Chapter Four
Gwyneth's eyes opened to a blinding light. The air was a vacuum trying to turn her inside out. Wind lashed her hair into her face, forcing her to close her eyes again. She turned her head away from the wind, leaning it against something warm and strong. Her senses were still coming into focus, and her mind wouldn't think at all. A dull ache had settled into her stomach. It seemed like even the air around her was shaking.
As soon as she noticed this, it stilled. The wind disappeared and she could breathe freely now. On instinct, she opened her eyes again. She gasped. The same golden mechanisms she had seen yesterday were stretching over her head in a beautiful arch.
The very next thing she noticed was that her vision was sideways. Her head snapped up right immediately, her thoughts finally catching up with her senses. Something was carrying her.
"Ah, you've finally returned." A deep voice spoke.
"Yes, Heimdall." Thor's reply came. "There were some complications."
Gwyneth craned her neck to look up, being that her head was angled towards the floor. The dark skinned guard from yesterday was still standing on his gold pedestal. He was looking straight at her.
"I hope nothing too serious." His gaze did not move. "You've brought her back."
"Hi." Gwyneth offered awkwardly.
"Welcome back to Asgard." Heimdall gave a very slight smile.
"Uh, thanks." Gwyneth mumbled, her face turning red as Thor gingerly set her back on her feet, keeping one hand on her shoulder to steady her. She was still slightly dizzy.
"You seem to have taken up a collection of mortals." Heimdall addressed Thor.
"She is not well." Thor explained. He was going to say more, but Gwyneth interrupted him.
"Yeah, apparently there's something wrong with my eyes." She brushed a stray lock of hair back into its place.
Something like puzzlement flickered over Loki's face. It was something that Gwyneth had said, exposing a bit of useful information to stow away until the appropriate time arose.
"The last time you brought us an ill mortal, it nearly resulted in the fall of this realm and all the others." Heimdall chuckled, almost inaudibly, but he waved the group on good naturedly.
Thor smiled gratefully and then led Gwyneth and Loki onto the bridge leading from the Bifrost to Asgard.
"So what happens now?" Gwyneth asked, walking fast to keep up. Still not having recovered completely from the episode, her legs buckled and she stumbled.
"I will take you to speak with my father, Odin, king of Asgard." Thor answered.
"A king?" Gwyneth's voice was awestruck. "Are you sure he'll help me? I'm not that big of a deal."
"He will, if I request it. He is wise. Perhaps he can tell us what has happened to you."
"He knows less than you suppose." Loki muttered under his breath.
"And what are we going to do about him?" Gwyneth nodded in Loki's direction. "I thought you said he was, like, in prison or something."
"Loki will be placed back in his cell. By Odin's orders." Thor assured Gwyneth.
"Okay, so we drop him off first or is he coming with us? Becauseā¦" Gwyneth threw a backward glance at Loki. "I'd rather he didn't."
"I feel so cherished." Loki responded, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I'm not the one who destroyed New York with an army of bug-people." Gwyneth retorted. "Seriously though, where is your father or whatever? I hope he's close because my feet are not taking well to your rainbow bridge. Haven't you ever noticed that it's kind of hot?"
Thor chuckled. "The palace is just up ahead. It is not very far from here."
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say Gwynnie was just trying to get someone to carry her." Loki mocked, giving a sound like half hearted laughter but not smiling.
Gwyneth scowled. "Quit gibing at me! I never asked for you to crash into my apartment."
"Nor did I." Loki was about to start an argument, but Thor mended the situation.
"None of us did. Let us just go to Odin as soon as we can."
"You mean he's going with us!? Again!?" Gwyneth sighed. "You've got to be kidding me!"
"Wise choice, brother." Loki spoke to Thor this time. "I know far more of Infinity Stones than Odin ever will."
"I do not believe this is the work of an Infinity Stone."
"Um, excuse me." Gwyneth intruded. "Do I get a say in this? What's an Infinity Stone?"
"Fear not, Gwyneth. All will be explained in due time." Thor promised.
"Uh huh. That helps so much." Gwyneth shook her head, then turning to Loki she said "I don't suppose you can give me anything less cryptic?" She wasn't expecting an answer, and in any case she didn't get one. Her escorts just walked on in silence.
But Gwyneth lost interest in them anyway. Her eyes were drawn to the color shooting through the bridge under her feet, and to the scenery around her. Crystal clear streams of water cascaded into waterfalls and pools showing the fish swimming in their deepest depths. Houses and trees, gardens and courtyards were arranged meticulously. What it would have been like to grow up here! Gwyneth thought to herself.
Then she caught sight of the palace. Its golden structures, not quite columns or archways, reached into the sky as if to snag the clouds themselves. The entire thing was gargantuan. There was an aura of other worldly-ness that was at once futuristic and fantastical, reminding Gwyneth of Science Fiction mixed with Medieval Fantasy.
There was no one else on the bridge, and everyone in the streets seemed to be absorbed in their own happenings. In any case, there didn't seem to be any royal fanfare going on. The three were drawing close to the palace, much to Gwyneth's relief. Whatever had happened to her had left her weak and dazed. Although she didn't like to admit it, it had her worried. Even more unnerving was the fact that no one seemed to be able to make sense of it.
Finally they reached the outer courtyard of the palace. Guards were stationed at the door, holding long spears and with swords in their belts. Gwyneth swallowed nervously, but at a nod from Thor the guards stepped aside, glancing at her curiously and not saying a word.
The inside of the palace was even more magnificent than the outer workings, if that was possible. Golden trim, intricately carved chandeliers, looming columns, and delicate curtains fit to heighten the level awe inspiring grandeur.
Gwyneth had never seen anything close to it before, even when she had gone to London on holiday. Her own drab clothes made her feel out of place. Her face flushed as she thought of what she must look like. She hadn't combed her hair, or put on decent clothes, or even shoes. Worst of all, her eyes were completely exposed and as white as they always were.
"So you both grew up here?" She asked idly, simply to fill in the silence. Her mind was elsewhere, namely, at home. "That must've been nice. It's a very big palace."
"Not all royal childhoods are as happy as they might seem." Loki said in an undertone, as if to himself.
"Father will be in the throne room." Thor stated, leaving the grand front hall in favor of a set of winding stairs.
"Oh, wait, woah. A throne room? Do I have to bow or something?" Gwyneth snapped her mind back into alert. Meeting a king would draw anxiety from the best of us. Unless, of course, you were the king.
"Thor, I do not think this is the best action to take." Loki spoke quietly, as if he were used to not being listened to. "We should get her to a healing room, where someone can actually examine her. Odin will not be able to solve this."
"He knows more than you give him credit for." Thor defended. "He knew of what was in Jane, he will know about this as well."
"And if he doesn't?" Loki tilted his head in a gesture that obviously meant something bad would happen to Gwyneth.
Gwyneth, having been sidelined by the conversation, was wondering what had suddenly made her important in Loki's eyes.
Behind his cool mask of indifference, Loki was thinking of how Odin would send him to his cell as soon as he laid eyes on him, depriving him of any chance to escape. Or to hear about this newfound power. Whatever it was, obviously it held some affect, to counteract the Bifrost and bring them back to Midgard.
Thor thought for a moment. "Perhaps you may be right."
"I often am, and still people are always surprised." Loki gave a subtle shrug and a cynical smile.
Gwyneth lay flat on her back on some sort of gold tinted table. Above her was a floating outline of her own body, like an X-ray, made of some sort of grainy red stuff. What she guessed to be something like nurses bustled around her, examining the stuff above her. One of them was peering into her eyes with something like a regular stick that gave off a red glow.
Thor had opted to take Gwyneth to a healing room first and send word to Odin. He was now standing beside one of the healing women, in a position that just a month ago had been very familiar; he had been watching Jane undergo the exact same treatment.
Loki, due to the handcuffs that Thor was so adamant stay on, was standing nearby as well. He looked bored, which is what anyone seeing him would assume. It was precisely what he wanted them to think.
His mind was anything but idle. The information he had learned over the past few days needed to be fit together. Gwyneth had either been injected with a power, like Jane Foster had, or she was the power. But she was mortal, so the second option was impossible. Obviously, she was still aware of what transpired around her when she was unconscious, because she'd not only heard but remembered that her eyes were a sign of the problem: a point Loki had brought out when she'd been seemingly dead.
This brought about more questions. Her eyes had flashed white when she had stopped the effect of the glass door, but when she went under they were black? And what of the color when she wasn't out cold or opening portals? The iris was white, surrounded by a black ring that separated it from the whites of the eye. The pupils remained black. Quite odd.
The first time she had fainted in her home, Loki had thought it was because of fear. But could she have been the one who unknowingly brought him to Midgard? Perhaps the fainting was an after effect of her abilities.
In whatever case it may have been, she didn't seem to know what was happening. It was possible that she was lying, but what reason had she of that? She didn't seem the type to be good at deception anyway. And what, exactly, was this power capable of?
She and Thor had assumed it was only keeping them at her house, but what else? Loki had not forgotten how she had accidentally found her way to Asgard the first time. It did not seem like she had simply stepped into the Bifrost by mistake. And how had it made Loki end up in Midgard, in her house, in the first place? And not only that, but it took him back beside her each time he'd had a run in with the glass door.
It could teleport; that was almost certain. But what were its limitations? Did it actually depend on Gwyneth herself? It didn't seem like a willful happening. This would need to be tested and explored. The power to open up a door between realms, even if only Midgard and Asgard, at any time and from any place, could be quite useful to someone who would rather avoid prison.
But to observe this power meant Loki would need to be near Gwyneth, and out of his cell. And she was afraid of him, although she didn't act it when Thor was around. This was where Loki hit a wall. Gwyneth did not need to trust him, but if he wanted to find out anything she couldn't be running scared either. And, of course, there was the inconvenient matter of imprisonment.
Those details would have to be sorted out later. Loki's mind switched back to the present. He was observing Gwyneth and the healing women intently, but not in a way that you could see it. He listened carefully to any word spoken, hoping to pick up on a clue or a missed factor.
But it was infuriating. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Nothing showed up at all. Gwyneth was completely normal. It was as if the power had rose and set like the sun and was now gone. Not a trace of it remained.
This confusing riddle was occupying everyone's mind in the room. It was a horrible time for Odin to walk in. But walk in he did.
Gah! I keep losing track of time between updates! I'm sorry if this took a long time but I can even remember! Well, now the fun starts. And if you don't mind please review if you can because i need constant reassurance that I'm not a flop and such...
