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The Face of the Other

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Summary: Following his failure on Midgard, Loki is brought before Thanos to pay for his defeat. The Mad Titan only laughs; Loki's punishment is at the hands of another.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

So excited about Avengers: Age of Ultron! Counting the days...

This one did not come out as I hoped... but I'll let you guys be the judge of that. Suggestions welcome!

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"You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain."

The warnings of the Other ring in Loki's head as he is prodded forward, bound and gagged and utterly at the Chitauri's mercy.

Trust Thor, foolish, idiotic, dim-witted Thor to chain his powers, his magic; so assured that no harm could come to Loki – or rather, that Loki could do no harm – weak and restrained and muzzled as he was.

(He failed epically on the first; but the second was a definite success... much to Loki's woe.)

Trust the brutish oaf to believe that his mighty hammer and his beloved comrades' varied weapons had completely obliterated the Chitauri army. Trust Thor to be so lax, so completely unprepared, in the face of the sneaking Chitauri recapturing their 'commander'.

Thor probably thinks that Loki had been rescued. Loki snorts. His so-called 'brother' most likely hasn't even considered the obvious alternative, that Loki might have been kidnapped or otherwise taken against his will. The oaf would no doubt be upturning tables in his fury; righteous anger that clever, sneaky, dishonourable Loki had escaped once again.

Well, good for Thor then, that Loki is going to be justly and excruciatingly punished for it (Even more than the first time, since his only mistake before was falling; straight from Asgard to Thanos' feet...). Thanos is very well known for his cruelty, even though none survive to first-hand recount the Eternal's vicious ingenuity.

Crunch, crunch, crunch...

Loki's boots are loud against the brittle dead ground, and the brief sensations from the hole under his toe draw parallels to walking on glass... or perhaps bones.

The walk to Thanos' throne is long, almost a twisted parody of Gladsheim's glittering atrium. The stares that bore into him are no less oppressive than the ones of his childhood home.

Loki is brought before his master, Thor's restraints enhanced by the Chitauri's bindings. No means of escape available to him, even if his magic were whole and body not bruised and battered by the green beast.

Thanos is an enormous figure, face as rough and unyielding as the throne he occupies. His voice when he speaks is heavy and sinuous, deadly in its utter emotionless. "You return... empty-handed."

Loki whimpers. Belatedly, he remembers that even the sceptre his master gave him is gone; lying innocuously on the arrogant one's floor as a neat parting gift to the mortals.

"Much as I would like to break you limbs into tiny little pieces and force them down your throat, I shall not. Death has a different plan for you. Is that not right, Óðr?"

Óðr... through the haze of pain and exhaustion, Loki spares a wheezing breath for surprise.

One of the many things Loki learnt in the service of Thanos (between the pain, pain, pain...) was that there was the Other, and there was The Óðr.

Divine Madness. A pretentious name as any, and a recurring theme as far as the berserker Eternal and his forces are concerned. Nothing much is known of the entity, even among the Chitauri themselves. The foot-soldiers fear their masters, and rightly so.

(Loki fears too, fears so, so much... there is nothing they would not do – have not done – to him...)

The Óðr, the Frenzied One... Váfuðr, Wanderer, is a common name of for this shadowy existence among the Chitauri; another, mentioned only in apprehensive whispers, is Viðurr, killer...

Loki has never seen this being before; his experience with Thanos was madness enough to warrant staying far away from any other creature that keeps insanity as its namesake.

(And the Aesir called Loki mad. Oh, just how much they didn't know...)

Loki hopes the Óðr is careless, or disinterested enough to grant him a quick death. Bored invincible immortals like to play with their prisoners, Loki has noticed. The sceptre teased and taunted his sanity; the Hulk tossed him about like an ill-favoured toy. What further entertainment can he offer now?

The shadows move; his captors propel him at the Óðr's feet, taking care to maintain distance from the overwhelming presence.

Loki debates inertia, then questions himself: what more horrors can they conjure, what new devices of torture can they employ on him, he who has screamed and writhed and kneeled for their pleasure? Weary, broken, and desperate, Loki looks up in a last act of defiance.

What he sees takes his already-scarce breath away.

Of course. Only a powerful warrior could keep the evil Thanos in line, to ensure the insane Titan did not destroy Yggdrasil itself in his bloodlust. Only the strongest of mage-barriers could keep the Death-Courter out of the nine realms.

In retrospect, his obliviousness was laughable, really. The scourge of Jὂtunheim growing so docile even his heir accuses him of shying from war?

(Loki's actions, both on the Bifrost and on Midgard, were hardly without precedent, after all. His plans, though foolhardy in retrospect, were borne from a childish desire to emulate the paragon of kingship. As always, he was a failure.)

Who was the first to march onwards, to lay waste the ice-realm for their transgressions? Who waged war on Midgard, weaving spells so strong the ground cracked beneath? Who established the Aesir's supremacy as gods and supreme rulers of the nine realms?

The servile Chitauri rip the muzzle from his face; but Loki stares ahead, oblivious of the skin ripping from his face, escaping with the silencer and unleashing a fresh flow of blood. Even un-gagged, he can barely speak (the muzzle is a minor inconvenience compared to his lungs- lung?). His baffled mind floods with questions.

How? Why?

'A reason for everything', Frigga preached to Loki in his younger days. He believed her, then, even when things made little sense to him; trusting his mother's words and marvelling at her confidence and wisdom.

An alliance with Thanos makes perfect sense; and that is precisely why Loki finds it imcomprehensible.

Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer... an oft-used edict in recent times, is it not? Loki is a stolen relic, a child of the enemy and now enemy himself; he understands this ploy bitterly well.

However, understanding does not diminish the shock, the betrayal. How ironic, coming from the traitor himself.

There is no traitor quite like his mouth though, refusing to deliver the words in his head. The assertions, the denials, the numerous demanding questions.

Why Midgard?

(Why not Jὂtunheim?)

The answers are so easy once the foundations of belief, the very fundamentals of the cosmos are shattered. Thor's foolish attachment to the mortals make him not only a poor overlord, but also a liability to the aloof and unquestionable might of Asgard's throne.

What is to be done, then? Why, to wipe out the fragile woman who holds the prince's heart... and perhaps destroy her realm along with her. We wouldn't want to chance another temptation, would we?

Loki threatened to kill Thor's mortal, though not quite for the same reason. He refuses to think about how that makes him feel. (Is he still a stolen relic serving a purpose? Is he still dancing to a liar's strings? It seems even he does no know the depths of Freedom's Lie...)

A fact strikes Loki so suddenly he forgets how to breathe (or maybe the surviving lung has given up along with the rest of him).

He knew. All this time, he knew where Loki landed after his fall from the Bifrost, and what horrors he had suffered, floating in the nothingness between the worlds. He knew what the Chitauri had done to ensure Loki's obedience. He knew, and he did nothing.

Was it yet another test? Loki's challenge, like Thor's banishment? (The comparison was laughable). Was the all-knowing one simply polishing his tools, honing the edges? Or was it punishment for Loki's endless disobedience?

Distantly, Loki wonders whether to be grateful that his punishment is to be meted out by the Óðr and not by Thanos. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know...

Ridiculously, the thought gives him hope. Not of redemption, no; he is too far gone for that. But maybe, just maybe, another chance. (Or were the Chitauri his last chance?)

Involuntarily, Loki moves forward, much like his first crawl as a child, and grips the rich velvet robes of the Óðr.

Odin stares down impassively, and utters the same damning words that sent Loki careening into despairing freefall:

"No, Loki."

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Popular historical theories suggest that Óðr (supposedly Freya's husband) is another name for Odin. See /wiki/Odin. The other names are also obtained from Wikipedia, which provides a helpful page titled 'List of names of Odin'. All the names are from these sites, all cross-referenced. Internet is an amazing thing.

The insect of writing hath possessed me... like the blue stick of destiny.

As usual, shout-outs to the wonderful to Hekka, Sumi-Sprite and zzSnowWhiteQueenzz. Your PMs (and updates!) make my day.