Loki approached Brunnhilde with a platter of intricate pastries. The spring equinox party was almost in full swing, and she was leaning against the wall to the side, looking forlorn.

"Are you sure it's a good idea for you to be here?" Loki asked, offering her the platter.

"I'm not gonna go on another binge," she said, delicately lifting a pastry to her mouth. Through a mouthful, she continued. "I'm one month sober."

Loki looked at her in disdain. "Did your mother never tell you to not talk with food in your mouth?"

"Yeah. She also told me not to sleep with girls, but here we are."

Loki snorted, then became careful. "Still, if you're ever… struggling…" he said, feeling equal parts hesitant and uncomfortable.

She just glanced up at him with a contemptuous look. "I'm not delicate."

"I know you're not," he said, trying his hardest not to roll his eyes.

"Good."

"Good."

He side glanced her. "Still…"

She sighed. "I know," she said. "Thank you."

Loki nodded slightly, feeling pleased, then ate a pastry himself, mostly for lack of words.

Brunnhilde stole one too, and - probably just to irritate him - ate it with her mouth obnoxiously open. "I'm surprised you haven't just up and left."

"What, because of Vali?" She nodded. He sighed and shrugged, putting the platter down on a nearby vacated table, which he then sat on, his feet pressed against the ground. "I would not leave Thor."

"Since when have you done what he asks of you?"

"He didn't ask it of me, Brunnhilde. You know that."

Brunnhilde looked irritated. "You would've left if not for him."

"I would've left if not for multiple things. There is no use in speculation."

"But there is. This isn't a one and done thing. You could leave now - just go steal the Tesseract and be done with it."

"How could I ever return to Nyrlif if I did that?"

"This place is boring anyways."

"It's the last of our kind," he shot back angrily. "Brunnhilde, we've already gone over this. I'm not leaving."

"Coward," she mumbled.

"What?"

"Coward," she said, louder this time, looking him straight in the eye.

He was taken aback and angry that she would accuse him of such a thing. "How could you think I'm a coward?"

"You won't leave because you're scared. Scared that Vali will resent you, or that he'll be dead by the time you get there, or that you won't find Narfi. You're scared that if you leave, you won't be allowed back, or Thor will take your children."

He stood up, completely furious and overcome with a horrible, exposing embarrassment, because it was true. "Brunnhilde," he said, lowly and dangerously, taking slow steps towards her.

"Stop with the act, Loki," she spat, not at all intimidated by his proximity. "Being scared should keep you moving, not keep you still, like prey."

Loki shoved Brunnhilde into the wall, too enraged to even think about what he was doing. His seiðr jumped up to his skin and threatened to burst out, like it did when he destroyed his room - something he had not done in months. A wave of horror washed over him, and he took several steps backwards, until he bumped into the table he had been sitting on moments ago. Brunnhilde glared at him definitely, her left hand curled around a small silver blade that glinted in the soft light of the hall.

"So what, then? What do you suggest I do? Steal the Tesseract and become lost to my brother and people?"

"No," she said. "Just stop lying to yourself about why you're not already gone."

He leaned against the table, his head light. He tried to speak, but the words became caught in his throat like black sludge. Her hard look softened and she took several steps forwards.

"Loki?"

He hummed in acknowledgement as he stared down at his hands.

"I'll go with you," she said. "When you leave to find Vali, I'll go with you, if you want."

His head snapped up. "You will?"

"Yes."

He broke out into a smile, half delighted, half ashamed that he needed some sort of escort. Still, if it turned out that Vali and Narfi both were dead, there's no one else he'd want there, even if the thought brought on another wave of horror. What would Brunnhilde see if she went with him?

"I'd like that," he said after a moment of thinking. "Are you sure you want to come?"

"Have you not been listening to me? Nyrlif is hardly the epicentre of exciting events. This would be the best thing to happen to me all year."

He held out his hand to her, and she wrapped hers around his wrist. They shook on it.

"I don't know if I'll go yet," Loki warned her.

"I know," she said, grinning. "But I'll be there when you do."

###

Loki looked over his book as Thor barged into his room, apropos of nothing. "How many years will it take for you to learn to knock?" Loki drawled.

Thor grinned as though he hadn't said anything and exclaimed, "join me for a drink!"

"Why?"

"Because I have not had a drink with my brother in too long." Thor shifted on his feet, his eye darting around the room.

Loki put the bookmark in place and stood up, eyeing him warily. "Are you marrying Sif?"

"No!"

"Marrying someone, then."

"No, Loki-"

"Are you sure?"

Thor stopped shifting and took on a half disgusted, half amused expression. "That is not why I am here. Come." Thor turned on his heel and - like the oaf he was - assumed that Loki would follow him. Loki sighed, put his book down, and was lead into Munningard, where there were already various bottles of different drinks set up on the table. Loki grabbed the red wine, taking an experimental sip. Despite Brunnhilde no longer drinking, he was still wary that he would take a bottle of something fairly straight forward and get some weird cocktail instead.

"So, what do you wish to speak of?" Loki prompted Thor once they were both sat.

"How is Valkyrie doing, with going sober?"

"She had good and bad days," Loki said. "But I don't think that is why you asked me here."

Thor fell silent. For once, Loki realised, Thor was considering his words before speaking. He finished his drink and poured another before speaking.

"I have been thinking of your son. You said you wanted to stay here and finish what you started. What about once the settlement is complete? It almost is, in a functional sense. There will always be improvements, but the bulk of it is essentially done."

"I- I have not given the afterwards much thought." Except that was a lie. He wanted to find Vali and Narfi, especially after his conversation with Brunnhilde, but he would need to find a way to Vanaheim. There were often hidden portals between the realms and wayward branches of Yggdrasil, but it was the no small matter of finding them and then devising a valid route.

"You have a plan for everything you do, Loki. You want to find Vali. How could you not?"

Loki sighed, taking a mouthful of his wine whilst he considered how to respond. "I am terrified of not finding him or of anything else going wrong, but yes. I would want to look for him."

"You could take the Tesseract from me and leave before I knew it was gone."

Loki held Thor's steady gaze. "I could."

"Are you going to?"

"If I was, don't you think I would have by now?"

"Perhaps you do want to finish what you started. Finish the extensions to the settlement and then…"

"Why would I care? If I were to steal the Tesseract from you, brother, then I would never be allowed to return, and then where would I go? Jotunheim?" He laughed. "Why would I care to finish the extensions if I was not going to see them used?"

Thor poured out more wine into his glass, and sighed heavily. "I want to trust you Loki. I really do."

"You can," Loki promised. "This time… you can trust me. I will not take the Tesseract from you."

"Were you ever going to tell me about it?"

"I had planned to. But when? I don't know."

Thor hummed and downed his drink, then settled back in his chair thoughtfully, staring at Loki in a studious way.

Loki leaned backwards too. "What is the purpose of this discussion, Thor?"

"I want to trust you," Thor said. "So, I'm going to." He reached over to his jacket, which was slung over the back of a chair, and dug around one pocket until he pulled out a bundle of cloth that radiated power.

Loki itched to take it, but he waited with bated breath. Thor put it on the table between them like it was his chess move. "Thor?" he hedged.

"One month," Thor said definitively. "If you have not found him by then, we can revisit this discussion. But if you do not return within one month… my question of trust will have been answered."

Loki stared at Thor like he'd lost his mind. "Are you certain, brother?"

"No."

"If I don't return? You have lost the Tesseract."

"I have no need for it. It's dangerous and indefensible, especially if Thanos were to come looking for it. I would rather it was in your hands - pockets - offworld, rather than just waiting for it to be stolen by any passing enemy. If you ever return we may find a use for it, but for now..."

"When."

Thor smiled thinly at him. "When you return."

Loki gingerly took the Tesseract, pulling away the cloth to look at it. It's pale blue glow pooled and shined over the skin of his hands. His brain utterly short circuited. "Thor. Thank you. I can't… express… Just, thank you."

"One month," Thor replied, and Loki knew he was really saying you're welcome.

Loki let out a shaky breath. "I will be staying for another few days. I promised Ylva I would let her know should I leave again, and Brunnhilde will need time to get her effects in order."

"Brunnhilde? What does she have to do with this?"

"She wishes to come with me. She is bored here."

"Ah. At least you will have somebody to keep you in line." Thor grinned.

"Or enable the chaos."

"If she does, Vanaheim hasn't a chance," Thor groaned, staring into his drink as though he hoped it held all the answers. "Do you have a plan for when you arrive?"

"Sif told me she saw him just outside the Western Valley's capital city, during a regular market, so I will start there. There is also the forest where we lived and places we often visited."

"I regret I have not asked you much of your life there or of your children."

"Because you hate the very idea of how they came to be."

"No. I did not understand. I still do not understand, but I have been trying. Apparently on Midgard it is not uncommon for one to choose a gender other than the one they were born with. They often cannot change back as you have, but…" Thor trailed off, and shrugged helplessly.

"You have been giving this a lot of thought."

"I confess I confided in the Avengers and took note of their opinions," he admitted, picking at the skin of his thumb. Loki's own habit of doing so was in all likelihood copied from Thor, who copied it from Frigga. "It seemed I was alone in my confusion."

"Well I tell you when I get back. Anything you want to know."

###

The dawn broke with mist in the air and dew on the ground. Loki stood by Lake Semerwater, a heavy backpack resting on the ground at his feet. Brunnhilde was next to him, her Sakkar armour looking shined and polished, her own bag slung over her shoulder. The sky was a gentle gradient from orange, through golden yellow, and then to blue.

"Loki?" There was a persistent tug at the linen under his bracer.

Loki looked down to Ylva, who was doing her best not to cry. "Yes?"

"You will come back, won't you?"

He knelt so that he was on eye level with her. "Within a month, I promise."

She nodded, then flung her arms around him. "Y- you promise?"

He smiled though she couldn't see it and nodded. "You don't have to worry."

"I know," she said thickly, "but I worry anyways."

Loki separated off from her. He'd only vaguely explained the situation - that he was looking for his long lost children - and before Ylva had felt the weight of him leaving, she'd thought it all to be terribly romantic. "Remember to practice and meditate."

"I know," she said.

"I know you do." He stood up and Ylva retreated to Eir's skirts to hide. Thor stepped forward and gave him a crushing hug that knocked the air out of him.

"Good journey and farewell," Thor said, pulling back with both his hands still resting on Loki's forearms. "I hope the Norns smile down upon you."

Loki smiled. "Thank you, brother. I'll see you soon."

"See you soon."

Thor embraced Brunnhilde as well, whispering something to her that made her laugh. And then that was it. They'd had a farewell party the night before, so most of the goodbyes (at varying degrees of sincerities) had been said the night before, though they'd carefully avoided saying how Loki was leaving, lest it cause unrest.

Loki slung his backpack over his shoulders and nodded to Brunnhilde, who placed her hand on the Tesseract. He closed his eyes and felt it activate, suddenly bursting full of energy that hummed and groaned to be let out.

To Vanaheim, he thought, as loudly as he could, hope and fear rearing up inside of him like beasts he had tamed before. The energy came to a plateau, and with a crackle of static electricity, they were, the two of them, snapped off of Midgard.

AN:

And that's all, folks!

Massive, massive thank you to everyone who kudosed, commented, subscribed and bookmarked. Speaking of - we've made this universe into a series, so subscribe to be notified when we post the next installment, which will be called "And Away They Did Run". It'll follow Steve and Bucky and what they've been up to! We might also be adding a couple oneshots so look out for those too.

Here's some recommended listening for this fic we think you should check out!

Sure As Hell Not Jesus - Cosmo Jarvis
Maria - AliceBand
New Slang - The Shins
Simple Song - The Shins
Monster - Imagine Dragons
Unbelievers - Vampire Weekend

Once again thank you everyone who read, we really hope you've enjoyed it and we'll see you next time!