AN: Alright, Bloom's five in this, and her magic has reappeared by now. So, you'll have to forgive any lines from Bloom that sound really young or naïve, she's five after all. Please, any reviews or suggestions for chapters would be great. If someone wants me to write something, just ask! Otherwise we're stuck with what's in my admittedly barely-slightly-evil imagination. Good always wins out in the end, but I can think up some weird and creepy stuff - illustrated in original story, no spoilers for anyone who hasn't read that far.

Its been around four years since Bloom fist arrived on Asgard so mysteriously, and Loki's found he absolutely adores her.

When he and Thor were young, they'd go off on their little adventures around the palace - getting into trouble, and Loki getting them out of most of it - but even then Thor was always confident that he would get the throne. He was the bigger sibling, older by only barely a year, but he was always much physically stronger than Loki - Loki always made up for it by being the smarter of the two, the one who planned ahead for stuff to go wrong.

Over time though, the two of them grew apart - Thor grew arrogant and ever-increasingly reckless, loving battle, feasting, and ever-obsessing about the throne he would someday rule from; while Loki was increasingly pushed to the side and ignored or treated like he didn't matter as much. Their friends, Sif, Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun, all tried to show Thor how arrogant he was being at times, how his ego could fill the throne room and then some, but he never really listened. Loki always had to 'know his place' - and he preferred his place be in a book somewhere quiet rather than at Thor's side to be compared to and found lacking.

All that changed when Bloom came into their lives.

Thor remained the same, but Bloom made it bearable - she saw the two of them side-by-side, and she chose Loki over Thor. The entire kingdom sees Thor as the perfect, golden prince - the one who can do no wrong, no matter what the situation is - but Bloom prefers the quiet brother who listens to her when she talks to him and is always glad to spend time with her rather than Asgard's golden boy.

Thor's arrogance stemming from his desire for the throne drove her away, and drove her right into Loki's heart as well. He can see she tries to earn Thor's favor as well, earn his pride in her - but no matter what she accomplishes, what she works to be, it never seems to be enough for Thor; for instance, her ability to know where people are in relation to her is impressive beyond belief, astounding to Loki and Frigga, but Thor merely sees it as a paltry trick that's barely worth his time. She clearly has an innate gift for magic, having picked up illusions and manipulation of fire in moments when it usually takes days if not weeks, yet Thor only sees it as a few tricks instead of skills that could save her life in a battle.

Now, he's trying to find Bloom; he and Thor watched her training today, Loki can see she's a natural at fighting as well, but at some serious disadvantages - for one, she barely comes up to their knees and is attempting to lift a sword that is as tall as she is, not to mention the fact that she's up against fully-trained Einherjar that have a thousand years of experience in battles - while Thor only scorned her for losing to the third combatant.

Defeating the first two is an impressive victory in itself to Loki, and she only lost the third in Thor's eyes because she tripped, her pendant flew off, and when she blocked the blow one of the swords exploded. None know who's sword it was that was broken, but Bloom scrambled up, and ran out of the room as fast as her legs could carry her without her tripping once again - another thing Thor constantly belittles her for.

He finds her hiding in her room, and he mainly knows she's there because the torches on either side of her bedroom door aren't burning normally - he quickly noticed Bloom's affinity with fire, something always happens with the nearest torch or fireplace when she doesn't have her necklace on and gets emotional. G

ood thing I grabbed it before coming after her. Thor, you idiot, you have no idea how powerful she might be.

Loki never ceases to be amazed at how thick-headed Thor can be. Just because he doesn't use magic, or thinks he doesn't use magic - he'd call calling Mjolnir back from where he threw it and summoning lightning from the sky magic - doesn't mean it isn't dangerous or has no place in a battle. The exploding sword should pound that point through even Thor's thick-as-rock head.

When he quietly walks into Bloom's room, he finds her sitting next to the bed, curled up in as small of a ball as possible. He breathes out a sigh of relief, and drops down to his knees to be on her level. "Sister, are you alright?"

Bloom wordlessly shakes her head no, and shuts her eyes against what he knows are more tears - the wetness on her cheeks is proof enough that Thor hurt her again with his words. Loki sighs and sits down next to her, pulling her onto his legs slowly and gently placing the chain of her beloved necklace around her neck. She stands up and throws her small arms around his neck before giving in to her tears. "Sister, sister, it's okay." Thor, you brainless oaf. I swear you'll end up making the biggest mistake of your life one day when Bloom stops caring about what you think.

"Why, Loki? Why can't I ever be good enough for him?"

Anger burns through Loki at the question, and he says "It's the other way around, Bloom. Thor isn't good enough for you. Your too good for him, far too good to him. He just doesn't see it."

Bloom pulls back and wipes a small hand at her face, sniffling and asking "Then why does everybody love to be around him, why does everybody want to be his friends?"

Loki sighs, knowing Bloom's far too young to understand why being the Crown Prince of Asgard makes Thor so popular - all she knows right now is that he's horrible to her while everyone else strives to be Thor's friend, and they all are treated politely. "Thor's won many battles in the past, Bloom. He has many stories of adventure and battle to share - something Asgardians love. Plus, he loves ale very much. Another thing in his favor."

"So because I was born during a time of peace, and because Mother doesn't let me try any ale, Thor doesn't think I'm good enough for him?" She sounds angry now, she's always been one to feel her emotions strongly instead of suppressing them. She'll likely learn to keep her emotions off her face as she grows older, hide them to deny Thor the satisfaction of seeing her reaction to his words until she's away from him, but Loki knows for sure she'll never grow cold to Thor's insults and taunts.

"No, Sister. It means Thor's always too busy dreaming of a new battle to be a part of, or drinking so heavily he passes out, to enjoy what the times of peace have brought him. Such as a wonderful sister he should appreciate much more than he does."

Bloom hugs him again, pressing her always-warm body to his chest lovingly. "Thank you, Loki. You're the best brother ever."

Loki grins, but keeps his voice soothing as he says "And what of Thor? Your other brother?"

"You actually care about me, he doesn't. All he does is mock me for using magic."

Loki has to agree with her assumption there, from her perspective it looks like he really doesn't care about her at all. "Well, let me show you something, Bloom. Something to prove Thor wrong about magic and what it can do."

Bloom nods eagerly, always more than willing to learn something new about magic. It fascinates her to no end, ever-curious as she is - Loki doesn't blame her, the mysteries of magic intrigued him endlessly for years as well.

He takes her to the Weapons Vault, where they keep the most dangerous relics in Asgard - and all of them are magical, harness and use it for battle in one way or another.

Bloom is immediately fascinated by the objects, and, Loki has to admit, not without some reason - most of them happen to be shiny and interesting-looking, just the thing a five-year-old girl with an endless amount of curiosity would love to get a closer look at. She suddenly trips once again after he finishes explaining how each of these objects, at one point or another, aided malicious groups in attempting to conquer some or all of the Nine Realms.

Her necklace goes skidding across the floor again as he hears the small 'Oomph' he's learned to listen for, so he helps her to her feet before going to retrieve the piece of jewelry she arrived with. He just finds and picks it up when she lets out a small "Ouch!"

When he whirls around, she's standing in front of the Jotun Casket Allfather took from the Frost Giants in the last war with them and holding one hand to her chest like it's hurt.

Of course she'd look at one of the relics, but how'd one hurt her?

He doesn't ask the question out loud, dropping to one knee and gently coaxing her hand out to look at it. "I just touched it…"

He gently opens it, and finds it's cold as ice while her lower arm is as warm as ever. "Alright, I bet I know what will help some."

He places her necklace around her neck again, and picks her up to go stand by the nearest torch. She holds her hand out towards it, then sighs in relief and says "It's getting better…"

Her hand isn't just cold, it's stinging horribly and feels like there's some power in it that really shouldn't be there - the power of the Casket, and it hurts.

The heat of the fire helps soothe the sting, but her hand still hurts when Frigga puts her to bed that night with a kiss on the forehead. When Bloom senses her walking away, she climbs out of her bed and goes over to the fireplace that's always got a fire in it.

Her hand is starting to hurt again, and no matter how long she sits on it to warm it, it doesn't go away fully. Without even thinking about what she's doing, she takes her necklace off and plunges her hand in the fire - something she's always felt like she was supposed to do, that feels right.

Everybody keeps telling her to stay away from the fire, that fire is dangerous and will hurt her if she gets too close - it feels amazing, a rush of energy up her arm that burns away the pain in her hand and leaves her feeling like she could stay awake all night.

Mother told me that magic can manipulate fire, but that it was a dangerous tool that should be used cautiously. That it was closer to a wild Bilgesnipe than a tool - like as not to turn on the one who used it as the one it's being used against. But this…this is more like an old friend…

Deciding to try an experiment, Bloom closes her hand and draws it out - pulling out a ball of fire in her fist. She's far too young to realize that not even Frigga and Loki can do this, hold fire in their hand they didn't conjure without pain or a feeling of heat - what she does know is that the ball of fire in her hand doesn't hurt her in the slightest, she doesn't even feel any heat, she feels energy in and around her hand that she's somehow keeping there.

It's the same energy that comes from everyone else constantly, that's in the torches and fireplaces, in the freshly-cooked foods that are always on the feast hall when she gets there - the same energy that's constantly drawing her to torches when she's close enough or the fireplace and try to touch it. It's heat, warmth, and she can do what she wants with it. The implications of her discovery pass her by completely, not occurring to her that she can pull energy out of the very air to use or that she could raise her own body temperature if she wanted.

She goes looking for Loki and Frigga to show them her newest magical discovery - the two people that will appreciate and praise it.

She finds Loki alright, walking down the halls towards the feast hall to ask someone where they are. She breaks into a grin as he stops dead in his tracks - he runs over and slides onto the floor on his knees. "Bloom! What are you doing? How did this happen?"

"I picked it up! And my hand stopped hurting!"

She sounds so delighted to tell him this that Loki can't imagine she's in pain - he also can't imagine that it's real fire she's holding then. That idea burns to death when he puts his hand near hers - there's heat radiating off her hand, definitely fire she's holding then. "How about we go put that back in…where did you get that?"

"The fireplace! Isn't that a good thing?"

"Is your hand hurting from the fire that should be turning it black at the moment?"

"No."

"Then it's not bad. You must be using magic to protect yourself. So, it's a good thing."

"Yay!"

Loki's head is spinning, Bloom's holding fire and not feeling a thing. He's going to have to ask Frigga about this, but right now he has to get Bloom back into bed.

He does, and watches in pure amazement as she sticks her hand back in the fireplace and it comes out without a scratch. Loki immediately takes her hand and starts examining it, but it's not even warmer than normal. Her hand looks completely fine, a mystery for tomorrow though - it's late at night, and he's not going to get any magical-mystery solving done right now.