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𝐌𝐘𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐒, 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐎𝐅 𝐕𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐒

There's magic in every flip of her hair and touch of her skin. Each time she reached out to him, he would give her a push in the right direction. That alliance became their comfort, their little walks in the woods and days at the lake were littered with this notion that they were both magical and could understand each other. During that first month Pandora realized what she was missing in her life. A teacher, someone who understands the way her magic likes to learn and grow into something so powerful she would rather not unleash it all on one person. In the universe they created, both Loki and Pandora could find peace.

Beyond the days spent doing nothing other than teaching his pupil, Loki was allowed to stay and dine with the Mikaelsons. Here was where he truly got to know what it meant to be a human. While he didn't wish to be human, he did not pity their lifestyle like his older brother would. Simplicity and lack of magic wasn't much of a deterrent for these people, who only used the simplest forms of magic that their bodies could handle. Because humanity could not bring themselves further into the galaxy without this magic, he hoped none would try to take over this world. Loki soon felt protective of this planet, thinking further into believing that he, if he could get away from his duties, could make this a second home. His father would never allow for such a thing if he knew. He was here behind his back in the first place, but to live here for any length of time would anger him.

In the third month he was sure Klaus held something magical about him. But it wasn't in the way Pandora or even his mother were magical. No, he radiated the same energy as the village werewolves who shifted during the moon, their curse making them another species that could intermarry and interbreed with humans. Loki wondered if there was a wolf in his bloodline, but he learned that Klaus was the first generation in this continent, making this impossible. It was during this digging he found information he wished he could leave behind. If anyone knew of the teenager's true heritage they would never accept him. Half witch, half wolf. The danger he could pose to this society if he were to choose to practice magic as a wolf. And so came Loki's eternal silence on this matter.

Oh, and by the fourth he made the decision to start teaching Klaus. He was tricky because Loki didn't exactly have the permission to teach him. While he could be considered a young man at this time, seventeen full seasons, he still lived under the roof of his father, who hated the idea of a child of his having more power than he. Mikael could stand for Elijah, Kol, and Finn learning about magic because it was their mother tutoring them in simple magical practices that could not interfere with his tyrannical household rule. Loki made the mental argument that telling Mikael would not only get him kicked out but also get Klaus into big enough trouble that seeing Klaus with such bruises would make him commit murder and get him sentenced to jail a bit too early into his long life.

Watching the dynamic between Klaus and his father made Loki want to bang his head against a wall. Mikael would specifically find Klaus during times Loki wasn't around so he could beat him half to death. The Viking in him wouldn't let himself hurt his son in the presence of a God, and that made Loki want to protect the boy even more. During their long conversations about his father (because even he couldn't deny what was happening to him behind closed doors) Loki learned just how evil the man who raised him was. Blades, belts, and threats of poison and sending him down to the underworld were common in the teenage boy's life. Cruel, terrible things for anyone to endure in their years of life, and Mikael wasn't stopping anytime soon. Loki couldn't tell him to stop either, for that would make the situation worse. It pained him to hear more than anything else during his life, and he'd seen war firsthand.

"You must push from the heart out, not your gut," Loki instructed the two from atop a tree. He wouldn't be in as much danger this way, knowing Pandora's magic to be explosive at times. "The heart to the boundary that renders us our magic. If you focus hard enough you may be able to see it as you push yourself to the edge of your potential." Because they'd been at this for three hours and still Klaus couldn't understand that magic was a simple energy field that he may be able to see. Loki believed he could, but it was difficult for them both. "We are working with the leaves of these trees and will until —" Loki was interrupted with the snapping of the branches around him, "— Please don't use your magic so high up yet, Pandora, you could send me flying into the lake if you do."

A piece of Loki's hair whipped against his face as he saw a tree fall in the background. This drew out a long sigh from Klaus, who was the one to bring it down. A cheeky smirk plastered his tanning face.

"And that was not what I asked you to do," Loki muttered under his breath as he jumped down from his perching place, waving at Pandora to take a break. "That was a powerful move, Niklaus, but it was not what I needed you to do. Trees are not for pushing down as they are a fundamental part of nature and a part of the Great Laurel's domain." Klaus lowered his head in understanding and Loki sighed. "Good job, but listen to your lærer next time, alright?"

"Yes, Loki."

"Good. Now, let's see what an energy shield looks like, since I'm sure that you've been wondering," Loki moved near the newly thawed out lake and pushed out a beaming white shield made of pure energy. It was just translucent enough to look through, although it distorted the other side of its window. "With energy shields it's important you don't directly touch them for longer than a few seconds, as they tend to overheat when in contact with our bodies. The only creatures known to be able to touch them without issue are Frost Giants, which is what makes them formidable." Loki smiled as he saw Pandora and Klaus sit down and watch from afar. "The different colors indicate what type of magic you are best at. Someone like me who has a white shield has the ability to be a master of sorcery, which is mostly shields and tricks."

"Is that why you're known as the God of Mischief?" Klaus asked.

"Exactly," Loki answered back before putting away his shield. "Although I will warn, most people's magic shifts through their lives. My brother's used to be green but is now purple, which stands for brute force and power. The most common are mixes of white, orange, purple, or yellow. White is somewhere for everyone. Some people can create shields that have nice designs, mostly to go along with their kingdom in battle. This, however, takes time and effort to achieve, and even the best can only create simple patterns."

"And the rarer types? What are they?" Pandora inquired.

"The rarest..." Loki stopped for a second to think about it, "The rarest colors we have not seen in plentiful amounts in centuries in the Nine Realms. Heimdall is the only one with blue at the moment, my mother is the only scholar with a nearly whole yellow shield, and none have possessed red for over five thousand years. It is perhaps the rarest of all," he explained further, "Red users usually have mixes, as it is a tricky type of magic to work with. It is supposed to stand for the bending of reality itself. Red is a sacred color and signifies something many Asgardian scholars fear. The Scarlet Witch is one of those tales you hear and hope to never become, a being worthy of destroying an entire world with their complete red shield."

An age old tale the two pupils knew well from their time being taught by the Asgardian prince. On a few occasions they'd asked questions that Loki didn't know the answer to, however, and so remained the immortal mystery of the Scarlet Witch. Pandora had her own theories on who the witch could be. She insisted that it didn't exactly have to be a woman and definitely could be achieved by a man in the right circumstances. Klaus believed that it was a lineage thing, meaning that it could happen multiple times or have many people qualify for the position. This discussion couldn't go much further with the lack of information all of them had on the mythical witch. Even the Great Laurel was at a loss with who they could be and when they would come.

"What would happen if someone were to have a mix between a red and a yellow shield? Would they be in similar power to the Scarlet Witch, or would they still be weaker?" Pandora asked, kicking her feet against the cool sand of the lake. "Are the colors mixable at all? Would red and yellow create orange?" She peppered him with these questions often, thirsty for knowledge.

Loki had to pause for a minute to figure out how to answer her questions in the simplest ways possible. The reality of it was that he didn't know exactly how the shields mixed colors. Some people had mixes, the colors blending together at the edges, but some didn't, and so it became complex. He suspected it had to do with someone's character or their moral backing, how far you're willing to bend to get what you want. But he had been clean-cut in his colors as a child, when his arrogance meant he would push until the breaking point of everyone's tempers. Thor was more of a mix, the dullard, that tiny bit of blue he gained during his teen years mixing heavily with the purple in his shield.

"To be completely honest, I don't know." Pandora frowned at this. He hated seeing her frown. "I will say this: it's different for every person and can change throughout a lifetime. But this doesn't matter. We should be working on shielding you two from whatever enemies you could come across. In the realm of magic, the worst thing you can do is be unprotected or unprepared for the challenges in front of you."

As Loki looked at the clear water in front of him, he let out a chuckle.

"Keep on working, just don't take out any anger on the trees this time."

---

A shrine of hope surrounded the innocent setting. Just beyond the trees, however, the world was about to experience a fate worse than death for humanity. As the years passed the tension between the wolves and Mikael grew, with him beckoning whatever Gods in another plane of existence could hear him, begging for more power so he could outmatch the wolf curse. The Great Laurel experienced her first encounter with Mikael when Pandora and Klaus were twenty full seasons. It was the last time he dared ask for her to bring him magic that could destroy any village wolf that dared question the way he treated his sons and daughter.

Whatever peace had been maintained shattered the second Henrik's heart stopped beating. With that shrill cry of a mother's broken heart Mikael went to work begging her to make their family the most powerful beings on the planet. He wanted power, and he didn't care what he had to bend, break, or give up in order to have it. This would be his downfall, his eternal pride that Klaus hated so much that he did whatever he could to distance himself from feelings of this nature. Henrik had chosen the wrong time to die, with Loki only having just come back from his latest trip back home. The presence of a God did nothing to help the growing hate that burrowed itself in Mikael's heart over the fact that he was not a magical being capable of greatness. In all regards he would always be a simple, mediocre Viking man with a temper worthy of Sutur himself.

Immortality is not something one just gives out, and very few have the ability to achieve such a thing for themselves. Loki sure as Hel didn't know how to bring the man he grew to hate with a burning passion immortal life, and he wouldn't give it to him even if he did know. The way Mikael demanded such things from him made Loki believe he wanted war with him. Perhaps to prove that he could be better than a God, defeat one in battle just to fuel his own ego. What a shameful thing, Loki would think to himself when the idea came into his mind, He's playing with Hellfire this time and will not come out of this on top.

But he had, and that made Loki homicidal.

In the inner workings of Esther's magic she'd found a way to make her entire family immortal beings, superior to the wolves in every way possible. This addition of strength was obviously a demand from her husband. While Loki knew that she did actually wish to protect her children, not all of her intentions were pure. Losing two children must have been hard, but why would she not make herself immortal in place of her husband? Why did Mikael need immortality if it was her children who needed protections from the wolves? And why did she not come to ask for some protection for Klaus when she knew Mikael would try to kill him the second he knew how?

Loki had no good things to say about Mikael or Esther in the weeks leading up to the spell. In fact, he ignored them, not wanting to think about what they were going to do to their family. While he desperately wanted to save those children, if he spared even one Mikael would slaughter them and perhaps him in anger. The tyrant would not be defied by anyone, even a prince and God of Asgard.

And on the day the children would be told of the spell Loki took them all down by the lake and pasture, the area in which the prince met Pandora and Klaus the first time. The whole family was still grieving the loss, but Loki was sure that he could brighten up their day with a bit of family fun. In fact, Rebekah and Kol were having a lot of fun trying to make the shields that Klaus must have told them about (being the loud mouth that he is with those younger two). The mention of the shields worried Loki, as he didn't know if the children would be able to produce them after they turned into whatever creatures Esther and Mikael were cooking up with ancient magic and mysteries. Ancestors like balance, and immortality would throw off the balance of the natural ways of life, making it somewhat taboo.

Asgardian magic is known to work differently, especially when in the hands of humans. Klaus was not nearly powerful enough to produce some of the energy beams that Pandora and Loki specialized in. Loki was clueless as to whether or not the young man would be magically potent after this complete abuse of spiritual power on Esther's part, and he surely hated thinking about such things while they're having such a fun time by the lake.

"Don't splash me with water, Kol, or I'll throw you off a cliff!" Rebekah threatened as Kol made his way through the lake. Elijah rolled his eyes at this before going back to the log he'd been carving for the last five hours. For some reason he didn't like to play in the same ways as his siblings, most likely a result of him having to parent all of them since the ripe age of seven. Rebekah continued to scream in terror as Kol drenched her hair and gown with the clean lake water. "This isn't funny! Mother just did my hair and now you're ruining it! You always ruin my hair, you ass!"

"Language," Elijah scolded as he let out a deep sigh. Rebekah rolled her eyes at her older brother before beginning her own assault on Kol, who was just about ready to leave the lake before his sister dragged him back into the water by his left ear. This drew forth a scream that would send the birds away for the next few days, shrill and damn near impossible to ignore. Kol's screech was the final straw for Elijah, who stood out from where he was to say, "If none of you can behave then I will drag you back home and send you straight to bed with no meal."

"But Elijah, Mother said that I'll be helping with dinner tonight," Rebekah whined, putting on her best little-sister-who-can-do-no-wrong face, which felt like a slap to the face for her older brother, who loves her dearly. "Besides, Kol over here is always such a pain in everyone's butt, may as well teach him a lesson." When she saw Elijah's glare she let out a loud giggle. "All I'm saying is there's no need to rain on my parade. We're having fun and everyone is alive. Klaus is over there cuddling with Pandora and yet you have no issue with them."

Yes, redirection of guilt is a thing that Rebekah does often, and it continually makes Loki laugh. Klaus and Pandora are adults, unlike the almost eighteen Rebekah and almost seventeen Kol. In the prince's eyes they could do whatever they pleased with each other as long as the Great Laurel saw it fit, which she had since they were children. Rebekah did not know this, however, and would make innuendo after innuendo about their odd dynamic, which would always stay platonic. Kol seems to understand this, as he has many female friends in the village that he doesn't have any interest in romantically. To Loki, it seems that Rebekah is simply a hopeless romantic who finds romance wherever she goes.

"Pandora and Klaus are friends, Rebekah, not lovers," Elijah stated the fact with no emotion on his face. "Adults are allowed to be around each other without such an assumption being made about them. I know that you were not of an age to remember, but the two of them have always been this close platonically." He let out a sigh before glancing over to see Pandora asleep on Klaus' shoulder. "Now, let's not shift blame. Please do as I ask. I'm your brother and I don't want any of us to get in trouble. We are in the presence of a God and shall be on our best behavior, even if this is a friendly outing."

This sense of brotherly love could be seen constantly between the Mikaelsons. Each of them have their role in the family. Elijah takes on the parental role, even if he is not the oldest sibling. Finn is the one who pleads with their father when he comes home in the evenings, or distracts him as the second favorite son. Rebekah is the favorite daughter who is expected to be a fine lady when she gets a bit older. Kol, the playful magic user with great potential and is protected under tutorship by his mother. Then there is Klaus, who manages himself as a shield in the face of their father, hated to the bone by him. In this role, unlike the others, found no comfort in home life. But it was his role, and he had to play his father the right way, lest he be killed for disrespecting his place in the house.

The god hoped the brutality wouldn't last much longer, but this plea fell on deaf ears.

"Rebekah just wishes that she could get a boy to hold her like Klaus holds Pandora," Kol teased as he shook the water from his hair. "Poor, poor Rebekah." His sister's ears were turning bright red at this point, the temper she gained from her father working against her battle to stay calm. Because no matter what Kol tried to say, she took everything personally, remaining as sensitive as a toddler in her teenage years. "You'll never get married if you keep on looking at Klaus and Pandora and wanting that...!" The boy took one final blow, "Or if you keep on hanging around those older village boys."

The chaos that followed Kol's snarky remark still remains somewhat blurry to the Asgardian prince when he tries to look back on it. He couldn't exactly remember who threw the first fist, although knowing Rebekah he wouldn't be surprised if she confessed to the crime. But it did end with screaming, crying, hair being ripped out, and Elijah shouting that he wished Klaus was the last child born into the Mikaelson clan. The older boy managed to rip the two off of each other in the end, but that didn't seem to matter to the emerging Mikael, who seemingly had followed the group's trail to the lake. His face remained stone cold, but held a certain level of anger that terrorized his children, just as his presence at their outing did.

"YOU UNGRATEFUL CHILDREN!" His voice boomed throughout the forest, instantly alerting the newly awakened Pandora to his presence. The anger inside Mikael sent her magic into a flurry, unprepared for sight of him pulling his children away from the shore, gripping at their heads cruelly in the struggle. "YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN TO FIGHT AT THE BEACH! YOU DESERVE NOTHING! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, YOU INSOLENT, SPOILED BRATS!"

And so the façade broke on that day. Mikael no longer hid himself in front of the Gods and the future damned. He was all but himself, cruel and a domestic terrorist. The words he screamed into the terrified ears of his children were ones they heard often, not that the continuous torture made his actions any easier. They hated him, and they loved him, because that is the life of a child born from a man with no soul. Rebekah cried, not that it helped any of them get out of his grimy fingers. A slap to the face silenced her and may have very well bruised her cheekbone, blood spilling from the newly created wound. He wouldn't apologize for this later, blaming her whining for his actions. Kol would be blamed as well. Because Mikael cannot take responsibility for his children's suffering, being the psychopathic man he is.

Klaus couldn't say anything. Loki could tell he was pained to see his siblings being treated in such an awful way, but he knew better than to go after him and be burned at the stake the next morning, while his family slept. He was still in the presence of a God, and the shame that could come from Mikael watching a God see him overpowered by his own child would mean death for the boy he claimed as his own. Loki had to watch in silence as well, the safety of Rebekah and Kol on the line. Even Elijah, who remains the only one able to plead with their father. Finn had already run off to find their mother and make an attempt at creating healing agents for his siblings.

Loki did something that day that would change everything, and he still doesn't know exactly why he did it. It must have just been a reaction to the horrific event in front of him. The fury had built up in his heart so that it clenched his magic into the tightest knot he'd ever seen. He felt cold, like a shiver inside of him was awakened. No longer was the magic inside of him contained. It breached out his skin, wrapping around his hands, neck, and waist in a coiled pattern. Bright green in color, unlike it's previous white hue. The color wasn't the oddest thing about it, though, but he didn't have time to think about that fact. The prince took in a well needed breath after realizing he hadn't taken one during the entire last half of the assault.

But what he didn't realize during all of his mother's lectures was that magic has a mind of its own, does not what you want but what you and those you care about need. That the wages of war are detrimental not because of soldiers using pure force that they can control but on the basis that magic is an uncontrollable entity that is bonded to the soul. Nothing could have prepared the prince for this stark realization. It whipped in his hands and through his core, taking whatever energy it needed to fuel this hatred burning beneath his skin. His thoughts were the same each time. One line, repeated like an ancient prayer:

I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him.

He couldn't stop it from repeating in his mind. They were a melody for his loathing of Mikael, and so became a spell of their own. Loki, the trickster God, the best of the best in magical control, the boy who took down an army with a single, well placed spell at the age of sixteen, the man who loved to learn; titles could be forfeited now. Loki, a God. That is all he is. A God.

All of it was true. His titles, his ability. His godliness in the face of humanity. But there was one more piece to the scene that distracted his magic. Pandora. Her form is full of light and fear. Oh, fear would be the destruction of her. Not fear of Mikael, which she could never possess with the level of intensity that plagued her magic, but fear of the very power that brought her into being. The nature of her love. Because in the end, it was love that created her magic, love that brought her back to Klaus after every squabble, love that kept her near and dear to Loki, and it was love that made her magic bubble at the seams in anger at Mikael's abhorrent behavior. She was afraid of loving them to death with her magic, to make one wrong move and implode, killing them all with the sheer force of her being. Blinding light well placed under flesh is one thing, but chaos is another.

When Loki gazed into her mind, a thing he did as little as possible, he felt a chant inside of her that made his heart flutter and drop at the same time. I hate him. Their hate, connected and bright inside their magic.

Now it was only a matter of who's magic would explode first.

A bubbling heat began to fill Loki's body as the previous wave of freeze ended. It travelled up his face in a matter of seconds. He wasn't sure if it would lead to him turning pink or if tears were going to pour down his cheeks from the sheer hatred that burned against his temples. It was agony, standing still as stone as he watched children get beaten by their father, of whom he hated even more. And just as he couldn't stop Mikael's fury, he couldn't stop the magic from finally pouring over the edges of his authority. It flew out into the area, reaching as far as the forest as it began to suffocate that wretched man. Powerful blow after powerful blow did little to quell the anger inside of him, the vitriol that kept the passion brewing only fueling his flaming anger.

And only when he genuinely feared for the lives of those brutalized children did his magic cease, slithering back into his body like a venomous cobra.

"That is enough," Loki pressed out, his words like a sting to the whipped air around him. Mikael glared at him, hand almost reaching down for the dagger secured by his black belt. "Let them find solace in guilt, not bruises."

Though his words did little to calm the brewing torture scene that would play out when Loki was not in their presence, the children internally thanked him for the attempt. Nobody dared tell Mikael what to do with his own children, even the higher ranking villagers. Everyone allowed this tyrant to reign supreme in his home territory. Mostly out of fear that he would turn into a beast of another nature, killing them in their sleep or refusing to hunt for the rest of them, bringing a great famine to the village. In such a small place there was not room for losing people to their own pride and hatred for being wrong, and so the villagers numbed themselves to the Mikaelson clan's suffering.

"It's getting late," Loki continued on, hoping that he could hide the aftermath of his magical outburst, "Everyone must be tired after this little adventure. How about we go back to the house and I'll help Rebekah heal her hands so she is able to prepare dinner for us all tonight. Proper ladies do not have their hands dripping blood into their strews." This seemed to help the situation, with Mikael nodding his head before dropping his daughter on the ground. "If you would like, Mikael, we can speak on when I am leaving and when my next visit to your village shall be, as you are gracious enough so as to host me in your home."

Little did they know, they wouldn't be human when the sun rose the next morning.

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Ah! I decided that my readers would get an update this weekend, as I'm almost halfway through chapter nine. Thank you for staying with me even when I'm on hiatus, it means a lot.

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