You're in Exile From me…
Because it's you I cannot See…
Why did you leave me to be…
Alone?
On an Isle on the Sea…
Chasing Fated Mutiny…
If only you'd come back to me…
I wouldn't be afraid…
You can find your way…
Find your way back to me…
You can find your way,
Find your way back to me…
You're in Exile from yourself…
Been Kept away from yourself…
Lost in the mist from when we last kissed…
I need you to find yourself…
Is it worth all the pain?
Is there anything to gain?
Vengeful thoughts breed all that's lost…
We won't be the same…
Unless…
You can find your way…
Find your way back to me…
You can find your way…
Find your way back to me…
You can find your way…
Find your way back to me…
You can find your way…
Find your way back to me…
You can find your way…
Find your way back to me…
You can find your way…
Find your way back to me…
You can find your way…
Find your way back to me…
You can find your way…
Find your way back to me…
Find your way
Find your way back to me…
You can find your way.
Find your way back to me…
Silver haired and bearded, scarred, armored… He was old, and he was losing hope for his youngest. He who had been such a happy youth, all smiles and laughs.
Mischief was never so cruel.
Pale skin framed by black curls and wide green eyes peered up from the All Father's looking glass. Odin stared at the frozen image of the woman for a long time, his one pale blue eye wavering as he reconciled himself with the decision he had finally come to.
What choice did he have?
What choice did Loki leave him?
The All Father pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, sighing. He heard a click and as he looked up, the great golden doors imbedded in the ivory marble walls of his throne room swung open; his eldest son, tall and bronzed with golden hair so like his own in his youth entered the room. Odin had summoned him moments ago and was glad for his arrival.
"Thor, I have a task for you." He spoke, his tone and expression severe.
"I am here to do your bidding, father."
Thor watched his father's face apprehensively. Odin had been thinking, had been fighting with himself, Thor could see this and knew what troubled the man. The look in his eyes as he turned to speak to him did nothing to put the younger man at ease.
"I have reached a decision regarding your brother's punishment… locking him up alone will do nothing but fuel the hatred he has for us, and himself. I have decided, he will bear the same punishment I made you endure. I will strip Loki of his power, and I will exile him to Midgard."
The pain in his father's eyes kept Thor silent. In doing this, he knew, he was treating Loki as he had himself. It would, hopefully show Loki that the All Father still claimed him as his son despite his transgressions, and while that gave Thor some comfort, it pained his heart to know his brother would face what he had.
"There is a woman I have been watching over who knows of Loki, and his trespasses, and still thinks part of him is worth redeeming. I have seen this in her mind; I need to know if it is true in her heart… I believe she may be the key to showing him how to Love, and how to be loved." The old man fell silent, looking at his eldest with a tired gaze.
Thor knew the idea was their last hope, he himself had learned the feeling of Love down on earth, maybe too Loki would. He did not want to subject his brother to the feeling of such powerlessness, but if it would help him come back to them, help him trust them...
"What is it you would have me do?" Thor asked with a bow.
"The woman's name is Charleigh Rae Savage, she lives in the… States United, like your fellow Avengers, in a place called "Washington" where the rain falls often. I need you to go to her home and speak to her. Find out what makes her think Loki can be redeemed, and if her reasons make sense and she is willing to help, tell her what is to be his fate."
He moved aside so Thor could see the frozen image of her, small statured, with long, curling black ringlets in her waist length hair, a shock of white near her temple on the right side, and pale green eyes the color of icy mint. She had a slight pout on her pink lips, surrounded by fair, pale skin. She looked so small, fragile, and there was loneliness in her eyes that looked so familiar.
Thor looked at her image, memorizing it before turning to his father.
"I will do what you ask of me, if only to bring Loki back to us," Thor responded, his own eyes full of a hope that had been slowly dying as of late, a hope that this would work, that he would have his brother back with this woman's help.
Odin nodded and stood.
"Go to the Bridge." It had been repaired since the Tesseract had been brought back.
"Heimdall will be waiting for you there." He told his son, standing to grip his arm in farewell. "When you return, it will be done." He told his son.
There was no apprehension about sending his son to Midgard now, Thor knew the world and its people well and to them he was a hero. Odin was proud of what his son had accomplished, and he knew, in time, he would be proud of Loki too, Loki just needed to be woken up.
"Be swift…" his father whispered.
Thor nodded, taking his leave from the All father with a bow and making his way through Asgard. This was his home, his people. But earth was also his home, it was a place where he could go in his time of need, and there were people there that would help him.
Thor crossed the bridge to the golden dome to speak with Heimdall. The man in question had been expecting Thor and once he requested it, the ebony skinned man opened the portal right into the storm that was currently forming just above the woman's home.
Charleigh was in her back yard watching the storm. Her arms were crossed over her chest, her usually waist length curly hair had been straightened and hung almost to the middle of her thighs tonight. It was in a number of braids and twists in a decorative pattern around her head.
Her 4'11" rubenesque figure was clothed simply; she wore a pair of faded, distressed, grungy blue boot cut jeans and a black three quarter sleeve off the shoulder cotton shirt that clung to her curves. Over this she wore a grey hooded cotton zip up jacket under a military green anorak. She wore high top platform sneakers that matched the color of her overcoat. At her heels was a black bag. She reached up to toy with the silver decorative ear cuffs she wore and black shredded leather string choker around her neck.
She had been planning to go out, but her plans, as usual, had changed at the last minute. She didn't mind... she never did. She used to enjoy going out, but since she had moved, it had been hard for her to meet people outside of work, and her co-workers usually only called her to go out when someone else couldn't make it. Not that she minded, but she usually ended up ignored and the first person to leave. She was socially awkward, which was why she loved her job. Working with Gorillas meant she didn't have to talk to people.
So now she sat watching the dancing light in the dark clouds above. She loved storms, the chaos, the light, the noise, it was a reflection of the turmoil often held within her heart. She squinted when she saw something strange and she suddenly realized; at the head of a fierce bolt of electric blue lightening was Thor, the Asgardian God of Thunder.
This made her smile, if only a little. It was good to know that their world was safe thanks to him and the other Avengers. She watched as he got closer… and closer… was it just her or was he heading in her direction?
He was staring right at her!
She stepped back nervously and waited for the man to land, wondering what the hell she had done to attract the attention of Thor, of all people!?
Thor landed with a boom of thunder, barely a stumbled step. He looked the woman over, making sure she was the one he needed to talk to before opening his mouth to speak, "I am Thor, of Asgard," he said, reaching out a hand to shake hers as the humans had shown him was their greeting.
The thunder clap made her ears ring and her entire body vibrated and tingled with the electricity in the air.
She looked at him wide eyed and then looked at his hand and took it in her own, grip firm for such a small woman, "Charleigh Savage, of Midgard." She responded, baffled, she was referring to Earth as Midgard while shaking hands with an Asgardian God.
"How can I help, Thor? Has something happened with Loki again?" she wondered, knowing that Loki had been taken back to Asgard after his attempt to take over earth. The last time Loki had been on earth she had been in New York, and she had come face to face with Loki briefly, standing on the top of one of the apartment buildings.
He had flown by her, and their eyes had met, and she saw something in the depths of his eyes before he winked and flew out of sight. Of course, she didn't really know why anyone would come to her about that, but he certainly wasn't here to talk to her about her job.
Unless Asgard had Gorillas?
She sheepishly removed her hand from Thor's when she realized her much smaller limb was still folded in his, then she crossed her arms around her middle in an insecure habit, despite her appearance of being confident and open with him. Her expression and her body language did not match up. She looked up at him, her sea green eyes peering into his warm, electric blue eyes.
Thor shook his head in return, taking note of the insecurities of the human female. "I wish to know why you feel that my brother can be redeemed," he explained, kneeling so he was closer to eye level with her. He gazed at her and watched her cheeks color and her eyes drop in embarrassment.
She had never really talked about her interest in the god of Mischief to anyone, or her belief that there was something deeper in him. "He's complex and his obsession with wanting to be a King proves that he feels a need to be worshiped, and more basic than worship; He wants to be Loved."
She paused, trying to think of a better explanation. "He's like a big kid who's confused and alone and thinks no one cares or loves him. Like an abused dog that's been hurt by every human it's come into contact with, he's jaded and he thinks himself slighted, and thinks he has to take what he wants and pushes away anything that actually touches him. He can be saved from that, from himself."
Speaking the way she was, with experience in her voice, she seemed more confident. "I first realized I could see it in his eyes when he was on the news, and he was demanding the people bow before him, his body language and the look in his eyes was pleading, even while his voice demanded. He is broken, but I believe he can be fixed. Some part of him wants to be fixed Thor, he's just scared…" Where Thor's dear Jane Foster was a meteorologist, it seemed this woman had some knowledge of psychology.
Thor thought on what she said for a moment before nodding. They loved him, his family loved him, but he pushed away that love because he was hurt by the knowledge of where he came from. They were still family, but Loki did not want to believe that because he didn't believe he could be a part of their family because he was born of their enemies.
"Thank you, I can see that now. He never accepted the love we have for him as a family, always pushed us away since the day he found his true heritage. It was because it hurt him to think we loved him, but father would keep something so vital from him. "
Thor mused to himself silently as he looked to the sky that this might in fact work. "Thank you for pointing that out. That is all I wished to know." He told her of his father's plans and bade her to call upon Loki, whose powers would be gone.
She looked at him wide eyed. The man came twirling from the sky on a bolt of lightning, and asked her about something she's never talked to anyone about, then basically says their exiling Loki with no powers, making him a mortal man and asking her to take him in? Well, that was the gist of it. She laughed nervously but nodded, smiling, "S-sure, I c-can do th-th-that." she stammered, a bit overwhelmed suddenly.
Thor nodded slowly, noticing the overwhelmed look. "He will be hard to handle, Loki always is. But if you can gain his trust, I hope you will be able to show him that he can be loved for who he is, not what he is."
Her concern was his size, and his strength. Even as a mortal, Thor had been abnormally large, and she was small, and relatively weak. She just hoped he wouldn't decide to take advantage of the size difference. Slowly she nodded, "I'll do my best Thor, I'll try..."
"Thank you," he said with a bow. "I must let my father know of this." He pulled out his hammer and was off, back into the storm.
Odin stood in the dome with Heimdall, knowing Thor was ready to return, and as his son took to the sky, Heimdall opened the bifrost, bringing him home. "What said she? Was her reason true?"
He wanted to know his son's opinion, if her words sounded sincere, and if Thor thought the woman would be able to bring his child back to them.
"Her reasons are pure. She will take him in, and he will learn to trust again," Thor said with a sad smile. If his brother could learn to trust again... if his brother could learn Love... then he would have his brother back. He looked to Odin, "I believe she will care for him greatly, father."
That was enough for Odin.
"I will retrieve your brother myself. You may remain, to watch him go if you would like, Thor. If the idea is too painful, I understand."
With that, he nodded at the darker skinned man and stepped through the bifrost to the plane that Loki had been imprisoned on. A few minutes of walking took him to his son's prison and he looked sadly at the young man inside.
"My son… the time for your punishment has come."
Thor thought for only a moment before shaking his head. He could not watch his brother be banned like he had, even when he knew that where he was going, he would be safe. And he would learn.
Loki looked up at the All Father with a snort of derision. "Come to ban me to earth like you did with your real son, Odin?" His voice held a certain type of bitterness to it that Odin had come to be familiar with.
Odin looked at his son grimly. "I have... You are as much my son as he, I punished him to earth for his mistakes, and now, I will do the same to you." He confirmed. He lifted his staff and sighed, "But another thing, first."
He slammed the staff into the ground and murmured something and Loki's armor appeared, as did his true form, and the armor began to break apart, piece by piece, dematerializing, with each piece that parted, a little piece of his powers followed. Once his armor was gone, his eyes bled back to blue and his dark skin slowly bled back to white.
"I am exiling you to earth, to live a mortal life, and die a mortal death, unless you come to see the error of your ways." Odin's voice boomed and echoed off the lonely stone walls. There were tears in his eye, and he opened his son's prison, gesturing for him to come.
Loki was not at all pleased with the loss of his power, his eyes shined dangerously even as he stepped out of his cell. He could not attack the All Father when he was as weak as a mortal. He did not speak, only glared at his conniving lord. What a cursed man.
Odin, the supposed ruler of Asgard, was crying. A weak fool he was.
The look in Loki's eyes was not unexpected. It saddened Odin's already grieving heart, but he knew this would be his reaction.
Anger.
Hatred.
These were emotions that ruled his once loving son. Odin remembered when the only punishment the boy needed was a swift swat and that was the end of it. If only such a thing still worked.
Heimdall reopened the Bifrost and Odin remained where he was, for he could see this was the portal to earth. "I am sorry it has come to this Loki…" he said softly, "Know that no matter where you are, I am with you, as is your mother, as is Thor… and remember that we love you." And he stepped back from the open portal and gestured for him to walk through.
Loki snorted again. Like Loki would ever believe the lies of his would be Father again; not a chance. He lied about his heritage, what else had he been lying about, his Love? What else would he lie about? Loki stepped through the portal, a glare on his face before he grinned at the last moment. This was going to be fun, now that he thought about it.
That grin at the end worried Odin. He ran a hand over his face and sighed watching the bifrost close before stepping into the light of the reopened portal. He looked at Heimdall darkly, gazing down at earth, where his son was now spiraling towards earth. "I hope I have not condemned that woman to a fate worse than death."
Heimdall lifted a brow and Odin nodded and sighed, "Yes, you're right… She's… how do they say it? Royally Screwed," and he left the domesphere, crossing the bridge back to Asgard.
The young woman watched as the lightening grew brighter and the clouds began to ripple and rotate and suddenly a funnel like a tornado was forming. She gasped, turning to run for the storm shelter, her bag [which now held a pair of jeans and a shirt she hoped would fit the mortal god when he arrived] in hand. She jumped into the stone cellar, slamming the door and waited. And Waited…
About 20 minutes had passed and still there was nothing. When she opened the door, the clouds were calm, but a couple trees uphill from where she was were broken, standing out like a sore thumb in the woods behind her home. She sighed and ran towards the woods, once she was past the tree line she slowed to be more cautious, moving in the direction of the damaged trees about a half mile away.
Loki stood upon the ground where he'd landed. All he saw was green. He sneered as he looked about, this was different then the lands his brother had been in. There was different then the forests of concrete that he'd fought the Avengers with an army - and lost. He gritted his teeth at the memory. Damn the Avengers. If they hadn't been there, he would rule the earth.
Soon her feet, light and quick, brought her to the break in the trees and she gasped audibly. His body was completely bare of clothing. Apparently the Bifrost was prejudiced against mortal cloth.
His figure was incredible. While it wasn't bulked out with muscle like his brother, he was still athletic, he still had muscle, it was just leaner; like that of a jungle cat. His skin was alabaster white and his hair blalck like a crow's wing, like oily shadows against fresh snow… It was longer too, than it had been when he tried to take over, reaching the blades of his shoulders now.
She sighed and slowly her lips formed his name. The rippling muscles of his back and sides caught her attention as he breathed in and out, turning to her. Shaking her head and forcing herself to focus; she said his name again "Loki," quietly, ever so quietly, looking at his face rather than anywhere…else.
His head turned slowly to look at the mortal with little less then dislike. He didn't like mortals, didn't like humans.
"I am. Are you the mortal I am to stay with?"
The look of dislike bled away to a cheshire's grin. She was so small, she looked so soft, and there was a shadow in her eyes that called to the God of Mischief, even powerless as he was. Oh Yes, this would be fun indeed.
"I am." The response came short, clipped. She didn't like that expression at all, By the beard of the All Father, what have I gotten myself into? She sighed and stepped back slowly, feeling very much like her life had just become a case of Sylvester and Tweety, and the Cat was most definitely going to eat the Canary.