I can't thank you all enough, I really can't! You support means the world to me, truly *-*
I hope you enjoy the chapter! ^.^
Loki silently entered the vacant training room, Tanis right at his heels. He walked past the practice swords, battle axes, and other assorted large weapons, stopping when he came to a few daggers. He took the small blades and examined them carefully, before attaching them to his belt.
Crossing to to one side of the room, he turned to face the opposite wall, which was padded and marked from the many practice battles that took place in the arena. He waved a hand and set up illusions of bullseyes, since there weren't any real ones. Most Asgardians found the use of long-distance weapons pointless, preferring to engage in hand-to-hand combat.
Loki then clasped his pale fingers around a dagger and threw it.
The blade struck the wall in the center of the target, quivering there slightly, and Loki's closed lips curled into a small smile.
"What now?" Fandral asked, once they'd finally managed to drag Volstagg from the dining hall and outside to enjoy the last couple hours of daylight.
"You're It!" Thor declared, tagging Fandral roughly on the shoulder before dashing off, followed by Sif, Volstagg, and Hogun.
"Foul!" Fandral protested indignantly, though he began chasing after them nevertheless.
"Thou shalt not catch me!" Thor taunted. He led Fandral all the way around the perimeter of the field before ducking into the training room. Peeking around the edge of the door, he saw that Fandral had given up chasing him in favor of going after Sif.
He was just about to charge back outside when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Loki had long since tired of the static bullseyes, and had enchanted them to shoot around the room, bouncing around the room and off each other as if they were corporeal, and when the daggers sailed through the targets they pinned the images to the wall behind them.
Tanis watched him from where she was sitting above on the rafters that supported the roof, her golden eyes following the blades as Loki threw them. His movements were surprisingly fluid as he whirled around, this not being the first time he'd sneaked in to practice by himself.
Suddenly Loki heard running footsteps approach, the dagger he was throwing missing the target wildly as his attention slipped.
Quickly he waved the targets away, and he'd just barely collected the knives when Thor burst into the room, immediately turning to lean against the door frame and look back out.
Loki crept up behind his brother, placing a hand on Thor's shoulder.
"ODIN'S EYE PATCH!" Thor swore loudly, jumping into the air as he whirled around.
Loki smirked at him.
"Loki! What are you doing here?!" Thor asked in surprise.
"What do you think?" Loki countered, rolling his eyes.
"Did you come to practice your battle skills?" Thor said hopefully, his blue eyes lighting up. "Then let us spar!" He went over and took a training sword from the rack, turning to look at Loki expectantly. "Aren't you going to get a weapon?"
"I have a weapon," Loki answered, holding up a dagger. He wanted to practice hand-to-hand combat with the knives anyway, and it would be better without the instructor or Thor's friends watching.
"That is hardly a weapon for a duel," Thor frowned.
"We'll have to see," Loki said, smiling secretively.
"Have at thee!" Thor exclaimed.
He and Loki slashed their blades through the air as they attacked and parried. Thor's eyes widened at how well his little brother was keeping up, and he shot a pleased grin at Loki as he intensified his strikes.
Thor finally knocked the dagger out of Loki's hand, pointing his sword at the smaller boy's chest. They were both panting.
"Rematch?" Thor asked eagerly.
Loki retrieved his weapon and readied his stance, lifting his chin. He smirked teasingly. "You won't win again, I can promise you that."
Loki kept his promise.
So... I know it's short... and sort of random (again...) But I did only get about three hours of sleep. (Although that was my fault for procrastinating on homework x.x)
Anyway! I hope you enjoyed the chapter nonetheless :3 Please review and let me know what you think!
Em: Aww, thank you so much! ^.^ You mean am I planning on revealing that Loki is a Frost Giant? I wasn't planning on it... but then again, this story isn't exactly planned out XD So far the plan hasn't been for the story to be completely AU, though. Eheheheh, the competition went alright! My team didn't place, but we're competing more for the experience than winning :) We were all really nervous beforehand, but after we got off stage it felt really good, you know? And now I just have to go to another one next Sunday!