Look Within:
Hey guys! You liking this fic as all?...*crickets*...anyone? Well anyway, I hope you enjoy chapter 4 and all that is has to offer. I believe that when I said this will only be a 5 chapter fanfiction...well I think that was a lie. This'll probably end up going a bit longer. I would love to get any reviews or feedback at all :) God bless – Rin
Chapter 4: The Hunter and the Hunted
"Ow..." Katie mumbled as he nearly tripped for the millionth time.
She had been walking for quite some time now and had even been able to find a stream that meandered through the forest. Unfortunately, she had gotten no closer to finding any civilization or even a decent hole in a tree that she could sleep in. The blonde was barely able to keep her feet going as the last rays of the sun began to disappear and the sky began to turn a deep indigo. Katie knew that she had to try and find some place to settle before anything like that giant cat came round for a midnight snack.
There was a sudden SNAP and Katie froze in place, her eyes wide in the thickening darkness. She listened carefully for movement in the underbrush and looked for any glowing eyes that may indicate the presence of a predator. For a full minute Katie stood statue still but slowly started forwards once more, her eyes straining to make out the blackness in front of her.
Katie never even noticed the shadow among the leaves of the tree to her right, gleaming eyes watching her as she walked right below. The shadow cursed himself silently for snapped a twig below his boot. But he was not too concerned as the blonde girl had yet to see him. Loki, crouched lower as the girl walked away, following the sound of the stream to her right. The raven-haired man smirked, 'Foolish human.' Then, he carefully stood up on the branch that was his perch and suddenly vanished.
Heimdall slid his sword out of the scabbard that controlled the Bifrost.
"Welcome back my lord." he said, looking over at Thor, who had just returned.
The blonde had a look of confusion and concern on his face and didn't register Heimdall right away.
"Where is she?" he muttered turning to look behind him before looking to the gate keeper of the Bifrost.
"Where is who?" the golden glad warrior asked, his dark brow furrowing as he watched Thor start to pace back and forth in agitation.
"The young maiden who I rescued down on Midgard!? She was taken along with me by the Bifrost yet she is not here!" Thor rumbled gazing concernedly at Heimdall.
The Guardian paused for a moment and gazed out into the starry sky, his glowing amber eyes narrowed as if he were searching for something within the vastness of space. Thor was silent as he watched Heimdall, patiently waiting for an answer to his question.
"The young woman is no longer on Midgard..." the Guardian rumbled as he continued to gaze out at the swirling universe.
"Yes but where did she..." Thor stopped when Heimdall frowned and made a discontented sound.
"She is not in any of the nine realms."
There was silence as the young Asgardian and Heimdall contemplated what this startling revelation meant.
"If she is not in any of the nine realms then she must have fallen into the blackness." Thor said darkly.
Heimdall was silent still, his eyes darting too and fro as he continued to search. For what seemed like forever he stood there searching until finally his frown turned to a look of distaste.
"She is in the Inbetween, though I cannot see what is going on around her as the rest of the world is clouded by magic."
Thor stared at the Gatekeeper in horror and then his eyes hardened with anger.
"Loki!"
Katie couldn't do it anymore, she felt like she was loosing her mind. All around her were noises of snapping twigs but whenever she whipped around to look for whatever was haunting her only blackness met her gaze. It was well into the night and there was no moon or starlight to guide the blonde girl through the dense jungle, which, seemed keen on tripping her every chance it got.
Just as she thought she heard another sound behind her something caught her foot and Katie fell to the ground. Rolling slightly to avoid landing on her broken wrist she landed on a thick root that made the air go out of her. For several minutes the girl just lay there in a daze, trying to suck air into her lungs. That was when a dark shape fell out of the tree and landed nimbly on the forest floor before standing up.
"No!" Katie gasped and tried to scoot backwards but her body was still trying to compensate for lack of air and sleep.
The figure strode forward and before she could do anything he touched the side of Katie's head. She felt her mind cloud over and then the world tipped...then when black.
Loki look down in the darkness at the now sleeping girl. He had been following her for hours weighing whether he should just capture her or to kill her out of spite. How Loki would have loved to just end the pitiful creature before him just to see the look on Thor's arrogant face. But he knew better than to just throw away such a powerful bargaining chip and he may as well get some of his questions answered. Carefully, his picked the young woman up, her head rolling uselessly, and walked a few paces before disappearing without a sound.
Moments later Loki appeared by his home with a still unconscious Katie. He smiled to himself, already imagining how his plan would come to fruition. Loki could already see Thor coming down to the jungle prison in the flash of the Bifrost. Then before he even had a chance to attack Loki would pull out the helpless woman, and bargain for his freedom.
He would relish the moments in which Thor decided the girl's fate, torn between allowing Loki to go free and allowing the Midgardian to die. Then, when the Thunder god yielded to permit Loki to leave, he would slip a blade between his brother's ribs. Stranding him and the girl to die in the God forsaken jungle while Loki would be free with nothing to stand in his way of revenge.
Loki entered into his small home and put Katie down at the far end of the room. She slumped down like a rag doll, her dirty blonde hair falling over her bedraggled face. Loki then seemed to contemplate something before snapping his fingers and making a length of rope appear in his hands. Then, for good measure tied the young woman's ankles together so that when she did awake she would not be able to run.
"How could the Odinsleep come now?! Out of all time in eternity it had to be now!" Thor rumbled as he paced back and forth impatiently in front of his mother who watched sorrowfully from beside the sleeping Allfather.
"It is impossible to predict when your father must sleep." Frigga said softly and looked gently down at her sleeping husband.
"But what can we do? Father would be the only one who could retrieve the Midgardian that has been imprisoned with Loki without releasing him!" Thor shouted, and in the distance thunder rumbled.
Frigga frowned, "You cannot leave now, you must protect Asgard while your father sleeps. Why cannot Sif and the Warriors three retrieve the Midgardian? They are more than capable."
Thor shook his head and sighed, "They are certainly capable mother but Loki is cunning, he most likely already has the girl as a bargaining chip and is waiting for either myself or them to come rescue her. We are blind with the prison shrouded and I refuse to send the others there without knowing what lies in wait."
The queen of Asgard watched her son worry and in her heart knew he would make a wise someday. But right now he was needed more than anyone to help protect Asgard while the Allfather gathered his strength once more.
"What if I were to go? Loki has never meant harm to me, even when he has tried to take the throne." she said and Thor paused, his brow furrowed as he thought.
"That may be a possibility, but if something were to go wrong no one would be able to come retrieve you right away. I...I believe it is best to wait, for the time being..." Thor finally finished, though he seemed very distressed.
Frigga stood slowly and clasped her hands together, "You do not believe the girl will come to harm?"
The thunder god was still for a moment but then shook his head, "Loki would not throw away such a bargaining chip until he has gotten what he wants. He will wait it out...like a fox at a rabbit den."
Frigga nodded, "Then for the time being we will watch and wait the best we can. Heimdall will certainly do his best."
Thor sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, "That he will. Thank you mother."
The queen nodded, "You have done your best for now Thor." she said as he turned to leave.
The blonde paused before he closed the door, "But is it enough?"
Katie moaned, she had had the strangest dream. She had dreamt that somehow she had been transported by some attractive blonde superhero to a weird jungle. Then, after being attacked by a giant cat/dog thing she had been attacked by some black haired guy.
"I need to stop watching so many fantasy movies..." she muttered, feeling an early morning head ache coming on.
At first Katie didn't want to open her eyes, but she suddenly felt that something was off. She was sitting up which was odd in itself, she never fell asleep sitting in bed. Next, the bed in which she was sitting was extremely hard, like a piece of wood. Finally, the strangest this was that she couldn't move one of her arms or either of her legs.
Her eyes shot open and Katie groaned once more, "It wasn't a dream..."
She was sitting on the floor of a single room that reminded her of a hobbit house. The floor, walls and ceiling were seamlessly made out of wood. There were only a few things decorating the room though, a ornate, wooden chest that had very Celtic looking symbols on it and a heavy iron lock. The only other things in the room were a thin mattress and a large pile of books, all of which looked worn and read through.
Katie tried to get up but discovered that her feet were tied together and with her broken wrist could barely maneuver herself. The slight curiosity that she had felt turned to a panic as it set in that she was some sort of prisoner. Though she new not of whom or why.
As quietly as possible she tried to slip her booted feet out of the rope but it was painfully tight around her ankles. Katie tried to move around but ended up slumping over like a defeated turtle. It was, at that moment, that something seemed to move outside and the small door on the other side of the room creaked open. Katie watched in horror as a pair of black, leather boots entered in; connected to the body of the raven-haired man who had called himself Loki.
"Ah. You've awoken!" he said with a malicious joy on his face.
Katie didn't say a thing but just looked horrified at the person before her. Feeling like a mouse trapped in it's hole by a cat.
