Hello there! So this is my first fan fiction, I hope you all enjoy it! A few things before you dive in: this story is NOT romantic, so there will be some brotherly scenes between Thor and Loki, but nothing romantic. Also, I have set this story to 200 years prior to Thor and The Avengers because considering how old Thor and Loki must be, I believe this would be them in their young 20s approximately.

Enough blabbering, now please, enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: Thor and Loki are not my characters, they belong to Marvel Entertainment.

200 years prior to the events in Thor and The Avengers:

Loki POV

"Thor!" The booming sound of the explosions around them muffled the sound of his voice to a mere whisper. "Thor! Thor behind you!" His voice finally seemed to reach its destination just on time as an axe flew inches away from Thor's right shoulder, followed by a hard blow on the attackers shoulder by Thor's hammer. "Thank you brother, you have my back, as always." Thor smiled with that broad smile characteristic of his as him pushed back another 10 enemies in one blow. But the difference was hardly noticeable. There were too many, and they were too few. Loki's side hurt from the sword that he had barely missed a few mere seconds ago. He had regretted his decision of coming to Vanaheim the second they arrived. His opinion had not changed. At this very moment they were surrounded by hundreds of rebels of various species and sizes. "You know we wouldn't be in this situation if you had listened to me from the start and we had simply talked things out, we have lost track of everyone else and Heimdall won't take us back if it means risking the entry of any of these to Asgard!" It was true, should the Bifrost open now, who knows what would happen. "You worry too much brother! This enemies are nothing to-" He was cut off. In fact, absolute silence reigned the battlefield for about a second, and then it was over. It was over very fast. Too fast. Before either of them could realize the spear had reached its destination and the battle was over. The cheers could have been heard miles away. Blood was covering the ground the two brothers stood on. Blood streaming from Thor's chest onto the cold, hard, stone ground. 'Thor? Thor! Thor look at me, stay with me!" He shook him with all the might he could master, but the body which had now been reduced to a cold collection of meat and bones remained unmoved. "Thor? Thor?! THOR!"

Sweat covered his usually cold body and his sheets were strangling around his body forming a strange, 6 foot sized cocoon. It was there again. The same dream Loki had been having for about a month now. The dream had been accompanied by a set of terrible headaches which only lasted for a few minutes but war very intense non the less. He had decided it would be wise not to tell Frigga about it, she would get unnecessarily worried about such small things. Still, Loki could not stop but wonder what it meant. Was it a vision? Frigga had told him about the nature of visions, and this seemed real enough to be one. Did this mean Thor was in danger? That seemed unlikely, though reckless he was, Loki knew few people who could take better care of themselves than Thor. He has a simple strategy: use his hammer to beat any potential enemy into the ground. Hammer first, ask questions later. Often ineffective, but it had kept Thor alive. Loki had nothing to worry about. Loki could write a book with the names of people who wanted to kill Thor, starting from rejected bar maids to members of rebel groups all over the nine realms, but none of them were strong enough to kill Thor, right?

The next morning Loki was tired. And by tired I mean the last thing he felt like was going with Thor and Volstagg to the training grounds. But what to do? Sometimes one had to put up with ones siblings. Thor was as energetic and well-spirited as ever, something Loki in his present state of mind found disgustingly unpleasant. Not wanting to cause a fight he returned his brother smile with as much energy and joy as he could conjure.

"I see you're as eager as always brother."

"And I see you have stayed up learning new tricks until late again, careful, wouldn't want you to fall asleep whilst fighting Volstagg. How about you show us some of your new tricks against him today? If you think you can manage, that is."

Loki did not know that his lack of sleep could be read so easily from his face, and though it was true, and though he had learned new spells in the last week, he did not feel like becoming Volstagg and Thor's laughing joke of the day.

"I don't believe I'm up for it today brother. Perhaps another time, I'll be more than satisfied by watching the two of you brawl things out on the training grounds."

They started walking towards said destination at an eased pace. Volstagg would be waiting for them there. Still, there was no hurry, and Loki was enjoying the view from the palace's main bridge. He had never quite stopped to admire the beauty of the sea that covered a great part of Asgard. It surprised him he never had.

"Always so reserved to yourself, you will never gain father's gratitude in battle like this Loki."

"I'm afraid I am not the most qualified person in leading armies and battling brutes, my skill sets lie elsewhere. I'd rather avoid conflict if necessary."

"I suppose not everyone is cut out to become a warrior. Alas, today you will have no choice. I signed you up for the tournament this afternoon."

"What?"

Loki had almost forgotten. The annual warriors tournament of Asgard. Warriors gathered from the Nine Realms and would battle each other in turns until only one remained. Thor was the current champion. As had he been for the past 50 years. Loki had seen it a few times but had never found it too interesting, and he of course had never participated.

"Why did you sign me up for that? You know I have no interest in participating, I am going to take myself out of the tournament right now."

"You can't. You can only do that a week before the tournament. It's too late. But please brother! This year is one of the few years father will come down especially to watch it, I know that you are strong and can beat all the participants in the blink of an eye, and I want to fight you in the final battle, I know father would love it."

Oh yes. Of course the All Father would love to see his favourite son humiliatingly beating his younger son in front of hundreds of people. Of course he would. And that was what was going to happen. As Thor had said, Loki was strong, and it was true that he could beat all the participating without even putting in any effort. But even though Loki had his pride, he had to admit that on an equal one on one with Thor, his chances of winning were slim.

"Then I won't go. You cannot force me to participate in this puerile contest of yours. I won't do it."

"Brother please! For our father's sake! Will he not be proud and happy to see his sons competing against each other? Mother will be there too."

Ah, his mother. The one person in the entire realm of Asgard Loki loved and treasured more than anything. She had taught him all the magic he knew and had never belittled him for using his senses and his intelligence instead of sheer muscle in battle. But it was still a bad idea. Loki knew he would lose, the embarrassment was something he could not take. Or would he? Now that he thought about it, he had learned some very tricky spells in the last few days, spells Thor could not see coming from miles away (thank goodness for his lack of interest). Perhaps Loki did have a chance of winning? Thor was physically stronger yes, but if Loki used his senses, he would be able to anticipate Thor's attacks and beat him... And if he did, Loki could finally get the recognition from his father that, he hated to admit, had always wanted.

"Fine. I suppose there is no going back. I'm only doing this to make sure you shut up about it and because mother will be there. Also, it might be a good chance to teach you a lesson about the fact that sheer brute strength isn't everything."

"Save your words for this afternoon Loki, we'll see if what you say is true."

Thor pushed a kind slap on Loki's shoulder and the two continued laughing and talking until they reached the training grounds where Volstagg awaited them.

It was a rare sight, seeing both brothers laughing in good humor. The day continued in its usual rhythm. Volstagg and Thor battled each other like brutes for what seemed like hours to Loki. He in turn practiced throwing his daggers. No one was better than him when it came to aim, he could hit the eye of an enemy target no matter the distance. Loki was not all about 'magic tricks' as people thought.

The day continued until the hour Loki dreaded came. At six he was expected in the arena (not only had Thor signed him in, but he was to be first). When he stepped into the ancient and traditional arena he saw a sight truly unknown to him. People, hundreds of people, say at different levels and cheered as he stepped up to face his enemy. Loki might not be the favorite prince to the people of Asgard but they surely would rather have him win than some warrior of another realm. Never before had Loki heard such cheering directed to him and he started to rejoice the fact that he had accepted to participate. In the centre of the spectators was a great balcony reserved for the royal family. And there they were. Odin, the All Father, mighty and potent as ever, and Frigga, his mother, her eyes full of love and joy, and what seemed like a tint of worry. Loki nodded in their direction. 'Mother I will be alright.' He intended to say with this. She nodded in return. Odin stepped up from his chair to initiate the games.

"It is my honor and joy to for the first time see both of my sons participating in these games. Which warriors will be brave enough to take them on I wonder? We shall see! Let the games begin!"

And thus it began.

As Loki had expected, his first foe was an easy victory. The man was about double his size and wielded an axe the size of a frost giant (how on earth did he lift it?). But what Loki realized as soon as the battle had begun was that he was stupid. And with stupid I don't mean foolish as his brother could often be, by stupid I mean Loki did not even find the need to use his magic to create an illusion to beet him. The battle was over in less than one minute.

The cheers when his enemy surrendered where breathtaking, so this is what it felt like to be the victor? The best? To be Thor?

Loki put his arm up in a sign of victory and left the arena to make place for the next contestants. Next was shogun against someone from his own realm, and after him two unknown warrior he did not know of. Then came Thor against some mercenary from Asgard. As expected, the battle lasted little, although it could've been even shorter if Thor had not decided to make a great show out of it. Loki could hear the cheers for his brother from the changing rooms. 'Thor! Thor! Thor!' it rang. Loki wandered if they would cheer in the same way if Loki were to beat Thor.

No time to think about that, he was up next. And this time, against Fandral. One of Thor's friends and a tremendous fighter. Loki had seen him in action and he was very good, but Loki knew he was better.

When the fight started Loki had to be at 100% from the start, he would better not underestimate Fandral. The warrior attacked him on his left and right side without stop and Loki only had his dagger to defend himself. It was more difficult than he'd hoped it to be.

"What is it, oh Prince Loki? Do you need to stop to catch your breath?"

Loki did not answer. He had the advantage. Fandral underestimated him. Bad idea.

Before the warrior could realize Loki had sent a blast of fire to his hand and his sword fell from the ground. Loki was not used to using fire magic, for some reason he always felt at unease when close to heat or fire, but he had little choice now. Also, it was quite flashy, and people seemed to like it.

"So you've decided to use your tricks now to fight me? Pick up a sword and fight like a man!"

"You mean your sword? Gladly, but then I feel you would be at too much of a disadvantage."

Loki threw Fandral's sword to him in a sign of mockery and the two kept exchanging blows. Eventually the winner was clear. Fandral's hand hurt too much after being hit by Loki's fire and the victor was decided. Loki had won. This time however, the cheers had decreased. It seemed that the ladies weren't too happy at seeing their knight in shining armor helpless on the ground.

The battles continued with Loki and Thor consecutively winning each of them, most of the combatants they faced were easy to defeat. Thor defeated the other of the warriors three and Sif, and eventually reached the finals. Loki had one more for to go before getting to the fight anticipated by everyone, him versus his brother. His penultimate foe stood before him and initially seemed like a small challenge, but ended up being more difficult to fight than Loki expected. The man was small and thin but incredibly fast and used long distance attacks to keep himself away from his enemy. Not a problem, Loki's daggers and magic could reach him with ease. The fighters were on equal ground and continuously dodged each other's attacks. There was cheering for both of them and Loki was close to gaining the upper hand when it happened. Loki had managed to get close enough to apply a blast of magic directly on to the fighter's chest when an intense pain like he had never felt before attacked his head. It was like the headaches he'd had the last few days but more intense and painful, he felt as if his head were to burst in two. The intense pain came accompanied by flashing images which were unfortunately all too familiar to Loki. Vanaheim. Enemies surrounding them. Thor blasting them away with his hammer. A spear through the dark. Thor on the ground. Blood. Lots of blood. And then something new. A woman. A woman so repelling in appearance Loki felt the pain in his head increase. Her head was covered but Loki could see her skin, or the places her skin had used to be. She looked at the scenario of Loki's dreams with a smile so wicked and disgusting it made Loki's inside revolt. The visions kept coming and Loki fell to his knees. He grabbed his head and tried to keep his consciousness from fading. He felt like he was dying. It literally felt like dying. He let out a scream of agonizing pain and heard a voice in the distance scream his name. That was the last thing he heard before being swallowed by the dark.

So, what do you believe has happened to Loki?

Please leave any reviews and comments! I would love some critical comments, as this is my first piece of writing I would like to know where I could improve!

I will upload a new chapter every week, I hope you liked this first chapter and look forward for more!