A/N: I am posting this as a one-shot now because I want to get some feedback on this and hopefully attract a beta. So please message me with any constructive criticism. Or if you wanna be my beta. And because I don't want to mess with how age would work with the difference in life spans there will be no specific ages for non-humans. For the prologue the boys are prepubescent.
The first winter storm had just hit. Luckily it wasn't a violent storm, just snow rapidly fluttering to the ground for almost two days straight. All of Asgard was coated in easily ten centimeters of snow. It was quite a beautiful sight; the untouched shimmering blanket compared to the contrast of the gold the city was mostly built of. Most everyone in town was out trying to rid the walking paths of the snow starting with the business district. Despite the beauty of the event, the people of Asgard still had to make a living and others needed to restock on some basic supplies after being shut in their living quarters to wait out the storm.
In the palace a young prince was getting quite restless, despite its vastness, having been cooped up inside for so long. The young prince sought out his younger brother in hopes that he would play with him. "Come on Loki, we could play warriors!"
"Thor that is all we have done since this dreaded storm first started. I would much rather read in peace and quiet." The raven haired boy replied not having looked up from his book since the blond boy found him in the library.
"Please brother, I am getting restless and bored. We could do something else. Anything you want." When the other boy gave no response, Thor continued, "What if we convinced Mother to let us go outside? Come on you love the snow… Pleeease?" unable to ignore the desperate whine in his brother's voice the Loki finally looked up. Upon seeing the pouting look on Thor's face, the younger boy gave in.
"Fine, but if you wander off and leave me alone like you did last time you will wake up in another form." The last time Loki had used his magic to turn Thor into something else the older boy had been stuck with a rodent's tail for nearly a week. It wasn't a threat to be taken lightly
"Deal." The blond boy abruptly grabbed the younger one by the arm and dragged the other one along not even stopping to let him put his book away properly. Loki merely sighed in response knowing it would be futile to protest.
When they reached the healers room, where Frigga would often go when her royal duties did not call, the blond froze and looked at his brother. "You want me to ask don't you?" the younger one supplied.
"You are better with words than I." the blond pleaded. Loki rolled his eyes and headed in without another word.
It didn't take much to convince her once she saw the obvious desperation of Thor and soon the brothers were in thick furs heading for the forest not too far behind the palace. The plan was to only go just far enough behind the trees so that Odin wouldn't spot them, but not too far lest Frigga become worried. The Allfather was being extra strict with them lately trying to rear then into the princes they were to become, and childish acts where they could be seen was frowned upon.
Thor, of course, sought to instigate a snowball fight once out of sight, but that quickly ended when, as he took refuge under a tree, Loki used a little bit of magic to make the snow collected on the branches fall on him. When Loki's amusement died down and boredom settled in, Thor decided they should play Hunters, insisted really. "You said you didn't want to play Warriors; you didn't say anything about Hunters."
"Thor that is the worst idea I have ever heard. We have no weapons, no real experience, and most of the animals have either gone into hibernation or have taken refuge from the storm." The younger boy countered.
"Use your imagination, Brother! We don't have to go near any creatures. We imagine they're there and pretend to hunt and kill them!" the blond had his arms spread wide like he had just uncovered all the secrets of the nine realms. Loki just looked at him blankly, at a loss for words for how idiotic he thought this all sounded. "Come on it will be fun. You can even practice your magic by projecting the beasts." And with that, the blond started to wonder further into the woods Loki wordlessly following along with him, a scowl prominent on his face. He had a bad feeling about this.
Eventually, Thor had managed to get the younger boy to play along, using his magic to the best of his abilities to conjure images of beasts for Thor to "hunt". They were flawed due to his inexperience, but the blond would just go along with it and soon the game started to resemble Warriors more than Hunters with Thor protecting Asgard from the monsters of an imaginary land.
The boys were enjoying themselves so much that they hadn't noticed how far into the woods they had wondered. Where exactly they had wondered. When they had settled down from the game Loki was the first to notice. Squatting down he moved the snow aside to reveal that they were on a pond that had frozen over. "Thor we need to leave now. It hasn't been the right temperature long enough for the ice to be thick enough to support us. Move slowly and carefully." His words came out quickly, emphasizing the urgency of the situation.
The older brother did as he was told with Loki right behind him, he was usually right about these things. Thor was almost to the shore when a loud cracking sound reverberated through the small clearing. Both boys froze for a split second before throwing all caution to the wind and sprinting towards the shoreline. Thor made it safely and turned around just in time to see the ice break underneath Loki's feet plummeting him into the water. The two brothers reached out to each other in an attempt to keep Loki from going all the way under but didn't get a good enough grip in time.
Loki tried to swim back up to the surface but the furs he wore weighed him down significantly only pulling him down further. He struggled to get the furs knowing it was the only way he would be able to swim up before he ran out of breath. Somewhere in the struggle, he managed to realize he hadn't reached the bottom yet which was odd considering how close he was to the shore. That's when it hit him; this wasn't an ordinary pond. It was a small area where an underground spring reached the surface. There was no knowing how far down it reached.
He needed to get to the surface and fast he doubted he could hold his breath much longer. He wasn't going to have something to push off of which meant he had to get these stupid furs off now or he definitely wouldn't reach the surface before falling unconscious.
The water was so cold though it was limiting his dexterity. He couldn't feel his body at all now. At some point, he had completely stopped moving. His lungs were screaming for air and he could no longer see properly due to the lack of oxygen. He was mere moments from falling unconscious when something changed. Suddenly the water felt like he was going for a nice swim in the summer. He could move and see again. If it weren't for the fact that his chest felt like it was about to explode, he would've thought he was dead. It was now or never. In no time, he had the furs off and was racing to the top. As soon as he surfaced he took a very deep, much needed, breath and felt something akin to a furnace drag him out of the water. He lay on the oddly warm ground, eyes closed, trying to ground himself.
When the raven haired boy had sufficiently calmed down, he opened eyes to find very shocked blue eyes staring back at him. "Thor?" no answer. "I am still alive you know." when he continued to get no response he went to wave his hand in front of Thor's gaze. That's when he saw it. Blue. He was blue. And not the "I just almost died in a frozen pond" kind either. But Jotun blue.
His mind came to a halt when he thought that. Jotun. Was he Jotun? As if on cue the blond finally decides to speak. "You're… Jotun?" it was phrased as a question but was meant as more of a statement.
Loki quickly got up and went back to the pond using the water like a mirror and sure enough, a young Jotun was looking back at him, markings and all. He didn't even care that the ice could break and he could fall in again. The snow and ice underneath him felt oddly warm, as did the water still dripping off of him.
It was all too much. He barely registered that Thor was talking only catching the tail end of his words "… Father."
"NO! We cannot go to Father."
"Loki – "the blond was cut off before he could finish.
"Thor, what if he doesn't know? What if it's some kind of curse or something? He could banish me or even worse, kill me if we go to him." The young demi-god's mind was running rampant with the bad outcomes he didn't even stop for a moment to consider any possible good ones.
"Father would never do such things to you." The elder countered.
"Ok, what if he does know? Why do you think he's been keeping it a secret? How do you think the rest of Asgard will react? There will be an uprising so big that not even the almighty Allfather could stop them from getting to me. Or you. Or Him. Or Mother. There are many reasons not to say anything, far outweighing any good ones." When the blond continued to look doubtful, he added in, "At the very least let me figure some things out on my own. My birthdate is so close to the end of the war that, for all we know, I could be no more than a war trophy to easily be disposed of." He let out a small huff before continuing. "Maybe that's why you're the favorite."
The first words out of the blond's mouth were, "Father does not favor me." Loki merely raised an eyebrow at him. "I will give you some time, but eventually, we must go to someone. Even if only mother."
"Good. Now we have to sneak me back inside without anyone seeing me. I can't change back until I am warm enough not to freeze in Æsir form."
Thor ended up giving Loki his fur cloak once they neared the palace and Loki used his knowledge to sneak in using a secret passageway he had recently discovered. Loki hid under his blankets while Thor had the servants draw them hot baths. No suspicion was drawn towards the younger boy for they just thought he was that cold.
By the time the baths were ready Loki was almost back to his Æsir form so it wasn't too much of a temperature shock when he got onto the hot water. When he was done it was nearing time for supper but Loki just feigned sick so he didn't have to see anyone. He didn't think he could handle it just yet. Luckily Frigga had the thought to send him up some soup so he didn't go to bed hungry. He needed to get some rest so he could start his search for the truth as soon as possible.
A/N: If this doesn't seem like a very sound ending that is because this will be a multi-chapter fic. This is just the prologue. I pretty much know where I am going with this but if you have any ideas, please send them to me. There is no guarantee that I will use them but as I frequently succumb to writer's block, they could help me in the future.