STARBORN: FIFTY-SIX ━━ Can time really heal all wounds?
2013 • MIDGARD
"OH, GOOD, YOU'RE HE-" Darcy froze, hand gripping the edge of the door as she scanned Alora's body, "WHAT IN THE NAME OF BON JOVI ARE YOU WEARING?"
Bon Jovi. Thor could only frown at the unfamiliar name. Could it be a new midgardian greeting like Bonjour?... no, I don't think so.
Alora smirked and raised her eyebrow at the brunette before sharing a fleeting glance with Thor. Darcy continued to stand there by the door, gawking at her Royal Egyptian Armor. Thor wasted no time as he too scanned Alora's body armor, he was bewitched by the beauty and intricate design that was proper of an Egyptian manufacturer. There were symbols drawn all over the armor, there were also flames depicted, foreshadowing the nature of her powers. The design was unparalleled to anything he had yet seen, the technology behind it was no match to Asgard, but not Midgard.
"Fancy seeing you too, Darce."
Darcy let go of the door and took a step closer to Alora, she extended her hand and touched the armor of her forearm. Metal. "Wow... it feels authentic. What is it, though? Magic? Actual metal? No, not metal... more like-- uhm, what's it called?" She snapped her fingers as she tried to remember the term. "Could it be-Could it be nanotech? Nanotechnology."
Alora glanced down at her suit, she looked back up, and with a shrug, she said. "I dunno. Didn't ask. I guess a bit of both."
"Cool..." She caressed the armor, feeling the rough and bumpy edges of the design. "Could I try it on?"
Alora furrowed her eyebrows, her mouth hung open, ready to politely decline when another voice interrupted her. "Darcy? Who are you talking to? Is it Kal? Are they here?"
The door opened wider and Jane Foster appeared before them holding a black, worn-out leather journal. "Wow... you guys look very... uh, space-y. Intergalactic. As-tronomical." Alora closed her mouth, pressing her lips into a thin line, not knowing how to respond to that. "And you're still standing outside the door-- I'm sorry, it's Darcy's fault."
"What'd I do?"
"Why the hell didn't you invite them in at once?" Jane hissed at Darcy, who only shrugged before gesturing at the Gods to come in. "Welcome to my humble, uh," she closed the door behind her, "London apartment."
Thor's azure eyes skim over the apartment before settling on the brunette. "Yoh have a lovely home, Lady Jane."
"Oh, please, we're way past pleasantries." Jane chuckled, flicking her wrist hastily. "It's been a while, sure. And even if you don't visit quite often, we're still friends."
Thor gave her a tight smile before his eyes wandered away.
"Yeah... I have to agree with Thor." Alora agreed with him, eyes scanning every square inch of Jane's beautiful apartment. "You have a lovely flat, Jane. Definitely an upgrade since New Mexico."
Alora chuckled and Jane gave her a playful eye roll, but did not argue with her.
Jane let out a puff of air. "Actually, it's my mom's."
"Oh!" Alora's eyebrows raised as she turned to face the scientist, she mentioned as her mother.
Jane let out a sigh, the type that meant something had gone wrong. "She, uh, she left this to me before she... before she passed."
The apartment was definitely a huge upgrade since the last time, living in her trailer was everything Jane knew and was comfortable living in. It was small and practical, she could travel to the ends of the earth and take her home with her, she had no complaints about it. But living like that had started taking a toll on her, she moved to London once she received a call from a relative letting her know her mother had fallen ill. So she traveled at once and was able to make it in time. She spent a few months with her, and every last second of it she made sure to use it wisely. Then her mother passed due to cancer, a silent yet painful death.
"Oh." Alora's voice grew so quiet as she uttered that single word. "I... I am so sorry this happened to you, Jane."
Darcy and Ian exchanged looks, the intern had no clue Jane had lost her mother, but Darcy did. She was there to support her along with Selvig. The ex-intern, as annoying as she was at times, was Jane's support net during those dark days.
"Yeah, no, it's totally fine... she passed away five years ago. So it's been a while." Jane proceeded to disclose. Alora threw a fleeting glance at Thor, checking to see his reaction, before her eyes flew back to Jane. "Cancer. Cancer took her away. Doctors said they did everything they could, but she couldn't be saved. She passed away in 2008."
Thor's eyes were unusually sad, the type of sadness that came from a broken spirit. The eldest son of Frigga and Odin had an unbreakable fighter spirit, he was a true warrior at heart. But an eclipse overshadowed that spirit, and as he heard Jane speak with sadness about her mother's passing... It was like adding salt to his open wound.
The God of Thunder wanted to break, and crackle like lightning as a heavy downpour fell on a city. But, curiously, the very thing that was causing his spirit to shatter was the same thing that was keeping it together. Frigga's memory, even in death, continued to be a source of strength. Thor had the pleasure of growing up with the strongest and fiercely loving mother, she had shown him that being kind was also an act of strength. But he had been blind back then, he had been ignorant, and he allowed himself to get carried away on one too many occasions.
"I'm sorry." Thor's voice reached Jane's ears, and she turned to look at his saddened eyes, which caught her by surprise. "About your mother. I..."
Alora noticed how he caught himself, her heart straining as she had a hunch as to what he was about to say. "I understand your pain."
Jane breathes out a chuckle. "It's okay, you didn't know. But thanks, I appreciate it."
Thor gave her a firm nod before glancing away, Alora rolled her tongue over her lower lip, inching a bit closer to him. The attention soon diverted to Doctor Selvig walking into the living room/dining room wearing only his underwear. The doctor was busy reading something off a paper while mumbling something to himself. Ian cleared his throat and Doctor Selvig looked up, his eyes quickly settled on a couple of gods before him.
But instead of an old-fashioned greeting saying, 'hey, it's been a while, good seeing you' he settled for:
"Did you go to a party?"
Her lips tried forming a smile but soon turned into a grimace since she couldn't ignore the fact that his pants were missing.
Thor frowned, but frankly, he was starting to get used to the strangeness that Midgardians seem to embody. The scientists stood beside the dining table without wearing any pants, at a simple glance Dr. Selvig didn't look quite good, his hair was unkempt, and the buttons of his shirt were buttoned unevenly.
Alora's brows drew in as she pointed at his naked legs. "Dr. Selvig, what happened to your pants?"
"Oh, uh," the stranger, Ian, rose to his feet and proceeded to answer her question. "He says it helps him think better."
The blonde Stark nodded, pretending the excuse made any sense to her. "Right." A beat passed before she was asking the next question. "Sorry, I didn't catch a name. And you are?"
"Oh, I'm " The was offering Alora his hand when Darcy Lewis interrupted him uncertainly. "The intern."
Alora rolled her lips in, squinting her eyes as she watched the intern shoot Darcy an annoyed look. "Ian. Not intern. My name is Ian." Alora smiled at him and shook his hand. "I don't know how many times I must keep repeating myself that my name is not intern."
"Don't worry, darling, I'll tell you when you get there," Darcy smirked darkly, cocking her head to the side, arms braided over her arms. Ian looked at her with pure resignation before heaving out a deep sigh and sitting back down.
Dr. Selvig let out a puff of air, getting everyone's attention, but his eyes were dead set on Thor. His irises seemed to have melted into warmth, decorated with specs of happiness that shone brightly as he approached the buff warrior with open arms. Alora smiled softly, but her smile quickly turned into one of sadness as she caught the storm still brewing inside his azure eyes. The grief hung to his features like a dark shadow, it reminded Alora of a crescent moon. But instead of shining brightly, it was shadowed by grief and pain... even resentment.
The astrophysicist walked up to Thor, and Alora moved away and went to stand beside Jane. She watched as Erik opened his arm and brought Thor in for a hug, she was grateful to Erik for that because she knew how much Thor needed the support.
"Alora, where's Kalum?" Jane's voice brought the Egyptian Goddess down to earth. She turned to face her, blonde locks of hair swaying with every movement. "I thought he would be with you."
"Yeah, he was." She confirmed her doubts. "But he had to make a detour, pick a few things up from the hotel. He shouldn't be long, though."
Thor patted Erik's back as they pulled back. "Are you well, Erik?"
The doctor smiled at him and nodded, he took a step back and away from Thor. "As good as an astrophysicist is allowed to be."
"That's great to hear, old friend."
A knock on the door caught everyone's attention, Jane quickly moved to answer the door. Erik watched Jane before the smile dropped from his face, he felt the familiar pain of fair pressing down his thorax. The thought, swift and intrusive, lured its way into his brain like a snake dragging its body across the jungle. It hissed to him reminders of the past, a past that has left Erik Selvig unwell, and quite frankly, a bit mad.
"Your... your brother That's not your brother, right?" The scientist stuttered. "He's not coming, is he?"
Jane arrived at the door and twisted the knob before pulling the wooden door open. "Loki... my brother... he's dead."
The words rolled from his tongue like thunder rolling across a stormy sky.
"Oh, thank God." The words, tactless, froze Alora's bones and darkened Thor's eyes. "I mean, I'm so sorry for your loss."
Thor only nodded and made his way over to Alora, the woman met his eyes briefly and gave him a supportive smile. "Are you okay?"
Instead of answering her, Thor reached down for her hand and laced their fingers together. Alora's heart fluttered at the gesture, and a pang of pain erupted in her stomach from how giddy that gesture made her feel, but she forced herself to remain cool.
"I am now."
"UH, can someone please explain to me, how exactly you're all planning on fighting an anomaly?" Darcy voiced Alora's doubts, the Egyptian Goddess averted her gaze toward Jane. "Because last time I checked, Jane's an anomaly chaser, not a storm buster."
Jane frowns. "It's not a storm that we're dealing with, Darcy. We're way past New Mexico." Alora listened. "This is big. Huge. Alarmingly huge. We're dealing here with a world-threatening phenomenon that causes all types of dimensional anomalies that could potentially tear apart our world."
Everybody turned to Darcy, awaiting her response. The raven-haired woman remained silent for a moment, digesting the information before a thought formed in her mind. "Right, since this is a "world-threatening" scenario as you so marvelously put it, shouldn't this be an Avengers task?"
Kalum and Alora narrowed their eyes at her, the former said. "You do realize you have not one, not two, but three Avengers present in this room, right?"
"I was kind of hinting at the possibility of you calling your band of misfits so y'all can handle this," Darcy stated. "Because this is kind of your mess, you know?"
Doctor Selvig rubbed the corner of his mouth with his hand as he thought. "Theoretically speaking, how would you suggest we approach this?"
"We fire the Aether at a spot where all the nine worlds are connected." Jane began, "Ian show him the model you made."
Ian quickly typed something on his laptop and turn the device, so the rest of the team was able to see the 3D model of what the convergence could look like. "By amplifying the weapon's impact. For each additional world, the power will increase exponentially. See?"
"So, in this case... the effect would be universal." Kal theorized everybody turned to him. "But the alignment would only be temporary. I see..."
Jane nodded. "Indeed. But in order for this to work, one of you must be in exactly the right place at the right time."
"Well, how do we know where the right place is?" Alora wondered.
Erik knew exactly what they were facing, he taught this to other seniors he was locked in the asylum. "We simply follow the directions. One moment."
He reached out for a notebook and pulled out a map, he flattened it on the table before grabbing a pen. "This happened thousands of years ago, and the Ancients were there to see it. All the great constructions, the Mayans, the Chinese, the Egyptians."
Thor nodded along, hovering to see what Erik was hinting at. "They made use of the gravitational effects of the Convergence. And they left us a map." He drew lines connecting different locations. "Stonehenge, Snowdon, the Great Orme. These are all coordinates taking us... HGFE."
As he connected the dots, they were able to see an intersecting plane. "Greenwich?" Jane reads.
"What's in Greenwich?" Thor wondered, glancing up to meet Selvig's gaze.
Erik replied with a voice of pure wonder. "The walls between worlds, my old friend."
AKA FIORETALKS!
HELLOW!
Oh, we are soooo nearing the end of this act.
I promise you Thor: Ragnarok is going to be a wild act!
Also, the ending of this precious book since the prophecy of which Kal has been suffering for and speaking about will be completed in Ragnarok.
Also! We are getting visiting the Eternal Temple yet again since we've been cordially invited on a special occasion. Is it a wedding? Is it a tournament?
Who knows?? Oh wait, I do! XD
I will try my very best to finish writing Misfit Lunatics since I wanna reach Infinity war and Endgame, as well as finishing the last act of my Karma book.
Eternal Flames has undergone and intense makeover. I change the name, now it will be called Wicked Dreams and the face claim has also been changed. It won't longer be Jennifer Lawrence but Hannah John-Kamen.
Let me know how you liked this chapter!
Can't wait to hear from you!
Please, stay safe and Feliz Navidad! 🤍🎄