Hello readers, i have an announcement for you. This is going to be the last chapter of Shatterpoint that i am posting for awhile. I will not abandon it so do not worry, but i am currently in the process of rewriting my other stories. Like how I turned Halfling of Asgard into its current form of Shatterpoint i am fixing the rest of my Pre-Thor arc.
"1 Supers before the Heroes" has been completely rewritten on March 9, 2016. If you have read it before then, then i ask you to go back and reread it. It is no longer painful to read as it was before and the plot has been altered and added to. It's only nine chapters long, so it is a quick read.
The reason i am temporarily stopping with Shatterpoint is because I am rewriting One Month One War, and want to focus on it so i won't write two different stories at once and risk messing them both up. I know One Month One War was probably the worst and most shallow of all my stories, which is why i'm currently fixing it.
Once I am done with One Month One War i will go back to Shatterpoint. I will not abandon it.
"SHE IS TO ON SVARTA! BROTHER SAYS SO!" Thor shouted.
Loki sighed at Thor's shout and closed his eyes tiredly. The brief charge he had gotten from the Tesseract was gone now, and he was currently in the Healer's Ward. Fey stood before him working on repairing his hands, and Thor and Odin were facing off against each other.
"Hold still," Fey ordered Loki as the burnmarks on his hands faded and his skin healed.
Thor was standing on one of the beds in the Healer's Ward so he was close to the same height as his father, and glaring at him sharply. If it were possible there'd be a lightning bolt between their eyes as they tried to stare each other down. It was becoming typical for the father and son to butt heads like this, but it was getting on Fey's nerves. She glanced at Angborn but he was sitting on a bunk quietly with an almost depressed appearance, and wisely making no attempt to interrupt them.
"You might as well listen to them Odin," Fey called out to the Allfather to try and distract him from the standoff. "It's the only lead you have as of now on Tilaria. If you find Tilaria then you'll find her captive, which will be the shadow mage or an ally of theirs."
Odin sighed at Fey's barbed comment, and turned away from his son to glance at her with his left eye. "Loki did forbidden magic without authorization and almost blew up the palace, again. It's just like he did last century."
"Unjust means do not invalidate the information," Fey reminded Odin. "I think they're right. It's certainly the last place that crossed anyone's mind to look."
Thor took advantage of the fact that Odin was distracted to glare at Loki lightly, wishing that he had been told that the scrying disk and spell were forbidden. Fey motioned for Thor to get down from the bunk with her head, and Thor reluctantly hoped off to the floor.
"A scrying disk is almost as dangerous as Dayturn toxin," Odin replied pointedly.
He was reminding Loki about that time again when he had used forbidden magic without authorization. That had been a century ago, and Loki had dosed himself on Dayturn Toxin to boost his magic. Loki wasn't elfin, and he had controlled the dosage so he hadn't killed himself. After that Odin had confiscated Loki's supply of it, but Odin truly doubted that he had taken all of Loki's supply. There would be more hidden in his room somewhere.
Loki didn't say anything to the reminder of his Dayturn Toxin.
"There," Fey declared triumphantly and lowered her hands from Loki.
Loki wiggled his fingers to test them, but the burns had healed. Although there was discoloration there was no pain. He nodded thanks to Fey.
"We've already scanned Svartalfheim," Tyr, who had also appeared with Odin at the mention of Svartalfheim, sighed impatiently. "The planet has been dead since the defeat of Malekith, and it is still dead. There is no one alive there, including Tilaria."
"Then she's cloaked," Loki replied smartly and hopped off the bed. "Heimdall isn't perfect."
Odin seemed displeased by Loki's tartness, and looked at the two Star Guard who had escorted the princes to the Healer's Ward. He knew that his sons would not stop, especially since he had told them no. The Star Guard straightened when they realized Odin was looking at them.
"Escort my sons to their rooms and stand guard." Odin ordered them. "They are to stay there for the time being."
"Yes sir," they answered and started to walk towards the boys.
Thor and Loki looked at each other knowingly, but allowed themselves to be escorted away. Eirill stood near the doorway, having been with Tyr and accompanied him when his son's name had been mentioned. After the princes left, Angborn glanced at his father and Eirill motioned for him to come.
With a slight bow at Fey Angborn walked to his father. Eirill led his son into the empty hallway so they could have a little privacy and then turned to face him. It was obvious that he wasn't happy.
"Father," Angborn greeted Eirill softly, almost cringing at the amount of trouble he knew he was in.
"Angborn," Eirill began in a cross voice. "I thought I warned you to stay away from Loki. He's unstable and dangerous, and nothing good will come of interacting with him. You heard what Odin said about the time he used Dayturn Toxin, not to mention that he's almost killed Thor once already. It's best for you to keep your distance from him."
"Father-" Angborn started.
"If you stay with Loki all that will happen is that you will get in trouble, just like you did today." Eirill reminded pointedly. "He is among other things a bad influence who uses magic, trickery, and lies. Although he is a prince of our realm, he is a disgrace to the royal family. I don't want to see you near him again least you start to act like him. Understood?"
Angborn remembered how Loki had cast the ward and protected him from the glass shards despite the burns on the latter's hands. He shook off the memory sure that Loki had merely been protecting Thor. Loki had no limits as long as Thor was kept safe when he was feeling sane, and if he wasn't then Thor was as much of a target as anyone else. It would likely be the best.
"Yes father," Angborn whispered consent quietly.
"Good," Eirill said in a relieved tone as if the knowledge that his son would stay away from Loki was a burden lifted. "Now return to your room. I'll be there to speak to you later."
"Yes father," Angborn repeated and quietly walked back to his room without another word.
Thor moodily plodded alongside Loki as they approached their quarters yet again. He was worn out from walking up and down the palace so many times, but did his best to hide the fact that he was out of breath. What was his father thinking to have them escorted to their rooms? Was he really alright with leaving Tilaria with the shadow mage and their allies? And if Daris was behind this blackout and Tilaria's kidnapping?
"Inside my princes," One of the Star Guard ordered them in a kind voice once they reached their rooms.
Thor glanced at Loki, sure his brother was going to pull a sudden escape, but Loki was already walking complying with their wishes and walking into his room. If Loki had a plan he wasn't using it, so Thor glumly went inside and sat on his bed. One of the Star Guard followed him in and locked his balcony doors and raised the enchantments. When he left he locked Thor in, and Thor didn't doubt that he was standing guard outside the door.
Thor picked up his wooden training sword from his sheets and threw it across the room. It hit the glass-planed doors that led to his balcony loudly and fell to the ground. The enchantments around the princes' rooms were meant to protect them, but when they were activated they also trapped them. Why would Loki go along with this so docilely? That wasn't like Loki at all to give in and do what their father ordered.
Thor jumped when he heard a crash from out in the hallway. There was another sound similar to the first and then silence. The silence made the hair on the back of Thor's neck stand on end, and he reached under his bed and withdrew a different sword. This sword was metal and the light reflected off its sharpened edge as he withdrew it from its scabbard with a hiss.
There was a click as the lock turned, and Thor's door swung inward. Thor climbed off his bed and held his sword in front of him in a fighting stance as it opened. Was it the shadow mage coming after the princes like they had to their father? Instead of the shadow mage, it was Loki.
"L-Loki! How?" He stuttered.
Thor leaned down to look behind his brother and saw a Star Guard's arm lying outside the door. Loki had knocked them out? At least, Thor hoped they were only unconscious.
"Didn't you learn from our sparring earlier when I was allowed to fight with my normal daggers that I'm stronger then I let on?" Loki demanded somewhat tartly. "I don't care if I win or lose a few sparring matches with a useless sword that I know I can't wield, so I don't try with Eirill."
Thor didn't have an answer to that, and Loki waved a hand towards the hallway. "Come on. We have to get to Svarta. We might run into the shadow mage or their friends while we're there so you better put on your armor."
Loki's words made Thor swallow, and he looked down at his polished blade. For all Thor's bluff and bluster he had never really been in battle. The closest he had come was the Jötnar's raid on Asgard a century ago, and Thor had been relatively sheltered from that. It had been Loki who had lost his temper and slain most of the Jötnar after they had killed Sigyn, not Thor.
Thor looked up from his sword, but say that Loki had left the doorway. He knew his brother wouldn't have gone far, so Thor temporarily set his sword on the sheets of his bed and began to get dressed in the leather armor he had gotten. Wish though he may otherwise, he was too young to have real armor, and was lucky to even have a real sword.
Loki left Thor's doorway and stepped over the fallen Star Guard back to his room. He checked in on Slítas, but his pet was still sleeping deeply, burrowed in to the nest of sheets Loki had made. The mishap with the scrying spell hadn't even stirred him.
He smiled, and gently stroked his cobra's spines a few times lightly. The only reason Loki had had the energy to do the scrying was thanks to Slítas dosing him. Loki even had enough energy left over to feel comfortable about going with his brother to Svarta, and the strength of the dose was astonishing. This was going to be a dangerous quest, so perhaps it was for the best that Slítas was staying here on Asgard.
Assured that Slítas would be alright, Loki went back into the hallway. He had contacted Amora telepathically on his walk to the Healer's Ward, and found her waiting for him.
"Do you want me to come with you to Svarta?" Amora asked calmly.
She barely glanced at the sight of the unconscious Star Guard. Really, it was Odin's fault they were unconscious. He should have known better than to try and keep the princes locked up.
Loki shook his head. "No, I'll keep an eye on Thor and his friends. I need you and your sister to draw Heimdall's sight from me. If he realizes we're trying to slip to the Dark World he'll stop us."
"Heimdall?" Amora asked in amusement. "How are we supposed to do that?"
Loki smiled, "If you two need an idea then I know Jonelle is going to stop by the apple tree courtyard."
"Jonelle," Amora repeated slowly, and then she smiled as mischievously as Loki for all mages had mischief in their blood. "I believe we can work with that."
"By the way," Loki added. "Do you know where Thor's friends are?"
"Fandral and Volstagg are home already," Amora said without looking in Loki's direction as she thought of what to do to Jonelle that would gain Heimdall's attention. "Sif is in Hogun's room."
Loki knew that Fandral and Volstagg were too far away to get there in time, but Sif and Hogun could help. "Before you find Jonelle, can you go tell Sif and Hogun to gear up for battle?"
"Anything to upset Odin," Amora promised.
Loki pretended that he hadn't just heard her say that, and added. "Have them meet us at the Dragon War tapestry, and make sure they know to hurry. I'll signal you when we're ready for your distraction."
Thor came back out of his room just as Amora teleported off to warn Sif and Hogun. He looked where she had been and then at Loki curiously, asking a wordless question.
"Amora's going to get us some reinforcements," Loki said before Thor could. "Come on, we're going to meet up with Sif and Hogun."
"Where?" Thor asked strongly.
All of the normal childish banter was gone, and he was serious now that he knew he had to be. Thor might not make a good king, but he would make a fine general one day. Loki was grateful his brother had become serious.
"Dragon War tapestry as usual," Loki informed him and started to run towards the tapestry.
Thor nodded and followed his brother down the hall to the tapestry where some of his friends would be waiting.
Loki is still being Loki, and is once again breaking the rules. What a surprise. *rolls eyes at the sarcasm*
Amora and Lorelei are two Marvel-based mages. My Lorelei is based off of her Marvel Cinematic apperance, but Amora is not directly based on the comics or Cinematic.
A lot of stuff happened a century ago as you probably already know about. There's a four story arc about the events a century ago. "A Different Kind of Courage" is the first of the arc if you are interested in learning more about it. More allusions will be made to that time.