Shadows and Lies

Chapter 29

Chapter 29
Loki didn't tell Thor what happened with the guard in the lounge, but only because Fandral beat him to it. Loki didn't want to let the incident ruin the rest of his afternoon, so he spent a while relaxing in the lounge and trying not to think about the possibility of all his efforts being for nothing. Then At the end of the day he went to tell Thor what happened, only to find out that Fandral had already filled Thor in and the guard had been taken care of.
For the next several days Loki saw very little of Thor. He didn't mind at first, he was actually glad he could get up without Thor appearing out of nowhere to mother him, but after a few days Loki started to wonder what was going on. Ever since returning to Asgard Thor had been close by, he and Katarina were the only people Loki saw on a daily basis, and now suddenly Loki was down to just Katarina with no explanation. It was like Thor had just vanished and almost no one seemed to know what he'd been spending his time doing, and the people that did know where he was were being very tight lipped about it.
"Why is Thor avoiding me?" Loki asked Katarina, who was having Loki work his shoulders which were still very sore.
"He's not avoiding you, he's just busy" she told him, slowly lowering his arm again. Loki moved his shoulder around a bit to loosen it up.
"He's always busy, but lately he's been avoiding me. Even Sif and Fandral and Volstagg brush me off when I ask about him" he argued. Katarina didn't reply for a minute, she put an ice pack in his hand and had him hold it against his eye, which was still swollen even though he could see out of it now.
"He's just busy, you're overthinking it" she said dismissively "and don't think he isn't concerned for you, he checks in almost everyday to ask me how you're doing" she added. Loki took the ice off his eye and grabbed her wrist, which caused her to stop massaging a salve into his burned skin.
"He talks to you? On a daily basis? So do you know what he's been up to?" He was a little annoyed now that he knew Katarina had been able to chat with Thor everyday even though he claimed to be too busy for Loki.
"He just checks in to ask how you're doing, nothing important" she said, But was obviously using tending to him as an excuse to avoid eye contact.
"Do you know what he's been up to?" He asked again, more accusingly this time. Katarina sighed and finally looked at him.
"Yes. But I can't tell you anything so just stop asking" she told him. He looked slightly mad and a little bit flabbergasted.
"You know- Where is he right now? I'm going to go talk to him" he put the ice pack down and shoved her hand away from him and got up.
"Loki please, there's a reason he doesn't want to talk to you right now" she told him "besides you shouldn't be up and about so much" he rolled his eyes, slowly putting a shirt on.
"I'm fine. That excuse to keep me in one place has kind of run it's course. Aside from some bruises and burns-" he stopped talking for a minute, trying to be careful with getting dressed so he didn't scratch the burns "-and maybe a few still sensitive ribs, I'm fine. But if you're so concerned for me just tell me where Thor is. I'll be up for less time if I know where I'm going" he told her. She was quiet for a minute, then gave in.
"Well I don't know where he is right at this moment, he's somewhere in the city. He'll be back in a little less than an hour though" she told Loki.
"Great, I'll wait for him then" Loki said, then left the room.
Thor was not back in less than an hour, in fact, he was gone for the rest of the day.
When he did get back he went to his room, eagerly awaiting some down time.
"And I was starting to think you'd fallen off the edge of the world" Thor sighed a bit when he heard Loki and turned around to see his brother sitting on his bed, looking both irritated and smug.
"Loki... how are you feeling?" Thor asked. He'd been trying to avoid Loki for a while now but knew eventually he'd have to explain himself.
"You know how I'm feeling. You talk to Katarina every day" Loki said back. Thor looked a bit defeated.
"What do you want Loki?" Thor asked.
"'What do you want Loki?'" Loki mimicked "you've never talked to me like that. What's going on with you? Why have you been avoiding me?" He was sounding more mad now.
"It's nothing to get upset about, I haven't been avoiding you, I've just been busy. Is that really why you snuck in here?" Thor asked.
"I snuck in here to try  and get some straight answers" Loki stood up "now I'm sure you are busy, but you've been busy since you became king and up until a few days ago you've practically been attached to me, and then suddenly when things are settling down you're too busy?" He was clearly upset, a mixture of angry and offended and confused.
"Loki I'm sorry, Okay? Some things have come up that need my attention and I haven't had time to talk to you about it" Thor said rather unconvincingly.
"Stop lying to me!" Loki finally snapped. Thor was pretty surprised to hear him yelling, though it sounded pretty rough.
"Don't shout you'll hurt your throat" Thor warned "by the way how's your eye? it looks a lot better" he touched the swelling around Loki's eye to see how far it had gone down, but Loki wouldn't be distracted, he slapped Thor's hand away and continued.
"don't try and shift my focus.  Why are you being so secretive? Why won't you just tell me what's going on?" He was sounding a bit less angry and more like he was just desperate for answers.
"It's nothing for you to worry about" Thor said again. Loki put his hands to his forehead and grumbled in annoyance.
"Is this what it's like to talk to me?" He said, lowering his hands again "is this what I do? Make it impossible to get any kind of helpful Information out? It's infuriating Thor, honestly, you make having a conversation like pulling teeth" he snapped, his tone still loud but not quite shouting.
"Yeah, it's exactly what you do. It isn't fun is it?" Thor said a little jokingly.
"No, it isn't" Loki still sounded mad but he tried to calm down.
"Thor I know you, I know how you act when something is upsetting to you and I know that the only time you avoid me is when you're going to have to lie to me" Loki said more calmly. "So whatever it is.. just tell me. Maybe I can help. Shouldn't I be involved in this kind of thing anyway, I'm the..." he trailed off, not really sure what he was. Normally the brother of the king would be a highly regarded man, but giving Loki's history he doubted he had any real status. "Well whatever I am, I'm your brother and that should count for something" Thor didn't say anything for a minute. He'd been trying to fix his relationship with loki for so long, and finally Loki was calling them brothers again and Thor was the one keeping distance between them.
"you're right. You're right, have a seat and I'll explain" Thor gestured to a chair for Loki to sit so he could tell him what was going on. Loki was a little bit surprised, he didn't think Thor would give in. In fact he fully planned on disguising himself as Fandral the next day to trick Thor into telling him.
After a moment Loki sat down and so did Thor.
"Remember when that guard attacked you a few days ago?" Thor asked.
"Vividly" loki said rather dryly. It was five days ago, of course he remembered.
"Well he wasn't bluffing when he said he wasn't the only one who was out to get you... apparently there are several people who are causing stirrings" Thor told him, trying to read Loki's reaction before he continued.
"Stirrings... about me? They're changing their minds, they won't let me live after all" Loki said, making sure he was understanding Thor properly. Realistically he knew this would happen, he was anticipating this for a while now, he knew that anything he and Thor did to appease with people would only be temporary and eventually they'd want him gone again, but he'd been trying to be optimistic about it. "And you didn't think I was entitled to know that?" Thor sighed a bit.
"Nothing major has happened, I have it under control" Thor assured him.
"You Do right now, but how long is that going to last?" Loki said with a lot of doubt in his tone.
"It won't get out of control, it's just a few people stirring things up-" Loki cut him off.
"Thor you keep sticking your neck out for me, soon you'll get sick of it" he snapped a little bit "come on, how long do you really plan of doing this? Your entire time as king has been chasing me and dealing with my problems, aren't you tired of it yet? You're not going to deal with this forever, eventually you'll give the people what they want, which is my head on a stick" Thor was quiet for a minute, not really sure how he should respond to Loki's doubt in him.
"Loki I've invested way too much time and effort into you by now. I'm going to fix this, and I'm not going to let you get killed. Even though you've been a thorn in my side for years, you're my brother and I care about you, and I'm not letting go" Loki almost Hated Thor for being so loyal and determined. A few months ago Loki wouldn't have cared what happened to Thor, in fact he'd be happy to see Thor doing something that would so obviously ruin his position as king. But now he actually cared about what happened to Thor, he knew he didn't deserve the efforts Thor had put in for him and he didn't want Thor to give up even more for him.
"You know that if enough people want to, they can take you out of your place as king. They can riot and demand you step down, and if that doesn't work they will get violent" loki pointed out. Thor was quiet again, he would do everything within his power to keep Loki from getting killed, but Loki was right, if he was forced off the throne he wouldn't have much power to do that.
"I don't want to die, obviously, but... Thor you've already done too much, and honestly you-" Loki stooped and clenched his jaw, not believing what he was about to say "you.... deserve to be king. You're a good king, at some point you have to think about yourself and what's best for you. I'm not worth loosing the throne for, I appreciate all the work you've done for me but... maybe some people just can't be redeemed, maybe not everyone gets a second chance"
Thor didn't say anything for a few minutes, he was visibly upset; both angry at everyone who might be trying to get Loki executed, and disheartened by the fact that he might be losing his brother once again.
"Well listen, nothing major has happened yet, so far there's just been a few people who are stirring things up and I've been able to talk them down. Let's not make any extreme decisions until something serious happens" Thor finally said after a few minutes of silence. Before loki could respond, the door opened and Fandral entered the room.
"Thor, you need to come to the meeting room, now, and you should probably bring Loki. Things just escalated"
Loki and Thor exchanged nervous glances before Loki spoke up.
"I think we should start making extreme decisions"