So... Hello again... Oh, who am I kidding... I AM SO SORRY FOR MAKING YOU WAIT SOOOOOO FREAKISHLY LONG! (unless, of course, you only just started reading my fic, then you can ignore this message and just assume I'm one of those writers who promises you to upload frequently and actually does it... because I do that! Really! And I also never lie! ;P)

In fact, I thought: what better day to upload than on the 9th of febuary, on Tom Hiddleston´s birthday! So yeah, you got to thank him for this one... :-D

Anyway... I hope you don't hate me too much, because I got another chapter for you! But you already knew that since you're reading this... Aargh... Just ENJOY it :)

WARNING: There is some violence ahead...

Chapter 39

Fandral scowled while hoisting the heavy club back on his aching shoulder. Why had Sif taken the blade anyway? It was obviously way too big, not to mention, too heavy for her, yet the female had insisted in claiming the weapon and for some reason she actually managed to drag it along.

"Why such a long face, Fandral?" Sif said with a smile. The Asgardian warrior didn't answer, but just threw his friend a hateful scowl.

"Don't you start too!" Thor warned. The God of Thunder was walking in front of them, trying hard to keep up Arya's fast pace. Thor had to admit he was rather worried. Arya's behaviour was giving him the creeps. Not that he disliked it. The young warrior was showing a set of brilliant leading skills, but the fact that she was so extremely worried about Loki just couldn't be good. After all, it wasn't like Arya had spent a lifetime at The God of Mischief's side, so she didn't know him as a friend nor as a brother. Thor kept wondering how it was possible that Arya was more anxious about Loki's situation than he was. Was he being a bad brother right now? Or was Arya just being exceptionally loyal? No… She'd called Loki by his name! Before now she'd only addressed him as "king", but now… If Arya was becoming friends with Loki, maybe Thor had to warn her about his brother's bad habit of deceiving and lying and … not to forget… dying…

Every now and then Thor would check his body to see if the illusion was still in place. For now it seemed Loki was doing a fine job, where ever he was…. Thor bid his lip. Arya had been right. They couldn't have been knocked out that long, perhaps five hours, at most. They were all Asgardians which meant they recovered faster. If Loki had already been drained of power when Arya had last seen him, he couldn't have had much time to rest at all.

Without warning Arya suddenly stopped in her tracks at the end of the corridor they'd been walking through. One tunnel on the left, one on the right.

Thor almost bumped in to her. Before anyone could ask what the problem was, Arya drew her knife and sprang around the corner of the right tunnel. At the same time someone else jumped at her from the same tunnel with his sword raised high.

Arya brought down the knife but the assailant parried her attack and tried to knock the knife out of her hand. But Arya was trained well and quickly threw her knife in the air, dodging the tackle, before catching it again with her left hand, ready to attack. With her free right arm she pulled her attacker towards her and pouched him back hard against the wall. With one quick move she placed her knife on his throat.

"Wait, Arya! Hold it!" the man called out. "It's me!"

Arya looked up in surprise. The last two words were spoken with a different, familiar voice, yet it was the same guy. And then she saw it. Arya's eyes locked with the attacker's. In one breath taking moment his hazel brow eyes turned light grey, almost green. Arya loosened her grip and stepped back. Behind her, Thor, Sif and Fandral had only just realised they could have been in danger and had raised their weapons. They just stared from Arya to the man against the wall and watched his eyes change colour.

"Lok…. My king…" Arya exclaimed in surprise. She watched the stranger in front of her. He smiled mysteriously and his eyes changed back to the hazel coloured ones from before. Suddenly two men came running around the corner. Sif, Fandral, Thor and Arya drew their weapons once more, but Loki quickly raised his hands and stepped in between the two groups.

"Weapons down everyone!" he called out it the stranger's voice. Obviously no one immediately obeyed.

"Who are they!" Fandral called out while trying to look at least a little bit as if he knew how to use the club he was holding.

Loki looked at Fandral and grinned. "They're part of our army…" he said. Fandral frowned.

"Our army?" Sif asked.

"So they were imprisoned?" Arya asked.

Loki smiled proudly. "Were…" he confirmed.

Thor grinned widely. Before Loki could stop him, he ran forward and threw his arms around the young king in disguise. In fact, now Thor realised how incredibly worried and scared he had been. And now, Loki just showed up, claiming he'd freed the whole damn army!

"Where are they now?" he asked after letting go of his little brother. Loki was completely frozen.

"Eeer… Outside, at least, most of them…"

"Outside as in, not down in this hell hole!" Fandral asked.

"Outside as is, escaping through the Bifröst! The first part of our army is already returning, as we speak, fully armed and ready to arrest this scum!" Loki answered.

"How did you get them out?" Sif asked suspiciously.

Loki sighed. "As if you can't figure that out for yourself!"

"You pretended to be one of the bandits!" Arya said before Sif could answer. "And they thought they'd already got you…"

Loki couldn't help but smile. Arya was really growing into a wise leader.

"Not that I'm complaining, but if you got everyone out, why are you still here?" Fandral asked.

The young king rolled his eyes. "You guys were taking so long!" he exclaimed. "That's not my fault!"

"No thanks to you!" Sif snapped.

Loki grinned.
"I had to improvise…"

Arya smiled widely. She realised how incredibly relieved she was to see Loki again, even though he looked like a bandit.

Thor cleared his throat and quickly shared a meaningful look with Sif, Fandral and Arya. All smiles disappeared when the image of the dark stranger became clear before their eyes.

Loki noticed it and sighed. "What is it now?" he asked sounding annoyed.

Thor looked around before answering. He had the feeling Loki wouldn't like to hear about his this creepy stranger.

"We met an old… acquaintance of yours…or so he said..." The God of Thunder eventually admitted. Loki's fake bandit face didn't show any emotion what so ever, but Thor noticed his brother freezing on the spot. The young king quickly relaxed and forced an questioning frown on his face.

"I have been living for some time already, and unlike what you think, Thor, I do have a social life…" he answered.

Thor sighed and Loki took his chance.

"Enough talking, time to go!" the young king announced. He turned his back to his four friends and gestured to the two warriors still waiting.

"I suppose you've missed these…" he continued while one of the Asgardian knights stepped forward and held out two swords. It took Sif and Fandral a while before they recognized their weapons. Loki grinned.

"We found them in the weapon depot…" he started, but Fandral interrupted by making an unnaturally high pitched squeak. He dropped his club on Sif's foot and quickly changed it for his trusty sword.

"Oh, you beauty!" he exclaimed. "Papa missed you!"

Sif groaned and kicked the club of her foot. She threw a murderous glare at her friend while grabbing her own sword, but Fandral was too obsessed with his sword to notice.

In the meantime, the second warrior hoisted Sif's shield of his back together with Arya's pitch black bow and matching quiver filled with a mixture of silver and normal, probably bandit's, arrows, just to have a reserve. Arya stumbled past Sif - who was strapping her shield to her left arm - and closed her hand around her bow. Immediately a familiar feeling of security filled her body. With a smile she also took her quiver and swung it on her back. Just when she started wondering where her knife was, a flash of silver appeared in the corner of her eye. Arya turned and watched Loki throwing her knife in the air and catching it swift and dexterously.

"It's a shame…" the young said with an enchanting smile while turning the blade in his palm so that the handle was facing Arya. "I was quite fond of this blade…"

Arya hoped the tunnel was dark enough to hide the blush appearing on her cheeks while she gratefully took the knife.

Loki turned and clapped his hands. "Well than, let's go!"

The two knights bowed their heads and led the way through the labyrinth. Sif and Fandral followed and once Arya had noticed Loki wasn't talking to her anymore, she did the same. Thor waited a couple more seconds. When Loki walked in the tunnel, he grabbed his brother's shoulder and turned Loki around. The young king frowned, but Thor's serious and worried expression made him shut up.

"Loki…" The God of Thunder whispered. "He was after you! Who was he?"

For a second Loki tried to pretend he didn't know who Thor was talking about, but the flash of fear visible in his eyes betrayed him. Even the illusion couldn't hide that…

"It doesn't' matter, Thor!" he eventually said harshly. "We need to get out of here!"

Loki tried to turn around and follow the others, but Thor pulled him back.

"This is no joke, Loki! He saw through your illusion!" Thor answered while gesturing to his own body, which was still covered in Loki's Loki-illusion.

Thor felt his brother freeze under his hand.

"Who was that, Loki?" he asked again, not able to hide his fear. If Loki was scared of this stranger too, then he would be a foul to even pretend not to be frightened himself.

"It does not matter…" Loki answered in a broken whisper while freeing himself from Thor grip. "Let's go!"

Thor sighed. "You're tiring yourself, Loki!" he shouted after his brother. "At least drop the illusions…"

"Absolutely not…" Loki answered in a scared whisper. He felt sick! The icy voice he'd feared never to hear again had just gotten a face. The young king realized his worst fears had come true. More reason to get the hell out of that horrifying labyrinth!

"THOR!" Sif's voice suddenly sounded from the end of the tunnel, immediately followed by a high pitched scream of terror from Arya. Loki looked up while his brother rushed past him. Before he realized it, his feet started moving and he was running after Thor while changing his appearance into one of a normal Asgardian warrior. Around the corner a group of at least twenty bandits was waiting for them. Arya, Fandral, Sif and one of the two warriors stood back to back with their weapons ready. The other warrior lay motionless on the ground with an axe sticking out of his back. He probably hadn't even had the time to scream.

Arya's eyes were fixed on the dead warrior, her face pale as ice.

"Your highnessssss…" one of the bandits hissed with his forked tongue sticking through his pointed teeth. It took Thor a while before realizing the bandit was talking to him.

"How nice of you to join usssssss…." the snake bandit continued while lifting his curved sabre.

Thor scowled and tightened his grip around Mjölnir which was still hidden by Loki's illusion.

"My pleasure!" he responded hatefully before raising his hand and throwing his hammer into the crowd. The moment his fingers left the handle, Mjölnir became visible and soared through the ranks of surprised bandits.

The snake bandit ducked away just in time and looked up at Thor, now realizing he wasn't fighting against The God of Mischief.

"Sssssorcery!" he hissed furiously. Unfortunately the bandit never got the chance to face the real Loki, because the young king who was standing right behind him, cut his throat with one of his daggers after which he dropped his own illusion, showing his true self and causing even more confusion now that there seemed to be two Loki's.

The two brothers threw themselves into the fight and joined their friends, but just when they thought they were having the upper hand, the bandits retreated as one and a new opponent walked onto the scene. A familiar cold washed over the group of warriors and everyone froze. As one they turned towards the newcomer.

Loki stumbled back and watched his old enemy approach. His brother turned towards him.

"Loki, who is he?" he asked again in aloud whisper. The others turned too, all showing the same frightened curiosity.

Loki gulped, his blood running cold with fear, his eyes glued to the dark stranger who came his way without making any sound.

"He is known as The Other…" the young king eventually whispered back. "He's Thanos' right hand man…"

All four of his friends froze. They'd all heard legends, stories and whispers about the dark and ruthless lord Thanos. A monster with a fierce desire to rule the galaxy, but never they'd even considered the idea about any truth in those tales. He was a myth…

"And my master, Thanos, isn't pleased!" The Other's raspy voice sounded. Everyone, even the bandits, shivered when the icy voice cut through the air. "It's time to pay your debt, Asgardian!"

The Other moved closer, his hands folded behind his back, his face hidden under his dark hood and mask. Only the evil sneer on his lips was visible.

No one moved. No one dared… Until Arya suddenly jumped in between Loki and The Other. Her bow raised and tightened, ready to shoot a deadly sliver arrow. The Other seemed amused. A crooked and horse laugh sounded through the tunnels.

"Silly girl…" he continued. "Don't be foolish and surrender…"

Yet, the only answer was the sound of another sword being drawn. Fandral stepped next to Arya, his sword raised, and tried to smile challengingly, which surprisingly wasn't that difficult at all. A second later Sif joined Other's smirk disappeared.

"We've been through way too much shit today to just let you kill Loki…" Fandral announced a lot more confident then he felt.

"If you want our king, you'll have to get through us first…" Arya added.

"Exactly!" Sif finished to everyone's surprise.

For a second it seemed The Other had lost his eternal calmness.

"Fouls!" he shouted, blasting a wave of stinking breath towards the three warriors. Yet, his smirk returned and his cold stare drifted past his three opponents and fixed on – the real – Loki. Even Thor's illusion couldn't foul him anymore.

The young king hadn't moved a muscle and his face was as pale as ice.

A silent, low snigger left The Other's lips. "Well, well… Not so talkative now, are we?" he hissed while stepping closer again. Automatically Sif, Arya and Fandral stumbled back a bit.

"These people, these…. friends... of yours. They are willing to protect you! And yet… you just stand there and do nothing! What a king you are…"

For a second, Loki's eyes darkened, but he was too damn scared to say anything in return. The Other sniggered once more – a hoarse and deep sound – and raised his hands beside his body in a challenging movement.

"Do the universe a favour and tell them to stand down so I can kill you here and now…"

Loki wanted to say something, anything, but his throat was dry and no words found their way through. He was paralysed with fear. The Other grinned, showing his rotting teeth.

"No?" he asked. "Very well, then I'll kill them first! Prepare to watch your friends die on your account, Loki Laufeyson!"

The Other clenched his teeth together in a wrathful scowl before raising his hand towards Arya.

"NO!" Loki finally shouted. Before he realized it, he'd pulled Arya away and had taken her place. The Other's hand came down. The next thing Loki knew was a scorching pain torturing his whole body. Tears burned in his eyes, his skin was on fire, all sound and colour faded… And then he felt a slink hand on his shoulder pulling him back.

In one sickening second, the cave appeared again in front of the young king's eyes, complete with the shouting, the stench, the cold and the terrifying face of The Other right in front of him. Loki gasped for breath while the hand let go of his shoulder, making place for a stronger grip. The young king fell backwards while a familiar sound of a bow being tightened sounded right next to his ear.

"Not today!" a female voice rang through the cave before the silver arrow buried itself deep into The Other's shoulder.

Loki desperately searched for his legs, but nothing seemed to make sense any more. Somewhere a deafening scream of agony sounded through the labyrinth.

"You shall pay for that!" The Other shouted while pulling the arrow out of his bloody shoulder. A second later Arya was thrown backwards past Loki and Thor – who's illusion dissolved while doing his very best to keep his brother on his feet – and smacked against the wall.

Loki blinked, furiously trying to stop the tears from flowing. Vaguely, he saw a golden flash jump in front of The Other. The sound of metal hitting metal rang through the air, making the young king wince.

"Loki! Come on!" Thor's voice sounded above him. Loki took a deep breath and shook his head, forcing himself to focus. Finally he managed to trace his feet all the way down his body, eagerly trying to find some support. With a little help from Thor, the young king eventually stood up straight again with his heart beating
over-hours and his breath rushing in and out his burning lungs.

"Are you all right!" Thor called out. His brother obviously had some trouble focusing. Yet Loki forced a smile on his face and nodded.

"Yeah, sure…" he answered hoarsely. Thor nodded and pushed Loki behind him. "Stay here!" he ordered, but Loki wasn't listening. He caught sight of Arya who was trying to get on her feet again, until her eyes fell on her bow, laying on the ground ... split in two. Only the string was still connecting both ends. Due her unexpected fall she must have crushed it against the wall. Arya's insides turned to ice while she watched the trusty weapon she'd used for so many years, laying in pieces on the floor.

Loki, still a little dizzy, stumbled to her side, wondering why she wasn't getting up until he saw the bow on the floor and the upcoming tears in Arya's bright emerald eyes.

"No…" a soft whisper sounded while Arya's trembling hands reached for the pieces of her bow. Loki kneeled down and grabbed her wrist. The young warrior looked up in surprise, but when she recognized the face of her king, she couldn't keep herself from throwing him an accusing look.

A stab of guilt cut through the young king's heart and he let go of Arya's wrist. The weird thing was that he didn't feel sorry for Arya's bow… Of course he understood that it had meant a great deal to the young warrior, but it wasn't like this was the end of the world.

No, Loki just felt guilty towards her. If she hadn't tried to safe him, the Other wouldn't have attacked her. She'd been prepared to die for her king, she had been loyal and kind, yet all Loki seemed to be capable of, was doing her harm.

Arya noticed her king's pain and immediately felt bad. It wasn't his fault! The Other, that creep was to blame! The young warrior blinked her tears away and tried to smile, but that didn't really work out. Her eyes drifted back towards her bow. Something really precious had just been taken from her…

Loki swallowed and got to his feet.

"I'm sorry…" he said. "Arya… I'm sorry…"

The young warrior looked up and found Loki's outstretched hand, waiting for her to grab it and help her up again.

Arya smiled and sniffed away her last tears before gratefully taking hold of Loki's strong hand.

"Thank you…" she whispered in a broken voice, forcing a slight smile behind her words.

Loki smiled softly and turned towards the others while Arya drew her knife. Without saying another word, both of them threw themselves into the ongoing fight against The Other.

Sif and Fandral had been taking turns on attacking their opponent, while skilfully avoiding his deadly touch. Every now and then Thor and the second Asgardian warrior would jump in between the shifts and attack unexpectedly. Yet, The Other seemed to have a marvellous set of fighting skills, and he also seemed to wield some sort of invisible and powerful magic.

At one point, Thor charged again. This time, however, The Other saw it coming and turned towards the prince of Asgard, avoiding the flying hammer by inches. Just before he could touch Thor's outstretched arm, the second Asgardian warrior jumped in between him and his prince. What followed would hunt the nightmares of everyone present for years to come. Although Thor knew he should have looked away, he never got the chance. With one terrifying scream of agony the Asgardian warrior's skin turned from light pink to white to grey. Within a few seconds he'd become noting more than a pile of dust and ashes.

The Other grinned evilly while catching Thor's look of disgust and hatred. Mjölnir soared back into its owner's hand.

"ENOUGH!" Thor roared while taking a leap to attack again, but The Other was quick to act and with one swift movement of his fingers, Thor was thrown back. Now that Thor and especially Mjölnir were out of his path, The Other made his way towards Loki who was standing a little bit further with Arya right next to him. The young king scowled and forced any kind of fear to leave his eyes.

In flash Sif jumped in front of The Other, but he simply dodged her sword and slipped past the female warrior. Loki decided he wasn't going to wait for his opponent to get to him and charged with Arya in his wake. Two identical Loki-illusions appeared on either side of The Other, yet he didn't get distracted at all. Loki ducked under the outstretched arm of his opponent and used one of his daggers to cut a deep wound in his side, straight through his dark cloak.

The Other roared in agony, but before he could fight back Loki turned, allowing Arya to jump up from behind him, taking The Other by surprise. With a loud scream full of suppressed anger and hatred she planted her knife deep into The Other's stomach. At the same time, Fandral charged from behind him and struck The Other, who screamed in terror, right in the back.

Arya quickly dodged his swinging arm and pulled her dagger back. Pitch black, stinking blood gushed from the gaping wounds all over The Other's body. In blind anger he stumbled forwards towards Loki, his hands raised in a final attempt to touch the young king's skin and pulverize him on the spot. Yet, he didn't count on Sif who took a big leap before landing right on top of The Other's back, making sure she didn't touch his raw grey skin. Her opponent roared and screamed while trying to throw the female warrior off, but Sif buried her fingers in the cold fabric of his hood and pulled it back before slicing of his head with one strong swing of her sword. Black blood spat everywhere and covered Sif's face and golden armour. The screaming stopped and slowly faded through the caves. All eyes turned on The Other who didn't seem to fully understand yet that his head was no longer attached to his body. His eyes locked on Loki's, but the young king didn't show any sign of disgust or pity. He just stared back with a fierce hatred darkening his light grey eyes. The Other's mouth opened in a silent scream, but all that came out was a wave of dark, thick blood. Sif jumped of his back just before his body collapsed on the ground.

No one moved for a couple of seconds, until Sif and Loki both looked up from the decapitated body of The Other and shared a look. The young king slowly turned his gaze towards the cowering group of bandits in the corner. They all stared at The Other in pure terror, until they noticed Loki and Sif staring at them. The other's in the room slowly followed. Without showing any emotion Sif lifted the dripping head of the Other and threw it across the cave.

As one the bandits followed its flight across until it hit the dusty floor right in front of their feet.

After a short, tense silence the bandits looked up again, scared, pale, defeated...

At the other end of the cave, Fandral lifted his in blood covered sword and stepped forward until he stood next to Sif. He put down his sword, the blade facing down and nonchalantly leaned on the handle.

"It's just a little hint…" he started amused, although a firm and hateful tone was clearly audible. "But this is the part where you run!"

The bandits stumbled back, away from the five warriors, away from the fight, away from the disgusting and terrifying head of the once so mighty Other.

"And if it's all the same to you…" Fandral continued while lifting his sword again while he slowly closed in on the bandits. "Do us a favour and deliver yourselves to our army which is currently waiting outside to offer you a warm welcome… If you're lucky you might get to life out your miserable lives in a cosy cell on Asgard. Try to escape and you can be certain to suffer a most painful death…"

Fandral's eyes turned a couple of shades darker. That was enough for the bandits to make a decision. While stumbling, tripping and running over each other they made their way through the tunnels. Once the last one had disappeared from sight Fandral turned around and relaxed a little bit while throwing an amused glare towards Sif.

"Sif, my girl…" he said. "You look like shit! Black in really not your colour!"

For once, all Sif could do was grin widely at her friend's remark while sheathing her sword.

"As long as I look better than you, Fandral, I don't have to worry!"

The Asgardian warrior answered with an even bigger smile. Both friends laughed and turned towards the others. At the other side of the cave Thor had managed to get to his feet again. Arya sighed in relieve while lowering her weapon and Loki smiled. He, too, had not been spared from the waterfall of black blood since he'd been standing right in front of The Other.

The young king let his dagger slip back into his sleeves and rubbed the black blood out of his eyes.

"Now that was refreshing…" he said. Arya laughed and shared a smile with her king. She could see that Loki was more than relieved now that The Other's threat had been eliminated forever. She couldn't remember seeing the young king shine brighter. For a second she even forgot about the loss of her precious bow...

"Maybe I'm wrong…" Fandral suddenly started. "But I am quite certain that you, Sif, might have saved Loki's life…"

Sif's smile dropped, only to put a rather amused one on Loki's face.

The female warrior threw Fandral a murderous glare, but he just pulled up his eyebrows in pure innocence, so Sif turned towards Loki.

"This doesn't change anything!" she said harshly, yet she couldn't hide a smile when Loki raised his eyebrows.

PANCAKES WITH PEANUT BUTTER!

That sentence above was completely unnecessary, but I felt like writing "pancakes with peanut butter" Don't ask me why.. we all have our random moments...

Anyway... Let me know what you think, please review and I hope you enjoyed it!

Thanks!

Rumple x