Where Were You, Brother?

Loki sat in his cell, staring at his own reflection in the reinforced glass cells deep in the bowels of SHIELD Headquarters. He is a mess; his hair is wild and thrown about everywhere, numerous cuts mar his skin, fragments of dried blood splattered here and there. Why was he even here, on Midgard?  Thor had said to stop this madness, but he didn't understand. It was never about ruling Midgard, this was an act of pure chaos designed as the first step to his revenge on Asgard and Odin. He wanted to avenge them, but he failed. Again. He was always failing them.

He is brought out of his musings by the sound of someone entering the room from the door to his left. Loki doesn't turn, doesn't even acknowledge their presence...he has failed. He doesn't look away from his own crazed reflection until the intruder comes to a stop a foot from his cell. The familiar hum of electricity permeates in the air, a trait that follows his would be brother wherever he goes.

"Still trying to appeal to my humanity, Thor?"

"Brother-"

"I'm not your brother!" Loki snaps.

Despite everything Thors' expression hints at pity. "I just want to know why-"

"Why?" Loki asks incredulously, as though he needs to explain his reasons. "You ask that?"

"When did being king mean so much to you-" Loki scoffed - it was never really about being a king - but Thor ignored him. "-that you would kill innocents-" The glare Loki gives him is enough for him to cease momentarily.

"Killing innocents," Loki starts, standing up, now face to face with Thor. "Is not that what the greatest of Kings do?" His question, though given in a mocking tone is anything but, and even Thor - oblivious as he may be - knows it.

"The All-Father does what must be done for the betterment of Asgard and all the nine realms. You know as well as I that the lives of many outweigh the lives of a few-" Loki rolls his eyes, an action that is not missed by Thor, who is becoming increasingly frustrated. "Brother-"

"I am not your brother, Thor! Brothers care for each other, they do not..." He cannot even get the words out. "You think I did this because I desired the throne? That this was all some elaborate plot to prove to Odin my right to rule? I do not want to be a king, Thor...I haven't for a long time."

"Then why...the Chitauri...all of this, why?"

Loki looks at him, and for a moment Thor thinks he is looking right through him. Loki shakes his head, once again sitting down. "They were a means to an end." He finally admits.

"What end?"

Thor can see the small smirk that rests on his brothers face. "Odin's head severed from his body." he can't help the small chuckle at Thors' outraged expression.

"I grow tired of your mad ramblings, brother-"

"Do you not understand, Thor? You are not my brother." Thor didn't respond, choosing instead to observe Loki as he paced around his cell. "Where was my brother, as all of Asgard belittled me for favouring magic over my fists in a fight? When your friends mocked me every time I talked us out of the trouble that your carelessness led us into. I'll tell you where you were, Thor." Loki had advanced on him, his face almost pressed up against the glass doors of his cell. "You were right there, leading them in their ridicule."

"I was a boy, I did not know any better." Loki rolls his eyes. "I apologise-"

"Oh? But I'm not finished yet, Thor. You think this is about the throne, this is about making your father pay for what he has done!"

"And what has he done? Speak, Loki. What has the All-Father done to earn your ire...your hatred, brother?"

"Brother...there is that title again." Loki scoffs, turning away from Thor. "What has he done? What has he done?" The words come out as little more than a murmur, reinforcing Thors' previous statement towards Lokis' mad ramblings.

Thor begins arguing back, but Loki does not hear him over his own thoughts. "Where was my brother when Odin took my children from me?"

It is this that causes Thor's silence. To the Avengers - who watch the conversation on the monitor in the meeting room - he visibly deflates at the words. "Where was the Almighty Thor, then? Where were you, brother-" he mocks. "-when the All-Father branded my children abominations...when he tore them from my arms, one after the other? Where were you, Thor!?"

"Loki-" Thor begins, unsure what he should say, but knowing that he must say something.

"Madness, of course. Madness. Do you know where...when...this...madness festered...brother." Loki spat the word with as much disdain as he could muster. "It started when Odin took my firstborn son...my Sleipner... and trapped him in his monstrous form, deeming my son, little more than a prized steed! My mind cracked and splintered when Jormungadr was forced into his serpent form and banished to the oceans of Midgard. My son! What about Fenris, you remember him don't you, Thor?" Loki hissed.

"My son, who looked up to you, who wanted nothing more than to be a fierce warrior just like his Uncle...my son, who Odin turned into a wolf and left chained in the depths of Asgards Caves. And Hela, my beautiful daughter... a child, Thor. She was a child! A little girl who hadn't learnt to control her magic yet and the All-Father condemned her for it. The Great Odin, imprisoned her between forms and exiled her to Niflheim, forbidden from ever returning to Asgard."

By this time Loki is trembling, be it from rage or despair Thor does not know...it is most likely both. He has tears in his eyes and his lip quivers in between snarls. Thor cannot even find words to speak, because finally he was seeing Loki speak without restraints. Everything he said was true... and he was right, Thor had done nothing.

"But the All-Father did not stop there, did he Thor?!" Loki snarls, a sound which may have caused Thor to flinch upon hearing it had he not been trying to hide his emotions. "My sons...Sigyns' sons! Our boys, our Vali and Narfi. Children who possessed no magic, there was nothing the All-Father could do against them. He could not call them monsters, could not brand them abominations, they didn't have magic. But he hated them, because they were mine. He punished my children for crimes laid against me, crimes I did not commit-"

"The spell was not supposed to-" Thor, even with all the evidence was still trying to defend his father's actions.

"They did not have magic!" Loki yells, his eyes burning with fury, tears now falling. "Odin changed him into a wolf. My sons could not shapeshift, Thor...he knew this. Vali became a wolf in body and mind...and he tore his brother apart."

Watching on the Avengers are wide-eyed and somewhat disgusted. "I am sorry, Loki. I am truly sorry."

"Your feeble attempts at apologies mean nothing to me, Thor, not after what you've done. Your apologies will not return my children. They will not return my wife."

"I cannot express my grief enough for what has been done to you Loki-"

"To me?" Tears of anger well in his eyes, "Four of my children have been taken from me, two are dead. You allowed Odin to chain me to that rock, bound by my own sons entrails. You were content for me to remain there with acid burning my flesh for all eternity, not a word did you utter in protest. But Sigyn wouldn't allow it, she wouldn't abandon me. I told her to leave, I begged her, but nothing I said would make her listen. And after so many months you finally deemed me worthy of your time, didn't you Thor? But you were too late to stop her. Sigyn died protecting me until her last breath. I watched my wife waste away in that cave. Holding a bowl above my head so that the acid would not touch my skin, and it didn't, but it touched hers. And finally, when she grew too weak to lift that bowl, she lay her body on mine, a shield."

The Avengers stare at the two Asgardians in barely disguised horror and disgust.

With an almost resigned sigh, Loki utters, "Tell me brother, where were you, Thor?"

Thank you for your support. I know i'm often rather slack in updating and publishing new material but i appreciate all the love i get, so again thank you. Hope you enjoyed this little snippet.

-Love Dibbles