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Chapter 21

Thor didn't have a chance to talk to Sif that morning.

Around mid-afternoon, a guard came in and announced that his father had awakened and requested his presence in the royal quarters.

Thor obeyed gladly.

Just a few more hours, at the most, and I can be there checking on Loki.

He'd be there for the night, surely. Early enough he wouldn't have to wake Loki up to let him know he was there.

But when he got there, Odin and Frigga were pulling traveling clothes on.

"Father? You asked for me?"

"Yes, Thor."

"I hope it isn't too much to ask of you, but we haven't seen him since you two left and it is the anniversary of your brother's adoption tomorrow," Frigga told him.

"Which means I hold Asgard for you until your return, Father?" Thor said while trying to keep tears out of his eyes and voice.

"Only until midday tomorrow," Odin assured him. "And then you can have the rest of the day with him and stay."

"How long have you been planning this?"

"We'd considered it before you got here," Frigga admitted. "But..."

"His condition has changed a bit since you left," Odin finished. "I feel the need to check in on him personally."

Thor blinked a moment. "He had the breakthrough?"

Odin nodded. "So it seems."

"Without me there."

"Yes," was the simple reply.

"Thor, you can't be there for him forever," Frigga reminded him. "You have obligations here that he no longer shares in. What would you have done, had it been safe for both of you to return, bring him with you and leave him sat somewhere in the throne room, lest you miss something?"

"...I don't know. I'd have probably left him with you, Mother."

"He's bathed alone, since he was aware enough to manage it," Odin added. "And from what you've told us and what I observed in the days before you two fled to safer lodgings, I believe some of his continuing difficulties are tied up in fear of making decisions and being punished for them. When he begins to work through that, he will be a greatly different person. One who will need independence."

Thor shook his head. "Dr. Strange said..."

"That your brother will always be dependent on others. And as a member of the royal family now unfit for the throne, not even a complete recovery would ever truly grant him that." Frigga smiled grimly. "You've always been protective of him, Thor, ever since the moment you first met each other. And you were still both babies then."

Something snagged in Thor's thoughts. "Wait. There's something... I think he made them think he was an exiled king, not a second prince."

Odin seemed impressed. "Given their level of access to his mind, that's quite the feat. He would have needed to bury quite a lot of his true self to pull it off."

"But why would he feel the need?" Frigga pondered.

"He invaded Midgard. Tony Stark believes the invasion point was a choice of vanity - a high place in a great city - because many could see it."

There was shock and pride in Odin's eyes. "He made his enemies stand in the open, on a world he knew had strong allies."

"Midgard could have fallen."

"No," Odin assured his wife. "Certainly either Thor or I could have been expected to take an interest in any attack there from outside, just as I did when the Jotun attacked them a thousand years ago, even if Loki's involvement was not apparent to us."

"Which means he was trying to get us to him, Mother."

"Less to him, more to them, I think." Odin sighed. "Perhaps he may recover enough to tell us."

"But why would he need to lie about his rank in the royal family?" Frigga asked, clearly confused.

"He's a second prince," Odin told her. "And young. That is not a description that goes with leadership experience at war. Not the sort I have, not the sort Thor has."

"Not the sort needed for a full planetary invasion," Thor finished. "He had to make them think he wasn't going to be in over his head." He sighed. "We fought, hand to hand, in the middle of the battle. I made him look at what the army he led had wrought. He seemed surprised, perhaps a little disturbed. I thought, after, that he'd come out from under their control a bit. But with this..." He trailed off.

Odin rested a firm arm around his shoulders and finished for him. "Perhaps Loki never thought it would work that far, when he was setting it up. Perhaps whatever of himself he forced down to survive woke up enough to be aware of what had happened." A quick squeeze. "You have done well, my son. I am sure you can handle another day and then return to your responsibility toward your brother."

Tony was still coding the basic user interface for Loki's device when Loki made a complaint noise.

Steve checked if he'd take food or water - even with the glucose drip, he might well want to drink something - and while Loki dutifully allowed it he was still making complaint noises and it was clear those needs were not what he was vocalizing about.

They gave him a blanket, not knowing how his shapeshifting might have affected his biology. They took it and more away, in case he'd gotten too warm or had always been too warm and only know found his voice to object.

Loki just kept getting louder, more insistent, and more frustrated.

The intercom light blinked and there was a distinctive blink.

Tony put the equipment he was fiddling with down and walked over. "What's going on, JARVIS?"

"Pardon, sir, but Agent Coulson has called to confirm they are on their way."

"Good. Maybe Natasha can figure Loki out."

"He says Lord Odin and Lady Frigga are with them."

"Even better. If his mother can't figure him out, no one can. How far away are they?"

"Fifteen to thirty minutes, arriving by helicopter. And the hole Loki left upstairs is securely covered and not recognizable for what it is, sir."

"Good. Thank you, JARVIS." Tony walked back over to the others. "Looks like someone's getting a parental visit tonight," he joked to Loki.

Another complaint.

"Here's hoping his mother can figure him out," Bruce said grimly.

"My thoughts exactly," Tony told him.

Sif and the Warriors Three were trying to keep him occupied again.

Thor could barely tolerate it.

"I should be there for him."

"He needs to know where he stands with Lord Odin," Hogun reasoned quietly.

Thor shook his head. "After the weeks Father worried over him while his mind was gone?"

"Thor, we don't have any idea how much of those days Loki is capable of remembering," Fandral reminded him.

"And even if he does remember, with his own skill at duplicity..." Volstagg paused, as if reconsidering his words. "Your father has never been fond of punishing anyone for acts they could not remember. Loki might well presume that was the case for him."

"They let him sleep between them until he had to leave!"

"Which could just as easily have been to keep him in place during the night," Sif explained with no small amount of exasperation. "My parents knew that trick, when I was small."

"And who knows what he's remembered since," Fandral reminded them all. "What if he has remembered he's adopted, where he came from? What then? Best if your parents are there to remind him he's part of a family."

Thor nodded his reluctant acceptance. Then, he remembered his mother's words and took heed of them.

"Sif, my mother advised that I should ask you for a look at the children's books my father told you to keep as evidence to yourself."

Grim looks all around.

"Why did she advise this?" she asked.

"She gave me the books Loki and I grew up with, and the way the frost giants were first presented to Loki troubled me," he admitted. "She told me that was mild, and to ask you to show me the books you had at the same age."

Sif nodded. "If you order me, I will show you."

"I so order."

She gave a little formal bow and walked off.

Loki complained again, the loudest time yet, but it was cut short halfway through.

There was a shocked look on his face, followed by horror, followed by shame.

Steve cursed.

"But he just went," Tony complained when the first distinctive whiff of odor hit his nose.

"I'll say he did," Bruce joked.

Loki put the pillow over his face, lightly enough for Tony to be sure it was nothing more than a hiding gesture.

Steve put hand on Loki's shoulder. "We didn't know. I wouldn't have gotten you to drink water if I'd known."

Tony joined in the cursing. "And now how is he going to trust us the next time? I wouldn't trust us the next time!"

Loki was shaking, and Tony couldn't tell if it was from helplessness that this had happened, shame that this had happened, or fear of what they'd do to him now that this had happened.

"Easy way we get him to trust us," Bruce said calmly as he started pulling the things they'd need to remake the bed and clean Loki up out.

"How? We can't just say, 'Hey Loki, trust us, we swear we didn't mean to make your bathroom needs more urgent' to him."

"We were acting confused, trying the solutions we thought of, and when you get that communications device put together he'll know we want him to communicate with us.

Steve lifted the pillow off of Loki's face just enough to peek under it. "You're okay," he said gently. "We aren't going to blame you for this. It was our fault for not understanding you. And if you hadn't tried to tell us, it still wouldn't have been your fault."

Loki didn't seem to react, but then Tony couldn't even see his face.

The intercom buzzed again.

Bruce answered this time, and Tony found himself wishing they dared use the primary in-house communication system instead of the dummy secondary system for outsiders. "Hello... Ah, you're here... Well, we have a bit of a situation here... No, nothing to worry about, not by now... Yes, I'll explain everything later, Phil. The Asgardians are with you? ... Great. Can I speak with Frigga for a moment? ... Good afternoon, Lady... He's doing better than he was. We need a little immediate advice about him... He's recovered just enough to communicate when he needs someone to lead him to the bathroom - he just did it for the first time a little while ago - and we missed understanding what he was trying to tell us. Would it be more mortifying to him for us to clean him up and have him think you don't know what happened, or for you to help clean him up?"

The words were audible across the room. "I'm coming there right now."

Loki made a distressed noise. Steve patted his shoulder.

Phil's voice again, too quiet to understand.

"We... aren't upstairs," Bruce told him very calmly. A pause. "The infirmary. It's a long story. Yes, everyone's out of danger right now, nothing to worry about."