Rated: M
Warning(s): Slash, Pseudo-Incest, Past Lpreg, Lpreg, Major Character Death, Major Spoilers for TDW, etc.

Death is not the End

All had suddenly become unbearably silent, and an evil blackness had conquered the skies. Black, the color of death.

The commotion slowly died away, and as the dust settled, a panicked scream pierced the uncomfortable silence. An awful knot formed in his chest as he slowly turned, every movement slow and calculated, to find the fallen form of his brother. He was sprawled out on the scorched earth, one hand on his rapidly moving chest as he huffed in smoky air. Jane was with him, and, evidently, was the one that had screamed. Scrambling to her feet and backing away from the fallen god of mischief, Thor noticed the blood that had splashed onto her unnaturally pale face. Loki was hurt.

He was racing across the battlefield before the idea had even fully sunk in, falling to his knees beside the undeniably broken body of his brother, his lover, his life. There was so much blood... the rustic crimson fluid covered his chest, his arms, his hands... it was impossible to tell where he was wounded or how badly, but it only made sense that the injury had to be rather severe. When Loki's milky, delirious eyes fell upon him, he offered the bigger warrior a cheap, tremulous smirk. The desired effect was lost, however, by the blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth.

"Loki... Loki..." Thor started to fuss with the front of Loki's armor, attempting to remove it and find the cause of his brother's pain. Loki, however, was battling him every step of the way. "Let me help you, brother! Do you not realize that you're dying?"

"Trust me..." the exertion of forcing out those two words sent him into an awful coughing fit, with blood splattering on his balled fist. When he regained control of himself, he continued, "I am... fully aware of t-that fact."

"Do you wish to die, then? I could not bear it, Loki! What am I to do without you, brother?" Thor was screaming now, mere seconds away from shaking some sense into the battered god.

Clouded green eyes flickered over to Jane, who now stood a considerable distance away. And then, scarcely above a whisper, he forced out, "I believe t-that you will manage without m-me."

Loki's eyes slowly started to flutter closed. "No. No!" Thor's thunderous roar slowly brought him back into consciousness. "If this is some sort of sick joke, it is far from funny. We are bonded, Loki! What we share... it is deeper than blood. You cannot die. I won't allow it."

"Y-You t-think you-yourself above l-life and death n-now?" Loki mumbled.

"I am not. But I am aware that you have the ability to heal yourself... but instead, are allowing yourself to die. Why, Loki? Why do you want to die?" Thor inquired.

The trickster sighed, but it was distorted by the blood that had settled in his throat. "B-Because a bond d-doesn't change anything." And then, eyes suddenly growing cold and distant, he used Thor's own words against him, "A-Any hope of r-redemption is lo-lost on me. Y-You do not trust me... even a-after everything."

"Is that any reason to die?" Thor asked, suddenly infuriated.

"W-When y-you were my o-only reason to l-live for? Y-Yes." Loki confessed, weakly raising a hand to wipe the frothing blood from his lips.

Loki stubbornly continued to deny him access to the wound, so instead, Thor lifted the slighter god into his arms and cradled him close, allowing the pale god to rest his cheek on Thor's chest. By this time, Jane had left, acknowledging their need for privacy - or, at least, as much privacy as the open, scorched field would allow. Thor's tears dripped into Loki's soft, mangled locks, his arms shaking as he cradled the slowly dying god. The act of holding the god's dying frame suddenly made it all so much more personal, more real. Loki really was going to die, and what hurt the most? The god of mischief didn't even care.

"Y-You love J-Jane." Loki's words had started to slur together, almost as if he were horribly drunk. "You've n-no need for m-me."

"I have every need for you! You are my brother -,"

Loki shook his head meekly, swallowing hard. "No, I-I'm not."

"You are my mate!" This fact Loki could not deny. Their bond was, indeed, much deeper than blood. "You bore me a child - our beautiful Róta! What will I tell her? Will you be so cruel as to rob her, like Malekith robbed us?"

Loki was fading fast, and as he came closer and closer to death, his magic weakened. Soon, he wouldn't be able to save himself, even if he wanted to. "S-She is a s-small child. S-Soon enough, I-I'll b-be no more t-than a name t-to her."

"Why do you think so little of yourself, Loki? Róta absolutely adores you! She will be devastated! How dare you think you mean so little that she would not care that you had died!" Thor's anger was returning... but incredibly short-lived. "Please, Loki..." tears dripping down his cheeks now, "save yourself."

"C-Can you not respect t-that I do no-not want t-to?" Loki hissed.

"Loki..." Thor's arms tightened around him. The realization that everything he was saying had absolutely not effect on the Frost Giant had finally sunken in, and he felt lower than ever. "If you will not save yourself, then please... tell me why. What fed this misguided conception that I love Jane... when I only love you?"

Loki, leaning forward just a little, whispered into Thor's ear, "I saw you kiss her." Thor's eyes suddenly became dark, "I wanted to kill her... b-but couldn't." A hard swallow, "I w-wasn't a-afraid you'd kill m-me for it, no... I d-don't think I r-really cared a-all that much. But I s-saw it... and no amount of m-magic can u-undo it."

"Loki, you don't -," but here, Loki cut him off.

"Don't t-treat me like a f-fool." Loki whispered, eyes growing heavy. He was past the point of saving. Thor was faced with the cold, hard fact that Loki was going to die. "L-Let me d-die in p-peace."

Thor was sobbing now, his brother's body shaking with the force of it. "I will tell the Allfather of your sacrifice. He will -,"

"I did not do it for him! I did it..."

And that was it. With one last shuddering moan, Loki's eyes fell closed and his body went limp in Thor's arms. Loki was dead. His mate had died protecting the woman that had destroyed everything for them... and all Thor could do was cradle the body that had been left behind. He remembered his harsh words to Loki, how he had so callously torn his love down. He had not meant that he was above redemption, or that there was no hope left for him. Those words had been spoken in anger, in desperation. But Loki did not know that... would never know that. Loki had crossed over, and Thor was left behind to pick up the pieces.

Thunder cackled in the heavens, and rain started to pour down. The icy droplets hit him hard, washing away the blood that coated himself and the broken body of his mate. All of evidence of the tears that he had cried vanished, and he was left, holding a lifeless form that seemed to simply be sleeping. Yes, if only that were the truth! If only he could lean down and press his lips to Loki's, and breathe life back into his precious body, then he would. And he tried. Leaning down, he gently brushed his lips over Loki's bloodstained ones. The unresponsive, cold lips were more than slightly unnerving, and he quickly drew back. Loki was still dead.

Gently, he lowered Loki's body to the ground. His long, dark locks fell in front of his face, the rain streaking down his face like tears. Staring down at Loki's body, Thor felt an unbearable emptiness come over him. Slowly rising to his feet, he took a few steps away from the body. And then, fully turning away, the tears returned with a vengeance. Quickly, he made his way across the field, needing to put as much distance between himself and Loki as possible. If he didn't, he would go with him. All rational thought aside, he would do anything to be with him. But right now... he needed to be strong, even if all he wanted to do was break.

Jane accosted him first. It was hard for him to look at her, after what Loki had said. "What happened?" But she didn't need to ask. She could see it in his eyes.

"He's dead." Thor said, before continuing on his way. He needed to leave... He just needed to get away.

Thor left the Throne Room - it felt weird, having denied the throne that he had always wanted, but he knew that it was the right thing to do. Róta had been brought into the Great Hall to wait for him. Her attendant offered him a sympathetic smile, before smoothing a hand over the little girl's soft black curls. The young goddess of discord was playing with one of her dolls - one that Loki had created for her. It could walk and talk, and had caused quite a few scares in the middle of the night. At that particular moment, she was curling the doll's pretty blond locks around her stubby little finger.

The girl's attendant made her way over to Thor, "Master Odinson." She curtseyed, smiling sadly. "I am terribly sorry for your loss."

"Thank you, Sefa." Thor nodded. "How is Róta doing today?"

A frown, "Not well. There was a... confrontation in the Royal Gardens today. Those still resentful of Master Laufeyson have apparently passed on said beliefs to their children. One such child spoke out to Róta today, and..."

"What has she done?" Thor asked, almost afraid to know.

"She put a curse on him that removed his tongue, sir." Sefa said softly. Casting one last look at Róta, she continued, "She came crying to me, saying how he had mocked Master Laufeyson. And so she punished him." A sigh, "I tried to convince her to remove the curse, but she wouldn't dare."

Thor shook his head. "A miniature Loki, through and through." Just the mention of his fallen mate brought tears to his eyes.

"I would not mention what happened to Loki tonight." Sefa warned. "In her current mood, there's no telling what she'd do."

Thor offered her a weak smile. "She's only six. I think that I can handle her."

Taking that as her cue to leave, Sefa left the two of them alone. Thor entered the Great Hall and took a seat next to Róta, placing a hand on the tiny girl's shoulder. Slowly, she turned to face him, her fiery green eyes locking with his red-rimmed blue. She bore an uncanny resemblance to Loki, right down to her thin, petal pink lips. It hurt to look at her, remembering what had transpired mere hours before. After several seconds of staring, Róta cracked a small smile, dropping her dolly on the bench and climbing into Thor's lap. She felt so tiny and light in his arms.

She set her tiny head on his chest, and he wrapped his muscular arms around her little body. The situation bore an uncanny resemblance to how he had cradled a dying Loki, and he felt the tears return with renewed vigor. Róta felt his body was it trembled beneath her and looked up, offering him a quizzical glance. There was no way that he could hide the truth from her. At six, she was wise beyond her years, and he knew that she could see it in his eyes. Something was horribly wrong. And, at the lack of her other father's presence, it undoubtedly had something to do with Loki.

"I have something to tell you, darling." Thor mumbled, smoothing a hand over her loose curls. Green eyes met his again, and he swallowed hard. "You know that there was a big battle tonight, right?" A nod. "Well, your Daddy... he did something very brave. And because of that, he won't be coming home tonight."

Anger suddenly flashed in the six-year-olds eyes. "Daddy in jail?"

"No, darling... no." Thor swallowed hard, admitting the painful truth for the second time that day. "He's dead."

As it turned out, Sefa had nothing to worry about in the way of a violent reaction. The goddess of discord's face crumbled and tears started to collect in her eyes. She was trembling, not unlike Thor, and the god of thunder barely had enough time to pull her close before she broke down into screaming sobs. The pillars of the Great Hall tossed ash and cinders down to the floor, and the very foundation of the castle shook... but everything held steady. Thor rubbed soothing circles into the small of her back, barely containing his own choked sobs. Because Loki was dead... and nothing was ever going to be the same again.

A/N: So, be sure to let me know what you think. This is part 1/3.

Róta - "to stir, overturn, tear; bring disorder".