"Good morning, Prince Loki. My sister has a gift for you. And I have breakfast."
Loki looked at them listlessly from his seat by the window and nodded. He had spent most of yesterday and this morning engrossed in the view, observing the everyday life in the streets below his window. Thor wasn't sure why, since his brother had never been one for simple "people watching" before.
Beaming, Shuri strode into the room and proffered a thin package. Loki looked at Thor, who grimaced and took the gift for him, unwrapping the cloth envelope to reveal a small disc of dark metal. Loki leaned over to look at it, then looked quizzically at Shuri. "It's for your leg," she explained. "I noticed you weren't much using your truly amazing and excellent and I-want-one prosthetic, since even that amount of magical energy costs you while you're healing, the Sorcerer Supreme said. So I made this to help. It's a vibranium device programmed to serve as an interface for you, bind the leg on more efficiently. Try it. Try it!"
"Thank you, Princess," Thor said instantly, picking up the Nidavellan foot.
"You're holding Shuri's present upside down, Thor," Loki commented softly after a moment of watching Thor tap it expectantly against the prosthetic.
"Oh." Thor flipped the disc over, and it instantly seemed to reach out towards the dwarven device. Loki shifted his leg, and Thor brought the foot level with it. Again, the vibranium guided a perfect alignment, marrying the living and artificial limbs instantly. They all watched as Loki moved his ankle around.
"It will still need your magic for fine movement, and for sensation," Shuri said, "But it won't fall off, and with practice, you might be able to get some movement without any magical power. The program should train itself to any nerve endings it can sense..." She trailed off with a satisfied smile.
Loki smiled back, politely. "Thank you."
Prince T'Challa cleared his throat and set down the breakfast tray on the low table between Thor and Loki. Loki watched as Thor lifted the covers on the various dishes, but he shook his head when Thor tried to give him a bite of sweet bread. Thor suspected he was still somewhat embarrassed to eat around these mortals, given his current helplessness. He was much better alone, or with some of the Avengers, since they had seen him even worse than this. "Ahh..." T'Challa began,"You have the respect of Wakanda, Prince Loki, and you are honored among our people. However, we would ask that the vibranium... please have Thor return it to Wakanda if you decide to go through with... the ritual."
"And please donate your body to me, I mean to science, too," Shuri added.
Loki nodded at T'Challa but pointedly ignored the sister. "You will have the vibranium."
Thor grimaced. His thoughts turned from the civil conversation. Of all his human friends, the Wakandans were surely the most accepting of Loki's intent to ask his father to kill him once he returned to Asgard. They did not entirely agree with it, but they understood that such was an acceptable choice in Asgardian culture. They respected the cultural difference. In truth, the Wakandans with their simple tolerance of Loki's decision were far more supportive than Thor felt. He was angry at Loki for giving up, and he was angry at himself for being angry at Loki. But it was intolerable that Loki just did not want to get better. Oh, he wanted a balm for the pain from his burns, and he seemed to appreciate this latest gift from Princess Shuri, but he had little interest in trying to become again the man he once was. Thor argued with him about it daily, and Loki always ended the argument with the same desolate statement: that man was already dead. Loki was just a shell waiting to break at last. Too much had happened for him to recover, even if his broken body could be substantially rehabilitated. Thor did not have the words to argue with Loki's silver tongue. But he could still try to make Loki better and hope his brother would come around on his own.
With renewed determination, he seized a handful of berries from the laden breakfast tray and shoved a couple into Loki's open mouth. Loki half-choked but managed to swallow and glared at him. "Thor, what the hell?" Shuri giggled.
Thor shrugged uneasily. He hadn't really thought this through and had almost forgotten the others were here. "You need to eat, Brother," he said sheepishly.
Loki rolled his eyes. Without warning, a bowl of milk flew up and dumped itself over Thor's head. Shuri giggled again. "And you need a bath," Loki snarled. "Go away."
"But..." he gestured to the breakfast tray and Loki's useless arms. "You need-"
"I don't need you, Thor! If you're that worried, go find someone else to hover over me for the morning."
"I'll stay," Shuri offered. She rather seemed to like Loki, now that their initial argument was set aside.
"There you go, then. Now, run along, Thor."
Before he could object further, T'Challa clapped him on the shoulder and ushered the Thunderer from the room. "Come, Prince Thor," T'Challa said as they exited. "Shuri will manage your brother for you."
"It is my responsibility," Thor muttered under his breath.
"But Loki does not want you there all the time," T'Challa admonished.
"He needs me... And I should be with him as much as possible, now..."
"He'll still die despite you, Thor," T'Challa said softly. "He'll die to spite you, unless I miss my mark."
Thor eyed him. "What do you mean?"
"Your brother does not only seek his death because of his physical injuries. He has admitted those can be overcome. But though his body heals, and his mind remains sound, he will remain broken in spirit. From what you have told me, that injury began with you, not with Thanos, though Thanos assuredly made it infinitely worse with his torments. As hard as you cling to Loki, he will continue to push you away. You must have empathy for your brother, which is purely selfless, not just sympathy, which in you is also selfish: what hurts him hurts you, but in a different way. You must learn to feel as he feels before you have a hope of changing his mind."
Thor stared at him and nodded slowly. He understood perfectly what the young prince meant, and he wondered how the mortal could be so wise, when his life was but the blink of an eye to one of the Aesir. "You are right. I see it." He shook his head. "And you should not have to teach me to deal with my own brother. I have been a blind bull for centuries. How did you learn this, Prince T'Challa?"
The prince smiled and gestured for Thor to walk with him onto the rooftop garden. "My father is a wise ruler. He always taught that the greatest task as king is to hear the words of the people and to understand. Only with that understanding can one make decisions on their behalf."
"My father is the God of Wisdom," Thor said wryly. "But I am a poor listener and never learned anything useful until Loki turned against us and forced me to."
"You have leaned on him all your life," T'Challa said. "That is well. I lean on Shuri, for she works miracles with vibranium, and she is my best friend. But I am the one who will become Black Panther. Therefore, I must push myself harder."
"You are a better prince than I. I had no rivals, at least not in the skills valued in Asgard. It made me arrogant."
T'Challa touched his shoulder again. "Yet you are bettering yourself, Prince Thor. A truly arrogant man does not think of himself as such. You flatter me now, I think, and eventually, you will become the prince you want to be. Now, go wash the milk from your hair and then try to be friends with your brother, not just his nursemaid."
Thor grinned. "I will."
Author's Note: mellonmellonmellon
