Hello fangirls and fanboys! Tis I! ImagiTheNation! Back once again.
My Scars Burn Bright starts out a bit slow, so bear with me please. I have to cram in a lot of background information without shoving it in your lap all at once. This story does start several years before The Avengers and their related films. (Spoilers) It actually starts in 2001. (Specific dates and real history and all). If you can figure out the specific date before I mention it, review and I will give you digital cookies. (::) (::) (::). ;D. They're chocolate chip. So, kudos to whoever can guess. BUT SERIOUSLY, REVIEW. REVIEWS ARE LIFE. Aaaaaaaaaaannnndd... I guess on to the story. (P.S. It's mostly OC-centric with parts of Loki-centric, But NO they will not be shipped... at least... not romantically...)
P.S. My writing greatly improves as I write the story. Ya know... practice and all that. So please be patient with any typos, mistakes, OOC-ness, and/or shallow writing... I'm working on it. Believe me, the story will get so much more interesting once you reach the major plot points...
Chapter One: Field Trip
Loki was rudely awoken to his breath being knocked out of him by a sudden weight. Thor had bellyflopped onto him.
"C'mon Loki, get up already!" Thor shouted jovially as he shook Loki's shoulders.
"I would if you would get off of me!" Loki grunted irritatedly. He was struggling to breathe, and so far, it wasn't working.
Thor didn't seem to notice Loki's labored panting and just continued to sit on top of Loki's chest.
"Thor -" Loki wheezed, "can't - *pant*pant* -breathe! -"
Thor finally seemed to notice his brother's distress and hopped off the bed. Loki sat up, taking in big gulps of air.
"Why, in all the Nine, do you insist on doing that every single time?" Loki asked irritatedly. Thor just shrugged.
"What do you want me for, anyway?" Loki growled, still not coming out of his foul mood.
"We're going hunting on Vanaheim!" Thor exclaimed jubilantly.
Loke glared at him in disbelief. "You… woke me up… at this unholy hour… for a HUNTING TRIP…"
Thor looked slightly confused. "Yes, brother. I just said that. You, me, the Warriors Three, and Sif are going hunting on Vanaheim."
Loki lowered his face into his hands. "Thooooorrrr," he groaned, "When are you going to get it into your thick skull that I do not want to come on your little trips."
"Oh, come brother!" Thor joked as he punched Loki's arm, "You can't spend all your time in the library!"
Loki rubbed his arm and glowered at Thor. "I don't!" He snapped.
"You're right, you come down to meals… sometimes." Thor said, slightly sarcastically. "Come, you need to be around people, not just dusty old tomes."
Loki stood and walked to his balcony.
"At least my books don't act like idiots and make foolish mistakes every five seconds, making it my responsibility to make sure you don't kill yourself, start a war, or both." Loki said as Thor approached him.
"Oh, come on! I'm not that reckless."
Loki stared deadpan at him.
"Brother, you need to come with us!" Thor said, oblivious to Loki's intent
Loki opened his mouth to object again but Thor cut him off. "Plus, Mother said you had to come."
Loki glared out across the waking city. He stayed like that for a moment before he shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm going to regret this…"
Thor's face lit up. "Thank you, brother! You shall not be disappointed!"
He gave Loki a brief bone-crushing hug then rushed out the door.
Loki shook his head again and walked in to get changed.
"Why do I even put up with this…?" He mumbled.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Almost everything was packed and ready by the time Loki came out to meet the group. Thor, Volstagg, and Hogun were already astride their horses- a Palomino Clydesdale with white feathered socks; a huge, slightly chubby, red and grey roan Belgian; and a pitch black Arabian; respectively- while Sif was gathering some last minute supplies and Fandral was feeding his Andalusian Buckskin stallion an apple or two. A stable-hand gave Loki the reigns of his dark Dappled Grey Arabian and Loki mounted it gracefully.
Sif packed the last of the supplies onto her large white Friesian. She glanced at Loki.
"Finally decided to show up, eh?" She said with a sour smirk.
Loki looked down on her cooly. "I wouldn't be here unless you truly needed me," He smirked, "And Thor made that plenty clear when he was begging me to join you."
She huffed and turned to Thor, "We have Hogun. He's a perfectly fine tracker."
Thor frowned, slightly confused.
"Besides," Loki drawled, "If it weren't for me, you'd probably come back with only a few rodents, due to Thor's tendency to walk in circles."
Sif frowned.
"Ah, give him a little slack, Loki, my friend," Fandral said lightly, "We all know that it would probably be Volstagg's fault. His stomach would grumble loud enough to frighten everything away."
Volstagg chuckled.
"Well, then good thing we brought extra venison!" Thor said happily, "Now come! Let us not waste another moment!"
Loki grumbled slightly as Hogun and Sif passed him on his horse, before he started forward to follow the group.
The band of warriors galloped out of the courtyard, through the streets, and onto the rainbow bridge, chatting and teasing the whole way. Volstagg had already eaten half a large bag of dried berries by the time they reached the Bifrost dome. And Sif had whacked both Fandral and Thor over the head, at least twice, for some comments they had made about her.
"Good morning Your Majesties, Sif, and Warriors Three." Heimdall nodded to each as he spoke, "Tis a fine day for a good hunt."
"Tis indeed!" Thor boomed joyfully.
"I trust your Father knows of your venture?" Heimdall said as he walked over to the pedestal in the center of the Bifrost dome.
Loki turned to Thor expectantly. He hadn't thought of that. Surely Thor had asked permission.
"Not necessarily…" Thor grinned.
Loki groaned and facepalmed, followed by similar, more subtle, actions from the other warriors.
"I did, however, tell Queen Frigga that we were going." Thor interjected.
Volstagg exhaled and wiped his forehead. "Pfew!"
Fandral grinned and Hogun nodded slightly.
Heimdall watched the exchange silently, then spoke up. "Well, then let us not waste another moment."
He stepped forward and placed his mighty sword into its slot. The dome lit up and began to spin. Thor trotted forward on his horse, followed by the warriors. One by one, they were sucked into the whirlpool of colorful lights. Loki, being the last, paused for a moment and looked back at Heimdall. He studied the familiar face for a moment then smiled. Heimdall nodded his head. Loki rode forward through the portal.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Loki wanted to bang his head against a rock. They had been following a bilgesnipe's trail for several hours with nothing to show for it. And Thor would not stop whining.
"Looooookkiiii, Please tell me we're getting close." Thor said impatiently for the seventh time that day.
Loki looked up from the tracks he was examining and answered disdainfully. "We're getting close." He deadpanned.
"Really?!" Thor said hopefully.
"No, you dunghead!" Loki rolled his eyes, exasperated, " No. Like every other time you've asked me in the past five minutes."
Thor huffed angrily.
"Could you at least give us a time frame?" Fandral said hopefully.
Loki hummed slightly. "I don't think… hmmm… if we're lucky, it's a day's journey ahead of us."
The group frowned.
"Are you sure you don't want to try something a bit easier?" Loki asked the Warriors and Thor.
They all suddenly looked offended.
"No!" Thor said adamantly, "This bilgesnipe is our prize, and I shall not forsake it!"
Loki sighed. "Very well, then. Keep going north," He directed, "Make sure you don't cross the river yet."
The group bolted forward on their steeds, galloping in said direction and running right along the river.
Loki surveyed the forest around them. The sunlight gleamed through the pale leaves, making odd mottled shapes on the forest floor. The river tumbled playfully over logs and boulders to their right. The scent of rain still lingered in the air from a light fall earlier. Over all, it was a beautiful day.
Loki galloped behind the others, allowing himself a small smile at the breeze in his hair. This expedition might almost be enjoyable if everyone would just shut up.
Volstagg looked over his shoulder to the younger god. "How far should we go?" he asked.
Loki slowed a bit and glanced at the tracks on the ground and the breakage in the underbrush. He paused, calculating.
"I would say... " He looked up again, "Probably a mile and a half, then we'll see if we need to cross the river or not. It seems to be going on a fairly straight cou -"
"Alright!" Fandral cut in. "A mile it is." He smiled dashingly at Sif- who rolled her eyes- then trotted forward. The rest of the group shrugged and followed him.
Loki glared daggers at the back of Fandral's head as the band moved on.
Thor punched his brother on the shoulder. "Come, Brother. Don't want to get cold feet." Thor joked.
Loki rubbed his arm and glared at Thor too.
"Oh, come on. Lighten up, Loki! You love a good joke." Thor chuckled
"Only when it's not on me…" Loki mumbled as they caught up to the other warriors.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The sun was beginning to set by the time they finally decided to set up camp. Thor had wanted to continue, but after thousands of reasons from Loki and one reason from Sif, he gave in.
They had erected their tents and Loki had started a fire, so they were just waiting for Sif to return with more firewood.
The Warriors Three sat on logs close to the fire, roasting some tiny deer-like mammals they had felled earlier that day. Thor sat on the ground munching on the last of the dried venison they had packed. Loki was reading.
It was a thrilling tale about a group of misfits that were travelling through space, as outlaws, while trying to find a powerful artifact and destroy it before someone evil got their hands on it. Loki thought it was quite entertaining and not at all impossible.
Loki was in the middle of a very good chapter when Fandral stopped his conversation with Volstagg and Hogun to look at Loki's book choice.
He snorted. "Still reading that rubbish?
Loki looked up and glared at the irritating blonde.
"Fandral continued, "Space sagas were soooo 500 years ago." He playfully hit Volstagg and the redhead chuckled. Hogun smiled.
Loki continued glaring at Fandral. "Says the man who's never picked up a book in his life unless it was a required textbook… and I doubt you touched those either. That's probably why you completely flunked the Æsir history test. And the science test. And the -"
"Yeah, yeah. We get the point Loki." Fandral said. "You like being smarter than us. Well, who needs smarts when you can just stab whatever's causing the problem?"
Loki lowered his face into his hand and massaged his forehead. Why? Why were they so stupid? "No, Fandral. That wouldn't work in almost any situation…" Loki mumbled.
Fandral kept talking. "At least I didn't fail the physical portion."
Loki stiffened slightly but spoke back cooly. "My friend, I think you're losing your touch. You've used that one before."
Fandral smirked. "Isn't that right, Thor?"
Thor looked up from his jerky, his mouth full and confusion on his face. "Whuth?"
Loki snapped his book shut and stood. "If you need me, I'll be in the tent." Loki then walked away briskly.
Thor swallowed. "I'm confused…" he said slowly.
"Loki just being dramatic." Volstagg chuckled.
"He tends to do that a lot." Hogun said quietly.
Thor nodded. "Indeed."
Sif walked up to the group with a bundle of sticks in her arms. "What did I miss?" she said.
The men looked at each other briefly before bursting out into laughter.
Sif stared at them then shook her head. "Boys are weird."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Loki lay on his bedding, staring at the ceiling of the tent and listening to the others' conversation. As usual, it was about him.
"I just don't get it, though" Fandral's voice wafted through the buckskin.
You wouldn't. You blubbering idiot. Loki thought.
"Get what?" Sif asked.
Fandral continued. "After all these decades, you'd have thought he would pick up the clues."
Loki listened carefully.
Thor spoke, "What clues? If there were clues, Loki would find them. He's smart like that."
Loki smiled softly.
"That's just the thing though," Fandral said, "You would have thought that he would figure out that he's not the same as us."
Obviously… I'm the only sensible one in the entire court. Loki thought.
"Loki's different. Like not in the way that most of us are different… he's just…. weird."
"He is younger than us" Hogun said.
"Yes, but none of us were like that." Volstagg said.
"I mean, he spends most of his time reading those ridiculous books, a good portion of which are fiction. Who does that?" Fandral pointed out.
Loki glanced at the book he'd brought along and frowned.
"Loki loves knowledge." Thor said.
"Yes but who reads for fun?" Fandral said.
"Apparently, Loki." Sif interjected.
"And he's the only one." Fandral said, trying to prove his point. "And I guess I get why he does the whole magic thing. He can hardly hold out a practice duel with a broadsword. Don't even mention a battle axe."
Loki glared at the ceiling.
Thor spoke and Loki's spirits lifted a bit for a moment, hoping his brother would stick up for him.
"Loki… struggles… with the strength factors, yes." Thor said slowly. Loki's spirits fell. He let out a long breath through his nose.
"But he makes up for it in speed." Thor said quietly.
Volstagg chuckled. "Yes. And speed is going to help a ton with a giant army of Frost Giants."
Yes. It would. Loki thought venomously.
He heard them shifting.
"We need every asset." Thor said. "Even if it is the strange and sometimes… questionable ones."
Loki rolled onto his side, away from the door of the tent and glared at the wall.
There was a long silence occasionally broken by the the crackling of the fire. Then a voice spoke up. It was Sif.
"Well. I'm going to turn in for the night. If you want full strength for tomorrow, you should too."
There was a lot of rustling as the warriors stood and headed to their respective tents. Sif to her own, the Warriors Three to another, and Thor to the one Loki was currently in.
Loki closed his eyes and took even breaths as Thor entered. The elder prince saw his younger brother fast asleep and smiled. He prepared for bed and lay down, falling asleep almost instantly. Loki opened his eyes. Thor is ridiculously easy to fool. He lay there… waiting.
Yes I did edit a lot of stuff in this story. Names, ages, etc. Just know that it doesn't change the actually story. Just some elements that needed to be updated.
Sorry if anyone's a little OOC. I'm still getting into the groove.
Anywho.
PLEASE REVIEW