Howdy y'all! How've we been? Did you have a Merry Christmas? I sure hope so!

I present for your viewing pleasure, chapter 18!

People keep asking if there will be a sequel to this fic and the answer is NO! It's just this one, but it's going to carry on into the Avengers. You'll see why I'm keeping it here as I post more.

Anyways thanks so very, very much to everyone who has been reading/reviewing/ favouriting. It struck me that this chapter will likely take this story to over 700 reviews… that's quite a lot! So thank you all so much! I wouldn't have been nearly as enthusiastic about writing this story if it were for all the lovely reviews you left me!

This chapter takes place in between Thor and the Avengers. There was a lot of debating as to how long the gap in between the two films actually is and I've decided that I'm going to go with two years just because. It isn't really going to matter too much if you disagree though, it doesn't affect the plot in any way whatsoever.

Ok! Enjoy :)

Darkness…

His world was not but darkness now…

A dark planet…

Dark creatures...

And dark, dark thoughts…

How long had it been since the rays of a sun had kissed his skin? How long had it been since he had heard a voice that held any sort of warmth? Certainly he did not care to dwell upon such thoughts anymore.

Warmth was Asgard, and he was Jotenborn.

The darkness, the cold, the despair. They were his now, and he let them consume him. His pale fingers curled around the golden staff which had been gifted to him. He would lead them into chaos, he would lead the destruction. He would tear the universe apart until it was not but dust… and darkness… and cold.

He would rip the very heart and soul out of any being who stood in his way.

He would rule them. All of them.

If he could not have their love… by the stars above he would have their fear.

Rosa shot up from her pillow, gasping in a deep breath. She felt achingly stiff as she sat up, staring blindly around her room, lit only by the glow of the moon and fought to even out her breathing. A cool breeze swept in through her open windows and kissed against her damp skin. Sweat pooled down her back and in amongst her sheets and she raised a shaking hand to wipe the beaded sweat from her brow. The gnarled skin of her hand rippled over the smooth skin of her cheeks as – even alone in the darkness – she pretended that she was only wiping away more sweat and not freshly fallen tears.

It wasn't the first time she'd dreamed of him… and it wouldn't be the last.

For months she had been afraid to sleep. For months she had been fighting off unconsciousness for fear of seeing him.

The first time she'd had the dream she hadn't thought anything of it. It had hurt of course, and she'd cried herself back to sleep, but she didn't think it was strange to have dreamt of him. After all, he consumed her thoughts day in and day out. What he'd done, that he was gone… that he let go.

After weeks of relentless dreaming, when Rosa wasn't sleeping at all save for when she would finally pass out from sheer exhaustion; that was when she admitted to herself at last that they weren't just dreams. They were just too consistent, too real. She dreamt of him every night without mercy. It had to mean something. It had to.

Heimdall stood at the edge of the shattered bridge, everwatchful eyes gazing out over all of existence. He did not turn as the sound of approaching footsteps reached his ears. Even without his all seeing gaze he would have known it was her. She came every day – every single day – and asked the same question.

"Any news today, Heimdall?" Rosa asked gently as she reached his side.

She lifted the hem of her dress slightly and sat herself down by the edge of the bridge, staring out as far as she could possibly manage. She strained her eyes until they ached and found herself thoroughly frustrated that she could see but a skerrick of what she knew Heimdall was able to.

"You seek to one day receive a different answer to your question." Golden eyes turned and fell upon her.

"If he'd died, you'd have seen him." She said firmly. "You told the Allfather yourself that he had found a way to cloak himself from your sight. He's out there somewhere."

"Then he does not wish to be found."

"Perhaps he would if he knew anyone were looking for him."

The pair remained in silence after that, staring out into the abyss of space. Eventually, Rosa stood up, bid Heimdall farewell and turned to walk the length of the bridge and return to Asgard. Heimdall knew she would be back again tomorrow.

She knew she ought not be there. Even as a child she'd heard whispers about the Asgardian woman known as the Oracle – she who knows. She was said to be dangerous, capable of such unnatural feets of magic that it was believed by many that the woman was feared even by the Allfather. As a child, Rosa was told that the Oracle herself invented evil. Though she no longer believed such childish tales, still Rosa feared her.

It had been late one night, only days after she had been moved into her chambers in the Palace. She'd barely spoken to anyone. She'd just sat there, staring out her window to where the Bifrost had once stood, to where he had fallen. It was then that she had first heard it, a voice – if it could be called that – laced into the wind like a whisper, carried into her room, caressing her ear.

Rosa…

It had called.

Rosa…

Rosa had stood immediately, entranced. Absently, she had taken up her heavy cloak and wrapped it around herself. She had exited her room and past through the Palace hallways as if she were a ghost. The lack of light had mattered not. She hadn't even noticed it, she was too engrossed in the sound of her name being called in the wind that she had followed blindly. Out she had walked, past the guards, out of the Palace, through the streets and into very the outskirts. She had known exactly where to go exactly how to get there, exactly which door to open.

She had known exactly who the woman was when she'd laid eyes upon her. Cautiously, Rosa had entered the dark room. Candles were cluttered upon tables, oozing wax as they appeared to have been burning for many hours. The woman had been seated in a chair in the centre of the room, facing the doorway, waiting for her to come.

"You seek answers…" the woman had croaked, her head lulling upon her chest.

"Who are you?" Rosa had asked reluctantly, eyeing the doorway behind her as the trance suddenly broke. She became very much aware that she had not come to be in that place of her own free will. She knew that really, she should have left.

"You seek knowledge. Knowledge about the dreams…"

Rosa's heart had pounded harder in her chest than she had ever remembered. "How do you know about the dreams?"

"You seek to learn more than what he had time to teach you…"

Rosa stared at the woman, she clutched her cloak around herself a little tighter. Perhaps she should have run. Perhaps she should have told the Allfather that she had met the fabled Oracle… but she had just been promised answers… and magic. So instead she had moved towards the empty chair that the old woman had gestured to. Rosa sat down and stared unwaveringly as the woman had raised her head to reveal a weathered face with empty sockets and grin of yellowed teeth. In those moments she hadn't felt any fear.

"Yes." She had answered.

Rosa returned to the Oracle whenever she had the chance. She made no secret of the fact that she was beginning to practice magic but she breathed not a word of who it was who taught her. She saw the concerned looks Sif gave her when she came to visit her (visits which came to be quite frequent. Rosa had soon come to call her friend) and Thor was no different, though at first he had just been pleased that she was at last leaving her chambers.

No longer could Rosa only call upon the newly awakened magic within her during times of heightened emotion. She had learned to do a great many thing upon command. Sparking a flame from thin air and resting it upon her palm - a trick as she now called it, which she had once found utterly impossible - was as easy as inhaling.

The Oracle was patient with her, spending endless hours waiting, watching, instructing as Rosa struggled. Never once did she ask for payment of any sort. Never once did she send Rosa away, preoccupied with her own chores.

Rosa did her best to ignore the fact that there was something not right in that. Afterall, she needed this woman. If ever she were to find Loki, the Oracle was the one to help her do it. She was her only chance.

"I dreamt of him again last night." She murmured gently, watching as the old woman scattered the tiny bones upon the table between them.

She had entered the dank hut almost half an hour earlier and this was the first time either of them had spoken. The Oracle always seemed to know when Rosa's thoughts were troubling her. In which times she would go about her business until Rosa chose to speak.

The candlelight flickered as the Oracle raised empty eye sockets in her direction.

"The dreams have meaning, child," the woman croaked. "All dreams do, you know well enough."

Rosa sighed, wringing her hands a little, frightened in that moment of speaking her thoughts aloud. "I feel as if… as if something is coming… something awful. But they're only dreams after all, just because I dream it does not make it true. I never dreamt true things before."

"But you woke the magic, child." The Oracle raised a gnarled finger and pointed at Rosa's chest. "There is power within you now, and you search from him both consciously and unconsciously."

The Oracle looked back down upon the scattered bones. "Tell me, was he some place dark?"

"Yes." Rosa whispered, "and there were… creatures. There are always creatures that whisper to him in the darkness, they look to him…"

"Tread cautiously, child." The Oracle's croaking voice filled her head, making her drowsy. Rosa hated when she did this, she felt her eyes growing heavy and she fought against the alluring pull of unconsciousness. "These bones tell an unhappy tale."

"What do they say?" Rosa slurred.

"They tell of pain… suffering… they tell of a great loss that is still to come."

Rosa finally lost the battle and felt sleep take over her as she sat in the Oracle's chair.

Rosa stared at herself in the mirror as the maid pulled her hair back with delicate fingers. It still felt so surreal at times, to be sitting there in those glorious garments being waited upon by those whom she once worked with. She had long since given up trying to speak to them as friends, as they once had been. The women treated her as above them now, she was no longer one of them, they had to watch their tongues.

Rosa suspected furthermore that they feared her too. Her story – or at least part of it – was known throughout the Kingdom now. She was the servant girl who the Dark Prince Loki had captivated, they had been lovers in secret and he had poisoned her with his love of magic. Prince Thor stood by her and called her friend, true enough, but hadn't he done exactly that for his 'brother' before Loki had attempted to kill the King?

She was not to be trusted.

Amongst the Gods and Godesses she was known to be an outsider as well. She was not one of them, regardless of what Odin had claimed. And she had been Loki's. They never exchanged more conversation with her than the obligatory "Hello, how are you?" and "it is a great pleasure to see you again!"

Rosa knew that behind her back they had names for her; Rosa, the Goddess of Rags, the Goddess of Pleasantries. She cared not for what they thought of her. She had felt out of place from the very beginning anyway. She knew just as well as they did that she did not belong amongst them. She really didn't belong anywhere anymore.

And for that reason she would be eternally grateful to Sif, who stood by her side at every social event and pretended along with her that she was oblivious to the whispering.

As Sif walked through the empty corridor she heard the echo of footfalls approaching behind her. They were heavy, dignified. She did not need to turn to know it was Thor who approached. He fell into stride beside her and offered her a gentle smile as they continued along in comfortable silence. She shivered as his shoulder brushed up against hers, he stood far closer to her of late than he used to.

The pair had known each other for a long time. Centuries. But it wasn't until they began to spend more private time together (in the beginning it took all their combined efforts to convince Rosa to do so much as eat) that Thor had started to acknowledge that perhaps Loki had been right; Sif was infatuated with him. And maybe, just maybe, that wasn't such a bad thing.

Sif wasn't one to offer shy smiles or seemingly innocent, playful touches. She was a warrior, she had her pride. She would not stand for such girlish nonsense. But the lingering stares, they were a guilty pleasure she had allowed herself. And though she would never say it out loud, when Thor had slowly begun to return them, her stomach had done flips.

It was then that Thor managed to catch her eye and he smiled at her as again he stared, unblinkingly, with those maddeningly blue eyes. Sif felt short of breath as she gazed back at the future King. He had changed so much since Midgard, he'd become so much more.

"Thor," she breathed.

Sif suddenly took hold of his arm, stopping his strides and pulled Thor forward, pressing her lips to his. Thor let out a muffled sound of surprise but soon Sif felt his lips begin to work gently against hers as his hands came to settle upon her waist. She pressed her body flush against his as he deepened the kiss. Her entire body was on fire, she had waited so long for this, yearned for it. She was sure her heart was going to burst.

When their lips finally parted, Thor pressed his forehead against hers. His eyes were squeezed shut and his lips parted to breathe a single word;

"Jane…" he whispered.

Sif's breathing hitched and she pulled away from him. Thor's eyes shot open immediately, looking horrified as he realised what he had done.

"Sif, forgive me. I-"

"Don't." Sif cut him off, backing away from him. "Just don't, Thor."

She turned on her heel and strode away, refusing to let her tears fall in front of him.

"Rosa… he's gone." Thor sat on the end of her bed, watching her as she poured over her books. "You need to move on."

They'd had the exact same conversation a thousand times now, and each time it was the same. Neither could sway the other in any way.

"How?" She asked desperately, truly, deeply wanting an answer. She held her arms out in surrender. "How could I ever move on when he's still out there somewhere? How do I just forget that?"

"Rosa, he's dead." Thor stood and moved towards her. He reached for her hand, taking it from the aged pages and closed the book for her.

Saying those words hurt him. To speak about his brother like that, to force him to become not but a memory… it pierced his heart. But as the months past and Rosa's relentless search pressed on he knew it needed to be said, for her sake and for everyone else's.

Rosa slammed her hand down upon the book frustratedly. "He isn't! Heimdall would see him if he was! He's out there somewhere and I'll wait forever if I must for a single sign of where he hides."

Thor let out a sigh of frustration as she walked away from him towards her window. "And if you were to find him, then what? The Bifrost is gone Rosa, there is no way of bringing him home. No way of reaching him."

"We must find him first. Once we know where he is, we go to the Allfather and he will find a way to retrieve him-"

Thor only shook his head, "Rosa… you have heard it yourself. Loki attacked two other realms as well as threatening the safety of Asgard. He virtually carried out his sentence on my Father's behalf. If he were to return, he faces imprisonment or banishment. You hold hope for Loki to fall back into a way of life that we knew before, but Odin would never take lightly to Loki returning, were it ever to come to be."

"He's his son." Rosa said gently.

Thor gritted his teeth. Her stubbornness was truly beginning to agitate him, she would simply not see reason. "But he isn't truly though-"

Rosa's eyes darkened. "Stop it."

"You know it to be true. He is no Asgardian-"

"Thor, stop."

"He is a frost giant, Rosa."

"THEN HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A FROST GIANT!" She screamed at him, her chest heaving. "T'is not something he chose for himself, Thor. It is who he is and has always been. Can you not imagine it, Thor? How he must have felt, to find out something like that… and he was all alone. You were banished, and I along with you… He needed help. And we weren't there. I wasn't there. I failed him."

"It was not your fault." Thor murmured, his resolve softening.

Rosa shook her head, blinking back tears. She was so sick of tears. It seemed impossible to her that she should have any left at all. "I should have said something to him. On the bridge before he fell, if I could have only said something to explain-"

"You tried to, Rosa."

"Yes, but after what he did… I should have gotten there sooner. I should have realised sooner."

"And you could truly just forgive him for all that he has done?" The question fell reluctantly from his tongue. He wasn't sure himself what his answer might be, should anyone have asked him the same thing.

Rosa smiled a little, though her eyes were brimmed with unshed tears. "Couldn't you? If it meant he were to come home?"

Thor lowered his head, his chest suddenly tight. Secretly, he wished for nothing more than to find Loki safe and well, waiting to come back to them. Secretly, he wanted to be looking for him too. But he was Thor Odinson, next in line to the Throne of Asgard. The Asgardian people were looking to him to lead them, he could not spend his time chasing a ghost. A certainly not a ghost of a man who had almost destroyed their realm. Rosa's voiced pulled him from his thoughts.

"He was never like that before. He was kind and gentle. He was good, Thor."

He shook his head. "You weren't there Rosa, you did not see him. He would have killed them all, he wanted to…He sent the Destroyer to kill me, his own brother. He near killed you in the process." Thor took hold of Rosa's scarred arm but she pulled away from his grasp, still unable to meet his eye. "Even if he is alive, I fear him to be lost."

"He let go." She murmured, absently.

Thor looked upon her, genuine sympathy in his eyes.

"If you dropped him… or if he had fallen still fighting you, I would not be able to deny your words… but he let go, Thor, with that look in his eyes. That hurt. He was so broken. He needed help. He needed us. It was never about the Throne or Jotenheim or… he's done terrible things. Evil, unforgivable things... but he's not beyond our help yet Thor. Or at least, he wasn't then. We just have to find him before it's too late."

Rosa shuddered as images of darkness, her dreams of the cold, threatened to engulf her. "But I fear we are running out of time."

"I won't give up, Thor. I can't."

Rosa woke in a cold sweat. Attempting to take in a breath, it proved almost impossible. She lay there nearly suffocating, but barely even registered the burning in her struggling lungs. She thought only of the dream. It had been so vibrant. So real. Never had she felt so close. So there.

She had seen mortals. Many of them. Running, shooting, looking for escape. There had been blue flames that had danced around him, without burning him. He'd looked weak, so very weak. Yet he had overpowered them with ease. He had escaped. Many looked to have been killed in the process…

He had been pleased. He'd done it. He'd taken it. The thing the mortals had called the Tesseract.

It had been so real. Rosa's chest was heaving as she pulled herself out of bed. That was it, the last straw. She was going to the Allfather. Surely, he would do something, surely her dreams would be enough to have him send out some sort of search at the very least. There had to be something that could be done.

Loki was alive! He was out there somewhere.

Rosa threw on a robe and wrapped it tight around her body as she flung open her doors and raced out of her chambers. She bolted past a guard who was marching along the hallway, doing his rounds that night and he stopped, startled as she past.

"My Lady!" he called after her.

"I must see the King!" she called back, not bothering to slow down.

As soon as she rounded the corner Rosa saw light peaking out from beneath the doors of the Throne room, a guard positioned at either side, standing at the ready. They recognised her as she approached and pushed open the heavy doors. The light blinded her for a few moments as she staggered in before the King. She knew her behaviour to be completely out of order but she did not care at all. She had to tell him. He had to know that Loki was open there.

She opened her mouth to speak as her eyes began to adjust but her words died in her throat at the sight of Heimdall approaching the King. He must have only entered the Throne Room mere seconds before her and the fact that he was there at all could only mean something terrible had happened. Heimdall never abandoned his post. Never.

Thor stood by his Father and he motioned to Rosa to come stand by him when he spotted her. He looked so stern, so much older. She moved slowly and silently, staring at Heimdall.

"My King," Heimdall genuflected before him.

Odin leaned forward from his Throne, looking far more wary than he ever had in all his years. Rosa looked up at Thor, there was tension in his jaw and she had the feeling that perhaps he'd suspected what Heimdall was about to tell them. Perhaps he had lied to her when he'd said he'd given up hope.

"Loki." was all Heimdall needed to say before every being in the room tensed.

Rosa's eyes shot up. She looked towards Thor for an instant before gazing back at Heimdall, her heart thundered in her chest. She had been right, her dreams had been true. He was out there.

Odin stood slowly, needing his staff to support him. "Where?" he asked.

"He's in Midgard, My King. He has taken the Tesseract."

Okey dokey guys! I'd love to know what you thought! Just think, I've written over 65,000 words for you! Couldn't you spare a moment just to leave me a few sentences? Pretty please :)

I love you all for reading! Next chapter is mentally complete, there's just the small matter of typing it up…

Talk soon! Mwa!