Retribution

'Will you stop asking about your punishment?' Loki drawled. 'We are getting to it! Geez, it feels like you want to be punished.' Loki knew that wasn't true though; he could hear the panic in his thoughts, the rapid pulse of his heart suggesting fear, and his cripplingly-anxious body language since the moment they've entered Svartalfheim. 'So anyway, those dreams of staying together in my palace went down the mythical drain the night I left Asgard, but I gained happiness when Nevaeh agreed to leave with me to an unknown realm. I started planning everything the moment we –'Loki paused and glared at Daniel, 'but your stunt today reassured me that nothing is ever going to be peaceful for me! I was looking forward to our departure more than anything! And your thoughtless actions forced me to erase her memory!' spat Loki.

'With all due respect, if you wanted, you could've avoided that! You didn't have to erase her memory!' Daniel said.

'Did you not see the way her head was glowing red? You pathetic scum of a mortal, what the hell do you know?' Loki hissed. 'I had no choice! And even if I did, I wouldn't have let it stay inside her mind! My image is much too tampered in her eyes as it is.'

'How so? She always defends you and speaks highly of you.' Daniel wondered if saying this would earn him some brownie points.

'Of course she does! She loves me! But that doesn't change the fact that she had already witnessed a lot of my despicable acts before, and you literally handing her the tales of my pseudo-brutality did nothing but cause her more pain! You foolish scum! I don't know why I didn't snap your neck the instant I arrived in your hut!' Loki snapped, his sentiment being very real.

'I think I may have an idea. Do you – do you want to hear it? It's actually very deep,' Daniel said unsurely. Loki's last question was more of a rhetorical one, but he nodded and gave the boy a chance to speak before commencing his torture. He sat on the small wooden table a little adjacent to Daniel's chair.

'It's more of a theory than anything, and I have repeatedly told Nevaeh about it, but she never entertained it. When we were dating, everyone around her pretty much disliked me. I used to feel bad for her parents every time she did something reckless, or try and rebel, but they still never liked me despite my support! Joe right away hated my guts since the moment I had asked Nevaeh out, and she had hated me ever since—'Daniel was interrupted by an annoyed Loki.

'Boy, I don't have time to play your Shrink! What is your point?' Loki snarled.

'My point is that when they hated me, I couldn't help but resent them in return. Somehow, I was never able to say anything impolite to their faces. There were times when I wanted to retort, snap back at her parents, but I never could. I wasn't even able to be rude to Joe!' Daniel told him with wide eyes.

'So, the point is that you are a coward? Understood. Now, about your punishment—'Loki began saying but Daniel urgently shook his head.

'No, you don't understand! I wanted to fight back so hard! I tried! But, somehow I couldn't! Somehow meaning, magically somehow I guess. My theory is that when you genuinely love or care for Nevaeh, you get weirdly polite with the people she cares about! Even if you loathe them, you would end up giving them a compliment rather than cursing at them!' Daniel said desperately.

'Huh,' Loki pondered over his theory, 'and you think this is why I spared your life? Because I love Nevaeh and despite her repulsion of you, she still cares about your existence? That would explain why I went to all this trouble to make everything nice and pretty for you,' Loki wondered out-loud.

'It actually works! Even when I knew nothing about you, and was weirdly polite to you, I understood that she cared for you' Daniel said.

'Is that why you were stalking her?' Loki asked, arching an eyebrow.

'I wasn't stalking! I was just – just looking out. You didn't seem safe to be around, even back then! I was just trying to make sure that you weren't doing anything wrong,' Daniel said.

'Stalking someone is wrong! You hypocrite! I also know that you've been stalking her since way before my arrival,' Loki chuckled chirpily. 'You know on any given day I would've been pretty pissed by this response you gave me, but your punishment is purely based on that! This very hobby of yours, stalking, it inspired me to create this.' Loki waved his hands to gesture the room. 'This cave chamber is now the wholesome embodiment of your curiosity over us since the moment you saw us together. You spied on us using puny, barbaric methods. Well, you will need them no longer.' Loki fixed him in an unblinking stare. 'You think of me a monster who somehow met Nevaeh while she was away and brainwashed her into loving me. You judge the worth of our bond by the negligible knowledge you possess regarding us. Now, I don't care at all about your opinion, but I still can't allow you running around the city with the things you know about me,' Loki clicked his tongue, still refusing to blink in the slightest. 'What if you told someone? Say, her parents? Or what if you someday run into Nevaeh and decide to retell her all of this?'

'No – no! No! I will never – never' squeaked Daniel.

'Boy, grow up! I can't possibly take your word for it when it comes to our future! I said I had faith in your fear, not your loyalty,' Loki said laughingly.

'Oh! Then why don't you just erase my memory? Wipe out my mind! Then I won't remember anything!' Daniel yelled suddenly, as though the brilliant idea had just struck his mind. He waited with expectation, wondering if Loki would agree to it, but he hadn't blinked once till now. He had a lethal expression on his face which was making Daniel's heart to stop every now and then.

'You know what I call that particular solution for the common folks? Mercy. Now, the people who unknowingly stumble upon such revelations could be granted with the same. But, you, my mortal friend, are a stalker; a plagued growth which needs to be snipped in the bud to later avoid similar manifestations. You see, if I'd thought of doing this before, Nevaeh wouldn't have to suffer all that unnecessary pain today, nor I the unnecessary troubles I had to go through after that point. Another thing that irks me is that any normal person would've apologised till now for the misery they had caused others, but you aren't really normal, are you? You haven't apologised once! I actually thought you would be kneeling on the ground and begging for your pathetic life—'Loki paused.

He clapped two fingers on his temple and shut his eyes. He suddenly had a calculative expression on his face. 'So, anyway,' Loki continued, opening his eyes once again, 'the rules are simple. You have to do nothing but sit here while my mind blowing magic spoon-feeds you with the answers you so desperately crave. You have a chair, you have a bed,' Loki was pointing at the things as he spoke, 'a table, those three containers are for water, solid and liquid food respectively. You are allowed to get six hours of solitude when you can sleep, or do whatever the hell you want—'Loki paused once again to place two fingers over his temple, but this time he had a thin frown over his face.

Daniel wondered the number of things Loki could achieve purely by his mind at one point of time. Loki raised a finger in the air as though asking him to hold that thought. He opened his eyes.

'I don't have time to answer that. Nevaeh will regain consciousness soon,' Loki said, getting up from the table.

'Wait, hold on! What am I supposed to do? When are you taking me home? What the hell is my punishment? You can't just leave without telling me anything! Food – water – what???' Daniel yelled hysterically, standing up himself.

'Wow, you are worse than my brother at grasping things!' Loki laughed, wrinkling his nose. 'You see, this idea was first meant for Nevaeh. I was going to charm our surroundings and play one of her goofy space-movies if and when she'd have felt nostalgic after leaving home. It goes without saying that I'd have put actual, real efforts in that one, unlike this,' Loki gestured around the room. 'Explaining things in brief, this room is now a carrier of the copies of every piece of memory that Nevaeh and I possess since the night we met each other. The beginning of the display would start from the morning of Thor's coronation day, when it all began. You just have to sit back and watch the whole thing which is about three weeks or so of our lives, and it will keep adding new hours after this point as soon as she starts developing new memories, with a combination of my own, of course. I think it will take you about five weeks or less to reach at this point in time where I tell you about your punishment, you know, visually,' Loki finished, brushing his cape lightly.

'You want me to watch – watch?' Daniel's stuttering voice faltered. He kept blinking at his surroundings with terrified eyes.

'Indeed. The reason I brought you here by foot was because I wanted to show you where you are, so that you wouldn't try something as reckless as escaping, which is literally not possible. Take note boy, you are about to witness it all. Each one of your questions is about to be answered, you little stalker!' Loki clapped his hands together in conclusion.

'So, there is no, you know—'Daniel gave Loki a knowing look but quickly continued as he watched the impatient look swarming over his face, 'I don't understand how this is a punishment. I mean, where is the pain? The torture? Are you like, going to leave a snake behind with me which would keep chasing me as I try to watch the memories? Or – or a dagger chasing me, or—'

'Nothing will be chasing you! I assure you there is no wild reptile, or fatal, bloodthirsty, inanimate objects lying around, because I don't want you to kill yourself either,' Loki said in a matter-of-fact manner, 'no, I want you to be alert and quite literally live your hobby. I hope I would be able to spare a minute to check up on you.'

'When will you return to take me home? I mean, this tape has got to end at some point, right?' Daniel asked, trying desperately not to sound scared.

Loki cackled, his head swaying back and forth. 'Boy, we are immortals! Unless we both die, or somehow stop developing new memories and store them in our cortex, the enchantment will work smoother than butter for centuries! Besides, the odds of you living past that time-span are none, so don't you worry,' Loki said, turning around.

'So, I would just keep watching the two of you forever?' Daniel whispered disbelievingly.

'18 hours a day, 6 hours of free-time,' Loki said crisply. 'Is it ironic that you bet on our journey to come to an end within 18 hours, when I am still assuming it to last forever?' Loki chuckled. 'Your words – we will see what happens.' He started cackling shrilly, 'well, you would indeed see what happens, won't you? You asked me – where is the punishment? Where is the pain? You are doomed for an eternity to watch the "love of your life" live her life happily ever after with the God whom you managed to vex. It strongly reminds me of The Unilluminated and his light cage, forcing him to stare at the Aurora forever. Well, in comparison, I am providing you with far greater entertainment than a glittering sun-stone,' Loki said in a voice that bordered on conclusion.

Loki flicked his finger. A cup of tea appeared in Daniel's hand. Loki flicked another finger. The room started zooming in, its shades rippling. It now displayed a huge throne room crowded with people dressed in odd, warrior-like yet festive clothes.

'This is it, then. Farewell, Danny boy. Fathom over how unwise it was to tick off someone who is, at times, referred to as the God of Evil. And yes, this chamber does have another, tiny room with a pot-chamber for your mortal needs, but you would have to search for the door every time. It keeps shifting its location, but it ought to be somewhere inside this circle! Fret not, just start looking for it beforehand to avoid, you know, any unfortunately embarrassing occurring,' Loki finished with a contended smile as he saw the flabbergasted look over Daniel's face.

'What the hell, dude? Why would you do that? As if locking me up wasn't bad enough!' Daniel said in sheer horror.

Loki chortled. 'Well, at the end of the day, I am majorly the God of Mischief, and mischief trumps evil!' He snapped his fingers. A gleaming door partially enveloped his cackling self. 'Farewell, Danny boy. Enjoy your lifelong memory-movie,' he waved him goodbye and disappeared in a hint of green.

Daniel blinked rapidly, little teardrops emerging in his eyes and he quickly rubbed them as he saw a huge, tall, blonde haired, chiselled-bodied guy walking towards the throne with a big hammer in his hands. His attention was quickly lost in the scene. Daniel started sipping his still-hot-tea, as though it was indeed a movie and he was here for it voluntarily after all, which in the back of his mind he knew he was not...