Loki couldn't believe what he was hearing. But unlike Thor, the wheels were turning at the back of his head. Nobody seemed to know just how old Odin really was, but it was well-known that he needed to enter the Odinsleep once every turn or so. It was not inconceivable that being on Midgard for so very long would strain whatever mechanism kept him hale and hearty on Asgard. That would mean, of course, that Thor was right and he was the one to blame for Odin's current state. Loki didn't know how to feel about that. Should he be feeling guilty, for inadvertently causing the death of the man he'd once thought the universe of and had learned to despise?

"Come, my sons," Odin was saying. Funny, that. He still called him son. Loki was unsure how he felt about that, as well. The room around them grew bright with a golden glow before dissolving away. The three of them were standing in front of a fountain, sitting on simple metal benches. There were no humans around. Odin probably preferred the privacy.

Thor looked around and grimaced. "Save your strength, father. There was no need for that."

"Please, Thor, I am not so weak as that," Odin chuckled, "Besides, I like this place. I often come here to feed the pigeons. I have not been able to contact my ravens," he shot a sideways glance at Loki. Loki averted his gaze. Hugin and Munnin were locked up in the First Tower, under heavy enchantments to counteract Odin's own and to prevent their escape. Loki was not concerned about what they might tell Odin, as much as what Odin might tell them. Of course, in hindsight, that had been rather redundant, what with Heimdall turning against him and all.

Odin continued, "But I have found other means to gather information. You must listen now, Thor, and even you, Loki. No more fighting. No more of this petty feud." Now that was bloody unlikely. "Asgard is in grave danger, and I'm afraid it is all my fault." Thor moved to object but Odin waved him down, "No, listen. I was a fool, to think that this day would never come. So long as I remained in Asgard, my powers were replenished by the Odinsleep, and I fooled myself into believing that it would remain that way for all eternity. But now I must pass on, and it is up to you to try and repair what I have broken."

"No, Thor, I do not speak of the disarray caused by Loki, though that will certainly need repairing," Odin pre-empted Thor, "No, I speak of a far older mistake, one for which I can blame none but myself." Odin grew even more somber than usual and asked, "Tell me, Thor, Loki, what do you know of the founding of Asgard?"

"It was your father, Bor, who united the Realms against the elves of Svartalfheim," Thor said, frowning, "And after the war, Asgard gained supremacy over all the realms."

Odin smiled and looked expectantly at Loki.

"Asgard conquered the Nine Realms," Loki began slowly, unsure where this was going, "It was Bor who started it, but Asgard gained the height of its power under your rule. You brought peace to the realms, humbling the Jotuns and the Trolls, and established the current order."

Odin shook his head slightly with an amused smile. "Oh, how I have failed you, my sons. So much I have kept from you, that there is not enough time now to explain." He closed his eyes and shuddered as if in pain. Thor exchanged a worried look with Loki.

"I shall tell you the essentials," Odin continued, "Thor, you are not my firstborn."

Loki wondered if the old fool had truly gone senile. If Thor was not the firstborn, then why did you favor his tomfoolery all these years?! He wanted to scream, but he felt that now was not the time. There may not be another time. All the same, he kept quiet.

"You have an elder sister. Her name was – is – Hela."

"She lives?" Even Thor caught this problem at its root. If this Odinsdottyr lived, then he was no longer the rightful heir to Odin. There may be a selfish side to you still, Thor.

"She does. I banished her, long ago, but she lives still, yes."

"Why?" Thor said. Loki assumed he meant why she was banished, though the real question, as far as he was concerned, was why she still lived.

"She was violent. Impulsive. Hungry for war." Like brother, like sister, then. "She tried to usurp me. I had hoped that banishment would humble her, but it only made her more dangerous. So I hid her: from my people, from my family."

"How many more of us 'secrets' do you have locked away in your closet?" the words were out before Loki could stop himself. "Is that your solution to everything? Throw away and hide anything that makes you uncomfortable?"

Thor shot him a warning glare, but Odin only smiled. "What would you have me say, Loki?" he said quietly, "That I was wrong? That I wronged her, as I wronged you? That I regret the way I raised you? I will not say those things. I am an old fool who didn't learn from his mistakes and I have many, many regrets. But you are not one of them."

"Sentiment," Loki spat venomously, "that is all you have to offer, old man. Platitudes and rhetoric. If I am not a mistake, then why did you deny me? You threw me in your dungeon and never even came to visit. You couldn't even look me in the face!"

"Then was I to condone your actions, Loki? Welcome you back with arms wide open? Would that have satisfied you? The enemy you fight is within you, Loki. I am already vanquished; you will gain nothing from me that you cannot give yourself."

Loki turned away, shaking with rage. Thor put a hand on his shoulder, but he shook him off and walked away. Odin was still speaking, but Loki drowned out his voice. He couldn't take this anymore. In death, the old man was taking away everything he represented to him. He was denying him his right. His right to make him suffer, his right to watch him eke out a debased, humiliating existence. And he had no right to take that away. Suddenly, Loki was filled with indignant fury. He wanted to break something. But nothing could be as satisfying as breaking the Allfather himself. So he turned on his heels and faced him.

"Enough of this," he declared, "I am still Allfather, and your life is not yours to forfeit. I am taking you back to Asgard, and then-"

Odin was gone, nothing more than wisps of golden light to mark his passing. Thor was on his knees, staring at the spot where he was.

"He is gone," Thor's voice was as cold as a winter storm, as deep as thunder in the mountains, "The Allfather is dead."

The world seemed to have turned grey. Loki dimly registered that Thor was probably causing thunderclouds to gather above them, but it was somehow more fitting to imagine that Odin's passing had robbed the universe of its colours, somehow. Odin who shaped Yggdrasil, who painted the rainbow bridge across canvas of the sky itself.

And there was a sharp screeching sound that came from behind. It was as if someone was running steel-tipped nails over the blackboard of the cosmos. Loki turned in time to see the dark green ripple seal itself. There was a woman standing in front of where it had opened. She had long, wild black hair and was dressed in black from neck to toe, with silver highlights.

"Finally," she had a deep, sultry voice, "I thought he'd never die."