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Thanos walked forward from the protective band of his warriors and towards the massive group of both Fire and Frost Giants. The creatures of Muspelheim were running back to the portal he'd opened for them, scrambling to get away from the the whirlwind of ice.

He closed his fist definitively and one of the stones flashed purple.

The strength of the Caskett noticeably declined, but it was too late to reassure the Fire Giants.

They continued fleeing until Thanos had no choice but to send his original army back in.
Loki manipulated his hands and the Caskett disappeared.

"Back! Fall back!" he ordered at the Jotuns. The armies were not evenly matched. They needed to retreat closer to the other side where the Asgardian and Anaheimien soldiers could join or they would quickly be overrun.

But, in that moment, he bent down with a gasp of pain.

Thanos stared at him darkly, part of the power of his gauntlet focused on the God of Mischief once again. The Titan continued forward, only a short distance from him.

Loki gripped the sides of his head, hands trembling from the horrible sensation that wracked his body.

Shards of ice hurled in Thanos' direction from the Frost Giants holding their ground by their king. That gave Loki an opportunity to get back to his feet, eyes wet even from the brief experience. He glared at the Titan.

"You will bow to me." Thanos said, not stopping his approach.

"Yes. Yes, I will. Because one should always bow at the end of a performance." Loki replied, tucking one foot behind the other and giving a very mocking dip of his upper body.

His two personal guards began to usher him back into the crowd. Thanos clenched his hand again, forcing the Frost Giants to grab Loki in order to get him away from danger.

Thor stared in amazement as the Fire Giants fled back to their realm. He had only ever seen the Caskett in the Vault, but never being used. The entire realm was chilled. The Jotuns had become more powerful in the few minutes it was active. He couldn't imagine having to fight them when they were in that state and wondered for a brief moment how his father had managed to defeat them. The Caskett could freeze their enemies, leaving them helpless. Then the Frost Giants could shatter them with one hit.

While he waited, the healers from both Asgard and Anaheim were treating his wounds. The Warriors had been tended to earlier as well.

Nebula visibly rocked on her toes, eyes earnestly searching the field. The storm of frost was gone, but she had yet to see Loki leave the frontlines.

"Send them back." Odin said to his general. He could see that the Frost Giants had turned around now and could only assume that Loki had ordered them away from the onslaught of enemies "They'll need help now. Quickly."

Thor watched Nebula warily. After overhearing her promise to kill his brother before he was captured, he'd become nervous and paranoid with her being around Loki. He planned on going with her if the two of them decided to leave again. Until then, he put his attention on Heimdall.

The watchman's expression rarely changed, but right now he looked quite apprehensive. Thor was tempted to ask him what he could see, but his father asked first.

"Heimdall, is Loki returning?" Odin asked in a firm tone. He scanned the area ahead himself. Frigga had one hand on her husband's arm, seeking the comfort she had not been able to feel from him in some time. He reached to grasp it without looking back.

"Yes. Several Jotuns are bringing him back as we speak. Thanos countered the power of the Caskett."

"Far too late." Valder said, sounding cold as as he smiled in triumph.

"The Fire Giants are returning to Muspelheim." Heimdall continued with a nod at the other king.

"The creatures of Muspelheim are not as aware of the other realms as Jotunheim. The power of the Caskett would have been quite foreign. The Frost Giants would have suffered terrible causalities without it."

Without Loki. Thor knew that's what the king was thinking. In some ways, he found it impossible to believe that his brother thought their father was so prejudiced against Frost Giants. Everything Odin had done in this battle proved differently.

A group of the mentioned beasts could be seen maneuvering through the crowd of men towards them and Thor's face lifted as he realized Loki was in it. The God of Mischief turned back around to watch, leaning over and heaving in fatigued breaths. He no longer held the Caskett, but he had yet to revert back to his Asgardian form.

The first one to reach out and talk to him was Thor, but as soon as he spoke, Loki held a hand up, warning him not to touch his Jotun skin.

"Does it usually take long to fade?" as soon as hs asked the question, the God of Thunder felt embarrassed. It was tactless, just as he was always accused of being. The blueness of his skin had ebbed so quickly on Earth, yet his brother had needed Odin to transform him back once he arrived here.

But Loki just shook his head, standing up straight and steadying his breathing.

"I think it depends on how long I stay in that form." he answered. He wiped back a few pieces of hair that were plastered to his face from the sweat. As he spoke, the color began to withdraw from his hand and then went throughout the rest of his body until he looked normal again.

"You seem to have raided the Vault." Thor said, faintly smug. First the Tesseract, then the Caskett.

"No. Heimdall did." Loki replied with a small shake of his head.

"Under your direction." Heimdall said, throwing in a small amount of cheeky indignation.

"Not true." Loki retorted as he walked over.

Odin just contented himself with a very quiet and amused guffaw at their avoidance of responsibility.

Frigga eyes widened slightly as she saw Loki falter. His steps were very uncertain for a few steps, as if dizzy. Seconds later though, he recovered as if it hadn't happened.

"We've not been to Muspelheim in centuries, what made you think of them?" Thor asked. Their king was dead, but he could be resurrected by the Eternal Flame that also rested in Odin's Vault. The only time he'd been to the fiery realm was when he was in early youth and even then it had been brief.

"The fact that he was pulling back his army meant something was a danger to them as well. The Fire Giants don't bow to him, they simply despise Asgard. Along with that, his portal was changing. I could sense the shift. What better way to fight an army completely unprepared for fire than with fire?"

Odin nodded grimly, but Thor was still addled. Never in a thousand years would he have been able to narrow it down to a conclusion that quickly. And even if he'd tried, it would have come to something different.

"They abandoned their cause quite readily." Hena commented. She was relieved, but surprised.

"Well...a giant swirl of the element that weakens them the most was probably intimidating." Loki sounded vaguely amused. Then he glanced at her "I really did not mean to yell at you, I just could not have you follow."

"If you would explain your intentions, perhaps we wouldn't have remained here in ignorance." Frigga said in the voice only a mother could manage.

"There wasn't time for that." Loki responded honestly with a small shrug. Even as he said this, Thor noticed that he avoided looking directly at her.

Frigga's eyebrows dipped down briefly at the words. She could see her son's veiled desire to prove himself, even if he wasn't truly aware of the subconscious effort. This battle would determine all of their outcomes, but it was more personal for Loki. He wanted Thanos for himself.

"I'm going to go and scout for Ebony. When you're through chatting, come join me. He's the last thing we need now." Nebula said, turning from the group.

"Don't go at him alone." Loki shot after her.

"I'll go with her." Fandral offered. Hogun nodded beside him. They went after her quickly, though they kept their distance. Thor was grateful to his friends for doing that without being told or asking for permission. He knew Fandral had been trying to gain Loki's trust back after the conversation the Warriors and the former prince had on Earth. The slender Asgardian had always been the closest to the younger son of Odin.

"Agents. Agents are here." Tony said, sarcastically warning everyone of their approach. Hawkeye and Black Widow had come around the back way, just as they were told to do.

"Holy hell, what did the Frost Giants do out there?" Hawkeye asked incredulously. Thor's eyebrows rose as he saw that his friend had ice inside his quiver and stuck to his bow. Clearly they had not been somewhere the Caskett's power reached, but the debris had made it's way over to them.

Loki was distracted by the nurses approaching him again-this time simply for a few burns-so he didn't answer the mortal.

"Thanos brought Fire Giants to attack us and Loki used Jotunheim's power to stop them. We would have lost hundreds more without it." Valder decided to speak.

"Fire Giants? Are there water and earth giants too?" Hawkeye asked. He wiped off his bow and the ice came loose easily.

"There are some giant Frost Giants that just came from up there." Black Widow informed them. She pointed towards the area where the Bifrost was opened "And I mean really giant."

This time, Loki did glance over.

"They're headed in to fight, so I just assumed they were friends."

Thor walked over to where they stood and then saw what they were talking about. It was the same kind of creature that had attacked him and his friends on Jotunheim when he'd led them there the first time. That one really could be called a monster. Simply because of its physical appearance and not its actions.

"Well, I hope someone is controlling those. I'm certainly not." Loki said flippantly, resigned to the fact that he was a novice at directing the Frost Giant army.

"Use of the Caskett will call them forward." Odin replied. He nodded out at the field "They're more apt to listen than the others. Similar to the Destroyer in many respects."

"Except that there's multiple." Thor said in amazement.

"Now, send those after Cull." Hawkeye muttered with a raise of his eyebrows. They were three times the size of Thanos' creatures and wiped out groups just by running through them "We can only hope he got caught up in the blast of ice."

"Thanos made sure they were all removed from the field before he changed the portal." Thor told him in disappointment.

"As if he cares about them." Svleiva added.

"He cares more about us than you do about your cursed realm he's demolishing." Proxima said. It was easy to forget she was there as she remained silent with everything occurring around them.

Svleiva gave her a cold look, but it was nothing compared to the one from Valder. He almost immediately came to his wife's defense, but Loki's voice sounded first.

"Which is why every other member of his Black Order has been here trying to save you? Even your husband?" he replied "I can so clearly see his concern for your wellbeing. Keep quiet, Proxima, or I really will gift you to Nebula."

"Your valor is inspiring." she said with a sneer.

Loki just ignored her further jibe and Thor tried to hide his perplexity that his brother could hold his tongue. He himself would have been led right into an arguement.

Fandral reappeared seconds later, gesturing at those still there.

"There are Outriders heading for the bunker down here. And this time it appears as though that is their target."

"How many are there?" Valder asked quickly, taking his weapon and intending to join them. Hawkeye was already past him on his way towards his family.

"Maybe fifty. Nebula is practically knee deep in them already." Fandral reported, watching the mortal come to their aid.

Hena just scowled and gave a bothered shake of her head. While she appreciated the asset that the woman was, she couldn't get past Nebula's inclination to make light of death.

"We'll go." Volstagg said, speaking up same as Fandral had earlier. He had a wife and children just like the Anaheimien king, but they weren't here and he didn't have to be concerned with protecting them. So, the Warrior left and Sif immediately followed him as if she were his shadow.

Frigga tensed as Loki pulled away from the healers and went just slightly up the hill to observe. One of the women in particular almost reached after him in frustration. Then she looked to Odin and Frigga for a quick second, somehow hoping they would do something. Many of the Frost Giants who had been in the lead on the direct charge on Muspelheim were dead, but the leaders who'd survived all had serious burns. Fortunately, those ones were resting now. All but Loki. He'd gotten there and immediately employed the Caskett. His burns were far less because of it.

"Eira?" Frigga asked and beckoned the girl closer. She was around Thor's age and still lacked some of the experience that the royal healers did, but she was quite intuitive. In fact, her eldest son had often admired her from afar in his youth. Loki's teasing of him regarding her felt like yesterday.

As the woman approached, Frigga felt more aware that she was from a different sphere than everyone here now. But, that did not stop her from questioning her former subject concerning her younger son.

"He's losing more ground. I'm afraid this could mean something worse next." Svleiva said. Their soldiers were once again moving in towards Thanos. However, this time, the opposing side wasn't retreating. Yet, she still felt paranoid. With a sideways glance behind her, her eyebrows furrowed. Proxima Midnight met her gaze with a challenge.

The amount of Chitari on the field was dwindling at this point. Thanos had stopped letting them in the moment Loki gained control of the scepter. The Titan simply needed to take the weapon again to get his soldiers back.

"He's under a great deal of strain, as should be expected during a battle like this. I cannot quite calm your worries with reassurance. He won't allow us a long evaluation of him." Eire spoke a few feet away, attention on her queen.

"He is too restless to wait." Frigga murmured.

Meanwhile, Valder took a step after his wife, who was approaching Proxima Midnight.

"Svleiva, what?" he asked warily.

"She may know more of Thanos' plan. Or simply what his next actions have the potential to be." Svleiva stared down the Black Order member.

"And I am dying to tell lovely, virtuous Svleiva every detail." the woman replied with cold amusement.

The queen of Anaheim ignored the jibe. There was a hidden meaning behind the adjectives used to describe her with which not many people were familiar. Valder, however, knew very well and he instantly bristled at the words. But, his wife said nothing, just simply continued focusing on her target.

Proxima's eyes narrowed and then widened slightly. She was acquainted with magic and the entire Black Order had studied Anaheim's power in particular. Svleiva rarely used it to invade other's minds, but she'd been pushed to that limit.

"Careful." Valder warned softly. There was a risk to reading someone's mind who actively resisted. Nor did he want her to see anything disquieting.

"Explosives." Svleiva said under her breath. She eyed Proxima with disgust "Would he truly use that as a last resort? Killing off his army to destroy ours? How dishonorable is this creature that you serve?"

"Would you like to hear his plan for you and your daughters?" the woman replied maliciously "You'll find it is plenty honorable."

"Some of the Outriders have bombs attached to them." Svleiva turned to her husband and then the other king and queen "Every member of our army is in danger of that if he...gets desperate."

Valder looked behind them with a sudden flare of anxiety. Most of the women and children of his realm were in the area designated for protection that Hawkeye and Nebula were defending right now. If bombs went off near them while they were all gathered together, he wasn't sure he would be able to forgive himself.

"We'll need to move the bodies once they're killed." he said, referring to the Outriders Nebula and the others were surely defeating.

Thor quickly went over to the hill to watch the battle now that they had the new information. Anaheim's leaders followed. Everywhere they looked they could see men that would be in danger if explosives should go off. Svleiva shook her head in abhorrence.

Odin gave a brief glance at the Tesseract, eyes contemplative. There was a hint of a gasp behind him that he heard. He turned to investigate, but did not expect much. However, his eyes widened as he saw Loki pulling a hand from his abdomen, completely covered in scarlet red.

"Loki!" he said sharply just as the adopted Frost Giant took a few weak steps backwards and his knees buckled beneath him. Frigga's head snapped over to the voice.

Thor darted over and landed by his father's side to kneel by Loki. Odin's hands hovered above the Frost Giant's stomach wound that was now very visible, eye wide with shock. Others joined them swiftly.

Loki's back arched in pain, blood pulsing freely from his torso, but he wasn't quite awake.

"When did this happen?" Odin demanded.

"He's been using an illusion to cover up how bad he is." Frigga growled. She cursed herself for not picking up on it sooner, but Loki knew how to better hide his magic if he thought it might be detected. He was still covered in wounds from the torture he'd experienced. Blue burns, cuts, and worst of all the gaping gash in his side.

"Move him over here." Odin instructed quickly. Valder and Hena assisted as the group very carefully carried him farther into their alcove where the healers were stationed.

As they laid him down, Thor stared in anguish at his brother laying there in pain. He felt absolutely idiotic for having not said something earlier.

"Did you know of this?" Frigga asked sharply, making Thor realize his expression had given him away. He lost his voice instantly.

"I...he...didn't want me to say anything. He healed it in front of me and I thought...he must have hidden it.

Hena gave him an incredulous look, but Frigga only shook her head angrily at her second son. Thor had no way of seeing through an illusion. He never would have known.

"How has he been fighting, damn it." Svleiva hissed. She got down beside Asgard's queen as the maids tried quickly to stop the bleeding.

Loki's hands clenched at nothing, in pain even while unconscious.

"He's hemorrhaging." Eira stated swiftly.

"This is the same wound we saw on Thanos' realm." Odin replied. Loki had not been healed enough on Jotunheim for a battle such as this. Perhaps that was due to the severity of the wounds or the Frost Giant's lack of prowess in that area.

"Oh Valhalla..." Svleiva's voice trembled. Hena's original description of what the God of Mischief had gone through was nowhere near the what she was seeing now.

"This isn't natural, something else must be causing him to hemorrhage." Eira said sharply "This wound has already been closed several times."

Loki inhaled tightly and the pain from that must have pulled him back to conciousness.

"Loki, stay." Frigga snapped immediately. It was in vain as he instantly forced himself to a sitting position. His face very clearly showed the suffering he was experiencing.

"Nebula...she's going to go after Ebony." he panted. He tried to push away from them and stand, if only to run and make his way back to the fighting.

"Loki, no, you're injured." Frigga grabbed his arm, but he pulled away.

"Hold him back!" Odin ordered cuttingly. Two of his Asgardian men came to help, but as they grabbed the God of Mischief, several Frost Giants moved forward threateningly.

Frigga's heart leaped as they darted to assist their king, who had easily been restrained by the other soldiers.

"No, don't!" Loki cried, his voice taut with pain as tears seeped through. Though it sounded like he was protesting Odin's order, it was directed at the Jotuns and they halted. Valder was already in place between them and Svleiva, eyes fierce with warning.

"Loki, what did they use to make this stab wound?" that was the Asgardian healer, urgently performing healing incantations over the injury.

Loki sighed heavily, lines of wetness continually forming on his cheeks. He turned his head to the side, heaving in hard fought breaths from utter exhaustion. Sweat glistened on every inch of open skin. He coughed hard and blood came to his lips.

Frigga put a hand to his forehead, shocked by the heat under her palm.

"We need to cool him." she said quickly "Why is he so hot? What is wrong?"

"I do not know." the maid sounded fearful "He's convulsing. I don't know what they've done to him."

Hena's eyes flew open.

"The poison!" she blurted out. She stared at Odin intently "They poisoned him! It must still be there."

"Do you know what poison?" Eira asked, taking Loki's arm and using a spell to peer more closely at his veins.

"It's not something I am familiar with." Odin said with a shake of his head.

Although those surrounding the God of Mischief had little idea of what they should be looking for, the strange black tint to his veins was undeniable. The nurse shifted her attention back to the wound in his abdomen.

"He's losing more blood each second, the effect of the poison should be lessening." she said in bewilderment. Trying to combat the more lethal problem, she applied pressure to the stab wound again.

"Loki." Frigga demanded as the tremors slowed.

His face was still clenched in agony, but he was becoming much less responsive to all of their actions.

The Warriors appeared at the top of the hill again, having taken care of the enemies attacking the bunker behind them.

"What happened?" Volstagg demanded.

"Eira?" Frigga asked again of the healer. Loki was becoming weaker by the moment.

"The bleeding is slowing, but he had lost a great deal." the woman hurriedly shifted positions to examine the prince's face. From the rate he was declining, she wasn't sure she would be able to figure out a solution before he succumbed.

"Are you all idiots?" the sharp insult came from Nebula. Thor had not seen her arrive with the Warriors, but she shoved past them and then in between Frigga and Svleiva, knife drawn.

"Don't touch him." the same Frost Giants that Loki had warded off only moments before came back with a severe growl at the cyborg.

"Nebula." Odin wielded Gungnir warningly. She was then blocked by several others beside the prince.

"The poison is killing him. He's dying." she said, her voice soft but vicious "It's preventing this wound from healing and probably doing a lot more internal damage than you would like. It needs to be pulled out from somewhere else."

"You know what it is?" Thor asked, more trusting than the others surrounding his brother.

"I've seen what it does to people." Nebula responded coldly, indirectly answering his question. She shook off those preventing her and took Loki's arm, but Frigga was still wary.

"If you harm him..."

"I have to harm him to save him, Asgardian Mother." Thanos' daughter replied coldly. Frigga narrowed her eyes.

Nebula then slid her knife sharply across Loki's left wrist. Blood rose to the surface of his skin immediately, but the God of Mischief didn't stir.

Svleiva grimaced as the cyborg roughly pressed on the wound. It took everything she had to suppress her protective instincts.

Eira began to assist Nebula, separating the toxin and then extracting it.

Thor glanced back as he heard a small intake of air. He blinked as he realized Valder had both arms around Hena as she watched the scene. Her jaw shook from trying to stay quiet and tears streaked her cheeks. Her father put one hand on the side of her head to hold her closer and keep her from watching.

"Come on, Loki." Nebula growled under her breath. She left the extraction to Eira and looked at his face. The Jotun king was still unresponsive, face pale and fairly lifeless.

Frigga sought her husband's gaze, the desperation building up.

"Loki, you bastard, come on." Nebula spoke again, her jaw tight. She started slapping his face quickly and harshly.

"You didn't just survive days in Thanos' hellhole to die here now." she snarled "Wake up!"

"Stop." Frigga demanded of her. She leaned closer to her second son herself.

There was no sharp inhalation, but Loki's eyes just fluttered slightly and then opened.

"It's coming." Eira said, her voice firm with concentration "It's coming more easily now."

"Loki?" Frigga tenderly brushed back his hair. His attention flicked to her.

"Well, I guess I'm going after Ebony alone." Nebula peered down at Loki with a smirk on her face "I'll tell Thanos you're alive and well."

"No, Nebula, don't." he croaked, breaths still coming with great effort. He couldn't put his thoughts into words as she stood.

"See you on the other side." she added for good measure and turned to leave. Thor looked after her in bewilderment.

"Nebula, don't!" Loki tried to move, but was pushed back down by Odin's firm hold.

"Don't let her go alone." he begged, still completely disoriented and unable to think clearly. The waves of pain made tears start rolling down his face again. He coughed, adding more scarlet to his lips.

"No, Father, please, don't let her go alone. Send someone with her." he sobbed, his other hand raising to rest on his face as he was lowered back to the ground.

Odin looked briefly after Nebula, but stayed to make sure Loki remained in place. His abdomen had stopped bleeding as badly now, but Eira saw that as a very bad sign. The man had little blood to lose and he was becoming delirious because of it.

Odin placed a hand on his son's head, similarly to how he had in the cell on Titan, and Loki quickly faded from consciousness. The healer glanced at the king and then nodded her appreciation. She did not want to risk stopping her task.

"Should I go with after Nebula?" Captain America asked, his voice tentative as he broke the silence. The burn on his arm was still visible, but far more healed than he would have expected.

"Yes, go." Odin replied "But don't approach Thanos. If she wants to be foolhardy, she may do so, but you are not to follow and do the same."

The mortal soldier nodded. He glanced at Tony, who shrugged.

"Let's do it." he responded "Banner is still hopping around out there. He might join. Or he might kill us, but either way works."

Thor felt torn as they left. Part of him wanted to go with them, but he knew he couldn't leave while Loki was in such condition. His brother could pass at any second being in the condition he was in.

"He's coughing up so much blood." Frigga murmured, continuing to stroke her younger son's face "There must be more internal bleeding."

"His throat is what is harmed. I felt it from my quick outward examinations. I'm not sure the extent of it." Eira replied briskly, trying to preserve blood as she continued to extract the venom. Ten grueling minutes passed before she straighted up.

"I've removed what I can." she said, letting out a pent up breath "Some still remains, but he should be out of danger from it for now. I'll need to mend that wound now."

Hena exhaled. Loki was asleep and now unburdened by the war going on around him. She wanted him to stay that way.

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