Fallen Star

Fallen Star Chapter 24

(During this first section, I listened to Destiny in Space Score-Main Theme—which absolutely MUST be listened to, regardless of the length of the section, because I believe it epitomizes Asgard. And for the LAST section, I listened to the October Sky soundtrack: Dream of the Boys—a theme you might recall from earlier...

Enjoy!

VVV

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

"Out of the island, into the highway
Past the places where you might have turned
You never did notice, but you still hide away
Anger of angels who won't return

He's everything you want, he's everything you need
He's everything inside of you that you wish you could be
He says all the right things at exactly the right time
But he means nothing to you, and you don't know why..."

-Vertical Horizon

Jane wrapped her hand around Thor's bent forearm and took a deep, deep breath. Her lungs filled with the scent of the sea—

And a brisk ocean breeze rushed through her hair and long pink dress. She strode alongside Thor in the bright morning light, straight down the center of the Asbru bridge. Pillars anchored the bridge in place, plunging down through the gray, frothing ocean, and above each pillar, a bronze arch rose. Jane and Thor passed beneath one such towering arch, and its shadow crossed them. The ocean roared against the rocks on either side, and she could hear the trill of the gulls as they swept and flitted overhead, and under the bridge. She glanced down, and let out a soft laugh. The bridge did indeed look like a rainbow—a rainbow-faceted carpet of jewels. And with each step they took, the bridge lit up around their feet, and rang softly. Thor glanced down at her and grinned. She returned the smile, her eyes lingering on him a moment as he faced forward.

Thor, wearing blue, princely garb, just seemed to tower over her. His majestic golden head and broad shoulders caught the sunlight. But as she thought about it, Fenris—Loki—wasn't much shorter than Thor. Perhaps he just didn't stride the way Thor did, with his back straight and his head up. Fenris...Loki...always seemed to have been tilted toward her, looking down at her, listening to her...

She ducked her head, her smile fading.

The two of them made slow progress, for though the twinge in her muscles was almost gone, she still felt a little tired. And as they walked, the sea twisting and foaming, they seemed to leave the bright sunshine behind them...

And the blue of the sky blended into darkness.

Or rather...

The sky gracefully pulled back so she could see heaven.

"Oh..." Jane breathed, and couldn't get anything else out. For past the edge of the deep purple atmosphere, a vast expanse of unadulterated space opened up above them.

In a limitless field of the deepest black she'd ever seen, there swirled and twinkled and winked and pulsed hundreds of galaxies, thousands of nebula, and billions of stars. Some stars looked like black velvet had been punctured to let in the blinding light from paradise. Some galaxies looked like a ripple on silver water, or clouds turned blue or green or purple. And some nebula appeared to be the paint-covered fingerprints of an artist accidentally brushing his canvas. All of it glowed and shimmered, raining soft, multicolored light down upon them.

Jane could hardly breathe—and she felt like crying. But she clung to Thor's arm, and drank it all in without saying a word.

At long last, a fervent rushing sound brought her back down to terra firma—and she realized with a start that just ahead of them, the ocean ceased, and plunged downward in an alarming, stomach-dropping waterfall—and at the end of the bridge, there was nothing but space. If she wished, she could have raced to the edge and dived off, and fallen through the stars.