don’t get too close, it’s dark inside | thor/wanda/sif
Thor stood in the darkness of the cave that haunted his very dreams. The moment he left the area of the reflection, he vowed that he would not return unless the means justified the ends. Where he was, at his moment in time, he felt he could offer no other choice. Luckily, if things went in a rapid decline, at least he knew Wanda could attempt to bring him back to his self though he did not know the limit of her power, or if she was even able to do just that.
The rushing chill down his spine returned as it did the first time his boots met the soil, his veins nearly electrified and throbbed at just the sight of the small pool in front of him. In his pocket, he drew out a flask that held an Asgardian drink to help aid in settling his raging fears. He once told Erik Selvig that the thing he fear was scary but now he was even more vulnerable to it, making his second washing in the waters even more so against his odds.
Just as the first time, Thor shed off his shirt, laying it beside the box he carried in with him that held contents to help invoke the spirits that lived just below the water’s surface. He was alone this time, Erik was not present to help or guide him out when his voice would get lost, he would not allow himself to subject Erik to such a danger. But Thor needed answers, needed to know why it still haunted him every day and how to make it stop.
As he stepped into the water, his feet began to numb nearly immediately, the rest of his skin’s sensitivity sky rocketed. Drawing in a deep breath, Thor dipped his head underwater, submitting himself completely to the dangers that came with it. His head trembled and throbbed, his hands gripped in a fist as tight as they could as his mind tried to keep the Norns at bay.
Lightening started to fill the cave, flashes happening ever so often that a common by stander would easily mistake it as a flashlight flickering on and off, though they were miles from anyone being able to see. His voice shouted, a war cry echoing between the rock walls only to come back to Thor, to hear his own yells fall nearly unrecognizable underneath the Norn muttering that replaced his own.
Thor’s sense of depth perception began to blur, unable to see that someone had entered into the cave as he stood in the waters, fighting to keep his own being above the latter. Voices echoed, though he was unable to distinguish whether it had been his, what belonged to the Norns or something foreign.
Wanda waited as patiently as she could in the week following her discussion with Thor, though the more time went by the more she wondered if he had just asked her those things to see what she would say and determine whether or not she was trustworthy yet. But if he hadn’t contacted her, what did that mean? Had he gotten the answers he wanted and decided that she wasn’t the person he should have gone to? She tried not to worry about it too much, especially since Steve told her that it was common for Thor to disappear every so often given that he couldn’t exactly contact anyone all the way from Asgard lest he use the portal to travel back to Earth, and go about her time as usual as he’d instructed.
She had to be filled in on the Lady Sif when she arrived and much admired each story she was told about the woman, she was the type of figure that Wanda looked up to as a child (besides Captain America, of course) and she wondered if she in turn had been told anything about Wanda herself, and if she would like her or not. Sif’s adjustment to Earth and all of the technology and culture was a fascinating one to watch, and Wanda tried to patiently explain things like microwaves and the internet even though she didn’t have as much experience with the two as Sam or Tony had. She spoke of Thor in a fond way and Wanda could tell that they were good friends, and she would often sit quietly in the common room and listen to the woman recount each adventure she and the ‘Warriors Three’ had had on planets that Wanda had never even heard of, sometimes reaching out to watch the memories replay in the other woman’s mind if she was projecting them enough.
As requested she hadn’t told anyone about the talk she’d had with Thor though when Sif approached her one day to inquire about the man, she wondered if he hadn’t kept that up on his end. It became clear to her that his behaviour had been quite off recently and evidently that was why he’d come to speak to her, but neither woman could figure out why. Sif mentioned a few names that Wanda didn’t know, Jane and Erik, namely, but eventually with the help of Fury they were able to contact Erik and ask if he knew anything about it.
Sif visibly paled when the word ‘Norn’ was mentioned and Wanda frowned, not recognizing what it meant. However, Sif clearly did and soon they were journeying off in search of Thor in some kind of cave that he would likely be in, which confused her further. The closer they got the more Wanda could sense a dark energy coming from it, and she hesitated slightly before following Sif inside, sinister voices and images flitting in and out of her head quickly in a manner that she did not like.
Sif wasn’t too inclined to spend any more time on Midgard than she had to but following Thor’s reappearance in Asgard and his strange behaviour she elected to travel back with him and figure out what was going on. She was filled in to various degrees by everyone once she arrived though they all had different versions to tell and Thor did not seem to be in the right state of mind to retell the events of Sokovia and the robot Ultron and Sif knew better than to push him, though it bothered her some that he hadn’t said anything as he was usually fairly open with her on such matters.
Ever a stubborn one he kept his affairs secret and would often spend time on his own, the only person he was willing to have more than a one minute conversation with being the enhanced girl, Wanda. She was a tiny thing but Sif sensed a great deal of power from her and was startled the first time her eyes had glowed red, but everyone seemed to trust her and to all outward appearances she had no ill intent towards the Son of Odin, so she let it be, however begrudgingly.
Since she would be staying in Midgard for the foreseeable future she attempted to integrate herself in, allowing Steve and the archer (Craig? Clint? She couldn’t remember) to explain to her the various technologies that Stark had laying about the tower, all the while keeping an eye on Thor as she always did. However as the weeks passed and his condition seemed to worsen she approached Wanda after a training session, trying to emphasize the importance when the other woman seemed unwilling to tell her. Whatever she had heard about the girl at least she kept a promise, though through some combination of Sif’s relentlessness and her ability to look into her thoughts she spoke, and Sif did not like what she heard when she did.
Contacting Erik proved fruitful and he admitted the trip he had taken with Thor and if Sif didn’t know that the man was genuine and had good intentions she may have took her sword to him for going along with it. She had little time to explain to Wanda where they were going when she dragged her into one of Stark’s cars and instructed the man to drive there, though she had to have caught on that Norns were a bad thing as she didn’t question it and followed her inside once they arrived.
Thor felt distant, he could hear his surroundings, the movement of the water as his body struggled to remain still but the senses started to grow muffled. Each second passing he felt much less than an Asgardian, hardly even human. The darkness that filled the cave only grew darker and colder with each moment passing. The electricity that ran through his veins burned and pulsed in a way that he had never felt even with the centuries of power he had already held, this one was different.
“You fools.” A demonic voice passed his lips, far unlike his own. Thor could see someone pass through the cave entrance, though all he could see was a shadow of who stood. But his vision didn’t stay focused long before everything went black momentarily. “We will consume him.” The voice mused, deeper and darker than before. His sight kept cutting in and out and as he looked down at the water, he could see his reflection only what he saw, did not in fact look like the Asgardian he was used to. His eyes held a blue glow, and while his features were still the same, his expression was one he wouldn’t have been able to bare on his own.
Thor stood in time without his armor, nothing to heed protection over himself though, his battle lived internally. There was no amount of armor that could help him in this instant. The mjolnir served itself as useless, calling out for it would gain the Asgardian nothing, no matter how much he longed to.
Thor’s body jerked and twisted as he tried to regain his own consciousness. Cries of pain passed his lips as something foreign to him. He was able to take on pain, far better than anyone he had ever come to pass but the feeling inside him was too much for him to contain. Lightning filled the waters as old rumbles of this bet overpowered from above the cave.
Glancing up from the water, Thor could finally make out the figure that stood outside of the water, just a few feet from where his body restlessly resided. He could recognize the armor anywhere, having fought side by side Sif for countless years. “Sif,” his voice distantly muttered, fighting to keep himself present over the Norn. “Get,” he paused before his body convulsed as Thor continued to fight within himself, “out.”
Just behind Sif, Thor could vaguely see a red glow that stood behind behind the warrior and though he could not see her face, Thor would have been silly to think that Wanda Maximoff would not have told Sif of his whereabouts.
Thor’s gaze blurred over once more, almost completely losing himself within the cave. The Norn kept calling out words, words that sounded so foreign to Thor but they had been words that passed his lips in the past, but the mere sound of the voice that trailed in sent a painful chill down his spine.
With the strength he had left in his body, he mustered as much of it forward as he could and attempted to lunge himself out of the waters like he had done in the past. His hands met the cool surface of the rock, gripping in with all that he could to avoid falling back into the depth of the dark waters beneath him. His breathing shook, trying his hardest to find steady ground. as he looked up from the rock before him, he could see he brother standing in the shadows of the entry way, just beyond where Wanda stood. Though, he thought his brother dead, seeing him standing there felt real. “Loki?” Thor questioned weekly as he began to lose his grip on the rock. Whether it was the influence of the Norns or his weak state would have been another question.
Wanda peered around Sif apprehensively, her view blocked slightly by the much taller woman. Ever since she’d followed her into the cave she could feel a dark energy, and she couldn’t help but cast a protective red glow around herself. It sent shivers down her spine, the way she could feel it, and she had a horrible feeling that it was somehow linked to the scepter used to give her her powers in the first place.
She jumped slightly when Thor spoke, though it wasn’t really him, his eyes glowing an eerie shade of blue and a peculiar expression on his face that contorted his face so much that he didn’t quite look like himself. She couldn’t tell how present he was, if he was still in there, though she waited for Sif to give her a signal to explore his mind and check. She’d warned her that the Norns would latch on to anything near them, and that her powers would draw them in, but she also wanted to help Thor. He was her friend, and she knew that if the roles were reversed that he would do the same to help her.
Sif stepped forward quickly when he began thrashing around in the water, a deeply concerned expression on her face, and Wanda stepped forward too, poised and ready. The other woman cautiously held out her sword, passing it through the fog that had gathered in the cave, immediately thrown back by a bolt of lightening. Thor continued to throw himself around, sending water splashing up over the edge of the pool and soaking both of their boots and Wanda’s thin tights. She vaguely heard him tell Sif to get out, and she realized that he must not have caught sight of her yet, which may be in her favour if she was to successfully free his mind.
After some of the fog cleared he seemed in enough control to throw himself forward out of the water just as Wanda was preparing to intervene, her eyes glowing red, and she and Sif both reached out a hand to heave him onto the rocks. He was staring intensely at something behind them and Wanda followed his gaze, only to see the empty hallway they’d just entered through, and she gave Sif a concerned look. She was sat on the rock with Thor’s head cradled in her lap, her hands ghosting over his face, and Wanda crouched down to speak to him. “Loki…your brother is not here.” she said quietly, biting her lip as she thought of what to say next.
“I can—let me help you.” she said, catching his eyes despite the unnerving icy blue colour they still held. “You told me, about the Norns. Do you remember? You know…what I can do. I can try to— I can make them go away.” she said as reassuringly as possible, though that was both for him as well as her. She could see Sif eyeing her with an unreadable expression which she avoided, she didn’t want her to be scared of her too.
