A/N:
Hello again! Since I promised more Thor and Loki content, I'm here to deliver on that. I'm obviously a fan of hurt/comfort (lol), so there's gonna be quite a bit in this story. ;3 Plus plenty of them being brotherly, of course!
I got the idea for this by reading lots of other stories, so if there's similarities, I swear I'm not trying to copy anyone. I'm just putting my own thoughts into a fic of this nature. Anyway, hope you enjoy!
"Father, please," Loki repeated, more insistent. He tried to keep the whine out of his voice, but some of it slipped through, much to his disdain. It didn't help his case, but he'd been arguing with the Allfather for what seemed like an hour (though it was much closer to five minutes).
"Loki . . ." Odin sighed, shaking his head. "You're not strong enough to go to Vanaheim, let alone during a magical occurrence; I've told you this."
"I am strong enough, though—I have my own magic, I would be fine!"
"And what happens if one of the witches or hunters there decides you're better off dead? Hmm? Would you be 'fine enough'' to escape entrapment if they decided you were an enemy? If they overpowered you?"
Loki fumed silently, flustered beyond belief. The alignment of the nearby stars in this particular region of Vanaheim produced a rare magical effect that caused all sorts of spiritual creatures and plants to take life and flourish—but only for one night. This convergence was only once every few hundred years, and the chance was too great and too tempting for the trickster to give up.
Unfortunately, Odin deemed it too dangerous for Loki.
"Mother would let me," was all the young god could finally come up with, looking at the shined floor moodily.
Odin smiled slightly, knowing how frustrated Loki was and how hard he was trying to go.
"Well, Frigga would certainly let you go with her, yes. But you know we've been busy, and she is far more concerned with other business at the moment—she told you this herself, did she not?" the Allfather asked.
Loki sighed, but nodded and recalled the conversation. Upon asking Frigga about it, she had smiled sweetly and pet his hair, but said she would have to decline for particular reasons dealing with politics and other realms.
And the last thing Loki wanted was to be babied and held back by royal guards that would come with him—not to mention Thor, the blundering oaf. He would only get in the way. That was why Loki had not even mentioned to his older brother the convergence.
"I'm sorry, my son, but I would feel much better if you were not out alone with no backup plan. Perhaps when you are older," Odin continued. Loki frowned deeply, upset at this; he debated internally whether or not to just sneak out, but knew if he was caught he'd be in very hot water with both his parents, which never turned out well for him.
Loki was just about to turn and stalk out the throne room when he saw the red-and-gold figure of his brother step up beside him. The younger god cocked his head at this.
"I'd be willing to go with Loki, Father—if it allows him to do something he's interested in," Thor said, and Loki nearly jumped out of his skin in surprise. He had to refrain from letting his mouth fall open.
Odin glanced between the two brothers, looking contemplative. A pregnant pause followed.
"I suppose if Thor goes with you, Loki, you would both be better off," Odin finally said with a small smile on his face.
Thor nodded in acceptance and then immediately turned to Loki, who was still stunned. The eyes on him knocked him out of his state and the trickster quickly cleared his throat and said, "Th-thank you, Father."
Odin nodded his head once and then waved his hand. "Be careful out there, my sons. Vanaheim is filled with spots that are shady to Heimdall's vision."
"Yes, of course," Thor responded. He turned around and Loki followed the thunderer out of the throne room. As soon as the doors closed behind them, the trickster grabbed Thor's arm and yanked him around—well, kind of. As much as he could, Thor did the rest.
"Why did you do that?" Loki hissed, glaring daggers at his brother.
"What? I did it because I know how much how like stuff like this"—
"How did you even know? I never told you about this convergence, let alone when I was talking to Father!"
"I may not have your book smarts, Loki, but I can tell when you are emotional about something, and I know how to ask questions. Mother was very telling about how much you were looking forward to this."
"I didn't want your help. I don't need a babysitter!" Loki was defiant, his eyes burning with anger.
Thor scowled at the smaller god, annoyed he was being so petulant. "If you don't want to go with me, then fine. Don't. Because if you don't go with me, you don't go at all."
With that, Thor stormed away, red cape swaying with his movements. Loki watched him go for a moment, determined to be stubborn, but it lasted only a moment before he realized how much he really wanted to go see the convergence. He shifted on his feet, fighting his pride, before taking off after Thor.
Unbeknownst to the trickster, Thor heard his footsteps coming rapidly towards him, already expecting the mind change, a smirk on his lips as a hand casually brushed against Thor's arm to get his attention.
"N-now, I don't mean to say I don't want to go, Thor," Loki began with a slight hint of nervousness to his voice.
Thor hid his smile and instead listened to his brother talk about the convergence as they walked together down the hall.
Vanaheim was dark, shadows creeping in every corner of the forest they were currently travelling through. The two brothers were one in front of the other with Loki leading the way as he had the directions to the cove where they would be waiting through the night. It was not even dusk yet, but the walk was a bit long and Loki wanted to make sure they got there in time to see everything bloom and change. This would be an excellent time for harvesting very rare plants and creatures for his magical use.
Thor watched the green cape flow in front of him as they walked. He admired the way his brother wanted to come here alone and be on his own for a change—it was quite brave of him, but Loki was no fighter. The trickster preferred magic, a woman's craft, Thor had always thought, and although Loki had quite useful magic and his own daggers, he wasn't exceedingly strong and lacked stamina. The chances of meeting ne'er-do-wells in Vanaheim could be high, and if a group of them encountered his brother, his safety could be on the line; words would not always be effective.
Yes, this would probably be a bit boring for Thor, but Loki was excited about it, and seeing his brother happy was something the thunderer always enjoyed seeing. Loki was, a lot of the time, stoic and quiet, so it was nice to see him smile.
Thor wasn't saying they didn't get along, but their interests varied greatly and it could be hard to find something they both enjoyed together. Going on quests or trips to different realms, however, was usually greeted with content from both sides.
"My goodness, can you walk any louder?" Loki snapped from in front of him. Thor lurched out of his thoughts at this, having not been paying attention.
Loki glanced over his shoulder at the thunderer, who now bore a blank stare.
Typical.
"You're stomping through this forest like a bildshnipe. I wouldn't be surprised if every being in this realm knew we were here because of you!" Loki scoffed. Thor had been stepping on every fallen branch, leaf, and bit of underbrush possible, it seemed. He was interrupting Loki's planning with his incessant noise
"I have not seen a single person out here at all, brother—and I doubt I was being . . . that loud," Thor said with a sheepish grin. "Are we almost to where this 'converging' will happen?"
Thor truly was getting tired of walking through a forest that all looked the same.
Loki sighed with a quick roll of his eyes. This was just one of many reasons why he hadn't wanted to bring the thunderer with him.
"Yes, we're just a few hundred meters away, in fact. But you need to be more cautious, thunder steps. We don't want you scaring everything within a forty mile radius away from us," Loki chided. He sent Thor an admonishing look, raising his eyebrows at him.
Thor shrugged, resigned, and continued following his brother through the dense trees. He'd never been one for stealth.
"Okay, here's the place," Loki said a minute later. He stepped forward and into a spread out clearing. Trees were scattered in smaller clusters throughout, thick vines winding between branches, and the pitch sky could be seen through the sprawling canopies. Stars dotted their vision, and several larger ones were almost exactly lined up, their far away bodies seeming to touch.
Thor watched his brother with a cocked head as the trickster began to whisper something under his breath. Loki's hands lit with soft green magic, barely visible in daylight, but brighter in the dark.
"What is it that you are doing?" Thor asked loudly to draw his brother's attention. He stepped closer to peer over his shoulder.
Loki jumped just slightly in response, eyes widening. He flicked his eyes back to the blonde standing behind him and smiled nervously. "Ah, just, uh, getting a bit excited. Magic, emotions, you know." He shrugged and ran a hand down the front of his armored chest. Thor's lips tugged into a smirk at the display but he continued on.
"And . . . when does this start?"
"In a few minutes, brother! Don't rush things; be patient for once." Loki seemed dissatisfied, giving Thor burning green eyes.
Thor frowned but relented, knowing this was Loki's deal. He didn't want to ruin whatever this was for him, but . . . still, the elder prince was already bored and wanting for something to happen.
As per usual on their excursions, Thor had brought along his hammer, Mjölnir. He'd had it for a long time now for it was his customary weapon, and nothing bested it in terms of reliability. He'd gotten quite good at wielding it and was used to having it at his side. Currently, he bounced its handle in his hand out of restlessness, wishing for a fight.
"Don't be so impatient. There's nothing to fight here, Thor," Loki said, sensing the mood from his older brother. "Just do whatever, I suppose, as I do what I want." He glanced towards the sky. "It's starting!"
Thor lifted blue eyes to the darkness but saw nothing different than from a few minutes ago. He was about to ask what was happening when he spotted Loki bounding across the clearing.
"Loki!" the thunderer shouted in surprise. He needed to keep the trickster in his sights; it was his duty as the elder. Dark green flashed through the trees and Thor quickly caught up to his brother, who was now bent down beside something. "Loki, what . . ."
Thor faded off as he saw what Loki was currently inspecting. A small creature, no bigger than Mjölnir in size, was sitting at his brother's booted feet. The creature was translucent and glowing with a blueish-green hue, its large ears flicking towards the sound of Thor approaching. It had small horns protruding from its head and only two large back paws on which it bounced around on.
Loki seemed exceedingly interested in it, his green eyes wide and a hesitant hand reaching out to brush against its ears. His fingers made contact with what looked like only light, but the magic creature was as solid as anything. With a twitch of its nose, it turned and leapt away into the underbrush.
Loki got to his feet with a grin on his face. He looked at Thor with shining eyes.
"Was that not the most magical thing you've ever seen?" Loki beamed. He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet.
Thor wasn't sure how to respond right away but decided that it had piqued his interest.
"Verily, little brother. What was that thing?" Thor asked.
"I don't even know. A moonlight sprite in origin, however, I believe. There are many kinds, and that's a majority of the animals that will come to life from the magic of the convergence tonight. Myself, I'm looking for the birds. Moon sprite feathers are very useful in spells."
Thor nodded. "Anything dangerous?"
Loki paused, thinking it over, but ended up shaking his head. "Don't think so. Personally, I'm more surprised we haven't seen anyone else yet. That's the only thing I was slightly worried about."
"Do not worry about them, brother. If we run into trouble, I shall fight them off." Thor smirked but was met with a roll of the eyes from Loki.
"I am more than capable of defending myself, you'd do well to remember," Loki retorted.
"Of course. But I was sent to have your back," Thor replied.
Loki huffed and continued on anyway. Thor followed his movements, not quite paying attention to what exactly he was doing but keeping the younger prince in his line of sight. Thor let his eyes wander the area, taking note of the similarly colored and glowing plants that flowered around them. They let off pollen into the air to give the forest an even more magical feeling.
How ever much Thor said he was going to keep a close eye on Loki, he soon found himself utterly distracted. He didn't have much in the way for an attention span at times, especially when he was bored, and watching his brother collect plants and the occasional feather from the ground was mind numbingly boring considering that Thor had no idea what any of these things really were or what they were for. Asking Loki a question every two seconds would only annoy the young god and make him even more sassy, so the thunderer kept quiet and just followed. Unfortunately, as previously stated, this only drove Thor to the point of distraction via butterfly.
So when something very much not blueish-green and glowing zipped by in the opposite direction, Thor's eyes went right to it. He cocked his head at it, trying to locate it in the trees. Deciding he had to know what he'd just seen, Thor turned and sauntered after it. Meanwhile, Loki continued counting the petals on a low-growing star plant.
Loki picked three petals off the flower and stood, tucking the collected pieces gently into the pouch on his belt. He stepped over a fallen and rotted out log, not even noticing the disappearance of his older brother or the loud footsteps that typically accompanied him. No, Loki was too entranced by the magical things he was seeing.
A sparkling panther crept through the bushes on the right side, its lean body vanishing into the leaves. Two birds sung eerily pretty and person-like melodies high in the trees.
"Thor, look at that," Loki said, pointing to another furry creature crawling along a nearby branch. The six-legged rodent-looking beast lifted its head and barked a soft sound at the lone god, and when a response wasn't given, Loki finally glanced over his shoulder to discover that there was no thunder god behind him.
"Thor?" Loki asked with confusion in his voice. He searched the immediate area but was unable to see even a glimpse of red or gold in the trees. "Thor, where did you run off to?" He turned to go back the way he'd came but frowned and wondered why he cared that he was alone. This was what he'd wanted in the beginning, but now . . . it was strange without his loud brother looking out for him. And for Thor to leave without saying anything?
Definitely out of character.
"Thor, are you"—
The ground gave way from under Loki's feet and he gave a quick, clipped shout. The fall itself seemed to last a decade as the night sky got suddenly farther away.
Loki hit the hard, rocky floor of the pit with zero of his usual grace and normal cat-like ability to land on his feet. His body slammed with a hollow thud against the stone and he cried out, but it was quickly replaced by a gasping breath as he inhaled roughly, all the wind knocked out of him. He thought he felt something crack but he didn't know what.
Wincing, the trickster attempted to shift, to sit up, but was unsuccessful. A second later, something hard struck him across the head and he was knocked unconscious anyway.
Thor couldn't find whatever had caught his attention in the first place no matter how hard he searched. He was pretty sure he'd walked in a circle. Scratching his head with a hand, the thunder god furrowed his brow and realized he should probably get back to Loki. He berated himself for getting side tracked so easily and set off to seek out his brother.
"Loki! Loki, brother, where are you?"
Thor didn't even see the hit coming as it struck him so hard against the back of his head that he dropped to the ground like a ragdoll. Mjölnir fell beside him unceremoniously, and the god laid there on his back limply as his brother was dragged through tunnels beneath him.