Shadows and Lies

Chapter 31

Chapter 31:
All four of Thor's friends froze when they heard Thor say Loki was planning to turn himself over. They were shocked to hear it and just stopped walking. Thor didn't, he kept going and kept going fast, and his friends ended up needing to sprint a little bit to catch up.
"I don't understand. Why would he do that? Why would he turn himself over now after all he's been through, how does he think that will help his situation?" Fandral asked as they all trailed behind Thor.
"He doesn't think it'll help him, he's trying to help me. He doesn't want me to lose the throne so he's sacrificing himself." Thor explained.
"Wh- he's sacrificing himself? Now? After all he's been through to get here and now he's just going to surrender himself?" Fandral said in disbelief. "He sure picked a fine time to turn decent" he added under his breath.
"Thor" Sif grabbed Thor's arm and made him stop walking. "Maybe... maybe he's right" Thor looked at her in disbelief.
"What?" He thought he must be misunderstanding her, but he wasn't.
"Maybe he's right. Maybe you should let him do it. You would never sacrifice him but he wants to sacrifice himself for you. Maybe you shouldn't deprive him of that heroism" Thor took a step back in surprise, his mouth slightly agape and shock written all over his face.
"You're serious. You're really suggesting that I just let him be killed. He's done so much and worked so hard to have a second chance at life here and now you just want me to let him die-" Sif cut him off.
"As a hero. This is his choice, it's his life and if he wants to give it up for you that should be his call" she argued "Thor I'll always follow you, and if you tell me to keep searching for Loki to stop him from doing this then I will, but you should consider the alternative. You know that if the roles were reversed you would sacrifice yourself for him, and you wouldn't want him to try and stop you" Thor was still too stunned to speak so Sif continued. "If you let him die now he can die knowing that he redeemed himself and saved you. If you stop him, and the people riot, and you're removed from the throne, then they will still kill him and he'll die knowing that he caused you to lose your throne. at least this way he dies for a good reason" Thor was thoughtful for a small moment before spoke again.
"I'm not going to sit here and let him walk to his own death. That's the end of this conversation" he said definitively.
"How will we find him then? He has his magic back, he could look like anyone" Volstagg pointed out, getting them all back on track to find Loki and stop him from turning himself over.
Thor cursed himself for giving Loki back his magic so soon. He had no idea how they'd find him until a guard approached him looking confused.
"Your highness?" Thor waved him off.
"Not now, I'm busy" he turned to Sif and the warriors to tell them search around for anything out of the ordinary that might lead them in Loki's direction.
"Didn't you just leave the palace?" The guard asked. Thor gave him his attention.
"What did you just say?" He questioned with urgency. He could still hear the mob outside so he knew loki hadn't given them what they wanted yet, but they needed to move fast or loki would be a lost cause.
"I just saw you in the stables, you said you needed to-" Thor cut him off.
"When? What did I do? Where did I go?" He knew loki had disguised as Thor himself to slip past the guards.
"A few minutes ago... You took a horse and left for the east forest. You-" Thor interrupted again by turning form the guard to his friends.
"We need to follow him" they all ran as quickly as possible down to the stables where Loki's  horse was missing. The sounds from the mob weren't as loud since they were all crowded around the front entrance.
Thor didn't take the time to make a comment or chat about where loki May have gone, or strategize on how to find him, he just jumped on his horse and dashed from the stables toward the east forest like the guard had said. Sif and the warriors followed close behind, but Thor didn't pay them much attention, he was trying to follow the tracks Loki left, wondering the whole time what Loki's plan was. How would running away help anyone? He couldn't hide forever, and Loki even said he wouldn't be able to flee to another realm, so why run? What would it do to improve on the situation? He knew he shouldn't try to get inside Loki's head, he almost never knew what Loki was really thinking, he just wanted to find him and drag him back home.
They rode through the forest for a long time, Thor had no idea how loki got so far ahead or where he was going, but he was able to follow an obvious trail of prints from the eight legged horse and the broken branches of low bushes.
"Loki!" Thor shouted as he got deeper into the forest "loki where are you?!" He yelled, expecting no reply but receiving one anyway. Loki didn't call back, but Thor heard Loki's horse neighing distressfully not too far ahead. Thor got a little bit concerned and rode in the direction of the horse. Why would the horse answer but not Loki? Why would he be making sounds of distress? It didn't take long for Thor to get an answer.
"L- Loki?" Thor arrived at a small clearing, Loki's horse was tethered to a nearby tree, struggling for freedom, and on the ground in the middle of the clearing lay Loki. Face down, and a knife in his neck.
Thor jumped off his horse, feeling a pit form in his stomach as he approached his brothers unmoving, blood covered body.
"Loki..." he knelt down and slowly turned Loki on his back, immediately feeling his heart jump to his throat. Loki's face was completely void of life. Blood poured from the stab wound in his neck, his face was cold and grey, his eyes glazed over.
"No... Loki no... you- you can't-" he didn't know what to do, he had his brothers dead body in his arms and didn't know what to do except scream.
"Loki no! You can't just die!" Anger and grief washed over Thor, his pain filling him and overflowing. The sky filled with black clouds and rain started to fall, thunder echoed across the sky and lightening cracked, but even Thor's overwhelming power couldn't bring Loki back.
Sif and the warriors had lost track of Thor and just now arrived in the clearing. They all knew from the sudden rain that Thor was in distress, but they didn't expect this. They all froze when they saw Thor holding tightly to Loki's body, crying over him.
"Thor..." Sif climbed down from her horse and approached Thor slowly.
"Is..." she didn't need to ask if Loki was dead, as soon as she knelt next to Thor she saw his state. He was clearly not alive anymore. She put a hand gently on Thor's shoulder, but couldn't think of a thing to say.
"He's dead... he's dead and it's my fault. I failed him" Thor said mournfully.
"No. Thor, no, you didn't fail him" Sif said firmly. Thor turned to her.
"He's dead! How can you say I didn't fail him?!" He yelled.
"Thor, you saved him" she said gently "you gave him a second chance that no one else would have. You let him redeem himself, and now" she took loki from Thor and gently laid him on the ground, closing his eyes "now he can rest. He's with your mother now, he's finally at peace, and you gave him that. Without you he would've died a long time ago, and he wouldn't have died a hero. But you gave him the chance to redirect himself, and now he can be at peace. He can be with Frigga, he can stop fighting. Let him rest" Thor stayed silent, knowing that Loki was in a better place didn't end the pain he felt for his loss. He'd lost loki once before when he turned his back on Asgard, but Thor  always held out hope that one day Loki would come back. There wasn't that hope now, there was nothing left of loki now. He was dead. Dead on the ground in front of Thor, and there was nothing anyone could do. Thor felt frozen, Stuck sitting there staring at his little brothers dead body as if looking at him and denying reality might bring him back. If his friends weren't there he probably never would've left.
Sif let Thor sit there for a moment before she turned to fandral.
"Take Thor back to the palace, I'll take care of Loki" she said, standing up and bringing Thor with her.
Thor was strong, but even the strongest people can break, and his friends knew that. Fandral and Volstagg got Thor back to the palace, and Sif and Hogan stayed to bring Loki's body back.
When Fandral got Thor back to the palace he tried to talk to him to help him out of the emotional pit he'd fallen into, but there was nothing he could do. Thor wouldn't talk about anything, he just sat there staring out the window in shock and denial. Eventually Fandral decided that Thor just needed to be left alone, so he did just that.
Thor sat alone in his room for a good while before he told the guards to send for Sif.
"What can I do for you?" Sif asked when she entered Thor's room. Thor turned to her but didn't get up.
"You... brought loki back?" He asked. She just nodded in response.
"Do me a favor... please inform the people that Loki was found dead. If they demand proof you can-" he stopped a took a deep unsteady breath "you can present his body to them" he finished.
Sif nodded again. "Of course. Don't worry about anything, I'll take care of it all" she assured him. He needed to grieve and he couldn't very well do that while also trying to calm the people.
"One more thing" Thor said as Sif turned to leave. "Until I'm in a better position to lead, I'm leaving you in charge of Asgard. I can't be king right now but decisions still have to be made and I trust you fully. You're Asgard's king until I'm fit for the position again" Sif didn't want Thor to have to give up his place in Asgard, but she understood and respected his reasons for it.
"Take all the time you need. Your throne will be waiting for you when you're ready for it" she said, then left his room to face the people about Loki's death.