For some reason, Loki didn't hate the ship.

As they drifted through space in search of somewhere to settle after the loss of Asgard, he couldn't help but feel trapped. Realistically he could always use a portal to get himself out of here, but for some reason he found a strange sort of peace on this ship.

Peace was something he hadn't felt in a long time.

As he sat in his shared room, flicking through some of his favorite sorcery scrolls he couldn't help but smirk at the pounding footsteps of who he knew to be his brother.

With a metallic whir the door to their rom opened and Thor practically collapsed on to his bed, a loud groan escaping his lips.

"That bad?" Loki inquired with a note of disinterest.

"Worse. More than half the ship is down with it and it seems to be spreading faster despite our quarantine measures," Thor grumbled, voice muffled by the blankets.

Loki grimaced slightly. He knew what a ship wide epidemic could do, and so far the sickness didn't seem to be stopping.

It had started a few days ago, when Heimdell had collapsed during a routine meeting with some of the former council members of the court. Thor had immediately rushed him to their impromptu medical rooms but by that time the tall seer was burning with fever and muttering strange nonsense.

The next day, to everyone's surprise, Valkyrie had collapsed during training with the same symptoms.

In the days that followed, Asgardian refugees were collapsing with fever all across the ship, and none of the healers had any idea what caused it. Bruce Banner had tried to mix a cure but so far nothing had worked, and the limited medical supplies were not enough for so many people.

The ladies called in to tend to the ailing people had been fine at first, but soon had been swept up in the fever too.

The population still healthy was far smaller than the population who were sick.

So far none had died but it was only a matter of time, as they steadily grew worse and worse as the fevers raged.

Thor had been to see Banner and the healer's today to check on the progress of a suitable cure but apparently he had not received any good news. The number of badly ill was concerning to Loki.

He may be a villain, but he wasn't completely heartless, and his people were suffering. Besides, he wasn't going to wait until the sickness reached him or gods forbid, his brother.

" What if I tried?" Loki suggested, putting his scrolls neatly beside him and facing Thor head on.

Thor raised his head from the blankets and stared curiously at his younger brother.

" Tried what?" He inquired, his eye sparking with interest.

" What if I tried healing them? It may not work but considering no cure has been found as of yet my assistance could do no further harm," Loki proposed, eyes narrowed in deep thought.

Thor sat up and shrugged his broad shoulders.

" It couldn't hurt to try. I know you hold great magic, brother, if you could heal them I'm sure they'd be very grateful," Thor agreed.

Loki glowered at that, mouth curving in to a sneer of distaste.

" No matter what I do they'll never be grateful, but no matter, something must be done about this sickness regardless of their opinions," Loki replied bitterly.

Thor wisely left the subject alone and stood, cracking his back as he did so and plastering a pleasant smile on his face.

" Come then, brother, let us see if your magic can help".

Entering the medical section of their ship, Loki was instantly bombarded with the scent of sickness. Wrinkling his nose at the sour scent, he gazed around at the hundreds of Asgardians laying on the floor, blankets piled on top of them as they shivered and muttered in their delirium. A few exhausted and obviously drained soldiers, who appeared as though would collapse at any moment and join those they tended, were tending men and women of all sizes and ages.

A weak cough caused him to glance at his feet and his eyes caught those of a small child, her cheeks red with fever and a look of pleading desperation in her gaze.

Kneeling down, he placed a hand on her brow and another over her heart, directing his magic in to both, a look of concentration on his face. He could feel the sickness receding within her and with a small sigh, her eyes slipped closed and she rested peacefully.

Loki felt a thrum of satisfaction run through him at the triumph of his magic, at least now he knew it worked. His elation was shattered a moment later by a furious bellow.

Snapping his gaze upwards, he caught a swift glimpse of a man in a battered brown tunic before the stranger barreled in to him, causing him to bang his head sharply on the wall behind him.

Disorientated for a moment, his eyes cleared to find himself with a knife to his throat, and enraged eyes glaring at him full force.

" Get away from my daughter, liesmith! You will not harm her further!" The man snarled.

It was then Loki recognized the resemblance between this man and the little girl he had just treated.

He was about to reply when a strong hand pulled his attacker away. Thor stood there with anger clear in his remaining eye.

" Andril," He stated, obviously knowing exactly who this warrior was. Loki filed away the name for future reference.

" Andril, my brother has not harmed your child, he has cured her. Look, she calls for you," Thor reprimanded, directing the enraged father's gaze to the large eyes of his daughter who had been woken by the shout.

Instantly he was tearing away from his king's grasp and racing to hug his child tightly, weeping at the sight of her clarity. The sight of a warrior weeping over his child's returned health almost caused Loki to forgive the man for attacking him.

No matter what he did, even if he was doing good for once in his life, it would never stop people from remembering all of his past wrongdoings. Technically he was the reason all these people had a ship to save them when Asgard fell, but of course they'd forgotten that in a blink of an eye. In all his time in space he hadn't uttered a single lie, and yet they called him liesmith.

With a small sigh and a shake of his head to focus his minds back on task, he strode past his brother and began the process of healing the victims one by one. Most of the time he was received with cold glares and harsh words by their relatives until his brother stepped in an explained what he was doing.

After healing one young lady he moved to stand and go to the next patient and instead was grabbed by strong fist. He was spun around to face a young healer, who if he remembered correctly, had once tried to woo this lady and her friend while on duty. The healer glared at him hatefully.

"Just what are you trying to gain from this?" He snarled.

Loki stared blankly back at him, contempt laced in his reply.

" Nothing".

It was true. For the first time in a long time he was doing something for the good of his own conscience, not for reward.

Tearing away from the healer's grasp, he continued on his way.

One by one the patients were being healed and reunited with their families, but Thor could see that not all was well. Banner could see it too, if his worried gaze was any indication.

" Loki isn't looking so good," Banner commented lightly.

The two of them observed Loki as he wearily stood from healing yet another patient, eyes slightly glazed as he moved on to yet another.

" Healing so many at once is draining his energy. I'm surprised he's made it this far," Thor agreed softly.

He couldn't help but worry over his little brother. The young mage was always a cause for concern to him, but he could see that Loki wasn't just drained physically he was drained emotionally.

Time and again he was being verbally abused despite his desire to help and to heal. Thor knew Loki could deliver just as many insults, but for some reason he just wasn't. While most wouldn't notice it, Thor did, he knew his brother best. He could see the weight of emotion pressing on Loki's thoughts as a mother chased him away from her newly healed child, intent on getting his brother as far away from her baby as possible.

When this was over, people would surely think differently about Loki. If they didn't, he would make them.

" He's almost finished, he will hold out," Thor assured his friend.

Banner nodded, though he didn't look entirely convinced.

Hours later there was only Heimdell left to heal, Valkyrie had reacted violently when awoken from her fever and only Thor's quick reaction had stopped her from sending a solid punch in to Loki's jaw. Turning to make sure his brother was alright after placating the violent woman, he almost took a step back at the depth of emotion in Loki's blue eyes. His exhaustion was obviously causing his brother's usually iron clad hold on his emotions to break apart. Without a word Loki broke his stare from Thor's face and knelt to heal the final patient on the ship, and unfortunately, one of the worst off.

A hand on Heimdell's heart, he felt his magic seeping yet again in to the body of the gatekeeper, fixing what was damaged and cooling his temperature at what seemed to Loki like an agonizingly slow pace.

A gasp and Heimdell's eyes were open, the golden irises staring straight in to Loki's blue with surprise captured within them.

Thor knelt down beside his brother and put a calming hand on the gatekeeper's shoulder.

" All is well Heimdell, you were sick but my brother has healed you," Thor murmured.

Heimdell's gaze fixed with Loki's again and his brow creased slightly.

" Thank you my prince," he murmured as Loki watched him with blank eyes.

Thor glanced at his brother, waiting to see if Loki would respond at being called a prince again. Usually his brother would rebuke that in a heartbeat, but instead his brother's eyes slowly lifted to Thor's before they rolled back in his head and Loki collapsed to the floor of the ship.

Reacting quickly, Thor leapt over Heimdell and landed beside his unconscious brother. One look at his pale face and Thor immediately knew something was wrong.

"Banner! I am in need of your help," Thor called loudly.

Bruce, who had been knelt beside Valkyrie offering her a drink of water, was up and running over in moments. He too knelt at Loki's side and placed his long fingers at Loki's throat, checking for his brother's pulse.

" Is he alright?" Thor asked worriedly, dragging a hand through his brother's dark hair.

" I think so. My best guess is that Loki passed out from exhaustion. He just needs to sleep it off for a while," Banner advised with a small sigh of relief.

A while turned out to be a whole week.

At first Thor was worried about the sheer amount of time that his brother slept for, but he theorized that after using so much magic at once, Loki had a right to sleep for as long as he wanted too.

On the dawn of the eighth day of sleep, when Thor sat by his brother's bedside going over the supply reports written up by Korg, he was startled by a small moan from his inert brother.

His gazed snapped to scrutinize his brother's face. Many times Loki had groaned but he usually settled back in to sleep. Would this be the day he finally awakened? Judging by the icy blue eyes staring back at him, it was.

" Good morning brother. I am glad to see you have awakened," Thor greeted.

Loki stared back silently for a while before he moved to speak.

" Is it gone?" Loki murmured softly.

At Thor's blank look of confusion, he elaborated with a small sigh.

" The sickness," he prompted.

Thor's confusion melted away and he nodded vigorously.

" You saw to that, brother, so effectively that you drained yourself almost completely. We were worried," Thor shared.

Loki paused at that, blinking confusedly.

" We?" He inquired.

" The Revengers were all worried about you, and many of those you healed have begun to practically sing you praises. That first little girl looks as though she'll be hunting you down the moment you get out of here," Thor filled in, an amused smirk on his handsome face.

Loki groaned at that causing Thor's laugher to ring through the whole ship. Days followed that were full of Thor's mother henning and cuddle attacks from the little girl he now knew to be called Freya, and yet through them all Loki never once complained.

He was starting to like this ship more every day.