They were somewhere in the border tribe as Shuri referred to, the two royals walked around the field with both their hands behind their back. Loki couldn't hide his fascination for the place, he loved the essence and sight, it was slowly becoming one of his favorite kingdoms.
There were people feeding the animals while some are restoring the place after the war the occurred not so long ago, he slid his hands inside the hoodie's pocket before stopping under a large tree that gave both of them shadow from the sun,
"Wear these." Shuri took out a kimoyo bracelet from her pocket and placed it on Loki's palms, he eyed it carefully before looking at the Wakandan Princess "It's called kimoyo beads, it makes things easier as most people would describe it."
Loki shrugged before wearing the bracelet on his wrist, he held it up watched as a hologram appeared, his eyebrows rose as if he was impressed by it and watched as it vanished again. He wasn't new to holograms though, things like these already existed in Asgard yet not like this which was placed inside a small bracelet, it was totally handy.
"You can use it to call, take pictures, record and mostly anything." Shuri explained, "Everyone currently has it but Mr.Stark would probably give you one of his Stark watches after all this."
Loki simply nodded in response before sitting on the grass and staring at the view once again, he always found great peace in it, meditating somehow.
"So only you and Thor in the family?" Shuri obviously wanted to engage in a conversation with the prince which he found quite cute,
He shook his head "Well we just found out we had sisters, Hela, the Goddess of Death which also happens to be our eldest was released from Hel after our father died and tried to kill us to claim the throne, she didn't quite succeed since we killed her."
"You have a crazy family," Shuri muttered before urging him to continue
"And second to her was Angela, Goddess of the Hunt and the exact opposite of Hela. I just knew about her and she's really kind, quite annoying but mostly an angel. Then there's Thor who's my big stupid brother and who is the God of Thunder and last is me."
Shuri began to chuckle like something popped into her mind "So you're actually the darling of the family aren't you? everyone's baby brother."
The god hated it, there was no denying that he was the little brother since he was the youngest but that doesn't mean he was helpless, he sometimes despised his position in the family, why did he have to be the youngest?
"I won't actually call it 'darling' for many reasons you wouldn't like to know," Loki replied with the same snarky tone in his voice
They both stood up and kept on walking with the prince keeping a straight face on, he was clearly tired of what happened but he didn't even want to go to sleep, Thanos would haunt him and he knew it, felt it even.
"What can you do?"
The question caused the god to turn his attention towards the princess who had her arms crossed, he raised his eyebrows before holding out his palms, a ball of green smoke started to form in his hands as he played with it easily, Shuri looked at it in awe before holding out her kimoyo beads, a hologram appeared as she focused it on the ball of power Loki has made,
"I'm sorry, I'm just scanning its energy levels." Shuri kept her eyes on the hologram as her eyes widened when she saw the stats rise above the average power level, she smiled before turning to Loki "Your power is similar to Wanda's but basically god-like."
He shrugged before putting it out "I'm capable of various things although I'm traditionally best known for my silver tongue."
Shuri rolled her eyes with a chuckle "No need to get cocky, prince."
"I'm simply stating a fact." He replied
"And weapons?" She asked, "Your brother once had mjolnir and now stormbreaker, what do you have?"
Loki stopped in his tracks and held out his hands, vardaggen started to appear in his grasp as Shuri stared at the scepter in awe, her eyes roamed over the asgardian markings and the slightly curved blade that shone brightly,
"This is Vardaggen," Loki held it in his hands and stared at it "It was forged through the fire that ignited from the Odin-Force itself."
Shuri reached out to touch the handle and hissed as soon as her hands touched it, her hands were burned and Loki's eyes widened in shock, he made vardaggen disappear and took her burnt hands in his, he held his own over hers as his seidr started to heal it, the princess slowly forgot the pain as she stared in awe at what the prince was doing,
"Wow.." She breathed "How much cooler can you get?!"
Loki chuckled at the young girl before shaking his head in the process "And do know that it can be held by me and me only, it is apparently dangerous if it is held by someone else seeing how your hands got burned."
"Obviously," Shuri sighed "So it's like a genetic thing then?"
"Possibly, little one," Loki replied
"What are you the god of though?" Shuri asked, "I mean I know you're the god of mischief, your brother is the god of thunder and your sisters are the goddess of hunting and death, there's more to you, not just that."
Loki cursed at how intelligent the little mortal was but then he looked up at the sky, he reminisced the times where he would cuddle with his mother and she would tell him who he'd grow up to be,
"God of Mischief, Lies, Tricks, and Chaos." Loki started "But my mother always believed me to be the God of Stories, I thought it was because of how I loved to read, yet she told me that I have yet to find out."
Shuri smiled at the young god who was looking up at the sky before shaking her head "Inform me once you do then."
Loki looked down at her and chuckled, They continued on walking when both their kimoyo beads started buzzing, Loki was clearly confused on what was happening so he gave the young princess a look,
"Do as I do," Shuri simply said as she held out her palms, he did as he was told and placed his palms near hers
He watched as a hologram of T'Challa appeared, the King's eyes widened at the sight of the young prince with his sister but didn't bother on showing it
"I see you are with the prince," T'Challa said directing his voice to his sister who rolled his eyes
Shuri sighed "Isn't it obvious brother? now, what do you possibly want?"
"We are having a meeting," The king replied, "Both of you need to come now."
"About what? I remember you telling me to stay out." The princess quipped that earned a sigh from his own brother, T'Challa shook and lowered his head at his stubborn sister
"Now is not the time for your stubbornness Shuri." T'Challa replied with a small smile "I shall be expecting you."
And with that the hologram vanished, The two royals shared a look before walking back to the palace, Loki wondered if his brother was already awake so he could finally turn his head upside down. Their footsteps echoed throughout the halls as the guards curtsied at the presence of their princess. They were slowly approaching the large doors, as soon as they stood in front of it the guards pushed it open revealing everyone in the table, it was obvious that they were late, even Tony Stark himself was already present at the table, all of them were there, all of those who fought.
"Brother!" Thor's booming voice interrupted that caused Loki to snap his head towards his brother who was pointing at the empty seat beside him "Come and sit by my side."
As if he would sit anywhere else, he walked towards Thor and pulled out the chair beside him, he raised an eyebrow seeing how all of them were still staring at the mischievous god who happened to be late,
"Does there seem to be any problem mortals?" He didn't intend to sound rude but that was how he is, in an instant, everyone looked away from the prince.
T'Challa who was sitting at the head of the table cleared his throat to capture everyone's attention, he slowly stood up as his eyes landed on Loki.
"I see you have worn the clothes I have sent for you," Loki glanced at the hoodie and jeans he wore before shrugging and flashing his boyish grin
He shrugged "It seems to be terribly comfortable as much as I hate to admit."
"I'm glad you are pleased," T'Challa replied before turning his attention to everyone in the table "I believe this is time to discuss what has occurred, we cannot pretend that nothing has happened."
Everyone in the table was either agreeing or just staring into space, the Guardians sat uncomfortably while Tony and Steve maintained a large gap between the both of them, Peter made sure to sit beside his mentor so he could be of help and so did Rhodey.
"Panther is right," Tony agreed as he moved a bit closer carefully as to not to reopen his wound which he sealed using his nanotech "If anyone has some concern or plans regarding that purple faced cartoon's toy then please say it now."
Star-Lord leaned forward on behalf of the Guardians to explain their plan "We plan to take the soul stone to Vormir."
"Thanos sacrificed my sister's life for the stone," Nebula interjected giving Quill a menacing glare to let her continue, "We think that if we return the stone there then we'll get her back, plus it'll be safe there, few people know about it anyways."
"How safe will it be?" Steve's voice echoed in the large room causing everyone's attention to turn towards him
Rocket shrugged "Pretty safe, it's only us who knows now, ya'll pretty much killed the others who does."
Everyone then nodded in agreement at their plan before Dr. Strange decided to intervene,
"So the Guardians have two stones," Stephen said to make things clear as everyone nodded "You will be held responsible for those two so I suggest that you don't waste your time, it's no good having two stones in one place."
The Guardians nodded at the sorcerer supreme in understanding before Quill looked down at the orb in his palms,
"Believe me I don't think that's good either." Quill replied
Mantis then placed the Aether on the table and pushed it over to Thor who held it in his hands, the Thunderer stood up before glancing over to the King of Wakanda who had a look of confusion written all over his face,
"I think the Aether will be safe here in Wakanda." Thor stated before looking over to Loki for his counsel or something like that "Don't you think, brother?"
Loki glanced at the table and saw everyone waiting for his reply "That would be fine I believe, it was hidden here on Midgard in the first place, I am quite sure that Wakanda will be able to protect it as can they control themselves."
T'Challa smiled proudly before nodding, Thor slowly handed it over to the King but not before shooting him one last look "Hide it where it can never be found, under the ground, above the skies I care not, just make sure no one gets ahold of it."
The Wakandan King nodded intently before bowing his head towards Thor who did the same gesture, he looked at the reality stone in his grasp before sighing,
"We will make sure that no one knows the Aether's whereabouts, my sister and I will attend to it personally." T'Challa looked over to Shuri who gave a genuine smile before nodding in agreement
"You have our word, King Thor." Shuri reassured before turning to Loki with a smirk "As do you, Prince Loki."
He shot the princess a small smile before nodding his head to the side as a sign of acceptance. Now knowing that the Aether was safe, everyone turned their heads towards Tony and Bruce who were the ones that were supposed to bring Vision back,
"We tried but the stone wasn't like it was before," Bruce started as he arranged his glasses "It's like being corrupted now, it's a risk to bring back Vision with the stone unstable."
Loki looked over to Wanda who was clearly stopping herself from crying, she was biting her nails and looking at the ground like she was completely zoned out.
"What are the risks?" Shuri decided to ask, she wasn't in the lab and neither did she have enough intelligence about what they planned or did so she felt the urge to ask,
"Either he turns out being Ultron or Thanos." Tony simply replied, "You can choose which is worse."
"So what you mean to say is that if we do attempt to bring Vision back with the stone then he'd go rogue?" Sam asked, "Or he'll feel the urge to assemble the stones?"
Bruce nodded "Exactly that."
There was a moment of silence as everyone looked at Wanda who was obviously trying to get herself together, she knew that she needed to, it wasn't the first time she's lost someone right?
"Maybe we can bring Vision back without the mind stone?" Steve interjected seeing how Wanda was acting, it broke his heart "I'm sure you'll be ab-"
"It's not possible."
Everyone turned their heads towards Wanda who was staring off into the distance, the silence bared the message, she was shattered, clearly heartbroken and they were all guilty they couldn't do anything, of course, Vision was their friend and it hurt them too, even for those who knew little of him.
"I felt the stone." She slowly said and used all of her courage to look up at Loki who was sitting just in front of him "He wasn't there anymore, he isn't holding on, he decided to let go."
Loki didn't know whether to speak or stare back at the woman, she clearly was looking at him, hoping for some back up maybe? he could easily provide that but why would he help her? he didn't even know her.
All eyes on the room slowly redirected to where Wanda was staring, the god silently cursed that all the attention was on him now and he currently had no choice but to say his own belief, he shifted on his seat before straightening up,
"I myself had a rather, eventful experience, with the stone as all of you can obviously recall." Loki started with his eyes shifting to everyone in the table "It has a connection with the witch since it was the source of her abilities, therefore I will be able to say that I believe her. She felt her lover slowly slipping away and if you try to bring him back then there's a possibility that Stark's prediction will come true, although I do not know of this man you call Ultron."
"It is a robot, brother," Thor said that made Loki raise his eyebrow at the Avengers, the Earth's Mightiest Heroes were bested by a machine? "An evil yet intelligent robot who planned to wipe out humanity with his army."
Loki smirked "Too bad, we would've gotten along."
The Avengers turned their attention to the young prince and glared daggers at him, he rolled his eyes at the response and waved them away as he slumped back onto his chair,
"I simply jest," He replied, "I would not ally myself with some machine that bested you all, if Thor called me soon then I would have been able to crush them all with a flick of my finger, not much of a challenge."
Tony stared at Loki in awe before turning to face Thor, "He can do that? Why the hell didn't you bring him along then?!"
Thor then glared at his brother who gave him a mischievous smirk, "What my brother failed to add was that I thought him dead when he was obviously not and was basically usurping the throne whilst hiding in an illusion as our father."
Somehow Loki felt proud hearing it from Thor and gave all of them a small smile as he raised an eyebrow in comfort,
"I miss those times though," Loki reminisced "At least Asgard thrived did it not?"
"If you mean having all of the realms in chaos then yes," Thor replied with a smirk "You have done a great job little brother."
He scowled at the petty nickname before slumping back on his chair, T'Challa nodded to himself as he heard of everyone's thoughts but then focused his attention to the King of Asgard who couldn't hide the smile on his face by just looking at his brother, he didn't deny that he did make Asgard thrive, except for that giant statue of him, he might just have it rebuilt when they bring Asgard back.
"What do you plan King Thor?" T'Challa asked, Thor still found it weird hearing everyone call him by the mantle of King, he felt as if it didn't suit him, he wasn't really the one for discussions, he was more of a fist, sword and hammer type of guy, he knew that this was more of his brother's field which just added to the list on why he felt that Loki would make a better king than him
He shrugged "I'm not really sure, maybe strike a bargain with the Norns to bring back Asgard or anything like that, as of the moment I do not know, I'm not the one for these type of talks."
All heads turned to the younger Odinson who sighed and rolled his eyes "Must I do everything brother?"
Thor shrugged "Since you do not like to shut up then now would be the perfect use."
Loki glared at Thor who gave him a smirk "We look for survivors then we rebuild Asgard, we might need a place to keep them secure at the moment, I will try and explore my newfound abilities further and probably find something of use."
"But do know not to stress yourself too much Loki," Thor stated, "We can still rest and form the plan thoroughly."
Loki simply chuckled "We're Odinsons." Thor brightened up at the claim his brother just said and smiled "We do not rest until everything is done, we will go back to the rubble of Asgard and possibly start rebuilding."
Thor nodded at the plan before turning to T'Challa "You have heard the plan, my brother and I will journey back to Asgard and pick up the pieces."
Panther nodded before giving them a small smile "That is a reasonable plan," He started "But I do require that you spend some of your days here so you can both regain your powers."
Thor looked over to his brother and finally realized how weary he must be and nodded "A few days won't hurt, am I right brother?"
Loki thought for a moment, a day he spent on Wakanda and he already managed to talk to Shuri and Wanda, he didn't know if he'd consider both of them friends since he never really had one, he slowly nodded at his brother,
"It's all up to you," Loki replied "My King."
Thor chuckled at his brother and punched him playfully, Loki shook his head and chuckled to himself, it was as if the younger god was being sarcastic but he knew he meant most of it.
"Stop," Thor warned and gave Loki one last pat on the back before turning back to the king of Wakanda "We accept your offer, we will stay a few days and journey back to look for survivors then take them somewhere safe, after that we go back to Asgard and take it from there."
T'Challa nodded at his plan before smiling at two Asgardians in his midst, "If you want then I can take them to Norway, the place where your father-" Strange decided not to continue thinking how a sensitive subject it might be for then "Just give me a call when you find some survivors and I'll take them there."
Thor nodded "That'll be great, friend Stephen."
"It's the least I can do." Strange replied before giving a small nod towards Thor
All of them continued talking and discussing for at least an hour, they also talked about the whole civil war whilst the others were gone and how the Avengers are actually disbanded, Loki was irritated by it all and was slowly feeling his sleepiness take over, his head bobbing from side to side and jolting up awake the moment he realizes that he's starting to sleep.
It came to the point where even the Guardians were giving off some advice on how to fix things, Tony and Steve were now arguing and it was growing loud for Loki to even handle, all of them kept defending their side and bringing up old scars just to hurt the other one more, he found it pathetic and in no need of his attention, he finally let his eyes droop and instead of expecting his head to fall to the side a firm hand slowly placed it on his shoulder, Loki drowsily looked up at Thor who gave him a small smile in return
"I'm fine.." Loki slurred as his vision started to blur, his eyelids somehow felt heavy as it was pulling his eyes shut
Thor chuckled and shook his head "Sleep now brother, I'll take you to your room later so fret not."
Loki was too sleepy to even reply decently and just gave a small nod as he snuggled into Thor's big shoulders having no idea he was doing it,
"Whatever.." He muttered before letting his sleep take over, he promised he wouldn't but it seemed like sleep had a full power on him
Thor smiled at his younger brother who was sleeping on his shoulder and gently moved his hair to the side. Wanda found herself smiling at the sight of the brothers in front of her, she felt as if it was her and Pietro, they both shared a bond similar to the Odinsons except for the fact that they were no gods. She watched as Thor placed a discrete kiss on Loki's forehead everyone not noticing it because of the argument that was happening but she clearly saw it and couldn't help but miss her own brother and even Vision,
"He murdered my parents!" Tony shouted in the background "Brainwashed or not you could've told me Steve!"
"He's my friend Tony!" Steve shouted back "And so are you!"
"Friend?" Tony questioned unbelievably "You hid the truth away from me to save him! HIM! not me, so don't bullshit me, Rogers."
Steve stared at Stark knowing he had nothing to defend himself with, he knew he was wrong and even he blamed himself for it, "I couldn't let him die Tones, I only got him back. I admit all of it was my fault but please you gotta understand why I did it."
Tony scoffed "And there he is, the great and patriotic Captain America, you really hate me that much Steve? do they know that you could've killed me in there when you slammed your shield into my arc reactor huh?!"
Everyone looked over to the American patriot in shock, they knew the two of them fought but not to the point where they were actually on the verge of killing the other, Thor's eyebrows furrowed as he looked at both of his friends, making sure to be careful not to wake up his brother.
"But I didn't!" Steve countered but Tony rolled his eyes at the statement
"Of course they didn't know," Tony chuckled "Gotta keep your hands clean right? Couldn't bear killing another Stark I guess, will you have your best friend do it for yo-"
"I could've killed you but I didn't!" Steve shouted as he rose from his seat, it was uncharacteristic of him to do so that caught everyone's attention, Loki flinched at the sound but Thor quickly soothed him as if he was a baby,
"So you were planning to," Tony smiled "Thanks, Rogers."
Steve sighed "We have to calm down Tony, we can't talk like thi-"
"And Peter?" Tony cut off as he gestured to the teenage boy beside him who gave a small wave "You fucking dropped a container van on him! What would've happened if he was killed huh? you gonna say you were just protecting your friend?"
Steve looked over to Bucky who just shook his head, he had no place to speak in the first place "I knew he'd catch it."
"You knew?!" Tony burst out "Don't fuck with me! you barely know the kid and now you're saying that you knew?!"
In all honesty Steve didn't even know, he just threw the shield and the legs gave up, he wasn't sure that the boy was going to be able to carry it but he was pretty sure it would crush him, he didn't even know he was only a teen until the whole fight was over,
"I'm sorry." Steve said and he meant it, Peter's eyes looked at him in sympathy, two of his role models were fighting and he didn't know who to side with at first but now he knew, "For all of it, I don't know if you'll ever forgive me but just hear me out Tony alright? I never meant for any of this to happen, I didn't intend for it to be like this and I'm deeply sorry for that."
Tony stood up from his seat before leaning forward and confronting the soldier face to face,
"You're damn right I won't forgive you." Tony hissed with venom in his voice "Fuck with me, I don't care, but fuck with the people in my life-" He then pointed at Rhodey and Peter who was just beside him "- I'll make sure hell breaks loose."
He started walking away whilst clutching his side, his white shirt was now drenched in blood yet he was so blinded by his rage that he didn't even care, Rhodey ran after his friend without second thoughts while Peter looked around the table before giving Steve a sympathetic look
"I'm sorry," He simply said before using his agility to run after his mentor "Mr. Stark!"
All of them grew silent, no one shared a single thought nor eye contact, it was unlikely for the genius to lash out like that, he was known for his witty remarks and offending jokes, not his harsh words, it was obviously a wrong idea to bring up the subject
Thor looked around if anyone was going to speak, when no one showed a sign he decided to cough to get all of their attention, he held onto his brother's sleeping form before standing up and scooping him in his arms
"I suggest that we postpone our discussion," Thor said calmly as he looked at his brother "I also need to stay by Loki's side as a matter of fact."
T'Challa nodded in agreement "Thor is right, we should all rest and talk about this matter when everyone is at ease."
He waved his hand and everyone in the room was dismissed, Thor slowly smiled at his brother as he walked towards his room, he remembered when they were a child and he'd constantly find Loki asleep in the library, he always had to carry him on his back all the way to his room, he didn't get bothered by it nor was he irritated, he loved the feeling of being able to take care of his brother in simple ways.
He kicked the door open and gently laid Loki on his bed removing his shoes in the process, he ran his hands through his brother's raven hair and smiled to himself, this is my brother, how lucky of me.
As he was about to go a hand grabbed ahold of his wrist tightly, he thought he was dreaming but then he looked back and saw Loki's eyes pooling with tears, he sat beside him in concern as he tried to figure out why his brother was crying, it was like those nights when he used to wrap his red cape around Loki saying that it'll protect him from all the bad things, Loki would usually smile and nod then snuggle into Thor's arms afterward.
Loki, on the other hand, was scared that once Thor goes he'll have those horrid nightmares again, he didn't want to sleep but his eyes and mind surely wanted to, he felt like he had no choice,
"Stay."
It was the only thing he needed to say, Thor nodded and crawled onto the bed beside Loki, he missed this, being a thousand years old and still doing cuddles, it was either ridiculous or gay, he didn't think it was any of the two though, for him it was protection and love.
Thor pulled Loki into his chest, cradling him like he used to do whenever he cried because of the thunder, he would then make-up stories and tell him how everything was fine as long as they stick together, they did so eventually.
The older Odinson then remembered what he promised, that he'd be a better brother and king, he pulled Loki into a tight hug before giving him a kiss on the hair, it seemed like the younger one didn't even notice since he was already knocked out, he then realized the tears that started to fall from his own eyes, he immediately wiped it off and laughed, Loki would laugh at him if he was awake,
"I love you brother," Thor muttered whilst caressing Loki's hair "Never doubt that, I couldn't wish for a better brother than you."