Every Villain is a Hero

Chapter Four

Norse proverb: The wolf and the dog do not play together.

Chapter Four

Loki’s attempts to distract himself from his thoughts of his mother failed spectacularly and at midday, he ventured out of his room to find Thor, who was listening to Jane explain about an upcoming supernova. Of course, upcoming was a relative term, the star would explode thousands of years after her death, but Loki and Thor would still be around to see it.

Thor however, appeared board. It wasn’t that his brother was dumb, he wasn’t, he just wasn’t interested in academia. As children Loki had listened intently to their teachers, while Thor played pranks, cracked jokes and did his best to escape the class room.

That, combined with an overly sentimental and trusting nature, made him dumb but then again, next to Loki, most people were dumb.

As if to prove Loki’s points, Thor looked up with relief as Loki entered, and gave his traitorous brother a wide smile.

“Loki, it is good to see you.”

“Do you still want to spar?” Loki asked, and Thor’s grin widened. Without any warriors around to train with, Thor was probably going a little stir crazy.

“I was beginning to think that you would never ask.”

“Do you always have to yell?” Loki asked with a resigned sigh.

Thor ignored him. “Jane, would you like to come and watch?”

“We would,” Darcy said, entering the dining room and dragging Lisa by the wrist.

“What’s this ‘we’ business?” Lisa argued, trying to tug her wrist free of Darcy’s grip.

“Oh come on, Gods are about to fight and you’re telling me you aren’t the slightest bit curious?”

Loki allowed himself a small moment of triumph as Lisa wavered. Despite her wariness, she did want to watch him fight. It might only be because she wanted to watch him get pounded but he would show them; fighting was about far more than brute force.

“We could make a wager,” Darcy tried to tempt her. “You put ten dollars on Thor, I’ll put ten dollars on Loki.”

Darcy wanted to bet on him? He doubted it, she was probably trying to lure Lisa with the prospect of a sure bet.

“Okay,” Lisa surprised him by agreeing. “But make it 50, and I back Loki.”

Now that did surprise him.

Darcy happily agreed, clearly thinking that Thor would win and she would be up 50 dollars.

“You do not think I can win, Lisa?” Thor asked seeming pleased at the prospect of women betting on him.

“I’ve never seen either of you fight before, so I have no idea but given that I’m bonded to Loki and he’ll likely sulk all day if he loses, I kinda feel like I should back him.”

“Very well, so what are the rules?” Thor asked.

“I don’t know, how to you determine winners and losers on Asgard?” Darcy countered.

“Last one standing.”

“Last man standing sounds like it will hurt, and I don’t want to be nursing Asgardians all day,” Lisa interrupted.

“What would you suggest?” Thor asked.

“Well rather than fighting, how about a sport?”

“I don’t follow.”