The four kneel in the black sand of Svartalfheim. Thor had laid out a plan for how to deal with Malekith and the Aether, and Loki had critiqued it until it at least had a chance of working. Thor looks over at the two women, who are both looking more and more anxious by the minute. "Don't worry, Jane." The thunder god forces a smile onto his face. "This will work. Even Loki said so."

"I said it might work."

Thor frowns at his brother before turning back to Jane. "Look, all you have to do is follow after us and let us handle the rest." Jane nods but looks no more reassured at Thor's words. Thor's frown deepens as his attention turns to Jane's friend. "Darcy..." Thor looks at Loki, back into strategizing mode. "Malekith will be suspicious of her presence. I... am unsure of what we could do to explain her presence. Perhaps, if we-"

"Never fear, brother." Loki flashes a cocky smile as he looks from the confused Thor to the terrified Darcy. "Why don't you show your friends the new trick I taught you, my pet."

"What-" Thor turns back to Darcy. "What is he talking about?"

"Umm..." All eyes turn on Darcy. "Stop looking at me like that!"

Loki chuckles. "If you wish no one to look at you, this would be the perfect time to do as you were told."

Darcy groans and covers her face with her hands, mumbling unhappily under her breath. Then Jane's mouth drops open, and Thor's eyes go wide, as the girl before them flickers and fades from their sight.

"Darcy?" Jane watches as the final outline of her friend vanishes. "Darcy!" Jane reaches out to where the other woman had been only moments ago.

"Ow!" Sand slides across the ground, some even flying into the air, as if something heavy had just fallen into it.

Jane lets out a yelp, and her hair bounces up, strikingly similar to what might have happened had someone smacked her upside the head.

Loki laughs as he rises to his feet and steps up beside an incredibly confused-looking Jane Foster. "Well, if the two of you are finished, " he holds his hand out to the open air. "I believe we had somewhere to be." His hand closes around something which he then tugs on. As he does so, his eyes shift from a point on the ground to one more at eye level.

Jane looks to Thor for an explanation, but the big warrior has none for her. Also rising now, Thor looks to Loki. "You still see her then?"

"Of course. As will Malekith should she draw his attention. The spell is weak, but so long as she keeps out of the way and her mouth shut, she will likely go unnoticed."

Thor looks to where he believes Darcy to be and nods once. Darcy suppresses a giggle as Thor is facing the completely wrong direction. "All right. Are you ready?"

Jane nods her head. As does Darcy, forgetting nobody can see her do so. Only Loki gives a verbal "I am."

Thor and Loki approach the edge of a cliff. From here, they overlook the barren plain below. Just across this plain waits Malekith, who by now has clearly spotted the brothers where they stand in the open.

"You know, this plan of yours is going to get us killed?"

Thor cracks a slight smile despite the grim words. "Yes, possibly."

Loki holds his still-cuffed hands up between them. Thor looks at his brother's hands but hesitates to remove the restraints.

"You still don't trust me?"

"Would you?" Thor removes the cuffs from the god of mischief's wrists.

"No, I wouldn't." Loki plunges his dagger into Thor's side, and as the god of thunder lets out a cry of surprise and pain, he hurls him down the side of the great hill. Thor's body bounces along in the blackened sand before coming to rest face down at the bottom.

"Thor!" Jane screams and runs down after him "No!"

Loki slides down the course sand to stop at Thor's side. "Do you really think I cared about Frigga? About anybody?" Loki kicks Thor as the injured man attempts to rise, knocking him back to the ground. "All I ever wanted was you and Odin, dead at my feet!"

Thor reaches out his arm, and Mjolnir begins flying to him. With a quick downward slash of his dagger, Loki severs Thor's hand from his arm. Mjolnir crashes to the ground in front of him.

Loki roughly grabs hold of Jane and drags her forward to stand before the dark elves. "Malekith! I am Loki of Jotunheim, and I bring you a gift." He hurls Jane to the ground at Malekith's feet. "I ask only one thing in return. A good seat from which to watch Asgard burn."

Kurse steps close to Malekith's side and says something in their language. Malekith moves to stand over Thor and rolls the thunder god over with his foot. "Look at me." Thor continues to lie on the ground, grasping at his truncated arm and wearing an expression of unbearable pain.

Malekith turns from Thor to Jane and lifts his hand in her direction. Malekith pulls the Aether from Jane's body to hover and pool in the air around her. As the last drop of the Aether leaves her, Jane's body falls limp to the ground, leaving the Aether to float undisturbed.

"Loki, now!" The illusion over Thor vanishes, revealing his clearly still attached hand. Thor calls Mjolnir to him, and Loki jumps to cover Jane, as lightning erupts from Mjolnir. The lightning shoots through the Aether, scorching and crystallizing it. The crystalized Aether erupts outward in a violent explosion. Malekith and Kurse raise their arms to shield their heads but hold their ground. Thor is blasted back onto the ground. And a woman's pained cry echoes across the barren land.

The scattered shards of the Aether rise slowly from the ground, melting into liquid once more, before surging into the waiting Malekith. While Thor and the others are still struggling to pick themselves up off the ground, the dark elves turn to retreat to their ship. Thor and Loki regain their footing and chase after, but Kurse pauses to toss one of the dark elve's black hole grenades at them, buying Malekith the time he needs to escape. Loki shoves Jane out of the way but would have been sucked into the vortex himself had Thor not barreled into him to knock him out of the way as well.

Thor lunges at Kurse, leaving Loki to take care of the handful of dark elves who had surrounded them. While Loki deals with the dark elves trying to close in on them, Jane is pulled awkwardly to her feet by a force she cannot see. Her voice squeaks as she looks at the empty air over her shoulder. "Darcy?"

"No, Harry Potter." Darcy rolls her eyes, only realizing after the fact that the action was lost on Jane considering her eyes weren't any more visible than the rest of her. Jane clings nervously to the friend she can't see. When she is on her feet once more, she steps away from her friend to watch the chaos around her. She looks down at her hand after releasing her hold on her friend and is alarmed by the sticky red coating her fingers. "Darcy?"

"It's nothing." She snaps back at her worried friend. They have more pressing concerns right now, like the dark elf now only a few steps from them.

Jane shrieks as the elf slashes at them with his wicked blade. She ducks to the ground, and the blade whistles over her head. The dark elf grunts and stumbles backward as if struck in the stomach. He looks about in confusion until another blow smashes against the side of his head, knocking him off balance. When a swipe at his legs follows, he crashes to the ground. One of Loki's daggers sails through the air to plant itself in the dazed elf's forehead. When Jane looks at him in shock, he only gives her a brief nod before turning his attention to where Thor and Kurse battle nearby.

Loki rushes to help, the two women following not far behind. They watch in triumph as Loki impales Kurse with a large blade, and they watch in horror as Kurse impales Loki with the same blade. The monster flings the god of mischief to the ground and moves to tower over him.

Loki grimaces up at Kurse. "See you in Hel, monster."

Kurse looks down to see the activated black hole grenade on his belt. In spite of his efforts to toss aside the grenade, he is unable to get rid of it in time. The monster is consumed by the resulting vortex. The vortex pulls at Loki as well but does not manage to lift him from where he lies in the sand. Darcy shoves Jane to the ground before diving into the sand himself, landing so hard her teeth snap together.

Darcy groans in pain and watches through hazy eyes as Thor runs to his dying brother.

"No, no, no..." Tho drops to the ground and pulls his brother to him. "Oh, you fool, you didn't listen."

"I know." Loki's voice is weak and strained. "I'm a fool. I'm a fool."

"Stay with me, okay?"

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He lifts a trembling hand to grasp at his brother's arm.

"Shh... It's okay."

Loki's hand falls from Thor's arm, and the pained expression begins to slip from his face.

"It's alright. I'll tell Father what you did here today."

All color has now drained from Loki's face. His voice is only a whisper. "I didn't do it for him." His eyes blink close, not to open again.

Thor lets out a raw cry of anguish. Letting his brother's body slide to the ground, the thunderer buries his face in his hands as he continues to wail.

Jane lays a comforting hand on Thor's shoulder. the big man pulls her down to his level and embraces her tightly. Jane bites her lip and hugs him back, not letting on how crushing a grip he has on her.

When the god of thunder regains his composure, he loosens his grip on Jane, still holding tightly to her but now at a distance that he could look at her. His eyes immediately widen in concern. "Jane, you're hurt!"

The mortal woman looks down at the blood on her hands and smeared on her shirt. "It's not me." A terrified look sweeps across her face. "Darcy!" Jane jumps to her feet, her eyes franticly scanning the desolate terrain for any sign of her friend. She sees none. "Darcy!" Jane's voice echoes over the sandy wasteland. She drops to her knees, desperately running her hands over the rough sand. But her fingers find nothing but more and more of the same black sand.

Thor stoops in front of her, grasping her searching hands. "What has happened?"

"Darcy," Jane's eyes continue to scan the ground all around them as she continues to stammer, "She- she was with me. When that thing - that monster - got sucked in, she pushed me away." Jane's eyes stop searching and fall to her and Thor's joined hands.

"Jane?"

"She pushed me away." Her eyes glisten with tears as she looks up into Thor's face. "That's when I lost her... She pushed me away, but... what if she didn't get away? I really lost her..."

Thor pulls the fragile mortal to him in another crushing hug. "Jane, I'm so sorry." He rests his head on hers and places a gentle kiss in her hair. "But now is not the time for mourning. Your friend and my brother, at least they shall rest here together. And we shall shed many a tear for them when this is all over. But now, we must go."

Jane reluctantly nods her head and allows Thor to put his arm around her waist, leading her away from the resting place of their former companions. He was right. She'll have time to cry when the world isn't ending.