The golden halls of the Asgardian Palace were always silent this time of night. Any sane Aesir had retired for the night to sink into their beds, accompanied by their lovers, their children, and their dreams. Any Aesir who was still awake had the unfortunate luck of being a night guard. The silence of the night within the palace has been and always will be a constant in the Palace since the gold had been placed where the floor would soon be.

With one, and only one, exception.

Prince Loki, the younger of the heirs of Asgard, walked quickly through the golden halls, boots clicking loudly throughout an otherwise silent night. His green eyes staring straight ahead, his midnight black hair swept behind his shoulders. The night guards merely sighed, for this was no abnormality, and had not been since the young prince was old enough to walk. Had it been, they may have noticed the urgency in the man's steps.

Prince Loki had never followed the unspoken rules of the land. He practiced magic, he read more than fought, he kept odd hours. Every citizen found it strange, but had long ago accepted these things as yet another oddity of the strange little Aesir.

They may have found it made more sense had they known he wasn't Aesir at all.

The prince turned the corner, and the guards in the hall turned back to staring monotonously at the wall, in faith that the guards in the next hall would watch over the prince. Had they been looking, they would have seen what looked like a massive pair shadows in the shape of wings in the flickering torch light.

When asked during a conversation the next day, the guards in the next hall claimed they had never seen the prince that night at all.

On Midgard, Loki stood at the top of what humans refer to as Mount Everest, gazing at the landscape below him, the full moon directly above his head. After a few moments, he reached into his ear and pulled out a previously unnoticed ivory earpiece, akin to the humans' "Bluetooth". He placed the earpiece on the ground. His green eyes flashed gold, and from the earpiece rose a tall man with short dark hair, pale skin and silver eyes, a biker jacket wrapped around him in an attempt to keep him warm against the biting wind.

"Really? I know you don't mind the cold, but some of us do!"

Loki sighed, used to this argument. It was always something. 'It's too warm', 'It's too wet', 'It's too dry', 'oh my god why are you holding me above a volcano'. There was just no pleasing him. Nevertheless, he snapped his fingers to shield him companion from the wind, and turned to speak to him, a sad look in his eyes.

"Please tell me I'm wrong, please tell me there's another way."

His companion looked at him in pity, knowing that his entire life was about to be shaken to its foundation.

"I'm sorry boss, but you know I can't lie. The only way to stop him from going down that path is to beat him to it. I wish there was something you could do."

Loki allowed his head to fall against his chest in defeat.

"I wish it didn't have to end this way."

"Neither did I, boss. But you know a hero is only as good as his villain."

Loki raised his head, a bitter smile on his face.

"Do I ever."

The two men stood in compatible silence, staring at the horizon until it turned from blue to orange, and Prince Loki stood alone as he always seemed to be. He picked up the ivory earpiece in the snow, returning it to his ear. He turned his golden gaze to the horizon once more, but this time, he did not see a rising sun. This time, he saw an icy room with a tyrant sitting upon an icy throne, and the previously somber man smirked with mischief in his eyes.

"Well hello daddy dearest. I'm about to fuck you up."

AN: Here's the rewrite of the prologue! What do you think? Better? Worse? Review and let me know!