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Thor stood in front of his brother’s cell as Loki resolutely ignored him. “Brother, please...” It was the sixth time in as many days that Thor came down here, to the dungeons, and stood before his brother.
(He was still his brother. No amount of betrayal or Jotunn blood could change that.)
A mirror image of Thor appeared before him on the other side of the cell wall. “Brother, please,” it echoed, mockingly. Loki did not move.
“You speak with Mother,” Thor pressed on, ignoring Loki’s magic. “I know you do. Why won’t you speak to me?”
Obstinate silence and a barely visible tension in Loki’s jaw.
“Are we not brothers? Were we not raised together, sharing the same milk and bed?”
Loki’s eyebrow fought for nonchalance.
“I know this place is a difficult one for you. But I can make it easier. Mother does, bringing you books and comforts. I would offer you my company—”
“Pity.”
“What?” Thor stared at Loki as his brother slowly rose from his seat, movements liquid even after all this time sitting still as stone.
Loki crossed his cell to stand before Thor. “You offer me pity.”
“I do not pity you,” Thor argued. Then, because he knew not how else to convince Loki, he added, “I do not.”
Loki’s smile could have cut glass, such a hard, colourless diamond it was. For a moment, Thor saw only how it sparkled, but then Loki spoke.
“You do. You pity me. Your brother, locked away and bereft of you.” The smile fell and Loki disappeared, replaced by the image of Thor once again. Thor, in the cell. Thor, alone. The message was clear: it was Thor who was lost, missing his shadow, not the other way around.
“I feel many things for you, brother. See pity in it if you wish.” Thor pressed his hand against the cell wall, watching as lines of energy lit up in protest.
Loki returned to himself. His face seemed paler, hollower than before. “I don’t want your feelings.” The barest hint of a snarl in his lip was all the emotion Thor saw. All the emotion that Thor recognized. “I don’t want your pity; I want your absence.”
“Brother—”
But Loki disappeared behind his glamor, and Thor saw only himself.