A/N: First off, many apologies to everyone who was hoping for a quick update. It was completely my fault, for not getting my chapter done more quickly. One wore: College.

Disclaimer: See first chapter.

Chapter Three

Fred was seriously beginning to wonder where on earth he was.

After having a moment to sit and cry, Fred had decided to look around more. Surprise! More and more snow. He was actually starting to feel a bit of the chill, the WBBCIBFWACG not working as well as it had when it had started.

It wasn't until he came face to face with a big blue…person? That he realized he might not be on earth anymore.

"Uh…" he said intelligently.

The giant, blue being, who upon further inspection looked as though he had strange markings carved into his body, stared at him with eerie blood red eyes. When the being actually spoke, it was in a deep rumbling voice that had Fred jumping.

"What are you?"

"Huh?" Fred asked.

"You look mortal, but no mortal has ever come to Jotunheim before. And there is something about you…a power that I can almost smell, it is so great. You have some sort of spell to block out the cold around you."

Fred blinked a few times, and then finally stuttered out, "Jotunheim? Where on earth is that?"

Red eyes blinked. "You are not on earth. Jotunheim is a separate realm from Midgard."

"Midgard…" Fred mouthed out. Then shaking his head, rather confused, he said, "Well, I don't know how I here. I thought I had disapperated-tried to get home. But I came here instead. I am supposed to be on earth, to help someone. The three nines sent me here. But I was doing things that I shouldn't be able to do. Powerful magic that I've never been able to accomplish, and-oh bugger. I'm rambling."

Fred stopped, feeling extremely unsure about this whole bizarre situation. Here he was, on a planet that apparently wasn't earth, talking to a giant blue alien, about magic.

"The nines?"

Fred jumped as the giant spoke.

"Do you perhaps mean the Norns?"

Fred blinked. "Oh, oh yeah. That's what they were called."

"You are indeed special to have been given a task by the Norns. I cannot pretend to understand your plight-why you ended up here. But I do know that if you got yourself here, you must be able to get yourself back."

"From what you're saying, I'm on a completely different planet. How in the world I brought myself here is beyond me. How do you expect me to go back?"

The giant stood still a moment. "I too am intrigued by how a mere mortal could possess as much power as the All Father himself. But if the Norns gave you a task, you must complete it. If you came here, when you should be on…earth, then you have to go back. I have heard strange rumors of a darkness that is coming. A powerful evil. Something tells me that you may be a part of it. I can think of no other explanation."

"I don't want to be a part of anything! I just want to go home." Fred could feel the tears coming back. All the fear and frustration was welling up in him again, and he was finding it difficult to compose himself.

"I do not pretend to know what has happened. You may or may not feel comfortable telling me more, but I see a deep bravery inside you. Whatever this is, you can do it."

Fred closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Yes, things were scary. He missed his family. Missed George. They all thought he was dead.

But it wasn't like he didn't have a purpose. He had a mission.

Unsure of where on earth-or Jotunheim-the courage came from, Fred was suddenly filled with an overwhelming determination.

He was going to figure this out. He could do this. Whatever strange magic he had now, he would figure it out.

Fred swallowed. Looking up at the blue giant again, he said, "Uh, well, thanks. I guess I feel a little better."

"I am glad to have helped. You intrigue me. Might I ask your name?"

"Oh, uh, Fred Weasley."

"Hmm. You mortals have such strange names. I am Helblindi. I know you must leave, to do whatever it is you must-I sense time is running short- but I hope to meet you again someday."

Fred nodded, vaguely realizing that this blue guy seemed to have a knowledge of magic, and asked,"If you don't mind my asking, what exactly are you?"

"I am a Jotun. Others have called my race Frost Giants before, but Jotun is the more respectful term."

Fred nodded. "Okay, thanks. And I have to admit, this small encounter has me really curious about this place. I hope I can come back again someday too."

Then, as Helblindi continued to stare at him with his red eyes in a way that Fred realized was curiosity, Fred closed his eyes, and thought I need to go where the Ni-Norns need me to go. He repeated this a few times, hoping that not having a destination planned wouldn't get him splinched or worse, killed, and he turned on the spot and disappeared with a loud *Crack!*, leaving Helblindi to wish the strange mortal what the mortals called "luck."

Loki was not having a good day. The headache that was constantly plaguing him had grown ten times worse as he had escaped the hellicarrier. When he had stabbed the agent that dared to defy him, when he dropped the cage that his brother-no, Thor- had been in, the headache had become nearly unbearable. But when the agent shot him with that gun made from the Destroyer, strangely enough, the headache abated somewhat.
Now, sitting in the back of one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s quinjets, the headache kept getting bad, then better, and it felt as though someone was playing a game of ping pong in his head.

Yes, playing ping pong had been one of the most annoying things Loki had discovered in his secret travels to Midgard. And the comparison between his headache and the game was rather fitting.

Holding the staff in his hand, he suddenly felt its tug and the interior of the quinjet faded away as the darkness of his lair replaced it.
Loki turned and fixed the Other with a cold glare.

"What do you want now? Do you not see that I have work to do?"

"Silence! I have disturbing news that I was bidden to tell you. The master has felt a powerful change. Something is coming, and he has ordered that you be on your guard now more than ever. If you fail him, you know the consequences. And whatever is coming apparently has the potential to make you fail."

"Never!" Loki spat. "I have scattered the Avengers before they have had time to properly form. The portal will be opened, and you can send your army through, and nothing can stop them."

"I hope for your sake that is true. After all, you will be the one punished, not I."

With a jerk, the interior of the quinjet came back into focus. Loki was breathing heavily, and the headache, all but gone, had foreign thoughts running through his head.

Thor, Thanos, the Chitauri-What have I done?

But the one moment of lucidness disappeared and the old Loki that had been there for one moment was gone, the headache firmly back in place, and a smirk planted on the trickster god's face, his blue eyes shining with malice.

Whatever is coming, it won't get the better of me.

Fred gave a slight yelp as he suddenly felt solid ground beneath his feet again. Looking around quickly, he realized that whatever he had done had worked at least somewhat, and he was no longer standing in the middle of a blizzard.

He was standing in a somewhat familiar hallway though. Not quite the same one, but definitely the same style.

Thankfully, no one seemed to be in the immediate area, and Fred quickly ducked into an open room. Unfortunately, said room was actually the top of a staircase, and there was a blond man coming up the stairs.

Not thinking about the fact that this man looked like a walking American flag, well, maybe he thought about it for a little bit, Fred immediately turned around, panic flaring inside of him. He could feel the strange power building up inside him, and that wasn't helping at all.

NONONONONO-

"Hey, hey hey!"

Fred froze, worried that if he made the slightest move the foreign magic would lash out and hurt or kill another person.

His back to the blond man, Fred finally croaked out, "Yeah?"

"I don't want to hurt you. What they were doing earlier-I definitely did not condone it. I don't know who you are, or how you've done what you've done, but I am willing to listen to your side of it."

Trying to still his quickly beating heart, Fred slowly turned around.

The blond man, who looked to be maybe twenty-one or twenty-two, was standing on the third step down, his hands held out in front of him in a placating manner.

He's given me the high ground…

Fred swallowed. "Okay. I suppose I should talk to someone. I'm kinda confused right now."

The blond man smiled a little. "Good, that's great. Now, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Steve. Steve Rogers."

"I'm Fred Weasley. Why are you dressed up like an American flag?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he felt his face color. Seriously, you just asked a question that a two year old might ask.

Steve rolled his eyes, and Fred was immediately worried that he had really screwed up. But after he had muttered something about spangles and…a shark? Steve smiled again. "It's my uniform. I don't know if you've heard of me, but I'm Captain America. Super soldier."

Fred had no idea what the super soldier remark meant. As far as a Captain America...hey, he didn't know much about muggles, much less about American muggles, but to each his own.

"O-okay." He hated the fact that he couldn't seem to stop shaking. But at least he seemed to have the strange power under control.

Steve smiled. "Like I said, I just want to help. You want to go someplace more private to talk? I was on my way to go talk to some friends. We have a bit of a situation at the moment, but we could talk on the way, and as long as you're with me, no one should bother us."

Fred nodded. "I just wanted to warn you-I have this...power, and I'm afraid I might accidentally hurt someone with it. It just...lashes out, and I sometimes have a hard time controlling it. So, as long as there isn't any surprises..." he trailed off, hoping that the man understood him.

Steve nodded, a look of understanding in his eyes. "The people I want to go see, once I explain, they shouldn't cause any problems."

Fred nodded again.

"Okay then. Let's get going, and maybe you can start telling me what the problem is."

Fred swallowed, and started. "I'm supposed to be dead." He ignored the incredulous look sent his way, and kept going. He was afraid that if he stopped, that he wouldn't have the courage to keep going. "I'm a wizard. I can do magic. I went to school for it, in Scotland. And, there was this bad dark wizard, and a war, and I thought I had died. But when I got to where I thought was heaven, I talked to the old headmaster of the school I went to, who died a while back, and he wouldn't give me a straight answer about anything. And then, the Ni-Norns showed up." Fred noticed that Steve had a contemplating look on his face now, as opposed to the slightly shocked bewildered look of a few moments ago. "They said that I had another chance, that I had to do something for them. I had to help someone, who was being misunderstood. They had suffered, and I was going to be able to help. He wouldn't know me, and I could help him...I guess that's my job. They said I was going to be sent to a different reality. I-" Fred's voice cracked for a moment "My family isn't even here. They all think I'm dead. But the Norns gave me a job. And I thought it was something to do with your people, since they sent me here...or wherever it was I showed up at first. As far as the extra power I told you about, I have never been able to do that before. It's like when I was little, and could use accidental magic, where I could just do things because of how I felt. When I went to school, I learned spells and stuff to learn how to control it. But now it's like I'm a little kid again and I can't control it. And it feels so powerful, and I dunno...I killed that man, didn't I?"

Steve POV

Steve could tell the tall red headed boy-Fred-was nervous. He was rambling, but Steve was actually following it pretty well. Magic? Accidental Magic? A school for it? But when Fred said something about the Norns, it took a moment for him to remember where he had heard that recently. Then it came back to him. When he'd been looking up Norse mythology, after hearing about Thor and Loki, he had come across the name. They were supposed to be like the three Fates in Greek mythology, people who controlled fate or something like that. And if they had given Fred a second chance, a job, and it had something to do with them...

To say that Steve was a little confused was an understatement. These Norns didn't sound terribly helpful in the information department, and he could completely understand why this boy had run the first time. He had no idea where he was, thrust into a new reality? where he didn't have his family, and they thought he was dead?

Steve could relate to that on some level, he supposed.

When Fred asked about the man who died though, he felt an overwhelming pity for the teenager. He sighed. "Yes, unfortunately. I really am sorry for their actions earlier, and from what you said about the power acting up, it's no wonder it got out of your control. But it was obviously an accident."

Fred swallowed, something Steve noticed he seemed to do a lot. "You think that, but what about the others? Will they understand?"

Steve's thoughts went to the conversation he'd heard between Natasha and Loki, and though he didn't know everything, he had an idea that she might be pretty willing to allow for second chances given her own background.

"It might take them a while, and they might be a little wary of you, but I think that if you explained things a little more in detail to them about where you're from, and what has happened since you got here, but the could understand."

"Emphasis on could." Fred said.

Truthfully, Steve had a lot of questions still, but he didn't have the time. They were at the room he knew Natasha and Barton were, and he had come down here in the first place to ask one of them if they could fly one of those...quinjets, so they could go hunt Loki down.

Steve wondered just how they would take the reappearance of the red headed boy.

"Here, just stay out here for a moment, while I try to explain here. And then maybe we can have a talk while we're going to Start Tower."

"Where-?" Steve held up his hand.

"Too much to explain, and not enough time. I promise to do it on the ride though."

"Ride?" Fred said, but Steve had already opened the door.

And there it is! Again, apologies for the long wait. And now, I pass the reigns over to Crystal! Please review guys!