Hi! It took a while, but here it is. This chapter was based on chapter 617 of Thor comic.

Also, April Fools' Day is called Poisson d'Avril (April Fish) in France. Children and adults traditionally tack paper fish on each other's back as a trick and shout "April fish!"

I hope you like it!

Trickster of Paris

April 1st, Paris (11 months later)

The streets were crammed with tourists. It was easy to distinguish who was an actual Parisian from the sightseers who stared at everything in awe, with their comfortable shoes, backpack, cell phones and cameras ready to record their trip to the legendary city of lights and love.

The memory of the child who had been found on the Seine exactly a year ago was easily forgotten as the world went on with newer and juicier stories to talk about. Little did they know that same boy was now improvising a table with a wooden box and a beautiful green and golden cloth (stolen from an absentminded shopkeeper) and laying three cards on it. Then, he looked at the crowd with his mischievous but lovely smile and decided to start the game.

"Here we go! Here we go! Here we go," Serrure chanted with a charming voice that didn't take him very long to master. "Ladies, ladies, all you lovely, lovely ladies, here we go. Sharp eyes and sharp minds, one and all – it's an old game, I know, but one of the best." He smiled again, still playfully but more innocent this time, melting the hearts of several women. "I hope you all want to play with me."

The three-card-trick was old, but Serrure was perfect for it. His hands were quick as he moved the cards; both his smile and voice oozed so much charm that he immediately created a crowd of amused tourists around him. It didn't hurt that he was cute too. Though he was scrawny and a bit small for his age, the dark haired, emerald green eyed boy was beautiful like a little devil. There was something about him, a certain appeal that made him look like he didn't belong in this world and that attracted maternal women to his games like bees to honey.

More importantly, he had the most important asset of a successful street hustler, a complete lack of conscience.

"No sleeves. Hands full. Full heart. There are no tricks. Here is what I'm saying, ladies" the boy turned over the Jack of spades for all of them to see before moving the cards.

"Oh! Your hands are so fast" a pretty brunette said, trying to follow. "Oh… I think… the middle one…"

Serrure was smiling to himself even before he turned the card, but his face became sad in agreement with the brunette. "No. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you missed, ma'am. Do you wish to try again? You never know when your luck can change."

"Oh… Alright, just another one" she said, giving Serrure one more euro.

"Thank you so much, ma'am. Hard to believe you'd be out alone visiting Paris" the boy said, his voice sweet like candy. "Think you'd have to fight off big handsome blond guys with a stick. Let's see if old Serrure can change your luck. Because, after all, you're all looking for love… old Serrure is looking to get rich."

While the raven haired boy entertained the crowd, he saw Reynard moving. His partner walked leisurely among the tourists, apparently interested in the game, but his thin hands swiftly "liberated" their wallets. The adults were so busy making sure Serrure wasn't cheating that it was quite easy.

At the end of the day, the charming raven bid them all farewell before vanishing into the dark streets to meet up with his partner. Reynard was already waiting for him; it would be too suspicious if the two boys were seen together. The cops could realize their scheme and they knew they were already investigating the mysterious pickpocket that so many tourists were complaining about.

"So? How did it go?" Serrure asked, watching as Reynard's smile grew even wider.

"Twelve juicy ones" the blond twelve year old said. "I swear… they deserve to be robbed! Leaving their wallets in their pockets like that is like asking me to take them."

Serrure nodded and they started to take the money and anything valuable from the wallets. Credit cards were useless to them since they didn't know the PIN, besides their owners would cancel them as soon as they found they had been stolen and, if they did use the cards, the police could trace them and see them with the cameras over the ATM machines.

"They were reckless fools, enchanted by a kid's diversion" the raven said, smiling over his victory over the adults. "We simply used their neglect to our advantage and… Why are you looking at me like that?"

Reynard was staring at his partner with a frown. "You're doing it again."

"What?"

"The talking weird thing!" the other boy cried out. "You look like one those World of Warcraft nerds!"

"Do not!" Serrure yelled back, blushing.

"Yes, you do! No one talks like that in the real world! Did your folks force you read that Shakespeare crap or something?"

Serrure lowered his head. "Y-Yeah… they used to make me read it. I guess it rubbed off on me."

Reynard rolled his eyes. "Man! What a torture! Before I ditched school, my teacher tried to make us like Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas' books. Can you believe it? Who would want to read a million pages of some old book?"

"I would" Serrure thought to himself sadly. He knew he could never admit that he loved reading a good book on the local library when they couldn't go out to play their usual scheme.

The boys continued walking until they got to the deserted alley where they had hidden their backpacks. Reynard split the money and gave Serrure his share. The raven carefully hid the cash on a secret compartment on his stolen Quiksilver backpack and threw the wallets into the Seine. After all, they had his fingerprints, which were already on the police database when everybody thought he was a missing child.

"You're not missing when no one is looking for you" Serrure thought, looking at his blurred reflection on the river where he had been found a year ago.

"Hey! Serrure? You're coming or what?" Reynard said.

"Yes, I'm coming" Serrure ran until he reached his partner and they walked into the less glamorous streets of Paris.

"By the way… what was with "big handsome blond guys" part?"

The raven shrugged. "I don't know… I just thought that is the kind of guy they want. Women like manly men, right?"

"I guess… Most of them say they want a sensitive guy, when they really droll all over the muscular ones."

"Right…" Serrure whispered, staring at his thin arms. He definitely couldn't compare to the big blond guys.

"Oh! That's right! Today is April Fool's Day" Reynard cried out. "Happy birthday!"

"Thanks" Serrure said with a grin. "I'm not letting you put a paper fish on my back though!"

Reynard's fox smile widened. "We'll see about that."

"No, I mean it" Serrure said, placing a hand on his friends back. "Check your backpack. The paper you had in there is gone."

"Wha…?" Reynard pulled his backpack and searched for the damn paper but it wasn't there. "How did you…?"

Serrure smirked. "I watch your back, Rey. Isn't that what you always say?"

The older boy touched his back and felt the paper fish tacked on his sweater. "You bastard! How the hell did you do it? I didn't see you take it at all! What are you? A snake?"

Serrure took the paper from Reynard's hand and waved it with a mischievous smile on his face.

"I'm Serrure DuSeine, the Trickster of Paris!" the raven said gleefully to his frowning companion. "Don't you forget it!"

Hours later, the boys went to a MacDonald's to eat dinner. Eating was a problem for those who lived on the streets. It wasn't just difficult to find food that wasn't all smelly and rotten, even if they had money to pay most restaurants didn't let underage kids eat alone and kept asking stupid questions about their parents. Sometimes, they bought food on the market but, since they didn't have a fridge or a stove, they couldn't cook. They frequently ate fast-food, some fruits, candy and bread.

Serrure ate his hamburger with delight. He usually asked for the less expensive menu but today he felt he deserved a little treat. It was his birthday, or at least the day he decided to make his birthday: the day he had been found on the Seine. He needed those things… a birthday, a name, a surname. He didn't remember his past or his identity, so he decided to create a new one and stop looking for his family. It was painful, but he needed to understand that there wasn't anyone searching for him. He had to toughen up if he wanted to survive.

He had lived on a foster house for two months before running away. He hated every second he spent on that grey and horrible place where he had to share his bedroom with two thugs who liked to pretend that he was their punching bag, tripped him, stole his things and his food and threatened him with a razor knife if he tried to complain to their caretakers. Not they would be of much help either… They hated the scoundrels they had in their care. As far as they were concerned, those kids were all future thieves, killers and rapists, so they treated every single one of them with an iron grip.

Serrure had tried to cling to the hope that his parents would come for him and take him from that hell, but he realized it was just a stupid fantasy. He was just like those boys in the foster care whose parents were either dead, in jail or had simply dump them on the streets like they were a piece of garbage.

The other boys had taunted him mercilessly when he told them that his family was out there. Cruelly, they had opened his eyes to the truth he was trying to deny.

"Don't you get it, dumbass? Your parents got rid of you" they said. "The cops put your face everywhere! Even on TV and the internet! If you were lost, they'd be here by now. The truth is that they don't want you! Probably, they hit your head and threw you into the river so you'd drown and leave them alone."

Their malevolent words took a while to finally sink in but, when they did, Serrure decided that he was done with that place and took off after stealing one of the bullies' razor knife. After a while, he met Reynard and another group of unwanted rascals and he had been with them ever since. However, if everything went accordingly to his plans, Serrure wasn't going to stay much longer.

He had big plans for his future! Sure, he wasn't big and strong like those brutes from the gangs he saw dealing drugs and guns, but he was smart enough to avoid fights and stay alive unlike many of them, who ended up dead in a dark alley because they though with either their fists or their penis.

"I'm full!" Reynard said before burping soundly to shock several old ladies, who frowned and glared at them for making those sounds in front of their innocent grandchildren. "Take that! Bunch of old hags!"

Serrure laughed and the boys left the restaurant running. Reynard had his bonnet to hide his head, while Serrure used the hood of his coat. Where they lived and doing what they did, it wasn't smart to let people know their faces.

The raven followed his partner as he talked about the stupid the brats at MacDonald's. Serrure agreed with him and stared at the kids that were in the playground with a haughty gaze and a sneer, while trying to ignore the lump on his throat. Those kids were just wimpy jerks! Unlike Serrure, they had to do what Mommy and Daddy told them.

He was free to do what he wanted, say what he wanted and be where he wanted! No one told him what to do ever again!

He was going to get rich, buy everything he wanted and travel all around to world. He was going to have a big house and no one was going to kick him out of a store or treat him like trash again. If his parents finally showed up, he'd tell them to screw themselves!

Serrure used his head and he knew he was smarter than most of the drug duds, the problem was they were the ones who had real money. As a result, the young raven had decided to use their arrogance against them when he challenged a group of the Les Barbares gang members to a poker game last week. They had laughed at the small, helpless boy and agreed to let him play, he was betting one hundred euro after all. Much to their dismay, Serrure won.

Obviously they refused to pay him and accused him of cheating. They were right, but that wasn't the point! Serrure had won and he wanted his money. The thugs punched him and threw him into a puddle of mud, promising that if he ever came back again they would cut him open like a fish. Fuming with rage, the black haired pre-teen vowed to get his money back and so, one night, silent as a mouse, he broke into one of their hideouts and stole 5000 euro. That money was now hidden in his precious backpack.

"Hey, Serrure?" Reynard said, stopping and looking up. "Look! Over there, in that three."

Serrure followed his partner's gaze and his green eyes widened in amazement. There was a black bird in the branches… a black bird whose eyes seemed to glow green.

"It's that spooky crow again" Reynard said, feeling a shiver up his spine.

"I think it's a magpie" the other boy said.

"Whatever! It gives me the creeps! It pops out everywhere we go! It's like it's following us!"

Serrure stared deep into the bird's eyes. He knew the magpie wasn't following them. He had seen its black form watching him when he went out alone.

"It's following me" the boy thought. Every time he had gotten into some sort of trouble or something big happened, he had seen the magpie watching attentively. Even though he knew it was stupid, he had come to think of the bird as an omen that something big was going to happen soon.

Sure enough, the bird looked right and Serrure did the same. To his horror, he saw two members of Les Barbares questioning a guy that lived in that neighborhood. They were describing someone, gesturing to show the short height of the boy they were looking for, and the guy nodded. He was telling them that he had seen him there several times.

"Let's go!" Serrure said, pale as a ghost.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Just run… I'll tell you later."

Reynard saw the pure fear on his partner's eyes and they fled into the night. Shortly after, the magpie flew after them.

"You stole money from Les Barbares?" Reynard cried out. "Are you insane?"

Serrure sat in the old rug that he used as a bed. They managed to arrive to their hideout, and old abandoned house, without being seen. After that, the raven had to explain his partner the reason why they had to run.

"I thought they wouldn't know it had been me" Serrure said, his palms sweaty and trembling.

"That doesn't matter! If they suspect you, you're already dead. They don't need to know if you did it" Reynard said. "You heard about the dead girl, right? All she did was turn one of them down and her body was found the next night. She was disemboweled."

Serrure gulped but covered his fear with a confident sneer. "You worry too much, Reynard. All I have to do is to lay low for a few days and they'll forget all about it."

Reynard shook his head, still surprised by Serrure's gullibility. "They never forget and they never forgive, dude. If I were you, I'd consider leaving the city."

The raven lowered his head and Reynard went to his corner to sleep in his smelly mattress, most likely thinking who would make a good partner after Serrure was gone. With no one watching, Serrure lost his bravado and buried his face on his knees. How could he have been so stupid and careless? Why did he have to mess with one of the most ruthless gangs in Paris?

Still shaking, Serrure lay on the rub and hugged himself, suddenly feeling frozen. If the gang found him, they would cut him into pieces and dump his body in an alley for the cops to find. No one would give a damn that he was dead; he'd be one more corpse, one more victim of the gangs' violence. He'd be buried and forgotten. There was no one who would cry if he was gone.

After a while, the black haired boy finally succumbed to sleep and dreamed of death. He saw huge building collapsing and explosions everywhere.

You're a monster!

He saw people, so many people, crying and screaming as they burned to death inside those building or being crushed by the debris.

You're a monster!

He saw monsters all around him, destroying the city. He was flying in front of them, but he wasn't running… he was leading them.

MONSTER!

Serrure opened his eyes and sat, a trembling hand grasping his shirt over his chest. When the nausea came, he quickly ran out of the room and threw up his dinner on the corridor.

"Oh… Oh God…" he whimpered, falling on his knees. "Oh God... I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

The boy couldn't help it as tears fell down his face and he started to sob. He didn't understand why he apologizing, the words just came out of his mouth. He was so tired of those terrible nightmares, so scared… If he had done what he saw in those dreams, he deserved to be cut into pieces by an enraged mob.

"Sorry… Please, I'm so sorry…" he pleaded between his sobs. "Please… make it stop. Make the dreams go away…"

Serrure knew there was no one out there who would listen to his pleas. There wouldn't be a smoothing mother to hold him tight and tell him that it was just a bad dream, nor a father's embrace to make him feel safe and loved.

He wasn't loved, he wasn't wanted. Nobody cared!

He was all alone.

In that dark corridor, alone with his fear and sorrow, the boy let his mask of a though and independent street hustler shatter. He was just a sad, lonely little boy, who wanted to be loved.

His chest hurt. He felt so hideous, so guilty… but he didn't know why. He always felt like this after his nightmares and he couldn't help but wonder if they were his memories.

"No! I'm not like that" he said, holding himself because he knew no one was ever going to. "I'm not a monster… I'm not…"

Then what was he? Who was he? Why wasn't his family trying to find him? Why did they leave him? Why did he feel like a huge failure whenever he thought about them?

He tried to understand what could possibly make him so repulsive that his own family had abandoned him. What was wrong with him? Was it something he had done or said that made them want to get rid of him? If he was taller and stronger would they want him?

Outside, the first sunbeams of dawn illuminated the sky. With a last sob, Serrure cleaned his tears with the back of his hand and looked at the run rising through the houses of Paris. He knew that he needed to run away from the city as soon as he could, but he didn't know how or where he should go.

The flutter of wings caught his attention and the boy looked in awe as the black magpie landed on the window, carrying something in his claws.

Surprised, Serrure walked to the window and opened it, letting the mysterious bird enter the old house and land right in front of him.

"Hello, Mr. Magpie" the black haired boy said, kneeling in front of the bird.

The magpie released the torn piece of newspaper he had bought and flew to Serrure's right shoulder.

"Wow!" the boy exclaimed, feeling the bird's claws on his skin. "You're… you're not a normal bird. Are you, Mr. Magpie?" the bird simply stared at the boy and then looked at the paper. "What's this?"

Serrure picked up the paper and saw that it was the front page of a newspaper. The article was about an ancient stone that had been found on Sweden and was now being studied and currently stored on the Louvre. Apparently, the stone had a mysterious text that wasn't known yet but it carried symbols representing Odin, a God from Norse mythology. Also, the French government was in conflict with an US agency called SHIELD who wanted the stone to be analyzed by their experts, much to the French's indignation.

"What do you want me to do?" Serrure asked the bird. "I don't care about some old stone, Mr. Magpie. There's a bunch of bloodthirsty gangsters planning to play soccer with my head. I'm not overly fond of the idea."

The bird squealed and Serrure looked at the newspaper closer. The Louvre… it was always crowded with people and cops, it would be very difficult for a member of Les Barbares to kill him there. By night, he could always find some hidden spot to sleep.

"I got it! Thanks, Mr. Magpie" Serrure said, while the bird flew from his shoulder and landed by the window.

Quietly, Serrure picked up his belongings and put them on his backpack. He looked sadly at Reynard, who was still sleeping.

"Bye, Rey" the raven said. "Thanks for everything."

When the boy returned to the corridor he saw that the magpie was still waiting for him by the window.

"I'm ready" Serrure said.

The black bird flew out the window and the boy left the old house, putting his hood over his face and running towards the nearest subway station. The black magpie flew, carefully watching him from the sky.

I introduced a character that those who read the comics might already know who it is. Yes, the magpie is an important character. Want to guess?

Also, according to Marvel, kid Loki was the 6th best hero of 2011 in comics. Congrats! Though I have a bad feeling about the new issues… Really, Loki has been a villain for 40 years! Can't they let him be neutral at least? If fans want a bad Loki, there's plenty to choose from. T_T

Well… I hope you liked this chapter. See ya next time!