Astrid sat in the middle of her bed, her pillow clutched to the front of her chest, which covered with her tears. She missed her mother. Her mother was the one person, other than Loki, that was always there for her. When she thought they had lost Loki, her mother was the one that was there for her.
She would wake up in the middle of the night, crying. She knew she should be focusing on what to do with Jane, and how to get the Aether out of her, but her grief prevented any of this. It felt like someone had ripped her heart out. It was a similar feeling to when she found out Loki had died.
Loki.
She hadn't seen Loki since the funeral. The look on his face before his duplicate disappeared from sight was ingrained in her mind. It was the look of a son who was grieving for his mother.
A knock on her door pulled her from her thoughts. She hastily wiped her eyes and cheeks, hoping that the puffiness and tear streaks were not that noticeable, but she knew they were.
When she opened the door just a crack, she saw Lady Sif standing there. When Sif saw her face, her eyes softened and she gave her a comforting smile. This caused Astrid to open the door a little more, allowing her to see Sif better.
"Thor called a meeting with Volstagg, Fandral, Heimdal, and I. He wanted you to be there." She said quietly, touching her shoulder comfortingly. Despite being a strong warrior, she had become more of a friend recently.
Astrid nodded slowly. "Thank you." She smiled before hastily waving her hand, purple swirls surrounding her body, before she was dressed in better clothes. Clothes that she had not worn for the past day straight. Astrid closed the door behind her and turned towards Sif, straightening her back and keeping her head held high, trying to be strong. "Lead the way."
Astrid followed Sif out of the palace and into the town below. After a few streets, Sif pulled her hood up over her head and gestured for Astrid to do the same. Warily, Astrid obeyed and pulled her own hood over her head. What was this all about? Why were they hiding? After a few more streets, Sif turned down a darker alley, making apprehension crawl through Astrid. Why go through all this trouble to hide?
Sif led her into a dingy looking bar down at the end of the street, and led her to a back room. When Sif opened the door, she could see the others waiting for them.
They all looked up when they entered and Thor gave her a small smile as she took a seat next to him, "Thank you for coming Astrid."
She gave him a small smile and nod, before turning to look at Volstagg and Fandral, who were sitting around him. Heimdal was standing in the corner, watching. They each gave her a respective nod.
Once everyone was settled, Thor began. "Thank you for coming tonight. I apologize for the inconvenience and the hiding, but I need your help. We need to get Jane off of Asgard. If we do nothing, Malekith will come back and destroy us. We cannot risk that. Father is blinded by grief," Astrid felt her eyes burning as her own grief threatened to consume her, but she forced it back down. Everyone nodded in agreement. Malekith would come back and destroy them for the Aether, if he had the chance.
"We need to find a way off of Asgard." Thor continued.
"The Bifrost is closed." Heimdal said from the corner. "By Odin's command."
Thor nodded. "There is another way off of Asgard. Known only to one."
The implication left everyone in silence.
"No. You cannot possibly mean who I think you mean." Volstagg finally spoke up, his eyes wide.
Thor met his gaze and nodded. "Yes."
"He will betray you!" Fandral added.
Thor cast his gaze over to him, then down at the table. "He will try." He looked up at them again. "But this is the only way to get Jane off of Asgard." Astrid knew that he was right. This was the only way to get Jane off of Asgard unnoticed. They needed him help. The warriors glanced at each other and hesitantly nodded. Thor looked towards Sif. "This is where you come in."
They spent the next hour discussing their plan.
Thor's POV
Thor entered the prison and immediately headed towards his destination. There was no time to lose.
Loki was standing at the barrier when he arrived. Thor noted that he looked normal, just like himself. Astrid on the other hand, was hit hard by their mother's dead. After the funeral, she didn't bother to care for herself and just locked herself in her room. Loki, though, looked like nothing had happened. His hair was sleek, and his outfit was clean.
"Hello brother," Loki spat. "After all this time, now you come see me. To gloat? To mock?" He leaned forward so that he was eye level with Thor. "Why?" He finished angrily, lip curling back in a snarl.
Thor stayed silent until he was finished and then sighed. He met his brother's eyes when he spoke. "Loki, enough. No more illusions."
Loki looked a bit surprised, his eyes widening slightly, before he bowed his head in defeat while a green shimmer overtook his body, and he disappeared. The shimmer went over the entire cell, and suddenly, everything was different. The room became trashed, the furniture broken. Streaks covered the wall from things that had been thrown against it. And in the middle of it all, was Loki. He sat in the corner, his hair more like a bird's nest than anything else, as if he had run his hands through his hair a million times. His clothes were ripped in places, and there was a splotch of red on the bottom of his foot, as if he had hurt it on a piece of broken furniture, but Loki didn't seem to care. The pain was clear on his face. It was the same kind of pain that he saw on Astrid's face.
"Now you see me, brother," He said, his voice hollow.
Thor walked to the other side of his cell, to where he was closer to Loki. Loki watched his movement with grief-filled eyes. He opened his mouth, and Thor knew he was going to ask about Frigga.
"I'm not here to share our grief." He said sternly, pushing his own grief aside. Loki closed his mouth and let Thor speak. "I'm here to let you use your grief for something else."
Loki looked at him curiously. He had his attention. "Go on."
"I know you seek vengeance as much as I do. You help me escape Asgard, and I will grant it to you. Vengeance. And afterward, this cell."
Loki listened carefully, before glancing around the messy cell, and then back at him. Then he let out a soft chuckle. "You must be truly desperate to come to me for help." He said with a satisfied smile. "What makes you think you can trust me?" he asked, curiously.
Thor had glanced away but his words brought him to look at Loki again. "I don't. Mother did." Loki stared at him, at a loss for words. "But you should know that when we fought each other in the past, I did so with a glimmer of hope that my brother was still in there somewhere. That hope no longer exists to protect you. You betray me, and I'll kill you." Thor stated.
Loki stared at him for a moment, before a smirk graced his lips and he watched Thor with a soft hum of amusement. Then he lifted his head off the wall and asked, "When do we start?"
Astrid's POV
The morning after discussing the plan, Astrid went to find Thor. She wore her battle armor, fully expecting a fight. Her purple cape flowed behind her as she crossed to palace to meet Thor at the prison.
When she found him, he glanced at her, cautiously, as is wondering if she was strong enough to follow through with this. "Are you ready?"
Astrid nodded, her eyes glittering with determination, "I'm ready."
Thor and Astrid both walked past the guards, neither of them even giving them a glance as they slipped between them. They walked past the cells, and Astrid glanced at the one that she had her little "talk" with. He saw her, in her armor and her sword dangling from her hip, and quickly looked away, refusing to meet her gaze. Astrid smirked.
When they reached his cell, Astrid saw the destruction that was left, with Loki standing by the barrier, waiting. Astrid let out a little gasp of surprise at the state of the cell, but she wasn't surprised. She knew losing their mother affected him as much as it did for her.
Loki glanced at Thor and then met her gaze and gave her a soft smile, one that reminded her of how he used to be, back before New York.
Thor nodded at her, and she turned towards the rest of the prison and waved her hands as the soft glow surrounded them. As she was doing this, Thor deactivated the barrier to the cell and Loki stepped out. Once she was sure that her spell prevented people from seeing them, she turned back towards her brothers. Loki was watching her curiously. "I don't remember you being able to that."
Astrid shrugged with a small smile. "Mother was teaching me some things." She raised her hand and waved it slightly, the purple waves surrounding one of the books in his cell. The book shifted into a mouse that squeaked and ran away. Astrid knew that after a while, it would turn back into the book, though it would definitely be in a different place than where it started.
Loki watched the mouse, before looked at her with something like pride. "I'm impressed. Though that was my favorite book. It was the only thing that kept me occupied in that dull cell," Astrid laughed, and realized it was the first time she had laughed since her mother died.
Thor cleared his throat to gain their attention. "Are you ready?" he asked Loki with a raised eyebrow.
Loki glanced at him and with a quick flick of his hand, his clothes morphed into his normal attire, his black and green suit slipping over his features. He let out a sigh of content. "Lead the way." He said with a smirk.
They walked out of the prisons quickly towards the Throne Room, where the giant ship that had crashed landed into it, still sat.
As they walked, Loki started talking. "Shouldn't we have a disguise?" He morphed into an Asgardian guard. "How's this?" he asked, arms out at his side, showing off his disguise.
Thor glanced at him and shrugged as they kept walking. "It's better company, at least."
Loki let out a soft chuckle. "Still, we could be less conspicuous." With a wave of his hand, Loki returned to normal and Thor morphed into Sif. Astrid tried to swallow a giggle, but it slipped out anyway. She slapped a hand over her mouth, trying to muffle the sound.
"My, brother. You look ravishing." Loki said with a smirk as he looked over at Sif-Thor.
Thor looked down and grunted. "It will hurt no less when I kill you in this form?" Thor grunted, his voice sounding weird coming from Sif's mouth. Thor glanced towards her and tried to hold in his own laugh. With a glance down towards herself, she realized that she was not in her own armor. After a moment, she realized that she looked like Fandral.
"Loki! Change me back!" she screeched, her voice coming out high pitched and squeaky, nothing like Fandral's voice.
Loki shrugged. "Very well. How about one of your new friends, given that you seem to like them so much?" With a shimmer, Thor and Astrid changed back, but Loki shifted into Captain America. Astrid stared at him in shock, as she gazed upon the familiar face of Steve staring back at her. "The costume's a bit much. So tight. But the confidence! I can feel the righteousness surging. Hey want to have a rousing discussion about truth, honor, and patriotism?" Loki/Steve said mockingly as he turned to look at the pair of them.
Suddenly Thor threw Loki against one of the columns and covered his mouth with his hand, causing Loki to shift back to himself. Loki wiggled his head out of Thor's grasp, "What?" Thor gestured to the guards patrolling the Throne Room in answer. Loki glanced to where Thor was pointing and noticed the guards as well. He shrugged Thor off and glanced at the guards' positions, then at Thor. "You could at least furnish me with a weapon. My dagger, something." Thor sighed and pulled something out and Loki smiled. "Finally! Some sense!" Loki's smile froze and Astrid watched the device turn into a pair of handcuffs, which Loki held up in Thor's face.
"What? I though you liked tricks." Thor replied innocently with a smile. Loki glanced at Astrid and she shrugged apologetically. Loki rolled his eyes as they continued, sneaking around the guards, until they all stopped in the place that Sif was supposed to meet them.
Exactly of time, Sif walked towards them with Jane struggling to keep up behind the warrior, who had her sword drawn, in case she needed to use it. Jane looked at Loki with surprise as she approached him.
"I'm Loki. You may have heard of me." Loki said with a smug grin at he looked down at the little mortal.
Jane did not stop walking. Instead, she walked right up to Loki and punched him right across his cheek. Loki looked stunned for a moment, before he smirked down at Jane. "I like her," he said with a grin as he glanced over at Thor. Jane huffed softly in front of him, while everyone else watched in silence.
After a moment, Thor turned to Sif as they discussed how she was going to hold the guards back until they could get away. Astrid watched as Loki continued to stare at Jane with a smirk on his face. She could tell he was trying to unnerve her and make her uncomfortable with his presence. Astrid knew how intimidating Loki could be when he wanted to.
Astrid elbowed his side sharply and he glared at her. She glared back. "Stop that." Loki narrowed his eyes at her, but the corner of his mouth turned upwards slightly.
Sif turned back towards them. "I'll buy you as much time as I can." Thor nodded his thanks as the team continued towards the Throne Room. Astrid stood next to Jane, ready to defend her if necessary. Astrid head the sound of a sword swishing through the air and she turned to see Sif with her sword at Loki's throat, though he didn't seem concerned. In fact, after Sif muttered something to him, he actually chuckled in amusement, before Sif lifted her sword and let him pass, before turning towards the guards that were headed their way. They must have noticed them.
As they entered the Throne Room, Astrid couldn't help but feel saddened at the sight of the dark elf ship that had ruined the beautiful room. As they approached the ship, she saw Volstagg standing guard with his axe, waiting for them. "Good luck." Volstagg murmured to them as they passed. Thor and Jane nodded their thanks and walked onto the ship.
Loki and Astrid followed behind them. As Loki passed Volstagg, he quickly stopped him with a hand across the chest and Astrid paused, glancing at the two men. Her fingers itched to conjure a dagger to defend her brother if she needed to.
"Don't even think about betraying him," Volstagg muttered lowly towards Loki, who simply smiled.
"Or what? You'll kill me? Evidently there will be a line." Loki retorted before Volstagg let him go and allowed them both to board the ship.
Thor was standing by the controls, which were situated in the center of the ship and Astrid and Loki joined him there. Loki leaned against the console, watching as Thor was smacking every button he could find, trying to start the ship.
"I thought you said you knew how to fly this thing." Loki stated.
"I said how hard could it be?" Thor replied, still hitting every button he could. Astrid heard the guard's shouting outside as a fight started and she knew that Volstagg didn't have long.
"Whatever you're doing, brother, I suggest you do it faster." Loki said calmly, watching in amusement.
"Shut up, Loki" Thor replied as he continued to hit different buttons.
"You must've missed something," Loki responded as he leaned against the console, looking bored.
"No, I didn't. I'm hitting every button on this thing," Thor responded with a grunt.
"No, don't hit it. Just press it gently." Loki advised, while still watching his brother struggle to start the ship. Astrid watched, trying to hide a smile.
"I am pressing it gently, and it's not working!" Thor shouted, smacking his fists down on the panels with every word he said. He slammed his hands down harder than before, and the engines shifted on. Thor let out a laugh of triumph as a light blue light filled the space.
The ship shakily lifted off the ground and rotated, knocking down the rest of the columns of the Throne Room that had somehow survived the initial crash.
"I think you missed a column." Loki deadpanned.
"Shut up." Thor replied tersely, trying to keep the ship steady.
Thor pushed another button and the engines pulsed, sending them out of the building and into the air. The ship soared through the sky, while Thor was testing out the controls, turning the ship this way and that, getting a feel for it.
"You should let me fly, I'm clearly the best pilot." Loki said.
Thor chuckled, "Is that right? Out of the two of us, which one can actually fly?" Thor replied with a smirk towards Loki. Astrid saw Loki roll his eyes and Astrid giggled softly.
Suddenly, off to the side, Jane fell to the ground. Loki glanced her way and leaned against the console, and didn't lose a beat. "Oh dear. Is she dead?" he asked with a bored tone, making no attempt to check on her.
"Jane?" Thor asked hesitantly, wanting to go see her, but not wanting to leave the controls.
"I'm fine." Jane whispered, weakly waving away his concern, before resting her head back on the ground. Astrid rushed to her side, making sure that she was in fact, okay. She seemed alright, just weak. That probably had to do with the power that was flowing through her veins. Astrid didn't know how long a mortal body could survive with that much energy. She hoped their plan worked in time.
Out in the distance, weapons started firing, causing Thor to swerve the ship to avoid them. After a moment, Astrid noticed that there were flying chariots in pursuit, also firing at them.
Loki turned to Thor. "Now their following us!" More firing sounded around them and Thor just barely maneuvered the ship out of their path. "Now their firing at us!" Loki added, sounding slightly alarmed.
"Yes, thank you for the commentary Loki, it's not at all distracting." Thor replied tersely, aiming for a tunnel that would lead them out over the water. Hopefully this would also slow down some of their followers.
Two statues stood on each side of the tunnel. When Thor shifted the ship to one side, he sliced the head off of one of the statues. "Well done. You just decapitated your grandfather." Loki said to Thor. Thor ignored him and focused on his destination.
When they reached out over the water, Loki started shouting at Thor. "You know, this is wonderful. This is a tremendous idea," Loki spouted sarcastically. "Let's steal, the biggest, most obvious ship in the universe, and escape in that! Flying around the city, smashing into everything in sight, so everyone can see us. It's brilliant Thor! It's truly brilliant!" Loki yelled as he walked around the console so he could look Thor in the face. In doing so, he situated himself by one of the openings in the ship.
Without hesitation, Thor shoved Loki out of the ship.
Astrid gasped, staring at Thor in shock. This was not part of the plan. Thor turned to her and smirked. "He'll be fine," he reassured her, before going to Jane's side and carefully lifting her into his arms. She watched as Thor jumped out with Jane in his arms, and she followed close behind, her cape billowing around her. Above them, the ship caught on fire as it was being hit, causing it to start heading towards the water. The chariots were oblivious that everyone was no longer inside the craft.
Very quickly, they landed on one of the chariots that Fandral was flying. Astrid landed in a crouch, bracing herself with one of her arms. With a glance behind her, she noticed that Loki was not as fortunate to land the same way with the handcuffs on. Fandral laughed at the heap that was Loki, who was quickly pulling himself to his feet with a huff. "I see your time in prison has made you no less graceful, Loki."
Loki ignored Fandral's comment and turned to Thor. "You lied to me," he said with an almost proud smirk, "I'm impressed."
Thor rolled his eyes. "I'm glad you're impressed. Now do what you promised."
Loki grabbed the stick that controlled the craft, and started to fly it away from civilization, towards the mountains that surrounded the city. Preventing a smooth escape, Astrid heard firing behind them and with a quick glance behind her, she saw a lone chariot that must have seen them escape from the ship.
Loki quickly swerved the chariot, avoiding the blasts, while Thor glanced at Fandral. He sighed and grabbed a rope that was tied to the craft. Glancing at everyone on the chariot, Fandral announed, "For Asgard!" before swinging off the ship and onto the chariot behind them. Astrid watched as he quickly knocked the warriors out, and then gave them a salute.
Now that they were not being followed, Loki turned the craft towards one of the larger mountains. He was heading straight for it.
"Loki…." Thor said in a warning, putting himself between the mountain and Jane, who he had placed in the back of the ship.
"If it were easy, everyone would do it." Loki pointed out, keeping the ship steady, while heading for the rock face.
Thor went to hover over Jane, putting his body over hers, to shield her from a collision. Astrid hovered by Loki's side, ready to pull her brother out of harms way if needed. She noticed that Loki shifted slightly, putting his body in front of hers.
"Are you insane?" Thor shouted to Loki as the mountain was quickly approaching.
"Possibly." Loki answered with a smile.
As they were about to crash into the mountain, Astrid saw a small hole in the mountain wall, and Loki directed them through it.
Sparks flew as the sides hit the wall, causing the ship to jerk from side to side, forcing Astrid to grad onto Loki for balance. Suddenly, lights similar to the Bifrost appeared around them and Astrid felt the portal transport them to another world. The darkness of the small tunnel gave way to light and Astrid saw that they were on a different planet.
"Ta-da." Loki declared triumphantly.