And the new King will be...? von Soriniath ================================================================================ Kapitel 1: ----------- It was the evening that father would reveal his successor to the throne of Asgard. Of course my brother and I were a little on edge about what the ceremony would bring and the changes that were going to follow in its wake. But after all Thor would still be my brother and father and mother would still be my parents. At least these things weren’t going to change. So I took comfort in that.  Nonetheless, Thor was behaving strangely this special evening. He seemed to avoid me for some reason I didn’t understand. And somehow this had gotten me even more nervous. I mean, it’s not that I wasn’t already so nervous that I jumped in surprise, when someone suddenly started talking to me or the like. Even the atmosphere in the palace was strange, so I decided to take a walk outside to calm my nerves. Needless to say I met exactly the person who tried to avoid me out there. Thor was walking in circles underneath the trees in the palace gardens, seemingly thinking hard about something, but I didn’t have the slightest clue as to what that might be. I tried not to surprise him, because he seemed kind of jumpy himself, so I called his name from afar. He turned to look at me with a concerned half-smile and stopped on the spot. “What are you doing out here, brother? The ceremony will start soon.” “I could ask you the very same question, Thor. You look different than usual, distressed in a way. Is anything the matter? I mean apart from the whole succession thing that’s about to happen. You avoided me, or at least it felt like that.” He looked at me sheepishly and tried to smile his usual confident smile, but failed at it. “I… It’s nothing personal. I just don’t know how to behave around you right now.” I cocked my head to the side and raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What do you mean by that?” He shook his head slightly, rubbing his temple. “You see, this succession is going to change our relationship. Up until this point, we’ve been just brothers, partners in crime when it comes to all the crazy and partially stupid things we’ve done in the past. I don’t want that to change. I don’t want one of us to become the subordinate of the other, just so that one can become the king of Asgard. It’s not fair.” I couldn’t help but smile at that and pat his shoulder. “Dearest brother, I’ve been thinking about the very same thing for the last hours. But let me tell you something in secret. It won’t change the way I see you or mother and father. Even if I were to kneel before you as my new king, I wouldn’t mind, because you’d still be my beloved brother and I’m sure that in time you’d make a great king. Should it be the other way around, I hope you wouldn’t feel the need to treat my any different. Well, maybe speak to me in a more respectful way than we usually do, when there are official gatherings, but apart from that, I’ll still be the same Loki. I’ll still be your little brother who looks up to you, no matter what happens. I’ll always be there for you if you need me and I am confident that you’ll be there for me as well. Nothing will change that.” After I finished my speech, he wrapped his strong arms around me and hugged me in a rib-crushing way. “I’m glad you told me. I was really scared of losing you. And this would be unbearable for me. But…” “Oh, come on, brother. What now?” He put on a shy smile. “I know you always had a strange fascination for Mjolnir. Won’t you be sad, if I were the one to take it and not you?” That took me by surprise, but I wouldn’t be the mischievous one of us, if I hadn’t had a good reply at the ready. “Nah, don’t mind my fascination for Mjolnir. Why should I be jealous of you, when I’ve already got Mjolnir in my pants?” I said the last words in the most serious tone I could muster and waited for a few seconds before putting on my signature smile and jogging of towards the palace laughing. When I looked back at him he still stood there flustered and stared at me. “You cheeky bastard!” he finally said and came after me smiling his beautiful and carefree smile once again. Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)