The golden walls of Asgard's palace sang with a special and unique note of silence. This only concluded to one very plausible and disturbing fact: Two certain young princes were handling the dull flame of life that left them feeling like zombies…with caffeine.

These two boys were located in one of the many empty rooms that could have been found in the palace. It had been cleaned due to a recent refurnishing of the room save for a handful of objects that were waiting to be returned to their rightful resting place. Thor and Loki laid on their backs and stared into the massive chandelier that dangled above them. Had they not known better, they wouldn't have been able to tell that it was made entirely of wood. It was very smooth and polished so well that it glistened with the luster of an exotic jewel. Strangely, it seemed to be a miracle that the thing was still attached to the ceiling. Almost as though it were attached to a thin thread, ready to snap to the ground at any given second.

The youngest was the first to break this silence, "It would be unfortunate if the chandelier fell."

Thor fiddled with a small wooden toy as his eyes were lost in the intriguing work of art staring back at him. "It won't fall."

"You can never know," Loki said, "There is always a possibility."

"Thinking about a chandelier crushing our skulls will never cure boredom." Thor sighed.

"Perhaps not for you," Loki said, "but you haven't much of an imagination."

Thor looked over at his brother. "That's not true."

"It's not?"

"No, it's not."

"Tell me a story."

Thor blinked at his brother for several moments. "I'm sorry?"

"Tell me a story." Loki repeated. "Make one up. One I haven't heard before."

"Fine." Thor growled. Several silent moments passed as Thor scavenged the deepest depths of his brain for such a demand.

"Well?" Loki eventually asked.

"You didn't tell me what you wanted the story to be about." Thor shifted his shoulders, trying to bury his discomfort deep into the ground.

Loki's brows pinched together. "Why would I need to do that?"

Thor stuck his chin high into the air with a feigned pride. "I can come up with several stories! However, it doesn't help me if you don't tell me what kind of story you want to hear."

Loki briefly shook his head, almost as if he were trying to rid himself of his confusion. "That just makes even less sense. It doesn't matter what kind of story it is. The only reason why you would need subject matter to work with is because you are so lacking in creativity that you need aid. You, Brother, are not a creative person."

"Do you still have Fandral's marbles?" Thor asked, a dim bulb flickering violently inside his brain.

"Are you referring to the ones that he told me not to lose or break?" Loki asked blankly.

Thor gave a toothy grin, "Yeah, those."

"Why?"

"They may be the solution to all of our problems." Thor proclaimed.

"I hope you have no intention of using those for your sling shot."

Thor moved the wooden toy from his stomach to the ground next to him. "No." He said slowly.

"You're a horrible liar." Loki sighed.

"I won't break them." Thor reassured.

"I don't believe you."

"Please?" Thor begged. "Just one marble."

Both boys looked upward, deep into the crevices of the chandelier's design. A shiny round face stared back at them. It had found a cozy seat within the chandelier's depth and was mocking the two boys. "Fandral is going to kill us." Thor said.

"I believe the correct term would be 'slaughter', Brother." Loki corrected.

Thor looked helplessly at his brother. "Are we going to die brutally?"

Loki looked around the room, "Perhaps not."

"What makes you say that?" Thor asked anxiously.

"We may be able to use something to help us get it down." Loki said as his eyes grazed the room. They spotted an old ladder resting soundly against the wall. "That could work."

The two boys scurried over to the ladder. Loki examined it closely. It indeed was an old ladder. The wood was no longer a light brown, but darkened with rot. "This is brilliant!" Thor exclaimed. "I can hold the ladder while you climb up it to retrieve the marble!"

"No."

"Huh?"

"No."

"Why not?" Thor whined.

Loki shrugged, "You're the eldest. You should have the honor of climbing the ladder."

"That doesn't work!"

"Explain."

"That excuse is only supposed to work in my favor."

"Are you being a coward then?"

"I am not a coward!"

"I believe you are being quite cowardly if you aren't willing to climb up a ladder."

Thor grabbed the flimsy ladder. "I'll show you who the coward truly is."

Sif trotted down the halls, glancing quickly down every corner for the familiar faces of the two princes. So far, she was having no luck. She had hoped that she would have saved herself some time by just asking their parents, but that proved to be just as fruitless. In fear of their silence, however, Sif had been given the assignment of finding them as quickly as she could.

She stopped as she heard the familiar voices snapping back at each other in a sad attempt of hushed tones. Sif leaned her head against the door that separated her from the source of the noise to make sure she there was no mistaking her belief. Once she confirmed her curiosity, she pushed the door forward with her weight.

The creaking of the door startled both of the boys. Loki merely jumped, but Thor fell backwards, kicking the ladder forward. Loki kept his grip on the ladder, but that only made things significantly worse. The two differently applied pressures strained the blackened rot not that far above Loki's head, snapping the ladder in half. Thor held on to the chandelier kicking frantically around as he tried to keep hold of the swinging work of art. Sif entered the room, her eyes widened and her mouth agape.

"What HAPPENED?" The small girl shrieked.

"Where did the ladder go?" Thor demanded with quick, uneven breaths.

Loki's mouth opened and closed like that of a fish as he searched for the correct order of words. Sif ran up to Loki, staring upward at the helpless blonde. "What is he doing up there?" Sif hissed in a soft voice, glaring at the younger brother.

"This is your fault." Loki growled.

"How is this my fault?"

"If you hadn't opened the door and scared us, then Thor wouldn't have broken the ladder."

"Loki!" Thor called, "Where is the ladder? I can't feel it!"

"Um…" Loki hesitated, still unsure as to what he should tell his brother.

"You broke it!" Sif shouted.

Thor adjusted slightly, hoping he had misheard the situation. "I'm not sure I heard you correctly. What did you say?"

"The ladder snapped in half." Sif said, "There's no feasible way that we can use it to get you down."

"There must be something!"

"There might be." Sif said slowly.

"What?" Thor breathed, "What is it?"

"You have to make a promise first."

"Name your price!"

"You have to promise me that you won't say anything against me for the next three months." Sif growled. "That means not a single harsh word towards me is to slip out of your mouth for three whole months. That doesn't mean anything that totals to three months either. Three months in a row."

Loki bit his quivering lower lip. He wasn't sure if his brother would make such a 'demeaning' promise, much less keep it. Depending on how things turned out, the next three months might be quite interesting.

Thor shook his head. There was no possible way in all of the nine realms that he would make such a promise!

He could feel the wood press into his skin as he slipped downward an inch.

…on any other occasion. "Fine!"

Loki's eyes widened.

Sif looked over at the darker haired boy. "You heard every word of that conversation, right?"

Loki simply nodded, his eyes still sewn to his older brother.

Sif cracked the back of her hand against Loki's arm, pulling the boy back into reality. "Go get that tall pile of tarps over there."

Loki ran his hand gingerly up and down the wounded area as his eyes trailed the girl's slender finger. Quickly, Loki ran over to the tarps. He didn't notice how heavy they were until he picked them up. This task had taken him longer than what he had originally estimated. He had to shift the tarps in such a way that they didn't fall as he walked and not to kill him with their weight.

"Hurry!" Sif panicked, "He's slipping!"

Loki quickly ran as quickly as he could over to his brother. The cloths piled ridiculously high above his head and wobbled as he moved. He circled around underneath the wavering chandelier, attempting to predict where Thor would fall. Sif covered her eyes with her hands and held her breath.

"Will you stop kicking?" Loki yelled, "You're making the chandelier swing around!" Thor was so busy trying to keep his grip on the massive object to even process what his brother had said. Loki dropped the thick tarps and turned away from struggling blonde. "I am not going to chase you around the room! You'll make fools of us both!"

Sif let her small hands slip below her eyes just in time to see Thor knock into Loki as he finally fell. She couldn't help but let out a sharp gasp. Thor, still on his brother's back, flipped over to his side, doubled over and groaned. Sif also saw the dark marble fly off of his seat and bounce off Loki's head. She felt her lips curve into a smile. "You two look like fools indeed."

Sorry about the long wait, but there it was! ^^ I'm not sure if the marbles (or the sling shot for that matter) fit in or not, but that was the center object of this chapter (Yeah, each of these chapters are based off of objects. I think of a random object and work a story around it. Ex.: Chapter one= rocks, chapter two= trees, three= hats, four=ghosts, five= paint. There's no rhyme or reason why I do this, but it seems to work. XD). I'm not sure when my next chapter will get posted, but I'll try to have it up here soon. Anyway, thanks again for all of the reviews. They're greatly appreciated. :)

Krudovana