"Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age
the child is grown, and puts away childish things.
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies."
-Edna St. Vincent Millay
And Caesar's spirit, raging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.
-William Shakespeare
Chapter 14- Facing Death
~Loki~
Loki stormed to the Bifrost, he had felt the warrior three and Sif go through the gateway and needed to know where they went. If Thor returned now all his plans would be ruined and Asgard would see war…it was unlikely that they would condone the delicate web of lies he had spun to achieve this peace. Thor could not have changed so much that he wouldn't go rushing in to ruin everything. It was a simple thing; get Laufey to sign a treaty that magically bound him and his people to peace.
The magic would only become active the moment Laufey stepped onto Asgard after that Loki no longer needed to aid his foes. He could cripple or kill Laufey before he ever saw Odin's chambers and the peace treaty would ensure no retaliation. It was a very underhanded way to go about getting peace but Loki had not the time for more fragile measures. His son would meet Voldemort in battle soon and he needed to be free to step in should it appear to be growing fatal for him.
Heimdall was standing there waiting to meet him, his face a mask of self righteous stone, and Loki felt a flash of indignation and anger flare up inside of him. If only these people could trust him, could trust him to do the right thing even as it appeared to be wrong…but no one other than his son had ever given him such a courtesy. "Where have you sent them, Heimdall?!" Loki demanded.
"Tell me, Loki, how did you get the Jotuns into Asgard?" Heimdall asked imperiously.
Anger overrode his sense, Heimdall would ruin everything over his hurt pride, and Loki said "You think the Bifrost is the only way in and out of this realm? There are secret paths between worlds, to which, even you with all your gifts are blind! But I have need of them no longer, now that I am king. And I say that for your act of treason, you are relieved of your duties as gatekeeper and no longer citizen of Asgard."
Loki knew that the moment Odin awoke he would reinstate Heimdall but it was the principle of the thing. He expected what Heimdall's response would be. "Then I need no longer obey you." Heimdall said as expected. Heimdall moved to strike him with his sword but Loki had enough. Loki moved to quick, he had Heimdall's throat in his hands; his body was stiff with Loki's magic.
With Heimdall bound Loki picked him up by his throat with no trouble, he activated the Bifrost with the staff of the king and threw Heimdall viscously into the opened gate. He watched Heimdall disappear, he would be with Thor on Midgard soon and that would be a problem in itself. He needed Thor and his companions distracted while he dealt with the Jotuns. With a heavy heart he called the Destroyer to him, "Keep Thor and the other Asgardians distracted…don't kill anyone but make sure they view you as a threat. It'll never work otherwise," Loki commanded.
Once the Destroyer was sent to Midgard Loki got to work changing the guards around on the way to Odin's chambers, increasing the guards, weeding out the weaker ones for ones more skilled and experienced. They would need it to stop Laufey and his guard…or at least delay them long enough that he could pick them off easily enough. It was never Loki's intention to allow Laufey to live through this…that bastard that had fathered him had ensured his mother's destruction…Loki was eager to return the favor.
~Harry~
Harry stood before the grave he had dung for Dobby, the tombstone they had carved from a rock sat staring blankly up at him and he wondered how he could have been so foolish. It was his plan, his choice to put all of them in danger and Dobby had paid dearly for his incompetence. Luna stood beside him in his vigil and was a quiet strength.
Ron and Hermione stood a ways away waiting for him to make the first move. All of them were suited up and armed to the teeth…all had made their peace with what was coming. Voldemort was planning to attack the school tonight, amassing almost his entire force to do so, and it was their intention to see the man fall. They all knew there was a very real possibility that they could die tonight…that this could be there last day.
Harry ran his hand over his cheek feeling his thin new scar, he had not healed the wounds he had obtained at Malfoy's mansion and had allowed his hands and face scar. They were marks to remind him, like the words he had been forced to carve into his own hands, scars to remind him of his failures. Luna had not allowed him to heal her own wounds from that day either, only help the healing along but let her back scar…he wasn't the only one who wanted to be reminded of something.
"Tonight we will face the horrors of this world head on and unafraid. My father told me once that to know what true strength is you must know what it is to be weak…we have been weak…each of us has had our own burden to bear in this…but now it is time for strength! It is time to show them that they cannot take what they want without a fight that we won't give up, we won't give in, and we will see them fall!" Harry said heatedly.
Luna placed her hand on his shoulder squeezing it and then she nodded. "It's time we stop hiding and started fighting this openly." Luna said softly.
"I am with you mate," Ron said simply.
"We'll be by your side until the very end," Hermione sad solemnly.
~Coulson~
Crouched down he tried to figure out what exactly could have scorched the pattern into the ground and came up empty. "Get someone from logistics down here," Phil said, if had learned anything from Fury it was when in doubt delegate. As he stood up the wind picked up and the storm clouds appeared suddenly tunneling down like a twister. Then just as suddenly as it had come it was gone and in its placed stood a man clad in glowing gold armor.
He made a note of the identical pattern at the man's feet as he pulled his side arm and signaled the rest of the agents to pull theirs as well. "Sir, I would ask you to place the…sword…gently on the ground and explain your purpose here," Phil said reasonably. The man didn't seem to be listening as he made to leave them. "Don't move sir, I would hate to have to shoot you," Phil said dangerously.
"I must find Thor! Loki has to be stopped!" The man in gold yelled. But just then another storm picked up, and Phil the creeping of irritation well up inside of him. What was this some alien convention!
When the storm cleared there was a giant metal man standing before them in another burn pattern. "Is that one of Stark's" one of his agents asked. "I don't know the guy never tells me anything," Phil said annoyed. "Hello, you are using unregistered weapons technology, identify yourself?" Phil said loudly.
"Run mortals! The Destroyer will obliterate you all!" The man in gold cried out as he charged the rather large metal man with his sword. Somehow Phil felt that it was a bit inadequate to deal with a problem of this size and started firing, the other agents followed his example. The metal man…the 'Destroyer' kept moving as if the bullets were flies. Phil called to his men to retreat as the metal face of the thing retracted to reveal no face just blazing fire.
This thing started with their cars, Phil felt more than a little annoyed by that, he had left a book in one and he hadn't been able to finish yet. Plus putting the paperwork in for new cars would be a headache; he radioed the men in town to start evacuating citizens when he saw the monster machine headed in that direction. The man in gold armor followed after it and Phil felt like he was missing something. As he looked around he realized the thing hadn't tried to kill anyone, it just seemed to be intent on causing as much mayhem as possible. There was something more going on here.
~Harry~
Knowing where and when your enemy was prepared to strike did you little good if you didn't know how to counter his attack. Harry was finding out just how difficult it was to launch an attack while having to watch for two enemies. Dumbledore couldn't be trusted at their backs but they had little choice if they wanted to fight Voldemort.
So Harry thought he would take a page from the Americans on this one and start some guerilla warfare. Voldemort was basing his attack from the forbidden forest, Dumbledore was using the grounds as his launching point, and Harry thought that once the melee started the four of them could move more freely.
That wasn't to say they were staying idle, they began by picking up stragglers, the ones that fell behind and took them out quick and quiet. Luna was great at this type of battle, her arrows were quieter and less showy (thus eye catching) than spells. She aimed for the kill, it wouldn't do for them to get up later and replenish the ranks.
Ron took care of the ones Luna hadn't managed to get the instant kill on before they could cry out and alert the enemy to their position at their back. Hermione was working on putting up a blanket ward line behind them so that Voldemort's troops would find themselves pigeon holed into a pincher enemies on all sides with no way out. Harry was taking on the hardier troops that Luna's arrows wouldn't be able to hurt.
He launched himself into the air, wrapped his legs around a troll's neck and used his momentum to snap its neck before it even realize he was on it. Ron made sure the landing was quiet; this was a stealth mission after all. They were outnumbered back here, cut off from any help Dumbledore might give them but it ensured their backs weren't to an enemy. It left them very little options on how to deal with the enemy they were going after though.
~Thor~
Thor could not understand, the Destroyer only moved on the commands of the King and his brother was King. Loki had sent this down upon them and he could not understand why. It was destroying everything, nothing could stand in its way and everything they tried didn't seem to be affecting it at all.
"Brother!" Thor cried, "What madness is this?!" Thor was met with only quiet sky and the sound of fire as it raged around them. The warriors three, Sif, and Heimdall were at his side looking to him for guidance. Thor had never felt so useless, he had nothing to give them, no strength to bluster their own and it left him with an empty feeling.
"It is no use trying to puzzle together the madness that is Loki's reasoning, we must return to Asgard…Odin I fear is in grave danger," Heimdall said his deep tones hard with anger.
"I will not leave them all to the mercy of the Destroyer! We must do something!" Thor shouted in return.
"Thor, the Destroyer cannot be stopped by us…had you your powers perhaps we might have vanquished it but we have not the strength on our own!" Sif said desperately.
"Odin cannot be allowed to fall, Thor, we must leave if we are to stop Loki's schemes," Fandral said harshly.
"I will not! You may leave if that is your will but I will not abandon those I have placed under my protection! I will die before I abandon my duty to them and let them face this on their own! I have brought this upon them, I must do something!" Thor said as he ran to face the Destroyer on his own.
There was little he could do but distract it giving Jane and the others the chance to flee. It was a curious thing, though there was many times in which it could have killed him it had stayed its hand and went to destroy another car or building instead. Thor could not understand, just what was Loki doing? He charged ahead trying to get the Destroyer to focus on him, and then it made its first real counterattack backhanding him across the road.
Had Thor had his powers such a thing would have been little more than an annoyance, stripped of his powers in mortal form it was much more devastating and it was enough that he felt the grasp of death creeping upon him. He did not understand, Loki had never been this vindictive to him before…all his actions had always been to aid him. Yet here he lay dying and Thor began to doubt…could he have been so blinded. He heard something as the darkness of death crept upon him…his father's voice.
"Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor." His father's voice whispered in his ear. His arm went up of its own accord to catch Mjölnir and felt the welcome rush of his power chasing the grip of death from him. Loki had spoken true; their father had never planned for him to remain mortal and only wanted him to prove his worth. Still doubts lingered as he thought of Loki's actions, and Thor knew he needed to return to Asgard to confront Loki. But first he had a Destroyer to…destroy.
~Harry~
Every moment they drew closer to the very heart of their enemies' territory, and the threat of discovery grew more certain. Luna's silver tipped arrow slew a werewolf before he could call out the warning on his tongue…the world would not miss Greyback. Ron was taking on a small nest of acromantula white faced in terror and with a manic smile as he hacked away at them. They heard the sounds of battle ahead of them, the only reason they had not been discovered yet…Dumbledore was fighting back ahead of them…somehow Harry was a bit surprised.
For all that Dumbledore preached that Voldemort had to be stopped Harry had almost expected him to let the monster roam into the school unhindered. For all of Dumbledore's fame that came from his victory over the last Dark Lord Harry had thought his heart to soft to stomach fighting back. It seems he was incorrect in his assumption.
Suddenly he felt it, Voldemort's presence; it sent the spells of protection his father had cast on him vibrating…where Voldemort was his snake was sure to be close. He signaled for the others to come to him quickly and quietly. Once the three of them were at his side he signed for Luna to head up into the Tree next to them, for Ron to have his back and for Hermione to wait here to back up Luna. It was time to hunt some snake, the most vulnerable of Voldemort's horcrux…and the last.
Voldemort was surrounded by five of his inner circle followers, a couple of them seemed new and Harry guessed they were the replacements for the Lestrange brothers. Ron and Harry were behind a tree just to the right and behind the group. Harry's keen eyes scanned for the snake in the underbrush; finally he spotted it slithering around Voldemort's feet. Not good. There was no way Harry could reach it without tipping the lot of them off.
He signaled to Ron to go across the clearing to box them in should any decide to run. Then he caught Luna's eyes and pointed to the snake. Giving her the sign to wait for the distraction Harry was going to provide Harry took a deep breath. He needed to take as many of them as he could out before they had time to react…which meant not holding anything back. The five with Voldemort did not know what hit them. Two went down with daggers in their temps within a blink of each other.
He snapped one's neck with his legs while stabbing another in the heart. Voldemort moved to retaliate with his remaining lackey when two silver arrows streaked past him one went right through the back of the Death Eater's head the other pinned his snake to the ground. Both died before Voldemort could react…Basilisk venom dipped arrows insured that.
So Harry stood before his enemy, Voldemort, and they stared each other down. "Come to die then Harry?" Voldemort asked mockingly as they began to circle each other.
"Not today," Harry replied coolly. "Death has come to call on you today time…and this time you won't be able to fly from the call." Harry said mockingly.
"We shall see, Harry Potter, we shall see," Voldemort said as he lifted his wand. The final battle between them was just about to start and this time only one of them would be walking away from it. It was time to end this.
A.N.: Ahhhh! XD it's all coming to a head! I'm so excited! Thanks for all the support and the reviews! It's really motivated me to get the updates going as quick as I can! Hope you like it! Drop me a line and tell me your thoughts! Thank you Aliengirlguy for the poem suggestion! It was perfect so I had to use it! XD
Quick Question: Does anyone know the when the Marvel universe is supposed to be in? 2012?