THORKISUPPORT (Here! Enjoy), Celdria (Thank you so much for your kind words! :) I hope it was fast enough), Aquarinus (Thanks! I will, but the answers won't come too fast), DarkSkyDepth (Here's more, though I'm not sure it will mend your heart), Prince Of Pariahs (Thank you! That was very flattering), Guest (You'll find out today. Thanks for reviewing), GrimCharmer (Thank you for your comment :)! You'll get some answers today), Maru de Kusanagi (Thanks a lot for reviewing!), blocked0writer (Thank you, my dear ;)!), Guest (Thanks! Please, enjoy), Noelwing (I'm very glad that there are people besides me who enjoy dark things. Thanks!), Guest (Thank you! Some answers are in today's update), Clint Barton-Loki's Butt Warmer (Thanks for reviewing!), smiling-is-my-favorite-pastime (Thanks a lot! This new chapter will give you some answers. Please, enjoy), Guest (Thanks for commenting!), ryuuzaki19 (Thank you so much! I hope you're going to like the new chapter), elite prime (Thanks! Glad you enjoyed).

A/N: You probably start wondering if I have a life. Believe me, I've started wondering about it myself. I promised to update 'at least once a week', but I don't seem to be able to stop writing so far. I'm in thrall to this story.

5. The Ordeal Of Thor

~oOo~

Karl and Stefán were playing video games in Hilmar's house, since the younger boy's parents were coming home from work pretty late and didn't 'ruin the fun'. Stefán was suddenly distracted from the game and looked in the direction of the window. It looked like it was already a very late evening.

"Oh, fuck... What time is it, guys!" he gasped, suddenly realising that they had probably been here for a much longer time than planned, almost forgetting about Loki, plunged too deep into the virtual world. Hilmar hadn't forgotten, but he'd been keeping quiet and barely said a word after what they had done.

"Thor must have already rung the police," Karl assumed quietly.

"Let's go get his brother out and drive him home. I don't want any trouble," Stefán said, getting up.

"No. I told you I'm not your personal driver," the older youth said. "It was your idea, so you go clean your own mess. I'm going home."

"No, you can't!"

"I can and this is exactly what I'm going to do right now."

"Maybe you're just scared to go there now that it's dark, huh? Maybe we should've locked you up together with him for that... 'exposure therapy'?" Stefán spat, really agitated now.

"I'd like to see you try," Karl chuckled, unaffected.

While the older youths were arguing, Hilmar couldn't take it any longer. The three of them had done a terrible thing, and now nobody wanted go there to let Loki out. And Hilmar, too, didn't want to come back to that abandoned part of the town, especially now that it was dark and the streets in that part, most likely, weren't powered. But he knew he would never forgive himself if they left Loki there for any longer, especially for the entire night. It had already gone too far. He couldn't believe how he had ever agreed to take part in anything like that.

Even though Thor and he weren't friends and didn't talk to each other often, Thor was always so good to him, despite being an older and much more experienced fighter. And Hilmar had repaid him by hurting his little brother, after allowing Stefán to convince him that Loki was a bad influence on Thor and had had to be taught a lesson for 'ruining' their 'chances of victory'. How had he allowed himself to believe in such nonsense? And even though he'd had doubts, a lot of them, actually, he had taken part in something very cruel and unjustifiable. It hadn't been planned. Stefán had said that they would just talk to him, but they had ended up... For fuck's sake, they had locked Loki up in a dark morgue, all alone! And Hilmar was a part of it.

He left the room where the other two were still arguing, took his mobile phone and started searching for Odinson's number in the list; his hands were shaking nervously. He was sure he had Thor's number... Their trainer had once asked Hilmar to ring or text everyone from their club and inform them that their training session that day started later than usual, due to the setting of some new equipment. Hilmar had used his own mobile phone back then and he was sure he had put everyone into his list of phone numbers, just in case...

He sighed in relief when he found Thor's number. It wasn't the best time for composing a long, careful message, so his text message was simple: 'I know where Loki is. Please come to my house I'll explain everything. Sorry.' He also sent his address, knowing that Thor, most likely, wouldn't even have an idea who had sent him this message.

About five minutes later Karl stormed out to get in his car and drive home. Stefán was following him, loudly calling him quite unflattering names; the older young man simply told him to fuck off. Hilmar, who had said nothing about his message, went outside, too, waiting for Odinson to arrive. He didn't have to wait long. Karl had almost reached his car when the police car stopped near them. Karl and Stefán froze, knowing that they were in trouble. Hilmar, on the other hand, approached almost calmly.

~oOo~

Gunnar and Thor quickly got out of the car. The policeman gestured the blond young man to not interfere, even though panic was evident on Thor's face.

"Good evening, young men. We're looking for Loki, Thor's brother. Have you seen him today?" Gunnar asked calmly.

"No, we haven't," Stefán replied, either lying in panic (though he looked pretty calm), or still stubbornly determined to let Loki out and get him home, quietly, without involving anybody else, possibly hoping to earn some kind of redemption by doing it (or persuade Loki to keep quite about what had happened; threaten him into it, if necessary), so he, Stefán, wouldn't be in so much trouble.

"You're lying," Gunnar said firmly and almost unemotionally a few moments later, looking at him searchingly. "Where's the boy? What have you done to him?"

"Hilmar, were you the one who sent me that message?" Thor asked the sandy blond-haired youth.

"Yes," the fourteen years old boy answered. Stefán glared at him.

But Hilmar ignored him and told the entire truth. Thor's face lost its colour and he reeled when he'd heard what had been done to Loki.

"You... You've left him there alone..." he whispered, appalled. The next moment Sif's father was dragging him away from Stefán. Thor looked like he was going to kill him. Stefán seemed intimidated now.

"Stop it," Gunnar said with the voice that didn't allow any disobedience. "And you," he looked at all the three youths, responsible for what had happened, especially at the older two. "Are in trouble. Now get in the car; all of you," he commanded. Everyone complied, but, sitting down in the front seat, Thor was still looking at Stefán and Karl murderously. They, however, couldn't even look back at him. But Thor's rage quickly subsided for the time being as he was thinking about his little brother all alone in the darkness of the abandoned mortuary. And Thor was scared. He was scared of what had already become of his Loki who had spent such a long time face to face with his phobia. His heart hurt.

Without delay the policeman was soon driving in the direction of the abandoned part of the town.

"He... He might have escaped," Stefán suddenly said.

"Escaped? How?" Karl frowned at him in disbelief.

"There's another door in the room where we've locked him up. It's... near one of the refrigerators, so I guess none of you have noticed it. It was too dark there to see it, and it was closed. There's another corridor behind it. It leads right to the fire exit. The doors aren't locked."

"I really doubt he's found it," Karl sighed. The others silently agreed with him. Loki would've hardly ventured to explore the dark room.

The abandoned part of the town wasn't illuminated at all. It was quiet and dead. As they only had the light of the headlights and a couple of electric torches inside the car, it took a little more time than planned for Stefán to show where exactly the abandoned hospital was situated. When they stopped near the main entrance, Gunnar told the three youths to stay in the car and informed someone about the situation via police radio. He and Thor took both torches and went inside, after Stefán had explained where the morgue was.

Knowing how deep Loki's fear of the dark ran, Thor couldn't imagine what this place had already done to him. The darkness inside was impenetrable; and it was only a corridor of the ground floor. All he wanted was grabbing Loki with his both strong arms, carry him to the light, comfort him and keep holding him to never let go again. It spurred him on and he moved faster. He needed to get Loki out of here as soon as possible. His heart was heavy in his chest, but now there was a hope that all of it would be over soon.

Gunnar opened the double door with two round windows and together, he and Thor, went downstairs. The younger man's heart started beating even faster as he saw Loki's black shoulder bag on the floor.

"Loki! Don't be afraid. It's me; Thor. I'm coming in," he warned nervously, hoping to avoid giving Loki an additional reason to get scared of the noises he would inevitably make. There was no answer. Before Gunnar said anything, the blond quickly and almost easily moved the heavy cupboard away from the door and opened it.

"Loki, it's just me. It's just me. I'm here," he said softly and hastily, and entered. He couldn't tell if it was an illusion or not, but for a brief moment his nostrils were filled with the cold stench of death. Not that he knew how it really smelled, but his brain, for some reason, decided that this was exactly what it smelled like. Before he started thinking about it consciously, the smell was almost gone, even though the air in the room was unpleasant. Plus, there was a weak smell of burning; of smoke. The round of light, created by his torch, was sliding along the shabby walls with the fallen off, cracked or almost untouched by time white tiles. The torch allowed him to see that second door that Stefán had mentioned. It was right near one of the morgue refrigerators and it was currently ajar.

"Loki..." Thor almost whispered, looking around. An optimistic thought crossed his mind: what if Loki had found this door and got out of here while it still hadn't been too dark outside? What if he was already home, shaken up, but safe?

"Thor..." Gunnar's voice deprived him of that hope. It was calm, but grave. As the blond young man looked down at the place where the light of the policeman's torch was directed, he became weak in the knees.

At first he saw some blood. There wasn't much, though, but it was right near his feet. As his eyes travelled further, they saw the side of the deathly pale face, almost as white-grey as the tiles under it. The face was almost entirely covered by the dishevelled, black hair and blood, mostly dried. The pale, naked body was lying on the floor motionless, almost entirely on its stomach. The lower back and buttocks were covered by some almost black, small round spots, surrounded by the inflamed, rose-pink skin. The same single mark was between the shoulder blades of this pale, slender body that was partly lying on the scattered clothes, including the familiar dark-grey coat and other things, he'd certainly seen before.

Thor felt like falling on the floor as he couldn't remember himself feeling any weaker than he was feeling at the moment. No... It couldn't be Loki... It couldn't be. Anyone but Loki. It was someone else, some very unfortunate person. Loki had found the door and escaped, that was why it was ajar. He was home, surrounded by the bright light, waiting for Thor to come home and comfort him. This body on the floor wasn't Loki's...

The blond young man couldn't breathe. All of it couldn't be real, it was a nightmare and he wanted to wake up. Gunnar quickly approached and kneeled near the body. He carefully touched the side of the pale neck with his fingertips.

"He's alive. The pulse is weak, but he's alive," the man assured. He immediately used his radio to call for reinforcements (because it was obvious that the crime had taken place here) and an ambulance. Meanwhile, Thor's mind partially accepted the fact that it was his little brother, lying on the floor hurt and unconscious. His only impulse was getting the boy out of here. He took his own coat off, covered the naked body, carefully wrapped it up into the coat and picked it up easily.

"Wait," Gunnar tried to stop him, but Thor couldn't pay attention to anything else other than taking his little brother as far from this place as possible. It was a foul place, Loki didn't belong here... The policeman didn't try to stop him again, but Thor had left his torch behind and would possibly get lost in the dark corridor, so the older man was following him for some time, illuminating the way, and came back to the crime area as soon as he'd made sure Thor had safely left the building.

The headlights of the police car let the other youths, who were standing near the car that was the only source of light here, see Thor coming out of the hospital with the naked, motionless body in his arms; naked, except for the coat wrapped around the middle of it. Everyone was shocked, realising whose body Thor was carrying. Everyone could distinctly see the blood.

"What have you done?!" Thor roared so loudly that it seemed that the earth itself shook under their feet. None of the three boys could move; all three of them were unnaturally pale. Hilmar pressed his hands to his mouth; tears were running down his face.

Thor carefully put Loki on the bonnet of the police car, still pressing the precious body against his chest, hoping to warm it with his own warmth. Loki was so cold... Thor carefully moved the black strands away from the pale face, covered with dried blood. Loki's injured head was resting in the crook of his older brother's elbow. The head injury looked like it was no longer bleeding or was bleeding very slightly. The blond knew he would've given his own health right now to heal his baby brother.

He hardly noticed Gunnar approaching with a first aid kit. Without bothering Thor, the older man once again checked Loki's pulse, carefully treated the head injury on the side of the unconscious boy's forehead with the antiseptic fluid and cleaned the dried blood off the deathly pale face as best as he could.

Thor saw the blue emergency lights approaching, he saw the word 'sjúkrabíll'* glowing faintly. The word remained branded in his mind for a couple of minutes, and he could see it even when his eyes were closed, which only contributed to the feeling that everything was unreal.

He was carefully coaxed to let go of Loki to let the medics take care of the hurt youth, but the blond absolutely refused to leave his younger brother's side, so he was allowed to get into the ambulance. Very soon they were heading to hospital. Thor watched them checking Loki's blood pressure and temperature, his pulse and reflexes. One of the medics used the stethoscope to listen to the unconscious boy's heart and lungs. They made sure he had no internal bleedings or obviously broken bones.

Mostly, Thor could only nod or shake his head as he was being asked questions; for example, if Loki had any allergies; and other medical details. He couldn't take his eyes off his little brother, whose nose and mouth were now covered with an oxygen mask. The blond tried to spot the slightest movements of the boy's pupils under his eyelids, but he saw none. His hand reached out to caress the side of the pale face and the uninjured part of his brother's head. Among the black hair he found a couple of grey strands, and his heart sank even deeper. He closed his eyes and took the pale, cold hand in his bigger, darker and warmer two, rubbing it gently to share his warmth.

As they arrived to hospital, once again, it took some efforts to convince Thor to let go of Loki and leave the younger boy in the care of the doctors for some time. He didn't know how much time he had spent in the corridor before he was approached by one of the doctors, who said that Loki's life was in no danger. It was a good thing to hear. But when he asked to let him see his brother, he was told that he couldn't see him right away, but they had almost finished collecting the medical evidence for the police investigation and treating the injuries, so he would be able to see Loki once they were done.

"What happened to him?" the blond almost whispered. Only now that the shock was letting him go, it occurred to him that someone had done this to his little brother, someone had attacked, undressed and hurt him deliberately. His mind reeled at the thought. Loki had been lying on the floor of the mortuary naked... Thor felt like he was stabbed in his stomach at the frightening suspicions that crossed his mind, and he wanted to shoo them away like annoying insects. But he faintly remembered the small amount of dried blood on Loki's buttocks... He really wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Please, sit down," the aging doctor told him. The younger man complied automatically. "I'm truly sorry that I have to deliver such news, but your brother was raped."

"No..." Thor closed his eyes tight in grief and pain, and shook his head in denial. He felt the pressure of tears, and the feeling of helpless misery was overwhelming.

The doctor gave him some time to recover a little and was staying with him as a silent support, in case the younger man had questions or just wanted to talk. After what seemed like a couple of minutes, Thor opened his mouth, his lips trembling and a quiet sob escaped him.

"Those marks on his skin..." he said, hardly recognising his own voice.

"The cigarette burns," the doctor replied quietly and carefully. Thor shook his head again.

"What else?.."

"He has a concussion. Physically, he's going to be fine in a couple of weeks or so, though the burns will probably take a bit longer to heal," the doctor explained, almost emphasising the word 'physically'. 'But what about emotionally?' Thor wanted to ask, but decided against it. He remembered those two thin, grey strands among Loki's otherwise black hair and once again felt overwhelmed with grief.

Soon Loki was put into an individual room, and Thor was finally allowed to see him. The IV drip was in the sleeping boy's arm; the injury on the side of his forehead was covered with a band-aid (the doctor had said they had put in a couple of stitches, even though the wound had been hardly bleeding by the time they had arrived to hospital) and his hair and skin had been properly cleaned of dried blood. Thor kneeled near the hospital bed and pressed his brother's palm against his own face. His body was shaking with sobs as he was soundlessly weeping into the pale hand that seemed almost weightless.

His mind still couldn't accept what had happened. Loki had been subjected to something unthinkable; all alone, terrified and helpless, as he'd been raped and tortured... For how many hours the torture had lasted? What kind of a monster had done it to his little brother? Why? Why?!

*'Sjúkrabíll' is an Icelandic word for 'Ambulance', written on ambulance cars. The letters are made of reflective material (just like in most parts of the world, I guess).