As Thor slowly woke up, he felt a weight against his side, a warm… fuzzy…. weight.
Thor glanced down and saw the shining black fur of a black cat curled together and laying all the way up against his body.
Thor gasped… Loki. During the night Loki had...
Thor's eyes watered, he did not know why Loki would do that now and not before but, Thor really had to stop himself to not reach out and embrace the cat like some kind of teddy bear. Loki probably wouldn't appreciate that at all.
Instead Thor laid back and pretended to sleep, it was probably the right thing to do as proven when the cat not so long after woke up. It stretched its body and then walked away from Thor before transforming into a young man… And then headed to the pilot seat of the ship.
Thor decided to pretend to sleep for another ten or fifteen minutes before he started to make a good show out of stretching and yawning. "Good morning, Loki," he called.
"There are no mornings in space, you oaf." Loki replied, and Thor smirked. "We arrive back at Svartalfheim in just fifteen minutes. About time you woke up."
As if Loki hadn't just woken up himself only ten minutes ago; Thor shook his head. "That's good, hopefully the dwarfs won't mind serving one of their feasts, I could go for some Svartalfheim black boar!"
"It would be nice with a hot meal," Loki admitted.
"Then we go to Midgard! They changed so much in such a short amount of time. You'll be astounded," Thor beamed.
"Midgard?" Loki turned to Thor. "You are excited… over Midgard?" he asked.
"Yes!" Thor grinned. "It's a brilliant world! And the Midgardians, they are amazing!"
Loki was gaping, his eyes saying it all… Have you lost your mind, Thor?
"You don't like Midgard, Loki?" Thor asked in a teasing voice.
"I don't… dislike Midgard. I just, what is there to admire?" Loki asked, honestly confused. "The Midgardians are the weakest and most fragile of all races in the Nine Realms! They break as easily as small twigs, they live for less than a hundred years each, which means that none of them even have the time to accumulate any sort of knowledge worth a thing," he stated. "At least the Jotnars strength is comparable to that of the Aesir. The Midgardians, though?! They don't have weapons like the dwarfs, they don't have magic like the light elves. They are born, live and vanish in the blink of an eye. Each individual is so weak and destined to die so soon. If anything I pity them."
"But don't you see! That's the thing!" Thor beamed, excited. "In spite of all of that. In spite of it, they raise up! They build! No, they don't live long enough to build society in one generation, but then they learn from the previous generation and build things to carry on the torch! In spite of their lacking strength, magic and life span they do wonders! They do all of it, in spite of what they lack! They don't need the powers of gods to do amazing things. That's what's so amazing!"
Loki blinked, astounded. "You… really like Midgard," he finally figured.
Thor nodded, his mouth in an excited grin.
"Midgard?" Loki asked again.
"I have so many things I want to show you! You'll love it!" Thor beamed.
"It's Midgard!" Loki exclaimed again as if Thor was insane.
"Yes, as we both keep repeating." Thor smiled. "Now I can introduce you to…" he halted.
Loki's head tilted.
"Right, in this timeline we have yet to meet." Embarrassed, Thor blushed.
"Oh, you got yourself a ragtag group of Midgardian friends or something?" Loki asked.
Thor smiled lightly. "This one is going to be hard for you to believe."
"Everything coming out of your mouth the last couple of weeks has been pure insanity to be honest. What else is there?" Loki asked.
"Well..." Thor smiled. "You see… A lot of things changed in my life. Things were hard, the people I used to rely on I could not rely on anymore. Father was..." he halted. "He wasn't a person to turn to. And you… "
"We were enemies, that part I know." Loki rolled his eyes.
"My old friends the Warriors Three and Sif, I felt so distant from them. I couldn't talk to them, not really. But then… These Midgardians," Thor smiled softly. "It was strange and yet, it just… It fell into place. They were my friends, and in many ways... a new family. They were there for me, not viewing me as some prince or hero, for once I wasn't even acting leader in the group at all. For the first time I was allowed to just be me… Not a shining light, but just their friend. Sometimes, their very foolish friend. They were never late to tell me," he chuckled. "Still aren't. One thousand five hundred years. And they are the best friends I have ever had."
Thor turned to Loki, whose face was in a stern frown.
"Loki?" Thor asked.
"So that's why you insist on trying to save both timelines," Loki muttered. "You want to save them."
"Of course I do! They are my friends!" Thor stated.
"They are all going to die in less than a hundred years, regardless," Loki pointed out.
"That's not the point!" Thor exclaimed.
Loki's eyes were narrowed.
"Loki… I really mean it. That's not the point," Thor breathed.
"You may have to choose, Thor," Loki pointed out. "I still have no solution for you. You saw it, on Morag… This world is vanishing."
"I won't let it!" Thor grabbed Loki's shoulders. "I won't lose you! Not again!"
"And the others?" Loki asked in a cold voice.
"Not them either! No one will be sacrificed!" Thor stated.
Loki looked at Thor, his green eyes cold. "Oftentimes, you sound like you have indeed grown so much," he commented. "Now though, you are proving you are as foolish as ever."
"We will find a way, Loki," Thor stated. "We have to!"
"Like you had to stop Thanos before he gathered all the Infinity Stones?" Loki asked.
Thor halted, he swallowed; he felt it, the weakness inside of him. The despair.
"Crying won't help either," Loki pointed out.
"Sometimes, you truly are cruel, Loki." Thor swallowed, removing his hands from Loki's shoulders, and closed his eyes, feeling the tears running down his cheeks, then wiped them away as he stood up, taking a deep breath.
"I am just saying things the way they are," Loki pointed out.
"Aye, that you are," Thor sighed. "This entire situation is unkind."
"I could still do it, you know," Loki's smooth voice came. "Remove you from the other timeline, you won't have to go back… Just stay here. Find your friends again, form a new friendship with them. In fact, I'll allow you to introduce us, I promise I'll be nice," he stated. "You have not killed anyone none-threatening in this timeline, if you just stay here all of that other stuff won't exist. it'll just… Vanish." He held out a hand. "Like it was never there… They won't suffer. They just… won't exist."
Thor looked at Loki. "No," he stated.
Now Loki started to grow annoyed. "Thor."
"And Rocket in the other timeline would say that you and everyone in this one are not even supposed to exist," Thor pointed out. "I disagree, you all exist, you all have a right to be here."
"What if you don't have a choice?!" Loki asked.
"If it goes that far..." Thor swallowed. "I'll figure it out then. For now, I will not act like there is no other alternative. We must look for it, find it!"
Loki's head lowered, his green eyes shining from the shadows as he was looming. Clearly not happy.
Thor looked up, staring out of the cockpit window. "Ah," he commented. "Svartalfheim"
Loki pouted as he reached for the controls. "Prepare for landing," he muttered and Thor sighed, well… One step forward and one step back when it came to his and Loki's relationship.
Then again… What else was new?
