Thor pulls a tiny human girl out of the rubble of New York and comes face to face with his soulmate. Soulmate AU, ThorXhuman!reader. I like the idea of the big bad Thunder God being a complete softie at heart and this happened.

Ellie Brookes.

Two words, twelve letters, memorised long before he understood their meaning.

Thor had always found the idea of a Soulmark incredibly romantic. The idea that Fate had seen him and chosen his perfect match.

For as long as Thor could remember, he'd dreamt of her. As a child, he'd thought of little else. He'd regularly earned a harsh scolding from his teachers, from his weapons instructors, from his Father, for not paying attention. He couldn't help it; he was consumed with the idea of the woman Fate had designed for him. What did she look like? Would she be as loud and boisterous as him? Would she be as violent, as weapon-hungry, as quick to anger (and, in later years as he came to see these as bad traits, he wondered, 'would she still love him despite these things?')? Would she match his fire, or would she be more of a gentle balm to sooth his flames?

Would she love him, the way he was already certain that he loved her?

As Thor grew up, he envisioned her in different roles. As a ten year old boy, he envisioned her as one of the Asgardian noble girls who giggled when he glanced their way at events. As a seventeen year old, when he began to throw himself more into his weapons training, he envisioned her as one of the warrior-women he saw training in the courtyard. As a twenty-two year old, when the Allfather formed an allegiance with Alfhaim, he envisioned her as one of the beautiful Alfhaim elves who arrived in his kingdom to celebrate their treaty. (Ironically, hundreds of years later, when he did finally find her, despite having imagined her in thousands of different forms, he'd not once imagined the tiny human she ended up being).

When all his friends began to find their own Soulmates, he'd gone to Frigga. His Mother and the Allfather were the only two in the nine realms permitted to sit upon the high seat of Hlidskjalf, to look out over the realms. But whilst Odin and Frigga could both see what was and what had passed, only Frigga had the power to also see all that would someday come to be.

So Thor had gone to her, and he had begged his mother to put him out of his misery. "Please, you must tell me," Thor demanded. "Have you seen her? Have you seen my One?"

"You know that I cannot speak of what I have Seen," Frigga said. And it was the truth; Thor did know this. Whilst his Mother had been gifted foresight, and she knew all that was to come, she was barred from ever speaking of it. A curse, more than anything; to know the future, and yet be forced to watch it happen, unable to stop it. (In later years, Thor would look back at the special attention she had always paid to Loki, and he would think sadly of his devoted Mother watching as her adopted son spiralled into a madness she was powerless to pull him from, knowing that his Fate, to be the bringer of death and misery to so many- including his own Soulmate- was already set in the stars).

"I just- I've been waiting for so long," Thor said dejectedly. "I've waited an eternity- how many more will I have to wait?"

Frigga had looked upon him sadly, before laying a hand on his hunched shoulder. "Fear not, my son," she said comfortingly. "She will come to you when the time is right."

Thor's entire being perked up. "So you have seen her?!"

"You know that I cannot tell you that," Frigga repeated, her gaze twinkling. "But my son, your souls are intertwined. Destiny will bring you to her someday, when the time is right."

Thor took these words to heart; his Soulmate would appear when she was meant to, and not a moment sooner. So as the Thunder God got older and wiser, as the centuries passed, he thought of her less actively. No longer envisioning her everywhere he went, or actively dreaming of her. He never forgot her, nothing like that- how could he, when her name was scrawled in elegant writing over his forearm? No longer thinking of her constantly, thoughts of her would come to him in certain moments. In his quieter moments, he would think or her, he would hope that wherever she was now, that she was alright… that she was happy. In his more dangerous moments, bleeding on the battlefield of a seemingly unwinnable fight, he would take solace in the fact that this simply could not be his end- he couldn't die, because he hadn't met her yet.

When his Brother has taken over the throne and tried to kill him in New Mexico, he hadn't had much time to ponder on his Soulmate. In the months following his return to his Kingdom, and Loki's fall into the destroyed Bifrost, he hadn't had much time to ponder on his Soulmate. When Loki reappeared on Earth, wielding a sceptre of pure energy and backed by the Chitauri army… well, it was a lot to deal with, and so Thor had been busy attempting to work with SHIELD, and he really hadn't had any time at all to ponder on his Soulmate.

Of course, they do say that when you're least expecting something is when it will happen.

New York city was being destroyed. His Brother had dropped him out of the sky in a glass cage (something he was really quite miffed about, if he was being perfectly honest), Bruce Banner had disappeared, the Captain of America and the Man of Iron were too busy arguing to be of any use, and a portal had opened in the sky to let the Chitauri army though.

Thor really wasn't having a good day.

But miraculously, the Avengers returned, all of them, and they were fighting to keep the monsters at bay and protect the city whilst seeking a way to put this madness to a stop. Thor was directly below Stark Tower, fighting with the Captain of America and the Black Widow, when he overheard the Man of Iron yelling through Black Widow's strange electronic earpiece that two more enormous Chitauri Leviathans had just come through the portal.

The streets ahead had been cleared of civilians so only a handful of Chitauri remained, making it a prime location to take down the leviathans for minimum damage to the city. He'd just yelled to the Black Widow to tell the Man of Iron to lure the Leviathans to them, when a second glance alerted him to the fact that he'd been wrong; a flash of movement and bright colour caught his eye, and Thor stepped closer to see the tiny human girl his initial sweep of the area had overlooked.

She had been hidden behind an overturned truck, and she was fighting valiantly. She clutched in her hands what looked like a plank of wood, plucked from the rubble of a destroyed shop behind her, and she was using it to beat Chitauri out of her way.

"Two big guys, coming at ya," Came Stark's voice out of Black Widow's earpiece, and Thor glanced back at the girl. He noticed a Chitauri beast climbing over the roof of the truck behind her, and he knew that she would never spot it in time. Half a heartbeat later, he'd pulled his arm back and thrown Mjolnir with all his might towards her. The hammer sent the beast flying a second before it reached her.

Calling the hammer back to him, Thor heard the enormous Leviathans coming closer to the street they were on. Lifting Mjolnir, Thor took to the sky and landed just beside her. The girl spun around with a startled gasp, and Thor extended his hand to her, his eyes darting between her and the end of the street, where danger approached. "Come with me; I shall keep you safe," he promised, and the girl barely hesitated before taking his outstretched hand.

Pulling her close to his chest, Thor propelled them into the sky, landing at the end of the street just as Stark flew into the other side of the street, two enormous and horrifying Leviathans trailing behind him.

Pushing the girl into the street corner, Thor told her "stay here, I will make sure you are not harmed."

Barely pausing to acknowledge her nod, Thor turned back to the monsters.

Raising Mjolnir, Thor called lighting down to fry the Leviathans. Screeching in pain, the monsters began to fall from the sky. Throwing Mjolnir with all his might, Thor watched as the hammer entered one of the beast's mouth and exited its tail a moment later, ripping the Leviathans internal organs with it. The beast fell to the ground, but the other kept coming towards Thor and the girl.

A second later, Mjolnir was back in his hand, and Thor dived at the Leviathan and slammed his hammer down on its head, sending it spinning to the ground, where it did not move again.

"Nice one, point-break!" he heard Stark yell, but Thor paid no mind. He'd already turned back to the girl. Her jaw was hanging wide, her eyes shocked, until a second later when her gaze darted behind him.

"Look out!" she screamed hoarsely, darting forwards and bringing her plank of wood down to smack a stray Chitauri in the back of the head, knocking it to the ground. Rearing back and smacking it again, she didn't stop until it stopped moving.

Thor could only watch her, his mouth gaping open in surprise at the tiny mortal showing a level of bravery worthy of the fiercest of warriors.

For the first time, Thor properly looked at her, and he found that she was the most beautiful woman he'd seen in the eight-and-a-half centuries he'd been alive. A shock of an unfamiliar emotion ran through him, and he suddenly found himself halted in his tracks, unable to take his eyes off of her.

Lost for words for a moment, he eventually managed to choke out, "thank you."

"Don't mention it," she mumbled, out of breath, her large eyes blinking up at him.

"THOR FOR GODS SAKES, MOVE YOUR ASS!" Stark shouted. Thor wrapped his arm around the girl's waist and dived to the side, just as Tony shot the several Chitauri climbing out of the sewer where he and the girl had just been standing. Landing on his side, Thor managed to catch the brunt of the human girl's weight to break her fall.

And in doing so, he came face to face with her forearm as it shot out to clutch his shoulder to balance herself- and, in complete awe all of a sudden, he read the words Thor Odinsson scrawled along her arm in familiar script.

He could almost swear that time had stopped.

Thor read his name several more times, blinking in confusion as he couldn't quite grasp what was happening. It was only once the girl shifted on top of him that he regained his bearings, gripping her waist tighter and pulling her with him as he sat up. The girl could only gasp, clutching his shoulders for balance as he shifted her against him. He felt her pulling away, but he clutched her tighter, unwilling to allow her any further than she already was-

-because this was the girl, this was his soulmate, and in 863 years this was the closest he'd ever been to her, and now his mind was racing and he couldn't even speak he was so overwhelmed with the thought that this is her, this girl belongs to me, don't let her go don't let her go don't let her go-

"Ellie Brookes," he finally managed to choke out, and she froze against him, and oh god he'd said her name a million times but it had never sounded so good, it had never felt so real, "Ellie…"

She blinked up at him in surprise, her hand clutching his shoulder tightly. "How do you… how do you know me?"

Thor couldn't help the elated laugh that escaped him as his eyes ran over her, desperately drinking her in. He'd waited for so long- so long, so many lifetimes- and he'd envisioned her so many times, he'd dreamed of her more nights than not, but here, now, she was so much more beautiful, more perfect for him, than he'd ever imagined- her skin soft against his, her small body fitting against his much larger frame, her hand clutching him tighter and her body shifting closer as her body understood what her brain did not yet know. And even as the battle raged around them, as the Chitauri continued pouring from the portal in the sky, as Loki continued to destroy all in his path- Thor was unconscious to it all, as he clutched his entire world tighter in his arms.

"Who… who are you?" she murmured, swallowing thickly, and Thor grinned broadly, letting out an elated laugh as he brushed her hair gently behind her ear.

"I am Thor Odinsson," he spoke proudly, feeling her sharp intake of breath against him, "and I am your Soulmate."