A/N: Anadelonge on tumblr wanted me to write this, since a certain post about a possible alternate ending to Thor made me want to write it, but I wasn't sure, and she encouraged me. So here it is, in response to this gifset:
black-nata. tumblr post/12428338365/thor-alternate-ending
"Heimdall has requested your presence, sire," a messenger comes to him, bowing respectfully and looking sheepish.
Thor lifts his head, comprehension flashing across his face. "He has news for me?" he bursts, standing from his seat.
"He only asked you to be present," the messenger replies meekly. He shifts foot to foot. "It is a private matter, I presume. He would not tell me the topic of concern."
"No matter. Thank you," Thor replies dismissively. He turns sharply on his heel and heads out of the room, down the corridors, to the edge of Asgard, where Heimdall now stands, forever the Great Observer, the Gatekeeper.
"Your brother lives," Heimdall informs quietly. He points down at the abyss, at the expanse of stars below and above and around them. "He fell to Midgard. He has no memory of Asgard."
"None?" Thor murmurs, startled and wounded. "Why?"
"The fall, presumably. Or perhaps he is not meant to remember, to spare him pain."
Thor swallows, accepting this. He blinks, the sting of tears a few breaths away from reaching him. "How is he?"
"Moderately successful. He woke in a medical facility, as you did. Without his active knowledge, he still wears an illusion as his skin. He looks as they do, the humans. Curled orange-blond hair, cleanly shaven face, eyes the same hue as we knew. He dwells in a cabin in the mountains that a woman offered him a room in. He pays her to live there as he finds work," Heimdall informs, orange eyes flickering to Thor's face.
The blond warrior accepts this in degrees. He nods his head slowly. "And… what is he doing now?"
"Sleeping," Heimdall informs. "He likes to sleep by the fire. He dreams of his brother."
Thor's face lights up with a smile. "He and I have that in common." And then, slowly, he turns and makes his way back to the palace.
That is enough for him, to know that Loki lived. It is enough to know that Loki is content, and oblivious to his past hardships. This gives Thor hope. Hope that, one day, he might return to Midgard, and find his dear brother, and make their shared dreams a reality.