When Loki woke, there was silence in his cell once more. The only light filtering into the cell came from the slit in the door, and though it didn't cast much into the room, but it was enough to confirm Loki's worst fears. Not only was Thor gone, but his bed was missing as well, along with every other trace he was ever staying in this room along side him. Getting to his feet, Loki felt the panic rising within him as he shuffled over to that empty spot where his brother had once slept, looking for any sign that he'd even existed in this small, shared space.
How could he have left so quickly and quietly? Why had he left? Why hadn't he said goodbye? The questions were running through Loki's head, and with each one, his stomach twisted and knotted inside him. Why would Thor leave if he'd apologized? What had he done wrong? He didn't see his brother leaving quietly unless he wanted to, if he was forced there would have been more than enough noise to wake Loki from his slumber. None of it made sense to him, or rather, he didn't want it to make sense. He didn't want to think of this place on his own, without Thor there to comfort him, to help him pass the time, to be there when he needed him.
Maybe he was selfish to think that Thor was going to stay longer than he did. He had no reason to, after all, he had his own friends to go be with, his own family, the woman he loved. Why would Thor give up all of that on top of his freedom to stay in a tiny cage with the brother who had betrayed him? Loki was lucky he stayed as long as he did, he should have left weeks ago to return to Asgard, or to the people he cared for on Midgard, because whatever they lived while locked in this place most certainly wasn't life.
"Thor…please come back…" Loki whispered into the darkness, aware of how selfish he was being, and not caring. He should be happy for his brother not having to live locked up in a small cell for a crime he didn't commit, but his overwhelming need for Thor overrode all of that. "Thor, I will apologize with my every word, I will be the brother you have missed, I will do anything, but don't leave me alone in this place. I can't…I can't do it, I can't last here, this is worse than death. They will destroy everything in me until there will be nothing left that you would recognize, I can feel it starting already, you were the only thing keeping me from letting go, please…"
There came a heavy bang on the door, accompanied by a familiar gruff voice.
"Quiet in there!" the guard snapped before saying something unintelligible to his partner. "Stop talking to yourself!"
"Where is he? Where's my brother?" Loki pleaded, going over to the door and raising a hand to knock on it when it opened wide, both guards entering the small room with weapons drawn. Stumbling backwards, Loki put his hands up in surrender, though he was still desperate to know what had happened with Thor. "Please, an answer is all I ask, I'm begging you!"
"Turn around and down on your knees!" the guard barked, waiting for Loki to do as he was told, which he did so slowly. "Burke, turn up the intensity."
"The intensity of what? Where is my brother? Where is Thor? Why are you doing this?" Loki's heart was beating fast, hoping he didn't already know the answer to the first question, turning a little to see what the man called Burke was doing and receiving a blow with the stock of a gun to his face for his efforts.
"I said turn around!" the first guard ordered, ready to strike again as Burke fiddled with the device he'd unhooked from his belt. "This is for New York City, you bastard, this is for all the innocent people you fucked with. God, my ass, you broke as fast as any human would have in here. And we're going to have you begging us to put you out of your pathetic misery when we're done with you. You thought it was bad before, this'll have your brain melting out your ears. Ready there, Burke?"
"Please don't do this, don't do this to me, I'm sorry, I am truly sorry, just don't do this…" Loki begged desperately, terrified of what was about to happen, the pain he was about to feel. He couldn't imagine anything as intense as what he'd felt before when the device was triggered, but if it was turned up, he knew he'd rather die than experience what he was about it.
"Ready," the other guard said with a chuckle. "This is going to be fun."
"THOR!" Loki screamed out in desperation as he heard the click of the button behind him, bracing himself as best he could for the horrible pain when-
"Loki, Loki, you're shouting!" Thor had been snapped from his own rest by Loki thrashing and whining in his sleep, lost in a bad dream Thor could only try to shake him from. When he heard his brother crying out his own name in such terror, Thor couldn't help but wonder exactly what was torturing his brother so. He was relieved when Loki's eyes finally opened, and his hands stilled on his brother's shoulders, rubbing them rather than shaking them.
"Thor…?" Loki said, his voice small and confused as he looked up at his older brother, his entire body shaking as the memories of the dream lay fresh in his mind. It took him a moment to realize he was awake, and Thor's absence as well as the two guards had been figments of his fearful mind. Nothing was trying to hurt him, no one had abandoned him, it had all been nothing but a dream, albeit a vivid one. So why couldn't he calm down?
"You were crying out in your sleep, and then you shouted my name, what were you dreaming about?" Thor asked, concerned as he cupped his brother's face against his palm, his thumb tracing over his cheekbone softly. Loki used to have nightmares often as a little boy and Thor would always sit up with him until he went back to sleep, he didn't see why now should be any different.
"You were gone, your bed, everything was gone, and I was upset to wake up alone when the guards came in and told me they were going to make the device more intense. They made me kneel on the floor and told me how intense it would be and I was so afraid in that I wanted to…" Loki cut himself off, unable to look Thor in the eye, he felt like a child afraid of the monsters under his bed again, ashamed that he was keeping Thor awake with his nonsense, again with his selfishness. "I called out to you because I was afraid, and I can not live in fear of the next time I will be in pain any more, it's haunting me even in my dreams."
"Why would you ever think I would leave you here alone? You should have known then it was nothing but a dream," Thor sighed softly, reaching over to pull his own mattress over against Loki's, wanting to be close to him for the rest of the night if he was going to be having dreams such as that one.
"I'm always afraid to wake up and see that you have left, and I feel selfish for being so happy when I do see you, knowing that I'm keeping you here. Because you have reason to leave, you have people outside of this room that love and care for you, you have duties to the All-Father, you have good times and great battles and…everything. You have everything waiting for you," Loki said to him, watching as Thor dragged his bed closer, the feelings of guilt returning as he watched Thor get comfortable beside him, his eyes meeting his brother's. "You shouldn't be locked up here with me."
"Loki, my brother…" Thor shook his head, putting an arm around Loki to pull him closer, looking into those sad green eyes before pressing another kiss on his brow, letting his lips remain for a moment. "You should know by now that you are more important to me than all of that. You are everything to me."
Loki closed his eyes, pushing tears from underneath his eyelids as he reached his hands up to grasp the sides of Thor's face, wanting to give him a shake and tell him he was mad. Instead, he brought his lips to Thor's, pressing them together as he trembled, his hands gripping his brother's cheeks as he let the kiss linger. He wasn't entirely sure what possessed him in that moment to kiss Thor, and he was almost terrified of the reaction he was going to have until he felt his brother's lips stir against his own. And, for the first time in a month, he felt something other than dread and depression, he felt a security he didn't think he could possibly feel ever again, he wasn't alone in the universe, he was Thor's.
When the kiss finally broke, Loki wanted to explain himself, though instead he quickly wiped his eyes free of tears and buried his face against Thor's chest, arms wrapping around his waist. He didn't want to speak, and Thor picked up on that, simply adjusting his position on the mattress to accommodate Loki as he pulled their blankets over both of them. Once Thor was content with the two of them being properly covered, he wrapped a strong arm around Loki and held him close, rubbing his back in slow circles. Even long after Loki's body had relaxed against him, Thor stayed awake, listening for any sign of a nightmare from his younger brother, determined to keep them at bay as best as he could.
It was after daybreak when Thor lost his battle against his own exhaustion and drifted off, a slight smile at the memory of that kiss on his lips.