No Chains On Me

"Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn." -George Bernard Shaw

Loki is furious.

That is all Alice can feel from him.  His fury.  His hate.  She can feel his hunger for violence, for desolation and destruction.  If he were like Thor, the entirety of Asgard would be eclipsed in a thunderstorm of epic proportions.  But over the years Alice has shared many aspects of herself and her culture with him.  Politics, art, and entertainment are but a few things that have impacted Loki's outlook on the world around him.

So, his fury cannot be like Thor.  

Because Loki is not Thor and he doesn't want to be.

That does not make his anger any less important.  It just means he has to channel and express that anger differently.  Alice is incredibly helpful in this regard.  Her running commentary just enough to allow Loki to focus his fury. 

And she finds it hilariously ironic how he choses to do so.  Looks like her anti anti-gay protests have made an impression.

Asgard feels Loki's scorn in a way no one ever expected.  Everyone notices how silent the second prince has become since the Aesir lost the bet and Freyja was lost to them.  Of course, everyone knows the Trickster had done his level best to avoid trying to impact the event.  As expected of someone who shared both mind and body with a Norn.  

That does not mean that the All-Father did not attempt to use all resources at his disposal.  Including the beautiful mare, Gullfaxi.  

Some disapproved of this method of...subterfuge.  These are those who see Loki as an extension of the Norns and who go out of their way not to aggravate the prince.  Others thought it Loki's fault for refusing to use his connection to better Asgard.

Regardless, Asgard lost face.

It starts right after Loki finishes getting Gullfaxi cleaned and looked over.  Thor tries to apologize. Frigga tries to mediate between the second prince and the All-Father.  The King tries to justify himself.

Loki remains silent.

At first, they took this as compliance.  Acceptance and forgiveness.  Frigga knows better and relents, choosing to force the King to give all rights to Gullfaxi and her foal solely to Loki.

It got her a grateful nod in turn but nothing else.  She knows her compliance, though unintentional, still hurt him and Loki will make sure he gets even.  His pride will accept nothing less. Thor feels his brother's scorn but dismisses it and from there it ripples.

Thor, whose always seen his brother's magic as something for women, whose seen his brother as both his brother and as the second prince, learns the hard way that the Trickster is not forgiving.  After the failure with the builder, Thor, Loki, Sif and the Warriors Three are sent to Alfheim to gain favor with the Royal Family to find who the mystery builder really is. 

There are a number of ways this can be done including completing some task the Royal family needs done like killing a beast terrorizing the common people or gaining favor through diplomacy.

Trouble starts the moment they touch down on Alfheim. 

Thor fumbles the greeting. He meets them as if he were greater than them.

"I am Thor, Son of Odin! I demand to see the Builder!"

The elves are not impressed.  In fact, they are so unimpressed that Sif jumps to his brother's defense while the Trickster remains silent.  Loki pointed steps away from his brother and crosses his arms.  He can make himself look petulant, every inch the offended prince throwing a tantrum and who does not want to be here or near his brother.  

"An elf builder came to Asgard and made way with treasures of the realm."

Silly woman.  Giving away things for free.

"King Odin has sent his sons to retrieve what was taken."

"A deal was struck was it not?"

"Aye." Thor rumbles. "But it was a deal made dishonorably."

"How so?" Loki notes it's the princess speaking.  He cannot remember her name. "They offered a service and a price.  Did they complete the task?"

"Aye, they did so-"

"And so Asgard gave the price that was due.  That does not sound like theft."

The elf woman narrows her eyes at the group and lets her eyes roam.  She undresses them, inspects them, as if they were commodities at the market. It takes everything Loki has not to flinch when that gaze falls on him and the familiar light, that of desire and hunger, flash within their depths.

"There were additional circumstance you do not know."

"Oh? Perhaps you could share what those are."

"No. It is a matter that concerns Asgard and Asgard alone. Now, where is the Builder?"

Thunder roars in the distance.  A testament to Thor's increasing temper.  But the princess and several others merely smile benignly.  No doubt aware they will get no more information from the blonde prince and drop the charade.

"I would tell you, Prince Thor, except that no builder from Alfheim has journeyed to your Golden Realm."

"WHAT?!"

The chaos that followed would have made Loki laugh if he were not so bitter. At least the elves thought this was funny.

Later, Thor and his companions are invited to stay.  Both as a way to prove their innocence and wheedle more information out of them by the elves.

"My prince, would you care to join us?"

Loki shakes his head smiling politely at the elf woman and her companion, another woman with just as many sensual curves slinks up to his other side with a smile and a caress of his arm.  He gestures to a glaring Thor and shrugs his shoulders, amused.  He makes sure everything about him is non-threatening, almost lazy in comparison to his brother.

"Can't take him anywhere can you, my prince?" The elf woman smiles with her teeth.

He wants her.  He wants what she's offering and Alice is curious enough. But its not Thor that stops him. It's the terrifying truths that Alice has started sharing with him.  It is the awful stories told about him, about what happens to him.  The nightmarish stories that trivialize his torture.

Raped by a horse.

Spawning monstrous children.

Lips sewn shut.

Initiating Ragnarok.

Loki trembles slightly and he knows the elf sees it. But he runs his eyes over her body as if in desire and she turns just slightly, spinning on her heel and sauntering away.  Her companion smiles, coy and sharp, follows her.  

"We'll be available when ever you are free my prince."

"I look forward to it."

Loki projects to their thoughts and watches as they shiver at the small display of power.  He lies easily. So easily its no wonder he's called the Liesmith and the Silver Tongue.  The lies protect him.  They build an invisible armor around him.  He is curious. But that curiosity is tempered by knowledge. It makes him afraid of the prospects. Is it safe to dally with such an unknown? 

And if he did what would be asked for in return?

Dangerous.

The more he saw of the other realms the more dangerous it all looked to him.  Suddenly, all the bright wondrous things he dreamed of didn't seem so wonderful.  It makes him grateful for the warnings Alice has given him and that he listened.  He can see it.  The type of dangers she hinted.

'I'm going mad.'

'Are you? It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you.'

'So, I'm not...'

'Crazy?' Alice buffs. 'Only if you ignore the warning signs...and there's nothing wrong with waiting until you feel safe for sex.'

Loki doesn't respond to the last statement. He doesn't need to.  Alice was a virgin when she died but that didnt mean she was ignorant.  She's shown him a vast amount of Midgard porn.  She was very curious and with a healthy sex drive, very engaged with herself.  However, her mother was both liberal and cautionary about it.  Open to talking about what "normal" and what to do with certain situations. 

There was no pressure to be a virgin or to not be one.  Her mother was a firm believer in having more information before committing to anything.  Still...He had no idea Midgardians could be so...kinky.  No doubt the people of Asgard would be appalled at some of the more creative minds.  Although if the rumors are to be believed, they'd fit in right here with the elves.

But they give him ideas on how to humiliate his brother. Later.

Right now, Alice's recent share has...put him off any desires to explore for some time.

He will wait and if anyone asks, he is taking precautions against those that would try to force a prophecy from him while intimate.  Yes, that is perfect. No one can refute such a reason without seeming to want to do the same.

When they return to Asgard without rewards for their efforts, the King is not pleased.  The court even more so.  For only a Master of magic could do as the Builder had done and hold his form for such a long time and under such circumstances.  They are sent out again and their mission is clear.  Return with the builder by any means necessary.

Thus, their journey continues, realm to realm, seeking the Builder who wore the face of a light elf.  The Builder who made away with three treasures of Asgard and who disappeared like a spirit.

The entire time, Loki says not a word, and the story of his fury grows.  With each retelling, Asgard looks more and more the desperate fool and Loki, the silent condemner.  It is a strange place the Trickster finds himself in.  Elves, Dwarves, and more make note of the distance between the Trickster and his party.  Is this a weakness?  Is this a sign of Asgard's waning power?  Has Odin lost his wisdom?  His cunning?  

It matters not how great Thor's prowess or how skilled and fierce Sif is in battle.  It matters not how many monsters and beasts are slain.  The maidens and servants saved are only awed for a short time and it is only through Thor's charm that they stay enraptured with him.  Loki stays well out of his brother's way when he's feeling in the mood for a woman's company.

His fear not abating even as the years wore on.

But his silence is damning.  Because he is an extension of a Norn and his neutrality has been subverted.  A gross taboo to those of the Nine Realms.  But one the King of Asgard has disregarded and that Loki makes no excuses or defense for.  

[Even when the All-Father pressures him to speak.  Belittling the Trickster and striking his pride, his self-esteem.  It hurts. Oh, does it hurt but he keeps his silence.  He bites his cheek hard enough to draw blood but he. Does. Not. Speak.] 

Their mission grows ever longer and Thor's temper grew ever shorter.  With every quest, every slain child and bandit, Loki grows ever more disenchanted with Asgard, with Thor.  He is his brother but he is not blind to his faults and flaws.  Loki is not blind to the people around him and how they enable him.  

Loki can See.

Without Alice having to point them out to him and it feeds his anger, his hate.  But such anger can only burn for so long before giving way to a gasping void of nothingness. Apathy.  Loki carefully cultivates his feelings of indignation and isolation, using them like kindle to keep his fury stoked and alive.  What then is the point of his silence if he breaks it before a lesson can be learned?

And make no mistake.  

They will Learn.

It has been some time since the shapeshifter made away with his prize.  Alice buzzes, hyper and eager, with attention.  She knows it is almost time for the grand finale.  

For the Truth.

Loki is no less eager.  Oh, the look of sweet desolation and horror that will surely cross the face of those in court will be sweet, sweet revenge.

Until then, their travels have led them to Midgard, and Loki isn't surprised that they worship them.  He isn't surprised at how primitive they are.  He isn't surprised at how they treat each other or how taken they are with his brother's tales of battle and valor.  Loki isn't surprised when he's belittled or looked down on for his use of seidr or his trickery.  

Loki knows this is how its starts.  How Midgard, the only realm shaped from the corpse of Ymir-the First Being born from the World Tree-is also the key to all the others, potentially powerful beyond measure and yet, left woefully vulnerable.  Like a babe left to fend for itself, to live or die by its own merits, regardless of the sabotage incurred by others. 

Much like himself, Loki notes.

So, he teaches instead.  Oh, its an easy feat to sneak away, unheard and unseen, to the orphans and the outcast.  He teaches them how to hide in plain sight, how to lie without lying.  Loki shows them how to wield words as well as any weapon. 

He teaches them how to survive.

Loki does it all with a smile and a prank ready at hand.  He uses magic for everything, to make tasks harder for some and easier for others.  If his pranks against Thor and his friends are just slightly more vicious than usual that's no ones business but his.  Loki needs to vent, somehow, at least until they head back to Asgard to report another failure and come to the final conclusion.

...the truth that Asgard is far too late to stop.  

 "Midgard was a waste of time!"

Thor snarls like an angry bull but its a look that is quickly wiped from his face with a single look from the All-Father.  

"I mean no disrespect Father but the mortals know nothing of magic."  The Thunderer gives a short look to Loki, who stands silent at their Mother's side.  But Loki has been silent for so long...

"Except for the magic of Loki.  My brother awed many with his tricks and shows."

Loki looks at him with something in his eyes.  It is gone before Thor can see it properly.  

"It does tell us where the Builder is not." Uncle Ve turns to his brother. "And where the Builder is most likely now that the Princes of the Realm have searched so far."

There is a tension in the Thing that Thor has long become familiar with since the Builder's escape.  It is thick and suffocating.  He doesn't understand how Loki has not said anything to ease this burden from them all.  Thor may have forgotten the sound of his brother's voice but he remembers how easily words came to him.  If Thor was half as good with words as Loki, there are many blunders he could have avoided but he wasn't.

And Loki refuses to speak, to help and it frustrates him.  

More than once Thor and Loki have come to blows.  However, with each fight, Thor becomes ever more aware of how little he knows his brother.  The skills and tactics he shows are impressive...and disheartening.  There were more than a few times Thor had to be carried to a healer or risk being permanently crippled.  

He doesn't know how to fix this.  Whatever this is, Thor needs it to change.

"This means the Builder can belong to only one realm." Vili is grim faced.  

A heaviness grips the Thing as comprehension and apprehension dawns on everyone.  Odin, the All-Father, tightens his grip on Gungnir and although he glances at Loki, his gaze does not linger.  General Tyr places his hand on his sword but otherwise doesn't flinch or twitch.

Everyone seemed to be aware of the answer except Thor.  It annoyed him but he couldn't focus enough to put to the pieces together, not when there is a gaping chasum between he and his brother.  Loki doesn't even speak!  He hasn't spoken a word in years!  Will be damned to never hear his brother speak again?  While the Thing squabbles over petty relics!

It is then that Thor notices the slow grin spreading across Loki's face.  Its one he hasn't seen in some time.  Not since Loki's last prank back on Midgard.

Thor stands abruptly, startling some of the court but he ignores them.  He ignores them because Loki is opening his mouth as if to speak...

"Jotunheim." 

...

...

Realization dawns.  Loki's first word in years and it must be a lie!  Of all things for his brother to say!  Thor takes a step toward his brother.  His Trickster brother with a mad grin on his face and a dark gleam in his eyes.

Except his mother, the Queen of Asgard, stiffens beside him and pales dramatically.  Because those green eyes turn a blazing gold.

Gold like the All-Father's spear, a star burning, the cosmos standing on the edge just out of view.

Loki's form shift and melts, less muscular and fine.  He grows curves and softens his jawlines.  The cloths follow swiftly after with not even of a hint of spell being cast.  Loki becomes changed.  A pressure, thick and intangible, presses down onto them all.  It is the feeling of a blade pressed against the back of your neck despite it being with the lightest touch. 

This...this is the Norn that lives inside his brother?

Her grins becomes something sharp and mocking.

"Jotunheim." She repeats.

Then they laugh.  They, Loki and the Norn, together laugh at all those present in the Thing.  And Thor realizes that they knew the entire time.  They knew and said nothing because Asgard dared to command-to manipulate- a Norn.

This is their punishment.

...And there is nothing they can do about it.