Thor Odinson had sworn that he would not do this to himself—that he would no longer involve himself with any matters concerning Jane Foster. But saying and doing were two different things and he had never been very good at following orders. And now, here he was, standing at the end of the Bifröst wondering what to do with what he had just heard.

Jane was not okay.

He could feel his heart racing, reminding him of everything that had passed between them. There was no use in trying to push those memories behind. He would be lying to himself if he said he had stopped caring. It was just too difficult for him to move forward, even with how things had ended between them.

It had been ugly.

There had been so much anger between them, but at the time he had felt his decision validated his actions. His job, after all, is to protect the nine realms. It always had been and that had never been a choice for him to make. The Norns dictated their fate—and there was a reason why they had chosen to give him a glimpse of an ominous future.

Or so, he kept telling himself.

Thor rubbed his face. He knew he had wronged as much as she did then, but he had failed to understand just how flawed his perspective had been. It was not until weeks later than he saw the bigger picture. He finally understood why she was so angry with him. While had he had been running around for months, searching for answers to a prophecy, he finally understood the value of time. For her, it was precious.

Even more so now.

"Cancer?" Thor asked, the word thick on his tongue. His brows drew together as he carefully processed the information. This was completely foreign to him. He may not have understood exactly what it was, but he knew that it was not good. He knew it was dangerous—and he knew what it could, and would, do to loved ones.

"Aye," Heimdall answered, his golden gaze transfixed to the swirling cosmos below them.

Thor closed his eyes, shoulders tense as a sudden wave of guilt washed over him. He knew he had failed her multiple times and that he had broken far more than just promises. Could he have fought harder? A selfish part of him had wanted to stay with her—but, his duties as a warrior had come first. It had to. He had taken that oath long before they had crossed paths.

And his father made sure to remind him.

Something clawed at his throat. He had once been boastful of his title, but lately it was not much to be proud about. The burdens that came with it were stacking, but nothing compared to this. He felt his entire world shift, the sudden weight almost suffocating.

"Do you know how long she has?" his words hung heavy within the confines of the observatory, as blue eyes carefully drifted across the twinkling abyss. A part of him wished he could see what the sentinel could.

Heimdall shifted at his side, his gaze never once straying away from the woman in question. "I cannot say. I'm no seer. I can only see the present, in which she is fine."

"But she will get worse," the thunder god pointed out. Suddenly, Loki's words of mortality were ringing in his ears, taunting him. He had long buried those words, but deep down he knew they had been true. The trickster had made a fair point, and that warning was now returning to haunt him. Thor knew even as fateful and delightful as their initial meeting had been, his love for Jane would only lead to tragedy. He was a god and he would live for centuries while Jane would now be lucky to live more than a measly year in this condition.

The importance of time was coming into view. He finally understood her anger.

He refused to allow Jane Foster to die. He had never been foolish to believe she would ever live as long as he, but he believed her natural life should never be shortened—not when he knew of a way to save her.

But, salvation would not come without a price.

"We are all victims of chance," Heimdall stated, drawing Thor's attention away from his thoughts. "The Norns may weave our destinies, but the choices we make give us an opportunity to change our fate."

Thor swallowed thickly, throwing a glance over his shoulder to look back at the city. "I want to give Jane a choice to live."

"Then, go now," the sentry ordered, turning his golden eyes toward the crown prince. Thor immediately straightened, face now painted with determination. He clamped a hand onto his old friend's shoulder in a silent thank you, before swiftly heading back to the palace.

He knew exactly what he had to do. After all, fate was for his own choosing.

✦

Darcy Lewis was trying very hard not to scold the older woman in the other room. When she had signed on to become an assistant to Jane Foster, she had no idea what she had been getting into. A few months ago, it had been no different from her internship days.

However, as of late, a lot had changed.

She chewed her lip and rummaged through the fridge as she pondered over everything had had happened. Darcy felt like she had no room to complain, but the current circumstances were far from ideal. It had never been her dream job to be an assistant, and yet here she was.

Assistant.

The position had a lot more weight to it these days—much more than she ever thought. When she had originally reached out to Jane about it, she had only been half-serious and running on desperation. She had been in a rut, unable to find a single job after graduation. While she had some promising interviews, nothing stuck. No one seemed interested in hiring a political scientist and she was drowning under the weight of incoming bills.

Needless to say, she had been scraping near rock bottom when she had decided to try her luck. Jane had been a shot in the dark—Darcy had not spoken to her since her internship had ended. There just never seemed to be a time, considering the press Jane had dealt with after the Convergence. Darcy had been proud of her finally getting the recognition she deserved. A part of her had hoped that she would be able to cross paths with Jane again in the future—that maybe the older woman would need her help once more.

And boy, was that the understatement of the year. When Darcy finally gathered the courage to reach out to Jane, she had found out things were far from well. The astrophysicist had evidently broken things off for good with Thor. The timing was far from ideal and Darcy had felt so ashamed at the time for calling in the first place, but Jane, sweet Jane had offered her a job.

Darcy would soon learn, however, that the breakup had just been the tip of the iceberg when it came to issues with Jane. Those problems would then soon to become hers in the last few months as well—especially when the dire news was given to them.

A month ago, Jane was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Darcy felt her stomach churned at the thought. She didn't think things could get any worse, but somehow, things did. It seemed to be a running theme these days. She knew Jane had already dealt with a lot, but how does one dodge such a fast ball?

She threw a glance at the clock on the wall before she wiped her damp hands on her thighs. It was time for lunch and Jane seemed to have forgotten to come inside to eat. She frowned. The older woman would sooner drive herself into a coma before she stopped working.

"Jane!" Darcy cried as she stepped back into the makeshift lab they had set up in the enclosed porch. When Darcy yelled for her again, Jane immediately dropped the screwdriver she had been holding and glimpsed at the time on her phone.

"I forgot," Jane mumbled, looking sheepishly at Darcy. The younger woman sighed and used her forearm to shove the rest of the tools aside. She set the tray of food down in front of her. "Plus, I'm not that hungry..."

"Eat," Darcy demanded and slid into the seat next to her. She pawed the device that Jane had been tinkering with, "Or I'll dismantle this thing."

"You wouldn't."

"I would."

Jane frowned. They both knew Darcy wasn't bluffing, considering just last week she had hidden all her tools out back in the woods when Jane had refused to take a nap. It had been excessive, but Jane did not make things easy. The last few weeks had been the roughest in a long time and Jane had been doing her best to pretend things had not changed. She had kicked into high gear when it came to work, and Darcy had evolved into a mother-hen in response. Granted, the younger woman had always cared. If she hadn't, then they would have never known that Jane was sick to begin with.

It was Darcy that had urged her to get the lump in her left breast examined.

And it was now Darcy still trying to urge her to take care of it.

Jane was still holding off from taking chemotherapy. In fact, Jane was quite adamant about it, claiming it would deter her work and research time. Darcy wanted nothing more than to scream and shake her about that, but they already had fought about it more than once.

However, it wasn't something that Darcy would let go. She swirled the drink in her hand, trying to figure out how to bring up the topic again but with fewer tears and rage. There had been enough of that as of late. However, she felt the table gently rattle.

"What the—"

No sooner had she said that, everything around them violently began to shake.

"An earthquake?" Jane asked, head whipping up both with fear and excitement. Darcy was in no mood and quickly pulled Jane under the table. The tremors seemed to worsen, causing papers to fly off their worktable. The women shrieked when they heard something heavily crash onto their floor on the other side of the room.

A rumble echoed nearby before the windows rattled and flashed like sun on snow. Darcy promptly swore, ducking her head as she heard Jane sharply inhale.

But as sudden as the quake had been, it stops.

Without missing a beat, Jane hurries out from cover. "It's Thor."

"What?" Darcy squawked, as she crawled out from under the workbench. She carefully adjusted her glasses as she peered outside. Jane was right. She could see the god of thunder crossing the backyard and heading their way.

"I'm going to fucking kill him," Darcy mumbled half-heartedly, as she rose to her feet. A part of her was glad to see him, but the other was utterly vexed. He had no right to show his face after everything that had happened.

"Wait your turn," Jane remarked as she slipped outside. Darcy wondered briefly if she should stop her as she carefully followed suit.

Thor waved happily at them, completely oblivious of the incoming hell.

"Jane—"

She slaps him before he can say anything more.

He stood momentarily stunned as Jane's hand hovered in the air in the air with hesitation. She poised to strike again, but instead of serving more wrath she trembled and shook. Her fists crashed angrily against him as her eyes welled up with tears.

The realization that he was back struck with the force of a typhoon and Darcy watched her sob angrily. She watched months of pent up frustration, anger, and heartache spill forth within seconds and felt herself begin to choke up in reaction.

Thor's expression softened as he gingerly took her small hands into his large ones. He silently pulled her into an embrace as she continued to sob uncontrollably into his chest. His bulky arms wrapped around her small frame as he buried his face lovingly into the top of her head.

"I told you I would return, Jane."

. ˚ ✧ . ∘ .* ˚ ₊ · ⊹· .· ˚₊ · ˚ · ✧ ⊹

« AUTHOR'S NOTE »

⇣

Wow, there has been such an overwhelming amount of support for this. I'm honestly surprised, but oh so grateful. I'm sorry that this took longer than expected to get out, but I'd like to thank @peppermiintmocha for helping me get the ball rolling. Thanks again for looking things over and helping me with corrections. Any remaining mistakes are my own, considering how much finagling was done to smooth things out when compared to the original version. It was important to set the mood right for the piece and to figure out where this fit in the timeline of events. I will be ignoring everything else taking place in order to focus on the Thor cast, but I would like to let it be known that this is all occurring around the same time as Captain America: Civil War, around Spring 2016.

However, this is still canon divergent and as mentioned, this is more heavily focused on elements from the comics and Norse mythology, rather than the MCU. The plot point of Jane having cancer is taken directly from Thor: The Goddess of Thunder run, by Jason Aaron. Additionally, other references will be from Thor: Son of Asgard, by Akira Yoshida and my favorite, Loki: Agent of Asgard, by Al Ewing. However, I will not be following any storylines from them. Just some elements.

Additionally, while I may be straying from MCU canon, I do have elements that have occurred and will occur in the MCU timeline come up. The same can be said about the Norse mythology I have injected here. Hope you enjoy what is to come. Thanks for reading!

✦

« GLOSSARY »

⇣

• The Norns — they refer to the three Fate figures in Norse mythology. The concept of destiny and fate is important to pre-Christian Norse. These three wise women lived in the well of Urd and carved into Yggdrasil the lives and destinies of the children of the Nine Realms. These carving inscribe the earliest form of their destinies—but not their only possible form. This means, that the Norns are not necessarily absolute, because the present influences the past. "All beings who are subject to destiny have some degree of power over their own destiny and the destiny of others. Everything and everyone uses this power passively, in some way." (see: https://bit.ly/2K178HF)

With that in mind, it is easy to infer that choices that are made can easily shift and change the outcome completely. The Norns may carve everyone's destiny out, but that fate can be changed based on the actions taken.

⌜edited 9.9.18⌟