Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 43

When Loki heard he would finally have the tower to himself, he thought it was going to be great. Tony and Pepper are off in Malibu for the holidays; Steve, Clint, and Natasha were all called into work by SHIELD for god-only-knows-how-long (though Loki has a sneaking suspicion that Clint and Natasha are really going to the Bartons' residence), Bruce is at a series of conferences, and Thor has to sort out some sort of drama among the Nine Realms. It sounded like the makings of a fantastic week.

It's been two days and Loki is already bored out of his mind.

Part of him wants to do something he knows he'll get in trouble for. They were hesitant to leave him here alone to begin with. Tony was the first to leave, and when he heard everyone else was doing the same, he nearly came back right then. If Loki starts causing problems — breaking things, maybe; he does enjoy breaking things — he's sure they wouldn't leave him alone again.

But he also doesn't want to lose their trust. It took a lot for them to get to this point, and he doesn't want to throw that all away just so he doesn't have to be alone. He doesn't expect this to become a frequent occurrence. It's not worth undoing all the progress they've made.

So he stays in the tower, alone, bored beyond belief and desperate for something to do.

He finds himself back in the so-called man cave for the third time today, with no real desire to watch anything on TV but no better option, either. He plops down on the couch and turns on the TV. He'll skim through what's on cable first, and then probably end up watching one of Tony's many, many DVDs instead.

Loki finds himself on the news channel, and he doesn't think much of it — why should he care what's going on in a world he'll really never get to see? — until he reads the chyron.

"Tony Stark mansion attacked; Stark presumed dead."

Loki freezes. No way. There's no way this is true. Loki just saw him a week ago. They were arguing over the phone just a couple days ago. He can't be gone now. He knows human lives are fleeting, but this... It just can't be real.

Loki turns the volume up and the subtitles on, but he still can't focus on the words coming out of the newscasters' mouths. He catches little pieces here and there. It was a few hours ago. Suspected terrorism. The Mandarin. It's just so surreal, the impermanence of humanity.

But then the newscaster says that the rescue efforts are still underway. They haven't found a body yet. He might still be alive. Loki feels an inexplicable wave of relief wash over him at that. He doesn't like Tony. He never has and he never will. But he's not ready to hear that he's dead, so if there's still a chance he's not...

Loki turns off the TV. That's enough of that. He can get his answers himself, both quicker and more accurately than the news could give them. He crosses his legs on the couch and closes his eyes. Here goes nothing.

When Loki opens his eyes, he finds himself in a snowy field, and, in any other situation, he might have taken a moment to admire the snow falling from the sky, but that's far from his top priority now. He scans the field, but there's nothing in sight except for trees... and a man.

He's a ways away, this man, but even from this distance, Loki can place him immediately. It's unmistakable Tony -- not just because he'd recognize the man anywhere, nor because he was using his magic specifically to find him, but because of the very familiar metal suit he's dragging behind him.

With every step Tony takes, he gets further away, so Loki quickly follows after him. He can't for the life of him figure out what's going on, but god, he wishes he could. This is weird. He's not sure what to think right now.