"Have you gone mad, boy?!" Odin thundered, following Thor down the corridor and back into the healer's wing. "I was looking for you everywhere, you disappeared off to Norns know where, and now the whole realm has gone nonsensical with the idea that Loki is-"

Odin was silenced when Thor tore open the door, revealing an awake Loki. Fandral and the others watched, mouths hung open, at the scene unfolding before them.

"This shan't end well." Sif whispered in awe. Hogun and Fandral absentmindedly nodded in agreement.

"No…" Odin whispered under his breath, his face unreadable with anything other than shock.

"Father…" Loki breathed, astonished, eyes wide like saucers with fear and anguish and somewhat a hint of happiness. He turned frantically, looking about for Thor, who instantly appeared at his side and wrapped an arm around his lithe shoulders. Loki instantly clung onto him, subconsciously moving closer to the thunder god.

"Impossible…" Odin muttered.

"Father, please, let me explain, it's not what you think." Thor began firmly.

"Very well. Explain to me why Asgard's most feared enemy is in my palace, explain to me why you were no where to be found last night, and explain to me what the Hel gave you such a dangerous and irrational idea!" Odin roared, shaking the ground. Loki shrank into Thor's side further, burrowing himself into his chest. Odin suddenly whirled around to face the warriors three, who were somewhat pressed against the wall, eyes wide and apprehensive. "And as for you! If I see you causing any more trouble, it will not be pleasant for either of us."

"Father!" Thor protested in anger, hurt, and fear for his friends. They were the only reason why Thor had come so far. Without them, gods know what could've happened.

"Leave!" Odin bellowed, ignoring the crown prince and facing the warriors, who bowed deeply before scurrying out the door. Sif cast Thor an apologetic glance as she too disappeared, leaving only Thor and Loki behind.

The king turned to them, one eye filled with anger and a mix of hysteria.

"Father, none of it was his fault, it was Thanos!" Thor explained quickly.

"Thanos?" Odin questioned gruffly, obviously confused.

"Yes, the day of my coronation, he planned… He plans to commit mass genocide and destruction on every realm! Alfheim, Jotunheim, even Niflheim, perhaps, we have war on our hands! And… And Loki, he knew, he knew what would happen, so he made a deal that if he gave himself, Thanos would spare the rest of us! At least, for a while, and so all these years, father, all these years! They were lies, all lies! Father, you must believe, you have not seen your son in over 6 centuries! It was Thanos all along, it was Thanos who destroyed Midgard, it was Thanos who broke the bifrost, it was Thanos!" Thor finished, breathless.

Silence. Utter silence filled the room. Loki looked desperately from Thor to Odin, face drawn in grief and… guilt? Thor's eyes widened at this and he held his brother closer, lifting him up so he was situated on his lap, arms locked firmly across his chest as he pressed the small frame protectively to himself. Loki mustn't blame himself, he's done nothing wrong! Thor thought, for him to feel guilt would be almost criminal.

Odin's gaze flitted from the two brothers down to the floor, where he stared in disbelief. Then, in a fraction of a second, his face turned to anger and an almost manic sort of rage. "I am a tolerant man," he began slowly, "I have pardoned you again and again, I allowed you into my palace when you were left for dead, and this is how you repay me?! I'll tell you what lies are," he seethed, advancing towards Loki, "you! This is just another one of your tricks, is it not?! You may fool everyone else, liesmith, but you are done fooling me!"

"Father, I'm not-" Loki began, voice and heart breaking. Thor could only watch in horror, awestruck, as the scene before them unraveled.

"DO NOT CALL ME THAT!" Odin roared, and before the crown prince could even bat an eye, the king had backhanded the raven haired god across the face, and Loki fell to the floor in a heap. The old man moved quicker and with more strength than Thor ever thought possible. It all moved like a slow motion film in front of him. Odin, his father, the man he'd looked up to, striking his little brother.

He reached out desperately to stop fate, thrusting his arm in front of his brother, but he found with a heart sinking realization that he was not quick enough. Loki's cheek was turning a bright red, the mark of a hand pulsating faintly on the pale skin as he sat there, numb on the marble floor. The three just stood in that room, just breathing for a good minute or so, each one too stunned to move.

How could he… How is it… No... Thor's mind and heart were racing, looking to his Father, frantically searching for any signs of impersonation, any trace of Thanos's doing. He wished so badly that the man who'd just done this was not the same one who taught him how to fish or hunt or spar, who'd laughed with him. Who'd loved him. But he could find no such thing. It was no monster, no great creature of evil. Just the king… Or, Thor thought with gut wrenching horror, had the line between those two things been blurred?

"I…" Odin breathed, looking away, "am not your father. And I never was."

Loki's eyes widened and he exhaled sharply in hurt, holding his cheek, which now had one stray tear coursing down the side. And then he gave Odin a look that Thor would never forget. One that would be burned into his mind forever. A look, so filled with sorrow and… Mourning. Loss. As if he'd witnessed his mother's death all over again. As if Odin was the one who betrayed him, not the other way around as everyone seemed to believe.

Odin gave the two one last look of unreadable

emotion

before turning to leave out the doors. That was when the stupefied sensation that seemed to hold Thor hostage with horror and shock melted away, and he could move and speak again. He instantly knelt down beside his brother, gathering him into his arms and holding him so that his face was pressed gently into the crook of his neck. "You shame your wife and my mother." He snapped at the king without thinking. No… He was past the point of thinking. Only his heart dictated what he said. His broken, aching heart.

Odin stopped dead in his tracks, and turned slightly, as if he was about to stop and reply to him. A hesitation. But after a second or two, he turned back once more. "I expect the prisoner to be gone by sunset, or I will be forced to take other measures." He bit coldly, and with that he walked away, the large doors closing loudly behind him, leaving the two alone. And Loki cried. He cried as he had when he was first taken so very long ago, as he had when his mother died. He didn't want to, he didn't mean to… He just… did.

"That's it… That's a good lad, come on… Just a few more steps, alright?" Thor soothed gently, helping his staggering brother up the stairs. He was still weak from fainting, and his arm was still broken. Healing rapidly, yet still painfully fractured. But what worried Thor the most was how numb he was. He had no expression, his face horrified and blank and green eyes wide. The two were making their way out of the healer's wing and up the stairs to his old room, both of them still in shock over what had just happened. Thor needed to think, but his racing mind and breaking heart wouldn't let him.

The two reached the old room, green door boarded up long ago with nails in it. Thor set his brother down momentarily on the ground to angrily rip the wooden slabs off the lintel and posts of the doorway, screws and bolts and all. He then knelt back down, picked his brother up, and stepped over the nails and splintered fragments of wood to enter the large, dusty room.

Thor felt his heart climb into his throat at the sight, the used-to-be familiar setting of his brothers room which sat desolate since the time of his coronation. Dirt and film covered everything, fogging up the mirrors and silver figurines of sorcerer's symbols, which adorned the bed and walls. The green silk canopy of his still made bed was torn down the center and flapped sadly in the breeze that drifted through the large cracks of a broken window. Above the ash filled fireplace hung an old, old family portrait. It was so faded and worn by time, you could barely make out two young, little boys, the blonde one holding his fathers hand and the black haired one holding his mothers hand. Their unsmiling faces, just like every other black and white picture, seemed to blend into the milky background itself.

He sat himself and his brother down on the bed, pressing a kiss to the side of his head and tugging him closer on his lap.

"Let me see it," Thor said quietly, moving to brush the black locks away to examine the mark on Loki's cheek. "it should be gone within the next day or so," he said reassuringly, grabbing his brother's hand and giving it a squeeze.

In the back of Thor's mind, he was desperately searching for places he and his brother could go, to be safe from Thanos until they could plan a strategy against the coming dawn of war. Odin was the last thing in the crown prince's thoughts, and he preferred not even to pay a second glance to the man. He was angry and horrified, beyond belief, at what he'd done to Loki, but moreover he was confused. Just a couple of days ago, Thor would've sworn the king was the most courageous, wise, fit-to-be ruler of the golden realm. He'd grown up thinking that way, it was all he'd ever know. But now… Now, all of a sudden, he wasn't so sure.

"I still can't believe you kept all of my things," Loki laughed quietly, peering cautiously out from Thor's embrace to gaze around the room with wide eyes, "it's exactly how I… how I left it."

Thor smiled, giving him a slight nod. "Yes, Mother insisted upon it. I do not think she could bear to part with anything that even smelled like you."

Loki chuckled sadly and rolled his eyes. "Perhaps…" Then his faint smile disappeared altogether. "But Father should have no problem with destroying anything with my name on it."

Thor's heart cracked a little at hearing such things. He remembered a time where 'Loki' hadn't even talked about Odin at all, let alone call him father. Hearing him say this seemed to reverse the clock back a good 500 years. "Oh, Loki…" He sighed, moving to wrap his arms around the younger once more. "Loki, he is confused and still devastated over Mother… Well, we all are, but… You must believe me when I say he knows not of what he speaks."

Loki gave him a half hearted smile, shrugging slightly. Thor saw this, saw the doubt in him, the fear. He sighed and cupped his brother's cheek with his rough, calloused palm, turning his face up to look at him. "Loki… You were born into a world that doesn't always see the kindness, and the courage, and the hero in you that I do," He said softly. A faint chuckle escaped the younger god's lips, "but one day things will change for the better. Do you understand me?"

Loki stared at him for a long while, never breaking eye contact once. He slowly nodded, bottom lip quivering.

"Good." Thor breathed, an air of satisfaction and relief in his voice before he hugged his brother closer, and this time, Loki hugged back. My Father may hate me, I might be banished, and the universe may be on the edge of war, Loki thought to himself, but come sunset Thor and I are together, in my room, exactly how things used to be so very many years ago. And that was all that mattered to me. That was all that mattered.