"Where is the tesseract?" Thor demanded of Loki, who was laughing a bit hysterically on the ground.

"I missed you too!" Loki answered in a tone that reminded Thor of the one he used to use when he had just pulled off a really big and successful prank.

This flippancy made Thor angry. "Do I look to be in a gaming mood?"

Loki brushed this comment aside. "Oh, you should thank me. With the bifrost gone, how much dark energy did the AllFather have to muster to conjure you here?" Then he scoffed, "Your precious Earth!"

Thor pulled him to his feet violently. "I thought you dead." Thor was furious. How could Loki do this to him and his family?

Loki stopped, surprised. Then he looked up and whispered in a raspy voice, "Did you mourn?"

Suddenly, Thor was horrified that Loki would doubt that he did. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes as he stared his baby brother down. "We all did."

"Thor?"

The prince turned to find Loki standing in his doorway, looking up at him with big, innocent green eyes.

"What's the matter?" Thor was concerned.

"Why doesn't anybody like me?" Loki began to cry.

Thor pulled his eight year old brother into his room and shut the door. "Who told you nobody did?" he demanded, ready to pulverize whoever had given Loki such a notion.

"Nobody," Loki said. "I just know." He looked up at his ten year old brother. "Do you like me?"

Thor's heart shattered into a million pieces. He wrapped his arms around the raven-haired boy and told him, "Of course I do. I love you more than anyone! Loki, please don't cry!"

"I can't help it," Loki sobbed. Then, "Do you promise?"

"Promise what?"

"That you love me?"

Thor sat down with Loki's legs wrapped around his waist, still hugging him. "I promise. No matter what happens, I will always love you, dear brother."

Thor pushed the memory away. "Our father—"

"Your father!" Loki pushed Thor away and walked a few paces in the opposite direction. "He did tell you of my true parentage, did he not?"

Thor bit his lip. "He's your father too." What had happened to that poor, innocent child? Was he still there, trapped inside this broken man? If so, could Thor's love for him be enough to drive him out? He said again, with a bit more calm, "He's your father too."

"That man is not my father!" Loki screamed.

"And am I not your brother?" Thor dreaded the answer.

"I—"

"Because I am. No matter what they told you, you are my baby brother! We were raised together. We played together, we fought together. We loved each other more than anything or anyone else in the world. And I still do. Do you remember none of that?"

Loki glared at him and hissed, "I remember a shadow. Living the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss!" He turned his back on his brother.

A tear fell down Thor's cheek. "So none of it matters. You take the world I love for a recompense for your imagined slights?" He shook his head, determined. " Earth is under my protection, Loki!"

Loki laughed cruelly. "And you're doing a marvelous job with that! The humans slaughter each other in droves while you idly fret. I need to rule them! That's why—"

"—You think yourself above them," Thor interrupted.

Loki blinked. "Well, yes."

Thor answered, "You miss the truth of ruling, brother! A throne would suit you ill."

That made Loki furious. "I've seen worlds you've never known about! I have grown, Odinson, in my exile! I have seen the true power of the tesseract, and when I wield—"

Thor interrupted again. "Who showed you this power? Who controls the would-be king?"

Whoops. Wrong words. Perhaps he shouldn't have been so blunt.

"I AM KING!" Loki spat.

"NOT HERE!" Thor roared. "YOU GIVE UP THE TESSERACT! YOU GIVE UP THIS POISONOUS DREAM!"

He stopped. Yelling wouldn't get anywhere with Loki. Actually, no tone of voice would really get anywhere with Loki, except…maybe…

Thor put a hand on his brother's neck, cradling his head. "You come home. Please, Loki. Please."

Loki pushed him away and turned around, running his fingers through his hair simultaneously. He was frustrated. Confused.

Thor's heart sank. He was too far gone. He was certain of it now.

Which was why he was shocked when Loki turned around, and there were lines on his dirty face made clean by his tears…

...and he broke.

Loki sank to his knees, sobbing. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I made so many promises just to let you down!"

Thor dropped down beside him, still surprised.

"You believed in me, but I am broken!" Loki cried.

Thor finally gathered the courage to do what he had wanted to do and regretted not doing for a long time. He kissed Loki's wet cheek and embraced him, weeping with joy and relief.

"Brother, how I missed you!" Thor cried.

"I'm sorry!"

"Sh! None of it matters now," Thor tried to soothe, though he was in need of some soothing himself. "I promised I love you, and I do. So much, my brother!"

"I know! And I love you, Thor!" Loki wept. "I don't know why I did the things I did! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Brother, I'm the one who needs forgiving" Thor protested. "It was because of my arrogance that led us to that place. But we're out of it now. Forgive me at last."

Loki nodded, his face buried in his brother's shoulder. A muffled, "At last I forgive you!" came from him.

"And I forgive you," Thor said. "Loki?"

"Yes?"

"Let's go home."