Disclaimer: I don't own any of this Marvel stuff.

A/N: This is my first ever Thor fanfiction and I'm really excited about it! It's takes place after Thor:TDW and is going to be filled with angsty Lokane stuff.

SHADOWPLAY

She could feel the boiling venom pumping through her veins. That now familiar burning that only became worse with every beat of her heart. The muscles in her limbs began to spasm in a sickening dance as her blood burned. Her eyes watered and she clenched her teeth as she fought the fire within her body. A scream ripped from her mouth into the inky black that surrounded her. She might die from this, she thought. Could one die from this? No, she needed to fight this, she would not succumb to the likes of this. Her hands clawed at her wrists and at her chest.

'GET. OUT,' she snarled into the black. As if hearing her words her body convulsed once more. The dark started to bleed into her vision and her body burned beyond anything she could have ever imagined. She could feel her mind going numb trying to block everything out, trying to spare her the pain. Then suddenly there was a cool sensation on her temple and her burning cheeks. Not just cold air, but cool hands. It was like an electric shock, the resuscitation she needed and her eyes snapped open. She wrenched her head around to find the source. They had to be there, she needed to see them before it was too late. She needed to know, she needed proof.

A pale hand. A flash of gold.

'Wake up.' A ghost of a voice echoed in her ear. As fast as it had been there, it was gone and she exhaled a deep ragged breath. Cold air rushed in, it felt so good to breathe! The fire within her body began to fade and she shuddered. Jane Foster bolted awake.

The familiar glow of her laptop screen greeted her. That was the fourth time this week she had dreamed of the Aether. Shaky hands rummaged though her papers on her desk to find a slim red book. There was something new this time, a whisper. Jane paused for a moment, what had it said? She wracked her brain. The words had fled from her memory in her rush to find her book.

'And pen, I need a pen too. Come on Jane, before you completely forget.'

Her other hand found the familiar shape in her desk top drawer and she began to scribble in the small book. Jamming in as much detail in the lines as she could before her mind wandered and the dream escaped her memory. Five months marked the time since Svartalfheim. Since Thor. Since the Aether. Jane shivered at the thought and leaned back in her office chair. The clock at the corner of her screen read 1:48 AM.

"Might as well make some coffee," she mumbled as she set down her pen and book. Sleep was out of the question now as she could rarely fall back to sleep after a dream. Navigating in the dark past whirring machines and messy file cabinets, Jane made it to the pathetic looking coffee pot. She slapped a filter and some grounds in the top of the machine and topped it off with a full pot of water from the lab sink and flipped the ON switch. On her way back to her desk she grabbed a large maroon knit sweater Darcy had left in a pile on a chair and slipped it over her head.

'Time to look through the four hours of data I have gathered since I fell asleep,' Jane mused to herself.

She had thrown herself back into her work, the thing that was always familiar and comforting to her. What else was she supposed to do after her space hop with gods and creatures from legend? And for a time it was almost therapeutic for her. Jane worked and tinkered away, looking to the stars for comfort. It worked until the dreams started.

Darcy had suggested a dream log, something that Jane had laughed off at first. What was she supposed to do, take her dreams to an interpreter and then put on psychiatric leave? Freud would have a field day with what went on in her head while she slept! She and Darcy had argued for days about the dream log. A faint smile crossed her face at the memory. They had bickered until the dreams took a slight turn. She began to wake up to the sensation of cold on her cheek like an ice cube on a burn. Then pale fingers or hand against the back of her neck or on her brow. Jane began to cut back on her coffee intake, but the sensations became more and more intense. They were completely beyond any lucid dream she had ever had. And thanks to her wacky sleeping schedule she had had a few. Just one of the perks of being a devoted astrophysicist. And so Jane began to do what she always did. She began to log entries, to collect data. She began to study her dreams.

Sharp teeth and steel eyes flashed in the dim light.

"Quite the curious creature you are, Jane Foster. I believe it is time I payed you a real visit."

So there we are! Would love to get some feedback! :)