happen…?'
Loki frowned in confusion, as for a moment he swore he saw actual concern and hurt shimmer through in the Allfather's eyes. It reminded him of his brother who he once used to know. Who he once loved and adored. 'Thor…?' He took a hesitant step forward, moving cautiously as if entering a beast's burrow. 'I am alright. I will be fine.'
'Where is the mortal?' Thor set a step forward and Loki froze. 'He was supposed to keep you from harm, to keep you here! Where is he?!'
'Thor, I truly regret leaving the palace without your permission.' He had no idea where he had found the courage to speak, his voice hardly under his control as it wavered in fear. He had to change the subject, he had to get Thor's mind off the captain.
The trickster placed his hands on the Thunderer's cheeks, smearing dirt over his sun-kissed skin. 'I wanted to surprise you. To bring you a gift for your return, just like you have always done for me.'
Loki quickly forced on a smile as Thor remained silent, clearly waiting for him to elucidate. A shimmer of hope sparked deep within his core as he now at least got his brother to listen.
All he had to do was lie. To trick his brother with words, like he has done so many times before.
'Mother's garden, it is dying,' he continued as he pressed his cold and soaked body against that of his older brother. 'I wanted it flourishing for your return. However, just like you have said so many times before, I am weak. Too weak. I cannot sustain her work any longer. I have no strength left within me, my Seiðr barely enough to create the simplest of trickeries.' He opened the satchel that was still hanging from his shoulder, showing with apprehensive pride all the critters and insects that were squirming in their designated bottles. 'But I can still save it. I went to the southern forest and collected these to create a potion so powerful it will keep the garden alive for many more years to come. It has taken me all day, however-'
Loki wanted to continue, but the Allfather ceased to listen. He snatched the satchel from the trickster's body, glaring at his baby brother as he held it up. 'Have you lost your mind?! Do you truly believe that garden is worth all that to me?! That it is worth risking your life for?!'
'The forest is not that dangerous, we went there all the time when we were mere children!' Tears filled Loki's eye, desperate to get the ingredients back. 'We played their together! We fought together! Do you remember none of that?!'
'You might have your tricks, but you lack strength. You do not stand a chance on your own. You went out without me and look what happened!' Thor wrapped his strong hand around the wound on the raven's arm, his fingers digging deep into his burned flesh causing him to cry out in pain. 'You went against my wishes and almost got yourself killed! I could have lost you!' He held the satchel up higher, far out of his brother's grasp.
'Thor,' Loki begged desperately. 'Please, don't do that… I beg you!'
'Let this be a lesson for you.'
'No!'
Thor threw the satchel to the ground, the sound of shattering glass echoing through the hall. Some of the critters and bugs that the raven had spent so much time collecting scattered away while others were heavily damaged, cut and maimed by the shards of glass.
Loki fell to his knees, tears trickling down his cheek. He tried freeing a caterpillar from underneath the satchel's strap, but it died as soon as it rested in the palm of his hand, its violet blood staining his skin.
'You have only yourself to blame, Loki.' Thor crouched behind him, chin resting on the raven's shoulder. He sighed and wrapped his arms around the raven's shoulders to comfort him, pressing kisses against his temple, soft and gentle. His breath ghosting over pale skin. 'Yourself, and that worthless mortal.'
Loki remained silent, his mind blank as Thor's hands moved down his chest, only to rest at his hips. He could not stop his tears from falling as strong arms eventually wrapped around his waist like snakes, holding him tight.
'You will be punished,' Thor continued solemnly. 'You leave me no choice, I do assume you understand that.' His hold on his baby brother grew a little tighter as Loki slumped in his arms. 'As for the mortal…'
The Allfather let go and stood up, Loki's watchful eye following him.
'I do not know where it is he is hiding, but I will guarantee you that I will find him. I will see him tortured, screaming till his vocal cords are torn and leave him contorted in his cell, never to see the light of day again. He shall burn on his pyre and I shall drag his soul to the deepest, darkest layers of Helheim.' He raised his hand, Mjölnir dutifully meeting his grasp with a loud roar of thunder. 'You will stay here. I will see to you once I have returned.'
'…No,' Loki whispered, desperate to get up. He had to do something, anything. He had to stop his brother at all costs…
At all costs.
'No!'
Thor stopped in his track at the sound of Loki's raised voice. He turned around, a dark expression resting on his face. 'What was that?'
'You will not spend your precious time on such a worthless little mortal,' he gulped, trying to reclaim his calm demeanor as he sought for a plausible story, a perfect lie.
'Thor, my brother, my king, my love,' he wrapped his arms around the god's neck, bile rising in his throat as he forced himself to continue; 'My soon to be husband… It is true that I have kissed the captain, yet it is not what you think.' He let his hands trail over the blond's chest, his brother like stone under his touch, unmoving and cold. 'I was enthralled by blond hair, bright blue eyes and a strong embrace. They belonged to the mortal, yet all I could think of… was you.' Loki's stomach cramped as he pressed his lips against those of his brother, 'I missed you so. I sought solace in the mortal's presence and enchanted him to let me do as I please. To let me leave this palace, to let me kiss him.'
'You bewitched him?' Thor asked, his voice betraying none of his emotions.
'Yes. It was the only way to get away from here as he would never let me leave otherwise. It was the only reason why he accepted my kiss.' Loki knew he had gained his brother's attention the moment Thor let out a restrained breath. He smiled, finding some peace of mind as he knew that Steve would be safe. 'I was only thinking of you, my love.'
Perhaps he could spare the captain a gruesome fate. Perhaps he could flatter the Allfather and ease his wrath. He pressed another kiss against Thor's unmoving lips, an imperceptible shudder following.
Thor remained silent, though his eyes were burning with rage, with betrayal. He dropped Mjölnir at his side, the weight of it causing the floor to tremble beneath their feet. 'Always,' he growled through clenched teeth, his hand moving up Loki's chest. 'Always using your Seiðr for your own childish needs.' He wrapped his fingers around the raven's throat and tightened his grip till he felt his brother's larynx underneath his thumbs.
Loki gasped, in shock and lack of air. He tried to break free, squirming desperately as his nails clawed at Thor's arms. He tried to inhale, lack of oxygen already burning his lungs. His head was throbbing, a feeling of thousands of needles stabbing, over and over again.
He tried to raise his voice. He tried to plead. Yet all he could form were soundless gasps.
'No more,' The Allfather's words dripped with poisonous ire, his strong hold causing the trickster's eye to turn bloodshed. 'I will take from you your Seiðr! Your very voice!' He shouted, voice bellowing through the halls. 'Never again will you trick someone! Never again will you leave my side!'
Loki felt blood dripping from his nose. His vision turned blurry, black dots obscuring his sight. His body trembled in alarm, in fear.
This would be it.
His final struggle against Death.
Thor let go of his throat just as Loki wanted to give into the forgiving embrace of his demise. A burst of oxygen moved through his windpipe, painfully, like sandpaper scraping over raw skin. It pierced his lungs, exploding in his head with a blinding whiteness.
He coughed under Thor's unforgiving gaze, hardly granted any time to catch his breath as his brother grabbed his wrist and started to drag him over the cold floor.
'W-where a-re we… going?' The raven hardly recognized his voice as own, hoarse and barely audible.
Thor said nothing, continuing to drag him deeper and deeper into the palace.
They stopped in front of a large door that was the grey of unburnished silver, dull and spotted with years of neglect. Where there should have been graceful matching handles was only a square shaft of dark metal.
Thor opened it with a rough push of his shoulder, using his weight to barge into the room. He let go of his brother's wrist, the two now standing in the doorway.
Loki stood in silence except for his panting. The chamber was dark and humid, rodents scattering into the safety of faraway corners. He did not dare to think of what Thor was planning on doing to him, what tortures and horrors he had to go through to pay for his one moment of weakness.
He dared to fully open his eye, expecting a dungeon filled with instruments of torment.
What he found, however, was far worse.
He did not see a Witch's Bridle, nor an Iron Chair. No tables displaying what revulsions could be bestowed upon him.
The only object shining faintly in what dim light was present was a large birdcage made out of gold, barely big enough to contain one person. A device created during the ancient war between Asgard and Vanaheim. The Æsir had fought by the rules of plain combat, with weapons and brute force, fearing the Vanir who used the subtler means of Seiðr.
This device, this cage, was designed for prisoners of war. It drains their Seiðr, slowly, agonizingly, driving those in its clutches to pure despair and insanity.
Thor grabbed his brother's hand so softly, as if Loki was made from the finest porcelain, delicate and fragile. He let their fingers intertwine, both staring as they stood in the doorway.
'…No,' Loki whispered, shaking his head. 'No. No, Thor, you cannot do this to me.' Dread clenched his throat, the ghost of his brother's hands wrapping themselves around his neck once more. He tried stepping back, only to be held by his hand in Thor's iron grip.
Thor did not say a word. He stepped forward, walking towards the cage as he dragged Loki along.
'No! Thor, please! Anything but that! Please!' Tears rushed down his cheeks, his heart beating wildly like hellhounds locked and barking behind his ribcage. He leaned back, his boots scraping over the dusted floor as he tried to break free. He pleaded, screamed and shouted, words deforming by desperate cries.
But to no avail.
The Allfather opened the cage with one hand, holding the raven in the other without effort. His expression remained stoic, cold and unforgiving. His eyes never turning towards the terrified god who was begging for clemency.
Loki used his Seiðr, conjuring a dagger in his despair. He raised it, aiming at the artery in his brother's arm.
Thor easily caught his wrist, holding it so tightly that he dropped his dagger. 'I am not at fault here, brother,' the Allfather muttered as he pulled the struggling raven against his chest. 'I am not to blame.'
'Thor…'
It did not take much effort for the Thunderer to push his little brother into the small cage and shut its door. He locked it, giving it one rough yank to make sure it would not budge.
Assured of its durability, Thor turned his back and walked out of the room without another word.
'Thor, no, please…' Loki grabbed the bars of his cage, tears rushing down his cheeks. A dull pain crawled underneath his fingernails and crept through his fingers, moving towards his wrists and up his arms. It penetrated his skin, working deep into his joints till even the slightest movement of his hand caused a nauseating pain.
He started to feel sick, his nosebleed worsening as the pain was spreading throughout his entire body. His Seiðr being drained from every fiber of his being, slowly, agonizingly.
'THOR, PLEASE!' He slammed his fists against the tarnished gold, knowing his fate all too well. Knowing he was at his brother's mercy. 'DON'T LEAVE ME HERE! I BEG OF YOU! I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOUR SIDE AGAIN, I PROMISE!'
The Allfather turned around just before stepping through the door, meeting his brother's gaze.
'Please,' Loki kept pleading as Thor moved closer. He tried placing his hand on the god's cheek, even though the bars did not let him. 'I will never leave you again. I will never touch another again.' He tried to smile through his tears as Thor watched him. 'I will be good, I promise.'
'You are the god of lies and mischief,' Thor's voice was heavy and cold with despise. 'Your promise is of no meaning to me.'
The sound of the Allfather's boots echoed through the damp chamber. It was the last thing Loki heard before the old door was slammed shut.
He was alone, with nothing but this burning ache to keep him company. He tried to crawl into himself, but his cage would not let him, his knees and back pressed against golden bars as he tried to sit.
He was alone, with nothing but the sound of his crying to fill the silence.