Beneath
Chapter One Hundred-Nine – Fondness
"Everything is ready?" Thor asked, striding up onto the platform of the arena, whose grounds were full of enemy warriors milling about, surrounded by Einherjar. "Their leaders have agreed?"
Bragi nodded. "They have. But there's a problem."
"What now?" Thor demanded, temper already flaring. Of course there was a problem. There was always a problem.
"It's the Ljosalf prisoners. They refuse to leave without their king. They appointed their own leader – that's him over there," Bragi said, directing Thor's gaze with his own eyeline.
Thor turned, and now that he was looking, the Light Elves were easy to spot. They had segregated themselves off from everyone else, hundreds of them, perhaps even approaching a thousand, and in front of their group stood one tall man with long black hair, watching back steadily. "How many more are there?" Thor asked, surprised by the large number. There were more Vanir, in his estimation, but probably not by much. "And why have you brought them if they refuse to take the oath? I hope you don't think we're actually going to release Nadrith. I know I haven't gotten much from him yet, but there's no way I'm letting him go, even if I can get nothing more. He knows things now."
"No, of course not, Your Majesty. He's the best prize we've won in this war. And this is all of them. All of the Ljosalf. They're speaking with one voice, so we're treating them that way. As for why we brought them…"
"It was my idea," Frigga said.
Thor nodded, ready to hear her explanation; he knew she would not have suggested it and even moved forward with it without good reason. It was just the four of them – Thor, Frigga, Diplomatic Advisor Bragi, and Law Advisor Finnulfur – with a contingent of Einherjar, standing near a low platform at one end of the arena. Thor had thought this would be quick and simple. His part was merely to affirm the conditions of the oaths, then accept them and in so doing, invest the authority of Asgard into honoring them. Immediately afterward, in the most delicate part of the procedure, the paroled prisoners would be led according to home realm to a designated location along the city's wall, where they would be released and collected via Svartalf portal. There were to be no attacks or other attempts to gain advantage or inflict harm at those times and places. The Einherjar would handle the release, with Hergils overseeing.
"I suggest that you let Nadrith speak to them. He did not object to them leaving."
"Mother…do you really think that wise?" Thor asked skeptically. "What if he tries to tell them things we wouldn't wish them to know? He knows Father isn't around. He knows that we found out about Vigdis."
"It's a risk, yes," she said, nodding her acknowledgement. "But you said he wasn't happy with what was done to Vigdis. He doesn't know that no one else knows about her, and he doesn't know that we're using her against them now. Besides, that was Svartalfheim's doing, not Alfheim's. Nadrith's father made a peace with Svartalfheim that wasn't entirely popular, and even now, when they fight together, I don't think Nadrith would go out of his way to aid a specifically Dark Elf initiative, especially one against an innocent youth. But…there's no way to know for certain. About your father, he hasn't been seen in two weeks. I'm sure they all suspect something has happened. But Nadrith knows his warriors are better off at home than here, and we need to ease our prison population. I think it's worth the risk."
"All right," Thor answered, trying to slow his racing, distracted thoughts enough to think through everything his mother said. At the end of the day, though, she was his most trusted advisor, with more experience ruling Asgard than he had, and millennia of paying more attention to what Father did all day than he ever had. If she thought it was the right thing to do, then he would go along with it. "We have to get him here quickly. I'll take care of that myself. Begin with the other groups. You can accept their oaths, Finnulfur. It's the Vanir I want to make their oaths to me." With that, he spun Mjolnir and let it launch him into the early morning sky, back toward the palace, where he landed on his own balcony and hurried down a few flights of stairs to Nadrith's chambers.
The Ljosalf king sat by an empty fireplace with a book in hand – Thor didn't spare the time to look at the title – looking up with disinterest for just a moment before turning back to his book. "Good morning, Thor," he said, eyes on his book. "Come for another chat? I don't know why you waste your time on it. I'm confident you have better things to-"
"Listen to me, Nadrith. Your sister approved the terms of the parole of your men, but they know you're our prisoner and won't leave without you. We can keep them all here if we must, but if you tell them they can go, they'll obey."
Nadrith still didn't look up, but Thor saw the smile spread slowly over his face and knew he wasn't reading.
"No big speeches. Order them to attack and you send them to their doom. None of them are armed."
"I understand," Nadrith said, finally closing the book and standing to face him. "I will do no more than tell them they have my blessing to accept the oath if they so choose. I would prefer to join them, of course, though I will make no oaths."
"You will be joining them at the end. In defeat."
Nadrith broke into laughter. "You keep telling yourself that, Thor. I'm beginning to think you'll still be saying such things when Asgard is reduced to a handful of Einherjar and children trying to defend the palace." His expression sobered. "For all our sakes, I do hope reality sets in before then."
/
/
Neither man said another word on their way to the arena, Thor keeping hold of Nadrith as they flew over the city, imagining dropping him over this building or that garden or that street. As they landed, he imagined giving Nadrith a hard shove forward just as their feet touched ground, making him stumble before everyone. He had enough control of himself though now to keep such thoughts from leading to action, and set Nadrith down onto steady feet, on the platform where Bragi and Frigga stood waiting. Heads began turning their way.
"Your Majesty," Nadrith said with a respectful dip of his head. "Bragi."
"I've missed having you at our table, Nadrith," Frigga said. She hoped he would take it as she intended – a reminder of how close he had once been to her family – and not as an insult, since she had referred to him by name instead of title.
"There is much I miss of those days as well. But we all must grow up."
Frigga kept her smile in place and did not react.
"Shall I speak to them now?" Nadrith asked, turning to Thor.
"In a moment," Bragi put in. "We've only just begun returning the others. The dwarves have given their oaths and been taken, and the Fire Giants are being escorted now, and we were just about to begin recording the oaths from the Dark Elves. We'll take the Light Elves last; you can speak to them then."
"If it's all the same, I'll speak to them now. I don't care if the others hear. And you have more Vanir than anyone else; you should take them last."
Bragi looked at Thor. "That was the original plan."
"All right," Thor agreed, quickly noting that his mother did not look concerned, though she did have a shrewd look about her despite her official smile. "Go ahead. You know how this works. Your voice will carry." He leaned in close to Nadrith. "Do not do anything foolish."
Nadrith gave his most winsome – irksome – formal smile, and stepped around Thor and forward on the platform. "Warriors of Ljosalfheim!"
The Light Elves broke into deep-voiced cheers of "Hup, hup!"; every eye in the arena fell on Nadrith.
"I commend you for your loyalty, and for your concern for my welfare."
Nadrith's men went into a bow, then rose again.
"As you can see, I am well."
Thor grit his teeth, waiting for the "except for my shoulder," and for the first time actually regretted throwing Nadrith to the ground earlier. But it didn't come.
"My concern is for your welfare. My clansmen, I cannot leave. There is no such offer of parole for me. Were the tables precisely turned, understand that I could not offer such a thing to Thor of Asgard. So let your conscience be free in this. You fought well. You did your duty. Now, you can remain here as captives, or you can return to your realm and your clan and your family, and find some other work to do…and if it happens to be work that aids your clansmen still fighting, then that can hardly be a discredit to you."
"Nadrith," Thor growled without moving his lips.
"If you choose to swear this oath, I expect you to uphold it. As your leader, I will always seek to comport myself with honor, and I ask the same of each of you. The word of a Light Elf is sacred, from the king as well as his subjects, and let it be known as such throughout these Nine Realms. Is this clear?"
"Hup, hup!" came the shouted response.
"Very well, then. I leave you to your decision, and wish you all well, no matter what you choose."
Cheers rose up again, this time not just from the Light Elves; the Vanir and even some of the Dark Elves joined them.
Nadrith held out his arm to Thor, who imagined ripping it off. Instead, he grabbed onto him and flew off behind Mjolnir, making haste so he could return to accept the oaths.
Bragi stepped away to confer with Finnulfur, who was now on the ground, while Frigga watched the soon-to-be-released prisoners.
"That was interesting," she said, when Bragi returned.
"Did you notice that he just told those who were parsing words that Thor is now king? 'If the tables were precisely turned?' On the opposite side of Nadrith's table is Asgard's king."
"Mmmm. Perhaps," Frigga said. She hadn't noticed that, but she wasn't sure how many would interpret it as Bragi did. Nadrith could have referenced Thor simply because Thor was the one standing there. Or at least that was a reasonable assumption by a listener. "He's grown very clever. I suppose he always was a clever one, though. He has some of the best traits of both Thor and Loki."
Bragi shot her a look that was as clear as the words decorum did not allow him to speak.
"And some of the worst," she allowed with a wry smile. "Thor told him about Gullveig forcing paroled Vanir to break their oaths."
Bragi nodded thoughtfully. "And I told all of the prisoners, as Geirmund suggested."
"The rumor was probably spreading among them already. Prisoners have nothing to do but talk. Nadrith would know that."
"He was performing for the crowd."
"It seems so," Frigga agreed. "And not just for the Light Elves."
"We should discuss this with Thor."
Frigga nodded thoughtfully, looking out over the crowds of remaining warriors.
/
/
Monday brought the return of long work days for Jane and Loki, and the return of house mouse duties, since Loki had apparently not been the best belcher among his poker group on Sunday. Jane had never observed that particular gathering, and she was perfectly fine with that.
Otherwise, mornings were devoted to working through as much as possible of the data Jane was paid to collect here. Those hours were frustrating, because although her focus had shifted, this was still good data; she just didn't have the time to pursue everything the way she wanted to. The number of neutrino collisions she was capturing now was astonishing, but she wasn't sure if that was because she'd focused her collection more precisely, or because the collisions were actually increasing. There were other things she could experiment with, other tests she could run for comparison, but there just wasn't time. After Alfheim, Jane hoped. She wasn't sure exactly what would happen after Alfheim – Loki had never mentioned any specific plans or expectations – but she was pretty certain it wouldn't be afternoons filled with learning the structure of local government in Niskit's village, or memorizing the layout of said village. Or evenings spent walking through Loki's virtual-reality-Alfheim.
Although she was pretty sure she'd miss those evenings. Even though it meant she collapsed into bed exhausted every night, even though Loki pushed her hard and didn't mince words when she made a mistake. He pushed himself hard, too, and Jane knew he got frustrated more with himself than with her. With her, he expected mistakes, and was fairly good about helping her correct them, even if she didn't always like his methods, like teaching her how to deceive and manipulate. With himself, he seemed to expect perfection, and while she hadn't noticed any problems with his illusions, it quickly became clear that they weren't as good as he wanted them to be, and when on Wednesday night she finally peeked once when he had her close her eyes, she realized he did so to hide the visible struggle it was for him to create all that he did. She wished she could reassure him that what he did was just fine – better than fine, amazing, mesmerizing – but he was obviously self-conscious about it and didn't want her to know, even though he'd already told her that he'd lost some of his ability. Asgard may have valued physical strength over magic, but Loki clearly took a lot of pride in his skills.
Thursday morning saw Loki paired up with Zeke to clean the bathrooms Austin and Carlo had been assigned to. Jane found out when Loki ambushed her outside the galley and practically dragged her away from it, down toward the Beer Can stairs where it was quiet for the moment.
"Our deal still stands. You do the bathrooms."
"Yeah, sure," she said, holding back on rolling her eyes. Yes, he was a prince and all that, but he really needed to get over himself with all the "I'm better than everyone else" stuff. She hadn't appreciated it when Thor acted like that, and she only tolerated it from Loki because they did have an agreement. "Are we down for bathrooms today? I thought we were shoveling snow drifts."
"We are. Austin and Carlo are down for bathrooms. You'll be helping Zeke with their chores today."
Jane looked at him a moment longer before fully getting what was going on. They'd been out until almost ten last night and she'd gotten up early to hit the gym – she could've used some more sleep. Now she began to smile. And that was maybe not the best reaction. "I don't think so."
"Jane, don't be difficult. You just said that our agreement stands."
"Yep, I did. Our agreement was that I would take care of our assigned dishpit days and bathroom duty when that was our house mouse chore, in return for you not threatening or lying to me, and by the way, you haven't entirely held up your end of the bargain."
"I did say at the time that I would make an effort; I specifically did not promise. I think I've stuck to our agreement rather well, considering."
"Maybe so, but you made that bet, Loki. Over belching, may I remind you. That's your responsibility. I never said I would do otherpeople's bathroom duty for you."
"Our words were not so specific. You said you would handle bathrooms for both of us. Now I've been assigned a bathroom, and you will handle it."
"No, I will not."
"Jane," Loki began, reaching for her arm but just as quickly letting go of it like it was on fire just as she said "ow." "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that," he said, rubbing his sore arm. "I forgot for a moment how fragile you are."
"I'm not fragile. Okay, I guess compared to you I am. But Loki, honestly, you're acting like a surly teenager. And how exactly would I explain to Zeke why I'm helping him instead of you? Just do it. Get it over with. It'll only take an hour or two, and then it's done. Less if you wave your magic wand."
"My 'magic wand,' as you so quaintly put it, isn't working as well as it once did," Loki forced out through tight lips.
"That hasn't stopped you from recreating Alfheim every night."
Loki grit his teeth. "It isn't easy," he said. He hadn't wanted her to know how very difficult it was, how much of a strain it put on him, and how poor the final quality still was compared to what he could do. "In fact it leaves me incredibly drained."
"So you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way. Look, don't they have bathrooms on Asgard? I mean, everybody has bathrooms of some sort, right?"
"Of course we have bathrooms, Jane," he said, using her name almost as a curse. He was furious and couldn't see anything past Jane and her juvenile opposition to honoring her agreement.
"Then somebody had to clean them. Somebody else cleaned your bathroom for a thousand years. It won't kill you to clean one now."
"We aren't like you barbarians. On Asgard they mostly clean themselves."
Barbarians? Okayyyyy. He hadn't talked about Earth like that in a while, at least not with those undertones of menace. It was a little creepy, but she still wasn't particularly worried. As long as he didn't have a total meltdown – over cleaning a bathroom! – everything would be okay. "You made a bet. You lost. Now you-"
"You told me to lose!" Loki shouted.
"Hey, everything okay?" Tristan called from down the hall, about to turn into the galley, Brody at his side.
"Fine, yes, sorry," Loki said, some of the anger in him bleeding out in the form of embarrassment. He did not shout. Not unless he actually meant to, anyway.
"Little disagreement, but we're fine. Hey, save me a seat, will you? I wanted to pick your brain about getting some good aurora shots, if you don't mind."
"Sure, glad to. See you in a few," Tristan said with an easy smile before turning and disappearing.
When Jane turned back around toward Loki his hand was over his eyes, rubbing between them. "You okay?"
"I'm just tired. I haven't been sleeping."
"Yeah, I'm not really getting enough sleep, either."
"No, I mean…I haven't slept. Not since…" Loki sighed and leaned back against the wall so that he was no longer facing Jane. What is this? Now you're going to tell her? For no better reason than that you're too tired to pay attention to the vomit spewing from your mouth?
"Not since when?" Jane asked, narrowing her eyes. He had told her that Asgardians could function longer without sleep than Midgardians, but he'd never said how long.
"Saturday night."
"Saturday… Loki, you haven't slept since Saturday? No wonder you're losing it over stupid stuff. Why aren't you sleeping?"
Loki sighed again. Telling her the truth would be easy. It would feel natural. As natural as lying to her had once felt. Yes, he'd slept Saturday night. And before that, only once in the previous nine nights, since he'd had the induced nightmare and his sound blanket had failed. But he'd decided not to, and he'd had a reason, even if he couldn't remember it right now. "Stress," he finally said. The mortals used it as an excuse for everything, and it wasn't even entirely inaccurate, though it was misleading.
"Maybe you can go see Nora and get a sleeping pill. You're going to need to be at your best when we get to Alfheim, and you aren't at your best right now."
He forced a grim smile to his face. Mortal Jane Foster was lecturing him on being at his best. And the saddest part was that she was quite correct. "I doubt your pills would have much effect on me. Your alcohol doesn't. But," he continued, speaking loudly over her attempt to respond, "I will make a better effort. I'll sleep before we go."
"Okay, if you say so."
"Ah, Jane," Loki said, pushing himself off the wall and straightening his back as he should.
"What?" Jane asked suspiciously.
"Those are precisely the words I wanted to hear from your lips."
"Not happening, Lucas," Jane said, turning around to head back toward the galley. "Besides," she called over her shoulder, "maybe some extra physical labor will help you sleep better tonight."
Loki watched her back. What would help him sleep better tonight would be knowing his sound blanket wouldn't fail, or else knowing Thanos's lackey wouldn't be exploiting that sliver of a connection that remained from the use of the scepter. The latter he could do nothing about at the moment, though figuring out how to sever that connection was something worth considering. The former would be ensured once they reached Alfheim.
After all of that, and Jane actually winning the argument – she had backbone, he couldn't help thinking even in his frustration, he had to grant her that – Loki decided he'd rather skip breakfast. Then the thought that had been skittering around the back of his mind ever since Tristan had interrupted them took form. He also had something to discuss with him.
/
/
"Wait, did you just say 'animated gifts'?" Tristan asked.
"I…" Loki glanced over at Jane. Her mouth was full of oatmeal and she'd raised her hand to cover it. He could tell she was trying to hold back a laugh behind her hand.
"It's 'gif,' g-i-f. It stands for…what does it stand for?"
Jane lowered her hand, having got her laughter under control, and shrugged. Next to her, Brody said, "Beats me."
"Anyway, yeah, I can do that. It's a really cool idea, Lucas. It'll be fun. Oh, hey! I can mix it up with gifs from the movie and us acting out the parts. We can get everybody involved that way, and it'll get a lot of laughs."
"I love that," Jane said, putting her spoon down. "Was this really your idea, Lucas, the whole" – Jane paused to cough to cover another laugh that attempted to escape – "animated gifs thing?"
"Yes, it was," Loki said slowly, giving Jane a toothy saccharine smile.
"Then I'm claiming the Wayne's World headbanging scene for the Dark Sector Lab scientists, and with his black hair, I officially nominate Lucas for Wayne."
Tristan grabbed a salt shaker and banged it on the table, startling Loki, who had no idea what Jane had just volunteered him for. "Sold to the highest bidder!"
"Okay, then wasn't there a Karate Kid song?" Brody asked. "I want to be the Karate Kid. Sweep the leg!" he shouted, causing several heads to turn their way.
"You want to be the bad guy in Karate Kid?" Jane asked.
"Yeah, man. Bad guys have more fun. No, wait! I want to do that kick thing at the end, when he wins the fight."
"Do you know how to do that kick?" Tristan asked.
"No, but I can learn," he said indignantly. "There must be somebody here who knows karate."
Loki listened as the discussion continued, about more movies he'd never seen, songs he'd never heard, cultural references he would most likely never learn. He wondered if perhaps he could at least see Wayne's World before he left. The head banging scene couldn't be anything too humiliating if Jane had signed herself up for it as well, along with Wright and Selby. That gave him pause then: why had she involved Selby? Several incidents now pointed to the fact that the animosity between them had died down, and that was both unexpected and oddly unwelcome. He was too tired to think much about it at the moment, though. Selby had never been more than a distraction for him, really. Insecure, needy, letting Wright walk all over him…and far, far, far beneath Loki's threshold for interest at the moment, as he should have been at every moment.
"I'm going to go get geared up for outside," Jane said, drawing Loki's attention from the waffles he was picking at. "Why don't you do your part of your other chores first, then meet me outside and help me finish up whatever shoveling is left?" She thought it was a good plan, with the added benefit of making sure he didn't dawdle with the shoveling and leave the bathrooms all to Zeke.
"Whatever you say," Loki answered after a moment, fully aware of how Jane – Jane! – had just maneuvered him. He could not easily argue with her in front of the others. He could do so later, or simply ignore her "suggestion," but he was losing the will power to fight her, which he blamed fully on his exhaustion.
"Good," Jane said, trying to keep the triumph in her smile to a minimum.
/
/
"Your Majesty!" Geirmund called, hurrying after Thor, who was walking out of the Feasting Hall in conference with Tyr. Another frustrating Assembly had just concluded, with Thor in attendance because tonight he would go upstairs and get some sleep.
"Yes?" he said curtly, and caught a flash of the nervousness Geirmund had exhibited when he'd first been elevated to advisor.
"May I speak with you a moment? In private? Just a moment. I know you're busy. I-"
"Yes, what is it? Tyr, give us a moment."
Tyr nodded and stepped back into the Feasting Hall a discrete distance away.
"It's just that while I was on Midgard several days ago, I happened to speak with a friend of yours."
"Yes, I know. Did Tony say there was a problem? I haven't heard reports of any problems from the Assembly."
"No, I don't mean Tony. It was a woman. Jane Foster. She had contacted Tony through one of their communication devices. She-"
"Why? Did something happen? Is she all right?" Thor asked, everything else now forgotten.
"She's fine, as far as I know. She called Tony…well, I don't know why she called Tony, but since we were there at the time, Krusa and I, she wanted to extend her fond wishes, and inquire as to how Asgard fares."
"I…thank you," Thor finally said, blinking heavily against a strong sense of being in two places at once, of living two lives at once. His life was now nothing but this war; Jane seemed as though from a separate lifetime, and one that in that moment he desperately missed. "If you have the opportunity to speak to her again, I would consider it a personal favor if you would convey the same." How much more he would say if he could say it himself, if he only had the time!
"Gladly, Your Majesty. And…I wanted to tell you…I wasn't certain if this was a…a personal matter, and…I did not tell Krusa who I spoke with. He only knows that it was a friend, and I'm sure he assumes as I did at first that it was one of your Midgardian warrior friends."
Thor smiled fondly. "Jane is a warrior, in her own way. She studies the stars, and does not accept defeat when others reject her theories. She's very brave." His smile grew. "Even now, she lives in an isolated place where the temperature is colder than Jotunheim most of the year, all so she can get the best views of her stars."
Geirmund's eyebrows went up. "She is brave indeed."
Thor nodded, proud of Jane and pleased that Geirmund was impressed and did not question that he cared for a mortal, but too short a moment later let the image of Jane smiling up at him in New Zealand, eyes bright and warm, looking up at him with longing that made it hard for him to leave, hair fluttering in the breeze, dissipate. "I suppose it could complicate matters if her connection to me became more widely known, so I do appreciate your discretion. But tell me, how is Dagrun? And your daughter…Nerid, isn't it?"
"Yes, both are very well, thank you for asking."
"Your move into the palace was a hasty one – do you have everything you need? The servants can assist you."
"No, no, we're fine. We have everything we need, and far more than I deserve. Please don't trouble yourself on my account, Your Majesty. And I don't want to keep you any longer. Shall I send Tyr back?"
Thor nodded, and a few seconds later he was conferring with Tyr again, and looking forward to a few quiet moments alone before some much-needed sleep.
I miss you, Jane, he thought, sitting in bed a little later, the journal resting on his lap. He'd started writing in it to record his thoughts about Loki, and it had quickly turned into a means of expressing his thoughts to Loki, in essence, when he wasn't there to twist his words or argue back or deny or accuse or pull a knife. Tonight, though, his thoughts were all for Jane, and he struggled to turn them away from her.
"Jane is a good woman," he finally wrote. "Kind, compassionate, generous, open, clever. Better than I deserve. I was callous and condescending when we first met, but she still took me in, gave me food and clothes, helped me try to retrieve Mjolnir. All this even though I think she thought I was mentally unwell at the time. Perhaps I was, in a way."
I hope you get to meet her, he thought, but before he could write it down he remembered who the "you" referred to. The same person who'd looked at him with crazed eyes and spoken with crazed words about "that woman" making him soft. "Maybe when we're done here, I'll pay her a visit myself!" Loki had said, in what was clearly a threat to do Jane harm. And even worse, Loki had tried to make good on it, as he had learned when Tony and he went to Canada. Loki had tried to follow Jane to Norway, and Thor wasn't nearly stupid enough to think it had been just to exchange social pleasantries.
"I hope that someday it will be safe for you to meet her. She values the type of learning that you do, and she has the same endless curiosity that you do. I think that under other circumstances, you might even be friends. But Loki, if you had found her, if you had hurt her…that would be the end. I'm so grateful you didn't find her. There's only so much you can try to take from me while I still call you my brother. I don't think I could have forgiven that. It's not too naïve, I think, to hope that someday all will be well between us again, and on that day, I will gladly introduce you to her, because I would like for her to know you as well. To know you as I once knew you. Or better, since apparently I never knew you as well as I thought I did."
/
/
"You're mine."
"I beg your pardon?" Loki said, refusing to let Jane tug him forward as she was trying to do, both hands clamped down uselessly on his arm.
"You've got time before your poker game. Come on."
They had taken Sunday off, and Jane had spent the morning doing laundry, sending some e-mails, and reading in the Greenhouse, while Loki had practiced with the band, now that they were trying to get in more frequent playing time as Mid-Winter approached.
"You will tell me where and what and why, and then I will decide if I'm going with you," Loki said, just to be obstinate in the face of Jane's presumptuousness. He'd slept Thursday night without incident, and his time with the band had been largely enjoyable if surreal; Carlo had even started showing him how the clarinet worked. But while his mood was improved, he was still on edge, and not quite willing to play along with Jane.
Jane let go and put her hands on her hips. "It's a movie, all right? It's just a movie. But it's one I want you to see. Some others were watching it before, and I invited you, but you turned it down. Today it's just you and me, and you're going to watch it."
"You have quite the audacity, Jane Foster. But all right. My afternoon is free. You've eaten already?" They were outside the galley, where Loki had heated up some leftover soup for lunch.
"No. I'm making popcorn. Go to the TV Room, I've already claimed it. I'll pop the popcorn and be there in a few minutes."
"Okay," Loki said, deciding there was no more use putting up even token resistance. Then he shook his head at himself. Since when did he respond with "okay," without even thinking about it? But Jane was already hurrying off, so Loki took a deep breath and headed down the corridor to the TV Lounge, curious about what movie Jane thought it so important he see.
Back to the Future, he saw when he went over to the TV and picked up the movie container beside it. His eyes skimmed over the cover – a young man looking at his watch with great concern, a strange-looking car, and a trail of fire on the ground, perhaps indicating that the car traveled at great speed. He couldn't decipher what it might be about from the front, but he was afraid it wouldn't really about cars. His poker friends, for lack of a better term, had talked about a series of movies called Fast and Furious, and that had sounded rather intriguing. He flipped over the container and read the brief description – "…irresistible comic fantasy that accelerates beyond the time barrier…"* – and knew immediately that this was to be some sort of moral lesson for him. Loki shook his head. He also knew he'd still watch it with her. He remembered her earlier invitation to view this movie, and that was before she knew anything about time travel, so hopefully the mortals were fond of this movie as something more than just moral lessons. The description was certainly glowing enough. Hopefully this moral lesson about time travel would be more entertaining than Odin's.
Jane returned shortly with a giant bowl of popcorn and two cans of Coke. Odin's lessons also didn't come with popcorn and Coke, both of which he had become fond of. The Coke was a touch too sweet, really, but he liked its bite. Jane didn't drink much of it – she'd once told him it had too much sugar and its carbonation was bad for your teeth – but his teeth weren't in any danger from it, and neither was his waistline, not unless he started knocking back dozens of them a day.
"We had this on VHS when I was a kid. I think you'll like it. Oh, VHS is…well, it doesn't matter, I guess. What we used before DVDs."
Loki filed that away in the same corner of his brain where he stored a growing library of useless trivia about Midgard. "We'll see. Pass the popcorn."
Jane handed him the bowl, picked up the remote, and started the movie.
As it got underway, Loki didn't see the attraction, though observing the McFly family held a certain amount of interest. He wasn't sure how realistic it was meant to be, but Midgardian families were something he'd not observed, given that no one here had family with them, and he hadn't exactly had the time – much less the inclination – to sit down to dinner with any Midgardian families when he'd come to this realm to conquer it. He saw frustration and dissatisfaction at that table, something not unfamiliar to him, and he keenly sympathized with Marty when his father warned him not to pursue his interest in music. When Marty later tossed what must have been a recording of his music into the trash, the sympathy died; it was a weak and spineless thing to do, and Loki had no more patience for that.
When Doc started explaining how the car worked, Loki didn't even bother trying to hold back his laughter; not having to mask his reactions was a nice benefit of finally watching a movie with Jane alone. "I wonder what solution he used for Einstein's field equations," he said. "Eighty-eight miles per hour, a normal car, and the material from one of those weapons SHIELD used to defeat the Chitauri? Ingenious."
"I think it's supposed to be a little more complicated than that, but it's just fiction anyway. It's obviously not real. Time travel is…or was, not really possible. So they have to make something up. That's not the point. But shhh, don't miss this part."
"This part" was men coming in and shooting Doc for no immediately apparent reason, and Marty jumping in the car and accidentally traveling to 1955, 30 years in the past, which Loki supposed the mortals probably considered a long time.
The mortals – Jane, at least – also apparently considered everything from 1955 to be in need of explanation.
"Pepsi Free was like Diet Pepsi back then. I guess so anyway."
"I can figure that out as well as you can, you know. Were you alive in 1955?"
"No!" Jane said, swiveling around on the sofa to face him more fully. "Do I look that old to you?"
"How should I know?" He gave her a deliberate smirk. "I was alive and quite fully grown then. It was like a week ago to you."
"Just be quiet, we're missing the movie. Oh, see? Twenty dollars was a lot of money in 1955. And coffee's a dollar now for cheap stuff, five or more if you get the fancy stuff."
"Or free if you live at the South Pole."
"True," Jane said with a light laugh.
Loki laughed at Marty discovering his father George was a "peeping tom" – a nice expression Loki also filed away – and then when Marty got hit by the car instead of George, he understood exactly why Jane was showing him this movie. "And in this moment Marty McFly forever changes history, hm? I promise to avoid attempting to save anyone's life on Alfheim. If I see someone about to meet his or her doom, I'll simply stand by and watch. Does that make you feel better?"
Jane gave Loki a jab to the ribs which she knew wouldn't hurt him – in fact it made him laugh – and mumbled a "no." It was a disturbing thought, actually. What would she do if she saw someone in danger? Could she turn a blind eye and walk away? How did you live with yourself if the right thing to do…was the wrong thing to do? She didn't have long to reflect on that before Marty's teen-aged mother was calling him Calvin Klein. She shook off the unsettling feeling. "It's a brand name of underwear. She thinks it's his name, because it's written on his underwear."
"I gathered that," Loki said drily. He'd seen names stitched into the clothing he'd bought on Midgard. On Asgard as well, tailors usually stitched their names into their work as a form of advertising, though none of his tailors would dare do such a thing to his clothing.
"TV was pretty new technology then," Jane told him a moment later.
Well, they certainly didn't have it when I last visited Scandinavia, he thought sarcastically.
"John F. Kennedy was the President of-"
Loki reached across Jane, grabbed the remote, and quickly found the power button, silencing Jane, who turned to look at him indignantly. "What must I do to make you stop? Shall we watch the movie, or read Wikipedia?"
Jane started to laugh. "They didn't have that in 1955, either. Or in 1985, for that matter. But okay, sorry. I guess I…I like explanations, you know? So I like for you to have them, too."
"How about this. If I truly don't understand something, I'll turn off the movie and ask. Or I might ask after the movie. All right?"
"Okay. But you don't have to turn it all the way off. Here, see this button?" she asked, prying his fingers from the remote and pointing. "That's the pause button. Press it once to basically freeze it where it is, then again to make it start again."
Loki nodded, not particularly annoyed with this explanation. He'd never controlled the remote before, and it felt right in his hand. "I'll keep it," he said, moving his hand away when Jane tried to take it back from him.
"Men," Jane muttered, rolling her eyes. "Doesn't matter what planet they're from. Fine. Press play. That one. It should start up where you stopped it."
"Then what's the difference? Why must I use the pause button?"
"Because…just… You know what? Never mind. Do it however you want. That's what you're going to do anyway. Let's just watch the movie."
Loki looked down at Jane with a light laugh and a fond smile…until he realized just how fond his smile probably looked, and then he shifted his gaze down to the remote and pressed the button she'd indicated. As they waited for the Blu-Ray player to power up and the movie to start again, he realized why the pause button was better. And he was glad that Jane had let him figure it out for himself. He wondered just how much she really had come to know and understand him in their time together. It was strange feeling – a good one, and an uncomfortable frightening one as well. But it was also too late to do anything about it; trying to rebuild walls he'd never noticed being torn down, to redraw lines he'd never noticed had shifted, would only frustrate them both.
Loki furrowed his brow when Marty's older brother Dave's head disappeared from the photo of the three siblings. Then he remembered that there was a moral lesson for him in this movie, and that Marty, by interfering in history, had prevented his mother from falling in love with his father. And if Marty's parents never fell in love, then Marty and his siblings would never be born. Dave, the firstborn, was the first to begin disappearing. "It's like he's being erased or something," Marty said, when more of Dave had disappeared from the picture and Loki's supposition was confirmed. "Erased from existence," Doc confirmed. Fascinating, Loki thought. He'd never really speculated very much on how precisely changes in the past would affect his present, or at least he'd never thought about it quite like this.
Marty began doing everything he could to force his parents together, much farther than Loki could imagine any son actually going. "That is vile," Loki whispered when Marty's advances were not spurned but instead enthusiastically accepted, Marty's mother throwing herself on him and kissing him with abandon.
"Can't disagree with you there," Jane whispered back.
Through a series of improbable coincidences Marty actually succeeded in pushing his parents together, and Marty and his girlfriend sped off into the future with Doc. It was a blemish on an otherwise positive ending for Loki, who was reminded of his failed attempt to travel to the future to obtain the cure for Huntington's.
"So what'd you think?" Jane asked as the credits rolled. "Good, huh? It's a classic."
Loki shook off the bad memory; Jane's thoughts apparently weren't running in the same direction. "Reasonably entertaining. As a moral lesson, though, it's a mixed bag at best."
"I thought it was pretty clear. Don't mess with the timeline. An innocent action could inadvertently change everything, and even wipe yourself right out of existence."
"Did we watch the same movie?" Loki asked, pulling one leg up onto the couch so he could more easily face Jane directly. "You should 'mess with the timeline.' You simply must mess with it very carefully. And keep a photograph in your pocket so you can make sure neither you nor anyone you care about is being erased," he added with a smirk. "Doc's life was saved because Marty deliberately interfered. Marty's parents are happier, more confident, and wealthier because of the changes he made, and the bully that mistreated his father became his father's servant. I think the more accurate interpretation of the movie's message with regard to time travel is that everyone who wishes to improve his or her circumstances in life should obtain a DeLorean and some plutonium and simply manipulate those circumstances to his or her liking."
Jane shook her head. She hadn't thought about it like that, but Loki was kind of right. Or completely right, really. Well…not completely, she thought, eyes lighting up again. "You have a point. But, do you see what a catastrophe it would be if everyone knew about this capability? Imagine if Biff found out what his life had been before Marty changed the past. He'd want that DeLorean, and he'd go back and make his own changes, and the next thing you know, you'd have a time war on your hands."
"Then Marty simply has to ensure that Biff never finds out. Simple."
"No secret stays secret forever, Loki. Everything comes out eventually."
Loki took a deep breath and averted his eyes for a moment. He supposed there was truth in that rather broad statement, but he would make sure some things remained secret from Jane.
"Anyway, I didn't show you this movie as a 'moral lesson,' and it isn't meant to be an accurate reflection of time travel theories. I mean, it's actually really inconsistent in that regard. For example, like you said, Marty's parents are different when he comes back, because of Marty's actions in the past, and Marty only remembers the original version of his life. But Goldie seemed to get the idea to run for mayor because of Marty's actions, and he was already mayor before Marty went to the past. So if you make changes in the past…was their effect already there in the present, even though in that present you hadn't yet traveled to the past? Or are the changes only there after you go 'back to the future'? And after you make changes and return, do you remember things the way they were before, or as they are now? These are serious concepts, debated mostly in philosophy but some in science, too. In science fiction, though, it's usually just for fun, you know? Sometimes to more seriously explore the possibilities and implications of time travel. On Earth we have tons of movies and books and TV shows that use time travel as a plot device, and we all have at least vague concepts of the problems it can cause. But I figured that since it sounds like practically just thinking about time travel is illegal on Asgard, you haven't really been exposed to those concepts the way we have. I just wanted to get you to think more about the impact of time travel, and of your presence in the past and how you can change things without intending to."
Either way, Loki thought, this lesson has in common with Odin's that I'm not sure I learned what she wanted me to. He raised an eyebrow. It was indeed considerably more pleasant, though. "You made me watch a movie about a young man's mother falling in love with him in the past as a philosophical lesson, then?" he asked, one corner of his mouth quirked into a smile.
Jane scrunched up her nose, then broke into laughter. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Well, ninety years ago on the other realms not that much was different. Neither my mother," he said, letting every bit of genuine distaste for that show, "nor anyone else will be falling in love with me and changing the course of history. You, however…I suppose I can make no guarantees there." You really do look lovely in that scarf, Jane, he thought. And on Alfheim they would probably be more tolerant of her anything strange she said or did than they would on Asgard.
Jane saw Loki's face soften, and suddenly felt a little nervous. She looked down at her lap for a moment, then stood up. "We're going to interact with other people no more than necessary, so nobody's falling in love with anybody, okay? I'm going to go get in a short workout and then study my notes for a while. We've got one more day."
Loki nodded, refocusing his thoughts. "You're ready. Tomorrow we'll just review, and finish early, so you'll be well-rested on Tuesday."
"You, too," Jane said. "You got me a little worried about that."
"Yes, me, too," Loki agreed easily, and honestly. "Until tomorrow, then."
/
*I of course did not write or otherwise have anything to do with Back to the Future, other than having gone to see it in the theater back in 1985...along with everyone else in the US and maybe the world. Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale wrote the screenplay. The starred phrase is actually from the back of the DVD case; I didn't write that either.
This chapter, shockingly enough, covers Monday May 31 to Monday June 7.
Another piece of wonderful art is available for this story, a scene that as the artist suggests you'll probably remember when you see it. You can find it in my favorites on the DeviantART site (ninepen), or on the artist's page, "servantatheart1." It's a funny one. ;-)
"Michelle" - Guess what, it's not just the Americans clinging to Fahrenheit (I just googled it) - also using our beloved Fahrenheit are Belize, the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, and one of my favorite places on Midgard - Palau! What do they have in common besides water freezing at 32 degrees? Beaches and diving! Haaa.
"Insertwittyname" - Thanks, and I'm honored that it was Beneath that at last compelled you to use the little box...beneath. Ha, couldn't resist.
Previews for Ch. 110: Oh, come on, you know what happens in the next chapter. I wouldn't be that cruel. Yep, Loki and Jane hit the road, so to speak. But no matter how well you plan, something...or somethings...unexpected will always happen, won't it?
Wee little excerpt:
"What were you thinking?" Jane whisper-shouted at him once they were around the bend again in the garden and the huts were out of sight.
