Malekith instantly turned into a hawk and quickly dove for Jane now falling out of the sky. Loki did the same, and caught up him in midair, pushing him away and putting them in a tailspin together.
Meanwhile, Jane was well on her way into the Svartalheim ground. As she spun around in the air over and over. She knew had to think fast to save herself. She quickly used the aether and transformed the air around her into a giant ice slide under her body. As she slid downward, she made en entire ice rink on the dark sand and slid gracefully to a stop.
"Whew!" she said, standing up, "If I didn't almost die that would have been awesome!" She looked up at the ship and dark elves falling around her. "Oh no."
"Don't worry," Loki said, coming up behind her and grabbing her arm, "I'll protect you."
She turned, screamed, and shot aether at him. He screeched in pain and transformed back into Malekith, his true form. "Over here, Jane," the real Loki said, gliding across the ice to meet her, "don't trust him." Jane grabbed his hand and recoiled at his cold touch.
Malekith held his face in pain and demanded, "How did you know?"
"Are you kidding?" she asked, pointing at Loki, "Touching him feels like trying to hold onto ice bare handed! He's so cold!"
"What?" Malekith asked, staring at him.
"She knows nothing as a mortal," Loki insisted, pulling her behind him, he added, "keep your mouth shut, woman!"
He balked, "You're a frost giant?" He looked him over head to toe. "Where's the rest of you?"
Loki replied, "I'm all here."
"Hmph," Malekith said, "now that she's said that I see it. Yes. You do look like Laufey."
Loki growled and lunged at him at the top of a dark sand mountain. The two of them rolled down the opposite side of the hill together, nearly getting buried into the sand by the time they reached the bottom.
Just when they were ready to strike each other, a massive blue portal appeared beside them. The tesseract's power burst open and slowly revealed Odin, his steed Sleipner, the mighty Thor, and the entire Asgardian army ready for a fight.
"About bloody time!" Loki shouted as he stood up and dusted himself off.
"How did they configure my location?" Malekith asked no one, then stopped at Loki, "You!" He threw a sickle at him but Loki easily blocked it with his knife.
Thor exclaimed, "Loki! You're alright! Where's Jane?"
"I'm here!" she shouted from the top of the mountain. Several dark elves tried to hold her in place. He launched lightning at them and kept her out of harm, instantly knocking them down and out.
It was all out war from there. Malekith pulled out the casket and began icing everything in sight. The only one not affected was Loki. He marched through the storm, turning into his true frost giant form to do so, and stole the casket back from him. Although the ice was gone, the fight had only begun.
Through the mele, Loki shuffled off to the side from the fighting and transformed himself into a regular Asgardian guard, pretending to be injured in the assault. At the same time he created an illusion of himself, one that could interact with the environment around him and even bleed if it had to. It was harder to concentrate on, especially with all the explosions of lightning and aether going off around him, but he figured this was the only way to get close enough to Malekith to steal his blood for his mother.
Having had enough of the fight, Odin whispered to gungrir, his spear, "Strike Malekith's heart clean through." He chucked it across the battlefield.
Malekith watched it's trajectory and attempted to pull Jane in front of him to use as a human shield. Loki saw this and managed to yank her away at the last second. Instead, Malekith aligned himself behind Loki perfectly. Gungrir pierced through Loki's back to get to Malekith's heart. He looked up at Loki and shouted, "Traitor!"
"Coward!" Loki spat.
With his dying strength, Malekith took a knife and stabbed Loki directly in his heart. Loki tried to block it with his hand, but the blade sliced clean through his fingers. He leaned back to pull the spear out of Malekith's heart and watched him fall back and die. Loki ripped gungrir out of his back, and stumbled around before falling into the dirt.
"Loki!" Thor shouted, "You'll be alright! We'll get you to a healing table!"
Odin make it to him first and held him close. He felt Loki's blood pouring onto his hands and watched as the dark brown ground around him quickly stained red. He whispered painfully, "No, his wounds are too grave, Thor. He'll never make it."
Thor grabbed him from his shoulders and his hands were instantly covered in blood. He knew his father was right, his brother wasn't going to make it.
Loki said, "I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm sorry..." He shook in his father's arms as he felt his strength disapating fast.
"No, my son," he said, hugging him, "I am the one who should apologize. As you leave us on this day, Loki, know that I am proud of you."
Loki leaned back away from him, still in his arms, he retorted, "I didn't do this for you." He lifted his left hand and magically revealed a syringe filled with dark elf blood. Malekith's blood. The antidote to cure his ailing mother.
"She's also proud of you," Odin said with a smile. He witnessed the light in Loki's eyes fade away, and his body go limp in his arms. He grabbed the antidote so it wouldn't hit the ground, and hugged his son.
"Whoa," Jane said awkwardly, off to the side from everyone else, "Loki sacrificed himself for me? I can't believe it after everything he's done. Thor, I'm sorry." She stayed behind him as Thor silently grieved. The entire army behind her kneeled to honor his loss.
The peace was short lived, as the real Loki pretending to be a random guard at the very front of the crowd stood up, he asked, "Where's Malekith?"
Everyone assumed he had died after being pierced through the heart, but his body was gone. Thor asked, "Was he an illusion all along?"
"Perhaps," Odin said, "he'll likely return one day, but the important thing is the aether did not fall into his hands." He carried Loki in his arms as he stood up. "We shall search for Malekith throughout the nine realms. I want him dead for what he has done."
Back on Asgard, the aether was finally removed from Jane's body and contained inside of a box in liquid form. Thor's friends were then sent to give it to the collector on Knowhere.
Meanwhile, Frigga was quickly given the antidote and her pain instantly dissipated. She recovered near instantly. Thor and Odin happily stood by her side as she finally rose up and off the sick bed. "My dears," she said happily, "it's so good to see you two again!" She hugged them both tight.
"I'm glad you're alright, Mother," Thor replied.
She leaned back and asked, "Where's Loki? Don't tell me you sent him back to his exile already. I would have at least liked to hug him one last time before you sent him off."
Odin said sadly, his voice breaking, "My dear Frigga, I'm sorry. He sacrificed himself to save you."
Frigga's screams of emotional pain and pure agony filled the entire palace and echoed throughout all of Asgard. Some say it reached the entire rest of the nine realms, and stretched beyond the far reaches of the galaxy.
Later, inside the throne room, a lone guard walked up to Odin sitting on his throne. "Heimdall claims he's found Malekith," he proclaimed.
"Already?" Odin asked, rising from his throne.
"He requests an audience immediately," he replied. He watched as Odin glided down the gilded steps. The guard stopped him short and revealed himself to be Loki, alive and well.
"Loki?" he asked, shocked.
It was too late for him. Loki quickly ripped away all of Odin's magic, instantly rendering him weak and helpless. He collapsed onto the floor, dumbfounded. Loki stood over him, taking the staff from his pathetic grip, he said, "I now bestow you with the painful memories of losing all your loved ones in the Chititari attack on New York. Your new identity is Oliver Björnson, a senile lonely old mortal man with nothing left to live for." He transformed his clothing into modern Midgardian clothes.
Loki revealed the tesseract in his hand and sent Odin on his way, then quickly transformed himself into the king, pretending nothing happened.
He carefully walked through the palace halls in search of Frigga. He found her in the great hall, standing before an old painting of the entire family from centuries earlier. Frigga held a toddler Loki in her arms, and little boy Thor stood happily next to Odin.
"What they say is true," she said, looking up at the painting longingly, "when you lose your parents, you're an orphan, but if you lose a child there is no word for the loss, because it's so unnatural."
"Loki has been gone before," Odin replied reassuringly.
She explained, "When he fell into that black hole two years ago, I always held onto the hope he had survived. This time..." she couldn't speak, it hurt too much.
Odin said, "I can take your pain away, Frigga, make you forget he ever existed."
"I refuse," she said defiantly, looking him in the eyes, "it's a mother's duty to bear this pain, therefore I will do so with great honor." She turned her gaze back to the painting, "But I can't remain here. Everywhere I look, I remember moments with him and it's all so painful to think I'll never see him again. I still remember in this very hall nearly 7 centuries ago now he covered the floors with ice to make everyone slip and fall."
"I remember struggling to apprehend him for that," he said, "hard to believe it's been nearly 700 years."
Frigga confessed again, "I can't stay."
"You're leaving?" he asked.
"It's been a while since I've been around the rest of the nine realms," she replied, "after Loki's funeral I'll be off. I can't say for how long."
Odin said, "Whatever you need to do, go ahead, my dear. I'll remain on Asgard with the hope I'll see your smile again someday."
She frowned. She couldn't bring herself to smile, not there and then. After Loki's funeral service she kept her word and quietly left Asgard to travel across the nine realms.
After the funeral, Odin summoned Heimdall to the throne room. "My king," he said, feigning a slight bow as he entered.
"You must know the truth, Heimdall," Odin said, leaning to the side as he sat on his throne, "one who sees all."
He replied, "Aye. I see you, my prince."
Odin transformed back into Loki. Now exposed, he said, "Then there is no reason to use magic with only you in my presence." He stood up and walked down the stairs.
"What you've done to your father is deplorable, Loki," Heimdall said coldly, "tell me, do you enjoy watching your mother cry?"
Loki reached the bottom of the steps and insisted, "She'll get over my loss eventually."
He shook his head slowly and explained, "She asked me to look over you while you were exiled. I gave her detailed reports of your physical and emotional wellbeing. It upset her greatly to know you were suffering, and there wasn't anything she could do about it."
"Besides her, who else asked for my whereabouts?" He asked, "Thor? The warriors three? Lady Sif? Did anyone ever ponder you about the raven-haired prince? The spare? Odin's second born son? Pray tell, did anyone care, Heimdall?"
"There were rumors," he answered, "whispers spoken in the night."
Loki shook his head, failing to hide his emotional pain. "Heimdall, one who sees everything," he said, "you must have always known exactly what I am. Who else is aware?" He couldn't help but look down at his hands in horror.
He answered, "Only your parents, Thor, and myself hold the knowledge of your origins, Loki."
"I should have figured it out on my own," he whispered to himself, "I should have seen it sooner. It's all so obvious now."
"You did notice," Heimdall encouraged him gently, "you did figure it out, Loki."
He glared at him. "As for you, Heimdall!" He growled, "You know too much. As king of Asgard, I remove you from your post as keeper of the Bifrost and banish you from this realm on grounds of treason!"
Heimdall asked calmly, "What treason, my king?"
"You're lucky I let you live," Loki said, clutching the staff desperately, "you should know I only do so because I might require your powers in the future."
Heimdall remained stoic as he said, "There is only one thing I wish to say before I depart. Long ago, I was given a piece of wisdom by your father-"
Loki hissed, "Which father?"
"Your real father," he continued calmly, "the one who took care of you day in and day out your entire life. The one who taught you how to swim, and ride horses, and handle weapons. Your father, Loki, once blessed me with the wisdom that anger is a secondary emotion that disguises fear or shame."
Loki glared at him, clutched the staff, and growled, "Leave Asgard at once, or else die in this throne room as a traitor to this realm!" He leveled his staff as Heimdall finally turned to leave. With that, Loki was the new secret ruler of the nine realms with everyone else none the wiser.