Ah, yes, this chapter starts with a familiar word... I didn't realize it at first, only after I cut the fic into chapters... Well, I assure you that no more chapters begin like that. :D
"Brother!"
"Not your brother," Loki grunted in response and crushed a skull of his opponent with the dull end of his staff, just to be attacked by three new demons the next moment.
"I need a distraction," Thor bellowed over the shouts and clangs.
"For what?" Loki inquired in a slightly lower voice as they finally managed to get close.
"Do you not trust me?" Thor made something between a grunt and a laugh, with a happy pang in his heart realizing that he was fighting back to back with his brother. Not against him for once, but with him, against a common enemy. How long has it been since the last time? He was partly – but not entirely, not now – snapped out of his nostalgia by Loki's next words:
"Even if we were not enemies acting on a temporary truce-" Thor jerked at those words "-I have never had much faith in your plans, me often being the one who had to drag you out of the resulting disaster."
"As often as I had to help you out of trouble you caused yourself," Thor chuckled but then swore inwardly; this wasn't the right time to make fun of Loki, even in a jest. After a beat – a literal beat, as Thor bashed in a head of the nearest demon – Loki relented:
"True. But it involved your hammer and how hard you could smash the "problem" with it, rarely any kind of strategy."
Thor fought on, starting to enjoy the battle more and more despite being outnumbered so drastically and almost regretted it had to end. Still, the force would become overwhelming soon.
A painful wail of a hundred voices was carried to their ears along with a fierce, fear-inspiring battle cry of the queen. So maybe not so soon.
"I do not have Mjollnir with me now," he reminded the Trickster and came to the conclusion that he would have to share his plan if he ever wanted Loki's help with its realization. "I wish to call the rain to my command and put out the fires in the heart of our enemies."
"It might help a little," Loki allowed and threw a dagger to the throat of a demon who jumped at Thor when the Thunder God took a moment to grin at Loki happily.
"Mind your surroundings, idiot!"
Thor stabbed between ribs an enemy who raised a big jagged knife behind Loki's back. "Same to you!"
"You make it hard to focus if I have to watch your back too!" Loki shot back. "I will make the distraction for you, just so you are of some use."
"Thank you! It should not be difficult," Thor assessed the situation, "they do not seem to value their lives much."
"Of course," Loki created a shield and then let it explode onwards and knocked back several demons at once, "they came to the Land of the Dead, they wish to die. They are those who have nothing to lose any more. They came here to cause as much destruction as possible, as well as to deny Hela their souls right before her eyes by dying in battle. They are like a child destroying his favourite toy in front of another who showed interest in it. Though I doubt my daughter cares about their souls as much as they like to think."
Loki frowned at the newest onslaught of enemies. "Be prepared, Thor, I shall-" His speech was cut off sharply as a fire whip made contact with his forearm.
"Brother!" Thor slew in one sweep the demon who dared to injure Loki.
"Not your brother," the younger god shook his hand to get rid of the remnants of the fire whip.
"Are you all right?" Thor tried to fight off twice as many enemies to give Loki time to get his bearings together.
"It will not cause permanent damage," Loki assessed.
"But – I mean, your heritage-"
"How thoughtful of you," Loki laughed mirthlessly, "but despite my parentage, did you forget that I am the God of Fire?"
Thor... did, actually. Out of all of Loki's titles, he hadn't heard this one in centuries and the few recent years after learning of Loki's true nature... well, it did not really cross his mind. But Loki was correct and he had a long history of proving his right to this denomination. As if to reassure Thor that there was no need to revoke it now, he caught an incoming fireball in his bare hands, fuelled it with his own magic to enlarge it several times over and sent it back at the feet of his opponents. While fire itself couldn't hurt the inhabitants of Muspelheim, the explosion his attack caused was harmful enough.
Loki arched an eyebrow at Thor in a spare moment, as if to dare him to disagree. Thor sighed but couldn't help but feel the fondness, watching his brother's antics.
"But still, be careful," he still felt obligated to say in a clear worried-big-brother tone, "the fire demons are known for their fierceness, even if these are obviously not the best of their warriors."
"I know that very well," Loki said in an amused tone, "remember, I was married to one for decades."
Thor had to chuckle at that, despite the newest wave of enemies that pushed them back several paces. "True, but you have never met with Lady Glut on the battlefield."
The number of enemies around them had by now grown several times over, attacking from all sides and not allowing much room to dodge the assaults.
Loki's chuckle matched Thor's, even as he parried another blow: "Living with her was not much different."
Both brothers overcame the greatest onslaught so far at the moment, moving in coordination and thinking as one, finally falling into an old pattern perfected in long centuries. It was almost as if they were dancing, knowing every step and move of the other. Thor was savouring the dearly missed feeling of completeness but didn't dare to speak up and ask Loki if he was feeling the same.
A short while later, they were panting slightly but still brimming with energy, standing side by side on a sparse patches of yellowed grass at the edge of the field. The castle was looming behind their backs. They were currently remaining unnoticed by their enemies whose numbers, if they squinted their eyes, did probably thin out a little.
Loki looked askance at Thor: "If you are going to do something, now seems to be the right time."
"Oh, right," Thor was snapped out of the reverie. He looked up at the skies and then ahead of him again, at the mass of bright fiery colours and the fewer dark specks of the defenders. Suddenly he snapped his head at Loki, face contorted in horror:
"Brother..."
"Not your brother," Loki frowned worriedly at Thor's expression: "What?"
"I just realized, Lady Glut – what if Lady Glut is amongst them?"
"Of course she is not," "Loki rolled his eyes impatiently, "I told you these are the people who have lost all their loved ones to the plague."
"Then what if-"
"Do you not think Hela would notice if her sisters came to dwell in her realm?" Loki's impatience was growing. "Now stop dawdling and call upon the rain or I am going back to help in the battle."
"Of course-" Thor stopped himself once more, "-and Ei-"
"Eisa and Einmyria are not among them either! Seriously, Thor, do you really think I would not ascertain these things first? Now move your lazy ass!"
For Loki to use such vocabulary was a clear indicator of his foul mood and Thor didn't dare to wait any longer. He felt a little silly, moving up his arms without Mjollnir in his hand – this is probably what it feels like using seidr as Loki does, he thought – but focused on the darkening clouds and willed them to cluster together above the field, turning heavy and ominous. A few demons noticed the brothers standing aside suspiciously and Loki made a quick work with them.
"Hurry up!" he shouted as more attackers started heading their way. Hela also noticed their efforts and rushed to their aid, though a new group of demons halted her progress and she tore through their bodies viciously.
The air, already uncomfortably hot, was quickly turning from dry to humid. All the demons already noticed the change and from the shouts among themselves more and more of them learnt of the source of the weather shift. Loki now had a help from a few dwarves and a young mortal but their defence couldn't last much longer. Finally, Thor managed to gather enough moisture for the clouds and turn them into one heavy grey mass. As far as the eye could see, the realm turned noticeably darker. Not very loud, but foreboding thunder rumbled over their heads.
Loki felt a first, cool raindrop fall on his cheek. Several enemies stopped to look up. Silent tap, tap, tap was getting faster and faster, accompanied by low hisses when water touched any hot surface, be it searing rocks or the demons themselves, their hair or whips and other fiery weapons.
Panicked shouts were dulled by the deafening hum of the rain, now pouring from the sky like a shower and making the air fresh and cool. Pleasant smell of the wet dirt was intermingled with the stinging smoke of burning fires being put out. The spirits of the defenders rose and they pushed forward in a counter-attack.
Despite his claims, Loki felt relieved by the cooler weather – but so was everyone else on his side, he reasoned. Making use of the excess water and not wanting to abuse his by now considerably depleted magic, he reluctantly opted to fend off the enemies with ice daggers and sending lethal sprays of needle sharp icicles at them. The rows of enemies were soaking wet and now their numbers were finally dwindling noticeably. The defenders saw too and with an already victorious cries lured out the until now hiding inhabitants of Helheim, those who wouldn't stand a chance in a proper battle and would only get in the way; but now – now was their time to fight.
"Is it wise?" Thor shouted over the rain and the commotion at Hela who fought nearby. Although better description would be slaughtering with undisguised glee.
"Of course," she laughed, "even the weak can be of use now."
"But the demons can still be very dangerous, they are sure to kill many-"
He was stopped by Hela's giggles. which, he suspected, were supposed to mock him. "Oh, you silly god," she finally said, amused, and sliced three demon heads off their bodies at once, "the residents of Helheim are already dead. But they would get annoying and obstructing if they were to be limping wounded across the battlefield from the very beginning."
"Is this like in Valhalla then?" Thor inquired between the blows. "The killed are resurrected when the night passes?"
"This is not the warriors' afterlife," Hela reminded him as if he were a dim pupil, "my souls do not fall on daily basis. They wake up whenever their body is mended enough, no military regime you know from learning about the Hall of the Slain. I wonder how anyone can prefer going there, to be honest," she added as she performed a complicated set of moves using her sceptre and several spells, "a battle might be enjoyable once in a while but I am already beginning to tire of it after all the desperate invasions from Muspelheim."
Thor chuckled. "You probably inherited this attitude from your father, I could not imagine him enjoying Valhalla much either-" he paused abruptly and not just because of a fireball approaching him with lightning speed, even through the rain, which Thor had to dodge while protecting his back from two new assailants. "I fear," he said gravely in a moment of respite, "that he might end up there one day, not too far in the future. He has many formidable enemies and even more formidable allies, untrustworthy and backstabbing. What if it becomes too much for him one day?" He slid expertly across the muddy field and felled the next group of enemies with added viciousness, angry at himself for being so helpless about things that really mattered.
He saw Hela frown at a body lying at her feet, twitching for one last time. "I do not like it either, but that is what life and death is all about, there is no sure way to protect everyone we wish to." Helping Thor with an unusually aggressive batch of demons, she smiled mirthlessly: "At least he is not in such a danger for the current moments. And these Muspellsmeigr are more like pests than any real danger anyway, I doubt they will be able to inflect any kind of truly serious injury."
"So people of your realm can still get cripplingly injured?" Thor wanted to change the subject to something less saddening and looked around at the handful of fellow fighters.
"Yes, otherwise they could very well march into the battle naked. You may try it." Hela said – winked – did she just wink like that at him?! Thor froze and the queen sliced an enemy going at him from the side while he couldn't defend himself in the uncomfortable shock. This move carried her close to the Thunderer, ending up face to face with him. The living half of her face stayed clean and beautiful, glistening with sweat and raindrops, black hair framing it was completely wet and shining in the short-living fires around and her cheek was flushed slightly after all the exertion. He felt her hot breath on his chin and saw her flick her tongue across her upper lip.
"I jest," she rolled her eyes with a smirk resembling so much her father, "I am far from being so desperate to make moves on my uncle." Then she disappeared in the fray before Thor could process how she had just called him. When he did, he grinned from ear to ear and with a thundering roar went to mow down another group of the remaining assailants.
Just so you know, I plan to mention Glut, Eisa and Einmyria in any Avengers fic I might write because they seriously need to increase their publicity! :D Please tell me, how many of you knew about them before reading this...?