Nothing moved, and yet everything seemed to be shifting and altering all at once, Natasha's perceptions of what she'd once thought to be concrete, solid ideas bubbling and evaporating into the air around her as she struggled to wrap her mind around what was happening. In front of her Loki practically pulsated with power and anger, his lips curling as he took in the dark elves and the monster that had come with them, none of Malekith's men moving, as though they were still trying to process what had just happened. Hell, what had just happened? She'd assumed that the Aether would be pulled towards Malekith but-.

Power. That was all it had ever wanted. Power, and revenge, and fury, perhaps even stronger than Malekith's had been. She'd felt the Aether pulling towards him when they'd been so near, and now? Now it had finally found him. So what the hell did that mean for the rest of them?

"Well?" Loki finally said, the word cracking with near excitement as he held his arms out at his side, the dagger still gripped tight, his green eyes dancing as he took in his would-be foes and laughed. Nat didn't think she'd ever heard something so terrifying as it echoed across the empty landscape. "Your leader is dead and now you've lost your stones?" He laughed again, and this time his gaze met Natasha's, taking in her horrified stare and seeming to feed on it. She could practically hear him demanding her attention, and shuddered under his gaze. Thor stepped in front of her, and that was quick enough to get Loki's attention, the amusement in his face dying down as his jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. Not that he had much time to focus on it.

The enormous beast charged Loki, who was far quicker than ever as he sidestepped the creature and slammed his elbow into its back, then brought his knee up to its gut. It hardly seemed to do a thing, whipping back up and slamming its fist into Loki's chest. The trickster absorbed the blow as though it were nothing, though with the size of the horned monster Nat couldn't imagine it would be so painless. Instead, he summoned the Aether inside of him, shooting it towards his adversary, the red smoke turning to red knife-like spears that slashed and cut at the darkened flesh of the creatures.

There wasn't much time for Natasha to watch them fight. Thor pushed her behind him as the other dark elves snapped into action, quickly circling the duo. Mjolnir crashed into the skull of the first stupid enough to attack, though Thor left himself open on his left. From one of the folds of the Asgardian dress she'd been given, Nat pulled out a knife just thin enough to slide into the cracks between the armor and slit the throat of the attacking elf. It fell in a crumpled heap of armor and muscle before another pressed forward and she had to duck down to avoid a blow to the head, kicking her legs out to take its legs out from underneath. As it fell, she managed to scramble close enough to snap its neck, feeling some leftover spark of the Aether within her singing in her blood at the chaos and turmoil around her. If she was enjoying it she could only imagine how Loki felt.

Thor had flown off to help his brother after having finished off the other dark elves, leaving Natasha to run afterwards, though her gaze stole to the enormous ship, where more elves seemed to be pouring from. She felt her stomach drop out, and picked up the pace to run towards Loki and Thor once more.

Except neither of them were fighting the monster she'd seen going towards them, but one another.

"Give the Aether up, Loki!" Thor demanded as he shot a bolt of lightning towards his brother. "Do not do this! Do not go down this path!" He shouted.

Loki absorbed the blow with a laugh, before shooting it back at his brother. "You thought I was powerful before, brother, but wait until you see me now." He positively crackled with energy, Nat was astounded to see, her mouth dropping open as he summoned his powers once more to shove his brother back, the red knives coming out to cut at his brother's skin. "Now stay out of my way!" He shouted, pushing his brother down to his knees. "While I destroy these pathetic creatures." So he had caught sight of the dark elves, then, now making their way cautiously closer. Nat had stepped away from the fighting brothers, not sure how she could be a help or hinder, certain that interacting or defending Thor would end up in the death of them both. Or worse. Loki caught her gaze as he walked past and the smirk he gave her was cutting as his eyes lit up with power.

"Thank you, Agent Romanov, for your cooperation this time," he said, and before she could do much else he gripped her by the wrist and crushed his lips against hers, the kiss bruising and biting and perfect and over more quickly than she could've imagined, Loki striding across the barren waste of Svartalfheim to take on the oncoming elves.

Dazed, she didn't notice the beast that had once been Malekith's cohort rising from where he'd been lying, throwing Thor to the side when the god attempted to stop him, and instead going after Loki, who was caught in the blood rush and lust of the battle engaged between himself and four other opponents, his movements swift and certain, but not nearly enough.

"Loki look out!" Nat felt herself shouting, even as the horned monster's enormous strides brought him closer to the man. He turned around just in time for the spear that had been left on the ground from one of the fallen warriors to be shoved through his chest. His green eyes went wide, petrified of what had just happened, and with a shout the Aether revolted against the death of its host, pulling itself quickly from Loki's body and moving into the nearest strong target, the beast itself. As Loki's now limp body fell to the ground, doubling over with pain, the beast stepped over him and towards the ship, leading what few dark elves were standing. Thor, who was making his way back towards the battle ground, looking far worse than wear, gave a loud cry as he saw his younger brother collapsed on the ground, curled up in the fetal position, as Nat ran closer to slide beside Loki, turning him gently over onto his back so she could look at him. She brought her hand down to the wound, ripping part of her dress off to use as a way to stem the flow, but the wound went clean through him and her hands were coated in the blue, sticky liquid. Blue?

His skin was turning a similar, dark color, and though she put as much pressure onto the wound to try and stop it from bleeding so much he gazed up at her.

"Loki, you great fool," Thor said, dropping down beside him and searching himself, as though for some medical tool. Finding none, he gave a cry and took his brothers cool hands in his own. "You should have listened to me."

"I know-." The dark haired man stuttered, his lips shaking as he formed words. "I am a fool. I'm sorry-I'm so-so sorry Th-. Na-."

"Don't talk like that, you're going to be fine," Natasha asserted, gritting her teeth as she tried to hold it together, pressing on his wound despite the shouting in her head that it wasn't going to be enough to stop him. He was fading fast, growing cold as his body processed what little adrenaline it had left before it eventually succumbed. "C'mon Loki. You're the trickster. You can pull through this," she said, her eyes finding his and holding his gaze as Thor took his brother into his arms to hold him through it, trying to warm him back up and keep him still. "We need you to keep harrassing the universe. It would get boring without you." She said, forcing herself to smile. It felt like a grimace.

His own laugh was shaky. "Would that I could d-do that," he managed to rasp, before licking his lips and looking over to his brother.

"I will tell father what you did today," Thor murmured, leaning down to press his lips to his brother's forehead. "Songs will be sung of your strength, brother mine."

"I didn't do it for him," Loki said, though Nat had to concentrate to hear him completely, his voice so faint it was a miracle he had any left. His usual pale color had disappeared entirely, replaced by the strange, blue tint and markings that seemed as though they'd been hiding just below the surface. When he stopped moving Thor gave a fierce, loud cry, nearly swallowed up by the rumble of thunder and the whipping winds around them that his grief inspired. Nat had to blink quickly, unable to believe what she'd just seen. He'd been strong, powerful enough to kill Malekith not moments ago, and now?

Now they had to get moving. She hated it, hated that there was no time for Thor to mourn the second casualty this fight had brought, for if Frigga hadn't gotten better after Malekith's death then it was unlikely she would recover at all, but they had no time.

"Thor, we need to get going," she rasped, wiping her wet cheeks and standing slowly. "We'll bring him to a cavern, right over there," she promised. "So his body won't be disturbed, but we have to go. The elves-."

"Another moment. Please," Thor begged, and she nearly broke as his voice cracked. She didn't disturb him again, not until he rose with his brother in his arms, stoic as he walked in the direction she'd pointed out. The storm was whipping sand in their eyes, and Nat had to bring an arm up in front of her face to keep from being blinded as they struggled through it. The only reprieve was found within the cave she'd pointed out, and it was there that Thor deposited his brother's limp body, his face blank of all emotion as he closed his brother's eyes and turned away. Nat swallowed thickly, reaching up to take the back of his neck and force him to look down at her.

"Thor, I'm so sorry, and your brother will get the funeral rites he deserves, I promise," she found herself saying quietly, threading her fingers through his hair and rubbing the back of his neck as gently as she could. He hardly seemed to be hearing her, and she tugged gently on his hair to get his attention. She really needed him to focus. It was a lot, she knew, and she wished they had the proper time to mourn it all, but that wasn't an option at the moment. Quickly, she blathered on about what Malekith had planned, having seen it all as the Aether had flown from her body and out into the open. She was certain, now, that his second in command was moving to do the same.

"So how do we get from here to-."

A loud chirping, like that of a bird, came from inside her clothing, taking her aback so much that it silenced her and caught Thor's full attention.

"It's not me," he said when she didn't move, as though she was concerned he was making the bird noises, and she shook her head quickly, fiddling with her robes until she caught the device in her fingers and slid the lock across the screen to answer.

"Clint!?"

"Well hey-you do remember me! Funny, huh? Your rugged, handsome partner in not-crime, y'know, scared shitless because you haven't called me and Jane Foster keeps irritating SHIELD saying that you disappeared, yet here you are-!"

"Wait, Clint, where are you?"

Silence. "HQ."

What. The hell. How was that happening? Her mind vaulted, trying to comprehend how it was that she was getting any sort of signal, let alone connection, out in the middle of another planet, feet taking her subconsciously deeper into the cavern. Thor followed her, crunching aluminum cans and other pieces of garbage under his feet.

"Why are there so many shoes here?" He muttered, confused beyond belief.

"Nat, is that Thor?" Clint asked. "Where are you? You keep breaking up."

Nat allowed herself a grin as she bent down and snatched Darcy's car keys from the ground, dusting them off and recognizing the small red dice dangling from the end.

"Nat? Na-."

They pressed further on until they were no longer in the cavern, Thor and Natasha stepping out into the darkened alleyway near where Jane had first discovered the portals with the help of the children, where this had all gotten started. Funny how it all seemed to circle back around. "I'll call you later," Nat promised Clint, though she wasn't quite sure he got the message, her phone beeping that the battery was dead seconds later, and so she pocketed it and strode towards where Darcy's car had been parked, thrilled to see that it hadn't been moved. It was a little worse for wear, certainly, with the windows either punched in or graffitied, but it was there, and it sputtered to life when Nat pressed the keys into the ignition.

"Was that agent Barton? How is he?" Thor asked after he'd settled into the small car, taking up the entire passenger half with his bulk.

Nat shrugged. "Still chirping, I guess." She said with the smallest of smiles at the strange turn of luck in their favor. She took off towards Jane's apartment, hoping the astrophysicist would be there, and would have a more elegant explanation for what the hell the dark elves would do.

Loki had felt the wound begin to heal as soon as Thor had picked him up, as though some strange sliver of the Aether still worked through him, feeding his magic enough that his body had begun to repair itself once the shock of the wound had faded away. Still, he played through his death, waiting until the two had disappeared out the back of the cavern to blink his eyes and spit out the sand that had found its way into his mouth. Sitting up with a grimace, he froze as he heard the sound of one of Asgard's flying boats drawing nearer. A scouting party, likely sent by Odin he figured, the king growing slow in his age if it had taken him this long to get someone out to ensure his heir was alive.

Loki allowed himself a smirk as the guard grew closer. Perfect. Disguises had always been a bit of a speciality, and Thor would be expecting a body when he returned to give Loki his burial rights.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading, and I very much appreciate all the feedback and the reviews you've left! They're inspiring and help keep me motivated to keep writing, not just this fic but all the others as well, so thanks again!