Unexpected

Early June, 2015

"And why do you want me to touch it?" a young familiar voice asked.

"Do it." Sif's voice.

Loki, as Odin, received the report from the new Bifrost's guardian, not as soon as he expected… he will have to replace this guardian for someone else. He heard Sif had brought one of Thor's mortal friends to Asgard against her will.

"Why?"

A sound of metal, Sif might have withdrawn her sword, "Do it, Loki. I need to be sure before I kill you and bring your corpse to the king."

That was enough for Loki, he barely saw the girl, just knew she had green eyes and Thor unintentionally used her to replace him. He opened the vault's door, "Enough." he commanded while stepping in.

"My king." Sif still had her sword pointing to the young girl's direction, "I found Loki. Look at her eyes, her dark hair roots, her face, she is Loki, my king."

"Put the sword down." he said while approaching, Sif obeyed, slowly. His gaze ran to the girl, yes, she had a few similar features, her eyes especially, and the dark hair roots contrasting with the golden reddish-brown on the rest of its length, she had grown up since her last visit, he could notice, she was taller than Lady Sif and it has been only a few months since this child had been in Asgard… her facial expression seemed aloof, yet her breathing was extremely controlled, "What is your name, child?"

"Alisa-"

"Liar!" Sif yelled as she quickly pointed her sword to the girl, who fright at it. The sword flew away from the warrior's hand.

It was telekinesis, a blast of it to be more precise, even Loki himself felt something pushing him, so did Sif as her hair moved. If there was regular furniture around, it would have been shoved away. The girl seemed slightly more nervous, her breathing slightly irregular. He noticed, that blast wasn't on purpose.

Lady Sif seemed more angrier, she stared at the girl, took one step closer to her and said: "Do you see, my king. Loki is right in front of us."

"Leave us." he said without thinking, his gaze on Sif, watching her movements towards the child.

"…" her eyes still on the girl.

"Now."

Sif blinked, "Yes, my king." she took her sword, placed it on her belt, seemed reluctant, but obeyed.

Loki waited for the door to be close, waited a few seconds as the warrior was out, "What happened between you and Lady Sif, child?" they stared at each other, he felt as if her eyes could see besides his illusion of Odin's image, as if she could see the real him somehow.

"She accused me of being Loki, then dragged me here." her voice slightly low, dark circles under her eyes.

"For?" he interlocked his fingers, she was still, didn't look away from his face, which is considered disrespectful to do to a King, yet she didn't seem to do it with that intention.

"Touch that thing." she tilted her head on the Casket of Ancient Winters' direction, "According to her, "it would prove that I am Loki."."

"Did you touch it?" he knew the answer, but something felt so… odd.

"No."

"Why?" he asked, her eyes were extremely similar to his, even the way she controls her breathing was similar, it felt like she had seen him doing it several times and now copied it perfectly.

"No one told me what exactly happened to the last person that touched it as Sif, and Thor's warriors friends told me to."

Loki briefly remembered that day, Volstagg had suggested her to touch the Casket of Ancient Winters, she refused, he insisted, she kept refusing, at a certain point Thor approached, she grabbed his elbow and asked him to show her which object he found more interesting, she was still at odds with Thor over what he had told her days before...

"And do you know who was the last person to touch it?"

"I have a theory." she said, it wasn't hard to guess by now.

Loki stared her in silence, the child controlling her breathing. It was so extremely odd, she really looked similar with him, not the same similarity Thor posses on his facial features when compared to Frigga, but… He imagined the girl with the entire hair dark, not only the roots, then yes, the similarities they shared were more visible…

"Where are you from?" he asked slower than the usual. He analyzed, so odd, something was so wrong, and that telekinesis made everything suspicious.

"Earth." she wasn't lying, or didn't show any sign of it at least.

Loki couldn't think as properly as he should, in the Vault he learned the truth about himself, the truth his family had hidden from him, was he about to learn another one? This girl's eyes and… it couldn't be a simple coincidence.

"How have you meet my son, Thor?" he asked.

"He is dating my cousin."

Loki didn't know what to think about it. If she is relative to Foster, then she couldn't somehow be related to him. But the magic and her green eyes…

"Do you have anything in mind about the reason for Lady Sif accusing you of being Loki?"

"She said I was similar to him, said I have the same eyes as him." As Sif had tried to explain…

Loki approached to the motionless child, "Don't worry about Lady Sif and the warriors three. They won't be harassing you about it again." he touched the back of her head, as adults usually do to young children, she got instantly unconscious, it took less than a second to make her sleep as she was extremely tired, he only had time to place as arm around her waist, preventing her to fall on the hard floor. This girl is similar to him, and he wasn't the only one to noticed that, whatever it was an odd coincidence or not. He couldn't bear more lies.

The dark-haired held her on his arms, approached to the Casket, he felt reluctant, he didn't enjoy to stay close to this artifact, but if there was something with this child related to him, anything, he would find now.

He took her hand, placed it on the Casket. His hand turning blue, and her hand… her hand was… pale blueish… He compared the skin marks on her hands and arms to his, the same marks, but hers were less raised than his. He slowly bought his gaze to her face, also pale blueish, he didn't know if he had any mark on his face on this form, never saw himself in the mirror like this, just assumed that the marks on her face were the same as his as well.

His eyes watery, he slowly removed her and his hand from the Casket, brought them closer to his eyes, analysing the marks before their skin was back to the aesir form. 

This child is related to him, she certain is, they certainly have a degree of kinship, and by her age... he couldn't make himself think the exactly words.

He carried the child on his arms, to the palace's healers' laboratory, used his magic to open the door, stepped in the room.

"Out." he said as he approached to the bed, carefully placed the child on it, "Out." he said louder, noticed that a few objects around them moved. It clearly came from the unconscious child, which explained why she was exhausted as she seemed to not be able to properly control it, he held her power in place, "You." he touched the shoulder of a healer that passed close to him, he used his mind powers, waited for the room to be fully empty excerpt for the three of them, "I want a kinship test."

"Yes, my king." the healer wouldn't remember what happened after leaving the room, neither the others who just left. 

The woman collected his blood, then the child's. Loki waited, pacing from one side to another, in a couple of minutes the result was handed to him.

"Do another one." he said as he finished to read the results, 50% of their blood matched… it couldn't be real, it simply couldn't be real...

Then the result of the second test was done, the same as the first one, he asked for a third test, and one separated about her blood only, more detailed, he needed to know if she was half mortal, or aesier… he needed to think… needed to know who was her mother…

As the new result came, he conjured them away, took the child on his arms, brought her to the first chambers he saw, placed her on the bed and covered her body with blankets, sat in an armchair, conjured the last tests and carefully read them one by one while waiting for her to wake-up.

Mid-January, 2014

The light from the morning sky illuminated the bedroom, sounds of splashing water, Jane might be taking a shower on the bathroom as the bed seemed empty, and a loud sound came.

Thor opened his eyes, rubbing them while sitting. Yes, Jane was definitely taking a shower, and the loud sound again, he pushed the blankets away, dragging a hand through his hair as he got up from the bed, he felt a chill as the rainy wind that entered by the open window hit his naked body.

The blond closed it, leaving only two centimeters open to circulate air, he stepped towards the half-open door of the bathroom, knocked it twice.

"Come in." Jane said from inside.

The man walked in the place full of steam, going directly to the sink where he washed his face, wiped the water from his skin, stared at himself in the mirror.

The flux of water from the shower stopped, Jane wrapped herself in her towel, the loud sound came again.

"What is this sound?" the blue eye asked as the woman stepped out the shower.

"Electric drill." she took another towel to dry her hair, Thor walked to the shower as Jane went to the front of the mirror, "Erik is assembling extra beds in Darcy's room, my cousins are coming to visit." she started brushing her hair, Thor opened the shower's water, "I have told you about them before, remember?" 

"Yes." Erik's younger brother's daughters, the girls which Jane calls cousins as they are close to each other, she talked about them a few times.

"His brother sent him an email a week ago, Erik let it to be done only today as they will arrive tomorrow."  she took the hairdryer, turned it on.

oOo

The omelet's scent filled the kitchen, Erik cooked, Darcy placed plates in the table. The professor had his hair combed, clothes for someone ready to go out.

"I am going to the airport." Erik said, putting out the stove.

"They will arrive today?" Jane asked sitting, serving herself with the breakfast.

"Yes, my brother mistook the dates, also only Alisa is coming." he placed the omelet in a plate, took fork and knife and a cup of coffee, stepped towards the table, "One of her sisters failed in the school's tests, the other is still a baby." he sat in the chair, Thor arrived, sat close to Jane, greeted the others.

"Look at the good side, she is oldest of them, will understand we have work to do today in a place different from the usual." Darcy said sitting in the chair with a bowl of cereal in her left hand, the right one a cup of coffee.

"I wanted Thor to meeting them all." Jane said, taking a spoonful of the food on her plate.

"Daniel and Elisa will certainly demand our presence this Christmas." Erik took a forkful of the omelet, "Even if they have to drag us to their house."

Jane chuckled, "Yes." took another spoonful of food, "But wait, she is going to have to stay alone during the time we are out."

"I can watch her." Thor said suddenly, taking everyone's attention, Jane and Erik shared glances, "What?" she is a child, it is not hard to do.

"It is just, she is… a person…" Jane tried to find the right words.

"I have watched kids before." he placed food on his plate, Jane gave him a disbelieve look.

"She will arrive here tired from the trip, will probably sleep all day." Darcy took a spoonful of cereal, Erik nodded.

"We appreciate it, Thor. But it is not going to be necessary." Jane touched his arm, Thor nodded, "I mean, she is thirteen, she is already old enough to take care of herself while inside home."

"I understand." he touched her hand.

Jane turned her gaze to Erik and Darcy, "I think I should go to the airport as we are going to stay out during all day." and she also haven't seen the girl personally in a long time.

"Alright." Erik took a sip from his cup.

oOo

The rain had stopped, yet the sky was still grey, Erik walked out the airport with a girl at his side, she had brown hair which the ends gradually became white blond, her eyes were green emerald, she carried a big wheeled suitcase in her right hand and a backpack on her back. They walked towards the car, where people waited for them.

"It is so good to see you here," Jane said as the girl was close enough, stepping towards her with arms open.

"Good to see you too." Alisa with a small smile said wrapping her arms around Jane's torso, hugging Darcy right after.

"You grew up," Darcy compared their heights, the girl was at least ten centimeters taller than her.

"You... grew down?" she tilted her head to the side, the two chuckled.

"Alisa," Jane called her attention, "This is my boyfriend, Thor. I think you already know him by our chats and the news."

"I am Thor Odinson, from Asgard." he smiled.

"I know." she answered, "Hi." she told him without any change on her facial expression or voice tone. 

Erik opened the car's trunk, the girl pulled down the metal she held, taking by the side handle, Thor observed, how big was that suitcase was and how tiny her arms were, she is a human child going to hold something to heavy.

"Do you need help…" he asked, got interrupted as the child easily lifted the suitcase.

"No, thanks." she closed the trunk, walking towards the backdoor of the car with Darcy.

It was odd, Thor thought as Jane linked an arm around his, even odder was the fact none of his friends seemed to notice it, maybe the suitcase is just big, might be mostly empty inside…

oOo

They were back to the apartment, his friends left, Thor was alone in there with the girl, who didn't left the bedroom since their arrival.

He watched tv, checked the window, it was afternoon already, he started to feel worried as Jane's cousin didn't left the room in hours, the light were on, which meant she wasn't sleeping, and if wasn't the tv, the place would be in silence. 

The blond stood, dragged a hand through his hair as he stepped towards Darcy's room door, he knocked it, almost instantly it got opened.

"Yes?" the girl asked, her face was neutral.

"I just wanted to check if everything is good with you." since she is a child, a human child, if humans are already fragile, their children then…

"It is alright." she said, a hand still holding the doorknob, not revealing the inside the room, Thor noticed a different, almost imperceptible accent as she talked, different from London's people, different from Jane's…

"Are you sure?" he asked genuinely worried as how fragile human children might be, "I mean, you were so silent…" Darcy might have said she was a teenager, even mentioned her age on their way to the airport, thirteen years old, yet Jane told him sometimes she was extremely childish, it probably meant she was on her early teenager years, probably still had many traits of children's behaviours… since he didn't know exactly how human growth works.

"I will keep the door open if that makes you more comfortable." she opened more the door, stepped towards her bed, sitting on it, took her laptop and placed it on her lap.

"What is it?" he asked in curiosity to know what kind of silent activity a human child would to spend time, his lover and friends had similar activities, yet they are adults, children are supposed to be loud, playing around, well Asgardian children are loud and play around.

"A laptop." she didn't took her eyes out of the screen.

"I know, I mean, what do you see on it?"

"A game." 

"So you are playing."

"Yes."

Now Thor understood why she was so quiet during this time, "With your friends?"

"No." one of her brows frowned.

"Right." he took one step out of the room, realised his presence might be annoying the child, also - She is shy, Jane told him once when they talked about family members, You know, someone who finds difficult to talk with people, especially strangers. Erik got surprised when he saw us talking on the first day we meet. So you can have an idea, she took one week to properly chat with Darcy.

"It is The Sims, not a multiplayer." it called his attention, she was talking!

"What is The Sims about?" he leaned a hand on the door's frame.

"The player creates a Sim, choose its appearance, personality, then control it's life." she blinked, as if waiting for his answer.

"The player is fate?"

"Yes, kinda." 

He blinked, thinking about what to say next, "Is it interesting?"

"Yes…" she still had a certain lack of facial expressions if compared to his other friends, "I find it more interesting when playing using codes."

"Codes?"

"Cheating, basically. For example, if you type 'testingcheatsenabled true', then buydebug, you are able to do almost everything on it and you get access to restrict stuff."

"Oh," midgardian children were interesting, "Is this kind of thing possible in other games?"

"Yes, but it lost the fun in most of them. In multiplayers it might make you be banned, in Resident Evil it simply doesn't make sense to use, especially on Resident Evil 4 where the level of difficulty varies accord to how the player is going, or Resident Evil 6 that is easier than the previous ones…" her eyes seemed distant.

"Is that Resident Evil similar to The Sims?" 

"No, this one is about biological weapons and has story…"

Thor blinked, the child seemed to understand his confusion.

"It is a long story." she interlocked her fingers.

"Your family will arrive by the night."

She blinked, as if she thought before talking, "Fine," she connected the lap top on the charger, left it on the bed, then stood, "It all started with the Spencer Mansion, that was in an area where the Bravo team had their last contact to the base."

"What is "Bravo Team"?"

She blinked, then explained, she talked, a lot, Thor listened, made questions when he didn't understand or knew something, yet what she said was interesting, "And Wesker now looks like Terminator T-800 and has powers of Neo from Matrix." a pause, both of her hands where still, they were at the living room, Thor wasn't sure about how much time passed, yet in the sky there was still light.

"Is that how it ends?"

"No."

"What is Terminator T-800 and who is Neo from Matrix?"

"T-800 is a terminator robot send from the future to the past with the mission to kill Sarah Connor before she gives birth to John Connor, the leader of the resistance. And Neo is the choose one, he is able to pass by Matrix's restrictions." she placed both hands on the couch where they sat.

"Are these also long stories?"

"Kinda."

"Could you tell me? When you finish the Resident Evil?" 

"Don't you prefer to watch? these are movies." An theatre play but recorded, as it was told him months ago.

"It sounds good" he said, her eyes slightly narrowed as if in disbelief

"Alright, which one do you prefer first, the hard to kill robot, or post apocalypse with regular life simulation?"

"Robot…" he said, slight confused.

"Right, don't worry about how long it takes to finish Resident Evil, it only misses the boulder scene, Revelations 2, and the sixth game…" she said.

When finished with the game's story the child walked to her room, and then was back with a usb drive, as Jane calls, in one hand. She connected it on the television, took the remote control, in a few seconds the movie was playing.

It was enjoyable, the movie, the time he spent with company. At the end Alisa explained that there were three more sequels, and that the second movie was better than the first one, yet at the third, it was a down hill on her own words.

"Hello!" Jane said as she opened the door, she arrived right during the scene where Sarah shoots T-1000, in Terminator 2, "It seems like-" 

"Shhh" Alisa said, Thor held up a hand on his lover's direction, asking for silence, slowly put it down as the seconds passed, Jane let escape a low chuckle, Darcy and Erik walked in.

The final credits started on the television's screen, Thor turned his gaze to Jane, his lips curved in a smile, the child used the remote to pause the video.

"As I was saying before, it seems like you both were having a nice time." she approached, placed a hand on his shoulder, she was clearly as surprised as Erik and Darcy.

"Yep." Alisa stood, she shared stares with Jane, almost as if they could talk telepathically, " Remember, "be nice"." she told her, made a different tone of voice on the last two words. What she meant with it exactly? Had Jane told her to talk with him? She said the child was shy and too quiet, the fact she was able to talk that much with Thor seemed a good sign.

"You didn't download it here, right?" Erik asked Alisa.

"No, I had it saved already." she approached to her uncle.

"Did you turned off the torrent?" he removed his glasses.

"One day before I had to enter on the airplane." she answered, Erik patted her head.

"What VPN did you use?" Darcy asked from the bedroom, "I know a guy whose cops showed up on his house after he downloaded Game of Thrones."

"I didn't need one"

"Why?"

"Cops on my country are busy with things more important." she stepped towards the bedroom.

Jane dropped a kiss on Thor's lips, she walked towards their bedroom, Erik took the remote, pressed it until the screen showed the movies on the usb drive, he selected the one which the title was "The Godfather".

"That movie," he said sitting beside Thor, "Is a classic."

Jane ordered food by delivery, when it arrived, she handed a plate for Erik and Thor, sat beside the blond one, she had a plate on her hands, they ate the dinner. When finished Jane leaned on Thor, who had an arm around her, at the end of the movie, Erik slept on the couch, Alisa and Darcy washed plates while chatting.

Thor and Jane walked to their room, changed clothes to pyjamas then laid on the bed, they talked for a while, until the sleep came for them, especially for the scientist. With that they covered themselves with blankets until the neck, closed eyes, then slept.