Hi everyone! It's Vanya writing this chapter as Valencia. A huge thanks to Zenappa who beta read this chapter before I shared it with all of you! She makes things sound better and fixes the grammatical disaster that I produce in writing. ;) I hope you like it, here's the second installment in Predetermined Fate!

Disclaimer: Nothing here belongs to me, save Val. Pandora is Aranelle's, Em is Zenna's, and I'm afraid Marvel already took everything else.

Predetermined Fate

Chapter 2: Insanity and Inception

I had always hated waking up. Waking up meant that the fun of the night was over; the magical feeling that I always had at dusk into the early morning hours had to end, I would have to start another day over again. What I hated even more than just waking up was waking up in a twisted position on a hard, cold, unfamiliar surface with a headache. Even worse than that was waking up with all of the above symptoms to the rhythmic pounding of an ungodly loud hammer.

I turned my head to the side, prepared to tell off whoever was doing roofing work again, only to see a sight that almost had me pass out again. I had to revise my description of the hammer. Right in front of my eyes was the god of thunder himself, wielding the most godly hammer in his hand, wailing on the surface of the Bifrost. Behind him was the god of mischief in the flesh, Loki. My brain registered in about half a second that this was the ending scene of Thor, my favorite movie at the current moment, but I was completely baffled as to how on earth, or, Midgard as it would now be called, I got here.

"It's got to be a dream. It's a dream," I muttered to myself. That was the only explanation. I now felt foolish for thinking for even a second that this could really be real. Leave it to me to wish that I actually could go to Asgard, were it real. I was pretty impressed with my obvious lucid dreaming skills now. I'd never accomplished a dream until this one where I actually knew I was dreaming, and I decided to have some fun with it.

Neither Thor nor Loki had realized that I was in their presence yet, so I took advantage of watching the end of my favorite movie again. It was only when Thor hit the Bifrost for the second last time and I felt the shock waves against my body that I felt that something might be wrong. This was a good dream, not a nightmare! The shards that came next amplified that feeling. Little bits of what felt like glass but were likely something far more dangerous and sturdy flew at me, and on instinct I covered my face with my hands. The shards of what I assumed was the close to broken Bifrost penetrated the skin on my palms with one sharp stinging pain after another. Some went into my arms and legs, and others pierced my face where my small hands didn't cover. Fortunately, nothing went into my eyes or mouth, so I wasn't in critical condition. It was enough to shake me though.

What the hell? I thought to myself, not speaking this out loud. I wouldn't swear in this situation, even though Em wasn't here to witness it. I had a reputation to maintain- I wouldn't be caught breaking it yet! I don't think one can get hurt in dreams, that's not how it works.

Another realization dawned on me, this one sending shock throughout my entire body. You know the feeling you get when you realize you've missed an important occasion, or when something goes so horribly wrong that your entire body freezes up in a temporary paralysis due to the numbing shock of it all? That's what it was like.

The golden standard for waking yourself up from a dream is to pinch yourself. If you don't wake up, you're not dreaming. I just took about a hundred shards of Bifrost to the hands, body, and face. If that didn't wake me up…

I felt myself going into a state of hyperventilation. "There is no way that this is real. No way," I said to myself. As if in a mocking answer saying, "Haha, guess what? It is real!", the impact of Loki and Thor's combined strength against the Bifrost propelled me backwards even farther than the last hit had. My stomach dropped to my feet as I felt my legs lose contact with the ground and fly out into the open space over the edge. My face hit the bridge's surface, and I clawed desperately at the smooth surface to avoid falling into the void. That reality check made my heart hammer in my chest with a force to rival Mjolnir. I somehow heaved myself up- pure adrenaline for sure, as I had zero upper body strength- and looked on at a horrifying sight. I'd seen it so many times on my high definition TV, but it was so much worse to watch in person. I knew what was coming here, and no one else did. Even though I was standing right where the action was taking place, I could do nothing to stop it as Loki's hand slipped from Thor's as they were hanging over the edge. There was a second where as I was peering over the edge, our eyes connected, and he was gone.

I wasn't a god, what could I have done to stop him? There is no way that I could have stopped him from letting go.

Then why do you feel so guilty? a little voice inside my head spoke.

Aw, hell nah. First I get transported to this insane place which I haven't yet worked out and haven't yet accepted as real, and now I'm getting voices in my head? I've lost it. I've completely lost it.

"You've lost what?"

A voice startled me; I hadn't realized that I had spoken the last part out loud. Big blue eyes stared into my own, and I screamed and jumped back a little. For the second time, I almost fell over the edge. I was having way too many near death encounters to be happy. A strong hand caught my arm and pulled me back up to land about five feet from where I had started. I wasn't obese, but I'd never met anyone who could pull me off of a cliff and throw me that far with one hand and not even become unbalanced in the slightest. Either this was Thor Odinson, or I was officially checking myself into a mental hospital as soon as I woke up for 'disturbing dreams, illusions, and inner voices.'

"My apologies, I meant no harm," Thor said. I could tell that he was affected by Loki's fall into the void and was struggling to remain this polite. Odin had now caught on to the fact that I was there. One look at his face was enough to know that he didn't want to deal with me right now.

"Thor… bring her inside, we'll question her later." Thor bowed his head once to his father and turned to me.

"I'm sorry. I don't know where you are from, but you must come back with me, for now, Miss…?"

It took me a second to respond. "Uh, Valencia. Valencia Flint."

Thor spoke again, "Well, Valencia, you've picked a terrible time to come here." As I looked around at the broken Bifrost, Odin's hunched over frame walking back to the golden halls of his palace, and Thor's broken face at the loss of his brother, I had a pretty good understanding of what he meant.

"I know."

As I opened my eyes, I felt a sense of relief wash over me. It was a dream after all, a vivid dream. The debate inside my head was over. I was a little surprised to find that I wasn't passed out on the floor of the movie theater though, where I was when I hit the screen and blacked out from hitting the ground. I supposed that someone had taken me home while I was unconscious, a movie theater couldn't just leave one of their employees in the theater asleep while guests were watching. It would send a bad message.

I sat up in the bed only to find that I was covered in a golden sheet in a room that was plated with metal walls of the same color. I groaned. This wasn't happening. This seriously wasn't happening. "This isn't possible," I said out loud. The shock factor was slowly returning. I was trapped here.

Just then, a blond head appeared in the doorway. "You're awake." I jumped, startled at the god of thunder's unannounced entrance.

"Obviously," I shot back snarkily. I wasn't used to this whole going crazy business yet.

"I'm sorry, I meant no disrespect." Thor replied as he entered the room fully. I just looked on warily. "You're from Midgard, aren't you? This has to be a shock for you, I can relate to being thrown in a strange place. Why, just recently,"

I cut him off by saying quickly, "Are you real? Is this a dream?"

Thor looked at me, confused, and gave a nervous laugh. "Of course this is real. You're in Asgard." I was still skeptical. I quickly went over some simple facts in my head.

I was in the theatre where the Avengers had been playing, coincidentally. There were all sorts of strange things in that theatre, I remember. If a crossover of the world were to occur, I suppose it could be there.

I'd studied a lot about space and what lies beyond the reaches of the known universe during my studies, and it wasn't completely implausible that there was life on another planet that had become more advanced than we had. It was likely, even, that someone had gained the ability to traverse the universes and had been seen by early people on earth, thus resulting in them being treated as gods. As reluctant as I was to admit it, this crazy situation was beginning to make a little sense.

Thor had waited patiently while I figured this out, and I thought it only fair to tell him what I had discovered. "Okay, I finally think that you may be real. Why not? So, what do I do now? How can I get home?" Thor's face turned more serious.

"You can't return to Midgard yet, not with the Bifrost in its current state." I supposed that made sense. You can't travel between worlds when your means of transportation is shattered.

"So… When are you going to get around to fixing it?" The look on Thor's face was enough answer for me.

I was stuck here forever. Worse, I was completely alone, with no idea what had happened to my friends in the wormhole of sorts that had occurred in the theatre.

After that conversation, I spent my time wandering around Asgard, exploring. There was apparently a feast tonight, but I really didn't feel like going. A "mortal" in a feast with all gods? Not a good idea. Without really knowing why, I felt my feet automatically put me on a course for the Bifrost. The long walk to the end seemed to take ages, and unfortunately it gave me time to think.

I had finally come to terms with the fact that this was real, as hard as it was to believe. The things that worried me now were that I had no idea what had happened to Em and Pandora after I had been thrown into this mess, and that I didn't have any idea what was coming next. So far, the events seemed to match up with that of the Thor movie, but I had come here at the end, and now the events that had been filmed were now ending, and I didn't know what was going to happen. I didn't like unpredictability or change, and, in a matter of minutes, I was going to have both in my life.

I had finally reached the end of the bridge to where Heimdall was still keeping watch. Without turning around, he spoke to me.

"I can see them."

This got my attention. "You can see who?"

"Your companions. The blonde and the red head. They are on Midgard, though not where you would expect them. Do not worry too much, they are safe for now."

I breathed a sigh of relief, letting out tension I'd had since I first got here. "Thank you," I said and turned away from the god. I walked a little way down the Bifrost away from the broken edge and sat down on the side, my legs dangling into space. Even though Heimdall had said not to worry about the other two, they had no one to tell them not to worry about me. I hoped they were together, wherever they were.

I don't know how long I sat there, staring down into the stars, but I was forced to look up when a shadow fell over my legs. Of course it was Thor standing next to me. Who else would it be? Hundreds of gods on this planet, and he keeps finding me first.

I couldn't see his head from my current height, but I refused to get up. "Sit down then, I can hardly see your face from down here." I said. The god just chuckled and obeyed to my request.

"So," he began, "you're from Midgard. Did you ever meet a scientist by the name of Jane Foster?"

I sighed. I didn't even know if Jane existed in my earth. "No, sorry, I've never been to New Mexico. I'm from New York, it's way north of there." I could tell Thor was disappointed, but he didn't show it much.

"Ah, I see." He paused for a second then said, "I hope Loki doesn't find her first. What he'd do to her if he did, I don't even want to imagine." I frowned at the mention of Thor's brother.

"He's a man in pain, you know. He just wanted a family; it was so hard for him. He didn't really fit in anywhere. I think that's why he was so angry before." Thor looked at me inquisitively.

"How do you know so much about my brother?"

I sighed, now was definitely not the time for this. "It's a really, really long story. Don't ask, I just do." A thought hit me just then. If I had just experienced the end of Thor… Who's to say that the Avengers wasn't about to happen? I didn't know how long of a gap there was in between the two stories, but I was going to take full advantage of whatever time I had. When Thor returned to Earth- and I was trying hard to convince myself that it was indeed a question of when, not if- he would be fighting an army. There was no way that I would be just leaving to go home, and I didn't think I could anyway. I still hadn't figured out whether this was the same universe as my own or not. I would need to learn how to fight.

"Teach me how to fight."

Thor raised an eyebrow at this. It was a pretty random thought, even for me, but it needed to be done. I was already making a mental list of arguments to convince the god, but apparently my request had some kind of need that was conveyed within the words, because he agreed without any persuasion.

"Alright. I believed in Sif, the first maiden who was able to become a warrior, and I have now heard stories of famous maiden warriors in your realm. You managed to be brought here before the Bifrost was broken, that means that you must be stronger than most. I can't teach you how to wield Mjolnir, however. I only have one."

I racked my brain to think of what possible weapon the Asgardians would have that I could use. One answer came to me repeatedly, and I decided to go along with it. "I need to learn how to use a sword. Can you teach me that?"

Thor laughed, "You have spirit in you, and a will to learn! Of course! When do we start?"

I glanced down again at the sparkling stars below my feet. My friends were down there somewhere with a war ready to break at any second, now that Loki had fallen.

I'm waiting for the chance to help. I'll be ready when it starts, ready to help kill Chitauri. I'll do whatever it takes.

"Now."

To check out other adventures of Emerald, Val and Pandora…

If I Never Knew You - Zenappa
*A Pirates of the Caribbean Fangirl fic*

What If - Zenappa
*A Disney Fangirl fic*

A World of a Difference - Aranelle Caladwen
*A Sherlock Holmes Fangirl fic*

Unexpected Twists - Vanya Caladwen
*A Thor Fangirl fic*