The Runaway Mother

Lying in Wait

Thor stood motionless his hand still frozen to the console. It was as if the action had pained him.
"Damn you Thor! What the hell are you thinking?!" Loki shoved his brother, furious and completely taken aback by what he had just done.

"Loki, it was for her safety.." Thor stated gently.

"Oh like hell it was. WE HAVE HER!" Loki burst out and pushed him again. There was a deadly poison in the prince's tone. "If Seth dies-"

Thor lost his balance and had to step back. His eyes fell on his brother and he saw the anger and judgment in his features. Thor gritted his teeth, tired of Loki assuming that finding Seth was more of a pet project to him rather than his top priority. At times, Loki still didn't trust those closest to him and it was moments like this that it really showed.
Thor cut his brother short as his own patience with the youngest Odinson vanished. "IF SHE DIES IT WILL BE AT THE HANDS OF LYNA IF SHE REALIZES WE FOUND HER." He boomed.
Loki was silenced by his brother's outburst. Thor hadn't raised his voice towards him once in these past three years and this took him completely off guard.
"If we use that beacon again and Lyna sees it, she will not hesitate to cut her losses and slaughter Sethyana right then and there." Thor reasoned. "We have Sethyana's signature now and her location. There is no need to set off alarms that put Seth in more danger than she is already in."

Loki glared at his brother but his anger relented when he saw the logic behind his argument. Loki let out a breath as he studied Thor's face.
Thor wanted her back as badly as he did and he could tell by the desperation in his tone. Loki felt his chest heave as a weight lifted and fresh pain and worry took its place.
It had been so long, Seth was in pain and couldn't remember him. Even if they got her back she might never be the same. Three years of her childhood had been stolen from her. Those tender years, that Loki was supposed to have spend teaching her heart and soul that she was completely loved and accepted were not coming back. The one thing that Loki had wanted for his daughter was that she never feel out of place and rejected like he did.
But now, she had been wounded and damaged in ways that would affect her for the rest of her life.

He failed her.

Loki leaned against the console as his chest tightened. "Even if we find her... there is no telling....her mind... what if Lyna-"

"Brother we can't start thinking that way." Thor put a cautious hand on his brother's shoulder. He felt the panicked trembling that was racking his brother's form. These years of despair and worry had taken such a toll on him. There had been many a night when Loki had completely fallen apart. Not knowing where his daughter was or if she was safe was a burden that tortured him.
Now, coming so close to her was reopening the wounds of his heart.
Though it was a mystery to him, seeing his brother this broken gave him consolation...

Only beating hearts can break like this.

"She is alive. We know where she is. We can't use the byfrost because Lyna will be watching for magic. We can get an unmarked ship headed to their quadrant first thing. But for now you need to do your best to sleep. You are in no condition to face Lyna like this." Thor reasoned gently understanding that Loki's mind was to frantic to think clearly.

Loki closed his eyes and took a breath. How could it be that being this close to her was more painful than the years of separation. If he lost her now he would lose all sanity. But what if they brought her back... what if they brought her back and she was never the same? What if she rejected him forever? What if she never remembered him?
All these thoughts were lashes being scourged upon his heart when he felt the heavy hand of his brother lift and a soft and delicate touch take its place.
"My son..." Frigga's gentle voice caressed his ears as she pulled him out of his own troubled mind.
Loki forced himself to look up at her. He has hardly let her see him these past three years. All his defenses were no match for her love and her care.
Loki had felt that letting in the pain would tear him to pieces, so instead he fought it with all his might. But Frigga was always reaching for his heart. And oh how his was broken. It was tortured and killed and letting her near it meant feeling the pains that accompany such a devastating heartbreak.

She looked upon him with compassion and sadness in her eyes. "Loki...she is coming home.." she cradled his face and gently smoothed her thumb against his worn and weary face. "You don't have to be strong anymore."
She accompanied her words with a sweet magic that she had never taught him. The magic flowed into him like a soft grace that allowed his heart to finally burst its chains and shatter for love of his daughter. The spell was gentle and simple. It's balm allowed the pain he had been running from to be felt.

Loki gazed into his mother's eyes as his brimmed with tears. The battle he had been fighting finally at a stand still. Frozen, just for a moment.
"I fear .... dearest mother I fear that when we find her that Lyna.... that she will have killed her." He could hardly manage the words in his broken and quivering tone.

"Loki we will save her." Frigga assured as she brushed the hair from his sunken eyes.

Loki shook his head and took her wrists gently in his hands, taking her hands away from him. "No mother, that she will be dead here.." he rested his trembling hand over her heart.

Frigga realized this fear of her son. She knew the fear. It was the same fear she had had when Loki began to distance himself from her when he was younger. That she would lose him in a fate worse than death. How much she wanted to shower him in consolation and peace. But she knew that in his present state he wasn't going to receive it.

"My love, I know your fear well... we will all face it together. But for now you must rest." She placed her hands on his temples and cast a powerful magic over him. He felt it but was to exhausted to block it. He felt himself drift off and as he crumbled he felt Thor catch him and his mother take his hand and kiss it gently. "Sleep my darling boy. She will be yours again."

A/N: Again thank you so much for the reads, planning at least seven more chapters as the currently plot is forming in my tiny brain. Hoping to post once a month but my schedule is about to pick up again. Hope you enjoy!