They'd been on the ship for two weeks before their first encounter with Thanos.

Thor, Loki, Hulk, Brunnhilde, Heimdall, Korg, and Miek all stayed in one wing of the massive spacecraft while the rest of the Asgardians had rooms on the other side. There wasn't much room to accommodate the massive amount of people, but they made do because it was necessary for survival.

The layout of the ship, which had been given the name "Refuge" by Heimdall, was similar to that of a Helicarrier. There were multiple levels and a large chamber at the heart of the ship, which had become a makeshift throne room. The journey to Midgard was slow, boring, and difficult. There were barely enough rations to feed an entire kingdom for the full month it would take to get there and there wasn't much to do for entertainment. Perhaps that's why Thor had called the ship a "floating prison" behind Heimdall's back. The first time the thunder god had used that affectionate little name in a conversation, the All Seeing One had given him a long lecture as to why he should be more positive and set a better example for the people. Apparently, calling the Refuge a "floating prison" was immature, inappropriate in their current situation, and a reason for the Asgardians to lose hope and rebel or grow frustrated. Regardless of that lengthy talk, he still used the name when talking privately to Brunnhilde, Loki, Korg, or Hulk.

Despite their unfortunate disposition, the two brothers spent lots of time discussing their plans for their arrival on Midgard and just the past few years in general, for they hadn't been the best years in terms of Thor and Loki's brotherly relationship. It was during one of these talks on the two week anniversary of being trapped on the Refuge that the attack had occurred.

Thor had been standing at one of the windows overlooking the cosmos when his brother brought up something they had been dancing around for a while.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to go back to Earth?" He questioned, his eyes avoiding Thor's.

Thor raised his eyebrows.

"Yes of course! The people of Earth love me! I'm quite popular."

Loki sighed, realizing he could put off the conversation no longer.

"Let me rephrase that. Do you really think it's a good idea to bring me back to Earth?"

Thor didn't even have to think about it before giving the god of mischief his answer.

"Probably not, to be honest. But I wouldn't worry, brother. I feel like everything's going to work out fine."

Loki smiled in relief that his brother had confidence that it would be okay, but almost immediately after the blonde had spoken, a rumbling filled their ears. It grew louder and louder as a great shadow loomed over the two Asgardians, revealing a massive ship. The grin vanished from Loki's face as his eyes landed on the familiar sight.

"Oh no..." He whispered.

Thor gazed at the ship with confusion.

"Loki?" He questioned, growing uncomfortable as he saw the look on his brother's face.

"I shouldn't have taken it, but I couldn't have left it in the hands of Surtur or Hela if something went wrong. I shouldn't have taken it. This is my fault. He's here. He found me."

Loki's whispered the words to himself quickly as fear filled his usually calm blue eyes.

"What is it, Loki? What did you take? Who is the pilot of this ship?"

Loki was silent for a moment, slowly backing away from the window.

"What is going on?"

The younger Asgardian looked at Thor in horror.

"When you sent me down to the weapons vault to summon Surtur, I saw the tesseract. I feared what Hela could do if the plan went wrong and an infinity stone fell in her hands, so I smuggled it onto the Refuge when I teleported away. I wasn't thinking, Thor. I was watching my home burn to ashes around me. I wasn't in my right mind. It just....called to me."

The god of thunder shook his head, unable to process what he was hearing.

"Where is it now?" He said with exasperation heavy in his tone.

"Brunnhilde's chambers...." He said guiltily.

Thor wasn't catching on.

"Why would it be with Brunnhilde if she doesn't know that you have it?"

This was something that Loki had been hoping Thor would never find out about, but at this point, it was better to just tell him everything.

"Actually....she does know. Most of my stuff is in her chambers anyways. I've been sleeping with her for the past week...."

This was something that the blonde could understand.

"What?!?! I thought we had an agreement! Neither of us were supposed to express our affections for Brunnhilde, or things would get complicated! I cannot believe you, Loki! And to think....I was finally starting to trust you again...."

Loki desperately tried to bring the conversation back to the issue at hand, that being the massive ship looming above them.

"Thor. Listen. We can't fight about this right now. Thanos is leading that ship and he wants the tesseract. Unless you want the entire kingdom to end up as dust floating through space, then we need to act now. I'll go to find Heimdall and activate the ship's emergency thrusters to get out of this asteroid field quicker to escape. It's dangerous, and all it takes is one asteroid to destroy the Refuge, but it's our last option. Go calm the people and find the rest of the team. We need reinforcements if this doesn't work out."

Loki started to head out of the room, but not before Thor grabbed his arm and pulled him back to face him.

"Lay a hand on her in my presence and I'll make sure you never see the light of day again."

Loki smirked devilishly.

"And how will you do that, exactly?"

Thor grinned back in an equally scary way.

"I'm the King. I can get away with whatever I want. Now get out before I change my mind and kill you where you stand."

Loki could tell that he was joking, but he still darted out of the room, not sure how far his brother would go to get revenge.

As he fled, he heard Thor mumble one last thing.

"My own brother won the affection of a Valkyrie! I wonder if Jane is still available..."
***
Loki took off through the ship, narrowly avoiding Asgardian civilians as he made a beeline for the ship's operating room, where Heimdall always was.

"Heimdall. We have an incoming ship approaching and need to find a quick escape route to Midgard. Can you activate the emergency thrusters?"

Heimdall nodded curtly and made his way over to the control board.

"Are you sure about this, my lord?"

It amazed Loki that after all this time, the ex-gatekeeper still referred to him as if he were still a prince of Asgard, and not an enemy of it. Thor had tried to assure him that he was a hero, but while he tried to accept the possibility, his past statuses of "traitor of the throne", "murderer", war criminal", and "prisoner" still haunted him.

"I'm not sure, but it's the best we can do in this situation. Activate the emergency thrusters and I will attempt to navigate our way out of the asteroid field successfully. The worst that could happen is Asgard's total annihilation."

The emergency thrusters were activated, and Loki soon found himself in front of the controls, flipping switches and entering codes. His hands found the strange shaped steering wheel and gripped it tightly, like a lifeline.

"Let's hope you're as good of a pilot as you claim to be."

Thor entered the small room and stood off to the side so he wouldn't be a distraction.

"Well, I'd like to think I'm not that bad. I've navigated my fair share of vessels."

Both brothers fell silent as Loki prepared to turn over the entirety of the ship's control to himself.

He made the switch, and the ship went careening through the asteroid field, narrowly avoiding several of the larger rocks. Thanos' Sanctuary 2 gradually got smaller as the trickster navigated his way past large chunks of rock and space junk. Thor watched from a distance, somewhat impressed.

When Loki had successfully made it out of the deadly obstacle course, he turned the ship over to Heimdall.

He felt a hand on his wrist and turned sharply to see Thor dragging him off.

"We need to talk."

That was the only thing the blonde said as he dragged Loki through the ship and back to the room they'd been standing in before they'd seen Thanos. When they got there, he released his grip on his brother and turned to face him.

"I don't know what you want me to say." Loki said, still trying to catch his breath from being towed through the Refuge.

"You don't have to say anything, because I'm the one who needs to apologize."

The younger Asgardian froze, not believing what he'd just heard.

"....Excuse me?"

Thor sighed.

"I see the way you look at Brunnhilde, with such love and passion that I don't have for her. Granted, she's a beautiful woman, but I am not worthy of her. You, on the other hand, seem so relaxed when you're around her. If you love her, Loki, then you can be with her. I won't deny you something like that."

Loki didn't know what to say, so Thor kept talking.

"I also wanted to talk to you about the tesseract."

Behind his back, the god of mischief's hand had clenched into a fist. He did not want to breach this topic.

"I have tried to understand your history with this object, and I see why you wanted to keep Hela from it. That was a smart move, even if in the end it didn't have the greatest outcome."

Loki breathed a sigh of relief.

"I have missed you, Loki. I'll be honest, a year ago I didn't trust you at all, but Jane's life was at stake, and you were the only one I could turn to. Now I'm glad that I asked for your help. If I hadn't, we might not be standing here together right now."

Thor heard the sharp intake of breath next to him as his brother heard this.

"No, Thor. I'm sorry."

The older Asgardian frowned in confusion.

"It's my fault she's gone."

Thor knew exactly who he meant.

"I told Kurse where to go that day. I didn't think...."

He paused as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"I didn't think he'd find Frigga."

Thor held back his tears as he looked to his brother. All this time he had wondered why Loki was in such a state of extreme grief when he came to ask for assistance that day in the dungeons.

"It's my fault she's gone. And my last words to her were just me denying that she was my mother. Do you understand what I've done, Thor? Do you understand?! I shouldn't be here right now! You never should have asked for my help! If I just would have stayed in my stupid cell then all of this could have been avoided! It's my fault....I don't deserve to be here....Odin should have just had me executed the day of my trial! Don't you get it, Thor? The only reason any of this has happened...your banishment....innocent mortals killed during the attack on Midgard....mother's death....the destruction of Asgard....It's all because of me!"

Thor was horrified as he watched his brother crumble before his eyes. Loki began sobbing uncontrollably when he finished his confession.

"Loki....please....stop it. You're hurting yourself, brother! Please just calm down! This is not your fault!"

Tears stained his cheeks as he stared at his brother.

"Yes. It is. Odin was right. Everywhere I go, there is war, ruin, and death. He was right!"

He turned to walk out, but was immediately pulled back.

The blonde wrapped his arms around his brother and gave him a shoulder to cry on.

"None of this is your fault, brother. So maybe you've done some things you're not proud of, but we all have. You need help, Loki. Please stop turning people away and throwing them out of your lives. Just let me be your brother again."

Loki stopped struggling and relaxed in his brother's arms.

"I missed you so much."

"Thor, you haven't left my side for two weeks."

Thor smiled softly.

"I used to miss the old Loki, the innocent one. Then I realized that you were never going to have a chance to grow if I kept trying to force you to be your old self. I guess I just miss moments like these. Moments where we may not know what lies ahead, but we know that no matter what's in store for us, we will face it together. As two sons of the crown. Two broken souls in need of repair. As brothers."

Loki, albeit reluctantly, wrapped his arms around his brother and hugged him back.

"Well in that case, I missed you, too."