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Chapter Text

When Thor met Loki for the first time, he was confused.

“Mother – what?” Thor looked up from the bundle in her arms, hanging Mjolnir on his belt and stepping forward. “Who is this?”

Thor had just returned from a short excursion to Midgard, making sure that they were recovering well after the attack from Jotunheim. He wasn’t yet old enough to join the front lines, only being four-hundred ninety-four. But he was old enough and trusted enough to protect Midgard from any straggler Jotunn that had been left behind from the initial retreat.

Frigga smiled, cupping the baby’s cheek and stepping forward. “This is your brother,” she whispered, and the baby giggled, squirming in her arms.

Thor quirked a brow, and he looked at the baby, then at his mother’s slim figure. “I… I’d say that, as I’m nearing five-hundred years old, I think I know how babies come about, and – mother, you –“

The woman’s smile flattened, and her eyes widened. “My darling Thor, don’t tell me that you just thought I was getting fat?”

Thor took in a sharp breath, looking to his father for help – but the man was not paying attention in the slightest as Eir worried over his eye, which had been gouged out in battle. “No – no, I just –“ He grit his teeth, and then looked down at the baby again. “What’s his name?” He asked, and his mother relaxed at the subject change, adjusting her hold on the boy.

“He shall be called Loki.” She ran a hand over the fine tufts of the dark hair atop his head. “Would you like to hold him?”

Thor was still suspicious – but he couldn’t inquire again. So he sighed and nodded. “Yes, I… I would like that very much,” he said.

And when Thor held him for the first time… he fell in love.

The baby – Loki – cooed up at him, reaching for the long strands of blonde hair falling about his face. He smiled, and Thor couldn’t help but smile back, moving to sit down as he pulled him closer.

“Hi,” he greeted in a soft whisper, bringing up a hand to adjust the blankets. But Loki’s quick, tiny hands grabbed onto his fingers, and he immediately began to gum on them.

No matter how the boy came about, Thor knew in his heart that this was his brother. This was his family. He would do anything for him.

“Loki… Loki, I’m your brother, Thor. And I want you to know… that I will always protect you,” he whispered as Frigga watched, though her attention was split between the boy and her husband. “I can hardly believe just how small he is. Was I this small?” He asked, lifting his head to stare at his mother.

“Oh, you were smaller,” Frigga said, laughing softly. “He’s actually quite a large babe.”

Thor hummed. “Then, shouldn’t you be resting, mother?”

Frigga’s eyes crinkled with tension, and she clasped her hands together. “A queen cannot rest, especially not when each of her boys need her.” Then she stepped forward, moving to sit next to her sons. “But don’t worry, dear. I have been tended to.”

Thor backed off for now – but he would have to pursue this another time.

For now, he just focused on the adorable, sleepy baby that was to be his family.

“Loki…”

--

“LOKI!”

A quick-footed boy laughed brightly as he slipped beneath a guard’s outstretched arm, sprinting down the hall and risking a glance back at his brother.

“If you want it, you’ll have to catch me!” He shouted before leaping out the nearest window, much to the horror of everybody in the vicinity – though he floated his way down to the ground floor with the use of magic.

Thor ran after him, leaping out all the same and ducking into a roll as he landed before he broke into a run. “Give it back! I need it for the quest!”

Loki shrieked as he felt the heavy footsteps of his brother gaining on him, taking a sharp corner as he tucked the scroll closer to his side. “If you want it back, you have to take me with you!” He glanced back again, panicking at how close Thor was getting. But he was always incredibly clever, so he mumbled an incantation under his breath, enchanting his feet to stick to whatever surface he walked on – before taking off up the side of the castle.

“Come on, you know I cannot! You’re too young, brother!” Thor shouted as he came to a stop, his hand open as he began to call Mjolnir to him subtly – so that Loki wouldn’t notice. He’d just have to fly up there, then.

“Do not lie to me! You went on your first adventure at ten years old, and I’m already leagues smarter than you were at the time!” Loki shouted from his position, hopping up onto a windowsill. “I should be allowed to accompany you!”

He… made a good point. But even so, the idea unsettled Thor. They were hunting a beast that was terrorizing Vanaheim – with no accurate gauge on its strength.

“No, Loki. Get down, and give me back the scrolls,” Thor called up to him, feeling that his hammer was getting close.

“Please, Thor? I’m sure that I’ll be safe the whole time! I’ll be right by your side, and then the Warriors Three and Lady Sif will be there too! I’d be in absolutely no danger!” Loki exclaimed – before the window behind him opened, and he yelped, jumping away from the hands that tried to grab him.

Except his enchantment on his feet had already broken, and he screamed when he began to plummet to the ground.

“Loki!” Thor’s eyes widened before he jumped, meeting Loki mid-air and catching him before he could hit the ground. “Are you okay?” He asked frantically, setting his brother down and checking over him.

Loki pouted up at him. “I’m fine,” he huffed, and Thor frowned, fixing his hair before he took the scrolls back. “You’re awful.”

The older rolled his eyes. “Perhaps I should have just let you fall, hm?” He suggested, and Loki shoved his arm, turning away. Clearly he was upset, but it was unusual in its intensity given the situation. “Loki, is something the matter?”

The boy crossed his arms and began to march away. “Nothing is the matter, just leave me alone already! You got your damned scrolls!”

“Aye, watch your mouth! There’s no need for such strong language, especially not from someone as young as you!” Thor chastised before he jogged forward, stopping Loki in his tracks. “Listen – I am truly sorry you cannot accompany my friends and I. But this is just one quest, and there will be hundreds more!”

Loki stared up at him, sniffling. “You get to go adventuring and I’m stuck with that annoying governess! I’m never given the sort of chances that you were at my age!” He exclaimed. “And she’s a fool who won’t let me progress through my coursework as my own pace, she insists upon a bizarre schedule – even though I’ve finished all the reading for the next decade!”

Thor sat and listened to his grievances, nodding. “Perhaps she thinks you’re trying to skip your courses, like I used to do.” He grimaced at his brother’s expression of exasperation (“of course you would”). “If you were to demonstrate your knowledge, maybe she would advance your learning,” he suggested.

“Ha! She would just tell father that I’m being a smart-ass,” Loki replied, rubbing at his eyes as tears began to collect on his lashes. He wouldn’t cry. “And that never goes well.”

It was a well-known fact around the palace that Loki had always received harsh punishments from the All-Father for any misstep. Thor didn’t like it, because his childhood had never had anything of the sort. He had always been informed and corrected of his mistakes – and had always been told why; whereas Loki’s punishments were rarely ever anything other than physical.

His disobedience earned him hours on the training field, or hits across his backside, or a measuring stick to his knuckles. And that was just for minor infractions.

Thor pursed his lips, kneeling and leaning back on his haunches as he considered the options. “Perhaps I could say something, then.”

“And have father call me a coward for not bringing it up myself? I am not willing to sit through another lecture over dinner for this.” Loki sniffled, and he wiped at his eyes before he could actually start to cry. Then he shook his head, turning away. “Just - forget it, brother. I probably would have gotten a more severe punishment if I had gone with anyway.”

Thor frowned, reaching out to clasp his shoulder, but his hand went right through it. Loki’s illusion faded, and his real form was disappearing around the corner.

So, as any older brother would do – he set out to speak to his parents, despite Loki’s comments. Not Odin, because his brother was correct in that Odin would only hear disrespect if they tried to speak to him about the situation.

He entered his mother’s garden, finding her head bent over a book, her expression contemplative. He bowed his head as he approached. “Mother – I must speak with you urgently. It concerns Loki.”

The queen immediately sat up, frowning as she looked to her oldest son. “Oh, what has he done now?” She asked, sighing.

Thor quirked a brow. “No, he – he didn’t do anything, Mother. But I am worried.” He lifted his head and chose to take a seat next to her on a bench. “He is… incredibly intelligent. Smarter than I ever was at his age, and he knows it.” He smiled a little, and Frigga relaxed. “I cannot bring this up with father, so I bring it up to you. He has expressed interest in accelerating his learning courses – going through them faster, learning all he can as soon as possible. Perhaps that could be arranged?”

Frigga blinked in surprise and then tilted her head. “Well – Yes, I suppose it can be,” she replied simply. “Is that all?”

Thor shook his head, and he ran a hand over his beard, thinking carefully about what to say. “Unfortunately not, mother. I worry about much more than just his courses,” he admitted. “I hardly see him anymore. I’ve been traveling a lot, as of late – and he can never accompany me. So, when he truly needs me, I’m hardly ever there.”

Frigga frowned, but didn’t interrupt as he pursed his lips in thought.

“I’d like to be able to spend more time with him. He is my brother – and with how far apart we are in age, it seems all the more pertinent to make more of an effort to bond.” He faced Frigga, then. “It is to my understanding that he has taken quite well to pulling many tricks and jokes upon those around him. Now, I won’t question the methods that All-Father uses for his punishments, but… I fear the damage that could be done if that is all he receives in the way of attention.”

His mother nodded, closing her book and setting it to the side to pick at her palm. “I understand completely, my son. And I find myself agreeing with those sentiments quite often, but as you know, I’m… a very busy woman.” She sighed, thinking over the whole situation before nodding. “I shall speak to my husband – and don’t worry, he won’t know this came from you,” she reassured when she spotted the scowl that crossed her son’s face. “Thank you, Thor, for coming to me and sticking up for your brother.”

She opened her arms, and Thor leaned into her, hugging her tightly to his chest. “Thank you for taking me seriously, mother.” He stayed there for a long while, just breathing slowly and enjoying the floral scents surrounding them. “Your garden is getting quite expansive as of late. I don’t think I’ve seen many of these flowers… Is there any particular reason for it?” He asked as he pulled away, and she finally let go.

Frigga smiled, her keen eyes twinkling with mischief. “It’s a secret for now, my dear, but you shall know in time.” She reached up, cupping his cheek. “Now, you must excuse me – I’ve been asked to assist with some Alfheim marriage negotiations, and they are being quite difficult on the matter. I took a short break, but now I must return.”

Thor nodded, following her outside the garden before he sighed. “Well – it is high time I depart with my friends.” He smiled at his mother. “I shall see you in a week – though I hope that we can perhaps finish sooner than that.”

Frigga reached up and patted his cheek. “Take care until then, my dear.”

As Thor assembled with his friends to be sent to Vanaheim, he chanced one look back. He could swear, for a split second, he saw Loki at the end of the bridge.

But then he blinked, and he was in the land of the Vanir, to assist them with finding the monster that had been killing their people.

He sighed and forced himself to focus on the task at hand. He could resolve the situation with Loki upon his return.

In the end, it took him over a fortnight of hunting with his friends before the beast was slain - and upon his return, there was to be a feast in his honor.

He got home – nodded his head, waved back at people, smiled when he needed, and then ducked away to take a long hot bath.

A soft rap on the door echoed in the room after he had been soaking for some time, and Thor knew only one who would dare to enter his room without permission.

“Give me a few more moments, brother. I’ll tell you all about it once I’m done,” Thor called, and Loki giggled on the other side of the door.

“Okay! And spare no details! I wish to hear everything!”

Thor smiled. Even if he had initially wanted to be alone, the thought of hanging out with his brother instead was not as annoying as it should have been.

He left the bath and went to dry off and dress himself.

Loki was waiting, cross-legged on his bed as Thor went to sit next to him, and he ruffled his hair. “I missed you,” he said, hugging Thor as tight as he could.

“I missed you too. How have things been?” He asked, and Loki hummed.

“Better. The teacher is accelerating her courses,” he said. “Not quite as fast as I’d like, but… it’s an improvement. I can manage it.” He rubbed his hands together. “And Mother has started to teach me small spells – to keep me engaged, she says. I think she’s trying to keep me busy so I don’t pull as many pranks.”

He smiled a little, picking more at his palms. “The last one didn’t go so well, so maybe I’ll stop, at least for a little while. But –“ He shook his head, as though to shake the thought free. “I want to hear about your quest! Tell me, tell me, pleaaaase?”

Thor relaxed, nodding as he pulled him close against his side, leaning his head back. “Alright, I will, settle down,” he said before he began to spin the tale of the two-week chase across all of Vanaheim. Loki had a knack for story-telling, but he wasn’t terrible himself.

And if he fell asleep before the story was over, well… Loki didn’t mind. He’d hear the rest of it when Thor woke.

Chapter Text

Loki did his best to ignore the comments.

He had just recently passed his birthday, and finally, three years after turning one hundred, the chance to go on a quest with Thor had arisen.

He had snuck alongside Thor and his friends before, but now he was allowed to go with, which was a whole new level of exhilaration. He had been dreaming of this moment for as long as he could remember.

Which is why he was trying not to let Thor’s friends ruin it.

“If I had known we were to be baby-sitting, I would have asked your wife for some tips,” Sif whispered to Volstagg, both laughing amongst themselves.

“Ah, don't worry so much, dear – I’ve got three children,” the redhead said. “I’ve enough experience for the whole lot of us.”

Adjusting the saddle on his steed, Loki made sure it was secure before he swung himself up, letting out a slow breath as he avoided a guarantee that he would never have children.

“These quests are intended to be a break from your family, are they not?” Fandral joked as he approached, clapping Sif’s shoulder in greeting.

When the two blondes looked over at Loki, his expression was dark, and while he wasn’t looking at them, they could practically feel his ire, stinging their skin.

Perhaps it’d be best to stay quiet.

“Creepy,” Sif whispered anyway, and Loki’s gaze flitted over to them, scathing and promising danger.

When he spotted his brother, however, his whole demeanor changed. The resting frown turned into a bright smile, and Loki nudged his horse forward in excitement. “Brother!”

Thor smiled up at him, jogging forward and giving Loki’s horse a few pats. “Loki! Are you excited?” He asked, and Loki stared down at his hands.

“More nervous than anything,” he replied, watching his brother quickly ready himself before they began to head to the Bifrost. “Were you ever nervous?”

“On something as important as this? Absolutely,” Thor said, keeping pace with Loki’s horse. “But you’re skilled, brother, and I have no doubt that you will be able to hold your own without issue.”

Loki relaxed a little, staring at the reins in his hands. “Well, I appreciate your confidence in me,” he mumbled, trying to keep himself from looking too giddy. He really couldn’t help it, however embarrassing it might feel to do so in front of all of Thor’s friends.

His friends, who now all wore pleasant smiles.

“You must be excited too, Thor, to finally be allowed to bring your brother along,” Fandral said as they traversed through the city.

“Of course he’s excited,” Sif said, rolling her eyes. “We haven’t been adventuring in quite some time. But can Loki really fight, though? I’ve only seen him perform his little tricks. Actual combat is quite different.”

Loki grit his teeth, and Thor thought nothing of the demeaning comment. “Of course he can! Most of his time training is spent with our teachers – since he doesn’t have a group of friends like I did to train with.” Ouch. “But he is excellent with many weapons! Daggers and spears are his best, but make no mistake, there isn’t a weapon out there that we cannot wield.”

Loki watched as Sif covered her mouth before she could laugh, and Fandral turned away to hide his face as he snickered.

“The uh – the sword is good too, but daggers are my favorite. They're lightweight and make maneuvering much easier,” Loki said, and only Hogun nodded.

“It’s brave, to get close enough to an opponent to use daggers,” he commented – and the others reluctantly agreed.

Thor beamed. “I thought so as well! In fact, I was the one who taught him how to wield them!” He exclaimed. “I tried to assist where I could with his combat education, but as you all know – I am quite busy.”

Loki smiled at his brother. “I always appreciated your help,” he said, relaxing a little bit. “I learnt better from you than I ever did with that dull instructor.”

“If you’re so good with all those weapons, then perhaps you’ll be more than deadweight this time,” Sif called, and Loki tensed up again, keeping his gaze down on his horse.

Honestly, he expected Thor to say something in his defense.

And when his brother just laughed heartily, something sharp seemed to jab between his ribs, and each breath he took felt like agony.

Shit.

He looked away and blinked very, very carefully.

“Loki shall be helpful this time, I’m sure.”

Ah, and now it felt like the imaginary stabbing pain had been twisted.

He picked at his palm, at the scab left from last time he picked too much. “I’m rather confident that the last time I snuck out to join you, I was the only one helping Lorelei walk and keeping her calm, and I kept your escape from being discovered with an invisibility spell. I wouldn't call that deadweight.”

If Thor wouldn’t defend him, he’d just have to do it himself.

“Well, if you had fought alongside us, perhaps a retreat wouldn’t have been necessary for our survival,” Volstagg pointed out, and Loki rolled his eyes.

“Ah yes. Six warriors against an entire city of giants who wanted us dead instead of five warriors against an entire city of giants who wanted us dead would have bettered the chances immensely.” Loki scoffed, and Thor grimaced.

“Alright, cease this talk,” he said, holding up his hands before his friends could retort. “Need I remind you this is to be an exciting adventure? Let’s not sour it so early with our quarrels. Understood?” His friends sighed but nodded, and he looked at Loki. “Brother?”

Loki ducked his head, turning away. “I’m not sure what you mean, brother. I was under the impression that your friends and I were just having a conversation.”

Thor frowned, and Loki nudged his horse to move a little faster, isolating himself from the rest of the group.

Maybe this was a mistake.

He considered turning around, letting them go without him. But – that would only bring on another onslaught of barbed comments from Thor’s friends, and whispers about him across Asgard. He got enough criticism from his father alone, he didn’t need the whole of Asgard against him as well.

They crossed the Bifrost slowly, and Loki directed his horse to be further away from the edge, more towards the middle. It had always made him nervous.

He wondered why his father never considered putting up any railings. Surely somebody had to have fallen off before…

He dismounted his horse once they arrived at the end of the bridge, and approached Heimdall. “Good morning, Watcher,” he greeted, and Heimdall turned his golden eyes in his direction, offering a smile, which Loki returned.

“Good morning, your highness. This shall be your first official quest.” His hand rested on the hilt of his sword. “Do you feel prepared?”

The others were all grouped up just outside the observatory, chatting amicably, and Loki glanced over before turning back to Heimdall.

“Yes,” he said simply, rubbing his hands together slowly before he could start picking again. When the Watcher quirked a brow, Loki frowned. “I am. Stop looking at me like that!”

Heimdall nodded and turned away. “As you wish.”

Loki glared at him for a few more moments before he turned around, waiting for Thor and his damned friends.

“Heimdall!” Thor exclaimed as he marched in, grinning at the man and clapping his hand on his shoulder. “We’re headed to Alfheim this time. They’ve got something of a Siren problem over there.”

“Sirens? As in the sea creatures?” Fandral asked as they all collected near Heimdall.

“Sort of, but not quite,” Loki replied without being helpful in the slightest, and he adjusted his own bag, looking through everything he packed. He hadn’t mastered his pocket dimensions just yet, so everything he needed readily available stayed in the bag.

“I shall watch over you. Good luck on your journey, warriors,” Heimdall said, inserting his sword into the mechanism and twisting.

It ended up being a week and a half of Hel, hunting down their target. It took them that long to realize it was a group, acting as though they were one magical beast, targeting and killing young women after luring them away with song-spells.

Hogun tracked them down, finding the group’s hide-out. Thor wanted to charge in, but it was Loki that held him back.

“We can’t ensure that none get away if we just go charging in there, brother,” Loki said, keeping his hand on Thor’s arm as he spoke so that he wouldn't leave. “There are four exits to the building, it seems, not including that entrance. You have four friends.”

Thor glanced over all of them before he nodded. “Sif and Fandral, watch the east exits. Volstagg, the west, and Hogun, south. In a few minutes, Loki and I will begin the charge,” Thor commanded.

“Try to disarm, not kill. Alfheim wants them imprisoned and punished, not dead,” Loki told them before he faced his brother.

“Try pulling your own weight in this fight, little prince. We can’t always compensate for your inexperience,” Sif called before she crept around the side of the building with Fandral, and Loki scowled but didn’t acknowledge the comment.

“We can’t really get close to the entrance without the alarm sounding through the fortress. But I can cloak us, if you’d like, and we could knock them out rapidly,” Loki suggested.

Thor smirked, turning to look at his younger brother. “I have a better idea.”

Loki immediately disliked the look on his face.

“What is it?” He asked with a grimace.

“Do you remember –“

“- Oh, no. You are not doing this to me!” Loki whisper-shouted at his brother. “No! It was funny when I was three feet tall and one-hundred and fifty pounds, but I am a grown man, and you will not be –“

Well. He tried.

“GET HELP!” Thor shouted as he stumbled towards the guarded doors, dragging the limp form of his brother next to him, an arm around his waist. “Somebody, please, he’s dying!”

Their enemies all looked between each other, baffled at the approach – until Thor finally got close enough.

“HELP HIM!” Thor shouted as he launched his brother at the four confused guards, knocking most of them out in one move.

Loki wheezed on top of them, struggling to his feet before kicking the head of the one still conscious. “Brother, you’re an ass sometimes,” he hissed, rubbing his aching back. He’d only gotten mildly stabbed in the endeavor, thankfully.

“You love me anyway,” Thor said as he jogged forward, and he chuckled. “It works every time.” Then he kicked through the front door, and the group of six got to work on beating the ever-loving shit out of the group of seidr-wielders.

Thor and his friends all walked away from the battle largely unscathed, with Loki having gotten the worst of the attacks – just due to lack of experience, really.

But what was most surprising was the way Volstagg patted his back when they had finished the job, complimenting him.

And once they had returned to Asgard, Sif pursed her lips, watching him as they all mounted their horses before she seemed to sigh.

“You did well, for a child. But your illusions in that fortress were dishonorable – stabbing a man from behind is a cowardly move.”

He’d have to just take what he could get, especially when it came to Sif.

Thor approached after she left, nudging him with an elbow. “Upholding the honor of Asgard is more important than honoring yourself. You kept yourself alive, and you completed the mission. That's good enough, in my books,” he murmured.

Loki smiled, and when Thor pulled him into a hug, jostling him back and forth, he started laughing. “It was rather exciting.” He hugged his brother back. “Fighting alongside you was just as fun as I thought it would be, even if you threw me as a diversion.”

Thor beamed right back at him, laughing as he squeezed him a little tighter before he let go. “I’m proud of you.”

That phrase alone made every moment of conflict on their quest worth it.

His expression softened, and he wrangled one last hug out of Thor. “I love you, brother,” he said. “Thank you – for all you’ve done for me.”

“I will always be there to support you,” Thor said, ruffling Loki’s hair. “Now – we must get ready for the feast that Father has surely prepared for our return.” He pulled away, swinging his hammer. “I shall see you later?”

Loki nodded, approaching his horse and rubbing his eyes. “Yes, yes, I’ll be there.”

Thor nodded, and then he was off, flying through the sky to the palace, likely intending to rest.

Loki began to trek back to do the very same thing, unable to wipe the smile from his face at all.

Chapter Text

“How in Hel was I supposed to know that he would be this efficient?!” Loki yelled at his brother as he paced back and forth in his chambers. “It was merely a suggestion – but of course, the one time that Father decides to listen to me, everything goes wrong!”

He ran his hands through his hair, and Thor waited patiently for his rant to end before he patted the spot next to him.

“It is… most unfortunate, these circumstances. But –“ Thor squeezed Loki’s shoulder when his brother joined him. “You are one of the most intelligent people I know, Loki. So, let us discuss this, and perhaps we shall come up with a solution!”

He smiled, but Loki just frowned, shaking his head. No matter what he did, Odin would be disappointed. “I can’t… I can’t think of anything, brother. Short of killing the horse – who has done nothing wrong.”

Thor chuckled, seemingly not registering how downtrodden his little brother was. “Perhaps a distraction would serve us better. Maybe something you have learned with Karnilla and her apprentice.” He pursed his lips at the thought of Amora, Loki’s only friend. Thor didn’t like her one bit. “In the two centuries you’ve spent learning with them, surely there must be something.”

Loki stared at his hands, at the little imperfections in the form of a smattering of scars. Curling them into fists, he dug his nails in his palms, using the pain to center himself.

His head was pounding.

“A distraction… does not sound like a bad idea,” Loki agreed.

He couldn’t distract the giant – that would be too obvious. But the horse, whose strength knew no bounds, was a different matter entirely.

Loki stood up, a plan already forming as he thought of his talents. “If anyone asks after me… tell them nothing, brother,” he said, grabbing his cloak by his bedroom door and rushing from the palace.

Thor scowled – but they were mere days away from the wall being completed. Whatever plan Loki was concocting… he had to let him try.

When morning came, Svadilfari, the builder’s stallion, was nowhere to be found. His owner was raging, searching frantically for his horse. He had but a week left, and with the horse gone, he had no chance of completing the wall in time.

Loki was nowhere to be found, either.

For days, there was no word.

Time ran out for the builder – who grew so angry, he revealed his true self to be a Jotunn. Thor took care of him quickly, for his attempted trickery. Then, he began the search for his brother.

“It’s Loki, he’s probably ashamed of his failure and went to lay low for a little while,” Fandral called as they drank, one night.

Thor shook his head and stared at his meal. “No. Something is wrong – I can feel it.” He pushed the food away and stood up. “Call it a sibling sense, or something. He is not well – and I must find him.”

When he returned to his room to pack his things and head out on a longer search, however, his brother was already there. Kneeling on his carpet, filthy and sweaty and trembling, tears streaking down his cheeks.

“Loki?” Thor called, his voice soft as he approached. “Brother, what happened? Are you alright?”

Loki lifted his head, staring up at his brother – and it was only then that Thor noticed how naked he was. “I fucked up,” he whispered, curling shaking hands into fists.

Thor shook his head. “No, no – brother, whatever you did, it distracted the horse. The builder failed, and revealed himself to be a monstrous Jotunn. He is dead, and we didn’t owe him a coin.”

Loki’s lip quivered, and he shook his head. “I turned into a mare,” he said. “I thought I could outrun the steed, but he was faster than any horse I’ve ever seen. I –“ He squeezed his eyes shut. “He mounted me, brother, and now I fear that I carry…”

He trailed off, sniffling as he wiped at the tears that kept falling. “I don’t know what to do. I really… I really messed up.”

Thor would be lying if he said he didn’t think it was weird. But it was his brother – and it worked.

He extended his hand. “Let me help you get cleaned up – and then we shall discuss this.”

Loki took his hand after a moment of hesitation – accepting his brother’s aid in his time of need.

Thor delicately washed away the layers of grime and blood and dirt covering his body. Loki had grown rather independent the past couple centuries, so Thor was happy that he got the chance to take care of his brother again, though the circumstances were unfortunate.

Once Loki was clean and bundled up in Thor’s bed, Thor sat down behind him and drew a brush carefully through the curly strands. “So, you believe yourself to be… pregnant?” He prodded gently – and Loki tensed up, nodding. “Alright. Father will not like this. However –“

He grabbed Loki’s shoulder, squeezing and keeping him focused before he could start to panic. “I have no intention of informing him. We shall hide this – and travel somewhere that you shall be undisturbed. Perhaps – perhaps Svadilfari found a beautiful mare in the Asgardian countryside, and you were just… hiding away, separately.”

Loki stared blankly forward, giving up on wiping away the tears. “I don’t want to have a child, Thor,” he whispered.

Thor helped him lay back and tucked him in underneath all his blankets. “You would only have to carry the thing, not raise it. And then once it’s born, we can rid ourselves of the whole experience.”

Loki stared up at him, and Thor reached to wipe his tears himself. “You would help me?” He asked.

His older brother smiled, getting comfortable next to him. “I won’t leave your side – not until this is handled. We’ll think of something.”

Loki relaxed, and almost as soon as his eyes fell shut, he was asleep.

Thor convinced his father before a day had passed to allow he and his brother a year-long peaceful stay on Vanaheim. He convinced Odin that they deserved it, because in the end, Loki’s idea had gotten them a nearly completed wall around all of Asgard, and it was Thor that vanquished the monster when he revealed his true self.

They had earned a little downtime.

Thor had arranged for them to stay at a small cabin – cozy, and pleasant enough to live for a year. Secluded enough that no one would even be around to question the appearance of the second-born son.

Loki got settled immediately in a bedroom, barely managing to fall in the bed before he was asleep. He trusted Thor to watch over him – and of course that’s exactly what Thor did.

It was a little awkward, at first. For the first time in centuries, they were around each other almost every moment of every day.

Loki had a hard time of it – still humiliated from what happened with the horse, but it got easier to ignore as the days passed. At least, until the proof of conception became evident on his body.

True to his word, Thor made sure that they were undisturbed for the entire year. Loki knew that dealing with him had been something of a challenge, but his older brother hardly batted an eye at the attitude he had to endure.

And then, after eleven months and following two long days filled with agony, Loki delivered… a horse.

Not that he expected anything different, but it was still difficult to grasp that he had birthed an animal, let alone the fact that it had eight legs.

Thor cleaned things up, his lips pursed. “The number of legs has complicated things, Loki,” he admitted. “It’s impossible to pass off as occurring naturally – and even unnaturally, it’s hard to explain…” He pursed his lips.

Loki stared at the foal, keeping his distance as he sunk deeper into the hot bath, meant to soothe his aching body. “I know,” he mumbled, eyelids fluttering with exhaustion.

Thor watched him, concerned. “What would you like to do, brother?”

Loki gazed at the creature as it stumbled to its feet, too many legs struggling to find footing. “I don’t know, Thor.”

Then the horse took a step, and in an instant, it was gone.

Thor and Loki both sat up, eyes wide as the foal bolted through their small cabin, and Loki scrambled out of the tub, wrapping a towel around his waist as he and his brother followed it out of the bathroom.

“Why in the blazes is it so fast?!” Thor asked as the thing zipped around, whinnying happily.

“Well, his father was a very strong horse,” Loki grumbled before he brought his fingers to his lips and whistled sharply.

The foal came to a stop, the noise startling him and drawing his attention.

Carefully, he stepped over – seeming to struggle with walking at a slow pace - and nudged his head against Loki’s thigh.

Loki reluctantly patted his head, though it was clear that he didn’t hold any great amount of affection for the creature. “His name shall be Sleipnir – and we shall offer him to the All-Father.”

Thor’s jaw dropped, and he knelt to give the horse some affection as well. “What use would he have of the – of Sleipnir?”

Loki pursed his lips. “He’ll only get faster as he ages. And if father likes the horse, then perhaps he can forgive me for my blunder last year.” He grimaced as he thought of it, anxiety swelling in his chest. “What do you think? Does that sound like a good idea?”

Thor ran a hand over his beard, thinking it over. “Father will ask where it came from.”

Nodding, his brother secured the towel a little better only to pick at his palm, finding the rougher edges of a scar to target. “We can bend the truth. I’ll admit to distracting the horse with a mare, and… perhaps we happened upon the mare’s offspring by chance, on our return.”

Well, it wasn’t as though Thor had a better idea. “And even if he doesn’t believe it, there is a good chance he would not call you out on the truth.”

Loki chuckled humorlessly, nodding, “If he figures it out, he might at least have the decency to let the truth die in this cabin.” He pursed his lips. “It would only bring shame to the royal family, after all.”

The horse nuzzled against his thigh again, whinnying in a demand for affection. Loki knelt, sighing as he reluctantly tended to his son. “You’re probably hungry, huh?” He asked, and Sleipnir nuzzled closer, if that was possible. “Ugh. Okay, I…” He ran a hand through his hair. “I’m going to step out for a while. Don’t follow me, I’ve gone through enough humiliation today.”

Thor nodded, letting his brother walk out of the cabin as Loki discarded the towel, shifting as he went.

He instead focused on cleaning up the mess from the whole ordeal, being as thorough as possible to erase any evidence of what had occurred.

They still had another month before they had to return home – which would be barely enough time to get Loki through a grueling train regimen in order to get him back up to snuff.

His brother didn’t return for some time, likely forced to entertain the child. And when he did, Thor was preparing a stew. “As soon as you are fully recovered, brother, we shall begin refreshing your combat skills,” he said over his shoulder. “We should have a few weeks to get you back to where you were. It will be easier than you think.”

Loki dressed himself while his brother was turned away, cozying up in an oversized tunic and loose linen pants. “Oh, really? Somehow, I doubt that.”

Thor puffed up. “Am I not the best combat teacher you’ve ever known?” He asked, and Loki wrinkled his nose at the declaration, but didn’t disagree. “Trust in me, brother. When we return to Asgard, it shall be as though this never happened.”

They were successful in their deception, at first. The two brothers, with what seemed to be the fruit from their combined mischief, had brought back a most unusual creature that had many curious. Even more so when it was offered to the All-Father.

Thor had been holding it, to keep it from getting away – but he set it down to present to Odin, who was actually… delighted.

Even with the knowing glint in his eye, Odin accepted the gift ecstatically, seeing that it would be of much use. Loki barely kept himself from collapsing in relief, and Thor subtly clapped him on the shoulder. They had succeeded – a reward for all their efforts to keep the situation under control.

Or so they thought.

Loki had only been back for a few months – picking up his lessons with the sorceress of Asgard and her apprentice, continuing his life as though it had never been interrupted – until his parents approached him after lessons, one day.

“I’m sorry, Loki – I did what I could,” Frigga said, before Odin could get a word in. Those words, those two short sentences, felt like a bucket of ice water over Loki’s entire body.

“My son – we are sending you away.”

Chapter Text

At first, Loki had feared where his parents sent him. He wasn’t so foolish as to believe this was anything other than a punishment. He had been sent to stay with a giantess named Angrboda.

Angrboda was nine feet tall, with red hair down to her waist and braids down the whole length of it, charms littered throughout. Her arms were thick with muscle, her legs the size of tree trunks, exposed despite the leather tassets and loincloth skirt she wore. A fur coat fashioned from bear hide was draped over her shoulders, with nothing underneath – and Loki was simultaneously mortified and flushed and scared.

She had a hand on the hilt of her sword, golden braces encircling her forearms.

“Loki Odinson.” She tilted her head, staring down at him, and he stared down at the ground – rather than up at her che – her face. “Look at me, boy.”

Loki grit his teeth together, thinking it over before he reluctantly lifted his gaze, focusing on her face and trying hard not to let his eyes linger anywhere else. But even her face, covered in scars, was beautiful.

“So, I’ve heard that you’ve been a naughty, naughty boy,” she drawled, leaning down and grabbing his chin with giant fingers, turning his head. “There’d be no other reason for you to be sent here. What did you do?”

Loki felt the ache in his jaw as she squeezed once before letting go, to let him speak. He was told that he’d be staying there for the next hundred and fifty years, so… He didn’t see the point in holding anything back. It was just the two of them and would be the whole time.

“I had a kid,” he admitted. “Distracted a horse by shapeshifting into a mare, and… even though the Asgardian people never found out, and my brother helped me hide it, my father knew.” He adjusted the bag on his shoulder. “So, I’ve been sent here. To… learn from you. I heard you were a monstrous seidrmaster.” He eyed her up and down, openly – playing off his fear, using his words to his advantage. “Doesn’t seem accurate to me.”

Angrboda seemed to mull the words over, taking it all in before she grinned viciously and stood to her full height. “Follow me. I’ll give you a week to settle in, and then we’ll begin our lessons.”

It was supposed to be scary, and maybe it was for the first decade, but Loki came to love staying with the giantess. She respected his power, recognizing his strength. She helped him control it by first finding the limit. And though he saw the glow of fear and envy in her eyes after he had done so, he said nothing.

For the first fifty years, it was incredible. Angrboda taught him everything Asgard wouldn’t, starting from the beginning of time. She went at his pace, unlike his Asgardian instructor had – which was to say fast. He picked up everything with ease, his hunger for knowledge only growing the more she told him.

She encouraged him like nobody ever had – she believed in what he could be. The rush that went through his body from having just one person think that he could become something more than the second-born son, well. It was inspiring.

Frigga had checked in only once, and she was happy that he was doing well. He stayed in communication with her as long as possible, both leaned over a pool of water, chattering until their backs ached. He told her about his time with his teacher, and she told him all about the happenings around Asgard, especially those involving his brother.

Even if he was having a good time, it was still difficult to be apart from his family for so long – a fact that he was reminded of when his mother had to go.

Angrboda, after hearing him voice those thoughts, had kissed him for the first time.

“But you would miss me, wouldn’t you?” She murmured, arms heavy as they wrapped around his shoulders. “If you were to leave here. You’d long for my company, for my mind.” Her presence was suffocating, her scent and hair and limbs all surrounding him as he wiped away tears after his expression of vulnerability.

He pressed his head to her bare chest, wrapping his arms around her waist. They had hugged before. Some nights, she spent hours running her hands through his hair. He found himself desiring the warm skin of another – even though his skin seemed to crawl at the lines being crossed with this type of closeness.

“Of course, Boda. Of course I would miss you.”

Eighty-seven years passed. Angrboda made sure that not a day went by without him learning something. He knew he had much more to learn, still – but he thought he had another thirteen years. It wasn’t much time, but maybe it’d be enough.

At least, until they were interrupted.

The storm set in quickly – Loki had been sparring with Angrboda when the first bolt of lightning struck the nearest tree, lighting it on fire.

Angrboda was dead with the second strike, though it was accompanied by the swing of a hammer.

Loki forgot how to breathe as he lurched forward, running to be by her side. “BODA! ANGRBODA, NO!”

His brother landed between her body and his shaking form, Mjolnir dripping with her blood. Thor swung the hammer to rid it of the blood before he grabbed Loki like he weighed nothing, holding him as tight as he possibly could.

“It’s over, Loki. It’s over. We’re taking you home, now,” his brother murmured, running his hands through Loki’s hair. As though he could offer any comfort after just murdering his wife.

 “YOU MONSTER! YOU’RE A FUCKING MONSTER!” Loki screamed as he was tossed over Thor’s shoulder, the Bifrost pulling them back to Asgard’s observatory.

He was still screaming when they landed, awful sobs ripping themselves from his chest. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!” He shouted, starting to attack Thor as soon as he was set down, scratching and clawing before he summoned his daggers and just began stabbing him in his blind rage.

He got three good stabs in before Mjolnir struck him in the head, and he was knocked out, slumping in his traitorous brother’s arms.

When he woke, it was in his old room, tucked underneath a mound of blankets.

Frigga was at his bedside, holding his hand, and she smiled when he woke, reaching out to cup his cheek. “Oh, my boy…” She ran her thumb over his cheek. “It’s so good to see you…”

Loki leaned into her touch, his lip beginning to quiver. “Mother, what is going on?” He asked. “Why did Thor do that? Why did he kill her?”

Frigga sighed, her thumb now swiping at the tears spilling down her son’s cheeks. “She was plotting something, my dear. She was planning to bring about Ragnarok, by turning you against us and creating monsters that would destroy Asgard.”

Loki shook his head, sobbing as he reached up, taking her hand in his own. “I loved her, mother.”

The queen’s eyes held an incredible sadness as she attempted to comfort her youngest – and she moved closer, pulling him into a tight hug. “I’m so sorry, my darling.”

The door creaked.

Loki’s head lifted from Frigga’s shoulder, and when his bloodshot eyes made contact with the soft blue of his brother's unremorseful gaze, his expression hardened.

“GET OUT!” Loki shouted. “GET AWAY FROM ME! BEFORE I KILL YOU!”

Thor stared in shock, looking to their mother, who grimaced and tried to calm him down.

“Darling, Thor was just –“

“HE KILLED MY WIFE!” Loki shouted, and without so much as a flex of his fingers, his brother was shoved from the room with a gust of wind, the door slamming and locking behind him. “He… didn’t even let me say goodbye…”

After what happened… Loki stayed in his room for months. Shut away from the rest of the world. The only person he spoke to was Frigga. Odin rarely came to see him – and usually whatever he spoke of, Loki could answer with a nod or a shake of his head.

Thor tried several times – nearly losing his life every attempt, until his mother basically told him to fuck off until Loki was ready.

When he finally stepped out, he didn’t even look at Thor. He made sure his brother never heard his voice. He acted as though Thor didn’t even exist. As he once told his mother, “My brother is dead. At the very least, dead to me.”

It broke her heart, but Loki had always been the most stubborn of her whole family. If he set his mind to something, only Thor had been able to change it, and that wasn’t happening any time soon.

She thought that perhaps gardening would help him sort through his thoughts, and bring him some peace. She gave him the task of renovating and redoing the whole area, allowing him to plant and grow and destroy whatever he would like. As far as she was concerned, all but one planter box was his to do as he saw fit.

The one she wanted preserved had plants that were centuries old. Flowers that her sons had planted together, when Loki was a young boy. She knew in this state, he would have destroyed it without a second thought, but he would have regretted it later.

Every morning, he went to argue with his governess on her teachings (as he was now well-educated on nearly everything) before practicing his seidr-wielding with Karnilla and Amora – the latter of whom had become quite formidable in his absence. Every afternoon, he spent hours training his muscles, fighting whoever his combat instructor threw at him.

All except Thor.

If their instructor ever set his brother across from him, Loki called it a day and left without a word.

Then, in his evenings, he would be in the garden – skipping dinner with his family and other Asgardians – choosing instead to be in the company of the plants, the stars, and his journal, in which he wrote down most of his thoughts.

The days were predictable, and so that was how his life continued, for a long time.

On his way to his mother’s garden, one night, he found his brother in his path.

“You cannot ignore me forever, little brother,” Thor spoke, his voice booming in the empty hall.

Loki kept his eyes down as he marched forward, side-stepping when Thor reached to grab his arm.

“Loki, please! Look at me!” He demanded, and still Loki didn’t relent, just continuing on as he ground his teeth together. “Brother, I didn’t know!” He shouted.

Now, that, Loki needed more information in. He came to a stop, clasping both hands behind his back as he faced the door down the hall – still refusing to look.

When Thor noticed he had gotten Loki’s attention, he stepped closer. “I did not know how close you were. I was told that she was a monster, a giant who was manipulating you. I did not know… how much you loved her.”

He wanted to stay quiet.

“You never do.”

Fuck.

“You never know. You never think before charging into battle. You just swing your hammer and kill!” Loki shouted as he finally turned on his heel, facing Thor after nearly a year of avoidance. “Norns, I don’t know why I ever looked up to you! You’re just an idiot!”

Thor’s expression was pinched in hurt – but he stepped forward, anyway. “Loki –“

“SHUT UP!” His younger brother shouted, silencing him with a snap of his fingers – and Thor found he couldn’t speak. “How in Hel are you supposed to be king some day? You’re weak. You’re brainless, you’re impulsive, you’re so self-absorbed that you don’t even think about improving! You think you’re the best warrior in all the cosmos! You think you’ll never be wrong!” Loki grit his teeth together, his hands curling into fists.

“I loved her, and you killed her. Right in front of me. You just…” He mimicked the swing of a hammer, shaking his head. “I never got to hold our children, and now I never will.”

Thor blinked in shock, stepping close again. When he tried, he could speak again. “Children? You had children with her?” He asked.

Loki glared at him. “Three. Only Angrboda knew where they are. Only Angrboda could take me to them. I –“ He stared at his hands. “She promised me, and now…”

Thor stepped forward. “Loki, I didn’t…”

His brother looked up at him, then, his eyes sad this time. “Of course you didn’t know. You never do.”

Then Loki stared over his shoulder, eyes skimming over Fandral, who had come to fetch Thor and bring him to the festivities happening in the palace hall. The blonde had the decency to look embarrassed, keeping his head down.

“And even if you had known, what would you have done differently?” Loki asked, challenging Thor despite the audience. “Can you honestly say you wouldn’t have killed her?”

Thor said nothing, his weary eyes telling Loki everything he needed to know. He had been given an order by the All-Father – no one just disobeys that.

“Don’t ever talk to me again,” Loki told Thor. “You best get going, anyway. The crown prince of Asgard is needed elsewhere.”

Then he was gone.

Chapter Text

For fifty years, Loki didn’t speak to Thor. He didn't waver ever again, not after their yelling match in the halls.

Sometimes, Loki spoke to Fandral. The man had become more friendly, after what he witnessed. Loki was distrustful of it at first, but soon, Fandral became a close friend, someone he could confide in.

Amora was another unlikely ally of his. They became close friends as well, somehow. She was powerful – perhaps more powerful than him, though his theory was that she just showed less restraint.

She was power-hungry, but funny. She laughed at his jokes, she went along with his schemes, and they had a lot of fun just spending time together.

He kissed her underneath a fruit tree on a cool evening, and when she kissed back, it was with a force that seemed like it wanted to devour him.

Amora the Devourer seemed more fitting than Amora the Enchantress, but she disagreed.

“You two!”

Loki rolled his eyes and turned, facing Sif as she glared at he and Amora. They had only been planning a small prank this time, nothing that Sif needed to be concerned with.

“Whatever you’re planning, stop it! Tonight is troublesome enough without the two of you interfering.”

“We weren’t planning anything!” Amora exclaimed, a hand going to her chest in shock. “Whatever notions you have of us, dispel them at once! Loki and I were just going to –“

“Oh, cease your lies!” Sif shouted. “Amora, Karnilla is unhappy that you’ve left her side. Again. Perhaps it would be in your best interest to avoid incurring her wrath. And you.” She pointed to Loki, walking right up to him and shoving her finger against his chest. “God knows you should have better things to do, if only your mother didn’t go so easy on you.”

Loki’s eyes narrowed, and he pressed against the finger still on his chest, staring her down. “Choose your next words very carefully, Lady Sif.”

His brother’s friend didn’t falter or look away, just brushing a lock of golden hair behind her ear. “Your brother was just trying to protect you. He thought the world of you – he still does, for some Norns-forsaken reason. Perhaps he still sees that annoying little boy you once were, the one he loved so dearly. The rest of us see the acrid, spineless beast-fucker you are.”

Sif’s hand rested on the hilt of her sword as she and Loki stared at each other. Her eyes burned with anger, just waiting for him to take the bait.

His own gaze was stony cold, and he imagined pulling his head back before slamming it forward to break her nose. Imagined the blood running from her nose, down her lips and chin, spilling into her hand as she screamed in a blind rage. Golden locks dyed red.

“Don’t you have a crown prince to try and seduce?” Loki asked, tilting his head. “Five-hundredth time is the charm. Maybe he’ll be drunk enough to accept your advances this time. Even though he doesn’t like the muscular type, perhaps if you flip your pretty blonde hair just the way you know he likes, you’ll have better luck this time around.” He reached up, grabbing her finger and gripping it, the strength in one hand more than enough to break it.

He squeezed the finger tightly, bending the joint as a warning, watching her grimace before he let go and turned around.

“Let’s go, Amora. We have somewhere to be.”

The enchantress glared as Sif, who sneered right back before both went their separate ways. Though Amora smirked, a mischievous spark in her eye. She hurried to catch up to Loki, grabbing his arm and pulling it flush against her torso.

“You’re just gonna let her talk to you like that?” She asked, taking his hand in her own, and Loki quirked a brow before he shrugged, nodding. “And you’re not going to do anything?”

“Why would I?” He asked. “It’s been so long now, I just…” He stared down at his outfit, fingers sliding along some of the chains looped off his hip. “Reacting in any way would only make it worse.”

Amora was dissatisfied with the answer, but didn’t push it, instead continuing with their earlier plan for mischief. Amora had wanted to cause upset, but Loki just wanted to cause chaos – and he was happy when people seemed to laugh at the prank instead of yell about it.

He went to bed in a good mood.

He woke up a few hours later to his father slamming open his bedroom door – and he startled, shooting upright as he tried to figure out what was going on. “Father?” He rubbed at his eyes, blinking at the guards that followed the king in. “What’s going on?”

“You will undo whatever curse you put on Lady Sif right this moment!” Odin shouted, and Loki recoiled.

“I did no such thing, father!” He exclaimed, but he stood anyway, pulling a robe over his nightwear. “What happened? I’ve been here since leaving the festivities earlier.”

“LIAR!” Odin slammed Gungnir on the stone floor, the sound ringing throughout the whole wing – and Loki froze, eyes wide in fear. “I know it was you! She treasured her hair, and you sought to ruin it because of a petty argument in the hallway?!”

A pit of dread coiled in Loki’s gut, and he tried not to panic. Without question, this was Amora’s doing. And he was getting blamed for it.

“Father – I swear, I’m telling the truth. I didn’t do anything to Lady Sif. But –“ He held up a placating hand. “I’ll do my best to fix it anyway. Bring me to her, and tell me what happened with her hair.”

His father sneered but turned on his heel. “I’ll humor you just this once.” He stomped his way down the hall, leading them both to her bedchambers. “All her hair has fallen out, disconnected at the root. There were no scissors involved in this cruel trick.”

Loki knew a spell that could work, but he couldn’t remember the last time he used it. Centuries, maybe. After Thor had butchered his own hair.

“Okay. I can use a spell to grow it back,” he said, wringing his hands before they turned into a hallway, where Sif’s wailing could be heard from one end to the next.

When he stepped into her room, she whipped her head to look at him, disgust marring her features. Even without hair, she was beautiful – if only for that terrible expression.

“YOU! YOU SMARMY C –“

“Watch your tone, woman! He is a prince of Asgard. No matter if he did this, you will not insult him in my presence!” Odin commanded, and so Sif grit her teeth and held back her insults. “My son – fix this, now.”

Loki nodded, hurrying forward. “I didn’t do this,” he told her, his voice soft. “I didn’t cut your hair. I know how much it means to you. I would never.”

Her eyes filled with tears – and she sobbed openly in front of him, her anger melting away. “Please, I’m sorry for what I said. Please, just fix this!” She cried, pulling a scarf from her head to reveal her barren scalp in its entirety.

He nodded, running his palm over the skin, feeling the seidr underneath her skin. Even if she couldn’t wield it, like he or Thor, it still existed in her body.

“I will fix this, Sif,” Loki murmured earnestly, and in that moment, she knew he was telling the truth. He hadn’t done this to her. “Just… try to relax. This may itch.”

As Loki closed his eyes and concentrated, Sif looked past him, at a girl who had appeared in the doorway. Amora. It became clear that that little witch was behind it – and when the girl waved her hand with a grin as Loki began to grow her hair back, Sif knew something was wrong.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Odin shouted – and Loki jumped, opening his eyes and gasping. “Even in the presence of your king, you defy orders and pull these tricks!”

Sif’s hair, once blonde and curly, was growing back pitch black and straight as a board.

“I didn’t do this!” Loki exclaimed – and he turned to the door just as Amora bolted. “Stop her!” He shouted, pointing after her.

Guards at the end of the hall grabbed Amora by her arms, and Odin swept out after her.

Sif ran her hands through the short hair atop her head, lips quivering. “Will it ever grow back like before?” She asked, and Loki shook his head.

“I’m sorry. She has altered your color and hair type… permanently, I’m afraid,” he told her, and Sif covered her face, trembling. “I know it’s not what you want, but… perhaps some more length would make it easier.”

She nodded, and he continued the work with her hair, until it fell beyond her shoulders.

“Norns, why would she do this?!” Sif sobbed, wiping at her eyes as she hiccupped.

“I don't know.” Loki did his best to comfort her, pulling her into a careful hug. “What I do know, however… is that no matter what your hair looks like, Lady Sif, you will always be beautiful,” he told her, pulling away to look her in the eye.

She smiled up at him, sniffling. “Thank you, Loki.”

Odin was yelling at Amora in the hall – and Loki squeezed Sif’s shoulder before he went to see what was happening. She followed behind, and they both looked on as Amora knelt in front of the All-Father, held fast by guards on either side of her. They tuned in near the end of his tirade.

“- a home and a teacher, and you abuse our kindness…” Odin shook his head. “Well, no more shall we tolerate this blatant disrespect. Shackle her and bring her to the observatory. As soon as I deal with my son, I shall deal with her.”

Amora was shackled, her seidr cut off from her – and she was led away as Odin turned to Loki.

“Boy…” Odin stepped forward, and in front of half a dozen guards and Sif with her handmaiden, he back-handed Loki into a wall.

Loki thumped against the stone with a sickening crack, and Sif gasped, horrified at the scene playing out in front of her.

“I am sick of your deceit. I am sick of your ‘pranks’ and troublesome ways. I’ve been too soft. Your mother thinks you deserve kindness.” He shook his head. “I know better. You are a rotten boy. You always have been. And as punishment for your hand in the ruination of Lady Sif’s hair, I shall make sure you don’t speak another lie.”

He snapped his fingers, and in his hands, a thread and needle appeared. Something about the thread looked… sinister. Loki felt sick to his stomach.

“Hold him down.”

No matter how loud Loki screamed or cried or begged, his father would not relent.

Sif tried to tell Odin that Loki was innocent, but he silenced her with a look and she did not speak again.

Loki was sent to bed with his bloodied lips sewn shut, crying endlessly.

Frigga found out the next morning, and you could hear her yelling through the whole palace, but Odin did not relent.

It was Sif who sought out Thor.

She found him in the library, his chin in one hand, a book held open in the other. He only lifted his chin from his palm to flip a page.

Thor had tried to speak with his mother a little bit earlier, who had been so upset that anything she said was nonsensical, and came here afterwards to think. He had no idea what could have made her so hysterical.

“Thor!” She called, and her friend turned around, eyes skimming the room for the face that matched that familiar voice. It stung when he looked at her and took a few seconds to recognize her.

“Sif?! What happened to your hair? Was this Loki's doing?!” Thor asked, stepping forward to reach up and touch it. “I will speak to him at once!”

Sif grimaced. “No, you won’t,” she said, biting into her lip. “He didn’t do this. Amora did. But he got blamed for it anyway.”

Thor blinked in shock, looking out the library doors, likely thinking of his interaction with his mother before. He was silent, for a few moments. “What did father do?”

His question came as a whisper, terrified of the answer and when his eyes met hers, all she could see was weary concern.

“Loki’s lips are sewn shut,” she told him. “So that he cannot tell another lie.”

Thor stumbled, and Sif held him upright as he trembled, tears welling in his eyes.

“I was there when it happened – I tried to defend him, but -“ Sif lowered her head, her hands shaking as she remembered his pleas. “I could only watch.”

“I need to see him,” Thor said, and she nodded.

“He hasn’t left his room since it happened.”

Thor took off running, and Sif hurried to follow – and then the Warriors Three had joined them as well after spotting them on their way to find Thor, though they were confused.

“Why are we running?!” Volstagg shouted, panicked.

“It’s Loki,” Sif explained. “Something has happened.”

“Sif?!”

“I’ll explain later! But first, we must be there for Thor!”

The blonde burst into his brother’s room – and Loki shot up from his bed with a muffle yelp – before he spotted his older brother and all his friends, charging in right behind him.

The thread that stitched his lips together was a stark contrast to the fair skin of his face. Blood crusted the edges of each piercing wound, some dripping from the movement of every other facial muscle. Crying made it worse, and Loki couldn’t stop.

Thor took a step forward. “Loki…”

Loki shook his head, hands coming up to cover his mouth, his shoulders shaking with silent sobs. With the horror of his mouth covered, his bloodshot and red-rimmed eyes stood out. He turned away, ashamed of his appearance.

“Oh my god,” Fandral whispered, and Sif looked away, feeling sick to her stomach.

It truly was a horrific sight. Wrong on every level.

“How could he do this to you?” Thor asked. “Norns, this is…” He shook his head, moving closer still, until Loki was a mere arms-length away. He didn’t know what to say. But maybe it was better not to speak.

When Thor’s large arms wrapped tightly around Loki’s body, Loki just melted, grabbing onto the sleeves of his shirt as he choked on his own cries.

Blood dripped down his chin, and Thor didn’t care, instead spinning his little brother to tuck his head against his chest. “Don’t cry – don’t cry, Loki, I’m here to help,” he whispered, bringing them to Loki’s bed and pulling him into his lap.

Loki had been taller than Thor since he was only twenty-two years old. He was much too large to be held, even if he wasn’t as broad as Thor, though he came close.

And yet.

And yet, Thor held him like he was a child, curling him up and making sure he was tucked securely against his body, and Loki let him do it all, his own hands grabbing and pulling his brother closer.

Sif watched for a few moments longer before guiding the other men out to explain the situation.

Thor rocked them slowly back and forth, taking deep, even breaths as he felt Loki imitate each one. He rubbed soothing circles into his back, enjoying the contact while it lasted.

“Father is apparently refusing to even entertain mother in her cries for this to end,” Thor whispered. “I did not know what she was begging him for then, but now…” He pursed his lips, sighing. “I will try, but I will not be able to convince Father to end this,” he said.

Loki hung his head, sniffling. He nodded in understanding, but the piercing wounds continued to drip blood as his lips quivered from pain and more tears.

“But we will make this easier for you, Loki.” He shifted them a little, chuckling at how Loki scrambled to cling tighter, making sure he wasn’t leaving. “We shall set up a link between our minds. I shall speak for you.”

Loki’s eyes widened, and he pulled back, questioning eyes asking why. Thor just smiled. “But first, we shall find a solution for your pain – and a fashionable way to cover these ghastly stitches.”

The younger almost let out a muffled laugh, his gaze softening. Until Thor sat up, and then he grew anxious again.

“Don’t worry. I just wish to clean this mess up, brother. I’m not leaving you.”

The care in which Thor wiped down Loki’s face, treating the wounds with ointment, it made Loki’s chest ache. Even after what had happened the last time they spoke… his brother was still so, so gentle with him.

He sniffled, tilting his head back and hissing when Thor cleaned a particularly painful stitch, blood welling up again at the site.

“Sorry – sorry.” Thor went a little slower. Loki couldn’t remember a time where Thor had ever been this gentle.

“There, all clean,” the older said, and Loki relaxed a little bit. “Now, about that mind link. You can still do your spells, right? Can you handle that?” Thor asked.

Loki nodded, clearing his throat. He could give them a simple link – one that, rather than constantly being in each other’s minds, would create a door. Either could knock, either could open. It’d be nice to have in place.

He closed his eyes, focusing on the goal of the spell, letting the power collect at his fingertips. Both of his pointer fingers were alight with the green of his seidr, and at the same moment, he pressed one to his forehead, and the other to Thor’s.

The soft click of a key in a lock and the creak of a door sounded – and then their minds were linked.

Can you hear me?

Thor grinned at his brother, nodding. “Yes, I can.” He pulled Loki into a hug, then, and sighed. “It’s good to hear your voice again. Even if it’s only in my head.”

Loki hugged back and kept himself from smiling as he enjoyed the warmth.

I’m sorry.

“Loki, you are not the one who needs to apologize,” Thor said. “Now… I don't have to understand or like it, but… I know you loved her. And I’m sorry for how it all went down. I’m sorry that I killed her.”

Loki laid his head on Thor’s shoulder, then.

No, Thor. You were right.

Thor blinked in surprise at the admission. Maybe in any other situation, he would have lorded this over Loki’s head for a few decades.

I just couldn’t see it until it was too late.

Thor’s expression softened, and he sighed. “Maybe when this thread is out, you can tell me about it,” he said. “Until such a time… I forgive you. And I hope that you can find it in yourself to forgive me, as well.”

Loki leaned his head on Thor’s shoulder, nodding and letting out a soft sigh.

Always.

After Thor finally got Loki to fall asleep, Frigga stepped into the room. Her lips still quivered as she saw the stitches, but she kept from crying, trying to make as little noise as possible.

“How is he?” She asked in a whisper, stepping over and sitting on the edge of the bed, next to her older son.

Thor grimaced, running a hand over his beard as he sighed. “He’s better.” The phrase wasn’t right, but it wasn’t wrong either. “We’ve set up a mind link. Until this is removed, I shall speak for him. And Sif is out with Fandral now, looking for something that might help cover this up.”

Frigga nodded, moving to take Thor’s place by Loki’s head, dragging her hand through his hair to soothe him in his sleep. “Reach out to the tailor or lacemaker – they can make veils for him,” she said. “Any style he would like.”

Thor nodded – and he stood carefully, though the soft whine that came from his sleeping brother at the loss of warmth nearly brought him right back down. “I have a task I cannot ignore, but I will speak with the tailor on the way,” he said. “Fetch me when he wakes.”

Before an hour had passed, Thor had spoken with the royal tailor and now stood in front of Odin the All-Father, down on one knee but refusing to bow his head.

“Thor, my boy.” Odin knew by the look on his face that this was not going to be a good conversation. He pursed his lips. “I take it you have gone to see your brother.”

Thor pursed his lips, nodding stiffly. “You pierced my brother’s lips with needle and thread.” He stood up, crossing his arms as he faced his father.

Odin nodded. “I did. Last night’s incident was the final straw. Your brother must learn to be truthful.”

“And you believe this to be… the best way of achieving that goal.” Thor quirked a brow in disbelief.

Silence rested between them, a battle of wills as Odin mulled over how to placate or distract his son.

“Since the moment I held him for the first time, I have loved him,” Thor started, finally breaking the silence. “And six hundred and twenty years ago, I made a promise – a promise I can remember clear as day.”

He began to pace, and Odin tried to maintain his cool façade.

“I promised that I would always protect him. So, father, you’ve put me in a difficult position.” Thor tilted his head, icy gaze leveled at his father, who adjusted his grip on Gungnir as he assessed the solemnity of his son’s appearance. “I could not protect him earlier, as I was unaware of what was occurring. And one might think that I’d be too late, but I disagree. I can’t remove the thread, no, you made sure of that.”

Then he smiled. “But I shall make sure that you never hurt him again.”

“Watch your tongue, boy,” Odin snapped, rising to his feet. “Your words sound much like a threat, and it would –“

“They are,” Thor said, still calm as ever. “I am. Threatening you, that is.” As his father stared in shock, he patted the hammer always on his hip. “If you harm my brother again, I'll have no choice but to kill you, father. So, to avoid such a fate, perhaps you could consider finding a more constructive way of teaching a lesson.”

Then Thor left Odin to stand in the throne room alone, returning to his brother’s side. Loki slept for a while longer still, having been unable the night before.

That was alright, of course. Thor would be there, waiting, until he woke.

Chapter Text

When the trumpets echoed through all of Asgard, Loki was in the library with his mother. The sun was setting, the day’s heat finally making way for a cool breeze.

His head shot up when he heard the first note – because he knew exactly what it meant. He had been waiting for this moment for one hundred and eighty years.

Especially since he had had the strangest dreams as of late, and only one person he could talk to about them.

Before Frigga could say anything, Loki rushed down the hall at a very, very brisk walk. He wouldn’t be so immature as to sprint, even though he desperately wanted to.

“Thor!” He shouted once he spotted his brother, breaking into a jog now that he was in his sights.

Thor's friends were nearby, having followed him to the palace, but Loki paid them no attention. They’d get the hint and leave soon enough.

Thor threw down his hammer, and he did the rushing for them both, yanking his little brother into a crushing hug. “Loki!” He lifted Loki off the ground, despite being just slightly shorter, and swung him back and forth. “It’s been far, far too long, brother!”

Laughing openly, Loki just hugged him back until he was set down. “On that, we can agree.”

Once he was down, he clasped the back of Thor’s neck, and his brother mirrored the action as they bumped their foreheads together. “You must tell me all about your travels after you speak with Father.”

“And you must tell me of your time without me,” Thor said, chuckling. “I’m as eager to hear about your adventures as you are to hear of mine, I’m sure.”

Loki nodded, keeping pace with Thor as they made their way to the throne room. “Of course.” He smiled before entering the throne room, and both approached to kneel before their father.

“Rise, my sons,” Odin called out, and he smiled at them both. “Thor, my boy… it’s good to see you.”

Thor clasped his hands together in front of himself, nodding a little stiffly. “It’s good to be home,” he replied. “I have completed all that you have tasked me with. The monsters you asked me to take care of have all been dealt with.” He chose not to mention the feeling of familiarity that he got when he was restraining them to their prisons.

Something about their eyes had reminded him of family.

Odin nodded, sighing softly. “Good. They shall terrorize the realms no longer.” He seemed to sag on his throne, a little bit. His age grew more and more visible in recent centuries.

Thor and Loki exchanged a look. Neither were the biggest fans of their father, but they could still worry about him. It was hard to miss his growing exhaustion.

“With your approaching coronation, it would do you well to remember who is still king.” Odin straightened his spine, gripping his spear. “Do not think I have forgotten why you were sent away. If you ever threaten me again, Asgard shall never be your home again. Understood?”

Thor nodded. “Yes, father.”

“As for you, Loki…” Odin seemed to consider his words carefully. “You have done well in your brother’s absence. Many think your handling of Thor’s former responsibilities was impressive, and I’m… inclined to agree. Your efforts have been invaluable – though you are now relieved of such responsibilities, as they fall once more to your brother.”

Loki stared at his father with wide eyes, and he barely kept himself from smiling. “Thank you, father.”

Odin dismissed them, and Thor eagerly turned to Loki, following him out into the hallway. He patted his shoulder, clearly happy that his brother’s efforts had been recognized, and Loki just smiled, shoving at his face as they both looked back one last time at their father, who was leaving the throne room.

“When is the last time he went into Odinsleep?” Thor asked, and Loki glanced behind them as he led the way to Frigga’s garden, a quiet place that they could talk without interruptions.

Once he was sure they were alone, he sighed and went to sit down. “It’s been one hundred and forty-six years,” he told his brother. “And even then, the sleep was short. I was acting regent for a mere month before he rose again.”

Thor pursed his lips, sitting on a bench and running a hand through his hair. “He needs the rest. If he keeps putting it off…” He trailed off before shaking his head, clearing the thoughts away. “We shall just have to keep an eye out and make sure he takes it soon.”

Loki nodded in agreement before he sat nearby. “You look exhausted yourself, brother. Perhaps you should take a few days, and then we can talk.”

With a soft laugh, Thor nodded. “That sounds like a fine idea.” He stared forward blankly, mulling over moments from his banishment. “But if it’s alright with you, I… I need to get this off my chest.”

Concern immediately etched itself across Loki’s face – and he reached out, resting a cool hand on Thor’s warm shoulder. “Of course, brother.”

The sky grew darker as Thor talked, going over every detail of the past two centuries of hunting these monsters. Loki just sat and listened, conjuring drinks and snacks as the night crept on – until the sun was rising the next day.

When Thor finished the story, Loki was laid across the bench, chewing on some grapes and staring up at the brightening sky. “And you never found out why they seemed so familiar?” He asked, turning his head to face his brother, who was drinking slowly from a tankard of chilled mead.

“No, never,” Thor said, tugging a blanket tighter around his shoulders. “Maybe I’ve faced a monster like it before. Perhaps their mother.”

Loki stood up to pace, fixing his hair to be slicked back. “Perhaps. And these were all the beasts that popped up a few centuries ago, yes?” He had only heard whispers of them upon his return, but a giant snake, a giant wolf, and a half-dead woman with control over the dead were not easy to cover up.

They had appeared incredibly recently – with no mention of them prior to Loki’s time with Angrboda. Something must have happened while he was with her that he missed, and no one was willing to talk about it.

“Yes. Four centuries ago, they weren’t here. But since their appearance, they’ve killed hundreds, perhaps thousands between the three of them. Father has had it out for them for years, but they always evaded capture. Until I was sent after them, of course.” Thor pushed his hair straight back from his face, just like his brother only moments prior. “I still don’t understand how they travelled from planet to planet, but no matter. Their prisons are secure – and the Nine Realms are safe from their terror.”

Loki nodded, walking in a circle around the garden bench. “Well, that’s good.” He came to a stop, then. “At least one good thing came from your banishment, I suppose.”

Thor winced. “I saw how you looked at them – my friends - in the hall. Or rather, how you avoided doing do. I assume… that things have been difficult.”

Loki scoffed. “A gross understatement of the situation,” he said, continuing to circle the bench, and Thor didn’t bother tracking him with his eyes. He'd just make himself dizzy. “Their sympathy for my situation lasted all of a few months. Once you were gone, and the sympathy ran out, well…”

His older brother sighed. “I’d imagine that much blame was thrown about.”

“You'd imagine correctly.”

Thor tossed his hammer up, letting it spin in the air and catching it by the hilt. “I’d hoped that the whole incident might ease the tension between you and my friends. They seemed to be very concerned for you.”

“A few weeks of concern does not negate centuries of conflict, brother,” Loki said as he came to a stop. “The issues run far too deep.”

Thor watched as Mjolnir went end over end after he’d tossed it again. “I suppose it was too much for me to hope that they might look after you in my place while I was gone.”

Unable to restrain himself, Loki scoffed. “Honestly, I don’t know why you expected things to change.” He went to sit down again, letting his shoulders slump. “As much as you don’t like to admit it, Sif hates me, and Volstagg and Hogun definitely don’t like me.”

“And Fandral?” Thor prompted when Loki stopped there.

His little brother pursed his lips and hid the flush of his cheeks by turning his head. “He’s the only tolerable one.”

Amora had been banished to Midgard shortly before Thor’s own banishment, which left Loki pretty much on his own. No friends, no brother, no one to turn to.

Fandral had still been somewhat nice when everyone else had soured. They… were almost friends. Loki still had difficulties trusting him, but Fandral took the time to speak with him often enough. And there was that one time…

“Even so. Your friends are not my friends. One horrible time in my life does not absolve me of all the alleged sleights they’d mocked up for me,” Loki said, waving a hand dismissively. “But I’d rather not talk about your friends. I still wonder about the beasts…” He pursed his lips.

Thor smiled. “Enough about all of that, brother. I doubt we'll find any answers today. Tell me of your time without me, please.” He wished that their mind link didn’t have a distance limit, so that they could’ve stayed in contact the whole time. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out like that.

Relaxing a little bit, Loki sat down again. “I have to admit, it’s not nearly as exciting as hunting down and imprisoning massive creatures. Though there is a highlight…”

He was still recounting the years to his older brother when Frigga stepped into the garden, and she startled when she spotted them, nearly dropping the watering can in her hand.

“Boys, it’s hardly even sun-up! Have you been out here all night?” She asked, adjusting the shawl around her shoulders as she approached. “Loki, if your father catches you here…”

Thor and Loki looked at each other, both disguising their panic before shaking their heads. “Of course we haven’t been here all night, Mother! We just woke up early,” Loki explained with a reassuring smile. “We decided to take the chance to catch up on everything we missed out with each other. I’m sure Father will understand that much.”

Frigga nodded, skeptical as she looked over the two of them. “Well, alright then,” she murmured. “I don’t suppose the two of you can handle watering the plants this morning..? I have quite a busy day, and the two of you are already here…”

Loki stepped forward, taking the watering can from her and giving her a brief hug. “We’ll take care of it. Good morning, mother.” He kissed her forehead, and then turned her around. “We’ll see you later.”

Frigga laughed as she was shoved out of her own garden, but seeing her boys together again was worth it. “Alright, alright, I’m going! But first – Thor, come give your mother a kiss!” She shouted from the doorway.

Thor rose to his feet, ambling over and pulling her into a hug just as Loki had, kissing her forehead at the same time. “It’s good to see you, mother. I’ll come visit you later, alright?”

“That sounds fine to me, darling,” Frigga said, cupping his cheek before Loki continued to usher her out, drawing more laughter from their mother until she was out, and they were left alone again.

Thor immediately whipped around, grabbing his arm before he could get away. “Did Father ban you from the gardens?” He asked, and Loki winced.

“He… believed I was spending too much time here. After you were sent away, I practically lived in this garden,” he explained, staring off to the side. “He tolerated it for fifty years, until – until I could speak again. After which he waited only a month before saddling me with all your former responsibilities, and at the same time, he banished me from the gardens so that I could not hide away again.”

Thor sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Father truly loves making things difficult for you,” he snarked, and Loki couldn’t help but laugh.

“It’s his favorite thing to do,” Loki stated before he switched the watering can to his left hand, and then found a can for Thor, as well, so tend to the plants. “Now, where were we?” He asked.

“You were about to tell me more of a series of dreams that you’ve been having,” Thor said. “Something about visitors, minds not your own in your consciousness… and you truly think it's your children?”

Loki nodded. “I know they are. I’m not sure how, but…” He pursed his lips. “Only the youngest speaks. She has no name, at least not one she’s given to me. The other two are quiet, but I feel them. I feel their presence in my dreams.” He knelt down, watering the base of the plants absentmindedly as the sun began to climb over the walls encircling Asgard.

“Why did you not dream of Sleipnir in this manner?” Thor asked, taking care of a different planter bed.

“I’ve always known where he is, first of all,” Loki replied easily. “Secondly, I never truly cared for him. He was the product of…” He trailed off, setting the watering can down. “I didn’t want him. We never connected. But my other children…”

He smiled fondly, thinking back to when they had grown in the womb, each full of life and with their own personalities even before they were born.

“Each one was precious to me.”

He was reminded of those cruel moments directly after each birth – the way he begged Angrboda to give him just a few moments with their child, pleading in hopes that she would allow him to hold them.

She never budged, and he could only watch as she left, heart breaking in two. Then three, and then four.

“What happens? When they visit you, I mean,” Thor asked, sitting back on his haunches as he watched Loki.

“We just talk. They know Angrboda is dead, and though I can't find them, they still wish to know me,” Loki explained, setting the watering can down to pluck a little weed from the dirt. It latched onto his seidr, wrapping roots around his fingers and pulsing with green. “My daughter asks about me, and my history, and our family. She's very curious.”

He laughed softly, pulling the plant away and tossing it into a scrap bin, and Thor chuckled as he continued his task. “I tell them stories that I’ve collected from my time traveling the cosmos. They like hearing about Midgard the most. It’s not my favorite, but I’ll survive.”

Another weed tried to latch onto him, but he tossed it again before it could wrap fully around his wrist, picking up the watering can once again.

“Getting to know them, even in my dreams, has been strange, but enjoyable. I just worry for the day that the dreams stop coming,” Loki explained, denting the metal handle of the can as he gripped it tightly, anxiety swirling in his gut.

Thor finished watering the plants and made his way over to grasp Loki’s shoulder, centering him on the present again. “They still speak with you now. Let’s not worry about such things until they come to pass.”

Loki looked at his brother, taking a few deep breaths before he nodded. “You’re right.” He closed his eyes for a few moments longer before he shook his head as though to clear it. “Anyway. Allow me to continue…”

“Yes, yes, of course,” Thor conceded, not wanting to get Loki off track. His brother was always the best at weaving stories – and Thor enjoyed every minute of it.

More time passed – hours ticking by like minutes. They were still chatting away when Frigga returned after midday. She cloaked herself with seidr and just watched her boys talk and catch up, with an excitement and familiarity that she hadn’t seen in… perhaps four, maybe five centuries.

They hadn't been close like this since before Angrboda, and even then, things had gotten a little rocky.

She was just happy that they were close again, more than anything else. It had been a long time coming.

Chapter Text

It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

Everything… everything went wrong.

Loki was behind Thor, both of them hurrying to intercept the small invading force of Jotnar in Asgard’s palace. Thor was in all his coronation regalia, looking every bit the king he was to be today.

The attack wasn't supposed to have so many damn casualties.

A dozen bodies were thrown about in the hall, and Loki and Thor charged in with identical yells, raising weapons to take down the beasts that no one else risked getting close to.

They had gone undetected longer than Loki intended, and now a dozen citizens were dead.

The brothers fought in a graceful swirl of motion, in sync as they killed the invaders, hacking and swinging – until Loki tripped on the severed hand of an Asgardian, and a Jotunn caught him by the wrist.

The clothing covering his arm grew brittle from the cold, shattering off his skin in a way that clothing shouldn't be able to do.

And yet.

He watched as the skin beneath – his skin turned the light blue of a Jotunn, when it should have turned black with frostbite.

He and the beast made eye contact – both of them shocked – before he flipped his dagger over in his hand and brought it down in the other's chest five times, six times, ten –

No.

No, it was not possible.

He gasped for breath as he stared at the corpse of his fallen foe and his arm, which had turned back into the Asgardian-accepted cream color of a pale forearm.

Before he could think anymore on it, he felt the push of a spear through his ribs, blinding pain numbing him to everything else, and he cried out, both hands grabbing the exposed handle of the spear as the weapon was driven further into him.

“LOKI!” Thor shouted as Loki was slammed into a wall, and the spear was twisted, blade scraping in a truly awful way against his ribs.

Loki couldn't think about it. He couldn’t lose focus, because they were in battle. He needed – he needed to help Thor.

Were they even truly brothers?

Slicing through the handle of the spear, Loki pulled himself to the side as the Jotunn stumbled forward, no longer with the leverage of a weapon or body pushing back – and he promptly dragged his dagger all the way down his back, separating muscle from bone as the blood spilled onto his hand.

Once he had killed the thing, Loki kicked him away and clutched his side, where the spearhead was still embedded in his skin – and he coughed, agony racing through his chest as blood spilled from his lips.

“Thor,” he choked out, beginning to wheeze as he collapsed to the ground.

Disposing of the last one, Thor rushed to his brother’s side. “It’s okay! It’s okay, everything will be fine!” He reassured, and with a gentleness rarely seen, he lifted Loki into his arms. “Take small, short breaths – nothing deep. And hold on, brother.” He sprinted down the halls, yelling to clear a path as he went straight to the soul forge.

Loki began to spit more blood – his lungs were burning, and he clutched Thor's cape as he began to panic. He couldn’t breathe. He was going to die, trying to make his brother look better, even when he had always been good.

The loss of consciousness came soon after, and for that, Loki was grateful.

When he woke, the room was dark.

The healer in the room smiled, approaching slowly and leaving the lights off. “You’re awake,” she stated, her voice soft. “Hello, your highness. You’ve been out for a few hours.”

Loki still tasted the blood on his tongue. He sat up anyway, nausea curling in his gut as he swung his legs off the cradle. “Where is my brother?” He asked.

She pursed her lips. “He is with his friends in the dining hall. He was… quite upset about what happened. But, your highness, you really shouldn't be up –“

Loki waved her away, pulling on a robe to cover his topless upper half as he stood. Swaying only a little bit, he focused on putting one foot in front of the other, and with that mentality, he walked to the dining hall – leaning on the walls until the healer gave up on trying to get him to rest.

She pulled his arm over her shoulder, providing him the support he needed to stay upright. He thanked her in a husky whisper, choking a little on the blood still coating his throat.

The door to the dining hall was opened, and Loki stumbled in, glaring at Thor. His (not?) brother, who stood in front of his friends, shoulders squared and giving some speech as the Warriors Four all set their jaws, a determined glint in their eyes.

At least until Loki stepped inside and successfully drew all of their attention to him.

“Wh – Loki, what are you doing up?!” Thor cried out as he hurried over. “You should be resting!” He shot a scathing look at the healer, who just quirked a brow as though to say ‘you should know that's impossible to achieve’.

“Brother, you must stop,” he hissed, coughing some more – until Thor got him a glass of water from the undisturbed table, still filled with food and drink. He took a sip, and Thor frowned.

“I know not what you mean.”

Loki rolled his eyes. “I know you better than I know myself. I am the god of lies. Don't lie to me – it will never work,” he growled. “Charging into Jotunheim is a fool’s errand!”

“I will not speak of this with you, brother. You are injured – you are not well. Rest – we shall talk when I return,” Thor said, resting his hand on Loki’s shoulder.

“No! Thor, this is madness! I shall be fine! They were foolish – that, and nothing more! If they truly wanted to invade us, they’d have come up with a better plan than that!” Loki shouted, even as Thor turned away. “Listen to reason! You will get yourself killed over there!”

When Thor did not listen, Loki threw a burst of seidr at his head, and he slammed the door between their minds wide open, yelling in both.

“Father will not forgive this!” He shouted, and Thor hesitated, turning ever so slightly. “Please, just stay, brother. No good will come from leaving.”

I need you here.

Thor almost caved. Loki could see him, teetering on the edge.

And then Loki fell into a coughing fit, and Thor’s mind was made up.

“Get him to bed, healer,” Thor called before he and his friends marched away, heading for the Bifrost to take them to Jotunheim.

“Damn it – no! Stop!” Loki called between his coughs before he fell to the ground, more blood spattering on the marble tile beneath him.

He was ushered back to the soul forge to be treated, despite his protests.

He stopped in the doorway, grabbing the arm of a guard.

“He’s going to Jotunheim,” Loki told him. “Thor is going to Jotunheim. Inform the All-Father immediately.”

Then he was dragged through the doors and laid down again, allowing them to continue their treatment of what had been a punctured lung only a few hours ago.

As soon as he had an opening, which took far longer than he’d have liked, he left again, heading to the observatory.

He barely arrived in time.

Odin had gone to Jotunheim atop Sleipnir – and returned with his son, and his son’s horribly injured friends. They were all frost-bitten in different places – Volstagg had it the worst.

They were escorted away, and then it was just Odin, Thor, and Heimdall left in the observatory. Loki uncloaked himself when Heimdall turned his way.

“Your Highness,” he greeted in a low rumble before he faced Thor and Odin again, as the two had a stand off. They had been yelling at each other since their return.

“Was I just supposed to stand to the side and accept what had happened? After they tried to kill us, after they NEARLY KILLED MY BROTHER?!” Thor shouted.

“You would put your brother above the whole of Asgard?!” Odin shouted back.

Lifting Mjolnir to point at Odin, Thor grit his teeth. “HE IS ABOVE THE ENTIRE COSMOS!” He yelled back in turn, and Odin went quiet, then.

Loki stared at his brother, and unexpected tears burned his eyes. “I –“

“SILENCE, BOY!” Odin shouted at him, and Thor’s eyes burned with rage, but then Odin turned back to him. “You… you are a short-sighted fool. How I ever thought you could be king, I don’t know. You’ve no sense of responsibility to your people.” He shook his head.

Loki looked between them – and he felt sick to his stomach, the ozone of his brother’s anger thick in the air.

“Thor Odinson… You have betrayed the express command of your king. Through your arrogance and stupidity, you have opened these peaceful realms and innocent lives to the horror and desolation of war!” He lifted Gungnir, sliding it into the pedestal of the Bifrost, and lightning crackled in the air. “You are unworthy of these realms, you are unworthy of your title! YOU ARE UNWORTHY!” Odin pulled Mjolnir from Thor’s grasp, and stepped forward to yank off the emblem of Asgard on his chest before he paused, looking his oldest directly in the eye. “… of the loved ones you have betrayed.”

Loki looked between them, and he knew what was going to happen.

It was all his fault.

Thor, I’m sorry. I love you.

“I now take from you, your power! In the name of my father, and his father before! I, ODIN ALL-FATHER, CAST YOU OUT!” Odin commanded, and Thor was yanked back through the Bifrost, banished from Asgard for good.

The edges of Loki’s world went fuzzy – and he stumbled as he watched Odin enchant Mjolnir before sending the hammer after Thor. This… this had to be a dream – or perhaps a nightmare.

Odin looked at him, and Loki thought definitely a nightmare. There was a hard edge to his eyes – before Odin turned away, stepping back from the pedestal.

“Go to your room, child. Rest.” He sagged against his spear, letting out a slow breath as he trudged over to Sleipnir, who waited just outside the observatory. “I cannot lose any more sons today.”

“May I ride back with you, father?” Loki asked – and so Odin swung into the saddle, holding a hand out for him only a moment later.

They crossed the bridge in silence – and that silence stayed settled over them until they got back to the palace.

Loki dismounted, waiting for Odin to step down as well before posing a question.

“Where did you send him?” He asked softly.

The king stood still, ruminating on it before he seemed to give in. “Midgard.”

Loki hadn’t been there in a century – and last time he had, it had been… quite disgusting, in hygiene and moral character both.

He had so many more questions – but he knew that Odin wouldn’t answer them, so he stepped away.

Already, he was mostly healed. His seidr had finished up whatever work that the soul forge hadn’t. So he went to find Thor’s friends, hearing that they were being treated down the hall, and he entered the room unnoticed.

They had heard of Thor’s banishment already.

“We should have never let him go,” Volstagg grumbled.

Sif shook her head. “There was no stopping him.”

Fandral laughed mirthlessly. “At least he’s only banished, and not dead. Which is what we’d be if not for that guard who told Odin where we’d gone.”

Volstagg frowned, sitting up. “How did the guard even know?”

“I told him,” Loki admitted, startling the occupants of the room. He dug his nail into the skin of his palm, picking at the old scar and tearing it open easily.

“What?” Fandral rose to his feet.

“I told him to go to Odin after –“

“- you told him?!”

“I had no idea father would banish him for what he did,” Loki spoke as calmly as he could manage. His heart was in his throat, and tears burned his eyes as he struggled to make sense of anything. He’d just thought that perhaps the coronation would be put off, or another century long quest would be given… he hadn’t known.

Sif stood up, then. “Loki – Loki, you must go to the All-Father and convince him to change his mind,” she begged as she approached.

Loki stared at her, and he shook his head. “I can’t,” he whispered, wiping at the blood pooling in his palm. “Sif, I love him more dearly than any of you, but he was banished because his responsibility to me was greater than to his people. Father…” Loki looked away from her. “I am the reason we are going to war with Jotunheim again, as well as the reason we are without one of our greatest warriors. Father will not listen to me ever again.”

He turned to leave, and he could feel their glares at his back. His eyes remained resolutely forward.

He couldn’t do anything, didn’t they understand that?! They knew – they knew how much he loved Thor, they saw Loki try to stop him. They knew he had never had the king’s favor.

Loki stumbled in the hall, and he leaned against the stone wall, coming to an abrupt stop as his throat closed up.

Thor was gone.

Loki had turned blue, and Thor was gone. For good. Just like Amora.

He went to his bed at last – too exhausted to stay up any longer, though he ended up tossing and turning for hours.

Perhaps it had been a fluke.

Maybe his seidr protected him, maybe the blue was his body fighting the frostbite, maybe maybe maybe.

Loki wandered the halls, lightheaded and lost.

It was only when he was passing the vault that he thought of it. A way to confirm. There was a treasure in there – a treasure that would clear everything up.

Loki hurried down past the guards, directing their gazes away with a small spell, and his heels clicked softly on the stone as he approached it.

The Casket of Ancient Winters.

A relic of Jotunheim, taken by Odin to make sure they could never make war again.

The blue glow of the Casket seemed to brighten as he drew near. If he was wrong, his hands might fall off.

If he was right…

Loki took it in hand, fingers wrapped around the handles – and in mounting horror, he watched as his skin began to change.

“Loki, stop.”

The call from Odin startled him, but Loki didn’t drop it, or move at all.

“Father, what’s happening?” He asked in a whisper, voice trembling. “How do I stop it?”

Odin came down the stairs of the vault, though he paused on the landing, not getting any closer. “You can’t stop it, my son,” he spoke, sounding more defeated than Loki had ever heard him.

“I don’t understand,” Loki said as he felt the cold seep into his bones, until his entire body was encased in it. He didn’t have to look in a mirror to know what was happening. “Father, I…”

He could feel it. The light blue skin of the Jotnar. The lines of heritage, across his face and chest and hands and all of it.

He dropped the casket back onto its altar, the ache of cold pulling away from all his limbs.

“Please… please tell me what’s happening to me,” he begged, his voice breaking as he turned to face Odin while the older man came down a few more steps.

Odin sighed, standing before his son with a solemn expression. “I told you that you were born the same day our war against Jotunheim ended,” he started. “But that isn’t quite the truth. That was just the day I found you.”

Loki’s lips parted as his mind ran a million miles a minute, everything clicking into place. “I… I was taken from Jotunheim,” he stated, and Odin nodded.

“After the battle… I went to the temple to seize the Casket of Ancient Winters. And alongside the Casket, I found an abandoned baby on a pedestal,” he confessed, his shoulders sagging under the weight of his lies. His eyes were full of sorrow.

His gaze was distant, likely recalling the moment he found him – and Loki bit hard into his lip, breaking the skin. “I realized that you were Laufey’s son. You had been left to die in that temple.”

Loki looked away from him, eyes welling with tears – and he squeezed his eyes shut.

“Laufey’s son?” He whispered, his hands trembling. “You had no need for a baby, why - why would you take me?” He asked.

Odin watched as he cried, arms twitching even though he tried to keep still. “You were an innocent child. Had I not, you would have died there, suffering and alone.” A surprisingly soft smile crossed his face. “Frigga always wanted another child – and Thor, a brother. I seized the opportunity to expand our family.”

Loki shook his head, sniffling. “No – no, I don't believe you. You took me for a purpose – what purpose?!”

Odin shook his head. “Loki –“

“I would think very carefully about your next words, All-Father!” Loki hissed. “It would do everyone well to remember what I am the god of.”

Odin stood there, and despite the venom in Loki’s words, he didn’t snap at him, or yell, or scold at all. “I saw a way to unite our kingdoms,” he admitted. “I thought we could use you to bring about a peace between the realms. We could raise you to be a king, and as the firstborn of Laufey, you would have a claim to the throne.”

“Wh…” Loki blinked back his tears, and he felt sick. His entire life was a lie – and it all made sense.

Odin had never treated him like he treated Thor. He’d never given him the same chances. He mocked his seidr, punished him in cruel and unusual ways, and never ever believed him.

Loki was the god of chaos and lies, and it was all Odin’s fault.

He was nothing more than a chess piece.

“But those plans no longer matter,” Odin added, interrupting Loki’s thoughts. “When the reality of how deeply Thor loves you became clear, we knew we could not put you on the throne. Thor would have never stood for being so distant from his brother.”

“You’re keeping me… you kept me for Thor’s sake?” Loki asked, tears streaming freely down his face. “Like a pet?”

“Why do you twist my words?” Odin asked.

“I twist nothing!” Loki shouted. “Clearly, I tell more truth than the whole lot of you, though it seems you get away without penalty, but I NEVER DO!” He shouted. “But I suppose that makes sense – I’ve never been your true son. It’s why I was treated so differently, why you always favored Thor!” He stepped closer as Odin stumbled, hands curling into fists. “YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME! AND YOU DIDN’T!”

“I wanted only to protect you from the truth,” Odin said with a soft shake of his head, his heel catching on a step, and he barely stayed upright, but his knees began to buckle.

Loki scoffed. “You raised me on stories of the Jotunheim beasts, knowing what I am!” He screamed. “You must have laughed whenever I had nightmares of them – how funny, that I would be so terrified of the monsters when I am one myself!”

“No,” Odin muttered weakly before he collapsed, and Loki came to a sudden stop, snapping out of his rage-fueled rant.

“Father –“ He rushed forward, but stopped just a foot away, hesitating to touch him.

What if he froze him? What if he hurt him?

Each breath his father took was a wheeze, and Loki gently took his wrist in his shaking hand, wiping at the tears that spilled down his cheeks. “GUARDS! Guards, please help!”

Despite what he had learned, despite how scared he felt, Loki didn't leave Odin’s side for a long, long time.

He stared at the soft glow that encased Odin’s bed, restoring his energies – and he had long since reopened the scab on his palm, dabbing occasionally at the blood only to pick some more.

Frigga had joined him hours ago, but it took him a long time to work up the nerve to speak.

“I know that I’m adopted. I know what I am,” Loki stated, looking away from the golden shimmer to gaze at his mother instead. “He explained it all.”

Frigga tensed up, lifting her head to face him – and he stared her down, keeping his face as neutral as possible. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He couldn’t be emotional – not now. Not when everything was falling apart.

“I wanted to tell you from the beginning,” his mother admitted. “He kept the truth from you so that you would never feel different. You are our son, Loki. And we, your family. You must know that,” Frigga pleaded with him, her tone soft.

Loki looked away, unable to keep eye contact with his mother looking so earnestly at him. “You should have told me,” he said, shaking his head. “A thousand years, and never once did you mention –“ He grit his teeth, turning away entirely from the prone form of his father and distressed mother. He went quiet again, and his mother said nothing.

For a few minutes longer, they let it sit.

“I never get used to seeing him like this,” Loki whispered, as though speaking too loudly would disturb Odin. “The most powerful being in the Nine realms, helpless and vulnerable while his body heals itself…”

“He’s put it off for so long now,” Frigga murmured, taking Odin’s hand in her own.

“How long will it last?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “This time, it’s different. We were unprepared. I fear -” She cut herself off, taking in a few slow breaths as she avoided voicing her thoughts. “But we mustn’t lose hope your father will return to us.”

She looked back up at him, even as Loki stayed turned away. “We mustn’t give up on your brother, either.”

Loki lifted his head, sitting up a little straighter as he finally turned back to his mother.  “What hope is there for Thor?” He asked, trying not to let his voice fill with too much enthusiasm.

“There is always a purpose to everything your father does. Thor may yet find a way home,” Frigga told him.

So Loki stood – because he needed to find this way home, he needed his brother. He needed Thor to make sense of it all for him, because he couldn’t do it on his own. He went down the steps of Odin’s bedside, heading to the door in hopes of finding and speaking with Heimdall.

He startled when the doors swung open just before he got there – the guards all moving to kneel in a line in front of him. One of his father’s advisors came into view, holding Gungnir, and Loki couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe.

The man knelt in front of him, holding out the weapon for him to take.

He turned back to his mother, his hands going numb and his head pounding as he struggled to stay focused on what was happening right in front of him.

“Thor is banished,” Frigga called out, the words echoing in the room as his jaw dropped. “The line of succession falls to you. Until Odin awakens, Asgard is yours.”

This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be happening.

But he lifted his head, because if he didn’t do it, who would? And so he took Gungnir in hand, and felt the last pieces of him crumble into dust.

The crown prince was banished. His adoptive father was in a sleep he might never wake from. They were soon to go to war with Jotunheim, the realm ruled by his true father, who had apparently abandoned him as a baby.

“Make him proud,” Frigga called with a soft smile, and it was all Loki could do not to weep in front of everyone. “My king.”

He turned slowly, knuckles white as he gripped it. He had no choice.

Loki Odinson was King of Asgard.

Chapter Text

The first thing Loki did as King was head to the observatory. Heimdall was not present – so he sent himself down to Midgard, disguising himself immediately and taking stock of the situation.

He found his brother – in a human interrogation room, surrounded by mirrors. As soon as the agent speaking to him left, he appeared to him.

“Loki!” Thor exclaimed, and he smiled, his shoulders sagging. “Thank goodness you’re alright. But what are you doing here?”

Loki nodded, curling his hands into fists to hide how they shook. “I had to see you.”

“What happened?” Thor asked, immediately alert again. “Tell me – is it Jotunheim? Let me explain to father –“

“- Father is –“ Loki stopped himself before he could lie. He could never truly lie to Thor. “He is not well. He’s fallen into the Odinsleep. The healers are unsure if he is to wake from it,” he said.

Thor sat up, tears burning his eyes. “W… what?”

Loki watched his older brother’s reactions closely. “Your banishment, the threat of a new war, and… it was too much for him to bear.” He stopped. The most he spoke, the more Thor’s head dropped. “He’s placed an enchantment on the hammer, I… I don’t know how to lift it, brother. But the burden of the throne has fallen to me now, in your absence.”

Please. Please fix this. Please make it stop.

Thor slowly lifted his head, voice breaking as he spoke. “Can I come home?” He asked.

A drop of Loki’s blood fell to the white tile as he dug his nails into his skin, and he blinked back his tears. “I can’t… I can’t undo Father’s final decree. Not at this moment, not when he brokered a temporary truce with Jotunheim that is conditional upon your exile. But –“ He stepped forward, reaching out to hold onto Thor’s arm. “I’m trying. I…”

He could… oh, he could destroy it all.

If he destroyed Jotunheim, not only would Thor get to come home, but it’d erase his entire lineage. Any hint of Jotunheim would be gone. They would all be dead, and it would be as though none of it had happened – he would never have to think of any of this again.

He could go back to how things were. All he had to do was… open the Bifrost upon their planet.

“I’m working towards a… a permanent solution.” Thor sat up a little straighter, a scowl briefly flitting across his face before it disappeared. “But until I achieve it… you’re stuck here,” Loki told him.

Thor nodded, looking past his brother and staring at the floor – at the drop of blood.

Loki didn’t have long. Heimdall would never let him get away with using the Bifrost like that – he’d have to deal with the Watcher beforehand.

“This is goodbye for now, brother,” Loki told him, letting go of his arm and backing up. “I… I am sorry.”

Thor shook his head, sniffling. “No, I am sorry. Thank you for coming.”

They stayed together for a moment longer – scared to leave each other again. But Loki turned, hearing the click of the agent's shoes coming back this way. “Farewell,” he murmured, and he cast a misdirection spell to aid his departure from the base.

“Goodbye,” Thor called after him as the agent stepped back into the room, and Loki snuck out behind him.

“Goodbye? I just got here,” was the last thing Loki heard as he walked back out to return to Asgard.

He’d make it as though the disgusting Jotnar had never existed. He’d destroy their planet – wipe them from all the history books, every mural, every story ever told. Abolish even the slightest traces of them.

If they never existed, then he couldn't be one of them. He would be Odin and Frigga’s son. He would be Thor’s brother. He would be Asgardian.

He'd be the king who ended a war before it even started.

But of course, Thor’s friends were trying to throw a wrench in his plans.

Before the day was over, they were already barging into the throne room, arms crossed over their chests. “All-Father, we must speak with you urgently –“

Sif cut herself off when she spotted Loki on the throne in full royal regalia, just as extravagant as it had been at Thor’s coronation ceremony.

The horned helmet atop his head was fortunately well-balanced, but still, it caused an ache in his temples. He had a big enough headache without it, honestly…

“Lady Sif,” Loki greeted, gazing upon the whole group. “Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun.” He gripped Gungnir. “Thor’s friends. You’ve come to plead his case.”

The group continued their hurried approach, glancing at each other warily.

“Where’s Odin?” Fandral asked.

Loki swallowed down the lump in his throat, taking a slow breath. “Father has fallen into the Odinsleep. Mother fears he may never wake again,” he admitted.

“We will speak with her,” Sif demanded, and something about her tone felt like that spear in his ribcage again.

“You can speak with me,” he snapped, looking over the group as he rose to his feet. “Your king. Mother is in no condition to entertain this. She’s upset enough as it is.”

Sif sneered up at him, both maintaining eye contact as she stood in front of him.

Until Volstagg knelt, submitting to their king, and the rest of them followed.

Loki watched with detached curiosity. It seemed to cause her great pain, to do this for him. He would quite like to see more of it, honestly.

“My king. We would ask that you end Thor’s banishment,” she said in a deceptively calm tone.

Loki scoffed. “It’s not as simple as that,” he stated. “We’re on the brink of war with Jotunheim, need I remind you? I shouldn’t have to, considering it was you bunch who helped start it.” The following forced grin was condescending, and a hysterical sort of laugh tried unsuccessfully to claw its way out of him.

He looked over all of them, grin fading as he pursed his lips. “The only reason we haven’t gone to war yet is Thor’s exile – it has appeased them, for now. And I am solving this situation as best I can. Until it is resolved, he stays banished. For the good of Asgard.”

Sif shot to her feet, a sharp retort hot on her tongue, and Loki just stared at her. She couldn’t say it now – not while he was king.

“Lady Sif, trust that I want him home just as badly as you do. But at this time, it simply cannot be,” Loki told her before she could find the words.

Volstagg cleared his throat, obviously a little hesitant. “Your Majesty, perhaps – would you reconsider? We –“

“- no. The matter is closed.” Loki lifted Gungnir, the end slamming on the ground and echoing in the vast throne room. “Until those beasts are handled,” Sif glanced at Fandral as a frown crossed both of their features, “Thor stays where he is. Now, if you have nothing further, I have much better uses of my time than this.”

They were effectively dismissed – and so they all turned to leave. Sif led the way down a few different halls, until she felt far enough away from Loki.

“Something isn’t right,” she said as she stopped in the hall, and she turned to Fandral, who had picked up on the same thing as her. “Something is wrong with Loki.”

“I agree,” Fandral said as they walked quickly down the main pathway. “So we’re going to get Thor about it, yes?”

“I see no other solution,” Hogun stated, probably the first words he had said all day.

Volstagg looked between them before he smiled. “Then its settled. We shall defy our king and bring about his brother's return.”

Frigga stepped out from behind a pillar, and Fandral cursed loudly as the others jumped, startled by her sudden appearance.

“You think Loki is unwell?” She asked, and they all exchanged glances before nodding.

Sif knelt before her. “Yes, All-Mother. Loki does not seem well. Not since the attack from the Jotnar. And the way he speaks of the race… it has changed, from before.”

Frigga nodded, considering for a few moments as she considered what she knew. “Perhaps giving him the burden of the throne was a mistake, then. But it is not one I can undo,” she said.

She gestured for Sif to rise, and walked slowly to an arched doorway, looking out at the whole of Asgard as she let herself think.

Everything seemed so… ordinary.

Her older son was banished, her husband on the brink of death, and her youngest son was on the throne, apparently battling demons none of them prepared for.

And yet the wind still gusted over them, horses neighing in the distance. The city moved beneath them, firelight keeping the golden city aglow.

Like nothing was wrong.

Frigga sighed, rubbing her thumb over her scarred palm. “What am I to do, hm? My options are limited.”

She could not reclaim the throne, that would no doubt make it all worse if things were as bad as the warriors thought. Her husband showed no signs of waking, which meant neither of them could relieve their youngest from this burden, as she couldn't bear to stay away for too long.

A feeling in her gut told her that something truly terrible was about to happen – something that might break her.

Frigga shivered as a chill ran down her spine, and she turned back to the group of her eldest son’s friends.

“Thor was banished to Midgard. Odin and Loki both have forbidden travel to the realm during Thor’s banishment. However, I shall speak to Heimdall as soon as possible to remedy this. Once you are ready, go down, and he will let you through,” Frigga instructed, adjusting the long sleeves of her gown before she scraped her nail against the soft skin of her palm. “You must find Thor and bring him home as quickly as possible. If Loki is truly as unwell as you think, then no one other than his brother can help him. Now – all of us must hurry.”

Sif dipped her head. “Of course, All-Mother. Thank you.”

The four of them hurried away, then, and Frigga watched their backs retreat before she headed out to the stables.

Loki would just have to forgive her for this – it was for the good of Asgard.

When the Warriors Four were sent to Midgard to retrieve the banished crown prince, he was cleaning up from having made breakfast for Jane and her friends. They were discussing what Thor had told Jane the night before, about the stars and the Nine Realms, and Asgard.

She sounded so cute in all her excitement – even in the face of Eric’s skepticism, she remained passionate about the retelling of all she had learned. Thor hoped that he would have the chance to tell her more – or perhaps even show her.

Though it was unlikely even he would see his home in a long time. Wars and feuds on Asgard and in the Nine Realms went on much, much longer than anything the humans could ever fathom.

He set down a clean plate, sighing heavily as he tried not to think about it. If he dwelled on his circumstances, it would surely be the end of him.

“FOUND YOU!”

When he heard the shout and several thumps against the glass doors to Jane’s building, and the chatter stopped in favor of a round of gasps, he looked up from the dishes, and was met with the sight of his friends.

Darcy and Eric, in their shock of seeing fully armored Asgardians standing before them, had dropped their mugs – but Thor just grinned and hurried forward while his friends barged into the building.

“My friends!” He exclaimed, pulling each into a tight hug, and Sif couldn’t help but laugh when Thor lifted her ever so slightly off the ground in his excitement.

“I don’t believe it…” Eric stared and rubbed at his eyes, wondering perhaps if he was still drunk.

But Volstagg faced the man and dipped his head. “Oh, excuse me. Lady Sif and the Warriors Three,” he introduced, gesturing to the group, all of whom waved to the flabbergasted humans they stood before.

Thor let go of Fandral and smiled fondly at all of them. “Everyone… I have never been happier to see you,” he said. “But you should not have come.” He didn’t mean to bring the mood down, but their visit would only make his banishment that much more painful.

This might be the last time he ever saw them, if Loki wasn’t able to fix the situation back home.

The warriors all seemed to deflate a little bit, though Fandral tried to keep his smile.

“We’ve come to take you home, Thor,” he said, his hand clapping onto Thor’s shoulder.

The prince’s forced smile fully faded, and he stood before them, a defeated man. “You know I can’t go home,” he said with a shake of his head, voice full of hurt. “My father is dying because of me. And I must remain in exile, unless I wish to rain Jotunheim’s wrath down on Asgard.”

Sif stepped forward, then. “We understand, but – Loki needs your help,” she said, and Thor immediately lifted his head, his shoulders straightening. “We believe… we believe he has a sickness of the mind,” she said.

“What do you mean?” He asked, beginning to pace, even when he had a feeling he knew what they were talking about.

Something during that meeting he had had with Loki while in the interrogation room yesterday, well… it had just seemed off. Alarm bells had rung in his head, telling him that there was something to fix.

“The way he spoke – it was erratic, and strange. Like he wasn’t all there,” Sif started explaining. “And you know your brother – he’s very knowledgeable of the realms, probably the most well-traveled among us. But he… he referred to the Jotnar as beasts earlier. He said that he would handle them, that he was solving the situation,” she said, adjusting the shield on her arm. “He sounded…” She shook her head, unwilling to elaborate on her speculations.

But Thor knew what she meant.

“He sounded like he wanted them all dead,” he finished for her, startling his friend as he seemingly read her thoughts. “He visited me, yesterday. He told me he was working towards a permanent solution,” he confessed, finally coming to a stop and facing them. “I noticed it too. For my brother, who tries so hard to avoid killing, it was odd.”

The expression on his friends’ faces were all grim. They didn't have the full puzzle, but they had many of the pieces.

“He left behind a few drops of blood when he visited me,” Thor told them. “Did you notice any wound on him?”

Hogun stepped forward, then. “When we first saw him after your banishment… he was picking at his hands again,” he said. “I couldn’t see in the throne room, however.”

Jane frowned as she watched the exchange, stepping forward. She, unfortunately, remained out of the loop. “Why is it relevant if his hands are bleeding?” She asked. “I thought you mentioned that he had gotten stabbed in his chest just a few days ago. Maybe it came from that?” She suggested.

With a shake of his head, Thor looked down at his own hands. “We share a tic with our mother,” he admitted. “Picking at our palms is… an unavoidable habit. I manage to keep myself from doing it most of the time, but my brother is not so lucky. In moments of anxiety, or distress, or panic, he often picks at the skin until it is an open wound,” he explained.

“You and your mother also do this?” Jane asked him, stepping closer.

Thor shrugged and nodded. “I try to avoid drawing blood, but my brother doesn’t have the same control when it comes to that tic. He hasn’t been upset enough to do it in at least a century – but this is a very stressful time for him.”

“That’s why we’ve come to get you. No one can ease his burdens like you, Thor,” Fandral said. He had first-hand experience with trying, and he didn’t even come close to being as successful as his friend.

Thor ran a hand through his hair, trying not to pace again. “Fandral, I am only mortal right now. I will be of no use as I am.” He looked out to the cracked earth of New Mexico, in the direction that Mjolnir was. “The Bifrost would destroy this body as it is.”

His friends all seemed to look at each other, wanting to find a solution – until they saw the clouds swirling out in the desert.

The Bifrost was being activated again.

They all watched as the cloud touched down with a boom.

“Was somebody else coming?” Darcy asked softly, trying to be funny but missing the mark.

Thor looked to his friends, who all shook their heads, and they had to watch as the area beneath the cloud formation went up in flames, a metal silhouette on a war path to the city.

The Destroyer.

Loki had sent the Destroyer down to Midgard.

As he watched in mounting dread, Thor could only think that that action alone said more about the state of Loki’s mental health than anything else could. He didn’t like the Warriors Four, but to send Asgard’s most formidable weapon to kill them?

The group charged out into the open as they watched the approach, and Thor turned to his friends after a moment.

“The Destroyer must be after the four of you,” he said. “My friends, I fear that you may have brought more trouble to this town than they can handle.”

He looked around at the small town as the people stopped in the streets to stare at the distant fiery wreck – and the rapidly approaching armor.

“If Loki has sent it to kill us, we shall face it!” Sif shouted, her grip tightening on her spear. “I will not run from this! I will not die a coward!”

The warriors cheered, smacking their weapons on their armor. “We shall take it down – while you keep the people safe!” Volstagg exclaimed, looking back at Thor.

“If it is you the Destroyer is after, you could die – are you sure?” Thor asked with a frown.

The redhead smiled, nodding bravely. “Leave it to us. I have no plans of seeing Valhalla before my children come of age.”

Thor felt a pang of guilt hit his chest, so sudden that he was breathless for a few moments. Of course Volstagg was thinking of his children. Three, all of whom loved their father and his exaggerated stories more than anything.

And Hogun, with his little sister in Vanaheim, caring for their grandmother, the only family they had left. Sif had her parents – and Fandral had three younger sisters.

When Thor had dragged them to invade Jotunheim, he hadn’t given any of it a second thought – he had only considered himself, and how he had been slighted. How his family was affected (Loki would have been fine – his healing had always been abnormally fast).

He knew Odin had been right to cast him out now. He had been arrogant, and simple-minded.

So he nodded. “Be careful out there,” he said as the Destroyer took its first step into town – and they all split up, the warriors taking the most obvious path while he, Jane, Darcy, and Eric all ran down alleys and side streets, ushering people into cars and directing them away from the destruction.

When the first blast of pure Odinforce tore through two cars and nearly sliced a building in half, their evacuation became much more frantic, everybody desperate to get away from the destruction.

The next blast hit a gas station – blowing it up with a rumble that shook the whole town. Already damaged buildings began to crumble – and Thor watched as a woman ran with her child in her arms, bricks beginning to clatter around them.

He sprinted to where they were, yanking them away from the building and running to safety just before they could get crushed.

“Are you alright?” He asked, holding her carefully and bringing them to cover before he set her down.

“I'm – we’re both okay,” the woman said, and they both flinched as another blast rattled all the nearby windows. “What is that thing?!”

Thor brought her to a truck that was evacuating, then. “Just get out of here – as quickly as you can.”

He loaded a few more people up alongside Jane before Jane smacked the side of the truck. “Go! Drive!” She yelled, and the truck took off.

Only once everything was evacuated did they focus their attention back on Thor’s friends – who were all on the verge of death.

Sif was huddled behind a car, nasty burns scattered across her skin. She clutched at her dislocated shoulder, clearly trying to work up the energy to continue fighting.

Hogun and Fandral held Volstagg up as the man tried to stem the blood flowing from his broken leg, though they looked no better, with cuts all over as they wheezed.

Thor looked between them, and then at the Destroyer, which crept closer.

His brother had to be observing. There was no way he wasn’t.

If he didn’t do something, then all his friends would die. For him. Because of him.

“Loki!” Thor shouted, holding up a hand as his friends regrouped a couple blocks away. “Loki, this needs to stop!”

The Destroyer went still. Good. He’s listening.

“Thor, no!” Jane shouted, but Thor couldn’t reassure her – so he left that to his friends as he faced down his brother.

“Brother – killing them is not the way!”

The Destroyer seemed to shudder.

Thor stumbled when he felt the pressure of Loki’s mind in his own – in this mortal body, the feeling was completely foreign, and entirely unpleasant.

At first, all that came through was nonsensical – jumbled words, blurry images, distant screaming – before it seemed to clear up.

THEY DISOBEYED THEIR KING. THEY COMMITTED TREASON. THEY WOULD SENTENCE THE WHOLE OF ASGARD TO THE HORRORS OF WAR RATHER THAN LISTEN TO ME.

Thor grimaced. He had done the exact same thing mere days ago.

THEY SHALL DIE FOR THEIR ACTIONS.

He stood his ground between them, eyes not leaving the Destroyer for one moment. “I know… I know that they have committed crimes against the throne of Asgard. But killing them will not fix this, brother. It would only keep them from answering for what they've done.”

The Destroyer hummed, metals plates shifting with a creak as it tilted its head.

Explain.

Thor lowered his hands to his sides. “We have fought long enough. We have relied on violence, and vengeance for so long – we now see it as the only solution to all our problems. But it is not.”

He turned his body away just slightly to gesture back at his friends. “Our desire for vengeance has kept many from truly facing justice. Our family – we are a short-tempered bunch. But lashing out has never done us any good.”

He stepped closer, extending his hand. “Brother, we must change.”

“He sent that thing to kill us!” Sif shouted. “We’re the strongest warriors in the Nine Realms, we should fight, why are you - ?”

Thor spared a glance back at her as the Destroyer lifted its head, facing her direction. “Loki, please listen to me,” he said, redirecting the automaton’s attention back to him. “Violence is how I got us into this mess. Violence is not the way out.”

The Destroyer shuddered again in front of him, kneeling down to his height, and Thor stepped closer still. “They committed treason – and they shall be held accountable, not through death, but through trial.”

He knew his brother wasn’t in the armor, but still he reached out and pressed his palm to its hand.

Okay. They shall have a trial. Let them know.

Thor sighed in relief, and he turned as the Destroyer stood back up. “You shall live to see another day, my friends,” he said. “The King of Asgard demands your presence back home – where you shall be tried for your crimes and punished accordingly.”

“What crimes?! We were coming to get you, how is that a crime?!” Sif shouted, and while the others didn’t seem eager to shout it out like her, their expressions were also confused.

Thor curled his hands into fists, his palms itchy as he tried to stay calm. “You disobeyed your king to do so, a clear act of treason. You must see the error, yes?”

“How is it treason if the All-Mother herself bid us to go?”

The Destroyer creaked.

The All-Mother?

Thor froze – hearing the metal whir, Odinforce building beneath its faceplates.

“Mother… mother told you to come?” Thor asked, hearing the question on repeat in his mind – Loki’s mind.

“Yes. The All-Mother spoke with Heimdall and got us passage to Midgard.”

The Destroyer rumbled behind him, heavy footsteps staggering. Thor turned around to look, watching the Odinforce swell in its chest as his eyes widened.

“LOKI, NO!” He shouted, running to stand between his friends and the blast.

But the Destroyer didn’t attack. It blew up in a wave of gold and green, right in front of them.

A god awful shriek echoed through the city, like somebody screaming, and all of the people present were brought to their knees as they covered their ears, all given a splitting headache.

Thor had been knocked off his feet, and coughed up blood as more trickled from his nose, feeling like his head was going to explode from the pressure.

And then it was gone.

The pressure, the shrieking, Loki’s presence in his mind – it was all gone, like it had never been there at all.

The Destroyer lay in pieces in the middle of the street. All his friends began to rise to their feet, equilibrium thrown off from the intense sounds and explosions.

Thor stayed down, though he rolled onto his side to spit blood out, and groaned as Jane ran up to him.

“Thor? Thor!” She shouted, and he clutched his head. “Are you alright?”

“I’m okay,” he managed, finally starting to sit up as he wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “I’m alright, Jane.”

She sighed in relief, and Thor then turned to Sif. “Why would you tell him that?” He asked. “I had just talked him down!”

Sif stared at him in shock, watching as he rose to unsteady feet. “I – We are innocent, I was only trying –“

“- That is what the trial is for, Sif!” Thor shouted at her. “Where everyone relevant can be present and explain themselves! Not shout out a devastating truth at an already unstable person!”

Sif kept her mouth shut, ducking her head as shame burned her cheeks.

“She was just defending us, Thor, there’s no need –“ Fandral stopped speaking when Thor turned away, recoiling at the obvious dismissal.

Shaking his head, Thor stared down at the ground. “I need to get back to Asgard,” he said. “Jane, will you drive me out to the Bifrost's connection point?” He asked.

“Of course – but Thor, you just said a little bit ago that the Bifrost would destroy you as you are,” she said, worrying her lip between her teeth.

Thor faced her, resignation in his gaze. “I have to try,” he said. “He is my brother, Jane. I believe I can still get through to him, before he makes an irreversible decision.”

Jane gazed up at him with a sigh before she nodded. “Alright. Get in the van – all of you!” She shouted for the whole group, gesturing for them to follow her.

The drive was awkward. Sif didn’t say anything, and refused to make eye contact. Volstagg and Hogun were on either side of her, decidedly not engaging in any conversation, and Eric was quiet as well from where he sat across from Volstagg.

Fandral and Darcy, on the other hand, did not get the memo, chatting amicably and getting to know each other.

Thor was up front with Jane, whose frown never left her face as she brought them closer and closer to the site.

“I don’t like this, Thor,” she said as they reached the circle left by the Bifrost.

“I know – and for that, I am sorry, Jane,” Thor replied as she came to a stop.

Jane exited the car. “Your brother just blew up an indestructible robot with magical powers, and you have a weak, human body. How do we know that he won’t kill you, easily?” She asked.

Thor smiled sympathetically at her concern, reaching up to clasp her shoulder. “He is my little brother. I love him to the ends of the cosmos and back – and I know that he feels the same. No matter the fight, no matter what happens between us, he would never kill me. He may stab me, but his little knives are always harmless.”

Jane only felt more anxious, wringing her hands before Thor took them in his own.

“Trust that I will be back, Jane Foster. My story with you is not over yet,” he told her, squeezing her hands gently before he let go.

Jane flushed a bright red, forgetting how to speak as Thor went to stand with his friends in the circle.

He had to try – even if it killed him.

“HEIMDALL!” He shouted to summon the Watcher, knowing he would hear them. “Take us home!”

It took a (panic-filled) minute, but the clouds began to circle once more, thunder rumbling before he and the Warriors Four were pulled into the Bifrost.

While he had never had an issue before, this time it felt different.

His skin burned, hot and itchy all over. He could barely hold his head up, so much pressure building behind his eyes that he thought they might pop out.

He screamed – agony racing through his body before there was nothing at all.

They landed in Asgard, and while his friends all landed on their feet, Thor tumbled across the floor.

More blood leaked from his nose – he could taste it in the back of his throat. When he opened his eyes, he was sure that he was bleeding from there, too.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” Loki shouted, his voice booming as he marched down the Bifrost, and Heimdall spun around, standing defensively in front of the warriors.

But Loki had eyes for none of them – he stopped as soon as he saw Thor, eyes wide.

Thor was dying.

“No!” He shouted, and with a burst of seidr, he slammed the five others against the wall as he rushed to Thor’s side, leaving Gungnir standing next to him. “No – no, Thor!”

Loki’s cold, shaky hands cupped his cheeks as he spat out his own blood, trying to breathe through the pain.

“You know a mortal can't withstand the Bifrost without protection!” Loki shouted. “Why would you do this? You’re going to die!”

Thor grabbed his wrist, wheezing with each breath. “Listen well, brother,” he started, eyelids fluttering as he tried to stay present. “Mercy. You must remember mercy. Vengeance is –“ He began to cough, turning to the side as his lungs ached, and he had to take a second before he could continue, “- it is never worth the cost, Loki.”

“No – no, stop it!” Loki yelled at him, tears burning his eyes. “Please – just – conserve your energy, I need time to figure out how to fix this!”

Thor smiled, even when the movement stretched his burning skin in a way that made it worse. “Please, brother. Do not – don't lose yourself in this a – anger.”

Loki was hyperventilating, with pin-prick pupils as he struggled to reconcile with what was happening in front of him. “Nonononono, this can’t be happening. This can't –“ He watched Thor go limp, and tears began to stream down his cheeks.

“NO! NO!” He screamed, pulling away to punch the ground, cracking the marble as he started losing it, both hands going to his head and smearing Thor's blood and his own on his face as he rocked back and forth.

Then he stilled, lifting his head to look at Heimdall and the Warriors Four.

For a moment, all of them felt overwhelming fear – like they were rabbits in a lion’s den.

“What have you done…?” Loki grabbed onto Gungnir, shaking from head to toe. “Because of you… I have nothing.” He whispered.

In a breathless terror, the group of five prepared to summon the last of their energy to fight back. Loki had gone insane in just a few short days, and the Warriors Four knew he was the strongest mage in all the Nine. There was no telling what he might be capable of.

But instead of fighting them, he left the observatory, staring at the clouds circling above.

Odin kept him as a pet for Thor. Frigga betrayed him, assisting Thor’s horrible friends in treason. Thor, the only person he believed would love him no matter what, had just died.

He stepped to the edge of the bridge, now staring down at the churning waters.

Fandral was first to his feet, helping everybody else up before they moved to see what Loki was doing – only to freeze as they saw him standing on the edge.

“Oh my god,” Sif whispered.

But none of them moved.

Loki stepped closer to the edge, a harsh sob tearing itself from his throat as he covered his face, wiping away the sticky blood on his skin.

Just as he set Gungnir upright on the bridge, intending to jump, a massive bolt of lightning struck inside the observatory at the same moment that they all felt the rush of dark energy blow past them – and the warriors all cried out as they were knocked over again. Loki stumbled, but his grip on Gungnir kept him from falling off as he whipped his head around to look at what was happening.

Before he could process what was happening, Thor was leaping towards him, Mjolnir in hand. He was in full Asgardian armor – he was a god again.

Loki yelped as Mjolnir knocked into his chest, shoving him away, and Thor stood between him and the closest edge.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Thor shouted, and Loki wheezed, staring at his brother like he was a ghost. “BROTHER –“

Loki glanced back at Thor’s friends, who had done nothing at all but watch. And when he looked the other way on the bridge, he saw Sleipnir, and atop Sleipnir, he saw his parents. No – he saw Thor’s parents.

“Tell the Jotunns that I orchestrated it all!” He called, lightning striking all around them, shaking the bridge as the boom of thunder tried to drown out their voices. “Tell them the God of Lies was pulling the strings.”

Thor stepped forward, but Loki was quick to back up to the very edge. He might not drown in the water, but the edge of Asgard was close by. If he didn’t die before falling, then surely the unstable wormholes surrounding Asgard would kill him quickly.

“Loki, stop this madness!” Thor shouted, a desperate edge to his voice as he stayed entirely still. “Come away from the edge, and we can talk about it!”

“CAN WE?!” Loki shouted, lifting his spear and pointing it at his brother. “YOU WOULD NEVER UNDERSTAND!”

Thor grit his teeth, and after a brief consideration of the distance, he surged forward to try and knock Loki away from the edge – but Loki moved in such a manner that it was instead the exact thing that knocked him over.

“NO!” Thor shouted, dropping Mjolnir on the bridge’s edge to instead grab his father’s spear, holding it tight. He tried to use his hammer as an anchor, but of course it lifted easily in his hands. “HOLD ON, BROTHER, PLEASE!” He begged, his feet scrambling as he tried to stay on.

Loki stared up at him, gasping for breath as he clung to Gungnir, and both screamed as they slid further towards the water, and thus the abyss.

In the face of death as near as his brother, Loki hesitated in his conviction to give up. “Thor!” He shouted, fear displayed openly across his features.

It was then that Odin was there, holding desperately onto one of Thor’s ankles while Frigga clung to the other.

“HOLD ON, BOY!” Odin shouted, both trying to hoist them up.

“Almost there!” Frigga exclaimed, her eyes only on their youngest son. “We’ve almost got you!”

Loki stared up at them – and his grip slipped as they were lifted up.

“Just hold on a little longer!” Thor shouted down at him, both hands clinging to the pointy end of the spear. “We can find a solution together to this whole situation! We can fix everything, together!”

Loki looked between the liars and manipulators that raised him – and the brother that had never done anything but believe in him. “Does he know?” He called, and both his parents froze.

He felt the chill of his own tears on his cheeks, cooled by the wind whipping around them, and all he could hear was the pounding of his heart as he rested quite comfortably on the brink.

Thor wouldn’t be doing this if he knew.

Loki slipped further down, hanging on with just one hand.

“Can you fix this?” He asked, his voice cracking on the last word as he reached into his magical core, seeking out that feeling that he’d gotten when holding the Casket of Ancient Winters.

The cold.

It was so, so cold.

His arms began to turn blue once more, and Thor watched in horror as his little brother turned into a Jotunn, right in front of his eyes.

When he said nothing, Loki just blinked the last tears from his eyes, and he let go.

“NO! NO, LOKI!” Thor shouted, kicking back at Odin and Frigga as he fought to follow his brother down, and Frigga shrieked, letting go of Thor to reach out in vain for Loki. “LET GO OF ME! LET ME SAVE HIM!”

It was Heimdall that grabbed Frigga, holding her back while Odin finished dragging Thor up onto the bridge, and Thor’s head hung over the side as he watched his brother hit the surface of the water – and then immediately tip over the edge of Asgard’s border.

Thor could only watch as Loki tumbled end over end into space before he just seemed to disappear entirely into a wormhole.

There wasn’t even a body to bury.

“I promised… I promised that I would always protect him.”

Just like that – in an instant - his brother was gone.

Thor was alone.

Chapter Text

The year passed slowly, but Thor couldn’t discern one day from the next.

In a way he had never struggled with before, Thor began to find it difficult to motivate himself to do anything.

Getting out of bed was agony. Every meal tasted like mud, and even his favorite meals drew no reaction. The chef was trying, but without his brother, there was no point to anything.

He had failed Loki. And that would haunt him for the rest of his long, long life.

At least, that was until Heimdall sent summons for the crown prince and the All-Father, bringing them to the observatory.

“Loki is alive,” Heimdall stated first.

Thor felt the floor drop out from under his feet – staring at the Watcher with a blank look on his face. Surely he was mistaken, right?

“He is attacking Midgard. He has already killed several dozen humans,” Heimdall informed them, both hands resting on the hilt of his sword.

The words shocked Thor out of his stupor. “No – no, you must be mistaken. Loki would never do that. He loved Midgard,” he said, scowling as he stepped forward.

Heimdall pursed his lips. “It is Loki the Trickster, your highness,” he stated. “He is armed with an infinity stone.”

Thor grit his teeth – despising how Heimdall referred to his brother. But rather than punch Heimdall, he turned around, hand on Mjolnir’s handle.

Odin looked to Thor, seeing the lost expression on his face. He, too, had suffered after the loss of his second son. But he was king – he could not dwell on it. “Bring him home,” he said as he grabbed his shoulder, bringing him back to the present. “We shall figure out what to do with him upon his return.”

Thor faced his father, eyes burning with tears – and he cleared his throat, nodding. “Of course, Father,” he said, taking a few shaky breaths before he turned back around and stepped forward.

“He is being transported in a flying machine, surrounded by Midgardian warriors.,” Heimdall warned him before twisting his sword, opening the Bifrost and sending Thor to Midgard, as close to Loki as possible.

Thor landed in the woods – taking a few moments to orient himself to Midgard’s weaker gravity. As soon as he regained his bearings, he took off into the sky. A sky that began to rumble with thunder, lighting striking the ground as his tumultuous emotions summoned a storm.

Thor found the aircraft, catching up despite how fast it was moving – and he landed on the roof, wondering if he should smash his way in.

Then, conveniently, the door on the back opened – and Thor dropped into the aircraft. He had a variety of weapons aimed at him, but he didn't care about any of them.

All he cared about was his brother – who was strapped into a seat, hands bound in front of him. He looked thin. Dark circles stretched under his eyes; exhaustion having clearly dug its claws into him long ago. His armor was worn, somehow seeing more damage in the past year than in the past century.

Loki didn’t look at him.

“Brother,” he whispered, stepping towards Loki, who dug his nails into his legs. “Brother, can you –“

He moved closer to Loki, only for a pulse of blue to shoot past him, out into the elements. It was a warning shot, so Thor reluctantly turned away.

“Back away from the prisoner, Goldilocks,” a man’s voice came from a metal suit. “Put your hands up where we can see them. Are you working with this guy?”

Loki scoffed. “Like I would ever work with him.”

Another man, this one in blue, adjusted his grip on a shield. “What’s your name, sir?” He asked. “And why are you here?”

Then yet another man came from the cockpit – frantic. “Thor?” He called, and Thor blinked as he recognized him. “What are you doing here?”

“You’re the agent from the desert,” Thor said as he greeted him with a dip of his head. “I’ve come to retrieve my brother – I am to take him home as soon as possible. He… has been missing for a year. Presumed dead.”

Agent Coulson stepped forward, gesturing for the other two to relax. “I’m sorry about that – but we can’t let you take him,” he said. “At least not right now. Come speak with me over here,” Coulson said, and so Thor followed him into a corner, along with the other two. “He stole a very powerful energy source from us a few days ago. We need it back, and only he knows where it is.”

Thor glanced back at Loki, who just sat there, staring at the ceiling. “Then perhaps I could assist you. The sooner we find it, the sooner he gets to come home.”

“I don’t know about that,” the man in the metal suit said, and Thor glared in his direction. “He’s killed a lot of people. He has to answer for his crimes.”

“I’m sorry, who are you?” Thor asked, crossing his arms. “I don’t recall asking you to involve yourself in this matter.”

“I’m gonna allow that,” the man said, the face of the suit lifting to show a dark haired man with a mustache. “My name is Tony Stark – I’ve got a vested interest in keeping my planet safe, so I’m gonna be involved whether you like it or not,” he said.

“I’m Steve Rogers,” the man in blue introduced, holding his hand out – and Thor reluctantly shook it. “Coulson said your name is Thor? Like the god of thunder?”

Thor nodded. “The very same. And that is my younger brother, Loki,” he introduced, gesturing back to Loki, who didn’t even acknowledge the words. “He is Asgardian – he will face Asgardian justice. Midgardian law shall have no place in it,” he commanded, and it was clear that this Tony fellow didn’t like that one bit.

“What, are we – are we Midgard?” He asked, glancing around the group, and Thor nodded. “Okay. Here, we go by Earth. Are you an alien or something? Anyway –“ He held up a hand. “Regardless. He committed crimes on our planet, he’ll be facing his justice here, too.”

Coulson looked like he wanted to speak, but Thor beat him to it.

“No, he will not,” Thor stated firmly. “He is a prince of Asgard. I assure you, he will be punished, but you humans will have no part in it.”

“I’m sorry, did you not h –“

“Tony. Drop it,” Steve said firmly. “The faster he’s out of our hands, the better, in my opinion.” He looked up at Thor, setting his shield to the side. “If you guys have the technology to contain him, then by all means.”

Thor nodded, and he looked back at Loki, his heart aching. “Brother?” He called tentatively, seeing no reaction in Loki. “Though it’s difficult to know the damage you have caused, it is good to see you again,” he said.

Loki glanced at him, pursed his lips, and then turned away.

Thor frowned but accepted that Loki didn’t want to talk to him, and the rest of the flight went in silence. He sat a few seats down from his brother, watching every movement. How Loki closed his eyes, resting during the travel despite the danger around him. How resolutely he refused to give Thor even a single ounce of attention.

Sometimes the cuffs jingled as Loki moved his hands, stretching out his fingers, but otherwise there was nothing.

When the aircraft that they were in landed on another, much larger aircraft, Thor let them walk his brother away to a cell onboard the ship.

“Maybe you'll have more success after he’s sat in a cell for a little while,” Coulson suggested now that they were no longer in the awkward quiet of the Quinjet bay. “Silence goes a long way in making people talk.”

“Unfortunately, I doubt that very much,” Thor said, wishing that he hadn’t left his hammer down in cargo with all the other weapons. “There was a time, a couple centuries ago, in which he gave me the silent treatment. It lasted fifty years.”

There was a rumble of shock across the room, all surprised at the amount of time.

“So, wait – just hold old are you and My Chemical Romance over there?” Tony asked, gesturing in the general direction of Loki and his escort to the lower levels of the aircraft.

Thor frowned, trying to think of the exact age. “My apologies – it isn’t always easy, remembering my age after so long. I believe…” He trailed off for a few moments. “Loki is 1,047 years old – so I would be 1,541.”

“You’re shittin’ me. There is no possible way the two of you are that old – and he’s your baby brother?” Tony asked, and Thor nodded with a soft smile. “Oh, yeah. No wonder you’d never let us keep him.”

“Among some other things, that remains a prominent reason,” Thor said.

“So, if he’s so much younger, how did you end up like this, and he ended up like that?” Tony asked, ignoring Steve’s glare.

Thor’s smile faded, and he crossed his arms. “I’d rather not discuss that,” he said.

Tony frowned but let it drop. “Alright. Well, I’m gonna go make sure they don’t break my suit. I’ll meet you in the bridge,” he said.

Thor was grateful for his exit from the situation.

They arrived in the bridge, and a shorter, unassuming man stepped in, glancing around in a paranoid manner. He didn’t seem to like the guards at all – wringing his hands as he took in the situation.

“Dr. Banner, nice of you to join us,” Steve greeted with a short nod, and Banner returned it with a forced smile as he went to lean against a wall, unaware of the god’s eyes on him.

There was something about this Dr. Banner that didn’t sit well with Thor at all.

It was then that a video feed came on, and he heard his brother’s voice as he spoke with another man – this group’s leader, presumably.

“…ot built, I think, for me.”

Tension settled across everybody’s shoulders, and Thor didn’t miss how everyone glanced at Dr. Banner.

“Built for something a lot stronger than you.”

“Oh, I’ve heard. The mindless beast, makes play he’s still a man.”

His brother was always so talented at causing chaos from just his words alone, and Thor watched the video as everybody else squirmed.

Clearly, he was getting under their skin.

When the conversation ended, Thor turned back to the team. “My apologies, everyone,” he started. “My brother is a wordsmith. He is a master at many weapons, though his greatest weapon will always remain his speech.”

Steve stayed leaning back in his chair, watching the video feed even after Fury left. “Thor, what’s his play? You know him best.”

Thor pursed his lips. “I’d like to speak with him, if that’s alright. I wish to confirm my hunches.”

Coulson nodded, stepping forward. “That should be fine, sir. Follow me,” he said, leading them down the claustrophobia-inducing hallways.

Thor ducked through at least five doorways and went down an elevator before they arrived at the chamber Loki was kept in.

He nodded to Coulson, who maintained a slight distance to give the illusion of privacy, even though there were cameras in every inch of the room and microphones for each.

“Brother,” he greeted, and Loki rolled his eyes, crossing his arms.

Rather than an intimidating, terrifying villain, now he just seemed more like a petulant child.

“What do you want? I believe I made it clear I don’t wish to speak with you,” Loki scoffed, staring hard at Thor’s shoulder. Even now, face to face, he wouldn’t make eye contact.

“And yet here you are, speaking before me,” Thor replied, his voice soft. “I’ve missed you.”

The admission made Loki freeze up – he glanced to Thor’s face before away again, trying to ignore it.

“Nothing has been the same since… since that night.” Thor clasped his hands together. “I hadn’t stopped grieving. Neither have our parents.”

“Your parents,” Loki hissed. “They are not mine.”

Thor frowned, but didn’t let it deter him. “They grieved for you all the same.”

Loki turned, beginning to pace in his cell. “Cease your pathetic lies,” he said over his shoulder, clearly getting more and more agitated.

“What happened, Loki? Why didn’t you return to me if you lived?” Thor asked.

Spinning on his heel, Loki clasped his hands behind his back. “Your Loki is dead,” he stated. “He died the moment I fell from the Bifrost. I am just the leftover pieces put back together.”

Dread pooled in Thor’s gut. “Who put you back together?” He asked, and Loki’s eyes widened as he glanced up at Thor – meeting his eyes for the first time.

For a split second, Thor saw pure terror written across his brother’s face. Then Loki winced, and Thor felt a spike of pain in his own head.

He rubbed at his forehead, eyes falling shut as he waited for it to stop. Behind his eyelids, he saw something… unfamiliar.

A tall being – grey, and darkly dressed, with a sinister grin. They yanked on a chain, and Thor forced his eyes open before he could see how the movement jostled a nearly severed arm, blood spilling freely.

He felt sick – he had no idea what he’d seen. It was disgusting, and horrific, and he just had to dismiss it, at least in the moment.

Loki’s expression was blank once again – controlled. “I did it myself.”

Lie.

Loki was lying, and Thor wanted to press, he wanted to know more, but there was just this nagging feeling that he should drop it.

“Brother…” Thor scrutinized every movement his brother made as Loki began to pace again. “You had Chitauri technology with you back in Stuttgart. Why are you working with them?” He asked, and Loki scoffed.

“What a ridiculous question – one you already know the answer to. They’re just means to an end,” Loki said, pulling his hands away from his back to instead pick at his palm.

His hands were shaking.

“Do you intend to use them to conquer Midgard?” Thor asked, and Loki neither confirmed nor denied, which meant that he was right. “They must get something in return, yes? What is it?”

The Tesseract.

Loki rolled his eyes, digging his nails into his skin. “Asking me to divulge my dark, evil plans for my takeover of this planet is pointless, Thor,” he said. “It’d ruin all the fun.”

Thor let his arms drop to his sides. “That is quite alright, brother. I believe I have everything I need.” He watched his little brother for a few more moments, not wanting to leave him. “I’ll be by to speak with you later.”

Loki scoffed. “I wouldn’t bet on it, dear brother.” He smirked, and said nothing else, instead going still in the cage once again – all the anxiety from before seeming to fade from his mannerisms.

Making his way back to the bridge on what was called the helicarrier (he learned from Coulson on the way), Thor wondered just how much he should tell his new friends.

“So? What did you learn?” Dr. Banner asked, wringing his hands together again. “That seemed like a… It seemed like a pretty complex conversation.”

Thor nodded, crossing his arms as he stood in front of all of them. “Loki is working with the Chitauri – a race of metalloid beings with no planet, no home to speak of. They’re a transactional species, like the angels of old,” he explained – though no one seemed to understand his mention of angels. “Which means if they are working with Loki, he is giving them something in return.”

Steve lifted his head. “The Cube,” he stated, connecting the dots, and Thor nodded.

“It’s called the Tesseract,” the god informed them. “An artifact of unimaginable, unending power. Loki intends to give it to them,” he explained. “Before he can do that, however, he needs to bring their army here, to Midgard, from the depths of space. And to do so, he must harness the abilities of the Tesseract on a much bigger scale than his arrival.”

“So, he’s building a bigger portal,” Dr. Banner said, and Thor nodded. “That’s what he needs Erik Selvig for.”

Shock bloomed across Thor’s face, and the man immediately turned all his attention to Banner. “Selvig?”

“Oh, he’s an astrophysicist,” the doctor explained, but Thor knew that already.

“He’s a friend.”

A small woman, a redhead, spoke up then. “Loki has them under some kind of spell, along with one of ours.” Thor winced.

“I want to know why Loki let us take him. He’s not leading an army from here,” Steve stated.

“I don’t think we should be focusing on Loki,” Dr. Banner said. “That guy’s brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him.”

Thor resisted the urge to summon Mjolnir, gritting his teeth as the anger swelled in his chest. He glared at the scientist. “Mind your tongue, human. You’d have broken a million times over if you had experienced what we have.” He glanced over the rest of the group. “That goes for all of you. He is my brother, and still a prince of Asgard. You will not speak of him like that.”

“He killed eighty people in two days,” the redhead pilot grumbled apathetically. “That is not sane behaviour.”

Thor scoffed. “Only eighty?”

The whole room seemed to still. Every eye in the room turned to Thor, and he could feel the tension rising at how casually he spoke.

“My brother is a master of magic – the best in all the nine realms. He, like me, is an expert in every weapon in our armory, and proficient in thousands of technologies across the cosmos. He and I have fought side-by-side for centuries – and I have seen him kill one hundred warriors in no more than a single hour,” Thor explained. “If he wanted you dead, you would be.”

Chapter Text

Fury, the man with the eye patch, stepped into the bridge and faced Thor as everybody struggled to reconcile with the god’s words. “You mean to tell me that this whole time, Loki has been going easy on us?”

Clearly, he had overhead from the hallway.

Thor nodded. “Yes, and for reasons I don’t yet understand. He could have leveled that whole city within minutes. Yet – he has only used that scepter since his arrival, correct?”

“That’s… correct,” Fury said.

Thor pursed his lips. “I believe there is more going on than we understand. Loki is not so prone to violence.” He thought back to what he’d seen when speaking with his brother, wondering if that was connected.

It was then that Tony joined them again, as well.

Tony quirked a brow as he slid his hands into his pockets. “Why don’t you tell us what he’s really like, then, huh? Why don’t you tell us how he turned into this?” He pointed to the screen with the surveillance feed, where Loki stood, unmoving in his prison. “How did your ‘baby brother’ turn into a homicidal wannabe-conqueror?”

Thor didn’t say anything for a long few moments (he wondered just how poorly this ship was constructed for all these people to overhear so much… his voice never carried like this in Asgard). He didn’t know what would be okay to bring up – if he should bring anything up at all. What happened seemed far, far too personal to share with a group of strangers that wanted to take his brother down.

But he would never earn their trust if he kept secrets from the group – so he dipped his head in surrender, and pulled up a chair. “As some of you may know, I came to Midgard a year ago. As even less know, I was banished here by Odin, my father. I had invaded a realm that we had a shaky alliance with. Our kingdoms have had a… sort of peace between us for a millennium. I… recklessly endangered that peace.”

Silence settled over the room as Thor settled in the chair, his palms resting on his knees.

“You see, it was my coronation day. Mid-ceremony, we found out that a group of Jotunns – the race of the kingdom I invaded – had infiltrated the palace. A group of citizens were killed. My brother and I went to fight them off, and while doing so, he… got impaled deeply on a spear.” Thor stared into the distance as he remembered the blood spilling from Loki’s wound and his mouth as he coughed, the red soaking into his ceremonial garb. “To avenge him, I went to Jotunheim and attempted to deal with the problem myself. I killed dozens of their people in a quarter of an hour.”

The redhead exchanged a look with Steve, both ‘subtly’ reaching for weapons as they began to realize just how dangerous these Asgardians were. Thor glanced over them, but otherwise paid them no mind.

“Because of my foolishness, Father sent me to Midgard without my powers, to teach me a lesson. And while I was gone, my younger brother suffered. He blamed himself for my banishment. He also learned that he was adopted, something that neither of us knew. Father was not the best in easing his concerns, and fell into the Odinsleep very abruptly after the realization,” Thor explained. “Mother didn’t know if he might wake, and she couldn’t leave his side. So, Loki was given the throne.”

“That…” Dr. Banner took off his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose. “That sounds like hell.”

Thor nodded, chuckling humorlessly. “All of that happened in less than two days,” he said, listening to the gasps. “It didn’t help that his true race was that of a Jotunn – the race that invaded our castle, and that we have grown up to believe are monsters and nothing more. Then my friends, and Heimdall, and even our own mother betrayed him – disobeying his direct orders so that they could bring me back to Asgard. I was supposed to make everything better.”

“But that’s not what happened, is it?” Steve prompted, and Thor shook his head.

“I… I died in front of him, as a mortal,” he said, grief choking him as he thought of what had followed. He took a few moments, closing his eyes as his emotions overwhelmed him, before he managed to continue. “My brother went to jump off the Bifrost bridge to end his own life. I tried to stop him after my revival, but I could merely postpone. In the end… he fell. We all thought him dead this past year. And now I fear that something far worse than death has happened to him in his time away from Heimdall’s sight.”

He lifted his head, then, taking in the reactions of those around him. Disinterest or sympathy – with very little in between. “My brother was not a violent man before my banishment. But even before his fall, he was a broken one.” He stared at Steve, then, since he didn’t really trust any others in the room. “I don’t believe he is beyond help just yet, but I will… focus my efforts on assisting you with stopping his plans.”

Even though it hurt. Even though he just wanted to break Loki out of the cage and squeeze him as tight as he possibly could.

But he couldn’t help Loki now. Not until this was over.

“Your little talk with him provided us a useful bit of intel.” Fury asked. “You think you could do it again? Use your, uh, bond to our advantage?”

Thor shook his head. “I doubt it. Our conversation earlier seemed to upset him quite a lot, and… I don’t think it's wise for me to push him any further.”

Fury quirked a brow. “I think some agitation could be helpful.”

“The one you have trapped is a stranger to me – one who craves power, and violence. He has a goal, and getting him to spill his secrets was an impossible task to most even before the fall,” Thor elaborated for the leader. “Right now, I am too familiar. If I press any harder, he could shut down entirely.”

Fury turned away from Thor, then, to a different screen. “Alright, then. Have it your way. I guess we’ll have to figure something else out.”

“I think it’s about the mechanics, for the portal” Dr. Banner said, openly changing the subject. “Iridium – what do they need iridium for?”

“It’s a stabilizing agent,” Tony interjected, turning away from a brief conversation with Coulson to face Dr. Banner.

Thor was happy to let the topic steer away from he and Loki, listening carefully as the conversation grew very, very technical, seeming to confuse most others in the room.

Soon enough, everyone was dispersing, and Thor stayed on the bridge to keep an eye on the surveillance feed.

He was left alone for quite some time.

Loki paced back and forth, again and again in his cage. He wasn’t getting any rest – so Thor didn’t rest either.

“A thousand years of being siblings… that’s a little difficult to me to process,” the redheaded agent spoke behind him, and Thor turned to face her.

He offered a smile. “Some days are better than others,” he murmured, finally turning away from the surveillance feed. “Many apologies, but I don’t believe I’ve caught your name yet,” he said.

“Natasha,” she greeted, reaching her hand out and he shook it after a moment of confusion. “It’s nice to meet you, Thor.”

“Lady Natasha, it is a pleasure to meet you as well,” he said. “You were our pilot earlier, correct?” She nodded, and he smiled. “I’m sure you have many more skills that I have yet to see,” he said.

“Please, I’m no lady. Natasha is just fine – and your assumption would be correct,” Natasha admitted, crossing her arms as she, too, turned to the surveillance feed. “You know that Fury is gonna bring a world of pain to him, right?” She told him, glancing up to see the tension lines form across his face.

“I… Yes.” His lower lip quivered. “I am having trouble finding a way out of it.” He cleared his throat, blinking away the tears. “I don’t wish to jeopardize my relationship with this planet and its inhabitants, but my younger brother has been through enough.”

Hours had passed, and still Loki didn’t cease his pacing – but he did seem more relaxed. Walking slower, shoulders low with his hands loosely clasped behind his back… it eased something in Thor, though he knew it shouldn’t.

Natasha lifted a hand up to rest on Thor’s shoulder. “I don’t know you very well yet… but I do know what wanting to protect someone is like,” she admitted. “Let me have a go at him. I think I can get what we need without any torture.”

Thor sighed as he finally turned away from the surveillance feed, instead looking out of the windows on the bridge – all the twinkling lights in the distance.

“And how might you accomplish that?” He asked.

Natasha followed to stand next to him. “You’ll just have to watch. But I promise that I won’t hurt him while I do it.”

He didn’t like any of this – he just wanted to take Loki home. “Go ahead, then,” Thor acquiesced. “I’d rather like to get all this over with.”

Natasha nodded. “Of course.” She dismissed herself from the conversation, heading down to Loki’s cage for her interrogation.

Thor once again turned to the surveillance feed, making sure that he could hear what would be said. Most everyone else in the bridge had cleared out for some sleep – with a few nightshift workers taking their places to keep things running.

It'd be morning soon.

Natasha got her answers as the sun rose – but as Thor went to help them with Dr. Banner, he felt the hum of satisfaction buzz in his mind, warming his chest despite this feeling being foreign and unexpected.

He had nothing to be satisfied about. His brother just revealed his plan to trigger a new friend into a blind rage, with the intent of sinking the whole ship.

Then, Thor realized that he wasn’t the one who felt it at all.

Those whispers from before – the current emotions muddling his own mind – it was all Loki. Loki had been scared earlier – and now, his plans had been exposed, and he was satisfied.

The mind link that he shared with his brother was still there.

Which meant what he saw earlier must have been one of Loki’s memories.

When Thor tried the door, it was shut tight. Then he felt anxiety that wasn’t his own – like air pushing through a crack under the door.

Don’t. Please.

Thor kept a mental palm on the handle.

I won’t. But I need more, brother.

The door was locked, and Loki wanted to keep it that way. Even with the barrier, however, Thor could understand some of Loki’s thoughts and feelings.

He’s watching.

Loki meant for this to happen. He wanted to reveal the plan, to clue them into what they needed to know. He couldn't tell them outright, but he could leave a trail of breadcrumbs, and the team was latching onto all of them.

Thor arrived in the lab just in front of Natasha, and he nodded at her, letting her through the door first as he heard an argument occurring inside.

“You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?” She prompted as Dr. Banner paced, clearly agitated.

He laughed humorlessly, leaning against a table. “I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed.”

“Loki is manipulating you,” Natasha said.

“And you’ve been doing what, exactly?” The man said before Thor could say anything about what he knew now to be true.

Thor watched as they all began to argue, everybody growing more wary of Dr. Banner, and he was shocked at just how undeveloped humans were.

“Stop this!” He shouted, stepping forward to stand between them. “All of you are so busy fighting each other, it's ridiculous!”

The arguments tapered off, everybody quieting at the sight of the annoyed god.

Thor looked over all of them, putting his hands on his hips and turning on a heel. “My brother didn’t have to do anything at all to cause this. You’re all so focused on yourself that you’re ignoring the bigger picture!”

He pointed at the screen with the weapons schematics. “Do you really believe that this is more important than the safety of the planet? Have you considered postponing this argument - perhaps when an invasion is not imminent?” He suggested.

Tony scowled, setting aside a bag of snacks. “You’re an alien, so maybe you just don't get it. SHIELD is weaponizing that pretty blue cube, tasking us with retrieving it, and if we get this back in their grimy hands, then they’re gonna keep creating weapons of mass destruction,” he explained, holding a hand up the whole time. “So maybe some hard questions need asked before we –“

“- No. Saving your planet takes priority,” Thor stated firmly. “Once the Tesseract is retrieved, then we can discuss your little problems with each other. Until such a time, we need to stay focused on finding it, and stopping the schemes my brother is involved in.”

For a few moments, the room was quiet. Dr. Banner seemed resigned and calm again, sighing as he nodded.

“Thor is right,” Steve spoke, both hands resting on his belt. “Retrieving the Cube is our first priority – we can worry about where it goes after.” He looked over Fury before facing Tony, who still didn’t seem thrilled to change the subject. “You’ve got all the designs, all the information on the little computer of yours – we know the truth, there’s no hiding it anymore. We’ll get our answers – just not right now.”

That seemed to satisfy Tony, and everybody settled down.

“Thank you, Thor,” Natasha said. “You are… quite the mediator,” she complimented, and he smiled.

“I learned from the best,” he said simply, thinking of his brother. “Now – where are you on finding the Tesseract?” He asked, turning to another screen that seemed to be a global scanner, and he checked the parameters. They were a little broad, but it would probably work just fine.

“Just waiting for results now – it won’t be long, I’m sure,” Dr. Banner said, stepping away from the scepter. “I’m gonna take a walk, kill some time while we wait.”

Thor smiled. “Do you mind if I accompany you?” He asked, though he was already beginning to follow the man. “I’d like to learn more about the work you do.”

Only, as he followed Banner to the door, the whole ship shook with an explosion – and Thor’s eyes widened.

‘I wouldn’t bet on it, dear brother.’

As another explosion came from under the lab, Thor tried to protect Banner, and he cursed himself for not seeing it sooner.

Loki was breaking out, and Thor had been told hours ago.

Chapter Text

Everything happened so fast. Natasha and the doctor fell through the floor, and Steve and Tony had gone to repair the engine that had been targeted in the attack.

He knew he should assist them, but Loki was still his priority.

Thor summoned Mjolnir and ran to the room his brother was held in, knowing that he was escaping. The door to the cage was opening as he arrived, and Loki stepped out.

“Loki, stop!” Thor shouted, lunging for his form in an attempt to get them both in the cage – only for his body to bulldoze right in with no resistance. Loki’s illusion melted away, and the door shut behind him.

Loki stood in the walkway, staring at his brother. “All these years we’ve been around each other, and you still can’t tell apart my illusions from the real me,” he said, a brief flash of amusement crossing his features. “It’s a little sad, at this point.”

“Let me out right now, brother!” Thor shouted, banging his fist on the glass. “Please – I can help you!”

He felt the mechanism shift, releasing ever so slightly. Damn, this cage was sensitive.

His brother tilted his head. “Like you helped with Angrboda? With our children?” He crossed his arms, his face a mask of stone. “In my time away, I finally figured out what happened to them.”

Thor felt the shame burn over him, choking him as he thought of Angrboda. What he had done, how quickly it had all gone down.

“What do you mean? I did nothing to your children, I know not who or where they are,” Thor said. He needed to stall for time, to figure out a plan. But he also needed to know more, he needed to know what Loki was talking about.

“Well, you should. You’re the one who locked them all away,” Loki said, looking away from Thor to press a button on the cage’s control interface – and the doors beneath the cage opened, revealing the ocean and shoreline far, far below.

Thor only spared it a glance, too confused to even care about the drop below. He was a god, and he could fly. “What are you talking about?” He asked, pressing his palm to the glass.

“Three children – two boys and a girl,” Loki said. “Three monsters, all appearing in my time with Angrboda. A massive snake. A giant wolf. And the half-dead girl.”

Thor went entirely still, eyes widening. “…no,” he whispered, stumbling back from the glass. “No – no, it can’t be, I –“

Loki’s children had been the monsters that Thor had been sent to imprison.

Loki’s expression was cold, but his eyes were soft. Tears collected on his lashes, and he faced his brother again. “Yes. Jormungandr, Fenrir, and Hela are my long-lost children.”

He stepped closer, leaning against the railing. “I can feel him, you know. I can sense Jormungandr in those waters.”

Thor looked back to the water below – and for a moment, he thought he saw a flicker of black scales.

He knelt on the floor, slumping as he was consumed by grief and shame yet again.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I… had I known, I…”

Loki gazed at him, the rest of his face softening, and Thor could feel his heartache, through the link. “I know,” he said. “I know, brother.” Then he flinched – hands gripping the metal railing hard enough to dent as his eyes fell shut.

As Thor watched sweat bead across Loki’s forehead, memories not his own popped unbidden into his mind.

His intestines – no, Loki’s - in someone else’s hands. Staring down at his own open abdomen, blood and organs a stark contrast from the white of his bones.

Thor’s eyes widened as he remembered the pull of those grey hands, yanking and toying with his insides all to garner a reaction.

And then Loki was looking at him again, his expression cold once more.

There was someone else in Loki’s mind – someone powerful.

“Farewell, brother,” he said, turning away from Thor and back to the interface. “As much as I love our little chats, I don’t have much time.”

His hands hovered over a button before there was the sound of a thump as the mercenary who released Loki dropped to the floor.

“I’d back away from that, if I were you,” Coulson said, standing over his body.

The man held a massive weapon, talking about how it was made from the Destroyer, it’s abilities unknown.

Thor caught the slightest glimmer and his eyes widened as he jumped to his feet. “Loki, no!” He shouted just before Loki appeared behind Coulson and stabbed the scepter right through his heart. “No…”

He yelled in anger, smacking the glass again as he watched a man he respected very much begin to die right in front of him.

Loki pulled out the scepter’s blade, holding the weapon in one hand as he… seemed to gently lower Coulson to the ground. “I’m sorry, agent. You are just means to an end,” he said.

Loki propped Coulson up against the wall, and for a long time, he knelt next to him, a hand on his shoulder. He was whispering, eyes closed, as the human gasped for breath.

It took a long time to figure out what he was saying – and by the time Thor did, Loki was very nearly done.

“…of the Brave, your seat awaits. With mead in your hand and eternity before you.” Loki finished, pulling his hand away and rising to his feet.

“Loki…?” Thor wiped the sweat from his face as his eyes burned with tears.

“Brother. I hope it’s not too warm in there. You might be stuck a while,” Loki said, acting as though nothing had happened – but Thor knew a funeral prayer when he heard it.

“You’re going to lose,” Coulson choked out, blood spilling from his lips.

Loki looked back, quirking a brow. “Am I?”

“It’s in your nature,” the man told him.

Loki chuckled. “Your heroes are scattered. Your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?” He asked.

“You lack… conviction…” Agent Coulson coughed, more blood spilling down his chin. “A dictator… doesn’t pray for his enemies.”

With an unfamiliar shine of something to his eyes, Loki smirked. “I don’t think I –“

The gun made from the bits of the Destroyer went off, blasting Loki through the wall as Thor cried out. “BROTHER!”

For a few terrifying moments, there was silence.

Thor’s heart dropped to his stomach, and he thought he might really throw up, until -

With a loud wheeze, Loki struggled to his feet before stepping back into view, clutching his abdomen. “Not bad,” he said, glancing to Thor and pursing his lips. “I’m fine.”

Thor felt relief wash over him, his shoulders slumping – but the guilt and shame from before was quick to follow.

Loki stared at him for a few more moments, and then he turned to the hallway as half a dozen mercenaries came into view. “Ah, my ride is here.” He forced a smile. “Farewell, dear brother – though I get the feeling that we’ll be seeing each other soon.”

He went to leave as a mercenary stepped past, to the console, and the god hesitated, confusion passing briefly across his face.

Thor watched as the mercenary cleared the failsafe to dropping the cage, and he could hear the mechanisms groan.

Only a second later, Loki’s hand shot out to grab the man's wrist, eyes wide in terror – all the confidence and arrogance from before gone. “I didn’t tell you to do that!” Loki shouted, both hands shaking as he gripped the man’s arm hard enough to bruise. “Did I say to drop him?!”

He whipped his head around to look at the other mercenaries, all of whom stood still, nervous to be on the receiving end of Loki’s anger.

“Just –“ He grit his teeth, and Thor's own head began pounding, like an ice pick digging into his skull. “Just do what I tell you, and nothing more!”

Loki’s hands continued shaking, and Thor could see his grip tighten even more, the mercenary crying out.

With his other hand, Loki set the scepter down and put the safeguard back in place, sealing doors beneath the cage. He very nearly missed the button as his brow furrowed in focus – and Thor clutched his head in agony as Loki’s shaky fingers guaranteed his safety, each decision careful and rushed at the same time.

Steve stepped into the room just as the man’s arm broke with a sickening crack – and Loki stared in horror at his own hand as he ripped it away from the man, the pained cries filling the room.

His eyes burned with tears, and he turned away from the group, stumbling as he looked between Steve and Thor and the screaming man.

Sweat broke out across his brow, but he cleared his throat, taking a few deep breaths. “This team still needs you,” he told his brother, picking up the scepter from where he had leaned it against the interface. “Perhaps you could try a little harder not to die.”

A split second later, the anxious expression disappeared, and Loki stood a little straighter, a smirk finding its way back to his face.

Thor clutched his head, but the pain was receding, and he’d have to be a fool not to notice the connection between the pain and Loki’s own behaviour.

Loki turned back to Steve, who had watched the interaction with a bewildered expression, his jaw hanging open as he tried to figure out what the hell happened.

“Captain. You’ll be able to release him in a few minutes.”

With a burst of green light from his hands, the interface of the cage was fried, crackling with electricity, and then Loki turned on his heel, going through the hole in the wall to make his escape.

“Go after him!” Thor shouted at Steve, who blinked for a moment longer before shaking himself out of it.

But by the time he got into the hallway, Loki wasn’t there – and though Steve sprinted towards the airstrip, he knew already that he wouldn’t catch up to the god.

Just like that, Loki was once again gone from Thor’s reach.

Thor stayed pressed against the glass as he watched the blood soak Coulson’s shirt and pool beneath him. He was long dead, now, but still he bled.

Someone he considered a friend had died in front of him, and all that he could think about was Loki and his memories. They were bleeding through the mind link, likely unknown to Loki.

Twice now, it had happened, and just those two memories shook Thor to his very core.

He knew it would probably happen more often – it seemed to come through when Loki was in highly emotional states, and his brother got like that quite often.

When whatever magic Loki did wore off, the cage control interface once again functional, Thor was released. Fury stood over Coulson’s body, frowning as Thor stood next to him.

 “I’m sorry. There…” He lowered his head. “There was nothing I could do.”

Fury pursed his lips, not looking away from Coulson’s body. “Head to the conference room. Stark is already there,” he snapped.

So Thor went to the conference room, having no energy to fight. Like Fury said, Tony was there, sitting solemnly as he held a coffee in his hands. Thor wondered if he’d ever been this quiet before.

After a few minutes, Steve joined them at the table, just as solemn. He said nothing, though from the way he looked at Thor, it seemed like he wanted to.

Tony lifted the coffee cup to his lips, his hands shaking – and Thor anxiously picked at his hands, digging his thumbnails into the callouses covering his palms.

Letting out a slow breath, Thor chose to instead fiddle with the leather wrapped around Mjolnir’s handle. He couldn't keep his hands still.

“Thor, what I saw in there…” Steve started, getting both of their attention. “What was that?” He asked.

“That, my friend…” Thor sighed, sitting up. “I do not know,” he answered honestly. “What you saw was perhaps the closest he has acted to himself since my arrival.”

Tony’s eyes flicked between them as Steve pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Well, damn it,” he said, lifting his head and letting it fall to the side. “Where are Bruce and Natasha? We need to tell everybody.”

“What are you talking about?” Tony asked, rising to his feet. “Bruce fell off the helicarrier – Natasha is in the medbay with her agent friend. Can you tell me what the hell is going on?”

Steve pursed his lips. “I don’t think Loki is in control of himself. I think there’s someone else pulling the strings – like a marionette.”

Tony blinked, his head tilting as he crossed his arms. “Okay, did he get you with the mind control too? What am I missing?” He asked. “This man has killed dozens.”

Steve shook his head. “I’m not being controlled, Tony. But not everything is as it seems,” he said. “I’m going to find Miss Ro – I mean, Nat… while you figure out where he’s going.”

Tony frowned, but nodded. “Thor, stay here and help me find out what he’s planning,” he demanded, and so the god stayed seated as Tony pulled up a few screens of information.

“Alright, rock of ages… Where are you going…?” Tony whispered to himself.

It was a few short minutes later and a trip to the scene of the crime that he figured it out – and once they’d all suited up, the formerly mind-controlled agent included, they commandeered a jet to head to Stark tower.

“Alright, now that we have to go stop a god – mind sharing your evidence with the class, Capsicle?” Tony’s voice came through their comms.

Natasha looked back at them from her seat in the copilot’s chair. “What is he talking about?” She asked.

Steve stepped closer to the cockpit, sighing softly. “Loki is being controlled,” he stated firmly. “And it’s up to us to stop him and save him at the same time.”