Higher Further Faster (Universe 13,400,063)

Chapter 17

"He was my best friend." Carol quietly. 

"Has Loki heard about this?" Rhodey asked. 

"No." Odin responded in a sad tone. 

Odin sat down on the couch, thinking about everything he had just been told. 

"Is Loki here right now?" Carol wondered. 

 "No. He's in Melbourne." Odin replied. 

"Rhodey go get him." Carol looked up at her friend. 

"On it." He got up from the couch. 

Rhodey left the house, and Carol sat on one of the chairs. Frigga joined Odin and Carol, devastated by the news. 

"I'm so sorry I had to be the one to tell you guys." Carol didn't know what else to say. 

"What about you?" Frigga looked at her sadly. 

"I wish it would have been me. But it's too late now." 

"He seemed to like you."

"We were pretty such siblings."

"Every time he came to visit us, he had many stories to tell us. A lot of them were about you."

"Did he tell you about the time we had to do that obstacle course?"

"Not that I remember."

"When we were both in boot camp for the Air Force, one of the challenges was an obstacle course. It looked easy at first, but got extremely difficult. Thor and I were the only ones who actually completed it."

"I'm glad to finally meet you. Even if it's for something really awful."

"I really tried to save him."

"I know you did. But there's nothing we can do now."

"When are you planning the funeral?"

"Tomorrow at the earliest."

"All we can do now is wait for the report. We should be expecting news from Fury anytime now."

Carol looked at her phone hoping to get some response from Fury.

"They found the plane wreckage." She announced, still looking at her phone. 

"Any news on my son?" Odin had a small bit of hope still left in him. 

"They haven't found his body." 

"It was an explosion."

"They did find the remains of his name tag. That was all that survived."

Carol looked at the ground sadly, still having a little hope that he wasn't dead. 

"Do you want anything to drink?" Frigga asked. 

"Water will be fine. Thank you for everything." Carol wasn't in the mood for anything fancy. 

"It's the least we could do. We're all devastated but things can only get better." 

Frigga went into the kitchen, leaving Carol and Odin to talk.

"He was my oldest son. I remember when he told me he wanted to be a pilot. He was only five years old but didn't care. His mother and I supported him on his dream, but in the back of our minds we knew it was a dangerous job." Odin told her, gazing on the past. 

"We risked our lives every day. We both never though of flying as a job. It was more of a hobby." She had a feeling that everything was going to be okay, but didn't know why. 

"I never thought the day would come when our son had gave his life to save others. I am thankful that his friends were able to get out safely."

"It's part of being a pilot. You're always hoping that nothing goes wrong. But when it does, your limits are tested. That's the hardest part."

The front door opened, revealing Loki and Rhodey on the porch. Both of them came in, and joined everyone else in the living room. 

"My son, did you get the news?" Odin said. 

"What news?" Loki was confused. 

"It's about your brother. He was killed in Laos today. The only thing left of the wreckage was his name tag."

"This can't be true..."

"Sadly it is."

Loki looked at the ground, while everyone else sat there silently. All of them were very sad, but didn't show any emotion. 

"When is the funeral?" Loki asked quietly. 

"Tomorrow. We were hoping you would attend it." Odin responded. 

"I will. He's my brother. I've always looked up to him but now he's gone." Loki seemed sad. 

"It's going to be okay." Frigga tried to comfort the group. 

"It'll take some time to get used to." Loki tried to make the best of a really bad situation. 

"We should probably go. Fury's going to need us." Rhodey looked at his watch. 

"You guys can stay. We usually don't have much guests over." Frigga looked at the two of them. 

"Are you sure? We don't want to intrude." Rhodey didn't want to sound rude. 

"It's alright. Please. If you guys want I can make you something." 

"You guys are too kind." 

"We treat our guests like family. Don't want to be rude." 

Everyone got up from their seats and sat down in the dining room. Carol gave Rhodey a confused look but he just nodded his head. Frigga came back with several plates of Fårikål, a dish made up of mutton, black pepper, cabbage, gravy, and potatoes. 

"Thank you." Carol thanked. 

"You're very welcome." Frigga responded. 

Frigga sat down, and everything was silent. They started eating their food, which Carol found to be very good, and there wasn't much talk.

"Thor was going to take me to Byron Bay today. But then all of this happened." Carol said, remembering what Thor had said. 

"That's even more sad." Rhodey felt bad for his best friend. 

"Now I'm here but he isn't." She continued to eat her food. 

"It's going to take time to get used to. Especially you two. You both have had a harder time." Loki spoke, but in a quiet tone. 

"We'll be alright. There's not much we can do anymore." Rhodey looked back at him. 

Odin picked up everyone's plates while Frigga brought back ice cream.

"How's your job been Loki?" Rhodey asked. 

"Pretty decent. I'm shooting some scenes in Melbourne." Loki replied. 

"That's nice."

"I get to play a guy named Thomas Hiddleston."

"That's funny."