Shadows and Lies

Chapter 30

Loki and Thor followed fandral back to the meeting room. Fandral was obviously tense and anxious, and though Thor and loki didn't know the details of the escalated situation, they knew it wasn't good.
"So what exactly has changed? Thor said there were just stirrings, how has that escalated in an afternoon?" Loki asked, pushing open the meeting room doors. Fandral and Thor followed Into the room and they all sat around a table.
"We thought we had it all under control, and then as soon as Thor got back we received a message. Apparently a large amount of people have grouped together to make some pretty drastic demands" fandral explained.
"What kind of demands?" Loki's asked. Fandral looked pretty unsure, not really knowing how the best way to word this would be.
"Well... your death mostly" he said after a bit of an awkward pause. Loki wished he was surprised, but he really wasn't, he just felt at a loss for words, which didn't come often for him.
"What exactly is the danger at this moment? What can we do?" Thor asked.
"I'm not entirely sure what we can do, that's why I called you here. But it seems that the threats aren't empty. Several messages have come in saying that they're willing to escalate things if they don't receive a satisfactory response by the end of the day" Fandral told Thor, to which Loki appeared very confused.
"The end- when did these messages come in? It's already the end of the day" the sun was indeed setting behind the mountains already; Loki didn't know how much of the day they had left.
Thor didn't let Fandral answer Loki though.
"More importantly, how are they planning to escalate things?" Fandral once again did not get to answer the question posed to him; they heard a sudden and very loud rumbling from outside, followed by the floor vibrating vigorously beneath their feet. Thor, Loki, and Fandral looked between each other before Thor finally spoke.
"What's going on?" As soon as he asked, several guards rushed into the room.
"Your highness, there are raids starting on the palace" he said in a hurry, the three men jumped to their feet immediately.
"Mobs have gathered outside and are ready to attack the palace if you don't hand Loki over to them" the guard explained. Thor tried to think quickly, things were very rapidly spiraling out of his control. This morning he thought he had everything under control, he thought the only dangers were a few angry people that he'd been able to talk down, and now suddenly the palace is under attack and they're demanding Loki to be handed over to them right now.
"That's crazy, they won't be able to penetrate the palace, what are they thinking?" He said in confused astonishment.
"They're thinking that you would rather hand me over than open fire on your own citizens" Loki told him. Thor looked at him in annoyance, trying to think of a way this could end with Loki alive and the people satisfied, but he was coming up very empty.
"Sir we need to take some form of action, they're armed and trying to break through the palaces standard defenses, if we don't act soon-" he was cut off by another rumbling and shaking of the ground. By now the voices of the gathering mobs were audible form where they were inside.
"Are they setting off explosives?" Thor asked in disbelief, this must have been being planned for a long time, probably ever since he announced that Loki would be allowed to regain citizen status.
"Yes, and they have more, enough to get in if we don't do something" the guard warned. Thor tried to think.
"Would they be willing to settle for anything less? Banishment maybe? Anything less Han death?" He asked, trying to find some way to keep Loki alive.
"Banishment to where? Every realm knows what I've done, they'd just kill me as soon as I arrive" Loki said back. Thor knew the only way for the people to sago was if he gave them Loki.
"Both of you leave, I need to talk to my brother alone" the guard and fandral both hesitated as now wasn't really a time for Thor and Loki to have a deep conversation, but they ended up leaving when Thor stared them down. after they left, Thor turned to Loki but Loki spoke first.
"You need to give them what they want" Loki said before Thor could get a syllable out.
"They want you dead" Thor retorted.
"Exactly. Give me to them, it's clear they won't stop and we can't spend forever dodging their raids and trying to calm the masses" Loki explained all too logically. It made Thor furious when loki talked about his own death logically.
"Loki this is your life!". He yelled.
"And I don't deserve it!" Loki yelled back.
"Thor, I did commit those crimes. I have invaded worlds and hurt people, I have brought chaos across realms and I do deserve a death sentence. The only reason you're fighting so hard to keep me alive is because I'm your brother. If anyone else had committed those crimes they wouldn't have gotten the chance I got." Thor looked pained by everything Loki was saying, he wasn't willing to give Loki over to them.
"I can't let you die when it's my fault you did those things" he said after a minute of silence. Loki sighed a bit.
"Thor, you didn't make me do that stuff. You made me feel like an outsider growing up, but my actions were my choices, and you can't keep taking responsibility for me. I did those things because I was bitter and angry. But you didn't make me do it, nothing I've done is on you" Loki told him, talking more kindly than he had in years "and you need to let me go. You gave me a second chance and I got to get back on track, but some sins can't be forgiven, and it's not unreasonable that the people won't forgive mine" Thor was quiet and somber for a moment. For a second it looked like he might actually give Loki over to the mobs, but then he shook his head.
"No. I'm sorry, but no. I can't do it" Loki was about to argue again but Thor didn't let him. "I can't do it Loki! I can't just give you over to them, they'll rip you apart. You're-" he was fighting against his emotions pretty hard "you're the only family I have left... you're too important to me. I lost you once already and I can't do that again. I won't" he said with considerable resolve. "I've fought in actual wars, I'm not handing you over to avoid a fight" he added. Loki knew Thor wasn't thinking about the big picture; they couldn't fight forever, they would either kill Loki now, or put up a fight that would result in the loss of lives and Thor being removed from the throne, and then kill Loki later on. Loki didn't want that to happen, he thought he'd hate his brother forever, but that all changed over the past months, he didn't want Thor to throw away everything that he deserved.
Suddenly Loki's face lit up like he had a plan.
"Thor I've got an idea" he said. Thor was excited to hear it, because he had none.
"What is it?" He asked eagerly.
"Follow me, I think this could work" Loki waved Thor along and left the meeting room, Thor close behind. Every few minutes the ground shook and more people gathered outside, but Loki continued to lead Thor to his chambers.
"What are we doing here?" Thor asked when they got to Loki's room and Loki closed the door.
"I said I have a plan" loki said, then faced Thor. "You've done way too much for me already, and I won't let you lose your throne" he said. Thor looked confused
"What are you talking about? What's your idea?" Thor asked. Loki took a breath and sighed deeply.
"This is my plan... I'm sorry" Loki threw his hand to Thor's forehead, Thor tried to stop him but it was too late, he felt a rush of fatigue and collapsed on the spot as soon as loki touched him. The last thing he saw before blacking out was Loki running out of the room.
Thor woke up some time later, sif and the warriors were kneeling around him, trying to wake him up.
"Where's Loki?" Thor asked as he'd woken from Loki's spell.
"That's what we were going to ask you. The two of you came here and when we came to get you he was gone" sif explained as Thor got to his feet.
"How long has it been?" Thor knew Loki's magic, he'd seen this trick done before, but the amount of time the each person stayed asleep was different and he had no idea how long he'd been out.
"Just a few minutes" Fandral told him.
"Find Loki" thor said urgently "he can't have gone far, but if he's able to leave the palace those people will kill him. Tell every guard not to let him past if they see him" he instructed as they all hurried out of the room to start looking for Loki.
"Why would he leave the palace? He knows he'd get killed if he was caught" Sif asked, knowing that Loki knew there was a mob out there wanting him dead. Thor didn't want to think it had already happened, but it was a possibility.
"Because... he's going to turn himself over to them"