#special shout out to the chapter that literally had me white knuckle gripping my lap desk while i tried to stay tethered to reality

[thefallenangelsgang]

something is in the fucking air right now lmao

ALL of the fanfiction I follow, regardless of fandom and genre and style, are taking the STRANGEST TURNS

okay not all of it but a very large majority of it has taken a very hard left turn in terms of expected plot and I feel like I'm holding on for dear life while everyone just FLOORS IT

I love it

[damianwaynerocks]

Ghosts in Gotham

Danny Phantom / DC Comics

Dedicated To: @lexosaurus​

Summary: The Batfamily has been through their fair share of the supernatural. That’s why they originally weren’t worried whenever ghosts started showing up in Gotham City. Until one day, something happens; Batman is captured and taken into the Ghost Zone. With no way to go in there themselves, with no way to fight the ghosts inside, the bats decide to call the person who can; Danny Phantom. Together, Danny takes Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown and Damian Wayne into the Ghost Zone before the Batman is lost forever.

Word Count: 2744

A/N: Yes, I did put a Ben 10 villain in here. Sue me.

Masterlist

Chapter 4

__

"Fenton, do you have any twos?"

"Go fish."

Damian grumbled something in Arabic as he picked up a card from the pile.

"I feel like that was a bad word."

"You would be correct."

Danny turned to Stephanie. "Steph, you got any fours?" he asked. Stephanie huffed as she handed him a four of hearts, and Danny grinned victoriously as he took two fours and laid them on the ground.

Seeing as they had a two-hour trip to get to the prison, the four had set the Speeder on autopilot and decided to play a card game. Usually, the Infi-map would have their trip being two seconds, but something was wrong with it, so it was much slower than usual.

"Yo Timbers, you have any kings?" Danny asked the oldest boy. Tim smirked and shook his head.

"Go fish, Ghost Child," he replied. Tim had found it hilarious that Skulker referred to Danny as 'Ghost Child,' and had taken up calling him that as well. He turned to Damian. "You got any twos, Demon Spawn?"

If looks could kill, Tim would be six feet under. Damian threw the card at his older brother, whose eyes gleamed as he laid the twos down by his side. "Danny, you have any... sixes?"

"Yes, sir, I do," Danny chirped as he handed over the card. Tim turned back to Damian.

"You have any threes?"

"No, Drake, I do not," Damian said with a proud smile, "Suck on that." Danny and Stephanie clapped.

"You're learning slang!" they said simultaneously. Damian rolled his eyes, before looking at Stephanie.

"Brown, hand me your sevens," he ordered and smiled proudly as she gave him the cards. "Uno!" he shouted.

"Wrong game, dude," Danny said, "But good effort!"

"So, Danny," Stephanie said, "Why do you call Future-You 'Dark Danny' when you could call him something that isn't cringey like 'Dan?'

"'Dan?'" Danny echoed, "That sounds so... normal. Like can you imagine newscast being like, 'the world is ending, and soon we will all be slaves to Dan.'"

"It sounds much better than Dark Danny," Damian piped up as he took a card from Tim. "That sounds like a roller coaster ride at Six Flags."

"The gremlin's right," Tim agreed. Danny glared at them.

"I'm feeling so attacked right now, guys, and I'll have you know that my girlfriend came up with that name."

"You," Damian said derisively, "Have a girlfriend?" Tim rolled his eyes.

"Damian, yes, you knew that. Samantha Manson, you've literally met her parents at a gala one time," he paused, "Did you not pay attention at all when we were reading Danny's file?"

"I only cared about his abilities as Phantom," Damian replied as Danny exclaimed, "I have a file!?" simultaneously.

"Uh, duh," Stephanie answered, "You think we'd tell you the greatest secret ever if we didn't run a background check first?"

"So you guys know I died, then?" Danny asked nervously, scared of what they'd think. Yeah, sure they knew he was half ghost, but would they think it was weird that he was technically dead? That he wasn't technically fully human?

"Yeah," Stephanie answered as though it was obvious. Danny blinked.

"And... you don't care?"

"You believe you are the only one who has died before?" Damian rolled his eyes, "You are not as special as you think, Fenton. Get over yourself.”

Danny's jaw dropped. "Wait, you've died before?"

"Damian and I both have!" Stephanie said before Damian could reply. "We call ourselves the Dead Robins Club. Jason's in it too. Dick wants to be in it, but we won't let him because he only faked his death, he didn't actually die."

Danny's eyes lit up. "Can I join!?"

"You are not a Robin," Damian pointed out, "So no, you cannot." At Danny's frown, he sighed, and added, "But if you are going to be a child about it, perhaps we could speak to Todd and see if you could be an honorary member."

"Hey, we have like, thirty minutes left till we get there," Tim spoke up, "So let's go over the plan again."

Danny cleared his throat. "Right. So I'll be the distraction. I'll fly in there and cause a ruckus, and distract Walker so you three can get in and find Wulf."

"And because we're humans, we can just walk through things," Tim added, "And I get the collar off of Wulf, and we rescue you."

"There are so many holes in this place," Damian pointed out, "What if Wulf does not trust us? What if Drake cannot get the collar off?"

"Well, that'd suck," Danny replied, "But I trust him, don't worry. The only part that should be difficult is getting me out. Totally do-able, just difficult. But I've done it twice, so we should be fine."

"Yeah, we got this!" Stephanie cracked her knuckles with a grin. "We've succeeded on missions that had way lower odds than this," she paused, "Hey Danny, this Walker guy wants to keep order in the Ghost Zone, right? What are the chances he'd help us?"

"Like two percent," Danny answered, running a hand through his hair, "And even if he does believe us, he'd lock us up here and go after Dark Dan- I'm sorry, Dan," he rolled his eyes at his friends' pointed looks, "by himself, and he doesn't know how he works. This is our best bet."

"Don't worry, we've got this!" Tim promised, "I've broken Jason out of jail before, I'm basically an expert at this."

Thirty minutes later, they had arrived. The four jumped out of the Speeder, Danny pushing a button inside that turned it intangible before he got out. He turned to his friends. "So," he said, "You guys ready?" At their nod, they began.

Danny flew into the air, over the barbed fence. "Hey Walker!" he yelled, "Look at me! I'm a distraction!" He shot a barrage of ecto-blasts into the sky, lighting up the prison in lazarus-green flashes in a similar fashion to fireworks on the Fourth of July.

He grinned as he saw ghosts in police-like uniforms swarming out of the entrance and heading towards him. He rushed towards them, his eyes lighting up as he shot a beam of ecto-energy at the guards, blasting them aside.

A few guards lifted their blasters to their shoulders and fired. Danny did a backflip in the air, contorting his body around the shots before sending back some of his own. This continued for a while, Danny darted in and out of their ranks. He was smiling widely as he lifted both of his hands above his head, a large ball of ecto-energy crackling in them. "You ready for this!?" he shouted as he prepared to throw the massive fireball. "Yippee ki yay, moth-" he was cut off as a net was shot at him, enveloping Danny and sending him crashing to the ground. He groaned as he looked up, and wasn't the least bit surprised to see who had caught him.

A large ghost in a snow-white trench coat with a face of the same color was sneering at him. "Well well well, if it isn't Danny Phantom," Walker smirked, "Causing a ruckus outside my prison? That's against the rules."

_

"This way," Tim said quietly as he led Damian and Stephanie into the compound. Well, Tim wasn't truly the one leading. Cujo was in front of them, nose to the ground, intent on sniffing out Wulf.

Damian and Stephanie had their backs to one another, the former using the latter to guide him as he was facing the rear, watching for anything trying to sneak up on them. "The Ghost Zone reminds me of the Lazarus Pit," he muttered to himself, "And Phantom's hair is white from it, just like Todd's streak. I wonder..." he stopped talking as Stephanie came to a sudden halt.

They pressed themselves against the wall as six guards marched past, hauling a chained Danny behind them. He was glaring defiantly at Walker, seemingly mocking his stern words, showing no fear.

"I think we're good," Tim whispered as they passed, "Now let's-" he was cut off as he leaned harder against the wall and fell right through it, dragging Stephanie and Damian with him.

"Crap," Stephanie huffed, rubbing her head. "Did you forget that we're like the ghosts here? We can phase through everything here." She frowned as Cujo jumped into her lap, licking her face. He seemed to have phased through with them. "And I guess Cujo can too."

"Red Robin, if only your memory was as strong as your grip," Damian snapped, using Tim's hero name, "Then perhaps we would have found Wulf by now."

"Hey, I'm following the same dog as you," Tim retorted, "Now come on, let's go. The sooner we get out of here, the better."

Cujo yapped as he turned to the right. He dashed in that direction, seemingly having picked up Wulf's scent again. The Gothamites followed him through the prison. They reached a pair of sliding doors below a sign that read 'Dangerous Prisoners' above it.

"Sounds like our guy," Stephanie said. Tim nodded in agreement as they stepped through the doors, phasing through them.

All three of them shivered, a chill running up their spine as terror possessed them. None of them voiced it to the others, but they all got the sense that they were near something that was positively evil.

Cujo, however, didn't seem to mind. Or, if he did, he didn't show it either. He pranced down the hallway, looking over his shoulder and barking at the heroes to follow him. They did so, walking slowly and looking both ways.

They were all more terrified than they had ever been in their lives.

Cujo stopped, wagging his tail with his tongue lolling, in front of a cell. He barked again as he waited for Damian, Tim, and Stephanie to catch up to him.

Wulf was massive. He appeared to be a humanoid-wolf hybrid with a green undertone and a silver collar. He snarled, his hackles rising as the three stood in front of him.

"My name is Red Robin," Tim began, "And this is Robin and Batgirl. We're friends of Danny Phantom."

"Friends of... Dan-knee?" Wulf asked gruffly, his teeth bared. Tim nodded.

"Yeah. He sent us here to break you out," Tim took a hesitant step forward, "But first I have to get that collar off of you. Can I do that?"

Wulf slowly nodded and watched Tim phase through the bars of his cell with narrowed eyes. He flinched as Tim pulled out a small device from his utility belt and set it on the collar. A holographic screen and keyboard appeared above his gauntlet. Tim typing something on the keyboard, and with a blink of the device, the collar fell off.

Wulf rose to his full height, towering over Tim. The latter stood up straight. "Danny has been captured," he said, "Will you help us free him?"

Wulf looked at him and grunted. He turned intangible and phased out of his cell with Tim close behind.

"Fantastic," Damian said with a nod, "Now, let us go find Phantom." The five began to leave but stopped dead in their tracks as a terrifying voice spoke.

"Humans!" the voice hissed.

The Bats turned around to see a terrifying ghost. It had a purple cloak with a spindly tan and black striped body and one glowing purple eye and the same collar that was on Wulf around his neck. The ghost narrowed his single eye as he spoke.

"You are freeing this oaf but not me?" the ghost snarled, "You are leaving me to rot? Me? Zs'Skayr? The High Ecto-Lord of Anur Transyl?"

Wulf snarled as the others were frozen in fear. Something was wrong about this Zs'Skayr. Batgirl, Robin, and Red Robin were heroes. They'd fought with the Justice Leauge. They'd gone toe to toe with Joker.

But Zs'Skayr?

They couldn't explain it, but this being was absolutely horrifying.

"Who are you?" Damian was the first to speak up, shaking like a scared dog being brought outside for the first time. Zs'Skayr's eye flashed.

"I am Zs'Skayr!" he roared, "The most terrifying being in the universe! Arch enemy to the Omnitrix!" he met Damian's eyes. "I am the one who can break you free. I can save your friend and destroy this cursed prison."

"We can't let you that," Tim croaked, "Absolutely not."

Zs'Skayr's eye did not leave Damian's. He cocked his head. "There is a darkness in you, child," he hissed, "One you are trying to overcome. Do not fight it! I can give you all the power you could ever desire!"

Damian gulped, clenching his fists and staring Zs'Skayr right back. "I do not need your power," he said stiffly, "And I do not need your help."

"Let us go," Wulf interrupted, putting a paw on Damian's shoulder. "Need help Danny."

Damian nodded, and with another glance at the Hellish being, they left.

_

Danny closed his eyes in pain at Walker's punch, but refused to fall. He looked up with a gleam in his eyes.

"That's really the best you got?" Danny scoffed, "You're losing your touch! You've known me for two years and that's all you can do?"

"Just tell me why you're here, kid," Walker replied. Danny groaned.

"I already did!"

"You think I'm stupid enough to believe some lie about time travel?"

"I mean, yeah, I think you're pretty stupid," Danny replied, "But I'm not lying!"

"Sure you aren't, kid."

Danny gave the ghost a blank stare. "You know, Walker, you seem to have trust issues. That sometimes stems from trauma. Do you want to talk about it?"

Walker narrowed his eyes before punching Danny in the face. The boy turned back to him and laughed.

"I've fought Pariah Dark, Fright Knight, and you multiple times and you think a measly punch is gonna shut me up?"

He was stalling. Danny just had to keep it up until his friends could get the cuffs off of him, and he could freeze Walker.

Speaking of freezing, Danny froze as he slowly shut his eyes and sighed, "I've gotta say, though, you might not be the only one who can be stupid," In a ring of light, Danny transformed back into a human, and phased out of the cuffs with ease.

"Ha!" he yelled, "In your face!" He shifted back into his ghost form and grinned as his hands lit up in blue light. "You know, I hate to just run out on you like this, but I gotta go." With a flash of light, Danny thrust his hands in front of him, and a bolt of ice shot from his palms. Walker screamed as his body was encased in ice.

Danny shook his head as he floated to the ground. "Now, where oh where are my friends?"

"Right here, my guy!" At the sound of Stephanie's voice, Danny turned around to see his friends, with Wulf close behind. Danny's face lit up.

"Wulf!" he shouted with glee, "I've missed you, buddy!"

"Miss you too," Wulf replied.

"Let's get out of here," Tim said, "Before they realize you and Wulf have escaped."

A red flashing light lit up above them. Damian sucked in his teeth. "Too late."

Danny waved his hand. "Come on, let's go!" With that, the group dashed forward, phasing through the wall.

They skidded to a halt as they were faced with ten guards. They swung their batons. "Freeze!" one of them yelled.

Danny shrugged. "If you say so," he blasted them with a wave of ice, freezing the guards. Tim grinned.

"Nice one, Phantom," he praised as they continued forward, tucking a rolling above the frozen ghosts with ease.

They phased through another wall, Wulf leading them forward. Two guards appeared in front of them, but Wulf swatted them aside with ease. Phasing through another wall, they were outside.

They were almost to the Speeder. Danny looked behind him and saw an army of guards swarming out of the doors of the prison. Danny skidded to a halt in the air and turned around. He blasted the group with ice, freezing half of them. The other half, though, they kept coming.

Danny turned back around, phasing into the Speeder where the others were already seated. "Come on, Tim, let's go!" he urged, looking outside the window as he spoke. Tim pushed a button on the control panel, and the vessel rose into the air and, with sonic boom behind them, shot into the air and away from the prison.

[bruces7phds]

A Hope to Hold On To

Summary: When Prince Thor of Asgard turned 18, the name Bruce Banner imprinted itself on the right side of his chest. For about a decade he would roam around his entire kingdom in hopes of locating this man—his soul mate—until one day he hears news of two inventors from a faraway kingdom, Midgard, who will be permanently relocating in Asgard.

Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Prologue

Thor remembered that night clearly.

It was the night before his 18th birthday. He stood on the balcony outside of his room, leaning on the railing. Wind rustled past him, creating a cool and relaxing atmosphere. The moonlight, along with the stars, casted a dim illumination over Asgard: the kingdom he grew up in, as well as the kingdom he was destined to rule in the future. After much contemplation, he went back inside his room, still lit by the candles he didn’t bother put out.

It was also the night before the name of his soul mate imprints itself on his body. It was already late, and he really should be sleeping, but he wanted to see his soul mate’s name as soon as the clock struck midnight. Fidgeting with his hands, he looked at his grandfather clock—it was still an hour before that, so he thought of what he could do in the meantime to help him wait.

The young prince glanced around his room and saw books on his bedside table—some of them novels, some a bunch of textbooks his tutor gave him. He flopped down his bed and flipped through some of them, but ultimately the words just looked like blocks of incoherent text. He threw aside the books in favor of rearranging the clothes in his closet, but ended up just staring at them. This went on for a while: he would try to find something to do in the hopes of calming his mind, until he heard the clock strike midnight.

Thor sprinted toward his dressing room and, taking his clothes off, faced the full-length mirror. He felt a tingling sensation on his right pectoral, and before he knew it, a name scribbled itself on it. It took time before Thor worked out the messy scrawl on his chest, but eventually he figured out the name: Bruce Banner.

For a while Thor just stood there, smiling. He hadn’t even met this Bruce Banner, yet he could already feel fondness for him (the name seemed masculine). He drew his fingers over the name before he put on his clothes again. He was about to go to bed when he decided against it. Loki, he thought. I should tell Loki. Excitedly he went out of his room with a candle, for he was sure that his little brother would already be sleeping.

Loki’s room was just across Thor’s. Opening the door gently so as not to startle him, Thor tiptoed toward his bed. The room was dark, with his candle being the only light source, which he lay on Loki’s bedside table.

“Loki,” Thor whispered, looming over his brother’s smaller frame. When he didn’t stir, Thor shook him gently. “Loki.” His voice was stern now, face frowning. He started shaking Loki more rigorously, which was enough to rouse him.

Opening his eyes, Loki scowled at Thor. “Thor, what the hell?” he snarled. He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

“Loki! You do remember what day it is today, right?” Thor beamed, expectantly.

Loki blinked a couple of times. “If you woke me up at ass o’clock in the night just so I could greet you Happy Birthday—”

“No! I mean, yes, it is my birthday, but what I meant was”—Thor paused while he lifted the front of his shirt to expose his chest—“I finally know who my soul mate is!”

Loki squinted at the name on his chest, then grabbed the candle to illuminate it properly. “Bruce Banner?”

“Yes! Doesn’t the name sound amazing?”

“Thor, there is literally nothing special about that name,” Loki remarked, putting down the candle.

“Well,” Thor started, releasing the hem of his shirt, “you are always cynical by default, so I will just consider your opinion invalid.” He smirked, crossing his arms, but quickly his smirk turned into that of a fond smile. Quickly, he grasped Loki’s shoulders and exclaimed, “This is wonderful! I can finally find the love of my life! When I meet him, I’m going to court him by buying him gifts, and inviting him to our library and we can have dates in the garden and—”

“All right, all right! I get it! This Bruce Banner, whoever he is, is magnificent and you will gladly lay down your life for him. You’ve made your point.” Loki detached Thor’s hands from his shoulders and lay down, turning his back to Thor. “Now go to sleep. Father wouldn’t appreciate you stumbling to breakfast again.”

Thor glared at his brother’s sleeping form, then sighed. “Fair enough. Good night.” He blew out the candle then sauntered toward the door.

As he was opening the door, he heard Loki mumble, “Good night.” Thor smiled at him before going back to his own room.

“For the last time, you may not!” Thor’s father, Odin, seethed at him across the dining table. “You will leave this palace with a bodyguard, but only within the area of the nobility. You’re not allowed to roam around where the lower-class live or, god-forbid, outside of our kingdom. It’s either that, or you stay here.”

Thor stared at his long-forgotten breakfast, knuckles white and fists clenched. For the last twenty minutes he had been trying to argue that No, I won’t find him anywhere near us, I know a lot of nobles with none of them bearing the name Banner, and searching farther away would increase the odds of finding him. He would argue his point more, but figured that he might just make the situation worse, especially for Loki and their mother, Frigga, both of whom were forced to watch and listen to their quarrel. So he just stood up and excused himself out of the room.

Once he had left the dining room and entered the halls of their palace, he quickened his pace until he was practically sprinting. He hadn’t really thought of where he was going, but eventually he found himself in the Palace Library.

As if on instinct, he continued to run up to the second floor, and, turning right, sat down beside a familiar stack of books. He didn’t pay much attention to them at first, focusing his thoughts on his recent dispute. He felt guilty; he wished it hadn’t come to a point where he and his father were practically shouting at each other. He also couldn’t help feel upset about not being allowed to look for his soul mate. It was probably an irrational and immature thought, but damn it, he practically grew up just trapped in the palace, and he was yearning for freedom and independence.

These thoughts addled Thor’s mind for how long he didn’t know, until he heard a warm, familiar voice.

“Thor?”

Thor turned to look at his mother walking toward him. She sat next to him and took his hand in her own. He smiled, suddenly realizing that had probably been wearing an ugly scowl earlier. “How did you find me here?” he asked.

Mother chuckled, a sweet, pleasant sound. “Don’t you remember this particular aisle? Why, we used to go here a lot when you and your brother were children.”

Thor glanced around the books surrounding him and, taking notice of the sign suspended above, realized that these are the books containing information about soul mates. A warm, fuzzy feeling of nostalgia swam over him as remembered those times when Mother would bring him and Loki to this section of the library and read different stories and anecdotes and other information regarding soul mates. These were the highlights of his childhood: a time much simpler, filled with innocence but also naivety.

Mother added, “You also used to go here a lot just by yourself.”

Thor processed what she just said, after which a faint shade of pink crept up his face. Right. He also went here a lot when he wanted to cry. He sighed. “I swear I wasn’t having an emotional breakdown before you found me. I was just … thinking.”

“And what were those thoughts, exactly?

Thor looked back at his mother and studied her face for a moment. She looked gentle, just as she always had. He could tell why Father fancied her: she was beautiful, but not in a way that catches your attention in a tavern in a drunken whim; rather, she looked lovely, in a way that could make even the most confident of people awkward and smitten with wholesome desires.

“I thought my being of legal age would be enough to convince Father that I can stand my ground in the real world, that I don’t need an escort constantly watching my back. Mother, with all due respect, I don’t want to be cooped up in the palace anymore. I want to experience life like any other person would.” Thor sighed, looking down at his lap. He felt his mother tense, then felt her grip on his hand loosen a bit.

“My son,” she started carefully, “the moment you were born, you already lost your right for that kind of life.” Thor whipped his head to look back at her, but she continued. “Your being crown prince means you’re destined for the throne. You are not meant to live amongst your people—you are meant to live _for _them, to love them and cherish and make sure they thrive.” She pursed her lips for a second. “I know you more than you think I do, and I know you are quite stubborn, so I won’t stop you in any of your endeavors, but just know that I love you and nothing will ever change that. I have my full trust in you that anything you do, you do because you genuinely think it is what’s best for you.”

Thor thought of the last thing she said and smiled in appreciation. He couldn’t find the right words to properly express his gratitude, so he just sat there in silence, which was eventually broken by his mother.

“What was his name again?” She smirked, raising her eyebrow.

It took a couple of seconds before Thor was able to react. He undid the buttons of his tunic, enough to be able to pull back the collar and show the name written on his chest.

“Bruce Banner,” she read, smiling. “I’m sure he’s lovely and will make you very happy.” She stood and Thor followed suit. They walked out of the library in silence.

Before they broke off in the hallway, Frigga squeezed Thor’s hand in reassurance. It was all he needed before he went to Loki.

It took all of his self-control to not barge into Loki’s room. When he entered, he saw his little brother hurling knives at a makeshift target (which their father has already ordered to get rid of multiple times).

Thor scowled. “What the hell- Oh, never mind.” He sighed; he would deal with this later. “Loki, I need your help.”

The plan was simple enough.

Loki would disguise Thor: give him an eye patch, paint his face with scars, and hide his long, blonde hair with a brown wig. Thor would assume the persona “Blake,” complete with a made-up backstory. He would cooperate with their gatekeeper, Heimdall (whom he had befriended when he was still young), so that he won’t tell Odin about Thor’s sneaking out.

Thor roamed around the different towns and villages of Asgard, trying to find anyone with a visible name tattoo with his name on it, or trying to eavesdrop on others who might know of a Banner. Sometimes he would wind up in taverns with grumpy, drunk men who would try to pick a fight on him; thankfully, he knew the basics of unarmed combat, so he would always end up victorious albeit with minor injuries (there was also the fact that none of these men knew how to fight properly, much less when they were drunk).

Thor’s escapades went on for months. Aside from all of the brawls, he had gained a couple of friends which helped him find more people who might know of the name Banner. But almost a year passed and he still didn’t have a single trace on his soul mate—not that this had discouraged him from going to town. Eventually he went out of the palace not just to look for his soul mate anymore, but because the experience was thrilling—at least, for someone who grew up in an aristocratic environment. He had never experienced anything like this before: strolling down busy streets, bustling and loud with civilian chatter; bantering with crude language; buying things for himself instead of relying on his servants to do the magic for him.

None of the civilians ever suspected that their crown prince was casually just traipsing along with them because, while Loki’s disguise was also deceptive, the notion that “The crown prince is in the fish market under a disguise!” was just plain ridiculous.

After a couple more months, however, Thor had to tone down his downtown trips lest Odin finds out what he had been up to. His father had also started bringing him along to council meetings—“Just listen, don’t speak; you need to learn more of our nation’s politics before you can contribute to our meetings,” Odin had said—which definitely made his once non-existent schedule busier. This didn’t mean that Thor had completely given up. Even though he rarely managed to visit small towns and villages, he never lost the melancholic yet hopeful feeling in his heart, telling him that one day, you will meet the man who will offer you nothing but happiness and love. One day, you will be able to reciprocate his admiration and esteem fully and completely. One day, you will find your soul mate.

Even after ten years with no trace nor sign of Banner, Thor still held onto that hope.