Trickster of Ice

You Can Break My Bones, But My Mind Is Untouchable

(Narrator POV)
Loki spent more time with Thanos than he would really like to think about (thank you very much), and most of it is being tortured by him or one of his daughters, or even the Other sometimes.

He had been gone for a year now (6 months in the Void and 6 months with The Purple Teletubby), everyone thought he was dead, and nobody would care enough to look for him if they thought he was alive. In short, Loki was fairly certain that he was never getting out of here in one piece.

Or at all, considering he may become Chitauri chow once he kicks the bucket.

Many people wouldn't recognize him if they saw him again. He was beaten and bloody almost constantly, and his glamour had long since dropped so he was as blue as the day he was born.

Loki had always had a set of forms that came as easy as breathing and took almost no magic or effort to do anymore. There was the Asgardian male, Asgardian female, Light Elf male, Light Elf female, genderless Asgardian, young male Asgardian, snake, wolf, horse, cat, crow, panther, and many, many more. All of which were just what he would look like if he were naturally that thing, but he could also turn into anything or anyone else he desired. Real or imaginary.

Perks of being a natural shifter.

So, his shift normally would take no effort at all even after he broke the seal because it's so natural for him and even depleted magic stores don't really effect how capable he is of the change. However, he is mainly focusing on healing his constant wounds, and they keep stabbing him with Jotun artifacts to turn him back into a blueberry anyways.

It hadn't been long enough to accurately say, but Loki was pretty certain that his luck had officially swirled the drain.

In case you were curious.

Anyways, he was sitting in his cell, pondering life, and waiting for the next thing that would inevitably be more painful than the last, when he heard the sound of rushing feet that were clearly trying to remain quiet.

The door opened and he was greeted with the sight of Nebula, which almost made him flinch these days, no matter how hard he tried not to think about the time that she dug metal hooks into his thigh bones (the femur, apparently the most painful bone to break).

Uncharacteristically, she rushed over and immediately started working on his chains which confused him, but hey, who is he to complain about possible soon-to-be freedom?

"I'm unchaining you and leaving the door open. Father will think it was one of the Chitauri so I'll be fine and you can get away. There is a portal in a room six doors down to your left, I don't know where it goes, but it will get you out of here." She told him quietly while getting the chains undone enough to free his arms a bit.

"Why are you helping me?" Loki questioned as she moved on to untangling his legs from the chair as well.

"Because I've been where you are." Nebula responded without looking up from her work. Her voice was quiet and sudden realization dawned on him.

"He tortured you." It wasn't even a question, but she nodded anyways and began working on his tied hands.

"How do you think I became like this?" She asked as she gestured toward the metal parts of her face. "How do you think I became his daughter?" The blue woman asked quieter.

"So what? Am I supposed to be his son?" Loki couldn't help but ask while wiggling his way out of the loosened chains and beginning to stand.

She paused in her work helping him and finally made eye-contact. Her black eyes dove into his emerald ones like lasers. "One day, maybe." Was Nebula's reply.

"I'll never do anything he wants." Loki said because he almost felt like he had to. 6 months of torture was not enough to make him into a puppet.

"I know. That's another reason why I'm letting you go." Nebula answered and for the first time ever, Loki saw a small smile play on her lips. It was too sharp and a bit feral, but it was a smile nonetheless.

"I thought you were the one loyal to daddy." Her grin fell into a scowl, but he knew he was right. She was the loyalist, so why was she saving him at all?

Nebula didn't reply at first and Loki wasn't very surprised. If someone had made the same comment to him about Odin (it would have been untrue because everyone knew he was the rebel, while Thor was the good little soldier), Loki would have had a bit of a hissy fit about how he would never be loyal to that man.

"You're on your own from here." Is what Nebula said instead of biting his head off. She moved to the door and pushed it open as if she was about to leave.

"I can't just leave you here." The raven-haired male said in order to stop her from leaving him just yet.

"I was under the impression you were selfish." That smile was back, and Loki felt an odd burn of familial love claw at his chest like a dying animal trying to crawl out of the flames it was thrown in.

He didn't know what that was, but he was ready to ignore it for right now because the last thing he needed was to think about Nebula as anything ,but a reluctant ally (thinking of her like a sister was definitely a mistake).

"Sometimes, but you and I aren't all that different." Is what he said instead of thoroughly embarrassing himself with that mushy stuff.

"It's too dangerous. Right now you are injured and it will be hard to heal while fighting off my Father who will come for me." She replied immediately, but she did feel a wave of.... something like gratitude for the fact that he cared enough to try.

"You shouldn't have to stay here." Loki knew what someone trapped looked like since he was so often in that situation himself, and he hated to leave her in her own personal prison like this.

Once again, she took a moment to respond, and he knew that he was giving her a kindness that not many had given. For some reason, that bothered him.

"Tell you what, if you remember me, then you can wait for the perfect time and come save me." Nebula finally said, and from her rueful grin, he knew that she never thought he would come back.

He would though. One way or another, he owed her his life and probably part of his soul for saving him, so he'd do everything he could to come back and save her.

Sure, he'd need to find this place again which he imagined would be a nightmare and a half, but he would still try his best.

So, he said the word she wanted to hear that also finally allowed her to slip out the door, and rush down the hall before she was caught with him.

"Deal."

A/N I always felt like Nebula and Loki were very similar and would make good friends so I had to give them a familial or platonic relationship.

Also, this chapter and all the others after this are the ones completely made by the more recent me instead of me from a year ago!

Hope you enjoyed and keep on reading!