Sequels are hard, man. That's why I don't normally do them. Not only do you have to stay IC within the original source material, you have to try and trace IC behavior from the preceding stories. I'm usually not a sequel sort of person.

But Loki fascinates me, as a character. Trying to understand him and what twisted up thought processes have fueled his actions thus far fascinates me. Thanks to some kind online associates of mine, I was finally able to hash out at least part of what I think his motivations and issues are, and trying to put them into words eventually spawned the framework of this fic.

A character like Loki is impossibly frustrating to write. But writing him together with Thor has, so far, proved impossibly gratifying and strangely so very heartwarming. I really think they still ultimately care about each other. And I wound up trying to give all our favorite Asgardians a moment to shine here. I hope you enjoy my latest endeavor into their crazy, twisted, mixed up feelings for each other.

Odin had agreed to give Loki another day.

The unspoken arrangement seemed to be that these days would continue, one each year, as long as Loki behaved himself in his imprisonment and isolation. So far, he had. He spoke to no one, except to request more materials for the little forge he worked to pass the time and clear his head within his cell deep beneath the castle. No one spoke to him, even as these materials were delivered. Solitude and toil were his punishment for his crimes against Jotunheim and Midgard. For someone like Loki, they were effective punishments – he thrived on communicating with people, for good or ill, and the heat of a forge was a special trial to his frost giant blood.

However, especially in light of what had been done to his mind by the Tesseract, it was a punishment meant to maybe help heal Loki as well. If the cell was quiet and isolated, it was also peaceful and safe. It was kept lit, and reasonably comfortable, and Loki wasn't even forced to work the forge. Odin had just known that his adopted son would not be able to stand the boredom either way, and he had been right. Hard physical labor could do a lot to clear a clouded mind, especially when that labor was turned towards creating something.

Thor, for his part, had only seen him once since his brother had been locked away, and that had been the one day last year. A day that had ended in disaster, but ultimately left him hopeful for Loki's capacity to learn about and maybe come to understand the other races he had only tried to conquer before. Loki had seemed a little…better, on that day, a little more at peace and a little more willing to listen. Not great progress, but progress. A small step that Loki had let himself be led towards. Thor had left his brother's cell at the end of that day tentatively hopeful.

And when Thor had tactfully tried to remind his father that one lesson was not enough for any new knowledge to sink in, Odin had agreed. Thus, another day, one year later.

They spent it in a library. Thor had thought it was only fair. The one they found in New York was nothing on the castle library in Asgard, but Loki had read every book in that library a long time ago. Seeing it slowly sink into his brother's head, as they stood before the shelves, that here were a few hundred books that he had not read had been a joy to see. All right, only a few hundred. But they only had a day.

Thor had to stay with him, of course. Sif, Hogun, Fandral, and Volstagg were covering all the exits, but even so, it would have been far too easy for Loki to disappear into the shelves and somehow slip through their collective grasp. His powers had also been sealed once more, as much as Odin was able to fetter a frost giant. Thor's had not, and any dissatisfaction Loki might have had with this imbalance were probably tempered by the memories of their last day, and what had happened when Thor had found himself in a dangerous situation without his powers.

Loki was still a prisoner, albeit one being rewarded for good behavior. So Thor dogged his steps as he wandered the shelves, although he tried to be as quiet and out of the way as possible. He also kept an eye on Loki for any sign that he might have suddenly found himself following an illusion. Loki, in turn, darted the occasional glare at him, and occasionally motioned irritably for Thor to get out of his light. But for someone who would previously retreat to the highest corners of the library just to get away from the faint sounds of people moving around in the distant shelves, he took the presence of other people and the persistent general background hum of humans going about their business well enough. Maybe he was just that starved for reading material. Or maybe, compared to the ringing noise of metal being bent to one's will in the heat of the forge, this didn't seem quite so intrusive anymore.

Loki had changed. Some of those changes would doubtless only present themselves over the next few decades, but some were a little more visible. He didn't talk so much, anymore – that was troubling, and strange, because Loki had always been comfortable with words, weaving them into nets and webs and patterns that made Thor's head spin just to contemplate. He also seemed less piercingly aware of the world than he once had, which had worried Thor until he realized what it meant. It meant that Loki was becoming able to turn inward on himself for peace, something that had escaped him even before that fateful visit to Jotunheim. If his thoughts were still the usual whirling vortex of knives, at least now there was a tiny eye in the middle of the storm.

Loki read voraciously, which had not changed and made Thor happy to see. There was something almost painfully familiar about the sight of the other man, sitting against a shelf or leaning against a wall with a book held up to his face or resting in his lap. Better still, some of the books he found seemed to genuinely get his attention. It drove the point home a little further to Loki, maybe, that he knew so very little about Midgard and what its brilliant human residents were capable of. Or at least, so Thor hoped, as Loki poured over a book about the inner workings of cars. And when he came to the plays, Loki actually paced the aisle, reading aloud quietly but not so quietly that Thor could not hear. " 'If we shadows have offended, think but this and all is mended. That you have but slumbered here…'" He said the words like they tasted good, even if there was a tone of disbelief in his voice as he read, and Thor smiled at the sight.

It was a good day – quiet, simple, peaceful, and maybe with a little more progress made. No one got shot, and Loki had needed no further persuading after the first couple of hours to sit down and read through a book written by humans. In the end, he was probably only still playing along for the chance to get out of his cell for a little while, and the prospect of actually having something to read was too tempting to pass up. But he was listening, even as he played along, and that counted for something.

"Shall we, then?" Loki said, offering Sif and the Warriors Three a wan smile as they met the two brothers at the door at the end of the day. It was the first he'd spoken in six hours, since the book of plays.

But he returned with them of his own free will, after a pat on the back from Volstagg reassured them all that he was the true Loki. And this time, by virtue of not being unconscious from blood loss, Thor walked Loki back to his cell himself.

He dithered for a long moment, as they descended the stairs down and down and down together, what to say, or whether to say anything at all. Finally: "Are you well?"

Loki paused, two steps lower, and looked back at Thor with his eyebrows raised. "…well enough," he finally said, a cautious, wary note in his voice that told Thor this wasn't an answer at all, and Loki was wondering what his angle was. All the same, he felt stupid for asking. Loki was a prisoner, and he knew it. Thor was the…sentimental fool who kept having to remind himself. Odin and Frigga had done a lot to make sure Loki was well.

He tried again. "I only meant…you are managing well. We have all seen it. Some of the things brought up from the forge are remarkable. And you have not tried to escape, even when you could have. I am…proud, Loki, of how well you are shouldering this burden of yours'. We all are."

Something in Loki seemed to switch off, at those words. Where before he'd been looking up at Thor in almost affectionate puzzlement, now there was…nothing. Carefully, deliberately nothing. "Thank you," he said, and the words meant nothing, just something he could say so he'd have a reason to turn his back and carry on down the steps alone. Thor cursed himself, and hurried after.

"Loki, wait!" He caught hold of Loki's hand and turned the quiet man around to face him. Loki looked startled at the sudden contact, and at least that was something. Thor pressed on: "Is this really still so strange to you? That we still hold out hope for you, that we are happy to know that you might one day be able to truly return to us? Yes, you are a prisoner. You have done so much wrong, but you are still my brother, and…"

"No. I'm not."

Thor felt like all the air had just been sucked from his lungs. For a moment, he could only stare at Loki, stunned and, yes, hurt. The worst part was that Loki was looking back at him almost sadly. It made Thor realize that those three words hadn't actually been intended to hurt. Just…remind, perhaps. Even if what they were attempting to remind him of was an utter lie.

Loki took advantage of Thor's shock to pull away completely. "I am not your brother. I am not your family. You have been kind, fair jailors, and I almost look forward to whatever mad quest you plan to drag me along on the next time the Allfather decides to let me stretch my legs for a day. I might even be content to stay and serve Asgard, when my time below is done. But…that is all there is." He turned away, turned his back on Thor, and started down the steps. "That is all there ever was. We were both lied to, Thor, and I suggest you try and remember that."

Loki wasn't lying. Or at least…he didn't believe he was. Loki would look you in the eye and smile when he lied to you. Even he didn't entirely believe what he was saying…but Thor saw that Loki was trying hard to convince himself. And he really did seem to think it a kindness to try and convince Thor of the same.

Thor thought just the opposite. "I was never lied to. You are my brother, Loki, my family, and an accident of birth will never change that."

His words reached Loki, which was the only thing that stopped Thor from breaking down then and there. The younger man paused one last time on the steps. And the persistent hints of lingering affection in his brother's voice as he replied, even as he didn't look back, made Thor hopeful despite himself.

"…you are a fool. Still, always, and forever."

Thor felt himself smile, very slightly. "And I look forward to the day when you can be by my side again, tempering my foolish ways. Until then, brother. I wish you well."

He waited where he was until he'd seen Loki descend to the bottom of the steps, open the door, and step inside. The sound of it closing echoed loudly in the deep, dark silence. Then, and only then, did Thor turn away and head up again.

He wanted to see his friends, and the night was still reasonably young. It had been a necessary and, it seemed, ultimately beneficial day. But he still found himself exhausted – Loki could sometimes have that effect on him, even at the best of times, and these were not the best of times. Thor found that he needed the company, and the cheer that he and his four friends could always seem to bring out in one another.

If nothing else, he pitied Loki his isolation. Thor knew that he would have already gone mad, if it were him locked away down there.

At least he knew what lesson to teach next year.