Sorry it has been soooooo long since I updated this. Life happens I guess. Thanks for all your patience and I hope you continue reading and enjoying.

Please keep the feedback coming!

Ellie hit the ground screaming. She watched as a Frost Giant came up behind Loki and speared him through the chest. Her heart shattered as she saw him sink to his knees. The look on his face as he looked up at her from the spear protruding from his chest was a mixture of disbelief and fear. She reached for Loki screaming and barely saw Loki raise his hand as Helbindi disappeared with her in his arms.

When they landed in the Jotunheim he threw her to the ground. The wind was knocked right out of her, but her face still twisted in anguish. When Ellie was finally able to breathe again she began to sob. Her heart wrenched as the scene replayed in her head over and over like a nightmare.

"Stop that awful noise!" Helbindi boomed.

Ellie couldn't stop the sobs that were racking her body. Pain burst in Ellie's ribcage as Helbindi strode back over to her and kicked her into the corner of the room.

"You belong to me little elf," Helbindi said standing over her. "Any sadness you show for that little murdering giant will be met with the back of my hand."

Ellie curled up into a ball. This was all her fault. Loki lay dead on the battlefield because of her. She could not stop crying, but managed to bring it down to a whimper.

Helbindi motioned for one of his men. "Get that out of my sight. Lock her in a cell. I need to begin making arrangements for the Elves to witness our marriage."

Ellie flinched in pain as she was picked up out of the corner and carried through the halls. Dangling helplessly from the giants arms, she tried to think past the pain in her ribs and conjure her magic. Nothing happened. Finally they reached her cell. The giant threw her onto the cot and closed the bars. Looking back in on Ellie he began to laugh. She slowly raised her head.

"You will become a fun little play thing."

Thor watched in shocked as Loki sank to the ground. "NOOOOOOO! Loki!" He threw Mjolnir with all his might at the giant that stabbed Loki, but it met with thin air. After Helbindi disappeared the other giants quickly followed. Thor ran to Loki and threw himself down next to his brother.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, brother!" Thor's hands hovered over the spear not knowing what to do. "Someone bring some healings stones! Hurry!"

Loki lay gasping for breath. "Ellie," he whispered and coughed. Droplets of blood splattered across his face.

"Do not worry about that now Loki," Thor said placing his hand on Loki's head. "We need to heal you first."

"They took her. They took Ellie," he gurgled and coughed up more blood.

Odin came and knelt down on the other side of Loki, carefully looking him over. "The wound is near the heart. We must be careful."

A healer appeared and began to assess Loki's injury. He slowly began to shake his head.

"Do something!" Thor bellowed.

"If the spear has pierced the heart I may not be able to help him. The heart is the source of life and if it is too badly damaged….." the healer paused. "Loki will die."

"You must save him! My brother cannot die," Thor managed to say.

"I will do what I can here, but we must get him back to the healing room. We can do more for him there." As Loki struggled to hang on, the healer placed healing stones throughout his body. Finally he pressed one to Loki's forehead and he slowly drifted off to sleep. "Break off the spear and then he can be moved. We will have to remove the rest when he is in the healing room."

Thor took a deep breath and began to reach for the spear.

"We will need to hold him down," the healer motioned to Odin.

Odin grabbed Loki's shoulders; the healer grabbed his legs leaving Thor to grab the spear. Thor took a deep breath as he held the spear next to Loki's body still and pulled the other end, snapping it. Loki cried out in pain and fell back into unconsciousness.

"I will fly him back to the healing room," Thor said getting ready to gather Loki in his arms.

"No! He needs to be moved carefully. Loki must be supervised the entire way. If the spear shifts he may die before we can return."

Ellie was wrapped in a thin blanket that had been left on the cot. After being dumped into the cell she eventually cried herself to sleep. In her unsettled slumber the events of the battle replayed through her mind again. However, this time she wasn't dragged away, but had to stay and watch Loki die. Ellie awoke screaming.

From down the hall all Ellie heard was a giants booming voice, "Quiet down there or I will make you silent."

Ellie didn't know what to do. Her magic was not working, the man she loved was dead and she was in enemy territory.

…..

Loki lay in the healing room surrounded by men and women trying to figure out how to remove the spear without killing him. Thor and Odin stood silently watching.

"What do we do father?" Thor asked looking sadly down at his brother.

"We wait and see my son," was Odin's only reply.

At that moment Frigga and Jane rushed into the room. Frigga knelt down by Loki's head and began to shed silent tears. Jane stood behind her and placed her hand on her shoulder. Frigga bent and rested her head against Loki's. After a few moments, Jane moved over to Thor and Odin.

"What happened?" Jane asked, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Where's Ellie?"

Thor grabbed ahold of Jane's hands and explained what occurred on the battlefield.

"Ellie's gone?!" Jane gasped as Thor pulled her into his arms.

Frigga looked up then. "No! You have to get her back!"

"What happens if Loki dies?" Thor asked turning to his father. "We cannot leave Ellie in that place. Loki would not want that."

"Loki has not left us, yet," Odin looked down at Loki's body. "Once we know Loki's fate we will make a decision. We just need to wait some time."

"Time!" Frigga yelled getting to her feet, but not removing her hand from her son. "Ellie does not have time in that awful place. Just think of the ghastly things they will do to her! She does not belong there with them. Ellie belongs here!"

"They will put up a fight, Mother," Thor uttered as he tried to form some sort of plan in his head. "She is betrothed to Helbindi. It will be a hard battle to steal her away."

"No she is not!" Frigga snapped. "Ellie is rightfully betrothed to Loki. He is the first born son of Laufey."

"What?" Thor asked snapping to attention and looked back at his mother.

"Ellie is betrothed to the first born son of Laufey and Loki is the first born son," Frigga answered.

"Does Loki know this?" Thor asked shocked.

"No. Ellie never had a chance to tell him," Frigga looked back down at Loki. "And now he may never know."

"My lord, my lady," one of the healers said as he approached. "I believe we have come to a decision."

"Well?" Thor sounded anxious.

"We agree the only way to go about this is to pull the spear and apply healing stones," he bowed his head. "Then hope for the best."

"That is the best you could come up with!" Thor boomed.

"I am sorry, my lord. With the placement of the spear we are unsure of how much it has affected the heart. There is no other choice. We must hope that the heart will not stop when the spear is pulled free. If the heart remains beating, he will have a very good chance at survival."

Thor looked at his parents and they nodded their assent.

"Do it," Thor said sounding more sure than he felt.

The healers quickly gathered healing stones, salves and bandages in preparation. Once everything was ready they looked to their king and queen.

"You may wish to wait outside."

"No," Odin said. "We will stay."

Odin grabbed Frigga's hand and Thor gathered Jane into his arms. They were going to endure this with Loki as a family.

…..

Ellie lay crumpled on the floor as a chair shattered to pieces against the wall above her head.

"Why must you defy me at every turn?!" Helbindi roared.

Without looking up at the monster that was her captor Ellie said, "I would rather die than do anything you ask."

"That is unfortunate," Helbindi said, stormed over to her and yanked her up off the floor. He held her up to face him. "Since you belong to me."

"I will never belong to you!" Ellie screamed into his face. "I belong to Loki!"

Stars exploded behind Ellie's eyes as Helbindi's hand came across her face. Her head snapped back and Ellie's body went limp.

"Unfortunately for you he was killed in his pathetic attempt to save you. No one else will try. Odin knows that you are rightfully mine. Unless you learn to obey me you will endure a life of pain," Helbindi murmured in her face.

Ellie held up her head and tried to show a look of defiance through her swollen face. "I have endured a life of pain before. Nothing you do to me will be new."

"Once we are married and you bare me an heir, my little elf, you will no longer be of any use to me. If you survive child birth you may become sick and die. I would then gain complete control of both realms."

"I will die before you ever touch me," Ellie laughed in Helbindi's face.

All went black.

Ellie awoke in her cell and could not remember what happened. The whole left side of her body hurt and her eye was swollen shut. Helbindi must have taken out his anger in the only way he knew how, by throwing her against the wall.

It had been a whole week since she had been brought to this awful place. Her cell was small for a giant's standard, but for her it was rather roomy. The cot was large and gave her room to spread out. They had given her some warm blankets to use only because she would have frozen to death. Helbindi could not take the chance of losing her too soon.

The first couple days Ellie had been in the Jotunheim, all she did was cry. Whenever she was brought before Helbindi, he would end up beating her. For a time Ellie just wanted to die. There was no reason for her to live when she could go and be with Loki in the afterlife.

Then she had the dream.

….

Loki was surrounded by Ellie's scent. Her silken skin brushed his own. Her legs were entwined with his. His hands were gripping her hair as their lips were locked in a passionate kiss. Loki pulled back to catch his breath.

"Oh how I have missed you. I knew it had to be a nightmare," Loki breathed leaning his forehead against hers. "Let us never leave this room again. Forget everyone and everything. All I need is you."

Ellie smiled. "I missed you too," she pressed her hand to Loki's cheek leaning in to kiss him again. "You know we can't be here in this place anymore."

"I know I was angry with you for not telling me," Loki rushed his words, "but I am not angry anymore. I am just glad you are safe in my arms," Loki pulled her tighter to his body.

"Loki, I am not safe. The Frost Giants took me."

"Then I will come and get you wherever you are," he murmured as though he did not believe her.

"Loki, you died trying to save me," Ellie whispered with tears in her eyes.

Loki's hands stilled as they slid over her bare skin. He could not recall any of this, but then images popped into his mind like photographs. "I failed," he whispered.

"Do not worry my fierce warrior. It will not be long and I will follow you into death," Ellie said sounding defeated.

"NO!" Loki quickly replied. "You must fight on. You are a strong and brave woman. Do not let my death prevent you from becoming who you are meant to be. Gain strength from knowing that I loved you and that I will still love you, even in death."

"He is too strong Loki."

"But you are stronger my love. Use your magic against him."

"I tried," Ellie sounded worn out. "He seems to be blocking me somehow."

"We will think of a way," Loki put his hands on both sides of her face. "I will come to you every night in your dreams if I have too."

"I couldn't ask for so much."

"Promise me Ellie," he implored. "Promise you will not give up. Stay alive and find a way to escape. Live a full life as the queen of Alfheim and I will be waiting for you in the afterlife."

Ellie looked up at him with indecision in her eyes.

"Promise me!" Loki exclaimed as he held Ellie's face and looked into her eyes. "Promise me."

"I will," she blinked. "I promise. I will do all that I can to….."

All of a sudden it felt as if Loki was ripped from Ellie's arms.

Loki awoke screaming. The pain in his chest was unbearable.

"Loki calm down!"

He could not think of anything else than the pain in his chest. Burning hot fire then spread throughout his whole body as he thrashed about crying out in pain.

"Brother, you need to calm yourself!"

He felt strong hands gripping his shoulders trying to keep him still. He fought with all of his might but the hands managed to hold him down.

"You need to keep yourself still or the wound will open again. Hurry and put him back out."

Something cold was pressed to his forehead. It quickly began to heat up and the warmth spread throughout his entire body. Yet his chest still burned. Then all went black.

"He will be calm now," the healer said, "only for a little while."

Thor shook his head. It had been close. The spear had grazed his heart. After the spear was removed, Loki slowly drifted away. The healers had done what they could, but it was now up to Loki. Odin, Frigga, Thor and Jane gathered around Loki in a death watch. His skin slowly grew pale. His breathing became shallow. Frigga and Jane held his hands, but they grew cold.

They had sensed the end was near. Loki drew in a ragged breath. Then another. They waited. Frigga began to cry and Thor hung his head. Odin stepped up behind his eldest son and placed a strong hand on his shoulder. As a tear slid down Jane's cheek, she leaned forward and whispered into Loki's ear. For a moment all was silent, then he began thrashing about screaming.

Loki's family silently rejoiced as they watched him come back to life. They had all been sure that he would not survive and did not know how they could possibly deal with the loss. Even the thought of Ellie hung in the back of their minds. How would they tell her of Loki's death if they managed to rescue her from the giants? All felt relieved that they had one victory in Loki's survival and would now look forward to the next in Ellie's return.

Over the next couple days Loki gradually made improvements. His color began to return and he would awaken with slightly lucid moments. Ellie was always the first words off his lips with a glazed look in his eyes and then he would drift back into sleep.

"He is getting better Father," Thor said sounding relieved.

"He is definitely showing improvement. This is good," Odin agreed.

"We must get Ellie back. Her presence will speed his healing along," Thor implored.

"I hate to leave Ellie in the hands of the Frost Giants, but I believe we will need Loki's assistance in rescuing the young queen. Helbindi has become more powerful somehow and we will need all forces we possess," Odin said looking down at his injured son. "Ellie will need him."

….

Loki drifted in and out of consciousness. When he was awake he would ask for Ellie, but she would never come to him. When he was out he would dream of Ellie. They were never like the dream when they were in bed wrapped in each other's arms. She had thought he was dead. To him he was in a place of bliss. Skin touching skin. He felt closer to her than he ever had before. Ellie thought he was dead? Loki's eyes flew open as flashes from the battle came back full force to his mind. He gasped as he flew to a sitting position, but he fell right back down on to the pillows when his head immediately began to spin.

"Stay still. Do not try to move too fast," Loki felt soft hands on his cheeks. "You have been through quite an ordeal."

After the spinning stopped, Loki slowly tried to open his eyes again. When the room came into focus he looked up into his mother's eyes which were wet from tears.

"Mother," Loki whispered.

"Oh Loki! I am so happy to see you awake. I thought we had lost you." Frigga said as she leaned down against Loki's shoulder and cried.

Loki reached up and put his arm around her shoulders the best that he could. "I am better now. Please, Mother, where is Ellie?"

Frigga turned to Jane who was sitting in the corner. "Go get Thor and the King."

Loki watched as Jane quickly left the room. Turning back to his mother, "Where is she?"

"Ellie is not here my son," Frigga replied quietly. She wanted to wait for Odin and Thor to arrive to tell him, but she knew Loki would not wait.

"Where is she?" he asked starting to sound desperate. A vague memory of Ellie screaming came to mind.

Frigga looked down and could not meet her son's eyes.

"Mother, where is she?" he pleaded reaching to pull his mother's face up to meet his.

"I'm sorry Loki," Frigga said as a tear rolled down her cheek. "The Frost Giants have taken her."

"No!" Loki yelled as he attempted to drag himself out of bed.

Frigga was taken by surprise as Loki flew past her. When he landed on his feet, Loki's knees gave out underneath him and he crumpled to the floor. Frigga moved quickly to his side to prevent his head from hitting the floor.

"You must get back into bed." Frigga pleaded. "You are still too weak."

"I have to go to her," Loki managed, sounding winded. "I have to get my Ellie back."

"We will get her back, but first you must rest," Frigga said while trying to grab his arms to help him back to bed. "You will need your strength."

As Frigga struggled with Loki, Thor and Odin entered the room followed by Jane. Thor quickly grabbed his brother, putting him back into bed. Loki adjusted himself to sit up while Frigga piled pillows behind his head.

"How long have I been unconscious?" Loki asked looking at his family gathered around him.

"Two weeks," Thor replied hesitantly.

"Two weeks! We need to go get her now! Who knows what they could have done to her!" Loki yelled struggling to get out of bed again.

"Loki stop!" Odin boomed. "We will get Ellie back as soon as you are healed and not before!"

Loki did stop struggling and stared at his father.

"Helbindi has learned to use dark magic and we will need to work together to defeat him," Odin said. "You will need to regain your health because Ellie will need you to be strong. Ellie will need you more than ever."

"What do I need to do?" Loki asked afraid of what may have happened to Ellie.

"She will need your love, Loki," Odin stated plainly.

"She has all of it and more," he said quickly.

"You are her betrothed Loki. You are the first born son of Laufey and the right to Ellie's hand belongs to you. So you will have to fight with all of your love for her and all of your hate for Helbindi."

Loki looked up to Odin. He was Ellie's betrothed. Ellie truly was meant to be with him. The ache in his heart eased. He was going to enjoy killing Helbindi, even if he was is brother.