Chapter Text
Thor entered the cell where Loki had been put, in a secret underground SHIELD facility. The cell was bare apart from one bunk, which was sagging under Loki’s weight, and a toilet in one corner. Loki had one arm slung over his eyes, and he was lying completely still aside from the rise and fall of his chest.
Thor glared at the wall where he could feel the humming of the artificial eyes and ears trained on them, and resolved to not allow the Allspeak to let them understand. He could feel the exhaustion in his bones, the pain in his heart. He could still taste the shawarma on his tongue, hear the tired conversation that didn’t go anywhere that he’d recently had with these people he’d fought beside. He knew that he would give anything to be anywhere but in this cell.
“They tell me you’ve attempted to incite them to attack you,” he said softly.
Loki made a sound that could almost qualify as a laugh. “Are you concerned that I will use the opportunity if they enter my cell to escape?”
“Yes,” Thor responded blandly. “I am also concerned that you will allow them to succeed.”
Loki removed his arm from his face and sat up, staring at him. “Are you accusing me of seeking my own death?”
“You’ve done little to convince me otherwise,” Thor replied quietly. Loki opened his mouth as if to argue, but Thor continued: “This latest plan of yours, for instance…”
“Having a plan is not suicidal, Thor,” Loki snapped. “Perhaps you should try it sometime.”
Thor looked around the cell pointedly, before he looked back at Loki. “And how would you say this plan has worked out for you?” he asked.
Loki glared at him silently.
“You will be taken back to Asgard,” Thor said, volume rising in his voice as he made the pronouncement. “You will be tried before the council, and given a chance to explain your actions.” He returned the glare. “Please say that you know what the charges will be.”
“Attempted murder of the heir,” Loki replied as nastily as he could. “Seizing the throne.”
Thor refused to flinch. “No. With Father indisposed and me banished, the throne was yours by right, and would have been even were Balder not on Vanaheim. As for the other thing, offenses against me are mine to forgive, and so that will not be taken into consideration during your trial.”
“Thor,” Loki said intensely, “let me go. I swear I shan’t trouble you again.”
“And what of everyone else?” Thor demanded. “Shall you trouble them? No, Loki. I cannot. I wish I could.”
He pushed off the wall and walked to the door, pausing before it. “One word of advice, brother,” he said. “The council may be more amendable if you show you understand why what you have done merits recompense.”
“You expect me to fall on my knees and beg forgiveness,” Loki snapped. “Well, that is long in the coming. Bring your dubious mercy.”
“We have no treaties with Midgard,” Thor snapped. “I have heard them speak of what would be done with you, were you to stay. Embellishments aside, it’s clearly not outside the realm of possibility to execute wrongdoers of your ilk here. Indeed, given how hard it is to keep you from escaping, this seems the most likely possibility.” He turned to glare at Loki. “Or should we give you to the world you’ve wronged the worst? How would you fare on Jotunheim, brother?”
Thor turned back to the door, signalling the guard outside that he was ready to leave. He threw one last comment over his shoulder to Loki: “Make no mistake. Bringing you to Asgard is mercy. We are the only ones interested in keeping you alive.”
With that he left the cell.
*****
Jane had decided pretty early on that Norwegians were weird. They were at the same time friendly and distant, rude and polite, nationalistic and self-deprecating. They ate hamburgers and pizza and cornflakes, but few had even heard of Pop-Tarts, and in general, breakfast cereal was much less popular than the rows of rows of different bread. Waffles were a dessert food, occasionally eaten with brown goat’s cheese, but more often with jam or sugar. “Going for a walk”, if it was early enough, meant going for a hike. And they didn’t sleep at night.
At least not here in Tromsø, far above the Polar Circle, in summer when the sun didn’t set. They sat outside drinking beer with blankets around them because summer or not, it wasn’t particularly warm – although Norwegians apparently considered 15C warm enough to wear shorts (she mentally converted that to Fahrenheit, got 59 and shivered).
But because of this “Do Not Sleep Away the Summer Nights”-attitude, it meant that she was awake and at a pub that had television with her colleagues when the news of the attack on New York came on. They’d had to drag her away from the lab, where she was trying to figure out if there was any residential energy in Stuttgart she could pick up on – it had been left with strings of red tape, and Jane was getting frustrated.
She saw the shaky footage of a giant spaceworm descending on New York. She saw a green monster smashing aliens, the blur of Stark’s Iron Man. And she saw a flash of red cape and a hammer followed by lightning.
Murmurs of “Tor med hammeren” and “Tordenguden” were spreading around her, because people automatically made that connection here. Jane didn’t listen. She sat staring at the television screen. And when it was all over, she went back to her lab and began Skyping with Darcy, trying to find out more.
Her phone rang in the middle of a “no, Jane, for the seventh time, I haven’t heard from Erik either”. She picked it up in annoyance without checking the number and barked, “Yeah!”
Silence on the other end.
Jane mentally kicked herself. “Sorry. Hello? This is Dr. Jane Foster. Who am I talking to?”
From the other end she heard someone let out a heavy breath, before a deep baritone breathed her name. ”Jane”.
Jane’s stomach dropped. “Thor?” she whispered.
”Aye.”
“But…I…how?”
”Agent Hill of SHIELD showed me how to use this communication device. Quite clever, this.”
Alarm bells flared. “SHIELD? Thor, they’re probably listening in. They’re probably recording…um, capturing the sound for later use. We’re not talking privately.”
”Then I shan’t allow them to understand.”
Jane squirmed. “Thor, as long as you’re speaking English, or any other Earth language for that matter…”
”But I am not.” She could hear the laughter in his voice, now. ”I am using the Allspeak, and it will only be understood by those I choose to let listen. I may extend that to you, as this device uses forces similar to those I wield.”
He was talking about electricity, Jane realised. It was easier to focus on that than magical linguistics.
I guess that answers the question of whether or not linguistics counts as a science, she thought giddily, remembering his statement that magic and science were the same thing where he came from.
*Jane, what’s happening?* came Darcy’s voice from the computer. *Where did you go?*
“Thor’s on the phone,” Jane replied. “Talk to you later.” She closed the laptop before Darcy had a chance to say anything.
“Thor,” she said, turning back to the phone. “I…how long can you stay?”
At the other end of the line, Thor sighed heavily. “The Tesseract will be ready to transport Loki and me back to Asgard tomorrow. I would come see you, but I dare not put that amount of distance between us – I fear he may do something. It was only barely I dared join my new companions for a meal.”
“That’s okay,” Jane said hastily. “If you’re leaving tomorrow anyway. It’s an eight-hour flight both ways, or more…”
Thor chuckled. ”I dare say I can cross the distance in less time than that.”
Given that his people had perfected inter-dimensional travel, that didn’t surprise her. Speaking of… “What happened? You said you would come back, but it’s been more than a year. I was afraid…There were times I thought maybe you’d been killed. Again. And those weird readings that came right after you’d left…”
”Forgive me, Jane. I had to destroy the bridge. It would have ripped apart a world.”
Jane blinked. “Good reason. So, what, did you repair it? Or did you find another way? Right in time to help?” That sounded a bit suspicious.
”Another way existed, though not without significant cost. This situation was deemed dire enough to merit sending me. My missing you was not.”
That rankled, though Jane had to admit that “possible world conquering” was more dire than “misses woman he’s known for three days”. Also, something he’d said finally caught up with her.
“Loki? As in, that brother you were going to have words with? The one who killed you? That Loki? He’s behind this?”
”He is not well,” Thor sighed. “He must have seen something after he fell…he fell off the bridge after I destroyed it, and tumbled through Ginnugagap. It must have done something to his mind.”
“Sending Metal Fire Smash after you was before that,” Jane snapped. She ran a hand through her hair in frustration. She remembered the obvious affection in Thor’s voice as he spoke of his family, that night on the roof. She remembered the heartbreak in his voice when he told her that his brother had told him he was the cause of their father’s death, and the betrayal that shone in his eyes when Sif told him that his father was still alive. She’d never even met the guy, but she was set to dislike Loki. But, it was obvious that Thor didn’t.
He wasn’t crying on the other end of the phone, and his voice held steady, but she thought she could hear the pain and exhaustion in it. “Are you okay?” she asked softly.
”My injuries are negligible.”
“That’s not what I meant. You had to fight your brother again. Are you…I mean, that can’t have been pleasant. Are you doing okay?”
”You are the first to acknowledge this,” Thor murmured at the other end of the phone, and Jane was filled with sudden rage at whoever it was he’d been fighting alongside. Who the hell sent brother to fight brother and didn’t consider that this would be painful for him?
”I find myself baffled,” Thor said. ”I cannot fathom what has made him so bitter. He claims he was always in my shadow; I cannot see how that was. He was always the first person I sought out for anything, I can’t see…And even if his anger at me is justified, why would he seek to harm innocents? He’s so angry, and I wish I knew what I could do, but…” His voice trailed off. Jane’s heart was aching.
“Thor…I don’t know what I can tell you. I wish I was there to give you a hug, but I’m not, and…”
”Never fear, Jane. You need not concern yourself with my troubles.” Before she could protest that yes, she did, Thor barrelled ahead: ”Jane, I must go soon. Other matters demand my attention. But I need to tell you something first.”
“Yes?”
”The wreckage of the bridge is disturbing the space between the realms. Even if we were to repair it, and with the Tesseract we can, we would need a fixed point to make contact. From there we can move on, but right now we need this point – and your work is providing us with one. Now, Heimdall has been watching you…”
“Wait. What?”
”Never fear, he only watches you in your workspace, and he is most discreet. However, he needs you to perform certain actions.”
Jane shook her head and refused to be freaked out. “Name them.”
”You must leave the books with your equations open, so he may read them. And occasionally, you must speak your thoughts out loud, so he may hear them. He cannot communicate with you – yet – but he can see what you do, and convey it to our seidcrafters and artificers, so they may adjust accordingly.”
Jane nodded, even though he couldn’t see it. “Sure. I can do that.”
There was a pause – Jane thought she could hear him say “I need but a moment more” in the background – before Thor spoke to her again. “I must go. I must help prepare the Tesseract. And I have requested that Erik Selvig be allowed to contact you – he is here, but frail at the moment. Jane…I so wish I could see your sweet face again…”
“No worries,” Jane replied. “I’ll have this bridge fixed in a jiffy, and then you’d better be ready to welcome me to Asgard.”
”I know not what this “jiffy” is, but I shall await you. Fare thee well, then, Jane Foster.”
“Uh, yeah. You too. Say hi to Erik for me. Tell him I’m kinda upset that he hasn’t been returning my calls.” She kept hold of the phone for a long time after disconnecting, before letting it fall from her fingers as she sank to the floor and laughed helplessly.
“I’m going to be talking out loud so the magical god alien in another dimension can hear me. My mad scientist credentials are sky-rocketing.”
*****
Thor had said goodbye to his fighting companions, and to Erik, who was now in possession of his own mind again, though still shaken. He had looked demandingly at Loki until Loki grabbed the other end of the container for the Tesseract and the two of them were off in a shower of light reminiscent of the Bifrost.
They were transported directly to a small, private room off the side of the throne room, where Thor put the Tesseract in a specially prepared container which promptly sunk into the floor, taking the powerful object directly to the treasure room.
Thor hesitated a second, not relishing the poisonous words that would surely follow, but reached out anyway to remove the gag from his brother’s face. Loki glared at him the entire time.
“So,” Loki said once the gag was gone, “I am allowed to speak after all?”
“It was simply to restrict you from interfering with the path the Tesseract would bring us on,” Thor replied. “I said you would be given a chance to explain.”
“And I am certain everyone will care to listen,” Loki snapped. “Yes, though they never have before.”
“Then now is your chance,” Thor replied, fighting to keep his tone even. “And before the trial as well. Mother and Father will wish to know…”
“I have nothing to say to them,” Loki interrupted. “They kept silent for so long, now it’s time for me to do the same.”
“They grieved for you,” Thor responded quietly. “You will gain nothing and lose much from refusing to speak with them. Brother…”
“I am not your brother,” Loki snapped. “Will that ever penetrate your thick skull? There is no kinship between us, nor any affection – and the same is true for those people you call parents.”
Thor looked up sharply in alarm. “Loki, cease.”
“Nay, I shan’t. You said I would be allowed to speak. So be it, then. Hear this, Odinsson: I reject you, and this place and this family. I have no love for you or them, and so it will remain, until Ragnarok itself.”
“I see,” said Frigga cooly from behind him, and Loki froze. He cast an accusing glance at Thor, who gave him a helpless I-tried-to-stop-you look.
“Then you listen, child of mine,” Frigga continued. “You may reject me, but I shan’t reject you. Even as you claim to hold no love for me, so I shall keep on loving you. You claim that I am not your mother, but you shall always be my son. And that, Loki Odinsson, is a truth that will remain until Ragnarok.”
She spun on her heel and walked out of the room, anger visible in every movement. Thor looked helplessly at Loki, and then at Odin, who was standing quietly in the doorway where Frigga had left.
“Much needs to be done,” Odin said finally. “Many wrongs must be righted. For now, let me simply leave you with this: I am very pleased to see you both alive.” He reached out one hand, as if to touch Loki’s face, but stopped before he got there.
“Loki, come,” he said finally. “A room has been prepared for you. You’ll not be able to leave it until the time is come for you to do so.” The words hung heavy in the air, like a pronouncement, almost tangible. Loki began walking, almost as in a trance. The fight had gone out of him the moment Frigga spoke her angry words.
Thor watched him go, watched the guards who had followed Odin in steer him gently in the right direction. He looked then at his father.
Odin reached out again, and this time he made contact with the son he was moving to touch. His hand landed heavily on Thor’s shoulder. “Come, Thor,” he said. “This has been a trying time for you. Leave the worries to us, now; you may take your rest.”
“I fear I shan’t be able to,” Thor replied with a heavy sigh.
Odin smiled and tilted his hand enough to grip his neck. “Nay, you shall. Go now.”
Thor barely made it to the resting chambers he kept in his mother’s hall before collapsing, still in armour.