The Slow, Sweet Seduction Of Dreams

A Loki/Jane fiction, set post 'Thor' and an AU to the Avengers, presumably…You know a character has got under your skin when you're rooting for them to win in the Avengers film instead of one of the 'good' guys. ;D

Enjoy!

The dreams started shortly after Erik left to begin working for SHIELD, and Darcy finished her internship, leaving Jane alone with her lab and her trailer.

She told them she didn't mind, that she liked the solitude, so she could work as long as she wanted, without interruption.

It had been months now, since Thor's departure on that knotted, arcane circle in the rocks and the dust, and she had not given up. Every day she searched for a way to open a bridge to Asgard, to find the God of Thunder once more.

Even as her heart broke, she refused to give up.

Until the dreams came.

She stood on a tall precipice, darkness enshrouding her completely. She could not turn, she could not move but simply waited, unaware of her breath as it shuddered from her lungs, of the way her limbs shook with unfulfilled anticipation.

She waited, but she didn't know what she was waiting for.

"He is not coming back for you," a voice whispered in her ear. Jane did not turn, did not flinch. She just stood still, paralysed in an agony of waiting.

"You're wrong," was all she said, as she patiently eyed the darkness in front of her.

When she awoke, Jane tasted spice and musk on her tongue, and the scent of pines and magic lingered in the air of her tiny bedroom.

The next time she dreamed, it was a few weeks later, after Darcy had dropped by for a visit, and they had fought because Jane refused to leave her work.

As she looked out at the desolate, peaceful desert, Jane's heart wilted as she remembered Darcy's harsh words, the truth of them rushing through her like a poison.

She took her van, and drove it out to the Bifrost site, the remnants of the great seal stamped into the earth half buried under a layer of dust and sand. She hopped from her vehicle, and sat down beside it, staring at it as if willing something to happen.

She fell asleep there, under the cold, unfeeling stars, with only the wind for her company.

"He is not coming back for you," the voice murmured once more. Jane tensed, but still she could not move.

"You're wrong," she replied firmly. Thor would come back to her.

"Am I?" the voice replied, tauntingly. Jane did not answer.

Something rough and warm shifted against Jane's cheek as she stirred, groaning from the ache in her joints as she forced herself to move. Her eyes opened, one obscured by the red dust of the New Mexico desert, arcane designs swirling through its skin near her cheek, as she realised she had been fallen asleep on the desert floor. Her tongue, though dry and swollen from lack of water, tingled with the taste of spices and musk, the fresh, tingling smell of pine and magic assaulting her senses, bringing her back to her senses.

As she sat up, she shivered, the first pink and gold tendrils of dawn peeking over the horizon, cold penetrating her to the bone. Her dream swirled around her mind, vibrant for all its darkness and mystery.

Was she wrong?

Would Thor return for her? Or was she just being silly?

As she peered up at the dawn-enthused sky, she smirked a touch bitterly, and forced her thoughts away. She had work to do.

As the pretty mortal stood from her nest on the ground, the figure cloaked in shadow smiled, a gleam of cold amusement and mischievous anticipation twinkled in the icy, jade depths of his eyes.

Unlike some, he kept his promises, when he deigned to make them.

And he had made one to his erstwhile brother he fully intended to keep, and reap the spoils of conquest.

Jane did not return to the Bifrost site again. She threw herself into her work and her theorems, searching tirelessly for evidence to support them, using every resource SHIELD offered her to further her research.

But the dreams did not cease.

Slowly things started to change. The world began to change.

Governments around the world came together and agreed to disarm. Treaties were signed, differences forgotten as world leaders united with seemingly effortless ease.

Then one day, Erik phoned her to tell her the Cube he had been studying for SHIELD had been stolen, and that Director Fury suspected Loki, the brother of Thor, was behind the theft.

He warned her to be careful.

That night Jane dreamed.

Once again, she stood upon the precipice, once again she waited, and once again that dark, invisible presence came to her side.

"He is not coming back for you," it once again whispered. "Why do you wait for him?"

"Because he promised me he would come," Jane replied calmly.

"And is this waiting game usual of the strong, independent woman that you are?" it asked, not so much tauntingly as curiously. It made Jane bristle, anger melting her frozen heart.

"Who are you?" she demanded. There came no answer, save for the slight flick of an emerald cloak in the corner of her eye. When she turned to look, she awoke.

And then she received her answer.

"You know the answer to that…"

Jane was trembling as she lay in bed, her skin dewed, her every cell screaming with mingled fear and loss. She frowned, as she rose from her unmade bed to search for some aspirin, as she contemplated the ever more vivid dreams she experienced at night.

What did they mean? Why was she having them?

It was an accepted fact that one did not remember dreams unless they were particularly vivid, and these were all too strong. They did not fade, or grow vague in her memory. Jane could remember each one with clarity, her scientist's mind piercing through to the minute details.

The voice, strong, sensuous, yet soft, lulling her into quiescence with nonchalant ease.

The flash of green out of the corner of her eye, dark like an emerald. The taste each dream left on her tongue, the scent of pines and magic that she remembered wreathing Thor, and the other Asgardians.

The doubt which grew every time she awoke. The doubt that Thor would return, that she could wait for him, that she should wait for him.

Jane shivered, as the aspirin fizzed in the glass of water she got herself, and glanced at her reflection in her bathroom mirror.

And froze.

The corner of an emerald cloak flashed in the corner of her eye, as she turned to look, but her narrow, cramped little mobile home was empty.

Her heart racing, Jane turned back and forced herself to swallow the acrid tasting water, her head throbbing with confusion and doubt.

She went to Isabella's diner, taking a rare break from her work and earning herself a warm smile from the old lady who ran the diner. She sat down at the table, ordered herself a coffee and idly ran her eyes over the customers at their own tables, all so happily going about their day, ignorant to the confusion plaguing Jane's.

Her coffee came, and she swirled the dark liquid inside the porcelain cup, musing on her dreams and the way they made her feel.

She didn't even notice that they had supplanted her last obsession: that of finding a way back to Thor.

As she gazed down at the bitter drink warming her hands, she decided they made her feel a little like the taste of coffee. Dark, bitter, eliciting a thrill in her veins which exhilarated her even as it confused her, and plagued her mind with doubt.

She had never felt so much doubt, even in the face of ridicule from the scientific community when they dismissed her theories with a contemptuous wave of their hands.

Why now? And whose voice was she constantly hearing at night, when she slept?

"Eh! Turn it up Isabella!" one of the customers called from his booth, pointing at the television in the corner. "I want to hear it."

Jane ignored the news announcements, of more miraculous feats of diplomacy with Korea and Iran, the disarmament of Al Qaeda, the planned unilateral disarmament of nuclear weapons.

Then the President appeared, making a speech and Jane really did switch off. She had never liked politics.

But then a voice began to speak, a familiar voice, one as well-known as her own, or Erik's, or Darcy's.

She turned to face the TV, and her eyes fell on a towering, pale gentleman in a crisp black suit, a richly patterned scarf hanging with a disdainful grace around his slender neck, as he stood behind at the lectern, the President smiling almost mistily at the young man.

He couldn't have been more than thirty, his eyes an impossible green, radiant, poisonous, vivid. His smooth, austere lips opened and closed with the eloquent rhythm of his speech, leaving Jane paralysed.

Or so she thought.

Long dark hair hung down to his shoulders, flicking upwards a little at the ends. He bore himself with an innate pride and power, his slender frame well muscled and broad.

An inner sense told her she knew what he was, who he was. But she couldn't believe it.

But then his words pierced her mental fog, and she realised she was standing in the middle of the diner, her cooling coffee cup dangling dangerously from her hand.

"I will bring peace and unity to this world, a world torn apart by insignificant differences of culture and religion, but no more. Bear witness, people of the Earth, as we enter a new world, one where we may live in peace and harmony, and there will be no more war, no more conflict, no more fighting of brother against brother,"

Jane's heart froze with terror, as he suddenly seemed to look directly into her eyes, through the camera lens, thousands of miles apart, but that look held her, as mingled understanding and horror filled her.

And she heard his voice in her mind.

I am coming for you, Jane Foster…

The coffee cup shattered on the floor, black, cold liquid staining the pristine white tiles, and the shards of the porcelain as they covered the floor.

Jane did the only thing she could think of. She ran.

She left Puente Antiguo that afternoon, not stopping to contact Erik or Darcy, not stopping to think. She simply packed some clothes, withdrew all the cash she could from her account, took her laptop and notes, and fled.

She supposed that she wasn't exactly acting the way Thor would, but she couldn't. she was no Asgardian warrior Goddess, she was not a fighter, and Thor wasn't here. She fled like the deer before the hunter, irrationally, without thought for morality or nobility, but filled with the strength that the instinctive need for survival brought.

She drove into South America, not really noticing where she was going, just trying to get as far away as possible from him. At last, she stopped at a ramshackle little motel, not caring that the walls were dirty, the floors unswept and the air conditioning was broken.

A dour old lady showed her to a room, before muttering about checkout times in broken English and slamming the door on her way out. Jane let her bag fall from her shoulder, easing her tired muscles, the fear and the danger retreating for the moment.

She showered, trying not to cringe at the clearly not-cleaned-for-days shower, glad to wash off the dried sweat and grime from the drive. She changed into sweat pants and a loose t-shirt to sleep, and tried to settle down in the bed. Her eyes searched the shadows frantically, half expecting him to melt from the shadows, and she jumped at every tiny sound outside her room. The cicadas chirped outside, as the sun set, and the world settled down to its nighttime slumber.

Jane tried to stay awake, but her entire body was wrung out from her panicked flight. She glanced at her cellphone and saw all the missed calls from Erik and Darcy, as well as a few other numbers she didn't recognise. Shame filled her for a moment, as she recalled the sheer, paralysing fear that had swept over her when his eyes had met hers, through the camera lens.

She shouldn't have run. What kind of person was she that ran away because they saw a guy on the TV and got a little jumpy? She sighed and angrily rubbed away the tears which threatened to fog her vision.

She was just too tired, tired of fighting, tired of waiting, tired of being strong. She was tired of being Jane Foster. She just wanted to sleep, unmolested, undisturbed and forget the whole bloody nightmare her life had become.

With that in mind, Jane turned violently onto her side, extinguished the bedside lamp and pulled the thin cotton covers up to her chest.

She didn't hear the bootsteps of the towering figure which melted away from the long, devouring shadows in her room, nor did she see the gleaming emerald eyes which looked down on her triumphantly.

But the scent of pine and magic filled her nostrils, and the taste of hot spices and musk filled her mouth, as a blue glow emanated from an intricately made golden staff in his hand, and she fell back into a dream.

Jane looked down at the same old precipice, and scoffed caustically.

"Don't you think this is getting a little old?" she called tauntingly, into the darkness. She felt his presence against her back, more substantial than ever before, and fought back the puzzling shudder his heat elicited.

"You have recovered your fire, Jane Foster," he chuckled in her ear. "It will make this more fun."

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, turning her head to catch a glimpse of him but he eluded her, like smoke blown away by a breeze.

"Because, unlike my brother, I keep my promises, Jane Foster," he whispered, and she shuddered in mingled anticipation and fear. It was a heady mix.

"Thor will stop you. SHIELD will stop you," she muttered rebelliously. He just laughed, and Jane gasped when she felt his hands slide around her paralysed form, one sliding around her waist and holding her tightly, in the curve of her midriff, the other drifting down the front of her leg, the muscle tensing as fire rushed through Jane's skin.

"I beg to differ, my lovely Jane," he replied, sibilantly, his voice undoing any thoughts of resistance. She was entirely in his power. "And why should you bind yourself to Thor? Your mind is so expansive, so fresh and so full of potential, for a mortal…"

"Gee, thanks," Jane snapped sarcastically, recovering some of her courage even as his long, clever fingers caressed the inner muscle of her thigh.

"Thor is limited. He is noble, brave, proud but more than that? He is an empty shell, one you barely know and who does not know you," he continued earnestly. "Not as I do."

"Why, because you've been hijacking my dreams for the past few weeks?" she asked coldly.

"More than that, Jane Foster. Thor loves only the light in you, the woman who healed him and sent him back to Asgard a humbled, selfless shell of what he once was," he replied. "And yes, he has not honoured his promise to come to you. As for me…I see the darkness inside you, the darkness which resides in us all, mortal and Asgardian alike. We are more alike than even you are aware…"

"That's garbage!" Jane laughed. "If that's the best chat-up lines you've got, you need practice."

"That's my fiery Jane," he hissed. "I was concerned when you appeared to lose it with Thor's departure. That loneliness eating away at your spirit, draining your intelligence, and all for him?"

"Stop it," Jane snarled, his words hurting as painfully as daggers pushed into her chest. Her resentment, her pain, her heartbreak came back in full force, and she shuddered. "He would not have needed to leave at all, if it hadn't been for you!"

"Perhaps that is true," he chuckled. "But he would have needed to leave eventually, and he would not have taken you with him."

"Stop it!" she spat. Desperately, she tried to wake herself up, but he simply laughed cruelly, his hands tightening on her body.

"All your life, you have looked at the stars and pondered what mysteries they hold, and desired to unlock those mysteries. Do you think Thor could give those mysteries? He is a warrior born, and war is his only joy."

"You're the God of Lies and Mischief. Why should I believe a word that comes from your mouth?" she retorted. His laugh, cold and cruel but appreciative, shred her nerves, making her grit her teeth.

"You would be wise not to, on any other occasion, Jane Foster," he chuckled. Jane was growing tired of staring at nothingness, and attempted to turn. To her surprise, she could but she did not meet his gaze when she turned, just his voice in her ear as she screamed in frustration.

"Face me, you coward!" she shouted angrily. "Or is the mighty God of Mischief too afraid to face a weak mortal?"

"That's it! There's the fire, there is the darkness," he suddenly hissed earnestly. "Take it, use it. Let it make you strong, my Jane. Let it's power set you free!"

"Just leave me alone!" Jane screamed.

Her eyes opened, her spine snapping upright, as she gasped for breath, her scream still lingering on her lips.

Panting, she met the hard, emerald gaze of the man sitting beside her on the bed, clothed in leather and gleaming armour, his staff shining in one hand. The moonlight reflected off of his raven hair, as he smiled down at her, waiting for something.

Her mind screamed at her to shove him away, to flee, to hide. Her hands lunged.

And dragged his lips to hers.

He tasted of heated spices and musk, and when she inhaled, she smelled the fresh, wild pines that grew on the mountains of Asgard, and the strong, indefinable scent of magic that hung around him like a cloak.

His skilful seduction of her lips quickly degenerated into a heated, panting duel for submission, as Jane refused to yield and he refused to give in. She found herself pulled astride his lap, his arousal pressed tightly against her own, beneath the layers of fabric and metal between them.

With a moan, Jane pushed insistently at the layers of his clothing, prompting an amused chuckle to shiver in the minute gap between their lips as they broke their frantic kiss. With a barked word, his clothing seemingly melted away, leaving his alabaster skin gleaming in the simmering moonlight. Jane held herself on her knees above him, strength rushing through her veins for once, like an insidious drug, her mahogany tresses mingling with his jet locks. At last, the doubts and the fears of her mind were silenced and all she felt was a sense of power as his hands slid over her panting figure, her sweats and t-shirt disappearing just as he had done.

With a shudder and a gasp, she pulled his lips back to hers, feeling him once more take control, flipping her onto her back, beneath him. One hand possessively slid down her body, claiming all that once could have belonged to Thor, and now belonged to him.

With a cry of ecstasy, she cried his name when he pushed inside of her.

Loki.

Loki.

Jane drifted in an exquisite ocean of satiation and pleasure, her mind silenced, her body still. She never wanted to leave.

His voice broke her peaceful floating, and fell into her consciousness as she became aware of the harsh rasp of cotton sheets against her bare breasts, and the creaking complaints of an overtaxed mattress.

"Rest well, Jane," he breathed. "For I make you this promise, and I shall not break it. You will come to me, you will forsake my brother entirely, and you will rule this world by my side."

Jane frowned as the sunlight pierced her eyelids. Sore, aching in places that hadn't ached for a long time, she heaved herself up, opening her eyes to the peeling plaster and dirty paint of her motel room ceiling.

She shivered, holding the sheets close to her as memories of what had occurred the night before flashed across her memory.

What had she done?

His last words as he left her in the grey bleakness of the dawn rang in her ears.

For I make you this promise, and I shall not break it. You will come to me, you will forsake my brother entirely, and you will rule this world by my side…

And even as shame welled up within her, she knew she would follow him. He would not break his word.

Loki barely needed to use his army of Skrull against the people of Earth. One by one, they fell under his charm and his power, governments surrendering control to him freely, peoples flocking to worship him.

Except for SHIELD and the Avengers.

Jane's equipment picked up another Bifrost site opening on Earth. She waited, but Thor did not come for her, and her heart hardened.

In the end, Jane did not need to do much to find Loki. She merely needed to follow the Avengers, and the trail of destruction they left behind them as they fought Loki's rule. Cities were destroyed, people died and instead of rallying the human race to their fight, the Avengers found the very people they fought to protect, turning against them, preferring Loki's promise and vision of a new world, a safer world, a world without war.

She kept her distance, she broke off any communication with Erik or Darcy.

Let them think her dead, it was close enough to the truth. The old Jane, the Jane who had studied the stars fearlessly, without caring about others' opinions on her theories, the Jane who had almost knocked a Norse God over with her car, the Jane who had run to comfort him after he lay dying from wounds caused by the Destroyer, was gone.

Because Loki was right. She was more than that, so much more, and now he had unleashed it, she could not put the shadows within her back into their cages.

She would not diminish herself for anyone anymore.

There were no more dreams.

She entered the ruined city of Tokyo, dirtied, tired, worn from travelling. She pushed her way through the masses of panicking civilians who rushed away from the city, and the battle within.

She ignored the legions of Skrull who tried to overwhelm the great, green form of the Hulk.

She did not flinch when Captain America was thrown into a building over her head.

She did not even look up when Iron Man dodged two Skrull warheads to make them crash into a skyscraper.

She searched for Loki.

She found him in a ruined square, standing over the unconscious form of Black Widow, his staff raised for the killing blow, the assassin's red hair spread over the split concrete like the blood which would soon be spilt from her body.

Jane said one word. "Loki."

The sorcerer whirled, his emerald cloak swirling around him in the wind of the battle taking place above their heads. A triumphant smile lit his features, as he stepped away from the Black Widow, the pesky assassin all but forgotten, as his gaze centred on the dishevelled, filthy woman who stood watching him intently, her amber eyes almost glowing with the strength she now carried within her.

"I have kept my promise to you," he breathed, holding out one hand commandingly.

"That I would come to you," Jane finished. And he had. She had gone to him, freely, willingly and with certainty.

"Come, my Queen," he whispered. "Come to me and let us rebuild this world together."

Erik and Darcy flashed across Jane's mind, as she took one step. Thor, golden, mighty Thor smiled in her memory as she took another.

The dusty plains of Puente Antiguo, the stars in the night sky, the lab at home, the peeling plaster of the motel room in South America…

Her entire life whipped through her mind as she steadily walked towards Loki, through the carnage, through the destruction he and the Avengers had wrought in their endless battle.

She saw none of it, she saw only him.

And in her heart, darker than Thor knew, lighter than Loki could wish, she knew her actions were the right thing to do.

His strong, slender hand closed around hers, pulling her into his arms, as she willingly lifted her face for his kiss. His lips were fierce, possessive but then again so were hers, heated and passionate, making her one kiss with Thor in the deserts of New Mexico seem almost chaste in remembrance.

Loki broke from their hungry embrace, and his smile turned wicked. "You are mine," he hissed, a warning concealed in his silky, husky, elegant voice. Jane heard it, countered with a raised eyebrow of her own.

"Yes, I am," she replied. "But if I belong to you, then you belong to me, my King."

Loki simply smiled, anticipation dancing in his emerald eyes.

"LOKI!" a familiar voice roared, as Jane whipped around. Her eyes fell on the great, shining figure of Thor, Mjolnir held aloft in his strong hand. His eyes met hers, and he faltered, as horror crept into his expression. "Jane?"

Immediately, Jane was gathered to Loki's chest, as if in fear she would run to her former love, but she did not move in her King's embrace. His cloak wrapped around them both, his armour shining in the scant sunlight making it through the dark clouds above and the masses of Skrull warships.

Thor was joined by Iron Man, Captain America and Hawkeye, all three staring at Loki and Jane in growing comprehension, and horror.

She simply smiled, an alien, dark smile Thor could not recognise.

"Forgive me, brother," Loki called tauntingly, "But my Queen and I have other, more pressing matters to attend to."

And with that, they disappeared in a burst of power as a shout of rage echoed around them and Mjolnir flew with all its terrible strength to the spot where both had stood only moments before.

In the months that followed, Loki ensnared Jane's loyalty and love with a grip of iron. He taught her magic, unlocking the power buried deep within her DNA, where it had lain dormant in her genes and her ancestors' genes since the departure of the Asgardians millenia before. He unlocked an entire world before her, and gave it to her unstintingly.

Now power sizzled in her every vein, and in her eyes, and she became almost as terrible and dazzling to look upon as Loki himself.

The people of Earth bowed to her with love and fear commingling in their hearts.

With Jane's quiet guidance, Loki steadily won the respect and love of the people he now ruled, as the violence and fear unconsciously spread by the Avengers and SHIELD only grew.

He was lenient when they were afraid, showed compassion when they suffered injury, and was forgiving when they reacted in irrational fear to the war, aiding his enemies.

Loki was cunning and eloquent, his words and speeches planting seeds in the minds of all those who opposed him, of fear and doubt, and of love and agreement in those who served and worshipped him.

And his Queen.

Far, far away, on the Asbru Bridge stood Odin, looking down upon Earth and the conflict there, with the aid of Heimdall.

He sighed. The war was lost, and the people of Earth were only suffering from the persistence of the Avengers. Loki had won.

He would recall Thor and he would wait, and watch. If Loki ruled well and justly, he would leave Midgard alone. But until that was proven, his watch would be unceasing.

His gaze alighted on Loki's Queen, the mortal Jane Foster who helped Thor on Midgard during his exile. Somehow, he sensed that hope for Midgard, and for Loki, lay with her, and her alone.

His brow creased as he realised what he must do.

They were losing the war.

Thor's teeth ground together as he stood in the darkness. His brother had wrought chaos on Earth.

The Black Widow had fallen. Hawkeye, Stark and Rogers were imprisoned. The Hulk was dead.

SHIELD was all but a distant memory. Fireworks lit the sky tonight, as the enslaved peoples of Earth celebrated its downfall, and the end of the war.

And Thor was to be summoned home. The last of the Avengers, he swore to destroy Loki once and for all, before he departed this world.

He had enslaved Jane, his Jane, with some foul magic, turning her, twisting her into some unrecognisable sorceress. Cold, cruel, calculating, a perfect match to the monster his brother had become.

Regret twinged in his heart, but Thor hardened it. He could not undo the past, and in order to free Earth, and Jane, he must kill his brother.

He infiltrated the palace with a stealth and a patience he had not possessed, not so long ago, before Earth and Jotunheim, before Loki's madness.

The great marble monolith built of shining gold and white alabaster stone stood where France had once been, a city sprawling around it, filled with light and hope.

False hope. Cold light. Thor reminded himself of that, of the millions slaughtered mercilessly by the Skrull, by Loki himself. No matter how well he might be ruling the Midgardians now, that crime remained, stained upon his honour.

If he even possessed honour, anymore.

The living quarters where he knew Loki and Jane dwelt were as luxurious and spacious as the royal quarters on Asgard.

He crept into the darkened bedroom, praying he would not find Loki and Jane immersed in one another, in their bed.

Only one person slept in the bed, the silken covers drawn up and over her slender form. Jane.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Thor relaxed for one moment, his eyes lingering painfully on her gentle, exquisite features, peaceful in the moonlight.

He wavered for one moment.

Then Loki's voice punctured his reticence.

"I kept my promise, brother, to pay her a little visit," Loki, King of Midgard, taunted him from his position, leaning on the rails of a small balcony, an archway beside the bed opening out onto it, the silvery drapes the reason for Thor not noticing the trickster before.

"I will set her free from whatever spell you used to enslave her mind," Thor growled, enraged anew by Loki's triumphant expression.

"At last, brother, I surpass you," he growled, smirking. "I have taken all that was once so precious to you, and the amusing thing is, you did half the work yourself."

Thor hefted Mjolnir, and moved towards his brother.

Then he felt the cool, heavy weight of Loki's staff pressing into his neck from behind.

"And look at what you have wrought, brother," Loki hissed, pleasure and desire rushing through his veins as Thor stiltedly turned to see Jane in the moonlight, her pale lavender, lace gown flowing around her like a waterfall in the silvery tendrils emanating from the moon above. She held his staff, which housed the tesseract of Asgard, calmly and without hesitation as she eyed Thor like the predator he had turned her into.

Her long hair, set in ringlets, was held back from her luminous face by a pearled band, and the folds of her gown parted as she moved forward to reveal her swollen stomach.

It had been eight months since Thor had seen her last, at close quarters, that terrible day he watched her disappear from his sight in his brother's arms.

Her gaze was merciless, direct, as it pinned him where he stood. Power emanated from her every pore, there in the fiery depths of her amber eyes.

"Leave us, Thor," when her voice came, it was cold and commanding. He almost gasped at the compulsion in her tone, the power she enthused the words with. What had Loki done to her? "Return to Asgard in peace, and leave us be."

"Jane, do you not see what Loki has done to you? To Earth?" Thor begged her, Mjolnir slumping in his hand. Loki simply smiled, as Jane shifted, the staff beginning to vibrate with the power of the woman who held it.

"He realised my full power. He set me free," she replied steadily, her eyes flickering to her husband and King, before meeting Thor's pained gaze once more. "And I carry our child."

"It is you, brother, who wrought this destruction on Midgard, and on the decadent, corrupt systems which controlled this Realm before I came," Loki murmured, joining his wife and Queen, entwining her waist with his arm. "I sensed you would come tonight, and I lessened the guard so you might make it here with less difficulty than you would have done otherwise."

"How kind of you," Thor bit out through gritted teeth. Loki's geniality faded, to be replaced by a coldness which matched that of his wife.

"Run back to Asgard, brother. I will only spare you this once," he growled. "For old times sake."

Thor met Jane's unflinching, powerful gaze beseechingly, but she only leaned into her husband more, nestling into his hold even as she held his staff aloft.

"What did you do to her?" he hissed, painfully.

"I?" Loki asked with a bitter laugh. "I did very little. It was you, Thor, who was the catalyst for Jane's glorious transformation. It was you who broke your promise to return, just to thwart me, and so confined her to the role of the dutiful maiden, waiting for her lover to return. It was you who overlooked all of her radiant soul, both light and dark, and would have trapped her with your arrogance and stupidity. I merely gave her the keys to her cage. And soon she will bear my heir."

Thor roared, and sprang forward. Jane summoned one blast and let it fly, slamming Thor to the ground without mercy, looking down at him coolly as the couple stepped forward.

"I will keep my promise to release you back to Asgard, brother," Loki hissed. "But never attempt to attack me or mine again. Next time, I would not be so merciful."

Thor was stunned and silent, his tongue too heavy to move, his great body paralysed. Jane knelt down, the folds of her dress floating across his armour. She kissed his forehead almost tenderly, before stepping back up and into her husband's arms.

"Goodbye, Thor," she murmured, as Loki took the staff and summoned the power of the tesseract, sending Thor back to Asgard.

And it was over.

Jane's breath left her with a shuddering sigh, and her strength wilted. Loki swept her up into his arms, and carried her to their bed, laying her upon it.

"Rest, love," he told her, as she stirred. "You have overexerted yourself today."

"Your son is fine," she told him archly even as her eyelids fluttered heavily. "Besides I could hardly allow his father to be flattened before he has even been born, could I?"

Loki chuckled, and kissed her hand as she slipped into slumber. He had the guard returned to their posts and alerted the military in case Thor, or Odin, attempted a retaliation.

None came.

The next morning, Jane stirred, warm and tightly held in her husband's embrace, their child quickening within her. She pushed Loki's heavy arm from her waist, allowing him to sleep on, peaceful and undisturbed as she slid from the bed.

She wanted to feel the sunlight on her skin.

She stood on her balcony, overlooking the palace Loki had built with magic, and looked out over the city beyond and the green plains of what had once been France beyond that.

She breathed the free air, and relished the sun's warmth. All was well.

Suddenly, she felt the air grow thick and tense with magic, as she spun, only to find a bundle awaiting her on the railing. Bending down with some difficulty, she untucked the amber silk to reveal a Golden Apple, graceful and luminescent where it lay in its cradle of silk.

It smelled delicious as she stared down at it, wondering if it was some trick from the Asgardians, the scent of magic she knew so well now still lingering upon the air.

"Eat it," her husband's voice suddenly tore through her uncertainty, as he appeared behind her, his strong, bare arms sliding around her waist, holding her and their child. "It is one of the Life-giving Golden Apples of Idunn. It will make you as I am, and our child, granting you both long life and youth."

There was such certainty in Loki's voice and mien that Jane did as she was bid without another thought, her teeth shearing through the soft skin and into the fragrant flesh beneath.

A startled 'ooh' left her lips, as she closed her eyes and savoured the sweet taste of eternity. When she had eaten it to the core, Loki captured her lips and mouth with his, passionately seeking out every last inch of her mouth, and tasting the Apple's sweet juices once more, as she moaned softly in his arms.

In his heart, where the darkness which had ruled him since he discovered his true birth did not dwell, he sent thanks to his foster father for this gift. The gift of Life for his Jane, and their child. He left her lips, staring down at her flushed, radiant skin, and glowing eyes.

"Together, we will create a second Asgard to shine in the heavens," he told her, softly before their lips met again.

As they stood there, King and Queen of the conquered Earth, kissing in the golden sunlight, the future already began to look brighter.

Jane buried the core of the Apple in their gardens, and another Tree grew, one to rival the one which bore the Golden Apples of Idunn in Asgard, strong and mighty. When it flowered, Loki and Jane's son was born, a child as strong and powerful as his parents.

And Odin felt pride as his second son ruled Midgard well, and his grandson grew to be a strong, wise ruler after him, ruling with justice and love.

And many centuries, a second Asgard shone in the heavens, and peace reigned for many long millenia.

And every day, for the rest of her long, golden life, Jane awoke with the taste of spices and musk, and the scent of magic and pines suffusing the air around her, in the arms of her husband.

I have another Lokane which I'm planning which will be completely AU, althought it will include the Avengers and Thor, of course. I also have a Loki/OFC which I'm in the process of writing which I hope you will enjoy.