"…Frost Giants."
Murmuring erupted through the great crowd assembled for the coronation. Loki straightened up with a snap, as though out of a daydream. He ought to be focused, this was the greatest prank that he had yet conceived. The only one on a big enough scale to disrupt the crowning of a new king.
Odin reacted exactly as Loki had predicted: He raised his staff, and struck its end harshly onto the steps of his throne, commanding the destroyer to act. Gesturing to his two sons, he commanded them to follow as he rushed to the weapons vault to discover the meaning behind this incursion.
Loki stood and watched his elder brother and father arguing hotly about the thievery attempt. He could see Thor seething with righteous fury, ready to make a war out of three frost giants in the weapons vault. A wicked part of his nature gleamed gleefully within him to see his father angry at Thor. He knew that at last someone could see Thor's great failure: The would-be king was a warmonger.
He felt something else also, something more profound and powerful. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, to think that this was getting so far out of hand. This was meant to disturb the coronation, or perhaps make Odin think twice about his choice of heir. This could become war! It made Loki feel cold. As the argument grew more and more heated, Loki stood looking on, shocked and shivering ever so slightly. A whisper in his conscience cried "…Too far."
As abruptly as it began, the fight was over. Odin silenced his first born, and departed. His eyes were full of anger and disappointment, and both brothers knew better than to follow him or speak again in his presence for the time being.
After standing a few moments gritting his teeth and clenching and unclenching his fist around Mjolnir, Thor stormed out of the vault like a rampaging beast on fire. Shaking his head in frustration, Loki spun on his heel and followed, hoping to prevent his brother from destroying half the palace in his latest temper tantrum.
Loki arrived too late for the feast table. Thor had thrown it over like a petulant child, smashing the feast and wasting the food. At first meaning to comfort his brother, Loki tried to convince Thor to speak to him, knowing that his bluster was nothing more than scuffed pride. And yet, it bothered him to know that with all his weaknesses, Thor was preferred. It irked and writhed somewhere deep in the younger prince, and wicked thoughts bubbled to the surface.
He knew precisely which words to speak to push his brother over the edge into a true act of stupidity. He praised him almost fawningly, and cautioned him against disobeying their father. He knew full well that Thor would do exactly the opposite - thick headed beast that he was. They would go to Jotunheim, and Thor would be shown the fool. The wicked, spiteful part of Loki rejoiced with something akin to glee and excitement.
Too far.
His mind lashed at him with the thought. This is too much - as nice as it would be for the golden boy to be out of favor in the long term, this was too far. It risked too much - this might be war after all. But the arrow had already sprung from the bow, and nothing Loki could say to Thor would prevent his going now.
...
As the others prepared for battle, calling for horses and testing their weaponry, Loki summoned his magic. He created a facsimile of himself, and used the double to speak to a guard on one of the upper floors of the palace.
"You there, guard. Thor and his companions are making for Jotunheim against the wishes of the Allfather. When you see the Bifrost flash, tell my father the king what I have told you." The guard seemed shaken and surprised, but agreed. Loki was just about to dismiss the illusion when he found himself doubting his actions once again. The prickling feeling in the back of his mind would not relent: Loki choked on guilt and fear, and decided to try to take a different path.
"No." He said, and his image turned to face the guard again. "Go now. Tell the Allfather to make his way Heimdall's post at great haste."
The guard stood confused - unsure if this would turn out to be yet another of Loki's petty tricks. "Go! Now!" Loki shouted at him through the illusion. The guard hesitated another fraction of a second and then set off down the halls at a run.
Loki dismissed the illusion and focused on the task at hand, pretending to get ready to leave for Jotunheim. If Thor suspected that Loki had alerted the guard he would tell everyone Loki was a liar and seek another opportunity to go to Jotunheim. Loki had to make sure that Odin knew of his son's plan and caught him in the act. It was the only way to be sure that Thor would be prevented from going.
The small company mounted their horses and rode out along the rainbow bridge as fast as they could. Thor was grinning savagely, the anticipation of the upcoming battle already rising in his blood. Loki could read him like a book- he courted violence for sport. So much for going to ask the Jotun king 'Why?'
...
After a time of hard riding, the band reached the end of the bridge. As they slowed their horses, Loki began to try to think of things to tip Heimdall off about their plan, if he hadn't been listening to their earlier conversation as it was. He had just decided on a blustering, over confident, obviously lying approach as he dismounted and began to walk towards Heimdall's post, only to find himself face to face with the Allfather instead of Heimdall at all.
Odin and Thor began to scream at each other all over again. Odin accused him of weakness of character and mind - called him a boy and a fool. Thor screamed back worse things, about Odin failing to protect Asgard. It looked like it might come to blows or worse, when the smallest sound came out of Loki's mouth. It sounded like 'Stop.' The two men did not seem to hear him, so he cleared his throat and said 'Stop' again, his voice trembling.
He found himself instantly faced with the wrath of both his father and his brother, but the little voice in his mind continued to shriek at him to tell the truth. "It was me." He said, in a voice so small and quiet it was almost inaudible.
"What do you mean it was you?" shouted Thor in his face, his unbridled rage spilling over on his brother.
"It was me. I brought the Jotuns here into Asgard."
There was complete silence. They all stared at him, horror written on their faces. "I never meant for this to go so far. I wanted to do something to interrupt to coronation, because I was jealous and…." The words came tumbling out of his mouth in a sudden slurry of truthfulness. He closed his mouth and took a shuddering breath before going on. "I am sorry. I did not think it would come to this."
"You are sorry are you?!" Odin turned on his youngest son as though he were a snake in the grass. "You have ruined the right of passage your brother has striven for his entire life! You have destabilized an already tenuous peace! You have brought shame to my house this day, Loki. Worst of all, you are responsible for five unnecessary deaths! The blood of Jotunheim and Asgard stains your hand, you foolish boy."
As Odin berated him, Thor looked away, his jaw working in anger. Loki wondered if Thor was going to attack him.
"Both my sons have disgraced themselves, neither of you are worthy to sit on the throne of Asgard!" he spat. "Thor, you will return to the palace in the knowledge that you will not be king until you have proven yourself better than this to me. Loki,I forbid you to set foot outside the palace walls. You will remain a prisoner of your own home until such time as I decide what is to be done with you. One more trick, one toe outside the gates and I will cast you into the dungeons for this treachery. The only reason I do not send you there this moment is because of your actions to put a stop to this idiocy." Odin drove his staff hard into the ground, and teleported the entire small party back into the palace. For a moment, the image of the scene on the rainbow bridge and the throne room were transposed in a dizzying whirl of color and sensation. Odin cried out again :"Now. Out of my sight! The pair of you!"
His fathers words pounding and stinging in his ears, Loki considered simply fleeing Asgard. But he knew that if he did, he could never return, and that Odin would never stop hunting him. He nodded numbly and teleported himself directly into his chambers, wanting to avoid talking to anyone and anxious not to be under his father's gaze.
...
Months past this way. Months usually seem but a moment in the eyes of a god, but to Loki they felt slow and protracted.
Loki obeyed his father's edict, although he chafed against the bars of his cage, gilded and comfortable though it might be. Loki spent the balance of each day in the library, absorbing all the knowledge of magic that he could. That was one small benefit to be gleaned from this situation. He no longer had to deal with maintaining his false friendship with Thor's band of cronies.
Thor himself had forgiven Loki surprisingly quickly. He was not the sort of person who held a grudge or sought deeper meaning into Loki's betrayal. He accepted it as a prank gone wrong, and brushed it aside. His friends, however, treated Loki with disdain on the best of days, unbridled hate and contempt on the worst.
The hardest thing for Loki by far was his father's reaction to his sons' disgrace. Odin looked old and worn down by all the strife in his family. But although he slowly began to make amends with his eldest son and address his flaws as a future king, the Allfather would not look upon his second son, or speak his name.
Loki found himself praying for something to break up this monotony, but he could never imagine what was coming for him.