Ella did her best to keep up with Loki and Thor, but both of them were faster than she could have hoped to be. She had rushed to the stables and climbed onto a horse before setting off in pursuit of the pair of them. Loki had been moving towards the Rainbow Bridge and Thor had gone after him. Ella knew that she had to hurry and get to both of them before they did something foolish.
Her horse was riding as hard as possible as she stroked the side of its neck, silently urging for her to travel faster. Closing her eyes, she heard the sound of thunder rumbling in the sky above as she approached the Bridge. Coming to the end of it, she climbed down and began running as fast as possible, her feet carrying her with haste.
Joutnheim and the destruction of the Frost Giants was the main aim Loki had. It was the Bifrost that he would destroy to get his way and Thor would try to stop him. He needed to be stopped. He couldn't get away with doing this. The sky continued to rumble above Ella as she moved to the bridge and saw both of her brothers fighting in the distance. Loki had knocked Thor to the floor as Ella came to the end of Bridge and Thor pushed himself back to his feet.
"Loki," Ella called his name, seeing the rage inside of his eyes. But there was more.
There was a look of hollowness. His eyes were wide and wet. His hands were clenched and his lips pursed as he looked to Ella who had finally moved to stand next to Thor. The God of Thunder moved his arm out, stopping his little sister from pushing past him and getting to Thor.
"You cannot kill an entire race," Thor declared as Ella continued to watch him. "You know that."
"No," Loki said with a firm shake of his head. "What I know is that you would have destroyed all the Frost Giants with your own hands. What has made you so soft? Is it that woman?"
Thor almost faltered then, looking to Loki as his jaw clenched.
"Oh it is?" Loki continued to taunt. "Well, maybe after I have finished with the Frost Giants I can pay her a visit."
It was then when Thor launched himself at Loki and Ella backed away, knowing that she was unable to do anything when both of them began fighting. She placed her hands over her mouth as Loki and Thor duelled before moving to the Rainbow Bridge. It was a few moments after when Loki came flying onto the Bridge, his body landing and rolling to the edge.
"Loki!" Ella roared his name, running to the side of the bridge as Thor came into sight and stood over his sister's shoulder as she knelt by the edge of the bridge and offered her hand to Loki.
But then he disappeared and she looked around, the sight of dozens of copies of Loki appearing on the Bridge. Thor took hold of Ella by the hand, helping her to her feet as the two of them remained surrounded by Loki. He continued to laugh, the noise cackling loudly around them as Thor moved to hold his hammer above his head, his voice booming as he yelled;
"Enough!"
It was then when a crack of lightning hit the bridge and Ella felt her feet falter, the only thing holding her up was Thor's grip on her. The holograms of Loki disappeared then and the real Loki was left on the floor, his sceptre tossed from his hand and down the Bridge as Thor moved to him and placed his hammer on his chest, keeping him flat on his back on the floor.
"What are you going to do now, brother?" Loki demanded from Thor.
"What needs to be done," Thor said and he moved towards the end of the Bridge once more as Ella remained stood in between Loki and Thor.
"Loki, why did you do this?" Ella whispered, unable to think clearly as she saw Thor move his hand behind him and his hammer came rushing towards him.
Holding it high in his hand in the air, he brought it down, smashing it against the Rainbow Bridge as the surface began to shake violently. Ella wobbled on her feet as Loki pushed himself upwards, his eyes wide at the sight of his brother destroying the Rainbow Bridge.
"If you destroy the Bridge then you'll never see her again!" Loki hollered and Ella gulped loudly.
It was then when she saw Loki move to grab hold of his sceptre, taking hold of it and then rushing towards Thor. Ella shook her head with haste and moved quickly, standing in front of her brother and refusing to back off. She moved her hands in front of her and grabbed hold of the sceptre.
"No," Ella said with haste. "Loki, you cannot do this."
"I did this for us," Loki hissed at her. "I did this to prove that I was worthy…"
"So how did you do this for us?" Ella demanded of him.
"Because I wanted you to see," Loki snapped. "I want you to see that I could rule. You have done nothing but question me…go against me…I wanted to prove that I knew what to do."
Ella felt a lump form in her throat as she heard him speak to her in such a tone. She closed her eyes and bowed her head as Loki finally pushed her aside. Had she caused this? Had she done this? She didn't know what more she could say on the matter. Instead she watched on as Loki clashed with Thor, the force enough to make the Rainbow Bridge ripple up and down, throwing Ella from her feet and into the air.
She screamed loudly, her voice loud and full of fear as she wondered where she would land. She soon landed, her hands flailing in front of her. She felt a hand wrap around her own hand and she wondered where she was. It took her a moment before she dared to look up and she saw Loki above her, his hand gripping onto her as she dangled from the Rainbow Bridge and above the darkness.
"Loki," Thor's voice came from above as he held onto Loki's arm.
But Thor was also dangling from the Bridge, holding onto Odin's hand as he kept them all from falling. Ella wondered when her father had woken, but she had no time to wonder that for too long. Instead she was too focused on not falling into an abyss.
"Ella," Loki's voice dragged her gaze from the darkness beneath her. "I need you to hold on."
"I can't," Ella whispered, the feeling of her hand sweating inside of Loki's enough to make her feel like she was slipping. "Loki, I can't."
"Ella," Loki's voice was harsher as he tightened his grip on her as much as possible. "You can and you will. I need you to lift your other hand up and take hold of my arm."
"But you'll fall," Ella said, shaking her head back and forth. "Loki, you'll not be able to take my weight."
"I can," Loki promised her. "Come on, do it, Ella."
Ella gulped but moved. She lifted her flailing arm up and her hand gripped onto Loki's arm. Loki nodded and wondered just how he was going to help his sister out of this mess. She was clinging onto his arm and his hand with a vice like grip and Loki knew that he had to act quickly.
"Ella, you need to climb up us," Thor was the one to speak. "Climb up and get to safety."
"I can't," Ella continued to worry.
It was then when Loki acted with haste, knowing exactly what he was doing. He used all of his might to lift his hand entwined with Ella's upwards, gasping for breath as he felt his arm bend and his sister come level with his body.
"Grab Thor's arm," Loki demanded from her as he kept his hand inside of his brother's.
Ella moved her hand from Loki's arm to grip hold of Thor's forearm, her hand still holding onto Loki's. She soon let go as he dropped his arm back to his side, feeling the muscle in his arm strained. Ella moved upwards until she was able to grip onto the side of the Bridge, taking hold of it and hauling herself back to safety.
"Loki," Ella called his name out as he continued to hold onto Thor and she held a hand out. "You need to take my hand."
"Loki, you saved Ella," Thor declared. "You saved her and now we need to save you."
"Loki, come," Odin spoke, his voice hoarse and Ella wondered just how much longer her father could hold on for. She kept her hand stretched over the Bridge, her eyes wide as her gaze met Loki's.
"No," Ella said with a shake of her head. "Loki, come on."
"I could have done it," Loki spoke. "I would have done it for you, father."
It was then when Odin spoke those fatal words; "No, Loki."
"No," Ella said with haste as she saw Loki's face fall. Why had her father decided to say that? Why had he spoken those words. "Loki, no, I know. I know you could have…Loki…I know you…"
But it was too late. The hurt and pained expression on Loki's face told Ella that. Before she knew it, he had let go of Thor's hand as Thor yelled out in fear. Ella collapsed further, leaning over the Bridge more as she saw Loki become smaller and smaller until finally he was out of sight. She kept her hand stretched in front of her before she realised that Thor was behind her, his arm over her shoulders as he held her to his side.
"We can find him," Thor said with a firm nod of his head. "We can go and find him."
Nodding, Ella agreed and moved to her feet. She wiped her eyes before looking to her father who was now stood tall and peering into the darkness beneath them.
"Why did you say that?" Ella demanded from her father, any relief of the sight of him she had earlier completely gone. "Why did you do that to him? You knew…all he wanted was your approval…and you denied it to him."
"Ella," Odin spoke his daughter's name. "He was about to destroy an entire species."
"But you could have saved him from falling," Ella snapped. "You could have stopped him…"
Thor looked to his father before he took hold of his sister by the waist and guided her away from the Rainbow Bridge before she said something she might regret. Odin remained stood where he was, watching on as Thor led his sister away.
….
Ella had wanted to go and search with Thor, but he had stopped her. Instead she had been told to bandage her wound as Frigga tended to her. She had collapsed against her mother's side, Frigga wrapping her into her arms like she did when she was child. She held onto her gently as her own tears fell from her eyes. Odin had been to tell them that he would go and search, but Ella had refused to look at him.
Thor had returned as the sun rose the following morning and both Frigga and Ella had looked to him. It was when he shook his head and Ella felt the tears she had held back begin to pour down her cheeks. Closing her eyes, she turned and burrowed her face against her mother's shoulder as Frigga took hold of her in her arms and held her tightly. Thor remained stood in the middle of the room surveying the sight in front of him. He only wondered how they would all come back from this.