Hello, Lunchies!
This first chapter includes a car crash, and, if I may say so myself, a rather violent one. If this will bother you, Please only read after the dots. All you must know is that the car Melody was in was smashed into, and she blacked out.
This book was inspired by a story on Quotev, called Timeless. I've been tinkering with the idea for a while, and I think I finally have something to show for it. That being said, sit back, relax, get some popcorn, and enjoy the show.
It all started with a drunk driver.
Melody Brooks and her younger sister, Ava, were sitting in the back seat of the car, laughing, and singing "Wheels on the Bus" In far too loud and off-key to be anything more than screeching. Half-devoured gummy worms and Doritos, the typical road food necessities in their household, were littered over the seats among their kin of broken and whole crayons, coloring papers, books, pillows, and Ava's stuffed animals.
Outside, it was cold, and slightly drizzling, but in the car, the atmosphere was just the right amount of snuggly warm. The family was travelling on their yearly excursion from California to their cousin's house in South Carolina, and the road trip across the country was Melody's favorite part of the year. The anticipation of seeing her cousins was almost better than actually seeing them, plus, there were more gummy worms en route.
They'd been on the road for two days, already, and they had only one left. They'd been driving for three hours, that day, long enough for them to get bored of the audiobooks, and decide to make their own audio, and their mother to stuff in her earplugs, and fall asleep.
Mr. Evin Brooks, their dad and driver, innocently began crossing the upcoming intersection, unaware of the neon green Cadillac speeding at one hundred thirty miles an hour towards that same intersection.
The two vehicles collided with a scream of metal, the bumper of the Cadillac slamming into Melody's door, and sending their car flying in a deathly spiral into the gutter.
How quickly the screeches of joy turned to screams of terror as the car turned end over end, and landed with a sickening thud in the wet grass.
Melody heard them screaming.
She felt the shards of glass and fiberglass, and metal from the car buried in her skin.
She saw the blood trickling down her baby sister's head as she wailed.
She smelled the foul stench of spilt gasoline and adrenaline.
She heard her mother screaming.
The broken fragments of the car lay scattered across the grass.
She caught sight of their luggage, spilled out across the countryside.
She wondered if the other guy was okay.
She wondered if her dad was okay.
But above all these sensations came the overwhelming, never-ceasing urge to sleep.
The rushing in her ears grew to a steady roaring, and then all was black, and, as far as she was concerned, she didn't exist.
…
…
It seemed years before she felt like anything, again.
Slowly, she came to the realization that she was lying on her back.
Existing… somewhere.
The somewhere was moving, she became aware, gradually.
It was cold, hard, and black. Everything was black. It couldn't have been darker had she had her eyes closed.
That, she discovered, was because they were closed.
Every part of her felt heavy. Even breathing was like trying to inhale with an elephant sitting on her ribcage. She probably couldn't open her eyes. She'd just lay there, and hope she'd wake up, soon. Most likely, she was in the ambulance, driving to the hospital.
She became aware of the voices very gradually, as if her ears were old-fashioned radios, trying, straining to pick up some signal, or anything of use. Every now and again they'd pick up a word, maybe a phrase, and then it would be back to static.
She knew those voices from somewhere. Where, she wasn't sure.
The voices became clearer, and she noted that one was deep, a little raspy, with a sophisticated British accent. The other was very American, but his way of speech seemed formal, and businesslike. Both were men.
"People don't just appear out of nowhere, Hawk." British guy insisted. "It's your realm, surely you know."
Realm? Melody pondered the use of the term. Like in Avengers movies? Maybe they're larpers. If that was the case, she certainly wasn't in an ambulance. What was this?
"Sir, I may live here, but I don't know squat about the place." The American returned. "I thought she was one of you, at first, to be honest."
"No, she's no goddess. I don't sense anything Asgardian about her in the least."
They were talking about her.
Great.
Plus, Asgardian? They certainly were roleplaying, then. That's certainly where she knew the British guy's voice from. He was pretending to be Loki, the Trickster raised in Asgard, and he was doing a pretty good job of it, too. Loki was her favorite character, and she couldn't help but get a little excited to be among fellow fans. The other one's voice, she couldn't quite place. It was probably a Marvel character, given the scenario.
And what an insane scenario it was…
"We'll need to dispose of her, and quickly." The one who had Loki's voice went on. "It's only been two hours on the Norn-forsaken planet, and we're already having anomalies pop up; that simply won't do."
Wow, this guy is good! He even talks like an oldie-worldie fellow!
It occurred to her that she no longer felt crushed by the elephant, and moving wasn't hard, anymore. She'd been so focused on listening, she'd forgotten she could do other things, too. Of course. Typical Melody.
"She's awake, Sir."
"I'm aware."
Well, no use pretending. Warily, she cracked open her eyelids, and struggled to try to sit up. It was odd; she didn't feel all the agony she'd expected.
After all, she was just in a car wreck, T-boned, on her side of the car, too. Shouldn't she at least have a headache? She'd felt the glass in her side. Why was she completely unharmed, now? It didn't make any sense.
The guy cosplaying Loki gently raised the edge of a dagger to her neck. "If you have need of your throat, I'd advise you stay still and furnish us with some answers."
Wow, he was really good. He looked just like the real thing! Maybe he was the actor… what was his name? Tom something… She never had a head for actors, anyway. "Great costume." She offered with a smile.
"Costume?" He actually looked offended. "Cease your noxious blabbering. Do you know who I am?"
Melody blinked, still disoriented, and more than a little threatened by the blade, still cold against her jugular. "…Tom?" She guessed.
Irritably Loki-guy turned to the driver of the vehicle, who Melody couldn't exactly see. "Does she speak All-Tongue? What does 'Tom' mean?"
"She thinks your name is Tom, sir." The man responded. He was the one with the American accent. "It's a common Earth name."
"Oh, you're in character!" Melody breathed in excitement, glancing around the interior of the vehicle. The SHIELD logo was obviously painted on the ceiling, and Melody had to restrain a squeal of delight. "Are we on set?"
"Listen, Mortal." Tom, she supposed he probably was, rolled his eyes. Blue. They must be doing re-shooting or something of the first Avengers movie, she prided herself upon noticing. "I am Loki. Your King."
Was she supposed to play along? What was this, memory loss? Did she forget signing up for this? Well… she wasn't the best at roleplay… but she'd do what she could. "Delighted, delighted, my good sir." She responded in a faux-British accent.
"Your Highness." He corrected her.
Why not have fun with this?
"Who, me?" She grinned. "Why, that's very kind of you, but I'm afraid I'm not royalty!"
"I am." Tom grit his teeth in frustration. "This is ridiculous. Just kill her, now."
Kill her?
What?!
"Wait! Your Highness!" Might as well curry favor, if she was about to die, anyway. Maybe she could save her character. "I… I can be useful!"
"You're not useful, you're irritating." Tom snapped, but then hesitated. After all, from what she could gather, she had randomly appeared in the car. She could see the wheels turning in his head. "…What can you do?"
"I can…" She trailed off.
What was she doing?
What in the world was going on?
How did she get here? Why wasn't she hurt? Where were the cameras? Why wouldn't Mr. Tom break character, even to explain things to her?
She'd gone from the car crash directly to here.
Then…
Was she dead?
Was this… The afterlife?
The MCU? It couldn't be…
That was when she realized three fundamental truths at the exact same time.
1. She had died and gone to the MCU
2. This really was Loki, Avengers one Loki, the mind-controlled one, and he meant business.
And finally, 3. She didn't know how to get home.
She was trapped in her favorite fictional universe, indefinitely. And, if she really was dead… forever.
The face claim for our main protagonist, Melody Brooks, would be Aryn Wright Thompson.
TheOnlyHuman.
