Warning: Angst ahead. Read at your own risk. I will not be held responsible for any damage done by keyboard smashing.

Enjoy!

The last aurora-like remnants of the Bifrost were just disappearing into the twilit clouds, and the dust was clearing from the landing site. As the figures drew closer, Jane recognized them for who they were, and relaxed somewhat.

"Greetings, Lady Jane, and Lady Darcy." Fandral said, smiling charmingly at the women. Jane laughed.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sif shrugged.

"Odin sent us to help keep you safe. Heimdall told us that Loki had been captured…" she started to explain.

"Oh, and I suppose you were so eager to come to my aid." Loki cut her off with a sneer. Sif regarded him coldly.

"You're welcome." She replied sharply. He gave her a mocking bow.

"So, you're here just in case I end up getting taken again, I suppose?"

"In the ever more likely event that you do get captured, we are to take Thor back to Asgard." She snapped.

"You think I enjoy being put in a cage?" Sif put her hands on her hips.

"It seems to happen quite a lot." she sniffed.

"Happens to the best of us." He said, tilting his head haughtily.

"Are you going to accept our aid, or no? Because I could care less whether or not you make it out of this situation alive." She finally spat. Loki looked like he was about to say something particularly nasty, but Thor covered his mouth before the words left his tongue.

"Loki, stop it." he whispered, looking like he was on the verge of tears. Loki nodded, and Thor took his hand away.

"I'm sorry, Thor." He turned back to Sif. "I don't care what happens to myself, only that Thor is safe." Shock was plainly written on the faces of the four newcomers. Darcy tugged on Loki's sleeve again.

"Loki…" He turned to face her.

"What now, Darcy?" The girl merely pointed in the opposite direction that Sif and the others had come from.

"I didn't think they had invited anyone else to the party…" she said, gesturing to the Asgardians. Sif shook her head.

"No, we were the only ones sent. Odin would have told us…" Loki saw clearly. Those were Hela's men, if he were to make a bet. Wraiths of Niflheim.

"Thor, go to Jane. Sif, Hogun, I need the two of you to keep them safe. Volstagg, Fandral, You're coming with me." Fandral glanced over at Sif, almost as if asking permission, but caught himself halfway.

"Of course. You do have a plan, right?" Loki gave him a half-smile.

"Maybe. Maybe not. But either way, you're going to keep Thor safe by fighting beside me." Volstagg nodded.

"Indeed we are." He affirmed. "For Thor." He placed his fist over his heart, and Fandral followed suit. Loki's smile widened.

"Good. Follow me." He grabbed a hold of their arms, and the three of them vanished. Sif and Hogun led Jane and Darcy in the opposite direction, where they had seen a place to stay, an abandoned gas station.

"What manner of creatures are we going against, Loki?" Volstagg asked. The trickster grimaced.

"Wraiths. Spirits of the dead, armed with magic, and weapons beyond most warriors." He paused a moment. "We are going to fight them, and then, I will send you back to Thor and the girls. I will face Hela alone."

"But you need someone there with you." Fandral said. Loki stopped and turned to face him.

"I'm not going to get you killed because of something I did, or neglected to do. Hela's grievance is a mirror image of my own. If I had been paying attention, I might have sensed sooner that at least she, out of the three children, had survived. And that she craved my attention and affection, as any daughter would. In that, I have failed utterly. But as I have seen with Thor, sometimes tough love is the only way to teach a lesson." Loki wondered why he was explaining all this to Fandral and Volstagg, but out of all Thor's friends, they were the two he trusted most. Fandral cleared his throat, hoping to disguise his sudden sympathy for Loki's situation.

"Let's go then." Volstagg said.

Thor sat on Darcy's lap, while Jane paced worriedly across the tile floor.

"Why is he doing this? What could he possibly hope to get out of it?" she asked, for what seemed like the thousandth time. A gust of wind suddenly rocked the small building, startling them all, even Hogun. A flare of green light in the distance caught their attention, and the unearthly howl that followed made them all cringe.

"Oh god, I hope they're okay…" Jane whispered. With another startling flash, Fandral and Volstagg appeared in the room with them. Sif went immediately to Fandral, who appeared to have a pretty nasty gash on his arm. Volstagg's beard was singed, and his armor cracked in a few places. Both were otherwise unhurt.

"Where's Loki?" Thor asked. Fandral glanced over at the boy.

"He's fighting Hela. He sent us here." Darcy stood up.

"What? And you let him just leave?" She went over to the window, handing Thor off to Jane. Fandral watched her.

"He sent us back. It wasn't a matter of us letting him. Loki does what he wants. We couldn't stop him." Volstagg appeared to be thinking it all over.

"He knows we can't do anything. We'll just have to trust that he can take care of this on his own."

Loki glanced around the golden room wildly. He was back in Asgard, in the observatory dome. Heimdall was nowhere to be found. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

Thor was on Midgard with Darcy and Jane, and Hela was here with him. Really, this was the best outcome he could've hoped for. He could sense that she was there, waiting for him. There was a possibility of talking her down, but there would always be time for that later. For now, he was focused on getting Thor turned back.

The tricky part was finding a way of doing so that wouldn't drive Hela away completely. But it was probably too late for that, if she was anything like him.

"If it's vengeance you seek, Hela, I'm the one you should be going after."

"And why is that?" she replied, materializing beside him, her hands behind her back. She watched him, her face devoid of any emotion.

"Too many reasons to count. Please. Striking back isn't going to gain you anything. I've learned that. Consider it the first piece of good advice I've given you." he said, hoping to perhaps charm her into obeying.

"The first, yes." She circled him once, and then looked him in the eye. "And the last." She summoned her power, and threw him across the observatory. He hit the opposite wall with a sickening thud.

"Hela, all I ask is that you spare Thor." he managed to say, struggling to pull himself onto his knees. Hela shook her head, raising her hand again. She clenched her fist, and Loki felt as though someone were making a fist around his heart. Moaning in pain, he collapsed. How fitting, that he should be killed by his own daughter. Hadn't he done the same thing to Laufey?

Maybe patricide does run in the family.

Part of him hoped that his daughter could still be reasoned with, but that hope was dashed when Hela pulled him up by the throat.

"If I cannot have him while he's under your protection, he will be mine once you are dead." Out of some secret pocket in her voluminous robes, she grabbed an obsidian dagger, and stabbed him in the chest. Loki's eyes widened, first in shock, but then the pain took over.

"Like father, like daughter…" she hissed, deftly twisting the blade. Loki cried out hoarsely.

"Hela, please..." She eyed him disinterestedly.

"I hope you realize now that your efforts on that thundering oaf's behalf are utterly wasted." She turned around, her robes trailing out behind her. Loki took a gasping breath, summoning what power he could muster, and opened a portal.

"Hela, I command you to leave this realm! Go back to Niflheim." He held up his hand, palm out, a green glow weaving around his fingers.

"No…" the girl whispered in horror as she realized what was happening. Drawn in by the portal, she realized she couldn't escape. "I'll be waiting for you, Father." She spat as she flew backwards and vanished. Loki watched with regret as his daughter disappeared. Using the last reserves of his magic, he opened yet another portal, summoning Jane, Darcy, and Thor into the observatory dome.

"LOKI!" Thor shrieked, seeing the crimson soaking through Loki's tunic, turning the vivid green cloth a strange shade of black. He pulled himself free of Jane's arms. She made no move to stop the little boy from running off, and Darcy was as a statue. Loki had seemed impervious to any physical attack. Hell, even her taser hadn't worked on him. Seeing him lying here wounded was more than a bit of a shock.

Loki opened his eyes to see Thor sitting next to him, holding his hand in both of his. Thor was holding onto his hand with both of his own.

"Thor?" he whispered. The boy nodded.

"I'm here, Loki." The trickster's eyes fell shut again, but he was smiling.

"Of course you are." A couple ragged breaths passed before he spoke again. "Promise you'll remember me…brother?" Thor nodded solemnly, fresh tears gathering in his eyes.

"I promise." Thor whispered.

"Good."

Frigga came into the observatory, followed closely by four guards. She stopped short when she saw them.

"Oh no…" she whispered, quietly making her way over to them. She knelt opposite of Thor. The boy looked up at her.

"Mother, can't you help him?" Frigga glanced down at the pale form beside her.

"It's too late, Thor." Loki managed to say. Thor shook his head.

"No! It can't be too late. Mother always makes everything better!" he protested. Loki laughed quietly, because there was a grain of truth to that. Frigga's presence here did give him some comfort, because there would now be another witness to the fact that he had saved Thor's life.

"Here is one ill she cannot cure." He whispered, so only Frigga and Thor could hear him. "And it's the only way to turn you back. I've known for a while." Frigga bit her lip, smoothing his hair back, a gesture that she had used to convey her affection after her sons had grown 'too old' for hugs and kisses. Loki felt a tear slip down his cheek. Now that he had finally made his peace with Thor and Frigga, he had to give it all up. So much for the joy that his mother had spoken of.

Darcy watched as Loki went limp. The tears that had threatened to come were nowhere to be found now. She just felt empty. A space she hadn't even known existed was now hollow.

She didn't have time to dwell on it, however, because almost as soon as Loki breathed his last, Thor began to transform. A green and golden glow surrounded both princes, and before Jane could even blink twice, Thor was back in his adult form. He glanced around, confused. Confusion became horror when he beheld his brother's blank eyes and bloodied tunic.

"No…" He turned away, grief-stricken. Jane knelt next to him, allowing him to lean on her.

"He did it for you, Thor." She whispered, carefully rubbing his shoulder.

"I remember all of it. He saved my life." He drew a deep breath. "Perhaps the Valkyrie will claim his soul for Valhalla." He murmured. Jane stared at the body, nodding mutely. Valkyrie? Valhalla? Both were new terms to her, but they seemed to bring comfort to Thor. Darcy stepped closer to Loki's body, and gently closed his eyes, her lower lip quivering slightly. She felt it was the appropriate thing to do. Now, if it weren't for the lack of breathing, and all the blood on his shirt, he looked as though he was sleeping. She remembered their conversation about what would break the spell.

"It's not what I think will end the spell, it's what I know will end the spell."

"You know how to break it?"

"Indeed I do. After much thought, I have stumbled upon it."

"Then why haven't you done anything about it?"

He had smiled when she asked him that, but his eyes had been sad.

"Oh god…" she whimpered. He had been trying to tell her that turning Thor back would be the death of him. He had known all along…the bastard. And to think that he had known he was going to die, and he still allowed her to befriend him. She broke down completely.

"Please come back?"