Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me. Most of this story was written by me, but I did have some help with my fantastical sister PlushChrome. If you like my stories, you should check out her's.

Loki didn't know when it had started. All the lies.

At first, it was just a few. Short and crisp, surprisingly easy to get away with and slightly pleasing, how he had managed to pull it off.

He started getting better at it. They came with less hesitation, less guilt afterword. And no one guessed that he was untruthful. Not innocent Loki, who trailed behind Thor and hardly spoke unless he was first engaged.

It became a game. See how far he could push it. See what all he could twist and squirm out of without his tongue slipping.

And he found it was more then just words. Soon, he learned to manipulate his face and his body to his purpose.

It became more than out and out lying when he needed to, because there were so many forms of lies. He found that manipulation, even if you were telling the truth, was pretty much the same as lying, and deviation in it's smoothest form.
He found that he simply had to wave his hand, frown ever so slightly, urge in the right direction, and people would bend to his will.

Some part of him was guilty through his manipulation, as he lied through his teeth and made his silence speak for him and twisted others minds and emotions until they saw his way.

But Odin sent him on diplomatic missions and offered (perhaps accidently) him opportunities in which to use his gifts, so he figured that his father wanted him to share his talents. Use them for the benefit of Asgard.

And as he slipped more and more into a kind of secret despair, he had the need to lie.
As the thoughts and feelings that he kept trying to force down became even more wild and desperate, and lonely, he had all the more reason to twist his words.

Questions, well meaning questions, terrified Loki even more than when he was overlooked or ignored. Because there was a possibility that someone might discover him.

Discover his fears and shame, that he was so jealous of Thor. That he wanted so badly to just be accepted.

And so he lied. He deviated and manipulated.

When Thor asked him if he had been sleeping lately (you look so tired, brother. Are you sure you've been sleeping? Have you had nightmares?) he simply assured his brother that he tired of sparring easily and (subtly, with the just the barest trace of a challenge that he knew Thor couldn't resist) he wondered when they would get an adventure.

When he couldn't eat (why eat when it all tasted like sawdust?) and people asked him about it, he would tell them he had a low tolerance for watching Thor stuff his mouth. And they would be distracted from him.

And Loki might feel a brief pang that they never sought out his lies and uncovered them, but this was for the best.

He knew that eventually, everyone would catch on.

They would, of course, never truly know how much he lied, but they soon learned that he did lie and did so easily. So it was not a surprise to him when people started up with the names.

Liesmith and Silvertongue and Trickster, Serpent was also rather common.

Thor took it rather as a jest, but still expressed his disapproval at the way that Loki grinned sometimes when they mentioned it (it is amusing, Loki, but do you have to jab still further at their wounds?).

Frigga, for her part, knew that Loki was no longer the child she could put up on her knee and scold before making it up with an embrace, and acted accordingly. She visited him 'in conference' and tried to make him see sense, but let no command pass through her lips and told him she trusted he could find his own way.

Odin was more direct. He told Loki that words were not the weapons of a warrior, and were useful sometimes, but other times hurtful. He did not want his family to be weaved through lies.

Sif and the Warriors Three were less kind. They continually teased him about it, and Sif turned her head away when he talked no matter what he said.

It was not the way, they said, of a warrior. They pressed Thor to make Loki stop, and when Thor expressed his believe that he considered it merely a jest and a skill on his brothers part besides, they murmured to themselves that Loki's twisted words had poisoned Thor's mind.

Not that Loki cared, really, but he thought it best that he curbed it. Before he became an embarrassment (the lying prince) or before people stopped trusting everything he said.

But somewhere along the way, he lost control.

He was caught up in his lies and he couldn't get out. They flowed from his lips easily, naturally, without his really meaning them to.

Every word seemed to be perfectly thought out, every movement orchestrated and every smile had a dual meaning, but he never thought about it. Had stopped wanting it.

But he found he couldn't stop them.

And it hurt, but he just didn't know how to stop. It was his way, to lie and scheme even when he wasn't lying or scheming. And no one seemed to understand that.

So he kept lying. He laughed about it and threw it around and pretended that he was proud of the skill and that was why he kept doing it. But still inside, he hated it. Hated that his mind rushed ahead and started planning things before he could stop. Hated the feeling of shame and guilt that was brought up whenever the words slipped through his mouth.

Hated the helplessness of it, and the sick hope that he felt whenever he thought someone would call him out, force him to tell the truth.

And they became poison to him.

Loki, are you alright? You seem so quiet lately. Thor would say.

I am always quiet, Thor, he would reply. A true warrior knows when to keep silent.

And still, the lies flowed from him. Even now.

Even when he was hanging from the Bifrost (I could have done it, father) and when he spoke sharply at Thor, telling him that Odin was dead.

The Chitauri... Oh how he had lied through his teeth. Oh how he had spoke over the sound of their voices as they tortured him. Trying to convince them that he would be of use.

And even after they had put him under their control, he had been in control of his words. He could've told Thor about it, asked him to help.

But instead he let his pride get in the way. Wouldn't admit that he was wrong (I am a king).

And now, now it was harder then ever. After his head had gotten set right (Oh, he could sleep and eat now. His thoughts were his own again), he had been muzzled, which was understandable.

But back in Asgard, it had been removed.

And they had asked a fatal question.

What do you have to say for yourself?

The cheeky smile flashed before he could stop it, and he tried to bite his tongue but the words came.

Poison words. Lies.

Surely you jest. You would let me speak? As if I had a place here?

Deviate.

Laufeyson the Frost Giant. Shouldn't I be sent to Jotunheim for my trial?

There are no trials in Jotunheim, brother. Thor chimed in.

Oh how easy they all were, playing into his hands. Saying just what he wanted them to say.

Oh, I know. I'm not above suicide. And as I've before attempted it, I thought you would understand. Even one with such little wits about them as you should see the sense in simply allowing my death?

Manipulate. Deviate. Don't let them break you. Don't tell them what you have to say for yourself.

And it had gone so much better from there. How quickly the decision to put him in a prison was. How little protest there was.

How little input from him was needed (and when there was input needed, he lied and squirmed his way out of it).

And the only one who seemed to notice that something was wrong was Thor.

Thor, who had always been the exception. Thor, who had always teetered on the edge of a discovery, was now staring at him with his puppy dog eyes. Big, innocent eyes that always seemed sad now when they looked at him.

He looked at him as if seeing him for the first time, and was horrified by what he saw.

Loki tuned out Odin in favor of staring back at Thor thoughtfully.

He was so deep in thought that he raised a hand and began tugging absently at a stray lock of his raven hair, a habit he had been trying to break for as long as he could remember. Whenever he was particularly absorbed in his thoughts, he would find his hands acting of their own accord.

Surprisingly, Thor watched the movement and then grinned largely, a wetness appearing in his eyes.

Loki froze. He wanted to run to Thor like he did when they were children and Thor was wounded. He wanted to rush to his brother and wipe away his tears, slipping his slender hand into Thor's warm one and smiling comfortingly at him.

But he turned away, back to Odin and the other officials who made up his trial.

"And in that light," Odin was saying. "Loki... Odinson, your punishment has been decided."
That was interesting. Loki had completely missed it. He chanced a half-glance at Thor, who looked just as shocked and bewildered as he felt.

"Pray tell, Allfather," Loki said sarcastically. "I am most enthralled to hear how you will give a punishment worthy of my kind without spilling the secret transgression to all of Asgard."

"We will summon a sorceress," Odin said loudly. "And she will take away your ability to lie."
"Come again?" Loki asked, sure he had heard wrong. To his right, Thor gave a low whistle.

"You will be unable to utter any false words," Odin explained with a frown. "Or fail to truthfully answer a question that is asked of you."
Loki stared at Odin, waiting for his senses to assure him that Odin did not mean his words. When the feeling didn't come, he laughed once.

"But you can't," He said, as if it simply was not possible for the thought to be considered.

"And why not?" Odin asked.

"Because you just can't," Loki told him simply. "It is a funny notion, Allfather, but now is not the time for a jest."
"I can, and will," Odin stood and tapped Gungir against the hard floor. "You have brought this upon yourself, Loki. You will not utter another poison word."
"You can't take this from me," Loki tried to get the Allfather to see, casting a glance at Thor, who looked at him strangely. "You simply can not. I don't think you understand, this is all I have left!"

For a second, Loki could have cut the charged silence with his favorite knife, and then Thor said "What do you mean by that, brother?"
"Don't call me that," Loki said coldly, flipping his head around to stare at Thor and hardly noticing his hair falling in his face in an unsightly way. "I am not your..." He struggled for a hold on his emotions for a second before turning back to Odin. "You cannot have that."

"I can," The Allfather corrected. "It is my choice to make, as your king... and your father."

"Oh, don't you start that," Loki said dangerously. "You have never been my father. And..." Here he smirked. "You no longer have the claim of being my king. I tell you again, Odin, you. Will. Not. Take. This. From. Me."

"Why do you cling to your lies so closely," Odin asked in a falsely calm, falsely sympathetic voice. "Yet disregard the bonds of family so flippantly."
"Easy," Loki said, raising his bound hands. "My lies did not use me, abandon me, disgrace me, bind me, or threaten to steal the one thing I still have."
"Loki, you have many things," Thor exclaimed. "Why do you force this seclusion upon yourself?"

"Because I welcome it," Loki lied easily. "I enjoy every moment of it. I have never been more content, why aren't you happy for me? Don't you claim to have my best interests at heart?"
"Loki," Odin said sternly. "This is why I am doing this. Your lies are uncontrollable, and they are wounding, not only everyone you have ever loved, but yourself as well. Do you even know what you're saying?"
"Do not dare assume that you know me," Loki snapped, trying not to freeze with the sudden fear that gripped his heart at Odin's spot on statement. "I am no longer a child and a far, far cry from your meek and obedient son. You have not known me for a very long time now, Allfather."
"Brother," Thor said, shocked.

"And you," Loki whirled around to face him. "You spew lies as easily as I do, but you're gullible enough to actually believe your own falsehoods! Stop calling me your brother! Isn't it obvious that I despise you in every way?!"
"Ahem," Odin stood calmly. "Whenever you're ready, Sorceress."
Loki froze. The Sorceress wasn't even in the room, but waiting on call. He could do nothing. Nothing but talk for as long as he could.

"Anything else," He said, turning to Odin with a newfound desperation. "Throw me in prison! Starve me to death! Make Thor kill me slowly!"
Thor looked sickened and gave Loki a horrified, wide eyed glance. Loki paid him no mind.

Fire was starting to coarse through his veins and he assumed that the Sorceress was starting on the spell. He doubled over, but kept his eyes leveled at Odin even as his bound hands clutched at his stomach.

"For heavens sake, throw me to the Chitauri!" He shouted desperately. "You can't! You can't, I need them! Please!"
Odin and Thor were both staring at him in shock and that wretched pity.

And the fire tore into his very mind. Loki felt a scream rip unwillingly from behind his clenched teeth and his knees hit the floor.

He reached out to his magic and began fighting against the sorceress's, but it was depleted after all the overuse on Midgard, and not at it's strongest.

If I was at my strongest, Loki thought to himself. This mage would not stand a chance. And undoubtedly, she knows this well.

Thor was shouting his name, and Loki was surprised to feel his warm hands pulling on his shoulders, trying to make him stand.

As if he could.

His magic was losing the fight as well as draining him, he felt like he could never do anything ever again, whether it be standing, moving, or even thinking.

Loki had never felt so powerless. His consciousness was slipping rapidly, and the last thing he heard was Thor shouting at Odin to remove the spell before he succumbed to the blackness.

So... Yeah.
I'm hoping to update again soon so stay tuned cause I am ROCKIN THIS! Not trying to sound arrogant or something. I'm just kind of excited about this fic here.