All characters, places, and events you recognize belong to Marvel, Disney, etc.

Thanks to dristi5683 for her time and help! She inspired me to stop skulking and start writing. Check out her great stories. I love her Loki & Jane stories, but she's making me warm up to Jane & Bucky, too. :)


Day 100

Chitauri Space: The Sanctuary

"How did you find this place?" Thor ducks his head to avoid another moss-laden branch as he picks his way across the plush forest floor.

Loki stifles a snort of laughter. Thor has missed the branch, but the bright green moss now adorns his golden hair.

"Mmmm...you look ravishing, Brother."

Thor swings around, fist ready. Loki merely cocks an eyebrow and points to his brother's head.

"The green does bring out the highlights in your eyes. You should wear that to dance with the second daughter of the Grand Vizier of Whatever-heim tonight. I'm sure she'll be dazzled."

Thor grins in spite of himself and plucks the moss from his head, throwing it at Loki.

"Green has always been your color, little brother, not mine."

Loki disappears. The moss falls to the ground. Thor drops into a battle crouch, eyes darting, palm wrapping around Mjolnir's handle. This is an old game. When he sees no shimmers of magic around him, he risks a glance up. The perpetual fog drapes over the lacy leaf canopy, continually weeping its excess down the trunks of the trees. Rustling catches his attention, but it's only one of the small, strange animals that inhabit this Midgardian forest. The deep carpet of rotting vegetation and the heavy veil of clouds mutes all sounds. He almost doesn't hear the boulder rolling toward him. Almost.

Thor twists at the last second, casually swinging Mjolnir. The huge rock explodes, raining dust and pebbles. Thor lifts his eyes. Loki stands on a rise next to a raw smear of ground where the boulder had rested. He smirks and shrugs his shoulders.

Thor shakes his head and turns around to continue their journey. Two steps later, he suddenly pivots and shoots like an arrow toward Loki, Mjolnir leading the way. Loki has only enough time to put up his hands to cushion the blow. The two brothers roll down the small hill, wrestling, pulling hair, and punching. Loki lands on his back, Thor straddling him. Thor draws his fist back for a punch. But Loki knocks his brother off-balance and springs to his feet. His triumphant laugh doesn't last for long—Thor yanks his feet out from underneath him.

The fall knocks the wind out of Loki and the two lie on the mat of the forest floor, breathing heavily. Loki doesn't know who starts it, but it begins as a chuckle and progresses to a full-on belly laugh. Soon both of them are rolling on the ground, clutching their sides and wiping tears from their eyes.

Thor chokes out, "Your face! You should have seen the look on your face when I flew at you! Ha!"

Loki slugs him weakly on the arm and retorts, "I still think that moss makes a better adornment for you than that ridiculous helmet you wear."

"Cow."

"Chicken."

"Awwwk?" Thor and Loki startle and glance at each other.

"That wasn't me."

"Wasn't me, either."

Still lying on the ground, they tilt their heads back. An enormous, ugly bird stands just behind them, with a wicked hooked beak.

Thor whispers, "You said we had nothing to worry about here."

"We didn't. That was before you decided to crash around through the forest and wake the kuntur up."

"Me? You were the one who pushed a boulder down a hill!"

"Awwwk!" The bird cocks its head and bobs closer to them. Talons the size and sharpness of throwing knives pass uncomfortably close to their exposed heads.

"What do we do now? Should we play dead?"

Loki grins. "You can if you want. This bird eats the dead. I'm going to run!"

They both leap to their feet just as the deadly beak slams into the ground where they had been lying.

"AWWWK!"

The bird takes flight, not willing to let such a feast get away. The brothers scramble through the thick undergrowth, ducking under branches and dodging boulders. Finally, they pause.

Loki cocks his head to listen for squawking or the beating of feathers. "I think we escaped. That bird was much too large to follow us through those mazes of vines."

But now that he has stopped running, a stinging pain spreads from his back down to his fingers. Loki cranes his neck, trying to see the source, but cannot. He turns his back toward Thor.

"It hurts."

Thor frowns. "Your tunic is torn and you've blood all over, Brother. Take off your tunic. Let me see what's wrong."

"No, not now. Let's get what we came for and leave."

"I have a healing stone with me. It looks like that bird caught you with its talons."

The pain pulses deeper into his chest. He struggles to draw a full breath.

"No, I just want to get home. Let's go." Loki ignores Thor's protests and continues on their quest.

Each footfall jars his bones, sending an electric stab of pain into his core. The fog lowers until his vision is clouded. Moisture drips down his face, slides down his back and slips into his wounds like acid. Loki grits his teeth.

"It should be...just up this rise, in the hollow of that great fallen tree."

Thor looks up. "Where?"

Loki tries to lift his arm to point the way, but finds that it weighs nearly as much as Mjolnir. "Jus' follow me. Up there, then home," his words slurring.

Walking up the last small swell of the ground, Loki stumbles several times. It might as well be a bare mountain. Every nerve in his body sizzles with agony. The luxurious carpet of fallen leaves is a series of snares for his feet. Lush green branches are claws tearing at his eyes, his face.

But then there it is—the prize. Snow-white petals with maroon stains arch proudly from an oval center. Blooms the size of a trencher, dozens of them.

Thor stops. "Mother will love these flowers."

Loki gasps for air. "Yes...I...know." He pulls a dagger from its sheath and hands it to Thor. "Could...you...cut?"

Thor takes the dagger and swiftly slices several of the blooms off their stems.

Loki collapses to the ground. "Bro—ther….ahh!...please...healing...stone. I can't—ahhh!"

Thor merely watches Loki. "Hmmm. I don't know, Loki."

Loki rocks back and forth, vainly trying to escape the pain. "Thor! Help...me."

"You know, I think I will present these to Mother for her birthday. She'll appreciate knowing that I thought of her."

Invisible fangs slice his fingers and toes, a stake of pain impales his heart. He cannot breathe. The forest falls apart, pieces of trees wheeling off into the emptiness of the Void, chunks of black earth disintegrating.

"Thhh...ooorrr…" His voice is crumbling, too, wheezing, gasping. "Heee….lllll….p."

Thor shoves his face into Loki's, snarling, spitting. "As though I would help a Jotun runt. Mother will be happy to know I left you here." He spins on one heel and shouts to the fracturing sky, "Heimdall! Open the Bifrost!"

A blast of rainbow light pounds the fragile ground. Loki reaches toward the light, toward Thor, but the ground under him gives way and he falls, falls, falls. "AHHHH! Thor! Don't! Please don't...leave me...here."

The only answer he receives is a hideous laugh as Thor disappears.

Loki was dying. He knew this. He had been torn to shreds. His magic no longer responded to his call. Just drawing a single breath was an ordeal. He whimpered, too far gone to care how pathetic he was.

The forest had gone, leaving Loki lying on a black chunk of rock. Cold. Bare. Alone. Eviscerated. He opened his eyes wide, straining to see some light, some evidence that Thor hadn't really let him fall, that Heimdall would keep the Bifrost open for him.

A fetid odor filled his nostrils. He squeezed his eyes shut. Of course. How stupid of him to forget. Nausea rose, causing him to salivate and swallow. And swallowing was agony when your throat was torn apart.

"Still dreaming of the good old days, Loki Odinson?" The raspy voice pushed into Loki's ears, demanding his attention. It always felt like a violation. But then, what ever happened on this rock that wasn't a violation?

"Hmm. I'm surprised, and a bit disappointed. That seems...childish of you. When Master has offered you so much more than the All-Father ever would. Did Odin offer you a throne? Did he create an army just for you?"

Loki grasped at the wisps of memory that yet teased him from the shards of his mind.

Frigga's embrace after he saved Odin's life…

You are our son, Loki, and we your family…

Whatever I have done to wrong you, I am truly sorry…

You are my son. I only wanted to protect you...

"No, Odin wouldn't give a throne to a Frost Giant, would he? But Master welcomes you just as you are."

At this Loki slid his swollen eyes open and stared at the robed figure. From deeply cracked lips and a bleeding throat, Loki croaked, "As I—am? Broke...every...bone."

The visitor growled a warning that Loki knew well. He whimpered again, though it made him hate himself.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Laufeyson. Master needed to mold you a little. You should be grateful. What else has been left to you?"

No…

Odin...said no…

Thor...would find out he was actually the monster Thor had promised to exterminate...

Frigga...would discover that he had let Laufey into Odin's chamber himself…

What was left for him? Who...was left for him?

"You must choose, Loki No-One's-Son. Master has a mission for you. Or...we can continue your re-education. Master is very creative. You'll beg for something as sweet as pain."

Loki closed his eyes again and slid further into himself.

What was left for him? Who wanted him? Everyone he knew had lied to him with every breath. No one had come to rescue him. He was no son. He was a tool at best. Better to be a tool in the hands of an honest monster than a lying one.

And with that, the last strand of hope snapped.

Slowly, painfully: "I accept Thanos' generous offer."

"Very wise decision, runt."

The robed one stepped closer to the figure lying flayed and bloody like a sacrifice. He waved his hands back and forth above Loki's body.

"AHHH!" Loki wasn't expecting more torture. This was the worst yet—millions of pinpricks, needle jabs, dagger stabs on every square inch of his body. Tears ran unheeded from the corners of his eyes.

"Relax, runt. Don't fight it."

Wait—what was this? He drew in a full breath, he flexed his fingers, he slammed open his eyes. This wasn't torture, this was his magic forcing its way back into his broken body. Unable to stop himself, he laughed long and loud.

Loki No-One's-Son was reborn.