There Is No Way

Battles raged on everywhere. There was not a place you could turn without seeing someone fall. And in the midst of that chaos, Loki searched for Thor. He knew that he would be where the battle was thickest. Or so he hoped that was where he could find him.

So Loki searched. No one stopped him. They were too busy fighting for their lives. Fires burned and blood soaked the ground. There was no one there to stop Loki.

He happened upon a courtyard where a small war was being waged. There were too many to make it across safely. Loki craned his neck as he looked for a way while simultaneously searching for Thor. He hadn't heard the telling boom of thunder and that worried him.

Where was he?

The hair on Loki's body began to rise subtly. He looked down at his arm and his eyes widened in sudden realization. At the last second he threw himself as far away from that spot as he could.

A lightning strike erupted the ground where Loki was standing not a moment ago. Loki got hastily to his feet and as the dust cleared, he saw Thor, his face a storm of raging fury.

Loki had never seen him so angry. And that anger directed at him was terrifying.

Thor roared as he swung his hammer down. Loki barely had the foresight to get out of the way. As he rolled to his feet he raised his hands in front of him only to find that he had picked up a spear to defend himself.

"Thor, Please! Listen to me!" Loki pleaded. Thor ignored him and threw Mjolnir. Loki lunged out of the way as the wall crumbled down from the force of the hammer.

"Brother, please!" Loki screamed, truly terrified of Thor's wrath. He had to get through to him somehow.

"I'm not your brother," Thor bellowed and called Mjolnir back to his hand before lunging towards Loki again. But Loki evaded him. "FIGHT ME! ISN'T THIS WHAT YOU WANTED ALL ALONG?"

Loki nearly fell, but he got out of the way of the hammer's path. "Thor! Please listen to me! It wasn't me!"

"I've had enough of your lies!" Thor yelled as he effortlessly smashed his hammer into a column where Loki's head had been.

Loki was tiring. He was weak before this fight had even begun and now it was getting worse. He would not be able to last much longer. Loki wasn't fast enough to move when Thor brought his hammer down, but he was able to deflect the blow with the spear, which shattered easily.

They were close to one another now. Close enough that Thor struck him across the face. Loki caught his wrist and landed a blow to his abdomen, hoping to slow him down enough to make him listen. But the attack only made him angrier.

Thor broke free of Loki's grasp and heaved his hammer.

Loki went to step back to avoid Thor's swing, but his eye caught something over Thor's shoulder causing him to stop and time to slow.

It was his face. It was the other Loki. The scepter was held aloft in his hand and he was making right for Thor.

"Thor! Look out!" Loki warned, his right hand reaching out.

But as Loki's daggers flew from his hand, Thor's hammer connected with his left side. Loki flew into the air, lightning cracking around his body as he collided with the stone wall that buckled under the force of his impact.

Thor continued to turn into his swing, his hammer ready to strike at the attack he anticipated coming from behind him.

But he stopped mid-swing as he stared into the face of Loki with two daggers embedded in his forehead. Horror spread across Thor's face when the Loki before him began to turn. The illusion crumbled away and what was left standing there, gaping, was a two faced Dark Elf.

Thor lowered his hammer slowly as the Dark Elf collapsed to the ground, dead. The clattering of the scepter drew his attention at last. It was still wet with Odin's blood…

A cold feeling washed over Thor. Loki had not killed his father…

Loki.

Thor numbly began to turn his head to look over his shoulder, terrified at what he would see.

Loki was there on one knee, his hand on his side as he looked at Thor. Loki had not been sure if his daggers had saved Thor, so he had gotten up through the pain to help Thor if he could. When he saw Thor alive and looking at him, he was relieved, but that relief didn't hold. His eyes began to close and he felt himself tilting to one side.

"LOKI!" Thor called out as he dropped his hammer and sprinted to his brother's side. Thor caught him right before he fell, skidding against the gravel of rubble. He brought Loki into his arms, his back resting against Thor's thigh.

Loki grasped desperately at Thor's shoulder as blood bubbled out of his mouth. Terror and fear ripped across Loki's face as he tried to gasp for breath.

"It wasn't me, it wasn't me, Thor," Loki gasped, pain and blood making it hard to draw in the breath to speak. "You have to believe me, please!" Thor's heart was painfully beating in a panic and his hands were clumsy and cold as he wiped the blood from the corner of Loki's mouth and spread it down the side of Loki's face, startlingly red against the paleness of his face.

Tears gathered and fell from Thor's eyes. "I believe you, Loki. I'm so sorry," he cried. "Just hold on," Thor pleaded, his voice cracking and hoarse. "I'm going to help you."

Thor tried to lift Loki, but Loki cried out an agonizing scream so Thor stopped.

"It's too late for me, Thor," Loki said choking softly, when he could breathe again. "It was always too late for me." An excuse for a smile spread his bloody lips.

"Loki, no!" Thor cried helplessly. "I can't lose you again. Not like this." He could barely get the words out over a hoarse whisper as he squeezed his eyes shut and cried. "I'm so sorry I did this to you."

Loki furrowed his brow and closed his eyes painfully as he shook his head. "Shh, Thor. Just…Just hold me." Loki felt himself slipping away and he was terrified. "Don't let me go…Please, Thor…"

Thor cradled him in his arms, holding him tighter. "There's no way I'm letting go." He tried to smile but Thor's face broke while he clutched Loki protectively to him as if he could keep death from pulling him away. "I love you, Loki. I always loved you."

Loki looked up at his brother with his startlingly bright eyes. He lifted his hand to rest his bloodied fingers against his brother's tear stained cheek.

"Never doubt…," Loki began so say, his voice surprisingly clear and strong, "…how much I love you." A tear slipped out of the corner of Loki's eye and ran down into his hair, but he poured everything into an earnestly loving smile. A smile he had not given often enough.

Thor held the hand Loki placed on his face and watched trembling as the smile slowly faded from his lips and all life left Loki's eyes.

Soon…he was gone.

Thor squeezed his eyes tightly shut, his lips parted with silent sobs. He wrapped his arms around Loki and hugged him close to his body while placing a hand on the back of his head. He pressed his cheek to the side of Loki's bloodstained face and rocked him back and forth while sobs wracked his body. Loki was so cold, like he had never had any warmth to him to begin with. But Thor knew better. He remembered every smile, every laugh, every mischievous glint in his eye, every argument, and every fight…. all of it filled with the warmth of Loki's touch.

And he would never see that smile again, never hear his laugh, never see that spark of life in his eyes, never argue or fight with him again…

This was the world without Loki in it.

And it was cold and desolate, desperate for something that was no longer there.

This was the world without Loki.

What was Thor without Loki?

Alone. So terribly, terribly alone.

Loki was dead.

The battle was won, and the threat eliminated.

Asgard rejoiced. They feasted in Odin's honor and burned his body on a great pyre. Thor, Odin's only one true son and heir was crowned king and revered as a hero for killing the traitor Loki Laufeyson.

There was no feast for Loki. No funeral pyre. No tribute. No one wanted to remember Loki Odinson. They wished only to curse Loki Laufeyson. Not even Frigga mourned her husband's murderer, for there was no way for Thor to clear Loki's name. Many had seen with their own eyes, Loki strike Odin down. The evidence that would have untarnished Loki's name from the one crime he did not commit, was gone.

So when Thor remembered Loki, he remembered the good things about his brother. The brother no one else knew or understood.

And when Thor mourned, he mourned alone.

The End

Well there you have it folks! Thank you so much for your reviews and support. They really, really do mean a lot! You guys are great, seriously. Lots of love coming your way :)

But don't start throwing tomatoes at me and booing me off the stage just yet! I have an announcement!

I've decided to continue the series! You can end the story here or you can continue reading to the next one!

It's going to be called The End Is the Beginning (I'll post the original description below) and it's going to feature kid!Loki, King Thor, Frigga, Sigyn, Balder (Though he's not going to be Thor's half-brother, I think, but rather his cousin or something because I want to preserve that brother connection between Thor and Loki. Haven't really decided yet, what do you guys think?), Lady Sif and the Warriors Three, and more of Asgard.

So stay tuned for the next installment!

The End is the Beginning

Days, months, years.

That's how long it took Loki to return to Thor, but not as the man he once was...but as a child.