A/N: Characters owned by Marvel, story owned by me. Inspired by true events . Please take the time to review. There are more stories to come, uploading weekly!
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Loki was missing. It was never a good thing when their youngest son was missing. Even though he was only 5 he was almost always up to something. Odin and Frigga looked high and low for him. They turned to Heimdall to help them find him. It did not take long for him to locate Loki, he was in the stables.
They walked quietly into the stables in an attempt to observe him before approaching him. If he was up to something he would never admit it. What they saw was certainly not what they were expecting. There little boy lay asleep in the hay with a tiny white kitten with orange spots sleeping huddled up close beside him. Frigga approached quietly and placed her hand on Loki's shoulder. He awoke and looked at his Mother with surprise before taking a quick glance to see if the Kitten remained.
"He was lost. I could not see his Mother anywhere. He was crying so I brought him home. Please allow me to keep him!" Loki desperately pled.
"Are you certain he did not have a family? Perhaps his Mother would have returned." Frigga tried to reason with her son that perhaps he was not doing what was right for the Kitten.
"No Mother. I stayed there for hours. No one came back for him. He is all alone." Loki explained.
Frigga looked at her son and the kitten with great consideration before turning to Odin for his final decision. Odin looked at her and simply nodded. She turned back to Loki with her sweet smile and said simply. "You may keep the kitten Loki, but it is up to you to ensure that it receives proper care and attention. Come on now. Let us return to the castle, please?" She gestured for Loki to come and he swept the kitten up gently and led the way, beaming with joy. Thor was waiting for them when they got back. He lit up when he saw the small animal Loki was carrying. He ran over to Loki full of excitement and curiosity.
"Oh Loki, it is so cute! Can I hold it please?" Thor pleaded.
"NO!" Loki exclaimed. "You are a brute. You will hurt the poor kitty."
"I will be careful." Thor frowned, his brother never trusts him.
"You do not know how to be careful Thor. You break everything." Loki brushed past Thor before he could defend himself again. This could go on all day if he allowed it.
Thor watched in disappointment as they walked out of view. Odin patted Thor reassuringly on the shoulder as he and Frigga followed Loki down the hall.
Over the next month Loki looked after his kitten well. He ensured that it had plenty of food, water, outside play and had even made it some interesting toys by tying string to his own favourite toys so the Kitten could chase them. Every night he kept it safe in his room and kept it nearby every day.
One night after a long hot day, Loki had fallen asleep in the library. Odin found him sleeping on a pile of books with the kitten chewing the corner of one nearby. He picked his small boy up as well as the kitten and carried them to Loki's room. He left the door slightly ajar in case the kitten wanted to take a walk. They are night creatures after all.
Early the next morning Thor had just risen with the Sun and was heading out for his morning exercises when he spotted the small creature sitting on his window sill. He quickly slid over to it to inspect it. Sure enough it was Loki's kitten. His brother had never let him play with his kitten. Now, finally, he had his chance. He stroked the kitten where it sat and it responded with apparent affection. Thor decided the kitten must like him so he would take it to Loki to prove it to him. He excitedly picked the kitten up and ran out of the room. As he did so he heard the kitten making some unusual sounds before falling silent. He stopped in the hall and opened his hands and realised what he had done.
Thor burst into his parent's room, tears streaming down his face, hands clenched to his chest. He ran to his Mother and fell into her arms.
"Thor? What is going on?" Frigga's concern was evident.
"I…I killed it Mummy!" He guiltily opened his hands revealing the now still kitten.
"Thor!" She exclaimed and quickly removed the creature from his hands. She passed it to Odin who was now watching the pair and turned back to Thor and hugged him. "It is ok my baby. You did not mean for this to happen. It will be ok".
"Loki will hate me!" Thor said, trembling.
"No, Thor. He will be upset, but he will no hate you for this." She reassured him.
Odin stood and headed for the door to dispose of the animal. "We will tell Loki it ran away. It would hurt him too much to know its true fate. He may blame himself for bringing it here".
Loki had heard it all. Loki was always awake just as early as Thor and had been looking for his beloved pet when he saw Thor run down the hall. He stood outside the door, curious about what had upset his brother so. He snuck away from the room, tears streaming down his cheeks as he returned to his room. He was devastated by what he heard but he could not be mad at Thor. He loved his brother so much and knew he was hurting too. Maybe one day he will be able to tell Thor he knows what happened but for now he would accept Odin's story to spare them all the pain.
We have a new reviewer this week . Thank you to Gregory Sackville-Bagg, OldStory, nickypooh & Psyco101. I love reading what you all have to say. This one is a lot sadder than usual, sorry…but unfortunately still based on a true story…although it was guinea pigs not a kitten… still plenty more stories to come!