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Imprisoned, Chapter 5: Get Help!
Sif glared at Loki. "What do you want me to do, Thor?" she said without looking at him. One thing real and fake Sif had in common.
Thor looked at Loki. Loki closed his eyes and concentrated, then he looked up in alarm. "The four in the palace have split. Two are moving towards Odin's Vault and the other two… towards his bed chamber."
Thor groaned. "Alright. Sif, gather the Warriors Three and protect the Vault. These people look like Æsir, but they are not. Do not let them fool you."
Sif nodded her head, threw Loki one last suspicious glance and left in the Vault's direction.
"Loki, you and I will head for the other two."
Loki also nodded his head, although less enthusiastically.
Thor hurried off, Loki trotted after him.
"Mother said she wanted to visit father," Thor finally said.
Loki nodded. He had sensed her with the impostors. "I cannot tell what is going on in there. There are four people, but beyond that... There is so much sorcery at work... Do not take anything at face value and do not do anything rash. Let's walk in, assess the situation. Pretend you do not know anything is amiss."
Thor nodded his head. He did not need to voice the dread he felt. It was apparent in his eyes and Loki was sure the expression was mirrored in his own face.
Once they reached the chamber they immediately noted that the door was open, which was unusual.
They looked at each other before they hurried into the dark room, which was only dimly lit through a few braziers.
Odin was sleeping on a huge golden bed in the middle. Frigga was sitting by his side, holding his hand.
"My son," she said quietly, turning around when they entered. Her eyes darted to the guard next to him, not questioning his presence. "It is good to see you."
Loki had a hard time discerning what was really going on here. He knew that four people were in the room, but there was so much magic at work that he could not know for sure what was going on. All he knew was that something was not right. And he was quite concerned. Several possibilities flew through his mind. The scene could be real with the two others hidden behind illusions. The whole thing could be an illusion. Either Odin or Frigga or both could be illusions.
"Mother," Thor said, sounding uncertain. "Is everything alright?"
"Oh yes," she smiled, but something about her smile felt wrong. "Could you, perhaps, bring me a glass of water?" she asked.
"We are not leaving," Loki said. It was either an illusion of his mother and she wanted to get them away to keep them save, or it was an illusion by the enemies to keep them from interfering. Either way, Loki was most certainly not going to leave the room.
"Please," Frigga breathed, seemingly unsurprised by the fact that the guard had answered her question.
Thor began to shake his head and Frigga smiled at them sadly. "I am glad to see you, but at the same time I wish you were not here," she said, and vanished.
The entire room shimmered, and the scene changed. Signs of a fight could be observed everywhere one looked and a dead guard lay on the ground. Odin was still lying in his bed, but he had a knife stuck in his stomach and a vile creature with dark grey skin next to him, one hand wrapped around the knife. Slumped down in the middle of the room, her hands tied in front of her, was Frigga. She had a wound on her forehead and a drop of blood was running down her cheek. The sight made wild fury bubble in his stomach, soon engulfing his whole being.
The Other, now in his own form, was standing in the middle of the room, a sword in his hands. "I knew you would come," he drawled, addressing Loki, "and you are just in time to watch your dear father die a slow and painful death." He grinned, "and after that – who would you prefer to see dying first? Your mother or your brother?"
"Step away from her and we might show you mercy later," Thor proclaimed, holding on tightly to Mjolnir.
Loki glared at the Other, but he was momentarily distracted from his rage by the impression that something was still off about the scene in front of him. As it had been the case in his cell, the impression was instinctive, and he could not quite pinpoint what had caused it. He left an illusion of the guard he was impersonating standing next to Thor and invisibly made his way towards his mother.
The Other turned around towards Frigga, extended his sword and slowly traced the side of her face with it. "Oh, it will not be me who will be begging for mercy," he laughed devilishly. He looked over his shoulder at Thor and the guard, smiling wickedly, while the blade ran along their mother's neck.
The God of Thunder acted within seconds, throwing one of Loki's daggers at the Other.
"No," Loki yelled, shimmering into existence once again, while the fake guard disappeared. He jumped towards the Other, as if to protect him from the flying dagger, but went right through him. It had been another illusion, the Other was standing right behind Frigga, not in front of her.
Instead of hitting Frigga between the eyes, the dagger hit Loki square in the chest, and he went down in front of his mother.
"No," Frigga breathed weakly, moving towards her injured son, pulling him onto her knees and sneaking her tied hands around his neck to cradle him. "No, no, no," she cried out, tears falling into his hair as her head buried into it, "not my son, no."
Loki tried to sit up, shielding Frigga as well as he could with his own body. Searing pain took hold of his chest and he panted heavily. He felt weak and dizzy and while he tried to sit up, his vision began to blur.
"Loki," he could discern Thor shouting through his haze, but it was hard to concentrate. Such a wound wound not usually affect him so, but the time in the cell and the events of the last days had taken a toll on his body and he had not much blood to spare.
The Other laughed at the shocked expression on one brother's and the pained expression on the other brother's face. His laughter was a deeply unsettling noise, sending shivers down Loki's spine. "Killed by one you consider family. I could not have planned a more beautiful punishment myself. I would love to see how this destroys him, but I am afraid he will not live that long. But perhaps," the Other mused, "perhaps it would not affect him at all, Jotun runt that you are," at that Loki flinched, "a parasite, a mons-"
"How dare you?" roared Thor, taking a few steps towards the Other. Thor's expression had by now changed from one of utter shock to one of pure, undiluted fury. "How dare you call my brother such vile things? How dare you hurt my family?" He took a step towards the Other, holding Mjolnir in a tight grip.
"Ah," sighed the Other, "I would not do that if I were you. One more step and my brother," he motioned towards the guy standing next to Odin, his hands still clasping the knife, Loki had followed the motion with his head but the movement made him feel dizzy and sick, "will make you half an orphan." He chuckled. "Do not worry, I will take care of the other half."
Thor looked murderous but stayed where he was. Even through the haze in his head, Loki knew that Thor's fighting style was not meant for such close quarters and there was no way he could kill the two enemies without getting Odin killed.
They needed to get them away from their parents.
Loki gathered all the strength he had left, ignoring the metallic taste in his mouth, and concentrated on the image of Sif and the Warriors Three. They materialized just outside of the chamber. He let their illusions charge into the room and towards the member of the Black Order close to Odin. Loki did not have the energy to make them very sophisticated or have them talk. But even like that it seemed to be enough.
The Other took a step forward. "No!" he yelled. But it was too late. The illusion had not fooled the Other, but his companion seemed to have fallen for it. He ripped the knife out of Odin to defend himself against the warriors. He charged forward, only to have them disappear when his knife should have hit the fake Fandral.
With both opponents a few feet away from Frigga and Odin, Thor was finally presented with the opportunity to fight them without having to worry about his parents.
And unlike Loki's invasion on Midgard, this battle truly was glorious and not lengthy.
Loki would have loved nothing more than to assist Thor in his fight, but battling unconsciousness was keeping him occupied, especially after the amount of energy his magical distraction had taken.
"I... am... sorry," Loki muttered to his mother. Every word burned in his lungs and he was struggling for air. But he meant them. For the first time he truly felt sorry for the destruction and pain he had caused his family. "You should not... have to worry... about me so much, mother."
"Shush, son," she said gently, "do not waste energy." Her hands wandered to the dagger in his chest, applying pressure to stop the bleeding. Loki could feel her hands warm. She was using her magic to slow down the blood loss. The warmth from her hands spread, filling his chest and soon his whole body, reducing the pain he felt.
In the background he could hear the sound of a body hitting the ground. He turned his head to see the Other fall right next to his already downed companion. But his view was soon obscured by his brother's face.
Thor had knelt down next to them, putting a reassuring hand on his mother's back and eyeing the wound with worry. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"Fine," Loki managed to mutter.
"Liar," breathed Thor, but smiled softly.
Loki gasped, "we're fine... Make sure Odin is, or Asgard is truly doomed with you as a king."
"Loki," Frigga chastised.
Thor grinned. "I see you are on the road to recovery." He got up and hurried over to their father.
They were soon joined by Lady Sif, the Warriors Three, a few guards and healers.
Most of them rushed to Thor's side to aid the still sleeping king.
He would sleep through Ragnarök, Loki mused, while one of the healers helped his mother with his own wound.
A healing stone, some medication to replenish his blood, and soon he was as good as new. Still, he remained sitting on the ground. The immediate threat was over, he was relatively unscathed, and he saw no reason to draw anyone's attention to his person. His mother still held him in her arms and he let her.
Eventually, however, Thor and his cohort approached them. Thor sat down in front of Loki and Frigga. Sif and the Warriors Three stood behind him.
Thor looked thoroughly pleased with himself. "Father will be alright," he announced, smiling at both of them.
"That is good to hear," Loki said. He could feel his mother squeeze his arm reassuringly. "What about the remaining guards in the prison?"
"They do not know they have been found out," Thor began. "I will think about a way to use this to our advantage. Perhaps we can capture and question them. Find out how they got into the palace in the first place and what happened to the real guards."
Loki nodded his head. His brother really had become more sensible.
Thor looked at Loki, observing him, assessing the situation and considering his next move. It was an odd sight to Loki and another testament to how much his brother had changed over the last year.
Loki desperately wanted to know what Thor had planned for him but struggled to voice his thoughts. For once, he was not sure what to say. A rare occurrence. The air was heavy with unresolved emotions that Loki neither wanted to think about nor address. Gratitude, guilt, anger,... trust and distrust - there was a lot that probably should be discussed, but none of the people present were ready to. Sooner or later, however, they would have to talk. It would be difficult and unpleasant. Loki would have to decide whether he wanted to revert to his old ways or whether he was willing to expose vulnerabilities and let go of the past. No matter how much they had talked in the Healing Room, Loki knew he was not ready to lay everything bare. Not yet.
"Assuming you are not going to imprison me within the next few minutes," Loki eventually began and the thought of actually having to go back there frightened him more than he would like to admit, "I might have an idea on how to go about this."
Thor studied his brother, before he sighed. "What you have done for Asgard today... it went above and beyond the call of duty," he put his right hand on Loki's shoulder, "you risked your own life to protect others. I cannot exonerate you, this has to be a decision made by the Allfather, but I will not put you back into that cell. If you stay around long enough, and I hope that you do, I will speak on your behalf with father. Right now, I would rather hear your plan."
Loki squashed down the emotional turmoil in his stomach and smiled at his brother.
"Just tell me, how much will I hate it?" Thor asked.
Loki laughed. "Not at all, brother. You will love it."
Thor raised an eyebrow.
"I am the one who will despise it," Loki offered as a means of further explanation.
Thor grinned. "You don't mean...?"
Loki groaned. "Yes, I do mean..."
Loki did not have to finish his sentence. The mad twinkle in his brother's eyes told him that he already knew what he was talking about.
"Get help," Thor grinned like a child.
"A variation, of sorts," Loki said unhappily.
Half an hour later Thor walked into the prison, his right hand on Loki's shoulder, his left holding Mjolnir. Behind them entered the Warriors Three and Sif.
"Guards," Thor proclaimed as if he hadn't already had the attention of everyone in the room, "I am in need of your assistance." He smiled and Loki felt that he was enjoying this far too much. "This traitor tried to sneak out of Asgard. I am here to bring him back to his cell. If you would be so kind, could you open his cell door for me and stand guard beside it, so he cannot try to escape."
The guards looked at each other and did as they were told. One of them opened the door and the others all positioned themselves in front of it.
"Perfect," Thor grinned, Loki tensed, "just perfect."
The End
Kind of...
A.N. This was supposed to be the end. An open end. It could go several ways from here. Thor might slam Loki into the guards, they all fall into the cell, stay in there forever, Odin forgives Loki, they live happily ever after, Ragnarok never happens, Thanos never gets all the Infinity Stones and Infinity War never happens. If you like canon-compliance and are not a fan of happy endings, just imagine that Loki tries to sneak off, Odin and Thor are mad and he is stuck in the cell again and everything happens like it did in the movies. Or maybe he imagined everything. Maybe he died and this is just the musing of a dying man. Or a kind of explanation Thor comes up with after learning of his brother's death.
I am a sucker for happy endings, though, so I will post an epilogue with some more family conversations. If you do not like that kind of stuff, just imagine the story ended here ;)
I hope you enjoyed this little ficlet. If you did, let me know with a review. If not, tell me why. I am always looking for ways to improve my writing.
