Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The atmosphere of the throne room had never seemed so oppressive as it did in the moment that Loki failed to dethrone Odin.

He had [narrowly] faked his death on Svartalfheim and taken the place of a guard to return to Asgard and enter the throne room.  Loki informed Odin of ‘his death’, before he attempted to combat Odin with sorcery.  His miscalculation was in not robbing Odin of Gungnir before the attempt because the King’s Spear made all the difference.  Loki found himself wounded and forced to the floor as Odin loomed above him with fury.

“Twice I have spared your life, and this is the thanks I receive?  You are truly Laufey’s son.”  Odin said coldly.

For all that Loki had distanced himself from Odin and for all that he feigned indifference, the words still stung.  Put another way, Odin was denying Loki’s very existence given that Loki had only ever been Odin’s son.   He had been raised his whole life to think of frost giants as monsters, Laufey the worst among them.  Loki had killed his birth father to impress his adopted one, and for what?   He was not to be Loki Odinson then, nor Loki Laufeyson, and was it even fair to call him Loki then?  Odin would surely make no effort for Loki to be remembered, and Thor would not look on him fondly when Loki’s ‘noble sacrifice’ turned out to be a lie.  The irony was, he would not have moved against Thor if he had succeeded in usurping Odin.  In fact, he was sure he would be far more merciful to Thor than Odin would be given that Thor had disobeyed him again.  Sif and the Warriors Three along with Heimdall could, if Odin were so inclined, be executed for treason or at least imprisoned.  But what of Thor?

Loki wasn’t going to die like a cowed dog at Odin’s feet, he would die with what dignity and pride he might yet muster.  He lifted his head as he grinned with blood-flecked lips up at Odin.  “Reconsider and I think you will find I am far more like you than you would care to admit, Odin.  Pray Thor never has the veil lifted, or you will lose your loyal hound.”

“Speak not of Thor.”  Odin snapped as he brought the point of Gungnir near to Loki’s neck.  “It is you who have so corrupted him.  You who let the frost giants into the Vault and started all of this.”

Loki stared up at the man he had once loved as a father incredulously.  “I started this.  You were the one who named the oaf your heir against all reason.  And it was you who banished him because your pride could not suffer his defiance.”

“Be silent.”  Odin snapped.  “You let jealousy rule your actions.  You, who should have been grateful for the largess I granted you!”

”Largess?”  Loki laughed mockingly.  “Oh, yes.  My gratitude is boundless for being taken into your home as a pawn.  Was it a point of pride to know you had taken a ‘son of Laufey’ to serve at your son’s side?”

“You were to have been his advisor!  A position of respect!”

”Meaning little given that Thor respects no one.”  Loki said dryly.  “And besides, did you not yourself claim we were both meant to be kings?”

“Had you any muster for it, you may have been.”  Odin said lowly.  “You could have been a vassal king in Jotunheim.  But they would have eaten you alive there.  You lack conviction and character.”

“You lack conviction.”  The mortal Coulson’s words echoed irritatingly in his mind.

“So that was your true intention.”  Loki spat bitterly while wearing an amused expression.

“That, or had you proven yourself worthy to the task, I may have made you Thor’s consort so that he may be king in both realms.”

Now that shocked Loki enough to make his amused expression one of stunned disbelief.  “Consort.  Thor’s consort?  He is my brother!”  Never mind any less-than-brotherly thoughts Loki had ever had of him, that wasn’t the point.

“You have no family in Asgard.”  Odin corrected.  “It was a mistake to think a beast of Jotunheim could be domesticated.”

Loki had received a number of wounds from Odin after his failed attack, he might well be bleeding internally at the moment.  But those wounds were feather brushes compared to hearing those words from Odin’s mouth, even despite everything.

Memories flashed unbidden in his mind; of better days and a doting, fatherly Odin.

How had it come to this, was it all an act?  Was it all a lie?

“A beast of Jotunheim.”  Loki cackled as he wiped blood from his mouth and fought a wince.  “And yet this beast sat upon your throne and defeated your precious heir.  Had you the muster, you would have done no less to Jotunheim than I, Odin.”  he mocked viciously.  He saw Odin’s expression harden as his hand clenched around Gungnir’s shaft, and Loki supposed this would be the moment he died.  Loki might have guessed it from the moment he touched the damned Casket.  This was ever to be Odin’s game, Loki had been outmaneuvered in the end.   Loki straightened and met Odin’s gaze defiantly, not about to show fear at this.

“Have you any last words?”  Odin asked.

Loki chuckled.  “Only that-”

“-All-Father.  We have the prisoner.”  A new voice entered as the throne room door opened, it must be urgent for them to come unannounced.

Loki tried not to feel relief at the reprieve as his gaze slid to the new arrivals.  His eyes widened as he saw Thor with his hands manacled behind his back and a guard leading him by each arm.  Thor’s expression was grim until his eyes landed on Loki, at which point he looked astonished, perhaps hopeful, and then furious.

“Loki.”

“I’ve missed you too, brother.”  Loki said as a giddy anxiety filled him and he repeated the words he’d given Thor on the mountains of Midgard when Thor came for the Tesseract.  Well, he’d thrown in the endearment, perhaps for old time’s sake.

--xx--

Thor had managed to send Jane off to Midgard with the arrival of Odin’s warriors.  They were not interested in her sans the Aether, but they made it clear to Thor that he would not be brought to Asgard as a welcome son of the crown.  Thor had allowed them to manacle his hands as he was brought back to Asgard a prisoner.  He had succeeded in defeating their enemies and freeing Jane, but he had disobeyed Odin and freed a ‘criminal’ to do so…and moreover…it had cost Loki his life.

The memory kept replaying in Thor’s mind.  The sight of Loki, of his little brother, taking a blade through the chest on his behalf.  The discoloration of Loki’s skin and Loki’s desperate words in his arms.

“I’m a fool, I’m a fool.  I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry."

“I didn’t do it for him."

Thor had grieved his brother’s death before when he had fallen from the Bifrost.  He was not sure any pain had ever compared or would again.  And yet, it hurt no less to lose Loki again.  Worst of all, it was because Thor had been too weak.  Loki should not have needed to intercede, why had he even done so?  But no sooner had Thor asked himself as much than he knew the truth:  Loki was his brother still.  Despite everything, Loki came through for him and sacrificed himself to save Thor and the knowledge was crushing.  He wanted his brother alive!  Thor wanted Loki by his side!  Loki’s death was honorable but Thor wanted his brother.  Thor had failed to save Frigga, and now he had failed to save Loki.  He had been given a second chance to mend things with Loki, to save him, and he had squandered it.  That Loki had made such an enemy of himself meant little when he proved himself faithful and true in the end.

“Mother wouldn’t want us to fight.”

”Well, she wouldn’t exactly be shocked."

Thor would not let himself cry in front of Odin’s warriors, but he gave a breathless chuckle at one of their last little hints of brotherly banter.  Norns, he had missed it, missed Loki.  And now his mother and brother were gone, Thor left to grieve them and his failures, and soon to face a doubtless harsh Odin.

Thor braced himself as he entered the throne room only to feel the breath steal from his lungs at a sight he never imagined he would see.  Loki was alive, injured it seemed, but alive and a mix of shock, elation, and then anger filled him.  Had it all been a trick?  What was Loki even doing back on Asgard then?  He could barely gather his thoughts before he saw Gungnir’s tip press against Loki’s chest as Odin spoke.

“I told you already, you have no brother in Asgard.”

What?  Thor felt he was seeing an unreality a moment, the juxtaposition of the revelation that Loki was alive faced with the sudden hostility of Odin to Loki.  “What are you saying?”  Thor asked of Odin as he tried to move forward and was held off by the guards.  He could overpower them, but he wasn’t going to do so needlessly.  “What has Loki done?”  Thor asked, assuming that there must be a sound explanation for this.

Loki watched Thor’s shock and confusion, and he rolled his eyes at the question.  “Oh, yes, of course.  Blame me.  Typical.”  he gritted his teeth as Gungnir was pressed harder against his chest.

“He snuck into the throne room and attempted to take my life.”  Odin announced.

Thor barely had time to level an outraged glare on his brother before Loki exclaimed.  “I did not!”  He found his gaze drawn to Thor as he said quickly.  “I was going to banish him to Midgard, not kill him!”

“Does that make it better?”  Thor demanded.

“Doesn’t it?”  Loki tried and then gasped as Odin shoved him to the ground roughly by Gungnir’s spear point.

“Father!”  Thor said sharply before Odin held up a hand as if to silence Thor.

“Your punishment will come next.”  Odin said.

Thor couldn’t believe his eyes, Odin truly seemed about to run Loki through with the King’s Spear.  “Father, stop!”  he tried to shrug the guards off and he ignored the look of surprise that Loki gave him.  Did he honestly think Thor would say nothing?

Especially when he was highly inclined to throttle Loki himself, given what his brother had just put him through and apparently tried to do on the tail of it.

“I have pardoned this menace for the last time.”  Odin said coldly.

Thor was oddly reminded of facing Loki on the Bifrost, the way that he seemed to face a mad stranger rather than the family member he knew.  Odin truly looked about to kill Loki, on the floor of the throne room with Gungnir.  Green eyes met blue as Loki shot Thor an anxious look, and Thor’s protective instincts raised instantly.  “Father, you…you are upset-”

“-Silence!”  Odin thundered and Thor exchanged an uneasy look with his brother.  “Do not mistake me, boy.  Your circumstances are no less grave than his.”

“There must be a trial!”  Thor thought quickly, perhaps mention of the law would stay Odin’s hand.  Even the All-Father was not meant to arbitrarily execute someone this way, certainly not a prince of Asgard.  “Loki is a prince of Asg-”

“-Speak without my leave again and you will have your mouth bound!”  Odin snapped as glared at Thor.  “You insult Asgard by naming this beast among her royal family.”

Thor was aghast at the words, and so was Loki it seemed.  Was this really their father?

“I will end your confusion by doing as I should have done long ago.”  Odin said as he twisted Gungnir in his palms slightly and the tip glowed.

Loki gasped as if in great pain, and then stared in horror as the pale, Aesir skin he spent the majority of his life in bled away to blue.  He could feel the difference in the air and in the way his eyes perceived the bright lights in the room.  Loki was in his Jotun form, in front of Thor.

“Loki himself changed his form to that of an Aesir.  I but bound the glamour to act as his base form.  I take that back now.”

Loki absorbed that information quickly as he reached for his sorcery, but whatever Odin had done to him still when he’d originally been thwarted still kept him from his magic.  He could feel Thor’s eyes on him, those of the guards and Odin himself, and he felt sick.  Loki had been ready to die with his pride and the form he was accustomed to, but to die on the ground called a beast by the man who gave him the fiction and called him son…  He bit his tongue so hard he tasted blood and willed himself not to betray his emotions to the monster before him.

“And now I will right the wrong I committed in ever taking you from that rock.”  Odin said as his attention return to Loki and he lifted Gungnir as if to stab her downwards into Loki’s chest.

There was a shout and then the pounding of footsteps as Thor yanked away from the guards and darted in front of Loki.   His hands were still bound behind his back, the manacles enchanted even against his strength, but he faced Odin as he put himself between Loki and the spear.

Loki stared up at his brother’s back in shock.  Perhaps there was a time he might have expected Thor’s assured defense, but that time had passed.  Thor had just realized Loki had faked his death and attempted to unseat Odin, he was wearing the form of a frost giant, Odin was clearly not pleased with Thor either.  But Thor had not hesitated to act as Loki’s shield all the same?  Much as he’d felt on the skiff when Thor said ‘I wish I could trust you’, Loki felt a powerful remorse and desire to reach out to his brother.

“If you wish to kill my brother you will have to kill me first.”  Thor said, every bit the thunderer as he faced Odin down.

Loki knew it was a bluff, or at least, that Thor intended it to be.  Thor was confident Odin would not kill him to get to Loki, but Loki was equally confident that Odin had lost his mind and the way he was looking at Thor was alarming.  “Brother, don’t.”  he said through gritted teeth, certain that Thor was delaying the inevitable and making it worse for himself.  Odin would do as he pleased, perhaps even more eagerly to spite his ‘disobedient son’.

Thor cast a quick glance back at him with a fierce expression before his gaze returned to Odin.

“The traitor attacked me, and you would defend him?”  Odin snarled.

“He is your son!”

“He is no son of mine!”  Odin shouted and Thor stared at his father.  “Have you no eyes, boy?  He is the monster I have taught you to fight!”

Thor’s own fury rose in answer, disgusted by the words Odin was speaking.  “He is the brother you bade me watch over all our lives!”  he roared back.  “You may decry him as your son, but I will not disown him as my brother.  He is the same Loki he has always been!  You raised him as your own!  How can you say this now?”

Loki felt a bittersweet pang at Thor’s ardent and admittedly sentimental defense of him.  You great fool.  He thought, concerned, fond, and exasperated.  Had Thor not learned his lesson from the last time he challenged Odin thus?

“You did not seek his company in all the time he was imprisoned, and you would now claim him kin?”  Odin snapped back.

He had a point, Loki had not forgotten Thor’s little ‘betray me, I’ll kill you’ nonsense though he had suspected it for a bluff as well.

“You ordered me not to see him!”  Thor argued in disbelief.  “You would not spare his life if I did not, would you claim it otherwise now?”

Loki’s brows rose at that little tidbit.

“Frigga is the only reason you’re still alive, and you will never see her again!”

But Thor had plead his case too, had been barred from visiting Loki as a consequence?  What else had Loki not been privy to and why had Thor said nothing of it?  But then again, while he apparently still had Thor’s brotherhood, Loki did not have his trust.  So was that really a surprise?

“Step aside, Thor.”  Odin ordered in a low, warning tone.  “You have betrayed your king for the last time.  Allow me to deliver justice, or lose your name through treason.”

Thor stiffened at that, Odin was threatening to disown Thor under a treason charge if he didn’t allow Odin to murder Loki before his eyes.  There was a great likelihood if Odin was that determined, that…out of his wits, that he would seek Loki’s death no matter what Thor did next.  And for his own sake, he should step aside if they were both doomed.  Thor shot one more quick glance back at his brother, at the man who had caused him such misery in the past couple of years.  A man who had been more stranger and enemy than brother of late.  Who had saved him but perhaps only to fake his death for his own benefit.  A man who had tears in his eyes every time they fought.  Loki, who had the blue skin and red eyes of the race Thor had once been determined to slay by his own hands.

Thor had been a reckless fool.

But not then or now would he be a man who abandoned his brother, whatever quarrels between them or threat he faced.  Blue eyes met red as Loki stared back at him.  Thor offered his brother a grim, faint smile and then faced Odin again.  “So be it.  I will not let you harm my brother.”

“Thor!”  Loki exclaimed, he had seen Thor’s decision in the resolute gaze and yet to hear it aggravated him.  There was no reason for them both to die!  Loki wanted the damned oaf to live!  He was clearly the only person left who cared a whit for Loki and he was not inclined to be the cause of Thor’s death simply because the fool was so stupidly loyal.  “He grieves for Mother.”  Loki tried to appeal to Odin that way.  “He has clearly lost what little wits he ever had!”  he snapped.  “You cannot lose your only heir, Odin!”

“Loki!”  Thor snapped even as Loki took the opportunity to quickly rise.

Loki cast his brother an irritated glance as he looked to Odin.  “Imprison him for disobedience and be done with it.  I accept my fate gladly.  I cannot bear to hear more of your self-righteous babbling, old man.”  he said, recalling how ‘old man’ had precipitated the rage that got Thor banished when Thor had said as much.  He would draw Odin’s ire to him and earn himself a swift death, then Thor would stop his nonsensical need to martyr himself.

Thor moved as if to step in front of Loki, but found himself hit in the stomach by Loki’s fist with force enough to cause him to double over with a gasp.  Loki took advantage of that to sweep a punishing kick to the back of his knees and sent Thor, arms bound behind his back, to the floor.

Loki found Gungnir’s tip at his neck again as he grinned at Odin and said cheekily.  “You want my last words, Odin?  I’ll give Mother your regards.”

Thor started to rise even as Gungnir’s shaft made a swift arc towards Loki’s head.

“Brother!”

Was the last thing that Loki heard as a splitting pain blossomed from the side of his head and he lost all sense.   Loki heard rather a lot of worry, and dare Loki say, fear in Thor’s voice on his behalf?  As far as ways to die, it wasn’t the worst…and perhaps this might even things up between he and Thor for their recent history.  Loki was content with that last thought.

--xx--

When Loki awoke, he was confused for a time as his first sight was a familiar, stone ceiling.  He was in the cells of Asgard then.  And as he tilted his absolutely pounding head sideways he saw the familiar glow of the energy barriers that made up the cell walls.  For a moment, he wondered if he had dreamed the whole adventure, if somehow he had never left because he surely would not have been let to live.

But as he caught sight of blue in his peripherals and lifted a familiarly unfamiliar hand, he realized all that he’d ‘dreamed’ had truly happened.  “Thor.”  The name fell from his lips almost instinctively as he sat up and gripped the edges of the bed while a wave of dizzy nausea flooded over him.  Loki had taken quite a blow to the head, and he’d not been feeling too well even before that.

Loki staggered to his feet as he made his way to the cell walls and peered out.  He scanned the nearby cells for any sign of Thor and then forced his leaden tongue to work as he shouted to the prisoners across from him.  “Was I brought in alone?”

Although four prisoners were across from him, none spoke and simply stared, so he tried again.

”Was any one else brought in with me?”  he demanded.

“No.”  came the blunt reply of one of the prisoners, and Loki felt a frisson of fear on his brother’s behalf.

Loki reached for his sorcery and felt the edges of it just beyond his reach, closer than it had been in the throne room.  Whatever Odin had done to stun his magic had not been permanent or even likely long-lasting then.  As soon as he could reach for it he could pull his Aesir glamour back on but that solved only one, admittedly small problem in the grand scheme of things.

More pressing was that he was a prisoner again in an Asgard ruled by a mad old king who clearly wanted for Loki’s blood.  There was Thor, who doubtless had something to do with why Loki was still alive.  What had the oaf done to secure his reprieve and why had Odin humored him on it?  If not imprisonment, then what was to be Thor’s punishment?

Several hours passed before Loki could grasp the threads of his power and he wove them into the glamour he’d always considered his true form.  But it felt different, he didn’t know the spell that Odin had used to seal his form.  So instead of feeling as his ‘base form’ as Odin called it…it felt like any form that Loki shifted into to his dismay and discomfort.  There was, however slightly, effort required to hold his form now.  And he was truly certain that Odin was not right-minded.  Loki’s opinion of the man was decidedly low these days, he was no champion to Odin’s cause.  But Odin was a practical man and master manipulator and the man he saw in the throne room was practically senile by comparison.  They were all in danger while Odin was in power, but there was no one in a position to stop him.  Mother might have been able to pull something off, and Thor was his heir but that meant little if Odin was ceding no authority to him.  Even less so if he had made good on his threat to disown Thor.

What an irony that would be if they both ended up ‘nameless’.  Brothers without a parent between them.

“If you wish to kill my brother you will have to kill me first."

Loki felt the sting of traitorous tears in his eyes that he finally ‘allowed’ given that he was more or less alone and his frustration had reached a fever pitch.  “Noble bastard.”  he muttered, with no actual venom.  Loki slumped back onto his bed as he considered his situation and Thor’s.  Clearly he needed to escape, and while some part of him felt the wisest course would be to escape and leave as soon as possible…there was no way he could simply leave Thor to an uncertain fate now.  “Ugh.”  Loki cursed to himself as he reconciled with the fact that he was unwilling to leave Thor behind and that he had been decidedly moved by Thor’s defense of him.

Was he a boy?  A child starved for affection that he should put loyalty to that oaf above his own self-preservation?

Loki thought back to Svartalfheim and how his body had nearly moved on its own to protect Thor.  For all the enmity between them, he was under no delusions now about Thor’s position in his life.  There was no other soul living that Loki believed would have put himself between Loki and Gungnir.  No one else who would put their life on the line to save Loki’s.

No other family Loki had left.

Loki resigned himself to the fact that he was stuck on Asgard for at least as long as it took to escape and drag his fool brother to safety with him.  But the question was: how to escape, and how to stop Odin’s wrath from following them when they did?

Chapter Text

The absence of retaliation, confrontation, or a word of news left Loki in a state of anxious anticipation for what seemed the inevitable.  Odin had been a hand span away from executing him and yet now he was back in a prison that he had supposedly only been in on Frigga’s behalf previously?  And apparently, secretly, Thor’s as well based on the conversation between the king and heir.

Loki recalled many tedious, lonely hours spent unraveling the madness in his mind from the scepter’s effects and the Other’s torture.  He wasn’t sure if he expected vitriol, mockery, or another pleading attempt to ‘reach’ Loki but he expected something.  The absence of any communication from Thor left Loki at a loss.  Silence, withdrawal, and ignoring were the token responses of Loki [if he didn’t subtly retaliate], but they never had been Thor’s.   If Thor felt slighted or offended, he would all but demand a swift confrontation.  Thor wasn’t one to hold onto an offense, he wanted a swift retribution or explanation.  Loki could only conclude, bitterly and yet not perhaps surprisingly, that Thor had finally given up on him.  And some part of him could logically likewise conclude that he deserved that.  Whatever wrongs he felt Thor had done against him, he had gone far and above to pay Thor back with interest.

Loki disrupted the coronation and got Thor banished.  He lied to Thor about their parent[s] and sent the Destroyer to kill his then-mortal brother.  Loki stabbed the mortal Coulson before he dropped Thor from a plane in a glass prison.  Thor offered him aid and he stabbed his brother instead.  He faked his death on Svartalfheim and tried to usurp Odin.

Thor’s grief had honestly been an uncomfortable surprise to him.  He had spent so long wrapped up in the madness Thanos wanted for him as well as his own negative thoughts and beliefs that the sight of Thor’s open devastation was…unexpected.  Thor no longer looked like the cold, gruff man who had sauntered into the cells to threaten Loki while seeking his aid.  He looked oddly like the Thor of Loki’s youth, the brother he had once truly believed loved him and favored him.  Loki had nearly given up the ghost then, which was so unlike him.  He had nearly given the game away for sentiment, and Thor would likely have just had Loki imprisoned again anyway.

And yet he now could not get the sight of Thor’s broad back above him from his mind.  Thor had put himself between Loki and Odin, he had chosen Loki, and even risked his own safety to do so.

“You should know that when we fought in the past, I did so with a glimmer of hope that my brother was still in there somewhere.  That hope no longer exists to protect you.  Betray me, and I will kill you."

Thor always was a terrible liar.

It perhaps shouldn’t have been as impactful as it was to consider that Thor had come to his defense even while Loki was in Jotun form.  Perhaps he had convinced himself that oaf that Thor was, he had partially only been able to accept Loki’s parentage because he didn’t have to see any proof of it.  Thor could compartmentalize like a happy little fool and pretend that his adopted little brother wasn’t one of the very monsters he was ‘taught to fight’.  As wretched Odin so aptly put it.

But Loki saw no disgust or horror in his brother, only resolve and determination.  He thought back to when he had ordered the Destroyer to kill Thor and been disappointed, angry, and a touch fearful at the failure.  Loki had wanted Odin’s pride and love and was prepared to sacrifice Thor to ensure he had a chance to get it, to prove that Loki wasn’t truly one of them.  He had nearly killed the family member that actually gave a damn about him in a mad bid to seek affection from the one that didn’t.

What did it even mean that Thor was willing to defend him though?  He surely would still say Loki deserved to be imprisoned for his crimes.  The near-death on Svartalfheim was not likely to have caused Thor to say ‘well, be on your way then, brother!’.  Even to be rescued from Odin now didn’t mean Thor would agree to leave or that Odin should be dethroned.  Thor had a dizzying sense of morality and justice, Loki could not make heads or tails of a man who had once seemed so utterly simple to him.

But where was Thor now?

--xx--

Several weeks passed and Loki had made no progress in trying to mimic whatever spell Odin had used to bind Loki to his Aesir glamour.  Nor had he managed to get any information on what happened after the confrontation in the throne room.  And neither had he made headway in escaping his cell, which left him feeling frustrated and antsy.  Loki considered creating some kind of fuss to draw attention and see if he couldn’t goad some kind of interaction, but that might just result in his immediate death so he held off from that idea.

The sound of approaching footsteps drew his attention and figured it had to be Odin or Thor, and if the latter, then perhaps Thor had not been punished so badly after all?

Loki drew himself up from his bed as he stepped towards the energy barrier only to feel his breath catch.  “…Mother?” he breathed.

Frigga stood on the other side of the cell looking as beautiful as she ever had, if perhaps uncharacteristically worn.  There was a weariness about her and something haggard in her expression as Loki looked on.  But it seemed for all the world to be his mother, dressed in her modest queen’s garb with her hair elegantly styled as always.

The only problem with the picturesque scene, of course, was that his mother was most assuredly dead.

“Hello, my son.”  Frigga said as she neared the cell with a somber expression and her hands clasped in front of her.

The voice was the same, the movements seemed the same, and yet it was impossible.

“Who are you?”  Loki said, when he collected himself and the logic of his reality caught up to him.

Frigga’s brow furrowed slightly.  “What manner of question is that?”  she asked before she stepped within inches of the cell wall.  “Have the head pains grown worse?”

“The what?”

Frigga tilted her head sympathetically as she set a hand on the energy barrier.  “Give it time, dear heart.  The memories will return and the pain should lessen.”

Loki was baffled, suspicious, and agitated by the specter before him with his mother’s voice, face, and strange tidings.  “What are you talking about?”

“...You have forgotten again.”  Frigga said sadly as she looked at Loki like he was in need of her deepest compassion and sympathy.  She seemed to consider the matter for a few seconds before she said quietly.  “Midgard.  Your brother.”

“What of Thor?”  Loki asked as his mind simultaneously raced to try to understand the situation.  Perhaps he was in the throes of a dream?

“He is dead, Loki.”  Frigga said gently.  “By your hand.”

Loki took a half-step back as he stared.  The words were patently false and yet to hear them from his [dead] mother unsettled him.  “Is that you, Odin?  What manner of game do you play now?”  he snarled.  Odin rarely cast any illusion spells, but he could, and Loki wasn’t sure what else this could be.

Frigga’s eyes glistened and Loki was taken aback.  “Oh, my boy.  Your mind is fractured.  Your memory fails you…that is why you have the head pains…”  she sighed again.  “Do not dwell on it then…in time, these things will come to you.”

“Thor is alive, Frigga is dead.”  Loki said tersely.  “Be you Odin or another, I care not.  But you will stop this farce at once.”

“Loki…”  Frigga’s tone was almost pleading.  “Your brother is gone.  I believe grief is partly what stirs this madness in your mind.  If you would but accept what has happened, what you have done, we may help you to heal-”

“-Thor is not dead!  And you will stop pretending to be my mother, you cretin!”  Loki snapped, more disgusted by the moment with what seemed a ploy.  He was surprised then, when [false] Frigga seemed genuinely hurt by his words.

“You are upset…”  she murmured.  “I will give you more time, perhaps you will be in a better place another day…know that I love you, my son.”

Loki watched as the false Frigga offered him a tight smile and then turned to leave.  “Was that it?”  he called after the retreating form.  “What was this for?”  But she left and Loki was alone again, uncertain of what had just occurred.

--xx--

Several more such visits ensued where a patient ‘Frigga’ would speak as if Loki were a madman who had murdered his brother and forgotten it.  She behaved and spoke as his mother would, moved as his mother would, and yet it could not be her.  Loki knew that full well, but nothing he demanded or said to the specter would convince it to break character and admit their true purpose.  Perhaps Odin meant to drive him mad, to try to convince Loki that reality was different than it was.  Not that he had been tempted to fall for it, but if he needed a reminder, his broken glamour was proof enough that the confrontation in the throne room had happened.  As had all that had come before.

“Are you a golem?”  Loki tried as he ignored the ‘sympathetic’ words of the imposter.  “Some hapless Asgardian that Odin has bid take this form to antagonize me?  Tell your master it will not work.  If he thinks he can twist my mind with such petty games, he is more senile than I thought.”

Frigga simply shook her head with a sad expression.  “Your madness grows worse, my love.  You make no effort to stop it.”

Loki had responded with anger at first, but now that the initial shock had worn off, he found himself more indifferent and amused by Odin’s pathetic attempts.  [Whatever exactly they were].  “Oh, yes, I am utterly mad.  Tell me again how I killed Thor on Midgard.”

”You did-”

“-So I suppose I took Thor’s precious mortal to Svartalfheim myself then?”  Loki asked with a smirk.  “I do think she rather fancied me.  She gave me such a sweet little slap when we met.  A shame there was so little time between us.  It might have been fun to charm my brother’s little pet away from him.”  His smirk slipped as his brow furrowed when he saw a change in the false Frigga.  An expression other than the sympathy and sadness.

Frigga’s lips pulled into a deep frown as she stared at Loki with an almost confused, almost annoyed expression.  “Jane is no pet, do not call her so again.”

The slight difference in behavior certainly caught Loki’s notice and he peered at the imposter.  “If not a pet, then what?  A toy, perhaps?  Or shall we call her a worshiper, as I am sure she paid my brother many devotions on her knees as any good-”

Frigga’s fist slammed against the side of energy barrier and Loki stared at the unfamiliar expression of anger on his mother’s face.  He had never seen her expression twist quite that way nor seen that type of physical reaction.  “Jane is a good woman, I will not suffer you to insult her, Loki.”  Frigga said lowly.

Loki had a strange, disconcerted feeling as he saw gestures and heard words come from his mother that echoed another.  He had spent his life watching Thor, listening to Thor, observing Thor, learning how to soothe and goad his brother.  A niggle of unease entered him as a thought spawned in his mind that seemed like the truest madness, and yet…  Loki went for being deliberately crass as he attempted to goad the person before him, since Jane seemed a sensitive topic.  “Insult your mortal pet?”  Loki ‘clarified’.

“You try my patience.”  Frigga growled.

“I did wonder what she saw in my brother, oaf that he is.  But I think I have it figured out.  Must be very useful for a curious mortal to cling to a god who can bring her all the answers she ever dreamed of.  The Mighty Thor, used by a mortal woman to satisfy her own ambitions.  And the poor fool calls it ‘love’.”

“Enough!”  Frigga thundered as she clenched her fists and glared at Loki.  “You know nothing of Jane and I, and you are-”

“-Jane and I?”  Loki repeated as he looked at ‘Frigga’ intensely.

“Yes, Jane and I, why do you-”  Frigga paused suddenly as her brow furrowed deeply.  She blinked and took a step back from the cell walls as she glanced down at her hands and flexed the fingers.  Frigga tilted her hands from the palms to the backs of them as she looked at them as though confused.

Loki had the idea and yet had been sure it was too unbelievable to truly be the case.  All logic and reason flew in the face of the notion.  And yet, as he goaded ‘Frigga’ with Jane and saw Thor’s mannerisms and fury in the responses and then saw this now…  “…Thor?”

Frigga’s eyes flicked up to Loki as if answering to hearing one’s name addressed.  The confusion was plain on his ‘mother’s’ face as ‘Frigga’ said tentatively.  “I…brother?”

Loki blanched at the final proof of the wild hypothesis that had formed in his mind.  “Norns.”  he breathed as he reeled internally.  “What has Odin done to you?”

At the mention of Odin, Friggathor’s expression grew pained.  “He…Loki…”  His hand went to his head as he clutched at it as though in pain.

Loki pressed against the cell wall as he said quickly.  “Thor, you must let me out.  I can do nothing for you in here.”

Friggathor’s dazed eyes found Loki’s again.  “…You attacked Midgard, I-I cannot.”

Thor’s memories were out of sync, perhaps, because Loki was sure in this moment that Thor was not genuinely caring about that.  “Over a year ago,Thor, remember?  We went to Svartalfheim to remove the Aether from Jane.  Odin confronted us in the throne room.  I have not seen you in weeks  hence. “

Friggathor seemed to be trying to consider the words but his hands clenched against his head.  “…No…I…”

“Thor, listen to me, open the cell.  Brother, let me help you.”  Loki urged, increasingly horrified by the realization of what was in front of him.  This was surely Odin’s doing, and it was an abomination.  Thor was wearing Frigga’s form and seemed to carry her memories while Thor’s true self had been pushed down.  What possible reason did Odin have to do this, what did he want of Thor this way?  Why was Loki still alive and why was this broken Thor let to visit him?

Friggathor hesitated and seemed perhaps to be about to try to open the cell.  But then he stepped back as he shook his head.  “You…you have gone mad, my…my son…”  Frigga’s voice was uncertain before the confused expression slipped away and the same placid sympathy of before returned to it.  “I am sorry, dear heart.” she said.

Loki cursed as he smacked a palm against the barrier.  “Thor!  Wake up!  Brother, fight it!  Are you truly this weak?  Answer me!”  he tried, a mixture of pleading and furious snapping as he tried to rile Thor back to the surface.  But Frigga simply looked at him with pity.

“I have upset you…I will return again…rest, my son.”  she turned to leave as Loki shouted after ‘her’.

Loki watched until Thor was out of sight and then began to pace his cell in a state of agitation and disbelief.  Odin was worse than mad, he was worse than a monster.  What could have possessed the old man to do such a thing?  This was vile to the highest degree and the implications made him shudder.  Thor, Odin’s son, was now wearing the form of Odin’s dead wife and bearing her memories…why?  What the bloody Hel was to be gained by such a grotesque alteration?

--xx--

Several more visits from ‘Frigga’ ensued and Loki had not managed to get another rise out of his brother.  He knew nothing of the spell Odin had used, if the longer it lasted the worse it might get for Thor.  His thoughts ran rampant on Odin’s intentions, on how he expected to get away with this.

As Frigga returned again Loki decided to try a new approach.  He greeted her with an openly mocking smile.  “Another visit so soon?  You spoil me.”

Frigga pursed her lips.  “You would even mock me now, Loki?”

“That hardly seems worth mentioning given my other crimes, does it?”  Loki drawled.

“...Your memories have returned?”

”Most assuredly.”  Loki said with a smirk.  “I have been fondly reminiscing on them.  Particularly on my brother’s tragic death.”

Frigga’s expression hardened at that.  “Loki.”  she chided sternly.  “Do not pretend Thor’s death brings you pleasure.  You hurt us both in so doing.”

“Oh, but I pretend nothing, Mother.  Truly, I regret that I could kill him only once.  Or is it twice?  There was that matter with the Destroyer…well, in any case…such fond memories.”

“He was your brother!”  Frigga exclaimed.  “Thor loved you dearly-”

“-Am I supposed to be moved by that?”  Loki interrupted in a bored tone.  “What do I care of what that oaf felt for me?  I thought I made myself clear on Svartalfheim.  When I said that all I have ever wanted were Odin and Thor dead at my feet.”  he said with a vicious smile.

Frigga’s expression grew pained as she stared at Loki beseechingly.  “Enough, Loki, please…why must you persist with this?  Who knows better than I how you loved your brother?”

“What was there to love of Thor?”  Loki asked coldly.  “He was a brute.  Reckless.  Foolish.  He cast a hollow shadow and bade me live in it.  You think I ever loved him?  Tell me, Mother, what was ever good in him?  I did Asgard a service in taking his life!  I kept Asgard from the second worst king she could ever have had, the first being Odin naturally.”

“Loki, stop this.”  Frigga pleaded.  “I love you-”

“But I do not love you.”  Loki snapped as he bared his teeth in a sneer.  “I never loved you.”  The heartbroken expression on Frigga’s face affected Loki more than he cared to examine even though he knew it wasn’t truly Frigga.

“That is not true.”  Frigga whispered.

“I sent the Destroyer after you.”

Frigga’s brow furrowed.  “I-”

“-Oh, how I enjoyed stabbing that mouthy little mortal…son of Coul, was it?  And the look on your face when I dropped you from that plane.  Oh, it was pathetic.”   Loki laughed darkly.

“Enough.”  Frigga whispered.

“And on that ridiculous tower.  ‘We can, together’.”  Loki mocked as he clasped his hands together before he pulled them apart to wave one dismissively.  “Would that I had stabbed you again for wasting my time with your trite little sentiments.”

“You do not mean that.”  Frigga said, answering seemingly still as Frigga and yet not denying being addressed as Thor.

“Give me a blade this instant and I will gladly do it again.”  Loki informed ‘her’.  “Are you so afraid of me, Thor?  You will not even face me without this barrier between us?”

Frigga was silent for several seconds and Loki had hopes that he’d finally roused Thor.  But then she sighed wearily.  “I think it best I do not visit for awhile.”

Loki could see he’d lost whatever flicker of Thor he had gained from the little gambit and he cursed as he looked to his cursed brother with frustration.  “Mother, our true mother, taught us both to defend against attacks on our mind.  Fight this, you oaf!   Is this the limit of you?”  he demanded.

“I will send more books for you, Loki.”  Frigga said softly.  “I am sorry it has come to this…”

“Thor!”  Loki shouted but to no avail as ‘Frigga’ left him alone again.  There was something of Thor still in there but how to reach it…?  He needed to get his hands on Thor, to see what he could divine of the problem with his own sorcery.  But first he would need to escape, and to managed that…

Loki looked to the cell across from his wherein the four prisoners of his original arrival still remained.  “Hello.”  he said, and he caught the attention of at least two as he gave a flitting wave.  “Might I interest you in a deal?”

--xx--

“He’s going to die!  You have to help him!”

The guard looked to his partner uncertainly after they’d been called to a cell where one of four prisoners was doubled over in great pain with blood about their person.

“Help him!”  The woman with her arms about his shoulders screamed.

Loki hid a smile as he feigned disinterest in the scene with a book in his hands.

--xx--

“A deal?”  One of the prisoners scoffed.  “With you?”

Loki frowned.  “’You’?”

“The frost giant bastard.”

Loki made a mental note to remember the prisoner’s face and give them a proper reward for being the first cretin who would dare to say something like that to him.  He kept his expression polite and amused as he shrugged.  “Freedom is freedom, regardless from whence it comes.  Or are you fond of your current living conditions?”

Another of the men looked at Loki then and asked.  “…What is the deal?”

“Which of you has the best acting skills?”

--xx--

The person on the ground gave a long moan and clutched their stomach.  “I-I’m going to die.  Tell Lirsa I love her.”

Loki fought an eye-roll at that even as the guards whispered rapidly to each other.

--xx--

After a bit of back-and-forth, Loki clarified the plan.  “So, that one is going to feign a terrible pain in his stomach.  You’ll cut his cheek a bit to add a believable bit of blood.  You are going to pretend to care.”  he said, as he pointed at the woman.  “Be demanding about it, no need to be polite.  Best not give the guards a chance to overthink it, hm?”

--xx--

“Help him!”  The woman shouted more loudly as she glared at the guards.  “If he dies, I swear it, I will kill you myself!”

”We can take him to the healer’s wing.”  One guard said.

“We aren’t supposed to take a prisoner out without permission-”

“-He is dying!”  The woman screamed.  “What is wrong with you?   The Norns will punish this cruelty!  The fates are not kind to those who do ill turns!”

“Just grab him and take him.”  One guard said.  “We can handle one man.”

“Fine.  But you’re holding the head.”

The other guard straightened as he cast a stern glance at the prisoners.  “You three, back in the corner.”  The other guard had a sword at the ready.

The three complied while the woman kept up her insistence that they aid him.

--xx--

“Now, the guards will doubtless order you back.  You will have a chance for one, quick distraction and you have to act quickly from there.  Also, you will have to avoid swallowing for a bit.”  Loki said with a glance at the ‘actor’ of the group.

--xx--

The guard with the sword stood a bit back as he watched the three while the other guard leaned towards the doubled over man.  “Alright, come on then-oh, disgusting!”

The doubled over man, whose cheek was still cut inside, had let blood enough pool in his mouth that when the guard approached he spat it in his face.

The leaned guard was busy wiping the blood with disgust while the other guard was distracted by the event.

The three prisoners in the corner raced over and made short work of disarming the guards and knocking them unconscious.

The doubled over man got up with a look of satisfaction.  “Easy as a noonday pie.”

Loki set his book aside as he went to the barrier and watched the four approach.

“Seems we have the leverage here.”  One said.  “Maybe we don’t let you out unless you sweeten the deal."

“How very entrepreneurial of you.”  Loki said calmly.  “And what would you have of me?”

“Gold.  As much as we can carry.  And a transport ship.”  One demanded.

“I already promised you passage off of Asgard and a significant sum, as I recall.”

“Yeah, well, now we’re looking for interest.”  Another said.

Loki pretended to consider it as he said.  “Fine.  But you have to hold to your end of the bargain and take me with you, you won’t be able to pilot the ship without me.”

The four exchanged glances and then agreed.

Loki watched the barrier fall and seemed to simply stand there waiting as he smiled at his fellow conspirators.

“I’ll just borrow this, shall I?”

The group jumped as Loki’s voice came from behind them and they found themselves faced with another even as the illusion of Loki grinned jauntily from the cell.

Loki ran two of the men through in quick succession and pointed his sword at the last man’s neck.  “What was it you called me earlier?”  He supposed if his glamour was distorted anyway, he may as well amuse himself with it.  Loki let a bit of red bleed into his eyes and blue into his face as the man’s eyes widened in horror.  Odin wanted a monster?   Well, he would give him one.  Loki finished the last man off before he restored his Aesir appearance and smiled winningly at the woman.  “You were the only one that didn’t participate in the…renegotiation.”

The woman had paled and she stammered.  “I-…a deal is a deal.”

“Brilliant.  Honor amongst thieves.  In the cell, if you please.”  Loki motioned with the sword and the woman hastily complied.  “Hold to your end, and I shall hold to mine.”  He waved his hand as a powerful glamour fell over the woman.  Loki was going to have to maintain two at a time now.  Not really a headache with his level of power and experience but he’d need to be careful nonetheless.

‘Loki’ was now in the cell as well as outside of it.  “Stick to the story I gave you, and everything will work out fine.”  Loki reassured her.  “And I thank you for your assistance.”  he added genially.

The woman wearing his face and bearing his voice shuddered.   “Were you always going to kill them?”

“What a charming question.”  Loki said, and gave no other answer as he smirked lightly and turned his attention to the prisoners and the guards.  “Now then…I’ll be taking these.”   He snatched the key ring from the guard’s belt even as his own form shifted again into that of a nondescript palace maid.  Loki’s next stop was to find Thor and see what he could learn of what the real monster of Asgard had done to his brother.

--xx--

When guards came later to see where the absentee guards were, they found two unconscious guards and three dead men.

‘Loki’ informed them [in as bored a tone as she could managed per his instructions] that one man had been sick and lured the guards in.  The last one stabbed the rest and escaped.

“Thought that cell had three men and a woman.”   One of the guards eventually said as he tried to recall the prisoner roster.

“Does it make a difference?  Three dead and one escaped, and these two louts.”  The other guard said with disgust.  “Check the roster and figure out who we’re looking for.”

”Should we tell the king?”

”You fancy telling him with the mood he’s been in lately?  Don’t bother.  We’ll find the rat soon enough.”

‘Loki’ watched as her companions were dragged away, thinking not for the first time that of the princes of Asgard…Loki was the one to watch out for.  That was one person whose bad side she would like to ensure she never got onto.

--xx--

Loki, or rather, the palace maid Aleera offered casual, friendly greetings where needed with a bundle of laundry in her hand.  Too little eye contact is suspicious, too friendly draws attention, the laundry was a nice little prop.  He supposed his mother’s rooms would be the place to start, and while on his way, he might see what he could learn of the situation.  Servants did so love to gossip, and Loki found it hard to believe that a suddenly resurrected queen of Asgard wouldn’t set their tongues wagging.