Taming the flame: Chapter 1

After a thundering crack and a burst of bright coloured energy, Loki and Thor left Midguard with the Teseract cube, and they arrived at Asgard.  

Loki had lost all his former glory and was reduced to being a prisoner. His hands were shackled with restraints, his mouth was covered with a muzzle.
Thor was by his side, to prevent him from escaping.

They went to the healers to fix some minor bruises, and stitch small opened wounds. In Loki's case he was given herbs to numb the pain from the devastating blows that the Hulk had inflicted on him. Thor's wound inflicted by Loki's dagger was stitched.

After they had been well tended to, the brothers walked towards Odin's palace.
The guards at the door opened the door for them.
Before they walked in Thor gave one of the guards the Teseract cube and told him to put it in the treasure room. The guard nodded once and walked in with Thor and Loki towards the treasure room while the brothers entered the palace into the audience hall.

Odin was seated on his throne at the top of a dais with a stern expression on his face.
Thor and Loki stood near the bottom of the dais. Thor kneeled. Loki simply glared at his father, until Thor grabbed one his arms and dragged Loki to the floor into a kneeling position. Loki winced in pain, but his cry was not heard. Odin then began to speak.


"Welcome home, my sons." Odin greeted his sons with a pleased voice.
"Loki I am pleased to see that you are alive. However what you have done to Midguard is unforgivable. You have destroyed parts of that realm, terrorised and killed some of the mortals and In doing so, you have humiliated our family.

I cannot claim that I protect the realms, when my own son tries to destroy one.
You always crave so much attention, so as temporary punishment you will be confined to your quarters with no visitors, to think about what you have done until I have thought of an appropriate punishment for you. Now get out of my sight."
Odin ordered Loki.

"Thor escort Loki to his quarters, untie him and take that device off his mouth" Odin ordered Thor.
Thor nodded once and escorted Loki to his quarters. 
Loki gave Thor a steely stare, walked in and held that stare until Thor closed the door.

How dare he treat me like this?! Like a dog confined to his kennel outside. It only shows how much he cares about me, Loki thought
The truth is that Loki couldn't have been more wrong. Odin had isolated Loki, to give him a chance to think about what he had done wrong, to realise his mistake, learn from it and become a better person.
Odin was only trying to be a good father by teaching Loki about what was right and wrong.
Unfortunately Loki had interpreted at as disdain towards him.

Later during the day Thor took the risk of defying his father's orders and visited Loki.
Loki was lying on his bed, rubbing the left side of his ribs. Despite the herb mixture given to him by the healers, Loki was still sore. After all, the Hulk had smashed him in a way, that what would have normally killed a human being.

Thor was standing in the doorway and asked in a concerned voice.

"How are you feeling brother?" Thor took a step towards Loki.

"Take one step closer and I'll singe all that precious hair of yours." Loki warned Thor with a threatening tone.

"Well that's a risk, I'm going to have to take." Thor shrugged.
Loki conjured up two fireballs in his hands and threw them both at Thor as he entered the room.

Thor simply put out the fireballs with a swing of Mjolnir and they dissipated in the air. Loki simply rolled his eyes and sighed quietly. Part of him had actually believed the fireballs would hit Thor, but it was more like wishful thinking and his logical side told him it was typical of Thor to have been able to put out the fireballs.

Thor stood next to Loki and repeated his question. Loki stayed silent with a neutral expression on his face. Loki had already waited in his room for a while and was curious to see how long Thor was going to wait until he answered his question.

An hour soon passed and Loki no longer found it amusing to observe Thor's patience thinning and was bored.

Thor soon realized that all forms of communications would have to come from himself and  decided that Loki would just have to listen.

"We all missed you, you know." Thor stated to Loki.
Loki's muscles tensed upon hearing this.

"Father may have punished you, but he was happy when he heard you were alive."
This stirred something up in Loki and his stubborn silence streak ended.

"I AM the good of lies Thor, so stop stealing my thunder." Loki announced and then slapped his forehead, realising his stupidity and remembering that he was talking to the God of lightning.

"I would not lie to you brother. I am the one who told Father you were alive and I saw the tears of joy upon his face." Thor reassured Loki.

"He was only happy to get back his stolen relic. I am nothing but a war trophy to him. I wish he had just left me to die." Loki argued.

"That is a LIE, you are a beloved son to him and you know it. You should be grateful that he saved your life and gave you a loving family, when your own family didn't want you." Thor raised his voice a little, angered at Loki's ungrateful attitude.

"Well if he loved me so much, then why didn't he give me the throne? All I wanted was some consideration, to be thought worthy to rule." Loki questioned Thor.

"He did think that you were worthy, but he thought that ruling wouldn't suit you, that it would be a burden to you with such a serious responsibility, he was only doing the best for you."

Normally Loki had a great way with words, but that sentence had silenced him. Thor had given him a new perspective and he was feeling overwhelmed with emotions. Why didn't Father tell me before? He thought angrily.

Thor then moved towards him with his arms apart ready to embrace him.

"If you hug me, I will burn you." Loki threatened in a dangerous tone.

"Alright." Thor grinned and hugged him.

Loki then conjured up flames and tried to burn Thor's back. Thor felt the heat and winced which only served to make him hug Loki even harder.

Thor held this embrace despite the pain he was feeling, because his love for Loki was so strong that his love conquered the pain.
Loki was confused and thought why does he continue to hug me when I'm hurting him so much?

Because he loves you a little voice in his head told him and at that moment Loki's icy heart thawed and he put out the flames and hugged Thor back.