Shadows and Lies

Chapter 27

Chapter 27:
Thor sat outside the healing room, anxiously tapping his foot as he waited for Katarina to let him in. When Thor brought Loki back he was genuinely worried that Loki wasn't going to make it. Loki was a mess, and though he'd been mumbling when they first let got him down, he'd become totally non-responsive by the time they arrived back at the palace and was brought to the healing chambers. Thor wanted to help, but he ended up just getting in the way and making the healers nervous. Katarina eventually made him leave and wait outside so that they could fix up Loki without him disrupting them.
After a long time the healing room door opened and thor stood up quickly.
"Is he okay?" Thor asked anxiously.
"You have to calm down. He's going to be okay, but he's..." She trialed off without finishing, Loki was a big mess and didn't she really know how to explain it to Thor. "Just come see him" she waved him forward and Thor followed her into the room.
"He.... doesn't look okay at all" Thor said when he saw Loki's condition. Even without the blood smeared all over him, Loki was still bruised and covered in cuts and wounds and blood-soaked bandages. He was covered in knots and swells, and the little bit of his skin that wasn't covered with bandages was badly burned from the amount of sun he'd been exposed to. He looked very far from 'okay'.
"I know, he looks terrible, and he'll feel terrible when he wakes up. But he's going to heal, he just needs rest and time" she told him, putting a hand on his arm. "We're going to do what we can to make him comfortable, and to start we want to move him back to his own room. When he wakes up he'd probably be more comfortable there" Thor just nodded and tried not to stare at Loki while the healers moved him to a cot to bring him to his room.
They left the healing room and brought Loki to his own chambers and carefully put him in bed.
"When will he wake up?" Thor asked as Katarina put Loki in bed and put a blanket over him and tried to make it so he'd Ben comfortable when he woke up.
"I'm not sure, probably not for a while though" she answered.
"You're not sure? You don't know when the drugs will wear off?" Thor didn't understand how she could be not sure.
"He's not on drugs Thor, we didn't have to sedate him" she explained.
"Well then how is he still asleep? You've been working on him and moving him, why hasn't he woken up?" Thor was worried for Loki's safety and wanted to make sure he was actually going to wake up eventually.
"Because he's tired" Thor wasn't expecting such a simple answer and his confusion showed "he's been through extreme pain for the past three days, he's tired, both physically and mentally, and he certainly didn't need the help of medication for his body to go into a very deep sleep. So just leave him be, and he'll wake up when he's rested enough" she told him. Thor didn't say anything, he didn't like the Idea of just sitting and waiting for Loki to wake up but he really didn't have any choice.
"Alright, thank you" he said. Katarina nodded a bit and left the room since There really wasn't anything else for her to do until loki woke up.
=*****=
Loki heard harsh ringing and muffled talking. He was slowly coming back to consciousness, he tried to move a bit but his body wouldn't let him, he tried to stir but even a bit of movement was painful.
"Thor...." he knew the voice he was hearing belonged to Thor. But When he spoke his throat felt like it was on fire, so he didn't try to speak again.
The ringing in his ears started to subside and he was able to get his eyes opened. He squinted when the morning light from the window hit his eyes. He was starting to gain control of his muscles, tired though they were, and tried to sit up. He tired to push himself up on his arm but as soon as  he put weight on his shoulder he couldn't stand the pain and dropped back down, groaning in pain and frustration.
He laid there for a few moments motionless, then took a few deep breaths and pulled himself up Into a sitting position. He groaned loudly and clutched his ribs as he looked around the room. It was hard to see since one eye was covered up in bandages and the other was still slightly swollen, but he could I see that he was alone in the room. The only thing different in the room was a chair next to his bed that wasn't usually there, and one of his favorite books open on top of it.
He tried to reach for the book on the chair but quickly realized that reaching for anything just put strain on his shoulder and he was forced to drop his arm. He pulled his arm back and absentmindedly rubbed his wrist, which also ended up hurting because they were raw from the shackles. He noticed something though; there were no cuffs. Up until now he'd been kept under control with cuffs that stopped him from using magic, but now they were gone. It also registered that when he'd woken up he had the sun in his eyes, which meant the windows were no longer blocked and sealed. He wasn't a prisoner any more.
He knew it was a bad idea, but he stood up. Though he felt a bit dizzy and uncoordinated, he was able to stand and successfully staggered to the door and opened it. His legs were shaky and his ribs ached and he couldn't see very well, but he got there, and when he did and he opened the door and found that There were no guards, the door wasn't locked, he could leave if he wanted to. He leaned his back against the doorframe and then quickly stood up again due to the pain of his very sunburned skin touching the wall.
"Loki what- What are you doing?" He heard Thor's slightly flustered and confused voice and turned to see him approaching.
"I wanted-" Loki got two words out before his voice completely failed him and his throat felt like it was on burning. He put a hand to his neck and tried to clear his throat, but that just made it worse.
"When did you wake up?" Thor asked as he carefully brought Loki back into the room and sat him back down on his bed.
Loki tried to say 'a few minutes ago' but only managed to get out 'few' and 'go'
"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked, you're not going to be able to talk for a while" Thor said, pouring a glass of some amber colored liquid and holding it Up to Loki's lips to let him drink. It was a bit hard for loki to to drink since His lips were swollen to about twice their usual size, and His throat was dry so the liquid felt rough at first, but he finished drinking it anyway and by the time he'd finished, his throat felt a lot better.
"Feel better?" Thor asked when Loki had emptied the glass. Loki nodded a bit.
"Yeah, a bit... what was that?" Loki's voice was still very rough and not all of the words came out, but Thor could understand him.
"I don't really know, Katarina gave it to me to give to you when you woke up. It's supposed to help your throat and dull some of your overall pain" Thor told him.
"How long have you been awake? I've been really worried about you, I was starting to think you weren't going to wake up at all" Loki looked a little bit surprised, the sun had only been up for maybe a few hours, he couldn't have slept that long, why would Thor have been worried so much?.
"I haven't- been asleep for that long" Loki pointed out. Thor looked out the window and then back at Loki figuring out that Loki didn't realize how long he'd been out.
"Loki... you've been asleep for five days" Thor told him.
"Wh-" Loki's voice gave out in his surprise. "Five days? How-" his voice broke again so Thor jumped in to answer his questions.
"You're fine. Katarina said you just needed to rest and you were really exhausted and just needed to sleep for a while. I just wasn't expecting it to be five days" Thor told him. "So please don't get up and try to walk around for a while, you're a bit of a mess and should just stay here until you're feeling better" Thor said as he arranged some pillows for loki so he could lean back without laying down. Loki nodded a bit and relaxed against the pillows.
"Can I eat something... I'm starving" loki said after a minute of silence between them. Thor got up immediately.
"Right, yes, absolutely. I'll get something for you to eat and send Katarina in here for you" he got up and left the room before Loki could tell him that he didn't really want Katarina to come in to poke and proud at him.
Loki laid there alone for a few minutes. He could barely see out of his swollen eyes, his mouth was swollen, his throat was raw, his ribs ached, his skin hurt every time he moved, and his shoulders were so sore he could barely stand to lift the weight of his own arm. But In a strange way he felt good... he wasn't a prisoner anymore, but more than that he felt free from his past. He'd payed his price and felt like he could finally dump all the baggage from his life he'd been carrying around with him. Thor forgave him, he'd been given a second chance, and he would finally be able to make a clean start. He was hurting right now, but that would pass and he might have a shot at an actually good life.
"Hey" he heard Katarina's voice and he sat up a bit "it's good to see you awake again, Thor was really worried about you" she said as he came over and sat next to the bed in the chair where the book was. Loki nodded a little bit.
"I know.... I think he was reading to me... I remember hearing him for some reason" Katarina smiled a little bit.
"It wouldn't surprise me, he barely left you. I think he forgets that you've lived through a lot worse, at the end of the day he still sees you as his little brother" she gently massaged a cold gel into his skin to sooth the burns. "I know you're in a Lot of pain, but the good news is that none of these people thought to injure you beyond the surface. You'll have a full recovery and it should be relatively quick if you do what I say" she assured him. Loki shrugged a little bit.
"I've never been one to follow orders" he said in what could've been a joking tone if his voice didn't sound like he'd been chewing glass.
"Well please try. You've been fighting hard to get back, you're so close to having your normal life back on track, don't spoil it by being stupid and getting yourself further injured"
He just nodded a little bit.
"Sure. I'll do my best"