prologue
"glory and gore"

Lusine found it amusing to gaze down upon Asgard from her home. To stare in unattended curiosity at all its beautiful glory in the middle of the night when she couldn't sleep. To let its golden lights flicker through the dark and reach her with a warmth she had no interest in pursuing.

She had her home and that was enough. There was no desire to stretch her legs beyond its walls, to breath the air of new, or even to taste the blood of Asgard's beloved.

The Volkov family lived on a moon known as the ever-hostile and unforgiving Remulan. The Wolf Moon. The home of the snarling. She found herself to be an easy comparison to the moon; undeniably enchanting and yet a born predator, armed to the teeth.

Lusine had been born with the gift of enrapturing beauty. Not in the sense of the curve of her lips, the rise of her cheekbones or the flutter of eyelashes. It was a magic that had found itself a home inside of the girl.

As she grew up, she had learnt to control her gift. Now she could simply hold the hand of another in hers and grasp them within her spell. The Volkov Princess often used her gift for mischief. Along side her brother Lycus she would run a muck around the palace of the Volkovs messing with the minds of the guards as Lycus watched and laughed at their stupidity.

She got inside their mind, messed them up and then left them to pick up the pieces of their dignity as she and her brother cackled madly in their escape.

Lusine was not the only gifted twin. Lycus was skilled in the art of battle. The way the Prince swung an twisted his double-ended spear made Lusine glad she was his sister, not his enemy. She had seen him kill a man with his bare hands, she had seen the way his eyes darkened and she had seen the way he fought for his family with undoubted honour.

So, when word hit Asgard that the King and Queen of Remulan along with their Princess of mischievous beauty and their Prince of dark honour were journeying to their realm, the city erupted into whispers and gossips.

Their reputation proceeded them in many ways. Lusine knew it would happen and she hoped that it would mean the Asgardians would stay out of her and Lycus' way, or else they would truly know what the Volkov twins could do.

But, the tales of the royal twins did not coarse fear through the hearts of the Asgardians. It caused an uproar of interest that Loki found most fascinating.

He wanted to know more about the Volkovs. He wanted to know how much damage the Prince and Princess could really cause. He'd heard the stories, but seeing first hand was an opportunity that he most definitely could not afford to miss. Perhaps to stir the pot would not be such a terrible idea.

-

"Lusine, do hurry up. The ship is to leave in a few minutes time and you and all your baggage is not aboard as of now!" Her mother, Queen Selene, says with an exasperated sigh escaping her elegant pink lips.

A queen by more than her title, she fit the part like a champion. As if she had been born to be queen. Stiff upper lip, bountiful locks of hair, upturned nose, piercing eyes, and a iron nature that gave her rule strength.

She grabs a hold of Lusine's upper arm, her painted nails digging into her daughter's skin even through her favourite black woollen cape.

Lusine yanks her arm away from Selene. "Don't touch me!" She hisses, folding her arms across her chest. "You're making me go to Asgard; I don't want to go. Who gives a fuck about some Winter Ball?" She cries, dramatically waving her arms up, sending a ripple through her dress like waves through a black ocean.

Selene gasps at her use of language and begins to scold her. "Lusine, you are a Princess and, most importantly, a woman. Try acting like one or once and maybe you'd find yourself a partner like your brother has."

"Lycus' lover is a starship pilot, mother, she's hardly feminine nor is she delicate enough to be anywhere near your unattainable high standards." Lusine scoffs, pushing past her mother out of the room. She marches down the corridor, her mother trying to keep up. Lusine looks at one of the guards. "Gather the three chests in my chamber and take them to the master starship," She commands, the guard nods his head and begins striding off in the direction she had come from.

"Lusine, stop running from me!" Selene crisply shouts, her baby pink dress held up from around her ankles by her fragile hands as she goes after the young Volkov.

"Then stop chasing me," Lusine says, rolling her eyes at her mother. "I'm going to the ship, maybe you should too."

"Your rudeness does not deter me from being a mother to you and you should hope that your father has the same attitude."

"I should hope that my father will be my father, not my mother." Lusine pauses, and her march comes to an abrupt halt, heels clacking together as she spun. "On the other hand, he may do a better job than you. Should I go and offer him the job?" She holds her hand on her hip and beams at her mother with a false smile.

"Lusine, why must you be cruel to me in this way?" Selene asks.

"Because you left me to die. Your selfish acts made me this way and now you are paying for your crimes, mother." Lusine glances down at her feet before looking back up at her mother and letting her arms drop to her sides, her fingers fiddling with the wool of her cloak. "You may be a queen, but on the inside you're nothing but rotten flesh."

"That's enough!" A calming voice echos through the corridor. Lusine looks to her side to see her twin brother, Lycus Volkov with his double ended spear in his hand and a distasteful expression resting upon his face. "Mother, I advise that you advance to the ship. I wish to speak with my dear sister before we leave."

"As you wish, my son," She bows her head slightly. Giving Lusine one last look she gracefully crosses the room toward Lycus. She presses a loving kiss to his cheek and passes by him, to the ship.

Once she was gone Lycus began to speak with Lusine. "Your bickering with mother is growing tiresome."

"Oh, don't give me that, brother. You know full well what she did to me, and now she's paying for it." Lusine says shortly. Arguing with her brother only led to destruction. Destruction of pride, the self and of their surroundings. They had once levelled a room with their rage, and that had only been over the final slice of cake, which Lusine had only wanted because he wanted.

The rage of Gods was not to be taken lightly.

"And you know how sorry she is for it. She prays for you everyday, Lusine. She wants you to be pure, to be good and to be a wonderful ruler one day."

Lusine's lips curl into a sad smile. "No, she wants you to be the King someday. She saved you, not I." Her fingers curl in tight, into fists where her nails dig into her palms with increasing force. So much so that it draws deep red blood. "She saved you."

"You know that's-" Lycus starts but Lusine cuts him off, shaking her head and waving a bloody hand at him.

"Lets just board the ship. I'd rather not destroy my home," She looks to her brother with a signature smirk on her thin lips. "I'd much rather level Asgard. So, the sooner we get there the sooner we can continue this petty argument in which you know I am the one who's right. You're the favoured child; you'd have to be a complete and utter fool not to see it."

"Lusine..."

"No, Lycus," Lusine says quietly, pushing past him. "Or should I call you King Lycus?" She says with a smirk that dug right under his skin without a hitch.

His rage comes at one, all of a sudden, like a flash of lightning and Lusine is still smiling as the is thrown into the white marble wall. She breathes in sharply, smiling all the while as she pushes herself up with one hand.

"Oh, how I do enjoy winding you up, brother," She mocks as she rises to her feet, steadying herself. "It's quite a pity your temper is so wild."

She lifts up her hand, the palm facing the sky as a ball of white light starts to form there. Her eyes flicker with white energy, brimming with potential to tip either side of the line: into the light or into the void. Lycus looks at her with flaming anger.

"Perhaps this will cool you down!" She shouts, firing the ball of magic at him.

Lycus watches the magic flying toward him, he watches in awe even though he had seen Lusine do this many times before. She had never aimed one at him, not once.

Before the magic can hit the Prince it dissipates into thin air, becoming simply nothing but a petty memory that would be brought up in a later argument.

"Lusine, Lycus, enough!" The booming voice commands, it echoes through the room and bounces off every wall.

The Volkov Princess lowers her hand to her side once more, the crusted dried blood on her palm flaking away slightly. " Father, I-"

"I don't want to hear either of you utter another word. Both of you to the ship at once." He points out of the door with his golden staff with the amber crystal ball at its top. "If you two behave this way in Asgard I will be greatly ashamed. It is not acceptable to behave in such a way in front of Odin, Frigga and his sons. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, father." Lycus murmurs, storming past him with his head down and a pout at his mouth.

Lusine looks at her father with glistening blue eyes and a smirk at her lips. "Maybe Odin's sons would enjoy a little entertainment, father. Do you not think so?"

"Lusine, just board the ship."

"Alright, alright, I'm on my way father," She gives him one last smile before clicking her fingers. Her illusion fades before her father and she appears at the top of the grand stairs leading to the ship. "Catch up, old man!" She calls down to him, "We're in a hurry to get to Asgard you know? The Winter Ball will not wait for some simple moon dwellers like us."

"Lusine, you truly are the Goddess of Chaos," He whispers under his breath as he begins the long climb up the stairs to his ship. "May Odin help you, sweet Princess, may Odin help you."

-

1619 words

so that's the prologue of my loki fic which is coming in 2016. I am aware that I already have a lot on my plate but fck it, right? I really love lusine and lycus and I can't wait for them to develop more. lusine is a total trickster and basically loves chaos and lycus just wants to be the best fighter he can be without dying.

Please leave your opinions of these characters in the comments and how you think the asgardians are going to react to them! <3

edited: 1.7.18
new word count: 1977