There hadn't been room for discussion, hadn't been enough time to sit down and talk about it, when Loki and Sif left Asgard.

The words Thor would have said fell like dead weight upon his tongue, his mouth silent and his throat dry, eyes rimmed red with tears. In the days of their youth, Loki had told Thor everything-from the latest court gossip to tragic news of a death in Vanaheim-and then he stopped.

If Thor could go back, he'd tell that teenage version of himself to pay close attention, to keep a watchful eye out for Loki's change of heart. Of course, it was pointless to think about it, but he could recall moments in his past that should have set off alarms in his mind, moments that should have told him that Loki was falling fast in a society he couldn't please, falling fast in a society that would never accept him.

And who was there to talk to, to relate to?

Surely not Thor-which was probably why Loki was leaving Asgard at this very moment, vanishing from sight to travel to some remote, nameless corner of space with a warrior maiden that had for so long been one of Thor's closest companions.

Sif.

Glorious, fierce, talented Lady Sif, the woman Thor had spent many a day sparring with, the woman he had come to see as a friend. It was yet another of his countless mistakes, another day in his memories that he had overlooked, another moment in the past that could have changed everything-if only he'd been aware of it.

Sif had always been the jealous type, a trait she'd shared with Loki, always vying for attention where it could not be found. Thor guessed that it was the very same envy that bound them together, and he smiled, the gesture a bittersweet one spreading across his face as he stared at the place they'd just been standing.

Naturally, they would have sought out sanctuary from a world that would never welcome them, would have yearned to belong in a place other than the realm Eternal, and Thor had failed to see it shining in their gazes.

Just another thing he'd missed.

He'd failed to see the slow decay within his brother's eyes, had failed to notice the moment Loki gave up.

Just another moment that had slipped through his fingers.

Thor hadn't managed to catch the sadness in Sif's smile in time, hadn't managed to tell her that she was worthy, that she did belong in the halls of Asgard.

Just another life already falling away from him.

He figured that Loki had told her, though, figured that the two had found the kind of acceptance in one another that they'd longed for all their lives.

Just another wedding he'd never see.

As the king of Asgard, he stood within the Bifrost's golden confines, looking out at the space before him with the greatest sense of grief overwhelming his heart.

Just another memory already fading into the background.

Based on a prompt given by rodlox over on Tumblr.

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