A/N: Yay! Thank you for all the brilliant reviews and all of the favorites and follows! Thank you all so much, especially to all of my guest reviewers!
lulu2613: Thank you. :D Oh, and the bear... you'll see. This chapter sort of explains it. I'm not sure if he's going to tell Katarina about the deal he made. I'm not even sure if I'm going to have him survive. Perhaps in the sequel...
Polaris: Thanks so much! And thanks also for sticking with my story for so long! oh, and when you asked me to do the Dramione Fic, do you mean Draco Malfoy x Hermione Granger?
Oh, yeah. I wanted to tell you guys that I do have a sequel planned, and then perhaps another story after that. The first one will be for the Avengers, and the second for The Dark World. But I haven't seen The Dark World yet (I'm going off of the plot I read online) so it might take me a little longer to write that.
Special thanks to my bestie LED (Alienora in a nutshell) for helping me along! Writer's block has been sticking by my side recently. Now I have new ideas! Yay!
Part I: Shall We Dance?
Chapter 11: Of Smiles and Oaths
3rd POV
He managed to slip away unnoticed, when people started getting out of their seats to thank Loki.
Loki. The Dark Prince of Asgard. Silvertongue. And they were all applauding and smiling at him as if he had always been their friends.
And when he saw Katarina, and what she did, he felt something erupt in his chest, something burning and hateful, something howling for release as it clawed the inside of his stomach.
Jealousy.
How could Loki win her heart when he- Prince Thor- had failed so many times? It didn't make any sense.
It didn't make sense at all.
OoOoOoO
Nikolai slumped back in his seat, breathing hard, feeling so relieved that he could have died. Katia and Alienora were cheering for Loki, Synthia was looking pale and Ryker let his kingly mask slip just for a moment to show that he actually did care for his daughter.
They all went down to the sidelines, and as soon as they were near Katarina, Synthia wrapped her arms around her and started to sob, shaking.
"Katarina! Oh, Katarina! I am so glad that you are alright!" She said tearfully. The princess protested to being squashed but patted her stepmother on the back.
"Synthia, calm down. I'm fine." She said reassuringly, and she rolled her eyes. "Really."
"I know but... when that thing came at you..." She couldn't even finish her sentence.
"Close one, huh, sister?" Nikolai said, half-grinning at her. She almost stuck her tongue out at him, but caught herself at the last moment.
"Kat! Kat!" Katia jumped out of Alienora's arms and hugged her sister's legs, crying as well. "I thought you were going to die!"
"I am going to die if you guys don't let me go! I cannot breathe." They released her, and she sighed. "Don't overeac-"
Of course, Alienora took this as her cue to start overreacting, and she burst into fake tears.
"I thought I was going to lose my best friend! Oh, parting is such sweet sorrow!"
Katarina punched her on the shoulder and she stopped, pouting.
"Hey, the situation was getting a little too serious. I had to do something."
"Uh-huh."
Nikolai sidled up next to Loki while his family was still checking to make sure Katarina was okay.
"Thank you. Thank you for saving my sister."
"My pleasure." He said simply, removing his helmet.
Nikolai half-glanced at him. "How did you get there so fast? One second you were in the ring, and the other..."
"Teleportation spell and a quick reaction time." He explained. "Quite useful."
Nikolai nodded, and then lowered his voice. "She gave you her necklace, didn't she?"
Loki's hand went automatically to his throat. He raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"
"It's obvious. The way she defended you from Lord Coul. The way she talks to you. The way she looks at you." He stated it so matter-of-factly, as if it was as plain as day. Perhaps it was.
"Mm, am I going to get the "overprotective older brother" conversation now?" Loki asked sarcastically.
The prince of Vanaheim shook his head. "No. I'm just going to say this- please don't hurt her." He looked him in the eye. "Please don't hurt her."
"I won't." Loki assured him. His blue-green eyes strayed back to Katarina. "I won't."
"Good." Nikolai started to leave, but the Dark Prince called him back.
"You're NearSighted, aren't you?"
Nikolai froze, and then turned around, eyes wide. Then he adopted an almost convincing air of casualty. "You mean do I need eyeglasses? No, I think I'm okay."
"No, NearSighted. Capital 'N', capital 'S'. As in, can see the near future."
"What makes you say that?"
"You yelled. Right before the bear came out. Called out her name. You saw it before it happened, didn't you?"
"Let's say I did. What of it?"
"Nothing." Loki shrugged. "Just curious."
Nikolai opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly Katia came over to them and looked at Loki with her big kaleidoscope eyes.
"Thank you for saving my sister's life." She said sweetly, in her best cutest-thing-in-the-world voice.
Loki couldn't help but smile at the young girl. "You're very welcome."
But Katia wasn't done there. "Kat kissed you. Does that mean she's in love with you?"
Loki opened his mouth, but found he did not have any words to say. Nikolai started laughing, seeing the Silvertongue so speechless.
"Mm, we'll just have to wait a little longer to see, il mio piccolo fiore." He winked at Loki and picked up Katia.
"That's Midguardian Italian." The Dark Prince said immediately. "My little flower."
"Indeed, it is. Quite the knowledgable fellow, aren't you? Most people would look at me as if I am not right in the head." Nikolai grinned and ruffled Katia's red-gold hair.
"'Knowledge is power.'" Loki quipped back. "Something that most Asgardians do not understand." The prince of Vanaheim laughed again.
"Most of them." He said, turning around, heading back to his family.
OoOoOoO
Katarina could really not believe what she had done.
In front of everybody- all of the higher-ups of the Nine Realms! She was appalled with herself.
But she could not suppress a secret pleasure for what she had said to Coul. The expression of shock on his face when she had called him that word. It was quite satisfying.
After the bear attack, Odin cancelled the match between Thor and Loki and declared his secondborn the champion. When some of the audience protested, he replied, "Isn't the whole point of this tournament to commit acts of bravery and prove your courage? I think we can all agree that that is what my son has done today." Loki was surprised but pleased, and Katarina couldn't have been more proud.
She didn't know what Thor would think, though. He had been the consecutive winner for years now, and to have his glory snatched from him (by his younger brother, no less) might be upsetting. She decided to go find him.
After slipping away from her parents, she searched the crowd and managed to set him apart by his scarlet cape. She wove through the groups of people and grabbed his arm. "Thor!"
He spun around, and she saw anger on his face. But it soon dissipated at the sight of her, and he smiled, although it seemed a little forced. "Princess Katarina. How are you?"
"Fine," She said breathlessly. "But really, I wanted to know how you were doing. How you would take-" She gestured around. "-this."
He shrugged, but then half-glanced at her, and there was a different expression on his face. Almost like... guilt. He lowered his voice.
"I am sorry that I wasn't able to protect you." He said softly. Katarina blinked.
"You mean from the bear? It's fine, prince."
"Still, I feel bad-"
"Don't. You don't need to. Honestly, if all of you princely fellows continued to try to rush to my aid, I would die of uselessness. It would make me feel like a damsel in distress." Katarina attempted to joke around. He gave her a weak smile, but there was still some strain on it.
"Are you sure that you are okay, Thor?" Katarina asked, frowning. "If this is about Loki-"
There was anger in his face again. "I am fine." He said, almost coldly.
"You don't seem fine. You seem rather-"
"Listen," He interrupted her, and she actually did stop talking in surprise. Usually, Thor was a perfect gentleman around her. He must really be upset. "Why don't you find Loki and talk to him? I mean, if he has time for you. He is, after all, champion now." He wrenched his arm from her grip and stalked off with a leer.
OoOoOoO
Nikolai needed to find somewhere quiet to think. He pulled away from his family, and headed down the halls of Asgard, thinking back to his previous visit and trying to remember a room where he would be undisturbed.
There were plenty of such rooms in the palace of Asgard, and he soon found one.
"Malekith," He snarled as soon as he shut and locked the door. "I need to talk to you."
Soon, the shadows began to bend and form the dark elf's shape. Usually, Nikolai would never have called for him, but he was too angry to care.
"Why, my prince." Malekith bowed, looking amused. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
Nikolai made an obscene gesture with his hands and growled something profane.
"Well, that's not very nice." He tried to make a hurt face but only ended up looking like he was about to laugh. "Why do you assault me with your words?"
"You sent that bear after Katarina." Nikolai snapped, trembling with anger. He tried to calm himself down, and managed to say his other sentence in a relatively neutral voice. "Very nice tactics."
"What tactics?"
"Don't play the fool. Last night you sent me a nightmare where Katarina was attacked and killed by a bear. Today you actually sent a bear after her. You knew I would be too tired to save her, and it amused you to have one of my nightmares come to life and still, I would be helpless to stop it. Very clever."
"I could say the same for you. My other victims are usually not so intelligent. This is fun, Nikolai."
"You could've killed her! And you call it fun?!" Nikolai snarled. Malekith shrugged, indifferent.
"Your sister has captured the hearts of too many to be without her knights in shining armor. Did you not see the way she was protected today? There wasn't a scratch on her. Luckily, her protectors are rather powerful people." His black eyes glittered with malice. "Prince Thor and Prince Loki of Asgard."
"Do not change the subject. What if Prince Loki was not quick enough?"
"But he was."
"If he wasn't, Katarina would be dead."
"Probably, yes. Although I might have called it off and let it go easy on her at first. You see, it likes to play with its food before it eats it."
Nikolai choked. "You're a monster."
Malekith looked unimpressed. "And?"
"I hate you."
"And?"
Nikolai reached into his cloak and drew a knife, throwing it. With a laugh, Malekith disappeared. The blade embedded itself into the wall.
The prince didn't even bother to retrieve it, his shoulders slumping as he left the room.
OoOoOoO
Katarina couldn't cease to be amazed by Asgard. Every time that she felt like she couldn't be surprised, they did something brilliant and blew her away all over again.
This time, they had really pulled out all the stops with the feast. The table- which was at least the length of a whale- groaned under golden plates and plates of delicious-looking food. The servants scurried about with silver trays, constantly asking people if they wanted a snack, or a refill, or anything else.
And the people. There were women in floaty dresses, men in swirling robes of every color, and children looking absolutely adorable dressed up in their fancy clothes. She couldn't be sure, but she thought she saw a few gods besides the Odinson family.
Katarina started to sit down at the middle of the table with her family, but was waved up by Thor (who seemed to be back in good spirits). She sat at Thor's left, across from Loki, while Lord Odin sat at the head of the table with Queen Frigga beside him.
He made a brief speech about being grateful that they all came, and then let them begin.
Soon, the hall was filled with such noise that Katarina almost had to shout to talk to Thor, right beside her.
"Impressed?" He asked, grinning.
"It is quite impressive." She agreed, smiling as well. She noted his relaxed and languid demeanor. "Do you often have feasts like this?"
"Not usually, but once in a while, yes." He pointed to a woman with auburn hair and a dress of soft pinks, reds and yellows. "That is Eostre, goddess of the spring." He nodded to a young girl with dark brown hair and bright green eyes. "Idun, goddess of youth." He gestured to a older man with silver hair that seemed to glow. "Mani, god of the moon."
"Do you know all of them?" Katarina asked in awe, putting her eating utensils down for a moment.
"Not personally, but I do know a great deal of them." Thor admitted.
"They're all so beautiful..." The princess said softly and looked down for a second. Right now, she felt extremely inferior. Yes, she was a non-aging human, but these were gods. Omniscient beings that controlled a little part of all worlds. The moon, the sun, the dawn, the day, the sunset, the night. She felt like a weed among flowers.
OoOoOoO
A quick glance across the table confirmed his theory. Katarina was frowning down at her plate, seemingly deep in thought, but there was a forlorn look on her face.
Thor was not helping, chattering on about each god or goddess and how he knew them, or knew of them, not even paying attention to Katarina's sudden change in attitude.
She thought herself inferior. The thought, to Loki, was laughable.
He leaned over the table, wearing his trademark smirk. "You think they're beautiful?" He snickered. "Yes, perhaps, but you should see what they look like without all their paints and powders."
Katarina raised her eyebrows. "Have you?"
He grinned mischievously. "I played a trick on them when I was younger..." He nodded to a woman with bright gold hair. "Lady Sol has never liked me since. Well, it's reasonable." He added. "I mean, would you like the person who replaced all your makeup with different colored paints with illusions on them so they looked like makeup?"
Thor unexpectedly started laughing. "I remember that. Lady Sol was going around, so confused, while everyone screamed in terror. They thought they saw Hel herself."
They both chuckled, and Katarina smiled. She felt better now.
"Besides," Loki added with a small frown. "Most of them are arrogant and too full of themselves to look outside their own bubble of selfish need."
Queen Frigga heard and sent her second son a pointed frown. He shrugged in reply and she sighed.
Katarina didn't miss the exchange. It was interesting to see how they could communicate without words, to have a bond so strong and a friendship so close that they didn't have to speak to talk. Sometimes, she could do that with Nikolai or Alienora, but she never even attempted to do it with Ryker or Synthia.
"Anyway," Loki said in a bored voice. "This is when it gets dull. The feasting and conversations are almost over, and now comes the dancing." A sudden grin broke across his face.
"Loki..." Thor warned, recognizing his brother's expression. "Don't try anything."
"What? Dearest brother, how could you accuse me of any-" Loki's protest was cut off by a distinct and very loud female scream and the clatter of plates down the table.
"What's going on?" Katarina craned her neck to get a better look. Loki smirked.
"I think you'll find that one of the dishes may not have been prepared properly." He said slyly, and there was another scream. Thor looked exasperated.
"Did you replace the roasted boar with a live one?"
"That's clever, Thor. I should try that next time."
"Did you enchant the pies to throw themselves at people?"
"Not at all."
"Did you put a nest of rats in the turkey?"
"You're getting warmer."
"Mice?"
"Warmer."
"Slugs?"
"Boiling."
"A snake?"
"Ding ding ding! We have a winner!"
By this time Katarina was laughing so hard that she almost fell from her chair. "Amusing." She said sarcastically, but her eyes were twinkling. "Very amusing." She looked down the table with interest at the still-screaming women. "I should try this at my own house."
Loki snickered. "I'll teach you how to do it." He promised, and she smiled at him. She had no idea how much his heart leapt.
Frigga stood up with a sigh and started to move towards the commotion. Katarina watched, curious, as the queen, pushed aside the guests and grabbed the long black snake with her bare hands, totally unafraid. With a few whispered words, it disappeared.
"Mother," Loki said in a voice dangerously close to whining as the queen went back to her place at the head of the table. "Did you have to ruin my fun?"
"Behave yourself, Loki," She chided him, but her eyes were smiling. Katarina could see that she had actually enjoyed her son's trick.
"Was it your mother that you got your sorcery from?" The princess asked Loki curiously.
"So I'm told." He shrugged. "She also taught me how to use it when I was younger."
"So that's how you learned. Alienora said you sold your soul to a master of the dark arts."
Loki rolled his eyes. "They'll believe anything, won't they?"
"Well, most of Alienora's audience are children, so pretty much, yeah."
Speaking of Alienora, she was currently being swamped by little kids, all of them begging for a story, to which she readily obliged. Loki sighed.
"If she tells a single story about me-"
"You'll prove her right and blow her to dust?" Katarina guessed cheekily, and he shot her a look.
OoOoOoO
When the dancing started, Thor was quicker and claimed Katarina as a partner first. He pulled her onto the dancefloor.
Loki leaned against the wall, watching them, trying to suppress the feeling of jealousy in his chest as he saw Thor smile at undoubtedly flirt with her, and she smiled back and probably said something witty.
Basically, the extend of their relationship.
He heard someone lean against the wall next to him.
"Trying to be a wallflower?" She asked.
He turned and saw that it was Katarina's friend- Alienora? Yes, that was her name. Now that he saw her up close, he noticed that she was rather pretty, but, in his eyes, did not compare with the princess of Vanaheim.
He merely shrugged in answer to her question. She grinned.
"Don't they look cute together?" She pointed to Katarina and Thor, still dancing and laughing at some joke that Thor had probably made. Again, he shrugged.
"My thoughts exactly." She said, nodding. "Mind asking me to dance? I need to talk to you."
Thinking there was no harm, he took her hand and soon they were among the many party-goers.
"So, what is it that you wanted to talk about?" He asked idly.
"Well, Katarina, actually."
"What about her?"
"Did she give you her necklace?"
He shot her a sharp look. "What of it?"
She grinned. "Don't need to be so defensive. I'm happy for you. For a little while, Katarina insisted that she would never fall for anyone. Ever."
"Mm, a promise that she has managed to keep so far?"
"No. Don't play the fool either. You know that she likes you." Alienora rolled her eyes. "Really, I came to ask if you liked her."
"What makes you think I would confide in you?"
"That means yes. Great. Perfect." She punched him, hard, in the stomach. Loki blinked.
"What was that for?"
"That was to remind you that I will kill you if you hurt her." She threatened. The warning was so ridiculous, coming from the mouth of this small girl, that he laughed.
"Don't laugh. I'll get Nikolai in on it." She cautioned. That shut him up real quick. Nikolai was an excellent swordsman, and with his NearSight, it would make him a tough opponent. Yes, he would probably beat the prince of Vanaheim eventually, but it would take time and energy.
"So, yeah, that's pretty much it." The song ended and Alienora let go of him. "As the Midguardians say, "take care"." She drifted off.
OoOoOoO
Katarina finally stopped dancing to get a drink. She was quite thirsty, and the room was starting to feel hot and stuffy. She decided to get some air as well.
After getting a crystal flute* from a passing servant, she headed to the terrace and opened up the glass doors, leaning against the railing and looking over the realm spread beneath her.
Asgard really was beautiful. A perfect metropolis, with golden-roofed houses and straight, sturdy roads. In the distance, the rainbow bridge glittered.
She felt someone lean against the fencing beside her. She didn't have to look up to know who it was.
"Isn't it beautiful?" She asked Loki.
"It is. It really is." Katarina had no idea that Loki was looking at her.
Finally, she turned to look at him. He smirked, bowing and holding out a hand.
"Is the lady without a partner for the next dance?" He asked innocently. She laughed.
"She is." She placed the flute on the railing.
He took her hand in his and placed another on her waist, while she put a hand on his shoulder. She remembered the last time they had danced, at that party so long ago in Vanaheim.
It suddenly struck Loki how beautiful Katarina looked, with moonlight spilling onto her hair and pale skin. If he hadn't known better, he would've thought she was Freyja** herself.
Katarina all at once realized how amazing Loki was- he asked her to be his lady for the tournament and had even saved her life from a creature that would have undoubtedly ripped her to shreds. It seemed so surreal that she was dancing with him on a balcony at night, as if it was from another world.
The song started in the hall and the couple revolved slowly on the spot, listening to the quiet echoes of music from the feast and the rapid pulse of their own hearts.
It was quite romantic.
OoOoOoO
Katarina was walking next to Loki as they headed down the rainbow bridge. There was a peaceful bit of silence between them. They were so close that their shoulders were almost touching.
Nikolai, Synthia, Katia, Ryker and Alienora had left earlier, letting the princess stay a little while longer as long as she promised to come home before dawn.
"If my friends breathe a word about you kissing anybody..." Nikolai had warned when he had said goodbye. Katarina pretended to be shocked.
"You have friends?" She had asked with innocent surprise. Nikolai had punched her on the shoulder but smiled.
As they approached the Bifrost, Katarina stopped, and Loki followed suit, raising an eyebrow in question, turning towards her. She smiled sweetly at him.
And then she stepped forward, closing the little bit of space between them, putting her arms around his neck, resting her forehead on his shoulder. Loki froze for a moment, shocked, but then wrapped his arms around her, hugging her back. He briefly imagined Thor's face if he saw this, and smirked, holding Katarina tighter.
I'm never going to let you have her, Thor. He thought firmly. Never.
"Thanks for not letting me die today." She said, voice slightly muffled against his shoulder. She was so warm. Loki just wanted to freeze time and stay in that moment forever, just holding her against him.
"I couldn't just stand there." He replied. "Otherwise, who else would be there to disregard my authority as a prince of Asgard?"
"Mm, I'll take that as a compliment." She grinned into his shoulder before stepping away. Loki experienced the strange and sudden urge to stop her and pull her back.
Katarina walked into the Bifrost, gave Heimdall a curt nod hello, and smiled once more at Loki before she disappeared in a flash of white light.
"I assume that you don't want me to speak of what happened here to Prince Thor?" Heimdall asked dryly, pulling his sword from the pedestal. Loki laughed.
A/N: What do you think? I made the chapter extra long because the other two were so short.
Um, in the future, I might not update as frequently, because I might have to take a break from FanFiction... so yeah...
I hope that you enjoyed the moments between Loki and Katarina!
Review, favorite, follow.
