It had been a week, a week of nightmares of Thor's demise, a week of waiting for word about him, and a week of Loki sitting on the throne of Asgard.
I was pacing in my room, driven mad by the visions of death I saw every night. I knew what I had to do.
I love Loki, more than anything, but Thor is still my friend, and leaving him to die in a merciless realm is not something I would do. He would come to help me, so I'm going to go get him.
I started to walk to my door, having my armor shift onto my body smoothly. Echo rose to accompany me.
"No Echo. You stay here. If something happened to me, I wouldn't want them to kill you too." I whispered patting him on the head. He whined softly, and pressed his head against my hand.
"I know boy. I love you too. Watch out for Loki while I'm gone okay." I walked out of the room, letting Echo out behind me. As I walked down the hallway I heard Frandral yelling at Volstagg.
"How have you managed to eat so much with what has been going on?" Frandral's voice echoed down the long corridor leading me right into the room.
"Stop fighting, both of you! It's not going to help Thor!" Sif shouted coming up between them.
"She's right. It's not going to help Thor." I said from the doorway.
They all turned to look at me.
"That's why I'm sick of waiting around. I'm going to go get him back." I said confidently.
"But you hate Midgard." Hogan responded a skeptical look on his face.
"Yes I do, but Thor is my friend, and he would do the same for me." I placed my hand on the hilt of Obsidian that was strapped to my waist
"But that's treason!" Frandral exclaimed.
I shrugged. "It may be treason, but I don't care."
"But what about Loki?" Sif asked, a frown on her face.
I bit my lip.
This was going against everything. I hated Midgard, hated what it's people had done to my family and me, but I would go to save Thor. I love Loki more than anything, and if he loved me he would understand.
"I'm going to Midgard no matter what. You can either come with me or stay here and moap." I challenged as I turned around and walked down the winding corridor.
It was a few moments before I heard them in step behind me. I smiled to myself.
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.
As we neared the Bifrost, Heimdall was waiting for us, standing in the large open doorway.
"Let me guess. You saw us coming?" I teased him, not slowing down my stride.
He remained stoic in the doorway.
"I cannot commend or help you in anyway." He replied and pushed past us down the rainbow bridge.
"He's really odd isn't he?" Frandral muttered.
I turned and looked towards the Bifrost. Heimdall has left his sword in the pedestal and the portal began to open spewing color.
"Let's do this." I shouted and flew forward into the open portal.
My mind was lost in a swirl of color, but bit by bit Midgard formed in front of us. My stomach flip flopped at the thought of going back.
Cadence it will be okay. Don't think about the past, it is different now, you'll see.
My feet hit the ground hard, depositing me onto rocky terrain. I took a few steps to get my bearings, traveling by Bifrost kinda messes with your head a little.
Okay hopefully nobody tries to kill us while we are here. I honestly can't say the same for when we get back to Asgard.
I swallowed my nerves and turned to look at my comrades, who were looking around and trying to find their bearings.
I looked east and saw in the distance a cluster of buildings rising up out of the ground.
"I saw we go that way." I announced as I began to walk towards the small town.
"How do you know?" Sif snarked from behind me.
"I don't, but Heimdall has never steered me wrong, so I'm going to go into the creepy little town nearest to us." I replied coolly, and continued to walk towards the small town.
When we finally arrived the sun was directly over our heads, beating down on us.
This was the wrong place to wear full armor. It was so hot, so much hotter than where I used to live on Midguard.
Weird mechanical machines passed by us as we walked slowly down the dirt street. They would make roaring noises as they passed and sharp noises whenever we would get in front of them.
This was not the Midgard I knew.
I was still waiting for the mass of people with pitchforks and torches to assail us from behind. I wished Loki could have been here with us. I hated leaving him on Asgard, if only things were different.
We were all walking in a line down the mostly empty street. I couldn't help, but look at everything around me.
I hadn't been to Midgard in 318 years, how could it have changed this much.
People stared at us as we walked and I placed my hand on Obsidian nervously.
"How do we even know that Thor is here?" Hogan questioned.
"I've got a really good feeling about this place." I replied as I scanned the buildings around us.
Finally we arrived at the end of the street, and in front of us a large glass building dominated the space. Through the glass doors I saw Thor, talking to a petite brunette woman.
"There he is." Sif exclaimed excitedly.
She was the first to knock on the glass door. Everyone waved happily, glad to see Thor.
The look on Thor's face was priceless, and the looks that the other people in the room gave us were just as funny. Thor opened the door, and pulled Volstagg into a manly hug.
The petite woman that Thor had been talking to dropped a plate, but as I fell I caught it telekinetically and stepped forward grabbing it in my hand.
"Here you go." I said gently. Shock flashed on her face, which only made me smile wider.
"Cadence, I can't believe you came!" Thor said happily pulling me into a bear hug.
"Thor, can't breathe." I choked out.
He must have really missed me.
"Oh, right." He whispered pulling away, a goofy smile on his face. "Did you really come here for me?"
I nodded slowly, suddenly aware that everyone was watching us.
"I'm glad to hear it. It's about time you came back to Midgard. I'm glad you came." He said smiling wider.
I blushed deeply. "Anything for my best friend."
"I'm glad all of you could come." He said brightly, looking up into the faces of our comrades. He turned to the petite brown woman next to him, clutching the plate in her hand tightly. "This is Jane Foster, and this is Darcy Lewis. Erik Selvig is the man behind you Volstagg." Thor said calmly pointing them out.
I nodded my head at each of them, still not comfortable with talking to them.
"We came to take you home Thor." Sif said, but her eyes were on the hand Thor placed on my shoulder.
"I'm honored that you came, but I can't go home." He responded in a daze.
"Wait, what do you mean you can't come home?" Frandral said taken aback.
"You know I can't. My father is dead because of me. I must remain in exile." Thor responded sadly. He removed his hand from my shoulder and turned away from us.
We all exchanged confused looks.
"Thor." I said sweetly, putting one hand on his shoulder and turning him around to face me. "Your father is still alive."
Confusion washed over Thor's face.
"But Loki said-" The ground shook with the force of an earthquake cutting off his reply.
I turned around and looked in the direction we had come, just in time to see a massive light shoot back up into the sky.
"Shit." I muttered.
I turned back to Thor. "Wait Loki told you that Odin was dead?"
Thor nodded solemnly.
Oh boy.
"Then that means whatever just landed is here to keep us here. Wonderful." I muttered. I pulled Obsidian from my belt, letting it lengthen into an axe.
The people in the room gasped, watching my weapon with awe.
"That is so awesome, way better than my taser!" Darcy exclaimed stepping forward to examine it. "Can I hold it?" She asked me brightly.
"Well, no." I responded calmly.
Her face fell.
"I would let you, but Obsidian has a mind of it's own. It only lets me wield it." I continued gently. "See look." I tossed the axe at Sif.
Sif caught it easily, but as soon as Obsidian touched her hand it dropped to the ground pulling her down with it. Sif struggled to lift it up.
I called Obsidian back into my hand, feeling stronger with it.
A large explosion shook the glass in the building around us.
"We have to get everyone out of here!" Thor yelled running outside.
We all followed him and tried to clear out the townspeople quickly, but I knew that whatever or whoever Loki sent would be on us soon.
Finally I saw it, rising up out of the distance.
Oh great he sent The Destroyer. This should be fun.
The Destroyer took steps that shook the ground beneath our feet, it's metal body glinting in the sunlight.
I was back with Thor and his new friends behind a metal machine that Thor called a car, watching The Destroyer approach. I took a step forward, but Thor fastened his hand on my arm.
"Thor what are you doing?" I asked him, my eyes meeting his.
"Let the others handle this Cade." He muttered.
"I'm a warrior too, I should be out there helping them." I angrily whispered back.
"Loki sent that thing because he is angry. If you go out there and face The Destroyer he will only get angrier." Thor retorted.
I could see how much sitting back and watching was hurting him. Thor was feeling bad because he believed that he wasn't the same person he used to be.
I turned to look at our comrades.
"For Asgard!" Volstagg yelled loudly as he charged the behemoth.
Volstagg was struck in the head and flew backwards into a building. Frandral and Hogan were knocked away, by a concussive blast that made my ears ring. Finally Sif charged forward, driving her spear into The Destroyer's open back, she confidently glared at me.
As she looked over at me The Destroyer's head began to turn around, finally lining up with her. It fired a blast directly at her that knocked her away against a car. She slumped forward and lay still.
The Destroyer's face began to glow red, and as he fired the next blast at Sif, I reached out and shielded her telekinetically blocking her from the deadly attack.
The blast ricocheted into The Destroyer and it stumbled back a few feet.
"Stay here." Thor ordered me, standing up.
I grabbed his arm and pulled him down to me. "Thor no! You are mortal now, if you do this, you will be killed. Let me face Loki." I pleaded with him.
He brushed a stray hair from my face tenderly, his hand lingered on my cheek. "Cadence I have to do this, it's the only way to keep you safe." He whispered to me, pulling my arm from his grasp. He stepped forward out into The Destroyer's line of vision.
"Brother... for whatever I have done to wrong you, whatever I have done to lead you to do this, I am sorry, But these people have done nothing to you. They are innocents." Thor said holding his hands out in surrender. "End my life now, and know that I will never return to Asgard."
"NO!" I screamed and ran in between Thor and The Destroyer.
"Loki please, don't do this. This is your brother. Thor who taught you how to shave when you were young because Odin was too busy, Thor who taught you how to fight, when Odin said you wouldn't be a warrior. If you are going to be mad at anyone be mad at me. Don't punish Thor for your father's mistakes. Blame me. " I swallowed. My heart was beating so hard it hurt. "And if you really love me, you won't do this."
There was a moment of silence. I could hear birds chirping in the distance, echoing off the buildings. The Destroyer turned away, and I relaxed, but in a split second he flashed around and shot a white hot bolt of energy into me.
The pain stung like a thousand needles, and I was suddenly aware that I wasn't on the ground. I was flying through the air swiftly, not knowing my destination. The brick wall was hard against the back of my head, and all I saw was darkness.