A/N: Thanks all for the support, I once again feel like this is another filler chapter, well up until the end :P Enjoy! (Ignore all my mistakes, I will sort them one day)
Lies, Disorders and Not So Brotherly Love
Chapter 6
Sif and the warriors three were already sat around the reserved table deep within their own conversation by the time Thor and Loki arrived. Loki trudged grudgingly behind Thor, immediately regretting how easily he had given into his brother's pestering. As the great doors to the dining hall were opened, the warrior attention was caught and their voices turned silent.
"My friends I apologize for my lateness but I come with a guest," Thor greeted, gesturing to his brother as he stepped to the side to reveal Loki besides him. The Trickster remained quiet at a momentary loss for words. He supposed he had to behave if he didn't want a lecturing from Thor afterwards but seriously Fandral's moustache was so hard not to comment about. Loki looked out for the change in expressions in all of Thor's friends which would instantly tell him what they thought of him. The first reaction was always the most truthful. Fandral had raised an eyebrow – it was an open minded intrigue, his option of Loki was still neutral. Volstagg had put up a pleasant but nervous smile – he wanted to be friendly but was slightly daunted by his presence. Hogun's expression did not change at all so Loki assumed he probably wasn't much of talker either. Sif's reaction was the most noticeable: a scowl, maybe even a jealous scowl at that.
"Please make him welcome," Thor beseeched gently taking hold of Loki's arm and tugging him towards two empty seats. Much to Loki's subtle protest, Thor forced him to sit next to Volstagg with Thor on his other side.
Volstagg instantly turned towards the younger prince, "it is nice to finally meet Thor's younger brother, we've heard many stories about you Prince Loki," Volstagg held out his hand for Loki to take. The Trickster only looked at the gesture with a raised eyebrow, there was no way he was shaking his hand. After realizing that Loki had no intention in taking him up on the greeting, Volstagg awkwardly cleared his throat and retracted his hand back to rest on his stomach. Thor leant towards Loki, "say something," he whispered into his ear. Loki really hated being told what to do, especially by Thor.
"Your armour looks a little tigh–" the Trickster started his words cut short from a unplanned gasp as Thor elbowed him in the ribs, "I mean your armour looks terrific," he then falsely corrected with a just as false smile. Loki then kicked Thor's shin under the table which evidently made him feel better despite the immaturity of the act.
"Thank you…I suppose," Volstagg nodded with a very puzzled expression. Up next to greet the newcomer of the group was Fandral.
"What an honour it is to have the just as striking as Thor, young Prince with us, I bet those cheekbones and emerald eyes win you many hearts of the maidens of Asgard," Fandral smiled his eyes trailing over Loki's features quite intensely. Loki had to suppress an eye roll at how much of a clear vanity fanatic this man was.
"Pity his childish tricks and snide insults put them all off," Sif then added with a sly smirk. Loki's attention shifted to the female sitting next to Fandral. She definitely had attitude worth his curiosity, for someone he had never met before she really did have a very strong opinion of him.
"Sif! You should not be so rude to our Prince," Fandral gasped looking at her with a shocked and reprimanding expression. He would have never even dared to insult someone of royalty no matter how much truth was in the words. The warrior looked back at Loki, "I do apologize my Prince for my dear Sif's here harsh tongue," he put up a smile, hoping that this incident would be taken no further.
"She is just being honest, there is nothing wrong with honesty," Loki stated, brushing off the comment, oh how those words were such lies. He hated honesty. Mainly as honesty was such a false term to begin with as nothing was every truly honest. Loki was correct when Hogun said nothing verbally in greeting when he had finally turned to him but instead made a courteous bow of the head.
Silence was nearly immediately struck across the table as the warriors looked around to each other looking for someone to finally speak. It was odd for them to not have continuous conversation but there was something about the master of words amongst them that seemed to have stolen all of theirs. It was hard to talk when the familiarity was broken. It was lucky for them that the food was now being laid out on the table, the presence of royalty having set the chefs and servants out to work. As soon as the first plate reached the table, Volstagg was already eating.
"So…er Prince Loki, what is it like having Thor as an older brother?" Fandral eventually questioned breaking the silence, half grimacing at everyone else for leaving it to him. Loki tried to snigger bitterly, of course the question would contain Thor. They couldn't have possibly asked about him personally. Loki couldn't help but find the unintentional rejection quite amusing. Thor looked at Loki with more interest than the rest of the warriors.
"I assume you mean the time before he left. Well he was, arrogant, impulsive, hot-headed and extremely aggressive, so having him as a brother only meant that I had to put up with that nearly every moment of every day," Loki answered conceitedly, watching Thor's intrigued expression fade with each word until he was with a slight frown. The tension in the room only thickened.
"Well I suppose not much has changed then," Volstagg tried to joke knowing that it was a lost cause to try and save the awkwardness in the room.
The aroma of food danced through the air, clasping everyone's attention with a warm welcoming. Volstagg filled his plate with overflowing colours and mixing scents that had Loki's face contorting with disgust. He was quite overwhelmed by the amount of food that was served. Everyone grabbed a plate and dug in, all but Loki who lacked interest entirely.
"Are you not hungry brother?" Thor questioned as he pulled a few grapes off the stem and popped one in his mouth.
"Not particularly, I ate much at dinner," Loki answered turning his gaze away from Thor and the purple pieces of fruit. There wasn't really anywhere he could look that didn't hold an image of food except his hands which were craving the feel of a book. How he wished he was back in his bedchambers reading, he would have happily read about anything right at this moment. To hide side he could see the greasy fingers of Volstagg picking at the pink chunks of meat that were oozing with fat and oils. The sound of his munching down on strips of stringy flesh was completely revolting to Loki's ears, he could only manage a glance at the man to see flecks of food being flicked everywhere or to be caught in a knotted mess in his beard before the revulsion turned him back to his hands. How could Thor make him sit beside this sickening beast? Loki closed his eyes as he rested his forehead in the palms of his hands, mentally reciting words from the book he was still reading that he had left on his pillow.
"I am so looking forwards to the Survival Quest this year," Sif announced, she had completely blanked out Loki's presence at the table. Besides her started conversation wouldn't involve him regardless considering he had never even taken part in this trial before. She bit into the shiny red apple she was holding, letting the juices fill her mouth was a pleasant taste.
"I wonder what the two unknown trials will be this year," Fandral pondered talking into the goblet he was holding at his mouth before taking a sip of the lush red wine.
"I do hope we don't have to go swimming in that filthy lake again," Thor complained remembering the cluster of weed he had tangled in his hair which took hours to get out and that rancid smell that he just couldn't wash off himself for a number of days.
"Well I didn't find it that bad, especially seeing you in nothing but those shorts," Sif chuckled, although her comment was supposed to sound completely casual as a nonchalant joke there was an underlying context involved which was evident in her raised eyebrow as she once more took a long gaze at Thor, remembering the exact details of every muscle underneath his shirt.
"Aye Lady Sif and seeing you in that fetching bikini was also quite pleasing to the eye," Fandral grinned, also replaying the image in his head. He had to admit that despite her fierce attitude, Sif was beautiful and if ever offered he would most certainly not turn her down from his bed. Still a part of him would be scared of what she would do to him rather than the other way around. Sif's eyes turned violent as she glared menacingly at Fandral.
"I really do hope there will not be any swimming involved this year, I would much prefer any challenge which I could face with my hammer," Thor stated, his full attention on his friends entirely. They all started to come up with ideas of what could possibly happen in this year's trials and whether or not they would be able to handle it. The hidden tasks were always more of a risk than the obvious quest because you couldn't prepare for them so anything could happen.
They talked for an hour, the essence of wine in their systems making them that much more jolly as they retreat back into their natural friendship group completely unaware of the Trickster who had actually gone missing during the end of the hour. It wasn't until the table was bear of food and the conversation had thus died down to a gentle simmer of chit chat that Thor became aware of the empty space besides him.
"Hey…where's Loki?" Thor questioned, his eyes falling on the empty chair, he cursed himself for having not noticed before but he was so used to it being just he and his friends that once he got caught up he could barely remember his brother's existence. It was terrible of him. He looked towards all his friends with a strange apprehension. Loki was worse than Hogun when it came to merging into the shadows to disappear entirely. Although Hogun barely spoke his presence was always firmly situated that made it impossible to ignore him but Loki – no – Loki could just be forgotten if he wanted to be. Or even sometimes when he didn't want to be ignored it would happen regardless. His friends shook their heads as they neither remembered Loki leaving or where he was now. Thor sighed, he had chased his own brother away from the gathering that he had forced him to go to, that wasn't such a great brotherly thing to do. He assumed that he had made his way back to their shared chambers. The God of Thunder stood up, "I apologize my friends but I should find my brother." They all, apart from Sif, nodded in agreement as Thor made his way out of the dining hall.
Loki was rather pleased at how easy it was to vanish but wasn't so pleased at how ignorant they all were to him in the first place. Maybe he should have played a trick on them all – that way they would know of his existence. Why had Thor even shown him his friends in the first place? To gloat? To remind Loki of how little people actually cared about him? The Trickster knew it wasn't like him to ponder such questions. His stomach churned at the image of Volstagg gorging his food like an animal, it was drilled into his memory, he really did made food look that much more unappetizing, which in turn only made him further glad that he never shook the man's hand in the first place.
"Well if it isn't the freak. Loki, the witch of Asgard. What are you doing out so late? Are you lost? You trying to find that big brother of yours like a lost puppy?" Loki stopped in his tracks as a deep but silent sigh escaped his mouth. He turned around to face the blonde Asgardian from before that had insulted him. The Tricksters expression hardened as he noticed that the bully was not alone. He was accompanied by three other males of fairly equal statue that also held looks of disdain as the glowered at Loki.
"Tell me why didn't your father you just kill you at birth? I mean look at you, the royalty of Asgard doesn't need liars like you, are you sure you're even their child? You look nothing like Thor," the blonde male smirked. He slipped out a sword and taunted Loki with it as he approached him. The other males followed in silent obedience. Loki's expression didn't falter as it remained entirely neutral throughout the slur of abuses that were nonetheless chipping away at his armour. He could feel the anger boiling inside him so he hid his hands behind his back to not show his enemies his fists, if they knew what hurt him and got a reaction it would only be worse for him.
"You know I can easily make those snakes and spiders reappear, if not something much worse, I heard you were screaming until the magic wore off," Loki smirked trying to play the Asgardian at his own game. It worked briefly as a flutter of embarrassment took over the aggression in the blondes face. But then the aggression returned, twice as bad.
Before Loki knew it, the tip of the blonde's sword was pressed harshly against the cut on his cheek, reopening the wound and making the fresh, freezing blood drip down his cheek.
A/N: Oooooo it's heating up now! If you want to find out what happens, reviiiiiew! Hahahaha! The next chapter has some fluuuuuuffffff! (I think :P) Also anyone know what's wrong with Loki? I've been dropping hints here and there, but nothing too obvious. I mean really there's a lot wrong with Loki but yeah…
