Loki and Nym

Part 3- The year that followed

Day 365, a whole earth year since I left my home.

I woke up in the small dark room I was 'renting' from an old man who owned the book shop below.

When I first arrived I had landed in a country called 'England'. It had taken me a long time to learn how this world worked, it was so big, impossibly big.

The creatures here could not communicate with anyone outside of their species. They had instead created a sort of hierarchy, and at the top were the humans. They didn't look to different to us, although they didn't seem to have any colours in their eyes or hair, they were some what dull. Much taller than us and much louder. They lead busy lives and never seemed to stop or stay still.

The call was louder here than on Alsoi, but England wasn't right. Once I'd worked out how to travel between countries, yes, countries. I had to travel by air over grand lakes that separated land masses.

I eventually found myself in America. I travelled round a while before I found New York City, I hated it. Although they had some parks the whole area was loud, the people all had places to be and there was no green. The city itself was a mixture of hard materials, metal, concrete, glass. Materials I'd never seen before.

The call was the loudest in this city, so I resigned myself to staying for the time being. One day I had been wandering the streets trying to find somewhere to live, while I walked around I had found a small shop.

Humans didn't share resources for free, you had to work to earn money and then use money to pay for things. Shops were where you 'bought' things. This particular shop sold books. That was one thing I loved about Midgard, they had so many books, they were like scrolls, but bound into a small rectangle which was far easier to read from.

I had wondered inside and found an elder, a man named Mr Matsumoto. He was kind and quiet, he had all these books that he let me read. After a few visits Mr Matsumoto asked me where I was living and if I had a job. I thought he was going to throw me out. But in fact he offered me a 'job', instead of payment, he let me live in a small room above the shop. He had saved me from living on the streets and in the parks, which was not a desired thing in America, for good reason too.

This particular morning I woke up feeling restless, I threw myself out of bed and went to look in a reflective surface called a mirror. I had to take on a human form here, we were not similar enough for me to pass as myself.

I took a long hard look in the mirror, the woman reflected back at me was still a stranger, even after a year on this planet. The y/h/c hair lying straight against my face, the y/e/c eyes stared back at me, everything seemed larger, longer. That was still the most surprising thing about earth, the mortals were so tall. I had chosen an apparently average size of 5'4" to fit in, the men on this planet could tower as tall as 6 foot, some even taller.

It was an ironically 'alien' concept to me. I pulled out a sweater and some shorts, human clothes were much softer than our own, I glanced at the shoes by the door before forcing myself to put them on. On earth there are things on the ground that can hurt you, sharp or damaging things, and so the humans have taken to covering their feet, I have accepted that I need to wear them outside of my home, but I refuse to wear them inside.

Today I needed to go outside the shop to collect food and other goods for Mr Matsumoto. He greeted me with a cup of tea, and I left the shop. I had no idea today would be the day that changed my life.

I was in the store, collecting food and tea for myself and Mr Matsumoto. Making small talk with the man behind the till, we were discussing the weather, my plans for the day. He must be a similar age to me, in earth years it seems that I'm somewhere between 20 and 25. Although it's impossible to know for sure, the humans seemed to see me as a young adult, which I suppose was the same as home.

As I left the store the ground shook. People were screaming and running, there seemed to be a large monster smashing cars and buildings, running down the street towards me. I stood still, I'd never seen anything like this, but Mr Matsumoto had told me that Midgard seemed to be a hot spot for attacks, both from other humans and from other worlds.

"Tony are you seeing this?" a man shouted as he ran past me. He looked familiar, I had seen in on posters and television. He stood far taller than me, with dark blonde hair dressed in red, white and blue. Captain America was his name. He was one of the Avengers, a group of people who helped to stop these attacks. I had a lot to thank them for. It was this remarkable group of people that had saved us all, that had brought my brother and people back.

He threw a metal disk towards the monster who had been heading towards a group of scared school children. Suddenly a metal man was flying towards him, a whole group of people seemed to form around Captain America, and together they took the monster down.

I'd never seen destruction like it, several of them were very injured and without thinking I dropped the food I'd been hugging tightly and ran towards them. I pushed past the metal man to a human lying on the floor, he held on to a snapped bow, out of breathe and wincing with every movement. "Talk to me Clint" a red haired woman spoke to him with a mixture of fear and irritation.

Without thinking about the people around me I placed my hands on his chest "who the fuck is this?" The metal man called. "Language!" responded Captain America. I heard noises around me of guns maybe? They were preparing to attack me.

I felt a firm hand on my shoulder trying to tear me away from the man with the bow. "Do want him to live or not!" I snapped back, I felt the hand leave my shoulder and out of the corner of my eyes I saw the group exchange looks as the mans wounds started to heal.

My hands glowed their usual green, as the plants in my pockets formed a healing web over the mans wounds. I sighed, stepping back from his body after a few minutes, listening to his easy breathing. I stood up and faced the group of misfits in front of me, suddenly I felt awkward, self-aware, I hadn't showed my magic in front of any humans, not even Mr Matsumoto, but I hadn't been able to stop myself. Plus I really owed these guys.

"He'll be okay, he just needs rest" I murmured as I turned away from them. The call felt so loud that it was almost deafening, I needed to get away, I couldn't breathe.

"Hang on a second Kid, you can't just show up, show off some glowing hands, save Legolas and then fuck off again", The voice came from the metal suit, the helmet had vanished leaving behind a human face.

The man, who I believe is called Tony Stark held his hand towards Captain America as he opened his mouth, presumably to warn stark of his language. "I have shopping I need to take home, my friend will be worried for me" I said, as I picked up a small jog, grabbed the bag on the side of the street and darted into an alleyway.

When I got back Mr Matsumoto embraced me in a huge hug "Y/N I was so worried, I saw the news, so close to the store, are you hurt? You look terrified". He pushed me into a seat and handed me some tea. I had not even caught my breath when the bell on the store door opened and two figures walked in.

One I recognised nearly instantly as the red haired woman who had been leaning over 'Clint', the second was a shorter woman, with long flowing brown hair, dressed in red.

"Y/N, why are there avengers in our store?" Mr Matsumoto whispered to me, to which I shrugged as I instinctively stood in front of him. The long haired woman stepped forward and spoke softly "Y/N, you have nothing to worry about, but we'd like to talk to you, we want you to come with us".

I was reluctant at first, but worried for Mr Matsumoto, I reached up and pressed my forehead to his. "Don't worry Mr Matsumoto, I'll be back soon. And if I'm not, you know exactly who I left with" I say with a small smile.

He waved to me, with a mixture of worry and confusion over his face. I walked out to the street, and into a large black car.