"Loki," Thor whispered from his doorway. Grumbling, he pulled the heavy covers over his head. And tried to ignore his older brother. He heard his door click shut and Thor's idea of light foot steps approached his bed. His brother poked at him. "Loki."

"Thor, goway."

"Nope, we're both awake and it's your birthday. That means we've got to play," his brother told him with a sage nod as Loki glared out from under the covers.

"Since it's my birthday shouldn't I get a say?" At that, Thor gave a snort.

"No, last time I let you pick we ended up in the library. The library Loki, we're in out three hundreds, we only have about four more centuries that we can use to get away with doing stupid pointless stuff, and you took us to the library."

Loki pushed himself to sitting up, looking at his brother as he mulled through the options at hand. Then a mischievous grin spread across his face as the perfect idea occurred to him. The wonderful blend of magic fun and fighting that they could both enjoy.

"Do you trust me?" he asked, prompting a suspicious look from his brother.

"Not when you say that I don't."

"Oh come on, it'll be fun."

"I definitely don't when you say that." Then his brothers suspicion turned into a wide grin. "Though I've never known you to be wrong about it."

"Meet me in the great hall and make sure you're dressed for cold." At that, Thor caught on, his eyes lighting up in glee and understanding as he dashed from the room. Loki threw his clothes on quickly, now fully awake at the prospect of fun and mischief. He didn't follow his own advise, at least not strictly. The cold had never really bothered him anyway.

Soon enough he was in the great hall, having managed to get there without being spotted by even a stray servant and hoping that Thor had managed the same.

For once Thor didn't get caught by anyone one that could or would stop him. Which was even more of a surprise because he was bouncing on the balls of his feet with unbridled glee. Loki had barely been training in magic for three decades and even he could practically feel the energy rolling off of him.

"Is this something that requires me to stay quite?" Thor asked unprompted. Good, he had learned from the last time then. Loki shook his head.

"No, this is really simple magic. Well, it is for me." And with that, he started calling on his magic. Pulling the cold from his very veins as he performed the motions of the spell. Sparkling white drifted from his fingers as their tips turned blue like they always did when he brought ice forth. Thor's grin practically split his face in two and he was actually jumping rather than bouncing as the sparks worked into a blizzard at his fingers. Then with a spin and a flick, he threw it out to blanket the room. On the tables, on the benches and on the floor, perfect pristine snow, about four inches thick.

The blue faded from his finger tips as Thor let out a laugh. "How do you do that?" his brother asked.

"You would know if you ever attended our magic lessons," he replied with a smirk, carefully hiding one hand behind his back and calling the cold again.

"No, I mean it. Even Mistress Mana cannot do so things with ice so easily." Fiening shyness at such praise, Loki turned away from his brother, being careful to hide the snowball that was growing in his hand.

"Some people are just in tune with certain types of magic. Ice is mine." And with that he span around and threw the snow ball. It glided through the air and smashed against Thor's unsuspecting face. His big brother splutter and swiped the snow away, stunned for a moment before the grin returned.

"To battle!" he cried out, scooping up snow and darting after Loki. The trickster ran from him, leaping onto a table and conjuring another snowball even as Thor started throwing his own at him.

There was laughing and shouting as they played, the blue slowly creeping up Loki's fingers as he magicked up more snow. The pristine blanket didn't take long to become covered in their prints, from running, jumping and rolling. Perhaps their laughter was too loud. But that shouldn't have been a bad thing. His mother always said there wasn't enough laughter in Asgard's halls. Except apparently this was too much.

The doors swung open just as both he and Thor were about to throw their weapons. Thor with his arm pulled back and Loki with blue up to his knuckles and snow swirling between his hands. Their father stormed in, dressed for battle with his spear in hand and half a dozen guards at his back, and even more worrying, their mother at his side with a sword in her hand but still in her night dress.

The pair of them immediately dropped their respective snow balls, pointed at each other and in eerie synchronisation said, "it was his idea."

"Guards, leave" their father said. His voice harsh and his single eye trained on the hand that Loki was using to point at Thor. Self-consciously, he pulled the limb close to his chest, watching the blue fade away and wondering why his father had stared. He knew it wasn't normal but Mistress Mana had told him not to worry over it, just to be careful about what he touched with his blue skin. He didn't notice that the guards had left until the door shut behind their parents. He glanced to Thor in confusion, but his brother simply shrugged, as bewildered as he was by the reaction. Usually there was a stern lecture if they ever accidentally set of alarms.

"Odin-"

"No Frigga," he snapped. Loki frowned, he had never seen their father interrupt their mother before.

"Look around you my husband" she replied, gesturing to the aftermath of their snowball fight. "He needs to know. Before he hurts himself or someone else." Loki held his hands closer to his chest, not understanding what was going on. Was there something wrong with him? Thor had shuffled over to stand beside him and grasped his shoulder.

"We were just playing," he said, keeping his hold on his younger brother.

"You not in trouble my darlings," Frigga assured them, stepping to the edge of the snow. "You just, worried up for a moment."

"Tell the boy what he needs to be told," Odin said, giving Mother a peculiar look and receiving a glare in return.

"Come here Loki my son, we must speak." Thor gave his shoulder another squeeze. Despite what she had said, despite he warm smile and the hand she held out, it still felt like Loki was about to get into some serious trouble. Taking a deep breath, he strode forward to meet her only to find himself being carefully ushered out of the room by the gentle hold his mother had on his hand. The sad smile on her face making him think that he really wasn't going to like what ever she was going to tell him.