Holly Potter and the Midlife Crisis (Hp x Mcu) by Enigmaris

Chapter 34: A Camping Trip Through Hel

Summary:

Thor and Loki are left to their own devices in the universe's most barren wasteland. Will they even find what they came for? Or will it find them?

Notes:

I know you all loved Bucky and want him to be taken care of but we're switching back to Thor and Loki for now!! Please enjoy this brotherly camping trip.

Day 1 in Hel

They hiked for three hours, following the sludge that failed to pass for water in the stream bed. Loki honestly had no idea if this was the right way to go. There were technically 360 directions they could have taken from that meadow and Loki had picked one. It wasn't like Thor had had any better ideas. Hiking through the smog made Loki cough and so he cast a charm to clear the air around his head, Thor gave him puppy dog eyes and he rolled his eyes before casting it on him too.

They saw plenty of...interesting things on the hike. Trees twisting from radioactive magic that were long dead. Strangely shaped bones that had been stained orange and red from the air. Trenches and crevices in the ground that seemed to go down and down forever. At one point, Thor dropped a rock down one and they stood there for minutes waiting to hear a crack. When none came, they decided it would be best to move on and not get too close to anything that didn't look like solid ground.

Unfortunately, that didn't work out very well. By hour two they ran into a field of black rock. Layers and layers of rock that were less than an inch thick and sandwiched between pockets of air. Their steps would, unpredictably, break through the rock and their feet would fall into a hole as deep as their knees, the sharp glassiness of the rock cutting and scratching up their pants. It was a heart stopping endeavor each time it happened.

They didn't dare to fly over the field either. If Hela was as dangerous as Frigga had implied, they didn't want to be put into a position where she could shoot them out of the sky.

The stream they were following had cut through a part of the sharp black rock and was now flowing in a twisting pattern between the rises and falls of the rubbly rock. It still didn't look or smell like water and flowed like slime. They saw no living creatures as they hiked across the desolate field of rocks. No bushes or weeds had managed to grow on the inhospitable surface. There wasn't even any moss or lichen to mar the black glass.

They didn't talk much as they hiked. They both just carried their packs and watched their feet and each other. Loki was constantly ready to cast a spell to catch Thor if the ground fell out beneath him. Loki saw his brother's fingers twitch for Mjolnir, ready to use it to fly to the rescue if Loki tripped into nothingness. There was little point in talking anyway. The wind, which had been mild in the toxic forest was strong here, strong enough to tear the sound from their mouths and carry it away to destinations unknown.

In the distance they saw a rising mountain. It resembled the Good Captain's shield in shape, if the shield was laid flat on the ground and also so monstrously large as to be incalculable. The black top of the mountain glinted like blood in the red sun. They were hiking around the perimeter of the mountain, the stream flowing away from the high point altogether.

"Do you think she'd be up there?" Thor asked.

"With what water?"

"Surely it rains here."

Loki looked up at the orange sky and thought about the dry air that kept cracking his lips.

"Not often enough I wager. Besides, with no beasts to hunt she'd need to grow her food. I doubt there's soil up there."

"Mother said she was a crafty magic user. Are you telling me that you couldn't manage to make that place livable?"

Loki tilted his head and considered that. The mountain, as large as it was, hardly looked impressive by Asgardian standards. Asgardian's preferred mountains with steep cliffs and hikes that looked deadly to even attempt. Things that jutted like teeth out of the earth. This deceptively low slope wouldn't have appealed to an Asgardian, even if it did look foreboding.