Hey, hey! A big thanks to all of you who decided this story was worth a click and read. I'm gonna be honest with you, I have no idea where I want to go with this. It isn't the first time I've placed a story on the net, but it is the first time I've done so under this pen name. Like most of you, I've been on for years, but after the first few fumbling/misguided tries at a story, I kinda grew a bit fearful of posting anything (nobody flamed me, thank god, I was simply psyching myself out -.-). I'm not confidant about my writing at all, but you know, Norsekink has SUCH a way of eating your brain and now Loki wont leave me alone and I HAD to put this up!

This is only a little of what I had going on in my head. I'll leave it up to you guys to tell me whether I should continue to go with the flow or not.

Hope you enjoy!

Prologue

Loki had never meant for Thor to be banished. Punished, certainly (hopefully), for he knew once his brother learned of frost giants entering Asgard ― much less the realm's supposedly impregnable Weapons Vault ― he would take foolish action. Foolish enough for their father to finally realise that crowning Thor as he was ― a self-centred, swollen-headed, warmongering dimwit of a man child ― would undoubtedly result in the ignorant would-be-king declaring all-out war against five of the Nine Realms by week's end. Odin could not have that, would not have that, and Loki had heavily depended on that fact when he'd goaded his brother into defying the one rule their father would be hard-pressed to forgive him breaking ― son or no.

But banishment? Thor? Thor banished? Thor, the god of thunder, wielder of the mighty hammer Mjölnir, celebrated warrior and embodiment of all things magnificent and golden and grand and ― banished? Even the thought itself was utterly unthinkable. For why would the Allfather ever exile his most treasured son, his indisputable heir, for opposing one measly little law no matter how it would infuriate the King? Thor had broken many, many laws before, more than seemed written even, and always had his punishments been mild, which ― before Thor's Odin-imposed exile ― had been a source of viciously envious feelings on Loki's part. His brother had been justly punished for once, and again it was not in the way Loki would have liked.

It was not as if Loki didn't want to rationalise with their father. There were frightfully few, if none, who could claim to be wiser than Odin Allfather; the age-old Asgardian was certainly not beyond reasoning. But as Loki watched two of the realm's most powerful figureheads bellowed at each other as they had never before, spewing hurtful words they would sorely wish they hadn't spoken later on, hackles raised and eyes flaming, he balked at the thought of attempting to get a word in edgewise.

"You are a vain! Greedy! Cruel boy!"

"And you are an old man and a fool!"

For a split second, Loki's heart stopped.

Oh by the Nine Realms…

Loki had borne witness to many ― too many ― of the quarrels between his brother and father, and while those arguments were often fierce, never, not once, had Thor insulted or even disrespected their father when addressing him. Surely his foiled coronation ceremony hadn't damaged that accursed pride of his enough to loosen his tongue so? Or perhaps it had addled his brain, however little there was of it?

The fury in Odin's eye was unlike any Loki had ever seen. It was terrifying enough to force the trickster to retreat a step, and it made him wonder how Thor could stand fast in the face of it. A few moments of silence passed and the anger faded slowly, reluctantly. The Allfather seemed to deflate as he cast his gaze to the floor.

"Yes," he spoke softly, "I was a fool… to think you were ready…"

Alarmed, Loki hurriedly stepped forward, "Father-"

"NAY!"

If the renewed anger in Odin's eye had not been enough warning to silence Loki, the harsh, booming exclamation that followed surely was. Loki carefully swallowed the lump of fear lodged in his throat. Apparently the Allfather's temper had not entirely diminished.

"Thor… Odinson… You have betrayed the express command of your King. Through arrogance and stupidity, you have opened these peaceful realms and innocent lives to the horror and desolation of war!" The Bifröst whirred into motion and Loki's heart froze in his chest.

By the Norns, no! No no no! Not Thor! It wasn't supposed to be Thor!

"You are unworthy of these realms! You are unworthy of your title! You are UNWORTHY ― of the loved ones you have betrayed." For an instant, those words struck Loki as well. After all, had he not plotted and made happen the events that led to this very moment? Had he not, for all intents and purposes ― or in the eyes of the Asgardians whenever they would find out ― betrayed him first?

No, he had not. Loki had an excellent memory, and even if Thor did not remember any longer (or made light of it as the rest of them did), Loki would never forget exactly how his brother had betrayed him, how horribly he'd failed at being a proper sibling.

"I now take from you your power in the name of my father and his father before!" But this was not right. This would completely shatter his plans ― plans he took the better part of a year to prepare. He could do nothing but watch as the Allfather stripped Thor of everything the warrior had ever cherished in life, and unknowingly took from Loki his only chance at escaping a life the young sorcerer had long since deemed not worth the effort it took to live.

"I, Odin Allfather, CAST YOU OUT!"

With a beam of raw energy from his own beloved hammer, Thor was blasted into the whirling funnel of the Bifröst to where he might make something of himself once more. Loki was beyond depressed, and in his troubled state, turned his gaze away from it all.

Thor would return, of that he was certain, but when? A week from now? A month from now? A year from now? A hundred years from now? Loki nearly retched at the thought.

Another hundred years in Asgard; he would rather gouge his own eyes out.

With Gungnir.

To be continued!