𝐵𝑒 𝓈𝑜 𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓇𝒾𝒻𝓎𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓁𝓎 𝓅𝑜𝓌𝑒𝓇𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝒾𝓃𝒹𝒾𝓋𝒾𝒹𝓊𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎

𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂 𝒻𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 𝓁𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝑜𝑔𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇

♚♛

Thor paced back and forth over the worn wooden floors; the boards creaked in protest under his weight. His brow creased in worry and every other length of the house he would pause by the window, praying to whatever being may be listening that his brother would be outside, his infuriating grin and all.

When Thor had returned from the Avengers base he'd gone to his own house first, opened a bottle of beer and pondered how he was going to deal with his brother. He waited for Loki to burst through the door and help himself to whatever was in the fridge - as he usually did during that time of day - but his brother did not come. Thor had stalked to his brother's little cottage, only next door to his own to keep an eye on the trickster, only to find the house empty and cold.

That brought him to the present, pacing his house and waiting for Loki to return.
The clock struck midnight; Loki was not home. The birds started to chirp at 4am as the early fishermen of the village rose for the day; Loki was not home. By the time the clock struck 8am, Thor gave up the remainder of his patience, flung open his door and travelled to the centre of New Asgard, seeking out the one person who can help solve his mystery.

*

Loki had made many stops throughout his time away from New Asgard. Shards of ice still clung to his shoulders and snow melted in his hair, even if he had Asgardian blood instead of Jotun, he wouldn't have felt it. His relief was too great to feel anything at all.

In the space of one day, he'd claimed his throne as King of Jotunheim, created peace treaties with two of the neighbouring kingdoms and gathered the loyalty of enough Frost Giants to create an army.

An army he had no plan on using, unless something was to happen to His Witch.

Finally he returned to Midgard, but not to his house in New Asgard but to the Avengers Compound. Hiding in the trees was no problem for someone who'd been hiding in the shadows all his life. The place looked fairly busy, he could see several of the Avengers through the large windows, all bustling about.

A few of them were outside, running laps around the large building. A streak of blue dashed past every other second, the speedster that Thor had told him about. Inside he could hear them moving, Tony and Rhodey bickering about something, Natasha muttering in Russian, Clint making noise in the vents and Peter shouting if anyone had seen his science textbook.

How anyone could live with all the noise of so many people, Loki had no idea.

He focused his hearing harder. Beyond all the buzz of the Avengers, he could hear a quiet voice, separated from the rest and humming what appeared to be a lullaby.

His Witch.

He'd found her.

*

The knocks on the wooden door would have been enough to wake a village. Thor had given up the pretence of being patient, he no longer had time to be. Loki had been gone for nearly a full day now and Odin knows the havoc he could wreck in that time.

Heimdall opened the door calmly to an almost sparking God of Thunder. "I've been expecting you. I suppose you wish to know where your brother is?"

"Yes, I have not seen him since yesterday. I'm growing worried."

"Well then," Heimdall gestured for Thor to enter the house. Thor dropped himself down onto the sofa, he scrubbed at his eyes furiously with the backs of his hands, being awake all night worrying about his brother wasn't leaving him in the best of moods.

"Do you see him Heimdall?"

"I can now."

Thor narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Yesterday, not long after you left, your brother came to me asking a favour," Heimdall rose from the seat he'd taken at the table and moved towards the window above the sink, looking outside as he continued, "He wanted to go to Jotunheim."

Thor made a noise of protest, as if he could prevent his brother from traveling somewhere he had already left. He knew that Loki was not the most liked in Jotunheim, had he truly gone there he would be dead by now.

"I see. What did he do?"

"That I do not know. He cloaked himself immediately, but several portals have been opened by who I think to be him after leaving."

Thor sighed and rubbed at his eyes again. "What are you doing Loki?" he murmured. Then he froze.

"You said you can see him now? Where is he?"

Heimdall turned to face Thor from the window and for a moment just said nothing, almost as if he was analysing Thor, deciding whether his reaction would be worth it if he told him where the trickster god was.

"He's in America."

A large clatter came from Thor standing suddenly, his chair being thrown back half way across the room.

"He's gone to see her. Oh by Odin." Thor dashed for the door, he didn't quite know how he was planning on stopping his brother if he was already in America, quite possibly already with Wanda.

"Thor," Heimdall looked up at him as he reached the door, he was alarmingly calm. How he was not worried was a mystery to Thor, Loki by himself could prove to be a thorn in his side, however, with the power his brother held combined with that of Wanda, there could very truly be a problem.

"He is not yet with her, you have no need to panic. He'll be back soon and he'll be alone."

Thor turned again to leave. "Thor! Despite what you may believe, Loki has not been causing chaos during his time away."

The God of Thunder turned to look at this oldest friend. "Whatever do you mean?"

"I've heard whisperings, a few hours ago peace treaties were brokered between Jotunheim, Vanaheim and Alfheim. Your brother is doing good rather than taking revenge. If he continues on this path then the nine realms will be at peace before the year is up. Do you really want to disrupt that peace?"

Thor did not reply, he didn't even look back. Instead he flung open the door and rushed towards the edge of the village.

Regardless of what Heimdall said, he couldn't trust Loki to not cloak himself and steal away the witch.

He approached a large green field and raised Mjölnir into the air, calling the Bifrost to take him to Midgard and confront his trickster of a brother.