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It wasn't even 6am when Thor came into Loki's room and declared bluntly "I want to hunt a bear."

Loki, just woken from sleep, blinked slowly, trying to understand whether the figure that had suddenly appeared in his room was some materialized phantom from his nightmare or some blood-curdling hallucination.

However, when he realized that before him stood none other than Thor in his most majestic person, Loki realized that after all, he had not been so wrong. Better; judging by his older brother's overly cheerful tone, he even decided that said phantom would be much more welcome right now.

Understanding that Thor was waiting for some kind of an answer, Loki finally drawled, "Good for you," not at all hiding his annoyance at this sudden intrusion into his personal space and interruption of his much-needed beauty sleep.

He said one more cynical "Good luck" and then hid under the covers, hoping that it would serve as a shield to protect him from whatever nonsense his older brother was thinking.

But he hadn't even had time to close his eyes before Thor's nonsense had already caught up with him; suddenly the covers were torn off him so brutally and brazenly, depriving him of this pleasant warmth and exposing him to the cold of a winter morning. Loki literally felt like one of those worms that live under stones and had just such a stone taken away.

“Thor, what the-?!” he shouted, completely furious.

He tried to take his lost item from Thor, but Thor held it away from him out of spite, grinning stupidly. Apparently he found it hilarious, which only made Loki more angry.

The thought of summoning a dagger and throwing it at his brother was very appealing, and Loki would have actually done it if Thor hadn't repeated "I want to hunt a bear" and then added very confidently, "And you will accompany me in it."

Loki stopped at once.

“You are joking, right?” he asked very, very seriously. He really hoped that this was all just a super realistic nightmare from which he had yet to wake up.

But Thor just shook his head, keeping that unwavering smile on his face.

“And why is it me who has to accompany you?” Loki asked, mostly out of irritation, but also out of curiosity. He wasn't a bad hunting companion - he could track game, he could hold a weapon well and he actually managed to kill something a few times. But even so, Loki knew that for this type of activity, he was not his older brother's first choice. Or anyone at all. Therefore, Loki couldn't help but feel as if Thor had some hidden reason and just wanted to use him for it.

And he really hated feeling used.

“Can't I just want to spend some time with my little brother?” Thor merely replied innocently.

To which Loki solemnly stated, "No."

Maybe he would have fallen for it if he were younger: for this sign of interest in his person. Then he would jump from joy and agree without a second thought in his head.

But he wasn't like that now, especially not since he realized that he was only wanted when he was either needed or when there was no one else to choose from. He was just like the kid who was picked last for the team. And after feeling like this once, twice, thrice, he finally decided that he didn't want to play anymore, he would never want to play again, and in fact he never even wanted to play in the first place.

That's why he couldn't feel anything other than completely livid now that Thor had come to him and started saying his guff. Loki crossed his arms and stared at him with daggers.

“Loki…” Thor began, the smile on his face turning into one of those disappointed grimaces. Normally when Loki saw them he felt downright embarrassed, but in this case it only made him angrier.

“I'm serious,” he growled through his teeth, “why does it have to be me?”

"Because," Thor shrugged.

“That's not a satisfactory answer,” Loki really, really tried to stay calm, but the way his voice was shaking showed that he was a second away from exploding.

After all, how could he stay calm when talking to his much older brother was just like arguing with a child.

Thor himself looked like this conversation was starting to irritate him, he rubbed his eyes and asked a little louder than he intended, "Gods, why do you have to be like that?"

And that made Loki shut up. All the rage suddenly left him, making room for a whole new kind of shame. He looked at Thor blankly as he went on with his lecture, too stunned to defend himself in any dignified way.

“I want to do something with you - bad. I don't want to do anything with you - it’s bad, too.” he said, throwing arm around in annoyance "You should just make up your mind, Loki, and decide what you want."

Loki knew perfectly well that he was not an easy person to be with. But then again, he didn't order anyone to be with him. He never forced anyone, he never held a dagger to anyone's throat just to keep him company. To make that person stay and keep up with him.

And even if he did, he certainly wouldn’t do it to Thor. So he had no right to come to him, wake him up, upset him and finally make him feel guilty because he was 'like that'.

That’s why Loki forced a smile and said with mock remorse, "You're right, I'm very sorry, brother."

Thor stirred, surprised by this reaction. The silence from Loki made him suspect that maybe he exaggerated a bit, but if Loki acted like that in response, then maybe-

But any hope that Thor had had died the moment Loki declared, "So, just so you don't feel so torn up anymore, I promise I won't be offended if you don't do anything with me since now. Conversation is over, have a nice hunting.”

Thor growled in frustration, mentally turning to any deity to help him.

"That's not what I meant," he said, moving closer to Loki, who, deprived of the blankets and duvet, decided to cover himself with a sheet. But even that comfort was taken away from him when Thor decided to sit next to him on the bed.

“I want to spend some time with you, is that a bad thing?” Thor asked, not as vexed as before.

Loki didn't answer, also avoiding his brother's eyes like the plague. He regretted that he had not yet mastered the art of making himself invisible, because now it would be useful to him more than ever before.

“Hmm, tell me.” Thor continued, and one of his hands found its way to Loki's tousled curls, brushing some of them away from the younger prince's face. “I know that some people have to earn your trust, but am I included in that group as well?”

Thor pursed his lips and began to pout, “Me, Loki? Me? Your beloved, wonderful older brother who would defeat any Jötunn or other giant for you. Me, who would give away all the gold, every sun, even my Mjölnir for you–"

“You're going to overdo it” Loki interrupted this mindless and, as he suspected, empty chatter. Thor wouldn't give up his stupid hammer for him. He slept in the same bed with it, after all. Sometimes even Loki could swear he could hear Thor pet-talking to it.

Still, Loki was forced to admit that maybe he had gone a little overboard. Maybe there was no ulterior motive behind Thor's words, maybe he just wanted to spend some time with him, as he put it. And Loki was really being 'like that' again, and instead of feeling grateful that his brother was willing to give him some of his attention, he started an unnecessary fight.

“Well, maybe you're right in some way” Loki sighed, feeling dumb and ridiculous and pathetic and hating himself for not being able to just enjoy things for once and trust others.

He envied Thor this opportunity. (But only a little, considering that trusting strangers has gotten him into trouble more than once.)

The point was that Loki couldn't bring himself to do it, no matter how much he wanted to, no matter how much he tried to silence those whispers and echoes in his head, they kept telling him that at the end of the day, he would be the one hurt, ridiculed, and left crying.

But maybe if he tried to stop the whispers for only a moment... After all, no matter how pathetic it sounded, this was Thor, and he wouldn't hurt him.

Right?

Then Thor's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "So..?" he asked carefully, with the expression of a child hoping that his parent would agree to buy him a new toy.

And Loki sighed in defeat and had to agree, "Fine, I'll go with you."

Thor let out a scream that showed nothing but pure joy and excitement, making Loki feel bad again for thinking that Thor could double-cross him.

“I'm seeing you in 10 minutes at the East Gate!” he announced, already on the other side of the door. And then one "You won't regret it!" echoed along the corridor.

“I already regret it,” Loki said to the empty room with a grimace.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He already wanted to devote the whole day to studying in the library, but apparently the saying "don't take things for granted" worked even for the Asgardian God.

But maybe it's for the better. He will hunt the bear with Thor, and maybe it will actually be a trophy of his and Thor, not just Thor.

Maybe even Father will say something nice to him.

That thought somehow made Loki more willing to get out of bed and start preparing his outfit for his “wonderful” hunt with Thor. It was just beginning to dawn outside, and the sun was barely visible above the horizon.

He hoped that when it was dark, he would be back in the palace already. Or even before the afternoon. Now, that would be nice.

-

When Loki finally arrived at the East Gate, he found one very impatient Thor.

"I said ten minutes, not thirty," he complained, using his scolding tone that made him seem like a truly responsible adult, which he definitely wasn't (Loki felt an incredible urge to emphasize this).

Which only made him say, completely unscathed by his brother's mood, "You know perfectly well that I need to look good."

And to highlight this, he did one pirouette so that his blue cloak swirled.

Thor only snorted in response "For whom? Deer?” to which Loki corrected him with a blood-curdling glare.

“I'll take any opportunity to look good,” he said. Then, with a grimace of disgust, he looked Thor up and down, "Unlike you, apparently."

The fur that Thor was wrapped in was not only a repulsive shade of brown, revealing that it hadn't been washed since it became the fur, but it was also simply ugly. It looked as if it was too big for Thor himself, giving the impression that he was drowning in it.

And on top of that, he was wearing these terrible boots, these disgusting, foul, horrendous boots that Loki couldn't stand - the boots made of two skunks. Skunk boots, so called. Loki dreamed of burning them, ending his suffering, so that he would no longer have to look at them, as well as those two pests who had been transformed into shoes in such an undignified, even for them, manner.

Plus, if he was being completely honest, they scared him a little too.

However, he was afraid that if he actually did it and burned them, the boots would somehow come to life and find their way straight to him.

“I choose comfort over a good look” Thor replied with a shrug. And Loki found that on this one point, he believed him completely. He walked up to Thor and took the reins from his hand.

Then he heard him say reproachfully, "Your horse hates me. I just wanted to pet her and she almost bit my hand off."

And for dramatic effect, he showed his hand, which didn't even have the slightest scratch on it.

"You're overreacting," Loki brushed him off, but still whispered one quick "Good job" to Lettfeti and pat her proudly on the neck.

“I'm telling the The truest truth” Thor got offended in response, to which Loki was straight up forced to roll his eyes. “My horse would never bite anyone,” he added proudly, speaking as affectionately as possible to his new steed.

Loki, already sitting comfortably in the saddle, asked casually, wanting to change the subject from insulting his beloved mare "How is he doing, anyway?"

Which made Thor light up and start talking about how loyal the horse was, how smart he was (which Loki actually doubted, remembering how he saw that horse eating its own tail before, but he preferred not to say it out loud) and, of course, mentioned his incredible speed.

They were long beyond the walls of Asgard when Thor began to speak:

“I challenged Fandral to a race, and I won. Twice because he was convinced I was lucky the first time. But it wasn't luck, my brother, believe me. I was already at the waterfall when he was only halfway down the river.” here Thor laughed triumphantly before continuing “You should have seen Fandral's face when he finally made it. All angry, with a blush on his face. Then he demanded a rematch and I agreed (even though I knew I would still win). We agreed that we would cross the entire Bifrost, and Heimdall would be our judge. So that's what we did.”

Thor turned to Loki, that annoying smirk on his face, and said "And guess what?"

“You won.” Loki replied with resignation, because he knew what would happen next.

“I WON!” Thor shouted, scaring the birds around, all happy.

If he was waiting for some praise from Loki, he didn't get it. But that didn't make him feel any worse, because he continued to brag, "And then Fandral still didn't believe it, so he called Sif and I beat her too. Same with Hogun and Volstagg… Which now begs the question-”

"I'm not racing you," Loki cut him off before he could even ask.

To which Thor responded with a very pitiful wail, “Oh comee on. Loki, brother. What do you have to lose? Are you afraid of losing to me? That your divine, super-hyper, perfect Lettfeti will lose to my Gullfaxi?”

“So that's what you named him?” Loki picked up on this, hoping to get Thor to drop the topic.

Of course he wasn't afraid of losing, but if he was completely honest, he was afraid of what would come after that; Thor bragging about beating Loki, as always. How he defeated him without any effort, that he didn't even have to try, because he is so wonderful and powerful, and Loki is not like that at all and never will be.

“Gullfaxi? Golden Mane?” Loki raised his eyebrows at Thor, looked at his golden hair, then at the horse's golden mane. And when he nodded too proudly, he teased with an amused “It wasn't too complex to make up, I hope?”

Which made Thor frown angrily at the affront. Loki could have laughed in response, so hard he would have fallen off his horse, but knowing how Thor would react to it, he reduced it to just a light chuckle hidden behind his gloved hand.

“Are you insulting my horse?” Thor asked, Loki had already heard those thunderbolts behind the clouds.

"Do not be ridiculous. I would never insult a horse," Loki began seriously, actually meaning those words. He then finished quickly, simultaneously passing Thor and speeding up his mare "I’m insulting you."

“Hey!” all he heard was Thor shouting behind him, which he met with another laugh, much louder now.

Pushed by his boldness, he hurried Lettfeti some more until she was galloping along the path into the forest at such a speed that the sound of the wind made his ears ring furiously and the cold air painted his cheeks and nose red. His eyes watered slightly, but it wasn't anything he couldn't bear. He could always put on the hood of his cloak to protect himself from the cold, but he chose not to; for once, cold didn’t bothered him that much, and also he just wanted to feel  the wind whipping his hair, to feel carefree for only a moment.

Loki had noticed long ago that when he was out there, somewhere, outside, alone, he had no problems. He didn't worry about anything, not even the things that, if he were in the palace, would give him a nasty panic attack. But when it was just him and nature, when he felt his seidr connecting with every plant and tree, grass and earth, as if it all were always in him and he was always in all of it - then everything was just fine.

“To the left, Loki!” he heard Thor behind him, which made him slow down completely and turn around before the fork.

"Left?" Loki repeated once Thor was next to him. He was honestly surprised when he had to wait for him for a while, as if Thor, for the first time in his life, respected his wishes and decided not to win at everything.

When Thor nodded his head in the affirmative, Loki was a little startled, "But on the left there is-"

"Yes I know. The Forbidden Forest. This is our place and this is where we will hunt.” he explained, and added with a scolding when Loki corrected him with a reprimanding look, "Come on now, not you being so prim and proper."

“What's that supposed to mean?” Loki replied with a sudden blush.

“You know exactly what that means.” Thor just grunted in displeasure, and Loki huffed and puffed in response, completely irked. However, Thor ignored him and urged him on, turning left himself “Let's get."

Loki hesitated for a moment before moving; he gripped the reins in his hands and chewed the inside of his cheek in fury. Okay, maybe he wasn't some kind of moral compass and maybe sometimes (just sometimes!) he did things that were forbidden to him due to his minor age and got some pleasure from it, but that still didn't mean he was some kind of libertine! Some badly behaved, disobeying, spoilt child!

And Thor just made him feel that way.

After all, he was the one who always took Asgardian matters seriously, he was the one showing up at every palace meeting while his older brother, the future of Asgard, slept off the nightly revelry in his room, not caring about anything at all. And Loki tried, always tried, whether to be a better candidate for the throne, a better prince, or just to be a better son.

And, apparently, trying wasn't enough.

He heard Thor calling to him from somewhere deep in the forest, hurrying him along.

He could leave. Turn the horse around and go back to the palace; welcome back the warm bed as if seeing a lost lover once again. And then sleep until noon. Then he would bury himself in the piles of books and sit there among them, sulking at Thor for the rest of the day for belittling him so blatantly.

On the other hand, he could stay. And win.

Thor said it would be their bear, their trophy, but would it really? Loki suspected not - Thor wouldn't give up a moment when he couldn't strut like a peacock, boast about his victory and tell everyone how he obtained this beast with his bare fists.

Loki felt an incredible, overwhelming and slightly disturbing urge to take away his chance at it completely. That's why in no time, Loki was already at Thor's side.

“How exactly did you find out about this bear?” he inquired, feeling a new kind of curiosity burst through his body.

Thor studied those shining green eyes for a moment. Loki's eyes rarely sparkled, and when they did, it was either for a very good reason or a very bad one. He really hoped it was the former.

Finally he replied neutrally, "It was told to me at the tavern last night."

“You mean, tonight?” Loki corrected him.

“No, last night. When was that promotion for berry beer, which was completely disgusting by the way. You know, real beer should…” Thor was speaking, but Loki had already muted him.

He wondered about one thing: because, if Thor had found out about this yesterday, why hadn't he told him about it earlier? They saw each other both at breakfast and dinner, and later Thor asked him if he was going with him to drink, as if he didn't know the answer already. He could have told him then, instead of waking him up at dawn in such a shameful way, giving him extra time to prepare better, both physically and mentally.

And yet he didn’t.

Loki felt that strange feeling of hurt again, as if Thor had betrayed him in some way. But he quickly silenced it, even if it took the greatest effort on his part. He decided to keep his mouth shut, after all he was supposed to trust Thor. It was probably nothing, he was just like that again. Definitely.

He didn't have to worry about anything, nothing was going on.

Thor simply forgot. Thor often was forgetting about things, after all.

“And is there anything special about it?” Loki asked instead of giving in to his anxiety.

After all, they were going to the Forbidden Forest, and it was 'forbidden' for certain reasons - in short: everything that inhibited it was extremely aggressive, wanted to kill and eat anyone who crossed the threshold of their forest.

“Oh yes,” Thor smiled broadly in response, “He's gigantic.”

-

Thor learned about the unusual bear from an elderly man he found sitting alone in the corner of the tavern, eating his oatmeal.

Normally, Thor wouldn't give a second glance at some random grandpa eating his dinner, but there was something about him that caught his attention. A bow, slung over his shoulder, a cape made of wolf pelt, and a satchel whose contents were almost spilling out, allowing Thor to see a lot of predator bait. Thor always knew when he saw a man on a mission.

Thor was a person who had no problem starting conversations with strangers, and additionally encouraged by this extraordinary persona, he quickly found himself in his space, a little too close, sitting in front of him and talking as if they had known each other since forever "Going hunting, as I think?"

His companion wasn't very eager to talk at first; Thor even sensed that he wanted to fiercely defend his secret of "where he was going and for what purpose". But to his misfortune, this only made Thor more eager to find out the answer, so by buying his new friend one beer and then another, then using his charming prince charm, he finally had his tongue loosened.

His story resembled more a legend or a campfire story: "A big, big bear, a real giant. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a descendant of Ymir himself. He inhabits the northern part of the Forbidden Forest and only shows himself now, when such frosts are only good for the Jötunns." he said before spitting on the floor in disgust at the mere mention of those 'disgusting creatures'.

The man scratched his gray beard and continued, “I have been hunting him for many centuries, My Prince. Longer than you have been in the world. And so far I haven't managed to hunt him down, yet. I haven't seen him either. But I know he's out there somewhere. He is waiting for me. And this year I will catch him, let Ullr help me.” The old man finished, looking up at the sky with a ferocity as if he had sold his very soul to the old god of hunting.

But even if he did, it would be of little help, Thor said. Because he, and not anyone else but him, will get this bear.

After hearing this story, Loki couldn't help but ask "Are you sure this isn't some kind of trap?"

To which Thor just raised his head proudly in that cocky way of his and declared "I would know if it was a trap."
Loki merely grunted in response. Maybe he really wasn't very trusting, but come on, an old man talking about a great bear, a descendant of Ymir, whom he had never even seen in his life? Yeah, Loki must have been skeptical.

But, at the same time, he still felt more tense than before. The thought of hunting an ordinary Asgardian bear was quite dangerous to him in itself. After all, they were large animals, weighing up to over 2,000 pounds, with sharp claws that would dig into his flesh like butter, and with a jaw whose bite force would instantly crush and shatter his bones.

And imagining such a beast now: bigger, stronger, Loki couldn't help a sudden shiver that ran down his spine.

Thor seemed to notice this because he immediately cooed sweetly “Oh please, don't say you're scared."

"I'm not scared!" Loki almost shouted, becoming defensive.

He wasn't scared at all. He was just worried. Yes, he was worried - that was a good word. He was worried about his comfort and that if Thor was eaten, it would suddenly be his fault.

But Thor, as if not even hearing his defense, continued in that annoyingly sugary tone, “You don't have to be scared, little brother. As long as I'm there, nothing will happen to you, I assure you of that.”

Loki felt completely embarrassed and actually considered summoning a dagger and stabbing Thor with it in defense of his own honor, but he had to admit (but never out loud!) that he felt a little better.

And the fact that Thor kept talking had quite a soothing effect on him, “Think of the things we'll be able to do from him, especially since it's so big. We will have new capes, just like real warriors. And matching shoes and hats and gloves - everything! Even saddles! Think about it, brother!”

And Loki thought. And he had to admit that he liked the idea of a real warrior's cape. Additionally, he could make a new dagger from his teeth and a talisman from his claws. He would make one for himself, for his mother, and for his father, to keep them safe from any danger. Maybe he'd even make one for Thor so he wouldn't feel left out.

And actually, he stated that the talisman would be most useful to him, considering that he trusts strange people he met in a cheap tavern.

“We'd better leave the horses here. We will continue on foot.” Loki suggested as they very slowly approached the border where the normal forest became a forbidden one.

“Gullfaxi is able to keep going.” Thor said proudly and Loki rolled his eyes.

“I don't doubt it, but do you want your brand new horse to be bitten by a snake and then eaten by it?” Loki asked mockingly, already dismounting from his own steed. He laughed when Thor didn't answer. "Because if it happens, and it definitely will, good luck explaining it to Father."

Loki heard Thor's dramatic sigh behind him and a resigned "Fine." which Loki accepted with the utmost triumph. They hitched the horses to a tree nearby, at a distance that Loki considered as safe. Thor knew how much Loki adored his mare, so he also knew that if Loki said that nothing would happen to their horses here, then it would be right.

Thor draw his weapons, in the form of a bow and spear, from the saddle. He made sure the arrows weren't broken, counted them once more, and then put them on his shoulder. He slung his bow, made of obviously the finest Asgardian gold, across his chest, his tomahawk sat proudly where the Mjölnir would normally be, and he chose to hold his spear in his hand to use like a staff - after all, they still had about two miles to go.

He turned to Loki who was trying to apologize to Lettfeti for leaving her by feeding her peppermints from the saddle "Show me your weapons" he demanded.

Loki impatiently summoned his own crossbow and handed it to Thor for the Weapons Master to check it himself. He did the same with the arrows and his throwing knives. Thor didn't want to touch daggers, though, because he had learned too many times about the spell that made his hand hurt like it was on fire the moment he picked them up.

“Careful, they're dipped in poison,” Loki warned when Thor's thumb got too close to the blade of the knife.

Which made Thor drop them in the snow as if he was suddenly hurt. “You dip them in poison?” he asked in disbelief.

“Just an aconitum mixture” Loki winked in response, bending down to pick up his darling little knife. And Thor still looked at him and couldn't believe it - he was touching it! Loki let him touch it! He could already feel how sick he felt, he would probably die soon, very soon, in this snow, right now–

"You won't die" Loki reassured him, irritated "It only becomes poisonous when it comes into contact with blood. Did it happen? No."

“But-” Thor tried, but Loki just rolled his eyes.

“Let's go, we've wasted a lot of time making sure we have everything,” he said, and without waiting for his brother, he started walking in the direction where he was supposed to find his bear.

“Better to be safe than sorry.” Thor hurried after Loki. He said it with such seriousness that Loki himself was surprised to hear such wise words from his usually-not-so-wise brother.

"And what happened to you? I thought you could beat anything with your bare fists.” Loki muttered, remembering the time when Thor had made a list of animals ‘he could take in a fight.

"Because I can." he replied confidently, making Loki snicker. He then explained, “I just want to minimize the damage as much as possible.”

“So you think there will be damage?” Loki asked, a little more nervously than he intended.

"Definitely." Thor replied, which didn't help Loki at all. Seeing the pure terror in his eyes, Thor had to laugh. “But don't worry, it's not to the point where our lives will be at risk.” he assured, then pulled the smaller figure closer and now only teased "Besides, I think a scar would suit you. Like that, all over the face, from the forehead to the cheek.” and ran his fingers exactly over these places.

“Stupid.” Loki growled in response. He pushed Thor away from him, who just laughed stupidly and overtook him. “I won't have any scars! If anything, you will have it because of your stupidity!” he called over his shoulder.

Thor was silent for a moment before deciding "I could have a scar." He suddenly became all excited as he was saying “Yes, on my back. That would look really cool!”

Loki just barked another "Stupid, stupid man" under his breath and kept marching, refusing to stop until he finally reached the Forbidden Forest.

In terms of appearance, the Forbidden Forest was no different from an ordinary forest. It was just like any other - with tall spruces, lots of bushes, nettles, and moss that seemed to take over the place completely.

Since the Allfather decreed centuries ago that there was a penalty for entering this place (if a person survived to get out at all), the ecosystem didn't have to worry about families going there on a walk on their days off or about curious children playing war or tag or anything else. Thanks to this, the vegetation could develop completely without any obstacles, relying only on each other.

Repeating, the Forbidden Forest looked better than any forest Loki had ever seen. Which should make him feel like a fish in the water.

Should. And yet there was something unsettling about this place, something that made Loki feel the hairs on the back of his neck rise and his entire body unconsciously prepare for danger.

Maybe it was because there was no wind there. When they first crossed the border, Loki only noticed, without giving it a second thought, that the trees were not moving.

But the deeper they went and the more time passed, Loki became convinced that there was no wind there. Just as there was no sound; apart from his and his brother's footsteps in the snow, Loki could hear nothing - not birds singing, deer grazing in the distance, or even the faintest squeals of rabbits. It was as if this place was empty, desolate like a post-apocalyptic city: motionless and lonely.

Yet Loki knew they were not alone.

Maybe it was his paranoid thinking, because they were in a place that had taken so many lives, but Loki could almost feel the eyes following him. Many pairs of curious eyes watching his every move and, most importantly, waiting.

Loki glanced at Thor from time to time, checking if he was feeling as uneasy as he was. The older sibling, however, was too focused on looking for clues that their animal was somewhere nearby, or, as Loki thought, existed at all, to notice the strange atmosphere prevailing here.

“He's here somewhere, I'm telling you, brother.” Thor just kept repeating, as fierce as some scenthound, which only resulted in one silent eye roll of Loki’s.

Then, suddenly, something ran by in the distance. Loki's head immediately turned towards the source of the sound, so quickly that it hurt his neck. He stopped and his body immediately assumed a fighting position.

"Did you hear that?" he asked quietly, his eyes darting around, looking for what made the sound in the first place.

In a second, Thor behind him was ready to fight - with his bow ready and his arrow notched, he was looking at the same place Loki was staring at with such desperation. A few seconds passed until Thor finally announced "There's nothing here."

He put his bow back on and was ready to continue their journey, but Loki remained motionless. There was definitely something there, and he was sure it wasn't anything friendly.

“I'm sure it was just some vermin,” Thor said calmly. “We would probably hear a bear.”

Loki still didn't move, so he finally nudged him lightly in the back. "Let's go," he said, making Loki jump.

He really didn't like it. So much so that something inside him told him to pack up and get back to the palace as soon as possible.

But if he did, he would be called a 'coward'. He wouldn't survive the taunts of Thor and his friends, who would make fun of him at every possible opportunity. Jokes that, of course, are not intended to offend him, but do so anyway because he is "too sensitive." And besides, if that bear actually existed and Thor managed to hunt it… no, Loki couldn't let that happen.

So he reluctantly looked away and started to follow Thor, who was already a good dozen steps ahead of him.

He caught up, and normally he would have been embarrassed that he had unconsciously started to hold himself so close to his brother that their hands were almost brushing. Loki would be angry with himself for this weakness, he would be downright disgusted and loath himself.

But he didn't think like that now.

Mainly because the feeling of something staring at him was gone.

-

After long and boring hours of walking, Thor and Loki found themselves at a small stream to make a "very short stop", as Thor put it. He was crouching on the bank, scooping water with his hands to drink, while Loki leaned against the tree trunk nearby and looked up at the sky.

The sun was still in the sky in such a place that it could be said to be bright, but it was slowly approaching this border, when the colors began to lose their hues and the contrast increased.

Which made Loki feel a sudden twinge of panic run through his body. Because, if he felt so agitated during the day, he didn't even want to know what nightmares a night spent in this disturbing place might bring him.

He wanted to very gently suggest to his brother that maybeeee they started slowly heading towards their horses, but one quick glance at Thor told him that this might be the worst decision of his life.

Thor was impatient, he had been known for it for a long time, so it was no wonder that he got upset when the precious hours passed and he still didn't get what he wanted. Loki could actually feel the frustration radiating from him, even though he had been silent for a long time, now, which was terrifying, by the way. So Loki knew that implying that they should give up and return to the palace would only add fuel to the fire, so he decided to wait until Thor finally gave up on his own and allowed them to return.

But he should have known better than that, because his older brother was the pure epitome of stubbornness.

“We should set up camp.” Thor finally spoke as he cut the silence of the forest. “We haven't had any luck yet, but we can try again in the morning.”

He wiped his mouth with his hand, stood up from the ground and met Loki's eyes. “And what now?” he asked with a frown as Loki stared at him in speechless disbelief.

“Do you want to spend the night here?” Loki was stunned.

To which Thor just shrugged "Why not?"

Loki knew better than to provoke Thor when he was upset, but he was upset too; angry, because he had lost the entire afternoon off, because he hadn't eaten anything since morning, because he felt like something was about to attack him, and angry because Thor treats him again, as if Loki was stupid for not wanting something to eat them and kill them while they sleep.

Therefore, Loki did not act wisely and exploded himself.

“I don't know, Thor, I don't know?! Maybe because something could kill us!” he shouted in anger, gesturing furiously at the forest around them. His voice echoed, which was probably unwise, as well, but Loki didn't care at the moment.

“And again.” Thor sighed in exasperation. He rubbed his forehead with his hand and said, "I told you there's nothing here, you just made up something and decided to believe it."

“Just like you did with your bear,” Loki huffed in response.

“He exists, I know it.” now Thor also bared his teeth, which only earned Loki a loud laugh.

“Of course, of course you know that,” he said, beautifully amused, “There's nothing you don't know already, after all”

"Loki" Thor warned in a cold voice, but he didn't let him speak.

“I think the old man who told you about it was just mad. And you, being stupid as always, believed him. Oh great Prince of Asgard, you have shown your wisdom once again.” Loki taunted ironically at the end, not caring at all that Thor's fists were clenched so tightly that sparks were coming out of them.

“If you think so, why did you even come here with me?” he asked in response.

"Because you made me!" Loki shouted in irritation. He wondered if Thor was so stupid that he didn't remember what happened in the morning that same day, and he was about to ask about it in his mocking way, but then-

“No, not at all. I didn't even want you here!” Thor revealed suddenly, with a cruel sort of satisfaction, and added casually, "Mother told me to take you. If it weren't for her, I would have hunted that bear yesterday!"

Loki blinked, taken aback. All the wisdom, mockery and cruelty wilted on his tongue in instant, leaving him unable to utter a single word.

He realized, I was right.

Thor really had an ulterior motive, he didn't want to spend time with him at all, as he had just admitted smugly. Loki wasn't 'like that' at all, and he was right. He was right, but he didn't feel good about it in any way.

The silence stretched on for so long that Thor himself began to feel uncomfortable. He was about to say something, but then a snort of dry laughter from his brother interrupted him.

"So what you said this morning, dearest brother, about you just wanting to spend some time with me, was all a lie?" Loki asked, the smile he had on his face not pleasant at all. “Oh my, I thought I was a skilled liar.”

Loki stated that to be manipulated, gaslighted and spit on in such an effortless way, one must be the most desperate fool in existence. The one who will let his guard down, give up his beliefs and ways just because someone said some kind words to him, whispered sweet-nothings to his ear and pretended that he was enough.

Oh he was so stupid, he kept calling Thor names, and yet he is THE idiot, he is the stupidest person that can exist, that ever existed and will ever exist. Like a pig, he went straight to the slaughter - or not, because the pig doesn't know that he's going to die, and Loki suspected it. He had a premonition, he had a chance to escape. And yet he ignored it only because he wanted to believe that he was enough, that maybe Thor was right and he was wrong. That maybe he really is just distrustful, broken and doesn't deserve his golden older brother.

Oh how Loki wanted to be wrong about this one thing, how wrong he wanted to be.

Thor seemed to finally understand what he said, because he stopped looking like he was boasting about his victory in the fight. He hesitated, adopting a rather uncertain expression on his face, "Loki, I..."

Loki mentally begged him to tell him that he had made it all up, that he had only said it to annoy him, to make him hurt. That it was not true, that he was wanted, he was loved, he was enough, he was–

But Thor only finished with a remorseful "I really shouldn't have told you about this."

To which Loki did not answer anything. He just stared at Thor with that look on his face that hurt people do; with widely opened eyes in which wetness was already starting to shine, with pursed lips whose corners involuntarily turned down, and with a blush that burned from the feeling of getting ridiculed.

And immediately he turned on his heel and started walking forward.

"Curls! Loki wait-” Thor called frantically.

He wanted to run after him, to fix this awkward situation somehow, but he didn't even take a step because the green light hit him and he landed straight into the snowdrift.

And the moment he managed to remove the snow from his face and stand up, he realized that Loki was nowhere to be seen.

-

Loki didn't know how long he had been walking or even where he was going. The most important thing for him was to get as far away from Thor as possible, away from the source of these unwanted, disgusting emotions that were tearing his heart to shreds.

He was furious, completely, fully enraged. With Thor for lying to him so easily, with himself for believing those sweet words in the first place, and with his mother.

Somehow the thought that she, the only person who made him feel somehow understood, was involved in this whole conspiracy, better; was the source, made Loki want to fall to his knees and scream, scream at the top of his lungs, curse everything and everyone, destroy something, kill something.

But to his misfortune (and this would-be victim's fortune), nothing stood in his way. So he was forced to just keep going and going, not stopping even for a moment, so consumed with rage and betrayal and pain that he didn't notice when the sky darkened and the temperature in the forest dropped so much that the steam from the breath in front of him was downright motionless.

Not that it bothered him at all. Loki understood that his blood must have seriously boiled because he didn't feel cold at all. Not that he was complaining, of course. Apart from the hunger that made his stomach growl and the tiredness that almost knocked him off his feet, he accepted the lack of cold with open arms.

Loki suddenly stopped. The whole thing absorbed him so much that at one point he forgot where he even was.

He stood and listened for anything that would tell him that he was in some danger. He was alone, which certainly wasn't wise. Some quiet voice of reason told him that Thor was alone too and might be in danger, but Loki ignored it.

He didn't want to think about Thor, and even if he was in a life-threatening situation, he figured, he wouldn't be of much use anyway. This was Thor after all, the same one who never needed anybody's help, and certainly not Loki’s.

“I didn't even want you here.” the words found their way into Loki's ears again, as if they were the echo of the forest and not his own mind. Loki winced involuntarily, as if something hurt him. Because, maybe, it actually did.

The anger slowly drained from him and he began to regain clarity of mind. Which meant that sadness and despair were more noticeable.

He preferred anger to sadness. Anger burned, destroyed everything in its path. It was like chaos, like Loki himself. When he gave himself to it, he maybe did lose control, but even so, it made all these depressive thoughts disappear into oblivion, and any uncomfortable emotions made way for him to fully focus on letting out.

Sadness was the opposite of that. Sadness drowned and killed. And once he got caught in it, Loki always had a hard time getting away from it.

So, feeling as if he was being taken whole again, Loki sighed deeply and rested his forehead against the trunk of the tree next to him. Within a moment he was kneeling in the snow, his eyes clenched tightly to prevent any tears from escaping. His fingers clawed at the poor tree, tearing its bark to shreds as he focused on taking deep breaths.

He was not going to cry. He was not.

He had to find a way out of this eerie place, return to Lettfeti and... and he didn't know what to do next. He had no intention of returning to the palace, but if he did not return by night, his father would send crows after him and then he would have a problem. Loki sighed in defeat and rubbed his forehead.

Asgard increasingly reminded him of a prison rather than a home where he was supposed to be happy.

Loki thought for a moment. Unless Thor didn't come home that night either, then he'd get away with it.

Everything was better for him than returning to his family, who directly showed him how much of a burden he was. That's why he decided that he would take a risk and put everything on one card. On Thor, in this case. If he was to have any use for his older brother, let the Norns be it.

So, with that attitude of a gambler who had just bet on the results of the roulette wheel, Loki recovered from his brief moment of weakness and stood up. And at the same moment, something moving in the corner of his eye caught his attention.

Looking deep into the forest, Loki saw for the first time an inhabitant of this forest. A mere deer, if Loki was to judge. With white fur and large antlers that he used to dig in the snow for food.

Loki stopped and watched him for a moment.

He noticed that it was a good deer. The kind that expeditions are organized to hunt for. And yet here he was there, standing a few meters away from Loki, completely unaware of the Prince's presence.

Loki thought that maybe something good would come out of this day, so he summoned his crossbow and crouched on the ground.

Thor will return to the palace empty-handed, and Loki will at least bring the deer. A small success, but significant. Especially for him, for this burden that no one wanted to have near.

Loki didn't take his eyes off the animal in front of him. He was fully focused, determined to hear praise about himself, telling him that he wasn't as useless as everyone thought he was.

The deer didn't seem eager to run away, which only made Loki feel more confident in his movements. He aimed the crossbow and pulled the string. He almost felt sorry for this unaware animal, considering that he had done nothing wrong with his life, but the thought of all the praise he would hear clouded his whole empathy.

He took a deep breath, held it, and just as the arrow was about to be released, the deer raised its head and looked straight at Loki. He wasn't looking in his direction, he was staring directly at him. His red eyes gazed straight into his green ones, and Loki realized just then that the animal had known all along that he was there.

Loki hesitated, feeling a sudden twinge of terror run through his entire body.

Birds cawed hoarsely somewhere above him, making Loki instinctively look towards them. It lasted less than a second, and yet when he looked back at his deer, he didn't see it for a second time.

Something was wrong, something was very, very wrong, and he had to leave this place as soon as possible. Deer don't just disappear, as if they weren't even there in the first place. Unless they are not deer at all, but some kind of illusion, hallucination or... or some shape-shifting spirit.

And somehow the thought of the latter made Loki's heart beat too fast to dismiss it as a simple feeling of anxiety.

The Forbidden Forest was dangerous, but when thinking about this danger, Loki always only brought to mind animals, such as predators that preyed at the bottom of the food chain or thought about some venomous reptiles.

The realization that there might be something else living in this forest besides animals forced Loki to get up and just like that start running.

He remembered the stories of seducers, murderers and cannibals who used their abilities to trick their victims and do whatever they wanted with them. Loki was supposedly resistant to charms, considering his above-average skill in using seidr, but still, if such a group of magicians suddenly appeared, he doubted whether his mind would eventually break.

He thought that maybe that was why that one deer had disappeared. Maybe he realized that he couldn't possess Loki's mind. Maybe he understood who Loki was. So he disappeared to return with his group and only then would he be able to break the Asgardian Prince.

If Loki's heart hadn't been pounding before, it now threatened to break his ribs and escape from his chest.

Loki ran through the forest, using teleportation from time to time to reduce the distance between himself and his horse as much as possible. His blue cloak trailed behind him, giving the whole action quite a dramatic accent. An icy wind whipped at his face, and some of the spruce branches he flew into cut his cheeks, forehead and neck.

But he didn't care at all. The adrenaline from his fight or flight helped him, and he ran and ran until the area he was in became somehow familiar to him.

The border was already close. And near the border there were horses. He'll get on his horse and, screw all this fight, he’ll go back to the palace and then he'll be safe. He and--

Thor.

He left Thor. Loki stopped. He left Thor.

He left a person who had no way to defend himself against magic, in a forest where very dangerous creatures lived, who used said magic as a weapon.

Now he really showed himself. Honestly, he now completely understood why Thor didn't want to take him with him in the first place.

Loki hesitated only for a moment, but that brief moment was all it took for Loki to feel incredible self-loathing. Thor would come back for him. Hel, Thor wouldn't leave him in the first place! He may have been a bad brother, but, Loki had to admit, he was a good warrior. And warriors do not leave their own on the battlefield.

Loki growled in frustration, wishing that he was rotten to the core, so he didn’t have to feel remorse and simply give himself over to selfishness completely. Then, he did a complete 180 and started running again, now feeling a completely different kind of terror.

Loki, however, tried to focus on completing his task, on returning to the place where he had left Thor, finding him and, now the hard part, getting him to come back.

But he didn't even get to the first point of his plan, because, as usual, he was Loki and nothing could be easy for him.

In the beginning there was sound. A sound that Loki barely heard over his own scream of pain that at once escaped from his throat. Something grabbed his leg and held it with such force that he fell face first into the snow.

A sharp pain shot through his entire body, as if his entire skeletal system had been paralyzed. Loki tried to pull himself together, to understand what had happened, but all he could focus on was that it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, he couldn't move, because it hurt, it hurt, it hurt-

With a shaky breath and clenched fists, Loki closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. Which was easier said than done. He had already learned that any attempt to move would be rewarded with unbearable pain, so he focused on breathing.

Inhaling deeply and exhaling, Loki realized that nothing was happening. Another moment passed and Loki realized that not all of his bones hurt the same. The pain had a source. Right leg, about halfway down the shin.

Loki opened his eyes and, taking a moment to see what he could see, gritted his teeth and tried to push himself up on his elbows a little. Panting and groaning in pain, Loki finally found himself in a position where he could look at his leg.

And what he saw made him feel all the blood drain from his face.

He couldn't move because something was indeed trapping him. Loki just looked at the row of bronze teeth that tore through the fabric of his pants and dug straight into the flesh, and he could already feel his vision turning black. He saw the blood that stained the snow beneath him, saw the chain that loyally held the trap to the ground. He had already seen himself die there, alone in the middle of some haunted forest.

The panic that gripped him was abrupt and filled with chaos. Loki grabbed both sides of the trap at once and tried to pry it open, just a little, just only a little. Just enough for it to release his leg so he could free it. But the more Loki tried, the more he failed. The teeth were stuck deep in the meat, they even touched the bone and managed to crush it. And if he even succeeded to open the thing even a little, he let go due to lack of strength and it returned to its previous place, but with tripled pain.

Loki whimpered and groaned in pain, at some point the sounds turned into held hiccups until he finally let go and allowed for one big sob to wash over him.

Due to lack of options, he thought about pulling his leg out of there, but only with the first strong pull, the wound became even bigger, and the pain he felt made Loki on the verge of fainting.

He buried his face in his hands, stained with his own blood, and began to uncontrollably sob.

He wasn't going to die like this. He couldn’t.

“Thor!” a scream ripped from his throat before he even registered what he was doing. He tried again and again until his voice broke under the force of his tears.

“THOR!” he cried, so loudly that it physically hurt.

But when nothing answered him except the echo of his own voice, which quickly became one with the silence of this hellish place, Loki felt that any hope of survival that he had left was gone.

-

Thor had had enough of this snow and cold and wind. He hated winter. He loved snow, though, like any sane person, but he hated winter itself. And when he was in that forest, he felt like he hated it even more.

He blew a few times on his hands and quickly rubbed them together to warm them up. But it didn't help him much. Thor sighed in defeat and decided he would probably have to call it a day.

Since Loki had gone away, taking his space-pocket with everything he needed to set up camp in it, Thor had only two options. One: go back to the palace and try again the next day, or two: go back to the horses, take a spare set, come back to this place and save himself a lot of time.

The second option appealed to Thor more, so, soon after he was left alone, he started walking towards the horses.

With his spear placed across his shoulders and his elbows hanging on it, Thor walked through the forest, looking every now and then for signs of his bear. And, to his greatest frustration, he couldn't see anything. But that still didn't mean anything, Thor insisted. Loki was simply in a bad mood, as he often is, so he naturally wanted to spoil his good mood, too.

Thor sighed deeply and thought about Loki. He couldn't help but feel bad.

This whole argument wasn't supposed to be like that. He was just frustrated, which is why he used bad, hurtful words, which caused him to tell Loki that he didn't want him at all. Of course he wanted to have Loki with him, especially now, when he feels the absence of his person so intensely.

He may have originally planned to go alone and if it weren't for his mother who saw him packing for the hunt, he would have actually done it. But it had nothing to do with Loki - he didn't propose the expedition to anyone, not even Sif, Fandral or even Hogun, who was almost as good a hunter as himself.

He wanted to go alone. There wasn't anything wrong with that, was there? Loki is alone all the time and no one blames him for it. Mostly. So why couldn't he, Thor, be alone for a while.

He tried to argue with Frigga about it, but his mother always wins in the end. She convinced him to take his younger brother for company and even made Thor feel genuinely happy about his choice.

She was right that Loki had become too isolated lately, that he was spending too much time in his room alone, and such a trip with his wonderful older brother would be good for him.

And it actually was. Until it stopped.

But it wasn't entirely his fault, Thor was sure.

It was his choice that Loki ran away and refused for Thor to give him an explanation. Now he was probably in his chambers, warming himself by the fireplace and sulking at him and at the whole world. Thor decided that when he returns, he will share the bear with him anyway, let Loki know the endless kindness of his heart and his unwavering love for him. Even if he doesn't really deserve it.

Thor was bravely making his way through the snowdrifts when ravens began to gather above his head. Thor was suddenly overcome with true fear - if these were Huginn and Muninn, sent by the Father, he was beyond “fucked” at that moment.

But one look up and he noticed it wasn't them. He wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but there was something about these birds that he didn't particularly like.

They cawed loudly above his head, some in the air, some sitting on the tree branches. They watched him closely, their heads slightly tilted in curiosity and those eyes, blacker than the night itself, staring deadly at his figure.

“Huh,” Thor said dully, counting six ravens on one branch.

Odin had his birds for as long as Thor could remember, honestly, they were even one of his earliest memories, so he knew what normal birds looked like and behaved like. These didn't seem so much "normal".

For a moment he thought about Loki, how tense and jumpy he had been since they had first entered here. He thought of how terrified Loki was when he whispered, "Did you hear that?"

Then Thor dismissed it, believing it was simply his still young brother's fearful nature. After all, that was what happened to people his age, when he could convince himself of something and scare himself. When a shadow at night was like the most terrible nightmare and a trivial nightmare made him find himself next to his older brother's bed, asking for protection for the rest of the night.

Now, however, when Thor was truly alone and the birds were somehow gathering more and more, he was no longer as convinced of Loki's prejudices as he had been a moment earlier.

But even so, he was not going to be afraid of any birds, please. Thor took his spear in his hand and chased them away, shouting, "Shoo! Shoo!”

The birds cawed angrily in their own language, but decided to fly away anyway without any objections. Thor watched them fly off into the setting sun for a moment, then resumed his march.

He remembered Father's story about specific ravens that preyed on the bodies of the fallen after the battle. After eating hearts, they gained knowledge, which they used only to be malicious and deceive people.

When he first heard it, he believed it like any naive child listening to his father's stories. And as with every story like this, when the child grew up, Thor stopped believing in it.

But now, for some reason, he had a strong feeling that maybe there was some truth to his father's story.

-

Loki had been familiar with the idea of death since childhood.

He remembered one day in particular, the day when his Father took him to the Hall of Fame. He remembered the high ceiling, the great, big doors and the golden floor in which he saw the reflection of himself and Odin as he carried him in his arms.

He then saw for the first time the statues, busts and likenesses of all the most important Asgardian heroes, and Odin told him the story of them with pride and a hint of nostalgia written on his face.

He talked about all kinds of battles, duels and fights between gods, how many times a trivial reason led to the greatest disputes, due to which too many good warriors died unnecessarily. One such dispute was the war between the Aesir and the Vanir, which took away Odin's own uncle.

Loki listened to the story bravely, only wincing once or twice when he heard the gorier details. He especially didn't like the moment when Odin told how he found Mirmir's body without a head.

He thought that his Father would summarize this story with a dejected tone and some mourning, after all, Mirmir was a member of his family, a great teacher and a close friend, but he only said:

“Blessed is he that for his sacrifice he has obtained a place at the table in Valhalla.”

Loki had heard about this place a few times, but not much. He knew it was the opposite of Hel. But he didn't know what Hel was, either.

Seeing his embarrassment, his father laughed lightly and began to explain, "Valhalla, my son, is a land that only gives the honor of sitting in its place to those who have died a glorious death. That is, all warriors who died in battle and all those who gave their lives for the greater deed. It is an ideal place where the hurt ones will never suffer again, the separated will be reunited, and the ones who lived only by the sadness and misfortune will have it turned into an endless happiness. Then everyone will sit down together once again to rejoice and feast.”

He looked back at the statue of Mirmir and declared, “Therefore, never cry for the lost. If you do, rather cry for yourself, because they are in paradise and you are not.”

Loki stared at his father, then moved his gaze to the statue in front of him, and together they watched it in silence. He liked the idea of a place where he would be with his family forever. He thought that as long as he was with them, he would get the ;endless happiness' anyway.

“But there are also those who have not gotten there and will never get. Those who lost their chance to have a seat at the table.” Odin said coldly, and Loki felt himself shrinking at the tone.

“Those who were unable to atone by a great deed or who, at the moment of their death, were indifferent to their lives, were thrown into depths of Hel, to a terrible place where it is always dark, the person in it is alone and their wounds never heal.”

Loki involuntarily clung closer to his father's chest, seeking a form of protection against the terrible images his imagination had created. Odin stroked the child's hair and assured, "But you shan’t be afraid of that, Loki."

Loki looked at him with childlike naivety, causing Odin to smile softly and say, "The Norns have told me that my sons will do great things. And anyone who isn't like that ends up alone.”

Then these words comforted Loki, so much so that, surprisingly, he didn't even have nightmares at night about this hellish place he had learned about.

However, as he sat in the snow, with puffy eyes and unsteady breathing, trapped like the dumbest animal, with his leg almost torn off and slowly bleeding out, Loki realized that his Father must have been lying. That, or he wasn't his son, at all.

Because what a glorious death it was? If the hunter who left these traps doesn't come to him within the next few hours, he will either bleed to death or be eaten by the creature that the scent of blood will attract. There was a lot of it, Loki was sure that even the worst tracking animal could sense him from the other end of the forest.

He wanted to say that maybe he would take up the fight against whatever would come to kill him, but, quite honestly, he knew he wouldn't. He doubted whether he would even be able to summon even a dagger in his condition. He was tired, exhausted, judging by how he lay sprawled on the boulder next to him. He even lost consciousness a few times.

And besides, he didn't know if his life was worth enough to insist on staying alive that hard. He had been having thoughts like this more and more often lately, and Loki was finding himself agreeing with them more and more often.

And apparently those cruel whispers in his head were right, because if they weren't, would he be there in the first place? His Own Mother didn't want him in the palace, Thor didn't even want to take him with him, and his Father had long ago shown that he didn't even consider Loki as a candidate for the throne. There was a pattern, so there had to be a reason, too.

Loki sighed deeply, resting his head on the hard surface behind him. The sun had set a good while ago, and even if the snow should have made it not so dark, that rule obviously didn't apply to this particular forest. He decided that he was tired of keeping his eyelids open because it didn't make much difference whether he had them open or closed.

It was dark and cold, Loki was alone and in pain, which made him think that maybe he was already in Hel and had missed his chance at Valhalla, without even realizing when it happened. And, to his not-so-great surprise, Loki realized he didn't even care.

So it was this "indifference to death" that his father so confidently assured him he was immune to.

And all because of a trap set for another madman who believed the story about Ymir's Bear. Loki wanted to laugh at the misfortune of these people who believed in him so unwaveringly. He admired them to some extent, though; he also wanted to find something he could believe in with such zeal and determination.

But it was too late for that.

As the minutes passed, Loki felt himself losing more and more control over remaining conscious. Somehow, the thick silence of the forest around him and the cold beneath him had a downright soothing effect on him. Or his body was simply already chilled to such an extent that he was slowly dying from the cold. This is a "glorious death," Loki said with a sarcasm that would apparently live on in him even after death.

And, just as he was about to give up, to fall asleep and not wake up for a second time, Loki heard a breath being released, not far from him.

He wasn’t as eager to see what it was, but he still opened his eyes, mostly driven by curiosity to see what had finally found him and what would finally kill him.

And, to his utter amusement, it was a bear.

A very large bear. The bear he hunted with Thor and who didn't even exist. And yet now it stood before him in its great splendor, its muzzle turned towards Loki, alive and very much real.

Loki used all the strength he had left in him, only to burst out laughing in hilarity.

After that, he closed his eyes again.

-

Thor stated that thanks to a miracle he reached the place where he and Loki had left their horses.

And not just because of the darkness that seemed to swallow everything around him and caused him to slip or walk straight into a tree (more than once). Even though he believed he was on the right track, going in exactly the same direction they came, he still got lost. And not just once. And that was the strange thing; Thor never lost himself, he didn't need a map or a compass. He never ever got lost. Until now.

It worried him for a moment, but not enough, because he forgot about it the moment he saw his horse.

A huge smile appeared on his face as he approached Gullfaxi, who, seeing his owner, began to neigh happily.

“Hello, boy,” Thor greeted sweetly. He always teased Loki for talking to a horse like to another person, but in this case he had to give him his honor back. “I'm sorry I left you alone for so long.”

Thor stuck out his hand to pet his horse's muzzle in an apologetic gesture, but his hand froze halfway when he saw that his horse wasn't actually alone.

Lettfeti was there too.

Why was Lettfeti there?

Thor walked up to the horse, thinking it was just another horse that for some reason had joined them and it happened to look terrifying just like his brother's mare.

But no matter which way he looked, it was Lettfeti. She stood there, majestic and proud as ever, half a head taller than Thor, her black coat standing out significantly against the white snow.

And Thor really didn't like the feeling this realization came to him with.

“Where is Loki?” he asked the horse.

The mare didn't answer for obvious reasons, she just looked at him briefly and went back to digging in the snow with her muzzle. Thor stood there for a moment longer, just looking at the animal before him.

He had been cold before, for example in his hands because he forgot his gloves, or cold in his cheeks because he refused to put on his hood. But the cold he felt now was unlike any he had ever experienced.

Without wasting any more time, Thor unhitched Lettfeti and, holding her reins, mounted his own horse, "Let's go," he ordered, and soon galloped back into the forest.

He had no clue where Loki might be. The only certain thing was that he did not reach the horses. Loki would never leave his horse alone like that.

But even if he knew this much, it still wasn't enough. He could only hope that Lettfeti was indeed as wonderful and wise as Loki always praised her, and that she would be able to sniff out her owner even from the greatest distance.

Except that, Thor was helpless.

He could always return to the palace, the search would begin, and Father would send the crows, but before Thor actually would get there... he didn't even want to think about it.

"LOKI!!" he shouted with such force that snow fell from the branches. And when only the echo answered him, he tried again and again. He couldn't give up, couldn't give in to those terrible thoughts that it was too late.

But nothing seemed to answer him, and Thor realized that he was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe.

The place was like a maze, every tree looked the same, every bald bush and stone was arranged the same. It was dark, as if for laughs all the moons had decided not to shine that night. And Thor had this terrible feeling that something was wrong, that something was very, very wrong, and he couldn't find Loki, he was out there somewhere and yet he couldn't find him, he was close, within reach, and yet Thor still can't find his brother.

And then he felt it: Lettfeti pulled on the reins as if she wanted to turn to the left, so gently, as if she didn't want to impose, that he almost missed it.

Thor pulled on his own reins and the Gullfaxi stopped instantly. "

What is this?" he turned to the other horse. The mare tried to break away in a nervous gesture, and after a while his steed began to kick nervously as well. Thor realized that they must have sensed something that he hadn't even had a chance to see yet. But he took it as a good sign, because they must have been close. If, of course, they had found what had stopped Loki and not some other completely unrelated danger.

Thor dismounted and began to walk, guided by them both, using their nervousness like a compass. As Gullfaxi began to tussle and Lettfeti shook her muzzle, telling him that this was their limit, Thor tied them both in a sloppy way, took his spear in hand, and began to search for Loki.

Thor walked through the bushes, not noticing that there was a fall immediately behind them, which caused him to lose his balance and slide down a solid few meters on the stone surface, which injured his back and bruised his spine.

But he didn't care at all, he didn't even feel it, because his vision immediately focused on the scene in front of him.

Behind the thicket of trees, Thor noticed Loki - he recognized him immediately, because how could he not? Only the problem was that his brother wasn't alone.

Loki had probably already called it ironic, because Thor recognized their bear there. And he was big indeed. Normally, Thor would rush into battle right away, throw his spear at the animal's body, and start a glorious battle.

But his snout was too close to Loki’s face, which made him afraid that even the slightest movement would anger the animal and attack him.

Plans began to form in Thor's head on how best to deal with this situation, but when the bear's muzzle came even closer to his brother's face, Thor forgot about everything around him.

His instincts took over and he just rushed forward.

He quickly crossed the space between them and when he got close enough, his brain immediately registered the bloody mess, and the specific metallic smell he knew so well which made him feel panic rising within him. And he prayed, he actually prayed, that Loki was alive, that he hadn't come just to see his little brother torn to pieces as being the bear's prey and dinner, which was supposed to be their prey and dinner.

But one quick glance at him and Thor saw that Loki was alive: those green eyes stared at him, wide and completely shocked. And Thor couldn't be more grateful - he declared that when they returned home, he would perform a ritual for the Norns for not letting his brother die before Thor found him.

“T-Thor–” Loki began hesitantly, but he immediately motioned for him to be silent.

Thor didn't know much about bears, so he had no idea what to do with such a brown and large one in a dangerous situation. However, he decided that he would stand his ground and do what any older brother should.

He found himself between Loki and the bear, placing his body between the two of them while hiding the smaller figure behind him. Loki tried to say something, but then Thoe hissed, "Quiet!" without taking your eyes off the animal even for a moment.

The bear itself didn't seem to know what was going on. He raised his head and stared at both brothers, more with curiosity than with any desire to attack. With his mouth slightly open, so that Thor could see the huge fangs, which didn't make him want to go back down anyway.

The predator moved closer, Thor didn't move, but grabbed Loki's shoulder and pushed him back a little too roughly just to get him further away from the threat.

He was ready to start the fight, his hand tightened on the spear he was holding, but bear, instead of using his jaws to tear off his head, the bear sniffed him.

After a moment he moved again, but this time only to turn around.

Thor watched the bear walk away into the forest, and as powerful as it was, it made no sound. The only evidence that he was actually here were the prints of his huge paws, as wide as the God of Thunder was tall.

He waited for a moment, as if the animal had decided to come back and start charging at them, but minutes passed and nothing happened. Then Thor turned and focused all his attention on Loki.

“What the Hel happened?!” he asked, already crouching down next to Loki and looking at his leg. Thor had to stop himself from wincing, it was truly a painful sight, even for him.

“Trap,” Loki croaked, “I walked right into a trap.”

And as if it were the funniest thing in the world, Loki laughed. Thor thought he might have a fever, but after checking, he realized that if anything, he was cold. Cold like an ice cube.

Without thinking much, he took off his fur coat and threw it straight on Loki. The cold hit him immediately, but with how much adrenaline he had in him, he couldn't care less.

“But it stinks,” Loki complained, but he still let Thor wrap him in it tightly.

Thor had trouble properly examining Loki's wounds in such conditions, but he understood that the wound was life-threatening. The trap was embedded deep in the flesh, Thor suspected it had even bit through the bone. Loki was apparently trying to free himself, and actually managed to move the trap a little, because long wounds, similar to claw marks, ran down his shin, bleeding onto the snow at a rapid rate from the torn skin, staining it and making quite a puddle under Loki.

In conclusion, a very nasty wound. And very difficult to deal with.

“Loki, listen,” Thor said to his brother. Loki raised his eyes and just stared at him blankly. “I'll open it and then you’ll pull your leg out. You understand?"

Loki nodded weakly in response. It took him a moment for the words to sink in. In fact, he still wasn't sure whether Thor was real or not.

Thor sighed and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "It's going to hurt. You have to prepare yourself. Or..."

Thor reached into his bag and pulled out his hunting knife. Loki's eyes flashed in panic: of course he was thinking about cutting off his own leg, but he immediately decided that he wasn't crazy enough to actually do it. But Thor calmed him down because he said, "You're going to take this between your teeth and clench it, okay?"

Loki wasn't too eager to take the thing that his older brother's dirty hands regularly touched to his mouth, but he didn't feel like he was in a position to object.

He took the item from Thor, gritted his teeth around the handle, hooked his hands under his knee, and looked up at the sky.

A black night, as if all the nights of the world had come together as one. Loki spotted a few stars; some shone more than others, others less. Loki was thinking about why some of the stars weren't as good as others, since they were in the same sky and all that, and besides...

And at the same time, Thor was getting to work.

He told Loki that it would hurt, but he didn't know if it would hurt him or himself more. He figured he'd need something to stop the bleeding once he had the leg out, so with nothing else at hand, he grabbed the bottom of Loki's cloak and tore off a larger piece.

Loki tried to protest, but what happened happened. He was staring at him with literal death, which was hilarious considering the situation he was in.

"Ready?" Thor asked, trying to sound confident. Loki nodded and went back to looking at the sky.

Thor tried to grab the trap in his hands, but the fact that it was slick and covered in blood made it difficult. He finally found a good place to place his hands, but the mere touch of the metal caused a yelp to escape from Loki's throat.

Thor was a warrior. A typical bloodthirsty Asgardian who loved to fight and was good at it: he killed without a second thought and was cruel, downright brutal.

But now he didn't feel like a warrior at all.

“Sorry,” he said and immediately started opening the thing.

Loki didn't know that he could feel worse pain than when he first walked into the trap. And yet he did. He gritted his teeth, clenched his eyes, clenched his fingers, and if he could, he would even clench his toes. It was as if someone was tearing his leg apart; like when a wolf grabs a lamb's leg and bites and pulls and tugs and won't stop until it breaks the bone and tears off the entire limb, including the veins and tendons.

Thor actually struggled with the trap for a while, and at one point Loki was sure he was going to faint, but then the pressure disappeared completely, and he once again felt the blood pulsating in him, overflowing and pouring out of him.

“Now Loki!” Thor ordered him, and Loki remembered what he was supposed to do.

Grabbing the leg below the knee, he lifted it, and just as he was barely free, Thor pulled away and the thing caught again. But now, with nothing on which these ruthless teeth could grit, the spine-chilling sound of metal hitting metal echoed throughout the forest.

Loki could console himself with only a moment of numb pain, because immediately after Thor's hands released the trap, they found themselves on his leg and squeezed it so hard to stop the bleeding that a mass of stars exploded in front of Loki's eyes.

He didn't know whether he had fainted or not, but when he opened his eyes again, his leg was already tightly bound with the blue silk of his battered cloak.

Loki tried to remain calm, especially because he certainly didn't want to appear weak in front of Thor.

However, the moment the adrenaline wore off and the seriousness of the situation became apparent, Loki simply lost it. Tears immediately began to stream down his face and his breath caught in his throat, forcing him to gasp pitifully for air, feeling like he was suffocating.

Thor noticed this because he suddenly found himself next to Loki. “Hey, hey, it's okay–” he started to reassure him, but got interrupted.

“No, Thor! Nothing is okay!" Loki screamed, grabbing his head and almost tearing his hair. “I almost died. I almost died, Thor! I almost–”

Thor suddenly grabbed his arms and pulled him towards him.

“Shhh, it's okay, I've got you,” he said softly, then assured, “I wouldn't let you die, ever.”

Loki suddenly clung to him, as if he were drowning. He began to sob, pitifully, completely not like himself "I was alone, I thought I was going to die alone!"

And Thor held him by his side, stroking his hair and trying to calm down the trembling smaller figure. "Nothing is happening, everything is fine," he said, even if he felt anxiety inside him that wanted to find an outlet and simply explode himself.

“I was scared–!”

“Yet you were still brave” Thor said, putting a smile on his face. He cupped Loki's face to make him look at him and repeated, "Very brave, Loki."

Meanwhile, the horses that Thor had tied to a tree nearby, but apparently not very well, somehow found their way to them. Loki's mare, obviously moved by her owner's distress, came closer to him and began to nudge him with her muzzle.

“Oh, Lettfeti,” Loki sighed, one hand stroking the horse's, the other still with his fingers clutched at Thor's shirt.

"Everything's all right." Thor repeated for good measure, even as Loki seemed quite calm; not calm enough, seeing as how much he was still shaking and tears were flowing from his eyes, but at least he could breathe.

“We will now go back to the palace and they will put you back together. There won't even be a scar.” Thor promised, giving Loki one of his reassuring smiles.

Thor had already got up from his knees and was about to grab Loki by the waist and put him on the horse, but then Loki muttered very, very quietly, "I know why you didn't want to take me with you."

Loki didn't look at him, instead hiding under the coat and playing nervously with his fingers. Thor felt his heart tighten with remorse. “No, no you’re not.” he said, having a strange feeling that whatever Loki believed wasn't true.

“But you said-”

"I know what I said," Thor cut him off firmly, but still with a hint of tenderness. He sighed and rubbed his face. Norns, he really fucked up on this one.

Loki was pale, shaking, cold, yet sweaty. They really should be on their way to the palace and to Eir for her to heal him, but Thor felt he couldn't postpone this conversation until later. Norns forbid, something would happen down the road and Loki would die thinking Thor didn't like him or something.

So Thor once again found himself on his knees in front of Loki and began to explain "Just because I wanted to do this one thing alone doesn't mean I don't enjoy spending time with you." Loki looked at him skeptically, so Thor added, looking at him with nothing but affection "I love being with you, Loki, you have no idea how much I do."

“Then you shouldn't have lied in the first place,” was Loki's only response. He still felt hurt and so, so angry, but much less now than before.

"Yes, I know. And I'm sorry," Thor rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "But I didn't know how else to get you to leave. And, honestly, I kind of meant it. You are definitely too distrustful sometimes.”

Loki, however, ignored everything his older brother said and focused on the first part of his statement.

“So… you admit your mistake?” he asked, his eyes twinkling in a way Thor knew all too well.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he admitted with a pained sigh.

And as he suspected, Loki replied full of himself, so mischievous and with obvious amusement "I will treasure this moment for eternity."

Thor looked at him and retorted, "Hmm, if you're like this, maybe you're not in as bad condition as I thought."

Loki corrected him in response, "My leg is broken, Thor," he said seriously, and added in disbelief, "There's a chance they'll cut it off."

“Nonsense, they won’t cut anything off” Thor waved his hand dismissively. He had seen worse wounds, and since Loki's leg was still there, he knew it could be repaired. He had seen Eir bringing people back after the Valkyries had already come to take them to Valhalla, so Thor didn't worry about that.

He was worried about how they would get there. Mainly because Loki's condition had significantly worsened and he seemed as pale as snow that had recently started to fall lightly.

“Now, come,” he said, and rose again. Now they certainly couldn't waste any more time.

Loki reluctantly raised his hands and Thor reached down and grabbed him around the waist. He slung it over his shoulder as if it weighed nothing, to which Loki would probably defend himself with some sarcastic comments to hide his embarrassment, and would argue that "he's not a child and can do it himself," but at that moment, he didn't have the strength to do so. He also knew that he wouldn't be able to stand on his own, let alone walk.

The very action of lifting made Loki wince in pain. He didn't want to think about what it would be like to ride a horse, over uneven terrain, when he felt like there were only pieces left of his bones and his nerves were frayed and severed.

Thor placed him on the back of the Gullfaxi, moved his good leg so that he was sitting properly like the rider, and took his own place in the saddle.

"Hold on tight to me or I will tie you with a rope and stow you on the horse" he said, and Loki complied without hesitation, which only showed how tired he was. Thor chased his horse and at once they were galloping towards the palace.

Loki only noticed from the corner of his eye that Lettfeti was following them, a little behind, and then, reassured, closed his eyes. Surprisingly, he felt no pain. To be honest, he stopped feeling anything; even his tiredness slowly began to leave him, giving him over to soundless sleep.

As they rode, Thor felt the grip of the arms around his waist getting weaker and weaker. He tried to talk to Loki, reminding him of the threat, but he didn't respond at all. That's when Loki let go of him completely, and if Thor had paid less attention and not caught his wrist in time, Loki would have fallen from his horse and died under the hooves.

Now holding both wrists tightly, Thor rode with only one hand, steering the horse. Luckily for him, Gullfaxi was a loyal horse and wouldn't even think about bucking them off, and he knew the way to the Asgardian palace by heart, so Thor focused only on keeping his brother pressed to his back.

“Just a moment,” he said, but he didn't know if he was talking to himself, to Loki, to the horses, or if he was begging the Norns to give him just a moment.

They were so close now, Thor could actually see the tallest golden tower in the distance.

Just a moment, he repeated in his mind, but now he was speaking directly to the Norns.

Loki survived.

Of course he survived, Thor had no doubt about that even for a moment. But he wasn't so sure when it came to his confrontations with Mother and Father. There was a chance that he would not survive.

Mainly for two reasons:

First, he went hunting to the Forbidden Forest, lying to his Mother that he was going on a regular hunting trip nearby. Plus he took his younger brother, not even an adult yet, with him. Which, by the way, led him to the second reason, which was that he left him alone and exposed him to death.

According to Thor, they were going a bit overboard. His explanation was that if it weren't for him, Loki would have been dead a long time ago, which turned out to be a very bad argument, which meant that Thor might as well have "dug his own grave." It also failed to use the card that it was Frigga, and no one else, who told him to take Loki with him, which only condemned him to the Queen's endless wrath.

And it was decided that Thor would not leave the palace until summer came, and he would not take Loki anywhere by himself for at least two centuries.

Thor could have argued with the first punishment, saying that he was an adult and didn’t care about bans, but it turned out that it was the second punishment that touched him the most and it was about it that he argued furiously, as if he were waging a brutal and bloody war.

“That's my brother,” he announced, as if his parents had accidentally forgotten, “I have been taking care of him all my life and nothing has happened to him! And thanks to whom? Thanks to me."

“Until now, Thor,” Frigga reminded him. He rarely saw Mother upset, he could even say that he had never seen her like this - she was such a kind and calm soul. Yet she was there in front of him, her fists clenched and her brow furrowed, her voice stern and raging.

But it didn't phase Thor, because he was certain in his beliefs.

“It's just one situation versus a lot of others,” he said through clenched teeth, “And it will never happen again.”

“Loki is your responsibility, you should take better care of him.” Frigga did not give up. However, she took a deep breath after a while and when she spoke again she seemed less angry and more perturbed “You will be the one with him when your father and I leave this world, you will watch after him and make sure nothing bad happens to him.”

These words had already had some effect on Thor. He unclenched his fists and said, but still defensively, "I am aware, that’s why I am telling the truth, Mother."

“You're an adult, Thor. You should know better” Frigga sighed. She asked, and now her voice revealed only worry and pain. “How will you take care of our people if you can't even take care of your own family?”

Thor hated that one situation had made him look so horribly bad, and that his entire person had suddenly been questioned. Just because something happened to Loki didn't mean that Thor was unfit to be both a brother and a king. It was an accident! Simply! Accidents happen, and if he had known before, he would have stopped it immediately if he only could.

“It was an accident–” he growled, about to voice the rest of his thinking out loud.

“Loki, on the other hand, is no better either” Odin, who had been watching the conversation from the sidelines, finally joined the discussion. He said, causing the rest of the room to blink in disbelief, "He should have known better, but instead he blindly followed his older brother, knowing there was eventuality of going straight for the knife."

"He's still young" Frigga replied to him, and Thor noticed a strange kind of expression on her face.

“I wouldn't say he's that young, my dear,” Odin replied in his very calm tone, “He has a mind of his own and he shows it all too often.”

Thor really didn't like where this conversation was heading.

"It's not Loki's fault," he said firmly. No matter how much he wanted to get away with the whole thing and not face any consequences, it just wasn't fair to put the blame on Loki, who had suffered the most damage. Thor huffed in annoyance and decided "Fine, punish me, but let Loki be."

And, without waiting for a response from either parent, Thor announced, "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go check on him," and left.

-

"How's your leg?" Thor asked when he opened the door and noticed that Loki was already awake.

He didn't seem to be suffering from hypothermia, but the fireplace in his room was still lit and he was under a thick blanket with a steaming cup of tea in his hand and a book in the other.

“Good,” Loki replied simply and returned his gaze to his reading. It was really good. He felt no pain, mainly thanks to the medicinal herbs. And he will regain full control soon.

He added after a while with a sort of disappointment in his voice, "However, I won't be able to skate this winter."

"That's a shame," Thor said, actually feeling bad because he knew how much pleasure his brother took in something as bizarre as riding on a frozen lake just to do some even bizarrest pirouettes.

“I'll survive” Loki shrugged.

Thor invited himself in, causing Loki to roll his eyes in annoyance and, marking the book, tossed it aside. “At last no one will bother me because I don't want to accompany them on any of their noble adventures.”

Thor, hearing this, smiled slightly and flopped down on the bed next to Loki. “Luckily for you, no one will bother you for the next two centuries, either, dear brother. Unless there's someone else with us.”

Loki looked at Thor for a moment and said before looking away, "I'm sorry."

"What for?" Thor asked, looking at Loki with genuine surprise.

“You obviously got hit because of me,” Loki said reluctantly. He hated that his weak self had to drag Thor down as well. And honestly, he wouldn't be at all surprised if Thor condemned him for it even more now.

But Thor just muttered, "No, I deserved it." Loki finally looked at him, more than surprised. Thor, however, wasn't looking at him and was playing with the fringes of his blanket. “Don't tell them this, but they do have a point. I should have been more mindful and made sure you did return to the palace and were safe.”

"I don't need a guard, Thor," Loki replied, annoyed.

And Thor replied “But you need a good brother.”

To this, Loki had no snarky response.

“Are you coming back for him?” he asked, hoping this would change the subject.

Thor thought for a while and finally decided, “No, I'll let him live. The least I can do is show him my gratitude for not eating you," he laughed lightly, but quickly realized that he wasn't feeling good enough to joke about the whole situation yet.

“Plus, this place gave me the creeps,” he added, and shook as if a chill had gone through him.

“It's an animal, Thor.” Loki reminded him, not very impressed, “It just wasn't hungry. In a different situation, he probably would have done it.”

“Still” Thor was sure.

He turned on his side and announced, now looking only at Loki "Besides, I would have to wait until next winter" he made a grimace of dissatisfaction and explained "They told me I couldn't leave the palace until then."

“But you're an adult,” Loki frowned, “Are they going to imprison you like a princess in a tower?”

"Exactly!" Thor jumped up and shouted, his eyes shining as he was truly happy, "Only you get me, brother."

Loki, however, couldn't say the same about Thor.

Thor obviously didn't notice his silence, or it didn't do anything to him, because he smiled teasingly and said "At least now I'll be spending time with you and you only."

To which Loki bit off "So this is supposed to be a punishment for me?"

"Rude" Thor said disapprovingly, then let out a long yawn. Actually, he could use a nap too. And honestly, he didn't know if he had accidentally gotten first-degree frostbite on his fingers.

And Loki's place was so warm and nice. And he actually wanted to make sure that Loki was actually okay.

Thinking about this, he grabbed the blanket and soon found himself under this pleasant warmth and closed his eyes. Loki, of course, voiced his unhappiness with this action. "If you want to go to sleep, go to your room," he said, rising on his elbows and trying to push Thor off his bed.

But Thor was like a rock and just laughed. Loki let out a sigh that spoke of how pissed off he felt and was forced to give up. Sitting back on the pillow, he decided that as long as Thor didn't speak and disturb him, he could be here, so he returned to his book and tea.

There was silence for a long time, so long that Loki thought Thor had actually fallen asleep, but then he suddenly spoke up.

“You know I told the truth? I would never let anyone hurt you" he said, and Loki noticed that he was looking at him, his eyes holding a strange, unfamiliar emotion that he had never seen before in Thor's blue.

“...I know,” Loki admitted after a moment of silence.

And he really believed it.

But that Thor wouldn't hurt him, no matter how much he wanted to and how hard he tried, he couldn't believe.

And he sincerely doubted he would ever do it again.