Chapter 6: Water

An earsplitting screech interrupted Kayla's sleep and she shot upright in bed and grabbed her sore ears. Her temper flared causing her pupils to be reduced to slits. She had a very bad temper when woken up because she had not had time to put her barriers in place yet. I twisted grimace spread on her face, exposing her fangs. Still clutching her ears, which had now become pointed, she climbed out of bed, the worst part was when her temper flared her dragon senses did also. She was super acute, which only amplified the ring.

Calming herself down allowed her ears to shrink back to normal, her fangs to recede and her pupils widen to absorb more light. The alarm died out and she put her hands down and sighed. Everyone else is very lucky that they cannot hear that, at first Fenrir had been affected by the noise until she took the pitch up even higher to a point that was a far range past dog's hearing. A cloak was pulled over her shoulders and she started to walk out.

Bang! "Ow!" She murmured rubbing her hip which had just connected with the corner of her bedside table. A flash of light illuminated the dark room, but it was shortly followed by a loud bang. It was storming.

She managed to find her way out of the room. She hurried down the hallway as fast as she could without running. Every few seconds a flash of lightning would shine on the gold floors and rolling thunder would commence. Some of the lights were even joined by a sizzling noise indicating how close the strike had actually been. She opened the door to the two brother's bedroom. She was suddenly attacked by a blurred green and black figure that flew across the room.

"I'm here Lokes." She bent down and hugged him lifting him up into her arms. Carrying him out of the room she set him down and continued to walk down the hallway. "Did you have another nightmare?"

"No"

"Then what's wrong?" Another round of thunder and lightning shot through the hall. Loki yelped and latched onto her leg. "Oh... Your scared of the storm." He nodded his head rubbing his face on her pants in the process. "Alright now, you better not be getting snot on my pajamas." Muffled giggles floated into the air and she grabbed his hand once again pulling him up into a comforting embrace. "Don't worry. I gotcha."

The lights in the room flicked on as Kayla and Loki walked in.

"You know, things aren't as scary when you know what they are. Come here I will show you."

She had grabbed Loki's blanket when they left and brought it and a chair with her as she went as far out onto the balcony as they could without getting wet. She sat down and Loki cautiously started to walk out. A flash rang out in the air and he scrambled towards her, nearly throwing himself into her. She wrapped the blanket around them both, holding him in her lap. The storm grew more and more intense as rumbles of thunder rang out every few seconds.

"Up there in the clouds, lots of little bits of ice move around really fast and they run into each other a lot. Each of these little collisions creates an electric charge, and sooner or later the whole cloud is charged. The ground gets an opposite charge than the bottom of the cloud. When these opposite charges get close, a little electrical explosion takes place. The light and noise is from that explosion."

Loki looked up at her looking considerably calmer as she continued to explain all about the weather and storms. Her soft voice mingled with the storm, creating a calming cacophony. Loki felt his eyelids drooping as he curled up his little body against hers. In a pause Kayla glanced down at the young boy, who had fallen asleep in her lap, shivering slightly from the cold. She pulled the blanket tighter around him and leaned back in the chair, the violent storm had slowed to a quiet shower and she listened to the pitter patter of raindrops hitting the stone balcony.

Sunlight warmed Kayla's face and the bright light shown through her tightly shut eyes. The light blinding her as she opened them up, she blinked several times to allow her pupils to adjust. Upon looking around she found that she had fallen asleep in the chair, Loki curled in her lap and his dark green blanket draped over them both. The sunlight illuminated his pale face and dark hair in a manner that made him appear as if he was glowing.

His mouth opened into a noisy yawn and his arms reached out, almost hitting Kayla in the process. His eyelids cracked open allowing his large green eyes to peek out.

"Good Morning Loki." She said, lifting him off her lap and onto the floor. Getting up, she pulled on a sweatshirt to combat the chilly morning air and slid on some boots. Then, grabbing the blanket and its owner, she walked down the hallway to wake Thor. 'Another typical morning' rang through her head 'I wake Thor, make breakfast...' She allowed Loki to dress and went to wake Thor but her thoughts were interrupted when she looked into the top bunk to find nothing but messy sheets. "Where's Thor?" Her mind snapped into an alert mode and she quickly found a servant to answer her question.

Clashes, clangs, grunts and many more noises rang throughout the room. Thor had woken early along with Sif and the Warriors Three to train. It was now mid-day and they had spent most of it in the large golden room filled with racks of various weapons and large bags filled with various things hung from the ceiling. Loki held back in a corner of the room, not participating and looking quite nervous.

"Why don't you go out and train with everyone else, Lokes?" Loki rubbed his arm and looked to the floor while tracing small circles with his toes.

"I, uh.. well..." He chewed on his lip nervously for a second then continued "I am just not a very good fighter compared to everyone else. Even Sif is able to beat me, and shes a girl."

"Hey now don't discredit us just because we are girls. And take a look. Sif beats almost everyone, even Thor."

"That's just because Thor doesn't want to hit her too hard." He looked around then whispered "It's really obvious he likes her but he either doesn't know or would never admit it." Kayla's giggles rang out from behind her hand. "And I also don't want to train because I want to show father a new spell I learned. It's a very hard one and it takes a lot of energy. I've been training for months and have waited all week to show him. But hes been busy doing something with Thor the whole time." A hint of bitterness shown in his voice that he didn't bother to conceal. He trusted her enough that he didn't have to, or want to for that matter.

"Well I am sure you will do really good!" Excitement tinted her words as she tried to cheer him up.

"FATHER!" He rushed passed Kayla. "I have something to show you. I have been training very very hard..."

"Father! Come look! I have done it! I mastered that trick you showed me last week!"

"Very good, Thor. Show me. Hold on a moment Loki." Loki visibly flinched as the comment shattered the mask he had always constructed so carefully.

"How could you?" He muttered, Odin turned and glanced his way. "How could you?" His quiet pained whispers had soon commanded everyone's attention. His shoulders were hunched in a dejected pose and his face was hidden from view. "ITS ALWAYS THOR, THOR, THOR! I'VE BEEN TRAINING FOR MONTHS! MONTHS! JUST TO SHOW YOU THIS! AND SUDDENLY THOR WANTS TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING AND I GET BRUSHED TO THE SIDE! HOW CAN YOU SAY YOU LOVE ME?! YOU DON'T! YOUR LYING THROUGH YOUR TEETH WHEN YOU SAY IT!"

He suddenly turned to Thor. "I AM YOUR BROTHER! AND YOU DISREGARD ME ALL THE TIME! HOW COME EVERYONE LOVES YOU SO MUCH?! WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT YOU?! YOUR JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE! YOU'RE SO STUPID! ALL YOU DO IS FIGHT AND EAT AND YOUR UTTERLY DISGUSTING! I AM THE ONE WHO IS UNIQUE AND DIFFERENT AND YET EVERYONE LOVES YOU!"

Looking at them both with tears streaming down his eyes he shook his head. "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU BOTH!" He broke into a sprint and ran out of the room. The shock of it all took a moment to register on the family's faces.

Thor broke down, dropping to his knees tears streamed through his fingers. He never meant to hurt his brother. He loved Loki more than anyone else but for all that he couldn't understand what made Loki so angry.

Odin's didn't shed a tear but his one visible eye betrayed the hurt he suffered. He went to go after his son but an arm stopped him.

"Don't." Kayla's green blue eyes connected with his as he pushed against her arm. "He needs some time." Understanding, he backed off and the pained father went out of the room. Kayla knelt down next to Thor and put a hand on his shoulder. His watery blue eyes looked up and he folded into the hug she offered. She knew that it should be Odin here not her, comforting Thor. But the Allfather was just as hurt, if not more, as Thor was. The other children looked on in an uncomfortable silence, but decided not to break it because they felt their friends yelling was just as much directed at them as it was at Thor.

Loki burst out of the hall and against all common sense used a warp spell as he was running, using his pain to fuel the magic. He needed to get out of there. He needed to get away from everyone before he hurt someone. He was loosing his control. His magic sparked around him and he was suddenly by the creek. Screaming he dropped to his knees and curled into a ball on the soft grass. Dark green magic pulsed around him sending shock waves into the surrounding area that rippled the leaves and the surface of the water. He stood up, his tears drying because he had no more left to cry. The ground around where he stood was burnt to a crisp and left over pieces of grass caught flame and were quickly obliterated.

Not bothering to pull off his boots, he leaped across the rocks to the large stone in the middle. Where he curled up in a ball and rocked himself back and forth.

Even as he did so, the atmosphere grew darker and darker. Casting everything in shadows and tinting the sky an ugly green.