"Loki. For the crimes you have committed against your people, and against those of Midgaurd, I hereby strip you of your title-"
Thor stiffened from beside him. It would mean that to his father, they were no longer brothers, officially speaking.
"I take from you your power-"
Loki flinched as the old man stole his most precious weapon away from him, making him sway dangerously until Thor's hand steadied him.
"And I cast you from Asgaurd until you truly learn your lesson." the one eye Odin retrained grew wet around the corners. "Until you do, your power remains here, and you will never return. Your title I will never return to you." his voice cracked.
"Father-"
"No. Escort him to the bifrost and see him off." Thor tried to make one more protest but the slamming hand of his father upon the throne cut him short. The echo of his anger rang around the halls, and Thor put his arm around Loki's shoulders, gritting his teeth.
Loki could feel the king still taking his magic, his strength, rendering him human. He was lucky he had time to tuck away just a small slice of it, good for perhaps a minor spell, before he was inexplicably human, and had no choice but for his brother to help him walk.
It was one of the longest walks in his life.
Heimdall made no pretenses, he just watched. Thor reached for the gag and undid it, tossing it absent mindedly to the floor. Loki let his hands be untied, then rubbed his mouth, his eyes focused on the hitch between the red cape and the silver armor.
"Well." he said, but that was all he could say. He felt ill. Incredibly weak. Heimdall opened the gate, but for the first time Loki was frightened of using it. This, human body, he had seen how fragile it was. Would his father let this body rot on the path to Midgaurd?
Thor stepped up beside him.
"My prince," Heimdall said, rumbling lowly. "Think of what this will mean to your-"
"My father did not say that I must return to his side once letting my brother on the bifrost." he lifted his chin. "We will go together."
Loki said nothing as Thor's hand clamped down on the back of his neck. He took in a long, steadying breath, and braced as the bifrost swept him up, spinning him around, bouncing them both off of walls made of pure magic.
For Loki, who had always managed himself well in the transport, this was a somewhat unpleasant thing - he felt as though he couldn't breathe, as though his stomach was liquefying and seeping out of his body. Thor's hand drew him closer and in an act of desperation, Loki's fists found his cape and held on tight.
They hit the floor hard enough to knock the wind from his chest.
"Loki?" Thor sat him up, checking briefly over his legs. "Are you hurt?"
He shook his head, looking over his hands. Finally catching his breath, he stared at the blonde, who had sat back onto his rear, studying the sky around him. Mjolnir sat beside him, humming dully.
"Why?" Loki got to his feet, leaning to one side as he looked around. "Why would you do that? Come with me?"
"Midgaurd is a dangerous place for you." Thor hefted himself off the ground. "There are powerful men who you have wounded, who all detest you. And there are things here you won't understand."
"So I have you to rely on when it comes to Midgaurdian customs." Loki turned on him, sneering. "I would feel much safer without your 'help'."
"Curse me as you like." Thor shrugged one shoulder, bending down to pick up his weapon, tucking it in his belt. "You are without any means to rid yourself of me. And you know how my absence will aggravate father, so you will keep me if only to achieve that." He looked around, squinting at the landscape.
"Fine." Loki rubbed his shoulders, which were tingling from the travel through the magic road. "Where are we then, o great navigator?"
There was a pause.
"I have no clue." he muttered. "We must find a road, and new clothes for ourselves. Perhaps I can contact Jane - she will know what to do."
"That's just perfect." Loki simply started walking in any direction. "Perfect. Not only have I lost my magic but I am stuck with you, in addition to not having the slightest idea where we are, and now I have to face you in love with the scrawny human."
"She is not scrawny." Thor growled. "She is... lovely."
Loki wanted to correct him but he also wanted to keep his tongue, looking around the land. It looked like a desert - red dirt and bright blue sky. He thought that maybe Heimdall would be a proper petty god and cast him directly into the clutches of those humans who kept the monster... but he had perhaps done him no favors by sending him here.
Probably because Thor was with him.
"We should fly." his brother mused. "It will be faster."
"And where exactly will I go?"
Thor redrew his weapon.
"I have a free arm." he flexed his fingers at him. "Come. The sooner we find Jane, the better."
"I don't want to find her." Loki lifted his nose. "You find her. And then if can can drag yourself away from your 'lovely' little mortal, you can find me." he made to walk in some direction, maybe with a dark blot on the horizon, but Thor's meaty hand scooped him up by the collar as he flew over head.
He cursed him to all nine realms, but over the roar of wind - or through his ego - Thor could not hear him. All Loki could do was reach up and hold onto his brother's wrist, terrified that the oaf might let him fall and break.
They caused quite a stir as they went into the library.
"And here I thought you had no idea what a library was." Loki drawled.
Thor gave him a flat look.
"You wouldn't know the kind that Midgaurd keeps. I do. Now hush."
"That is nothing to be so proud of, brother."
"I said hush."
Loki flattened his hair back against his skull, casting a look around the small book keep. Not a soul stirred beyond the counter, the place was empty. He could see there was only one level of books - a children's section, identified by the bright colors, tiny chairs, stuffed toys and the sign that said: "Children's Section."
"Hello." his brother said cheerfully.
"Howdy there!"
"I... need help?"
"Sure, what can I do for ya?"
"Nor me or my brother are any good with..." Loki could hear him struggling for the words. "Computers... I need your help employing the search tool Google?"
"Okay." the girl laughed, too loudly for a librarian. "What can I Google for you?"
"I need to find the contact details for Jane Foster. She is a scientist. I last heard of her working in conjunction with Eric Selvig, and a college student named Darcy Lewis."
"Alrighty, just give it time to load... I put all those names in, we should get something."
"Thank you."
Loki took a few steps closer to the 'Non-Fiction' isle, peering around the corner. The girl made idle chat about the day, and Thor made his 'mm's and 'yes, indeed's. He ran his fingers over the names, etched prettily or no-so-prettily, different colors and sizes. It was new to him that books weren't made the same size. He quite liked the disorder.
"Brother." he said loudly, selecting a book and pulling it forward. "Ask where we are."
He heard the question repeated.
"Texas." he heard the sure reply.
The world map was placed open as he flipped to the back - he found 'Texas' and went to the required page, wishing he just had magic do it for him. He felt like a thunderstorm in the otherwise quiet library. He wondered if this was how Thor always felt.
The shape of Texas was strange. He didn't particularly like it, which he hadn't been expecting to be so offended by the shape of a state. He ran his hand over his brow to find a collection of sweat there - this human body hated the heat. He wondered if he were still part ice giant, of if Odin had stolen that, too.
He lifted his hand and called forth his true skin - but he did not change. Nothing in him stirred like it usually did, nothing in his mind begged for release. He was simply human, then.
How irritating.
Thor's boot steps made him put his hand down and straighten to see a smile on his face.
"Jane is in the next state. I procured her number and called ahead." he saw the map. "New Mexico! Show me, and I can fly us there now!"
"Why... do they have a New Mexico? What happened to the old one?"
"I don't know, Loki, just show me the map."
"What is your plan, when we get to this... Newer, Mexico?" Loki marked the page with his finger and flipped to the back of the book, scowling down for the name. "You cannot simply expect for this woman to keep us."
"Jane has a big heart." he said, clapping his brother's shoulder.
"Especially me, brother. She would not keep me."
Thor took a deep breath in, but squeezed his shoulder and continued smiling.
"She will if I ask it of her. I know she had little room last time we had met; but she can teach us the ways of this world so that we may find you your own means to live."
"So in the event that father demands you go home, I won't simply starve to death?" he fixed his brother with a long stare. "Or do you still not think him capable of such things?"
The smile on Thor's face melted away.
"What was I thinking? You hadn't even considered past reuniting with precious, lovely Jane. Of course not." he flipped through the book more angrily, his teeth grinding. "Why would you? I am just going to die on this wasteland of a planet, old and decrepit, and you and Heimdall and father will simply watch and pretend to mourn me."
"I mourn for you already, brother." Thor said very lowly, a mere rumble in his chest. "I mourn who you were when you were happy."
"I was never happy." Loki rose to his full height.
"You look upon our shared memories with such hatred. You think I am the creature who tormented you the most, but I remember you were not so easily bested. You cut Sif's hair when she and I grew fond of each other - that was something cruel to behold!"
Loki glared at the page, then smacked the book in Thor's direction, holding himself high as the librarian tried in earnest to keep her hands busy.
"Have a nice day!" she squeaked, to which he froze, wanted to retort, but slammed the door behind him. It took his brother another half an hour to have a route planned, and when he did, it was only because the girl had used the technology box to draw him a map, with a highlighted road to take.
"Take my arm." Thor said grumpily. "Or so help me, I will call or the gate to open and go home."
"Be my guest. Both of us know it's what you want."
"I want to help you. I want you to come home with me and be free of the darkness that hurts your heart!"
"They lied to me." he finally raised his stare to Thor's face. "Me. The master of Lies. Is it any wonder I was so good at them, when my whole life was built around one? I am not even of your creed, Thor."
"That does not mean you do not belong with me." Thor took his arm weather he liked it or not, and drew his hammer. "Think on that."
"Jane?" Thor was bounding around with the excess energy of an excited puppy. "Jane? Darcy! Eric! It is I!" he wound himself through all the rooms of the circular building, but they seemed not to be there.
Loki looked over the many pages spread out on the desk. Most were half finished maps of the bifrost's locales- he would know - and most were somewhat more intelligent, equaling to what appeared to be a gateway to Asgaurd...from Midgaurd...
"Does your Jane have any idea what she's toying with?" he wondered, meant for his brother's ears but missed. If she did manage to open a gate, Heimdall wouldn't have any control over it. It would open to another select part of the realm. With a few more tweaks, she would be very close.
"They are not here." Thor's eyes were red, and he was heavily breathing. Loki didn't mention the gnawing hunger in his belly when he saw the exhaustion on the bigger man's face - not because he felt burdened, but because he hated the idea of being so utterly human. "They may have retired to their caravans. But I know that she will be here, probably tomorrow."
"You look tired." Loki drawled. "Perhaps so much flying has over exerted you?"
"It has." Thor agreed. "But I do not need rest yet. I need to find Jane. She is close."
"Why don't we stay here the eve, and surprise her come the morning?"
"I will not rest while I believe you have intentions of leaving me." Thor said, brutally honest.
"What good would that serve me?" Loki spread his hands. "I am weak, I know no one, I am in a potentially dangerous situation. Tell me the logic in your accusation."
"You wear such a look on your face as though you mean to leave." Thor folded his arms across his chest. "Dispute that." Loki rolled his eyes.
"I wear no look. You know what I say is true." he briefly considered telling Thor that he needed to tend to - human matters - but refrained. "Thor, it would serve me ill to leave."
"You are a stubborn man, and you have always hated having my help. Don't think I do not know you as well as you know me."
Loki sighed.
"I will go to sleep before you, if it makes you feel at ease."
"It won't." his brother retorted.
Loki was quite content to lay about on their smelly brown couch until sleep came, but Thor removed the cushions and unfolded from it a bed. Loki's eyebrows raised.
"See?" he seemed quite proud of himself. "Look how clever Midgaurdians can be."
"Yes, yes, very clever." Loki took off his coat and rolled it into a pillow, before toeing off his boots and removing his vest, using that to keep his pillow in shape. He was in his pants and a green shirt, which was significantly kinder to him in the humidity. He lay down on the bed-couch, wiggled for comfort and stared at the ceiling.
His stomach growled and he stared at it, completely perplexed.
"It is the sound you make when you are hungry." Thor eased his significantly greater weight onto the bed and tucked his hands under his head. "I do not miss that. My stomach always complained in such a manner, even after I had ate."
Loki looked across at him.
"What are you doing?"
"Laying down."
"I thought you were staying awake?"
"I might as well have a small comfort."
"No." Loki lifted onto his elbows. "You will fall asleep if you stay still. It has always been the same. It is why mother had you try to learn the lute before bed every night. Not because precious Thor needed help with musical talents; because it kept you still."
"I was an accomplished lute player."
"You clearly affected your ears. It was akin to banshee's cries."
"Nonsense." the bigger brother scoffed. "Mother loved my playing - and so did you!"
"I don't know how you haven't noticed I am the God of Lies." he said grumpily, wiping his sleeve over his forehead to collect a smear of salty sweat. He felt sticky and undignified, and that didn't help his mood.
"Regardless. I am supposed to be guarding you, I won't sleep." Thor intoned.
"Yes, you will, I am certain. You kick, and snore - if I am human, you will break me."
"I do not kick. Anymore. I used to." he shifted self importantly on the bed-couch, and smiled at the roof. "Jane likes my snoring."
"No woman likes snoring." Loki grumped, and rolled onto his side, punching his coat for something to do with his hands. "She just tells you pretty lies so you stay happy."
"If you insult Jane one more time, brother, I will kick you. It will be on purpose. And it will hurt."
"And father thinks you will make a good king." Loki folded his arms over his chest and tucked them under his pits. "Your father." he corrected as an afterthought.
Thor didn't reply to that. Loki felt him wanting to say something, but he was left in the uncomfortable silence that followed.
"He does love you." he said, finally.
"I doubt he ever did. How could he?" his words were bitter. He did not want these emotions, he did not want the heat, he did not want the hunger in his belly or the ache behind his eyes. He didn't want the human blood in his veins and he didn't want the moon's light to fall directly into his face.
He didn't mind having Thor, however.