If you want to remind yourself of Loki's encounters with the Other, go back to Chapter XIII - It's Just a Name.
"What…." Loki began asking as his sleepy eyes tried to make some sense of the situation by scanning the room.
Yet the Mad Titan in his tantrum has already made a few steady steps and before Loki managed to fully wake up, the monstrous hand caught his throat and hoisted him up into the air. The emerald eyes shot wide in surprise and sudden fear as his breath was stuck in his throat.
Loki's palms instinctively clenched Thanos' wrist in a desperate attempt to loosen the grip on his throat to enable the air to flow in but his physical strength was laughable compared to the Titan's.
Loki began to suffocate. He wasn't even aware of his feet not touching the ground anymore.
"Who are you?" Thanos hissed spitefully, drops of spittle spitting out of his mouth.
Loki seemed to be losing consciousness.
Thanos narrowed his sight and sent Loki flying against the wall. The Trickster's body collided with the rock and slid down.
Immediately, Loki brought the palm of his hand to his bruised throat as he struggled and coughed to catch his breath. He pushed himself onto his knees and stared at Thanos with dreadful anticipation. He had no idea what provoked the Titan to suddenly react in such an uncontrolled manner, as opposed to the menacingly compoused and manipulative demeanour he had displayed earlier.
"I asked you a question." Thanos screamed and Loki tried to remember what the question had been.
"You know who I am." He said after a moment.
Thanos smirked incredulously.
"You have some nerve to provoke me when I am in this mood." He said, and Loki could swear that there was a hint of admiration in his tone.
"It's no provocation if it's the truth. You have displayed that you know exactly who I am." Loki tried to talk his way out of the uncomfortable question, hoping that his silver tongue would hold him above water.
"Do I?" Thanos echoed and moved closer to Loki.
The young god tried to hide how intimidated the Titan was making him feel and so he slowly, never taking his eyes off Thanos, stood up to his full height and looked the Titan up to his eyes.
"Yes. You do."
"Who are you?" Thanos asked again.
"I am Loki." The God of Mischief paused. "Of Asgard."
"Are you? Are you really?" Thanos' eyes never left Loki's, searching for any sign of lies or mischief.
"Who gave you that name?"
"My mother."
"Who is your mother?"
"Frigga, the Queen of Asgard."
"How do you know that she was the one to give you that name?"
"She told me." Loki stared at Thanos who clearly did not believe a word he was saying. "She has always used to say that the name comes from luka which means to embrace closely. Mother would say that she has chosen this name for me to know that she will always be there to hug me." Loki knew that people would usually believe someone if the one managed to deliver a sufficient amount of details. He did not wish to share his personal stories with the Titan, but his self-preservation instinct was telling him that right now, it was vital that the Titan believed him. Had he any suspicion that Loki may not be Odin's true son, he may not contact his father to release him.
"Doesn't luka mean to break or to torment?" Thanos questioned.
"That is the other interpretation." Loki said with fake confidence.
Thanos grimaced.
"I think that my interpretation is going to be much more correct if you don't stop lying to me."
"I am not lying to you."
"Are you not? Who is your father?"
And Loki hesitated. Immediately, he knew that it was his fatal fault. This was a battle of two manipulative wits, there was no space for mistakes.
"Odin, the Allfather." He said at last.
"Would he come down here to get you back to Asgard as he came for you and your brother on Jotunheim?"
And Loki knew that he simply could not answer. One liar could recognise another one and Loki was certain that he could not say that sentence with such a persuasion that Thanos would not be able to detect the lie.
"I don't know." Loki said finally.
"Would he come for Thor?"
Loki closed his eyes. This interrogation hurt more than any possible punch the Mad Titan could pull.
"Yes."
"If you are both his sons, why would he come for Thor and not for you?"
"I didn't say he wouldn't come. I said I didn't know."
"Why does he favour Thor over you?"
"Thor is stronger. He can wield Mjolnir."
"That is not it. Odin himself has not achieved his position by rough power. It was mostly by his sense of manipulation and craftiness." Thanos eyed Loki.
Loki didn't want to say anymore and so he only stared defiantly at him.
Out of blue, the Titan slapped him hard across his left cheek and Loki found himself hitting the ground once again. His head was dizzy but as soon as he felt he could stand without falling down, he got back to his feet.
"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" Thanos breathed out mockingly.
"Look, Loki. This can go two ways. Either the hard way, or the harder way. You're a smart cookie, aren't you? You know that in the end, everyone will speak. So why don't you save yourself some pain and me some time and spill the beans."
"You have no idea how strong I am. You don't know me." Loki replied.
"I like you. You have stamina. I will enjoy playing with you. It will be much more fun than breaking the ordinary creatures. But in the end, Loki, I will break you. You will beg me to kill you and I will mercifully comply with your request if I deem appropriate."
"You can't break me." Loki said without emotions.
"Is that so?" Thanos retorted.
"You cannot break someone who has already been broken. I have nothing to lose."
"Really? Well, see, this is interesting. We haven't even properly begun, and you have already shared some interesting information with me. What in the Nine Realms could have happened on Asgard that would make you say this?" Thanos glared atLoki who tried to stop his cheeks from blushing. "You are too clever to reveal something like this without any emotional trigger. It was your brother, wasn't it? He is the trigger."
"Trigger for what?" Loki asked derisively.
"Your breaking point."
…
"How could you?" Frigga whispered, covering her mouth with her palm.
"My Queen, please, you must understand. Hela could not be let out. You know that." Odin tried to reason with his wife.
"You left him there. You left him all alone in the hands of the vilest creature in the universe." Frigga said, ignoring Odin's explanation.
"I didn't do it with any pleasure." Odin said.
"You didn't tell me. You never mentioned you met with Thanos and saw Loki. You've always said that Heimdall could not locate him."
"I wasn't lying. Heimdall could not find him. Neither could I. But Thanos had his way of contacting me."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Frigga refused to look Odin in the eye.
"I was afraid you would never forgive me. I know you love Loki very much."
Frigga gave Odin the look of disbelief.
"As you were supposed to do."
And then it hit her.
"You knew." Frigga raised her voice. "You knew what happened to him in the Void. You knew, and you didn't bother to conduct a proper trial and you sentenced him anyway. For eternity."
Odin didn't react.
"How could you do that?" Frigga whispered.
"It was for the best." Odin said.
"For the best?" Frigga echoed.
"We couldn't afford to have another Hela. Locking him away was the only option. Don't you remember that he had turned his back on us even before Thanos got hold of him? Had he not done it, Thanos would never possess him in the first place."
"You started it. Don't try to pretend you didn't. I can see right through you." Frigga answered.
"He was getting dangerous. Uncontrollable. He wanted to be Thor's equal. You should have never shared his magic with him."
"Is that why you decided to crown Thor the king even though you knew he wasn't ready? To show Loki that the two of them would never be equal?"
"They boy needed to be reminded of his place."
"That backfired, didn't it?"
"I didn't expect him to challenge the coronation. He's always been quite quiet."
"Quiet doesn't mean weak."
"Exactly, Frigga, it doesn't." Odin raised his voice. "Loki decided to think for himself. If we couldn't control him, we had to constrain him. It was the only way."
"Loki was the prince of Asgard. He was supposed to learn to think for himself."
"No, Frigga. He was to be the King of Jotunheim and it was essential for him to never think for himself."
"Was he just a relic to you? For all these years, have you been raising him as a pig for slaughter?"
"No." Odin said truthfully.
"Every time you told him you loved him, you only claimed so, didn't you?"
"I don't know."
Frigga looked Odin deep into the eye. She wouldn't shed her tears for him now.
"You repel me, Allfather."
…
"Chain him up." Thanos called and within a moment, a pair of guards appeared in Loki's cell.
Before he knew it, Loki's arms were spread out unnaturally far because of the shackles hanging from the ceiling which were now cutting into his wrists. The uncomfortable position allowed only Loki's tiptoes to touch the ground.
"Call the Other. Tell him that the time for plan B has come." The Titan addressed the guards. They quickly bowed and left and Thanos focused his attention back on Loki.
"Trust me. You'll be happy to see me." And with that he left.
…
Loki's head was resting against the pit of his neck. He was so emaciated that he could not stand anymore and the full, by now meagre weight of his body was hanging from the shackles that were keeping him up. He was marginally aware of little streams of blood sliding from his cheeks.
He didn't know how many times the Other's now feared hand came into contact with his head and made him relive the moment of his collision with the surface of his planet.
He didn't remember when it was that he was stripped of his armour, left only in his tunic and black trousers, because the Other needed more room to play.
He didn't want to think about all the times he pleaded the Other to stop; when he screamed his lungs out only to be told that nothing will stop the Other's scaly fingers to stop slicing his skin.
Had Loki been able to measure the time, he would have known that he had been in the dungeons of the Mad Titan for a good half a year. In all his time, he has seen the Mater of the Palace only at the very beginning. Then, Thanos promised him to return to Asgard in exchange for something. The next thing Loki knew, the Titan was screaming at him, demanding to know who he truly was. When Loki refused to say, he left, and Loki hasn't seen him since.
Then the routine began. No one would talk to Loki and the only one he saw was the Other who would keep coming with new ways of torture. When Loki begged him to stop, the Other would retort that nothing will stop this.
Loki's life became a circle of never-ending agony.
When, out of blue, Thanos returned.
Loki heard the approaching footsteps, but he didn't even flinch at the idea of his torturer coming back. He couldn't afford to make any movements as anything would cause him more pain. He had become so numb.
The God of Mischief didn't lift his head up when the doors to his cell were opened and someone walked in. Loki tried telling himself that the Other could not possibly surprise him any longer, yet that didn't help the dreadful anticipation of his next steps.
But the pain didn't come.
Instead, Loki came to realise that someone was unlocking his manacles. Before he knew it, one of his raw wrists was released and Loki's body came to hang only by his right arm. Curious to see what brought about this change, the young god raised his tired eyes.
Thanos.
The Mad Titan walked over to the second manacle and opened also that one. Without the chains supporting his weight, Loki's body, by now so used to being held in one position, helplessly slipped onto the ground. His limbs were in cramp.
"Take it easy." Thanos' voice echoed in the cell as he walked towards Loki.
The God of Mischief had no strength to push himself up from the little ball curled up on the ground and in the desperate attempt to separate himself from his surrounding, he closed his eyes.
He could feel Thanos' arm slipping underneath him and lifting him off the ground. Still with his eyes tightly shut, he was being carried for a moment before being gently laid onto something soft.
Loki opened his eyes.
He was in the meagre bed he occupied at the beginning of his stay in the dungeons.
The emerald eyes dared to search for the Titan's ones.
"Do you know who I am?" Thanos asked
"Thanos." Loki whispered. His voice was hoarse, and it pained him to speak.
Without a word, Thanos handed him a cup with water. Loki didn't question where he got it from and drank the content.
"Do you know for how long you've been here?"
"No."
"Six months."
Six months?! Loki echoed in his mind, aware that the surprise was apparent in his eyes. It couldn't have been. He was in the dungeons being tortured for half a year? That wasn't possible. Has his family forgotten him?
"Do you remember the last conversation we led?" Thanos questioned dryly.
"Yes."
"Let's try again. But if you don't feel like answering, that's fine. I will leave. No pressure." The Titan smirked.
Loki squeezed the cup in his hands so much that it broke. He couldn't let Thanos leave. It would mean that the Other would come back. That couldn't happen. He couldn't bear the knife slicing through his meat again and…
The tears began streaming onto his cheeks and Loki was crying silently.
It was simply too much.
For half a year, he was there. In the dungeons, having the company of his torturer only. All this because he tried to make his father proud. Where was Odin? Thanos said he would ask him to come. Why didn't he?
It didn't matter now. No matter what, Loki had to ensure that the Other would not come back.
Loki looked Thanos in the eyes.
He was ready.
Thanos nodded.
"I understand that being in the Other's company for such a period of time can leave some creatures a bit…unstable, but you stroke me as unusually strong when we met. So I am going to suppose that you are still sane. Do you remember who you are?"
"Loki."
"Where are you from?"
"From Asgard."
"Is Odin your father?"
"Odin raised me." Loki whispered. Those words caused his stomach to tie into tight knots.
"You have been raised as a prince in the royal family of Asgard."
"Yes." That wasn't a question, but Loki answered anyway. He didn't want to leave the soft bed and return to the manacles.
"Who is your real father?"
Loki's breath quickened. "Laufey."
"Laufey?!" Thanos repeated incredulously and made a few steps towards the bed. Loki involuntarily brought his knees to his chest.
"Yes." He whispered, hoping that Thanos would believe him.
"Are you trying to tell me that you are a Frost Giant? Do I look like an idiot to you?"
"I know it sounds strange given my appearance, so why would I make up such a lie?" Loki mumbled desperately.
"How did you get to Asgard?"
"After having defeated the Frost Giants, Odin found me cast out onto a frozen rock. He took me in."
"Why?"
"I don't know. As a bargaining tool I suppose."
"How did he persuade the Asgardians to accept a Jotun prince? They detest them."
"He told no one. Only my mother knew. Even I didn't know until recently."
"How did you discover your true lineage?"
"During that trip to Jotunheim. A Frost Giant touched my arm. It turned blue."
Thanos thought for a second. Then he turned to leave.
"Please, don't. I am telling the truth." Loki said as loudly as he could. The panic was creeping into him.
Thanos tried to give him a reassuring look, yet his dead eyes were incapable of such an emotion.
"Don't worry, Loki. No one is going to hurt you anymore. I won't let them." The tone which was supposed to be gentle was an ugly caricature of that emotion, but Loki calmed down a bit.
So far, Thanos hasn't lied to him.
Thanos was back before Loki managed to begin his first sleep on a bed in half a year. To his horror, Loki saw that he was back with a monster almost the size of the Mad Titan.
A Frost Giant.
Thanos and the Jotun entered Loki's cell.
Loki was sitting on his bed, frozen to the spot, unable to move.
The Frost Giant looked at Thanos who gave him a hardly visible nod.
Without further hesitation, the Frost Giant made a few quick steps towards Loki and quickly grabbed his injured arm.
Loki rapidly blinked a few times and then he observed with tired resignation how the blue colour was filling every piece of his body. The carvings were becoming apparent as well. Loki thanked the Norns that his cell didn't have a mirror. He didn't want to see the red eyes staring back at him.
The eyes of a monster.
A tear escaped his eyes and so he closed them. He began to shake.
"Enough. Leave us." Thanos said and the Frost Giant immediately let go of Loki's arm and left the cell.
Loki kept his eyes closed as if afraid to see a piece of the monster he was.
The bed made a little sound as another figure sat on it.
"It's gone. You can open your eyes now." Thanos said quietly and Loki obeyed.
The blue was gone.
"It's alright. I believe you." Thanos said and Loki only nodded.
"So that is why Odin wouldn't come for you." Thanos said, half to himself.
"Yes." Loki whispered.
"He never loved you."
Loki hesitated. "I don't know."
"Do you think a king of Asgard could ever love a Frost Giant, Loki?" Thanos asked him as if he were a small child.
Loki didn't answer. Unintentionally, he was fidgeting his fingers.
"You must kill this useless sentiment, Loki. It will do you no good."
"No. He has never loved me." Loki replied after a while.
"Yes. He never did." Thanos confirmed.
"But mother…Frigga. She did love me, didn't she?" Loki's big eyes refused to leave the ground.
"The Queen of Asgard is known for her… gentle heart. She may have been even able to extend it to the likes such as you." Thanos said.
Loki didn't react.
"What happened on Asgard before you fell?"
"Thor was to be crowned the King. I interrupted it."
"The crowds loved it, didn't they? I bet they celebrated loudly the mighty wielder of Mjolnir. No one even noticed you being there."
"Yes."
"You have a royal blood in your veins, Loki. That's why I am going to share this piece of information with you." Thanos said seriously and Loki shot him a confused glance before his sight set back onto the ground.
"There are two ways to follow if you want to be a successful ruler. The first one is to make them love you. Admire you. Celebrate you. That's what Thor has. You have never had it. You will never have it. You can never have it. The Frost Giants are not and never will be loved by anyone. It is not in their nature. Satisfaction does not run in your veins. But you are to be a king one day. It is your birthright as the son of Laufey. And so you must master the other technique that makes a successful ruler. They must fear you. They must shake at the sight of you and drop to their knees."
"As they do with you." Loki said hesitantly.
"Yes."
Loki shook his head.
"What is it, Loki?"
"I never wanted the throne. All I ever wanted was to be Thor's equal."
"And how do you intend to achieve that? Hm? Thor will be a king. The only way to be his equal is to become a King yourself."
Loki tried to say something, but he found himself unable to respond. Thanos was right. He could only achieve the equality with his brother if he also became a king.
"How could I become a king? Asgard has only one ruler."
"There are nine worlds in the branches of Yggdrasil." Thanos said and winked at Loki. "And conveniently, one of them has something that I desire greatly."
"What is that?"
"The Tesseract."
Loki closed his eyes in suspicion.
"What do you want the Tesseract for?"
"Does that concern you?" Thanos raised his eyebrows.
"What do you want from me?" Loki asked finally.
"I want you to become what you have always been meant to be. A king. You will get me the Tesseract and I will give you Midgard."
Midgard. The realm his brother loved.
"What about the people of Midgard?" Loki questioned.
"They will all be yours. You can do as you deem appropriate."
"You want the Tesseract to attack Asgard, do you not?" Loki picked up the courage.
"What is there on Asgard that would be worth your attention? It is a realm that despises your species with a ruling family that never loved you. They raised you as a pig for slaughter. Deep down, you know that I am right. You are nothing on Asgard. A no one. And you will always remain a no one. Unless you take your destiny into your own hands and make a name for yourself. Such a name that even Asgard will fear its sound."
Loki thought for a second.
"As I said, I never wanted the throne. You want the Tesseract to conquer Asgard. I will not help you hurt my brother and mother."
"Is that your last word, Loki?" Thanos said with a tone of a disappointed parent.
"Yes." Loki whispered, shielding himself from the pain that would certainly come.
"You have disappointed me, boy." Thanos said only and stood up from the bed. Without another word or a look back he left the cell.
Loki's whole body was tense. He was awaiting the return of the Other. The raven-haired god tried to console himself with the thought that his last act of defiance was to save Thor and Frigga. He knew that Thanos was right. Everyone would break eventually or grow insane. Yet there was something Loki wanted to say out loud before that happened.
"I know you cannot hear me." Loki said, hunching on his bed. "But brother, I am so sorry for what I have done. I meant what I told you. Please, never doubt that I love you. And mother…I did it all wrong. I never should have tried to make father proud. I should have tried to make you proud. I am so sorry."
With the words out of his shoulders, Loki lay onto the mattress and let his eyes close. He knew the torture would come, but right now he just wanted to sleep.
…
Loki woke up sweaty.
At first, he found his senses confused and dizzy. He tried sitting up, but his head began to spin around.
It took him a while to take in the situation but when he understood where he was, he couldn't understand why no one came. Wasn't the Other supposed to torture him by now?
Loki wiped the sweat out of his forehead with his hand and went back to sleep.
…
The next time he woke up, his throat was dry. He tried resting his back against the wall while sitting up to ease the dizziness, but the wall burnt him. Confused, he flinched and quickly glanced around. His cell was still the same. Nothing changed.
Except the heat.
Suddenly, Loki understood.
The temperature in the cell has risen rapidly since Thanos left and it kept rising. The walls were radiating with the heat.
The Frost Giants could not be in a warm place.
It was not in their nature.
It was not in his nature.
Loki panicked.
…
He hallucinated Thor. Again. This time he knew it was a hallucination. That didn't stop him from talking to his imagined brother.
"He does it because he knows, Thor. He knows that I am a Frost Giant. That's why he keeps raising the temperature. Everyday, it gets hotter. I can't take this anymore. Do you even know that I am a Frost Giant? Did father tell you? But he is not my father, is he? Did the Allfather tell you? I am so tired, brother. I just want to sleep. Please, make it cold. Thor, you promised you would keep me safe. Can you make this place cooler? But no, don't come here. You said you would slay all the Frost Giants. Please, Thor, don't hurt me. I didn't ask for this. I don't want to be a Frost Giant. I would change myself if I could. You promised to protect me. But you also promised to kill all the Frost Giants. I am a Frost Giant. It doesn't go together." Loki finished his nonsensical monologue tiredly and drained out he was laying on the ground which was no longer cold.
…
It took another half a year for Thanos to come back. This time, he returned with the Other. Loki couldn't hear them coming anymore.
"He is weak. It should be no difficulty for you." Thanos told the Other who nodded.
They entered Loki's cell. The Other was holding the sceptre.
"Don't forget about the eyes. Thor must not notice."
"Of course, my lord."
The end of the sceptre touched Loki's chest. For a moment, he woke up from his trance, unaware that for a brief second, his eyes changed the colour from the beautifully rare emerald one to a shining blue. Then they were back to their original colour and Loki's eyelids fell back in exhaustion.
"Make the temperature go back to a normal level. He will be ready soon." Thanos instructed and they both left the cell.
…
Loki woke up with a clear mind. Such a thing was impossible. He didn't have a clear mind for ages. He opened his eyes and saw the Other.
He remembered in an instant.
"You messed up with my mind." He said.
"Yes." The Other answered simply.
"It won't work. I know you did it."
"That doesn't matter. You have to listen to the orders anyway. So listen. Time for the instructions."
When the Other finished, Loki's head was full of information that had taken a seed in his head.
"Oh, I almost forgot." The Other said at the last moment. "You are a God of Mischief. I want that attitude."
…
He is ready to lead and our force, our Chitauri, will follow. A world will be his. The universe, yours.
"He is not a mere mortal. Are you sure he will not be able to break through the compulsion?" Thanos questioned.
"I think he will break it at moments. But even without it, he is confused. Lonely. He doesn't know what he wants. Had you not mentioned the Tesseract, he would have been persuaded to attack Midgard even without the sceptres' influence." The Other answered.
"For your own sake, I hope you're right."
"Anyway, Odin will send Thor to stop him. And Thor…" The Other began and Thanos smiled.
"Thor is his breaking point. He is impulsive and reckless. When they meet, he will say the wrong thing." Thanos smirked.
The Other smiled.
"And finally, Loki will be fully yours."
…
That was the moment when the Avengers have finally seen him.
Thanos.
Sitting on his huge throne.
Then there was an explosion.
…
Loki opened his eyes. He was breathing too quickly, and his heart was threatening to jump out of his chest. He looked around.
He was in the Stark Tower.
He was still holding his brother's hand.
Loki gave their holding hands a long look.
I looked up the possible meanings behind the origins of the name Loki and I was quite fond of the two explanations. I don't know how reliable they are, but they seemed to fit.
Finally, we are leaving the flashback and coming back to the present time.
If anyone would like to be a beta reader for this story, please let me know ;)