Chapter 34: The Slave Training
This chapter contains passages with violence and sexual references, Nothing too graphic, but reader discretion is advised. You can skip this chapter without losing too much of the story.
In 2012, after Loki's defeat, Thor and his "brother" left the five other Avengers in a park in Midgard with a portal created by the tesseract.
When they had landed in Asgard, they landed at the end of the destroyed bridge. Nobody was there to welcome them at first, so Thor escorted Loki along the bridge. Loki still had the shackles and the muzzle, but even with those, he did not oppose. He might have been a king, but he also knew when he had been defeated. He knew if he was to run, Thor would catch him in no time, but if there had been a way to get far from Thor, to truly escape, he would have taken it without second thoughts. But the tesseract was in a special container held by Thor and he was not letting it go.
At the other end of the bridge, some Einherjars were there, just waiting to take the prisoner. Prisoner, that was what Loki was now. Secretary Pierce had said it at the bottom of Stark Tower, but it was true. Loki did not resist and just let them take him to the dungeon. Once there, they locked him in a cell for the time being. At least, they took the shackles and the muzzle.
Loki waited, contemplating his life, his future. It did seem bleak, without hope. But he was Loki and would not die just yet. He had survived for more than a thousand years in Asgard — not that it was an exploit giving their longevity — and he had survived a fall from the bifrost. He was a pioneer in this area. And he had survived a year with Thanos and his minions — maybe it was best not to mention that… So now what?
What would the wise AllFather decided for his youngest son? But Loki was not his son. So what would his fate be?
After a few hours during which Loki assumed Thor had spoken to Odin and Frigga, the Einherjars came back to take him. He was chained like a dangerous prisoner, which he might very well be, and he was escorted in the small throne room. The room in which the king addresses small matter, not the big throne room reserved from grand events. In there, only Odin and Frigga were waiting for him. And Loki, being true to himself, could not keep himself from antagonising his own mother. How could he make matters worse?
But then, Odin had sentenced him to the worst fate possible. He was a slave! He, who had been king, had been made a slave! Nothing! Not even a mere servant, but even lower.
"Loki Odinson, I take away from you your name, your rank, your freedom and I hereby made you a slave. Given your crimes in three different realms, you shall serve all three of them. On the completion of your training, you will be sent to Midgard where you will serve those you offended for 1500 years. After which, you will be sent to Jotunheim to serve those you offended there for another 1500 years. Only once those services had been rendered, shall you come back to Asgard to serve for the remaining of your life as a common slave," declared Odin.
A common slave! The palace had no slaves, but a common slave was one that every and anyone could use as they wish. How humiliating!
"I wish for you to put the well-being of others before your own, to learn humility and responsibilities. I wish for you to learn to respect others and to know they are neither better nor worse than you. I wish for you to learn to respect not only asgardians, but jotnar and midgardians and to accept everyone without judgement. I wish for you to accept things you cannot change and to know the power of responsibilities. I wish for you to learn when it's time for mischiefs and when it's time to obey. I wish for you to learn discipline and control over yourself. I wish for you to repair what you have broken."
Well, that was a lot of expectations! And given that Loki was a disappointment for his family, he would surely never accomplish that. Maybe he should be glad to not have a family to disappoint anymore…
And he had just lost his family… Frigga, the loving mother, was not his mother. And Thor, they had never been brothers, but they will never be able to call each other brothers. Honestly, at that moment, Loki did not care that much for them, it would come later.
"As a slave, you will be under the slave bond with your future master. That also means you won't be able to use your magic without a direct order from your master. If you show you have learned as you should, then maybe, your sentence can be changed. But you need to pay for the damages you have caused and the lives you have taken. I doubt your sentence will ever change, but I also wish you could prove me wrong.
"Now, before you go back to Midgard for your servitude, you first must go through training. Three years during which you shall learn the proper behaviour of a slave," declared Odin. "Is there anything you wish to say before I declared this my final judgement?"
Loki stood still. What is there to be said? He could say he was sorry?
"I am sorry, AllFather," started Loki with pride, "but there is nothing to be said. As always, you see me as the monster I was always supposed to be, but never told me I should not be. I am sorry that I am not sorry for what I did," said Loki insincerely.
"Being a Jotun is not an excuse for being a monster. I hope you can see this. Jotnar are not monsters. And I hope you can understand the weight of the responsibilities that come with being a father," said Odin.
Then, he taped Gungnir on the ground, sealed Loki's fate. He was not Loki anymore, he was just a slave. He would never see his mother ever again. Well, there is one way to see her again. If a slave commit a grave crime, said slave is brought for resentencing, usually in a trial that leads to an execution. But he could see Frigga there.
The Einherjars took Loki outside of the palace and into a small cell at the back of a chariot. For there, Loki could see the palace get smaller as they rode further away. The slave training facility was far from the commoners, hidden from view. It was already dark when they finally reach the facility and Loki was tired. He could not sleep around untrustworthy people, therefore, he could not sleep in the chariot. He just hoped he could sleep in his cell or he would get tired real quick.
But the trainers took him in and undressed him. Then, they lose no time starting the training. Was that the usual training, or something special just for Loki? That first night, Loki had been beating multiple times and asked a lot of questions. "Whom do you serve?" "Why are you here?" "Who is beneath you?" "What is your name?" And Loki would get beat up for every wrong answer. Of course, Loki being Loki, he was being difficult and did not admit he had been turned into a slave. "I serve no one, I should not even be here, this is a mistake. You are all beneath me. I am Loki, of Asgard." Well, not anymore, but the new information had not penetrated his thick skull yet.
Eventually, the trainers left him be with a warning. "You serve your betters now. You serve those who are free. You are beneath everyone and they all are your betters. You are a slave, therefore, you have no name, you are no one. Remember that, because that's the truth now and for all time."
The same had started again the next day and for what seems like a very long time. The trainers would ask their questions and Loki would stick to his answers, which would earn him some more beatings. He got clothes eventually, he got food from time to time. He was made to kneel before everyone and after about a year of training, that was the only thing he had done right according to his trainers. But he had knelt just because he could not stand anymore.
Poor him. No, not poor him. The trainers were ruthless, with no pity. Every slave in training were there because they had earned it. But Loki never knew if they were others in training at the moment. He never heard them nor met them. For the whole first years, his only company had been the trainers. And he had to let go of his desire to sleep only with trustworthy people around him. Even let alone in his cell, his bare cell, trainers could come and get him at anytime. One of the tortures Loki was less fond of was the one where he was so exhausted that he just wanted to sleep, but a guard would stay with him until the beating and the questions started again, preventing Loki of a safe night of sleep.
He had refused to weep, to lament about his fate. He had thought of Frigga and Thor, he had hoped they would do something to see him, to help. But he was not part of the family anymore. He had no family. So he just started to hate both Thor and Odin. He just couldn't bring himself to hate Frigga. He had lost his family, his freedom, his pride, his magic, his long hair — though it would grow back —. He had lost his sleep, his appetite, his dignity. He had lost his own name, his rank, his title. He wanted to act like he didn't care, but he did. He tried to pull out the illusion of indifference, but he had lost too much. He was just a slave, less than nothing now.
Of course, Loki had tried to escape this fate. He had tried a lot actually. The first time, he earned some shackles to his wrists. "Come on, we had let you shackle free until now and you try to run away? We were being nice to you, to a slave such as yourself," said a guard. But once those chains had been taken off, Loki had tried again. And got some shackles again, this time heavier. He had once found something to take them off and escape, but he only got more secure one. He tried again and again, but not once did he make it outside. One day, after another fallen attempt, a guard told him, "we made you some new shackle just for you. Those were made especially for you." It was pathetic than he could not even get out, him, the god of mischief and lies, imprisoned.
Loki was not learning. And after more than a year, the trainers switch technic.
"Today, we are going to move up the training. You see, by this time, you should have learned a thing or two. But you are as undisciplined as the day you came here. So we are going to move from respect training to bed training."
They meant rape and Loki knew it. So he fought even harder when the time came. They had tried to go "gently" at first, meaning they did not chain him down to the ground like they did once they remove the niceties. Loki fought, he bit, he spat, he kicked. They were playing dirty, so did Loki. But in the end, he screamed and suffered. However, Loki had made his point and won. "Look like you are not ready for bed training after all. How about fast training? Fast as in no more food." Loki was being fed only once a day, like a normal slave should be, but then, he got nothing.
He was not eating and his stomach rebelled. Weirdly, without food, he was gaining weight, and not in a good place.
"Please, allow me the spell of abortion," requested Loki once he figured out his situation. The thing he had feared above all others, the only thing he refused to think about so far in his training, because he, a male, could surely not fall pregnant. It was impossible. But he had known, not long after he discovered he was a frost-giant, that he was hermaphrodite and, therefore, could bear children. He just hoped his asgardian form would have prevented that. But no such luck.
They did not, they never allowed him the abortion spell.
"Please, I'm begging you, either cast that spell or allow me to do it," begged Loki.
But they refused.
"Why? Why would we use magic on something as low as you? You are nothing, just a slave. And so will be your child."
Then, Loki stooped even lower.
"I can give you what you want in exchange. Just let me get rid of the baby. It's a simple spell. How about you don't feed me for a week in exchange? Or I can learn the answers to your questions? I'll be good," bargained Loki.
"What can something such as you bargain with?"
Loki had politely request, beg and bargain, but he could not plead. He was a god. He won't stoop so low as to plead. And he won't lower himself to cry or even ask the Norns.
So he tried to escape, again. And he got caught, again. It was pathetic because he was not even making progress in his attempts.
So, nearly two years after his defeat in New-York, Loki got in so much pain with big cramps.
"The baby is coming. You denied me an abortion, now there is a baby coming," said Loki angrily. "I request a doctor to make a C-section in order to give birth to this baby."
But he got denied again.
"Why should we bring a doctor to you? Do you deserve it?"
"The baby is coming and this body has no birth canal! There is no way out for this baby. Therefore, I need a doctor to make a C-section for extracting the baby. Or are you too much of an oaf to comprehend I will die as well as the baby without a doctor."
Loki was angry. So far, he had tried to avoid thinking about the baby too much. If he could have escaped, he would have tried to make a good life for the baby, but he had not really thought about the baby as his baby so far. He just hoped the baby would not be like him. Like him as in both male and female. Or just female. Loki did not think the guard would rape a baby girl, but they would rape a woman. They even raped Loki just because he was a slave. And a slave is exactly what this baby is going to be.
Loki did not want to be a father, he did not want the child. He knew the child would also be a slave and he did not want to inflict that on someone else. And giving his track record with his fathers, he just did not have what it takes to be a father himself. He had asked for an abortion to spare the child. If only he could give the child up for adoption, not that Loki had a good track record with adoption or that anyone would want to adopt the spawn of a slave, even worst given it was Loki's child. So that baby just had no chance in life.
"Oh! You don't need a C-section to give birth. You are a Jotun. So I order you to assume your original form," said a trainer.
Loki had first been terrified by the order. Surely, after nearly two years deprived of magic, he should be glad to finally have an order. But he did not want to turn. He tried to resist, but the baby was coming, and fast.
So Loki, with all the hatred he had in himself, changed to his blue skin. He assumed a monster's form.
"There! Now, you can give birth through the birth canal. How convenient!"
How pathetic! So, after a lot of pain while the trainers refused him any help, Loki gave birth to a small baby. Small, so small. Loki feared his baby would not make it. Yes, his baby. Holding his baby for the first time made him a father. But his baby was strong.
The trainers did not authorise Loki to change his appearance for nearly a week. It was more convenient to breastfeed the baby, they said. So Loki used his Jotun abilities to freeze his chains and escape.
Or try to…
He did not even make it to the end of the hallway. But the trainers had brought him back to his cell and had not fed him for a week as punishment. Loki was getting weak. But they also let him be blue, so he could at least feed his baby. During that time, he decided on two things.
First, the baby needed a name. Loki had embraced the baby as his and only his. No one would take the baby from him. Loki was a mother and a father. But he could not call the baby just his baby forever.
"Alex. You are Alex. You can be a girl or a boy. And I hope you can be whatever you want and that you can get a good life, maybe even far from this hellish place."
And second, Loki would be a responsible father. Not like any of his fathers. Contrary to many people, he had two fathers. But both were bad parents. The first one had cast him out on a frozen rock to die. The second one had taken him in just as a stolen trophy. He was never wanted. And Alex had not been wanted, but Loki would be able to tell him he was not always unwanted. Loki would take good care of his child. So Loki decided he would try to get out of here one way or another. And if escaping was not one way, then accepting the training would be the other way out.
So when his punishment of a week without food was over, the trainers took him once again for interrogation. It was harder this time because he had to leave Alex behind, but to protect him. Loki had sworn to himself that the child would never see his father being beaten nor punished and that he would take any punishment that the trainers would want to give the child in the future. Loki would protect him and let no injuries get to Alex.
"Why are you here?"
"I am here because I have been sentenced to be a slave."
"Oh! He had finally changed his answer. How boring," said one guard.
"What more than that? Why are you here?"
"To learn how to be a slave."
"Whom do you serve?"
"I serve those who are free. I serve my betters."
"Who is beneath you?"
"No one. I am beneath everyone."
"What is your name?"
"I have no name. I am just a slave."
Loki wanted to cry. After two years of resistance, he had finally broken. He was pathetic, nothing, just a worm. Oh, Sif had called him pathetic, had called him a worm before. But he was crawling before his betters now.
"Great, you've finally accepted your place as a slave."
From that moment, Loki tried his best to be a good slave, to be the perfect little slave. He did as asked. He obeyed every command and learn how to behave. He learned what phrases he should say, he learned the polite way of serving at the table and serving drinks, he learned how to clean and cook, he had learned how to past for a shadow, how to only speak when spoken to — which was big for Loki — and he had learned how to take care of his child. Loki had learned so many things in the remaining of his training, except how to be a good bed slave.
Now, Alex was growing up and was two years old and a half. Loki had thought him a lot in that time, such as keeping quiet and not play, like a real slave. They did not have much, but Loki had been imaginative and entertained his son when he could, sometimes just playing with a small rock in the rare occurrence they were totally alone in their cell — because playing is forbidden. Of course, Loki had earned himself some punishments, he had stolen food in order to give more to Alex. The little boy was famished and they never had enough food. Since Alex's birth, Loki had transformed in a skeleton-like silhouette with just his skin on his bones. He would always give more food to Alex and let his son have more. So Loki was barely eating, and he would endure that for his son. But it was not enough for Alex. So Loki stole food and got punished. Harshly.
And then came the bed training. It was the last thing he needed to master in order to be a well-trained slave. If he could get through that part, he would finally be giving to his master and start his life away from the training facility. It was his only way out of here. But he did not want to be raped again.
So Loki fought. He fought with all he had, which was not much given his state. After just a few sessions, he decided to just give in, to just accept and serve as expected. He decided to accept the rape in order to get out of here. After everything else, it was a small price to pay. And they asked him if he liked it, if he wanted more. And he said yes because it was the right answer — a good slave should always want to serve his masters and always be grateful for what he is given. If he gave them the answers they wanted, he would finally be done with his training.
After the last session, Loki threw up in a corner of his cell. And he was forced to live with the horrible smell for a while. But training was finally over, the last step before being out was the whole revision, the final exam!
So Loki behave, he showed he had learned and that he was perfect. Asgard, being the perfect realm, would never accept to give a less-than-perfect slave as compensation for Loki's crimes to the midgardians. And Loki passed the test with a perfect score. Maybe he could excel in one thing: being a slave, being less than nothing. How fitting for him…
Oh, he was not proud when he learned he would finally leave this place. He was relieved; relieved to at last be gone from this retched place, and to take Alex far from here as well. It was always about Alex. But the trainers reminded him that if the midgardians were not satisfied, they could send him back for retraining at any time.
But he then suffered from all the same things he had when he became pregnant with Alex. So in the last two months in Asgard, while Alex turned three years old, Loki found out he was once again pregnant. He told the guards, but this time, he did not even try to ask for the abortion. Not that he wanted this child, but because he knew he was too low to make requests. A slave does not ask, a slave do as asked.
And Thor finally came. The trainers brought Loki and Alex to Thor who must have been briefed on the situation because he just completely ignored the child — not that he seemed to really notice Loki at all. Thor draped Loki and the child with a black drape and then took the leash before leaving with them.
Loki was finally off to his new life. His new life as a slave for the midgardians. He just hoped that this next life would be better for his children if not for him.
If you liked this chapter, you might also enjoy a spin-off of this story in which things change in this chapter. The story is called What if: Loki of the Avengers.
