Working Title : Loki & Annie

87 Loki Slept

Loki Slept.

Loki Remembered. 

This memory was filled with being pushed naked into a room made of stone, the floor freezing cold on his bare feet and rough against his knees when he fell. He rolled after hitting the stone then scrambled on hands and bleeding knees to a corner, the nearest corner that could offer even its false protection. He knew not to make a sound, that would only make the coming punishment worse. His breath came out in pants and he could taste the stench of unwashed bodies and blood and other contaminants.

The guard who had shoved him appeared to grow even larger when he entered, ducking through the doorway while the torch in the man's hand gave off a flickering light. The only object in the room was a filthy washtub that smelled of the foul water that had been left in it.

Another figure came past the first guard and he carried two large buckets of nearly equally dirty water. He poured them into the washtub then flung the buckets at Loki. One after the other they struck his huddled form, bruising already tender flesh. Despite the blunt pain Loki kept his sounds behind his lips. Kneeling on the stone he kept his arms wrapped around his head, his fingers tangled in his long hair.

The sound of boots on stone came closer then a kick to his shoulder told him what was about to start. Again. A gloved hand grabbed him by a thin arm, lifting him several feet into the air where he was roughly shaken.

"Where is he?" More shaking made Loki's body swing wildly and he clenched his eyes even more painfully tight. "Answer! Where. Is. He?" A teeth-rattling shake accompanied each word as if to shake the answer free.

Loki didn't answer. He couldn't answer. He didn't understand the question and he didn't know the answer. But he knew that to voice any of this would only get him screams of being a liar. Of being a traitor. And slaps that stung. There was a violently large swing then he felt sickening weightlessness and he couldn't free his fingers so he crashed face-first against the rough wood of the tub. His head and shoulders sank below the freezing water. Struggling to free his fingers he pulled long strands of black hair from his scalp until he could push at the sides in a vain effort to raise himself out. Splinters of wood pierced his flesh as his fingers tried to gain leverage.

The sensation of water filling his mouth, the burning as it entered his nose then the cold in his lungs sent terror through -

Thor shook Loki while pulling his Brother's flailing limbs against his own body in an effort to stop the nightmare. His efforts were in vain. He only seemed to make Loki's terror worse. The wide-open, unseeing eyes, as well as the open mouth that only guttural noises came from, told Thor his Brother was back in the dungeons of Asgard. Reliving a memory so vivid that he was unable to find wakefulness despite Thor's attempts. With desperation Thor set Loki on the bed, perhaps being held was making the nightmare worse. 

Loki's body arched then folded in on itself while he still choked. His fingers were grasping at his head, Thor thought Loki would have been pulling his hair if it were still long. Instead, his tiny fingers spasmed against his scalp.

Loki slept.

Loki remembered.

The gloved hand on the back of his head gripped tightly in the long matted hair. Abruptly he was lifted from the washtub by an ankle and with dizzying speed lifted aloft as he was shaken while water streamed from both his nose and mouth. His body violently gagged and vomited filthy water.

"Where is he? Answer me!" More violent shaking then the feeling of being flipped to be held by his throat by a gloved hand that tightened. Fingers dug into his flesh. 

Even if Loki wanted to he could not answer. His lungs convulsed and he continued to cough and make painful noises while his stomach expelled still more foul water from both his nose and mouth. As his breaths came in wet, gurgling gasps his mind knew not which direction to think other than to attempt to try to breathe through wetly tight lungs.