Disclaimer: I do not not own any of these characters, they belong to Marvel.

Enjoy!

Do it. Do it now. Now's your chance. You have Thor, he's right there. A simple thrust is all it takes. Loki is standing above Thor, golden staff inches from his neck. It had been a long, tiresome fight. Thor had one little misstep; Loki seized the opportunity and had him pinned to the ground in seconds. A foot on his chest so he can't rise, and Mjolner is safely away. The staff crawls closer still. Thor is backing up as much as he can, which isn't much. He's panting from the fight, eyes bright with fear, yet dull with compassion. Loki's eyes are the brightest Thor has ever remembered seeing them. "Come on already, do it." His husky voice commands. "You have me." Loki wants to.

Then he remembers.

All those years growing up with Thor, playing with him, fighting alongside him, not against him. He made Loki feel included, when no one else did. What went wrong? It was Odin that didn't tell him, not Thor, he was also kept in the dark. Killing Thor wouldn't change that. But he had to. He had come so close, not to give up now. He repositioned his grip on the staff, hands sweaty with apprehension. Thor seemed to calm down a little. Well, that's a relative term; no one can relax with death looming over his head.

Thor realizes that Loki can't kill him. Can't, not as in physically incapable, it's easy to right now. Cant as emotionally, spiritually incapable. Thor still loves Loki, and deep in his icy heart, Loki loves Thor as well.

Loki sighs with defeat. He can't. He steps back to let Thor rise. Thor stands up slowly, always keeping his eyes on the trickster. Loki studies the floor, too embarrassed to look at him. How? He killed his own, real father; surely he could do it to his adopted brother. The two 'brothers' stood about five feet apart. "Loki." Thor started. Loki glanced at the wall, avoiding eye contact as much as possible. "I'm proud of you." Thor whispered. "Why? Because I was too weak to?" "No, because you were strong enough not to." Loki quickly glanced up at Thor's praise. "You aren't weak, Loki. Why did it take you your whole life to figure that out?" Thor smiled. "You. That's what." Loki snapped. "You were always better at everything than me." "That was then, this is now. You beat me fair and square right here. And growing up, you were so smart; you knew any answer to any of my questions. I was often jealous of your immense vocabulary. I took out my frustration on practicing." Thor grinned grimly. Loki gave a little laugh. "Well, when I got upset about you being a better fighter, I would coop myself up in the library to study and read." The two smiled and awkwardly looked away from each other.

"Look at us." Loki began. "Fighting to the death one minute, then talking it out like civilized people the next." Thor grinned, then looked somber. "What are we gong to do?" Loki asked. He knew, Thor to that Loki couldn't stay, even if he wanted to. Odin would have him out in a heartbeat. "We'll be together, hide, run away." Thor suggested earnestly. "But you will be king soon, you can't abandon your post." Loki added. "Yes, when I am king, father cant tell us what to do, and then you can stay. We will be together forever." Thor smiled and stuck out his hand. Loki did the same, and they shook on it. What a day, Loki thought.

"Together Forever."

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