A cold wind swept through the courtyard as Thor’s brother disappeared.
Except… Loki wasn’t exactly gone. Or rather, it had never been him at all. Only someone wearing his face.
And now, instead of Loki’s face, there was a boy with-
No.
There was something that was not a boy, with corpse-blue skin and gleaming crimson eyes.
Thor threw himself at the creature before it could strike, and pinned it to the ground.
“Where is he?” he snarled.
Its red eyes widened in what looked like – what was surely supposed to look like – bewilderment. “Where is who?”
Thor punched it in the jaw as hard as he could.
The blow hurt his knuckles; he decided to take that as a sign that he was doing something right.
“Where is mybrother?”
The creature hunched its shoulders, blinking strangely. “I’m right-”
Thor hit it again.
“I know what you are.” He grabbed one of its cold hands – so cold, almost numbing to touch – and held it in front of the creature’s eyes. “Your guise is broken, monster.”
“I- I don’t understand.”
It sounded just like Loki.
It sounded just like Loki did when he was going to cry.
Thor didn’t want to imagine where it had found that voice.
“If you don’t tell me,” Thor said, voice low, “I will kill you.”
The creature just stared at him in a pitiful imitation of betrayal.
Thor drew his pocket knife.
The creature scrambled backwards, trying to flee, but Thor caught it and slammed it back to the ground. He pressed the edge of the blade into its throat.
Jotuns, he learnt, bled blue.
“Thor, it’s me,” the creature insisted. “I- I- don’t know what’s happening, but-”
Thor pressed down harder.
The creature closed its eyes tightly. “Please.”
“Stop it.” Thor lifted up the creature and slammed it back down to hide how his hands were shaking. “Stop pretending to be scared, stop- stop using his-” He choked. “I know you’re not him.”
The creature was actually trembling. “I’m sorry, I- I- I don’t know how to-”
“Stop it!” Thor screamed.
The creature was gasping, tears flooding down its face, blue blood leaking from its nose. “I’m sorry,” it whispered.
Thor plunged his pocket knife into its ribs, and it screamed in Loki’s voice.
“This is your last chance.” Thor pulled the knife out and held it up to the light. “This is not my brother’s blood.”
The creature stared, panting, then flicked its eyes around the courtyard.
“Mother!” it called, still in his brother’s stolen voice. “Father! Hei-”
Thor slammed his hand over its mouth and stabbed it again.
It let out a muffled sob.
Blood roared in Thor’s ears. He couldn’t stop.
The monster clawed at his arms, at first, but after the fifth blow it went limp. Its voice was growing weak.
There was a sick sort of satisfaction in hearing it whimper.
It sounded like Loki, and- and it must have learnt that somewhere – his mind was flooded with images of his brother, beaten, tortured, dying – but it was still an act of desperation.
It wasn’t trying to fool him any more. It was mocking him because he had won.
He’d kill this monster. He’d kill them all. He’d make them pay for threatening his family. He’d do anything it took to get his brother back.
He struck the blade deep into the centre of the creature’s chest.
It gasped, shuddered, and its eyes fell closed.
“Thor?” There were footsteps in the cloisters. “What’s going on?”
Thor turned around, trying to smile around his breathlessness. “Mother!”
The queen covered her mouth.
“Guards!” She called, rushing into the courtyard. “Send for a healer! And the king! Now!”
“I’m fine,” Thor said. “But they’ve taken Loki.”
His mother grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away from the creature.
Blood was pooling around it, soaking into the hem of her dress.
She knelt over the little Jotun – strangely small, now Thor thought about it – and lifted its head, pressing two fingers under its jaw. “Loki! Loki, can you hear me?”
“It’s not him,” Thor tried to tell her.
The queen didn’t even look up.
“It’s all right, Loki,” she whispered. She pressed a hand over the wound in the centre of his chest. “I’m here now. You’re going to be all right.”
“It’s not him!” Thor shouted at her. “Look at it, it’s- It’s a monster!” He wasn’t sure when he’d started crying. “That thing took him and we need to get him back.”
The king ran into the courtyard.
He stopped a few paces away, the toe of his boot at the edge of the spreading pool of blue-black blood.
“Frigga,” he said quietly.
“Where’s Eir?” she snapped. “Help me!”
“Frigga,” he repeated, “these wounds are beyond us.”
The queen shook her head and gathered the creature in her arms, chanting something in a language Thor didn’t understand.
The knife, slick with blood, slipped from Thor’s fingers.
“I don’t understand,” Thor said, wrapping his arms around his bloodstained ribs. “Why are you trying to help it? I killed it.”
The king looked at him. His gaze was distant – almost hesitant.
“Because he was your brother,” he said simply.
Thor shook his head.
Odin just looked at him.
“No,” Thor said. A lump was forming in his throat. “No, no, no.”
“Yes.”
A shiver went through Thor from head to toe. Black spots bloomed at the edge of his vision. “My brother is not a monster.”
“No,” Odin said quietly, “he was not.”