Loki's been getting better over the last few weeks.

He can stay awake longer. He can follow conversations easier. He can drink a dozen small sips of his chocolate shakes at a time. He really feels like he's making progress. He really feels like he's going to live.

Communication is still difficult. He still has to use the tablet and the Atari controller and it's still much slower than he'd like, but he's getting better at it. It doesn't take quite as long. He can move between letters quicker; he's learned to abbreviate words better. He's making progress in every sense.

He hasn't been moved from the bed since he arrived, so much of his time is spent watching the television in front of him just because it's there. Right now, he's watching a show called Family Feud, which has slowly become one of his favorites, right up there with America's Funniest Home Videos. Neither of them require paying much attention. He can drift in and out as he pleases, and it won't affect his understanding of the shows at all.

He's in the middle of a commercial break when there's a knock on the door, and Loki turns his head to look. It's Tony who enters the room, and he seems... off. There's something off about him; the way he's holding himself. Loki wonders if it has to do with his wife or his daughter. He's heard that they've moved in temporarily. He can see that causing problems – or being absolutely wonderful; it could go either way.

"Hey," Tony says from the doorway. "I just wanted to check in on you; see how you're doing."

Loki gives him a thumbs up. He's kind of thirsty. He could go for another few sips of his drink. And it wouldn't be all that difficult to ask; he knows how to switch the TV from his shows to his letter board. But he still has a hard time asking for things. He takes what he's given. That's how it's been for years. He takes what he's given, and he doesn't ask for anything more.

"Do you think you're gonna be awake in ten minutes?" Tony asks him.

Loki pats the bed once. He should be. He's not very tired. He can probably get another half-episode of his show in before he falls back asleep – a full one, even, if he's feeling ambitious. That would be, what, 45 minutes, probably? Each one is half an hour, and he's about halfway through this one? At the very least, he should stay awake until it ends.

"Great," Tony says. "Then I'll be back in ten minutes."

Loki furrows his brows. Why? What's going to be different in ten minutes? Does his episode end in ten minutes? Is that it? He's timing whatever he wants to do with the end of the episode? That's rather considerate of him, but Loki would hardly say he's invested in this. He wouldn't mind doing whatever he wants to do right now.

But then Tony slips away, and it seems there's nothing left to do but watch television.

It's only a few minutes later when he hears voices down the hall, and he glances toward the door – closed, unfortunately, as it always is, so he can't see who's out there. He can hear them, though, as they get closer. He can make out what they're saying. He is rather fond of conversations, and nobody's ever asked him not to eavesdrop, so...

"You have to be careful," Tony is saying. "He's weak. He's fragile. You could snap him in half without even trying."

"We try not to touch him more than we have to," Steve adds. "He should be sitting up–" He pauses, looking at Tony uncertainly. "Is he sitting up?"

"Yeah, he's up," Tony says. "I checked. He's propped up against the headboard from when Scott fed him this morning."

"Good," Steve says. "So he's already up. You can see him; you can talk to him; you can hold his hand if you want. But you have to be careful."

"I know my brother. I don't need you to tell me how to talk to him."

Loki's eyes go wide. He knows that voice. He knows that voice. He would recognize it anywhere. He'd recognize it through a door. He'd recognize it through drunken, slurred words.

He recognizes that voice.

Thor is here.

Loki hits his hand against the mattress, over and over and over, as hard as he can. They need to open the door. Somebody needs to open the door. His brother is out there. He needs to see his brother.

But nobody seems to notice him trying to get their attention.

"You don't know," Tony says. "He's not doing good. Whatever you think you're ready to see, you're not ready."

"The last time I saw my brother, he was dead," Thor snaps. "Don't tell me I'm not ready to see him now when I've already seen him at his worst."

And then the door opens.

And Thor's there.

Thor is there.

He's right here. He's right in the doorway. He's practically in the room. And he...

He looks a lot different than he used to.

He's larger now. His beard is longer. His hair is matted. Loki wouldn't even know how to describe his clothing, but it's certainly nothing that Thor would have worn before he died. It's Midgardian, but not in the way that Pierce's suits were Midgardian; not even in the way that Steve and Tony and Scott's t-shirts and flannels are Midgardian. It's just... weird. Fairly ugly. It's all so big and bulky and ugly and ill-fitting.

But...

It's him.

It's still him.

"Thor." He can't speak, can't get the name out, but he has to. He can't contain it. It's Thor. It's his brother, right there in front of him. He can't believe this is really happening.

But Thor is frozen in the doorway, staring at Loki with wide eyes. His jaw drops, but no sound comes out. He's just... staring.

Steve pats him on the back sympathetically. "You see what we mean?"

Thor slowly takes a step forward, then another, and another, and if Loki could speak, he would beg him to hurry, to come closer, to sit with him and never leave him, but he can't. He can't do anything but watch. He can't even cry. He wants to. He can feel it in his body that he wants to. But he can't. He doesn't have any tears left in him.

Thor carefully lowers himself down on the mattress, kneeling down next to him. "Loki?"

Loki forces a smile. "Hi," he mouths silently.

Thor gently cups his face in his hand, thumb brushing gently against his cheek, and if Loki could cry, he knows he would be. He's been waiting for this moment for so long. He's been waiting for it since Thor died, all those years ago. He's dreamed of it. He's lived it when his sanity was at its lowest. But this time, it's real. Thor is really here.

"What did they do to you?" Thor asks softly.

Loki's smile fades. He doesn't want to answer that. Even if he could, he wouldn't let himself. He doesn't even want to think about it. He just wants to think about this. His brother is here. He couldn't ask for anything more.

Without warning, Thor wraps his arms around him, pulling him away from the wall and into a tight hug. Loki gasps, sucking in a sharp breath, but when he's only met with a somewhat dull ache throughout his body, he lets himself relax. He lets himself fall apart in his brother's arms the way he's longed to do for years.

Thor falls apart, too. He breaks down in sobs, and his grip on Loki only grows tighter. Loki buries his head in the crook of his brother's neck and squeezes his eyes shut. He's waited so long for this moment. He's waited so long to see him again, and now he has. Now he's back in his brother's arms, and he can't remember the last time he felt this safe, this loved.

"I can't believe you're here," Thor whispers. "I can't believe you're alive."

Loki feels the same way, though he can't say it aloud. He can't believe this, either. After all this time, he gets to see his brother again. His brother is alive and he's alive too and they're both alive and they're together again and he just can't believe it.

Thor's sobs only grow louder as he tries to speak. "I'm so sorry. I failed you. You're my little brother, and I failed you."

No, you didn't, Loki wants to say. I failed you. It's all my fault.

"I'm so sorry," Thor sobs. "I'm so, so sorry. I'm an awful brother. I'm so sorry."

You're not! he wants to scream. You're the best brother! How could he possibly think otherwise after what Loki's done?

But he can't. He can't say anything. He hardly has the strength to move. He can't do anything.

"I'm going to do better," Thor promises through his tears. "I'm not going to lose you again. I'm going to take care of you like I should have done all along."

Loki can feel his heart breaking in his chest. Thor's never done anything wrong – nothing that truly mattered; nothing he needs to apologize for. He's the best brother Loki could have asked for; a far better one than he deserved.

"Don't apologize," he tries to tell him, but, much like every time before, he can't get the words out. He can't make a sound. All he succeeds in doing is hurting his already constantly sore, dry throat, just like he knew he would.

Steve steps in finally with, "Thor, you should probably put him down. I think he wants to say something."

Thor sniffles a few times. "I'm sorry," he whispers again, gently resting Loki against the headboard again. He sniffles again and wipes the tears from his face. "You wanted to say something?"

Loki's hand finds the remote, and he changes the input to the Atari channel. (He doesn't actually know what that means. It's roughly the same verbiage that Tony used when he showed him how to use the television, and he obviously didn't ask.)

Thor squints slightly, watching him uncertainly.

"The TV," Tony says. "He can't talk, remember?"

Thor looks up at the TV, and Loki does the same. What does he want to say? There are a lot of things he wants to say, really. Where should he begin?

Well, he supposes he knows the answer, really.

I

L

O

V

E

Y

O

U

Loki looks over at Thor, a somewhat nervous smile on his lips. He's longed to say this to him for years; ever since he learned of his brother's death. But after what he did, inviting thr Frost Giants to Asgard and ruining what was supposed to be the most important day of Thor's life – something that got him killed in his world – he's not sure he deserves to say it.

But when Thor looks back at him, his eyes are once again filling with tears, and he wears a small smile of his own. "I love you, too," he whispers. He reaches over and takes Loki's hand in his. "I love you so, so much."

Loki squeezes his hand. He needed to hear this. More than anything else, he needed to hear this.

He clears the message and starts again. He's not done yet. He can't say everything he wants to like this, but he can say part of it.

I

M

I

S

S

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D

Y

O

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Thor sniffles quietly. "I missed you, too," he says quietly.

Now that this is our of the way, Loki has a question – a request, really.

P

A

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N

T

S

He looks at Thor hopefully. If Thor doesn't hate him in this world, then surely their parents don't, either. He can finally see them again. He can give them a hug and tell them that he loves them and he's sorry. He doesn't even know what he did in this new universe, but he's still so, so sorry.

"Our parents?" Thor asks softly.

Loki squeezes his hand once, though it occurs to him afterward that Thor probably doesn't know the "one means yes, two means no" system.

Thor lets out a shaky breath. "They're gone," he says quietly. "They're all gone. Mother, Father, the Warriors Three, Heimdall. Everybody's gone. They're all..." He squeezes his eyes shut and chokes out a sob. "They're all gone. Everybody's gone, brother. I've had to watch everybody I love die. They're dead."

Loki can feel his heart stop.

They're gone?

But...

They can't be.

He's been waiting for them for years – for decades, even; he doesn't know how long it's been. All he's thought of since he was handed to Pierce was that he wanted to see his family. He'd never thought he'd see Thor again, but he'd been so sure that his parents...

Thor breaks down in tears, and never before has Loki wanted to give a hug so badly. But he can't. He's not strong enough even just to hug his brother, and he hates that. It's been weeks since Scott brought him here. Shouldn't he be better? Shouldn't he at least be able to comfort his brother; to be comforted by him?

Thor's not looking at the screen anymore, but Tony and Steve are still here (though they doubtlessly wish they weren't). They can tell him. They can read what Loki writes.

C

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Loki looks at Thor, who's a sobbing mess and completely oblivious. When that doesn't work, he looks at Tony and Steve. Somebody has to be able to help. One of them...

They share a look, and ultimately, it's Steve who decides to do it. "Thor? Loki wants you to come closer."

"What?" Thor looks up at the screen, though whether he can read it through his tears, it's hard to tell.

He crawls closer to Loki and wraps his arms around him once more, and Loki buries his face in the crook of his neck again. I'm sorry, he wants to say. For everything that Thor's been through, he's sorry. He wishes he could have been here. He wishes they could have been through it together.

"I'm so sorry," Thor sobs. "I never wanted to lose you, too. I'm not going to make that mistake again."

Loki didn't think he could cry. He's not strong enough; he's not hydrated enough. But the whole conversation has been weighing him down, and finally, he breaks.

He chokes out a sob, and then another and another until his body is wracked with them, each sending a wave of pain through his chest, but he doesn't care. He has Thor back. He's lost everyone else – everyone; anyone he's ever cared for – but he's known that for years now, even when his delusions would try to convince him otherwise.

But he has Thor. Somehow, against all odds, he has his brother back. And though there's nothing he can do, he finds himself making that same vow.

He's not going to lose him again.