Hollow Skies Chapter 18, an avengers fanfic

A/N: I apologize for the long wait but you guys are probably used to it by now. ;) I'm not exactly satisfied with this chapter but I hope you guys like it anyway. ^^ Angst ahoy!

Hollow Skies - Chapter 18

The next few hours passed with very little incident, except that his elder brother's eyes intermittently jumped to him, some unfathomable hatred lingering there that Loki was at a loss to understand...or prevent. Thus, when the thunder god approached him with the softest expression he had seen yet, the trickster dared to hope he might yet salvage whatever good grace he had clearly already lost.

Thor leaned down and sat on his haunches next to the sitting Loki. Unexpectedly, his hand began to caress Loki's hair in the fashion he was accustomed, causing the trickster to momentarily let go of his worries and hope - hope, that perhaps his brother had somehow forgiven him. He leaned into the touches, closing his eyes.

"Do not think I have forgotten your punishment, brother," said Thor in a cooing voice. Loki's eyes shot open as Thor pulled his ear close with a hand around his head, next whispering, "It will not be that easy..."

Without warning, Thor grabbed Loki and dragged him to his feet. Loki made a sound of distress as he was dragged across the floor, although he didn't dare resist or protest. The elder god easily held to the younger, his grip bruising, his feet firm and determined as he moved them into a new cavern that Loki had not previously entered.

Until now, Loki hadn't wondered very much why Thor had been moving from cavern to cavern - he had simply assumed Thor was pacing, that he had been walking off his anger...or so he'd desperately hoped. Now, it appeared, he couldn't have been more wrong. The moment Loki saw it he knew, immediately he knew what its purpose was. For the first time that day, he couldn't keep quiet.

"Brother..." his protest shrunk and shrivelled in his throat as they approached. "Broth- Brother..." Loki trembled, tried to fight back feebly, and again, his words would not come.

A door. A dark, metal, rusty door with nothing but darkness beyond its high, barred window. He knew its purpose but he didn't want to acknowledge it.

Thor deposited him at its base as he moved to open the door. But before doing so, he turned around and leaned over Loki, saying, "Attempt to move from this spot and I'll break both your legs before throwing you in there."

Loki stared at him in horror, tears falling, hot and thick down his cheeks. No...No, he won't- he can't- he would never - Thor knew, Thor knew how much Loki feared the dark, why would he- how could he...?

The deafening sound of the door creaking open, painful and slow, like an ancient titan disturbed from its eternal slumber, made Loki cry out and hide against the floor, unable to run away despite his fear of the room.

Thor would never-

Brother would never-

He screamed when Thor grabbed him, ready to throw him into the waiting abyss. He couldn't help it, he flailed his arms and kicked out, even knowing it was useless against the thunder god.

"Brother, please, no!" he screamed, dirt and sand flying around with his struggle. "I'm sorry," he wailed, the door within arm's length now, "I'm so sorry. Please, don't!" Thor's grip tightened, but, for whatever reason, he hesitated. Suddenly not daring to look at the other, Loki whispered a final plea: "Brother..."

This isn't right. This isn't right.

Brother...

I can't do this.

Please, no!

What am I doing?

I'm so sorry.

Whose words are those?

Please, don't!

He blinked his eyes in the dark. He didn't understand. He couldn't see. He couldn't move. Small words rushed in a flurry all around, like snow in a darkest night. But he could barely hear them now, they were fading away. He wanted them to stay, but they couldn't.

Brother...

This isn't right... He isn't right.

Why was he stopping? Loki dared to look up now, refusing his tears for a moment so he could see clearly.

Thor's eyes were wide, wide and so, so blue, and not a single muscle moved; Loki wondered if even his breath had stopped. What is happening? His grip hadn't loosened, neither was he stepping away, he was simply frozen, unmoving, as if someone had paralyzed the great god in his tracks.

"B-Brother?" whispered Loki.

All at once, Thor shook his head and frowned, then, without a beat, growled at Loki and tossed him into the pitch black room, the sound of grating metal drowning out the sounds of ceaseless screaming.

X - X

Loki felt something slipping through his fingers, like wisps of mist strung round his mind, holding it together. But they were falling...

Not dark. Not dark not eating me...no no no no no...

not happening no Thors here out there- not alone- no not alone just need wait. only wait.

thor- brother- Thor will come back he'll come- he-

no no no! I cant see not there no eating and little fingers in my skin...no. not. not there- I dont see.

don't see nomore I cant-

A rush of something brushing up against him made Loki scream again, his bloodied fingers scraping along the floor, dragging him in a desperate scramble to get away. Something slid across the floor. He knew they were in here- not eat me they eat me no in my mind! cant be there! tony said you cant...no dont please go awayaway please plea..se goway youcan..t stayhere thor-brotherwill...notallowstay

Screaming. Screaming. Screaming. Did that pathetic creature do nothing else? His lips tugged upward but it felt strange on his mouth. It always felt strange on his mouth, he wasn't sure why. His skin felt stretched, all in the wrong places; he felt naked and overburdened all at once and he didn't like it. It wasn't right. He was Thor, the Mighty Thor, Odin-son and Thunder-Wielder, Slayer of Giants and Bringer of Storms- how could he feel so wrong?

What have I done?

His entire body jerked, as if with a sudden spasm, but he shrugged it off and paced. Back, then forth, then back again.

The dark door greeted him with pained screams and the banging of bony fists against metal.

What have I done?

"Shut up!" he screamed, whirling around. He frowned, confused. His steps led into the next room which housed the Tesseract, still humming lightly in the corner. He caught sight of his crimson cape, still wrinkled and spread across the sandy floor.

Irrelevant. Irrelevant. Who cares who slept there?

Why did I leave it there-

He rushed over to it, determined to put it back upon his shoulders, but he hesitated, hand hovering.

Can't.

He stepped back and ignored the sounds of screams, growing ever quieter by the moment.

What have I done?

Thor let out a loud, feral growl and suddenly found his fist embedded in the wall of the cave next to the cape. He stared at it, again confused - why was his hand in the wall?

He laughed. Loud and deep and wrought with jagged edges that didn't belong there.

What is wrong with me?

He had no reason to do that...

Screams.

He paced across the floor, toward the Tesseract. He smirked at it, then remembering his words from earlier, mused on his threat to the trickster; he would have broken his legs, and why not? The mischief god was ever disobedient, willful, wretched, insolent, rebellious- And besides, he could still work on the Tesseract, as long as he had both arms...

Thor laughed again, the sound of his bellow echoing off the walls of the cavern, then spreading in every direction, to the caves beyond.

Fists against metal.

Scratching.

Crying.

Screams.

Yes...yes, the trickster would help him. He was his little brother, was he not? Wasn't he supposed to listen to his elder sibling? The little runt required guidance, a harsh hand, discipline, things he clearly had not been given in his time with Stark-

Thor screamed angrily and threw one of the empty crates across the room, the wood splintering loudly against the stone.

Screams.

Sobbing.

He breathed deeply, in and out through his nose. He hated that mortal with everything in him; he should have killed him when he had the chance. Why hadn't he? It didn't make sense. The trickster had no authority over him, no influence, he should have killed the mortal when he had his hands around his throat.

Maybe...maybe he would still get his chance. He knew the others would pursue him here - somehow. They were resourceful, especially for mortals.

Screams.

"I said shut up!" Thor screamed as he rushed back into the other room and approached the door. "Shut up! Shut up!" He couldn't bring himself to bang on it, even as he desperately wanted to. Instead, he stared at it with wide, disbelieving eyes.

What have I done?

He grit his teeth and shook his head.

What have I done?

He sunk to the floor and sat against the wall, chuckling. Ridiculous. All so stupid. He sat still and didn't move for a long time.

It wasn't until half a day later, still sitting against the wall, that he noticed the screams had stopped.

Even laying in a pool of his own blood, Loki still couldn't stop making noise. He couldn't stop... Even when he felt blood dripping from his lips to join the rest of the warm liquid.

"Shut up!" he heard someone scream outside, although he barely registered it.

Dark. Dark. Dark. was all he saw and felt and he all but forgot he had a body, and that it could feel other things - that it once had. Love, safe, warm, Brother...

Why?

"I said shut up!"

Loki twitched and screamed again, the sound barely even recognizable as a voice now.

Hours passed and the door did not open. Loki lost consciousness, woke up, saw nothing, then passed out again. This process repeated itself several times, before finally, he managed to stay awake...at least for a few minutes. But why should he stay awake? There was no reason.

brother gone

Mother gone.

father...gone

everybody gone

The things crawled on him again but he couldn't bring himself to scrape them off, to flay his skin so they wouldn't stay and sleep in there again. He almost laughed at them. Why would you want to stay here? Inside this useless body? Inside this...this... He could not think of a word, even refuse seemed too much praise for him.

He vaguely registered that a heavy silence was all that now drifted from outside his cell, that the being there had turned quiet. Who was he again? Somebody important, Loki was sure. But who? Would he grow angry when Loki didn't remember? Would he hurt him further and make him do things?

Loki shook the thoughts away, or at least tried, he had not strength left in him to do even that.

That was not right. The man out there...he wasn't right. Loki didn't know why, or how, only that the man was wrong, not what he was supposed to be.

Then, all at once, like a tidal wave across a shorn coastline, memories flooded back. Of Stark, of his time in the dark - this dark this dark nono no not right - Should he fear that time? He did, he feared it, but for some reason it didn't swallow him as it used to, even as he dangled over its yawning maw. That time was past - no. here. now. No, that's not right - someone was here to protect him, keep him from falling...

Where is he? Shouldn't he be here?

Blinking, even in the darkness, Loki tried to look around.

where is he?

Slowly, painstakingly, he managed to move a little - barely even a twitch of his muscles, but it was something, enough to stir him from his lost thoughts, his agony, his fear.

The darkness smiled him. Loki whimpered and pulled his hands back, away from the agonizing void. His legs tried their best to join his arms. He felt a phantom ache pull at his heart, dragging the tears from his eyes.

who is he? The memories were starting to slip away.

Hurts. throat hurts. me hurt. But not all. not hurt not all hurt. A small voice in the deepest parts of his mind echoed with whispers, spoke words that belonged to another time. "I will never leave you again, nothing will happen to you. I swear on Yggdrasil, on the All-Father, on the All-Mother, and on Mjolnir..." The voice was so familiar, so close and so far at once, a strange comfort in the dark. "I will protect you."

Loki again blinked fiercely. Who was speaking? "Wh-Who..?" he whispered.

The voice seemed so distant, like faded starlight he had once grasped so tightly and assuredly.

"You were...you were supposed to protect..."

Lifting his head, Loki looked around. Dark. So dark. He trembled and fell back down. No can't. For a while he did nothing but hide behind his arms and legs, hoping everything would just stop. But, after a while, he looked around again, wondering where the voice had gone.

"Hello?" his timid voice sounded horrible but he didn't care. It hurt; he didn't care. He strained to look up, to see the dim outline of a door behind and above him.

I can't do anything...so useless!

"Do not say such things..." whispered the voice from another time. "You are not nothing..." He didn't understand where the voice was coming from. "You are my brother, my brother." It stopped for a long moment, then said: "Do you understand?"

"Th-Thor..?"

"You are not nothing."

Thor...

As if some invisible force had pushed him, Loki all but jumped to his feet, bracing himself against the door. He couldn't stand properly but he couldn't care about that now. The small barred window let in virtually no light, but when he stood on tiptoes he saw the edge of the room and the cave's ceiling. The sun appeared to be going down.

Forcing his body to cooperate, he stood up a little straighter. With trembling and bloodied hands, he caught the bars on the window and pulled himself up a little more, the very tips of his toes barely grazing the ground.

The sight that greeted him when his eyes reached the floor made Loki gasp and loose his grip, nearly felling him back to the floor. He managed to catch himself, though, just barely, his tired fingers still holding the cool metal above.

Thor. Brother. Thor was on the ground in the fetal position, his large body wrapped around the tattered remains of his red cape.

What-?

Loki dared to pull himself up again, somehow sure that he'd seen a hallucination...surely? Thor would never-

On his second glimpse he saw that his eyes - and his mind - were working perfectly. Not mad, I'm not mad. No, never again- Thor was indeed on his side and clutching at his cape and...crying? That was wrong. It couldn't be. Why would he...?

The thunder god groaned, the sound deep and sorrowful that it suddenly made Loki sad as well.

Sad... Sad? By Hela, what am I talking about?! He had no time for-

"Thor!" Loki didn't know what he was doing. He was terrified, his hands shook, his voice was all but shredded, barely above a whisper, but he had to wake Thor up. He was afraid to but he had to try anyway. "Thor!" The blond either couldn't hear him or he was ignoring him. He shifted a little, but little else. "Brother, please...wake up!" What am I doing?! Shut up! "Thor, look at me... Brother, can you hear me? Please..."

When Loki, with all the strength he could muster, pulled himself up further, his eye caught something near the base of the door.

No!

He fell backward hard, his back crashing against hard stone with a loud yelp.

Blue.

Blue

The tesseract no nono. I cant pleaseno-

Get ahold of yourself!

Clenching his teeth tight, he felt a surge of anger flow through him. He had no time for this! He again jumped up and grabbed the bars, hauling himself up. He ignored the fact that the cube now lay on the floor sans casing - ignored the terrifying glow of blue, blue, blue and instead concentrated on his brother.

"Wake up, Thor..." The elder god mumbled and shifted, his grip tightening around the red cloth. "Thor, dammit, wake up!" This time, Thor's eyes opened, but, only a moment later, they drifted closed, if not all the way. His blue eyes half-lidded, Thor groaned loudly.

"Lok..." The normally powerful voice of the thunder god came out a breathy whisper.

Yes! Wake up! "Brother! Can you hear me?"

Slowly, Thor's eyes began closing again.

Frustrated and afraid of Thor falling asleep again for some reason, Loki pulled himself higher and glared at the Tesseract, even as his entire body trembled with the act. "Leave my brother alone!" he screamed with broken voice at the ominous blue.

Although Thor's eyes remained partially closed, and his body had not moved, he suddenly let out a chuckle, then said, "You dare to speak to me that way? How amusing. The trickster's found a spine somewhere along the way..."

Loki's eyes widened with a horrified frown. Thor wasn't moving. In fact, he still looked exactly as before - curled around his cape. The fact that his mouth moved as if on its own sent shivers down Loki's entire body.

"What's the matter, runt? Don't remember me?" Thor's mouth laughed. "You do have memory problems, don't you? What a shame," the lips mocked. Then, his eyes slowly, very slowly opened, staring at nothing. "Should I remind you, then? Should we play again?"

Unable to stay quiet any longer, and suddenly realizing it wasn't Thor speaking, but something else... Something...the...the same something - No, can't be... - the same something that had haunted Loki for so long; it was in Thor, too! His brother was...not his brother. It wasn't Thor anymore... It hadn't been since... since Tony, and the helicarrier... So long! How could he have been so blind for so long? How could he have been such a fool?

"Thor!" Loki screamed, despite the pain it caused. "Brother, please get up! Please, let me out!"

Thor stirred as his eyes fluttered shut, then opened again, then closed. The Tesseract seemed to be glowing, brighter and brighter.

"Thor!"

As if he'd just been awakened when sleeping when he wasn't supposed to be, Thor jumped up, eyes wide. His legs were under him the next moment, planted firmly on the sand, cape forgotten.

"Loki?" His eyes remained wide as he stared at his younger brother.

"Get me out of here!" Loki tried his best to scream. Thor hesitated. "Please, now!"

Without hesitation, Thor rushed - and stumbled once - toward the metal door and pried it open, although the sound of breaking metal could be heard first, probably the lock. Blinking in confusion, Thor stepped back as Loki all but jumped out; fortunately, the thunderer still managed to catch him.

"Loki-?"

But suddenly Thor was screaming and grabbing his own head, stumbling backward. Loki, without support, nearly fell to the ground, managing to catch himself before he hit the sand. "Brother? Wh-what's wrong?" No, please. Not now. I've just got him back...

Blue. Blue at the edge of his vision. Eyes moving frantically, searching, they fell on the blue cube. Loki was surprised he hadn't tripped over it. The mere sight of the thing filled him with both terror and abhorrence.

Again, Thor screamed and stumbled around, as if some terrible pain was assaulting him from the inside of his skull, trying to get out.

That thing...that thing is causing this. Narrowing his eyes at the cube, and without thinking, Loki grabbed it. It was terribly unwise, he knew this, but he didn't care. I have him; He's back with me. I'm not giving him up again. No no no no...Never!

For some reason, the sound of the ocean's waves filtered into his mind at that moment. The ocean... Aiming for one of the larger holes in the cave's wall, Loki pulled back his arm to throw it-

Thor suddenly screamed 'No!' and lunged at him, tackling him to the ground. "How dare you!" he raged, eyes wild and wet. "You think you can rid yourself of me so easily, trickster?! You know nothing!" Despite his superior strength, the Tesseract's influence over Thor was tentative, at best - waning by the moment; thus, Loki managed to keep the cube away from Thor by scooting away on the floor as best he could.

"Brother, let me go!" he screamed at the thunder god.

"No! You insolent little brat! Give it to me!" "It's no use - do you think mere distance will return him to you? That it will make any difference?" "Brother, run!" "Give it back!"

Confused and fearful, Loki kicked and fought as much as possible as he held tightly to the cube, out of Thor's reach. His entire arm hurt from the strain of holding the powerful artifact, but he didn't relent.

Thor's raging continued. "It's mine! But...don't worry, brother," he suddenly tried a smile, but it was brittle and mad, "we can rule together! I'll take care of you - protect you. Wouldn't you like that?" "How pathetic," Thor's manner shifted again. "He's been twisting my control since the beginning. Stubborn godling, he thinks to fight me?"

Then suddenly Thor stilled, his head hanging low as he stopped halfway toward grabbing the cube. Teary eyes turned to Loki, filled with a desperation that made Loki gasp for air.

"Brother..." said Thor. "I cannot stop...I cannot stop... Please, for you...for me... You must," he paused as more tears fell, "you must kill me."

Even though the next word out of any logical person's mind would be 'How?' because no one can just kill Thor, Loki instead hissed, "No..." He grit his teeth firmly. "No."

"Now, brother. I can't stay for much longer..." He strained against his own body but did not move.

"No, no..." Loki shook his head, unmoved. "No. I will not."

"Broth-"

"You will not convince me-"

"I cannot stop myself."

Tears now fell from Loki's face as he tried to hold to his resolve. "Don't-"

"Now, Loki."

"No." He shook his head.

"Now!"

"No!" Loki gripped the Tesseract so tightly he thought his bones would snap. But when a flood of burning warmth, like fire in his veins, moved from his ribcage and up through his neck, the loud creaking of metal resounded through his skull as the collar around Loki's neck suddenly snapped open, falling to the ground along with its chain.

Only a single moment passed, of both gods staring at it, before Loki took a deep shuddering breath then screamed his lungs out with the rush of power that returned all at once. He thought his very being would break from the pain of it.

The Tesseract shook violently in his grasp as his entire world went dark.

A/N: Cliffhangers abound! But seriously, sorry for that. It's a pretty big one, too. If you guys are wondering, there'll probably only be a couple more chapters after this one. That's right, my darling readers, we're close to the end! Unfortunately, I have quite a few things coming up in my life for the next few weeks - about 3 to 4 weeks - so I won't be updating until after that.