Safe and Sound

Outside, for the last time of his life, and left in the sight of the citizens of Asgard in it's capitol city so they could jeer and heckle him, Loki sighed deeply but stood tall like always, amongst Thor, Odin, Frigga, a few heavily armed guards, and lastly Brokk. That dwarf had the biggest grin on his face in the whole capitol, and now it was angering for Loki when before it was merely annoying. This dwarf, whom he had never directly caused pain or suffering, had the “grand duty” of sealing Loki's mouth for good. Loki remained composed but deep down he was scared. Thor and Odin really had taken everything from him, this last act of cruelty was just the cherry on top.

For all of this he had his supposed brother had father to thank, the rest of the court had decided for Loki's immediate death. However they saw fit to prolong Loki's suffering until the end of time itself. The crowds of commoners below were jeering and shouting up at him, but his ears were deaf to them. So what if they hated Loki? They were brainwashed by Thor and Odin in doing so.

He was on top of a quickly constructed wood scaffolding in the center of the city, overlooked by the grand Palace of Asgard. The scaffolding had three platforms, each barely higher than the next. Thor, Odin, Frigga and other important Asgardian figures were highest up. Loki and the numerous guards, along with Brokk were in front of them. And lowest were servants and peoples not quite so distinguished. Among them was Eyfrida, who still would not look at Loki directly, though he wished she would. The indirectness of the girl was beginning to get on his nerves. Of course that was when his nerves weren't on his nerves. The constant back and forth between arrogance and apathy to solicitous and depressed was tiring him greatly.

“Well Loki, any last words?” Brokk smiled sinisterly, approaching him with that same bowl from his first night back. Only now Loki new what it held.

“I don't have any words for you, nor for the filth I'm surrounded by,” Loki sneered, low enough so that his words would not carry far, but they carried still. Brokk still held his smile, like he knew deep in Loki's core that he had much to say and that he feared loosing the last valuable asset he had.

“Very well,” Brokk replied, stifling a laugh that would outdo his wicked smile, before grabbing out a jagged, long, and curved bone needle from the bowl. Attached was a thin, white and flesh tone thread that had been weaved from the very ligaments and tendons of the worthy deceased in Asgard. Disgusted by that thought, Loki looked away and once again his eyes fell onto Eyfrida. She was staring at the grotesque needle and thread that was Loki's undoing and began to pale, even look a bit green. That was very bothersome because the girl was holding onto his cloak for him.

From behind, a completely different reaction was very audible from his former mother. Frigga had been crying the whole day, but now she was in hysterics over Loki and what was to come of him.

“Open your mouth, Prince of Lies,” Brokk said and Loki hated obeying, while he felt his stomach churn and his chest tighten, knowing what was about to be done couldn't be pain free, especially with the crudely formed needle and variation of width in the thread.

Brokk grabbed ahold of Loki's jaw, griping painfully tight, though Loki had vowed to show the dwarf no expression of pain, and pulled him down, forcing Loki to kneel before him as he spread Loki's lips taught. He took one final and free breath in as Brokk positioned the needle in the right lower corner of his mouth. He held his breath, feeling the jagged point of the needle poke into his flesh before forcing himself to breathe evenly out through his nose when the needle protruded harshly into his mouth, and curving up to simultaneously pierce his upper lip. His lips twitched unwillingly, causing more pain as the thread was slowly dragged through his skin. Loki watched Brokk intently, staring at the dwarf as he smirked evilly.

He was quick to move on when the thread's length had been pulled through, not showing any mercy or intentions of pausing for Loki. When the bone needle pierced through Loki's cupids bow, steady breathing wasn't helping anymore. He finally allowed himself to close his eyes, fearing that tears would begin to well in his eyes. The good news, Loki figured, was if Brokk stayed symmetrical there would only be four more holes before the torment would be over. With that thought, and a harsh tug on the thread to close Loki's mouth, Brokk began on the left side of Loki's lips.

Loki's eyes opened again, in slight shock to the agonizing burn caused by the thread, but now Brokk has shifted from where he previously stood, and Loki had a clear view of his audience. He tried to focus on them for the last few moments of his punishment and inevitably his eyes fell back onto his young servant. Visibly, she was shaking from the sight of Loki's final punishment, with her skin now ghostly white, leaving her amber eyes and light auburn hair to stand out vibrantly. Slowly, her eyes lifted from the ground and over to him, straight over to him. It was the first time she had ever looked clearly at him, but now Loki had these horrible stitches. Loki was shortly afraid that the girl would faint and tumble off the platform but she remained with her feet planted into the ground, no matter how horribly she shook. And then, as Brokk tightly fastened the stitching he had made, Loki watched as two glistening tears fell down her face, the sun catching them and turning them temporarily into shining crystals.

Loki's eyebrows slightly knitted together at the sight. Surely she wasn't alone, Frigga had been nearly wailing the whole time. This girl didn't know him, however, and didn't even care for him as far as Loki could tell. She was just respectful because she viewed him as royalty still, though no one else did.

Brokk suddenly forced Loki's head forward and up, making Loki look at him again, instantly Loki shoot him a glare worthy of killing. “Heh,” the dwarf smiled, admiring the handiwork he had accomplished, before squeezing Loki's cheek and mouth together. A rush of warm, thick blood flooded Loki's mouth and as a reflex he coughed, or he tried to. Most of the blood was stuck in his mouth, and his initial reflex after that was to swallow. Loki forbade himself to do so, instead forcing the blood past his closed lips, only causing it to flow down his chin and more blood to enter his mouth.

“Odin, my king,” Brokk finally stepped away from Loki, as he was left sputtering on his knees. "The deed is done, he will bother us no longer."

“Girl!” he heard Thor's voice boom behind him as Loki shut his eyes, breathing rapidly through his nose so he wouldn't begin to choke. Thor grabbed Loki by the arm and swiftly picked him up off his knees, Loki immediately pulling away once he was stable, as he called Eyfrida over to them. She was hesitant before stiffly walking over and Thor took Loki's cloak, throwing it over his brother's shoulders and completely disregarding the servant girl. She still knew well enough to follow them as Thor rushed Loki off the platform and into the angry crowd. Loki knew Thor, nor Odin, wanted him outside his cell longer than he had to be in risk of him escaping, but what could he possibly do now? If anything Thor was sparing Loki any further humiliation.

As Loki stepped off the platform's stairs and down into the crowd, with only two useless guards separating him from Asgard's hate, leaving became much more trouble than it seemed worth. Loki stared into the faces of the jeering crowd, still slowly pushing blood out of his mouth to keep from the taste triggering his gag reflex. Then he would be in a horrible predicament. He imagined how horrid he must look with the stitches and blood, as well as most his face covered in shadow from Thor throwing the hood of Loki's cloak over his brother's head.

The crowd swarmed around them as the guards uselessly zigzagged through, only caring for the citizens in front of them. The sides of Loki were poorly protected by Thor's arms, as he had each hand tightly gripping Loki's shoulders. Behind Thor, however, was unprotected and Eyfrida was having trouble cutting through the crowd by herself. Loki looked back, wondering how he had realized this without any powers or intuition, and saw her falling quickly behind. He stopped walking then, struggling against Thor when he did until Thor realized why Loki had stopped. He called to the guards who had continued on to wait as Loki turned sightly and reached back, grabbing Eyfrida's dress straps with his invisibly shackled hands before forcing her through the unruly mob. She tripped then, literally being dragged forward by Loki before he placed her in between himself and the guards, holding her tightly around her lower ribs before they continued on.

The guards had, eventually, lead Eyfrida, Loki and Thor to barred carriage, when barely approaching it Odin began to speak loudly, his voice magically amplified to sound as if he were right next to his listeners.

“My people, please try to remain orderly,” Odin called, gaining the attention of most, but not all of Loki's hecklers, making it easier to gain access to the carriage. “Loki's terror has finally come to an end, please be joyous.”

Loki turned around, nearly tossing Eyfrida around with him before he let go of her, to stare at his “father”, hearing what he had just said. He almost couldn't comprehend what Odin had said, the man who claimed to love Loki for so long. A deep fury swelled, filling his chest as he wondered why he hadn't let Laufey kill Odin before.

“Come now Loki,” Thor commanded, trying to regain Loki's attention as he stood fuming and glaring up at the All Father. Thor grabbed Loki's arm and held steadfast as Loki violently jerked away, pulling him closer to the carriage before letting go. Loki's glare had turned temporarily to Thor before taking Eyfrida's hand and forcefully helping her into the carriage first, something completely backwards to her. Loki followed, with Thor last and he sat across from Loki and Eyfrida facing the back of the carriage. The guards closed the door, locking it before instructing the driver to leave as Odin's speech continued.

The carriage set off at a fast pace, quickly leaving Odin's voice behind, along with the hateful crowd. Still, Loki was fuming, his head hung low in the shadow of his hood as his clenched fists trembled from hate.

“Don't you have a rag, girl, to clean his face?” Thor asked Eyfrida, noticing the blood still slowly dripping from his lips onto his lap. The blood had stopped seeping in through Loki's lips now, but instead the stitching continued to bleed from the outside of his mouth.

Eyfrida looked startled for a second, being addressed so suddenly by Thor, before realizing she had nothing but her dress. She grabbed the hem of her dress, moving closer to Loki before his hand shot out and stopped her, grabbing onto her wrist and trying not to squeeze her too tightly but also letting her know not to proceed.

She gasped, jumping back as Loki held her wrists before Thor intervened, “Brother please-”

Loki stopped him, holding up his other hand, which was still shaking from rage, intending the gesture to let Thor know to stop speaking before Loki lost his composure completely. Thor understood and left Loki to himself for the rest of the ride. Eyfrida also receded into the far side of her seat she shared with Loki. Loki's sudden flare of hatred slowly receded, being replaced with a small depression. By the time the carriage had arrived the blood had coagulated over Loki's wounds and the rest had dried over his chin, neck and hands. Thor was first out of the carriage when the guards stationed at Loki's cell unlocked the door. Eyfrida stayed in her seat as Loki brought himself to stand from his seat, crouching oddly due to his height and the low ceiling. He watched Eyfrida, her eyes glancing directly into his for a moment before disappearing as she stayed huddled in her corner.

He exited the carriage, but immediately turned around and watched as Eyfrida stood, faltering when she noticed Loki watching, and then hesitantly took his hand when he silently offered to help her down. Thor, as well as the guards, watched as Loki helped the girl with slight confusion before leading Loki back into his cell. Loki immediately went to the basin of water, gingerly washing the blood away from his wounds, face and hands. Eyfrida entered behind him and stood awkwardly by the door, staring down at her feet as Thor followed and the guards locked the heavy door behind him.

Thor stood in the entrance, watching Loki, he could feel Thor's eyes on his back as he cleaned his face. Loki didn't acknowledge him, but stayed where he was, constantly bringing the cold, slightly numbing water up to his lips. He attempted to suck some water in to rid his mouth of the displeasing metallic taste of his own blood but the attempts were futile in it only caused slightly more blood to enter with the water.

“Loki,” Thor spoke after Loki had gave up, placing both of his hands on the basin and leaning down, trying to see his reflexion in the bloody water. Loki slightly turned his head, to acknowledge that he was listening to Thor but wasn't going to look at him. “I'm sorry what happened to you today,” Thor continued.

Loki attempted to laugh spitefully though the stitching tugged painfully on his lips. Instead Loki turned around to face his brother and simply pointed to the door.

Thor understood, but he wasn't ready yet to leave Loki be. Instead he turned to Loki's servant girl and said, “Fetch some parchment and ink.” Eyfrida looked up quickly when she was addressed before quickly doing as told, bringing Thor a piece of parchment, a quill and an ink well.

Thor took them and set them on a small dining table near where Loki stood. Loki sighed through his nose, walking to the parchment and with the quill simply wrote, “Leave.”

“I won't leave yet, Loki. What do you expect to do here?” Thor asked and Loki closed his eyes, feeling frustration creep in through his sadness. Quickly he reached down, touching the quill to the parchment again and simply underlined the word he wrote previously.

“Do you not have an answer for me? Are you planning on rotting away in here with your servant girl?” Thor asked, a sad anger resonating through his voice. Loki narrowed his eyes at Thor before sighing, again through his nose, and moving to sit at the table.

“What do you expect me to do?” Loki wrote out as Thor also sat, across from Loki. “She has a name, as well. Eyfrida. Besides the girl can't read,” Loki finished, pushing the parchment towards Thor and he read it silently before looking over to her.

“Eyfrida,” Thor spoke, seeing she was back standing at the door with her head down. She immediately looked up to acknowledge Thor. “You cannot read?”

“N-no, your highness,” she replied quietly and properly, lowering her eyes from Thor and Loki.

“How do you expect to live with that?” Thor asked, tossing the parchment back at Loki. “Send her back to that prison and I can find you another, a few, who can certainty read and would be able to better attend you-” Thor began as Loki quickly took the quill and wrote more while Thor spoke.

“No, you will not taker her back to the prison. No child belongs there. She will make due, I can teach her- and damn it Thor stop speaking of her as if she cannot hear you! It is difficult enough to deal with an adolescent girl without you throwing off her nonexistent self esteem!” Loki threw the paper back at Thor, throwing his quill down as well as Thor read Loki's words.

“How do you expect to teach her when you can't speak, and when did you become aware of others around you?” Thor asked, his voice rising towards Loki. “You never seemed to care for anyone besides yourself-” Thor began but Loki now interjected by slamming his fist down on the stone table. Both of them sat silent then, their tempers flaring at one another.

Quickly Loki wrote on the paper, “Get out.”

“So we're done then?” Thor asked and immediately Loki stood from his seat, pointing again to the door. “I am not finished with you-” Thor began but Loki took it upon himself to reach forward, to grab Thor and force him out of his seat. Loki pointed to the door again, his face riddled with hatred. Thor saw this, but thought of it only as a side effect of feeling betrayed. Thor knew that with time Loki would eventually calm down. “I am not done with you,” Thor said, though he made his way to the door, knocking for the guards to let him out.

“Take care of him for now, Eyfrida,” Thor said as the door opened for him. “Though I can't see how you can,” he added as he waked out of the room and the door closed again, locking Loki and Eyfrida inside. Loki remained where he stood, now focusing on Eyfrida, watching as she shook with quiet tears over what Thor has said. Breathing slowly so he could calm down he snapped his fingers to gather her attention. She jumped slightly as she looked over to Loki, who then motioned her over.

She walked over to Loki, her arms folded across her stomach as she tried to quickly stop sobbing. She stopped in front of Loki, though her head was cast down, a habit he had to break immediately unless he wanted to be snapping at the girl for the rest of his life. He reached forward, taking her chin and lifting her face up until their eyes met. She was shocked, too afraid to look back down or cast her eyes away from Loki.

He brought his hand up to his mouth, drawing it away as he tried to tell her to speak to him about why exactly she was sad. In response she only looked confused. He repeated the action, watching her eyes fill again with tears. He tried again, realizing that this was useless. He threw his arms in the air in slight frustration before leaning his forehead against the cold stone of the inner cylindrical wall of his cell.

“Loki,” she said quietly as he did and a sudden rush of goosebumps flooded his skin for an odd and unknown reason; she hadn't said his name directly to him before. “I-I don't... Thor's right,” she said quietly and Loki looked quickly back to her, wishing he could scold her for even thinking that anything to do with Thor was considered right.

She understood Loki's thoughts from his expression and stepped backwards, away from him. “I can't read,” she insisted, “I won't be able to understand you, you can't ask anything of me-” she began, more tears spilling from her face. Loki watched, slowly becoming perplexed. Those surely weren't the reasons for her crying, and he guessed that she didn't want to go back to the prison in the Palace of Asgard.

She would rather stay here with a miserable, explosive God and ex-king of Asgard, then go back to attending the prison guards in the Palace? Loki pondered this, watching her as she remained silent before reaching out to her, earning a flinch before his cold hand settled gently on her shoulder, his thumb gently caressing the bare skin there, in an attempt to reassure her that things would be fine for them. Loki thought the opposite however, and didn't now what to do with her or himself at that point.