AN: Okay first off, I want to thank everyone who left a review. So, thank you hirshja, Enclave ranger, ExS-DrIfTeRr and MistahKillJoy.
The companion story with Loki is in the works and will be posted in the cross-over section once this one is done, so keep an eye out for it.
Also, I realized this is going to go on for more chapters than I thought, so while it will end soon, it will take more than the three or four chapters I intended it to, which I've found out isn't an unusual occurrence among writers.
So, this one was a weird chapter for me. It was going to be substantially longer, but I decided that were it ended was the right spot.
I've also realized the reviews scare the living daylights out of me, because whenever I get one in an email notice, I'm certain someone is going to tear me to pieces.
With that said, please review.
Destinations and Decisions
As the shoreline came into view, Thor watched as the snow began to fall. He closed his eye and took a deep breath of the cold air. He much preferred cool climates, he'd just forgotten in the passing years.
The ship would dock soon, and they couldn't dawdle. They weren't supposed to be here, and there was a time frame where they could slip off the ship without being noticed, at least within reason. He'd not have cared in most situations, but the kingdom of Atlas was closed off, and they weren't supposed to be bringing anything in, and that included people.
At this time, none of the ships, by sea or air, were foreign, but returning ships of Atlas, that were away when the call had been issued. This ship had been near on the other side of the world when the call had been made, and that was the only reason they had even managed to find it.
But the trick now was getting off it without being noticed. Thor was confident it could be done easily enough. Several of them were masters of stealth, and those that weren't exactly subtitle, himself included, could manage it.
What he was more worried about was Loki bolting during the departure of the ship.
But he hoped Loki may have experienced a change of heart. He seemed to be behaving differently since their talk. Less sarcastic, less snark and generally more agreeable. But Thor had hopes before, and it always cut him deep when his brother had returned to his old ways. It hurt because he knew there was good in him, and he knew what Loki really wanted, the love and acceptance of a family, which he never had. His birth father cast him out to die, and Odin and Freyja had…tried.
But Loki's natural disposition put him at odds with their parents so often. He was his own worst enemy in what he wanted, and Thor was never sure if he knew that. He hoped he didn't, because if he did, as bad as that was, it was better than the idea he knew and kept sabotaging himself, like he wanted perpetual misery.
Thor looked at his scroll with the destination they would all meet up at after they departed. They weren't getting off in one big group, the chances of being seen if all ten of them left in one group was too great.
They were leaving in groups of two, over a period of one hour. Thor was going with Loki, insisting on watching him. He didn't doubt the abilities of his friends, but Loki was someone they didn't truly understand, not like he did.
They would leave last, Ruby and Jaune would be the first. After everyone had gotten off, they would meet at an apartment Weiss owned, or more accurately her father. It was never used and was more used for tax and addressing purposes.
But that was the plan, and while the idea of splitting up the group wasn't meet with great enthusiasm from all involved, it was accepted eventually.
As the ship docked, Thor looked at his scroll again, thinking that Ruby and Jaune would be leaving any moment. But Loki was nowhere to be found, but he wasn't worried yet. Loki was notorious for doing anything to irritate him, even in small ways.
"You look anxious." Loki's voice came from behind him, and Thor sighed in relief.
"Just worried you might try to bolt." Thor said as he pocketed his scroll.
"Oh, dear brother, I've grown far too fond of these mortals to leave them to the fate of that terrible woman." Loki said and while Thor wasn't looking at him, he imagined a smirk on his brother's face. The woman was Salem, the one behind most, if not all, the tragic events of the past year. Loki claimed to know where she was. He hadn't told anyone yet, and while Thor knew his brother was a famously good liar, he thought he was telling the truth here and was just waiting for when it would benefit him most to give the information out.
"Don't lie to me brother."
"What, I was being sincere." Loki said as he stood next to Thor.
Now Thor laughed "You are incapable of sincerity."
"Ah." Loki responded, still smiling.
"We are mortal now too Loki, it would do you well to remember that."
"I know brother." Loki muttered "I wasn't lying you know." He said, "I think I'm starting to see your affection for these humans."
Thor almost didn't believe his ears, but he knew that living a mortal made one more affectionate to them. "Two weeks on a ship enough time to do that to you?" Thor asked.
"I don't think so." Loki said now looking off into space "More of all the time I've been human, and with your…friends." He muttered.
"Loki, I don't like it when you try to trick me."
"I'm not tricking you, I'm worried there is something wrong with me." Loki said looking back at Thor. "This isn't how I process feelings and people, something is wrong with me."
"Yes." Thor said as he gripped Loki's shoulder and shook it slightly "It's called being a mortal."
"That can't explain it all." Loki muttered.
"No, but it helps." Thor smiled as he said this "You know humans, while they look like us , they are not like us. They are wired for connections, I'm sure you know."
"Yes yes." Loki waved his hand "The biology of it, it's making think differently, but that can't explain how it's working against a whole lifetime of experience." Loki said.
"No, it can't." Thor said as he pulled out his scroll to see who would be moving out now. Yang and Weiss should be making their move now. "But maybe it's bringing out something you've tried to deny for a long time." Thor said as he pocketed his scroll.
"Oh, and what would that be?"
"You tell me brother, it's your head."
Ruby knew Atlas would be cold, but this was insane to her. It was the end of Summer but it felt like winter to her. It was even snowing, snow in summer just seemed wrong to her.
She'd attempted to dress for the cold, but there wasn't anyways she could have properly prepared for the cold mentally. Even with the heavy clothing she had on, she felt her knees knocking together.
"Jaune, how much longer till we get there?" Ruby asked as she turned to look at Jaune, Jaune was trying to act like the cold didn't bother him, but wasn't putting on a much better show than she was. He wasn't shaking as badly as she was, but the shivers still happened now and then, and was rubbing his hand together.
Pulling out his scroll Jaune said "Two more blocks." His teeth chattered as he did.
The day was starting to warm up, although the sun hadn't come out yet. Summer was near its end, but the nights were still cold enough to let snowfall, but what that meant was as the day warmed up, there was the chance of rain. Which was worse in a lot of ways to someone walking down the street. Snow meant it was colder, but rain would soak them.
"Let's hurry up." She said and broke into a jog and Jaune followed suit.
Weiss had the hood of her coat pulled up, not so much to deal with the cold, but to hide her tell-tale white hair. The cold she'd dealt with her whole life, and she knew this early in the morning it would start to warm up soon, she just didn't want to get caught outside if it started to rain.
"So, what's the deal with this apartment?" Yang said as she marched next to Weiss.
"My family owns, but no one actually lives there." She said
"What's the point of that?"
"My father uses it for tax purposes and the address, I was never interested in the specifics, but I asked him the same thing when I was younger."
"Kay…." Yang said before asking another question "Is this normal weather for the summer?"
Weiss shook her head "Last night was unusably cold, that's why it's snowing. It's not usually much warmer, but it doesn't normally snow."
"So… this isn't normal, it usually warmer."
"Yes, but don't get your hopes up for anything like it was down south, this is an unusual cold snap, but end of summer temperature rarely get much above freezing, there are only two months out of the year where I might not expect any snow and we're heading into Autumn."
Yang sighed at this "I hate the cold, I hope we don't have to stay here long."
Weiss felt the same, but not from the cold. The chances of her being caught went up exponentially here, and while she wanted to see her sister, the chances of her getting caught made her question it. Maybe Loki could help her, he was a trickster god after all.
"So." Yang started again, "What's with you and Loki? He seemed to spend more time with you than the rest of us."
Weiss would normally expect Yang to be teasing her, but Yang's tone sounded sincere, and Weiss suspected she was more worried about her being hurt again.
But Weiss knew Yang didn't need to worry. "He's… trying to fix what he broke." The expression on Yang face told her that she hadn't explain it right "I think he knows he doesn't have much of a choice with Thor watching him other than to integrate into our group." Weiss took a deep breath "I think he's thinking if he endears himself to me, the rest of you will trust him or at least be less leery, because I'm the one he hurt the most personally." She exhaled and the vapor from her looked almost like smoke. "What has Thor told you?"
Yang just shook her head "He's conflicted on it, even if he's trying to hide it." Yang took a deep breath before continuing "He's torn between absolute distrust of everything Loki does, but he really wants to believe in him at the same time, to trust him."
"So Thor wants him to change, but not sure if he will." Weiss summarized the explanation.
"Yeah, and the thing is I get it." Yang said, "Ruby could do terrible things, even hurt me, but I'd always hold out hope she'd just go back to being my little sister."
Weiss thought on this and wondered if Loki felt the same way about Thor. She knew if Winter ever did anything to hurt her, she'd be mad, but thought she could grow to forgive most anything she did. Loki was like her in this regard, the younger sibling, meaning he would understand thing people like Yang and Winter could not. To live the shadow of someone you idolized, yet were jealous of. Before Winter had left to join the military, she was the apple of her father's eye, and Weiss had always felt sort of like a backup daughter.
Winter hadn't intended any of that, she was sure of it, but it had happened. She thought it might be unavoidable. But then she thought of Ruby, who didn't seem to hold any resentment towards Yang. But their situation wasn't typical, Yang had functioned as mother to Ruby for a long time.
The first sound of rain falling on her hood broke her thoughts.
"We should hurry, rain in this cold is worse than snow."
The weather was going to turn soon. Thor never lost that ability, he could sense when the weather was going to change, he wasn't sure if it was due to his semblance or if it was a left-over trait from his life as a god. But it didn't matter, because it was going to start raining soon.
He and Loki had just departed the ship, and now were walking down the streets of Atlas, and the stark contrast between this city and Mistral was startling. It was almost like the two kingdoms were living in different ages. Whereas Mistral had the look of a what he'd call "traditional architecture", looking in many ways like a throwback to an older culture albeit only in aesthetics, Atlas seemed more like the most advanced cities he'd seen on earth. He knew Atlas was the most advanced of the Kingdoms in terms of technology, but they also seemed to have embraced that fact into their culture. The city was sleek and modern, but more than that is felt cold and he didn't mean the weather.
"The climate reminds me of home." Loki said.
Thor turned to his brother and responded "The climate yes, but this place, the buildings and people feel as cold as Jotunheim. "
His brother shrugged at this as they continued to walk to their destination. They continued on for a short time before either spoke again.
"So, do you have the dreams too?" Loki asked without breaking his stride.
"Yes, I'm surprised it took you this long to ask." Thor responded. "What are yours about?"
"Typical doom bringing and end of the world sort of things." Loki said.
"Have you had any experience of the other's having the dreams?"
"No, why?"
Thor sighed, this piece of information told him his brother had been alone, more or less the entire time he'd been here "Those I spend enough time around, they start to have them as well, not the same dreams, but the same type."
"So, the people you've shared a home with for the past three years have been having these dreams?"
"No, they didn't start until I was at Beacon."
"Why then?"
Thor shook his head "I don't have a clue, when did your's start?"
"That is the first thing I remember from this world, I had one of those dreams and woke up here."
They were both silent after this for couple minutes before Thor spoke again "Why the difference?"
Loki shook his head "Father's doing not doubt, deciding to torment me even when he's sent me to the unknown reaches of reality."
"I don't think that's it."
"Then what? I've been plagued with these dreams for near three years, you've only had them for under one."
"Maybe father put more faith in your ability to decipher them than he did me?" Thor proposed "That's why mine didn't occur until I made some sort of personal connection with other's that could help me."
Loki just shook his head "Father never had much faith in me to begin with."
"You sell yourself short brother." Thor placed his hand on his brother's shoulder "You've always been the more self-reliant one."
Loki shrugged Thor's hand off "Only because I had to." The bitterness in his brother voice could almost be felt.
Just as Loki finished speaking, the rain started to fall. Thor spotted a bar and grabbed Loki's shoulder and directed him toward it. "Come on, we're getting a drink."
"We'll be late to the rendezvous."
"We'll call them, come on let's get out of the rain."
"They're late." Weiss said as she checked the time on her scroll. She then looked out the window and saw the rain that just been starting while her and Yang had made their way to the apartment was now coming down heavy. She and Yang had gotten here first, despite Jaune and Ruby having left first.
They had offered no explanation other than they had gotten "lost", which Weiss didn't buy. She thought it was more likely they had gotten sidetracked in some way. She suspected Thor and Loki had done the same, or else Loki had tried to run and Thor had gone after him.
"Hold on, I'm calling Thor." Yang said as she dialed her scroll. She stood there for a moment before Thor picked up.
As Yang chatted with him, Weiss took stock of their group. Only her and Yang has been spared being soaked by the ice-cold rain, the rest of them were now in their sleepwear as their clothes were being washed and dried.
"Where are they?" Ruby asked from her position closest to the heater.
Yang hung up her scroll and said, "They stopped at a bar, he said they'd be here soon."
"Don't blame them." Nora said as she looked out the window "not wanting to get out of this weather."
"Yeah, but you remember how much Thor can just…consume?" Jaune asked Nora "They could be there for hours, and if Loki is anything like him-"
"He's not." Weiss cut Jaune off "He won't hold them up for that." Weiss ignored the looks from the rest of them as she said this. She didn't know if it was pity, fear, suspicion or something else but it made her feel uncomfortable.
She knew what it was, that she'd been the one to know Loki and bringing him into their lives, and they had been spending time together on the ship. She never talked to him about anything that he might use to gain power or manipulate her friends. Rather they both vented their feelings about their family, their parents, their siblings, and expectations the world put on them because of who they were.
Weiss stared out the window and started to think of what they'd do next. Going to Ironwood was the clear course of action, but how or when was the question. Weiss thought they could do it tomorrow, but they would need the know where the General would be. For that, she'd call her sister. Winter would help them, she knew this without a doubt, and it may have been easier to have her convey the information to the General, she had the reputation and history with him. The only thing that worried her was that she may not be in the range of her scroll, but even that was unlikely. All Atlas military personnel were called back.
That was a comforting thought to her, with so many huntsmen in the city, and the standing military, this may have been the most secure city on the planet. The only thing that made her worry even a little in the regard was the hacking of the A.I forces back at Beacon, but the chances of it happening again were slim, the Atlas military was hard to fool twice.
But her father made her reluctant to leave the apartment. Which was a shame because it was cramped with eight people in it now, despite its lavish size. That was of course not accounting for Thor and Loki coming along as well.
Hopefully they wouldn't have to stay for more than a few days, she didn't want to be this close to her family right now. She was certain her father would have her detained at the family estate the moment he found out where she was.
The sooner they were out of Atlas the better.
"You sure you'll be fine?" Loki said as he watched Thor down his fourth pint of ale. In their normal state Thor could drink all day and still not feel the effects, but in human form, he wasn't so sure, he was still on his first drink.
Thor slammed the empty mug down and called for another "I'll be fine brother, one more then we'll head out." He took another mug of ale and started to drink it like water.
"You're going to get yourself sick if you keep it up at this rate." Loki muttered as he took another sip from his own drink.
"Brother, you know nothing of my endurance." Thor bellowed in a voice that showed a mood he hadn't seen from his brother since…well before this whole ordeal on this world. It was almost welcomed in this strange world.
As they finished their drinks, Thor stood up and rolled his shoulders and looked outside. "We better get going while the weather is still good."
Loki looked outside to see a torrential downpour of rain, which was no doubt near ice cold as it could get without freezing. He suspected it was doing just that as soon as it landed. But his brother had a different opinion of the rain than most, it didn't matter to him if it was a summer shower or freezing rain, he loved it. That was part of his nature he supposed. Loki for his part didn't mind the cold in the slightest, his Frost Giant heritage made him more or less immune to all but he the coldest temperatures, this would be like walking a gentle breeze for him.
Thor threw down some money and pulled a hood up on the red cloak he'd taken to wearing, it reminded him of the cape he used to wear. Loki pulled his long coat on and hefted the fur collar up, because while he didn't mind the cold, he didn't like the sensation of water down his shirt.
As they exited the bar Loki felt the rain splashing down on his head. He didn't mind the cold nature, but he looked at Thor, who smiled at the sensation. He didn't know if it was the cold or the rain, but he seemed closer to his old self than ever before. Loki was inclined to think it was the latter, Thor loved the rain, it was in his nature.
"Let's head out." Thor said as he grabbed Loki's shoulder and lead him on their way.
Yang sat on the couch in the apartment fiddling with her scroll. A sense of restlessness had come over her, a desire to do…something. She thought some of her other friends were feeling the same way, but they had all learned, perhaps her most harshly, the need to have at least some plan or course of action set up, that rushing in headlong wasn't the best course of action.
But Thor wasn't here yet, and that worried her, not so much what had happened to him, but to Loki. He was a snake, and the conversations she'd had with Thor about his brother made her think he may be blinded by the fact he was his little brother and might give him some leeway. Which was truly odd, Thor was at the same time the one to mistrust Loki the most, but still the one ready to believe he might change.
That couldn't have been easy on his mind, everything he knew about his brother, and everything he wanted from him. Yang was all at once glad of the relationship she had with Ruby, which while not what was typically considered a normal sibling relationship, was at least loving and healthy.
Knock as the door broke her line of thought and Jaune was the first to rise and answer it. Opening the door, the two-missing brother walked in, absolutely soaked from the rain. Neither seemed bothered as they took off their outerwear, Loki his jacket, and Thor the cloak he'd gotten from Ruby. They huge both up, and Thor was even smiling, and Yang had an idea he'd had more than a few drinks.
"Aren't you guy's freezing?" Jaune asked them as they made their way into the apartment.
"Why would we be?" Thor boomed in a voice that was too loud for the distance he was from Jaune, but there was no anger in his voice, more cheer than anything.
"That rain is cold." Jaune said pointing out the window for emphasis, his own hair still wet from his own journey here, his expression still showing signs of his own miserable soaking.
Thor laughed at this, and Yang had a vague feeling of what was coming next. Aside from Loki, she probably knew Thor better than anyone else in the world, and he had a vague understanding of his view of the world.
"How can the rain be cold?" Thor said, punching Jaune lightly in his shoulder, but still enough to stagger the smaller boy. "You are cold and unhappy; the rain isn't cold or unhappy." Jaune just looked confused at this, and Yang knew he didn't understand what Thor meant.
Yang did, in a manner of speaking, but only from a technical point of view. Thor believed things like being cold or hot were more a state of mind rather than actual sensations, and he was in effect saying the rain didn't feel things hot, cold or any human sensations. What he was saying was Jaune had felt cold because he allowed himself to and the rain didn't feel these things.
Yang had never truly been able to apply this sort of mind over matter trick to herself, although she'd heard of other's who had. She wished she could, she'd love to know how to not feel cold in the rain. Thor and Loki, she thought had an unfair advantage in this area, far more years of life, and never really having to fear the results of elemental exposure for too long.
But they were still wet, and whether they liked it or not, they were mortal, and no matter how much you didn't think the cold would affect you, after a certain point, your body would react to it.
They apparently knew this, because despite apparently being unaffected by the cold rain, were stripping their wet clothes off. Yang had long since gotten used to this behavior from Thor, and her team had as well, although Weiss had never truly adapted and Ruby hadn't either.
"Why don't you guys do that in the bedroom?" Yang called out as she shot glances at her sister and Weiss. Ruby had turned away as soon as they had started to pull their clothes off, Weiss however hadn't taken her eyes off Loki. She suspected she'd been wondering since their first date what he looked like under his clothes.
"Fine." Loki said, picking up his bag and Thor following suit.
Yang would of, in a normal school setting, of teased Weiss relentlessly for what she had observed. In this situation, she was more scared than anything. Weiss had been, when they were at school, the most "put together" so to speak, on the team. None of them were perfect, but Weiss was at the time the most mature member of the team along with Blake, but without the hidden dark past. Weiss had her hang-ups, but those were largely in the open.
But since the fall of Beacon and the reunion in Mistral, she seemed almost distant. Not so much physically, but emotionally. Yang suspected it was something to do with her family, because despite the issues the rest of the team had, they all had at least one emotionally available parent.
She was certain others had noticed it as well, and she was certain Loki had, that was why he picked her. Predators had a way to pick on the vulnerable ones, and that was what she thought of Thor's brother. He was predator looking for an opportunity. Which was another cause of concern for her, and for the other's as well. She was certain Blake felt the same way, Ren and Jaune most likely did as well. Nora and Ruby, in their bizarre innocents hadn't seemed to either notice, or to hone in on specifics.
Sun was totally oblivious, in part she was sure because he wasn't as familiar with the groups school dynamic as the others.
Loki was snake, and Weiss had already been hurt by him, and if that look she'd been giving him was any indication, she was on course to do it again.
Loki pulled his sleepwear on and gathered his wet clothes to wash them. Thor didn't bother with anything other than hanging his wet cloths over a few chairs. He's never cared for things like laundry, granted neither did Loki, but he'd learned to deal with it.
He exited the bedroom and walked back to the living room, where everyone else had congregated. The moment he stepped into the room he remembered who he was, and who these people were. Thor had made him forget it for a moment, the bar almost reminded him of old times. But he'd let himself forget that these people greatly distrusted him, and may even attempt to harm him at the slightest sign of a misstep on his part.
They were all staring at him, in total silence. Old feelings of mistrust and hate washed over him, and he knew it wasn't unjustified, technically speaking. But at the same time, it was starting to irritate him that for all intents and purposes, he hadn't lied to them any more than Thor had, yet the standard they were each held to was a different as night and day.
He thought he might have grown use to it after all these years, but he didn't think any being could ever truly grow use to being despised.
He fell back on his standard show, of confidence and a sense of superiority "Where can I clean my clothes." He said in an even, cool and confident voice, and lacing it with a bit of arrogance for good measure.
He thought Weiss made a move to show him, but Yang spoke up. "Down the hall." She pointed a thumb over her shoulder.
He didn't respond with so much as a thank you, but marched like he owned half the world and was waiting for his check to clear on the rest. He walked past them all and they all watched him, and they all had a variety of expressions on their faces, but the sheer distrust on Yang face made him think she had bought more into Thor's stories of him than the other's. Except her anger wasn't tempered by any of the familial bonds he and Thor had.
She'd be one to keep an eye on, if any of the them were likely to try and attack him, he felt she was topping the list.
The laundry room was already warm with the dryer doing its work on one batch of cloths. The washer was also in use, and he now realized there was nothing he could do now, and none of them had mentioned it to him.
Typical of the attitude he'd shown. He knew his behavior was self-destructive, hell he knew that for years, given how everything he'd ever done had blown up in his face. But it was the only coping method he's ever had.
But he wanted more than to be hated, he always had, but in human form the desire was much stronger than it had ever been.
But all he seemed to know how to do was push people away and make himself miserable.
Thor walked out into the living room, and the first thing he noticed was Loki wasn't in the room.
"Where's my brother?"
"Down the hall, in the laundry room." Jaune said pointing down the hall.
Thor nodded and sat on the couch. He found that whenever Loki was out of his sight he worried. Not just that he'd run, but that something might happen to him. Loki had a way of making people want to hurt him.
"So…now what?" Ruby asked no one in particular "We're all here."
"Tomorrow, I'll call my sister, let her know what's going on, and hopefully we can explain it Ironwood." Weiss said
"And after that?" Blake chimed in.
Silence fell over the room. No one knew what would happen after that, because the relic would still be vulnerable, even with the knowledge of the potential threat.
Loki knew where the enemy was, or claimed to. Thor still wasn't sure how his brother had managed that feat, but Loki's resourcefulness, crafty nature and his semblance made Thor think he could probably pull it off.
In Thor's mind, that was the next step, to kill the enemy once and for all. That effort however, was something that would take a unified effort of every Kingdom. While everyone in this apartment was an outstanding warrior, assaulting the enemy stronghold would take more than them.
In the past, when he was at full power, he'd have handled it himself. But this was not possible, unless he either found a way to repeat the incident at Mistral, or find out whatever lesson he was supposed to be learning.
With Loki here and in the same condition as him, that should have narrowed the list if they were supposed to learn the same thing. But he and Loki were different in almost every regard. Other than they were both gods of Asgard. He'd pondered that idea even before he found his brother, that he and by extension Loki were here to be human and learn the complete reality of mortality as humans knew it.
But he didn't want that to be the case, because if it was he'd never get his power back, and this threat might not be dealt with. If Salem had existed this long, with people working against her, then typical means of war might not work as a mean to end her.
He'd hoped Loki might of gleaned some information from the book, the future. But that hadn't garnered much useful information. Granted he was certain Loki knew more than he was telling, that was his nature, to maneuver and plan to put himself in the best situation.
But Thor had found himself being far softer with his brother than he would have imagined, after the hot-tempered meeting. He didn't know if it was his human physiology, or the fact that he now has someone who would understand his situation, better than any other possible being in the universe, but he was finding himself much more willing to forgive his brother's past mistakes.
Loki himself came back into the room, and finally broke the silence. "I know where the witch is." He proclaimed to the room.
Thor hadn't expected this proclamation, but he suspected Loki knew he would have give this information soon.
"Why tell us now? You've know, supposedly, known for some time." Ren asked, in a voice that didn't sound accusing, rather politely curious.
"Because now we are here." Loki said and walked into the center of the room "And now we have to try and convince this Ironwood to put his support behind an attack on her."
"But why even tell us?" Jaune added.
Loki didn't even look at Jaune, but turned to face Weiss. She almost seemed to flinch at this look but he spoke again "You plan to tell you sister to relay the news from Mistral, I want you to include what I'm about to tell you."
This was not how Thor expected Loki to convey this information, he'd been certain he'd parlay it into something else. Money, favors, anything he might use, but now he was giving it away freely.
Weiss didn't answer in anything more than a nod, but Loki took this as yes and walked to the bedroom he'd changed in and came back with a folded piece of paper. He opened it and lay it in the coffee table and Thor saw it was map of the world.
"So where is she hiding?" Thor asked his brother.
Loki smoothed out the map and spoke. "Part of the reason she'd been able to hide this long is the human population is generally concentrated in four locations, with sparse expansion beyond the major kingdoms. But that's not the main reason why she's so hard to find." Loki started to put marks on the map, all on the ocean.
"What are those?" Ruby asked, stepping forward to stand next to Loki.
"Where she is at certain times of the years." Loki started to date the marks.
"What, you mean she moves from base to base?" Jaune asked.
"No, her base of operations moves." Loki said and started to sketch something on a piece of paper. "Her 'kingdom' as it were is massive living creature, a type of Grimm, it looks somewhat like this." He gestured at his sketch, which looked like a crab. "Under its shell is a landscape roughly the size of Mistral, I can't tell you the layout, but I've gathered some basic topography." He turned his attention back to the map and circled three locations "These are the area it will settle into over the next three months."
Loki looked to the group, and only Thor didn't seem surprised. A creature of this size was beyond anything they would ever have seen. Of course, compared to the Midgard serpent, it was small.
"How did you happen to find all this out?" Yang asked in a tone that made it clear she wasn't ready to accept what he was saying at face value.
"Salem has informants all over the world, she doesn't have just a hand full of minions to connect her to the goings-on in the world." Loki said, which was perfectly true, but he'd also had some time alone with the relic of knowledge, and he knew things, this was one of them.
But he could tell from the looks on their faces that he wasn't convincing them. He supposed to their human perspective, something like a creature the size of a country was hard to believe. He looked at his brother, who he could tell had just accepted the fact of creature's existence. If he was to convince them, Thor would be necessary.
"Do you know anything about the Grimm? Is it simply a large Grimm or is there something unique about it?" Thor asked, and Loki knew that was just the ticket, his frank belief would sell it more than effective than having him trying to directly convince them.
"This Grimm's "blood" after a manner of speaking, spawns lesser Grimm, I believe you've all seen this trait in other Grimm?"
"The Dragon." Jaune said remember how the black tar-like substance that fell from its body turned into Grimm.
"And the Wendo." Thor added "The larger maggot forms grew them from a black liquid."
"Yes." Loki said and start to draw some more on his sketch of the crab. "There are Grimm, normally very large ones, that create other Grimm, I believe this may be the propagate of the entire race." Loki said as he finished drawing lines on the Grimm.
Thor didn't look the least bit surprised, but the lack of experience showed on everyone else face, the idea of a single Grimm that produced the race was scaring them, given how dangerous the normal Grimm they had faced were, the idea of the Mother of the race made them uncomfortable.
"But I thought Salem was the leader?" Ruby eventually asked breaking the silence.
"I believe she is, the creature, like all Grimm, is under her control." Loki said, "That's why it functions as her base of operations." He turned to Weiss and spoke again "Tell your sister this along with the information on the relic, I dare say that if this General Ironwood is the military hardliner I've heard he is, then he'll launch a full-scale assault on the creature as soon as possible."
"Hold on." Yang butted in "How do we know you aren't making this up? Lying is sort of you defining trait."
That stung him a bit, he's always thought his intelligences was his defining trait. "Why would I lie? If I caused a full-scale military mobilization for nothing, I'd spend the rest of my mortal life in prison."
"Well, what makes you think anyone will even believe you? God of lies or not, you have no credibility with my sister or General Ironwood." Weiss added.
Loki shrugged "I'm certain the General will investigate my claim, and when he does, he'll know I was telling the truth."
He could tell they still didn't fully trust his information, but the implications of him telling the truth and them ignoring it was too great. He knew what they were thinking, better to look like fools and be wrong than to risk him being right and ignoring him.
Thor's frank questions had help seal the deal, and he was now certain Weiss would convey the information up the command chain.
The group sat in silence for a few minutes before anyone spoke. Turns out it was Weiss "Let's all get to bed, we have a lot to do tomorrow."
That night the dreams came again, one last time, but this time they all had the same dream.
They stood on a cliff overlooking the ocean, with the sky darkening in a storm. The ocean raged in far-off storm. As they looked out into the ocean it seemed to rise in a dome and a creature broke the surface and here was the only deviation in the dreams.
Thor saw a great serpent, Loki a Frost giant. Jaune saw fire giant, Ruby a Giant Wolf. Blake saw a minotaur, Sun an Oni. Yang also saw a giant serpent, but it was cloaked in flames and shadow. Weiss saw a familiar knight she faced and summoned in the past. Ren saw the Grimm that took his family, and Nora saw amorphous black shadow.
The morning sun broke the dreams. Yet for those not used to the dreams, an explanation was needed.
"What the hell was that?" Sun muttered the following morning as he held a coffee mug in his shaking hands.
"They are visions." Loki said to the assembled group "Although, I gather those of you who've had them haven't yet experienced a unified vision like this one."
No one answered right away, which told Loki he was more or less he was correct. "If I were to hazard a guess the sea is literal, that some threat is coming from the sea or we will face a threat in the sea." Loki said as he sipped his own coffee "The creature is more a symbol of what we all either fear or have had some sort of fear of in the past." Those were his best guesses anyway "The overall theme is a great threat coming from the sea." Loki said as he thought of this confirming his own information.
"These visions are next to useless." Ruby said after a time of silence.
"Without my father to interpret them, they do tend to be more of an aggravation than a help." Loki replied.
"But I do think Loki is right in the general sense of things." Thor added before turning to Weiss "If I were you, I'd call your sister now, time is short."
Weiss didn't like being told what to do, but in this case, she knew Thor was right. She took out her scroll and walked into the bedroom for some privacy.
She dialed her sister's number and hoped she was still in the city. She expected her to be, given Atlas had called back all military assets, but still, there was a chance that Ironwood would send her on a mission.
The scroll rang three times, then her sister's voice came over the scroll.
"Weiss? What are you doing? Where are you?"
"Winter, I'm fine." She said quickly, knowing that the questions her sister was asking were really asking if she was okay. "I'm with friends." She didn't bother saying she was in the city, her sister would of puzzled that out on her own. "Winter, I need to tell you something, or rather…" she didn't know how to phrase this statement in way that didn't sound rushed or oversimplified. "I'm sending you something, it's what we learned in Mistral, the document has everything I need you to tell General Ironwood."
Weiss had thought on this a lot, and had decided that instead of telling her sister directly, she'd made a small document to send her over their scrolls, to make sure she didn't leave anything out and so Winter could show Ironwood. She didn't even really need to call her sister, but she thought if she spoke to her first, she would believe Weiss had sent the document. That, and she wanted to hear her sisters voice.
As she sent the file, she heard Winter's voice over the scroll "Weiss, father is furious with you, that you disappeared."
"I'm not surprised." Weiss said as she hit "send" on the file.
"Weiss…I don't know how you got into Atlas, but where ever you are, which I do not want to know, stay there and stay low. If Father doesn't break down the door, Ironwood will. He's at his breaking strain Weiss, he's likely to arrest you and your friends on sight for crossing a closed border."
"Winter…did you get the-"Weiss began but was cut off.
"Yes, I'll get it to Ironwood, but don't call me again, I'll contact you next time."
"Winter." Weiss said into her scroll.
"Yes?"
"I love you."
"…I love you too, stay safe." And with that the call ended.
Weiss looked at her scroll and wished she could call her sister again. But that didn't seem like a safe idea, if Winter wasn't exaggerating, Ironwood was enforcing the closed border policy very harshly. With her father and Ironwood as potential threats, maybe not life-threatening, but still a form of hindrance she didn't feel as safe as she had the day before, especially with her most recent dream.
She put her scroll away and walked back into the living room.
"She's going to tell the General, but…" She said before pausing "But I think we're in trouble."
"In trouble in what way?" Blake asked.
"Apparently, Ironwood isn't exactly as…rational as he used to be. Winter said she'd give him the information, but from what she said, I think it's better if we just…stay here for a while."
A loud scoffing noise made her flinch ever so slightly, before she realized it was Loki. That…for some reason made her stomach turn.
"I'm not staying in this apartment with nine other people, it's far too crowded."
"Well." Weiss started, regaining her composure "If a prison cell would suite you better, then leave, because we broke the closed border policy to get here." She honestly didn't know if the punishment was that severe, but Winter had made it sound rather unpleasant.
Loki just scowled but kept himself quiet.
"So we're what…just stuck here?" Jaune asked.
"Winter said she'd call me again, I'm assuming that until then, we need to lay low here."
"Well, what are we supposed to do about food?" Thor asked, "There isn't any here and we didn't bring any with us."
Weiss knew that would be a problem, they hadn't planned on holding up here for more than a day… maybe two. She knew she couldn't leave, she was way too easy to recognize.
"Someone will have to get supplies." Weiss said and turned to face Loki "And that someone is you."
The general reaction of the room was expected, but it still made her blood pump. The feeling in the room shifted from uneasy to incredibly tense.
"I'm not some errand boy."
"No, but you and Thor are the only ones who are pretty much guaranteed not to be known to Ironwood or any of his him men."
"How do you figure that?" Yang asked.
"Everyone else hear competed in the Vytal Tournament, and Ironwood would know our teams better than the average team at any rate." She said not taking her eyes off Loki "Thor didn't compete and Loki wasn't in Vale, and even if Ironwood saw Thor…" she hesitated here, knowing what she was about to say might be insensitive, but it was true "He wouldn't likely recognize him now."
Thor didn't seem to take the comment with any offense. Instead he grabbed his brother by the shoulder and pulled him towards the door.
"Why do you listen to these young ones so readily?" Loki muttered as Thor lead him down the street.
"They are right." Thor said, "It's safer if we go rather than any of them."
"I know that, but they shouldn't be dictating what we do, they should listen to us." Loki said as they walked down the street. "We're older, wiser, stronger, they should listen to us."
"That is one thing you've never learned brother."
"Oh, what is that?"
"Teamwork, you are always off on your own, and if you are with other's they are either subjects or targets."
"Not by choice." Loki muttered.
"Maybe not conscious choice, but you have a tendency to alienate yourself."
Loki was silent for a minute before speaking "Does the fact that I know that make it better or worse?"
"Depends." Thor said "Are you trying to fix the issue?"
Loki didn't answer the questions, instead he stayed silent until they reached their destination.
"There is no way this is enough food for ten people." Loki said as they exited the market "This isn't enough for you or Nora."
"Well, we don't have a vehicle, we'll just have to make more trips."
"I feel like a servant." Loki muttered.
Thor just smiled and was about to respond when he heard what he thought were sirens in the distance. Probably nothing, but it always made him wonder what might be happening to those he cared about. Shaking the thought away he continued speaking to his brother on a subject that interested him "So, what of these mortals, what impression do they leave on you?"
Loki just rolled his shoulders before he responded, "They are…better than other mortals"
Thor smirked at this. His brother had long held the opinion of the humans as ants or bugs, and being one of them had perhaps humbled him. He in particular connected with Weiss the most, given his issues with Odin and Weiss had with her own father.
Thor didn't know Weiss's father, but Weiss did not paint a pretty picture of him. But he also knew there were two side to the story, and while he was inclined to believe Weiss, he didn't consider her a neutral party.
"Well, I certainly approve of them." Thor said smiling.
"As if that means much, you could find value in the lowest human."
"That's because even the lowest human has value."
"You're too naive."
This was something he doubted he could ever fully convince his brother on. Thor thought that there was value in every human soul, Loki would, at least prior to his time here, of only considered maybe more than a handful of human beings worth his time.
But his…acceptance of these young and clearly flawed humans was progress. He loved them all, but he'd known for a long time almost no human could meet the perfect ideals so many strived for. They fell short, but they kept striving. That was what he admired about them.
The sudden sound of bags of food hitting the sidewalk made Thor turn to face his brother, but before he could ask him what he was doing, Loki pulled him into an ally.
"Loki what is it?"
Loki just pointed at the building the apartment was in, and he saw Atlas military personal surrounding it.
"You think they've been found out?"
Loki just pointed again and Thor saw Ruby being lead out in handcuffs, followed by Yang.
Thor stepped forward but felt Loki pull at his shoulder. "Don't be foolish, they'll take you apart."
Thor could on watch was the rest of the other were brought out in bondage. Thor ground his teeth together as he watched them. "We have to help them."
"Not now, we are at too much of a disadvantage, we must wait."
"How did they find them?"
"Weiss's sister, I'd be willing to bet. Intentional or not, I think she gave the location away."
They both watched as the teenager were loaded into the back of an armored truck. Then it happened.
Loki watched as Ruby tripped and one of the guards roughly grabbed her and threw her into the truck. Yang slammed her cuffed hands on the back of the guard's neck, and soon a vicious, if brief brawl broke out.
Yang shortly subdued, but Thor was already rushing forward. He couldn't stop him, and instead just watched.
In typical fashion of his brother, he called down the lightning to strike several of the guards. And soon he was throwing punches to take down a few more, but he was swarmed and soon he was in shackles himself.
This guards were not just run of the mill police, they were either huntsmen or of a similar caliber. Loki didn't want to leave his brother to their hands. But he knew his attempt to do anything would make no difference.
These feeling of concern for his brother and the…others were new to him. But he couldn't help them now, but perhaps he could do something for them if he kept his head, and followed them.
The armored car was nearly full when Thor was thrown in the back. Ruby really appreciated the effort, but she had wished Thor had taken a more practical approach.
"You okay their big guy?" she asked.
"Fine." Thor muttered as he sat upright shaking his head.
Her sister broke in "What were you thinking? Now you're here with us!"
"I wasn't thinking." Thor muttered "My temper got the better of me, something I've never been able to get in hand." He continued "So how do you all get caught?"
They all clammed up at this, and it was some time before anyone answered. The truck started to move in that time and Ruby felt her stomach sink with it.
"It was my sister." Weiss finally said. "In some way or another, she or I lead them here," She continued, her voice dripping with guilt.
"Weiss." Thor said " I doubt your sister would betray you, I would bet my remaining limbs that her superior bugged her communications."
Ruby felt a security in these words, and while she was still immature in many ways, she knew why. The idea of Weiss's older sister betraying her in any way, made her uncomfortable, given how much faith she put in Yang. The idea of a sibling be trying one another made her upset and she didn't want to think it was possible. The problem was she knew it happened. Her uncle and Yang's mom had a falling out, and Thor and Loki had a some clear issues. She didn't need more proof that it could happen, she wanted more proof to oppose that.
She didn't even have proof Thor's words were correct, but even the idea of him being right made her feel better. Yang was on her left and Jaune was on her right, and she reached for their hands, and gripped them, and felt them squeeze her hand back, comforting her.
"It will be fine." Thor said as he finally righted himself "We have help on the outside."
"Who?" Yang asked, "You can't mean Loki?"
"Of course, I do."
"Thor." Blake butted in "You can't think your brother is that reliable, can you?"
"No." Thor said smiling "He is the god of mischief, his nature will make him cause the most trouble, no matter who it affects."
That didn't fill Ruby with confidence, that the god of mischief was their outside help now. But, she supposed having a trickster god on their side may help.
Yang didn't know why Thor trusted his brother so much. Yet at the same time, she did. She'd forgive Ruby of almost anything, and Thor would of Loki. But still, they had lived through almost an eternity with each other, with Loki fooling his brother.
She didn't think she could even comprehend that type of time frame with her sister. But still, she loved Ruby to almost no end. She thought she might forgive her almost anything. But still, Loki wasn't her brother, and he thought she might be a more unbiased judge of character.
If Loki came through in the way Thor thought he might, then she would perhaps be more forgiving of him. But if he didn't, then well her trusts of him wouldn't change.
She knew almost of all her view of him came from Thor's rants on his brother, but a bit of reading on him didn't help his case.
She wanted Thor to be right, so they had some help. But she wasn't about to hold her breath.
Loki watched his brother and his friends…Loki's friends, being driven off. Loki hated himself in that moment. Because despite everything, he considered this group of humans his friends.
The really made him hate himself, that indifference and curtsey felt like they were treating him like friend. That said more about his life than anything else.
But now he needed to think of what to do. Help them and his brother, or leave them. He knew if he left them he'd be able to go back to the life he was living.
But that didn't feel right, for whatever reason, his life of on his own felt like it would be empty. Comfort and nice living seemed a cold replacement for people now, while the cold of the weather never bothered him, the coldness of people always cut him to his core.
But on the same note, they didn't seem too keen to be around him, so why bother. He'd be doing them a favor by leaving, Weiss surely had connection, with her family so well placed in the kingdom, they probably wouldn't spend the night in a cell. Granted he thought her sister was responsible for their capture, but it could be something as simple as her being bugged, or that she wanted them brought in for their own safety.
So those where his choices, and both had their advantages in his mind.
He pondered it for a few minutes before making up his mind.
As the transports drove away, he made his move. He was going to have to gather some things if he was going to follow this plan of action.
The Street felt oddly quiet to Loki, as he made his way to his destination. It was the middle of the day and he supposed most people would be at work, but still the area felt almost deserted.
But what he was more concerned with was he was being followed, by someone of well above average skill in the field of stealth. But he's spent more time in the shadows than this person had spent alive on this plane of existence. He wasn't so easy to catch off guard, but it was more than that.
He could feel, almost smell a familiar presence, not a person but more a force or energy. He couldn't place his finger on it yet, but he could definitely feel it. It almost felt like the presence of the relic, but this felt less powerful but more…alive.
He decided to take a detour into the outskirts of the city, where the construction of new buildings would start soon. He felt this situation wouldn't reveal itself until he was alone, or at least until his invisible friend thought so.
He found a vacant lot that had been cleared but had no apparent signs of construction on. Once he felt like there was little chance any outsiders would see he stopped.
"Come on out, I know your there." He called into the cold empty air. Not long after this he heard footsteps behind him. The hard clicking told him whoever it was likely a woman, the sound of high heels was hard to mistake in tandem with footsteps. He turned to face them.
It was a young woman, late teens or early twenties. It was hard to tell because of the eyepatch over her eye and the scars that ran down out from under it. Even with her face marred it was clear this girl was a great beauty. She wore a mostly red dress and her black hair was cut short. The one eye he could see was gold and looked at him intently.
"Loki, I presume." She said, her voice staying calm, but Loki could pick out a faint hint of something. Fear? Anger? Annoyance? He couldn't be sure, she was good at hiding her emotions.
"You may presume whatever you like." He responded letting his semblance flow out through his voice. He wanted to ease her mood and hopefully find out how she knew his name, although he had a rough idea.
She seemed to ease ever so slightly but her tone didn't change "I know it's you, I have all the information I need to identify you, I just wanted to give you the opportunity to comply."
"Well." He said in response "If you do indeed know who I am, then I am at a disadvantage, for I do not know who you are." His tone was calm, even polite, and he hoped this might bring her more towards comfort.
It seemed to be working as she replied, "Cinder Fall." She said, even doing a weird sort of bow that was more of a nod. "I've come to talk to you."
"Well then." Loki said "Talk." Now he knew exactly who she was. He'd heard of her from Thor and his friends, she was the usurper of the Fall maidens power. That was what he senses, that power, it was linked in some way to the relics which was why it felt familiar.
Cinder didn't seem put off by his frankness, but that may have well been due to his semblance. No matter how well he understood it, he could never tell how it would exactly affect each individual he used it on.
"I'm sure by now you know who I work for." She said, "And with the relic you stole, before we took it back, you know more about what's going to happen than your brother."
"Yes."
"Well, that relic, we found out quite a bit about you, and while personally don't believe half of what they told me about you, my Queen seems interested in you."
"Is that so?" Loki said, feeling for the daggers he kept up his sleeve when out in the world.
"She wants to offer you a chance to join us, to replace the man you brother killed in Mistral, or the men I suppose."
Loki stopped feeling for his dagger and looked at her. "Why would she want me?" He asked this more to keep her talking, because if they knew who he was, then it would make sense to him to try and recruit a god. But he wanted to see what she knew, and what she believed.
Cinder smiled at him, and Loki could tell she didn't care one way or another if he accepted or not. He may have calmed her, but he hadn't yet influenced her enough to sway some of her stronger feelings. And he could see her yearning for a fight, like Thor did when he was younger, eager to test his strength and powers. He could only guess she wanted to test her maiden powers against him, and if not him someone else soon.
"They say you're a clever man with powerful infiltration abilities, even claims you're a god in mortal form." She said the last part with a scoff, which he took to mean she hadn't experience the relic first hand and was being feed information, because she clearly didn't think he was a god.
"So, I take it you are here for the relic in Atlas academy?" He said, not responding to her previous statement.
"Two of my affiliates are taking care of that while I talk to you." Her tone of voice told him she thought this was ridiculous, but she clearly didn't dare refuse an order.
Still he wanted to hear more from her.
"Tell me, why should I go with you? What's in it for me?"
AN: Okay this last part was going to originally be much longer, but I decided to end it on a more vague note. This just felt right for the end of the chapter.