Chapter 21: Aftermath
~Asgard~
"Is Odin in here?" Jane asked as they entered one of the sitting rooms.
Frigga put her hand on Jane's shoulder before speaking gently. "Odin has passed on, to Valhalla."
Jane blinked, taking in the statement. "I am sorry to hear that," Jane finally said.
"He had a long life," Frigga replied.
"So, that means Thor is King then? I guess that might explain his behavior," Jane said sarcastically. "Thinks he can do anything?"
"Thor chose not to take the throne, instead passing it on to his brother," Frigga explained.
"Wait! What? You are saying Loki is King?" Jane stared at her in confusion.
Hela and Lorelei chose that moment to arrive; their hair was still wet from the bathhouse. They each darted a satisfied smirk at Jane as they entered before moving to stand behind Thor.
"What are they doing here?" Jane pointed towards the two women.
Hela looked Jane up and down fully before replying. "More than you, that much is obvious."
"Oh, shut up!" Jane flung back at her. "Just… just…" she stepped forward.
"Jane," Darcy said, stepping forward to stop her friend.
Jane flung Darcy's arm off and glared at her. "Let me go."
Hela smiled sweetly, placing a hand on Thor's waist possessively. "Just what? Upset that we were having a little fun? Next time, why don't you join in instead of just standing there, watching… or… do you enjoy voyeurism?"
Lorelei slid her hand into Thor's robe, caressing his chest. Uncomfortable with the attention of the two women, Thor tried to squirm away only to find the ladies simply moved closer, insinuating themselves into his space.
Jane sucked in her breath, then turned to look at her friends. "We are leaving right this instant. I refuse to be treated like this."
"Jane, really. We can't leave. You need to find out what is causing your memory problems." Darcy moved to stand next to Jane, placing an arm around her shoulders.
"Right now, I wish I had memory problems," Jane groused. "You did not see what I just saw. Disgusting!"
"Seriously? You, girl, need to grow up. Thor is a big boy; he can do what he wants and does not require your approval. Oh, and Thor?" Lorelei looked at the god. "We never did finish your, ah, massage. Maybe later?"
"Uh, sure." Thor shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, still trying to escape. "Jane, you do not understand. I can explain…"
"Oh, there is no need to explain. I know what I saw," Jane shot back.
Loki tried to stifle a laugh but was unsuccessful. His laughter started a round amongst the others gathered in the room with the exception of Jane.
"Oh my god! You … you… ALL of you are just disgusting!" Jane spluttered. "I am leaving right now."
"Jane, really. Calm down," Erik said.
"Calm down?" Jane shrieked. "You didn't see what I just saw." Turning on her heel, she ran out of the room.
"Jane! Wait!" Thor tried to go after her, but Lorelei and Hela held him back.
"No, do not race after her," Frigga pleaded.
They watched as Jane's friends took off after her.
"Stay with us, we are so much better than she is…" Hela implored.
Thor rolled his eyes. "Really? You dare say that? After that performance?"
"We were only trying to help," Hela sulked.
"Loki, if you will excuse me, I do need to change. Then we can talk," Thor said.
"Oooh, we can help!" Hela offered.
"No! Enough!" Thor pushed the two women away and left.
Loki watched as his brother left. He took a deep breath and then looked at his wife. "That was rather interesting. I suppose we ought to track Jane down before she discovers anything else."
Katirya sniggered. "I do believe she has seen it all. Did she really walk in on you?" She directed her question to Hela and Lorelei.
Lorelei smirked. "Yes, and the look on her face was priceless."
Katirya winced, then looked up at Loki. "Well, my love, I do agree that we need to find her. I want to see how much of her memory has been restored. Are you up to that?"
Loki grabbed her around the waist. "You need to ask?" He lifted her up in the air.
"Loki!" Katirya squealed as she felt herself being lifted off the ground. "Put me down this instant! You have obviously recovered."
"Hmmm, from what?" Loki gently set her down on the floor, looking at her suggestively.
"Seriously," Katirya giggled. "We do need to find the mortal before she causes more trouble. I suggest we head to the Bifrost since she indicated she wished to leave."
"Can we not just let her leave?" Hela asked. "It would solve all our problems."
"I am concerned about her. If Jane's entire memory is restored, there are things that might cause issues for her. I do not know if she can handle that," Katirya replied, then looked at Lorelei. "And you had something to do with this."
Lorelei frowned. "It's not my fault that Thanos chose her for his bait or tried to involve those others. They were the ones that did all the things to her. I just did what I was told… sort of."
"And betrayed them," Loki reminded her. "Can we trust you now? Last I recall you were in our prisons."
"Oh, you can trust me. Kiri has promised me if I helped her she would let me out," Lorelei said, her eyes darting nervously towards Katirya for confirmation.
"Indeed, I did. And I shall stand by my promise, to both of you." Katirya included Hela in her statement. "But I do remember stating that you would be limited in your freedom."
"Wait… I'm just happy knowing I can leave Hel from time to time. And… " Hela smiled slyly. "I did get the other part as well."
Katirya blushed. "Yes, I suppose you did." She turned to face Loki. "Is it too much to ask that Hela be given four weeks a year freedom from Hel?"
Loki considered the request. "That seems fair. As for Lorelei, what limitations did you tell her?"
"That she would be sent to one place and must stay there…"
"Oooh! Can I pick?" Lorelei interrupted.
"Pick? Where would you choose to live?" Loki asked her.
"Jotunheim!" Lorelei crowed.
"Jotunheim?" Loki looked at her in abject horror. "Why there?"
"Well, it is warmer now, thanks to Hela. And the Jotuns are in need of help… I mean, they have never been so small before, so they might need some help. And I did not notice very many female Jotun so…" Lorelei looked at him with a smile.
Loki considered the request. When Katirya nodded agreement, he spoke. "Jotunheim it is. And if you wish to travel anywhere else, you must come here first. Heimdall shall ensure you keep to this."
Lorelei's eyes brightened. "What? You will permit me to travel elsewhere?"
"Perhaps," Loki replied, not committing to specifics. "But I do believe you will be rather busy for a while in Jotunheim."
Thor returned to the room as they finished settling the agreements with the two women. He skirted around, avoiding them as much as possible as he approached his brother. "Now, where were we?"
Loki grinned. "I was going to ask about your bath. Was it pleasant?"
Thor glared at him. "I meant, about Jane. What are the plans?"
"We need to track her down. I suggest we head to the Bifrost for if she truly intends to leave, that is where she is headed," Katirya jumped in before the brothers could start to argue.
"Yes, your girlfriend needs to be attended to," Loki added.
"She is not my girlfriend," Thor replied.
Loki lifted one eyebrow in response.
"I thought when I made my choice to live here, in Asgard, I made that perfectly clear. I simply feel responsible for what happened to her," Thor explained.
"Indeed, you did. But you must remember, it was not you who did those acts upon her or caused her to lose her memory. That was Thanos and his cronies…"
"But I do still feel responsible," Thor insisted. "I feel like I need to make sure everything is in her best interests now. I saw how she was this past year. She did not deserve that."
"Often, we do not deserve what has been given us, but we must persevere. Jane needs to work through this, but I will agree that she needs some help," Loki said.
"I just wish we knew who or what sparked this return of her memory. But, enough of this chit-chat." Katirya clapped her hands and swept them towards the door. "Off we go to track her down."
"Can we go with? We might be able to help?" Hela inquired.
Loki snuck a glance at his brother before responding. When Thor offered no response, Loki nodded. "Yes, you may. Who knows, we might have need of one or both of you where we are going. Sif, can you check with Heimdall as to where Jane went? Once we find out, we can prepare to travel there."
~O~
"Jane! Wait up! Where are you going?" Darcy shouted.
Jane whirled around to face them. "I am going home. Back to Earth. This place is just… just… too much! I cannot believe what they find acceptable!" She stomped her foot with each exclamation.
"But Eir said…"
"I do not care what Eir said. I am fine. I can deal with random memory lapses. I'd far rather forget anything I ever had to do with this place and these people. Maybe I can find someone to wipe out all these memories!" Jane exclaimed vehemently.
"Kiri can help. That's why we brought you up here," Erik said calmly.
"Really? Then you can just bring me home. Now, you can stay here or come with me, but I am going home this instant!" Jane turned and continued towards the Bifrost portal.
The other three stood there a few moments.
"What do you think?" Darcy asked Erik. "Will she be okay? I mean, she seems almost normal except for this hatred of Asgard."
"Well, you cannot blame her, considering everything she has gone through," Erik replied. "I suppose we can try to see how she behaves on Earth. Maybe Tony Stark might have something that can help."
"Oooh! Good idea. We can call him once we get back," Darcy took off at a run to catch up to Jane. "Jane! Wait up! We've got an idea."
By the time they entered the Bifrost chambers, Jane had listened to their suggestion. "Well… I suppose that is something. If he can help…"
"Hey, he has all sorts of strange inventions going on. He can probably help," Ian offered.
Heimdall greeted them as they entered. "May I help you?"
"Yes, we want to return to Earth. New York specifically," Jane replied, stepping forward with confidence.
"I can arrange that. Did you have any particular location?" Heimdall asked.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters. I need to speak with Director Fury before I return to work," Jane replied.
"And we wanna call Tony Stark while we are there," Darcy added.
Heimdall gestured towards the portal and they entered. Once the rainbow effect disappeared, they found themselves on the street outside S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters.
"Jane Foster!" Agent Maria Hill's voice called out the instant they appeared. "Director Fury has been looking for you."
Jane walked up to Hill. "Imagine that. Well, I need to speak with him. Let's go in."
Maria looked back to the others. "I take it from your entrance, that you were in Asgard. Is Thor coming too? We might be in need of him?"
Jane looked disgusted at the questions. "Thor? No, I should hope not. But why?"
Maria looked at her curiously, surprised at the response. "Well…" several businessmen walked past them as she started to explain. "We better talk inside. Come on." She held open the door, flashing her badge at the guard.
Author's Note: If you missed the two one-shots, they fill in some of the gaps for this and the previous chapter. Those are Indulgence and Immersion, which have a more mature theme than the story - thus why they were posted separately.
Again, I have no intentions of connecting this to any upcoming movies. It is my story of what happened AFTER Thor: The Dark World. Please review! Let me know if you are enjoying this.
If you catch any errors, just PM me so I can correct them. Thanks!