The world had changed a lot in the last few months.

Gone were the days when the normal humans (because as much Sam wanted to do once, he couldn't call himself normal) were mostly blind as to what was going on around them. Shapes-shifters, werewolves and vampires preying on them, while angels and demons fought their wars on Earth.

And now?

Friggin' zombies.

One good thing was - it didn't really change his and Dean's daily routine. Wake up, eat, kill monsters. Just the monsters, considering their to-be-victims became animated rotting corpses started to become extinct, got replaced by zombies. Which are a lot easier to kill, for they are not as fast as wendigos, can be seen unlike hellhounds and are vulnerable to both blunt and sharp weapons. If it's the head they attack it with. Which is easy, for they basically have no self-defense instinct left.

So here Sam was now, in a liquor shop of all things, waiting for the streets to clear. That single bottle he broke drew quite a few "walker" (as other survivors were calling them) to the shop.

And that was when he heard the breathing accompanied by whimpering noises.

The walker stood with its back to him, black hair and the green T-shirt matted by dry blood. One hand on the wall it was moving closer and closer to it.

Taking no chances, Sam attacked, not caring about knocking over a few more bottles. Those were outside, this one got somehow inside.

What he did not expect was that the walker would turn around, green eyes blazing with annoyance as a hand caught the iron rod and another delivered a swift blow to his nose.

"Ouch, man!" he yelled in surprise, "What the hell?!"

"I could be asking the same," said the stranger, who looked strangely familiar, "Attacking somebody from behind not aware of his abilities is not the brightest idea."

"Well... Most normal people say something before coming inside!"

"Except if they want to avoid unwanted attention, which is fairly acceptable seeing the state Midgard nowadays is in."

"Midgard?" The stranger arched an eyebrow.

"Earth. Mondo. Gaia. The muddy globe we're standing on right now."

"Yeah, right... I got it... Uhh... What were you doing here?"

"I fell into broken glass outside. I took out the pieces, but still am bleeding somewhat. So what do you think I'm doing here at this time? Looking for cover. At least until somebody decides to be kind enough to find me!" he shouted into the empty air as if that somebody would hear him.

"Sure. My name is Sam. Sam Winchester," he said, holding out his hand, which the stranger did not accepts, but rather frowned at.

"What am I supposed to do with your hand?"

"Well... People usually shake hands when they introduce to each other."

"Is it common here?"

"Was, at least."

The man slowly reached out, grabbing his hand. Sam barely fought down a shout of pain.

"Not that hard! Our goal is simply to introduce ourselves, not to smash my hand! Geez, where are you from?"

"Asgard." He opened his mouth once again as if to say something, but closed it.

"Asgard..." The hunter had a growing bad feeling. "You do not make a habit out of eating humans, do you?"

"Why would I do that?" he said with an expression of utter confusion. Sam waved.

"Nevermind. I still didn't get your name."

The other male was silent for a moment, as if thinking whether to tell him his name or not.

"My name is Loki," he said finally.

Sam froze.

Loki. A Loki from Asgard. But that's not possible. Gabriel was killed by Lucifer and he wasn't from Asgard to begin with...

He wasn't.

But another one was.

"You are the one who nearly destroyed New York a few years ago."

"Thank you. I always forget how that place is called."

And then Loki was lying on his back with Sam on the top of him and a knife inches away from his face.

"I've killed gods before. Tell me, why shouldn't I kill you?"

"Because you know you are not exactly innocent yourself," the god spoke. Sam flinched, barely visibly, but it was enough to make Loki smile. "Oh, you really aren't. I was just guessing, you know, but now I see it. You have lied, deceived and murdered. And you are wishing for redemption."

The knife drew blood.

"Same as I do."

Now, that was something that surprised Sam.

"Contrary to the popular belief that holds itself here, I'm not a raving lunatic out for blood. I can be reasoned with. And seeking redemption while being protected against my... Once-allies is favourable to being erased from existence. As if I've been never born."

"Maybe there would be a better world without you."

"Maybe. But you know better - the role wouldn't have gone unfilled. Somebody would've eventually played the roles I played."

"Are you any harm now?"

"Depending on who do you ask..."

"Are you any harm now?"

The silence was broken only by a few zombies slamming their hands against the break-proof glass.

"No. Not to you and your people, anyway. Not now."

"Are you telling the truth?"

"It surprises even me, but yeah, I am. You may let go of me now. I'm not going to bite."

"Yeah, unfortunately I never know."

The god gave a sharp smile.

"Experienced, aren't you?"

"Wary is a better world."

"And what exactly are you wary of?"

"You, stabbing a knife into my back."

Loki laughed.

"Yeah, fun times. Due to an unfortunate pact, I can't kill the living. Injure, yes... Kill, no."

"Good for me then," said Sam, still holding the knife in front of himself. Loki cocked his head.

"Indeed. Now, if you'd be so good end get off of me..."

"Oh. Sure," he said, before climbing down awkwardly. The godling gave him a look.

"You can lower the knife as well. As I said, I'm not likely to kill you."

"Just a precaution," he said, sliding the weapon into his jeans. What the hell was going on? He just basically threatened the... Asgardian with death, and he acted like as if nothing happened.

Although thinking about it, he might have received hundreds of such threats.

"So, where did you got in?"

"Back door. When that street wasn't swarming with these things yet. You forgot to block it."

"Didn't intend to stay long."

Loki laughed.

"Bad luck then. We won't go anywhere for a good while, unless my dear brother does not come first."

"Thor, right?"

"Exactly."

"Could you tell me something?" Sam asked, fiddling with a bottle, wondering whether he should take it or not, "I've met with another Loki before, although he wasn't. Not really. But other gods called him that, including Odin. How is that?"

"It actually is rather simple. The... How do you call it? Universe is a big place, one would dare to say infinite. As it happens, you could be living as a janitor realms and realms away. And if it's not acceptable by you, then think of it as alternate dimension. And your planet is where the roads that connect them cross."

"Fantastic. So we are happy that you are the only ones popping in to visit. Mostly."

"Indeed."

"But then how does the mythology speak about only one Odin, one Thor, one Loki, one Freya and so on?"

"They simply thought that we all are capable of changing our appearance... Which is true in only a few cases. Although they didn't quite understand why did Odin once demand blood sacrifices and why did he once teach them about things to survive, only in a different form."

"And which one of you Lokis gave actually birth to that horse?"

Loki snorted.

"Not me, I assure you of that."

And for some reason Sam didn't really have hard time imagining Gabriel giving birth to eight-legged horses. Although if there are two Lokis, there can be even more...

"But Thor indeed dressed up as a bride once to get Mjölnir back. However, that one happened in a realm you probably do not know about."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Do I seem to be joking?"

"No, it's just... My brother would rather be turned into a vampire again, then being dressed up as a bride."

"I've never said he had done it willingly. But what is it with your brother and vampires?"

"It's... Actually a long story."

Loki shot a meaningful look at the moving corpses.

"I think we have time."

"Okay. Some things happened... Bad things. He got turned into a vampire, as in the monster we were supposed to hunt."

"Gods and vampires?"

"And werewolves, ghosts, demons, but that's not the point. So for an obvious reason he wasn't jumping around in happiness. But if it'd be take the dress, or be a vampire again..."

"I see. So he wouldn't give up his dignity willingly either."

"So why did your brother?"

Loki snorted.

"You try and oppose the All-Father's wrath, was he to find out that Thor lost an item of such power. Although I do believe he knew about it."

"I suppose. So..." What was he supposed to talk about with a half-mad god whom he almost killed just a few minutes ago? "What's your family like? I mean, it seems you're not the human-eating types..."

Family? Way to go Sammy.

"No. The All-Father actually came to the aid of your people in times of trouble. He also exiled Thor here. He must have a soft place in his heart for this realm. I guess it's in the blood, since Thor does as well. But that much must have been obvious from the amount of time he spent here."

"And you do not?"

The Trickster gave him a long look, which were clearly saying that he had wandered onto dangerous waters. And he immediately got what it meant.

He wasn't one of them. Not by blood. So in this one all Lokis shared.

"Okay, you know what? Don't answer that question. And your mother?"

"One of the most caring women you can ever find. But she still is a Queen as well. Your family?"

Sam looked up in shock.

"My family? What about it?"

Loki scoffed.

"I've talked to you about my family. It's obvious that you have to do the same in turn."

"I didn't know my mother that well. She died when I was very young."

"What happened to her?"

"A demon happened to her. All I know that she was sweet, caring but strong and brave as well. She sacrifised herself for Dean and me later on."

"Later on? Wasn't she dead by then?"

"She was a spirit, tied to the house."

"Interesting."

"I suppose. Then there is Dean. There is actually no way to describe him. Sometimes he is the greatest person ever lived on Earth. And other times... He is just an asshole."

"Sounds familiar."

"But you know... He always tried to protect me, the best he could. Even though sometimes his best wasn't good enough. When you're a Winchester, life isn't that easy," he laughed bitterly. "I couldn't quite see it sometimes. And yes, sometimes he was the idiot one. But there had been a very few moments in my life when I couldn't count on him, and those weren't entirely his fault."

Loki looked at a bottle filled with amber coloured liquid thoughtfully.

"And you've never wished he was dead?"

"What? Of course not. We are brothers. Sure, we had our fights, but... In the end, all we can really count on is the other."

"Is that you speaking, or your parents? I mean, whoever raised you."

"One hundred percent me."

"Skotch or gin?"

"I'm sorry?" Loki rolled his eyes.

"I asked which one do you want. Skotch or gin?"

"Umm... Skotch, maybe?" Loki passed him a glass that he didn't even know was there. "I take it you do not have good relationship with your brother."

"Did you figure out before or after our quarrel in New York? Besides, he is no my brother. Not by blood."

Referring to the tragic in New York as only some quarrel didn't really sat right with Sam, but he left that unspoken.

"You know, some bonds are stronger than those of blood."

"And you're speaking from experience, obviously." He nodded.

"I do. The man who raised us - mostly raised us... We weren't really his sons, logically. Him and my Dad had known each other for a long time, and when we wasn't on the road with Dad, we were with him. He had become our second father practically. And he refused to go to Heaven because of us."

"A reaper, as in..."

"A servant of Death."

The god smiled bitterly.

"I'm afraid, this situation doesn't appeal to us, for our bond mustn't have been too strong to begin with if it got broken so easily."

"Yes, but who was the one to break it? Or rather, who is the one who thinks it's broken?" Loki froze.

"If you're implying that I..."

"I'm not implying anything. I'm just saying that you are here, alive and kicking, for the most part, after you've waged a war on a planet that fell under both your dad's and brother's protection. Also, even though you were careful not to call them "brother" and "father" you've spoken about them in such fashion, only once correcting me. Also, you've called the woman who raised you "mother". Even if you don't want to admit it, there is a tiny bit of you still hoping that these bonds are intact. Which seems to be on your family's side."

Thunder roared in the distance, making the walkers turn away.

"Well, it was nice chatting with you," smiled Loki. "But I do believe help is on the way."
"What do you..."

And then the break-proof glass broke in with a loud crash.

"Dude!" yelled somebody sounding strangely familiar. "Don't ever do that again!"

"My apologies." Two gunshots and blunt noises of something big and heavy landing on flesh could be heard, before they dared to emerge from between the shelves.

"Dean?"

"Sammy? Did you got what I asked?" the other hunter said while blowing half of one walker's face off.

"Brother!" yelled the big blonde man, who Sam noticed only now despite his size. Because although he was a tiny bit smaller than him, he made up for that in muscles. "Are you all right?"

"Quite fine, Thor. And my hearing is still perfect as well, thank you," Loki said, throwing small silver coloured daggers at two walkers.

"That is good to hear."

"So what's the plan, how do we get out?" asked Sam, joining his brother.

"Big guy over there is gonna open a way for us, since the three for us is too much to carry. And then we run for it 'till we reach the car."

"Oh, well... Sounds like a plan."

-a-..-adffa-

Yaaay, a one-shot... I'm not experienced with those. Even less experienced with the characters of Supernatural. Characters of Marvel's movie "Thor" are slightly better now. Not that much.

It was originally a two-shot, the second chapter focusing on Dean and Thor. But that might be another story in another setting.

If you have not found out - the setting of this is "The Walking Dead" series.

I'm actually not sure whether Dean would turn vamp again or dress up in a bride's dress. But whatevah.

Loki is in exile. Thor is there because of four reasons - him, Jane, his friends in the Avengers and to smite as much zombie as he can.