Chapter 19

Asgard was quiet. It's people were gathered in the palace, mourning the loss of its two princes. Barely a single word was said after the funeral, everyone just went about their normal business, paying their respects. The Warriors Three all sat at the banquit table, eating in silence, taking a glance at the seat where Thor, their greatest friend, would usually chug down barrels of wine, and laugh about it afterward. Odin, for once, was not present. He left the service early to retire to his chambers, grieving over his loss. He had thought about what Darcy had said to him, and couldn't deny the mortal's words. He truly had failed as a father.

On the subject of Darcy, many of the Asgardians were baffled when they heard that Thor and Loki's deaths were caused by a mortal girl. They were even more shocked when they had found she had now wielded Mjolnir. A few Asgardian warriors that were good friends with Thor believed this to be a sign of war and wished to take action against Earth, but Odin would have none of it.

Sif, clad in a beautiful white dress, sipped a glass of wine, and turned her head towards the grand balcony. Pushing past the crowds of people, Sif made it to the balcony to find Frigga, alone, gazing out into the horizon.

Sensing her approach, Frigga glanced back and smiled, albeit weekly. Sif could tell she had been weeping.

"My queen," Sif said, remorsefully. "I'm so sorry for your loss."

Frigga sobbed, hanging her head. Sif put her hand on Frigga's shoulder, and the queen gave the maiden an appreciative glance.

"How is he?" Sif asked. "The AllFather?"

Frigga sighed. "He grieves. The mortal's words affected him deeply."

"It was not his fault." Sif said. "No one is at fault."

"That's what I tried to think." Frigga admitted. "But I cannot help but cast blame on him."

Sif was surprised. "But he is your husband."

"I know." Frigga said. "And I do love him, truly. I had always believed everything he did was for a reason, but…"

Frigga glanced back, and Sif followed her gaze to the empty throne in the hall.

"now I am not so sure."

ooooo

Having left the service, Sif walked down the broken Bifrost bridge alone, finding Heimdall standing on the edge, staring out into the cascade of celestial bodies. She stood beside him, and Heimdall briefly acknowledged her before returning his attention to the vast space.

"There is no doubt that Asgard will soon fall to anarchy." Sif said. Heimdall shook his head.

"No. There is always hope."

Sif just laughed harshly. "One heir is dead, the other lost. People have been losing faith in the AllFather. Some have even deemed him mad. Many wish to declare war on Midgard."

"There is always hope, Sif. No matter what shape or form." Heimdall said, his gaze never leaving the stars.

"The mortal?" Sif asked incredulously.

Heimdall nodded. "Her part in our people's history is not yet over. Her great journey is just beginning."

ooooo

"Erik, you got the particle detectors?" Jane asked.

"Yup."

Despite how late it was, business at the laboratory was booming. Jane and Erik were gathering some of the new equipment given to them by S.H.I.E.L.D., which were more efficient that Jane's old research. As of now, they were making more progress than before.

"What about the S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite probes?" Jane asked again. Erik shrugged.

"Darcy was supposed to be handling those."

Jane looked around. "Well where is…"

Suddenly, there was a loud thud from outside, and Jane and Erik looked out the window, smiling when they saw Thordis carrying a large crate in one arm and Mjolnir in the other. Waving, she entered the lab and set the crate down.

"Got the stuff, Jane." Darcy said. "We all ready?"

Jane nodded. "Yup."

While Erik started loading some of the equipment into the van, Jane took a bite from an apple she had been eating.

"I have to say, Darcy," Jane said. "You really came through for us this time. I don't know what you said to Coulson, but this stuff is getting us along even further than before."

Darcy smiled. "No problem. They were impressed with your research, and even went over your Nine Realms theory."

Jane blinked. "Really? What did they think?"

Darcy shrugged. "Don't know. Coulson sure seemed interested in it. Either way, I think they have high hopes for your research."

Jane smiled at her best friend. "Well what about you? I hear they've got you signed up for some pretty big stuff. You joining up with the Super Friends now?"

Darcy smiled sheepishly. "Sort of. What happened with the Asgards and the Smurfs have made S.H.I.E.L.D. all paranoid of a possible alien invasion. They want to be more prepared."

Jane shrugged. "We saw some pretty crazy shit, Darcy. How could it get any worse?"

ooooo

"Do we have a deal?"

Loki looked at the Other, then back at his Master, whose bright blue eyes glared at him expectantly. Loki could see all sorts of malice and macabre in that stare. They were like Laufey, only he could sense that this creature's intentions were far more sinister.

Loki thought over the deal. He recovers the Tesseract, and they give him an army to conquer Earth. At the mention of Earth, Loki's thoughts went back to Darcy, and was filled with mixed feelings. Many of these feelings angered him, and he wanted them to stop.

Looking back at the Other, Loki nodded.

The Other smiled, showing off his hideously mangled teeth. He offered the scepter, and the prince of lies accepted it.

Behind him, the Chitauri howled their victory yells, and the Master grinned.

And that is the end of the fic. Yeah this update came in pretty fast. It's the first week of summer break so I had enough time to write out the final few chapters for this fic.

For those of you who actually want to know the rest of Thordis' story, tune in to United They Stand. Now, I know some of you may be a little upset that I'm dumping Thordis into a world full of guest characters, but the whole point of United They Stand was for me to create my own alternate version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Since I can't stand Chris Hemsworth, I decided to change the Thor storyline by replacing him with someone I actually find interesting, such as Darcy. But to integrate that change into the fic, I decided to write another fic that would explain the background behind that particular change. That was the main purpose of Thordis.

Anyway, I want to thank everyone for your positive feedback and reviews, and hope you enjoyed reading.