Forever
Thor stared at the painting for a second - Loki and himself sat on the floor as Father and Mother stood behind them, Loki had even smiled for it; before grief had him, again, burying his head in his hands. 'Loki is gone...he is gone !'
Unwillingly, his minds eye filled with that last image of Loki; long, black-hair flaring upward around the beautiful pale face, those green-eyes filled sadness and heart-break just before he disappeared into the vastness of space. In his mind there was an anguished scream of, "Tho-or !" Just like when they'd been younger...
Flashback
Adrenaline rushed through him as he in turn raced down the hall, to burst through Loki's chambers' door. Sat half-hunched on top of the blanket was Loki whose head jerked up to look at him. Tear streaks glowed in the moon's light and a pale hand reached out.
Automatically, he walked up to lace fingers and sit on the bed, "What is wrong, Loki ?"
Lithe body suddenly burrowing against him, the normally perfect speech abandoned with a sobbed, "I-I, y-you...dead, no, no !"
He ran a hand over the soft black-hair, whispering, "Ssh, ssh, I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere. It'll be all right, just go back to sleep, you'll forget all of it in the morning."
Loki's head shook, pale-lips accidentally brushed his throat and more adrenaline chased the agonizing fire that was his desire. 'This is wrong, so wrong, he is my brother ! He is not our brother, Loki doesn't look like us. He's too pretty and pale to be related to us, too graceful at weapons practice. How many times did you get distracted and then get banged in the head by Volstagg when he was learning how to thrust and evade ? Too many.'
Stronger than he looked Loki was suddenly pulling him down on the bed to snuggle against his shoulder. After Loki fell asleep he should have left, but he didn't.
End Flashback
'I-I should have told him before we left for Jotunheim. I had the perfect opportunity and then he distracted me, again. Now, now I'll never be able to tell him that he was more than just my brother. All he wanted to do was make Father proud, but I was always proud of him. Why didn't he see that ? Why couldn't I have made him hold on ? It's my fault he's dead.'
Father's voice, sad but steady, "No, Thor, he let go because he thought no one wanted him."
Raised his head and twisted to look up at Father and state angrily, "I wanted him, Father, I loved him, I always did. If you hadn't ignored him, he wouldn't have done this. This is your fault !"
The white-haired and beared man walked up to stand beside him. Father stared at the painting for a second before bowing his head, "I know and I'm sorry."
"Sorry won't bring Loki back ! My love is dead."
Mother sat down beside him, "No matter what he did, Loki was still my son and I will always miss him."
Slowly Father sat down too, and they all looked at the painting remembering better times. Laughter from outside drifted in and he flinched as he remembered all the times that Loki and himself had told jokes about everyone, even Heimdall. Nothing would change the fact that Loki was gone...forever.