Visitation

by kalimecat

Loki has returned to Asgard and is imprisoned for his crimes. While in prison he has the occasional visitor, will the love of others bring back the fallen prince or is he truly too far gone?

65. Battle Begun

A/N: HEEEEELLLLLOOOOOOOO READERS!OMG it has been so long since I have updated this story.. I am sooooos sorry about that. Please know that I never intended to go this long between updates and I never forgot about this story or you. I appreciate each and everyone of your reviews, favorites, follows and PM soooooo much!XOXOXOX Anyway, life definitely get's busy between work school and every other aspect of life, but know that I am usually trying to find time to work on this story to bring it to a close for both your sakes and mine lololol. That being said (spoiler alert) I really tried to end the battle scene in one chapter, but let me say writing a big battle scene is truly a challenge (at least for me, hehe) and I didn't want to short change any of you so I had to break up the battle scene .Also please know that I really did try to edit this chapter as best as I could, but my computer hasn't been working the best so please pardon the typos lol. Idk if this chapter is the best but without further ado I give it to you. As always happy reads happy writes and most of all God Bless!

Chapter 65

"Hello Pupil Bardok," Loki has stated rather coolly, nearly smugly and altogether way to calmly for the young mage's taste. Bardok was talking to Prince Thor. He hadn't been giving that monster any attention. He had been loathed to get that close to that traitor, but he had to say something to Prince Thor. Loki stood only a few feet from his old student. He was pleased to see him. Pleased to see that Bardok was alive. So many of the people that he'd cared about had suffered because of him. It was good to see his apprentice. His regal vestments as a Master Mage of the Realm had been nearly ripped to shreds beyond recognition, but he was still standing strong and tall.

Bardok wanted to ignore Loki's silver tongue when he spoke to him, but he couldn't help but turn around and glare. He'd cringed as he heard the term. Once he had been proud to call himself the prince's apprentice. He had thought of Loki as the greatest enchanter he'd ever heard of and maybe the smartest person he'd ever met. He'd been so astonished that Loki had taken an interest in him, he'd only wanted to make his mentor proud. He regretted ever having such feelings of esteem in the direction of that savage animal. There had been a time when a greeting like that from the ebony coiffed enchanter would have rendered his tongue nearly speechless as he would have attempted to sputter out some words of respect in his direction. He would have found himself fumbling to form phrases like Your highness, my prince, sire, professor...friend. Now, no such terms came to mind as he looked in Loki's direction. A few words darted around in his brain as he gazed upon him, words like traitor, tyrant, scum, monster seemed fitting monikers. Still, as he looked at him his tongue felt heavy, and his heart and mind were blinded by rage. It was hot and heavy, palpable and went burning through his chest. His teeth gritted and his fist clenched, he felt his foot start to pat. Bardok had never been much of a fighter and honestly, never had wanted to be. His father loved to fight and if he wasn't fighting in the ring for a wrestling match, he was fighting with someone on the streets or in his home. For his childish infractions his father had been quick to tan his hide. He hadn't wanted to be exactly like his father who didn't ever seem to be able to solve a problem without using his fists. That was one of the reasons he'd begun to study so hard and endeavor in mysticisms, but when he saw Loki standing there, practically serene after all he'd done... after how much he'd destroyed and all the pain he'd caused them. Well, Bardok could only describe his feelings as primal. He let out a feral snarl. He wanted to unleash a blast of energy in Loki's direction. It would be perfect. Loki may have once helped him hone his own skills as his enchanter and he'd be sure to thank him properly, he'd show him how accomplished he'd become after his training. Yes, he wanted to hit him with an energy blast or beam, but somehow his aggression didn't come out that way.

Bardok hit Loki with a mighty left hook that had left the wizard's jar feeling like it would fall from his face. His thin jaw did manage to stay connected to his face, but he didn't stay upright. He fell against the frame of the broken, gigantic, gilded door that he had practically crawled through and unable to catch himself he slid to the ground. Shevera had bound his hands. The proud Valkyrie had insisted that if he was truly repentant of his wicked ways and was going to help that he wouldn't mind coming into the presence of the people bound, as a prisoner. Loki had wanted to protest, and he could have come up with a million reasons why that was absolutely ludicrous, but they didn't have time to argue, so he agreed. Shevera was in no way going to walk into the throne room arm to arm with him. He was still a heartless fiend as far as she was concerned. They weren't allies as far as she was concerned. Valkyrie didn't make allies of their enemies, they slayed them and if they weren't slain, they were prisoners. He regretted it now, being tied and defenseless was certainly not putting him in the advantage. It left him to be scorned and ridiculed and mocked. He heard the thunderous applause that came from the Aesir present for how he had landed on the cracked tile floor in a quick 1-2 punch. It left him gaping up at his former apprentice. He had to admit that his former pupil did have a mean swing. As he stared up at him, he was once again reminded of Bardok's massive size. Bardok didn't take a step toward him, but his shadow loomed large in Loki's direction. His shoulders heaved like a rumbling mountain. The mage spat in the direction of the crazed traitor.

Bardok was a strapping young man, tall and burly. He could have made an excellent warrior. Perhaps it was his naturally shy disposition or his insecurities over his slow tongue that had made Bardok turn toward magic. Bardok had finally shown the physical tenacity that would have probably made his champion wrestler father proud. There was a near twinkle in Loki's green eyes. A near glow of pride at the thought that he was the one who had been able to unearth Bardok's strengths. He was proud of him. Loki sighed and not only from the pain in his jaw subsiding. Once Bardok had looked at him with pride as well. Now, the only thing that he'd seen reflected rage and scorn and contempt. He couldn't say that he was surprised, but he was surprised how much it hurt. It hurt worse than the punch he'd received. He couldn't expect Bardok to look at him as he once did as a leader, a prince, a teacher, a friend...a brother. Loki closed his eyes; he didn't deserve to be anyone's brother...who would want a monster like him for a brother.

Just as his emerald eyes opened, he beheld Thor striding toward him. The stately blonde prince taking a step toward him. The look on Thor's face was nearly jovial. It reminded him of so many times when he was young, and he and Thor would wrestle and play, and he'd end up on the ground and he would have burst into tears had it not been for his older brother taking him by the hand and helping his back to his feet. "Can't say you didn't deserve that..." the light-haired thunderer chuckled as he calloused but no longer bloodied hands to Loki's and helped him to his feet.

Loki nodded and blew breath out the side of his mouth and blew his long, dark locks out of his face. "I deserve everything they have to give and more," Loki admitted sorrowfully. He heard the way the crowd of citizens hissed at him like he was in a den of vipers. They heckled and howled and called for his death right there. Loki didn't resent them for their hate. How could he? They were right, he was vile and evil and twisted. Maybe he had never been as loved as Thor. Maybe he had been somewhat mistrusted, but he certainly wasn't despised. He'd never belong again...he'd be an outcast...which had always been his biggest fear.

"You're damn straight, you going to take everything I got to give, Loki!" declared one of the Einherjar as he swung his sword around over his head. His fellow soldiers had to hold him back. It took about 6 other soldiers to hold one at bay at ferocity he felt toward that traitorous snake. More and more the people started to holler and clamor, they wanted action and demanded justice for the crime that Loki had committed against them.

Prince Thor didn't seem to heed his people's insistence for Loki's swift execution. Instead, he patiently untied the ropes that Shevera had secured around Loki's wrists to make sure that he came back to them a prisoner. Thor hesitated, but a prisoner wouldn't do him any good in the battle against Malekith and whatever soldiers he had left. They needed Loki to at least have his hands free enough to utilize the device he had manufactured to contain the Aether. A prisoner was dead weight...useless. He didn't need a prisoner, but he sure could use a br... Thor stopped himself from formulating the word in his mind. They weren't that. They couldn't be that...not ever again... not after everything that Loki had done. He just needed another ally, he told himself as his thick bronzed fingers finally freed Loki from the simple bonds. Loki carefully massaged his wrists now that they were free. The Valkyrie never took it easy on a prisoner. Lieutenant Shevera used the enchanted lasso and tied it tight around his thin wrists. The rope had burned his pale flesh in that area. Loki gingerly massaged the burns and allowed his healing powers to take effect. Thor didn't allow Loki's ministrations to his minor injuries to last very long. He gripped Loki by the shoulder and pulled him closer so that Thor seemed to be practically whispering to him. "You said you were going to retrieve the Tesseract," Thor expressed. The Thunderer never had truly managed to learn to whisper. He shook his blonde head. "You said we needed that, close the portals caused by the Convergence and keep Malekith from being able to... spread the Aether and release Thanos," Thor went on. "Now...now Lady Sigyn tells me that Malekith has it," Thor reported. "I don't understand," he shook his head once more. He was trying his hardest not to show too much distress on his face, but that was nearly impossible, besides those closest to him knew the meaning of this already.

"I know," Loki stated flatly.

Thor held a firm grip on the thinner man's shoulders. "How?" was the only thing that the blue-eyed prince managed to choke out at first. "How'd this happen? How'd he get it?" Thor now demanded.

Loki squared his shoulders and wriggled them from the weight of Thor's clasp. He stood proudly and firmly. He mashed his thin lips together for a moment and then took a deep breath. As he exhaled, he said, "I have it to him."

"What?' Prince Thor mouthed. Bewilderment washed over his crystal blue eyes for a moment. He looked into Loki's angular face as if he was speaking a foreign language. Bewilderment didn't last long. In fact, he only felt baffled for but a moment. Almost instantaneously it was replaced with vehemence. His eyes immediately became bloodshot, the veins bulged on the side of his neck, in his hands and at his temples. The wind picked up it started to blow the debris and rubble within the throne room all around. Thunder boomed. The whole of the palace shook. Parts of the already crumbling ceiling fell. The palace floor shook, and the warriors assembled tumbled to their knees. Thor's heart felt as if it would burst.

The words could not make their way from his mind to his lips. The sinking feeling of betrayal once again. He felt like the biggest moron in the galaxy for falling for the same trick twice. Even after all this, even he had Lady Sif and all the others telling him to never trust Loki again... he'd he'd let his guard down in desperation and... and... and now Loki had done it again. He'd betrayed them again! HE'D BETRAYED HIM AGAIN! Why? What type of sadist had Loki truly become? He'd already had him bound and defenseless and at the point where his execution was imminent. Why did he continue to play these childish pranks, having them hope only to have their hopes ripped away? Well, no more!

Thor's breath quickened. He balled up a tight fist that he didn't even notice was bursting with sparks. Before long lightning was dancing up the side of his right arm, rippling over his bulging biceps. Thor attacked Loki with nature's fury. He landed a blazing and explosive blow to the center of Loki's chest. A stream of lightning followed behind him. Loki's form flew off of the ground and through the air. It sailed through two strong pillars. The pillars crashed down and so did the walls around them which they supported. Plaster, concrete and limestone dropped down onto Loki's head, his helmet managed to only deflect a few of the blows.

Thor's shoulders heaved. His whole body was consumed by the brilliance of the powerful blue lightning. There was no mercy in his electric blue eyes. Loki was buried under the mounds of the new rubble. He only managed to twitch. Both of his thin nostrils bled heavily. His skin was nearly translucent after the shock he had received. A burn mark had singed the gleaming golden armor that the self-proclaimed king of Asgard wore. Smoke sizzled from the center of Loki's chest.

A few people in the crowd of Aesir started to slowly clap, but before the claps could catch on Thor went running toward Loki, who was blinking and wincing as the last brick fell upon his head. He hissed in pain. He was sure if it wasn't for his armor, he would have been a goner. It was magic infused and deflected some of the raw power from Thor's attack, but his ribs and back felt like they were on fire. As his emerald eyes glanced up to try and get his bearings he watched as Thor came hurling toward him. He was nothing but a blur, a blaze of blinding blue lightning coming at him in full force. Loki scrambled to try to get to his feet. Thor leaped in the air, his body twisting like a torpedo. Loki managed to skid away as Thor's body was aimed to ram toward him. Thor's head collided into the wall for a moment. He then turned to find Loki standing breathless a few feet from him clutching his side. He didn't hesitate, he went for Loki again. With a shout he let out another lightning blast that Loki managed to dodge, but the blast blew out the wall. "Thor, listen!" Loki tried to explain.

"No," Thor huffed as he exploded with bursts of bright electricity all around. Loki did his best to evade the crown prince's fury, but with every bolt of lightning that was sent forth there was an even more powerful clap of thunder, that rattled the throne room. Before long the storm inside was causing the floor to crack. Normally, nimble Loki found himself tripping over the freshly formed fissures in the floor. With the trickster down Thor lunged toward him. He jumped on top of him and began to pummel him. Firebolts came out of every pound. "WHAT ARE YOU?" Thor yelled out as his eyes flickered with lightning. Loki did his best to block Thor's thunderous punches, but he was failing miserably. Every blow electrified him a fresh. Finally, Loki used his powers to create an invisible shove that sent the blonde-haired son of Odin flying backward. Thor didn't relent, he only flew back a little way, but he planted his feet in the floor and went running back toward the man who had betrayed them all so many times. Well, this time no more! Maybe Asgard would fall. He didn't know if he even had the power to stop that, but before the kings of the past and all this company if it was in his power, he wanted to make sure that Loki would never rise up to trick them again. "DO NOT LIVE!" Prince Thor boomed, and he ran back to Loki. He launched another powerful blast. Loki quickly put up a bright lime green forcefield around himself. The lightning continued to hit against the forcefield, sizzling and rippling off it like some science experiment. Loki's arms were outstretched as he tried to hold the magic barrier together. Thor's energy was stronger than ever, and every blast seemed to weaken the resistance of the shield. All the while sparks and streaks of white lightning went dancing in every direction, bouncing off window and post, door and ceiling, column and wall. The citizens started to run and scatter.

"This is madness," Jane whispered as she was next to Thor's closest companions. There was so much lightning rippling off of the prince's body that he looked as if he would combust.

All of Thor's friends stared at him in horror. "THOR!" Lady Sif raised her voice as loud as she could hoping to be heard over his tempest. The Warrior's Three attempted to try to get closer to their friend, but it was impossible with all the lightning burst all around them.

"He'll kill himself," Jane muttered.

"He'll send the palace crashing down on all of us for sure," Volstagg responded.

Eventually, one of Thor's mighty streaks became too powerful, the resistance of Loki's shield was weakened, and it burst. It caused a great jolt that seemed to cause the few of them that were left standing to be shaken on to the floor. All, but Prince Thor. Thor still stood; he looked exhausted as if he couldn't form another blast if he wanted to. Loki was on his knees and Thor did his best to stay upright. He came stomping toward the raven-haired enchanted. Loki raised his hands in surrender "Thor, please...listen... it's not what you think..." he tried to explain between his fitful coughs.

"It's exactly as I think," Thor rumbled as he loomed over the horned figure. Thor lumbered but finally was right overtop of Loki. Loki attempted to push himself to his feet, but Thor kicked him back down. Loki groaned, rolled over and looked at Thor pleadingly, his face bloodied and scarred, and eyes blackened. "And this is your end," he mouthed to him breathlessly as his shoulders started to heave again. He started to charge up like a battery, tiny flickers of lightning gathered around him.

"That's enough!" Heimdal's deep voice interrupted Thor's next attack. The gilded gatekeeper wrapped his arms tightly around Thor to hold him back. Thor struggled against his friend's strength maybe he was too weak to render another attack or maybe he simply did not wish to hurt his longtime friend, but either way Thor stopped pulling against Heimdal and allowed himself to sink and his body to practically go limp as the gatekeeper held him.

"WHY?" Thor raged back in Loki's direction. Sigyn came rushing onto the scene. She immediately crouched down next to Loki. "Why?" Thor continued to demand.

"For me!" the golden-locked maiden shrieked with tears in her eyes as she examined and patted Loki down. She carefully helped him to his feet. "Your highness, please," she entreated the son of King Odin and Queen Frigga. "He did it to save me," she pointed to herself.

Thor froze, he blinked in the direction of his mother's handmaiden. Before he could even question her statement, he heard shouting. "Sigyn, don't defend him!" someone shouted. It could have been Jane shouting those words, but the prince didn't turn his head to find out. He couldn't take his eyes off Loki.

"It's true," Lady Sigyn stated simply. Thor's eyes darted back between the fair-haired maiden and Loki. Could Sigyn's words really be true? Loki had said nothing. "It's true," she turned back to Thor and stated. Thor was growling and grunting practically fuming. He doubted Sigyn would purposefully lie for Loki, but she was a trusting woman. Loki was beguiling and clever. He knew what it was like to be the person constantly and unwittingly falling for Loki's schemes over and over again. He wasn't going to let anyone else be taken advantage of by that snake.

"Your Highness, listen, hear," Heimdal cautioned as he still kept a firm hold on the prince.

Thor's breathing was ragged. "Did you see?' Thor questioned.

"I did not," the stately gatekeeper admitted. "The potency of the Aether has weakened even my abilities," Heimdal confessed. "But I did see your brother free you..." Heimdal whispered close to Thor's ear, just as he slackened his grip on Thor's shoulders. "And I did not need my gifts to see that, my lord."

"Don't call him that!" Thor yelled. "He's not that!" he declared once Heimdal finally let him go. Thor's blue eyes glared at Loki. "As he said, he never was." he mouthed enough so that Loki could make it out. To this the raven-haired self-proclaimed king grimaced.

"Very well, my prince," Heimdal stated. "He still saved you, released the people and he rescued Shevera...let us just hear..."

"A trick... a ploy," Thor refuted the notions.

"Perhaps..." Heimdal's voice remained steady, but he motioned with his head for Thor to go closer to Loki. Thor resisted at first, but with another pleading head inclination from his long-time mentor he managed to take a few steps in the direction of the trickster.

Lady Sigyn still stood in front of him protectively, like a mother hen. He liked Sigyn, he really did. Even when she and Loki had been courting, he'd become fond of her. He'd not harm her, but he couldn't let her sweet golden-eyed stare keep him from enacting justice. He had to protect all his citizens. "Step aside, Lady Sigyn," he ordered sternly. Sigyn gasped and started to say something, but there was no more to be said. She had been holding Loki's hand, but she gave it a squeeze as she felt Bardok's hand grab her free one and lead her away. Thor's fist clenched tightly by his side. He wanted to wrap that fist around Loki's neck. He'd choke the life out of him here and now in front of all. "Is it true?" He asked once and he dared not ask it again.

"Yes," Loki responded, he took a step closer toward the heir to the throne.

The gorgeous golden-locked son of Odin still held a steely and ferocious gaze in his stormy blue eyes. He looked at Loki, battered and bleeding from the attack he'd rendered. Blood oozed from both his nostrils, but he still stood there looking him in the eye, but Loki had always had the ability to look people in the eye and lie. "You have a moment before my patience and your life expires," Thor threatened. "So, explain yourself."

"I went to the Weapon's Vault to get the Tesseract, I didn't expect to find it under attack when I went there," Loki began. "But I retrieved the cube."

"Tick! Tick! Tick!" Thor growled as lightning formed in his fist.

"There was an explosion. Malekith used the Aether against the Destroyer. The Destroyer is no more," he said regretfully. "When I came to from the explosion I saw Malekith with Lady Sigyn in his grasp," Loki's eyes darted toward her.

"Did Malekith take you?" the prince of Asgard asked in her direction.

"Well...no... not exactly...but..."

"What?" Thor's eyes flickered with his rage as he faced the ebony coiffed liar.

"It's not what you think...and it wasn't what I thought," Loki's words came out hurriedly. "I went to give us the Cube and I was ready to stab Malekith, but when I went to grab Sigyn... she wasn't there..."

"What are you saying?" Thor yelled.

"It was an illusion. And I fell for it." Loki stated in a whisper as he wiped the blood from his nose and smeared it across his face.

Thor tossed his head back, a chuckle erupted from him as loud as thunder. "You're saying...you...were tricked?"

Loki's face reddened; he looked down. "Yes, Thor... please...I" he started. Thor said the words loudly so that others could hear. No sooner than had he said it than did those closest to them hear. Immediately they started to whisper.

Prince Thor wore a wide grin, "I don't believe you. You! Loki God of Mischief, Fabled Trickster and Master of Illusion, you fell for something so simple?"

"Yes, Thor...I did... I did... please," Loki groaned.

"I don't believe it!" Thor boomed back at him. "None of us were there..." he shook his head dismissively. "I think that the only trick that has been played here is on us... on me... time and time again," Thor groaned.

"No, Thor, listen!" Loki declared as he reached to grab for his shoulders. He had barely touched him, but Thor's immediate reaction was a swift shove that had Loki sprawled out on the floor.

"Tie him up," he ordered as he faced Captain Frell.

"With pleasure sire," The Captain of the Einherjar whispered back as he rubbed his palms together. Loki quickly leaped to his feet and pulled out a dagger.

"I was there, Prince Thor!" Lady Sigyn's voice broke forth. She pulled her hand out of young Bardok's. "I didn't see what happened after the explosion, but I rescued Loki," she confessed as she ran up to him. "Loki had fallen into the pool that leads to the Forever Sea. I swam down deep to rescue him. I pulled him up. I swear before Yggdrasil and the kings of old!" she put her hands up. "I rescued him, and we were going to run away from the Weapon's Vault, but I heard Shevera yelling for help. I was going to go back to get her, but Loki sent me forth, said he would go back because if she was injured, he could heal her... and here...here she is, my prince," Sigyn explained as her voice cracked as she started to cry. "Here she is," she inclined her head back toward the tall warrior woman. "Please, please, give your brother a chance," she entreated Prince Thor as she took him by the hand. Thor roughly yanked his hand from her. Thor's eyes narrowed and he shook his head refuting the lady-in-waiting's words. "Give Loki a chance," her voice quivered as she interceded to him. She turned around to face Shevera, the Valkyrie stood proud and stoically next to her general. Lady Sigyn's eyes screamed out.

"He did as she said," Lieutenant Shevera confessed begrudgingly. "Loki found me and healed me. We left together," she admitted. "But I'm willing to enact whatever you wish, my liege," the Valkyrie bowed.

Thor moved closer to Loki. The skinny enchanter took a step back and got into a defensive stance with his daggers drawn. "So, it's true? You were tricked?" Thor asked stonefaced.

"Yes," Loki said once more, still cagily clutching on to his weapons.

"If you're no foe Loki, drop your weapons. Now." Thor ordered. Loki hesitated for a moment. But every second that they took in foolish debate was a second closer to the time Malekith would arrive. His slender fingers released the daggers. They clanked across the broken ground. "Kick them away," was the prince's next command. Loki groaned but followed the request. The shining blades slid across the ground and into a crack. "Sif!" the golden-locked leader called to his friend. The warrior woman immediately hastened and went to retrieve the daggers from the crevice where they had fallen. She snatched them up quickly and happily.

"I've done what you requested, Thor," Loki said through gritted teeth as he anxiously cracked his knuckles. "Now, listen..." he started.

"On your knees!" the prince decreed as he stomped closer to the trickster so that he was right in front of him.

"Thor," Loki's smooth voice rumbled with agitation. When Loki didn't immediately do as he was commanded, he found Thor's strong arms quickly coming to accost him. He supposed that it was a mild consequence considering the might that Thor now had at his disposal. Thor twisted his arms behind his back and kicked his feet out from under him. Loki crashed on to his knees. He groaned once more. "If you were really tricked...say it aloud for everyone to hear," Thor declared. He put his forearm around Loki's neck. His bulging bicep pressing into his windpipe.

Loki gasped. "I already said it," he ground out. Prince Thor pressed tighter into the chokehold. He pulled back on the horns of Loki's helmet and snatched it out. His long, licorice locks fell out and Thor gripped him by the hair.

"So, everyone can hear you," Thor growled in his ear.

Loki continued to take deep breaths. It was becoming increasingly and increasingly harder to do. He supposed that he could have gotten his way out of the chokehold with a simple enough incantation, but that would have still made him look like the trickster, the traitor they couldn't trust. As he allowed, he allowed his body to remain in the uncomfortable position Loki was reminded of many similar times when they were younger. He and Thor would get into some argument. Thor would want him to say something stupid like calling him the greatest or confess he had taken a fancy to someone. He would resist for a time, but eventually Thor would start tickling him, tickling him until he snorted like a hog and by that point, he was much more willing to capitulate. He doubted that this would end with a tickle fight. He wished it would. Loki swallowed deep. He mashed his lips together, "I was tricked!" he hollered as loud as he could. His voice echoing off of the broken rafters. "I WAS TRICKED!" he declared again his voice nearly cracked.

Thor was shocked. His blue eyes went wide as he heard Loki's repeated confession. In the background he heard a few mumbles about the fact that Loki's silver tongue could still be formulated some clever lie. It wasn't that that thought hadn't crossed Thor's mind, but Thor doubted that was the case. Being able to trick and con others was what Loki took his greatest pride in. And Loki was an extremely prideful person. Loki wouldn't lie before all this assembly in a way that would bring shame upon himself. What would lying achieve at this point? The Tesseract was already in Malekith's possession. Being tricked was one of the most painful things in the world to Loki.

Thor stood outside the door of Loki's laboratory. He hadn't seen his brother in weeks. Loki had returned from a brief campaign to defeat Boda's renegade force from Museplehiem. It had been a successful venture, there had been the appropriate revels, but Loki hadn't attended. Thor was shocked. It had been his younger brother's first big military victory independent of him or father or other officers, he thought Loki would be elated. He thought surely the feeling of victory would have been enough to cure Loki's heartbreak, it would have cured his. Father was ready to conduct the trial and wanted...needed Loki to testify. And they were all beside themselves with worry. He took a few deep breaths before gingerly knocking. He knocked several times but got no response. He would have left in defeat but when he pushed the door it was unlocked. Surprising. "Brother? Brother are you here?" he called out. The chamber was cold and unlit and a mess. There was a stale smell. Loki never kept his chambers a mess. It looked like a whirlwind had swept through the place. Books and scrolls were spread about recklessly. There were empty bottles and rubbish about. Thor moved on, stepping on several things. He finally came to Loki's couch and found Loki unconscious and practically unclothed holding a bottle against his chest. Thor wished that it would have been a mixture of something that Loki was concocting, but instead it was a most unsavory brew of mead. Loki didn't like to drink and after how he behaved about 80 years before for his birthday, Thor had to confess that he didn't like for him to drink either. "Loki!" Thor called to him shaking him roughly. "Wake up!" he demanded. It took a while but finally Loki's emerald eyes cracked open. They were bloodshot with dark circles around them.

"Mmm, Thor?" He looked at him blearily as he swam into focus. "Goway," he muttered and rolled over the other way. "I have a headache," Loki expressed and pulled the covers over his body tighter.

"I will not!" Thor protested. "And I bet you do...you've been drinking?" Thor demanded as he snatched the bottle out of Loki's hands.

"I'm old enough to drink," Loki insisted as he rubbed a tired hand over his face and went to reach for the bottle again, but Thor yanked it back.

"That doesn't mean you should," Thor cautioned. "You know you shouldn't," Thor stated with a scowl.

"Just let me be, Thor. I don't want to see you," Loki stated bluntly.

Thor looked hurt. "Why? I'm worried about you," the elder sibling confessed. He couldn't help but feel even more worried as he beheld Loki's state, bloodshot eyes, disheveled mane, shirtless, bootless and what he wore looked like he'd been in it for days.
"I don't want to see anyone...ever again," Loki mumbled as he manifested another bottle of wine out of thin air and guzzled its contents.

"Why?"

Loki's green eyes looked up at him. "Why do you think?" he growled.

"Because of Boda," Thor surmised.

Loki put on a menacing smirk and gave a thumbs up. "Wow, you're getting brighter, I'm getting duller," he stated as he finished the contents of his bottle.

"So you just intend to drink yourself to death?" Thor asked wide-eyed.

"I wish!" Loki chuckled. "That's a rather difficult feat for we Aesir," he went on.

"Loki what happened...is...

"A disgrace!" Loki shouted in Thor's face. He went to stand but lost balance, Thor caught him. "I'm a disgrace, " Loki went on as he swayed in Thor's arms. Thor gingerly went to help him sit back down.

"You're not a disgrace, brother," Thor tried to assure him as he took him by the shoulder. "That witch is going to be punished for her crimes. But you need to sober up," Thor expressed. "Father wants to have the trial this week and you should testify," Thor tried to explain.

"I'm not going to go to that trial..." Loki shook his head slowly.

"Loki you need to. So the King of Museplehiem will have record.."

"Brother! Do you think I want to see her?" Loki ranted. "Do you think I want to confess to the entire kingdom my disgrace," Loki looked up at him with watery eyes.

"You're not a disgrace," Thor tried to assure him once more by taking a firm grip on his shoulder.

"Don't!" Loki stuck a finger in his face. "Don't patronize me," he retorted. "I know what I am," he said in a sing-songy voice as he took another deep swig of the cherry-colored contents in the bottle.

"Please, Loki...stop," Thor practically begged as he grabbed Loki's thin wrist to keep the bottle from reaching his lips once more. Loki rolled glassy green eyes and looked up at him. He gave a smug grin, but his fingers finally released the neck of the bottle, the wine spilled out and caused a pulled by Loki's feet. Normally, such a mess would have driven Loki mad, but he just sat there, slouched down on the sofa and didn't even bother to move his feet from the liquid.

"I know what people are saying about me," he continued to sing, but it was like some sort of tortured chant.

Prince Thor shook his head. "No one is saying anything..."

"Stop lying!" Loki screamed out and covered his ears. "I'm so sick of everyone lying," Loki confessed in a quiet voice that was nearly a sob. "I know what everyone is saying," he repeated. "Ha-ha! Serves him right, trickster got tricked!" he shook his hands excitedly in the air as he mocked himself. "That's what he gets," Loki went on. "Now, tell me people aren't saying it," Loki snapped as he turned around like a viper toward Thor.

Thor raised his hands defenselessly in the air. He didn't want to lie to Loki, lies had brought him to this very sorry state. Of course, there was chatter. The court was full of gossip and peasants talked even more. A wicked witch who had almost married into the royal family and had possible enchanted the young prince... well it was a field day for rumors to spread throughout tabloid scrolls, but mostly the people were just relieved that Angraboda's plot had been foiled. They were simply thankful that she hadn't actually gotten hold of the Sword of Surtur to attack the Frost Giants and blamed it on Asgard. That had been cause for much celebration and Loki could have taken part in the celebration and possibly been celebrated had he not locked himself away. "No one thinks of you as a disgrace, brother," Thor sighed.

"I am a disgrace I almost let her take all our secrets, lead an armada against us..." Loki rambled.

"But you didn't. You stopped her...it could have happened to anybody," the blonde-shrugged his broad shoulders and offered a smile.

"But it wasn't anybody. It was me," the younger prince pointed to himself. "I'm the person who weaves lies, not the one who gets caught in their webs am supposed to be the trickster not the tricked," Loki grumbled miserably.

"But maybe she bewitched you? You were learning from her from her. It's not your fault," Thor tried to comfort.

"Thor that only makes it worse," Loki stated as he looked at his older sibling. His eyes were shining, and it wasn't just from the alcohol. "The art of deception is my gift... it's the only thing I'm good at," Loki shook his head. "And even in that I failed...and if I'm so weak minded and naïve as to just have any old spell cast upon me..."

"You're not weak minded," Thor stated sternly to him. "And you're not naïve." Thor took his brother by the shoulders. "Loki look at me," he ordered. Loki did so. "You're clever and bright and shrewd. That's why she only got so far," Thor assured him. "It was her. I'm not saying it was an actual incantation or potion that she gave you Loki, you're too strong and gifted to fall for that," Thor offered his brother a smile.

Prince Loki couldn't hold his brother's gaze much longer; he diverted his glance. "But love in and of itself is like a spell, Loki. "It's powerful. You loved someone...you trusted them...that's a powerful thing... that's not a weakness on your part..." Thor tried to explain. He felt like he was doing an inadequate job. "It's like a power in reverse!" Thor perked up as the analogy came to his head. He rotated his finger in the description. Loki just looked back at him with glazed emerald eyes, blinking dumbfoundedly. His poor skills of articulation and Loki's mead-soaked mind was not a winning combination for understanding. "You know, Loki, when you trust someone...when you love someone...well everyone does silly things everyone does...that isn't being foolish per say..."

"Yes, it is." Loki stated flatly, hung his head and sighed. "And I won't just let everyone think I'm a fool," Loki protested.

"People will talk more if you stay locked away in this tower. Come out, let people see that you are ok," Thor offered. "Hold your head up high," Thor encouraged. He put on a bright smile and tried to nudge Loki's chin up. "Testify and see that she gets what she deserves."

"I'm not ok," Loki sighed he twisted his chin out of Thor's gentle hands and looked down. "And everyone knows it. I have nothing to be proud of."

"You're a son of Odin!" Thor immediately countered and gripped Loki by both shoulders and shook him.

"And what is that?" Loki retorted and pushed Thor off him. "I'm supposed to be a Master of illusion and I fell for the biggest illusion of them all. Something so simple and childish as love," Loki's think lips twisted. "I'm embarrassed," Loki finally stated with a hiccup.

Thor sat down on the sofa next to his brother. He rubbed his back, and he was surprised that Loki allowed him to be that coddling. "Brother...don't worry about the trial just yet," Thor offered. "Why don't you just get dressed and bathed and come down to dinner. Mother had the servants make your favorite meal," Thor tried to entice him. "Peppered herring," Thor wiggled golden brows.

"I'm not hungry," Loki ground out. "Besides, I told you I don't want to be seen by anyone."

"Loki, just come down to dinner. There was no one there but mother, father and I... are you embarrassed to be with your family?" he asked.

"Yes," Loki's voice was a tired whisper.

"What? Why?' the elder prince of Asgard questioned.

"Because!" Loki voice came out an angry blast. He took a deep breath and tried to control his vocal inflections once more. "Father just announced my title before the entire realm..." he explained. "God of Mischief," he mocked the moniker. "And no sooner had it been bestowed upon I was conned and tricked like some babe in the woods!" he growled clenching his fists til they were white as snow. "I feel like a fool! I feel like an idiot!" Loki slapped himself on the head. "It means I'm not worthy of my title! I'm not worthy of being called a prince of this realm or being a member of this family," Loki admitted tearfully.

"Loki, that's not true," Thor said as he wrapped his arms around Loki's slim shoulders.

Loki rested his head on his older brother's strong shoulder for a moment. Thor heard him let out a whimper. "Please, brother, if you have any pity on me at all... just let me be," he looked up at him and his eyes were so tearful.

"Loki you have to eat something," Thor stated as he rubbed the younger man's back. "At least allow the servants to bring you dinner," he proffered. Loki nodded but Thor suspected it was only to get him to leave.

Thor continued to listen to Loki's voice growing ragged as he continued with his painful profession. Thor thought of how much Loki truly detested being tricked. In fact, it was being tricked all along that had led to this. All this pain and suffering and death all this chaos was for nothing, but Loki's own wounded pride at being tricked about the origins of his birth. Loki was so consumed with rage and embarrassment over having been tricked his whole life that he was willing to destroy an entire race to cover up con. He supposed Loki felt if there were no Frost Giants then it wouldn't matter that he was one of them. There'd be no Laufey to be the son of. Loki had felt tricked by the words, "born to be a king." It was a lie in his mind because no one ever intended for him to be king; not Laufey, not Odin, but he had decided to make the joke on them. He'd make sure he became a king; Midgard, Asgard, Jotunheim, Svartalfheim, it didn't matter to him as long as there was a throne to sit upon. He knew Loki would never so openly confess to being tricked if it wasn't of the utmost importance. Thor's thoughts played on. He only knew of two times Loki had been "tricked" (Mother and Father hadn't been tricking him, but in Loki's warped mind they had) but still, within those times the link to the trick had been well love...people he loved had been able to manipulate him. Thor couldn't imagine that Loki cared about Malekith, but maybe he did care about...Sigyn. Thor's eyes widened as he looked to his left and saw his mother's handmaiden clutching her heart as she stared at Loki.

Thor finally found himself releasing Loki from the powerful chokehold. Loki collapsed onto his hands and knees gasping for breath. The prince of Asgard righted himself. He lifted up and walked away. He shook his head and still kept his thick lips curled in a snarl. "So, you really are useless," he practically spat and walked away. He drew in closer to his boon companions and held a conference with them.

"Yes," Loki whispered from his knees as his jade eyes watched Thor walk away.

"HANG HIM!"

"KILL HIM THOR!" The shouts roared from the crowd and fists pumped viciously in the air.

"This is madness," Volstagg mumbled as Thor approached. "Now, Malekith is in possession of two infinity stones. He's going to be impossible to defeat!"

"Thor let me kill him! Let me kill him! Let me kill him," Lady Sif growled. She was fuming like a mad dog. Her foot pounding into the ground like a bull. She started to grunt. She drew her double-bladed saber and started to wave it through the air threateningly. She waved the instrument so vigorously that it made sounds as it moved through the air. "He's a charlatan!" she shouted. Tears nearly pooled in her eyes. "He's tricked us time and time again. Look where his craftiness and deception has led us. Well, no mercy no more!" she yelled as loud as she could to make sure that the no-good trickster could hear her. "If you don't want to have the honor to do it Thor than for Asgard's sake allow me," Sif practically demanded as she beat her chest.

"Sif," Frandal put his hand on her shoulder, "Save your strength, Lady Sif," the blonde-haired sword man counseled her as he practically held her back. Without his arm and Hogun's arm holding her in place the warrior woman would have lunged after Loki with all her fury and cut him to ribbons. "Save your strength for the real fight, it'll be here in seconds," he reminded her. "He is not worth it," Hogun stated. His black eyes glared at Loki in disappointment. For a moment he had believed that maybe there was some good in the ebony-coiffed enchanter, but now he wasn't sure. "Pathetic," he muttered.

"Maybe not," Heimdal remarked. He walked over to Loki and reached out his hand to help the emerald eyed enchanter to his feet.

Loki looked to Heimdal, "They don't trust me, Master Heimdal," he said as he heard the crowd hissing in his direction. "I don't blame them. And they are right... they are right... I can't even see through the illusions..." he shook his head. "I'm ashamed I should have known. I should have looked..."

"Lord Malekith is not so powerful as to trick you easily Loki, how did he do it?" Heimdal asked seriously.

"The Aether. The Aether has more capabilities than we realize and with Convergence nearing its peak they are on the rise." Heimdal spoke more to himself than to Loki.

"Yes, but I had never seen such power used before. Perhaps, I should have known, but honestly, I couldn't have guessed that Malekith would use such a power," Loki shrugged. "Lord Malekith used the Aether for centuries and no accounts of the battle of old describe him using it in such a fashion," Loki explained.

"It is too late to worry about that, LOki," Heimdal stated. "That is already the past, we must move toward the goal of beating Malekith,"

"Well, this is brilliant," Bardok muttered from the sidelines. "Just perfect! Just what we needed!" Bardok continued to lament with sarcasm. "Malekith has the Aether and can now cause illusions as if the power blasts weren't bad enough, and 'Asgard's most powerful enchanter'," he stated with quotation fingers, "Can't see through them," He stepped into Loki's face. "He's also got the Tesseract," He slapped his forehead.

In the background, Lord Drek's fingers feverishly fiddled with the beads on the abacus. "We have less than hour!" he calculated. He pointed his strong fingers at the ceiling that was mostly nonexistent. Those around him gazed up as they watched one of the portals slowly move into position right above him. The portal was small at first, but he watched as once it was in position it seemed to start to grow in diameter. He shook his head. When the other 7 aligned it would be all but too late. "We're doomed!" he announced.

Heimdal gazed upon the wonder. His golden eyes shimmered. He had only beheld one other Convergence in his life and that was long before he had taken his watch. He had been no more than a youth. He'd gone to gaze upon the phenomenon with his father. His father had told him about each of the Nine Realms. His father had told him how such an event was one that made him proud to possess the gift of FarSight. For he could see even more intently and even more deeply into the portals. He told him how when he was older, and his eyes had been honed, he would see it all too. There were a few days when the wizened gatekeeper had a chance to recall his youth and he wished he had the ability to stare innocently and wide-eyedly at the majesty and mystery that was unraveling around him. His eyes twitched and even started to glow as he beheld the beautiful dunes of endless sand being shown forth in the first portal. He saw the red-hot mountains and knew that he gazed upon Musepelheim. Heimdal had to shake himself to break himself from the entrancement of the sight he beheld. He turned to his left where Loki was standing. His mouth ajar as he too looked up and saw the portal. "You are still Asgard's most powerful enchanter, Loki..." Heimdal muttered.

"And what does that mean now Master Heimdal," Loki shrugged. "Very little, I couldn't even see..."

"I've never known you not to have a trick up your sleeve," the guardian of the realm encouraged. He gave the ebony-haired man a wink.

Loki was puzzled at the other magic-wielder's meaning. His brows knitted together as he tried to think. Rolling over and playing dead wouldn't help anyone. "The vial," he muttered to himself. "Thor! Thor!" Loki called as he turned around to face the great blonde prince. Thor didn't answer him right away, but Loki persisted. "Thor do you still have the containment vial which I gave to you?" Loki asked quickly.

"Get away from us! Get away from me," Thor growled.

"Thor! The vial... If Malekith is using the Aether to cast his illusions then the vial would be able to be used," he pointed out. Slowly, Thor pulled out the containment vial out. He looked at the carefully crafted prism with scrutiny. Everwood set in fairy dust and Loki didn't do things in halves. If it was as Loki described, it could work. "Thor, just use it," Loki urged. "You've got nothing to lose," Loki reminded him and flashed a smile in the crown prince's direction.

"Thor, you cannot trust this!" Frandal admonished.

"Cut out his lying tongue!" a cry was heard in the background.

"Not a bad idea," Hogun remarked as he cut Loki a side eye.

"Why even waste that much time when we can just cut off his head," Lady Sif stated as she started trying to run toward Loki. Heimdal got in her way. His bulk and strength stood between her and the traitor.

"My prince we do not have time..." The gatekeeper interjected.

Prince Thor's blue eyes darted back and forth. All his friends' voices rang in his ears and the voices of the rest of the people. They all demanded justice and blood for Loki's crimes. They all demanded the price that was deserved. And he wanted to do it too. There was a part of him that wanted to slaughter Loki and watch him bleed out. He had led the whole Nine Realms to the brink of destruction and there was no going back from that. Still, there were the voices of those in support of Loki. Heimdal amazingly enough seemed to be against his brother's immediate execution. Perhaps it was because the murder of brother's was how Asgard began until the brothers united and formed the greatest empire in the cosmos. Or perhaps it was because somewhere deep down the resolute guardian still cared for Loki as if he was the son of Odin. There was Sigyn with her wide golden doubloon eyes that interceded more for the evil enchanter more than her words ever could. He looked at her. She was being held tenderly by Jane. He thought of his mother, he prayed she was still alive and safe, if she was of course, she wouldn't have wanted Loki to die as his mother, but as queen, well even she with all her grace and beneficence would have had to allow his life to be forfeited. But in his heart of heart Thor could hear apart of him wanting to believe Loki...but that must have just been stupidity talking. He'd been Loki's fool too many times and it had cost him, and it had cost all Asgard too much. Thor's head started to pound, his pulse races and bits of lightning flew off him. Thor clenched his fists together tightly.

"Your Highness, Malekith at this moment is a greater threat than Loki," Heimdal stated. "Do not expend your energy nor the energy of the warriors where it is not needed," he counseled. Thor recalled the gatekeeper's early teachings to him in his education on warfare. Heimdal often watched his early sparring matches with a shrewd golden eye. When he was a boy and first began his training with weapons, he often won with sheer brute force, but as he got older and other children's skills sharpened even for the young thunder-bearer victories were not a guarantee. For a few big blows in the beginning of a fight sometimes he'd inadvertently sacrificed a match. They couldn't afford for him to make such a careless, vanity mistake now. "Just get him out of my sight," Thor mumbled. He took deep breaths and allowed the lightning which he possessed to be channeled and contained back inside his body.

"And do what with him?' asked Bardok.

"I don't care," Thor replied and moved away. "To your posts!" he shouted and ordered the citizens of Asgard who were assembled in the throne room.

A few of the palace guards went to grab the thin trickster. Loki quickly dodged and maneuvered away from their bulky and rough hands. He slipped through with ease like a snake that slithered its way in an out of fences. With his daggers he held them off as they tried to accost him. "If you are really no foe, Loki why don't you come quietly," Captain Frell said winded. He tired of trying to grapple the serpent. The self-proclaimed king's eyes looked around. He was being encircled by warriors of all kinds, Valkyrie, Einherjar, guards, even simple citizens were all surrounding him. He wasn't cornered, but they were wasting time. His emerald eyes turned to Heimdal, the keeper of the Bifrost's face was firm, but he nodded in the enchanter's direction. Loki cloaked his daggers in a green flash. They disappeared and his palms were empty before those who desired to arrest him. They grabbed his arms and forced his hands behind his back.

"Thor at least use the vial," he called out to the blonde-who had turned his back on the situation and was holding conference with the warriors 3 and others.

"Shut up!" Captain Frell shouted at Loki as he and his men tried to force him out.

Lady Sigyn tried to run closer to him. Jane forcefully attempted to pull him in the other direction. Loki caught her glance and winked at her. "Don't be afraid, Sigyn. It'll be alright," he admonished her. Captain Frell and his guards had nearly gotten Loki to the great door that led to the throne room. Captain Frell had told his men that they would tie Loki up to one of the columns and leave him for Malekith and his horde. The men laughed ad taunted their former prince who said not a word, but just as they approached the door. There was a might blast of crimson energy that seemed to possess all the fury of Helheim.

The whole door flew off the hinges. The iron and gold door that stood nearly 40 feet high was instantly obliterated. Loki, the guards and Captain Frell all went flying in different directions. Captain Frell was flung into a column, several of his soldiers were tossed out of the large stain glass windows. They flew out with screams and shouts. Loki flew back against the dais.

"POSITIONS!" Prince Thor hollered at the top of his lungs. His voice boomed over the sound of the explosion. The Aether ash had filled the air. A red haze dense like swamp fog took over the throne room. The citizens of Asgard scrambled to take cover as well as get to their designated settings. Prince Thor immediately went charging toward the enemy. "Sif, Frandal, Volstagg, Hogun, with me," Thor ordered as he raced toward the leader of the Dark-Elves. His friends didn't hesitate. They followed behind their fearless leader.

"FOR ASGARD!" They cried as they raced into swirling, red darkness. The lightning attached to Thor's stride was their only guide.

"Asgard!" The gatekeeper's voice rang out as more and more of the scarlet ooze coursed its way into the hallowed chamber. "He's here," he warned them. "You stand between the Nine Realms and oblivion," he reminded them. "But we have been here before and we have prevailed and we will prevail again!" he encouraged the militia comprised of warriors, wizards and workers, women and men. There were cheers, but the cheers were drowned out by the sound of crashing as walls and floors crumbled around them.

"Well, that removes all the pressure, doesn't it, cousin," Brunhilda stated to Heimdal. She didn't wait for her kinsman to reply she quickly mounted her Pegasus. She whistled for the winged beast, the horse instantly flew toward her and scooped her up. The creature started to soar. It started to try to fly above the Aether ash. "Valkyrie remember your creed!" she yelled out to her shield maidens. "We have sworn to protect the throne, it already lies broken and cracked. Our royal family is scattered. We have failed. "We will fail no more," she reminded them. "The rest of the female soldiers took to their mounts and had their mares stomp their hooves as they raised their swords with a rousing huzzah. "You give your life now, in service of our queen and our prince," she ordered them. "Remember your pledge," she yelled out once more. Her Pegasus had flown higher, still stifled in its attempt to rise above the terrible burning ash. "We each pledged ourselves to our sisters. We swore to forsake our natural families to join this mighty, endless sisterhood. Our sisters are dead!" she reminded them as she growled. "Avenge them!" she screamed. The Valkyrie screamed back. "We are Valkyrie. Our Fore-sisters had the honor of being the elite team that the kings of the past would choose to send in to get the job done, when all else failed. WE rescued fallen Einherjar and earned the title 'Choosers of the Dead!' We choose for all our enemies to DIE!" she rallied them with one last battle cry and all the warrior women took to the sky. Their horses doing their best to fly above the haze.

Loki groaned as even through his armor he felt his spine collide with the cracked steps of the dais. He looked around, but it was hard to see through the swirling crimson and black crystals and fractals that were all around him. Loki waved in front of his eyes trying to clear them from the horrid glow of Aether ash that permeated the atmosphere. The throne room was a huge space, but every crevice was being filled with the power of the Aether and that was just what Malekith wanted. Loki squinted and he saw a few bodies of Asgardians strewn across the marble floors some bodies were freshly crushed under the rubble. His stomach turned in disgust as he saw the mangled forms of good Asgardian men and women who had lasted this long. They'd lasted til this final fight and in one blast they'd lost their lives. For what? Because of him. Loki's thin lips twisted into a grimace. His heart and mind filled with self-loathing. He didn't deserve to fight with them now. He was the reason there would be those who would be fatherless, motherless, widowers and widows, friendless and homeless.

"Loki! Loki! Loki!" a soprano voice hollered at him from a distance. He couldn't make out her form, but he instantly shot up. He had his dagger blade set and pointed. His teeth were gritted. "Sigyn! Sigyn? Where are you?' he called desperately into the ever-forming crimson clouds. He didn't have to take many steps off of the dais as Lady Sigyn was there. She was dragging a body. He sprinted to her. "Are you alright?" he asked as he came to her. A gash was across her forehead.

"Help," she practically yelped as she was carrying the body of a wounded Aesir. The Aesir had no armor and was most likely a civilian. He was a slightly older man with a balding head. He was shaking profusely and coughing up blood as Lady Sigyn dragged his bulky body toward the raven-haired enchanter. She waved Loki over. "He's hurt, but he's not dead," she expressed.

Loki came to look at the injured man. "Give him to me," he shooed Sigyn away from carrying the man his shoulders. He took that position. It was certainly much easier for him, but Sigyn Arndottir did not fail to rush and assisted by grabbing the man's feet. "Let's move him behind the throne," Loki instructed as they scuttled to that area. The poor soul was coughing and screaming out in pain. Loki observed that an Aether shard had made its way to the man's stomach.

"Get it out! Get it out! It burns!" he cried.

"Loki, you have to do something! "Don't let him die," She entreated the reformed tyrant with glistening gold eyes. "This is Pomal, he owns one of the best bakeries in the city," she expressed.

Loki studied the wound. The glowing red shard was lodged deeply within the skin. He placed his hand on the man's stomach and felt that the foreign object was near some vital organs. Pomal began to buck and kick violently. It caused him to spew more blood. "Don't you touch me! Don't you touch me!" the man hollered with every word more blood dripped forth. He spat at Loki.

"Pomal, you have to calm down," Sigyn pleaded with him as he trashed. She tried to hold him steady as Loki continued his examination of the damages.

"No! No!" Pomal cried, his head swung side to side. His frantic movements caused the Aether shard to sink deeper and deeper into his flesh. He screamed out in pain.

"The Aether is Dark Energy," Loki said turning and looking at the blonde-haired handmaiden to Queen Frigga, "It's not meant to heal... it's meant to destroy, the deeper it goes the more it will infect," he explained.

"Well, you've got to get it out," Lady Sigyn expressed practically hyperventilating. She looked up at him with wide eyes. Loki mashed his lips together and he attempted to try and grab the shard. The baker, Pomal screamed out.

"Don't you touch me! Don't you touch me!" he continued to rage. "You're a monster!" He started to cough. His trembling, sweaty hands desperately tried to take swings at Loki. Sigyn did her best to soothe him and hold his hands by his side, but it was of little use as the man was simply became too distraught. Finally, one of his reckless fists hit Loki square in the nose. He closed his eyes against the pain that raced through his body. He started to cry as the red-hot power of the Aether began to course through his veins. Loki and Sigyn watched as the area of skin right around where the bright, red Aether shard was started to bubble and blister. The flesh was welling up as if it was filling up with the ooze of the Aether itself.

"Go to sleep," Loki commanded with a gentle wave of the hand.

Pomal's eyes, which were brown and round, grew much larger as he took one last frightened look at Lady Sigyn. His hand fumbled to clasp the Aesir maiden's. "Don't! Don't Don't let him kill me?" Pomal begged as his eyes grew heavy and his speech slurred. His eyes sluggishly rolled toward Loki to give the traitor a glance, but before he could even complete the look his eyelids closed.

Sigyn's breath hitched, "Is he ok? Is he dead? Is he dead?' the golden-locked maiden questioned. She shook Pomal vigorously.

"Not yet, but if he kept thrashing, he would have been," Loki stated.

"Pull it out, Loki," Sigyn encouraged.

"I can't," Loki explained. "It could kill him. I'm not a healer," Loki stated quickly. "I'm not experienced enough with healing arts to remove something as powerful as the Aether from someone's body. The Aether is made to destroy and in such it defends itself from being eradicated. Maybe someone like Mistress Eir or Dagmar..." Loki's voice broke away as he uttered her name. They could have surely used her skills in this fight. She could have probably easily dislodged the shard and kept it from furthering its infective power on the citizen, she had certainly removed his magic from him.

A warm hand on top of his brought his minds from their musings and feelings of regrets. "Maybe Mistress Eir will make it back to the palace, but right now she isn't here...you are," Sigyn reminded him.

"I can put him into a slumber and sleep paralysis state. It'll keep him still. As long as he isn't fighting the Aether will probably not surge and hopefully, he won't get more infected blisters," he pointed his hand to where the skin had enlarged to the point where it had puckered through the clothing. "Just leave him here, hopefully, no one will come for him." Loki shrugged as he rose to his feet.

"He'll be a sitting duck," Lady Sigyn pointed out.

"We'll all be sitting ducks at this rate," Loki confirmed.

"We're not sitting ducks!" Sigyn retorted quickly grabbed Loki by the wrist and held him firmly. "Not if, we fight, not if we all fight together, now! Come on!" she attempted to pull him with her.

"Lady Sigyn, you should run," Loki admonished her sternly.

The youngest daughter of Admiral Arn shook her head and took one last firm squeeze of Loki's wrist. "I'm not running, there's nowhere to run and neither are you," she confirmed to him.

"The people don't want me here, Sigyn," Loki expressed. He looked around but the dark, red haze was starting to creep closer to them. It surrounded everything and obscured the vision making it impossible to see much of what was happening around them. But Loki could make out images. He could make out shadows of so many citizens like Pomal who were being ruthlessly...mercilessly skewered by the scarlet shards like glaciers of the Aether. He could make out the silhouettes of their impaled forms. The distinct horned helmets of Valkyrie and Einherjar that he saw rolled under the Aether ash and toward his feet let him know exactly who had been slain. "They don't trust me," he shook his head. "I don't blame them," he confessed.

"It doesn't matter, Loki you are here," Sigyn confirmed. "The Norns have ordained for you to be here," she raised her hands and stated." There's a reason," she assured him. "You still, have the power to help save us and to find redemption," Sigyn went on.

"Sigyn," Loki shook his head.

"You do!" Sigyn cut the raven-haired enchanter off quickly. "You wanted to be a king and you may have failed in that regard," the platinum blonde beauty stated. "But now, when you fight and we win, you will redeem yourself and prove yourself even greater than a king for all of us to see," she nodded vigorously.

Loki's narrow featured quirked and he looked quizzically at her, "What's greater than a king?'

"A hero."

No more words could be spoken between them because another powerful blast was sent forth from Lord Malekith. This one was like a pure fist, it punched through the warriors who had risen up only to knock them down once again like they were no more than bowling pins. Sigyn didn't know what hit her, she was pushed clear across to the other side of the throne room. She called out Loki's name as she flew across the chamber, but she doubted that he could have heard her through the blazing roar of the Aether.

Loki fell to his knees as the Aether Ash swirled around him in a powerful form. It threatened to push him back, but Loki stood his ground. He planted his feet to the floor and his hands gripped against the marble, pearl and golden throne. He held on with all his might, white knuckled and desperate, the fury of gust passed and the burgundy bits from the blast scattered in all directions. Everything was coated and covered in red. It was a murky haze, Loki's gemstone eyes squinted as he tried to make out what was happening around him. He heard crunching and cracking, he heard hollers and wails, he heard grinding and whirling, winds howling and blasters firings. He heard the disgusting and painful sound of stone grating against stone as post and beams broke off. He heard glass shattering, and he felt the effects as sharp particles pricked his face. He felt grateful for his helmet to protect his creamy skin. Still, for all the clamor and commotion and horror that hear heard going on around him, he could not make out what was truly transpiring. The Aether was thicker than blood. Loki concentrated and he squinted. But it was the flashes of light that came of the blasters that finally illuminated things for the master mage. As the blaster bombs going off showed Malekith's face in the flashes. It was horrid. Half of his face was charred from the Aether; the other side of his face was white as a phantom. His red eyes gleamed as if they were tainted by the Infinity Stone that possessed him. Malekith's face was menacing, part snarl and sneer. He strolled into the throne room like he had only a few short days ago. His shoulders high with confidence in his victory and Asgard's inevitable defeat. Loki watched as his smile deepened. He took long, stomping strides. He didn't miss a step nor did he even stumble over a marble stone that he so carelessly decimated. As he walked past it seemed as though things were simply obliterated in his wake. Malekith had an entourage around him. He had many guards and foot soldiers all around him. The sound of their feet pounding against the floor echoed all around. It wasn't a mere militia or a squadron. It was a whole army of Dark-Elf soldiers marching behind him. They were marching in line after line, row after row, straight and proud the way that soldiers should. They had on their masks that looked like porcelain dolls. The expressionless, bloodless visages looked like an army of apparitions come to finish what they had started. There was no stopping them. For the Aesir it was an insult the Dark-Elves kept their faces covered. The slits in their masks only showed soulless pits instead of eyes. They intended to destroy, but for all the woe they had caused and could continue to cause they were dispassionate about it. The Asgardians were prepared to fight for their lives. Fight with all their might to save their beloved realm and the Dark-Elves were so base that they would ransack, pillage and massacre without even allowing their enemy to see their faces.

---

Nothing but storm clouds were mounting. They were thick and deep in color; they were nearly black. The sky was so dark that it looked as if it was night. It was frightful. The Aether ash and clouds also continued to build and fold. The powers of the Aether were spreading everywhere the tainted red, ooze could not be contained. The red haze had radiated out of the palace and was permeating every crevice and every inch of the Imperial city. Like a plague, it destroyed everything it touched without mercy. It rolled and rippled over every house, temple and golden edifice. It made its way to the rainbow bridge. Even the brilliance of the Bifrost was darkened in the wake of the destructive power of the Infinity Stone. The Aesir who had taken refuge outside of the city gates started to hear the beautiful bridge crack.

"The Bifrost!" One of the Aesir from the city of Kytheria called as she watched the glow of infinite colors dim to blackness. "It's going out! It's going out!" she screamed in panic.

'Oh, my Norns."

"Merciful Yggdrasil!" many shouted as they beheld powerful red blast after powerful red blast blow away everything in its wake.

"I'd never seen it before with my own eyes," another person mumbled. "Always dreamed of what it would look like in person," he confessed as he removed a tarnished antique helmet from his head. It revealed patches of gray hair. He placed the helmet over his heart. He shook his head as he gazed up wide eye as he watched waves of the Aether roll off the palace.

"Take a good look," another one of the palace soldiers from the Southern Palace pointed out as he beheld the glittering glory of the Imperial Palace. It was an honor to protect the royals when they came to stay in Kytheria, but he had always secretly had a dream of being able to serve his king and queen in their permanent residence. "This may be the last we see of her," his hand trembles as he watched how different spires and towers and monuments that decorated the regal bode continue to tumble downward. With that the soldier turned around and started to walk away.

The words were not missed by Queen Frigga. The Queen of Asgard was crouched down in the dirt and mud tending to many of the wounded, like Volstagg's wife. Red-haired woman was badly injured. She'd lost a lot of blood and they had had to put a tunicate in her arms to keep her from bleeding out until Mistress Eir and her team of healers could make their way over to her. There were so many injured who seemed to just barely be clinging to life. As Convergence drew closer and the Aether's potency grew stronger healing was becoming nigh impossible. Mistress Eir and her team were simply trying to keep as many citizens as possible as they waited for the inevitable. Queen Frigga had made sure that Volstagg's children were taken care of and dismissed to the area where some of the other children in the encampment were. Many of those children couldn't find their parents. But Volstagg's spirited youngsters couldn't be put at bay. They didn't know if they would see their father again and they didn't want to lose their mother. But Queen Frigga took her role as all-mother seriously. There was no sheltering the children of Asgard from the terrible calamity that had befallen them all, but she didn't have to allow the children to be privy to watching their mother suffer. She sent the children to fetch buckets of water for the soldiers. Queen Frigga looked up away from Volstagg's wife, Lady Valka for the first time. She stared up at the palace. She could scarcely see it for the Dark-red haze that swirled all about it. A terrible funnel of crimson clouds that were so thick that they looked like a braided red cord wrapping around the palace to choke it to smother it. Her home. The place where she had resided as queen for nearly 3000 years. It was the place where she'd entered the chambers as a blushing bride and raised her sons and hosted family dinners for her siblings and her nieces and nephews. For Asgard the Imperial Palace was a monument. It was a testimony of their greatness for all the realms to see. At times, it had been their fortress, but for her it was her home.

Queen Frigga sighed but just as the breath escaped her lips, she could feel Valka start to struggle under the weight of her hand that was simply wiping her brow with a cool towel. "The children...the children," she muttered. She tried to open her eyes and look around her. She didn't know if it was that her eyesight had been dimmed due to her near brush with death, but around her she saw most darkness besides for a few faint shadows that flittered in front of her eyes.

"Shhh...shhh...shhh," Queen Frigga soothed as she continued to dab at her forehead with a damp cloth.

It was only the royal woman's voice that allowed Volstagg's wife to know that she wasn't beginning to make her journey toward Valhalla. "Volstagg?" she croaked as her chubby hand groped at the queen's.

"Queen Frigga," Lord Algrim's voice was as distinguished and formal as ever now that he'd been remedied by the healers. He came up to her and with pomp and ceremony did sweeping bows. If their situation wasn't so dire, Queen Frigga might have actually chuckled at his gestures. He was making such a fuss, bowing and scraping to her when she was in the mud. Frigga had to admit she didn't feel much like a queen. She was unable to protect her people, to provide aide or even words of comfort. In this dreadful moment she felt unable to even offer the dear citizens of Asgard even hope or guidance. What type of queen was that? "Mistress Eir has stated that we should try to make sure all the people are moved into tents. The storm is becoming far too fierce," he expressed. He shouted over the noise of the howling winds and boisterous thunder that seemed to come from the palace, but most he shouted over the voice of frantic people. The golden queen of the realm didn't answer at first. Her blue eyes filled with tears as she gazed at the palace. It was so close and yet so far. The palace where the strongest and bravest of her people still proudly tried to make their last stand. In the palace where she hoped her two sons would be fighting side by side once more. But she wasn't sure, couldn't be sure. "Queen Frigga," Prime Minister Algrim called again.

"Tents! Tents! Tent!" a voice that had a clear Vanir accent appeared. "What good are tents to protect us from this calamity?" he questioned. It was a good question to be sure. One that she shared and one that she didn't know the answer to. They were merely using any means they could to make shelters. They had a few tents that the soldiers from Kytheria had carried with them and some provisions that the ancients had left for them in the catacombs. A few of the soldiers and really anyone who was able bodied had taken to trying to find rocks and logs that had rolled onto the plains just outside the city and they'd made some hovel like residences, but they looked like nothing primitive structures and nothing that would withstand against the Aether's might.

"It's all we have my friend," Algrim stated. "Look some of the soldiers and mages are taking to making some stone settlements," Algrim pointed out. He pointed in the distance where men and women carried boulders and lugged large logs. Some simply floated by as if the wind had picked them up, but they floated right into place stacking on top of the other.

Prime Minister Audric shook his head. "It's not enough! It's not enough," he grumbled in panic. "Would to the Norns my daughter was still alive," he muttered miserably. He let out a wail as he recalled his beautiful Dagmar. He'd do anything to see her among them. "She was a powerful enchantress and a healer," he reminded them. "She could have helped heal so many others," Lord Algrim pointed out. Right by his feet there were still so many citizens of Asgard who had excruciating injuries that they had not even had the opportunity to be seen by a healer. "And you know her powers we great and how clever she was..." he went on. His voice wasn't loud, and he was talking more to himself than to those around him. "I know that she would have found a way to build shelters for us all and she could have used her forcefields to protect us..." he went on and more and more tears streamed down his weathered gray face. Lord Algrim placed his hand on the Prime Minister of Vanaheim's shoulders. They heaved and shook as he started to blubber. "No, no, no, she would have wanted to fight," she would have went racing right toward the palace," he then contradicted. In between his tears he laughed. "I wouldn't let her go. "I'd never let her go; I swear!" He raised his voice and threw his fists in the air. "I never wanted to let her go," he began to babble all the more bitterly.

"It's alright my friend," Algrim tried to soothe.

"NO! NO! NO! It's not alright!" The prime minister shouted in his friend's face. His cheeks were streaked with tears. "She's gone! She's gone! She's all gone. My little girl. I always wanted to protect my little girl," he went on.

Queen Frigga finally allowed herself to rise from the mud. She went to the most distraught Lord Audric. She wrapped her arms around him. "She died a hero," she reminded him. It was little consolation she knew.

"Justlikehermother. Just like her mother," he blubbered against Frigga's shoulder. Queen Frigga attempted to hold her long-time friend up, she could feel him trembling and he was putting his full weight on her. The elder Vanir man's mind reeled. Part of him longed to have his daughter with him again. To tell her in this dark and dreadful hour how she had always been his light and his sunshine and tell her how proud he was of her. He'd hold her close and tell her not to be afraid. That was foolish because he was probably more afraid now than she would have been. She'd have been trying to do everything within her power to stop Ragnarok. She had already done so but look where it had led her. A beautiful woman, young, brilliant and compassionate massacred by beasts for nothing. There was another part of him that was grateful to the Norns that she wasn't here to witness such a calamity. And that he didn't have to actually watch her die or she him. He would never have wanted to be the cause of such grief within her. He had watched how she had mourned that snake, Loki. He was an animal, like a savage, but she'd loved him, and his presumed death had nearly caused her own. The only solace that he had was that evevn if the worst should happen, he'd be reunited with his daughter.

"Come Lord Audric, let us get to shelter," Queen Frigga wrapped her arms tightly around him still trying to support his weight. They took slow and painstaking steps toward her thick tent. All the people scrambled and hurried to the shelters they had made. Old carried young, women bore men upon their backs, children dragged their parents, if necessary, all desperate to take refuge in the hovels that they had hurried to get together. Queen Frigga eventually passed the broken and despondent Prime Minister of Vanaheim or Lord Algrim. He sat the blubbering man down within the queen's tent. Other nobles and important officials who were in the encampment came and made haste into Queen Frigga's tent. The Commander of Communications was among them. He had been badly injured in the battle within the City Square, but he only allowed the healers to patch him up enough to do his job, before he urged them to go and tend to others who had more pressing needs than his. He darted around gathering whatever communication devices they still had among the large company of refugees of the Imperial City and soldiers from Kytheria. He took earpieces and wrist devices. He took the broken backs of holoboards and he started to devise and configure and try to piece together a long-range communicator so that he could send out a distress signal to the rest of Asgard. No part of Asgard was safe from the wake of Ragnarok and no realm for that matter. They had to get more reinforcements and troops to come to the Imperial city.

Queen Frigga remained on the outside of her tent, despite the urging of the courtiers, healers and warriors for her to take shelter. The proud monarch refused. She felt a sense of failure, that she had not protected the people of Asgard well enough, but the least she could do was make sure that every Aesir was able to get the smallest amount of shelter from the Aether ash as it raged and whirled about them all in blistering red winds. There were thousands in the encampment trying to find a space to hide. The Queen took as many as she could into her own tent." Your Majesty! The storm is too great! The storm is too great!" the shrill voice of Mistress Eir, tried to shout over the racket. "Come inside! Come inside!" she beckoned desperately from the tent flap.

"Not until all the people are in," Queen Frigga shouted back as Aether ash stung her eyes and burned her face.

"They are in my lady! They are in!" Lord Algrim stuck his pointy-eared head out of the tent flap over top of Mistress Eir's. "Please. My queen come insider," he implored her. Queen Frigga's bright blue eyes were practically blinded by the toxic, scarlet clouds that mounted all around. The beautiful cerulean of her eyes was gone as they were bloodshot. Tears filled them and once more blurred her vision, but still she squinted to observe that not one single Aesir soul was left unsheltered. They had managed to set up about 40 tents which were of military condition and able to withstand many devastating blows and firey darts, but still they were not made to withstand...this.

Queen Frigga gulped. Perhaps these ragamuffin hovels that they'd been forced to shelter in place would buy them sometime. The queen started to wring her hands. They were filthy, but there was no point in washing them. Silently, she prayed in her heart to the Norns and the fathers of the past for this dreadful catastrophe to be averted. Even the Norns would not be spared from this fearsome fate if it were to fall upon them. Once the Norns had been in power they were feared and revered throughout the universe and all peoples came seeking them, but even one day the sands of time shifted, and their reign was passed to another. "All things end in time," those were the wise words that the dowager queen of the Norns had given to her when she took the throne of Asgard ages ago. Queen Frigga felt a shawl come and wrap around her shoulders. The fabric was feeling fine, but when she looked at the tattered and warn edges, she knew that it had fared no better than the rest of her people.

"Majesty, please sit and rest yourself," Mistress Eir offered. There was a cushioned chair that they had for the royal woman, but the queen immediately shook her head, refuting the typical Aesir hospitality.

"I'll not sit. I'll not rest." she shook her head. "Not while this is going on," she confessed as she looked wide eyes around her. People were huddled together, half clothed, holding broken limbs. They were screaming and crying, some were laid out, just barely clinging to life.

"Your Majesty all that can be done has been done," Lord Algrim tried to assure.

"No." The golden-locked wife of Odin stated abruptly. Her finger raised pointed in Lord Algrim's face. His ears perked to standing on alert. "No," she calmed her tone and spoke more gently. "I am queen. She reminded him. I will do everything I can to protect the people of Asgard, until my dying breath," she reminded him. "You have served me faithfully for a long-time old friend, but I ask you to serve me still," she entreated her prime minister.

"Queen Frigga, I am here for you always, but there is no more that we can do." he expressed it to her.

"I want a report, what are our assets. How many horses, how many warriors, how many mages, how many blades and bows do we have left," she demanded of him. "Make haste, we need numbered!" Queen Frigga commanded. She clapped her hands. She watched as the ever-obedient Lord Algrim went to start asking for the details or counting for himself. He was a good man, and he was a faithful and as loyal to she and Odin as if he had been born their blood kin. He was as committed to Asgard and as invested in her interests as if he had been born here. Algrim was a wise man and he had always given good counsel to the royal family, but he was cautious man. His counsel has generally always to play it safe and in times of peace that counsel was well received, but this was war. "Mistress Eir!" Queen Frigga called the master healer. The wizened woman was talking to a group of young healers. They were so young to Queen Frigga's eyes. She doubted they could have been more than apprentices. She gave a rueful smile to herself. They no longer had the luxury of being called apprentices. They could no longer be considered learners. They were the ones that would be counted on now. Mistress Eir spun around on her heels upon hearing the queen's voice. She rushed toward her. Her long, gray and wavy hair flew behind her as she rushed over to Queen Frigga's side. "Yes, my lady," she gave the genteel gesture of a curtsy.

"Please, old friend," she reached out to the healer who had tended to her and her family in their most dire illnesses for years. 'Tell me the conditions," she urged her. Mistress Eir had always had the best bedside manner. Even when someone was on death's doorstep, she could talk in such hopeful and flowery terms that her words alone seemed to be able to strengthen their bones and bring healing to their souls. It was a gift, and it was one that Queen Frigga had relied heavily upon at times, but now was not that time. "Tell me the truth," Queen Frigga admonished.

Mistress Eir's eyes darted back and forth for a moment. She looked up and down and all around until finally her glance met the queen of Asgard's. "My lady you can see plainly the state we are in," she expressed. She did not wish to be the bearer of bad news. She was a healer. Her job was to provide comfort. What comfort would bad news provide? Perhaps for some there would be comfort in knowing that they would not necessarily die from Ragnarok, that they might succumb to their injuries even within the hour. For others perhaps if the devastating effects of the Aether did as Malekith hoped they would be dead from the darkness, but then at least they wouldn't have to be slaves. Still, Queen Frigga's eyes stayed on her and scrutinized her. Finally, Mistress Eir's shoulders slumped, she let out an exasperated breath. "You hear the coughing, my queen?" she asked as she cupped her hand to her ear. "As the Convergence gets closer the power of the Aether was continuing to surge. The Aether is already thick and heavy upon us and I'm afraid that it will get so thick that soon many won't be able to breathe," she stated. "Children are highly susceptible," she went on. She inclined her head toward a baby that was being cradled by one of the healers. They had no idea where the infant's mother was. "As well as our elderly and those who are already unwell."

"Have we no counter measures?" Queen Frigga asked desperately with wide eyes. She looked around at all those coughing fitfully in her own tent, then she thought of the rest of the encampment.

"I have stationed at least one healer in every tent and rock-fort. I have distributed the most here," the elder woman pointed out. "I was just talking with the healers. The most we can do is try to make sure that no more Aether ash gets into our shelters. These tents are well made and can withstand much but the Aether dust is so fine that it would be almost impossible to seal it off completely.

"Well, we have to try," Queen Frigga immediately reacted.

"Yes, my healers and I think so as well. The ancients left us many provisions in the catacombs," the old medicine woman started to smile.

"Thank the Norns for their foresight," Queen Frigga matched her smile.

"So much of the provisions were lost we the catacomb was set on fire, though," Mistress Eir shook her head.

"We must have something at our disposal," Queen Frigga refuted.

"There are a few barrels of honey," Mistress Eir stated with a shrug. I admit it is a primitive method as I have been reduced to since the 1200s and that was when helping a poor tribe of nomadic merfolk...but it may buy a just a few measly moments," Eir offered with a shrug.

"Well, desperate times," Queen Frigga clapped her hands old the older woman's shoulder and gave them an approving squeeze. Mistress Eir then went on explain to Queen Frigga the idea that her younger healers came up with. They would slather whatever rags they could spare with honey and post them around any opening and cracks they saw in the tents or in the forts made of rocks and branches. The honey would hopefully catch some of the Aether debris. "It seems a good plan," Queen Frigga stated.

"It is primitive," Mistress Eir complained as she crossed her arms over her chest. She hated that they had been reduced to such.

"If it works," Queen Frigga encouraged with a smile. She shrugged. They didn't have a metal dome or a catacomb to hide in and anything that could be used had to be used.

"Even if it works the honey won't withstand against all the Aether ash," she expressed and crossed her arms across her chest. "It's putting a bandage on a cut to the jugular," the master healer explained. "It buys us maybe a few minutes..."

"Minutes count," Queen Frigga reminded the older woman, but she knew the implication. They needed more. Both their eyes shifted. To looking at the healers who were starting to empty the barrels of honey. They rapidly began taking any strips of cloth that they could find and dipping them into the honey. Then they quickly darted to the places in the tent where they saw any hole or gap and placed honey-soaked patches there. "What about the mages?" Queen Frigga pointed out. "Have we any mages?" the blonde-haired wife of Odin questioned. Her bleary blue eyes looked around for Lord Algrim. Wasn't he back gathering the report on the numbers she wanted yet? "Algrim! Algrim!" the queen began to bellow.

As soon as she shouted his name the prime minister seemed to appear. He came racing back toward the queen winded. "Yes, Yes, Your Majesty," he panted as he leaned heavily on his knees.

"Did you get any numbers or tallies, yet?"

"I'm working on it as we speak, my queen," he expressed. His breathing was starting to return to normal. "I had the Commander of Communications calling over the other tents and fortresses, I am sure we will have a full report for you in no time, my lady," he reported.

"I need to know how many mages we have right now," Queen Frigga declared urgently.

"Oh yes, oh yes, my queen, right away," he nodded deeply. He pulled out some parchment that he had started to scribe some of the numbers on. "I don't believe we have any master mages your majesty. Most of them we sent to the palace," He stated wide-eyed.

"Your Majesty," a young woman covered in mud with a distinctly Kytherian style of dress approached the royal woman. She had a few other youths with her.

"Good heavens!" Algrim's ears stood at attention. "How dare you just approach Queen Frigga unannounced and unsummoned," he nearly yelled. "Bow before your queen!" he commanded clapping his hands. "These may be calamitous times, but we will maintain sense of decorum and propriety here in Asgard!" he stated. The young people looked rather taken aback by the abrupt demeanor of the prime Minister.

"Prime Minister Algrim," Queen Frigga gasped. "It is quite alright," she put her hand on his shoulders that were raised as high as his pointed ears. "My people never need be afraid to approach me. Especially our youths," The Queen's smile was pleasant as she looked toward the young people. They looked amongst themselves quite shocked to see her. She was no less stunning even though her armor was dented, dirty and banged up and her hair was flying all over the place in a bedraggled fashion. "Come!" she gently beckoned to them,"

They approached. "We couldn't help but overhear, Your Majesty," the young woman spoke up. She was tall and tawny looking. "We came with the militia from Kytheria," she explained as she pointed to the rest of her companions 6 other youths.

"Your bravery and valor are not unnoted by me," the queen stated. "I thank you for your service."

"it's...it's... it's an honor Queen Frigga," a pudgy blonde-haired young man stated. He had two great mallets slung over her shoulder and he reminded her of her son, Thor.

"Always wanted to have the chance to fight for my kingdom," a taller boy who wore his hair in a short man bun stated with a jaunty laugh. "Never thought I'd get the chance, I'm just a tinker's son," he shrugged.

The young woman who was the first to talk, she slapped her chuckling friend in the shoulder. He was always a jokester, but this was no laughing matter, this was their lives. "We are not masters, Queen Frigga," The young man began humbly, she dares not look the royal woman in her beautiful blue eyes. "But we are elementals," she explained. The motley crew stood a little bit prouder and stronger.

"Elementals!" the female ruler of Asgard's eyes lit up and she clasped her hands together. Many of Asgard like herself and Loki studied mysticism and enchantments, but rarer were those like Thor who were born with a gift. A natural element that they could control at birth. When Thor was born, she had already had several failed pregnancies. Some in which the babe the babe in her womb never grew beyond the point where her stomach even showed the new life which she held Twice she had given birth to a child who was born with their eyes closed. When Thor was born, she prayed to be blessed with a strong and healthy son, for once. She was in great pain when she went into labor with her firstborn son and a fitful storm raged outside. Odin came in and declared that they would name this baby after the fearsome storm that had raged outside. She had no idea that the name would be prophetic. A few weeks later there was another storm. Frigga could hear Thor's terrible cry throughout the palace. Odin insisted that she let the nursemaid take care of Thor, but she couldn't bear the thought of her baby being terrified of a storm and not having his mommy there to comfort him. The nursemaid had quickly confessed that her attempts to soothe the newborn prince. Frigga scooped him into her arms and sang to him. She sang to him not to be afraid of the storm. Thor soon settled into her embrace and when he did, with each little purr and coo that he gave the thunder seemed to give correspondingly gentle rumbles. It was then the queen knew that her son had been appropriately named and that he too was an elemental.

"We know how to manipulate water," another female explained with pride.

"That's wonderful! That's perfect!" Queen Frigga exclaimed as she clapped her hand.

"But mind you milady, we aren't very good," another youth spoke up. He had a good amount of peach fuzz starting to grow in. "We're not masters, we just taught ourselves some things and spar amongst ourselves," he cautioned the queen.

"Stop that! Stop that Kathark," the young woman l who had first stepped forward once again slapped her male companion.

"Listen to me," the queen stated. Her voice was gentle, but all their eyes immediately turned to attention. "You have all now been promoted to the ranks of masters," she expressed to them.

"Your Majesty!" Prime Minister Algrim gasped. "Please, if you just give me a few moments, I am sure I can find us some one who is more capable and trained than these," he insisted.

"Lord Algrim," she said calmly as she turned to face her adviser. "If you find others versed in mysticisms I am happy for them to take part as well, but as for now, these youths must serve as my Master Mages," she extended her hands toward them. They all beamed radiantly. With that Lord Algrim was dismissed. He quickly went back to trying to get the final number for the report. While Algrim walked off irritably and anxiously muttering to himself the Queen of Asgard beckoned the Kytherian youth closer to her. "Please do not mind Prime Minister Algrim, he is in a panic," she explained.

"So are we!" the plump boy with the mallets expressed to the queen.

"And you have every right to be. I bet none of your parents know that you came to fight by my side do they?" she asked with a playful wink.

"We are all adults, my lady," another one of them expressed. Queen Frigga bobbed head and smiled. So, these youths had reached their 800ths birthdays. Coming of age was very important to the young people of Asgard. They may have come of age, but they were still children as far as Queen Frigga was concerned.

Still, the royal woman obliged them with a nod. "Well, mages of Asgard, your queen will ever be indebted to you for your service," she inclined her head toward them.

"What do you wish of us, Your Majesty?" one of the young people asked.

"My initial thought was that the wizards could put a force field around us," Queen Frigga speculated out loud. "It's very important that we keep as much Aether ash as possible out of our tents," Queen Frigga gestured with her head toward the healers who were scrambling to patch in every hole or crack in the tent flaps.

"Well...well...well maybe we could do the same," suggested a freckle faced young woman. She pointed at her chest. "We may not but be able to make a magic infused forcefield, but we can maybe create some kind of ice wall," She suggested perkily, her big brown eyes looked at her friends.

The friends bobbed their heads and nodded excitedly among themselves. "We'd need a lot of water," the youngster who wore the man bun stated. He looked around and looked at the barrels of supplies. They didn't really seem to have much water. This was the queen's tent, which they'd taken to moving most of the supplies too.

"We can get you all the water you need," Queen Frigga stated.

The young man with the ponytail knew better than to contradict the queen of Asgard. But even the queen didn't seem to be able to make such a promise at such a dire time. "But Queen Frigga, don't the healers need the water?" he asked.

"If we are all blown to smithereens or coated in darkness there will be no one to heal," Mistress Eir stated.

The youngest looking of the youth looked around nervously at her friends. She pulled a few of friends by their sleeves and huddled them together. "I don't know, guys," she said in a particular mousy voice in a whisper. "I don't know if we can do something like that," her eyes darted around. "It's too big of an undertaking," her breath came out in quick nervous puffs.

"Come on, Astrid we have to try," insisted the pudgy faced teenager.

"But we are self-taught, Your Majesty," the bender with the mousy voice explained. That didn't surprise Queen Frigga in the least. Many benders were self-taught. She grew up in the hill country. Where many studied the elements of stone and wood. There were few schools for such things in the hills.

"I believe in each and every one of you," Queen Frigga rose and walked toward them. Her arms were outstretched almost pleading with the youths. Queen Frigga's eyes were misting and earnest. They didn't have much time. "Asgard needs you," she stated to them. "Will you serve her to the best of your ability. We will be no worse off for your efforts," she tried to explain to them.

"Of course we will," the leader of them insisted. "That's why we came!" She reminded her friends, and she stomped her foot resolutely. Then she raised a triumphant fist in the air. "FOR ASGARD!" she bellowed in the Queen's face. Her enthusiasm nearly took the queen by surprise and caused her to laugh. Her laughter was cut short as soon a chorus of battle cries rang out from her friends' mouths as well. Before the Queen of Asgard could give them a command, the team of friends from Kytheria took off. They followed behind Mistress Eir who showed them where the barrels as casings of water were.

The young people started to roll barrel after barrel of water out of the tent. Mistress Eir told her healers to make contact with the other healers that she had stationed in the other tents and rock forts within the encampment and tell them to give any bottle, vial, wineskin or barrel of water that they had that they were not directly using in the process of healing at the exact moment. They were told to bring the water vessels outside of their shelter and that the youths would get them. It seemed as though the orders were conveyed and carried out with quickness. When the young elementals came from the tent of Queen Frigga, they had over 50 large barrels of water alone. They quickly set to gathering every other liquid containing vessel that could be spared.

Lord Algrim poked his pointy-eared head out of the tent flap once more. He watched as the young people tried to work quickly. He shook his head and then turned back to face the queen with pinched features. "Queen Frigga, as your advisor, I do not know that that was the best course of action."
"It's the only course of action that can be taken in these dire times, Prime Minister," she explained and started marching away from him.

Algrim was in hot pursuit behind her. "Your Majesty, I could have gotten you a proper count of mages who could have carried out your orders more effectively," he expressed.

"Those young people came out here to be heroes," she stated. "They came with willing hearts to serve their king and their kingdom," Queen Frigga's eyes didn't face the light elf.

"Of course, my lady, I would never say that their hearts are not in the right places, but they may not be capable.

"As I said to them Lord Algrim, we will be no worse off for their effort,"

Lord Algrim's features quirked further into frown. "Debatable," he offered.

"We've no time for a debate," the royal woman stated sternly. "While you are looking for experienced enchanters more and more Aether Ash continues to slip through the cracks and into our lungs, making it harder for the healers to perform any task of healing and save lives," the queen explained.

Algrim went on to bow his gray-haired head. "Of course, your ladyship, I should not have taken to questioning you," Lord Algrim went on as he worried his hands. "You are Agard's queen," he pointed out. "You are a warrior, and you have much wisdom in these matters," he went on as he rubbed his skinny hands together.

Queen Frigga cast a kindly glance at her worried prime minister. "We are all out of our element and out of sorts in matters such as these my friend." she explained. She placed her hand on his shoulder. The skin there was bear and exposed. She thought she'd never seen her long-time friend's tunic looking anything less than perfect and polished. She hoped that they were able to live through this bleak time so that she could once again see Prime Minister Algrim arrayed in all the finery that he loved. "I still want you to continue on with your report. Give me the numbers on how many uninjured warriors we still have," the queen ordered.

"It will be done, Your Ladyship," Algrim said with a stiff-upper lip and a firm face. He pulled back out the parchment that he had a went back to his task. He called into his communication device asking for the names of those who were still able bodied.

On the outside of the tents, the young elementals were busily harvesting the barrels that had been left for them. The healers had helped the young people. They had given them the few breathing masks that they had left as well as outfitting them with air-bubbles. Mistress Eir came out herself and showed them how to for the air bubbles with the water that they had. "This is incredible," one of the members of the small band of friends confessed as she plopped the water bubble over her head without popping it.

"Are you also an Elemental, Mistress Eir," asked one of the young men.

"No," the master healer explained. "But many of the ancient arts share components," she explained to him. "Some of my early healing techniques, I learned from an Elemental of the Elfish clans," she continued. "She was gifted with controlling water, just like you all," she pointed out to the young people. She took note as some of them squared their shoulders and they seemed to swell with pride. "If we live through this, I would be honored to teach you all, what I know of how to use the power of water, to help heal and protect the body," she stated.

Their eyes were all alight. They looked at each other with a type of giddy anxious excitement that was often in young people. With that the regal, elderly woman gave them a curtsy and proceeded to head back inside the tent with Queen Frigga. The young people stood around gaping for a minute as they looked at one another. With their newly outfitted air bubbles, they all looked like mortal astronauts. "Did you hear that, you all?" the leader of the troop stated. "We could be healers," her smile was bright as she relished the thought.

"You would make a great healer, Astrid," confessed the shorter girl to the one who was leading them in this mission.

"No, it would definitely be you, Berta," stated Astrid as she wrapped her arm around her friend's shoulders.

"Come on ladies, let not get too excited," the young man who wore the man bun stated as he hoisted a barrel of water over his shoulder and plopped it down. He pulled out the cork and immediately drew the liquid contents out of the barrel. The water floated in the air like a liquid sheet blowing in the breeze. "WE won't be learning anything if we're dead," he reminded them.

"I think, we got all the water that there is here," Petroul, the pudgy, tall, blonde boy stated. He and two others had just finished laboring and lumbering to bring forth every vessel that the Aesir could possibly fill with even the tiniest drop of water. The team looked around them and amazingly enough they had assembled 300 containers of water.

"Twill, is right!" Astrid stated firmly. She slammed her fist into her palm. "We gotta get cracking," she stated to her small band. "I think Mistress Eir gave me an idea," she started.

"Well, what? What is it?' demanded a thin young man who was bespectacled. He was breathless and panting on his knees, already exhausted from the labor of carrying barrel after barrel toward the group.

"We'll make a giant air-bubble, a protective layer and put it over the encampment," she expressed as she tapped on the bubble over her own head.

"Astrid are you sure we will even have enough water," another girl hunched up her shoulders. "The encampment is huge," she pointed out. And it was relatively speaking.

"We only have, 300 vessels and some are just pots!" Petroul practically screamed in panic.

"C'mon, we don't have time to think," Astrid pointed out to her worried comrades, "It'll work," she encouraged them all. She opened up another barrel full of water. She moved her hands in a bubbling motion and started to make an ever-expanding dome-like shape. "Come on!" she called her friends. They saw what she was doing and quickly, one by one, they started whipping more and more water out of their containers and spreading it in a thin layer forming a protective layer over the encampment. "Spready out! Spread out!" Astrid yelled to her friends. "We have to make sure every tent and fort are covered." They rushed about and stood around the perimeter of the encampment. Each one took a different post. They stood with their hands raised and held up the protective bubble of water.

"I think... I... I think it's working!" Petroul shouted as he kept his thick arms raised up in the air, making sure that the watery barrier they had created didn't falter. A smile spread across his face as well as across the faces of others.

Some of the other Aesir stuck their heads out of their makeshift shelters and saw the barrier that the young elementals had created. "They've done it! They've done it! It looks like they have done it, Queen Frigga!" called out Lord Audric as he managed to poke his head out of the tent flap. Mistress Eir's healers at once came over and chided him like he was a naughty little schoolboy and they shooed him away and immediately urged him to close the flap so that they could seal it with the honey that they had to keep out the still swirling fragments of Aether ash out. Lord Audric hobbled away but continued to exclaim the whole time about the young elementals.

"I knew they could do it," Queen Frigga expressed calmly. There was a twinkle in her eye and mist there. There was a slight smile on her face. She sucked in a sharp breath and dared to allow her heart to be kindled with hope in these dire times. She clutched her hands together in gratitude. Perhaps the fathers of the past heard her prayers. "When push comes to shove the power to overcome is always in the heart," the queen of Asgard stated.

Lord Audric could only nod. "Yes, of course," he bobbed his head humbly before the queen. She was such a hopeful woman, much like his late wife had been and he knew that his wife would have been pleased that their daughter had gotten to spend so much time with Queen Frigga during her lifetime so that she could have some of the values that she held dear instilled into their only child. He himself was ashamed to admit it now, but he had never been a hopeful man. He was practical at best and pessimistic and fearful at his worst. It was his own fear that had allowed him to take bribes instead of working more tirelessly to end the feuding in Vanaheim. It was his pessimistic nature that had prompted him to push Dagmar to go through with the extraction. He honestly hadn't thought that Loki was redeemable, he still didn't. There was no hope that monsters could change, but Dagmar could have at least gotten some glory and honor out of the task. She could have been like a knight slaying a dragon, but his pessimism had backfired on them. He shouldn't have brought them to Asgard...if they had been in Vanaheim.

Lord Audric clenched his teeth and fists together, physically stopping himself from thinking anymore of his daughter. But that was nearly impossible, he missed her too much. Audric was tempted to go back and look out at the tent flap again. When he had seen the airtight bubble that they had created he couldn't help but think of his beloved Dagmar. She had been gifted in all her studies when she put her mind to it, but he had always been impressed with the way that she had easily learned to bend and control water. It wasn't an innate gift from birth, but she was so masterful that it might as well have been. The way that she could move and twirl her hands and arms and twist her body to control the water was like a liquid dance. He longed to see her out there helping those young people now. He could only imagine how she would have loved to help to train these naturally gifted young people. Despite himself Lord Audric's purple eyes misted with thoughts of his daughter. He started to try to wipe them away once more. He felt the queen's hand on his back.

"Queen Frigga! Queen Frigga!" The Commander of Communications came calling to the royal. He was carrying a communication tablet in hand. The poor machine was beaten and cracked, but it still managed to be able to pick up a transmission. The commander had desperately been trying to keep all the lines of communication alive. Still, even this device seemed like it would die out soon. He came bounding toward the queen breathless as could be. He tried to do his best to bow. "A message," he said panting. "A message," he repeated and waved the communication tablet at the queen. The cracked holo screen displayed a brown skin face and she could see the vibration signals displayed there that let her know that someone was speaking. "It...is...it...is Healer Onrac," he continued to try to explain.

Queen Frigga's eyes went wide. She had left her personal physician carrying for her husband in what she knew would be his last moments. His breath had been so shallow, he'd had a heart attack and a seizure while in his Odin sleep. It was dreadful, she had been his queen for 1000s of years, she'd been by his side in sickness and his health for century upon century, she'd never seen him this bad. His skin had been ghastly pale, cold as stone, his eyes didn't even flutter and he gasped desperately. She knew that the devastation of Asgard had been simply too much for him to bear. Asgard was a beloved daughter to the king. They had already borne the tremendous grief of losing a child. It was a pain that seemed unbearable, and, in that grief, Odin had borne most of it alone. She knew her husband mourned Loki when they had thought that he'd fallen to his death from the Bifrost, he'd expressed his sorrow for their loss, he had stated how he missed their son's impish laughter and sharp wit, he'd talked about his guilt over his death, but after they had had the funeral ceremony, Loki didn't open up to talk more about the incident again. She'd thought that the husband had been trying to spare her, that he didn't want to bring it up for her sake. He wanted them to move on and heal, but another part of her thought that it was just too painful for him to speak about. Maybe it was all well enough for Loki to be found and returned to them, but then to see Loki become a maniac and attempt massacre their other children (Thor and Asgard). It was a blade to an already fragile heart. She'd known he was dying; he was good as dead when she had parted with him. She just wanted her husband's soul to find peace and rest in Valhalla, not have to be tortured for all eternity. She didn't to hear the report of his death. Not now. It would do nothing. It would change nothing. She couldn't save him now, but she would still do everything within her power to save their kingdom. "News of the king," he pointed urgently toward the tablet.

"No!" Queen Frigga pushed the communication tablet away.

"Your Majesty, you must!" the Commander of Communication insisted. "This is news of the king," he insisted. From the communication device she could see Healer Onrac's face flickering on the screen. The connection signal was weak, and she could scarcely make out his voice.

Queen Frigga continued in her refusal. She kept her eyes distant. "Queen Frigga," the voice of the long-time friend of her and her husband cut into her thoughts. "Perhaps you should hear the message," he prompted her.

The monarch held up her hand halting the foreign dignitary in his words. She then bolted from him. She rushed toward the hole that had been torn into her tent by the fierce storm. The healers were quickly working to mend it with their quick-and-dirty patch jobs of honey and towels that looked little better than rags. "We are almost done, Your Majesty," one of the young healers expressed breathlessly. She put some honey on a stick and she was ready to smear it all over the towels.

"Stop," Queen Frigga ordered them. Her eyes darting nervously back and forth as she beheld all that was around her. Everyone was either in a frantic frenzy, rushing about scrambling desperate to do whatever it took to save their lives, or they were lying perfectly still fighting for their life. The tent was filled with bitter wails of those crying out in pain from their blisters and burns, from cuts and lacerations to their limbs and vital organs. Others were still crying out desperately from heartache over lost loved ones.

"Your Majesty is everything alright?" asked the head healer. "We are almost done sealing everything up," she explained. "The honey-soaked towels won't hold up long, but it can buy us some time," Mistress Eir went on. She saw Queen Frigga nodding, but the royal woman wasn't saying a word.

Queen Frigga peered through the hole; she saw the young elementals doing their work as best they could. They were working full force, using all that was in them. A smile crept across her face as she saw how they had formed the protective air-tight bubble around them. Her heart swelled with pride. It always made her feel proud to behold the young people of Asgard gain success in their fields particularly the areas of mystic arts. She remembered what it was like being a young woman discovering her gifts and talents for the first time. She felt excited to see things grow in her garden by her hand and by her power. She had felt stunned and excited when she'd found that she'd been blessed with visions as a seer. Seeing her visions come to pass and knowing that her gifts could possibly be used to help people was even more of a delight. She continued to watch them all. Even from her vantage point she could see how their arms shook, how they were strained and pressed but trying their best to protect their kingdom.

In watching them, she was reminded of her son, Loki, his brilliance and giftedness in his enchantments. She had been so proud to teach him. "Is magic silly, mummy?" Loki asked her sweetly one day after their lesson. They had been working on floating objects and her youngest was a quick study. They had only been working on the skill for a few weeks, but Loki was already able to levitate objects of various weights and sizes.

Frigga quicker her brows as she tucked him in. "The only thing silly is that question!" she chided him as she tapped at his pointed nose. "Think of how hard you have been studying," she reminded her.

"Well, yeah, but you know everyone else says that magic is just silly," he confessed with a pout. "They say it's just for like fun and entertainment..." he cast his emerald eyes down and looked at his blankets while fiddling his pale fingers.

"Who is everybody?' she questioned hands on her hips, she stuck out her lips playfully trying get a smile out of her youngest, but Loki's expression continued to be downcast. "I don't say that" she pointed to herself. "Your father doesn't say that" she stated more somberly with her hand on her son's shoulder. She finally nudged up his chin so that he could look at her. She saw tears shimmering in his enchanted green eyes.

"Other children," Loki finally confessed. "Thor, our friends..." he shrugged his shoulders. "They say it can't do anything to help save Asgard like training to be a warrior," he expressed to the beautiful queen.

"But that's not true, Loki," Frigga stated to her son quickly. She reached out and took her son's hand. "it's a powerful form of warfare!" she informed him. "You'll see. You'll learn so much, you'll go beyond what I can even teach you," she continued as she waved her hands around. She quickly got up from the bed and went over to the wall that was a bookshelf. She pressed one of the side stones next to the candelabra and the bookshelf turned around Queen Frigga disappeared as if by magic. Loki's eyes went. wide, his mouth dangled open, and he crawled to the edge of his bed. Quick as flash the queen returned, looking radiant as ever and carrying a large tome. It was old, well, worn, dusty, but beautiful. She sat back on the bed and presented it to the dark-haired prince. She placed the large, heavy leatherbound on Loki's lap. He made an exaggerated expression about how heavy the book was.

He traced his hands over the words that were written in the book. The lettering was golden but worn. "Combat Magic," Loki stated, his eye enlarged as he beheld the thick book. "All this?" he asked as he attempted to hoist the massive tome off of his lap where his mother had plopped it. His gangly arms shook, and he was only able to lift in a few inches.

Frigga nodded and laughed at her darling son; she ruffled his mop of raven-locks. "Yes, and there's more than this," she pointed out.

"Will you teach me?" Loki quickly asked.

"I don't know much of this I'm afraid, my son," Queen Frigga stated with a smile, "but you will learn all of this and more," she reminded her. "And then you'll not only be one of the best wizards, but warriors that Asgard has ever had!" she told him and wrapped him in a tight embrace.

"Can we get started? Can we get started reading?" he asked with bright eyes.

"You can start reading in the morning, Loki," his mother said sweetly to him. "It is very late, and you must get some sleep child," she reminded him as she took the book away and sat it on his nightstand. She pulled the rich quilts up over him and started to tuck him in once more.

Her lips were just about to touch his cool forehead, his eyes shined up at her. "Please, Mummy," he begged. "Just one page tonight, please!" He entreated her again. Those eyes, those big green eyes, how could she ever resist? She shrugged her shoulders and sighed in defeat.

"One page," she held up a finger and tried her best to use her sternest maternal voice, but the playful glint in her eye gave her away. She took a seat next to her son and picked up the ancient manuscript full of stories of how great enchanters had used magic to protect Asgard for many centuries.

Queen Frigga thought proudly of when the powers described in the story became more than mere fables from an old text, but they became alive to him. Abilities that he could use and manipulate and fight with. She continued to watch the young elemental enchanters as they did all they could to hold the protective bubble that they had formed around the encampment. She saw how the red haze grew deeper and thicker and swirled all around the bubble. It was like a virus trying to get in and attack healthy cells. The only problem was the cells weren't so healthy. Queen Frigga felt a knot of worry form in her gut. Still, as she saw them holding up the barrier, they had created with water she was reminded of Loki all the more. She thought of when he had Thor had gone out into that dreadful blizzard to hunt a bilgeschnipe. Loki had been badly injured, but when he came to her and was well healed, he and his brother told her of their grand adventure and Thor proudly proclaimed that he saw Loki create an amazing force-field. She'd felt proud of him, and she wished that she had been able to see him then as she saw these young people now. If they survived this, and at that moment it was a very big if (she gulped) then she would make sure that these young people were honored in the way that all warriors of Asgard should be honored. The way that her youngest son had longed to be honored and never was. Queen Frigga frowned. She saw the flash of green light that flickered from the tip of the Southern Tower. She wondered if the others had seen it too, but in the midst of the commotion and panic that was going on, she wondered if they had even noticed. Loki, the most powerful enchanter that they had, was using his powers for good, once again to save them all, but would it be too little, too late? And even if he could help to save Asgard after everything he'd done, she didn't know if he would truly ever be able to find the warriors honor that he had so desperately craved.

In the background Queen Frigga could hear the commander and the prime minister and even Mistress Eir all trying to convince her to take the message that had been transmitted from the Southern Palace, she almost turned around and gave into their request, but then she heard the anxious chatter of the young friends from Kytheria who were protecting them at the moment:

The Aether ash continued to gather and swell and bombard the water bubble. The bubble seemed to get weaker as it was continuously and relentlessly peppered with searing, hot, red Aether ash. The Aether seemed to have a mind of its own. Each millisecond brought the peak of Convergence a little bit closer and with that made the Aether more powerful. It started swirling around in different shapes as if it was trying to find any form it could to break down the barrier. "The bubble won't hold much longer!" screamed Astrid. Her brow was furrowed with concentration as she tried to maintain her section. The Aether had formed into its more natural liquid state and was now trying to push its way through the bubble.

"There's nothing we can do!" panted the boy with blonde hair.

"it's too powerful too strong," stated the bespectacled young woman. She sank to her knees doing everything she could to not lose control of her section. Her arms shook terribly as she tried to hold up against the ruthless power of the Aether. The Aether was beginning to meld into the water wall that they had formed, and the bubble was slowly starting to morph into a red shade.

"Hold on a little longer, friends," Astrid admonished her group, but she sounded exhausted.

"We should retreat," urged the young man with the man bun cried out. He sounded as if he was in pain. The way the Aether was weighing down so heavily upon the air-tight bubble made the water heavier to hold, it made it seem as though he was actually physically holding the bubble instead of using telekinetic powers.

"Retreat to where? There's nowhere else to go?" questioned another member of their band. Beads of sweat ran down her face. As she pressed to hold the bubble in place.

"We gotta do something," the golden-locked youth reminded them. He was the biggest and strongest of them physically, but he looked warn down.

"it's too late! It's too later!" cried the young lady with spectacles. Her eyes gazed up in horror at the bubble. She watched as the once clear watery bubble was starting to be taken over by the hateful red ooze. The Aether Ash started to infuse the bubble layer and soon it would shoot through and infect everything.

"What do we do? What do we do?" one of the young people called to his friends. He looked slightly younger than the rest. He started to hyperventilate.

"Astrid! It's too much for us, we can't hold this," the light-skin young man with the man bun informed their leader. "Do you have a plan?" he yelled over the sound of the howling wind and thunder. The young woman from Kytheria who had led her friends into this warzone. She hadn't actually thought that they'd be required to use such burgeoning powers. Her eyes were wide. The Aether was surrounding them. It was forming another blob like bubble overtop of the one they had formed. It was trying to push through, and it was succeeding. It was pressing on their bubble barrier as if it intended to burst it. Despite their lack of experience in this area they were managing to somehow keep their bubble from bursting, but the destructive Infinity Stone would not be deterred. When the crimson sludge was left to its own devices it fulfilled its dark design, and it only had the power to destroy. It wanted to destroy and consume and alter all matter that was before it. And with Convergence riding on the wings of the dawn it had a particularly good chance of doing just that. Although the tremendous amount of Aether Ash hadn't quite permeated the shield it had certainly fused with it and shrunken the size. Astrid's mind tried to think.

Her eyes lit up for the first time in what seemed like eons not in fear, "Freeze it!" she told her squad.

"What?" one member of her team shouted.

"FREEZE THE BUBBLE!" Astrid yelled at the top of her lungs. The young elementals looked at the friend nearest them. They all exchanged telling glances and with uniformed nods they made a silent agreement amongst themselves. They reached their hands up a little higher and then quickly, in unison they all formed their left hand into tight fists. With that swift motion, the bubble turned to ice. It became a protective solid dome. The Aether ash that was already fused into the bubble staining it red was trapped, frozen unable to expand into its natural state of disorder a chaos where it spread and expanded everywhere like wildfire. It was trapped. For the time being. The young elemental relaxed for just a second. They all heaved a collective sigh and wiped their brows. They fell to the floor on their knees. They huddled and scooted next to each other. They let out a mix of congratulations to one another and whimpers. They wrapped their arms around one another and sobbed into each other's shoulders.

"They've done it." The queen of Asgard whispered gratefully as she saw that the Aether was contained. "That ice wall won't hold forever, Astrid," explained one of the young woman's friends.

Astrid bobbed her head. She was still breathless from the feat. Not that it took so much strength, but she was astonished that she and her friends, a bunch of self-trained children of peasants, had been able to do something to save some of the highest-ranking people in Asgard including the queen. "I know...I know... I know," Astrid mumbled as she caught her breath. "It buys us, sometime though," she reminded them.

Queen Frigga heard their conversation; she was surprised that all of those gathered around her couldn't hear the words that were being spoken by the young Kytherians since they were shouting to be heard over the storm. The golden-haired all-mother finally pushed away from the small hole in the tent flap where her one beautiful eye had been straining to see all that was transpiring outside. As soon as the queen had taken a step back the young healers immediately rushed toward the tear in the thickest fabric that the Aesir made and attempted to patch it with cloth damp with honey. The wife of Odin's ears were once more assaulted by the sound of the endless chatter of her officials.

"Queen Frigga, Queen Frigga, please," the commander of communications entreated her. "I don't know how much longer we will be able to hold the signal," he pressed. He held the tablet up before her and the fuzzy image of her personal physician flickered on the screen. The commander of the communications who was an expert in such technology had some type of makeshift antenna that he had constructed to try to keep the signal from so far away alive in this dreadful storm.

"Your Majesty we must patch the hole," one of the healers urged her.

"Queen Frigga, is...is...is...my husband alright? Is he alive?" Volstagg's wife's raspy voice called out to her queen. The poor woman's children were gathered around her weeping and sobbing as they held her. They were so afraid. They didn't know where their father was and then they were faced with the prospect of losing their mother. She raised a shaky hand toward the all-mother. Her hand immediately collapsed upon raising it.

More people continued to call out to the queen. "My lady, I have the report," Algrim came back and reported to her. He was out of breath as he did so, but immediately took a knee before the royal woman.

For a moment, Queen Frigga wanted to raise her hands to her ears and cover them to drown out all the noise. "Silence," the queen mumbled to herself as she closed her eyes. "Silence!" she declared once more, her voice rising. There was still moaning and groaning, wailing and worried murmuring going on within the queen's massive tent, but those who were gathered right around the queen of Asgard fell still. Queen Frigga's eyes narrowed as she stared at them. Her face formed a frown as she reached out with an unsteady finger toward the tablet that the Commander of Communcation desperately seemed to be trying to shove in her face. It seemed as though Healer Onrac could make out her face and he started to talk. His words became garbled by the weak signal. They sounded staticky and broken up. The queen pressed the power down button on the tablet and shut the machine off.

An instant gasp came from the commander. "Your Majesty?' he said in a bewildered tone. "Why did you? How could you?" his words came out quickly. So quickly that he forgot himself. He was simply the Commander of Communication for Southern Palace, he was a well respect military officer, but he had no right to address the queen in such a way. "Word of the king, my lady, word of the king," he shook his head. "Did you not want to hear it?' he questioned with eyes wide and watery.

The golden-locked monarch shook her head. "News of the king can do nothing for me... for us now," she expressed to him and all those around her. "I do not need Healer Onrac to confirm to me that which I already know," she expressed. She hung her head. She loved her husband with all her heart, but she could not sit there in mourning for him, not now. Odin it seemed had crossed over to the other side due to a broken heart... a heart attack. She knew his pain. She felt it as if it were her very own and in part it was. Both their hearts broke for their son, Loki. The fact the boy they had raised and loved had turned into this treacherous creature. The fact that Asgard was under such an attack without the means or the strength to fight back was what had caused his heart to burst. A tear slid down Queen Frigga's cheek. She would mourn him. She would cry and weep for her husband for all time, if necessary, if she died today, she would join him soon enough and in all honesty that didn't seem like a bad option to her. But surrendering to the death was not the Aesir way. So, she wouldn't just let herself or her people lay here and die, waiting for death like a bunch of cowards. She was determined that she and her people would fight. So that even if she perished Asgard would have a chance at survival. "There is nothing that news of the king can do for us now," she repeated to them as she wiped the tears from her crystal blue eyes. "We must do something for us," she continued. "We must fight. Everyone who is able must keep fighting to make sure Ragnarök does not come to pass," she admonished them. "I am proud of the young Kytherians," she pointed back toward the tent flap where just outside the young elementals, who were still endeavoring with their abilities to hold up an ice wall. "But it is not enough," she expressed. "The shield they have created will not hold for much longer," she told them. "We have less than hour until Convergence is at its zenith to be precise, and by then it will be too late," Queen Frigga stated. "We need to mount what every people we have who are able to still fight and take the palace!" Queen Frigga declared. "Go stand and fight with Prince Thor! Fight for Asgard!" Queen Frigga rallied the people. She lifted a triumphant fist in the air.

"There is still time. There is still time," she heard one of the healers stating to one another.

"We can do it," Lord Audric found himself saying.

"For Asgard! For Asgard!" Those gathered around the queen started to shout. Their first proudly pumped in the air.

Queen Frigga inclined her head back toward her prime minister. "You have the numbers for how many able-bodied people we have?" she questioned him with a shrewd eye.

"Yes, yes, yes, Your Majesty, of course," Algrim's dirty pale hands fumbled to try and produce the scroll that he had been quickly scrawling, jot and tittle on. He presented it to Frigga.

Queen Frigga held out her hand in a halt position. "Assemble them, horses and vehicles too," she told him. "How many mages do we have among us?" she inquired of the Lord Algrim.

"Not many, 15," he reported humbly.

"Have the mages go and help them with bubble," she expressed and pointed toward the tent flap.

"Right away, Majesty," the prime minister nodded quickly. The elfin prime minister put his wrist communicator up to his lips and started sending out orders. He hoped that someone in the other tents could hear.

"And soldiers, how many soldiers do we have?" Queen Frigga quickly asked.

Algrim quickly wrapped up his communication and then turned to Queen Frigga, "Well, that is a little harder to quantify, my lady," he began. His tone was worried as he fiddled with his fingers. I mean we have many warriors and those that I have spoken with all swear that they are able to fight, but we cannot be sure that they are up for the battle," Lord Algrim stated.

"Any man or woman that has come this far and is still standing and willing to fight are approved by me," Queen Frigga stated matter-of-factly.

"Queen Frigga, I must protest," Mistress Eir Spoke up. She pushed her way through a few others who were standing in front of her. "As Master Healer of this Realm I must insist that I inspect these troops. Too many of our warriors are injured and truth be told, Your Majesty, my healers are weakened and fatigued, and we lack resources," the elderly traditional healer went on.

The royal woman held up her hand halting her long-time friend mid word. "I respect your judgement as always, my dear friend. You are one of the wisest women I know. You have cared for more wounded warriors than anyone, but there will be no wounded warriors to care for if there is no Asgard," she pointed out to her. The queen's words struck the expert healer, and she bowed her head. Queen Frigga heard her mumble her consent. "But I do want you and your healing team to accompany us,"
"US! US! US!" Lord Algrim balked as he nearly choked on his spit. "Your Majesty, please...I hope you aren't implying that you intend to go to the palace," Lord Algrim grabbed her hands. He looked into the queen's bright blue eyes. They were stern as steel. "You cannot! This is too dangerous!" Lord Algrim yelled.
"Lord Algrim, I appreciate your concern, but we have no time for this debate," she clutched his hand back. "We have but moments until Ragnarök possibly befalls all of us!" she pointed around. "Everyone who is able must help us fight to save our lives, our very existence and that includes me," she declared.

"My queen, how can you even think of going to storm the palace with the warriors when you do not even know the word on our king?" asked the Commander of Communication. He was practically hyperventilating.

"He's right, Your Highness, you will be Asgard's sole ruler..." the prime minister of Vanaheim stated to her. "Your kingdom can't afford to lose you," he reminded her.

"This kingdom cannot afford to lose my sons," Queen Frigga uttered. As the word tumbled out of her mouth, she heard an audible gasp as they heard her say 'sons', as if it was some curse word. She took a gulp. This was no time to alienate the people. "Prince Thor is the future of this kingdom," she added. "Not me," she reminded them. "The future of this kingdom hasn't rested on my shoulders for many centuries, now. But if we fight and help Prince Thor, if we win, even if I don't survive," she assured them. She then turned toward the Commander of Communication, "Commander," she started pointing at him. "I need you to relay this message. Try to send it out to every province, town, shire, and city in Asgard." The commander was frazzled he looked up at her. He had been trying to get the signal back toward the palace of Kytheria. "Let them know that this is the time, and all Asgardians are needed, this is our darkest and most crucial hour. If they come, they shall be greatly rewarded. They shall be rewarded with their lives and the lives of their posterity and free Asgard and the freedom of the Nine Realms," Queen Frigga proclaimed. The commander took the queen's dictation and rushed off toward the back of the tent where there were a few more computers and tablets that he could use. Those who were among the company in the queen's tent began to get ready to ride again.

The Commander of Communication made great haste to piece together and fiddle with the computers that they had left. He pulled up an older looking contraption. It had flat panels and a keyboard with old rune script. The buttons and dials on the keyboard lit up with the commander started to type. His fingers were as sweaty as the rest of his brow as he furiously tried to type out the words that the Queen had stated. He was hoping that the message would be transmitted to the couriers' offices in all the Asgardian cities and towns. He would send it to the precincts where local city watchmen were posted. He was grateful that this machine didn't necessarily require strong signals or waves because most of that would be completely obscured by the storm that raged outside. He used old codes to send out the message and hoped that they would make it.

Once the Commander of Communication had sent out the message to every town and shire and village in Asgard that he could think of. He returned his attention to the see-through glass tablet which Healer Onrac had contacted him through. He quickly switched the tablet back on. No sooner had he switched it on did he saw that a message was coming from the palace of Kytheria. The Tablet was lighting up brilliantly. It was blinking in all manner of blue and green colors. "Hello! Hello!" the commander called as he beheld the flickering image of Healer Onrac. His visage was blurry, but the commander was certainly happy to healer.

"Commander? Is that you?" the words from the other end of the screen came across cracked and staticky.

"Yes, yes, Healer Onrac, I am here," the military official from Kytheria confirmed.

"Thank goodness," Healer Onrac sighed with relief as he wiped his sweaty bald, brown head. "I surely, had feared the worse when you were just cut off like that. I was trying to speak with her Majesty. Where is Queen Frigga," he asked looking around as if he would be able to spy on her through the tablet.

"Healer Onrac, please you must help us," the Commander of Communication entreated the queen's personal physician.

"What? What can I do?" the doctor question as he pointed to himself. "Is the queen alright?" he questioned with wide brown eyes.

"She's fine...she's fine," he stammered. "For now," he panted. "You know that time is running out? We have less than hour to Convergence is at its peak!" the commander practically screamed. "We need help!" he called into the speaker of the tablet. "Queen Frigga is going to lead a second charge on the palace," he explained.

"WHAT!" Healer Onrac gasped. Healer Onrac's face looked shocked and horrified, but in the background the Commander of Communication could have sworn he heard laughing. Laughing? Laughing? This was no time to laugh. It was a time to be screaming, a time to be crying, a time to let out a battle cry. It was a time for communication, but it was in no way a time for laughing. The Commander of Communication must have been mistaken in what he heard. Sure, that was just static or interference coming into the device. "She cannot! She cannot," Healer Onrac started to protest, but there were words being spoken in the background, words that the commander could not make out although he tried to turn up the signal to pick up background noise. It didn't seem to be working. "Let me talk to Queen Frigga right away!" Healer Onrac demanded. "Put her on man, put her on!" he shouted even more desperately across the screen.

The Commander of Communication turned around and looked over his shoulders. He was astonished as he found in just those few moments the tent that was already filled to capacity with the wounded and infirmed among them and with nobles and peasants and healers and a few warriors started to become even more densely populated. Aesir men and women seemed to file into the tent flap. They bowed before the Queen of the realm instantly ready and eager to sever in the fight of their lives once more. The queen commissioned each of them personally. She outfitted them with what few weapons they still had. Lord Audric passed out the few remaining arms. Some of the citizens were only able to receive iron rods and wooden boards. Some were merely laden down with a few bricks. Those who still had their own sword, spear or bow and arrow were fortunate. Once the warriors and would be warriors were furnished with arms, they went to see Mistress Eir and her healers. The healers quickly provided those who were willing to continue in the fight for their homeland with watery, bubble helmets. It was the same brilliant method that Mistress Eir had shown the young Elementals to help them form the protective ice dome around their ragamuffin encampment. The Aesir walked out of Queen Frigga's tent all looking like the equivalent of mortal astronauts. "Won't they pop, Mistress?" one of the apprentice healers asked as she breathed a breath into the suds that surrounded her hand. She formed it large enough so that it could fit over the person's head.

Mistress Eir kept in her work but answered the young healer's question. "We are stripped down to the most provincial methods of the ancients," she explained. "We must be grateful that our ancestors had great foresight," she reminded her team. "These barrels are full of Pothos soap," she went on. "Pothos is a plant that grows high up on the floating mountains. It is oxygen producing," she went on. "The bubbles will be strong enough to last 15 minutes and withstand the onslaught of the Aether. That should be enough time for them to make it to the palace," she concluded. With that everyone was busy as they went back to their work.

"Commander! Commander! Have you seen the queen? Do you have eyes on Queen Frigga?" Healer Onrac continued to question.

"She's a little preoccupied at the moment, sir," the officer expressed.

"That is no matter!" Healer Onrac shook his bald head wildly. "I must speak with her! You cannot let her leave," he finally let out a desperate sigh.

"Healer Onrac, you should know better than I that there is no point in arguing with our queen and there is not one of us that has a right to dictate to her," the commander explained.

Healer Onrac wiped his handkerchief across his bald head. It looked like a bucket of water had been dropped on him. "She must heed counsel! He fumed. He started to pace back and forth with worry. "She is too rash, too bold, too reckless of a woman," he muttered in a distraught fashion. He seemed as if he had turned away from the Commander of Communication and he seemed to be carrying on a conversation with someone else. It could have been anyone the Commander of Communications supposed.

"That it was makes her such a great Queen," a voice in the background stated. There was pride in the tone of whoever was speaking. The voice was a grizzled whisper.

"Healer Onrac, are you still there? Are you still there?" the Commander of Communication asked frantically as he twisted dials and knobs on the old device. He was feverishly seeking to maintain the signal. He started to stand up and move all around to try to get the image back on the screen.

"I can! I can, hear you, Commander come in!" Healer Onrac called as he clutched the edges of the device on his end.

"I've lost the picture," the Commander of Communication declared.

"What?" the physician balked at his words. Healer Onrac, who was always known as a kind a patient physician by those under his care and was praised for his excellent bedside manner, by his closest family and friends he was always consider mild-manner and soft-spoken, felt like he was becoming a raving lunatic. He supposed that if there was ever a time to be considered a raving lunatic though that now was a good and as needful a time as any to become one. "Are you the Commander of Communications or not? Come on, get the picture back up. This is urgent! Queen Frigga must see!" he shouted.

"I...I...I-can-cannot...not..not" the Commander of Communications voice started to break up. "The...the...Ae-ther-rr-rr...storm...too strong," the words came through choppily. "Please...Please...relay...Qu-Qu-Queen Frigga's message...we need...-h-help...more troops," he tried to articulate as quickly as possible for fear that soon that instrument which was holding onto power by a wing and a prayer would die. He then told Healer Onrac the words that Queen Frigga had spoken and her message that she wanted sent out to all the provinces, villages, towns and cities of Asgard.

"I'll send it," was the affirmative reply that the Commander of Communication finally heard from the master healer just as the device died. The Commander of Communication said a silent prayer that the message would be able to make it through, but it was out of his hands now. He went to turn around to Queen Frigga to tell her that he had done as she had requested. He started to chuckle as he started to express to her that if they survived this then she may have to look for another physician as she was surely going to cause Healer Onrac to have a heart attack. But no sooner had the commander turned around had he found that the tent had been cleared out of all but a few a mostly the weakest as the sickest among them remained in the tent under the care of a few of the healing staff. Queen Frigga was gone.

The Commander of Communications stumbled toward the opening of the tent. It blew about. He dared to pull it open wide. Before his eyes he watched as a few mages darted out from the additional hovels, tents and forts that they had composed. They raced quick as they could toward the icy fortress that the young people from Kytheria had created. They came out with their hands illuminated with shields that were body length made of various colors. It looked like some sort of prismatic rainbow. They ran to fill in the gaps with the young elementals who already looked stressed and strained as the destructive power of the Aether continued to berate the icy barrier. "I don't know how much longer I can hold it!" cried one of the young people, he was on his knees and sinking into the mud, deeper and deeper as he spoke.

Astrid, the leader of the troop, looked around wide-eyed as she could feel herself weakening. She'd never used her abilities for something like this. The strain was undeniable. She looked up and she saw others rushing toward them. "Don't give up, I think the calvary is here!" she exclaimed. The mages immediately came and raised up their force-fields of gold and florescent blue and purple and reinforced the icy dome. The young people cheered seeing that they now had back up. "What took you all so long?" Astrid yelled and teased as a woman with short hair in tight curls came and stood next to her. Her left eye was blackened and there was a still bleeding gash on her right leg.

"Just trying to patch ourselves up a bit," she admitted with a smile, but then she inclined her head toward the rest of the enchanters who had come out with her. Astrid could only scarcely make them out, but they all looked just as worse for the wear. They had bandages over their heads, arms in stents and slings, but they were here. Bet late than never and Astrid and her friends were grateful for their help.

"You are going to have to let down at least part of the ice barrier to let Queen Frigg and her forces out," the enchanter explained.

"The barrier will be completely broken if we do that," the young man with the man-bun protested.

"We don't have enough water to form the barrier again," the young woman with short black-hair and spectacles explained.

"It'll be ok," the enchanter with the short hair stated. "We'll use the force-fields," she explained to young people. The rest of Astrid's friends looked at her. She was hesitant. They had worked so hard to create the ice dome and it had done the trick.

"Cracks are already forming in the ice, come on!" an elderly man demanded of them. He was right. The Aether was juggernaut of assaults. It was like that ooze had its own agenda and its agenda was purely to destroy and destroy it would by any means necessary. Astrid gave a nod to her companions. Three of her friends seemed to take relief as they allowed their hands to drop. The ice melted into water. Immediately they all beheld as a freshly formed battalion of Aesir from all walks of life joined Queen Frigga in efforts to storm the palace. There seemed to be about 7 dozen or so who were coming on horseback, but most were coming on foot. They were not the polished troops of the Einherjar and Valkyrie, they were a slip-shop volunteer force, they were broken, bloodied and disgusting looking. They looked like the living dead. But they were the living, and they were ready to storm the palace so that they wouldn't all be dead. They were a sight for sore eyes. Queen Frigga had her white mares, but their fur was nearly gray now. The proud plumage of the peacock feathered crest that she had festooned them with looked like no more pigeon wings, her golden chariot was tarnished as copper, but the wheels were solid. Lord Audric came up to her side on a horse with a black coat. Queen Frigga turned toward him, and her eyes were bright with both surprise and pride.

"For Dagmar," The Prime Minister of Vanaheim mouthed to her as he took her by the hand.

The Royal woman turned around and smiled at him. She squeezed her friend's hand tightly. "Brave people of Asgard, this is our last stand," the golden-locked wife of Odin called out to the mass of soldiers and civilians before her. "You are all the descendants of the greatest warriors in the Nine Realms!" she reminded them. "Our people have saved lives countless times and have been honored in the pantheons of time again and again. This time shall be no different," she expressed to them. "Look, ho!" she called to them as she pointed toward the darkened and tainted sky. "Those are the portals to the other worlds, and they are heading straight toward the palace. When they all align over the Imperial Palace if the Aether is able to make it through the portals it will be too late," she informed them. "But it shall not be too late," she refuted the notion as she shook her head. "WE shall go to the palace, and we shall fight with Prince Thor, and we shall fight with the Einherjar, and the Valkyrie and we shall defeat Malekith and the Dark-Elves..."
"And Loki!" a few voices shouted amongst the crowd. Queen Frigga froze. Her heartbeat fast. She still believed in her youngest son. She believed that he was trying to do the right thing and prove to Asgard that he was still their prince. She had never truly stopped believing in him, she had never stopped loving him, a mother's love knows no bounds, but the loyalty of subjects did, and she knew she couldn't force people to accept Loki after his crimes. He would have to do that on his own. She swallowed hard. "We will vanquish all those who oppose us," she said diplomatically. "Now who will ride with me? Who will be their queen's avenger? Who will be a hero of Asgard?" she asked. She heard cheers and shouts of affirmation bellowing. "FOR ASGARD!" Queen Frigga hollered.

The people saluted back in like reply. "FOR ASGARD!" With that Queen Frigga took off leading the charge and racing through the barrier with her sword drawn and pointed. Horns blew and drums banged, and voices were raised, and they ran through the mud and debris and over the fallen bodies of the brethren toward the palace.

---

Portals seemed to move quickly toward the palace. They came from the four corners and were gathering fast. The sight would have been quite thrilling for many onlookers to see the beauty of the Nine Realms. A mere glimpse revealed the wondrous woods of Alfheim, with all its many wild creatures, the shifting sands from the plains of Vanaheim, a the beautiful frozen tundra of Jotunheim, but there was no time to revel in the glory of such sights for over the very head of the golden palace storm thick as quilts and black and angry as the night also mounted, but this was not the ragged raw power of the Aether, but the thunderous power of the realm's golden prince. A streak of blazing blue lightning burst forth from the roof of the palace. It caused the top of the structure to explode like a volcano. Gold bricks flew about, and gold dust and nuggets filtered down like pennies from heaven. The gold went far and wide and throughout the city and such could have been something that the people of Asgard could have relished in, especially the poor, but alas that teeming metropolis was evacuated. But Queen Frigga and the rest of the refugees and people of Kytheria continued racing toward the palace.

On the inside of the royal edifice, Lord Malekith continued walking toward the throne of Asgard as if he was invincible and untouchable. His black cape flittered about him as the Aether winds raged and blew. He ruthlessly unleashed shard after shard of dark energy attacks, and it knocked the people down like bowling pins. When they fell the horde of Svartalfheim took no pity upon their enemies. They pounced and threw their vortex forming grenades into the crowds. Many Aesir were just struggling to get up to their feet and in the end, they ended up being sucked into the blackholes and their screams still echoed and filled the atmosphere after their bodies had disappeared.

Prince Thor beheld it once then twice then finally and third time. His blue eyes beheld with horror as a good son of Asgard gone with the wind right before his eyes. Prince Thor felt as through his hand had been reaching out toward the man, to try to save him, to try to spare him, he couldn't be completely sure after all it the golden-locked son of Odin ran toward him. There was lightning in his eyes. So much was happening so fast; like lightning in fact and that angered him all the more. Lightning flickered in his eyes, and it was so much that the royal son that it nearly blinded the prince and as he let out a rageful cry thunder clapped so loudly that it blew out the few remaining stained-glass windows and it blew some of Malekith's soldiers out with it. Malekith cared not a bit for his soldiers only for his dwindling ranks. He watched as their bodies blew away and he merely snarled.

"It is nearly over Asgardian!" the leader of the Dark-Elves mocked. He managed to raise his voice over the Aether that howled indignantly as it continued to take out all that was in its path.

"Not as long as I have life in my breast!" Thor shot back, still running toward him. His shoulders heaved; he looked like a mad bull.

Lord Malekith tossed his head back and laughed. His pale hands were outstretched and raised upward, and the Aether flowed in the direction of his raised hands. It seemed to slither up his arms like a might vermilion viper and all the while it hissed its fury. The vicious power from the crimson Infinity Stone mutilated all the beauty of the engravings and art and the golden work of the throne room. It corrupted and corroded it. It made it look tarnished and decayed. With no regard it turned that which sparkled and shined into nothing but ash and rust. If it wasn't stopped soon, the palace would be no more than ruins by the time the Convergence took place. "Well, that will soon be remedied I assure you," Malekith stated with a smile. "Like how I am remodeling your home?" he stated with a sinister grin on his blackened lips. I'm planning on giving the who cosmos the same makeover," he explained and started to cackle like the fiend he was.

"NEVER!" Prince Thor shouted. Malekith was so lost in his inane laughter that he didn't notice the thunderbolt that had been called down upon his head.

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General Brunhilda and her Valkyrie had taken to the skies, and they were soaring just over the broken roof where the throne room was. There were about 40 of them in the air. The wings of the Pegasi flapped furiously against the tempestuous winds that raged as Prince Thor's ire continued to be kindled. "General Brunhilda!" called Lieutenant Shevera, she did her best to cause her noble steed to fly closer in the direction of their leader, but truly it was a struggle. "The horses won't be able to fly much longer," she informed the general.

"They can hold out a bit longer," the Valkyrie leader assured her second in command. She was managing to hold her own horse fairly steady. The Pegasi were trained thoroughly, and they were hardened for all elements of battle. They'd flown through blizzards, hurricanes, bursting bombs, they'd flown through space itself, but perhaps it was something about the power of the Aether that was too much for them and making them more skittish. The Ash of the Aether seemed to get stuck into the horse feathers and it was starting to weigh the animals down. The flying horses who were normally outfitted with their own grand armor had been stripped of their war attire so that it could be given to the people. The Aether's ash and embers burned the war-horses. It could have also been the fitful storm that blustered about them. The Pegasi were not strangers to such elements, but this lightning was more furious than any that even the great general herself had encountered. Cloud-to-ground lightning splintered about all over, like giant stilts pounding into the ground and blowing up all that was in its wake. It was no doubt that the horses had been hit with the debris numerous times.

"Look! More portals!" another Valkyrie shouted. She pointed out the open circles that were sailing through the sky.

"Never mind them," the general insisted. She flew in front of her women. "Valkyrie!" she heralded them. "Remember, what Loki said. The Aether has endowed Lord Malekith with the ability to cast illusions," she pointed out. "That means that the majority of his horde is not real," she told them. The women shouted and applauded at the news. This was certainly good news. Malekith seemed to be fighting against them with innumerable force. "We will cipher them out," the General stated. "On my mark ladies,' she stated to her troops. The women readied their lassos, that were made to find truth. They tied them up and they all began winding them and twirling them simultaneously in the air. They looked like they were forming their own vortex. On a count of ten the lassos were unfurled downward, and they were ready separate the truth from the lie.

The lassos launched through the air; great, gold ribbons contrasting against the hellish atmosphere created by the Aether and Prince Thor's fury. As they fell into the throne room thousands of Malekith's soldiers seemed to be swarming through the palace. But they were mere projections for the Valkyries ropes that caught many of the warriors. They squirmed like fish on the line and the Valkyrie reeled them in. They were hoisted into the air against their will. They were going sky high, and they screamed as they rose rapidly beyond the spires, towers and flying buttresses of the palace. The female warriors wasted no time, once they pulled their captives up the women disposed of them. Some of the Valkyrie simply swirled the dark-Elves about while they were still tangled in the lassos and then they flung them and launched them to Norns knew where. Their bloodless faces simply became tiny white specks against the backdrop of the raging storm and then they were lost in the midst of the thick black clouds. Other Valkyrie took a more hands on approach. They subscribed to the Aesir creed of looking and enemy in the eye when killed them. They pulled them up toward themselves and their horses. The Pegasi went wild in the face of the enemy. They flung their hooves about and kicked and bucked at the Dark-Elf warriors. The warriors hollered. Some attempted to raise swords against the horses and their riders, but the Valkyrie showed no mercy. No sooner had a warrior of Svartalfheim drawn a weapon than did a Valkyrie. They raised their swords and quickly disarmed their opponents. They chopped off their hands. A few bloodied hands fell from the sky like a type of grotesque precipitation. The women cracked their whips and smacked the bloodless white masks off of their faces. They looked them in the eyes and yelled. "FOR ASGARD!" They shouted in unison as they rammed their blades through the guts of the Dark-Elves.

Malekith's blackened eyes grew wide as he witnessed more and more bodies of his soldiers fall dead down from the sky. He continued to watch, and the Lassos of Truth sifted through the illusion of an innumerable army that he had conjured and weeded through and picked out his actual men. One by one he watched them be plucked out, pitiful fish on the line. It wouldn't be long before Asgard's elite female fighters would have ciphered through his whole band. He focused his efforts and sent a few dark red spikes sailing through the air, attacking the Valkyrie. The Valkyrie were forced to take evasive action. They tried their best to get out of dodge of the huge Aether spikes that were shot at them like missiles. The frantic neighs of the Pegasi broke out among the clouds. The horses flew in every direction as so many large spikes were thrust at them. The bodies of Malekith's soldiers swung back and forth. His Aether spikes hit several of the horses. The animals reared and whinnied, but many were struck from the sky. Horse and rider fell from the clouds. Other Valkyrie would immediately rush to aid their fallen sisters. Brunhilda was determined to not lose anymore of her women. She shook the Dark-Elf soldier free from her lasso and then used her lasso to rescue several of her soldiers. The General shouted at her troops to rescue them. Likewise, below Malekith's voice bellowed it carried in the wind. He shouted in the language of his people to his soldiers who were still dangling from the Valkyrie's ropes to cut them.

The Dark-Elf warriors did as their leader commanded. The lassos of truth which the Valkyrie possessed were made of golden fibers, leather hide and the strongest vines from the jungles where the Valkyrie had their secret encampment. They did not cut easily, but while the shield-maidens were distracted the Dark-Elf soldiers took their black swords and worked vigorously to saw through the ropes. The elfin soldiers tumbled downward, but with part of the ropes still attached to them they managed to use them to hook on to broken beams and make their way down safely toward the throne room. Meanwhile the Valkyrie were forced to scatter. The Aether was driving the Pegasi mad. The brave war ponies would not obey the commands of their riders. The horses flew about wildly off into the distance with the shield-maidens in tow.

Lord Malekith laughed as he saw that he was able to scare off a few more of the Asgardian pests. One less group of Aesir soldiers standing in his way. While Lord Malekith cackled like the fiend that he was. Prince Thor unleashed a powerful pounder up the Dark-Elf general. Lightning was in his balled-up fists as he clobbered and struck Malekith. Fist and fist sailed against Malekith's face; knocking him in the eye and jaw and nose. The crown Prince gave the ruler of the Dark-Elves a powerful punch that was infused with the raw power of the element of lightning. It sent him sailing upward toward the blown away glass ceiling. He sailed past the ceiling and into the clouds. The mighty blows from the thunderer had rendered the leader of the Dark-Elves of Svartalfheim unconscious. Thor wasted no time. He launched behind his foe. Without Mjolnir he couldn't fly in the proper sense, but he could use the lightning which he was now able to generate on his own merit to project him in the air. Thor was propelled into the sky by a brilliantly blinding burst of a blue blaze. He was rising to the same height as Malekith. It would have been so much easier to end this with his magnificent hammer at his side, but alas he did not have it. Still, Prince Thor was sure that with one more strike he would do the war lord in the day would be saved. With intensity in his eyes Thor was nearly on top of Malekith, but just as he was about to reach out with his hands and grab Lord Malekith by the throat and strangle or decapitate him, he didn't know which ending he would choose for this devil and he didn't think that he would care, but before he could reach out and take him, Lord Malekith's dark, glaring, tainted red and black eyes flung open furiously. The Aether raged and shot out of him from his whole body. It hit Prince Thor like a ton of bricks. It knocked him out of the sky, and it crashed him back into the beautiful marble floor of the palace. Then it pushed him down deeper and deeper into floor after floor of the palace, it went down into through every layer, pass the servants quarters, the dungeons and the catacombs and buried him in mounds and mounds of ash.

"THOR!" Jane screamed out as she watched the thunderer's muscular body hit the floor and be pushed clean through. She saw layer after layer floor after floor of bricks and sheets and stone and flaming red ash fall upon her beloved. She rushed from the place where she had been lying wait. She ran toward the newly formed crater in the throne room floor. It was cut to the size of Prince Thor's body, but to her it might as well have been the Grand Canyon. Jane Foster went running straight for it. She was ready to jump right in. "Thor! Thor!" she kept chanting as her feet pounded toward the crater. When she got to edge, she took a leap. She was in the air, her arms were already defiantly motioning as if she was going to swim through the air and diver through the ash, concrete and stone, steel, gold and all manner of else and swim down and rescue her prince. Then she felt something strong come and wrap around her waist and pull her down and out of the air back toward the ground. "No!" Jane coughed as she felt her body hit the marble floor. "No, no, no," she continued to shout as she fought vigorously against whatever was trying to hold her back. She'd start to get up and feel herself be pulled back once more. She'd start to crawl and climb and then something with strength held her fast. "Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!" she cried desperately, practically sobbing. She pushed against that which held her down, not thinking just reacting.

"You can't reach him like that," word finally spoke into her ear. She was now in a sitting position, much like a petulant child after a tantrum that had finally settled into a pout. She felt that which was around her waist. She thought it would be some type of chain or a magnetic belt which she couldn't break free from, but as she continued to push upon it, she found that it was an arm. The scientist then looked around wildly, eventually she turned behind her and saw the person who was holding her.

"You!" she declared in astonishment at the slim face that was behind her. "Get off of me!" she shouted with her voice ragged. She gave him a ferocious shove. Loki released her and put his hands up. "Don't you touch me, you monster!" she called out to him. "You don't care about Thor! You don't care about what's happening here...you are the reason for all this!" She shot back at him and took off running toward the crater once more.

Loki caught her by the wrist and pulled her from the edge. Jane slapped him across his smooth face. He didn't let her go and she was prepared to give him a swift kick to the groin if it meant being free to rescue Thor. "You're supposed to be scientist are you not?" he countered before she could assault him again. "Then mortals must have not evolved much since the age of the Vikings for surely you are counting on nothing more than fairy magic if you think that you are going to be able to get to Thor through that," he pointed toward the mountainous pile of debris and rubble that Thor was buried in.

"isn't that all you're good for!" Jane spat toward raven haired enchanter. "Smoke and mirror parlor tricks," Her nose was curled in a snarl.

Loki dusted his fingernails along the lining of his armor. "A little more than that," he gave a lopsided grin.

Lady Jane snatched her wrist from Loki's clasp quickly. "I'll show you a little more than that!" the astrophysicist stated, she reached down toward the side of her and retrieved her reactor. She picked up the metal device and planted it near the crater in one of the large gaping cracks in the floor. She snatched the remote that she had invented from her belt. She cranked up the knob ruthlessly and watched as a large pile of ash and debris was moved from off the top of the mound and moved randomly into the midst of where the warriors of Asgard were fighting against the Dark-Elf forces. She again, took more and more piles off the top of the mound and turned the knob in any direction. Her gravitational reactors were not flawless, and she could not control where they transported materials too several of her mounds were plopped right on top of the Aesir people.

"Stop!" Loki cried out as he watched as a team of 3 Einherjar who were just about to skewer a few Dark-Elf soldiers were then crushed under the weight of ash that came out of nowhere. The Einherjar easily peeled themselves from under the weight of the Aether ash, but just as they did so the Dark-Elves fired their vortex blasters and sucked up the Einherjar. They didn't stand a chance. Jane was relentless, she didn't stop until she had inadvertently dropped a ton of broken bricks onto herself and Loki. Jane soon found herself buried under the bricks as well. She coughed a bit as she felt a pair of strong hands lift her from the ash and set her on her feet. "Give me that!" Loki demanded as he snatched the remote from Jane's hands. "You mortals can't be trusted with your own devices!" He warned her and wagged the remote in her face.

"Well, why don't you do something!" Dr. Foster demanded. Her shoulders heaved and her voice was ragged. "If it was you...Thor would be trying to move heaven and earth!" she reminded Loki. "He gave himself for you countless time!" she yelled. "You'll just stand here and watch him die over and over again," she continued to scream in the master mage' face. "I don't think you have any real powers at all," Jane started ranting more furiously. "You couldn't even see through the Aether illusions that Malekith created," she pointed out.

"Now wait a minute!" Loki started. He was not about to be insulted by a mere mortal woman.

"That's how all this is occurring," she pointed out as she watched the insane battle rage on.

"No, Jane this is because of you a mortal sticking your nose in places that you had no business being in! Now, if you will just heed, Thor will be fine, he's tougher than you think..." Loki tried to wink his green eye at the young auburn-haired astrophysicist.

"No!" Jane hurled back at Loki. She pushed him back quickly. "I'm going to get help for Thor!" Jane cried and she immediately sprinted forth from Loki.

"Just give it a minute," Loki called out as his emerald eyes scanned the red mound as more red ash seemed to be heaped on top by Malekith. Malekith was still floating above the palace, he was floating able to hover in a whirlwind made out of the Aether.

"Sif! Volstagg! Hogun! Heimdal!" she hollered as she searched for them the slurry and frenzy of warfare all around. Blasters were firing all around as Jane tried to run and find Thor's friends. She was so frantic that she had left her reactor behind. She managed to maneuver well. She jumped over the cracks in the floor, she dodged the debris that continuously fell from the ceiling, she made her way around the fighting as best she could. She was practically blinded by the tears that were streaming down her face. She didn't see one of the Dark-Elf soldiers firing at her. A bright vortex burst forth right in the direction that Lady Jane was running. She screamed as she felt the power of the suction of the vortex. She felt her body being pulled into the air, but just as she felt her feet shifting and lifting from the broken marble floor, she felt something else pulling her back. It was like an invisible rope that had been wrapped around her waist and was pulling her backward toward the ground. Jane's auburn eyes were open wide as she beheld the vortex shrink and evaporate. It sucked up debris and broken beams and a few weapons. Jane wiped her brow in relief. She turned around and once more she saw the wizard clad in his distinct golden armor and his green cape. The cape was tattered, and the armor was dented and splattered with blood and mud, but he had his helmet upon his head and in that moment, he didn't look like such a crazed dictator as she had seen before.

Jane pushed down any thoughts that she had in favor of thanking Loki. She looked at him bewildered. She shook her head and then popped up and started running again. She knew that Loki was a trickster, and she wouldn't be tricked and deterred from her mission of rescuing Thor. He was buried underneath that mound and if she had to gather up every reactor set it up around that mound until they moved all that had buried him alive. She hoped that he was still alive, but the way she had seen him come crashing on the floor there was a lump in her chest just thinking of the pain or agony he could be in or if he was even alive. Jane started running once more, she continued to shout out the names of the Warriors Three and Lady Sif and Lord Heimdal.

No sooner had she seemed to take off in search of Thor's friends than did she once more run into the Dark-Elves. Their bloodless faces appeared out of nowhere in the midst of the Aether ash that was everywhere. The Dark-Elves came and tried to accost her. Their hands like talons reached in the darkness to scoop her up. Jane's heart raced. She wasn't truly prepared for physical combat. She wished she had more time to train with the Aesir warriors. She instinctively reached for her remote, but then remembered she did not have a reactor with her. The Dark-Elf soldier was closing in on her. Jane found herself back in a corner. She clenched her hands into tight fists. As he came closer to her, she landed a punch, but it seemed to glance off of his bloodless mask and leave him completely unphased. Jane kept going, her hands punching in every direction and kicking too but seemed to do nothing. She landed one swift kick to the soldier's abdomen, but pushed him back a few feet, but not by much, it only gave her a small window to go through to run from him. Jane didn't waste time she immediately took the opening. But the Dark-Elf soldier caught her once more. He started to pull her off. He shouted toward Lord Malekith who seemed to be floating high above them to hear. Jane continued to fight and pull against her captor, but it did nothing. She was amazed how strong the Dark-Elf soldier actually was. "HELP! HELP!" Lady Jane called, but everyone seemed to be too engaged in a fight of their own to notice as Jane was taken. In the distance she heard a voice call her name.

She turned toward the voice, the called to her urgently and watched as in her direction sailed her reactor rod. While the Dark-Elf soldier kept dragging toward his liege, Jane stretched forth her hand toward the object that was flying at her. She'd always been a fair catch. She remembered her and her father going out and playing catch when she was a young girl. Her father wasn't much of an athlete; from what she remembered of him. He was devoted to his research, but he also helped with a local boy scout troop, and he taught her to catch. He said that she took naturally to the catch because she never took her eye off the ball. That was how she was with everything in her life. Even after her father died, she managed to keep her focus on her studies and even after that she worked on her research tirelessly and when it came to finding Thor, well she had sought a way to find him tirelessly. Never taking her eye off the ball. Now, she wished that she hadn't been so pernicious, but there was no time for that. There was no time for shoulda, woulda, coulda now. They were now in the thick of it and she needed to keep her eye on the ball. Her eyes stayed on the metal rod that was sailing toward her swiftly. Its silver shape contrasted with the red atmosphere. Amazingly enough she caught the rod. She was breathless and it was a pure miracle that she had managed to do it, that much she was sure off. As soon as it touched her palm, she stuck the rod into the arm of the Dark-Elf. He must have felt something scratch against his ashen skin because he immediately turned around, but as he went to face her Jane took the remote that she had and turned up the dial. The air began to shimmer and shift and instantly the Dark Elf vanished. Jane smirked. She didn't know where the friend went, and she didn't care. Jane fell back on her haunches for a minute, then flat on her behind.

Before Jane could even really take note of all that was happening around her there was a pale hand with slender fingers and bloodied knuckles reaching out toward her. Instinctively, she took it, without thinking. She allowed the hand to hoist her to her feet. Then, she found that a pair of emerald eyes were staring back at her. "Are you alright?" Loki asked.

At first the astrophysicist nodded her head. She was shaking. Then she shook her head and looked up at Loki in disgust, backing away. "Stay away from me! Stay back!" Jane insisted. She started to try to limp away.

"I save your miserable mortal life three times and you don't even have the decency to say thank you," Loki called to her as he watched her hobble into thicker red midst.

Dr. Foster spun around; her lips tight. "I never asked you to save or help me not a one of those times!" she growled. "Don't expect thanks for it!" she spat. Jane continued to march on, but her ankle was starting to ache. She froze in her tracks and turned back around again to behold the tall, thin mage with those high horns standing there. His thin lips turned up in that smirk that made her hand itch to slap it right off his face. She took a few steps back toward him. Her fists were clenched. "So why did you? Why are you bothering to rescue me," she thumped on her chest. "Why don't you do something! You're just going to let Thor be crushed underneath that...that..." she pointed furiously at a loss for words.

Loki rolled his eyes, "Thor swears you are so very clever, but I must admit you prove my thoughts about your species," Loki shook his head. "Did you ever think that by me helping you, I am helping Thor?" he questioned.

"He could be dying! He could be suffocating!" Jane screamed.

"I have always protected Thor," Loki declared.

"Until you betrayed him a million times!" Jane shot back.

Loki's eyes looked down. His irreverent smirk turned into a scowl. "You may never trust me Jane Foster," Loki stated.

"Damn straight," Lady Jane growled.

"Ooohh," Loki practically purred. "You know, when I told Thor that I liked you I was telling the truth," The master enchanter reported.

Jane was fuming. "I don't care! I don't like you!" she retorted. "I hate you!" she declared. "You're a murder, a monster a traitor!" she ranted on and on.

"I like you, for him," Loki went on unphased by her ranting, "But Thor loves you," Loki stated simply. Finally, the young auburn-haired scientist fell silent. "Even if the day was won and you died, it would be no victory for Thor," Loki explained. "Thor is about protecting the people who he cares about. Asgard as a whole and a few more individuals specifically. You, being one of those individuals," he explained. "I lost, the woman I loved, to Malekith, to Dark-Elves," Loki sighed once more. "It's my fault she's dead," Loki stated very sternly. Jane wasn't sure if she saw water in his eyes. All of a sudden, the scientist's throat felt tight. Maybe it was Loki's fault for all of this disaster and maybe he bore a good deal of the responsibility for Lady Dagmar's death, but it wasn't his entirely. Jane had to forcibly keep her arms at her side to keep herself from confessing to Loki how the fault was really hers. She looked up and Loki was already looking away, the tear in his eye no more than a distant determined gleam now. "it's a fate I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy," he stated.

"Is that what Thor is?" Jane asked in a huff.

"Not anymore," Loki smirked and winked at her.

She was almost tempted to give him a half smile in return, but she could wear a scholar's straight face easily and so she did. "Can't you do something?" Jane's eyes were the ones misting now.

"I can't move a mountain with a wave of my hand," the magician expressed. Jane's eyes were still big and wide. That's exactly what it was. Thor was buried under a mountain. How could she trust that he could survive. She knew he had already been through a lot, but this seemed completely impossible for him to bounce back from. "Especially not with the Aether's power being so great," he confessed. "But Thor can," he noted. He looked at the rubble that had been piled onto the 1st born son of Odin. Thor had the power, he just had to summon it. It was taking a bit longer than he'd expected of course and the raven-haired enchanter could feel the familiar flutter of worry for the big oaf. "He'll be ok," Loki tried to point out to her. He reassured himself as well.

Maybe Loki was telling the truth, but what was taking Thor so long in rising up? She looked down at the mound and her heart started racing once more. What if he was screaming out in pain from the weight of the Aether ash? What if the hot embers were burning and scalding his handsome face? "I...I...I have to find Sif and the others," Jane stated and started to run in the other direction. Jane took a few steps, but finally called back to Loki, "Loki! Thor...he loves you too!".

Loki stood there for a few more moments puzzling the situation as well. Maybe that Jane Foster woman was right, maybe Thor did need some assistance. Truthfully, they didn't have much time, but if the battle was going to be won, they would need the thunderer and they didn't have time to wait. Loki looked down at his hands and then he began making chopping motions. As he did so the Aether ash and other bits of stone and metal and debris off of the top of the mound.

It didn't take long for Jane to find Thor's boon companions. She should have known that they'd been in the thick of the fight. It was a horrific sight as many of the other Asgardians who had been fighting near them had perished. Jane could hardly believe her eyes as she beheld many Aesir men and women, young and old skewered on sharp shards of the Aether. They stuck up from the ground like jagged icicles, but they were black as tar. The bodies of warriors and civilians alike were stuck on top of them like items of a shish kabob. Jane beheld as Volstagg tried to pull one of the men off of the shard which he was stuck to. He shivered and twitched miserably from the impaling. Volstagg carefully as he could, lifted him off and placed him on the blood-soaked floor. Master Heimdal came rushing over, his shrewd golden eyes examined the soldier's body. "How is he?" Volstagg questioned.

"He needs a healing crystal," Heimdal stated simply as he slid down next to the wounded warrior.

"We haven't anymore," the pudgy red head replied, though his face was pained. "Healing Crystal? Healing Crystal," he rushed to ask a few who were around them, but everyone replied in the same manner.

"M-m-master Heimdal," the Palace soldier coughed the name of the gatekeeper, his hand shook, and he reached up toward the respected elder of the Aesir people.

"You fought well," Heimdal assured him. He kept his steady brown hands on the man's brow that was drenched in a cold sweat.

"For A-a-as-g-g-gard...I died a ...warriors' death," he stated through labored breaths.

"Do not give up hope, my friend, we will get you a healing crystal," Heimdal encouraged him. His eyes could see that the man's wounds were very severe. His insides had been completely severed by the skewering and the vital organs had been cut clean through. Heimdal shifted his golden eyes from the injured soldier by his side toward Volstagg. The plump warrior was asking everyone he could, but no one seemed to have a healing crystal. Finally, it seemed as though there was some success, the red-bearded Viking ran at full speed toward the keeper. In his hand he carried nothing but dust. The broken fragments of probably one of the last healing crystals that they actually had among them.

"Here! Here! Here!" Volstagg called in earnest. He looked like he carried no more than a pile of sand in his hands. Volstagg practically tripped as he was running so fast to bring the healing aid. He sprinkled the dust on the gaping hole that was the warrior's whole middle. The shiny particle took their effects. It seemed as though they eased the wounded warrior's pain as they observed a smile on his face. It seemed as though even those tiny fragments had enough power within them. Volstagg watched wide eyed as it seemed like new skin began to form.

"Songs will be sung of this day," the man uttered, and he looked up at them with wide unfocused eyes.

"And you will sing them my friend... and you will sing them!" the jolly axe-wielder cheered. He looked at Heimdal for encouragement, but Heimdal's eyes remained trained on the man. He saw how the wound wasn't closing up fast enough and how the internal damage hadn't been healed at all. He watched as the man started to cough, blood sputtering all about. "No, what is happening?" Volstagg questioned audibly. "Why isn't it working?" he asked the great gatekeeper.

Heimdal watched as the man took his last breaths. He placed his fingers over the man eyelids and slowly closed them. Master Heimdal began to speak the last rites over the body of the fallen Aesir. He and Heimdal ended the old prayer in unison, "For those who have died a glorious death," the murmured quietly.

"I don't understand," Volstagg looked up at Heimdal. "We had a healing crystal," his red-bearded face was just as dumbfounded as it was sorrowful.
"His wounds were incredibly great," the gatekeeper explained. "He needed a whole healing crystal," Heimdal stated as he placed a comforting hand on Volstagg's shoulder. "It was only dust," Heimdal pointed out. "Maybe if we had a master healer... but" he shook his head. "He is in Valhalla, now," he stated as he rose to his feet, and we have bigger problems. Heimdal's finger pointed to the Whirlwind of the Aether that Lord Malekith had hidden himself in.

There was no time to mourn anyone properly in these conditions. As Volstagg and Heimdal gazed up they knew that time was running out. More and more portals were making their way to the meeting point over the top of the palace and Lord Malekith was positioned at a lofty height that seemed just perfect for unleashing the Aether into the unsuspecting rest of the Nine Realms. "We have minutes," Heimdal warned Volstagg as the two got to their feet and rushed back to where the other members of Thor legendary team were assembled. They had taken a defensive position behind a fallen column and the three were firing with all their might launching a vicious attack toward Malekith who was protected in the red swirl of the Aether.

"Nothing is working!" Frandal practically screamed with exasperation as his arms continued to hurl grenades toward the Aether cloud that the Dark-Elf general had engulfed himself in. Frandal had taken great effort to slay a few of the Dark-Elf swordsmen. It hadn't necessarily been hard for the master swordman to take out the enemy, but it certainly had been difficult to determine which of the Dark-Elf soldiers that he saw before him were real and which were mere illusionary projections of the Aether. They were so life-like. They interacted, they dodged and dipped and spoke, they ran and hollered and fired off their weapons just like real soldiers would, the only way to truly find out if they were real or not was to ram them clean through, but by then it was too late. By the time an Aesir warrior was done dealing with fake soldiers the real Dark-Elves had managed to sneak pass and kill off real Aesir. It was a terrible game of trickery, and it seemed despite their best efforts the Asgardians were losing terribly. What else could be expected? Lord Malekith could create an illusion of 1000 soldiers only 50 of which might have been real and the Aesir who were fighting could spend their energy slaughtering not one of the real enemies, but every blow that Malekith and his horde inflicted upon them was costly.

Frandal hated the feeling of simply falling prey to tricks. Loki used to always best him with tricks. He always said that he was guided too much by his eyes and that made him easy to fool. Of course, he was guided easily by his eyes. His eyes allowed him to behold all the beautiful maidens of the Nine Realms. He could see their hair, so many colors and textures, he could see their pretty faces, some had gorgeous eyes, some had luscious lips, some had dimples and freckles, and some were painted so exquisitely they might as well have been a picture. He could see their beautiful bodies. Oh, their bodies. Breasts, thighs, necks, navels, legs and buttocks, splendid curvy places that he wanted to examine. Yes, he had to trust in his eyes because his eyes never lied in such matters. Sure, there had been some harpies in the bunch, but that didn't bother him so much, it wasn't as if he was truly looking to settle down soon. Still, now he wished that he had some other sense to go by the try and use to figure out who was who in Malekith's mighty army. Frandal tried to comfort himself by saying if that rotten trickster, Loki had been fooled by Malekith's illusions than what chance did he have. He had had to resort to finding out in the tedious and time-consuming way of just going for what he knew and just hacking as many bodies as possible. Some of his blades went right through but for two unfortunately warriors of Svartalfheim, his blade had struck gold when they fell to the floor. He plundered their carcasses and simply robbed them of their weapons like their vortex forming bombs and blasters. In his opinion the weapons were highly uncivilized, but one had to fight fire with fire.

Sir Frandal hurled the grenades right at the cloud where Malekith sat like a sovereign with the chance to survey all his land. He looked too smug and comfortable up there. The blonde-haired fencer was certain that launching a few bombs in the direction of Lord Malekith would have knocked him off his high horse. He watched in horror as the bombs burst. They hit against the Aether funnel cloud, but they did nothing to penetrate it or stop its swirl. Frandal threw as many as he could find. He threw them ruthlessly over and over again. He threw two at a time, he threw 3 at a time. He watched them burst like bright white fireworks. He heard their crackle and screech as they opened up and attempted to such everything in. And suck they did. They sucked up whole columns and statues and sucked up the bodies of fallen Aesir, but they didn't even phase the Aether twister.

"It is too powerful," Hogun expressed as he fell down. He was holding his side and panting heavily. One of the Dark-Elf soldiers who he had hoped was only an illusion proved to be real and had landed a terrible blow at a silent warrior.

"No! No!" Sif shouted. Bloody cuts were all over her face. She pushed herself up off the ground. "We just have to hold off the Aether for a few more minutes. We can't let him unleash the Aether," she reminded her to friends as she crawled onto her knees.

"It's too late, Sif, it's too late," Frandal pointed out. "The portals are almost in alignment," He raised his finger toward the blown-out ceiling that revealed the colorful golden wrapped portals heading slowly in their terrible trajectory toward to palace.

"The key word there is almost!" Lady Sif proclaimed as she pushed herself to a fully standing position using her double-saber for support. "We have to do everything we can to keep him from being able to unleash the Aether into the alignment," she reminded both Hogun and Frandal as she clutched their shoulders and looked defiantly up into the blood red twister.

"Sif, it is too much," Hogun insisted. "We must fall back," he stated.

"NO!" Lady Sif shouted, but she kept looking into the eye of the storm where Malekith sat like some sheik while the Aether sucked up panel and board and flooring and golden bricks and limestone column, it seemed as if it would simply destroy the palace.

"Sif, he is right too many of us are getting slaughtered," Volstagg pointed out as he approached with Heimdal right beside him. He gestured with his fat fingers and their fallen friends, all good fighters, they were standing in pools of their blood as they spoke. Their bodies sickening impaled upon Aether spikes all around them. A few warriors on their flank were doing their best to fight off the enemy. They were hitting Malekith most imaginary horde with all they had and still they were overwhelmed.

The dark-haired shield-maiden couldn't bring herself to look down at the dead bodies anymore. Smell of their blood was stuck in her nostrils, their death-cries still rung in her ears. She knew that they were suffering innumerable casualties, but if they just gave up, they'd suffer more. Soon all of Asgard would be dead if they just gave up. "Retreat to where?' she demanded of her comrades. She turned around and looked them in the eye. "There's nowhere left to run from this? There is nowhere left to regroup," she pointed out. "It's just here and now!" Lady Sif reminded them, of fighting for our lives, fighting until the job is done or until we are these bodies on the floor," she stated as she faced them with scratches and bloody scars all over her face.

"I agree with Lady Sif," stated the gatekeeper. "We have got to bring Malekith down and keep him down. He is untouchable up there and will have easy access to the portals," the golden-eyed warrior expressed.

"But that's just the thing, Master Heimdal," Frandal started to explain. "I've fired a ton of weapons at it, we can't even breach the shell of the whirlwind, let alone get Malekith. The Aether, it's defending him."

"The Aether has always protected its host from within, but I do not know if it defends from without. But this close to Convergence anything is possible," Heimdal's massive shoulders shrugged.

"Only Prince Thor's lightning was strong enough to combat the power of the Aether," Volstagg sighed.

"Aye," Hogun spoke up, "Where is Thor?" his gruff voice questioned.

Jane immediately came rushing toward them. They were amazed at the fact that the mortal scientist had managed to evade the bombs that were bursting in the air and the Dark-Elves as well. She didn't even seem to notice that Dark-Elves that were trying to surround her or the rounds that were being fired at her. She had tunnel vision and kept her eyes focused on running toward her friends. "Help! Help! Help!" Jane called as she raced toward them.

Upon hearing her cries, the Warriors Three came charging in her direction. They quickly took out the Dark-Elves who were ready to attack her, amazingly enough all of them were actual Dark-Elf soldiers. There was one coming up behind her who Hogun tossed his mace at. The mace's spikes went out all over and hit a few fake elves causing them to instantly fade and fizzle into thin air. A spike hit one of Malekith's men right in the head and it burrowed through mask and the soldier fell down dead with black goo-like blood trickling from a hole in the center of its forehead. Frandal leaped to the beautiful woman's aide without hesitation. Another one of the soldiers from Svartalfheim was charging at Lady Jane from the right. Frandal took to brandishing with his sword. It smacked and slapped at soldiers who were not there until it finally met with an actual warrior. The warrior threw a grenade up to him, but before the bomb could open up and burst, the swordsman used his weapon and chopped that bomb right out of the sky. Volstagg protected Jane's left. He went running toward what appeared to be about 10 quite imposing looking Dark-Elf figures. They had blackened eyes that showed no fear, and their powerful blasters were revealed, and they were all pointed at the red-beaded Viking. If he was in his right mind, he would have run the other way for what person ran toward those that were firing at them? But Volstagg ran right into them, and he used his big belly like a weapon, his stomach ran right through a few of the guards and their bombs, but when his stomach finally touched one. Volstagg threw his weight around. He used his round middle and bumped the Dark-Elf soldier backward. The soldier went flying backward. He slammed against the floor stunned, but not dead. Volstagg wasn't satisfied with such a result. He ran toward where the warrior lay on the ground with his bloodless mask knocked off of his face. The redhead Viking didn't bother to get a good look at the Dark-Elf's face. He simply leaped on top of him and the landed on him with a belly-wop.

The prowess of Asgard's most famous warriors was lost upon Lady Jane as she ran right past them and went to Sif. She gripped up the fearless female fighter. "Sif! Sif! Sif! We've got to do something!" she entreated. Sif merely looked at her with a quizzical expression. "Thorthorthor' the muttered miserably as she failed to articulate her point. Lady Sif continued just to stare at her. "He's...he's...he's..." she huffed as she tried to catch her breath. "He's buried alive," she finally managed to blurt out as she pointed to the gigantic mound of Aether ash and other debris. "I tried... I tried," Jane was beginning to blubber as she held up her metallic contraptions. "But it's unpredictable and... Loki won't help."

"Loki!" upon hearing the name of that venomous traitor Lady Sif's eyes narrowed. "Where is he?" she growled and clutched her hand around the handle of her double-bladed saber. "Where is he?" she demanded once more, her eyes shifted, but it was hard to make out figures in the shifting sandstorm. "What has he done?" she questioned. "I'll end him!" she proclaimed as she raised her blade high.

Jane wanted to say what Loki had done, but truly what had he done, but saved her several times. But it could have been a trick. How was she to know. "Looks like he's trying to dig Prince Thor out from where he has been buried alive," Lord Heimdal pointed out. He inclined his head and Jane thought she saw the guardian give a wink with his golden eye. He showed the two women where Loki was standing over the mound doing his best to quickly shift the sands and move them out of the way. His motions, which looked like a choppy sort of martial art, were doing a fairly decent job in removing the debris and waste. He made sure that they were dumped on top of the Dark-Elves.

"We don't know that!" Lady Sif proclaimed as she shook her head. "We don't know that at all," she muttered bitterly.

"Lady Sif, we have to trust Loki to do the right thing," Heimdal said as he put his hands on her shoulders to hold her back. She was in the air leaping and kicking ready to take out the Dark-Haired enchanter.

"Like Helheim we do!" she spat. "He gave the Tesseract to Malekith! He said it himself." She squared her shoulders and stood flat on her feet trying to compose herself.

"He did it to save Lady Sigyn," Heimdal reminded the shield-maiden. Sif was about to protest, but Heimdal didn't give her time. "Do not waste your time concerned about Loki, our concern must be stopping Malekith," Heimdal proclaimed.

"Saving Thor!" Jane countered.

"Lady Jane, I believe, Master Heimdal is right," expressed Frandal. The auburn-haired scientist spun around and faced the swordsman, her look was astonished. "Loki is taking care of that..." he inclined his blonde-haired, which had nearly turned brown from the blood that was caked there, toward Loki.

Jane shook her head. Even if Loki was trying to help, which she seriously doubted, he was moving at a glacial pace as far as she was concerned. "He's going to slow!" she protested. "Thor could suffocate to death. Come on, you all have got to get the troops and gather the reactors. If we post them all around the mound... we can move more ash and... and...and..."

"We can't pull all the active soldiers away from the battle," Volstagg stated. His fat finger pointed toward the citizens who were still fighting. Jane's gravitational rods were working like a charm, and they had done well in transporting many of Malekith's soldiers out of the way. It had at least managed to buy them time and keep the citizens from being slaughtered.

Heimdal continued to stare up at the tornado of Aether ash that Malekith had formed. The winds were starting to pick up and feared that soon they and the whole palace would be blown away. "There is an opening there," He pointed toward a break within the spiral. "We need something that can go right through there," the gatekeeper told them.

"Looks about my size," Lady Sif stated boldly.

"Sif what are you saying? You can't be serious?" Frandal responded with a smile on his face.

"Everything about this moment is serious and so am I," the brunette shield-maiden declared. "If I can get through the opening I can decapitate him with one blow," she pointed out as she raised her double-bladed javelin.

"Sif, that is a one in a million shot," said Jane Foster. "He's gotta be nearly 500 feet above us. How could you think you could reach him? To this question the dark-haired female Einherjar simply smirked.

"EINHERJAR!" the warrior woman bellowed. They heard the call of one of their generals and immediately Asgard's fighters seemed to freeze in their tracks. Their attention turned toward the area where Lady Sif and the Warriors Three were gathered. They saluted and let out a hearty huzzah in an affirmative response to her call. "MOUNTAIN RANGE FORMATION!" she declared. With that the Einherjar sprinted from all corners of the throne room. They ran away from the Dark-Elves who they had been fighting. They left their enemies momentarily paralyzed with confusion. They came limping and some came crawling, but they came. Jane watched as the Einherjar flawlessly performed what Jane could only compare to a cheerleader move. They began to form several pyramids that were standing in close proximity to each other, but each one got a little taller as they added a few more men to it. There seemed to be about 10 of these pyramids quickly formed. She watched as each one of Prince Thor's close friends took their place within the pyramid scheme. Frandal climbed up the other soldiers at the top of one the center pyramids and laid with his body outstretched another Einherjar held his feet, and another held his hand so that his body effectively made a ramp or a bridge that connected one pyramid to the next. Others took a similar position to Frandal. Next, Hogun seemed to find a perfect spot and climbed with the dexterity of a squirrel to one of the broken beams that was hanging down. It was high up and Hogun wrapped his arms around it so that he could hang it upside down. Lastly, Volstagg went to the last pyramid that was stacked about 50 soldiers high and he put himself on the top. The soldiers underneath him had formed a circle about 5 stron to support Volstagg's outstretched body with was stretched out like a star.

Lady Sif took off running effortlessly across the tops of the pyramids formed by her fellow Einherjar. It truly looked as if she was jogging up the side of a mountain. Her feet didn't miss a step. She ran fast and furious and true. Her double-blade at her side, drawn and sharp and ready to do damaged, but she was so skilled that her blade didn't even leave a scratch on the other soldiers' helmets. She ran across Frandal's outstretched body that formed a plank bridge. "Easy on the good there, my darling," the kibitzer teased as she dashed across his abdomen. Sif smirked a bit as she heard her friend call out. She couldn't help the desire to dig her foot just a little to close toward his beloved groin. She continued in her race. She made her way up higher and higher up each slope of the pyramid. Across the throne room other Asgardians started to cheer. It was then that out of red haze that swished and swirled wildly about that a blackhole forming grenade was thrown toward the Einherjar who all were gathered in the Mountain Range Formation.

"GRENADE!" Master Heimdal shouted. Jane swiveled her head in his direction. It was the first time she had heard the stoic gatekeeper shout. She watched with wide auburn eyes as the horrible silver sphere came sailing through the hellish crimson haze. She gasped. She felt Lord Heimdal attempt to shift her out of the way, but Dr. Foster stood her ground. She planted her gravitation rod into one of the cracks on the ground and she held it there. She kept her eye on the ball and as soon as it got close enough, she cranked up the knob on the remote. Just as the grenade was about to explode and form a vortex, Jane managed to shift the gravitation and it vanished without a trace. Lady jane wiped her brow and smiled. Heimdal inclined his head to her with approval. All the while Lady Sif was still scaling the backs of her friends as she ran up their pyramids.

All of a sudden, another grenade was thrown. This one came from behind where Heimdal could not see. He didn't get the chance to call it. The black hole was immediately formed right before the Einherjar who had arranged themselves in the pyramid. Some of the men tried to keep themselves rooted, but they could feel the powerful suction of the bomb trying to pull them in. If they didn't run, they'd be sucked into oblivion. Sif saw the blackhole swirling and powerful, light shooting out of it. She ran faster, she ran as fast as she could. She practically leaped over some of the pyramids as she raced to get to the tallest one. "SIF!" She heard her silent friend bellow her name from where he was dangling upside-down from a broken rafter. Sif hadn't noticed, but the vortex had already begun to suck up some of the other Einherjar. They screamed out. Others tried to hold on to them to keep them from being devoured by the crushing black holes, but it was futile for some and those who went into the vortexes triumphantly proclaimed Asgard.

"No!" Sif yelled as tears formed in her eyes. The warrior woman didn't even have the ability to look back and see how many had been claimed by the Dark-Elves' bomb. She could feel the pyramid crumbling underneath soldiers falling by the wayside, like little tinmen from a toy chest. Lady Sif knew if she didn't do something soon, she'd be on the ground in a heap or either she'd be sucked into a vortex as well. Lady Sif jumped in the air and with one hand she reached for Hogun's. Hogun caught her. She dangled just above the black hole and out the corner of her eye she saw soldiers being pulled into the black holes without any chance of escape. Hogun swung her to the final pyramid where Volstagg was still outstretched. The pyramid was starting to wobble. Lady Sif landed on her friend's round belly for just a moment. She used it as a bouncy trampoline and sprang off of it. It sent her sailing higher into the air and toward the dark protective twister that Malekith was trying to hide in. She saw the break in it, where the hole was, Sif formed herself in the shape like her torpedo, she had her double-bladed saber pointed and aimed ready to take off a head. "FOR ASGARD!" she cried. "FOR THE EINHERJAR!" she continued to proclaim as she flew into the storm. Lady Sif knew that she could kill Malekith then and there and put an end to this massacre, but the winds of the twister were too powerful, the Aether ash was too strong, she could get through, the wind blocked her and blew her back out.

The violent winds sucked Sif in for a moment. It was so powerful that Lady Sigyn felt as if the wind would rip her in two. She screamed defiantly against the raging spiral. She did her best to fight against the force. Her javelin raised, still desperate to find its desired victim, but the winds inside the twister buffered the steal too much. Lady Sif could not see inside the whirlwind, all around her was red and black. The Aether ash stung her eyes and blinded them, and it scraped against her flesh and burned. Sif opened her eyes once and thought that she beheld the outline of Lord Malekith. His arms were outstretched in victory and praise. Sif couldn't stand it. She gritted her teeth aimed her blade and even reached out with her free hand; she would have done anything to end that monster. It seemed as though at one moment the storm was with her and that it was going to bring her face to face with her enemy and he'd meet his end upon the point of her double-blade. She'd jam both ends into him for good measure. Then, all of a sudden, the winds of the tempest picked up, they became more furious, and Sif found herself thrust from the swirling vortex. Her body hurled backward and into one of few remaining statues in the throne room.

Her armor crashed against the stone. The velocity at which her body had collided with the masterful work of masonry left an echo that sounded like a bomb. The statue, which was granite and marble, a depiction of one of the first Einar of who formed the first royal family of Asgard instantly crumbled upon impact. Lady Sif's body limply fell to the ground in a heap of crumbling stones. The sound of the crash caught the ear of Lady Sigyn. Queen Frigga's lady-in-waiting was a few feet away from where Lady Sif had made a crash landing and she was doing her best to fight off a few Dark-Elves. The Aesir woman appeared to be surrounded. White faces like phantoms appeared all around her out of the red haze. Iit was truly a nightmarish scene. Sigyn thought surely if she'd seen such a vision in her sleep, she would have woken up screaming, drenched in a cold sweat clutching her chest. But she wasn't asleep, this was no dream, she was wide awake and screaming and crying would do nothing to stop her enemies. "SIF!" she yelled as she watched her friend fall. With that she focused her attention on those who were around her. They couldn't all be real, she told herself. She mashed her lips together and tasted her own blood. She pulled one of her beautiful golden arrows from her quiver. She set it within the bow. "Fly straight, fly true," she said as she drew back and let the arrow loose from the bow string. There were about 15 Dark-Elves around her as it appeared, but the arrow only hit one. It pinned him to the wall as it went through his chest. It gave Lady Sigyn the room to run away from the rest of those who surrounded her. The others around her continued to pursue her, but Sigyn turned around and faced them. One she took a swing at with her bow, and it went right through the illusion. She felt herself being grabbed from behind. She elbowed her assaulter in the stomach. He didn't let go, but Sigyn kept fighting. She kicked and scrapped and reached behind her. She grabbed the Dark-Elf by his ghastly mask and took a firm hold of it and tossed it off of his face. She then thrust her own head back and gave him a brutal headbutt. Instantly, his hands let go of her. He went to grab his head as he did so Lady Sif attacked him with two rapid kicks to his stomach. The Dark-Elf fell backward. Lady Sigyn loomed over him. He looked up at her with pitch black eyes, he reached to his side and went for his blaster. Sigyn took her bow and knocked it out of his hands and knocked him across the face. He was unconscious at least, perhaps she should have gone in and made sure that he was dead, but Sigyn was too concerned with Sif.

Sigyn ran toward Sif who sat on top of a pile of rocks and rubble, unmoving. "Sif! Sif! Sif!" she called out. She'd never beheld the fierce warrior so still. Her double-bladed saber was tossed far from her, but it had at least managed to end up in the back of one of the Dark-Elves. Sigyn finally reached her. She climbed on top of the heap that had once been an illustrious depiction of one of Asgard's greatest heroes. Sigyn quickly examined her friend. She'd never seen Lady Sif look so battered and bruised. Her face was completely cut up, blood poured from her nostrils, her helmet had been ripped from her head and much of her armor had been torn from her body in the windstorm. Sif had landed in an awkward position on her arm, and it looked like it had been dislocated. "Sif!" Sigyn continued to call as she took her by the arm. She was happy that she had found a pulse on the woman. She kept patting her cheek and trying to revive her. Slowly, with a contorted face, she watched and the Einherjar general regained consciousness. "Merciful Yggdrasil!" Sigyn gasped. "Sif are you alright?" the blonde-haired handmaiden to Queen Frigga, questioned. But it was a stupid question for she could look at the woman and tell that she was not alright. Some of Sif's skin looked like it had been flayed by the Aether ash and there was a place in her side where an Aether shard had made a lodging.

"I'm...alright," the words staggered from the shield-maiden's lips. Sif went to wipe the blood away from her face with her right hand but found that it was impossible to even lift her arm. The effort proved excruciating, and she let out a horrendous scream.

"Sif, your arm is broken," Lady Sigyn informed her. "Don't move," she urged her and Sigyn took to ripping her already torn to shreds gown even further so that her legs were exposed. She began to try to wrap and bind Sif's arm to her chest so it could not be further damaged.

"No matter!" Lady Sif protested as she used her other hand to point to the whirlwind that Malekith continued to sit in the center of. It was a horrible monstrous storm becoming bigger with each passing second and destroying more and more of their kingdom.

"It's too much! It's too big!" Sigyn shouted, trying to make her voice heard over the storm. She looked up in abject terror as she saw many Einherjar, and Aesir bodies slaughtered by what Malekith had wrought. "We've got to run," she insisted turning back to Sif and nodding her golden-crowned head. "Where's Prince Thor? Where's Loki?" she asked out loud, her eyes wide and searching. "Only they can stop this madness," she confessed.

Lady Sif shakily pointed her hand toward the mound where the enchanter was still vigorously trying to move a mountain. With that, Lady Sif slumped over. Sigyn held her up. "We have to stop Malekith... running out of time," she pointed out through huffing breaths. "The opening," Lady Sif tried to bring Sigyn's attention to the break in the whirlwind before she passed out again.

"Sif!" Sigyn called as she tried to rally her, but Lady Sif didn't respond or stir. "Sif! Sif!" she called frantically, but it was no use. Sigyn gingerly laid Sif back on the rubble. Sigyn tore off more of the fabric of her pretty silk gown. She rolled it up in a bunch, it was caked with much, but it would at least provide some comfort for Lady Sif's head. As she tenderly lifted her head, she felt moisture back there and she could feel the formation of a knot. "You'll be ok," she stated to her as she patted her forehead and tried to clean up some of the blood. It was more of a prayer than a true statement. She looked at the Aether shard that was still lodged in Sif's stomach. Sigyn reached her dirty hand out and started to attempt to pull it out. Then she immediately withdrew her hand. She wanted to help, but it seemed as though the shard was keeping Lady Sif from bleeding too profusely and without any healing instruments, she may do more damage by removing it. "You'll be ok, Sif," Sigyn stated again. "I'll come back with help," she expressed and then she took off running. Lady Sigyn moved like a bolt through the dense Aether ash that swirled all around. She coughed as she made her way, but she never stopped moving as she raced her way toward the whirlwind.

She came up on it. It was huge and furious, it seemed nearly as big as the golden palace itself. She watched as more and more Asgardians seemed to be sucked into the violent storm. She could feel the pull. She saw many of the Einherjar strewn across the floor covered in blood. She saw as Frandal, Volstagg, Hogun, Lord Heimdal and even Lady Jane were scrambling to try to get the other warriors to their feet and out of the path of destruction. "It's too large!" Volstagg shouted.

"It's impenetrable!" exclaimed one soldier who was being hoisted over Hogun's shoulders.

"There are 4 portals in position, Master Heimdal," Hogun pointed out.

"We're almost out of time," Heimdal muttered as his golden eyes shifted back and forth between scarlet twister, the golden rimmed portals and the mound where Thor was apparently buried. He watched as Loki continued to try to push the piles and piles of ash off of him, but even if the enchanter was working as quickly as he could there was enough time.

It appeared as though Malekith had noticed his golden window of opportunity. Even though all the worlds weren't in complete alignment, he could allow the power of the dark crystal to flow into the portals that were already properly aligned. Soon the green fields of Alfheim, the snowcapped mountains of Jotunheim and the cities of Midgard would be things of the past, darkness, chaos and fear would reign supreme once again and Malekith would hold the realms under his thumb in an iron fist. Lord Malekith raised a bloodless hand high into the air, so that his white palm could be seen sticking out the eye of the whirlwind. The dark-red ooze started to twist, twirl and twine it's up Malekith's subby arms like some massive anaconda slithering toward the open portals that would lead to the unsuspecting realms.

"No!" Jane gasped as she beheld what was starting to unfold. She hardly noticed as Lady Sigyn came running up toward her side.

"Sigyn! Jane! Get out of here, come on!" Frandal called as he ran toward the women that was when Jane finally noticed the blonde-haired woman who had quickly befriended her upon her. arrival to Asgard. Frandal started to grab both women be the wrists to lead them away, but Sigyn immediately twisted away from the Casanova and stood her ground.

"Lady Sigyn!" Jane shouted toward her as she started to run in the opposite direction. Sigyn didn't respond or even flinch as she heard her name being called over and over. She dug her foot into the floor and planted herself in resistance to the pull of the whirlwind. Sigyn squinted her eyes, the tornado was great, but she managed to spot the opening that Lady Sif had pointed out once more. She drew her bow and arrow. She arched her back as far as she could to get the right positioning. She swiped the tip of the golden arrow across her tongue "Fly straight, fly true," she declared to the arrow, and she let it go. The golden arrow spiraled into the red and black twister. It sailed straight into the opening and struck Lord Malekith across the forehead. The Dark-Elf General winced as he felt the blow. It should have been a deadly blow, but with so much Aether energy surging through him it barely left a scratch. Still, it broke his concentration. With just that much she managed to knock Lord Malekith from his focal point. His hands fell back to his side as they instinctively went to examine his offended head. The Aether that he was sending into the portals fell away. Malekith went to raise his hand again and unleash the Aether once more, but Sigyn didn't hesitate, she launched another arrow at him and that one hit him as well. Malekith's Aether tornado began to falter.

"Nice shot!" Loki stated as he placed his hand on Sigyn shoulder. He looked down at her and gave her a wink. Lady Sigyn did a double take as she found herself standing next to the green-eyed enchanter. "Wha-?" She pointed back to the mound where Loki had once been standing and using his powers to shift the sands from off of top of where Thor had been buried. "Loki!" she exclaimed his name and sighed in relief at seeing him by her side once more. She supposed it didn't really matter how Loki appeared by her side, he was always doing that appearing out of the blue. She nearly laughed because it was something that she found most charming about him. But in that moment, she was just glad he was there, fighting with them here and now

"I can't believe it worked," Sigyn expressed, she shook her head and still was beaming "Even with the enchantment," she went on. "I...I... I, I should hit him again, shouldn't I?" Sigyn turned to him and readied her arrow and bow to strike again. "What am I doing standing around, just going on and on for," she chided herself quickly. Loki gently pushed her weapon down and turned his head in the direction of the mound where he had been standing, but there was no mound anymore. Before Sigyn's lips could even form words to offer Loki a compliment on how much of the rubble he'd managed to move, Prince Thor immediately burst forth from the mound in a blaze of glory, his covered in lightning and he took to the air. The crowd of remaining Aesir men and women who were still fighting with in the throne room raised their voices in praise and loud cheers as they saw the crown prince take to the skies. He took off like a great and legendary phoenix rising from the ashes. Oh, he was truly a brilliant sight to see. He was dazzling and resplendent in every way, but that had always been how Thor was. He was always mighty and valiant and brave and strong, just as he always was in the people's eyes. Just as he always should have been. He was their crown prince and their future king and their one true hero. Sigyn's heart burst as she saw Thor looking every bit like the god of thunder that he was supposed to be. Sigyn couldn't stop herself from cheering as well. Her hands clapped vigorously for the thunderer. Somehow, she noted that Loki wasn't wildly applauding Thor. Lady Sigyn turned toward him. She didn't know what she expected to find. Maybe she thought that his look would be that of malice, but she was pleasantly surprised to see a bright gleam in his emerald eyes.

Loki's heart seemed to swell and fill with pride as he saw Thor rise. His expression was nearly smug. The corners of his thin lips just barely turned upward. For so long he'd been filled with nothing but bitterness, resentment and envy toward Odin's first-born son so much so that he'd forgotten the feelings of pride that he used to feel on seeing Thor fight. Thor was powerful and mighty, and he could never be bested, and it wasn't something that he hated then it was something that he wished to immolate. He remembered the first time Thor had battled a bilgeschnipe. He had been little more than a lad and Thor had rescued him when the bilgeschnipe seemed to be ready to trample the life out of him. He'd feared for his life for a second, but then when he saw his brother rise all his fears had been pushed to the side and he knew he would be safe and saved. He felt like there was nothing that Thor couldn't do and no foe that Thor couldn't vanquish. He was proud to have Thor as his older brother. He thought of the times when he'd been picked on or quickly kidnapped for a time, but then Thor came for him, but when he saw the blonde-appear he knew that he'd win and those who had messed with him would be sorry. Thor had been his hero then, maybe there was a part of him that would always see him in such a light. He was sure that Lord Malekith would rue the day he thought he could take their kingdom from them.

They all gazed at it in awe and somewhat terror as in midair the Crown Prince of Asgard was illuminated with his lightning in the sky. Streaks of lightning flew off him in every direction like the legs of a spider. The lightning struck where it pleased, and it electrocuted the false image of warriors that Lord Malekith had used the Aether to create. The mirages disappeared and only Malekith's skeleton crew of a once great horde remained, but still there were enough of them to fight off for the remainder of the Aesir people. Thor started spinning furiously. Thor twirled and twirled and twirled and there was no stopping him. His furious spinning caused him to have his own tornado with formed a protective barrier between the warriors of Asgard and the remaining Dark-Elves. The two storms crashed and collided with each other. They looked like two gigantic tops spinning and fighting and twirling for dominance. They howled like battling bilgeschnipes. They roared and screamed and seemed to threaten to tear each other to shreds if the rest of the palace did as well and if that didn't stop, they'd rip through the city and then out into the countryside. Still, the look of them was that of great tops like the kind that children played with. But this was no child's play, this was war. Perhaps Thor knew that he had but a small window of opportunity. Thor quickly began to allow lightning to emit from his twister. The lightning flew into the whirlwind made of the Aether. Thor didn't lighten up, he kept sending bolt, after electric bolt into the swirling red twister. Malekith retaliated in turn shooting, raging Aether shards out toward Prince Thor. They both burst each other's tornadoes.

A/N: HELLOOOOOO READERS! We meet again! You made it to the end . Give yourself a pat on the back and a cookie from me! I hope this chapter wasn't too long for you, especially since it ends on a cliff hanger ;) Believe it or not I honestly didn't want to end this chapter on a cliffhanger. I had really intended for this to be the one an only battle chapter and I was determined to finish it all in one chapter, but when it got to be more than 90 pages long, I was like ohhhhh no this chapter has to be broken up. I tried to find a natural break in the story and ending the chapter here was the best I could do heheh. Anyway hopefully this chapter was worth the wait. The good news is that hopefully the next chapter will be updated much sooner since I've already writen some of it! ;)Once again I thank you for your continued interest in this story. Please please feel free to let me know what you think if you have been reading this story, especially since it's almost done!Just a reminder to each of you that JESUS LOVES YO! He is the answer to whatever you are going through!

GOD BLESS