Window-rattling snores.

It was the only sound audible for miles.

Silently, carefully, Loki crept down the hall, and into Thor's room, and perched himself on the end of Thor's bed. Careful to tuck his ruined fingers out of sight beneath his coat, he waited until Thor noticed him.

Thor was asleep, but despite the deafening rumbles, he was a very light sleeper, and sat up blearily, reaching for his hammer, as he blinked at Loki's cloaked form. "Who are you?" He demanded harshly.

"Evening, brother." Loki said, forcing his voice not to tremble and crack.

"Loki!" Thor yawned, and replaced his hammer in the teensy bed next to Thor's. "You can't sneak into my room like that! What do you want?"

Loki chose his next words carefully. "I was simply… interested in your company. Tell me, what went on in my absence?"

"Absence?" Thor frowned, leaning back against his pillows. "You were gone?"

Loki blinked in surprise. Thor hadn't noticed.

He hadn't noticed Loki had been gone for three months, three months, Loki had been suffering, screaming, begging for someone, anyone… and Thor hadn't even known he'd left.

"Three months." He went on, feigning nonchalance. No big deal… he had a vow to uphold.

"Oh." Thor acknowledged. "Where?"

Loki opened is mouth, then closed it. Suddenly, his alibi seemed ridiculous. Thor would never believe him. Nevertheless… "Just at a party."

"For three months?"

Loki shrugged easily. "It was a splendid party."

Thor was silent, staring through the half-darkness at Loki's cloaked, hooded form. He already didn't believe him, didn't he?

"What kind of party?" Thor wondered, suddenly sounding a little less sleepy, and sat up.

He was buying it! Loki would be free, again! This was amazing! "Oh, ah… just a really fantastic party, full of…" Loki didn't like parties, in truth, and wracked his brain, trying to think what in the world Thor went to parties for. "…Mead? And… and… wenches, and roast boar, and, uh… plenty of new tales to go around, new friends to meet…"

"Sounds fantastic." Thor enthused, a smile working across his stupid face. "Where is it? I ought to get the warriors!"

"Oh, you want to come?" Loki sprang up, willing his head to stop spinning. "No, don't bring the… the warriors, they'll… they'll ruin it!"

"Ruin what?" Thor cocked his head as he hefted up his hammer.

"Ah, the, uh, the master of the hall, he only asked me to invite you." Loki fibbed. "No one else. And… don't bring your hammer."

Thor glanced down in confusion at Mjolnir, resting easily in his grasp. "Not bring Mjolnir? But I take her everywhere."

"Not to the party." Loki desperately corrected. "They'll think you've come to bash their heads in. It would be frightfully rude. And to your hosts, too!"

Thor thoughtfully pursed his lips, as he sent Loki a calculative stare. "Are you sure?"

Loki gulped, and nodded insistently.

"Very well…" Thor sighed, and returned the hammer to her tiny bed. "Lead me to this party."

Loki could have fainted from relief. This might just work! Carefully, he took Thor's hand teleported them to the hall of Gerard, the most fearsome giant in Jotunheim.

Bad idea. He really should have eaten, first. The strain of teleportation burned from his lack of nutrients. It was all he could do to not double over in pain on the floor.

"Gerard!" He cried out, his voice cracking. "I brought him! I'm free, now. Right?"

"So you are." The terrifying voice of the giant rumbled, as he appeared from behind a doorway, and Thor looked up with huge eyes at the newcomer's imposing stature. "What is this, Loki?"

Loki couldn't answer, only scrambled backwards to evade the enormous club Gerard swung down towards Thor. His brother barely missed it, and hurriedly, Loki shed his cloak, and bolted out the door. It was barely a moment before he collapsed on the hard cobblestones, weeping his heart out. He'd murdered his brother.

He'd murdered his own brother.

He had sworn an oath to bring Thor here, entirely defenseless, and allow him to be slain by the hideous giant.

Why, why couldn't he have just allowed himself to die, instead? No one would miss him. Thor hadn't even noticed he was gone. He ought to go in and help, but…

He was a coward. A sniveling, pathetic coward. It's why he had brought Thor here in the first place. Reaching for his belt, he unclasped his water bottle, and leaned up against a tree as he listened to the enraged screaming and pounding within.

With fumbling, painful hands, he brought the bottle up to his mouth, and it was all he could do to refrain from gulping down the entire thing in one go.

Numbly, he reassured himself that Thor could get through this, even without his trusty hammer, he could beat Gerard…

Right?

Closing his eyes, he rested his head limply against the tree, and feel into an exhausted doze. He'd return home when he woke.

Hopefully, with Thor.

"Wake up, little prince…"

Loki cracked his eyes open to see the ugly, leering face of a Jotun peering down at him.

"Do you know where you are, princeling?"

Loki mutely shook his head, still clearing the cobwebs from his brain. He had been out for a walk in the forest, had taken a wrong turn on the path, and ended up a little further from the palace than he would have liked. By that time, it was too late to return home, without risking wild animals and brigands. He'd seen a worn-down hall in the distance, and, assuming it was abandoned, curled up in a corner for the night.

Apparently, it wasn't abandoned. "You're the master of the hall?" He guessed.

"That's right. My name is Gerard, and you, my little princeling, are a trespasser."

"I'm terribly sorry." Loki hastily said, and began backing away, towards the great doors.

"Oh, no, you don't." The giant snatched Loki with one enormous hand. "Now that you're here, I've got a little job for you."

"Oh, really?" Loki didn't like where this was going at all, in the least. "How… How may I be of service."

"Bring me Thor, unarmed, and alone." Gerard growled maliciously.

Loki blinked in surprise. "You're going to kill him."

"Well, of course." Gerard chuckled. "It's simply revenge for the way he slaughters my people in droves."

"Then I shan't." Loki stated.

Next thing he knew, he was stuffed in a wooden chest, only barely big enough for him to fit inside, his legs drawn up to his chest, arms tucked up in a fetal position. He could barely move, it was dark, and he was more than a little frightened. Surely the giant wouldn't keep him there until he agreed to kill Thor, would he?

For the first three hours, he lay there, waiting for Gerard to open the box to check on him, or something. His legs were cramping, and the darkness closed in around him. He wasn't exactly claustrophobic, but it wasn't exactly comfortable in there. Imperiously, he rapped on the lid of the box. "Hey! Gerard!" He yelled. "Let me out!"

There was no answer.

"I'm a prince of Asgard! You can't just do this to me!" Loki insisted. "If my father finds out what you've done to me, you'll be thrown in the dungeons!"

Still, no response. Loki continued yelling out to the unhearing world, threats, bribes, logical arguments for why he should be out of the box. His voice grew hoarse, and by the end of the first day, he was hungry, thirsty, and really needed to use the bathroom.

No one let him out.

After a week, Loki switched tactics. He would call for Thor, for Odin, Heimdall, who could certainly see him, to come help him. Two weeks, he kept screaming for Heimdall, beating against the oaken lid of the chest, waiting for his rescue. Sure, he'd be humiliated, but at least he'd be able to wash and eat, and see light, again.

After a month, the cold, hard truth settled in. No one was coming for him.

Again, he entreated the giant, his voice weak, and broken from the constant yelling and screaming, and the lack of water, or anything, really. His hands were raw, full of Splinters and bloodied from pounding on the walls of the box, he was hungry, so hungry, and he could barely think straight. He began to wonder which way was up, and if he had simply imagined there was such a thing as light. After all, it had been so long since there had been anything but the darkness enveloping him.

Then he would remember the warm, sunny smile of his brother, and determinedly shake his head. He had to get out. He had to.

After another month, he began crying, and begging, still scratching feebly at the lid, Shamefully, he would lap at his own tears with his dry tongue, even though he knew the salt water would make his thirst even worse, he had to have something wet his lips. Look how low the son of Odin has sunk.

Finally, finally, the lid of the box opened, and Loki squinted his eyes to shield himself from the bright, brilliant light of the dawn. Before Loki could even attempt to sit up, the box was inverted, and was sent tumbling onto the floorboards, little more than a skeleton, his eyes wide, and blinking, staring about in terror.

"Norns, you smell awful." Gerard smirked down at him, lying in a puddle of his own waste. "Ready to cooperate, yet?"

"No…" Loki whispered, trying to rub feeling back into his legs. That's what Thor would say. Thor would never give in, but as Gerard lifted him back up to put him back in the dreaded chest, Loki burst into humiliating tears. "No! No, please! No, I'll do it, just don't put me back in there, please!" He whimpered, and the giant dumped him back onto the floor, a smug smile on his face.

"Swear to me."

"What?" Loki looked up in bewilderment. "Swear…"

"Give me an oath that you will bring Thor here, unarmed, without his friends that I may kill him."

Loki gulped miserably, and eyed the box with horror. He was weak, he was cowardly, he was pathetic, and he gave his word.

"Loki."

Loki's eyes flew open in terror, and he looked up to see Thor standing over him, spattered with blood, disheveled from the battle, with a furious expression painted across his features.

"You're alive!" Loki gasped in relief, and stumbled to his feet, wrapping his brother in a hug. "Oh, thank the norns, I knew you could beat him!"

Thor, to Loki's surprise, shoved his thin, emaciated body away from his own. "Gods, you stink." He grumbled.

Loki bit his lip, and stared down at his boots miserably. "I… believe you. A hot bath would not go amiss."

"You lied to me." Thor seethed, and Loki looked up in terror.

"Let me explain…" He fumbled, backing away, hands nervously outstretched before him, as Thor loomed threateningly, hands clenched in rage.

"Oh, you've done quite enough talking, as is." Thor growled. "I could've died, in there."

"But you didn't."

"That matters little." Thor scoffed.

Loki stumbled over his own feet, and landed on his back on the pavement. Desperately, he held up his hands over his head, in defense. Thor froze.

"Loki…" He rumbled, the anger suddenly gone from his voice. "I'm not gong to hurt you."

Loki looked up. "Y-You're not?"

"Of course not." Thor tilted his head in confusion. "I was just going to bring you home, and have father punish you as he sees fit. What happened to your hands?"

Loki glanced down at his fingers, shame suddenly overwhelming him. "I failed you…" He whispered. "I'm a disgrace to you all."

Thor sat down beside him in confusion. "Why do you say that?" Thor was regarding him with a gaze so kind, so gentle, that Loki wondered why he'd ever doubted the Thunderer.

With that, the whole story came tumbling out, and with much tears and sobbing, Loki admitted to the entire thing.

"Pathetic." He spat, after he'd finished, his arms wrapped around his ribcage tightly. "Weak, and selfish."

"No." Thor simply said, wrapping his arms around his brother. Apparently, the stink wasn't an issue, anymore. "I'm so sorry, Brother. I should've noticed. I should have asked after you, and Heimdall should have told me you were suffering."

"But…" Loki began, but Thor shook his head to silence him. "That is all. I'm very sorry, brother. Could you ever find it within yourself to forgive me?"

"Forgive… you?" Loki breathed. "But I was the one who led you to your… well, not death, but it could've been!"

"That wasn't your fault." Thor patted his shoulder kindly. "Once you swear an oath, you know you're honor-bound to keep it. And I'd rather I had died, than you to continue suffering."

"Truly?" Loki frowned skeptically. "But… you didn't even notice I was gone!"

Thor smiled ruefully. "Well, perhaps you're not too off about my being a selfish-pig-headed boor."

Loki cracked a tiny smile at this observation. "Never thought I'd hear you say that."

"Well, I left you here to die, and didn't even notice!" Thor scowled at the dirt. "I can't believe I was so self-centered." With his eyes wide and hopeful, Thor turned back to his little brother. "Forgive me?"

Loki blinked in surprise. He had thought Thor didn't care about him. He had thought Thor knew full well what was going on. Apparently not. Thor cared, he was just stupid.

"Brother, you swore an oath to the giant." Thor said. "And you held to that oath like an honorable man."

Loki was only fourteen, and Thor called him a man? A man? He was unable to stop himself from glowing with pride. "You really think so?" He bashfully asked.

Thor solemnly nodded. "I have an oath for you, now. I swear that I will always come for you, no matter how far you've fallen."

With a tiny smile, Loki nodded. "I forgive you, then."

Thor's laughter rolled out like great booms of thunder, and he jumped to his feet, holding out a hand to help Loki up. Together, they began the long trek back to civilization, for a moment in time, equals.

So, in the myths, this actually happened so yeh.

In Norse culture, if you swear an oath, you're honor-bound to keep it or, you're considered unmanly, and a liar. It was a huge deal. Loki had to give up his reputation, if he wanted to back out of this one.

TheOnlyHuman.