The first place he went was to Thor's room. He was shaken, overheated, and more than a little frightened. What he was about to do could earn him swift Death by Hammer (no, there was no more hammer, thanks to Hela), after all. He was entitled to a little nervousness.

Thor was fussing with his eyepatch in the mirror, his gaze critical, and rather pensive. It was obvious what was running through his head, at that moment. I look like Odin… And that wasn't a good thing, in either of their minds.

"It suits you." He spoke up, forcing his voice to remain steady. Rule number one when broaching a touchy subject with Thor: Start with flattery. Besides, it wasn't merely toadyism. The look really didn't look bad on his brother's face. The hair, on the other hand… Loki would have to tease him about that, later.

Thor glanced up with a smile on his face. "Maybe you're not so bad, after all, brother."

"Maybe not." Loki allowed. Better to let him think that, for now. Internally, he was screaming bloody murder, but Thor didn't need to know that.

"If you were here, I might even give you a hug, now." The newly crowned king went on, and chucked a small hand-mirror at his face. Swiftly, out of reflex, Loki snapped up a hand, and caught it, without even looking. Without even looking. He knew how cool that was, but now was not the time to be his own fanboy. "I'm here." He said simply, and the tiny smile on Thor's face split into a grin. Before he knew it, Loki was crushed in a warm hug. He was already struggling to breathe from the heat, but… it had been so long since Thor had hugged him, that he didn't protest.

"Have you a fever?" Thor asked, pulling back, but he kept his strong hands resting on Loki's shoulders as he searched his face with a concerned, tender air. "You're rather warm."

"Well, perhaps that's from the Eternal Flame…" Loki smirked. "Or maybe the desperate fleeing from the blazing inferno that was Surtur?"

Thor blanched a bit. "…Oops."

"That's quite alright." Loki chuckled. "I'm fine now. But, have you any water? I'm rather parched."

Thor tossed him a water bottle, and Loki gratefully caught it, and sat down on the edge of Thor's bed, taking tiny sips of the blessed liquid. "Thor?"

"Hm?"

Best just to go for in for the kill. "I've something to tell you." He informed. "But you must promise not to freak out."

Thor sat down next to him on the bed, an amiable smile on his face. "What's up?" He asked so casually, so like a Midgardian, that Loki almost gagged. "Promise, first."

The Thunderer shrugged lightly. "Okay, fine. I promise."

Loki took a deep breath, and fiddled with the edge of the water bottle. He was going to kill him, but Loki would rather die than spend another sleepless night, wondering, pondering on what was truth, and, more often than not, breaking down in tears at the fear that what Thor often told him was a lie, after all. "I brought Hela."

Thor's eye widened in shock, the smile vanished, and his mouth hung open in disbelief. "You're kidding."

Loki didn't answer, only guiltily avoided Thor's gaze.

Thor leapt up, his fingers crackling with electricity, and Loki's eyes widened as he scooted further back, away from him. "Now, now…" He soothed, arms outstretched before him in attempt to placate his potentially rampaging brother. "Don't make any hasty decisions. You promised, remember?"

"This isn't freaking out, it's righteous anger!" Thor gritted out, and caught Loki by the front of his collar so he couldn't get away unless he teleported, and left his shirt behind, which would be... awkward to say the least.

"Ah. My mistake." Loki nervously licked his lips, and braced himself for the punch Thor was undoubtedly about to give him.

"What in the nine do you think you could gain?" Thor went on, his voice laced with rage. "Hela… you saw what she did. She's an evil being!"

"She's a person." Loki hazarded. "And people are worth saving."

"Not when they've done what she has!" Thor howled. "She's killed hundreds of people, and stabbed me, multiple times!"

Loki glanced down. "So have I. Am I not worth saving?"

The newly crowned king's gaze softened, and he released his brother's shirt. Loki resisted the urge to sooth him as one would a spooked horse. It would only make him mad, again. "You're different." Thor stated.

"How?"

Thor scratched his beard. "Well… I know you. I know you're not going to hurt me."

Loki raised his eyebrows speculatively. "And, yet… I do." At his brother's silence, he went on. "You were right. We go round and round in circles. You trust me, and I betray you. It's getting predictable."

Thor's puppy-like face fell in dismay. "You know I didn't mean that…"

The smaller man glanced up. "Actually… no, I didn't. Not until you just said that." If he'd been willing to leave him convulsing in agony on the ground for neither-of-them-had-a-clue-how-long to drive the point home, it was pretty obvious that he'd meant it.

"I'm sorry, brother…" Thor hung his head like a chastised child. "I had no idea that would wound you as it did."

Oh, no. No, Loki couldn't bear seeing his brother this upset. However much he deserved it, however much pain the words had truly stabbed him where it hurt the most, that look on Thor's face had to go.

"Well… I suppose you could make it up to me?"

Thor's blue eyes shifted up slightly, hopefully, and a tiny smile appeared. "How?"

And, Loki was back in control of the situation. He could force Thor to see things from his perspective, for once. "Swear to me that you won't hurt her."

Thor groaned in disbelief. "Oh, anything but that, brother! Come on!"

Loki resolutely shook his head. "You've given me dozens upon dozens of second chances. You can't be limiting them to me, only."

Thor sat back in dismay, his inner turmoil painted across his face.

"If you can't extend the same civilities to her, it's only logical that you truly don't believe such things about me." Loki insisted, and, at last, Thor sighed.

"Fine. But one finger out of line…"

Loki gave him a resolute stare. "Then I'll throw her out into space. You will swear not to harm her."

The Thunderer raised his hands in defeat. "Fine. Fine. I swear it. I won't harm her."

Loki's gaze sharpened, and he focused on Thor's eyes. There was no lie. "Even though she did all those things? Even if she acts unrepentant? Or if she does them again? Or if you don't know why she did? Or if –"

Thor cut him off gently, resting a hand on his neck with a reluctant, yet warm smile. "You said it yourself, brother. She's a person, and people are worth saving. If you really think she's redeemable…" Deep breath. Loki could basically see him shoving down his instincts. "I trust you."

That was all Loki needed to hear. Blinking back the tears, he leaned into Thor's embrace with a grateful smile.

"Where is she?" Thor rumbled doubtfully. "I'd like to meet her, if she's to be our sister, now."

"I didn't bring her." He admitted.

"What?" Thor pulled him back, and held him by the shoulders in disbelief. "But you just said…"

"I lied." Loki smiled apologetically.

There was a stunned silence, then: "But… why? Loki, I…"

The Trickster's smile slipped away from his face. "I needed to know you weren't forgiving me because you felt obligated to."

"Why would I –"

"No, hear me out." Loki interrupted. "If you only kept me around, and continued to trust me because 'we're brothers, and that's what brothers do', or some such nonsense, force of habit, or otherwise, I wouldn't want to weigh you down, any longer. I have connections, I can make a life for myself in the galaxy. If you truly thought I was beyond help, beyond saving, I wouldn't want to keep you in constant fear of betrayal. I pondered over the issue long and hard, but I found no way to prove that you truly did believe in me. Unless… you were given the opportunity to redeem someone else. Someone worse than I. For if you could find it in your big oafish heart to forgive them, then surely you couldn't be bluffing, concerning me.

"For a long while, I didn't know of anyone you consider worse than I…" Loki plucked at a thread on his sleeve disconsolately. "So, I began searching for another way to prove you care about me. But, then, Hela showed up."

Thor looked dismayed. "Why in the nine would you think I was feeling obligated?"

At first, Loki didn't know how Thor could be so foolish as to not know. Was he really that oblivious? Perhaps he didn't actually speak English, and had no idea what the words spewing from his mouth meant. "'In the past, I fought you with the hope that my brother was still in there, somewhere. That hope no longer exists to protect you. Betray us, and I will kill you.'" Loki quoted, his eyes stinging. He didn't remember the exact words, but the meaning behind them was the same. "'Our paths diverged a long time ago. It's probably for the best that we never see each other, again'. And then there was how you were angry at me for being alive? And when I came to rescue you, 'you're late' was all the thanks I got? And then, moments later, you sent me to go trigger bleeding Ragnarok and were willing to just leave me behind?"

"Well, what about you with your bet that the Champion-Who-Actually-Turned-Out-To-Be-Hulk was going to kill me?" Thor protested. "And you said you'd never even met me, to the Grandmaster! Do you know how much that hurt?"

Loki glanced away, slightly shame-faced. "It was a joke. The wager was a joke." He mumbled. "And as for the Grandmaster, you don't know what he could've done to the both of us, if he found out we were connected. He could've pitted us against each other in the arena. Or, anything, really. In a place like that, emotional ties are liabilities. Forgive me if saving both of our hides offended you."

Thor was shocked into silence. Loki was right. Not only that, he was sure he'd said any number of things to him that hurt him far worse. "I'm sorry, Loki."

Now it was Loki's turn to be stunned. "You're… what?!"

"I'm sorry." Thor admitted. "The fact that I made you doubt that I loved you at all speaks very ill of me. I hope you could find it in your heart to forgive me?"

Oh, those blasted puppy eyes, again… Loki rolled his own eyes, and forced himself to look away from his brother's face, but he could still feel their magnetic power on the back of his head. "Please, brother?" Loki swore he could hear a pathetic quaver in his brother's voice, and, in dismay, glanced back at him to see the first tear slide down his cheek.

"Oh, for the love of…" He sighed. "Fine. Yes, Thor, I forgive you." He'd been hoping for an apology, anyway, so there was no need to have his now-king grovel at his feet for forgiveness. "I taught you begging too well." He couldn't help but add.

Exuberantly, Thor flung his muscly arms around Loki's ribcage, and squeezed with enough power to entirely force all the oxygen from the smaller man's body. "Thank you, Loki!" He sniffled, as Loki wheezed.

"Thor… Can't… breathe…"

"Oops." Thor grinned sheepishly, and relaxed his grip, just a tad. "You're alright?"

Of course Loki was alright, he was better than alright. He was loved, he was wanted, he was Forgiven, but he made a dramatic show of gasping for breath like a beached fish, anyway. That was just how they rolled.

TheOnlyHuman.