Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The air held a strange chill and the acrid scent of sulfur, while the sounds of the swamp were unfamiliar.  The trees overhead grew so densely as to blot out much of the light and leave it necessary to traverse by mage-light and lantern.  One wrong step could land one of their party into the sinking marsh.

“How much further?”  Thor muttered to his brother as his boots squelched and stuck in the wet earth.

“Not long now.”  Loki said back confidently, and Thor considered it a small blessing that one of them had confidence in this at least.

Thor could face an army of beasts, he could battle against the odds and had many a time, but something about the swamp deeply unnerved him.  He could not put his feeling of unease into words, but a sense of dread lined his stomach and tension prickled at his skin.

The Beast of Gevaudan, a nightmarish creature whose description sounded much like a misshapen canine and was far larger even than a dire-wolf.  The rumors of the beast had reached Asgard and it seemed to Thor that they should act to put an end to the terror once and for all.  Even Loki had been in a rare agreement, he did not put up a word of protest to the quest and Thor had taken heart from that.  His little brother had grown ever distant of late; though he was always by Thor’s side he may as well have been leagues apart.  Loki once babbled incessantly at Thor, every little thought and whim in his curious mind.  And now Thor felt at times he was slowly drawing silk from a spider to receive a hint of Loki’s thoughts.

Sif and the Warriors Three had their own opinions on the subject in the instances it had come up.  They did not always take such a lenient eye to Loki’s mischief as Thor himself did.  For while his brother had been known to take a prank or plot too far, and while Thor knew well enough to be wary of too bright a smile from Loki, he expected Loki to ultimately never do him true harm.  They were brothers, after all, and would spend thousands of years side-by-side ruling over Asgard.  The coronation was scarcely a month away and Loki’s presence was a balm to the anxiety that Thor refused to let show about that.

“You said that an hour ago.”  Sif added with a frown, not best pleased by the swamp or that Loki was taking the lead on this.  She was suspicious of all of it though she could not quite put words to why.  Loki was mercurial and oft given to complaint, particularly when he was in danger of being dragged on a ‘hare-brained’ quest.  But Loki had received news of the beast with solemnity and nearly urging Thor that they should go to seek it out.  Sif could tell that Thor was delighted by the push on Loki’s part, but she found it difficult to trust.  When Loki acted contrary to his usual self, even if in seeming kind, it was usually indicative of a plot to follow.

Volstagg worried too, as he saw how the balance of power spun on a wheel for the brothers.  At times, Thor was rambunctious and demanding, he brought Loki ‘to heel’ with admittedly more aggression than he ought to pay his brother and fellow prince.  But Thor could be swayed easily enough by Loki, led into mischief or manipulations by Loki who knew just how to play upon Thor’s nature and feelings.  There was a concern to him for that, as it seemed a future king should not be so malleable in the hands of one as sly as Loki.

“Do you find an hour so long, Sif?  We are not far off, if rumors are to be believed, but we must trek carefully through the swamp lest we fall prey to it.”  Loki said smoothly.

“No rumor here, prince.”  The voice belonged to Artran, a hunter of renown who came from a long line of those who specialized in hunting rare beasts and ‘monsters’.  The Vanir man had come to join them on their quest.  “The beast lies in a cave at the swamp’s edge.”

“Perhaps it will not be so great a beast as rumors claim.”  Fandral mused a touch hopefully.  He did not relish the idea of combat in such a poor environment, the landscape was not in their favor and too much could go wrong.

Loki had glanced aside at their conversation and missed a half-step, enough for his foot to begin to slide into a watery hole.  Thor moved quickly to catch his brother about the shoulder and pull him back onto the trail proper.  “Careful, brother.”  he murmured.

Loki scrunched his nose at the near-miss even as he let the back of his hand tap lightly at Thor’s stomach in acknowledgment.  “Of course.  Who would keep you on the path if not I?”  he drawled.

“Was it not just I keeping you on the path?”  Thor pointed out wryly, grateful for even the hint of banter to distract from their present circumstance.

“You must have imagined it.”  Loki said as he continued and repressed a shudder as he attempted to maintain his composure.  He had to sell the performance, after all.

--xx--

The coronation was a month away, a mere month, and Thor would be declared King of Asgard.  The power of the throne Hlidskjalf would be Thor’s to command as well as Gungnir, little that the oaf would know how to use either.  Loki’s impetuous, reckless older brother would claim his golden destiny while Loki could only watch as the kingdom slowly tipped towards ruin.  There was only so much Loki could do, and the more he had to do in order to compensate for Thor’s failings, the more resentful he grew.

A king should have wisdom, an understanding of diplomacy, the skills of a politician, the acumen for the business-like dealings that came with rule.  But Thor was a brawler, a man of strong passions and little planning.  Thor said what came to his mind and acted as he felt, whether that was in a sentimental embrace or a fiery rage.  He wielded the powers of a storm and commanded the king’s weapon Mjolnir, but all he seemed able to do with them was bash things about and cause havoc and violence.  Was that to be Asgard’s future?  A hot-headed ruler who expected Loki to trail behind and clean up his considerable messes?

Thor had always been a handful, but he had not always been such a fool.  There had been a sweetness to him, an exuberance that induced fondness instead of exasperation.  But Thor’s titles and status had gone to his head, he had grown ever arrogant and heeded Loki less and less.  Loki felt ever trapped in Thor’s shadows, a strange reality where he was the closest to Thor and the only one who saw him truly.  And yet for all that he might speak the truth of it, Loki would never be believed.  Their father clearly felt, for some Norns damned reason, that Thor was ready.

He was so clearly not ready.

Loki had already considered plans to invite chaos to the coronation, to ruin his brother’s big day and delay his idiotic rule a while longer.  He had toyed with the idea of letting frost giants into the Vault and then goading Thor into an attempt to seek war.  Loki could not always make Thor see reason, but he could ever lead Thor into foolishness, a blessing and a curse.

But then an opportunity had presented itself when he caught wind of this ‘Beast of Gevaudan’.  He wondered if he might make use the beast for his own ends, to forestall Thor’s coronation with a demonstration of his poor leadership and perhaps a sizeable wound.  Thor was hearty, he could take it, a mere broken limb or nipped side would heal quickly enough.  And Loki likewise knew how to let himself ‘be’ injured in such a way as to receive no true harm while seeming most grievously wounded.

Such plans might have inspired guilt in him even as he thought them up, but Loki’s rage and resentment had ever festered alongside of his love for his brother.  Loki knew none loved Thor as dearly as he, nor did Loki have a closer companion, but sentiment didn’t move Loki: logic and ambition did.  He wanted to prove himself Thor’s equal, he wanted to be respected and heeded, he wanted to take Thor down a notch and humble his haughty older brother.

And then, as often was the case with the best laid plans, things went awry.

--xx--

“What was that thing?”  Sif demanded as she clutched at her bleeding side where claws had torn through her armor like it was made of paper.  Fandral sported a bleeding wound from his head.

It was much more than a wolf, whatever it was, with vicious fangs and unearthly sharp claws.  And the howl of the thing had a piercing quality that put an innate fear within those who heard it.

“The beast.”  Artran said as he peered around a tree near the cave where the beast dwelt.  He had launched an arrow at it, but it seemed not to have even breached the monster’s hide.

They had been separated from the others in the chaos.  The torch lights had gone out, and Loki’s mage light when he’d been attacked.  Sif, Artran, and Fandral made it out but they had not seen-

“-There!  We are here!”  Fandral called as he spotted Volstagg, heavily leaning on Hogun as they approached, a thin light from a small lantern hung on Hogun’s belt.

“What of the princes?”  Sif asked even as she approached to aid with Volstagg.

“We lost sight of them.”  Volstagg said with a wince, his nose bled and his clothes were ragged.  “The damned beast strong, it threw me to the cave wall as though I weighed nothing.”

“Shit.”  Sif cursed as she reached for her sword.  “We must go back.”

“You are injured and will do no such thing!”  Fandral said quickly and Sif narrowed her eyes.

A piercing howl filled the air that trailed off into something remarkably like a scream, and then all was silent.  Seconds or minutes ticked back as the group stared at the cave entrance before Loki, visible by faint, greenish glow staggered forward with a limp Thor half-dragging from his arms.  “Help.”  Loki called hoarsely.  “Thor has lost much blood.”

--xx--

The group had entered the cave cautiously and found more and more evidence of the great beast.  A scattering of bones and the remains of clothes, weapons here and there.  There were claw marks on the wall and a horrible, fetid smell that grew worse as they went deeper.

“I begin to doubt the wisdom of this venture.”  Fandral said uncertainly.  “Perhaps we might draw the beast out with smoke?  Or meat?”

“You volunteering?”  Volstagg jested lightly despite his own unease, there was something about the place that made his skin positively crawl.

Loki too began to doubt his own plan, he had thought no beast a match for them, but his senses and instincts were alight with dread and fear.  He was unaccustomed to such an intense feeling of wrongness.  “…Fandral is right…we should turn back.  There is too much unknown here.”

Artran scoffed.  “It is the lair of a beast, did you expect a hearty welcome?  Is the prince of Asgard craven?”

”Have a care for how you speak to my brother.”  Thor growled before he added.  “But Artran has the right of it.  Here or in the swamp, we are at disadvantage.  I would rather fight on surer ground.”

“The deeper we go the less sure we can be!”  Loki protested.  “And in truth, there may be more than one great beast lurking here.”

“Then we kill them all.”  Thor said simply and Loki cursed to himself.

“Brother.”  Loki set a hand on Thor’s arm and halted him.  “Truly.  We should turn back, I have a feeling of foreboding-”

Thor shrugged his hand off.  “I have heard that before and rarely has anything come of it.  You mistake fear for some greater sense.  You are no prophet, brother.”

Loki made a noise of irritation even as the unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach grew.  “Thor, I am telling you, something is not right here-”

”-Then go.”  Thor snapped, himself on edge and uneasy but trying to keep calm.  Loki’s words were only further disconcerting and made him nervous, but he could not show it and so sought to quell Loki instead.  “I will rejoin you when I have slain the beast.”

”If you beat me to it.”  Artran added with a faint smirk and Thor spared him a glance before he looked back at Loki.

“I am no coward.”  Loki hissed.  “Fear does not move me to this warning, it is common sense-”

“-Enough!”  Thor interrupted with a sharp tone.  “Know your place, brother.  Too many lives have been lost to this beast already.  If you fear to tread onward then turn back, but I will not entertain this argument further.”  And so saying, he turned and continued while Artran seemed to chuckle lightly under his breath with a glance at Loki.  The hunter clearly thought Loki frightened, and for some reason enjoyed the light dressing down Thor had given the younger man.

Loki felt his blood boil at the words, at the dismissive tone and the disregard for his warning.  Thor snapped at Loki as though he were an errant dog to be taken in hand.  Words laced with venom danced on the trickster’s lips but he bit his tongue.  Loki could neither turn back nor continue to argue, it would do no good to stir Thor to more angry foolishness or a fight.  But the humiliation of it, that this peasant Artran even dared to mock him at Thor’s disrespect, it burned him more than fear cooled him.  He followed begrudgingly, as ever, but his hands clenched at his sides.

--xx--

“I will carry him.”  Volstagg said after they had dressed Thor’s wounds, the prince had not stirred and was deathly pale, his breathing came out in ragged rasps.

“How did this happen?”  Sif asked as Loki hovered over his brother and looked down at him with an expression that seemed strangely unconcerned.  “Were you not at his side?”

Loki’s gaze slid from Thor to Sif sharply as he snapped.  “Of course I was.  I tried to stop him from engaging the beast further but he would not hear of it.  I love Thor more dearly than any of you, but you know what he is.  He’s arrogant, he’s reckless, he’s dangerous!”

“Bite your tongue!”  Sif snarled.

“Hold yours, Lady Sif.”  Loki emphasized her title to remind her of his own, he was still her prince, regardless of how much liberty Thor would grant his companions.

“Cease fighting.”  Fandral said quietly.  “Thor is gravely wounded and we must traverse the swamp until we reach a point the Bifrost may be summoned.  We have no time for this.”

“Fine, but this is not over.”  Sif said, and Loki’s lips seemed to teeter between a sneer and a smirk.

“As you like, my lady.”  Loki said, just to irk her further and Volstagg growled in the back of his throat even as he hefted Thor up into his arms.

A weak groan escaped Thor and Loki’s attention returned to his brother with a frown, and he set a hand on Thor’s head as his hand glowed green.

“What sorcery do you work?”  Sif demanded.

Loki didn’t spare her a glance as he muttered.  “Simply ensuring his rest is untroubled.”

--xx--

The would-be fight had devolved so quickly it fair made Loki’s head spin.  There had been a roar, the awful odor so strong it tempted him to gag, and then a melee.  A great beast had come up from the tunnels they traversed and did not hesitate to strike at them.  Lights were doused or broken, Loki struggled to keep his mage light up in the midst of all else.  Injuries were sustained as they were driven back by the creature.  Thor struggled to land a blow with Mjolnir when also trying to defend their companions while squinting in the suddenly near-darkness.

“Run for the entrance!”  Loki shouted and at least some must have heeded his words for he heard the scrambling of feet.

The beast lunged at him as he shouted and Loki teleported rapidly in the small tunnel.

Artran shot at the beast but his arrow did no good, and Fandral called from a handful of feet off.

“Sif is hurt!”

“To the entrance!”  Volstagg called out as he saw increased danger and futility in this fight, only Hogun’s small hip lantern and Loki’s inconsistent mage light guided them now.  It was a straight shot out at a run though, more or less.

Thor cursed as he started to head that direction with his friends, before the beast charged at Hogun who avoided a hit as Volstagg took the brunt and was slammed into the side of the cave.  The large man gasped in pain and staggered, and Hogun quickly helped him to his feet.  Loki sought to distract it with illusions even as Thor shouted to draw the monster’s attention, but it seemed uninterested in the illusions.  “Go!”  Thor shouted to Volstagg and Hogun, Fandral had already taken Sif towards the entrance, he feared her wound a deep one.

“Not without-”

The beast narrowly got Volstagg again before Thor grabbed the beast’s tail and yanked it back.  “This is an order, go!”  he snarled, and Volstagg cursed.  “I can ride Mjolnir out, Loki can teleport.”  he said quickly, and with that, Hogun urged Volstagg to move.

But as Thor and Loki were left in sight of the beast, Thor made no move to do as he’d suggested.

“Thor!”  Loki hissed anxiously.  “We need to leave!”

“I will handle this beast myself.”

Loki gaped at his brother’s ridiculous boast.  “Are you mad?”

Thor, now unafraid of hitting his friends or the beast charging them, hurled his hammer at the beast.  He caught the side of its leg as it drew back and seemed to have snapped a bone with Mjolnir’s return.  “Keep your light up and I will handle the beast.”  he ordered.

Loki stared at his brother’s dimly lit form, cast in a greenish glow, and felt a sense of disbelief.  This was to be the king, this fool?

Anger flooded him at the demand, and despite the situation it seemed apparent enough that Thor could best the thing if he could get a clear shot.

Loki let the mage light go out and he heard Thor shout furiously.  "Loki, the light-"  There was a roar and a noise of pain from Thor that gave Loki a sliver of satisfaction until sense and panic gave way.  He restored the mage light just in time to see his own impending situation.  Thor had been batted into the cave wall by the beast but it did not stay to finish him.

“Loki!”

Loki was startled when the beast unexpectedly reared towards him instead of Thor, who seemed the clear target.  He found the teeth inches from his face as Mjolnir slammed into the beast’s side.  Thor had just begun to pull himself back up from where he'd fallen.  The beast whirled around with speed that should have been impossible given the hulking size and leapt onto Thor who had not expected the movement.  He found himself pinned beneath a great paw as claws pierced his stomach and he gasped.

“Thor!”  Loki screamed his brother’s name and started towards him only for his eyes to widen in horror as the beast clamped fangs deep into the flesh over Thor’s right shoulder.  He heard Thor made a choked noise and an agonized yell such as he’d never heard from his brother.  The beast reared back with a snarl and Thor coughed up blood.

Loki was frozen for a few seconds, a few seconds where it seemed Thor might already be lost, where the fear tasted overwhelming, and where Loki realized if he did nothing…Thor truly was lost.  His life was in the balance with only Loki to see it.  Loki had warned him, he had told him to turn back, this was Thor’s own fault.  He had told Loki to ‘know his place’ and look where Thor was now?  Thor gave a pitiful, wet cough and Loki felt a coldness settle over him as determination replaced his fear and callous thoughts.  Loki used sorcery to mimic a wolf’s howl and gave a long one that had the wolf focused back on him.  He prepared to quick-step back and then teleport to Thor, he began just such a process when he heard a cry of pain as Mjolnir whizzed forward.  The hammer struck the beast in the head with force enough to break the skull, and Loki gasped as Mjolnir nearly hit him as well.  The hammer was recalled to Thor but it faltered mid-flight and clattered to the ground as Thor’s hand fell to his side.

“Brother!”  Loki was at his side in a flash and in his mage light he could see Thor’s blue eyes looking eerily pale as he spluttered with wet lips and his fingers twitched against Loki’s ankle.

“B-Br-”  Thor tried but coughed and Loki felt the sting of tears in his eyes.

“Shh, do not speak.  This will hurt but bear with it.”  Thor looked a fright, the punctures in his chest and presumably his back were viciously deep.  The ones on his stomach were no less concerning.  Loki slipped an arm around his brother as he helped him to his feet but Thor was almost immediately dead weight in his arms.  “Thor?  Brother?”  Thor’s eyes had fallen closed and as he wheezed, and Loki felt a panic deep within him as he hurried for the exit.

This was not what he’d wanted, this was not how he planned to show Thor as unready.  He hesitated as he passed Mjolnir, the hammer that their father had seen fit to bestow on Thor.  Loki gripped the heavy thing and affixed it to his belt with sorcery even as he staggered to half-drag Thor to the cave entrance.

--xx--

Odin was already in the Bifrost Gate room when they arrived and the party, including Artran, were swiftly taken to the healing wing.

Thor’s skin was an unnatural shade of gray with a slick sheen of sweat over his body.  The silver of his armor shirt was stained red with blood and his breathing was faint.

“My son!”  Frigga had been alarmed and Odin was grave as he demanded answers.

Sif cast a frown at Loki who as ever felt the weight of his father’s gaze as nearly crushing.  “He would not turn back.”  Loki whispered.  “He didn’t listen.”

--xx--

Days passed as Thor did not so much as stir, the ghastly pallor did not leave his skin despite the ministrations of the healers.  Frigga kept vigil by his bed the most, Odin in spurts, and Loki lingered sometimes at his mother’s side or filled in the gaps of her company.

This was not the first time Thor had been laid low following a battle, but the flavor of this was different.  Because Loki, for a moment, had entertained the thought of leaving Thor to die.

Loki brought long, pale fingers to tuck a golden lock behind Thor’s ear as he stared down at his brother.  Thor seemed always so radiant, so bursting with life and strength.  He seemed depleted now, bereft of something vital and rendered weak by it.  Thor had pushed himself to move after being wounded to strike the beast down as it charged Loki, had he been aware enough to note in Loki his hesitation?  Did he somehow know or sense what Loki had let himself wonder about?  He felt as if the truth of that moment were written on his skin for all to see, a terrible secret that he found not entirely bitter in his chest.  Thor was half-way to Valhalla and had only himself to blame, Loki had warned him.  And, oh, Loki had no spared no exaggerative detail in the retelling in so much as he could given the other company as witnesses.  He made Thor the foolish, vainglorious oaf of the tale who could not put aside his pride to protect him and their company.  Their father’s face was a mask on the subject, but Loki knew Odin thought about his words, when was the All-Father ever not thinking?

Loki tried to imagine what he might feel if Thor had died in that dank cave.  If even with his intervention or for lack of it, his brother died.  A life without Thor, an Asgard without the Golden Prince, Loki’s future free of the impossible shadow he cast…

“B-Br-”

Thor must surely have known his life was in danger, and he’d spared his ragged breath to try to return the endearment to Loki.  Was it habit or sentiment, did it matter?

He wondered what life might have been like were he the elder prince.  For all that primogeniture was not meant to be the name of the game in Asgard’s succession, it did seem to be at play.  At least, that was what Loki told himself when he tried to imagine how Thor was found so worthy to be king whilst Loki was so clearly an after-thought.

Thor’s voice rang in his mind, dismissive and commanding.  And then fearful as he’d shouted Loki’s name with worry, as he’d mumbled with blood-stained lips and pierced lungs.

Loki knew if feelings could be measured on scales, then to compare his love for Thor to any other would likely find Thor tipped highly above any other.  But to compare his hate of Thor to his love of him…even Loki was not entirely sure which result would be the honest truth.

Loki’s fingertips trailed from Thor’s hair down the side of his cheek and to his neck where he brushed his thumb against Thor’s chin softly.  Centuries of memories played in the back of his mind.  That of a doting, silly older brother who protected Loki fiercely and showered him with affection.  That of a man of rage and foolishness whom Loki was meant to swear fealty to as king.  Perhaps that was the truth of it: he loved his brother, but he was not sure he liked him.

If Loki had been the elder, what then?  Might he have been able to truly temper Thor’s wrath and fickle ways?  If Loki had been given Mjolnir, might it have curbed some of Thor’s dangerous sense of his own invincibility and status?  A younger brother who looked up to Loki and heeded his advice as though his words were precious.  One whose company did not set Loki’s teeth on edge or grow a coiled serpent of resentment and rage in his belly.

But Loki did not like to indulge in thinking on impossibilities, reality was what it was, and Thor was the eldest.  Thor would be king and Loki his advisor, and this would be but a hiccup in the Golden Prince’s rise to power.

Loki hadn’t realized he had started to clamp his fingers into Thor’s throat until he heard something akin to a pained whimper from Thor who otherwise did not stir.  He did not remove his fingers nor press them harder, merely stared at the indents his nails were making in Thor’s vulnerable neck.  A thing that would not be possible with Thor awake and well.

Loki exhaled as a strange weight settled in his chest, something between self-disgust and resignation as he bent to press a soft kiss to Thor’s temple as Thor was wont to do to Loki in their childhood.  Thor would be well, he always was, and life would continue as it always would.

--xx--

“Your brother has awoken.”  Frigga’s words were eager and relieved, and her projection was gone from Loki’s room nearly as soon as it had arrived.   Almost two weeks had passed since Thor’s excursion and while his physical wounds had healed he had not roused.  Also somewhat concerning, the bite marks that formed something of a circle over his shoulder and around his torso and back had not faded.  They left jagged, reddish scars that were unusual.  Loki made his way to the healing wing at once and he was relieved of a weight he’d not realized he had carried as felt a breathless lightness bloom in him.

Thor had dark circles under his eyes, he seemed pale still, and his eyes were faintly blood-shot.  But he was awake and half-sitting up as he spoke to Odin and Frigga.  There was a slight rasp to his voice still and despite being healed, he seemed to struggle somewhat to speak or perhaps to breath.  His expression lit up when he saw Loki only to visibly deflate, and Loki was a little confused by that though he let it pass.  “Brother.”  Thor’s voice was warm, whatever his expression, and a little gnawing guilt settled in his stomach.

It wasn’t my fault, I warned him.  He reminded himself, even as he tried to convince himself the moment of letting the mage light lapse was not the cause of what followed.  And despite his thoughts, he had not actually left Thor to die.

“You look a fright, brother.”  Loki said easily, as though his mind were not gripped by the memory of his dark thoughts at the moment of Thor’s near-death.

Frigga made a chiding noise but Thor’s eyes crinkled as he gave a weak, wry smile.  “Good to see you too.”

Loki came to Thor’s side as he slipped his hand over his brother’s and felt a rush of gratitude at Thor’s continued life as Thor’s fingers squeezed around his own.  Thor’s entire focus seemed on him for a few seconds, with a warm look he felt he rarely saw these days.  Trust almost dying to make Thor sentimental, but all the same, he squeezed back and offered his big brother a little smile.

“You will need to stay abed a while yet.”  Odin said as he rested a hand on his eldest son’s shoulder and Thor’s blood-shot blue eyes slid to his father.  “Your wounds have healed, and yet you still seem pained.”

Thor grimaced at that.  “Did you not say I have been here two weeks?  Perhaps fresh air-”

“-No, Thor.”  Odin’s stern cut-off of Thor’s words came as a surprise to Thor and Loki both.  “You will stay in bed until I deem otherwise.  I so order it.”

Thor’s brow furrowed slightly and his mouth twitched as if in want of protest, but then he nodded slightly.  He would not speak against their father’s words as he would Loki’s.

The conversation continued until Frigga and Odin took their leave, and left the brothers to each other.  Thor seemed to keep his gaze on anything but Loki for a moment before he looked over and asked.  “Are you well?”

Loki scoffed.  “You have barely refrained from dying and you would ask me that?  I am most well, I can enjoy the fresh air as I please.”

Thor frowned slightly and he pressed the nail of his thumb lightly into Loki’s hand in retaliation for the little taunt.  “You could sneak me out with you.  Leave an illusion in my place.”

Thor’s voice rang in his mind from other times, times when he mocked Loki’s ‘tricks’.  How readily he wanted them when it suited him.  “And yet, I will not.”  Loki shrugged.  “You are weak still.”  he said, satisfied at the displeasure his words brought his brother.  Thor was not much fond of being called ‘weak’, least of all by Loki.

Thor started to sit up even as he said.  “I am fine, they worry too much-”

Loki put a hand to his brother’s chest and shoved him back onto the bed likely a little harder than was necessary.  He saw surprise and then anger in Thor’s tired face, and Loki fixed him with a cool expression.  “You got into this mess by not heeding my advice, and now you wish to disobey Father’s words as well?  Tell me, Thor, is it arrogance or stupidity that motivates this constant need for self-destruction?”

Thor’s nostrils flared alongside his temper.  “I have only just awoken and you would speak so to me?”

“Given that you, as you say, have only just awoken and your first instinct is to ignore our father and king?  Yes, I would speak so.  Even a child would know better.”  Loki said irritably.

“I simply wanted to take air!”  Thor snapped, and Loki started to form an annoyed reply when Thor visibly winced and clutched his chest.

Loki’s anger melted into worry as he put a hand on his brother’s shoulder.  “Thor?  Brother, what is it?”

“I-I do not know…there is a…a tightness in my chest.”  Thor said, as though through gritted teeth and he began to pant lightly as though having exerted himself.

“I will fetch a healer.”  Loki said quickly but Thor’s hand clamped around Loki’s arm.

“B-Brother, wait.”  Thor swallowed hard.  “I-”  he doubled over a moment and held his stomach in pain even as he looked to Loki and for the briefest of seconds, he swore he saw a dilation in Thor’s pupils and a yellowing around the iris.  But then his eyes were as they should be and Loki had no time to dwell on it as he shook his arm free and fetched a healer.

When all was said and done, the healer noted the elevation of stress responses in Thor’s body but could not see an injury or illness.  She suggested that perhaps the trauma of the event and the healing of such deep wounds had taken a toll.  His body was struggling to regain a normal state.

Frigga did not wish to leave Thor alone at the news, but Loki volunteered to keep vigil on her behalf.

Thor seemed even wearier after the event and drifted off to sleep shortly after.  When he next woke, it was dark outside and Loki was reading by candlelight.  Thor took a few seconds to study his brother’s profile, his unguarded expression as he read and thought himself unseen.  He did not look worse for wear, to Thor’s relief.  Thor had been terrified in the tunnels for a moment.

He had known at a certain point that it was dangerous, more so, to continue fighting the beast.  But he knew with certainty he could defeat it, the thing could surely not take a true blow from Mjolnir.  The cave had gone dark, Loki must have lost focus on his mage light and Thor had been slammed into the cave wall.  The next glimpse of light revealed a frightening scene.  Loki had been in danger and a brief vision danced before his eyes, a Loki chomped down upon by the beast.  His panic had risen and he called out, then pain had overtaken him.  Thor had struggled to breathe with a lung that seemed heavy and thick in his chest.  The teeth that followed the claws ripped muscle and tendons, and the pain was like a fire burning through him.  But Loki had howled, and Thor despite his pain-haze and the numbness that flooded him, had used the last of his strength to hurl Mjolnir at the monster’s head.

Thor found Loki above him, and in that moment he suddenly felt a distinct sense of loss.  A raw ache he could not entirely explain nor did he have time or mental strength to begin to contemplate it.  But he suddenly wanted most desperately for Loki to be safe and for him to know…that Thor loved him, was proud of him, was sorry-  Thor barely stumbled letters from his lips before Loki lifted him and the overwhelming pain that followed sent him into blissful oblivion.

Thor had strange dreams, he was sure of it, but he could not recall them as he woke.  And then he was soon distracted by his family and relieved by the knowledge that all in his company had lived.

Thor stared at Loki as he read, the dim candlelight casting shadows over Loki’s face that made him seem slightly older.  And then the green eyes of his little brother were focused on him as Loki frowned before he leaned forward.

“The great oaf awakens.”  Loki murmured as he stretched a bit and then set a palm on Thor’s upper thigh lightly.

“Such kind words.”  Thor muttered, relieved for the little jest all the same as he relaxed against his pillow.  “You should rest, brother.”

“This is resting.  I am enjoying the peace and quiet.  A rare gift in the company of ‘The Mighty Thor’.”  Loki said wryly.

Thor snorted slightly as he tilted to lay on his side and face his brother, Loki removed his hand as Thor did so.  The brothers stared at each other a moment before Thor said.  “I was not…certain for a time…if I would make it.”

Loki’s expression grew tense a brief second before it quickly melted into what Thor took to be an intentionally relaxed one.  “Nor was I.”  he said quietly.  “I have never seen you so wounded.”

“It is not every day something is large enough to try to make a meal of me.”  Thor jested weakly but Loki did not smile and Thor sighed.  He extended a hand to his brother and Loki eyed it before he laced their fingers lightly by setting his palm atop Thor’s hand.  “I am glad you are unharmed.”

“Would that I could say the same of you.”  Loki replied as his grip tightened slightly, and his eyes darted away before they landed back on Thor.  Would that Thor had not been injured, would that he could be certain of his gladness if Thor had not been.

Thor grimaced.  “A mere flesh wound.”

Loki scowled and it was his turn to dig his nails into Thor’s hand a bit, Thor hissed and snatched his hand back while Loki smirked faintly.  “Cannot take what you have given?”  he taunted lightly.

“You have nails like a woman, I swear.”  Thor muttered and as he adjusted, missed the deep, unhappy frown that dragged down Loki’s lips before he masked it.

“You pay such notice to women’s nails, brother?  A secret taste, perhaps?  While other men might find a generous bosom inviting, here the Mighty Thor cannot keep his eyes away from groomed hands.”

Thor rolled his eyes with a light huff.  “Go to bed, brother.  It must be exhausting being such a brat all of the time.”

“On the contrary, I find taunting you to be most rejuvenating.”  Loki cooed, and grinned faintly when Thor narrowed his eyes but playfully.

Both brothers were relieved at the inanity of the moment and the wellness of the other.

“Truly, you should take to bed, Loki.  I need no minder for the rest of the night.  I feel well enough.”

“Ah, yes, you and your infallible decision making.  I told Mother I would keep watch over you, and so I shall.”  Loki said, as he made a show of settling in.

Thor felt a flicker of annoyance even as his mind trailed back to that moment in the cave.  He could hardly breathe as his vision darkened, a coldness crept over him, and he was sure he was greeting Death.  But there was Loki at his side, as it should be, but so soon and so unexpected.  It was a strange thing, but in that moment, Loki looked different somehow.  Thor was sure he might be dying and the entirety of his struggling focus was fixed on his brother, the intensity of his last breaths were spent trying to speak with him.  But he could say nothing at all, the last thing he saw were Loki's worried eyes made brighter by his flickering mage light.  “Then sleep with me.”  he suggested abruptly, and Loki lifted an eyebrow in surprise.

“I have slept in…less then ideal places, but a chair in the healing wing-”

“-In my bed.”  Thor clarified and Loki’s brow rose further.  He scooted to the other side of the bed demonstratively.  “There is room enough.”

“One, I disagree.  And two, you are mad.”  Loki informed him and seemed as if he would go back to reading.

“You can join me in bed, or I can join you at that chair.”

Loki squinted at Thor as he seemed to try to imagine how such a ‘threat’ might even come to pass, and then he smirked.  “If you feel so well as you claim, then it should do no harm to shift you into a more compliant form.  I have given my word against frogs, but perhaps you would not mind another form-”

“-I am injured, be kind to me.”  Thor interrupted in a mock-piteous voice that had Loki’s smirk widening.

“A most convenient injury, brother.”  Loki noted in mock-surprise.

“Aye.  One that would be helped by my brother getting equal rest, I think.”

“Convenient and strange."  Loki said wryly, even as he wondered at the offer.  The days were long gone when it was common at home or abroad for the brothers to share a sleeping arrangement.

“Strange that I do not wish to have you creaking in a chair all night?”  Thor retorted.

Loki completed a quick mental debate before he sighed dramatically.  “Oh, very well, you great oaf.  But if you are greedy with the covers, I shall leave you in a smaller form.”  he threatened as he slipped into bed beside a then amused Thor.  He swatted at Thor’s chest, and Thor chuckled.  “I mean to read awhile yet.”  Loki warned.

Thor peered at the book that Loki was reading and scrunched his nose in distaste.  “What language is that?”

“Do you actually care?”

Thor fixed his brother an irked look before he smushed his face into a pillow, and Loki allowed himself a small, fond smile at the slightly childish gesture.  “Not anymore.”  the elder Odinson muttered into it.

Loki tutted and ruffled Thor’s hair lightly, and he noted that Thor seemed to relax further under his touch.  The sight of Thor awake and alive beside him, the bit of bantering, the casual affection…he was glad to still have it.  Thor may be a pain, but they were brothers, and he thought he could be sure the scales of his feelings tipped in Thor’s favor.  Thor was soon asleep again and Loki eventually indulged them both as he settled in next to his brother and extinguished the candle.  When an arm found its way over Loki’s waist and he was pressed close to Thor’s chest, Loki simply rested his arm on Thor’s and let the familiar warmth embrace him.

--xx--

Seven Months Later

“Thor, Thor listen to me, brother, please.”  Loki took a few slow, steps back as fangs were bared in his direction and the beast that was his brother advanced towards him.  “I know you are still in there, brother, you must be.”  he tried, and hoped all hope was not lost, that he was not too late to save his brother.

The beast that was Thor lunged, and Loki side-stepped but remembering the warning he’d been given when he set foot in the forest, he was careful not to cause even slight harm to his brother.

Loki made a desperate gambit as he knelt with his palms splayed.  “Brother, you know me…fight this, come back to us!  Thor!”

The beast’s ears twitched and familiar blue eyes peered at Loki intently.  For a moment, Loki thought he had gotten through to his brother, that he touched on some inner piece of Thor remaining.

But then the beast moved with a strange, sudden speed not unlike the beast that had started all of the chaos to begin with.  Loki found himself on his back under the weight of the large, golden-furred beast that had tackled him.  A row of deadly sharp fangs glistened above him.  Loki cried out, “Brother!” as the fangs approached his neck and closed around his throat.

Chapter Text

The ground was wet and cold from recent rains as he raced on padded paws along the forest floor.  Blood-scent was in the air, one of the four-legged creatures with horns.  He let his teeth bare as hunger urged him forward even as the thrill of the exertion overtook him.  The wolf wanted to hunt, to chase, to eat.  A new scent reached the air, it was strange to the wolf and unfamiliar.  The forest had no such smells.  He sniffed the air curiously as-

“-Thor…Thor.”

Thor awoke with a start and shoved the heel of his palm into Loki’s sternum by accident as he elicited a huff from his brother before he was pushed off.  “Loki?”  he mumbled, a little groggy.

“What kind of dream were you having?”  Loki grumbled as he straightened his tunic and slipped from the bed.  “You were sniffing me.”

”I-…what?”  Thor’s brow furrowed as he peered at his brother, confused.

Loki sighed as he shook his head.  “Never mind it, oaf.  You are awake now and Mother should be by shortly, may I assume you can be trusted to stay in bed till her arrival?”

”I am not a child, Loki.”  Thor growled at that with a scrunch of his nose.

“No?”  Loki pointedly looked over Thor.  “I suppose you are right.  A child would have more sense-” he teleported away before a suddenly hurled pillow could hit the target.

Thor scowled at empty air before he laid back with a heavy exhale and rubbed at his eyes.

--xx--

Thor’s recovery came swiftly after, he was well enough to leave bed within the week although for him that was a fairly long bed rest.  The scars had not completely faded from his body, more unusual, and the scars from the bite felt strangely tender.

Loki had been something of a fixture by Thor’s side, to his surprise.  As often as Loki ended up joining Thor and company on quests and the like, he felt it rare that Loki sought him out for his company alone these days.  Loki even read aloud a few times which Thor found nostalgic.  Thor as a child had read to Loki, and then an older Loki had read to Thor, but it had been ages since then.  

When Sif and the Warriors Three came to visit, Loki had made himself scarce which gave Thor the impression that perhaps Loki stayed by his side out of obligation rather than want.  He tried not to feel too disappointed, Loki was a solitary creature, a far cry from the clingy, needy little brother of their youth.

When he was released from the healing wing, he shortly after found himself in Loki’s company as his brother met him in the hall.  No sooner had Loki greeted him than Thor had scrunched his nose and cut his brother off.  “Norns, Loki, why do you smell like that?”

Loki bristled with an offended expression.  “I beg your pardon?”

“You smell as if you have bathed in garlic.”  The scent stung Thor’s nose and Loki looked surprised.

“There was garlic in my midday meal…but I hardly think you can accuse me of having bathed in it.”

Thor sniffed outwards to try to rid himself of the scent.  “Whatever you say, brother.”

Loki huffed before he abruptly disappeared and Thor sighed, he had never been fond of that little trick of his brother’s.

--xx--

Three nights after Thor’s release a small party was held to celebrate the defeat of the beast and Thor’s recovery.  The hunter Artran was still present on Asgard, he had requested to stay for a time to research in their libraries and spar with their warriors.  Thor, for his part, felt more unwell than he cared to admit.  He’d had a pounding migraine since he’d left the healer’s wing and a sense of dizzying nausea he was unaccustomed to.  Thor did his best to maintain a reasonable demeanor but he felt his patience frayed, he would rather be in bed.

“Truly, your bravery knows no bounds, Prince Thor.”  Artran said as he polished off a tank of mead with surprising ease.

“Kind words.”  Thor said as he inclined his head and sipped at his ale with a frown.  The taste was off and he couldn’t say for why, but no one else seemed to share his distaste given the rate at which his companions drank.

“Oh, yes, terribly brave to nearly be eaten for stubbornness.”  Loki remarked.

Sif cast him a sharp glance, she had not taken kindly to Loki’s recounting of events nor the way he’d looked at his brother when he’d come injured from the cave.

“I might not have been bitten if your tricks had not failed, brother.”  Thor said with a faint scoff.

“What failed?”  Volstagg asked through a mouthful of meat.

“Loki’s mage light went out in the crux of the battle.  That is when the beast got the upper hand.”

Loki stiffened even as Sif’s eyes narrowed.  “A few seconds absent my trick was enough to undo you?”

Hogun studied Loki with a frown and Fandral took note of his friend’s expression.  “What is it?”

The Vanir warrior looked to Fandral before he addressed Loki.  “It was my understanding that a mage light would hold so long as the caster does.  Unless they will it otherwise.”

Thor, of all others present, should have had the best knowledge of sorcery despite his lack of aptitude given that he’d grown up with it.  But it was Hogun, who hailed from Vanaheim, who had more confidence in that arena.  “No spell is infallible.”  Loki said easily.

“And that is why tricks cannot be relied upon.”  Thor said.

“You were relying on mine.”  Loki pointed out irritably.

“And look what resulted.”  Thor said as he touched the spot he’d been bitten under his tunic.

“You would lay blame on me for your own injuries?”  Loki asked as his eyes narrowed.

“The very moment I needed light most it went out, and from there the battle faltered.”  Thor said, as though Loki had indeed done him a grave disservice.  “It is well that I was able to save us both despite that.”

“Save us?”  Loki asked, aghast.  “I carried you out!”

Thor’s expression scrunched, not best pleased at the embarrassing reminder that his little brother had carried him.  “After I slew the beast.”

“You speak as if the deed was solely yours.”  Loki spat.

“It was my hammer that finished him, Loki.  So yes, the deed was mine.”  Thor said before he glanced to his friends with a shake of his head, discomfited by the conversation and the reminders of what had occurred.  “Some do battle, others just do tricks.”

Loki was tempted to violence or rage but as always held his tongue.  He seethed in silence as his contributions were again rendered nil, as his brother dismissed him easily.  And no one defended Loki, of course they would not even address that Thor would likely be dead if not for Loki.

Of course, none of them would have been there in the first place if not for Loki’s manipulations but that wasn’t the point.

“Well said, Prince Thor, well said!”  Artran agreed heartily, a bit tipsy from his mead it seemed.  “It was an honor to hunt beside you.”

Loki shortly after made his excuses and Thor barely acknowledged him as he left the table.

Thor had been…somewhat different while laid up in the healer’s wing.  He seemed softer than he had seemed in quite some time.  Loki had stayed by his side on his mother’s behalf and out of his own worry, but he found that he enjoyed the time spent alone with his brother.  Thor was so much more tolerable when he wasn’t being egged on by his sycophants or posturing like a fool.  Loki had even wondered if the situation might garner some change from his brother, a recognition or gratitude of what Loki had done for Thor.  But that was clearly too much to hope for.  Loki was his brother’s shadow again and soon the oaf would be crowned king despite his lack of readiness  Their father, despite listening to Loki’s tale, did not seem inclined to change his mind and delay the coronation.  Loki had a miserable future indeed to ‘look forward’ too, stuck at the side of a hare-brained, stubborn wretch of a brother.  Asgard was truly doomed.

--xx--

A few more days passed as Thor tried to regain his proverbial footing.  His migraine had lessened but was still present and he experienced strange tingling throughout his body.  He was reluctant to make mention of it lest he unnecessarily be made to stay cooped up in the healing ward longer.  Thor was sure the answer was activity, so he engaged Sif and the Warriors Three in sparring.  He faced Volstagg, a pleasant enough match between them.  Sif had him on the ropes for a time before Thor knocked her down.  Fandral was set to be next but Loki chanced on their sparring area and Thor beckoned him for a match.  He goaded a bit and with an air of reluctance Loki took position across from Thor.

Loki, Thor realized as the match went on, was angry about something.  His brother’s words were too sharp, his movements too tense.  But he ignored it in favor of focusing on the fight, or at least he tried to.

There was again a smell coming from his brother but this time it was something delicious.  Thor wondered if Loki had used some kind of sorcery as a distraction.  Loki kicked at Thor’s knee and he buckled as he dropped down to his other.  But when Loki went to strike a blow, he grabbed a fistful of Loki’s tunic and hurled his brother to the ground.  Thor felt an exhilarated rush that did wonders to distract from his unsteady feeling as he swung to straddle his brother’s waist.  Loki made to stab him but Thor caught his wrists in an iron grip as he pinned Loki’s arms next to his head.  Thor inhaled deeply and shuddered at a rush of visceral pleasure through him.  “What did you do?”  Thor growled.

Loki’s brow furrowed, distracted from his furious tugging at the question.  “What?”

“That smell.”

Loki seemed to take it as an offensive comment again as he scowled.  “I have not eaten garlic this day, so you have no cause for complaint, you oaf.”  he growled back.

Thor felt Loki’s body pressed between his legs and relaxed a little as he lightly seated himself on his brother’s stomach.  “I was not complaining, I only wonder what sorcery you used.  Did you think to entice me into a loss?”

“Entice?”  Loki repeated, startled from his irritation with a faint look of bewilderment.  “What are you speaking of?”

Thor chuckled as he shook his head.  “Have it your own way.  Do you yield?”

“Return to what you were speaking of-”  Loki started but Thor cut him off.

Thor surged forward abruptly as he leaned till his face was almost against the crook of Loki’s neck as he inhaled and rumbled.  “Do you yield?”

Loki had taken Thor up on the sparring match as a lark and also to vent his frustrations at his brother.  He had not expected to find himself pinned nor to end up with Thor practically murmuring in his ear and…sniffing him again.

“Pardon me, my princes.”  A messenger approached with a low bow.  “The Queen requests your presence in her solarium.”

Thor abruptly jumped up with a toothy grin, his mood seemed much improved from only moments ago.  “Then we will not keep her waiting.”

As the brothers headed for their mother, Loki kept a side-eye on his brother as he contemplated the little oddities he’d noted since the events of the beast hunt.

--xx--

Another two days passed as the day of the full moon arrived and Thor was in a foul temper.  He could not be roused to attend the morning meal and when a servant made attempt to deliver food, Thor hurled a bowl against the wall.

Loki, somewhat at his mother’s behest, went to see what the fool’s problem was.  He did not expect as he knocked to be greeted snappishly.

“What do you want, Loki?”  Thor demanded.

Loki fought a scowl as he adopted a demeanor as though surprised to find Thor so irked.  “Only to see how my brother fares.  Not well, clearly.  What has you in such upset, Thor?”

“Out.”  Thor snarled.

“Pardon?”

“I said out.”  Thor held the door open with clear intent that Loki should leave through it.

The younger Odinson bristled at that as he crossed his arms and fixed his brother with a faint glare.  “I shall consider it when you tell me what all this is about.  You’re being unusually beastly and I would know why.”

Thor made an angry noise as he glared right back.  His skin felt itchy and warm, his clothes felt too tight, the lights seemed intolerably bright, and he was again terribly nauseous.  Thor could not entertain social conversation, or his little brother’s needling, on top of that.  “Did you come here just to insult me?”

“I came to see how you fared, as I said-”

”-Now you have seen me!  So leave, Loki!”

”Well if I am so unwanted here.”  he started, as if to goad Thor into saying otherwise.

“You are.”  Thor growled, it was all he could do to maintain the conversation.  He hadn’t wanted to see anyone, Loki came to visit at the worst times, truly.

Loki didn’t let the flash of hurt at the words show on his face but he felt the cut of them keenly all the same.  “Fine, sit in your room and sulk then!”  he snarled back before he turned with a flourish of his sorcery to slam Thor’s door behind him.

Thor swayed and then sunk to his rear as he rubbed his hands over his eyes.  Norns, what was wrong with him, why did he feel so poorly?

--xx--

Thor remained in his room for the remainder of the day and when his mother attempted to speak with him, he turned her away as curtly as he could.  He paced his room with a restless energy as his need to lie down became a need to be active.  Thor clenched and unclenched his hands rapidly as he gritted his teeth.  Perhaps a day of sport on the morrow, or another bout of sparring.

The sun set in the sky as the first brush of the full moon came up over the darkened sky.  Thor took no notice as he paced, and then was in no position to as he suddenly felt a sharp, twisting pain.  He gasped as he went to his knees and then clutched his chest.  A heat spread through him like liquid fire in his veins and he felt impossibly warm all over.  He tried to breathe and found his breaths coming in sporadic busts.  Something was wrong, truly wrong, and Thor realized whatever he’d been wrestling with since his return was no small matter after all.  Thor tried to call out, to alert Heimdall or catch a servant’s attention, but he couldn’t make his voice work.  A strangled noise came from his throat before he let out a low moan and fell onto his side.

His whole body tensed and then the pain began in earnest.  Thor felt as though his body were being ripped apart.  He heard the disconcerting sound of his bounds seemingly scraping against each other.  Thor’s hands clenched and he squinted at them only to see his fingers gnarled in a curved position.  His spine arched as he gasped in pain and let out a low whimper no one was present to hear.  Thor tried again to call for help, but only a raspy moan emerged.  The last thing he saw as he turned wet, agonized eyes towards the window was the crown of the full moon rising in the sky.

--xx--

“Hurry!  He went this way!”

“What a monster!”

Loki watched the commotion as he joined the small hunting party that had formed in the few hours since night had fallen.  Asgard was a land free of beasts save those there by design, they had no such things as wild wolves.  And yet word had reached the palace of a wolf that had slaughtered livestock in quick succession.  Artran was quick to encourage a hunt and while a wolf was no matter for the Allfather to concern himself with, Loki took it upon himself to assist.  He had tried to collect his surly brother but received no answer upon knocking and he wasn’t going to battle Thor to get his aid in a matter that Loki could handle alone.  An Einherjar guard would be sufficient, really, but it was a strange occurrence and Loki wanted to ensure no sorcery was afoot.

The beast wasn’t hard to find, there was a small trail of blood and paw prints away from his latest kill and before long the howl of a wolf was further indication of his presence.

The wolf, when they came upon him, was a rare specimen indeed.  The beast had golden fur stained red with blood and seemed a full-grown adult.  Loki had suspected it might be a direwolf but upon seeing it, the beast was ordinary despite its coloring.  Artran had been ready to kill the creature but Loki stayed his hand, curious about the origin of the strange wolf where no such beast should be.

Loki had approached and the wolf growled low as it bared its fangs in a snarl with ears folded back against the skull.  “Shh.”  he shushed the beast.  “Be a good dog.”  he encouraged with a faint smirk, even as he left himself as an illusion and went around as himself behind the beast.

The wolf smelled him, of course, but Loki anticipated that.  He was ready when the wolf lunged and he hauled the wolf up with a hand clenched around the back of its throat.  The wolf let out an angry howl even as Loki poured sorcery into the wolf to make it sleep.  As the eyes started to close, Loki caught a peculiar glint of blue in the moonlight.

--xx--

Artran was vocal in his disappointment at allowing the beast to live but Loki ignored him.  He had ordered a cage brought to his room in advance of the capture when he’d seen what the wolf was.  A pretty little beast, but no monster nonetheless.  Loki would wait until morning and see what he and his mother could discover via sorcery about the origins of the wolf.  He let a guard carry the sleeping wolf though he took charge of the beast when they’d reached Loki’s room.  Loki sent an illusion of himself to inform the Allparents of the result of the ‘hunt’.

As he sealed his room behind him and slipped the wolf into the cage, he paused to admire his new acquisition.  He had never heard of a golden-furred wolf, which did indeed give Loki the impression there must be something pointed or noteworthy about the creature.  But was it sent by an enemy?  Was the wolf a byproduct of some mischief of one of their people?  Loki crouched down by the cage as he eyed the sleeping wolf and stroked a few fingers over the surprisingly soft, blood-spattered fur.  “Where did you come from, little wolf?”  he murmured curiously before he took to his bed for the night.  There would be time enough in the morning to parse out the mysteries of the strange visitor.

He wondered if he might keep the wolf when all was said and done.  Loki had long had interest in having a pet, though he’d not gone out of his way to have one.  Perhaps this one would do.  And given the coloring of the fur…he wondered if he might name it in ‘honor’ of his brother.  Thori, perhaps, to drive his brother mad.  The thought made him chuckle even as the reminder of his brother and Thor’s repeated dismissals made him angry again.  He had stayed with his brother and pulled Thor from that cave himself and what was his thanks?  Thor, as usual, taking all of the glory and visiting disparaging treatment on his younger brother.

--xx--

Loki was awoken at sunrise by a pained howl and then yelp.  The wolf was writhing in the cage and panting heavily.  The golden beast squirmed and thrashed while Loki, quickly arisen, went to the cage with wide eyes.  The shape of the wolf seemed to change and Loki could see the bones literally shifting position beneath the fur that was rapidly becoming skin.  Another howl turned into a whimper and then a groan as the snout flattened into a human mouth.  When all was said and done, it was not a golden wolf in the cage, but a man.  His nude, golden-haired brother barely able to hunch inside of the cage as he stared up at Loki with pained, confused eyes.

“Thor?”  Loki breathed in shock.

Thor’s mouth opened and closed as he seemed disoriented.  His hands twitched against the bottom of the cage as he squinted at Loki and then peered at the bars without comprehension.  “Br’th’r.”  The word was mumbled and faintly garbled.

Loki’s eyes widened further at the before he used sorcery to break apart the cage as Thor would not fit through the entry door.  Thor seemed startled and no less disoriented as Loki conjured a cape and draped it around his brother.  “Thor?  Brother?”  he knelt down as he pressed a hand to the side of Thor’s face and his brother leaned against it heavily.

“Loki…”  Thor’s eyes closed as he nuzzled into Loki’s palm with a slow inhale before one of his hands rose to grip Loki’s thigh.  His eyes came open at peered at Loki unfocused.  “Help…me.”  Thor mumbled as his head pitched forward and found Loki’s shoulder.

Loki swayed slightly under the sudden weight as his arms came up around his brother, and he held the other man who he found to be trembling slightly.  His mind raced with possibilities of how and why this had happened, but there seemed only one conclusion.  The dread of the notion filled him quickly.  This had to do with the Beast of Gevaudan, a beast that Thor faced only because Loki had led him to it.  Was his brother now cursed?

“Brother.”  Thor’s voice was almost a whimper and Loki could tell he was in pain.

“Worry not.”  Loki tried to soothe against his own shock and budding despair.  “I am going to pull us up, stand with me if you can.”  he urged as he slowly brought them up to their feet.  Thor leaned heavily against him, but wasn’t dead weight.  He led Thor to his bed and guided him onto it where Thor collapsed heavily.  “I will fetch Mother-”

Thor’s hand reached out to snatch Loki’s wrist as a sudden panic filled his expression.  “No.  Don’t…don’t…stay.”  His tone was pleading and Loki could tell his brother still wasn’t lucid.

Loki swallowed hard as he placed his hand over Thor’s and gave it a squeeze before he extricated himself.  “I will be but a moment, brother.”  He used sorcery to covertly put a magical binding around Thor’s ankle and to his bed, in case Thor should try to roam in his short absence.  “Wait here.”  he ordered, gentle but firm, and he missed any further protest as he teleported to the entry of their mother’s rooms.

Thor was cursed, he had to be, Thor had been a wolf and the way of the shift…it was not as Loki shifted.  His shifts were easy but Thor’s had been painful.  Loki had seen the movement of his bones, heard the squelch of his body as it morphed, and Thor was out of it following the transformation.  The Golden Prince of Asgard was cursed.

And Loki had set it into motion.

Chapter Text

“The jump isn’t far!”  A young Thor coaxed as he looked over the edge of the small cliff to the waters below.  His little brother stood at his side, dubious and more than a little anxious, as Thor tried to convince him.

“It looks far to me.”  Loki muttered.

“You know I would never let anything happen to you, brother.”  Thor cajoled as he wrapped his arms around his brother and dramatically nuzzled his little brother’s head to make Loki huff and try futilely to tug away.

“Th-or!”  Loki whined and Thor grinned as he released the younger Odinson.

“Guess I’ll jump alone then…I will see you at the bottom, Loki-”

“-Wait!” he exclaimed as he grabbed onto Thor’s arm.  “You…”  Loki’s expression scrunched as he looked from Thor to the bottom.

Thor frowned before he sighed.  “Never mind, brother, we will walk down.”

Loki didn’t want to be the scared one between them, he wanted to be as strong and fearless as his big brother.  He didn’t want to disappoint Thor either.  “N-No we can jump.”

“It is fine, Loki-”

”-We are jumping!”  Loki insisted and Thor huffed before he shrugged.

“Okay.  Then jump.”  Thor said as he crossed his arms expectantly, he clearly thought that Loki wouldn’t do it.

Loki did indeed hesitate but only to say.  “I-I want to jump together.”  He stuck out his hand abruptly as he waited for Thor’s verdict.  Loki was relieved when Thor’s warm hand wrapped around his own, and Thor’s expression was warm to match when Loki chanced to look at him again.

“Together.”  Thor agreed as the brothers stepped closer to the edge and with a countdown in unison, the pair jumped.

Loki gasped as they hit the chilly water and he scrambled to the surface.  His and Thor’s hands had come undone on impact and he fumbled against the light current.  Then a strong grip found his upper arm and hauled him up.  Loki latched onto the aid instinctively, an arm over his brother’s shoulder and clutched on a handful of tunic.  “Thor.”  he said with relief.

Thor grinned as he scooped an arm around Loki’s waist and the pair swam to the edge of the small river.  “Not so bad was it, brother?”

Loki laughed through shallow breaths as he pushed at his brother and the pair climbed up to collapse onto the shore.  He rested his head on Thor’s arm near the crook of his armpit and felt Thor’s arm lazily adjust so that his palm rested on Loki’s chest.  Loki felt Thor shiver, he never did as well with cold as Loki, and Loki braced himself as he tried a new spell.  He lifted his hands as they illuminated green and Thor watched curiously.  There was a tingling, warm sensation and a feeling like a blast of air before they were completely dry.

Thor sat up half-way in surprise as he looked down at his little brother.  “I didn’t know you could do that.”  he said with awe.

“I just learned.”  Loki said, embarrassed and proud at Thor’s impressed expression and tone.

Thor’s brows rose before he laughed and laid back down as he tugged Loki against him in a tight, one-armed hug and ruffled his hair to Loki’s groaning protest.  “My little brother, the greatest sorcerer in all the realms.”  he declared.

“Then do you think it wise to be such an oaf?”  Loki grumbled as he tried in vain to free himself from Thor’s grip and playful ruffling.

Thor smirked.  “What was that, little brother?”  he said as he clamped a hand on Loki’s side and he yelped.  “Do you think it wise to be such a brat?”  he retorted as the brothers began to wrestle.  Thor got the brothers up and back into the water with an indignant shout from Loki who devolved into laughter as their wrestling continued.

When the brothers left the water, Loki dried himself only and Thor tugged at his little brother’s tunic.  “Aww, come on, Loki.”

Loki tugged away.  “You are wet, do not-brother!”  he found himself in danger of being bear-hugged by a soaking wet older brother and quickly darted away while Thor gave chase with a laugh.

When their game of chase had ended, Loki gave a dramatic sigh before he focused and waved his hands as Thor was dried with sorcery.

Thor’s expression brightened as he patted himself.  “Thanks, Loki.”

Loki couldn’t help a pleased smile as he bumped his big brother’s shoulder with his own and hummed a reply.

--xx--

Thor had fallen from the bed when Loki returned with their parents in tow.  The elder Odinson was muttering as he peered at them with bleary eyes, and Frigga conjured pants and a shirt for her eldest given that his form was on display.  Odin and Loki hefted Thor back into Loki’s bed and Odin cupped Thor’s cheek in his palm as he examined his son’s eyes.

Frigga murmured a spell as she waved her hand and studied Thor.  “There is deep magic on him.”

“That much is clear.”  Odin said as Thor grabbed at his father’s wrist.

“T-There…it…”  Thor rambled and Odin shushed him lightly as Thor’s body was wracked with shivers.

“The transformation was not gentle.”  Loki said as he watched his brother pensively.  “I have not seen the like.”

“Unnatural.”  Frigga said.  “A  dark curse then.”

“We must know more about the beast.  I will speak with the hunter that returned with you.”

“Artran?  He will wonder why, and what became of the ‘wolf’.  It would not do for him to know about this.”

“You do not trust him?”  Odin asked.

“No.  He accompanied us on Thor’s permission, not mine.”

At the sound of his name, Thor squinted in Loki’s direction.  “Brother.”

Loki stepped closer as he let his fingertips settle on Thor’s shoulder.  “I am here, Thor.”

Thor drew a sharp breath in before his gaze drifted and he mumbled something unintelligible.

“...The change came on suddenly, it faded with the sunrise…”  Loki said.

”The moon was full last night.”  Odin noted as he pressed his fingers to his son’s throat and then various points of his body as if searching for tender spots.

“A curse triggered by the phase of moon?”  Loki’s brow furrowed.  “I have only heard such tales from the mortals.”

“And tales often have a ring of truth.”  Frigga said as she sat on the other side of Thor and stroked back some of his hair.

“Surely the curse can be broken.”  Loki said.

“We will do all in our power to.”  Frigga said.  “But such curses as these…they run deep.  They are not broken easily.  The beast that cursed him is now dead.  That would have been the best aid in reversing this and now…”

The beast’s corpse had been burned at the pleasure of the villagers who had been so tormented by it.  There was nothing left of the beast to search for a cure from.

Loki swallowed hard at the realization as he pulled his fingers back from his brother.  He had wanted to teach Thor a lesson, he wanted to prove him unfit for the crown, but he had not wanted Thor cursed.

And yet he wasn’t as guilty as he probably should be.

I warned him.  Loki reminded himself again.  I urged him out.  He didn’t listen.  Thor was so eager to claim sole responsibility for slaying the beast, then surely the fault lay with him for his curse as well.

“The very moment I needed the light most it went out, and from there the battle faltered.”

What if Loki’s choice to let the light fade was the critical factor?  Would Thor have bested the beast unscathed if not for that moment of blindness?

And anyway, this was Asgard, Thor was the son of the Allfather of the Nine Realms.  There must be a cure for the curse and who was better positioned to receive it than the Golden Prince?  This was not quite what Loki had planned, but surely the result would be similar enough?  Thor would be laid low for a time, perhaps time enough to learn humility and have their father recognize his flaws, and then Thor would be his glorious self again.

--

Thor spent that night expelling the contents of his stomach, which seemed to be the contents of the wolf’s stomach.  Meat and bone fragments left Thor’s voice ragged when it was finished, and Loki winced to hear his brother speak.

Frigga had tried to hold his hair and soothe him, but Thor’s pride it seemed would not allow it.  He did not banish Loki from his side though, and Loki found himself braving Thor’s meager protest to take the position of their mother.

Loki deftly tied Thor’s hair at the nape of his neck and kept a cool palm alternating around Thor’s neck.  His brother looked unusually pale and his eyes were red-rimmed.  When Thor had not expelled further for some time, he croaked.  “I think…it is finished.”  he swallowed hard as though it hurt to speak, and Loki didn’t doubt that it did.  Loki helped Thor up by the arm and Thor tugged towards the bath.  “I will…”  he didn’t finish the sentence but Loki understood.

“I’ll be outside if you need anything, brother.”  Loki said softly, and Thor gave a short nod.  He felt a hint of Thor’s fingers give a quick grip to Loki’s arm before he pulled away and Loki left him to it.

Loki took the liberty of arranging an outfit for Thor as his mind drifted to times they had done as much for each other in less grim and worse circumstances.  He recalled rare times he’d gotten sick as a child and Thor had snuck to his bedside.  Heedless of getting sick himself, Thor would hold his sniveling brother and sing their mother’s lullabies.  Or he would try his hand at story-telling, though he often wandered from the plot.  Loki never minded, he felt better snug against his big brother, secure with Thor’s warmth and beloved voice around him.

Loki, in turn, would not be deterred from Thor’s side whenever he was sick.  His cool hands gave relief to his brother and Thor would make paltry protests that would end with him gratefully accepting Loki’s care.  Loki did not sing as often as Thor, but he told clearer stories, and Thor often fell asleep quickly through them.

When they were older, rather than small illness, they aided each other through injuries.  The wounds and follies of this or that battle or quest.

Loki had taken up residence in a chair when his brother emerged, he rose instantly and hid a frown at the sight of Thor.  He looked smaller somehow, diminished, with a sickly air that didn’t suit the thunderer at all.  The sight was somehow unnerving given that Loki was accustomed to a brother who seemed always impossibly invulnerable.

Thor’s blue eyes flicked towards Loki with something like wariness, though Loki couldn’t guess as to the cause.

“I left clothes on the table.”  he said with a gesture, and Thor gave them a quick glance before his hand flew to his mouth again.  “Thor-”  Loki was at his brother’s side quickly, and Thor breathed heavily a few seconds before it passed and he shook his head.

“Leave me.”  Thor murmured, doubtless in an attempt to spare his ravaged throat.

“Brother.”  Loki’s tone was faintly chiding, though he expected Thor might give some irritated reply.  Instead, Thor fixed him with a tired look.

“I wish to sleep.”  Thor said quietly.  Everything from him had been quiet when he hadn’t been in the throes of sickness.  He had taken the news of his curse with an almost eerie calm and Loki hadn’t known what to make of it.

Loki tried to set a hand on his brother’s shoulder but Thor shrugged it off.

“I am tired, brother.”  Thor said, almost apologetically, and Loki inclined his head.

“Very well…if you should need anything-”

“-Thank you.”  Thor said, gruffly but not unkindly, and Loki took it for the dismissal it was.  He offered his brother a thin smile that Thor didn’t return and took his leave.

When Loki had left, Thor stumbled back to the bathroom where he fell to his knees and was sick again.  It had been all he could do to hold himself together in front of his brother.

--

Loki headed for his mother’s chambers as he’d promised to update her on Thor’s condition.  He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised that Thor wouldn’t want him around, they were far from being children after all.  The invitation to sleep in Thor’s healing bed had been strange enough.

When he entered his mother’s chambers he found his father there as well and Loki straightened.

“Father, Mother.”  he greeted.

Odin nodded while Frigga murmured ‘my son’, and then Odin asked quietly.  “How is he?”

“Not his best.”  Loki said as he took a seat across from his parents.  “I think he vomited all that he took in as a wolf.”

“There should not be such bleed-over between the forms.”  Frigga said worriedly.  “This curse has caused an artless transformation.”

“Artran has been sent Volstagg and Fandral to see what might be retrieved of the beast.  Even the ash may be of use if some remains.  But on your recommendation, the hunter knows nothing of why.”

Loki gave a short nod before he took his opportunity to add.  “It is well no others were bitten…the whole affair was chaos…”  he said, as though weary and aggrieved.

“Thor should have not have stayed behind.”  Odin said with a shake of his head.  “But neither should you have.”

“Would you have had me leave my brother alone, in the dark with that creature?”  Loki asked with intentionally widened eyes.  “You know how Thor is, Father.  There is no reasoning with him when he is of a mind to battle…he thinks himself invincible.”  Loki sighed.

“The folly of youth.”  Odin murmured and Loki resisted the urge to correct that it was the folly of Thor.

Frigga had several tomes in front of her that she looked over in between listening to the conversation.  She pursed her lips at Loki’s words and he shifted uncomfortably, he had a sense that his mother saw beyond his words but surely that wasn’t the case.  None knew of Loki’s plotting, and his words seemed reasonable for a concerned younger brother ever trailing after his reckless older brother.  “The point is moot now.”  she finally said.  “We must find a way to reverse the curse.  The longer it holds, the harder it will be.”

“We will find a way.”  Loki said with certainty, a certainty he expected would be echoed by his parents.  He was surprised when their expressions remained grim.  “What is it?”

Odin and Frigga exchanged a glance before Frigga smoothed her expression into something softer.  “The worries of parents, you will understand someday…you look in need of rest as well, leave the matter for the morn, Loki.”

“I am perfectly fine.”  Loki said, perturbed by what seemed to be information he was not privy to.

“All the same, Loki, rest.  There will be much to do in the coming days.”  Odin echoed his wife’s sentiments and Loki hesitated before he complied.

Or at least, complied in so much as he left his mother’s quarters, he was far from done researching for the night.

--

A day and a half passed before Loki’s attempt to visit his brother was met with acceptance.  He entered to find Thor curled up in bed with the curtains drawn and only minimal light from the sun streaming in.  Loki let that stand as he went to his brother’s bedside.  “Brother?”

“What is it, Loki?”

Thor’s voice was rough, had it not fully healed?  Loki seated himself on the edge of Thor’s bed as he let his fingers rest on Thor’s upper arm.  “You haven’t eaten, and you’ve been in your room for days.”  Thor didn’t reply and after a moment, Loki tugged his brother into a sitting position.

“Loki.”  Thor growled as he finally looked Loki’s way and tugged his arm free.

“Mother and Father have been looking tirelessly for a cure, as have I, incidentally.  Rather pointless if you intend to hide and starve yourself, Thor.”

Thor inhaled sharply and Loki expected an angry retort, but Thor seemed to deflate as his hands clenched in his blankets.

Loki couldn’t get a read on his brother’s mood as silence fell between them again, so he chanced to set his hand on his brother’s thigh.  He felt Thor tense but the older man didn’t move away.  “If I bring you something, will you at least eat, brother?”  he asked softly.

Thor looked down at Loki’s hand on his thigh before he covered it with his own, just long enough to give it a firm squeeze before he pushed it away.  “Aye.”

Loki wasn’t sure what to make of Thor’s behavior but was relieved at the acquiescence.  “A moment then.”  He disappeared and Thor sighed as he clenched the fingers of the hand that held Loki’s.

--

By the time Loki returned, Thor had let a little more light in from the balcony door windows and was seated at a pair of chairs.  Loki took a seat next to him and set a tray of food between them only to watch as Thor picked at it with obvious reticence.  “Not hungry?  Or do you still feel unwell?”  Loki prompted.

“I…”  Thor trailed off as he took a piece of melon which he ate with a grimace and heavy swallow.  “…Not hungry.”

Loki could tell he wasn’t getting the truth of the matter.  His brother tended to have a ravenous appetite, but as far as he could tell, his brother hadn’t touched any food since his sickness following the transformation.  Thor looked wan, with tired, puffy eyes and an unfamiliar air of malaise.  “If you are feeling worse, brother, you must tell me.”  Loki said as he tried to meet his brother’s gaze.  “We know little of the extent of the curse.”

Thor grimaced at the mention of ‘curse’ as he forced himself to eat a bread roll.  “Nothing has changed.”

Thor’s answers were practically monotone and borderline monosyllabic.  His brother wasn’t a wordsmith but he wasn’t this lacking in speech.  ‘Nothing has changed’ told Loki little given that Thor hadn’t been forthcoming to start with.  He seemed oddly reluctant to make mention of his symptoms or condition, even to their parents, and it frustrated Loki.  “We are trying to help you, Thor.”

“And if you can’t?”  Thor asked quietly.

Loki puzzled over that a moment.  Was his brother afraid he’d be stuck with the curse?  But wasn’t that more reason to assist them in knowing all they could about the nuances of it?  “You forget, you have the most powerful sorcerer in Asgard for a brother.”  he said as he splayed his arms wryly.  “My tricks are occasionally useful, are they not?   And Mother and Father besides.  What is a curse to that?”

If Thor recognized the slight jab at his general disparagement of Loki’s sorcery, he gave no indication.

Loki leaned over his chair as he took Thor’s hand in his own, in part to take the measure of his brother by feel and a brush of sorcery, as well as to offer a bit of comfort.  He was surprised when Thor jerked his hand back.

“Enough.”  Thor said gruffly as he pushed himself up from the chair.  “I would be alone.”

Loki bristled as he too rose.  “You have scarcely eaten a bite-”

”-I will eat later.  I-…you need to leave.”

Loki didn’t miss the turn of phrase.  “And why is that exactly?”  He took a step towards Thor, surprised when his brother took a half-step back.  “What are you hiding?”

That seemed to stir Thor’s temper as his eyes narrowed.  “It is my room and I have told you to leave.”

“Always such a pleasure speaking with you, brother.”  Loki said through faintly gritted teeth.

“I did not ask you to come.”  Thor said lowly.

Loki hated that such words from Thor still had the power to prick him, to cause a sting of hurt.  He was being kind and patient, was he not?  Loki was trying to offer support and tenderness to his brother and what did he receive in return by blunt rejection and ingratitude?  “My mistake.  I did not realize you found my company so undesirable.  I shall not repeat the offense.”  Thor made a noise of irritation but Loki gave him no chance to reply as he quickly departed.

Loki kept his composure as he stalked the hallways, but his mood was again lowered by Thor and he hated that too.  His interactions with Thor were a strange mixture.  Loki had his logical expectations, he had his damnable sentiments, he had a lifetime of ingrained responses and reactions, and he had those that had been building up in the past few centuries of Thor’s spiral into an irredeemable fool.  Thor had always cast a long shadow but he’d scarcely noticed it when Thor made such an effort to keep Loki by his side, with him in the light.

Now that Thor seemed ever to disdain Loki and his company save as an obligatory placeholder and occasionally useful wielder of tricks, Thor’s shadow was more akin to a prison.  Sif and the Warriors Three could leave if they so chose, but what of Loki?  The second prince of Asgard, the spare, he could no more leave than bid the sun not to rise.  Loki’s place was at Thor’s side, or rather, behind him as it ever seemed.  Perhaps that was why it seemed to be Loki alone who so clearly saw Thor’s failings.  He alone who was not blinded to Thor’s arrogance, his oafishness, his blind reliance on others to make up for all that he lacked.  Loki, alone in Asgard, seemed aware of ruin that would await Thor being crowned king.  He would always, it seemed, have to go it alone.  And the very thought made Loki burn.

--xx--

Nearly a week from their last confrontation saw Thor out amongst the court again, presumably due to the influence of their parents.  Their mother had seemed dead set on making Thor leave his room, and doubtless their father followed suit.

Thor was dressed cleanly with his facial hair groomed and his hair brushed, but there was no mistaking that he still didn’t look well.  The Golden Prince was without his usual glow.

“There was barely a bit left of the beast.”  Fandral said as Loki approached.  “Whatever divination the Queen means to perform with the remains, I fear there will not be much for them.”

Loki saw tension in Thor’s jaw.  The House of Odin, along with Heimdall, were alone in knowing why Artran and Fandral had been sent to collect any remains of the beast.  Thor’s curse was a carefully guarded secret.  As far as others knew, Thor had been sick resultant of his injuries.

“Much can be done with little.”  Loki said as he inclined his head in greeting before he took a seat next to Fandral across from Thor.  He noted his brother met his gaze briefly before his nose scrunched as if he’d experienced something distasteful before he looked away.  “Nice to see you out and about, brother.  You look much improved.”  he said, although Thor did not, and mostly to goad him into conversation.

Sif, at Thor’s side, was visibly unimpressed and Loki gave her a winning smile even as he looked to his brother.

“Glad I have your approval, Loki.”  Thor rumbled, his tone low and gruff, he seemed irritated already.

Fandral glanced between the princes before he offered Loki a friendly look.  “I was just telling Thor of our return to Gevaudan.”

“So I heard-”

“-Ah, Prince Loki.”  Artran interrupted as he leaned forward from Fandral’s other side to see Loki.  “How fares your wolf?  If you have decided you have no interest, I would gladly make a pelt of it.”

Half of Loki wanted to laugh given Thor’s abruptly stricken expression.  The other half was instinctively protective and nauseated at the thought that Artran might have killed and skinned his brother unwittingly if Loki hadn’t gotten to him first.  He had contemplated the lie that the wolf had died and been disposed of, but if Thor were ever caught about in that form then the lie would be a poor one.  So Loki instead clucked his tongue sympathetically.  “I have taken quite a liking to the wolf, I’m afraid.  No pelts shall be made of the poor fellow.”

“The wolf that broke into the Innef’s farmstead?”  Sif asked.  “You kept it?”

Thor watched the exchange with a tense look and Loki could have smacked his brother for being so obvious.  It was well that none had any inkling of the curse to guess at his open expression.  “Indeed so.  The wolf has a rare coloring and I have long wanted for a pet.”  he let his eyes drift to his brother who had taken to faintly glaring at him.  Loki smiled beatifically at his brother before he made attempt to change the subject.  “How long are we to receive your gracious company, Artran?”  he asked, more genially than he needed to.

Artran seemed oblivious to Loki’s underlay of sarcasm.  “I should think another couple of weeks at least.  There is much to learn here.  Your warriors are fascinating.  Perhaps you might teach me a thing or two, Prince Thor.”

Several coughed awkwardly or bristled, Loki included, at the bald self-invitation to the crown prince’s time and teachings.  “Thor has business enough to attend to, good sir.”  Loki said, his expression again genial despite the coolness of his tone.

“Thor can answer for himself.”  The man in question growled and Loki stifled a frown.  “In fact.”  Thor rose and beckoned Artran.  “I could use a spar.”

“Wonderful!”  Artran was up in an instant while Loki swallowed a scowl.

Sif shot Loki a faintly amused look, as though she read him at a glance.

Thus Sif, the Warriors Three, Artran, Thor, and a begrudging Loki made their way to the sparring area.

Light matches began with some instructions given Artran who ended up facing Volstagg first.  The man was quick on his feet, but he seemed better suited for arrows than swords and soon found himself on his rear.

Fandral grinned at Thor.  “Care to loosen up with me?”

Thor offered a thin smile.  “I could use the warm up.”  he said, his cocky reply clearly good-natured.

The pair set to swords, a weapon Thor hadn’t favored since his teen years but that he was still well-versed in.  They parried and moved about with increasing speed and force as Fandral at one point found himself forced to stumble back as Thor slammed their swords hard.  “You have been pent up.”  Fandral noted with a chuckle.

Thor didn’t reply but slashed again and Fandral blocked it easily.  The force behind Thor’s moves was excessive, but the usual form wasn’t there, and his expression was decidedly blank.

“All well, Thor?”  Fandral finally asked as he realized fully that something wasn’t quite right.

Thor made a sudden move that Fandral blocked, but against etiquette, Thor drew his sword from the slash into what amounted to a backhand and left a cut near Fandral’s collar bone.  A thin line of blood welled as Thor moved again to strike.

“I yield.”  Fandral said quickly, taken aback, but Thor didn’t seem inclined to stop.  “Thor, I yield!”  he threw down his sword which was nearly a mistake as Thor took a step towards him.

But Loki teleported between them as he summoned his daggers and used a dual-dagger move to disarm the distracted Thor.  He pressed closer to his brother with a hiss of.  “What is wrong with you?”  Loki felt a sudden, tight grip on his wrist even as he heard a low growl and felt the sting of…claws through his sleeve?  His eyes flicked quickly to Thor’s hand where the nails had turned faintly darker and pointed, even as Thor’s eyes had yellow rings as they’d done the time Loki had thought it a trick of the eyes.  Was Thor transforming, here and now?

Loki was aware of eyes on them, including the damned hunter, so he thought quickly as he summoned his sorcery and cast an illusion of the need to sneeze in Thor.  His brother found himself subject to sneeze after sneeze, until he backed up with a quick protest and Loki was relieved to see his eyes and nails their usual color.  Loki dispelled the illusion as Thor looked at him accusingly.  “What was that for?”  he snarled.

“Fandral yielded!”  Loki hissed back.  “And you made to attack again!”  Thor looked visibly startled at that as his eyes drifted behind Loki to Fandral and the others.

“I…”  Thor’s sword clattered to the ground as he dropped it with a confused expression.

“Thor?”  Loki’s brow furrowed.

“I…may still be unwell…”  Thor muttered as he quickly moved past Loki and his friends.  Sif tried to catch his arm but he shrugged her off as he snapped.  “Leave me be.”

Loki wasn’t sure he’d ever heard Thor use that tone with Sif, she certainly looked taken aback, as did the others.  And then came the expected moment when all eyes seemed to fall on him.  That look, the one that held expectations that Loki should know what was happening with Thor, or that he should be at hand to fix it.  For all the grief they  gave Loki, for all the mistrust and mockery he was subject to, it was Loki who was expected to corral his brother.  Loki who was expected to rein in the great oaf, or soothe him, or fulfill whatever it was Thor ‘needed’.  Like a good little shadow.

“I will go to him.”  Loki said, as expected, and the moment he had his back to the others his calm expression became grim and furious.  He knew Thor had been hiding symptoms but that…Thor had begun to transform, he was sure of it.  Did Thor truly not realize, or did he think to hide it?  Was his brother such a fool as not to realize how precarious his current position was?  What would happen if it got out that the crown prince was cursed, and by his own folly no less?  The very idea was-…the very idea was…

Loki came to a stop as the epiphany struck him.  He had wanted a way to belay Thor’s coronation, and here a way had come to him practically gift-wrapped.  This was more than a method of getting their father to see reason and call a halt to the proceedings.  Loki could use this to send the message far and wide of Thor’s lack of readiness.  He could spread the tale far and wide of how Thor had endangered them all on a hunt for self-glory and recklessness, how he had gotten himself cursed, how suitable the beastly curse was for such a beastly prince…  Loki was well capable of spreading rumors and gossip to fit his purposes.  He was still confident that Thor would be cured before long, so what harm was there in letting his current condition slip after all?  Surely that would be a humbling experience for the oaf?  And perhaps the tongues wagging about Thor’s failure in leadership might even given their father cause to rethink…

What an idea indeed.

--xx--

Loki left Thor to his own devices though not before informing his mother with put-upon worry about what happened in the sparring ring.  That he feared Thor’s curse was worse than they’d surmised, that Thor was losing control, that for the time being it was surely best if Thor stayed close at hand.

Their father ordered Thor to stay on Asgard for the time being.  There would be no quests or adventures, no use of Mjolnir, and Thor was ordered to avoid sparring or training with others until the cause of the near-miss could be better understood.  Thor seemed to suspect Loki’s hand in his newfound restrictions, he had glared at Loki so openly that their father had snapped at him.  Loki kept an expression of innocence even as he gloated internally.

But with the restrictions came another sort of problem.  How to get Thor to expose himself and perhaps to act out?

Loki had been researching ways to break curses, and what sort of curse Thor might exactly be under.  That hadn’t been particularly fruitful.  But given his new plan he turned his attentions elsewhere.  The Midgardians had lore about lycanthropy, about men becoming wolves under the light of the full moon and being felled by silver bullets.  The tales were childish as far as Loki knew, there was perhaps truth in the business about the moon given Thor’s initial change, but the rest didn’t fit with what Thor presented thus far.  He saw nothing about the shifters being rendered so ill, or spitting up the prey eaten when in wolf form, nor what Thor exhibited in the training yard.  But there was a mention he was curious of…that of wolfsbane.  Loki was more familiar with the plant by the term ‘aconite’ and that it was toxic to consume.  But the couple of Midgardian books he found in their library on lore suggested that the plant weakened or even cured the cursed.

A god wouldn’t die from a bit of toxic plant and Loki didn’t see a harm in seeing what effect the plant might have.  He did want to control the results though, whatever they might be, so he arranged a little test run as he ground a bit of aconite into as fine a powder as he could.  Then he went to pay his brother a visit.  He found Thor in an interior weapons room where he was striking viciously at a target dummy.

“Any harder and you’ll split the thing in half, brother.”

Thor didn’t so much as twitch at the sound of his voice, much to Loki’s surprise, as if Thor had expected him.  Given that Loki had come in soundlessly and shielded, he wasn’t sure how that was the case.  “What do you want now?”  he finally growled though he didn’t look away from his task.  “Did you wheedle Father into placing more restrictions on me?”

Loki affected a tone of surprise.  “I had no part in Father’s decision.  Why would I want you stuck here?  All it serves is to make you even more irritable.”  he clucked his tongue before he adopted a sympathetic tone.  “Cooping you up in the palace helps no one.  I told Father as much, but you know how he is.”  Thor shot him a dubious glance and Loki pressed his luck.  “How have you been?  I have scarcely seen you since the incident with Fandral."

“There was no incident!”  Thor snarled, suddenly fierce as he whirled around with axe in hand.

Loki splayed his palms in a non-confrontational manner.  “Your eyes had yellowed, your fingernails were tipped like claws.  You were ready to attack your unarmed friend.  A thousand pardons, brother, but there was indeed an incident.”

Thor seemed to deflate at those words as he let the axe fall to his side.  “…I would not have attacked him.”  His words were quiet, said almost as if to convince himself more than with certainty.

“Of course not.”  Loki soothed as he stepped closer.  “The side-effects of the curse are beyond your control.”

Thor bristled at that and he seemed displeased by Loki’s approach.  “I am still in control.”  he said lowly.

“Good.”  Loki said firmly.  “I hope for no less.  And with any luck, before long, we shall have you cured.”

A strange look crossed Thor’s face and Loki had the impression that Thor wanted to ask something of him.  But Thor’s expression hardened suddenly as he took a step back.  “I am training, Loki.  I do not wish to be interrupted.”

Loki’s jaw tightened but he kept his expression relaxed as he waved his hand with sorcery behind his back.  A few stones from the ceiling above shifted as a few pebbles fell with a slight pouring of dust.  Thor looked up, distracted, as Loki conjured the powdered aconite and cast it Thor’s way.

Whatever he expected, it wasn’t the apparent lack of reaction that he got as Thor looked back at him with a frown.

“I could help you train, Thor.  I know of your curse already, you hardly need hide from me.”

Thor sniffed as he scrunched his nose with a furrowed brow before he rubbed at his face with his palm.  “I am not hiding.”  he said in a strained tone.  “Loki, why-”  he shook his head as he trailed off and then fixed a frown on his brother.

Loki was delighted to see that the yellow had ringed Thor’s iris again.  “Brother, your eyes-” he moved to extend his hand to Thor’s face only to find it gripped tightly by Thor’s.

“Don’t touch me.”  Thor snarled as he hurled Loki’s hand aside.

Loki was actually taken aback by the vehemence and the force of Thor’s anger as he glared.  And then Thor jerked as he doubled over at the waist with a pained noise.  He seemed to try to right himself only to stumble to one knee as his hands clenched in a spasm.  Loki watched in morbid fascination as golden fur began to sprout on the back of Thor’s hands, even as he caught the glimpse of elongated canines in Thor’s mouth as his brother made a pained noise.  “Thor?”

Thor made a low, growling sound at Loki’s voice before he grimaced and pushed himself back onto his rear as he held a palm up towards Loki.  “Go.”

“If you think I am leaving you like this-”

Thor made a fierce, guttural snarl as he bared his teeth at Loki only to look stunned at the sound from his own mouth.  He put a hand to his face with a horrified look and shook his head.  “You have to leave me.  I-I will be fine.  You must leave.”

Loki didn’t understand Thor’s urgency, did the oaf think he would hurt Loki this way?  As if Loki couldn’t manage one confused, cursed brother.  “I assure you, I have taken a number of precautions against your current condition.”

Thor made a low moaning noise in his throat before the golden fur that had sprouted on his hands began to recede, his eyes returned to their full blue, and his canines restored to their usual size.

The aconite seemed to have had an effect but a short lived one.  A similar effect seemed to have been occurring during the sparring match with Fandral, so what had been the difference?

Thor looked to be in pain and Loki tried again to put a hand on his brother.  He was startled when Thor surged forward and clamped a hand in the space between his neck and shoulder.  He shoved Loki who tripped and took the pair down as Thor made a furious noise.  “What are you-get off of me, Thor!”  He tried to buck his brother off with a knee, only to feel a hand tight on his throat.  It wasn’t the first time Thor had grabbed him there, but it was the first time he had truly applied pressure.  Loki felt Thor’s fingers tightening alarmingly and his eyes widened.  “B-Brother.”

Thor’s eyes were again ringed in yellow as he made a low, snarling noise.  His eyes were inches from Loki’s as he loomed above him.

Loki made a choked noise as he summoned a dagger to his hand and shoved it into his brother’s side.

Thor released him immediately with a savage noise, a sound between a man’s groan and a wolf’s howl.

Loki scrambled to his feet as his hand went to his sore, likely bruised throat.  The stabbing seemed to have had an effect because Thor’s spine arched unnaturally as a pained noise gurgled from his mouth.  His hands were again clenched as the nails sharpened into claw-like points and tufts of golden fur sprouted along his hands and neck.

The yellow ring was gone from Thor’s irises but they held a glassy sheen and faintly gray tinge in the sclera.  He clutched at his side before he brought a blood-slicked palm in his line of vision and stared as though he was uncertain of what he was seeing.

Loki clutched at his dagger as he took a few steps back.  “Heimdall.”  he croaked, to get the Gatekeeper’s attention on them.

Thor lurched at the sound and bared his teeth again as he rose with a clawed hand clenched against his bleeding side.

“Thor.”  Loki entreated.  “Brother, listen to my voice, whatever this is, you are surely stronger.”  He had perhaps underestimated the nature of Thor’s curse and the effect of the aconite, if indeed that was the greatest catalyst.  There was the stabbing, but then Thor had seemed ready to strangle him before that.

Thor made a sound like a grunt as he stepped towards Loki with a predatory gaze, there was no other way to describe it.

“Brother.”  Loki tried again as he took another step back.

Thor blinked rapidly and the confused look returned to his face, his eyes seemed unfocused as he mumbled in a low tone.  “Brother?”

Relief flooded Loki as he chanced to take a few steps closer instead and spoke soothingly.  “It’s me, Thor.  Stay with me, brother, you must calm yourself.  Breathe slowly.”  If he could get his hands on Thor, he could cast an illusion of sleepiness on him and hopefully Thor could sleep off the aconite Loki had forced into his system.  He had wanted to make a show of Thor’s curse but he hadn’t expected the vitriolic lack of control, that was more dangerous than he’d anticipated.

Thor’s expression was still befuddled as Loki stepped closer with his dagger hidden behind his back just in case.  He lifted a hand to Thor’s face cautiously and Thor made a noise in his throat akin to a whimper.  Loki’s brow furrowed but he continued as he shushed his brother gently.  “You are safe, brother.”  he opted for blanket reassurance.

Thor’s hand came up quickly to cover Loki’s own and he tensed with his dagger.  But Thor, rather than show violence again, pressed his mouth against Loki’s palm with a quiet exhale.  Loki shivered and pulled his hand back on instinct as Thor suddenly licked the side of his hand.  It wasn’t until he looked to the side of his palm did he realize there had been a thin cut, perhaps from when he’d fallen, and Thor had licked the thin welling of blood away.  The sudden tug of his hand caused some reaction in Thor as he bristled and grasped at Loki’s side with sharp nails.  Loki slammed his hand back towards Thor’s head to go with initial plan.  But Thor made a strange counter move as he lifted the broadside of his arm and shoved it against Loki’s collarbone while still holding his stomach in a clawed grip.  “Loki.”  There was a note of accusation in the rough tone that might have bewildered Loki if he wasn’t concerned about their mutual well-being.

Loki brought his knee up sharply as he kicked at Thor’s stomach and knocked the other man back.  Thor made an angry sound and charged him, so Loki pulled a Thor-ish move and slammed a fist into the side of his face with considerable force.

Thor made a choked sound before his bones again made the hideous sound Loki had heard the morning his brother had shifted back.  He saw the morphing of Thor’s body as bones began to rearrange and he realized Thor was about to transform.

A metallic clank on the floor caught Loki’s attention and he whirled around to find their parents behind him.  Odin had slammed Gungnir against the floor and Thor writhed as bands of light surrounded him, guided by a joint effort of Frigga as she rolled her fingers together.  When it finished, Thor had stopped his near transformation and his arms were tightly bound at his sides with bands of glowing energy.  His expression scrunched with pain before his body went slack as he panted lightly and Frigga released him of the bonds.

Odin went to Loki as he examined his throat and Loki realized the evidence of Thor’s half-attempt at strangling him would be visible.  “What began this?”  he asked somberly.

Loki wasn’t inclined to mention his plot with the aconite, nor that he’d goaded his brother, nor did it seem prudent then to mention that Thor had tried to get him to leave.  Instead he said with an added rasp.  “I came to check on him…he seemed unwell.  I refused to leave him in that state and he…”  Loki trailed off as though reluctant to say it even as he fingered his throat.  “It was not his fault, of course, the curse…"

Odin held up a hand with a heavy sigh as he looked to where Frigga was stroking Thor’s hair and murmuring reassurances.  “…For the time being, Thor will be confined to his quarters.”

Loki looked to his father in surprise and Frigga seemed likewise taken aback.  “Odin, we know not the measure of the curse or how long it will take to cure.  How long would you have our son kept in confinement?  This curse is not his doing.”

“Is it not?”  Odin asked.  “Had it been another of the company, or even Loki, what then?  They were there at Thor’s behest, and Thor refused to leave the fight against reason.  How should that have been explained to the families of those Thor traveled with if they were cursed instead of he?  If Loki were cursed in defense of his brother?  This is the consequence of Thor’s arrogance.”

“Odin!”  Frigga scolded with the name.

“You would have me speak sweetly of it?  You saw the state Thor returned in, a fate Loki nearly shared.”

Loki felt a rush of excitement as finally, finally their father seemed to recognize that Thor was not perfect and infallible.  The confinement was a surprise and not what Loki had intended, but it was another kind of victory.  The Mighty Thor, bound to his rooms like an errant child, subject to a curse that now their father blamed him for properly.  His gaze went to Thor whose blue eyes were fixed on Odin, he seemed focused again, or at least focused enough to hear Odin’s pronouncement.

Odin seemed to realize it too because he addressed Thor.  “You endangered yourself and your companions for vanity.”

Thor’s brow furrowed as he shakily pushed himself up.  “The beast had to be stopped.”  His voice was rough as though his throat was dry.

“Within reason!”  Odin snapped.  “Not to the point at which, when all others bade you turn back, you continued.”

“What?”  Thor had regained some clarity but he still seemed disoriented, not so much so it seemed that the false statement didn’t strike his ears.  He had been the one to tell his companions to leave, he had ordered them to go.  Even Loki, Thor had told he would handle the beast alone but then ordered Loki to keep his light steady when he stayed.  “You are mistaken.”  The words felt thick on his tongue as he tried to form a proper reply.

Odin’s eyes narrowed.  “Did you, or did you not, seek out the beast against sound judgment?”

“I killed the beast.”  Thor said, not understanding why this conversation came about, his memory was muggy.  He remembered entering the interior training room, and perhaps speaking to Loki…why was his father angry?  Why was he there, and his mother for that matter?

“At what cost!”  Odin snapped, not a true question.

“More would have died if I had not.”  Thor growled.  “The beast was a menace!”  He felt a pricking sensation in his skin and the lights in the room seemed brighter.

“You are incapable of taking responsibility-”

“-I stayed to do what must be done!”  Thor thundered, his head felt as though it would split in two, he wanted his father to stop.  Did he not understand, the beast would have killed more?  The beast had killed women and children...  “What a king should do!”

”You are not king yet!  You are a greedy, cruel boy!”

Thor felt a ripping sensation in his chest as a low rumble left his throat, even as he snarled.  “You are an old man and a fool!”

“I was a fool, to think you ready-”  Odin started, only to be stopped by Frigga quickly pressing her hands to the sides of Thor’s face.

“Thor, my son, look at me.  Look into my eyes.”

Loki had been taken aback by the fight between his father and brother, it was far above his expectations and he was glad Thor wasn’t lucid enough to properly debate the finer points of what happened in Gevaudan.  He had been loose in his telling, he kept enough to the truth that whatever Sif and the Warriors Three said would likely align while doing his utmost to belittle Thor’s behavior throughout.  Loki was the one who bade Thor to leave, rather than Thor bidding them all to stay.  Thor had ordered them all out, but Loki had told Odin otherwise.  He noticed as Thor’s temper rose it seemed that the transformation began again.  Loki thought back to the other times Thor had been in states of shift and wondered how much Thor’s emotional state had to do with it.  And then of course, the aconite, the stabbing…was there anything else?

Loki saw a glazed look in Thor’s eyes a moment and suspected his mother was summoning a pleasant memory to distract Thor from his current state.  He seemed to calm and slumped somewhat against her with his hands braced on the floor to keep his full weight off.

“Thor Odinson.”  Odin picked up as Thor seemed lucid enough and his pained, blue eyes found his father.  “You have shown yourself arrogant and unready, you have betrayed those who put their trust in you and shown yourself unworthy of your family and titles afforded you.  I cannot banish you in such a state, nor take from you your power.”  Loki’s eyes widened at the implication that he would have otherwise.  “But until you prove yourself worthy, you will not wield Mjolnir, you are no heir of mine, and until your curse is lifted you are confined to your quarters.  In the name of my father, and his father before him.”  he tapped the end of Gungnir to the ground to punctuate his command, and Thor looked stricken.

“Father.”  Thor started, but Odin had already turned his back.

“I will send Einherjar to escort you to your room.  Frigga, will your spell keep him calm for time enough?”

“Yes, but Odin-”  Frigga started angrily.

“-I have made my decision!”  Odin said in a tone that brooked no argument.  “Loki, report to the healing wing.”  With that, he departed the room and Frigga rose as she brought Thor up with her.

Thor cast his brother a confused look, as if uncertain why his brother would need a healer.

Loki tilted his head and tugged his collar in a way that could almost be seen as casual, enough that Thor could see the hand print surely embedded on his throat at present.   He wondered at his brother’s reaction and was somehow surprised when Thor’s eyes widened before he asked.  “Did…I…?”

“Yes.”  Loki let himself rasp and Thor’s expression was somewhere between stunned and crestfallen.

“Loki…I-”

Loki straightened as he cut his brother off gently and avoided his gaze, he decided to keep his role as the victimized party.  “-You are not yourself, brother, I understand…I must away to the healers.”  he looked to his mother.  “…It is not wise to be alone in Thor’s company, Mother.”

Thor’s expression bled with hurt even as Frigga sounded aghast.  “Loki!”

“Is that not why Father is sending the Einherjar?”  Loki asked, the picture of quiet concern.

“Go, Mother.”  Thor said in a near-whisper as he squeezed his mother’s upper arm with a shaky hand.  “I will…await the guards…”

“I am not afraid of my own son.”  Frigga said with a stern tone.  “I will walk you to your room, Thor, never mind the guards.”  she slipped her arm around Thor’s as though he were her escort.

“Mother.”  Both Odinsons protested in their own tones but Frigga was resolute.

“I will come to the healing ward after.”  Frigga said with a nod towards Loki.  “I will take Thor to his room first.”

“...As you will, Mother.”

Thor passed by Loki as Frigga led him for the door and Loki made a show of taking a step back with an ‘unconscious hand to his throat.  The spasm of guilt on Thor’s face was heady and worth the little display.

Loki watched the pair leave and took a moment to relive and revel in what had just occurred.  Odin had given Thor a fierce dressing down, he had hinted that he would have banished Thor and rendered him mortal if not for his current condition.  Granted, that was more than Loki had expected or truly wanted but that Thor knew their father would have done it…that was quite the thing to weigh on his brother’s mind.  But as to the rest…Thor had lost the right to wield his precious hammer over which he was so proud and smug.  His sense of entitlement where Mjolnir was concerned had always been a sticking point to Loki.  And Thor had been stripped of his position as crown prince.  Their father had not directly declared Loki his heir instead, most likely because he expected Thor to regain the position before long amongst other things…but still…technically, Thor was his equal prince again if not a little lower for being stripped of the greater title.

Loki had no idea when he set the events of the hunt in motion that this would be the result, but he couldn’t say he was displeased.  Thor was used to having his way and doing as he pleased.  He chafed under restrictions and limits to his freedom.  That Thor, a man in his own right, would now be locked in his rooms and disgraced…Loki couldn’t help the smile it brought to his lips.  Thor would not be casting a shadow any time soon…Thor would be the one trapped while Loki exercised his freedoms as he pleased.  And that Thor had wounded him so was an added bonus, Thor seemed not to remember what had passed between them which meant Loki could use it to his advantage.  The curse on his brother might just be a blessing for Loki after all.  He let his smile slip as he headed gravely for the healing ward, even as inside a blossom of hope grew for the first time in ages.  Loki could finally breathe again.