"Are you coming to the tree?" Loki asked Thor, the first's voice crackling over the phone, the connection strained and barely holding on, as if the call was coming from a far place. Silently, Thor nodded, knowing full well Loki could not see nor know of his silent consent. He hung up the phone without audibly answering him, and stood up. He was on the edge of a building roof, at least 50 stories high, the midnight moon shining behind him. In the middle of this vast city, trees were far and few, yet he knew which one Loki spoke of. Exhaling softly, he stepped off the edge of the building.
"Strange things had happened here... no stranger would they be..." Loki sung quietly, nearly under his breath. His back was against the tree and his head was down, looking at his fingers in which he held a small flower. The petals were still firm and vibrant, although he was sure he had picked it years ago. He had been waiting for a long time.
He was falling, and falling... and falling... and-
"Called out for his love to flee..." Loki looked up, sensing something was coming his way. This was much more different than the soft breeze that was always around the tree. It was also different than when the leaves fell or the rain that sprinkled on him occasionally. This was something big...
It was dark and light, all at the same time. There were a million colors and none, and it was hot and cold. He was awake and he was sleeping. He was growing and shrinking. He could taste everything and nothing- he could actually taste nothingness. Water and fire surrounded him, and he heard singing and silence. A great cacophony of everything and nothing at the same time was all around him, wrapping all over his body and fleeing at the same instant.
"I told you to run... So we would both be free..."
He heard the voice and closed his eyes, surrendering to everything and nothing, being torn apart and put back together.
"They strung up a man... Who they say murdered..." Loki stood up fully, head turned to the sky, scarlet eyes opened wide, skin turning from tan to deep blue, ridges rising all over his body. He shook with an intensity that caused the tree behind him to lose all of the green leaves on it's branches. As he shook, the tree began to shrink slightly, it's trunk twisting and turning gray, no longer the healthy deep brown it had once been. The branches took on a gnarled appearance.
"Are you... Are you..."
Thor opened his eyes and saw blue streaks flying off his body, looking like flames but did not burn him. Thunder boomed and lightning crackled around him and he saw he was falling through a cloud that sizzled when it touched his skin. His hair whipped around him and he strained to keep his eyes open as they stung with the intensity of the wind coming up against his face.
"Where a dead man called out for his love to flee."
The grass around Loki's feet turned brown and disintegrated, and the flowers died. Loki stopped shaking with a jolt, and that jolt sent a wave of green energy across the entire meadow, which died instantaneously.
His hair had grown from the nape of his neck to the middle of his back, and horns sprouted from his temple and reached back, curling towards his ears. The flower he held in his hand still retained it's brightness, and was the only living thing in the meadow.
"Are you... coming to the tree?"
Thor saw the ground coming up at him fast and he angled himself quickly, landing with a boom on the dead earth, a burst of air shooting out, causing Loki to fall onto his back, hand releasing the flower, which fell to the ground.
The blond stood quickly and ran to kneel and cradle the blue head in his lap.
"I'm here... I came to the tree..." Thor whispered, voice cracking as he ran his fingers down the cheekbone of the unconscious Loki. "I came to the tree... Where they strung up a man..."
Tears fell from his eyes and landed on the blue face, the water droplets running along the ridges on Loki's face.
"Loki, what have you done?" Shouted Thor, running towards an old man on the floor, his neck twisted at an odd angle, a stream of blood trickling down into his white beard. Loki stood at the desk, panting, his body jerking and convulsing slightly as he leaned back to grip the edge of the desk.
"H-he... He said..." He panted, trying not to vomit. Thor stood up wildly, hands coming up around Loki's neck, applying an amount of pressure that would kill a human being, but only discomfort a god.
"What? What did he say?" Thor shouted through gritted teeth, shaking Loki slightly. The other's body still jerked and convulsed.
"Ack!" Loki grunted and his eyes turned from green to ruby red, and his body began to shake and a pained expression came to his face as his skin turned blue. Thor dropped him, watching the god collapse in front of him.
"Ahhh! H-help me, Thor!" Loki screamed, clawing at his skin as it turned blue and ridges formed. Thor stood back, fists clenching and unclenching at their own will. He wanted to help him, but seeing his father dead on the floor stopped him. He knew he could do nothing for Odin, and still even more nothing for Loki. Gods only had limited power after all.
"They say who murdered three..."
Loki sobbed as his body finished it's transformation, blood running down his forehead and into his eyes as his horns finished their growing.
"Thor, he told me he planned it!" Loki pointed to Odin's corpse, clutching at his own throat, trying to quickly massage away the discomfort. Thor took a step toward him, hand balled into a fist and ready to land a blow on the side of Loki's face.
"He said... He told me I was supposed to kill those two. That it wasn't an accident. He told me he wanted me to kill them..." He choked out a wad of blood onto the floor. "I didn't want to kill her... I didn't want to kill her." He rolled himself into a ball and began to rock back and forth.
Thor stood back, hand falling to his side as he looked at his father's lifeless face.
"Are you coming to the tree? Where a dead man called out for his love to flee..."
Loki looked up, his eyes glowing with tears.
"I loved her, too, Thor... I loved Frigga like a mother... I... I don't remember killing her and yet I do. I can feel it," He said, lifting his hands, eyes closed in a grimace as he remembered how Frigga's throat had crunched under his grasp. "She taught me everything I knew... Took me in under her wing when my own family abandoned me... I loved her... And her husband orchestrated her murder at my own expense."
Thor could only look at him.
"And Heimdall? What did he do that caused Odin to want him dead?" Thor croaked, his throat closing up.
"He loved Frigga more than Odin... Odin was jealous," Loki whispered, back to rocking himself slightly. "If Odin couldn't have her wholly... No one could. No one, not even her son," At this, he looked at Thor again, an apology burning in his eyes.
Thor shook his head, tears finally falling down his cheeks.
"I can't live knowing this. I cannot live knowing what I've done." Loki stood up and turned, looking out the window. His skin was turning light again, the horns receding and his eyes clearing to viridian.
"Loki... Loki, don't." Thor shook his head. "I... I can't forgive you now, but I could eventually, but I could never forgive you if you left me too... You know better than I that a god's life is a lonely one... I... Don't." He pleaded, walking towards the slighter god, to embrace him from behind.
"I've killed three, Thor... I killed the goddess who was more my mother than my blood-mother... A god who did me no wrong... And the god who caused it all, despite being a good protector of this world. I've ruined the balance, and even now, I can feel Hel calling for an adjustment of the scales."
"Are you-"
"Thor, you have to do it."
"I can't."
"Thor, don't make me do it myself... If you don't do it, she won't relent."
"... Alright."
"They strung up a man they say who murdered three."
Thor grabbed Loki's hands, and brought his fingertips to his lips, brushing them lightly with a last kiss. Loki kept his hand in Thor's, but turned his body away to look out the window at the bright lights, the cars on the road, the other tall buildings. He had come to appreciate this world, and the things it had in it.
"Do it now, before we regret it all." He whispered, seeing Thor's head bow in the reflection on the window.
Blue energy pulsed from the gods hands through his fingertips and Loki resisted the urge to scream out. Instead, he turned to face the god he grew up with, played with, and loved. He came close, lips trembling in a grimace as the magic flowed up his arm slowly, taking everything he was apart bit by bit.
"Are you," he whispered, looking into Thor's sad eyes. "Coming to the tree? They strung up a man they say who murdered three." He paused, for the pain was great. "Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be if we met at midnight at the hanging tree." His voice grew stronger as the last bit of his magic flowed into the words.
"Are you..." He faltered, collapsing to his knees, Thor following him. "Coming to the tree?" He grunted, leaning down till he was laying on his side, Thor mirroring him, a stream of tears running out of his eyes. "Are you coming to the tree where I told you to run so we'd both be free?"
Thor nodded, as the spell from Loki's lips was complete and so was Thor's own magic was completed. Loki let a small sigh slip from his mouth, and his body slowly shimmered and disappeared.
"I'm here, Loki... I'm here..."
Thor waited. He waited years, decades. He waited for when Loki would tell him to run to the tree. He waited, and waited...
And finally...
He got the phone call.
Loki's eyes fluttered open.
"Did it hurt?" Thor asked, looking around. "Did she punish you?"
"Well, she didn't let me have my one phone call till now." Loki answered, smiling weakly. Thor smiled as well, for he loved that Loki could make light of such a situation.
"What happened? Why is everything dead?" He asked him.
"First, she hung me from that tree and then... She took my powers," Loki explained, and Thor's mouth dropped open. "It was the condition of you coming here. Hel said balance would be restored if I were to give them up..." He reached up to wrap his arms around Thor's neck.
"My powers are being formed with that of Frigga's to fashion a new god to replace both of us. Heimdall and Odin, ironically, are being combined into a new god as well. Hel said it would balance everything." He leaned close to Thor's mouth and smiled.
"I'm just glad you're here... Balance be damned."
They laughed and kissed, their mirth restoring the meadow and tree to lush greenery, and the flower at Loki's side finally closed and died.
A/N: Hey guys! Super long time no see. Life is busy for me and although my writing passion has not died, I just have a million starts to a story and then I don't ever complete it! This was a oneshot birthday present for a friend! I decided to post it here because why not~ This song was inspired by the song The Hanging Tree by Jennifer Lawrence. Love a few different remixes so I listened to those and wrote this thing in about 2 hours. I hope you guys enjoy it and let me know what you thought of it! I'll try to be back soon, okay?
Also, please forgive the formatting and how weird it is. isn't letting me fix it :/
Love, yakisoba.