Thank you for the reviews, they are greatly appreciated! I hope you will enjoy the next installment.

All right then, let's get this underway, shall we? We have another character to catch up with...

Beneath

Chapter Two – Departure

"How long will you keep him there, Father?" Thor asked while the two waited. They stood in a newly-built temporary structure composed of mere wood carved with intricate rune patterns which served not as decoration but as marks of expansive magic. There were small windows on all sides; through one of them the closed gate leading out to the far reaches of the dead Rainbow Bridge was in clear and somber view. Sunlight streamed in from the vaulted opening in the center of the roof, brilliantly interacting with the blue light emitted from the tesseract resting on a simple but sturdy podium. Heimdall stood like an unyielding statue in the entrance, just as he had in the bifrost observatory. He was flanked by a cordon of additional guards, some visible and some not, all to ensure that the tesseract, especially when outside the weapons vault, was adequately protected.

"How long did I keep you there?" Odin asked without turning to face him.

Thor frowned, but nodded. He'd known the answer – as long as he needs to be – but had asked anyway, hoping that perhaps his father had at least some vague ideas about how long it would take. It had taken Thor just three days…because it had taken Loki even less to assume the throne and somehow visit him on Midgard and tell him his father was dead and he could never return to Asgard. On top of Jane's grounding, that had knocked the arrogance right out of him. Most of it, anyway.

Thor had been the one to argue for sending Loki to Midgard in some less powerful form, having learned so much there himself in that short time, but he still feared for his brother. Not everyone on Midgard was like those he'd first met, he now knew. Some were criminals who committed unspeakable violence, some were highly intolerant of outsiders, some were insane, some warred with each other. Some turned into enormous green monsters whose brute strength could outmatch Thor's own. Some had loved ones who had been killed by Loki's machinations and likely bore an understandable grudge. But at least this course of action, unlike all the other proposals, gave his brother a chance.

Both men turned at the sound of light footsteps entering. Frigga clasped a hand inside Thor's, then moved over to stand beside her husband. Her hair fell straight down her back instead of being up in one of her elaborate arrangements, the only visible sign of what Thor knew to be her deep distress.

All eyes found their way to the bifrost. Asgard's most learned minds were working day and night to direct energy from the tesseract toward regenerating and growing the crystals that formed the Rainbow Bridge, but it was a slow and difficult process. The bridge had not been built in a day, nor would it be rebuilt in a day. And the tesseract was dangerous. Great care was required to ensure its power was directed properly and kept stable, or disaster could ensue. It was also a target, better off hidden from sight behind layers and layers of magic than on public display near the water's edge. And still the end – the bifrost's reconstruction and reawakening – was not in sight.

A few minutes more passed in silence, before footsteps again drew everyone's gaze from the gate on the bridge.

"Heimdall, staying warm, I trust?" Loki asked, pausing in the entrance to the wooden structure.

If Heimdall reacted at all, Thor could not see it. The gatekeeper, he knew, did not trust Loki in the slightest, but neither did he fear him. Loki could likely taunt him all day and Heimdall would not even blink. Unless he made a move for the tesseract.

Loki walked into the room with a slight limp, and Heimdall turned to follow him, precisely two strides behind, stopping when Loki stopped. The chief jailer, meanwhile, took up a position just outside the entrance, his helmet gleaming in the sunshine and his gold cape billowing in the breeze.

"I wasn't quite sure what to wear. No one has given me a travel briefing." Loki had donned a long-sleeved, high-collared shirt of such deep violet that it was nearly black, with black leather pants and his favorite tall black boots. There was no armor, no metal, no other embellishment in sight.

"You have what you need in that bag," Odin said.

Loki hefted the rather light bag on his shoulder. But no, what he needed was not to be found in the small leather satchel. "Do I get to choose, then? New York is a lovely hamlet but I fear this may not be the best time to visit. I should like to see Norway. I've heard the tales and always been a touch curious to see it myself, though I understand it's changed a great deal."

"No," Thor said as soon as Loki's mouth closed. He reflexively spun Mjolnir in his grip twice.

"Enough. Place your hands above the tesseract."

"Wait," Frigga said. She circled around the tesseract on its podium, walking into and out of the streaming sunlight.

Loki watched, waited, and concentrated on keeping his eyes focused on his mother and not on the prize he'd worked so hard for, now just steps away. He could take it so easily, and if he could master all its magic, he would be literally unstoppable.

She ran her hands down his back and around his waist, and he accepted her hands when she placed them in his. "Loki…" she began, hesitatingly, in a quiet, soft voice that quickly gained confidence, "no matter what's happened, please know that I still love you. There is nothing you could ever do that would make me stop loving you. I'm your mother. It doesn't matter that I didn't give you birth. I rocked you to sleep, sang to you when you cried, stayed by your bedside when you were sick, threw my arms around you for every stumble and for every achievement. Part of my heart lives here," she said, disentangling her hands and pressing them to his chest.

"I know," Loki whispered, working hard to reign in his emotions. His father and brother, he didn't care if he hurt. Actually, that wasn't quite true. He wanted to hurt them. For his mother's sake, though, he wished he could turn back the clock. To never needle Thor into defying their father. To never find out he was a Frost Giant. For her he would gladly continue to live in ignorance, to live a lie and never know why his father loved him so little.

She took a small step back and reached a hand into a pocket hidden in the folds of her gown, withdrawing a small red velvet purse. From it she pulled a long gold filament, so thin it was only detectable when light reflected off of it at some particular angle. The filament was threaded through a small red globe. She took his right hand and placed the filament and globe carefully in his palm.

"It's beautiful," he said, lifting his palm up to eye level. The orb's surface was covered in precise microscopic cuts, each catching light in its own way. As he watched it, the light intensified. He met his mother's eyes again.

"It glows with the love that the one who gives feels for the one who receives. Your father gave it to me the day after he brought you home to us, and when I wore it I always knew when he was thinking of me. I want you to have it now, to take with you, to remind you that you are loved."

Thoughts swirled in his mind. His gaze started to slide toward his father but he forcefully pulled it back, focused it squarely on his mother. "I will treasure it." He delicately slid a finger underneath the strand of filament and lifted it, then carefully put it on over his head and pulled his shirt out enough to let the necklace slide hidden underneath, just below his collarbone. "And I will not remove it."

"Frigga…" Odin called.

She glanced over at him, then reached out and squeezed Loki's hands again. "Take care of yourself. Remember that you are loved. Not just by me. Your father and brother also love you, though I know you don't believe it. Heed your father's warnings. And come home to us soon."

Loki squeezed her hands back, and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "I've been rather bored lately. It'll be an interesting diversion," he announced, pulling away from his mother. He closed the distance between himself and the tesseract without even feeling the pain in his foot. It was like a magnet, a siren's song, tugging inexorably at him. He reached out his hands. So close. He could take it. Stash it away. Hide himself while he unlocked all its secrets; what he knew of it already only scratched the surface. But he could feel his father's one eye squinting down at him, and his mother's eyes circling him as she went back to Odin's side. His father's magic was greater than his own so there was in reality little chance of success, but his mother's presence was even more effective, acting as a leash against him, counterbalancing the pull of the tesseract's power. He would not attempt such a thing with her eyes gazing upon him.

He placed his hands over the glowing cube.

"Farewell, brother," Thor said solemnly.

Loki glanced toward him, but in the same instant Odin lifted his right hand and the scene before him dissolved into coldness and light.

/

/

"He is wrong again," Odin said once the stream of light dissipated.

"About what?" Frigga asked.

"About this being an interesting diversion. It will be a war."

"A war?" Thor repeated. "Father, have you seen something? We can't allow-"

"It will be a war within himself. He will test and he will push and he will try until he brings himself to the brink."

When it became clear Odin did not intend to elaborate, Frigga lifted her chin and spoke. "He will pull himself back from that brink. I know it. He must."

Thor stared down at the tesseract. His parents hadn't seen with their own eyes what he had with his – the hatred manifesting itself so thoroughly, so violently that it approached insanity, the complete callousness toward human life, the unhesitating willingness to let those Chitauri creatures take Midgard and the rest of the nine realms – Thor wasn't nearly so certain that Loki would somehow pull back from whatever brink his father spoke of. But he wouldn't further upset his mother by voicing this doubt.

Instead he turned to the matter now most concerning him. "Father, please allow me to go to Jane. I must warn her. Loki mentioned Norway; he must know that was Jane's last known location. When we were fighting in the bifrost observatory, he threatened me that he would pay her a visit. It may have been no more than a goad, but…he could try to locate her. And even with the magic you've placed over him, I don't want him anywhere near her."

"Yes, go. She deserves that. But she must not tell the others. I told him he was not hunted. And do not linger. I must retire soon," Odin said, his voice and posture sagging just a bit even as he spoke the words.

"I understand," Thor said with a crisp nod. He shrugged out of his jacket, hefted his hammer from the ground beside him, and called his armor. Best not to be without it on Midgard.

/

/

Thor found himself standing in ankle-deep snow with snow-covered trees before him and a large, squat building behind him in what he assumed must be the Norwegian city of Tromso. He had imagined Norway as frigid and icy, and although he could see his breath when he exhaled, on Jotunheim this would be summer, if Jotunheim ever experienced such a thing.

"Good day, sir," he called to the lone old man bundled in a brightly colored jacket, leaning against the wall of the building in the distance. Remembering where he was, he switched to the ancient language, but that got him no better response. The man seemed frozen in place, mouth slightly ajar, a broom of some sort in his slightly raised left hand. Thor inclined his head toward the man and turned back toward the trees. It was twilight, and what little sunlight there was in the clear sky was now at his back.

He smelled ocean before him and heard traffic in the distance so set off in that direction, snow and ice crunching and crumbling under his heavy steps. When he emerged from the trees and shrubbery, he realized that Tromso was considerably larger than Puente Antigua, perhaps more like New York, though he couldn't be sure; certainly the buildings he'd seen thus far were much smaller than those in New York. All he knew was that finding Jane was going to be more difficult than he'd anticipated.

People stared at him, and before he knew it, as he strolled down the sidewalk passing tiny building after tiny building, he was being followed by dozens of those little devices like Darcy had, that captured images. On the other side of a wider, more heavily travelled street he saw what appeared to be a police vehicle, different from what he'd seen in New York but with similar strobes atop, and began to approach it. This land's law and order authorities, he figured, could perhaps help him find Jane. He hoped Jane Foster was as uncommon a name in this realm as it was in his own.

Before he could enter the street, though, a large black vehicle with darkened opaque windows screeched to a halt right in front of him. Three men, each wearing jeans and zipped up black jackets, spilled out and advanced on him. He let Mjolnir's handle slide down his grip until he caught it by the strap.

"Mr. Thor?" the man directly in front of him asked.

"Prince Thor, yes. I don't believe we've met."

"Prince Thor. I'm Agent Larson. Would you please come with me?"

"I cannot. I've come only for one purpose. I need to see Jane Foster. Do you know where she is?"

Larson squinted his eyes up at Thor in scrutiny. "Sir…we can probably make that happen. But would you please come with us first? You're attracting a lot of attention here."

Thor quickly took in his surroundings. Traffic had come to a standstill and all eyes were on him. "I don't know you. How can I trust you?"

"Well, sir, I suppose you have no reason to. But I'd also suppose that if you felt you were in any danger you could get yourself out of it pretty easily."

He took one last look at the three men. Strong…but not nearly as strong as himself. And that was assuming all three took him on at the same time. Larson was right. Thor nodded and followed the men into the vehicle.

/

/

"Sorry about that, sir, uh, Prince. We just really needed to get you out of there," Larson said once they'd picked their way through the cars and made it through a few more intersections and out of the area. "We have an undercover facility in the area that we'd like to avoid drawing attention to."

"Most likely we used to have an undercover facility in the area," the driver, a woman, said.

"Who is 'we'?"

"Again, my apologies. We're with SHIELD. Hastings, do you have Dr. Foster's location?"

"On our way," the driver answered, "as soon as I'm sure we aren't being followed. And as soon as the prince back there tells us why he needs to see her so bad."

Thor swallowed. He would have to choose his words carefully. He did not want to deceive SHIELD, but he could not disobey his father's instructions, either. "It is of a personal nature," he finally said.

"Personal. Considering what happened in New York a couple of weeks ago, which was also somewhat 'personal,' as I understand, I'm not sure that's a sufficient answer."

"Hastings, you drive. Let me talk. Look," Larson said, turning from the driver to Thor, "nerves are a still a little frayed. And she's right. Your 'personal' tends to wind up being pretty public."

"I understand. But my father has made sure that cannot happen again, I assure you. What I have to say to Jane is for Jane alone. I cannot remain long in your realm, so I insist that you take me to her immediately."

Larson inclined his head slightly to the side; Thor stretched his neck and saw a small black device implanted in the man's ear. He recognized its function.

"Hastings, take us to the Grevinden."

"Yes, sir."

"Grevinden?"

"The hotel where she's staying. We were keeping her at our base here, but once that portal over New York was closed and you got Loki out of here and everything calmed down the bosses decided there was no need to keep her in hiding anymore. She's leaving here soon. Tomorrow, actually."

"I see. Then I've arrived just in time."

"I suppose so. Listen, uh, Prince Thor-"

"Just Thor. I apologize, I am not your prince."

"Thor. Is there any chance you could, uh, change clothes, or somehow dial it down a notch or two? We still prefer a lower profile if at all possible. I could, uh, give you my coat."

Thor laughed and clapped Larson on the shoulder. "I don't think it would fit, friend."

Larson couldn't help laughing himself. He worked out at the SHIELD base or his apartment building's basement gym two hours per day, seven days a week, but he felt rather skinny next to Thor. "No, you're probably right. Okay, we'll hustle you to the parking garage elevator and key it straight up."

"I can release my armor."

"Oh, well, okay, that would help. We can store it for you here in the Land Cruiser."

"There's no need. It…stores itself, you might say," Thor said with a smile. He leaned forward and stretched out his arms, and all the metal and leather pieces that made up his armor began to fall off, disappearing before they touched the surface of the car's interior. He'd already been dressed so casually that he hadn't worn his cape in the first place, and while his brown leather pants and tall boots may not have looked quite like what the people on the sidewalks were wearing, neither did they look overly out of place. The pale blue cloth shirt fit right in. He wondered what Jane would think of how he looked, then caught Hastings peering at him through the mirror perched on the car's glass. Thor grinned and thought perhaps Jane would like it.

The grin faded fast, though. In his single-minded focus, it had somehow not exactly occurred to him that he was about to see Jane for the first time since he'd left her in the New Mexico desert, promising he would come back to see her again. He could never have imagined the things that had happened in the meantime. Destroying the bridge, knowing it could make him a liar. Watching his brother plummet into the abyss surrounding Asgard and mourning his death. Learning of his brother's appearance on Midgard and his efforts to subjugate it, and standing back in awe as his father summoned sufficient magic to carry him safely to Midgard without the bifrost. Walking the streets of Midgard again, but all the while battling Loki and the Chitaurians, his only glimpse of Jane an image on a mechanical device.

Perhaps she would not be so happy to see him.

Especially once he told her why he was here.

They pulled into what looked to Thor like a concrete cave, filled with other vehicles. Hastings stopped the Land Cruiser in front of a pair of glass doors, beyond which were metal doors that appeared to hide an elevator. "Follow me," Larson said, opening the door and jumping out. Thor followed, and the other two men took up position behind them, while Hastings remained in place. Thor recognized their stances and chuckled; they were "protecting" him. He decided to let them maintain this illusion for their dignity's sake, and simply followed Larson's lead. Meanwhile, his thoughts turned back to the woman to whose chambers he was being led.

He wasn't sure what Jane wanted, or expected from him. He thought back for the thousandth time to that kiss right before he'd left Midgard. He'd kissed her hand in a proper, respectful fashion, looked into her shining brown eyes, and she'd leaned up into him to kiss his lips while he responded. That was how it had happened, right? It had to have been. A kiss like that, on Asgard at least, was serious. He wouldn't have initiated something like that. Would he? He just wasn't sure now. All he knew was he hadn't wanted to leave her once their lips parted.

He thought back further to the night before he'd left, when they'd talked about Jane's work, and about science and magic, on the rooftop. How she'd hung on his every word, and he on hers. How she'd fallen asleep on that flimsy little chair and he'd drawn the blanket up over her as the temperature dropped. How he'd wanted nothing more in that moment than to stay by her side and protect her from cold and anything else that threatened her safety or happiness.

He had been in deep pain himself that night, though he had walled it up and not let anyone glimpse it. Acceptance of who he was, who he had become, was setting in – his rash actions on Asgard had cost him dearly. His beloved father, whom he almost worshipped, despite the rage- and humiliation-fuelled words he'd spat out that day, was dead because of him. His mother had rejected him. He would never see any of his friends or family again. He would remain in mortal form, easily harmed by all manner of things. He would have to make a new life for himself on Midgard, living out his days with a card that said he was "Donald Blake" to avoid undue scrutiny. And that night, watching Jane sleep, he'd begun to think perhaps he could spend his life with her, and his pain would be bearable.

But things had changed so quickly. Too quickly. His father was not dead. And while his friends hadn't had the time to explain what really happened, the pieces fell together quickly in Thor's mind. Father is dead, Loki had said, no, lied. The burden of the throne has fallen to me. The Destroyer, controlled by Asgard's king – who clearly was indeed Loki – and created by Odin's powerful magic, could not be stopped. So Thor had made what he thought to be his final gamble, and it had worked. His new life on Midgard would end far more quickly than he'd expected, but he'd done what he'd promised himself, he had protected Jane. And as his last breath rattled in the broken bones of his chest, he was at peace. But moments later he'd awoken to find his right arm stretched skyward and his chest and all the rest of him whole and coursing with familiar strength. He had not called Mjolnir, not consciously anyway, but a second later its handle was resting in his grip. And he was himself again.

But what did that mean for-

"Jane!" he exclaimed, a grin breaking out on his face. He'd been so deep in thought he hadn't even noticed them stopping and Larson knocking on one of the doors. He saw her over Larson's shoulder even as the agent was stepping aside.

/

I hope you didn't miss Loki too much in this chapter. Originally the chapter ended with this section continuing, followed by a Loki section, but it made the chapter too long so I broke it here; we'll start to find out what Loki's up to in the next chapter. Jane has big plans of her own and no idea that a couple of Asgardian princes may be about to disrupt them.

Disclaimer, by the way, guess I should have put that on the prologue...I obviously have no claim to anything from the Marvel universe...except in my imagination.