Chapter 1: The Time We Take to Die

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Welcome to Afterlife! I have decided to give this story a much-needed facelift. Without Imogen, this story would be drifting off in the abyss with other neglected stories on here. For her support of this story, I am grateful.

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SYNOPSIS

Loki disappears after the events of New York, and Asgard must learn how to pick up the pieces. Convinced of Loki's death, Jane succumbs to the inevitable and unthinkable: marry her brother Thor to achieve a much-needed peace. After years of prolonging the wedding, Jane finally accepts her fate and decides to set the date; however, her whole world is shattered when Loki returns.

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"When all the people in the realms told you of my death, you so easily believed them?" Loki devastatingly shouted, his teeth bare as he inhaled a sharp breath.

The future queen of Asgard stepped forward. Jane's eyes stung, as they were vulnerable to the cool air surrounding them. Shaking her head as she placed her hand over her heart, the mortal pleaded, "When all the people in the world did convince me, I died with you."

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Upon the most poignant spire of stardust, a small human child wished for a single fragment of hope. While most girls her age were being spoiled with dollhouses and playing in their mothers' clothes, Jane Foster wanted to understand the stars and how the world acquired seven wonders in its lifetime.

While most girls her age were dressed in bright cheery pinks, plums, and burgundies, Jane Foster had been bundled up within too many layers of navies, blacks, and crimsons. While their hair was long, blond, and curly, Jane Foster's was of medium length, brown, and flat. While their eyes were bright and wondrous like weeping stars an evening after summer rain, hers were of mundane, brown backdrops.

While most fathers loved their daughters, Jane Foster's was a terrible drunk who took pleasure in hitting her mother senseless and threatening to touch his daughter in places a five-year-old would never begin to comprehend. The small, skinny girl recalled the reoccurring wish her heart hungered for since her third birthday.

Every holiday, birthday, and family gathering where candles were present, the frail, quiet girl internally cried out for a second chance. Was it her fault she was unhappy? Had she done something bad to make her father shout out her when she tried to show him her good grades or artwork from school?

In a desperate attempt to shove away the pain for another disappointing tomorrow, Jane Foster wept uncontrollably as she perched atop her house in the middle of the New Mexican desert. She gathered her knees in her arms and hunched over as her shaking shoulders refused to tuck into the comfort of the darkness.

Yesterday, her mother had attempted to kill herself while her only child played in the next room over. Her mother had taken a rope she'd collected from outside and hung it through a rafter in the high ceiling. The woman had stood atop a chair and kicked it away quickly. Jane had heard the unfamiliar noises from the kitchen, and so she'd saved her mother.

When her mother came back to consciousness, she told Jane she had been a bad girl. As punishment, the girl's mother had taken away her toys and locked her in her room for the rest of the night, skipping dinner and breakfast until she was allowed to come out for lunch with her father.

The girl was startled as she heard a loud thump as the front door slammed shut. "Jane! Damn Brat! Get yer ass down from there!" her father shouted, clearly drunk. The odor radiated from his pores into the open, fresh air.

The girl gasped and scurried to the back of the house to use the ladder to climb back down from the roof of the decaying home. As her father continued to shout after her, Jane dashed out into the desert. Normally, her father wouldn't bother to chase after her. She planned to travel the three miles to her haven until morning. At least she would be safe there.

Yet, this night proved different when something affected the back of her head. The assault caused her to fall to her knees. Her heart lurched forward out of her chest cage, hurting her at the rate it chose. The girl winced loudly as her hand tried to move upward to cradle the wound. As her vision clouded, she heard a loud bang against the ground, the object by her side echoing like old, rusted metal.

As her eyes settled more clearly over the offending object, the young girl saw that her father had beat her with a shovel. However, as she finally reached the back of her head, her father snatched her arms and brought them together in one arm. Jane began to cry hysterically, "Daddy, stop!"

His fist collided with her shoulder, "You shut yer mouth, you little bitch!"

"No, you're hurting me, father! Please stop! I'm scared!" Jane shouted, pleading to an unknown force for her mother to walk out of the house.

He rolled her over so that she was on her back and shoved his fist in her cheek. Quickly, he roughly struck her in her stomach so she wouldn't shout anymore. Finally, he grabbed her neck and began to ring the life from her veins and lungs. She instinctually clutched at his hands, her nails digging into his skin. He didn't seem to notice, though.

Her tears began to weigh the equivalent of an elephant on her skin. Suddenly, his grip loosened when she thought she would certainly lose consciousness. Her chest expanded in a desperate attempt to collect herself again, but her father hit her in her chest. Her eyes bugged nearly out of each of their sockets when she felt a crack in her side.

If she were capable, she would have howled.

She felt his hands at her waist, fumbling with her buckle. All she could do was continue to cry, until she gathered the courage to look down. Her father was so busy trying to get her pants undone that she found an opening. With all of her might, the girl threw her foot in her father's crotch, causing him to withdraw and fall over as he clutched the area.

While he was distracted, the weak girl reached for the shovel and swung it toward the front of his face, knocking him out. Barely able to stand, Jane wobbled out into the desert. Her heart broke and sank inside the depths of hopelessness, but she continued victoriously. The five-year-old refused to look back. Limping unstably, she winced and whined with every step.

Eventually, she had treaded at least a mile when she sank onto the hard, cold surface of the desert floor. Her lungs threatened to cave in on themselves because when she tried to cry out, no noise emitted her small pair of bruised lips.

All she heard was silence. No disturbances save the crickets and the pitter-patter of their footsteps. The traumatized girl closed her eyes and continued to ball. She could move no limb. The girl was purely and wholly exhausted. At least she'd run away, but now she knew she would die alone.

Despite pain incinerating every nerve in her small, failing body, Jane opened her lips and whimpered, "Alas my love you do me wrong...To cast me off...discourteously; and I have loved you oh...so long, Delighting in your company. Greensleeves...was my delight, Greensleeves...my heart of gold, Greensleeves was my...heart of joy, and who but my lady...Greensleeves."

With the utterance of the last syllable, a bright light ignited from the sky down unto where she lay. In addition, that was when the gods finally answered her prayers.

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Jane's fifth year (several days later)

"My dear, you are safe here. Do you understand? You are my daughter no matter what anyone tells you otherwise. You are no longer completely human, as your mortality was modified to allow you to live a long and happy life here in Asgard. You are ours as we are yours, you understand?" Frigga warmly told the silent girl.

Jane only nodded, still shaken from both her attack and this dream reality. The girl was convinced she was dead and that this was heaven. She glanced down at her no longer bruised hands and fidgeted with her fingers a bit as she bit her lips together, forming a tight, flat line.

The queen reached cautiously for the girl's hands and gathered them into hers, "You are healed and in good spirits, child. You are safe here."

The girl stared absently at the woman's hands and eventually smiled. Peeking through her bangs, Jane nodded, "Thank you."

Frigga reciprocated the youthful smile, "You are very much welcome, dear." The queen paused only for a moment before standing, "We must introduce you to your brothers, now. Come along."

The woman tenderly aided the girl from the soft, white bed. They still linked hands as they found a suitable, slow pace to follow side by side. Jane didn't know whether to admire the beautiful surroundings, or the queen's attire. In her mind, this woman appeared the goddess of all mermaids, as she was clad in periwinkles, soft blues, and vivid greens. She reminded Jane of the sea.

"Will they like me?" the girl eventually choked, her hand tightening in the adult's.

Frigga nodded boldly and sealed her hand over the smaller girl's, "Oh, yes. Though you are quite younger than they are, they will appreciate your charms immensely."

"I hope so," she quietly added.

"Oh, look, here they are! Loki! Thor? I have someone here you must meet," Frigga began, calling attention to the smallest in the group, "This is Jane. She will henceforth be your younger sister. She was brought here by accident, but your father has seen the atrocities she would face should she return to her home realm. No longer is she a human, but one of us. In time, she will be gifted with a lifetime as long as ours. You will take extra lengths to make her feel welcome and very much a part of our family. Correct?"

Thor glanced down at the small girl awkwardly and sent his mother a questioning look, but knelt down before the girl. The quick invasion of her space caused the small girl to cower behind Frigga. Thor held up his hands and laughed, "You're the skittish little one aren't you? My name is Thor. We're to be family from now on."

When Jane only clutched Frigga's fabrics tighter, the taller, leaner man dressed in green armor rested his hand on his brother's shoulder. "You've never been any good with children. You're too much of a brute."

Thor turned his attention away from the girl and scoffed at his brother's words, "I take those as words of a challenge, brother."

Loki simply rolled his eyes and shoved past Thor. He raised his hand gently over Jane's head, setting his palm over the top of it to rub quickly back and forth. Without meeting her gaze, the prince walked gracefully toward the opposite direction. "Charmed," he greeted the girl before she was out of earshot range.

Jane turned her head toward the tall and fleeting figure and smiled wondrously.

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Jane's eleventh year

Jane ran around in circles as Heimdall guarded the bifrost. Her laughter could be heard throughout most of the area, which many citizens enjoyed. Jane's presence was often sought after, despite her reclusive nature.

Presently, her arms were extended at her shoulders' height and she was spinning around the large circular room mimicking the flight path of a bird.

The dark-skinned man in the center of the room had his arms crossed as he stood behind the sword in the center of the room, though his features were light as he intently listened to the girl's happiness flow like music through the wind.

"Heimdall?" she called, clearly out of breath.

His bright eyes scanned over to where she halted, watching her as she held her hands to her knees shoving breath in and out of her lungs, "Yes, Jane?"

"How are they doing?" she asked somberly. He didn't see her face, but he knew what sort of expression lied about her features.

He moved his arms so that they were behind his back, walking toward the edge of the bifrost. He narrowed his eyes and focused in on whom she spoke of, "They think of you in this moment."

"That doesn't answer my question," she fought.

Heimdall bit back a smile, "You're incredibly stubborn for someone so small. Moreover, I'm not required to answer to you. I have no loyalties sworn to you, but to Odin."

"Forget about that for a second, and focus on me for once," she whined as any young growing young lady would.

"You ask me to denounce my duty to my king?" he replied swiftly.

The young girl groaned, suddenly frustrated, "No! I'm asking you how my birth parents are! Please don't make me beg."

"Your mortal ones are not faring well, young princess. He continues to waste away, while your mother...escorts other men," he informed carefully.

"You realize Thor has completely ruined my innocent ears, right? You and Loki both treat me like I haven't heard the sounds that come from both of my brothers' rooms at night," she countered proudly.

"We should continue to wait for your brothers in silence," Heimdall muttered, causing Jane to giggle. Quickly, Heimdall rushed to the sword and readied the bifrost for travel. Shortly after that, Lady Sif, Thor, and Loki emerged from the rainbow bridge.

The young princess rushed toward Thor, who picked her up and spun her high above his head. Jane frantically chuckled as she scurried in his arms to get down. "Hello, small sister. It seems that you weren't kind enough to wait in the throne room like mother and father," Thor teased.

Jane shoved at him, "You're smelly!"

Lady Sif cut in, "We're all a bit put out from our journey, my darling."

"Thor, why is it that only you smell? Perhaps you did all the hard work again?" she pried jovially.

"Enough!" Loki hissed, glaring down at Jane. He walked toward the entrance of the bifrost and turned back toward her, "There is no time to deal with you right now, child. Go now."

The sudden outburst caught Jane off guard. Her large brown eyes bore into his concealed, grey ones. Eventually, she nodded and scampered off down the bridge on the horse she'd brought with her.

When she was gone, Thor closed in on his brother and shook his shoulders, "That is no way to treat our sister."

Loki snapped his attention at his words, "She is not my sister, brother. She was a bother, and she needed to know. Now, excuse me." The elusive prince instantly fled the bifrost to meet with the king and queen. Soon after, Thor and Sif departed after inquiring what Jane had asked about while waiting. However, like every question Jane demanded to know the answer to, Heimdall refused to disclose the answer to them.

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I am editing all the chapters for clarity and obvious purposes. Please be advised that chapter 5 will be released as soon as it is completed. This story is planned to be longer than Dark Paradise and happier, less angsty than that story, too.

Thanks for (re)reading!

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Breviary-Rose