"Cower in fear, cruel beast! I am Thor, Son of Odin! And behind me? Lady Sif and the Warriors Three, here to destroy you!" the blonde eleven year old laughed as he stood in front of his four friends, Fandral, Volstagg, Hogun and Sif, wielding an invisible weapon.
"Why can we not just be The Warriors Four? It rhymes, after all." Sif chimed in from behind Thor. Thor turned around to the girl and smiled.
"Sif, rhyming is for children, and that doesn't have the same ring to it! Perhaps five, but certainly not four!" Thor chortled.
And with that, the slight, dark haired boy slunk away, back into the shadows.
"Well, what about Loki? He could join." Sif quipped, unusually thoughtfully. Thor glanced around the room twice before shrugging.
"I've looked everywhere and I can't find him." Thor turned to his three male friends, who laughed with him. Sif walked up to Thor, grasping him by the front of the shirt and raising an eyebrow.
"What was that? I couldn't hear you." Sif snapped. Thor sighed and dropped his shoulders, Sif relinquishing her grip on the blonde.
"Why do we have to let him play?" Thor huffed.
"Because he's your brother, Thor. And I –"
"Sif loves Loki!"
"What did you say?! Who said that?!"
Fandral, Volstagg and Hogun all stood up straight as Sif glared at them. The red rapidly appearing in Volstagg's cheeks gave him away, and Sif pointed at him, eyes filled with menace.
"Don't ever say that again." the girl warned. She was only eleven – eleven – but she could be threatening if need be. Volstagg nodded before his eyes dropped to the floor, an unruly mane of hair hanging at the sides of his face. Sif then looked back at Thor, and he sighed and nodded.
"I'm goi-" before Thor could even begin to leave, Frigga walked in, her hand gently sitting on the shoulder of her young son.
"Thor." she said, quietly. Thor walked over to his mother, leaving Fandral and Hogun to trade small snickers, Volstagg still too worried to say anything. Sif just looked on, still getting used to the fact that her queen, the queen of Asgard, had told her and her friends that formality was not needed when they were so close to the family. Thor looked at his mother, his sweet, innocent look playing across his eyes.
"Thor, would it be too much trouble to let Loki join you?" Frigga asked. Thor shook his head begrudgingly, and Loki could see it was forced. His eyes looked overfilled with tears – but then again, they almost always did. His hair fell across his face, for both of the boys were far overdue for haircuts. Frigga gave Loki a gentle pat on the shoulder before smiling at her son's friends and leaving the palace hall. Sif watched as the brothers stood awkwardly for a second before walking over to them.
"Hi, Loki. How have you been?" Sif asked. She tried desperately to include Loki – she saw the discrepancy between him and his brother, everyone did. But it was hard to find the line between including and patronising.
"Fine." he mumbled. Sif sighed and looked down at the younger boy.
"C'mon, Loki. We need you for our mighty team of the Warriors Five!" Sif exclaimed. She may have been mature beyond her years, but Sif was still a child who yearned to play. Loki looked up – he had a cynicism and condescension radar nowadays, and he couldn't sense any in Sif's words.
"Alright, then." he replied. Sif laughed and nodded, linking her arm with the younger boys and running back towards her three other friends, Thor trailing. Loki nearly fell over his own feet but regained his feet in order to keep face for the eleven year olds.
"Okay, okay! Can we get back to slaying this foul creature now?!" Thor asked. Everyone nodded and Sif looked at Loki, trying to quell his uneasiness.
"Right! I am Thor, and these are the Warriors Five! Foul beast, you shall now meet your doom!" Thor called out to the invisible creature. Hogun cleared his throat loudly and everyone looked back at him.
"Well, I was thinking… what sort of monster is this, Thor?" Hogun asked. Thor tilted his head to the side in thought, but before he could respond, Fandral's face filled with glee.
"A frost giant." he said with a grin. Volstagg nodded zealously and clapped his hands together, his stout frame making all other ten-year-olds pale in comparison.
"And not just any frost giant. It's Laufey." he added. Thor grinned back and he gave a small laugh – Laufey was one of those topics that was not avoided, per se, but was not considered proper to poke fun at. But, then again, Thor and the Warriors Five was nothing funny.
"Okay. We are fighting Laufey… now, what shall be Laufey?" Thor asked. Glancing around the hall, Thor noticed chairs sitting to the side of the room.
"Loki – go with Sif and ask Mother for the large blanket she keeps for cold nights." Thor said. Loki blinked and raised his eyebrows. Thor was willingly asking Loki to do something? Mother must have bribed him.
"O-Okay." Loki nodded and turned on his heel, walking out of the hall with Sif following close behind.
"Volstagg! Can you help Fandral and Hogun move some chairs into the middle of the hall?" Thor asked. Volstagg nodded and made his way over to the side, but not before Fandral enquired.
"What are you going to do, Thor?" he asked. Thor smirked and crossed his arms.
"Well, if we're really going to be heroes, then we should defeat a king. Despicable Laufey needs a crown." Thor walked off, and Fandral simply laughed with his other friends before helping to move the chairs.
It took about fifteen minutes for Loki and Sif to return with the blanket – mainly due to the fact that it unfolded itself whilst Loki was carrying it on his head and he got entangled in it, requiring the help of Frigga.
"Where is Thor?" Sif enquired as they walked back into the hall. At that moment, Thor walked back into the hall, a trail of crumbs following him. Loki stared, dumbfounded.
"… Brother… please tell me you didn't fashion a crown out of… bread?" Loki said, expectantly.
"I would, brother," Thor was still chewing the food he had in his mouth, "but I don't like lying to you." Loki dropped his eyes to the floor and shook his head.
"Laufey, the fierce king with a crown of bread. I like it!" Volstagg said, dropping the last of the chairs onto the stack, making it as high as the children could while staying on the floor.
"Of course you like it, Volstagg," Hogun chimed, "it's food."
"Yeah, are you going to defeat our Laufey or just eat him?" Fandral laughed to himself, watching as Volstagg crossed his arms.
"I'm only hungry all the time because I'm going to grow taller than all of you." he said, derisively. Thor laughed before he stepped towards the chair.
"Laufey needs to be at least two children high… Brother, get on my shoulders to stack the chairs!" Thor called.
"Sh-Shoulders? Brother, can't somebody else do it?" Loki asked.
"No! Brother, you weigh the least!" Thor exclaimed. Sif crossed her arms and looked at Thor. His eyes widened and he held his hands up.
"I mean, Loki, you are the lightest girl – No! No, that's not what I meant, Brother! I mean… I would not feel comfortable with making you sit on my shoulders and – Sif, what are you doing to Loki?" Thor asked as Sif knelt down in front of Loki, locking her hands together.
"Loki, you get up there. Volstagg, hand him a chair." Sif said. Loki's eyes widened and he shook his head.
"No, no, Sif, I can't, I-"
"C'mon, Loki. You gotta do something." Fandral said, a small laugh accompanying his words. Loki snarled and put one foot onto Sif's hands, pushing up from her shoulders and standing precariously, eventually putting his second foot into Sif's hands. Whether Sif had large hands or Loki had tiny feet, nobody dared to ask – the backlash from either question was not worth it.
Loki took one chair from Volstagg, and then another, and after two more chairs, Loki simply could reach no higher.
"I think this will work." Loki stated, rather proud of his craftsmanship. Sif signalled to Fandral to give Loki the blanket, and Loki threw it rather haphazardly over the stack of chairs. It fell rather evenly over the stack, but the bottom couple of chairs were still visible. Nevertheless, the children continued, and Loki looked down at his brother.
"The bread crown?" he asked, dubiously. Thor held the rapidly crumbling crown aloft, shooting his brother a large grin.
"Here it is, brother." he smirked at the obviously disgruntled Loki.
"You're an idiot." Loki murmured under his breath, but luckily Thor was far too busy basking in his own ego to notice. Loki placed the crown on top of the pile of chairs before landing back on the ground, but just as he did, a familiar tapping of shoes rang out through the hall.
"… Father won't be happy with that, you know."
"But, Mother!" Thor exclaimed.
"Thor, you know Father. And I don't want any of you to get hurt." Frigga said, softly.
"… Alright, Mother. We'll pack it up." Thor said. Frigga nodded and turned around, walking out of the room. All of the children watched and listened until they could hear Frigga no more.
Thor looked up and smiled, and his eyes flicked around, first to Loki, then to Sif, Fandral, Volstagg and finally Hogun. They all nodded to him with the same childish smirk. All of the children drew in a breath, and in unison they all cried out.
"Charge!"