I do not own Marvel, Thor or any known characters in this fiction.
Anthem of the Lost
The Beginning
Chapter Two
"Are you sure of this, brother?"
Loki couldn't help the smile that graced his lips. "No, I am not." Loki couldn't hold back his bout of laughter at his brother's apprehensive look.
"Come now, Thor. Do you honestly doubt me so easily?"
Thor shot him an uneasy glance. "No, not you, brother. Your magic," Thor visibly winced. "not so much."
"Last time was just a simple miscalculation. I have already altered everything to suit your frame. There will not be another occurrence like the last, I assure you."
"That occurrence left me bare before the court!" Thor boomed, his face reddening slightly as he took a aggressive step toward Loki.
Loki arched a thin brow at his brother's obvious discomfort. "Well yes, but as I have already stated, I have taken care of that." When Thor did not respond, Loki found himself sighing heavily. "I will be part of this experiment as well, brother. Do you honestly expect that I would purposefully tamper with the spell just to unsettle you once more?"
At this, Thor stepped back, blue eyes searching pale green. "I do not know. Your tricks never cease to surprise me." This brought a smile to Loki's features.
"While it pleases me that I have not lost my touch, I give you my word that I have done nothing to purposefully cause you any discomfort during this endeavor."
Thor took a deep breath, straightening to his full height. "Then let us be done with this. I do not wish for father to learn that I am yet again helping you with these experiments of yours."
Loki inclined his head ever so slightly. "As you wish." Loki lifted his hands before him and paused. "Just remember brother, I do not know how this trip will fair."
Loki saw Thor's jaw tense subtly. "Get on with it."
At this, Loki began weaving the threads of his magic.
Loki found himself in the center of clashing of winds, dropping too quickly towards the ground below. The slashing wind turned him every which way and back as he tried to righten himself for the fall. At the last moment, Loki aligned his legs to the ground, allowing his body to fall forward, hands braced on the ground as his shoulder bent forward. He rolled to his feet, steadying himself through the chaos of biting wind, eyes searching for his brother.
He found Thor, already standing a distance away. He watched as a darkened shadow ran straight towards his brother, panic gripped him.
"Thor! Move!" But it was too late, a sickening crack sounded as the beast hit the God of Thunder, striking him to the ground and skidding to a halt a distance away.
Instinct got the better of Loki and he hid himself, invisible to the naked eye. Suddenly the beast burst open, a number of figures tumbling out. Loki slowly inched forward, ready to defend his brother if need be.
"I think that was legally your fault!" One of them called. "Get the first aid kit!" Another replied as it rushed towards his unconscious brother.
Loki found himself relaxing a fraction, he knew that language. They must have fallen to Midgard, it seems the calculations were wrong yet again.
A woman knelt by Thor's side, leaning over him. "Do me a favor and don't be dead." She muttered, bringing a smirk to Loki's lips. If Thor was so easily killed, he would have died long ago. Suddenly Thor sucked in a heavy gasp, breathing deeply for only a moment, seeming to try and reclaim his bearings before thrusting himself back to look into the face of the woman.
"Woah. Does he need CPR? Cause I totally know CPR." The first woman returned with a small white box.
His brother seemed to stare into the woman's face by his side for a long moment, before falling back into the dust, groaning, obviously still disoriented.
The strange woman looked around before speaking. "Where did he come from?"
The man by her side huffed before Thor suddenly thrust himself none too gracefully to his feet, stumbling around, grunting and groaning.
"You alright?" One of the woman questioned, Loki was unsure which.
"Loki!" Thor yelled. "Loki!"
Loki winced, trying to think of a way to silence his brother or remove both of them from the situation without giving himself away to the Midgardians.
"I think he's hammered. It's pretty obvious." The first woman spoke.
"Jane, we have to take him to the hospital." The man spoke, watching Thor stumble around in uneven circles yelling his name once more.
The woman by the name of Jane replied absently, eyes searching her surroundings. "He's fine, look at him."
Thor's voice only grew in volume. "Loki! I know you can hear me! Undo whatever trick it is you have done this time!" That made Loki grimace, apparently Thor still did not trust him.
Jane, along with her two companions, looked at his brother then.
"Hospital. You go, I'll stay." She spoke.
Thor turned then, pointing in the general direction of the man.
"You. What realm is this? Alfheim? Nornheim?"
"New Mexico?" The first woman called as she withdrew something metallic looking, a red light training on his brother's chest.
"You dare threaten me, Thor, with so puny a weapo-" Before Loki could react, suddenly the object hissed, throwing out two pointed prongs that began clicking as they met flesh of his brother's shoulder. Instantly Thor began convulsing, shuddering as he fell to the ground.
Jane and the man stared open mouth as he collapsed back into the dirt, before jerking their heads in unison towards the woman who yelled in her own defense. "What? He was freaking me out!"
Jane huffs, exasperated. "Erik, can you get him in the van?" Pushing her hands through her hair in frustration. Erik looked between Jane and Thor, then back at Jane, disbelief evident on his face. Jane threw her arms into the air. "What? You said we have to take him to the hospital!"
"Yes, when he was conscious!" Erik retorted loudly. Jane simply leveled the man with a look, making Erik groan and toss up his own hands before approaching his once more unconscious brother.
After a few minutes of Erik's struggling, he finally manages to drop Thor into the back of the, 'van' was it called?
"Darcy, next time you decide to tazer somebody, make sure he's already in the car, okay?" Erik grunted as he pushed Thor further into the belly of the beast. Erik's attention turned back to Jane, who was still standing where Thor had been minutes ago, looking around curiously before her eyes rested exactly where Loki remained hidden. Loki's brow creased in confusion, checking that his illusion was still in place to hide him. It was, so why did he feel like that mortal knew exactly where he was?
"Jane! Come on." Erik called to her, turning her attention away from him, she ran back to the van, slamming an appendage closed, hiding Thor from Loki's sight, before climbing in and closing another behind herself.
Now his curiosity was peaked. Why could this mortal sense him? He didn't know, but he intended to find out.
The van suddenly roared to life as the last mortal climbed in also, Loki teleported silently onto the back of the beast as it began to move.
After an undetermined amount of time, Loki found that the 'beast' was merely a strange Midgardian contraption made for transportation if the many that now surrounded him was anything to go by.
Loki's attention was pulled elsewhere as they approached a white structure, beaming with light. The words 'COUNTY HOSPITAL' glowed before it.
The van screeched to a jolting stop, forcing Loki to grip some nearby instrument of machinery to stay in place. The mortals removed themselves from inside their transportation and Jane turned toward her female companion.
"Darcy, go in and get a gurney." Loki watched as Darcy left for a moment, wondering what this 'gurney' was when a sharp inhale gained his attention. Dark sea green met amber as he found Jane staring straight at him, mouth agape.
Startled, Loki let his form dissipate into mist as he teleported behind a white column. There was no mistaking it now, there was certainly something different about this mortal.
"Could use a little help here, Jane! This guy isn't exactly light as a feather!" Erik yelled, voice strained.
Loki waited, listening for the sound of retreating footsteps for a few moments. Slowly, Jane shuffled to help her companion. Warily, Loki peered around the column, spying Jane trying to help pull Thor onto some strange looking bed that Darcy tried to hold in place.
Why this mortal would differ from the others, Loki had not the slightest idea. Maybe she held a magic of her own?
Loki watched cautiously as Thor was taken inside the structure by other mortals all wearing similar uniforms of blue green clothing. He waited a moment more before teleporting himself inside quickly moving into place away from Jane's sight.
He noticed her gaze looking over her shoulder towards the van, eyes perplexed.
Jane's attention was pulled to a mortal behind a large desk as she asked, "Name?"
Jane sucked in a breath, open mouthed, eyes jumping to where Loki hid, forcing him to crush himself closer to the wall.
"He said it was Thor." She said apprehensively, pausing slightly before speaking his name. A soft pittering, like fingers drumming against a hard surface reached Loki's ears. A nervous habit if he ever heard one.
Numerous clicks sounded as the mortal behind the desk spelled, "T-H-O-R. And your relationship to him?" She questioned.
Loki could feel Jane's eyes jump back to his hiding place, before he heard her murmur. "I've never met him before." Her companion jumped in then. "Until she hit him with a car."
Jane sprang to her own defense, "I grazed him," pausing before accusingly adding in, "but she tazed him." A content and drawled out, 'Yes, I did.' answered almost in sing-song. Loki had to suppress a chuckle.
He listened as the woman told them what would happen with his brother, that Thor would be admitted to their care, checked for any injuries and see how he fared once he was awake.
With a huff, Jane asked to be informed when he awoke and turned to leave. Loki fell to mist as he moved back behind the column outside before Jane could see him. Sure enough, as Jane stepped outside her eyes were turned to his previous hiding place.
Loki couldn't help the smile that lifted the corners of his mouth. This was going to be fun.
His eyes opened slowly, unwillingly. Why he had dreamt of his first glimpse of Jane was beyond his muddled mind. A sort of peace cloaked him though, chasing the ever present chills from him.
The warmth was soon taken by the sound of heavy footsteps, coming ever closer. He shoved his emotions from him, hardening himself for the torment to come.
What was he doing? This was the worst decision he'd ever made. Okay, not the worst, but it was still a very bad idea.
Thor sat heavily on the couch and waited. Jane had rushed into what he could only assume were her chambers and had yet to return.
Thor shoved an aggravated hand through his tangled mane. What was he doing allowing a mortal woman to accompany him on a dangerous endeavor such as this? Much less the woman who holds the affections of his younger brother.
Loki would give him a slow and painful death if anything were to happen to her.
That thought was interrupted by Jane emerging from her chambers. "I think we have a problem." She spoke as she slung a brown leather rucksack on her back. "I don't have any clothes that would meet survival standards." She winced slightly with a nervous laugh. "I don't have much of a wardrobe."
Thor stood, briefly looking over her apparel, finding most to be lacking. "It is of no concern. We will return to Asgard and find you more suitable clothing and inform my father of our search."
"Oh. That's- Wish you would have told me a little sooner."
"My apologies." He said with a slight inclination of his head. "Are you ready to leave?"
She glanced around the room once. "Oh! I forgot one thing." She crossed the room and opened a drawer, withdrawing a familiar metallic weapon. He instantly tensed, dropping a hand to Mjolnir instinctively.
Jane's eyes trailed up to him once more, detecting his discomfort as her eyes trail back to the weapon. "Oh, God no!" She stammered quickly. "I'm not- This is just-"
"I have no quarrel with having a weapon on your person," He cut off her rambling. "as long as you do not forget who you're allies are." His eyes nervously followed the weapon as she removed her rucksack and placed it in one of the pockets that she could reach easily he assumed.
"Hey, you're practically going to be my only line of defense out there." She smiled brightly. "I'm not going to forget."
Thor relaxed his stance slowly. "Good. Now, if you are ready?" With a slight nod from Jane, he turned and left through the front door as she followed behind. Once outside, he held his hand out to Jane and she took it with little hesitation.
Thor's looked into the night sky and called, "Heimdall! Open the Bifrost!" and they were both enveloped by light.
Jane found herself clinging to Thor as all the light threatened to blind her. The sound was nearly unbearable, but the galaxies distracted her. The sights remained only for a moment more before she found herself stumbling, her feet finding something solid once more. With her distraction gone, an ache blossomed into a sharp pain behind her skull and she raised her hand to her head.
"Okay, ow." She muttered.
"Welcome to Asgard Lady Jane." A deep voice spoke, drawing her attention to a tall, broad shouldered man in golden armor and red-brown leather, with bright golden eyes to match.
She could only stare for a moment before stupidly saying, "Hi." She mentally slapped herself. "I mean, thank you."
The stranger smiled, inclining his head to Thor who stood behind her.
"Lady Jane," Thor gestured to the golden warrior. "this is the keeper of the Bifrost and guardian of worlds, Heimdall."
"Heimdall? The one you mentioned earlier?" She quirked an eye at Thor quizzically.
"Yes. Heimdall's eyes see all, but he could not see my brother, which is why I next came to you." Thor explained.
"Oh." Jane's eyes trailed back up to Heimdall. "That's gotta suck." She said before she could stop herself. "I mean! Seeing everything? It seems-" She abruptly pressed and held her lips together, knowing she would ramble herself into an even bigger hole, but the man only smiled.
"It may be so, but the beauty of the realms is not wasted on me." He said simply and Jane nodded, not trusting herself to not say something even more stupid.
A large hand was placed on her shoulder. "Come, let us go and speak with my father." Thor said before stepping around her.
"Alright." She glanced back at Heimdall, waving nervously. "Bye." Heimdall nodded before turning his attention out into the stars. With great effort, she turned from the temptation and followed after Thor.
She stepped foot outside the Observatory and froze. Even during the night, it seemed that Asgard blazed with golden light. Her jaw dropped at the sheer splendor of it all. "Woah.."
Thor turned to her then, a smile on his face. "Come."
Jane followed after him, eyes fixed on the glowing city.
To be continued...
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I realize that while Thor still retains his powers, a tazer would really not affect him(maybe), but it was just too good to pass up! And it flowed with my plot easily enough. So please, forgive the slight.. un-lore friendliness.
I'm a bit frustrated with myself. I don't feel that I am portraying the characters as I want. Obviously they are all slightly different than in the movies because it is all under different circumstances, but I feel like I am dumbing down my writing too much for Jane's POV. Give me your honest opinions if you would. I just can't seem to put my finger on whatever it is.
Thank you to everyone whose reviewed, followed and favorited! It means so much to see how much people enjoy my story! I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this chapter!
