Illusions | Loki & Jane

13. A God's Purpose

They had dropped the handsome, unconscious blond stranger at the emergency room of the county hospital.

"Name?" the admission nurse asked languidly, barely looking up from her computer.

"He said his name is Thor," Jane replied, feeling a flush of embarrassment at the unusual name that sounded like something out of mythology.

"T-H-O-R," the receptionist typed indifferently, her fingers clicking away on the keyboard. "And your relationship to him?"

"I've never met him before," Jane answered quickly, her voice a mix of confusion and irritation. Relationship? With someone like that? No way!

"Until she hit him with her car," Darcy chimed in, a teasing glint in her eye.

"I graced him," Jane shot back, slightly irritated that her friend couldn't resist the urge to add fuel to the fire. "But she tasered him,"

"Yes, I did," Darcy said, a proud and mischievous twinkle in her eye, clearly relishing the chaos they had caused.

Jane couldn't help but roll her eyes, feeling a mix of exasperation and amusement. "Can we just focus on getting him treated?" she pleaded, trying to steer the conversation back to the matter at hand.
_______

"We should never have let him go," Volstagg said, guilt weighing heavily on him as he clutched a mug of wine in his hand. The Warriors Three, Sif, and Loki stood in one of the castle's halls, the atmosphere thick with tension.

"There was no stopping him," Sif replied, her voice laced with sorrow.

"At least he's only banished, not dead," Fandral chimed in, his wound from the Frost Giants treated and feeling somewhat better. "Which is what we'd all be if that guard hadn't told Odin where we'd gone."

Volstagg grunted in discomfort as Hogun applied a soothing salve to his ice-wound. "But how did the guard even know?" he asked, puzzled.

"I told him," Loki confessed, glancing at his arm, untouched by the Jotuns' curse.

"What?" Fandral exclaimed in disbelief.

"I told him to go to Odin after we left," Loki replied, a hint of irritation creeping into his voice. "Though he should be flogged for taking so long."

"YOU told the guard?" Volstagg's voice rose incredulously.

"I saved our lives! And Thor's," the God of Mischief asserted, rubbing his hands together. The image of Thor being unwillingly sucked into the Bifrost flashed through his mind. "I had no idea Father would banish him for what he did."

Sif stood from the bench, her anxious frown deepening as she approached Loki with determination. "Loki! You must go to the Allfather and convince him to change his mind!"

"I already tried," he replied, frustration bubbling beneath the surface. "And if I do, then what?" He locked eyes with her, Yes, it is not easy to know that the person you love is on another planet and you're not able to see him. I know what that ache feels like. He thought tauntingly seeing her sad eyes. She was being pathetic. She hadn't even shown her love to Thor yet, her pain was not even remotely comparable to what he had felt, she would get over it.. "I love Thor more dearly than any of you, but you know what he is. He's arrogant. He's reckless. He's dangerous. You saw how he was today. Is that what Asgard needs from its king?" His voice dripped with disdain as he turned away, striding out of the room. It wasn't what Thor deserved, being cast out from Asgard, but perhaps it was better for their realm if he wasn't going to be king. Loki's thoughts twisted darkly as he contemplated how he might show his father that he was the better choice.