The air was filled with blood-red choking dust. Jane could hardly breathe. She couldn't see Thor any more at all. The whole world was a murderous cloud and it was trying to re-claim her; to fill her; to steal her back for itself. She felt the horrible sensation of the sharp little particles viciously wearing away at her skin. Re-entering her body through her skin and nose and mouth and ears and…shegagged; she tried to call for help; she felt tears on her face. She dropped to a crouch and frantically covered her face with her sleeves, head tucked. She thought she might have been screaming, but there was no way to hear herself over the roar of the Aether. All she could do was huddle uselessly as it tried to eat everything across the nine realms.
She felt helpless and devastated. She was just a speck of dust. She had no chance against this.
Did Thor?
But then -
the sound ceased.
Everythingceased.
The roar of the wind - the taste of death in her mouth - the scraping and grinding assault on her skin, on her face, in her nostrils and throat -
it all stopped instantly.
Without it, she felt suddenly cold and naked. Her skin burned.
But there was no more attack; no wind; no sound at all.
It took Jane a few seconds to realize what was happening. When she opened her eyes, she had to blink against the grey daylight, after the darkness of the Aether cloud.
In front of her, a hundred feet away, she saw Thor.
He was standing in a courtyard in front of her. Alone in front of a huge patch of burned ground. He looked exhausted and filthy. His armor was torn and dented. He was staring intently ahead, but there was nothing left to fight. Malekith had disappeared.
Had Thor won?
Was it over?
"Thor-" she tried to call out, but her throat was caked with dust and no noise came out. She coughed and choked and spit. She pushed herself up on shaking arms. Before she could speak, she saw Thor stagger.
He swayed. He fell to his knees, and then collapsed completely, face down in the grass.
He lay perfectly still.
NO!
"Thor! Thor!"
Jane was running to him before she knew she was moving at all. She called his name again and again. She felt her throat raw and her breaths coming too quickly, tears wetting her mouth as she ran.
She was halfway to him when she heard the awful creaking. And then the thunderous crashing.
She looked over her shoulder.
Malekith's ship was collapsing.
And of course, Thor lay directly in its path.
Jane didn't care that she was putting herself in danger. Sheonlycared about the lovely, sweet, goofy, selfless, kind, beloved man lying on the grass, face-down. As motionless as if he were dead.
And about to be crushed.
Vaguely, she heard her colleagues frantically yelling for her to stay out of harm's way. She heard the screech and cracks of crumpling metal as the spaceship disintegrated. She felt her heart pounding and her fingers tingling with panic and effort. But none of it mattered.
"Thor!" She reached him and fell to her knees, wailing out his name. "THOR! Get up!"
His armor felt sticky with blood and dirt under her hands. His hair was tangled with debris. She could see strands of it stuck to drying blood on his cheek.
He didn't respond to her cries or her touch. Maybe he was dead.
NO!
With all of her strength, she desperately turned him over, hoping his eyes would open. Praying he would get up.
His face was covered with scrapes and bruises. Blood stained his lips. And his eyes stayed closed.
She shook him frantically. Nothing. She couldn't tell if he was still breathing. She grabbed him by the arm and tried to drag him to safety. But he was too heavy. She couldn't move him an inch - and then it was too late. She heard the ship bearing down on them. There was nowhere to go.
The only thing left to do was to protect him the only way she could think of. With her own heart.
The ship was half a second from crushing him and she had no options left.
Without thinking, Jane flung herself over Thor's chest and wrapped her arms around him. It was clearly an insane choice. But it was the only choice.
I love you, she 's what matters. I won't leave you.
Maybe she even said it out loud. Who could tell, in that chaotic moment when the shrill shrieks of dying metal filled her head and the ship loomed until she could see nothing else and then -
For the second time in as many minutes, all sounds ceased.
At first Jane thought she was dead, too. Why else would things be silent?
Then, a quiet call from Dr. Selvig: "everybody all right?"
She opened one eye, and then both.
The ship was gone.
The day was suddenly calm.
Jane had no time to celebrate. She quickly turned her eyes back to Thor. She tried to shake him again. No response. He was so very pale.
She looked wildly around the courtyard. No one was coming yet, but she knew they wouldn't be alone long. What now? Would someone come to help them? Or arrest them? Would they send the military? Police? S.H.I. .? Doctors? Did anyone on earth evenknowhow to heal an Asgardian?
She moved her eyes back and forth between the anxious faces of Dr Selvig, Darcy, and Ian the intern, thinking as fast as she could. What to do, what to do…
Before any of them could get their thoughts together, the decision was taken from them.
A humming noise filled Jane's ears. She felt an electrical crackling, and a strong wind, and the day got brighter - and then it was too bright - she shut her eyes against it and threw herself back over Thor - and then the noise and the wind and the crackling stopped, and the lights faded, and she was looking across the grass into the sad and glorious face of the Lady Sif.
As soon as the Bifrost faded away, the warrior was striding across the grass. Jane sat up, a little stunned, leaving a protective hand on Thor's dented chestplate. She found herself unable to speak as Sif came over and placed her hand next to Jane's.
Sif looked carefully at Thor's face, assessing. Very quickly she seemed to get the information she needed. Jane heard her say, "He must return to Asgard," and then things all started to happen at once.
Sif gestured for Jane to stand up and step back from Thor. Reluctantly, Jane did so. Sif then waved a finger, and Thor's limp body lifted into the air until he hovered at waist-level, as if in an invisible gurney. Sif used her other hand to stamp her staff into the earth. Immediately, Jane could hear and feel the Bifrost forming around them once again. The wind whipped at her legs.
She moved quickly to put herself at Thor's side. Jane was not used to giving orders to Sif or any of the warriors, but she found herself demanding, "I'm coming with him!" She could barely hear herself over the wind and the humming of the Bifrost.
Perhaps Sif heard her, or perhaps she didn't; but Jane knew that if Sif or Heimdall didn't want her to come, she would not be able to force them to take her. Jane grabbed hold of one of Thor's hands. She tried to make eye contact with Sif to see if she had heard, to beg her to not separate them -
Whether Sif heard her or not, in any case,someoneseemed to want Jane to come to Asgard, because in the next moment the Bifrost became all that Jane could see and feel. Once again her world turned inside out and upside down and she was flying through space and time in the center of everything and nothing.
The last time,Janehad been the one who was unwell, cradled in Thor's giant arms, and yet feeling only protected and excited. She had not understood, then, the life or death danger she was facing.
This time was different. Now Jane knew of the dangers they had faced. That they still faced. She had seen Thor almost die - twice. She had nearly died herself.
This time Jane had to be the strong one.
It was much harder for her to stay "upright" - which way even was up? - in the maelstrom of interstellar travel without Thor's steadying hold. She gripped his hand so tightly she thought she might leave a mark. Partly to stay standing up. Partly to beg him to wake up; to respond to her touch; to squeeze back...
He didn't.
She had no idea whether minutes or hours passed before they were tumbling out of the Bifrost into Heimdall's chamber. He stood tall and firm in magnificent armor, watching as they landed. It felt so good just to see him and be in his calming and comforting presence. Jane thought perhaps he even nodded to her, ever so slightly. She bowed her head immediately in reverence.
They were met by a group of uniformed Asgardians - guards? Doctors? Something else?
Whoever it was, they gently and wordlessly made Jane release her iron grip on Thor's hand, and then in the next moment took Thor's floating body from her. Jane took a step to try to follow but Heimdall's hand on her shoulder held her back.
His orange eyes looked sadly into hers. "They'll need to work now. My people will take care of you until he awakens."
With Thor gone, Jane suddenly had nothing to do. No villain to fight, no cloud to hide from, no portals to open, no lover to save. And then she found she had no strength to stand, either.
Sif caught Jane as she crumpled.
Jane didn't lose consciousness - at least she didn't think she did. But the world spun, and she wasn't sure which way was anything. When she returned to her body, she was sitting down, leaning on the the Lady Sif, who was pressing a glass of something into her hand.
"Drink," said Sif. Her voice was low and warm and caring and made Jane feel safe. "This will help."
Jane did as she was told. The liquid had no taste, but it was powerful indeed. She could feel it calming all of her nerves in waves as she swallowed it.
Within a few minutes her breathing came easier and her head was a little clearer. She realized she was exhausted. She was still leaning on Sif. Maybe she would never move again.
She felt Sif's arm squeeze her shoulder. "Come, little Jane," she said. "You need to rest."
Jane agreed wholeheartedly with this, but realized she had no strength to reply. And then her eyes closed, and she was no longer any help to anybody.
Chapter Management