Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians - it rightfully belongs to DreamWorks. I only own the plot and the OCs.

Note: This story is set in 1831, and centres around two of my OCs from my story 'Friend or Foe'. You do not need to have read FoF to understand this, and if you don't want any spoilers for this story, I suggest you do not read FoF (However, if you decide you want to read FoF anyway, the main spoilers are in the final two chapters if you want to avoid them). Also, due to the fact that this story is based around OCs, there will not be much reference to the Guardians ect (if any reference).

Note 2: This story was named after a song by Erasure, a link to which is at the bottom of this chapter.

So, if any of you have come here after reading my other FanFictions... I guess I should probably point out that I completely failed at NaNoWriMo... I blame school... So yeah, I kinda gave up in the end - but I will be trying to be a bit better with the whole updating thing...

So, on with the story! This first chapter is technically the prologue, but since FanFiction can be a bit funny about how it counts chapters, in that if you have a prologue it throws all the other chapter numbers into a muddle, I have named this 'chapter one', and the numbering will continue on as this were a chapter, not the prologue. But, really it's just a prologue - hence the reason why it is shorter than the other chapters will be.

Chapter 1 - Prologue: Loki Green

Third Person

"Dr Garton, is it okay if I take a few of these chemicals?" Loki held up the bottles in question.

Dr Garton gave him a disapproving glance. "Loki, my boy, I didn't apprentice you so that you could take my chemical supplies to use for your tricks."

Loki gave him his best, winning smile. "But it's so funny to see people's reactions! Besides - it's not like I do anything that's actually dangerous, I know the difference between funny and downright wrong."

He sighed. "Well... Since you are my best apprentice... Oh, go on then."

Loki grinned. "Thanks Doc. See you tomorrow!"

Loki placed the chemicals in his bag, and then left the building.

It was late, the sky was dark and endless, the stars spread across it like tiny shards of broken glass. The streets were just as dark, with only the occasional lampposts to light the way.

A figure emerged from the darkness. "Loki, tell me you weren't persuading the doctor to let you take chemicals from the lab again."

Loki turned to face the figure, his face wearing a worried frown. "Iris, you shouldn't be here. I've told you I don't know how many times - the streets are dangerous at this time of night, especially for young women like you."

The girl stepped forward, and a nearby lamp illuminated her face. She looked much like Loki - they had the same curly, dark hair; the same vivid green eyes; the same marble-skin; and the same features that looked as though they had been carefully and skillfully sculpted. In short, she was as beautiful as he was handsome - which was to say, very.

"What do you mean young women like me?" she asked her brother. "And who are you to tell me what I should and shouldn't do - I'm sixteen!"

"And I'm seventeen," Loki countered, "which means I'm still your older brother, which means it's still my responsibility to look after you. Iris... You are very beautiful, and the kinds of men who are out on the streets at this time of night... You have no idea what they're like, what they'd do to you."

"Well, I'm fine. So let's get home."

Loki nodded in agreement. "Let's. Before Mother realises you're gone and gets worried."

The two of them set off down the dark street, neither of them speaking. Loki was in the lead, walking swiftly in the hope that the quicker they walked, the less likely they were to get into a difficult situation.

It was when they were not far from their home that they ran into trouble. They were walking down a narrow alley, when the end was blocked by several dark figures. They turned to go back the way they came, only to find that end blocked too.

Loki gently took hold of his sister's upper arm and steered her down the alley in the way they had originally desired to go.

"Loki, what are you doing?" Iris hissed, sounding afraid.

"Trust me," he murmured back.

With his free hand, Loki discretely reached into his bag and pulled out a small glass bottle. He made a mental note to thank Dr Garton for having all the chemicals in differently shaped bottles. It meant that one didn't have to look to know what a bottle contained.

When they had got as close to the figures blocking their exit as they dared, they stopped.

The tallest of the figures stepped forward. He was extremely muscly, tall - at least a foot taller than Loki - and he had very broad shoulders. When he spoke, his voice was a menacing growl, with a tone of authority that showed that he was the leader of the group.

"What have we here?" he asked, addressing Iris. "What a lovely young lady - you shouldn't be out at this time, you must be lost. How about we help you find your way home - we'll even let you visit out place on the way."

Loki protectively put an arm round his sister's shoulders. "As kind as your offer is," he said, diplomatically, "she is my sister, therefore my responsibility. I will be taking her straight home, if you gentlemen would be kind enough to step aside." His tone sounded reasonable enough, but there was a dangerous edge to it that quite clearly portrayed the message that he wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer.

The men, including the ones from the other end of the alley, who had closed in on the siblings and were now standing right behind them, did not move.

The leader grinned, horribly. "Oh, but I wouldn't want the lovely lady to miss out on all the fun we're going to have. Oh yes, we're going to have lots of fun tonight, aren't we lads?"

There was a chorus of laughter and 'yes's from the men.

Iris trembled and seemed to get smaller.

"'Fun'," she whispered to her brother. "He doesn't mean... They're not going to..."

Loki held her closer. "Yes, he does mean that, but no, they're not going to do that to you. I won't let them." He gripped the bottle in his hand tightly, before addressing the men. "Listen - I'm not letting you hurt my sister, and I happen to know that I will be taking my sister straight home either way. So here's the thing - we can do this the easy way, in which you let us pass without any trouble, or we can do this the hard way."

The men guffawed.

"Hard way?" The leader laughed. "What you gonna do, fight us? You're one skinny little kid, against all of us."

"Maybe, but I like my chances." Loki hoped desperately that he looked more confident than he felt about his plan.

"Well, I'll tell you what, kid," the leader growled. "We're takin' your sister back to our place whether you like it or not, and we're going to take turns having our own sweet way with her, doing whatever the hell we want. So here's the deal - we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Except our easy way is that you just let us take your sister. And our hard way? Well, if you don't let us have her, then we'll have to smash your pretty-boy face in first. So what's it going to be, kid?"

"My hard way," Loki replied.

With those words he threw the glass bottle down at their feet. It smashed, and the volatile chemical inside evaporated instantly, turning into a thick gas much like smoke, temporarily hiding Loki and Iris from their view.

Loki pulled his sister with him as he ran straight at the men, pushing through them. In their surprise and lack of vision, the men were slow to react, and the two siblings easily got past them.

They kept running, blindly, trying to get away from the men, who had now recovered from their surprise and were chasing them.

It appeared that their pursuers were of varying degrees of fitness - some were seriously lagging behind, while others were keeping pace. But the leader was swiftly catching up.

Loki noticed this and pushed Iris in front of him, urging her to run faster.

Suddenly, Loki felt a jerk on his collar, and was pulled back - the leader had caught him. Loki was swiftly pulled into a headlock.

Iris, for a moment, didn't realise and kept running. Then she noticed her brother's absence, stopped, and turned. Her eyes grew wide in fear.

"Loki!" She screamed, starting to run back to him.

"No, Iris, leave me!" Loki yelled, even as he struggled in the leader's grasp. "Run, go home! I'll meet you there!"

Iris hesitated, but then saw the other men beginning to catch up. She turned and ran.

Loki reached into his bag and pulled out another bottle. He threw it to the ground, then reached into his bag, found a match and struck it, before throwing it into the pool of liquid. The flammable liquid caught instantly, and tongues of fire sprang upwards, blocking the narrow alley and preventing the men, who had been about to pass Loki and the leader, from following Iris.

The leader released Loki from the headlock, and then gave him a hard push, sending him falling over backwards. He the placed a heavy, booted foot on Loki's chest, preventing him from getting up.

"You're gonna regret losing us that girl," the leader sneered.

"He hasn't lost us her," one of the other men pointed out. "We can still go the other way." He started to do as he had said.

"That girl knows exactly where she wants to go - we don't. By the time you lot get round to the other side of those flames, she'll be long gone, and you'll never find her," the leader explained, irritated. He then turned back to Loki. "I expect that's what you were planning, you little prat."

"Funny you should mention tha-" Loki stared to say, before he got cut off as the leader gave him a hard kick to the stomach.

Loki groaned in pain, and tried to curl up protectively into a fetal position, but the leader just kept kicking and hitting. Loki could feel his bones crunching and snapping, but the leader didn't care. He wouldn't stop, even as Loki cried out and screamed in pain.

Suddenly, he did stop. He took a step back and glared down at Loki in contempt.

"Let's finish this as true men," he said. "Stand up and fight me - show that you're not just some coward who does magic tricks and runs away."

"It's not magic, it's science," Loki objected.

That earned him an extra kick.

"Get up," the leader spat.

Not wanting to be kicked again, Loki tried to do as he said. But he was too weak and too hurt by the beating he had received. He couldn't pick himself up.

"I said get up!"

"I can't!" Loki gasped through the pain.

"Aww, is the poor ickle boy-kin too weak to pick himself up?" His tone was mocking, but in the next sentence it turned hard and angry. "Then me help you!"

With that, he reached out and wrapped his strong fingers around Loki's throat. He tightened his grip, and lifted Loki into the air, so high that Loki's feet couldn't touch the ground.

But the worst part for Loki was that he couldn't breathe. He tried, desperately, to draw breath, but he couldn't. He couldn't even make a sound, his lips moved silently as he tried to form words to beg the leader to let go.

Then came another punch, one that caused his eye to swell shut. Not that it made a difference to Loki's vision - it had already been growing dark due to the lack of air his body was receiving.

"Fight back!" The leader bellowed in his face.

Not seeing any other way, and wanting the torture to stop, Loki made a weak attempt at punching the leader. But he was barely able to keep his hand in a fist, let alone lift it or swing with enough force to hurt the man.

Seeing this, the leader dropped Loki to the ground in disgust. He turned to his fellow men.

"Finish him," he growled, stepping back to allow them access to the crumpled form before them.

They advanced, and proceeded to kick, stomp and punch, until all that was left of the boy that had been Loki Green was a twisted and broken corpse.

I know, cheerful ending to the first chapter... but, it had to be done.

So, what did you think? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Are you indifferent? Please let me know! I value all your opinions, so please review!

Just so you know, my plan is that I will try to update each week - but his may not happen, as I am still adjusting to life in the sixth form, which is hard work. I'm not even kidding - despite the fact I now only study four subjects, my workload has still managed to increase. Plus, I now feel that one of my subject choices was a mistake, but of course it's too late to change it (not that I know what I'd change it to) and I don't want to drop it until the end of AS, in case I suddenly discover that I hate one of my other subjects even more. So yeah... a lot of work. Actually, talking of work, I should probably be writing that Lit essay... Oops...

Ok, I'll wrap this up quickly... As I said, let me know what you think! And, as I mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, this story was named after a song by Erasure, which I think kind of relates to part of the story if you take parts of the song to be metaphors... I'll explain later, when it isn't spoilery to do so ;) In any case, here is a link - for those of you who haven't read my stories before and don't know, my usual method for YouTube links is this: if you type in the YouTube address into the address bar, then copy and paste what I give you afterwards, then it'll work. Unfortunately, I can't give you the full link, as FanFiction always messes it up when I do, so this is the only way I can figure out to do it. Also, I'm afraid I couldn't find a lyric video (as I usually aim to do), I could only find the music video which, as I was watching it just now having never seen it before (I watch all the videos I post links to before I post them, to check that there's nothing unsuitable or inappropriate on them) and I have to say I... wasn't sure what to think. But it was only video I could find with the version of the song that I know, and there's nothing wrong with it besides the two men who I found a tad creepy (maybe that's just because I never have managed to get along with official music videos), so... here's the link:

"Ship of Fools" by 'Erasure':
/watch?v=ekc_aR5LyAk

Till next time!

MS.