Hello, dears!

This is a project I´ve been working on since long before I was halfway done with In Plain Sight, and it´s a shameless self-fill of my prompt at the Avengers kinkmeme, so it´s basically just the way I wanted it.

A special mention to my beta who is not only best beta but also awfully patient because she had to read through this like a thousand times.

All said and done, I hope you won´t be mad because of how long it is, and that you´ll enjoy reading it as much as I enoyed writing it.

(Also yes, I know most of the Avengers´ parents are certainly NOT what I portrayed, but bear with my, it´s an AU and they´re minor characters.)

Disclaimer: None of the characters appearing in this work of fiction belong to me.

Into The Open Air

"You need to stop, Loki. I´m not asking."

"Stop what?" Loki smiled softly, crossing his fingers over his lap. He risked a glance around; his father fumed at the head of the table, his mother placing a soothing hand over his forearm, and his brother across him in the table, staring at him in a guilty fashion. Odin took a deep breath again.

"All of this! You can´t just… Keep tagging along with your brother, his businesses are his and you have yours!"

"Yes, not leaving my chambers until the end of my days according to you." He pointed at Thor. "Besides, if I hadn´t been there, your golden boy would have a nice axe hat right now."

At this, Odin rested his forehead on his hand, rubbing with two fingers.

"There is no ´golden boy´ Loki… But you have your role, and it´s not his."

"Of course it´s not his." Loki muttered under his breath, ignoring the pained glance Thor (who had heard him) sent him in response. He balled his napkin, and dropped it on the table next to his barely touched dinner. "I´m tired." And he climbed to his feet.

Odin looked at him from in between his fingers.

"Are you, now?" The tone of his voice let no space for quarrels, and Loki clenched his teeth, before plastering in a rehearsed smile, and turning to face him.

"I wish to retire to my chambers, if I may?" He asked, his words dripping with the venom he felt like spitting right now.

"Go. We´ll discuss this later."

Still feeling the burn in his entrails, Loki bowed, a mock of the gesture taught to him, and left the room as fast as he could without running.

"He did save me, Father" Thor muttered, poking at his meal and not really hungry anymore. Odin nodded.

"He saved you by being where he shouldn´t have, with skills he shouldn´t know."

"Skills you taught him."

"As a way to pass the time! He is much too old for that!"

Thor shrugged angrily. "I don´t know, he seems to solve an awful lot of your trouble with his so-called useless skills"

"That´s not the matter at hand, Thor. Loki is completely unable to follow orders and given what´s coming, he´s going to have a lot to rage about."

"What? What´s coming?"

Next to Thor, Frigga sighed.

"Your brother is coming of age. He should be betrothed by next winter, and at this rate he will probably murder his suitors before they even get a good look at him."

Thor nearly choked on his wine, and he looked up so fast his neck hurt for a second.

"Betrothed? Wh… You can´t do that!"

Frigga nodded solemnly, seemingly saddened.

"It has to be done, Thor. There can´t be two heirs, and our alliances with the clans are already wearing down. Marriage is a way of renewal. As the younger son, Loki is entitled the responsibility." She sighed. "We tried not to impose it to him in his earlier years, but now it seems like we did wrong…"

"Did you tell him yet?" Thor asked, already knowing the answer. Someone would wake up with a dagger embedded in their throat the day Loki Odinson found out his fate had been planned without his authorization.

As he expected, Odin shook his head. "He suspects it; he´s read plenty of scrolls about bonding traditions between clans. But no, we haven´t."

Thor rose from the table. "I´ll talk to him."

And he walked away, noticing for the first time that his parents didn´t stop him, or had him ask for permission. As it seemed, he´d been a bit too blind in regards to the differences between Loki´s expected manners and his.

He opened the door to his brother´s chambers, and froze in place, a hand on his hammer, when a silver dagger stabbed the wood an inch from his head.

"This is why you knock before." Came Loki´s admonishing voice, from his place at the bed.

Thor let the air out of his lungs, and pulled the dagger off the door to close it, before he walked down to where his brother laid and passed him the weapon.

"Are you my conscience tonight, Thor? What an unexpected twist of fate." He smirked. "I´m sorry for watching your back, I guess."

The blond shook his head. "I thank the Gods that you happened to be there. I should stop picking up brawls when I doubt of my opponent´s sense of honor."

"You should."

"I didn´t expect him to have an accomplice."

"You never do."

Thor opened his mouth to answer, but the fond "That´s what I have you for." never left his throat, instead clinging painfully to his chest. Soon, he would never have his brother again.

"What is it, then?" Loki broke his train of thoughts, another knife stabbing the wood of the door with a dry thud. "They want an apology, don´t they?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I´m here to tell you something you should´ve known from the start." He took a deep breath, suddenly nervous. "You will be betrothed."

Loki smiled and looked down at his last knife and if that wasn´t a sad smile then Thor had never seen one.

"I know."

"By next winter."

"I know."

There.

Now they both knew. Loki´s birthday would mark the start of winter, and then… They would go their separate ways. Forever.

Thor thought of his brother´s fate. He knew the would-be suitors, and there was only one woman amongst them. Terribly qualified, but still just one. And if his brother got betrothed to one of the males, he´d have to stick to playing the role of the wife, raising the kids a concubine would provide his husband with. His heart ached. As the firstborn, he was gifted with the opportunity to choose his future wife. To fall in love, and court, and spend his life with whoever he loved. His brother had been denied that chance, and he had known it all along. It suddenly occurred to him that never once had he seen his brother attempting to woo a maid or a lad, often remaining silent by his side.

"Is this why you do it?"

Loki nodded. "Perhaps…"

"I´m sorry, brother."

This time, the younger´s smile was bitter instead of sad.

"I don´t think you asked to be born first."

"Still… I´m sorry, Loki."

He couldn´t remember the last time this had happened.

No, lies. He remembered perfectly.

It had been years ago, when he´d managed to get them both lost in the forest. The night had fallen, and they had managed to compose what could be called a fire, crouching as close to it as possible, scared of the wild´s threatening shadows.

He had ordered his brother to stay close, and he had obeyed, both scared to death that their father wouldn´t find them. Or, as Loki had put it, that he´d find them too late.

Thor had gone on and on about how sorry he was, how he´d listen to his brother next time, all the time praying in his head for his brother to survive, even if he himself didn´t, for it was his fault that they were both there. Loki had nodded silently, and dived in his arms. Odin´s dogs had found them around midnight, their father in toll, and brought them back without a word, apparently considering their fear to be enough punishment.

And now there they were, silent and hopeless. Loki had somehow found his way into Thor´s broad arms, and he let himself be encaged and squeezed where otherwise he´d have complained. This time there would be no going back to the castle on Odin´s war horse, to be embraced by Frigga´s loving arms. Staring out t the blackened window, Thor dared thanking the Gods he hadn´t been born in the place of his brother.

Two weeks later, Loki went out with Sleipnir. The young stallion greeted him happily as he always did, following the prince around like a cold would his mother. Loki fixed the saddle, and climbed on the horse, coaxing him to walk with a soft clatter of his tongue, after having opened the stall´s doors. Thor watched his brother go, from his place behind a window in the throne room

"I don´t like this." He voiced finally.

"Neither do I, dear." Frigga answered at his side. "But we all know your brother works better under a little pressure."

"I wouldn´t say this is the case, mother…" he sighed. "But if Father has decided already…" He looked down at his mother´s clear, worried eyes. "Can I join him?"

"It would be rude, not having anyone to welcome them..."

"Mother, please. You know this is hardly fair."

Frigga looked at her oldest son, and back to where her husband checked plans with a counselor, before swallowing hard.

"Go."

Thor didn´t give it a second thought, and launched himself against the double doors and down the staircase. He fixed Tanng´s saddle in record time, and the horse neighed nervously in response to his master´s anxiety. However, in no time Thor flew through the forest, following the trail he knew his brother was sure to take.

Loki didn´t tie Sleipnir to any tree when he got down. The horse was both much too loyal and intelligent to escape, even when he stepped into an old hunting shack and lost himself from sight.

The shack was empty at first sight, though a closer look to one of the corners revealed it was occupied by a bulky, earth colored canvas. Loki pulled it to reveal a pile of bags and small boxes, labeled appropriately in runes.

Today was the day. He had been piling supplies since Thor had provided him with the exact date his betrothal was to happen, and he had decided that sadly, he wouldn´t get to spend another birthday with his family.

Sleipnir was well rested, and he had plenty of food and furs for the trip. It would have been better if he had been able to bring Fenrir along, but things were the way they were. He trusted Thor to take good care of his beloved dog.

He picked up the first bags, tying them tightly with the leather straps he had smuggled under his robes that very morning, and went back out to strap them onto Sleipnir, who waited patiently at the entrance.

Just when he´d finished strapping the first lot, Sleipnir´s ears shifted nervously, and the horse nudged him softly. A couple of seconds later, Loki heard it too. The heavy thunder of horseshoes against the forest´s ground.

Luckily for him, the horse that stomped over the thick bushes was not Odin´s war steed, but Thor´s own fat snowy white stallion.

"…Did Father send you?"

Thor got off Tanng, panting. "I sneaked out." And his gaze stopped on the bags strapped to Sleipnir´s saddle. "You´re leaving…"

"…Sorry." Loki frowned. Thor´s face was pale, as if he was frightened.

"… I shouldn´t have come… Why didn´t you tell me?!"

"I was going to! It just… Never seemed like the right time." Loki caressed Sleipnir´s muzzle, for the horse had come closer scared by Thor´s sudden outburst. "Will you take care of Fenrir for me?"

"I… No, Loki, you can´t escape now!" The blond gripped his hair, pulling slightly, and Loki tensed. "For the Gods´ sake, you should have warned me… Mother knows I came! She will tell Father, and he will send for you!"

Loki´s eyes widened, as he understood the gravity of his slip. It Thor had know, he would have stayed away from the woods, and no one would have known he was missing until it was too late.

"Tell them you didn´t find me."

"Loki, please. Old Counselor Thyr could find this place blindfolded. It´s our place!"

Loki sighed, and turned to free the bags from their leather straps.

"Fine. Let´s go back. I will escape tomorrow." He looked back to his brother, just to find him staring back with a pained look. "Thor?... I will be able to escape tomorrow, won´t I?"

The blond grunted, and Loki knew his cause was lost.

"Father decided to give you… Early birthday presents."

"…How early?"

"Today."

Loki felt himself go stiff, the strapped bags slipping between his fingers and landing on the ground with a soft thud.

"…Loki?" Thor asked, when he counted twenty seconds without the younger reacting. "…Brother…" He took a step forward, and Loki, flinching, took two behind. "Loki…"

The younger batted away the hand Thor stretched to reach him. "Don´t."

"Brother, I´m sorry…"

"No! Stop pretending that! You´re just glad this is not happening to you!" With a snarl, Loki kicked one of the bags and sent it flying toward a tree. "How dare them?!"

Thor sighed. "It´s a tradition…"

"Tradition that somehow always manages to skip you of its rules." Loki´s green eyes narrowed dangerously. "I´ve been played with!"

"Loki calm down."

"I won´t do such a thing! Don´t you notice?" He yelled, edging further from his brother. "I´m not a currency!" And he spat on the ground, jumping on his horse immediately after, and dived his heels in his flanks.

Thor stayed on his spot when Loki rode Sleipnir off the clearing without so much as a look back.

He suppressed another sigh and crouched to pick the scattered bags, returning them to the pile in the shack before he left.

"Fetch your brother." Odin spoke, his voice a clear whisper as he looked through the window. "And make sure he won´t start a war."

"Yes, father." Thor muttered as he rose to leave. The moon was already peeking over the horizon, and he had not seen his brother since that morning at the woods.

He knocked on the door twice, before he decided to push it and enter, after receiving no answer. He found Loki stretched on the border of the window, in nothing but a light undershirt.

"You haven´t dressed."

"I don´t recall giving you my permission to come in." And he gave him a poisonous glare. "But I suppose I must get used to this."

"Our friends are fine gentlemen, Loki…"

"How does it feel, Thor?" He had learned to fear the smile his younger brother chose to face him with. "Knowing one your precious friends will bed me? Against my will, over all, every time they want?"

"…I had not given that much thought."

"Are they so fine now?"

"Yes." He mustered, after a thoughtful pause. "They have no choice in the matter, either."

"Sure they don´t…" And he huffed. "I presume they were just as unknowing as you and me?"

"Would you stop already?"

"Yes, brother, I shall stop. Now please tell me, which one of my garments would be the most appealing to whichever of your friends you wish me to end with? After all, I must make a good first impression, or no one will buy me."

"Loki…"

"Just go, Thor. I´m not coming down until Odin deigns to come and face me himself. Your presence is a nuisance."

"Is it?"

Loki snickered bitterly. "Of course it is, golden prince. Go away and take your freedom with you."

At this, Thor turned, and aimed for the door, stopping a few steps short from it.

"What good is this to you, Loki?" He asked, his voice grim.

" `This´ meaning…"

"This attitude..." And he turned to face him again. "Be mad at me, Loki, you have the right to be. But do it once we have parted ways, and allow me to enjoy our last moments together."

"Yes, you seem far too troubled about your fate here."

"Of course I am." Thor countered, his voice stained by emotion. "You´re my brother. My right hand. My best friend. And there´s nothing I can do to keep you by my side."

Loki shifted on his window ledge, to look at his brother. Thor stood a few steps from the door, his shoulders slumped, and his eyes focused on him.

He felt his chest sinking, like the weight of the world had been placed over it, and struggled to breath, taking his eyes away from the uncommon sight that was the Mighty Prince Thor, vulnerable as a child

He cleared his throat. "Fine." He muttered. "But as soon as I leave, I swear to the Gods I will despise you so deeply, Thor, that you will learn to fear the day you cross into my path."

Far from scared, even knowing the threat wasn´t fake, Thor let out a happy bark of laughter, and advanced forward to clap his brother on the shoulder, and push him toward the dressing room.

"Come on. Father will have our heads if you´re not presentable."

"Yes, please, Thor. Make me look like a deity with your vast knowledge of dressing codes."

"Shut your mouth."

The heavy wooden and metal doors creaked slightly, before they started moving thanks to the combined strength of ten servants hidden within the walls.

The Great Hall was a spectacle on itself; all bright torches and brighter jewels incrusted in the ironwork. All testimony of King Odin´s wealth and prosperity. The King himself occupied a golden, carve throne on a raised stage at the head of the hall, the Queen on his right side shining like a star in a silver dress with embroidered crystal made by their best artisans. On his left side, two smaller, more sober thrones were occupied by the kingdom´s princes, both tall and proud, and dressed in their colors.

Only Thor was close enough to notice the way Loki´s hands clenched around the throne´s armrests, his knuckles going whiter than usual.

"Please try not to murder my friends, brother…"

"According to Clint, it´s all I´ve tried to do since I first met them anyways." Loki managed to keep the barely restrained frustration out of his voice.

"Isn´t that the truth?"

"… Only every other time."

Thor smiled, his eyes pacing over the sea of warriors and noblemen that had found their way into the hall. Soon enough his father´s deep voice silenced any other, when he lifted a hand from his throne as a greeting.

A thousand or probably more hands mimicked the gesture, and the clank of metal echoed across the room as swords and axes hit against shields in salutation. The King smiled, satisfied.

"My fellow Clan Masters. My subjects." He addressed them, in the fond tone one would use with a favored kid. "I´ve welcomed you here to celebrate many things. First, to honor our timeless alliance…"

He waited, until the clamor of the warrior´s voices had faded.

"Second, my youngest son´s coming of age, and his betrothal, to finally mark him as a man and renew the bonds that tie our clans together!"

That was it.

Loki wanted to die right then. Maybe escaping across the sea would be enough. He felt himself get redder in the face, as the guests cheered even more than the first time. Thor patted his shoulder, and he snarled.

"Someday you will remember this and laugh, brother."

"I highly doubt so."

"…Yes, so do I."

"Now I ask you, Clan Masters, are there any suitors worthy of my son amongst your people? Someone whose feats of bravery and strength mark them aside from the others?"

Loki rubbed his eyes with his index and thumb. He knew the question to be a part of the protocol, but it made everything sound even worse. ´Do ANY of you peasants deserve my baby boy?´

If Angrbôda was listening, she´d never let him live it down.

The thought of his friend, probably working herself dead in the kitchens, brought a smile to his face. His expression apparently prompted the first of the Chiefs to take a step forward and he promptly frowned again.

"There is one." Chief Barton proclaimed, his head held high. "I propose my son, Clint." He stepped aside, and a young man with broad, tanned arms came forward, giving the princes an imperceptible, nervous nod. "In his most recent battle he took thrice as many lives as arrows held his quiver!" and Clint risked a smile and a wave to his people.

"I´ll give you this one, he looks a little more uncomfortable than me about this whole ordeal."

"Your tricks managed to get him into a fistfight with Natasha; of course you make him uneasy."

"Wimp."

Their attention was called forward when Chief Banner stepped up, his voice hoarse with years of mead and his face scarred by hundreds of fights.

"I present my firstborn, Bruce." This time the one who stepped forward was slightly older than Clint, sporting a dark hint of beard and ruffled dark hair. "He might not look like much, but he is of my blood, and he gave us the potions that made our warriors strong as wild oxen and fierce as mountain bears." Bruce lowered his head, ashamed at the clamor and praise from his clan. The man was a genius, not a celebrity.

"Whatever happens, don´t let me marry him."

Thor smirked at his brother´s nerves when he cleared his throat.

"Wimp" And he smiled at the man standing next to Clint. "Serves you right for riding on his nerves."

"He took me off guard."

"Of course he did."

This time, no Chief strode forward. Instead, Counselor Stane did, shedding a presumptuous glance around.

"I present no son of mine, your Majesty, at least not in blood, but in heart. I present the son of my late lord, Chief Stark, Anthony."

"Tony has always been fond of you." Thor muttered, as Tony walked forward and smiled when Stane patted his shoulder. His chest glowed with the light of a shining crystal he always wore under his robes. Thor knew it was a sort of amulet, but had never asked further.

At his side, Loki smirked. "So have I, of course. Particularly fond of the way he looks when falling from towers." And he sighed. "Well, at least he has a decent capacity of speech." He didn´t, of course, mention the many meetings with the bearded man, their banter that had started as angered shouting matches and evolved to amiable rivalry. That would give Thor the wrong impression and he wanted to keep the highest tower as a secluded meeting spot.

"You´re starting to lower your standards, brother."

"Anthony has stepped well past his Father´s footsteps, and given us our mechanical weapons! He has even wielded them in battle amongst his warriors, taking as many lives as any of them!"

"Proud of his little war dog, isn´t he?"

Thor looked sideways at his brother, who stared at Stane through narrowed eyes.

"Brother?"

"…Counselor Stane… Forget it."

Next, it was a scarred man with fiery red hair that stepped up.

He didn't raise his voice, instead keeping it to a low, deep grumble that was nonetheless perfectly audible.

"I present a warrior that has fought uncountable enemies. A warrior that fights in and out of shadows. A warrior whose every move is lethal, and whose sole presence inspires fear amongst our foes." He stepped aside, and his warriors opened a path to let a lithe, hooded figure walk across. "My treasure. My only child, Natasha."

The figure dropped its hooded cloak, and revealed itself to be a small young woman, with a stony expression and cunning green eyes.

Some warriors in other clans allowed themselves a laugh, but their disdainful laugher got no echoes, and it soon died, leaving the hall in an uneasy silence.

"I´m… Not sure of how I feel about this."

Thor frowned. "I fear for your sanity."

Lastly, a blond, bulky man cleared his throat, successfully dissipating the heavy atmosphere of Natasha´s entry.

"My only son Steve, your Majesty. Of brave and noble heart, and skilled hands, for his shield has ended the lives of many enemies." He proclaimed, stepping back.

A young man barely bigger than Natasha stepped up, his chin held high and proud. Steve issued the laughs Natasha had stopped, and paid them no mind as they clamored around him.

Odin raised his hand again, asking for silence, and he smiled.

"It is decided, then. One of these noble warriors will win the right to marry my son." And he climbed to his feet. "They shall compete in feats of strength, bravery and cunning, and the winner will be decided, as tradition dictates, in a competition chosen by the prince himself."

Loki turned to look at Thor so fast he got whiplash, and the blond arched an eyebrow.

"Loki?" Odin called, and, plastering on his most conniving smile, Loki raised from the throne as well.

"Thanks, Father." He turned to address the crowd. "I propose the competition to be one of my personal favorites." Thor´s face brightened, as understanding rained down on him. "Knife throwing."

Odin nodded. "Then Knife Throwing shall be!" And the crowd exploded again. "Now, brothers and sisters, let us feast before the last announcement, for tomorrow the competitions begin!"

The warriors pushed each other, trying to cross the double doors to the terrace at the same time, and the princes waited for the crowd to disperse. When it finally did, they followed their parents to where the people were already seated at long, sturdy tables.

Odin, his Queen at his arm, headed to where the Chiefs and Counselor Stane remained on their feet, waiting for him, and prompted them to sit.

Thor and Loki, meanwhile followed a trail to sit with the other heirs on a nearby table. Normally, they´d be sharing table with their parents, but this kind of meeting called for different separations so that the Chiefs could go over their business over dinner.

Thor sat at the head of the table, and Loki felt his throat burn for a moment when he took the remaining seat on his right. In less than a second, he was the target of all stares.

"Yes?" He asked, grinning as he poured himself a mug of wine.

"Knife Throwing." Natasha stated simply. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing at all, Natasha dearest."

"Good. It doesn´t matter anyway. I´m winning this tournament."

"Are you, now?" Loki ignored his rising anger by faking indifference. "I didn´t realize you were so intent on me taking you as my wife."

"I am not." He looked up at Natasha´s words, to find her full lips quirked in the faintest of smirks and felt himself grow worried. Out of all of them, no one could compare to him.

Not Bruce and his preference for silence, not Clint and his penchant for pranks, not Anthony, with all his wits and genius, and never Steve, with whom he shared nothing at all. But Natasha had always been the sole of his shoe. His reflection in the mirror, and, when he dared to admit it, a more… Complete version of himself.

"But marrying the prince of the empire brings a power I´m not about to give to anyone else."

"I had forgotten your thrill for power."

"That can be a milestone in our marriage, Loki dearest." The mood at the table grew tenser by the minute, and Clint coughed a little.

"Nice… I hope you´re not offended, Loki, but I will be glad if my knife misses."

"Same here." Tony intervened as quickly as he could.

"Sorry." Bruce added. Loki rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Steve. Pull your hands out too."

"That would be rude." The small bond shrugged. "After all, no one is doing this on their free will… Except for Natasha, of course."

"She´s one special harpy." Loki answered, rising a hand to shield his face against the meaty bone thrown by Natasha.

"I shall cheer for you all during the competitions." Thor spoke at last. "Though I´m sure no one will blame me if I side with Steve or Tony, am I right?" And he smiled mischievously, addressing the smaller members of the group.

As they countered his joke, Loki fell silent, like he always did around them. He watched them laugh, eat and argue together, as if he was behind a veil that marked a limit between the, it had always been like this.

He knew them, and they knew him. They gave him a bit of mileage into their group for Thor´s sake, but at the end of the day, the fact remained: Loki was not one of them.

He was just their age, and had been in many of their battles, but he had never come around to belong. Clint had endured him for some time and Anthony could actually stand him for quite a bit without them lashing out at each other, but it was just The Warrior Three all over again. He was just Thor´s brother. And soon, someone´s bedmate, as it seemed. His stomach turned in synch to his thoughts, and he pushed his plate away from him.

None of this was fair.

He was the only one trapped. All they had to do if they didn´t want to be forced with him was perform poorly, and convince everyone that they were angered about it. He didn´t have that privilege; whatever happened, he was being sent away.

He took a deep breath, as he remembered his decision. No one would force Loki Odinson onto something again.

He raised his feet and hoped to sneak away without too many guests noticing. However, it looked like the Gods had different plans, seeing as how his father, settling his empty mug back on the table, caught sight of him immediately and stood up as well.

"Back inside, if you may!" He voiced, and the Chiefs busied themselves once again with herding their clans into the hall. As before, Loki and Thor waited along with their mother and father, until their path had cleared up, before heading back too.

The mass of bodies parted before them, opening a free path for them to reach their stage again. Uneasy about his father´s earlier promise, Loki fidgeted on his throne.

"Now, my last announcement!" Odin shouted; a bit cheerier than before no doubt to the dinner wine. He waited until the crowd had gone silent and expectant, staring up at him. "Loki, son of mine."

Damn it.

Loki obeyed his father´s gesture, walked forward to him and allowed him to wrap an arm around his shoulders.

"In no more than a short week, you will finally be a man." Loki was actually grateful that this part had been whispered to him instead of shouted to the whole kingdom. "Your marriage will bring us peace, growth and stability amongst the other clans, and I am glad that you have taken it without so much as a complaint, something that definitively couldn´t be said about your brother, had your case been his. This comes to reassure my suspicions that perhaps you have been a man for too long already." He turned his head to look back at the crowd, as he took a deep breath to voice his next words, and Loki suffered a mild case of guilt and second guessing.

"My secondborn´s coming of age is dated a week from this very night." He announced. "And what a better way to commemorate such a happy occasion, than to celebrate not only the younger prince´s anniversary, but his marriage as well?"

Before the words died on his father´s lips, Loki found himself short of breath, as if he´d been punched in the stomach without so much as a warning. He felt the blood drain from his face, and struggled to take a breath and keep a straight face as the crowd exploded in cheers for the third and loudest time that night. His recent guilt trip was erased of his mind by the new flow of rage that mixed into his blood. Not again; he thought. Not again…

He barely heard his father dismissing the warriors, and he only noticed they were gone when Thor patted his back.

"… Are you ok?"

Loki shook his hand off. A week, and he would see Thor no more. His mother… Angrbôda… in a week, his life wouldn´t be his anymore.

Luckily, his mind rushed, and the thought that formed was as refreshing as a deep breath of morning air. He was not to give up so easily.

"…Why is Steve even trying?" Loki asked, chin prompted on his hand, as he watched Steve pull a length of rope with all his might, Clint smirking from the other side of the mud pit as he held the other end effortlessly wrapped around one forearm, and his feet planted firmly on the ground.

"Steve is… A brave warrior." Thor tried, nearly wincing himself at his friend´s painful attempts.

"Not the smartest though."

"Ah, you would be surprised."

"I´m sure." Loki smirked. Steve had stopped pulling, and now attempted to regain his breath, while he looked fixedly at some point between Clint´s feet. Immersed into their little chat, the siblings didn´t notice their father approaching from behind.

"You should encourage them, Loki." He spoke suddenly, making the both flinch. "How can they be motivated if you don´t give them a reason to make an effort?"

Loki smiled, frustration bubbling in his stomach, and he turned to the contestants, as he took a deep lungful of air.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! KEEP ENTERTAINING ME, FUTURE HUSBANDS!" He yelled. Next to him, Thor stifled a laugh, and both men turned to look at them. Loki offered them a gracious smile and a mock wave of an imaginary handkerchief.

"That is not what I meant, Loki." Said young man turned to look innocently at his father.

"It wasn´t?"

Odin sighed and shook his head, before he walked away apparently not in the mood to deal with his younger son.

Clint shook his head, smiling, and turned back fixing his end of the rope tighter around his arm. Steve stepped slightly to one side, and readjusted his own position. It was obvious that he was preparing to end the game.

Frowning in effort, he took a step behind and pulled with all his might… And he found himself a minute later, flying across the air to land directly on the mud pit.

Loki´s eyes widened, as did Thor´s.

"How…" The blond´s question was cut by Loki´s movement, his hand pointing to Clint´s side of the field. Right where he had been standing, a small puddle of mud laid still, after having caused the man´s fall.

"… Perhaps you were right about him."

It was the second day of the games and Loki had to admit he was terrified by two of his suitors.

Of course he had seen Bruce angered before, but the fact that the man could go from his common, quiet and reserved self to that ugly monster of rage at will still ticked him off.

And then Natasha.

Oh, Natasha.

The lean woman had been simply outstanding, unable to perform badly at any trial. She had endured and succeeded, and every time she was declared winner she sent a glance toward Loki that sent shivers through his spine. He still hadn´t decided if said shivers went to his spine or his crotch.

Tony had been delightfully entertaining during the whole process, dismissing the trials until Counselor Stane or his beautiful, red haired maid beckoned him to take part, all with sense of indifference and sarcasm that Loki was familiar with. He had, however, surprised them all when he´d chosen to participate willingly on the horse riding trials. On the first of such, a speed trial, he´d hopped on his shiny grey stallion (Loki had heard him calling it Jarvis), and flashed from sight in a moment.

Both brothers had to admit they had never seen a horse like that one. Tall and lean, yet undeniably strong, Jarvis seemed to not only obey his rider´s commands, but to actually understand him, and they sorted through obstacles and rivals like a single being, a feat that not even Natasha on her black gelding had accomplished.

All in all, the games were entertaining, but the fact that they´d come to a catastrophic end remained, and Loki was reminded fully of it on the third day, when five targets were arranged on a straight line, and his suitors placed themselves on the other side of a well defined line, perfectly aligned.

As she had placed first on the games, Natasha would be first one to throw, and she held up a knife with a single red hair knotted around the bone handle.

Loki´s hands clenched tightly on the throne´s arms again, as she went still as a statue. He could hear Thor next to him, and his heavy breaths as he wondered who would take his brother away. Natasha fixed her sharp green eyes on the target, and held her arm back. The whole field was silent, the King and the Queen held shaking hands beneath Odin´s golden cloak.

Natasha threw.

Loki´s eyes closed on reflex at the dry thud of the knife against the canvas, and he forced himself to look again to where the dagger had hit, a hairsbreadth away from a bull's-eye.

Even as her clan cheered at her back, and all the royal family congratulated her on her fine throw, Natasha frowned slightly, but the look was quickly replaced by a flashing smirk before her face went blank again. She had no competition, and she would soon be the most powerful woman in the kingdom, save from the Queen herself.

Bruce was next, and instead of creating a mood like Natasha had done, he chose to end it quickly. The good man´s lack off aim showed clearly when the knife flew straight at the target, but barely grazed it, stabbing the wood it was mounted on. Tony stretched to pat his shoulder sympathetically.

The King and the Queen clapped again, politely, and prompted their sons to do the same, as Clint pulled out his own knife, silvery and pointy, the handle covered in leather straps.

Loki saw him shrug and shake his head to himself, and he smirked. Clint had mastered the archery trials, but this was a world away from his area of expertise.

As expected, the weapon hit bulls-eye… With its flat side, bouncing off to the ground.

Clint´s dismissive laugh could be heard even over the royal family´s clapping.

Tony was next, and even from this far away, Loki could see his knife was beautifully made. The handle was carved metal, iron probably, perfectly balanced, and its distinct shine revealed its gold encrusted details. Loki rolled his eyes inwardly; always the flashy one.

However, the knife´s beauty didn´t work miracles for Tony´s aim and the blade stabbed the canvas on the second ring of the target.

Thor leaned sideways to whisper in Loki´s ear

"I hope you know how to survive Natasha, brother, if this trick of yours fail."

"Oh, it won´t." Loki smiled. No one had hit dead center and this couldn´t work better for his plan.

Steve pulled out a knife of his own, and Loki wanted to laugh. One more pathetic throw and he would set things straight again!

So lost he was in his glee, that he didn´t notice the way Steve´s fingers shifted to hold the knife in a properly position, or how his body leaned back to find a balance. What he did see, however, was the knife itself, as it flew towards the target, and embedded itself in its center.

Steve´s clan went completely mad.

Thor rose from his throne, disbelieving, until his memories of the last time he´d fought along Steve came to him.

´The shield. He always throws the shield.´

He turned to look at his brother, only to find that he was no longer in his place.

Odin eyed the slim, pale young man as he was held over the shoulders of his fellow warriors, and looked sideways at his wife.

"This was… Certainly a surprise…"

"I told you the games were a bad idea…" Frigga´s eyes drifted forward, and Odin´s followed.

A new banner had been stabbed on the ground, bearing the World Tree, the symbol of the House of Odin. Standing right below it, Loki shed his hood, staring everywhere but his father. Thor held his breath; this was it.

"I am Loki Odinson." He announced, loud and clear, with his head held high. "I have served my kingdom in any way I could. I have slain hundreds of enemies, I have battled on Prince Thor´s right side, and he owes me his life just as much as much as I owe him mine." He took a shallow, quick breath. "And I will be fending for myself in this competition!"

He walked over to where the suitors stood, the whispers of the crowd mixing as a buzz in his ears.

He stepped right on Natasha´s place, ignoring the woman´s venomous glare, and pulled out a knife of his own, with its green crystal incrusted in the blackened wood handle.

His arm rose by itself, like it had done uncountable times before, and went down again. The knife spun, flying forward and stabbing the center of the target. Without stopping to take a breath, or a look at his family, he pulled a second knife as he walked to Bruce´s place, and repeated the procedure. He heard his father muttering his name, and the stage creaking as he stood up.

Clint nodded at him when he stepped by, but Loki barely acknowledged him. Odin´s steps were getting closer, and he moved on even before the dagger had reached the target. The collective gasp coming from the crowd confirmed his third bulls-eye, and he managed a smirk when he reached Tony.

The bearded man smirked back, and offered his place with a mock bow. The prince paid him no mind and wasted no time stopping, throwing his dagger as he walked to where Steve stared at him, eyebrows arched.

"I´m sorry. But not really." And he stopped, a bit further to the right than he normally would.

"LOKI" His father´s yell threw him lightly off focus, but he recovered quickly and raised his arm. "Don´t you dare throw that." He hissed.

Loki risked a stare at his father, and found him staring back, his single eye flaring in rage. He made his decision.

Everything happened in less than a second. Loki turned to the target again, his arm swung forward, and Odin´s own arm slammed down on Loki´s just a second too late. The blade hit into the opening made by Steve´s knife, and the angle of the throw forced the other out. Once more, Loki turned, and ended glaring back right into an enraged Odin´s face.

"Looks like I just won, Father." He hissed.

The door slammed against the rock wall, and Loki jumped a couple of steps forward, propelled by his father´s push. He spun on his spot immediately, to face him.

"Do you have any idea of what you´ve done?!" Odin snarled in his efforts to restrain a yell.

"I did what was fair! I won your ridiculous competition!"

"You humiliated them! In front of their whole clans!"

"I honored YOUR clan. I´m an heir too, and don't deserve to be gifted away like some common wench!"

"YOU´RE NOT BEING GIFTED AWAY!" Odin snapped. "IT´S A SACRIFICE YOU´RE MAKING FOR YOUR PEOPLE!"

"A SACRIFICE I DON´T WISH TO MAKE!" And Loki followed, before he took a deep breath in hopes of regaining his calm. "No one asked me to give my life like this. I have served you, whenever you were in too much of a hurry to deny my help. I would die for them, for YOU, and I would do so with pride in my heart! You took away my birthright, you´re handing me away as a trophy, to serve in someone´s bed, to be nothing but a prized spouse, and you ask me to accept it with a smile and a bow?! What is wrong with you?!"

"You have been training for this your whole life!"

"NO! YOU have been training ME for this!" Loki hissed. "Is that how it was, Father? You watched me grow up and wondered just when would I be old enough for you to send me away? Did you check the list of guests to my wedding as I took my first steps before you?"

"Loki…" Odin warned him with a snarl, tensing.

"Did you announce my progress to your councilmen? ´He spoke his first words today, I appointed him with a tutor that shall teach him songs for his wedding´?" He clenched his teeth together for a second. "Did you ease away my nightmares knowing I had much worse things to fear? Knowing I should be scared of you?"

His voice was abruptly cut by the heavy hand that crashed against his cheek and made his face turn. Frozen in place by surprise, he listened to his father´s heavy breathing.

"I have been nothing, nothing but a good father to you, Loki. You might have caused a war today, and I shall fix your insolence now." He straightened to his full height, tall and imposing. "You better go and bid farewell to your brother, because you are leaving for Steven´s lands in three days from now." And he stared him down, as if wanting to see what he´d do.

Slowly, Loki looked up at him, and brought his hands up to his chest. Under Odin´s glare, he pulled a ring from his left hand´s finger. The golden one carved with his father´s sigil, and threw it into the fireplace at his right, never taking his eyes off his father´s.

As the ring clang against the firepit´s rocks, Odin yanked Loki´s right hand to himself. Around the lean ring finger a thick silver band shone, a few carvings done by Loki himself depicting what would someday become his own sigil, barely noticeable.

The King yanked the ring off roughly, unfazed by his son´s struggling, and threw it into the fire as well. Father and son stared at each other in silence, each feeling something shatter within them.

With a strangled snarl, Loki pulled his hand free from Odin´s grip, and walked past him, opened the door and left the room.

He didn´t start running until he was sure Odin would not hear him.

He pushed the doors to Sleipnir´s stall, just to find Thor standing between him and the young stallion.

"Move." He ordered, spitting the words from between tight lips in fear of saying more; in fear of saying too much.

"Loki, I´m…" Thor´s apology was strangled, and his eyes glistened. "Don´t leave."

"I will not marry against my will." Loki spoke gain, his throat aching.

"Steve is a good man. Gentle and wise, you won´t be mistrea…"

"I don´t care." Bitter, Loki spat on the ground. "Why so intent on sending me away now, Thor?"

The blond man gave him a pained look. "If you go with Steve, he will favor us both. I will know how you are, if you´re being treated properly." He swallowed. "If you leave now, I will never see you again."

"But I will be free. Is that how it is, Thor? Do you care more about your comfort than about my wellbeing?"

"Brother…"

At this, Loki´s shoulders shook with dry laughter.

"I´m not your brother, Thor. Not anymore."

"What?"

Loki raised his naked hands for Thor to see.

"I don´t belong here any longer! I´m no one!"

"What happened to your rings?"

"They melt in your Father´s hearth!" He broke his hands free from Thor´s grasp. "I am instructed to bid you farewell, and Gods help me I will do just that. But I won´t go where they want to send me. I won´t be anybody´s prize to show around. Not Steve´s, not Natasha´s, not anyone´s."

"Brother, if I could do something…"

"But you can´t, Thor! You can´t save me from this!" And Loki was terrified to feel his eyes brimming with tears. He would not cry, much less in Thor´s presence. He skidded past him, and used a face-down bucket for leverage to jump on Sleipnir´s naked back.

When his brother dug his heels in the horse´s sides, Thor had no choice but to throw himself out of the beast´s way, and the two silhouettes disappeared in the night.

Odin hadn't moved from his place since Loki had left. Since his youngest son had stared into his eyes with genuine hatred, as he accused him of bringing him into the world for his own benefit. He sensed Frigga stepping into the room, and closing the door softly behind her.

The Queen stared around. Her young prince was nowhere to be seen, and her husband´s eyes were fixed onto nothing at all. Nothing in the room was moved or destroyed, but the man´s stance spoke clearly of the unsuccessful discussion.

Her eyes caught the faint glistening of something in the fireplace´s pit, amongst the reddened coals and her heart sank as her mind connected the ends.

"What have you both done…" She whispered, kneeling on the floor, her soft white face painted yellow in the dying light of the burning coals. She wrapped her slender fingers in one of her silky handkerchiefs, and dipped her hand in the ash, pushing it aside to gather the two hot rings.

Odin didn´t move when his wife walked into his line of vision, but he let himself fall sitting on a sturdy wooden bench, when she handed him the bundled fabric holding his son´s rings.

The one that identified him as his heir, the sigil stained with coal and nearly undistinguishable, and the one that gave him his own identity. The one he had forged and carved himself, and watched his father throw into the fire.

"I…" His voice broke. He was so tired…

Frigga wrapped her arms around him, and he let himself break down for a moment.

Loki hopped off Sleipnir as soon as they reached the clearing with the old hunting shack. His provisions were still there, and he hurried to strap two or three bags on a makeshift saddle around Sleipnir´s belly. He just hopped Thor didn´t look for him.

That oaf.

Why had he been the last one to find out?

Odin had known since he had been notified that his wife was with child for a second time, coaxing Loki into minding his special set of manners, and being respectful and obedient in a way Thor wasn´t forced to be. Frigga had known since the very moment he´d been handed to her, bloody and yelling. She had dropped subtle hints along the way, like how lucky he was for not having to worry about his future, about him not needing to learn swordsmanship or archery and instead focusing on poetry and storytelling, about how he´d love to travel away from his father´s lands, and see what laid beyond the frontiers.

Loki had known for years, since one of his tutors had carelessly mentioned how royal firstborns are often the only heirs, the rest of the kids being used as tokens for trade, and he had investigated further. He´d been looking for a way out ever since, tagging along on his brother´s escapades as a way to try and prove himself as a worthy prince to his father.

But Thor had been, as always, clueless. Brought him on his adventures, introduced him to his friends, let him battle beside him… Thor had seen him as an equal, where no one else had.

And now he too had given up on him, taking away what little freedom he had gifted him with.

Loki felt his chest burn, and when the tears came again, he let them run freely, and cried in silence while leaning on Sleipnir´s side.

Because he had to, he regained control at some point, and pushed against the horse to stand up straight. He had to cut everything that tied him to his father´s lands. He would leave his home as a free man. Not on his father´s wishes, and not on Thor´s. No matter how much he´d miss him every day of his life.

He took his hand to his neck, and wrapped the golden chain he found there around his fingers. When he pulled it, the pendant landed on his open palm; a perfect replica of his brother´s weapon, his Mjölnir. Thor wore one with a tiny silver dagger around his neck, he knew.

He closed his eyes, and summoned what seemed like an ungodly amount of courage for such a simple act.

The hand´s grip on the chain tightened, and he pulled until one of the little rings broke. He stared at the miniature hammer on his hand, feeling a strange emptiness. He jumped on Sleipnir´s back again, and let the necklace fall on the ground.

However just as he tangled his right hand in Sleipnir´s gray mane, something caught his eye. He turned slowly, as if to avoid scaring the glowing light orb that floated an inch from the ground.

"A will-o-wisp."

Moving as if he had all the time in the world, he let himself slid off Sleipnir´s back, and stepped forward, reaching a hand to touch the eerie sphere.

Just as his fingers grazed it -and it was like dipping the tips in icy water- it vanished, and another one flashed in sight a couple of feet forward.

Fine, he thought. He got the message. He hopped on Sleipnir for the third time, and urged him to run against the light; just as expected, it vanished when it touched the horse´s hooves, and caused another one to appear.

Loki forced Sleipnir into a gallop, following the trail of light. His mind played the same memory over and over again.

His mother´s voice, as she cradled both him and Thor on her lap, holding a big, ancient book before them.

"The will-o-wisps are the souls of the fallen." She explained, pointing to one of the handmade drawings.

"Thieves and traitors haunting the land, for sure…" Thor muttered, reluctantly interested even though stories about magic and lost souls often managed to take his sleep away.

"Oh my, not at all, sweetheart." Frigga tapped his forehead. "Great warriors and heroes, they were."

"Then why haven´t they joined the Great Spirits in the Lights of Above?" he had asked, confused even further.

Frigga smiled. "The legends say they were asked by the Great Spirits themselves, to stay behind and help new heroes find their destiny." She whispered mystically, and tickled Loki´s side. "They are exceptionally rare, and often appear in times of extreme distress."

"Is it safe? Following them?" Loki questioned eyes wide and lips parted.

"Well, since when are grand journeys safe? Sometimes one needs to… Take a leap of faith."

Loki had long since forgotten his mother´s words, but he now held them close to his heart, as he guided Sleipnir to follow the glowing trail.

The ground got bumpier and rougher by the moment, and it didn´t take great wits to know what was about to happen. Just as Sleipnir stepped on another light, one of his hooves slipped and he stiffened immediately to regain his balance. Predictably enough, Loki flew through the air, and landed hard on the cold ground, his face inches away from a worn down wooden door.

Huh...

He climbed to his feet, and surveyed his surroundings; the lights had led them into a clearing he didn´t know, and before him stood a sturdier version of the old hunting shack in his own clearing.

So the Great Spirits wanted him there… He took a moment to wonder what dwelled inside, before he decided to just obey and pushed the door open. The air from the inside was even chillier than the forest night , and he wrapped his cloak tighter around himself.

The inside of the shack was illuminated by an eerie, blue-ish glow, and every inch of space was saturated with the most amazing collection of ice sculptures he´d ever seen.

Dragons, horses, even people, the ice carved delicately with different patterns and intensity to simulate textures and colors.

He reached forward to place the tip of a finger over the muzzle of a bear sculpted in an ice piece even taller than himself.

"It´s made with heavy ice from the mountain." A voice sounded happily at his back, making him flinch and turn quickly on his spot. He hadn´t noticed the bulky, hunched elder man who sat in front of a desk, carving a little block with a knife.

"Ah…"

"It would look most impressive in your living room, I´m sure." And he stood up, dropping both knife and ice on the desk and walking toward Loki. "And then there´s this one…" He held up a beautifully carved snake, each scale visible and each coil thicker than the last one. "A masterpiece however small it is."

Loki thought it was small only in comparison to its creator, but said nothing, and the man moved again.

"Or this one! Keeps everything fresh!" He pointed to a trunk made with ice carved so thin that he was sure he´d see through it if he placed his hand inside.

"Excuse me… The lights…"

"The lights?" The man looked confused for a second. "Ah! The lights, yes! Marvelous ice from the eastern coast, I harvested it myself!" He gripped Loki´s elbow and pulled him in front of a torch. The flame, however, shone through a thick ice screen that painted the light blue. Amazed, Loki reached forward to catch some icy water, but none came.

"It´s not melting…" He whispered. He immediately flinched again, at the man´s thunderous laughter.

"My dear boy, of course not!" He patted his shoulder. "My ice is quality, I guarantee it´s everlasting! Even one droplet and you get your money back!"

Loki spun slowly on his spot; staring at the ground and finding no evidence that the sculpture were made of ice instead of crystal. On the desk, the knife had begun scratching against the ice again. "How is that even possibl…" He turned to the desk again, and there it was! The carving sounds produced by the blade against the ice… Even when the crafter was still next to him. "Oh Gods… YOU´RE A SORCERER!" He yelled and pointed, but the man only batted his hand away, seemingly annoyed.

"Pointing is rude, boy. I´m but a humble artisan." And he went back to his knife and ice that jumped into his hands as soon as he was close enough.

"B… the knife! It… That´s how it doesn´t melt!"

"I told you, quality ice." The man sounded more irritated each time.

"No, nononono!" Loki pulled his hair slightly, a smile spreading on his lips. "This is why the lights brought me here!"

"To buy some sculptures, yes…"

"No!" And he rushed to the man´s side. "I need a spell"

"Then go look for a sorcerer." The crafter, however, just turned to have his back facing him, and reached down to pet a snowy white fox that sat at his feet, making the little critter yawn loudly.

"You´re a sorcerer! Listen, my Father…"

"Oh, no, not me! I´m an ice carver!" The man´s knife was stabbed in the desk. The fox sat on its hind legs, and its muzzle parted.

"Ice carver!" It howled.

"It speaks!"

The man shook his head at Loki´s euphoria.

"Must be the wind." He said, as he pushed Loki toward the exit.

"You must help me!"

"I can help you choose some pieces, yes!"

"I don´t want any sculptures!" Loki hadn´t even noticed he´d been led out of the shack, until he saw the man filling the threshold.

"Then I can´t help you." And he slammed the door shut. Loki stared as if hypnotized, eyes blank and hands rose to keep bargaining. The door did not open again, nor any sound came through it, and he groaned.

He crouched to the ground, unable to believe his bad luck. He had been guided to a sorcerer, and he just outright refused to help him! He rocked on his legs, frustrated. Only then did he remember he was still wearing the outfit deemed for his betrothal, all silk, gold and crystal, probably worth a fortune.

He struggled to get on his feet, and ignored the icy bite of the chilled air against his skin as he stripped and folded his clothes carefully on Sleipnir´s back, before dressing again in a more humble gown. He then hurried back to the door, and knocked loudly.

"I hope someone is looking for ICE SCULPTURES." Came from inside, and Loki rolled his eyes. "Since that is ALL anyone will ever find he…"

"I will buy every single one your sculptures." Loki voiced calmly, and smirked when a choked gasp came through the door. Not a second had passed before the wooden plank was pulled back, and the man greeted him with a charming smile that Loki countered with one of his own. "AND a spell."

"Kid, I…"

"No spell, no deal."

The man arched an eyebrow, suspiciously.

"Do tell, please, how will you pay?"

Loki pulled his ceremonial gown from behind his back, and shook it in such a way that the shack´s blue light shone against the expensive materials. The greedy gleam in the sorcerer´s eyes was enough confirmation.

"Hmmm… Bah… Very well, wait a second." He stepped out o the shack, the white fox following, He pulled the door closed, and clapped once before pushing again.

Loki´s eyes widened; the inside of the shack was completely different now, stuffed with shelves and displays filled to the brim with shiny liquids and powders. It looked like something pulled out from fable, completed with the gigantic cauldron at the center of the room.

The sorcerer pulled a chair made of ice (obviously), and sat. He perched his elbows on his knees and looked at Loki, resigned.

"Tell me about it."

The prince could barely restrain himself from dancing happily, and instead sat on a second ice chair in front of the man, his tale already on the tip of his tongue.

"My… Well, they…" And he stopped. The sorcerer waited patiently for him to organize his ideas, and start talking again. "King Odin offered me as a prize for the heirs of his Clan Masters. Without my knowing or consent, and only because I am the secondborn of his House. I sabotaged his competition, and he disowned me." Saying it again hurt him like pulling the stabbed knife out of a wound. "I escaped, but I believe they will surely look for me and send me away soon."

The sorcerer nodded.

"Is your suitor a bad man?"

"It could have been… worse." Loki answered a shiver. "But that's not the point. There is as much royal blood in me as it is in Thor. I too am his legacy, his heir, and I have served him with every one of the abilities he disapproves but uses anyways. I have been a spy, a diplomat, a warrior, and behind his back, even a murderer. But I will not be his prized whore."

"You have quite a lovely collection of issues there. I think a counselor might be better suited for the task than me."

"Ah, shut up."

"Fine, let´s get to the bottom of this. Would you say your problem is your place within your family?"

Loki´s face contorted into a saddened smile.

"Exactly. Thor is the heir from birth. The throne, the titles, the lands, it all goes to him. My duty is to look charming and behave like a trophy." He sighed. "That idiot has been causing my disgrace without even meaning to… And the worst thing is I can´t even blame him…

"Hey, hey!" And the sorcerer clapped rather loudly, pulling him off his thoughts. "Stop that before you make yourself cry."

"I´m not…"

"You look like it." He climbed to his feet, and headed for the cauldron. "I think… I have the spell you need."

"You do?"

"Of course!" He answered, pouring the contents of several bottles and jars into its pit, even going as far as to rip a handful of hair from the fox´s fur. The mix emitted a dim glow against the darkness of the room. "There´s a warning I should give, but I can´t say I remember it right now… It´s been so long since I last did this…"

Loki leaned closer to the cauldron, frowning. "Will it work?"

"They always work, child! Now just…"

"Oof!" Loki rubbed his nape furiously, the spot from where the sorcerer had ripped a lock of hair still burning. "What was that for?!"

"Are you the sorcerer? No? Then keep silent!" The man threw his hair into the mix, and it turned pitch-black in just a second shining with hints of green and blue each time it was mixed. "Nearly done… Now, tell it the name of your brother."

Alarms flooded in Loki´s mind, and he narrowed his eyes.

"Will it harm him?"

"No, my dear boy, not harm him in the least. Just… Change things."

"… Fine…" Still suspicious, he leaned closer to the cauldron again, hovering over the liquid. "Thor Odinson." He whispered.

The change was immediate. Loki was momentarily blinded by the sudden change from black to gold, the shining liquid illuminating the whole room.

The sorcerer dipped a giant spoon in the cauldron, and pulled it out holding a round, red fruit the size of an apple. It looked exactly like the sweet wild fruit Thor loved.

"I presume this will catch his interest?"

"It should… That´s it? He has to eat it?"

"No, he has to dance around it under a full summer moon, of course he has to eat it!" The sorcerer replied, annoyed. Loki held his palms up.

"Excuse me, I´m not the sorcerer."

"Thank Gods, thinking like that you´d make a terrible one."

Loki huffed. "Can I have my spell or not?"

The man polished the wild fruit against his robe, and passed it to him.

"I will send you the warning as soon as I remember it." He added, pushing the prince towards the exit again.

"But how?"

"I will find a way." And he pushed him one last time, sending him across the threshold. "Thanks for buying, your sculptures will be sent shortly!"

Loki felt his smile crack his face in half, and he turned on his spot. "Thank…"

But there was nothing there.

No shack, no door, nothing. Just an empty space filled with trees that looked old enough to have been planted for years.

He turned again, and Sleipnir eyed him worriedly, walking up to him and nuzzling his arm carefully. He looked down to where the fruit was still gripped tight between his hands, the only proof that it had not been a dream.

Suddenly, a trumpet howled in the distance, and he stiffened. It was a search party. His search party, he knew it. Probably lead by his father and his brother.

He stayed in his spot for another moment, considering his course of action. It would be better to pretend nothing had happened, and carry on with his new plan. He hopped on Sleipnir again.

It was ridiculous, he thought, that his brother and father thought themselves capable of giving him chase, when they both knew there was no fastest horse in the lands than Sleipnir. Now, once again, that would play in his advantage. He prompted the horse into a gallop through a path that would avoid the riders and lead him back into the castle.

His mother found him first. Somehow, she always seemed to do.

More accurately, though, he walked into her, for she was sitting on his bed when he entered his chambers.

She looked up at him when he stepped in, her eyes widening and her lips quivering in a way that sent a pang of pain to his stomach. She stood up, and made a movement as if to open her arms for him, hesitant.

Loki couldn´t take it.

He threw himself forward and let his mother embrace him tightly, her head against his chest.

"I thought you had left us..." She muttered, falling to sit back on his bed. Loki kneeled at her feet.

"I almost did. But…" He thought desperately for a reason convincing enough, as he knew he was sure to be discovered if he simply lied to her. "The lights, Mother…"

"… The lights?"

"Yes. The will-o-wisps, they appeared before me, and I knew I had to come back."

"But why?"

And there Loki pursued his lips, and his eyes trailed down. "They made me think of you and Thor."

At his mother´s sharp intake of breath, and the trembling hand that grazed his forehead, he knew he´d done the right thing by appealing to Frigga´s soft side.

He indulged himself into staying there, his head resting on his mother´s lap while she whispered softly. About how they´d done wrong by not telling him, and by setting him up as a prize instead of letting him choose amongst his suitors. But never about arranging his marriage, Loki thought bitterly.

This was how Odin and Thor found them, when they entered Loki´s chambers to announce Frigga that their search had been unsuccessful. Both mother and son looked up at them, her tears on her pristine cheeks contrasting against his tired, dirt-stained face.

"I´m home." Loki whispered to no-one in particular, and tumbled sideways when Thor tackled him in a hug.

"I thought you… I... There were bags lacking from the shack!" he claimed accusingly.

"In Slepnir´s stall. You´re breaking my ribs, Thor." Loki complained, and looked up. Odin was still at the door, looking straight at him as If he was a ghost. "Father…"

"Clean yourself, son. You need the rest." And he rubbed a hand to his forehead. "We will discuss our plan of action tomorrow, the chiefs have granted us a night before releasing our decision."

So that´s how it was.

He was still getting married.

He patted the fruit hidden in his pocket, reassuring himself that it would all get better.

Loki leaned into the big bathtub, relishing in the feeling of warm water against his skin. He closed his eyes, and he was just starting to worry about falling asleep inside when three hard knocks shook him from his slumber.

"What is it, Thor?" Because there was only one person those knocks could belong to.

"You missed dinner, brother." Loki let himself sink deeper in the water, before he stood up and wrapped himself in furs. Still dripping, he walked to the door and pulled it open.

Behind the wooden plank, Thor waited holding a silver tray with a light dinner. Fenrir stood on the bed, stretching to try and steal some food. "I´m sorry to interrupt you…"

"It´s fine." He walked past the blond, and headed for the fireplace. Thor followed, and they sat in front of the fire. As soon as he sat, Fenrir wrapped himself around him, and he leaned back on the wolf-ish dog, relishing in his heat. "I am indeed a bit hungry."

"Here, brother." Thor placed the tray on the fur carpet, and pushed it towards his brother. When one of his pale hands reached to grab a piece of bread, he didn´t fail to notice how his fingers were still naked of rings.

Loki bit down on the bread, and paced his eyes over the room. His eyes found the wildfruit over his bed, and he stretched to grab it. Once back in his place, he offered it to Thor.

"It fell on my lap when I rode back." He said, for all explanation when Thor arched an eyebrow. "You can have it."

"Thank you, brother…" Thor smiled weakly. Loki watched him smell the fruit, a smile on his face before he took it to his mouth, and he couldn´t take it.

"Would you do it too, Thor?"

"Huh?" The blond stopped with the fruit an inch from his lips, unknowing of the way Loki´s stomach turned and twisted on itself.

"Marry me off to seal an alliance. Whore me out to buy peace."

Thor´s eyes saddened, and went to the ground. He kept silent for a moment, pondering the question.

"… I would ask you to do it if there was really no other option. I´m not as wise as you, and I´m not sure if I could find another way to achieve safety for our people."

"Sadly, the King is wiser than me, and he has deemed it unnecessary to look for a better option, one that allows the happiness of both his… Of his heir and me."

"He will give you your ring back."

Loki sighed. "And it will be worth just as little as it did before. For me to have any value, you´d have to disappear."

"I think you´re overreacting. Your situation is not that bad, Steve will treat you well and…"

"I will not marry Steve. Not ever."

"Loki… You should know what´s better for the kingdom."

"Easy for you to say. What if I was the firstborn? If Father forbid you to ever see your precious maiden again, and married you to one of my friends? If you were forced to bid farewell to Jane and surrender to someone you know hates you? Would…"

"It´s good that you haven´t courted anyone, then."

Loki stopped mid-sentence, disbelieving.

"Is that really your best comfort?"

"At least you don´t have to abandon anyone."

"… Just… Eat your fruit, Thor." Loki wished he´d been happier when Thor shrugged and bit down into the fruit´s red meat. His guilt had lessened, but the void that had taken over his chest at the shack was back.

Luckily for him, his brother seemed to sense his mood and excused himself not long after. Loki lay down on his bed, clad in his nightshirt, and let Fenrir snuggle up against him.

"We´re going to be fine…" He whispered against the dog´s fur.

Loki woke the next day to something he wished he had never heard; his mother´s desperate screams ripped through the castle, and prompted him to jump off the bed and dress as quickly as he could.

She was at the Great Hall. On the Great Hall´s floor, more accurately. And she cried her eyes out, as she twisted a ragged cloth in her hands. Odin knelt behind her, paler than Loki had ever seen him. The room was full of people, but no one made a sound as Loki ran to his mother and held her shoulders.

"Mother? Mother, what is wrong?!" He whispered hurriedly, distressed by the tears that rimmed her eyes when she looked up at him.

"Your… Your brother…" And her trembling hands opened to show him the tattered remnants of Thor´s night shirt.

Loki´s mind shut down momentarily, as he matched the patterns of the rips in the cloth to those on the skin of warriors who had fought wild bears.

He would later ask himself how he did it, but he managed to stand up on his shaky legs, and run back out of the room.

He didn´t stop running until he found himself at Thor´s bedroom, and when he stopped, his heart did too for a second.

The room was unrecognizable.

The same ripped claw marks were present on the shredded fur covering the mattress and the drapes surrounding the bed. Even the table in which Mjölnir still rested was covered in them. All in all, nothing in the room remained.

It couldn´t be, he thought. The sorcerer had assured him that his brother would not be harmed… Thor couldn't be…

His knees gave up.

He had killed his brother.

He made no move to get up when he heard the footsteps approaching him from behind. Not even when a hand landed hesitantly on his shoulder did he react.

"Leave him alone, Steve." That was Natasha´s voice, wasn´t it?

"Loki?" And his beloved future husband´s. "Loki, we´re all here, and…"

Steve´s voice died when Loki´s cold eyes drilled through him, filled with a rage he couldn´t understand. Loki watched the blond grimace, his eyes immensely saddened, and his hand trembling when he took it off his shoulder. The rest of them were also there, just standing, and breathing heavily at the sight of Thor´s destroyed chambers. They had lost him too.

Loki had stolen him from them.

Tony breathed deeply. It was easy to pinpoint the exact moment in which Loki´s will had broken down. His eyes lost focus, his shoulders slumped, and he turned back slowly to take another look at his brother´s last resting place.

Woah.

Thinking about the big guy gone was just too unreal.

He watched Clint take a step forward. Perhaps he was the only one that really knew how to deal with Thor´s loner brother, after that hunting season they had spent tracking some sneaky blue critter through Odin´s land. Clint had always assured him that spending time with Loki had been only a need, but now more than ever the half-lie was transparent.

"We have to go back to your parents…"

It would have been lost to the untrained ear. Luckily for them, they had all spent seasons with the brothers, struggling to listen what Loki muttered to Thor about them and his faint whisper now did not go unnoticed.

"This is my fault…"

Clint cleared his throat.

"No, it isn´t. Come on, your father is waiting."

"Loki, how could this be your fault? It was obviously a bear…" Steve´s voice got cut again, this time by Odin´s heavy footsteps up the hall.

"I must ask you to leave me alone with my son." Even the Kings voice was strained.

Tony rolled his eyes. Of course Odin wanted to speak to Loki now.

However, he let himself be herded out of the room, and exchanged confused looks with the rest of his companions. A part of him still thought this was only a dream.

"Son…"

Loki´s frame flinched when his father addressed him. He took a deep breath, and his heart raced. He had to confess.

"Father, I…"

"Listen to me." Odin cleared his throat. "Your brother has left us." Oh, how it hurt to say it… "And while it might seem ironic, his… demise… brings happy news in regards to your situation."

"…What?" Loki turned to his father, his chest burning more than ever because how could a part of him be thrilled about the news?

"As my firstborn, Thor was entitled to my throne. Now that he is gone… the line goes to you." Odin watched his son blink first once, then twice, apparently in shock. "As future King, your betrothal is no longer convenient."

"My… But… What will happen with the clans?"

"I´m sure they will understand. After all, this is an… unexpected situation. They will do what is better for the kingdom."

Loki stood up slowly.

"I will be… I…"

He looked at his father, pale as he was, and black spots dangled at the edges of his vision. His throat constricted, and he rushed past the King´s side.

His brother´s friends were still in the hallway, but he ignored them in favor of running down the hall in the directions of the stables. When he ran past his own door, his ears registered Fenrir´s paws hitting against the floor as the dog followed after him.

Sleipnir´s stall smelt of hay and horse, the stallion himself rested on a corner, and his head rose when his master entered and flung himself against his flank. Sensing the human´s distress, he nuzzled his head, ruffling his hair, and his ears perched when the big black dog walked in. He greeted Fenrir with a low neigh and let him move closer and snuggle against his master.

Loki tangled a hand in Sleipnir´s mane and rested another in between Fenrir´s pointy ears. The scent and warmth of his animals anchored him to the moment, numbing the pain in his chest.

His brother had been mauled to death by a bear, because of a spell he had cast upon him, and his father´s biggest concern was who would inherit his throne now. And the worst part was the nasty relief he felt with the knowledge that he was a free man again. More powerful than ever.

Later, he´d wonder how much time he´d spent in the stable with his animals, and when he did take his face off Sleipnir´s neck, it was already dark outside, so he decided he must´ve drifted off into sleep at some point.

He remained on his spot, leaning against the horse, and feeling the sheer cold of the night seeping through him, like ice crawling around his ankles.

No.

Wait.

There was definitively ice around his ankle.

He hopped on Sleipnir´s back, lifting his leg to inspect his numb ankle, and there it was. He poked the shiny ice circlet with a finger, and it twisted around some more, before presenting him with a face he recognized.

"Greetings, Master."

"…Oh Gods, you can speak."

The snake nodded. "Few of my former Master´s creations share this ability with me. But it is true he invested a little more magic in me."

"Wait, your former master?"

Another nod. "You acquired me, and the rest of my former Master´s creations, in exchange for your fine garments yesterday. I belong to you now, Master."

Loki´s eyes widened. "I… What are you doing here?"

"I come bearing news. Important news about your current situation." The prince held his wrist out for the snake, and it happily wrapped itself around it. "Your brother is alive."

The prince felt as if a bucket of ice-cold water had been emptied over him. "What?"

"Prince Thor is alive, Master."

"But… But I saw his chambers! They were completely destroyed! Mauled!"

"My former Master promised the spell would only change him."

"Change… Him?" Loki arched an eyebrow, seemingly confused. "But Thor´s clothes… And his chambers…"

"Yes, Master."

"… Oh Gods… You can´t possibly be telling me Thor is…" His hands flew to his head, his fingers gripping locks of raven hair, and the snake tightening its grip around his wrist to keep its balance. "Gods… Thor…" His voice broke, and if he hadn´t already burned through his tear reserves, he was sure he´d start tearing up again.

"Master?"

"… He can be saved."

"… There is actually few you can do to reverse the spell, Master. In fact, tomorrow, at dusk, the change will be permanent."

"Maybe, but not the sorcerer. Where can I find him?" He demanded.

"Nowhere. Not in time. He took his leave with the gold he procured with your garments." The snake explained, and if its icy eyes could convey any emotion, they´d be showing compassion. "But fear not, Master. I said there was few you could do, not that you were entirely powerless."

"What can I do, then?"

"The spell used the strength of a broken bond to change Prince Thor. Said bond was has been deteriorating for a while now. Were it to be restored, the spell´s effects would be cut short."

"You mean I have to…"

"Trust can be lost. Pride can be crushed. But love remains forever. Has your anger towards your marriage destroyed your love for your brother, or just turned you blind to it?"

"How do you even know about that?"

"It´s one of my many talents."

"Then I have to find Thor and… Tell him I´m sorry?"

"I highly doubt words represent your bond." The snake managed to sound unimpressed while keeping an even tone.

Loki sighed, and it came to his head in a blur. The hammer. The dagger. Their symbols.

"Oh, Gods…" He rubbed his forehead again, before nodding to himself. "Fine, then. Tomorrow I will find the hammer and bring it to…" As he was about to end his sentence, another issue took its toll on his nerves, and he spared the snake another pleading gaze. "How am I going to find Thor if he´s a bear? Am I supposed to just… Sneak up on every beast I see and try and make amends with them?"

"Yes, if you didn´t have me, Master." The snake sounded very pleased with itself. "If I come near him, I will feel the magic that surrounds Prince Thor."

"… Well then it´s great I´ve got you." Loki regarded the enchanted sculpture with a respectful nod that the snake returned. "What should I call you, Master Snake?"

"I have no given name, and you might call me as you please, Master, for I am your humble servant now."

"Then… I will call you Jôrmungandr. Is that worthy of you?" The coils squeezed his wrist harder once, and Loki decided to interpret it as a hug of sorts. "I appreciate your help in my quest."

"Do not thank me now, Master, for we have yet to find your brother."

"Loyalty is hard for me to find. I thank you." And he stood up. "You will remain here with Fen tonight. I will get some rest, and come find you first thing in the morning."

Jôr twisted its head to the side, confused. "Fen, Master?"

Loki nodded, and presented his wrist to the dog, who sniffed the icy coils tentatively. "Fenrir. This is Sleipnir, and you will stay with them for the night."

"Are they… Yours?" The snake seemed troubled.

"Yes? They belong to me." And that seemed to please it.

"Fine, then." It uncoiled slowly form his wrist, and went to tangle loosely around Fenrir´s neck, where he stayed like a shiny collar. "I will remain in the company of my brothers. Rest well, Master."

Loki arched an eyebrow, but said nothing, and instead nodded goodbye and left the stables.

He had hoped for an uneventful walk to his chambers, like the one he´d have any other day. But that was not any other day, and destiny had another plan for him, as shown when a deep voice called him as soon as he passed the King´s living room door.

"Loki, son. Come here." His father´s eyes showed no tears, but the thickness of his voice revealed his sorrow. "I want to talk to you."

"Actually, Father… I was just on my way to try and get some sleep." Loki answered without looking at the King in the eye. "It´s been a hard day, and I have plans for tomorrow."

"Plans? What plans?" Odin´s eyes narrowed suspiciously, and he scrutinized his son. "You´re not planning on some ridiculous revenge for your brother, are you? A bear killed him. There´s nothing to do."

"We´ll see about that." Loki couldn´t help himself. "Now, if you excuse me…"

"I don´t." Odin cut him, straightening in his seat. "I still need to talk to you."

When Loki turned on his spot to face him, he was surprised the old king hadn´t heard his teeth screeching against each other.

"Yes, Father?" He forced a smile.

"I want to… Apologize."

Loki felt as if he´d been slapped. What?

"… Excuse me?"

"You heard me, son. I must admit… I overreacted when we discussed yesterday." He stretched his hand out, and opened it to reveal Loki´s rings in his palm. "Your mother rescued them from the fire."

"I see." Loki muttered, but made no move to take the rings. "Did she make you apologize too?"

"I should have never taken my anger out on you. I should have never hit you…"

"You should have never planned to send me away behind my back." The prince spoke without taking his eyes off the floor, until he heard the King´s tired sigh, and his head whipped up in frustration. "Am I bothering you, Sir?"

"You´re unable to see the whole perspective…"

"What if I had already chosen someone to court? If I had already chosen one of them? If your careless toying with my fate would have damaged two innocents instead of just one?" He hissed.

Pain crossed Odin´s eye and he felt a pang of perverse satisfaction.

"My son… Did you..."

"Do not pretend you would have cared, because I know you wouldn´t have." He didn´t think it was necessary to tell him, not when he didn´t even want to think about it himself. "We could´ve planned it together. We could´ve found another way, you and I. But you couldn´t trust me with my life. You couldn´t trust me to make the `right´ choice. You´re scared of me, and you try to keep me out of your schemes because…"

"Because you´re too much like me."

"…What?"

The King let his elbows rest on his knees, and then his forehead on his hands. It was barely a second, but the exhaustion was still there when he straightened.

"You´re just too much like me. Too cunning. Too proud for rules that to you seem outdated and archaic. Too…" He sighed. "I see myself in you. And I wouldn´t trust me. But that is not your fault."

"It isn´t."

"Son… Please, take them." He offered the rings again. "Your brother is gone. I can´t be without you too. I need you."

Loki bowed, all his features froze in a hard, emotionless stare. "And I am but your humble servant, my King." And he took the rings from the man´s hand.

He turned and walked out of the room. Knowing Odin wouldn´t follow, feeling older and stupider than he´d ever felt. And if his heart burned with guilt for a second, he ignored it perfectly.

It had ended. After a while, Odin rose from his seat and took his leave. And nor father neither son had noticed the lithe shadow behind the thick door, that slipped out as soon as she saw her chance.

"Loki is awfully composed."

All heads turned in response to Natasha´s voice, and Steve frowned.

"Don´t be ridiculous. You saw him this very morning."

She shrugged. "I´m not one to deny Loki´s abilities. I know for a fact that putting up a façade is one of them as much as it is mine."

Tony sized her up. He knew better than to trust Natasha. And yet, he knew better than not to trust her.

"What are you suggesting?"

"I´m letting you know I´m turning into his shadow tomorrow. If he hid `something´, and has to get rid of it, I´ll know it."

Bruce arched both eyebrows, impressed. "That´s a pretty serious accusation."

"Loki is a creature of action, no matter that he may look like a lurching wallflower. If sabotaging the competition was the only contingence plan he had I will personally apologize for doubting his honor." She started turning to leave. "Just letting you know. In case any of you want to come and help me."

Loki´s night was plagued by nightmares.

Nightmares in which he witnessed a hunter bringing a bear down just for Jôr to inform him with a sad shake of his head that said bear was his brother. Nightmares in which he found a bear that was so unmistakably Thor and went to hug him, only to have said beast maul him to pieces without any show of recognition. Nightmares in which everything went according to his plan, and ended on him standing next to Steve at the foot of the throne.

All in all, it was a blessing that dawn came.

"I can´t believe we´re doing this." Steve complained with a whisper. "Are you aware Thor would hate us for daring to think Loki murdered him?"

"Thor made the mistake to think of Loki as his pet kitten. Do I have to remind you he did slip of the castle before anyone woke up? That he looked behind every step of the way to make sure no one followed?" Natasha countered. She wore a dark leather armor that allowed her to mix with the forest´s shadows.

"They were close. Maybe he wants to mourn him in private?" Steve´s voice sounded dubious. "Thor was killed by a bear." He added, a bit more certain.

"Bull." Clint whistled. "Not a bear. Maybe two, yes, but not one. Trust me, I´ve seen the guy take down dozens of men by himself."

"What about a sleeping Thor against a bear?" Bruce intervened, shutting everyone up. Tony´s eyebrows rose.

"I thought you were with Natasha on this one."

Bruce shook his head. "I´m playing safe. If Loki killed Thor, we must avenge him. If he didn´t, then he´s acting strange, and we owe it to Thor to keep an eye on his brother. We´re not really doing anything bad."

"Or wouldn´t be." Tony smirked. "If Pigeonhead over here hadn´t missed him."

Natasha rolled her eyes as Clint aimed a mock punch at Tony. They´d seen the youngest Odinson walk into his stables, only to walk back out a moment later without his beloved Sleipnir. She had known that meant Thor´s body couldn´t be too far away. They´d followed him at a safe distance into the forest, and then she had to admit to herself she had no clue of what had happened.

Loki had walked into the wilderness without an apparent destination, walking and changing directions at what looked like random. Sometimes he´d stop, take his left wrist to his ear, and pull the long sleeve back a little. She´d begun thinking that maybe Bruce was right and he´d lost his mind a little with Thor´s death… But then he´d disappeared.

Just like that, he´d climbed down a ledge, and when they´d followed the young prince was nowhere to be seen. Clint had set to work immediately, looking for his traces. That had been nearly ten minutes ago, and she was beginning to lose her patience, for she was sure Loki had somehow notice he was being watched and tricked them. For all they knew, he could be burning Thor´s body right now, and here they were, stranded and helpless in an unknown forest.

"I think it´s safe to say we´ve lost them, Master." Jôr´s voice came from inside his sleeve. Loki smiled.

"Good job, then. Did you feel any magic at all?" He asked, pulling back his sleeve to reveal the icy snake coiled around his wrist.

"A little, yes. Your brother has walked these forests not long ago. However, I strongly advice that we find your hammer first."

Loki nodded. All the random turns they´d taken to avoid the lordlings had taken them further from the shack than he´d liked. However, he knew these forests like the palm of his hand, he reminded himself in order to stop the uneasy feeling settling on his stomach.

"Jôr?"

"Yes, Master?"

"Which way is north?"

"Guys" Clint muttered from his place on the ground. His friends circled him, and he looked up at them. "Isn´t this..." He showed them the object tangled in his right hand, dusty and slightly bent.

"Thor´s pendant." Tony muttered back, stretching his hand to take the broken chain and the miniature dagger. He knew the importance of the damned thing, Loki had told him once in a drunken night out, while showing him his own. Thor wouldn´t leave it behind even on accident. "This is not good. Big guy wouldn´t just throw it away."

"Maybe it broke when he was dragged here." Natasha offered, her arms crossed at her chest, unimpressed. "And Loki probably forgot to pick it up on his way back."

"Yes, surely Loki dragged Thor all the way up here without us noticing." Tony´s eyes narrowed. Natasha´s only hint of recognition was the arching of a delicate red eyebrow.

"Maybe he brought Thor here the night before they `found him dead´" Bruce shrugged. "Easy for him, luring his brother into the forest, then killing him when he least expected it. The pendant could´ve come off in the struggle."

Steve cleared his throat. "I´m hearing something."

"It´s a Gods damned forest, Steve, of course you hear things." Tony rolled his eyes, but walked to his friend´s side nonetheless. "Let´s go back. It´s been an hour since we lost him, we´re not finding him again."

"Good choice." Steve grinned and turned around, walking right into a silk-clad chest. He looked up in confusion, and found the feeling reflected in Loki´s eyes staring down at him. "... Well, this is embarrassing."

Loki´s face reddened, and he looked at his left wrist, angered. "Jôr! What´s the meaning of this?!"

The others stared at him, puzzled... Until a hissing voice emerged from inside his sleeve.

"My apologies, Master. I thought I had sensed something this way, and I didn´t realize we´d bump into them."

"... Whoa... Is your arm talking?" Tony stood the hard glare Loki sent his way.

"Yes, Stark, evidently my arm has gained the capability of sentient speech."

"I say it as I see it." Ignoring the prince´s poisonous glare, he stepped forward and took hold of his arm. "Show me?"

"Over my dead body."

"I can fix that." Loki, Tony and Steve all jumped a foot in the air when Natasha materialized right behind them, a deadly black dirk in her hand. "Stark."

Tony didn´t need to be told twice. In one swift movement, he took hold of the silken sleeve and bared Loki´s milky white forearm for them to see. Jôr, coiled around his Master´s arm, hissed menacingly at him, and he let go as fast as if he´d been bitten.

"What the..."

"There. You saw him. Now go back to the castle, and let us be."

"That´s not wise. You probably don´t want us going to you Father with news of your involvement with this high a level of sorcery, do you?" Bruce walked closer to inspect the snake himself. Jôr lowered its head, as if sensing a threat. "With your brother´s mysterious disappearance this could very well be misinterpreted."

At this, Loki´s face lost all color it had left, before reddening violently again, this time in rage. He gaped a couple of times like a stranded fish. "You can´t possibly think..."

"Oh, you know we do." Natasha spoke again. Green met green and hard met harder when their glares collided.

"That´s a ridiculous idea." Loki hissed back at her.

"Is it? We know you didn´t want to marry Steve..."

"So I murdered my brother, yes I can see how you jumped to that conclusion."

"It does seem logical." Clint quipped in, and shrugged when both shot him a glare.

"Master..."

"Not now, Jôr." Loki spared the briefest of looks for the snake, before going back to Natasha. "Everybody knows where I´ve been since the beginning of the tourney."

"Master..."

"Everyone also happens to know you know the castle´s secret passages like the palm of your hand."

"Well, everyone is oafish, because my Father´s castle has no such thing as secret passages!"

"My point is, you have slipped away before. Now you tell us where you hid Thor´s body before I..." Natasha stopped short of words, and her head snapped to the side. All around her, the young men watched in confusion. Jôr´s low `Master´ was ignored once again.

And then they saw it.

At first it was the muzzle, thick and coated in honey-colored fur. Shortly after came the rest of the beast, and it froze in its place when it noticed the humans in the clearing.

Loki stared. It was by far the oddest bear he´d ever seen. Huge front legs, that blond fur... And when the animal looked at all of them, he noticed the blue eyes. The bear´s glance lingered on him a second longer, and a moment after it rose on its hind legs, its huge paws reaching for him, and despite the certainty in his gut, he felt himself freeze in fear.

Natasha´s dirk stabbed the tree just right of the bear´s head.

Loki looked over his shoulder, and noticed Steve edging closer to him in slow movements, the shield strapped to his arm. The rest of them pointed at the bear with their weapons. Oh Gods... Wasn´t this a charming feat of loyalty? If he could´ve moved, he´d have laughed long and hard.

Then Thor reached forward again, and he practically heard the tension in the clearing break, as they all rushed to aid him. That made it.

"STOP!" He yelled, throwing himself in between the bear and the armed fools, extending his arms as if to hide the enormous beast behind his lean frame.

"GET AWAY FROM IT!" Someone shouted. He looked back. The bear remained at his back, snarling softly.

"Loki what… Come here!" Tony snapped.

"Shut up!" And he turned to the bear. "Get down, you´re not helping…"

Thor whined and lowered his front legs to the ground again, nuzzling him.

"… Did you just talk to that bear?" Steve asked with eyes wide as saucers. Thor grunted behind him.

Loki rubbed a hand to his face, burying his fingers in his hair. All right, finding Thor was done. Now he had to get him away and find the hammer. He grunted. If only that idiotic bunch hadn´t tried following him… He turned to his brother, and gestured for him to follow.

"If you´re done with your stupid accusations…" He excused himself, but Bruce´s hand clamped around his wrist. When he looked, the man´s eyes were a clean green instead of the common brown.

"Do you think we´re just going to let you walk away after you showed us a magic snake and talked a bear down?" He muttered lowly.

"According to the fact that I talked said bear down and can very well talk him up again, yes, I do think so."

"I've killed many bears before."

"Not this one."

"I wouldn´t bet on that." Bruce tightened his grasp to painful levels, but Loki didn´t budge.

"Unhand me." He ordered with his coldest voice. Bruce´s eyes flashed once more, but he complied. Loki turned to leave again, only to find himself face to face with Tony. "Oh, Gods."

"Natasha thinks you killed him."

"And that´s stupid, he´s not…"

"I know you didn´t." Tony interrupted him. "But you see, we do know you quite well. Well enough to know you´re always hiding something. What is it now?" He inched into Loki´s personal space, and promptly backed off after the bear´s angry snarl. "Hey, calm your beast down…"

Steve pushed him aside, planting himself in front of Loki. "What were you going to say?"

Loki rolled his eyes. "Nothing."

Steve´s clear blues narrowed suspiciously. "Were you going to say he´s not… "

"Whatever I was going to say is none of your concern, St… Hey!" He added, annoyed, when the bear head-butted his rib. "What?!"

Thor grunted once, and Loki felt Jör squeezing his wrist. He lifted it to look at the snake in the eye.

"He says you should tell them."

"What? He?" Steve peaked from his side, looking straight at the snake. "You can understand the bear?"

Jör looked at Loki, uncertain, and retreated under his sleeve when he shook his head. The blond glared at the prince, and Loki shuffled under the strength of the look, glancing around to find mirroring expressions in the faces of the others. A furry head nudged his back and he sighed, defeated.

"I... The bear..." He paused to rub a hand over his face. "The bear is Thor." He offered at last, and his words were met by silence. However, after said silence stretched further and further, he was forced to look up again. "... Well?"

"What?" Clint recovered first, and the rest followed.

"The... Did you just say the bear is your brother?" Steve repeated in polite puzzlement.

"I told you he didn´t kill him. He just went crazy." Bruce whispered and Natasha nodded.

"... Leave that bear alone, Loki. Let´s go back before they send for us." Tony added at last.

Loki´s teeth screeched.

"I see how it is. Well, you go back." A spark flashed in his mind. "I´ll stay. And I'll find what I need to turn him back, since it seems I´m the only one he has left. So much for his loyal companions."

Thor grunted and nudged him again, this time for comfort, before turning to shoot a resentful glance at his friends. Loki smiled inwardly. This unexpected detour might be just what he needed, if he could weave his net appropriately.

Steve fidgeted. "Loki I..." He rubbed the back of his neck, all the while avoiding Loki´s hard gaze. "Is that really you, Thor?" He added, turning to the bear.

Thor nodded as enthusiastically as he could and sat on his rump with his hind legs stretched in front of him, looking, for lack of a better comparison, like the world´s most uncomfortable bear.

Bruce crossed his arms.

"Can you understand me?"

Nod.

"Are you a common bear?"

A shake of the golden, furry head.

"Which one of us is Tony?"

Thor lifted a heavily clawed paw and pointed directly at the bearded man. Tony raised an eyebrow and turned to give Loki a quizzical stare.

"And which one of us can shoot best with a bow?"

Loki smirked. Bruce was obviously trying to discover whether he had trained a random golden bear to answer simple questions and associate faces with names. For a second he felt a little proud that they thought so highly of his abilities in such a short span of time.

However, Thor´s paw just moved to point at Clint, as he growled lowly.

"He says you can stop asking questions now." Jör translated.

"Gods... It´s really you." Clint walked forward to clap a hand on the bear´s furry shoulder. "I almost killed you. Again." And that was it. The rest of the group came closer to hug or clap Thor, and even Natasha let herself be wrapped in his paws.

Steve then turned to Loki.

"What happened? Can you tell us the whole story?" And his voice and his face were so apologetic and sincere that for a second he wished he could tell them just that. He got rid of said wish fairly quickly.

"Yesterday, as I mourned my brother in the stables, Jór came to me." He said. "He told me his story, about his former master. Apparently he was a powerful sorcerer who held such a heavy grudge against my Father that he used his last spell to rid him of his firstborn, intending to leave him heirless. It seems he was unaware of my existence, since he has been burrowed away from human contact for many a year." He felt the snake clench around his wrist and took it as a show of support. "It was Jör who told me Thor was not dead, but lost and transformed. He also told me how to break the spell, but I chose not to tell anyone because... Well, you know why." He finished with a bitter glance.

It would´ve been a bit more satisfying if someone other than the nice Steve had deigned to look guilty.

"So? How do we do it?" Natasha asked.

He´d have danced if it hadn´t rose suspicions.

"Apparently his bond with me is the key, since we are of the same blood. We lost the amulets we had given each other. Jör says once we have them, we can exchange them again and he´ll turn back. It had something to do with that, am I right?"

The snake´s head lifted and nodded to the humans.

"When his own blood acknowledges him as human, human he´ll turn."

It took them less than a second to decide. Steve and Tony crossed looks and turned back to the odd trio that waited for their veredict.

"Well, you both owe me, it seems." Tony grinned and stuck a hand down his robes. When he pulled it out again, Loki felt his eyes widen as he recognized the broken silver chain and the miniature dagger.

"Where did you find that?!" He asked, snatching it from the bearded man´s open palm.

"Around." And he held the grin for a second longer before sobering up. "Where did you lose your hammer?"

"I don´t know. I wasn´t exactly paying attention that night." He jabbed another verbal punch at Steve. Really, he should probably stop. "It looks like Mjölnir." He provided for those who had never seen it.

Steve nodded. "I´ll go with Thor." He declared firmly. "You should probably let me have Jör so we can communicate."

Loki nodded back. They might be convinced for now, but there was no way they´d trust him with Thor. He shot Jör a look, and the snake slipped from his arm to Steve´s thinner one.

"Tony, go with Loki. We´ll meet here again at..." He commanded, but stopped short to look questioningly at Loki."How much time do we have?"

"Until sunset." Was all he said.

Steve let out a huff of breath, and prompted Thor to move out of the clearing. Clint, Bruce and Natasha walked away as well, leaving Tony and Loki alone to go on their way.

Thor was completely frustrated.

Given his current situation, it was not only forgivable but even encouraged. At least now he had someone to blame (the fact that it was a sorcerer he hadn´t met once in his life didn´t really matter.)

He still remembered the night of his escape with painful clarity.

He had woken up in the middle of the night, and even though at first he´d thought he´d had a nightmare, the throbbing of his head convinced him otherwise. He had frowned, squeezing his eyes shut because there was just so much light in his chambers. Had the servants lit up the torches again?

The linens had ripped when he´d pushed them aside, and the sound had been clear and piercing in his ears, but he had ignored it in favor of looking for the light´s source.

Except there had been none.

The only light had come from the moon through the window, and he remembered his puzzlement, because then why was his chamber so bright?!

Then the pain.

It had shot through his spine, wrapping his legs and his arms until he felt as if he´d dipped them in burning coals. He had felt his fingers twist and break and his teeth fall, and he´d blacked out after holding on a little.

He hadn´t had much of a rest, though, since when he´d opened his eyes it was to the same moon he´d closed them to. Nothing had changed, but everything had.

All it had taken was a look into his silver mirror.

He had curled on himself, nesting over his shredded clothes, until he had sobered up a little and the fear had reduced from a deafening chorus to a muttered whisper at the back of his mind. Then he´d known. He ´d known immediately he couldn´t stay in the castle.

His father would kill him, if by some miracle the guards didn´t do it at first sight. And he had to find out how to turn back.

It had been hard, to say the less, going out his door and down the corridor and through the service door that was now too narrow for him.

And he had wandered the forest since, driven half mad by his enhanced senses, until his nose had caught on a scent he recognized.

It was the scent of fine clothes tattered by not-so-fine use, the scent of a well waxed bow chord and dusty-feathered arrows, of the relaxing herbs that smelt so good.

The scent of friends.

He´d padded towards them when the scent had changed to include one that was as familiar to him as his own, and he had rushed, out of his mind with the joy of finding his brother.

Now things looked better.

Loki, cunning, brilliant, genius Loki had known what to do. He´d known how to fix it and Gods what was he going to do when he was taken away?

Steve had taken lead of the situation, as he often did, and now they walked through the forest, Thor tripping every few steps with his eyes fixed on the ground and Loki´s snake coiled around his neck.

"We thought you were dead. Everyone did." Steve started, his own eyes never losing focus of their mission. "They found your clothes all clawed. We thought Loki had gone mad."

He whined in response. If his friend needed to let his sorrow out, then he´d listen.

"He kept muttering to himself. That it was his fault, over and over again. Your Father talked to him..." He smiled at the bear´s pained pout. "Yes, I don´t think it went too well, either. He holed up in the stables with his horse and his dog, and he left before dawn, before anyone else was up... We came to make sure he wasn´t planning anything crazy."

Thor grumbled, and the cold crystal snake translated his words.

"He says he´s grateful, and more so because you chose to help him regain his true body."

"That´s what we do, isn´t it?" He said, as he stopped walking. They had reached the edge of a pit in the ground. Thor knew it from his younger escapades with his brother, and he knew it to be not particularly deep and thankfully not inhabited, but steep and wide under the surface. Under other circumstances, he wouldn´t have considered it, but right now...

"If it got tangled in some beast´s paws, it could´ve wound up here..." Steve muttered. "I will check it. You stay around." He decided, and proceeded to lay the shield down on the ground and crouch to the edge.

He hadn´t been gone for long before Thor caught two familiar, intertwined scents. He smiled as much as his bear face allowed him to. He´d go and check if they´d had any luck.

When he found them, they were walking in silence.

The kind of silence that´s a hairstrand away of breaking, and that held him in place.

They stopped shortly after. Thor knew he wasn´t supposed to watch, but as much as he couldn´t get closer, he found he couldn´t go away either.

"I know you lied." Tony spoke first. Loki held his glance proudly, still as a statue.

"And you should know because..."

"Do you know what this is?" He asked, pulling a heavy chain from under his robe´s collar. It ended on a big, circular rock that shone lightly in the forest´s grim shadows.

"A spell of some kind. You´ve always refused to explain it, and your people know little of it, I have found." Loki answered, unimpressed. Thor chuckled under his breath at the blatant admission.

"There are three things you should know and you already have one." He held three fingers up. "It is a spell. It keeps me alive. And I made it myself."

Now that was new. By the way Loki´s eyes widened slightly, Thor knew he wasn´t the only one surprised.

"I met a man, and this man knew his spells, and he knew his forge, and we made this together. So, you see, I know a bit about this. And Bruce knows his fair share too, and you´re quite lucky I´m the one interrogating you."

"Is that so?" Loki smiled, standing his ground. "Do tell, please, what I lied about."

"I don´t want you to marry Steve either, but that was a bit excessive. I´m selling your arse to your Father if we can´t..."

"Why would you care about my marriage?"

Tony did a double take at the interruption. Thor crouched a bit lower and strained his ears a bit more.

"Steve´s my friend. I wouldn´t want that for him."

"... I see." Loki smirked after a moment. And Thor heard the contempt in his voice and hated Tony a little. And maybe he hated himself a bit too, for not noticing sooner. "So lovely of you, to be so concerned. He must be thankful to have someone as loyal by his side."

"He is."

They stared at each other in a forced silence that quickly grew tense as a bow´s chord.

Thor waited for any of them to speak, or move, and he tensed when Tony lifted a hand, ready to strike if any of them seemed to intend the other any harm.

However, it turned out his prediction was far off, since all Tony´s hand did was land on the point where Loki´s shoulder became his neck, and stay there, not quite gripping and more resting as his owner smirked.

"Oblivious does not suit you, Loki."

The taller man smiled down at him.

"Neither does unrequited. Precautious, however, suits me quite well, don´t you think?"

"Nearly as well as cunning. Which is precisely how I knew."

"One would think you contradict yourself. You seemed quite cross with me just a moment ago."

"Oh, no, don´t misunderstand me. You´re absolutely despicable."

"But I´m too interesting of a riddle."

Thor wanted to sigh. Why hadn´t Loki mentioned this before? Steve would be upset... Their Father would be enraged... He thought to leave and let the two men stare each other down to their please, when his brother´s next words stabbed him like icy spears.

"I had no idea. I thought it would just make him change his mind. Give him the means to convince my Father." Loki shrugged, frowning and unaware that he stood under the piercing gaze of his brother. "The sorcerer told me nothing save that things would change. It was a wildfruit." He added, as if he needed to explain. "He loves those."

"And the counterspell? Is it real?"

"It´s the only thing I have. It has to be real." He cleared his throat. "We should keep..."

Tony fumbled an affirmative. They were short on time, after all. They could deal with Loki´s impulsive decisions later. And by "they" he meant someone that wasn´t him. He didn´t have much on the responsible decisions area either.

He crouched to inspect a bushy patch of dry grass, searching for a metallic reflection. And then he heard it.

The roar was followed by a long, deep snarl, and when he looked up at Loki it didn´t take much to find the source.

Thor had come out of the bordering trees, and light shone against his bright, honey-colored fur. His tremendous fangs showed and his eyes glared daggers.

"Were you not with Ste..." Loki´s attempt at a question was cut by another roar, and the pale man paled even further. "Thor..."

A third roar, and Thor spun on his spot and strode back into the trees, after shaking his head vigorously.

"Thor! Wait!" Loki tried once more, and Tony looked away, unsure of what to do. "Brother!"

Thor´s marching through the grass and fallen leaves faded, and suddenly Loki was sprinting from his side much faster than Tony would´ve thought him capable of.

"Loki!" But he too was gone in a blink.

Tony huffed, and looked down when a whisper of dry leaves called for his attention. It was that damned snake Loki had been carrying around.

"It seems my Master has... Misplaced me." It started, looking up at him with its carved emerald eyes. "I would very much appreciate it if you allowed me to help you on our quest while I wait for his return."

Tony rubbed his nape. Thor must have shaken the snake off before leaving. "Really, now? ... Come up here." And he presented his wrist for the snake to wrap around.

"Is that it?" Nat asked, crouching down next to Bruce.

The man nodded, not even bothering to ask when she´d appeared in favor of inspecting the deep horseshoe imprint at his feet, where a shiny, bent object laid half-buried in the ground.

"Let´s look for Steve."

Loki ran.

The trail was clear on the forest floor, broken branches and deep pawprints and he could even see the faint outline of Thor´s back in the distance, but he still ran as though his life depended on it.

He had to get him back... They had no time.

"... They left? Just like that?" Steve frowned. Tony shrugged.

"Just like that." He repeated. Inside his robes the snake, Jör, trembled in anticipation, but after a while Steve just sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Great. Just... Great. Let´s see if Clint can find them before it´s too late."

When he stopped running, the sky was already losing its color. His paws hurt, and at some point something thorny and hard had tangled itself in his fur and was now digging into his side. But that wasn´t the reason he´d stopped.

The thought of his brother´s treason still sent pangs of pain through his chest, he realized when he sat, fighting to regain his breath. How stupid he´d been. He should´ve seen it in Loki´s eyes, in how desperate he´d been to stay unmarried.

He let out a frustrated roar, and slashed at a nearby tree. His claw let a deep gash in the bark, and he found it incredibly pleasuring. He did it again, and then again and again.

He´d found him.

He´d lost his track at some point, and by the time he managed to find it again he´d been so scared that he was being misled... But he´d found him. He stood there, sharpening his claws on the bark of a tree. He let out a breath of relief.

There was no telling of his mood, but if he´d had to guess, well... It wasn´t really hard to pin it on "enraged". He took a couple, silent steps until he was at his side, and sighed, but Thor took no notice of him aside from a sideways glance. He waited, but nothing happened.

Finally, he took a deep breath.

"Thor..." He muttered. Again, no answer. A bit worried now, he reached to place a hand against his flank.

Then it happened.

Thor roared and turned in the space of a second, and Loki had barely processed the sight of the raised claw when pain shot through his shoulder.

Thor blinked a couple times in a hurry. The last thing he remembered was stopping at the clearing. His mind had numbed away at some point, only to be brought back by Loki´s sharp scream.

He grunted once, questioningly, and looked around for his brother. He found him curled up on the ground, holding his shoulder, and he registered a scent he´d felt before, much stronger now his enhanced nose caught it. Blood.

Sure enough, it dripped between Loki´s pale fingers, staining his torn robe, and when he lowered himself on all fours and took a step towards him, his brother looked up in fear and dragged himself back.

"You don´t understand..." He whispered, and Thor´s ears dropped because Who cared that he was a bear?! What had happened to his brother?!

He edged closer again, and it rained down on him when Loki crawled further still. He´d done this.

Loki fought to control his heartbeat, keeping his eyes fixed on Thor. The bear had frozen on the spot after he´d backed off for the second time, his eyes aimed at the wound on his shoulder.

"I didn´t mean for this to happen, I..." He tried again, a bit more desperate. "I never thought the spell would do this, the sorcerer didn´t warn me... I just told him I wanted you to change your mind! To help me convince Fath..."

Thor interrupted him with another grunt, and stepped forward. Loki clenched his eyes shut. Somewhere in his mind, a voice whispered he deserved it. And that he hoped Thor would at least get his body back.

But the slash didn´t come. Instead, a head pushed against his chest, and Thor whined lowly, as if whispering. Slowly, almost fearfully, he pried his eyelids open, to find the bear leaning against him.

"... Thor?" He asked.

Another whine. After a moment he dared placing a hand between his ears, and he pressed harder, nearly pushing him on his back, with such intensity that it could only mean an apology. It was more than what Loki could take.

He wrapped his arms around his neck, burying his face in the scruff of his neck. Thor lapped at his cheek once, and he let him, even though it was so ridiculous that he soon broke down laughing through the hug.

"I´m so sorry..." He muttered against his fur. "... Sorry..."

Thor disentangled himself from him and nudged him, whining for a third time and looking pointedly at his wounded shoulder. Loki shook his head.

"Just a scratch. Let´s find the others." He clasped a hand on Thor´s fur to help himself up.

"You should stay." Odin muttered, his hands busy with the knots on Sleipnir´s saddle. If there was any horse that could help find his son, it was that one. At his side, Frigga saddled her mare herself, but she turned at his words.

"This is the second time my son has ran away." She voiced, firm and with an unsettling calm. "It seems to me like I´m done with sitting at home and waiting for you."

Odin counted to ten in his mind, resenting the truth in her words. "As you wish, love."

King and Queen rode away from the castle and into the forest, followed by their escort and following the trail left by the scouts that had preceded them.

Someone had mentioned the scouts at some point. However, they were so engrossed with trying to find the missing brothers that they didn´t notice until they were practically on them.

"What will we tell them?" Natasha asked. Steve took a moment to think, before taking a hold of Tony´s wrist and lifting Jör to look at it in the eye.

"Where did they go off to? What direction?"

"West." The snake answered, and he turned back to his friends.

"Follow my lead."

Clint rolled his eyes. "When don´t we?"

Bruce chuckled and Natasha punched his shoulder, but no one really noticed because the riders had got to them.

"My young lords, milady." The party leader bowed his head respectfully. "What are you doing this far into the woods, if I might ask?"

"I believed we follow the same lead." Steve stepped forward. "We followed Prince Loki because he looked upset, but so far we haven´t crossed paths with him."

"I see..." The man swept the surrounding forest with a glance. "I would ask that you return to the castle, my young lords. The beast that took Prince Thor from us might still be roaming these forests."

"We will." Steve nodded, and then added as an afterthought. "When we set off to follow him, Prince Loki seemed to be heading east, for some reason. Of course, he might have drifted from that path, but..."

"But it will be of help. Thank you, my lord. It is wonderful to see the Prince´s future husband is so compromised to his safety." The man called his company and they rode past them, in what would, with some luck, be the exact opposite direction.

"Why are we lying for Loki?" Bruce asked. Steve frowned and turned in time to see Tony´s reproaching stare.

"... Because this is not his fault?" He answered. One of Bruce´s eyebrows attempted to shoot itself up, before he controlled it. He crossed a glance with Tony, and finally nodded. Steve frowned.

"Do you really think that was remotely believable?" He asked, annoyed, and looked sideways; Clint and Natasha were frowning just as deeply as him. "Want to share the story?"

Tony sighed, and motioned for Bruce to stand forward. "You tell them."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Loki had something to do with the spell."

"What?" Steve´s frown deepened.

"I knew it." Clint groaned, before he reached into his pocket for a piece of gold he handed to Natasha.

"I told you so." The woman, meanwhile, smiled smugly as she pocketed the gold.

Steve waved at them to shut them up.

"Why would you think so?"

Bruce shifted on his feet, evidently uncomfortable.

"When you´re going to burn all the energy that is needed to curse someone without getting close to them, you usually have to be very close to your target." He explained. "Like... I could curse Natasha from a distance, because I know her mannerisms and traits well enough so that my curse wouldn´t hit another young, redheaded woman on accident."

"Fine. So the sorcerer had to have been someone really close to Thor?" Steve frowned deeper still. "Loki´s not a sorcerer. We know it."

"He isn´t. A real sorcerer did the deal. There´s another, simpler way to curse someone at a distance without knowing them to the last detail."

"What is it?"

"A cursed object. It´s much more erratic because anyone could take it and the curse would fall over them. Many sorcerers hand it personally to their victim and then get themselves as far as they can. However, in this case we know Thor kept himself busy and didn´t receive the visit of a sorcerer, or receive any unusual gifts."

"So you think Loki gave it to him?"

"Who else would be so desperate to get rid of him and at the same time have both the chances to go to him at any given time and have his uttermost trust?" Bruce concluded.

"In his defense, he didn´t really know what the spell would do." Tony quipped in.

Steve´s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "So he gave it to his brother to try it out?!"

"He´s trying to fix it, isn´t he? I think it´s the best proof we have that whatever he intended was definitively not this." Tony shrugged.

"Gods, if any of you is ever this opposed to marry me, please let me know beforehand!"

"It´s more of a "Loki thing" and less of a "marriage thing", though. Don´t feel guilty because of the man´s inferiority complex."

"Save it, Tony."

"So? Are we still lying for Loki?" This time it was Natasha who asked. Steve closed his eyes and ran a hand over his face, before he looked up again and sighed.

"Yes we are. If he told Tony the truth, it was still an accident of sorts." He answered. "We know the punishment for black magic, and bear or not Thor will murder us if we let his brother get burned. Has anyone got a problem with that?"

Clint huffed. "Seriously, Steve... You should have just missed the bullseye and let him sweep us all away with his little show."

"Just find the trail, will you?"

"Is it coming right now?" Loki reached up to rip another wildfruit as he passed under it, and held it close to Thor´s muzzle. His brother´s teeth grazed his fingers, but didn´t bite down on them as he took the fruit from his hand. "Thor? Is it?"

After swallowing the fruit, Thor nodded. He´d gone wild once more since they had started making their way back. Loki had noticed the odd way he stiffened and his muzzle twitched before he´d decided to follow his instincts and sprinted away and up the nearest tree, until the bear´s black eyes had given way to Thor´s blue ones.

"You´re fighting it back..." Another nod. Loki sighed. "You´ll be fine. We just need to find them, I´m sure they found my pendant already." He reassured him, before he briefly looked up... The sun was halfway across the sky already. He swallowed the knot in his throat and urged himself to move faster.

"I think we found them." Clint climbed to his feet from his crouching position, and gestured ahead to where the ground raised slightly to form a small hill.

Tony stared quizzically at the icy snake that refused to let go of his numb wrist.

"Do you feel them?"

Jôr nodded. "They´re close ahead"

The hill was a good place to rest and wait for the others to catch up.

Or it would have been, had Loki not found himself on yet another tree, hanging off reach of his brother´s jaws. It had been a while now, he thought in despair, and despite all his yelling and name-calling, Thor hadn´t come back to his senses. It wouldn´t be long until dusk now... Or until his arms couldn´t hold his weight anymore.

An arrow hit the tree just in time for him to use it as a footrest, and the bear turned.

"What did you do now?!" Steve yelled from the other end of the clearing.

"Take cover!" Loki answered in a similar fashion. "He´s out of his mind!"

They dispersed when the bear showed clear signs of charging towards them. Natasha followed Loki´s steps ad hefted herself up on a tree. Tony rolled out of the way and ducked under some roots. Steve followed suit, dragging Bruce along and pulling out a short sword.

Clint tried to emulate Tony, but Thor´s paw tangled itself in the chorded bow, snapping the wood and getting a hold of his clothes. Thor dragged him over the ground, and his free paw raised to strike again.

Loki dropped to the ground and ran towards them.

The claw lowered and Loki stopped short, because surely he was seeing things?

Clint was safely balled over himself under a green, glowing mist in the shape of an ethereal hand. Thor´s paw slashed repeatedly at it, but couldn´t break it. Then a second huge hand wrapped around his bulk and pulled him back.

It was Bruce.

Bruce, whose pupils had disappeared somewhere into his skull and shone with a hue of poisonous green. His limp bodyhovered over the ground, engulfed in the same sort of translucent fog that looked like an enhancing of him, wider, stronger, and huffing aggressively at the bear. Tony´s words came back to his mind. `You´re lucky it´s me and not Bruce who´s interrogating you.´

As soon as he´d gotten the bear far enough from his teammates, Bruce used all his might to push down on him, causing the him to lie flat on the ground while snarling and struggling uselessly.

Clint made a run for a hiding spot as soon as the shielding hand was lifted.

And then a horse neighed in distress and Loki paled because he knew that neighing. Sure enough, when he turned it was Sleipnir there, struggling to move towards him against the reigns in his father´s hands. Frigga appeared a second later at his side and Loki wanted to die. If Thor harmed their mother because of his stupid mistake he´d never forgive himself.

Odin pulled on Sleipnir´s reigns again, bringing him to a halt, and his face paled as he took in the scene before him. His glance found the bear trapped under Bruce´s spectral grip, and his brow furrowed.

"Is that the beast that murdered my son?" He asked with a grim, deep voice that spoke of steel and fire.

´Oh, Gods...` Loki took a step forward as his father climbed down Sleipnir, and his escorts poked out from between the trees.

"It isn´t, Father, he..." He looked at Thor. He had curled into a ball and covered his face with his paws. He guessed he´d already regained control over himself. "Let him go, Bruce!"

Steve helped Tony to his feet from under the tree´s roots, and he took a step forward.

"Bruce? Can you hear me?" He asked. The light giant turned his head and inside his chest, Bruce stirred a little. Tony tried again. "It´s fine now, Bruce. Let go." It worked. Bruce turned this time, and the giant faded slowly as his feet reached the ground and his eyes went back to normal.

Loki stepped closer to the shivering bear as Bruce walked back to Steve and Tony, looking exhausted and pale.

"Thor, Father is here." He whispered. The bear shook again, and began to unfurl.

"Loki, what..."

He cut Odin´s words with a gesture, and stretched a hand to pet Thor´s fur.

"Come, Thor. We need to find my pendant."

Thor raised his head, and Loki´s stomach fell to his feet when he couldn´t find a trace of the familiar blue in his eyes.

His father pulled him back just as a clawed paw swung across the space where his face had been. He was thrown back and fell to the ground, while his father´s escort swept around them and nets and ropes fell all over Thor.

The bear fought his bindings, but soon there were too many, and he found himself weighed down to the ground for the second time.

Odin stepped forward, brandishing his spear, Gungnir. He lifted it over his head; Loki watched as if someone had cut him from his body. His head felt dizzy, his mouth dry, and his heart threatened to burst from his chest.

"We avenge you, my firstborn." Odin enounced loudly, looking at the sky. "May your spirit rest in peace."

The bear looked up to him, and Loki caught a glimpse of blue in his eyes.

"STOP" He finally found his voice to yell at the top of his lung. "DON´T KILL HIM"

Odin´s spear stopped an inch away from Thor´s eyes, and he shot a glance over his shoulder. "He´s out of his mind. Hold him." Was all he said, before turning to the trapped bear again. Two members of the royal guard stepped in Loki´s way, intending to catch him as he made his way to his father, but he pounded into one to knock him off his feet and ducked under the second one´s hands.

His father´s spear had gone up again, and its sharp-edged tip gleamed against the fading sunlight. He threw himself over Thor´s head.

Gungnir sank on the ground next to him.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE GODS DO YOU THINK YOU´RE DOING?!" Odin yelled, his face livid and pale and his hands shaking uncontrollably.

Loki paid no mind, busy as he was untangling Thor´s front legs.

Natasha´s hair gleamed at some point next to him, and he lifted a hand in time to block the object thrown to him. The chain tangled around his fingers and the miniature hammer slammed against his palm.

"What is the meaning of this? Is that your pendant?"

He nodded at his father´s question as he thrust the chain in one of Thor´s paws, and fumbled with his robs to pull out the matching piece. The sun had begun its last descent, and he looked straight into Thor´s eyes.

"Accept this gift." He muttered breathlessly, holding the miniature dagger he´d crafted so long ago at eye level. "Brother of mine, blood of my blood." And he slid the chain past Thor´s furry ears, around his neck.

Thor sat on his hind legs, and roared something unintelligible, although Loki guessed he was merely repeating his words. The hammer hit him in the nose and the claws scratched his neck, but he stood still as the necklace was slid over his head.

He stared.

Everyone did.

For a second, the world appeared to have stopped, not a single sound reached the clearing...

And then slowly, like ink seeping through parchment, Thor´s eyes blackened until the blue had all but disappeared.

Loki felt his knees give up under him, and suddenly a hand was on his am, gripping him tight and yanking him to safety, far from the bear that was already fighting with the rest of his bindings.

Odin prepared his spear again.

Loki looked behind him and found Steve, his hand still on his arm, his face wretched in concern as he watched his friend about to be murdered by his own father. Loki´s mind sped up. Maybe, just maybe...

"FATHER." Odin looked back at his call a second time, while his men secured the beast with more ropes. Loki gestured to Steve. "I need you to get us married right now."

"What?!" Came Steve´s breathless whisper from behind him. His father´s brow furrowed.

"Why would I..."

Loki snapped.

"It´s a spell! This could be the only thing that breaks it, but only if we do it RIGHT NOW." He explained. Odin´s eyes widened a fraction, and Loki could see the denial weaving itself in his mind. "He gave me the necklace! He didn´t attack me! For one time in your life LISTEN TO ME!"

The king paled and, after a moment, rubbed his brow tiredly and lowered his spear. The light in the clearing grew dimmer by the second and Loki felt his heart climbing to his mouth.

"Say your vows, then." Odin conceded.

Loki wanted to scream in victory. He turned to Steve and yanked him forward. He was bit surprised to see the scrawny young man straighten his shoulders determinedly.

When he spoke, his voice was clear and strong like the call of a war horn.

"I swear on my honor, and on my Father´s honor, under the eyes of Gods and men, to respect and cherish our union, and to protect the home we build together until the Gods see it fit to take us both into their realm." He said, taking care to pronounce each part perfectly. He turned to Loki. As did his father.

Loki took a deep breath. His mind was blank. He looked at Thor´s friends. He looked at Tony. He looked at Thor.

What he always denied himself. What he might have had. What he could still save.

"I swear on my honor, and on my Father´s honor, under the eyes of Gods and men, to respect and cherish our union, and to provide for the home we build together until the Gods see it fit to take us both into their realm."

His voice did tremble a little through the pledge, not that anyone cared. He was finally doing what he was supposed to do. He figured any pain he might have seen in his father´s face was merely an illusion.

"Then, as the ruler of this Kingdom, under the eyes of Gods and men, I declare you joined in marriage. May the Gods who rule us all grant you joy and prosperity as they see fit to spare it, and may you, in exchange, honor them in gratitude for your match."

Odin´s voice had not so much as faded before a loud cracking noise echoed around the clearing, coming obviously from under the mass of nets and ropes that were now covered in a thin layer of frost. The ropes fell one after another, no longer having anything to wrap around. The bulk grew smaller and smaller, and Loki dared taking a step towards it. He felt dazed, as if he´d taken a blow to the face with the real Mjölnir.

It had to have worked.

A scratched, bruised hand found its way through the mess of rope, and Loki let himself fall to his knees. He was vaguely aware of his father, mother, and Thor´s friends edging closer, but he couldn´t make himself care. He touched the hand, and it clung around his with so familiar a strength that it made his head light.

Thor´s muddied head and shoulders poked out not long after, and he couldn´t contain himself anymore. He launched himself forward, and wrapped his brother in his arms just as Thor did the same.

He said nothing. He didn´t think his relief and his regret could be expressed in words. He might never say anything ever again, then, he thought.

Only when he felt Thor´s rough hands rubbing his cheeks did he realize he´d been tearing up, and his brother´s clumsy attempts at wiping the tears off were making a mess of his face.

He pushed the hands away. He was fine now. Thor looked straight at him and Loki was surprised to find him crying as well.

"I´m sorry." He muttered, and his voice was a hoarse, raspy growl. "Oh, Loki, I am so sorry."

Loki frowned, confused. What could Thor possibly be sorry for?

Steve´s hand went to awkwardly pat his shoulder.

Ah.

He knew he must have looked crazy, but at that moment he didn´t care at all. Laughter bubbled in his throat; a last, stray tear drifted down the side of his face, and he embraced his brother again.

"It doesn´t matter now." He heard himself say through broken sobs. "It doesn´t matter."

And he was surprised to notice he meant it.

Thor was shivering by the time they arrived to the castle, draped only in Odin´s heavy fur cloak, and the healer sent him to his chambers immediately, ordering the servants to prepare a hot bath.

The great hall boiled in excitement, and half an hour later, after it became evident that it wouldn´t just die down, Odin ordered for dinner to be served early in celebration of the prince´s return. Then, with a meaningful glance that brought the anxiety back to Loki´s gut, he retired to the family chambers, with his wife in tow.

He gave himself a moment before following. He was a bit surprised when a chorus of footsteps echoed his own.

His new husband took his place at his right. Tony let a respectful space between them, but his presence was comforting all the same. Further back Bruce, Clint and Natasha closed the march. He arched an eyebrow, but said nothing. Let them come if they wanted to watch the spectacle.

Much to their surprise, Thor was already waiting in the spacious chamber, wrapped in a thick robe and heavy furs and sipping from a cup of hot, spiced mead.

"Shouldn´t you be... Sleeping or something?" Tony asked. Thor shook his head.

"I feel perfectly healthy, friends, if one is not to take into account the cold of the ride back." He smiled. "I believe I didn´t thank you all before..."

"Thor." Odin´s voice cut the warmth of the moment like an icy knife. "Enough."

"Yes, Father."

The king sat on a beautifully carved seat, with the queen resting at his side on a matching chair.

"I believe we are in need of explanations." HIs voice was tired, and his eye drifted to his younger son. "Is anyone willing to give them?"

Loki´s head buzzed with nerves. He opened his mouth.

"I fell victim to a spell, Father. I know not who casted it, but I do believe it targeted both of your heirs." Thor´s voice cut in before he could speak, and he thought he could feel the confusion in the room. Thor´s friends managed to keep silent, however, and he fought to keep his features under control.

"That´s absurd, Thor. Loki was not affected in the least." Odin´s disbelief was palpable.

Thor nodded. "I thought the same. But I think his talisman protected him against it."

"Now you´re talking nonsense. What talisman?"

Loki felt his mother´s eyes on him, but his nerves faded as he took in what Thor was intending. "He means Jörmungandr, Father." He answered, keeping his voice steady and confident. He lifted his arm and pulled his sleeve back, to reveal the icy circlet of Jör around his wrist. "The king wants to meet you, Jôr."

Sure enough, the snake´s head sprung up and bowed respectfully.

"It´s an honor, Your Highness."

Odin had paled, and his eye was wider than Loki had ever seen it.

Surprisingly, it was Frigga who fully recovered first.

"Where did you get that, my son?" She asked, and once again Loki knew better than to outright lie to her.

"I bought it from a sorcerer in the woods, Mother. The night after my engagement, when I ran away. He said it would guard me from any harm it might come to me."

Jör nodded.

"I felt it the night in which Prince Thor fell victim to the spell. It ran through the halls of the castle, looking for the King´s blood, but no matter how hard it tried it couldn´t break my barrier." Loki wanted to kiss the snake. "Just the day after I warned my Master of his brother´s fate, and of the counterspell that might reverse his condition."

Frigga´s eyes focused back on Loki. "And why did you not inform us of this?"

Loki had the good sense to fidget and sigh. "I was... Not in my right mind, Mother. I also was not in the best of terms with Father, and I feared he would not believe me." He explained. "I went after Thor right after I learned the truth of his condition, but I admit informing anyone never crossed my mind."

"Then why did your friends know about it?" Odin´s ability of speech had returned, it seemed. Steve took a step forward.

"After Thor´s supposed death was announced, we decided to keep an eye on Loki, your Majesty, since we noticed how... Deeply affected he was. When he ran away from the castle under the cover of dawn, we feared he might do something impulsive or that he might come to harm, and we followed him." Loki suppressed his amazing. Was Steve actually lying for him? "We were surprised to find him with Thor in his bear form, and only then did he explain the problem to us."

"And you believed him without hesitation?"

"Tony and I have had our own experiences with spells and magic." Bruce quipped in. "We set to find the missing pendant when the beast took over Thor´s mind and drove him away from us"

"What about the counterspell?" Odin asked. His doubts could be seen as they faded away, but he was obviously determined to get every detail.

"The pendants represented Thor and mine´s bond as brothers, and as your sons. As we had lost them both recently it was crucial that we exchanged them again." Loki answered. "It was supposed to represent me recognizing Thor as a human."

"Then why didn´t it work? Why did he only change back when I sealed your marriage to Steven?"

There it was again. Loki´s mouth dried in less than a second and a heavy weight sat on his gut. Fortunately, it was Jör who answered for him.

"The time to reverse the spell was already over. My Master had to offer a tribute to the Gods."

"A marriage union? Was that enough tribute?"

"No, Your Highness. But freedom is the only thing a man truly has, and my Master´s freedom, voluntarily given, was enough."

Silence descended over the room like a heavy blanket. Loki felt Thor looking for his eyes, but he kept them fixed on the ground. He heard his father shuffle into his seat.

"If I break the marriage now, before it´s been consummated..." He started, and Loki could practically feel the heat rising of Steve´s face. "Will the counterspell reverse?" His eyes were focused on Loki´s wrist, and he brought it to eye level when he realized the question was aimed at Jör.

The snake shook its head. "I don´t think so, Your Highness. Now that the spell has been broken, every trace of the spell should have vanished."

Loki guessed the expression on his face must have been worrying, for Thor clung to his furs and walked over to his side. Odin nodded, and turned to Steve.

"Would your father take offense if we proceed as I said, given that he´s provided with a reasonable motive for my actions?"

"Given that he is rewarded with a hearty amount of gold, he will gladly accept having the House of Odin indebted to him." Steve flashed them an embarrassed smile.

Odin nodded again.

"And what about you, Steven?"

"Me, Your Highness?"

The king rolled his eye. "You know perfectly well what I´m asking."

Steve cleared his throat. "I would be honored to marry Prince Loki, Your Highness, given that he wanted me. Unfortunately, I happen to know his heart lies far from mine. If the marriage was truly vital for the Kingdom I have no doubt we would both consent without hesitation. But as it is... I´d rather we both have the chance to keep looking for someone we actually want to build a home with."

Tony whistled. "I never knew you had such a deep understanding of Prince Loki´s mind, Steve."

Steve smiled. "As it happens, I pay more attention than one would think. I would advise you to stay silent." That shut him up. Thor squeezed Loki´s hand when his father looked upon them.

"Then... I will ask you to leave us, if you may." Loki stretched a hand behind him, and Jör slid off his hand, probably tangling itself around Tony´s wrist. The hall emptied itself but for the royal family, and the air thickened.

Odin looked up again, and his eye shone with unshed tears.

"My sons." He opened his arms to receive them, like he used to do when they both fit snuggly in his lap and he returned home from a long trip. It took a moment, but Loki finally took a step forward; only then did Thor move, and their father´s arms closed around them. His mother found her place in the circle and suddenly those arms, those bodies in that huge, cold chamber became home again.

"Thank you..."

"I´m sorry..."

"My children..."

"Mother..."

The muttered sentences and the broken sobs filled the silence, and they didn´t let go for a long while. When they did, it was Thor, with a shaky voice, who dared to ask.

"Is it true, Father? Can you undo Loki´s marriage? He won´t have to marry now?"

"He will. And soon, before you do so yourself and take the throne." Odin answered, retreating back into his seat. "But do not misunderstand me. I see this as what it was."

"... And what was it exactly?" Loki hated his voice for being so shaky and dry. Odin sighed, and Frigga held his arm.

"A warning, my sons. Loki could have died and Thor´s fate could have been even worse." He explained. "As much as it pains me to say it... I have seen the error in my ways. Loki will marry. But this time we will decide together, and no one will have more to say in the matter than him." Their eyes met. "I am sorry, son. For everything."

And Loki smiled, feeling like he would burst at any moment.

"It´s all forgiven, Father."

Loki knew how it would go.

They would be ambushed right after they stepped a foot into Thor´s chambers, and they might as well. He had a few reluctant thanks to give.

In a few hours from then, a little after midnight, he would leave his room, and make his way to the highest tower. He loved the feeling there, the wind through his hair and the thrill of the heights.

A few minutes later, someone would meet him there.

He would kiss his not-husband´s best friend until they both forgot their names and any reason why they hadn´t crossed that line before.

The morning after his Father would call the marriage off, and Steve´s clan would walk away with a couple of heavy chests.

Two weeks or so from now he would sit at the family chambers again, surrounded by his Mother, Father and brother, and nod along to Odin´s reasons to marry each of Thor´s... Of their idiotic friends.

He would refuse them all.

His Father would take a deep, calming breath and roll his eye. He would smirk and his mother would laugh.

Then Thor would make use of his admirable reserves of tact and discretion and announce his brother would marry Tony.

He would keep silent. He wouldn´t say yes. But then again, he wouldn´t say no.

Frigga would look at him strangely just before crushing him into a hug, and Odin would mumble and complain about how he could just have said it right from the start.

Two months later House Stark would march in again, and he would reject Tony´s sarcastic proposal half a dozen times. And meanwhile, up in the highest tower, he would say yes twice as many.

He would marry. Premature, yes, and forced, but satisfied enough.

Thor would walk him to the foot of his Father´s throne in the Great Hall. He might trip him, just to see what he´ll do. Steve would hand Tony the sword and Thor would hand him the horn of ale. They would say the vows changed, just to spite everybody.

And he would ride away from his Father´s castle draped in silks and furs and escorted by guards carrying gold and gifts.

However, this time he didn´t feel as though he´d swallowed a block of ice.

He could have had everything. He could have been a King. He could have been free.

He looked ahead at Thor, as he pushed open his chambers´ doors, and knew he´d made the right choice.

Perhaps nothing had really changed, but to him, everything had.

And it was perfect.

Thanks for reading!

(On a foot note, I wish I could have squeezed Hel in somehow, but there was no reasonable way)