Author's Note: Hello everyone! I'm back!

Dear returning readers, I am sorry for the ridiculously long wait. Life just loves to get in the way of writing! But I'm back in the saddle, and I'm ready to embark on another story with you all.

First things first, this story picks up where the last one left off. Since it's been so long, you may want to take a peek back as a refresher. Second, I feel like it should be said that we're in slight AU territory—we've pretty much verged off onto our own path already. There are details about settings and elements that I've fabricated for the sake of this series, and I'm fairly certain that they will eventually contradict the MCU continuity (like the Infinity Stones, for instance).

Unlike in the past, I probably won't be able to update weekly, though for what it's worth, most of the chapters are three times the length of earlier chapters.

Lastly, let me just give an all encompassing thanks to my beta readers, not-the-black-phoenix and Hr'awkryn. You guys are the best, and I don't think I would have made it this far without your help and support.

ONE

old friends

A single cursory glance at the sky, and most would not realize anything was amiss. It was of no surprise that human eyes had not noticed the oddity. The shift in the air was subtle and seemingly benign, a change that could've been attributed to the passing of seasons. And yet... it kindled a sense of unease within me. There was magic in the air, born not of any individual but of nature. Such occurrences were always a cause for concern.

I tilted my head, eyes narrowed at the curiosity. The light before us scattered at odd angles, the sun's rays striking the ground in different directions, generating abnormal shadows. It was as though light was disappearing into one space and appearing in another. They were two ends of a portal occurring just yards apart.

The frantic flutter of birds caught my attention then. Like a cloud, the flock soared higher into the sky, course wavering, until they vanished into thin air. Before I could voice my wonder, they emerged from nothing a mere half-dozen yards to the east of where they'd dematerialized. Brow lifting, I shared a look with Loki beside me.

His eyes glinted in a stray beam of sun. "Strange happenings indeed."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "And I suppose you know the cause of these strange happenings?"

"Of course. Is that a question that needs asking?"

Biting on the inside of my cheek, I suppressed a smile. "Well, you would never admit ignorance in the presence of these mortals. That is why I ask."

He returned his gaze to the sky, saying nothing further, and I knew I was right.

I cleared my throat and cast a look in the direction of Agents Hill and Barton. Despite their distance from us, I suspected they heeded our entire exchange. While we wondered at the strange phenomena, neither of them appeared to be the slightest bit amused. Maria Hill maintained her usual neutral expression, whereas Agent Barton glowered at Loki, an arrow twirling in his nimble fingers, ever seconds away from being nocked in his bow.

Five other SHIELD personnel hovered around them—scientists, if their unusual devices and lack of weaponry were any indication. They stood just behind Agent Hill, watching Loki and me as if we held all of the answers in the universe. Loki's evasion of my question led me to assume that, as much as he liked to pretend he knew everything, he possessed little more than speculation on the subject at hand. But the humans waiting on us did not need to know that.

Regardless of how much Loki did or did not know, my own curiosity could not be tamed. "When did this start, precisely?"

Upturning both hands, Agent Hill shook her head. "Hard to say. This was only called to our attention this morning. Our best guess is that this has been going on for days. According to our readings, the anomalies are getting progressively worse."

With a nod, I looked upwards again at the peculiar light. It would be no surprise to discover that these anomalies were related to whatever brought us here from Nidavellir. "Do you suppose the paths between worlds have been torn open?" I asked Loki.

"Doubtful," he said. "Whatever these... rifts may be, they are not the same as the paths we would open ourselves. And I assure you, I know the difference." Some may have mistaken his latter remark as one of pride, but I sensed it was quite the opposite.

"So this is rather out of the ordinary then..." I murmured.

"Yes, I thought we already established that?"

At his dismissive tone, I cast him a sharp look. But before I could return with a rebuke, my stomach decided to voice its displeasure right at that very moment. Ignoring the quirk of his mouth, I flushed and wrapped my hands around my midsection as if to quell its anger. I clung onto the last vestiges of my dignity and peered round at the agents of SHIELD. "My apologies. I have not had the opportunity to break my fast."

Agent Hill's stern expression did not change, but I swore I saw the gleam of amusement in her eye. "Somebody get Eirlys a muffin."

Thus far, Maria Hill had adeptly maintained some sense of cordiality. Agent Barton, on the other hand, did not have the same patience for it. "So, do you have anything useful to tell us?" He came around to stand before us, his grip on his bow tightening visibly. "Or are you just going to get in our way and waste our time? Because I have better things to do than stand around and watch birds disappear into the sky."

If Loki was at all irritated by his impertinence, he did not let it show. "Agent Barton, how wonderful it is to see old friends."

Barton looked to be on the verge of taking aim with his bow when I intervened, pressing Loki back with a hand to his chest. "Loki, please, they have been gracious enough to ask for our help politely." I lifted a brow at him and felt his muscles slacken beneath my touch. Still, the contention between them were not as bygone as I'd hoped. "I would not squander their good will."

Loki canted his head, gaze meeting mine. "And why should we even bother to care about their good will?"

"Because I care." A sad smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. "They've helped us in the past. I see no reason to turn our backs on them now." A shadow passed over his features, dark memories haunting his eyes; it vanished as soon as it came, so fleeting that I almost didn't see it.

Loki hummed, smirk returning to its usual place. "Yes, of course. The mortals, after all, have barely begun to understand passageways such as these. They will always be in desperate need of our help."

Barton's eyes narrowed at the minor slight, but any retort he may have given was interrupted by the arrival of my morning meal. It came in the form of a small cake-like food full of blueberries accompanied by a thick paper cup filled to the brim with a dark liquid. Holding the drink aloft, I took a tentative sniff before recognizing the cozy scent. Coffee. A small sip warmed me through and through.

"We were just getting started when you two showed up," Agent Hill informed us. "This goes beyond mere curiosity. We see it as a cause for concern."

"Cause for concern?" Loki said. "Then I suppose some poor fool stumbled upon this site, which is what brought it to your attention."

"In short: yes." Maria Hill gestured for us to follow, which I did without delay. Unlike me, Loki seemed a touch more begrudging to accept direction from a human, small as it was. "A couple of those 'poor fools' are still here."

She led us past an overturned vehicle and several oddly stacked receptacles, not once commenting on the peculiar display. As we made our way across the expanse of pavement, I spotted an arrangement of white canopies. Amongst them, a number of SHIELD agents grouped together, prodding a dark-haired figure with their devices and rapidly spoken questions. It was not long before I identified the runaway speech that I could only belong to one human with whom I was acquainted.

Darcy sat under one of the canopies, a cup of steaming liquid clutched between her hands. Beyond her, another canopy sheltered a young man I did not recognize, the confusion in his expression well evident. I searched the area further for Jane Foster; if Darcy was here, in the presence of this anomaly, there was little doubt Jane would be nearby. Even so, she was nowhere to be seen.

When we made our approach, Agent Hill addressed the personnel surrounding Darcy, "Give us a minute."

They obeyed, scattering to allow us unhindered passage.

Darcy looked up, her gaze meeting mine in an instant. "Eirlys!" Plunking her cup down on the ground, she hurried to greet me. "It's been like a whole year. Hey, this looks nice." She motioned to my pristine armour and nodded in approval. "So, how's it going?"

"I am quite well." I smiled, gladdened for the first time since arriving on Midgard. "It is nice to see you in relative health."

As she grinned in return, her attention was soon drawn towards Loki. "Whoa, who's this?" She gave my shoulder a light shove in jest. "He your boyfriend?"

"I am Loki," he replied, eyes glinting. "You may have heard of me."

Her mouth all but fell open. Sidling closer to me, she shielded her mouth with the back of her hand before whispering, "Seriously? That guy's your boyfriend?" Her tone did not colour the question in a positive light, and I could not blame her for it. Loki's deeds—good and bad—must have been known to the mortal realm. Since he'd slain Thanos, I hoped they would depict him more favourably as time went on. They and the rest of the Nine Realms. But I had yet to see that result.

Disregarding Darcy's welcoming words, Agent Hill stepped between us to carry on with the issue at hand. "We're hoping they can help us figure out exactly what the hell is going on. Darcy, can you tell them what you told us?"

Coat clutched tight around her shoulders, Darcy motioned to the dilapidated building behind her with the tilt of her head. "Which part? There was a floating truck. But that wasn't as cool as the loopy portal thing where you could drop something in one end and it would come flying out somewhere else. Sometimes stuff wouldn't come back. We lost a lot of shoes." I blinked at the last comment, but the sudden furrow in her brow swept aside all curiosity. "Then Jane disappeared somewhere in the building for like five hours. That's when I freaked out and called the cops."

I glanced up at the building. "Jane disappeared? Like those birds before?"

"Yeah, except I thought she wasn't gonna come back," Darcy said, her countenance sobering further. "SHIELD showed up right after the cops did. I guess they've been keeping tabs on Jane since that whole thing with the purple what's-his-face. Kinda creepy, if you ask me."

Barton's palpable displeasure managed to deepen. "Creepy? You should be grateful we give a damn. I missed out on my leave for this?"

Darcy threw him a skeptical look.

"Excuse him," Hill interjected. "He's a bit grouchy about this new assignment of his. Please continue."

The animosity simmered in the air still. Nevertheless, Darcy did as requested and pressed onwards, "Anyway, before SHIELD even got here, Thor dropped down from the sky and snatched Jane right up when the cops tried to arrest her." With the haphazard wave of her hand, she gestured towards the Bifrost rune that had previously escaped my notice.

My brow lifted. "Thor was here?" I was somewhat mollified by the knowledge that he'd been here before us, offering the assistance of Asgard, as it were. Yet his abrupt appearance and subsequent departure indicated that whatever was occurring may have been worse than I'd assumed. The mystery of unfamiliar passageways in the sky was one thing, but having Jane Foster disappear for five hours only to be swept away by Thor felt like an omen.

Surprise coursed through me when Loki made plain his own interest. "And for what reason did my brother take her? Did he bother to offer any explanation?"

"Nope." Darcy shook her head. "But I think it had something to do with the big red, you know... WHOOSH, that came from her." Her commentary was accompanied by an expansive sort of hand motion, one that Loki seemed to have no trouble rolling his eyes at.

In spite of his exasperation, he did not hesitate to press her further. "Describe what happened beforehand."

She shrugged. "Thor just appeared, then the cops tried to grab Jane, and this huge red shockwave came flying out of her. I don't really know how to explain it. It was super weird, is all I'm saying. Jane kinda fainted a bit before Thor took her away."

Although I found the entire event disconcerting, I could not understand its significance. Loki, however, appeared to have gleaned more. Brow furrowed, his face blanched just enough for me to discern in the pale light of the sun. Then, without preamble, he began walking towards the unfortunate building whose shadow we lingered beneath.

"I need to see the site itself," he said, not bothering to glance behind as we trailed after him. "Only then might I be able to ascertain what mysticism plagues us now."

I strode ahead of the others, my hastened steps making the shield strapped to my back bounce uncomfortably beneath my cloak. "You know what it was that Jane Foster encountered, don't you?"

"I might have an idea."

My brow rose. "An idea? Nothing more?"

Never slowing his stride, he cast me a look. "I would rather like to see things firsthand before settling on any one conclusion. Whatever it may be, I assure you Jane Foster has stumbled upon an ancient and powerful magic."

I could not suppress a breath of sardonic laughter. "Somehow, I do not find that assuring in the slightest."

The corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk. "At the moment, I am far more interested in discovering the cause of these abnormal passageways opening seemingly at random."

"Then you won't mind if I take the lead." Agent Hill stepped ahead of us, guiding us into the derelict structure.

The inside of the building was in no better condition than its outside. The very air we breathed was musty and damp, the walls marred with rust and grime. We strode further inside, the occasional bird hopping past before taking flight to disappear into the rafters above. Despite the dreadful conditions, thus far, nothing seemed anomalous. And yet, when I glanced back at Darcy, her eyes darted about, the trepidation evident in her expression. Mere feet behind her, Agent Barton didn't appear any more at ease.

We passed through a narrow corridor, soon coming upon a towering, wide open chamber. Our steps slowed a touch, and my eyes widened at the sight that lay before us. A large vehicle floated in midair, yards from the ground, with nothing to support its flight. I had seen similar magic let loose by sorcerers, but such energy never existed by its lonesome.

A number of SHIELD agents were gathered around the vehicle, waving about their devices and making notations about this inexplicable find—inexplicable to them, at the least. Seeing Loki regard the vehicle with a keen eye, I wondered if he'd seen anything comparable or if he was concealing his bemusement in the presence of our human allies.

I had a mind to stop and observe the oddity closer, but Agent Hill showed no interest in doing so, giving the levitating vehicle little more than a cursory glance. We continued on our way, pacing round the display to ascend a set of stairs. Once or twice, I had to grip the handrail to keep from tripping on the debris and slippery mush of leaves. Halfway to the top, we crossed paths with several more SHIELD agents tossing a variety of cube-shaped objects down the stairwell. Like the birds we'd born witness to earlier, they vanished below and reappeared above, falling in an infinite loop.

Here, I paused, leaning over the edge of the rail to ogle the objects' endless descent. One fell a final time before never returning to fall again. "Has anyone discovered where the objects go?"

"Nope." Darcy came to a standstill beside me. "One of those kids volunteered though," she said, propping her forearms on the railing. "Jane didn't think it was a good idea, but I thought, if anyone should go, it should be the intern since he lost our car keys."

I furrowed my brow. "Intern?"

Darcy shrugged. "Yeah, I got a new intern to help with... stuff."

From behind her, Barton laughed. "He had no idea what he was getting himself into."

I graced him with a wry smile. "None of us ever do, Agent Barton."

In mere minutes, our company crested the stair and circled an opening in the floor that gave us a view of the steps below. "Energy readings go off the charts the deeper we go," Agent Hill informed us. "I've been told they look a lot like the readings we picked up when Thor first dropped in New Mexico."

Loki frowned at the mention, but he did not linger upon it. "That is of no surprise. The principles regarding connections between two different points of space are the same, irrespective of the cause."

"Is that your fancy way of saying magic did it?" Barton remarked, twirling an arrow still, even as we walked.

Deigning not to voice a response, Loki rolled his eyes once more.

At last, we crossed a final span of stone and reached another corridor. Here, we approached a waist-high barricade guarded by a handful of armed SHIELD agents. "We haven't allowed anyone past this point," Agent Hill said. "We've assumed that whatever weirdness Doctor Foster found down here made her disappear and reappear around the front of the building."

Eyeing the barricade with disdain, Loki brushed past it and stalked down the long hallway.

A heavy sigh on her lips, Agent Hill took a step closer to the barricade but did not dare cross. "I didn't say you were allowed down there."

That she thought the humans could dictate what he could and could not do did little more than amuse Loki. He did not bother to glance behind as he called, "I suspect that which Jane Foster encountered down these halls will not bring harm to the likes of us."

When he kept on traversing the corridor, I sighed and turned to face Agent Hill. "Excuse his rudeness. It has been a long while since we've had civilized company, and I fear all forms of courtesy have diminished. Diminished further, that is. Courtesy was certainly never something at which he excelled."

Agent Barton scoffed. "I second that."

Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I laid a hand on the pommel of my sword and passed through the barricade. "Perhaps it would be best if you awaited us outside in the instance we travel through the same passageways Jane Foster previously fell victim to. There is no knowing how long we may be."

"Uh... are you sure it's safe to go down there?" Darcy asked. "Because I'm pretty sure that didn't turn out so well for Jane."

I feigned a smile. "We have faced armies and mad titans before. I am certain no harm will come to us."

At Agent Hill's nod, I started down the hallway just moments after Loki turned a corner and passed from sight. Dead leaves crunched beneath my boots, the rattle of my sword at my side and the shield at my back echoing in the stone corridor. Casting one last look over my shoulder, I saw the three humans turn to make their way downstairs, four SHIELD agents remaining in their wake to guard the barricade. Upon their departure, I took a deep, steadying breath and followed Loki around the corner.

I nearly jumped when I found him leaning against the wall, waiting for me. He must've noted my reaction, for his eyes crinkled at the corners in amusement.

With a huff, I sauntered past him, slowing only to ensure he kept pace. "Tell me, Loki, how much would you happen to know about what is causing these disturbances? The lack of gravity, the unusual rifts in the realms—these seem like fairly worrisome occurrences to me." When I glanced his way, his brow furrowed, but he did not respond. "Or is it as I feared, and you don't know much at all?"

He actually had the decency to look chagrinned. "I can't claim to know a great deal." We trod along the corridor together, light filtering through the many holes in the ceiling. The condition of the structure was so poor that I had to wonder how it remained standing as it did. "I have little more than theories: dark magic, ancient devices, astronomical events. Truth be told, whatever Jane Foster happened upon may well provide us with an answer."

Side by side, the two of us advanced down the hall, cautious in our steps. Every so often, he would pause and observe the air, as if he were sensing magic. For all I knew, there might have been exorbitant amounts of magic in the atmosphere, but I could no longer perceive it as I once had, the link to my own magic severed from strain the day Loki destroyed the Tesseract.

As we approached the farthest door on the lefthand side, he gazed within and came to a full stop. "Well, I think perhaps it won't be so difficult to find a clue after all."

I sidled up behind, peeking around his shoulder to see into the room. At first glance, the room was like any other on this floor: large enough to fit a handful of desks, though little more than that. What was most remarkable about this one was the distinct lack of gravity.

Lingering in the doorway, we observed the peculiarity before deciding that, while unusual, it would bring us no harm. Once we entered the room, it became clear that everything was absent gravity save for us, the sight of which brought a smile to my face. I could not withhold my delight as I crossed the room, my hands brushing against the dry leaves drifting about. Most of them travelled towards the ceiling, as if they were falling backwards. I grasped one such leaf, holding it delicately between my forefinger and thumb. The moment I let go, it continued its journey upwards.

"I have never seen anything like this," I murmured.

Loki circled around me and crushed a leaf in the palm of his hand. When he let the pieces free, they fell up instead of down. "Neither have I."

"Is that so?" Letting my hands drop to my sides, I turned on my heel to face him. "I was under the impression that you've seen all sorts of indescribable things in the Cosmos. You've never once crossed paths with something like this?"

His expression darkened, as it often did in the shadow of his time spent in exile after he fell from the Bifrost. I felt compelled to speak on it further—we'd never truly spoken of it, after all—but this was neither the time nor the place. "You would do well to exercise a bit of caution," he remarked, pacing towards the opposite side of the room. "There's no knowing what you might stumble into as you are so often afflicted by misfortune."

I arched a brow. "The only reason I am so often afflicted by misfortune is because of you."

Just the same, I pursed my lips and looked around. He was right to be wary. In all likelihood, harm came to Jane Foster when she stumbled upon something that was not visibly amiss. Well aware that I could neither see nor sense hazardous magics, I turned with the intention of exiting the room.

As I made my way towards the door, a breeze tugged on my cloak, making the hem flutter about my legs. I peered down and around, brow cinching. The wind was coming from nowhere. Nowhere here, at the least. Hand on my scabbard, I rotated about to warn Loki.

But, the moment I faced him, everything surrounding me changed.

The sudden rush of cold air almost had me crying out in shock. A rough gale picked up in an instant, yanking at my cloak and biting at my skin. I ventured an attempt to look behind, but the very shift of my feet loosened the gravel beneath me. Before I could even scramble to regain my footing, a pair of arms encircled my waist and dragged me down atop a firm torso. Together, we hit the ground, putting an end to the tumble I'd almost fallen victim to.

Loki's cool breath caressed my ear as his arms tightened around me. "This is precisely what I feared would happen."

The lightness in his voice made me smile. "For what it's worth, I was trying to leave the room," I told him, squirming just to his left so that my shield was no longer digging into my back. "Thank the Norns I didn't slip off the edge of a cliff."

Fingers curling around my waist, he slid me aside, shifting my weight from his chest to the ground. Once he was assured that neither of us would go plunging down the hill, he propped himself up on his elbows to observe our surroundings. I did the same, clutching onto handfuls of gravel as if it would somehow anchor me to the hill we rested upon. I blinked once or twice, my eyes struggling to adjust to the strange, muted light of the realm we'd found ourselves in.

All that lay before us amounted to little more than a barren wasteland. In the gloom, my eyes discerned only shadows and charcoal-grey dirt. Beyond that, I could make out the bare outline of a mountain range that proved more familiar than expected. I did not have to venture a guess as to where we were. Even after all this time, I had no difficulty recognizing it.

"Svartalfheim," I breathed. "Never did I think we'd step foot on this world again."

Loki crouched beside me, scanning the area around us. We were atop a mound of rocks and dust; every hill and slope in the distance looked much the same. Below, there was an arid stretch of land that looked as though it had gone untouched for many a year. The kind of desecrated land that could no longer sustain life. These lifeless lands must have made the Celestial Woods and its surrounding fields all the more valuable and the Dark Elves fighting over it all the more hostile.

"The Dark Elves thought it such a fine idea to scorch their world," he said, climbing to his feet. When the hillside did not give way beneath him, he proffered a hand to me. I rose with his aid, though once I stood, he did not release my hand. "Those who remain live such a pathetic existence." He didn't need to voice it, but I knew he was referring to one faction in particular that existed in the wake of the Dark War: Nalak and his clan. I always believed he resented and pitied the Dark Elf clan leaders. Perhaps it was because they were not so unalike as he wished.

"It's a wonder the Celestial Woods survived the Dark War." I nodded in the direction of the mountain range where the forest sat snuggled against its base on the other side. "We would not have our dreamfoil if they'd succeeded in destroying everything millennia ago."

"They very nearly did." Loki gestured to the bottom of the hill where there sat a dark vessel half-submerged in the ground. A sharp spire-like appendage jutted from the top of the main structure, mostly intact. In fact, the majority of the craft appeared unscathed. The sight garnered the furrow of Loki's brow. "This ship looks less damaged than it should."

With a mere glance at me, he started down the slope. I kept pace as best I could, shuffling down the sliding gravel. Upon observing the shipwreck a little closer, I quickly understood what he meant. From what I knew of the Dark War, the Dark Elves sacrificed their ships to decimate the forces of Asgard when the tides of war ebbed out of their favour. Most of them rammed into the ground, self-destructed, and exploded into countless pieces. But this ship... this ship looked as though it crash-landed.

We reached the base of the hill in little time and dared to cross the unbroken terrain. The gale blustered around us, dragging me back by my cape. Gritting my teeth, I unclipped my shield from my back and braced it before me to protect my eyes from the whirlwind of dust. Loki remained ahead of me, steadfast despite the strength of the wind.

Unable to see past my shield and through the squall, I did not notice we'd reached our destination until Loki took hold of my arm and drew me close. We stood, pressed against the downed vessel, the black expanse at our backs. So near it now, I realized that it was much larger than I'd thought. The sloping spire stood numerous yards above, tall enough for me to have to tilt my head back to view the entirety of it. I could only hazard a guess as to how deep into the ground the rest of the ship went.

The piercing howl of the wind forced us to huddle close, our hips touching, his hand braced against the black metal hull of the ship. "Do you see any way inside?" I asked, all but shouting over the rising windstorm.

A smirk lifted the corner of his mouth as he laid his hand upon my hip, turning me to face the ship. With his opposite hand, he rapped his knuckles on the metal, bringing my attention to the bare outline of a door just barely obscured in the facade of the airship. I quirked a brow at him in return and drew closer to observe the side of the vessel. The door was smooth and practically one with the hull. The only indication that it was a door at all was the thin line marking its rectangular shape.

"It was not meant to be opened from the outside." Loki took a small step back, causing me to shiver in the absence of his touch. "However, assuming there were survivors in this wreckage, they would have exited from here."

"And they would have left the door unlocked." Stretching up on my toes, I ran my fingers along the edges. The space was too thin for me to find any sort of hold, thus I withdrew a dagger from my boot and wedged it in the lip of the door. I caught a glimpse of Loki's smile as I pried the door open, the dark metal swinging wide and slamming against the body of the ship. "What? Do I impress you?"

"Impress me?" He laid his palm to my cheek, his fingers sinking into my mussed hair. "With all I've seen, it'll take more than that to impress me."

Upturning my eyes, I bit back a laugh when he graced my brow with a kiss. In the blink of an eye, he was clambering into the entryway, the gloom drenching him in shadows. The opening stood several feet from the ground, but, with Loki's long legs, the height proved no obstacle to him. Once he found steady footing, he dropped to one knee and reached down to offer me assistance. Though I wanted to tell him that I did not need his aid, I accepted his hand, and my ascent occurred absent difficulty.

Even as I stood within the ship, the inside was still far too dark to see through. Loki sauntered a short ways ahead, igniting a sphere of greenish-blue light in the palm of his hand. I had expected to see the walls of the corridor or chamber we'd entered. What we saw instead was a landing of sorts, one that ran the length of the ship to our left and right.

I blinked at the sight, inching forwards to stand at Loki's side. Everything inside was tilted, the floor sloping a touch to our left—a product of the ship crashing to the ground at an angle. Ahead of us, there was a great wide chasm, dark and endless as the abyss. Together, we made a tentative approach. I crouched near the edge, peering over the brink of the landing. Loki let his light shine brighter, bathing some of the landings below in a faint luminescence. But the chasm was so wide and so deep that we could not see the very bottom if we tried.

"Just as I thought. This is one of their voyaging ships, for travelling into deep space." Loki knelt beside me, moving the light in his hand in the direction of the landing across from ours. I could discern the contours of a mechanism, one large enough to house a humanoid of our size. "They would place themselves in stasis to weather long journeys."

"But they're all empty now, and I see no bodily remains." Leaning back, I scanned the empty stasis cells on either side of us. "Someone must have survived the crash."

He gave a nod and rose to his full height. "In all likelihood, they would have integrated with the surviving clans."

In the time of the Dark War, King Bor sought to eradicate the enemy, leaving few meagre clans to survive in whatever was left of their world. Subsequent to our multiple altercations with them, I was beginning to wonder if there were any left. The Asgardians have driven them to extinction, I thought. And I have done nothing but contribute to that. The notion made my stomach churn.

I swallowed dryly and glanced his way. "Do you think... do you think Nalak might have been among those who fought in the Dark War?" His head tilted as I voiced the question. "Perhaps he had more otherworldly knowledge than most of the other clan leaders who yet live. It could be why he and his clan appealed more to the Mad Titan."

"Possibly. Though it matters little now that they are both dead."

I wished I could've laughed at his flippant dismissal of our past enemies, but my amusement never overcame that deep-seated dread. My apprehension and fear of Thanos still remained too near, regardless of how many months it had been. Tongue darting out to wet my lips, I too stood. "I am curious to see more of this ship."

He hesitated for a moment, his eyes searching mine. Then a small smile graced his features, and he said, "As am I."

Contending with the incline of the ship, we edged away from the rim of the ship's chasm, wary of its lack of railing. To our fortune, the length of the ship was not as daunting as the height of it. Passing stasis cell after stasis cell, we found a stairwell just a dozen yards from the entryway. It circled up and up, reaching three levels above. With Loki lighting the way, the two of us ascended the ship.

At the summit, we came to a small chamber, one that still had a view of the dark chasm below. Through the shadows, I saw that this uppermost chamber contained only two stasis cells. When we took a single step over the threshold, a low hum sounded somewhere beneath our feet. We came to a standstill, glancing around us as best we could in the dark. After several long seconds, a number of meagre lights to our left flickered to life. All were faint, marking the walls with red lines and runic words I did not understand.

"I'm surprised any of this still works," I remarked, pacing further into the gloom.

Loki diverged to the left, towards a circular opening that led to what appeared to be a star map. "Despite their complete and utter failure, the Dark Elves did know a fair bit about technology," he said, his tone a touch begrudging. "At the least, the main systems have endured, even if the rest of the ship has not fared as well."

I wandered closer to the walls, inclining my head to observe the odd runes, glowing red in the dark metal. They were nothing I'd ever seen before: an antiquated Dark Elf language from before the birth of the universe. It was a language that had long since died out, along with much of their culture. And their race.

"It seems one of my theories is proven correct."

Straightening, I saw Loki standing in front of the star map. Two-dimensional renderings of various worlds—the Nine Realms—lit up the wall beyond the circular archway. I crossed the metal floor, now awash with the light of red runes, and passed through the opening. At the railing, I stood close to Loki, observing the map. The entire wall, from the ceiling to deep down into the very depths of the ship, was alight in a blue depiction of the Cosmos.

Loki gazed upon me, his eyes shining bright blue in the lighting. "What do you see?"

Putting aside the obvious answer, I gave the map a second look. After a moment, I could distinguish the direction in which all of the realms were moving. Every single one of them was about to align with the others. "Oh, Norns... the Convergence."

I recalled only a little about the Convergence from what my tutors taught me in my youth. The Nine Realms last saw the Convergence at the end of the Dark War, when all the worlds aligned, the veils between them becoming, in essence, non-existent. "We should have known."

"Well, you and I are not particularly in the habit of keeping track of events that occur every five thousand years," Loki noted, his fingers coming to rest on the small of my back as he edged closer to the railing. "As I guessed, this is the cause of the irregularities transpiring in the Nine Realms—the tears, the changes in gravity. Whatever Jane Foster encountered stemmed from this."

Frowning, I watched as the Nine Realms grew nearer to the Convergence with every passing second. "So... you believe she stumbled upon an ancient and powerful magic because of the tears opened by the Convergence. What is it that you think she found?"

His answer was simple for something so complex: "The Aether."

A terrible chill travelled from the roots of my hair down to my very toes. The Aether. One of the Infinity Stones. It was the source of power with which the leader of the ancient Dark Elves, Malekith, once attempted to blanket all the Nine Realms in eternal darkness. Could it have been coincidence that we had been dragged from the forsaken building on Midgard and tossed into Svartalfheim? What of Jane Foster? Was her discovery a mere coincidence as well?

Shoulders dropping, I met Loki's gaze in the dim lighting. "If that is true, then we best return to Asgard. They may require our help. Either that, or we need to be sent back to Nidavellir."

His brow arched at that. "I don't think protecting the already well-hidden dwarves is going to be a priority for Odin."

I gave a short, dry laugh. "At any rate, I would first repay Midgard a visit to inform the humans of what we have discovered."

With a huff, he turned and began the trek back to the door through which we entered. "I suspected you would say that."

"You would have them clamouring and fearing the worst?"

He looked back at me, eyes gleaming. "Aren't you curious to see what they would do?"

By that point, I cast him a baleful look.

Once we descended the stairs and crossed the length of the ship, we exited through the hatch. Despite the time we spent inside, the awful subdued light of the sun had not changed. Through the gusts of wind and the churning clouds above, I thought I saw the sun eclipsed by a moon, but it was too difficult to observe as the rising winds picked up dust and soot all around us. Either way, it soon passed from view—as did everything else on Svartalfheim—once Loki and I ranged the hills and ventured back through the tear between worlds.

In the blink of an eye, we arrived back in the abandoned structure on Midgard. But we were not in the room we had disappeared from. Confusion clouded my mind before I recognized the much larger chamber housing the levitating vehicle. Half a dozen SHIELD agents froze at our sudden appearance, some with eyes wide and mouths agape.

I managed to voice a hasty apology before following after Loki, who was rather keen on vacating the premises with long strides.

The daylight of Midgard assaulted my eyes, forcing me to use my shield to provide shade. As before, we found Darcy sitting beneath her designated canopy, another steaming cup of coffee clasped close. Agent Maria Hill lingered nearby, arms crossed and looking as though she had infinitely more important tasks to complete elsewhere.

When they spotted us, Darcy hopped off her chair, eagerness in her gaze. Agent Hill seemed far less enthused. "What did you find in there?" she asked.

"There are more fissures in your world, deeper in the building," Loki told her.

"I would not recommend venturing inside again," I said, preempting any perilous suggestions Loki might have thought to make.

Darcy chewed on her lower lip and drew closer to me. "Do you know what happened to Jane?"

Before I could answer, Loki deigned to preempt me. "We know not what transpired. As of now, I can offer no ideas as to why Thor felt compelled to take her back to Asgard." My brow dipped at the apparent lie, but I could not interject. "As for the open paths, there is little you can do other than wait for them to pass."

Although I thought it courteous to share what we knew with the humans, it was clear that Loki did not. Perhaps he did not have the patience to explain all they did not know or could not understand about the Nine Realms. And I was willing to agree just this once. I could not deny that returning to Asgard was an urgent matter that brooked no wasted time. Clarifications would be given later, or so I hoped.

"Loki and I will travel to Asgard to discover what ails Jane." I offered Darcy the most reassuring smile that I could conjure. "We shall return with tidings as soon as we can. For now, I would not have you worry."

Darcy relaxed a touch. "Just... don't go disappearing on us for a year again. That would be a pretty crappy way to find out Jane's not coming back 'cause Asgard is way more awesome and she's married into royalty or something."

I lifted a brow, sincerely doubting that such a thing would ever occur. But that was another discussion for another time. "I won't let that happen, I promise."

"We best depart now." Though the impatience in Loki's voice was palpable, it did not keep him from supplying Agent Hill with one final quip. "Oh, and tread carefully these next several days."

Agent Hill's eyes narrowed at his warning, and her subsequent frown made plain that she was not satisfied by our answers. Nevertheless, she did not attempt to stall us. For my part, any thought of providing answers was deterred by Loki's hurried steps. Withholding a sigh, I quickened my pace to match his stride until we reached the Bifrost rune just yards away. Darcy and Agent Hill remained where they were, watching—Darcy with avid interest, Agent Hill with wariness.

Peering upwards, into the clouds, I took a calming breath. "Heimdall, if you would be so kind."

The air began to stir, drawing us in, pulling us upwards. In mere seconds, a light descended from the clouds, engulfing us entirely. I felt the gentle tug before being towed away from Midgard. All became a blur as we went soaring through the endless dark, past stars and planets and clouds of dust.

After several long months, we were returning to Asgard at last.

Author's Note: The title of the story is a reference to the song Kingdom Come by the Civil Wars.