Chapter 5: This is One Hel of a Night
"Stay still, please," Eir instructed Fandral, pouring some clear sparkling liquid onto the wound. Fandral cringed his teeth, enduring the stinging sensation in his chest.
Volstagg walked behind the healing table, offering his hand for Fandral to squeeze. Meanwhile, Hogan and Sif watched and flinched from Fandral's grunts of agony. When the worst had passed, the injured warrior took deep, relieving breaths as another healer wrapped a bandage around his shoulder.
"Here you are," Eir finished with a strained smile. "That should heal by morning."
"Excellent," Fandral panted for breath, offering a thumbs up with his good arm.
"Glad to be some assistance, my friend," Volstagg shook off his achy hand as he returned to Sif and Hogan.
"Well then..." Fandral struggled to sit up from the table, "I suppose I should go on my merry way. I have made plans with the barmaids at the tavern after hours. I shan't keep them waiting any longer than they have to."
"Oh, how shall they survive without your company?" Hogun asked sarcastically.
"Well," Fandral's face slackened, recalling one essential detail, "Thor was supposed to attend the festivities. One for me and one for him." From all the trouble they caused today, Thor shall undoubtedly hear about it from Odin all night, meaning no celebrations tonight... for him at least. Unlike Sif, Fandral's concern didn't last long, shrugging his good shoulder in dismissal, "Oh well, guess the pair have to share their time with me. What a pity."
Just as he was about to exit the room, Eir gently pushed him back on the table, "Not so fast, Fandral. I need to keep you for a while longer."
Sif furrowed her brows in confusion, "But Eir, you said he shall be fine, did you not?"
"Indeed, I did," the healer nodded in agreement. "There is no need to fret, Lady Sif. We are just taking precautions." Eir glared at Fandral with a scolding, motherly look, "Sir Fandral is lucky that the ice didn't pierce his heart."
"What can I say... I was born lucky," Fandral grinned, winking at a nurse standing by his table, who couldn't help but blush and shyly tuck a loose curl behind her ear.
Resting after another long day of healing wasn't an option. The doors pushed open with a bang and a man calling for Eir's assistance. Everyone in the room was startled as they watched the younger prince carrying a maiden.
"Your Highness," Eir rushed to an available table next to Fandral, "what has-"
"She needs help!" Loki laid the unconscious girl there before stepping back to give the heales space to work.
"What happened?" Eir examined the patient and immediately noticed the blood draining from her skull, staining her cheek and hair trickling down to her neck.
"I think she hit her head on the stairwell. She hasn't stopped bleeding!" Loki frantically explained. Unbeknownst to him, his hands couldn't stop trembling.
"Loki, who is that girl?" Hogun questioned him. The prince ignored Hogun, focusing on the new situation before him. Eir opened the teenager's eyelids to shine a light on her pupils.
"Is she going to be alright?" the prince asked Eir.
Instead of answering him, Eir assigned tasks for her assistants; they obliged in haste. Fandral sat upright to see the girl himself, but one of the healers blocked his view by sliding a curtain between them.
"Eir, I asked you a question," Loki pressed.
"Loki, how do you know her? What happened to Thor?!" Sif grasped Loki's shoulder, demanding attention and knowledge. Thor was missing, and that terrified the goddess of war.
Loki shoved Sif's hand off him and stepped closer to Eir; his patience was thin, "Eir, I command you to answer! Is she going to be alright?! Yes or no!"
Eir irritably huffed and straightened her back, pausing the procedure, "Your Highness, please!"
"You have to tell me whether or not she will live!"
"Once we know, you will know. Now forgive me, my prince..." Eir ordered one assistant to escort the remaining warriors and the prince out, shutting the door behind them. The prince wasn't satisfied with the lead healer's response.
"Once we know, you will know - that's not an answer!" Loki slammed his fist against the door.
"Loki!" Sif and the two warriors begged for a response to their questions. They had to chase Loki back and forth so they could address him properly. Volstagg grabbed his shoulders from behind to keep him from moving.
"Unhand me!" Loki commanded angrily, writhing under the man's grip.
"Loki, we do not understand!" Volstagg cried helplessly. "What happened?! Who is that maiden?"
"And where is Thor?!" Sif added.
Loki glared at Sif with narrowed eyes, "Thor? Is he all you can think about for such a time as this?!"
"Loki, calm yourself," Hogun cautioned.
"Calm myself?! A woman is dying, yet you are too busy fretting over Thor. He is not dead, mind you! Gods cannot die, but mortals can!"
Sif and the two warriors widened their eyes at Loki's statement in disbelief. Mortals? How were those inferior creatures relevant to this case? Unless the girl was...
"What are you saying, Loki?" Sif wondered. "That girl in there is a... mortal?"
"No, she is a frost giant - of course, she is mortal, you mewling quim!" Loki snapped.
"Not possible," Volstagg whispered, loosening his grip on Loki's shoulders. "No mortal has ever set foot in Asgard-"
"Oh?" Loki whirled around to face Volstagg in a challenging manner; the fine lines on his face crinkled. "So you think I speak ill? You think that just because I am the God of Mischief and Lies, you automatically assume I-"
"Not at all, my friend. I assure you. What am I saying-"
"Ask my father. He shall speak the truth," Loki was about to resume the pace, but Hogun grabbed him by his cape, which earned a warning glare from the prince.
"Loki, please, sit down," Hogun advised softly.
"I cannot. You know I cannot do that."
"You can," Volstagg insisted. "Do not fret, Loki. Eir is the master of medicine. The girl is in good hands."
"He is right," Sif agreed. "In the meantime, you must tell us what happened in the dome. Where is Thor?"
Loki stayed silent as his friends waited anxiously for a response, especially Sif, whose primary concern was on Thor. To think, the Asgardians believed him to be selfish.
~000~000~000~
"Name?" the nurse asked. Erik, Darcy, and AJ watched the nurses and doctors roll the unconscious stranger away.
"Um..." Erik paused to remember what the man had said. "I think it was... was..."
"Thor!"
The nurse peered over her desk to see the top half of the boy's adorable face, probably standing on his tippy toes. She raised her gaze back to the older gentlemen for confirmation.
The older man shrugged, "What he said."
"Okay..." the nurse typed the name on her computer while spelling it out loud. "And your relationship with him?"
"There's no relationship," Erik replied breathlessly with a sheepish smile.
"Until Brad ran him over," Darcy grumbled.
"Weren't your hands on the wheel?" AJ questioned.
"So? He was the driver, which makes him legally responsible for this tragedy."
"Oh, come now, Darcy! The man is not dead," Erik hissed.
"Yet," she mouthed.
"You zapped your cool laser at him!" AJ jabbed his fist at Darcy's leg, mimicking zapping noises.
"I tazed him with a cool taser," Darcy corrected, allowing a proud smirk to curl in the right-hand corner of her mouth. "And yes, I did." The nurse asked if she needed to call the police - there was a mixed answer among the three. The majority answered no.
~000~000~000~
"I think we're getting closer!" Jane declared.
"Wait for me!" Garrett watched the woman sprint across the dirt, almost reminding him of a gazelle. Graceful and beautiful. As much as he wanted to stand there and gawk at the refined woman, finding Kelsey was his priority. The first step to finding her was to follow the van's tracks for clues, but no such luck. It was as if Kelsey had vanished without a trace, replaced by a desert bum with a short fuse. They had no idea what had fallen from the sky earlier. A shooting star? A meteorite? Kelsey? No matter how far they had gone to investigate, it seemed like they were nowhere near it.
"I don't understand!" Jane exclaimed helplessly.
"What?" Garrett questioned her.
"I mean, how can Kelsey just disappear? What the hell happened? What did we see?! I know this wasn't just my imagination..." Jane blinded her friend's face with the flashlight, desperate for assurance, "Right?"
Garrett shut his eyes to shove the light from his face, "I don't know, Jane. I was driving, so I didn't see anything... except for that crazy-ass storm, and that crazy-ass dude, and that shooting star."
"Oh, thank God! So it wasn't my imagination," Jane gasped and glared at Garrett in fear. "Y-You... You don't think she got hit by that cloud, do you?" Garrett didn't want to crush Jane's spirit but couldn't lie to her either.
"I gotta theory," he shifted the subject instead of stating his answer with a simple yes or no.
Jane resumed the shine on his face, "What?"
"Well... " he closed his eyes to avert the blinding light, "we know that Kelsey did fall out of the car..."
"Yeah?" Jane nodded, hating the suspense. The woman was desperate for answers and willing to hear every possibility, no matter how ridiculous it may seem, "Yeah, and?!"
"And she saw that twister coming. Maybe she pissed her pants and ran the opposite way we were going. Maybe she hitched a ride back to the lab. It's been forty-five minutes; she's probably waiting for us there now."
"Then why hasn't she called? Or stick around to make sure we're okay?!"
"Uh, Jane, did you forget where we are?" Garrett reminded her by gesturing to the scenery. They were miles away from decent reception.
Jane remembered, softening her tense demeanor, "Right... but still, she wouldn't leave us like that, even if she was mad at me."
"You wanna go back and see if she's there?" Garrett suggested lightly.
CRACK!
Garrett jolted, stepping back at the noise below him, "The hell..."
Jane lowered the flashlight to see what he had stepped on, "Oh my god..."
Both were horrified to find an iPhone with a cracked screen.
~000~000~000~
Thor regained consciousness, feeling a rubber band uncomfortably tied around his upper arm. He looked up to see a doctor hovering above him.
"Hi," the doctor greeted with a pleasant grin.
Thor didn't bother to return the friendliness. He descended his gaze to where the doctor was poking a syringe against his skin. He glared at the doctor angrily, silently asking what he was doing with that.
"Just taking a little blood," the doctor explained.
"How dare you attack the Son of Odin!" Thor roared, yanking his arm out of the doctor's grip. The doctor tried to control him, but Thor refused to cooperate and proved stronger.
"I need some help!" the doctor cried out for assistance. A team of nurses rushed to Thor's bed, holding him down, only to get shoved individually.
"Somebody call security!" the female screamed before it was her turn to be handled, far more gently than the other guy whose back slammed against the medicine cabinet. Thor's main goal was to escape the room, even if it meant injuring every casualty. Before he could reach the double doors, two security guards barged inside. They grabbed both his arms and shoved Thor against the door.
"You are no match for the mighty-" A pinch in the backside cut off Thor's words. The sedating medicine immediately kicked in, putting Thor to sleep. His face pressed and slid down the rectangular glass window.
~000~000~000~
The Warriors Two and Sif deserted Loki when they failed to retrieve the answers. The prince still paced outside the healing room, waiting impatiently for a medical update.
A lot had happened in one short day. Thor lost the crown, now banished from this realm after crossing the enemy line. The enemy contacted Loki's snow-white skin that lacked a burning trace. To his right, through those double doors, lay a young woman - a mortal with begging brown eyes staring straight at him before losing consciousness.
"Loki," a sweet voice pulled Loki out of his racing train of thought.
"Mother," Loki could hear the queen's sobs as she hugged him.
"My son, I was so worried about you!" Frigga grasped his hands as she exclaimed her concerns. "I spoke with your friends— they mentioned your brother missing and an injured mortal present. I asked them to elaborate, yet they could not. You have refused to explain the situation."
Loki shook his head, "Mother, it was never my intention to refuse, you see, I too don't know-" Frigga gasped, stopping Loki's sentence. His eyebrows furrowed at her in confusion.
"Mother, is something wrong?" Frigga didn't answer. Instead, she covered her mouth and stared wide-eyed in horror but not at Loki's face. The younger prince followed her gaze at his blood-stained hands - her blood. His fingers began to tremble, and his eyes glistened at the sight.
"Oh, Loki..." Frigga whispered. "Oh, Valhalla, what has happened?"
"I... I do not know," Loki didn't know how to put it in words. "I-It all happened so fast. It didn't stop... I... I could not leave her to..."
"My son, you are shivering," Frigga's soft voice and warm touch ended Loki's stammering. Her thumbs circled his skin, refusing to pay mind to the red. "You are nearly frozen as the giants in Jotunheim." He inhaled sharply at the sentence, recalling the memory of their touch that matched a thousand needles. "Let me draw you a hot bath and ask the servants to prep your favorite meal," she suggested quietly but hastily. "You and your brothers have skipped dinner - there is no question about that. What were you two thinking going out there on an empty stomach?"
"No, I can't," Loki focused on the double doors. "Mother, I cannot leave yet! The mortal is in there."
"I am certain that Eir will inform you of the mortal's condition once the worst has passed," Frigga promised. "In the meantime, we shall clean you up and put on some fresh garments for dinner; then, you may start from the beginning."
"But what about-"
"Loki Odinson, this is not a debate," Frigga insisted in an authoritative tone. "You and I both know that pacing and dwelling will not help. Please, my son, do not argue and come with me."
"Are you asking me as my mother or Asgard's queen?"
"Neither one was asking," she locked arms with her son, gently guiding him down the hall.
"Right," Loki obeyed without argument, but not before he glanced over his shoulder at the double doors, hoping they would open for him. Unfortunately, that was wishful thinking. Eir could be patching the mortal's skull, keeping Loki in the dark all night.
...
Odin was staring at the view of the palace from his balcony. He heard a bedroom door slam from behind. He didn't need to turn around to know who had entered the room; he expected her, and just as Loki had said before, she won't take the news about Thor kindly.
"How could you?!" The queen cried angrily at her husband.
Odin sighed in exhaustion, "I see you have spoken with our other son."
"It matters not who told me. What of you? How could you have done this!? To Thor - your own son?!"
"Do you understand what he had set in motion?!" Odin mirrored his wife's frustration. "He's taking us to the brink of war!"
"But banishment?! You would lose him forever?" she asked with teary eyes.
"What would you have done?"
"I would not have exiled him to a world of mortals! Strip him of his powers and leave him to suffer alone!" She shook her head at him in disappointment and heartbreak. "I would never have the heart to do such a thing."
"That is why I am king," Odin hissed. "I, too, grieve the loss of my son! There is something you and I cannot undo. His fate rests with him now."
"And yet, look at what your decision has brought us - a mortal, Odin!"
Odin frowned at that depressing thought.
"How did she enter the Bi-Frost?" Frigga questioned him.
"I don't know! I know not of this surprise visitor!" Odin took deep breaths, calming himself. "Where is she now?" he demanded with disgust.
"She is under Eir's care," Frigga stated calmly, folding her arms across her chest. "Loki was standing outside the healing room for a long while. The poor boy. He could hardly create a sentence without trembling."
"He should know better than to take that girl to the healing room," Odin scolded. "She should be sent back to Midgaurd, where she belongs."
Frigga's mouth hung open, staring at her king in horror, "You wish to send her back with repercussions?!"
"You dare blame me for this mess?! How was I to know she would come here?!" Odin rolled his eyes at his queen's sentiment for the girl. "My dear, the mortal world has people called doctors. Let them deal with her."
"You will do no such thing! Your actions cause her injury. We can not abandon her now when she is in need!"
"What do you propose we do, Frigga? Keep her till she is well?"
As simple as it sounded, that's precisely what Frigga had in mind. Odin sadly knew it as well.
"Frigga, do not be ridiculous."
"She is our responsibility now, Allfather, whether you like it or not," Frigga stated as she left the bedroom, leaving Odin alone, stunned.
~000~000~000~
Loki found Sif and the Warrior's Three in their usual spot to chat and play when they were kids—a fire lit in the center. Fandral was out of treatment, though still in the dark like the others. No healer had left Fandral a clue regarding the mortal's condition, not even the nurse he charmed earlier. All endured the waiting game, anxious to know Thor's fate. The silence was too painful to bear.
Hogun lifted his head when the door banged shut, and a set of boots clicked down the steps.
"Loki," he called. Sif, Fandral, and Volstagg turned their heads towards the younger prince.
"Good to see you, my friend," Volstagg greeted with a smile. "Any word from Eir?"
Loki shook his head.
Volstagg's grin fell, "Oh."
Loki slowly approached them, his hands folded behind his back and his head held high without eye contact or emotion.
"I am here to tell you all everything," he announced; his friends perked anxiously.
"You are?" Fandral asked. His bottom rested uncomfortably on the tiled floor; his back leaned directly on the base of the couch. Instead of wearing his armor, he wore a vest, showing off his hairless chest. His wound had vanished, not a scar in sight.
"Yes," Loki sat on the couch, apart from Sif, who stared at him with expectancy.
"Loki, what has happened to Thor?" she demanded, mentally preparing the worst regarding her dear friend. "Where is he?"
Loki took a deep breath and exhaled shakily before his eyes averted on Sif. The woman took note that Loki was holding back the tears. Loki wasn't the type to show emotion in front of the group.
"Thor is banished," Loki stated. Ripping the bandage out was easier than stalling.
At first, the warriors were silent; their widened eyes and agape jaws showed disbelief. It took a moment for them to process what Loki had said word for word.
"What?" Sif stood upright with her fists clenched to her sides. This must be another one of Loki's tricks. A gag the brothers had conjured up to rile everyone up.
"At the dome," Loki explained. "Thor - what he said to Father was... regrettable. Despite Father's attempts to reason with him, at that point... my brother sealed his fate."
"Where is he, Loki?" Sif pressed.
"Exiled," Loki ignored the sharp intake of breath nearby, "to Midguard."
"Midguard?!" Fandral exasperated, almost laughed at the ludicrousy.
"When we all thought that was the end of it, the Bi-Frost graced the mortal's presence and..." Loki lowered his head, "you all know the rest."
The glistening tears doused Sif's fire in her eyes. She lowered herself back on the couch and stared at the firelight in silence, listening to the cracks of burning wood, or maybe it was her heart breaking into a million pieces. It didn't matter. Thor was gone, and Sif may never see him again. All she had left of him were their memories together.
"We should have never let him go," Volstagg stated.
"There was no stopping him," Sif replied quietly.
"We are still alive. If his majesty had not shown up..." Fandral trailed off, sparing the alternate ending.
Hogun rubbed the burn on Volstagg's arm with medicinal cream; the cold contact jolted the burly man.
"How did he even know?" Volstagg asked out loud. His friends paused to imagine a dozen theories, except one.
"Me." All eyes returned to the god of mischief again.
"What?" Hogun asked the prince.
Loki gathered the courage to face Hogun and elaborate on the truth, "Before we left, I alerted a guard and had him tell Father of our plans. He should be flogged for taking so long; we should never have reached Jotunheim."
"You told a guard?!" Volstagg asked in disbelief.
"I saved our lives!" Loki snapped, standing up from his seat to face Volstagg angrily. After staring at Volstagg's shocked gaze for a moment, Loki took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself. "And Thor's," he added gently. "I had no idea Father would banish him for what he did. How was I to know the mortal was near the Bi-Frost in the wrong place and time?!"
Sif rose from the couch, the calm facade she had been trying to rebuild cracked into desperation, "Loki, you must go to the Allfather and convince him to change his mind!"
"If I do, then what?" Loki wondered. "I love Thor more dearly than any of you, but you know who he is. He's arrogant, reckless, and dangerous," he couldn't help but allow a hiss to escape his lips at every insult spoken about his brother. Unless his friends want to share the same fate as Thor, they must accept the painful truth. "You saw how he was today! Is that what Asgard needs for its king?!"
Before the conversation could go any further, the door opened, and everyone turned to see a guard entering the room.
"Your Highness, Eir the healer is ready for you," he announced.
Loki quickly followed the guard out of the room, hopeful that Eir had good news regarding the mortal.
The four warriors watched the prince depart behind the double doors. They now have the freedom to speak their minds out of prying ears.
"He may speak the good of Asgard, but he's always been so jealous of Thor," Sif stated.
"We should be grateful to him; he saved our lives," Volstagg defended his friend.
"Laufey said..." Hogun began with unease, almost like he didn't want to believe his theory, "there were traitors in the House of Odin. A master of magic could bring three Jotuns into Asgard." The warriors processed Hogun's accusation carefully. Would Loki stoop so low to do such a thing? They knew he was a trickster, but this was a new level of betrayal even for him.
...
"How is she?" Loki demanded the second he entered the healing room, sparing the formalities.
"Your Highness," A healer curtsied before the prince.
"How is she?" he repeated, moving past the nurse to seek the mortal. He wished to see her breathing from his own eyes. Unfortunately, Eir and the curtain blocked his view.
"My prince," Eir released an exhausting breath before addressing him, "we managed to stop the bleeding and seal the wound. It is a good thing you brought her in when you did; otherwise, she may have no chance of waking at all."
"So... She will live?" Loki asked for confirmation.
"Yes," Eir nodded, though her slanted eyes showed that there was much more to say.
"Is she awake? May I speak with her?"
"She is asleep right now, my prince, though I must advise you and the king as well that she must stay here for the time being."
Loki pinched his brows in confusion, "I thought you said she'd be fine."
"Yes, but the brain is a complicated business, your grace. An injury like hers could cause some irreparable damage. I would not be worried if she were immortal, thought that is not the case here. A trip back to Midgard could be fatal. I recommend she stays until I know with absolute certainty that the worst has indeed passed."
"How long?"
"I do not know; it depends on her."
Loki peered at the curtain behind Eir, "May I have a moment alone with the mortal? I promise to be brief and respectful."
Eir stared at Loki to seek any mischief beyond desperation. When she didn't, the lead healer reluctantly nodded, stepping aside to let him pass.
Loki bowed his head in gratitude. Eir and her nurses abandoned the healing tables for his privacy. The prince pulled the curtain aside and inhaled sharply at the sleeping mortal on the table. This brought back some familiarity from when his father had to go into a coma-like state - the Odinsleep. Seeing his king so helpless and vulnerable when he pridefully reigned supreme broke the prince's heart. Loki wasn't used to witnessing those enduring times. Despite what happened, the girl looked peaceful and snored in tune. The healers cleaned her up nicely, though a fresh scar was created and hidden underneath her thick bangs across her left temple.
Chill bumps crept through her skin, raising the mini hairs on her arms and prickly legs. She must be cold. What happened to her sweater? Loki looked around to find some covering to keep the girl warm. He realized the long green cape attached to his armor would have to do. He unattached his cloak and carefully laid it across the girl's body.
"Here you are," Loki whispered in satisfaction. His eyes slanted back on Kelsey's face, resisting the urge to run his thumb across the scar. "You may not know me, while I know not of you. What I do know is this... You are going to be alright. You are safe here. Knowing my father, he would cast you out as he did to Thor and not care about the consequences." His mouth twitched, and his eyes watered in sadness. He cleared his throat and blinked the tears away, regaining his composure. "Fear not, my lady. I won't let that happen. You have my word."
The mortal didn't wake. She hummed and stirred her body onto her side, facing him. Her snoring volume lightened from the shift in her sleeping position. It might not have been intentional, yet Loki accepted it as a sign. She had subconsciously placed her faith and trust in him. She may not know him; that's all going to change tomorrow.