Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters should pray for their good fortune.
Title: A God's Proposal
Summary: Prequel to Where to Levy the Blame. Thor hears about a quest in the local tavern one day and thinks that the prize would be a fit proposal gift for Jane. However, he needs Loki's help to obtain this gift, and Loki is locked up in Asgard's dungeon suffering Odin's secret punishments. Warnings: Rape and Torture
Author's Comments: This chapter has been my favorite to think about thus far, so I hope that it translates out of head in just the way I imagined.
~[~ (Loki's POV)
As soon as he heard the footsteps Loki knew they were in trouble. The giant had caught them off guard and now they would all pay dearly for it, most likely with their lives. He was ready to try to make a run for it but when he saw everyone else in the cage he knew that all hope was lost, but that did not stop Thor from attempting to strike. Though it proved to be in vein Loki would have applauded him for the effort.
When they were roughly thrown in the cage Loki hit his head off the bars and it jarred him slightly for a moment. No one spoke, for Loki suspected that they were all overcome by terror and the immanent doom they all faced, for their lives were not going to end gracefully. He wanted to pay attention and try to plot an escape but the pain in his head was distracting, and was preventing him from thinking clearly, though he did register the bouncing of the cage as the giant ascended the stairs. When they finally reached their destination he felt his heart pick up to an unnatural pace as he looked around and seen the cage suspended above a strange kind of liquid. He instantly knew it was the magic draining dip so when the giant reached into the cage to pull him out he backed away as far he could. The giant still managed to grab him anyway and force him into the other cage. He heard Thor screaming for him but knew that there was nothing he could do. He began to shake and slowly looked over the bars to the green liquid underneath that bubbled and oozed unpleasantly. The giant put the others into a smaller cage over near the corner that was guarded by dogs as large as Thor.
After the caging was complete the giant giggled and clapped his hands pleasantly. "Welcome, welcome to my castle. I am so excited to have you all as my honored guests and though I'm sure you may have heard bad things about me I'll reassure you that there is an awful lot of bias floating around. Now even though I am going to eat you all" He gestured to Thor and the others, and then turned to Loki. "and use you as my new power source for my castle I'll have you know that until your death I plan on treating you like guests. Of course you will remain in your cages, which will be guarded by my pets, but you will all be fed and have your basic needs taken care of. Well if you need anything don't be afraid to ask, and my name is Fabor. Now my castle needs a power boost." The giant walked over to the lever that controlled the suspended cage and he looked back at Loki with a smile. "After thiry seconds it will be all over."
Loki felt his heart jump into his throat as the lever was pulled and he again heard Thor screaming for him, but he was too busy focusing on the feeling of falling and the terror of what was to come. He took a deep breath and felt the liquid surround him ripping his magic from him. He couldn't hold back a scream at the pain and it released all the air in his lungs as he writhed on the bottom of the cage. He tried to move or swim to the top but the entire cage was submerged and he felt his lungs protesting from the lack of air. He began to choke and he felt so tired. He lay on the bottom of the cage feeling the life draining out of him. Finally, the cage began to lift and the second he broke the surface he coughed and inhaled deeply. The liquid was still dripping off him and he was so exhausted that he didn't even try to move from his position on the bottom of the cage floor. His limbs were all scattered about as he rose back to the original cage position, and he heard mumbling in the background but couldn't make out anything as the darkness encompassed him.
~[~ (Thor's POV)
Thor watched in what could only be expressed as pure terror as Loki was dropped mercilessly into the vat of liquid. He called for him and banged on the cage bars desperately trying to escape to help his brother. The green liquid began to glow and the lights of the castle turned on and grew brighter with each passing moment Loki remained in the dip. Thor felt utterly helpless as his little brother was submerged and probably suffocating in the liquid. He looked to his friends but they all appeared to be in a state of shock and were of no use.
Finally when the giant pushed the lever back so the cage rose out of the water Thor could clearly see the toll the dip had on Loki. He was utterly exhausted and looked like he was mere moments from drowning in the dip since he was coughing and taking deep breaths. Thor could see his eyes rolling shut and his head lolling to the side as the giant said. "Well that's all for now, but I'll be back around dinner time. I am going to go enjoy my new power boost." With a giddy laugh the giant exited but Thor was only focused on Loki, and how broken he looked.
As the hours passed the other s began to stir from their shocked states and all of them were nervous. Fandral and Sif paced while Volstagg curled into himself and Hogun leaned against the bars. Thor himself felt restless and kept watching Loki looking for any signs that he was waking. Fandral went through several rather elaborate escape plans, all of them more silly than the last, while looking up to see if Loki was awake. It seemed to Thor that Fandral was expecting Loki to wake up and weave a fool proof plan to help them through the situation, and get them out before it was too late. Thor however was unsure if even Loki could save them now, and was drowning in his own guilt for bringing everyone into the mess. He faintly registered the arguments between Sif and Fandral about how to escape, and was grateful that the others were silent because he didn't know if he could handle any more arguing.
Thor did not know when the giant would appear to claim his victim for dinner, and he secretly hoped that if one of them had to die that it would be him so that his friends would have more time to escape. He heard a low moan and turned to see Loki cringing and stirring slightly on the bottom of the cage he was in. It was a relief for Thor to see him stirring and he hoped that he would wake before the giant came back, especially if the giant was going to eat him because he wanted to at least make sure Loki understood that he loved him before he died.
After about a half hour Loki gained consciousness and began to sit up. He was still disoriented and weak from Thor's perspective but at least he was moving around a bit. Fandral seemed to be waiting for Loki to wake up completely before he bombarded him with questions but he continued to stare restlessly up at him. Loki began to wake and regain his strength slowly, eventually rising to his feet and walking toward the edge of his cage. Fandral seemed to be growing impatient and shouted up "Any of your brilliant ideas or tricks would be great right now!" He huffed when Loki only sighed and looked away.
"Sorry, nothing coming to mind at the moment." He replied after a while still gazing off to the side lazily. Thor knew he was tired, and that he hadn't really had a chance to rest since they started so he was probably running low on energy.
Fandral just looked away briefly but turned back to shout "Well you chose a great time to be of no use." He then turned and sat down huddling up in the corner looking dejected, and Thor knew that he was relying on Loki to come up with something to save them all.
A sad silence loomed over them as they awaited the inevitable. Everyone stayed in their tense positions occasionally looking over toward the door while lost in their own thoughts. Then loud footsteps were heard and everyone knew it was time, and that they were about to say goodbye to someone forever. When the giant entered he tried to lighten up the atmosphere but failed miserably. "Why do you all look so sad? I bet your all hungry aren't you, well I will bring you dinner when I finish mine. Who wants to go first hmm… I think I'll take" He opened the cage and grabbed Hogun pulling him out in his tight grip. "You, yes you will be lovely." The giant looked back at them and Thor felt even worse than he had earlier since there was nothing he could do to stop what was about to happen. "Don't be so glum. I will need more power to make my dinner so it looks like you will have to contribute more little sorcerer." The giant walked back over to the lever again with Hogun in tow.
~[~ (Loki's POV)
Loki did feel bad for Hogun and wished he could help. He had been trying to think of something since he awoke and realized with some joy that he could slip through the bars of his cage. He never thought he would be thankful that he was starved to such a skinny frame, but if it worked in his favor then he wouldn't complain. However, that was only part that he had worked out since more problems like the guard dogs, and his high proximity from the floor hanging over a magic draining dip still remained unresolved. Loki knew that he needed to get down before anything else since he was far too high to jump and would probably just fall in the dip if he did. He considered trying to jump out the next time the giant pulled the lever, but then he would surely notice and then his plan would be ruined. He was still puzzling over the details when the giant arrived and plucked Hogun out before walking to the lever to dip him again.
As the giant was walking over to the lever he was struck by a brilliant idea, but he knew that he would only have one shot at it since he would surely be too weak to attempt it again. He was more prepared than the first time and so when the giant pulled the lever he braced himself channeling his magic to cast the simple doppelganger spell. The moment he was submerged underwater he felt the sting but focused and managed to create a double and manipulate it so that it was situated much like he was after the first time. He then swam through the cage bars with some minor difficulty and forced himself to hold his breath and wait as the cage was lifted out of the water. He swam to the edge and surfaced hesitantly keeping his head under the top of the lining of the liquid tub. He was growing weaker and was relieved to hear the giant's footsteps leaving so that he could escape this cursed dip and let his double fade away. He quickly swam to the farther edge of the vat so that he could escape without the dogs noticing and climbed out jumping easily to the ground. When he reached the floor he was too exhausted to support himself and crumpled to the floor, but he was not giving up now and forced himself to get up.
He crept around the vat carefully and watched the dogs, noticing that there were only three and he bet that the others could easily take care of them. He used his magic to unlock the cage which alerted the dogs who began to snarl and prepare for attack. Thor was surprised but was quick to react thankfully when he locked eyes with Loki. Thor quickly began to knock out the dogs and the others soon followed successfully helping them through that obstacle.
After the dogs were knocked out Thor had rushed over and hugged Loki, pulling him into a tight grip. Loki made no move to reject Thor and even gave him a small hug in return relishing in the comfort for a moment. However, he knew that time was limited and everyone else was walking over so they would need a plan.
"We need to rescue Hogun and get out of here." Fandral was adamant about leaving as soon as possible, but Loki could tell that he wouldn't leave Hogun behind,
Thor also chimed in "We also need the crystal, and we have come too far to turn back without it."
Sif looked as though she had forgotten something important. "I forgot to tell you that I found it on the top floor of the castle in the third room to the left at the top of the stairs. We were about to grab one before we were captured."
"This is glorious news then! Loki and I will retrieve the crystal while you all rescue Hogun then and we will meet back at the bank we surfaced at after retrieving our weapons from the last room on the first floor. The kitchen is also on the first floor." Thor boomed and sounded a bit too confident for Loki's taste.
"Do you think it wise to split up again after what happened last time." Volstagg was hesitant to agree to the plan, and Loki had to admit that he had a point.
Thor sighed and looked at them all. "What other choice do we have? Time is running short and if we wait too long we may be too late." Everyone nodded solemly and they all split up to finish their tasks.
~[~ (Thor's POV)
Time was of the essence so him and his brother raced up the stairs as fast as they could to try and reach the room in time. They arrived quickly and found many fascinating crystals. They took the first one and Loki used his magic to shrink the crystal so they could easily carry it.
Thor could see the toll the trip was having on Loki and the more he pushed him the worse he got. He clearly needed to rest, and soon before he collapsed and needed to be carried. He continued to watch as they ran back down the stairs carefully checking to make sure that they were not caught off guard again and they reached the weapons room quickly. Thor summoned his hammer and Loki grabbed a few throwing knives and retrieved the book he had been looking at before. The two ran off to find the others so that they could leave the castle as soon as possible.
~[~ (Sif's POV)
Sif was desperately trying to think of a plan to save Hogun and they had been smart and stopped to get their weapons before rushing off to save him. When they arrived at the kitchen they could hear the giant singing and watched in horror as he prepared Hogun in a sandwich. Hogun appeared to be restrained with some type of vine like lettuce and was desperately pulling at the vine trying to break it.
"Oh no, it appears that I forgot my drink in the other room. I'll be right back, you just wait right here." The giant said before walking through another door on the opposite side of the kitchen. Sif realized that this would be their only chance and ran into the room.
Fandral used his adept climbing skills to climb up the table quickly and reached Hogun in record time, quickly using his sword to free him from the sandwich and vine restraining him. Sif felt helpless since there was nothing she could do, and it was clear how strong the bond between the three was as they all worked in sync. She held the weapons as the two jumped down one by one and were caught by Volstagg before grabbing their weapons and making a hasty retreat.
~[~ (Thor's POV)
As Thor and Loki were running out of the weapons room Sif and the others were running down the hallway. "Let's run out across the bridge, it will be quicker." Thor said so they all headed through the front entrance and avoided being eaten by the large guard dogs at the door. The dogs started to bark and Thor knew that they needed to move fast now since the giant would be alerted and he would not be happy. They made it all the way across the bridge before they heard the giant shriek and they quickly disappeared into the woods. "Loki where is the next portal?"
Loki quickly looked through the book. "Up ahead a ways. We should reach it soon if we keep running." Loki was exhausted Thor could tell but he looked terrified and was easily keeping pace and leading at times.
Loki was right and they reached the portal after fifteen minutes disappearing into it the second they reached it into their final destination in the realm. When they emerged it was dark and they were all tired so after a short distance they stopped to make camp.
Hogun and Loki seemed to be in a state of shock even after the others had calmed down and so everyone let them sit in front of the fire undisturbed. They all exchanged worried glances and began to set up so they could go to sleep. Sif volunteered for first watch and everyone decided that it was best that Loki and Hogun not take a shift that night.
As they were getting ready for bed though Thor went over to coerce Loki to go to bed and he whimpered and backed away. It was clear that he was not thinking clearly as he curled into himself. Thor was unprepared for such a reaction. He reached out again and Loki screamed "Don't touch me!" before distancing himself away from Thor and looking around with wild eyes. He fell onto his knees and began to cry scaring everyone around him. No one knew what to do so Thor rushed up and pulled him into a tight embrace trying to calm him down, finally getting him to relax. After he got him into a calmer state he helped him into a lying position and cuddled him closely to keep him safe. Everyone else lay down to sleep, still a bit shocked at the incident while Sif wordlessly crept away to keep watch.
~[~
I must say that I think this chapter was my favorite to write and I hope that you all enjoyed it. Any comments are appreciated and I hope to update again soon.