As always, thank you to my lovely reviewers! This is chapter 11 and there's a bit of a standoff at the end of this chapter. I think I'm going to do just four more chapters of childhood before moving on to adolescence. I have it planned out for the basic plot of how I want their childhood story to end. I hope you all like this chapter!
"I want to thank you for taking care of me last night when I fell asleep on you even though it might seem unnecessary." You said to Loki as the two of you walked out of the palace and onto the grounds.
"There is no need to thank me, Lady Aurora. I was just watching out for you as your friend." Loki replied as the two of you left the steps that you had fallen asleep on last night.
"You always know that I'll still thank you for anything kind that you do, Loki. You should know by now that it is useless to tell me not to thank you." You smirked at him with a hint of amusement in your eyes.
"I suppose you are right," Loki sighed, "you are quite stubborn after all." Loki finished cracking a smile as gaped at him in shock.
Loki titled his head at you, "Oh come on now, you know that I can tell that you are feigning astonishment at my words as if they offended you, but you and I both know that is not the case."
You closed your mouth at a loss for words. Eventually, you asked, "You read my mind didn't you?"
Loki laughed and shook his head, "No, I didn't need to read your mind to tell you were faking. I could tell simply by having known you this long. I imagine that there is very little you can hide from me since we're so close and you are…so easy to read."
"Hey! I don't know if I should take offense to that or not…" You interjected and then trailed off unsure of how to proceed.
"I did not say those words to be offensive; it was merely an observation. I'd never be mean to you." Loki said as the two of you walked to the garden.
"I know, Loki. I'm just joking with you. Try not to worry so much." You smiled as you broke into a run leaving behind a confused Loki.
"Aurora! Why are you running?" Loki called out after you as he stood still not far from the steps leading back into the palace.
"Are you coming or not? I bet you can't catch me!" You yelled over your shoulder to Loki as you continued to run off in the direction of the garden.
"We'll see." Loki said aloud to himself as he too broke into a run.
You could hear Loki's footsteps as he ran toward you, beginning to close the gap in between the two of you. Without turning around to see where he was, you yelled, "You'll have to run faster than that!"
"I think you better run faster if you do not want to get caught!" Loki yelled from behind you.
"I can't run any faster!" You laughed as you turned around to see where Loki was and you saw that he was quickly closing the distance between the two of you.
"No, no, no, no! Stay back! Why can't I run any faster than this!?" You huffed as you tried to accelerate more to avoid Loki catching up with you before you reached the garden.
Suddenly, you felt something come into contact with your side as you felt yourself falling toward the ground. Your fall was cushioned by something other than your body, however, and looking down you saw that it was Loki. Loki had succeeded in catching up with you and bringing you down with him. Loki smiled up at you, barely panting, while you were very much out of breath.
"Y-y-ou're f-f-f-a-ast-t." You managed to say in between inhales of breath.
"I told you that I'd catch you. Believe me now?" Loki asked, his eyes shining as brightly as freshly polished emeralds in the sunlight.
You decided to save your lungs the trouble of sucking in more air to form words, so you simply nodded your head.
Loki sat up and lifted you off of him placing you next to him. You and Loki were sitting on the grass which you hoped would not stain your attire.
"If your antics have caused my clothing to become dirty, my mother will not be too pleased with you." You said to Loki as you smoothed your icy blue gown over your knees.
"I'm sure that my clothing is dirty from the fall, but I can fix it." Loki said as he investigated his clothes for any stains or dirt.
"Ah, here is one. See?" Loki asked you as he grabbed his sleeve and turned it toward you so you could see it.
"That is a pretty large mark. I don't see how you can remove that." You said to Loki.
"Watch." Loki instructed as he waved his hand over the stain and pinching his fingers together as he pulled upward.
"What? How are you doing that?" You asked Loki, astonished at the sight of the stain lifting off of Loki's sleeve and then dissipating into the air.
Loki turned to look at you and smiled, "Magic."
"That's incredible! You're really something else." You said in amazement.
"Something else? What do you mean?" Loki asked you.
"You're…unique. Nobody else in Asgard is quite like you. It's almost as if you aren't from Asgard at all." You said with a small laugh.
Loki laughed too, "That's ridiculous. Of course I'm from Asgard. Where else would I be from?"
You laughed with Loki and said, "You're clearly an Asgardian, you're just more special than the rest of us."
"I think you're the only one who views me that way." Loki said as he laid down in the grass with his hands behind his head.
"Why do you say that?" You asked as you mimicked Loki's position.
"Everyone else seems to think I'm weird or an outcast; they're one in the same thing I would say." Loki spoke as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"Well, who cares what they think? Just continue being you whether they like it or not. Who else could you be anyway? You're always going to be who you are right now and nothing will change that." You spoke to the sky above you.
"Rather poetic words." Loki responded.
"It's more than well-chosen words, it's the truth." You said adamantly.
Loki's green eyes opened as he removed his hands from behind his head and placed them on his stomach. "I suppose I have no choice other than to learn to embrace who I am, even though I may be scorned by others."
"You're not the only one who isn't favored by everyone; in fact, no one is everybody's favorite. I'm not well received by everyone either and you think everyone favors Thor over you? Well, I favor you over Thor." You said turning on your side to face Loki.
Loki sensed your movement and turned to look at you saying, "You really mean that?"
"Of course I do, Loki. If I liked Thor better than you why would I spend most of my time with you and why would I be lying here on the grass risking the cleanliness of my attire instead of spending time with Thor?" You asked as you raised an eyebrow.
Loki rolled his eyes, "I suppose that does make sense."
"Of course it makes sense. It makes sense because I'm right." You stuck your tongue out at Loki.
"Very funny." Loki smiled as he returned the gesture.
"I know I am. I left something in my room that I want to go and get so stay here; I'll be right back, okay?" You asked as you got up off the grass and smoothed down your gown.
"Oh trust me," Loki said as he spread his arms out, "I have no plans to move anytime soon."
"Good," you laughed, "I'll be back in a moment." You said as you turned to go back to your quarters and retrieve your journal.
You usually carried it with you whenever you went out, but you had failed to bring it with you today when Loki knocked on your door earlier. You passed by Fandral, Volstagg, Hogun, Sif, Liv, Ingrid, Gunner, and Agmund who were walking down the corridor that you were also walking in to get to your room. Sif waved at you which you also did while Volstagg gave you a friendly smile. Hogun looked as stoic as usual and Gunner as intimidating as usual. Agmund was twirling his sword around in boredom while Liv and Ingrid whispered to each other. Fandral glared at you which you chose to ignore by quickly turning your head away from him. You finally made it to your room and began looking for your journal.
"Ah, there it is." You said to yourself as you picked it up off your bedside table and shut the door behind you as you reentered the corridor.
You absentmindedly strolled through the corridor sifting through the pages of your journal on your way back to where you left Loki. As you walked down the steps leading outside you heard a loud voice yelling and a softer voice saying something back, only to be followed by a loud thud.
"What is going-" you began to say aloud as you looked up from your journal and gasped at the sight before you, dropping your journal to the ground.
From where you stood, you could clearly see that Loki was on the ground and Fandral was repeatedly kicking him in the side. Loki had decided to roll away from Fandral in an attempt to escape Fandral's blows long enough to get up, but Fandral jumped on top of Loki to hold him down as he tried to get out from underneath him. Loki successfully managed to reverse their positions, but Fandral quickly punched Loki in the jaw and pushed him off and back onto the ground. You could also see that the same group of people who were with Fandral in the corridor when you saw them were standing idly by, watching, doing nothing. You had seen enough.
"Hey! Fandral! Stop it! Stop this instant!" You yelled angrily as you ran over.
Everyone, including Fandral, looked over at you as you came sprinting over, your face clearly evoking the rage and disgust that you felt.
Loki was the only person not looking at you; he was clutching his left arm and was lying on his back with his eyes closed. When you finally reached the group, you looked down at Loki, his face marred by scars that you could see this time, and then you glared at Fandral and the others. You would not be surprised if your hazel eyes had transformed into an angry red, fueled by what you were currently feeling inside.
"Who do you think you are?!" You yelled pointing a shaking finger at Fandral.
"Why, I'm quite certain that I am Fandral." Fandral said pointing his own finger at himself.
"Don't play games with me! I know your name, you insolent brute! Who do you think you are that you have the right to treat Loki like this, or anyone for that matter?" You continued yelling.
Fandral put his hands up and said, "You need to calm down. Your tone is going to wake the dead."
"Then let it! I do not care if it wakes the dead, I hope my yelling does wake them so that when they become annoyed at the disturbance I can show them who is to blame and who they can take out their anger on, just like I'm doing right now!" You spat at Fandral as you clenched your fists at your side.
"I don't even understand why you're so upset. It's Loki- what does he matter?" Fandral asked.
You heard a sharp inhale come from your mouth as you trembled where you stood from pure, unadulterated anger. "How dare you say that about him?!"
Fandral just shrugged at your astonishment as the others looked anywhere but at you, Fandral, or Loki who was still lying on the ground.
"And you lot," you pointed at the group to the right of yourself and Fandral, "how could you all just stand there watching as this goes on? Why did none of you say anything or step in to help him? You're all just as bad as Fandral! There are two kinds of evil people; people who do evil things like Fandral, and people who see evil things happening and do nothing about it, that's all of you!"
None of them said anything to you; they just avoided your irate stare or tentatively met your gaze.
"I can't believe all of you! Especially you, Sif, I thought you were better than this!" You turned your anger towards your second closest friend.
"Aurora, I-" Sif began but you cut her off before she could finish.
"Save it, Sif. It's too late now." You said curtly as you turned back to Fandral, leaving Sif standing stark still, biting her lip.
You stepped closer to Fandral who liked displeased by your proximity. "I should just punch you right here in the face, right now. Let's see how you like it!" You yelled as your drew your fist back to hit Fandral.
Before your fist could connect with Fandral's face, someone grabbed your fist from behind and stopped you from hitting a closed eyed Fandral in the face.
"Please don't." Loki said from behind you.
Fandral slowly opened his eyes as you glared at him and turned around to face Loki, "Why not? Look what he did to you, again."
You slowly lifted your hand to lightly touch Loki's face, moving your finger over the cuts and bruises that had formed on his pale face. Loki looked at you sadly as he said, "This is not your fight. I will deal with Fandral at another time."
"But-" You began in protest.
Loki cut you off saying, "No protests, Aurora. I appreciate your concern and your loyalty in defending me, but I do not want you involved in this because I do not want to see you get hurt somehow. Leave this matter to me for a later time, please."
You sighed as you shot a glare at a smirking Fandral.
"I wouldn't look so pleased, Fandral," You said icily, "You were the one who looked afraid of getting punched by a girl."
Fandral's smirk faded as Loki faintly smiled at you. "Let's go."
You nodded as you left the others behind and walked away with Loki, retrieving your journal on the way back into the palace.