"You know, with everything we've been through, everything we have done, I think that the thing that surprises me most, is that I am still surprised we are not dead."

"Well, if you doubt your own skill in battle so much, maybe you should stay at home."

"Oh it is not that I am worried about being slain, Lady Sif, it is the fact we have not yet been executed following one of our little… excursions."

"Perhaps if you keep wishing hard enough, this time Odin will finally grow tired of us."

"… let not, shall we?" Fandral glanced around as the two walked down the corridor, as though mentioning his name would bring Odin swooping down upon them. "I hate to say this, because I do sympathize with Thor completely – I would not want to be stuck in bed in his situation – but the Queen does have a point in keeping him from the front line, and you know that is exactly where Thor will try to be. As much as it pains me, he is only going to keep getting weaker until this is fixed."

"Even at half strength, Thor is a match for the average Einherjar and they will be on the front lines."

"You and I both know it will get worse then that."

"Are you going to help Thor or not?"

"I am here, aren't I? I'm just… well I'll say it; I am worried."

"So am I. But, I agree with Thor; he has a right to see this through, he is the wronged party here."

"That and he would likely tear half the palace down if he were forced to stay home and play damsel in distress, while others fought on his behalf."

"That too." She glanced at him, "Wouldn't we all?"

"Aye."

###

Propped up on his bed, Thor distracted himself, throwing a desk ornament up into the air, catching it and throwing it again. It had been over an hour and a half since he had left his parents, twenty minutes since a guard arrived at his door to inform him that the soul siphon had indeed been tracked to the Atarinncerion city, Atarinca - right to the heart of it, too.

The guard had also informed him that Asgard's armies were being readied to attack Atarinca, via the Tesseract which was being set up to create a stable portal between Asgard and the city. The Asgardian end of the portal was being set up away from populated areas and it was to be fitted with a quick shut down mechanism. The entire operation was set to begin in just over an hour, so he was running out of time.

Unfortunately, prior to that and shortly after his arrival in his chambers, the guards had turned up outside his door and stayed there; Odin had placed him under unofficial house arrest. He could always fly out of the window, he still had Mjölnir, but if he wanted to pull this off he needed to be subtle, so for now, he had to wait on his friends.

He glanced to the balcony – still, if all else failed, flying out the window and towards the portal as fast as he could and just hoping, could always serve as plan B. If only the guard had told him exactly where Odin planned to set the portal…

He flicked the ornament up into the air again, higher this time, his ears trained on the door and anything that may be happening outside it. He hoped they would make it in time.

###

Handing over the gold, Hogun pocketed the handful of small bottles with a nod to the shop keep, careful to stash them securely. He broke into a jog once he got back into the street, heading back to the palace.

###

Volstagg huffed as he watched the solders prepare. Walking into the armoury would be no problem but walking out again carrying a set of Thor sized Einherjar armour was not going to happen. Everyone knew him and everyone knew Thor too well.

"Oh well… Nothing else to be done I suppose…"

###

"I am the Lady Sif! Shield maiden and friend to Thor and you mean to tell me that I am not to permitted to fight on behalf of my friend?! You dishonour me!"

The guard visibly cringed and Fandral almost cringed with him. The guard was a large, boorish looking man but Fandral knew from many a round of drinking that he was actually quite a bright and sensitive soul, more suited to sonnets then to battle and Fandral quite liked him. Fandral also knew that the hapless man held quite the torch for Lady Sif – which was why he had zeroed in on him in particular and told Sif that she would have more luck in interrogating him. He really felt sorry for the other man; His love was a hopeless endeavour as he was too gentle for Sif, and Fandral honestly thought he would just bore her. Still, if this paid off, Fandral would be buying the poor sap drinks for the next decade at least, even if the other man never knew why.

"F-forgive me, m-my lady, I-I mean no offence…"

Sif narrowed her eyes, a wolf closing in on a wounded rabbit, and a little way away, Fandral shook his head and sighed. Make that two decades…

###

As close to Thor's chambers as he dared, tucked out of sight, Hogun crouched down on the floor and pulled out the bottles and two small dishes. Lining the bottles up in order, he started gulping air. Readying his hands on the first bottle, with a final deep breath, which he held, he opened it and poured the first drops into one of the bowls.

Of the four of them, only he and Volstagg could remember the recipe, and Volstagg had never been able to hold his breath - and his focus, by the end – long enough to finish it.

###

The guards always patrolled in groups of at least two, and while Volstagg understood and appreciated the security and practicality there, not for the first time he was wishing one of them would just break protocol and wonder off on his own. Was it really so much to ask that one of them would grow a sense of adventure and just go elsewhere? Well, he supposed in that case, such a man would not last as a guard, much like himself really.

Never mind…

He had been following these two for a minute, there was no one else around given everyone was getting ready for the attack on Atarinca and this was about as close to Thor's chambers as he thought they would get. He just hopped that Hogan was ready.

Walking up briskly behind them he called to them loudly, "Oh, Excuse me!" And as they turned, he punched both of them squarely in the face.

###

Fandral and Sif were tucked around the corner from Thor's chambers, Sif peering at the guards outside Thor's room while Fandral kept an eye open for any oncoming patrols. Their mission had been a success, now everything rested on Hogan and Volstagg.

"I wonder what might be happening with Loki…" Fandral whispered over to her.

"Truthfully, I am trying not to think about Loki."

"I just can't picture him sitting calmly in an enemy's cell, not if he has any inkling as to what all this is about." After a pause when she didn't answer him, he continued, "I mean, I know things with Loki have gotten bad recently, possibly beyond the point of no return –"

"Possibly?" She repeated with an incredulous tone.

"But I just don't see this cult as being his type, you know?" He continued as though she had never spoken, "I can't see him getting along with them at all, which makes me wonder what he might be up to. Weather he has escaped them yet, or done something… You know… Loki-ish."

Sif just snorted.

"Oh come on. I would far rather think about what mischief Loki may be up to at their expense then… then much else right now. An advanced strike, so to speak."

"You have always been too fond of him."

"And some might say you have always been too critical." He wasn't bothering to look at for guards by this point, just watching her instead.

She glanced back at him, "Are you defending that traitor?"

"Just reminiscing, that's all. Thor has been doing a lot of that, too."

Looking back to the guards outside of Thor's chamber, she whispered back to him, lowly "Well, I was proven right." Fandral was about to say something back to her when Sif held up her hand, "There!"

A small orb rolled towards the guards from the opposite direction. As soon as the guards saw it they, readied their weapons and backed off. Sif smiled.

With a pop the orb split open, splashing a clear liquid in a small radius. The guards startled back, slowed, then stopped moving.

"Got them." Sif said with a victorious smile.

"Time to play dolls."

The two walked up to Thor chamber's, holding their breath when they got close. Hogan approached them from the other side, looking a little flushed and bleary eyed. Sif and Fandral exchanged a look, then Fandral took Hogan by the arm and led him into Thor's room's, pausing to grab the orb by the door, wrapping it in a scrap of leather. The guards did not move.

Sif, still holding her breath, began to move the guards back into formation. They were compliant but ungraceful, their eyes half open, unfocused and flickering slightly.

Inside, Thor stood back as Fandral began to lead Hogan to the wash rooms. On his way past, Fandral paused as he caught sight of Thor.

"I can't be that bad already." Thor huffed, uncomfortable. "Well, come on. I don't want my rooms contaminated by the Vapours."

"Um, yes, sorry, right." Fandral continued to the washroom with Hogan, who was trying to shake himself into greater alertness. As soon as he got there, Fandral plunged the orb, still wrapped in leather, into a waiting bowl of water and left it there, then he helped Hogan wash his hands and face in a second bowl of water. Fandral was distracted however, beginning to question the wisdom in this. Thor had aged. Already, he looked older.

Outside, Sif had finished arranging the guards, having had to step away once for a second breath of air. She looked around for Volstagg, but, not seeing him and not wanting to further risk being seen, she opened the door to Thor's chambers and stepped inside. She didn't release the breath she was holding until the door was closed behind her and she was a few paces away from it. She stopped as she saw Thor, who squirmed.

"Sif… I feel fine!"

She mentally shook herself, "I don't doubt it." She said it more for his benefit. They all knew this was going to get worse.

She moved closer to him and didn't bother to hide her appraisal of him, knowing he would see anyway. The mark on his forehead was a pale grey mimicry of the brand the Atarinncerion ambassador always wore, the hair at his temples was starting to turn white and the lines on his face were more distinct and numerous. She didn't look long - it hurt to see.

Turning back to the door, she said, in a statement of the obvious, "No sign of Volstagg yet, then."

"No,"

"Hogan must have rushed the Sleep Walker's Vapors, he hasn't suffered from them like this since his second attempt back on Vanaheim."

"Yes, but I appreciate his haste."

They were silent then, listening to Fandral and Hogan in the wash room.

"Goodness… did you forget to hold your breath at one point? Pass me the bottles."

"Had I… had I breathed, I might be dead."

"… right… I forgot about that part. Which two do we need for the antidote again?"

"…Give them back, I'll do it. And it is not an antidote, it just… it supresses the symptoms."

"Well that's good enough, isn't it?"

Thor snorted, then sighed. Fandral was fretting and taking it out on Hogan, who wasn't that badly off. He shared a look with Sif who rolled her eyes and smirked.

At that moment, the doors to Thor's chambers were kicked inward and Volstagg, his breath held and with a guard slung over each shoulder, burst into the room. Sif, holding her breath, rushed to close the doors behind him, while Volstagg dropped the guards onto Thor's bed.

"Volstagg!" Thor exclaimed, "When I asked for armour, I did not mean for them to already be filled!"

"Have you ever been to the armoury before a battle? The place is swarming and I do not exactly blend into the crowd. This is the best I could do on such short notice."

"Right, yes, of course. This will do… help me strip that one."

"I suppose," Sif said coming up behind them, "That it would be less conspicuous if you had company heading towards the rest of the army."

"That would be me, then." Fandral said from where he and a slightly damp and worse for wear looking Hogan stood at the entrance to the wash room. "I'd say that fella is about my size." He pointed towards the slightly smaller of the two guards.

Thor glanced to Fandral and then the other guard, then nodded. "Get to it."

###

In the heart of the sprawling metropolis of Atarinca, high in one of the skyscrapers, raised voices could be heard by one of the windows. There was a brief scuffle when suddenly a body crashed through the glass. Tumbling, screaming, the hapless soul disappeared into the mist bellow.

In the shattered window, a tall lean man stood, robed in grey, his long black hair starting to silver at the temples, a pale grey mark etched onto his forehead. Loki watched the other man fall before looking out over the city, taking in the huge expanse of it.

Another robed and marked man walked up behind him. His skin was tinted green and feathers adorned his head instead of hair. "You shouldn't have done that. To kill another claimed by the Mother is a crime."

"I wasn't aiming for the window, and even if I were, I did not expect it to break like that."

The other man shook his head. "Then control your temper."

Loki just nodded, still scanning the city.

The other stepped up next to him. "Impressive, isn't it?"

"It is. Huge." The city was quiet, very quiet for something so large – though they were very high up. "They will be here soon."

The feathered man just nodded and smiled.

###

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Author's Note: I would very much appreciate reviews for this, it has been years since I wrote fiction like this, longer since I published anything.