Chapter 6
One by one, Thor searched the halls of Glaðsheim for any sign of his brother. It was slow going though. He simply could not stop himself from getting lost in his own thoughts. In the space of just a few hours, everything he was once certain of felt overturned. His home, a place he always thought of as the most secure in all the galaxy, proved alarmingly vulnerable. Large portions of the golden citadel lay in ruins. And Asgard, the Realm Eternal and protector of the Nine, was in need of protection herself.
Worse still was the strife within his own family. His mother gravely wounded, her condition still uncertain, seemed to set them all adrift. Thor watched his father strike his own son in anger, helpless to do anything about it. The absolute shock in Loki's eyes was not a sight Thor would soon forget, nor was the agony on his brother's face as he turned and fled. No one had seen him since. As for Odin, he seemed to have retreated into himself. There were no further outbursts, no more fits of temper. He remained by Frigga's bedside, a silent and immovable sentinel watching over her. The All-Father was always a giant in Thor's imagination, even long after he grew taller than his father. But now Odin seemed somehow diminished, little more than a weak old man.
With a single attack by Malekith and his forces and everything Thor knew to be certain was shaken to its foundations. It was only by sheer force of will that Thor managed to brace up himself and everything he held dear against forces determined to shatter them. He knew he had no other option. His father was consumed by worry and grief, and in no shape to govern. His brother was missing and just as unbalanced by everything as their father. That left only him. If Thor too fell apart, there would be no one else to step into the void they left.
There was nothing he could do to aid Eir in breaking the enchantment keeping Frigga's wound from healing, so Thor took action of a different sort. He first had Sif retrieve the rest of the Warriors and tasked them with watching over Jane and assisting the efforts to repair the citadel's defences by turns. With Odin and Frigga surrounded by Einherjar, Thor felt as sure as he could about their safety in light of the threat the dark elves still posed. He gave Odin a long lingering look before leaving the healing room, wondering if his father even realized what he'd done to Loki. He'd seen such things before, the way some warriors were left insensible after a battle, unconscious and unaware of the acts committed by their own two hands. If Odin was in such a state, speaking to him now would be of no use. That left only one other thing Thor could do.
A search of Loki's chamber turned up nothing. After each of his brother's favourite haunts within the palace proved similarly vacant, Thor began a systematic search, despite feeling somewhat hopeless about his chances of finding Loki given his brother's skill at hiding and his own state of distraction.
One of the last places Thor thought to search was their mother's garden. The garden was hers and hers alone. She allowed no one from among the palace staff to tend it, doing everything from watering and weeding to uprooting dead trees herself. Bordered by high trees and thick shrubs it was completely private, and whether it was the properties of the plants themselves or some trick of seiðr, one couldn't help but feel a certain peace of mind there. That alone should have made it the first place Thor looked for Loki, he realized belatedly. His brother had to be in dire need of some solace.
Thor stood at the entrance of the garden and heaved a dejected sigh. It appeared as empty as the other places he'd looked, which bothered him for more than one reason. He'd been there many times before, but almost never without Frigga. Being there in her absence somehow felt like trespassing, as though he was intruding somewhere he didn't belong. He went in anyway despite the discomfort, just to make sure there was nowhere his brother could be hiding. Only a few steps inside the garden however, he felt a sudden urge to leave. He followed it, turning to go back the way he came. But something made him hesitate. It was a moment before he worked it out.
Though Thor was uncomfortable in the garden in his mother's absence, he wasn't overwhelmed by the feeling. The urge to leave arose too abruptly to have come out of his own feelings. In fact, it was almost as though something, or perhaps someone was willing him away.
"Loki?" Thor called out, and was answered by the urge to leave doubling in intensity. "Loki, please. Enough of this."
At first he received no answer, but Thor simply planted his feet, crossed his arms, and waited. At length, the space at the base of one of the nearby trees shimmered and resolved itself into a shape. Loki sat upon the ground with his back against the tree, one leg drawn up in front of him and the other stretched out on the grass. His arms were crossed tight over his chest in a way that rather looked like it was the only thing holding him together. His eyes were raised but empty, his thoughts far elsewhere.
"Is there news?" Loki asked, hoarse and hollow.
Thor knelt down beside him. "She has not yet awoken."
"Then you should be in the healing room."
"As should you."
A muscle in Loki's cheek twitched. "I don't think I'm exactly welcome."
Thor laid a hand on his shoulder. "Loki, don't be a fool."
"Father-"
"Was upset," he interrupted. "Upset and grieving. He and Mother have been together longer than you or I have lived, and he may yet lose her."
"I don't need reminding of that," Loki snapped, pushing Thor's hand off. He got to his feet at began walking away. Thor stood as well.
"Loki, wait. Loki!"
His brother turned on his heel and glared at him with wild eyes. "Can you not leave me in peace?"
"No," Thor replied. "Not when you are acting this way."
Loki sneered, lip curling. "I don't need a lecture on behaviour from you of all people, brother."
He tried to walk away but Thor caught his arm. "Loki-"
"I failed!" Loki shouted, surprising Thor enough with the surge of emotion that he was able to wrench his arm free. "I failed and now look around! The city is burning, Glaðsheim is in shambles, and Mother is..."
"This wasn't your fault, brother," Thor told him gently, wary of provoking an even more violent reaction.
"Is it not? My search for the Aether amounted to nothing. I was sure the dark elves would make a move near the Convergence but I never considered they would be so bold as to attack Asgard outright. And then w-when it happened, I... I..."
"You what?"
Loki's eyes slid away from him and after a lengthy pause, he shook his head without speaking, his prior emotion draining away and leaving behind that awful emptiness again. He took a half a step back and stopped as though he didn't know where his feet thought his body was going. Thor realized he'd seen his brother like this before, when he learned of his true heritage. Despite reassurance from his family, Loki at times seemed similarly unmoored back then, as if cut loose from everything that once anchored his existence. Then, just as now, Thor wished he had his brother's gift for words. Getting through Loki's guard was no easy task at the best of times, let alone at a time such as this. Nevertheless, he had to try.
"Loki, I too worry for Mother, but she is not the only one in danger," Thor said. "Malekith knew the Aether was here. He must have sensed it. Once he recovers, he will try again, I am sure of it. And when he does, he will lay waste to all of Asgard. So long as the Aether remains here and inside Jane, none of us is safe. You are the strategist, brother, not I. I know you have a plan."
A hint of emotion flickered across Loki's features then disappeared. "Why would you think that?"
"What you said to Father before he..." Thor hesitated when Loki bristled at the reminder of the altercation. "You said to tell everyone Mother died. You were about to say more. What was it?"
For a moment, Thor thought Loki was going to tell him. There was a spark of something in his brother's eyes the way there always was when his mind was at work. But then the spark went out, and the lost look returned. He just stood there with his hands hanging at his sides, fingers curling and uncurling sporadically.
"It doesn't matter," he said at last. "None of it matters."
With that, he turned and walked away.
~~~|~~~
As she paced around the room, Jane had an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu. For the second time today, she was under lockdown for her own protection. She even had Sif as her guardian again, just like when the dark elves attacked. There was a difference, though. Before she was confident in the Asgardians' ability to keep her safe. Now, she wasn't so sure.
Her nerves kept her from being still and kept her thoughts racing, pondering everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. She was on another world, was possibly even the first human to ever set foot in Asgard. It was the kind of thing she dreamt of as a little girl. She used to imagine herself exploring the stars the way ancient seafarers explored the vast oceans. As she grew, her focus shifted more toward science than exploration, but those childhood fantasies remained safely tucked inside her memories. But not even in her most wild flights of fancy had she ever imagined anything like this. Asgard was without question the most scientifically advanced place she had ever seen. They had a strange way of dressing up their light-years-beyond-Earth technology in archaic-looking trappings but once you got past the aesthetics, you saw just how far all of it surpassed everything from back home. Jane could probably spend her entire life in Asgard and just scratch the surface of their knowledge.
And yet this incredible place, this wonder of a realm where science and magic were one and the same, where even the toys outclassed everything she knew, was under siege from an enemy who destroyed half the city and nearly killed the queen.
What Jane saw when she looked out at the city now was not magical or wondrous. All she saw was danger. Swept up in both the excitement of seeing a new world and the uncertainty of her own situation with the Aether, she somehow forgot that if Asgard was this advanced, other alien races might be as well, and not all of them were necessarily friendly. Even though she heard about the first war with Malekith's people from Odin, somehow it didn't seem real. It seemed like some ancient, distant thing, like reading about the conquests of Alexander the Great back in school.
Not anymore. Not when she could still smell smoke in the air. Not when she could she could see the destroyed homes and razed buildings. Not when she stepped over the bodies of dead soldiers in the palace halls.
"This is unreal," she murmured.
"What was that?" Sif asked from her post near the door.
"Nothing," Jane replied. "I was just thinking how this is just so... not what I ever expected. First human to travel to another world and this is what happens."
"You should not burden yourself with guilt over this."
"Shouldn't I?"
Sif seemed a little surprised at the question. "You are a woman of science, yes?"
"Yeah," Jane sighed. It wasn't like her scientific background was much of a help right now.
"And you know what the Aether is, what it can do?"
"Odin, I mean, King Odin explained it."
"Then you understand, perhaps better than most, how catastrophic it would have been had Malekith found it first."
A vision of darkness swam in front of Jane's eyes. The sky outside turned a dark blood-red. Thick black smoke filled the air. Everything light became dark. No light. No life. The entire realm was dead.
She blinked, and the vision went away, leaving a dizzy feeling behind that made her lose her balance for a second. Once recovered, she said, "I think I do, yeah."
"Are you all right?" Sif asked, already halfway to her.
Jane couldn't help but laugh. "Sif, I am nothing close to 'all right'."
Sif gave her a blank look for a moment before a slight smile graced her features. She continued, "I know this is difficult for you, Jane Foster. None of us would have wished for things to happen this way, least of all you. But it is better that a few die here if it means the rest of the Yggdrasil is safe. Asgard is the protector of the Nine Realms. There is not a single person here who does not understand the weight of that responsibility."
"I don't know how you guys do that," Jane admitted. "How can you even wrap your head around something like protecting an entire galaxy?"
"It is what we do," Sif replied after a pause. "What we've always done."
Again, Jane could only laugh, although this time it was just to herself. All that time she imagined exploring space and it never really sunk in to her brain just how alien an alien race would be. Sure, she knew on an intellectual level that Asgard and its inhabitants were very different from Earth and humans. But knowing about those differences and and being confronted with them everywhere she turned was not the same. It was intimidating. Intimidating, astonishing, overwhelming... and probably a few dozen other adjectives she had yet to think of.
Another wave of dizziness struck, forcing Jane to actually sit down before she fell. While she waited for it to pass, a reddish aura hovered at the corners of her vision. She could feel the Aether yearning for darkness, yearning to unleash its terrible power. The potential end of all life in the universe as they knew it was writhing under her skin. And oh, did it want to be freed to attain its purpose. It wanted nothing more than to bring death. It made her skin crawl and turned her stomach so badly she could hardly fight down the nausea.
"Hey, I don't mean to be self-centred, but do you think anybody is still working on a way to get this thing out of me?"
Sif, who at some point had come to sit beside her without her noticing, placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure there is a way to help you and Loki will find it. Do not tell him I said so, but he is the smartest man I know, and very determined."
"Why Sif, I had no idea you appraised me so highly."
Sif launched to her feet, hand on her sword. Across from them at the room's entrance stood Loki, holding his hands up in surrender. Sif relaxed her grip on her sword but Jane saw a flash of anger in her eyes.
"Loki, I've told you not to sneak up on me." She paused and looked at the closed and locked door behind him. "And how did you get in here?"
"Ah, I couldn't possibly tell you, Sif. Not when keeping you guessing is half the fun." He lowered one hand to gesture back the way he'd come. "Thor sent me. He wishes to speak with you. Something to do with the palace defences."
Sif raised a dubious eyebrow. "And you agreed to serve as messenger? That is rather unlike you."
"Defying expectations sounds exactly like me," he returned. "But that's beside the point. I do believe the matter was of some urgency."
"Thor tasked me to watch over Jane."
"I know. Why do you think I'm here? I shall take your place until you return."
The doubt didn't quite leave Sif's expression even while she walked away, leaving Jane alone with Loki.
"So, you drew the short straw, huh?" she asked, and then watched his eyebrows furrow.
"Short straw?"
"The crap assignment nobody wants. You're stuck with the weak pathetic mortal who's even dumber than a dwarf."
To her shock, Loki actually looked a little sheepish. "That was a most unseemly thing for me to say. It was the result of no small amount of frustration. It was wholly unfair of me to take it out on you."
He sounded completely sincere, which was why Jane found it odd that her immediate gut-reaction was suspicion. "Why are you being nice to me now?"
Loki's expression sobered even more. "I suppose recent events have... clarified my perspective."
Oh. Of course. Now she felt guilty for feeling suspicious. "How is your mother?"
"Dying," he said flatly, like he'd been drained of all emotion.
"But I thought Eir said she could be healed."
Loki shook his head, eyes downcast. "Eir is very skilled, but this is beyond even her abilities."
"I'm so sorry. I wish there was something I could do."
"Oh, but there is," he told her, the words carrying an ominous ring. He turned his back on her and waved one hand through the air. Everything around them rippled like they were under water.
"What is that? What did you do?" Jane asked as her heart started to beat faster.
"A concealment charm. No one can see or hear us."
"What's going on?"
When he turned around and Jane saw his face, her blood ran cold. Loki eyed her as though he were a lion stalking its prey. His lips parted in a smile that was positively feral.
"Jane," he said. "There is somewhere we need to go."
~~~|~~~
The throne room, like so many others of Asgard's palace, lay in ruins. The throne itself was destroyed, reduced by dark elf weapons to a pile of mangled remains. At the base of the once magnificent dais, a grim assemblage gathered amid the piles of rubble.
"We are still unable to restore the palace shields," Fandral reported, his usual smile turned gravely stoic. "Our artillery cannot detect the enemy ships. Even Heimdall cannot see them. My king," he hesitated, "we are all but defenceless."
Odin, persuaded only by the direst need of his presence elsewhere to leave his wife's bedside, listened in solemn silence. He gave a single nod as Fandral finished speaking. Before he made any sort of reply, however, Sif charged into the room.
"My king! Loki has absconded with Jane Foster."
At first, the words seemed to make no impression on the All-Father. After a brief delay, understanding dawned on his face, his eye widening in alarm. "Where has he gone? Has Heimdall found them?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
Sif cast a worried eye at her fellow warriors before answering. "Svartalfheim. He took her to Svartalfheim."