The Downside of Horns

When Loki was a child, he had always loved hearing the tales of the greet deer in the world tree. So naturally when it came time for him to find his signature battle gear, he styled his golden horned helmet after the antlers of the great stag.

He thought it looked intimidating, and they did come in handy when he ran out of weapons and could just spear his enemy using the horns of his helmet.

All in all, Loki loved his helmet and while Thor may have laughed at it years ago, Loki had always stuck by the design.

However, when handling a helmet that contains sharp edges, one would expect that sometimes accidents could occur.

Polishing his armor had never been a task that Loki had enjoyed. Odin had taught them the importance of keeping one's armor in peak condition, and Loki who was a creature of habit, still stuck by these teachings years later.

It also helped to pass the time on the ship, and helped to quell his raging emotions.

Ever since the frost giant incident, Loki's emotions had been plain for everyone to see. He was partly angry because of his brother's foolishness and the Asgardian's stereotypical opinion of the evil nature of every frost giant. But mostly, he was afraid, and as of late that had caused him to retreat within himself and look for time alone.

Unfortunately Thor had not realized this and was trying his best to make it up to Loki by spending 'brotherly time' with him.

Currently, they were sharing a polishing cloth between them as they oiled and polished their armor. Loki's gold helmet clashed against Thor's silver, and yet both shined under the vigorous rubbing of their owners.

" I feel as though you have been ignoring me brother," Thor murmured suddenly.

The silence of the room shattered, and Loki's eyes narrowed in annoyance.

" I have not been ignoring you, I just need to sort out my thoughts," Loki muttered in reply, rubbing a little more vigorously to stave off the anger bubbling under his skin.

Thor let out a sigh, halting his work to look at Loki head on.

" I know you're still upset about what happened, brother, but can we not just talk about it like men instead of dancing around the subject?" Thor pleaded, his single eye seeming to burn a hole through Loki with the intensity of its emotion.

Loki rubbed harder, hands translating his thoughts.

" There's nothing to talk about, I'm fine," Loki said evenly, still not looking up from his task in the hopes his true thoughts would not be seen.

Thor placed a hand on Loki's slim shoulder and shifted closer before speaking again.

" We both know that is a lie, brother," Thor murmured quietly.

Loki rubbed harder as his emotions flared up in fury. Lie… Words like that were what prompted him to pursue villainy in the first place! Liar, liesmith, monster…

His hands were gripping the polishing cloth as if to squeeze the life out of it, eyes narrowed to furious slits of blue.

" I told you, I'm FINE!" Loki snapped, his head whipping to the side to glare at Thor venomously.

That lack of concentration proved to be his downfall.

In his sudden twist to face Thor, his helmet began to fall, and reaching out to grab at it without looking, Loki felt a sharp pain flare to life in his hand the moment he made contact with the cool metal.

Letting out a startled yelp, his eyes widened in tandem with Thor's as he realized what had happened.

There was a golden, ornately curved horn sticking out of his right hand. When he had accidently grabbed at the wrong end of the helmet to arrest its fall, the horn had passed cleanly through the palm of his hand and out the other side, the tip dripping his crimson blood all over the floor.

For a moment neither of them spoke, they just stared in horror at the grotesque sight. A moment later everything rushed back in to motion and Loki's sole thoughts were overwhelmed by pain. Pain that felt like burning and freezing all at once, that paralyzed his senses and made him want to cry like a child.

Thor was instantly in motion, reaching to take his hand and remove the helmet that was dangling from his hand like a grotesque puppet.

" Don't touch it!" Loki hissed, drawing his hand closer to his body to shield it from his brother's touch.

Thor sent him a panicked but sympathetic glance.

" I'm sorry Loki, but you have to let me look at it! You need a healer," Thor reasoned worriedly.

" In case you have forgotten, I am capable of healing myself just fine," Loki snapped back.

Most of the time that would be true, but as Thor observed the shaking in his brother's hands and the glazed look that was going over his brother's eyes as the pain took hold, he seriously doubted it.

" I know you can, but you're in pain, come with me and we'll get someone to help you," Thor offered.

Loki swallowed sharply, he knew his brother wouldn't take no for an answer and to be honest, ripping a horn out of his hand sand patching himself up would be incredibly painful.

Feeling unable to speak through the sudden surge of pain that moving his hand had caused, he nodded in agreement to Thor's offer, and felt his brother pull him slowly to his feet.

Standing was not a good idea.

The sheer amount of blood pouring from the grizzly wound was not for the faint hearted and Loki's head spun as he stood up.

Stumbling forward as if drunk, he felt his hand weighed down by the helmet still hanging from it, and the artificial gravity of the ship was not helping matters,

His wound protested painfully to his movement, and he couldn't help but let out a yelp of pain.

That was all the encouragement Thor needed, and a moment later Loki felt his feet leave the ground as Thor swept him up bridal style and allowed Loki to cradle his helmet against his chest to stop it from pulling at the wound further.

Being carried by Thor was something he had experienced often and he curled up further against Thor's bulk which was the only comforting thing about his existence right now.

Somewhere along the way to med bay his thoughts began to run together as the pain grew, and soon he was painted harshly as blood soaked through his clothing. He felt Thor speed up as he did so.

A few moments later they found themselves in med bay, which was currently only occupied by Bruce Banner, and Loki felt himself lowered to the hard surface of a medical bed which felt cold to his skin.

Blinking his eyes open again he observed Banner rushing over a moment before the man was at his side and instantly checking over his wound.

Loki hissed as Bruce prodded his wound to check that no bones within his hand were broken.

" Can you help him?" Thor asked, voice laced thickly with worry over his brother.

Loki turned his gaze to Banner, hope sparking in them at the thought of reprieve from the horrible gnawing pain.

" Yes, but Thor I'll need your help with this, can you do it?" Banner fired back.

With an eager nod from Thor, Banner was racing back over to the shelves on the wall of the med bay and coming back with an armful of different supplies.

The first of which he pulled out was a stark white rag and a bottle that smelled medicinal. He poured some of the strong smelling solution on to the rag and presented it to Thor before leaning over the bed to address his patient.

" Good to see you're hanging in there. We're going to get your hand fixed in a moment, but first I'm going to get Thor to hold this over your nose and mouth for a moment alright? This process is going to be painful and it'll go smoother if you sleep through it. You all good with that?" Bruce rattled off.

Loki normally hated the use of medicines, but if Banner was warning of further pain beyond that of what he was already experiencing if he declined, then who was he to argue.

" Go ahead," Loki agreed.

Banner nodded to Thor and a moment later Loki's vision was obscured by his brother's face as he leaned over him and placed the rag on his face. The scent up close was indescribable, and Loki could swear he felt it entering his lungs as he breathed in.

A few moments of this and his thoughts became murky and indistinct, and eyes clouding over and his breathing deeper. Soon he felt the pain slipping away and blinking one last time he caught sight of his brother's reassuring smile before it was swallowed up by darkness.

Waking was surprisingly pleasant.

He was warm, comfortable and judging by his pain free appendage, cured. His eyes blinked open tiredly to focus on a scarred, handsome face leaning over him and a delighted smile.

"Brother! You're awake! I thought you'd never wake up," Thor greeted cheerfully.

" Is it gone?" Loki murmured softly, throat scratchy from disuse.

" Oh yes, Banner managed to get the horn out of your hand a few hours ago," Thor confirmed jovially.

Silence stretched between the two for a few moments before it was broken by a snort of muffled laughter from his brother. Loki's eyebrow raised at the sound of it.

" What is so funny brother?" He inquired.

Thor cleared his throat to cease his laughter before speaking, amusement clearly laced in his tone.

" I just can not believe you speared your own helmet through your hand," he chuckled.

" It's not funny!"