~
Things we lost to the flames
things we'll never see again
all that we have amassed
sits before us, shattered into ash
~
Everything burned. Her blood, the sand whipping against her, the thrum of her heart against her sternum, Loki's hold on her.
This made no sense. None of it made sense. How foolish she must seem to be, having trust in the god of tricks. Was that what this was from the moment they crash landed on this barren place? Just another mind game. Meant to soften her defenses and get in her head. Just like Malekith. Just like the enemy.
No, that was the Aether talking. It had to be, because he had, purposefully or accidentally, shown her a small glimpse of his heart. And it made everything worse.
She had asked for his help and this was his answer, one as empty and inconclusive as most of his answers ever were. How desperate. But he had been the one to help her long before she ever thought to ask.
The dark ship sinking down from the sandy horizon stole her undivided attention. It was huge, even from their distance. Tall and angular, like the ship they had traveled there on but so much larger that it could have easily held twenty.
Danger. Her body spoke to her senses more than her own mind and she could feel the Aether curl beneath the surface of her skin. It masked her fear in adrenaline, surging alive through her veins like it was being called to. Like it knew what was coming. She envied it.
"From the moment you put a weapon in my hand, a part of me trusted you." The admission came out in someone else's voice, whispered in earnest and edged in steel. She didn't spare him a glance, knowing it would be a wasted effort. "I hope you know what you're doing."
He proved her right by saying nothing, only lightening his grip.
They neared the base of the mountain just as the ship met the ground, sending shock waves through the sand. They rattled straight through her. Rocks rolled down the mountain side at their flank and clashed amongst themselves all around them. The stirred dirt was blinding but Jane could not keep her eyes fully closed for more than a few seconds at a time.
The ship sliced through the desert like a boat on rough seas, leaving a deep, gnashing scar in its wake. It edged closer and closer, draping a towering shadow across them and half of the mountain, until finally the ground stopped trembling and the impossibly tall tower stilled. She had to crane her neck to see the top.
It seemed alive, the center of it making up a sort of crawling conveyor belt that she could only compare to the scariest roller coaster she had ever seen. Not that she had been much of a thrill seeker before any of this. Her hand fell on its own accord to search her right hip.
She watched as what must have been the command center dropped lower and lower, inching along the railing system like an elevator. The slowness of it made it so much worse and when it's red glow lit at the base and met the ground just yards in front of them, she did too, waiting for fear of the unknown to consume her.
It never did. It was there, strumming her nerves and drying her throat but she was surrounded by so much more than just the enemy.
At her left side stood chaos. A force she wasn't sure she would know how to handle properly or how to live without after having it consume her life so entirely. She could never really know in whose favor it would lean, but she knew precisely where it stood.
At her right was strength. A solid, untainted force that was just beyond her grasp before she was forced to reach out and make it known. Now it was entirely hers, a potent thing that coiled her muscles and hued red the world around her.
The door let out a hiss as it lowered, tortuously slow. A dark shadow filled the entryway.
Another step and she saw him.
The star of unspeakable acts of maliciousness, of murder and myth and legend, and her every nightmare. His mask was as hollow as anything that she could imagine lay beneath it and she watched fixedly as he smoothly descended to the base of the ramp. A familiar beast followed him, towering well over his height, followed by a handful of Dark Elf soldiers with their weapons at the ready, but even they did not match the air of menace he towed with him.
Loki snatched her forward so suddenly that she almost lost her footing. It sent her heart to her throat.
The Aether seemed to grow warmer with each nearing step they took toward him, leaving her dizzy. She failed to notice when it was her feet began to drag behind her.
The hollow eyes of his masked captured hers. A black hole, devoid of life or light. She saw the future of the universe there, dark and empty, giving nothing back to those who were unfortunate enough to look upon them.
Her line of sight swiftly broke as Loki released her to fall at their feet. The suddenness of it was unexpected and she fell hard, her knees sinking deep into the loose sand and palms just barely making it flat against the ground to keep her from face planting.
Physically it only stung a little. Mentally it bruised. She did everything in her power to keep it from reaching her eyes as they lifted to find Loki.
If there was even a small part of him that had ever belonged to her, it wasn't there anymore. He was barely recognizable. Crazed in the eyes and controlled in the jaw and absolutely terrifying. The swirling wind frenzied raven locks of hair. Darkness in his gaze rivaled the masks of the enemy, but where there's had no focus, his was entirely and directly turned down upon her. Hatred, that's the only label she could place upon it. Raw, unrestricted hatred.
"I am Loki of Jotunheim, son of Laufey and enemy of Asgard," he spoke harshly looking over her to Malekith. "I come bearing great gifts."
She could hear him shift closer behind her and she dragged herself off to the side so that both of them were visible. Neither seemed to notice.
"It is the only thing stopping me from killing you where you stand. You come to my doorstep and dare to send threats?"
Malekith's voice bit out low and dangerous with the heavy accent of a foreign tongue. She recognized it and instantly felt sick with unease.
"If you do, you will never see your precious Aether again." Loki warned, holding and hand out in Jane's direction. She froze on her own accord. "I am not here to fight you. I am here to aide you in the destruction of Asgard and deliver you the means."
One of the Elf soldiers stepped forward and whispered something to Malekith in a strange language.
A long moment of silence passed. Jane held her breath.
"What do you know of the Asgardian front?"
Loki's lips twitched.
"I know that they are weak," he hissed. "They are left defenseless. Your first attack nearly leveled the kingdom. One more like that and your only opposition – the last real threat to you achieving your end will be wiped from existence. But you must strike fast before they can clean their wounds."
Another deafening moment of silence passed between them.
"Place the woman in the holding cell."
Jane's lungs emptied.
Malekith had already turned away as four of his lackeys moved forward to grab her from the ground. Aether swirled hot in her blood and her eyes slipped closed, begging for it to explode. Something was blocking it. Controlling it.
Loki's eyes flashed to them, giving away to her that this was not what he had expected to happen.
"Allow me to guide your forces," he spoke up quickly, but still in control. "I can show them routes and weak points that will assure your victory."
Malekith reached the loading ramp.
"It is already assured."
They towed Jane up the ramp after him and she could feel the ship rumbling to life beneath her feet. Crimson blurred her vision when she turned her head to search behind her.
As soon as the ship moved he bolted, using small bursts of magic between his paces to propel himself across the sands at a blurring speed.
This was not how things were supposed to have gone. They were not to have ever laid a finger on her, much less have her aboard their ship. He was disgusted and inflamed all at once, the fire of hatred still flaring in his veins.
"Heimdall!" Loki called to the skies mid-sprint. "Inform Thor and the others that the plan has changed. Do not destroy the ship."
He ran as fast as he could, solidifying the dirt beneath his boots and pushing off each step with all his force. He had always been an unmatchable runner, easily beating out Thor and his other acquaintances in both speed and agility from a very young age, but this was different. This was no sparring match. And he swore he had never ran so fast in all of his time.
Loki leapt, using the rubble left behind by the ships landing to get as high from the ground as he could. The sharp metal was slick in his grip but he held tight, catching the ship by the base of its tail just before it tore through the sky.
It jolted him, straining his knuckles white as he held on for a life much dearer to him than his own. He pulled himself up onto a thin ledge, ducking behind the slender frame to keep himself out of the worst of the harsh wind current. Carefully he began to climb.
Anger fueled him, locking his fingers tight around each small lip of metal as he ascended. He had met her eyes when she'd turned back to look at him, silently asking him, screaming at him, for his help a second time. It was only then that he knew for sure she had never fully believed in his betrayal.
He had to hope Malekith did.
Either way, he would only be failing one of them this day.
Thor burst through the war chamber door where Odin sat high, looking over the golden ocean of Asgardian troops. They had clearly visited what was left of the armory and were preparing for war.
His father would be stubborn, Thor knew, but he would not lose anyone else he cared about to the Dark Elves' cause.
A single eye turned heavily down to him.
"Father, Heimdall has…"
"Informed me of the situation at hand already." Odin cut him off flatly. "It would be wise of you to prepare for battle."
"We must mend our arrangements first," Thor spoke carefully. "He has taken Jane as his prisoner and we have no way of knowing if the Aether is still in her system. He will surely call to it before they arrive if he has not already…"
"I fail to see how that is a cause for change," his blue eye iced over. "One life ended to potentially save millions. When the Aether leaves her system, she will perish either way."
Thor bristled, biting back the curse on his tongue only because Heimdall had apparently left out a bit of information. He couldn't be sure whether or not it was on purpose.
"More than one," Thor's expression fell. "Loki is also on board."
Odin sat unmoving for a long moment.
Thor knew his father had never favored his younger brother, the distaste growing worse and worse with each of his deceptions, but he had still raised him as his own.
"He chose his side long ago and it was not ours." He looked out over his troops. "Two prisoners of Asgard sacrificed to save the entirety of our universe will not weigh heavily upon my conscious."
Thor splintered the wooden door from its hinges as he stormed from the room.
Jane wondered exactly how Thor and Loki had expected this day to play out. This couldn't have been a part of it. They had left her in the dark again.
Another prison.
This one was smaller than the cells on Asgard and bleaker than the cave, but to her eyes it could have been as bright as day. The shadows no longer hindered her sight. She could see even in the close confines that the room was barren, made of some sort of thick, black metal. Probably explosion proof too, if she had to guess.
Jane quickly searched herself, happily discovering that they had not. They must not have believed her to be a threat at all. It relit her frustration but she was well aware that her strength was not in her body, not with this enemy. It was in her mind. And she had to keep it clear enough to keep herself alive.
So instead of calling out she sat still, breathed and focused. Calculated the bars of her cell, much thicker than any prison on Earth and crisscrossing in woven patterns like a jagged, metal blanket. Listened to the rumbling of the ship, studying the different strengths of vibrations as it twisted through thick sandstorms and spliced into air pockets. Watched in the darkness for a change in the shadows or a stray glimpse of light.
She wasn't sure how much time had passed when she finally spotted the shade stir but it only sped her heart a little. He would have come to appraise his prize soon enough.
It was time.
He stopped just beyond the metal grating, its span leaving parts of him hidden from view but she could plainly see the black of his left eye hollow against stark white.
"You sit too calmly in your cell." The words slithered from behind his mask and brought the Aether to life.
She had not ignited it.
"Would you rather me beg you for mercy?" Jane bit back, pushing down the crawling feeling beneath her skin. Inhibition was there at the back of her mind but this was just another trick and she had had her fill.
"So there is anger in you. Good. You were a perfect host for such hungry power."
Jane's eyes thinned at the praise.
"What are you talking about?"
"Do you not feel it feeding from you, child…" he tilted his head taking a measured step closer to the cell, "sating itself on your life force? Every ounce of negative energy you provide strengthens the Aether's power. With your contribution, it is very nearly ready to be set free."
Jane blinked, stunned. It couldn't be possible. Loki had preached control to her from the start but she never dreamed of it being such a vital lesson. If what he claimed was true, the Aether alone had not been what was killing her. It was her own fear – her own rage. It built within her now, even against her will. Fire burned in her throat when she tried to swallow but she had to keep fighting back. She could play games too.
"You're welcome," Jane supplied as sarcastically as she could, using the support of the metal floor to stand. She took a single pace closer to the bars of her cell and faced him. "But you will never get what you want. Greedy, vengeful men like you never win. I doubt you need a history lesson to know that."
Malekith snapped forward to grab the bars between them. The quick movement made Jane flinch back. The echo from the force bellowed through the empty space.
When it fell silent, he reached to place his thumb up underneath the chin of his mask and pulled it from his face.
Panic swarmed her when she met his eyes, and she longed for the coverage the mask had provided. They pierced her like knives. Burnt flesh matted the right side of his face, only partially healed in some places and scorched black in others. He glared darkly at her as if she'd been the one to throw the flame.
"Greedy, vengeful men are the creators of history, and soon yours will not exist."
He raised his free hand out in her direction and the world went black. Blood turned to lava. Bones went limp. And she felt every barb in the uneven metal floor when she crashed down against it.
It was like a fever dream, floating freely in the night sky, watching fixedly as the Earth beneath her was engulfed in a sea of crimson. Entire galaxies faded to black. Stars vanished from the night sky in sonic waves, one billion after another.
Until there was nothing left behind but beautiful darkness.
Epigraph: Thing We Lost In The Fire - Bastille