A/N:

Hey guys! Sorry for the slow updates, really. Usual excuse, I've been busy. But I have also been writing other stuff like my novels and I'm also co-writing another book! I write this fanfic usually when I gain inspiration, or when people pester me into posting *cough* Lexi *cough*. The more you pester me into posting, the faster the chapters will come. It lets me know you guys actually care and want to read this story. And since I'm not one that likes to disappoint, I will post faster. So write a review or shoot me a PM, I'd love to hear from those of you excited about this fic beCAUSE I'M EXCITED TOO! FANGIRLING IS NOT SOMETHING TO BE DONE ALONE!

Love you all

Enjoy.

-Summer

Where Do We Begin

Young Loki stood amongst the flames, hardly believing what he was seeing. The deceivingly gentle wind pulled at his dark hair and dried his lips.

A chill ran up Loki's spine. The kind of chill one gets when someone walks over your grave…only it is you and you are already dead. Fear threatened to take hold as young Loki gazed into the hollow eyes of his predecessor. Was it the truth that this was who he had been? Before he had died and been reborn again? The man before him looked…mad.

So many questions burned through Loki's mind, but fear made him hold his tongue for he somehow knew he had entered into a dangerous game…

"What are the chances," young Loki said, wetting his lips and trying to keep the tremble from his voice. "For I am also Loki. You and I would be the best of friends." The ghost of his past smirked, his image flickering in and out like flame.

"Indeed, but friends are not necessary, for there is only one Loki."

Loki stood rigid as if death itself had placed a hand upon the nape of his neck. But he would not let the fear win out. Cleverness would be his shield.

"Yet there are two of us standing here," young Loki pointed out. "How can that be? You died…we died."

A mischievous glint both brighter and darker than the flames shone across Loki's eyes. Young Loki wondered if that look was what people remembered when they looked at him. He fervently hoped that it wasn't. That was a look to fear, one he feared himself.

"Ah," he smiled. "You wish to know what your purpose here is." Loki leaned forward slightly and favored his younger self with a playful look. "You and every other mortal." His expression suddenly darkened. "Don't be boring."

Young Loki felt a sudden anger rise within him. He above all did not enjoy being mocked. "You should have stayed in the ground. Why am I here?" he demanded more bluntly.

Loki straightened again and with his hands clasped behind his narrow waist, he tilted his head back to gaze down his nose. "Because I have a destiny."

Young Loki scoffed at that. "Do you not think that destiny was forfeit when, I don't know…well when you DIED?"

Loki barked a laugh, short and without humor. "Only the clever can cheat death, and I am the biggest cheat of all," Loki claimed, a sly smile pulling the corner of his lips. "Death cannot keep me from my fate."

"And what fate is that and what does it have to do with me?" Young Loki wanted to know. He felt as if he were a fish in deep waters drawing nearer bait on a hook. But the real danger was lurking somewhere below with its eyes on him.

"I have a destiny to rule Asgard," the mad man said. "And I needed a clean slate." He lowered his dark gaze to look at his younger self. "I wrote myself out of the book of death so I could find my way back to a new Loki…You. And when you give yourself over to me, I will rule Asgard, just as it was always meant to be."

Young Loki felt his world fading as the words settled upon his conscience like a bad dream. "I will never let that happen," he claimed with wavering certainty. "Asgard belongs to Thor. It always has."

The older Loki paced, not trying very hard to hide the amused grin upon his face. "Thor is a fool and always has been. The throne beneath this backside can hardly change any of that."

Young Loki clenched and unclenched his jaw as he fought the tears that blurred his vision. How could he mock? What had happened to him that had turned him into this…this monster? How could he want to betray someone he loved more than anyone else? What has Thor ever done but love him despite everything all his life?

"I will not make the same mistakes you did," Young Loki vowed with tears slipping from his eyes. "I have a chance to make things right, right from whatever mess you made. And I will not mess it up," he whispered feverishly as if it were a threat.

The man across from him ceased his pacing to look upon him. "You and I are one, little Loki. Whatever mistakes I've made are ours to share. Your fate and mine are intertwined. Whether you wish it or not."

"No," Loki scowled. "What I wish is to be Loki. You are done. You are gone."

Something flared up within him. Something old and dangerous that he had yet to discover until this moment.

The raven circled the flames in the darkening skies. With a steady hand, Loki raised his fingers to those skies and summoned the raven forth. It descended upon the helmet with wings spread wide. With a power that he knew nothing of, he banished the spirit of his past into the raven with a bright green flare. The look upon his older self's face was not one of surprise or deceit, but one of knowing.

And it chilled Loki all the more.