A Murder of Crows ://: ~Loki~

//Is It?//

Thor was the first to his feet and the first to head towards the forests.

Tony followed close behind, glancing in shock at the trees that appeared to be either frozen solid or burnt to a charred crisp.

Steve and Nat were jogging, keeping a safer distance, just in case whatever that was happened again.

Bruce and Clint took up the rear, Bruce simply not the fastest while Clint had hurt his leg earlier.

Thor burst from the dead woods into the clearing where he had left Loki.

"Brother?!" He stopped dead in his tracks.

There, standing with his back to Thor, was Loki.

He turned his head slowly, a huge grin spread on his bleeding lips.

"Ah! Thor!" The Jotun spoke oddly, his voice just a little deeper than usual with an edge of something dark and foreboding. His emerald eyes dull and wide.

"L-Loki?" Thor asked, taking a few steps back.

His brother didn't respond, the only movement was a slight twitch in his eye.

Tony burst through the trees, panting for breath.

The engineer caught sight of Loki, dread tightening his features.

He took a dozen or so steps back, turning and rushing to warn the others.

Loki's smile flared wider.

"Aw, don't leave! I haven't even done anything yet!" The god spoke slowly, drawing out his words, almost like he was drunk. His entire countenance spoke of madness.

"B-brother? Are you...alright?" Thor asked, hesitantly taking another step back. Loki stayed silent for a few seconds.

What he did next made the elder Æsir's blood run cold.

He laughed, a low, cold laugh.

Within seconds, he was doubled over in laughter, tears streaming down his sickeningly pale face.

Thor watched in dread.

"L-Loki?!" Tony had reappeared through the trees, staring in horror at the god.

Loki laughed louder, raising one hand and summoning an odd, golden glow from his hands.

Thor's skin crawled.

Gold was not the color of his brother's magic.

Loki took advantage of the elder's distraction to send a spiraling attack of gold and black straight at Tony.

Thor lept forward, trying to block the attack, but he was too far away.

"NO!" Thor was a few steps from Tony, but the magic was only a few inches away.

Then, to both men's surprise, the magic came to a sudden halt.

Thor turned to look at Loki once more.

The god's face was tight with pain and concentration, his earlier sickly gold glow was flaring with pulses of green.

His eyes met Thor's own, filled with pain and tears, swimming in a thick froth of madness.

"Run." was all Loki said, but Tony didn't need to be told twice.

Thor, however, stood his ground.

"Run!" Loki hissed again, squeezing his eyes shut as the green flare weakened.

Thor refused to flee, even going as far as to take another step towards Loki.

"P-Please, brother!" Loki pleaded, his voice cracking with effort. "I-I c-can't hold...it...m-much longer!"

Thor wanted nothing more than to turn tail and flee, but his heart was shouting at him to do something. His brother was suffering, he couldn't just leave!

Loki's green magic seemed to flicker, within seconds, Thor was sure the magic would fail.

Thinking fast -though not very cleverly- Thor ran to his brother and wrapped his arms around him.

"Sorry, this might hurt a bit..."

Thor, without a word, stepped back and sent a blast of lightning onto his brother.

As the lightning faded, Loki collapsed forwards, effectively unconscious. Thor raced forwards, catching his brother before he connected face first with the hard ground.

"Oh...brother..." He winced hard as he noticed the spiraling red trail of lightning-burns on Loki's sickly skin.

Scooping up his sibling, Thor began to head back to where the other Avengers were waiting.

"Whoa! What happened to him!" Tony was the first to rush to Thor's side, expression filled with concern.

Thor gently placed Loki on the softer grass, brushing his hair from his face.

The god truly was disgusted with himself at that moment. His brother was weak and ill, but the first thing he thought to do was hurt him.

Steve, Clint, and Natasha stayed back while Tony and Banner rushed to assess the damage.

~Time Skip~

After a few minutes, Tony stepped back.

"It's pretty bad, but he should be fine with some rest." The engineer sighed.

He turned to glare at Thor.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" He hissed. "If Loki wasn't a fucking god, he would be dead right now!" Tony fumed, Thor stayed silent.

Tony was right after-all.

"Brute..." Tony mumbled under his breath as he walked away, back towards Banner and Loki.

Steve walked towards Thor, careful not to surprise him or to upset the clearly bothered god.

"Hey buddy...you alright?" Steve asked cautiously.

"Y-yes, I am fine." Thor's voice was cold. He turned and placed a hand briefly on Steve's shoulder. His eyes were a bit absent, glazed over and showing little emotion other than a distant turmoil, like a storm brewing. "I am fine." He repeated, moving to step past the captain.

Steve was honestly stunned. He couldn't help but stare as Thor walked quickly past everyone.

The god's hand had been shaking.