Whumptober Day #7: "Can you hear me?"


Thor sneaks onto the ship.

He sneaks onto the ship, while Thanos and his forces are distracted by everyone else at Wakanda.

He should maybe feel bad about this, but right now, he has one priority, and that is Loki.

Loki, who had betrayed him. Loki, who has tried to kill him several times before. Loki, who is a pain in the ass most of the time but also his brother, and perhaps that is how siblings always are.

Loki, who had saved him. Loki, who had, in the end, sacrificed himself for him. Loki, who's being held captive on this madman's ship, and needs Thor to get him out.

(Thor tries not to think about how he has already failed Loki, far too many times.)

Thor does not run. He creeps through the mostly empty halls. Perhaps he doesn't need to be so cautious, but too careful is better than too rash. He has learned. Loki will never believe it, that Thor managed to sneak onto this ship and get to him mostly unscathed.

When he finally finds the block of cells, his stomach drops and his chest tightens with anxiety that he tries to push away. The smell of blood is pervasive, and it is dark and musty here. Loki is here, he thinks. I failed him, he thinks. He determinedly puts one step in front of another in front of another until he reaches the cell that holds his brother.

"Loki," he calls out, but his brother does not stir from where he hangs limply by his wrists, hair like a dark curtain over his face. "Loki, can you hear me? Loki!"

He groans a little in frustration and presses randomly on the control panel to turn off the energy barrier separating the two of them.

"You must—" The raspy voice fades off into a painful cough.

Thor looks up so quickly his neck twinges a bit. "Loki," he says, in relief. He can see the barely there green of Loki's lidded eyes. "Loki, are you alright?"

"Evidently...not," Loki says, sarcastic as ever, and Thor smiles despite the horror of this situation. He recognizes this person; this is his brother. He hasn't changed.

"I'm getting you out of here," Thor says, looking down again and pressing buttons with more vigor.

He hears the sound of Loki's rough sigh. "You have to press...two buttons at once. Blue circle and...and red square, upper lefthand corner."

Thor chooses not to ask how Loki knows that. That is for later. Right now, they need to get out of here.

"Right," he mutters, following the instructions and running towards Loki as soon as the barrier between them is down. He hovers his hands over Loki's broken and bruised body, not knowing where to touch so that it doesn't hurt, because he has never gotten used to finding Loki in these types of situations (and he fears that there are far more times Loki has been hurt without his knowledge, without him there to protect him).

"You idiot," Loki says as Thor breaks the shackles wrapped tightly around his wrists. Thor lets Loki lean against him as he tries to rub the circulation back into his hands. He notices, with a small amount of panic, that Loki's breaths are shuddering in and out of him. "You damned idiot."

Thor pulls back just a little to cup Loki's face, watching the tears pooling in his eyes that he won't let fall, because he never does, because there are shields between the two of them now, and Thor doesn't know when they had been put up.

"I'm so sorry, Brother," he whispers.

Loki's breath hitches. Thor wouldn't have noticed had he not been paying close attention to Loki's breathing, to his heart rate, to all of these signs that mean he is still alive and in Thor's arms.

Maybe not safe and sound, but they are together now, and that is all that matters.

"You shouldn't have come," Loki murmurs as Thor sweeps him up into his arms, as he is far too weak to go anywhere quickly right now. Thor waits for Loki to make some sort of protest, but he just hangs there, head resting on Thor's shoulder, arms limp, which is what compels Thor to go faster.

"Of course I came," he says, a bit breathless from exertion. "How could you doubt that I would?"

Loki lets out a long sigh. "I suppose I was hoping that you would. It would have been safer."

"Not for you," Thor says stubbornly. "Not for you, Loki."

"Thanos can't win," Loki says, changing conversation topics as swiftly as if he were fully lucid. "I won't let him win."

"Well, you'll have help, then. You don't have to do it alone."

Loki laughs, low and bitter. "If this is a trick," he says nonsensically, "then you aren't very good at it."

Thor stops for just a moment before continuing to run. Loki needs medical attention. "This isn't a trick, Loki," he insists. "You've always been the one for tricks, Brother, but not me, never me."

Loki starts shaking, trembling in his arms. "You keep calling me your brother," he says. "As if that is not the biggest lie of my life."

"Is it not true?" Thor asks. "I thought we had established this by now. We don't have to be related by blood. I still love you, Loki, with all of my being."

"Thor wouldn't say that," Loki spits out, as if trying to convince himself. "Thor wouldn't come for me."

"I have," Thor says with anguish. He tightens his hold on Loki. "I have, and if you will just trust me, we will triumph over Thanos together. You just need to trust me. I trust you." That wouldn't have been true only a few months before.

But things have changed. They have changed. For the better or for the worse, well...Thor supposes they'll just have to wait and see.

They can figure things out once this is all over.

"Thor?" Loki asks suddenly, heartbreakingly fragile and almost childish sounding, though he would vehemently deny it if Thor were to later mention it. "Thor, is this real?"

Thor, very determinedly, does not look down at his face, because he thinks the sight would break him, and his heart has taken enough of a beating.

"This is real," Thor confirms as he turns a corner and sees the light of day again. He continues running down the hall. "This is real, and if I have to convince you of this an infinite number of times, then I will. This is real."