Sorry about taking so long to put up a new chapter. I've been neglecting my school and driver's ed stuff, so I have to do it all before school starts. Oh well, on with the story...

Chapter 4

Where were you, Thor? I needed you... No... no.. no no no NO!... He left me... stop thinking about him...

Loki

Why am I helping Thor? I should hate for who he is and what he's done, but I can't bring myself to hurt him anymore. Is it because we're brothers? No, no we're not brothers. Not even close. I don't understand why I continue to help. I don't get it... why.. why! "WHY!"

"Loki are you okay?" Sif approached me with an inquisitive look. How long had she been there? She slowly walked over and sat next to me. Patting my shoulder, even though her hand went right threw it, Sif reassured me that it was okay, not that she knew what she was reassuring me for. "I brought the book you wanted. I hope you don't mind that I looked in it."

"No, that's fine."

"What exactly is it for?" She asked.

I responded, trying to make it as simple as I could. "Well you see, I found this book a long time ago when visiting other realms. It contains methods to travel through the worlds without the need of Bifrost. It's complicated, but I've done it before."

"When the Frost giants nearly stole the Casket?" She questioned, with a look mixed with anger for my actions but pity for my reasons. Sif was being strangely nice me lately. She never cared for me before. I wonder what changed. It's nice to see her out of her armor once in a while. One can actually see the feminine side of her. "Hellooooo! Loki?"

I look away before she could see my face turn red. "Sorry, I didn't mean to stare... Anyway, yes that was one of the times I've done this. The method involves drawing two symbols upon the ground, one being the entrance and the other, the exit. I've already drawn a few exit symbols in some of the realms, including Midgard. You just need to draw one here and say the... 'magic words' while standing on it."

"Magic words?"

"Depending on what you say, you may end up in any of the realms that have the exit symbol I've drawn. Open the book to the thirty-first page, that's where the entrance symbol is..." It took her quite a while before the her drawing was acceptable. But, she never gave up or even showed any sign of it, aside from throwing the book at me in frustration a couple times. Sif smiled as she worked, for she finally had hope. Her smile... so pretty.

"There is that good enough?" She asked with a hint of irritation. I had made her remake the symbol at least fourteen times.

"That should be fine."

"Wonderful! What page are the words on?" Her excitement was funny. I had to laugh a little. She cast an angry gaze at me.

"Hehe... Sorry, there should be a bookmark on that page."

"Oh here it is." She stated with a grin.

"Read the line two up from the bottom, it's marked in red." Sif walked over to the symbol she'd drawn and stood on top of it. "Do you need help reading it?" The words were a little difficult to pronounce.

"No I got this." She replied confidently. As she spoke something was amiss.

Huh? That didn't sound right. Before I could speak Sif was gone, leaving only the book behind.

I wonder where she ended up...

Heimdall

"Thor? How surprising..." I whispered to myself as the blonde boy ran towards me.

"Heimdall, tell me what happened to Jane! Did she really try to..." He couldn't finish his sentence. He looked completely crushed. How sad...

"...kill herself? Yes. She swallowed a large number of small objects from a bottle and shortly passed out. Her friend, the one with glasses, was able to find her before she died and took her to an infirmary."

Thor collapsed onto the ground when he heard the information. He was both joyful that she survived but still horrified at her actions. He put his face in between his knees and thanked fate for letting her live.

"Thor, stand up strong, you are a son of Odin." He looked at me with grief before returning to his feet.

He took a deep breath to regain his composure before speaking. " Is she okay now?"

"I cannot say. Not long ago she left the infirmary in the middle of the night. She wanders the streets alone, now. Her friends are looking for her, but to no avail." I wanted to sympathize with Thor, but he had to realize that he must be strong. Sympathy would only encourage him to be more depressed.

"I...I.. have to see her." He said to himself, over and over again, as he paced back and forth. "When will Bifrost be ready?" He should know that travel by Bifrost was hopeless at this time.

"Not for a while... I believe that there'd be many years before Bifrost can be of use." Before Thor could begin to complain I spoke again. "If I were you, I'd find Fandral. He's been following Sif around lately. She seems to be up to something, for I can't see her time to time. Maybe she has an answer to your problem."

Hope began to return to the man as he smiled. I hadn't seen him smile for the last two years. "Thank you Heimdall." He said as he ran straight back to the palace.

Hmm... even if he finds and helps Jane, will Odin allow her to join him in Asgard?

Fandral

"Where did they go?" I could have sworn they were here just a moment ago. How did they disappear? They didn't see me...

"Hey Fandral!"

"Ahh!" I turned to face the person who snuck up on me and found Thor. "What are you doing here!" I can't believe he's not drunk right now! Or maybe, he is...

"Heimdall told me to find you. Do you know where Sif is?" He asked, the shaking in his voice betraying his calm demeanor. "I need her help."

Why is everyone acting so weird? I can't stand being out of the loop. "What do you need her help for?" He looked at me for awhile, deciding whether or not to tell me. C'mon! How long have we been friends and he has to think about trusting me! Thor sighed and told me everything Heimdall told him. I couldn't wrap my head around it all. "Are you sure that's the same Jane?"

"Of course! She must miss me as much as I miss her. Now tell me where Sif is." He demanded angrily.

"I'd like to, but Loki and her disap..." Realizing what I just told him and looked to see his face. His eyes were wide with disbelief.

"Are you saying you saw Loki... and didn't tell me!" He grabbed me by the collar and shook me around. I felt like a kid all over again. Always getting yelled at for misbehaving.

"I was going to eventually! Thor, put me down! I'm a grown man!" I yelled while held in the air.

"Fandral, I will beat you if you ever keep something like this from me again!" He shouted as he let go of my shirt. "Humph. I was hoping to see him again and convince to stay in Asgard, but it seems he's up to no good again."

"Are you sure?" I asked, brushing my shirt and fixing my collar. "Sif seemed willing to work with him and went through a lot of trouble to keep him a secret."

"I doubt he wants to help after what happened." He had a sad look as he remembered when he watched his brother fall into the abyss. "Oh well, no time to think about him now. Where were they last?"

"Right there in the clearing." I pointed to an empty area amongst the trees where a book lay in the center of some strange marking. We stepped into the area to find no trace of Sif or Loki. I wondered if my mind had played tricks on me, but then Thor said he had seen the marking before, somewhere in Midgard along with another one somewhat similar to it.

"This is probably Loki's book. How did they get this? I thought I took the key." Thor wondered as he patted himself down to see if anything else had been stolen.

"You were probably unconscious from drinking too much when they took it." He looked away to hide his embarrassment. "Hey there's a bookmark on a page." We stood on the symbol as Thor opened the book to the page that had been marked. " Hmm... these words are strange. He marked this one." I gave it my best attempt to pronounce the red line. I realized I probably should have kept my mouth shut.

Oh my gosh! What's happening? What are all these lights?

Sif

At one moment I was in the forests of Asgard and the next I was being thrown across the worlds to a new place. Magic lights surrounded and embraced me as I traveled. At first the experience was exhilarating, but it slowly lost its flare when my head began to hurt. Luckily, it finished before I barfed up my lunch.

"Where is this? It's so cold. Everything looks ruined.." Snow and rocks were everywhere around me. The land was riddled with jagged formations that didn't seem natural. I wondered where I was and what caused the place to be this way. Perhaps the exit symbol was in the north, or at least I thought...

"Who is this?" A voice questioned, although I doubt the question was directed to me.

"She looks like an Asgardian." Another voice answered. This one was to my right instead of behind me.

"Maybe she can tell us why our world was nearly destroyed."

Frost giants had surrounded me with faces full of hatred. I was unarmed and had no means to defend myself...

"LOKI!"

It was all just a trick to send me here, huh... I'll kill him if I ever see him again!