Chapter Three: Meanwhile

Charles opened his eyes on the Astral Plane to see Erik looking down at him in silent question. He was sitting at one end of the sofa with a book open in his hands, and Charles was lying lengthwise across the sofa with his head resting in the metal-bender's lap.

"Good evening..." Charles greeted him, beginning to scrutinize their surroundings. The room was based somewhat on his study back at the mansion, but there were bits and pieces of other locations woven seamlessly into the design.

"Is it now?" Erik questioned, resting his arms around his newly-materialized companion.

"Evening? Yes ...I believe so. At least, it seems that way on the planet that we're on. Although, I wouldn't call it a particularly good one," Charles reflected, making himself comfortable in his new position.

Erik closed the book that he'd been reading and set it down on the arm of the couch, looking down at the troubled professor with interest.

"I've made a mistake." Charles frowned, mulling over the event in question while he watched the flames crackling cheerfully in the fireplace on the other side of their unfinished chess game. "A rather bad one, I'm afraid. I'm not sure what I'm meant to do."

"What went wrong?" Erik prompted, running a hand through Charles' hair as he waited.

Charles let out an unhappy almost-laugh. "Where do I start? Hmm. Well, Loki was not doing too well already before I arrived. It was obvious that he was suffering from some intense trauma, but he was doing everything that he could to mask it. He was in prison, by the way. Did you know about that?"

The arch of Erik's brows was enough to indicate that he hadn't been warned either.

"It had something to do with the Void, that much was obvious, but I can't see how he could possibly have survived... Jane showed up shortly after I arrived. I have a feeling that it was a side-effect of my arrival, but that's beside the point. She was meant to be with the Queen and she was late because of it." Charles squeezed his eyes shut and sucked in a deep breath. "Frigga. Loki's mother was murdered. She was the one person that he had left and now... He won't trust anyone, certainly not me. His brother has dragged them off on some quest for vengeance, and Jane is trying to help, but I just had to go and make it worse!"

Erik paused, mulling over the news before he met Charles gaze again, and prompted. "How so?"

"When we made the jump to Svartálfheim- Yes, I know, Darling, but that's really what they call it," Charles remarked in response to Erik's expression, "We had to pass through a rift, or something similar. The likeness to the Void set him off. I could feel him going into a panic attack, so I tried to comfort him. He is so frightened of being manipulated. He feels certain that everyone is trying to use him, and I only made it worse! I don't know how to reach him. One moment he thinks that he is the most worthless being in existence and would hardly react to his own murder. The next- I was right there in his head, and I still couldn't tell what I was supposed to do."

"You're trying to control him," Erik noted and sighed at Charles' dissenting expression. "I'm not accusing you, Schatz, but you wanted to know what the problem was."

"I'm not."

"You're trying to make him feel better," Erik said, eyeing Charles knowingly.

"Yes, but..."

Erik just watched the information settle in his best friend's mind.

"You're right," Charles realized, looking guilty. "I was trying to use a light touch, but I was trying..." He scrubbed a hand over his face. "It's just so easy to relax and overlook how unsettling I must be to him."

"Not you, Charles."

Charles breathed out a laugh. "You weren't this hard to convince."

Erik gave a slight nod in acceptance. "You stayed out of my head."

"True," Charles agreed. "I wish that were an option this time."

Erik looked away at the clock on the wall across from them, lost in thought. It was caught perpetually ticking from 5 to 5:01, over and over in an endless loop. Erik smiled down at Charles. "Perhaps it is."

Charles frowned up at him, understandably confused.

Svartálfheim...

Thor finally let out a sigh and rose from his seat on the edge of Jane's bedding. Loki heard him stepping closer. Loki had been curled up on the floor at the opposite end of the skiff for the past two hours, the first of which had been marked by Thor padding quietly (for him) over and draping a spare blanket over Loki instead of waking him for his turn at watch. Loki understood the decision; he could not be trusted, so he continued his pretend slumber. This time however, Thor crossed the distance with much less subtlety, and Loki felt Thor leaning over him in a less-than-cautious manner.

"I know that you're awake, Brother," he announced and Loki's eyes snapped open.

"I suppose that I should thank you for the blanket," Loki intoned, not moving from his position, curled up with his back against the wooden paneling. Thor scrutinized his face, not responding immediately and looking worryingly pensive.

"You haven't slept at all, have you?" he concluded.

"You realize that when mother asked you to look after me, she was not proposing an adoption," Loki deflected.

"You are my brother."

Loki scoffed.

Thor sat down beside him anyway. "I know what you're like when you truly slumber."

"You guessed," Loki dismissed. "Which is why you were uncertain."

"I knew."

"I am the God of Lies. I know how to feign sleep convincingly," Loki stated, beginning to sound the slightest bit defensive.

"Perhaps you have convinced others, but not me," Thor said confidently. Loki pulled the blanket up to his chin, noticing with irritation that it was the same color of scarlet as Thor's cape. There was a moment of silence in which Loki shut his eyes with an intent to resume feigning sleep, and Thor seemed content to sit on the deck beside him and look up at the stars.

"It wasn't a guess?" Loki broke the silence, his vivid green eyes peeking up at Thor from behind the blanket. Thor smiled.

"Not in the least."

"Well?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Thor teased, pretending to be more interested in stargazing. Loki's brows slowly came together in a frown.

"You know what."

"Mmm," Thor continued to tease, being reminded of moments like this from their childhood together.

"Thor," Loki insisted, then shuffled back into his blanket-cocoon. "You're making it up."

"Hmmm."

There was another beat of silence. Then right on cue, Loki's head popped back into view. "What did I miss?"

"It is no fault of yours," Thor assured him. "You cannot see yourself."

"Brother-"

Finally, Thor stopped toying with him and chuckled. "You've always slept in such odd positions."

There, the frown was coming back, although this time it was in danger of devolving into a pout. "You guessed."

"No," Thor insisted, grinning. "You have always done so." He let out another involuntary chuckle. "Sif used to 'correct you' sometimes when we made camp!"

The defensive frown actually vanished from Loki's face at that news. "She didn't."

Thor nodded, grinning more broadly. "You were still small. Fandral thought it all rather sweet." He snorted at Loki's horrified expression.

"You let them into our tent," he accused.

"Oh, you didn't mind," Thor said easily. "They were our friends."

"Your friends."

"Our friends, Loki," Thor corrected right back. "You had no wariness of them yet, no matter what else I have missed in your life, I know that to be true."

"Why? Do you believe that merely because Lady Sif was still blonde and coveted?" Loki sneered. Thor gave him a disapproving look.

"No, Brother. I know it because of the way that you would hover around Fandral during training, or linger at Sif's side on our hunts. For a while I almost feared that you might be harboring a crush."

"You were never very observant."

"I know better now," Thor said, ignoring the insult and returning his gaze to the stars. "What has happened to you?"

Loki receded back beneath the blanket and closed his eyes. "I grew up."

Thor drew in a deep breath and released it, knowing better than to argue the point with Loki in such a dark mood already. He hadn't meant it as a general appraisal. Something bad had happened to Loki, and like so many other things in his little brother's life, Thor had failed to notice until the damage was done.

"I regret that I have been such a fool as to allow myself to lose your trust," Thor reflected more quietly, watching the bundle of red fabric curled up beside him on the deck.

Loki said nothing, attempting some semblance of rest.

Thor sighed tiredly and placed a hand on the silent Trickster's shoulder. It tensed at his touch only gradually to return to its original, nearly-relaxed state after a moment. "I wish that I could trust you."

"Trust is merely weakness," Loki murmured, almost a whisper, and curled tighter into his protective ball. Thor wasn't sure if he was even meant to have heard it, but he had. He felt certain that he would get no rest tonight.

Jane woke at the crack of dawn and let out a groan, stretching somewhat over-dramatically before rolling out of bed. At least it felt like it should be dawn. She couldn't really tell as there didn't seem to be any difference in light. Jane checked her watch to see how long she'd been out. Huh. Maybe nights here are longer? she theorized. I'll have to ask Thor. Thor fidgeted somewhat, still sitting on the deck between Jane and Loki with his back propped uncomfortably against the paneling. Jane arched an eyebrow at the sleeping thunderer, but made no move to wake him. Then she narrowed her eyes and slowly turned to regard the huddle of soft red and green curled up in the far corner. After a fleeting hesitation, Jane crept over to sit on her knees in front of Thor and slowly reached up to touch his shoulder. Before her fingertips had even brushed his armor, however, she was stopped short by a hushed, yet firm-sounding, "No," from the bundle of cloth on her left.

"Oh!" Jane gasped and pressed a hand over her heart, startled by the unexpected voice. "Good morning, Loki."

"Keep your voice down, Dr. Foster," Loki warned, flicking the blanket off of his face and pinning her with a piercing stare. "The idiot has only recently succumbed to sleep."

Jane ran a speculative gaze over Loki before shrugging, and moving to sit by his legs, across from Thor, whispering "Okay."

"That was easier than I expected," Loki noted.

"You aren't going to hurt me," Jane observed, prompting an uncertain expression to flicker across the emerald eyes regarding her. "You've got no reason to want me dead, and if you did, you'd still be stuck here, alone, with Thor on this skiff, wearing what I imagine is one hell of a pair of handcuffs."

Loki cocked his head with an approving quirk of his lips. "Rational."

"I try," Jane accepted.

"Unless I am as mad as they say."

Jane stopped to stare at him for a beat, then dead-panned, "Well, then I'm screwed."

Loki blinked at her and laughed, careful not to make enough noise to rouse the sleeping Thunder God. "That is no reason to trust me."

"That's not my entire reasoning," Jane assured him.

"Pray tell, Dr. Foster. I cannot wait to hear it."

Jane smiled at him and Loki was surprised to see the spark of mischief in her dark eyes. "I'm pretty sure that you can."

"Now you've got me curious."

"Good. So, about Thor..." Jane waved a hand over the aesir's face as she continued. "You didn't drug him-" Loki caught her hand, shooting her a warning look, "...did ...you?"

"No. However, I do treasure his silence. I suggest that you oblige me."

Jane made a submissive gesture and Loki released his grip on her wrist. "You can't really want everyone to fear you."

"Ah, I see. Are we to evaluate each other now? I should warn you, it is unwise to challenge a God," Loki sneered.

"This isn't a challenge, Loki. This is a conversation. I can go back to the seat if I'm making you too uncomfortable," Jane told him in an unassuming tone. Loki sat back against the paneling, regarding her with a practiced air of polite interest. Jane stood up, beginning to head to the other end of the skiff. "Alright. Tell you what. Let's trade."

Loki paused to consider the offer before rising to follow her. "What sort of trade do you propose?"

"A truth for a truth?" Jane offered, perching herself on the edge of the seat, while Loki stood facing her with one arm resting on the tiller. "I tell you something about me, then you return the favor."

"You must realize the inherent flaw in this plan of yours," Loki said dubiously.

"Yes. Naturally, I do," Jane confirmed. "Considering the game that my idea is based on, the irony is not lost on me."

"What is the game?"

"Two truths and a lie. You'd probably love it."

"What are the rules?"

"You want to play it now, don't you?" Jane noted.

Loki watched her expectantly, waiting for the answer to his question.

"Okay. It's pretty simple. We each share three things about ourselves, statements or stories, depending on which version you want to play. Two of them are truthful, while one is, of course, a lie, and after each turn the person who isn't sharing tries to guess which one is the lie."

"It does involve the same flaw that your proposal did."

"Winning isn't the point. The game's about getting to know the people that you play it with, and seeing how well you can read them," Jane explained. "I'm sure you'd win anyway."

"Undoubtedly."

"Don't get a swollen head about it, anyone who's paying attention can tell that you're hyper-observant, and I doubt that I'm that good of a liar."

Loki straightened, running his gaze over her face for a moment. "Your turn first."

"What?"

"Three statements. I doubt that we'll have the time to exchange tales."

Jane blinked at him. "You're not kidding."

"You did say the objective was not to win," Loki encouraged.

"Umm. Hmm, got it. My favorite color is blue, my favorite constellation is Orion, and when I was a kid I had a pet rattlesnake named Sue," Jane stated with an admirably straight face.

Loki locked gazes with her for a second, then grinned. "Orion isn't your favorite."

"Nope," Jane confirmed.

"You're quite good, but you could do better. Don't let me win," Loki chastened.

"I wasn't letting you win."

Loki wasn't buying it.

"I'll try harder next time," Jane relented "It's your turn."

"I was never allowed my own horse or hound until I was old enough to participate in the hunts, as my parents had forbidden it. My first drink was a flask of Odin's beӧr to keep me quiet while I accompanied him on a hunt at the equivalent age of eight, and as far as I know my first word was bróðir," Loki intoned expressionlessly. Jane got the impression that this was Loki going easy on her, not that it was helping at all.

"Wow," she remarked, torn between the more appalling or the suspiciously endearing statement. "I wanna say... your first drink?" Jane guessed hopefully.

Loki shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, but was startled into silence by an unexpected voice from behind him.

"We were never allowed to keep pets," Thor answered somberly.

Loki cleared his throat, turning to address the new participant. "Thor, did we wake you?"

"Mother feared for your-" Thor continued to recall.

"As pleasant as this trip down Memory Lane sounds, I think it is time that we discussed your plan of action," Loki cut in tightly. He was still kicking himself for not noticing Thor's return to consciousness.

Astral Plane...

"I'm not sure how this is going to work," Charles said, moving his knight into position.

"It will work," Erik replied as he studied the chessboard between them, calculating his next move.

"You're essentially expecting Loki to summon me back to him."

"He will call you, if you give him time. Until then, we will sit and wait while I beat you at chess again," Erik responded, capturing the young Professor's knight.

"That's debatable," Charles disagreed, scrutinizing the game.

"I usually do."

"Erik, ten games against my eight does not amount to usually winning," Charles corrected. "Besides, that isn't what I'm worried about."

"You worry too much," Erik countered smoothly. The telepath's fretting was beginning to bother him, but he had no intention of showing it. "He'll call for you."

"You can't know that."

"I know," Erik assured, watching Charles move his rook. "He likes you."

"And what makes you think that?"

"Everybody likes you, Charles," Erik elaborated. "You should focus on the game, for whatever time we have left."

"I will return to you, my friend. You know that I always will."

"I am your anchor," Erik confirmed with the hint of a smile.

"Even so," Charles replied with a smile of his own. There was a beat of companionable silence between them, then Charles' gaze flicked over to Erik's current choice of reading material still perched on the arm of the sofa. "So, why Grimm's?"

"It's Wanda's," Erik stated, taking a sip of his cognac.

"I know that, Erik. I gave it to her," Charles responded patiently.

"She told me. It seems like an odd gift for a ten-year-old."

"I can't speak to my state of mind at the time," Charles admitted. "But I imagine that she was not your average ten-year-old."

"I doubt that any of the children were."

"Not ours," Charles amended.

The magnekinetic tilted his head in wordless acknowledgment, his eyes locked on the board. Charles scrutinized his face, took note of the way that he was holding himself: deceptively tensed shoulders, held to give of the impression of casualness; his expression was just as falsely serene. But it, too, was tightly controlled. His eyes gave him away. Charles leaned forward over the board, catching Erik's eye. "It wasn't your fault what happened. You know that."

"Wasn't it?" Erik countered, his voice as even and his manner as collected as before, but his gaze was sharp. "He is a part of me, after all."

"As he is a part of me."

"That's different."

"How? Because he targeted me? Being seen as a threat hardly grants me a pass," Charles insisted in a sharper tone.

Erik took a bigger gulp of his drink and averted his gaze."Onslaught is a composite entity. He is not original. Did you never wonder how a part of you could become that monster?" he ground out, slapping his glass down on the edge of the table.

Charles straightened in his seat and leaned back against the padded armchair. His shining blue eyes locked on Erik's silver. "Never."

Svartálfheim...

"We will walk from here," Thor announced, vaulting over the side of the skiff.

Loki stepped back from the edge with a rebellious air, watching Jane step forward and gingerly lower herself into Thor's waiting arms. Jane suspected that the younger brother would have his hands perched on his hips right then if he wasn't still chained. Thor placed her on the slight incline beside him and turned to help Loki down as well. He reached up and beckoned Loki closer, but Loki didn't budge, only stared down at him instead.

"Quickly now, Brother. I will catch you," Thor assured him.

"I'm not convinced of your plan." Loki still gave no indication that he intended to join them.

"Loki, you weigh little more than Sif. I could easily lift two of you without much trouble," Thor stated impatiently.

"That is not the plan that I was referring to."

"Don't be difficult. The Convergence will start long before you could ever learn to accept my leadership," Thor pointed out, still holding his arms out to catch the contrary magician.

Loki paused for a second, digesting that assertion before stepping over to the edge. "True," he admitted and dropped into Thor's waiting arms.

"Lighter than Sif!" Thor amended airily before setting him back on his feet next to Jane.

"Very funny," Loki said, turning away to take in their desolate surroundings. "Now about this terrible plan of yours..."

"Loki," Thor cautioned, placing a hand on the side of his neck in a familiar brotherly gesture.

Loki shrugged it off, whipping his head around to snarl at him, "Do not touch me!"

Thor actually flinched away from him, surprised by the dark look in those usually vibrant, green eyes. "Brother..."

Loki blew out a sharp puff of air that was just shy of becoming a growl, and stalked past Jane towards their destination.

"Whoa," Jane breathed, exchanging a WTF look with Thor who took that as his cue to chase after the suddenly enraged Trickster.

"Wait. Slow your pace, Brother," he requested. "Brother!"

Loki spun back around to face him, his expression set in a serene mask. "What is it?"

"I might ask you the same."

"Might you?" Loki replied with false humor, watching Jane jog up the hill to catch up with them.

"You have been behaving strangely ever since we left the dungeons! First there was that pendant, then your outburst, then whatever that was after our arrival in this realm!" Thor snapped. "And now your temper flickers..."

Loki's eyes gradually narrowed as he watched Thor's thought process play out over his features.

"Oh by the- Are you on your moon?"

Loki shook his head and glanced up at the sky as if relating to some power above in regards to the thunderer's idiocy.

"Oh, good," Thor said, visibly relieved.

Jane looked back and forth between the two them, having lost track of the conversation.

Thor opened his mouth to speak.

Loki cut him off, preempting his next tactless question."And no, Thor. I am not in the family way!" he snapped, causing Jane's mouth to fall open a bit when she registered the meaning behind their exchange.

"Wait..." Jane muttered, looking confused and maybe a little curious.

"If I stop questioning your foolish plan will you drop this issue in return?" Loki requested, watching Thor's face intently.

Jane looked back and forth between the two, waiting for a response.

"It is not important," Thor decided, falling into step with Loki as they resumed their journey. Thor tried to start up a conversation again, but it seemed that Loki was back to ignoring him. Eventually, he gave up and did his best to track Jane's endless line of questioning about Yggdrasil and the different realms, and some that seemed to relate to the nature of the universe in general. It wasn't that Thor was stupid (despite Loki's persistent insinuations to the contrary). He simply wasn't familiar with Midgardian science. Nor was he nearly as proficient as either of his brothers in regards to magic, if he was being perfectly honest. Thor Odinson was a warrior, not an explorer, and he was definitely no mage. His understanding of such things consisted mostly of the stories that Balder or their mother had shared with him and half remembered snippets of Loki's ramblings when he got over-exited by a new discovery.

"I mean like this place," Jane continued. "We've been on this planet for about..." she checked her watch, "ten hours, and the light around us hasn't varied at all. Is the planet turning that slowly or... I mean there's no real difference in gravity so..."

Thor was pretty sure that Jane was just thinking aloud at this point, but was relieved that at least he could understand her meaning now. "It is true. This realm is one of darkness. There is said to be no difference throughout most of the year."

"That... Do you know why? I mean the sky looks fairly clear. Won't the sun come into view-"

Loki stalled for a step and sighed, drawing the others' attention back to him. "Really," he chastened looking reproachfully at Thor. He told Jane, "There is no sun," before he resumed walking with a murmur of "Was that difficult?" that was undoubtedly directed at his brother.

Unfortunately, he seemed to have drawn Jane's full attention, because she hastened to keep up with him and more or less demanded, "No sun? What do you mean there's no sun?"

"I thought that was rather self-explanatory," Loki stated, looking back over his shoulder at Thor in a silent bid for him to distract the stubborn researcher.

"But this planet is inhabited. The Dark Elves live here, right? For life to exist there needs to be a light source or at least an energy source. I mean we're orbiting something!" Jane persisted.

"There is obviously a light source. Look around you, Woman. Every realm does not resemble your own. There is no star, as I understand it that is all that you were implying."

"Okay, then what are we orbiting?"

Loki shot Thor a look and gestured for him to step in. It was another old behavior from their youth that was now making a resurgence, but Loki tried not to dwell on that fact.

"This world orbits a dead sun," Thor explained.

"Not a star?" Jane questioned, nonplussed.

Thor shrugged helplessly. "If my brother says that it is not, then it is not. I am uncertain what the Midgardian name is for such a thing. Your people did not understand as much about the night sky when my father and his men last visited," he explained apologetically.

"We've seen stars die," Jane pointed out. "They usually shrink down into red or white dwarf stars unless..." she stopped dead in her tracks and grabbed Loki's arm. "No way! Tell me that we are not riding the event horizon of a black-hole!"

"Is that what you call them?" Loki asked nonchalantly. "We're in no peril, time flows differently throughout many realms." He paused for a moment of reflection. "Now you understand one reason why. Perhaps you should not ask me questions if you will only fear the answers."

Jane stared up at him for a beat. "Nice try." She released her hold on his arm. "So, why doesn't the gravity from the singularity interfere with the Bifrost?"

Damn. Why did I have to talk? Loki internally lamented. To make it worse, Thor was now smiling proudly, pleased by his lover's boldness. "Why not ask your Golden Prince?" Loki quipped.

"I don't know," Thor said, unashamed of his ignorance.

"What does it matter? You mortals still lack the understanding necessary to utilize such magic. I doubt that you would comprehend any explanation that I-"

"Try me," Jane insisted, cutting him off.

"I'd rather not."

"Afraid that I'll prove you wrong?"

"You are not as clever as you think you are."

"Brother..." Thor cautioned.

Loki regarded him for a moment, considering how to respond, then looked back down at the astrophysicist waiting patiently beside him. "Mortals have not yet noticed all that is, and all that can be within this universe," he stated. "There are certain forms and substances that are still missing from your awareness. As is the case with the people of Asgard, as well, though to a far smaller extent."

"Couldn't you just explain it to me?" Jane asked, unaffected by Loki's previous outburst or the confused crinkle of Thor's brow at the mention of their own people's ignorance.

Loki shook his head. "You do not yet possess the language. You are far closer than one might expect, but there are some things that cannot be taught. I can assure you, however, that there is something leaving a 'singularity'. You simply have not observed it yet."

"That would defy the laws of physics..." Jane contemplated. "So how come it doesn't?"

Loki smiled despite himself. "Until you solve the conversion problem, I can speak no more of it by Asgardian law."

"Matter to energy. Probably light, am I right?" Jane thought aloud.

Loki nodded. Okay, he might genuinely like this one. She could actually think. How Thor, of all people, had managed to hold her interest was a question that he could ponder over later.

"We have had some success with that sort of thing in the lab using Stark tech."

Loki arched an eyebrow at her in surprised interest.

"But the cockroach always dies," Jane regretfully admitted.

"Is it not supposed to die?" Thor inquired.

Loki rolled his eyes and left Jane to explain the experiment to the blond warrior. It was too late though, Loki realized. He had missed friendly interactions, as much as he struggled to deny it. He was a bit lonely. He missed just talking to another person without anyone's life or world hanging in the balance. It was nice to imagine that someone might listen to what he had to say for a reason other than that they absolutely had to. It isn't safe, he reminded himself, but why should that matter to him? I can't trust them.

He looked back at Thor and Jane discussing some other question of hers that Thor at least seemed to think that he could answer himself. Then Loki looked into the gray, depressing wasteland ahead of them. He could see a dark spot in the distance that was probably Malekith's domain. It wasn't too far away, but it wasn't close either.

I know that you're still with me, Loki directed towards the presence still hovering at the edge of his mind. So tell me, what is your name? There was a contemplative pause that Loki could actually feel being contemplated by the foreign consciousness as He resurfaced.

I had no intention of hiding from you. It's a pleasure to meet you properly, Loki. My name is Charles.