A/N: Okie dokie! Finally to chapter two! I'm pretty excited because I can really get the ball rolling with this fic. Thank you so much for all of the favorites, follows and reviews!
SHADOWPLAY
"Jane, you look like shit." Darcy wrinkled her nose at Jane. It was now nine-thirty in the morning which meant that the intern was half an hour late. That was according to Jane time anyway, according to Darcy time it was right on time. Jane pouted at Darcy, she knew she didn't look fabulous but she didn't think she looked that terrible. "How much sleep did you even get last night? I can tell you didn't even sleep in a bed. Is that my sweater?"
"Does it matter, Darcy? I was here on time at least." Jane crossed her arms and crossed her legs. 'Good morning to you too, Darc,' she thought to her self in a snide voice. Not exactly how she had wanted to start off the day but at this point it was becoming routine with the two of them.
Darcy took a sip of her giant latte before answering, "A wizard arrives precisely when she means to." She grinned at the groggy looking brunette, and Jane rolled her eyes. "Besides I brought you some yogurt and a muffin! I thought you could use a pick-me-up."
After digging through her giant purse for a moment, Darcy retrieved a small container of Yoplait and a smooshed muffin. "Have another dream?" Jane nodded between nibbles of muffin. "Anything new?"
"A voice this time."
Darcy's eyebrows jumped up and she took a seat next to Jane. "What did it say?"
"It just said: 'wake up'. And I did, and here I am still. I started going through the data we collected last night." Jane sighed and opened the container of yogurt and started to slurp it out of the top.
"Well at least it wasn't a dream where you woke up screaming or flipping tables," Darcy smiled. "Anything pop up on the computers?" Jane shook her head, last night had been uneventful considering things. Darcy patted Jane on the shoulder and stood up, "I'm going to go check my email, you should go home and take a nap or at least take a damn shower. You seriously need one, Jane."
Jane gave a slight nod and finished slurping her yogurt. She definitely needed to go home and take a shower. It had been a few days. Or was it a week since she last took one? She couldn't remember. That wasn't a good sign. Jane stood up and grabbed her messenger bag. Luckily her apartment was just a short ride away by tube. She jammed her laptop and the pile of papers in her bag and tucked the small red book in the front zipper pocket.
Darcy glanced up from her computer from across the room, "Oh hey I need my sweater back!" Jane didn't respond as she started to shuffle out of the room. "Jane? Hey!" The door slammed shut. "Whatever," Darcy opened up her Facebook on her internet browser to check on the day's news.
Once outside Jane stumbled along the street in a daze. Luckily most people were too busy to pay her any mind, which was fine with her. She managed to autopilot to the Underground station a few blocks away and even boarded the train without missing it. She settled into a seat and slipped her Oyster card back into her bag. In about ten minutes she would be at her stop and close to home. Her thoughts drifted to her shower and she smiled, 'I am so going to take a half an hour long shower when I get home. And then a quick nap.'
Her eyes slid shut and she leaned back, resting her head on the window. The familiar voice chimed and she jumped up and scrambled for the door. Spurred on by the anticipation of a hot shower and comfortable bed, Jane made it the last few blocks home.
Jane immediately dumped her bag on the sofa and began stripping off her old clothes on the way to the shower. Who cared about a mess, right now all that mattered was feeling clean and the feeling of her pillow on her face. After a record breaking long shower, Jane slipped into her extra large Bananarama t-shirt. The shirt was quite the relic, faded and thread thin, but it served as a good comfort blanket for her. And that's all she wanted right now, to be able to take a thousand year nap and be comfortable doing it. She didn't even remember making it in to bed, but Jane couldn't care less. Her eyes slid shut and she exhaled a deep sigh.
Darkness. Again. Jane spun around frantically. 'No. Not again." She could feel her pluse accelerating. "Breathe, Jane. Breathe." She forced herself to exhale, then draw in a long, deep breath. Jane forced herself to be calm, forced herself to analyze. This was different, but how? She bit her lip and spun around again. The pain, she realized. Her mouth popped open in a silent 'O' shape. Maybe she could force herself to wake up this time, maybe she could take control. Jane clenched her fists and concentrated.
"Wake up, wake up, wake up," she muttered with her eyes screwed shut. When she opened them she would be in her bed. She could get up and make herself a sandwich or some soup and call Darcy. When she was awake everything would be better, she would have won. Jane slowly opened her eyes.
Darkness.
"Oh, FUCK," She swore. "Just let me wake up!" Her pulse began to rise again, she was on the verge of panic. "Wake up, Jane!" She screamed into the dark, but still nothing. How would she get out? Could she? Jane's mind raced, she could do this. She would.
"Are you quite finished?" A masculine voice rang out.
Jane froze for a half a second before spinning on her heel. "Who's there?" Her voice warbled, from the adrenaline and the screaming. She could have sworn she heard a chuckle, Jane shivered.
"Oh come now, do you not recognize your savior when you hear them?" The voice had a feral edge to it and a small part at the back of her mind prickled.
She chewed her lip, "Savior?" Her mind flew, this was familiar. This was the voice, the cool touch. This was what, or who, was responsible for saving her from the pain of the Aether.
"You are better than that, Jane Foster," the voice said her name with a silky tone. "Just, think." Another deep chuckle. It made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. She had definitely walked into the lions den. Jane took a step back from the voice, just in case, and then it hit her. The voice. There was no way.
Her eyes went wide. "How," was all she could gasp out.
"I'm still waiting, Foster. Say my name." The voice was in here ear now, hot breath on her shoulder.
"Loki."
Jane bolted awake, almost knocking a pillow into her nightstand. Her eyes flew around her room. Pile of clothes on the floor. Check. Messy desk. Check. Constellation charts and maps on the walls. Check. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, she was sweaty. Jane lurched out of bed and ran to the living room, she needed her log.
What the hell was that. She must be sleep deprived to be dreaming about Thor's brother. Jane tore her journal and a pen out of her bag, flopped on the sofa and began to scratch away.
It only took a few minutes to write down everything. It was a short dream. Jane slammed the cover of her journal shut and looked at the clock on the microwave in the kitchen. She could see the small green numbers from the living room.
"Oh my god, it's almost six 'o clock!" She had been asleep for almost eight hours. So much for a short nap. Jane groaned, she needed to call Darcy and get an update on the day, not that Darcy would have much to say. Jane knew that her intern had more than likely spent the entire day playing Candy Crush on her phone and surfing Twitter. Now she just needed to find where her phone was. Jane got up off the couch and stretched while her mind drifted back to her dream. It was odd she wasn't able to wake herself up, not until she said his name.
Jane stopped digging through her messenger bag on the floor. "I didn't wake up. He allowed me to leave." Jane bit her lip. Maybe she was grasping at straws, but the feeling deep down in her gut was saying otherwise.
'Since when do you listen to gut instincts?' she tried to reason with herself. 'Since you started having crazy dreams about Thor's brother, Jane.' Groaning at herself, she went back to digging for her phone. After retrieving it from the bottom of her bag (of course) she sent Darcy a quick text message. Now it was time to make some more coffee.
Loki smirked, the mortal had taken that in stride. He loved when things came together, and they almost always did for him. Soon he could begin the next step involving Jane Foster. She hadn't tried to fight, her curiosity had gotten the better of her in the end. Just what he had expected from her.
"Perfect," he purred. Loki stood from the chair in the large golden room. Odin's private chambers. He waved a hand and the visage of the old man glimmered into place over his form. His dark hair fading to grey, sharp features becoming grizzled. Now he had to get back to business, he had to take care of another small problem. He strode out of the large room, past the ornate decorations, past the over indulgent furniture and out into the hall.
"Notify my son, I wish to see him in the throne room. Immediately." Odin's deep voice rumbled.
The guard to his left bowed, "Yes, All-Father." But Loki turned to his right down the hall towards the throne room not even waiting for the reply.
His face broke into a toothy smile. "Perfect."
Jane sat on her sofa, cup of warm coffee in her hand. She fiddled with the pen in her hand. She had a habit of clicking the top of her pen over and over, something that had made her some what of a nuisance in her classes through out school. Her phone buzzed on the coffee table. It was a message from Darcy saying that she would be over in a about fifteen minutes. "Good, I need someone to get my mind off of things," Jane took a drink of her coffee. The caffeine was making its way through her system, she could feel her body beginning to perk up. She took another drink. "I need to get dressed." This baggy t-shirt wasn't going to cut it.
In typical Darcy style she was late. Not terribly late, but instead of showing up at Jane's in the fifteen minutes promised, it was close to a half an hour later. But the tardiness was immediately forgiven when the scent of curry wafted into Jane's apartment. 'At this rate, I'm going to gain fifty pounds just from Darcy feeding me.'
"Hey dude, how are you feeling? You still look like crap."
Jane sighed, "Thanks Darcy, I appreciate it. I feel better." Darcy grinned as she stepped inside the doorway and handed Jane the brown paper bag filled with curry takeout. Jane walked back to the sofa, digging through the bag on her way. "So anything happen at the lab? New readings?"
Darcy shook her head as she peeled of her hat and scarf. They were damp from the fog that had settled over the streets of London. "Nah, nothing happened. Erik sent me an email, something about going pants shopping today, but that was it."
Jane chuckled, the old Erik was slowly resurfacing. "Well thank God," answered Jane. "Hopefully this is the end of pants free work sessions with him." They laughed, both had endured several months of Erik in various states of undress. And just in the last month or so he had begun to realize that clothes weren't such a terrible thing to wear. Darcy plopped down on the sofa and flung her feet up on the coffee table. Her eyes darted down to the small red book on the corner of the table next to Jane's knee.
"Another dream, eh? Wanna talk about it?" Darcy elbowed Jane in the arm. "Come on, you know you wanna!" Jane sighed, she knew she had forgotten something. Unfortunately for Jane, Darcy could be just as curious about things as she was. And unfortunately for Jane, those things weren't wormholes and quantum physics. For Darcy it was Facebook and the latest pop culture trend.
"So help me, Darcy..." Jane groaned.
A/N: Alrighty, love to hear some feedback! Thanks guys!
