The Remnant Prince

Act Two ~ School Play and The Butterfly Effect

Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including meteorology, physics, engineering, economics and biology. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the butterfly effect. Small differences in initial conditions (such as those due to rounding errors in numerical computation) yield widely diverging outcomes for such dynamical systems, rendering long-term prediction impossible in general. This happens even though these systems are deterministic, meaning that their future behavior is fully determined by their initial conditions, with no random elements involved. In other words, the deterministic nature of these systems does not make them predictable. This behavior is known as deterministic chaos, or simply chaos. This was summarized by Edward Lorenz as follows:

Chaos: When the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future.


Ch.6: The Letters

"Who are you talking to?" Rosalie asked curiously, peeking around the edge of the door, a splotch of red paint smeared across her left cheek, chalk smudging her nose. A charcoal pencil was held behind one ear, a paintbrush behind the other. She wore an old paint-splattered flowered apron over her tie-died overalls, curly hair doused in glitter and pulled into a messy bun.
"No one," Hermione said matter-of-factly, keeping a straight face until her sister was gone. Then the laughter started, and it wouldn't stop bubbling forth. This was probably due to the hoots and chortles coming from her closet. They had discovered long ago that Rosalie had some sixth sense or other. They couldn't just use the same glamour they used for anyone else. They were wary with her, not knowing if she was magical or intuitive, so a stronger glamour was formed, one other magical entities could not penetrate.

Hermione hurriedly closed her door, turning the lock and using a trick Loki had shown her to hold it fast with magic so it couldn't be budged from the other side.
"You learn fast," he said from behind her, voice sweet like honey and as smooth as stones in a river. Hermione loved hearing that praising tone-rather that than any jeering taunt at failure she feared receiving.

She turned. He stood in front of her bookshelf appraisingly, not turning to face her even as she rummaged in her night table drawer for a hairband. Eyes darting around and tendrils of magic feeling, she realized something fairly quickly. Naryu was not present. Naryu and Loki had taught her about auras and magical signatures. It appeared Loki had gotten his way and persuaded his sister into not accompanying him. She itched to ask him how he had accomplished it, but feared the closed expression that would overcome him if a subject that he did not wish to broach arose.

Seemingly hearing her thoughts, he said, "Naryu's off exploring by herself-I know not where."
He seemed to pout at the thought of mischief done without him, but when he glanced at her, he was smiling. Hermione smiled back. A playfulness seemed to tug at the corner of his mouth. She bent to retrieve a pair of socks from another drawer.
"And," he added, almost as an afterthought, "just thought you might like to know...I can hear you, and so can Naryu. She's just polite."
"Prat," Hermione said absently as she searched for her shoes underneath the bed.

"Looking for these?" Loki asked innocently. Hermione's hand stilled, her head snapping up. Loki held her trainers delicately, dangling them by their laces.
"You've been hiding them from me, haven't you?" Hermione asked, sitting back on her hands.
"Maybe," he said vaguely, floating them to her. She rolled her eyes, grabbing them from midair and stuffing her feet into them.
"Rather counterproductive, don't you think?" she said with a slight trace of irritation.

Loki shrugged, perching on her bed. His eyes followed her as she grabbed a jacket off of the chair in the corner. She missed the greediness in them while her back was turned retrieving her messenger bag. She faced him, crossing her arms across her chest.
"I'm ready now."
"And your sister?" he inquired boredly, picking at a loose thread from her comforter.

"Oh, can't we just go already, Sly?"
Loki hopped up, smirking at the nickname.
"I thought you'd never say so."
" Come on then, before she leaves her studio again."
Hermione crept to the door, listening. After a moment, she cautiously cracked it. Rosalie could be heard down the hall, murmuring to herself as she painted. With a quick hand motion, the glamour flew into place and Hermione led Loki down the stairs and out of the back door, careful to close the screen quietly. They made their way across the backyard quickly, latching the gate into place and stepping into the small wood that backed their neighborhood.

She kept her silence until they neared the tortoise rock by the tiny creek meandering through the trees.
"In all of these years...you've yet to take me to Asgard, you know?"
Loki huffed. "I've told you I can't right now."
Hermione's brows scrunched in long suffered frustration. She leaned her back against the base of the rock, observing the young Asgardian before her.
"Why ever not?" she almost snapped. It had been a sore subject between them, resulting in quite a few rows, and through it all she had failed to get a straight answer out of him.
"Surely it would not bring trouble to Asgard?" she posed. A thought struck her as his face soured.

"You don't want me there."
His continued silence was enough. Hermione's breath caught painfully. "Why?"
Loki tuned his face from her, eyes glinting a flat, hard gray and midnight blue. She pushed herself off of the rock, stepping forward until she was directly in front of him. "I said, why?"
His stormy eyes slid to focus on her, roving up and down her form.
"You must ask yourself why any selfish creature by nature would not want to keep his treasure guarded from all others."
Her mouth worked, her brow furrowing as she thought that over.
"You're saying," she began slowly, feeling the beginnings of a blush, "that you don't want to...to...to share me?"

When his jaw clenched, his own face flushing, her eyes widened.
"That's actually very sweet of you," she said quietly.
"No one's ever wanted me before-not properly. My family loves me, but they've never understood...Rose has always been more invested in her dreams and fantasies to notice...she isn't like me, really..."
He swallowed, sliding past her to stare petulantly into the water. She followed him, watching as he gazed at their reflection. She watched her own hand rise to rest lightly on his shoulder.
"You don't have to worry. As long as I'm living, you'll always have a special place no one can impose on, supersede or obliterate. I'm not eager to play with new team-mates either."
He quirked a smile at that, but it quickly faltered.
"That'll all change," he whispered. "You'll make new connections. There's a whole world that belongs to you that hasn't claimed you yet."
Hermione squeezed his shoulder gently.
"I do believe I know myself well enough to know nothing will change. No one will take your place. There will always be two things-us and them."
"You say that now."

"Sly..."
He turned to her sharply, laying his chilled hand over hers.
"Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin," he murmured.
"The writing on the wall? Please-this won't be the end of things as we know it."
"Perhaps," he seemed to muse momentarily, "but surely it will be my doom, or fate, if you will, to be accursed and alone."

Hermione moved the hand on his shoulder, catching his between her fingers. She brought it between them, palm upward.
"I see no Mark of Cain."
He folded his fingers closed over his palm. A silence fell, but before either could utter anything more, a great tawny owl swooped down, barely missing them in their proximity and perching on the stump to their right.

It hooted urgently, great eyes on Hermione as it extended its leg. A large envelope was tied to it.
"Mene, Mene," Loki muttered. Hermione registered the comment with some confusion. The owl ruffled huffily, and Hermione realized it was waiting for her to take the burden it bore. Loki snapped his fingers and the envelope flew into her hands, breaking the twine in the process.

She stared at the slanting script in which her name and exact address had been written.
"Well-aren't you going to open it?" Loki snapped in some form of vicious anticipation. Casting a curious glance at him, she slid her finger along the flap to pull up the seal, wincing when the paper sliding across her finger suddenly bit into her skin.
"Ow," she mumbled, dropping the envelope at her feet. Nursing her cut finger (on which the paper cut stung rather nastily) she bent to retrieve the mail. A pale hand flashed past her, holding it out to her. She blinked at Loki. "Thanks."

She took the envelope more carefully the second time, successfully opening it. A drop of blood stood out against the yellowed material. Inside lay a letter and supply list, the contents of which she relayed to Loki aloud, along with a separate slip explaining the magical world and her standing.
"You're to go to school, then?" he asked softly once her voice had faded into silence. "Away from here."
She looked at him, saw the distress clearly before his eyes hardened.

He glared out across the creek, seeing nothing. "~Look at that-," he blurted suddenly, and she peered around wildly to see what he indicated, relived when he continued, "~calm, quiet, peaceful...isn't it hateful?"

He spun, grabbing onto her wrist fiercely.
"What are you doing-that hurts."
He loosened his grip but maintained his hold.
"Maybe I should take you to Asgard-share what's mine before the stooges ship you away, make you think you don't still have your potential, make you more like them-lifeless and identical."
"Loki-this is madness!" she exclaimed, using his real name. "I'm still me!"
He pulled her closer so that there was nothing to distract her from his eyes, an entrancing mossy amethyst. "But are you still mine, my dear Hermione?"

She trembled. It sounded so much deeper than the friendship they had: it went beyond comradeship, and it was not a sister-brother occurrence-Naryu was his sister. She was something else. He made it sound as if their bond were being severed forever, as if he would be torn in two. How could he expect her to change so much and forget him?
"Have you no faith in me?" she whispered. Weren't they supposed to be eleven, almost twelve? Wasn't he ages unto ages older than she, even if her dimension's time was skewed from the other Midgard? It all made her weak. She felt like she was drowning.

"Come with me," he whispered into her hair as he hugged her. "I want you to choose me and not them. I'm offering you more than your imagination could spur into existence."
Hermione leaned back enough to see him properly, then hugged him in return. She tipped her head to reply softly in his ear. "Why can I not choose both? Are there only two options?"

He made no sound, drawing back and pushing distance between them.
"Aren't we friends?" she pressed. His eyes gleamed.
"Yes," he replied, watching her carefully.
"Then be happy for me. This isn't farewell, and I know you have ways of finding me. You know I need this-you expected it. You knew before I did what I was. I cherish every single moment. But for some reason, you seem to think I'm going to abandon you."

He turned his face away. "You won't need me anymore."
"Is this all about need and being needed, what's yours and not yours?" Hermione asked sharply. "I am not property!"
He looked at her. "No, you're not."
Hermione deflated slightly. "Then what is all this? What's this afternoon been about?"
"I don't want to lose you," he confessed quietly, not looking at her. "It's different, when someone is just yours. Not like property...but something that only matters in a certain way to you. Like...masters of each other."

"It's like saying you don't want to lose an equal."
"~Are we not equals?" he queried softly
He snatched her hand up suddenly. She felt the familiar connection come over them, whispering between them, settling over her like a blanket. When they were like this, they could not lie to each other. He could not close himself off when they were linked so closely.
"Don't let them make you soft," he told her seriously.
"Don't let them make you jaded," she responded in an equally serious tone. "Promise me you won't sulk around."
He grinned abruptly, eyes lavender. "Promise me you'll cause a little disorder."
A sly grin curled her lips. "Sorry...I'm afraid that's your department...but I suppose the one who doesn't like sharing his things doesn't mind when someone else shares with him."

"Is that an invitation?"
"Am I too subtle?"
"Hardly."
"I guess I better pack my bag of tricks."


"Spying for your own entertainment is not becoming, Fárbauti."
She appeared to not be bothered by Odin's intrusion, presence, or remark.
"Neither is hypocrisy," she retorted, straightening over the large pond at her feet she used for scrying.
"I do not do this for my own entertainment, Odin."
"Oh?" he said quizzically. Fárbauti narrowed her eyes at him challengingly.
"I am only checking on him."
"I see."

There was a tense moment. Odin sighed.
"We have long been good friends, Fárbauti. I am one who sees you as you truly are, daily, through that veil of glamour. You wish me to tell him small truths, yet still your own hand in doing so. It is almost as if you hide from the very son you want us to confront."
Fárbauti bristled. "How dare you! I no more hide from him than from you! How dare you, knowing you have no desire to tell him?"
"At one time, you wished it so."
"I wished he could know where he came from, but it was a foolish whim I had as I mourned our loss. We will not know each other for long years to come. I gave him to you, entrusted his care to you to keep him safe, hid myself to keep him safe. I did not even give him his name for fear Laufey would know it and use it against us. He would kill us. Loki is not ready to know the entirety, not when he is so vulnerable. I do wish, though, that he could be told why he is different. You know he feels it. You think the lies will be a comfort to him, but they make him feel worse. The Jotunn blood sets him apart when you try not to, but your attempts are futile. I realize revealing even what I suggest, the mere fact that he is adopted, will raise questions. I realize he may even grow resentful. But what will leaving everything be do? We will step out of the wolves' den and into the tiger's mouth!"

"Is this your chaos theory then? That this is a better place to roll the theoretical ball down the hill?"

A feral snarl curled in Fárbauti's throat.
"Do not try me," she hissed, her eyes sparking dangerously like flint. Odin held out his hands.
"Peace, peace."

"That's all you think of, precious peace. What particles of sorrow does this bring those you should protect?"
"Less than the pains of another war. With you two at hand, lasting peace is forged. Did you not arrange it so yourself?"
"Do not tell me that!" she snapped, "I am not a child to be talked down to!"
She pushed past him, sweeping from the room, her long skirts rustling. Odin stared sadly at her, his eye finding the pool. The images she had been viewing had long since stirred back into the depths.
"You should not rile her so."

He lifted his gaze upward to see Naryu, materializing as if an apparition. Her ringed eyes gleamed. "I, for one, see little difference when you tell him as long as you do tell him, and of course as long as it's all before someone else can."
"You are a child," he said gruffly. She stood fluidly, her movements like spun silk.
"Even so," she said calmly in her still-small voice, ~"just because you're older, doesn't mean you're right. It could just mean that you've been wrong for longer. You have doubts sown deeply like the roots of a weed. You would not admit it, but you know in your heart whom you trust with what and who you groom as a protégé. It is wrong. You would deny it, but even ~you place too much importance... on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be! Tell me, ~what makes a monster and what makes a man? ~We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided...and I see that ~time is making fools of us again...some of us, anyway."

Before Odin could muster a response, she had shifted into a ball of light energy and flown from the room. He turned, only to be confronted again. Frigga stood in the doorway staring at him.
"A wise king," she whispered softly, "listens to the advice of the small still voices that come and whisper of things even if he does not like to hear them."

"Are you suggesting-"
"That it is entirely up to you no matter what you may hear or see...such freedom you neglect that I lack. I am chained to this ages unto ages. What will be will be, even if it's not what it seems, what we first thought or what we have seen. Every decision closes thousands of other doors. You fear her chaos theory because it finds fault in us both and questions our very existence. I tell you it holds truth. I tell you if I cannot say either yes or no, I will walk away. I am not a game piece in this chaos. I am a spectator. Such is my burden."

Frigga left quietly. Odin stroked Gungnir thoughtfully.


Rosalie cocked her head to the side, listening. It was much too quiet for her liking. She set aside her easel, straightened her clothes, and went in search of her sister. She found her nowhere in the house, so she started out of the back door. The woods made her uneasy as she stared out at them from the gate. Gathering her courage, she proceeded into the ferny dark. A squirrel ran across her path, eliciting a tiny squeak from her. She calmed considerably once she realized what it had been, scolding herself in the process. She realized with slight embarrassment that she had leapt about a foot back down the trail. Determined, she set off again.

It didn't take her five minutes to reach the tiny creak meandering through. She stopped when she saw her sister speaking with someone through the trees. She felt appeased slightly that Hermione was all right, but she almost stepped just a tiny bit closer for a better look. A flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye stopped her. An owl dropped down in front of her, an envelope clutched in its beak. It stretched its neck upwards, bobbing its head as if proffering the item.

Curious, she took it. There was a strange wax seal covering the back flap of the yellowed material. She broke it, pulling out three slips of paper. Rosalie began reading them. By the time she was down to the third and final sheet, her hands were shaking. She stumbled against the nearest tree, sliding down the mossy trunk. The girl sat in stunned inaction for a few minutes. It took her a moment to realize someone was speaking to her. She shook her head in an attempt to remove the ringing from her ears.

"Rose, are you all right?"
Reality flooded back to Rosalie. Hermione crouched in front of her worriedly, rocking on her heels. Wordlessly, Rosalie held up the documents she had managed to keep gripping. Hermione barely spared them a glance once she saw them.
"You got them too, then?"
Rosalie nodded numbly. How could her sister be so calm?

"Did you know?" she asked hoarsely.
"Yes," Hermione said simply. She elaborated no further. "Someone will be coming to explain it to our parents since they're muggles. We should be home when they do. They'll be here soon."

Again, all Rosalie managed to do was nod her head numbly.

"Then let's go home."

She helped her up, and the two walked to the house together. Back at the creek, Loki decided he would wait in her room to learn more. The idea of giving up his time with Hermione-of which he would never admit how much enjoyment he garnered-repulsed him. Was he accursed to never have anything decent of his own, un-poisoned by anyone else or their influence?


"Let me help you pack."
Hermione displayed no surprise at the pale hand proffered in her peripheral vision. Instead, she said, "I think there are still a few things in my closet."

Packing her new trunk was easier with two people. They worked together quietly until the last item, a glossy new robe, was folded neatly on top. She lowered the lid, closing it with a small click. Exhausted, she flopped onto her bed. She threw her arm over her eyes. The end of the bed creaked. Peeking out from under her arm, she saw Loki perched by her feet.

"You leave tomorrow?" he asked, glancing around her room.
"Yes," she said simply, sitting up and drawing her knees to her chest. "Are you still coming with me?"
She watched as he seemed to ponder the idea, then nod in confirmation. Hermione let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
"Thank you," Hermione whispered. Loki's head snapped up.
"Whatever for?"
"For coming," she explained, resting her chin on her knees. He stared at her for a moment, reaching out to touch her cheek hesitantly.
"~Always...for you."

A tear slid down Hermione's cheek. "I've never been closer to anyone. I'd miss you so much if you weren't coming."
"I know," he smirked, "who wouldn't?"
That made her laugh, and bold enough to ask something she had been wondering about since she had woken up that morning.
"Will you hold me?" she inquired tentatively, earning an arched eyebrow. Quickly, she added, "Like at the hospital? If it's not too much..."
"Silly girl," he said, wiping her tears with his thumb.

Soon enough, they were stretched out and she was cradled against him as she had been on her deathbed, palm flat against palm and fingers twined. It didn't take her long to get drowsy wrapped in the security and comfort she felt.
"I'll always come for you, no matter what, never mind the cost to me or the distance," Loki murmured, drawing her head into the crook of his neck and kissing her hair. A small smile lifted her lips, but she had already gone, tired as she was, and was too sound asleep for more.


Thanks for all those who have shown their appreciation and thanks to all those who reviewed (krikanalo and StevieRae1226, and the two guests). I will answer those questions, I promise. If there are any other questions that I can answer without giving too much away, please feel free to either PM me or ask in a review. I understand the mobile was having a few glitches and I apologize. I also want to give credit to my Beta and BFF in our personal lives, InTheAsylum. She is the one who introduced me to this wonderful community. A word of Advice: for all those who haven't, please go check out Dresden Blue and her take on Heroki (as a friend of mine has affectionately dubbed this pairing). She has one and two shot companions for her novel length story about Hermione and Loki's relationship. She's friendly as far as I know, a fantastic writer and incredibly skilled. She has links to fan art and the youtube video that inspired her story, so check it out! Her tumblr is also available.

I would lastly like to reassure any Nightshade readers and mention that the wonderful OC'specialty has accepted me as her beta. She has a series which needs attention. Thank you for your time.

Notices: Disclaimer Charm has remained active and we are now Knargle free!

Lithia Sunset is not responsible for any typos or erros that have occured and all blame is transferred to her beta, InTheAsylum, for being on a multifandom bing and wasting her life on tumblr, TV tropes, twitter, youtube and Sherlock. :)