Even with his luck, Ronan wasn't sure the plan would work.
It counted on Loki and Thor's acting skills, the fact that Malekith would truly believe what Loki said. It also meant that Jane would be flying blind, that Ronan would either have to feign fighting or siding with Loki. The siding with Loki would be easier, but Jane would see through it. She was good at that, realising when Ronan had a plan. That was why she couldn't know, because when she realised it was an act she wouldn't have realistic reactions. As smart as Jane was, her acting abilities left much to be desired.
"Are you ready?" Thor's voice was loud in the quiet, and it made Ronan wince.
"I am." Loki replied, eyes flickering to Ronan briefly before they returned to Thor. "You do realise this plan is going to get us all killed?"
"Quite possibly." Thor began to lead the way, Loki moving to stand next to him. "We just have to hope the stars are on our side."
Even though Ronan knew to expect it, Loki stabbing Thor still startled the hell out of him. Thor went down, careening down the incline they'd been on top of, Loki following the blondes descent. Jane screamed Thor's name, making to follow and Ronan grabbed her arm, holding her back.
"Don't." He said, eyes following Loki. "That's what they want."
"Do you ever think I really cared? About Frigga, about any of you?" And Loki was really selling it, the rage in his voice sounding real. Maybe some of it was. Maybe he was bitter and now was as good a time as any to unleash it. He wished he hadn't seen Loki kicking Thor, though - it made him wince, seeing the bigger Asgardian hurt. "All I ever wanted was you and Odin dead at my feet."
When Thor made the usual hand gesture to summon Mjolnir, Loki moved quick as a viper, and the hand was gone. The scream Thor let out was almost too real, and even Ronan couldn't hold Jane back from running to his side. Ronan found his feet moving of their own accord, making to follow Jane and double check that this was actually part of the plan.
He found himself stopped by an invisible wall. This was not part of the plan, but hey, it made it look as though Loki truly wasn't on their side. Loki spared him a glance. "Can't have you interfering. You mess up everything." And maybe that hurt, even if it was an act, and Ronan flinched involuntarily. Jane looked up at Loki, and Ronan could imagine the fire in her eyes, her fear replaced with cold, icy rage. Loki merely grabbed her arm and dragged her to Malekith. Loki raised his head, and began to speak. "I am Loki, of Jotunheim, and I bring you a gift." He flung Jane to the ground in front of Malekith, and Ronan winced because that would definitely leave a mark. "I ask only for one thing in return - a good seat from which to watch Asgard burn."
Ronan could see the bigger dark elf - the one who didn't look elf like in the slightest manner - murmur something to Malekith. He noted with a sharp stab of satisfaction that Thor had managed to scar half of his face with his lightning, and Ronan sincerely hoped that it hurt as badly as it looked. He hoped it even more when Malekith stood on Thor, turned his body with his foot.
"Look." He commanded, and then Jane was lifted into the air by some unknown force and Ronan found himself yelling. This was part of the plan, he reminded himself futilely, even as he rammed a fist against the invisible barrier.
He could see the tendrils of what looked like sand floating out of Jane, towards Malekith's outstretched hand. Out of her eyes and mouth and nostrils, and Ronan wanted to run to her, to drag her away because Jane was his friend, had been there for him for most of his life and this shook him to his bones. She wouldn't live after this, he realised with a start, not if they didn't have a plan. He knew deep within him Malekith would not let her go.
He watched as she dropped to the ground, and heard Thor yell as Loki vanished his illusion, as Mjolnir returned to Thor's hand. Loki dived to cover Jane, and Ronan faintly realised he was safe behind his barrier as Thor summoned lightning and struck the aether. It caused a mild explosion, turning to dust and shards of ruby glinting amongst the dark.
That had been too easy.
Ronan knew it hadn't worked as the shards began to rise. The moved together, converged to Malekith and enveloped him, took him on as a host in a flash of red amongst the dark sand. He should have known it wouldn't work. If the aether was one of the stones his mother had regaled him with, Thor's lightning, no matter how powerful, wouldn't be able to destroy it. Malekith turned to leave, and the elves started advancing and Ronan felt his hand move to his side where the knife Thor had bought him lay. Seemed like it would be put to use.
He was vaguely aware of the green glow of Loki's magic dissolving the invisible prison he had been locked in, though Ronan wasn't sure if it had been intentional or not. Probably not, considering how the magic user was preoccupied with pushing Jane out of the way of one of the vortex grenades. For a split second, Ronan's heart was in his throat as he watched Loki get pulled towards it, up until Thor disrupted the pull, knocking him and Loki to the ground. They got back to their feet quickly enough and Thor, of course, set his sights directly on Malekith.
It was not a good plan - Thor would always be reckless, always slightly too single minded, and as much as Ronan liked him, sometimes he wanted to grab the man by the shoulders and shake some sense into him.
He was stopped by the giant dark elf who didn't look like an elf and the two were engaged in combat, Thor easily overpowered by his larger opponent.
Ronan darted to Jane, still on the ground, and knelt next to her.
"Jane?"
"I'm fine." She said, but she sounded dazed and scared. "I saw -"
"Later." Ronan assured her, glancing up towards Loki. Loki, who was easily outmatched by a good few elves and only had a knife on him. He cursed, getting to his feet. Jane made a noise of protest.
"What are you doing?"
"What I did in New York." Ronan managed. "Something stupid." And he was off, and he managed a weak smirk at Jane's curse.
Despite being outmatched, Loki seemed to be doing a pretty good job at keeping the dark elves occupied. It reminded Ronan that, although he was small and lithe, Loki had been trained as a warrior. Even so, he was occupied with the front, barely noticed the elf behind him.
Loki turned to find the elf that had been going to kill him fall, pierced by Ronan's knife. He was breathing heavily, and his hands shook because...because he had killed something. He hadn't killed anything before, hadn't even the stomach to wash a spider down the drain. He glanced down at the body at his feet, and turned to look at Loki, eyes wide and disbelieving. Loki nodded.
"Good job."
"I just…" Ronan trailed off and Loki reached out, placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Later." He said, and turned. Ronan noticed what Loki had, Thor on the floor, being pummeled by the monster he had targeted. "Stay here."
Ronan didn't manage to get a word in edgeways as Loki ran towards his brother, conjuring a weapon to his hand as he ran. Ronan only managed to follow part ways before he saw Loki impale the creature.
What happened next was something that Ronan didn't want to linger on. It was like when Frigga nearly almost died, but ten times worse. This time, he saw the spear go in, saw Loki's expression of shock, like he hadn't expected it. He saw him fall to the floor, heard Thor yell. He was too occupied with running down that he barely noticed the monster being consumed by one of his own grenades. He slid next to Loki, tasting bile in his throat. Thor was holding him, as Loki stuttered out breathless words and broken apologies.
"You fool." Thor was on the verge of tears. "You should have stayed back."
"I know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." It was jarring to hear Loki apologise, and Ronan reached out to take a hand. He took in a shuddering breath and squeezed it once, before releasing it. He felt himself deny it, deny this in front of him fervently.
And he remembered the power that ran through his veins.
Ronan's hands hovered over Loki, fingertips gently pressing against the edge of the wound. His vision was blurred with tears, but he was sure Loki grimaced, turned to face him. Jane had moved from her spot and her hand landed on his shoulder, attempting to pull him away. Ronan ignored it.
I need to save him, he thought, and the magic in his veins responded to his demands eagerly.
We can do that, it seemed to say, rushing to his fingers.
Ronan could feel the power this time, power rushing through his veins like liquid luck, and he imagined it was gold, like Felix Felicis, like the potion Harry had drank in The Half Blood Prince. He heard Loki gasp as the gold jumped from Ronan's fingers around the wound. Just a bit more.
Colour was returning to Loki's face, and green eyes stared at Ronan as sweat beaded on his forehead. That's enough, he thought, and the connection was closed, the wound almost non existent, and Ronan nearly blacked out. Thor helped Loki to his feet, the trickster still running a hand over where the wound should have been.
There was no wound bad enough to kill him, Ronan thought. He had allowed Frigga to breathe, but not heal her enough. Part of what happened had to be Loki's doing.
"What was that?" Jane asked, and Ronan leaned heavily against her, twitching his fingers.
"Luck." He decided. "That was all luck."
XoooX
They were left stumbling blind through Svartalfheim, a dust storm kicking up with high winds buffeting all four of them. Ronan made to take in a breath through his mouth, which only filled his lungs with dust and sand and left him coughing pitifully. It didn't help that he was still leaning on Jane slightly, feeling light headed and sick.
They eventually stumbled across a cave, and ducked inside and out of the wind. Ronan took the opportunity to lean heavily against the wall, catching his breath. He heard someone move to stand next to him, and glanced up to see Loki watching him with concern.
"Are you...alright?" His voice was small, unsure, and Ronan managed what he hoped was a comforting smile.
"Just...never done anything that big before." He managed. "I...I'll be fine. Just need to catch my breath, sort through...everything." He'd killed something. That was a thought that haunted him continuously. He'd killed something and he never had before and it was terrifying how little he truly cared.
"He's going to unleash it." Jane spoke up finally, and eyes turned to her. She looked distressed. "The aether. I don't know how but he's...he's going to blot out everything. Not just our sun, but the stars and everything. He's going to plunge everything into darkness and I...I saw it."
"What did you see?" Thor had to ask. Jane ran a hand through her hair.
"He's going to Earth. Why…" She trailed off, and her eyes lit up with realisation. "The Convergence. There has to be a...a point on Earth that links all the realms."
"The building site." Ronan realised with a start. "Things weren't just disappearing, they were being transferred through different realms. Maybe it's magnetic in a way - bottles kept moving, but cans didn't?"
"And it lead me to the aether." Jane added. "Oh god, if we hadn't gone there none -"
" It doesn't matter." Loki cut off Jane's self deprecating speech before it could spiral off. "What's done is done. We need to find a way out of he -"
That was when Ronan's phone went off.
He knew it was his phone because he had Shoot to Thrill as Tony's ringtone and it was blaring throughout the cave. Jane frowned.
"Why is your phone going off?" She asked. Ronan gave her a look.
"Because someone's calling me." He replied, voice sarcastic, and he answered it and gestured further into the cave with his head. "Hey Tony."
"I've been trying to call you for the past day." Was what Tony said in reply, and Ronan couldn't help but grin at the familiar voice. God, he missed him. "Your phone's been declining my calls."
"Yeah. I was on a field trip to Asgard." Ronan replied. "Then I was attacked by Dark Elves and now I'm in Svartalfheim."
"What. The. Fuck." Tony didn't sound impressed. "Ronan, I swear to God if you don't get back to Earth now -"
"I'm fine -"
"You didn't see the Chitauri." Tony's voice had gone panicky, approaching what Ronan recognised as an anxiety attack. "You don't know what else is out there, Ro -"
"Breathe." Ronan instructed, keeping his voice calm as Jane picked up the can she had dropped in the building site so long ago. "Deep breaths, Tones. I'm with Thor. I'm fine. I'm safe. I haven't even scraped my knee. I'm alright. We're...working on the getting back to Earth thing. It's easy enough. Oh, but you will be so jealous, the tech on Asgard is super amazing." Ronan was aware he was rambling, but sometimes the aimless chatter helped whenever he felt like the air was too thin and he couldn't breathe. "They had this thing called a Soul Forge and it transfers energy from one place to another and the toys they have are small masterworks. You'd love it, Tony, it's incredible. I met Heimdall and totally embarrassed myself because I asked him too many questions about the myths that aren't true and -"
"Ro?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm good." Tony's voice sounded sincere over the phone, and Ronan could picture the smile he'd be wearing - a small, but genuine one. "Thank you."
"Anytime. Except from when I'm in space. Usually the connection sucks." He heard Tony let out a breathless laugh.
"I guess. Want me to stay on?"
"Just for a bit. Think we've found a...portal or something? I don't know. There's this thing called the Convergence and it's like...linking realms. It's messing with my powers. Meaning that I'm actually being lucky for once."
"Ok, that's messed up." Tony's voice held laughter. Jane let out a triumphant noise.
"Got it!" She called and Ronan nodded.
"Found it." He said. "I'll call you later. I'll be back in America in a few days."
"I'll send a private jet and ready you a room." Tony corrected. "I'm forcing all of you to live with me in New York. Mostly you. I saw your hovel of an apartment and you are not paying rent there anymore."
"Tony -"
"Nope, no arguments kid." Tony would be grinning, Ronan knew it. "I'll call you back soon." Before Ronan could argue anymore, Tony ended the call. He pulled the phone away from his face and stared at it.
"He hung up on me!"
"Tragic." Jane sounded nonplussed. "Doesn't matter - we've got the portal. We can go home - we've got a universe to save."
XoooX
Darcy wasn't impressed with their disappearing act. She had found Erik, though, which meant she hadn't been just freaking out.
Apparently the convergence was causing portals to appear almost everywhere. It was just unfortunate that they hadn't found one sooner. Ronan supposed he should be grateful that they hadn't stumbled across one which deposited them on another planet.
Loki looked awkward, and rightfully so, at the sight of Erik Selvig and attempted to shield himself behind Thor so his presence wouldn't be noted. Ronan resisted the urge to roll his eyes and instead joined Jane in scrutinising the map that Erik had spread out over the table.
"Malekith is going to have to unleash the aether when all the realms are aligned." She murmured. "Maximum effect that way. All the worlds, the entire universe - it's going to go dark."
"It's only temporary." Thor pointed out, and he glanced at Ronan. "And, fortunately, we have luck on our side."
"Not much." Ronan corrected. "I've saved two people from dying. I don't think I can do much more without passing out. I would like to avoid passing out, thank you."
"There must be a way to figure out where this will be strongest." Jane turned to Erik, who nodded slightly.
"Yes...this has happened before. Ancient civilisations left...clues. Egyptians, Mayans, they made use of the gravitational anomalies." He was muttering to himself. "Snowdon, Stonehenge, the Great Orme -"
"They're all related to myths. Legends." Ronan found himself saying. "The Great Orme is a derivative of nordic for Great Serpent, Snowdon was something to do with King Arthur and a giant. Stonehenge was said to be placed there by Merlin. Everything was placed for a purpose, linked to mythology." His eyes flickered over to Thor and Loki. "Just like Asgardians are said to be gods. Like how the dark elves are told in old tales that are no longer deemed true."
"They all lead to something. They cross somewhere." Erik was drawing lines, now, dissecting the map with graphite until all the lines met at one point.
"Greenwich?" Jane sounded confused. Ronan thought it sounded way too convenient, but of course every world threatening situation seemed to put him in the middle of things. Could one retire from events that could destroy the world? It seemed like something he should look into in the future. "Physics is going to go mental, the aether is going to distort reality, the fabric of it will be torn apart." Ronan felt his lips quirk up.
"Maybe we can use that." He said, and eyes turned to him. Loki frowned, before the same look crossed his face, one that promised mayhem.
"Oh, Ronan Spire, I do love the way you think."
XoOoX
This took too long but it's here and now I can breathe.
Next chapter is either gonna be the last or the penultimate of When the Stars Align, not 100% sure yet. It depends how much I write. I'm looking forward to it, nonetheless. It means another movie is out of the way, and I can focus on the next part, which is more Avengers based instead of Thor based, which is a dynamic I love writing.
Also this will follow like, barely any movie canon that was confirmed in AoU. This is going back to the good old days of 2012. So yeah.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed! - Jazz xx