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Chapter Fifty-One

~Thea's POV~

Of course, Loki's playful and sentimental facade vanishes as soon as we leave the throne room, but I never expected anything different. Although, as we turn a corner, I trip, seemingly on my feet, but I swear that Loki's smirk has something to do not with my clumsiness, but with his scepter that might have "accidentally" swung in front of my feet. 

"What does that thing do anyway?" I ask, pointing at the stick and trying to cover up my dignity.

 The healer had given me food- thankfully, because I had been famished from stubbornly refusing to eat spider monkey and toucan in the rainforest- so I suspect that we are now off, back to the rainbow bridge and Heimdall to return to Earth. 

Loki raises his eyebrows and points the scepter at me as we descend a flight of darkened stairs towards the stables. "Would you like to find out?"

I scowl at him. "What was that about you not wanting to kill me?"

"I can change my mind at any second." 

We reach the stables, where there is already a horse saddled and bridled, held by one of the same stable boys from earlier today. I spot the problem immediately. "There are two of us." I say. "There's one horse." 

Loki ignores me and takes the reins from the boy. "Get on." he says to me, nodding up at the saddle. 

"I said and proved that I can ride a horse by myself," I say, accentuating the point. 

Loki moves the horse close to me, then punches my bandaged arm. 

"OW!" I exclaim, grabbing my arm, which is tingling painfully. "What was that for?"

"You're not riding a horse with an arm like that, and especially as recklessly as you ride. Besides, you're going to need that arm soon enough, and there's no point in you tearing it out by galloping across a bridge."

"But-"

"Get on the damn horse, Thea." 

I curl my lip at him and mount the animal; the movement is actually quite painful from my arm, but I manage it all the same. Loki leaps on behind me, his scepter (probably purposely) knocking the back of my neck. 

"What are you going to do, ride one handed?" I sneer. 

Then, I yelp as Loki, without responding, kicks the horse forward and at seemingly lightning speed, it thunders out of the stable. I  try to grab the horse's neck, yelling back at Loki, "This might have been easier for me if I were behind you, you know that?"

"Well what would have been the fun in that?" asks Loki, and I swear I can hear the grin in his voice. 

By the time the horse has sped through the city and across the translucent rainbow bridge, the sun is high in the sky. He reins the horse to a stop so suddenly, the poor horse snorts and rears so that I nearly topple off its back. 

"Thanks for nothing," I mutter to Loki, who either doesn't hear me or doesn't care. I dismount the horse and land heavily to the ground. 

As Loki follows suit, I pat the horse's sweaty neck, stroking its poll and behind its ears. "And thank you for putting up with this madman." I whisper.

"I heard that."

I smile without turning around, kiss the horse's nose, and join Loki as he enters the Bifrost. Heimdall is waiting for us, his amber eyes seemingly fixed halfway on us and halfway out on the window towards the cosmos. 

"Have they arrived?" asks Loki. 

"Yes, but there is some distress regarding their current whereabouts. Heimdall turns away from the sky and walks towards the large sword planted in the middle of the room. "It would be best if you join them as soon as possible." 

"By all means," says Loki. "Send us away." 

Within seconds, before I have time to react, I have been pulled into a vortex of light, color, space, and time, sucked into nothingness and barreling towards Earth's surface. The wind whistles through my ears, and I can hardly hear myself think. 

Before I know it, I've landed on solid ground, dusty ground, but ground nonetheless. More like fallen, actually, because the descent was so unexpected, I trip and end up sprawled on the ground. Loki, of course, walks right past me, his footsteps sending dust right into my face.

"Need some help there?"

I stop coughing to look up to see Bruce Banner, holding his hand out to me. Grinning sheepishly, I let him pull me to my feet. "Thanks."

I look around; there's a plane "parked" about thirty yards from us, as well as a couple tents. I spot Thor's red cape swishing in the dry wind, walking towards us, accompanied by Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff. 

Thor greets his brother, who is a little ways ahead of me, first, which means Tony and Natasha are the first to greet me. "Hey there, Thea," says Tony. "Okay, 'hellos' are done, let's get going; we need to beat the sun."

"What?" I ask. Tony walks away from me, to accompany Dr. Banner, which leaves Natasha to do the explaining.

"Fury received information that we aren't allowed to camp so close to the Dead Sea," she says as we walk towards the plane. I see figures near the tents, and recognize them as Peter and Max, taking them down and folding them up. "We're moving to the base of the Ural Mountains, on the European side, to avoid pissing some people off." 

I'm not that good at geography, but I'm good enough to know that the Dead Sea and the Ural Mountains aren't exactly neighbors. "Why there, exactly?"

"It's cold. The Imeldi are partial to warmer climates." she explains. 

"Okay..." I say. "How's Jack? Is he here?"

"Jack is doing much better, and yes, he is here. He can walk pretty much on his own, but Banner and Kyle are still insisting that he rest a lot." She points to the plane. "He's in there."

"And-"

"Leah is fine. Jane's with her still, and so is Darcy," Natasha breaks apart from me, heading towards Max and Peter. This leaves me the plane for company; I skip the stairs two at a time and clamber on board. It's small plane, with only two cabins from what I can tell, no kitchen and not much space, but there is Jack, lounging on a chair. 

"Jack!" I exclaim, running over and hugging him. Kyle's next to him, sharpening a knife, which I find to be slightly ominous. 

Jack squeezes me back harder than I expected a wounded boy to be able to squeeze. "God, Thea, you scared me out of my wits. Not as bad as Kyle though. He's been going absolutely mad ever since-"

"I think you can stop there," says Kyle, smacking his cousin on the head as he stands. "But yeah, Thea, could you do a guy a freaking favor and not go vanishing into potholes in the ground?"

"Ew, you're touching me," I say as Kyle engulfs me in a bear hug, properly and nearly asphyxiating me. "Okay, Kyle, thank you. LET GO."

He does, but not before ruffling my hair affectionately. I groan at him, and he winks at me, settling back down onto his chair and resuming his knife-sharpening activity. 

"So," I say to Jack, and seeing as there's nowhere else to sit, I stand next to him. "Why is there only one plane? If my math serves me correctly-" I ignore Kyle's derisive snort- "Then there should be two planes."

"You're quite right, as usual." says Jack, silencing Kyle's would-be smart remark with a punch in the arm. "But there are two planes. This is the one Kyle, Bruce, and Maria and I came in, which is why it's so puny. There's a slightly larger one over the crest of the hill, where I suppose the rest came in from Indonesia." 

"Ah." I say. "Well-"

I'm interrupted as Thor and Tony join us in the plane. Thor greets me warmly as Tony says, "We're leaving. Ten minutes tops. Thea, you're staying on this jet, even though I'm pretty sure it's going to be hard for the poor thing to support any more weight." He ignores my protests and adds, "Loki's coming with us, which is going to be a tight fit anyway."

As it turns out, Bruce isn't flying on this plane either, but Peter is. He gives a shout of pleasure when he sees me, and hugs me (I'm receiving a lot of hugs). "Thea! Wow, it's good to see you again." 

"I guess I'll leave you three to whatever tricks you're planing next." says Kyle, standing and slamming the knife point into the table. "But buckle up anyway; we wouldn't want any of us to get themselves knocked out by the speed and relative velocity of-"

"Do us a favor," yawns Jack. "And shut up."

Kyle shoots Jack a nasty look as Peter and I laugh. Then, he disappears into the cockpit with the woman I recognize as Maria Hill.

*

The flight is about four hours, and Jack, Peter, and I entertain ourselves with the view of the sky, Peter's computer, and the occasional wrestling match. Well, the boys wrestle (until Kyle shouts back at them to, for heavens sakes, stop it), but I stand back. 

I don't want to hurt anyone.

*

"Cold. It. Is. BLOODY FREEZING." announces Jack as we climb off the plane. We were originally going out here to stretch our legs, but immediately begin shivering. I've been wearing a tank top and shorts recently. It has to be thirty degrees right now. 

"Nopenopenopenopenope," I say, following Jack as we traitorously run back up into the heated airplane. 

Kyle does precisely the same thing as us, but he climbs back into the plane muttering quite a few curses. "Note to self," he says, walking back to the few storage compartments at the rear of the plane. "Do not go vacationing in the Ural Mountains in December."

He tosses us two blankets, which we grab appreciatively. "Stay here while I-"

He stops as Natasha boards the plane, carrying what appear to be clothes. Warm clothes, by the looks of them. "Ah, the lovely lady delivers", he says, winking at Natasha. 

"Do that again, and I'll be delivering something else to you," says Natasha. 

"...Such as?" Kyle wiggles his eyebrows hopefully. 

"A black eye." Natasha says, stalking past him and handing us some clothes. 

Jack, Peter, and I crack up as Kyle looks crestfallen. He rolls his eyes and then takes a long coat and thick shirt from the pile. 

"Ah, ah, ah, ladies first," I say as the boys walk towards the cabins,evidently to change.

"Not if we get there first!" teases Peter, slamming the cabin door in my face. 

By the time I'm dressed in Ural-Mountain-proper-clothing, the sun has set. Outside, there are small fires being lit as the last light vanishes over the mountains' crest. There's food, or I assume there is, because I smell something like roast beef, pork, and bread.

Turns out, this is Kyle's and Clint's doing, and they're not exactly done either; when Jack tries to steal a slice of ham, Clint smacks his nephew with a spatula, and Kyle chases him away so that Jack is forced with retreat. 

While everyone else is either shivering, sitting near the fire, or cooking, I climb the small crest of a hill that overlooks another valley of rocks and a large river. Loki is standing up there, his face barely lit up by the firelight. He's holding his scepter, and looking out over the hill. 

"So I guess you're the guard dog then?" I say. "Cause the cold doesn't bother you." 

Without turning to look at me, he says, "I don't appreciate being compared to a mongrel canine."

"Well be appreciative, because I was going to compare you to an ass. I MEANT THE DONKEY!" I yelp as Loki swings his scepter around and I have to dive down onto the slightly-melted snow to avoid being decapitated. 

"Were you really?" says Loki his eyebrows raised, pressing the scepter down on me, apparently enjoying this moment of domination. 

"Yesyesyesyesyes." I say hurriedly, because the point of the scepter is beginning to dig into my neck. 

"Unfortunately, I don't believe you."

"Why is that unfortunately?" I ask sweetly, then squeal as Loki kneels down, pressing his arm on me so that I now have zero hopes of getting up. "Loki, let go! Let me up!"

"I've told you, you need to learn manners." says Loki. "Now unless you apologize, it looks like you're going to be stuck here for a while." 

"I'm not apologizing for telling the truth." 

Loki smirks. "Well then, kitten, it appears that-"

I kick out, slamming his torso so that he goes stumbling back into the snow. I laugh gleefully as I  turn the tables and hold him to the ground, my hands pressing into his shoulders. 

"Oh, you think that's going to work?" asks Loki, and my laugh stops short as he flips me over so that he's lording over me. "Oh dear, it looks like you're quite stuck now." he says as I squirm, trying to get up, but his grip is like steel, and I'm fully aware that I will not be getting up unless he releases me. 

"Loki!" I wail. "I'm hungry."

"It's not my fault that you're in this predicament." 

"It's your fault for starving me." 

He rolls his eyes. "I never did. You just refused to eat, which means that you starved yourself." 

"Please, please, please let me go?" I ask sweetly.

"I don't believe I've heard you apologize yet." 

I hear Kyle yelling at Jack, telling him that he can eat now.

"Loki, I'm hungry!" 

"Well that's a shame, isn't it, now?"

"I am not apologizing." 

"Then in that case it looks like yes, I am indeed starving you now."

"PLEASE!?" 

He smiles down at me, evidently very pleased with himself. "Don't be so stubborn, kitten. Just say you're sorry."

"I think I'd rather die."

"You may get your-"

"LOKI!" 

I tilt my head awkwardly and see that Thor is walking towards us, his red cape still flying in the chilly wind. 

"At last," I whisper so that only Loki can hear me, "An accomplice." I look up at Thor innocently and in my most angelic voice, plead, "Tell him to let me go!" 

Thor buys it and raises his eyebrows at his brother. "Loki, release her. She needs to eat."

I smile triumphantly at Loki, who glares at me, but stands, allowing me to get to my feet. 

"Thank you," says Thor. "Thea, Jane radioed me to let me know that Leah is doing well. I was going to have you speak with her, but I couldn't find you, so unfortunately, I had to sever our connection."

This time, I glare at Loki, "See if it wasn't for you, I could've talked to Leah!"

"Again, this was completely your fault." says Loki, walking away from Thor and me.

*

After dinner, we go about making sleeping arrangements. The large plane will sleep four, and the small one, two, which still leaves us seven beds short. It's agreed that Maria and Natasha will have the two small cabins. Max, Clint, Kyle, and Bruce take the four large cabins. The large plane has adequate space for Tony and Steve to sprawl out on the floor. Thor and Loki are standing guard outside, as neither of them are much bothered by the cold, or need that much sleep. 

"That leaves you kids," says Tony, nodding towards Peter, Jack, and me. "You get this." He leads us around the back of the plane. Underneath it, there's a storage compartment, with a flip door. Inside, it's empty except for some blankets and pillows. I can almost stand up in it, and there's plenty of space for the three of us, although we will be a little squished. 

Peter lights a lantern and we crawl inside, closing the door behind us. I lean against the side of a wall, my eyes drooping. 

"Well, Merry Christmas, guys." says Peter, stretching.

"It's Christmas?" I ask, shocked. 

"Christmas Eve," replies Peter. "Been a little busy, haven't you?"

This is unbelievable. I usually am celebrating with my family right now, singing carols or decorating the tree. Not sleeping in a plane's storage compartment, about to try and vanquish an entire brutal species of alien. 

Two  hours later, I'm staring up at the ceiling. Peter and Jack are both snoring softly, so I get up, wrap my coat around me, open the flap of the storage area, and walk outside. 

It's snowing slightly, and there's one fire still glowing slightly. I walk around, towards the crest of the hill where Loki had been earlier. As I had expected, he's not here, so I sit down on the snowy ground and look out over the looming shapes of the mountains. 

"Can you not sleep?"

I turn to see Thor standing a few feet from me. "Um, not really." I say. 

Thor sits down next to me. "Are you worried about tomorrow?"

"Just a bit. I don't know though, I mean with all of us, how do Kafrandi and his minions stand a chance?" I laugh nervously. 

Thor nods, and for a few moments, he says nothing. Then, he says, "If you believe in yourself, Thea, I do believe you will be fine. You are faced with the pressures of not only your life, but the lives of so many others. Yet you do not shrink from the coming danger. You know that it is your fate, and you accept it. Bravery, Thea, is something that is earned, and you have earned it mightily enough."

"What happens if I fail?" I ask bluntly. 

"You will not, so I don't believe that will be an issue." smiles Thor.  He stands and says, "Try to get some sleep, Thea."

"Okay," I say, smiling at him. "Thank you."

He smiles in return, nods, and walks away. 

An hour later, I hear footsteps behind me, and the sound of a scepter sinking into the ground alongside them. "Hi, Loki." I say, my voice slightly slurred as my lids are beginning to fall. 

He snorts. "It is not so easy to sneak up on you as it once was."

"I don't remember you ever sneaking up on me." 

He raises his eyebrows and sits next to me, as Thor did earlier. "You need to rest." 

"I am. I'm looking out into the wilderness." I say, "That's rest enough for me." 

"I'm sure it is." says Loki, not moving as I rest my head on his shoulder. "I'm sure it is." 

"What is Asgard like?" I ask sleepily.

He chuckles. "You've been there. You should know."

"But...like... what's it like at Christmas?" My voice is drowsy.

"We don't celebrate your Midgard holidays in Asgard." says Loki in a tone that says I clearly should have known that.

"Oh..." I say breathily. 

"But I will tell you, on the Feast of the Twelve Kings, or after a great battle, it's quite beautiful. The celebrations go on for weeks and..."

I think I fall asleep like that, listening to Loki talk about Asgard. But when I wake up, I'm back in the storage compartment, next to Jack, whose arm is around me. 

Did you like it?? Please VOTE and COMMENT if ya did. 

Just to tell you, Blue Moon is about 80% finished. :(

BUT.

You know. 

It's been fun. ;) 

Have a lovely day!

xoxo, Sierra