Chapter Text
Loki wandered aimlessly through the halls of the royal castle of asgard. The emptiness of the golden corridors ("This is so over-the-top, I'm geting the creeps. And I'm usually the king of over-the-top.") reflected the emptiness of his thoughts. He tried to think about anything, anything at all, but he couldn't focus. His mind, usually the sharpest weapon in his arsenal, strong and always brilliant in the face of any opposition ("Seriously, do you ever, like, NOT overthink everything?"), was now broken, and nothing made sense anymore. Nothing had made sense ever since he had watched that burning boat drift away into the distance ("Wow. That is one helluva way to go. When i go, you put me on the biggest boat you can find, and make it look awesome."). No matter how much he wanted to push it away, how much he wanted to forget this horrible, awful truth, all he could focus on was the picture of the flames consuming the man he loved, and the gnawing emptiness in his heart that came with it.
Without thinking, his feet carried him to his brother's chambers, and the sounds of raucous laughter finally penetrated the haze around his mind. He stood in the open doorway, his empty gaze falling on the filled banquet tables, the musicians in the corner, and finally on Thor himself, telling some story to the Warriors Three, who were bellowing with laughter, even the grim Hogun cracking a smile at some of the retold antics of Anthony Edward Stark.
Right. The sending was still going strong (A guy gets a massive feast in his honour and everyone tells stories of how awesome he was? You really know how to make a burial sound interesting."), and he had absolutely no intention of being further reminded of what he had lost. He turned away, without ever announcing his presence. The emptiness was better than the shrill dissonance of the merry scene in front of him and the pain in his heart.
He started wandering the halls again, absentmindedly going the familiar route to his and Tony's chambers ("You want me to move in with you? in Castle Ostentatious? If the digs are as a mazing as the liquor, sign me up."), but turning away once he realized where he was heading. Sleep would be a welcome reprieve, but he couldn't face an empty bed right now, couldn't bear to look at the inventor's leftover knicknacks and personal belongings ("It's organized chaos. I always know exactly where everything is, It's your own problem if you can't keep track of my genius!"). The Prince didn't know how long he wandered. Minutes, Hours, Days, Years, Eternities. It was all the same to his empty mind. Days passed in a haze, he was dimly aware of people passing him by in the halls, the sun rising and falling again outside, but he didn't care. Tired and worn out, his tears long since faded he still couldn't face the emptiness of his chambers. Sleep was far beyond his reach, even though he was about to fall over from exhaustion ("Dammit, Lokes, stop overworking yourself. This is the fifth time i've had to drag you to bed this month.").
He didn't even notice when soft hands took him by the shoulders, a warm voice asking him if he was okay. He didn't remember falling into strong arms, or being carried and layed down into a soft bed and finally drift away into a long, dreamless sleep.
The sun woke him up. It's soft, warm beams burned his eyes even through his closed eyelids, so he nuggled deeper into his blankets and turned his head to face the mattress. Usually he would just bury his head in Tony's chest, but he seemed to be already up, going by the sounds of food preparation emenating from a few rooms over. At least there was something he could do about the sun. "JARVIS, lower the blinds. You know how much i hate sunlight in the morning." Unfortunately, this had no immediate effect on the brightness level of the room, and this pinged some dark part of his brain. Something wasn't right. "JARVIS?" He tried again, louder, hoping that the microphones just hadn't picked up his soft voice. This time, he got a response, just not the one he was hoping for.