"Get up! It is already practically midday, you lazy lout, and I want to go hunting with you today."

Loki's head thrummed painfully behind his eyelids as he slowly peeled them open, staring blankly up at the ceiling. The chirpy voice edged through his consciousness like blades crossing, sharp and grating. "That's it now, get up! We've already wasted half the day!" His room shifted before his eyes, teetering to the right before slamming back to the left. He groaned and lifted an arm to block the wretched sunlight streaming through his window, squinting blearily in that direction. That voice...wafting through his brain with an irritating familiarity, but he could not seem to focus around the pounding in his skull. Why this pain? Was he ill? Gods, how...how was it so late already? "Come, now! I've tried waking you twice already!" Warm hands clamped down on his shoulders, shaking him awake. Recognition dawned instantly and he gasped a quiet inhale.

"Thor?" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. In the next breath, the smiling face of said brother appeared over him, positively giddy.

"Aye. Now get up." The final vestiges of sleep bled from his body as he watched Thor watching him; unbidden, the recollection of last night's encounter came rushing back and he leaped from the bed, nearly stumbling as he did so. "Brother, what...?" Thor started as Loki pointed at him, the words falling from his mouth in a heavy rush.

"You! Last night, in the..." He abruptly cut himself off as Thor blinked at him, confusion evident in his features. His line of thought shifted quickly. "How did I get here?" Loki raised shaking palms up towards his face, studying them as if they would provide an answer. "I don't...I don't remember coming back to my chambers or falling asleep, I was in the -"

"What is this now?" Thor asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "You are not making any sense."

"Last night," Loki snapped, frustration momentarily overshadowing his awakening confusion. He rubbed viciously at his eyes as Thor watched him, brow furrowed. Gods, but his head hurt. "Last night, in the hall. You were..." He waved his arms around wildly. "I do not even know what you were doing, and then out in the courtyard, you had a...a shovel in your hands and that is all I can remember? Why can I...I did not come back here last night...I..." His voice trailed off slowly as Thor began to chuckle, and then quickly burst into riotous laughter.

"This sounds like a very vivid dream you had, brother," Thor finally managed, clapping him firmly on the shoulder. "Now go on and get dressed."

"No," Loki said, shoving his hand off. Thor's face dipped into a frown again. "It was not a dream, Thor, I saw you. You were not in your room and I found you in the corridor, facing the courtyard. You were just standing there and then you went outside and looked at me. And then..." He huffed in frustration. "I do not remember what happened next. I do not understand..."

"Are you well?" Thor's inquiry flitted in through the angry pondering of his mind; he shifted his gaze towards his brother's and found his pensive eyes staring at him, studying him.

Blue. Blue as they ever were.

A man's eyes, at any rate. Not an animal's.

But he'd seen it. He'd seen their color, he'd seen Thor out in the courtyard, he'd seen it all!

...hadn't he?

"Mayhap you should lie back down." Loki jumped as Thor's hand pressed firmly upon his shoulder; his touch felt inexplicably foreign and harsh and he noticed, startlingly, that the pressure hurt. "Go on then and get back in bed. We do not have to go hunting today."

"I..." He turned to look at Thor's hand, familiar as ever, but his grip tightened and he gasped softly in pain.

"Sit," Thor said. Loki complied with his mouth pressed shut, shoving away his brother's hand as soon as he did so.

"I feel fine," he began, but Thor only shook his head.

"No, you've a strange look in your eye. Do you have a fever?" Thor reached out once more to place a hand on his forehead, but the sudden movement made him flinch. Thor paused halfway, his face crumpling into a frown.

"I will get Eir."

"No," Loki said quickly. Thor raised an eyebrow. Alarm was flowing freely through his veins and he wondered now how he could have been so stupid. "I said I feel fine. I-it was a dream, or I mean, it must have been. I was confused. That is all." He swallowed thickly, and inhaled to quiet the sudden thumping of his heart. "A-apologies. I will get dressed and meet you in the feasting hall within the next half hour?" His brother's head tilted only slightly, and the smile that graced his lips was happy and kind.

But it did not reach his eyes.

"Alright then. Do not tarry. I will ready the horses and meet you soon." With a final clap on his shoulder, Thor departed and Loki watched him carefully until the door slipped shut in his wake. As soon as it did so, Loki jumped up and bolted towards it, opening it quietly and quickly to watch Thor striding down the hall.

He was whistling as he went and Loki wondered, if for only a moment, if it really had just been a dream.


As soon as Thor entered the dining hall, Loki's eyes were trained on him like a lion watches its prey from the shadows.

At first, nothing seemed amiss. Thor chatted amicably with a few warriors as they finished their own meal; upon their conversation's conclusion, he ambled to the grand feasting table and began to select a few delicacies for his plate. Loki slid further behind a marble pillar as Thor moved down the table, picking at a few items before placing them back down and moving onto the next selections. Loki silently willed his brother to do something out of the ordinary, pleading with him in his own mind, in fact, so that someone else here would see.

Someone. Anyone, besides himself.

But Thor did nothing. He simply sat down at the table he always did and began to eat, drumming his fingers on the table as if he hadn't a care in the world. Loki gritted his teeth and swept a nervous hand through his hair, cursing his own misfortune. Every bone in his body, every drop of blood sweeping through his veins knew there was something he was missing; something big, something important.

The fact that he could not determine even an inkling as to what was slowly driving him mad.

What had happened last night? He had rapidly reviewed the events of the night before as he'd dressed and readied himself, but the incessant focus revealed nothing. Thor in the hall; Thor in the courtyard. The memories ceased there, just as a dream would - but the recollection of his psychical reaction did not. Still he could feel the frantic pump of his heart in his chest, the gooseflesh on his arms, the preparation to run as Thor turned to look at him with that animal stare. And now here he was, calmly breaking his fast, seemingly with no recollection of what had transpired the night before. It made no sense - and even worse, he never got to speak to Thor as he had planned. Coupled with his brother's sudden ability to cast spells, there was not a doubt in his mind that something surreptitious had transpired after he had lost consciousness in the woods that day. Loki pressed his forehead to the cool marble, sighing softly. Had he really grown so desperate that he felt had had to spy on his brother?

The same brother who only weeks previous had been his confidante and unyielding companion, as insufferable as he was?

He rubbed his eyes again in hopes the pain behind them would abate. Gods, but he was exhausted. Last night hadn't been a dream; he knew it hadn't. He knew, he knew, he knew...

Blearily, he scrubbed his hands down his face and focused in on Thor.

Except he was no longer sitting at the table.

Loki blinked once, twice, then stepped further to the right to better his view of the dining room. He was gone. Thor's dish remained on the table, but his brother was nowhere in the vicinity. How on earth did he -

"Looking for someone?"

Loki startled and yelped, whirling around with his fists ready to fly. Thor took one look at him and burst out laughing, even took the opportunity to double over howling with glee. Loki watched his brother's hysterics unfold with growing displeasure, his face darkening. There was no way in Hel he could have possibly stood up and snuck behind him in the mere seconds he'd had his eyes closed. Such a feat would only be possible if he had teleported.

Odin's stones, if that had happened, had no one else seen?

"Thor," Loki said quietly. His chortling was drawing the attention of the few patrons in the dining hall this late in the morning, looking on with half-smirks and bemused expressions. Despite himself, Loki could feel the flush spreading through his cheeks as more heads turned. "Thor, would you shut up? Honestly." This only served to elicit more laughter and Thor pointed at him, tears pooling in the corners of his bright blue eyes.

"You...you think you're so...so sneaky," he bellowed and Loki actually winced, pressing himself back against the pillar. For the first time since his brother had returned, true fury beckoned in the back of his mind; he stiffened, silently willing himself to calm down.

"Yes, it's very funny. Now for gods' sake, calm yourself. Everyone is looking -"

"Everyone is looking?" Thor yelled. He cast a quick glance about them and his smile grew. "Behold, my brother, ladies and gentlemen of the court. The trickster does not like to be ensnared in his own game." Voluntary laughter echoed as a response. It was weak, as if the participants were unwilling to engage in a joke they had not taken part in but something about it rang loud and clear in his own mind. For a brief moment, the breath stilled in Loki's lungs as history replayed in his mind; he was thrown back to the last time he and his brother had found themselves standing before a laughing crowd, could still remember the humiliation that had sunk down to his very bones. The determined hands, pulling him back up. A steady glare that had been directed at the crowd's mockery, not at him. A reassuring arm, pulled tight around his shoulders. An ally.

And now, the same brother standing before him, face twisted with a false smile. Taunting. Gloating. Challenging.

A clear and outright attempt to mock.

Suspicion flared, and soon gave way to anger. Loki's face flushed again and Thor laughed. By his sides his fingers curled into fists; he had sworn he would never be this angry with his brother again, but this change in Thor was no longer a pleasant one. It was hard to breathe. When Thor leaned in close to tousle his hair, he caught his arm and shoved it away from him. "Do not touch me," he snapped and Thor's eyebrows raised in infuriating glee. Movement shuffled around them, and Loki quickly noted the room had gone quiet. All eyes were still upon them, curious now. The warriors looked on stonily, the servants with anxious fidgeting. Like a whispered memory, mother's warning came to mind.

Be careful.

The brothers locked eyes. Thor's lips pressed together as if he were holding back another bark of laughter; Loki was shaking with suppressed rage, confusion, exhaustion. "We are still going hunting, yes?" Thor asked, loudly. Something about his tone made it sound like a challenge. Loki inhaled and refused to break his gaze.

"Of course," he said. He made himself stand straight and smiled with his teeth. "And will your friends be joining us?" Insipid fools, the lot of them. But the very last thing he wanted was to be alone with his brother. He would take even Sif's company at this point.

"But of course," Thor hummed in reply. "They are waiting for us at Arenwood." Loki jerked out a nod and Thor took him firmly by the arm, laughing again, pulling him towards his table. "Brother you do need to lighten up. Go on and eat something before we head out." Loki obliged him and headed towards the feast, pointedly ignoring the bewildered stares of everyone in the room. It took all the strength he could muster to not howl in frustration.

Out in the stables, before they departed, Loki rolled up the sleeve of his tunic and found four perfect bruises forming where Thor had grabbed him.


Thor had lied to him.

This became abundantly clear about an hour into their journey to Arenwood, which was no more than a few miles outside of the main city. The day was cold, crisp, and clear, with bright blue skies above and frosted pines below. Initially, Loki had found it strange that Thor had chosen to come to the woods, of all places, so soon after his return home; but there were sweet songbirds tweeting happily in the branches above and the hidden life about them breathed with the calm that only winter could bring.

And as of late, Thor had done little else but act strangely. Returning to a forest to hunt wasn't so out of the ordinary, given his brother's recent oddities.

Despite the pleasantry of the setting, Loki had found himself shivering as he strode alongside his brother on horseback. Though these woods were a far cry from the sinister murk of Myrkviðr, this was just too eerily similar. They were even riding on the same horses, on the same sides, for gods' sakes. Coupled with the weird exchange they'd shared this morning, Loki could not stop the pulses of dread working through his stomach, nor the traitorous shakes of his own body. He cast a quick glance at Thor, who seemed entirely unperturbed about anything, and Loki gripped the horn of his saddle tightly with a gloved hand to hide the shivers.

Why had he agreed to do this?

Loki swallowed thickly, trapped in the racing recesses of his own mind. Mother had said Thor had changed; she had seen it, acknowledged it even, and told him to give his brother time. But he couldn't. He simply could not accept that his brother was suffering only from the demons that had found him in the woods; it was no longer how he was acting but rather who he was that was undeniably different. This morning had proved that.

What was he missing?

Thor himself had been unusually quiet since they had departed from the city, but had taken to humming to himself for the past several minutes. Loki did not recognize the tune. His brother now seemed...remarkably calm, and not for the first time, Loki found himself sinking into a pit of self-loathing. Was he himself simply too weak? Too easily frightened? His brother had spent endless weeks in those cursed woods, and did not seem at all shaken by the bare branches that dangled like skinless fingers overhead nor the hushed whisper of the wind in their ears. You think too much, brother! he could practically hear Thor chortling. Loki sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, silently willing away his still-pounding headache. Thor hummed. Loki privately fretted. They headed deeper into the forest and his brother showed no sign of stopping. Loki shifted his gaze back and forth, wondering where, exactly, they were meant to meet the others. They had never been to this part of Arenwood before. There was nothing here he recognized.

More time passed and the steady clop of their horses' hooves began to drive him mad.

"Where are the others?" he finally asked. Thor's incessant music-making stopped for a moment.

"What others?" His gaze was steadfast and straight ahead of him. Loki stared him down, mouth slightly agape.

"Sif. And the Warriors Three," he replied, incredulous. Thor blinked.

"They are not coming."

"What do you mean, they are not coming?" Thor continued staring straight ahead of him without any expression. Loki's heart quickened. "Thor, you said they were going to meet us here. You said -"

"You need to be quiet. You will scare away the game."

"Are they not meeting us here then?" Loki snapped. A pause. Then:

"I do not know what you are talking about."

"Thor." Loki yanked on his reins, pulling his horse to a stop. Thor continued on. "Brother, stop. Would you -" He clamped his mouth shut as Thor kept on, completely ignoring him. The anger from before was bubbling up in his blood again, but this time it was tinged with the first traces of fear.

He had believed him when he said they would meet the others here.

Thor's friends always came along on any stupid adventure his brother had deemed worthy of his time, and this hunt should be no exception. He inhaled deeply through his nose, trying to calm himself, frantically trying to remember if he had seen any of them this morning.

Nothing came to mind.

Thor had lied. Thor had lied, and was now acting as if he had remembered wrong.

As of now, there were two options. He could howl and yell at Thor's nonsensical behavior and demand an answer as to why he had lied to him. Or, in the effort to actually figure out just what was happening here, he could play along.

It took hardly any time to choose.

Loki angrily kicked his horse forward again, his face twisting into a bitter scowl. He urged his steed into a trot until he was beside his brother once more, then matched his pace and stared at him, silently, smoothing out his features. This went on for several moments until Thor's head finally shifted; even then, his gaze went past Loki's eyes, focusing on the trees behind him. "Have I something on my person, brother?" Thor smiled and it sent a chill through Loki's chest. "You stare as if I have grown a second head." Loki forced a smile to his face.

It was time to give credence to his nickname.

"Nothing at all, brother mine," he said smoothly, impressing himself with the easy tone that masked his true misgiving. "I only wondered at your ease within this place. I would think you would have wanted to avoid any type of woods." Thor chuckled.

"Nonsense! I fear nothing. Certainly not all of this." He gestured about him wildly before returning his gaze towards him once more. "I find it almost refreshing, if I am being honest. Do these woods distress you? I rather thought you would have liked it here. You've been cooped up in the palace for far too long."

"I am..." Loki's grip tightened again on his saddle, but he kept his face expressionless. "I am fine, of course."

"Are you certain?" Thor still had not stopped looking past him but he now felt uncomfortable beneath the scrutinizing half-stare. "We can leave and go somewhere else. Or even return home, if you wish."

"I said that I was fine," he snapped, catching himself just a moment too late. Thor's brow furrowed in what seemed genuine hurt, but the reaction did nothing to calm the coils of tension in his chest.

The air felt inexplicably colder now. The sun went behind a few stray clouds and the world around them dimmed. Loki swallowed.

"I am fine," he repeated, gentler now. Focus. His head was staring to pound again. He graced his brother with a beaming smile and laughed, shaking his head as if to say Silly me! "Still a bit confused by that nightmare, it would seem. I have felt disoriented since awaking this morn."

"I will remember that before I wake you so abruptly next time," Thor chuckled. "Your memory seems to be terribly confused. Sif and the Warriors Three...honestly." The mocking edge had crept back into his tone. The moment Thor turned forward once more, the smile dropped from Loki's face. His mind hummed briefly with various different ideas; abruptly, his interrupted quest from last night came to mind and he cleared his throat.

"Since we are finally alone, Thor, I thought I might ask you something."

"Ask away," he replied, kicking his horse into a quicker pace.

"I do hope you don't think me impertinent," Loki said slowly, watching him, "but I was hoping to speak of what happened to you in the woods."

Did he imagine that muscle-jerk in Thor's shoulders?

"What is there to speak of?" Thor's voice carried in a strange, far-off echo, despite him being but a few paces in front. Loki frowned.

"It is only that..." He urged his steed to speed up to catch up with his brother. "It is only that we spoke so little of it. I know you spent weeks there, but why did you not go to the village instead?" Thor blinked and did not look at him.

"I was lost." Loki waited for further explanation, and when several moments passed in silence, he shifted tactics.

"I see. And you never heard any of father's guards? Or saw them? Or even father, for that matter?"

"No." Thor sounded bored now. Loki did his best to smother his own mounting frustration.

"So then where were you, Thor? We thought you dead. I thought you dead."

"Why this incessant questioning, brother? Is it not enough that I returned safely to you?" Thor's gaze remained straight ahead and his tone was flippant, almost...bored. Loki inhaled deeply and pressed on.

He would not be distracted this time.

"It is only that I am curious. You do not speak of what you saw or what has happened. I worry for you." Surprisingly, only silence met him now and he waited several moments for some type of response. Thor began to hum again, and some fresh burst of suspicion made itself known. "Thor, where were you?"

"The woods," he said cheekily. Loki grit his teeth and pulled his horse to a stop again. Thor did not seem to notice for several seconds, until Loki bit out,

"Why will you not look at me?" Thor's horse came to a slow stop ahead, almost agonizingly so, and when finally he turned the animal around to face him, Loki could not stop the lurch that pulled at his own heart.

Thor's eyes were flashing, bright orange and black and blue, his lips pulled wide in a horrifying smile.

"Mayhap we should not have come out here today," Thor said lowly but good gods above, that was not his brother's voice, those were not his brother's eyes. Loki barely had time to dwell on it; what seemed impossibly fast, Thor dismounted and began to stride towards him. Out of impulse, he leaped from his own steed, shoulders taught, stance wide, readying himself for...what exactly? An attack? Coiled with tension, Loki refused to move as Thor came upon him. He clamped his mouth shut as his brother placed his hands on his shoulders - his touch unfamiliar and unnecessarily strong, just as it had been that morning - and turned his body to face him fully. "Here I am," he said cheerily. "Looking at you, brother." Thor's head tilted and his eyes turned blue once more. Loki cringed.

"Let me go." He spoke softly, his voice laced with warning. Thor's grin only widened and his fingers dug firmly into his shoulder blades.

"Did you not have something you wanted to ask me, brother?" Thor's feigned cheer was completely unnerving him and he squirmed as the bones of his joints began to ache.

"Thor, I said let me go." Loki tried to step out of his grasp but Thor's face twisted and his fingers gripped down tightly, holding him firmly in place. "Let me go," he cried again, gasping in pain. "You brute, you are hurting me." Furious now, Loki summoned blades into his hands, hiding them between his fingers. Before he could do a thing, Thor suddenly slammed him back into a tree, with enough force to send a shower of snow down upon the two of them.

"Ah, ah," Thor said, clicking his tongue. "I won't have any of that." Loki shuddered beneath his touch, unable to breathe or speak as the world spun around him in dizzying circles. Thor whispered something he could not hear, and in the next breath, the blades disappeared from his hands. Panic began to seep into every muscle in his body and on impulse, he made to raise his hands to strike him - but his arm refused to move.

Loki stopped breathing.

He spared a quick glance down at Thor's hands, still digging painfully into his shoulders. Desperate fear twisted between his ribs as the situation made itself clear: his magic was being drawn from his being, weakening him almost completely in mere seconds. He could feel it leaving him, as he would blood from a wound. And he could not move. Gods above, he could not move, he could not...!

"I seek only to put you at ease, my brother," Thor said, his voice rising enough to send a startled flock of birds into the cold sky above. Tears stung the corners of Loki's eyes as Thor slammed him into the tree again, his grinning visage taking up the whole of his vision. Then again. And again. The impacts left him disoriented, sending bolts of white hot pain through his already-aching head but there was something else, something else seeping through his entire being that was poisoning his aura, can't breathe, can't move, cant see. A rising heat began to swell beneath his skin, painful and thick in the rivets of his bones. He is going to kill me, he thought, panic consuming the remaining soundness of his mind. Through the frantic terror of it all he could hear Thor laughing, and the sound echoed and echoed like a torturous clang against the trees and open sky. I can do nothing, I am going to die, mother will never know -! His head was throbbing now, and black spots danced at the corners of his eyes. The heat inside rose and became unbearable and he screamed, screamed in agony, and he recognized what was happening in the seconds before the unknown seidr came rushing violently out of his body. The effect was instantaneous - Loki flew backwards, slamming to the ground convulsing, howling in pain, as the air momentarily hazed before his vision - smoky with magic, filling his nostrils and lungs with a power so palpable, he felt nearly crushed beneath its weight.

Some dark and sinister magic -

And just before the swirling mass of unknown magic rushed to Thor's body - as if by his command - Loki caught the undeniable sweet scents of lilac again, settling about them and dissipating in the open, piney air.

And then it was over.

The pain disappeared, the weight came off of his back. Loki gasped and clutched at the dirt, rolling onto his side wheezing as Thor began to hum above him.

"What...Thor...!" Loki sputtered. He began to cough, his body shaking from the exertion of propelling whatever that was from his body. Through tear-blurred eyes, he dared a look at his older brother who had not moved at all; his hand was still outstretched, fingers dancing lightly, as if he was still beckoning the magic towards him. "Gods," Loki rasped. He made to stand and faltered; grabbing firmly onto the bark of a nearby tree, he pulled himself up and turned to face his brother, his heart flying like a club against his chest. "What...what...what just happened, what was that, Thor...?" His mind was a jumbled, incoherent mess, his entire body was quaking uncontrollably and nothing was making sense. Nothing was making sense, his skin was aching from his head to his toes as if he had just been thrown into scalding hot water and he had just seen Thor, who had never learned any type of magic, yank the power from his own body and invite it into his own -

"You know brother," Thor said softly. Loki squinted at him as his knees buckled, bringing him back down to the forest floor in an undignified heap. Thor's head inclined down towards him, his eyes sparkling a luminous, startling green. "It would do you well to stop asking so many questions." With another chirpy grin he turned, making his way back to his horse, and Loki held but a single, petrifying thought as he watched him walk away.

This man.

This man is not my brother.

/

There are a few subtle clues in this chapter. Bonus points to anyone who may have spotted them. :D