Curiosity Killed the Cat

Chapter 25: Violent Violet

Frigga, Loki and Peter made their way down to the dungeons to speak with Thor. When they reached the cells, Loki shuddered a bit at the painful reminder of his imprisonment on Midgard.

They walked down the hall of white rooms, some empty, some full of creatures, until they were met with the sight of Thor, who was angrily pacing around the small box he currently called his home. Loki remembered many times where he could have been caught doing the same during his confinement. He took a step towards the cell's golden barrier. "Brother."

Thor turned on him quickly with a scowl on his face. "I'll speak not to the liesmith responsable for my father's death!"

Peter recoiled sharply, not remembering ever seeing the fun-loving Asgardian like this. Loki stepped in front of Peter protectively, even though he knew there was no way Thor could manage to get out of that cell by himself.

Loki's face stayed calm as he spoke. "I did not kill Odin, nor did those that you harmed. You know that there was always a chance he wouldn't wake from Odinsleep."

"They hurt him, and they did it because of you!"

Frigga stepped forward. "I was here during the riots, not one hand lay a blow upon him."

"You lie!"

"No, Thor, I don't."

"Yes you do, witch! How should I know that you did not harm him yourself!?"

Loki now stood in front of both his mother and Peter, separating them from Thor's rage. He lifted his chin a bit and said, "You're wrong."

Loki stepped up to meet Thor's height and stood face to face with him. He looked closely at his brother, trying to garner what could possibly have made him act in this way, when he saw it. It was so small he almost didn't catch it, but he saw a purple sheen over his eyes that made them glint from the lights in the cells.

Loki recognized the magic at play, he just could not for the life of him place where it came from.

He backed down from the barrier and shepherded both Peter and his mother out of the dungeons.

"What's wrong my son?" Frigga inquired as she saw the look on Loki's face as they exited the blackened hallways of the prisons.

"Whatever Thor did wasn't his fault. There is foul magic at play."

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Loki scoured over his personal library, scanning his journals for any inconsistencies, but he could barely find any.

He heard the door crack open and he turned to see Peter popping his head in the room. "I'm just gonna go take a nap, wanted to let you know."

"Okay, see you in a bit." Peter smiled and nodded as he shut the door once more.

Loki sighed as he banged his head on the desk in frustration. Why is someone messing with my memories? Better yet, why is someone messing with Thor? Could they be the same person? What's their goal?

Loki looked back at the shelf of journals and sighed again. It would take years to go through everything he had written down, which was not the kind of time they had. If someone was doing this kind of magic, then they had something planned, and that something was soon.

Just as he was contemplating how to go about figuring out the culprit behing all of this, he felt someone behind him. He spun around to see Eris waving at him with a smile.

"Eris! What are you doing here?!" He said as they hugged each other.

"I know we all had to leave the compound suddenly and I wanted to see how you are feeling after your healing."

Loki smiled. "If I'm being honest, I almost forgot about that. It's been a long past couple of days."

Eris furrowed her brows in concern. "What's wrong?"

Loki debated on whether or not to tell her about the memory spell, but decided against it. He didn't want her to worry about someone possibly messing with their memories when it could have been a one-off incident.

"I'm just concerned about Thor. I think someone may have a spell on him that is controlling his emotions."

Eris' eyes widened a bit in surprise. "That kind of magic is forbidden! Only very powerful objects can even do such a thing! Do you know who could have done it yet?"

"I recognize the magic, I just don't know where from. I'm trying to see if any of my books may say anything about it, but no luck so far."

"I wish I could help, Loki," she said with a bit of a pout. Loki wrapped his arm around her in a friendly gesture.

"I know. It's enough to know that you would." Eris snuggled into his embrace a bit.

Suddenly, Loki heard banging on his bedroom door. He and Eris strode out of his study and into his bedroom. Peter groggily got out of Loki's bed as Loki pulled open his doors.

They were met with the sight of two guards, both of whom looked a bit frantic. "Your Highness, Her Majesty is in need of you immediately!"

Loki nodded and the five of them sprinted to his mother's rooms. The door was locked from the inside and when they tried knocking, they was no reply. Loki twisted his hands with a bit of magic and opened the doors.

The room was in disarray, with things knocked over and fabric ripped around the room. On the terrace steps leading up to the door, Frigga lay on the floor, her chest rising and falling faintly and a trickle of blood had fallen from her lips.

Loki sprinted to his mother's side and ordered the guards to get healers. "Stay with me, mum. I'm here now," he cried frantically and he held her in his arms.

Healers came bursting through the entranceway and started performing magic on Frigga in an effort to save her life, all while Loki held her hand, refusing to let go. Some of the healers started to pull out the magic that was harming her and depositing it in a magic-proof jar.

Loki looked up for a moment to see what they were doing and stiffened when he saw the sickly purple magic swirling in the jar beside him.