Author's Note: Hello faithful readers. Just wanted to let you know that I plan to update every week around Thursday. If not on that day, then no later than Friday.
Enjoy!
"If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice, where he cannot find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for something sweet as pain."
Darkness swirls around him. He can feel agonizing pain waiting just outside of his consciousness. He wills himself to shrink away from it. He does not want the pain. But it's inevitable. The voices begin again, tearing at his being. They grow louder until he is consumed by them.
"...no crevice...sweet as pain..."
He can feel himself being drawn back into his body, back to the agony that is the flesh. He tries to pull away. The physical pain is inevitable if he wants to breathe the essence of life, but he doesn't want it. He doesn't know how to stop it either. He screams as he touches it. All at once, the voices stop and the pain begins.
Loki coughs violently, spitting up cold blood. The taste is old and coppery and he is tired, weak from the strain of coming back to himself. He inhales deeply and realizes that his internal injuries are no longer bothering him. Slowly, he raises himself to his elbows. Then as he sits, he remembers what he has to do. First, he unbuckles the straps that hold his leather armor in place to check his wounds.
Fresh blood begins to pour from the gash in his chest and he tears a piece from his tunic to clean it. He resists the urge to cry out in pain, knowing that there are creatures in the dark that would be attracted by the sound. The blood itself is enough to worry him. Once he has done all he can, he presses a fresh piece of fabric against the wound and fixes his clothes.
Slowly, he allows his fingers to inch toward the enchanted bag at his side. He reaches inside, feeling the object inside. After a while, he manages to sit up and remove it.
The blue glow is harsh against his eyes but he stares anyway. The object in his hands is warm and holds more power than he had ever realized. He shudders to think of what would happen if he were to break it.
After another half hour, he manages to get to his feet and staggers off to hide this precious gem. When the deed is done, he wanders the arid desert of Svartalfheim, searching for a passageway that will take him from this place. He remembers one that is close by and begins to walk toward it but stops suddenly when a better idea comes to him.
He will need the assistance of another sorcerer for what he plans. His magic is still practically non-existent at the moment and he knows he will need help. He figures if he looks hard enough, he thinks he will know just where to find one.
The attack begins as Jane, Darcy Selvig and Ian race around London, planting the anti-gravitational energy force machines. The large and imposing dark elf ship suddenly appears in the air and drags its bottom across the cement ground. Darcy stares up at it, her mouth hanging open. When Thor had said there was going to be an attack, she hadn't expected there to be an actual ship.
"Holy shit that's a big harrow ship," she says. Selvig grabs her shoulders and pulls her out of the way. Thor moves to confront Malekith, swinging Mjolnir in his hand. The other Avengers arrive minutes later, not surprised to see the god already in the fray. With their coms properly fitted, they go to join him.
Captain America confronts his first dark elf of the day with a faint curiosity. Its pale mask shows a forever emotionless expression as it moves. It makes him wonder if they all look the same under there. He knows for sure that their blades are sharp enough to scratch the coating on his shield and that upsets him. He'll have to get it fixed later, but right now he has to avoid getting cut. It's like fighting multiple Loki's all over again.
Meanwhile, Tony is having a hard time dislodging an elf from his back. He twists around and manages to shoot it in the face with a repulsor. Its mask cracks and he sees white skin beginning to burn before the creature falls to the ground. He sends a quick shot into its chest to finish it off before flying up into the air. He's a superhero for christ's sake, not cruel.
"Cap, how are things on your end?" the inventor asks as he surveys the scene below him. There weren't really that many dark elves to begin with, but they're a pretty resilient bunch. Usually takes him two to three tries before one finally goes down. He searches for Thor amid the chaos and spots him confronting the BB. The big boss Malekith. He gives a low whistle as Thor is tossed about 3 yards back the way he had come. Tony frowns when he disappears in the middle of the air.
"Uh...I just lost my visual on Thor. Swear to god he disappeared into the actual air over here. What the hell?" Clint answers him, apparently fighting from the other side of London.
"Apparently Jane's set up some sort of anti-gravitational energy force. Like a teleportation device I guess," he says. Tony grins.
"Cool. I think I might check that out later. Maybe I'll get one. Could really use one," Tony mutters to half to himself. Natasha intervenes.
"What could you possibly use those things for? Except for battle of course," she says. Tony dodges out of the way as a dark elf tries to tackle him. Tony sticks his foot out and successfully manages to trip him. A simple blast of repulsor energy and the elf is no more.
"Lots of things," Tony tells her. He grunts as he fends off another attacker. He's not as young as he used to be and his body is starting to catch up with his age. "Like maybe I could use it to teleport myself to another room so I won't have to walk," he says. He can hear the woman scoff on her end.
"Maybe if you don't feel like walking to another realm," she tells him. He can hear her even breathing and gets a bit jealous. Damn her perfectly trained body he thinks, more to amuse himself.
Once Tony handles his section of dark elves, he decides to pop over to Jane. He figures her work should be interesting enough for him to take a quick break.
"Hey," he says as he lands. Jane looks up from where she is fiddling around with on-screen buttons. When she sees him, her expression saddens, almost to a pitying look. Tony raises an eyebrow.
"What? I have something on my beard?" he asks. The woman shakes her head and focuses back on the screen in her hand.
"No...it's nothing. I thought I saw...never mind," she says quickly. She begins to chew her lip. Tony comes over to look at her calculations. They seem to be quite an interesting. If he'd had the time, he would ask how they work.
"Shouldn't you be fighting?" she asks him. Tony shrugs.
"I was. Finished all my chores early. Just needed a breather," he tells her. When she looks at him again, she smiles sadly. He begins to suspect that something is off and he doesn't know about it which makes him uncomfortable. He doesn't like it.
"Do you know where Thor is? I think he disappeared through one of your portals," he tells her instead of asking what is wrong. Maybe he's better off not knowing. Besides that, he was never good with emotional stuff anyway. Let her therapist handle it.
"Perhaps somewhere near the public transportation system. I got a strong energy surge from near that way," she tells him. Tony nods slowly. There is suddenly a crackling in his ear and he realizes it must be Thor trying to radio in. He reports that he is indeed ok and heading back over to Malekith to finish him off. Tony sighs, flying off to find another fight. He finds one fairly quickly. When Thor's voice comes on again, he grabs the chance to speak with him before he can become distracted.
"Hey, I forgot to ask you," Tony says conversationally. Thor nods and he summons his hammer to him again.
"What happened to you and Loki? Did everything go over well?" he asks. Thor hesitates for a moment before he decides what he must do. He knows he cannot tell Tony the truth. Not yet when there is so much at stake. He takes a deep breath.
"Loki decided that he would be better suited to watching over our mother. She fell ill quite suddenly," the god says calmly.
Thor isn't proud of what he has just done. But, in the heat of battle, every active warrior is necessary and key to survival over the enemy.
The god sighs as he enters the train. He stands among the crowded train car and waits for it to move. As it does, a woman falls against him with her hand splayed against his chest. He tries not to think how that hand lingers far too long for the motion to be an accident. As soon as he reaches his destination he gets off the train and makes his way back to Malekith. He grips Mjolnir tightly in his hand.
"You need some help Thor?" he hears Natasha ask. The god looks up to where the woman has made herself practically unnoticeable, just out of shooting range. Blood marks her pristine bodysuit. He smiles as she comes over to him before he can even answer. They are soon joined by other members of the team.
"No need to thank us," Tony tells him from above, as though he has just won a prize. His suit looks a bit scuffed up, but nothing that cannot be repaired. The Avengers turn to confront their final enemy.
"Malekith, you must stop this!" Thor bellows above the wind that has just started up. The dark elf leader turns slowly. Around him lay the dead and dying bodies of the last of his people. Those who are still well enough to stand do in a poor attempt to protect their leader until the very end.
"Darkness returns, Asgardian. Have you come to witness the end of your universe?" Malekith asks in a confident voice.
"This realm is under my protection and I shall defend it until my last breath," Thor declares. Tony almost rolls his eyes. It's almost too much like a comic book.
In Thor's ear, Jane tells him that the anti-gravitational machines are up and running again. He gives her the go ahead to use them where he is. In a flash, Malekith's whole arm goes missing. He yells in outrage. Where the severed limb once was is a shadow of excess aether that is slowly fading. Tony stifles a laugh when the elf begins to flail his remaining arm around as he suddenly becomes unbalanced.
"It is too late, Thor. The Convergence has already begun. For your insolence, I think I shall kill you slowly and painfully. Just as my general Algrim killed your worthless brother, so shall you and the rest of your allies die!" Malekith laughs as Thor trembles with anger. Distantly, he hears Tony ask for Malekith to repeat himself. The dark elf ignores him. The anti-gravitational force starts up again and begins taking Malekith apart piece by piece.
"You think you can stop this?! The Aether cannot be destroyed!" Malekith yells. Thor throws Mjolnir at him just to shut him up. He really does hate when the enemy makes long speeches. Soon, the dark elf is nothing but a torso. Beside him, Tony raises his hands to fire at the remainder of Malekith's body. When it doesn't appear that he will be stopping anytime soon, the others feel they must intervene.
"Stark, calm down," Natasha says. She goes over to stand in between him and Malekith's now highly dead torso. It is clear now that the fight is already won. Now they just need to clean up the mess. All of a sudden, Tony spins around to face Thor.
"What the fuck was he talking about Thor?!" Tony demands. The enraged inventor raises his arm to level a missile at the god's head.
"Tony, let me explain. Please," the god says slowly. Tony feels himself begin to shake, but his suit does well to hide it.
"What the hell happened on Asgard Thor?" Tony demands. He sounds as though he is anticipating a brutal attack and has steeled himself against it. In a way, Thor thinks, it kind of is. The god clears his throat.
"Tony, I think it would be best if we just clear the area first. Perhaps then we will all be in a better mood," he suggests slowly. Tony doesn't move an inch.
"No. I want to know now and I will not leave until I hear what you have to say," the man said. Thor nods.
"We were on Svartalfheim," he begins. Thor has to take several deep breaths before continuing.
"My plan was working perfectly. But when Malekith had managed to remove the Aether from her body, he ended up absorbing it into himself. Then there was a dark elf. Algrim. I was no match for him on my own. Loki...he came back for me," Thor glances up at Tony's impervious mask, trying to ascertain his emotions and failing.
"Loki tried to kill Algrim by stabbing him through the chest from behind." Thor pauses here as a wave of suppressed emotion washes over him. Out of his peripheral vision, Thor sees Tony begin to lower his arm.
"Thor..." the man says quietly. Tony takes a step back. He has a feeling that what he's about to hear is bad, but he can't help but want to know. It's a morbid curiosity that has always been with him and he can't seem to fight it. Thor shakes his head.
"I told him to go and he didn't listen. That was when Algrim...he pulled Loki onto the blade Loki had stabbed him with," Thor says. Tony turns away from him. He knows he's supposed to be the Man of Iron, but under all that armor he's still just a man with flesh and nerves and blood.
"He's dead," Tony says blandly. "You told me that you'd make sure he was alright and now he's dead," Tony says quietly.
Thor tenses when he hears the man speak. He hasn't spoken the phrase himself, not wanting it to be final. But now as he hears it for the first time, he can't deny it. There it is, painted right in front of him. His little brother is dead and it's his fault.
It's quite a while before he manages to find her. The cave she has managed to pick out is quite well formed and he cannot help but feel a bit of pride at that. She learned her survival skills from him after all. She's been abandoned and is shivering in the bitter cold of Svartalfheim's night hours.
He approaches her slowly and Lorelei raises her head to look at him. From her vantage point, he must seem like a ghost. He begins to smile, realizing he should be.
There is a cold fury in her eyes and Loki doesn't try to look away. He's seen that look before. He's seen it far too many times when he looks into his own mirror. It's a sad and fearful expression, but he can't stop her from showing it. He knows she could be worse off. Oh, how he knows. Loki kneels down near her. She looks him dead in the eye, getting paler and paler by the second.
"You...you're supposed to be dead," she tells him, her voice cracking. Loki smiles at her. He really should be, he thinks. But where is the fun in that?
"Many have told me that, but not everyone can get their wish," he tells her. The sorceress looks up at him and anger flares in her eyes. Loki tackles her and pins her to the ground before she can cast a spell on him and cause him harm with her magic.
"You're dead!" she yells into his face. She struggles with him briefly before going limp. She begins to sob uncontrollably.
"Dead..." she repeats over and over again. Loki grunts as he feels his wound begin to throb with a severe pain from the strain of holding her down. Once she is calm again, he lets her go to tend to himself. When he turns back to her, she is staring at him through tear stained eyes. A bit of color has returned to her face and she sits up with her elbow.
"So, it's really you then." Her voice cracks as she speaks and Loki can't say he's sorry to hear it. He simply nods. Lorelei sits up fully, wincing as she does so.
"I assume Malekith is dead," she says conversationally. Her voice is actually quite cheerful. Loki would have been worried that she had gone mad if not for seeing the still lingering hatred in her eyes. He shrugs and gets to his feet. He cocks his head to the side as she follows every one of his movements.
"If Thor has done as he has promised to do, then I should think so. Otherwise, our world should be plunging into eternal darkness very soon," he tells her. She grimaces at his easy way of speaking. It unnerves her that he is so calm and confident. She tosses her hair over her shoulder and smiles broadly.
"I assume you want something. Otherwise, you would have killed me by now," she tells him. Loki smiles, glad that she has decided to get straight to the point. He leans against a rather large rock that is jutting out of the ground at a convenient angle. She watches him with a distant curiosity. His eyes shine brightly and a slightly crazed look enters them as he takes on a serious tone. It scares her more than she lets on.
"Tell me Lorelei. What do you know of the Tesseract?"
Author's Note: I got you there didn't I? Did you really think I was going to let Loki die after all this guy's been through? Come on people! I AM NOT CRUEL! Thanks again for reading. Stay tuned.
:)