They decided it was best that Natasha didn't hear the plan. Not knowing exactly what the Aether could do, or how it would react in Malekith's presence, Loki helped Natasha find at least a few minutes of sleep, though she'd kept his eye for as long as she could as he weaved the spell with his soft words, not sure what to expect. What if it ended up killing her, making her an easier transport and less collateral damage to worry about?

She didn't have long to think about it, though, eyes closing without issue as his words grew quieter and quieter, the dark world softening around her until she was lulled entirely to sleep. That was one thing, it seemed. Rest was another. The moment she shut her eyes and her subconscious shifted into that of a less aware state, the world changed with it, reddened, and the whispers of the Aether filled her ears again. They called once more for chaos, for the destruction of those who had wronged her, those who had ripped Natalia Romanova apart and pieced her carelessly back together as Natasha Romanov, as the Black Widow, who'd tipped the scales and dipped her ledger in red, letting it soak through so deep it would never be clean again. She knew she could do it. Could win against them. She could return to Russia, head held high, and decimate the building once known as the Red Room, could track Ivan down, and all the other bastards who'd used her as science experiment the moment she'd consented to the treatments, not having warned her exactly what it was she was signing up for. She could pull them apart, skin them alive and listen to them scream as their blood covered her hands, as it blackened, atoned for what they'd made her do.

She could.

Her eyes snapped open but she wasn't seeing, not really, the strength and promise of what she could do singing its siren song in her ear, begging her to act. To seek out Malekith, the one who could help her. As she felt their craft move she turned around, licking her lips and setting her gaze finally on the enormous black ship she'd heard of in Asgard, at least fifty or so times larger than the one they'd used to escape out of the shining city. Figures, small as insects, were stepping from the ship, congregating at the base.

"Malekith," she murmured quietly, feeling rather than hearing Thor's responding growl. She could feel his rage, too, feel it simmering just below the surface, feel it reach out to her. He was hurting, this she knew, though his attempts to seek justice, to take out the dark elf, would not bring him peace. She knew this but could say nothing, her lips sealing themselves as their craft landed on the rocky top of a cliff. Thor moved to the edge, Natasha staying where she was, forcing herself to breathe even as the thought ran through her head to push him down it. To offer him to Malekith. No. She shook her head hard, trying to resist the call of the power within her veins. No, if anyone would be sacrificed to, it would be to her. She would be a goddess to these, a true goddess, one of rage and power and absolute control. She fought the quirk that tried to pull up her lips at the thought, imagining the world bowing down to her, as Loki turned to Thor.

"You still don't trust me, brother?" He asked, sounding incredulous and surprised at the same time.

Natasha couldn't see Thor's face, the expression on it solely for Loki. "Would you?" He asked. Natasha watched with surprise as he undid his brother's shackles, tossed them to the side so they hit the ground with a dull, metallic thud.

"No I wouldn't."

There was a shout that had Natasha's fullest attention as Loki drove the handle of a dagger, having been pulled out of seemingly nowhere, and stabbed his brother in the side, shoving him down the side of the cliff before jumping down after him with a grin on his face. Natasha, just seconds behind, shouted for him, struggling to get down to the bottom in time. The Aether almost seemed to pull her closer, moving her nearer to the tension and the drama, the high emotions rising between them giving it something to feed off of.

"You really think I cared about Frigga, about any of you?" She could hear Loki saying as she struggled down the last few feet of the cliff, her heart thudding hard in her chest. Loki's foot connected with Thor's face, and Natasha couldn't understand it. Why wasn't Thor fighting back? Why didn't he do anything? He had Mjolnir, didn't he? But no, the hammer was lying on the top of the cliff where he'd left it. Not for much longer, Nat thought, as she heard the 'shing' of it as it moved through the air, flying towards him, before Loki grabbed him by the wrist and sliced his hand off without issue, the limb falling useless to the ground and Thor shouting in agony as Mjolnir sailed right past.

All the while, Malekith and his company grew closer.

Nat was close enough now to reach out to Thor, trying to get to him and help, but Loki grabbed her around the waist. Between the Aether clinging to him, forcing her to press her body hard against his, as if the power and desire for destruction was calling it to him, and Nat attempting to break free, to land an elbow to his gut or a fist to his face, he didn't have a difficult time subduing her.

"MALEKITH!" He shouted, knife still in hand as the dark elf came closer, the name sending shivers up Natasha's spine as she looked back at Loki.

"Let me go you son of a bitch," she snarled, stomping on his foot, but he held her fast, smirking down at her.

"Silence, wench," he said, voice thick with a mix of revulsion and desire, a strange combination for sure that set her skin ablaze. He, however, had turned his attention to the pale-skinned man opposite him. "I am Loki of Jotunheim, and I bring you a gift," he smirked as he tightened his hold on Natasha further, her body pressed harder against his and with a slight gasp she felt him firm against her backside. He was getting off on this, the sick fuck. "All I ask for: a good seat from which to watch Asgard burn, and the wench. I have a score to settle with her, if there's anything left when you're done." He said with a sneer before shoving her down to the ground. Thor, all the while, groaned, clutching his injury, and Nat felt a shred of anger rip through her as she stared at him. For all the strength he boasted of, all the goodness that fueled him, the rage that burned just below the surface, he was useless without a hand? Malekith hardly seemed to notice Natasha, stepping closer to Thor to push the man over onto his back, foot grinding into his throat as he coaxed the blond man to look at him.

"Watch as your world is brought to its knees," Malekith said, voice dark, as one hand extended towards Nat. She swallowed a scream as she felt herself being lifted, against her will, not only to her feet but hovering above the ground. Her blood was on fire, the Aether turning her innards to jelly as it coursed through her body before being pulled out of her by some sort of might Natasha was unfamiliar with. As it went, though, it left images with her, of her world cracked in half, the sun having gone dark, all heat from the world extinguished as it froze and split into thousands of pieces. Every realm went with it, splintering, falling apart, as Svartalfheim blossomed.

The Aether resurfaced just outside of her body, which felt as though she was being flayed alive in front of them, yet for all the pain she couldn't scream.

"LOKI, NOW!"

Thor's shout was enough to jolt her out of her own mind, and as she dropped to the ground, spent and exhausted, Thor raised Mjolnir in the same hand that had once been cut off and was now back in its proper place. Moments later and Loki's body covered her as lightning rained down from the sky, catching on the red shards of the Aether that had once hovered. Nat covered her head as a funnel cloud of red and black smoke started, blowing sand and rock out of the way as it all be exploded above them. When the light finally died down there were pieces of what looked like red, shattered glass on the ground all around them, each starting to move of their own volition, and while Natasha swore they should've gone towards Malekith they seemed to close in on her.

'No-no!'

She tried to push them away, but the shards glanced off of her, seeping instead into Loki's body, absorbed into his veins through his fingertips. His eyes snapped shut, and moments later they opened once more, green tinted with red. The grin he shot down at her was the most terrifying thing she'd ever seen, followed shortly by a loud "NO!" from Malekith.

Loki shot him backwards with a gust of red energy, and though the force was removed from her body Natasha could feel it surging within Loki as he moved off of her, Thor facing him with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, the other dark elves unsure what to do.

"You shouldn't have killed my mother," Loki snarled as he advanced on Malekith, his limbs moving with a predatory grace that Natasha had never seen before, shoving dark elves out of his way before taking the elf's head in his hands and pressing a hand to his lips. Thor had backed up towards Natasha, his mouth pressed into a thin line, and they watched in muted horror as the elf seemed to be burning from alive, screaming as Loki's fingers pressed harder to him, his skin turning blue, then black with frostbite until eventually he shattered in Loki's hold, shards of a tyrant scattered on his desolate homeland.

A/N: Apologies for the wait, and I hope this chapter was worth it! Thanks for reading and as ever, reviews are exquisite.