Chapter Text
Thor had bitten off more than he could chew, as the Midgardians would say.
That was all he could think of, the squeezing, ‘I regret my life’ breathlessness that would not shake free from his lungs. It occurred to him that it might be Sanctuary’s air - that this eerily lightless place might have an atmosphere that was not exactly agreeable to Asgardians and he was simply feeling the effects.
Except he had felt the niggling of this inescapable aura since he had first faced one of the Titan’s lackeys, looked it in the eye, and swore that he wanted to meet its master face-to-face.
What are you doing, Thor had heard Loki’s voice whisper in his mind for the thousandth time since his brother’s fall from the Bifrost, as if Loki’s spirit was still following him; chiding him; counseling him.
It is Loki’s fault I’m in this mess. Thor huffed to himself, and then felt guilt burn into his heart. No. He did not mean that. He drew in a long, steadying breath of Sanctuary’s heavy air as he followed the trail of the slender figure of Thanos’ servant, This is not his doing. I chose to come here. I chose to pursue this lead. For mother. And for himself. But he would not admit it; not admit, one way or the other, whether he believed Loki was dead. He wanted him to be alive, but it had been months and Odin so sure he had perished, and…
His thoughts stumbled and numbed as he rounded a spire or two of rock and was brought to a flat, polished court and a throne. The throne floated above him - solid gold and imposing - and its back was turned to him.
Ebony Maw, the grey-skinned servant who had led him, turned and with beady, dark eyes and curling lips sneered, “The Master. Watch your tongue.”
Thor almost retorted a Watch yours, but settled for shifting Mjolnir a little farther behind his cloak. This was no time for irreverence, or so the Loki-voice in his skull told him.
He cleared his throat. It sounded loud, in the muffled silence (he was sure there were other sounds; moaning… higher pitched wailing noises, but he could not actually hear them) and tried to make some greeting, “Thank you for granting me audience… Lord Thanos.”
Thor was quite sure the disdain for having to use that term was not entirely scoured from his voice. He still had pride and for some inherent reason he felt this Thanos did not deserve respect.
There was a chuckle. It was deep, reverberating, and shook his chest. Somehow it rattled him to his core, and Thor felt like the breath had been snatched from his lungs.
“Prince Thor.” Thanos answered, his throne swiveling. He was a massive being - purple skinned, almost grotesque, with azure eyes sharper and more piercing than any Thor had seen. He was decked in gold armor, and the smirk he wore was one of idle amusement. Thor felt like he was being regarded like a child that had disturbed a monarch.
“God of Thunder, heir of Asgard.” Thanos seemed amused. “Hm. I should be honored.”
Thor wanted to ask how he knew so much, but he felt… pinned, dumb. Like there was something probing in his mind and stealing his higher functions. At once his brow darkened and he tried to concentrate and mentally shove at the groping power, but it was nothing he was used to; nothing he knew how to do.
“You were something else once too. A brother?” Thanos asked and chuckled. “But you came here because you wanted work; wanted to prove yourself, is that right? What better way to ensure you are the most mighty than to challenge the Mad Titan, is that it?”
Thor rallied himself, “Challenge was not what I had in mind, though if you are offering…”
Thanos smiled. He actually smiled. And Thor found it horrifying, though it some-how made him proud, like a son pleasing a father, and that was more alarming than he wanted to admit.
“Nay. But you do want to prove yourself, or so was your excuse when you demanded Maw bring you to me.” Thanos nodded and gestured behind Thor, “As you wish. You’re first test. Tell me…” And the Titan’s voice dropped a pitch, and it was immediately dark, purposeful, and baiting, “does this mean anything to you?”
This.
Thor turned and he might have had Thanos’ fist rammed into his gut for the sudden shock and sick dread he felt.
The this was a shambling prisoner. There was a chain and collar around his neck, held by a masked, six-fingered Chitauri. This figure’s black hair was long, greasy, soiled and matted and falling over his face. He struggled to walk, but Thor could see enough to know why; his ribs were bruised, if not broken, his skin peeled, or burnt, his nails torn back to the quick…
The this was Loki.
Thanos sat forward, seemingly interested. “He tried to escape, not an hour ago.”
Thor chocked.
“I have given some thought to punishment. He has been most uncooperative. I had thought vivisection.”
Thor heard Thanos step down from his throne and Loki’s shoulders twitched.
Thanos was beside Thor now, “Conscious operation; I will implant two tracking wires in his back. He will never be able to leave once they have been set; until, that is, I remove them. And he will be awake when it is done… Unless. That is. He means anything to you.”
Loki’s breathe caught, and he swayed and he exhaled something Thor thought sounded like a sob.
“Brother…” Thor beckoned, knowing it was a death-sentence but feeling that at least offering the word was worth whatever was to come. His brother; his little brother.
Loki looked up, his eyes purposefully avoided Thanos and locking on Thor. There were flickers of recognition - shock, realization, doubt, disbelief; something in the depths of Loki’s eyes told Thor he thought this was a figment; another crafty torture - and Thor was gutted.
“Thor.” Loki stated, tasting the name. It was bitter, like blood. A name he had screamed a thousand times. “…Thor.”
Thor seized and twitched forward, but the six-fingered Other jolted between Loki and him, and Thanos’ palm clasped Thor’s whole shoulder.
“How touching.” The Titan gloated, “He still knows you. Good. He will be all-too-aware then that you did nothing-”
Thor rounded, fingers catching Mjolnir deftly, swinging to slam the hammer’s bulk into Thanos’ head. Thanos’ palm was there instead, and it collided hard. The Titan rocked back a step - not taken off guard or particularly surprised – and his thick, purple fingers grasped the weapon.
“Well.” He grunted, “That will not do-“
And kneed Thor hard enough to send the god onto his back. Thor had a large, crushing booted foot on his chest in a matter of seconds.
“That was… stupid.” Thanos pressed, and Thor gasped.
Thor took a shuddering breath of pain, and Loki turned vicious. It was sudden - a blur of movement, his growl, him ramming a shoulder into The Other, and launching at Thanos with no other weapon except his fingers to tear the Titan’s throat out - but a third cloaked figure with long, cutting features and dark eyes reacted equally as swift. Loki was fettered and wounded, and this figure collided with him and drove him to the ground.
Thor craned his neck - trying to ignore the excruciating give in his sternum - and watched as the tall, black-clad creature wrenched back and broke Loki’s arm. His brother screamed, but miraculously did not stop. He wriggled around and got a hold of its ankle with one, skeletal hand and wrenched hard enough to cause it to shift weight off his back. He scrambled away from it, toward Thanos, but the Titan made a grunting sound of displeasure in his throat and stared at Loki.
Loki froze.
Thor, hungry for air, but fearing for Loki’s life made a, “No. Stop it.” in his throat. It was thin and barely carried beyond his own ears.
Norns curse it! Thor raged, digging his fingers into the rock beneath him.
Loki’s eyes turned hollow and his body shuddered. His lips were moving - gasping, for oxygen -, but there was no sound and Thor watched whatever color Loki did have drain away and blood leak from his nose. He collapsed into an unceremonious heap after a moment, maybe more, and Ebony Maw drifted over toward him.
“Take him away,” Thanos ordered, his purple gaze locking on The Other “and begin.”
“No!” Thor protested and hissed when the Titan pressed harder,
“You, boy, have no say in the matter.”
~*----------------------------*~
Thor was raging when they tossed him into a cell. He rounded on the slick, metal door and slammed his full weight against it enough times to bruise his own shoulder. Nothing gave. Nothing even dented.
He roared and pounded a fist viciously into the wall, but that did little more than sting his knuckles.
He did not understand why they had thrown him here. Why were they not shackling him like Loki? Why had they only laughed and tossed him away? He had been searched, of course. They stripped him and poked and prodded and found out every weapon he had concealed in his armor, down to the slight, silver throwing knife he had taken from Loki’s arsenal and sworn he would return. There was some inference of ’You may thank your brother for this’, as if Loki had made their searches more rough, but he did not know what that was supposed to mean to him. He only knew that the word ‘brother’ felt like rubbing salt into a wound, and when he thought of Loki he wanted to be ill.
They even managed to seize Mjolnir; a wonder he had yet to unravel. They had suspended it in a field of some manner; something that neutralized its enchantment. He was more galled than he would admit that they had removed it with such ease.
Thor tugged back on his clothes and surveyed his predicament. No windows. Now fissures. No light, except a cold, blue light from the flecks in the rock and the electronic glow about the lock on the door.
He sat, indecorously, and put his head between his hands. Think. He told himself, though it sounded vaguely more like Loki’s voice. There is always a way out.
Grinding Thanos’ face into pulp seemed like the most enjoyable option out of any for freeing both him and Loki, but he suspected it was also the least sensible.
You have to be smart about this. You have to think.
The darkness made the time seem longer. The air felt dead and humid, and he found himself sweating and shivering all at once. Nothing was right in this place, and he chose to dwell on how disgruntled that made him instead of thinking of Loki.
Perhaps the Titan was bluffing. It would not be the first time beings like him had postured with brutal threats to goad and intimidate. Mayhap all his talk of punishment was exaggerated for Thor’s benefit, and they were doing nothing to Loki. Except Thor’s heart did not really believe that.
~*----------------------------*~
Thor was angry and miserable and hot. Sweat rolled down his arms and pooled beneath his armor. The air was thick and close.
Concentrating on how abjectly disgusting he felt was better than thinking. Thinking about how much longer he would be here, waiting. How much longer it would be before the terms or threats or bargains started.
He did not have to wait long.
He heard a sound, digital and repetitive. His hands balled into fists and he stood, settling his footing in the dark, ready to land a heavy fist into whatever face decided to come through the door.
Trying to punch something is partly what landed you in this mess. Hissed the Loki-voice in his mind.
I do not care. He thought back, almost viciously.
Except when the door opened and light flooded in he was momentarily blind.
“Asgardian.”
A voice purred, smooth, honey-like. He squinted to make out steepled hands, blue-gray skin, and dark eyes. “Behold, the mercy of Thanos the Ever-Wise.” The creature known as Ebony Maw smiled, and Thor thought it grotesque, “Who spares even the most undeserving for a higher purpose...”
“Damn you! Whatever game you are playing-“ Thor raged, lurching forward.
Maw raised a hand, “You would do well to think before following through on your violent desires if you hope to see your brother alive.”
Thor came up short at the threat, a cold dread chilling much of the rage burning in his chest. His mind rushed back to Loki; gods, Loki. How long had he been with these creatures? How long, and he’d been ready to give him up for dead.
Maw purred in satisfaction, the sound raising Thor’s hackles, but the god of thunder had no recourse when they held Loki’s life in the balance. He nodded, biting out a, “Then lead the way.” that was less abrasive and more level then he felt.
Thor tried to mark each turn and twist, but the darkness made it difficult among the carved out structures to distinguish direction. For all his restraint in not attempting to grind this grey-skinned beast into the dust, Thor could not stop his heart pounding and swallowing his hearing with its heavy beat.
Stay calm. No good decisions are made from desperation. Loki’s voice wormed back in, and under normal circumstances might have made him haul in a deep breath and iron out his anxieties, but not here. Not now. Not when Loki’s life might be what he had to lose.
I have already mourned you once, brother. Do not make me do it a second time.
Maw brought him to a soaring structure and through a door that slid away for Maw’s entry without request. They passed several thresholds and dim chambers in which Thor glimpsed tables and implements and blinking panels. The nausea roiling in his gut only intensified and his impatience reared its head.
“We are close.” Maw breathed before Thor could even speak and if Thor was shocked he was even angrier that Maw may have been listening to his thoughts this entire time by some unnatural telepathy.
“Stay out of my head.” The god growled, hunching his shoulders.
The laugh that parted Maw’s lips was high and lilting with mockery, “You assume too much, insect. I did not have to trifle with your basic mind to know that you were growing weary. Worry not. We are come.”
Thor had to draw up quickly to avoid taking a step too close to Maw as it waved a long-fingered appendage before a panel and a door slid away.
The air hissed out and Thor almost gagged at the stench of chemicals mixed with blood and seared flesh, and might have, if it were not for the wailing cry that accompanied it. He stepped in, blinking at the glaring light that illuminated polished black surfaces accented with sterile white. It was the centerpiece that drew his eye – Loki, spread-eagle, suspended in a metal framework fitted with surgical arms that, even as Thor watched, sliced into his back and precisely pulled away flesh. Loki’s voice broke on a wrenching sob and Thor heard the rattle of the frame as Loki jerked and twitched.
Something in Thor snapped; he felt it, like wood breaking or a dam crushing beneath water, and he flew forward, lightening flickering at his fingertips and lashing out to pound into the tall, six-fingered Chitauri who, until that moment, had a fistful of Loki’s hair. The Chitauri dropped, twitching, into a melted corpse and Thor rounded, body and eyes alive with power, in front of Loki as if the sheer force of his might and muscle could protect his brother – his little brother – from these things, these-
A deep, resounding clap echoed in the too-small chamber and behind him, Thor heard Loki’s whine of pain cut short.
Thanos emerged, imposing and massive, a “Nicely done; nicely done.” rumbling in his throat. And there it was again; Thor felt the briefest flash of satisfaction at having pleased the Titan and he hated it.
The god of thunder spat, crackling like a live-wire, “You will not touch my brother again.”
Thanos seemed to regard the scene for a moment, something dangerous but immensely patient in his cold, blue eyes. Thor thought that looking into them might drown him. “He is learning his place. Even you do not have the right to deny him the kind of clarity and purpose I offer.” The Titan breathed.
Thor gave a sharp noise of sick disbelief, “Purpose? Tearing apart his body; making him scream for your entertainment? You reason away your own sadism by claiming it is giving him something when all you truly want is for him to suffer!”
Thanos’ gaze flickered, but he smiled as if amused, “Pain strips away the unnecessary; flays away the futility of resistance and loyalty. Pain, in the end, makes one stronger, and through it your brother will learn the true order of the cosmos and his place in serving Death.”
The Titan took a step nearer and Thor snarled, hands clenching.
Thanos went on, “Subjugation is the natural state of lesser life. Through it, they learn the lies of freedom. Your brother rebelled against my subjugation; against my freedom.”
Loki exhaled a strained, trembling, “Don’t, Thor.” in Thor’s ear, but Thor stood his ground,
“Enough, Thanos! There is no benevolence in this; no sane, logical purpose.” He did not have a weapon beyond his lightening which, if he was honest, was far harder to harness without Mjolnir. Mjolnir. He’d forgotten it until now, and regretted anew that they had taken it from him when he was searched. Nonetheless he brandished his fists, the electricity sparking across his knuckles, “Release him. Release my brother, or I will smear this floor with your blood.”
Thanos exhaled, taking another step forward, “I think not.”
Thor expected an attack; anticipated a large fist flying toward him or a kick measured for his head. Instead Thanos remained still and the same feeling from before – the sensation of fingers raking over his mind, and then through, and then in – intensified. He suddenly remembered Loki, eyes glazed, blood leaking from his nose, and his mouth went dry with the realization: Thanos was a telepath.
Thanos’ voice was heavy and deep and now in his thoughts, You are so naïve, Asgardian. So helplessly naïve. Breaking you might prove almost amusing as dissecting your brother has been.
Thor’s vision blinked out and he felt weightless, his limbs numb.
But there is less confusion in you. Your confident, reckless; secure in your position as a prince of Asgard and ready to show those who defy you their place.
Thor groaned, helplessness shivering through him, I am changed. I am not like that anymore, but you and your ilk… after what you’ve done to Loki-
A chuckle rattled in his skull and a sharp, agonizing burn knifed into his temple. He could feel the Titan dig, - deeper, harder – and he imagined his power, lashing out at the anomalous talons rifling through his mind,
Ah child. You lack the vision to see what I offer; see what I have taught your brother and he rebelled against. See now.
Thor knew, somewhere in the back of his rational thought, that this was not real, but it did not stop it from feeling as if it was as he was thrown, through darkness and light and stars and into a red-tinted battlefield with Asgardians, bleeding out at his feet, their skulls split. All around him was death – the stench of it, the sound of it – and he stumbled through it. He saw his friends, gasping out their final agonies; Heimdall, dead, lifeless. When he saw Odin and Frigga he howled, overcome with the grief and rage, but as he reached for them he pitched forward.
It was dark again and then it was Midgard, and there was screaming, humans rounded into cages. He saw Jane and Selvig and Darcy and they too were dying, and he clawed at his own eyes.
And Midgard blinked out and it was white and hot and his hearing rung with cries and he felt pain; pain, pain. It was in him, and through him, and hammering on his skull and he wanted it to stop.
Death is a gift; a peace. She waits, ready to embrace us. But the galactic scales are tipped too far. There is too much life, Asgardian. Too many of your kind, too many humans, too many souls and it is time we changed that.
Thor writhed, wanting it to stop. It felt like his skull was being hollowed out, his brain scraped away, and he wept for the pain of it.
Don’t you see? Do you not appreciate death now, as a release? As an end to suffering? Should not every life, every soul, be grateful for death for She is waiting? And those… those with the higher purpose of serving her understand. Appreciation of Death only come’s through suffering, and freedom? Freedom is life’s great lie. Love is second to it. Once you accept that, in your heart…
Another voice was coming in, interrupting the deep, unfathomable ache of Thanos’ words,
“Stop it. Stop, please-!“
You will serve Her. You will know peace.
Reality slammed back like a wave and smell and sound and light crashed in and Thor felt ill. He wretched, trying to breathe again, grateful that he still had eyes and his skull was intact, but also feeling weak. There were bindings around his wrists now; more around his ankles and neck and hands holding him in place. He shuddered.
It was Loki’s voice that had cut through the torture; Loki begging a, “Stop it. Please stop hurting him.” And now Thor saw through the curtain of his own hair, Thanos standing between him and Loki and Loki’s head cradled in Thanos’ huge palms.
“Why do you keep resisting me?” Thanos questioned and Loki pressed his eyes closed, his face contorting a moment later as the surgical contraptions sliced deeper into his back and he wailed, tears coursing down his gaunt face.
“Do you want this to stop?” Thanos whispered, quieter, and Loki’s eyes flew open, moist, wide. Thor could see, and he understood the cruelty of the question. Yes. The answer was yes, a thousand times, but Loki trembled, shaking his head and choked out a,
“No.”
Thor’s mouth gaped and he grit his teeth, but he knew why Loki had answered thusly. What worse things might happen if Loki said yes?
Thanos hummed, fingertips tightening around Loki’s face, “Then why would you interfere with your brother? Why would you deny him my purpose? I am disappointed, Loki.”
Loki reacted to that word. It seemed to jar him, as if Thanos had struck him and Loki’s expression fell as he wept. He had no words; no reasons aside from ‘because I love him’ or ‘He’s my family; I can’t watch him suffer’ both of which would earn him further punishment.
“You still care for him; for them. And just when I thought you were growing ready…”
“Thanos-“ Loki tried, but Thanos released his face and waved a hand. The implements again began to cut and this time they did not stop after an interval. Loki convulsed, howling and sobbing as it continued its work, down the length of his spine.
Thor roared, wrenching against his bindings and flinging curses as Thanos passed him, gesturing for the large, scaled beast holding him to bring him with them. The door slid closed behind them leaving Maw and Loki alone, but neither the distance nor the door succeeded in totally muffling Loki’s almost animal cries of unreasoning pain.
“Stop!” Thor bellowed, “Stop it, please, stop it!”
Thanos rounded, tipping up Thor’s chin so he could look at him better, “Your brother has several more Asgard-length days of reconditioning to endure. You will not be seeing him again until they are finished.”
“I hope you rot in Helheim you sick, slimy-“
Thanos’ nails dug into Thor’s face, threatening to crack his jaw, “I could arrange for you to never see him again, if you would like.”
The god’s mouth snapped shut, but it was difficult. Difficult to listen to the sound of Loki’s suffering and be able to do nothing. He hoped his brother would forgive him, remember him, when the days were up and they were done doing… whatever it was they planned on doing to him.
He hoped.