Bruises
Thor’s head pounds, his stomach flips. The nausea rises in the back of his throat and he has to stop, vomiting over the side of their path. His captor drags him forward.
In the moment of hesitation, he glances behind him and sees the creatures - the Children of Thanos they’d called themselves - who carry the limp form of his brother on their shoulders. He can hear Loki’s ragged, gasping breathing trailing them the whole walk into this ‘sanctuary.’
They are brought to a room, with a small rectangular cage in the center. Thor doesn’t think they’ll both fit inside, but somehow they do. It’s not large enough for either of them to straighten out, or stand, or not be touching each other, but Thor isn’t particularly interested in being far from Loki anyway. They’re shoved in and the cage is locked, side by side. Loki’s heaving in breaths, the air whistling in and out of his throat.
“I will come for you when I need you,” Thanos says. “Before I go, I thought you’d like to see this.” He waves a hand and a screen appears. The Ark, twisted and burning, listing to the side in empty space. As Thor watches their home for the last year and a half glow with purple light then explode into a thousand, jagged pieces. Thanos cuts the feed. “You’re mine now, and you’ll have your part to play in balancing the scales of the universe. Think about that, while you wait for me.”
Thor can’t really think of anything, his head hurts too badly. Later, he’ll think of Heimdall, and the Valkyrie, and Bruce, and his people, and wonder if they made it off, but that thought is beyond him for now. It’s hard to think of anything beyond the pain and the awful sound of Loki’s breathing. They’re left alone, in the tight cage, in silence.
“I’m sorry,” Loki gasps out after a while. “I’m so sorry.”
“Shhhh.” Thor twists, managing to get Loki folded into his arms, head tucked under his chin.
“I couldn’t, I couldn’t-”
“Stop trying to talk,” Thor says. “You don’t have to talk.” He tilts Loki’s chin back to examine his throat. Dark, black and blue bruises bloom on his neck, in the shape of fingers. Thor feels like he could vomit again. Loki’s hand grasps at his shirt.
“I can’t breathe,” Loki gasps. He makes a choked gurgling sound and Thor is suddenly terrified. Did Thanos shut them in here just so that Loki could die in his arms? So Thor would be locked in a cage with his brother’s corpse?
“It’s okay, it’s okay, just calm down.” He forcibly suppresses his own panic to soothe his brother. Loki’s chest heaves as he struggles through every breath. “Loki, listen to me: it’s going to be okay. Your throat is swelling.” Loki’s eyes widen. “You will heal. It will get easier. But you have to stay calm, and trust me.” Loki writhes in his arms, coughing and trying to suck in air, and failing to get in enough to satisfy him. Thor just holds him, humming, and trying to hold himself together.
Hours later, Loki is listing in his arms, lips and fingertips tinged blue, eyelids fluttering.
“Loki, please, stay with me,” Thor cries. “Please, just don’t leave me, don’t leave me here.” Loki doesn’t respond. Thor adjusts him in his arms, cradling him a little tighter. He presses his lips to the top of his head and the tears begin to flow. He doesn’t know how long he sits, weeping over his brother’s limp body as Loki breathes in thin wheezes. After a while, he realizes that Loki’s breath sounds a little better. His lips are no longer blue. He wakes not long after that.
“Thor?”
“I’m here,” Thor gasps around sobs.
Loki takes a shaky breath. “You’re crying.”
“I thought you…” He buries his face in Loki’s hair instead of finishing. Loki coughs weakly, clinging to his arm. They eventually fall asleep like that, exhausted from pain and trauma, and when they wake, Loki’s throat is still bruised, his voice still hoarse, but his breathing is clear and his eyes are more alert, if scared. He doesn’t remember anything that happened between being choked by Thanos and waking up in Thor’s arms.
“What did he say?”
“He said that we were his, and that he would come for us when he wanted us. At least it seems like he won’t kill us right away.”
Loki shivers. “It would have been better if he had killed us.” Thor has no response. Loki leans against him and they fall into silence.
Thor feels himself starting to cramp up, his legs aching from the tight space. He tries to shift, tries to find a comfortable position but the cage is too small. How long could Thanos possibly leave them in there?
In the end, they are left in the cage for five days straight.