Loki has invaded my mind. I cannot get him out until I write a one-shot. I don't know how well this will go, but I am going to give it my best. This story takes place during the climactic battle and part of the aftermath of Thor: Tales of Asgard. This is my take on Loki's inner thoughts and the effects of a certain sword on his mind.

Word of God confirmed that the Sword of Surtur had the ability to influence its wielder.

It apparently did a good majority of the fighting against Odin in Algrim's hands, including seeing through Odin's illusions. Thor never really had it out of its sheath for more than a few seconds, but when he did, it unleashed more destructive force than he ever intended or expected. Loki doesn't actively use the sword until moments before Thor turns it over to the Frost Giants and at the time he wasn't the most emotionally stable, thus leading me to this train of thought.

Thor and all his spin-offs belong to Marvel. I own nothing except the ability to write and the curiosity to see if I can make my readers cry. So let's go…

Word of God

The feuding pair crashed into the hall's floor in a fiery impact. Odin was trying to regain footing, only to fall on his side once more. His opponent stood over him. The sword waved carelessly to dispel debris.

"Algrim," The All-father groaned. "You will gain nothing from this."

The dark elf sneered down at his once friend. "It's enough that the war you avoided is upon you! And these walls, which you protected at the cost of my people…" He brought the burning metal aloft. "Will crumble!" Elder Stahl came down and Odin's eye slipped closed, but the blow never made contact. His first born held Gungnir sideways, catching the strike with flying sparks and then heaving his father's attacker back.

Algrim slid in between spaces of flame, and Thor turned his father's weapon to face him. The spear point sung with electrical power and cast a blue light on his adolescent features. "That sword has taken its last life, Algrim!"

An insane fire reflected in his mentor's gaze. "Not as long as the house of Odin still stands!" A blast of heat surged from the blade and Gungnir's electric field generated to protect the Golden Prince again.

From aside the battle, the second born Prince ran to Odin's unknowing form. "Father, please…" Loki tugged him up as best he could, hoping that they'd made it and the King was still breathing. The trickster could feel his eyes grow wet. "Please hold on."

A jolt of lightning sent Algrim spiraling into the stone wall, a series of cracks fanned behind him. When he dropped to the floor, the dark elf stood again from his kneeling position. He stared balefully at Thor, black orbs holding more hatred than he'd ever felt before. He turned the sword away to the right and held its sheath parallel to it on the left.

Thor gasped at the sound of flames hissing as they dissipated, vanishing from the torches and craters around him, until all that remained was the hard glare of Surtur's sword. Algrim kept their stares locked and then sheathed the blade. The hall went dark.

Gungnir glowed. The spear left only the immediate area about Thor viewable. The Prince breathed loudly, his pupils dilating to make up for the encompassing cover. Then came the flash of searing red.

Everything was black, but for charges of blue and red light, momentarily curing my uncertainty of the battle. Thor wasn't faring well. Each time he struck, the traitor had already fled from one location to another, and father was near death if not dead already.

'How could I have let this happen? Had I not given into Thor's fanciful ideas of adventure and sought to give him aid, the sword would still be in Jotunheim! It could have stayed forever lost to us and anyone fool enough to look for it!' My vision swam with tears. 'Useless.' I scolded myself. 'I can't help fight, I can't heal father, I'm so-'

'Weak.'

'What?' That was not my own thought. It would have been, but I never finished it.

"Agh!" A pained scream resounded in the void and drew back my attention.

Scrubbing away the tears on my face I saw that Thor had thrown Gungnir. The blue light cut through the dark and impaled Algrim through the shoulder as he tried to sprint around my brother. He'd been secured to the wall like a trophy, Surtur's sword spun away on the floor and burning while only half out of the sheath.

My brother pulled out father's spear and let the elf crumple to the ground. "I cannot forgive this betrayal, Algrim!" Gungnir's point leveled out with Algrim's eyes.

A cruel part of my mind goaded him on. 'End him, Thor! Make him suffer for hurting us all!'

But he didn't. "But I cannot forget the many years you were my friend,"

'Friend?' I almost could not register his words. 'Fool! He is a traitor! He would kill you if he was given your advantage!' There was a hiss in my head.

'He deserves death.'

'I could do it. If I had to I would see it done.' I numbly felt myself stand and step over father. I moved towards them silently.

Thor continued. "And my family."

Everything was hazy, my brother's voice, my hearing, my sight. 'Family?'

My hand gripped of its own accord, white knuckled around the hilt of Surtur's sword. The heat grew worse as it was taken from the sheath. Something was whispering to me again.

'He is no better than the Frost Giants. He is a creature unworthy of mercy. A beast, a killer, a-'

'Monster.' My own mind finished with a newly unbridled rage. The blade was held out in front of me.

'Kill him.'

"Monster!" An inferno broke free of the sword, barely avoiding Thor and incinerating Algrim down to his bones, then further reducing the bones to dust.

My anger faded. I was crying.

I blinked dazedly. My brother was staring at me. His blue eyes were wide with shock. 'Why? Why does he look at me that way?' It was hard to think, like I was coming out of a fog. 'Was it because I yelled? Yes. It must be that because, what else had I- ?' My hands felt hot.

I lowered my gaze from where Algrim had stood, to my fingers. Surtur's sword was in my grasp. When had I taken it? My arms shook from the weight of the blade and my own chaotic thoughts. More tears fell.

Thor grabbed my hands and slowly pried the sword away. It was a struggle just to take a breath. All I could make out was fire. Thor spoke softer than I'd ever heard him speak. "Brother, it's alright." I could finally meet his eyes. Questioning green on reassuring blue. "It's alright." He repeated.

My brother touched my shoulder. I tried to pull myself together, but only fell forward, sobbing. Thor hugged me with one arm and I clung to him like when we were children. I'd been afraid then. Now I was confused and terrified.

Thor ordered me to tend to father, while he settled things with the Frost Giants. Then I was alone in the dark.

It was over. Father was resting in his chambers and we had no doubt he was healing well. I never saw what Thor did that convinced King Thyrm to end our war, but I had other things to think on.

After the fight, I was uncomfortable being around the masses. So I sought to practice alone in the tower Amoura had been training me in. That water magic she so praised me for barely attempting, completely mastered over the course of our quest.

But I couldn't find it in myself to be pleased. I wordlessly motioned over the basin in front of me and a stream of the water rose up in the form of a cobra. It seemed to leer at me in challenge. I met its stare blankly, and then it struck. This time it was no trouble to stop it mid bite, with no more than a gesture.

Then I sighed purposefully. A chill of cold air washed past and the serpent froze.

"Loki." I looked at the door. It appeared my brother had come to pull me from my concentration. The snake collapsed into ice fractals at my feet. He walked in. "You've been hiding in this temple long enough."

"I'm not hiding." He really shouldn't make assumptions like that. "I like it here." The cold shards hyper melted into steam with a wave of my hand.

Thor leveled me with an expression of sympathy. 'I wish you wouldn't, brother. I don't deserve it.'

"I know you lament your actions, but you did what you thought was right to save us."

'You're wrong.'

"No, I sought vengeance." My eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. 'I was acting on a dark impulse I never imagined having. And the worst part is, having that power over his life… it felt good.'

"Thor, I am convinced that in Algrim's place, I would have acted no differently."

My brother wouldn't hear it. "Who of us knows what we're capable of when family is threatened?"

I couldn't meet his gaze.

He turned back to the door. "Hopefully we'll never again be faced with such choices."

'At least that we can agree on.'

Thor started down the steps. "I'm going to see father. Will you join me?"

My answer was stilted. "I will." His footsteps receded as I continued. "Later."

You all had fun reading? I hope so.

I just have a few more things to make clear. No, I don't believe the sword had full control of Loki. I do believe that it influenced and enhanced some of his darker aspects. It gave him the push to act on his thoughts, but numbed him to it enough that he wouldn't stop himself. After he calmed down, he reflected on what happened. Elder Stahl made him more aware of those impulses; nothing will come of them just yet, but in the future…

Please Review and tell me what you think.

RR7