Author's Note: This is when Loki and Thor are adults, before the fall from the Bifrost...

It's my first multi-chapter story with an actual plot, and I'm not good at those, so don't expect too much, please!

I hope you enjoy and review! :D

The moonlight cut through the darkness like a delicate knife, illuminating the golden palace. Everything was still and quiet, like the night was waiting for something to happen. Then, of course, something did.

Loki wasn't sleeping. Not because he couldn't, but because he didn't want to. The nightmares were hunting tonight, and he would do his best not to let them catch him.

The god was perched on top of one of the bookshelves in his room, legs crossed, his clever green eyes fixed on the candle lit with a heatless flame floating in the far space in front of him.

Loki studied the contrast between the cool dusk of the shadows and the fiery brightness of the light, watching the way the light would flicker across the walls, chasing the shadows back briefly. He frowned slightly, eyebrows faintly pulling together. The shadows shouldn't have to hide whenever the light came by. Though they wouldn't be shadows in the first place if the light weren't there.

Loki held out a pale hand, illuminated with the fire's glow, and made a quick twirling motion with his finger. Suddenly the shadows swirled around the candle and blanketed the flame. The room was plunged into complete blackness for a moment, before the darkness flew back to its normal patterns and the candlelight filled the room again.

Which was now empty.