"Where is my brother?!"
Thor was throwing warriors about the hall left and right, every group who attempted to seize him were thrown back in a hammer wielding rage.
"My boy, this endeavor is a fruitless one! We cannot die here!" An old warrior shouted at Thor as he raised his shield to an incoming thunderbolt.
"Give me Loki and I will go!" Thor shouted back, more thunder hammering down on the shields of the warriors.
"You can have him, boy!" the old warrior called with a raucous laugh that many around him echoed. They charged Thor, who seemed to pulsate with thunderous energy.
"ENOUGH!"
The warriors froze. Thor himself froze, looking up at the source of the booming voice.
Freya stood in front of her throne, her white dress covered by shining armor; Brisingamen swung from around her neck as she pulled back the string of her bow, the tensioned arrow aimed straight at Thor. The warriors parted, not wanting to stand in her warpath.
Thor kneeled, nearly falling over but catching himself on Mjolnir.
"Goddess Freya, I-" he began.
"-I do not care who you are. You are not dead and you do not belong here," she finished for him, lowering her bow and pulling the arrow free of it. She placed it slowly into the quiver on her hip, not taking her eyes off of Thor as she did.
"With all due respect, Goddess, I am the ruler of Asgard and I go where I please," he shot back, wobbling a bit on the hilt of Mjolnir.
"The ruler of Asgardian wines, perhaps," she retorted, holstering her bow, "Hildr! Send for Odin to come and collect his whelp of a son."
Hildr pulled herself up from the group of warriors and made her way through them toward the end of the hall.
"You will not find him in Asgard," Thor said quietly. Hildr stopped, a few feet from him.
"What have you done?" she said. He looked over at her, his greasy blonde locks crossing his face.
"Odin was banished for treason," he answered back.
"Treason?" Freya repeated, stepping down to the Hall floor towards Thor.
"Treason against the royal family. He sold my brother's soul to you, that was not his right."
Freya laughed, reaching Thor with floating feet. He stared down at her bare toes, how they barely even touched the ground as she walked. Then ever so slowly, his bloodshot eyes followed her frame carefully up to her face.
"Watch yourself, little boy," she said softly, her eyes glaring hellfire into him. Thor stood, towering over her in close proximity.
"I assure you, my lady, there is nothing little about me," he responded in a mocking softness. The warriors surrounding them began to hoist their shields, but Freya waved them off.
"Not anywhere she can see, anyhow."
Loki stepped out from behind the throne, a coy smile upon his face. As worse for the wear as his brother looked in his dirty attire and unkempt beard, he was happy to see Thor.
"Brother!" Thor exclaimed, trying to step past Freya. She put a hand to his chest and pushed him back with surprising force.
"Brother, where are you? I can hear you! Where are you keeping him?!" Thor exclaimed, grabbing Freya's arm. Her other hand took his wrist and twisted it, a violent crack echoed throughout the hall. Thor stole back his now broken wrist, grunting with agony.
"Oh, that sounded unpleasant," Loki commented, stepping up beside Freya.
"Big man, dainty wrists," Freya replied, tapping Loki gently with her finger. Brisingamen glowed for a moment at her neck, filling Loki with a strange sensation similar to drinking water after a bout of thirst.
"You… are a beautiful devil woman…" Thor grunted, with a sickening pop putting his wrist back in it's rightful place.
"He can see you now, Loki, but listen to me carefully," Freya said, turning to Loki with the same angry eyes she'd had for Thor "he cannot stay here. He cannot drink here. He cannot cause me any more grief or he will have a true and good reason to be here. He is under your care."
Loki opened his mouth to reply, but she vanished, the last bit of her dress the last thing to disappear. The warriors cleared out of the hall in sullen masses, obviously upset their battle was over so soon.
Thor looked up at Loki, smiling at his brother as he nursed his arm against his chest.
"I've missed you," he said with a grin. Loki smiled back.
"Was I really worth a broken arm though?" he replied. Thor took him into a great hug, squeezing him so tightly he could barely breathe.
"Thor have you been living in a barn?"
It was clear that Thor had not taken great care of himself as of late. His beard was scraggly, his attire dirty; and he smelled like a barkeep's rag. Thor let him go, pulling his wrist back to his chest with a strange look.
"You're not carrying on like this because of me, are you?" Loki asked, looking him up and down. Thor made a small strangled noise.
"You were my enemy for some of our life, but you were my best friend for all of it. It has been difficult to be without you," he said quietly, staring down at his muddy boots.
"Brother, you hate me. You have always hated me. What about my death changed any of it?"
"I don't hate you, Loki," Thor shot back immediately, "I never understood what your obsession with the throne was. What your hatred of father was. I know he never told you Laufey was your real father, that you were not of Asgard. But I always figured he never wanted for anyone to feel differently about you. When I confronted him about all of this… when he finally told me the truth… I think I finally saw him the way you do. A monster."
"What did he tell you?" Loki asked quietly. Thor shook his head, his good hand pulling his hair back and away from his face.
"That he had murdered Freya so he could marry my mother. And to keep her quiet, he gave her Folkvang and promised her a son. That he took you from Jotunheim with every intention for you to be the son he gave away. He had no right, brother. He had no right to do any of it!" Thor shouted angrily. Loki looked out into the hall, the golden bricks looking on dimly back. There was something strange about Thor finally knowing the same truth Loki had known for years.
Loki thought back, back to the day he'd found out who he really was. The lie, the grand lie of it all. Odin had never come out and admitted to him that he was a pawn. But it had never made sense any other way. Odin was not an affectionate man, no philanthropist. He was a ruler, a conqueror.
Loki scoffed a bit. He wondered if his mother knew. If Frigga knew she'd been raising a sow for the slaughter over a son. It made his chest ache, the hurt and anger. He wished for Freya to come back, take this pain or to speak it out of existence with her kind hearted words. She was the only one who had never doubted him. Even looking at the broken man he'd been raised alongside, who had only recently come to the realization Loki had lived with for years, didn't help him feel any better. Thor shed a shameful tear, quickly wiping it away and turning around to admire the hall.
"Beautiful place you've got here," he muttered to no one in particular.
In fact, it all made him feel a bit bad for Thor. He had always looked up to Odin, done everything all his days to Odin's will and now, without anyone to guide him he seemed to be falling apart before Loki's eyes.
"I'm sorry," Loki said quietly.
Thor shook his head, done with all the emotion between them.
"Are you going to show me around, at least?"