Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Thor, nor am I making any money from these works of fiction.

Rated: T/PG-13.


11. Mourning

The skies were dark and dismal.

Rain poured down violently: bursting dams, flooding rivers, collapsing small structures, and turning the very earth into thick, cold mud.

Winds thrashed furiously: uprooting trees, breaking windows, and spreading debris across once beautiful landscapes.

Lightning flashed blindingly: setting hillsides ablaze, threatening any who dared look toward the heavens, and making the darkness in-between seem all the deeper.

Thunder roared threateningly: announcing the vivacity of the storm, deafening the populace to all other sounds, and frightening every soul who heard.

It was the same everywhere: across all borders, oceans, and even universes. No one in Midgard could explain it. No one in Nidavellir understood it. No one in Muspelheim even questioned it. No one in Jotunheim cared. No one in Asgard dared complain. None truly understood the depth of the storm, even those that knew the cause.

The God of Thunder was mourning his brother.


12. Broken

Thor stood at the shattered edge of the Bifrost and stared into the seemingly endless space ahead of him. Heimdall stood near, but was respectful of the young Asgardian's privacy and would not see or hear him unless he called out to him. Normally, Thor would ask about his friends on Midgard or ask of any news of his brother's fate.

Today, Thor did not want to speak. He did not want to think. His heart hurt in a way he had never experienced before and everyday the pain grew worse instead of healing.

It had all happened in such a short span of time; Thor did not understand how so much had changed…how they had changed. Yet here he stood, facing an unfathomable chasm that spanned between he and his brother, both figuratively and literally.

He missed Loki. Sif told him that he should not, that Loki had betrayed him and so deserved his fate. Volstagg said it was understandable, that Loki had been his brother long before he turned traitor and so he deserved to be mourned. Fandral said that Loki had been a fun companion and worthy ally and would be missed, but that such feelings faded in time. Hogan said no one should presume to judge what another should feel.

As much as Thor loved his friends, none of their words helped. He did not care whether his feelings were understandable, expected, justified, or inappropriate. He cared only that he had failed -and so lost- his only brother.

And Loki was his brother. Thor had not told his friends and trusted allies what Frigga had told him about Loki's origins. They would not understand that it changed nothing between the two men. Thor no longer cared about race or status…he could only hope that Loki -wherever he was- knew that.

The part that hurt the most was that Thor was pretty sure he did not. Thor had not known what had set his brother off during their final confrontation, and in retrospect, he realized that his actions and words probably made as little sense to Loki as Loki's had made to him at the time.

Thor's only hope was that Loki was so much more contemplative and prone to thinking things out than he was. If Thor had realized that the pieces did not fit and was able to learn enough to make sense of it all, than surely Loki would as well. True, Loki did not have anyone with him to explain the situation, but he was smart, sensitive, observant, resourceful…

Loki had to understand that Thor would not despise him simply because he was a Frost Giant runt instead of Odin's true son. He had to know that Thor would still love him, that he would forgive him. Thor was sure tat Loki would forgive him, if only they could speak to each other as they once did.

The look in Loki's eyes as he fell and the fact that Heimdall saw nothing of the God of Mischief since then did not bode well. Even their parents (Thor refused to think of them as his only, despite what Odin claimed) had accepted Loki's demise; Frigga mourned openly, Odin silently. The other Asgardians acknowledged the loss of the younger prince accordingly (none were aware of Loki's origins or the lapse into madness the knowledge of it had caused) and every warrior who had fought beside him drank to his memory. Even Heimdall seemed to mourn in his own introverted fashion.

Thor could not let go so easily. There was too much weighing on his mind and heart; too many questions left unanswered and words left unspoken. A confused battle in which neither opponent knew what they were fighting against or for should not be the last memory left between brothers.

With the Bifrost broken, there was no way to seek Loki out; no way to find answers; no way to make things right.

Thor was beginning to understand that the bridge was not the only thing he had broken.