"We are marked by our shame and redeemed by our faith, Loki. I know things have happened that can not go without notice... but will you have faith in me?" Thor whispered gently taking the mouth cage from his brother's lips, then unlocking the handcuffs. Loki's green eyes fail to meet his, anger still fiery inside them. For once his silver tongue has yet to find an answer- more to give him time to think about escape. He opens his bruised lips to speak, "Aye." to only make his so called brother shut up. His heart felt black and heavy just looking at the other.

They walked into the council's chambers where their father waited with the other high Asguardians. "You summoned us, father." Thor looked up at Odin, a mix of pain and anger in his own features. Loki instinctively licked his bleeding lips. He never treasured his ability of speech until now. If kindness would allow him, he would massage the abused skin, torn and bloody from the muzzle and kindly ask for something for the foul taste of rust in his mouth- but alas, he knew he would never be allowed that. Especially now.

Odin sat on his throne, his eyes- much duller than Thor's- glaring at his trickster son who had betrayed and destroyed them. Furthering his hatred of the frost giants and belief that ragnarok will be brought down upon them all by Loki. Their father glared down at the both. Odin snorted at the actions of his sons, their expressions, "Monsters are not born, they are created." Odin growled at his two sons below him, "I should have left you there!" Thor put a comforting hand on his younger brother's shoulder. Loki did not know that his brother could feel him quivering- both of sorrow and fury. How dare Odin- after all that he had done to him!

Loki had learned to mask his emotions, stood there caring for his damaged mouth. He knew what he has done and he listens to the court drawl on and on about how he had wronged Asgard, Midgard, and Jotunheim. He doesn't give them the satisfaction of seeing their words affect them. He wants to smite them all, to hit Thor for taking him back where he was hated, to burn down the palace and just-just-. A small part of him wanted something else though. To be held by his mother, to be told by Thor he'd have his back. To see his friends and his room once more. To be home. But Thor is no longer his brother, it was just a show, a lie built up all these years; one more masterfully crafted than the ones Loki could sew together. The friends were nothing more than pawns of Odin. They had sent Thor to capture him, not bring him home.

Odin's face turned a deeper shade of red than it was already and stood before pacing in front of his throne when the council finished off reading the list of offenses. Thor knew it wasn't going well and he stepped forward, "Father, we must understand what Loki-." Odin rounded on him, "SILENCE!" Thor swallowed before speaking again, a determined look on his face, "I will not." Thor turned just slightly to touch his brother's hand. Trying to show Loki that he was there for him, even if he didn't believe it. Their father's face still grew deeper red until it was nearly maroon. "I will not stay silent when you are condemning loved ones. He was raised not knowing what he was. I'm sure that I would have reacted similar to the way he did if I had been in his position!" Thor wet his lips; he'd surely get a lashing for this later or worse. "Loki was trying to prove himself to you. But through the wrong ways! We have all done idiotic things in our lifetime and this was definately the wrong but in the end he was just trying to make himself worthy in your eyes!"

Loki lets himself slip for once. His ragged mouth fell open to gawk at Thor's words. He was protecting him, after everything he had done. The man who he stood in the shadow of all these years was doing a selfless act to defend him. Loki narrowed his eyes, a plot. It must have been. He finally speaks, slight anger but more confusion than anything else.. "Thor…" The thunderer looked back at him for a moment, willing him to silence, "Shh, Loki. You will have time to speak." The council was angrier than ever before and Thor knew he needed to calm them down before Loki spoke. He knew that if he didn't calm them down Loki would either have his mouth sown shut or worse. Neither of those things he was willing to let happen.

"Father, I beg of you. This was not all of his doing. Not only was he trying to prove he could win your approval. Regardless if you saw what you did or not, you did favor me. He was stabbed by one of the frost giants with a piece of the Tesseract from when it was shattered all those years ago. You are aware of its abilities to force out one's… darker side. I ask you to favor your other son now, this was not his fault." Odin looked down, his face returning to an almost normal color after a moment. "If I show mercy on him, who is to say that I can show mercy on every kin of mine? Would you let me withhold punishment if you were in this position? I can not let him go simply because he was driven to it by other means- regardless he was still the hand that dealt the chaos." He looked down on his adoptive son with a roar of approval from the court around them, "Loki, I have sentenced you-" Thor stepped forward suddenly, guarding Loki from his father's view, almost snarling out the words. "I will take his punishment." He exclaimed, "By our laws, a man can take the punishment of another man if he stands in his place."

Loki didn't have any idea how Thor knew about the battle when he was stabbed by a piece of the Tesseract by one of the frost giants. He had told no one that… almost forgetting about it completely. Was it possible… that he had been controlled into believing all of this? No… but then where did these feelings of regret come from? He was the God of Mischief for Odin's sake, he should not feel regret. But then Thor said the words, "I will take his punishment!" And Loki's idea of what was going on shattered. Loki let out a harsh breath. "Thor, please! You don't know what the punishment is!" He spoke rapidly, coming toward him and leaning down. "They could kill you, Thor!"

Thor cast a soft smile over his shoulder. "So be it." He whispers only loud enough for Loki to hear, "I'd sacrifice my beating heart before I'd lose you, Loki." Odin looked down in shock. The council was silent around him until a woman, who stayed silent in the background came forward, "All-Father, it would be more damage to Loki if we did punish Thor instead." No one seemed to recognize her right away and Odin looked at her calmly. "Leave us, Servant, before I punish you as well!" The woman scampered away knowing she should not have spoke. He turned back to his sons, "No... I do not wish to punish both of my sons. Thor, you have asked to take Loki's punishment. Why? You are innocent." The thunderer shifted in his armor, "No one is completely innocent, Father. Loki does not deserve death."

Despite all of his rage, Loki never wanted Thor dead. Between his mother and Thor... as the Midgardians would say, 'they would be the only one to rescue from a burning building.' "Thor, stand up! Do not do this!" He ordered, coming toward him trying to lift him up by his armor with one hand, eyes flickering to Odin, "You saying it, thats enough for me! Don't you dare get yourself killed trying to be nobel you fool." He looks weak in his own eyes, feeling small among the council. He swallowed looking around him,

Thor ignored his brother's pleas. He remembered the day in his past when they had been playing as teens. One of the beasts of Asgard had come from behind him. If it wasn't for Loki pushing out of the way, he would be dead and Loki would be in line for the thrown. Thor realized that Loki had been set back because of his linage and he was unwilling to let it happen anymore. "Loki, all I have ever done was for you. If ever you have been cast under my shadow, it was to protect you from hatred and the cruel world which brought us apart so many times. I will not let them harm you, not now, not again."

Odin swallowed and sat with a hand running through his snow white hair, "Go. Do not come back to Asgard, either of you. That will be your punishment. I will split it between the two of you. You both will have your powers and be immortal for all eternity. If you defend each other so well now, I hope you will survive in the human's realm. This is my decree." He sighed as most of the council started yelling protested. "Leave and never return." Thor nodded standing and taking Loki's arm. "Goodbye father. Tell mother I love her." He turned, his cape swooshing in the motion as if he didn't care in the slightest.

Loki stood there in shock, the foreign feeling of guilt as Thor was being cast out and denied his birth right. He knows that Thor had come to favor the mortal world but it still isn't the same. Now they were truly equals but it didn't seem as sweet as he wanted it to be in his mind. "You will regret the day you have denied Thor Odinson and I our birth right." He snarled at the people around him. A councilman stands, hearing the threat. "Speak louder trickster, now I can rip the silver tongue from your lips." Thor took his younger brother by the arm a little harder and shoots a glare that that could freeze even a frost giant in its place. "If you threaten him again, he will not be the only one whose life is endangered!" The threat wasn't idle either. "Come Loki, let us leave. The man of iron has a place for us in Midgard."

A councilwoman stands gleefully saying, "Now look, as the traitor and trickster walk in shame to live with the humans! Excellent punishment, my lord!" Odin had his face in his hands, regretting what he had done to both his sons. They would be immortal now forever. Never grow old and watch the people around them wither except for themselves. Thor grinned and waved like this was a parade, "I could think of no better name for myself. Traitor is a fine name for someone who stands up for someone he loves."

Thor exited the chambers only to a moment later to hug Loki tightly to his chest while the smaller went rigid. "Forgive me, I did not mean to put you through that. I wish there was a way I could have done that without exposing you to the cruelties of our people." The shorter pushed himself away, teeth bared "F-Forgive you? Thor, you either do not know what you have just done or you are completely mad! You…You… stood in there and…" He pointed back to the council room, staring him in the eye and seething, uncertanty clear for once. "I..." He couldn't find the words. Thor had just sacrificed everything for him...

Loki breathed out, trying to will the pain in his chest away, "You call me brother even as I destroyed the world around you! What must I do to break the bond that Odin created out of a lie that makes you so loyal to me!" He barked, shaking his fist at Thor, letting tears spill out without his knowledge. The thunderer watched him with sad eyes, "You were not completely yourself. I know those feelings you had were yours, yes. But you would not have acted as you did unless pushed to the brink. Our love for each other was not built on a lie, Loki. We were close once... ."

The smaller wanted to hit something and did, hitting the stone pillar for once. He wasn't the type to get physical with something. Normally that was Thor who acted on impulse. Why did Thor have to care so much, why didn't he just let him die like the others? "Why? Why must you continue to care… If you loved me, why don't you just end me by your own hand?" He whispered to the larger, knuckles bloodied. Thor's brow knitted, trying to find a way for him to understand what was going on inside his head. "If you stopped running for just a moment, you might realize that I am also being sincere when I say that you are my brother, my closest companion, my truest friend and I love you above all others." The words froze Loki in his tracks, looking back at him. People who were actors could not say those things with as much truth in their eyes as Thor did. Loki didn't know what to think now. People you hated weren't supposed to love you.

"I wish you would realize that it matters not where you go, I will tear through any obstacle, bribe any jailer, cross any abyss, and lay my life down. To have me, you need only call." Loki turned to him, his eyes narrowed. Had he… really thought Thor was... One might think he was blessed with the silver tongue but Thor stood there, his eyes searching his. The green clad God went to Thor and brushed his hand down his arm, not speaking, only seconds later receiving the warm arms around him that he had missed- though no one besides Thor seemed to understand that. I wish I had recognized sooner that you loved me enough for both Odin and Laufey…

Thor didn't say anything for a few moments. "Let us go return to the mortal world together. The man of iron has welcomed us. We will no longer have to be apart." Loki felt so weak and tired… so long trying to be strong through torture and hate... it had let him physically and mentally striken. "Why would the IronMan ask us, especially me to come into his home? He clearly doesn't remember who I am." Thor laughed, "No, they all do. Some are not very pleasured by the idea but the man of iron and the patriotic one swore that they would welcome you." He took hold of Loki's abused face from the muzzle, knowing the fanged piece would make those wounds scar.

"I wish they had not forced me to put that monstrous thing on you." Thor said softly taking his hand away from his chin and walking Loki over the rainbow bridge. They had rebuilt the gateway and the Gatekeeper saw their approach. The dark skinned man took a step back from the gate and bowed, letting them pass. "Good luck, Prince Thor and Loki of Asgard." Loki turned to look at him, remembering very well that he had frozen the man alive once. The thunder god smiled, "Thank you, let us make hast. We have friends waiting."

In what seemed like moments, Loki and Thor stood on the top of Stark Tower. "Is it strange to be...?" Loki whispered, waiting for the ones called the Avengers to come and greet them. He expected that since Thor did not move from where he was. "No Loki, understand that this is a new beginning for us both." He smiled and hoisted him up over his shoulder. "Come! We shall meet the mortals!" Loki tried to protest but honestly… he couldn't muster it.

Is this what he wanted? He was accepted by someone that he loved. He didn't even have to kill anyone for Odin sake. They were equals and he wondered about their past. "Thor, put me down for a moment." The taller obeyed and looked at him curiously, "What is it, brother?" There was a few moments of silence as the smaller looked down at the rooftop between them. His brows furrowed remembering happier times between them. More loving times where they worshipped each other. That had ended... but... Loki leaned up and kissed him on the lips. "Now I do not regret finding out about my true origins. I am rather Laufey's son and able to love you in every way possible still, than be Odin's son and be condemned to be only your brother and shadow. Do you understand what I am saying?" I want things to be like they were. Before the cube. Before that woman. Before Odin's wrather and our... fallout.

Thor couldn't help but be little surprised. He had wanted to be what he meant again before the world had gone crashing down around him... Now that they were free from the restrains and there was nothing between them really… "I do." He said with a nod before leaning in for another kiss, realizing that Loki's lithe form fit perfectly into his still. Thor pulled away from the burning kiss, slightly out of breath, "This will be an interesting forever." Loki swallowed, feeling… something akin to bliss perhaps? "It certainly will be."