Chapter 14: The First Stray

Loki walked sharply, not bothering to look where he was going. His magic nearly crackled around him in anger, and any who came close to him quickly adverted their course. Somehow, he ended up back at Lookout.

The signs of battle had not yet faded and Loki stepped around the burn marks. He walked over and sat on the stones beneath the oak tree. They were warm and surprising comfortable, all of their sharp edges worn away from when the rivers still ran over them.

He set the book to one side and shrugged the knapsack off his shoulder. Hands trembling in anger, he picked up his book and opened it to a random page. His eyes skimmed the page for a second before they started reading. The book was about powerful artifacts and he had turned to a page about the Infinity Gauntlet.

"The Infinity Gauntlet was designed to hold the six of 'soul gems', better known as the Infinity Gems or Infinity Stones. When used in combination with the gauntlet their already impressive powers make the wearer both omnipotent and immortal."

The leaves rustled above him despite the lack of wind. Slowly, Loki looked up. Something with green eyes was peering at him from a break in the leaves. He drew the throwing blade.

The creature flicked out a red forked tongue and slithered down an inch. It was a snake with black scales.

Very slowly, Loki set his book aside and stood, blade behind his back, never letting his eyes stray.

The snake slid down another inch and puffed out a cobra hood, watching him curiously with cloudy cat eyes.

Did-did it live here? How could a predator live in an area with no prey, living in only one tree on the edge of nowhere? It dropped down another foot and lost its grip on the limb, unceremoniously tumbling to the ground with a pained click.

It didn't move.

Loki walked forward slowly, keeping his blade in front of him. It was injured. Blue mottled the black scales like burn marks. Blue… It must have been caught in the crossfire during the fight over the Tesseract. He made a slight click noise and the snake turned one eye toward him. It tried to lift itself off the ground vainly.

Thor was always considered the soft brother but Loki hated seeing animals suffering. He set the dagger back in his sleeve and held his hands in front of him walking to stand beside it. It watched him as he stepped closer and knelt by its side. When he got too near, it raised its head and puffed out its hood, bared its teeth at him with a hiss before slumping to the ground again.

That surprised Loki. It had a cobra hood and small teeth curved backward but no fangs. A constrictor with a cobra hood, that was weird… Loki was something of an expert on snakes and he liked them. The silky smooth, almost rippled feel that came from stroking their scales was unique. Despite what most people thought, snakes struck as a last resort and the venomous ones preferred dry bites to wasting some of their precious venom on something they weren't going to eat.

"Stop it," Loki scolded the snake. He unwound the bandages around one of his palms and held it out. Where most burns were red or black, his had an unnatural blue tint to them. The snake apprised him. "See I got the same burns you do." Loki carefully inched his injured hand forward again, "just let me help, you got injured because I used the Tesseract…"

It snapped its jaws at him with a loud clack like bone on bone. Loki hesitated and moved his hand forward again, ignoring the warning. It wasn't venomous so he should be all right…

Crack!

"Yow!" Loki jerked his sore hand back. He looked at it. The back of his hand was red and the shape was just like the snake's tail… He glared at it.

It held its tail above its head at the ready like it was a whip.

"I am trying to help!" Loki snapped. "Fine," he growled, "I'll leave you here, even if I know how to fix your burns." He stood, setting his hand on the rocks. Ice crept from his fingers and spikes arouse around his hand. Rats, he jerked his hand back. "Not again…"

The serpent watched the ice grow curiously and turned it head to apprise the prince again.

Loki glared at the hand. His ice magic had always been minor, sleeping really, but now it was active. It made sense; his normal magic was still burned and drained from the Tesseract so all that was left was his ice.

The snake flicking its tongue at the ice and then tilted its head up to him. Carefully, Loki held out a hand and the snake moved forward so it was resting its head in his palm. Loki smiled and scratched it between its eyes. "Never seen an Æsir with ice magic have you?" Loki asked.

No, it hadn't seen an Æsir with Jötunn magic.

Loki was able to pick it up. That was good, but now what do I do with it? Unsure what else to do, he moved his dagger in the knapsack to a different pocket and slid the snake into his bag. He'd hand carry his book rather than risk it squishing the snake.

"Where is it?" Loki growled as he stood on his tiptoes to look at one of his shelves. He stalked over to his desk and pulled out one of its drawers, ruffling through it. Fey had made a special cream that he could put on his burned hands to help them heal faster and it should help the snake… but he had to find it first.

He shoved one drawer closed and opened another. "Got ya," he picked up the small jar and unscrewed the lid to reveal the orange cream inside. The snake sniffed it warily as Loki set it next to it and dipped his fingers in. It moved its head back but at Loki's glare held still and let the prince apply the cream to its wounds. Loki knew it would sting and wasn't surprised when the snake turned its head and bit his hand.

It bit harder as Loki added the cream to more wounds, drawing blood but Loki didn't flinch until he was finished.

"You can let go of my hand," Loki told him. The snake looked up and then shyly released Loki's hand. "Thank you." He applied the balm to his palms, wincing, and then replaced it in his desk. He sat next to the snake again, noticing something. "How long have you had those?" he asked. On either side of the snakes eyes were three clear crystals. They were shaped like a six sided prismatic crystal with a six sided pyramidal tip. The crystal in the middle was slightly longer than the two on either side.

The serpent blinked, crystals glittering orange. He must have always had him, how come Loki hadn't noticed them before? Those were like ice crystals. Now Loki was really confused. He had never seen any Asgardian creature with crystals like that. "What kind of snake are you?"

okay, i know the last two were short but it didn't feel right naming the chapter with Sif in it 'The First Stray' so I split it. Comments on Loki's new friend?

Look how obvious it is he's Jotunn! Even the snake knows it! But I have to follow the Marvel timeline (somewhat).