Chapter 12: It's Not Over Just Yet
It only took a couple of seconds to move from Earth back to Asgard, and Thor couldn't help but smile as he found himself surrounded by the familiar walls of his home. Guards immediately reacted at the sight of him and Loki, moving in quickly, before stopping in alarm as another figure collapsed to their knees nearby. Hearing the noise, Thor looked around. His blue eyes widened, when he saw the lanky silver haired mutant that had been his brother's ally in the battle of New York.
"Ciara Ellis?" he turned to her completely, stunned to see the mortal girl in Asgard. "What have you done?" Thor turned back to Loki, who didn't react, staring at Ciara as well. Thor frowned, seeing the shock in his brother's eyes.
"What happened?" Ciara muttered as her vision swam, and nausea brought bile up through her throat. She got to her feet, a hand to her head, and looked around. Her breathing hitched as she saw Thor, Loki, and the guards staring at her. "What the hell?" she demanded, not recognising her surroundings.
"Intruder!" the guards immediately turned to her, raising their weapons. Ciara's eyes widened in fear, and she took a step back tentatively.
"Stop, don't approach-" Thor's warning came too late as the guards stepped towards the girl, who immediately reacted.
In a fight-or-flight mode, Ciara started running, and the guards were battered by the strong winds that came from her speed as she escaped them easily. Thor cursed, looking around for any sign of Ciara, but she was long gone.
"Thor," the God of Thunder immediately turned at the booming voice of his father. Odin approached, carrying Gungnir in one hand as he didn't look at all amused. "I would have you explain the meaning of bringing a mortal to Asgard," he ordered.
Confusion lead Ciara on a path filled with unfamiliar sights, but she kept running. After many dead-ends, she finally reached a doorway that led outside, and she stopped, looking around wildly.
"How...what is going on?" she asked aloud, and darted into the shadows, pulling up the hood of her cloak as guards rushed by. "Thor was bringing Loki back to Asgard right? That must be where we are," Ciara realised as she watched them search for her. "How? How did I end up here?" she questioned, her voice quivering. This was nothing like what she'd experienced before.
Keeping her hood up, Ciara waited until the guards were gone, then started to run again, before stopping as she reached the ends of the palace grounds. She closed her eyes, hissing curses as despite her confusion, a pull was leading her back towards the palace. Turning, she moved back towards the buildings, keeping to the shadows when she heard guards nearby.
After some time of running around, Ciara finally stopped, sliding to the ground behind a pillar as her breathing wouldn't settle. She was freaking out, and couldn't figure out a way to calm down.
"Father, I am not sure how Ciara Ellis came to be here," Thor's booming voice echoed towards her, and Ciara's breathing hitched. She pulled her hood closer over her head, not moving. "But I do know that you cannot catch her. And to try will only chase her further away," he warned his father.
"We cannot simply leave her to roam freely," Odin said firmly.
"I know that," Thor nodded as Ciara peeked out to watch the two walking past, escorted by a couple of guards. "But to give chase would be futile. Perhaps Heimdall may be able to see where she is," he suggested. They turned a corner, and Ciara took a shaky breath, before a laugh escaped her lips.
"I'm on Asgard. A different planet," she couldn't stop her hysterical laughter. "This is insane," Ciara said as she looked around. Getting to her feet, she slipped out from her hiding place, and kept moving, looking around and admiring the beauty of the palace. She wandered, and spotted a small group of guards walking back up the steps nearby. Curiosity got the best of her, and once they had gone, she wandered down the steps, and shivered as she felt a chill in the air. It was colder than the pleasant warmth above, making the hairs on her arms stand up as goosebumps spread down them.
It was darker below, leading Ciara to assume it was underground, with artificial lights shining below, but it was the faint trace of magic that led her farther down. Tilting her head, Ciara continued down the steps, hidden from the guards standing at the door thanks to the darkness around them. They didn't even blink as she walked past them silently, completely undetected as she looked around.
It was the dungeons, she realised. Stone prisons with glowing golden lights shaping runes blocking any way out of them. In some, a few prisoners sat, bored, while some shouted to be freed, even as their yells fell on deaf ears. She stopped at one, peering in at Loki, who had his back to her.
"Why do we always end up meeting like this?" he turned his head sharply at her voice, pulled from his thoughts.
"All this space to run from those fools, and you decide to make it easy for them and wait in the dungeons," Loki sighed, turning away from her. Ciara reached out curiously, touching the golden lights. There was a light stinging sensation, that left her fingertips tingling as she drew back.
"I doubt they'll think to look for me here. Especially with you here," Ciara shrugged, before her smile fell. "What did you do?" she asked, quieter this time. At first, Loki didn't respond. Then she heard his quiet laugh.
"You think I would bring you back here? This place is unbearable as it is, do you really think I would make it worse by bringing you here as well?" he asked, turning to her properly. Ciara didn't speak, watching him. He approached the barrier between them. "You were a curiosity on your tragic planet. One that I was happy to be rid of," he told her coldly.
"If that were true, you wouldn't have kept me alive. You wouldn't have healed me, and dragged me to New York," Ciara shook her head, a stubborn look in her eyes as he watched her. "I'm more than a 'curiosity'. You want answers about your dumb scepter, about that damn Tesseract. I wouldn't put it past you to do something insane like this," she accused. A smirk appeared on Loki's face as he towered over her, even now.
"This part of you is a lot more interesting than your insufferable mockery," he commented, and Ciara glared back at him. "However, you're still wrong. I had nothing to do with whatever oddity brought you here," Loki said with a light shrug of his shoulders, but he seemed to be enjoying it all the same. Her frustration building at her own lack of answers,
Ciara had to fight not to slam her fist against the barrier. A gleam shone in Loki's eyes as he picked up on it, and it was almost as if their roles were reversed.
"Okay, so you're not responsible. How do I leave?" she asked.
"Leave?" Loki repeated, his head tilting a little. "You mean, return to your tragic world, to continue your life on the run?" he asked, entertained at the idea. Ciara didn't reply, meeting his gaze firmly. "Perhaps Heimdall would have allowed you passage in the Bifrost to return to your world," he considered.
"The Bifrost...that Einstein Rosen Bridge...the rainbow thing that Thor used when he got dumped in New Mexico," Ciara remembered.
"Yes, that may have worked...had Thor and I not destroyed it last year," Loki nodded, tapping a finger to his chin.
"Are you for real?" Ciara groaned, throwing her head back. Her hood fell down and her silver hair fell around her shoulders. "And they call me a menace," she grumbled, and paused. "Actually, they call me the menace. But that's not the point. Is there another way off this stupid world?" she demanded, still fighting to resist touching the barrier.
"None," Loki shook his head. "You'll find that while your cage is bigger than mine, you're as trapped as me," he told her.
"No cage can keep me locked up," Ciara bit back with more arrogance than she realised.
"Even one with no way out?" Loki asked innocently. This time, Ciara did hit the barrier.
"Then how do I get out of here?!" she demanded, voice raised as the barrier shimmered. When Loki's smirk widened, she realised his game. He was goading her, and she was falling for it. Ciara's arms fell to her sides as she stepped back. It had been some time since someone had worked so much of her true feelings out into the open. "You're no help," she declared quietly.
"I never offered my help," Loki pointed out.
"You've got to be the biggest hypocrite that I've ever met," despite her frustration and fear, Ciara couldn't but laugh. "You're as annoying as me," she told him flatly, and Loki chuckled, before catching himself. Ciara didn't seem to notice, as instead she pulled her hood back up. Even through his cell, Loki felt the faint prickle of the strange magic that was so different to his own. "Guess I'll just have to find some other way," she sighed, and without another word, she was gone.
"Will I ever be rid of that ridiculous girl?" Loki complained as he turned away, returning to his thoughts.
Keeping to the shadows, Ciara wandered around, and before long, a delicious smell caught her attention. Through her overwhelming confusion, her stomach gave a rumble, and she followed the smell. Her stomach growled again as the smell grew stronger; a mix of savoury and sweet, reminding Ciara of just how hungry she was. She forgot all about her frustration after her discussion with Loki, too distracted by the idea of food.
When she stepped into the kitchen, Ciara temporarily forgot about hiding as she gazed around the huge kitchen, where Asgardians were working hard to prepare a massive feast. The smells were incredible, and Ciara felt herself drooling, her stomach growling even louder. The staff were so busy, they didn't notice the intruder, and Ciara found a corner where light didn't reach, vanishing before they could notice her.
"Come now, everything must be perfect!" the head chef ordered as she strode by, and Ciara instinctively froze so not to be noticed. "The crown prince has returned, and the Allfather has ordered a banquet to celebrate his return!" she said.
The speedster couldn't stop staring at the food as they continued to prepare it. None of it was familiar to her, but it looked amazing, presented in beautiful ways that could only be for a royal banquet. It didn't take long for Ciara to give in, and she couldn't help herself.
"Has a door been left open?" one Asgardian cook commented as she fixed her hair, which had been blown into her face. She looked down, and frowned. "Did I miscount?" she wondered, looking at the meat on the plate she had been preparing. Shaking her head, she dismissed her thoughts on the matter, unaware of Ciara leaning against the wall, eating the leg of some animal that assumed was not from her world. Not that it wasn't any less delicious. It took all her effort to resist making delighted noises as she slid to the ground.
"I heard that Prince Thor not only brought back the traitor prince, but another also," the staff gossiped as they worked. Ciara glanced up. "A mortal, who disappeared as if they were never there," she whispered.
"A mortal, on Asgard?" the other snorted. Ciara arched an eyebrow at her derision.
"It is what I heard," the first said, defensive.
"Those guards must have been delusional. That strange object that allowed Prince Thor to return must have addled their minds," the second scoffed at the idea, completely oblivious to Ciara sitting nearby. Feeling a sense of childishness, Ciara stuck her tongue out at the woman, before going back to her stolen food. "Mortals are next to useless, how would it be possible that they simply vanished and escaped guards, if they even survived the journey to Asgard?" she questioned.
"I am simply telling you what I heard," the first rolled her eyes, and went back to peeling vegetables.
Ciara continued to pick at the food, enjoying every new piece of food she tried. There was even food like potatoes, and it didn't take long before she was having a feast of her own, too fast to be noticed, pilfering small pieces here and there. Even now, on another planet, in another realm, she couldn't resist using her powers to help herself. And the use of her powers to steal the food being prepared had also calmed her down, reminding her of another time.
So engrossed in the fruit pie that she had lifted straight from the oven, Ciara almost missed the sharp inhalation. She looked up, having taken a seat on the stone floor, and saw the staff who had been rushing around stop, staring in the doorway.
"M-my lady, what brings you to our humble kitchen?" the lady who seemed to be in charge bowed. Ciara arched an eyebrow, before going back to the warm pie as sticky juices ran down her fingers. She didn't bother paying attention as she winced; the heat of her stolen food burning at her tongue.
"An odd request, but I would request for you all to start serving promptly," a woman's voice echoed around the kitchen. "Please leave," she requested. Confused, the staff started to usher out, lifting plates to bring out as they left. Ciara finished the pie, still not moving, and as she licked the juices from her fingers, she heard a laugh. "I understand that they are enjoyable..." she looked up to see a beautiful woman watching her, her blue eyes twinkling with laughter. "But to see a mortal enjoy one to such standards, it's somewhat entertaining," Frigga smiled, watching the intruder with amusement.
A bit shorter, but it's an update! I'll try and get another chapter up soon!
Let me know what you think!
