The Brightest Star

Chapter 23 - A Visit From Thor

(Kára's POV):
I needed to leave Loki's room, to control the wave emotion that was rippling through me. I knew my father's death was not his fault, he could never have known it was going to happen. Yet when I heard that it was because of his actions that the bifrost was destroyed, something sparked within me. If he had not wished to kill the frost giants, I would be at home right now with my parents and siblings enjoying time with loved ones.

Escaping to the library seemed my only option, I needed a moment away from him to collect myself and breathe. I had grown close to Loki, began to care for him and have him care for me. I needed to make sure that I was not judging him on his past, no matter how his actions had impacted me.

My clones were just finishing stacking a cart of books for me, a stack that was far too daunting to me in the moment. Who would have thought that the library would contain so many books that contained information or at least mentioned snakeroot? The sight of the sheer volume of information I would have to sift through combined with my already screwed up emotions made me lose it right there. My clones dissipated and I could not stop the tears from falling from my eyes. The crying turned to sobbing as I sat down next to the pile of books and let all of my emotions out.

I felt a pull on my mind, but in my fragile state I lacked the strength to put up my normal guards, allowing Loki to speak to me, "Kára, are you alright? I am so sorry, I did not mean to cause you this much pain. Please, do not leave me, I will do whatever I can to attempt to correct my wrongdoings, please just give me a second chance. I love you."

His words only made me cry harder, touched by how, even in his state he was willing to expend energy to apologize telepathically. His voice was clearly weak, yet resonated within me and reminded me of how much he cared. Everything just felt so overwhelming: the truth of Loki's past, my father's death, the massive amount of books, the threat of Loki's life, and the beginnings of a serious relationship with a man which most of the realm hated.

"Loki, I am fine, I simply needed some time to breathe, I shall be returning soon with the books," I replied once I had grown stable enough before making sure to close off my mind properly.

I managed to calm down my breathing and wipe away my tears, using magic to cover up the fact that I had been crying. Once I felt that I had managed to get a grip over my emotions, I pushed the cart back to Loki's room, where he was waiting for me with a look of concern on his face.

"Loki, stop looking so worried," I ordered him, hoping to lighten up the mood a bit. "It is I who needs to be worried about you, you are the one who was poisoned."

"Kára, please, we can talk about how you are feeling, I do not want you to go through this alone. I-I want to be there for you, to do something right in this relationship."

I gave him a small smile, "do not worry, Loki, I understand that it was not your fault, you do not have to keep blaming yourself. Besides, I am clearly fine and you should not be talking so much in your state. Now, I must apologize, but I have enough reading to get through to last me a century."

Loki fell silent even though I could tell that he wanted to discuss things further while I recreated five clones so that I had more minds sifting through the giant collection of books. Many of them simply mentioned the plant or the poison and did not give much information, some listed symptoms, and some even noted that it was fatal. Even seeing that, I knew better than to give up. There were hundreds of different sources lying in front of me, there had to be something that contained useful information.

Suddenly my research was interrupted by the door bursted open as the Prince of Asgard himself rushed into the room. "Brother, mother has informed me of what has happened, how are you feeling?"

Loki scoffed in response, "Thor, after all this time and now you come to visit me. Now that I have been poisoned and may be on my deathbed you think that maybe you should come see me one last time. To pretend to care. But I know you care not about me, you never did and you need not try to convince me otherwise so that I may rest in peace."

"Loki, I do care about you, you are my brother-"

"No I am not, I never have been," Loki interrupted him, shocking me with the bitterness with which he regarded Thor.

"You are my brother Loki, regardless of your true parentage. We were raised together and you shall always be my brother. I have only not been able to see you because I have been off trying to restore peace to the nine realms. It was only by happenstance that I am even here today, I leave again tomorrow for another battle."

"Loki, try to be kinder to Thor," I advised Loki telepathically, causing for him to glance over at me in surprise. "He is still your brother after all and he truly seems to care about you, you need to stop pushing everyone away."

He sighed and turned back to Thor, "forgive me, I do appreciate you coming to see how I was fairing. I am afraid that Lady Kára and her clones are taking up all of the seats in the room so I cannot offer you a place to sit, but do try to make yourself comfortable."

"Lady Kára, you are the witch that my mother brought in, are you not?" Thor asked as he turned to one of my clones.

I smiled at his inability to decipher my real self and stood, offering my hand, "I am indeed and now I am apparently a healer as well. It is an honor to meet you."

"And you as well, mother has told me that you seem to have really helped my brother and I can see his change even now," Thor replied, taking my hand and placing a kiss upon it.

Thor stayed a while longer and I turned my attention back on my books, barely noticing when Thor bade me farewell on his way out. Hours passed and the stack of books dwindled with no progress made on a cure for Loki all the while Loki's condition worsened. He grew weaker and soon my magic had very little affect on his symptoms. I found myself leaving the reading to my clones and simply sitting by his side, holding his hair back when he got sick and doing whatever I could to keep his fever down.

"I may have found something," one of my clones informed Loki, jumping up from her seat and darting out of the room to create the concoction denoted in one of the books. I was not quite sure if I trusted the source, but at this point it was the only lead that I had and I was willing to try anything. I left the other four clones reading as the last one tried to gather the ingredients and I remained at Loki's bedside.

I rubbed my thumb over his hand, trying to provide some comfort to him as I anxiously awaited my clones' return. The stack of books narrowed to four left to read, leaving the cure that my clone was creating my last chance. Suddenly, Loki began to convulse, causing me to panic. I had no idea what to do in this situation and all I could manage was to cry out his name and grasp his hand in mine as I pleaded for my clone to work faster, tears running down my cheeks.

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(A/N): Do you think the cure will work? Will her clone even return in time? Is anyone actually still reading this? I don't know, I guess we'll find out!