Scene 36
Loki lets go of Breka's head. Breka is staring at him wide-eyed and confused.
"This," Loki says, his voice grave, each word carefully stressed. "This is what happens if you force that crown on my head, you and yours. The people you love most, executed by my hand. Yourself in exile, if I can manage to get you out of Asgard in time. Me confined to the palace on a throne I don't want, ruling a kingdom that doesn't want me, more alone than I have ever been. We could never see each other again. Please don't do that to me, Breka. Please."
Breka nods slowly, still overwhelmed by the vision Loki showed him.
"So real," he whispers.
Loki enfolds him in his embrace.
"I'm sorry. I know it has to be unsettling, but I had to make sure you understood what's at stake. Did you?"
Breka pulls himself together.
"Yes. I did. I do."
Loki lets out a breath.
"Now let me see this."
He gently touches Breka's jaw. A pale light flickers over the still bleeding cut in his lip, and then the injury is gone. So is the blood. Loki leans in.
"I'm sorry," he whispers.
"I probably deserved it."
"Still I shouldn't have hit you."
"Maybe next time you just turn me into a frog or something?"
Loki chuckles and sobs at the same time, and then he closes the distance and kisses Breka. When Loki breaks the kiss he rests his forehead against Breka's.
"You don't want me on the throne anyway."
Breka frowns at him.
"I don't?"
Loki starts to grin.
"If I was king I'd have to have a queen."
"I don't mind who shares your throne as long as you let me share your bed."
Loki moves in for another kiss, a lot fiercer than the first one. Breka responds in kind.
"Always," Loki pants. "Until Naglfar appears on the horizon and the nine realms erupt in flame."
"Until Ragnarok?"
"Until Ragnarok," Loki confirms.
Scene 37
Breka goes to see his mother the next morning.
"We have to abandon that plan, mother," he tells her urgently.
Uta nods.
"I know. I've already returned the crystal. Leif agrees with you. We'll have to be careful for a while."
"No!" He grabs her shoulders. "I mean abandon it once and for all! It's wrong, and it would be our downfall. It would lead to nothing but pain, believe me. You have to believe me."
Uta looks at her son as if she's seeing him for the first time, and a shudder runs down her spine. Almost against her will she nods.
"So be it."
Breka is so relieved he feels dizzy for a moment. He pulls his mother against his chest and kisses the top of her head. He stays in her house for a long time, and they talk about his father and sister and what Asgard would be like if they had a say, and for the first time Uta asks him questions about Loki that have nothing to do with whether or not he's suited to be king and everything to do with how Breka feels about him.
Scene 38
Being as strong as he is, Thor fully recovers from his injuries surprisingly fast, and Odin is just as fast in his decision to officially name him heir to the throne.
From here on out this story follows the plot of "Thor" for a while. I won't retell it because
a) I think it's safe to assume you've seen it, and
b) I couldn't do it better than it was written and acted.
Scene 39, Coronation (in which Thor fakes humbleness and swears to protect peace *cough*)
Scene 40, Frost Giants in the vault
Scene 41, in which Loki masterfully manipulates Thor into going to Jotunheim
Scene 42, Jotunheim (where Thor's pride provokes a war that neither Loki's nor Odin's attempt at diplomacy can prevent)
Scene 43, in which Odin banishes Thor, ignoring and dismissing Loki in the process, as usual
Scene 44
Loki leans against a stone wall, tilts his head back and closes his eyes. He can feel tears sting but refuses to shed them. He's terrified. Odin yelling at them—well usually him, but sometimes Thor too—isn't anything new. And he did want Thor to look as idiotic as he really is, but watching their father rip away everything that made his brother Thor shook Loki to the core. So many times Loki wondered what being an only child would be like; if it would be easier to win his father's love if there was no competition. And now Thor is gone and Loki feels weirdly unprotected, as if his brother's absence makes their father even scarier than he is anyway. Now the tears spill from his still closed eyes. This isn't what he wanted. He considers turning to his mother, trying to get her to talk to the all-father, but he knows it's pointless. He takes a breath and pushes off the wall. Pain shoots through his shoulder and he remembers being stabbed by one of those eerie ice daggers. And then he remembers something else. He lifts his hand and looks at it. It looks perfectly normal now in the golden light of the palace. Was what he saw on Jotunheim a trick of the light? But there is no burn mark either where the frost giant grabbed him. Loki can feel a chill down his spine, as if a cold draught has passed him. He focuses on the pain in his shoulder and sends all the energy he can spare into his injury. The pain ebbs away. Better. He wanders, aimlessly, until he finds himself at the doors to his father's vault. Something draws him there, not just the curiosity he's always felt since he was a little boy, but something stronger, darker. He opens the doors and walks down the aisle, coming to a halt before an artefact that emits a bright blue light. It screams Jotun, and he can't take his eyes off it.
Scene 45, THAT vault scene
Tom Hiddleston deserves all the awards for his "Tell me!" speech and I will stay a mile away from rewriting it. But you might wanna go and rewatch it. I'll wait.