Author's notes:

I am incredibly busy nowadays, therefore the time I'd used for writing has been severely shortened. Both Prophecies and Whims of Ice are not going on hiatus, however their updates are not likely to become regular soon.

Again, forgive me if the grammatical error count is higher than the norm – my time for proofreading has suffered as well.

mybonded, thank you for the review! Yes, I agree – deep down he did know. However based on the unguarded moments of Loki portrayed in the first movie – it is unlikely that his first intention had been to kill his brother (and the deleted pre-coronation scene in which Loki tells Thor that he loves him no matter what – only furthers that murdering Thor could not have been the initial plan). In this story the interpretation is that he was trying to test Thor (and maybe ruin his day). Some of what Thor had said was not illogical – so that is what Loki could have clung to in vain hopes that his brother was not going to let them all down.

Chapter thirty-eight

Disobedience

Appearances were misleading. The hoof-falls were near silent on the Rainbow Bridge. The sound was not drown out by the rushing winds created by the fast running of the horses, nor by the movement of the sea. The Bifrost appeared to be deceptively fragile – yet the bridge leading to the spherical observatory was not. When great impact fell onto something resilient – the sound was often as immense as the clashing of the forces, however that was not the case in this instance. The sound was devoured by the Rainbow Bridge.

Though the Dark Prince had researched this one-of-a-kind structure, both in publically accessible and less so materials, there was little of substance to be found on it. Therefore he could only theorize that the sound of impact that the Rainbow Bridge absorbed was part of its design. The energy required for it to work had to be enormous – and since no singular source of power had ever been named (as far as he knew), the energy had to be gathered from a variety of sources.

He remembered what his love had said about the Bifrost (though in truth her words were theories, just like his, and not verified facts, but her success rate of being right on instinct alone was high enough to make her theories quite reliable and trustworthy). She'd said that the crystalline bridge was more powerful than known by the knowledgeable minds, therefore the energy used to make it function was highly volatile. Such a concept was quite obvious (that great power was unpredictable), although with how she'd stressed that fact of the Rainbow Bridge's power could have meant that its dangerousness was on a whole different level than was considered. However that was not the most peculiar part of that past conversation.

The half-blood Princess had also noted that it was unnatural, which, again, appeared to be an obvious thing. A structure that was not created by nature but built by creatures – could not be considered natural (especially one that denied distances and time required to cross them – warping these factors so much that it was truly unbelievable). He had then compared the Bifrost with portals built between worlds, but she had refuted that comparison – claiming the latter to be quite natural. Apparently the constant that those portals had been constructed successfully relied on locations where the fabric of reality was thinner or torn – was only partially correct. According to the Lady, the ancient pathways, which had not been created by mortal or immortal hand, were branches of the World Tree, which connected the Nine in more places than the Master of Magic was aware. The portals however were to be found where reality was thin, however they were natural because they were either built on smaller and less sturdy branches and/or the magic used to build them had attracted the vines to slightly bend out of their original path of growth.

The Boundary Denying Goddess had even theorized that her power over boundaries was not very unnatural as well. She had explained it by comparing herself to a bird, one that cannot fly but can glide above a branch and safely land on it – though she has some power on where she lands, the path the branch she has glided along takes determines her final destination.

The Rainbow Bridge was unnatural, as she'd told him, because it did not follow nor even temporarily bended a branch of Yggdrasill. Instead it ripped reality, whether the fabric of it was thick or thin – whichever was irrelevant to it. The Universe healed itself, though his lover had not told him her opinion on how long it took for the damage of these travels to be corrected or if there were any consequences – she'd said about the aforementioned that she thought that it varied, as for the latter – she simply did not know.

And in a true Vanir fashion, Sigyn did not put too much trust in anything she considered highly unnatural. Therefore she was moderately suspicious of the Bifrost. He himself however had chosen not to bother with such unnecessary paranoia, though the information she'd shared (which was probably true anyway) was not unappreciated.

He shook himself from his (successfully distractive) thoughts about the bridge and musings on how strong (destructive) an impact should be that the impressive construction would not be able to absorb it. The present moment called to his attention, alas his mind was more interested in studying the events of today and trying to find the point where everything had gone so terribly wrong (though he already knew when that was).

The God of Mischief had half-expected that this madness would be stopped before they would get this far. It was not an entirely impossible thing to wish for, considering Thor's bull-charge to the stables. Alas, when detection was certain, the moment when a different approach counted – the Golden Prince had changed tactics and their party had remained unseen. However the God of Deceit refused to rely on chance. Despite the fact that many a thing had been orchestrated by him – Thor had held the reigns over how today was going to end, but Loki was not going to let his brother's choices have deadly consequences.

After the group dismounted he insisted upon getting the pass from the Guardian of the Rainbow Bridge, who calmly stood before the observatory with his hands dutifully resting on the sword-key. Having met no opposition he approached Heimdall with a deceptively light step. The burning gaze of the Aesir God turned to him – at the same time looking at him and through him, seemingly observing him and yet everything but him. The man's all-seeing eyes were unnerving, however knowing that his deceit had shrouded those eyes not once – he was able to meet them without hesitance.

His seemingly confident and unburdened words belied his conflicted mind (but was he not the God of Lies? It was no surprise that he could turn everything into pure deception). He did not need to search for what to say, warping truth was an instinctual reaction of his (oftentimes easier than telling the outright truth). However he was not even allowed to finish the sentence. His words were met with an instant rebuke that was disguised as an observation or a hazy advice (though what the Guardsman said was true – but heavy furs worn by everyone would have definitely given their objective away) and a question. It was truly a rare occurrence, very few creatures could ever tell the very first instant that he was lying, and such a thing was beyond vexing. But his lies could not be thwarted so easily and he did not need to pause, not even for a fraction of a second, to continue pouring his silver-lined words.

He was interrupted a second time, however it was not Heimdall who did it and it was an entirely different interruption. The word said to force his speech into vanishing left the taste of electricity on his tongue.

"Enough!" the Storm God bade in tempered volume, but he heard it loud like a thunder-roar.

The clever words died in the Lie God's throat, so quickly and definitely as though fettered with magic. His green orbs were paralyzed and unseeing, cast away somewhere downwards as he tried to remain unfeeling. It was not the first time that his sibling had stressed his authority and though it wasn't always that the younger accepted and abided by it – he did concede not seldom. The emotions created by this were aplenty, something that could have been anger at the unfair distribution of power between the brothers may have also been present. But all of those emotional responses to the unconscious provocation were bottled up and shoved away somewhere deep into his subconscious, stoppered firmly with a sturdy cork. He did not allow himself to inspect the contents, being aware that any tampering with the container could have unpredictable consequences.

He had long since learned that he had to concede if he wanted to keep the status quo of his existence in Asgard. Always expressing his thoughts and reactions would doubtlessly shatter his precariously hanging position in Realm Eternal's inner systematics. He knew when he had to keep quiet (alas he did not always act according to that awareness). The Master Sorcerer had always been different and frequently fell behind there where he was supposed to excel. He had to be inconspicuous; the less noticeable he would be – the less questioned and punished (not rarely for 'crimes' he did not even commit) he'd be. However he could not be so inconspicuous, so ordinary and gray like the majority's reflection, for that would make him conspicuous – he knew that. There was no true balance to be found, even if there was – well, whether he would try to blend in or not – he would be held as 'strange' either way. But things were not bound to eternally stay the same and the God of spell-craft knew that they could always turn for the worse. That was the very reason why no one in Asgard was truly aware how far his 'strangeness' (power) went.

His eyes jumped back to watch the God of Thunder. He was not even trying to convince the Guardian to let them pass, it was apparently a given if Thor was the one asking. This should have rightfully angered the most convincing man of all, but it didn't because cold, hard logic was there to douse the flames of anger. It should not have been a shock to find that Heimdall was willing to allow the Golden Throne Heir free reign, after all it was the firstborn who had almost become King and not the second-born (it was a breach of the Bifrost Guardsman's oath, but it could have been a pretty loophole as well – that depended on interpretation).

With the permission to enter received, the group proceeded to the heart of the Rainbow Bridge. Only the envy-green God had remained standing for a mere moment more. Volstagg's 'well-meaning jest' (mockery) fell on unresponsive ears. He was too used to taunts to react to them violently (internally as well), he had more pressing matters on his mind anyway.

The burning-eyed God's warning echoed in the Trickster's head. So, the bridge would remain closed should its opening threaten Asgard – that was more than an alarming thing to know (even though there were other ways out).

The words Heimdall said were revealing secrets unwritten. The Bifrost itself was a weapon capable of causing destruction of a magnitude difficult to imagine (whether he should be glad for that or concerned for the safety of the other realms – he was not certain). And suddenly Sigyn's words made so much more sense.

A/N

About the Rainbow Bridge – I had done a bit of research on it, but there was little else to be found on the Bifrost aside from what can be learned from the movies. The only tidbit which I was not aware of (because it is not stated in the cinematic universe), from one of the places that describes the movie!Bifrost, was that the Rainbow Bridge is powered by Asgard – which is a sketchy and hazy explanation, so I had allowed myself to ignore the fact or put more to it. All the unknown to me information came from the myth-verse and in my scarce search I hadn't found much, and what I did was not useful to me. Therefore everything you had read in this chapter – the things that are not stated in the films – was conjured by my mind (and perhaps was also an attempt at foreshadowing).

I think that is all and if something was unclear – ask and I shall try to clarify it for you.

Hope you enjoyed and 'till next time!