Just fyi, this is a direct tie in to my other ThorxLoki works, and I'd suggest reading them before moving on to this one. Also, I'll be definitely adding more onto this story, likely as a string of connected one shots all uploaded under this name, in chapter form. Yeah, it's going to be a full blown story. Shh. I'm trying not to let my mind realize this, 'cause I tend to balk at multi chapter things. Silly me. Also. Crossover story. Oh yes, this is going to be a thing. Do remember to comment at the end and tell me what you think's going to happen. ;)

Disclaimer: Marvel and all that it owns don't belong to me. Disney has that pleasure.

When they had first been betrothed, there was a ceremonial exchange of gifts between he and Loki. It was tradition, and they were of the finest quality to be found in all the realms. Weapons and tomes, leather and beautifully cut jewels in casings of gold. From Jotunheim Loki had brought strange cloth that was light as air, but stronger than steel, and weapons of enchanted ice that would never melt. All of the gifts they exchanged were impressive, to be sure. Yet none were exceptionally…..sentimental. Thor certainly hadn't selected any of them with his future consort in mind, not truly. If Loki found any of them at all appealing, it was pure luck. Perhaps he'd enjoyed the glittering gold and emeralds, being so rare on his realm. Maybe he even found interest in the books. That wasn't enough. He deserved treasures that were not simply common luxuries, meaningless and contrived. Thor wanted to give Loki things he would enjoy. Things he'd appreciate. He wanted to give the prince a gift that would express how much he'd come to adore him. How much he respected him, and the skills Loki brought to their match. It was as he deserved.

The trick was, no matter what ideas Thor conjured up, none struck him as good enough. They were all too simple, too grand, or simply in poor choice for the diminutive Jotun. What use had he for weapons, when his magic served as both his sword and shield? Silks and jewels were lovely, but he was a prince. Thor's future consort. He had more than enough of both to fill his entire bedroom. And what little Thor knew of magic wasn't enough to help him select any rare tomes or scrolls that Loki might find useful. Besides, he spent more than enough time in the royal library as is. No…whatever he decided upon as gift to his intended, Thor would have to ensure that it was both useful, and appealing. He knew Loki valued both in his things. But what could he give him? What would possibly appeal to his future mate?

In truth, it took him far longer to dredge up an idea than he was comfortable admitting. Thor was no stranger to wooing, though his had always been lighthearted attempts, with no real intentions to commitment. And it was always some fair maiden who caught his eye. Where pretty baubles and fancy jewels would make their eyes light up, Loki's simply went flat as stone, always with a dispassionate expression. So Thor had to think long and hard on something befitting the beautiful Jotun. He devoured rumors and tales from the other realms for a chance at hearing of some new-found adventure that would deliver the results he desired. Pouring over news brought to him by advisers, sometimes his fellow warriors, he looked for any clue, however small. The experience was trying, and taxed his patience. Loki might have been pleased, had he known what Thor was up to. He always said patience and wisdom were just as powerful a weapon as anything carried into battle.

Perhaps he was right. Thor's patience served him well. There came news of a strange world far from their own; it wasn't connected to Yggdrasil, and had never been accessed before. It took a skilled sorcerer to walk between realms without the Bifrost alone, but that didn't deter him. Not when he heard of the prize awaiting him there. Rumors bespoke of a wicked creature with skin the color of freshly fallen snow who dwelt in the far north of her lands, terrorizing all who came in contact with her. Thor had heard that she was amassing an army of creatures even more foul and beastly than herself to help her conquer the lands for her own. Then she would rule as queen, feared and powerful, with none to stand in her way. He cared not for this knowledge. What he did care for was the legend herself. It was told that she was a powerful witch, with gifts surpassing all others. Surely such a creature would reap a fitting prize? If he could but find her, and slaughter her in battle….

This was the issue that troubled him. Thor would be doing that realm a favor by striking her down, surely. And perhaps in honor they might thank him with jewels and gold, whatever beauties they had to offer. One might appeal to Loki. The witch herself could possess something he valued! Did not those who practiced seidr have their useful baubles? It was risky though. Simply finding this strange realm would be enough of a challenge, if not nye impossible, and what if he managed it? He couldn't storm her doorway, demanding a duel. Experience was a grand teacher, and the prince knew well now to never underestimate an opponent, whether their talent be sword or spell. Unfortunately, this only served to strain his morale. If he went to this land, and he approached the witch, Thor would be all but walking in blind. He needed a plan of action. This couldn't fail. He wouldn't disappoint Loki, not again. Loki deserved a gift worthy of him, and difficulty be damned, he would have it. So swore Thor on his heart and crown.

A promise bound didn't make things any less challenging. Pleasing his consort to be was proving to be a daunting task, Thor thought with a heavy sigh, crossing his meaty forearms on the table, hidden away in a corner of the library. There were maps and rolls of parchment scattered across the glossy surface, littered with crude sketches and hastily scribbled out words that he'd written in an attempt to give his thoughts some structure. It was a poor plan. Battle strategy had never been a gift in his arsenal, nor had he ever cared, in the past. His strength and willpower served him well. But strength alone wouldn't help him with this task. If the rumors were true, and he was facing a true witch, then he suspected what he was up against, were she to possess a fraction of magic like Loki's. Thor remembered well how their bout had gone. Loki had been a storming tempest that roared his rage for all to hear, yet he calculated, striking blows that cut deep and burned with an icy chill. What if Thor's foe was the same?

Pride told him that he could handle her. Logic warily agreed, but warned him not to make the same mistake twice. Things had to progress smoothly. He had to triumph, lest shame forever cloud his relationship with his Jotun prince, already strained from his own idiocy. He'd insulted him, belittling his talents as a sorcerer be ignored in favor of poor hearted declarations of brawny strength for protection. This was his chance to make amends. Thor was going to prove to Loki that he valued him as a companion, and respected his gifts for the majesty that they were. He'd face the witch in combat as equal warriors. He'd defeat her, take what rewards he could and bestow them all upon the prince, until they found one suited to his might. Something was bound to catch his eye. Thor wouldn't stop until they found it. Even if the battle alone took days, weeks, he'd fight to the end and show his lessons well learned. Damn it all, Loki deserved that much. It was just….difficult. "So very difficult."

"What is?" The husky voice sent him jolting from his chair. His surprised roar did nothing to mask Loki's laughter, a cool smile set upon the thunderer as he stepped out from the shadows and took a seat on the chair arm, loincloth swishing about his calves, a cloak drawn about his shoulders and masking his bloodlines from view. "Steady yourself, Odinson. It's only me."

Only him. As if he held no special meaning. "Loki. What brings you here at this late hour? Should you not be resting?" Thor ignored the rapid beat of his heart and smiled warmly at his intended. There was strain between them still, for Loki didn't immediately return it, and appeared a touch miffed at his questions as well. Ever since their bout, he'd been more prim and reclusive than Thor was comfortable with. He missed the teasing and harmless insults Loki used to throw at him. He longed to see those scarlet eyes light up with laughter, pleasure, anything invoking his true mischievous nature. It pained him to know that this was his doing. "I…see the seamstresses have outfitted you with new garments." Beseeching, Thor grasped for any tendril of conversation, subtly trying to draw Loki's attention towards him, and away from the scrolls he could see crimson irises glancing towards. "You look lovely. Green suits you well, Loki, as always."

"And why should it not? Green is the color of warriors and kings. My heritage." Loki ignored his abashed expression and gestured towards the table. "What is all this? I never imagined you to be the studious sort." He reached for a bit of parchment. Thor panicked, stepping between Loki and the table and near causing an embarrassing collision with those fingers and his groin. Luckily they stopped before contact occurred. That was the last sort of thing he wanted on his mind.

"I'm not. It's battle strategies." He said the first thing that came to mind, and regretted it instantly. Loki would know he was lying. His talents with trickery made him almost omnipotent when it came to these sort of things, and Thor had never been a very good liar anyway. He could only hope that the prince would overlook this fault, and take his words at face value.

Loki had always done well when it came to doing the opposite of what he was meant to. "Do not mock me, Odinson. Only a simpleton would fall for such tricks. Asgard has no plans for battle, nor would you need to strategize if there were. It's hardly your style. You favor a more brutal approach." Truth, but it cut Thor to the core to hear Loki say it so bluntly. No doubt he thought that his approach to everything. He'd given the Jotun no reason to believe otherwise. Thor sighed, taking a step aside to allow him a full view of the scroll covered table. Now wasn't the most adequate time to start making changes, but it would have to do. Loki deserved to know the truth. And they could start with his plans, since he saw no way to escape explaining just what he was up to without potentially harming their already fractured relationship. Thor couldn't allow that to happen. So he let Loki look through the scrolls and various bits of parchment, the books on magic and ice, and he watched the curiosity unfold.

"By Ymir's pit, what are you up to?" Loki picked up a rough sketch of towering cliffs with a ravine carved through their center. One of those who had told Thor of the rumored witch had drawn him this, depicting where she was thought to dwell. They were daunting, if the size of them was to be given real world interpretation. "Thor?"

Ah, so they were back to this. Loki must crave answers, to set aside his stubborn indifference. He couldn't deny that it was a relief, however short and sweet. "They are plans." He carefully took the drawing from him and set it down on the table. Seeing the questions taking shape on Loki's lips, Thor held up a hand and pleaded silence. "Please. Let me explain. I know it appears that I've lost my senses, but there is a simple reasoning behind all this." He took a steadying breath and carried on. "There have been rumors reaching my ears of a world far from our own that is home to a witch of extraordinary power. I sought to find her, and make my way to the lands in which she dwells. Here, if the claims are right." Thor tapped the sketch, feeling the weight of scarlet orbs as they looked between him and the table. It made his disappointment all the greater. "I thought to defeat her in combat, and claim what treasures I could as boons, to beg for your forgiveness. But I feel now that this cause is fruitless. Without a way to reach this realm, my plans amount to nothing." He reached for the Jotun's cold hand and laced their fingers together, though met with stiff reluctance. "I'm sorry, Loki. I only wanted to please you, and prove that I've learned from my mistakes."

"Your mistakes." Thor kissed Loki's fingers and frowned nervously. Would his actions be thrown back in his face? "What do you mean…" understanding smoothed over those cobalt features like a trickle of water, washing away all sense of feeling or a hint as to what Loki was thinking beneath the cold front he put forth. "The fight," he murmured. "That's what this is about. I never would've imagined…my words must have strongly affected you, if you resorted to all this." His free hand gestured to the maddening display before them, and-there. Thor saw but a flash of it, but that was enough. Warmth. Whatever Loki thought of him, he'd at least garnered enough favor to make the prince smile. "You oaf. You were going to travel to an unfamiliar world and seek a fight with a witch, full well knowing nothing could come of it. What if she was poor, wretched, or had not a treasure to her name? What would you have done then?"

"Anything. I had to make you see that you were worth everything to me. Nothing in all the Nine realms could stop me from proving my admiration of your skills, and if that meant traveling to a dangerous, unexplored world threatened by a powerful witch, then so be it. You were worth that, Loki. And so much more." Resistance fleeing from the smaller figure, Thor felt no qualms at wrapping Loki in his arms, a large hand carding gently through the mass of hair hanging silkily down his back. "I never meant to hurt you, but I know now that that's precisely what I did. I never should have insulted your seidr, Loki. You're a powerful sorcerer, and I thought…." he shook his head with a wry smile. "I thought to prove my faith by defeating the witch in battle. Rumors bespoke of her power and strength. If she was but half as powerful as you, then she would have made a worthy foe. I'd have taken great pleasure in defeating her. The fight had great potential for glory. And whatever treasures she owned would have been yours." Thor had the decency to look sheepish, a soft kiss pressed to the highest crest of Loki's cheek. "I know little of magic, but I thought something she possessed could appeal to you."

"Because all practitioners must use the same tools to work their craft. Surely there's nothing to distinguish between us." Loki cupped his face and muffled his anxious denial with a kiss, one that had Thor's eyes near popping out of his head. "I jest, Thor. Your intentions were good, and it wasn't a poor idea. Whomever this witch is, she might have owned something of interest to me. A rare tome, or enchanted dagger. Something." Shrugging, he leaned away and smirked. "But I need no gifts from you. You've offered enough already."

So everyone else in Asgard likely thought. "What I've offered were paltry gifts, worth nothing to you," Thor argued. "What good are jewels and gold when we are princes? You can have all of the baubles you desire, without lifting a single finger. I wanted to give you something you could truly appreciate, Loki, if not use to further your magical talents. And who better to retrieve this than from another spell caster?" He pulled the small Jotun back into his arms and gently tilted his chin up, thumb brushing the curved lines etched across his cool flesh. "You deserve luxury, refinement. I can offer you these, but that's not enough. I wanted to show you that you are more to me than my intended Queen, and I adore you. Every part of you."

"Even my seidr?"

Perhaps he imagined it, but Thor could have sworn Loki sounded…hopeful. "Every part, Loki. I swear on my life." Casting a rueful grin to the table and its mess of parchment, he chuckled. "Had I but the opportunity, I'd continue forth with my plans and prove my devotion to you. Even if the witch possessed nothing of consequence, I would battle her in your name. Her magic, against my hammer."

"Is that your idea of a fair fight? To bash her skull in with your hammer?" Laughter bubbled in Loki's throat, thick and rich like a fine wine. "I suppose it makes sense. Your strength and brawn against whatever magic she possesses…..but first, you'd have to successfully find her, without getting yourself killed." He gave the thunderer an amused smile. "However did you plan to manage that? Fighting isn't the answer to everything, Thor. Have you even the slightest clue as to where this world lies? I assume it's not part of the Nine, else you would be gone already, charging forth with some half cocked plan."

It was irksome at times, the level to which Loki understood him. "You underestimate me, Loki," Thor grumbled, taking a seat at the table again and casting a few of the sketches aside. "I can be clever too, despite what you might believe." He was right though. Thor had no idea where this world lied, since it wasn't a part of Yggdrasil's branches, and therefore there was no conceivable way to reach it. Even after questioning those who shared the rumors, he was no closer to success. None knew where they hailed from, nor how to reach their birth place. Disappointing. He cast a grave look to one of the charcoal colored drawings, tension roped through every one of his muscles and wound tighter still when cool hands came to rest on his shoulder blades. "I've failed you." The silent again didn't need saying.

"How so? Because you have not the wits nor cunning to reach a realm so far from your own?" Soft chuckling brushed his ears, and those cold fingers he was so fond of lightly pressed into his tunic, working the flesh beneath with a talent Thor could never deny. "Oh Thor….blind, arrogant, sentimental Thor. What do you think of me, to strive for such ridiculous lengths? You needn't gift me with boons. I know you regret your foolhardy actions. You express much without speaking," Loki reached around and tapped a scruffy cheek. "Forget this other world, and its witch. I accept your actions for their intention, and thank you. It's a rare prize indeed, to have Asgard's prince so desperate to apologize."

Then Loki would forgive him, just like that. Thor's brow wrinkled with concern, and he caught the Jotun by the wrist, half pulling and half lifting him onto his lap with an infuriating lack of care for the scant piece of cloth barely masking Loki's privates from view. Now was not the time for boyish lusts, and primal hungers could come later. He would speak his mind, before the prince cast it beneath a veil of numbing trickery. It was a talent of his, the wicked silvertongue. "Apologies mean nothing, Loki. You have your words, but I am a man of action, and so action shall fuel my penance. I acted the fool that day, and I know I have much to atone for because of my refusal to understand you and your ways. You are Loki. I respect that, and I want nothing about you to change. But you must accept in turn that just as you are Loki, I am Thor." He caught those surprised lips in a slow, tender kiss midway through what would have surely been a persuasive argument, only stopping when they willingly parted atop his with no words, but preferable moans. Loki was easier to cajole when he was kissed senseless. "I don't deserve your trust. Not yet. But I would ask for your aide, if you may offer it."

The roots of mistrust were sprouting in those crimson depths. Thor watched them grow, only to be drowned as Loki placed a hand on his chest and shifted his weight to better rest on the firm thighs beneath him. "Name your request." He made himself comfortable with a smirk, tucking his cloak folds around him as fingers worked over the designs of Thor's armor. It was the most at ease he'd ever seen him. "If it's intriguing enough, I might consider granting it."

From Loki, that was practically a yes. Delight restrained, Thor wrapped his arms around him and basked in the pleasure of having the prince astride him, whatever perverse connotations others might have taken from the embrace. He was simply happy to have Loki with him, in whatever way he was most secure. "I won't stop until I make amends," he rumbled, nesting his mouth into the silky coil of black hair. "Nothing you say will change my mind. Even if I cannot slay the witch, there are other realms. Other battles to be found. If it takes me a thousand years to prove to you your worth in my eyes, I will endure them with humbleness, Loki. But I truly believe this is the best course, for us both. I feel it. Fate desires me to go there." The moment of truth. Thor covered Loki's throat with a bare hand and gently tilted his head back, laving kisses over the whorl patterned skin nearest his brow and the base of a gleaming horn. "Help me, Loki. Your magic is strong. Alone, I have no hope of finding this world, but with your assistance…"

"You wish me to help you with your plight?" Loki hummed. "Does that not defeat the purpose of atonement?"

"It might. But there is none other whom I trust more to aide me." He felt Loki's reaction more than anything else; a flutter against his palm, of heart beats racing like a frantic drum. "For the sake of my apology, I must be the one to slay the witch. The fight will be fair, her magic free from tethers. But I would have you and I journey there together, Loki, if it's at all possible." Hopeful for the first time since he'd concocted this mad scheme, Thor looked to his intended and smiled. "Is it?"

"Mm…." the repose was clear in how flesh was rubbed against his palm, Loki's eyes cast to the ceiling. He let Thor stroke and kiss him to his heart's content while he waited for a proper answer. It didn't take long. "You're a mad fool."

Thor kissed his temple. "Aye." He need say no more than that. Whatever the decision made, his mind would remain unchanged. One way or another, he'd make amends to the prince. It was up to Loki whether or not they made the journey together, possibilities allowing. Which, he noted with a bold smile, they clearly were. Nothing could make Loki look so otherwise gleeful. "Your thoughts roil, Loki. Come. Tell me of them." He watched sapphire digits close over a sketch and lift it for analysis, tracing the dark mountains with their smudged tips of coal, and blurry lines depicting rivers that would likely flow colder than the harshest winter. Did he see something within them? Thor thought yes, yes he did, and was proven right with the prince's thoughtful question.

"This world…..have your rumors given it a name? I'll need that much to work with, if we're to travel there sometime this millennium."

Indeed they would. Clutching Loki tighter to his chest, mind teeming with the plans and potential adventures they would share, he drew a forefinger across the page and drew it for both their eyes to see, the name foreign and odd as it passed from his lips. "They call it…Narnia." It tasted magical, like the fables of old he'd read as a child, before books were exchanged for sword and shield. Loki repeated the strange word and held it longer on his tongue, a wondrous expression on his face that Thor wished he could immortalize forever. Whatever feelings the odd name created, that no less decreased its potential. Thor knew not what this place would hold, but that adventure would come and open her arms to them both. And, were he lucky, this Narnia held the tools of his forgiveness nestled close to her breast.