Chapter 5
“Come on, I’ll just use a tiny bit of my magic, no one will even know. They’ll just think it was a glint in your armor or a change in the wind.” Loki plotted, swirling a gust of green tinted air between his fingers for effect as he clasped his other hand on Thor’s armored shoulder while they gazed into the mirror.
Thor shook his head, causing his golden locks to sway side to side against his ears. “No, Loki. Such a trick is funny in training, oh, don’t act like I didn’t notice.” Thor shot him a light glare through the mirror at Loki’s feigned expression of shock and pain.
“You wound me brother!” Loki illusioned himself being stabbed in the chest and slinking to the ground.
Thor rolled his eyes and shook his head with a faint smile playing at his lips. “No tricks, Loki. Not while I’m fighting. I mean it. There is no honor in that.”
“You and your honor!” Loki grumbled, crossing his hands over his chest as his illusion faded. “It won’t save you from the prophecy. You are twenty now. There are probably only a couple more tournaments in which ‘young’ can still apply by our lifetimes and thirty is probably pushing it.”
Thor cast his gaze to the ground. “Save me? I-I thought… You-you do not believe our parent’s version?”
Loki sighed, sinking his shoulders. “I-I hope their beliefs are right. I hope you do find love out there.” His voice shook with emotion. “I-I just-” He closed his eyes as if struck with pain. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.” He shook his head. “Not again. I-I care about you too much to lose you! I don’t want you to be ill-prepared! You shouldn’t go easy on anyone! Promise me you wont! I don’t care if they catch your fancy! Please! I know I can be annoying at times and sometimes my tricks can be too much-”
Loki was cut off by a strong, burly hug enveloping him in Thor’s scent as cold metal grazed past the exposed skin of his boney arms. “I won’t go easy on anyone. I promise. There is no honor in that either.” Thor patted his brother’s slick raven hair, forcing himself not to shiver at his icy temperature. Too often he forgot Loki was a Frost Giant hiding his blue skin for their family's benefit. They didn’t need any extra attention than they already had, especially now that they were in dispute with them. “It was only a scratch. I didn’t think it affected you so much.”
“Are you kidding me!?” Loki pulled back to stare incredulously into Thor’s eyes. “Everyone was holding their breaths while you fought off that giant wolf! I didn’t know whether to be more terrified if you would be devoured by him or be forced to marry him!”
Thor raised an eyebrow at the thought.
Loki playfully slapped his muscled arm. “Oh! Don’t look at me like that! I was sixteen!”
“Is-is that why you snuck off to Midgard that one time? It was a book- you stole that book- what was it called- something Beast?”
The tip of Loki’s ears turned a faint red as he nodded. “Yeah, it was called, Beauty and the Beast.” Loki shyly averted his eyes. “In general, it’s a romantic tale about a beautiful princess falling in love with a beast who turns out to be a handsome prince after she kisses him.”
“So, am I meant to be the beautiful princess?” Thor cocked his head in confusion.
Loki tightened his grip on Thor’s biceps. “Honestly?” He tried to gulp down his hoarse voice. “It sort-of turned into a bit of my fantasy for love rather than yours.”
“You wish to be a beautiful princess? Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve support-”
“Shut up!” Loki covered Thor’s stupid mouth with both of his hands. “That’s NOT it! If I wanted to be a princess, I would’ve used my magic to become one long ago!” He shook his head, his voice dropping to an annoyed mutter. “Gods, and you say I’m the one with too much imagination!” He sighed, calming his nerves. “I’m the beast.”
Thor paused and took a slight step back. “So, you either wish to devour me or marry me?”
“Gods!” Loki threw his head back in exasperation. “Eww! NO! Neither!” He shook his head attempting to clear those thoughts from his head. “I’m the beast someone else will choose to kiss after seeing through my illusions!”
“Oh.” Thor let out a small sigh of relief.
“Yeah! Oh. You big oaf.” Loki mocked, oozing sass.
Thor was still confused about something. “Wait, but your prophecy clearly states that you will find such a love, why did you need to go to such lengths to realize the same thing?”
Loki sighed. “It started off about you.” Loki put up a pointer finger. “Shh. I wanted to reenact the story for you to show that it was possible to marry a beast and that you could be happy together, without my judgment or anyone else's.”
“Aww! Loki! I didn’t know you were so sentimental!” Thor nearly crushed him with another hug. “Don’t worry! I have faith in the Fates and the Gods that we will both find the love of our lives and they will love us, no matter what!”
“Here. I found your ceremonial cloak.” Odin declared, clutching a red fabric in his hands as he burst through the door to one of the many arena changing rooms. “It somehow got mixed in with the regular wash.” He looked up. “What are you doing?” Thor appeared to be encircling his arms up in thin air.
“Hmm? Oh.” Thor dropped his hands and scratched the back of his neck.
“I was stretching.” Thor’s voice came from beside him and he was sure Loki was playing one of his tricks again.
Odin nodded approvingly. “Hmm. Good. You need to be in top shape for every fight. Let me hook this onto you and then you can continue.”
Thor was sure Loki was probably giggling to himself. He sighed and turned back to the mirror. Would he be able to see what he would look like at twenty-five, would a ring be on his hand, or would he be in Valhalla or Fólkvangr? He gave his father a nod. “Okay. You can do the honors.”