Author's Notes: This is another more idealistic, but lighthearted one-shot. Because I was musing on a coronation of both Thor and Loki becoming Kings. But the time context doesn't really make sense, considering the relationships here, especially Loki's obviously more amiable relationship with Odin, yet it has to be set after The Dark World, but I enjoyed the cheerful feelings of family and brotherly love when this was playing in my head too much to not try write it out, so… just 'Ragnarok and roll' with it. God, I can't believe I actually just said that here. (Thanks, GoodForBad .)
But I hope you enjoy :)
The resplendent hallway was colossal. The ceiling was like an expanse of the skies themselves brought closer to home, and the shining columns like ancient white tree trunks reaching up to touch them. A wide, presently empty aisle ran down the centre of the enormous chamber, stretching from the magnificent double doorway and slicing a broad ribbon of space through the otherwise overflowing room. A gleaming, golden marvel of a hall that should not have been possible for the crowds, despite their astounding numbers, to fill so utterly with their excitement on that morning.
But their roaring soon gave way to an almost tangible undercurrent of exhilarated murmuring at some unspoken signal. The coronation was about to begin.
The massive doors at the front of the hall heaved open slowly, smoothly, as if to let out the surfeit of thrumming anticipation and energy. And then two figures stepped out on the walkway.
If the hordes of thundering people were lively before, it was nothing compared to now. The mismatching pair, a burly blond with a vivid red cape and his lither companion in duskier tones, was just as tiny in the polished chamber as each spectator, but greeted with proud wonderment as if they were colossi. The very floors seemed to tremor with the ovation, and the air was humming exaltedly. Side by side, Thor and Loki started making their way down the passage.
The surrounding masses continued cheering and applauding wildly, and every time the brawny thunder-god threw his fist into the air, the roar of his admirers amplified even further. He blazed a triumphant warrior's grin and gazed out over the crowds. Beside him, his slight younger brother walked wordlessly, his bright eyes alternating between looking to his left at Thor and looking forward at Odin seated at the end of the aisle. Long ago the ceilings had been built to open up in a vast circle above where the Allfather sat, letting the dazzling sunlight fall down from the heavens and light up the throne.
Thor executed a brief, but grandiose, maneuver with Mjolnir when the two of them reached the midpoint down the walkway, causing the nearest watchers to bawl with pride. Loki grinned and tilted his head towards his brother, jokingly whispering, "Show-off"
Thor paused in his applause-rousing, then turned to grin back. Before Loki protested, he grabbed his little brother's thin, black-sleeved wrist and raised it above their heads too. Loki ducked his head and blinked at the ground as the roaring of the onlookers reached its loudest yet.
"Time for you to show-off, Brother."
They shared a momentary, more secluded smile.
The end of the path gave way to the short staircase that ascended to the burnished throne. Following deep-rooted Asgardian customs, the two of them kneeled simultaneously before the Allfather, and presented their weapons. Thor set down Mjolnir with a mutedly echoing metallic thud. In contrasting silence, Loki quickly swept his hand across the floor in front of him in a fluid arc, like a card dealer spreading a deck of cards. Several of his knives suddenly glinted there. At the same time, everyone else in the immense hall fell quiet to listen.
Odin began the ceremony, his imperial voice resounding throughout.
"Thor Odinson. One of my heirs. My firstborn."
He turned his uncovered eye to the other. "Loki…" The Allfather halted briefly, uncharacteristically pausing in the formalities, but Loki provided the rest of the line.
"Friggason"
He said it clearly enough for the bystanders to hear, but still quietly, like it was just between Thor, Odin and he. His brother stared at him nonverbally, and Odin did the same for a fleeting, weighted moment. Loki just waited for his response, the crowd ignored in the background. Slowly, Odin nodded, an unfamiliar expression on his timeworn face.
"And Loki Friggason. My other heir. My second… son."
Unlike Thor's first coronation, the Allfather went ahead to speak the ceremonial words without prelude about Mjolnir. (The two brothers remembered the day in its clear echoes, when Loki had stood alongside the gilded throne watching Thor beam proudly at his friends and their mother: "– long entrusted with the mighty hammer, Mjolnir… weapon to destroy… tool to build… fit companion for a King– ")
Kneeling by his brother's side on the smooth stone floor, Loki tuned out slightly of the rest of the coronation practices. Inconsequential noises – the thrumming of the watching Asgardian crowd, Thor shifting his weight beside him – faded to the background, as if his mind's responsiveness were still on Odin's words, while his heart's was dwelling on something else.
Ordinarily, Loki would not have done so, but his now-official last name (if the Allfather approved, how more official would it need be?) pulled the forefront of his attention to who was missing from this. So there, standing slightly behind her husband's throne, he made sure their mother was visible only to them. She nodded and smiled in encouragement, before gently fading away. Like the last time his illusion of their mother vanished, her eyes held his with that kindness they had.
Loki smiled back faintly, and unlike the last time his illusion of her left him, his heart felt a little more comforted than it had before.
Author's Notes: Leave a review, and let me know if it needs improvement, please? Thank you very much for reading this!