Chapter Three

Face-First


"My beloved Jane, where are we?"

"This is New Mexico, remember?" she laughed, throwing her head back. They were surrounded by an absolute jungle of greenery; fresh, humid, and very much alive.

"I thought the land of New Mexico was a desert," he replied, planting a light kiss on her lips.

"It will be," she nodded, taking a step back. "One day all of this will be gone."

A wild wind overtook them, blowing Jane's hair up into his face. The leaves began to fall, and the skeletons of trees and bushes turned black and began to wither away, falling to the ground in a pile of soot. He looked back at Jane, but in her place was a frail old woman.

"No…"

"One day all of this will be gone," she repeated as she turned into dust and disappeared into the wind.

Thor fell to his knees, crushed by the weight of his solitude. "…I love you."


"…Isk?"

"Yes?" she nodded, jumping at the chance to ignore the intimate goodbyes between Thor and a human woman. "Pardon, I don't think we have actually been introduced."

"My name is Natasha Romanoff," the red-haired woman replied. "How much do you intend to be involved in Barton's recovery?"

"I'm not sure," Isk shrugged. She had exchanged her simple long white dress for a turquoise tribal print maxi, tan leather jacket, and tan satchel. "After we have located your comrade, I will provide as much assistance as necessary. However, I seriously doubt he's further away than Alfheim. The light elves have a history of borrowing beings from the other realms."

"We just have to ask for him back?" Natasha inquired. "And they will return him?"

"Probably," Isk smiled. "Sorry, could you tell me who the rest of you are?"

"Well, you know Thor," she began, scanning the busy ground level of the S.H.I.E.L.D. base. "His girlfriend, Jane, is an astrophysicist. The one in the coat over there is Fury, who runs this show. The guy talking to him is Banner, our resident gamma radiation expert. The shorter one over there is Stark, the only one of us besides Barton who is completely normal…for a human, anyway. He's a brilliant engineer and weapons specialist. Talking to him is Rogers, but we usually just call him Captain."

"Does he have a boat?"

Natasha smirked, looking away.

"You are not a normal human?" Isk asked.

"In most ways, I am," she said. "It's difficult to explain. I don't really age."

"I'm so sorry," Isk frowned.

"Why? Isn't that supposed to be a good thing?"

"Well, you clearly care a great deal about your teammate Barton." Isk glanced over at Thor and Jane. "Your anxiety left you after I suggested where he might have landed. I don't mean to suggest anything, but for people like us, caring for mortals can be incredibly dangerous. I would know."

"I can't believe you got Loki to talk to you," Natasha said, eyeing the god of mischief carefully. He sat off to the side, staring at the ground absentmindedly. "I could count all the words he's said to us and I would still have fingers left."

"In Fljotdraumer," Isk clarified, "people completely drop their guard. They fold in arguments faster; they become more trusting of the people around them. The dreamer is never completely aware of what's happening around them, but they generally lack the motivation to question anything. I was hoping that he would speak as soon as he was no longer imprisoned, but it now seems unlikely."

"You don't hate him?"

"I do, I guess," Isk shrugged as Jane finally departed. "It's sort of a funny story. If you remind me later, I'll tell you. Thor, are you ready to go?"

"I am," he nodded solemnly.

Isk glanced over at Fury and Banner, who were still discussing what might happen after Barton was located.

"Thor, did you ask Heimdall where your friend disappeared to?"

Fury did not look happy.

"Yes," Thor smirked. "Do not take me so lightly. Apparently, something is keeping him out of Heimdall's sight."

"You should have mentioned that," Isk said absentmindedly. "We'll need to ask one of your parents to make the trek up to Hildskjaf."

"Where?" Natasha asked.

Fury gestured wildly before running a hand across his head. He turned and left, black coat swishing behind him.

"It is a point on one of the mountains surrounding Asgard," Thor explained, nodding for Tony and Steve to join them. "Odin and Frigga are the only ones who know of its exact location. From Hildskjaf, they can see all of the nine realms of Yggdrasil."

"I thought Yggdrasil was a tree," Stark smirked.

"It is a network of passages that is set up in a way that resembles a tree," Iskeita said. "In that you can usually only go from branch to branch if they're immediately linked. Without the bifrost, the tesseract, or a good falcon cloak, there is no way to reach a realm that you are not directly linked to if you don't want to use a dangerous amount of magic. And these links only work one way. Midgard only has outputs linked to Alfheim, and Muspelheim, if I recall correctly." Banner joined them, slightly irked by his exchange with Fury.

"Natasha, Steve," he began, handing them each a map and a set of directions, "You're going to be escorting these three onto the train listed. Stay with them until they get off. Make sure to loop the train's security cameras. This should be really simple, and I'm not expecting any trouble. Listen, it's up to you to make sure he doesn't kill anyone. Thor, Isk…don't let him out of your sight. Natasha will check in with you every couple of hours. Be back soon."

"We depart now, Loki," Isk said, offering her hand to him. He brushed it aside and stood up silently.


The subway station was much too crowded for Loki, with filthy mortals clustered together as far as his keen eyes could see. It was so frustrating. Even Thor and his teammates surrounded him, with the red haired spy in front, the walking flag behind (although now he was indistinguishable from the crowds around him. Thor stood at his left hand, and the Vanir woman at his right. As soon as they entered the last car of the train, his contempt for these creatures boiled, and she linked her arm with his. As if that would keep him from going ballistic.

He wasn't planning on going ballistic. At least, not yet. Not here. He would never be able to find his way out again.

"This contraption you humans have designed is fascinating," Thor smiled, examining his surroundings. "How much further until we've reached the proper tunnel?"

"In a few minutes," she replied, staring intently at the dark tunnel outside the train.

"I would like to say that I never thought I'd be doing this," Rogers said, "but I say that pretty much every day."

"It's not every day you get to ride the subway with three different gods. Okay, Thor, you know how to phase through surfaces, right?"

"I am not one for magic, Isk."

"You really should have mentioned that earlier," she smiled awkwardly, spinning her mother's bracelet around her wrist nervously. She took her hand off of Loki's arm and moved until she stood just next to the wall. "I will have to phase the wall, then. You can walk through."

Loki finally looked up. "Is it time to go, then?"

"Yes. You're getting off with me as soon as Thor gets out."

She put one hand against the wall and concentrated as Natasha and Steve moved toward them in attempt to form some sort of human wall.

After several seconds, she looked away, frustrated. Loki sneered, putting his hand against the wall. It rippled and grew translucent.

"Thank you," Isk nodded. She took Thor's hand as he stepped off the train, grabbed Loki's hand, and passed through the wall herself. Loki fell out after her, stopping abruptly in midair; Isk was holding on to the both of them while floating several feet off the ground, trying to make sure they didn't crash.

"We can get down now, Isk," Thor chuckled.

"Right, right," she nodded breathlessly. They fell abruptly, but Isk settled several inches off the ground. Like normal for her, Loki supposed.

"It's down that tunnel up here," she said, floating forward in the darkness. As the brothers moved toward her voice, the tunnel was illuminated by firelight. Iskeita had taken some sort of weapon out of her satchel; a golden hilt with a blade made of bright orange flames.

"We need to hurry before someone spots us or we get run over," she said, gliding forward. "Try to keep up."

As she began to pick up speed, Isk started to tune out the footsteps of the brothers behind her. It was a long tunnel, and the portal entrance was almost at the end. Hopefully she would remember how to open it wide enough for three people; she had only ever travelled alone or with only one other passenger before, usually her mother. That was from Asgard to Vanaheim, however, and was necessitated by her poor flight skills.

"We're here," she said, turning around. To her surprise, the brothers were right behind her. Surely her gliding had been faster than they could run? They were gods, remember.

An intricate pattern was spread across the tunnel wall; the same pattern that appeared whenever the Bifrost had connected with the ground. She reached forward and drew her right hand clockwise around the circle's edge. Nothing.

"Left hand, counterclockwise," Loki reminded her.

"Right. Sorry," she laughed nervously, drawing an opposite circle. Following her finger was a white light, spreading until the entire circle was filled with it. She fidgeted with her hands slightly when the flame from her sword vanished. She put the hollow, empty hilt away, and took a step toward the bright white circle. "Something seems wrong."

Loki took a deep breath. "It's too weak. It'll close after one person goes through." He stepped forward and drew the same circle. The mellow white light became blinding. "Here we go. Strong enough for three people." He took another step forward and jumped into it before disappearing from view.

"Hurry, Thor," Isk said, pushing him through. The circle grew dimmer. She took a deep breath before pulling her knees to her chin and floating into the circle, which closed abruptly behind her.

The two of them were falling. Up. She could see Thor and Loki above her as they fell, spinning and tumbling left and right through the tunnel of light. She was floating in place, completely unmoving. She stretched her legs, uncrossed her ankles and felt the tug of whatever lied above them. Immediately, she was falling upwards as helplessly as the pair of brothers above her.

She could see why her mother preferred to use the cloak.

They crashed out of the light onto the ground of the other side, and everything went dark. After a few minutes of lying still, consumed by the pain of her landing, Isk peeled herself off of the Asgardian ground. She turned her head to see Loki and Thor, who were also suffering from the pain of the trip. Thor had landed face first and seemed to be unconscious. Loki was lying flat on his back with open eyes, completely still. The three of them were strewn across a dirt path next to a river, at least a day's walk from any major settlement. She stood up, stretching, and brushed the dirt off of her dress. A wave of nausea struck her, and she fell face first back to the ground. She rolled over onto her back, waiting for her eyes to adjust and for the aching to subside.

Right. She was in Asgard now, and this clothing was incredibly out of place. She focused and magically changed back into her normal white dress, this time adding a golden yolk that went halfway up her neck and a golden belt separating the fitted torso and the flowing straight skirt, each sharing similar spiral engravings. Her wild blonde hair remained the same, bearing some sort of magic so powerful even the most powerful potions could not tame it.

"Thor? Loki?" she asked, sitting up. Loki looked over at her groggily, covered in a cold sweat. He glanced at Thor and stood up. Isk knelt down next to the blond god and flipped him over. "Thor, wake up," she said quietly, stunned by the sound of her own voice. No response.

"He's out cold," Loki said evenly.

She grabbed one of Thor's hands and pulled him over her shoulder, struggling slightly with his weight. She jumped up and stopped, floating about a foot off the ground. The toes of Thor's boots were still dragging against the dirt. "Well, I guess that can't be helped. Do you know which way the palace is from here?"

"I thought you were supposed to be the one who was familiar…" Loki's voice caught in his throat. His frown softened, and he raised his hand to his neck.

"Is something wrong? Are you going to vomit?" Isk asked, backing away from him.

"No, nothing's wrong," Loki said, puzzled. He looked up and pointed to a mountain almost on the horizon. "That's the palace."

"Should we teleport there? Will he think it's rude?"

"I would do that," he growled, "but I think I'm still recovering from that…fall. I doubt I can aim at a time like this."

"I know a bit of magic too, remember," she frowned, readjusting Thor on her shoulder. "I'll help us aim. I am not going to carry this guy all the way to the palace. It's like his bones are made of rocks. If I aim, can you get us there?"

He stepped over and put a hand on her empty shoulder. "Aim," he said quietly.

She visualized the palace. She'd entered it through the front door for countless Yule celebrations, and she could remember every last detail. She pictured where they would stand; immediately in front of the tall gold double doors. She cleared her throat. "Fire."

In between the trail and the palace, Isk's gut rose up into her throat. Teleporting wasn't often unpleasant, but usually she was the one in control of the spell. The air vanished from her lungs, and the air around her was all in a cold whirl of wind. Then, as soon as it began, the sensation ended. She coughed violently, as if her lungs were desperately trying to expunge the frigid air of the white tunnel.

When her coughing ended, she realized two long lines of guards were pointing spears into their faces.

"We seek audience with the General," she said. "We carry Thor and an urgent request from Midgard."

"You may pass," one guard said. The tall doors opened by themselves, swinging silently on silver hinges. "Five guards will escort you to the throne room."

Five guards left the lines to form a circle around the trio. They shepherded them forward.

"You aren't even going to help me with this?" Isk asked the guards, jerking her head at the still-unconscious Thor. They remained silent. "It seems so odd to be going in like this. Don't the two of you live here?"

"I have been deemed incredibly untrustworthy as of late," Loki smiled darkly. "I'm surprised they haven't re-imprisoned me already for leaving Asgard."

"You were imprisoned before?" she replied quietly, staring at awe at the golden grandeur. They passed through another pair of tall, golden doors. "What did you do?"

"Perhaps another time." Loki had to force himself to breathe evenly. Odin was seated in his throne at the end of the hall—a throne that rightfully belonged to him. Frigga stood at his right hand, and Isk could feel her eyes examine her. The five guards stopped and stood at attention next to the doors, allowing Loki and Isk to walk down the hall alone.

"How interesting this is," Odin chuckled as they stopped before him. "The last time my sons returned from earth, this arrangement was almost completely reversed."

"Odin," Isk began, "Is there somewhere Thor can rest until he awakens?"

"Guards, take him into the back chambers," Odin said, raising his hand. Two guards appeared behind her suddenly and relieved her of Thor's quietly snoring body.

Isk pursed her lips, frustrated that no one had seen to him sooner. Were they that afraid of Loki that they wouldn't go near them without Odin watching? She looked up at the platform and noticed Frigga's eyes darting between Loki, Thor, and herself. She cleared her throat and whispered something into Odin's ear. He nodded, and she followed the guards and Thor out of the throne room.

"I assume you're going to explain yourselves," Odin frowned.

"We didn't do anything to Thor, exactly," Isk laughed nervously, speaking far too quickly. "The portal we used for the trip back turned out to be somewhat unstable. I believe it had no effect on Loki and myself because we have experience in such travel. He should recover soon. Anyway, we have come to make a request of you. One of Thor's comrades from Loki's attempted taking over of Midgard, name of Clint Barton, has completely vanished. I don't know if he informed you as such before he left, but even Heimdall cannot find him. We would like to request that you attempt to locate him from Hildskjaf."

"Are you certain this man is not dead?"

"Fairly," she nodded. "As soon as you've located him we'll be on our way, if you'd be so kind."

"I will see to it immediately," he nodded gently. He stood up and walked toward the side

"That was easier than I thought it was going to be," Isk muttered. She turned to Loki, who was visibly fuming with rage. "Is something wrong?"

"He won't even look at me," he seethed.

A feminine scream penetrated the back wall of the throne room. Odin stopped in his tracks as the door opened and Frigga and the two guards rushed out. Tears were starting to stream down Frigga's face, and the guards were visibly shocked.

"What happened?" Odin asked quickly.

"My son!" she sobbed. "My son—my darling son has been taken from me!"

"What in the nine realms are you talking about?" Odin replied quietly. Frigga opened her mouth to speak but her words were consumed with more quiet sobs.

"He just disappeared," one of the guards explained. "We set him down and stood there for a moment when he just vanished. He left his hammer behind, though."

"Iskeita, daughter of Freyja," Odin said, turning back to the side wall. "I have to try to locate my son. Your Barton may have to wait." He disappeared through a smaller doorway in the back corner of the room.

Isk looked at Frigga, unsure of what to do. She glided forward and took the sobbing woman into her arms, and Frigga muffled her cries against Isk's shoulder. Isk held her tightly. Loki awkwardly put his hand on his mother's shoulder, trying to offer some kind of support.

Isk looked up at him, her eyes narrowed.

Loki met her gaze, and realized what she must have been thinking. "Really? I was standing next to you the whole time!"