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Sound, loud and insistent, as if someone was yelling at him through a tunnel. Hard stones poked into his back and his entire body hurt. But even as he lay on the floor, Loki could feel bones knitting themselves back together, his collarbone cracked and his head jolted as it settled into place. Through the haze of exhaustion and pain, he knew, somehow, that this was too fast. He shouldn't have been able to heal the amount of damage he sustained in what had to be only minutes.

A blunt object dug into his side with force, probably re-breaking a rib and Loki gasped, his eyes shot open only to flinch back closed again in response to the stabbing white light. In that split second, he had managed to make out a looming figure, bent over him and undoubtedly the one kicking him. Even with the skewed perspective and blinding light, it was too small for the Hulk.

Which reminded Loki of the other person who had been in the ring right before he slipped unconscious.

"Thor!" The name burst from his mouth and he sat up, so fast he became dizzy. "You're alive!" Loki held his hands up to block the light and squinted, just about made out his brother's face, confused and without recognition.

Had something happened to him? Perhaps Hela had been a cruel victor, stripped Thor of his memories and Loki's hands trembled at the thought.

Forced himself upright, swaying, ribs cracking and popping as they returned to more natural positions. Reached out.

Thor stepped back a frown on his face, hands fisted at his sides. "Did you not hear me? I didn't know being a runt made you deaf."

Hela had taken his memories. Loki felt his face twist into a snarl and he was far too tired to stop it. "Thor, I'm your brother," He said, tried to keep his voice as level and calming as possible.

"Loki?!" He yelped, incredulous and those bright, sparkling, alive eyes searched his face. "But Fros-"

"You're alright, thank the Norns," Loki couldn't hold back his grin. "I didn't think you were," He swayed again and reached out, hands on Thor's shoulders and the smile spread wider until it hurt his cheeks, but he didn't care. And his knees seemed to collapse beneath him. Suddenly, there was nothing holding him up but his older brother. "I thought you were dead."

Arms didn't come up behind him, the body he held onto was stiff as a board and unmoving except for heavy breaths. And that was all Loki needed. He listened to them, felt how his brother's chest expanded and contracted in time with the too-warm air which tickled the nape of his neck. Somehow, he found himself with his head resting fully against one armoured shoulder, arms wrapped as tightly as he could around Thor, as if holding onto him tightly enough meant that everything would be okay.

Then Loki remembered that this was Thor, his very much alive brother. And that what he was doing could be mistaken for a hug. Which it was most certainly not, but the thought had him push himself off the armoured torso and wobble tiredly on his own two feet.

"... Loki?" Said brother looked confused, eyebrows raised nearly into the golden mane of hair that wreathed his head. He didn't appear to be suffering from any injuries, only the potential memory loss. Except that he seemed to remember who he was.

"What happened?" Loki said and concentrated on standing upright, forcing his knees to stop shaking.

"Why's your hair," Thor made an obscure gesture at his head, pulled a face then said whatever he was thinking instead of answering the question. "Short?"

Loki scowled and a hand reached up automatically to pat at the offending bristles, then caught the action and his arm fell back down to his side. "Not important!"

"Will they cut mine like that?"

"Hopefully. It's a mess."

"Better than being half bald," He retorted, arms crossed.

Loki resisted the urge to roll his eyes but couldn't stop the sigh - half relieved and half exasperated. And then a very large, rather green silhouette appeared out of the too-bright light as his eyes readjusted. More from instinct than anything, his tired body stumbled back a few steps and strategically placed his far more durable brother between himself and the Hulk.

"Didn't you kill him?" The younger Prince hissed under his breath, shoulders up near his chin and automatically reaching for his seiðr, before remembering that Odin was a suspicious old goat and it was locked away.

Thor glanced over his shoulder towards the Hulk, who was glaring at them in a way that didn't bode well for his ribs. "Of course not, I came down here to talk."

"Talk to him?" Perhaps Hela hadn't taken his memories, just whatever few remaining braincells he possessed. "You jumped through a window to talk to that," He pointed, eyebrows creeping into his hairline. "He tried to kill me!"

"You tried to kill me."

"With a knife. You had armour."

"It's the thought that counts."

"Then no wonder you haven't killed him!"

"Why did I have to save you, then?"

Loki scowled. "You didn't."

Thor had an expression that was far too close to a smirk for his taste. Loki's frown grew until the corners of his mouth had to be almost hanging off his chin.

Fortunately, the grumbling of a door opening distracted him from how utterly embarrassing this situation was, even without how warm his cheeks and ear tips had gotten. And from the entrance appeared guards. Many of them. They entered to the right, along the wall a few hundred metres, boots stamping but postures relaxed.

He should have expected this - for them to interfere once things had so obviously gone astray. Why had it taken so long? Perhaps nothing like this had happened before; no one had had the audacity to smash through a window, jump into the arena and fight their Champion?

If his guess was true, then Loki had a small advantage. No plans for such an eventuality meant that they had a chance.

But before his exhausted mind could conjure words to tell Thor his idea, those guards were far too close.

Between the brothers and the approaching group was a rather large, green monstrosity. Who had also heard the door grind open and thud of multiple feet running. And had turned away from his opponent, to face said guards instead. Loki stared at the broad back with no clue what the Hulk was going to do. Even bloodied, he was a force to be wary of.

"Hulk!" Thor shouted, a grin on his face and Loki felt exasperation rise in his chest. Because of course this idiot didn't understand the threat they faced. "Smash!"

The head, small against such vast shoulders turned back to look at them, a sneer firmly in place. That stupid smirk on the blonde's face shrunk a little.

"No," The Hulk said, voice recalcitrant, like a teenager being told to clean his room.

Next to Loki, Thor looked utterly stumped. His face crumpled in on itself in a rather confused way, as if gravity had suddenly flipped and everything went shooting into the sky.

Then the green giant was stomping away, grumbling to himself and kicked petulantly at one of the guards on his way to the opened door. The armour-clad form went flying into a wall, slid down it and lay motionless. As swiftly as the battle had started, the Hulk was gone, leaving Thor and Loki facing a squad of guards. There was a stretch of gravel between them, only a hundred metres.

One separated from the rest. "Luke, you'll be taken back to your cell. Thor, back to the hall."

"And what'll happen to him?" Loki was saying, projecting his voice, before he could think twice about it.

The guard shrugged. "Melt stick?"

That didn't sound good.

"I'll go," Thor declared and stepped forward, as if he was seriously considering complying.

When he continued walking, with no indications that he was utilising his higher brain functions, Loki reached out, grabbed him by the shoulder. "You are a fool. Did Odin place a pig's brain between your ears whilst I was gone?!"

"You mean imprisoned?"

Loki snarled, tugged on his brother's shoulder and lowered his voice. "These people will not take one look at you and let you go, Thor. You want to go back to Asgard? It won't happen if you're captured."

"You want to go back to Asgard?" There was incredulity in his voice, and Loki shoved down the angry pang it sent through him. "Obvious manipulation won't work any more. Try harder."

Against his will, a surprised, pained hiss escaped from between clenched teeth. Thor made to shrug his hand off, but instead the grip tightened, knuckles whitened. "We need to get out of here. This might be our best chance to escape."

His words were ignored and a large hand wrapped about his wrist, tugged it away and the bones ground together. Then Thor was walking across the gravel, head held high and brimming with his usual swagger. Guards swarmed him the moment he was within reach, restrained him and Loki's ribs seemed to be squeezing against his lungs.

Breathing was becoming harder, his vision blurred and blood pounded in his ears, drowning everything else out. A Midgardian term swam into mind, from when Barton had spilled everything about himself, about his friends. A panic attack; was this what it felt like?

No matter. Loki shoved the thought aside, pulled in a lungful of air with a snarl, tried to ignore how his chest was constricting.

Ahead of him, Thor was being manhandled by the guards, not fighting back even when one procured a set of cuffs. It was easy to see them as Einherjar, with those self-righteous expressions.

Before he could truly think about what he was doing, Loki was running forward. Feet drumming into the gravel, arms pumping. It took seconds and he was there. Because no fucking way was he letting these bastards take his brother. No. Not happening. Especially if something called a damned 'melt stick' was in play. How was he supposed to get back to Asgard if the powerful warrior was a pile of melted Thor-goo?! Somewhere, hidden behind sheer panic and surging anger, the voice of reason was screaming that this was a bad idea. But Loki couldn't hear it, drowned out by the roar in his ears.

Unfortunately, he didn't have any weapons on him. Except the guards had kindly brought said weapons, and they really hadn't been expecting him to charge at them like an imbecile. With the help of his momentum, Loki flung himself at the nearest armour-clad figure, barrelled into it and reached to its belt, snatched a rather long, curved and wicked-looking knife from its sheath.

A pause as the creatures realised they were being attacked. Another moment as they clocked him, eyes wide with surprise. Loki grinned and set to work. Because no alien bastards were going to take his brother, now that he had miraculously appeared, alive and well.

In moments the knife plunged hilt-deep through a thin scrap of leather joint at one guard's throat. Ripped it out in a spray of blood and he was moving.

"Loki, no!" Thor yelled, his eyes wide. Because he apparently hadn't yet realised that their situation was dangerous.

Another guard fell, a giant gash from his left shoulder down to his right hip, ribs visible and torn armour stained red. Loki lashed out with a kick and the body was flung into another, sending both tumbling. He glanced around. Nine remained, further away than these two, his brother was bound, with two more at his shoulders and the rest were already grouping up, weapons in hand. This wouldn't be easy.

But fuck them, he wasn't going to let Thor out of his sight. If he did, there was a terrible feeling in his chest that told him he would disappear in a puff of smoke and Loki'd wake up, back in that cell on Asgard. Where he would burn and burn and burn, never know what happened, never know if they were all dead, they had to be dead, Hela was too powerful for them not to be dead and burning and dead an-

The longer he stood there trying to get his damn ribs to stop squeezing his lungs into non-existence, the harder this fight would be. Loki shifted his grip on the dagger, felt his hand scream with pain, but sprinted forwards with no warning.

Immediately, barrels were leveled at him and he could hear the clicks and whistles as they fired; could hear Thor yelling something. Probably an attempt to get him to stop and how satisfying that was; to have Thor telling him to stop. It was usually Loki yelling, exasperated, as his brother bowled into another set of enemies when negotiation was a much easier and safer option. Except he knew it wasn't, this time, and the usual method of hiding until Thor dealt with it was no longer viable. Since he was being such an obtuse idiot. Without the haze of grief to cloud Loki's thoughts, he was remembering why he hated his brother so much.

It was little effort to dodge the projectiles arcing towards him, to twist his torso and leap, land in a roll and spring up with his dagger outstretched, feel resistance as the blade sank into someone's gut. A soft gasp from the owner of said stomach and Loki was whirling away again, dropped down as he felt air tickling his neck. A blur of silver brushed against what remained of his hair and he was up again in a flash, stepped forward and thrust the dagger, somewhere into a chest. Resistance, but this time against metal and the sliding of blades against each other.

Loki pulled back, felt the guard relax slightly, then he doubled down, placed another fist over the grip of his knife and leant forwards, just in time to avoid the swing of another blade which nicked the back of his neck. Cool liquid trickled but he was away, crouched above the body, yanked his blade from its chest. They circled him for a moment, until he heard the click and whine of another gun going off and leapt aside, twisted to land facing the attacker.

Heard the thud of the projectile colliding with the body he had been stradling. Despite its helmet, he could see wide eyes of the guard that had fired it. Steps behind him and a grunt followed by a swish of air and he was turning again, reached up and grabbed the wrist which held a mace. Crushed those fine bones and stood, lifting his leg to drive his knee upwards. A surprised yelp from the guard, followed by wet gasping, probably internal bleeding, but there wasn't time to put it out of its misery. More weapons. A blur of them, all heading for Loki.

Everything he could do to not be hit. He was exhausted, but through the haze he watched as the imbeciles fell to centuries-old tricks, which even Thor had seen through when they were children, before Loki had mastered his seiðr. Guns whistled and cracked, blades grew shiny with blood and they fell, more to each other than to their singular opponent.

The last two guards stood next to each other, with Thor behind them, restrained and a look of shock on his face.

Loki stood across from them and pulled in a deep breath, adjusted his grip on the knife yet again. Previous scream of pain was only a twinge, dulled by adrenaline. Inside his chest, it felt as if there was a fist pounding on the inside of his ribs. It resounded, thumping in his ears and in his flushed face. He wasn't thinking straight, only wishing to see his brother unbound. Nothing else mattered.

Charged, right then left as arcs of energy flashed towards him. He struck, meant to jam the blade between ribs, up into the guard's lung through the thin leather between its armour plates. But it caught, on a bone. Not enough time to yank it out, nor enough strength in his exhausted body. Loki turned and brought up an arm. A sword clashed with his vambrace, bounced off and he convinced his tired legs to move, launching him at the guard. With no weapon, there wasn't much choice of attacks. Grabbed the right arm and twisted, the pop of dislocation followed and as the guard was distracted by uselessly screaming, Loki bit as hard as he could into the leather neck joint. Pierced it and tore into what had to be the creature's trachea, turned the panicked screaming into a faint gurgle.

"Asgard must have been worse than I thought," Said a voice faintly. Thor.

Loki ripped away from the guard, spat out the blood and bits of cartilage in his mouth and grimaced at the hole now adorning the neck, spurting blood. "That tastes foul," He remarked, wiped the rapidly drying fluid from his face, but only managed to smear it around.

"Loki…"

"Thor, they're going to kill you!" He hissed in reply, stalked over to glower into those blue eyes. "And Asgard has nothing to do with this."

"Tell me you would have ripped someone's throat out with your teeth before being locked in that cell?"

There wasn't the time for such bickering and Loki snarled, turned away from his irritating brother and bent to retrieve his knife with a harsh yank. "You are the one who left me there to burn, remember?" He said over his shoulder, injecting as much venom into it as he could, despite his exhaustion. "Only yourself to blame."

"I left you?! I didn't even know you were alive!" Thor retorted and the sound of stomping as he approached. Loki could almost see the scowl on his face, eyebrows drawn low and skin wrinkling along his nose, lips turned down in disapproval. "You betrayed us, allowed Hela into Asgard, tried to kill father and let's not forget about Midgard!"

"We don't have time for this, brother," Loki stood, turned and they were bare centimetres apart. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Thor's fist clenching and relaxing, clenching, relaxing, clenching, relaxing. "Are you going to kill me, for this 'betrayal'? Get on with it."

"I should!"

"Then do it," He hissed back, spread his arms, chin up. "A good twist and you can snap my neck. End the monster for good. Won't father be proud?"

Tense moments. But Thor didn't move. Just like he had thought. Coward.

"Stop wasting time, we need to move," Loki holstered the knife and turned, walked towards the door. Above him, in the stands, the crowd was still roaring, the announcer was screaming as if this was the best day of his life, but they were so quiet compared to the pounding of his heart. It almost seemed to know how close it had come to never beating again.

He hated Thor. He truly did. His ignorance, his disbelief and his idiocy. How he seemed to have completely forgotten that they were brothers.

But he also wasn't going to let the damn fool come to harm. Because a powerful warrior would come in handy whilst escaping and if they got to Asgard. Because they were brothers. Which he had forgotten, but seeing him outside that cell, come to take him away from the burning. Made him remember. Made him remember how important it was, how without Thor, he was lost, had no purpose.

Loki had to admit to himself that, perhaps, he deserved the disdain he was being treated with. Midgard had been… He wasn't at his best after the years-long fall through the Void. After Thanos and... And, whilst he hadn't faked his death on Svartalfheim, he hadn't revealed himself as alive either.

No time, no time! And no point to dwelling on what had already occurred. Above, the people still screamed in their stands and the announcer was still shouting with fervor.

"Do you have a plan?" Thor was at his side, face cold and distant, but it was better than contemplating fratricide.

Loki bit on his knuckle, gazed upwards. "I did until you arrived." Then he glanced at his brother, noticed the manacles still about his wrists and unsheathed the dagger.

"What are you doing?"

He rolled his eyes, gestured at the metal. "Use your brain, Thor."

Perhaps another minute until further guards entered the arena, but there would be more of them, with better weapons and they wouldn't underestimate him this time. If he had his seiðr, or was just less exhausted, then things would be different. Even with Thor present, despite the lack of Mjolnir, they could have taken however many opponents were sent against them. But Loki could barely keep on his feet after healing the damage Hulk had inflicted, not to mention his thoughtless battle against the previous wave of guards. If the instinctual, life-force magic could be reliably used, then they may have stood a chance. But that wasn't the case. Making a stand at this point could be fatal for the both of them, and Loki cursed his idiocy in fighting without any forethought. Perhaps Thor was right; Asgard had affected him more than he wanted to admit.

"We surrender," Loki said.

"... Didn't I suggest that earlier? And you had a killing spree instead of listening to me?"

"Nothing you haven't done."

"Years ago, not now."

"Thor, we're in a bit of a situation here, in case you hadn't noticed. Maybe this can wait until later?"

"Betray me-"

"And you'll kill me. Yes, I understand. Now shut up." Thor huffed somewhere beside him but quietened.

They waited in silence, the crowd roaring above as they waited in the entrance. Loki fiddled with the hilt of his knife, then dropped it. No use in keeping it; they knew he had a weapon so any attempt at hiding it would be useless.

Somehow, his mind couldn't seem to accept that Thor was alive. He stood there, quietly, doing nothing but looking into the room he stood opposite, but Loki's thoughts would seem to rediscover his brother's alive-and-well status every few seconds, marveling over it. He would never make another attempt on Thor's life, he vowed. Not after experiencing how terrifying it was, actually believing that he would never see him again. To see the body, to actually watch as those blue eyes dulled and to hold him as he fell to the floor, never to rise again… And knowing that it was his fault. No one else to blame. Even on Midgard, in the midst of his madness, he hadn't truly been trying to kill Thor. But thinking back on it, he wanted to vomit as he remembered the feel of his blade sinking into his brother's side.

Actually, he wouldn't let Thor die. Period.

He needed to get it together. Yes, he wouldn't try and kill Thor again; he could make that concession to his overly-sentimental wayward thoughts. But thinking about it and thinking about it and thinking about it was not helping their situation in the slightest. He couldn't afford to let himself care; he was in the right! Asgard had overlooked him and scorned him and this 'brother' had been first in line.

As if announcing their time was up, the door swung open and guards piled through into the room. Loki blinked, stared at them and allowed a small smile to form. They looked blatantly terrified, clumped together like that, with weapons drawn.

"We surrender!" He called out to them and, exaggerated to the point of mocking, brought his hands up, palms stained red.

Next to him, he could almost taste Thor's hesitation. The guards didn't look too trigger-happy, so Loki swiftly elbowed him in the side. "We surrender, Thor," He said out of the corner of his mouth. It was a wonder they had yet to use the obedience disk. Evidently, his fight against the previous batch of guards had been entertaining. Bastards.

Slowly, large, tan hands rose to head height and Loki huffed out a sigh. Everything had to be a struggle, didn't it?

After a few seconds of indecision, the guards shuffled out of the room. The moment they were within range of Loki, there were hands wrapped around his arms and he was being shoved roughly to the floor. He grinned, more baring of blood stained teeth than anything else. How they flinched only widened it. Quite entertaining, to be the one they feared instead of the - usually - more intimidating older Prince. They had learnt their lesson, apparently.

He heard rather than saw Thor try half-heartedly to shake off his restrainers, but he acquiesced when Loki shot a pointed glare his way. "I hope you know what you're doing…." He grumbled.

"Just play nice. If they do try and melt you, run away."

"Are you sure melting me isn't your plan?"

"My plan is stalling until I can escape, rescue your sorry arse and find a way to Asgard. Now that you know the particulars, have anything intelligent to add?" After a beat of silence, he smirked, a sharp edge to it. "Just as I thought. If you don't trust me, find your own way."

"I don't trust you," Thor replied shortly.

Loki's grin widened, flashing red teeth. "Then use your five minutes of experience with this planet to free yourself, and your equally pathetic knowledge of magic to transport yourself to Asgard." There was no point to his sharp words other than to aggravate his brother, which was probably a bad idea given how tense their interactions had been. Not to mention that Loki would most likely need Thor to escape. But he couldn't stop himself. It was like seeing a button labeled 'don't press'. He was incapable of resisting.

Instead of further useless exchanges, the guards seemingly grew tired of it and began to drag the two away, thoroughly bound.

Loki was unceremoniously hauled through the building until he was thrown, with very little dignity, into his cell. The bastards couldn't even be bothered to pop open his manacles. No matter. He stumbled to his feet, a snarl on his face and aimed a kick at the door, causing a new dent in the metal.

"... Luke?" A voice said, high pitched and lilting; Hon Dör. In the haze of battle and finding out Thor was alive, he had completely forgotten his cellmates even existed.

He paused, let out a shout and kicked the door again, because he didn't want to let them take his brother. Anything could happen and he wasn't about to lose the oaf again. But it had to be done. Thor could take care of himself for a few hours, while Loki figured a way out of this mess. Then they would escape and his debt would be paid, for being released from that cell. No matter that it had been only to help fight a greater evil, Thor had still freed him and Loki hated allowing others something to hang over his head.

"Luke?" This time a slightly deeper voice. Moth's large hand was on his shoulder, a gentle weight. He ducked away from it automatically, twisted and batted the arm away. "Did you defeat the Champion? I was worried."

With a sigh, he tugged at the manacles in an effort to get them off. "No, I didn't. But we need to escape now."

Moth reached out and grasped the metal binding him and, with a quick twist of their wrist, crumpled the locking mechanism, freeing his hands. "You have a new plan?"

"No," Loki sighed, nodded his thanks and slid down to sit, leaning against the wall, rubbing his wrists absently.

Hon Dör hummed and settled down next to him. "Then we're just going to have to make it up as we go."

They sat in silence and Loki felt his eyes drooping closed. Even with what had to be record amounts of adrenaline shooting through his veins, he was exhausted. Fighting against the Hulk, the magic which he seemed to have involuntarily used, then ripping through that squad to get to his brother…

"Luke?" Moth interrupted his thoughts, sauntering vaguely downwards towards sleep.

"Hmm?" He cracked an eye open again and gazed blearily up at the figure.

"You don't have a pinky finger."

"... What?"

Hon Dör glanced over at him, then one of her hands was on his, holding up the limb. Loki tried to tug it away, then he noticed that Moth was correct. He was missing a finger.

"I nearly died," He said, just realising that stark fact, throat suddenly housing a boulder. "I nearly died."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hon Dör's mask turn to look at Moth, concern written in her drawn shoulders. "But you survived. You're safe here."

"He didn't even see me while I was dying," The words flowed out of him, seeming to completely bypass his brain on their way to his mouth. His tone a cold juxtaposition to what he was unwittingly saying. "I just lay there next to the wall and he didn't even look for me…"

"Your brother?" Moth this time. He didn't remember when they had leant in so close, hands resting on his shoulders.

Loki slowly nodded, stared at his hand because there was a stump where his smallest finger should have been. When the Hulk picked him up that last time, crushed his neck… It must have happened then. "My brother knows the Champion. I… I think he came through a window, on a balcony. To talk to it. Didn't even recognise me…"

"He's in shock," Someone said and he couldn't tell who. Everything was so far away. All he could see was Thor's back, fighting Hulk, as he lay paralysed. Thor before the Grandmaster, with an ominous stick pointed towards his chest. Thor a pile of goo on the floor and Loki alone again.

A green face and he hadn't the energy to flinch away from it. "Sleep, Luke. I will heal your wounds. You are safe now."

He slept.

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