A New Beginning

Chapter 37- Close to Home

"Hey, listen to me." Thor crouched down at her level, placing one hand on her shoulder, and the other on top of her other hand, which was still grasping the wound on her other shoulder. "I never blamed you, Noelle. My mother and Loki would not have either."

How was it that he was always comforting her when he was the one who had lost everything? He had lost his mother, brother, and had committed treason against his father, losing him and his home in the process.

How was it that he was able to remain so strong after losing people he loved? Noelle had lost so many times, again and again. And every single time she only felt weaker, not stronger in the end. She was the one who should have been comforting him, not the other way around.

Thor's hand went from her shoulder to her neck, and Noelle looked at him, her eyes wide with compassion and sympathy for him and something else...

I should tell him, she thought, even though something was holding her back.

She inhaled sharply. She could feel and hear every breath in the darkness and silence of the cave as she sensed him leaning in a little closer to her face.

"BZZZZZZZZZ!!!!"

Both of them jumped in surprise, and Thor grabbed his hammer. Noelle exhaled in relief, realizing what it was making that noise.

"It's-It's just my phone," she stammered, not meeting Thor's eyes. She pulled it out of her back pocket. Not to her surprise, the protective screen was completely shattered, but it was obviously still working. Considering Tony Stark had given it to her, it was likely an expensive, but sturdy phone. Noelle couldn't read who was calling, so she just pressed the green button and answered. "Hello?" Her voice came out higher than normal.

"Noelle!? Where are you!?"

Noelle stood speechless for a moment. "B-Bern? I've never been so glad to hear your voice in my life. Are you ok? What happened with you and Nick?"

"Forget about me. Where are you?!" Bern demanded.

Noelle sighed. She supposed she did owe Bern more of an explanation than she owed her. "We're on a... different planet," she glanced at Thor briefly, hoping he would know.

"Svartalfheim," he confirmed.

"Svartalfheim it's called," she repeated. "The Aether isn't inside me anymore, but a bad guy's got it, so..."

"So what are you going to do?"

Noelle looked at Thor again, and she saw in his eyes what she had hoped to find in herself: the same kind of determination. "We're gonna get it back," she said to Bern.

"Good," said Bern. "Also let me know how you managed to get cellular service on another planet."

Noelle glanced up in realization. "How am I–?" There was only one thing that made sense.

They were close to home.

"What are you thinking? What's going on?" Thor asked, picking up on the excitement in her voice. Suddenly he stepped on something loud and crackly. He bent down to pick it up and held it up to show Noelle.

She grinned. It was a plastic water bottle.

"We're near the portal!" she said.

"Portal?" Thor asked.

"Portal?" Bern asked over the phone.

Noelle kept going further and further back into the cave as he followed her. "Yeah, before I found the Aether, these kids at the warehouse were showing us how they made things like that water bottle disappear. They were tossing them through a portal between Earth and somewhere else–"