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Chapter Ten

Harry opened his eyes to curious and worried blue eyes looking back at him. When the owner of said eyes noticed he was awake, they filled with relief.

"World-traveler!" Thor boomed in his face, and Harry grimaced. He noticed he was laying on the floor with his head propped on something soft. And that nothing ached in a way that meant he had met the ground unimpeded. Meaning someone had caught him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm alive. Now let me up." He mumbled, sighing when the man moved back enough to allow the wizard to clamber to his feet. He glanced around, and noticed he was still in the Bifrost chamber. He figured that he couldn't have been out long if they didn't have time to move him. He also noticed that Heimdall looked far too satisfied with himself.

"You." He pointed at the man. "Are an utter bastard." It was said with no real heat. It was probably the Allseeing god that caught him when he fell.

The dark skinned god just smiled. "And you are now officially the Master of Death. Congratulations, Harry."

It was odd for the other two gods to hear the omniscent one refer to someone so familiarly and easily.

Harry grunted. "So what happened? I'm guessing I collapsed or something?"

Thor nodded. "You just started glowing when you were... channeling your magic? And then you suddenly crumpled. Heimdall caught you before you could it the ground."

The wizard hummed thoughtfully. "Right, then. Well, I'm fine, so don't worry about me. It was just a... side effect."

Heimdall interupted. "It needed to happen, as you very well know."

"Yeah, yeah. Remind me to celebrate later. And that I am going to prank you something fierce when we get back from taking care of Thor's brother." Harry replied, brushing off Fenrir and Sleipnir, who had both moved forward to crowd the dias and snuffle at his clothes. "I'm fine, I'm fine." He said to them. "I'm guessing you know what she wanted me to ask you?" He continued to Heimdall. The god nodded. "Don't think this is over. I just have something else to focus on." He warned.

"I look forward to it. The world you are aiming for is called Earth, like you original planet. The georgraphies are much the same as well. She will probably be guiding you on your journey, so have no worries. You will not see her, but you will most likely sense her. She'll make sure your aim is true." The dark skinned god told him.

Thor looked torn between wanting to demand they leave now, worry that whatever caused the human to end up on the floor was serious and would need to be treated, and curiosity as to who 'she' was. But apparently the first won over the others. For now. "We will be leaving now, then?" He then shot a thoughtful look to the animals still sniffing the wizard with worry in every line of their bodies, and hesitatingly patted them both on the flank, in a comforting gesture.

"Fine. Alright. You ready to go, then?" Harry asked, sending the god an approving look when he saw the gesture. Thor nodded haltingly. "Then grab my arm, and don't let go. I only have a vague idea how this works, and really don't want to leave your leg behind or something." That caused an alarmed look to fill both royal gods' faces. Thor gripped the offered limb with bruising force. "Great, now put your hand on Sleipnir. I've got Fenrir." In saying, he gripped the large wolf's shaggy fur while the blond man did as he was told. "Alright, and away we go!"

They disappeared with a resounding 'crack!', and Odin blinked. "What... just transpired?"

Heimdall smiled. "You and I need to have a talk, old friend. It's time you got more of the world-traveler's story than what non biased little he already divulged."

Human and god landed with a jolting suddeness in what appeared to be a dank alleyway. It was thankfully empty.

"Well, at least I can still aim. No one should have seen that." Harry muttered to himself. Heimdall was right when he said that Harry would feel Death guiding them. His line of thought was brought up short when he realized he couldn't feel Fenrir's bulk beside him, yet his hand was still full of fur. He quickly looked, and was brought up short when he saw that he was holding a regular sized wolf pup by the ruff of his neck. A wolf pup that looked none too happy. "Fenrir?" He said in half wonder, half exasperation. The pup yipped and squirmed.

At the same time, Thor said in a halting, unsure voice, "World-traveler, there is something wrong with Sleipnir..." Harry carefully pulled the wolf closer to cradle it in his arms instead of holding it by its scruff, and looked over to see Thor holding the reigns of a normal looking grey horse. A horse with only four legs, instead of eight.

The horse, like the pup the wizard was holding, seemed confused and irritated with its new appearance. Harry sighed. "Alright, I give up. Nothing after this will ever surprise me again." He told the bemused god of thunder. Really, nothing after that... horse-thing with the tentacle mouth... what had Death called it?- a fryte? should have surprised him anymore. But he really hadn't expected this...

He groaned after a moment. If both Fenrir and Sleipnir took on the guise of normal animals on Earth, that meant that finding Jormungand probably just got a whole lot harder. Greeeeat.

Creating a new pocket on his bag that was just the right size, he place Fenrir into it. The wolf whined at the indignity. "You'll survive. We're in unfamiliar territory, and I don't feel safe placing you on the ground in this state." Taking Sleipnir's reigns from the severly confused thunder god he told him, "We'll deal with this later. We need to figure out where we are, and where we need to be." He said briskly. He noticed that he had once again slipped into English.

Thor followed him out of the filthy alley, and both took in the first real view of their new location. Looking at the very familiar skyline, one he had seen multiple times on the telly when he could catch glimpses of it while cleaning, Harry frowned. It was very rarely that he jumped to a world that was that similar to his original.

"I think... I think we're in New York." He said. Thor, who had apparently been thrown off drastically by the change in his newly acknowledged nephews just nodded dumbly. Hopefully his shock would wear off soon.

Sighing, which he seemed to do a lot these days, Harry grabbed the other man by one of the ridiculous straps on his ostentatious armor and dragged him forward. They had to move slowly, as Sleipnir was unsteady and unsure on his four feet.

The wizard noticed that while people gave them a wide berth on the sidewalk, and gave them slightly dirty looks, no one was really phased by their foreign dress, or the fact that Harry was leading was leading a horse down the middle of a New York sidewalk. That should worry him, but he brushed it off to think about later. It was placed farther down the list of 'things that needed serious thought' than his animal companions condition. He really hoped it wasn't permanent.

Thor thankfully came back to himself, walking forward under his own power. "Are we sure these are the same animals?" He asked quietly, apparently exchanging shock for curiousity. Well, at least he could speak English.

Harry nodded slightly. He could feel Fenrir's irritation over the link that was forming against his will. Soon it wouldn't be just feelings, but words until they could communicate fluently without even looking at each other. "Yeah, I'm sure."

Thor reached down to scratch the pup between his ears, and pleasure eclipsed the irritation. Fenrir might have a mind as intelligent as a human's, but Harry figured that he was much much closer tied to his instincts than any human or humanoid. Sleipnir would probably be closer intelligence-wise to the animal he resembled, seeing as his sire was an actual horse.

They arrived at a large, open area relatively soon, and Harry's shoulders slumped with relief. It was a small park like area, with a fountain much like the one he had played in with Fenrir on Asgard. Dragging his three companions over to it, Harry sat down on the edge.

"Right then, we need a plan of action, Thor. Because striking out blind is not an option here." He told the god, absently stroking Fenrir's head.

Thor nodded. "Of course. Loki is our priority. Though father would not be... displeased if we brought back the space cube at the same time."

"The only problem is, how do we find Loki?" Harry continued.

Thor frowned in thought. "We could ask the people I met on my last journey to Midgard. Jane might know something."

Harry nodded slightly, and absently placed the tether charm on Fenrir, allowing the wolf pup to run around and get used to his greatly changed body. "Heimdall told me the story. The only problem is, do you know where Jane is?"

They sat there for an hour, discussing and discarding plans while Sleipnir grazed and Fenrir dozed, having tired himself out from running around.

Neither man noticed the area being surrounded by men and women in black combat uniforms until it was too late. The black clad people moved forward in concert, closing off the escape routes before Thor or Harry could react.

And that's chapter ten! I've decided I'm gonna post a sort of question/answer thing on my profile. It'll be posted right after this chapter, so go check it out. And if you have a question, just PM it to me, and I'll do my best to answer it.

Lionna