Lies and Trickery

Chapter 8: Evil or Evil?

✍️ HOLY GODS OF ASGARD...87 READS THIS IS SO EPIC ✍️

⚠️Warning: self-harm, mentions of suicide⚠️

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Norse mythology had never been big on separating good from evil. There was mischievous, troublemaking, honest, liars, innocent, dangerous but never a good or evil. People often doubted whether the Gods could tell the differences themselves (they never could; they were idiots what did you expect). Because of this drastic lack of virtues, the justice system in Asgard was one filled with harsh punishments...

also known as torture.

The prisoners who were pardoned or granted release often found themselves reaching an untimely end because they had thrust a knife into their own hearts, tired of the constant flashbacks of their horrendous past. Some may have been stronger than others but almost all received nightmares and reminders of the time they serves. Midgardians had a name for this unfortunate mental state.

PTSD. 

Not being Midgardian, Loki the God of Mischief and Lies had never been diagnosed with this problem purely because everyone around him chose to ignore it. Natasha Romanoff had come to this conclusion through spending only five minutes with the god and the super-spy was sure that even a blind man could confidently diagnose the raven with this disease. 

'Let's play rock, paper, scissors for it.' Tony had proclaimed always choosing to solve his problems like a child. A certain redhead had protested vehemently about this claiming that they should choose a more mature method. However, the truth was Natasha had never had much practice with childhood games having spent most of it in the halls of the Red Room. The super spy had also been tricked several times into playing this game by her 'caretakers' and had always lost out on a meal or two because of the unfortunate results.

Games like these always intrigued her as she'd never had a keen eye for pattern-spotting and was blind to even the most basic sequences. Eventually, she gave in and unluckily because of that reason found herself walking around the vast corridors of the Tower a skittish god in her wake. 

The god in question sported a particularly awful array of injuries making it difficult for him not to wince with every step he took. Every sharp intake of breath did not go unnoticed by Natasha and after barely a few minutes the assassin was tempted to offer help to the limping god until abruptly the mischief maker's posture changed completely. 

He stood taller his dull and pained emerald eyes suddenly filled with intense hatred and an unfocused look at the same time. Trying not to feel intimated by the sudden difference in personality Natasha adopted her professional personality and walked on unbothered by the glare aimed at her back.

Loki on the other hand felt different, his mind filled with visions of hatred and abandonment which was a drastic and sudden change from the depressing memories of the past. He longed to shake his head and banish the visions from his mind but instead, they remained, filling him with hatred inside. A small part of him was suddenly enveloped in fear as he realized what was happening. 

The sudden change from sadness to anger always took him by surprise and often led him to collapse in exhaustion later on. He fought against the after-effects of mind control most of his imprisoned times and the mental war seemed to have the same effects as a physical one. The trickster knew that he had only fragments of his brain left, some lost to the Titan's control and others through Asgard's torture. Leaving him with close to no good experiences and once again vulnerable to other attacks. As the violent thoughts in his mind grew his fingers twitched for some relief.

Attack someone! His thoughts bellowed their commands influenced by his time under the scepter. As the god continued to defy the words a pain in his head grew to intensify with each passing second. He willed his facial expressions to be impassive not betraying weakness to the super spy in front of him. It's not like she would care anyway. The sneering voice said making Loki wince at the truth in the words.

He'd never been a fan of the truth often choosing to linger in the painless corners of lies in his childhood. That was where his unfortunate and misleading title had come from. Loki had never liked spinning lies to deceive others or manipulate them in any manner instead wanting only to comfort himself in the lies. Truths in his family were a different thing as they were only harsh and spoken in times of insults leading young Loki to believe that truths were only present to belittle and shame others.

Every time he was given the option to lie he choose it and it got him into trouble often but not in a way you would think.

"Which one of you broke this?" Frigga yelled, she had been in one of the rare tempers since this morning claiming that a headache was the cause. The young princes had taken the opportunity to have fun when she retired to her bedroom but quickly found themselves regretting it.

Both the blond and the raven had their heads bowed in shame as their mother held in the remains of her favorite shattered vase. Thor had tried to grab the fragile object and throw it at his brother when Loki refused to show Thor some of his new magic.

Truth be told, the trickster had been performing tricks for Thor and his friends since early in the day and was quite exhausted from the amount of energy he had been drained of. The moment he had worked up enough courage to refuse the next request the young thunder god had seen red and chased after Loki for ages.

Close to collapsing Loki had run in fear through all the corridors wanting to find safety in his Mother's room when suddenly the footsteps behind him ceased. Stopping to catch his breath, the raven quickly realized his mistake when the small glass shards pierced his skin breaking as Thor threw the vase.

He hadn't screamed scared of waking his unforgiving father and instead crawled away under the table where he sat currently a thoughtful expression on his face. The four-year-old knew that if Thor owned up he wouldn't have been allowed to play with the other warriors and instead be cooped up in his room which would sadden him greatly.

So, making a quick decision Loki owned up to the crime through horrified by the punishment. His seidr was to be taken away for a month. Sitting in his room a hollow and sad feeling in his heart Loki cried silent tears at the loss of his magic but yet as he heard Thor's joyful laughs from the outside he couldn't help but vow to lie again.

"We've reached," Natasha said her expression curious and hostile at the same time. The god had walked mindlessly for the last few corridors and no more whimpers or whines had escaped his lips. The super couldn't help but wince as her gaze dropped to the gold threads and the horribly scarred lips they had pierced. Something told her this wasn't the first time it had happened and if they ever were removed it would be the last.

"Don't leave this room and don't try anything or JARVIS will warn us." she continued spotting the hatred in Loki's eyes. "Someone will probably come to give yo- check on you," she said wincing at the slip-up. No doubt that eating was a sore subject for the trickster and she doubted that he liked being reminded of something he couldn't do. 

"Bye," she said clinking the door in place, and only when she was sure it was shut and secure did she press the button in her hand. Removing Loki's chains. Hopefully, the Asgardian bracelets would work as enough of a magic blocker for the god.

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✍️ So good chapter or bad chapter? By the way, yall I might be updating a bit more cause it's Diwali vacation and I have more writing time and a few more chapter ideas in mind. Drop a vote and comment throughout the chapter, please. I love reading your opinions. ✍️