Thor, Jane, his friends, and his brother stood on the edge of the city. There was not much but landscape from here on out. After the city ended, the rest of Asgard was just stretching meadows, plains, and a few patches of forests. It would take them a little while to get to the dark side, more time than Thor had expected. Especially because Loki had refused to travel with horses and had asked Thor in his irritated voice if Thor was asking to get targeted as soon as they arrived in the dark side.

Everyone had been basically silent the whole trip. Loki hadn't said a word since they left the bridge and the only people who occasionally spoke up were Thor and Volstagg. Volstagg had only complained about how hungry he was though. Thor and Jane walked at the head of the crowd. Sif walked behind them, followed by Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun. Loki stayed at least five feet behind Hogun for the whole walk. This worried Thor. What if he slipped away? But Thor didn't want to go overboard with taking precautions with his brother, so he let him walk behind. This probably prevented fights too.

The seven of them were now entering a patch of forest that cloaked them in shadows. The trees stretched high above 20 or 30 feet and the ground was wet and mossy. They had just passed under the first trees when Jane suddenly jerked besides him. She gasped and nearly fell before Thor caught her. He fell to his knees and held her in his arms like the first time she had a possession attack. She violently jerked while he held her, but the seizures weren't anywhere near how violent the first ones had been.

"Loki…" Thor started to call him over, but Loki was already at his side leaning over Jane. Loki held his wrists out to Thor so that he could take off the mortal band that was still enclosing his left wrist, but Jane had suddenly stopped writhing in his arms. She was now breathing normally and was just shaking a bit in against Thor.

"Jane?" Thor said, brushing hair back from her face.

"I'm okay." She shakily said. "I'm fine." Thor helped her sit up, and then wrapped his arms around her as her shaking subsided. As he held Jane he looked at Loki over her should. He mouthed the words "thank you" before Loki resumed his distant position behind everyone. Loki just simply nodded and walked back a few feet away from everyone.

Jane finally stopped shaking and pulled away from Thor. She gave him a reassuring smile and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Will you be alright to keep going?" he asked her. She nodded and took Sif's hand which she reached out to help her up.

"You must be so strong to fight that thing out." she told Jane. Jane gave her a lopsided grin.

"That's coming from one of Asgard's greatest warriors." she asked.

Sif smiled and put a hand on Jane's back as they kept walking. Thor was happy that they had both become such great friends so soon.

The rest of the day went slowly, but Jane had no more attacks while they walked. Three hours had gone by when they finally spotted the boundary between Asgard and the dark side.

"We weren't expected to get here so fast." said Hogun's low voice. He was right; they weren't expecting to reach the boundary for at least another 2 hours when it started to get dark.

"We can't set up for camp now, it's much too early. Besides we could get in a lot of extra traveling and be ahead schedule." Thor said turning around and stopping.

"You can't honestly be thinking of sleeping in the dark side!" Volstagg said. "It's suicide!"

"Really, what would happen? There's seven of us and plus we have Loki." Thor argued.

"And I'm supposed to feel better knowing that Loki is sleeping only a few feet away from me?" Sif muttered under her breath. Loki looked away from them and for a second, Thor thought that he was trying to hide the fact that he felt guilty again, but when Thor tilted his head to look at Loki he saw that Loki was trying to hide a smile. This made Thor smile a bit too.

"What I meant," he said chuckling now. ", was that with Loki's sudden knowledge of the dark side and whatever magic stuff he can do we would probably be fine."

It was silent for a while until Loki who had turned to face Thor, now spoke up. "I agree with Thor. The dark side is not as bad as all of the rumors had made it out to be." Loki said quietly. Sif just glared at him, so he looked away at a small creek that ran alongside the path that they had been walking.

"If you think it would be a wise decision," Fandral said looking from Thor to Loki. "both of you, then I will coincide." He then looked to Hogun.

"As will I." Hogun said bowing his head.

"And I." Volstagg joined in.

Thor looked to Jane who hadn't said anything yet about the matter. It took her a while to notice that everyone was looking at her. "I have no idea what the dark side is even like." she said. "I really will go along with anything you think is right." she said looking up at Thor. Everyone then turned to the last person left: Sif.

She refused to look at anyone a lot like Loki did when he was being stubborn and distant. She finally couldn't stand them all eyeing her.

"I really don't have a choice here anyways." she said. "All of you seemed to have agreed so…" she forced a smile. "I will too." Thor now had everyone on board with the idea of camping on the dark side instead of by the boundary. He just hoped that he had made the right choice.

Approaching the barrier where there were numerous guards, Thor walked to the nearest guard. He then took out a note that his father had wrote to the guards, allowing the seven of them access to the dark side. The letter had the waxy royal seal that closed the envelope. The guard looked at them with a look almost like sadness or remorsefulness. Thor found himself growing nervous now of what lied beyond the barrier to the dark side of Asgard.

The guard said nothing as he gave a nod to his fellow protectors. All synchronized, they stepped back while looking at the tall wall of blurry light. The barricade looked almost like it was one giant heat wave that had streaks of multicolored lights running through it. The guards each had a long scepter, which they raised into the air. The top of the blurry, waving wall slowly was removed from bottom to top. Slowly, more and more wall was removed until there was no blurry wall that looked like a barrier of water dividing Asgard's light side from its dark.

The wall completely fell away, leaving the dark side visible before them. Thor had to admit, it was not as frightening as all of the stories had described, as Loki had told everyone. The green grass beneath their feet grew more yellow and dead as it reached further into the dark side. Eventually there was barely any grass left as the dark side stretched on, leaving only dark, rocky soil. There were forests on either side of the stretching plateau of rocks and soil. The forests looked like they shadowed the land beneath them in total darkness. Far ahead in the distance Thor could see the outline of dark mountains that bordered the dark side. Overall, everything looked dark and dead.

"Well," Volstagg started. "It's- It's…"

"Dark?" suggested Loki. Volstagg looked back at Loki, smiling.

"Yeah, that."

Thor smiled as well, and then started walking into the dark world with everyone behind him. He had no idea what to expect. He knew that the stories had mutated creatures, sudden natural disasters, and lurking trespassers, but based on what Loki said, he wasn't sure if that was true about the dark side.

Jane came up to walk alongside Thor.

"So tell me about the dark side." she said looking around every step they took. "Like, why is there a dark side of Asgard anyways?"

"A long time ago, there was a war between the dark elves, and the light elves and Asgard." explained Thor.

"There are light elves too?" Jane asked.

"Yes, they live in the realm of Alfheim which is not far from Asgard." said Thor. "So the final battle of the war took place in Asgard when the dark elves attacked. The Asgardians and light elves were able to defeat the dark elves, but not before they cursed part of Asgard as part as their attack. Their curse killed all living organisms on one side of Asgard and set a gloomy appearance that resembled Svartalfheim where the dark elves dwell. No one was able to undo the curse they had bestowed on the land and it was much too dangerous and mysterious for anyone to inhabit any longer, so it was thought best that there was to be a barrier put between the dark and light side of Asgard."

Jane stared off into the distance, thinking about it. "Well I guess everything has a light and dark side." she finally said.

Thor looked back at Loki who still walked distant from everyone else. "It would seem so." Thor said.

Thor and Jane continued walking side by side talking for the whole trip. Thor told her more about the nine realms and different races of creatures and the customs of Asgard. Jane, in return told Thor about popular modern things on Earth such as movies, technology, and normal human lifestyles. He laughed when she told him about pets and how you can't buy a horse at a pet store, or an animal to ride for that matter.

The landscape around them had not changed much since they had walked into the dark side; there was still rocky soil beneath their feet although the rocks were growing larger as they went and eventually the ground turned into big slabs of the gray stones. The ground also gained more shape when there were more hills and elevations in the land as they walked. More trees appeared as well, but not like the thick forests that they had ultimately left behind as they went on.

Thor and Jane had been talking about the time when they sat up on the roof of Jane's research lab that first time they had met, when Thor abruptly bumped into Loki's arm which Loki held out in front of his brother and Jane.

Thor frowned at Loki. "What..?"

Loki lightly punched Thor's arm to tell him to shut up. He was looking up at the sky at first, but then he traced his sight along some invisible line that Thor could not see. Thor, Jane, and all of his friends watched Loki bend down and pick up a stone the size of his hand. Loki walked forward a bit further from the group. He held the rock up, and then threw it forward. With a sizzling sound, the rock melted into a bubbly puddle like acid had consumed it. Thor just looked at Loki with wide eyes.

"What is that?" he asked his brother. How had he known that that was there?

"It's like a force field. It's not unlike the barrier that divided the dark side from the light." Loki explained. "If you look right around up there," Loki said pointing to the sky. ", you can just barely see the dark magic currents waving across the sky." Thor did see them now. They were hardly noticeable being only wisps of black that looked like strands of dark smoke. Thor nodded and turned back to Loki. Loki was still looking around at the nearly invisible barrier though.

"So what do we do?" asked Fandral. Thor looked back to see his friends and Jane trying to see the force field as well. Thor turned back to Loki and realized that his brother was holding out his shackled wrists to Thor, waiting for him to unchain him.

"You think you can destroy the wall?" asked Thor. Loki just looked at Thor and nodded. Thor observed that Loki wasn't being so moody anymore, and he seemed to be acting like a normal Loki for the first time in what seemed to be forever, but Thor still knew that he wasn't the same.

"How do I know that I can trust you?" asked Thor crossing his arms and looking at Loki.

Loki raised his arms as much as his restraints as much as they would let him. "I don't know! I guess you just don't know, but this barrier goes on for at least a mile on both sides." Thor sighed and glanced back at his friends. Volstagg just shrugged and resumed eyeing the wall of magical currents. Fandral was looking at Hogun who kept his grim composition. Sif on the other hand, looked at Loki extremely skeptical. She looked over while shaking her head and shrugged.

"Alright…" Thor said. He reached into his cloak and pulled out the key to his brother's chains first. He unlocked the shackles with a click of the metal and they dropped the ground. Thor then held his hand above Loki's wrist and muttered the words that only he knew. The band of light dissolved into nothing. Loki looked relieved as he rubbed his wrists where his restraints used to be. As soon as the band of light dissolves, a breeze picked up and seemed to blow around only Loki. Thor's brother grinned at let the wind blow around him. Thor witnessed his brother becoming stronger looking, godlier and less mortal.

"Loki, only the barrier and then-"

"Yeah, yeah I know." Loki said, already stepping up to the barrier. He raised his hands out if front of him towards the barrier. He closed his right hand into a fist and looked back at Thor.

"Should I use dark magic?" he asked hopefully.

"Only if you have to, try to avoid it." Thor said. Loki looked disappointed and seemed to think about it.

"Please avoid it Loki." Thor told his brother. Loki sighed.

"Alright, alright."

Loki slowly opened his right hand. Thor felt a change in the air as Loki closed his eyes and concentrated. His brother slowly twisted his hand and a small glowing orb appeared at the base of the force field. The glowing ball of light began growing and getting closer to the wall, and right when it seemed that the light couldn't get any closer without touching the barrier, an earsplitting bang filled the air and Loki was shoved back on the ground. The light had exploded into a bright white glow. Once it faded away, Thor ran to his brother's side. Loki hit hard on his back and wasn't moving with his eyes closed.

"Loki?" Thor asked kneeling by his side. Loki didn't respond and a panicky feeling rose up inside of Thor. He lightly shook his brother's shoulder, hoping that he was still alive.

Finally, Loki groaned and used one arm to push himself up. Thor watched him rub his hands over his eyes and cough.

"I think it is protected from light magic." Loki said when he finally opened his eyes. "My eyes are still burning." Thor sat back on his heels and looked up at the barrier. It still was barely visible, but Thor could see that Loki hadn't done any damage to it. Thor looked back at Loki who was closing his eyes again and cringing at the burning feeling.

"Are you going to be okay?" Thor asked.

"Concerned, brother?" Loki rubbed his eyes once more before opening them and standing up. He walked back to the base of the wall with Thor walking up behind him. Loki once again raised his hand towards the barrier.

"You can't possibly be thinking of trying light magic again." Thor said.

"Just…" Loki started, annoyed. "…trust me."

Thor rolled his eyes. "Did you really just speak those words?" Thor asked his brother. How could Loki even say that after all of the times that he betrayed Thor when Thor had trusted him?

Loki just shrugged and held his hand higher. He stared at the bottom of the force field, and concentrated. Loki then waved his hand to the right, and bright green flames appeared just above the surface of the rocky ground. The flames spread and formed a long line that stretched as far as Thor could see in both directions; Thor knew that Loki had outlined the bottom of the entire wall in his green magic. Slowly, Loki began to raise his hands higher. The flames moved with Loki's movements and ate away the force field like fire eating away paper.

As Loki went one, the flames grew more intense, and more and more of the barrier was consumed. Loki slowly moved his hand to create an arc in the air. An archway was burned through the wall. It was rimmed by Loki's green fires that continued to eat away the force field of dark magic. The archway grew to a size that was more than large enough that everyone could fit through to run to the other side.

Thor snapped his attention back to Loki when he suddenly swayed. Thor could tell that whatever his brother was doing, it was taking a lot of energy out of him.

"Go now!" Loki said. "I can only do this for so long." Thor saw his friends out of the corner of his eye, running to the giant hole in the barrier. They hesitated at first, but ran through to safety. Jane! Thor thought. Where is she? He turned to find her suddenly at his side.

"Thor..?" she started.

"Go on through, I'll be right there." he told her. She looked like she wanted to argue to stay with him, but she nodded and rushed after Hogun who had just crossed through the barrier. Once Thor knew that she was safe, he ran to Loki's side.

"What about you?" Thor asked. Loki just shook his head, but Thor couldn't tell if it was an answer, or Loki just trying to stay conscious against all of the energy he was using.

"I'll make it over somehow." Loki said, but his voice was quiet and distant. Thor knew Loki couldn't keep this up for much longer.

"Thor, if you don't go now, I swear I'll…"

"Alright, I'm going." Thor interrupted. Thor found the archway and ran through to the other side. He could hear the flicker of the flames as he dashed by. He turned at Jane's side and watched Loki through the blurred barrier. His brother swayed again, but caught himself before he could fall.

Thor felt a tightening feeling in his chest. Could his brother be strong enough to cross through the arch?

As Loki's concentration faltered, green flames began to fall from above to the ground.

"Loki!" Thor yelled. If Loki didn't get out now, his own magic would collapse on him. Loki's eyes flickered to Thor and back to where he still spread and held his magic fires on the force field. While still containing the flames, Loki moved towards the arch in the blurry wall. Once Loki was in front of the gaping hole, Thor could see him more clearly since the barrier wasn't between them. Thor could see now, that Loki was barely able to stand. Whatever sorcery he was performing, it was taking a lot out of him.

Thor knew Loki wouldn't be able to contain the magic and get through the archway at the same time. Thor ran forward under the arch. Loki swayed again as Thor reached him, so Thor grabbed his brother's arm to support him.

"Loki, we have to go now!" Thor yelled over the flames that were now roaring. Loki just nodded and let Thor half lead, half drag him through the opening. Loki tried to keep the wall from collapsing and the flames from raining down, but just as they were under the arch, he couldn't hold the magic any longer. Thor yanked them both out of the way just in time for the wall and flames to collapse before them.

Thor fell to the ground with Loki hitting the ground right beside him. He felt a rock protruding sharply from the ground, hit his back. The dark, magical currents that made up the force field were now swirling in one big puddle on the ground, but the green flames quickly devoured the dark magic in seconds.

The only sound was Loki and Thor's heavy breathing. Thor was aware of Jane kneeling by his side. She looked at him with a worried expression. He just smiled and patter her arm.

"I'm fine." He assured her. He sat up and looked over at Loki. "I'm not sure I can say the same for Loki, though." he quietly said under his breath. He leaned over his brother to see that he was still conscious, but was having trouble staying that way. Loki was fighting to keep his eyes open and he was barely moving.

"Loki?" Thor said. At this point, everyone was gathered around Thor and Loki, but far enough to give Loki some room to recover.

Loki held up his hand to tell Thor to give him a minute. Thor waited patiently and watched as Loki gained his strength back. After a while, Loki took a deep breath and sat up. He looked over at where the force field was still partially held up, but with no trace of any of the dark magic anywhere near them. Loki nodded approvingly at his work and stood up. Thor still watched him without saying anything. He was still worried that Loki would pass out any second.

Thor stood and looked around to make sure everyone was okay. Once he knew that everybody was unharmed, he took a step forward but immediately felt a sharp pain in his left back. He hissed with pain and gently felt his back with his hand. It was wet where his armor wasn't covering his back with what he knew was blood. He pulled his hand back red.

"Thor," Jane whispered looking at his back. "How did this happen?"

"Rough landing." he answered turning to look at the wound as well. Jane moved his cape to his side to see better.

"It doesn't look too bad. I can wrap it now if you want, unless you'd rather wait until we camp out for the night." Jane offered. Thor looked at his back once more and turned forward again.

"It can wait." he said to Jane. She looked back at what was left of the force field.

"That was amazing." She whispered under her breath.

"What kind of sorcery was that anyways?" Volstagg asked, looking over at Loki skeptical.

"Was it some form of dark magic?" asked Fandral, though looking doubtful.

Loki just shook his head and began walking. He shrugged. "Loki magic." he answered. Fandral and Volstagg looked at each other confused, but didn't question Loki. Thor also wondered what Loki had done. It wasn't any type of sorcery he has ever seen before. Was Loki really strong enough to create his own magic? The idea actually scared Thor as he realized how powerful Loki was without his mortal band.

"Hey!" Thor yelled, beginning to walk as well. "Loki!" Thor caught up to Loki who was walking while playing around with his regained magic ability by carving patterns into the rocks around him by quickly waving his hand in the air towards the rocks.

"Loki…" Thor started. He knew how happy Loki was to have his magic back, but he was the one who lost Thor's trust. "I- I have to put the band back on at least." Thor told him. Even if Loki wasn't chained up, he would feel better having Loki wear the band.

Loki stopped his carving in the stone and looked up at Thor. Thor smiled, shook his head, and looked away from Loki. He couldn't believe he was using that face that he made when he was pleading Thor for something. Loki always used that face on Thor when they were younger, and Thor had to admit that it worked pretty much every time.

"Maybe if you didn't try to take over two realms, kill a bunch of innocent people, and attempt to murder me more than three times, I would let you keep your powers." Thor said looking up at Loki again. Loki just kept staring at Thor without saying anything.

"You know," Fandral spoke up behind Thor. "I'm sure there are more force fields all over the dark side to protect the elves from intruders." Thor looked at Fandral, surprised.

"You are helping him?" Thor asked.

"Maybe helping us." Fandral said back. Thor looked over at Loki who was trying not to smile.

"Besides," Loki finally said. "You'll just kill me if I try anything, right brother?" He walked away smiling. Thor wanted to punch his brother for mocking him. Everyone there knew that Thor wouldn't kill Loki. Thor felt Fandral's hand on his arm.

"I think we will be fine. So far Loki hasn't done anything that should make us believe otherwise."

"Why are you suddenly defending him?" Thor asked. Fandral just shrugged.

"Because he is letting me. At least he is helping." Fandral said.

They all continued to walk. Through the rest of the day's walk, the group came upon only one other dark magic barrier. It was a lot easier to pass through, though, since Loki was more practiced at burning the walls down and keeping hold of his magic for longer. Eventually, it was getting too dark to move on without worry of creatures or elves lurking behind them, so they decided to set up camp. They set up under a large tree that was charred the lengths of the branches. The tree's arms stretched over the ground, covering where they set up. Fog swirled around where they attempted to make a fire.

"This isn't working!" Sif said frustrated. She had just failed again at lighting the wood they had found. Everyone else was spreading blankets on the ground from their packs to sleep on.

"There must be something preventing fires in the dark side. Was it part of the curse?" asked Jane looking up from spreading her blankets.

"Probably." Thor said. Sif had been trying for a while now and still no fire was able to be lit.

"Loki, is there anything you can do?"

Loki was sitting on his blankets where he set up noticeable further from everyone. He looked up at Thor and got up. Walking over to the wood that Sif sat by, he flicked his wrist and a fire immediately lit.

"Show off." Sif muttered under her breath, looking at the fire. Loki glanced at her and smiled as he went back to his secluded sleeping area. The closest people to Loki were Thor and Jane who were set up together about ten feet from Loki. Thor had suggested that he slept right next to Jane. If he was with her, he would be able to tell if she was having another possession attack.

"Sure, that's why." Fandral had whispered under his breath. Thor had smiled and playfully punched him in the shoulder.

A sudden rustling noise alerted Thor. He felt Jane jump beside him. The noise had come from the other side of the fire.

"Did you hear that?" Hogun asked looking over the fire at Thor. Thor just nodded and stood up. His friends stood with him looking over at the direction the noise was coming from.

"We should go and see what is going on out there." Hogun said. "The warriors three will go."

"I'll go as well. Maybe we should do a whole perimeter check while we are at it." Thor said. He couldn't see anything further than 20 feet in the thick fog and darkness. "I'll be right back." he promised Jane. She nodded, still looking at where the noise was heard.

Thor followed the warriors three past the fire while stepping over the circle of blankets that surrounded the flames. He approached Sif who was tending to the fire.

"Will you keep an eye on him?" asked Thor gesturing to Loki. She looked at him and nodded. Thor walked into the fog after his friends. He didn't know who he was more worried for, him and his friends out searching for creatures in the dead of the night in the dark side, or the girls being left with Loki who was not in any way restricted.

~X~

Loki sat far away from both Sif and Jane. He was playing around with his magic again. He felt so much better ever since Thor took that execrable band off of Loki's wrist, but as soon as Loki's band came off, he also felt a strange feeling. It felt like every step Loki took, he was being watched, and even as he was far from where the girls were sitting, Loki sensed that he wasn't alone. He detected another presence almost within him. He couldn't figure out what was making him feel this way, so he just enjoyed not being mortal any more.

He snapped his head up when he heard Sif shriek.

"Loki!" she yelled out to him. He jumped up and ran to where she sat by the fire. She was frantically patting out her blanket which caught fire on the ends. With a wave of his hand, he put it out.

"Your 'miracle' fire is uncontrollable!" she huffed at him. He sat down across from her held his hands out in front of the fire. The flames immediately decreased leaving a less wild fire. He crossed his legs and watched his fire flicker in the darkness. It was nice sitting by the fire compared to the coldness of the dark side.

"Are you okay?" Jane's voice came from where she sat a few feet away. Her face was lit up by some Earth device that she pulled out of her jacket. Loki had heard it referred to as an "iPod".

"I'm alright." answered Sif from across the fire. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her knees to watch the fire as well. The sat there in silence for a while. She kept looking behind her and into the fog.

"They're fine." Loki said to her.

"Easy for you to think. You don't care." she said.

"How would you know?"

"I don't. But you don't, do you?"

Loki just shrugged. He wasn't worried not because he didn't care, but because he knew that they could take care of themselves. He wouldn't tell Sif that though.

"What if they run into a barrier without being able to see it?" she whispered looking out into the fog for the millionth time.

"I'm sure the 'mighty Thor' would come to the rescue." Loki said. He meant to say it quiet enough where Sif didn't hear, but he had said it a bit too loud.

"Like he did today when he saved your life?" Sif asked, raising her eyebrows at him. Loki rolled his eyes.

"He just needs me to get through the dark side alive." Loki protested. "That's the only reason." Loki knew that it probably wasn't the only reason, and he probably should be thankful to his brother.

It was silent for a while as Sif looked at Loki with her head tilted. "What happened?" she finally asked.

"I'm afraid you'll have to elaborate."

"Your soul, what happened to it?" she asked getting closer to Loki now. "Because obviously you don't have one anymore." she angrily said before stomping off to where Jane sat. Loki glared at her, but she didn't look at him anymore. He sighed and went back to where he was set up.

He knew that he was unreasonably far from the others. It was partially because he really didn't want to be with them, but at the same time he didn't want to lose himself and end up killing someone. No matter how much he allowed himself to give in on his longing for revenge, he didn't want to kill anyone. He had tried to kill his friends and brother before, but that was when he went into his uncontrollable power hungry obsession. He had never wanted to kill anyone, but if they got in his way, he didn't have a second thought about it. Lately he had been thinking about how he never wanted to go into one of his revenge crazes again, but he still hated his brother. He didn't want any part of him.

He would do it though if he could, he would go back and erase everything he had done. That much he could admit to himself. It wouldn't ever be the same, and seeing that he ruined his chances of going back to being Thor's brother, Loki had nowhere to go except for the one place where he was accepted and wanted. It was where people like him, frost giants though he hated to say it, belonged: The darker side without brother's that overcame you and outdid you in every little thing. You could hide there, easily in the shadows and being a king was possible for anyone. Loki knew his days of revenge were over though, and he had failed even the dark side. He didn't belong anywhere now, and that was how he thought it was meant to be with him. He was the outcast, the one who wasn't welcome, who didn't fit in.

Loki drowned himself in his thoughts while making the small water hole besides him swirl with different colors. He nearly jumped when Thor came up behind him with the warriors three behind him.

"Nothing. There was nothing out there." Volstagg said throwing his hands up in frustration. Loki rolled his eyes when Thor instantly went to Jane's side.

"I still need to look at that wound." Loki heard Jane say to Thor. As everyone settled down on their beds, Loki, Jane, and Thor were the only ones still awake. Thor had taken his armor and shirt off to reveal a deep slash in the bottom left area of his back. Loki couldn't help but feel a little bad for Thor at first. He had saved Loki's life and was wounded in the process when Loki had done nothing but attempted to kill him in the past couple months. But it was Thor's choice to save Loki, wasn't it? Thor couldn't have him and his precious Jane at the mercy of the barriers and other troubles in the dark side.

Loki lied down and stared up at the dark sky. The only sound left was Thor and Jane whispering a few paces away and the crackle of the fire. Loki was about to fall asleep when he heard his name come up in Thor and Jane's conversation.

~X~

"So you never told me about what happened with you and Loki after you came back to Asgard from Earth." Jane told Thor as she wrapped a bandage around his wound. "Sif told me a little, but she said she wasn't there."

"I bet," Thor said. "I can show you." Jane finished with the bandage and looked up at Thor confused.

"You aren't going to reenact it, are you?" asked Jane looking up at Thor.

Thor laughed, but tried to quiet himself when he remembered that his friends were sleeping. "No, I would be mad to want to do that again." he said smiling. "Come here." he told her as he crawled towards the small water hole that was near them. She came and next to him.

"About a year ago," Thor explained. "Loki taught me how to project memories and thoughts on reflecting surfaces." He dipped his fingertips into the water and closed his eyes, but quickly opened them again. Thor looked over at Jane.

"I'm not very good at it, though. Loki is much more experience in the magical arts. His memory is amazing too." Thor closed his eyes again and concentrated on the memory of Loki and Thor's battle. He felt the shallow water ripple underneath his hand as an image spread over the water. It was blurry, but you could make out the setting and people well.

"Thor! I knew you'd return to us!" Frigga's voice projected out into the night.

"Why don't you tell her? How you sent the destroyer to kill our friends, to kill me." memory Thor said on the surface of the water.

"What?" Frigga said, surprised.

"Why I must have been enforcing father's last command." Loki said.

"You're a talented liar brother, always have been." Thor said in the memory.

Thor watched and tried to remember all of the details from that night. Suddenly, before their eyes the image became clearer, more defined. The muffled voice of Loki saying, "It's good to have you back," became clearer as well. Thor looked over at where the real Loki sat a few feet away, and saw that he had reached out and touched the water to help Thor project the memory o to the surface of the water. Loki just kept his hand in the water to keep the memory playing, but he had his head rested on his knees as he looked away from Thor and the memory on the water. Thor would of let Loki take over, but he kept assisting Loki in case Loki tried to alter the memory.

Thor looked over at Jane who was also looking over at Loki who unexpectedly helped Thor. A loud crash emanated from the reflecting and Jane jumped besides him. She broke her attention away from Loki to continue watching the memory.

The reflection quickly became a blur when Loki and Thor's memories clashed. Thor's was of him falling from the tower in the castle and Loki's was of him riding to the bifrost. Thor decided that he could trust Loki to correctly portray the memory, so he pulled his arm and let Loki take over.

The image jumped back to its perfect clarity as the scene on the water changed to Loki watching Thor approach from the bifrost, but Loki was able to show Jane a view where she could see both brothers in the reflection.

"I'm not your brother, I never was."

"Loki, this is madness!"

"Is it madness? Is it? Is it!"

Loki and Thor's voices were now saying on the water's surface. Thor watched with Jane, but the image was unexpectedly ripped from the surface. Thor looked over at Loki who was looking at the water where the image used to be.

"Do I have to show the rest?" Loki asked looking hopefully up at Thor.

"Why don't you…" but Thor's voice trailed away when he realized why Loki didn't want to proceed in showing Jane the memory. They had reached the part where Loki threatened Thor with Jane.

"You're the one who said it." Thor pointed out to Loki. "Why would you rather me tell her?" Loki stared at him with hate, but shook his head and looked at the water again.

"No," he said. "I'll do it."

The image sprang across the surface once more and the scene of Thor and Loki standing in the bifrost was revealed again. Jane looked at Thor, confused but he just gestured to the image.

"Come on, what happened to you on Earth that turned you so soft? Don't tell me it was that woman." Memory Loki demanded. Thor's face just looked at his brother. "Oh, it was. Well maybe, when we're finished here, I'll pay her a visit myself!" Loki said. Thor yelled and attacked his brother.

Real Loki flinched as he watched Jane's eyes go wide after she heard what Loki had threatened to do. She looked over at him with her jaw tight. Loki looked guiltily over at her and mouthed the word sorry. Her face softened and she turned her attention back to the scene of Loki and Thor fighting, but Thor's attention was now on Loki sitting a few feet from him. Had he actually just sort of said sorry? Thor never thought he would ever see Loki say that. He was surprised, but glad that Loki got along well with Jane. He wouldn't have to be constantly worried about Jane in danger from Loki.

Loki now lied on the rainbow bridge in the memory, held down with Thor's hammer. Jane looked at the reproduction in horror, and then up to Loki.

"Didn't that hurt?"

Loki's eyes went wide and he nodded. "I still have a mark on my chest the size of Mjolnir." he told her.

At the part where Thor muttered "Forgive me, Jane," Jane squeezed Thor's hand and leaned in closer to him.

The memory eventually got to where Loki and Thor were hanging off the edge of the rainbow bridge.

"I could have done it!" Loki's voice said. "For you! For all of us."

"No Loki."

The memory of Thor yelled "No!" as Loki let go and fell into the depths of space. Thor looked down at Jane who looked like she was nearly in tears. He rubbed her arm and she smiled up at him and rubbed her eyes.

"It would make a great movie." she said regaining herself. Thor noticed that Loki had stopped the memory and lied back down on his bed.

"Wait a minute; I want to see what happened after that." Thor said.

"Too bad." was all he got from Loki. Thor sighed and went back to the blanket set up for him and Jane. He held her in his arms as they both watched the fire.

"I knew you had a reason for not coming back." she told him, looking up to see his face. Thor nodded rested his chin on the top of her head.

"I just wish I could of gotten there sooner." he said. Jane turned and wrapped her arms around his neck. He looked into her brown eyes and leaned in close to kiss her. He felt Jane's lips against his as she pulled him even closer to her. He ran his fingers through her hair and eventually pulled back and pressed his forehead to hers.

"I've missed you so much." he told her.

"And I, you." she said with her arms now wrapped around his back. He lied down, pulling her with him. Together they fell asleep watching the sky, holding each other. And there ended the first day of their journey.