I'm back in reality again...

Had a wonderful beautiful holiday in the Isle of Wight. Managed to pick up two pairs of gorgeous shoes too! Anyhooooow... it's back to reality... kids in school today... work for me... housework and washes to be done... bills to be paid... phone calls to make... bla bla bla... aaaand a chapter to write... :) Yay!


She saw them from afar, two great Gods standing together in deep discussion and she wished with all her powers that she could hear what they were saying. Her horse whipped its legs in a frenzy as she whispered sweet words of authority into its ears. Her hair billowed out behind her along with her bronze dress which combined with the ash coloured horse into a fearful sight indeed. Frigga wasn't one to act impulsively but after she had seen the look of devastation on her son's face she felt justified in wanting answers. She had never, in her long life as wife to Odin questioned him. But after the way he had treated Jane in public she needed to know why.

She gripped the reins tighter and the horse and Frigga practically flew along the Rainbow Bridge towards Odin and Heimdall. She could see them watching her and talking as she approached and just as she was reining in her horse she needed to rein down on her emotions. She owed it to their long happy union together to stay calm and remove all feelings towards her precious son, at least for a little while.

The horse whinnied to a stop and she swung her leg over, the long dress covering her to her ankles as she slipped off. She patted her favourite horse and nodded to him. He lowered his mighty head briefly and shuffled backwards.

She stood before her beloved husband and the God who was keeper of the absent Bifröst.

"May I request an audience with you, My God and master?" She said, nodding her head slightly at him in deference, in keeping with custom in front of Heimdall.

Odin smiled a tired smile at his beloved wife. He walked towards her and embraced her tightly in his arms. She was a little shocked at the gesture, surprised he would show such emotion before another God. He let her go and moved a step back. And then she realised they were alone; Heimdall had all but vanished in that unnerving way of his.

Odin's feelings emboldened her and she reached out and laid her palm against his cheek. He knew her as much as she knew herself, she had never held anything back from him and although he held many secrets from her she knew it was his duty as king and it was for the good of the realm.

She nodded to him knowing he would say what he must, and no more.

He held her hands in his and looked into her eyes, her beautiful eyes. Thor's eyes.

"I know you will not question me on why I did what I did." He started.

She shook her head. She was his faithful companion and he saw further into the void of all things than any other living being.

"You have come to me here at exactly the time you were meant to." Odin turned towards where the Bifröst had once stood. He looked out at the beginnings of the universe.

"The contours of everything we stand for in Asgard stand at a giant crossroad. So many paths can be foreseen and so many decisions can be broken." The mighty Odin said. "I know that there is only one direction that can save Asgard from destruction. Everyone's role is now set. What began a year ago will conclude shortly and even I cannot know all outcomes. But I have done what I can to help in its success."

Frigga looked at the only God she had every loved.

"Why hurt Jane and Thor?" She whispered, understanding nothing but comprehending much.

"The conjectures of all pathways are already joined and I did what I was meant to do. We stand but on a knife edge." Odin raised his arms and gestured to the surrounding plains of the realm. "And everything is at stake and to fight for."

Frigga walked into her husband's open arms and hugged him tightly.

"Then you have done all you can as indeed you must." She said. "And now it is time to return. Our son sleeps but when he awakens he will need our love and our council."

Odin nodded. "He will sleep for a time. And while he sleeps he will dream. While he dreams, all things will come together that hold the key to his future, and indeed our own. And he will guide his own destiny... no path is as yet set."

They walked over to the horse and Frigga raised herself upon its back and Odin held the reins and walked beside her.

# # # # # #

Thor's sleep was like that of the dead. His mind an open channel to all the prisms of the universe. He dreamed only fleeting images and half-forgotten memories. He saw his parents looking down at him with love and hope and he knew himself to be a babe. He clasped Sif tightly to him as she wept over her lost golden hair after Loki had replaced it with the colour of a Raven. He laughed as Volstagg got hit on the foot by Hogun. He saw Jane. Jane in shadow and laughing at something. Jane walking towards him dressed in a beautiful cyan misted dress, midnight blue etchings weaving in and out as she sinuously moved closer to him. Her hair flowing loosely down her bare shoulders, crystals like tear-drops in her hair. "Do you miss me Thor?" She reached a barely visible hand up to him and brushed the tear that had trickled down his cheek. Her hand slid through his cheek as if she was but a ghost. "I am here if you want me Thor. I am always here with you." Her clothes fell away from her in a rippling spiral and the teardrops slid from her hair and gathered in her eyes, falling one by one. He watched them fall and looked at her naked beauty, as he had imagined many times before. "I am but a dream you can take anytime." She stood before him, baring herself to him, smiling at him invitingly. "I want you so much Jane." He said, reaching out to her. She laughed but it had turned bitter and she evaporated in a swirling mass of colour that ended blood-red. "Jane?" He shouted out to her but she was gone from him. "Ah but she is here. You just have to reach her in time." He turned towards his brother's voice. Loki stood before him, in his warrior clothes, his long cloak swirling around him. "Loki. You are dead." Thor whispered. "Fool of a brother. Have you learnt nothing in the past year? Your dreams are mine for the picking." He whipped his cloak back behind him and there lay Jane, shackled hand and foot to the floor, bleeding from open wounds, wearing the thinnest of clothing barely covering her dignity. "Do you want her Thor? When she lies here broken and used? Would you take something already given freely to me?" Thor rushed forward in a growl. "But she is not yours to have Thor." Loki bent down and lifted her fallen head. He kissed her, a beautiful kiss that was almost obscene in its love for Jane. Jane responded and kissed him back. Thor fell to his knees and howled. The images slowly went out of focus and disappeared. Thor stood wearily, wiping tears from his face. He turned around looking at this unfocused lack of world. He caught a shadow in the distance and automatically walked in that direction, this being a place in-between the nothing of a void, a place belonging to Dream. The image solidified and his father stood before him. Thor stood still and stared defiantly at his father. "I have nothing to say to you." He said. "No. You don't." Odin replied. "But I have only one thing to say to you." Odin looked at his son with pity, and Thor wanted to run at his father and hurt him for such a look. "Make the right choice." His father said, whispering away into infinity.

Thor gasped as he felt himself rise level by level out of the dream-sleep. "Remember." He thought to himself, knowing the dream was significant. "I must remember to make the right choice." But already the dream was slipping away from him and he lay there, hating himself as his dream faded into nothing.

# # # # # #

Loki stood before Jane and used his hand to raise her head up to look at him.

"I can understand Thor's affection towards you." He said, moving her head from side to side. "You are truly remarkable. For a human."

"And you are truly unremarkable." Replied Jane. "For a God."

Loki chortled and released her. She took a step backwards and rubbed her jaw. There was a low throb from where he had pressed into her skin.

She looked at him with utter loathing and he smiled in the face of her contempt. She turned behind her to where her two friends were shrouded in the shadow of the Destroyer. He stood immobile and they sat side-by-side, looking miserable. The Destroyer hadn't moved in all the time she had entered the harsh sunlight. She took a few steps towards her friends.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Jane turned back to Loki, who was looking at her with that horrible unvarying smile.

"And why not?" She asked, truly angry now, and also extremely frightened.

"Because The Destroyer will kill anything that comes within ten metres of it." Loki said. "Except me and your friends."

Jane turned to face Loki. This God who had caused her lover such pain by his supposed death and who now stood alive and well before her. She was angry at feeling so powerless and she wished more than anything she had kept the Bubble around her. She could then have returned quickly to Asgard and let the Asgardians know about the presence of Loki and the Destroyer and the fact that her friends were being held hostage.

Jane watched Loki wearily. He kept staring at her, and she couldn't look at his eyes for longer than a few seconds. She knew it was a sign of weakness but couldn't keep eye contact.

"What do you want from me?"

He grinned as if she had asked the right question.

He walked to her and raised his hand. She automatically flinched and hated herself for doing so. He grinned and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry my dear. I won't hurt you." He then raised his hand and struck her hard against her face. She whipped around from the momentum and fell backwards. She heard a distant shout of dismay as she fell to the ground. Her shoulder struck the hard pavement and a sharp pain ran up and down her arm and shoulder. She screamed, the pain was terrible.

"I should have said that after I hit you." Loki said. He bent over her and raised her up by her other arm. The movement on her shoulder and arm was intense. She whimpered as he moved her. Erik and Darcy were screaming things in the background but she was focused entirely on Loki. She was really scared now. Loki was looking at her with pity and she wanted to hit that miserable face with something.

"I mean it. I didn't want to hurt you." He said. "But it is necessary."

She stood shakily before him and touched the side of her face. She winced from the pain and her hand drew back slick with blood. She was bleeding.

"I don't know why Thor was sorry over your death." Jane said. "You're a monster."

"No Jane. I'm not." He said, shaking his head. "If I was a monster I could have killed those two." He said, pointing to Erik and Darcy. "But I've let them live. And I hurt you for a reason."

"And what's that?" Jane said.

"Well. When Thor sees you looking a little bruised he will get really angry." Loki looked smug. "And experience has taught me that when Thor gets angry he also gets careless."

"Well Thor is still on Asgard and I'm on Earth. So I don't know how you'll..."

"Oh don't try my patience Jane. I've been watching you for the past year and have learnt plenty in my chosen exile."

"How long have you been on Earth?" She said.

"Well I had a choice of which realm to enter after being sucked into the void a year ago. All it took was a little thing you call magic. I decided on Earth. I tracked you down and managed to procure this piece of Asgardian property here." He said, gesturing to the Destroyer. "He lay broken and your Earthlings didn't know what to do with him. So I took back what was rightfully mine. And I wanted to discover exactly why my brother cared for you so much."

Jane tried to move her arm but failed. It hurt so much. "I'm sure you couldn't work it out even if you tried. And it seems Odin felt the same way." She was bitter and had said it without thinking things through. She didn't want Loki to know anything more about her. She felt so stupid for revealing her feelings.

"Ah. The mighty Odin." Loki smiled, but he looked so bitter and sad that Jane almost felt sorry for him. "Both not good enough to be around his mighty son."

Jane automatically went to Odin's defence, even though she had felt the opposite only a moment before. "That's not fair. Odin took you in when you had been abandoned. He cared for you like a son."

"Like a son. Always being treated second in his eyes. A father should treat his children equally." He looked at Jane in anger, and his face softened slightly.

"But now I have the woman that my brother loves." He grinned, but it didn't look natural, he looked almost sorry. "What should I do with you?"

"Let me and my friends go." She said angrily, trying to take a step back.

"I don't think so." He said. He reached down and touched her bad shoulder. She flinched but stopped herself from screaming out. "I see it's dislocated. So I apologise in advance for what I'm about to do." She screamed in absolutely agony as he twisted her shoulder and when she felt she would black out from the pain there was a resounding pop and the pain disappeared almost instantly. She sobbed with relief. "I need Thor to see you hurt but I don't want you to unnecessarily suffer."

He reached down and took Jane by the good shoulder again. "And now you're coming with me." She tried to get away but he was immensely strong and she was only human. He didn't seem to have lost any of his strength coming to Earth like Thor had done.

He looked back at the Destroyer and her friends. "I would recommend that you don't follow us or attempt to stop us in any way." Loki said to Erik and Darcy. "If you do I may not be so merciful a second time." Loki nodded at the Destroyer who took a step away from the two people and started walking towards Loki and Jane.

He pushed Jane towards the Destroyer who turned to face her.

"If she moves even one step kill the old one." He said, nodding at Erik. The Destroyer stood poised over Jane, unmoving. She gulped and kept very still.

Loki walked into the building and saw the Bubble lying on the floor. He picked it up and returned to Jane, who looked at him angrily.

"It seems we will be returning to the realm you were just banished from. I hope Odin isn't too angry with you." He said, as he turned the Bubble over and over in his hands.

Loki pulled out a large hollow circular instrument and placed it directly around the outside of the Bubble. It fit perfectly. The attached thing was blue in colour and it seemed to dull and brighten in the timing of a heartbeat. It had spokes sticking out at equal intervals making it look like some sort of dial.

"What the hell is that?" Jane said.

"All shall be revealed." Loki said, turning the dial a fraction. It lit up briefly and then returned to its original pulsing blue. "I've been watching and learning things Jane. You couldn't see me but I could see you and sometimes I stood over your shoulder and watched you work."

"How?" She questioned.

"Easy. He twisted his hands around each other and the Destroyer disappeared. Jane blinked and looked around her. The Destroyer was no longer there. She didn't know where it was but she looked towards her friends.

"I wouldn't move if I were you." Loki said, noticing where she was looking. "He is standing right behind you still. You just can't see him. Just a little bit of magic."

He pulled her roughly to him and placed the altered Bubble around his head with his other hand.

"Time I went home." He said, clutching Jane to him. He pressed the Bubble and they were gone.


Thanks for your patience.

And now apologies. I've made a big mistake! I went to watch the movie again and saw that the working place of Jane and the others is this big structure in the centre of town surrounded by glass. For some reason after seeing the movie the first time I forgot about that and imagined a grey structure in the middle of nowhere that had only one set of doors and no windows. So apologies.

And who stayed to the end of the movie credits and watched the teaser for next time? BRILLIANT :)