A/N: I am SO SORRY for how long this chapter took. The past year has been so insanely busy, but in the best way possible! New job, new house, first baby, etc. It's been a blast. I was constantly missing this story, though, and all of you! Your messages, comments, and reviews kept me motivated to come back. I really can't say enough how wonderful you all are!

I pledge my eternal love to subjunctivemood! Even after I disappeared for over a year, she was ready to jump back in right away. She's the absolute best beta I could ask for.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything having to do with Marvel Comics or any of its creations. I can only appreciate the characters they've given us to work with.

Chapter Thirty-Six

"I am no one. I am nothing. I am a blank paper on which you and your magic wrote a girl, all hungry and hurt and needing."

2013: The Dungeons of Asgard

Sunlight streamed down the stairwell, flowing over the stone steps and walls like liquid gold before eventually dwindling away to be replaced by periodic spheres of torchlight. The darkness surrounding them was a tangible thing. Musty. Ancient. It writhed against the flickering light, more insistent and suffocating the deeper underground the stairs went.

Shivering in the damp air, Jane descended quickly towards the narrow slash of light ahead. It was the entrance to the dungeons. Rather, one of the entrances. After much discussion, the All-Father had decided she would enter the back way, which prevented her from making the long walk past all the other prisoners and would instead bring her out in the rear of the dungeon.

But it wasn't the journey that had her stomach in knots.

It was the destination.

She and Loki hadn't exactly left off on the best of terms. Their last conversation had been halting and antagonistic, brimming with barely-contained resentment, shot through with hurt and betrayal. Jane worried her lower lip as the entrance grew larger. That he was asking for her at all was a good sign. It reinforced her hope that the bridges they'd forged hadn't been entirely burned, that it wasn't too late. But Loki could be unpredictable. And self-serving. And she wasn't naïve enough to believe he'd wanted her to come simply because he missed her.

The path eventually leveled out, mildew-covered stone giving way to the clean, sharp lines of the dungeons as she passed through the doorway. She paused for a moment in the brighter light. To her left was a small room packed full of manacles, chains, and confiscated possessions, with an Einherjar standing guard. Ahead was a closed door, outside of which lay a heap of soiled clothing waiting to be laundered. Down the corridor to her right was the first cell.

Most of the interior was hidden by the stone wall. The current angle only provided her with a glimpse of ivory carpet, an ebony bookshelf, and a sculpted chair through the shimmering barrier. It only took a few steps, though, to bring the entirety of the cell into view.

Jane saw him first. Sprawled out on a divan with one leg draped casually over the armrest, he was repeatedly tossing something into the air. Whatever he'd endured hadn't broken him. Not yet. He looked the same as he ever had, all slick arrogance and nonchalant features and quiet defiance. Her breath hitched, and she unconsciously pulled the wrap tighter around her shoulders. Would she ever not be affected by him?

Steeling herself, she stepped further into view and waited. Loki never missed anything. He'd always been unnaturally attuned to his surroundings, like the supposed magic he wielded made him hyperaware of any similar veins that flowed through the rest of Yggdrasil. However, he didn't respond to her presence immediately. Perhaps whatever power kept him contained in the cell was to blame, but it took three more tosses before he caught the item, quirked his head, then sat up to face her.

Jane clasped her hands to hide her fingers' trembling and spoke in little more than a plaintive whisper. "Hey."

The barrier did nothing to disguise the intensity of his eyes, and she tumbled into their stormy depths without contest. There was little point in fighting when she was powerless to resist. If he was a titan planet, she would forever be a moon. Everything about him drew her in, and she couldn't help but orbit him. That was the way things were. They would circle each other in a cosmic dance until the stars rained down from the sky.

"So they did send you. I was beginning to wonder."

"I wasn't sent. They gave me the choice." Such a minor detail, but it felt important that he know, whatever good it might do. "I wanted to come."

"Of course you did." Loki leaned over to place the item he'd been tossing on a nearby table. When he drew back, she recognized it as the black knight of a chess set. "You never were able to resist the allure of answers. I knew if I dangled the carrot, you would come."

Jane dragged her focus from both the chessman and the remembrance of countless games played against one another. "You know that wasn't the only reason."

"Do I?"

"I wanted to see you." But then, that wasn't completely accurate. The force that drove her was stronger than some simple desire, more vital. "I needed to."

"And now you have. Our circumstances should bring back fond memories." Loki rested his elbows on his knees and steepled his fingers. "So often we've been in this position… is this how we're to meet for the rest of the ages? On opposing sides, separated by prison bars?"

"Don't say that, Loki. I've only ever been on your side."

His hands did little to hide the cruel twist of his mouth. "Yes, I can tell. You begged for my aid then abandoned me to the mercy of your new friends. Such honor. Those are clearly the actions of a true and loyal companion."

A low whistle echoed throughout the dungeon, interrupting Jane's train of thought. Across the way was another cell. Its occupant stood just shy of the surrounding barrier, wedged into the closest corner, barely visible around the nearest column. He looked like any of the other Asgardians, only more feral. His hair was long and unkempt, beard scraggly, eyes savage. Blue paint was smeared over both cheekbones with trails extending down his face and neck. Realizing he had her attention, the prisoner jeered.

"That's Högne."

Jane's nose wrinkled. "Charming."

"He's one of the Marauders imprisoned for rebelling against the Realm Eternal. Not much for intelligent conversation, but he does like to talk. I've heard what he likes to do to women at great length. Particularly those who do not desire his company." Loki smiled when her eyes cut to him. "He very much prefers the ones who put up a fight."

"Are you trying to scare me?"

"Merely introducing you to the company I am now forced to keep." Another whistle drew her attention back to Högne, who winked. "He seems to be quite taken with you." When she didn't react, Högne flicked his tongue in an obscene gesture and rubbed a hand suggestively over his crotch. "You should hope he doesn't escape."

Turning so she could no longer see Högne or his crude gesticulations, Jane held fast to the past. "You wouldn't let anything happen to me." It was like a lifeline, that long-ago promise. The only one she had left.

"I wouldn't be so sure. After all that has transpired, I might not be so inclined to rescue you."

"I know what I did was—"

"What you did?" The volume of his voice didn't change, but the derision laced through it was a whip, cracking, stinging. "What, exactly, did you do?"

"If you'll just hear—"

"Wait, I remember. You did nothing." In one sharp motion, he stood and stalked closer. The cell was already a couple steps above the dungeon floor, so when he finally stopped before the barrier, he all but loomed over her. "Tell me, how did it feel to leave me behind?"

"Loki, I'm sorry."

"I don't want apologies, I want answers. Come now, Jane, it's a simple question. Surely someone who believes herself capable of unravelling the complexities of Yggdrasil's pathways can explain." His lip curled. "Or perhaps you'd prefer a different one. How did it feel to have Thor's arms around you as you watched them lead me away?"

Jane's heart twinged. Knowing she deserved his scorn didn't make it hurt any less. "I was a coward. Is that what you want me to say? I stayed quiet because I was too scared to tell anyone the truth."

"Spare me your lies. You stayed quiet because you were ashamed. Of me. Of us."

"I am not ashamed."

"Aren't you, though? You worry Thor would not have you if he knew I claimed you first. You worry what he would think if he knew how badly you once wanted me." Loki ground out the words through a snarl. The viciousness of his accusation had her taking an involuntary step back, and he sneered at the reaction. "That's right, run away. Run back to Thor and whatever safe, pampered life he can offer. You've spent your whole life running. Why stop now?"

It felt like the beginning of the end. Or maybe it was the end of the beginning. They had experienced their ups and downs and still come out on top. Even when she hadn't known him, they'd somehow made it through. But something had changed in New York. It had become the turning point, one that splintered the road they'd been on and propelled them onto a new path.

For them to succumb to it, though…

For a rift like that to open between them…

The overhead lights caused shadows to gather in the hollows of his eyes, and Jane gazed up into the dark pools. It wasn't just about her choosing her own security over him anymore, or him casting off Erik as a means to an end. They were a part, yes, but the hurt ran so much deeper than that, trailed so much farther back.

It was no wonder they decided to make Thor king and no wonder the rest of Asgard prefers Thor. It was he'd fight for my honor instead of hiding me away and I don't have to know him personally to know he's probably everything you're not. It was you're nothing more than a monster.

It was what will you do when you have nothing and how will you cope when you're all alone. It was I was the only unchanging thing in your world of constant change, and now you won't even have that. It was I wanted to watch the light of your foolish dreams fade from your eyes.

Those were the hurts that haunted them and dogged their steps, the ones that had festered and warped what they once shared into something unrecognizable. Not all was lost, though. It couldn't be. There had to be something she could do so they wouldn't have to spend the rest of eternity so horribly unfinished, so broken, so poorly mended. There had to be a way back to who they once were. But how? How was she supposed to heal a wound that never bled?

"I told him. I told Thor about us."

By bringing secrets long-held to light.

By disproving all those hurts from so long ago.

By declaring her choice and where her heart truly lay.

Contempt morphed into a carefully guarded expression almost instantaneously. Loki was too vigilant to allow his thoughts to be read so easily, to play across his face as so many others would, but he did tilt his head slightly in consideration. The seconds ticked soundlessly by, and it was quite some time before he dipped his chin, the barest hint of a smirk dancing at the corners of his mouth.

"Was he angry?"

All that time spent pondering, and that was his first response. It was so characteristic – so undeniably Loki – that Jane could have laughed in relief. There were at least some things that never changed. "Would it make you happy if I said yes?"

"I cannot deny his anger would give me some small measure of satisfaction."

"It's disturbing, you know. The amount of pleasure you get from hurting Thor."

One shoulder rose and fell in a shrug. "The idea of him bedding you is not one I particularly care to entertain."

"Well, I hate to disappoint you, but he wasn't angry. Hurt, yes. Betrayed, too, but not angry." She bit back a sigh as her eyes lowered to the nervous tangle of her fingers. "It probably would've been easier if he had."

Thor paced back and forth across the length of the balcony, cloak slicing through the air with each brisk turn, while Jane watched apprehensively from the balustrade. Every so often, he'd rub at his beard and mumble something unintelligible under his breath as he sifted through the wealth of details she'd just presented. It was a lot to take in. All in all, he seemed to be managing rather well, even if he looked a bit paler than usual.

Without warning, he paused halfway through one stretch and glanced at her. "When did you say it happened?"

"1021."

"A thousand years. A thousand years you shared with him." His eyes flicked between hers. There was a quiet sort of disappointment to his every movement that, while not unexpected, cut to her core. "It's no surprise you…" He trailed off abruptly, shook his head, and resumed pacing.

Jane pushed away from the cool marble. "It's no surprise I what?"

"Nothing. Never mind." A dense silence filled the space between them until he paused again on the far side of the balcony, eyes trained on some indeterminable point in the distance. "Was any of it real?"

"I swear I didn't know when we first met. The amnesia wasn't a lie. I didn't remember everything until I was brought back from Jötunheim."

"So you knew when last I was in Midgard."

Jane swallowed thickly. "Yes."

What an unmitigated mess she'd made of things. Her attempts at self-preservation had only served to alienate both Thor and Loki. She was now two-for-three when it came to people spurning her. Heimdall was the only one not to, but that was only because he was objective, hadn't been directly hurt by her selfishness. Who would've thought silence could be so damaging?

A lilting trill drifted down from the network of vines creeping along the palace wall, and Jane turned towards the sound. There, half-hidden among the foliage, was a bird. Tiny with a mix of grey and brown feathers, it reminded her of a nightingale in both appearance and song. She followed it for a moment as it hopped from one vine to the next. However, when another bird flitted by too closely, it took flight with a warble, and she looked back to find Thor watching her.

"I think it best you leave."

"Thor…" Jane took one faltering step before catching herself at the hand he raised.

"What's done is done. I can no more change the past than I can your heart, so it is to the future I must look. None of this changes the fact that Loki has information that might help. I must speak with my father if we are to make arrangements for your meeting."

He stopped at the table to retrieve Mjölnir. The warm, bright finery of the room backlit him in a terrible contrast, blurred the normally strong and assured lines of his profile, faded him at the edges, and Jane felt her heart break a little bit even as he cast her a sorrowful ghost of a smile.

"I am… grateful you told me."

"I've always cared for you, Thor. My memories coming back didn't change that, it just…" Words fell short. Or maybe it was that she couldn't bring herself to continue that thread, not after everything else. She rubbed one arm regretfully. "I never meant to hurt you."

Before, he would have approached her. He would have enveloped her in an embrace, stroked her hair, and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. He would have done everything in his power to drive out the guilt that lined her features.

Now he merely adjusted his grip on Mjölnir and turned away.

"It's late, and there is still much to do." The still night air amplified his footsteps as he crossed the room, carried the blunt farewell he called over his shoulder after opening the door. "Return to your chambers, Jane. An attendant will come for you when it's time."

"I wouldn't let it worry you." Smooth stone returned as Jane blinked away the memory of being left behind, of the sense of finality that came with the door thudding shut. "Thor's good-natured to a fault. He doesn't know how to hold a grudge. Most likely he's already forgiven you."

She huffed a doubtful laugh. "Yeah, I'm not so sure about that."

True to his word, it was one of the Einherjar who'd fetched her this afternoon. Similarly, when she arrived in the throne room to discuss what would happen next with the All-Father, the distance Thor maintained was obvious. Forgiveness would eventually come. He was too good a man for anything else. It would take time, though, and that was something she could give. She owed him that much.

"You know what the worst part is? It felt good. Not hurting him, so don't give me that look. I mean having it all out in the open, no more secrets. It was liberating." A small, melancholy smile eased across her face. "I didn't know the weight until I felt the freedom." She understood, now, how Hester Prynne must have felt. Fiddling with the ends of the shawl, she peeked at Loki through her lashes. "Would you have told Thor if I hadn't?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

"Don't tell me that surprises you." Before she could return to the shawl, she caught a glimpse of the condescension that overtook Loki's expression, that imperiousness she knew so well. "Did you honestly expect I would do nothing?"

"No."

"Did you think I'd sit idly by while you courted, slept with, and eventually wed another man?"

"No."

"Would you have even wanted me to?"

"No." She briefly closed her eyes to the stone walkways and the wrap twisted through her fingers and the steady pulse of light from the barrier. "I want you to know I haven't slept with Thor. Even when I didn't remember anything, the thought of it felt wrong." When she opened them again, Loki was watching her intently. "It's only ever been you."

There was the hint of change, of something slowly beginning to unravel, and yet… "Such is the curse of humanity, to be constantly drawn to those things that are worst for them."

Always so guarded, so afraid to look for the good in things, so sure of the destiny-forged pit at the core of his being slowly consuming him from the inside out. They were his ever-constant traits. A multitude of doubts rooted too deeply to be dispelled. She knew. She'd spent years trying. It was maddening, sometimes, to witness the gradual descent of someone who refuses to believe in something better.

But Jane was nothing if not stubborn. If there was one thing she hoped to accomplish in her long life, it was to convince him how wrong he was, and so she shrugged in a teasingly offhand way. "I don't know… you're not so bad."

The strained currents of the air changed shape, eased and settled around them as one corner of Loki's mouth twitched and she offered up a crooked grin of her own in response. And just like that it was done. They'd bridged the gap. Taken the first step, at the very least. For all their faults and all the ways they clashed, they weren't beyond repair.

"I've been so worried. No one ever said what your punishment would be. I was scared what I'd find once I got to Asgard." She shifted closer, stopping just shy of the first step leading up to the cell. "I'm glad you're alive."

With an arched brow, Loki gestured to his surroundings. "If this can be considered living."

"It's better than the alternative. I didn't know if they were going to imprison you or… or…" She couldn't even bring herself to say it.

"The All-Father planned to. It was only Frigga who stayed his hand."

A new wave of sorrow welled up at the reminder of what had been lost. She tried to hide it, but the mirror of it in Loki's features was enough to snag at her, drive her up the steps. "I was—"

"Careful, Jane." She jerked to a stop and followed his focus to the barrier separating them, belatedly registering a pervasive hum that filled the dungeon air. "I wouldn't touch it. Most of its energy is directed inward, but the exterior is warded enough to discourage anyone from freeing a prisoner. It'll do more than sting."

The barrier sparkled innocently as she wrapped one arm around her waist. "I was sorry to hear she'd passed away."

"Killed. There's no need to sugarcoat it. She was murdered."

"Still…" She absently fingered the bare spot below her clavicle. Before leaving Thor's room the night before, she'd left the necklace and bracelet on his worktable – it wasn't right of her to keep it – but if he'd noticed, he hadn't said anything. Then again, he hadn't said much of anything to her today. "It's never fair when bad things happen to good people. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"It was midday. There are plenty tending to the gardens at that time. She should have been safe."

Something nagged at the back of her mind. "I thought the Chitauri went to the vault."

"They did, but that wasn't where they found her. No, she was in the gardens with one of her ladies-in-waiting." Loki's jaw clenched, teeth grinding over each other. "Thanos took the time to specifically seek her out."

"Why?"

"Revenge." The answer came in a quietly scathing tone, one painted over with a sort of fallen grandeur. "Frigga's life was the first of what will likely become many costs for my actions in Midgard."

Jane reached out and let one hand hover before the barrier, felt the energized buzz of it in her bones, watched the material glow a bit brighter at her proximity. You will never understand what all I have sacrificed for you. Loki was right. She didn't understand. She doubted she ever fully would. But then, neither of them had realized back then how steep the price could be.

"I am sorry." Part of her couldn't help but take the blame. She'd been the one to plead his help, after all, even if he'd already made the preparations himself. "I know how much it hurts."

Loki turned away. "I have never wanted to kill someone so much. Not Skaði when she bound me beneath the serpent or the All-Father when he sentenced me to this never-ending hell. Not even the Chitauri after all the tortures they devised. And it's not just his death I want. That would be too easy. I want him to suffer." He issued a dry chuckle. "It seems I truly am my father's son."

Without warning, he glanced back at her sharply. She hadn't planned on broaching that subject. In fact, she'd had every intention of steering well clear of it. But whatever he saw on her face must have been answer enough.

"You know." His lips tightened into a thin line. "Who told you?"

"No one. I figured it out for myself after I was already back from Jötunheim. It was the ice. The section you melted when we were trying to escape. Gerðr had told me that ice formed by a jötun could only be dismissed by one. That was the only explanation." Jane frowned when he turned his back on her again. "How long have you known?"

"Not long enough." Tension was threaded through his stiff posture, the tight grip of his fingers, the way his shoulders inched upwards. "My entire life has been a lie."

"If it makes you feel better, you're not the only one. Maybe that's why we make such a good pair." The meager attempt at lightening the mood fell flat, and she ran a hand through her hair. "I don't care, you know. It doesn't change the way I feel about you. You're still the same person you've always been."

"And how is that?"

Jane almost snorted. "You are the epitome of consistency, Loki. You're the least-changed person I've—"

"No." He lowered himself into the closest chair and fixed her with an unexpectedly mischievous gaze. "How do you feel about me?"

Oh.

Oh.

Her heart skipped a beat, and her mouth ran dry. Of everything that had weighed on her mind when entering the dungeon, that was the one thing she wasn't prepared to discuss. They'd never fully addressed that subject before. Avoiding it had always been a sort of unspoken agreement. Taboo, in a way. Forbidden.

Sure, they'd skirted the issue at times – my body may be in the Realm Eternal, but my mind is in Midgard; I want you; you're not the only one who burns – but neither of them had ever blatantly addressed whatever it was they shared. The one time they'd strayed too close – come back with me – the world had come crashing down around them. And yet, there they were, him waiting expectantly while she struggled to bring her chaotic thoughts into some semblance of order.

"Jane?"

Grey-green eyes searched her own with a peculiar insistence, and as she scanned his form – the quiet tautness of it, a coil wound too tightly – awareness clicked into place. This wasn't some merciless teasing. He wanted to hear her say it. Needed it. She was just as lacking as he, fell short more often than not, but maybe that was what always drew them back together. They found completeness in each other. Two halves of a whole.

"Most of the time, when I look at you, I remember the good. All the things we've shared and how unbelievable it is that we've come to this point. How no one knows me – will ever know me – like you do. Other times, all I can see are the mistakes we're going to make. But I don't care anymore. I've missed you. So much that it hurts. All those years apart… it's like I was just spinning in place. Like I can't get any traction without you. When everything else is falling apart, you're the one thing I can always come back to. You're my rock, Loki. You're my anchor."

And there was the truth of it. Despite everything that had happened, she still wanted him, would always want him, would always choose him in the end. She refused to believe in fate, but there was no denying that some people belonged together. She and Loki were meant for each other in this life. In whatever life. When faced with the endless span of immortality, she needed him by her side.

The gravity of her admission wound around them in slow, easy spirals. Within the cell, Loki's attention was fixed on her, unwavering, and Jane stretched out a hand to the barrier again. Her nerves thrummed in time with its power, alight with the overwhelming need to go to him. When she got too close, sparks flashed in the darkness like miniature fireworks.

"I should have gone with you."

Loki's brow furrowed ever so slightly. "What?"

"That day in Stora Karlsö when you asked me to go with you to Asgard, I should have taken your offer." Tears pricked the corners of her eyes at the thought of what might have been, all the pain that could've been avoided. "If I hadn't been so prideful, things—"

"No." He shook his head. "You were right to refuse."

"But if I had, none of this would have ever happened."

"Or it might have transpired regardless." It all boiled down to the same discussion they'd had a thousand times before, and the familiarity of it tugged at her heart as she watched Loki cross to stand before her. "A different argument, a different setting, a different sequence of events… they could have led to the same end. When all is said and done, fate always gets her way."

Jane wanted nothing more in that moment than to fall into him. She swayed with the urge, it was so strong. She wanted to feel the solidity of his arms around her, press her cheek to his chest and hear his heartbeat, breathe in the crisp, clean scent of him. One tear broke free to course a scalding path down her cheek, and Loki's eyes immediately flicked away to follow its progress before drifting up to linger on her hairline. She knew then what treacherous thought haunted him.

"It was an accident. You didn't do that to me."

She'd tripped. Plain and simple. Distracted by the afterimage of a Loki who'd already left the realm, she hadn't been paying attention and tripped. There was nothing he could have done. But the way his face twisted spoke volumes. There is only one act I truly regret. If fate meant she would have lost her memories no matter what, then he was imagining a hundred, a thousand, a million different ways in which she'd fall and he wouldn't be there to catch her.

"I might as well have." Loki's voice was slow to reach her, low and rich as smoke. "I came to you in the years after it happened, but the damage had already been done. I couldn't heal you. I couldn't make you remember."

"You…" The confession took her by surprise, and she trailed off.

She'd never really given much thought to what Loki had been doing in those in-between years. After the fallout of Stora Karlsö, she just assumed he'd written her off until their unexpected reunion in Asgard forced them together once more. It wouldn't have been unlike him. But she'd been wrong. Jane rifled through the haze of memories.

A snowy Canadian morning…

The handsome stranger outside the observatory…

She did know, she just hadn't made the connection. Now full realization all but slammed into her, shattering whatever peace she'd managed to make with her guilt. He'd come back to apologize. After all the hurtful things that had been said, he'd swallowed his pride and approached her first, even tried to heal her. And she hadn't known him.

It made everything all the more tragic.

They'd been through so much, the two of them.

"We've both made a lot of mistakes, and we've both paid for them. I think it's time we move forward, figure out what comes next." Edging closer to the stone wall that marked the corner of the cell, Jane leaned one shoulder against it. "What will you do now?"

Loki scoffed. "What can I do?"

"If you were free, I mean. If you could go anywhere, do anything, what would you do?"

"We are, all of us, crafted with a purpose in mind. My future is—"

"Your future is whatever you want it to be. It blows my mind to see you so convinced of these stories that you'd let them dictate your actions without a second thought. That's the easy way out. It's passive and weak and…" Jane raked a hand through her hair, frustrated. "Where's the Loki I know? The God of Mischief, the Lie-Smith? The one who takes on jötnar and defies titans?"

It was there. He was too proud to confess it, but she could see it behind millennia of ingrained beliefs and unfailing resolve. Surrender. The quiet, almost fearful hope for something more. But conviction was one of the hardest things to break, and she could feel the war still waging within him even before his last-ditch refutation.

"These events have been in motion since the beginning of the ages. Fate would say any attempt to change them would be in vain. Who are you to question the Norns?"

"I'm the person you made me. And I don't give a damn about fate." In the end, that was it. He'd taken a tenacious, dying girl and crafted something dangerous out of her. "Now tell me, what would you do if you were freed? You. Not some person in a story."

The barrier glinted merrily between them, wholly at odds with the way Loki's gaze darkened, sharpening into something equally thrilling and terrifying to behold. "I would track down Thanos. I would tear apart everything he is."

Feeling lighter than she had in years, Jane nodded. "Good." It was exactly what she'd wanted, hoped, needed to hear. "I hope you remember that."

She pushed away from the wall, returned to the main walkway, and motioned to the Einherjar she'd passed when entering the dungeon. Immediately, the guard disappeared up the stairs. When she turned back, Loki was regarding her suspiciously, eyes darting back and forth between her and the now-empty stairwell.

"You're not going to ask me anything else about Thanos or Surtur? I know that's what the All-Father wanted."

"No, I figure you can tell him yourself when we go to the war council." She casually adjusted the wrap around her shoulders, hiding an uncontainable grin behind the curtain of her hair. "It's been moved up to tomorrow morning, so don't make any plans. It would look pretty bad if you skipped out after I vouched for you."

As if on cue, a low rumbling began to echo throughout the sprawling dungeon. Dust clouded the air while the other prisoners looked around for what they knew was coming. Loki's focus, however, remained trained on her, body eerily still. Then the barrier separating them wavered, blinked, and went out.

It was a testament to Loki's self-control, the way he merely gathered himself, inhaled deeply, allowed one hand to pass through vacant space where the barrier had been. "How, may I ask, did you manage this?"

"Turns out the All-Father felt at least a little more lenient after learning the truth about what happened in New York. Also, he kind of needs me. There was an attack on Alfheim last night no one saw coming. Heimdall couldn't see what happened until it was already over." From what the Gatekeeper had described, the Chitauri's attack on the peaceful realm had been devastating. "I'm the only one who can predict the spatial extrusions associated with the Convergence. Apparently, that gives me some leverage."

"We cannot allow what occurred in Alfheim to happen elsewhere. You will aid us?"

"Yes." Worrying her lower lip, Jane cast a quick glance around the throne room. Odin was seated between the twin arcs of Asgard's throne, Einherjar were scattered around the perimeter while the Warriors Three and Sif hovered near the main entrance. Thor stood to her right, but if the way he was pointedly ignoring her was any indication, she'd get no help from him. This was not going to go well. "If you free Loki."

Hushed murmuring filled the room, only ceasing when Odin lifted a hand. "This is not a negotiation. We will retrieve your machines from Midgard, you will aid us in predicting the Convergence, and Loki will remain in his cell."

"No."

Thor turned to her sharply. "Jane—"

"No." She met the God of Thunder's frown with a determined glare of her own. "I'm done leaving him behind. I will not help without him."

"If what you say is true regarding his rebellion against the Mad Titan, he will be granted a lesser sentence." On the raised dais, Odin stood and planted his weapon with a thud of finality. "However, your devotion does not erase nor excuse what he's done. Until the Convergence has passed, he remains where he is."

"Then I rescind my offer."

Again, the bystanders began to whisper. Odin didn't move to stop them this time, though, just looked to Thor with a withering expression. "You see the trouble they cause, what we are forced to tolerate? Nothing good comes from dealing with humans. You would do well to remember that next time the temptation to involve yourself in their affairs arises." With barely-contained disgust, he turned back to her. "The entirety of Yggdrasil is at stake. Should Thanos succeed, everyone and everything you cherish will be turned to ash. You know this. You know this, and you choose him anyway. Over the well-being of the realms. Over all others."

"I do." Jane held his hard-edged gaze, unyielding and unrepentant. "Maybe if you had, too, we wouldn't be in this position right now."

Finally deciding to cross the threshold, Loki descended the steps. Some distant, abstract part of her mind coolly noted that Newton's third law was, indeed, true. For every movement that brought them closer together, there was an almost painful tightening in her chest.

"I told them I wouldn't help unless they freed you." He paused before her – too close and not close enough all at once – and she swallowed thickly. "Please don't make me regret it."

Please forgive me…

Please don't leave me…

Please don't run…

"I'm not a good man."

"No, you're not." He'd killed, he'd lied, he'd hurt. But then, so had she. "You're not what they say you are, though."

Then the last bit of space between them disappeared in one smooth step. He fingered the edges of her wrap, ghosted over the curve of her shoulder, traced the line of her jaw, and goosebumps broke out across her arms when his hand buried itself in her hair. With a soft exhale, he all but curled into her, forehead resting against hers.

"One of these days, you will lose faith in me."

"You definitely don't make it easy, Loki. You never have. But I will never give up on you."

There, in the middle of an otherworldly dungeon with the weight of fate resting on their shoulders, Jane shifted impossibly closer. She curled her hands around his elbows and closed her eyes and breathed him in. Cedar, frost, magic…

It felt like a new beginning.

It felt like coming home.

A/N2: Not a whole lot to say other than "I didn't know the weight until I felt the freedom" is a line pulled from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. This chapter pretty much speaks for itself.

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