Over The Fences

by messystuffs

"One day they will see me touching it!" Thor whispered when they were considering at the biggest tomb through the fences. But in Loki's innocent thought, over those fences was somewhere that only belonged to something called "death". The villagers always told the story about a soul of a lonely woman who caught anyone that came close to her tomb and kept them with her underground...

"It's okay. She's gone."

Thor whispers to his little brother who is shivering next to him, they're still hiding under the kitchen table. The older boy draws up the tablecloth and looks around to make sure that his mother is not here at the moment, and everything is exactly the same as he wishes: No one is here, exept him and Loki - his little shy brother. And the jar full of cookies on the cupboard which is becoming too near them now. Thor can't imagine how marvelous it can be when that sweetest cookie touches his tongue, and his ears listen to it cracking. So he urges his brother to come out and take some.

"I'm scared!", Loki murmurs, "What if she come back?"

Thor slaps on his brother's shoulder and says.

"No, she doesn't. She's gone to Sif's house and you knows, she will not come back until 6. We have enough time and to spare."

Even Thor can't believe that Loki believes every word he's said. He takes a deep deep breath before gets out and slowly comes to the cupboard where the jar is. But he still hesitates and worries, he turns back to see his brother under the table and inches his way forward, closer and closer to that attractive treasure. Behind him, his older brother is holding his breath, watching each step he makes. He puts his hand on his lips so that the moan won't come out of his throat and scare his little brother. Finally, Loki's fingers touch the jar, he picks it up and opens it. The little delicious cookies appear one by one under the lid, their sweet smell spread out that urges the boy to take one and poor little Loki can't resist that temptation: he hurriedly picks one and puts in his mouth. Tasty! He closes his eyes to enjoy the tiny delicious cookie that doesn't realize that his brother is trying to call him, he wants one too. Thor's angry and yells, but Loki smiles to him and sticks his tongue out.

"I'll tell mom!", Thor says with a frown and his arms folded.

"But you induced me to take them!", Loki yells when the door suddenly opens and their mother comes in tiredly. Her eyes grow bigger when she sees his son holding the cookie jar and some chocolate is still on his cheek.

"What have you done?", she yells and pulls the jar out of Loki's arms, "I've told you many times that I make them for the next fair"

"But... but Thor told me...", Loki stammers, tries to explain, but his mother no longer listens to him, she's too angry to see her money being eaten one by one like that. She pulls him closer and slaps on his butt. Like many times before, he doesn't cry which makes she more angry.

"Go to your room", she yells and points upstair, "Detention! All weeks!"

"It's not my fault!"

"Shut up!"

The room become quiet that only Loki's moan can be heard.

"I hate you!"

He yells and runs away in his mother's astonished glint. Behind them, under the table, a tear falls down Thor's cheek but he decides to do nothing, he can't, he doesn't want to be punished so he stays in where he's hiding, which now is covered with fear. He cuddles up like a little kitten and lets the tear keep dropping on his shirt, he knows that his mother can hardly forgive this, 'cause she put all her effort on those cookies in order to sale as many as possible in the next fair. Many times he saw his mother talking with the landlady, and none of those times she got back without threatening them, that they were three months in arrears with their rent. Being a single mom of two sons never seems so easy to his mother, and he's thankful to her that not abandon him and his brother. He regrets inducing Loki to steal the cookies, he knows that his brother has no fault in this. It's his fault, but he's not fearless enough to admit it. He punches the floor with his fist until it become red, he bends down to the ground and falls asleep.

A clap of thunder resounds which awakes the sleeping boy under the table. Thor rubs his eyes and suddenly remembers about his brother. "I have to find him", he whispers to himself while getting out of his shelter and finds no one in the house. Outside is dark so he can see nothing but some tall trees next to the fences which divide his family's yard from a cemetery nearby. Their old scraggy branches spread towards their house, which look like the dirty skinny fingers of an old evil witch in some folktales. Another clap of thunder, and the lightning flashes across the sky: It's going to be rain. It rained last night, the lightning and thunder scared Loki, he can't stop shivering and grabbing his brother's shirt tight.

"Thor, can I sleep in your bed? I'm scared.", the little black-haired boy insisted, grabbed his brother arms. Thor knew what would happen if he said "no", his little brother would toss and turn in his bed and murmur all night which could awake him whenever he fell into a slumber. So Thor agreed, and Loki would quickly cuddle up under his brother's blanket since he was afraid of Thor changing his mind, like a little mischievous squirrel. Thor rubbed his hair and lied down next to him, sometimes whispered to him a lullaby that his mother used to sing that he could remember.

Another thunder brings Thor back to present, where he's standing in the dark with no one around. It starts to rain outside and none of Loki or his mother comes back. He doesn't really worry about his mother, she can easily take care of herself, but Loki can't. "I have to find him! He'll be cold outside!", says Thor and he immediately runs out without neither raincoat nor umbrella, he has no time to think about those, there's only one thing in his mind now: Loki. The heavier the rain is, the more the wind rises. The dark quickly covers everything like it swallows them into its big stomach, but it can't hinder Thor from searching for his poor little brother.

"Loki! Loki where are you?"

His voice awakes Loki who is lying on the biggest branch of an old oak tree nearby. He's still afraid of the thunder which become more frightening outdoor, so he lies down and puts his arms around the branch like he used to do with his brother. "Thor?", hear his brother calling, the younger boy instantly opens his green eyes to look around and sees his brother standing next to the foot of the tree, trying to call his name. He wants to answer, to tell him that he's here, but everything happened in the afternoon immediately appears in his mind and takes the sound before he makes it. "It's not my fault... It's yours!". Loki takes a deep breath like he did before taking the cookies and gets back to the leaf canopy, watching his brother attentively in the dark with a huge amusement. Meanwhile, the poor older brother doesn't know what is happening on the tree, he looks up disappointedly before leaving to another place, he may be disappointed but it's not easy for him to give up right now. Loki's eyes follow his brother running away and disappearing in the heavy rain and wind, another clap of thunder resounds but he doesn't feel scared much, actually he doesn't really care about it. He's satisfied to see his brother being wretched, he thinks that he deserves it after leaving his brother to bear the blame alone. But he doesn't know for sure why his heart is so hurt like this, like it's being stabbed by a thousand little knives. He raises himself, intends to call his brother back but once again his mind takes over. The little boy sits down helplessly, cuddles up in a few seconds before screams out and punches the trunk with his tiny fists, until he sees them bleeding as much as his heart does. The lightning flashes with another terrible sound along, and the wind becomes colder and colder.

"Thor! Brother! Please come and take me home, I'm scared, so so scared.", he shiveringly murmurs before his eyes slowly close.

Another terrible sound awakes Loki and he slowly opens his eyes again. It doesn't rain anymore, and a blue moon instantly appears behind the smoky clouds. He sits up to see it clearly above the tallest tree in town, since he realizes that the sound he's heard is not thunder. It's from a barn owl flying around the moon. Loki stands up, from here he can see his neighborhood envelopped in the mist. A cold breeze blows through his black hair, which makes the litte boy chilly. There's nothing wrong with it but he still has some strange feeling about something not right. After a few minutes, Loki climbs down and decides to go home. It's so strange that the grass under his feet isn't soaked, it sofly rubs them like a vast carpet. Under the moon light, the little boy runs as fast as he can on the path back to his town. There's still a light on in his house although it's quite late now, he carefully opens the wooden front door and comes in, finds his mother sitting on the rocking chair, considering some old baby clothes in her hands. "Mom, where's Thor?", he happily runs upstair to find him but he sees their bedroom empty when the door's opened. His brother is not here, which make him very surprised. He comes downstair, toward the kitchen but still can't find his brother anywhere. The poor little boy is asking himself many questions when he gets back to the living room and suddenly sees his mother's tear. She's crying!

"Mom? What's wrong?", askes Loki when he comes closer and kneels down next to her, puts his chin on her thigh like he and Thor used to do, watching her sewing or listening to her folktales. His mother doesn't answer, she just sits on the chair quitely like a shadow, she doesn't take her eyes off the clothes even in a single second. She's whispering something that takes Loki a few minutes to realize: an old lullaby. Loki shivers and stands up instantly, steps back slowly from her when she slowly raises her eyes then her head to look up, her beautiful blue eyes are now blank and empty. Suddenly, she bursts out crying and her skinny fingers cover her face.

"He's gone! Gone!", she yells which frightens Loki, his eyes grow wider and his lips start to move.

"Gone? Who?"

It seems like his mother doesn't care about what he's said or even his existence, she keeps crying and murmurs.

"We lost him! I lost him!"

Loki doesn't understand what she's said, which makes him embarrassed in fear. Some women who have heard his mother's cry runs in and use all their words to comfort her.

"It's okay! Everything will be alright!"

"Don't cry! He'll have a better life in Heaven, with no poverty or sadness."

The ground starts spinning round and round under Loki's feet, the poor little boy dizzily steps back, he has to lean on the front door to stand up, trying to breathe hard like a fish out of water. "It's impossible! Thor... He can't... You're liar!", Loki yells at his mother and all the women around her, but no answer is given back. His mother continues to cry hard and the others start to cry after her, someone's praying. A tear falls down on Loki's cheek, he still doesn't understand. But how? How it could happen? He runs out with a pain deep inside that tearing his heart in thousands pieces. He let himself hit to a wall to stop and leans against it, tears continuedly drip and fall down and wet his shirt. Memory of those days when Thor was still beside him appears in his mind and starts obsessing it, Loki holds his head with both hands and wishes those memories to disappear. "Liar! It's just lie!", he yells and punches the wall, then he leans his forehead on it and lets out a breath, or exactly, a soft moan.

Now he's sitting quietly and motionlessly like a statue, he doesn't breathe so hard like in last few minutes. He looks up and sees the blue moon which he has seen on the top of the tree lurking in the dark, looks half strange, half haunted. The clouds continue to flow over the moon which is now fully appears and lights up a large area in front of his eyes: the dark and cold cemetery appears, deep in the blue moonlight. Loki stares at that visionary view which has become clearer than ever, his eyes grow wider when he sees something moving. There're some tiny fired spots which slowly fly through the cemetery's iron gate bumper-to-bumper, sometimes they hide, then appear, then disappear again behind the tombs. They're too far that he can't recognize them, fireflies? Loki stands up, rubs his eyes and looks around, he sees nothing but the dark covering every corner of the paths. All the lights have been blown out, and the town becomes deadly silent that even a breath can be heard easily. Loki thinks that when he turns around to see the cemetery one more time, those ghostly fired spots will disappear, 'cause maybe there's nothing in the cemetery, maybe Loki's too tired, maybe...! "They'll disappear. They're not real", he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before turning back to look at that place as he's decided.

And the cemetery's old rusty gate appears right in front of him.

It's so close. And so real.

It's not a dream. It can't be a dream...

Loki turns around. The mossy brick wall has disappeared. But when he turns back, the gate doesn't disappear like the fired spots. It's still there, cold and mysterious, hiding all its secrets behind those stone tombs. Creaking blends in the whispers of the wind, and some ravens' giggles, that terrible mixture frightens the poor little boy's heart and soul more than a clap of thunder very much. The wind stops blowing but it can't help Loki feel less cold, the silence even makes him feel colder inside. Not because of fear or loneliness, but both of them - another terrible mixture.

The gate's creak in the wind sounds like someone's crying around here. Well, this is a cemetery, and nothing can't stop that noise even the death. The gate suddenly opens, no one there except Loki, and it opens to welcome the tiny brave visitor who dares come at midnight. Not many boys can make it, neither can the adults. Nobody knew exactly what they feared, but it was spread swiftly that no parents let their children to come there, specially when the blue moon lighted up that area. Not only the kids but also the adults rarely went through its rusty gate, unless in the funerals which were always made as fast as possible. The villagers always told each other the story about a soul of a lonely woman died a long time ago, she had no family or friends so that she caught anyone that came close to her tomb - the biggest tomb there - and kept them with her underground forever. Although the villagers were worried, contrary to them, the children were not. The cemetery became a huge challenge to the boy, and if anyone dared go there alone even in the morning and touched the biggest tomb, he would be the leader of all.

"One day they will see me touching it!", Thor whispered to his little brother when they were considering at the biggest tomb through the fences. And Loki, the little timid boy, nestled closer to his brother whenever he rolled his eyes at the tomb. Contrary to his brother's zealousness, Loki wished that he would never have to come into that place and so would his brother. In his innocent thought, over those fences was somewhere that only belonged to the bats and the cold, and something called "death" that he didn't know for sure what it was like. The little boy shoke his head, let his brother rub his black hair.

"And you'll go with me, brother", Thor said, but Loki quickly refused.

"What if there was a big big monster in there?", Loki asked timidly, his beautiful green eyes grew wider waiting for his brother's answer. Waiting for a sign of agreement. He didn't want his brother to be eaten by that horrible creature. But instead of an answer or a nod, Thor smiled and asked his brother tenderly:

"If I have trouble there, will you come and give me a hand?"

It's been never easy to Loki to answer that question, even for now, when that cemetery's gate is only a footstep distant from him. Too close! The little boy doesn't really want to think about his brother now, but he can't get him out of his mind, that he doesn't realize that he has stepped in. Loki, the most timid boy in this town, has gone through that haunted rusty gate, he turns back and sees nothing behind him, and from that moment he knows that there's no way back once everything has started. A cry echoes down from the blue moon which makes the little boy shiver. Wind springs up. Moonlight's shinning down to the cold stone tombs, and fire flares up under the ground, spurting like red hot lava, filling with screams, fright and misery. The soil which has covered them for so long is now melted like chocolate, and some skinny fingers grab on the tomb to climb up from underground. Loki steps back with fear turning up in his eyes, he intends to run but an ugly musty skeleton snatches his feet. His forehead hits to the ground and bleeds, but tears in his eyes even drip faster than blood. He feels sore and bitter, his arms and legs become flaccid, the poor little boy lets that ugly skeleton pulls him down to the ground. Suddenly, a weak call echoes: "Loki... Loki..."

"Thor? Thor!", Loki raises his eyes and sees his brother standing next to a new tomb. He immediately kicks that repulsive skull out of his foot and climbs up.

"Thor! Thor! Where are you? Let's get out of here."

He calls, but no one answers. His brother has disappear with the horrible skeletons like the mysterious fired spots. Loki looks around dazedly and whines, he bites his lips, tries to keep tears from falling out, but one tear drips and the others instantly fall down after it. Wipe the tears out, Loki sees a giant tomb which is carved beautifully before him. The famous tomb which he always heard, but he's never seen it that close. When he's standing right in front of it, it looks even more haunted and frighten than in the stories. He silently considers at its unique patterns for a while, feeling like being hypnotized by a strange magic. Loki's panic, he wants to turn away but his eyes are under control. Another cold breeze blows through his black hair, Loki now can take his eyes off the tomb, he turns around and sees someone behind him.

Engulfed in the black overcoat, Loki can't see her face clearly, only her blue lips and pale skin can be seen under the moonlight. But those things aren't enough for him to recognize who she is. A chilling howl raises up through the trees that freezes the little boy's blood but he tries to not show off his fear, as the strange woman is still standing motionlessly in front of him. "Even if you're scared to death", his mother's voice whispers in his mind, "don't let anyone know it or they'll make it worse than ever". Loki gulps back his tears which is waiting for a second of weakness to drip off, he takes a deep breath to calm down and raises his voice timidly.

"Who... Who are you?"

His voice becomes half brave half scaring since his whole body is shivering in the cold and fear. The woman doesn't answer to him, and Loki wonders if she's staring at the weak tiny boy in front of her, under that black cloth. Although he doesn't really want to get his eyes off her - a way to defend and predict if she's going to do anything, Loki finally gives up and looks around to find any sign of someone who can give him a hand. But he's found no one, the area around him is terrifically empty and dark, like he's lost in an infinite space of nothing. His eyes slowly turn back to look straight to the woman in black, she doesn't move, which makes her becomes more mysterious.

"Do you see my brother?", the little boy asks again, trying to pretend that the woman in front of him is just as normal as his humorous neighbors in town who are always generous to give him and his brother their broken fish-shaped cookies. The woman seems to wait for something, she lets down her pale hands and holds her head up. Loki is numbed when he sees her eyes: They're black and empty just like the space around him. His lips tremble with fright as she finally lets out a loud and horrible laughter, displaying all of her yellowed sharp teeth.

"Of course yes! Don't you know who I am?"

Her voice is soft and deep. She slowly tilts her head, her loosen black hair slips out of the ragged hood, flowing in the cold wind. She opens up her arms and comes closer to him but the boy quickly steps back. The woman wistfully stares at him and Loki realizes that something is gradually changing in her eyes: she looks so sorrowful with her hands dropping and her eyes opening wide.

"Why are you so sad?", asks Loki. The woman stands up straight and looks up the sky like she wants to complain with the God - sometimes Loki saw his mother did so when she was alone in her room at night, maybe she thought that her boys already fell asleep but they didn't. The woman in black rolls her empty eyes at him, her mouth contorted as she raises her voice sadly.

"I'm lonely, very very lonely!"

"Why?"

She holds her face up and bursts out crying like a child, although Loki doesn't see any tears falling down like usual.

"I have no family, no relatives. No friends!"

She continues to cry and whine while Loki tilts his head to look at the tomb behind her. It's true that he only sees her name on it, there's no address or birthday.

"Are you orphan?", Loki asks since he's less scared now, instead he feels pity for her. He comes closer to touch her skinny hands and whispers, "What can I do to help you?"

"Really? Will you?", she smiles immediately, just like she hasn't cried or felt sad before. Her smile and amusement makes Loki smiles, although he can feel something behind them, something that doesn't simple as it looks. The woman stoops down to look straight to the boy's eyes and grabs his hand tight, "If so, will you stay with me?"

Loki is so surprised that he becomes speechless for a second, but he quickly pulls his hands out of hers and steps back as far as he can.

"I'm sorry, but I can't!", he says, and the woman's eyes fall in sorrow again, this time it's worse.

"Why not, my dear?"

"I have to go home", says the boy whose fear is growing up inside of him, "My mom is waiting for us, I don't want to see her anxious and sad. And I have to find my brother, too".

As soon as he talks about finding his brother, the woman breaks into a malicious chuckle.

"You don't have to do so, my boy!", she says and laughes out loud as Loki looks at her curiously and confusedly. "Your brother is here!"

"Where? Where?"

The woman slowly stands aside so that Loki can see his brother right in front of him, happy and kind. He quickly runs to him and grabs his brother's hand to pull him toward, but he stays still.

"Thor! Let's go home! Mommy is waiting for us!"

"I... can't!"

Loki is speechless in surprise as the woman once again lets out another malicious laugh.

"But Thor...Why?"

He suddenly recognizes why even his brother doesn't answer and looks up to the woman who is standing aside and watching their conversation amusedly.

"My dear, you don't understand. Your brother has agreed to stay with me. Forever!"

"No!", the poor little boy screams and turns to grabs his brother's hands, "No, Thor! Just tell her that you didn't! You didn't, did you?"

Thor just stands there, pursing his lips before smiling weakly to his little brother and soothes him with a weak slap on his shivering shoulder.

"She's right... I'll stay here... I'll be fine, Loki. Don't worry about me!"

The tears start to fall down on the little boy's cheeks as he hears what he doesn't want to hear. He doesn't let his brother's hands go, he grabs them tighter instead. His lips are pursed that they look as red as they're bleeding.

"No one can be fine if they have to stay where they don't want to stay!", Loki murmurs. Thor lows his head, then he looks up to his brother's beautiful green eyes, looks deep to them. He wants to look at them as much as he can to remember them as clearly as when Loki is still standing in front of him, his eyes sparkling under the sun. He'll miss them a lot.

"I do want to stay, Loki!"

Loki stands motionlessly and silently while the woman pulls his hands out of Thor's violently. Thor steps back aside her as Loki is still staring at him wistfully. The woman in black strokes his hair and grins satisfactorily, speaking to his little brother who seems not to want to come home.

"Be a good boy, Loki! You shouldn't make your brother confused like this. I promise that your brother will have the best life that he has ever dreamed of, he'll have a lot of friends and there's no poverty or sadness around him."

"But what about mom?", Loki doesn't really care about the wonderful prospect which the woman is painting, he's staring at Thor, who is trying to avoid his look, and asks him with his firmest voice, "What about... me?"

"Go home, Loki!", Thor finally raises his voice, he doesn't want those wet green eyes weaken his spirit, "Just go!"

"Do you hear that, little boy?", the mysterious woman says tenderly, "I'm an easy one, but my patience is limited. I've given you a chance so that only one of you must stay here", she suddenly changes her tune to a more malicious one and warns, "Don't make me angry and break that last chance!"

Loki bursts out crying. Thor purses his lips so that he will not cry after him, just to prove that he does want to stay.

"I'm sorry... brother!... It's all my fault!", Loki murmurs as the tears and pain choke his words. Thor doesn't respond, although he's hurt and broken inside. This is the last thing that he can do to protect his little brother, and he suddenly worries if someone can do it better when he's gone: who would hold him up and soothe him whenever he fell down, who would sing him a lullaby when the thunder was screaming outside. He doesn't know, and it seems like he has no chance to find out. He lets out a soft sigh as a tear falling down his cheek. The woman grins and finally decides to finish this stuff: she pulls the blond-haired boy away, back to her cold tomb where the ground has already splitted in half to welcome a new one joy in. Loki doesn't cry anymore, he wipes off the trails of tears on his cheeks.

"No!", as quick as a wink, the little black-haired boy rushes in and pushes the evil woman into the hole. Both her and his brother fall down but Loki grabs his hand tight, his brother is too heavy to him that he almost falls down to the hole. Thor is hung over the furious fires of underworld which is swallow up the everything falling inside its mouth, one of his hand waves unexpectedly in the hot air until it grabs a root.

"Hang on!", Loki yells and tries to stands up to pull his brother up to the ground. The older boy falls over his brother's skinny body as the fires erupts like lava of a volcano and the woman now appears as a horrible giant monster, with her sharp teeth displayed and blood dripping off her eyes and mouth. She roars with rage, looking around but the boys has disappeared behind those short and tall tombs. She slowly creeps through the cold stone tombs under the moon light, doesn't know that the boys are running behind her.

"Come on, Loki!", Thor calls out his brother who is hiding behind a tomb opposite his.

"I'm scared, Thor. What if she comes back?", Loki whines, he still remembers the last time they stole their mother's cookies.

"Just trust me!"

Loki takes a deep breath before running toward his brother with his eyes close. The giant monster sees him and rushes in but Thor has already got his little brother in his arms. They runs toward the main door of the cemetery but the monster grabs Loki's foot and hangs him in the air. Thor gives her a powerful fist, thanks to the fights with his other classmates that he was rarely absent. The stabbing pain inflames her rage as she grabs the boy's neck and begins to tighten it.

"It seems like you guys are not the reasonable ones", she says and laughes out loud as her finger tighten Thor's neck, making his face pale and blue. Although Thor tries to struggle, he finally becomes exhausted because he can't breathe.

"No!", Loki yells up when he sees his brother not moving anymore, he turns to look at the monster with his big green eyes, "Please don't kill him! I'll stay with you if you let him go! Forever!"

"You think that I'll believe you after all? Never!", the monster bawls, shaking violently the poor little boy in the air.

"No, I promise! I promise that I'll stay with you if you let my brother come home", the boy starts begging her, "Please!"

The monster stares at the boy, half doubt half believe but she finally puts Thor down, laughing at him triumphantly.

"You see, boy! After all, one of you still have to stay! Now I can have another one for my collection!"

The monster sticks her tongue out to lick her prize as Thor looks up and smiles.

"No, you're not!"

He looks back at the sun rising behind the tallest tree, lighting up the world with it pink and warm light from the horizon. The monster roars up as she covers her eyes with her hand, turns away to run back to her shelter. But Thor quickly holds her feet with all his arms and feet so that she can't run fast.

"No! No! No!"

The light has come to touch the cemetery doors, driving away the cold dark covering all the tombs. The monster become extremely rattled, she struggles painstakingly and kicks the boy out to escape. Thor quickly follows her but all he can do is catching his little brother as the giant monster vanishes in the glow of dawn. Thor holds him up since his eyes still close and his hands loosen, tries to call him up but it doesn't work.

"Loki! Wake up! Please don't scare me, brother!"

The older boy bursts out crying and tightens his brother in his arms. Tears start dripping off his blue eyes, dropping down on Loki cheek as the little boy's eyelids finally move.

"Thor? Are you crying?"

"Yeah!", Thor smiles and tightens Loki in his arms again, tighter and longer.

"I'm sorry, Thor!", the little black-haired boy murmurs, putting his arms around his brother's neck.

"No, Loki. It's my fault, it was me who pushed both of us into this trouble!"

Loki burries his face in his brother blond hair and suddenly of remembering something, he pushes out and whispers.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Anything!", Thor's smile shines up his face, which makes him looks more like an angle falling from the sky. Loki admires him carefully before letting a question slip out his lips.

"Are you dead?"

There's a change on Thor's face that Loki can't understand. The older boy finally carries up his brother on his arms and soothes, "Let's come home!"

"But mom and the neighbors said..."

"Forget it, Loki. It's over."

Loki wakes up on his bed and his mother is nodding on the old wooden chair next to him, leaning her back against the wall. Hearing the noise, she opens her eyes and smiles happily to see her son's recovery. Kissing on her cheek, Loki asks curiously.

"Mom, do you still hold it against me?"

The woman is a bit puzzled, but it quickly disappears and replaced with a bright smile on her lips.

"No, honey!"

"Where's Thor?"

"He...", his mother looks around surprisedly as they both hear someone running upstairs. It's Thor, with a handful of broken fish-shaped cookies.

"Thor!", Loki runs to his brother and Thor holds him up although his hand is still holding the cookies. It's all okay if they're broken into pieces, actually they has already been.

"Do you want to come out to see the cremation with me?"

"Cremation?"

"Yeah! The villagers has agreed to cremate the remains under the biggest tomb in the cemetery", the blond-haired boy says, throwing a piece of cookie into his mouth. Loki nods his head and after he dresses up, the two boy follow each other down the street, not forget to say goodbye to their mom.

Even she has no idea what happened over the fences.