Chapter 36 –

"She may not have given the slightest pause to you being over two hours late to a celebration that we planned months ago but if your mother finds you starting a bonfire on her elaborately decorated and painstakingly prepared banquet table I guarantee you it won't be pretty," Odin remarked as he stood next to the young prince. Loki's dark emerald eyes remained focused on the final embers dying off as the last of the paper melted into cinders.

"My apologies, father, on both counts," the young god imparted sincerely as he turned his gaze towards the All-Father. There was the slightest smile along his father's lips and a compassionate look held in his light blue eye.

"What bothers you so, my son?" Odin entreated thoughtfully. "You are even more withdrawn than usual this evening. Is there anything that I can do?"

"It's… it's nothing," the young prince lied. What he wouldn't give to feel the way he had just barely two days ago. Things were so simple for him then before Lorelei and her sister got their hands on his head and did their strange tricks on his heart. It was a horrible feeling to yearn so for someone that you could never have. He had to find some way to free himself from whatever enchantment they put upon him. This heartache that he was experiencing it wasn't real and once he found a way to break the spell it would be over. Yet, knowing that did nothing to sooth the depression that filled him at the thought of never seeing that woman again. There was a part of him that didn't want to believe LoreLei's claims. He wanted the fantasy. He wanted that red-headed beauty to be real. He reached into the pouch along his belt and brought out the blue gem. He twirled it between his fingers for a brief moment before he offered it to his father. "I promised Thor I would give this to you. It was given to me by LoreLei and I went to Nidavellir to find out what it does. It's definitely not something that I need. It is the reason we were late this evening, Father. It was my fault, as always." Odin took the sparkling gem and surveyed it slowly before bringing his gaze back to his youngest son.

"I shall see that it is placed in the vault. There is a story that goes with this I'm sure," the All-father teased before his voice took on a more serious tone. "But what I really want to know is what has caused the light in your eyes to dim so. I don't know what that piece of paper was but I saw your face as you watched it burn. You looked like a man in mourning."

"I discovered something that I really, really wanted and I don't think I can ever have it," Loki divulged in hushed tones.

"From the cradle I've never known you for one to give up easily when you wanted something," the All-Father professed as he rested his hand tenderly along his son's shoulder. "I've never known you to give up at all. It's an attribute of yours that I very much admire. Don't lose that trait when you need it the most, my son. Who is she?"

"What?" Loki gaped. Was he really that transparent? Had the god of mischief truly fallen so low that he was that easy to read?

"The woman who has stolen your heart what is her name?" Odin asked again. But the young god couldn't answer. He couldn't possibly disclose to the King of the nine realms what a complete fool had been made out of him. He didn't want to admit that he didn't even know the woman's name and that she was, in fact, just a by-product of some nasty spell to make him suffer for his philandering ways. That for the first time in his life he actually had sentimentalities stirring inside of his heart for another person and she was no more than a figment of his imagination. That even knowing that he longed to close his eyes and relive the delusion rather than go back to the way he was before she popped into his head. No, no, it was much better that he didn't speak. "It's alright, Loki. I will not press you. Follow your instincts and trust your heart, my son. I must return to our guests but if you change your mind and you wish to talk I am here for you, my boy."

"Father, there is something else that I need to tell you," Loki exhaled slowly. He had been debating all evening with himself whether he should divulge the information or not. He had toyed with the idea of using his knowledge of the stone as leverage for getting Amora to release him from his torment. He imagined the very last thing that she wanted was for Odin to know what she had. He couldn't fathom why she would have gotten mixed up with such a strange and dark artifact in the first place. Whatever she intended to do with it, one could be certain it had something to do with her obsession for Thor. That alone was a reason to ensure that the All-Father seized it from the sorceress. Loki had even dabbled in the notion of stealing it from her for himself and seeing if he couldn't find a use for it. But deep down he knew that his brother was right. Although he hated it when the thunder god knew best, it was too dangerous to not have it under lock and key. "There is more than just that blue gem. Lorelei and Amora they have acquired this…"

"The Moebius stone," Odin interrupted. "Yes, Lorelei brought it to my attention last night. It seems they stumbled upon it in their travels a few weeks ago and didn't realize what it was. It is safely in the vault now as it should be. You needn't concern yourself with it, my son." Loki couldn't believe his ears as he watched his father walk toward a small group of noblemen a few feet from him. She gave it to the All-Father. She must have given it to him after he had left her that evening. She handed it over long before he even hinted that he was going to give him the Titanium gem. What was the point of them acquiring either of these magical pieces if they were going to so freely bequeath away both. He brushed his hand through his hair in frustration; nothing made sense to him anymore. He caught sight of Thor in the opposite corner surrounded by the Warrior's Three as they made yet another toast in honor of the thunder god. He dashed toward the exit. He couldn't stand another moment suffocating inside of this banquet hall. He needed fresh air and a clear head.

As usual, he found himself sitting on the rocks at the edge of the water, skipping stones into the dark blue sea. He needed to locate Amora. It was the fastest way to free him of this torment, if this was her doing than she would have to be able to undo it. He could search the royal libraries to see if he could uncover any hint of how to perform an enchantment of this kind but he wouldn't have a clue of where to begin. This had to be some kind of dark magic. It wasn't just going to be sitting in a book on the shelves marked how to torture your enemies. He tossed another rock across the waters as he watched it bounce along the surface. The image of the flame haired beauty continued to tumble through his mind no matter how hard he tried to push it away. She was relentless in her pursuit of him it seemed. He could see her sweet blue eyes and the smile that melted his heart with every breath he took. She was driving him insane. The sound of his own voice began to echo from somewhere deep within him.

"You are my greatest treasure. I want so much to be a good husband to you and a good father to our baby."

Loki shook his head at the words that bore into his mind. He placed his hands over his ears and pressed them tightly against his skull. This was beyond cruel and he couldn't take much more. The soft sounds of her voice fluttered through him.

"You are."

"What kind of sick joke is this?" he gaped. He stood from the boulders, his chest heaving and his eyes beginning to glaze with tears as he tried to calm himself. He felt as if he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. What had they done to him? His own voice filled his ears once more.

"No, I'm not but I'm trying."

"Enough, Enough!" He shouted at the empty air. "By the nines, why would anyone ever make me think such a thing?" But the old voices only came again. His was first.

"I swear that as long as there is breath left in my body I will never let anyone or anything keep me away from you."

And then the sweet melody of hers followed.

"You would never let anyone or anything keep you away from me. Isn't that what you always tell me?"

"It's not possible," he murmured to himself. "It isn't." He had no children. He wiped the tears away from his cheeks as he remembered what Eitri had told him about the stone.

"Tis be very powerful. Twas' made to alter time. A bad thing. Supposed to be buried someplace deep."

"Why would she hand it over to the All-Father?" Loki rasped to himself. "She told me it was Amora's and then only a few hours later at most she is donating it to Odin's precious vault of old dusty relics. Why? That stone was so powerful and yet I didn't feel it at first? The whole time I was in her bed I felt nothing not until she brought me back toward the dresser. How can that be unless it hadn't been there earlier? Is that the spell she cast on me? No, No, that's crazy." The young prince leaped from the boulder in his mad dash toward the boardwalk. He needed to see this Moebius stone again. He couldn't shake the feeling that she had given it to Odin to keep it locked away from him.

The mischievous prince nodded to the guards as they let him pass inside the large chamber. There were so many treasures lining the walls. He remembered when his father use to bring him and Thor here as children and tell them stories about each one. How he had acquired it and what it meant to the safety of the nine realms that it was housed here and safely guarded. At the far end on top of a pedestal was the Casket of Winters, a large blue rock of mystical potency that had once belonged to the Jotunn. How the stories of those beasts had terrified him as a small child. He remembered Thor boasting how he would one day kill them all. His dark emerald eyes continued to survey his surroundings until finally he came upon the newest artifact, the Moebius stone. He took a tentative step towards it.

"Pardon me, Your Royal Highness," the guard said as he opened the outer room door. "LoreLei is requesting entrance. She knew you were here and asked to be allowed in to speak with you."

"Eh heh heh heh," Loki chuckled as he let his hand hover along the marbled stone before reaching down and picking it up. "Let the wench in." he smirked. He could feel the power of the orb radiating all around him as he held it gently in his palm. LoreLei sauntered through the doorway with a confident gate as she stared back at him regally. "What are you following me, LoreLei, like the little bug you are?"

"I've come to put you out of your misery," the goddess replied sweetly. "The spell that Amora cast on you is much harsher than I intended. I only wanted to give you a little taste of what it has been like for me over the years to feel the way I do about you and for you always to be so distant from me. No matter how hard I try to please you. But I can't stand to see you in so much pain. I love you too much."

"Really?" the young god sneered. "And what do you intend to do about it?"

"I know the incantation to stop it," Lorelei revealed as she moved closer. "I can tell you it and then you can free yourself and we can start over."

"How convenient of you to come to me now with that little bit of information," the trickster grinned wickedly as he raised the sphere in his hand so that it was level with his eyes. "Now that I'm here and holding this."

"What good is that to you?" the goddess objected. "It's a horribly dark conduit that's why I gave it to your father. Nothing good can come from the power held inside that globe. It's best that it stays hidden here."

"I've taught you well, haven't I? So very persuasive in speech you are, my dear," Loki seethed as he stalked forward, his dark green eyes filled with ire. "Tell me, my pet, how many more years of lessons did I gift you with before you did this to me?"

"What in the world do you mean?" Lorelei gaped but he could see the slight nervousness that passed through her eyes at his words.

"You had me for a moment… had me doubting my instincts and believing your logical explanations, always so reasonable and convincing just as I would be in your place. You rarely miss a beat. You are quite the star pupil," Loki continued forcefully. "But not after tonight. It's not just her you took me from is it? Tell me do I have a son or a daughter?" Her dark green eyes widened in disbelief and her lips parted as she stared in stunned silence before she regained her composure.

"I'm so sorry, Loki," the goddess sympathized. "Amora went way too far to put something like that in your mind."

"I wasn't supposed to remember anything was I?" the young god needled. "The look on your face when you saw those portraits. What a snag in all your hard work wasn't it? Give it up, LoreLei. There is no way that you will ever convince me that she isn't real. She is my wife, isn't she? My future wife? I haven't met her yet but she's mine. I know it… I felt it... I love her and I swore to her that I would never let anyone keep me away from her."

"You really have lost your mind," the goddess insisted. "Are you listening to yourself, Loki?"

"A boy or a girl? Tell me!" he bellowed.

"There is no child," Lorelei stated calmly. "And you've never been married. Really, Loki, can you actually imagine yourself committing your life to one woman. Amora took this all too far and I'm sorry. As angry as I was with you I never wished for you to endure this kind of agony."

"The only spell Amora cast is with this abomination between my fingers and I'm going to put things back the way they are supposed to be," Loki vowed.

"And exactly how do you intend to manage that," the sorceress slithered eerily.

"I'm going to tell the All-Father," the mischievous prince pronounced confidently. "He will know what to do. He is more powerful than me and Amora combined. He can fix it."

"Oh my, I almost forgot how childish you could be in your younger years," Lorelei cackled, brushing her long strawberry blonde hair back along her shoulder as she began to circle the room slowly. "Are you really going to go running to your Father with your crazy stories? You will be a laughing stock."

"I won't let you keep her from me," Loki promised.

"I had hoped it wouldn't come to this but I see its time you knew the truth," She stated coldly. "What I did was for you. You are right a spell was cast with that stone. It was enacted by you when you were near death. You wanted me to stop you from bringing the Jotunn into Asgard. You can't imagine the horrible things that would have happened to you if you had gone through with that prank before Thor's inauguration. It would set off a series of events that would lead to your destruction, Loki. I only tried to spare you."

"Eh heh heh heh," Loki mused with a shake of his head. "You never stop."

"Use your head, Loki. Who else could have cast it? Me? I haven't the talent. You've said so yourself," Lorelei insisted. "And if Amora had created anything then Thor would be fawning at her feet. What could she possibly win by bringing you back here?"

"I'm not falling for any more of your tricks," Loki swore.

"You want to undo this spell? You will be all alone and broken and mere minutes from death when you awaken. No family, no friends, nothing at all until you finally meet your sad and lonely end." Lorelei revealed solemnly.

"Yes, I'm sure. That is why this woman is filling my heart near to bursting with happiness," the young god retorted. "Because of all the horrors that await me in our future."

"You may have found happiness for a little while but it didn't last, how could it with what you are? She left you. You couldn't keep the truth hidden from her forever. It broke your heart but you moved on," Lorelei stated forebodingly. "You want proof that I'm telling the truth? Put your hand on that casket, Loki. Go ahead. I dare you to touch it and see the truth for yourself."

"I'm not playing your pathetic little games," Loki insisted as he began to walk toward the exit. "I'm getting my life back."

"What's the matter, Loki, too afraid to face the real you?" Lorelei taunted. "I bet Thor wouldn't hesitate to test his mettle." He froze at her words, turning back to face her angrily. She walked toward the casket of winters and grazed her finger along its edge. "Is this the mystical piece that frightens you so that you can't even do this?" She let her palm linger along the top before removing it slowly. "Tell me, Loki, do you still have nightmares of Frost Giants coming after you the way you did when you were a little boy? Running to your big brother to save you?" Loki stalked forward.

"You don't scare me and neither does this stupid rock," he bit off angrily as he slammed his free hand on top of the large blue cube. His eyebrows knit together in shock as he noticed the strange blue tint that began to spread along his fingers until it covered the back of his hand and began to trail up his wrist. He pulled his hand away abruptly as if it burned although it hadn't hurt in the slightest. Loki stared at his fingers watching the pale flesh return slowly as he maneuvered his hand back and forth in front of him. "What sorcery is this?"

"It's what you are Loki," Lorelei smirked. "Go ask your supposed father to fill you in on the details of your true parentage, Laufeyson. How he found you abandoned in the Jotunn temple after battle, cast off and forgotten so he took you to Asgard."

"Just more lies… you... you are filled to the brim with lies and manipulations," he gaped, his dark green eyes still boring into his hand. He reached out slowly, hesitantly and placed it on again as he watched the color spread once more until he was completely in his Jotunn form.

"You have a second chance, Loki, take it," Lorelei tempted at his side. "Odin never loved you. You are just a pawn to him. Deep down haven't you always known that? Thor has always been the golden boy, the favored son because you were nothing more than a power play. A little souvenir that he took from Jotunnheim in the hopes of making some sort of peace between the two realms when the opportunity arose to use you. You should have seen how Thor turned on you when he discovered what you were. He could never see beyond the true color of your skin. You know how he despises the Jotunn race. The childhood you shared, the battles you fought together, it was all forgotten once he saw what you were. You were tossed out, betrayed, treated like refuse in a land that once named you their prince. Is that what you want to go back to?" Loki felt his heart breaking as his bright crimson eyes bore down into the blue skin adorning his hands. How could he deny what was right in front of him? Laufey's son? It all made sense. Why he always felt so different, so out of place. What would Thor think if he saw him now? There was no love lost between him and that race. That race, his race. He wasn't an Aesir. The image of them as young boys quickly flashed through his mind and the sound of Thor's words pounded through his head.

"When I'm king, I'll hunt the monsters down and slay them all!"

He was that monster. By the nines, he was the very thing he feared most as a child. Why did they lie to him? His mind was on overload, his chest ached and his head throbbed. He felt like he was going to be sick. His mother? His mother must have known. His entire life was a lie.

"Use this chance to change things, Loki," Lorelei continued to whisper at his side. "You have the advantage this time. You can come after Odin without him ever suspecting a thing. And why not? After all the lies he's told you, the way he used you for his own ends. He has no idea you know. He still thinks you are his little puppet but you can show him that he is the real fool. You would make a much better king than he or Thor could ever be. You can rule this world. Make them regret every lie, every second that you felt like you weren't good enough when you are so far above them. You can get revenge on every single one of them."

"I can't deny the truth in your words," he breathed dejectedly as a single tear trailed down the side of his face. "Why shouldn't I get everything I want?" Loki tightened his hold on the Moebius stone as he lifted it in front of him, gazing at it intently. "And what I want is her and I… I think I know how to get to her." He could feel the cold temperature in his limbs increase as he concentrated harder and harder, thinking of the cold and the ice and the frost of Jotunnheim. He could see the condensation begin to form along his hands. The hand touching the casket and the one holding the sphere. The covering of water started to harden and turn to ice, jetting out from the tips of his fingers and surrounding the mystical stone until it was slowly becoming encased in frost. A bridge of ice began to fan out connecting the orb and the casket. "I'm going to destroy this stone."

"Don't do it, Loki, you won't like what you find in the future," Lorelei warned crossly. Her face pinched in a determined scowl. "You'll have nothing. Do you hear me? She's already gone. She and your son are dead. You don't want to go back. There is nothing but pain there for you."

"You're just trying to mess with my head," Loki grated trying to hold back the tears that were rapidly filling up his eyes at the idea that his wife and child might be gone. "It doesn't matter. Even if it's true, it doesn't matter. I don't care if they're gone because once I destroy this thing of yours then I'll remember them all on my own. Even if they are dead like you say and all my enemies have crushed me to bits. Even if the world is as dreary as you claim it to be. I'll have my memories of them and I don't care how few they are or how short our time was together as long as I have them in my heart. That's all I want." The sheets of ice grew harder and more potent as he began to pull from his magic sending as much energy as he could inside the orb, raking the caskets power through his icy link to help him in his work. He was determined to explode it into smithereens. "I don't care if I'm seconds from dying, just to know them again for those final moments. That would be enough." A crackling sound like thunder filled his ears and a blinding flash came from the center point of the sphere as it imploded under the pressure of the ice and the magical force that he had been imposing from the inside pushing out. A million shards of stone and glass shattered towards him with a rush of wind that propelled him across the room. A white cloud rose in the air. His body felt weightless and the world around him seemed to fall away into a swirl of smoke and dust. He felt his head smash against a jagged hard surface and then he lost consciousness as the darkness overtook him once more.