Chapter Text
Loki sat back against the marble wall of his bathing pool. Steam rose from the milky water, a mixture the healers had given him to help ease his physical pain, but there was little that could be done to end the terror of his dreams. He heard the doors of his chambers close with a metallic sound. There was only one figure in all of Asgard who would disturb him now. With his mother appeased by his late night visit to her weaving room and his father stoically concerned as usual, he had no doubt as to who was prowling around his bedroom. Loki sunk under the opal water for a moment to gather his thoughts. Lifting himself once again above the surface he saw his brother drag spindly wooden stool next the water’s edge. Loki laughed when the stool wobbled, almost splintering under Thor’s weight. Loki’s ribs ached and strained under the pressure; his laugh gave way to coughing and blood spattering across the creamy surface of the water. Thor gritted his teeth, his knuckles white.
“Brother,” Loki let his head rest lethargically against the marble once more. “You seem concerned.”
“Of course I am concerned for you,” Thor scrubbed his beard with his hand. “You have been through a great ordeal, and seen much blood shed. Yet you refuse to take comfort in your family, your friends. We would all like to see you well and happily surrounded by those who could aid in your recovery.”
“It would seem to me my brother, that you are here aiding in my recovery. This very moment you are with me, are you not?” Loki raised a single eyebrow with careful distain.
“Do not play with me, brother.” Thor watched Loki as he closed his eyes his face a mask of serenity and had Thor not been paying such close attention he would have missed the grimace of pain flit over his brother’s features. “Is there nothing they can do for the pain? Surely there is an herb or a spell perhaps?”
“There are a great many things that can be done for the pain.” Loki kept his eyes closed. “Too many of them that dull the mind or exhaust the body. I would rather the pain dear brother. It is much simpler to endure this than too…”
Thor watched helpless as a Loki seized up in pain his lips curled back from his teeth.
“Loki, stop this,” His voice filled with worry. “I will call the healers and they will give you something for the pain, to help you sleep.”
“NO!” Loki pulled himself half out of the pool, his torso on display. His body dappled with bruises. Their edges a sickly yellow stretching beneath the water to his most tender areas, his hips almost blackened.
“Brother?” Thor’s voice was barely than a breath. “What has been done to you? This is my doing. If only I had…”
“If only you had what?” Loki pinned him with a withering look. “There is no use in your maudlin postulations now. What has been done is done. Now I would like to be left to my bath.”
“Does she know?”
“Does who know, Thor?”
“Does your mortal know what you have been through?” Loki opened his mouth to speak, Thor stopped him. “Do not do me the disservice of lying to me. I have seen her. I have seen you with her.”
“No.” Loki lowered himself back into the water resting his head against the curved marble, all of his strength suddenly sapped out of him. “She is young, this would only harden her heart against the universe and there is still so much wonder for her to see.”
“She will always be young to us, brother.” Thor let his eyes fall to the floor. “Even when she dies, when her bones waste away to nothing she will still be young.”
“What is your point?” Loki’s voice held sharpness Thor was unused to. “That I will out live her, that she is frail, that I can do nothing and love nothing that is not eventually destroyed. All of this I know.”
“But…”
“But, nothing!” Thor flinched away from Loki’s voice. “She is my friend Thor and I will not give that up. It would not be wise to try and take this from me. Even if you tell father I will find a way to get back to her.”
“I would never tell father,” Thor stood and began pacing. “It is your place to pass your time as you wish, but do not let yourself suffer as you are now. Would your friendship not be better served if you were to rest and let your body mend? The healers say sleep can work magic no waking state can perform.”
“Yes,” Loki gritted his teeth, his eyes closed tightly. “Though, the healers have no saying for when sleep returns the injured to their dungeons.”
“No, they do not have spells for such things.” Thor nodded and made to leave.
“You may stay if you would like.” It was a balm, which Thor eagerly accepted. Sitting once more on the spindly stool, Loki grinned as it groaned in protest his brother’s massive weight.