Timeless

◈ 8 ◈

Thor glanced at my headpiece as I put it on and brushed a few strands of hair out of my face.

"Must you wear those ridiculous horns?"

I shrugged.

"I wouldn't call them ridiculous. At least I trimmed them down a bit."

Thor just sighed and continued to match my pace as we strode down the halls of the palace, avoiding any guards that happened to be on their evening route.

"So what exactly do we do now?" He asked.

"I'm not sure. I assume we'll have to go through the events leading up to my second death, but that's just a guess. Mother didn't tell me what would happen during my Second Chance."

Thor stopped in his tracks.

"Wait. You saw Mother?"

"Well, yes. I was dead. She was dead. We were both in Valhalla. Our reunion was inevitable."

"What about Father?"

I rolled my eyes. Of course, he'd want to know about Odin.

"Yes, he was there too. We didn't talk much. Not that I wanted to."

I started walking again, Thor following suit. We crossed another hall and nearly had an unfortunate meeting with a few guards. I pulled us both behind one of the pillars and exhaled in relief.

"That was close."

Thor nodded in silent agreement. I snickered as I got an overwhelming flood of déjà vu.

"This would be where I ask you for a dagger, even though I already have about twenty hidden in my armor."

Thor raised an eyebrow.

"Do you just operate solely with daggers now? Because that is how you ended up getting yourself killed."

I glared at him and crossed my arms over my chest.

"It was a moment of weakness."

"Sometimes, I wonder who the smarter one out of the two of us is."

"Don't make me stab you with one of those daggers that you seem to hate so much."

He just smiled.

"I've missed you, brother."

"I know."

We stepped away from the pillar and kept walking, breaking into a jog when we neared Sif at the rendezvous point.

"I stabbed her back on Valhalla," I whispered to Thor as we approached.

"You what?"

"Well technically, she was Hela in disguise, but-"

"We can discuss that later."

I sighed and let my steps falter a bit so that Thor was standing in front of me. I didn't want to have any conversations with Sif, knowing that last time around she'd threatened to kill me.

I'd been too distracted with Sif to notice the flustered mortal about two feet away from me.

She sent me a glare that could freeze blood.

"You?"

I barely had time to block her fist as it swung to meet my face.

"I'm Loki. You may have heard of me. And you must be Thor's mortal that I've heard so much about. Keep in mind, Lady Jane. It would be wise not to break his heart. You wouldn't like him when he's angry."

I didn't miss the look of silent relief on Thor's face. He didn't appear to be very happy about the fact that he had to see Jane again. Not after their break up.

Jane pulled her fist out of my hand roughly.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

I shrugged.

"Good."

Sif narrowed her eyes at me as she watched the strange encounter play out.

"I thought we agreed that he would be in shackles for this part of our plan." She said to Thor.

"I- what? I agreed to to....to no such thing." He stuttered.

I smirked.

"It's good to see you too, Sif."

A group of guards appeared from around the corner. She stood next to Thor and eyed me suspiciously.

"I don't know who you think you are, marching up here like you own the place after your brother just showed you mercy that you don't deserve with your shiny gold horns and brand new custom armor. Come to think of it, how did you end up with all of that? You haven't been anywhere near a tailor in years."

I gave Jane a cool smirk.

"Have you ever heard of Sakaar, Lady Jane? They have fantastic entertainment, but not the best taste in liquor."

"How is that even relevant to what I'm talking about?"

"You asked me where I got my armor."

I knew that I was taking a risk by messing with Jane's head, but I got plenty of well-deserved pleasure from the look on her face.

I turned my attention back to Thor and Sif just as my brother finished his short conversation with her.

I turned to leave but kept my pivot slow. Sif was so close that I could practically feel her breathing down the back of my neck. I planned on thoroughly enjoying our final encounter.

She unsheathed her sword and pressed the blade to my throat.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you plan on saying something along the lines of 'betray him and I will kill you'. I'd just like to assure you that betrayal isn't currently on my agenda. Test me, and it might be."

She lowered her sword slowly with such a look of pure fury on her face that I almost wanted to take back my comment. Still, I was strangely satisfied at seeing the mighty Lady Sif so disgruntled.

Thor caught up with me as she headed for the guards.

"Was that really necessary?"

I nodded.

"Oh, absolutely. It was about time someone put her in her place. She's not the only one who can deal out threats around here."

Thor sighed in exasperation.

"Whatever. Let's just get to the ship."

I grinned.

"I'll be the pilot this time."