Chapter 21
Thor stops dead in his tracks when he sees Amora with a bag of some kind under her arm…in Earth clothes. Seleana wrapped around her neck like a necklace, snake armbands on her arms still…but undeniably dressed as if she's on Earth.
Feeling a pit open up in his stomach, he quickly intercepts her and asks "Amora? What are you…"
Amora asks "Doing up? Simple, heading to Earth for a little bit. Have you seen Loki?"
Loki's not leaving Asgard for good, is he?! Thor quickly shakes his head, fully intending to go find Loki first and warn him of Amora's idea - last he heard, Loki basically had her on lockdown due to Sif's escape. That was a week ago, though - but he hasn't seen her since!
Thor's steadfastly ignoring the little voice in his head saying he used to go days at a time without seeing Amora and never batted an eye, never even questioned if she was alright or not.
"Amora!"
And there goes that idea…
Amora turns around at once, a grin forming even as she does, and she turns around to see Loki making his way towards her rapidly. "Ready to go, then? All I need to do is change."
Thor frowns, feeling a bit left out that the two of them apparently planned some kind of adventure on such short notice without him, and asks "Going where?!"
Loki says "Off to Earth for a day or two. We've done it dozens of times before, Thor, and Asgard was still standing every time we got back." More like hundreds of times in the past decade or so, actually. Visiting Hermione, Andy, Remus, Nymphadora, and Teddy, and even a few-hour trips to handle a special request from their Enchanting and Warding company here and there.
And then something seems to click with Thor, and he quickly asks "Take me with you?"
Both Loki and Amora give him very strange looks simultaneously, as if he's sprouted a second head or something, and Loki slowly asks "Come again?"
Amora adds "You want to…go to Earth with us?" She has absolutely nothing against her birth-realm whatsoever. But Thor, on the other hand, has never even considered it before - not adventurous enough for him.
Thor quickly nods, and says "Yes! My…someone I met there, I'd…" How to put it without word getting around the palace at once?
Better yet, how in the world did Loki and Amora manage to keep their discovery of being Soulmates secret for a few centuries?!
Loki and Amora trade glances, before Loki says "We'll talk more elsewhere." Where there aren't about a hundred passerby's that can hear every word they're saying when Thor clearly has something he wants to hide - and, for all the centuries Thor's been alive, he's never been good at keeping a secret. Thor finds himself nauseatingly-Apparated to the roof of all places by Loki, and Amora quickly follows suit a moment later.
They give Thor a moment to get his urge to vomit under control, and once he's straightening up Amora says "Talk, Thor. Now."
Taking that very literally, Thor blurts out "Imetmysoulmate!"
Loki's eyes go wide as saucers, and Amora says "That explains a few things. And now you want to go visit, but don't want word getting to a certain someone?"
Loki asks "Why not tell Mother? She'll be ecstatic, I guarantee it."
Thor nods, and says "I have, but she's been busy of late. I don't know what she did to Allfather, but I'm not about to ask why he's still not up to taking the throne back."
Loki smirks, and says "Mother was most displeased with your banishment. I happen to have it on good authority she spent the first few days planning out what she'd do if you weren't back by the time he awoke in…excruciating detail."
Thor pales rapidly, and Amora says "No, Thor, it didn't involve literal torture. It's an expression, alright?"
Thor sighs in relief at that, because thank the Stars.
Loki narrows his eyes, and asks "Mother isn't about to be a Grandmother, is she? Because, while it would anger Odin to a hilarious degree, I'd advise you to tell Mother first."
Thor goes about as red as Amora's hair, and says "Stars, Loki, no! I found out Jane's my Soulmate about one minute before I got back to Asgard!"
Loki sighs in relief, muttering "Thank the Stars…"
"Hey!"
"Thor, the absolute last thing I'm prepared to deal with right now is a mini-Thor running around zapping people."
Amora leans into him, and says "Grab enough stuff for…actually, I'll Transfigure you enough clothes for a few days, Thor. Get changed, we'll head out from your quarters."
Thirty minutes later, Thor's dressed in Midgardian clothes and his armor and Mjolnir is stuffed in his wardrobe for the time being. Loki gives him a once-over, Amora writing out a note and lighting it up bright red before it turns into a bird and flies off down the halls, and says "You look like you'll blend in, Thor. Just don't go around telling everyone you're really an Asgardian, dammit."
Thor quickly nods, and Loki…clamps a hand on Thor's shoulder saying "Brace yourself, this is always unpleasant the first few times. Especially with such great distances."
And then Thor gets sucked through a small tube, his entire body getting condensed into it somehow before he mercifully comes out the other side - like when they took him up to the roof, but about a thousand times worse. His stomach disagrees with that assessment about mercy, however, and Thor drops to his knees and violently throws up everything he had for breakfast.
Amora appears one second later, and says "Yeah…that was my reaction the first time to."
They wait until Thor's finished dry-heaving, Loki Vanishing his vomit as he gets to his feet, and Thor incredulously asks "You do that? Willingly?!"
Amora shrugs, saying "You get used to it after enough times." She and Loki usually prefer to travel using the small pockets of the Bifrost's energy when traveling between Realms, or traveling along the path of a portal like she did in the Weapons Vault - but that would've required getting to said location, and that was not happening with Thor in tow.
Nobody but Queen Frigga gives two hoots what she and Loki do, or if they disappear for a few days - but Thor? Asgard's golden boy?
Asgard will be in a panic within an hour, and she doesn't want to give Odin an excuse to have her Banished because Thor wanted to leave for a bit.
Thor looks around once he's feeling a bit better, asking "Where are we?"
Amora says "The States. Now, c'mon. We're about a hundred yards from the Wards."
Thor blinks, asking "The Wards? What…Wards? What are Wards anyway?"
Loki grabs Thor by the shoulder and pulls him in the right direction, saying "Wards are basically magical walls, Thor, at their most basic level and function. More specialized ones can do much more than preventing someone from exiting or entering a certain area. I'm sure you remember the Ward I'd placed on my door while Amora was still unconscious?"
Thor nods, then blanches and digs his feet into the ground saying "If we're going to be facing more of that-"
Amora calls over "Would you relax? Loki and I did the Ward Scheme ourselves here, you'll be fine as long as Loki's hand is on you when we pass through the edge of the Wards." Rather, they redid the Ward Scheme after Remus and Nymphadora Lupin-Black tracked them down at Harvard, four-year-old Teddy in hand, and Amora couldn't say no to her Godson's adorable face. Especially when he suddenly changed his hair and eye color to match hers and latched onto her like an octopus.
Point of fact, Amora's 'thesis' for Warding is actually the Ward Scheme she later applied to their home. She, Loki, Hela, Hades, Hermione, Luna, Teddy, Andy, Remus, and Nymphadora are the only ones with full-time access, and Andy, Nymphadora, Amora, Loki, and Remus can actively control the Wards to allow temporary access or throw someone out - and nothing will be able to help anyone that tries to break in, they'll be dead before they even hit the ground…in about fifteen to twenty pieces.
Thor sees Amora just suddenly vanish, and Loki says "That's where the first set of Wards are, Thor. Seeing as I'm still here, you won't be eviscerated into fifteen to twenty pieces. Now…come on, Thor, I'd actually like to get inside at some point this week."
Thor swallows nervously, asking "Amora designed them to do that?"
"That and much worse if necessary. She's rather attached to the people that live here."
And then Thor finds himself getting literally dragged towards the spot Amora disappeared to, horrifyingly enough. "Loki, Loki," he says, scrabbling at Loki's grip on him, "I'm very certain Amora still despises me enough to get me eviscerated, Brother, and I-"
Loki rolls his eyes, and says "Stop being so dramatic, Thor. If Amora hated you, you'd still be on Asgard." If Amora hated Thor, he'd know it. He most certainly wouldn't be in front of the small manor her Godson and his parents live at, that's for certain.
Thor braces himself for anything when Loki manages to pull him the last few feet roughly, only to feel nothing but a powerful buzzing sensation all over his entire body. The hairs on his arms, legs, and the back of his neck stand straight up, but otherwise…nothing happens.
And then, when Thor's finished making sure he's still got all his fingers, ears, and his nose is still where it's supposed to be…he sees Amora standing there with the most utterly amused expression on her face.
Thor asks "You didn't…hear any of that, did you?"
"Oh, I heard every word. Saw it all, to. The Wards let you see and hear outside of them." And, oh, that conversation is going to fuel a lot of Patronuses in the near future. Big, tough Thor, Asgard's Golden boy…nearly wetting himself because of a little invisible magic. She's going to have to ask Loki just what kind of Ward he had up on his door while she was unconscious, because Thor's done a complete 180 about magic since she'd last seen him after his interrupted Coronation.
Thor blushes madly, and protests "Loki said I could be eviscerated!"
Loki pinches the bridge of his nose, and says "Thor, I said you wouldn't be eviscerated!"
Amora says "Thor, anyone trying to break in here, would get eviscerated on contact with the Wards. And that's just the Outer Layer of them. But, if you're invited in by someone who has permanent access, you'll be fine."
Thor looks like he's about to be sick once more, he certainly feels like he's about to be sick - now he empathizes with that dwarf she held up by the front of his armor so long ago because he feels distinctly like he's about to be killed agonizingly.
Before Thor can ask who exactly has permanent access to the Wards, there's an excited series of yips…and then a wolf about half as tall as Amora is comes barreling full-tilt straight into her.
Thor jumps at least twenty feet in the air when the two roll on the ground, and Amora…starts laughing. "Teddy! Yes, yes, we missed you! Now, stop, that tickles!"
To Thor's utter shock, the wolf - that thing's too big to be any wolf from Midgard, it looks like it's a young one from Vanaheim at least, what's it doing here of all places?! - suddenly shrinks down into a lanky boy with hair that's turning from sandy-brown to a dark red matching Amora's. He gives her a massive grin, showing off two slightly pointed fang-like canines as he does, and says "You're here! It's been forever, Aunt Amora!"
Loki walks over and helps the both of them up, dislodging the grass from Amora with a wave of his hand, and says "It's been a few months, Teddy. Hardly forever." They were just over for Christmas Break, and then Teddy was back to Ilvermorny for the last few months of his second school year. Hardly forever, four months at the latest.
The energetic thirteen-year-old Werewolf boy grins once more, and asks "Did you see on the news?! There was this town in New Mexico that got hit by a tornado! But, get this! I saw a video on YouTube where Aunt Hela was fighting a giant robot with this blonde guy! He's the one that made the tornado!"
And then 'Teddy' apparently sees Thor, because he suddenly asks "Who's he? And why's he smell like Ozone?"
Loki grins, ruffling Teddy's hair - he's almost as tall as Loki is, is slightly taller than Amora, how did he get this big already?! - and says "You remember when I told you of my brother?"
Amora crosses her arms, and adds "Why do you know what Ozone smells like?" That particular scent is only naturally occurring when there's been a lightning strike, is about to be a lightning strike...or when Thor's around, as he has a layer of Ozone permanently covering his body due to his powers. And Ilvermorny has Wards covering the school grounds to keep any lightning from hitting the school, particularly the Quidditch Pitch where it would theoretically happen the most.
Teddy nods, and asks "Some of the older kids were practicing lightning spells out on the pitch. This is him?"
"Indeed he is. Thor, this is Theodore Edward Lupin-Black, but those closest to him call him Teddy. Amora's Godson from her mortal life before she came to Asgard. Teddy's already familiar with you."
Thor nods, and asks "And he's a…wolf?"
Teddy gives him a wary look, and says "Something like that…" He glances at Loki, and asks "Are you sure, Uncle Loki, that you're the adopted one? 'Cause, you and Aunt Hela look a lot alike…"
Loki nods, ignoring Thor's dumbstruck expression for a moment, and says "We're very sure. Now, let's get in before Thor starts it raining by accident since he left Mjolnir back on Asgard."
They start walking towards the manor Thor just now notices in the distance, the Thunder God testing every single step he takes until Loki grabs him by the wrist and forcibly drags him forward, and Teddy keeps pelting him with endless questions - is he the one that was on that YouTube video, did he really fight a giant robot, how well can he control lightning, what are some adventures he went on without his aunt and uncle?
Thor could just about cry with relief when they make it to the front door...until he realizes he's got to go back the way he came if he ever wants to leave again.