Disclaimer: I don't own Thor, or any of the characters used in this fic. They all belong to Marvel and their respective creators. I only own any original characters that I choose to include, as well as any original plot ideas.
Chapter 10: Nobody's Hero
Though the rain had continued on long through the night, Thor had awakened at dusk, shook the others from their slumber, had pulled hooded cloaks from their bedrolls, and packed up their belongings. Fandral and Volstagg had run off to fetch the horses and the bilge snipe, and, upon their return, Thor and the others set to fastening their supplies and things to the saddles and mounting. Loki had openly complained at his brother's suggestion, insisting that he was not a child who needed to be looked after, and defiantly clambered up onto his own horse though it so obviously pained him. Irritated as his brother was, Thor didn't bother to argue.
They rode though the darkest part of the night, and Thor lit up the sky with lightning so as to light their path, causing it to strike far off in the distance in rapid succession. He just hoped, however, that it wasn't hitting any buildings or people off on the eastern mountain range. It was a long ride, but when dawn finally began to peek through the clouds and the horses' hooves struck solid pavement, Thor had smiled, turned back to his companions and cheered with them. Except Loki who had lazily rolled his eyes.
The bridge that led from the edge of the city to the palace was soaked with water and littered with small frogs and leaves. The amphibians croaked as Thor maneuvered his horse around them, not at all eager to step on their soft little bodies, and immediately panicked when he remembered that the bilge snipe was sure to crush them. Again, Loki said nothing, waved a hand and sent the frogs flying back into the water before slumping forward on his horse and closing his eyes again.
Thor felt the sharp pang of guilt in his gut as their mother, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, waved to them from the steps of the palace, the light in her eyes matching that of her golden hair. The horses' hooves clacked hard and wet against the stones, and the beast beneath him snorted as Thor gave the reins a sharp tug, stepped off and seized Loki by his left arm, only realizing his mistake after the fact, lifting him off his own mount as he flinched.
"Don't help me!" he snarled, giving Thor a shove that barely shifted him on his feet.
The thunderer moved quickly away as their mother hurried down the steps, ignoring the water that was clinging to the hem of her gown. As the others dismounted, he set to moving the horses a bit closer to the palace, tugging the bilge snipe's corpse along behind. To keep busy, he unfastened their belongings from the saddles, holding them in his arms and rushing past his mother and brother, noting the absolutely miserable look on Loki's face as she began to fuss over him.
"What happened?!" she exclaimed, hesitant to even touch him. The prince's stomach fell further, until, Thor imagined, it might actually fall outand sit in the muddy water. "Thor?"
Stopping mid-stride, he turned his head slowly, noting the way Fandral snickered as his mother's eyes seemed to bore into him. With a hand, she motioned for him to come back, and Thor set their bedrolls on the steps and trudged back towards them like a child waiting to be punished.
Fortunately, Sif gave the blond man a shove and directed him towards the steps, hissing that there was nothing funny about this, and insisted that he quit behaving badly and start carrying things inside. Fandral grimaced and pouted, muttering to himself as he went, giving Thor a passing glance as the others followed quickly behind.
His blue eyes looked up once they had gone, knowing that, when his mother was done telling him to be more careful, he was reallygoing get it from his father.
"It was an accident!" he said, not knowing what else he could say. It had certainly been an accident, but it had still been his fault. If he hadn't decided to interfere, if he'd just let Loki and Fandral fight it out themselves, the Sons of Odin wouldn't have come so close to death. And his brother wouldn't still be beaten and angry at him. "I just–"
"It's not his fault," Loki interrupted, avoiding eye contact with him. Frigga turned, a shocked expression upon her fair face. "Thor stopped the bastard. I... I provoked it. We made a bet, Brother insisted it was foolish, and I wouldn't listen..."
Slack jawed, Thor could only stare, hope for a passing second that a fly wouldn't make its way into his open mouth as their mother shook her head, took Loki by the hand and began to quietly chastise him for being so daft. He made a face that Thor readily recognized, the one that they had used for years to silently imply that one of them owed the other, and said nothing as Frigga tugged him gently along, insisting that Loki was going to spend the remainder of the day in one of the healing rooms before ridding himself of the dirt and grime and blood with a hot bath.
Feeling far worse than he had before, for Loki had made him out to be the hero, Thor sighed, took the line of horses by the reins and led them along the pathway that would take them to the stables. Hesitantly looking back at their kill, there was no way he was going to want the beast's head hanging on his wall now.
He was nobody's hero.
# - # - # - #
He tensed as she sat beside him, forcing Loki's bandaged arm into her lap as she began to peel the strips of cloth away, talking quietly to herself about the good job that Sif had done to lather them with a salve and layer them. Though he didn't have quite the penchant for liquors that the others had, Loki found himself wishing that he were stone drunk, stuck listening to that gentle buzzing sound in his skull so he wouldn't have to feel any of this. Though he had told Thor that self-healing was a simple task, it wasn't. It was a pain, nearly as much as suffering through wounds like this. Small things, like broken fingers and cuts, were easy to deal with. Cracked ribs, on the other hand, were presently beyond his abilities. And that rankled.
Frigga sighed and turned her head, motioning quickly to one of the healers as she entered the room, and looked back to Loki, raised a hand and brushed a smear of dirt off the side of his face.
Unfortunately, the tending healer wasn't quite so gentle as his mother had been, eyeing him for a moment as the queen explained the damage, and quickly jabbing her hand into his bruised side. The prince threw his head back on the seat and made a sound in his throat that reminded him of a whimpering puppy. It was incredibly shameful.
Thor was certain to feel the same shame for what had happened, though Loki didn't find any real pleasure in the thought. His mother moved to sit at his right as the healer began with removing the last of Sif's handiwork, laid his head against her shoulder and pulled her fingers through his hair. The trickster grimaced, knowing well the thin layer of filth that was sure to be sitting atop his skin, and wished, with everything he had, that he'd not encouraged Thor to go off on that fool venture; wished that he'd put a stop to the whole thing before it had ever even started. But, on the up side, his brother would surely think twice before darting off into the wilds or proposing that they go to one of the other realms.
At least, Loki hoped so.
The healer whispered quietly to herself, and Loki caught the back end of her sentence, nearly shocked enough to sit straight up as he heard something about thread and needles. He groaned. Of course, what with having combated a muscle-bound beast like a bilge snipe, there would be more damage than just broken bones and bruising. The woman hurried off then, calling for assistance as she rushed off down the hall to fetch more supplies.
Only when she was gone did Frigga speak to him again.
"You didn't bait that monster," she said knowingly. She'd seen right through his lie.
"Father doesn't need to know that," he replied, having contented himself with the lecture he'd receive from the Allfather when he managed to round their group up again. It wouldn't do anything to nurse Loki's own dislike for the king's favoritism, but, at the very least, it would spare his brother the pain of having that disappointed glare directed at him. And that, Loki supposed, was good enough. "Besides, Thor needs Father's approval more than I do..."
The queen gave him a look that insisted she knew otherwise, but smiled.
"I was reading that book of yours last night," she told him, pulling a leaf from the folds of his clothing and tossing it into the fire. It burned up as though it had never been. "It's really–"
"If it's all the same to you, Mother," he said, eyes cast into the flame, "I'd rather be alone."
It seemed to take a moment for his words to sink in, for Frigga sat stone still, eventually murmuring a word of quiet acceptance before pulling him close and leaving a kiss on his cheek, whispering that she was proud of him. Loki said nothing, content with staring at the fire until she stood and left the room without another sound. He was not alone more than five minutes when the sound of footsteps echoed out in the hall, fading into nearly nothing as they approached the door and Loki rolled his eyes.
She had not been standing too terribly far from the room.
"Surely you heard all that," he remarked, looking towards the open door. "Do you not understand what it means to be alone?"
The woman scurried inside, glancing back over her shoulder as if in fear that she would be seen, and came to sit at his side, draping her arms about his shoulders. She said nothing, pursed her lips and looked at him with eyes that were pleading, asking that he not send her away.
Loki muttered under his breath and Sigyn leaned forward, pressed her lips to his and pushed her taste into his mouth. Thor could never find out about this, the prince thought, for he'd never let it go. Though it was certain that, with what had been said on the mountain, his brother already knew a good deal about the pleasurable midnight escapades that Loki had been investing in.
He winced, her hand coming to fall against his side, and pushed her away, doubling over and feeling light-headed.
Sigyn made a face and huffed angrily, "He got you hurt again."
Sweat on his brow, he frowned, shot her a nasty look from the corner of his eye. It was one thing for him to talk badly of Thor, as they were brothers, but for anyone else to speak so much as a word against him was unacceptable.
Loki sat up. "What right do you have to come in here and speak ill of Thor? If that's why you've come, then you'd best get out. Get back to tending whatever duties you thought wise to neglect."
She crossed her arms, turned her head away and send long, dark hair flying over her shoulder. "You say it all the time yourself," she replied with a snippy tone. "Always complaining about him, telling me what a blasted fool he is, how much you can't stand his stupidity."
It didn't matter if she was only parroting his own words, that did it.
The bowl that held the healer's salve fell to the floor then, the substance sticking to the leather of his boots as Loki seethed. He grabbed Sigyn by the arm with his good hand, lifted her from the bench and pushed her away.
"Because he is my brother," he shot back. "As such, it is my right to speak of him any way I damn well please."
It didn't make sense and Loki knew as much, but refused to take back his words and allow her to think she could speak ill of Thor. He was an idiot, he was often stupid, and he didn't put nearly enough thought into major decisions the way he should have. Still, Thor had always had his back, and Loki wouldn't sit idly by and listen to some desperate wench spout that nonsense about him. Even if it was all true.
She stared at him with wide eyes and said nothing, dark brows furrowing as she turned on her heel and swept out of the room, brushing past Frigga and the healers as she went.
The queen stared.
"What happened?" she asked, coming to ease Loki back into his seat.
The prince leaned forward and scoffed, ignoring the healers as they called to someone to clean up the mess.
"Nothing," he said. "Nothing..."