Please note that this fic has SPOILERS for Thor: The Dark World, and if you do not wish to read them you shouldn't have clicked on this! Go back, while you still can!
Warning instinct flashing like lightning in the distance told her what was happening before she looked up. The ruined ship loomed overhead, black on black, the lava-like embers within dying now, the ancient power drained dry. It was falling, and though that same instinct screamed at Jane to run, Thor lay directly beneath the monolith.
She ran to him, as she had once before as he lay bleeding just like a mortal. Like that time, this too, was in defense of her world. Of all the worlds. Jane didn't consider leaving him for a single heartbeat He needed her. Not to fight physically, but to battle for something infinitely harder to protect.
She dived to the ground beside him, calling his name, her delicate fingers soft against the stubble on his cheeks. Those familiar blue eyes did not so much as flicker.
Erik called her name, and she caught a glimpse through the ash of him, then Darcy and Ian clutching one another, Ian screaming at her to run. Jane could no sooner have left Thor to be crushed than she could have pushed her mother or Darcy in front of a bus.
In desperation she locked both hands around his wrist and she pulled, heels digging in. Years of hauling around heavy lab equipment had left her deceptively tiny figure with unexpected strength, but this was the God of Thunder and she knew the physics. She couldn't possibly move him fast enough, the oppressive shadow of the falling ship only proving the point.
It wasn't that she wasn't afraid. Dying was scary. Jane wanted to scream and plead and beg for longer. She did none of those things. Instead, loosening her hold on Thor's wrist, she lay beside his prone body, settling her cheek against his smooth chest plate and hearing the faint thud of his heartbeat while she waited for the end, her thoughts blurring together in a passing whirlwind.
If this is his fate, it can be mine, too.
I wonder if it'll hurt.
I wish I'd told him that I'm falling in love with him.
I wish we'd spent some time together without the threat of my death or his or one of our worlds hanging over our heads.
I hope it worked. I hope Erik and Darcy and Ian are safe.
I wonder if he would have said it back?
Hell, I wish I'd spent every night with him learning every part of his body and telling him exactly how much I wanted him.
I wish he'd gotten to show me more of his world.
The last thought Jane had surprised her, because she hadn't expected any thought of Thor's irredeemable brother to come to her in her dying moments, let alone such thoughts of empathy.
I wonder if Loki felt regret when he died. I hope it was quick for him, like it'll be for us.
