A Mother's Love

Chapter 36

As Natasha and I near Titan, Natasha takes a seat in the cockpit and declares "The ship ended up really well."

I switch out of autopilot as I take hold of the stirring wheel "Got to hand it to Loki. Only he can make a space skip out of a box of scraps."

Natasha hums, before declaring "I saw it, while he was building it. I didn't expect he'd actually get it up and running."

I furrow my brow and ask "You knew?"

She takes in a deep breath, before declaring "We all knew, Thor." I set my jaw and she sighs "He was just horrified that this would happen, again."

I sigh, before declaring "He was right." She nods, before I begin the landing. The mothership is only four hundred meters away "Safe to say they're here."

She looks to me and declares "First item of business. Figure out what's wrong with the portal."

After we land, I stroll off the ship and walk over to the portal. As soon as we step next to it, I see that one of the symbols is smudged. The symbol for breaking free of one's bindings.

It looks like two sweets in a box. I furrow my brow and reach down. Silent, I carve another sweet into the box, before pressing my earpiece in and ordering "Open the portal."

In an instant, Stark opens the portal and pokes his hand out ond gives us a pair of binoculars.

When the portal closes, Natasha and I kneel nest to the tunnel opening and she lets the binoculars to her view.

After a long moment, she gives me a confused look "All the lights are off and the bogies aren't flying."

I give a confused look "Maybe they've gotten careless?"

She furrows her brow "Maybe it's a trap."

I hum, before insisting "Let's go."

As I step away from the tunnel and start straight across the wasteland, Natasha follows and whispers "This is reckless, Thor."

I look to her and declare "Nothing is stopping me from getting Loki back."

She sighs, before pulling her gun out and holding it halfway up "I don't like this, Thor."

We're silent for the rest of the walk over to the ship. When we get there, I notice the front door is cracked.

In confusion, I step in and find the main arena, or the throne room, is dimly lit. Through the silent ship, I hear a foriegn scream coming from the top floor.

In an instant, I start up the stairs. I stop as soon as the prisoner stops screaming. When they continue, I start back up again.

On the top floor, I glance into every window, to find a door ajar. Down the hall, at the last door on the right, I see the light beaming out of the open door.

The screaming prisoner screams in agony, a scream almost supersonic. It makes my ears ring with every second of silence.

Silently, I pull Natasha into the open door.

Inside, there's an open line box.

Loki's body lays, the dagger still implanted in his chest.

It looks as if his body has been kept as a trophy.

Without a second thought, I pick him up.

We're out of the ship faster then we were in it, and, within fifteen minutes of arriving, we're on our way back to Midgard.

As soon as I flip on the autopilot, I hop up and move to Loki's bedside. The lavish bed, I can tell Loki designed, makes him look frail.

After pulling the dagger from his chest, I hold his hand in mine. Natasha speaks to Stark over our headpieces "We got Loki."

Stark scoffs "That was quick."

Natasha speaks with a hint of confusion "All of their defenses were down. They literally left the door open for us. The ship was quite honestly a ghost town."

Stark speaks in confusion "Do you think they wanted you to just walk in?"

She's silent for a moment, before speaking downcastedly "I don't know."

The entire ride home, I hold Loki's hand. The grey skin, that's riddled with the appearance of decay, hasn't begun to fade back to his normal pearly white, or even royal blue.

As we near Midgard, I finally have to move from his side.

~

It took me about a week to realize that Loki wasn't waking up. The wound the dagger created, never healed. For the first month, I sat by his side, desperately hoping he would awaken.

Soon, life got the better of me. Jane left me, because my focus was purely on Loki. Jory needed a father. And Loki, well... he became an afterthought.

A painful memory.

And after all the games of chase, and catch, and schooling Jory, I'd send him off to bed.

Once his soft snores were audible in the hallway, I'd sit on the couch, downstairs, and play a section of the video.

I'd watch until my body ached, and my bones screamed at me to stop. The sounds of Loki's screams would follow me to bed and haunt my dreams.

It took me nine months to watch the highlights of the year of hel Loki indore.

I watched him being raped. His fingers, toes, and teeth were all taken from him. He was burned to a crisp.

But the worst torture came when Jormungandr was ripped from Loki's womb.

Loki begged to hold his son, just once. And then The Other finally beat Loki into submission, by holding a blade to Jory's throat.

Of all the things that happened to Loki, that was the only instance that pushed him into submission.

That is what caused him to become the submissive object that broke me, every single time I saw him.

~

The spring brought out the light in Jory that I haven't seen in almost a year. As we ride through the fields surrounding our farmhouse, he laughs, joyously.

When we stop by the lake, Jory smiles at me "Father, what are we doing for my birthday, this year?"

I joking furrow my brow in confusion "It's your birthday?"

"Father!" He cries in annoyance.

I smile at him lovingly, before declaring "I figured we could go to the fair, and you could pick out a few animals to raise."

He gives a confused look, before asking "Like what?"

I give him a knowing look "I heard you and Natasha talking about goats." He smiles, and I shrug "Maybe we could get you a house pet."

He gives a smug look "Any pet I want?"

I nod, before declaring "Any pet you want."

He's about to say something, when Natasha steps out of the back door and calls out "Thor!" She waves her phone in the air and I nod.

I look to Jory and call out "Race you to the house!"

Just like that, we bolt across the field. As he dismounts, he gloats "I beat you! I beat you! I really really beat you!"

I glare at him, before looking to Natasha, who looks like she's seen a ghost. In confusion, I ask "What's wrong?"

"He's awake." She states, before looking down at her phone in concern. She looks back to me and clarifies "Loki... he's awake."