Beauty in the Beast

Chapter 2

As they walked down the corridor that led to the chambers, Laila began to get curious as to why she had never heard of this younger brother of Thor's.

"Excuse me." She asked timidly. Loki turned his head briefly while still walking

"What is it my lady? Do you need anything?" she shook her head and caught up with his strides

"No not at all, I was just wondering if I could ask you a question; if it's not too much trouble." She stammered. Loki looked down at Laila and gave her a brief yet warm smile

"Ask anything my lady. I will do my best to answer." She nodded

"It's just; I never knew that Thor had a younger brother- I mean, with his ceremony coming up, there's never been any news of his younger brother so what I'm really saying is -" Loki cut her off and finished her sentence

"When did I come into the picture? Was that your question my lady?" Loki was tense now - of all the things to ask and it had to be the one thing he didn't want to answer. Laila nodded her head sheepishly

"Yes that was my question but please, don't feel obliged to answer it. I know I was way out of line to ask. I feel foolish thinking about it." Loki felt his heart warm towards the princess.

"No my lady its fine." Loki took a deep breath. He'd never told anyone how he felt so why should he tell a woman that he barely knew?

However it would seem rude not to answer. I don't want her first impressions of me to be negative. Loki thought to himself. Laila glanced at the prince with puzzlement. He was gazing at the floor. His expression was troubled. She touched his arm gently.

"Master Loki are you alright? You seem troubled." She pressed with concern in her voice. Loki snapped his head up. He did not realise that he had taken so long to answer. He gave the princess a warm, reassuring smile.

"Sorry my lady, it seems I went into a world of my own." He chuckled. Laila smiled, the concern in her face fading.

"Don't we all." She laughed with him. Loki began to relax. Pushing his doubts aside he answered the princess' question. He cleared his throat.

"In answer to your question princess, I don't really like to make a scene when it's meant to be all about Thor. Sure he can get on my nerves and with his bigheadedness but it would be seen as childish and selfish if I responded any lower than expected and I would hate for people to think of me that way." Laila giggled at Loki's accurate description of his brother's character before touching his arm in sympathy. He stopped and turned to face her

"But instead you hide yourself in the shadows and no one sees you for who you truly are. To them, you're another piece in Thor's life. You don't matter because you're not him. Is that what you think?" Loki sighed

"I'm sorry my lady but it's not really my place to say. I'm there for Thor when he needs me. I help when I am needed. It's meant to be that way. I'm his brother." He opened a pair of double doors that led to a magnificent bedroom.

"And he's yours Loki. Maybe you should think of it like that once in a while." Laila said simply before striding into the room. Loki stared at her puzzled before shaking his head

"Um before I go, my lady I am to remind you that there will be training practice at 9 o' clock tomorrow. You may join us if you wish." Laila nodded and walked over to the bed. Loki bowed and shut the double doors behind him before he too went to rest for the night.

***

Loki struggled to sleep. Laila's words played in his head. What if she was right? What if it was time that everyone knew who he really was? Instead of Thor's pathetic excuse of a brother, he would show them that he was also worthy of the crown which everyone claimed should be his elder sibling's. Loki gave up with the idea of sleeping and went down to the other side of his chambers where another room adjoined. Within this room were hundreds of paintings of ancient times of Asgard. Odin had painted them himself when Loki was old enough to understand what they meant. Loki sat in the middle of the room and crossed his legs. Then he chose a painting and focussed on it. He chose a scene of war and terror. He'd chosen this painting many times before and knew what to expect. As he focussed on the painting it began to come to life around him - as if he was actually in the time that the painting was created. Loki saw the images that he thought he had seen not long ago. He frowned to himself. Something was different. The prospect of the painting was the same but the destinations were different. Instead of being in Asgard, the painting had changed to Midgard; one of the nine realms. The fear of the people was the same but they were humans, not Asgardians. Loki watched as they ran towards the bridge of a place called Manahttan, hoping to get away from whatever was attacking them. He didn't understand. What was going on? Wasn't this a painting of the past? Loki glanced at a newspaper that had snagged against a lamppost and checked the date. '24th May 2012' it read. Loki frowned. It didn't make sense. That was next year for the Midgardians. A loud bang brought Loki back to what was happening. He looked back the other way, expecting to see the huge group of Frost giants running towards the bridge too with their weapons, but instead he saw a single figure. Looking more closely Loki saw something that turned his stomach with dread. He was looking at himself. But there was something different about him; his eyes glowed red with poison and blood and his skin shined blue with the frost that seemed to grow on his body. He was a frost giant. But that was impossible. This was a painting of the past! Loki screwed up his eyes and began screaming