The second time I woke up, it was to the chirping of cicadas. The tiny insects' calls for mates were a familiar one, and one that I had heard in two separate lives.
Electric blue eyes blinked open with slow and sluggish movements, and I was greeted by a ceiling with a slowly rotating fan overhead. A twist of my neck revealed I was lying on a bed, although lying was a bit of a stretch considering half my body, as well as my left hand, swung from the edge and rested against the ground. Finding a bed my size was hard, who would have thought?
I moved with a groan and blinked surprised eyes when I sat up without feeling any ache or pain. The spring beneath the mattress groaned at my movements as I looked down at my hands. My left in particular, last I remembered the limb had been broken, Ragnarok's farewell gift to me.
Now they were whole, with not even a tingle in my elbow to speak of an injury. Gold rings glinted with the moonlight that spilled through the open window of the bedroom I found myself in, and a hum of resonating power that called to something inside me drew my eyes from my glinting fingers to the hammer resting at the foot of the bed.
Mjolnir.
"Where am I?" I asked the question out loud, not expecting any answer, yet I received one all the same, only it was not from anybody. The memory came to me, sharp and painful. The fall through orbit and into an atmosphere. A hand above me, my waking up, reacting with what I knew best, violence, and finally, the woman's blow, I had stopped.
Makkari from the Eternals. Judging by the fact that she looked exactly like her movie counterpart instead of the comic, I could only assume that I was in the MCU. The thought should have surprised me more, but considering I had woken up in the body of a fictional character whose mind had merged completely with mine, being dumped into another fictional world was not so out of the question.
I juggled my memory, and prior to waking up in the house, the last thing I remembered was standing behind to fight against Ragnarok alone. A sacrifice that had been undone by the strange shimmering claws I vaguely remembered should belong to Loki's pet wolf, tearing a space through the fabric of time, and I had entered it.
Now…
I moved to stand up to the groaning of the bed beneath me once more. Wooden floorboards groaned beneath my feet at my weight. The thin plywood had not been rated for the sheer bulk I carried about. On my feet now, I looked down at myself better. Gone was the weird arm-guard armor I wore, and my boots. The only thing that survived my orbital reentry had been my pants, and even that had not done so unscathed.
I moved toward the door, and with every step, I hoped the floorboards did not give out under me. My feet carried me from the room and out into the passage before I finally ended up in the parlor living room. A living room that had the wall on the north side broken, a tarp over it hiding the outside world, and the sharp memory of me flinging someone through it came with a wince.
I looked at the door and decided to take the alternative route out. I pushed the tarp to the side and stepped out, my feet landing on grass. My body moved automatically until I was a few meters away from the house, and my hand moved to my stomach, some part of my brain realizing that even the injury that Kratos had given me, an injury that I had not bothered to seek help in healing, simply relying on my Aesir and Jotun physiology to carry me through, had also healed, although the scar remained.
Thinking about the injury reminded me that the blade had been poisoned by Jormungandr, a snake prophesied to hurt me so badly that even if I killed it during Ragnarok, I would still die from the wounds it left behind. The memory of swinging Mjolnir hard enough to send the scaly bastard back in time and delay that fate, even for a few years, was almost soothing.
My eyes lifted from the healed injury to the plains around me, and as the wind ruffled my red locks and beard, I could not help but sigh. This place was pure flatlands and small hills that jutted out in the distance. A grassy field that stretched for as far as I bothered to look. With only the moonlight shining down on me, it seemed peaceful. An existence I had not known for a long time, not with a life soaked with blood and carnage.
"Sometimes I, too, come here and take it in." A voice rang out from behind me.
If I had not heard her coming, despite footsteps, quieter than mine for sure, but there had been no effort made to mask them. I did not turn to look at her, I simply raised my head to look at the moon before replying.
"It is quiet. I… I have not known such quiet in a long time."
The woman said nothing in return, her silence companionable. I do not know how long we stood there. It could have been minutes, but was most likely hours. However, sooner rather than later, the moon began to disappear as in the far distance I could see the horizon change colors. It would be daybreak soon.
"I suppose you are the one I have to thank for the lack of injuries, aye?" I grunted out as I turned to face her, and I was greeted by the matronly features of Ajak. Just like Makkari, the woman looked exactly like her movie counterpart. Her skin was dusky, her eyes dark, and her hair darker. She could be mistaken for South American if I did not know she predated the very earth we stood on.
"I am. My name is Ajak, although I have some suspicion you know me, considering Makkari said you recognized her."
At the mention of the speedster, I turned away from the matronly woman and sought the mute Eternal, but my unasked question was answered immediately.
"Do not bother, she is not here. She left for the closest town to get some supplies as well as pass on a message to some old friends."
I grunted in response before turning back to her. Despite the size and weight difference, the oldest Eternal did not seem worried to be standing so close to me alone, and it was not because she had some incomparable strength that I was unaware of. Despite the age gap, strength wise I was so far above her that my sheer bulk and stature alone should have made her worried. Yet the way she looked up at me… It felt like I was talking to Tyr once more.
"Hmmph. You are not worried I would hurt you while you face me alone."
She smiled, It was a kind smile. "No, I am not."
"Not even after I threw you through the walls of your house?" I questioned with a raised brow, and she replied with a laugh, but this was not the mocking laughter of Heimdall or Odin that would have sent me into a fit of flying rage. This was, like with all things Ajak expressed, kind.
"Not even after that." She finally replied as her laughter petered out, then she focused on me with that same smile. "I have healed all your ailments except one. What you suffer is no Mahd Wy'ry, but it is similar enough. The mind fracturing under the weight of memories and past deeds. It is a struggle that I failed to understand in full once, and for that, I lost a friend."
I knew who she was talking about, of course. Thena. Mahd Wy'ry, the Eternals' version of PTSD. I suppose we suffered the same ailments, even if Mahd Wy'ry seemed drastically more dangerous owing to the sheer amount of memories the Eternals could accumulate over their lifetimes.
"I see," I grunted in response before looking away and toward the horizon once more. The lightening was spreading, and soon the darkness would be banished, and what would remain would be light.
"You are not the Thor Odinson we know, are you?" Ajak asked after a brief bout of comfortable silence once more. I had debated within myself on how to answer the question, and in truth it was not hard at all.
"I am not." I replied to her, my focus still on the horizon. There was no need to lie. The truth was clear as day.
"An alternate reality then, and since you recognized Makkari, then perhaps just as in 965 AD we must have met as well." Ajak theorized without sounding the slightest bit suprised or worried.
"Aye." I replied to the first part and ignored the second. It was a good thing she had found such a good explanation for why I recognized them, because not even I had one at hand.
"I am not unfamiliar with such occurrences. I have not had any personal experiences, yet when you have lived for as long as I have, few things can truly be said to be strange or new, and alternate realities are a well-documented phenomenon."
I did not say anything, for I had nothing to say, at least until the next words left her lips.
"I suppose your appearance also has something to do with the world swelling in size?"
I turned to face her at that. What did my falling through a gap in space and time have to do with the Earth changing?
Ajak studied me for long seconds before shaking her head in rueful disappointment. "I presume you are not aware then, but you must have some relation to the incident considering the timing."
"What incident do you speak of?" I rumbled at her.
"The earth has swollen to several times its previous state. It has been over a day since it happened, and it is an occurrence that has sent the rest of the world into a frenzy. There have been benefits and detriments of such an act, but so far…" She trailed off as she looked to the ground. "I suppose I should be happy for the sudden increase; it puts uncomfortable realizations and discussions off until I am ready to face them."
At that I knew what she was talking about. The emergence of Tiamut. If the world continued in its predicted timeline, then Tiamut should have been preparing to emerge in a couple of years, depending on where I was in the timeline, and considering Ajak's mixed feelings, it seemed she was already having second thoughts right around this period. Second thoughts that swelled into full rebellion after the Avengers reversed the snap. The sudden swelling of the earth meant Tiamut's emergence had been automatically pushed back by centuries, if not another couple of millennia.
"But that is by the side," Ajak began again, focusing on me once more. "So tell me, Odinson, what happened, why are you here, and how can I help?"
I pushed off thoughts of the earth swelling and the realization that Freya's spell had most likely worked, and this was the result. Instead, I focused on the question Ajak had asked and on how much I should speak of. The Eternal was patient, and by the time I was ready to speak, the sun had begun to peek out from the horizon.
"War happened…" I trailed off, the memory of war ringing through my mind, flashbacks that stilled me. The first was the Aesir and Vanir war. Odin had been at the forefront of that, for I was but a whelp, yet as soon as I could walk, a sword was put in my hands, and I was sent forth. I had been fighting for as long as I had lived. Odin's acts and actions shaping my life.
The second was the war on the Jotun. No, it was no true war. It was genocide. The thoughts and memories of what I did, the number of lives I had taken, forced my hands to shake.
I needed a drink, a very strong one preferably. To remove my thoughts from the sordid memories, I continued to speak. "After the wars was the final war. The one to end all."
"Ragnarok," Ajak breathed out. "I know your stories and prophecies." She replied to my look as she took a step forward and held my hand, and at once the shaking stopped.
I looked away from her and acted ignorant to how close she was. "Aye, Ragnarok happened. The end of Asgard. I fought against it, and I saved my people, yet I was lost in the void. When I woke up, I was falling, the landing knocked me unconscious once more, and for the second time I woke." I glanced at the wall of the house a few meters away. "You know how that turned out."
Ajak chuckled at the forced lightheartedness I had injected into the end of my sentence and patted my hands gently before releasing them and taking a step back.
"I understand, now the question remains. What now, Odinson?"
"I do not know." I replied in all honesty. "Odin is dead, and I am the All-Father, in name if nothing else, yet I do not know how to lead, nor how to find my people." Thrúd, Sif, even Loki, Kratos, and Freya. They had to be somewhere in this reality, but I could not sense them. Could not reach them.
"Unfortunately, I am not sure how I can help in that regard." Ajak said, tone low but comforting. "Our connections to Asgard were severed when I broke up the group, and since then, I have not heard from your people."
"I am not worried," I replied with a shrug of my shoulders. "Despite the title, I am not ready to lead, and I am certain that even without looking, sooner or later, my people would find me if they are here." My words were half lies. The truth was that I wanted to find them but I simply did not know how. Thrúd had watched me stay behind, watched me fall. I needed to find her, to reassure her that I lived, but how could I, when I did not even know where to start?
"I see." Ajak contemplated my words before nodding as she came to a decision. "In that case, I shall offer you my home until your people find you."
My reply was automatic. The desire to avoid owing debts or favors was a strong aspect of my very being. "No, you—"
"I insist." Ajak cut me off with a wave of her hand and a smile. "You are troubled, Odinson. The wars you say you have fought in, the battles you have faced, the people you have left behind as you fought to keep them alive. They have left a scar on you, one that I cannot easily heal with my abilities, yet it is not one strange to me. Like I said earlier, I could not help someone close to me once, and seeing you now… I cannot fail once again. You will find your way home in time, and until then I shall shelter you."
I turned to Ajak and looked at her, truly looked at her for the first time. I could understand how she saw things, what she saw in me. She had been unable to help Thena, and now in me she saw someone she could attempt to help, to replace that failure, and found that I could not say no, not that I tried very well.
I turned away from her. "When should I start with the walls?"
She smiled at my response, my words a subtle way of agreeing, but before she could speak I suddenly remembered I had another question. A more pressing question.
"What year is it?"
Ajak blinked confused eyes at me for a second before replying. "It is the year 2017."
My brow furrowed at the reply as I tried to remember what happened in the MCU in 2017. The Avengers had definitely formed for one, and Winter Soldier, Civil War… My eyes widened in realization as I fit the dots together, before my eyes hardened and I could feel lightning come to life around me as my heart beat with fury.
The fury of Asgard being destroyed. It did not matter that it was not the Asguard I had known.
It was a parallel to what should have happened in my own universe. Yet the Thor of this universe was weaker, with fewer allies. He had put in motion and had watched Asgard be destroyed, and months later, what was left of the Asgardians were almost massacred as the single greatest threat in this reality finally showed himself.
I had a year to Thanos's arrival if I was lucky, and a few months if I was not. Ajak stepped back in confusion and worry, and that realization was what I needed to take back control as the lightning dissipated and the storm that had been slowly building up above me dispersed. So I turned to her, and instead of asking the more pertinent question, I pushed Thanos and his arrival away from my mind to focus on something closer that I could handle.
"Let us get started on that wall."
"Come on then." Ajak smiled again and took a step toward me once more, then guided me back to the house, leaving the ruined and burnt patch of grass behind.
Yet as I followed after her, My thoughts carried me back to Thanos, this time, he needed not worry. I would go for the head.