A small dark haired boy was peaking his head around his bedroom door. He looked around the empty hallway before getting out. He looked to be just barely four years old. He was probably older, but he appeared so tiny for his age. The way too big shirt he was wearing certainly didn't work, and neither did the gaunt frame and pale skin.
He was clutching a worn fluffy stuffed snake by its tail, dragging it behind him as he walked to the next door.
He pushed the door open with some effort and softly sneaked inside. "Thor?" The little prince asked with a barely heard whisper. "Thor are you awake yet?" He padded over to the big bed and stood on his toes to peak over the edge of the bed only to find it empty. Sheets were tussled, but no blond hyper prince inside.
Loki clutched his stuffed animal closer to his chest and walked back out the room. This was odd. Thor had promised he would wake him so they could go celebrate Yule together. Loki had been awake for hours but mother had told him he couldn't leave his room too early. So the young child had waited for his big brother to come and get him.
Eventually he got hungry though. And when his tummy started to hurt after a while, he decided to go ask Thor if he could maybe have a snack. Because the waiting took so long.
He was shivering, the hallways weren't warm as his sleeping chambers are. He decided he was going to ask mother where Thor was. She might become mad, but at least she would answer him.
He walked as silent as possible to the chambers of his parents and softly knocked on the door. He heard laughter coming from the other side and opened it just enough to peak through.
There was Thor! The blond boy was sitting next to the great tree in the corner, unwrapping a large bright red present. More toys and shreds of wrapping paper where surrounding him while father and mother were sitting on the couch, smiling warmly.
Loki stumbled back from the door, turned around and ran. He ran all the way back to his room where he grabbed his warm blanket from the bed and dragged it to the closet, barely able to move it.
He curled up in a corner, between the boxes with his summer clothes, curled in the blanket as if it was a nest and burying his face in his plush toy. Friend. It was his plush friend. Thor said friends were people who listened to you and were always there for you and... Loki didn't know any people like that. But his snake was always there, and he always listened.
Not like Thor...
The small boy was crying. They forgot me. They don't need me. They... they forgot me...
He kept his eyes firmly closed and summoned Magic. Magic was a friend as well. She was always there and always listened when he asked her things. Like now. He asked her to feel warm, not the fire warm. But the hug warm. He mostly felt warm from Magic because he rarely got a real hug. People didn't like to touch him. But Magic didn't care.
So he kept his eyes closed and imagined the warmth surrounding him was from a person, imagined the wind howling outside to be the soft whispers of somebody who loved him. And after a while he fell into the sweet darkness of sleep where Magic could protect him from the coldness of the world.
-:o:o:-
You were running around the hallways. Breakfast had ended an hour ago and you couldn't find your friend anywhere. You asked your nanny of the day if she knew, but she told you not to bother the royal family on Yule. They would probably want to celebrate it with their family on their own, and not with friends. You thought that was stupid. If it was true, why wasn't Loki present at breakfast? So you convinced the royal caretaker you were going to play with other children, sneaked away and was now running towards the royal wing. You arrived at Loki his chambers within a short time, you had been there before after all, and knocked.
