~
A/N:
Hi guys! A sincere and belated HAPPY NEW YEARS to you all!
I hope this chapter finds you warm and prosperous.

~
Truth, so true
slight tendency
for two by two
to be as they meet
Your waltz like repeating
continues your dreaming
in threes

You will bury the hatchet
with an olive branch tied to your knees
~

Thor awoke with a startled jolt. Electricity sizzled and cracked from Mjölnir's edges. Though he was ready to face his enemy, he was met with only the annoying sting of sand burn and his brother's bitter rejection.

He blinked his eyes at the darkness and shook the sand from his hair.

His brother had lost all hope. There was no denying it after the look he'd seen upon his face when he'd mentioned Frigga. He also knew Loki blamed him. And he would take it without flinching so long as it lessened the load upon his brother's already straining shoulders.

Loki would never see it that way but he would not give up on him like the others.

He, himself had been given more chances at redemption than he felt worthy of. In fact, it was an undeserved gift from the same woman Loki had in his custody.

Thor did not ask about her whereabouts for that reason alone. If Loki was here then so was she and he could easily imagine what purpose she would serve his brother. He did not have to question it. It was always the same. And showing any interest would have been playing straight into his games... Yet, somehow he'd still lost.

And judging by the thinning clouds in the sky, he did not have much more time for fruitless endeavors.

He adjusted to see Sif still lying unconscious at his side.

"Sif," a large hand shook her rusted armored shoulder. "Sif, wake up. We must move."

She rose so suddenly that her blade sent dirt flying in Thor's direction and very nearly came down to take off his hand at the wrist.

He pulled back swiftly as widened eyes turned on him.

"You're alright," his voice was deep with assurance. "It's over."

Her face showed that she didn't quite believe him. After a moment, she exhaled and idly lowered her weapon to rest against her legs, kicking the dirt from her boots.

"This battle maybe, but the war has just begun."

"I fear you are more right than you know." Thor's eyes slinked to a scorching blue as they searched her face, trailing down to the smeared blood along the side of her jaw. "Did he hurt you?"

The question pulled her attention up to him. She blinked.

"No," she shook her head, her gaze dropping to her lap. "He made no move against me."

Her uncharacteristic hesitation spoke louder than her words.

Thor dipped his head to find her.

"That is not what I asked."

The silence that followed cleared the air enough to carry the clangs and cries of distant hostility to their ears. When their gaping eyes met, they were already on their feet.

He slipped into her dreams that night; all shades of green and black and golden steel. Wicked, white teethed smiles of a predator and a dark, watchful gaze.

It focused down on the burning city beneath them.

Fires flashed deep crimson across the skyline, barely lighting the night. Buildings toppled within themselves in black smoke. Jane recognized a few of them. She could feel the heat brushing past her skin as the energy rose to escape the madness. The sound of tinkling glass shattering against concrete muffled the rising screams of alarms and sirens and twisting metal…innocents who weren't so lucky. Mangled skeletons of vehicles bruised the streets below in ashen grey.

Her fingers wrapped tight around the balcony banister, her white knuckles matching his as she looked over it. Her heart filled her throat as she observed the past mingling so fluidly with a very conceivable future.

"Magnificent, isn't it?"

It was his voice, but it scratched through the air as thickly as the smoke. It choked her.

She looked at over at him. What armor she could see glinted in the firelight. His other half was hidden within the shadows; though unhindered satisfaction shone mockingly clear in the bright blue glow of his eyes. They remained that way even after the energy blasts faded from the nearby skies. She looked away from him with a renewed swell of sickness in her gut.

"No…" she breathed, scanning the line of battered skyscrapers on the horizon, stripped of walls and structure. What truly robbed the air from her lungs was that she realized it was only half true. She attempted to collect herself. "This is a nightmare."

Jane sensed his attention turn to her, jabbing shards of scorched steel deep in between each of her vertebrae.

"Only because it is not complete yet."

He paused and her skin bristled as his paces swept across the floor just behind her. Too close. Her shoulders tensed and rose to protect her neck.

"You've stolen something from me, child."

The assertion in the words woke her skin. His voice was still off and much too close. She turned around to find it. Now, Jane could see that the right half of his face was scorched as black as the sky above and the scowl that twisted within the scars was not one she found familiar.

She took a step back from him, her lower back arching away as it pressed against the balcony.

He took a step toward her, icy eyes growing possessive in a way that would have almost been convincing had they been the right color.

"And when I get it back, you will long for ruins to mourn."

The words dripped with black promise. Their sincerity snapped her awake.

Jane shot up into a sitting position and focused on slowing her heart rate instead of her protesting muscles. Wide eyes darted through blinding waves of red.

As the cave slowly began to reappear around her, she searched for him; anxious over both what she would or would not find. He was not standing in his usual post. Night had fallen beyond the cave, but the dim shadows were empty. Her heart drummed a little louder in her ears…

Until everything came flooding back.

She looked down to her side and was surprised to find him still stretched on his stomach across the floor. He lay in the same position she'd left him in, his head turned to face her and his empty palm curved slightly over the ground.

When her heart slowed and she could hear again, the soft rasps of rhythmic breathing gave away that he was asleep.

His peacefulness steadily eased her anxiety just as much as it shook her, gently pulling her back down to the ground. She took a few labored breaths, trailing her eyes along his softened features. The fire light flicked the shadows away just enough. She could find no gruesome scars or bitter snarls; just the lessening of grey circles over pale skin and a fully relaxed brow. She'd never seen it in such a way… never seen him in such a way; such a show of ease and equanimity…

So… vulnerable. Just as she had been, asleep at his side.

Her fingers moved on their own accord as they followed the trail her eyes had marked over his; just over his right eyebrow, where a deep crescent indention should have been. She felt nothing but cool, smooth skin beneath her light touch.

It twisted her own brow and edged her heart. Her gaze moved to find his back. The only mark he bore looked as if it were already days old; rough red skin trimmed in soft pink. The rest of him was porcelain. He had let her press searing iron to his skin – practically made her – but somehow this… this was altogether different.

She looked at him again. Truly looked at him. And it felt like it was the first time she had ever done so.

What she found beneath the hardened mask he wore so comfortably upon his features was as unearthly as it was human. She'd only seen a glimpse of it before. It was much easier to do when his eyes were hidden. Long, dark lashes nearly brushed against marble cheekbones. His relaxed jawline put the Greek gods to shame. An aristocratic nose and parted chapped lips, the only sign of the land's wear upon him, centered his features so seamlessly that she wondered how she had never noticed before.

But when she thought about it for too long, she couldn't decide which appearance was his true mask.

She drew her hand back as if it had been scorched and stood to move away. What was wrong with her? She scolded herself for reaching out to test danger... Again. Though this time, it struck back much differently…

Just maybe this challenge was too much for her.

She left the enclosure of the cave and paced in small sweeps beyond the entrance, searching the ground for answers and taking deep breaths of the crisp night air to clear her head. She recognized an oncoming panic attack easily, though her reaction to being stowed in an elven ship was as close as she'd gotten to one in years.

She refilled it with visions of her nightmare instead. It was just another show of power. But this time he had been there; placed himself so carelessly in her dreams… as the wrong enemy. One she realized she knew much too well for her own comfort. But Malekith's threats were anything but empty.

The echoing memory of his words did not help.

She spun and dipped down into a crouch, leaning her head forward against cool stone and wrapping both arms tight around her midsection. For a long while, she hid in the serene darkness she found behind closed eyes.

Thor and Sif arrived to the outskirts of combat just as the second wave of reinforcements crashed off to the west. The conduit tossed up even more dust into the heavy air. He spotted Volstagg's mighty axe glint through the sky before it tore through the commotion. A sudden wash of restlessness overtook him. He turned to Sif.

"Remember the contingency plan?"

She snorted at him.

"It will not be needed."

And before he could respond, he was following her sprint into the wall of clashing black and silver.

Before long he had lost sight of her, of everything, instead slipping into the familiar frenzy of battle. He swore the hammer came alive in his palm, sending an energy through him like no other he had ever experienced.

As his solemn quest for vengeance brought his hammer down over and over again upon the Dark Elf forces, he thought he may finally understand just what Loki had felt back there in the open desert; the wounded look that crossed his face he'd seen a thousand times too many.

He could have done more to protect Loki from their father's wrath. More instances than he could recall. He could have followed him into the even darker abyss he'd slipped into and shared in its burden. He could have stayed at their mother's side instead of chasing the rush.

But he had only failed him yet again.

He grit his teeth as he called to the skies, upper cutting a masked figure with Mjölnir in the process.

"Come now, that one was mine! Do not let Volstagg see you dwindling my count."

"My apologies?" Thor pulled himself together just in time to dodge a curved dagger lunged toward his hip. It and its wielder met the dirt just as quickly without even impeding his flow of energy. "I did not realize you still kept tally…"

He heard Fandral's chuckle from a few feet behind him over the clang of metal as he hastily found another opponent. The clouds grew heavy and lightning struck in sporadic jolts across the battlefield.

"You do seem a bit distracted."

"Not now, Fandral."

Thor brushed him off as enemy elves swarmed him in a wave of dust and desperation. All at once, he allowed the darkening clouds overhead to empty themselves upon the battlefield and lay the land's fury to rest.

"Thor."

He flinched at the sound of his name and the pressure upon his shoulder as it broke through his avid concentration. He found the land around them scorched clear and a concerned look upon his friend's dampened face.

"We have this. Go."

She'd missed the soft scuffle come from inside the cave but felt the air stir around her. A soft grunt. Then all fell silent again.

He was close. She knew it by the calming of her bones though the skin around them failed to catch on. Her fingers relaxed over her ribs as they expanded with a steadying breath.

"I'd rather you didn't see me like this."

The words were muffled by the close rock and sounded pathetic to her ears. It wasn't like it was the first time, though this time at least part of her reasoning would very likely turn her cheeks red should he ask.

An hour could have passed before he replied and she felt each wretched second as it ticked by.

"It is only fair," his tone was raspy with sleep. It soothed like balm. He sighed. "Besides I know better than to trust my eyes at first glance here."

Jane was oddly thankful that he was not one to pry without malicious intent. Her temple slid against the smooth stone as she turned just enough to find him. His head tilted back to rest against the wall of rock. He sat with one leg tucked beneath another, his back straight, allowing only the pressure of his long hair and tattered tunic to rest over it.

His eyes were already on her. They glowed. His whole form seemed to.

"Then what do they see?" She asked in a whisper.

She watched a distant light touch the corners of his eyes before it graced his lips in the form of a tired half-smile.

"Look up, Jane."

She blinked, half confused by the mild request before adjusting to consent. What she found caused her to collapse onto her backside with a shocked gasp.

There were no clouds. Only wispy swirls of burgundy mist laced the sky. It did nothing to damper the billions of stars tucked beneath them; dotting the darkness in a way Jane had once never thought possible. Especially not here. A handful of them were huge, white diamond facets in the night, sparkling so brightly that they almost seemed reachable from right where she sat. Others were distant, an explosion of ruby reds and sapphire blues along the horizon as the art that was science painted a masterpiece before her eyes.

She gaped shamelessly. She only realized so when he chuckled at her.

"You are fascinated by such trifling wonders."

It was an honest observation, though her undivided attention wouldn't have allowed her to notice had it been anything else anyway.

"I guess trifling means something else on Asgard than it does on Earth…" Jane mused, grateful for such an astonishing distraction, "because I've never seen anything like this." She looked over at him and found he regarded the twinkling orbs in a way that showed he wasn't as unaffected as he wanted her to believe. It made her curious. "Have you?"

She caught the thinning of his eyes just before her gaze matched his on the sky.

"It is an anomaly for such a realm," he seemed to struggle with his words. "But yes, I have seen astronomical displays much more impressive… Though never so bright."

His sudden change of mood pulled her down with him. She turned to question him carefully; silently, but the answers she sought struck her mid-motion. Only one thing seemed to affect him so deeply.

"Then she must be up there smiling down at you," Jane began gently. She remembered the way people had tried to soothe her after her own loss. His head lifted toward her in interest. "If she was in any way unhappy I'm sure we would have a lot more to worry about than a few elves and dark matter."

Only his eyes paid caution to her wit. His jaw relaxed.

"Careful with your claims. You know not who you speak of."

She smiled sadly at him and softly shook her head at the sky.

"No, I never got the opportunity to meet her… But I've met your father. I saw what he was capable of. How he acted and ruled and carried himself…Quite frankly, his ego was annoying." Jane took a breath and leaned her back against the wall at his side. "But from what I've gathered, the two of you only had one thing in common... So I can only assume your traits were learned from someone else."

"He is not my father," His murmur rumbled with disdain.

The statement and his focus upon it came as no surprise.

"And you are not his son," her genuine belief kept her tone as level as if they were talking about the weather. "If you were, you would have never even given me a chance."

He lolled his head to look over at her with halfhearted suspicion. It was sad because it was real.

"I am still waiting for that to come back to bite me," he supplied easily.

Jane had expected something of the sort, but not for it to bother her.

"The iron did that for me… and not everything has to, you know" she looked evenly back at him. "You can at very least trust that I don't want this to be the last night sky I see."

Something in him changed with her words. She watched it release the grip on his eyes and wrinkle the bridge of his nose.

"It would be a pity. There are far more elegant sights to behold out there."

She scoffed softly. Her brow rose as she looked up.

"I'm not sure I can believe you."

"Good. Then we understand each other."

Her leveling gaze snapped down to find a thin lipped smirk. It lifted the intensity from her features but not her thoughts. For a moment, she rolled them over in her head.

"What are you so afraid of?"

He swallowed. His eyes turned to glass as they lifted to mirror diamonds for a long while. She picked up a small pebble from the ground to keep her hands busy and listened to the soft moan of the wind as it bowed around rock.

"Failure, Jane," he spoke quietly, stirring the night and her heart, and sent an exasperated huff to the sky. "I have faced it one too many times and lost everything that ever truly mattered to me in the process. If I fail this time, it will all have meant nothing... And I cannot allow that."

She had wanted nothing more than an explanation from him from the beginning… Never did she imagine she would understand his motives so easily. It plagued her. He had lost one of the few people that he truly loved and would do whatever it took to see that she was avenged.

It was the only trait he shared with Odin.

But she had still been whisked into the midst of it all.

"What does that make me?" Jane asked carefully.

Her eyes fell to her hands as they slowly clenched in her lap as she awaited the strike of his answer. She froze as his own maneuvered over to smooth her fingernails from her palm. He rolled the small stone from her fingers and into his own.

"You are Jane of Midgard... And nothing less. That much you have proven."

She watched speechlessly as he drew a line in the dirt between them with his pointer finger, dotting it with eight small circles. He carefully set the stone in the middle of them.

"You may have lost your way, but never your place." He arched a raven brow at her. "Would you like me to show you where that is at this exact moment?"

She could barely nod.

And for the next few hours, she could only manage to continue nodding and adding further detail as he thoroughly explained exactly why cement trucks were weightless in some areas back on Earth; how the beautiful sight above them was actually a sign of impending doom; going into vivid detail over how he would literally shut Malekith's small window of time across his neck if he had the power to... And just how far ahead of his era Clark had truly been.

Epigraph: Son My Son - Milo Greene