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The air was clear and the sun was bright when Thor came to visit his friends and mother in Valhalla.
He got an invitation from his old friend Heimdall, in form of a raven, asking him to visit. Thor firmly believed that the dead shan't be disturbed and must get their well-earned rest. Valhalla is a sacred place for gods and the few lucky humans who get chosen.
But when Sif also got an invite, they both knew they had to go.
"You're about to meet my mother, Love", he informed the little girl holding his hand.
She nodded in excitement.
"She was a great woman", Lady Sif added, walking on Thor's left.
Thor told her all of the stories about his mother. How tender she was when she bandaged him, how she always told him to protect the good people and be good in the world, how he should handle his magic and how to be a good king, even her scolding were laced with love.
They walked down the foggy path and came to a clearing.
There, stood his old friend.
"Heimdall!" Thor leaped forward and embraced the golden eyes man warmly. He returned the hug and patted him on the back.
He turned his attention to Lady Sif. She also hugged him. To hell with all the formalities. One of them is dead anyways.
He turned to Love and kneeled in front of her, "Hello, I am Heimdall", he extended his hand on greeting, "I believe you've met my son, Axl"
"I am Love. Axl has your eyes. He likes to cheat when we train", the little girl shook his hand, holding it too tightly. Heimdall chuckled. She had an air of superiority around her. Well, she has every right to have so.
"Your grandmother is waiting for you", he smiled knowingly.
Heimdall stood up and walked towards the mountainous haven in front of them.
Valhalla was a beautiful place. The walls were decorated with gold, which reflected the brilliant sunlight. The birds were chirping merrily around and the wind grazed them softly.
Thor and Sif were raised on stories of glorious death and the honour of being in Valhalla. They both hoped to see themselves there after fighting for what they believed in.
Heimdall walked them into the highest palace.
The pillars were made of purest of white marble and on walls were inscribed stories of old gods and their glory. Thor found his eyes turn blurry when he saw paintings of his one eyed father leading charge. He also saw his chosen friends and fellow warriors in those stories, leading other Asgardians into battle.
"She's waiting", Heimdall said as he opened a heavy oak door.
Inside, was a beautiful room.
It was an exact copy of his mother's room in Asgard. The same bed, the same vanity and bookshelves.
The fluttering curtains opened to a balcony outside. Thor walked in.
His mother was sitting there, reading a book.
She closed it and looked up to him.
She was the same. She was wearing dark green dress which greatly reminded him of his brother. No extra face line on gre hair graced her. It's like she was frozen perfectly in time.
Thor couldn't hold back anymore. He cried as he went on his knees to hug her.
"Oh, dear", she sighed and wrapped her arms around him.
"Hello, son", she pressed a kiss on his temple.
Thor's body was wrecked with sobs. He clung harder to his mother.
He can hear Lady Sif sniffing behind. He collected himself and got out of his mother's arm.
"Mother. This is Love. She's... My niece. Your granddaughter", Thor waved to her go to Frigga.
The little girl looked at his mother with a childish awe but at the same time, slight weariness.
She has seen enough to know not to trust everyone. But she's safe with her uncle here.
"Hello, sweet girl", Frigga gave her a motherly smile, "You have beautiful eyes",
"They shoot laser", Thor added wetly from behind her.
Sif snickered quietly, knowing how he suffers on his niece's hand daily.
"I like your hair", the girl returned her compliment.
"Gah. Thank you", Frigga waved a hand around.
"Have a seat, everyone", she told the standing people.
There were other two vacant seat around the circular table but Thor didn't comment on it.
"Oh, I'm not late. Good to know", a family raspy voice commented from the balcony door.
Thor whipped his head as fast as lightening to see if it really was who he thought.
It was.
It was Loki.
"Loki?" He was going to cry for the second time that day. He really should stop being so emotional. But he can't help it; they're his family.
"Brother", the god of mischief smiled at him. A genuine smile, not a conniving smirk, "Mother", he spoke to her in the most gentle of manners, he walked to her and kissed his temple.
"How?... Are you... Dead?" Lady Sif asked hesitantly, unsure how to ask him the question.
Thor dare not to imagine the worse. Though, if he was here, it wouldn't be as bad. He would be with his mother.
"No, I'm not dead, but I'm not really alive either. It's hard to explain", Loki waved a careless hand around and took his seat on his mother's other side.
He hugged her, "It's wonderful so see you. Your death was my fault. I... Am so... Sorry", he whispered to her.
"Oh, dear son. It's all forgiven", she rubbed a soft hand on his shoulder until he let go of her.
Both of her sons didn't take their eyes off her.
It has been over a decade. They cannot let go of it.
For gods, decades are merely weeks. But after everything they have been through, it felt like a lifetime ago.
It was actually a lifetime ago.
A lifetime before Tony Stark courageously took the power of the stones and sacrificed himself for the universe, before Asgard was destroyed and his people were made into refugees, before he fought his old friend from work, before he teamed together with the Avengers to take Ultron down.
So much happened.
Thor glanced at the open valley facing them. There were rooms for other fallen warriors and gods alongside the slope as well as on the top of the valley.
The nature was absolutely stunning, reminding him much of his old homeland, gleaming in the evening sun.
"Heimdall told me what happened to you before he died", Frigga looked at him with sorrowful eyes.
"Don't worry, mother. Our people are strong. They made a home on earth, called New Asgard. Me and Love live there",
"Love?" Loki raised an eyebrow, his eyes went to the only person at the table whose name he didn't know.
"Oh, Loki, meet your niece, love. Love, this is your uncle, Loki. He is my brother", he smiled at the little girl.
"You're adorable", Loki always loved kids. He loved playing tricks on them, but when he grew up, he loved to show them silly tricks and make them giggle.
"You're... There", she commented.
"Love can be slightly blunt at times, forgive me", Thor chuckled.
"Oh, I like her", Loki smiled softly.
There an air of grievance around him. He felt... Important. It was not his own magic, it was not his own personal doing. But... If it has to do anything with what he said minutes ago, he wants to know.
"Hello?" A nervous voice came from inside the room.
Heimdall leaned to the side to be in the vision of the person standing there, "Jane! Come in",
Jane, who was wearing a sky blue dress with short hair came in.
"Hi", she waved her hand.
"Jane!" Thor and Sif smiled at her arrival.
"Loki", she grumbled as she narrowed her eyes at the raven-headed god.
"Foster. Great to see you again. I've read the Foster Theory. You're not wrong about it. You've opened the field to much bigger discoveries", Loki smirked, as he if knows more than he lets on. Maybe he does. Who knows?
"I also read your book!" Love raised her hand, "I didn't finish it yet, though", she slumped a little.
"You'll finish it in no time, little one", Loki tapped her nose lightly.
Jane took a seat between Heimdall and Loki, though, with no little amount of caution.
The rest of the evening was spent chatting away. They barely felt the passage of time there. The weather remained pleasant as always, with slightly cool breeze. Loki added some snide remarks every now and then but otherwise stayed silent, it felt like he had his guard down for the moment. The usual tenseness in his shoulder was not there. It was replaced by something entirely different.
Heimdall, Jane and his mother told the living about the place and how beautiful it is. Thor is relieved to hear it.
When night time falls, no one wanted to go back.
Jane and Heimdall already had a room in here, close to Frigga. Jane invited Lady Sif to stay the night with her.
That's how Thor, Loki and Love ended up in Frigga's huge bed.
"You're so big. I remember when you were barely bigger than my arms", Frigga sighed, remembering their past. She was carassing Love's back, lulling her into sleep. She was so good at it, Love was already half asleep.
"You were a wee thing, son", she patted Loki's arm.
"Was Uncle Thor also small?" The little girl asked.
"He was smaller than you are, Love", Frigga chuckled, "It was much later on that be grew to be big and strong",
Frigga told Love stories about Loki and Thor when they were kids, carefully not recalling their older sister, the main reason of Asgard's fall.
As the night creeped on, everyone slept.
Everyone but Thor, who climbed out of bed gently and went to the balcony.
Thor felt a deep sense of belonging here, in his mother's arms next to his brother. He hates that he'll have to go back eventually.
He loves living, he loves his friends and family and the new life they have build on new Asgard. But he would be a liar if he said that he didn't miss this. He missed having this friends and brother with him. He misses his father and mother being there for him. It was an ugly feeling clawing his soul deep in his chest.
"Can't sleep?" He heard his brothers smug voice as the shorter god joined him in his stargazing.
"You can't either", he commented.
Loki shook his head, "No. I cannot",
"What.. happened? After you... After Thanos killed you.. you didn't come back. I thought you were dead",
Loki clearly doesn't like seeing his brother upset. He sighed and turned to face him.
Grief and agony was itched on his face. His eyes looked haunted, the typical mischievous glint in them diminished.
"I made an impossible decision. For the sake of the multiverse", Loki hung his head low, his voice barely above a whisper
Thor frowned, "I felt the disturbance some weeks ago. Was... Is the multiverse in danger?" Thor looked at him with panic in his eyes.
Loki told him all about the TVA, his meeting with his other variants, about the Loom, about He Who Remains and Mobius.
"Sounds like you grew found of this Mobius", Thor said with a grin. His brother ignored his remark.
Loki was almost always isolated. He barely interacted with anyone on regular bases. When he was child, he prefered to stay with his books and mother. When he grew up, he saw Thor as a competitor and pushed everyone --including his mother-- away from him.
"Well.. I am glad you are well", Thor nodded firmly.
"I am also glad you weren't butchered on Gorr's hands", Loki glanced at his older brother.
"How...", Thor trailed off before remembering Loki is the god of multiverse now.
"We should do this more often", Thor dared to tell his brother.
"If we do this one more time, I'll stab you", Loki said with a deadpan expression.
Thor couldn't help but snicker to suppress the laughter crawling up his throat, "I don't mind being stabbed, as long as it's my brother",
Thor forgot about the rest of the world as he stood next to his brother, admiring the stars. They stood there in silence for sometime, gazing at the twinkling stars.
It was until the sun began rising from its slumber, dying the world colours of gold and blue.
"Did I not tell you, brother? The sun will rise on us again", Loki muttered, a true smile on his lips.