A Fragile Hope (and other Avengers Oneshots)

A Fragile Hope

 The interior was dim and all around, Thor could hear the incessant chatter of people. He strode to a dark ebony table in the far corner of the room and sat down, setting Mjolnir gingerly on the seat next to him. He sincerely hoped that he would come, but after the incidents of last Thursday, he wasn't so sure. Of course, it must have counted for something that Thor invited him here of his own accord, not for any reason to find out information for the rest of the Avengers, or to trick him into coming so they might confine him in the close quarters of a prison. Besides, it probably wouldn't work. Loki had more tricks up his sleeves than all of the Avengers combined. With a sigh, he adjusted his position and waited. Finally, as Thor was getting ready to resign himself to the fact that his brother probably wasn't coming, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Fancy meeting you here, brother," said Loki in a lilting tone.

Thor stood up suddenly, and turned to face him.  Loki grinned and spun his staff around, knocking over a few chairs in the process.

"Loki, I just want to talk," Thor pleaded in a low voice. He seemed not to hear, and motioned to the well-stocked bar behind them.

"Have they got any juice of apple?"

Thor rolled his eyes. Sometimes, Loki was just his innocent, mischievous brother, still with his old taste for apple juice.

"I'll ask," Thor replied quickly, but Loki put out a hand to stop him.

"Do not fret, brother. I am quite capable of saying...a few words to the bartender." He winked and sidled over to the bar, uncerimoniously smashing his staff the polished surface of the wood. Everyone in the room jumped and eyed them nervously. "Do proceed," Loki said loudly, by way of answering to the pregnant pause. "I won't be doing anything as of yet." Uneasy murmurs flickered around the room and Loki grinned again. Thor joined him, mostly as a precaution. "I'll have an apple juice." Loki smirked, voice dangerously low. "I do hope that such wonderful people do keep it in stock for these sort of...occasions." The bartender nodded furiously, and trotted over to a back cabinet. "Now, Thor, won't you join me?" Loki put a hand on his shoulder amiably. Thor grunted, and motioned to the bartender.

He cautiously came forward again, although not as close as was customary, and said, "Yes, Thor, what can I get for you?"

"I'll just have an ale," he replied, sliding over a few silver coins. The bartender busied himself with their requests while Loki began commenting on their surroundings.

"You know," he said thoughtfully. "I really do like their taste for dark wood. I haven't been here for ages." "The only reason you are here now is because of me, so you're welcome," Thor said irritably. It had cost him many hours to convince Odin that he could keep Loki under control enough so they could meet at one of the old Asgardian bars. Loki continued, unpertubed by Thor's previous comment.

"They have changed the decor a bit, though. I can't say much for that hideous wall clock over there." "We aren't here to talk about your flair for interior design," scowled Thor. Loki disregarded this and calmly sipped his large glass of apple juice. Thor, leaving his ale untouched, faced his adopted brother. It had hurt him, too, when he found out Loki's real parentage. Without the slightest doubt, Thor and Loki had been brothers, comrades, fighting and laughing together. But now... Although he enjoyed fighting alongside the Avengers, they never understood what he saw in Loki. But they would always be kin--brothers.

"Loki," he began. "Please listen to me. I don't even want to know if it's really you or if you're even listening."

"And yet, here I am," answered Loki sardonically. "Continue." He leaned on his elbow and studied Thor with an impish gleam in his eyes.

"I'm not asking you to stop doing what you...do. World domination. Revenge. What ever it may be."

"No, you already did that. Multiple times," Loki agreed, with feigned seriousness.

Thor continued. "I'm not asking you to stop fighting Midagard and be at peace, for you are unlikely to do that either."

"This is true," was the response from Loki. "Now do tell, now that we've cleared up what you aren't going to ask me, why did you summon me here?"

"I'm getting there!" Thor crossly admonished. "Just leave the civilians alone."

"Well, that was anti-climatic," remarked the God of Mischief. "Do you know, I don't think I will."

"Shut up, Loki, listen to me," growled Thor. He really was reaching the end of his tether. For once, Loki remained silent.

"I beg of you. These people, the eighty people that were found dead, they had families, Loki. Children, wives, husbands, sisters, brothers, parents. The day....the day we thought you died, Mother wouldn't eat or sleep. Loki, it breaks families when their child, their wife or husband, their kin, when they die. You are accomplishing nothing, Loki, nothing." A warning spark of anger darkened Loki's eyes. Thor pressed on heedlessly. "Do you think Odin would be proud of you? Do you think Mother watches you so she can say "There's my son?'"

His brother responded in an anguished voice. "Thor, everyone knows that Odin despised me since the day I was born. I no longer care what those people think of me. My family with them burned the day I found out I had been betrayed." He spat the last word as if it were poisonous.

"Loki, just spare them. This is between you and the Avengers. Do not threaten innocent people to prove a point. It proves no point. It only confirms everyone's thought that you are a monster." argued Thor insistently.

"The Avengers," sneered Loki, mocking him. "Do you think I will let them stand in the way of this? I cannot promise you anything, Thor."

He saw the hurt in Loki's words as plainly as if they were corporeal. With that, Loki shimmered and dissapeared. Thor noticed that he had taken his juice with him.