A Burden of Thoughts

Chapter 4

Thor woke up in a haze. His vision was seemingly blurred as he rubbed his tired eyes. The sagging bags under his eyes reveal his exhaustion from the day before. 

The sun was visibly peeking over the horizon, shining a comforting light down on the mountain the brothers slept upon. Thor's vision returned and he turned his head to look over at Loki, who was still asleep. He had checked to make sure his brother was still breathing, which, by his luck, still was. It was ragged and shallow, but it was better than his brother being dead.

Based on the position of the sun, Thor guessed it was early in the morning, as the sun had yet to gain it's position high in the sky.

Thor remained perplexed had how they would return to Asgard. The Bifrost was destroyed, Heimdall was, Thor guessed, somewhere in Asgard, and they had no reach of anything to teleport them up there, considering Loki's state.

Leaving his brother undisturbed, Thor got to his feet and walked over to the edge of the great mountain, looking down upon the shadows of the forest below them. It was quite calming, the view of the land stretching far and wide before him reminding him of Asgard somehow.

Thor was glad his brother was still alive and was a bit surprised that he had managed to survive the first couple minutes from his wound. 

To him, his brother was astonishing and quite powerful, for a God of Mischief.

Thor wasn't a fan of mischief, but he couldn't blame Loki. That's just how he is and he doubts he'll ever change much.

Thoughts pushed their way through Thor's mind as he stared off into the radiant and glorious sunrise. 

Though, some thoughts that passed through his head weren't so pleasant, such as the day the dark elf stabbed and killed Loki and him's mother Frigga, and when he thought Loki was dead, only to end up faking his death like an imbecile.

Thor was saddened at those thoughts and pushed them away.

He turned around, startled when he heard Loki began to stir.

"Thor?" Loki asked, attempting to push himself into a sitting position, only to forget about his wound and gasp in pain, collapsing to the ground as Thor walked swiftly over to his brother's side.

"I'm here, brother."

Loki sighed heavily in exasperation. Thor wouldn't blame him, as it was most annoying not able to sit yourself upright. 

"How are you feeling?" Thor asked.

Loki looked up at the elder god, his eyes still glazed over, but it's seeming to improve. His magic was starting to slowly heal him. "I don't feel like rubbish anymore," He replied with a slight smirk forming at the corner of his lips.

Thor chuckled slightly, clearly relieved that his brother is beginning to feel well again.

"So, hold long are we gonna be stranded on this rock?"  Loki asked, his voice also sounding improved again as well.

"May I remind you brother, this is not a 'rock,' it is a mountain, very different."

Loki scoffed, rolling his emerald green eyes. "Whatever."

Thor stood up, walking over to once again admire the beauty of the sun rising into its place into the sky while the moon lowered and hid itself away.

"Oh, the Mighty Thor, admiring a sunrise," Loki joked with a bit of a dark tone etched into his voice.

Thor scoffed, "Some things on Earth are much more explicit than you'd think, brother."

Suddenly, a black portal seemed to appear and out stepped a woman with long, silky black hair quite like Loki's, but it's more straight. She had a black eyeshadow around her eyes.

Thor, clearly startled, took a couple of steps backward, glancing back at Loki to see him successfully push himself up into a sitting position and watch on as well.

Thor turned back to face the strange woman who was wearing black armor. She chuckled once she made contact with the grassy terrain of the mountain.

"I see Odin is no longer here. That's a shame..I would have loved to see that," She said in disappointment.

"I am Thor, son of Odin," Thor greeted, his eyes narrowed in skepticism.

The woman looked disbelieving and scoffed. "Really? Well, you don't look like him."

Loki spoke up from behind his older brother, "Who are you anyway?"

"You sound like him," the woman silently muttered, loud enough for the two boys to hear. The brothers looked at each other, their expressions showing confusion before both turned their attention to the woman.

"Oh? I see Odin has kept me a secret from you as well...I am Hela, Odin's firstborn. Your...sister.." Hela replied, sounding disapproving and flinched when she said the word 'sister.'

Both brothers were in complete shock. Thor was the first to speak up.

"What..?"

"I am the Goddess of Death. Odin locked me away, and I escaped once his life had ended."

"Then why are you here?" Thor inquired with a demanding tone.

Hela chuckled, shaking her head in a disapproving manner. 

"To take over Asgard, to take my rightful place back on the throne. Not even you two puny gods will stop me."