The Soldier

brother mine

Facing people like Thor in open battle was madness.

Even more so if he was as angry at someone as he was at Loki at the moment. It had no sense trying to fight back, it never had.

Even as children or when they fought side by side or when they were trained to become the warriors they were meant to be, Loki never tried that hard to fight back.

It had no sense, it was better to keep his strength and his magic close, bottled up and focused on defending himself, on not letting the wounds he got go too deep.

Even now, Thor on top of him, Loki beared the punches with a stoic grin on his face.

It had no sense, trying to fight back Thor.

Thor was not stopping for a while, letting all the anger flee his body, all the frustration he had because Loki faked his death and he mourned and missed him.

Punch after punch all these feelings left his body, until he suddenly stopped.

„I've missed you too.", Loki said, staring at Thor, before using that nice little trick he saw Tessa doing during their training lesson.

He acted like he was done, like he was giving up, and Thor let his guard down, only for a second, staring at his brother who he used to love.

Loki used that moment to push him off and Thor did not bother, letting Mjolnir lay on Loki's chest.

Loki was not going anywhere anymore, Thor decided. He would bring him to Stark and use the Tesseract to get back to Asgard, where Loki would stay imprisoned forever.

„You are making fun of me and my grief, Loki. And I am done listening to you.", Thor said, sitting beside him, a strange calmness overcoming him.

„You made many people angry, me included. But more than that you have disappointed me and made me so sad. And you are going to pay for it." Thor continued, enchaining Loki with more force than necessary.

Loki said nothing for a second, wondering where that sadness came from, before changing it into something more productive. Something like anger.

But he could not act it out at the moment, he needed to act half dead, and Thor did not pay him that much attention while bringing him to Stark's house.

Maybe that was for the better. Maybe it was better that he did not need to see Loki staring at him, wearing a cold, calculating expression. Doing what was necessary, as he always did. Maybe it was for the better, that Thor could not see how much... longing for that former bond of brothers they once shared lay under the mask Loki was wearing for so Long already, he wasn not sure if he could ever put it away again.

Maybe it was for the better, that Thor did not know. Did not know that Loki only ever wanted to be his equal, just like brothers were supposed to be. That even after all their rows and fights and disagreements, Loki could not bring himself to hate him.

Loki could not hate Thor.

He just did not have it in him to forget all the centuries they fought side by side, how they were raised as brothers and even though Odin seemed to favour Thor, Thor liked Loki. He used to.

But now, as angry determination found its way to Thor's face and he seemed to be more the God of Thunder than Loki's big brother, he iced his stare away.

Maybe, things would have turned out differently, if Loki hadn't been raised to envy Thor, if Odin didn't raise them as though both of them could end up on a throne one day, if it wasn't in his and Thor's blood to be king one day, maybe they could have stayed... brothers.

Loki scolded himself. Midgard was making him... sentimental. How useless and disgusting.

Thor was not his brother. Thor was the son of his abducter, nothing more. Besides that, Thor was Asgardian and he was a Frost Giant, they were supposed to despise one another.

„Tell me, what you want on Midgard, Loki.", Thor demanded, not exactly sounding intimidating, but Loki was never one to underestimate his brother's... Thor's temper.

„I am going to be king.", Loki answered flatly, not caring to elaborate.

Thor chuckled, and it was such a familiar sound, that Loki could feel how some of his tension eased.

How pathetic, he scolded himself. Stupid Midgard. Stupid sentimentality. Stupid situation he was in. Everything was stupid.

„What?", Loki snarled and earned a stern look for doing so.

But Thor seemed to be in a good mood, now that he could let out his anger on Loki a little bit.

„Some king you are, being dragged around by chains not even meant for gods. You... remember when we were young warriors and father sent us to take down that old man who declared himself king of Asgard, reigning on a throne of woods in the middle of nowhere? He was one of a kind...", Thor laughed, dragging Loki a little closer.

That man was insane. He had gone mad by trying to become powerful, lost his mind somewhere on the way. Loki did remember, and cursed the sudden longing feeling in his heart immediately. Stupid Midgard and stupid Thor making him ridiculously sentimental.

„He said the same as you just did, brother mine.", Thor continued, dragging Loki even closer again.

„What – no. Thor, no."

Thor stared at him for a second, a daring grin on his lips, before swinging Mjolnir and raising them up, Loki clutching to his chains, as they flew over forests and a lake. Who was the mad one here again?

Once they landed in front of a familiar looking house, Loki was glad to notice everything was going exactly as planned. He left Tessa here not that long ago, but it felt like ages. It was time to get his army back after all.

If... she was still alive. He tried to talk to her, but her mind was silent. Maybe she was dead.

What a waste, his whole plan would have been pointless then. Better focus on that than admitting the heavy stone in his stomach when he thought about Tessa being dead. She was only a soldier, he tried to tell himself. Only a soldier, nothing more.

It was all the fault of Midgard's impact on him, he was always too adaptable, even if he tried not to be.

And the long times he spent in Tessa's mind or near her had some impact on him.

He needed to change that as soon as possible, he was a soon-to-be-king and not some sentimental mortal after all. It was time to return as who he really was, and that meant he would figure out a way to get Tessa out and she would get him out.

Easily said, easily done for people like them.