Loki was bracing himself for the questions that Thor would likely bombard him with, but to his great relief, the guard that escorted him back was ready to take Thor to Lady Gallivant right away. Before he left, Thor expressed sympathy that Loki hadn't returned with the sword, but he seemed so pleased when he walked off that Loki was quite sure the only thing Thor was feeling was exhilaration that he'd get to hold something over his brother. Loki wondered how it would go for him. He honestly had no idea. Thor's life hadn't had nearly as many terrible moments as Loki's, but maybe he wasn't as strong as he made out. And that's when Loki realized that Thor wouldn't remember any terrible moments, and even if shown them, it wouldn't be his pain. It was rigged in his favor. He sighed and fell backwards on the bed.

He was surprised when he was sent for again, not that much later. He was taken to the throne room once more, and the first thing he saw was a big smile on Thor's face as he held the sword.

"Well," Loki said. "That didn't take nearly as long as it did for me."

"No, I think I was gone the same amount of time," Thor answered. "Half an hour, about, for both of us. And look!" he waved the sword. "I got it!"

"Shocker."

"I wanted to give it to you, Loki," the Lady said. "In fact I almost did."

"That's all right, Your Highness," he said. "This is nothing new for me."

She gave him a sympathetic smile. "I hope we meet again," she said. "Truly. But now you'd best go; it will take some time for you to get back to your portal, and the planet is dying."

But Loki didn't move. "No," he said. "I'm not going anywhere until you bring her back."

"Bring who back?" Thor asked, before remembering the last conversation he'd had with Loki. "What, Gilliam?"

"She's the queen," Loki informed him.

Thor looked appreciatively astonished, and Loki would have liked to revel in that, but instead he was staring at the Lady. "Well?"

The Lady looked at them and did not say a word.

"I know you can do it," Loki said. "You have the power for it; I've seen it. And you are, technically, still the ruler. So just bring her back already, and we'll be on our way."

The Lady still looked at them for a long time before saying anything. Loki was just about to point out that the planet was probably literally crumbling under Gilliam's feet right now when the queen nodded and said, "Very well, I suppose the time has indeed come." She raised her hand and slowly made an outline of a circle. It didn't appear to do anything at first, but then a portal appeared, and Gilliam stepped through. But a very different Gilliam it was now. She was dressed all in red and silver, and her greying hair was now neatly dressed. She no longer looked like the plain and ordinary woman the Asgardians had bumped into in the marketplace, but instead shone with a radiance that spoke of royalty even if nothing else had. Cari was in her arms of course, and the baby gave a cry of delight and pointed at Loki. The last thing Loki wanted to do when he saw that was smile, but it happened anyway, and though he wasn't looking at Thor, he could feel that one eye burning in him with the strength of a thousand. He was definitely going to hear about this later. So it didn't really matter that he reached out and took Cari's hand for a moment, because he knew his dignity was already shattered.

"Hello again," Gilliam said with a demure smile. "I always thought the universe was bigger than this. I see that I was wrong."

"Well well," Thor said, grinning proudly. "A queen is it? I always knew you'd rise high in the world, Gilliam."

She laughed, and then took on a more serious look. "Much as I'd love to have you stay here, I should inform you that the planet really has hours left, at best. You have to go now if you want to save your people. You two could stay here and be safe, of course, but you know your ship will not leave without you."

"Of course," Thor said. "Well farewell, again, to all of you."

Loki nodded at Gilliam, then looked up at the Lady once more. She looked at him in return, and only said, "I'm sure I'll see you in another life, Loki," before he turned and followed his brother out of the silver palace.

Loki walked as briskly as he could, but he knew Thor would still use this time to pack in as much conversation of recent events as he could. He wasn't wrong.

"So, we've got three out of the four things now," Thor started. He gave Loki a sideways glance. "What's the fourth thing? You do know what it is, right?"

"I know what my greatest possession is, yes," Loki said. "But the goblin cannot possibly be referring to that, because he couldn't possibly know I have it. So that leaves…I don't know…my helmet maybe?"

"And you're willing to give it up?" Thor asked. "Whatever it is?"

"Please, Brother, you should at least have enough memories of me by now to know that I can get myself out of any situation I don't want to be in. If he wants what I fear he wants, I'll be able to find a way to avoid giving it to him."

"Now I see why the goblin is considered a reflection of you," Thor observed.

Loki shot him a quick look. "You don't really think he is, do you?" he asked in a voice that sounded more anxious than he meant it to. "Would you really compare me to him?"

"Of course not!" Thor reassured him. "He's much better looking."

Loki nodded. "Hilarious."

"No, but seriously," Thor said. "I don't see the goblin going out and risking his neck for someone other than himself."

Loki again found himself glancing at Thor and giving a smile he had not summoned.

Thor looked at the path ahead of him, and sighed impatiently. "Why couldn't the queen have just made us a portal back to that planet, like she did for Gilliam?"

"I'm sure she could have," Loki said. "But I wasn't about to ask her to do it."

"I'm starting to grow anxious about the others," Thor said. "What if there is really nothing there to get back to?"

"The queen wasn't even ready to pull Gilliam out yet," Loki said. "There's still time."

Neither said anything for the following several minutes, but this time it was Loki who broke the silence. "What was your test?" he asked.

"She showed me moments of hardship from my past," Thor answered. "At least I think it was my past. I was certainly there. Not really sure what the test part was, though. She never said; just when it was over she told me congratulations and gave me the Sword."

"Did she do anything else?"

"Well we had a conversation beforehand," Thor said. "Actually, at first I thought it was an interrogation, but it wasn't. And you?"

"The same," Loki said.

"But you didn't pass."

Loki hesitated. "No."

"So what happened? You got through it and she said you didn't make it?"

Part of Loki wanted to tell him that he'd practically begged her not to torture him anymore, and yet a good majority, the stronger majority, of him said to lie. So he did. "Yep," he answered. "I don't know what the test part was, either."

Thor's face fell a little bit, and that didn't go undetected by his companion. "What?" Loki asked. "Hoping for something more humiliating?"

"Hoping for the truth," Thor replied. "She told me, Brother. She told me exactly how and why you failed."

Loki's face didn't betray any reaction. "Oh."

"Why'd you stop?" Thor asked. "You stopped right after Odin's death, and as I'm told, that happened quite recently. You were right at the end. What could have possibly happened after that that you were afraid of seeing?"

"Our home planet was destroyed after that," Loki answered. "That's something I didn't need to see again."

"Please, Loki," Thor said. "No more lies."

"I don't know why you're asking me, since you clearly know," Loki said impatiently. "She probably told you that too, did she?"

"Of course not, what would she have said?"

"Oh, I don't know." Loki had already lost control of himself more times than once that day, and every time it was harder to get a grip. "That I can't bear the thought of you not recognizing me? That you've always been out there, somewhere, even when we were enemies, and that you looking at me, and through me, as if I were nobody to you feels like a dagger through my soul? We're on good terms at the moment, Thor, though I know I'm going to try and kill you again someday. But when I do I want you to know exactly whose doing it. And I don't want you to die not having a clue as to who I am, not remembering when I turned into a snake to kill you, or all the times we made fun of each other's helmets! And I can't…I can't…" He had to stop, because if nothing else, he wasn't going to weep in front of his brother. Not this time. "You're all I've got left," he finished, when he'd regained enough composure. "You're all I've got left."

Thor listened calmly, and then nodded understandingly when it was over. "That was beautiful," he said, with just a hint of teasing.

"Shut up," Loki said brokenly.

"No, it was," Thor said. "I never thought of you as someone so emotional. We should be honest with each other more often."

"Yeah," Loki said, rubbing his face with both hands. "The day that happens is the day I stop being a trickster."

"I'm sorry," Thor said. "For looking at you like a stranger."

"It's not your fault," Loki said. "For once." He considered for a moment, and then added, "Of course, I wasn't there—you probably did get yourself into that, somehow." He took a breath and managed to calm himself down the rest of the way, but he was determined not to open his mouth for a while now, just in case. Thor seemed to understand this, and didn't speak for a time, either.

When they arrived at the door, Thor was again the first one through. When Loki was back in the mirror of Asgard, he saw at once that the planet was certainly dying. The sky was curling up like a piece of paper thrown onto a fire, and gold flakes were raining down liberally now. They'd ended up near the burnt up house of Gilliam again, so there was a bit of a walk back to the goblin. But although things were looking pretty urgent now, Loki remembered something, and stopped, holding out his hand. "Give me the sword, I'll put the things in the bag now."

"Are you always this demanding?" Thor joked. "'Give me the horn, give me the bracelet, give me the sword.'"

Loki frowned slightly. He hadn't realized until then that Thor had actually been the one to obtain all three of the things they needed. Would it really be so terrible for him to contribute one thing? Assuming it wasn't what he suspected it to be, of course.

He slipped the key to the Sindar portal into the satchel first, and Thor asked, "Why now? We're on our way back, we may as well just wait to give them to him."

"I don't want him to think I'm holding out on him," Loki said. "Creatures like him are always looking for the loopholes so they can break a deal."

"That's true," Thor said, and then grinned. "It would be like the time I had you obtain a gift for Mother, but I waited so long to get it from you that you claimed it was then rightfully yours!"

Loki froze as he let the Horn drop into the satchel. He waited for an agonizing moment before looking up at Thor. "What?" he asked in the most chilling tone he could conjure.

Thor looked up with inquisitively raised eyebrows. "Hm?" he asked, and then suddenly the realization of what he said hit him and his eye tripled in size. "Oh…"

"Please don't tell me you heard that from Heimdall," Loki said, still chillingly. "Because I might not believe you."