Heimdall looked around in his dreary prison cell. He sighed. Thor and Loki had been taken away long ago, and it was said that Loki had escaped. Heimdall had used his senses to see where Loki was, and he had, indeed, escaped. He knew that Loki was just departing for Jotunheim now with the Warriors Three and the Omniscient girl, but he feared it would be too late. He heard frighteningly masculine screams coming from upstairs, and when Heimdall cast out his senses once more, he didn't need to be as powerful as the girl was to feel Thor's pain beneath the crowd of blue-skinned Frost Giants.
Heimdall felt Loki's presence vanish suddenly. Usually, when he kept tabs on people, he could feel their presence based on the distance to him. Loki should have been far away, distant, which was what he had been—somewhere very far away, to the east, steadily moving closer—but now he vanished completely. Heimdall had learned by now what it felt like for the god of Mischief to hide himself from the Gatekeeper's view; it wasn't like this. Heimdall couldn't see or hear Loki, and neither could he feel exactly where he was, though he could feel the prince's quiet pulse of his presence. That was when Loki hid himself from Heimdall's view. Now, he simply vanished completely. That usually only happened when. . .
No.
Heimdall kept the worry off his face as a pair of guards slid a tray under the door and glared at him through the bars.
Loki couldn't be dead. Could he? Heimdall didn't believe it was possible; he knew the prince, had watched him grow up, and he knew that he would not let himself die so easily. He had faked his death when falling from the Bifrost; he faked his death yet again on Svartalfheim when the Dark Elf stabbed him; surely he could fake his death again?
Heimdall strained his supernatural senses, but still felt nothing. He slumped back, dejected, against the wall. Was the prince dead? Heimdall had never really been against him; at first, Loki's heart was so shattered that he didn't need to be powerful enough to see feelings to know that Loki was more hurt than vengeful. Then, Heimdall could feel the mind control on him as he tried to take over Germany, and destroy New York; his thoughts weren't his own. Or, if they were, they were being influenced. Yet, Heimdall said nothing. He knew Loki would be defeated, and the casualties trivial, no matter what Odin said.
He had always known Loki had never truly been evil, and, though he'd never admit it, Odin was arguably he who had caused all of Loki's heartbreak and pain. Heimdall had supported Thor's views on Odin; the Allfather wasn't exactly the best king in some cases, which was why he'd betrayed the king when Thor asked it of him.
Thump. . . Thump. . . Thump.
Heimdall perked up. Was that Loki's presence again? It seemed much. . . closer.
He felt an urge to look up; Heimdall's head went up from his study of the floor to the cell across from him.
Except, the cell across from him was blocked.
Heimdall gave a small smile as, instead of the bars of the other cells, he saw intricate layers of green and black leather and gold metal. And, as he raised his glance upward even more, he saw the smooth, chiseled face of Loki, God of Mischief, and, right now, yes, his savior.
"So you came," Heimdall said by way of greeting as he stood up. Loki nodded shortly.
"So I came. What is Thor going to do, run Asgard without you? Highly unlikely," Loki quipped. Heimdall chuckled.
"I admit, guarding the Nine Realms isn't exactly a low job," Heimdall responded. He had always enjoyed Loki's sense of humor—he rarely got to talk with people who were as intelligent as he was. Even Thor was arrogant and, he admitted, slightly ignorant, though Heimdall held Thor in a high respect, as he did Loki.
Loki flicked his fingers at the ice bars of the cell, and they shattered into thousands of diamond-like shards, reflecting in the light. Heimdall walked out of the cell and nodded to Loki in acknowledgement. Loki returned the nod, and as they began walking, it was then that Heimdall noticed the girl to his right.
"Who are you, that may see so clearly the universe and all that's in it?" Heimdall asked. The girl looked up at him, then lifted her hand to bring up slightly the gray hood that covered her face.
Her eyes were so orange, Heimdall thought on first glance. He'd never seen anyone with eyes such as his; he was unique, and possessed an ability that had not been seen among the Nine Realms for thousands of years. Yet, here was this girl, more powerful than even he, by Loki's side. How had she been discovered?
They stared at each other for a few seconds, then Heimdall noticed her eyes begin to thread themselves with silver. She was Seeing, he realized. Was that what happened to his own eyes when he searched the universe?
He jumped-not something many people could make him do-as she spoke suddenly in a soft, quiet voice. "You're Heimdall," she said simply, and he nodded. He gave a small smile, and she seemed to relax a little bit.
"Indeed I am. I'm only left to wonder, who are you?" he asked gently, and saw her lips twitch up in a fast smile. She was small-by Midgardian standards, she'd be sixteen or seventeen, but she was still very small for her age.
"Lya," she said. Heimdall nodded, though he still wasn't quite satisfied, and looked up just as they met up with the Warriors Three and Sif.
"Thor is heavily guarded in the throne room, but the king is gone for now," Sif summarized. Loki nodded.
"I will slip in unnoticed," he said.
Sif shook her head. "No. You'll need your magic for when we have to go back. Everything from here on in—rescuing Thor, retrieving the Bifrost sword—must be done manually."
Loki hummed in response. "Fine. You four rescue Thor, I'll get the sword."
The Warriors Three and Sif nodded and ran off. Loki proceeded more calmly down the twisting hallways of the icy palace. He didn't feel the chill in the air, but Lya did. She tried to push away the shivers that threatened to take over her body and followed as they went deeper and deeper into the palace.
"Heimdall, can you see the sword?" Loki asked.
"Yes. It is far down, in the vault," he replied. "We are almost there."
Heimdall stepped in front of Loki and took the lead. All had their senses on high alert. Loki's hands were drifting towards his daggers, and he had to pull them back to his sides every once in a while. Lya looked down at her hands and had to stop the slight glow that came from her over tensed nerves, and Heimdall had to push away visions that came from his strained senses.
They finally reached the vault, and Loki popped the lock easily. Surprisingly, it wasn't guarded at all, and Lya felt a sense of wrongness to the situation.
"Too easy," Loki said softly as he stepped cautiously into the room with the Bifrost sword. Lya nodded in agreement, and the concern was evident in Heimdall's orange eyes. The door closed behind them, and Loki instantly spun around and shot a blast of magic at it. The ice stayed smooth, not even a scratch on its blue surface.
Loki cursed and drew two daggers. A burst of green light shot down both the daggers and melted into the metal, and Loki looked around cautiously in the icy room.
Suddenly, the temperature dropped considerably and doors began to slide open in the icy walls. Lya, Loki and Heimdall all backed towards each other as Frost Giants walked out of the inlets the doors opened up.
Eventually, the three were surrounded. They faced outwards, back against each other's, in a triangle. All were ready to fight.
Loki suddenly relaxed from his crouch and straightened. "It's futile. I'm bringing us back to Asgard," he said. He had already sheathed his daggers, and he put a hand on both Heimdall's and Lya's arm.
Lya felt a sharp pain shoot through her body like a lightning bolt and, with a flash of green light, she was thrown backwards. She hit something hard, and the "something" grunted from behind her. She felt ice-cold hands wrap around her chest, pinning her arms to her sides and holding her against the Frost Giant.
Loki was in a similar position across the room, but Heimdall was gone. Lya cast out her senses just a bit.
She cried out in pain as a lightning bolt of white-hot, fiery pain lanced through her skull. Her head started to pound. What had the Giants done to prevent magic in this room?
Loki twisted in his captor's arms, a dagger already poised, and thrust upwards. The point buried itself deep in the Frost Giant's chest, and he dropped. Loki twisted out of his embrace and turned to face the other seven that were still in the room, who launched themselves at Loki as he stood in the center of the room, daggers ready.
Lya twisted in her own captor's arms and tried to pull out one of her daggers, but the Frost Giant holding her seized her forearm and twisted it. She gasped in pain and dropped the dagger, and the last thing she saw was a blue fist swinging at her head before her vision went dark.
