A/N This fic takes place during episode five of Loki. There will be a second chapter, and there might be a third depending on how episode six goes.

The interesting thing about the Void, Loki has noticed, is that you never know when something is going to fall from the sky. It just happens. There's no real warning. There's nothing to tell you what you're going to see. It usually gets eaten by Alioth anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

Except for when it does.

After Boastful Loki sold his former friends out, the remaining four Lokis are on their own, walking through the Void on a fruitless search for Alioth. Loki's still not sure how he's going to kill the thing. He tries not to think about that.

And then someone crash-lands on the ground a few yards away.

"Probably another us," Classic Loki remarks (bringing Loki to wonder just how many Lokis have ended up here. Are most Variants that get pruned Lokis?)

"Let's go see," Kid Loki says, and he leads the way. Loki has a sneaking suspicion he just wants to put off finding Alioth. He doesn't blame the kid at all for that one.

They head towards the new member of the Void, and Loki really does hope it's another him. He'd like to not be the only clueless one here, and a new member of the Loki squad is probably his best chance.

When Kid gets close, Lokigator jumps out of his arms and runs over to the man lying on the ground. Loki winces and waits for the inevitable blood splatter that comes with lost limbs. The scream the man lets out when the gator jumps on him is all the confirmation he needs that this is going to be a murder -- which usually wouldn't bother him, but Lokigator's kills are so gruesome.

But the screaming continues.

For a very long few seconds.

And then it becomes words: "Someone get this thing off of me!"

Loki freezes. He knows that voice. He'd recognize it anywhere. But that's impossible. How is--

"Thor?" Classic Loki says uncertainly.

"Thor?" Kid Loki groans. "Oh, that's just great." He pulls Lokigator off of him. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know!" Thor practically yells. As he climbs to his feet, he continues, "I don't even know where I am! I just got disintegrated! I shouldn't be anywhere!"

"Hey, hey, Thor." Classic Loki puts a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "Calm down."

"How do you know my name?" Thor asks, almost accusingly.

"Thor, it's me," he says. "It's—"

"Loki."

It takes a moment for Loki to realize that was directed towards him. Of course it was. This Thor looks to be about the age he was in Loki's timeline, give or take a few decades. This is the age he would remember Loki as.

Loki smiles. "Hi, brother."

"We are not brothers," Thor growls. He holds up his hands and conjures a dagger in each.

"Woah, okay, hold on," Loki says quickly, backing away with his hands in front of him, like that could stop him. "Let's not—"

Thor throws one of the daggers, and Loki just barely moves out of the way before it reaches him.

"Will you stop that?" Loki asks, exasperated. "I haven't even done anything!"

"You know exactly what you did." Thor throws the other dagger, which Loki dodges once again. Thor holds his hands out, and both daggers fly back to him.

Loki holds his own hands out and takes them instead. He has no idea how the hell Thor knows telekinesis, but fortunately, he's nowhere near as strong as Loki is.

"Thor, calm down," Loki says.

"It would be easier to kill him," Kid Loki remarks.

"We are not killing our brother!" Loki says immediately. He tosses the two daggers to Classic Loki, who catches them with ease. Holding his hands up to prove he's not a threat, Loki slowly starts to approach his brother. "Whatever you think I did — whatever I did in your timeline — I didn't do it."

Thor pauses. "You're not from my timeline?"

"No." Loki gives him a small smile. "No, I'm not "

"So you didn't destroy half of New York," Thor says.

"Well..." Loki glances warily at Classic Loki, who just shrugs. "When are you from? Where on the timeline?"

"2014," Thor says. "You?"

"2012."

Thor cocks his head to the side. "What happened in your 2012?"

Probably the same as yours.

He has a feeling that answer would get him stabbed, so instead, he says, "Absolutely nothing. Most uneventful year of my life." He makes no attempt to hide the fact that this is completely bullshit, so he moves on before Thor asks again. "When did you learn magic?"

"Why did you learn magic?" Kid Loki adds. "You always told me it was childish."

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Thor asks.

"He's me," Loki says. He gestures to Classic Loki. "And so is he."

Lokigator growls.

Loki sighs and gestures to him, too. "And, apparently, so is he."

Thor looks between them for a few moments. "You're all Loki?"

"We are," Classic Loki says.

"Even the alligator?"

He nods. "Even the alligator."

Lokigator trots over to him and wraps himself around Thor's legs. For an animal that can't smile, he looks very content right now.

"I don't know why you're so happy to see him," Kid Loki mutters. "He was just a frog in your timeline."

Lokidile growls, and Kid Loki puts his hands up in sarcastic defense.

"When did you learn magic?" Loki asks his brother again. "Who taught you?"

"Mother did," Thor says. "After you were imprisoned — because you tried to take over Midgard. I don't know if that happened in your timeline or not."

"Mother taught you magic?" Loki repeats, gaping at him.

"Yes."

"She taught you conjuring?"

"Yes."

"Illusion projecting?"

"Yes."

"Telekinesis?"

"Yes."

"Fireworks?"

"Ye— no. Wait, what?"

Loki lolls his head back and breathes a sigh of relief. "So she didn't teach you fireworks."

"No?" Thor says uncertainly. "We hadn't been doing it very long. She's tried to show me a little bit of everything, but—"

"If she was going to make fireworks with you, she would have done it already," Loki says, admittedly a little too gleeful about that but come on, he hasn't had a victory in a very long time. This is a nice change of pace.

"Does it matter?" Thor asks. "I already know she hasn't taught me everything — that she won't teach me everything." He pauses, frowning. "That she wouldn't have taught me everything."

Loki lowers his gaze to avoid meeting his brother's. Realizing he would never see his family again was one of the hardest parts of his conscription by the TVA. There's nothing anyone could say to make it hurt less. He's sure Thor feels the same way.

"Was she alive?" Classic Loki asks. "When you brought Jane Foster to Asgard, did Mother survive?"

"Of course she did," Thor says, confused. "Why wouldn't she — did she not survive in your timeline?"

He shakes his head. "Which means you've spent longer with Mother than any other Thor in existence. Somehow, your decision to learn magic saved her life. You'll never get your old timeline back, but you'll always have those memories. Don't forget them. They'll drive you and keep you alive down here."

"I don't want to stay alive down here; I want to go home," Thor mutters.

"This is your home now," Classic Loki says gently. "And we're your family now. Us Odinsons have to stick together."

Loki raises an eyebrow. If Classic Loki followed the Scared Timeline to the end, he should know they're not Odinsons. They never were.

Classic Loki holds the two daggers back out to him. "I believe these are yours."

"Don't give him the—" Kid Loki says quickly, but Thor takes his daggers back anyway. Kid Loki groans.

"Congratulations," Classic Loki says. "You're the first non-Loki our little group has ever seen."

"I did not agree to this," Kid Loki says quickly.

Classic Loki sighs and turns to Loki. "Do you mind if Thor joins us?"

"Of course not," Loki says.

Classic Loki looks down at Lokigator, still lying by Thor's feet. "Do you mind if Thor joins us?"

Lokigator's head shoots up at that and he lets out a small grunt that even Loki can tell means he's excited.

Classic Loki turns back to Kid Loki. "I'm sorry, your highness, but we've become a democracy for the day and we've voted that Thor can stay with us."

Kid Loki crosses his arms. "That's not how this is supposed to work."

"I know," Classic Loki says simply. He turns back to Thor. "So, would you like to come with us?"

"Where are we going?" Thor asks.

"To find the giant world-eating cloud monster so that Loki—" He gestures to Loki with the jerk of his head. "Can stab it with a stick. Are you sure you'd like to come?"

Thor hesitates, then sighs. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but four Lokis sounds better than none right now."