fourteen - "he's my brother! wait...mira, why are you here too?!"

"And so I went towards the giant..." Loki droned on. Mira rolled her eyes at his dull story that the Sakaarians surprisingly adored.

"Could you be any more boring?" she muttered. He stopped mid-sentence to give her a look. She smiled sweetly, and he continued. The aliens around them giggled. They were mostly Ladies and other "females." Loki was very popular with them. It annoyed Mira.

The pair was at another one of the Grandmaster's parties. It had been a few days since the last one, and Mira noticed Loki acting more strangely. The situation confused her - he would be genuinely nice, then he would become distant and ignore her for a whole afternoon. Thankfully, it was a day where he was forced to spend time with her. It got lonely without his quick wit. Mira wondered what had happened after that party. She could barely remember the end of it, probably because of the drinks. Loki denied anything happening, but she could feel he was lying. But maybe he wasn't lying and she was just being paranoid.

Mira looked around the heavily decorated room. There were aliens all around them: guests chatting, Ladies carrying drinks and food, and musicians somewhere playing upbeat music. The Grandmaster had gone to another room for something, so she had no idea where he was. Cora stood in the back as usual, sometimes running off to refill drinks.

"I wish something interesting would happen," Mira whispered to herself. She picked at the fabric of her dress.

Suddenly, a new instrument was added to the alien music and she knew that the Grandmaster had entered the room to DJ. Mira honestly was getting a bit annoyed at his music, which all sounded the same. The guests and guards in the room began to dance to the music. She rolled her eyes.

"There was a wormhole in space and time beneath me," Loki bragged. The people around them got closer in excitement. "At that moment, I let go." They all laughed, while Mira rolled her eyes again. She looked up as he continued and saw a bulky chair in front of the Grandmaster. She wondered who was in it. The person turned towards her and...

"Holy shit!" she almost screamed. Loki look at her.

"Mira...what happened?" he whispered furiously.

"Oh my god! Holy-oh my-what the-" she stammered.

"Loki?!" Thor yelled in shock. "Loki! Mira! Over here!" Loki's eyes widened. The Sakaarians around them looked confused.

"Excuse me on second," said Loki, politely. He quickly walked towards the chair, where Thor was strapped down to. Mira bunched up her skirt in her arms and ran after him.

"Loki!" Thor said happily.

"Shh!" Loki said in the opposite tone. Mira peered over his shoulder at the blonde. She saw that his wrists were locked to the arms of the chair with large, metal cuffs. He also had a strange silver disk on the side of his neck. She wondered what it was. Loki looked at Thor with half repulsion and half shock. "You're alive?!"

"Yes, of course I'm alive!" said Thor, matter-of-factly. Mira was about to say something when Loki cut her off.

"What are you doing here?" he said, obviously mad.

"What do you mean 'what am I doing here'?" Thor said, pulling at his strong restraints. "I'm stuck in this stupid chair! Where's your chair?"

"I didn't get a chair," Loki said. Mira had to agree with him. She was confused about the chair.

"Wait...Cora said something about chairs and Scrappers..." she murmured to herself. Loki ignored her.

"Get me out of this chair!" said Thor, still trying to escape. Loki shook his head, and Mira's jaw dropped.

"I can't," he said. Mira tugged on his cape fiercely.

"What the hell-" Loki put a hand behind him to shush her. "Hey-!"

"Why not?!" Thor gaped.

"I've made friends with this man," Loki motioned towards the DJ in front of them. "He's called the Grandmaster." Mira scowled at Loki.

"You did NOT make friends with him first! I did-" Loki cut her off again by pulled on her hand.

"Oh, he's crazy!" Thor exclaimed.

"I've gained his favor," explained Loki.

"Yeah right..." Mira mumbled.

"The Bifrost brought me-" Mira jabbed him in the back. "The Bifrost brought us here weeks ago." Thor gave another confused look.

"Weeks ago?! I just got here-"

"What are you whispering about?" the Grandmaster interrupted, startling them all.

"N-nothing, Grandmaster," Mira stuttered. The man in golden robes shrugged.

"Time works differently in these parts," he said, answering Thor's question non-directly. Mira narrowed her eyes, but the statement made sense: Loki said he had been kicked off the rainbow bridge only a couple seconds after her, but he had appeared in Sakaar days after. "On any other world, I'd be, like, millions of years old," the Grandmaster continued. "But here on Sakaar..." He paused, and they were all put into a long pause.

"That's...nice," Mira said, awkwardly.

"In any case," resumed the Grandmaster, "you two know this...uh," he turned to Thor," you call yourself the Lord of Thunder?" 

"GOD of Thunder!" Thor denied. He looked towards Loki. "Loki, tell him!" Loki shook his head at the Grandmaster.

"I-I've never met this man before in my life," he said.

"He's my brother," Thor said confidently. He finally noticed Mira. "Wait...Mira, why are you here?!"

"I've been here this whole damn time!" she threw up her hands. Loki stifled a smirk, and she slapped his arm.

"I'm adopted," said Loki. Mira facepalmed.

"Is he any kind of a fighter?" the Grandmaster asked curiously. Loki made a "so-so" motion with his hands, and Mira choked back her laugh.

"You take this thing out of my neck, and I'll show you!" Thor shouted, lunging towards the Grandmaster aggressively.

"Now now, listen to that," the older man laughed. "He's threatening me!" He laughed more then cleared his throat. "Hey, Sparkles, here's the deal." The Grandmaster looked at Thor with a slight smirk. "If you want to go back to uh Ass-place, uh Assberg-"

"Asgard!" Thor said, angrily. The Grandmaster waved away his words.

"Any contender who defeats my grand champion, their freedom they shall win," he said. Mira furrowed her eyebrows. Who was the grand champion again? Wasn't it...

"Oh no," she whispered. "Wait wait Thor-"

"Fine," Thor said, cutting her off. "Then point me in the direction of whoever's ass I have to kick!"

"That's what I call 'contender'!" cheered the Grandmaster. "Direction would be this way, Lord." He waved his hand again, and some guards moved towards them.

"L-Loki! Mira!" Thor said, frantically. The guards picked him up and escorted him out of the room. Mira panicked and ran after him, but Loki held her back with his arms.

"Let go of me, Laufeyson!" she said, clearly mad. He started to drag her out of the room, smiling to the Sakaarians to make it look more normal.

"Not now, Mira," he whispered in her ear.

"What the hell do you mean, 'not now'?!" Mira yelled when they got back into their room. She had been struggling to get free from his tight grip the whole way there.

"Mira," Loki said slowly, "that we need to evaluate the situation."

"No! We need to rescue Thor!" Mira said, hands on her hips.

"Not now," repeated Loki. She narrowed her eyes.

"He's your brother! Don't you want to save him?!"

"No."

"Oh," Mira said softly. She looked down at the ground, and there was silence.

"Mira, listen to me," he touched her shoulder. "I will talk to him, ok?" 

"How?"

"Magic."

"That was a lame response. But fine."

~

"-urts doesn't it?" said Loki. "Being lied to. Being told you're one thing and then learning it's all a fiction." Mira heard a rock being thrown and then heard him sigh.

She was in their room, lying down on the bed and picking at the blanket, while Loki talked to Thor through a magic illusion a few feet away. He told her that the blonde was stuck in some sort of "magic" jail for contestants. Mira almost couldn't believe it - of all the places Thor could have been in, he was in the place where she couldn't save him directly. It bugged her.

"Come on, Loki. Don't be an ass like usual," she muttered to herself as Loki concentrated on talking through his magic.

"Does this mean you don't want my help?" asked Loki, sighing again. Mira heard another rock being thrown. She groaned quietly. Thor was being as stubborn as Loki was. They were both annoying her. "Look, I couldn't jeopardize position with Grandmaster. It took me time to win his trust. He's a lunatic, but he can be amenable." Loki shrugged. Mira could tell that Thor was disinterested by the sound of another stone. Loki shook his head. "What I'm telling you is, you could join me at the Grandmaster's side. Perhaps, in time, an accident befalls the Grandmaster, and then..." The raven-haired god made a gesture to motion "taking over." Mira gasped.

"Wait what-!" she said, surprised. Loki put up a hand behind him to cut her off. She huffed and crossed her arms.

"You're not seriously thinking of going back, are you?" said Loki, exasperated. "Our sister destroyed your hammer like a piece of glass. She's stronger than both of us. She's stronger than you. You don't stand a chance. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"

"He isn't even listening!" Mira said, rolling her eyes.

"Fine. I guess I'll just have to go it alone," Loki said. Mira opened her mouth to say an obscenity, but he shushed her again and turned back to his brother. "Like I've always done." Loki sighed once more, signaling the uncooperativeness of Thor. Mira rubbed her temple.

"If both of your skulls weren't so damn thick, maybe we'd get somewhere!" Mira said to herself.

"Would you say something?" Loki said, finally frustrated. There was a pause. "Say something!"

"What would you like me to say?" Mira heard Thor say angrily. "You faked your own death, you stole the throne, stripped Odin of his power, stranded him on Earth to die, releasing the Goddess of Death." Thor stopped. "Have I said enough, or do you want me to go further back than the past two days?" Loki sniffed a bit, but then cleared his throat to compose himself.

"You know, I haven't seen this beloved champion he talks of, but I've heard he's astonishingly savage," Loki said, coldly. "I've placed a large wager against you tomorrow. Don't let me down." He shook his head, and Mira could tell the apparition was over. She jumped to the other side of the bed to talk to him.

"So...I'm guessing the conversation didn't go well," she remarked. Loki rubbed his eyes.

"Why is he so difficult?!" Loki said with more frustration. "You know, sometimes I really hate him. Actually, I always really hate him." He sat on the bed, head in his hands.

"Sorry," said Mira. She rubbed his shoulder, and he relaxed slightly. "Well...at least you tried."

"He is just so-so frustrating!"

"Yes, yes he really is," Mira said calmly.

"Are you mad?" he asked her, looking at her.

"A bit. But when am I never mad at you? It's kinda a usual thing now," Mira shrugged. Loki laughed.

"Thank you."

"No problem. We're going to rescue him though."

"I hate your ideas."

"I know." Mira grinned. "But you're stuck with me!"

"Hooray."

A/N

SORRY FOR THE SHORT CHAPTER

i kinda cut it off but idk so yeeeeet

YAY NOW WE ARE IN RAGNAROKKKKK WOOOHOOOOOOOOO

IS ANYONE ELSE EXCITEDDDD