Brother?

Thor's ears no longer work.

Brother?

And yet he can hear someone calling.

…Brother?

Is this supposed to be Valhalla's version of mercy?

Thor's ears no longer work, and he cannot move his hands, but he would cover his ears if he could. He does not want cheap imitations of Loki's voice if his real brother dwells in a Hel he no longer deserves. If that is all the both of them can get.

It is a different experience from waking.

Thor recalls his dying breaths shuddering in and out of him like rundown trains through old tunnels, while his eyes had drifted closed. But he cannot recall noticing amber-red colouring the backs of his eyelids like they are shut against bright sunlight. He cannot pinpoint the moment of opening them again, and seeing the garden.

Even as he stares around himself curiously, Thor dips into ancient memories. This is less like waking, and more like being teleported alongside someone, a part of a practical joke they had shared –

(That one time their joke went awry because Loki accidentally transported them right in front of Frigga and Odin, who had both roared at them until they thought their ears would bleed)

Thor even feels strong again, as if teleported back centuries ago too.

He knows where he is, that Frigga and Odin and his friends must be waiting for him now. That finally finally finally he can embrace his father, and see his mother smile again. Thor can finally see his family again.

(I assure you, Brother, the sun will – )

Most of them.

(Brother, the sun will – )

Even in death, someone - the same one - will still be missing.

(Brother – )

Even in death, Thor still has to bring that damned promise with him.

(Brother – )

His eyes stay dry, but he lets the clouds roll overhead.

Thor is visible through the gaps in the drenched trees, through the falling clouds. His back is to the direction from which Loki approaches, but it is definitely Thor.

He is so close. Loki is so close to meeting his brother again.

Still out of Thor's view, Loki slows.

(It has been so long)

He can see his brother looking around himself curiously, his blond hair darkened by the rain and streaked with white-grey. If Loki calls out, Thor would hear him. Thor would turn around, Thor would see him, Thor would be so happy to see him again.

(Are they still the same?)

So many things could still go wrong, even in Valhalla. And in Valhalla, there is nowhere else to go.

Loki holds still, behind a curtain of creeping vines.

No way out like death, which had always washed their shared slate clean, had always resurrected Thor's forgiveness for Loki, so what if –

(What if Loki ruins things again?)

What if his brother meets him again, if Thor is happy to see him, if they start over, what if –

What if –

"Why the rain, Brother?"

Thor turns toward the offhand voice. Someone is moving around the greenery to appear at the curve in the footpath.

"…I didn't know if you were coming." Thor's tone is as casual as Loki's, as if they are attending a party.

He sees his little brother almost smile through the sheets of rain.

"Wouldn't miss this for the worlds."

He meets Thor's eye.

(Never doubt that I love you)

And he can see everything.

Thor feels his face split into an impossibly joyful grin, which channels cold raindrops into the corners of his mouth.

"Besides," Loki says as he closes more of the white cobblestoned distance between them, "I still have a promise to keep. Didn't I tell you the sun would shine on us again? Although – " Loki glances up at the veins of lightning above them. It flickers like a pulse restarting. " – I see you've decided to make things difficult."

Thor waits for Loki to look back at him.

(Familiar face, eyes that always saw Thor, eyebrows quirked to ask what will you do now, Brother?, a straightened back because the toll their fights took on them is long gone)

No doubt they will hug each other eventually, but Thor finds himself placing a hand behind Loki's neck – their gesture from millennia ago.

(The implicit second half: it is complete when Loki smiles back)

It is unclear who says it first – they can barely hear it over the sound of rain and thunder. But Thor knows the word will stay with him forever.

"Brother."

The End. Finally. Again, thank you for making it this far into the story! I've temporarily run out of new ways to say "I can't tell you how much it means to me."

This fic ignores things like mentioning the Warriors Three or Heimdall, or the fact that there would be lots of people visiting the ocean, or maybe there's some kind of Valhallan magic that makes each visitor perceive the ocean as deserted whenever they go, or something. I was going to try explain that stuff, but found it disrupted the flow of the story a bit too much.

Also, I didn't intend originally for Loki's side of this fic to become that angsty. Now I've got a document full of half- and fully-written comedic scenes and lines that were cut out. That Pinterest link I included in the author's notes at the start of chapter 1 is no longer a total spoiler for this story, heh.

A 'by the way' to the people who said they liked the first few and last chapters/sections: I'd actually been jotting specific lines and ideas for those long before Infinity War, because I thought the phrasings sounded good, but hoping dearly that Loki would not actually die… And then comes along Infinity War… So I don't know if I'm happy or distraught about being able to finally use those lines.

Lastly, if you have any recommendations for non-romantic Loki-Thor fanfictions post-Infinity War that you wouldn't mind sharing with me (via a review/PM), I would be over the moon the receive them!

Thank you again for supporting this story ~