Thor held his cupped hands together tightly, as if he were holding something within the tiny space. His grin reached for both ears.

"What do you have?" Loki asked with an empty bluntness.

Thor turned his back to the younger boy. "I don't think you want to see."

Loki slid around the blonde to examine the clasped hands. "I want to see."

Thor spun around again. "No you don't."

"What makes you think you know what I want?" Loki growled.

"Because it will bore you." Thor said, "It's the kind of thing that won't interest you."

"Interesting to me or not, I still want to see it."

"No."

Loki reached beyond the blonde and began to pry open his hands. Thor pulled away, but his hands parted slightly and a small, round, dark object flew out of the slit. Thor gasped. "No!" He quickly faded into the hall's depth after the insect. Loki found himself agreeing with Thor about the amount of interest it held; none. He couldn't, however, figure out why Thor didn't just tell him what it was. Things would have definitely gone a lot smoother.

It was only half an hour later when Loki found Thor in the dining hall. He had tried to divert his attention in any possible way he could think of from the guilt that hung heavy in his heart. Loki didn't want to destroy one of Thor's few sources of entertainment. He tried to study, fixing some broken objects, and even tried to converse with others, but the guilt created a vile that stung his heart fiercely. Thor was slowly creeping around a chair, intently looking at the smooth ground. "Are you still looking for that beetle?"

Thor shot high into the air, letting out a small yelp. He looked over at his brother and glared. "Why should you care?" Loki was certain that if a voice had the ability to spew venom, his body would be a half rotten corpse by now.

Loki shrugged. "Maybe I can help." He was far from admitting that he was feeling bad for letting it escape.

Thor snorted. "I bet you only want to see how long it takes me to catch it."

Loki had opened his mouth to respond, but he found himself looking at the doorway as he heard two loud voices echoing through the halls with sweet giggles edging closer to the dining room. Thor grabbed his brother by the hand and pulled them behind one of the many thick curtains that draped around the room. "Why are we hiding?"

"One of those voices belonged to Sif," Thor explained, "If she finds us in here, she'll think I'm plotting against her."

Loki rolled his eyes and peered through a crack that he was able to use as a window. He saw Sif and Fandral sit at one of the many tables. Loki's eyebrows sank downwards as he hadn't noticed the bowls of soup laying around earlier. He wasn't one to miss details like that.

"I'm not sure where they are." Fandral said lazily, stirring his soup around with his spoon.

"I don't even know why I bother to care." Sif grumbled. "They only get into trouble."

Fandral smiled, "I think they're fun to be around. You can never be sure what wild ideas they'll come up with next. "

"Of course you would," Sif sighed.

"You can't deny it," Fandral grinned, "You enjoy it just as much as I do."

Both children were so engulfed in their conversation that neither child noticed the black beetle's shiny back scurry across the table. Loki did, however. He even saw the tiny bug crawl into Sif's soup and judging the way Thor had gasped, he wasn't the only one who had noticed.

Fandral had gotten into telling an extravagant story of him doing something or another, devouring the girl's attention. They were in their own little oblivious world of conversation. Loki and Thor horrifyingly watched the dark beetle swim around in Sif's spoon as she brought the silver device to her lips.

"We should run now." Thor whispered.

Loki shook his head, "That will only make things worse. We need to wait until they leave before we go anywhere."

Thor was about to make an objection to this idea, but was silenced by a shrill scream. Both eyes were wide and their breath was scarce.

"What's wrong?" Fandral asked.

"What do you mean 'what's wrong'?" Sif snapped. "There was a beetle in my soup!"

"It's just a bug."

Sif gave a small dance as she shuddered. "It is not just a bug! It is a disgusting and vile creature from the deepest pits of Nifl-heim!"

"I'm pretty sure you're just over reacting."

"I am not!" Sif shouted. "Do you have the slightest idea where those things live?"

"I never really cared to give it a thought, honestly."

Sif growled, "I'm certain Thor's behind this."

"Over. Reacting."

"It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Loki was involved, either. In fact, I'm certain they're in this room as we speak." Sif said as her eyes searched the room.

"Must you make me repeat myself?" Fandral asked.

Loki heard the curtains on the other side of the room move violently to the side. "I think staying here would be quite pointless." Thor whispered.

"Yeah," Loki nodded. He looked back out into the dining room and saw that Sif was busy occupying herself with the other direction. Both boys slid silently from the curtains and quickly maneuvered their way to the door. Fandral watched the boys with confused eyes. Thor noticed the Fandral's concerning complexion and glared furiously at the child, making a silent, but deadly threat. Fandral made a small nod, his tiny heart pounding rapidly. Just as the two brothers reached the glorious door of delicious escape, they heard a very shrill, "I knew it!"

They heard the girl's lighter footsteps flap in flight towards them. Loki and Thor quickly darted through the wide variety of halls. They both strained themselves to pass the other, hoping to leave that other behind for Sif's hungry wrath. Eventually, Loki slid into an empty hall, breathing heavily. Somewhere along the lines, the boys had managed to lose Sif temporarily in the grand maze of halls. It wasn't long, however, before Thor found his brother's hiding place.

"What are you doing?" Loki hissed, "Go find somewhere else to hide!"

Thor shook his head, regaining control over his own breath. "If I am going to be blamed for this, so are you."

"You could try to tell her, perhaps, the truth." Loki suggested.

Thor raised an eyebrow at the darker haired boy. "Have you lost all grip on your sanity? What makes you believe that she'll even listen to us?"

Loki shook his head, then looked intently to his right. "Brother…Do you want to know what I just learned?"

Thor's eyes widened as he saw Sif glaring right at them. "Please," He said, keeping his eyes on the infuriated girl. "It can't be as bad as what I had just found."

"We're in a hall that leads nowhere."

Gah, here's something quick. I hope you all enjoyed it. :)

Krudovana