Blood and Knifes

2:4

Trigger Warning: Mentions of torture, neglect, abuse

Pinpricks of light appeared around them, shifting to create the figures of two young boys.

"Let's play Valkyrie and Frost Giant!" The blonde boy said, tossing the other a wooden sword. "I'm the Valkyrie!"

"Thor, you're always the Valkyrie!" The raven-haired boy protested.

Megan looked to their right, to find Loki standing beside them. "Is that..." They stopped, turning back to the scene before them.

They boys fought, slicing and parrying. "Die evil scum!" Thor shouted, pretending to stab Loki in the chest. The game over, he pulled Loki to his feet.

The location shifted until they were standing before a large navy blue chest-like object.

"Do the frost giants still live?" Loki asked, looking over to Thor.

"When I'm king," Thor said, "I'll hunt the monsters down and slay them all!" He and Loki exchanged half smiles, and Megan choked out a gasp, covering their mouth with a hand.

The scene melted away to show Loki sitting before a fire, listening to an old woman in a rocking chair read from the book in her hand.

"The Frost Giants are a despicable race, every last one of them. They murder, torture, and defile all that they come across. The monsters were defeated by Odin in the Last Great War, when he slew thousands of the beasts and trapped them in Jotunheim, never to return. In return for sparing them, he took the Casket of Winters as a prize, leaving Jotunheim to whittle away."

Loki stood in the shadows, watching Thor bellow at anyone who came across his path. If he lost a sparring match, he stormed off, flipping tables, pouting.

Now the coronation.

Loki stood beside Thor, Odin nearly finishing his speech, before stopping.

"Frost Giants."

The coronation was halted until the Frost Giants were slain, and an investigation was launched into how they got into Asgard.

In this scene, Thor was pouting again. Loki came to sit beside him. He was trying. Trying so hard. The longing in his eyes was heartbreaking. Yet Thor didn't see, wouldn't even look at him. To Thor, Loki was just another part of the scenery.

"It's unwise to be in my company right now, brother," Thor grumbled. "This was to be my day of triumph."

"It'll come, in time," Loki comforted.

Four warriors enter the room. "What's this?" One of them commented.

Loki ignored them. "If it's any consolation, I think you're right, about the frost giants, about Laufey, about everything. If they found a way to penetrate Asgard's defenses once, who's to say they won't try again- next time with an army."

"Exactly!" Thor bellowed.

"There's nothing you can do without defying father.

Thor stood. "No, no, no, no, no," Loki implored, raising a finger. "I know that look!"

"It's the only way to protect our borders," Thor claimed.

"Thor, it's madness!"

"Madness? What sort of madness?" Another warrior piped up.

"We're going to Jotunheim," Thor ordered.

"What? This isn't like a journey to Earth where you summon a little lightning and thunder and the mortals will worship you like a god, this is Jotunheim," a blonde man protested.