Alright, not quite as much of a wait this time. I take full responsibility for this one though. I tried to write for the past two weeks, but I was in Washington State, visiting my best friend of eleven years so I was a little distracted. This chapter really seemed to flow so I'm hoping you all enjoy it! As always, let me know what you think, please and thank you! Big thanks to all those who faved/followed/reviewed:

tesseractact
BloodyGrim

You guys are awesome and keep me going. If I missed your name, I'm sorry, my e-mail is eating messages for some reason, I'm having it looked into and if I recover names and such, I'll post them in the next chapter, otherwise, Thanks and please keep it up!. Also, something I found out after a little research, it isn't Yosemite that has the volcano, it's Yellowstone. I will go back and fix that at some point and if I slipped up in this chapter, I apologize. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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Discovery and Dread

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The next day found Riley and the others traipsing through the forest. It had looked so serene and inviting from the lodge house, all green pines and open trails. But Riley soon found that it was, in fact, a world of trip hazards and small bugs that liked to bite her exposed skin. She was convinced that she would be nothing more than one huge mosquito bite by the time they retired for the day, which wasn't looking to be any time soon.

"Honestly guys, why are we out here? Loki has already said that he's not feeling any kind of strange energy around here and if what Jane said is true, the portal would be throwing it off like crazy. Why don't we go back to the house and try a different direction tomorrow?" She knew she sounded almost desperate at this point, but she didn't know how much more of the wilderness she could take.

"We will continue to search until we find the portal. This is the most likely direction. These "hot beds" that you mentioned, where the volcano is reported to be, are the most likely spot for the portal to open. We will continue until we reach them." Thor sounded almost excited as he spoke, like it was all some kind of game that he was determined to win. Loki, on the other hand, seemed almost as out of sorts and Riley felt. Perhaps it was from being in the constant company of his brother, perhaps he was sensing he wasn't telling them about. Regardless of the cause, Riley knew that if her complaining continued for much longer, he would silencer her himself.

"What does the map say? How far away are we? If the portal is as big as I suspect it is, we should be able to see it from at least a mile away." Jane chimed in, ever the voice of reason and settler of conflicts.

Riley pulled the map out, spreading it out on a nearby rock. She took her marker out, something she had made sure to pack when they left the house this morning. It included all the known paths through the park, complete with landmarks and mile markers. She looked around, trying to remember the last major landmark they'd seen. It had been a rock formation, something that looked man made, though the note on the map said it had been the product of erosion and wind sheer. She tried to remember the amount of time that had passed since they'd seen it. Using this information, she tracked their distance on the map and marked it in red, showing how far they were from the spot where the volcano was bubbling away underground.

"Oh wow, we're closer than I thought we were. It looks like a mile and a half to me, but someone might wanna double check me on that. My math isn't as good as it used to be." She looked up, grinning sheepishly as Loki walked over to stand beside her, leaning directly over her to examine the map over her head.

"You appear to be correct, this time." He grinned, a soft chuckle echoing through his chest and vibrating into her back. She stiffened slightly, the vibration and subtle sound shooting straight to her core, just as he knew it would. She turned her head, aiming a glare at his chin, seeing as he was too tall for her to actually meet his eyes from her current position. "Shall we?" A hand appeared on the edge of her vision, almost encircling her.

"Oh give it a rest you two." Jane laughed softly, walking over and grabbing the map and Riley's hand, pulling her out of the pseudo cage formed by Loki's leaning body. Thor barked out a laugh, startling a few small birds from a nearby tree and clapped his brother on the back as he walked past, taking the lead for the first time. Jane grinned over at Riley, her face a picture of mischief as she leaned in close. "I think he might really be into you. He's not normally like this, at least from what Thor has told me. I don't know what you did girl, but it worked." She laughed softly, nudging Riley with her shoulder before hurrying to catch up to her own lover, leaving Riley to be in quiet shock over her words.

She thought back over the last few days, examining the differences in Loki's behavior. He was still brusque and standoffish most of the time, but it seemed that his soft moments were coming closer and closer together. He was gentler with her, jokingly insulting her instead of trying to seriously upset her. He hadn't outright insulted her in days, and that sex in the shower had been...different.

"Riley, don't fall behind." Thor's voice floated back to her, bringing her out of her reverie and making her realize she's stopped moving as she thought. She sighed and broke into a slow run, catching up to them quickly and falling into step behind Thor and Jane, her mind once again going back to the enigma that was Loki.

Malekith was not happy. He'd torn the whole city apart brick by brick. Every human had been questioned and killed. Why was he no closer to finding what he so desperately sought? Surely there was some sign of where they had gone. It was impossible to hide from one such as himself.

He turned from his stand at the window of his ship, looking as one of the many humans he had recruited came running up to him. The look of fear apparent and on youth's face let him know before the boy even spoke that his mission had been a failure as well.

"My lord, we found signs of their departure from town, but it was right before we began the decimation of the city, it is impossible to tell where they've gone." He knelt down, bowing his head low, foolishly hoping to be spared the wrath he'd seen befall so many of his kind.

"Impossible you say? Surely that road only leads to a small number of places. This land is not so vast as to be impossible to map." He cast his voice low, allowing the threat to creep slowly into it.

"Yes my lord. But it intersects a number of other roads, those roads in turn intersect others like a web across the entire country. Without knowing where they were headed, it is...very difficult to predict where they would be headed." The boy had begun to tremble, but he had learned quickly enough to amend his speech. Perhaps there was hope for this one.

"Very difficult it may be. But surely with the tools I have made available to you, it is not impossible to accomplish. Rise and go back to the task I have set for you." He turned his back on the human, hearing the almost silent laugh and grinning. Yet another stupid mortal won over to his cause, simply by sparing him the torment he'd been forced to observe when those before him had failed. He turned his gaze to the skies, watching for the tell tale shimmer of the portal that would lead him to his victory. He could feel it, out past the visible horizon, waiting for him to find it, calling to him, it's pull almost more than he could resist. But the time was not yet right. He must find and silence those who would stand in his way.

It was almost dark by the time they reached the volcano field. The temperature had been rising steadily for the past ten minutes, increasing the humidity to the point that both Jane and Riley had stripped out of their flannel over shirts, their tank tops beginning to stick to their skin as the moisture in the air beaded up on their skin.

"Clearly, people who don't believe in this whole super volcano thing have never been here in person. It feels like we're about to find an open lava pit. Why the hell is it so humid?" Riley pulled at the neck of her tank top, trying in vain to increase the air flow between her skin and the fabric.

"There used to be a lake here, but it's been slowly evaporating as the magma under the lake bed gets closer to the surface." Jane fanned herself as she spoke, her hair already pulled up into a messy bun at the nape of her neck, small hairs around her face and neck were still sticking to her skin. Riley had opted for a high ponytail, preferring to keep her mop of hair off her head and neck as much as possible.

They stepped out of the tree line, taking in the scene before them. There was nothing around them, no green anywhere. It was just a bleak grayish brown, all slightly slanting uphill, leading to what looked like a small pool. It was almost cerulean in the center, fading out through all the shades of blue, into green, then yellow, through orange and into red as it spread out in twisting tendrils. Riley thought for a moment that the red was lava, not water, but the lack of steam coming from the tendrils proved it to simply be vibrantly colored water.

"Wow. So this is terrifying. I am not walking out there. With the luck I've been having lately, the damn thing will explode the moment I get to the middle." She took a cautious step back into the treeline, fear plain to see on her face.

"Relax Riley, seismologists and volcanologists both agree that this thing isn't due to erupt for at least another century, and that's if it's early, which volcanoes usually aren't. Besides, this basin hasn't changed in the last two hundred years, and plenty of people have been traipsing around on it. Just don't get too close to the water and you should be alright." Jane smiled, taking hold of Thor's hand and walking out onto the barren earth of the basin.

Riley shuddered, waiting for something horrible to happen. Volcanoes had always been something that terrified her. Perhaps it was because of that rash of volcano movies that come out in the late Nineties, or maybe it was just a healthy mammalian fear of something she knew could char broil her in a split second. Either way, she couldn't seem to calm her racing heart as she slowly stepped out onto the grayish sand.

"Riley, you are being foolish." Loki appeared beside her, sweeping her up into his arms and walking purposefully after his brother's retreating back. She squeaked quietly, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling herself closer.

"I know I am, it's called an irrational fear for a reason." She tried not to sound defensive. It seemed to set him on edge for some reason.

"What is there to fear here. You heard what she said. One relatively light set of human footsteps is not going to cause something this large to change in the slightest." He grinned down at her, stopping next to the other two and dropping her unceremoniously onto the ground. She bounced on her ass once before settling, a loud swear echoing around them.

"You ass!" She took a swat at his legs, her hand hitting air as he stepped nimbly out of the way. She looked up, hoping for some defense from the other members of their party, but was met instead with Thor's openly amused face and Jane's shame faced grin. Both sets of shoulders were shaking with silent laughter until Thor lost his composure entirely and burst out into loud knee slapping laughter. Jane, to her credit, managed to keep her laughter to the quiet side of things and leaned down, helping Riley to her feet.

"I would scold him, but you did kind of need that." Jane smiled, rubbing Riley's arm comfortingly as she tried to quiet her laughter. Riley, for her part, felt very proud of her self control, she had yet to slap any one of the three laughing individuals in front of her, and they were all within range. But the humor quickly left her as she felt what could only be described as a pulling feeling. Her expression must've shown her panic because Loki was beside her in a second, hands on her upper arms, drawing her eyes to his own.

"What is it?" His voice was quiet and serious.

"I can't really tell. It's like a pulling feeling, like something is grabbing at me." She tried to show it with her hands, feeling that her words were not adequate to describe the intensity of the sensation.

"Where is it coming from?" Jane spoke up, leaning in so as to be included in the conversation.

"I can't really tell. I think it's coming from the center of that thing." She pointed to the spring in the center of the basin, her hand visibly shaking as the feeling began to grow. "It's getting stronger." She tried to keep the fear from creeping into her voice, but she couldn't quite quell the panic rising in her chest.

"Riley, focus, look at me." Loki's voice was like an ice cube against her skin, cooling and calming her, drawing her attention back to his eyes. She tried to breathe normally, calm her racing heart, all the while feeling lost in those startling green eyes. She felt a chill start at her arms, spreading up her shoulders and down into her chest, slowing its erratic beating to something more like she was used to. She drew in a shaking breath, the pulling seeming to dull against Loki's power.

"Thanks. You'll have to teach me how to do that sometime." She smiled weakly, feeling weakness beginning to spread through her. She could hyperventilate faster than anyone else she knew. It had its perks when in unpleasant company, but more often than not, it was hindrance.

"Do you think it's the portal?" Jane knelt with Riley as she sank to the ground, the strength in her legs suddenly gone.

"I don't know. All I know is that it felt like it wanted to swallow me whole, and it was definitely not nice, or natural." She shuddered, trying not to focus as the pulling resurfaced, doubling in strength. She felt like she would go flying any second.

"I can sense it now." Loki's head slowly turned, focusing on the spring as well. Steam had begun to rise from its surface, curling lazily through the air, increasing the humidity to almost a choking level.

"I think we should get out of here. If that thing is a geyser, it could shoot pretty far and I don't feel like taking a scalding hot shower right now." Jane heaved on Riley's arm, helping her back to her feet as the ground below them began to rumble softly. They took off at a run, Riley quickly falling behind, her body still feeling the pull of whatever was inside the oddly colored water. She tried to ignore it, her mind screaming at her body to move, to run, but instead, she stopped and turned, her body losing all feeling as the pulling seemed to take her over. She tried to fight it, tried to turn and flee, but her feet began to carry her slowly toward the building cloud of steam. It wasn't until a pair of arms circled around her that her body seemed to return to her control.

"What are you doing?" Loki's voice was loud and angry, the shouts of both Thor and Jane echoed around them dimly and without preamble, Loki hauled her from her feet and took off at a run that seemed too fast to be possible. They reached the tree line just as the geyser blew, water shot into the air, raining down on even the furthest reaches of the basin, lukewarm droplets hitting them even under the cover of the trees. Loki set her on her feet, turning her roughly to face him, a scowl firmly planted on his face.

"What the hell were you doing?" He didn't quite shout, but it was loud enough to cause Riley to start and take a step back.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't control myself. It was like my body wouldn't listen to what I was telling it to do." Riley tried to keep her calm, feeling the fear and adrenaline race through her system, setting her body to shaking and her eyes to watering. She didn't want to cry in front of them all, didn't want to look as weak and terrified as she felt on the inside. To his credit, Loki caught onto what had happened the second she spoke, encircling her in a warm embrace, his arms a solid frame for her to lean on as the tears fell down her face.

"I think it best we retire for the day. Perhaps You and I could return tomorrow Brother, to explore this area further." Thor placed a hand on Riley's arm and turned to Jane, wrapping an arm protectively around her shoulders as if he worried she too would fall to whatever was resting in the water.

"Come, we will return to the house and you will rest." Loki began to steer her away from the still erupting geyser, holding her firmly against his side. Riley wanted to say something, anything to lighten the mood around her. Once again, they had been making progress and she had to go and ruin it. Why was it always her? What did she lack that left her so susceptible to the influence of whatever was pulling the strings behind this whole thing?

Malekith was pulled from his thoughts by the distinctive pulse of the portal. It had found a new source of energy, something to feed on. Soon it would begin to grow, manifest fully and spread, and then it would be time. This world would be pulled into the Convergence, just as all the worlds aligned in his own cosmos. Soon, all worlds would be wipes from both planes of existence, blessed darkness would sweep out from this place and engulf all things, leaving him to rule not one, but two separate dimensions of existence. His empire would finally be whole and perfect once again.

"Algrim, it is time." He couldn't help the cold smile that spread across his face. The time had finally come. His first and most trusted commander walked slowly from his observation post.

"Do we have a location?" He looked out the same view port Malekith stood before, feeling the resonance of the portal but unable to pinpoint it's exact position.

"Simply go in that direction, it wants to be found." Malekith turned from the window, issuing orders to the bridge crew in sharp commands before retiring. He had been expending a great amount of energy since they had been pulled into this new plane and needed to recuperate. He knew he would not attain his goal without a battle, and while the Thunder God was not his equal, he would prove a most interesting challenge. Algrim smiled, returning to his post and setting the ship for auto flight, it would alert them when they neared the portal, until then, there was nothing to do but watch, and wait.

"Can you still feel it?" Loki appeared at her side, dressed in mortal clothes for the first time in days. It was a shock to her now, seeing him without his armor on was like seeing a shaved cat, it just didn't look right.

"Yeah, but it's not as strong." She put a shaking hand to her lips, pulling the cigarette away and blowing the smoke out in a thin stream. She couldn't seem to stop trembling, no matter what she did to relax. Smoking wasn't doing it and not even her meditation play list had been able to quell the pit of fear in her belly.

"You are not being entirely honest with me Riley. What are you not saying?" Loki pinned her with his best stare, something that no one had been able to resist.

"I can't really put my finger on it. It feels like it knows where I am, like it's watching me or something. And I feel weak." She shook her hand as she spoke, trying to regain strength in it as it shook.

"I think it would be best if you were to stop thinking for a while." Loki stated, a mischievous grin spreading across his face. Riley was too preoccupied to notice that it was only a surface smile. His eyes reflected nothing but worry and a truly chilling sense of dread.

"Oh yeah? And how do you think I should go about doing that?" She looked over at him just as his head dipped down, his hand holding up a cold beer.

"I brought you a gift." He smiled as she took it from him, watching her take a few long swigs. Perhaps if he kept her sufficiently distracted, she would be able to survive the next few days. He stood, pressing a small kiss to the top of her head, heading back into the house to have a word with his brother.

Well, there it is. I hope you enjoyed and if you are curious about the spring they saw, I based it one that actually exists in Yellowstone. I've included a couple links below to pictures of it, just copy and paste them into your browser.

wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Grand_Prismatic_Spring_and_Midway_Geyser_Basin_from_ (long view)

images/wsci_03_ (top (down view)

If the links don't work, google Yellowstone National Park's Grand Prismatic Spring, it really is something to see. I don't think tourists are actually allowed in that part of the park, but as a writer, I shamelessly choose to ignore that ;), yay writer's privilage.