So more stuff right out of the movie. Don't own that, didn't write it.
Thanks for reading!
1st beta: Heather
Final beta: Erica
Part II: In the Dark
Chapter 14: Gone Away World
They will start at daybreak, when the guards change their shifts.
The sun will come up – the third sun without Frigga – Bragi will step naked onto the rainbow bridge, Sif will collect Jane, and for the first time in a year and a half, Loki will leave these rooms.
It gives them a few hours to prepare and to rest.
"I feel like we should have we-might-die-tomorrow sex," Eleanor says, crawling into bed next to her husband. "But I'm just so fucking tired, Loki."
And it's not the type of tired a few rushed hours of sleep will cure. Her soul is weary. Her bones are fatigued. If Loki's expression is any indication, he feels the same.
"Come here," he says, opening his arms. She curls up on his chest and tries not to cry. "You will obey my every order, Eleanor," he says, as serious as she's ever heard him. "If you do not make this one vow I will change my mind and remain stubbornly in these rooms."
"Okay." It's a fair caveat to this whole ridiculous plan.
This situation is so foreign to Eleanor, but Loki's probably lived a thousands nights like this one. He's suffered the quiet anticipation before venturing into the unknown or some dangerous battle.
Eleanor is not experienced enough to be frightened, although she knows she should be, so she'll obey her husband's every order. His top priority will be to keep her safe, so Eleanor will keep her head down and do what he says.
This is the best way to keep him safe in return. He'll get himself killed playing the protector, so she'll stay as safe as possible given the fucking cracked situation they are about to put themselves in.
"Okay," Loki repeats. "Yes. Good. I love you, Eleanor. Most ardently."
She smiles against the skin of his bare chest.
These words are still a risk to Loki, whispered like a secret, and Eleanor is thankful for them now even if this utterance is probably not a good sign. It is rare for him to say these words at all and is unprecedented for him to say them first. Their chances of surviving unscathed have to be nonexistent for Loki to say them first.
"I know," she says. "I love you."
He hums in response and Eleanor can hear the rumble in his chest.
"Tomorrow, do not think of Mother. There will be time enough to mourn after. Do not think of her and do not think of your sorrow," he advises. "Try to pretend as if it did not happen, as impossible as that is."
"Okay." It seems like sound advice that Loki's never been particularly good at following himself.
Eleanor doesn't think she sleeps, but when she opens her eyes Loki is gone and the sky is just starting to lighten up.
A few hours of sleep did nothing to rid her of this numbness. Somewhere deep down she must be panicking but she can't feel it. Her emotional shutdown is probably a positive.
Rolling out of bed – for what might be the last time – is shockingly easy, and she gets ready methodically, brushing her teeth and then braiding her hair around the crown of her head before pulling it back into a bun.
It could be the beginning of any day, except when she gets to the closet she does not select a green dress.
Instead she pulls on tight black leather pants over her underwear. Next is a tunic, also black, and a jerkin – black with green stitching – that has a collar just like Loki's. The whole black get up fits her like a second skin and is plated with golden metal. It was a gift from Frigga – they are not talking about Frigga, they are not thinking about Frigga – but Eleanor never thought the beautifully crafted armor would see any action.
Securing the golden metal plates up her arms and down her legs is trickier and Eleanor is thankful for Asgardian ingenuity because the weight of all of it comes to just a few extra pounds.
She swings her arms around and feels like a bad ass as she walks out to the main room, trying to not think of Frigga and working on not freaking the fuck out.
"Finally," says Loki when she emerges. He groans dramatically and it's been a long time since Eleanor's seen him in the full-on armored getup, not since he met with Odin when they first got here a year and a half ago.
"You should have woken me up," Eleanor says, shuffling in her boots and feeling awkward now that Loki is smirking at her, eyes slowly dragging up her frame. His expression is mischievous and shocking to Eleanor. She hasn't seen him smile like this since before that thing that they are not thinking about happened. "Are you okay?"
Loki laughs, light and free. The sound makes Eleanor jump and she doesn't even respond when he kisses her quickly.
"You are stunning in such attire."
"Is it on right?" Eleanor asks, suddenly self-conscious. "I've never worn this full armor before. Just the heavier, practice thing Sif makes me put on."
Loki chuckles again, running his hand over her shining, new armor. The golden plates are engraved to match Loki's.
"You've assembled it correctly." He murmurs the words against her lips and her eyes flicker shut as he kisses her.
It's almost too much given all that is going on, but he tilts her head back and Eleanor gives in, choosing for a moment to forget about the thing they aren't thinking about, and the crazy-as-all-shit situation they are putting themselves in to save the universe, and the fact that Loki is being all weird and smiley.
"Loki!" Thor shouts from the entryway. Eleanor jerks away, blushing and dropping her gaze to the floor. "Remove your lips from my sister. It is time."
"Excellent!" Loki replies, basically skipping on over to the thunder god. It seems unnatural and shocking. Eleanor struggles to keep up with his happy mood.
He is doing a much better job ignoring his grief than Eleanor.
Thor hands over what seems like an unnecessary number of knives and daggers. Loki hides them away in the layers of his armor with well-practiced movements before beckoning Eleanor over.
"Pay attention now, my love," Loki says, slipping two knives into hidden sleeves at her sides and one at her ankle. He secures a familiar sword, light and skinny, to her hip.
"This is my favorite when I spar with Sif." She touches the hilt.
"And if all goes according to plan you will never once draw it. But there is no sense in bringing you into the unknown unarmed."
She nods dumbly.
"Quickly now," Thor says, stepping into the hallway.
"Yes, yes," Loki says, grinning widely and bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Quickly, Eleanor. Quickly."
Eleanor blinks at the brothers as they stare at her expectantly. "Oh, right," she mutters when understanding dawns, clearing her throat once. "Loki." The command tickles. "You are no longer confined to these rooms. You may leave. You can also hurt and kill and maim all you want."
Loki kisses her soundly and darts after Thor, who is already striding down the hall. Eleanor shakes her head once and hopes that Loki's giddiness is simply because he is excited to leave these rooms for the first time in over a year and a half, and not because he is on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Eleanor has to jog to catch up.
"This is so unlike you, Brother," Loki is saying, continuing to grin. He looks over his shoulder to check on Eleanor and she tries not to stare at him like she's already freaking out, even if his jovial behavior is freaking her out. "So clandestine. Are you sure you wouldn't just rather punch your way out?"
"If you keep speaking I just might," Thor replies. He is calm, eyes taking in the so-far deserted halls for anything that might impede their escape. For the first time, Eleanor really sees Thor as the collected older brother to Loki's obnoxious, purposefully annoying younger.
And it is fascinating.
"Fine. As you wish. I am not even here." Loki turns into an Einherjar. Eleanor rolls her eyes at her husband's antics and keeps jogging behind the pair of long-legged gods. "Is this better?"
"Better company at least."
"Still, we could be less conspicuous." And now Thor is Sif, while Loki is back to himself. "Ah, Brother. You look ravishing."
Loki glances at Eleanor over his shoulder. She is unimpressed.
Thor checks himself out. Eleanor has to bite back her laughter and now she is no longer pretending not to freak out. Loki's mischief brings her calm.
"It will hurt you no less when I kill you in this form," Thor says.
"Very well. Perhaps you prefer one of your newer companions? You seem to like them so much." And now Loki is Steve in full on Captain America regalia while Thor is back to Thor. Loki puffs out his chest and gets the jaunty walk down perfectly. "Oh, this is much better. Costume's a bit much. So tight. But the confidence! I can feel the righteousness surging. Hey, want to have a rousing discussion about truth? Honor? Patriotism?"
Eleanor completely fails not to laugh as they keep sprinting through the palace, and Loki turns around, winking at her as he walks backwards.
"God bless America!" he declares.
Eleanor snorts.
"You have spent far more time with the Captain of America than I, Brother," says Thor, totally unbothered. "He is your companion, not mine. But I am sure Eleanor is enjoying this change in scenery."
"Now see here—" Loki is back to himself but Thor is reaching out for him, pushing him back into a column and covering Loki's mouth. Eleanor hides behind the pair of giants, suddenly nauseous with worry, all good humor lost. "What?" demands Loki when Thor frees him.
Thor nods to a passing pair of guards. Loki gestures for Eleanor to come closer, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. They press on in silence.
"Here comes Sif with Jane," Thor murmurs as they wait in a hall outside the throne room.
Jane breaks into a run when she spots them and Thor takes a step forward, anticipating a loving reunion. Instead Jane throws her arms around Loki. He blinks rapidly and sniffs like Jane's odor is offending his nose, but he pats her back.
"Why does your woman embrace Loki, Thor?" asks Sif, sounding like she thinks something smells bad too.
Thor sighs heavily.
"I'm so glad to see you," Jane says, releasing Loki and moving to squeeze Eleanor. "Both of you."
Eleanor closes her eyes and melts into her friend. It's a relief to have an ally here, to have someone else who has never done anything remotely like this before. She frowns into Jane's hair when she realizes that her friend's breathing is labored from the little jog down the hall.
A gaggle of guards approaches and Eleanor tugs on Loki's hand, trying to follow Thor and Jane through a doorway. Before Loki can take a step Sif has her blade to his throat.
"Betray him and I will kill you," she says.
"Really, Sif? I mean really?" Eleanor asks, pushing away the weapon as Loki smirks.
"Remember your lessons, Eleanor. Do not die." And then the warrior turns, standing between the Einherjar and their escape route. Eleanor wonders how many more there would be without Bragi's little show on the bridge to distract them.
Loki pulls Eleanor through the doorway and she vows to follow Sif's advice.
"I will give you as much time as I can," says Volstagg, standing at the base of a bizarrely angular ship that crashed into the throne room during the attack. Giant piles of stone litter the hall and Eleanor wonders how many bodies they pulled from the rubble in here.
"Thank you," says Thor, moving towards the ramp.
Eleanor and Loki exchange a look, equally skeptical about this mode of transportation. They try to follow but this time it is Volstagg stopping Loki with a hand on his chest.
"If you even think of betraying him—"
"You'll kill me? Evidently there will be a line," replies Loki, rolling his eyes.
"Jesus Christ," says Eleanor. "He's off to save the universe! You people could at least refrain from threatening him!"
Loki laughs and pulls her onto the ship.
The inside of the alien craft is a dark, enclosed space and Eleanor is immediately uncomfortable. It hardly looks capable of flight and Loki snips at Thor as the thunder god slaps around uselessly at the controls. Eleanor cracks a smile because the gods have never seemed like siblings more than they do in this moment. The bickering is endearing.
Thor somehow manages to power the thing up, even with Loki hovering over his shoulder and offering criticism rather than advice, and Eleanor moves closer to Jane.
In the days since the scientist was imprisoned, her condition has greatly deteriorated. In the strange light of the cockpit she appears deathly pale and she can't seem to get a good grip on the ridged wall of the ship to keep herself upright as Thor swerves them around, attempting to avoid gunfire.
"Jane?" Eleanor asks, extending a hand.
"I'm fine."
When Jane's knees give out a second later, Eleanor catches her.
"I think I just need to sit down," mumbles Jane, her head lolling on her shoulders.
Eleanor expected this little mission to be full of scary situations, but something about seeing Jane so frail is worse than anything she imagined. With great care Eleanor helps Jane lie down. She curls up in a ball, her head in Eleanor's lap.
Loki continues to give Thor a hard time as they zoom around, being shot at. Eleanor focuses on stroking Jane's hair. The repetitive motion helps Eleanor ward off her own hysteria and fear.
"Oh, there is Bragi. Naked as promised. Eleanor, there is your father," says Loki, pointing through the narrow slit in the metal that forms the windshield.
"Why did he have to be naked?" she asks.
"An excellent inquiry, my wife. He seems to be enjoying it. Now he dances."
Thor jerks the controls suddenly, trying to avoid being fired upon from gun turrets. Eleanor closes her eyes, matching her breathing to the rhythm of her fingers in Jane's hair. It's the only way to stay calm.
"You know, this is wonderful," Loki snaps. Sometime in the last few moments while Eleanor was attending to her best friend, her husband switched from gleefully critiquing Thor's piloting to genuine anger. She gets to her feet and peers behind them at the many ships converging to chase them down. "This is a tremendous idea. Let's steal the biggest, most obvious ship in the universe and escape in that. Flying around the city, smashing into everything in sight so everyone can see us. It's brilliant, Thor! It's truly brilliant! If Eleanor is harmed I will—"
Thor pushes Loki out of the ship, a side door opening suddenly, and Eleanor lunges forward, panicking for a moment.
"Oh," says Thor, frowning down at Eleanor. "He annoyed me so and I forgot that he would need to take you while I have my hands full with Jane."
Wind rushing in her ears, Eleanor peers out of the craft to see Loki crumpled in the bottom of a boat that speeds across the surface of the water beneath them.
"I can jump," Eleanor says. "Sif made me jump off things. Nothing moving. But I can jump."
Somehow Thor is next to her, with Jane in his arms. "Then do so, Sister."
Eleanor takes one last big breath and does so. She even remembers to roll when she lands, hitting the bottom of the boat and ending up flat on her back.
"Eleanor?" Loki shrieks, as panicked as she was a moment ago. He helps her to her feet as Thor and Jane join them.
"I'm fine, sweetheart."
"You lied to me," Loki says to Thor, clearly stunned. He pulls Eleanor back to his chest, arms around her waist. "I'm impressed."
Eleanor giggles, the sound only semi-hysterical.
"Your wife is far more graceful than you, Loki," says Fandral, chuckling.
"Are you going to threaten to kill him?" Eleanor asks.
"No," says Fandral. "Why would I do that?"
Loki gapes and Eleanor grins. While the other warriors seem to have only put up with Loki for Thor's sake, Fandral genuinely liked Loki before everything went to shit. He asks about her husband often.
"I am glad you are pleased," Thor says, gently placing Jane on a bench at the front of the ship. "Now do as you promised. Take us to your secret pathway."
Loki takes over the strange steering stick at the back of the boat, turning them away from the city.
Eleanor watches Loki's face as the wind rips through his hair. He looks alive and happy in a way she hasn't seen since leaving Midgard. For the first time in a year and a half he feels free and Eleanor forgot just how beautiful he is like this. Now that he is out in the world once more, the depression, boredom, and unhappiness of his imprisonment is so much more apparent. She got used to him being so sullen and she hates herself a little bit for forgetting just how gloriously alive he can be.
Now the wind is in his hair and he is beautiful.
Even if his smile is a bit maniacal, it is a joy to see him so free.
He pulls up on the lever, taking them to the sky and she squeaks a bit, unaware that the craft was so versatile. The single ship that did not fall for Thor's ruse with the alien craft is once more shooting at them, but Fandral swings away on a rope, taking care of this final barrier that is attempting to thwart their departure.
Eleanor eyes the fast approaching mountains and tries to brace herself for impact.
"Loki!" shouts Thor, standing protectively over Jane.
"If it were easy everybody would do it," he replies.
"Are you mad?"
"Possibly." Loki grins at the mountains but than glances at Eleanor. "Come here, my love."
She scrambles up to do as he says, tucking her face into his chest as they plunge full speed into a narrow crack in the mountain. Loki shields her face from the sparks that fly out as the metal of the hull scrapes against rock. Eleanor peeks out in time to see the rippling of white energy and green magic. In a second the pitch black of the mountain is replaced with the dreary grey-green sky and craggy, dead earth.
"Ta da!" Loki sings as the ship levels out.
Eleanor's relieved laughter sounds strange as it rings out in the haunting and barren landscape of Svartalfheim.
Eleanor did not anticipate the boredom.
In her head, the moment Loki got them to the Dark World, Malekith and his cursed rock monster would descend upon them, sucking the poison from Jane's veins and saving her life. Eleanor would pull Jane to safety, letting Loki and Thor deal with the remaining enemies and they'd be back on Asgard for dinner.
Instead, they float around aimlessly. Loki wants to find the ancient site of the battle where Grandpappy Bor claimed (falsely) to have killed all the Dark Elves. With Malekith's ability to find the Aether – or to get damn close, as he couldn't figure out Jane's specific location, just the general vicinity – it doesn't really matter where they end up.
But Eleanor just wants to fucking get there already.
She is twitchy with nervous energy but has nowhere to go, so she paces around the small deck of the skiff, biting her lip and glancing nervously at a resting Jane on every pass.
"Eleanor."
At the soft murmur from the thunder god her footsteps falter, but only for a moment. The sound of her boots moving on the deck is the only thing keeping her sane.
Thor sits at the bow of the skiff, Jane's head in his lap. Her breathing is shallow and labored. The sound compounds Eleanor's stress and her pacing gets a bit more frantic in the too-small space.
"Eleanor," Thor repeats. "You must calm yourself. It may be many hours yet, before the arrival of our enemy. Jane needs peace."
"Jane needs this shit out of her before she dies!" Eleanor replies, her voice breaking.
Jane grumbles, but sleeps on. Thor's hand curls in her hair, his eyes wide with fear. He scowls at her for a moment before looking out at the grey-green landscape.
"Eleanor, come here." This time it is Loki requesting something of her and she willingly goes to him, joining her husband at the helm where he continues to pilot them to nowhere.
"It's been hours, Loki," she complains, coming to stand between his knees. Stillness is not an option, so she bounces in place.
"I know," Loki replies. His hands leave the oddly shaped steering stick to cradle her face and she finally stops moving. "This will take time, Eleanor. And we do have time. Jane will endure for several more days."
She's not sure if she can trust him to be honest about this. She listens to Jane's breathing and decides that he is lying. "Days?"
"I doubt our wait will be near that long. The Convergence is fast approaching."
"But—" Loki's lips are on hers and for a moment she fights his touch, but kissing Loki is a far better use of her energy than pacing around the too-small deck of the too-small craft. He soothes her panic and she whimpers, pushing close to get her arms around him. She burrows under the layers of leather and his hands tangle in her hair, anchoring her, keeping her from completely succumbing to her hysteria.
When she no longer feels like she is on the verge of sobbing, she pulls back. Loki rests his forehead against hers and she knows this feeling of safety is an illusion, but she leans into it anyway, just as she leans into him.
"I'm scared," she whispers.
Loki strokes her cheek and gives her a sad little smile. "I know."
"I don't want Jane to die. She can't die."
"She will not. But if she dies then we will die also, for the whole universe will be destroyed."
Eleanor laughs. "That's comforting."
"Would anything comfort you at this point?"
"Your kissing certainly did a good job."
He kisses her a bit more.
"I can't see anyone else I love die, Loki." She closes her eyes and fails to pretend that Frigga is still alive and well and waiting for them to return.
"I will do everything in my power to prevent that from happening."
It is the most honest he can be, given the circumstances. If he assured her that everyone would live happily every after, she'd call him a liar.
"It should be me," she says as Jane wheezes at the front of the skiff. "It was supposed to me. I could handle it. We'd have more time to come up with a better plan. It should be me."
"It should not be either of you!" Loki snarls, jerking back to glare at her and then glare at Jane and then glare at his brother. "I have no patience for misplaced blame. This is not your doing, Eleanor, nor Jane's. It should not be either of you. Blame the elf." And now he glares around at Svartalfheim.
"Hear, hear," Thor concurs.
Eleanor nods and tucks herself into Loki's side, pushing her nose into his neck and closing her eyes.
"I love you," she says.
"Yes. As I love you."
He goes back to idly piloting the craft to nowhere, searching out an ancient battlefield that they don't even really need to find.
Eleanor settles against him on the bench, holding him as if his solid presence is the only thing keeping her from floating away.
"Trust!" Her husband's pained demand rouses her from sleep and she blinks rapidly, trying to get her bearings. "Was that her last expression? Trust? When you let her die!"
"What help were you, in your rooms?" booms Thor.
"Who put me there?" Loki is screaming now, on the verge of hysteria. "Who put me there!"
Eleanor is wrapped around Jane Foster, spooning the shivering, ill scientist. They are on Svartalfheim. It is darker now, night, although it is difficult to tell on this dreary realm. There is brown hair in Eleanor's mouth.
She spits it out, listening to the brother's fight, blaming each other for the death of their mother rather than consoling one another. While they told Eleanor a few hours ago that she must blame the elf, here they are, blaming each other for what happened to Frigga.
Eleanor lifts her head in time to see a scuffle, Thor attacking Loki, pushing him back and down at the back of the boat. For once her husband is passive, allowing his brother to pin him down, and a moment later Thor stops.
"She wouldn't want us to fight," he says.
When Loki smiles, he looks like a little boy, lost and hurt and lonely. The expression hurts her heart. "Well she wouldn't exactly be shocked," he replies.
Thor chuckles, his shoulders relaxing as he backs away from his brother. "I wish I could trust you. Fully trust you. As I once did."
Eleanor's heart breaks a bit more. She wants to tell her husband that she trusts him fully, trusts him to do his best in these impossible circumstances. He looks at her and she is positive that in this moment he can see her thoughts, written clearly on her face. He looks at her, and he knows.
"Trust my rage," he tells his brother.
Somewhat disappointed that she slept through most of the fight, Eleanor settles back down for a few more hours of uncomfortable sleep, wrapped around the wrong person.
Eleanor wakes again and it becomes clear that Thor is antsy to reclaim his former seat with Jane at the bow of the skiff. She gently extracts herself from her sleeping friend, climbing over Jane and shaking the sleep from her arm. The pins-and-needles feeling makes her wince.
Jane blinks up at her with nearly black eyes, frowning and shivering. "Ellie?"
"Sorry, Jane."
"S' okay." Her voice is slurred, either with sleep or the poison curdling in her veins.
"Go back to sleep," Eleanor says.
Jane tries to nod but only manages a violent shiver and Thor immediately takes Eleanor's place, somehow fitting himself in the bow as he curls himself around the shaking scientist. He covers her with his red cape and she shuffles closer to his massive frame.
Eleanor tries not to cry as she makes her way back to Loki.
She settles at his side as she did yesterday, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Is it morning?" she asks.
"Yes. It is difficult to say on this abysmal realm, is it not?"
"So we've been wandering around for a day?"
"Twenty-six hours, eighteen minutes."
Eleanor groans.
"Fandral fully stocked this craft. You should eat something," he says.
"You should eat something. At least I got a few hours sleep. Did you sleep?"
Loki's silence is answer enough.
Sighing heavily, Eleanor clings to her husband. She thinks about trying to sleep again, but then Jane speaks.
"If we fail, what will happen?" She is quiet, her voice raspy and strange. She sounds like an ancient smoker. Her eyes are black, dead like the dead eyes of Malekith that stared through Eleanor as he threatened to kill Frigga.
"We will not fail, Jane," Thor says, hiding his face in her hair. "You will survive this unharmed."
"No, not me." She looks at Loki with dead eyes. Her hands fist in the fabric of Thor's cape and oh, how they shake. "If Malekith gets the Aether out of me and you can't destroy it. What happens to the universe?"
"Using the Convergence, he will extinguish every star, every fire, every light bulb, the life source of every realm simultaneously," Loki replies. "The lucky souls will be touched by the Aether and it will burn them out of existence. The rest will go slowly; starvation, exposure, and the like. From the fires of Muspelheim to Midgard's precious sun, all will be gone. Even the Jotunns rely on the meager rays of light that trickle down to their frozen world."
Eleanor's heart pounds in her ears. She holds Loki tighter, pressing her forehead into his shoulder.
"So why don't we run away? Avoid him until after the Convergence passes?" Jane asks, wheezing.
"You will not last," Loki says, shrugging.
"But—"
"No arguments, my dear Madame of Science," Loki says before Thor can fly into a rage and Eleanor can protest. "Without the Convergence he will be forced to venture from realm to realm. Waiting until it passes will simply delay his plans, not ruin them entirely."
"And we will not allow you to perish, Jane," Thor says, sitting up now.
"Loki," croaks Jane. "You at least need to consider my plan. Even if it kills me. For the greater good, we should run from him."
"No. If you die it will infect Eleanor and that is unacceptable. Enough with the martyr routine. Save your strength," says Loki.
Jane glares for a moment before understanding that she is out-voted. The scientist seems relieved that no one is on board with her suicide plan as she turns to hide her face in Thor's chest.
Her ragged breathing slows slightly and Eleanor hopes her friend is resting comfortably.
"Thank you, Brother," murmurs Thor.
Loki nods and fingers the wispy hair at the back of Eleanor's neck.
Two hours later they spot a dark speck in the distance, barely visible through the thick, grey atmosphere.
Half an hour after that, they hide the skiff, climb a hill, and crouch behind a rocky outcropping to watch the elven ship – tall as a skyscraper and just as wide – land in the valley below.
"Malekith," murmurs Jane as the elf himself exits his craft with the rock monster and seven faceless minions.
Seeing them, Eleanor burns with hate. It is unlike anything she's experienced before. She decides that this violent emotion is preferable to the alternative of quaking, cowering fear, and in this moment she understands Loki a bit better.
Malekith catches sight of them on their rocky hill and the party of elves stops, watching and waiting.
"Are you ready?" Thor asks a very unsteady Jane.
Loki rounds on Eleanor so quickly she squeaks out her surprise, the sound something that would deeply shame Sif given she is about to march into her very first battle. He takes her face between his palms, holding her gaze for a moment before moving his lips to her ear.
"Do not believe anything you see here," he says. "Not a thing."
Eleanor's answering nod is cut off abruptly when his mouth meets hers. He kisses her soundly, desperately, before pulling away and immediately sticking a dagger in his brother's gut.
Eleanor struggles to keep an Aether-free Jane on her feet as she watches seven faceless elf minions surround her husband and she thinks on the miserable failure that was Thor's plan.
The first part went well and the brothers successfully acted out a betrayal that culminated in Loki dramatically cutting off Thor's hand, declaring himself Loki of Jotunheim, and giving Malekith Jane in exchange for "a good seat from which to watch Asgard burn."
Convinced of Loki's evilness and Thor's defeat, Malekith drew the Aether from Jane's veins. Eleanor watched from behind a nearby rock as fluid black and red sand poured from her friend's mouth, eyes, fingertips.
The moment Jane crumbled to the ground – confused and weakened, but alive – Loki lifted the illusion that duped the elves into thinking that the God of Thunder was missing a hand.
Thor summoned his hammer and electrified the Aether as Loki threw his body over Jane's, protecting her from the violent explosion that resulted when Thor blasted the Aether with hammer and lightening.
For a few wonderful moments, Eleanor was hopeful, but then the dust settled and it became clear that Thor's plan was a miserable failure.
Malekith absorbed the Aether and escaped in his ship, leaving Thor to get beat up by the cursed rock creature responsible for his mother's death, Eleanor to hold up Jane, and Loki to square off with the remaining faceless minions.
Loki glances briefly at Eleanor before his eyes dart from minion to minion, calculating, planning his attack.
"Cover your ears," Eleanor says, letting go of her friend, relieved that Jane finally manages to find her feet.
She lifts two fingers to her neck and calculates pitch based on the massive size of the elves' ears before letting out a piercing shriek that has all the remaining minions staggering, desperately trying to cover those massive ears. She is only capable of maintaining the scream for a few seconds, but Loki seizes the opportunity. He is a deadly blur and in a few heartbeats all the minions lie dead at his feet.
"I did not require your assistance," he mutters, pouting and rubbing his ears.
"I know," Eleanor replies, grinning. "But I sure made it easier."
Loki returns her grin for a moment before Thor's grunts from twenty yards away garner his attention. Jane comes to stand at her side as they watch Loki sprint towards his brother.
Thor is losing – spectacularly – to the rock beast and Jane squeezes Eleanor's hand, but Loki gets there before the creature can strike the killing blow to the God of Thunder. He guts the enemy, sticking him with a spear that pierces the creature through and through.
And then, somehow, the spear is also piercing Loki, through and through.
And then, somehow, Eleanor is staring up at the polluted green clouds of Svartalfheim, gazing at the sky.
She does not understand how her view changed so drastically or why breathing is suddenly so difficult. Her hands are pressed into her abdomen for no apparent reason and suddenly Jane is filling her vision, blocking out the sky.
"Eleanor! Oh, god, Ellie, are you okay?" Jane is tugging on her arm.
"Why am I on my back?" she asks. Her own voice sounds realms away.
"You have to get up!" Jane manages to pull Eleanor into a seated position. "You have to get up. Come on. Come on!"
She has no memory of getting to her feet, but Eleanor is running, running, running.
"I'm sorry," says Loki. She isn't close enough to hear and she is still running to get to him, but his desperate pleas for forgiveness ring clear in her head. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"It's okay," replies Thor. "It's alright. I'll tell father what you did here today."
"I didn't do it for him. Where is Eleanor? Eleanor?"
She runs faster, her body recognizing the importance of speed even as her mind fails to process what is laid out before her, but it isn't enough. By the time she is falling to her knees at her husband's side, Thor is screaming, howling, grieving, and Loki is gone.
Loki is gone.