I am a terrible, terrible person. In all honesty, I'm not very proud of this chapter, but I've been staring at it for months and it's not getting any better than this. Sorry about that. Also, I haven't met my little dead line because...well, college is rough. Lots of things to do, less time to write. I've also been working on other things, and this one just fell away for a while. I know, lousy excuses. Any way, I hope readers like this chapter more than the writer did.

Chapter 1: Dead Drop Difficulties

"Hale go forth, hale return, hale on your ways." Odin said calmly, and Loki felt a jolt of power surge through his body, and a far rougher version of the pull of the Bifrost yank on him. It was like he was strapped into a harness and attached to a horse that was just spooked into a full out gallop.

And the world around him vanished.

It was harsher than the Bifrost, that was certain. It was worse than traveling the pathways, those were over in a bright flash of light and a couple of weird feelings. This method of travel was by far the most uncomfortable Loki had ever suffered.

And that was saying something, considering he'd endured Thor dragging him into the sky with a knife stuck in his side. Given he'd been barely conscious at the time, but he'd take that over this.

It was like being ripped to shreds and pasted back together, pulled to the farthest reaches of the Nine and crushed all at once. Exploding and imploding at the same cursed time. It hurt like nothing else, but at the same time it didn't. Whatever Loki felt, it was not comfort. Perhaps it wasn't pain, or perhaps his mind was too scattered to register pain. Oh what did it matter, he was never doing this again.

Hale go forth indeed. Loki thought gruffly, then mused on how surprising it was that he could form thoughts. I don't feel healthy at all. It was then he noticed his eyes were closed. Tentatively, he opened one eye, and found blackness all around him, bursts of color and light flashing around his body. So I still have a body. That's nice to know. Not wanting to get dizzier than he already was, Loki closed his eyes and just let himself fall. If this was falling. It sure felt like falling, but no air passed by him, and he was being pulled up and down – or at least what he assumed was up and down – at the same time, with equal force.

Just hang on. It'll end eventually.

Hopefully it'll be a nice landing.

His hopes of a soft landing were dashed on what could only be described as impact. If he had been standing, he was not for long. Motion stopped abruptly, his whole body screaming it's protests at the earth beneath him, and his senses finding themselves once more bombarded with input from sound and smell and touch. The world screamed at him, and Loki just lay on his back, gasping for air lightly and waiting for the ache blazing in his bones to subside.

"Is he dead?" The voice of young woman drew him from his own little world inside his head, and he scowled, growling. Now that his senses had calmed, he could feel a wind whipping around, but fading in strength. The remnants of what sent him here. He could feel the dryness of the air, the heat radiating from the sun above. "Jane, there's another space man!" Jane. Right Jane, Thor's lover and the woman he'd been sent to. I should get up. Loki mused. But the ground is quite comfortable at the moment. "That did not look like his fancy rainbow, wormhole, thingy." The voice was more distant that time, not directed toward him, but at the sky. He could hear footsteps running up to him, and he forced himself to open his eyes.

The last vestiges of black clouds swept away, leaving the sun to bake at him like a worm on a sidewalk. With a groan, Loki raised a hand to his head, and then pushed himself into a sitting position, despite ardent protests from his spine.

"Maybe you should just lay down for a minute." A new voice said, and a woman kneeled down next to him, hands hovering over his body, as if she were afraid to touch him. Loki flashed her a winning smile and stood up fully, offering her a hand to stand.

"Is Asgard the land of Sexy People?" The younger woman said, off to the side, and Loki could not help a smile.

"Darcy!" Jane, Loki recognized her now, yelled at her friend. While they bickered, Loki checked that all his bones and internal organs were in the right place. To his relief, he was not scrambled and the ache in his form began to leave him.

"Lady Jane." Jane froze when he called her name, turning slowly to face him. Darcy was also gaping at him. "I apologize for my… less than average entrance, but we are having some trouble traveling these days." She crossed her arms and glowered at him.

"Thor had better have a pretty good excuse for breaking his promise to come back. What are you, a messenger boy?" Loki smirked a little at her words, but his heart wasn't in it.

"He does have a good excuse." The younger prince said, reaching into his coat and pulling out the letter Thor gave him. "He told me to give this to you, it explains everything." Jane gave him a dubious look and snatched the letter away. Loki himself had not read the letter, and prayed to the Norns that Thor had been thorough in his writing of it; else his mission here would be quite compromised. He watched her as she ate up the letter, he watched her expressions, saw as her eyes flitted to him and then back to the page, widening more and more as she read, and flicking back to him a number of times. Darcy was peaking over her shoulder, but Jane was so engrossed she didn't care. The younger woman drew away faster, coming up to Loki and standing on her toes, mere inches from his chest, narrowing her dark eyes and trying to look intimidating. It only made Loki want to laugh.

"So you're Loki."

"I am." The prince replied with a smile.

"Letter says you didn't attack us last year."

"The letter is truthful." Darcy narrowed her eyes even more, as if obscuring her vision would make her see the truth or lies in his heart. Loki swept his eyes over her; she was a short woman, larger than Jane was, stockier in build and seeming less delicate than her friend. Her mouth was taught in a skeptical scowl, lips slightly glossy with reddish pink color on them, her wavy brown hair was stuffed into a knit hat on the top of her head, pulled down around her ears, though why she was wearing a hat in this heat was beyond Loki's understanding. She was trying her darndest to be scary, but the second prince of Asgard merely found it amusing.

He drew his eyes away from her, then sidestepped the much shorter woman neatly and walked over to Jane, leaving a sputtering Darcy in his wake.

"Lady Jane?" He said quietly, hoping to pull her away from the letter he was sure she had finished by this point. She remained transfixed, staring at the parchment page as if it were the most precious thing in the universe. "Jane?"

"Just leave her, she'll snap out of it soon." Darcy said from behind him. Loki sighed and looked at the dry earth beneath his feet, kicking up some dust with his toe. He clasped his hands behind his back and resisted the urge to shift impatiently on his feet. Finally, he heard the sound of paper folding and looked back to his brother's mortal lover.

"Lady Jane-" Loki's words were cut off with a harsh slap across his face, so surprising it served to knock him back on his feet a little. Darcy snorted in laughter behind him, trying to hold it in. Rubbing his jaw, Loki turned to glare at the offending woman.

"That was for scaring Thor." She said, crossing her arms and glaring at him. Jane considered him for a moment, almost expecting him to rant about how wrong it was to strike a son of Odin, and rant like Thor had that first fateful night a year ago, but nothing came. She could see he wasn't happy, but then again he hadn't looked happy for a single moment yet. With a deep breath, and a leap of faith, she spoke once more. "You should come inside, it's too hot out here." Loki nodded curtly and let her lead them into her "home", or what served as such. "You can pass out on the couch if you want, there's not much to do around here, so…" Jane looked around lamely, unsure of what to do. She felt as though she'd had more of a handle on things when Thor was here. Perhaps it was because, despite his arrogance, Thor was amiable, while Loki just seemed cold and closed off to the world. His frigid politeness was unnerving, and held in it an unspoken expectation that Jane did not know how to satisfy.

"There's uh, food in the fridge… you have no idea what a refrigerator is, duh Jane. Uh…"

"You don't need to worry yourself with me, Lady Jane, I'm sore and tired. A place to lay my head and sleep will suffice for now." Jane blinked for a moment, frozen in place.

"Couch is open." Darcy said. "Or-"

"The couch will be just fine, thank you." Loki cut her off, settling onto the slightly lumpy but comfortable enough piece of furniture. He was sore and bone weary, the ground would have felt like his bed at home in this moment. The journey here had taken all of his energy, even if he had not cast the spell himself, and the sleepless night before compounded the effect. His body was protesting every movement he made, reminding him of his fall.

It was only moments when sleep took him.

Darcy squinted at the Asgardian on the couch, trying to confirm that he was, in fact, asleep. He looked like he was, but she didn't trust him. Letter or no letter, all the books Jane had laying around about Old Norse mythology had plenty of things to say about how this guy was not trustworthy.

"I don't like him." Darcy grumbled, finally deciding she didn't care if he heard. Jane frowned, eyes flicking back and forth as she shorted through her thoughts.

"Thor-"

"How do we even know if that letter is from Thor? What if he forged it?"

"Darcy, he didn't forge it. He's Thor's brother he's-"

"How do you know it's not forged?"

"How do you know it is! Jeez Darcy you sound like Eric!" Jane sighed, then picked up the letter again. Staring Darcy down, she began to read aloud.

"Dear Jane-"

"Oh come on, I read it." Darcy whined in protest. Jane hardened her glare and began again, making her intern slump into a chair with a huff.

"Dear Jane. If you are reading this letter I assume you have met my brother. If he has given this to you prior to introducing himself, he is the tall, black-haired and green-eyed fellow who is somewhere near you. That is Loki, my younger brother. I know what you must think of him, due to the events of this past year, but believe me when I assure you, he means no harm. Our father has sent him, for reasons I will entail later in this letter, for now, I shall tell you the truth of the events you witnessed last year.

I failed to mention, in my stay with you, either of my two younger siblings. Loki is the middle child of my family, and my youngest brother was Baldur. There was a misunderstanding in our family on the loyalties of my two brothers. Baldur, as the youngest of three, stood no chance of ever gaining the throne, which was to be mine. He thought me unworthy, and saw himself more worthy. He planned to usurp me, and father, and tried to get Loki to join him. Loki refused, and tried to protect both myself, our parents, and Baldur, all at the same time. For seventeen years he was able to do so, and we were none the wiser. But despite all of Loki's efforts, Baldur would not be turned from his plan, and only Loki stood in his way. For this, Loki paid with his life.

Near four centuries past the man you see before you was sentenced to death and executed for the crime of attempted murder and slandering of a name. Near four centuries all of Asgard thought him not but a traitor and the worst of men. All the while, Baldur bided his time, waiting for Loki's demise to crush my family and watch us tear each other apart.

This did not come to pass. We discovered Baldur's plans, and imprisoned him in the dungeons beneath Asgard, for the remainder of his life.

Loki was vindicated of his crimes. He was an innocent man. There is an old legend that an innocent man who dies in the place of a guilty one can have their life restored, and others that Hela, Lord of the Dead, can return souls of the dead if her terms are met. These legends I latched onto as my only hope of seeing my brother again. So I went to Hela, I begged for my brother's life, and she granted my request. Loki was returned to the land of the living.

I must ask something of you now. Please, Jane, tell only trusted few of these facts which I have told you. I trust you with these secrets, please to not give them away freely.

To continue, after Loki was returned, and he recovered from his ordeal, life went on. I was to be coronated, but on the day of my coronation, frost giants came into our home. All you need know of frost giants is that they are our old foes, and they were neither welcome, nor supposed to be there. In my arrogance, I listened to the wisdom of neither my father or my brother, or even my friends, and dragged my friends and Loki to the land of the frost giants to seek answers. And to fight them. As expected, a fight broke out, and looking on it now, we are lucky to have made it out with our lives. My actions there began a path to war, and because of this I was banished to earth, stripped of my power. This is where you found me, Jane. Moments after my banishment.

I left my brother behind to deal with the rising turmoil in Asgard. The account of events there comes from my friends and Loki himself. If you ask it of him, I am certain he will give them to you in fuller detail than I need provide. My father fell into the Odinsleep, leaving the throne to Loki. Loki was unable to broker peace with the frost giants and he sent Sif and the Warriors Three to earth to help me regain my power and come home.

Baldur chose this moment to strike. He had been working with the Sorceress Amora, orchestrating events to lead to him taking Asgard. He allowed frost giants into Asgard on my coronation, and he allowed them into Asgard again, this time against a weakened Asgard. Loki was his first target. While we were fighting for our lives against the destroyer, Loki was fighting for his own. Baldur wounded him and took from him the control of the Destroyer, and sent it here to kill me. And he was forced to watch as Baldur did this.

Please believe me Jane, Loki did not attack me here, if he could have done anything, he would have, I swear it. I saw the relief in his eyes when I came home, I know for a fact that he did not harm me. He will not harm you.

As for what he is doing on your doorstep, I will tell you. The Bifrost was destroyed in the battle for Asgard last year, after I returned. As such, we are unable to travel between the realms. Loki, and others, have been trying to remedy the problem, but Loki has found a solution. On Midgard, there is a device that may help us rebuild the Bifrost. Loki is there to retrieve it. I will leave the rest of the tale to Loki and his discretion.

Also, he is not happy to be there, on Midgard. I know he may seem irritable and hostile, but I swear to you, he means no ill will. He merely wishes to be home as soon as time and his work allows. Please be patient with him, as you were with me.

And do not harm him, for that is something I will never forgive. Loki is prone to putting himself in harms way, so please Jane, for my sake if nothing else, stay out of trouble and watch out for my brother.

Thank you, and I am sorry I could not come myself.

Thor."

Jane put the letter down, fixing Darcy with a glare. Her intern cast a glare at the sleeping form of their guest, then looked back to Jane.

"I get to say I told you so when he kills us in our sleep."

Friday (Frigg's Day) July 15, 2012, approx 1:00 am

Jane sat on the lawn chairs on the roof of her building, staring up at the stars. She was brought back to the night she had spent up there with Thor, talking about Asgard. He had seemed to stumble over some of his words, and now that she though about it, she had heard the name Loki mentioned once. He had been trying to explain something, and turned away to mumble something. All Jane had heard was Loki and laughing at me, but the memory made her smile. She was wary of her new guest, but he had done nothing but sleep the entire day so far, and now that it was night, Jane figured she'd get a decent conversation out of him in the morning. So she just sat up her, little fire burning next to her and looking up at the stars. She was trying to see something, beyond the grasp of her eyes. She stood, as if her small frame could cover the distance that she needed, to see what she longed to glimpse. She wondered, where was Asgard, out there?

She wondered, did Thor miss her? Or had he moved on? If he did care for her, miss her, why was he not here? Sure, he had explained why he had not come before in his letter, but why did Thor not come himself, or perhaps alongside his brother. Wouldn't that have made things easier? Distrust for her new houseguest wormed into her mind. What if it was all a lie, what if Thor was dead, what if Loki was on the run, what if he was here to hurt her, using her trusting nature against her?

What if Loki wasn't safe?

Jane froze when she heard the door to the roof open, and she saw a tall, dark figure in the doorway. She did not acknowledge him at first, almost hoping he would go away. She kept her gaze defiantly heavenward, but Loki merely stood there, maybe looking at her, maybe past her. Quiet dragged on, and fear sunk into Jane's chest. She had to say something.

"Can you see it?" Jane asked, voice rushed and anxious, desperate to break the silence. Loki walked slowly from his position at the door over to her, stones crunching under his feet as he stared up at the sky, standing now beside her. "Asgard. Can you see it from here?" Jane clarified, feeling a blush run up her cheeks. She felt foolish.

"No." Loki sighed, almost as if he longed to see it himself. "Tis too far."

"Even for your eyes?"

"Even for my eyes." Loki replied, barely above a whisper. "Much too far."

"You don't want to be here, do you?" Jane asked, taking her gaze from the heavens and looking at the prince next to her. How could he and Thor be brothers, they looked nothing alike. Loki did not shift his eyes, staring into the stars, or perhaps beyond them, to something yet unseen. "Look beyond what you see." Jane said in a deep, strange voice, laughing at her own joke. Loki frowned, turning to look at her now. "Quote from a movie."

"I'm sure that explains it." Loki mused, looking back to the stars. "No Jane, I don't want to be here. I want to be in my home, with my family. But I'm here, and I cannot get home until I finish my work."

"Why did you come here?" Jane asked. "Not earth, but here here. Why did you come to me?" Loki's brow creased a moment, as if he were thinking on some deep matter.

"Thor." A simple word, as if it explained everything. Jane frowned, wishing Loki would face her, instead of staring at the sky.

"Thor?"

"He misses you. And, you are the only mortal that had had contact with us." Jane did not hear the second sentence. She did not notice that he had completely changed the subject. All she heard was 'he misses you'.

"Thor...misses me?" She whispered, unbelieving.

"Would I lie?" Loki asked calmly, turning to her now, vibrant green eyes searching her face to gage her reaction. Jane felt as though he was looking into her thoughts, and forced herself not to squirm.

"Well you are the god of lies." Jane countered, and Loki let his gaze drop, smile on his face as he chuckled and shook his head.

"I think I set myself up for that."

"Yeah, you did." Jane smirked, quite pleased with herself. The tension in the air began to leak away, and Jane's heart began to settle.

"Yes, Thor misses you a great deal. He's always pestering Hiemdal about you, asking what you're doing." Jane smirked laughing a little.

"That's... Kinda creepy. Cute, but creepy." At her words, Loki burst out laughing, having to sit down before he fell down. It was another thing different about him, Thor's laugh was like thunder, Loki's like a sweet silver song. "What's so funny?" She asked, staring down at her guest in confusion.

"You called him cute!" Loki exclaimed between laughs, breathless. "You, you, you... Thor? Cute? Norns..." Loki was beside himself, picturing in his mind Thor's reaction to the news that his mortal lover found him cute. As Jane looked at him, laughing quietly to herself at the image playing in her own mind. All her fear leaked away as she watched him, there was something so pure about the way he smiled, the way he laughed. Something that could not be faked, could not be a lie. It was love, even Jane could see it, glinting in his now watering eyes.

"What's he like?" Jane asked suddenly, gaining Loki's attention.

"Excuse me?" The young prince asked, rubbing one of his eyes. Jane sat down on the chair across the fire from him, watching as the firelight danced across his pale skin, lighting up his dark eyes. He was striking, and strikingly different from Thor. She could not seem to get past how dissimilar they seemed. Thor was broad and built like a brick wall, massive and secure, nothing could touch him. Thor was soft, no sharpness to his frame or his face. Thor was warmth and sunlight. He was a rock. Loki was all angles and edges, built almost like a wisp of a man. Loki's fingers would be the envy of many women, almost dainty. Loki was sharp, even his eyes cut like knives through the world. Loki was strangeness and charm. He was ice.

How could they be brothers?

"Lady Jane?" Loki's smooth and quiet voice drew Jane from her musings, and only then did she realize she had been staring at him for a good three minutes.

"Oh, I am so sorry…I…well I just…um…" Jane stuttered, unsure of what to say, but a small smile crept onto Loki's face, and then Jane saw it. It was not so large, nor as bright, but it was the warmth, the kindness in the look, the softness to his eyes she had not seen before. Suddenly, she could see Thor in this stranger before her. Perhaps they were not so different after all.

"You asked me a question." Loki said, encouraging her to continue.

"Oh, yeah. Thor, what's he like?" Jane asked, leaning back a little in her chair. "I only knew him for a few days, you've known him for your whole life." Loki nodded slowly.

"Thor is…" Loki laughed a little. "He's a marvelous fool." There was an almost wistful look in his eye as he spoke, a remembering glint. "Since we were little, he's been getting me into all sorts of trouble. It never ends. But, he's always been there when I need him to be. I know he doesn't think so, but he has. Thor is loyal beyond reason, he is honest to the point that it is painful. He cannot lie if his life depends on it." He rolled his eyes, chuckling slightly.

"I feel like there's a story there." Jane smiled, hoping to garner a tale from this younger brother of her lover's.

"Oh, there is quite the story. However, I promised Thor I would never tell, so I am afraid you will just have to wait." Jane pouted a little, but Loki stood firm. His gaze wandered around the roof, but he seemed to be looking elsewhere. "We have a place like this, he and I." He whispered, and Jane could tell that he was not seeing her roof now, but someplace he knew far better. He shook his head, turning back to her, then to the ground. "When we were little, a year or so after we had gotten separate rooms, Thor snuck into my room in the middle of the night, woke me up. He wanted to sneak around the palace, and of course I came with him. We got into our heads to try to get to the top of the palace's highest spire. There were so many stairs, I was exhausted, but Thor insisted we could make it." Loki laughed, shaking his head. "He must have said 'just a bit more Loki, you can make it' over a hundred times. He never once grew impatient with me. We found a little trap door at the top of the stairs. It was stuck and we had to pound on it so hard to get it to open. On the other side there was a balcony with the barest of railings, far at the top of the palace spire. We could see everything from there, could almost reach the stars. It was like magic. For years we would sneak off to go there, all hours of the day. Our parents were furious when they found out, and we had to beg them not to seal it up. They put a higher railing up." Loki gazed up at the stars for a moment, then looked back Jane. "This reminds me of that."

"It's just a roof." Jane said, looking around at the gravel topped floor, failing to see some grand Asgardian balcony that Loki seemed to gather. Loki's eyes flicked around, looking at the pale refection of his memory this Midgardian building provided. Perhaps it was just a roof, but it was familiar nonetheless. "Are the stars different in Asgard?"

"If the stars are different on the other side of this world, how much more so must they be across the universe?" Loki asked quietly. "It's been a long time since I've seen these stars, and these above us now are strange to me."

"Wait, you've been to earth before?" Jane asked, scooting to the edge of her chair, leaning in to get closer to Loki's soft-spoken words. He merely looked at her strangely, for a moment, seemingly confused about her question.

"Of course." He said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Where do you think the Norse myths came from?" Jane felt sheepish all of the sudden, drawing back and beginning to ramble on. Loki cut her off with a quiet laugh, shaking his head. "Thor and I have been to earth a few times in the past, ages ago though. The last time I stepped foot on Midgard was in the year 1194."

"Long time ago, huh? People still thought the earth was flat back then."

"Not the Norse." Loki corrected with a smile. "They sailed all the way to these lands, though I cannot say how long they survived here." Jane gazed at him, another question now eating at her mind. According to Thor's letter, the man sitting before her had been dead at one point. How that was possible was beyond her, he looked healthy enough. How long ago was it? How long had he been…passed on for? She wanted to ask, but knew it would beyond wrong to question him on the matter. So she settled for asking another question at the back of her mind.

"So, um… what happened in Asgard, last year? Thor told me the basic jist of it in his letter, but he kinda just skimmed, he wasn't there after all."

"There isn't much to tell, really. Baldur tried to take over and we stopped him. Not much more than that."

"You broke the Bifrost." Jane stated, asking for an explanation.

"Thor did that. Baldur was trying to use it to destroy Jotunhiem. There wasn't any other way. If there were, Thor would have done it. He meant to return here, he wanted to come with me. Our father wouldn't let him."

"And Thor just accepted that?" Jane asked, crossing her arms.

"Once I made him, yes." Loki smiled. "There was little point in arguing, only one of us could go, and I am the better diplomat."

"So your dad sent you."

"Exactly." Loki sighed. "I'm no more pleased about the situation than you or Thor, but it is what it is." The younger prince ran a hand through his inky black hair.

"How come you don't want to be here?" Jane asked, smirking. "Is earth really so bad?" Loki did not find the same humor in her words, eyes drifting off, looking grim.

"I have my reasons."

"Like what?" Jane asked. "What are you really missing?"

"What did Thor tell you in that letter?" Loki asked, his eyes suddenly boring into her, and Jane found herself feeling vaguely like a bug under a microscope. "About me, about Baldur? What did he tell you?" Jane swallowed thickly, the mood of the conversation had just taken a drastic turn downwards.

"He- he said you died-"

"Of course he did." Loki snapped, and in a flash and flourish of movement he swept away, back down the steps. Jane remained frozen, her heart pounding in her chest. She took a few deep breaths, trying to steady herself.

Whatever Thor might have said about Loki being harmless, he remained terrifying. For the barest of moments Jane had seen warmth in him.

And then it froze hard and fast.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it.