"Oh no. Christie, please don't cry," Thor attempted to soothe her sobs as he patted her shoulder awkwardly, still a little shocked by his brother's spiteful words. But Christie didn't answer - she just turned to face Loki, ready for him this time.

"I'm sorry for killing your mother. I blame myself too. If there's anything you remember from today - let it be that damn apology," she told him coldly, the hot tears running all the way into her mouth. Loki just swallowed thickly and looked away uncomfortably.

"Annerledes…I…I didn't-" All of a sudden Jane sat up, and the pupils of her eyes began swirling around in a dark bronzed colour.

"Malekith," she whispered as the ship approached a hill.

And true to her word, there Malekith stood with his dark elves and the Kursed. His dirty leathery white skin was evident from miles away. Christie wiped her tears harshly with her sleeve, causing a red rash to flare up under each eye.

"Are you ready?" Thor asked his companions, as they stepped off the parked ship and stood on top of the hill. Jane and Christie nodded simultaneously.

"I am," Loki confirmed, his voice quiet. The plan was rather simple from there on. Loki was to make a scene, and make it look as if he had betrayed Thor all along in an attempt to get Malekith on his side. That included a number of things - a dramatic speech, 'stabbing' Christie and 'slicing' Thor's hand off.

But Christie wasn't listening - nor was she really there, even after the dagger had gone through Loki had said was weighing heavily on her mind, and she hated the fact that this was how he saw her now. Every ounce of love between them had dried up within one conversation - and Christie was feeling the grief of losing his love all over again.

Whilst this was on her mind, she finally decided to raise her head to look at Thor who looked back at her, cradling his brand new bloody stump in his other hand. They were both crumpled in a heap at the bottom of the grassy hill, after Loki had 'flung' them down there.

"You got a little…somethin' there," Christie mumbled, removing her blood stained hand from her own 'wound' to gesture towards the blood pouring from Thor's missing limb. Thor smirked at her words, shaking his head.

Then his smile slipped.

"Christie…he didn't mean what he said," he told her lowly, noticing that her steely eyes were still brimming with sadness. She just gave him a small smile back, implying that it didn't matter anymore - but before she could say anything else, the Ether began swirling together in the sky. That thick, ruby coloured syrup like substance was almost alive above them. "NOW, LOKI!" Thor suddenly bellowed, alerting Loki to dissolve Thor's hand illusion and to get rid of Christie's stab wound so they could both fight properly.

And so it began. The beginning of the end.

Christie was too busy dealing with the elves in her usual badass way that to notice what the guys were doing, although every grunt and hammer-hit was obvious to her senses. She was better in martial arts than anything else, high kicking the elves into tomorrow and then stamping on their necks as soon as they slammed onto the ground again. Altogether it only took about ten seconds per elf, so she got through quite a decent portion of them before she finally glanced over to the boys, and-

"Loki!"

Her heart stopped. It stopped there and then, she was convinced that she couldn't breathe anymore as her chest began to tighten.

"Oh god no no no NO! Please god, NO!" she groaned croakily as she ran over to the space that Loki was suddenly lying in. Thor had already knelt down on the other side of him, just as stunned as her, whilst Christie skid across the dirty grassy grounds so that she was right beside him, too. Her heart had gone from frozen to suddenly racing uncontrollably, and it just wasn't slowing down. Loki had a huge gaping wound in his torso which was bleeding non stop, and the sight of it made Christie want to throw up.

She couldn't even speak.

"I-I'm sorry," Loki stuttered, his eyes painstakingly wide as he desperately gasped for air. Christie just shook her head as her silver-white hair stuck stubbornly to her cheeks.

This sounded too final, too irrefutable; she wasn't ready to come to terms with the possibility of this being the last time they ever spoke.

"Aye you fool, you didn't listen," Thor choked out, propping his brother's lolling head up to rest on Christie's lap, where he knew he'd be more comfortable.

"I am a fool, I am a fool," Loki spluttered, eyes now desperately darting between the two of them.

"Yes you bloody well are," Christie shuddered. She used her hands to support the back of his head which was now spurting with dark blue and silver shimmering liquid. She assumed it was blood. "Holy sh*t, Loki. You're down bad, dude." She felt another warm tear escape her eye and roll down her face, which sizzled into nothing as soon as it dropped onto Loki's ice cold skin.

Just like before.

Thor didn't know what to do. He was torn - he wanted to make sure that his brother was okay but but he desperately needed to get to a still struggling Jane and Malekeith.

"G-go, Thor," Christie rushed him, noticing his hesitance. "I'll stay with him…j-j-just get that sorted, and fast."

"Thank you Christie, I'll be back - just try to keep him with us," Thor muttered, giving Loki one last fleeting look at his dying brother before leaving the scene.

Christie was left alone with the ever spluttering Loki, still shaking her head as she felt her throat begin to swell and yet another batch of tears begin to form in her eyelids.

"A-a-a-ann-"

"Don't bother talking, just save your energy," Christie shook her head stubbornly. "God, Loki, you had one job and you couldn't even do that right - and I'm the failure?" Loki couldn't speak anymore, but his voice managed to crawl into Christie's mind for the final time.

"I didn't mean what I said earlier," he told her softly, his lips not moving but his eyes screaming with sincerity. Christie immediately felt those hot stored tears roll down her cheeks once again and clenched her jaw as hard as she could before responding out loud.

"I know, Loki. Hurting people hurt others-"

"Still, I'm sorry, for everything. I'm s-sorry, I'm so s-sorry," Loki's voice was now getting weaker by the moment, and his eyes looked more and more desperate.

"Would you please shut up? You keep talking like this is the end," Christie tried to give a light laugh but it just came out as a choked out sob. Her heart was far too heavy and her tears were relentless. "It's not the end. You'll be absolutely fine, you know that. You can tell me how sorry you are when we get back to Asgard, o-on the Palace Balconies, you're gonna o-order the sharing platter and we're gonna start again f-from th-"

"Oh, my love, stop," Loki had to firmly interrupt her ramblings. Christie sunk her teeth into her lip and, for once, did as she was told. She knew she was making it harder on herself by not dealing with this in the moment. And she knew she was making it harder on him by not allowing him to say goodbye.

It was borderline selfish.

"Thor has the throne," Loki gave a small sigh, and even though he was weak it still came out bitter.

"Thor doesn't want the damn throne, Loki - nobody does."

Loki let out a really short sad and fed up laugh.

"One son wanted the throne too much and the other not at all - is this Odin's legacy?" he muttered slowly. Christie's heartbeat began to get faster as she heard the physical Loki's breathing suddenly become laboured, and his eyes started giving up. There was a strange hazy layer like a film over his pupils, and it made her sick to her stomach. "You know the love between us never stopped. P-please, tell me you still care. I still cared about you. I did, I kept on thinking about you, Annerledes. 'Different', Mother called you - and you are, b-but in the best way. And I never wanted to hurt you. Of course I still love you, I even envisioned us getting m-married in a large Asgardian ceremony and having children of our own, a young boy who I w-would attempt to teach and a young girl, who would follow in her beautiful mother's footsteps…I saw all of that, tell me you saw it too. Tell me you d-d-didn't just love me for this wretched mission, please," he whispered, his pasty green eyes showing all signs of regret and sorrow.

Christie took a deep shaky breath and wiped the small dribble of dark blue blood that was beginning to roll down his mouth with her thumb, staining his pale skin like ink.

"Loki…" she murmured, briefly glancing over at Thor to see how far he was getting with Malekeith. She turned back to answer his question and tell him that yes, of course she saw that, yes she loved him, yes she never stopped caring, no she didn't fall in love just for the mission…but to her horror, Loki's eyes had finally shut and his skin had become translucent, like a piece of paper held directly in front of the sun.

He had already gone.

Christie gasped. She opened her mouth to make a noise to alert Thor, but struggled to get anything substantial out. All she managed was a strangled cry - and that was all Thor needed to hear to run over and skid onto his knees beside Loki's body, before letting out his own shout of mourning. Christie attempted to compose herself one last time - but this time it was entirely too much.

She had no idea what was happening to her, but it was a pain she didn't even recognise as human. Her heart had fallen and shattered into tiny pieces at the sight of a man who had caused her so much pain but so much joy…dead in her arms. This felt a thousand times worse than when she was shoved down the portal without him, or than when she thought she had killed him in Manhattan.

This was another level of grief, another level of pain that caused her to sit there in empty disbelief, that one hand still supporting the back of his head which was now absolutely gushing with blood, and the other still cupping the side of his chiselled jaw from where she had swiped the blood away with her thumb. Thor clearly found it easier to express his emotions.

But Christie didn't. So she was stuck.

Thor was the first one to get up again, now more determined than ever as his deep blue eyes clouded with both sadness and revenge.

"Thor? Where are you going?" Jane called after him as she watched him start walking away. Christie didn't feel like she had any tears left, so she carefully removed her hand from the back of Loki's head to lay him down. It was a little harder than she thought, as the blood had started to harden and therefore turned sticky against her skin. Nevertheless, once she was unstuck, she lay Loki's head down gently, before kneeling next to his body and kissing his cold lips softly for the last time.

"Oh g-g-god. I'm so sorry, Loki. Sleep well, my sweet prince," she sobbed with her hand over her mouth. Then she forced herself to get up and walk away without looking back.

It's just another person,' she thought to herself, biting her tongue so hard that she could the warm metallic gush of blood as she shakily followed Jane and Thor into an eerily dark, damp cave.

'Just another person, just another target - and the mission is complete.'

"Christie…I'm…so sorry," Thor muttered once she had finally made her way up to them. Christie opened her mouth to respond, but found that no sound came out. Jane stared at her sympathetically, whilst Thor gave a small sad sigh and nodded as if he understood.

"We're going back to Earth," Jane told her as she awkwardly nibbled away on her bottom lip. "There's a plan that Malekith is planning to do…does that even make sense? I don't know…but I need to….I mean I'm sorry… a-about you and Loki, I'm so sorry, I don't want you feeling that you have to-" Christie held a hand up to Jane so that she could stop talking. Thor gave a small sad smile and looked away, knowing Christie all too well.

"Jane, thank you for your kind words - but please stop talking," she finally managed to murmur. Her eyes were a cold dangerous grey. She took a deep breath and managed to string a few more words together. "I will come with you to Earth. I have to report in from my mission anyway - it's clearly done." Without hesitation, Thor suddenly opened his arms and Christie politely fell into them so that he could envelop her in a hug.

"I'm truly sorry, Christie," he muttered into her hair. She nodded and sniffed, forcing herself to pull away.

"I'm sorry too," she hummed quietly. The only thing other than her wobbly voice was the trickle of water running down the sides of the smooth cave walls. "He was…y-your brother-"

"He loved you," Thor interrupted her, which made Christie's eyes well up with tears yet again. She had to stop this, enough was enough. These emotions were going to be the death of her, and she hadn't even processed the death properly.

"I…lose people often. Loki is no different," she whispered hoarsely. Jane and Thor exchanged uncomfortable glances. "My sister, my father, Loki, my mother…even you when this mission is done. You'll probably never see me again. It's just…the way the cookie crumbles." Thor sighed at that point, shaking his head and looking down at the floor.

"No, Christie…I won't leave you if you don't want me to," he assured her firmly. He didn't often get the chance to properly sit down and bond with her but from the odd days that he did, he knew that her heart was good.

Yes, she clearly had difficulty expressing her emotions - but he was used to it, as Loki was the same.

Christie clenched her jaw and looked up to the ceiling of the cave to stop any more tears from rolling down her cheeks.

"I appreciate that but-"

"Seriously Christie, you can live with me, Darcy and Selvig and that new dude if you want. We have an apartment in London right now," Jane attempted to suggest. For a moment, Christie considered it…but then she thought about her own house waiting for her and suddenly became both a little sad, and incredibly homesick.

"No, thank you, Jane, I really can't do that," she declined quietly, but her eyes showed traces of a smile to imply how grateful she was. "But hey, if that ugly bastard really is planning something, don't you think we should be on our way down to Earth so we can put a stop to this before it actually…like…starts?"

Thor and Jane both knew that this was another way of Christie saying 'shut up', so they didn't push her on it any further, and simply got ready to go back down to Earth.

…

"Thor! Christie! Oh it's wonderful to see you both again," Selvig beamed, giving them both a hug once they stepped into his warm and toasty apartment. Christie quickly noticed that he had no trousers on, but wasn't even in the mood to question him about it. She was still broken. "How's Asgar– oh sh*t, your brother isn't here too, is he?"

There was the most awkward silence in the room as Christie automatically let go of Selvig and bit down on her jaw again, immediately dropping her gaze.

"Loki is…dead," Thor announced quietly. Christie, who hadn't said a word since they had landed back on Earth, and who also hadn't heard those words before in her life, suddenly found that she was starting to tremble. She started hyperventilating quietly, beginning to feel like she was going to be sick in front of all those people.

"Oh thank God," Selvig panted. Then he noticed the expressions on Christie and Jane's face. "I mean…I'm so sorry."

"Its fine, Selvig," Christie managed to splutter out, although she was now sweating profusely. "We all know that he wasn't a-always the most pleasant of people to spend time with…p-p-particularly if he had you under mind contr-"

"Huh? I thought that was your boyfriend?" Darcy frowned as she settled herself down on the sofa in pure nonchalance. Now Christie knew that she was going to empty the contents of her stomach everywhere. She was feeling extremely weak at the knees and awfully light headed.

"He…w-was…no, just my…he-" she spluttered - but quickly ran out the apartment before she completely disgraced herself. Thor gave a hefty sigh and quickly followed her out as Jane let out an irritated groan whilst turning to her team.

"Nice one, guys," she hissed, hearing Thor rush down the steps after Christie.

"CHRISTIE!" Thor boomed, running after her as she sped out of the apartment. Christie tried so hard to block his voice out, not wanting to even turn around.

"Please leave me alone, Th-Thor," she whispered. There was no way that Thor would have heard her, but he still stopped following her regardless. He decided that she needed some time to herself. There was no point poking at her when she was like this. He dropped his shoulders in defeat and turned back around into the apartment.

Meanwhile, Christie just kept running down the wet cobbled London streets, noticing the short sharp pellets of rain that had started to fall from the murky sky. She turned around for a brief moment to check that Thor wasn't following her anymore but when she turned back around, she violently bumped into someone.

"Christie?"

"Oh..my…god," Christie whispered hollowly, as Phil Coulson himself held her arms to steady her from toppling over. "So it's true, Ashley was telling the truth…you're…you…" Coulson ignored what she was saying and stared straight at her face, now alarmingly concerned at the state she was in.

"Christie, what the hell happened to you?" Coulson muttered. Suddenly, the nausea walloped Christie one final time, and she managed to turn away from Coulson before violently emptying what was left in her stomach all over the pavement, right next to the entrance of a small quaint tea shop. Coulson winced at her actions as he held her hair back for her. "Great. I hate puke," he shuddered once she was done. Christie wiped her mouth apologetically and stood up straight, her skin going from very pale to extremely flushed out of embarrassment.

"I'm so, so sorry," she whispered. Coulson said nothing and gingerly spun her around to lead her toward a big shiny black Jeep parked up just a few meters away. He opened the passenger door for her and Christie climbed in, resting her head on the cool black leather headrest. Coulson closed the door after her before swinging himself into the driver's seat and clipping on his seatbelt in silence.

Once the car was on its way down the road and the rain truly began to pour down, that's when he opened the conversation.

"Christie, what's going on with you? Why do you look so bad, why are you throwing up - what's happened? Are you…are you pregnant?!" he asked, glancing over at the ill, shivering silver haired agent. Christie carefully turned her head to face him and managed to roll her eyes, even though all that crying had made it rather painful to do so.

"Where do I start?"

…

a/n: final chapter of assassin in asgard coming tomorrow instead of next week…*cries in 'i can't believe it's all over'* :(