Second to last chapter, y'all. Next week is the final week. After that...I don't know how long til book 3. I'm really hoping to at least get 15 chapters done of the off in my imagination and creativity book 3 before posting, and well, so far I have like, two chapters. So, who knows. Probably a month or so. For now, heeeeere's

Chapter 10

I was awakened by a sudden crashing and immediately screamed. Malekith smiled wickedly at me and scanned my body. I scanned his as well, but only because he was now a charcoal color.

"The new dress is fitting, don't you think?"

"Huh?" I looked down to see I was now in an immodest dress that had silver metal covering the bottom two thirds of my chest and wrapped around my waist. The rest was a flowing black material that reached my new black flats. I didn't dare think about how I was put in it.

We finally stopped moving and Malekith pulled me alongside him. I hated to admit it, but this was more than Loki ever did; new clothes, equality, obvious serious interest... "Let us show Odinson your new status."

The ride was slow to reach the bottom, but we made it. Almost as soon as Malekith and I were on the grass, Thor landed in front of us. He hardly glanced at me the first time, but his eyes studied my new attire soon enough. His jaw dropped for a moment, but he shook his head and looked back to Malekith.

Malekith let me go as he continued forward. "You needn't come so far, Asgardian. Death would have come to you soon enough."

"Not by your hand!" Thor replied stubbornly.

"Your universe was never meant to be. Your world and your family will be extinguished!" He used the Aether to attack Thor, who didn't take the hit well.

"Thor!" I yelled helplessly. Something to add to the things I don't understand about my gender: why we always say things as though they might help, even when they won't. In fact, they are very pointless.

Thor stood back up again only to be pushed back down by the Aether. The third time around, he maneuvered so he would be standing at the end of the attack. He wiped his bloodied lip and told Malekith, "You know with all that power, I thought you would hit harder."

Men and their pride.

Malekith made to make his strongest move yet, giving Thor the perfect opportunity to use Mjolnir by throwing it very hard at Malekith. The dark elf took out several of his men and then went through several buildings before crushing a car. I had to admit it; deep, deep down I felt ever so slightly bad for him. He's going to be in a lot of hurt.

Another moment passed and I watched as the realms began to show in the sky. I looked up to Jane who was watching some other girl. Probably a friend helping her. The old man near her told me to move away towards the ship, so naturally, I listened. Which was good, since about four elves disappeared to who knows where who had once been within the area I was standing. Jane looked out the window to somewhere and muttered something before looking to me. She motioned for me to come to her I nodded. I took a breath in and used magic to teleport so I was next to her, which clearly almost scared the life out of her.

"Okay, magic. Right. Good to warn people first." She grabbed my hand and began to me with her to a large study. A library the Midgardians called it? Whatever it was, people weren't reading the books anymore. They were far more focused on the fact that Thor was outside fighting.

"What are you all doing?! You need to get out here! Now!" Jane yelled at them.

"You're kidding. Right?" one guy asked. "That's Thor out there waving his hammer around and everything!"

"And why exactly does he tend to do that?!" I yelled at them, not sure how they could be so stupid. It'd been one of those days. I wasn't feeling very kind. Right as I finished yelling at them, the glass of the windows shattered and we all ducked our heads. The guy looked at me as Jane once more pulled me away. "Told you." I told them over the noise just before we were out of that room. I suddenly realized I hadn't seen Mr. Green. "Where's Loki?" I asked.

"Really? The nine realms are about to be destroyed and that's what you ask? I think the realms are a bit more important!" Jane told me.

"Not to me!"

A group of elves showed up from behind us and Jane pulled me away faster. "Okay, well, we're getting chased by dark elves and he's not. LET'S GO." We began running and she fiddled with the devise some more as we ended up outside.

"What are you doing?" the old man asked.

"My signal's not connecting."

A group came from in front of us as she stopped to try to make it work. "Jane! Come on." the old man yelled at her before pulling her away. I was quick to follow, which was good because if I was a half second slower, I'd have been shot. That would have made this a really bad day.

We ran at full speed for two minutes straight before finally the "signal" was back. (Whatever that meant.) Jane twisted the little knob and all the elves surrounding us were put somewhere else. We were surprised to see her friends from earlier kissing, clearly also caught when the devise was used.

Jane seemed to be questioning what she saw. "Darcy?"

The girl jumped and dropped the guy. "Jane!"

"Ian?" the old guy asked.

"Selvig." The guy dropped answered with a sheepish smile.

"Mjolnir." Darcy said as the hammer passed us. Oh goodness. Thor and Malekith were probably going through all sorts of portals. That hammer must be so confused.

"Sorry, Mjolnir." I muttered.

Jane and Selvig began to watch the sky fearfully. "We're out of time." Jane told us before running towards the center.

"Jane. Jane!" Selvig called. I was already running with her. If we lost, I didn't get the luxury of death. I wanted to be sure we won. (Not that I didn't care that eight realms of people died. I just wanted to make it clear that my intentions were not completely selfless.) It only took minutes, however, before we saw the Aether climbing into the realms. We raced around the corner to see Thor already arrived.

"Thor! We're too late." Jane called before stopping next to his left. Selvig stopped at his right, and I chose to stay behind.

"The convergence is at its peak." Selvig informed.

"Can those things stop it?"

"Not from here."

"We can't get close enough." Jane added.

"I can." Thor took the metal spikes and began to run into the thick red cloud. Jane looked deathly afraid, so I put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She watched her electrical device a moment, but the blinking thing disappeared, which made her look back up. After several seconds, it blinked back in. She looked surprised, but turned the knob. More blinking and turning after that.

I waited anxiously for the last. The red cloud disappeared first, however. Malekith was nailed to his ship. With a look of justice in her eye, Jane turned the knob again, making him disappear for good.

Jane looked over to where the fight had occurred, though stayed under the roof. When she saw the ship collapsing and Thor unconscious, however, she ran to him. "Thor! No." With panicked movements, she tried to pull him away. I quickly ran out to help her, but I wasn't of much more use. To make it worse, Thor was too large to transport with what little fight I had left in me.

"Jane! …Other girl!"

Jane hugged Thor, giving up now. "Go!" she told me.

"Not going to happen!" Right as I told her, the wind of it moving stopped. We looked to see it falling through a new portal and Selvig holding the blinky devise.

"Everybody okay?" he asked. Jane sat up and looked at him before hugging onto Thor again, who slowly grew back consciousness. A smile grew on my face and I laughed lightly before falling my back.

"THANK VALHALLA!" I yelled and pumped my firsts in the air. I suddenly remembered my attire and brought my arms down to cover myself as I stood. "Um…S-Selvig…M-might I barrow your jacket?"

He laughed. "Sure thing, kid." He told me and we met half-way to give me the requested.

I gave him a teasing grin. "Just so you know, I'm actually about eight hundred years older. My name's Astrid. Or Neve originally…The past few centuries it's been Astrid."

"Right…Erik Selvig." He put his hand out to me and I shook it. "By the way, you look lovely for your age." He teased.

"Why thank you." I told him. I began to laugh again, not that anything was funny. I was just so happy to be alive and not a sex slave to an insane dark elf and that the rest of the nine realms were safe.

Xxx

"Thank you again for buying me the clothing, Jane." I told her as we headed to where Heimdall would pick up Thor and me. I have to admit, it was odd wearing pants. "Skinny jeans" she said they were called.

"Thanks for the help." She told me.

"And what exactly did I do?"

"You gave Loki reason to fight." Thor told me, putting a hand on my shoulder. My smile faded.

"What happened to him anyways?"

Thor and Jane shared a look. "I'll…tell you when we reach Heimdall."

Fear shook me, but I agreed nonetheless. We stepped away from the group and Thor called to the gate keeper. As promised, Thor told me when we reached him.

At first, all I could do was fall onto my knees. My vision didn't even blur for a moment. I was just in shock. It hit me like a brick, though. It took only a moment before I found my tears and voice.

"NO~!"