Author's note: I do not own any of the characters, only the story.

"People of Asgard."

He can see his brother's hand shaking slightly behind his back as he takes a deep breath and continues with more confidence than he has:

"We have suffered a great loss. Our homeland has been destroyed and families have been torn apart. These are not easy times. But I guarantee you, that I will find us a place to live, have families, grow old and happy. We are going to be alright. If we stand together, we will find our way to the days of light and glory we had on Asgard. I may not be as wise, or as experienced as my father, but I have faith in you, my people."

There is an unnerving silence in the great hall.

Thor squares his shoulders waiting for a response.

Finally, a man from the back of the crowd speaks:

"You talk of a great loss. You say that WE have suffered. You say that OUR families have been destroyed. You say that you will find us a place to live and grow old with our families. And yet here we are on this spaceship for weeks and we haven't even found this wonderful place with the days of glory and light."

There are murmurs of agreement in the crowd. The man looks at Thor with a look filled with hatred.

"I don't see you suffering from this great loss my king. All I see is you sitting next to your brother, your family intact, sleeping in your own room, while we sleep on the floor in the corners of this ship, telling us that we have lost our families. There is no WE my king. Once more the peasants are being consoled from a speech full of lies."

This time the crowd yells in agreement.

Thor digs his nails in his palms.

"Stop." He says calmly. "We are in this together. We all saw our homes being destroyed by the flames. We all are homeless and afraid. But as I said, the council and I are looking into our problems. Everything is going to be OK."

"LIES!"

The crowd is furious. They start picking everything they can find on the ground and throwing them to Thor, who shields his face with his arms. The man who started the riot takes a pipe from the ground and before anyone has time to react the pipe is in the air aimed at Thor….

Loki opened his eyes feeling anger boiling inside him. He could still see the crowd attacking his brother who stood there looking panicked. He could have blasted all of them with one bolt of lightning if he wished it, but he just stood there letting them hit him, frozen to the spot.

Loki tried to sleep for the hundredth time, but the image of Thor's face kept appearing in front of him every time he closed his eyes.

Finally, he stood up leaving his blanket in a bundle in the corner and opened his room's door. Once he was outside, he straightened his back in a composed posture and headed to Valkyrie's room.

The door was slightly open, and he pushed it gently in case she was sleeping, because if she was he didn't want to wake her up. She usually drank more than usual before going to bed and she woke up hungover and angry. Thankfully, she was awake and smiled when she saw him.

"Fancy a drink Loki?" she asked in a slurred voice.

"No thank you" he said politely, feeling disgusted. "I was wondering if you've seen my brother." He raised his eyebrows waiting for the answer.

Valkyrie's face dropped, and she took a healthy swigfrom her drink. "Haven's seen him since… you know…" she paused slightly and blinked a few times trying to bring him into focus. "I think he is in his room where we left him." She drank some more. "Go see him. He needs some cheering up." She smiled at him, which proved that she was either very drunk, or that things were just as he feared withThor, or both. He thanked her and left noiselessly but she had fallen asleep with the bottle of alcohol in her arms.

When he reached Thor's room he took a deep steading breath. He wondered whether he should just leave him alone but decided against it. He had a strong feeling that Thor needed him. He scowled.

Sentiment.

He didn't used to think like that. So what if Thor needed him? He could hang out with his drunkard of a friend. He rubbed his temples. He couldn't do it. He had turned soft. Just the thought that his brother was down made his insides churn with worry.

He opened the door.

Thor was in the room, his back turned to the door where Loki stood. He was sitting on a chair his elbows resting on his knees, with his head on his hands. He looked so vulnerable and sad in that position, that Loki felt a surprising need to punch the man who had done this to his brother.

He stepped inside scanning the room. It was smaller than his he realized with surprise. Thor had insisted that Loki should take the other room and at the time Loki thought that he was doing that so that he would take the bigger one of the two. It made sense of course; he was the king. But he now realized that Thor had wanted Loki to take the big one. He didn't know if he should feel more touched or shocked. There was a dresser in one corner and a few chairs in the corner and a small bed that was definitely too small for Thor's bulky build.

"Is there something I can help you with brother?" came Thor's voice startling Loki who was lost in thought.

He looked at his brother who had lifted his head and was now standing up. With Thor's tall and imposing figure, the room seemed even smaller than before.

"Brother..." he faltered as he took in the image of his brother.

His usual bright and cheerful look was gone, and he looked wary and depressed. There was an ugly bruise were the pipe had hit him on his forehead and his proud posture with the head held high and shoulders straight was replaced by a tired and sad one with the shoulders hunched and head down. Thor always looked at you in the eye when you spoke to him, but he was now looking at the floor instead.

"…I came to see if you were well." Loki knew this sounded stupid the moment he said it, but he braced himself for the answer anyway.

Thor laughed but it sounded like he was being strangled.

" I am perfectly fine brother, you shouldn't be burdened."

"Right." Loki rolled his eyes. "And I am the god of solemnity, but I'm just pretending."

Thor snorted and for a moment Loki could see the other version of his brother, the smiley one, the cheerful one, before it was obscured by sadness once more. Thor sat down again, and Loki was left standing.

"Listen…" he began, but Thor cut him off by putting one hand in the air.

"Don't try saying that that man was talking rubbish and I shouldn't listen to him, or that I'm doing a great job as king, or that it doesn't matter because they don't know what they are talking about, they are just scared. I heard all of these from Banner and Valkyrie and it's all wrong. I am a terrible leader Loki. These people need me, and I don't know what to do. It feels like there is no place for us. What am I going to do?" he put his head on his hands once more, fingers gripping his hair tightly. It all felt wrong, watching him like this. Loki sat in a chair in front of Thor and put a hand on his brother's shoulder. He didn't know what to say so he just stayed in that position, hand outstretched to his brother's shoulder.

After a while, Thor lifted his head and gave Loki a sad smile.

"I'm sorry to have you like this brother. You can go if you want to."

Loki's stomach clenched.

"Thor…" he signed. " I just want you to remember, that no matter what, I will stay by your side."

Thor gripped Loki's hand like it was an anchor and stared into his eyes.

"Thank you." It was a ghost of a whisper that came out of his brother's lips, but he heard it and placed his hand on Thor's.

"I am lost brother. I am lost, and I fear that I will never find my way back."

It was scary, hearing these words being spoken by Thor and Loki stood up abruptly. Thor got up too, but more slowly, as though he had to drag himself upwards. "Goodnight Loki. Sorry to have burdened you with my worries."

Loki couldn't stand it anymore. He reached out and hugged his brother tightly.

"Do not despair, for we will find a way." He whispered in Thor's hair. He felt his brother's arms around him and Loki felt content for a moment. They would face problems, sadness, anger, madness and fear, but they had each other.

And that was enough.