AN Thought I would try something from Thor's POV
Disclaimer: I Own Nothing
Chapter 23: Thor
Thor was in a pretty good mood, the Bifrost was working again, the realms were almost back in order, Loki didn't seem to hate him as much as he had, or at least has gone from completely ignoring him to witty remarks when Thor talked to him during his visits, they hadn't been as many as he would have liked, Thor had been busy, but whenever he had gotten a break, Thor would go down to the dungeons and visit his brother and when he brought another prisoner down there he always stopped by Loki's cell for a quick hello. His mother had mentioned to Thor the best thing for Loki right now was to make sure he knew they still cared for him and thought of him as family, even if Loki didn't act it in return. She believed Loki still cared; he was just too hurt and angry to show it at the moment.
After a couple of visits, Thor wondered if his mother could be right, for Loki never acted violent towards him, whenever he stepped into his cell, never tried to use his magic on him, or fight him, or even escape, he was always too busy with his nose stuck in books, writing down notes, or sewing, Loki was for some reason making an outfit of some kind, Thor guessed he probably got bored in his cell and needed something to do. A couple of times, Loki asked him if he had been to Midgard, yet when he would tell Loki no, he would look disappointed. Thor knew his brother was hoping Enid would tell him how Saphira was doing and most likely will try to escape at some point.
When he finally gets to see Enid, Thor planned to ask Loki if he would like to send a message or even a letter to Saphira. Hopefully, that will cheer him up a little; their mother had it in her head if they were nice to Loki, showed they still cared about him, that maybe the old Loki would start showing himself or at least close as they could get to bringing the old Loki back.
Thor felt terrible for his brother. He knew deep down, Loki was miserable being locked up and felt guilty for being the one to bring him back here; even if it was Loki's doings that landed him in prison, their mother sure seemed to be trying to make Loki comfortable as much as possible, bringing him whatever he asks for, whatever he wants to eat, his cell had a lot more furniture than the other cells, which were empty part from the prisoners, he even had a cell to himself. When Saphira was in the dungeons, she had gotten lucky; the prison was almost empty, so everyone had a cell to themselves, now it was virtually complete, but yet his mother still demanded no one is to be in the cell with Loki, which was probably a good thing since Loki would probably end up killing anyone that annoys him.
Thor visited Heimdall every night to hear how Enid was. Last night he finally thought to ask of Saphira, that's when Thor found out his sister-in-law had to spend five hundred years in prison; Thor had winched when he thought about their long life span how Saphira would be alive for all five hundred years, then he thought of Loki, his father sentencing him to eternity in the dungeons and how that would be so much worse. Thor was hoping that if Loki could start showing remorse or regret, then after a few hundred years, Odin will allow him out if he didn't escape by then.
"Good evening, Brother." Thor cheerfully greeted as he stepped up to the cell; he wasn't visiting Loki long today, just a quick hello while Thor was down here bringing prisoners in; Loki, as usual, didn't even look up to acknowledge him, he always acts as if Thor's visits annoyed him, but Thor was sure it was only an act. Thor looked into the cell, watching Loki quietly; he was sewing gold thread into what looked to be a jacket. For someone locked up, Loki sU're did keep himself busy. But Thor, for the life of him, could not figure out if that meant Loki was up to something or just bored.
"So, what are you doing?" Thor asked; this time, Loki glanced up at him, then back down at his work.
"What does it look like I am doing?" Loki asked with his trademark smirk.
"You are sewing," Thor replied. Loki looked as if he might laugh.
"Very good, Thor, you solved the puzzle, brilliant," Loki told him. Thor would have gotten mad with Loki's smart mouth but let it go because those smirks and that almost smile was closet he had gotten to seeing Loki laugh.
"So, how has your day been?" Thor asked.
"Read a little, wrote a little, sewed some, then defended the garden from an invading herd of the undead, you know the same boring usual," Loki replied. "But now that you are here, my day is about to get a lot more exciting."
"Alright, it was a stupid question," Thor admitted. Loki laughed a little to himself.
"I'm surprised you are here; after days without your lovely presents, I figured you got yourself killed in some stupid, heroic way," Loki told him.
"Very funny, Loki," Thor told him. "I was busy, and once the realms are all back in order, I can visit you more."
"Oh, goody," Loki replied in a very sarcastic voice as he pulled the needle through his jacket. "That news just made my day."
"Last night, when I went to Heimdall to ask about Enid, I asked how Saphira was doing," Thor told him.
Loki didn't say anything but did pause as if waiting for Thor to go on.
"Heimdall said the Midgardains sentence Saphira to five hundred years, and that she seems to be taking it well, or better than when she was here; Heimdall explain her prison does not keep them locked up around the clock, and they get to go outside and leave their cells, Saphira isn't happy and hates being there, but so far she's not going mad or anything." Thor explained.
"Did Heimdall say anything about Saphira acting different or anything odd?" Loki asks, glancing at the photos of her sitting next to him on the table.
"No, nothing like that," Thor replied. "Though Heimdall mentioned her being tired a lot, believes that is from her body getting used to being mortal."
Loki closed his eyes a moment and signed in relief before opening them and looking up at Thor.
"Thank you," Loki told him; Thor knew by the sound of his voice Loki meant it.
"You're welcome, brother," Thor replied. He watched as Loki sat aside his sewing before picking up the Midgardain phone; Thor has seen Loki playing on it when not doing anything and still didn't know where he got it, most likely Saphira.
"Before throwing me down here, Odin mentioned you were going to go to Midgard and fetch Enid after putting the realms back together," Loki commented. After a while. "Are you going to go get Enid soon?"
"I plan to, yes," Thor replied; Loki nodded, looking thoughtful.
"I have no idea what Odin had done to this cell, but whatever enchantments or spells he has on it, I have not been able to break," Loki replied, making Thor frown. "I have been trying since being put in here to break out. I read and do my research during the day and try to find a way out of here at night."
"Loki." Thor chastised. Loki ignored him and went on.
"I do not trust you as much as a brother should, but, unfortunately, you're my closest link to Saphira at the moment," Loki admitted.
"If you are worried about Saphira, then when I go fetch Enid, I could go visit her, check on her for you, give you some peace of mind," Thor replied.
"That would be appreciated, and tell her that I am doing my best to break out of here; the moment I do, I'll come to get her," Loki told him.
Before Thor could answer, voices interrupted their conversation, and Loki's attention went to the phone in his hand as Thor's four friends walked up to him.
"I told them you would be here." Sif greeted; she glanced at Loki then back to Thor, who was a little annoyed at them showing up; yeah, he loved his friends, but he was pretty sure Loki was starting to open up to him, and now, his talkative mood was gone, Thor would never get him back to it tonight.
"I keep asking our friends here why you bother to try to be his friend," Fandral said.
"I have asked Thor the same question about you most of our lives," Loki spoke up; Fandral glared at him.
"Is there something you guys needed?" Thor asked, cutting off whatever reply Fandral had.
"Just came to get you to come to celebrate with us." Volstagg replied," A celebration for all our hard work."
"I did not realize going realm to realm beating people up was what was considered hard work these days," Loki replied.
"We've been doing more than that." Sif said, "because of you, all the nine realms are in chaos. We have been working hard to get them back in order, and you have done nothing but sit in that cell reading."
"To be fair, it's not like my brother has a choice." Thor put in, hoping Loki would appreciate him sticking up for him; Loki glanced at Thor in surprise, then smiled a little and went back to his phone.
"He may not have a choice, but it is still not fair to us that we have to clean up his mess," Hugon spoke up.
"Have you guys been to Midgard helping them?" Loki demanded. "If not, then you haven't been cleaning up my mess because the only one I have made lately has been on Midgard."
Thor frowned at that as he suddenly wondered why Odin had not sent someone down to help clean up Midgard or anything to help them after Loki's attack.
"The realms went into chaos when you broke the Bifrost." Fandral pointed out.
"I believe that was Thor, not I, who broke the Bifrost," Loki said.
"It was from something you did, though." Volstagg said, "And you should have to help us." Loki stood and walked up to the force field.
"Oh, I could not agree more," Loki replied. "So, open my cell, and let me out, and I'd be more than happy to help."
"Please, you think us fools?" Volstagg demanded.
"Yes," Loki answered. Thor had to turn his head and stop himself from laughing, not that he agreed with Loki, he didn't see his friends as fools, but it was the matter-of-fact tone and way Loki replied, right away, and with no hesitation.
"My friends, go on up to the grand hall and wait for me." Thor spoke up, "I'll be there soon." After a moment, they all agree and headed that way. Thor looked back at Loki, who was looking at him curiously.
"You do not wish to celebrate, do you?" Loki demanded.
"No, " Thor replied," I do not think I have anything to celebrate, the realms are not entirely back in order, and the woman I love is still not back on Asgard, and my family's torn apart, and there is nothing I can do about any of it."
"Go visit Enid," Loki replied. "Odin has not forbidden it, right? He said you could get her when you put everything back in order; you could sneak off long enough for a visit."
"I...maybe in a day or so," Thor answered. After a moment, he sighed and turned from Loki's cell and started to walk away.
"Will you be seeing Heimdall today?" Loki asked; Thor stopped walking, turned around, and came back.
"I'll ask about Saphira again." was Thor's answer as Loki leaned against the force field with his shoulder.
"When Saphira and I took a trip to Jotunheim before the whole Bifrost thing, Laufey gave me a warning, he said Asgard holds many secrets, and Odin hides behind many lies."
"And you believed him?" Thor demanded, narrowing his eyes at Loki, who titled his head in thought.
"I know Laufey and the Jotuun had always been considered Asgard's enemies, even with the peace treaties." Loki said, "but in all my years of existence, I have learned when one seeks to cause conflict amongst he's enemies, he often speaks the truth." Loki raised off the glass and sat down on the window seal
"Why are you telling me this?" Thor demanded. Loki shrugged.
"I know you have always thought highly of Odin; I was once like you." Loki replied, "And look where I am now."
"You did this to yourself, Loki," Thor told him.
"Perhaps," Loki replied, "And perhaps Laufey was lying, but if I am an example of anything, Thor, it's not to fully trust Odin, maybe he lies and holds secrets, or maybe he doesn't, just don't let your guard down or do, I truly do not care."
"Why? Loki, why must you always try to start trouble?" Thor demanded.
"God of Mischief, remember?" Loki smirked as he stood back up and looked down at Thor.
"When did our family get so dysfunctional?" Thor demanded, then turned and started walking away without waiting for an answer.
"Our family has always been dysfunctional, Thor," Loki called out to him, causing Thor to stop walking. "We just did such a good job hiding it from everyone. We also hide it from ourselves." Thor turned around and frowned at Loki for a long moment, neither saying anything.
"Brother, " Thor nodded at Loki, deciding not to comment on what he just said, as Thor didn't want to admit to himself that Loki was most likely right.
"Brother." Loki nodded back, and Thor turned. He could feel Loki's eyes on him as he started walking; Thor smiled; that was the first time since bringing Loki back here that Loki has called him brother.
Thor did not go meet up with his friends. Instead, he went to his mother's chambers; he needed to talk to her. Thor knocked on his mother's door, then went in after getting the okay to come in.
"I know that look." Frigga said, "You have been to see your brother."
"That I have," Thor answered, sitting down in a chair. "I swear he gets more sarcastic each visit, but at least he is talking now, and he just called me brother."
"Really? That's great." Frigga replied.
"I just wished I knew what he was thinking." Thor replied, "Is he truly trying to do better, or is it one of his tricks."
"Your brother is worried," Frigga replied, sitting in the chair across from him. "So, the only thing he would be up to is trying to escape; he wants desperately to get back to Saphira."
"Is Saphira truly in danger over Loki not winning Midgard?" Thor asked
"It is likely, but that's not all he worries over; sorry, I can not say, I swore to him I would not tell a soul; he is scared of the wrong prison finding out," Frigga replied. "Be patient with Loki, even if you feel he may not deserve it."
"Do you think Loki will ever find a way out?" Thor wondered.
"I believe he will get out eventually," Frigga replied.
"Should we say something, warn someone?" Thor asked.
"No, we will leave him be," Frigga replied. "Did you mentioned to your father what you spoke to me about?"
"Yes, but father disagreed." Thor said, "No one who went against Loki's rule while he was acting King, before or after he went bad, will face any punishment."
"At least you tried," Frigga replied.
"I spoke to several people, and a lot agree that Loki was doing a good job as King; he listened, judged fairly, and handed out the popular punishment even if he was a little cranky at times." Thor said, "My friends and a few others seem to be the only ones that have anything bad to say. Do you think it's true what Saphira said? That they didn't want Loki as King because he was not me?"
"It is possible," Frigga replied.
"But why did it matter?" Thor demanded, "If he was doing a good job."
"Besides Loki being behind what got you banished?" Frigga asked, "Even if he were not at fault for that, your friends would still have disliked it. Their suspicions and dislike blind them to who Loki truly is. They are good people, but like everyone else, they have their faults."
"Saphira said Loki truly did not think Father would banish me; he was only trying to stop me from becoming King," Thor said. "Was I truly that awful, that spoiled, that arrogant?"
"I refuse to answer that," Frigga answered, smiling a little, Thor knew the answer, yes he was, and maybe not just Odin needed to be thanked for showing him, but perhaps he should thank Loki for making it all happen. Thor wished he could figure out how to fix his family, for everything to be like it was a century ago when Enid was still on Asgard.
Thor talked to his mother for a few more minutes before he left her chambers but still didn't head to where his friends were and had no intention to any time soon; he couldn't get what Loki said out of his head and went the opposite way than from the grand hall and instead to the direction of Odin's vault, to do some snopping, it seemed to be the place his father kept his secrets.
The guards didn't even try to stop him as Thor entered the vault, Odin's most prized passions were kept upfront, trophies from hard-won battles, spoils of war, fallen enemies armor, weapons, powerful objects, such as the tesseract, sat in the middle, Thor past it with barely a glance at it, then noticed the spot where the Casket of Ancient Winters usually was, sit empty, telling him Loki must have done something with it, and Odin was unable to get it back. After the Casket was the eternal flame, Thor passed all that going further in the vault, to parts he had never been before.
Thor looked around at everything in every little separate room. Still, He found nothing; then again, he didn't know what to look for; Thor could have found something and not even know, groaning and deciding to come in here was a stupid idea, and Loki most likely was trying to get into his head, Thor headed out of the vault, on the way passed a big book, Thor walked over and started looking through it to find it was just a record of those charged for commenting crimes against Asgard, along with their punishment, curious Thor flipped to the back. Sure enough, Loki was listed, and in his sentence, Thor was a little relieved and a little disappointed that Loki's page had him noted as Odin's adopted son. He didn't like the adopted part, but at the least, Loki's status was acknowledged and not ignored.
Thor flipped backward to find Saphira's name; it was there too and her crime, and as he kept scanning the book, he stopped when noticing a familiar name, Bard, Enid, and Saphira's father, his crimes listed as treason, and started a rebellion, and attacking the palace, but his punishment listed was wrong, it should read he was beheaded, but it read, stripped of godhood and exiled to Alfheim. Frowning Thor flipped through the book to find the names of people who fought on Bard's side. All were beheaded, all but one other, and that was Astra, Bard's wife. Enid's mother.
"Stripped of godhood and exiled to Alfheim." Thor read out loud. So Enid's parents have been alive and living on Alfheim all this time?
"I felt it was unwise to behead the daughter of my most powerful ally," Odin said behind him; Thor turned around and looked at him with a frown. "And of course, her husband also would not have ended well for Asgard."
"And what of Enid? And Saphira?" Thor demanded. "Did you not believe they had a right to know their parents live?"
"If Bard and Astra wanted their daughters to know they were alive, they would have gone to Midgard and got them; they did not," Odin replied.
"What other secrets do you hide, father?" Thor demanded. Odin frowned at him a moment as if he was thinking over his answer.
"None you will find in here," Odin answered.
"So, you admit you have secrets?" Thor demanded.
"You have been visiting Loki too much; you let your adopted brother get into your head," Odin replied, neither admitting nor denying anything.
"You mean my brother," Thor said, "And stop avoiding the question."
"Yes, I have secrets." Odin answers. "All great Kings do, and you will never find out what those secrets are. It is for the best. Do you think it's easy to be King? To rule not just your realm but to have to watch over and keep pace in all t...nine realms, it is not."
"Why are you like this?" Thor demanded. "Why do you do things, then lie about it?" keep the truth hidden from everyone? "
"Because it is no one's business but my own," Odin answered. "And I do things for what I think is best for our family, what is best for Asgard, and what is best for the nine realms."
"No, father," Thor answered. "You do what you think is best for you."
With that, Thor walked past Odin without another word, heading out of the vault.
"Thor, son," Odin called. Thor paused a moment. "Do not go digging where you should not. Let this whole thing drop; I forbid you to take this any further." Thor just continued walking, leaving the vault, without so much of looking back or even acknowledging in any way he heard his fatherer's command.
AN No, I'm not trying to bash Odin, or there isn't going to be any feud with Odin; the whole secrets thing is for a plot I am thinking of adding, much later.
And Loki is saying stuff like that to Thor because he's bored and trying to get into his head for his amusement. The book was something I thought of when writing this chapter; I've been trying to think of a way to bring up them being alive; I have plans for Bard later in the story.