Can Love Triumph?

Chapter 1

Author's Note: Hi, guys! I hope you enjoy this new story that I'm tinkering with! I own only Ashryn. The song used is Rewrite the Stars from the Greatest Showman. Rate and comment! Thanks everyone!

  The two had known each other since they were children. While Thor had been the favored son, Loki was left alone and Ashryn saw him as a potential despite their differences in social standings. Ashryn was the daughter of the matron of the servant women and a royal blacksmith; so she was at the bottom of the hierarchy. Loki took to her immediately and the two of them became inseparable.

   As the years passed, the two outcasts grew closer. Queen Frigga saw the bond the two of them shared and offered to teach the young girl some magic which her parents graciously accepted and appreciated the kindness of the royal.

   Loki and Ashryn grew even closer through their lessons and even began to grow feelings that seemed to be more than friendship.

   But now it may be too late.

   "What do you mean you're engaged?" Ashryn asked in shock as the two stood together in the empty Great Hall.

   Loki looked down sadly as if Ashryn had just kicked a puppy. It wasn't his fault that Odin had a marriage for him, they all knew Thor would never go for it because he was too full of himself to ever consider settling down; unless it made him king.

   "I mean that father has deemed it necessary for me to settle down with a bride of their choosing. Ashryn, I swear I had nothing to do with this."

   Tears sprang to her eyes as a sob escaped her throat forcing her to cover her mouth with her hand to dampen the echo. Her heart beat so fast that Ashryn was sure that was going to faint.

   She bolted from the hall while gathering her skirts in her free hand as the tears began to fall, pushing past Thor, Lady Sif, and the Warriors Three as she fled.

   Sif immediately became concerned and glared at Loki, "What did you say to her, Trickster?!"

   Loki said nothing in his defense and hung his head in shame as Thor approached.

  "Take it easy, Sif. I'm sure Loki was just telling the servant girl that their "love" could never be because my dear brother is engaged to one of the most beautiful women in Asgard: Lady Sigyn."

   Fandral whistled in approval, "Now that is a woman I wish I had shared my bed with." He chuckled and elbowed the sorcerer playfully.

   "You can have her." Loki stated, making everyone fall silent in surprise.

   "What?" Thor asked while walking up to his brother's side, "You can't deny father's wishes."

   "Why not?! You do it all the time! Father has been trying to marry you off for years! Especially since your coronation is coming up in a couple of years!" the raven-haired brother shouted and turned his attention to the blonde, bulky, warrior.

   "Why would they want to marry me off?"

   "Because you're the firstborn, Thor! He is trying to guarantee the royal line by having you marry and produce an heir so the line to the throne is strong!" Loki scoffed as he pushed past his brother and his friends, leaving the Great Hall.

   Loki found Ashryn in the private garden that they used to play in as children, their garden, and ran to her side, "Ashryn."

   She quickly jerked away from him and wrapped her arms around herself as if it would create a barrier between them. She leaned against the large cotton tree and avoided making eye contact with the trickster.

   Decidingthat normal conversation wasn't going to work, Loki tried a different approach,"You know I want you,
It's not a secret I tried to hide,
I know you want me,
So don't keep saying my hands are tied,
You claim it's not in the cards,
Fate is pulling you miles away,
And out of reach from me,
But you're here in my heart,
So who can stop me if I decide,
That you're my destiny?" Loki reached out to caress her hair but shepulled away again.

   Despite her coldness he continued with his song, "What if we rewrite the stars?
Say you were made to be mine,
Nothing could keep us apart,
You'd be the one I was meant to find,
It's up to you, and it's up to me,
No one can say what we get to be,
So why don't we rewrite the stars?
Maybe the world could be ours,
Tonight." He smiled as he sang and quickly maneuvered around the back of the thick tree trunk and came face-to-face with young maid, who gasped in surprise and blushed in annoyance turned away once more.

   She sighed as Loki smiled in the corner of her vision and began to sing to herself, "You think it's easy?
You think I don't wanna run to you?
But there are mountains,
And there are doors that we can't walk through,
I know you're wondering why,
Because we're able to be,
Just you and me,
Within these walls," she unfolded her arms and motioned to the garden walls with sadness in her eyes,

   She then pushed away from the trunk of the tree and climbed onto one of the low hanging branches, "But when we go outside,
You're gonna wake up and see that it was hopeless after all,
No one can rewrite the stars,
How can you say you'll be mine?
Everything keeps us apart,
And I'm not the one you were meant to find,
It's not up to you, it's not up to me,
When everyone tells us what we can be,
How can we rewrite the stars?
Say that the world can be ours,
Tonight."

   While she sang the verses the tree took on a life of its own and grew vines that Ashryn grabbed and used as a swing, like she had seen the dancers do in routines at royal celebrations and swung gracefully around the branches.

  Loki smiled as he watched her glide through the a couples of times then reached out and leapt up, grabbing her vine and swinging with her as they both continued to sing, "All I want is to fly with you,
All I want is to fall with you,
So just give me all of you,"

   Ashryn wrapped her arms around the prince as her grip gave out, "It feels impossible,"

   "It's not impossible."

   "Say that it's possible,
How do we rewrite the stars?
Say you were made to be mine,
Nothing can keep us apart,
'Cause you are the one I was meant to find,
It's up to you,
And it's up to me,
No one can say what we get to be.
And why don't we rewrite the stars?
Changing the world to be ours..." the tree slowly lowered them to the mossy ground beneath its branches as gravity slowed them down, and Loki released the vine as Ashryn lowered her arms and head; her forehead almost perched on the prince's chest.

   A moment of silence passed between them as Loki quietly inhaled the scent of her hair, orchid, then Ashryn sang once more in a small voice, "You know I want you...
It's not a secret I tried to hide,
But I can't have you...
We're bound to break and my hands are tied..." the young lady then turned and bolted from the garden and the broken hearted sorcerer who felt his heart had shattered but understood.