Warning: character death/ambiguous ending

What If...Thor Had No Reason to be Cautious?

It was supposed to be all five of them. But Hela had an urgent work thing pop up at the last second—or so she claimed—and Mor and Far had both caught head colds from Hel and were too miserable to make the trip. So instead of the whole Odinson clan, only Thor and Loki made their way to the family cabin that week in early winter. They took turns driving the eight hours out to the cabin. It gave them plenty of time to catch up. Well, they spent about an hour catching up and then promptly ran out of things to talk about.

To fill the time, they alternated between picking podcasts or albums to listen to. Thor would never say this in front of him for fear of getting poisoned later on, but he rather thought Loki's taste in both music and podcasts was abysmal. If he had to listen to one more true crime story, he wasn't going to sleep for a month.

Fortunately, they bought and drank enough alcohol to make their first evening at the cabin a lot less awkward. Loki asked, "Do you think Hela really has to work, or did she just not want to see us?"

Thor's response: "When has Hela ever wanted to see us?"

"Fair enough." He raised his glass. "To being irritating little siblings?"

"To being irritating little brothers." They clinked glasses and finished off the last of their drinks. Thor burped and announced, "I'm calling it a night. Don't want to be hungover for our first day of skiing."

"Are we really going tomorrow? The avalanche rating for today was considerable. Could be dangerous."

"We'll see what it says tomorrow. But I'm not coming all the way out here to not ski."

"If you say so."

~0~

Thor woke up early that morning with an urgent need to pee. Last night he'd stumbled right into bed and must've forgotten to go beforehand. He stumbled to the bathroom in darkness and pushed open the door. In his half-asleep state, he hadn't noticed the faint light already beaming from the bathroom door. Thor stepped inside to find Loki staring intently into the mirror and…drawing on his face?

Loki turned and hissed like a spooked cat, "Get out of here."

Thor stumbled backwards as Loki slammed the door in his face. He stared at the now-closed door, unable to compute what the hell had just happened. When they were teenagers, he'd once walked in on Loki with his then-girlfriend and he hadn't reacted with this much rage. What on Earth was he doing that he so desperately didn't want Thor to see? Thor didn't know much about the subject, but based on the quick glimpse he got, it looked like Loki was putting on makeup. But why would that be such a big secret? It didn't make any sense.

Thor sat down on the bed, legs crossed to alleviate the still urgent need to pee that he now had no idea when he'd be able to fix. He checked the avalanche warning for the ski slopes today, only to discover it had actually gone up from considerable to high since yesterday. Whatever. It wasn't going to stop him. Now that Loki's outburst had rendered him wide awake, he could hear footsteps and general shuffling coming from the bathroom. Ten minutes later, he emerged with a scowl.

"Don't breathe a word of this to anyone, you hear me?" he practically growled.

"A word of what?" Thor genuinely had no idea what he'd seen.

"Of what you saw."

"I didn't see anything."

"Exactly." With a huff, he clambered up to the top bunk and rolled over. The conversation clearly over, Thor finally raced to the bathroom to relieve himself. He found no evidence of anything Loki should need to hide, even when he looked in all the cabinets. Then again, Loki was excellent at hiding things. If Thor stayed in here much longer, Loki would suspect he was snooping around, so he left and tried to go back to sleep. The bunk above him remained silent, meaning Loki lay completely still. Thor tried to fall back asleep, but his thoughts raced too quickly. Lying there wasn't getting him anywhere, so he decided to just get ready and hit the slopes early.

"You're really going out?" Loki asked sternly, without moving from his sulking spot.

"I'll be careful," Thor replied mindlessly. His brother offered no further argument. He grabbed his gear and headed for the slopes, hoping the exercise would get his mind off this ridiculous sibling drama. Loki had just gotten so volatile in the last few years. Sometimes all Thor needed to say to set him off was, "How are you, brother?" He was easier to anger than Hela, and that was saying something.

Once he skied a few routes, his worries began to ease. Most everything about Loki was a mystery to him, and that wasn't going to change anytime soon. He'd benefit both of them by just leaving well enough alone. The snow was amazing, just the right combination of wet and powdery to make for excellent skiing. It wasn't until his third or fourth time down the mountain that he heard it. A loud, ominous crack.

Thor waited safely at the bottom for a few minutes, and nothing happened. With a shrug, he headed to the top once again. A fourth of the way down the slope, he heard it again. Thor glanced behind him and saw all the snow above him roll threateningly and begin to slide right towards him. He scrambled to remember basic avalanche safety, but the snow was getting closer and his memory was failing him. Why was he so stupid?

The cascade of white death picked up the pace, and within seconds slammed into Thor, snapping one of his skis. He scrambled to stay on top as it raced down the mountainside, but he didn't stand a chance. A second wave crashed over him, this one more powerful than the first, and he lost sight of the sun. Thor tumbled over and over, losing all sense of up and down. Without knowing which way was out, he couldn't even struggle without possibly making the situation worse.

Snow filled his mouth, and he couldn't breathe, he couldn't move, he couldn't think through the potent panic that overcame him. He might die here. Loki would eventually stop sulking and come looking for him, but what if he never found him? Their last interaction would be one full of rage and confusion. Thor hoped Loki would forgive him for whatever it was he'd done that made him so mad in the first place.

A third wave his, and more snow closed in over his head, sealing him in darkness.