Revenge
"Are you ready for a little bit of training?"
Volstagg, Hogun and Fandral simultaneously turned their heads after Sif's voice, as the goddess was walking across the grass towards them, smiling slightly.
"Won't you ever have enough?" Fandral asked, shaking his head. "It seems like we are doing a little bit of training all the time."
Sif smirked, touching the hilt of her sword.
"I have a new weapon I want to try," she said. "But if you feel too weak for that, you may stand aside."
Fandral raised his head immediately.
"Whoever said that?"
She tilted her head a little and shrugged.
"I only thought so. Maybe because you have usually too much work with combing your hair."
Fandral was so surprised with her insult he only widened his eyes a bit but Volstagg and Hogun laughed, gesturing for the fight to begin.
"Fine, show us what you can do," Hogun said and Sif pointed her sword at him.
"Be careful," she said silently. "This blade is so sharp it wouldn't take much to cut your heads of."
She didn't let them think about it more and attacked, her sword clashing with Fandral's. She turned in a second, deflecting a strong blow of Volstagg's axe, bowing and escaping Hogun's slash. She fought viciously, as she always did, being able to fight all three of them and they forgot about everything else but the fight. Sif was smiling as she was winning over them, her blade shining in the morning sun. Suddenly, Volstagg shouted with horror in his voice: "Watch out!"
Nobody knew how she got there but a small girl ran right in the centre of the fight. And Sif didn't have time to stop her gash. The wide blade cut the little girl's chest so deep it pierced her through and blood spurted out of the wound. She screamed and fell on the ground. There was nothing to do as it was obvious the little girl was dead. Red pool was seeping from under her body and her glassy eyes were wide open.
"No! No!" Sif screamed desperately. Nobody said a word. They were too shocked to make a move, all four staring above the small, dead figure at their feet.
"This cannot be..."
"How did she get here..."
Tears leaked from Sif's eyes, her face horrified, such as the faces of her friends. She fell on her knees, raising an arm and touching the little girl's shoulder.
But she didn't touch her. The little girl dissolved under her hand.
"What?" Sif said in a weak voice. She gulped, looking up.
"What is that?" she asked, starting to be furious.
"Who's idea that was? Was it yours, Fandral? How could you be so cruel?!"
She stood up, pain written in her features. Her friends started defending themselves and the sound of their wild quarrel could be heard over the whole palace.
They didn't pay attention to the cloister hidden in shadow. Somebody was watching them from behind a pillar. His green eyes were fixed upon them, filled with satisfaction and a strange kind of joy. He slowly moved, walking away, curling his lips into a malicious smirk.
xxx
The light of late afternoon was crawling on the floor of the library, golden as the autumn leaves. The library was quiet and almost empty. There was only one person inside, sitting on the windowsill and reading a heavy book in silver folder. He looked up when he heard someone's approaching steps.
"I thought I would find you here," Thor said, stopping next to a high bookshelf. Loki returned to his book.
"You know where I usually spend the evenings."
Thor was silent for a few seconds, watching his brother. Loki seemed not to be very interested in his presence.
"What are you reading about?" he asked.
"The story of Ask and Embla."
"It doesn't seem like you - reading about the creation of the first humans," Thor remarked and Loki smirked slightly.
"Maybe you would want to hear a story I've heard today," Thor continued, not waiting for Loki to say anything. "A strange story about a little dead girl. A girl killed by Sif, by accident. A girl who disappeared like she never existed."
Loki merely kept reading his book.
"It sounds like Sif saw an illusion."
"And Volstagg, Hogun and Fandral saw it as well?"
"Perhaps..."
Thor walked closer to his brother, anger written in his eyes, although he was trying to hold it down.
"This is not something anyone can do and you know that, Loki. You should also know my friends won't forget about this. They will try to find out who was behind it."
"Naturally," Loki said calmly, turning a page. "I wish them best luck."
It looked like Thor was about to tear the book out of his brother's hands and throw it out of the window. He breathed in deeply, calming himself down.
"Look, I know how hard it sometimes is for you, but this is not the way to deal with it," he said instead, pushing his anger away. "It will only make it worse."
This time, Loki met his eyes, his expression a mixture of denial and derision.
"You think you know what it's like, Thor?" he asked him quietly, both amused and cold, yet his voice was driven by an emotion far stronger than what was reflecting on the surface. "You have absolutely no idea. You will never know. So don't try to lecture me, please."
"Tell me, then," Thor said with insistence. "Why don't you tell me?"
"I can't believe you are really saying that," Loki said, shaking his head with a small, false smile. "If I did that, Thor, your precise answer would be - it's not my fault I'm stronger, popular or that my teeth are so white. You would make an egoistic, selfish and ungrateful brat out of me and that would be the end."
Loki got up, putting the book aside.
"That's why I think we could save ourselves from such a pointless waste of time. Now if you excuse me..."
He walked away and Thor didn't try to stop him.
"You are not the only one who's troubled with it, Loki," he said though, when his brother had already been in the door. Loki stopped, not turning back.
"Do you not see I'm trying my best? Do you not see I care about you?"
Loki breathed in deeply, still not facing his older brother, but obviously not about to leave.
"I see that," he said finally, in an unlikely soft and silent voice. Thor nodded, more to himself.
"Do you know what I said when my friends asked why I'm defending you all the time? I said that I trust you."
Loki stayed still, looking down, slowly clutching his fists.
"Just tell me one more thing, Loki, and tell me the truth," Thor said. "Did you or did you not play the trick today?"
Loki turned and looked Thor in the eyes. He remained silent for a few more seconds, his green eyes unreadable.
"No," he said finally. "Like I said before. I have nothing to do with this."
OK, there's another take,. I wanted to focus on Loki's not so adorable traits :-) Hope you like, let me know again.
Next: Loki finds out a secret Thor is not proud of.