"Afraid" Teen Loki and Ingrid fic. #2. No spoilers.

Pre-Thor. I plan on doing more of these up through Ragnarok. Comment and share. Thx!

Afraid….by Sarah B. Priest

“Ingrid?” I hear the voice soft and querying. I’m still dreaming. My brothers…waiting, waiting for me to tell them…. I jolt upright in bed suddenly, hearing the voices, over and over.

          “It’s just me, Ingrid. Did I scare you again?”

          “Loki? I was having a dream…”

          “Shhh. I don’t want father finding out.” He says the word “father” like it’s a poison, a pain to swallow.

          “Find out what, Loki?”

          “That I’m here. He says I need my sleep so I can practice fighting in the morning. Such a pointless act when you can just cast a spell over everything. But I can’t sleep.”

          “I’m sorry,” I whisper, “But how did you get in here?”

          “I’m outside the window, Ingrid. You have to come now.”

          Thoroughly confused I get out of bed and put on my slippers. I reach out playfully to poke him. He doesn’t like that. Maybe I can get him to leave. My hand goes straight through his pale form. “You’re—you’re not real!” I stammer, taken aback.

          “Ah. New magic I learned to create copies of myself. Simple illusions, if you will. So simple it only takes a moment to conjure, and minimal concentration. Do I sound like I’m lying?”

          “I’ll come now. Just let me change…”         

          Loki waves his hand in front of my plain white nightgown as it begins to expand and sparkle. “Moondust.”

          “Hey Fairy-Godmother, unhand her! Leave Cinderella alone!”

          “Thor? Shhh. You have to keep it down so that Father—” he breaks off uncertainly and finishes the transformation magic.

          “What are you talking about, Prince Thor?” I ask uncertainly. I never felt comfortable talking to Thor anyway.

          “Oh, it’s nothing. Just a children’s tale on Midgard. As I was saying—”

          “I need you to leave now, brother. I’m not really here you know.”

          Oh. It just occurred to me I’m alone in a room with Thor. My heart quickens as I try to breathe suddenly out of fear…and something else, but I don’t know what.

          “You need to leave, Thor.” I interject quietly. “I’m sorry, but Loki wants to talk to me.”

          Thor turns to Loki with a small smile. “What do you have to tell her, Loki? To marry you?”

          “Don’t try it, brother. And for the last time, I demand your silence. Father must not know about this. You told him about the Jotun beast!”

          “Loki, we do not keep such creatures as housepets.”

          “I didn’t keep it in the house, brother!”

          “You aren’t supposed to be on Jotunheim. It’s forbidden.”         

          “Ask Sif about Jotunheim, not me. I shall give you five seconds to leave—”

          “Five seconds. This door. It’s very stuck. Very stuck.”

          “Come on, Ingrid,” Loki’s illusion whispers to me.

          I slip out the window, leaving a bewildered Thor staring at the fading illusion of his brother, still laughing.

---

“I can’t sleep, Ingrid. I haven’t been able to for some time now.”

          I nod. “I understand. The anxiety gets to you.”

          “Yeah. I still think that Father favors Thor—”

          “You don’t know that. Have you asked him?”

          “Heavens no. I don’t want him to think I’m suspecting him. I never understood what he said when we were little. That both of us were born to be kings but only one could ascend to the throne? But I know now. It was a ploy to make us hate each other. He always favored Thor. He wanted to inspire competition so to make me a fighter. He wants me to go into battle with a golden sword and slay all of the frost giants like Thor said. He said he would destroy an entire race. He’s like that…but I can do better…

          “No, Loki, it isn’t like that…” I try.

          “I can’t sleep because I know that Father will pick Thor to be King.”

          “If you know, then why be afraid.”

          A long silence follows as Loki examines his surroundings, the quiet garden, the moon and stars, me. Then he speaks, barely a whisper, quivering through the stifling nighttime air. “I’m not afraid. Not afraid of Father, or Thor. I’m afraid of myself. I feel like there’s something they’ve all been hiding, something that no one is telling me…They all seem scared of me. Does being a sorcerer make me that different? Do I scare you, Ingrid?”

          “Only when you come into my room in the middle of the night. I was dreaming about my parents. I was so young, that I don’t even remember much, only my brothers…and there was word of the battle with Jotunheim.”

          “I’m sorry. At least I have parents, I guess.” He sighs, “I didn’t mean to scare you…did I cause your dream?”

          “No! No, of course not! You were but a welcome distraction.”

          “Really, Ingrid? Stop with the flattery. Not that I don’t like flattery, it’s just…”

          “It’s true though. You’re the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time.”

          The still night air wraps around us like a blanket as he ever so slowly wraps his hand around mine. “You’re real.”

          “Yes, I’m real. That’s funny, because I was going to say the same thing about you.”

          “Really?” I can feel my face burning more with every word. 

          “Definitely. You’re so much better than Father or Thor or dull books or lying awake all night. But then again, perhaps that isn’t a high standard.” He gives a playful wink before turning back to look at the sky and the trees and the moonlight garden, staring back serenely. “Can we just stay here forever? Do I have to spar in the morning?”

          “If you’re going to be King, you’ll have to man up and stop running from duty.”

          “That’s exactly the problem. I feel like I don’t have any strength left to run or to fight. I think I’m just hiding in the corner until I’m discovered. And that corner is you, Ingrid.”   

          “You need to sleep. I’ll see you after sparring. I’m paired with my brothers.”

          “I’m paired with Sif. I don’t stand a chance Please, don’t go yet, Ingrid.”

          “Okay. I’m not going anywhere,” I murmur as I lean my head on his shoulder. “I’m right here.”