Chapter 17

A/N Hello everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, I sure did. I was able to spend it with the person I love, who lives in another country, so ehm yeah… like you guys wanted to hear that. Sadly the bustrip over, which would've been the perfect 8 hour trip to write several chapters was spend sitting next to the smelliest, personal space invading dude in the universe, so I didn't get to writing, luckily for you guys, I've found some hours I'm not doing anything else, so I decided to use it to write two chapters. Expect another chapter in the next few hours! It's my Christmas gift to you!

Also, in case some of you have read my one-shots, for one of them, I've gotten MULTIPLE questions, demands, pleads and prayers for me to continue it, even if it was a one-shot, and to be fair, I actually had a whole story around it, but didn't think it'd be worthy to type it out. But now I will! Popular demand and all! (see I can be persuaded!)

Geez, let's get on with the story shall we, before I ramble away a whole chapter!

ooOOoo

Tony's mind was racing. So many emotions were flowing through him. He was angry and wanted to follow Obediah and… well, he was so angry now, he wasn't sure what he'd do. He'd be a fool if he denied being afraid as well, of what could've happened if Vali hadn't been there. Vali. Yeah he was afraid and worried for Vali, sad because the dagger was sticking out of Vali's chest and if the raspy breathing and pool of blood was anything to go by, he knew Vali wasn't going to last long. No one had ever bothered to teach Tony anything about medical care, so he had no clue what to do. He cradled Vali in his arms instead, tears flowing of his cheek. This man had been around him, protected him, and his father, all these years. Loyal, funny and kind. If anyone was going to reprimand him, a pharaoh, for holding someone in his arms, crying for him, then so be it.

"Vali, please, no!" he whispered as the old man opened his eyes in pain to look at him

"Tony…" Tony gasped as the man used his nickname. He never had told the man about it, so it meant he knew about it, he knew about his friendships and he had never done anything or told his father about it. Vali had been more than just a soldier or bodyguard. "Don't weep for an old man like me, I am lucky to have lived so long… and so luxurious,… as I have… Don't ever… trust… Obediah… again… Trust Thor… instead. Loki… is a fine… young man… as well… If you.. somehow… get him… as loyal to you… as he is to Thor… you'll have… a fine… companion.. in him." Tony's tears splashed on the man's cheek. Vali had been looking after him in more ways than one. He had not been blind to Tony's attraction to the man either. "Please Vali, hush, save your strength, I will get someone to heal you, you'll be fine!"

"No… Tony… I will not. It has been… a pleasure." Vali said, and though he tried to say more, nothing came out, and they both knew this was it. So Vali smiled, a genuine smile, which the palace lacked, Tony found, and then he closed his eyes. Tony let a wail escape his lips as he hangs his head over his dead old friend.

When he hears sounds, he looks up to see Thor and Loki in a disheveled state, Thor with his sword drawn and Loki's hair soaked with blood coming from a gash on his forehead, a wild look in his eyes.

And for one moment he fears they have come for his life.

One moment.

ooOOoo

As Obediah runs through the hallways of the palace, to his own quarters to gather as much as he can, he finds two guards loyal to him. He orders one of them to follow him and the other to gather the other four he has in the palace currently, to join him in his chambers, as quick as possible.

It was the one he send away who nearly bumped into Thor and Loki as they were on their way to Tony's chambers. Thor recognized him as one of Obediah's and decided to follow him.

"Quick Loki, go to Tony's chambers, see if he's alright. Take this dagger with you." And Thor run off after the hurrying soldier. It didn't take long before he found him conniving with three other men, and as he approached them, they all looked up at him, snarled and charged him. Thor manages to avoid most swords aimed at him but receives shallow cuts all over his body from the ones he can't dodge. Within minutes though, he has the four bodies of the traitorous soldiers on the floor. As one is gurgling out his last breath he runs to find his brother and Tony, fearing for their safety.

ooOOoo

Loki, not familiar with the palace just yet, carefully walks around the hallways, looking into several rooms and halls to see if he can recognize it. He has his dagger hidden in the sash he's wearing. Careful not to get caught with a drawn weapon, as it may confuse a random soldier and have them kill him because they may think he's out to kill Tony. As he pokes his head in room, only to notice it's definitely not a room he's been in before something or someone suddenly rams into his side, throwing him onto the floor. When he looks up, a little dizzy, he sees the High Priest he knows is responsible for the false accusations and possibly the murder on the previous pharaoh. Next to him is a soldier with a drawn sword.

"You" Obediah hisses. "It's your fault. You come in here, showing your lean naked body and everything turns for the worse. He has send me away, only because he wants to plunge into that fine buttocks of you. We'll see about that. Take him!" He orders his soldier, who grabs Loki's hand and pulls him up, holding the sword on his throat. "At the end of the day, I will be at my house, waiting for my time to strike with several soldiers, loyal to me, plunging into your ass as that snotnosed princeling can only weep over his dead Master of Arms." Loki was shocked, so much news at the same time. Vali, dead? This man was going to kidnap him? Traitorous soldiers? And then there was the sword currently on his throat. He felt anger boil inside of him as he registered the fact that one of the few friends he had, Vali, was murdered by this man. That same anger reminded him he had a dagger hidden away in his sash and in a fragment of a second he grabbed it, planted his feet on the soldier's foot, who recoiled and instead cut Loki's forehead, but shallow. With the grace instilled in him through all of his hard work as a dancer he turned around and before he knew what he was doing, as he'd never consciously rob someone his life, he pushes his arm forward, closes his eyes, hitting the carotid artery more by chance than anything else. After all, he was not a trained fighter, like his brother was. The soldier drops the weapon he had raised to cut Loki in half and grabs for the dagger sticking out of his neck, all the while making noises that didn't sound like words in slightest. He stumbles backwards, Loki looks at him wide eyed, but it was too late to regret his actions, as the man blew out his last breath. He almost forgot that there had been another man, Obediah, as he gets pinned to the ground. As much as Loki struggled, Obediah was surprisingly heavy and strong, so Loki could do nothing but struggle as the man's left hand curled around his mouth.

"Shhhh…" Obediah tells him, then grins. "I have no time for more of your tricks. I will take what is mine, then slit your throat so that arrogant fool will never have you." His right hand travels south, tugging at the sash wrapped around Loki's hips. All Loki can feel right then is despair. He didn't went through all that trouble to finally find Thor only to be raped and killed by this file creature. As Obediah is focused on his southern regions, Loki stretches his hand to try and reach for the sword the soldier had dropped. He could almost reach it, his fingers already sliding over the tip of the handle when Obediah notices, letting go of the undone sash as he grabs the sword, which he then puts behind the belt he's wearing over his robes. "I told you" he says as he punched Loki in the face with his left hand. "I don't have time for any more of your tricks!" Just as Loki opens his now free mouth to shout he clasps his hand over it again. "If I see you brother ever again, know I will torture him, before I'll tell him how you moaned like a common whore, and then, only then, I will slit his throat so the disappointment in his eyes will be forever on his face." He grinned.

"You'd be wrong, it would be profound sadness that people like you exist on this world." An angry Thor stood in the doorway, his sword and body covered in blood, mostly the soldiers'. Obediah's grin faltered then.

Obediah grabbed the sword from behind him, while dragging Loki off the floor. Loki had a hard time standing up as his head starts to throb, courtesy of the wound on his forehead and the blood dripping down the side of his face.

"One step closer and you'll be sweeping your brother's blood off the floor." Obediah hisses, as he holds the sword in front of Loki's chest.

"It'll be yours as well, if you so much as scratch his skin." Thor said, and his tone implied it was no empty promise or bluff.

Obediah's eyes slinted as he stared at Thor a full minute, then threw Loki at him and run off as Thor quickly put aside his sword so he wouldn't harm Loki and caught him in his arms.

"I'm alright, Thor, go after him!" Loki said, his voice hoarse, as he struggled out of his brother's grip. Thor gave him one last look before he let go and stepped backwards. Just as he was about to turn around and chase Obediah a guard shouted out from the next room.

"I got him, make sure the pharaoh is ok!" Thor wasn't sure he recognized the guard's voice.

Both Thor and Loki thought that seemed like a good idea though. For all they knew Tony could be bleeding out right now. There would be time for justice later, but right now Tony's safety came first. The pharaoh's safety is always the first priority to a guard, and Thor still is one. He runs a little faster than Loki who is panting by now. He searches every room on the left as he shouts Tony's full name, while Loki searches every room on the right. Just as they're both about to give up, Thor's eyes frantically looking around them, a wail comes from one of the rooms Loki hasn't been in before, and he rushes back to his younger sibling. They both stumble trough the room, into the next hallway only to find the pharaoh clutching onto Vali's dead body. Loki gasps and Tony finally looks up and sees them. For one moment, Loki could swear he could see panic wash over Tony's eyes, before it disappears.

Tony finally takes in the state of the two brothers. They both looked like they had been through quite a lot. And though he was hiding it well, Loki was sort of wobbling on his legs. That is a nasty gash on his forehead though, and quite a lot of blood pouring out of it. Thor is the first to move, he puts away his sword as he walks forward. He pries Tony's fingers of Vali's body.

"Loki, bring him to his room, close the door and make sure he opens for nobody but me, Pepper or Rhodey." He instructs his brother. He then picks Vali up and sets off towards the priests who would then prepare his body for his final journey. As he walks there he decides that no matter what that highpriest had done, no matter what he was going to do Loki if he had not intervened, and that did boil his blood, he could not kill him if he was unarmed. He would leave the man to Tony's judgement. But he would not be the executioner. It's one thing to kill a man in battle, but another to kill one without a weapon to defend himself. There was blood on his hand and not only literally. He had never killed before today, nor had Loki, and now he remembers how there had been a guard with the dagger he gave Loki sticking out of his neck. He would check upon Loki later, he has always been more delicate about killing to begin with.

But first there was Vali, then there was Obediah. And so many other things he had to check. Like Pepper and Rhodey and sound the alarm in general. What if there were other guards still in the palace who would try and finish Obediah's job. And Loki would be there, defenseless as well. Thor hurried.

A/N

Who feels like punching Obediah in the face, raise your hand! I sort of feel mean for writing him like this… ah well, someone has to be the badguy!