Whumptober Day #2: "They don't care about you."
Loki shudders in his bonds and tries to spit out the perpetual taste of copper in his mouth. The blood only dribbles out instead, dripping off of his chin and into the growing puddle on the ground.
His head hurts from the concussion he surely has. His back hurts from the whip marks on his skin. His limbs hurt from various cuts and bruises. His chest hurts from broken ribs. His wrists hurt from holding up the rest of his injured, weak body.
(His heart doesn't hurt, because Thor isn't here, and that is the best place for him to be: far away from Loki.)
(He wonders where Thor is. He hopes he's safe.)
(He has changed far too much over the years.)
Thanos walks in for one of his intermittent meetings. Loki calls it a meeting in his mind because Thanos acts almost amicable about the whole situation, as if Loki isn't bleeding and broken at his feet.
Loki had been so delusional back then, thinking he had been in charge of the Chitauri Invasion on Midgard, pretending he had been in charge because the alternative—that he was only a puppet and a pawn—had been much harder to bear.
Thanos still prefers to perpetuate that illusion, as if Loki will easily break, as if Loki will be easily fooled.
"Have you been convinced?" his deep voice rumbles.
Loki slowly lifts his heavy, hanging head and rasps out, "I don't believe so, no. You need to try harder than that."
Instead of looking unhappy, Thanos looks amused. Well, two can play that game.
"You will give up the Tesseract," Thanos pronounces. "It is inevitable."
Loki laughs, low and long and bitter. "Why do you need me to give it to you? Can't break into my dimensional pocket yourself? Not skilled enough?" He probably shouldn't be taunting his torturer, but what else does he have to lose?
(A lot, is the answer. A lot.)
(But Thor isn't here, so it doesn't matter.)
This is when Thanos scowls. He reaches out as if to throw Loki across the room despite his restraints, but refrains from doing so, because that could very well kill Loki at this point, and then Thanos won't be able to get what he desperately wants.
He steps back, and then Ebony Maw steps forward—Loki will never admit this, but he hadn't actually noticed him—and Loki cannot help but lean back just a little.
"We meet again," Maw says. He brings up his hands and hovers them inches away from Loki's temples.
Loki tries to prepare for what is going to happen, but no one can prepare for this.
When his cold fingers meet skin, Loki screams at the blinding pain in his head. After what seems like an eternity, he opens his eyes—he hadn't noticed them closing—and has to blink the black spots out of his vision. He has to catch his breath. He has to remember what he is doing this all for.
He has never hated Ebony Maw more than he does at this moment.
Except, Maw looks...a bit disgruntled. Loki smirks. "Couldn't glean anything from my mind? Not as good as your old mentor?" he asks. "Where is the almighty Other, nowadays?"
Dead, he knows. It'll hit a nerve.
Maw growls and leans in again. Loki tries to prepare once more. This time, after the burning in his brain has subsided, he opens his eyes to see Maw's smug smile in front of his face.
Loki fears what he must have learned.
"You miss your brother," Maw says, as if this is supposed to be a revelation to Loki. "My my, you have changed so much. The last time you were here, you hated him with all your being."
"I hate him still," Loki spits out, but they can all tell that it is a lie.
"He will not come for you," Maw says, stepping closer still. "He does not care about you. Why suffer through all of this pain just for him?"
"Because it's worth it." Because he's finally found someone worth fighting for, and it is not himself. It has never been himself.
"He does not care about you," Maw repeats. "He will not come."
"Oh, I know," Loki says. Surely Thor wouldn't be so foolish. "I'm counting on it."
Elsewhere, Thor paces back and forth with his hands clenched into fists, planning to come save his brother.
The next chapter won't be coming until Day 7, so stay tuned!
