Fixated

Loki, God of Mischief, had not seen another living soul in three years.

After loosing in battle to the Avengers, Loki was forced to return to Asgard with Thor to face judgment on behalf of his crimes. He was full of hatred: hatred for the man who called himself his father, hatred for the human race, and hatred for his own kind. He knew he would be treated mercifully due to his status as prince, but he knew the punishment for his crimes would still be severe.

Thor tried to argue to Odin that Loki’s time spent lost in space had caused him to go mad with hatred. He said he was partially to blame. Therefore, Odin sought to punish his second son in ways that would hopefully redeem him.

Loki knew the game Odin and Thor were attempting and decided he would play along for his own sake. He was punished to solitary confinement for three years. Though in those three years he was haunted by memories. Memories from his childhood plagued him daily, as well as the memories from lives he ruined that fateful day in New York.

It drove him completely mad. He watched complete strangers in horrific pain. Eventually Loki wasn’t sure what was real and what was in his own mind. Three years in the same cell, seeing pain and suffering. Not only his own, but the suffering he caused others. But what really tortured him, were the happy memories that his own mind conjured.

Eden. For three years she was the only happy memory he possessed. He knew she was safe on Earth and reunited with her uncle. Loki loathed himself for remembering the events of the night they spent together. Her voice haunted him. It harassed him every night like a sick lullaby, played in his mind to constantly remind him of how he failed.

I was praying that you and me might end up together…

He wondered about her when he wasn’t wandering in the shadows of other people’s minds. He wondered if she still performed and if she’d found someone. She was of marrying age when he met her and was certain a great beauty such as her would find a husband with ease.

A phantom approached, interrupting his thoughts. Loki closed his eyes dreadfully, waiting for the nightmare to begin.

When Loki opened his eyes he was surprised to find that he was in the open at the palace of Asgard. Odin’s hall was almost as beautiful as he remembered. But instead of spring flowers and joyful orchestrations, there were gentle dirges. Someone had died.

“Thor is not himself,” his friend Hogun spoke.

“He mourns for his brother,” a woman spoke. It was his cousin, Idun. She looked sad in a gentle dark green dress.

“As do we all,” Hogun nodded solemnly.

“He sacrificed a lot to keep the Frost Giants alive,” she sighed. “His brother as well as that mortal girl.”

The mourning was for him. The entire palace had been dedicated to observing his loss after he first fell into space. He wandered through the halls and felt the sadness weigh upon him. They did love him.

Loki wandered past his adoptive mother, Frigga, and watched as the silent tears fell from her eyes. They all presumed he was dead. Frigga found Odin and pressed a comforting hand to his slumped shoulder. Loki had not realized how his absence affected them all.

“I failed him,” Odin admitted sadly.

“We all did. We thought keeping his origins from him and raising him as ours would be wise,” Frigga sighed. “He will be missed.”

Loki couldn’t watch anymore. He walked away, down the hall and to his old quarters. He wanted to be alone and wait for the sequence to end. But instead of finding solitude, he found his brother.

Thor stood in the middle of Loki’s parlor and looked around. The room was still as he left it, green and gold and clean. Thor stood with a miserable look on his face. He sighed heavily and walked out of the room, his melancholy echoing in each footstep.

Loki sat on his couch and rested his head in his hands. How much longer could he stand the pain of these memories? The phantoms that he saw did not see him, nor could they feel his touch. He could be surrounded by people and still be completely alone. He wasn’t sure who he loathed more, himself or his family for subjecting him to this punishment.

The world around him blurred and Loki was left sitting on the pathetic cot he was forced to use as a bed. The grey stonewalls reflected how he felt. The room was as depressing and empty as his life.

Suddenly, one of the walls began to move. It rumbled and vibrated as it raggedly made its way to the side. Loki’s eyes stared in wonder, unsure whether the phenomenon was really happening or not. Thor stepped forward and Loki squinted at him. Was it really his brother?

“Loki Laufeyson, adopted son of Odin and prince of Asgard, you have served your sentence. You shall be released from your imprisonment should you accept the following terms,” Thor began in a booming voice. “First: you must publicly renounce your previous actions against Asgard and the Earth. Second: you must publicly swear your allegiance to Odin and promise yourself to him in service as prince.”

Loki’s eyes looked at his brother in wonder. He served his term, the figure before him was not a phantom, and his titles would be returned to him. He would no longer be considered traitor to Odin’s throne.

“Yes,” his voice cracked. It was the first time he had spoken in months, possibly years. “I accept these terms wholeheartedly.”

“Then welcome home, brother!” Thor grinned and held out his arms. Loki stood and embraced him. It was the first physical contact he’d had with another since guards had thrown him in the prison three years previous. He was finally free to return home. Though freedom was often temptation for corruption.