Loki wrenched his eyes open and groaned aloud in pain. The headache that was pounding behind his eyes made his earlier pains seem like nothing. Thor's presence was beside him in a moment, both physically and mentally, reaching out to support him in both areas. Loki's first instinctual impulse was to shove his lummox of a brother aside, but memory reasserted itself and he allowed Thor to grab his arms and gently draw him into a sitting position. Loki pressed his knuckles to his forehead and sat as still as he could for a moment, aware of nothing but the pain piercing through his skull like a lance. He suddenly realized how cold it was. He slowly opened one eye and cast a glance at Thor, who was kneeling beside him and staring at his face.
"Am I dead?" Loki asked coolly once he regained control of his voice. Thor let out a hearty chuckle and sat back. Loki dropped his hand and looked around him in wonder. The roof of the cavern was entirely gone now, and Loki could see the sky bright and blue overhead. The earth around him was crystallized over with ice and sticking up in jagged patterns. Strewn everywhere were the frozen corpses of the insect monsters.
"No, brother, although you had me wondering for a while!" Loki winced as Thor's voice boomed through his head, but he had to admit to himself that it was good to actually hear his brother again. His brother—the word still felt slightly awkward to his thoughts, but no longer bitter and foul—he didn't correct himself on it this time.
"I see our plan worked," he said dryly. Thor grinned a cheeky, lopsided grin at him.
"Your plan worked, you mean. It worked surprisingly well, too, even if it did knock both of us out stone cold." He glanced over at the nearest insect husk. "Did a pretty bit of damage to them, though. Apparently they couldn't handle the cold." Loki gazed around him and nodded. The sun overhead was already causing the ice to drip, but for the moment it was refreshingly cool around him. "We still work best together, it would seem," Thor said quietly. Loki cast him a look and shrugged, although the words secretly pleased him. Thor caught the feeling through the mind-link, however, and grinned again. Loki looked down at his feet for a moment.
"You know, Thor, I could deactivate it." Thor glanced over at him curiously. "The mind-link, I mean. Now that we're together again I don't really…need it." Thor gazed up at the sky for a moment.
"Oh—well, I suppose you're right. Whatever you think is best." Loki nodded stiffly and moved over next to Thor. He placed his hands on either side of Thor's head and muttered the reversal Word. He instantly felt somehow diminished, like part of him had been cut away. His mind tried to reach for Thor, but the link was shut down now, and there was no one in his mind but himself. The sudden emptiness was crushing. Loki dropped his hands again and withdrew a pace. Thor, too, looked a bit discomfited by their sudden separation. Loki found himself wanting to grab Thor again and reactivate the link. How bizarre.
"So…now what do we do?" Loki said a tad awkwardly. Thor let out a heavy breath of air and leaned back against a wall of ice and rock.
"I don't know about you, but I still feel like I was trampled by rampant frost giants. Oh—I mean…" He glanced over at Loki as if to make sure the younger man wasn't offended, and Loki sent a quick smile of reassurance back at him. He may be a frost giant by blood, but he had finally realized that he was and always would be an Asgardian at heart.
"I agree," he responded, rubbing his temples. "I would not be adverse to remaining here a bit longer." Thor nodded his agreement and shut his eyes. A moment later rumbling snores came from where he sat. Loki smiled to himself. He regretted that Thor was always the first to fall asleep, but he closed his own eyes and hoped for the best. On the other hand, there was something soothing about hearing the snores of his brother, perhaps because he had fallen asleep to the sound so often as a child. In any case, he soon followed Thor into the world of sleep.