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Bend or Break
petreparkour
Summary:
When Loki saw Thanos’ ship rise into view from where he stood beside Thor, all he felt was dread. He had no idea what would be coming.
Loki had fully expected to receive the same treatment that he had the first time he’d been on Thanos’s ship—Thanos ripping into his head and pulling his mind apart only to put it together again the wrong way, or cruelly defacing his body with burns and brands.
Yes, that was what he had expected. That wasn’t what had happened. Somehow, he wished it was.
Or: When Thanos’s ship pulls up in front of the ruined Asgard, Loki and the Avengers have to deal with the fallout.
COMPLETE
As of December 14, 2018, Chapter One was rewritten and spacing was fixed.
Notes:
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters. I wish. Marvel owns them.
This chapter is based off of Loxxlay’s A Moment of Peace. Go check it out! It’s awesome.
EDIT (December 2018) Chapter One has undergone a major rewrite. The first part is the same, but the second part has been changed so it is less similar to another work on this site. Spacing is also fixed! (Hooray!) Enjoy!!
(See the end of the work for more notes.)
Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Chapter Text
When Loki saw Thanos’ ship rise into view from where he stood beside Thor, all he felt was dread. He’d had no idea what would be coming.
Thanos’s underlings flooded the ship, herding screaming Asgardians into a massive prison cell that had, unfortunately, hosted a great many more people than this decimated Asgardian people. At Thor’s discreet gesture, both Valkyrie and Heimdall hid themselves in the crowd. They’d hardly had a chance to fight.
Both Loki and Thor had been singled out and roughly manhandled to another room, where Loki had been left under the watch of Thanos’s lackeys and Thor had been forced to his knees on a raised dais near the front of the room.
Loki had fully expected to receive the same treatment that he had the first time he’d been on Thanos’s ship. Thanos ripping into his head and pulling his mind apart only to put it together again the wrong way, or have one of his men cut into him with his magic.
He hadn’t expected that treatment to be bestowed upon Thor.
Thanos had entered the room wearing that damned Infinity Gauntlet that Odin had supposedly locked up in Asgard’s Vault. Loki knew what came after–the inevitable speech, gesturing for his men to push Loki towards Thor, the grasping of his skull and ripping into his mind–
But the powerful being did none of that. He simply strode a few paces and stopped just behind Thor’s right shoulder, who twisted awkwardly to compensate for his missing eye. “Loki of Asgard,” He rumbled in his impossibly deep voice that sent shivers down Loki’s spine. “You have returned at last. Without my Mind Stone, at that.”
Thor didn’t remove his gaze from the Titan, but Loki could see his body go rigid. Loki inclined his head. “I had a setback, as they say.”
Thanos tilted his head in acknowledgement, but took another step closer to Thor, who withdrew back a bit more. “I have, however, tracked the Tesseract to you. You have fulfilled your mission, never mind a few years overdue.”
Now Thor did stare back at Loki, disbelief written across his features. Thanos seemed to take advantage of his brother’s momentary distraction, as he grabbed Thor’s neck and pulled him upwards until Thor’s toes were barely brushing the floor. The god made a strangled sound and made to pull away, but he couldn’t get enough leverage.
Loki extended his hands placatingly, trying not to betray the growing knot in his stomach. “Unfortunately, my friend, you are mistaken. The Tesseract was in Asgard’s vault, and it’s been destroyed.»
Thanos’s grip tightened. “How sad to hear.”
He suddenly released Thor, who fell to his knees, gasping for air. Thanos continued, ignoring Loki’s brother’s distress. “Fortunately, this endeavor has not been entirely in vain. I have been in need of a new champion.”
There it was. The words that sealed Loki’s fate. He sent a desperate look towards Thor, who was beginning to look up again. He really, really didn’t want Thor to see this. But instead of starting towards him, Thanos grasped Thor’s cape and pulled him back to his feet. “Your accursed brother will do, will he not?”
Ire flashed across Thor’s face, along with a hint of fear. Loki’s insides twisted into knots. If he would admit to anyone (he wouldn’t), Loki hadn’t taken much convincing from Thanos’s part to take up his scepter and invade Midgard. But Thor–Loki knew his brother; he wouldn’t break under a few ounces of pressure and lay siege to the place that he loves. Thor’s love of Midgard would be his downfall, and it would take a very, very long time for him to crack.
“I will not serve anyone, especially not you.” Thor spat, sounding furious and kingly, another thing that Loki would never admit.
Thanos simply laughed. “Oh, you will. Everyone does.”
His eyes fell onto Loki, and he gestured to the guard nearest him. “Put him in his old cell.”
“Wait–!” Loki began, and Thanos arched an eyebrow in anticipation. Mind made up, Loki reached into the ether and pulled out a glowing blue cube, doing his best to ignore the betrayed and seemingly physically pained look that Thor gave him. “Do not bother using him.” He told the purple being, the Tesseract glowing the same color as Thor’s lightning. “He will not break.”
Thanos opened the hand with the Gauntlet on it, and the Tesseract pulled itself out of Loki’s grip and flew into the palm of the Mad Titan’s hand. “I appreciate the advice.” Thanos told Loki, and he closed his fist around the Tesseract and squeezed . The cube resisted for a moment, then shattered. Thanos plucked the newly glowing Infinity Stone and held it over a spot on the Gauntlet. Seemingly by a magnetic force, the stone flew into place. “But I will take my chances.”
Thanos nodded to the guards. Loki tried to resist, but three men came up at once and pulled him out of the room. They hauled him down dark halls that Loki could navigate with his eyes closed. There had been no sounds from the previous room except for the occasional rumbling of Thanos’s voice. The guards shoved him into his old room and slammed the door shut. Loki had a few minutes standing there, breath wheezing in his chest, trying to shove down the blistering memories of this room. A few minutes of blissful silence. Then–
Thor’s screams echoed off the walls.
Loki was pacing when they threw Thor into the cell.
He had been pacing for… Odin knew how long. The screams had started, stopped, and started again so many times that Loki had lost count. He had tried to drag his magic out from the prison that Thanos’s wards had stuffed it in, tried so many times that he’d lost count of that too, but all it had earned him was a headache and a bloody nose.
Two of the Chitauri guards (Loki wondered if they knew exactly how he had used them all those years ago) opened the cell door. One brandished its rifle at Loki, and the other heaved Thor into the room and unceremoniously slammed the door shut.
Loki could see the ragged rise and fall of his breath, but from the god of thunder’s position on his stomach, Thor’s face was turned away from Loki, and he wasn’t moving. Loki stood there for a moment, halfway convinced this was a dream. Here he was, in the chamber of his nightmares—the room where he could identify every nook, every cranny where he could try futilely to hide, to hide from Thanos or Maw or any of the new torturers that the Titan had decided to inflict on him. Screaming—for Frigga, for Thor, for Odin, for Heimdall, for anyone that would find him, save him. Yet here Thor was, on the ground, in the same spot that Loki had been thrown, time and time and time and time again. It was his dream and his nightmare all in one.
His brother didn’t move. Neither did Loki.
Loki finally unfroze when Thor let out a pained, unmuffled groan. He obviously didn’t know anyone else was in the cell with him—if he had, he would never have shown such weakness.
Loki let his boots scuff obviously on the floor as he strode tentatively to Thor. His brother stiffened noticeably, and his breathing slowed deliberately. Loki knelt, and ever so gently, placed two fingers on Thor’s shoulder.
The reaction was immediate. Even incapacitated, Thor was deadly. Loki didn’t even see his fist coming until he was being thrown halfway across the cell onto his back.
“Thor,” He complained breathlessly. The air had been forced from his lungs.
“Don’t,” Thor managed, his breathing speeding up again. “Touch me. Don’t touch me.”
“Brother, it’s me,” Loki said, picking himself out of the crater he’d formed.
“That…” Thor pressed his forehead against his arm. “Is exactly why.”
“Thor, I can help—”
“Stop it!” Thor burst out before his face paled so dramatically that Loki would have found it comical in any other situation. He clutched at his head, and his knees pulled to his chest. The eyepatch gleamed in the dim light.
Loki sighed. Of course, of course. Why could Thor not take the slightest bit of a hint and figure out that moving wasn’t such a good idea? It had taken Loki all of three seconds the first time he’d had a session with Thanos to discover that trying to sit up quickly ended in pain.
“Brother,” Loki said, and Thor stiffened again. “Brother, why can’t you let me help—”
“Like you helped with the Tesseract?” Thor muttered. “Like you helped by letting Hela into Asgard? Tell me, Loki, how do you plan on helping this time?”
Loki took a step back. That was a rather… bleak outlook on his recent decisions. “I saved your life,” He snapped defensively. “Are you not happy to be alive?”
“Not at the moment,” Thor said into his arm. His tone was as dry as bone.
“Well, you had better get used to it!” Loki exclaimed loudly, then immediately regretted it. Not only did Thor further curl into himself and cover his ears with a poorly-concealed groan of pain, but Loki had just given him the worst sentence of all: knowledge.
If Thor had heard him over the ringing in his ears, he had to know exactly was coming. Between Loki’s experience with Thanos and the burst of anger that had accompanied it (Thor knew that Loki would never let something slip in anything but anger), Thor knew that had to be true. That this would happen again. So often that he would have to get used to it.
Obviously not having learnt his lesson, Thor tried to get up again. He managed to hoist himself onto a wobbly elbow and squint at Loki with his one good eye.
“What,” Thor said. It wasn’t a question.
Blast. Loki tried to back up. “I just meant that you’ll probably have that headache for a while—”
“Brother,” Loki retorted, not missing a beat.
Thor dropped his head back down with a sigh. “How are we going to get out of here?”
That thought hadn’t even occurred to Loki. There was no getting out when it came to Thanos. There was just survival, and pain. He had forgotten that Thor didn’t know this; had no way of knowing this.
“Come on,” Thor goaded. The effect was lost, though; his voice was faint and thready, and his face was still pressed against his arm, as though the pain would go away if he squeezed hard enough. It was a fool’s hope, but Loki didn’t blame him for it. “You can’t tell me that you don’t have at least a plan after just giving the Space Stone to Thanos.”
Loki shuffled his feet. Thor raised his head again, his eye dull and glassy. Hopeless. “You don’t have a plan.”
“I had a plan,” Loki corrected hastily. “I just hadn’t counted on…” He made a vague gesture towards Thor, still crumpled (helpless) on the ground.
“You thought it would be you?” Thor asked. His voice was growing higher, louder, and Loki knew that if he didn’t slow down soon, he’d end up either vomiting or passing out. At least if he fell unconscious then Loki would have some time to figure out what to do.
“Or you thought that Thanos would let you off? What, are you siding with him?”
This was devolving. Terribly. “Thor, you’ve got it all backwards—”
“Have I? I thought I just saw you handing the Tesseract to Thanos.”
“That wasn’t my choice—” Loki started, then stopped. He took a deep breath. “Thor, we are here, and we just have to… we have to cope. So why don’t we start by getting you away from the door. I can help you—”
“So you can stab me in the back again?” Thor muttered dully.
“Oh, for the love of… Thor, were you so blinded that you couldn’t see me helping?”
“How,” Thor breathed out, and yes, he definitely looked perhaps three seconds from passing out. “How was that helping.”
And then, of course, because Loki’s brother was a colossal idiot and despite every warning that his body had given him, Thor tried to get up.
“Thor, don’t get up, you’ll just make it worse—”
But of course, Thor did it anyway.
He found a grip on the door and pulled himself up, staggering slightly and using the wall as a support. He seemed to search for a grip to attempt to pull the cell open, but after his fingers fumbled at the seam of the door, he couldn’t seem to get a decent grip. In his sheer frustration, Thor’s knuckles sparked with energy. So he was still able to summon his lightning.
Thor choked and then stumbled. His knees hit the floor with a sharp crack, and Loki winced as Thor’s hands went back up to his head. Maybe not, then.
Loki rolled his eyes. If his brother was determined to be this obtuse… “All right,” He said, striding forwards and deliberately paying no mind to the futile attempt to move away. “You need to stop. When they come back—”
“When you summon them?” Thor hissed, voice still hoarse.
“Thor!” Loki thundered loud enough to make Thor wince; but Loki had to get his point across before Thor hurt himself even more. “In case you were too busy to notice, Thanos’s men were going to kill me, almost as certainly as they were going to kill all of us until they realized who were are. You truly think I would betray you so easily?”
Thor gave him a Look the best he could with one glazed-over eye; to his credit, he did a pretty good job of it.
“Fine,” Loki allowed. “Fine, I’ve done it a lot, but this time is different. I hate this place more than you can imagine—”
“So why?” Thor demanded hotly.
Something sank deep in Loki’s belly, and he knew that he couldn’t lie. “Because,” Loki said quietly. “I couldn’t watch him hurt you anymore.”
Thor was silent for a long time, eye closed and head braced against his forearms. Loki didn’t move a muscle. He suddenly regretted saying anything at all. Finally, Thor heaved a sigh and spoke. “I mucked that up, didn’t I?”
Loki smirked, feeling relief replace the dread curdling in his gut. “Just a bit. It’s not exactly your fault. It’s what you’ve come to expect.”
Thor shook his head, even though he had to know that Loki was right. “No, it’s not. That wasn’t fair. I made you come here, and I blamed you for—”
“Don’t,” Loki interrupted hastily (maybe too quickly). “Don’t do that. It wasn’t—that wasn’t—just stop.”
Thor managed to pull himself into a sitting position, and even though he wavered and needed to brace himself, Loki was impressed nonetheless. He gave Loki an appraising look with his lone, half-closed eye. “You’re sure that we can’t get out of here?”
“Positive,” Loki said resignedly. “We’ll have to wait for someone else on the outside. But frankly, you have to save your strength. Can you stand?”
“You just told me not to stand.”
“Well, I take that back.”
Loki aimed a look at Thor, who sighed and shifted his weight. “I think I’ll fall down,” He confessed, but Loki still made no move to help him up. Thor huffed out a sigh, sounding almost amused, but then thunked his head back onto the cracked floor.
Loki tapped his foot, pretending that this wasn’t a test of just how far Thor’s endurance could stretch (how far he could bend before he broke). A new wave of pain seemed to crash over his brother, and he went to clutch at his temples again and let out a muffled groan. He lay there, panting, wheezing, for several moments before he seemed to cave. “Fine,” He breathed out, his voice gravelly and weak. “Help me?”
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