A/N: A small warning at the top: I haven't been able to write anything for two years now. And when I sat down to just give it a try after having seen IW yesterday I didn't expect this to be the result. I hope it's a worthy part of the group therapy that's taking place here though. And if any of my amazing readers from other fandoms should stumble across this: please see the note on my profile. I have not given up on those universes yet, just life has been a little tough.
Hugs to everyone.
TiaKisu
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my mistakes.
The path we need to walk
Emptiness.
Below the anger and the hurt there is nothing else but that. Emptiness and immeasurable cold.
Thor smiles, he jokes, makes light of his pain - for a king must not let his sorrow be shown.
His voice is strong, his mind focused on what needs to be done for there is still a whole universe at stake.
Inside though he is broken. He broke one too many times.
He lost so much and yet somehow found a way to go on, to be the leader that his people needed.
But there is no people left.
He saw his family be torn from him, one by one, but there was always someone to hold on to.
He is the only one now. And the thought itself is so unbearably heavy that he believes he cannot breathe anymore.
For once in his life Thor is truly alone. The Golden Child, the Sun of Asgard, is standing in the dark.
And there is no moon to light the way.
He called himself Odinson. The words are loud as thunder in his head. Loki Odinson.
Thor knew in that moment what his little brother was going to do and it tore him apart to be forced to let it happen.
To watch it unfold, unable to help. Powerless, weak.
Just this one time he wanted him to run, to employ one of his many schemes and escape, leave Thor to whatever fate awaited him at the hands of the Mad Titan.
Just, only days before he himself had told him how he could be so much more. And Loki had decided to live up to that, to show him with his final words where he truly stood.
Whose kin he was.
How Thor wished he hadn't.
Loki was a god, something Thanos would never be. He was Mischief and Magic, the moon that danced in the dark. He was his little brother.
And he is gone.
Thanos took Loki from him and somewhere deep inside the terrible truth spreads like poison.
No resurrection this time.
No resurrection.
This time.
Thor's heart pounds violently in his chest. His hands clench into fists until his nails draw blood, and were he anywhere else he would scream until reality itself trembled with the same agony that threatens to suffocate him as finally he understands.
Thanos had brought him back to life. Thanos had taken his dead little brother, pulled him from the Void and stole him from Valhalla to turn him into his unwilling servant. A blood dept like that had to be paid, and Thor had never realised.
Thor had not known.
He had accused Loki, had not understood the pain in his too blue eyes. He had thought it simple traces of the Tesseract he wielded, had let himself be fooled by Loki's masquerade.
Loki, who always hid the workings of his heart – only to reveal them in disguise.
Odinson.
His brother.
His muscles strain against his skin, his good eye burning with the sting of tears. The storm wells up inside, fuelled by his loss, washing over the emptiness to cover it for as long as he needs it to.
He will stop the Mad Titan.
He is Thor, King of Asgard, Son of Odin and Frigga. Brother to Loki.
He will do them all proud and fight.
Holding on to the moonlight that still shines somewhere in his fractured heart, he will not allow the Titan to hurt anyone else.
He will lay down his life if that is the price he has to pay. At least, he will then be reunited with those whose echoes are always woven so deeply into his dreams.
Dreams that will show him one more soul to mourn now.
His heartbeat becomes stronger, the lightning running through his veins to coax him onward. To find a weapon that will help him focus and harness the power that comes from grief and despair.
Nidavellir.
He knows where to go. The path lies clear before him and the King of Asgard embraces the choice the Norns have made for him.
.
He does not notice the single crystalline snowflake that clings to his armour where his heart lies underneath.