Chapter Twenty-Four

Blood

His knees collided with the polished stone of the balcony, bone and muscle aching upon impact. An exclamation of pain was barely able to leave his lips before Thor grabbed his collar, slamming him against a nearby pillar. Loki recognised the hall all too well. It flanked the throne room, a forest of golden pillars that seemed to stretch for eternity. At one end, fire pits allowed their dancing flames to illuminate shimmering walls. The other looked out over a balcony, revealing the vast expanse of Odin's immediate realm.

In the past he had found it a contemplative location. Now, it was his prison. Why Thor had thought it necessary to bring him here eluded him. Of course, it was necessary to remove him from the presence of the self-proclaimed Avengers, but why not take him to his own chambers?

"Am I not even permitted to accompany you hunting, brother?" he gasped through Thor's hold. "I thought we had-"

"Silence Loki." Thor's low rumbling boom echoed throughout the pillars. Perhaps the God of Thunder had brought him here for theatrical purposes? The thought may have brought Loki more amusement had his neck been in a less precarious situation. "What were you thinking following us into the Enchanted Forest? Have you become entirely bereft of sane thought? In the past I envied your mind, but your actions this night have revealed you as naught more than a fool."

"Fighting words, indeed, coming from you," Loki breathed. The pressure in his head was almost unbearable now, but fortunately Thor let go. As much as Loki wished to remain standing, his aching body slipped to the floor.

"Brother, why are you incapable of redemption? For a moment there I thought -"

"You thought wrong," Loki spat, green eyes flitting up to meet periwinkle. "How do you expect me to embrace reform when the mortals will keep me locked away for eternity?"

"You think too harshly of the mortals, Loki. Perhaps in time they will learn to see your merits, not your faults."

"Now it is you being the fool, Thor. I killed hundreds of them, perhaps even thousands. Do you honestly believe they will ever forgive me?"

"Alexandra does."

Momentarily, Loki's face fell at this. "Not anymore."

"Your actions this evening have done nothing to mend the rift between you Loki. Only widen it. Why did you come?"

"I need her." Loki did not know where the words originated, and he loathed them. More specifically, he hated the look of pity that now swept across Thor's features.

"You are a fool, Loki. A damned fool!"

The prince sat up, glaring at his fairer brother. The ache in his knees was starting to dissipate now, the bruising on his throat naught more than a hindrance. "Why do you care so much, Thor?"

"I care because I envy you, brother," Thor snarled, wrapping his fingers tighter around Mjolnir's handle. "As heir to the throne I am robbed of every chance to be with Jane. Yet you have the freedom to love whomever you desire, whether she be mortal or Aesir. Yet you squander that away as though it means nothing! And then tonight you endanger things further by almost revealing your relations to the Midgardians. Do you not know that to them this would be considered treason? She would lose everything Loki. Is that what you want?"

No. "I care little."

Thor knelt before him, eyes sparkling with tears. "Then I fear you will never earn your freedom, Brother. This saddens me."

"Be saddened."

oOoOoOoOo

"Sooooo, care to tell us why you and Reindeer Games are on speaking terms?"

Alex had been waiting for this question. Ever since Thor and Loki had disappeared into the night sky, she had known that attention would eventually fall on her. Admittedly, she thought it would be Steve Rogers doing the interrogation, but Tony Stark?

"He has confronted me several times at night," Alex admitted, her voice hushed. Nevertheless, everyone in the retreating entourage heard. Sif and the Warrior's Three gaped at her, horror clearly painted upon their faces.

Volstagg was the first to speak. "Lady Alex, you should come to me immediately! I would have-!"

"I did not want to make a fuss." Alex interjected quietly. "It was nothing." It was a lie, pure and simple, but Alex felt that she may have learned something from the God of Lies himself. The walk back to the palace was painful, everyone slightly more awkward than was comfortable. It certainly did not help that this was the day Tony had allotted to collecting the prisoner's blood. As much as she wished to avoid Loki after the previous night's incident, she knew she would be expected to attend.

Why, though, completed eluded her. It was an entirely scientific procedure, and as much as Alex loved science, it was not exactly her field of expertise. Her role was simply to observe: her original purpose in Asgard. She had never grown tired of observing Loki, in every way she possibly could, but now she was afraid to do so.

Her chambers still seemed foreign and cold without him. She missed his scent, the glimmering armour in the corner, the layer of his clothing in the wardrobe. She even missed the eternal game of hide and seek with her chocolate stash (which Loki always seemed to be able to find in the end). It had been such a small snippet of time. A blissful moment in which her relationship with Loki had seemed healthy, where it appeared as though he had a chance for redemption. But now she knew it was all a lie. The eye of the storm. Loki was too broken to find any form of redemption, certainly not between the legs of a lonely mortal.

It was these thoughts that haunted her as she sunk into her bath hours later. The hot water eased aching muscles, but it did little to help her broken heart. The words seemed preposterous to her. Broken heart? Why had she even given Loki the opportunity to break it?

oOoOoOo

It was a tiny little thing. A canister of glass and metal. All one needed to do was press it against the wrist and it extracted blood: minimal pain, minimal effort. In a way, Alex felt that the device was probably a little too civilised for the man who had attempted to take over her planet.

She watched as Tony extracted the canister from the foam backing, holding it out to Bruce Banner, who shot him a dark look.

"What am I supposed to do with that?"

"Take his blood, Doctor Banner."

Bruce cocked an eyebrow. "You've got to be kidding me. You do realise I'm not a medical doctor, don't you? I have a PhD in nuclear physics."

"You were helping out kiddies in India, weren't you?" Tony smirked evilly. "Besides, Rock of Ages is terrified of you. It'll be fucking hilarious."

The canister was snatched from Tony's hand, Bruce making his way toward the chained prisoner. A few of the local Asgardians had gathered to watch the procedure, something which only added to the physicist's nerves.

"Has anyone ever told you how immature you are, Stark?"

Tony shrugged. "Maturity is for the boring."

Bruce's dark eyes met Loki's light, and the pale god started to struggle against his bindings. More than anything, Alex hated the fact that she cared.

"Twitchy bugger, aren't you?" Bruce murmured, placing the canister against one of Loki's wrists. It was in this moment that the imprisoned god looked straight at Alex, the glint in his eyes one which truly disturbed her.

Help me!