Loki’s back was beginning to ache and a bee was getting a bit too close to his liking but that could never have broken his concentration. The matters at hand were too important to let any distraction in.
He had been hiding behind that apple-tree long enough to notice time was flying by, but not enough to alter his excitement. This was too good. He couldn’t wait to show Thor, usually running around the palace so fast that one could be sure he would spot him once an hour while staying at the exact same place all day long, but the idiot must be having an off-day. Hopefully, it would be worth the wait. It would just be so much fun.
Finally, after another few minutes, the blonde stick figure of a boy who was going through his first growth crisis appeared in the orchard, running in the greenest grass, laughing for a reason he was the only one to know. A missing tooth was digging a hole in his smile.
Loki mischievously smiled at the sight. Now was the time. The figure and the trees grew up before Loki’s eyes, the ground grew closer, and a second later, Loki was nimbly slithering between blades of grass until he was close enough for Thor to notice him. He waited only for a moment, his heart racing, before a pair of blue eyes caught him.
"A snake!" Thor shouted with delight, on a high-pitched tone, his eyes glittering.
He squatted down in the grass, admiring the coils of Loki’s body.
"Now, now, you look so pretty little boy!" Thor exclaimed.
Loki would have burst out laughing had he not been under this shape. At the same time, it was quite unsettling to be the target of such an attention. Thor was patiently detailing him, his eyes mesmerized seas of stars, moving as gingerly as possible, careful not to bother the snake. It made him hesitate for a second. Thor’s gaze was so strong he started to feel really queasy and wondered if he should just change back and shout at his brother’s face. Thor would be taken by surprise, fall back, butt in the grass, Loki would laugh at him, Thor would call him names and then compliment how skilled and beautiful this magic was, and Loki would smile with pride. It was indeed a great trick. Loki had mastered it this morning and wanted to show Thor in the best of ways.
Fortunately, Thor decided to pick Loki up, putting Loki’s brain back on track. Shouting "booh" at him just wasn’t big enough.
"Let me look at you…" Thor mumbled, holding the snake up.
Loki slid around Thor’s arms to take enough momentum. A moment of complete stillness. Maximal concentration.
"Huaaargh it’s me!" Loki shouted, changing back and blindly throwing his arm and his dagger forward.
Thor made a noise and fell to the ground. Loki recovered his balance on his feet and held his laughing ribs. Thor was gasping uncontrollably. Loki breathed in again.
"How did you like that, brother?"
Loki waited for the shouts to come, wiping a tear off the corner of his eye. But no scolding came. Loki redirected his gaze, wondering why Thor wasn’t upset…
… and his smile crumbled.
There lied Thor, butt, back and head in the grass, his mouth wide open, gasping for air as he was strangled by his own blood. Loki’s dagger had cut a bubbling hole in his throat.
Thor was dying.
Loki’s body moved before he could think.
"Thor!" he cried out, kneeling at his brother’s side.
He didn’t know what to do.
It was supposed to be a prank.
None of this was supposed to happen.
The blood was staining Thor’s pale, immaculate skin and formed dark, scary puddles on the greenest grass. It was coming off fast. So fast. Loki felt cold and his vision got blurry as if the blood was escaping him and not Thor. He barely registered the noise in his back or the scent of magic.
Thor was dying.
It was never supposed to happen.
"Thor!" Loki shouted, again and again and again, his voice cracked open, sounding as human as a monster would.
Suddenly, he was being lifted away from his brother.
"No!" Loki shouted, fighting to break free.
"Major violation" a voice Loki didn’t know quickly said. "Branch growing fast, potentially dangerous. A class, K Type variant apprehended. Back to the headquarters. Set the reset charges."
"Thor!" Loki cried out, holding out a hand in a vain attempt to grab his brother, to go back to him. They couldn’t be separated. This was a mistake, Loki didn’t want any of this. But the ferocious arm steadily put more distance between them, cutting an abyss in Loki’s universe.
Thor’s unmoving form dissipated behind a veil of tears and a second veil, strange and yellowy. And in a blink of an eye, Thor disappeared.
"No! Thor!" Loki shouted, clawing at the air to break free. He had to go back. He had to save him. He didn’t know how, but he had to fix this.
The wind and the birds had gone silent too. Loki’s voice now echoed against cold metal walls, unforgiving as those of a prison, the sound trapped as if to point out how useless his calls were, how what Loki had done could never be fixed, how he would always be alone with the responsibility of this irremediable fault.
"Major violation. Taking that one straight up to court. Inform judge Renslayer."
"Mother! Father!" Loki uselessly cried again. "I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!" They must know. They must not resent him. He didn’t want this. It was a mistake.
"Laufeyson. L0361, AKA Loki Laufeyson is charged with major violation 1-41-27. How do you plead?"
Loki didn’t register a word, discarding the fact they misspelled his family name. "I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Thor, I’m so sorry…" he muttered between his tears, breathless and dizzy, as if the ground had escaped under his feet.
"Mister Laufeyson" the woman called, searching for his attention, "you’re accused of a crime against the Sacred Timeline in the form of killing Thor Odinson. How do you-"
"It was an accident!" Loki cried with an already raw throat. "Brother I’m so sorry, please, please let me go back, I have to say sorry, I have to be with him…"
A sigh Loki didn’t hear. "Hunter B-12, please." Next thing Loki felt was his back aching. Right, he had been leaning for too long in a bad position behind that tree. He hadn’t realised it hurt so much. Except it didn’t. Loki had been hit and his breath was caught up in his throat.
"Sir" the grave voice said in the renewed silence. Loki noticed a light near his eye. It was the end of a glowing stick. "This is your last chance. You’re accused of a crime against the Sacred Timeline in the form of killing Thor Odinson . How do you plead?"
Killing Thor Odinson.
Loki had killed Thor.
When Loki caught his breath back, it was to scream with the agony of it. He couldn't even hear when the voice ordered "Hunter B-12." He almost didn’t feel the pain that split his whole being open afterwards. He had to empty his lungs and the scream wasn’t about to end soon.
When Loki came back to his senses, he didn’t feel like screaming anymore. He felt empty like he never did. Around him, everything was still and silent but for the distant grumble of thunder. Loki’s heart jumped, but as his eyes wildly scanned his whereabouts, it was not to fall over Asgard but over a land as wasted as him, and the storm in the sky was very different. He felt stupid he had hoped. He had known there was no hope left.
"My, my. What do we have here?" a voice said. Loki didn’t move until a hand cradled his chin and he was met with a disturbingly familiar face. In the back, another figure stood, wearing a golden helmet with long, curvy horns, as if cut straight out of Loki’s dreams. "This your new home. Welcome to the Void! Which one of us are you?"
The Void? Loki would have laughed, had he not feel that sick. This was exactly what he thought his new home would be.