A Second Chance // Thorki

Chapter Eight

The wind was brisk and bitter against Thor's face, snowflakes gathering in his beard and hair, although it didn't seem to bother him much. Dressed in furs as he was, he was plenty warm, even with the -35 degree Celsius weather.

"The air is breathable."

Loki rolled his eyes, "Obviously, you oaf. We wouldn't be out here if it wasn't. It's fairly rich in oxygen as well..." Loki took a moment to scroll down on his archive tablet. "All I'm concerned about is these temperatures. Suitable for me, however I doubt it'd be comfortable for the citizens of Asgard."

Thor crosses his arms, looking over at his brother with a confused look. "What do you mean by that?"

Loki gave a groan, "I'm a frostgiant, you inbred."

"Oh... right, yes, I forgot about that."

"How can you just forget about my race?" Loki almost hissed.

"I mean, you do look Aesir," Thor pointed out, poking Loki's pale cheek.

When the trickster turned to face his brother, multiple things had changed. Loki's previous look had morphed from one of confusion to one of almost anger, and from where Thor has poked his cheek, the pale porcelain of his skin turned to something darker, a blue, the smooth surface becoming riddled with patterns that gave Loki a beautifully ancient look. His eyes had gone from steely blue to flaming red in mere seconds. "I am not Aesir. I am a bloody Jotun, and you know that."

Within seconds, however, the blue was fading away once again, and Loki was returned to his usual state.

"I am a runt of a frost giant... and that is all."

Thor's eye scanned their surroundings, the barren terrain rather flat, completely covered with snow. "No."

"No?"

"No. You are so much more than just a Jotun, Loki." Thor's tone was gentle, although his words were true. "You're a strong, powerful sorcerer. You survived a fall from the bifrost twice, Loki. You almost took over Midgard, and... Me, the god of thunder, king of Asgard, needed to enlist a team of a few of the most elite and powerful warriors in the universe to get you under control. And you put Odin, the strongest being in the universe, under a powerful spell of... some sorts."

While they had previously been walking farther away from the ship, deeper into the snow that covered the land, Loki stopped in his tracks.

"To top it all off, you're one of the most attractive men I've ever seen..." A big, gloved hand was suddenly at the small of Loki's back, comforting yet tantalizing. It caused a shiver to crawl it's way down Loki's spine.

Heat rushed to the trickster's cheeks, but he chose to ignore it, continuing to walk forward through the snow. "So?"

"So... you're so much more than just a Jotun, Loki. Sure, you're blue and have... a very cold body. But that's not all you are."

Loki stayed quiet for the moment.

"Anyway," Thor started, "I don't see any signs of vegetation..."

"Not here, no. We ought to have a look around, hm?" Loki elbowed his brother in the side with a grin, taunting, "Catch me if you can." Before taking off, sprinting as fast as he could in the deep snow. Unlike Thor, Loki was not wearing a heavy amount of armour and a bulky layer of furs- the man was wearing fairly light clothing, and his winter boots were more like waterproof running shoes.

Already being nimble and quick, it did not take much for Loki to take the lead, sprinting as fast as he could.

He hadn't gotten very far, however, before the ground below him gave out and and a cry of surprise escaped him as he fell straight down, disappearing out of Thor's view completely.

Thor slowed to a stop at that, quite shocked by the sudden disappearance of his brother. "Loki?" He called, although he was met with nothing but the echoing sound of his brother's cry.

He creeped closer, snow crunching under his boots, soon enough coming across how and why his brother had disappeared.

A hole. A dark, dirt hole, which must've been concealed by a blanket of snow which Loki had tread on. It wasn't a straight downwards hole, more of a steep tunnel, one which would take a lot of strength and stamina to climb up. It was meant for trapping things, that Thor could tell.

With a groan of annoyance, Thor said loudly, for Heimdall to hear; "If we are in grave danger, or do not return in three hours, send aid."

And with that, he gave a sigh and jumped down into the hole. A bit surprised with just how slippery it was, turning into more of a slide than anything as he slid down and down and down, deeper and deeper into the earth until it became a bit of a warmer temperature, and a light appeared at the end of the tunnel.

What he came upon first, however, once he'd stopped in a narrow dirt cavity, were two holes, both leading to well-lit rooms, different rooms. Thor could not tell what was in them, other than the mountains of straw to catch him once he jumped down one of the holes.

Giving a rather heavy sigh, he chose the hole to his right, dropping down and landing on his back in the pile of hay. The drop had been farther than he'd thought, and even though the pile of straw did lessen the impact, it winded him, an airless groan escaping his lips as all the wind was pushed from his lungs in a rush. Soon enough though, he was back on his feet, and although dizzy, he stumbled out of the stack of hay, hands in fists and sparks dancing around them. "Loki!" He shouted, his voice echoing through the tunnels and caverns.

It was decently lit, a fire pit in the centre of a room with a sort of duct right above to catch the smoke. The floor was dirt, a deep red dirt, which was dry and sandy under his boots.

"Loki?" Thor called once again, his vision taking quite a while to adjust from the stormy white blizzard to the gentle light from the fire in the fairly dark room.

Once he finally managed to get his eye to cooperate, however, he was cursing under his breath.

He was in a cage. A big, tight-barred, metal cage.

Quite angry with the fact he was caught like some sort of caged animal, he stomped over to the bars and wrapped his hands around them- only to give a screech of surprise and pain. "What in God's name-!"

He quickly yanked back his hands, rather alarmed by just how hot the cage was. Both of his hands, now covered in quickly forming blisters from the burn he's received. "Mother of fuck..."

He was stuck. The god of thunder was stuck in a hot cage. He couldn't even climb out- the metal was everywhere but the hole in which he'd fallen from, the bars fitting snugly against the roof of the cavern. There was a door, yes, however it was most likely locked and Thor wouldn't dare touch it.

He didn't have enough time to even try to formulate an escape plan before the ground almost began to shake, rumbling with the arrival of the thing that had built the tunnels.

He was probably twice as big as Thor. Stomping in with a sneer, the troll held in hand what seemed to be a battle axe, wearing a mishmash tunic made from what must've been twenty rabbit pelts, all of varying colours. He had no hair, and what would've been a monstrous forehead, had it not been for the third eye directly in the middle of it.

Because he had three eyes, Thor assumed the troll could see very well. But it turned out, because of a cooking accident, he was blind in two of them, and the third, the one on his forehead, had very bad eyesight. And so, when he saw a blur of moving colour in the metal cage, he had to pause and squint, taking a few more steps forward before he realized it was a tiny person in the cage.

"WENCH!" He called, a thunderous roar of a word, "Dinner has arrived! Will you come carve him up?"

"Yes, Darling!" The next voice was familiar, and Thor almost laughed at who came through the door next.