Hey, thanks to LittleMissChatterbox2009 for the follow! Here's chapter three!
Thor looked round and saw that he was alone. Loki had vanished. Puzzled he called his name but no one answered save the wind. He dropped the stick he was playing with and began to look around. First Loki was big and then he had seemed so sad and now he was gone. In his young mind, Thor was troubled.
He wandered further and further from the village and deeper into the woods. He called Loki's name every now and then, hoping his brother was only hiding. He hoped it was some kind of game but the adventure was turning out not to be as fun as it might have been.
After a while he tried to retrace his steps but soon found that he could not find his way back to the little hill. Worry overtook him and he began to feel hopeless. He couldn't find his way back and he couldn't find his brother. He twisted his hands in worry and bit his lip, calling Loki's name again. He began to feel hungry. It had been a while since breakfast.
He listened for the sound of the brook, hoping that it would lead him back to the hill but he couldn't hear it. Defeated he sat at the base of a tree and tried to think clearly. He was scared. Loki was gone and he didn't know how to get home. He had always thought going to other realms would be exciting and for a while it had but now that he was alone everything had changed.
Alone and hungry and completely lost he began to feel the weight of the situation. His father must know where he was but why wasn't he doing anything? Why hadn't he come to get him? His breath hitched and he sniffed, trying not to cry. He was too old to cry but he couldn't help it when he felt a tear leak out of his eye. Furiously he scrubbed at his face but to no avail and a second later he was crying.
He was all by himself and he couldn't find Loki and everything was awful. He sniffed again and again, trying to stop his tears but he was hungry and scared and all alone. He wiped his eyes miserably and cried until he couldn't anymore. After that he sat for a long time, resting his head in his arms. He didn't know what to do. Night was coming and he was cold and alone. He missed his brother.
Loki had retreated to a city far away. He heard the dealings of the Avengers and other so called Superheroes talked about. Thor's disappearance was hardly mentioned. People were used to him disappearing back to Asguard.
He himself held up in a hotel, content to stay hidden. But try as he might the couldn't stop thinking of his brother. Guilt weighed on him in a way it never had before. He had never felt bad about anything involving his brother before but now. . . this was different and he tried not to feel but couldn't stop it. He wondered if Thor had found his way back to the inn. Wondered if someone had taken him in instead. If they had they would be in for a surprise. Wondered if the boy was still lost in the woods.
When he tried to sleep he found himself unable. He thought of his brother and of the child he had grown up with. He had left that child to starve in the woods. The child was innocent. Anything that befell him before he returned to adulthood would be his fault.
He thought of his smiling, happy brother and the games they had played as children and then of how scared the boy must be.
Sleep eluded him that night and near dawn he gave in. He fled the hotel and returned to the hill where he found Thor asleep under a tree. The boy was dirty and his clothes were stained with mud. He was sleeping in a ball, arms folded under his head and hand tucked inside of his sleeves.
Reaching down he shook the child awake. Thor whimpered and opened his eyes slowly. "Hm?" His bleary eyes found Loki's face and widened. "Loki, where were you?"
"I left. Come with me, we're going back to the inn."
Thor stumbled after him, groggy and half asleep. He tripped and nearly fell at one point and Loki was forced to carry him. The boy weighed little, a stark contrast to the wall of muscle he would be as an adult. By the time they reached the edge of town he had fallen back asleep.
Loki transported them back to their room and shook the child awake again. "You need to take a bath." He said softly.
Thor nodded and stumbled towards the bathroom door but stopped with his hand on the knob. "Where did you go?"
In the dim light Loki felt his stomach twist. "I went away but it was a mistake."
"Oh. I thought you didn't like me since you were grown up."
"No. Go and take your shower."
Thor did, not understanding why Loki wouldn't look at him or why he had been alone for so long. He was hungry and all he wanted was to sleep. He took his shower and washed his hair and when he came back, wrapped in a towel Loki had materialized some clean pajamas and told him to sleep.
"We'll eat in the morning." After a moment alone in the dark Loki spoke again. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I know you didn't mean it."
Thor drifted to sleep with a smile and Loki hated himself in that moment. His brother had forgiven him, despite being left alone in the woods.. Despite having been left to fend for himself. He forgave and believed the best. An annoying trait he carried on into adulthood.
Loki watched the child sleep and then rolled onto his side, facing away. He couldn't bare to look at him any longer.
Thanks for reading.
