Lead Me Back to Normalcy

A/N: Wow! The feedback from the last chapter was simply amazing! :D I'm honestly speechless!

Without further waiting, here is the next installment!

Trust is like a vase.. once it's broken, though you can fix it the vase will never be same again.

Chapter Eight: From Here Until Ragnarok

He could hear the heavy breathing of another just feet away from him. It was raspy, forced, and watery. He could hear the pitter patter of some liquid dropping, quite some feet he imagined, onto a hard surface. From the dull sound it made as it when plop, Thor imagined a pool had formed at the bottom. But where the sound came from was hard to identify. The fire's mumbling was a constant noise that threw off his sense of direction. He rolled his side from side-to-side but no matter what side he chose, it made no difference. Thor lifted his lids but heaviness clung to them and forced them shut after just a few seconds of seeing dull firelight being casted onto the black stonewalls. Again he tried, but he felt as if strong, tiny fingers, almost childlike, were pushing them shut.

"You won't get far," the masculine voice gurgled. Thor could hear the spit come up, followed by coughing and more spit. Thor could hear the same mucus-like liquid splatter to the ground. "They put a spell over you to keep you blind. It would be awful if the son of Odin knew all of our secrets—" Thor could hear him choke on the last word before spewing up more spit and coughs. This went on for quite some time, or at least it felt like it went on for quite some time. Each cough only seemed to make it worse. From the grave, familiar sound, Thor assumed the source of his gurgling and spit to be from a deep chest wound.

"You should conserve your energy," Thor spoke. To his surprise, his voice was incredibly weak, almost hollow from his severe lack of energy. He found himself gasping for air.

The same voice that was coughing was now laughing, laughing hard; however, the coughs and spit ups worked their way in between each laugh viciously and without mercy. "You won't breath we—" Again, his voice was broken by a hysterical coughing spree. "Well after being exposed to the cold this long. You're skin is turning black and blue as it is. Won't be long till your muscles freeze. Then you'll just suffocate underneath your own weight." The voice laughed at the idea with a bit too much joy in his voice. "Now you can feel the neglect All Father has casted over us, son of Odin. Maybe now he'll finally do something since his son now faces the consequences of Laufey's reign."

Thor, he didn't know where it came from, managed an ironic chuckle. "But aren't you his son, Helblindi Laufeyson?" he asked in a voice just barely above a whisper.

His comrade was silent before sighing. "Heritage matters little among the Juton, son of Odin," he clarified with bitterness to his voice. "Laufey—" Thor noticed the slightest bit of hate and disgust the frost giant pronounced the name. "Was no exception. He abandoned two out of three of his sons because they were not worthy. The only reason I live is because my mother lived and gave me to an islander. My youngest brother was not nearly as lucky; though, perhaps he was because he was spared of Laufey's reign." He kept his voice to a whisper to avoid more coughing fits, but his words were strong and full of strength. "I am no son of Laufey, son of Odin. I am nothing but a small island trader turned frost giant trying to stir up some chaos for the real son of Laufey… Or else I wouldn't be here, son of Odin."

Thor allowed his body to lean forward. He could barely feel his wrists being held together behind his back and the chain that was wrapped around them, but only barely. The more he thought about it, the more he couldn't feel of his body. The god didn't even know whether his legs were underneath him or out in front of him. "The real son of Laufey?" Thor questioned.

"Byleistr," Helblindi cut off sharply. "Though you may as well as call him Laufey since there is little difference between the two." From his tone, Thor could feel the hate radiating out of the frost giant. "Anyone would have thought it bad enough to suffer underneath Laufey, but to do so again?" He laughed out at the tragedy like a mad man, but his madness ended in a coughing fit and spit. "Underneath Laufey we went from being a beacon of the nine realms to the scum of the tree. Not that you would've known, son of Odin, but Jotunheim wasn't a frozen wasteland until Laufey stormed Skadi's palace and stole the casket." He took a heavy, labored breath. "Underneath Byleistr our race will die, and no one will shed a tear for the monsters."

He didn't know what to say to that. Perhaps he should've protested that Odin would never allow that, but Thor knew as much as any other Asgardian, Odin may not have wanted war with the Jotun but he sure would never offer his aid to them. Odin was not above punishing people—Thor himself had suffered his own punishment—but to punish an entire race seemed a bit far stretched. Yet… His mind drifted to Loki. His brother would've obliterated them had he not stepped in. Would Odin have? Would any Asgardian aside from he have actually stopped Loki from obliterating an entire race—a race that would have gladly killed an Aesir and vice-versa. Somewhere inside his numb gut, he felt the faintest drop of doubt tickle his muscles.

Thor took a deep breath as he leaned farther over the ground; only the chains on his wrists kept him up as of now. Had he not been exiled to Earth, would he have stopped Loki? He could faintest sound of an inner voice whisper a no. To his own surprise, he didn't fight against the whisper. No, the god painfully swallowed down the truth. He would have been beside his brother the entire time. He would've let an entire race be turned to dust. The only one who might've shed a tear would have been Sigyn and a handful of Vanir. What a shame the realms had become… Was there no sense of community left among them?

Maybe… Maybe Loki wasn't mad at all.

Maybe, just maybe, he was more like Odin than what anyone gave him credit.

"Silent? That would be a first, son of Odin," Helblindi scoffed.

"Thinking," he muttered.

"About what, son of Odin?" the frost giant inquired with a volatile voice.

"What you said," Thor responded neutrally. "You are right, no one would shed a tear for the Jotun. No one even recalls Jotunheim being anything but a wasteland. It's a shame since the first living creature was said to be a Jotun."

"His name was Ymir," Helblindi corrected. "The first Jotun, and he too was killed by the Aesir because the Aesir felt threatened by our race. As punishment, all giants were forced to smear his blood across their faces to represent shame. Little did they know that the Aesir had tainted the blood, causing all but two giants to die." He fell silent. He could hear the rattling of the giant's chains as he switched positions. "We have been at war since the beginning of time, son of Odin. It will finally come to an end; perhaps not the way the Aesir would have wished. Though, I do not think the Aesir care whether the Jotun are destroyed by their own race, so long as they are destroyed."

Thor couldn't help but feel as if his brother were being attacked again. He growled lowly because through and through, Loki was still his brother. People went to judge him too quickly without thinking it through. He himself had done this many times to his brother, but now he saw the light. It took losing his brother to find it. "If you're talking about Loki—"

"This isn't about your brother, son of Odin," Helblindi lashed. Thor could hear the chains struggling against their bindings and the small swoosh of the giant's feet as he pushed himself away from the wall. "Laufey killed more of his own kind than Odin ever did. Laufey took our world and turned it into a frozen wasteland. He committed genocide by destroying the fire giants simply because they did not possess worthy skills. He continued to kill off his own people after the war with Odin. Loki did us a favor by destroying Laufey's armies; though, not enough of them since Byleistr is king. He'll pick up where Laufey left off. He'll kill the rest of us."

"I won't let that happen," Thor responded immediately. He didn't know why he responded quickly but he did, and it felt right.

Helblindi sneered at the comment. "I suppose you'll move mountains next?" he retorted coldly.

Thor pressed his chin to the top of his chest. "I know my words sound funny, but I won't let that occur. My father's reign is coming to an end and with that I shall become the new king. I can make it so that we are no longer enemies, Helblindi. We can become great allies, the Aesir and Jotun." His comrade was silent, but not in a way that left Thor with the feeling he was pondering over his words. "Helblindi?" he questioned.

"We will always be enemies, son of Odin," the giant responded weakly. His voice was broken, full of what sounded like water. "We were from the beginning, and we shall be until Ragnarok. One king cannot change a history of violence and hatred, son of…" His voice faded back into the silence. Only the crackle of the fire could be heard in the small, icy room. Suddenly, the air felt just as cold and lifeless as the stones he rested upon.

Thor could easily flick his eyelids open. He turned his head to the trail of blood that had gathered on the ground. High up, hanging by his wrists, was Helblindi, or what remained of the poor bastard. But something was amiss, and it was more than just his wounds. The blue tones that had dyed his skin were gone, leaving nothing but lethally pale skin, just like Loki. The giant's left eye was no longer red, but was white with a green iris. His right eye was gorged out, leaving nothing but a black hole into his soul. Vicious, cruel deep wounds had been cut into the side of his face, exposing the ebon' bone to the bitter cold. Helblindi's mouth was covered in blood and phlegm.

The giant had a clean cut along the side of his neck. His chest, as he had suspected earlier, harbored two deep wounds on the right side. Blood and bone had protruded through the skin like ominous mountains on a plain. Slashes from a sword coated his abdomen and trailed down his thighs. At both the knees, more black bones stuck out. The left leg had been turned nearly 180 degrees and hung on only by mere skin. On his other leg was a deep burn that resembled that from where a frost giant had gripped him. Thor could feel sympathetic for the giant, for in every aspect he looked like an Aesir, only much taller.

In the middle of the room, the fire crackled again as the last of the timber began to turn to ash. Thor could feel the darkness beginning to press against him, nipping at him, slowly eating away at his willpower. Worse, the ice made him numb to fighting it off, made him just want to go to sleep. That was the greatest power that ice had. His blue eyes stared into the fire as he watched the flames lick the wood. He caught sight of something in the corner of the room, hiding beneath the shadows like it was a safety blanket. All he could make out were the vibrant, watery red eyes and high cheekbones.

Then his eyes fell with hers to see the bloody dagger she held in her hand; the fresh blood still ran down the boney blade and dripped onto the floor. Then he understood perfectly. Thor bowed his head and closed his eyes as he waited the same fate she had bestowed upon Helblindi.

Thor heard her light footsteps as she walked cautiously over the frozen ground. There seemed to be almost a hesitation in each step she took. Her steps stopped when she was close enough that he could her breath on the top of his forehead. He

felt the tip of his skin freeze from her breath. Very carefully, she ran a finger through the hair that fell over his face; her finger lightly, just barely scrapping the skin. She brought her mouth next to his ear where he could hear her light breathing. With the same shyness, Sigyn placed her lips upon Thor's. He could barely feel her lips, but there was no doubting they were there. "Forgive me, Thor," she whispered. "I never meant to abandon you."

He opened his eyes to see the tears running down her cheeks, along her jaw line, and dripping down onto the furry cap that engulfed her form. The white pelt glittered from the dying fire as its light passed through the tiny ice crystal that had accumulated. "There's nothing to forgive, Sigyn," he whispered back to hear in a husky voice. "You did what I wanted you to do." From the look in her eyes, he knew she didn't believe his words. Sigyn dropped her head into a submissive position. Thor sighed. "Why do you act this way? Where's that strong lady I saw on the boat or with Helblindi?"

She was silent for a moment. Then Sigyn looked to him, half expecting him to see the answer in her eyes. "I'm—I'm not submissive because I chose to be shy, Thor. I am submissive because I had to be to survive. It's—" Her head fell down again, her long braid falling to the side. He could her gulp down a soft sob. "I'm only submissive and shy to those I do not trust." Thor felt a punch roll through his gut and rattle his bones. She licked her lips before looking him in the eye with an apologetic stare. Just like a quiet mouse, she stood up again. Thor watched, his stomach in knots, how she slinked towards the door like he were some vile creature about to lash out at her.

"Why do you not trust me, Sigyn?" he asked. She paused, her hand on the door's handle. "What have I done to wrong you?" Sigyn then pulled open the door and vanished down the hallway. Thor hung his head low in defeat ... the first time since Loki's death. He closed his eyes, feeling the same heartache rip through him as the noose was pulled tighter. The only difference between now and then was he felt like his grip on Sigyn's hand was slipping, not the other way around.