Chapter 3

"Hold on tight, Doctor," Loki whispered. His index finger pressed against thin pink lips that still remained in a smile. Possibly, three seconds passed before Loki pushed himself off the tower. The Doctor's body tumbling over afterwards. They fell for almost a minute before the black portal enveloped the two men. Devouring them in black space. Laughing filled the silence of the darkness. The laughter of the mischievous prince.

"You should of seen your face," Loki cackled before the portal opened again. Light trickling into the abyss of darkness the men resided in. The Doctor seemed to be laying on his back. Confusion and shock covering his face like a blanket. The strange eyebrow thing glued onto his face.

"Come on, Doctor. We've reached our destination," the young man said, offering his hand to the disoriented Time Lord.

The Doctor blinked the spots out of his eyes, still slightly disoriented as he accepted Loki's hand. He rubbed his face, quite possibly making sure that everything was where it was supposed to be. He sneezed, their arrival disturbing the centuries of dust that had gathered over every inch of the room. The Doctor stumbled his way to where he, hopefully, remembered the closet to be. The Time Lord bundled a bunch of, rather dusty, clothing onto his arm.

He turned back to the mischief god, "Just make yourself at home. I'm going to rid myself of this traveling dust and some years of guilt under some rather warm water. You should be safe from ole' grumps in here."

The Doctor wanted to look fresh and intimidating in some Asgardian gear in case Odin did come a-calling for Loki. He sonic-ed the shower, turning the water back on, letting it run as he stripped off his dusty clothing. The water dripped down his body, soothing tired old muscles and warming his skin. The old Time Lord let the water erase all of his guilt. Let it erase the faces of those he had to leave behind. With a sigh, he turned off the water, water running of his lean body. The Doctor grabbed a towel, drying himself and pulling on the blue, black, and gold outfit. He was pulling the laces tight on the sleeves with his teeth as he walked out of the bathroom. The Doctor turned in front of Loki, "Suits me, don't you think?"

Loki sat in the dusty room for what seemed hours as the Time Lord bathed himself. The sorted smells of soaps filling his nose like gas. He could hear the Doctor sing along songs that were not of any language Loki had ever heard. It was strange and awkward to be sitting in a room he didn't even knew existed. Humming songs that made the Doctor's make much more sense. Sweat trickled down Loki's neck when the door to the baths finally opened. A faint smile appearing on Loki's lips when he saw the Doctor happily come out wearing clothes like his own. At least they were not like the warrior's stale amour. Perhaps this man was a mage like himself. Perhaps maybe he wasn't alone after all. Another male mage at last.

"For you. Yes, it does. Rather nicely," Loki answered the man. His mind rather gone from the place they inhabited. All these years and finally… he was not alone. Finally…

The Doctor flicked a blue-lined black cloak over his outfit, fixing the small golden pauldrens on his shoulders. He was a bit surprised that the get-up still fit. He had changed quite a bit since his last visit.

The Time Lord frowned, noticing the expression on Loki's face. He chuckled, brushing the fabric with a hand. The Doctor riffled through the pockets of his discarded brown coat, pulling out his sonic and stuffing it into a pocket.

"I had absolutely doubted that any of these clothes would still fit. Glad that they do, to tell you the truth," his eyes swept the rest of the clothes, "I like these better than those heavy 'warrior' clothes. Easier to run in, too," the Doctor chuckled, "Got the funniest look from Odin when I requested 'mage' clothing. But I insisted and I got all of these. More clothes than I could wear in a lifetime."

He laughed at his little joke, running the towel through his hair, spiking the brown strands, before letting the towel fall to the floor. He stared at the god of mischief, "I still cannot get over how much you have grown. I remember a little tyke just beginning to dabble in magics. Thor proudly swinging that ridiculous hammer of his before you illusion-ed it into a snake. I nearly regenerated right then and there, I was laughing so hard."

Loki watched as the Doctor arranged his robes piece by piece. It felt that the small dabble would take hours. The prince soon growing impatient at his wait. He doubted servants scurried this region of the palace, for it had been abandoned for centuries. Lost to time and space itself. Even at this calm hour in the evening, the prince could feel the life that had once buzzed in this room, filling Loki's ears with a rhythmic pattern over and over again. It sounded distant as a few rooms away, but Loki knew that if he'd go searching of it he'd only appear as a fool.

"You know my father?" Loki said. His voice low and distracted. It had been such a long time since anyone besides Thor and his friends who had talked to Loki like he was actually alive. Many turned their heads while lowering their voices until the young prince had passed.

Reluctantly, Loki pulled himself from his memories. Even his twisted childhood seemed of so much comfort these days. Time had corrupted him with each strike inside his chest. It was however his fate, bestowed upon him like a crown on a prince. Loki looked down at the floor and back up again. His hair glowing as the final evening's light burned through the strand's dark color. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" the Doctor's eyebrow raised as he finished up his outfit, "Sorry for being what you are?" he clamped a hand down on Loki's shoulder, looking deep into Loki's green eyes with his own brown ones and smiled, "Or are you sorry that I know your father?"

The Time Lord pulled back, holding the god out at arms length, scrutinizing him. The god of mischief's face had the same haggard look that the Doctor's old friend and enemy used to carry. That look of a man that was unloved by many, who held a soul-eating vengeance, who would do anything to be loved…or feared.

The Doctor swore to himself right then and there that, one the rest of his lives, he would prevent what happened to the Master to happen to Loki. The Time Lord felt this was the universe giving him a second chance.

"Besides," he said with a chuckle, "I haven't had a laugh like that in a long time. You were my favorite, really. A light among all those beef heads swinging around weapons," the Doctor tapped his head, "I prefer those who use their heads before their muscles."

"Knowing Odin would be a shame in anyone's life, I suppose." Loki chuckled as he ran his fingers through his hair. Content to stay a bit with the man before accepting his father's punishment for his prank.

That is if he got blamed. With guests roaming the halls Loki doubted that Odin would punish him in fear that the people would think him a bad father. Not raising his children to behave.

A smug grin left Loki's lips at the thought. Odin was everything but a father. He was a king, an idiot, and a fool but never a father. Not to him. A hand pressed firmly on Loki's shoulder. A strange gesture for any male besides Thor in the realm. Thor was the only man that dared to touch him in Asgard. Everyone feared him to much, or at least that's what Loki liked to think. Fear was better than being hated. The young prince looked down at his slim fingers. Examining the proof of his lack of time in battle. He didn't get himself covered in blood. He had never wanted that. The surge of battle not intoxicating him like it did the others. Magic was originally a source of defense. A giver of life not a thief of it. Behind the walls of the neglected boy was a child who only wished to be loved.

Death reeked from the halls of this palace. The people who found it beautiful disgusted Loki, for they had no idea the price that they'd been built with. Unnatural children cursed with life and lives given away like water on a hot day. It was sickening. A palace of blood that gleamed gold only burned crimson in his eyes.

"Warriors only bring death." Loki spat in reply. He hated this realm for its cruel ways. Its lack of trust and need for pain.

"Isn't there enough of that in the realms, Doctor?" Loki asked as he looked up at the man through his eyelashes. A sudden veil of emotions flooding his irises.

The Doctor could feel the wash of emotions coming off the god in waves, and his hearts hurt from it. Emotions the Time Lord never wanted to feel ever again began to bubble to the surface. He felt angry. What life has this man had to make him so?