Son of No One
by roulette rouge.

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disclaimer - i don't own thor, odin, frigga, sif or loki. they belong to marvel.

It is a small trial. Intimate, for the shame of the family is great.

The grey air shudders within the arms of silence like ashes. Around them, the golden halls seem to mourn in their silence (the fires simmering low throughout the chambers, and all that was once awake and thrumming with life now shifts softly in sleep). It is like a tomb, this place. And once, he remembers, it must have been beautiful to him. It must have been home.

They all wear their armor. Odin in embellished gold, and it blinks wearily in the low firelight. Thor's figure like a scarlet brand against the night. Even Frigga and Sif have wrapped themselves in the raiment of Asgard. Threads of red and gold are weaved into their hair. There is no trace of green and silver to be found. All whispers, all shadows that once belonged to the darker prince have withered away in exile (buried, somewhere, in the unmarked graves of prodigal sons and fallen enemies).

They all pledge their allegiance, and carry their every bled-out, wasted hope, on the name of Thor Odinson.

"Loki, progeny of Laufey, you have invited great shame into the house of Thor Odinson."

A great and terrible rage thrashes within him. It beats its fists against its cage. "I am no one's son."

Odin steps forward, his footsteps like thunder rolling across the emptiness of the Great Hall. He carries his staff, and Hunin and Munin are perched upon his shoulders. There is only one eye. There was never a time, a memory, where he remembers seeing laughter brimming over both eyes. Only one. And that was another life. A stolen life. They stand now before each other –father of the chosen king and forgotten son of no one. There is no more laughter in that eye, that searches for the heart of him and finds hot, hollow blood beating instead. He does not falter, does not stand down, does not bow or kneel to the tired, wasting figure before him. Loki, no one's son, bows to no king.

"I loved you once. As if you were my own."

"And to think once they had called me liar."

"I have never lied -"

"Oh, but you have old man. Can you not see it? Can you be so blind to your own treachery?All of them, they do not hide their fear – they think I belong in a cage. And you – you are no different from the flock."

The dark son's eyes burn. They scorch the good king's skin and he cannot take the heat of them, pressing into him, pleading with him with the sorrow of a lost child. And he sees him - dark eyes that swallow a pale, thin face. Dark hair. Wading through the light and finding nowhere he can turn, no arms that will claim him. No love that will reach out and touch the ice of his heart. Do you love me father? Do you love me as you love Thor?

The weight of regret on him is like the world balancing on his shoulders. He folds beneath the burden.

"I have no choice but to punish you," says Odin, struggling to carry himself away from the ghost of his regret - breathing, heart beating, fleshed-out before him. His hands shake beneath the hardness of the armor. His breath fails. His heart breaks. "I must banish you from this world."

He waves Thor forward. Frigga and Sif, like stone, are motionless as Loki is brought to his knees before the King. It is a struggle. He had vowed never to bend his knee to anyone, to anything, but the brother that burns bright with the love of a father, with the hope of his people, he crushes him to the floor.

"Loki, brother, I beg of you - do not fight me," Thor's pleading voice seeps into his ear like hot torrents of rain.

Still, he revolts against the tyrant weight. The weight of his brother. As if he will bow. As if he will break.

"You are no brother of mine."

At last, his reluctant knee bends, and Odin tucks the curve of the staff beneath the traitor's chin – forcing him to face the one he once called father. Thor recedes into the darkness, disappearing, fading, and the halo of gold seems to flicker out altogether into the shadows.

"Loki Laufeyson…you have disgraced the name of your family, of your people, with your warmongering and your rage. You are undeserving of the unfaltering love of your mother. The loyalty of your brother. All of us, you have shamed. I take from you your power and your memories…and banish you from the Nine Realms, to walk among mortals as one of them…for all time. I, Odin Allfather, cast you out."

The portal is opened once more. Lightning bursting, thunder breaking, and the scream of the forgotten son rings out among them – those giants of light. Frigga closes her eyes. Thor turns his head. But Odin watches, does not look away, until the last of the light has gone out.

And the other son has disappeared from his sight.