The sound of footsteps was enough to pull Loki out of his dreams. He'd been restless most of the night, sleeping lightly and in brief snatches. He lifted his head up to look at the door, starting when he saw it was wide open. Someone came in. Someone came to fetch me and they saw! They saw us!
He turned back over to look at his brother, breathing softly beside him. There were tear tracks still staining his cheeks, but at last he looked at peace. Loki stroked a hand over the soft hair, leaning forward to place a kiss on Thor's forehead before climbing out of the bed, grabbing his bag and leaving. He hurried to the Bifrost alone, thoughts flying through his head at light speed. He was so distracted he didn't notice when he nearly ran straight into Odin, Sif and Frigga, rapidly heading in the opposite direction to where he'd come from.
"Sorry!" he blurted, trying to dodge round them.
"Loki?" Odin said, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"Odin?" he turned around, cold demeanour instantly replacing his flustered worry. "I was just heading to the Bifrost actually. To get this over with as fast as I could..."
"Where is Thor, Loki?" the Allfather asked.
"He's...still asleep, I believe," Loki replied, watching carefully as the three of them glanced at one another. "Why?"
"I have been...informed...that there is a supposed 'change' in your relationship." Sif tried not to look guilty, but it was obvious who had told Odin. All the blood drained from the Liesmith's face as he realised. They'd crossed the line. No matter what he did, no matter how ill he made himself, there was no way he would be permitted to Asgard again. He would be separated from his family forever, in an attempt to destroy the terrible feelings that had arisen between him and his brother, and to retain the Asgardian royals' reputations.
"You were seen...'together'...in your room," Odin made no attempt to hide the disgust in his voice, struggling to find the words to describe exactly what he'd been told. Loki wondered how Sif had got it out in the first place. "Sharing a bed, and asleep, in a way that is inappropriate for brothers. Could you explain yourself, and why you have brought dishonour on my family and my son? Is this your one last attack on us: did you plan to go out with a bang, and this is it?" His voiced had dropped to a harsh whisper, almost a hiss, quiet and terrifying.
"I...I don't know what you're talking about," he bluffed, hoping he could just escape and end it all.
"Do not lie to me, Loki Laufeyson! I don't know what you did to him, but I will not tolerate such behaviour! You are not only to be removed from Asgard to prevent war, but are hereby banished, forever. The consequences of an attempt at return will be dire."
Frigga looked stricken, but bravely put a smile on her face and began to walk with Loki to the Bifrost. He threw the filthiest look he could muster at Sif before turning back and striding onward towards the bridge. As they reached the end of the corridor, they heard the sound of quiet footsteps shuffling along a way behind them, and a soft call.
"Loki?"
Thor looked rotten, huge bags under his eyes which suggested his sleep hadn't been any more restful. He was wearing a baggy leather tunic that hung skewed from one shoulder, his left arm poking through the neck hole. His hair stuck up at odd angles, and he only had one sock on. It looked like he'd dressed in his sleep.
Loki kept his back to his brother, but the rest turned to look at the source of the voice.
"Thor, go back to your room. Sif, please stop him from following us," Odin instructed. The warrior hastily went to Thor, putting a comforting arm on his shoulder which was immediately shrugged off.
"Where are you going?" Thor brushed past Sif, who despite her instruction no longer had the heart to restrain Thor.
"It is none of your concern. Go back to your room, and I will speak to you once we are done. Sif," he warned. She grabbed onto the huge arm and set her feet straight down, planting herself immovable.
"Loki?" Thor asked again, voice cracking, rough with pain. He gulped, desperate for his brother to turn around and look at him, anything, as long as he could say goodbye for the last time. No response. "Where are you taking him? Answer me!"
"Thor, you will not be going anywhere with him. Ever. Your time together is up, and you are no longer being asked, but ordered to return to your quarters and wait for me there!" Odin shouted, blasting Thor back with a beam of magic and ushering his wife and foster son out to the bridge. The magic formed a kind of web around Thor, trapping him until a pair of guards arrived and managed to restrain him with their own force. He didn't struggle, only shifted himself so he could extend an arm behind him in the direction of his room and felt the familiar tug that came with calling Mjolnir. The hammer slammed into his palm a few seconds later and he twisted with the momentum, knocking the first guard flat on his back and the second sprawling on the floor a few yards away. He turned to face Sif, but her expression was one of such fear and regret that he only glowered at her before setting off in hot pursuit of the others over the bridge.
Once at the Bifrost, Odin spoke a few brief words to Heimdall, who drew his sword ready to set it into the centre of the room. Frigga was saying some last goodbyes, glad she had in fact got the opportunity to say them. There was a loud crashing sound, and heavy footsteps approaching, but none of them realised what it was.
"It is time for you to leave, Loki Laufeyson. May you never take the risk of return." Heimdall raised the sword, both hands gripping the enormous hilt and lifting high above his head.
"Loki, no!" Thor's shout resonated around the room, making them all stop to look. He charged into his brother, not managing to stop before he crashed into him. Quickly he righted both of them, then placed himself between father and brother, a look of defiance on his face.
"You will not hurt him again," he thundered.
Odin's fist clenched, blue and red hovering around it as he summoned magic to his hands ready to take his son away from the smaller man behind him. Loki tapped Thor's shoulder in warning, but his brother took no notice.
"Step away, Thor. This is not your business."
"He is my brother you are sending away, father, even more than that! How can it not be my business?" Thor roared.
"Oh yes, I have heard all about your little tryst, son, and I cannot believe you could consider such a thing acceptable! Now step away! You have had more than enough opportunity to say goodbye!" he spat, knocking his son aside so he could drag Loki to the correct spot from which he'd be transported.
Thor hurled his hammer at his father, summoning it back straight away and ignoring Frigga's gasp of horror as she rushed to her husband's side. He then threw it at the sword, knocking it out of Heimdall's hands and onto the floor. He grabbed his brother's arm and wrapped it round his waist, using his free hand to pick up the sword and shove it down. There was a brilliant flash of light, and they were gone.
Odin pulled himself to his feet, rubbing his shoulder where it had been hit by Mjolnir. Heimdall seemed unhurt, but somewhat shocked about the whole affair.
"Where are they?" Odin demanded, staring at the Watchman with pure uncontrolled fury and desperation. "Where have they gone?"
"I cannot see them, Odin Allfather. I was preparing a journey to Jotunheim, but it was interrupted when Mjolnir hit my sword. I do not know where they have been sent," Heimdall replied, back to his usual serene self as he gazed, searching the heavens for the brothers.
"Then for Valhalla's sake look for them!" Odin shouted, his voice breaking as his throat constricted in fear. "You must know where they are – you see everything Heimdall!"
"Hush, hush, Odin. They will be all right. They are together, they will be fine. It will be all right," Frigga said, a soothing hand rubbing up and down the Allfather's back. "They will be all right."
Odin straightened, his face setting again. "I expect we will have to tell the court of this," he muttered.
"Yes, of course we will. But don't worry about that now. What we need is some food, and then we can talk this over together, to sort it all out."
"Thor's friends will want to know."
"Of course they will. We'll tell them once we have eaten. But come now, let's go and get some breakfast," she said, guiding him out of the building and over the bridge to the palace.
After they had eaten, and Odin had suitably calmed down, he summoned the Warriors Three and Sif to his room, to tell them what had happened. He decided to be completely honest, getting Sif to help with some of the explanations, but once it was over the three men just looked at him and nodded, grief written all over their faces.
"I never thought that Thor would do something like that. He and Loki...they never seemed to get on well after Sif...after everyone's feelings got complicated," Fandral said.
"I think it was the first separation though, that started it," Sif admitted. She realised it had just been Loki's pranks in the early days of their hatred, but there had been honesty there. "Thor had always adored him, trying to include him in everything we did. I found it highly annoying, and I think Loki did too, but Thor could never see when he'd gone too far, because he was just desperate to have the two halves of his life working together in harmony: he couldn't see the cracks."
"I liked Loki, a lot. I shall miss him, as well as Thor," Volstagg said, and it was true, he had liked Loki. It was just that Loki was choosy with the people he liked back.
"...Were they always in love, though?" Sif asked, and everyone went quiet, afraid of answering the big question, and talking of the unspeakable.
It was Frigga who spoke up in the end. "I don't think so. I believe that Thor was uncertain of his place in the world of romantic love, and Loki feared no-one would ever want him, so he built a shell for himself that meant no-one could get in and break his heart. But in the end, they both turned towards each other, first to confide in, but then their trust grew, and they began to see more in one another than perhaps they should have, and before even they knew it themselves the seeds of love took root.
"It made them angry, and jealous, and they didn't know how to act around one another, afraid the other would find out and be disgusted. But sooner or later it was bound to happen, and no amount of distance was going to stop that, as we have seen."
"But...they were brothers," Fandral stated, uncomprehending.
"Indeed they were, and as good parents we should have taken the initiative to separate the two once the first signs started appearing. There were other things to deal with; it kept being put off until it was too late, and then Loki was left on Jotunheim, and Thor went to rescue him, and any chance we might have had was over."
Hogun, the only one who hadn't spoken yet, softly asked, "But, Lady Frigga, how do you know this?"
She laughed softly, a sad smile alighting on her face. "I am their mother, Hogun. What kind of mother would I be if I couldn't read my own sons like books? Come now, though. I think it is time we all took some lunch."