Fic: Waiting On the Edge (Sif/Loki)
Title: Waiting On the Edge
Author: chosenfire28
Fandom: Avengers/Thor
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
Characters/pairings: Sif/Loki, Thor (background Thor/Jane)
Summary: Loki is brought back to Asgard and imprisoned. Thor is his only visitor, until Sif decides it’s time for them to speak.
Author's Note: Written for wake_the_dragon for avengers_xchng. I went with the prompt “Loki is imprisoned on Asgard, awaiting judgement. The only vistor he ever gets is Thor until one day Sif visits. Both find they have a lot to say to each other. Angsty Loki/Sif” and I tried to work in some of your favorites. I’ve never written this pairing before so it was a bit of a challenge but I hope you like it!
Also, thank you to gloria_scott for betaing this for me so close to the deadline. Really, you were an amazing help.
She watched them. Thor knew; she had made the request of him and he had allowed it. She watched as Thor pleaded with his brother, as he yelled, as he sighed in weariness. She watched as Loki stayed steadfast in his hatred and bitterness. He used words to wound; twisting them like a knife deep into his brother’s flesh. It was a tactic she had seen him use when they were younger, but never with this amount of viciousness. It only served to mask his desperation, and Thor saw through that sooner than she had.
Loki’s prison was a gilded cage, which was fitting. He was still a Prince of Asgard, after all, despite his protests to the contrary. Loki’s sitting room was opulent. Books lined the walls, and there was a doorway to his bedroom, which was no doubt just as rich as the one that now sat empty in the royal wing. Silk hung in place of a door to separate it from the sitting room, affording Loki some privacy from the visitors who were allowed to see him.
She knew of no others than Thor, whose visits were frequent. When he was on Asgard he visited every night, and when he was away he was never gone more than a fortnight.
Even with insults hurtled at their mother, at Sif herself, at Thor’s Jane, Thor never quite flinched and he never stopped visiting.
Sif watched because she needed to know.
She needed to know the depths of his madness; she needed to know the tricks and lies he would try to use. This Loki had never been aimed at her, and she needed to know the man he had become.
Sif watched and months passed into years, and she grew tired of just watching.
“Brother, know that I love you,” Thor murmured, the words he said each night, and left Loki’s prison. His shoulders were slumped and there was a sadness to his face that had never been there before. It had been the price of the wisdom that all of Asgard had desperately needed of him. Still she wished it hadn’t been.
“Lady Sif.” The smile Thor gave her was soft when he reached her, and he clasped her arm. She allowed herself to be drawn into a hug. “I am glad to see you still care for him.”
It was no secret among Thor and the Warriors Three the relationship between Sif and the youngest of Asgard’s princes. While Volstagg, Hogun, and Fandral had witnessed what Loki had become and declared themselves done with him, Sif could not. She knew she should, after what he had done to Thor, to Asgard, what he had tried to do to Midgard. She should not still care for him. But like Thor, Sif remembered the boy Loki had once been, and still harbored hope for the man he could be.
“Sometimes I wish I didn’t.” She pulled back, softening her words with a smile.
“I understand,” he said, and she knew he did. Thor was the closest thing to a brother she had ever had, something that towards the end of their relationship Loki had tried to twist. He had once accused her of loving his brother, of wanting to bed the future King. When he had refused to see his own lies she had stopped coming to him. Sif could love him even at his lowest but she refused to let him bring her any lower. She was the Lady Sif and she was worth more than that.
“I shall speak with him tonight.” She looked back where she could spy Loki, in his gilded cell pacing back and forth.
She had stayed silent too long.
“Have a care not to take his words to heart,” Thor advised her, turning to watch his brother. “I know you once loved him, perhaps you still do. He will try to use that against you and I do not wish to see you hurt.”
“Thank you.” She didn’t tell him that Loki couldn’t hurt her anymore than he already had. There was a chance he could. But the Lady Sif had never been one to cower in the face of pain. It was worth it to embrace it.
As she moved to enter the cell Thor asked, “Would you like for me to watch?”
Reaching for the door Sif shook her head. “Not this time, but thank you.”
***
"So my brother's whore comes to visit."
It had been years since they spoke, since they had stood together face to face, even with the bars separating them,; and those were the first words he'd chosen for her.
Had Sif not spent that time listening to the words that fell from his mouth as he spoke to Thor, she would have taken them as the insult they were meant to be. She would have allowed anger to burn through her and would have responded in turn.
There was no true venom in the words, no malice or spite, just a script that the would- be king still followed.
"A cage suits you well, Love." His mouth wrinkled and she knew she had surprised him. He had never hid things from her well. He no doubt had expected her to rail at him. In their time together she had never been the one to cause offense. Perhaps he had forgotten that she could be just as cruel to him as he was to her. She had had a good teacher.
That mask slipped back in place, a smirk crossing lips that she had once kissed.
"I've grown weary of it. Have you come to provide me some relief?" He rose, coming to stand in front of her. He still moved so gracefully. "Have the people of Asgard yet realized you are more skilled on your back than with a sword in your hand?"
"I've plenty skill in both.," Sif declared.
"Oh I remember, you often let me slip between your thighs." He thought he could scare her away with crudity. It might have worked when she had first met him, for then she had been young and as proper as she had ever been. She was the Lady Sif, warrior of Asgard, and she had seen and done much. There was nothing so crude that he could say to her that she had not already heard on her travels. She forgot he did not know this;, she was used to him knowing all of her.
"I remember you once painted the stars so that your mother would smile. I remember the bite of your blade as you asked me to help you make your father proud. I remember the magic you would whisper to heal the wounds of your brother, even the gravest you would not allow to tear him from your side," she whispered, taking a step closer to him, the magic that held the bars in place and caged the power he possessed hovering against her skin. "Tell me, will you die in here, Loki Odinson?"
The air of indifference on his face changed, baring the true feelings he was trying to hide with a sneer on his lips and rage in his eyes.
"Haven't you heard, I am no son of Odin!" He banged on the bars, sparks spilling from his fingertips. Even caged he was still powerful and dangerous.
She didn't even flinch. "Is that what you tell yourself? Just because you are not of Odin's blood does not mean you are any less a son of Odin than Thor. Look at your prison! You are still a Prince of Asgard, whether you wish it or not." She took a step back, seeing the pain that filled his eyes.
"I will see you again tomorrow."
She turned and left, her heart beating wildly. She had not gone to war but it was a similar feeling.
***
"Do you come to punish me?" those were the first words he had spoke to her that sounded sincere. Others would doubt that sincerity. It was well known that Loki was the master of lies and deception. That not a word that rolled off his tongue should be trusted.
Sif had watched him with Thor, she knew his lies. This wasn't one of him.
"I can punish you no more than you have yourself," she answered in turn. She had always strove to be honest with him, knowing few understood the importance of it when dealing with him.
"Do I not deserve punishment?" He would not meet her eyes, instead focusing them on the far wall, tracing the patterns in the cracks. He sounded lost.
***
When she came the next night he did not speak to her, nor did she attempt to speak with him. She stayed though, and they stared at each other in silence.
The night after was more of the same.
Time passed, and like Thor she could not visit him every night. She had a duty to Asgard and when Thor called her to Midgard to help battle the enemies he found there, she went. When Odin asked that she and the Warrior's Three visit distant realms she obeyed. Every time she returned, Loki's eyes burned less brightly with anger, and on more than one occasion, she may have even spotted relief.
Nearly a year had passed since she first visited his prison before things truly changed.
Midgard had fallen under attack once more. It had attracted the attention of the enemies of Asgard because Thor protected the people there. Sif and the Warriors Three where just some of the warriors from Asgard to join Thor in defending it alongside his SHIELD brothers and sisters. They had won, but not without a cost.
Loki's eyes were wide when she entered and she rushed to reassure him.
"He still lives. Your mother and the Lady Jane are with him."
Sif tried not to breathe too deeply, her ribs aching from where she had been slammed over a wall. Her hair fell around her shoulders, still damp from the bathes, and the cut on her cheek stung. She was Asgardian though, and she would heal. Many others were not as lucky.
Thor had almost been lost to them, the enemy forces focusing their attention on him once they had determined he was there. Not even the lightening had protected him and he had fallen from the sky.
"It's not over." Tthere was a dread in his voice and Loki was still a true Prince of Asgard. He knew as well as she did, as well as Odin, that having failed to take Midgard, their enemies would try to march on them next.
"No." She was tired, and although she would admit it to no one, she was also afraid. "They damaged the Bifrost before all our Warriors could return." Not even a decade had passed since it had been fixed and while the damage wasn’t as severe as the last time it still made travel difficult. She knew the growing horror in his eyes, recognized it because many Asgardians felt the same. With Thor injured and many stranded on Midgard they were more vulnerable than they ever had been. Their enemies had never meant to take Midgard, a fact that they had realized too late. Their forces had been smaller than usual and their focus had been on weakening Asgard's defenses so that she could be taken.
"You need to let me out, I can help,." he pleaded, and if there was a lie in there as well she no longer cared. With Loki's aide there was a chance Heimdall could fix the Bifrost before their enemies were breathing down their necks. With the bulk of Asgardian warriors returned and the strength of Loki Odinson's tricks they could not be defeated.
They couldn't continue to keep him locked up and hope that it would sooth the beast inside him. They couldn't speak to him and wait for something to get through to him and convince him that he was still wanted by the people of Asgard. Sif had always been one to believe that actions spoke much louder than words, and they had allowed inaction to go on for too long. While true progress had been made nothing would change if they didn’t take a chance, if they didn’t give him a chance to prove himself. Loki had started to allow Frigga to visit him in the past month, Odin in the past week. Sif had to believe that that meant something. Even if it was another lie.
She nodded and he straightened, realization dawning on his face as she pulled from her robes the key that had been fashioned by Odin himself, handed to her by Frigga. She pressed it into the lock on the wall and turned, the magics falling and the bars disappearing as if blown away by the wind.
Loki took a tentative step forward, passing the line he had been kept behind. He took a deep breath and looked at her. She stepped forward and looked up at him. His fingers traced the cut on her cheek, magic tingling across her skin as she felt the wound close and strength return to her body.
She breathed with him and his finger brushed her lips. Sif swallowed and stepped back, her eyes still locked with his.
"We need to get to Heimdall, the Bifrost needs to be restored before we are overtaken." She wanted to have faith in him, she wanted Loki to be the man they all knew he could be. The Prince of Asgard that he was chosen to be.
"First, you must take me to my brother." And he was Loki. He was also Thor's brother, and she should have expected nothing less of him than his need to be at his brother's side. "I shall see that Asgard's Prince is returned to them by the time battle overtakes it."
She didn't tell him that he already was. She nodded, the touch of his fingers lingering on her lips, and turned to lead him to where Thor lay. For now Asgard had its Prince back, but she would not trust it to last.
She was the Lady Sif and she knew Loki almost better than any other soul save his brother. There was a madness and rage in him that would always be there, only waiting to be reawakened.
For now this would have to be enough.
Author: chosenfire28
Fandom: Avengers/Thor
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
Characters/pairings: Sif/Loki, Thor (background Thor/Jane)
Summary: Loki is brought back to Asgard and imprisoned. Thor is his only visitor, until Sif decides it’s time for them to speak.
Author's Note: Written for wake_the_dragon for avengers_xchng. I went with the prompt “Loki is imprisoned on Asgard, awaiting judgement. The only vistor he ever gets is Thor until one day Sif visits. Both find they have a lot to say to each other. Angsty Loki/Sif” and I tried to work in some of your favorites. I’ve never written this pairing before so it was a bit of a challenge but I hope you like it!
Also, thank you to gloria_scott for betaing this for me so close to the deadline. Really, you were an amazing help.
She watched them. Thor knew; she had made the request of him and he had allowed it. She watched as Thor pleaded with his brother, as he yelled, as he sighed in weariness. She watched as Loki stayed steadfast in his hatred and bitterness. He used words to wound; twisting them like a knife deep into his brother’s flesh. It was a tactic she had seen him use when they were younger, but never with this amount of viciousness. It only served to mask his desperation, and Thor saw through that sooner than she had.
Loki’s prison was a gilded cage, which was fitting. He was still a Prince of Asgard, after all, despite his protests to the contrary. Loki’s sitting room was opulent. Books lined the walls, and there was a doorway to his bedroom, which was no doubt just as rich as the one that now sat empty in the royal wing. Silk hung in place of a door to separate it from the sitting room, affording Loki some privacy from the visitors who were allowed to see him.
She knew of no others than Thor, whose visits were frequent. When he was on Asgard he visited every night, and when he was away he was never gone more than a fortnight.
Even with insults hurtled at their mother, at Sif herself, at Thor’s Jane, Thor never quite flinched and he never stopped visiting.
Sif watched because she needed to know.
She needed to know the depths of his madness; she needed to know the tricks and lies he would try to use. This Loki had never been aimed at her, and she needed to know the man he had become.
Sif watched and months passed into years, and she grew tired of just watching.
“Brother, know that I love you,” Thor murmured, the words he said each night, and left Loki’s prison. His shoulders were slumped and there was a sadness to his face that had never been there before. It had been the price of the wisdom that all of Asgard had desperately needed of him. Still she wished it hadn’t been.
“Lady Sif.” The smile Thor gave her was soft when he reached her, and he clasped her arm. She allowed herself to be drawn into a hug. “I am glad to see you still care for him.”
It was no secret among Thor and the Warriors Three the relationship between Sif and the youngest of Asgard’s princes. While Volstagg, Hogun, and Fandral had witnessed what Loki had become and declared themselves done with him, Sif could not. She knew she should, after what he had done to Thor, to Asgard, what he had tried to do to Midgard. She should not still care for him. But like Thor, Sif remembered the boy Loki had once been, and still harbored hope for the man he could be.
“Sometimes I wish I didn’t.” She pulled back, softening her words with a smile.
“I understand,” he said, and she knew he did. Thor was the closest thing to a brother she had ever had, something that towards the end of their relationship Loki had tried to twist. He had once accused her of loving his brother, of wanting to bed the future King. When he had refused to see his own lies she had stopped coming to him. Sif could love him even at his lowest but she refused to let him bring her any lower. She was the Lady Sif and she was worth more than that.
“I shall speak with him tonight.” She looked back where she could spy Loki, in his gilded cell pacing back and forth.
She had stayed silent too long.
“Have a care not to take his words to heart,” Thor advised her, turning to watch his brother. “I know you once loved him, perhaps you still do. He will try to use that against you and I do not wish to see you hurt.”
“Thank you.” She didn’t tell him that Loki couldn’t hurt her anymore than he already had. There was a chance he could. But the Lady Sif had never been one to cower in the face of pain. It was worth it to embrace it.
As she moved to enter the cell Thor asked, “Would you like for me to watch?”
Reaching for the door Sif shook her head. “Not this time, but thank you.”
***
"So my brother's whore comes to visit."
It had been years since they spoke, since they had stood together face to face, even with the bars separating them,; and those were the first words he'd chosen for her.
Had Sif not spent that time listening to the words that fell from his mouth as he spoke to Thor, she would have taken them as the insult they were meant to be. She would have allowed anger to burn through her and would have responded in turn.
There was no true venom in the words, no malice or spite, just a script that the would- be king still followed.
"A cage suits you well, Love." His mouth wrinkled and she knew she had surprised him. He had never hid things from her well. He no doubt had expected her to rail at him. In their time together she had never been the one to cause offense. Perhaps he had forgotten that she could be just as cruel to him as he was to her. She had had a good teacher.
That mask slipped back in place, a smirk crossing lips that she had once kissed.
"I've grown weary of it. Have you come to provide me some relief?" He rose, coming to stand in front of her. He still moved so gracefully. "Have the people of Asgard yet realized you are more skilled on your back than with a sword in your hand?"
"I've plenty skill in both.," Sif declared.
"Oh I remember, you often let me slip between your thighs." He thought he could scare her away with crudity. It might have worked when she had first met him, for then she had been young and as proper as she had ever been. She was the Lady Sif, warrior of Asgard, and she had seen and done much. There was nothing so crude that he could say to her that she had not already heard on her travels. She forgot he did not know this;, she was used to him knowing all of her.
"I remember you once painted the stars so that your mother would smile. I remember the bite of your blade as you asked me to help you make your father proud. I remember the magic you would whisper to heal the wounds of your brother, even the gravest you would not allow to tear him from your side," she whispered, taking a step closer to him, the magic that held the bars in place and caged the power he possessed hovering against her skin. "Tell me, will you die in here, Loki Odinson?"
The air of indifference on his face changed, baring the true feelings he was trying to hide with a sneer on his lips and rage in his eyes.
"Haven't you heard, I am no son of Odin!" He banged on the bars, sparks spilling from his fingertips. Even caged he was still powerful and dangerous.
She didn't even flinch. "Is that what you tell yourself? Just because you are not of Odin's blood does not mean you are any less a son of Odin than Thor. Look at your prison! You are still a Prince of Asgard, whether you wish it or not." She took a step back, seeing the pain that filled his eyes.
"I will see you again tomorrow."
She turned and left, her heart beating wildly. She had not gone to war but it was a similar feeling.
***
"Do you come to punish me?" those were the first words he had spoke to her that sounded sincere. Others would doubt that sincerity. It was well known that Loki was the master of lies and deception. That not a word that rolled off his tongue should be trusted.
Sif had watched him with Thor, she knew his lies. This wasn't one of him.
"I can punish you no more than you have yourself," she answered in turn. She had always strove to be honest with him, knowing few understood the importance of it when dealing with him.
"Do I not deserve punishment?" He would not meet her eyes, instead focusing them on the far wall, tracing the patterns in the cracks. He sounded lost.
***
When she came the next night he did not speak to her, nor did she attempt to speak with him. She stayed though, and they stared at each other in silence.
The night after was more of the same.
Time passed, and like Thor she could not visit him every night. She had a duty to Asgard and when Thor called her to Midgard to help battle the enemies he found there, she went. When Odin asked that she and the Warrior's Three visit distant realms she obeyed. Every time she returned, Loki's eyes burned less brightly with anger, and on more than one occasion, she may have even spotted relief.
Nearly a year had passed since she first visited his prison before things truly changed.
Midgard had fallen under attack once more. It had attracted the attention of the enemies of Asgard because Thor protected the people there. Sif and the Warriors Three where just some of the warriors from Asgard to join Thor in defending it alongside his SHIELD brothers and sisters. They had won, but not without a cost.
Loki's eyes were wide when she entered and she rushed to reassure him.
"He still lives. Your mother and the Lady Jane are with him."
Sif tried not to breathe too deeply, her ribs aching from where she had been slammed over a wall. Her hair fell around her shoulders, still damp from the bathes, and the cut on her cheek stung. She was Asgardian though, and she would heal. Many others were not as lucky.
Thor had almost been lost to them, the enemy forces focusing their attention on him once they had determined he was there. Not even the lightening had protected him and he had fallen from the sky.
"It's not over." Tthere was a dread in his voice and Loki was still a true Prince of Asgard. He knew as well as she did, as well as Odin, that having failed to take Midgard, their enemies would try to march on them next.
"No." She was tired, and although she would admit it to no one, she was also afraid. "They damaged the Bifrost before all our Warriors could return." Not even a decade had passed since it had been fixed and while the damage wasn’t as severe as the last time it still made travel difficult. She knew the growing horror in his eyes, recognized it because many Asgardians felt the same. With Thor injured and many stranded on Midgard they were more vulnerable than they ever had been. Their enemies had never meant to take Midgard, a fact that they had realized too late. Their forces had been smaller than usual and their focus had been on weakening Asgard's defenses so that she could be taken.
"You need to let me out, I can help,." he pleaded, and if there was a lie in there as well she no longer cared. With Loki's aide there was a chance Heimdall could fix the Bifrost before their enemies were breathing down their necks. With the bulk of Asgardian warriors returned and the strength of Loki Odinson's tricks they could not be defeated.
They couldn't continue to keep him locked up and hope that it would sooth the beast inside him. They couldn't speak to him and wait for something to get through to him and convince him that he was still wanted by the people of Asgard. Sif had always been one to believe that actions spoke much louder than words, and they had allowed inaction to go on for too long. While true progress had been made nothing would change if they didn’t take a chance, if they didn’t give him a chance to prove himself. Loki had started to allow Frigga to visit him in the past month, Odin in the past week. Sif had to believe that that meant something. Even if it was another lie.
She nodded and he straightened, realization dawning on his face as she pulled from her robes the key that had been fashioned by Odin himself, handed to her by Frigga. She pressed it into the lock on the wall and turned, the magics falling and the bars disappearing as if blown away by the wind.
Loki took a tentative step forward, passing the line he had been kept behind. He took a deep breath and looked at her. She stepped forward and looked up at him. His fingers traced the cut on her cheek, magic tingling across her skin as she felt the wound close and strength return to her body.
She breathed with him and his finger brushed her lips. Sif swallowed and stepped back, her eyes still locked with his.
"We need to get to Heimdall, the Bifrost needs to be restored before we are overtaken." She wanted to have faith in him, she wanted Loki to be the man they all knew he could be. The Prince of Asgard that he was chosen to be.
"First, you must take me to my brother." And he was Loki. He was also Thor's brother, and she should have expected nothing less of him than his need to be at his brother's side. "I shall see that Asgard's Prince is returned to them by the time battle overtakes it."
She didn't tell him that he already was. She nodded, the touch of his fingers lingering on her lips, and turned to lead him to where Thor lay. For now Asgard had its Prince back, but she would not trust it to last.
She was the Lady Sif and she knew Loki almost better than any other soul save his brother. There was a madness and rage in him that would always be there, only waiting to be reawakened.
For now this would have to be enough.