Author's Note: In between the connected first and last chapters are some one-shot memories.
Time
Unable to believe what the Einherjar had just told him, Fandral stared into the sympathetic grey-eyes. He repeated, "L-Loki i-is dead ?"
'This can't be happening ! Thor should have protected him.'
The Einherjar nodded solemnly, "Yes, I-I'm sorry. When I found him on Svartalfheim it was far too late, he was truly dead. As his was the only body, besides the damned things, he was protecting the others when he died."
Before the man had even finished talking he'd started crying. Weak-kneed he sank to the grass, feeling like Malekith had personally ripped his heart out and stomped it into a bloody pulp in front of his disbelieving eyes.
'At least, h-he'll be whole mentally, again, in Valhalla. He was trying to make up to Frigga, to me, to Thor for Midgard. If Thor and Jane hadn't been there I could have had a good-bye kiss, at least. I-I'll never see him for who-knows how long.'
Dimly, he felt a hand on his shoulder before the guard left, he wiped his eyes and got up. After falling and picking himself up he went home, on instinct his feet took him to the bedroom. The room where he and Loki had spent most nights reading to each other, telling jests or loving each other. For two years it had already been too empty, at least, when Loki had only been in the dungeon some hope had remained that Thor would free him someday. Now, now, though Loki would never come back because Thor had decided that he'd needed Loki's help.
Furious at Malekith, at Odin and Thor, he found himself throwing amethyst bedding on the floor. Belatedly, he realized he was also screaming swears at the top of his lungs and kicking the bed viciously. Quiet suddenly, he sank to the floor, wrapping the blanket around himself. 'This isn't fair, it's not fair at all ! I only had time to see him once in the dungeon.' He sniffled as memories of Loki from the first time they'd met to the second last entered his mind...