Be Thou my Vision

Asgard

Chapter 4

The next morning comes rather sooner than I would've liked, and I have to remember the fact that I'm not in my apartment, I'm in Stark Tower, that New York was attacked by aliens yesterday, that Dom is dead, that I have these crazy new 'powers', and that I'm apparently going to Asgard today.

I change into different clothes that I hope are nice enough for a different universe, and head back up to the party deck. Clint hands me a cup of coffee, and I take a seat at the bar, where Pepper is serving up french toast.

A half hour later, Thor grins at me through a mouth full of french toast.

"We should be going soon. Since the bifrost is still broken, we'll use the Tesseract. Loki will come with us, the sooner we get him back to Asgard, the better."

"Yea, I'd better be getting back to SHIELD," Steve says, standing at the same time as Clint and Nat.

"We should get back, too," Clint says.

"Are you sure you won't stay?" Pepper asks, and Nat shakes her head.

"Thank you for the offer, Pepper. We appreciate it, but SHIELD probably already has new missions cooked up for us."

We all left Stark Tower and met up at the edge of Central Park. Thor went separately and brought Loki, who was wearing some sort of muzzle. Good riddance. It didn't stop me from going up to him and slapping him in the face.

"That was for Dom," I spat, and I swear I saw his eyes crinkle, as if he was smiling. Tony brings us a grey case and opens it in front of Banner, who's holding some sort of glass tube. The Tesseract is placed in the tube and handed to Thor, who takes one end of it and extends the other end to Loki, who takes it reluctantly.

"Hold onto my arm," Thor commands, and I do so, wrapping my arms around his thick bicep.

"Farewell, I shall see you again soon," Thor says, nodding to me. He twists the end of the tube, and the Tesseract lets of energy that surrounds us and vanishes us into thin air. There's blackness for a few moments, and then we're standing on a bridge that leads into a spectacular city. Asgard.

I follow Thor, who has a tight grip on Loki's arm, into the main palace and into a throne room. A man is sitting on a throne at the far end of the room, talking to a small group. He looks up as we enter, and I notice he only has one eye. This must be Odin, the king of Asgard, from what little I know of Norse mythology.

"Father!" Thor calls across the room. The king's face darkens when he sees Loki, and when his eyes trail to me, it does even more so.

"Thor," Odin replies. "I see you've got Loki. He will pay for his crimes." He pauses for a moment. "Who is the lady?"

"This is Alienor, father. She had a... a bit of an accident with the Tesseract while it was still on Midgard, and we wanted to make sure it didn't leave dangerous energy traces inside her."

"I see," is all Odin says. He gestures for the guards to take Loki, and they lead him away. Odin climbs off his throne and walks slowly across the room towards us. "Tell me exactly what happened."

Thor explains in brief what happened on the roof of Stark Tower, how Loki was involved, how I wasn't able to move after I came in contact with the Tesseract. Odin circles me like a cat and its prey, and it was all I could do to keep from flinching back.

"Follow me," the king says eventually, and Thor and I follow him into a side room that looks like it could've been a nurse's room or the like. Three women stride into the room from another door, and Odin nods at me.

"Lie down on the table," one says, and I do so. The women use some sort of instrument and conjure up a replica of my body. Inside, blue energy swirls around, and it seems to be looking for a way out. Suddenly, the energy bursts out and fills the room. In one corner, someone is frozen, floating in space. Aimee. I make some sort of gasping squeak.

"What.. why is Aimee there? She's..she's supposed to be..."

"Alienor. Calm down," Odin orders. He glances back up at the hologram of my body, and over at the woman floating in the corner. "I want you to imagine that you have a satchel that can hold anything in the world. It is endless, but never feels heavy or burdensome. Now I want you to imagine that you want to take something out of this satchel. So you bring the satchel in front of you and open it to look for what you want to take out. And let that item flow out of you, out of the satchel. Begin."

I close my eyes and try and do what he told me, though my 'satchel' was more like a never ending shelf. I open my eyes and see that I have succeeded in creating something resembling my shelf, and floating on this shelf is Aimee. I reach out to grab her, but my hand goes right through her and the energy vanishes.

"Damn," I mutter. "How do I get her out?"

"You must take the energy away from her. Let her out. She is trapped in space, space that only you can reach."

I concentrate on making my shelf of energy again, and this time, it's a smidge easier. I think about taking the energy around her away this time, rather than taking her out of it. I put my hand out and try and suck the energy back in, and Aimee suddenly falls to the floor. My concentration disappears, as does all the energy around me. Aimee jumps to her feet and whirls around.

"What happened? Where am I? The last thing I remember..." she turns around and glares at me. "Is you. Where have you taken me?" Then her eyes fall on Thor.

"Oh," she says sweetly. "Who is this?"

"A friend," I say, gritting my teeth.

"A very fine looking friend," Aimee replies, gliding towards Thor and running her fingers down his arm. Thor forces a thin smile onto his face and steps away as nonchalantly as he can.

"I have a girlfriend," he says awkwardly.

Odin orders a guard to escort Aimee away, and he focuses on me again.

"The Tesseract is putting stress on your body," he explains. "Though not as much as I assumed. You're holding up to it extremely well, which is surprising for a Midguardian body. However, there still is a chance that you will not survive this."

I sit up and glance at Thor, whose face is worried. I'm grateful that he, along with all the other Avengers, seem to care what happens to me, even though we just met yesterday.

"The Tesseract is not a gem of destruction," Odin continues. "Which is why you have a higher chance of survival."

"Is there anything I can do to, like, keep myself alive?" I ask, and Odin strokes his beard. 

"Accept it," he says at last. "If you accept it, let it reign over your being, it will become natural and bond with your body."

I nod slowly, thinking this through.

"I'll still have control, right?" I ask hesitantly, and Odin gives me a look that reassures me.

"Okay," I agree. "So there isn't any way to get it out of me?"

"Not known to us," Odin says, and I sigh. Figures.

"I'll deal with it," I mumble, and Thor smiles and pats my shoulder.

"I will help you with this, El," he says, and I offer him a smile in return.

"If that is all, I should take El back to Midguard," Thor gestures, and Odin nods.

"Yes, that will do. If any other problems arise, Thor, bring her to me immediately."

"Understood," Thor responds, and we both turn to leave.

Suddenly, a guard bursts through the door, and after apologizing to Odin for the abrupt arrival, he turns to me.

"My Lady Alienor," he begins, "I am sorry to disrupt your departure, but Loki has asked to see you."