A/N: As usual, the idea came from a song. I was listening to Disturbed's album Believe in the car and this idea sprang into my head, so I grabbed a Sharpie and wrote it down and now...here it is. I'm going to try and do a chapter for each line of the song...here we go...
Disclaimer: Do I even have to put this anymore? Marvel/Disney's. Not mine.
1. Still Enough
This would have been much easier if Odin had just let me die.
This was the principal thought running through Loki Laufeyson's head as he was led to his cell to await completion of the new Bifrost bridge so that Thor could bring him back to Earth to live with the Avengers. The Avengers, who all hated him to death. Earth, the very planet he'd just tried to take over. Odin's reasoning was that the Avengers knew how to "handle him." Loki had scoffed at the very idea. No one could "handle him," it was impossible.
Besides. There was something that no one had ever known about him, something that made Loki even more dangerous than the Avengers thought.
He'd managed to disguise it through all his centuries of life, but he wasn't sure he could any longer. It had taken him ages to master control of it, even longer to make sure he didn't lash out and hurt someone in Asgard. Now that he was going to live with the Avengers, he feared he'd attack someone. He could guess at how hostile they'd be towards him, and adapting to sleeping in a new place wouldn't exactly be helpful.
Thank the gods he only turned into a wolf three nights a month.
Loki's secret, the lie so well-told that even Odin didn't question it, was that he was a werewolf. Not an ordinary werewolf, either - a Jotunwolf. As near as he could figure, when Loki had been abandoned on Jotunheim, he'd been bitten or scratched by a werewolf in its wolf form before Odin had found him and brought him back to Asgard. About a century into his life, he'd become aware of the monthly transformations, and once he'd gotten old enough and strong enough, he'd started trying to master control of it. Jotunwolves were different than werewolves in any of the other worlds in the Nine Realms in a few fundamental ways:
One: Jotunwolves only transformed once a month. In most of the other realms, werewolves could transform at will after a certain amount of training and time. Jotunwolves, however, only transformed once a month, at and around the full moon, though they could train themselves to control it so they didn't attack anyone.
Two: As opposed to other wolves, the Jotunwolves transformed for only three nights, and at least one of those nights required them to go out and hunt. The other two could be spent at home if desired. Loki himself preferred to go outside all three nights, which might present another challenge if the Avengers decided to keep him locked in the Tower at all times. If he was to be a wolf, he'd be a wolf; not a caged animal.
Three: Jotunwolves were solitary creatures. Unlike other Realms' werewolves, the Jotunwolves did not travel in packs, preferring to work alone. This fit Loki's personality and predicament nicely. It meant that when he managed to sneak out and hunt, he wouldn't be bothered by other wolves and their mind-speak, which was pretty much the only thing that was a constant among the werewolves of the Nine Realms.
Even the fur was different per type of wolf. Jotunwolves' fur was generally bluish, while Midgardian wolves' fur colors varied; Vanawolves were generally brown-furred with green tints; Muspellwolves were frequently black or russet, their eyes red like the fires of their realm; Helwolves from Nifflheim were large, black, and generally dead; Svartalfwolves were black and gray; Alfwolves were white or golden-furred; Nidavellir wolves were multicolored. Loki was unique - white-furred, with bluish hints that made him look like his fur was made of ice, and subtle green-gold undertones that signified his seidhr, his magic. His eyes, as a wolf, were surprisingly the same shade of green as his normal eyes.
"Loki." Thor's voice startled him out of his thoughts. Loki looked up; his not-brother stood outside his cell, Mjolnir in hand, decked out in full armor. Loki rolled his eyes; really that was a little much.
"Is it time?" Loki asked, keeping his voice emotionless.
Thor nodded. Now Loki noticed the delicate golden cuffs in Thor's hands - magic-supressors. Great.
Loki sighed. "Please tell me you at least brought a clean tunic for me."
Thor briefly deactivated the laser wall that kept Loki in the cell and tossed in a fresh green-and-gold tunic, presumably taken from his rooms. Loki cast a blackout glamour over the three orange-tinted transparent walls, then knelt down to investiagate. Undershirt, tunic, armor, trousers, boots. It was all there. Loki sighed resignedly and shrugged out of the plainer tunic he was already in (he'd be taking this and a Midgardian suit or two with him), changing it out for the armored one. He switched the rest of his outfit out, snapped his fingers so that the tunic he'd been wearing cleaned and wrapped itself. He let the blackout fall, revealing a mildly bored-looking Thor, whose expression changed almost instantly when he saw Loki.
"Ready?" Thor asked.
Loki merely nodded, sighing again. Let's get this over with.
Thor deactivated the wall; Loki picked up his bundle of clothing and tossed it into the bag waiting at Thor's feet with clothes for both Thor and Loki. The Trickster then held out his hands. Thor clamped the magic-dampening bracelets on each wrist, then took Loki by the arm with his free hand.
"Grab the bag, would you?"
Loki rolled his eyes, but obeyed, seeing as Thor only had the one free hand. Thor led him up from the dungeons, past a lot of Einherjar, and out onto the terrace. Loki blinked in the sudden sunlight; it had been a while since he'd seen Asgard in all its glory, and he had spent the last few weeks largely in the dungeons.
Thor started twirling Mjolnir. Loki almost groaned; he hated flying passenger when Thor flew with Mjolnir. Flying in general was fine - he liked the feeling of the wind through his hair, the feeling of freedom it gave him. But when he was forced to fly passenger...with Thor...on Mjolnir...nope, count him out.
"Hold on, brother," Thor said, his hand moving from his arm to his waist in what in any other circumstance, with any other pair of people, could be considered an intimate move. Loki let him, only because if he didn't, he'd fall and impale himself on one of the towers of Asgard. He was not planning on dying today, though it might be a better alternative to going to live with the Avengers.
Next second they were in the air and Loki's retort of, "I'm not your brother!" turned into "I'm not your brotheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrr!" as Thor took off and Loki, fighting every instinct, clung to him, screaming in his ear at the sensation. He really hated this.
A few minutes later found Loki being set back down on his feet, cursing Thor very colorfully in Russian, which he'd taken the time to learn while trapped in his cell, having been intrigued by the language ever since learning that Natasha Romanoff was Russian. His cursing went something like this:
"Трахни тебя, Тор, я чертовски ненавидел это, почему, черт возьми, ты бы это сделал, отпусти меня, ты, блин, мудак, сын ..."
"You know I have no idea what you're saying, correct, Loki?" Thor asked.
Loki glared at him. "That's the point of speaking a different language."
"Hey, I can speak other languages, too!" Thor protested. Loki snorted.
"Thor, you speak Groot."
"Yes. That is technically another language."
Loki rolled his eyes. "Are we going back to Midgard or not?"
"Yes." Thor looked towards the Bifrost gate, rebuilt and gleaming gold in the midday sun. Odin and Frigga waited outide, Heimdall beside them.
The two brothers walked the length of the rebuilt Bifrost bridge in a rather tense silence. Loki fidgeted with one of the bracelets, even though he knew it wouldn't come off. He got the feeling he'd be doing that a lot lately, fidgeting with the bracelet.
They reached the Bifrost gate and hesitated. Loki could feel the gazes of Odin, Heimdall, and Frigga all on him, and despite that, held his head up high, his shoulders back, exuding a confidence that he'd been severely lacking the last few weeks.
Odin's gaze was dismissive and disgusted; Loki glared at him as he turned his one-eyed attention to Thor. Frigga, on the other hand, embraced her second son, an embrace which Loki returned after a moment.
"Oh, my Loki," Frigga murmured. "I will miss you greatly."
"I will miss you too, Mother," Loki replied, choking back tears and putting on his traditional, well-practiced poker face.
"I know you're a werewolf," Frigga said in his ear. Loki stiffened. "Relax. I won't tell Odin. You'll do fine on Earth, Loki. I know you will. And you'll have Thor."
"Thor doesn't know," Loki scoffed. "And I'd like to keep it that way."
Frigga drew back, giving her son a long, appraising look. "I love you, Loki," was all she said. "My beautiful son."
Loki gave her a small half-smile, then walked to where Thor and Heimdall stood at the entrance to the gate.
"Are you ready?" Thor asked. Loki glared at him. "I'll take that as a yes."
Heimdall and the princes strode over to the center of the gate. Heimdall nodded to Loki, who gave a curt nod in return; he'd always liked Heimdall. Then Heimdall plunged the sword into the Bifrost and opened the bridge.
Loki glanced at Thor, who was watching him with keen blue eyes. Loki took a deep breath and nodded. He wasn't ready, not by a long shot, but this was his punishment.
Loki glanced back at Frigga as they stepped into the Bifrost, but she was already gone.
And so begins Devour the Thorki fanfic. Yes, this is going to be eventual Thorki, but it might take a while to get there. Especially considering I'm not planning on Loki telling Thor he's a werewolf anytime soon...Also, I am going to have Loki and Natasha speakign Russian periodically throughout the story, and in most ases I will put a translation in the ending author's note, or you can just copy and paste into Google Translate if you don't want to wait till the end. This one involved a lot of swearing which I have no desire to repeat, so you're just going to have to look up what colorful language Loki used. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. PLEASE leave a review!