A Burden of Thoughts

Chapter 3

Loki fell to the ground, his brother too slow to do anything before it happened. "NO!" Thor yelled, his eyes showing sadness and anger, mostly anger.

He summoned his hammer, Mjolnir, pointing it at the figure as thunder rumbled in the distance. Soon, the familiar explosion of lightning came crashing down on the figure, this time actually doing some damage.

He noticed Loki was breathing faster, thus swiftly walking over to aid him. 

"That...was unexpected.." Loki gasped. 

Thor knelt down next to his brother, thoughts racing through his head, threatening to disorient him. He felt sick.

He placed his hand on Loki's arm, not knowing what to do as he couldn't take him to the healers, he could die by then. They didn't even know how to return to Asgard without the Bifrost or Heimdall.

It was a truly treacherous situation now.

Thor took in a large, shaky breath, not realizing he was leaning backward, his face unusually pale. It took him quite a while to snap out of inattentive state.

"Brother.." Loki breathed, turning his head to look at his rather-distressed brother.

Thor turned his attention back to his brother, his complexion returning to its normal state. He was breathing heavily. 

"I'm sorry..." Thor said after a few moments of silence, except for Loki's quick and shallow breathing.

Loki's expression full of discomfort turned to a mix of both that and confusion. "Why?" He asked.

Thor once again took a deep breath. "If I could have focused on that damn figure more..this wouldn't have happened."

"Brother, I assure you it was inevitable," Loki said sympathetically.

Loki gasped in pain as the intense pain seemed to increase.

Thor gripped his brother's hand, who did the same to his. "I haven't a clue what to do, brother. Without Heimdall or the Bifrost, how will we return to Asgard?" 

There was a slight disturbance somewhere close by, causing Thor to turn in that particular direction. "Well then...." Thor sighed, getting to his feet as he turned to meet face to face with the same figure that attacked him and his brother. 

Thor summoned his hammer, and in anger, threw it at the figure, who, much to his shock, grabbed the hammer, and shattered it.

"It's....not possible.."

The figure chuckled slightly, "You have no idea what's possible.." a dark voice said.

Thor found himself in the air, a hand gripped around his neck as he gasped, struggling to get the much-needed air into his lungs.

"You're nothing without your precious hammer," the figure laughed.

Thor was engulfed in his mind, seeing his father, Odin, standing in front of him at a wide, beautiful field.

"My son, that hammer is not your power. The power lies within you. It is simply to help control your powers, nothing more," Odin said to him.

He seemed to be dragged back into reality, his fingers twitching as the particles of lightning zapped through and over his body. His eyes were glowing blue, while lightning sparked within them.

There was a loud blast of lightning, and he saw the figure get slammed into a tree, what he deserved. 

Thor walked over to him, grabbing the figure by the neck. "Now, you leave my brother and I alone you dull creature.." 

 He slammed the figure into the tree with extreme force and strength, causing whoever was wearing the cloak and dark clothes to collapse, but eventually backed up and ran away.

Thor seemed to return to his normal Earth-like clothing illusion Loki had set on them both to give them Earth-like appearances. 

He took a deep breath before turning back to his brother, scared out of his life when he noticed he wasn't moving.

Thor knelt down beside his brother, "Loki?"

He was greatly relieved when his brother's eyes fluttered open. "Oh, hello brother.." 

Loki coughed, which probably wasn't a good sign.

"How are you holding up, brother?" Thor asked.

Loki looked up at his older brother, looking understandably weak. His eyes seemed to be glazed over and he wasn't capable of much movement. "Don't know..." 

Loki chuckled slightly before his eyes started to close, Thor instantly beginning to panic.

"Stay with me, Brother," Thor pleaded, watching as Loki's eyes opened back up again.

Loki kept his gaze on Thor, struggling to stay awake, but they both knew if he fell asleep he'd likely die.

Thor knew they had to get somewhere, they couldn't stay in the open, so he gently put his hand under Loki's neck and one under his legs and picked him up.

They began walking back through the forest. Coming upon a mountain, Thor paused and thought for a moment before climbing it. They got to the top about an hour later and Thor set his brother down.

He looked over the forest in all of its ineffable glory.

Thor sighed, turning around and walking over to sit next to his brother.

Loki's breathing was still shallow and quick, and his face was pale. His gaze drifted over to Thor when he approached him.  Thor sat next to him, attempting to distract him from the immense pain by telling him some stories, which seemed to work. 

When he was finished, Thor laid down next to his younger brother, looking up at the sky that was now turning dark. The beautiful blue sky disappeared in the next minutes.

Loki gasped in pain again, his brother allowing him to squeeze his arm.

Both eventually fell asleep, well, Loki passed out due to the pain, but Thor just fell asleep from exhaustion. They needed to find a way back to Asgard.