Open Up Your Eyes
Loki watched in amusement as Thor passed straight through his illusion. The sliding glass door quietly clicked shut behind him. The two stared at each other for a moment. Thor with the pain of losing a brother, the anger of betrayal, and the adorable confusion of a puppy. Loki with the simple amusement of spider who's caught its prey.
"Are you ever not going to fall for that?" Loki asked, voice dry and mocking.
Thor roared in who even knew what and slammed his stupid hammer against the glass. A rather pitiful crack appeared.
Loki chuckled, shaking his head, "What part of nigh unbreakable did you not get?" Wandering over to the console, he asked rhetorically, "The humans think us immortal. Care to test that?"
Just as he was about to flip the switch, Thor spoke, a hint of desperation coloring his voice, "Brother, please. Do you care nothing for me?"
Loki paused before retracting his hand. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, the anger and the hatred stirring deep in his gut, but even their strength couldn't completely block out the bittersweet love. A harsh, painful truth. Loki could never not care about Thor.
"Oh, brother," Loki murmured. "You are and will always be the one I care the most about," he turned to look at his brother (not his brother) and smiled bitterly, "but the line between love and hate has always been a thin one."
At Thor's kicked-puppy expression, Loki sighed and started walking around the glass cage, singing quietly, "It's time you learned a lesson. It's time that you understand. Don't ever count on anybody else. In this or any other land."
Thor watched him cautiously, a pained look in his cerulean eyes.
"I once hoped for friendship. To find a place among my kind," Loki continued, old resentment rising, "But those were the childish wishes. Of someone who was blind. Open up your eyes." Loki turned to his brother (not his brother), smile turning sharp, "See the world from where I stand. Me among the mighty. You caged at my command. Open up your eyes. Give up your sweet fantasyland. It's time to grow up and get wise. Come now little one," Loki chuckled darkly at Thor's expression, "Open up your eyes."
"Loki, stop this!" Thor yelled, banging against the glass once more.
Closing his eyes, Loki continued, "We all start out the same. With simple naïve trust. Shielded from the many ways. That life's not fair or just."
A young raven-haired boy raced after a slightly older blonde, laughing, "Wait up, brother! I'm not as fast as you!"
The blonde stopped, turning with a blinding smile, "Grow a bit more, gain some muscle. Soon you'll be leaping ahead of me like a rabbit."
The raven-haired boy giggled, "I doubt I'll ever be as fast as you, Thor."
Thor laughed, ruffling the younger boy's hair, "Then I guess I'll just keeping waiting for you to catch up." Cerulean locked with emerald. "I'll never leave you behind."
"Enough, brother!" Thor sounded pained now.
"But then there comes a moment. A simple truth that you must face," Loki opened his eyes. Emerald locking with cerulean. "If you depend on others. You'll never find your place."
"TELL ME!" Loki screamed. Tell me it isn't true. Tell me I'm not a monster. Tell me I'm your son. He didn't stop until Odin collapsed on the stairs, falling into the Odinsleep. Loki hesitated, looking down at his prone form, hands hovering, before calling for help.
"Loki, stop this madness!" Thor called, angry and desperate. Loki turned, eyes half-mad with the suffocating truth, "Is it madness? Is it?" Can't you see I'm following in your footsteps, big brother? Can't you see? Why am I never good enough?
Loki gazed up at the one conflicted eye of his not-father, begging with his eyes. Why can none of you see? I did this for you! I did all of this for you! Am I good enough for you yet? Will I ever be good enough? "No, Loki." The final nail in the coffin. Loki let go of the staff.
Loki winced as he pulled himself upright, looking around cautiously at his new surroundings. His eyes burned even in the low light on the cold, desolate moon. Fitting for a monster such as himself. He shivered. Will I ever feel warm again? Loki took a breath and stepped forward.
"And as you take that first step. Upon a path that's all your own," Loki sang quietly before gaining strength, "You see it all so clearly. The best way to survive is all alone."
Thor was begging now in a mere whisper, "Stop, please. Brother, stop."
Loki stopped in front of the console again, looking at his brother (not his brother) through blazing, teary eyes, "Open up your eyes. And see the world from where I stand. Me among the mighty. You caged at my command."
(I can't stop, brother, his eyes said, I tried. It's too late. I'm too far gone.)
"Open up your eyes. And behold the fading light. It's time to grow up and get wise. Come now little one. Open up your eyes," Loki's hand hovered over the button, emerald eyes never leaving cerulean,"Open up your eyes."
(No one can save me now.)