Oh I really hate it when I get this point of a story. Here we are kids, the ending (well, we have the epilogue, but after that...you know). Now there are several bonus scenes that I am going to put up soon.

For the wonderful review I got from her (and her "squeeing"), this chapter is dedicated to Mafsarhet.

For your wonderful music selections, section one = "Ride to the Observatory", during the battle scene and arriving outside arena "Frost Giant Battle", followed by "Forgive me," and for the end "The Chevalier" by Serenity.

Chapter Twenty-four - Forgive me

Asgard

The city was quiet all around the arena as the bloody battle between Prince Thor and King Loki was transcending the time, but even though he was not there, Heimdall stood guard outside the temple that housed the portal arch that had been delivered by the Midgardian king to create the new way of inter-dimensional travel between the nine realms.

It was still his assigned task to protect the gateway from anyone attempting to use it without expressed permission of the Allfather.

However, he could still see the combat between the brothers. It was filled with blood, tears, pain, and agony.

It was true though. Only one of them would be emerge from that coliseum alive. This saddened him as he had seen the entire life of Thor and Loki from when they were boys through adulthood.

The bridge portal began to power and open. He had to turn his gaze upon it and await the persons that were arriving there.

Odin had given expressed forbiddance that no one was to travel to any of the realms, nor to allow anyone to enter Asgard.

Thor had convinced the Allfather that while the combat was going on, Loki might sneak in his troops to begin a preliminary siege on the realm.

His sword in hand, the gatekeeper could see the three people that were about to pass through. Two of them were Asgardians, but one was metallic and from Midgard.

The Asgardians were revealed to be Queen Frigga and the Eir the healer.

"Stand down Heimdall," his queen instructed him with a gentle hand.

The third person adorned in a dark red and gold armored uniform walked with a fourth person in his arms.

It was Lady Jane Odinson, Queen of Midgard. She appeared weak, but she was alive.

"My queen," he questioned her.

"Has the battle been going on long?" his queen asked.

"The battle has been going long enough," the gatekeeper replied. "Your sons are near the point where someone will lose their life. Magic against magic, blood into sand."

"Speak of this to no one," she ordered him. "I need to get Lady Jane to her husband. Perhaps we can save both of them."

"The Allfather strictly forbid anyone to enter Asgard while the battle enrages," he told her.

"As his wife," she said, "I will be bringing Loki's wife to him."

Frigga turned to the sentry and gestured for him to follow her.

They ran out of the temple into the royal grounds.

He refocused his gaze upon the battle, seeing that magic was going to be the deciding element that would decide who lived and who died.

The clouds of black swarmed and encased the coliseum. Thunder churned and roared.

Thor was hovering in the air, his hammer spinning wildly above his head. He took the cyclone that he was spinning and lashed it out before his body.

Loki had his scepter up and held his ground. His feet were struggling to hold their ground, but he resisted the pull and push of the storm his brother churned.

A lightning bolt came down and hit his staff.

He was vaulted from his stance and crashed into the wall.

His brother returned to the ground.

"Very well done brother," Loki said, wiping the blood away from his lip. He spit it out into the sand. "However, magic is more my specialty."

The blue orb in his scepter glowed brightly and flashed into a fireball.

Words in a dialect that Thor would not be able to know escaped his lips. The dragon spirit took shape as its head emerged from the crystal and roared powerfully.

Its body snaked out and grew to be large and menacing. People that had gathered to watch attempted to get away and cave into their fears.

The dragon released a huge flame trail, directed to Thor.

With Mjolnir in hand, the flames fanned out in a flowering shield of heat, protecting Thor from any harm.

Thor got back to his feet and started to walk toward the origin of the fiery serpent. His strength was waning, but his resolve to live kept him going.

Finally the brothers were near confrontation and Thor knew it was now or never.

He took one powerful swing and struck Loki upward, striking his chin and knocking him back. The dragon ceased upon its master losing control.

The magician hit the ground. He writhed with his hand clenched around his jaw, assessing for damage or dislocation.

Thor was coming closer to him and he was becoming desperate. His tunic was actually beginning to burn so he pulled it off to prevent injury.

He scoured behind for his staff and barely found it before Mjolnir came down to strike.

Loki was trying to hold his ground and keep Thor from defeating him.

"I have tried fire brother, and yet you still stand," he said.

"I will stand for the honor of defending my people," his brother snarled. "Admit defeat brother, you have fallen."

"I will never give in to you!" Loki shouted. "You may have bested me with fire, but how about a different approach." He placed his hand upon Mjolnir and allowed the icy power that was his heritage to seep from his fingers.

Thor's prized weapon was frozen into a hardened shell of ice, retreating as he struggled to free his hand from the cool block. His hand was covered in a chilled frost.

In his blue skinned form, the people gasped that he had been able to subdue their prince with his power.

Loki used his legs and energy to snap back up vertical. "Are you prepared for your end?" he asked him.

Thor reached down slowly for his staff and shield. Without Mjolnir, he was now going to have to rely upon his instinct and brawn.

"Till my dying breath," Thor replied and they charged at one another again.

Lady Jane, safely tucked away in Iron Man's arms, watched as she observed the realm of Asgard. For the longest time in her memory, she longed to visit this place and be with Thor. But it was also Loki's home as well.

Under different circumstances however, she would love to see the city.

Right now, it was all about getting to the arena.

They had to be getting close as they could hear the storm of thunder and lightning that erupted from behind the golden walls.

"Loki," she gasped.

"It's all right Janie," Tony reassured her, "we are going to get to him."

"This way," Queen Frigga said as she guided them toward the large structure. It looked much like the Colosseum in Rome, but this appeared to be made of gold and adorned with colorful banners.

The people screamed in mixed celebration and horror, the sound filling the city.

"We are almost there," Eir told them.

Before reaching the arena, a large infantry of soldiers were standing guard outside.

"Talk about a welcome wagon," Tony said.

Jane looked to the guardians there. It would be almost impossible for Tony to take them all out.

But her mother-in-law was going to try something. It appeared she was going to order them to stand down in the way that she had gotten the gatekeeper to allow them to pass.

"As Queen of Asgard, I order you to stand down," the queen ordered.

"No one is going to enter this arena," one of the guards replied. "We are under orders from Lord Odin Allfather."

"How dare you refuse your queen?" she said, insulted.

Tony set her down into the arms of Eir the healer.

"We don't have time for this," he said.

"Tony, no!" she tried to scream to stop his attack.

But Iron Man fired a plasma shot from his hand into a guard's chestplate.

"Infidel!" another sentry said and many more joined in his attack on Tony.

Iron Man swiped to move the guards aside; mainly to clear a path so that Frigga and Eir could take her over their shoulders and take her to Loki.

"Go!" he shouted. "I will catch up!"

The three of them moved passed where the guards were fighting and made it into the arena.

The spear and staff of each of the combatants struck time and time again. The sparks that flew from their attacks no doubt could be seen from the stars and the other realms above.

Thor swiped away at his brother and struck him clear across the chest, a large slice drawing blood.

Loki took another swipe at his kin across his face. The contusion cut deep into his flesh, sending blood draining down his cheek.

The elder brother pretended to swipe again at him, but then swung around to take his baby brother off his feet.

Loki hit the sand and tried to get up, but Thor stomped down powerfully on his abdomen.

The pointed, stained end of his weapon came down to be at his brother's neck.

"It is over, my brother," Thor whispered to him. "You have fallen."

And his brother's, returning to normal, green eyes stared up at him.

Queen Frigga assisted Jane down the staircase to the main level where if this were a sanctioned event, the fighters would have come down to enter the open space.

Jane moved down the corridor of the arena, using the brick wall to carry her load that she could not bear standing on her own. Her legs wobbled as she walked and Frigga was there to support her at the back.

Her vision was still blurred, but she could see two figures standing out in the arena, one had a rod pointed down at the one on the ground.

"Oh by the gods," Eir the healer said. "He's really going to do it."

"What?" Jane asked.

"Thor is about to kill Loki," the healer said.

"No," Jane begged and tried to walk, but nearly tumbled to the dirt. "Stop," her voice tried to call out to the warriors. "Frigga, please…I cannot…"

Thor had the spear pointed outward and down near his brother Loki's neck. He did not want to do this, but it was a mêlée to the death.

Loki would have killed him since it was his wife that felt dishonored.

"Go on brother," Loki snarled at him. "Take me and my kingdom. That is what you want, right? Then slay me as I lie and take Jane. Do it!" he howled before spitting up at him.

He lifted the spear high above him. "Forgive me," he begged and was about to strike the killer blow.

"Stop!" a voice cried out from the tunnel to interrupt their battle.

Their mother Frigga appeared from where Thor had entered the arena. She was in her traveling attire and rushed into the main area for them.

His mother tried taking the spear away from him, but he forced it from her hands.

"You cannot think to do this my son," she asked him. "Why would you...this is your brother...your blood."

"As he clearly stated before mother, he is not my brother," he replied. "I ask you, mother, stay back and allow us to finish this," he finished as he shoved her aside.

"And as your mother, I am begging for you to stop," she asked. "Death is not the answer nor will stop anything."

"Then what will?" he asked.

"Loki," a delicately and barely audible voice was heard from the darkness within the arch.

He watched as his brother's head turned to the darkness, which he soon imitated.

The brightness of Eir the healer in her pale blue tunic and red hair appeared out of the dimness, but she was not alone.

Jane was limping, alive and barely able to stand as Eir supported her frail body. It was a miracle. He had seen Jane's dying body on Midgard.

Now she was alive again.

"Jane," Loki whispered and shoved the pointed staff out of his face and scrambled to his feet.

The queen attempted to walk on her own without Eir's aid, but found that after a few steps, she could take no more and collapsed. "Loki," she said his name as she fell.

The King of Midgard gathered his wife into his arms tightly and held her against him. Jane could barely get her hands above his shoulders. They came to rest on his sweat and dirt covered biceps.

Thor couldn't believe he was seeing what he was seeing. Loki was actually crying and it was not some light crying spell. It was a deep crying agony toward celebratory weeping.

Jane's hands slid amongst the sweat, blood, and sand that covered his back and hair. He was a mess and yet, she still wanted to hold him.

His brother released her and cupped her face in his hands. "How? The doctor said you were brain dead…"

"I was," she said, "but apparently a couple of people did not want me to die."

"Well me of course, but who…" Then he looked down to her body. "Oh Jane, are you…"

"That day I was out and Thor put his lips on mine," she tried explaining, "I had gone to see a physician to find out for sure. Loki, my king, I am with child; your child."

Loki took his wife again into his powerful embrace and held her tightly to him. "Don't ever leave me again," he whispered into her ear before kissing it.

"I am so sorry if I hurt you my husband," she said to him. "I am in love with you. I am totally and completely in love with you."

"I should have believed you in the beginning. I have seen into your heart. You would never have betrayed me. I should have trusted you." He kissed her on the forehead.

Iron Man appeared near them being chased by an inept Asgardian guard into the arena.

Loki was grateful that his loyal Avenger had brought her to him.

"None of that matters now," she told him as he stared deeply into her dark eyes. "I am yours and you are mine. That is never going to change. I got to talk to our son, in my mind. You should see him. He looks like you."

This made him smile for the first time in several weeks. He was going to be a father.

He stared into the battle arena and saw that his brother was still standing there, stake pierced into the blood covered sand with their mother at his side.

They still had a battle to finish.

Loki did the noble thing and headed back into the arena to face his fate. He had lost the fight, and would take his punishment. He would give his life.

But Jane came out there with him. He kept her arms braced around his sweat covered arm with his hand and held her close to him. "My brother," he started to plea, "I am asking for mercy. Please release me so that I may return to Earth and be the best king and father that the Midgard realm deserves. If you feel that you must enact your revenge upon me, then I request that you allow Jane to say good-bye to me first."

"No," Jane begged and tried to lead him away, but she could not on the account of her weakness.

"I must do this my love," he told her. "It was the terms to stopping a full-scale realm to realm war. One would live and the other shall fall." He turned back to Thor. "Do with me as you must."

Thor stared at Loki and then looked back to Jane who was standing there in exhaustion.

It was clear that Loki believed he was going to be killed, but he looked at Jane with a stare of reservation and fear. He did not want to lose Jane, he could tell that much.

"No Loki," he answered his brother's request, "I will not see Jane's heart shattered as it was and made her come to you. I have learned from previous ailments. I will release you so that you can rule Midgard with her and be a great father to the child that she is now carrying."

Jane gasped and embraced him powerfully with what strength she had.

He must have pleased her a great deal to get this sort of reaction. Thor wrapped his arms around her. They locked eyes.

"I thank you Prince Thor," she said to him. "I promise you, our kingdom will work with Asgard on an eternal peace and on the life of my son, you will never have worry about any impending wars against your home."

This did please him that Jane was safe and that Midgard was going to be in good hands.

"Take care of her brother," Thor told Loki as he passed his wife's hand back to him.

"On my life," Loki replied and took her back. He reached down and scooped Jane into his arms. "Thank you mother, Eir, everyone."

Everyone bowed their heads and smiled.

"We will come visit soon," Frigga said to them. "We cannot wait to be a part of this joyous moment into your lives."

The King of Midgard turned to face his friends and court who had gathered behind him. "Let's go home," he told them.

"Thought you would never ask," Jane replied, a smile beaming amongst her lips.

Loki led the way across the ground, overwhelmed by the glorious fanfare of the people of the realms. The people were cheering either upon this moment or the fact that he was leaving Asgard. Either way was a good enough reason to celebrate.

His court followed behind him. They walked out of the arena, down the people-lined streets, and made their way to Heimdall.

While they waited for the portal to open, the king kissed his queen on the forehead. Black Widow and Iron Man were the first to go through the portal followed by Darcy and Coulson.

However before they entered the portal set for Midgard, they turned and saw their family members standing before them.

With one final head bow, Loki stepped through the portal at his back with his queen and they vanished; appearing on Midgard.

They did have lives to get back to.

I hope that this result makes all happy. We have an epilogue and then this story is over. So sad! Please review.

I have a request for those that want to review, by asking a question: Who do you believe suffered from Stockholm Syndrome? Jane, Loki, Thor, or someone else?