Following Our Own Script

Chapter One

Loki took the fish. After taking a bite, he did Heimdall's least favorite thing; talk with his mouth full. "Aren't you a half-breed, too?"

Heimdall ripped the fish from Loki, using it then to slap him across the face. Loki's face filled with stunned amusement. Blood had squirted into his eyes.

Taking another bite, Heimdall glared at him in silence. Loki was half giant. The worst thing to be bred with. Heimdall's origins were far superior to his. "Shouldn't you still be fishing?"

Loki rested back on his elbows, staring at the horizon. "I can't sense anything else down there. When I shot this guy, the rest scattered."

"Then you should have aimed better and gotten us more."

"I don't see you trying to help."

"I'm here for entertainment, obviously."

The two scarfed down the fish in minutes. They were still hungry. At least the knowledge of something edible existed, as awful as it was. Heimdall's stomach rolled. He wouldn't get sick, but it was still unpleasant.

Wind began to pick up. Heimdall adjusted the sail. Loki double checked his compass. So long as they kept going in the same direction, the possibility to turn back around was there. Thinking of sailing back the way they came, another three grueling months of nothing, was somehow worse than perpetually going straight until they rotted away.

"You think Huginn's okay?" Loki asked, drying his arrow.

Heimdall stayed by the sail. Not much needed to be done, but he was tired of laying down. "I'm not enough company for you?"

Loki shrugged. "Huginn's at least nice to me."

"I'm far nicer to you than I should be. That not enough? Want me to praise you like all your little friends back home?"

"If you gave me a genuine compliment, I'd assume you were dying. Maybe even dead. Your body responding in some weird fight or flight."

Heimdall chuckled. "Would be a pity to know me for this long and still seek hope for my development. You're a naive idiot, but I'd like to think you're not completely tuned out to reality."

"You know-"

"I do," Heimdall finished. Another round of senseless conversation. His eye twitched at seeing this hour's topic. "No." His head snapped to Loki's. "Don't finish what you're thinking."

Loki smirked. "It's just that-"

"Knock it off."

"I never had any siblings, and you're-"

"I'd drain my blood if we shared even an ounce," Heimdall finished. How dare the brat even toy with the idea that he was a brother figure to him. His words weren't teasing. He meant them to be degrading.

"Hey, you hated all of your brothers. I don't see how our relationship is any different."

"It is. I refuse to fancy the idea that I'd ever see you as anything more than shit under my boot."

"You'd slip up enough to step in shit?"

Heimdall moved away from the sail, shoving Loki hard enough to rock him nearly off the ship. He reached to push Heimdall back, but he spun on his heel, easily avoiding the pathetic attempt at payback. "Careful, sunshine. It would be less shameful to get pushed overboard than stumble out on your own."

Loki huffed. "The moment we hit land-"

"We strangle each other. Oh, I'm well aware. It's one of the only things keeping me going. That, and whenever I try to have a moment's peace, you feel the need to become my advisor. Can't go falling apart and let you continue thinking you're having a positive impact on someone."