Thor stood in the doorway of his room later that same day and looked at the ruined wreck of his room, unsure where to start to clean up. His chest hurt as he stood there and he felt cold, but Thor didn't mind. Although some of Loki's artificial ice veins he had crafted had melted as Thor's real blood vessels had healed, much remained. Loki had saved him.
The mid-morning light shone through the broken glass doors that led onto Thor's balcony, and reflected off the fragments of glass from the doors and his mirror that had been scattered throughout the room. Almost 24 hours had passed since the Celestial's sudden return, and the shock had only now abided enough for Asgard to start repairing the realm.
There was a click, and a scrap of Thor's red silk sheets moved. A pair of glowing green snake eyes showed through the black shadows under the silk, and Thor smiled in relief when he saw that. The creature under the sheet revealed itself to be Slítas as Thor had thought, and the cobra slithered between the ruins in Thor's room and came to rest on a piece of his desk. He looked unharmed, but the scales by his mouth were colored red.
Thor had left Slítas in his room when he had hotwired the communication system to broadcast Freyja's recorded message, and in all the chaos of the Celestials he had never had a chance to return to his room until now. Although Slítas had been left in room it seemed Loki's friend had managed to escape unharmed and had even scored a victory if his bloody muzzle was any indication.
Carefully, Thor picked his way through the ruins of his belongings scattered on the floor. He knelt by Slítas and scratched him under his chin like a cat, elicited a soft purr from the snake. Slítas relished in the attention for a few seconds and then leaned his head back and held his tail up to Thor. His tail was wrapped around a plain copper ring with a single red quartz crystal embedded in it.
Thor recognized the ring, and he held out a hand. Slítas uncurled his tail from the ring and dropped it into Thor's hand. Warmth spread along Thor's palms from the magic woven into the ring. The Celestials must have tried to take it, and Slítas had defended it.
Thor nodded thanks to Slítas, and the snake tipped his head in a silent "you're welcome."
There was magic in this ring, so it was little wonder the Celestials would try and take it. They had probably mistaken the Staff for being stored within the jewel. Thor gazed at the ring that Loki had given him sadly. It had been centuries ago as a Yuletide gift, but it felt like a lifetime. He closed his eyes as he thought back to that morning.
As Thor did every Yuletide morning, he had woken up with the sun and burst into Loki's room and awoken him so the brothers could give each other their presents first. Loki wasn't always appreciative of Thor's excitement and had hexed his pillows to attack Thor this time. The pillows were now back on Loki's bed, and Thor was looking at the ring Loki had given him.
"I can feel its magic brother, but what does it do?" Thor asked carefully as he looked at the ring sitting in the palm of his hand.
"Several things that I won't ruin the surprise for," Loki answered vaguely knowing that it would irritate Thor. "One of the things is a night vision spell that you can use on yourself."
Thor turned his attention from peering into the crystal to Loki in shock.
At that time, Thor had a very common and yet horridly embarrassing fear. He had been scared of the dark. Though he had tried to hide it, Loki had eventually figured it out. Thor had believed that Loki was going to terrorize him with it or tell someone, but he hadn't.
He'd kept Thor's fear a secret and even helped cover for him when it was night and Thor's friends wanted to do something outside. Loki must have realized at some point after he had given Thor the ring that Thor wasn't going to get over his fear on his own, and that the ring meant to aid him was becoming a desperate crutch.
So one cloudless night under the dim light of a half-moon, Loki had lured Thor out into the forest and stolen the ring he had given him. Without the night vision spell he had been terrified and helpless. For two hours he had wondered around, jumping at every sound and raising the sword he had brought at it.
Loki had patiently shadowed Thor out of sight just in case head a panic attack or something and truly needed help, but otherwise had been content to watch. He had been so intent on watching over Thor in the night that he hadn't realized the forest's wolf pack had approached him until one of them had grabbed his arm in its jaws.
Thor had forgotten about his fear that night in his rush to defend his brother, and it had never come back to haunt him again. Both boys got a thorough scolding for being in the forest alone that late, and Loki's arm had ended up in a sling. Loki hadn't minded the damage to his arm because in his eyes, an injury as minor as this was well worth it if it helped Thor get over his fear and become a better warrior and future king.
Loki had set the ring back on Thor's desk the next night, confident that its night vision charm would be an asset for Thor instead of a desperate crutch.
There was nothing Loki wouldn't do to help Thor, and Thor had vowed to keep him safe. Woe bestow anyone that tried to harm one brother and risked the wrath of the other. How was it that all of that trust and loyalty built over a millennia could be shattered in the span of a single day?
Thor put the ring back on his right hand instinctively, not wanting to leave it laying around it again. Something tugged at the hem of his pants, and he looked down to see Slítas had his pants in his jaws. When Slítas looked up and saw that he had Thor's attention he released the cloth and pointed towards the doorway with his blood-stained muzzle.
The mood-changing crystals by his eyes were an excited amber color, and the snake coiled loosely around one of Thor's arms. Something had his attention, and he wanted Thor to see it. When Thor didn't move towards the doorway as Slítas desired, Slítas's crystals turned pink and it gave an irritated hiss at him. Thor decided it might be in his best interest to humor Slítas, and so he walked out of his room.
Slítas pointed down the hallway, and Thor obediently started walking the way Slítas pointed. Loki's room was along his route, and he stopped in front of the kicked open doors of Loki's room next to his. Even Loki's protective barriers around his room weren't enough to keep the intruders out. He peered inside, and Slítas didn't stop him. The Raven Blades had removed all of Loki's valuables and other irreplaceable objects from his room long ago so it was mostly just clothes, writing supplies, and common books that lay scattered around his ransacked room.
He stood in the doorway for a long moment, swamped by memories of his brother. Thor carefully stepped inside, but made sure not to step anything underfoot for fear of Loki shouting at him. Heh, was that all he was afraid off? What an old habit.
When Loki had first fallen off Bifrost, Thor had been distraught beyond comfort. He had not been told that Loki was Laufey's son, or that he had learned that face so he had no idea why Loki had done what he did. Power corrupts, but Loki was a rare soul, and it always seemed to Thor that the more power Loki had the more trustworthy and noble he became – like when he'd led the armies of the realms in the Alliance.
Thor had never believed, even for a second, his father's story that Loki must have wanted the power of a king and so that fueled his plot. Loki never asked for power, and he didn't have the attention span to sit on a throne. He was a wanderer and a knowledge-seeker, here and there, between this realm and that. There was no way he'd be able to stand sitting on the throne all day, and he'd been more than happy to leave it for Thor.
There was simply no way that Loki could be a traitor and a kinslayer, not in this dimension. After Loki was gone Thor had spent most nights sleeping in Loki's bed rather than his own. Because of his slight sensitivity to magic through his touch he could feel Loki's magic saturating the air in his room, and it seemed to him that Loki's scent of pine needles and winter still clung to the sheets of his bed.
Thor hadn't been able to let him go, and when he had first learned Loki was alive on Midgard he had been overjoyed and allowed himself a tender hope that everything would somehow be alright. Then he had gone to Midgard, and New York had happened. He'd lost his faith in Loki only to learn that Loki had lost New York on purpose to stop the Chitauri from getting a foothold in the Nine Realms, and then let himself be captured so that he would be under Asgardian protection and not be dragged back to the Chitauri to answer for his treason.
Then Loki had let a chance to kill Thor slip through his fingers because he hesitated. Thor had felt so guilty after that, and he realized he had misread Loki and had been doing so since they were children. How could he not have realized Loki was merely acting so the Chitauri wouldn't yank him from his mission and make him their prisoner?
Thor sighed at his own incompetence and rubbed the scars by his eye that he had got when he had stopped his father from killing Loki. Slítas clicked and peered down at something on the floor. He curiously followed Slítas's gaze and saw a small black box by the door. It was something he'd never before.
Curiously, he knelt and picked up the box. When he tried to open it Slítas hissed and knocked it from Thor's hand with his tail. It clattered to the ground, but did not open.
"Slítas," Thor scolded and shook the hand that had been snapped, looking at the red tail-shaped mark on the back of his hand. "Why did you do that?"
Slítas didn't answer, but puffed up his hood defensively. Although it was something important he obviously didn't want Loki to see it. Thor sighed and hung his head.
"What does Loki have n there?" He asked in a resigned voice. "Cursed rune stone, Dayturn Toxin? You know I'm used to him having forbidden stuff like that, right?"
Slítas looked away again, and his crystals faded to a nervous white like snow. It must be something really forbidden or otherwise cursed for Slítas to be nervous about Thor finding out about it. Thor wasn't sure what was going on, and he carefully knelt down and picked up the small black box again. He held it in his left hand, and kept Slítas on his right hand away from the box.
With one hand he opened it, and received a surprise. Nestled inside was a ring. His first thought was that it was a cursed ring like Andvaranaut, but he realized he couldn't feel any magic coming from it at all.
It wasn't magical? Why would a mage like Loki have a ring that wasn't magical? Now that Thor looked at it, this ring didn't look like a ring a mage would wear. Instead of a thick copper band inlaid with jewels and runes, this ring was a thin ribbon of silver.
A single black pearl was on the ring, and moonstone fragments surrounded it like the petals of a lotus flower. This ring had stones instead of jewels, so magic couldn't be stored in it. It was for anesthetics, not magic. Why would Loki have something just for anesthetics? That wasn't like Loki at all.
"Moonstone and black pearl," Thor whispered.
The combination had to be there for a reason. Thor had learned some things about jewels from Loki, but not about non-magical stones. He was sure he had seen moonstone and black pearl together before, but where?
He smiled as he remembered seeing Tilaria wearing a chain circlet around her brow embedded with black pearl and moonstone that had been made for her by the Dæmons. This ring was probably a gift for Tilaria then, but why give her a gift that she couldn't' use her magic with? Then it hit Thor, and he closed the box with a snap and lowered it to his side.
"Oh," he whispered and looked to Slítas for confirmation.
Slítas drooped his head, and a sad lavender shade tainting the white crystals. He knew that Loki and Tilaria had been close before her disappearance, and he supposed he should have seen this coming. It was an engagement ring. Before she had vanished and her room left drenched in own blood, he had been planning to ask Tilaria to marry him. This explained why Loki had changed so drastically after Tilaria's disappearance that day.
Thor felt something bite his hand gently, and he looked at his right arm to see Slítas nibbling on his hand. Slítas had always been around Loki, and it hadn't been just as a pet. He'd stayed as a friend and guardian of Loki. Even the three-foot long snake had managed to do more for his brother then he had, and the truth of that statement made Thor's chest hurt. How could he have been so useless?
Thor put the small box into the pocket of his trousers rather than leave it abandoned in the rubble. Doing that just didn't seem right. Why did everything always, always happen to Loki?
Slítas motioned for Thor to follow him, and Thor let the cobra direct him to the Ambassador's wing of suites. Once they started walking down the hallway Thor realized he knew where Slítas was leading him. All of the doors they passed were kicked in and Thor could see the ruins of the rooms within. Even the empty rooms had been searched, so Slítas knew that the room he was guiding the Asgardian to would be the same.
As he assumed, Slítas led Thor to the one room that had been inhabited – Tilaria's. He walked up to the doorway as Slítas desired, but stopped in the doorway with one foot raised in the air when he saw a figure standing in Tilaria's room. Thor's balance wavered, so he put his foot down before he fell and stared at the person in Tilaria's room. It was Loki, and he didn't look ant worse the wear.
Slítas dropped to the ground at the sight of Loki, and slithered between the debris to him. When Slítas clicked at him, Loki looked down. His back was to Thor so Thor couldn't see his reaction, but there was something in his voice when he spoke that sounded pleased.
"What are you doing here?" Loki asked his pet kindly and knelt on one knee to get down to Slítas's level. "I told you to keep an eye on Thor."
The smile in his voice faded, and his body tensed as his magic alerted him that Slítas hadn't left Thor.
"What do you want?" The sudden note of venom in Loki's voice made it clear he was now addressing Thor.
Thor hadn't been expecting to run into his brother, and wasn't sure what to say. He took a step forward into Tilaria's room but hovered just inside.
"I was wondering where Slítas was taking me," Thor said softly.
Loki stroked the back of his cobra's head with a vocal response. Slítas hummed satisfactorily and rubbed itself against Loki's hand like a cat. It seemed Loki hadn't been expecting to see Thor either, and he had no idea what to say. He had a feeling Slítas had set this up on purpose, troublesome reptile, didn't he know by now that Thor was no longer his brother?
Thor didn't think Loki was going to respond, so he said the first thing that came to mind to keep to keep silence from settling in. "Thank you."
Loki tensed again, but made no sound. He held out his right hand with the palm down, and Slítas recognized his cue. The snake slithered up his sleeve and vanished into his jacket.
Only once Slítas was out of sight did Loki ask quietly, "for what?"
"You chased off the Celestials and saved me… brother?" Thor's last word was more of a wary question.
Thor didn't see him move, but his clothes and hair were suddenly ruffled backward and Loki was in front of him. One of his stolen blades was at Thor's throat, just deep enough to cut through the skin. He had moved so fast that Thor hadn't seen him move. He hadn't heard the sound of teleportation, so how had he moved so quickly?
"We're not brothers," Loki promised with a quiet snarl. "And I certainly didn't do anything for you, son of Odin."
Loki tilted his head up to look at Thor better. His green eyes sparkled with the alien blue of the Tesseract, and something very dark that Thor had only caught glimpses of before.
"What did that?" Loki asked, moving his dagger from Thor's neck to tap against the scars Thor's bangs were now hiding. "Did one of your many maidens scratch you?"
Thor refused to let Loki bait him. The more hurt Loki was the crueler he acted towards others. It was a defense mechanism to try and make others feel his pain. That was what Loki was doing now. Maybe if Thor didn't run off he could make Loki use up all of his anger and hate, and finally see his little brother again. When Loki got like this, Thor knew it was foolish to try and lie to him and when Loki had a blade to his throat it could be lethal.
"Odin struck me with Gungnir," Thor said truthfully. "I wonder if he wasn't aiming for my throat."
"Odin?" Loki challenged brazenly, "not father?"
"It was during your execution." Thor replied, his temper rising without meaning to. "You were too busy fighting Blood Wolves to notice him, but Odin was going to shoot you with Gungnir. I could scarcely let him although Angborn did more good then I to protect you."
Loki didn't respond. He leaned back and was suddenly in the middle of Tilaria's room. Pieces of cloth fluttered by the breeze generated from Loki's speed, proof that it was speed and not teleportation. The dagger vanished up his sleeve with a flick of the hand holding it. Had Thor's blatant honesty calmed Loki's hate?
The fragments of glass littering the ground sparkled and reflected emerald-black light. They rose off the ground and flew back to their places, some to the mirror on Tilaria's vanity and some to the glass doors that led to her balcony. Torn out pages from books smoothed out and returned to the book's spine before levitating through the air to the shelf where they were supposed to be.
Thor stood back and stayed respectfully quiet as Loki continued to repair the damage the Celestial's had wrought to her room. The irony of the Celestials destroying Tilaria's room did not pass Thor unnoticed, but he knew better than to mention her. Against his will, Thor half-closed his eyes and relished in the feel of Loki's magic as he worked. This past year the only magic he had seen from Loki were battle spells honed to kill, and they felt very different than the reconstruction magic Loki was now using. Being around Loki and the feel of his magic just made Thor feel safe.
Thor relaxed to the point that he lowered his guard and carelessly asked, "Why did you save me?"
He realized a moment too late that he shouldn't have asked that, ad Loki glanced in the reconstructed mirror so he could look at Thor without turning around. Thor felt the heat rise to his cheeks, and he looked away from the bizarre look Loki was giving him.
Loki averted his eyes from the mirror and chuckled gently, "not for the reason you think Æsir."
Thor was surprised by the comment, and responded, "and what reason is that?"
"That I saved you because I was concerned about you," Loki tossed out carelessly as the sheets of Tilaria's bed fluttered over to the mattress and the bed made itself. "We started a fight on Bifrost last year and we never got to finish it. I can't kill you if you're already dead."
Loki's comment stung although Thor did his best to hide it. Why was killing him all Loki cared about? How could things have changed so quickly in a single year? Thor couldn't fault Loki though since it was his fault. Finding out he was Laufey's son had been the trigger to make Loki lash out, but all of his hate and anger would have to build before that. If Thor had realized how much pain Loki was in then all of this could have been avoided, but he was too busy going off on foolish adventures to realize what was happening to his brother.
Loki had been standing still while his magic worked, but he now knelt down and physically picked up a necklace with a pendent shaped like a compass rose. The pendent was made from Loki's ice, and frosted over like a windowpane on a cold day so you couldn't see past the surface. He cradled it gently like one of the injured birds he used to nurse back to health as a child.
No, Thor thought and relaxed his shoulders. Killing Thor wasn't all Loki cared about. He had given that necklace to Tilaria at the end of the First Celestial War. Loki still remembered Tilaria, and he had decided to help Asgard.
Loki ran a hand along the torn blood-black ribbon the pendant hung from, and the ribbon rewove itself. He walked over to Tilaria's vanity as Tilaria's clothes hung themselves in the closet and her herbs, magnetic chalks, and focusing crystals returned to their shelf. The pendent was hung on the side of the vanity's mirror and it pendent tapped against the glass softly for a few seconds.
Tilaria's precious Nightblossom plant that she had gotten from Frigga returned to its perch on the edge of her desk as the pot reassembled itself. Its silver blossoms were closed, awaiting the fall of night to bloom. With that, all of the damage to her room had repaired itself.
The instant Loki released his hold on his magic he collapsed onto the floor. Thor tensed in shock and then scrambled to Loki's side. Loki was slowly pushing himself back to his feet, his entire body trembling with exhaustion.
Thor knelt and grabbed Loki's arm to help pull him to his feet. Helping Loki was something he had done uncountable times, but for the first time ever Loki jerked away from Thor's touch as if he was insulted and stumbled sideways. He grabbed Tilaria's vanity after he banged into it to keep from collapsing, hanging his head with his eyes hidden, breathing ragged.
It was obvious that Loki had over exhausted himself from his magic. That was nothing new. He also didn't want Thor to help him. Thor wasn't surprised by that either, but he was shocked by just how viciously Loki had recoiled from him.
His brother coughed harshly, and put a hand near his mouth. When he lowered his hand Thor saw blood on it. It didn't matter that Loki didn't want him near him, not when he was coughing up blood. Thor stepped forward warily as if on a minefield closer to Loki and held out a hand towards him.
He almost said brother before he caught himself, "bro-Loki?"
Carefully, he touched Loki's arm, worry overriding his common sense to give Loki some space. Loki slapped Thor's hand away with a hiss. The crack echoed in the otherwise silent wing and slowly faded away.
"I don't need the help of a traitorous Asgardian," Loki promised darkly.
"I'm not-" Thor tried to say.
"You brought me back to Asgard muzzled like some dog and then ran off to Midgard and abandoned me in the dungeon," Loki spat. "I think I have a right to what I say."
All right, maybe Thor did deserve what Loki said. He hadn't given it much thought at the time, but while the trip to Midgard had calmed him it had destroyed whatever trust Loki still had for his brother. The trip had been solely for Thor's benefit, and he would have been fine if he hadn't gone. Just like usual, he'd been so focused on himself that he'd forgotten about Loki when he needed Thor the most.
"Loki," Thor said softly, trying to hide his pain. "I want to help you."
I want to make up for what I've done to you…
"And how did any of that help me?!" Loki demanded in a somewhat shrill voice.
With a small breath, Loki managed to calm himself slightly.
"So, high and mighty Æsir, since you want to help me," Loki spoke the words 'help me' in the most dubious tone. "Where are my weapons and ring?"
Thor hesitated in his response, but only for a moment. "There was so much magic in them that they had to be moved. They're in the Weapons Vault."
The Vault? Loki wasn't overwhelmingly surprised by Thor's answer, but he was far from thrilled. How was he supposed to break into the Weapon's Vault and get them back with basic weapons and such limited magic?
"The Ravens took your stuff, it's in the Aviary," Thor continued without having to be told. "They've got it hid so the Wolves won't get it, brother."
Thor stopped talking when he realized his slip of the tongue, and swallowed. It was such an old habit of his that it was hard to break, and the fact that he didn't want to break it wasn't making this easier. He had simply recognized the calculating look in Loki's eyes as he puzzled over how to get his weapons back as one his little brother had often had.
"That'll do," Loki warned him tartly.
I'm sorry, Thor tried to say. The words wouldn't reach his lips. He had said as much to Loki several times before, but found he couldn't say them now. Why couldn't he say it?
Loki raised a fist to his chest and Thor sensed his magic build up. He flung the hand outward towards his former brother, and Thor was knocked off his feet by a telekinetic force and slid clear out into the hallway, head slamming against the opposite wall of the hallway. Then Loki pulled the same hand close to his chest and Tilaria's doors closed and locked themselves as he teleported away.
Thor looked at the closed doors after Loki left and hung his head. "I'm sorry Loki."
How can Thor possibly make things up to Loki after everything that has happened? I suppose he'll just have to wait and see if there is a way to earn Loki's trust again.