Oy! Even though I got an ILLEGAL amount of work for school... I still managed to write! Yes, I know... Thank you, thank you... ;)

Anyway! I'm happy to give you guys something! Please ENJOY! :)

Chapter 43

If a bomb would have exploded, no one would have cared. Everyone in the common room instantly froze, their eyes showing utter surprise and disbelief. Loki on the other hand, didn't drop his wicked smile and just stared from one person to the other, obviously enjoying the terror on their faces. After what seemed like ages, everyone turned to Thor, nervously awaiting his reaction. The God Of Thunder was having trouble deciding what emotion to express first and at the same time he wondered whether he'd heard his brother correctly, but his friends' faces didn't leave any doubt.

"Wha… What?" Thor eventually stuttered confusedly. His brother only smirked in return.

A sudden uncontrollable anger raged through the God of Thunder's body. His jaw tightened, his teeth clenched together, his nostrils flared while his face turned from red to purple. With a load roar which every man should interpret as the clue to spontaneously pie his pants, he jump from his chair and strode towards the young king. With a loud zooming Mjölnir flew through the door right into his owner's outstretched hand. Thor lifted his hammer, but just before he could strike an invisible force field pushed him back. Immediately Lady Sif and the Warriors Three instinctively reached for their weapons before realising they didn't bring them to the common room. Thor stumbled backwards, but didn't fall. The God of Thunder looked up once more, his eyes fierce and burning, while he raised Mjölnir once more. Yet Loki didn't seem that impressed. The young king just smiled and locked his light grey eyes on Thor's.

"You're so predictable, brother…" he sneered while lifting his right hand. A second later a green apple from the overflowing fruit display in the corner of the room, shot through the air right into the young king's hand. He took a mighty bite and slowly chewed, all the time watching his brother with fake innocence colouring his light grey eyes.

"You know…" he started with a smirk after swallowing his apple down. "However I'm certain that killing me would be quite satisfying, I can't help but notice you're missing the obvious."

Loki waited a couple more seconds, as if he expected Thor to give him some sort of reaction, but the furious and hateful expression on the God of Thunder's face didn't fade. Therefore, the young king took another bite and continued.

"Howv woulvv killing me…" he said with his mouth full of apple. Loki swallowed and continued. "How would it help? Don't you want to know where… and how… and why… and all those other dramatic questions you enjoy asking?"

Still no change… Loki seemed to be the only relaxed person in the room. Inside his head he kept cursing himself for revealing his biggest secret. He was showing his best cards and he didn't even know why… No, he did… He did it for Frigga! But still… Odin had been Loki's back up-plan in case he got trouble with Thor or any other Asgardian for that matter.

Yet, the young king kept his playful smirk locked on his face and didn't show any of his doubts. While taking another bite, he looked around the room.

"Damn… If I didn't know any better, I would say you're all surprised…" he whispered.

It stayed silent for a couple of minutes. The only sounds being the heavy breathing of a furious Thor and the crushing of Loki's teeth in his juicy apple.

At one point, Lady Sif decided to start talking. Pale as ice she took a step forward and caught Loki's attention.

"You…" she started, obviously struggling to keep the emotion in her voice under control. "You killed the Allfather! You killed Odin!"

Loki threw his friend an amused smile and catapulted the core of the apple into the bin at the other end of the room.

"It's almost adorable how you place judgement over me, Sif… all of you, in fact…" he said. Sif frowned.

Loki folded his hands behind his back and started pacing around the room. Every time he passed one of his friends he could feel their cold stares pierce in his back, but the young king didn't mind.

"Loki kills… right?" he asked innocently. "All Loki does is kill… he's not kind, he kills… he's not a leader, he kills… he's not funny, he kills… he doesn't love, he only kills!"

Silence fell once more and now even Thor seemed to calm down a bit. He slowly lowered Mjölnir.

"But you did!" Sif exclaimed. "You said…"

"Did I?" Loki interrupted. He walked over to the lady warrior and locked his gaze on her. "Did I really, Sif?"

Sif wanted to answer, but nothing came out. Loki smirked and turned back to the rest of the room.

"I never, ever said that I killed Odin… you just assumed I did, which I take as a compliment, yet… despite of the fact that it would bring me infinite satisfaction, I did not kill that piece of a liar!"

The young king waited patiently to make sure his words had effect.

"You mean to say…" Thor started, shaking with fury, "that my father has been alive all this time, and yet you claim the throne of Asgard!"

Loki grinned widely and nodded. "Evil… isn't it?" he asked sarcastically.

"But…" a sudden voice suddenly interrupted. Loki turned in surprise and faced a confused and terrified looking Arya. Somewhere he felt guilty towards the girl. Arya had shown more trust towards him than anyone, except for Frigga and his mother of course, had ever done.

"But…" Arya repeated now that she noticed Loki's attention was on her. "Where is he then? Heimdall told us he cannot see the Allfather…"

Loki smiled. Finally someone was asking the right questions.

"Yes…" Fandral joined in with confusion carved on his face. "And if he's still alive… then why didn't he come back?"

In any other circumstances, everyone would have been surprised by Fandral's sudden intellect, but right now they just wanted to know the answer.

Loki smirked mischievously and waited a few more seconds before continuing.

"I could have killed him… but why would I eliminate my best card! Even now I could keep silent and no one would ever think about laying one finger on me… Knowledge is power!"

The others in the room shared a look. They knew Loki was right. All they could do now was wait and listen. Yet, they all knew Loki would have another trick up his sleeve to guarantee his safety.

Loki enjoyed his friend's silent surrender and grinned widely.

Just to emphasize his victory, the young king strolled through the room and picked himself a couple of grapes from the fruit bowl. One by one, he tore the grapes from their twig and slowly ate them, all the while throwing satisfied sneers on his friends.

Lady Sif, The Warriors Three and Thor knew better than to respond at a time like this. Loki would only enjoy it even more. For now, the mischievous king had won the battle, yet the war hadn't even started yet.

Arya and Jane, on the other hand, didn't really know what to do and just kept glaring over at the others, hoping for some guidance, but the other warriors kept their eyes fixed on the young king.

After Loki had swallowed his last grape and had licked his fingertips clean, he smirked once more and walked over to the centre of the room.

"To be honest…" the young king started, "taking Odin's throne was ridiculously, disgracefully easy…"

Loki turned to his brother. An excited sparkle lit up his almost green eyes. Thor was trembling with rage, but knew he only had to wait.

"But you were right: where is he? And why didn't he come back? After all, it isn't easy to hide the biggest royal buffoon in the universe!"

Loki raised his eyebrows and faced every single one of his friends as if he was waiting for suggestions. After a short silence his expression changed to one of fake disappointment. The young king turned back to Thor.

"You are not the only one carrying an ancient and powerful relic, Thor Odinson!" he snapped while gesturing to the Mighty Mjölnir.

Thor frowned and looked at his hammer. Afterwards he looked up again and carefully inspected his brother as if he was expecting Loki was hiding some other weapon under his cloak.

Loki noticed his brother's searching eyes and smirked.

"In fact Odin signed his own doom…" the young king continued. "When he gave you the power of the Might Mjölnir I was left with nothing! Just one more reminder that I was never meant to be your equal! Let's not grant Loki any more power! He might just outshine his perfect brother!"

Thor scowled, but didn't respond. Loki's eyes were turning dark with hatred once more.

"But I was not a fool! I decided to do my own research…" Loki turned quiet again to make sure everyone was listening.

"I broke into the weapon's vault to take a closer look at the relics and take my pick. Odin, that senile fool never knew, until I used my findings on him…"

Thor swallowed. He knew that those relics were dangerous. He knew of their dark powers. They were locked away for a very good reason.

"What I found that day was no more than a stone. A simple rock, but very useful if you know how to use it…"

Loki reached under his cloak and held out a dark symmetrical shaped rock, not bigger than his palm. The stone seemed hollow and an almost invisible white mist curled through the numerous holes. The temperature in the room instantly fell and the lights dimmed. Everyone could feel the dark power radiating from the stone. It almost seemed as if they could here silent voices, whispers coming from the rock.

Thor inspected the relic and searched his memory for a name. He was certain his father told him about it, but it that had been such a long time ago. Apparently, Loki didn't feel like waiting. The young king closed his hand around the rock and drew all attention back to him.

"This rock once belonged to the Light Elves. To them, it was known as "the stone of souls" or the "Valkyrja stone". Legend says it once belonged to a Valkyrie, a female figure who lead the bravest fallen warriors to Walhalla. These women had to take care of the death in Walhalla, but had to stay a virgin in order to remain young and beautiful for ever. However, one of these women fell in love with a Light Elf. In the knowledge that she could never be together with her lover, she created this stone. With it, the Light Elf man could separate his soul from his body and be with the Valkyrie. Yet this could only happen one day a year. The day that the human and spirit world collided. The Valkyrie couldn't wait and crossed the borders of the worlds herself. She broke her oath and was banned to our realms where she died together with her lover, many years later. The stone, however was kept by the Light Elves."

Loki took a deep breath while his eyes scanned the stone in his hand. An almost dreamy expression covered his face. Oh how he loved power like this… The young king had never fully understood why Thor and his other friends just didn't seem to be bothered by magic at all. This was not just magic. It was ancient, it was legend, it had seen millennia before them and would see millennia in the future. It was power!

Thor watched his brother carefully. Loki seemed distracted. The God of Thunder shared a quit look with his friends before nodding shortly. His grip on Mjölnir tightened. Behind Loki, Sif closed her hand around a goblet standing on the table, planning to use it as a weapon if necessary. She nodded almost invisibly towards Volstagg and Fandral. Arya caught her stare and mouthed: What are we going to do?

Jane, who was still sitting on a chair behind Thor seemed to be thinking the same and threw Sif a questioning glare as well. The Lady warrior didn't really have an answer. The only thing she wanted to do right now was stop Loki before… well… something bad would happen…. Whatever that would be.

The young king smirked and looked up. His vague expression faded and made place for one of utter amusement.

"Please don't, Sif… You might just regret it…"

Sif's jaw tightened while her hand let go of the goblet. Loki turned back to his brother and threw him the same smirk. Thor growled and relaxed his hand.

"Really, guys… What did you expect to achieve anyway? No one but me with the answers you seek…" the young king sneered before continuing his story.

"The Light Elves used the Valkyrja stone to perform certain rituals in which they separated their souls from their bodies to seek guidance of the spirits of the dead. Unfortunately, the Light Elves weren't spared when the Dark Elves plundered and ravaged the nine realms under the command of Malekith. The Dark Elves conquered the Light Elf home world, Alfheim, and stole the stone. In their hands it became a powerful weapon with which they could suck a soul from its body and keep it captive in a world between the worlds. The victims weren't dead nor alive and there was only one day on which the stolen soul could return to their bodies. However, if the body was killed, the spirit would be doomed to wander restlessly in an eternal oblivion, in between the living and the death."

Loki turned quiet. His playful, creepy smirk still playing on his lips while his eyes sparkled with dark excitement.

"That's all very interesting and very boring… but you still haven't answered our question. Where is Odin and what did you do to him?" Fandral suddenly said. Loki turned to the warrior and raised his eyebrows. Sif, who was standing next to Fandral sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Isn't it obvious, Fandral!" she exclaimed before turning her attention on Loki. Her eyes darkened a couple of shades.

"Loki sucked The Allfather's soul out of his body with that stone…"

If possible, everyone turned even more quiet while all attention fixed on the dark rock in Loki's hands.

"But…" Arya interrupted the silence once more. The young king turned to her and threw her a questioning look. The young Captain swallowed the upcoming fear and forced herself to continue. After all, she didn't have the feeling Loki was trying to scare her. In fact, the young king seemed to be genuinely interested in what she was going to say.

"That stone… those rituals… they were performed with Elf magic. In this case, Dark Elf magic…"

Volstagg nodded. He understood Arya's remark.

"Indeed…" he said. "Loki should know Dark Elf magic in order to make it work. Last time I checked…" Volstagg turned silent and threw a suspicious look on the young king. "Last time I checked… Loki was still swearing by light Asgardian magic… like Queen Frigga's."

Loki locked his gaze with Volstagg's. Slowly an evil sneer formed on his lips. Volstagg's eyes grew big.

"You know Dark Elf magic!" Sif shouted before Volstagg got the chance.

Loki turned to the female warrior. "It took me a couple of years… I admit it… But in the end… magic is magic!"

"Are you mad!" Thor roared, although his brother didn't seem that impressed. "Dark Elf magic is called Dark for a reason, Loki!"

"Oh my… did you make that link all by yourself, brother?" Loki sneered.

Jane, who was feeling a bit left out, decided to join the conversation. All though she didn't understand most of the things the Asgardians were talking about, magic was something she understood since Loki had explained it to her.

"But you said…" the scientist started, drawing all the attention to her. "You said that Dark magic could turn you mad! Like it did with Mer…"

Thor threw his wife a meaningful glare. Jane immediately shut up when she remembered what Thor had told her about Merlin. Nevertheless, Loki had noticed.

"What?" he asked, almost forgetting to be creepy. "Like who?"

Jane shook her head. "It's nothing… I don't remember the name…" she said, surprised about how convincing she sounded. One look on the young king made it quite clear that Loki didn't share her opinion, so Jane quickly continued.

"You said that magic would turn against you if you used it for bad purposes!"

Everyone in the room suddenly felt like taking a step back.

Loki bit his lip as if was thinking over Jane's words.

"You… you…" Thor suddenly stuttered. His voice was shaking with anger. "You used Dark magic… You dishonoured mother and everything she ever taught you!"

Loki rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically.

"Oh Thor… dishonoured… please…" he said. "Mother fell in love with an imbecile that practised Dark magic as if it was child's play. Don't lecture me about honour!"

"Odin could control it!" Thor shouted back.

"So can I!" Loki responded, but Thor nor any other of his friends seemed convinced.

Loki sighed. "For those who forgot, I fell through a wormhole created by the Bifröst itself!"

"And how does that justify anything?" Hogun asked wrathfully. Loki looked surprised. Hogun never showed much emotion. To hear that much hate in his voice was almost a complement to the young king.

"The Bifröst is not all ponies and rainbows…" the young king answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "There is as much Dark as Light magic in that bridge. Think about it… To rebuild it we were in need of the power of Tesseract! When Thor decided to show off his swinging skills, all that magic was released at once and formed the wormhole…"

Loki waited a couple more seconds before finishing.

"I think I had my share of Dark magic… This stone" he said while lifting the relic, "was nothing compared to that…"

For a second, the young king seemed distracted again until Volstagg interrupted the silence.

"Yet… you still sucked out the Allfather's soul… Where is it now?"

Loki rolled his eyes. "Weren't you listening. He neither dead, nor alive…"

"And where is the body?" Fandral asked.

"The Allfather's shell has its own privet, cosy, air-conditioned prison cell on Jotenheim…" the young king responded with a smile. "But don't mind looking for him, because he's hidden safe and sound under a powerful cloaking spell…"

"Well then…" Thor said in a low voice which send shivers down everyone's spine. "You will kindly escort us to Jotenheim and release my father!" he said with fake sympathy, while raising Mjölnir.

Yet, Loki only laughed. "Thor… you're quite entertaining sometimes, you know… I told you: souls can be pulled away any time… returning them to their respective bodies however, is another matter entirely."

Thor took a deep breath. He was getting enough of Loki's sneering. A slink hand on his shoulder forced him to calm down a bit. He looked up and met his wife's worried, yet meaningful eyes.

Loki sniggered. "There is only one day I can bring Odin back…"

It stayed silent for a while as if Loki was waiting for an answer.

Sif sighed. "The day the spirit world and the our world collide, yes… you mentioned that! Would His Highness be so kind to share the date?" she asked sarcastically.

Loki smiled. "Impressive, Lady Sif…" he sneered. "And any idea what that day might be?"

Sif looked away.

"Eeer… Halloween?" Jane suddenly interrupted.

Loki looked her way. "Hello-what?" he asked.

Thor clenched his teeth together. "She means Winter Nights, Loki… It's called Halloween on Midgard."

"Hallo… Ween…" Loki repeated. "Pathetic…"

The young king shook his head and continued. "But yes… the worlds collide on Winter Nights… Then and only then can we reach into the spirit world and bring a soul back."

Thor closed his eyes. Now he knew the catch. The God Of Thunder sighed and concentrated on Jane's soft touch to remain calm enough to continue.

"Winter Nights is over five months from now…" he said darkly.

Loki smirked. "Really? I didn't notice… How considerate of you to make that calculation."

The others in the room shared a look.

Loki only smiled while pocketing the stone. Immediately the temperature went back to normal and the flames spread their warm light once more. Everything seemed normal.

"Why did you tell us all this now?" Arya asked. Loki turned to his Captain and smiled friendly.

"Because, Arya… I now see that as long as I'm not the real king, Asgard is in danger. If I die, the line ends with me and there will never be another king until Odin's body dies.. which could take some time."

"Why not just kill his body?" Sif suddenly asked darkly. Loki was impressed the lady warrior even came up with that idea even though it was rather obvious.

"Because then I become king…" Thor answered before Loki got the chance. His brother bit his tongue and turned away. Thor fixed his eyes on the young king's back, knowing that Loki was fully aware of his stares and continued while the irony basically dripped from his words. "And that would not only be extremely embarrassing for our great king… he also knows that I would never crown him king!"

Loki turned and threw his brother a challenging glare, but Thor had crossed his limits. His normally bright blue eyes had turned dark and showed nothing less than pure hatred.

"Perhaps…" Loki eventually declared. "But you're forgetting that if I bring Odin back and he decides to kill me after all, you still have a chance to keep your beloved little family! Maybe that senile monster grants his perfect son one more favour and places the spell!"

The tension in the room reached its peak. Loki smirked wickedly.

"So… yes… you can kill me! But remember that you not only loose the only chance of placing this spell, you also doom Asgard for the rest of eternity!"

Loki looked around the room, locking his eyes with every single person present. He even stared outside for a second where the Bifröst reflected the last sunbeams into the universe.

"Your choice!" he snapped before marching out the room.

Badaboom! There you go!

I hope you liked it even though there was a lot of storytelling... It's necessary sometimes... I can't help Loki being such a smart-ass ;)

Please review!

I love you guys! Writing this fic has been amazing so far! And to be honest, you're the ones to thank for that... so...

THANK YOU!

I'll try writing as much as possible but exams are creeping near... (PANIC!)

THANK YOU AGAIN and a special THANKS to all the amazing reviewers! You guys make my day every time! (even if it's bad news ;) )

Rumple x