A/N: Wow… Honestly I am surprised that so many of you liked my story. I had thought that the idea was farfetched but I am glad that so many of you liked it. I hope that this chapter doesn't disappoint any of you and… wow what a jump in length! This is for all of you that review and all the other people that actually read that cruddy first chapter!
I felt light, like the world was suddenly shifting on its axis, like I was back floating through space in that endless void. My limbs felt as if they were their own entities, floating away from me, and all that was left of me was my head floating along. There was no pain and for one moment I was blissfully unaware of what was occurring outside this realm of what could only be described as a dream. Unfortunately this world that I was so happily floating in had to find it's gravity at some point and after only a few moments of floating unaware to the world I felt the sudden pull of gravity. My limbs were pushed back to my body and I was suddenly slammed into the world of the waking. Upon the sudden alertness that consciousness brought with me, I felt an ache in my bones and a burning in my seemingly over used muscles .I felt a gasp fall unbidden from my lips at the sudden shock to my system and then the sound of boots hitting tiled floor had me alerted to my surroundings.
I had no knowledge of where I was, no wait that was not true, I knew who I was with but not in what location that they had placed me. I opened my eyes to see blinding white and what I could only assume to be the soft grey outline of furniture. I felt my head pound painfully in protest of the bright light but I did not close my eyes to block the light. The sound of more boots had me glancing in the direction that I assumed was the door. My neck twanged painfully in protest and then a startling, and bone chilling, realization hit me. I was still sore, no not just sore, I was still injured. No it was not nearly as bad as it had been right after the green monster had given me the beating of a life time. No, this wasn't right, this wasn't supposed to be happening, I should have been healed by now and I should be able to simply turn my head without the muscles in my neck trying to rip from my body.
What was worse was not the pain, no, It was the fuzzy feeling that had fallowed me into the waking world and hung at the back of my mind like the annoying buzz of an insect. It made my thoughts run slow and my movements run slower. My thoughts were so rudely interrupted by none other than my brother. Thor charged into the white room that I lay in, hammer held high and eyes searching, acting as if he expected to see an enemy up and charging at him the moment he stepped into the room. I could only assume that then enemy he was expecting to see had of course been me but as his eyes landed on my still form I thought that maybe that was not the case.
A sudden righteous and vicious anger washed over me at the thought that I was not the one to be standing on the top anymore, that my brother found me as no threat, but then I remembered my weakened state and the anger simmered down long enough for me to realize that now would not be a good point to be the object of my brothers fear. Our eyes met once I had calmed and what I saw there had a sudden feeling of… fear, clawing it's way up my throat. Thor seemed to be washed in a look of relief as he glanced upon my prone figure and then the fear that I had felt was replaced by something else, something acidic and cold, a feeling seeming to hint at guilt but much too strong for that.
Thor seemed to relax his whole body as he stepped closer to my bed but stopped when a second set of boots fallowed him. Thor glanced to his side and my eyes fallowed his gaze to the man that I had entrapped, Clint was his name, and the man stared at me with eyes so filled with hatred that had I been a weaker man, had I not been used to the glares, I would have shrunk back in fear. Instead I glared defiantly back at the man I had hurt and watched him carefully. Thor simply dismissed the man with the wave of his hand and with a look of disdain, to more than just myself, Clint stepped out of the room and let the door slide shut behind him.
"Loki… I am glad to see that you have awoken my brother." Thro spoke in a low, almost hushed, tone as he stood beside my bed and stared down at me. He seemed as if he was standing at the bed of a dying man and I could feel the look of incredulous anger that washed over my face. Thor was acting as if I was a weak babe that had been forcefully removed from its mother and left to die, he spoke as if even his words could shatter my bones and it sent another surge of flaming anger through me. I turned my eyes away from my brother so that I could black that concerned gaze he had me cornered with.
My eyes caught the white of the ceiling and I felt my mind shift slightly in another direction. I realized then how much I hated white and yet I couldn't tell if I hated white because I was stuck staring up at it or if I hated it because I was transferring the anger I felt towards my brother. I did hate white though, there was just something about the pure color and the way it seemed to make everything else around it seem so dirty, white was a color for those that felt superior to anyone and everything. Odin had a habit of loving white things and I guessed that was why I had hated the man so much. Suddenly I realized I was drifting away from the important thoughts and my eyes snapped back to Thors only to see a look of concern upon his face.
"And why exactly would you be glad that I am awake brother? I should be in a cell should I not? That is where you put me last time… And yet I do not see anything keeping me in this room beside your pet standing outside the door." Venom flowed unbidden into my voice but the look of shock on Thors face was enough to make up for the slip. I felt guilt claw at me though as I saw the hurt in his eyes and I knew it was not his fault. Thor was not the ruler of this pathetic planet and if he wanted to keep returning he had to either rule it or fallow the rules. He could not stop himself from doing as he is told just as I could not stop myself from doing as I was told. I did have to admit that my retaliation to being locked in that cage had not been a part of my plan, it had not been a thought out process, and I regret my actions towards my brother at that point purely because I could have killed him.
Again I almost felt a shift in my thoughts and I was drifting back to my memories. Dully I remember feeling that the way my thoughts were shifting was not right but my w=mind was cleared as I heard a shifting of boots and then a warm and calloused hand was grabbing at my wrist and pulling me out of the fog that was clouding my mind. Suddenly, without any warning, My hearts starts racing and angry fear takes hold of me. I sit up straight in the bed and find that it is not only my brothers hand that chains me to my bed at this point.
The chain in most cases would seem small and insignificant, something I could break with my eyes closed, but as I tried to find the strength to shatter the chain I realized that something was missing inside of me. Then, altogether, in one moment the whole picture comes snapping into view and I am in a blind rage as I yank my wrist from Thors grasp.
My brother seems shocked and I use this moment to my advantage, I am half crouched, half standing, on the bed with my long fingers wrapped uselessly around his throat and my right arm pulled back at an uncomfortable angle. I leaned as far forward as I could manage and squeezed with all the strength my weakened body could muster.
"What did you do to me?" My voice hissed out like that of a viper and for a moment I saw nothing more than a blink. Again I decided to ask my question and my fingers twitched.
"I said 'WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?'" Thor seemed shocked at the sudden raise in my voice and then he was the one looking guilty and I was the one feeling betrayed. I knew what they had done to me, what had been taken from me, I could feel it in my brittle bones and my aching muscles. I was weak and I was pathetic and all the remorse and guilt I saw from my brother did nothing to calm my nerves and hope against hope that the foolish insects that called themselves humans had not sentenced me to my death.
An angry snarl made its way onto my face as the confirmation was given in my brothers eyes and I now knew why Thor had been so eager to rush to my side and protect me, why he had run in with his weapon drawn and ready for battler. Thor, without my knowing it, reached up and grabbed the wrist that held the hand around his throat. I jarred forward slightly and wrenched my arm almost painfully against the chain that held me. Thor now refused to meet my gazed and instead he let my wrist fall to my side and he tried to explain.
"You have to understand Loki. I did not have a choice. There was no way for me to stop them without hurting innocents. The avengers, they had deemed you a threat and while you were unconscious, while you were easy to fall victim, they gave you something I had no knowledge of that suppressed what power you had." Thor looked up at me at this point, the guilt shinning brighter than before.
"You have to understand Loki! This was not my choice and not my decision. I know what it is like to loose your power and I know how it feels, had I been able to I would have-" I could not hold myself back anymore, I could not restrain the anger I felt, I pulled my free hand back and sent a punch right to my brothers face. I felt my own bone crack and then snap as the connected with the gods jaw but the look of surprise was enough to send my stomach curling in joy and the pain fading away to the background. I was angry and I had the right to be. I knew that my brother had been hurt what I betrayed him, When he had his power taken from him, so why, WHY, had he allowed such a thing to occur to me.
Not only had Thor allowed it to happen I could hear that at one point he had condoned it and was just now regretting his actions. It hurt me, it hurt me more than I would ever admit, to feel that kind of betrayal. This wasn't a father punishing a son or a brother quarrel, this wasn't anger at a man who had lied to you and this wasn't a joke. Thor had allowed HUMANS to suppress my power, had allowed them to take away my only means of escape should my employers come after me.
"You… How could you? You let them do this to me? You let them take away my power? I am nothing more than one of them now! I am weak and pathetic! I cannot even break through this chain and you LET THEM DO THIS? I am like and animal trapped in a cage now! There is no were for me to go and nothing for me to do! DO you not know what YOU have done? Do you not understand what exactly you have condoned? No, you do not! You do not understand because you do not listen! You have never listened to me Thor and you are nothing but a fool for it!" My voice cracked and wavered as I shouted.
Suddenly my head spun and my vision swam as the pain I was feeling and the rush of emotion sent my almost spiraling into blackness but I held my ground and glared up at my brother who stood before me looking confused and hurt. In my mind he had no right to be hurt, he had no reason to be, and yet there he was standing before me and acting like I was the one who had stolen his power. The anger boiled and I raised my broken hand to punch this man again but with the simplest movement he was grabbing onto my wrist and preventing any further damage to my person.
In that moment I was reminded of the last time I had seen my brother. Of the times before this war where I had tried to save a world and I remember clutching onto him and hanging in the void like a doll. I had released his hand then, I had let go. I felt like we were back in the same situation, like I was hanging in the void again and he was trying to pull me to a safety that was not real and could not be mine again. Only this time I could not save my brother because he was my damnation, he was the thing I had been trying to get away from. I hated Thor for this, I hated him for the pain he was causing me, but it was a hate I knew would go away just like every other time. I knew that I could forgive him for this and maybe this time I would be the one to pull him back from the betrayal and try to save him. I stared at my brother as my heart rate slowed but as he went to speak the anger flared again and I tried to jerk my wrist from his grasp.
"Don't you dare! Do not make excuses for yourself Thor! I threw myself into the void to save your life and yet you had never thought when I was fighting against you that maybe, just maybe, I was the one who was in danger? I had never tried to kill you! I had never truly hurt any of you and yet you had sought to destroy me! You assumed my intent! I am the god of Tricks not the god of death! Why must you automatically assume the worst of me!" Thor seemed shocked as I spoke and I felt that even I myself was shocked at my own words.
This was not how it was supposed to be! I was supposed to back on Asgard, in a cell, locked out of the view and reach of those who wanted to hurt me. Instead I was stuck in a place I did not know, surrounded by people I did not know, and robbed of the only thing that could protect me. I was a sitting duck for those who wanted to hurt me, I was an open meal and a free invitation. I stared at my brother and I realized that Thro could see the fear I was trying to hide, he could tell that I was terrified, and it had him pulling away from me and heading for the door.
Knew that he knew I was not afraid of him, but some outside source, and my own ramblings had confirmed this. I watched as his back retreated through the door. I found myself alone in a room that was to bright, and to cold, and so I sat back down of the bed and just waited as I struggled with the chain. My hand was aching and the fuzzy feeling I had felt was almost gone. New aches and pains started making themselves know and I couldn't help but wonder if I had hurt this pathetically mortal form even more.
The door opened again and a doctor walked in, followed by Thor. TH man walked over and sat in the empty chair beside me before, without even so much as a hello, he grabbed my hand and started twisting and turning to see if he could find the exact injury. I ignored the man in favor of staring up at Thor who was completely silent and not even glancing my way. I was angry for that but in a moment that anger seemed to fade away as something pricked my skin. Warmth flooded up my arm and over my senses before I felt myself start to teeter between being awake and that floating world I had found myself in. Some one, I could only make a guess as maybe Thor, pushed me back against the bed as the doctor finished his work and left the room. My vision Swam and I stared up at him as he gently pat my arm.
"Do not worry brother. You are safe here." I couldn't help the bitter laugh that left me.
"I will never be safe again brother." And then the world was fading and a look of concern was back on my brothers face.
A/N: I know that this chapter has a lot of Thor and Loki without much else in it but it is showing that there has been suspicion among Thor and the other avengers about Loki's motives. Thor of course had not forgotten about what his brother did for him and in this a little bit more is told to Thor. As far as first interactions go this one was what could be expected. I just love the relationship that Thor and Loki have. There is something to be said about the brotherly bond they will always hold, even when they hurt each other.
Anyway! PLEASE REVIEW!