Chapter 8: Loki
Disclaimer: No own natin! Haha not even pidgin.
If this chapter seems random to you don't worry cause it is. I pulled it out of the air again. IM A MAGICIAN! haha I wish. ^_^
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Crunch
Blossom shot up with a start glancing blearily around. Since it had nearly been nightfall when they finally reached Yggdrasil's root, Blossom and Brick had agreed to stop for the night and continue on at dawn. At Brick's insistence they had set up camp in a niche between one of the many large roots.
Straining her eyes to adjust in the almost pitch black night, Blossom scanned the area around her. The two Erie Raptors had curled up against the wooden walls to either side of her. They were pretty close, maybe three or four feet away and she could tell both were sound asleep. Stiria was perched on a piece of bark a few feet above, head tucked under her wing. Accendo was curled up into Iento's side trying to get warmer. And Brick, well Brick SHOULD be a few feet away from her lying amongst the saddle and bags where he was the night before. Rolling over she immediately jumped up grabbing for the daggers at her thighs. She relaxed when she caught sight of long red hair. 'I was wondering why it got so warm.' At some point during the night he had curled up under several of the blankets they had packed an somehow ended up pressed against her back. Though why he would do that was beyond her, if anything she would make him colder. Shaking her head she tried to focus on the area around her. Blossom was sure she had heard a noise and if everyone else was asleep then something had to be nearby.
Some time later she settled down again, Blossom decided she must have just imagined it. There was no thunder in this part of Nifilheim so the night was as quiet as it gets. Even without her powers she could still have heard the boy next to her snoring quietly. As a spur of the moment kind thing she decided that as long as he was asleep she didn't mind being a little soft. Propping herself up on her elbows she looked at his face, eyes trailing over every detail. It was almost scary how much he looked like Vertex. They had the same eyebrows and nose, even the same facial shape. It made her heart clench with guilt. Brick hated being compared to his brother. According to him no one saw who HE was because they were always too busy comparing the two. 'Not anymore.' a small voice in the back of her head whispered. 'Yah… not anymore.' she agreed.
She didn't care how much alike everyone thought they were she could always see the difference. But every time she thought about them she'd feel guilty all over again. It just kept eating away at her like a virus and it only made her feel worse that Brick didnt blame her for his brothers death like she thought he would. 'Well maybe not openly.' They had been pretty good friends until that day. Afterwards he seemed to have gotten pretty grumpy whenever she was around. She'd NEVER admit it aloud but…she only ACTED like she didn't care.
He made an odd noise then as his eyebrows furrowed. It looked like he was having a nightmare. He tossed and turned a little before moving closer to her. She glanced around to make sure none of the group had woken up. She'd never be able to live it down if Accendo or Stiria caught her being soft. When she was sure they were all still asleep she tuned back. She gently pushed back the hair that had fallen into his face before leaning closer to brush her lips against his forehead. He surprised her then as the corners of his mouth twitched up.
"I saw that."
Blossom was on her feet in seconds both daggers and eyes glowing bright pink. She vigorously racked the area over trying to find where the voice had come from. She turned up empty once more but she wasn't giving up. The sudden light seemed to have woken some of the others as Accendo and Noctis both got up. Accendo looked at her as if she were an annoying bug that was disturbing his sleep. Noctis picked up on her distress though and stood up to look around as well. Sniffing the air he looked back at her as he sent a few confused grey colors. He didn't find anything either, but there was no mistaking the voice she had heard this time.
By this time she had woken Brick up as well. He yawned rubbing his eyes sleepily. He looked like he was about to ask her something but stopped when he saw her. As fast as she had, he was on his feet both red swords in hand. He turned his back on her as he too looked around.
"Well your no fun." Blossom froze muscles constricted as a deep voice and hot breath ghosted over her ear. There was a tall figure pressed up against her and she could feel large calloused fingers trailing over the back of her hands. "Surprised?"
She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see a blur of black before it was replaced with the whistling edge of Brick's blood red sword. He spun around facing away from her as he backed up. Before she could say anything she was very nearly squished between the tree and Bricks back as he crouched down swords blazing.
"Bit skittish aren't we?" peeking around the redhead before her Blossom caught sight of a tall man dressed entirely in black. He was leaning against the tree root as if he didn't have a care in the world as he twirled something around his fingers. It took Blossom a second before she realized that the items dancing around his hands were in fact her daggers. 'HOW DID HE GET THOSE!'
"Who are you and what do you want!" Brick growled, a threatening edge to his voice.
"Calm down. If I were here to kill you, you'd already be dead." The stranger stated in a mocking voice. With a flick of his wrist the pink weapons were buried to the hilt at Bricks feet. "Stop worrying so much. I don't bite… too hard." the tall man flashed a set of pearly with teeth at them in a devilish grin winking at Blossom before plopping down into the snow. He leaned back against the tree as he crossed one leg over the other completely at ease. "Pull up a chair. Er. You get the idea."
"You still didn't answer my question!" Brick continued to growl at the man never moving from his position in front of Blossom. "I DON'T like repeating myself!"
"Well somebody's got a stick up his ass." the man stated bluntly. With a snarl Brick charged at him swinging his swords only to have them shatter an empty patch of ice.
"I'd ask you how you deal with him but you seem pretty cold yourself." he had appeared in front of Blossom and was so close his nose brushed against hers. "You know, except for earlier." he whispered the last part as he leaned back a little looking her up and down. He gave her another wink just as her hands shot out to punch him. He disappeared again this time the blur was distorted by streaks from both red blades and a pink fist. "Gee you lot really need to learn how to take it easy."
"STOP JUMPING AROUND!" Brick shouted trailing after the man in black. His two swords whistled through the air each swing leaving a trail of red. It almost looked like he was dancing as each stroke of the blood red blade melded into the next in intricate patterns.
The man stayed one step ahead of him though and continued to dodge like it were child's-play. "Take a chill pill why don't you!" the next thing she knew Blossom was on the ground leaning against Yggdrasil's root, Brick sprawled out on top of her. His swords clattered to the ground beside them as his back slouched against her chest, head rolling back onto her shoulder.
"Brick!" she wrapped her arms around him protectively holding her daggers at the ready. Brick sank deeper into her arms, he was out like a light and by the looks of things he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. "Stay back!"
The Erie Raptors appeared then as Iento hissed and Noctis roared at the stranger, both blocking the teenagers from his view.
"Are all of you this uptight?" the man groaned. With a sharp screech Stiria swooped down fluttering in front of his face for a moment before landing on the his shoulder. She began nuzzling him as her tail swishes back and forth. "Well at least one of you is nice." he reached up to scratch Stiria on the neck.
"Stiria what are you doing?"
'Like he said, take a chill pill girl. He ain't gonna hurt us.' Stiria hummed. 'Ya know as long as ya don't piss him off again.'
Blossom relaxed a bit then. 'If he could get Stiria's approval then he can't be too bad.' she didn't let her guard down completely though. On command Iento and Noctis backed down but positioned themselves on either side of her. Though she was no longer tense the teen refused to release her grip on either of her daggers or Brick. She watched the man wirily taking in every feature. He looked about her age give or take a year or two. His hair was a dark brown color and it stuck out messily in every direction. His eyes were so brown they were almost black and he was wearing what looked like a plain old shirt under his long sleeved jacket and black pants.
"As for the questions he asked well the first I'm not gonna answer. The second… meh nothin much. I was just curious." he had settled down again and was petting Stiria who had nearly fallen asleep on his shoulder. "Or I could help you find the passage to where your going." he smirked as he glanced at Blossom through his eyelashes. There was something about the way he looked at her that she just didn't like. It sent a uncomfortable shiver up her spine.
"Thank you for the offer but I think it'd be better if we found it ourselves." Blossom said carefully. Her eyes never left his even after he got up and jumped onto the top of the root nearly ten feet above them. 'Definitely not human.'
"Suit yourself." he said carelessly shrugging his shoulders. "But if you ever find yourself in a jam just ask and I'll lend a hand."
"And how exactly would I ask for help if I don't know who you are?"
He paused for a moment as if the thought had never crossed his mind. "Alright ya got me. I won't tell you my real name but you can call me Loki."
"As in the famous prankster?"
"The one and only." he winked at her once more before turning to walk off. "Be seeing you Pink."
She wasn't sure why but having him call her 'Pink' just didn't sit well with her. She wanted to snap at him for it but she didn't want him hanging around much longer either. So she stayed quiet watching as he vanished like the rolling mists.
There was now way they were gonna get back to sleep after that. So Blossom decided to move on, the passage was actually close by and she shouldn't have a problem finding it. Sliding the blades back into their holsters she pushed up and leaned Brick against Iento. The lizard wrapped her feather tipped tail around the unconscious boy. Getting up, Blossom changed into lighter clothes. 'If Svartálfahemir is anything like Muspell it's going to be hot.' she had slipped into a long pants and cropped tank top like shirt. The red ribbon she always had with her was again used as a belt.
She saddled both Erie Raptors then and tied all eight bags to Iento, Blossom attached Iento's reigns to Noctis's saddle after that. She tucked Accendo into one of the clothing bags before setting Stiria to watch incase he fell out. Once all that was done Blossom wrapped Brick up in his thick jacket before placing him into Noctis's saddle. The lizard seemed appalled by the fact and swiveled his head around to glare at the boy. Blossom scolded him before sliding into the saddle behind the redhead. "Laxat." with that both raptors got up and jogged off into the early morning light.
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It's times like these that I wonder where I come up with these ideas. I wonder how I just pull stuff out of the air like I do.
I wasn't even thinking about this at first. I was just planning on writing about them finding the passage.
Meh. I liked how it came out. It should help out a little with the reds situation even if it docent explain a lot.
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