It was after Ronan had washed his hands of the blood that stained them, after boats had been set alight in a traditional send off, after balls of light had been sent into the sky with Asgard in tears, that Jane explained her theory.
"Thor told me about something called the convergence - when all the nine realms are aligned perfectly." She said, running a hand through her hair. "It made me think - your power is related to luck. What if it's powered by symbols of luck?"
"How does the convergence relate to that?" Ronan had to ask.
"They say that when the stars align, good fortune is in your favour. This is more than stars - this is realms." Jane's eyes had gone bright with excitement. They usually did when she'd cracked a problem, when her theory made sense. "Ronan, your power gave luck to Frigga. It allowed her to breathe, to stay alive, despite all the odds. Your luck has been amplified and because of this convergence. A once every five thousand year event." Ronan saw Thor nodding slightly in agreement.
"That would make sense. This is the only time your luck has had a visible effect, able to be seen."
"I could feel it, too. Like it was fire coursing through my blood. And it's...been warning me, I think, about the portals back in London. Something was screaming at me to leave, that it was dangerous, I just didn't realise how dangerous at the time." Ronan shook his head. "I thought it was just because of New York. But if your theory is right then...since before coming here my luck has been intervening, or trying to, with the bad things that should be happening."
"And the convergence isn't even at the strongest point yet." Jane added. "The realms aren't completely aligned yet. They're still aligning. When they're in position…" She trailed off, and Ronan was left staring at his hands.
"Why now?" He whispered, voice hoarse. "Why is my luck only kicking in now? Why not...years ago. When I needed it to work. When my mum…"
"Ronan. What happened to your mother...it wasn't your fault." Jane reached out to take his hands in her own small ones. Her skin was frighteningly pale against his own dark hands. "There are so many things that coincide with your luck working now - the convergence, your age, the way the really tough stuff is happening now. Your mother...you couldn't have saved her. I know you think you could have, but you were a kid. You were ten. It was not your fault. What matters now is that you have saved someone - a woman is alive and breathing now because of you."
"But she will not wake." Jane and Ronan startled in unison at Odin's voice, and he was watching them with an icy gaze. "My wife may be alive, but the healers believe she will not wake for a long time."
"She's alive. There's...there's still a chance she'll pull through." Ronan said, thinking bitterly that his own father was in that state, but he was not Asgardian, he was merely mortal, and one day Ronan may have to make the impossible choice to pull the plug on his life support.
"Mother will be fine, father." Thor reassured him. "She is much too stubborn to die. Right now, we need to figure out why the elves attacked us."
"Isn't it obvious?" Ronan said, raising an eyebrow. "The aether. It's in Jane. Somehow her stumbling across it must have awoken the last remnants of the race -" Here, he gave Odin a pointed look, harkening back to his comment earlier. "- And they traced it here. They escaped though, and they will come back."
"We can face Malekith head on." Thor glanced at Jane, before turning back to his father. "I can take Jane to Svartalfheim, and when he moves to take the aether, destroy it or contain it while it's vulnerable. He won't be expecting us to attack him on his own grounds."
"No. We'll remain here. Have him come to us and fight him here." Odin ordered, and Ronan felt his eyes grow wide in disbelief. Thor's eyes had narrowed.
"They will destroy us. Father -"
"No. If your plan fails, you risk our enemy getting their hands on this weapon."
"They've already beaten us once. We've lost too many -"
"- And we will lose more, to destroy them!" Odin's firm reasoning had devolved into a yell and Ronan and Jane flinched back. Even Thor looked unsettled. "When he comes, he and his people shall fall to Asgardian blades!"
"And how many more are you willing to lose?"
"As many as it takes!"
"These are people you're talking about!" Ronan was surprised the words even came out of his mouth, but he felt a sudden flush of anger overcome him. "You would disregard their lives, sentence them to death, and for what? To...to prove a point? They are people, with families and friends and loved ones, not tools to be used and discarded!"
"Watch your words carefully, boy." Odin's voice had gone cold. "The only reason you have not been thrown off Asgard is because you have saved my wife."
Ronan wanted to yell, wanted to say more. Wanted to point out that even if their plan failed, had all the potential to fail, he was overflowing with luck. There was more a chance that it would work, because Ronan's luck wouldn't want the realms to be flooded with darkness - but instead, he kept his mouth shut. He wondered how literal the word 'thrown' would be, and decided it would be very literal, considering Loki's exit from Asgard after the incident in New Mexico. Even if Thor's version of events didn't involve any literal throwing, Ronan wasn't Odin's son in any way, and he doubted the king of Asgard would have any qualms about hurling him off the edge of the bifrost.
He only stood and watched as Jane was lead off to her quarters. She kept her head held high, and Ronan noted her hands had clenched into fists by her sides. Obviously, she was just as angry as Ronan was with the whole situation, but had been smart enough to keep quiet.
He glanced up at Thor, who was watching his father leave, jaw clenched. Ronan fought off a grin - he was going to go against orders, wasn't he?
Sometimes, Ronan loved his friends.
XoooX
The meeting Thor had conducted consisted of the four Asgardian warriors who had come to find him in New Mexico and Heimdall.
Ronan wasn't too sure about involving Heimdall, purely because wasn't he supposed to support the king unconditionally? Then again, he could also see everything, so either way he would know what was going on. Knowing he was on their side...it was comforting, in a way.
Thor opened the meeting by mentioning what they were doing would be treason. Ronan sort of knew there would be complaints - what they had done last time had been treason, going to get Thor against the orders of Loki when he was acting king - but it was still reassuring to hear no complaints and see no hesitation from the group. Then Thor mentioned their goal.
"We need to get Jane off world." he said. "It is not safe to have her remain here, both for her wellbeing and the wellbeing of Asgard."
"It's impossible." Sif shook her head, Ronan slightly mesmerised by the way her sleek black hair flowed with the movement. It had been golden, in the myths, but turned black when Loki cut it off on one of his particularly mischievous days. Also in the myths, Sif had a passive role in any story she was mentioned in, and was most certainly not a warrior - and yet, here she was, bedecked in armour. He tallied up that fact as yet another thing mortals had gotten wrong. "The bifrost is closed, and the tesseract has been sealed away. Even your mortal friend's luck would not be able to help you in retrieving it."
"Surely there are other ways off Asgard?" Ronan raised an eyebrow.
"There are, known only to a few." Heimdall said.
"One, in particular." Thor said and that got a snort out of Fandral, who leaned across the table, shaking his head in disbelief.
"You can't seriously mean to ask Loki for help." He said and Volstagg grunted his agreement.
"It's foolish." The bigger man said. Ronan couldn't help but remind himself that those two weren't actually mentioned at all in Norse Mythology, weren't important enough to earn entry into the myths, and immediately felt bad about relishing that fact. They were helping them, even if they were disparaging Loki while doing it. "He's untrustworthy."
"How so?" Ronan had to ask, and he was all too aware that his hands had curled into fists. "I mean, has he not served Asgard well? I mean, before Thor was banished. He was your friend, yes?"
"He will still betray Thor now." Fandral's voice had gone soft, as though he had actually taken in Ronan's words. "He holds no love for his family. Not after…"
"But he likes you." Thor told Ronan, who blinked at Thor. "Which is why you will be coming with me."
"No offence meant, but what's to say that when faced with freedom, Loki will not turn on you and then head to Odin?" Sif asked, and she said it with no malice. It was as though she thought that was an actual possibility. "Kill the king and claim the throne, as he wished to do?"
"In New York, he held a knife to my throat and threatened to kill me. I told him to." Ronan said, and he was all too aware of the three who had not seen the events in New York - because Heimdall had seen, of course he had - staring at him. "He obviously didn't. He had ample opportunity to kill me, but he didn't. That's why he won't turn on us - because if he couldn't kill me then, when he was desperate, why would he now when we're freeing him? He's clever and sneaky, not an idiot." He heard Fandral muffle a laugh into his sleeve at that last comment. He wasn't sure if it was incredulous or if he just found it humorous, but either way Ronan chose to ignore it.
"And after you've convinced Loki to follow your plan?" Fandral then asked, tossing his head back like a horse, making his locks bounce. Arrogant little thing, wasn't he? He reminded Ronan of Tony a bit - the confidence, and arrogance, but without the little things that Ronan admired in Tony - his selflessness, his creative mind, how much he genuinely cared but hid it with flash and barvado. "Your lady love is guarded by a legion of our best, who will spot you coming from a mile away. Your lucky friend may be able to see her, but he won't be able to get her out."
"Oh, but neither of us will be coming to get her." Thor said, and his eyes shifted over to Sif. She sighed, rolled her eyes, but nodded, resigned to her role in this plan.
"And the All-Father?" Volstagg asked finally and Heimdall tilted his head.
"It is my sworn duty to inform the king of any action against the throne." And he gave a small smile, the slightest upturn of his lips, and Ronan decided that he really, really liked that guy. Much more than the other three gathered at the table, nonetheless.
"Sounds good." Fandral grinned, toothy and bright and cocky. "When do we start?"
XoooX
Loki had lost count of the days he'd been imprisoned.
It had to have been months, but it felt longer, days dragging on and on as he followed a monotonous routine. His cell may be full of finer things, with books supplied by his mother (not his mother - Frigga was not his mother, no matter how much he wished it), but there was nothing stimulating.
At least his imprisonment on Earth, no matter how short, at least allowed him visitors often, even if it was only in the form of Ronan Spire.
Loki had tried to wipe thoughts of the boy from his mind, not knowing if Odin would root around in there and pluck his image from his memories, use his form to torment Loki. He wouldn't put it past the All-Father to find a way to make Loki's imprisonment even more unbearable than it already was. After all, he had told him he was destined to die, hadn't cared when he let go of his staff while dangling over an abyss, had never truly loved Loki. He'd been intending to use him, and Loki couldn't - wouldn't, shouldn't have to - forgive him for that.
But he missed talking to people. He'd only been seen by his mother, and a guard had informed him that she wasn't...wasn't dead, but not awake. A stroke of luck, he had said, and that had propelled Loki's thoughts back to the mortal he couldn't bring himself to kill.
Ronan had been right when he said Loki liked him - truly, Loki thought him strange and awkward, but his oddness had endeared him to Loki, and the Jotun could see some of himself in Ronan. The way he complained about being expected to be a soldier, the way he shoved his hands in his pockets like he'd rather not be the center of attention and most of all how sometimes he looked sad, eyes older than they had any right to be. His power - his luck - was only partly Loki's reason for being so enraptured by him, almost ensnared by those dark eyes.
It was a horrible feeling, knowing that this mortal held sway over him.
He missed it, Loki had realised about a day in when he had almost instinctively waited for Ronan to show up with a battered children's book - he wanted to know who had been trying to get the stone, before their story sessions had been interrupted - and he knew that he would never see Ronan again, hear him reading and putting on voices for different characters and pulling faces at certain lines, and it made him ache. He longed for the easy interaction that they had, the ease of not having to outshine one another. Loki knew that Ronan had a plan to get Loki to trust him, but he knew in turn that Ronan had also grown to care for Loki…
Right?
He hadn't pushed Loki away when he'd crumpled against him in the tower, even when Loki spat out false declarations of hatred. He'd yelled at Thor - his perfect, do no wrong not-brother - when he'd attempted to muzzle Loki. He didn't know what he meant about the sewing lips mentioned, but it had sobered Thor in a way Loki had never seen before.
And now Thor was here, in front of his cell, and he had brought a friend. Their face was hidden by a cloak, the dark green hood pulled up over his head. Or, Loki assumed the friend was a male, despite how small they were in comparison to his brother.
"After all this time, you finally come to visit me!" Loki put on a voice full of false cheer, the smile on his face sharp and unfriendly. "Why? To gloat? Mock? And who is your little friend? Do they wish to see what has become of the second prince of Asgard? Well, here he is - sorry if I disappoint."
"Loki, no more illusions." And Thor sounded sad, and Loki froze in his display. He knew. Of course he did. No matter how many times he fell for his doubles, Thor knew how much Loki loved Frigga. Even if she were alive, the fact she may not wake…
He heard the stranger let out a strangled noise when the illusion fell. Loki knew his cell was a mess, knew he was a mess, hair tangled and face gaunt. He couldn't eat with the worry gnawing at him when it came to Frigga, with guilt knowing that he had directed the monster out.
"You knew me too well." Loki offered him a bitter smile. "She's alive. Will she wake?"
"They hope so." Thor answered. "But I did not come to discuss that. I offer you a chance at vengeance. We wish to march upon Svartalfheim, but the All-Father will not allow it. We need your secret ways out of Asgard."
"My my, brother." Loki let out a bitter, weak laugh. "Once again, I am hidden away until I am needed. What does your companion think of this? Well?" Loki raised an eyebrow at them. "What do you think about betraying your king?"
"He isn't my king." And Loki felt his blood run cold. He knew that voice, recognised it as one that had haunted him. He managed to get to his feet and walked closer, closer until he was almost pressed up against the barrier as they lowered their hood.
His face, soft and dark, framed by black curls, looked sad, lips turned down. The dark eyes that had ensnared Loki were sad, too, and he tilted his head slightly. It was so hopelessly endearing. "So I have no qualms about betraying him."
"You can't be here." Loki whispered. This was a trick, it had to be - some last, cruel act to finally send him mad. His brother - because they had been raised together, played together, fought together, no matter how much Loki tried to forget - and the mortal he cared about, illusions sent by his father to torment him. "You're on Earth. You have to go back. You could be killed, or worse."
"Expelled?" Ronan's lips twitched upwards, an eyebrow quirking up. It was a line that Loki remembered, had found himself laughing at back on Earth. This was something Odin would have skimmed, found unimportant if he was truly reading his mind, and it made something inside Loki both churn and relax. This was real. That was Ronan, the lucky charm, in front of his cell, smirking. "Come on, you left that open."
"It is you." The three words were breathed out, and Loki almost cursed himself at how vulnerable he sounded. His eyes turned back to Thor, who gave Loki a look, a knowing one, and Loki resisted the urge to scream at him. "Alright. I'll help you."
"Just like that?" Thor sounded smug. Loki scowled at him, and managed to not laugh when Ronan hit him, just like Loki wanted to.
"I want to kill them for almost killing mother." Loki said, and his eyes flickered back to Ronan. "And as much as I dislike you, I trust him. This isn't some ploy by Odin, like I so feared." His lips turned up into his trademark cocky smirk at Ronan's startled expression, and he side eyed Thor. "When do we start?"
XoOoX
Note to self: Avoid writing in Loki's POV. I want to get very introspective and that is bad for story telling. Do not have him was poetic about his insecurities and Ronan's eyes. That's also not getting the plot anywhere.
This...came out surprisingly quick once I sat down and started writing it. It seems my muse wants to get more Ronan and Loki interaction and lo and behold it happened.
I have bits of the next few chapters written up, just need tweaking to fit in better with what's going on. So that'll be fun.
Until next time! - Jazz xx