[FIC] The Thousandth Man, Part IV

[transemacabre]

Title: The Thousandth Man
Pairing: Thor/Loki
Warnings/Ratings: See Part I.
Summary: Thor attempts to retrieve Mjolnir. Loki goes in to retrieve Thor. NSFW: Sexual content



Loki kept watch through the binoculars as Thor infiltrated the site, and began to make his way to Mjolnir. Above them, dark and ominous clouds rolled in, and a chill wind caressed Loki's skin. Loki inhaled deeply, wondering if the storm itself was calling out to its former master.

Something moved in his vision, and he looked up to see a strange contraption swinging through the air, carrying a man holding a bow. Looking down, Loki could see that the bow was trained on Thor himself as he battled against the humans. They mean to attack him from the air, Loki thought darkly. Mayhap he should create a little havoc for these meddlesome humans...

"I'm starting to root for this guy," Agent Barton said into his comm. Cold rain ran down into the chinks of his body armor, falling off the tip of his arrow. Below him, he watched the intruder tackle another agent. Barton tested the tension on his bow when the world exploded into green sparks. Before his vision even cleared, he could feel the bow warp in his hands, becoming lighter, softer. Wrong. Blinking frantically, Barton held up his hands and looked down to see...

A chicken.

"BWAAAWK!" The bird fluttered in his grasp, and Barton was so shocked he dropped it, watching it flap to the ground, then scurry off into the darkness. He stood there for a long moment, mouth agape, comm crackling with static.

"Agent Barton, come in. What's happened?"

Barton stared at the few pitiful feathers clinging to his gloves. "Uh, I'll tell you more about it in a minute. You're not gonna believe this."

On the ground, Thor staggered in triumph over to Mjolnir. The storm roared above him, calling his name, the lightning illuminating the world in brief flashes of electric blue. Now he would reclaim his power, bring himself and Loki home with glory. He grasped Mjolnir's handle and gave a mighty tug.

Nothing happened.

Shocked, Thor tugged once, twice, thrice more, giving it all his strength, before collapsing next to Mjolnir in shock. This could not be! Had Odin abandoned him forever? Had he cursed Thor and Loki to eternal banishment? Loki, Thor thought, looking up at the sand dune where Loki was hiding. Loki expected him to return with Mjolnir. Loki depended on him to return with Mjolnir. The warm core deep inside of Thor cracked in twain.

He had failed miserably.

Loki cursed under his breath as he watched the humans swarm Thor. He could tell from the expression on Thor's face that the shock of being unable to reclaim Mjolnir had taken all the fight out of him. Groaning, Loki set the binoculars aside. He supposed he really would have to go in and rescue Thor after all.

***

"You know, this is all really quite humiliating," Agent Coulson told Thor in a pleasant tone. They were sitting in a stark and sterile interrogation room, Thor bolted to his chair, Coulson sitting comfortably across from him, a briefcase at his side and a clipboard in his lap. "My men are among the most highly trained professionals alive. And you tore through them like they weren't even there. I won't even go into the business with the chicken. Agent Barton still can't explain what happened."

Thor stared at him blankly. His beautiful blue eyes were dull, unfocused. This was a man who had shattered inside, where it counts. Coulson rubbed at his eyes. He had a feeling this was going to be a long night.

"Uh, sir?" An agent stood timidly at the door, face pale. "There's something you need to see."

"It can wait," Coulson said, but then Agent Barton stuck his head in and said, "No, really. You need to see this."

Coulson walked to the viewscreen, peering at the grainy monitor. The security camera was focused on the base's main gate. Outside, the last rumbles of thunder were dying as the storm passed. Coulson watched in astonishment as a dark-haired young man in mismatched clothes rode through the gate on a bicycle.

Loki peddled merrily along the muddy path. He saw the humans running towards him, and whispered an enchantment that would leave them dazed. Sure enough, the guards began stumbling about, turning in circles, staring about them as though seeing the world anew. Once he had rode up to the strangely-shaped tent, Loki dismounted and sat the bicycle aside.

A clean-cut man in an immaculate suit appeared. "I'm Agent Coulson, I'm going to have to ask you to remain where you are. You're on restricted government property."

Loki pressed an index finger to his lips and hissed, "Shhhhhhh. Thor is here?"

Agent Coulson's eyes went wide. "Thor is here," he repeated dreamily.

"Good. Take me to him," Loki murmured, low and seductive to maintain the enchantment.

"Take you to him. Thor is here. Good." Agent Coulson led him into the building and down a hallway. More guards appeared, but Loki's spell left them staggering to and fro, staring at their own hands as their fingers appeared to blur the air.

Upon seeing him, Thor almost blurted out his name, but Loki shook his head fiercely at him in warning. Too much sound would break the spell, snap the humans back to their senses, and it would be almost impossible to put them back under quickly enough. "Thor comes with me," Loki told Coulson.

"Thor comes with you," said Coulson, and within moments Thor's restraints were removed and he was standing, rubbing feeling back into his wrists.

"Stay right here," Loki said, "and lay down and go to sleep."

"Lay down and go to sleep." Coulson obediantly sat on the floor and lay on his back, rumpling his suit. Chuckling under his breath, Loki quietly led Thor out of the building. Mounting the bicycle, they peddled away as fast as they could.

It took all of Loki's concentration to maintain the spell until they made it back to the highway. At that point, he figured they'd have a few minutes before Coulson's men caught up to them. Spotting headlights heading their way, Loki lept off the bicycle and stood in the middle of the road, waving his arms.

A truck slowed to a stop in front of him. "Hey man, are you okay?" asked the driver, sticking his head out of the window.

In an instant, Darcy's bicycle was in the bed of the truck, followed by Thor and Loki. "Drive, drive!" Loki cried. "Men are after us! Drive as fast as you can!"

"Holy crap, the fuzz is after you?" The driver gunned the engine, zooming off down the road. "The border police?"

"They almost caught us once tonight," Loki yelled through the tiny back window into the truck's cab.

"I hate those guys, always going after immigrants! Hey, you're all right with me, man," the driver assured them as they disappeared into the darkness of a desolate New Mexico highway.

***

"So, where you boys from?" asked the driver.

"France! We are from France!" Loki yelled as he struggled to brace himself in the back of the pickup truck as it bounced along the hills and slopes of the highway. Thor slumped against him, burying his face in the curve of Loki's neck, as though unwilling to face him.

"France huh?" The truck spun off the road, bumping along a gravelly road until it came to a stop in front of a small ranch-style home. After killing the engine, the driver clambered out so that Loki could see he was a pot-bellied fellow with long scraggly hair and a kindly smile. "You boys staying in Puente Antiguo?"

"Yes," Loki said. "The nearby village, yes."

"Okay, you boys can stay in the back of my truck tonight. I'll bring you some blankets out. I'll drop you off back in town tomorrow morning."

"Thank you," said Loki humbly.

"Ah, it's the least we can do for some of Lafayette's boys," replied the driver, giving Loki a thumb's up. Loki pursed his lips in confusion but decided it was wisest to keep quiet. True to his word, the human brought them blankets so that Loki and Thor could build little nests for themselves in the truck bed.

Thor sagged against Loki, his head bowed as if in defeat. It bothered Loki that Thor had not spoken a word since they fled the site where Mjolnir was kept. Thor kept nothing hidden, he spoke his mind and every emotion etched itself on his features, making him easy to read -- Loki had been raised as Laufey's son, Laufey who barely moved his lips to speak, and he had found Thor's earnestness unnerving for the first few weeks.

Loki struggled for something that would help, but the jotnar were not demonstrative, and all he could think to do was to brush the grime from Thor's face while putting his silver tongue to use. "It will be all right," Loki assured him. "Earth is not so terrible. I will learn Earth magicks, with those I can defend us against any threats. There must be a place in this realm we will be welcomed." Loki wiped mud from the creases of Thor's eyelids. "We will be safe. We will be content. Do not despair. Thor... speak to me."

Thor placed his hands over Loki's in a gentle, warm grip. He lifted his eyes, and they were so full of pain that Loki could think of nothing to say.

"I have truly made you suffer, haven't I," gasped Thor. He inhaled deeply. "All of this... the marriage, the banishment. The slurs I cast at you. The danger I've put you in. All of this I have brought down upon you."

"Thor," Loki began to say, but then Thor stood and climbed from the truck, staggering down the road. Cursing softly to himself, Loki leaped out after him. "Thor! Listen to me!"

"You would be better off without me," Thor said as he walked along, Loki right behind him. "In my mortal form I will slow you down, I will provide a distraction."

Loki grasped him by the shoulder and wrenched him around, forcing Thor to face him. "Listen! I still possess my powers, and my knowledge besides. There are hidden paths between all the realms, and I am a master of magick. There is something I have not told you before... I could have returned to Jotunheim at any moment."

Thor gaped at him. "Y-you could depart Earth for Jotunheim?" He ran a hand through his hair. "Why didn't you?"

"Because I believed you could reclaim Mjolnir and return us to Asgard in triumph!" Loki panted with the intensity of what he needed to say. He needed Thor to listen, to look past his own misery and comprehend the enormity of what Loki told him. "I believe in you still. At any moment I might have abandoned you and returned to Jotunheim, but I did not and I shall not."

The storm had long since passed, but a powerful wind swept in from the east, tossing their hair and clothes and curling around them like the arms of lovers. "You have not abandoned me," Thor whispered, and he reached out to Loki.

They embraced, and Thor kissed him again, and their mouths meeting only for the second time. The wind whipped around them, and Thor pulled Loki closer, feeling as though they could share the secret, hidden parts of themselves. Loki clasped his hand and led him back to the truck, where they tumbled into the nest of blankets and curled around one another, Loki's legs entangled with Thor's legs.

They did not dare to undress, but quietly moved one against the other, until the friction and the heat was too much and Thor found himself fumbling with the button of his jeans. Loki batted his hands away, popped open the button expertly, and reached inside and took a firm hold of Thor's member. In an instant Thor arched up against him, spilling into Loki's hand, clutching Loki with all his strength.

Loki kissed him again and swallowed the shouts of his own name.

Once Thor's body had ceased to shake, Loki pulled back, only to have Thor press him down and undo his trousers. "Wh-what are you--" he began to ask, but Thor whispered, "Be not afraid, it won't hurt", and took Loki in his mouth.

Loki thrashed so hard that the truck rocked back and forth. Thor held his hips and kept working his mouth, while Loki struggled to breathe through it. He had never felt anything like this in all his life. Needing something solid to hold onto, Loki grasped one of Thor's hands and entwined their fingers, squeezing harder as he felt his body quake into its blissful release. Thor held him tight and licked him clean as Loki lay back, boneless and pale. "Oh, oh," Loki said with every exhale, as Thor lay again beside him, wiggling into the crook of his arm. They lay together contently, staring up at the endless spray of stars overhead.

"Loki, tell me true," Thor said. "Am I frightful to look upon?"

Loki regarded him with his curious pale eyes. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I know you're a Frost Giant in truth, and my kind must seem odd, if not hideous to you. You could barely look at me when first we met. Am I am ugly creature in your eyes?"

Loki chuckled softly. "I do not know what Asgardians find beautiful, but I find you most tempting of all Asgardians, if that allays your fears."

Thor stroked a hand down Loki's chest. "Would," he paused and began again. "Would you cast a spell upon me so I might lay with you as a Frost Giant?"

Loki barked out a shocked and odd little laugh, and his eyebrows quirked. "You would have me glamour you so you had the semblance of a Jotun?"

"Do try, and if you find me more pleasing in that form, I will remain as such when we couple." Thor sat up and closed his eyes, obviously bracing himself for a transformation. Loki scoffed softly, but seeing little reason not to go along with Thor's odd wish, cast an enchantment.

The effect was immediate; Thor's skin darked to blue, and when he opened his eyes they were redder than the hearts of rubies. Beneath the glamour he remained Thor, but to the eye he was a Frost Giant. Thor flexed the claws on his hands and looked up at Loki. "How am I? If this were Jotunheim, would you find me pleasing?"

Loki wore the smile of a boy who has discovered that his name-day gift had arrived early. "If this were Jotunheim," he replied, "you would be as far from my reach as the stars above." He pinched Thor's bicep between thumb and forefinger and added, so that Thor's arrogance would not grow, "For all that you would make a pitifully small giant."

"Hah!" Thor said, but in an instant the glamour disappeared. "But why--? Did you not wish to lay with me in that form?"

Loki kissed him on the forehead. "I am ever Loki, in this or any other form. But you should remain Thor. I do not need glamours to make me desire you."

***

Jotunheim

"Sire, we should strike now!"

From atop a crumbling throne, Laufey cast a disapproving gaze upon his son. He and Helblindi crouched inside the ruined temple, trusting in its faint and broken power and Helblindi's magicks to shield them from the prying eyes of the Asgardian gatekeeper. "It is not yet time," he said, pressing the palms of his hands together in contemplation. "Odin must weaken further, until he awakes nevermore."

Helblindi snarled, a deep throaty that seemed to rumble from the bowels of Jotunheim. "There will never be a better moment to launch an attack on Asgard! If we wait any longer, Loki will either be returned from exile, thus robbing us of our pretext for war, or Odin will awaken and all our hopes will be for naught."

"I have ruled Jotunheim for five thousand years," Laufey said. "I did not rule for so long by charging into war at the slightest provocation. Should Loki die, our cause will be just. Should Odin die, our cause will be assured."

Helblindi raked his claws on a pillar in frustration, his mighty strength making the entire structure tremble ominously. "You would stay our hand at the moment of our greatest triumph!"

"And you would rashly destroy the work of a millenia!" Laufey stalked down from his perch to face his son. "I chose you of my three younglings to be my heir, and it is you alone who sits in counsel with me. Patience, Helblindi, patience! Your king and sire demands it."

Helblindi released a deep breath. "You're right, Sire." He straightened up, approaching Laufey with hands raised to beseech forgiveness. "I see the error of my ways. Come, give me the kiss of peace."

And Laufey did gather his second-born to him, did let Helblindi put his hands to his neck and pull him closer to bestow the kiss of peace upon his child's brow. And as Laufey's lips brushed Helblindi's brow, Helblindi jutted spurs of ice from his hands and tore forward with his tremendous strength, severing Laufey's head from his shoulders.

Laufey collapsed to the ground. Helblindi looked over his corpse; he had thought to feel something, perhaps guilt, but he felt nothing at all. It was very like standing over a broken doll. He heard footsteps shuffling towards him, and turned to see his younger brother, Byleistr, watching from the shadows.

"It is d-done?" stammered Byleistr.

Helblindi nodded gravely. "Our sire the king has died of grief over the miserable fate of his eldest youngling, Loki. All Jotunheim must be in mourning for him... and ready themselves for war."

"And L-loki?"

Ah, Loki. Helblindi summoned his magicks and in the smooth surface of a nearby stalagmite was reflected the forms of his sibling, Loki, sleeping next to the accursed Odinsson. Loki's arm was even wrapped around the Asgardian. Disgusting.

Loki was more useful dead than alive. So long as he lived, Loki remained Laufey's first-born and had the stronger claim, no matter what Laufey himself had preferred. And of course, should Loki die, the fault would lie with Asgard for exiling him to Earth. The jotnar could not be expected to bear such an insult.

Helblindi viciously scratched out Loki and Thor's faces on the stalagmite. "Kill him."

Comments

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

awesome story. Can't wait for the ending :)

great!

[beizanten.livejournal.com]

This is really amazing! Love the plot! Poor Loki is so use and now they want to kill him! Love that thor willing to be glamor into a frost giant to please Loki but Loki doesn't need it!

[eyeshield-69.livejournal.com]

A wonderful story. I hope you have not yet abandoned it.
I really enjoy your dialogues.

[transemacabre.livejournal.com]

Did you read the concluding chapters? What do you think?