(Author's Note: Alright guys, here we have it! This is the last chapter. Don't worry, there will be an epilogue after this soon, but I just want you all to know that this chapter and the epilogue is all we have left. I hope I wrote this satisfactorily; I didn't want it to be too fast or too slow, and I also didn't want Loki to be out of character. So those are my worries about this one, so I hope it's not complete crap. I want to thank all of you for journeying on this awesome fanfiction adventure with me, because really it's been a blast. So, as always...enjoy!)

Chapter 24

Emmeline clung tightly to Loki as the realization that Thor was dead dug into her. She couldn't do anything…she didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. She couldn't look at the place where he lied, lifeless and bleeding. He was like a brother to her as well. He was the one that rescued her from the streets, took her in. Without him, she would have never met Loki. She never even got to tell him how thankful she was. And now he had just saved Loki's life.

Loki was in even worse shape than Emmeline. His hands shook as he held her against him and he didn't try to hide his tears. Emmeline worried for him; it looked like he was in shock. She wiped the tears off her face and called to Tony, who quickly flew down to her.

"C-Can you hold them off for a while?" Emmeline asked, her voice still shaking. She took Loki's hand. "I'm going to take him over there for a minute." Tony nodded to her, his face sullen as well, for Thor was his friend. Emmeline led Loki to the outskirts of the battlefield and put her hands on his face. He looked like he was about to say something, but he stayed silent. Emmeline knew what he was thinking.

"Loki, this wasn't your fault," she said. "He saved you in an instant; you didn't know what he was going to do."

"But that's just it Emmeline!" he said, his eyes red and puffy. "He saved me! Me, who has repeatedly betrayed him time and time again; me, who made him suffer with my lies; me, who denied him as my brother. I…I don't deserve to be saved. Odin will hate me more than ever! His favorite son dies, leaving his sorry peace token!" Loki put his hands on the side of his face. "Why did I let this happen to him! He didn't deserve to die, Emmeline!"

Emmeline didn't know what to do. She was almost surprised that Loki was so overrun with grief. He had loved Thor and she knew it, but...he had never acted like it. She supposed Loki hadn't figured it out until now. She brought his hands down and wrapped her arms around Loki, holding him to her chest. She stroked his hair and whispered to him.

"Shh…it's okay. He knew you loved him. It's okay."

"No," Loki said. "He didn' t know. And I wouldn't have told him! If I had only performed the spell before he…"

"Don't think about that," said Emmeline. "It's over. You were with him, Loki. You tried to save him." Emmeline understood what Loki was feeling, despite he and Thor's past. Loki couldn't stand Thor…but yet he still loved him.

As Emmeline held Loki close to her, trying in any way possible to console him, Odin approached, without his horse. Emmeline knew he had found out about Thor by the look on his face.

"Can I speak to my son…alone?" he asked quietly. Emmeline nodded, and let go of Loki, wiping his tears with her thumbs. She turned and gave Odin a sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry…" she said, not knowing what to say. Odin nodded at her and she left, going back into the war, this time to fight for Thor.


Loki tried to compose himself as his adoptive father approached him. He would not look weak in front of Odin. However, Odin didn't exactly look like he was in perfect shape either. The Allfather looked at his fallen son, and placed a hand on his shoulder. Loki shook it off.

"What are you doing?" he snapped. "What do you want Odin? You think you can come over here and reach out to me so I'll surrender my emotions to you? So I'll admit that it was my fault? Is that what you want?!" Loki felt tears well up in his eyes again as he yelled.

"No Loki, I—"

"—Well fine! It is my fault! It's all my fault that the Chitauri came here; it's all my fault we're in this war; and it's all my fault that Thor's dead! Are you happy now Odin?! Or maybe you came to scold me?!" Loki started screaming. "Scold me for being so pretentious and trying to be better?! Scold me for trying to prove myself and hurting Thor in the process?! Well you know what, it isn't my fault! If you would have just accepted me for the way I was I wouldn't have had to do all those things! I wouldn't have hurt Thor! And now he's gone and I'm the only son you've got, and that just burns you doesn't it?! To know that you're stuck with the son that wasn't good enough! WELL I DON'T NEED THAT FROM YOU, ODIN! …I don't need that…"

Loki couldn't hold back the silent tears streaming down his face as he yelled at his father. Seeing Odin coming over to him made him angry. He'd never noticed him before, and now that Thor was gone he paid attention? Loki was so overwhelmed with guilt and grief that he exploded at Odin, and all the old man did was stand there and take it.

Until Loki had finished.

When Loki finished yelling, Odin instantly put his arms around him. Loki was taken aback. But he did nothing. He felt defeated and sad; he was tired of yelling and being angry at himself.

"I'm sorry son," Odin muttered. He let go of Loki and gave him one last look as he turned to go back into the war, leaving Loki standing there with his emotions.


Emmeline had been fighting with Captain America while Odin was talking to Loki. She worried about him; what would he say to Odin? She hoped they wouldn't fight. Neither of them needed that right now. She still wasn't very good with Loki's daggers, but Thor's death had fueled her rage, and she slaughtered more soldiers than before. It didn't gross her out any less though.

Cap helped with his shield when the soldiers got to close, and Emmeline felt like she had to repeatedly thank him. Her life was being saved all over the place, and she did not like it. She didn't like feeling helpless without her power. She felt out of place. After all, she had never experienced this feeling of helplessness before; she'd had her power all her life. She was very thankful for the bit of training she did with Sif and the Three though. It really came in handy at the moment.

The battle raged on for a while longer; Emmeline finally saw Loki fighting again with her peripheral vision. She hoped he was okay. Soon enough, all the soldiers had been killed. The Asgardians (and then some) had defeated the Chitauri army once more. Loki ran over to Emmeline, who could still see the pain in his eyes. He was at least stable now though.

The rest of the Avengers along with Sif and the Three met where they were; huddling up to devise a plan to kill Thanos. Heimdall came and looked at Emmeline. She felt a surge of fear run through her as she realized what he was about to say to her. She looked at the ground, and back up at the gatekeeper.

"Emmeline," he said. "It is time." She nodded.

"Yeah…I know."

"I'm going to help you," said Loki.

"No son," said Odin from behind him. "She needs to go alone." Emmeline noticed Odin had called Loki "son". Well good, maybe they had made up.

"Why? She could die! …No one else needs to die today." Emmeline put her hands on Loki's face.

"It's okay," she said. "I'm going to do this, I promise. If you guys went with me, we'd all be killed. If I'm the only one with the power to wield the gems, then I need to go alone. It's better for all of us."

"You had better be careful," Loki warned with apprehension. She kissed his cheek.

"I will." Odin looked at her and nodded. She smiled at all of them and then turned to see Thanos, quite a distance away. He was coming closer, and she decided to meet him halfway. She had to admit, she was putting on a brave face for all of them. She didn't have the slightest idea what she was going to do when she and Thanos were face to face. She would probably get killed on the spot. However, she sincerely hoped that did not happen, considering the trauma Loki had already been through today.

She brought no weapons with her; they wouldn't serve her any good anyways. She was supposed to just take the Gauntlet from Thanos, but…how? It would help if she knew how the gem got inside her in the first place. She knew she was born with it, but why? Adrenaline rushed through her veins and Emmeline thought she would surely faint. Wouldn't that just be great right now. She dared not look back at her friends; she knew they were watching her and to look back at their worried and hopeful faces would just drain any confidence she had that she could do this…if she had any.

It had seemed like a year before she was close enough to Thanos that they both stopped in front of each other. Emmeline tried to look confident; although she was aware of her sickly appearance. Thanos merely smiled; a devilish, evil smile.

"So they sent you? The mortal!" He began laughing. It started off as just a chuckle, but grew into heavy, wipe-tears-from-your-eyes laughter. He stopped abruptly and looked back down at Emmeline. She prayed he didn't notice her goose bumps.

"Yes," she finally replied. "They sent me."

"I always knew Odin was a fool," Thanos said. "You have come with no weapons; you will surely die."

Yeah…I kinda know that. Thanks for the info, Emmeline thought. Suddenly, she heard Loki's voice in her head.

I have placed an illusion over you. Get behind him and do as I say.

But you're not supposed to—

—Emmeline I am not going to let you die today. Just do as I say and we may be able to pull this off.

Emmeline decided she had nothing to lose and did as he said. Thanos didn't notice; too busy staring at the illusion of her still standing before him.

Now I want you to jump onto his back. It will be easier for you to grab the Gauntlet from behind, said Loki.

I don't know if I can do it, Emmeline replied.

Just trust me. I wouldn't let anything happen to you, Emmeline.

She took a deep breath and jumped, wrapping her arms around Thanos' neck. He was taken by surprise, since he had thought Emmeline was standing right in front of him, but soon the illusion vanished. Unfortunately, Thanos was much stronger than Emmeline, and he threw her off of him immediately, before she could grab the Gauntlet.

The next few minutes were frustrating; Emmeline wrestling with Thanos and never getting hit because of Loki's illusions. Eventually Thanos became very angry, and the Infinity Gauntlet began to light up.

"I am sick of this foolish trickery!" he yelled. As Emmeline looked at the four gems lighting up on the Gauntlet, she finally understood.

"You still have the natural ability to wield the gems," Odin had said. She didn't need the Gauntlet. She just needed the gems. Emmeline knew what she had to do. She threw herself in front of the glowing Gauntlet, directly in Thanos' line of fire.

Emmeline, what are you doing?! yelled Loki in her head.

I have to! This is the only way.

Thanos blasted the power of the Infinity Gems straight at Emmeline, and she fell onto the ground, motionless.


Loki's heart pounded. He was on the verge of panicking. There lied Emmeline, a running distance away from him, lying on the ground. Was she hurt? Was she dead? The possibilities flooded his mind as his instincts told him to go to her. He started to run, but Odin quickly grabbed his shoulder.

"No," he said. Loki looked back at the Asgardian king in disbelief.

"I must go to her! I cannot leave her there, what if she is—"

"—Look," Odin said, pointing to her. Suddenly, she started to change.

Emmeline's color began changing back to its full, apricot color. Her lips turned pink again, and gradually her hair regained its former fiery orange. Loki waited for her to open her eyes, to reveal the gorgeous chestnut brown they once were. But instead, Emmeline opened her eyes and beams of blinding light shot through them. Everyone watched as Emmeline was slowly ascending into the air, as if she had balloons tied to her back.

When her feet lifted off the ground, she extended her arms in both directions, her palms facing up. Her eyes glowed wide and her shiny red hair blew in a wind that had surrounded her. She opened her mouth and spoke. Her voice had an echo, as if two of her were talking at the same time.

"I AM THE INFINITY GAUNTLET," she said, her voice somewhat robotic. She slowly looked up to the sky; her eyes still open wide and the light shining through them.

"Space," Emmeline said with monotone, starting to glow purple. Then the battlefield grew. It was everywhere. Loki couldn't see the city of Asgard if he squinted. They were in the middle of nowhere for just a split second, and then they were back. Then Emmeline's glow shifted to yellow.

"Reality," she said, blasting a beam of yellow light at the place Thor's body lied. Loki couldn't believe his eyes. After Emmeline had blasted him with the gem of Reality, Thor sat up and got to his feet. He was alive. He was alive. Loki watched as Thor walked toward him and the others. His brother smiled when he saw them, as all of their expressions were that of shock and relief. When he reached them, he stood next to them. He smiled at Loki, and then looked to Emmeline. Loki did the same.

"Mind." Emmeline's glow transferred to blue. Loki then had a vision. He couldn't see Emmeline anymore, or the battlefield. He couldn't see anything. He could only hear a faint noise in the distance. A heartbeat. It was so small, he could barely hear it. He looked all around to find where it was coming from, but all he could see was blackness. And then he was back in reality. He shook his head and watched Emmeline once more, as the greatest and final glow surrounded her. It was red; the one she'd had before. It glowed larger than any of the previous ones, and Emmeline held fire in her right hand, and ice in her left.

"And finally…POWER." Emmeline convulsed and a blast of red flew out in all directions. Loki's ears popped. It was so strong, it knocked him and everyone else to the ground. Loki closed his eyes as dirt flew about in the air. When the blast was over, he heard nothing. He opened his eyes and blinked to focus them as the dust cleared. Everyone was standing up again and dusting themselves off. Emmeline sat on the ground, her eyes had returned to normal and her glow had ceased. Thanos was nowhere in sight.

Emmeline stood up and looked around for her friends, and when she saw Loki smiling at her, she ran to him. He caught her in his arms and kissed her.

"Loki I did it!" she exclaimed. "I have my power back!" Loki set her down.

"And then some," he said with a smile. Emmeline looked beside him.

"Thor!" she wrapped her arms around his brother and Thor enveloped her in a big bear hug. "Am I great or what?!"

"You have my eternal gratitude," Thor replied. When he released Emmeline, and she went to check on the Avengers, Loki turned to Thor. He smiled and put his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"It is good to have you back brother," said Loki. Thor smiled back at him.

Loki couldn't help but feel happy as he watched Emmeline smile and talk to everyone, her gorgeous auburn curls back in place. She had done it. She had retrieved the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos and defeated him.

The war was over. She had won.


Come on guys, I wouldn't kill off Thor for good! I wouldn't do that to you. :) And wolftattoo, I was going to do that - have the spell work with time - but at the last minute I changed my mind because I thought this would be cooler. I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter, and please stay tuned for the epilogue! XD