God with Whiskers

Kitty rescue

Nine months before the man who talks to ants was supposed to come and do... Whatever the heck he was supposed to do.

Thor and Loki had started to take walks every single day. Loki would always stand in front of the door after breakfast and wait for Thor. If Thor refused, Loki would start complaining, very loudly and very determinedly until Thor just gave in and went outside.

Sometimes the walks would be short, and sometimes... very, very long. They could be walking for an entire day.

Some days Thor wouldn't speak. Other days he would. And some days, he would stop in the middle of their walk and break down crying. Then he would talk. Thor talked about... All of it.

About Hela and how weak he had been in comparison to her, how he had been unable to save most of Asgard.

He talked about Thanos and once again, how he had been helpless watching Loki die, unable to do anything about it.

He told about Stormbreaker and how... Thor really thought he could have stopped it. He really thought if he had just gone for Thanos' head the snap wouldn't have happened.

Or at least that was what Thor believed.

But Loki already knew otherwise, and he hated he couldn't say it out loud. Even if Thor had gone for the head back then, it wouldn't have worked. He could not have stopped Thanos.

And Thor also cried, sobbed when he explained how he had finally killed Thanos.

How Thanos had been defenseless but Thor had been filled with rage and once again... Destroyed everything.

If there had been a chance, Thor had destroyed it.

No... Thor. You have not, the stones were already gone. There was nothing more to do.

Maybe this was what Hela had intended. Perhaps this was exactly what Loki was supposed to do... It was so hard, though, to watch his brother in pain. To hear Thor's constant self-recriminations. To be unable to actually help or comfort him.

Thor was doing better, he looked better. But still wasn't doing very good, still nowhere near his old usual self. That bright smile and that glimmer in his eye was as absent as ever. And it was the worst.

It forced Loki to realize he had taken it for granted... How bright and happy Thor had always been. How easy going, even if he was a big fat idiot, always acting before thinking.

He had always been so hopeful, and annoyingly optimistic. Always sure of getting the best out of any situation.

Loki had hated that about Thor in the past... So much. It made Loki think Thor never took anything seriously. Even when the enemies were knocking at the door, Thor would still be grinning and flirting with the maidens around him.

Now Loki was willing to pay an awful lot to see that glimmer return.

Today, Thor was sitting on a way too familiar bench on top of a cliff with a free view over the oceans, and New Asgard not too far away from them.

"This is where my father died..." Thor breathed.

Loki was quiet sitting next to him.

Thor swallowed. "When I was growing up I... I always believed my Father had all the answers. That he just... That he knew everything, and every decision he made was right. I could never imagine my father doing anything bad, or anything that would have bad consequences. Whenever it did involve someone getting hurt... I still believed he was in the right, just because he was... Odin. My father. I could never imagine him being wrong about anything."