Chapter 25: "I Cannot be King"
Once leaving the wreckage of the battlefield, the six of them all stood in the parking lot, ready to leave, before Thor spoke.
"I have to return to Asgard," he declared, gaining the attention of both Jane and Adaline as the others went to get into the car across the parking lot. Thor looked Jane directly in the eyes, grabbing hold of her hands tightly as he hoped she would keep his next words in her mind. "I committed treason against the throne. I must speak with my father."
"When will you return?" Jane inquired, taking slow steps closer to him as if she would never see him again.
"As soon as I can," he assured, now looking impossibly deeper into her caramel colored eyes and promising that he would not abandon her. He then moved his gaze over to the blonde who stood to the side, still covered in dirt and the ashes of her own flames. "Adaline?" he paused, making sure she wasn't succumbing to her own little world in the depths of her mind.
She hummed in response, biting at the inside of her cheek as she let him know that she was listening.
"Would you like to come with?" he inquired, not wanting to leave her on Earth if she actually wanted to return to Asgard instead.
Adaline tore her gaze from the floor before looking him straight in the eyes. "I'm gonna stay here for a few days, but I'll go back soon enough," she explained, giving him a tight-lipped grin. "But tell Fandral, Sif, and Volstagg I said hello."
"Of course," he nodded, before taking a few steps backwards and calling out for Heimdall to open the Bifrost.
In a quick brush of wind and colors, Thor was swept away, leaving Adaline and Jane to gaze upward as they stared at the sky.
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Two days had passed since their battle with Malekith. It had also been two days since they had last seen Thor. Adaline knew he would return eventually, but nothing she could say would calm Jane's nerves.
Jane constantly paced around the room, looking at the radar on her computers for any indication that he was close to returning.
Adaline sat on the couch, where she had slept for the past two nights with a soft, grey blanket wrapped around her legs that had been folded up to her chest. She had been wearing a t-shirt and shorts that Darcy had lent her, watching as Jane fret and scampered about the room.
"Jane, calm down," Adaline muttered, not removing her eyes off of her book. "He will return at some point, and besides, you are making my book itself, start to spin."
Jane rolled her eyes at her words, but finally sat down, placing her intertwined hands on her knees that began to bounce up and down as she took a deep breath in.
Ian then came out from his room, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, before heading into the kitchen. He stopped mid step before turning to face the girls, looking between them as he yawned. He was so exhausted that he wouldn't have noticed they were even there if it hadn't been for Jane's fidgeting. "Are you guys going to eat breakfast?"
"Yes," Adaline announced before removing the blanket from around her legs and stretching as she stood up, giving Jane a comforting smile that said she should eat and accompany the others as well.
They all sat down around the table and threw together their bowls of cereal, sitting in a strange silence, the only sound being that of the clanking of the spoons against the bowls for the first few minutes.
Adaline took another bite of her cheerios as the deafening silence was broken by Darcy who sat beside her.
"He's gonna come back," she stated.
"He better," Adaline added quietly even though everyone had heard the words, as she moved the O's around with her spoon before looking up to Jane and letting a light smirk cross her lips at her sarcasm. "All my stuff is back on Asgard."
Darcy rolled her eyes light-heartedly before returning to the gloomy conversation and continuing to speak. "Except, you know," she paused, sending a sympathetic look to Jane. "Last time he was gone for like two years."
"Well, it's only been two days so..." Jane replied, trying to act as if the topic hadn't been bothering her, but despite her efforts, everyone in the room knew that she had been tearing her hair out waiting for him to come back.
"Did he say anything before he left?" Erik inquired, looking between both Adaline and Jane who both just stared at their laps or into their cereal bowls as if the answer would be spelled out in leftover cereal crumbs that swam about in the milk.
"Yeah, he had to figure some stuff out with his father. He kinda committed treason..." she paused, realizing that Thor could be in prison for his crimes or possibly worse before continuing. "On our way out."
Jane returned to eating her cereal as the others all looked at each other, wondering how they could help calm Jane's anxiety.
As the others looked between each other, Adaline only gazed at Jane. She understood what Jane was feeling and what that felt like. Seeing the man you love in a cell or trapped by chains that covered him from head to toe was an awful feeling. Adaline was just lucky that she believed she would never have to experience again.
But maybe the image of him in chains would have been better than the alternative.
At least he would have been alive.
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Back on Asgard, Thor stood in the throne room ready to be dealt the wrath his father surely had for him.
"You once said there would never be a wiser king than me," Odin spoke, looking down at his son from where he stood upon the stairs. "You were wrong. The Alignment has brought all the realms together. everyone of them saw you offer your life to save them. What can Asgard offer it's new king in return?"
Thor then knelt down on one knee in respect before speaking. "My life."
The two words were truly all Thor wished for. He was quite astonished that upon his arrival in Asgard, he was not dragged away by guards and put into chains for the crimes he had committed. He had also been shocked that his father had not had a long list of especially vivid words to say about how utterly disappointed he was in him.
"Father, I cannot be King of Asgard," he then stood, beginning to explain. "I will protect Asgard and all the realms with my last and every breath, but I cannot do so from that chair," Thor breathily paused, as he hoped his father would understand. "Loki, for all his grave imbalance, understood rule as I know I never will. The brutality, the sacrifice...It changes you. I'd rather be a good man than a great king."
Odin gazed at his son, slightly curious to know the answer to his next question. "Is this my son I hear, or the woman he loves?"
Thor then gazed up at his father with mock admiration. "When you speak, do I never hear Mother's voice?" he paused, letting his words sink in with Odin. "This is not for Jane, Father. She does not know what I came here to say, and neither does Adaline."
At the name Odin perked up, looking to the ground before quickly returning his stare to his son as he moved to sit upon his throne, but the change in demeanor had gone completely unnoticed by Thor as he continued to talk.
"Now, forbid me to see her or say she can rule at my side. It changes nothing."
Odin stared to the side as he spoke, almost not wanting to meet his son's gaze. "One son who wanted the throne too much, another who will not take it," he then looked to Thor. "Is this my legacy?"
"Loki died with honor," Thor announced, unwavering in his words. "I shall try to live the same. Is that not legacy enough?" After a few moments, he then extended his arm forward, ready to give up what had been his birthright as he held Mjolnir out for his father to take.
Odin took a moments pause, before putting his hand forward and brushing the gesture away. "It belongs to you. If you are worthy of it."
Thor returned Mjolnir to his side as he looked down to it. "I shall try to be."
"I cannot give you my blessing, nor can I wish you good fortune."
"I know," Thor replied, briefly nodding in understanding before turning to leave the room but stopping when he heard his father speak once again.
"If I were proud of the man my son had become, even that, I could not say," Odin added, watching as Thor turned to face him again. "It would speak only from my heart," his voice getting quieter with each spoken word. "Go, my son."
Thor gave a small smile back, crinkling his eyes as he did so. "Thank you, Father," he replied, nodding his head in respect as he turned one final time to exit the throne room.
Once Thor had left, the illusion was dropped, leaving Loki holding Gungnir in his hand as he sat upon the throne with a mischievous smile stretched across his face.
"No. Thank you."
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Long after the others had left the table, Jane sat with her cheek resting upon her hand as she stared intently at her cereal, still picking at the now soggy pieces that had been left uneaten in her bowl, with the spoon.
Beginning to hear the thunder rumbling, she slowly lifted her head, breaking her gaze away from the bowl, watching as Adaline now stood, arms crossed over her chest with her side leaning against the kitchen door frame.
Then the sudden array of bright colors burst through the window signifying his arrival.
Erik, Darcy, and Ian all looked up from where they were in the kitchen, cleaning the dishes before turning their gazes to Jane who hopped out of her chair and almost skipped to the door that led to the balcony.
"Told ya," Adaline said, with pursed lips as the others gazed toward her momentarily, as she fixated her gaze on the door, not tearing her eyes away as it flung open and came crashing to a close from Jane's burst of excitement.
From where she stood inside looking out the apartment windows, Adaline could see Jane as she rushed into Thor's arms as soon as he appeared from the Bifrost. Watching as they shared a passionate kiss that they both had worried they would never have.
Adaline gave a genuine smile at the sight, glad that Jane and Thor were at least able to have their happy ending, before pushing away from the door frame and making her way back into the living room to sit on the couch, placing the blanket comfortably over her legs once more.
She figured she would still be on Earth for a little while so Thor and Jane could catch up, even though they had seen each other only two days before; so she decided to continue reading her book.
After searching through Erik Selvig's many bookshelves, she finally found one that piqued her interest. And although she had already read it before, many years ago, she was willing to do it again. This time with a different person's perspective.
Cracking open the spine of the book, she took a deep sigh, and although it didn't calm her heartache, it made her feel a slight bit of content when she read the words that had sparked both an interest in herself and the man she loved.
She leaned the book against her legs, which were placed comfortably in front of her as she leaned against the couch's armrest, following along with the words of the novel as they created a movie in her mind.
It was Macbeth.
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Last edited - 12/13/20
2,042 words