Disclaimer: Characters belong to MARVEL and Norse Mythology. Music composed by Patrick Doyle.

Music: Thor OST Track 9 – Banishment

Part 1: Chapter 8

"Well, that was exciting!" Fandral exclaimed. His smile faltered when he saw Sif wiping the blood from her face with her sleeve. Hogun merely shook his head as he finished with the red-haired man's sling.

"Who are you lot?" He asked in an accusing tone.

"I'm Fandral, this grim fellow is Hogun. And this is the lady Sif." Sif grumbled something under her breath. "What was that?"

"I said don't call me 'lady'. I don't want to be a lady." Fandral shrugged nonchalantly.

"My mistake. Won't happen again." He then turned his attention back to the stranger. "And who might you be?"

"Volstagg," he answered simply.

"Alright, Volstagg. What were you doing, fighting that troll?" Volstagg let out a sigh.

"My daughters wanted me to bring them back a toe from one of the trolls of Svartalfheim."

"A toe? Why a toe?" Sif asked with her face scrunched up in disgust.

"You do not know my daughters," Volstagg said flatly and shook his head.

"Well, now you can bring them forty troll toes," Fandral said jokingly.

"One will do just fine," Volstagg replied as he pushed himself to his feet, somewhat clumsily because of his injured arm. As he picked up his battle ax, he was even more thankful that it wasn't his dominant arm in a sling.

"Do you live nearby?" Sif asked after she noticed that Volstagg didn't seem to have a horse or any other form of quick transport.

"Yes. The village is near the border between South Midgard and Svartalfheim. My home is in walking distance from where we are now." Even though he barely knew these people, Volstagg already decided that he liked Sif. She was inquisitive and relatively polite, while Fandral was just plain annoying. He wasn't quite sure what to make of Hogun yet, but he did save his life, so that had to count for something. "Hey, what's that?"

Hogun and Fandral looked to where Volstagg was pointing and saw a green light behind Sif, making it look as if there was a halo around her.

"Oh no, not again," Fandral groaned.

Sif could feel Loki's cold hatred inching out of the portal, and its tendrils were wrapping around her throat and making it hard to breathe. She was barely able to reach for the others before her feet left the ground.

"Sif!"

She couldn't be sure who it was that shouted, because the whistling in her ears obscured her sense of hearing. Sif felt a hand grab her ankle, and when she looked down she was surprised to see that it was Hogun this time. Even more surprising was that Volstagg had suddenly joined their group.

It was getting colder, and Sif could see her breath fogging whenever she exhaled. Coldness seemed to be a pattern with Loki, but this time it was different. It almost felt natural, as if Loki had no involvement in it. She was just thankful that she had put on the cloak again after she cleaned her face. It turned out that she was going to need it after all.

Sif made sure to keep a better hold on her spear this time around. She didn't want to cause anymore bodily harm to anyone because of her clumsiness.

The biting wind suddenly came to a stop, and when Sif sucked in a breath, snow filled her mouth.