Visitation

by kalimecat

Loki has returned to Asgard and is imprisoned for his crimes. While in prison he has the occasional visitor, will the love of others bring back the fallen prince or is he truly too far gone?

63. Battle On

A/N: HEEEEELLLOOOO READERS! OMG I feel like it has been so long since I have updated and I am SOOOOOOO sorry for that. Please know that I haven't forgotten about you or this story, but as you well know life gets very busy, but as often as I could I was coming back and working on it. I have been working an awful lot this summer, but now I have finally had a few weeks off and am getting ready to go on vacation. Anyway, I thank you all so much for your patience, reads, follows, favorites and of course reviews. If it was not for your continued support this story would not have come this far THANK YOU! This particularly chapter was hard to write and it was revised a couple of times. I admit I think this chapter was a little disjointed, but I wanted to make sure I updated this story before the summer. Please know I did the best I could for you. So sit back and get comfy and read to reads. Happy Read and writes and God Bless! Without further ado,

Chapter 63

" This doesn't change what you've done, Loki," Thor stated as firmly as he could. His face was unyielding and housed not an ounce of pity for the man who had once been his brother. "It doesn't make amends," Thor warned, he pointed his finger in Loki's face. "I promise you, this, Loki," Thor started his voice rippling with anger. "If this day be won...if we survive, you can hope for no better than death for yourself. No mercy!" Thor spoke harshly and his sapphire eyes burrowed into Loki. He scanned those eyes, those green eyes that looked weak and watery, but he was in search for any signs of duplicity that might be shining through those jaded jade pupils. "So don't think that you can be forgiven, because you can't! For everything you've done you can never be forgiven!" the thunderer shot a blast in the direction of the raven-haired enchanted who was slumped over before.

Loki let out a sharp exhale. There it was, the death knell. Still, Loki couldn't say that he was disappointed in the statement. How could he be? What more could Thor do. Even Thor, gullible as he was sometimes couldn't be expected to pardon Loki's crime. Loki didn't even know if he really wanted him to. He'd proved that his own soul was seared with a hot iron and black through the core. His family, Asgard and the Nine Realms were best rid of vile and reprehensible villain such as himself. Loki's thin chapped lips cracked into a discontented smile. He panted as his hand strayed to touch his own injured side that was starting to ooze with a trail of blood. "Not...not...not...looking...t-t-to...be... forgiven," the silver-tongue stammered. He took painstaking efforts to render the words even though it seemed as though each one could have been his last. He tried to look up at Thor, but even just raising his head caused him to cough up a sick crimson liquid that he helplessly spewed all over Thor's already blood drenched armor and tunics.

"What then?" the strapping son of Odin asked as he stood tall and strong and looked at Loki shaking like a leaf as he fought to even stay in an upright sitting position. Thor fought all impulses to soothe any of Loki's distress. He tried to hold his face firm as flint as he watched Loki's sniveling and shivering. He reminded himself that moments before Loki had seen him in such a helpless state...it didn't matter that he'd spared him. He'd still watched others cower and crouch before him begging pitifully and he'd shown them no pity.

"Tto...to...to...do...do...do...the...right thing?" Loki offered. His bloodshot, unfocused, emerald eyes looked up at Thor pleadingly. He could only hope that Thor could understand he'd done so much wrong, he couldn't undo that, but he wanted the chance. The chance once more to do the right thing. He didn't want his last actions to be the reason for everyone's pain and suffering. He wanted to do the right thing for the people of Asgard, innocent people who had a right to try to live their lives in as much happiness as they could, for his family, they'd spared his life once, they'd given him everything...he wanted to do the same. He wanted to do what was right for his little daughter, he wasn't there when she was born and maybe he'd never know her, but he wanted her to have the chance to have joy in this life, to grow up. He wanted to do the right thing for...Sigyn...she was a beautiful woman; she should have the chance to know love not be left to be prey to be ravaged by animals. Loki gave every effort to stay awake, but all the while he continued to fail miserably; his eyes started to droop. "Please," he coughed His voice strained to be heard. His eyes strained to stay open and look into Thor's. His hand had grown so white it was just as bloodless as that of the Dark-Elves. It trembled violently as he reached up for Thor's. Maybe he wouldn't get to fight for his kingdom, maybe that was too much for a scoundrel like him to hope for, but at least he would have known that he'd given them away. "No...no...no time," he wheezed. His jade pupils darted toward the large window. Outside of it he watched as the Aether storm clouds raged and gathered and rained down ash that looked like blood. Everything was drenched in red and soon if Malekith had his was all would be reduced to darkness and there'd be no stopping Ragnarök. They had to act...if they didn't act now all hope would be lost. Loki's hand trembled as her offered the containment vial, he had made for the Aether to his brother. He could scarcely even raise his hand. He tried to speak for a moment. His thin lips quivered as he tried to find his voice. Finally, he croaked, "T-t-take...it," the once self-proclaimed king looked the true heir to the throne in the eye. All at once, Loki's hand went slack and limp and the container fell into Thor's hand. Loki's tired emerald eyes rolled into the back of his head as he drifted into unconsciousness. Prince Thor was left gaping as he beheld the vial.

Thor immediately looked down at the vial that had fallen into his hands. It was meticulously crafted. Meticulousness was Loki's trademark. He fingers the box overlaid in onyx, lined with Everwood and pixies dust. It was a thing of dark beauty, much like the stone that it was made to hold. Prince Thor's bright blue eyes scrutinized the well-crafted vessel. Could this small rectangular prism really be their salvation? Thor almost smiled. They needed a miracle. Had Loki actually gifted them with a miracle? He couldn't be sure. Maybe it was the exact opposite of what Loki had said. Thor gulped. His Adam's apple bobbed. What if...what if Loki had something despicable in this vial? What if when it was opened it released something terrible upon them? Like some type of vile disease that made them all incapable of fighting or some type of song that would work like mind control, entrancing them to do the bidding of the Dark-Elves against their will. Thor's stomach was in knots and his heart throbbed against his ribcage as the dangerous speculations played with his mind. No. Thor silenced the negative thoughts that raced through his mind. No, it didn't make any sense. Loki had them all right where he'd wanted them. He'd had the people of Asgard surrounded with the Dark-Elf brutes, he'd had the dear citizens of Asgard paralyzed and frozen stuck and trapped bodied half way in the ground. He'd had him right where he'd wanted him. Loki had had what he'd always wanted Thor realized. Loki had always wanted for all of Asgard to see him win, victorious over him, he had him, bowing and bleeding and broken and completely helpless before his feet. He'd been just a lamb for the slaughter before the man he'd once called a brother and Loki could have easily killed him. There was no one to stop him, no calvary was coming, no back up, with a flick of his wrist the execution could have been over and done with. Moreover, he could have made sure to have had the Dark-Elf soldiers who had corralled the Aesir into the Center Square like unruly chattel, simply whack off the heads of the people. They were as defenseless as their prince. It would have been easy and it would have been over. What was stopping Loki from going through with his sinister, but brilliant plan? Loki was a trickster, plain and simple. He was mischievous and conniving. And he was a prankster. Thor thought of the all the jokes that they had played in their youths, the times when they drove the palace staff, their tutors and teachers, and the members of court crazy with their antics. They had pulled off some great gags. Mostly, due to Loki's ingenuity. Sometimes Thor had thought a trick so good that he'd wanted to pull the stunt again. But Loki had always told him. "Brother, you never tell the same joke twice." Tricks of the trade from a master trickster himself. Why would Loki tell the same joke twice? Just keep luring them and tricking them over and over? What purpose would it truly serve, even in his twisted mind?

As Prince Thor puzzled the matter, he tried to remember the words of the man from almost 4 years ago. That mad seemed a distant shadow and far cry from the monster who had tried to usurp the throne. Still, he didn't know if it was nothing but his own wishful thinking that allowed him to imagine that he saw that man eyes peaking from out of the monster's pupils. The man who had stood in his face looked him in the eye and said, "Never doubt that I love you." And he hadn't doubted then. He looked into that man's emerald eyes and he saw, sincerity, warmth, affection, brotherhood there. He saw all the things he needed to see in that moment when his nerves were on edge and his mind was uneasy, his shoulders had felt so heavy with the burden of being king, but when he'd looked at his brother's eyes, he knew he had one true ally. Someone who would love him and wouldn't be too disappointed if he didn't turn out to be as great a king as his father. He'd trusted that man's words without a shadow of a doubt. He couldn't say that all shadow of doubt had been removed from him now. There were many doubts, but they didn't have time for doubts. He had no way of knowing whether Loki was telling the truth whether he really wanted to help the way he said he did, but if they didn't trust Loki then they'd have no defense again the Aether. "SIf!" Thor called. The prince's voice was mighty blast of thunder that could have been heard throughout the palace even though Sif was standing right by his side.

"My prince," Lady Sif stated as she saluted.

"Fetch the vial of water from the Healing Oasis, quick!" he ordered as his eyes darted toward Loki's prone form. More and more of the color was fading from his face.

Lady Sif quickly obliged Thor's request. It was only a few steps for her to grab the yellow bottle. She brought it forth to the crown prince of Asgard. She shook it and did not even hear a sloshing sound. It seemed as though there was not even one drop left from the water from Healing Oasis. Thor took it and he noticed how scarce the contents were as well. His brow furrowed beneath his golden brows.

"I... I guess Loki used most of it on you," Lady Sif stated. "You...you were so broken...half dead," lady Sif explained as she shook her head. The warrior-woman's voice hitched just a bit. Seeing Thor like that all covered in red like he'd been painted, to see his warm ruddy coloring gone and to see him ghastly pale, well it had nearly caused her heart to stop. "I suppose...I suppose he thought..." she began again. Her words fell flat as she thought of how long Loki had kept that vial of precious liquid. He'd had it for centuries. What it must have meant for him to use it on Thor. Thor's eyes were wide as he saw Loki's skin become nearly gray, his breathing grow shallower and shallower until he could no longer detect the rise and fall of Loki's chest. Thor watched as thin trail of red blood poured from Loki's pointed nose and trickled his gaping mouth and pooling there. The bold, blonde prince, felt panic swell in his chest. He flipped the golden bottle over desperately. But nothing came out. Thor kept the bottle turned over. He mashed his lips together and prayed, prayed for one tiny drop to remain. Painstaking seconds passed. It felt like years and Thor didn't know if he himself was still breathing when he finally saw one sparking. One crystal droplet rolled ever so slowly from the mouth of the vial and fall into Loki's gaping mouth. Thor didn't know any healing. He wished he did the first time. Maybe if he knew something he could have helped that tiny drop do its job. He thought that Loki and Dagmar had tried to teach him, but as always, he'd been quick to reject wisdom and study. He never thought that he'd need to know such things. Surely, he'd always have a healing crystal handy and a skilled and trained healer as well. Now, he regretted that. He could only hope that the properties in the water were enough. He waited with baited breath as he looked down at Loki whose eyes had slid closed, his eyelids seeming nearly blue in coloring. His body grew frigid and stiff. Thor let out a gasp as he gripped tighter on to Loki shoulders and he gazed up at lady Sif.

"Loki?" Thor inquired anxiously as he shook Loki's golden-armor-plated shoulders, only to watch Loki's head lull back and to the side. Thor's eyes had watched over the self-proclaimed king's body carefully, he thought that maybe he had spied Loki's severe lips mash together and perhaps that he had seen Loki swallow. But Thor shook his head. It must have been just wishful thinking. It must have only been his mind playing tricks on him because in his arms Loki was still, and pale and growing colder by the minute. The blood that trailed from his nose seemed to run so cold that it froze on his skin. He cast his glance back toward Lady Sif; the shield maiden dropped her eyes as her hand clutched tighter onto the hilt of her double-bladed sword as she sheathed it back into the hilt of her belt. She dropped her eyes and swallowed thickly. She blinked away any moisture that dared to form itself in her brown eyes. She told herself that the tears in her eyes were tears of joy because Loki was getting what he deserved. This was what he deserved. And she wished it on it. She wished it was worst. For all the pain and suffering that he had caused all of Asgard he deserved a much more violent end. That was what would have been more satisfying. She wished it would have been by her blade. Wouldn't it have been great to have had the satisfaction to have saved her kingdom and the man she loved by putting an end to their nemesis? There was no point in relishing in such delightful daydreams; the Norns had decided Loki's fate. And she should thank them that they had put an end to his treachery once and for all. He'd harm them no more. He was gone. He was gone. Lady Sif beheld as Thor gingerly tried to remove Loki's horned helmet from his head. "His helmet's too heavy for him," Thor muttered as he removed the horned crown and he started to shift Loki into his arms.

"What are you doing?" Sif asked. The son of Odin didn't answer, but she saw the tender care that Prince Thor had as he lifted the listless body off of the cold tile floor where blood still pooled. Thor's booted feet trekked heavily across the floor. Loki's head rolled back against Thor's bulging bicep. His dark mane was long and swung like willows leaves in the breeze as it draped across Thor's forearm. His hands limply flopped against Prince Thor's side as he carried him toward a luxuriously upholstered couch. The couch was decadent in design the legs that held it up were shaped like a dragon's claw. Carved out of the finest onyx stones. The couch was a gorgeous shade of emerald green and velvet in material with golden embroideries of silk. Thor delicately placed Loki's limp body down on his couch. The prince looked down at Loki's form and if it hadn't been for the fact that a scarlet line trailed from his nostrils down the rest of his face Thor might have thought it was like any other time when he'd invaded Loki's private study and caught the young enchanter taking a begrudging slumber after many hours of study and practice of his craft.

The warrior woman felt a drop of liquid roll down her cheek. It stung a cut that was there. Sif shook her head and flicked the tear away. She'd shed not another. Not another tear would be shed for such a monster. The only reason she had felt the pin prick of the sting of the salt water on her face was for Prince Thor's sake, she told herself. Only because she'd known how Thor had mourned Loki before. Sif tried to remind herself that that trickster meant absolutely nothing to her. She reminded herself that they were never friends. She recalled how she'd wasted tears on the wicked wizard before. She remembered her vow to never shed a tear for him again. She'd not break it. Sif face twisted in a scowl as she wiped her cheek and eyes. "Thor...Thor," the brunette Einherjar called softly to her friend. "We...we have to go," she offered. "You know...you know... there isn't much time now," she assured him as she touched Thor's heaving broad shoulder. His massive shoulders were once stronger and sturdier and unscathed. Yet for all his might she felt the way they trembled as his ocean blue eyes widened as he looked at the listless form of the man he had once called his brother.

Sif turned away. She sheathed the sword that rested at her side. She didn't want to watch Thor mourn for that monster. He was a monster. Thor the true heir to the throne should not mourn his usurper. She was an Einherjar, she should not mourn Asgard's enemy. No one should mourn him after all he'd done. It was justice! Asgardians loved justice. Einherjar's enacted justice. And Loki had simply got what he deserved. Lady Sif nodded to herself. The moisture in her chocolate eyes was for Thor's sake alone, she did everything to convince herself. She turned around again to find Thor's bronzed mallet-wielding hands clutching for dear life to the neck of the golden bottle that contained the water from the Healing Oasis. "Loki?" she heard him whisper the dead dark-haired dictator's name like he was scared to rouse him.

"Thor," the shield-maiden whispered. "We must go," she said sternly with a sniffle. She watched as his blonde-locks moved with the gentle bobbing of his head, but Thor's feet didn't move from the spot where he stood. "There wasn't enough left," Lady Sif expressed as she inclined her head toward the vial.

"He gave every last drop for me," Thor admitted as he swallowed. He moved his hand to rest upon Loki's forehead. It was frigid. More and more color drained from Loki's already alabaster shade. Soon, Thor imagined that Loki would return to his Jotun hue. He'd give Loki that much respect after all he'd come back to save him. He'd make sure that no one saw Loki's deepest secret. Thor gave a water smile as he looked done at the prone figure. Loki's skin was becoming nearly too cold to touch, "One more longing, backward glance," he hummed as he closed his eyes. Sif, too bowed her head it was merely reverence for the hymn nothing to do with Loki she told herself. When she raised her head and her brown eyes, she saw emerald eyes spring open.

"Thor!" Sif gasped as she pointed to Loki's body. Like Thor's body Loki's started to glow as well. But Loki didn't have the liquid waves of the water from the Healing Oasis rolling over his body massaging and caressing each wound gently. He didn't have someone working mysticism over his body. "How?" Lady Sif questioned she grabbed Thor's arm reflexively. They both stared in amazement. She looked at the golden- locked son of Odin, he shook his head and his mouth hung open slightly. "It had only been a drop," the warrior-woman rationalized out loud. Her strong brown eyes couldn't break their gaze. Loki's body continued to glow from what seemed the inside out. It started out a low, faint, light blue, so light that it was nearly white. And as it eeked from the inside out and overtook Loki's wounds they watched as the sword would that have pierced his side started to instantly heal. The hemorrhage suddenly stopped and the red flow was sucked back into the cut from whence it came forth. The torn flesh immediately came together without even a scar. Loki's flesh once again a flawless porcelain finish. The markings around his thin neck from where Thor's mighty hands had held fast and nearly squeezed the life from his lungs disappeared. The cuts on his face from his temples to his nostrils where blood had flowed freely like tiny crimson waterfalls stopped flowing and healer. The blue glow grew deeper and rich until it was a full-on breathtaking azure. "That water..." Lady Sif started to mumbled. "It must be more powerful than we imagined," Sif stated as she shielded her eyes from the powerful light that radiated off of Loki's body.

Quickly, the sapphire brilliance became a gorgeous green gleam. Its brightness filled the entirety of the Southern Tower. The pure burst of emerald energy shot forth out of Loki's body raising it just slightly in the air so that it hovered over the couth where he'd been laid to rest. The energy toppled all of Loki's precious artifacts, his bookcases, the books and scrolls fell to the floor, his cabinets filled with vials and bottles colored like a treasure chest and their contents spilled forth on the tiled floor. His golden gizmos and gadgets that he had crafted with his own hand and ingenuity fell over and were broken. Lady Sif and Prince Thor shielded their faces from the blinding green light. Before long the pair was on their knees. "What's happening?" Sif asked.

Thor's eyes squinted as he strained to see Loki's form floating in the midst of the green light. "Like you said...the water from the Healing Oasis is more powerful than we thought..." he stated and there was a slight mirth to his tone. "And perhaps...perhaps...perhaps," Thor muttered as he shook his head and rubbed his eyes to clear the blinding effect from them. "So is..." Thor stopped his words midsentence. He looked up and he saw that Loki was standing before the couch. His pale hands feeling over his body for any sign of injury still remaining on his person. To his pleasant surprise there was none. He stood with his shoulders square before Lady Sif and Prince Thor, there was a subtle smirk on his face. "Loki!" Thor gasped.

Prince Thor rose to his feet. His blue eyes blinked deftly as he beheld his former captor clothed in fine, green regalia looking well and fit once more. No trace of the injuries that had befallen him. No sign of the depleted resources of energy, Loki's eyes were bright as gemstones. He tried to hide the smile that threatened to overtake the space between his golden beard and mustache, but he couldn't hold it for long, it came forth unbridled before long. Thor looked over his shoulder, toward his dear friend Lady Sif, he was surprised to see that the brunette was smiling as well. For but a moment, when their eyes met, she immediately corrected and straightened her facial expression. She simply grunted and gave an affirmative if not approving nod. With that Prince Thor bridged the gap between he and Asgard's self-proclaimed king. He carried Loki's helmet in his hands. When the two young royals were face to face once again both breathing heavily. Thor looked Loki up and down, he scrutinized his person, making sure that he was truly well. "I...I... I thought you dead..." Thor expressed.

"Did you rejoice?" Loki questioned for a moment as he dropped his eyes for a moment.

Thor didn't answer at first. It was one of the few times that he chose his words carefully. He should have rejoiced. He should have hung a banner out of the window and waved It for all to see that their enemy was dead and that their cause was not lost. He should have found a bugle and played a triumphant fanfare and proclaimed to Asgard the death of a great monster. He wished he could have said that the rejoiced. A smarter man would have rejoiced, a truer son of Asgard would have reveled in such a moment, a real king would have celebrated to the high-heavens that such a blessing and fortuitous circumstance had befallen him. He didn't even have to actually execute the traitor. He should have been the one to relish the opportunity to kill a traitor, but the kings of the past had been kind enough as to not tempt him with such a sin as to kill his own brother, although Loki was no brother, he'd proven that in every way. He should have rejoiced, but he hadn't. Not at all. "I used the water from the Healing Oasis on you," Thor explained.

Loki mashed his lips together he supposed those words were all he could hope for. "I used it all on you," Loki brought his eyes up and he looked at Thor. "There was none left," Loki explained.

"There was a drop left..." Thor stated.

"Just a drop?" Loki marveled at the healing ability. He looked at his hands that had been cut and scathed, he felt his face for the lacerations, his nimble fingers examined his wounded side and felt how it was as if the cut from Lord Malekith's blade had never even grazed his flesh.

"It was more powerful than I thought," Thor admitted still a slight grin on his face.

"He wasted it on you! You... you... you traitor! You charlatan! You murdering monster!" Sif shouted from the background.

"Sif!"

"It's true. It's true. I'm all those things and more. I'm worse." the dark-haired mage insisted looking desperately up at the man he'd once called his brother. "So, why'd you, do it? Why did you even bother to use the water on me?' Loki pressed. "After everything I've done...I...I... I thought..."

The golden-locked son of King Odin and Queen Frigga swallowed thickly and spoke quickly. "you said that we still needed you. Do we?" Thor's golden brows knit together his voice rumbled. "Or was that another lie?"

"I guess that depends..." Loki added.

"On?" Sif interjected immediately.

"On if you'll trust me...to help."

The prince and the warrior woman exchanged glances. "I wish I could trust you Loki, but that ship has sailed," Thor confessed stoically.

"You take us for fools! We'll not be blindsided by you again!" the shield-maiden spoke up.

"I'm not trying to take anybody for a fool!" Loki shot back. He balled his fist up at his side. His green eyes flickered with his frustration for a moment, before he blinked and his facial expression faltered. He'd no right to be angry at anyone for their distrust and disbelief in him. He hardly believed in himself. Was there really any goodness in him? Had there ever been? He didn't even know the answers to these questions himself. That's why he had to do this to prove to himself who he was. To prove to himself what he was once and for all. Their fury and contempt for him was in every way justified. They hated him and that was fair. Even if he was allowed to help, who knew he could never look to have family or friends again. Perhaps that was a fate even worse than death to live and die knowing that he was so utterly despised by all, a scorned monster, loveless in the universe. Loki swallowed and shook his head. If that was his fate and burden then he'd have to bear it. It was his to bear. He'd face his punishment for his crimes, but he wouldn't let them all be punished for his crimes if he could help it. And that is exactly what they'd be doing if they cast him out from fighting with them now. He breathed deeply and let out a sharp exhale. "I... I know Malekith's plan and I know Thanos', I can help you...and I will," Loki practically pledged. He saw Thor's hesitancy. The Crown Prince of Asgard stood firm as a statue. Unmoved by the lie smith's clever words. "You've already healed me," Loki pointed out. "I'm your br..." the word started to try to roll of his silver tongue. It wanted to be said so effortlessly and easily and freely and to be spoken as plainly as it had once been. But Loki's silver-tongue faltered. He'd not say it. That's not what they were and it was his fault. "I'm your ally...Thor, truly," he swore.

"We don't have time for this!" Lady Sif snapped. Her dark-brown eyes were trained on the position of the sun. It was now about 2 hours past dawn and high noon was well on its way. The sun was trying to peak through the heavy Aether clouds, it threatened to be completely smothered, but the sun was still peeking through with its thin rays of hope riding in its wings.

Thor's eyes darted about; Lady Sif was right he didn't have time to keep debating. He'd said he'd healed Loki because Loki could help them. That wasn't 100 percent truth, but it was the fact that mattered the most now. "Alright, Loki," Thor finally recanted. "Fight with us and fight for Asgard now and for the last time. Death in battle or through execution are your only absolutions now," Thor stated.

"Well at least I've got nothing to lose," the trickster joked and his crooked signature smirk took hold of his face.

"Nothing at all," Lady Sif quickly remarked as she stared him down.

"Do you have a plan?" Thor questioned.

"Oh, Thor, I always have a plan," the ebony-coiffed trickster pointed to himself. Loki quickly relayed his ideas to the two warriors present. He explained how to the Dark-Elves not only wanted to take Asgard and the Nine Realms and bathe them in blood and darkness, but they also had a plan to release Thanos from his prison within the Void and how they needed the Tesseract to do so.

"Thanos? What's a Thanos?" the Einherjar general questioned.

"A madman. A monster," Loki quickly answered her query.

It did not go unnoticed to the shield-maiden how Loki's emerald eyes looked askance as she mentioned the name. "Sounds like someone else I know."

"He destroyed his whole planet," Loki tried to explain.

"And what have you tried to do exactly?" Lady Sif argued.

"Right now, I'm trying to save this planet and the rest of the Nine Realms," the former self-proclaimed king of Asgard stated.

"Too little, too late," Lady Sif mocked as she curled her dry, cracked blood crusted lips at Loki.

"Sif, enough..." Prince Thor stated abruptly. His voice reverberated with the authority that royalty held. It was a tone that she normally didn't receive from him, but he had possibly been necessary. Her emotions were in turmoil. "We don't have time," Thor said to temper his friend. Sif growled and groused under ger breath, but did her best to hold her peace. Maybe they didn't have time for it, but they didn't have time to be bamboozled again either. She glared at her prince. His persistence in wanting to put faith in Loki could very well be a mistake. Then the shield-maiden reminded herself that she hadn't even wanted to trust Loki to take her to the Southern Tower to heal Thor and he'd kept his word. Heimdal had trusted him and Thor was willing to put his trust in him. She shook her head. But what it was the Aether, obscuring Heimdal's vision and making the watchmen see in that maniacal dictator someone who he knew who was no longer there? What if it was Loki's own crafty mind that had concocted some enchantment to keep the wool over Prince Thor's eyes? What if her words...her sword were the only things that could stop them from some terrible calamity? Her breath hitched for but a minute, but then she realized that their fate could be no worse Ragnarök was upon them and if that was their destiny then there was nothing worse than that.

"We have to make sure Malekith doesn't get his hands on the Tesseract," Loki continued to explain.

"Then leave that to me!" the dark-haired warrior woman said proudly. She unsheathed her weapon, it was broken and dented a bit, but it was still slick with Dark-Elf blood and if it couldn't taste Loki's, it would taste more from Malekith's hoard.

"It'll take more than you, Lady Sif," the former conqueror of Asgard proclaimed.

"Says who?" Lady Sif immediately spat. "Says you?" she barked her brown eyes widened and then narrowed once more a feral groan escaped from her. "I don't think so." she remarked quite quickly. She took a defiant stance. She pointed one end of her double-bladed javelin at the end of Loki's haughty nose. "I've always been able to best more men than you." she insisted. "I can hold off at least 20 on my own and you know it," she turned from facing Loki and now looked at Thor.

"It'll be more than 20," Loki reported.

"Then I can hold off 30, 50, 100-fold!" Lady Sif started to rant wildly as she thumped the dirty, blood and mud splattered breastplate that she wore. He chestnut-colored eyes were wild with some type of madness that must have been akin to the rage that the Berserkers must have felt. She wished she had the Berserker Staff. She wished it wouldn't have been lost to them in times long ago, long before she was even born. She wished that she would have had the opportunity to hold the potent pole between her hands and feel its power within her palms. Oh, the rush to have all the might for battle. It was needed for days like these. She was sure that if about 200 Asgardians held the power of the Berserker Staff within their grasp that that would have been enough. Even the Aether wouldn't have been able to stop them. She would have ripped each one of the monsters apart with her bare hands in a heartbeat with such a power. The more she thought about it the more her shoulders heaved and she was practically steaming through her ears and nostrils like a bull.

"They have the Aether, Sif," Loki tried to explain to her. "Your sword alone will not be enough. You'll need a whole squadron."

"Perhaps that Valkyrie," Thor suggested and snapped his fingers.

"I don't know how many Valkyries are left," Sif shook her head nervously. So many of Asgard famous female fighters fell in flight with the first Aether attack. Many had helped to evacuated citizens. "But I'll find them. Assemble a team and we will stand guard at the Weapons' Vault," she reported the golden-locked son of Odin. "If Malekith and his thugs intend to take it they will have to pry it from by cold-dead hands," she insisted.

Loki nodded his head back and forth, "And that maybe easier done than said," Loki countered.

"Why I oughta..." Sif roared and her claws came out. The shield-maiden was lunging toward the traitor. She was in the air, ready to pounce and land like a panther on top of her enemy. She felt perfectly muscular arms wrapping around her torso and pulling her out of the air and placing her feet on the group once more. She looked around wildly, her chocolate tresses were in her face.

Finally, her eyes came to meet Thor's. "Lady Sif your sword would best be served fighting with the rest of our warriors in the throne room," Thor stated.

"What?" Sif batted her eyes.

"It's true," Loki stated.

"You know nothing of truth, scoundrel, liar, trickster!" she lambasted him.

"Try as you might Sif the Tesseract could still easily fall into Malekith's hands with the advanced technology at his disposal..."

"We have the Destroyer!" she shouted.

Loki shook his head. Sif was the most bullheaded and headstrong woman he knew. She said that she didn't like to argue, but she could put up a good verbal argument. Still, Lady Sif didn't truly have the temperament or patience to truly engage in a battle of wits. She like Thor just preferred to win their debates with a 1-2-3 punch at the end. It was hard to make the stubborn woman harken unto his words, but Loki was desperate to try to convince her, precious minutes had gone by that they didn't really have to spare. "Lady Sif every moment that you waste arguing with me, fighting me and not trusting me is a moment more that Lord Malekith and the Dark-Elves have to attack the people of Asgard, it is a moment that Asgard and the realms spiral closer and closer toward Ragnarök. You have to believe me for the sake of Asgard," Loki reasoned.

"For Asgard," Sif repeated the words that tasted acidic on her tongue. Loki was the one who had destroyed Asgard and had led them to this disaster. Still, Lady Sif nodded her head to let the trickster have his words. Soon they may be his last.

"If I go, I can cloak and conceal the Tesseract. Malekith won't be able to take that which he cannot see. Part of Malekith and Thanos's plan will already be foiled," Loki gave a wink.

"And yours," Sif quickly added. "Let us never forget that this ingenious plot also came from the great, big brain of yours Loki," she pinned his with a death stare.

"That it why I am the only one who knows how to undo it," the silver-tongued mage countered quickly. "Without the Tesseract to extend the time of Convergence, Convergence will only be at its zenith for 25 minutes. As Malekith tries to unleash the Aether It will be fully exposed and we can put it into stasis with Mjolnir..." Loki started to explain excitedly. His jewel-colored eyes glowed with pride at the thought of once again devising a plot that could save Asgard. He'd always been a brilliant military strategist and when their band had gone on their great expeditions and quest it had always been he who had come up with the schemes. He'd done so much scheming recently, but all the schemes had been on his own, plots that solely involved his own cunning and treachery. It had been a while to truly be planning something for the good of a team and to be part of a team again...he was surprised who warm and wonderful it really felt. He's almost forgotten.

"Mjolnir!" Thor's voice came forth like a blast of thunder. He clenched his bronzed fists and Loki was sure her heard clouds rumbled in the distance. "You stripped me of that Loki," the crown prince of the realm accused. "Now, I am useless! I'm like a sitting duck, I'm no good to us in the fight now," he stated to Lady Sif, his massive shoulders slumped.

"No! That's not true, Thor," Sif immediately rejects the defeated tone. "We need you; you are the greatest warrior that Asgard has and the people need to see you," she urged. She put her calloused hands-on top of his strong shoulders. "They need to see you... Knowing that you are alive and well will give them hope and strength to fight on," she clenched her fist tenaciously and flashed him a strong smile.

"They'll see me powerless," Thor admitted. He was willing to fight. He'd fight with everything he had left in his being if that was what it took. He'd continue to fight with his last breath. He'd take out as many Dark-Elves as he could, but without Mjolnir he'd already proved that the Aether was too much for him. He gulped and hung his head. His dirty blonde locks fell freely around his face. He'd been a disgrace, but he'd been willing to die bravely for his people.

"You're not powerless Thor," Loki's smooth voice interjected.

"I am so!" Thor spat back miserably. "And it's because of you..." he couldn't help the twinge of bitterness that welled up in his blue eyes as he looked in Loki's face. "I gave up the power of Mjolnir to save you!"

"I know...and I'm...I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Loki muttered. He wanted to drop down to his knees and tell his older brother how sorry he was for taking advantage of him. He wanted to beg for forgiveness for devising such a horrible plot and for concocting that potent potion. He'd kiss Thor's feet if that was what he wanted to make atonement for the abominable act that he had committed, but truly they didn't have the time. They were running out of time. Loki's emerald eyes darted around nervously. "It was wrong... I'm sorry, but you're not without your power. You can't wield Mjolnir now, but it's possible for you to still summon thunder and lightning without it. It would only be necessary for a little while," Loki expressed more as if he was thinking to himself. He didn't drop down to his knees. Perhaps it was his princely pride that kept him from taking such a contrite position at the true heir to the throne's feet or perhaps it was his frantic nerves as his mind turned a wheeled with thoughts. "Maybe this is a blessing in disguise..." he muttered more to himself as he paced about like a cagey beast. His finger rubbing frantically back and forth over his top lip.

"What are you talking about?" Thor questioned suspiciously.

Sif immediately allowed her hand to stray to the hilt of her sword. "I knew it," the warrior woman muttered to herself. She jumped in front of Prince Thor and readied her blade. Her lips that bore no paint, but were colored with dried blood formed a snarl.

Loki spun around and he spread his arms wide with a tooth grin. "What I mean is it maybe it's time for you to control the element on your own," he winked.

"I..." Thor began hesitantly. "What do you mean?" the prince inquired.

"No, Thor," Lady Sif put her hand up and pushed him back rather protectively. "This is just what Loki wants to trick us all again," she growled.

"There's no trick to play, Sif, Thor already can't wield Mjolnir," Loki shrugged and blew out the side of his mouth while cross his arms.

Thor stepped in front of Sif and patted his shoulder, heeling his guard dog. "Go on Loki," he stated cautiously.

'Mjolnir is just a tool, Thor," Loki explained. "Perhaps it makes the controlling your powers easier, but it doesn't make them possible. You remember when I used to have to use a wand?" he offered. The firstborn son of Odin nodded his head slowly. It had been so long he almost forgot about the raven-haired enchanter's wand use. Loki used to have a fine collection, but one day they simply became collectibles. "That was the one good thing that came out of Angrboda and my relationship," Loki whispered to. He hadn't much liked the giantess that Loki had taken up with, she was a harsh and cruel woman who had used Loki for her own evil purposes, but in her desperation to bond with an enchanter who was capable of certain feats she pushed Loki to grow more. "I just had to push myself Thor, trust myself more and believe that I could cast my illusions on my own." He urged.

"You practiced for months, years...I can't master such a task..."

"You have already begun to show signs, listen to the thunder..." Loki pointed out.

"It's the Aether," Thor refuted.

"Thor Asgard doesn't have time for you to lack confidence, it will be harder, but I can try to show you. If it doesn't work you are no worse off," Loki stated matter-o-factly. Thor looked down at his hands. They didn't feel like his hands. His hands were supposed to be strong and fit and powerful they were supposed to be these blessed gifted hands that were able to hold what no one else could, but as he looked down at them, they seemed so awkward and clumsy and completely useless. The blonde-haired royal had to remind himself that his hands still held power. He still possessed the strength of the all-fathers, he was still a matchless warrior. He had studied weaponry and warfare all the days of his youth. He knew swordplay in his sleep, he could handle a mace, a lance and a bow effortlessly. He had determination and grit and stamina that had left his enemies in awe. He'd fought without Mjolnir by his side before, as a youth, before his father had bestowed the power of the hammer upon him. He reminded himself that long before he had ever picked up any weapon his parents had chosen the name Thor for him, meaning thunder. Mother had said that he was born during a dreadful storm and when he came into the world with a cry so loud that it drowned out the boisterous tempest that swirled outside of the palace walls. When he was a young child, his tantrums would often give way to sudden rainstorms, his emotions were raw and without any control then. He'd even recalled one time when he'd lost a mortal woman that he'd loved and as he mourned her, he'd caused a downpour so torrential that that he'd nearly flooded the valley that had been her home. If Loki hadn't come to comfort him, he and even when his father had stripped him of his powers and banished him to Midgard and he went to try and retrieve his wonderous weapon it had stormed as he raged. He hadn't thought about it. He'd dismissed it as coincidence, but now Loki as he listened to the tricksters ever smooth and articulate words that were oh so convincing, he wondered if it was truly possible for him to harness the power of thunder on his own, even if just for a little while. It would only be for a few hours.

"Alright, Loki, I'll let you show me," Thor said quietly and hesitantly as he blew out a pent-up sigh. A shiver went down his spine and beads of perspiration started to trickle down his temples. He looked up at Loki and added, "If you can," with a wink in his blue eyes.

A new playful smile came across Loki's lips. His green eyes sparkled with a boyish excitement that Thor had not seen in a long time. Loki always loved to play professor and school when they were children. Thor remembered showing Loki many things when they were very small, how to walk, talk, write his name, tie his shoes, catch a ball, how to fight, but Loki soon became eager to teach his older sibling something. Thor supposed he'd never truly taken an interest in what Loki wanted to teach him. He hadn't meant to be so dismissive. Loki always wanted to show him a card trick or how to mix something, sometimes it was just even a math equation, but he'd never had the patience to learn his younger sibling's hobbies. He supposed in the end it had made him easy to trick. Now he hoped that he could learn. He watched as Loki rubbed his palms together. "Sounds like a challenge," the raven-haired enchanter admitted.

"Thor!" Lady Sif gasped. She was horrified by his choice. "You can't! We don't have time! We must go!" she called urgently as she headed to the door of Loki's chambers.

"Sif, I want you to go to rendezvous with the soldiers in the throne room. Let them know of our plan and try to get in contact with the Valkyries," he explained.

"But..." the shield-maiden started.

"Lady Sif, that is an order," the blonde-haired prince looked his squarely in the eye and stated. "Sif, we don't have time for an argument," He cautioned her and motioned to the window where a hellish, red tempest raised.

Sif started to say something, but mashed her lips together and managed to salute her prince. "Aye, Prince Thor," she stated stoically. "We don't have any communication," she gestured between them. "How will I get word to you?" she asked.

"I'll be along soon enough," he expressed and he reached out took her by the arm and pulled her in for a hug. It was a gentle yet tight embrace. Loki looked on the gesture with longing. How long had it been since he'd truly felt embraced. The moments when people had reached out to him, to hug him, he'd pushed them away. His face twisted as he thought of the attempts that Thor had made, Mother, Father, Dagmar...Sigyn. He'd rejected every offer of love that had come his way. He looked on the affection shared between Sif and Thor with longing. Asgardians were passionate people. They expressed love as well as hate in very demonstrative forms. They held hands, slapped backs, hugged and kissed each other often. As he became older, he found himself more standoffish, less desirous of such tactile gestures, it was one of the things that sat him apart, made him feel like an outsider. Of course, of Frost Giant wouldn't relish such warmth, he reminded himself. But now he wanted it badly. He may night survive this and he wondered if he'd feel the hug of someone he loved ever again. He wondered if he'd ever be able to express how he felt so freely again before he died.

"Don't trust him too much, Thor...I..." the warrior woman whispered in Thor's ear as the pulled back from the embrace.

The eldest son of Odin glanced slightly over his shoulder at the man who use to think bore that title as well as he. "I don't." He assured her, but the words tasted like acid on his tongue. Sif wore a small smile as she heard them. "I trust you," he told Lady Sif proudly. He held her cheeks. Strong as Sif was her eyes were starting to mist. They had always had each other's trust. They'd always been close friends. He was glad they could fight together once more. "Go," he ordered and he face bore his radiant smile. It was like the sun. It seemed to melt so many of worries and fears away. She nodded and took off.

Thor watched as Sif sprinted away; her long, dirty, chocolate locks bounced off the armor on her shoulders as she made great haste to get to the throne room. Thor turned back around and looked at Loki. The tall, thin man was searching through his scrolls. It was a familiar scene. He pulled one out. He turned around and waved it at Thor. "I wish I could trust you," Thor muttered to himself as he took a few steps closer to Loki's position.

"This is the scroll Boda gave me when I was learning to control my power more," Loki explained and started to hand it Thor. As Thor's bronzed hand reached for the rolled-up parchment Loki yanked it away and tossed it over his shoulder. Thor looked up at him eyes wide and mouth dangling open. "You don't have time for that," he stated firmly. "Sit down, Thor," Loki instructed as he too took a seat on the floor and crossed his legs. Thor suspiciously did as he was told. "Close your eyes," Loki stated.

"Loki, we don't have time to meditate," Thor said as he looked at the man who had just tried to kill him sitting eyes closed and performing deep breathing techniques.

"Shhh," the enchanter hushed him. "Concentrate," he explained. Thor reluctantly followed Loki's example. he sat with his legs crossed and eyes closed and breathed in and out. "Think of what you think of when you used Mjolnir and summon a storm," he stated.

"I don't think anything..." Thor blurted out bluntly.

"You must think something," Loki stated quietly and calmly as he kept his deep breathing going.

"I never thought about it," Thor admitted.

"Well think about it now," Loki instructed sternly.

Prince Thor tried. He tried for a moment to think and connect with what he felt, but it was hard, he was too nervous and desperate. He tried to concentrate, but his efforts seemed useless "This is ridiculous!" Thor rumbled angrily. "I can't just think about thinking," he growled and grumbled. He started to stand.

"Thor calm down," Loki tried to instruct. "Give it a moment, breathe," Loki expressed as he inhaled and exhaled slowly.

"We don't have time!" the golden-locked prince yelled out. "Every moment I waste talking with you trying to learn what can't be learned s bringing Asgard closer to disaster," Thor ranted his bright blue eyes shot open and there was blazing electric azure fire. He shot up and stood to his feet.

"Sit," Loki stated all too calmly like he was talking to a dog. Thor's massive shoulders were heaving furiously, a few electric currents still rolled off of his armor, but the thunderer hardly seemed to notice. Despite himself, he found himself giving into Loki's command. He faltered and quickly fell back to his seated position, with legs crisscross like child on the floor. "Now try again," the dictator instructed. Thor's eyes shut and he tried to do as Loki said to think and concentrate on how he felt when he wielded his hammer. It had been but a few days since he had embraced the power of the might metal mallet, but it felt like a lifetime. He longed for it, craved it. His fingers twitched in anticipation of holding his power source once again. "Picture it in your mind," Loki told him his silver-tongued voice was smooth in his ear. "Picture yourself calling it to your hand now," Loki explained to Thor, he opened one eye slowly to see if Thor was following his directions. The licorice-locked mage couldn't help, but allow a crocked smile to pass across his thin lips as he watched Thor's earnest attempt. The poor lug concentration had always been a hard task for the first-born son of Odin. Loki reminded himself that Thor's ineptitude with meditation had been no different than his with him during his weapons training. As a youngster when he'd been given a blade, he could scarcely pick it up, everyone at the academy had laughed at him the weakling, prince of Asgard, but Thor had stuck with him hadn't given up kept working with him and making him practice even when he wanted to give up. He'd helped him. Loki also recalled his fledging attempts to operate his gifts without the aid of his wand. He'd been pushed to do so by Boda. He'd been rather helpless in that relationship and he'd tried to bend over backwards to please her. To master the skills, she wanted. But Boda was a very harsh and demanding instructor, little encouragement, but Thor was there with encouraging words. Even though the blonde-haired son of Odin didn't know a thing about enchantment. He kept Loki's spirits up. He told him that he was the most powerful enchanter he knew and there was nothing he couldn't do. He'd been a true brother then.

Thor's eyes were squeezed tight, his brow creased and his tongue poked out slightly from his mouth. His hands open and shut reflexively in an attempt to call forth Mjolnir. Thor could see it. He could picture the beautiful hammer, coming forth sparkling like a diamond as it flew from the heart of a dying star. it was radiant and perfect. He could feel the magnetic pull of it to his fingers. He could recall the trusted and comforting weight of the hilt racing toward palm without qualm and without fail. In his mind's eye he saw Mjolnir sailing toward his. He saw his hand reaching toward it, but then as soon as he was about to grab it, it flew away. Outwardly, Thor grimaced. He felt helpless, grasping and groping feebly to obtain a prize that just wouldn't seem to come. "That's it, Thor keep trying, feel it once more," Loki's encouraging words slithered into his ears. Slowly tentatively, Loki raised two quivering fingers to touch the center of Thor's furrowed forehead. The fingers were so cold that Thor visibly shivered. He wanted to close his eyes and pull away from the touch, but the touch seemed to be magnetic and it made his concentration deeper.

Instantly, Thor was transported somewhere within his mind's eye. It wasn't a place that he could say that he particularly knew, but it was familiar. It was a place with rolling hills of deep green and deep grizzly gray clouds gathered. He could feel it in the air. It felt like his power completely within reach like Mjolnir restored. He staggered across the mossy plain and waited for the rain to wash over him. it would have felt refreshing, he was sure. The clouds were laden with water that they needed to release. In the distance Thor thought he saw a familiar figure. Like a child, he eagerly bounded over the fields. he shouted a name as he ran breathlessly to catch up. For each heart pounding step, he took the further he seemed to get from the person he was chasing after. Finally, the figure stopped and he was able to catch up. "FATHER!" Thor called. His voice all at once was ecstatic and bewildered. "FATHER! FATHER!" he exclaimed once more. He had not seen his father in over a week. It had been a mere week and yet it felt like a lifetime. The last time he'd seen the monarch he had been still, lying on the flat of back, looking as if he was barely alive. Now his father stood before. "Father!" Prince Thor boomed once more like a panting dog. "You're here!" a smile extended across the blonde-haired son's face. "Oh father! I'm so sorry!" Prince Thor immediate started to blubber. "I failed. I failed you! I failed Asgard. The Imperial City is all but destroyed and Convergence is almost here," he explained. The clouds that loomed overhead grew darker.

Odin noted the sky. He pursed his lips and shushed the distraught young ruler. He shook his head. "You did not fail, my son," he qualified. "The failure is mine..." he expressed sorrowfully.

"Father, no," Thor immediately refuted the old king's words. "Are you well?" He took in the wizened old ruler. Odin looked wane and haggard. He looked so tired. His vestments were still royal in color, but their colors were muted, not the illustrious sparkling golds and opulent royal hues that he normally wore. The colors were fading. Odin's hair had long since been gray, but now it was almost completely stark white and new lines of worry and tension had formed across his face. He was paler than Thor had ever seen him before. But he was there and Thor could not have been more elated.

"As well as I can be, in the midst of such tragedy, my son," Odin admitted.

Prince Thor nodded, these were indeed tragic times, but seeing Odin rekindled the prince's fighting spirit. "Oh father, yes this is just what we need! "Now, I know that our prayers have been answered," he cried out and clasped his hands together in prayer position. "The people...the people have been singing the song," Thor explained.

"I have heard," King Odin finally spoke, he cracked a soft smile at his eldest son. "And so have all the kings of the past." Odin informed Thor.

"Have you come to join the fight for Asgard?" he continued to question ecstatically. "It's not too late! Now I know it's not too late for us all," he nodded. "We'll finish this together!" he proclaimed proudly. He went to raise his hand in triumph, but he realized that there was no hammer there. Embarrassed, he lowered his right hand. "I...I... I lost the hammer," he confessed, head bowed. "Loki stole it from me!" he explained more vigorously. "Or...I gave it up...I gave it up trying to save him... but it went horribly wrong Father, it went horribly wrong," he shook his head. "Without Mjolnir...I... I" he faltered. "But you are here, we will fight together!" he exclaimed once more.

"Thor," the king's voice came out breathy. He clasped Thor's shoulder back. There was a twinkle in his old, blue eyes as he stared up at his son. "There isn't much time," he responded and his voice was breathy, a whisper, like he was barely there. "I've made such haste to come to you, my son," explained.

"To fight?" Prince Thor questioned like a wild-eyed boy. All his life he had heard of his father's glorious days in battle. How he'd protected their borders and vanquished those who wished to do evil to the Nine Realms, the honor and privilege to be that type of fearless leader had fallen upon him and he had dropped the ball, but he would gladly let father reclaim his sacred duty if it meant Asgard would be saved.

"I will not be here to fight with you Prince Thor," Odin stated. "My time to fight has passed," he confessed," he exhaled deeply and breathed in the fragrance of the air before a storm. Even now, I cannot stay long," he explained in a hushed tone.

"No, father... please," Thor faltered. He shook his head. The mighty Prince Thor sank to his knees before his father. "What are you saying?" he questioned rapidly. "Asgard needs you! We need you," he said as he reached out and groped Odin's robe. "I need you..." he choked out. His voice cracked and so did the thunder and he fought back the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes as a few pitter-pattering drip-drops spilled from skies. "I don't know if I can do this," Thor spoke timidly. He couldn't even look the great king. He stared down at his powerless hands. "I don't have Mjolnir...I'm not strong enough to fight alone," he confessed.

"It does not appear as if you are fighting alone," Odin remarked as he looked down at his son through his one good eye.

Prince Thor appeared not to hear the words of his father. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Thor muttered. "I lost the greatest gift you ever bestowed on me." Prince Thor pounded the ground with his fists. "Carelessly," he ground out. "I have done it twice! My foolhardiness has caused us all to pay the ultimate price." he shook his head the rapid winds caused his long blonde-haired to slap him in the face. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Thor continued to blubber.

"You have what you need, my son," Odin reached out his weathered hand and placed it upon Thor's head and although Thor knew his father's hands and their weight, he could scarcely feel it there.

Thor quivered under the weight of his father's mighty hand. "No," he confessed. "Mjolnir is gone," he looked up at the elderly king with tearful blue eyes. "I don't know where they have it... there isn't enough time," he rambled on.

"In here," he pointed to the center of Thor's breast plate, the symbol of the house of Odin was engraved within the sterling metal. "Your strength has always come from within, not without," he expressed. "For a while you needed the hammer to help you focus, but now...now it is time for you to prove yourself, to your people, to the kings of the past and the Nine Realms without it," Odin told him. "Mjolnir, was indeed a great gift," Odin smiled as he thought of the hammer. Odin recalled the king's ransom that he had paid to get Thor such a magnificent weapon. "It was a worth companion, but it wasn't the greatest gift, I ever gave you," He confessed and shrugged.

"Then what is?" Thor questioned as he looked up at the king, his lips cocked a half-hearted smile in disbelief.

"Something that was lost but has become found again," Odin nodded. "You have who you need to fight by your side," he assured him.

Thor's features scrunched and twisted, "Loki?! No! Father, he is traitor! I can't! I can't trust him!" Thor became rather frantic. "I can't let us fall to his schemes again," Thor's vivid sapphire eyes were wide and trembling with fear.

"Do you want to trust him?' Odin asked his one eye looked around at the mounting storm.

"I can't! Trusting him has cost Asgard everything. What chance do we have? I don't even have Mjolnir," Thor confessed and dropped his head. "I'm powerless," he ground out through clenched teeth and clenched fist. "Without it I won't be able to save Asgard," he expressed.

"Do you want to trust him?' Odin repeated his question. "Do you?" he repeated earnestly.

"I wish I could trust him," Thor confessed quietly. Loki had once been the person he told all his secrets too, the only person who allowed to see him cry... "But I can't," the prince of Asgard said sternly. There was a flash in his bright blue eyes. "Never again," he stated and he clenched his fists and growled and there was a rumbled of thunder overhead.

"You have the power within you Thor to save Asgard and Asgard is counting on you as am I," He rested both his palms on Thor's heaving shoulders. "But you can't do this alone," Odin explained. "Remember what I have always told you...the bond of brothers is the strength of Asgard," he breathed.

The Crown Prince of Asgard looked at the king, "I have no brother!" Thor immediately barked. The clouds darkened and the thunder rumbled with his bitter words. Lightning flickered around the two of them.

King Odin's face frowned slightly. "I must go Thor. I came to you with what little strength I have..."
"Little strength?" the thunderer questioned. He looked around. He didn't know where he was. "You don't have time to waste with me," He chuckled. The wind howled fiercer around them. The sky cracked and lightning danced.

"Father! Wait! No!" Thor called out in desperation. He tried to catch the hem of Odin's robes, but they slipped right through his fingers. "Don't leave me," the crown prince begged. More and more thunder boomed around Odin. The wind blew and seemed to blow Odin right away. "Father! Are you still alive?" Thor called out as Odin seemed to disappear into the oncoming storm. The prince's voice echoed over the boisterous howler of the wind and the raucous rumbles of terrible thunder.

Odin drifted further and further away, the clouds wrapped him a fog, "You are alive..." He called. "Loki is alive." Odin expressed as more thunder roared. "That's all that matters now," Odin told him. "You are Asgard's hope," he expressed before a gigantic streak of lightning split the sky and blinded Thor for but a moment.

"FATHER!" Thor hollered ruthlessly. He panted and was covered in sweat, but when he opened his eyes, he did not find himself in a rain-soaked field, but back sitting on a plush and ornate green rug in Loki's laboratory. "NO!" the blonde-blasted. The wind started to pick up and seemed to swirl about the room. "This is just a trick," Thor shook his head. "You're trying to wind up our clock and let Asgard fall," Thor accused as he pointed a finger that rippled with tiny sparks.

"I swear to you, Thor, I am not."

"Lies!" Thor accused his voice boomed and there was a distant roll of thunder. "I've been a fool before but even I know you can't think about thinking," Thor grew more and more agitated. His shoulders heaved. The sparks that formed around his fingers grew brighter.

"It's called metacognition, Thor" Loki explained in a bored tone. He opened his eyes and he saw the effects of Thor's kindled anger.

"WHAT DID you do! Playing with my head like that?" Thor automatically accused. "Planting images in my brain!" the crown prince growled.

"I didn't do that!" Loki shouted back. "I only helped you get into a meditative state so you could better control yourself," Loki's green eyes darted about. "And... it's working," Loki grinned. He pointed to Thor's clenched fist.

"What?" the golden-haired prince of Asgard gasped and looked down at his fingers. He saw the static electricity that sparked between his fingers. He clenched his fist and soon the electric waves were engulfing his whole hand. "What is this? What did you do?" Prince Thor questioned. His voice finally housed less anger and more just genuinely curiosity.

"I didn't do anything," Loki explained. "It's what you did. What you're able to do..."

"I've never done this before," Thor said calmly. His handsome lips formed a smile. He'd always channeled the power of thunder and lightning through his magnificent mallet. He'd never imagined anything greater. Loki likewise had risen to his feet, "I...I... I wasn't thinking...I wasn't thinking about anything particular..." he expressed.

Loki started to stand to his feet as well. He looked his brother up and down and there was pride in his eyes as he beheld Thor's achievement. "Maybe it's not in what you think," Loki shrugged. Casting his illusions required great concentration. He had to memorize words and visualize images and concentrate on where to project his illusions. "Maybe it's about what you feel," he stated. Loki's eyes were bright as the new revelations came to him. "What did you feel?"

"I felt..." Thor paused, "Anger," he concluded. He imagined he felt like his friend, Banner. When Banner had turned into the Hulk, he had just been a big, green rage monster, what happened to him came without his control. He just rampaged around feeding into the emotion, but he'd been purposeless and without focus, he fought his friends like they were they, his enemies. Thor nearly chuckled. The Hulk had put up a magnificent fight. Oh, he had been an excellent and worthy opponent, but the way Hulk had fought on the Helicarrier hadn't been asset to the team at all, it had been a detriment. Asgard couldn't handle any more detriments. Their time was already winding up.

"Anger, is power," Loki expressed as he nodded his head and massaged his narrow chin between his forefinger and thumb. "It's raw and unbridled," he went on still thinking. When he had first mastered his crafts and worked with so many scholars and tutors many had drilled into him that enchantment was formulaic and precise, an exact science. It had to be thought about, practiced and experimented with to perfection. They weren't necessarily wrong and he'd become that type of wizard. Then he'd met Boda, a powerful enchantress and she had focused more on emotion...but her emotions were all lust and rage and greed. She was a scorned woman. She was a Fury. And he fed off of that became more like her than he should have but he admired her, wanted to please her...thought he loved her. Together they had conjured things that were monstrosities of their own passion. Then she betrayed him. The she used his power against him when he'd been led purely by emotion. Feeling so wounded and betrayed he hadn't worked his enchantment for a while and when he did, he went back to only using anger. Anger was a quick emotion, easy to access and powerful, but harder to control. At some point Dagmar confronted him about the fact that his enchantments had become harsher crueler. Yes, in a sense stronger, but less like himself. She reminded him of a lad she once knew who had a love for mysticism and that was when she felt his magic was at its zenith.

"I can't believe you, Loki," Dagmar snapped at him when they had returned from the marketplace near her palace villa.

"I gave that merchant what he deserved for his insult," Loki expressed very nonchalantly as he followed behind her. She was moving quickly and practically dashing up the steps away from him.

"You blow up at every little thing, now," she shook her head as she tossed off her cape.

"He honestly said to a Son of Odin that I'd have nowhere to place his rugs let alone afford them," Loki's eyes were wide with indignation.

"Oh, Loki, he didn't know who you were," she pointed out and gestured to him. Loki looked down at himself, he had been a little out of sorts lately. He'd been disheveled at best since everything had happened with Angrboda. He knew he wasn't as kempt and Mother had thought that it would do him good to get away. Dagmar hadn't had much success in getting him out and about around the gentry the way she would have liked. He hadn't wanted to go to the banquet, but she had at least convinced him to get up and get dressed to come with her to market to help her pick out a few things for the celebration. He supposed he could have take time to shave, tuck in his tunics a bit more, put on some adornment. "You could have just told him..." she expressed. "He probably would have given you the rugs for free," she shrugged and sighed.

"I don't need discounts from peasants, but I certainly would take the homage," Loki agreed as he crossed his arms in front of himself.

"I'm sure he would have given you every rug that he had rather than have you torch his shop!" Dagmar screamed in his face.

"I...I...I" the raven-haired prince stammered.

"Are out of control!" her eyes glistened with tears. "Where's your clever spark?" she looked up at him with betrayal in her silver eyes. "Before at least...at least...you would have enchanted all the rugs and sent them flying out the door," Dagmar reminded him. Loki cracked a smile as he throught of such a trick. He should have thought to do something like that. "It would have been funny and it would have delighted all, but the merchant, he may have lost some merchandise, you destroyed that man's whole business," she said disgust. "It's like ever sense you've been around Boda..."

"Can you not speak her name," Loki hissed as he grabbed his head.

"All your magic is fueled with rage..." she pointed out.

"It get's results," he countered.

"Any toddler can throw a tantrum, Loki," Dagmar pointed out. "And any band of brigands can light a town on fire," she shook her head, her dark curls fell in her face. "If the fire brigade hadn't come... you know we are in a drought... there's hardly any water!" she shouted at him. "It doesn't take a great wizard to do what you did," she turned on her heels and ran up the steps.

"Dagmar! He called to her from the base of the staircase. But she didn't respond. Loki slammed the banister with his fist.

It was nearly time for the evening meal and Loki hadn't seen his good friend all day. He was asked to summon her in for dinner. He was halfway scared to go find her. He didn't particularly want to be scolded again. He had already felt like a wounded dog after his betrayal from Boda, he didn't want to be kicked anymore. He knew where to find her though in the vineyard. The Prime Minister of Vanaheim had a famed vineyard. "Dagmar," he called softly behind her as he found collecting a few grapes. "It's...it's time for dinner," he stated with his voice somewhat timid.

"I'll be in soon," she responded, but she didn't turn to face him.

"Yes, alright...very well then," the prince started. He sighed, now his best friend wouldn't even look at him. He started to head back to the palace, shoulders slumped and crestfallen. He then turned around. "I'm sorry," he quickly apologized. "I'm sorry," he said again. "I'll set it right, I promise," he began. "I'll give the merchant money...enough to rebuild 5 shops if necessary," Loki swore. He approached slowly, he went up and touched her on the shoulder. "Please don't be angry with me," he whispered in her ear.

Her pomegranate lips slightly folded into a smile, "I'm not," she confessed as she turned around the see his emerald eyes wide as a puppy's light up once more. If he had a tail it would have been wagging.

He bent down and kissed her hand, "Can I escort you to dinner, milady?" he asked debonairely with his inky brow arched slightly.

"After," she qualified with a smile.

"After what?" he looked around around.

"Can you help me heal these vines?" she pointed out a few of the grapevines that were withered and warn looking, the grapes looked like raisins.

"I'm not much of a healer, Dagmar you know that," the raven-coiffed enchanter shrugged.

"Help me," it was a command now. She took his hand and placed it along the dilapidated vines. She placed her hand over his and he felt her energy flow with his. There was a warmth that exuded from her touch and he practically melted into it. The plant beneath his palms all of a sudden thrived. The vine became a thick lush green, the color of his eyes. The fruit born of the vine once again began ripe and plump. The grapes became fat a juicy as if they were read to burst and although they were grapes they were as succulent and red as if they were pomegranates. Just like her lips. He watched as she plucked one of the grapes off the vine and popped it in her mouth. She pulled another one off and gave it to him. She dropped it right in his mouth. "Delicious," she said. "Well, that whet my appetite," she grinned and started to pull her escort toward to palace once more. "Loki, when you caused that fire this afternoon may I ask what you felt?" ebony maned healer inquired.

"I don't know, Dagmar. I was so angry, but... I don't know... you were right... I just lost control... I'm so ashamed..."

"What did you feel when we helped the plant grow, just now?" she looked up at him with a warm shine in her eyes.

"Love," he confessed.

He'd learned that love could be a powerful emotion to couple with mystic energy, though not readily capitalized upon. Though he admitted not by him most of time. But when he conjured and worked his illusions for pure enjoyment, when he concentrated on his passion for his craft and when he truly just delighted in a good prank or when he was using his powers to protect that which he loved, his power had been somehow stronger in a different way. He didn't have time to explain and show that to Thor/. Every second that passed was a second that they lost in a fight to save the Nine Realms. Even if he did tell Thor he doubted that Thor would be able to feel any love in his presence. He could not fault the blonde prince for that. He'd done nothing to deserve love and he'd done everything to earn hater. So, they'd have to make do with the quick results of anger. Thor had always been hot headed; anger was the emotion he was used to using when wielding his hammer. It would work...it only had to before a few hours until he could possess Mjolnir again. "Well don't hold back," Loki urged. "You have a lot to be angry about," Loki confessed.

Thor's blue eyes flickered. "Anger does not even begin to describe what I feel about what has taken place, Loki" Thor grumbled and the thunder rumbled overhead. It seemed to grow closer and the wind howled more fiercely.

"Then feel it all," Loki ordered. He gestured at himself. 'You're livid! You're furious! You're enraged at me. Think of it all! Think of every despicable thing I've done!" he shouted at the heir to the throne. "Think of when I lied to you and told you father was dead," Loki reminded him. Thor's face twisted into a frown. More and more wind blew about them. "Think of when I sent the destroyer to Midgard," Loki continued he raised his voice slight. Prince Thor clenched his teeth. That weapon was made to protect the royal family and Loki had made it turn against them. "Think of the attack on New York," Loki went on and he stepped closer to Thor. Thor shook his head. Thor had attacked an all but defenseless people and he didn't even know why. Clouds dark gray started to mount in the distance the threatened to overtake the Aether clouds that hard formed. "Think of how I was unrepentant and unmerciful in the dungeon," he reiterated his crimes. He watched as Thor closed his eyes. He slipped closer to him. He whispered in his ear. "When I hit mother..." He breathed his own breath hitched. A crack of thunder could then be heard it was so loud that it shook the tower and Loki had to fight to stay upright and on his feet. "Think of how Lady Dagmar died," Loki voice shuddered as he encircled his once brother and whispered the harsh realities in his other ear. Rain started to pour just outside of the gates of the Imperial City. Loki looked around and saw it a grinned. "Think of how I lured you to the Dark-World and took your power!" Loki yelled in Thor's face. The prince also let out a roar. As the blonde-haired son of Odin parted his lips lightning flickered all around the palace. "How I brought the Dark-Elves here and they destroyed this great city," Loki pointed out as he circled Loki like a vulture. Thor gritted and strained under the weight of Loki words. The lightning in his fists grew wilder and stronger it started to engulf his whole body. "How the all-father could be dead because of me!"

"ENOUGH!" Prince Thor screamed out. He opened his blue eyes. They were now electric blue. Filled with the unbridled fury of one of the most powerful forced in nature. He thought of the vision of Odin that he had just had. He had desperately needed his father and if Loki had robbed him of his father, if he'd robbed his mother of her husband and if he'd robbed Asgard of her king than he would be sure to hit Loki with every lightning bolt he could muster. Thor's shoulders heaved and sparks of lightning flew every which way, the energy so raw that it blew up things in Loki's chamber. Loki winced as he watched his priceless artifacts ad replicas take the hits. "Do you want me to kill you after I just spared you?"

"Yes!" Loki hissed wildly. His thin nostrils flared. "Hit me!" he taunted. He took a step back and stood in front of his large balcony window with his arms outstretched. The howling wind caused his green cape to billow. Thor shook his head. Loki was a madman for sure, he was completely convinced and yet all the rage and anger that swirled inside him could hardly be contained any longer. "Come on! Hit me with your best shot!" he continued to taunt. "I DESERVE IT" he claimed and pounded his fist against his golden breastplate. "I DID THIS!" he yelled.

Zips and zaps of the bright white electric currents continued to ripple off of Thor's back and from his limbs. They tore up all of Loki's exquisite furnishings. And the dark-coiffed trickster could only imagine what one of blast of Thor's lightning could have actually done to him. His breathing quickened, but still he stood his ground with arms outstretched waiting for the true king of Asgard to enact his justice. Thor raised a proud first the coated in blinding, hot, white electricity. "You did this.," Thor confirmed.

"Yes! Me! So, hit me with your best shot already!" Loki yelled out in a ragged voice. "With the Lightning!" He warned as Thor was stalking closer to him to punch him in the face. "COME ON! ARE YOU THE GOD OF THUNDER OR NOT!" The former self-proclaimed king of Asgard yelled from by the balcony window. The lovely stained-glass had already had been blasted out and now little glass fragments lied everywhere. In the background lightning flashed all around. Booms of thunder echoed all around and it caused the whole castle to quake. The quaking was so fierce that Loki thought that the alabaster stone which made up the balcony would give way and crumble right from underneath him.

Finally, Thor could take no more of Loki's mockery. He didn't know what Loki was on about, but every word that came out of his mouth fueled the fire within Thor. Loki listed each and every one of his abominable acts. He stated them so proudly and without any regret of remorse. Each crime made Thor angrier and angrier. He was shaking, seething, boiling. He wondered why he had even bothered using the last drop of water from the Healing Oasis on that no good rotten, lying, fork-tongued, dictator. He should have let him die. He shouldn't have even cared. When he'd saw Loki, lying there so prone and still, his heart... well his heart it ached and swelled with memories, memories of a boy with bright emerald eyes and mischievous smile who he ran around the palace with, who h laughed with. He saw the man who used to fight by his side and give him the best advice, the person who he trusted most, but that was just a sham, a figment of a desperate and delirious mind.

Loki had done all those things. He'd done all those things. He'd killed so many people like some ruthless, heartless animal. In those moments all he could feel was pure malice toward the man he had once called his brother. He looked at him through narrowed electric blue eyes. The person who was his brother wouldn't have done such evil deeds. He wouldn't have just killed; he wouldn't have taken over their kingdom and had him beat nearly senseless. His brother wouldn't have hit their mother and put her in a coma and now...now...now he didn't even know whether his father was alive of dead and it could all be because of Loki. He fixed his gaze in the direction of that dictator. If Odin was dead...if Loki had killed him with his acts of anarchy and chaos, then Loki wouldn't have to blink his green eyes twice before sunset this day. Thor would make sure of it, he'd be dead. Thor thought of his father, his father loved Asgard with all his heart and soul. Knowing that Asgard had fallen into enemy hands would surely have killed him. And Loki was responsible. Loki was responsible for all it. Thor seethed, he growled he started to stomp his feet like a bull. It had been Loki's outburst over finding out that he was adopted that had sent father into the Oversleep the first time and it was the first attack on Asgard which had been orchestrated by Loki that had caused the elderly monarch to fall into a deep fitful slumber once again. No. Thor couldn't abide by it. Not one moment longer. He couldn't look at him with that sickening white smile plastered on his angular face. With that horned helmet upon his head his head he looked like a monster... a dragon...a dragon that needed to be slain. The Crown Prince of Asgard couldn't hold it in any longer. His whole body felt like it would explode with the energy that coursing through him charging up to a full voltage. Thor let out a ferocious yell. More thunder crackled and roared about the palace and then Thor let it fly. He let a lightning bolt fly right from the center of his chest. It was big and broad and blinding blanche it zigged and twisted and curved and spiraled as it made its way toward Loki in a flash of a millisecond. And just as the lightning was about to electrify him just as the bright, white streak was about to hit Loki's golden armor center chest and fry him from the outside in, Loki vanished.

The prince was left gaping. All the energy had been drained from his and he was left wrung out like a wet rag. Thor was panting, doubled over and holding his sides. He felt lightheaded and he looked around with all the strength he could muster to see if he could spot Loki. "I'm impressed," a cool, smug voice said from behind him. "That was a pretty good shot," Loki admitted and dusted his fingernails along the edges of his fraying green cape. He tapped Thor on the shoulder. "Well at least now we know you can aim at a target," once more the raven-haired enchanter winked his jade-colored eyes.

"You...you...did...all that...just to get me...to...to...aim?" Thor let out a winded question. He was still resting his massive hands on his needs.

Loki chuckled. "Well, you are going to have to aim to make sure you are attacking the right people or else you might send a lightning streak right into Asgard's forces," Loki continued to explain there was still somewhat of a smile on his face.

Thor finally collected himself. "Like you," he stated sharply. "A traitor, who attacked his own people," Thor stood to his fool height and stood a few inches taller than Loki.

Loki mashed his lips together, the trickster hung his head, "Yes," he muttered. "You wouldn't want to be like me..." he offered and tried to lighten the mood.

Thor wasn't smiling. His face was contorted with disgust. "I am nothing like you," Prince Thor growled at the dark-enchanter. He pushed Loki back.

"Well now we've made sure of it," Loki confirmed he took a step back and turned to face the other way. He frowned this may be the last fight that he ever fought with Thor and perhaps now they were fighting on the same side, but they were a far cry from the team they had once been. He doubted they would ever be again. He shouldn't have thought they could be. They never could be not after what he'd done. He'd named them one by one and as he had boastfully recounted his monstrous actions, he felt shame for his terrible sins. They could never be forgiven, never be atoned for and it was complete idiocy, lunacy to hope for better. It was simple foolishness. He'd been a fool this this whole time. He'd been a fool for years, why should anything be different now.

"I feel exhausted," Thor finally stated after a moment pause of collecting himself. He wiped his brow.

"It's to be expected." Loki turned around and reported. "Learning to channel your energy through your body without the aid of your hammer is like putting your body through a new work out, you are exercising new muscles. It's hard at first, but it will get easier," he explained.

"It isn't as if I have a week to go through vigorous training," the prince of Asgard growled. "I won't be able to sustain in battle like this."

"You'll only have to keep it up for a few hours," Loki expressed and placed his hand on Thor's shoulder. "Should be easy enough for you, Son of Odin, Lion of Asgard, One of Earth's Mightiest Heroes," Loki quoted and he gave a wink. "Keep it up until noon and then you'll have the power of the hammer back," Loki stated more stoically as he saw that Thor was not laughing at his once favored monikers.

Before another word could be uttered between the pair a terrible screeching sound came ringing through the palace. It was deafening and animalistic, like the wretched chattering of bats. It was loud and blaring and caused both Thor and Loki to grab their ears. "AHHH! What is that?" Thor yelled as he practically sunk to his knees trying to escape the sound.

"I don't know! I don't know!" Loki uttered his eyes squeezed shut and his palms pressed tightly against his ears as he tried to make himself heard.

"What have you done?" Thor's eyes once again were set ablaze as he opened them and stared at the trickster. Soon Prince Thor's body started to charge up and lighting flickered around his hands and arms.

"It's not me!" Loki shot back. His hands were still clasped tightly over his ears. The horrid wailing sound was enough to wake the dead and it had instantly given him a splitting headache.

"Like Helheim it isn't!" Thor quite quickly accused with a thunderous growl. He allowed his hands to fall from holding his head. He stomped toward Loki. Every step he took produced big burst of lightning. Loki was backed against wall. "What are you trying to drive us all crazy so that we can't fight? So that the Dark-Elves can win?" Thor rumbled. His hand was automatically wrapped around Loki's slender white neck. The electricity contained in Thor's fist started to singe Loki's ivory throat.

Loki shook his head nervously. "No, no," he protested weakly. He wanted to scream out from the burns that Thor was inflicting on him. Instead, he readied an energy blast and shot it at Thor's stomach pushing the warrior off of him. Thor went sailing backward. He was flung against a shelf made of mahogany wood. As he crashed into it the contents of the shelf fell down. Different things, atlases of the Nine Realms, replicas of Yggdrasil, miniature flying machines. The flying machine instantly fell into Thor's hands. If he would have been paying attention, he would have recognized it. It was one of Loki's favorite's, it was the shape of a typical Viking longboat, but when the oars were pressed in, they switched to little dragonfly wings and bore the boat up into the air. The longboat had a traditional head a sea-dragon. Loki had dubbed the ship the Dragon Fly. Thor had come up with the name. Loki said it was droll, but Thor had been so very pleased with it. They'd placed their toy soldiers on the toy flying ship and they'd imagined many grand adventures then. Thor didn't take time to look. he quickly tossed the toy aside and he quickly went charging back at Loki.

Loki readied himself in a fighting stance, his daggers were immediately drawn. "Thor! Stop! Listen!" he called out the golden-haired thunderer. "it's not me," he tried to explained.

The thunderbolts gathered all around Thor's person. The sparks shot off every which way. Thor seemed like he'd burst into flames. "No! No! No! I won't!" Thor protested. "I won't let you destroy us!" he hollered.

"I have no reason to lie, Thor," Loki urged his brother to believe him.

Prince Thor shook his head. His full lips twisted bitterly into a painful scowl. "You always lie," he declared. As his shoulders heaved. "It's like breathing for you," Thor spat.

Loki grimaced. Thor's words stung the trickster more than he knew. Thor obviously had no trust for him. Throughout the time that this whole mess had begun Thor had still trusted him. He'd trusted him when he'd come to Midgard and told him of the all-father's death. He'd trusted him when he'd attacked Midgard, he'd trusted him so much so on Svartalfheim that he'd given up the power of the hammer for him. He'd betrayed Thor so many times, he didn't deserve the man's trust, but he needed it now. "It's not me," Loki informed the protector of Asgard one more. "Listen it's coming over the coms," Loki pointed to a box within his tower that that had lines running through it like an instrument. "It's Malekith... he must have gotten to the Communications Chamber," Loki reported. "Thor you need to believe me," Loki informed him.

His lips remained firm. "And how can I believe you?" Thor asked. "Son of Laufey, Traitor of Asgard, One of Earth's Greatest Villains," Thor shot back cruelly. With each terrible nickname that he gave the raven-haired mage more and more lightning bolts went flying off of him at random. One of the streaks of white-hot lightning went straight toward the Sea Dragon. The bolt jolted the tiny golden contraption that hadn't been activated in many, many years. The toy took off like a shot. It whizzed between them dancing and flying through the air in the same magical way that it had when they were lads. It had seemed like true magic then. Thor heard the hum of the mechanical wings. He was almost distracted by it. Enchanted by the charming trinket as he had been as a boy. But this was not playtime. This was no game. Their very lives were at stake and the lives of the whole of the Nine Realms. He reached out his hands caught the toy midair. Thor's strong hands could have easily crushed the miniature flying machine, but as he held it, he was amazed to find two familiar figurines standing at the helm of the flying ship. Thor picked up the tiny toy soldiers that had been carefully painted to look like two princes he once knew so long. He fingered the little green cape. He almost smiled as he traced the shape of the one that bore his likeness. His facial expression softened just for a moment. He mashed his lips together, his anger slowly started to subside and as it did the waves of lightning that engulfed him seemed to fall away. Water replaced the flashes of lightning that had burned within his eyes. They had not always been enemies. Once, much like to two toys he held in his hand they'd fought side by side, two fearless companions ready to take on the world. And they did. How many foes had they conquered, together as brothers... Mjolnir, his trusted companion in battle may have been lost for the moment, but something had been restored. Loki. Loki was there. Maybe what he needed was already provided.

"Listen, Thor. Think. How could I be orchestrating this with Malekith? I've been here with you the whole time," Loki entreated the elder to listen.

Prince Thor scrunched up his features. "It could be an illusion," he muttered more to himself than to the former dictator before him.

"I'm not illusion," Loki stated. He bridged the gap between them and put his hands on Thor's shoulders. "I'm here," He looked Thor in the eye and despite the painful wailing that assaulted both their ears he offered Thor a glimmer of a smile. It was so familiar, a smirk that was sincere and reminded the elder man of a child he had known once. Maybe it wasn't on purpose. Maybe Thor didn't know exactly what he was doing, maybe it was just a reflex, but he smiled back "Malekith is giving instructions to his men, he's telling them where to go," Loki pointed out quickly.

"What's he saying?" Thor inquired. He looked at Loki the raven-haired enchanter was still wincing as the toxic screeching sounds came from the speaker. Loki could hardly concentrate. The sound was worse than nails on a chalkboard. It was like bat screeches being ground up with grating metal and it was far from intelligible. The Dark-Elves had developed the sickening call to distract and disrupt their enemies. Loki shook his head. "Loki what are they saying?" Thor continued to press as he kept his hands on his ears.

Finally, Loki pulled his hands down from his ears. He forced himself to endure the pain of their horrendous sound stabbing his ears. He could scarcely make out the jargon, but he pieced together a few locations. "He's sending some of them toward their ships...retrieving something..." Loki expressed. He couldn't make out the exact word, it probably had so direct translation in Asgardian.

"Mjolnir!" Thor gasped.

"No..." The raven-haired mage shook his head. "That would do them no good. It is a waste of time for them to try to lift it..." Loki paused and then he listened some more. "He's divvying them up to block off different entrance ways to the palace," Loki expressed.

"There is no way he has enough me to block of all the entrances," Thor countered.

"He's got a squadron headed to the throne room," Loki said with more urgency in his voice. His green eyes were wide. "And the Weapon's Vault."

Thor gritted his teeth. In his eyes there was a flash of white light and sparks charged all around his fingers. "We have to get to the Weapons Vault!" his voice rumbled along with approaching thunder. Immediately, the son of Odin was ready to take off and run full speed into battle.

"Thor, wait!" Loki called.

"There isn't a moment to spare!" the thunder-bearer growled.

"You go to the throne room. I'll go to the weapon's vault," Loki insisted.

"NO! I cannot allow Malekith and his horde to get any of those relics," he declared.

"He wants the Tesseract and I am the one who knows how to wield it." Loki expressed.

Prince Thor's eyes narrowed. "Like Helheim, you think I'm going to trust you!" Thor shouted. "After everything you have done! You may very well go and just give him the Tesseract! he accused. His mighty finger was raised in Loki's face and Loki threw his hands up.

"Thor you have to trust me," Loki entreated him.

The Crown Prince of Asgard clenched his fist. "Like Helheim, I trust you!" Thor barked, but as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he regretted it. He thought of the vision he'd had with his father. He couldn't be sure if it had been real or if it was just an illusion that Loki had cast on his mind, but he thought of how it said that they needed to work together.

Loki slapped Thor's accusatory finger out of his face. He too growled back. "We don't have time to fight!" he hissed through his perfectly straight teeth. "I'll go to the weapon's vault and try to hold Malekith off and keep him from getting the Tesseract. If he gets the Tesseract, he can hold the portals of Convergence open as long as he wants. He can unleash Thanos," Loki explained in a whisper and his eyes flickered just a little. "If you go to the throne room you have a better chance of stopping him if I fail. Besides, you're the true heir to the throne. You should protect the throne room," Loki winked.

Thor's yellow brows knitted together as he heard the explanation. "Fine," he practically grunted. "Once you've secured the Tesseract come and meet with us in the throne room," Thor ordered.

"Will do," Loki stated as he and Prince Thor rushed out of the chamber.

"Loki," Thor called over his shoulder as he saw a flash of a green cape starting to descend down long, twisted steps. Loki froze in his tracks and turned around. Thor wanted to say 'Thank you.' He wanted to ask what had made Loki change his mind. He wanted to tell Loki to be careful, not to die. He also quickly wanted to add because he wanted to kill him himself. But he wasn't sure if that was true. But all he could get his tongue to actually say was, "For Asgard," as he raised a lightning infused fist.

The ebony coiffed self-proclaimed king nodded his head as he declared. "For Asgard," as well.

******************************************************************************Lady Sif was making her way through palace catacombs desperate to get to the throne room undetected by the Dark-Elves. She knew the catacombs well. The hidden hallways that ran behind the walls and underneath the palace floors had given the Aesir the advantage over their enemies for years and kept the royal family safe for generations until one of their own had betrayed them. She couldn't believe the times that she, Thor and Loki had run the hidden passage ways playing hide and go seek. Loki had always cheated then. She hated having to trust him, to believe his lying mouth, but what choice did she had now. If Loki betrayed them, if he betrayed Thor. Lady Sif wet her lips as she thought about and anticipated all the ways that she would destroy him if she needed to. But just as she was starting to give into the sweetness of such revery she heard a horrible screeching sound.

It sounded like giant bats. She looked around the catacombs to make sure that she wasn't walking past some of the blood thirsty creatures. She saw none. It sounded like a stampede of rapid Bilgschnipes. It sounded like insects like a swarm. Sif immediately patted down her skin to make sure that she wasn't being crawled upon, but there was nothing there. The screaming grew louder and louder until it filled the entire catacomb. There was no escape it was reverberating off of the mud walls. It filled the whole tunnel and it brought Lady Sif to her knees. She couldn't take it anymore. She had never been brought so low so quickly, but that sound that sound was all around and it was maddening. She crawled on her knees with her hands over her ears searching for one of the push-in panels so that she could escape the catacomb. Lady Sif scrambled on her knees and bumped her shoulders against the mud and cobweb infested passageway. She was fortunate to still have her armor mostly intact after he consistent banging. Finally, she found a few bricks that were willing to budge. She leaned in on them heavily and her body tumbled out of the catacomb and into the hallway of the palace. It was large opulent hallway that was lavishly decorated with unique vases and sculptures of many of the dignitaries who had graced the halls before. Sif probably would have been pleased to see that this particular hallway was not destroyed, but in the moment, she could still concentrate on nothing but the shrieking that rang throughout the palace. She rose to her feet wide-eyed as she searched for the transmitters that were releasing the horrific sound. She found one. She went rushing over to it. She raised her double-bladed saber as high as she could and slashed right through it. The transmitter fell to bits on the carpet, but the insane shrieking still echoed throughout the palace. Lady Sif could not take the animalistic sound. It once again threatened to drive her to her knees. Then Lady Sif gritted her teeth. She was a warrior; she'd not be stopped by a mere noise. With tenacity she went through the halls running at full speed and smashing the communication transmitters and speakers with her sword.

While she was headed down the hall, viciously whacking the transmitters from the wall and lessoning the deafening wails she happened to notice one of the most welcomed sights she could have seen. She was relieved when she saw her closest companions coming down the stretch of hallway also running at full speed. "She's finally done it. She's finally off her rocker! The heat of battle has finally driven Lady Sif mad," called Frandal as they raced toward her.

Lady Sif rolled her eyes. "If fighting side by side with you hasn't driven me mad then nothing will," Sif tossed her tangled dark locks over her shoulders. She winced and smiled all at once. She ran up toward the men and they ran to her. They all gathered each other in a hearty embrace. They hadn't even been out of each other's company for more than an hour truly, but in this time of great fear and desolation, still seeing each other alive was an encouragement. It meant that the fight wasn't over and that with each other at their sides they at least still had a chance of saving their kingdom and each other from Ragnarök. Lady Sif's brown eyes took her friends in and she was pleased to find that they appeared to be no worse for the wear than when she had last left them. Not that that had meant that they were in good condition, no, they were still battered and bruised and broken, barely able to stand, but they were still willing to fight with every last breath that was within them.

"We saw... we saw...we saw," The red-bearded Viking began to stammer in excitement. "We saw a light come from the Southern Tower," he expressed.

"Was Thor really there?" Frandal inquired earnestly.

Lady Sif nodded, "Yes, yes, yes, he was," she stated.

"So, Loki actually was telling the truth, son of..." Frandal started as he tossed his back and laughed then wiped his brow.

"I never doubted him," Heimdal stated proudly.

Sif, Volstagg and Frandal eyed the great gatekeeper. 'I did!" the trio chimed in unison.

"I most certainly did," the brunette shield-maiden quickly repeated. "I still don't trust that slimy, no good, murdering..." Sif began as she ground her teeth together and pounded her fist into her palm. "But," she started to admit. "He kept his word," Sif blew out an exasperated breath throughout the side of her mouth. "We found Thor, just where Loki said he would be and he... he was half dead...I didn't even think that he would survive, but Loki...Loki healed him." she nodded her head. "Completely and wholly," she confessed. "Thor, Thor was strong and healthy, once more our champion!" she practically swooned.

"Well, where is he? Where is he? Frandal demanded. He looked around.

"Is Thor going to fight with us?" Volstagg was practically panting, his blackened eyes were wide with anticipation to see the big, strapping son of Odin victorious before them once more.

"Thor still doesn't have Mjolnir," Sif expressed. "He stayed behind with Loki... for Loki to show him one thing or another, about how to control his powers without the hammer," Sif explained as her eyes darted around angrily.

"You left him?"

"I didn't want to," Sif protested, "But Thor insisted and I obeyed our prince's command. I had to give him that one last honor in case... in case..." Lady Sif's voice broke off.

"Perhaps...perhaps the old Loki really is returning," Volstagg's blue eyes brightened a bit he put his meaty hand on the dented armor on her shoulder.

"I believe he is; I believe he is," Heimdal placed his hand on Volstagg's shoulder. "And we better hope that he has for I believe we need Loki to end this," the guardian explained.

"I wish I could say I believe that we didn't need his help," Lady Sif mumbled and she crossed her arms over her chest and looked down. "But Thor doesn't have the power of the hammer back yet," she told her friends with moister in her eyes.

"What!" the burly red-head Viking shrieked.

"Loki's enchantments last until Convergence is at its peak," she twisted her try, bloodied lips.

Frandal wagged his finger in the air, "That clever bastard," the master swordsman chuckled. "Of course," Frandal went on and knocked himself in the head.

"I know," Sif grumbled. "Loki thought of for a safe guard to protect himself and his allies, but it's a thorn in our side," she complained. "It's maddening!" she growled and pounded her hand into her palm.

"The only thing that I believe shall drive me made is this awful racket," Pointed out the stately brown-skinned guardian. His armor was tarnish greatly it no longer gleamed with the ethereal golden glow, but he stood no less tall and no less proud. His posture had risen and he stood tall and although Heimdal was always stern, there was a twinkle in his eye once again.

"It'll drive us all mad, Lord Heimdal," Sif quickly insisted. She placed her hands over her ears once more. She closed her eyes. "I was in the catacombs and I could hear the terrible howling. It was all around me I had to get out," she explained.

"Yes, and I think is the plan," Heimdal explained. He winced a bit at the pitches that tortured his eardrums. Heimdal was privileged to look and see the worlds in all their vastness and glory. He saw their beauty and their horror. He had the ability to focus his powers to listen in on the sounds of the Nine Realms as well. But he didn't put it into practice always. Still, he'd hadn't heard anything like this. "The Dark-Elves plan to either drive us insane or drive us out of the palace all together," he went on.

"The sound is enough to wake the dead!" Volstagg hollered. "How are they even able to produce such a sound without making their own vocal cords bleed," the chubby warrior inquired as he looked at Asgard's gatekeeper.

"It's something that they have developed. Their ancients used the Aether for everything. It was a part of their lives. It was said that many of their wizards would ingest the red blob. They allowed it to pour into their nostrils and throats. Some of them naturally the Aether ravaged and destroyed, but the strongest of them well they were able to gain the power to destroy even through their voices. They first used this trick against their own brethren the Light-Elves," Heimdal went on. "The Light-Elves, they are such a people that thrive on beauty and music nature, they could not stand the sound and fled immediately. When they went to Midgard, the poor mortals were driven mad by the sound and began diving into the oceans and rivers and streams nearby, they were desperate to escape, who populations were wiped out..." Heimdal shook his head. He had not seen the events himself, but even as a lad when he was learning he heard the horrific story.

"If they keep this up, we won't have to worry about Ragnarök, we'll die from this torture long before Convergence occurs," The blonde-haired swordsman joked.

"I think Lady Sif has the right idea," Volstagg winked.

"Yes, quiet," Heimdal nodded. "We have got to get all the transmitters out of commission," he explained. "Not only will it spare all our ear drums," He indicated pointing at his ears and raising his voice, "but it will cut off their communication," the guardian of Asgard. The team wasted no time. There were communication transmitters throughout hallways as they made their way to the throne room.

Sif continued to use her double-bladed saber to hack apart as many transmitters as she could. Sometimes she would do 2 at a time. She'd stab once one of the transmission speakers and then she'd allow it to ricochet off into another. Other times she'd use her javelin like weapon to hoist herself in the air and kick the transmitter right off the wall. Volstagg hobbled as quickly as he could toward every transmitter he could spot. He had never realized how many there were. He hurled his mighty battle-axe at each and every one of the communication devices. He had always enjoyed the transmitters as they normally allowed for the dinner bells and gongs to be rang so that he would never be late for a royal supper. He had always been happy that there were so many transmitters throughout the palace so that no matter where he was: in the great hall, or the throne room, or in one of the sparring salons or at the pools or maybe even resting in his chambers he would never miss a meal. Now he heated how many there were. Still, he was determined that his axe would not rest until he had hacked as many of the vile machines to bits. His battle axe went through them as if they were simple wood. Still, the sound of the Dark-Elves animalistic shrieking continued to ring out loud and strong. Volstagg had never touched the Berserker Staff, it legendary power was both fabled to be desired and feared. It could drive a holder mad, but Lord Volstagg couldn't imagine anything more maddening than the sound that came from the transmitters, it was worse than static, worse than nails against a chalkboard or thousands of saws. Both Heimdal and Frandal used their weapons as well to rip apart as many of the transmitter speakers as they could. They ran down the halls as fast as they could, their swords were raised high and they sliced without mercy.

They had taken out as many as they could and they met once again in a central corridor. "That's enough. That's enough," Lord Heimdal cautioned his weary young friends. They all head returned to the main hallway weary and winded and nearly driven to their knees by the bitter wailing of their enemies. Though the sound was softened a tad, it was no less piercing.

"Lord Heimdal, we have to destroy all of these transmitters!" Lady Sif protested. "If not, the men won't be able to think, won't be able to battle," she insisted but she was panting and leaned heavily on her own double blade. "That's exactly what the Dark-Elves want," she looked at her comrades and expressed. 'They want to be able to execute their plan without a fight," she insisted. "Their numbers are small."

Frandal shook his head, 'Sif there are thousands of transmitters. WE can't possibly get to them all."

"Besides, we need to meet up with Hogun and the others in the throne room," Volstagg stated as he looked the Master Heimdal. "They are counting on us," he said in earnest. "The circles have already started to form," he informed her.

"No!" Sif gasped. "What time is it?" she demanded. She took looked to Asgard's great gilded warrior.

"We do not have much time," was his simple reply. "Protecting the throne room has to be our priority," he told Lady Sif. "That was what Prince Thor commissioned you to do, was it not good Lady Sif?" He watched as the brunette shield-maiden nodded bitterly to herself. "We must all obey our prince's commands." Heimdal urged. "But we will take out as many possible transmitters as we can as we make our way to the throne room," he expressed and winked his golden eye at the warrior woman.

******************************************************************************When Loki and Lady Sif had teleported toward the Southern Tower, Lady Sigyn had been left with half of Thor's war party and Asgard's great gatekeeper. Frandal, Heimdal and Volstagg gazed up at the that was still thick with clouds blackened with Aether ash as Loki and Sif had vanished into thin air. She imagined that Frandal and Volstagg both watched with the same curiosity as she did of Loki working his powers, but she suspected that the gatekeeper's shrewd golden eyes were more concerned with the skies themselves than with what Loki was doing. She studied his pensive tight expression on his dark skin. The hard lines of concern were plain despite the spattered blood that lined his cheeks and forehead. No doubt the resolute stargazer knew better than they how close Convergence really was.

"Master Heimdal, this still could be a mistake," Volstagg muttered as he finally broke his blue eyes from staring up at a void sky as Aether ash stung his eyeballs.

"Could be," Heimdal admitted, he too broke off his stare.

"I don't think it is," Sigyn spoke up as she stepped in line with the men.

"Ah, Sigyn," Frandal started as her turned toward her fondly. Even in the midst of the chaos and madness that ensued all around them he was as debonair as if they were at a ball. "Your innocence and hopefulness are almost as astounding as is your beauty," he took her by the hand and kissed. It. His words were enough to make the queen's lady in waiting blush. Frandal was a flirtatious man, who had charmed the corset off many a maiden. Despite his legendary conquests of women in court, the Casanova did have a slight bit of honor as to not court those his friends had courted. His honor had even managed to apply to the like of Loki, but Loki's general disinterest toward the woman he was courting, Frandal had taken to thinking about courting her himself once the pair broke up, this would have especially not broken his moral standards had Loki and Lady Sigyn not actually been bedfellows. Unlike him, Loki had not been one to kiss and tell, but one night, after too much celebration and wine the secret was leaked and Frandal had a twinge of envy that Loki had had the first sips of nectar from such a beautiful flower.

"Look," Lady Sigyn pointed out quickly. Her hands were filthy, but Frandal didn't hesitate in letting his handsome lips rest on them. She pointed to her leg. Her dress which had been an elegant riding gown of pink and gold and white was now nothing but mud, bedraggled rags, the under layers were gone and she was left with something that was practically sheer, and with splits that revealed her hips as if she was wearing a type of sarong for a bathing party. Frandal's eyes quickly darted down. He watched as Lady Sigyn was able to swing her hips and legs with ease. When they had first met up, the nobleman's daughter had hardly been able to stand. She was hobbling so bad from the bleeding and the fact that her leg had been dislocated at the hip that it seemed as if she could hardly stand. Volstagg had offered to carry her. Sigyn had refused to take his help though for she could see that the portly warrior was in just as bad a shape as she was possible even worse for his arms were full of burns and contusions. She forced herself to walk on, excruciating as it was with the strength of any warrior. Around Lady Sigyn's hips it had been purple and red and swollen; the area was nearly starting to turn black as her pressure on it exacerbated the injury. There had been a terrible gash on her left leg, A cut that that was deep and seemed to run the length of the femur. Blood poured from it like lava and unfortunately it had been mixed with all manner of contaminates from mud and dirt and sludge, to blood of others and then even Aether ash. The Aether was the power of destruction in and of itself and it did its dirty work and corrupted the injury all the more, before long Lady Signy's leg had shown signs of infection. The laceration was filling with a nasty pus. It had been a horrible sight to be behold even for a man who loved to admire legs as much as Frandal. When he looked down at Sigyn's legs he was amazed to find that they were still completely coated with mud, but they were no longer swollen like inflatables and the blood had stopped and that great gash was gone as if it had never been. He reached out with his fingers to examine the wound. He gingerly pressed on where he thought the wounds used to be.

"He healed me," Sigyn expressed and smiled.

Frandal shook his head. He started to say something, but before his lips could formulate the words. Heimdal stepped forth. "We have to trust Loki, now," Heimdal stated.

"There's no advantage to Loki tricking us now," the blonde-haired lady-in-waiting to Queen Frigga rationalized.

"Perhaps not," Frandal mused aloud.

"He had us right where he wanted us," the ruddy, round Viking rumbled to the group. "We were sitting ducks," he shrugged his large shoulders.

"Our fate is partially up to Loki, but not solely. We must still do our part." The gatekeeper expressed. "We will head to the palace and try to meet up with the other warriors."

"And me!" Sigyn chimed in with the eagerness of a child. With her leg healed, Lady Sigyn was eager for the fight. She hadn't known much of battle besides her experiences very recently, but she was ready to earn her spot in Valhalla this day if she needed to.

"Lady Sigyn, we could truly use your assistance in checking for survivors out here," Heimdal's gaze looked across the rubble and body infested square. He knew that there were still a few who were severely injured who needed to get to safety. "The Dark-Elves have all gone to the palace, you shouldn't run into any attackers," he explained.

"But," the blonde-haired handmaiden started to protest.

"Lady Sigyn, please," Volstagg turned to her. "I do not know where my wife or children are," His eyes were wide. "I... I don't even know if they have survived," he stated misty eyed. "If you were to find them in the midst of this chaos and lead them to safety, my dear woman I would ever be in your debt," the red-bearded Viking explained. Volstagg's blue eyes entreated her with much earnestness. She couldn't imagine how worried he must be there had been thousands, maybe nearly a million that had taken shelter in the catacombs, but she hadn't seen the pudgy warrior's family. It didn't mean they weren't there, but Volstagg had sworn and oath to protect Asgard even above his own family, he couldn't spend the time looking for them. She knew how much it had meant to her to see her sister, Rana.

"You will owe me nothing, my friend," she reported back to him. "I'll do my best to find any who remain," she stated and saluted the two Einherjar generals and the gatekeeper.

"Get them and yourself to safety," Frandal said.

"Then I am coming back," the golden-locked daughter of Admiral Arn shook her head.

"Lady Sigyn, tis no need for you to endanger your life any further..." Frandal tried to assure her.

"There is every need!" she countered. "This...this...this is the fight of our live," she said with her breath hitching. "I'm an Asgardian same as you," she pointed to them. "I was born and bred to fight on this day," She squared her shoulders and held her head high. She allowed a smile to play across her features. "We need every able-bodied Aesir we can spare. And come to think of it, I may be the most able bodied among us," she slightly chuckled. The warriors exchanged glances, shrugged their shoulders and then conceded to Lady Sign's statement.

"Very well, Sigyn Arndottir we will see you inside the palace soon," Heimdal stated. She nodded and then beamed proudly at them all before she jumped off the scaffold and then raced into the wreckage that had once been the center square.

Lady Sigyn scuttled and ran through the piles and piles broken monuments, knocked down lamps and posts and paved, golden brick streets that had been overturned like topsoil. She leaped over the toppled columns and frames. She crawled and scooted around the devastation as best she could. It was still such a ghastly sight. Everything coated in black and red. Armor tossed aside like it was nothing, it was eerie to see bloody armor without even owners in it. Limbs were all around without bodies Hands chopped off. Legs severed. She still saw bodies, bodies mangled and dirty, blood leaking out of it. Truly, the sight of such carnage made her large golden eyes want to weep. The once bustling square that had been a place of joy laughter and excitement for the people of Asgard was nothing but a mass grave. Pools of blood made up the places where her feet trod ever so carefully and the ditched formed when Loki had caused the people of Asgard to sink into the ground were simply holding spaces for the dead bodies. Sigyn wiped her eyes and nose as she started to cry. She shook her head and stopped herself. She could mourn the dead later and give honor to their innocence and valor, but now was no time to think of the dead, but of the living. "Hello! Hello! Hello!" her voices echoed in the empty space. The sound of her words was carried on the wind, but no response came back. "Is anyone alive out there?" she shouted out desperate as she ran to and fro. She called out as loud as she could for as long as she could. Her voice loud and ragged and getting lost in the howling of the Aether winds. She found no straggler or survivor and she was about to give up. "Hellooooo!" Sigyn bellowed once more desperately. Her words seemed to get choked in the wind. She heard nothing. Sigyn was about to turn back, she muttered to herself that Lord Heimdal and Frandal and Volstagg had sent her on a fool's errand. They must have just wanted her out the way. Her lips twisted downward bitterly with the thought, but that could simply not be true, Lady Sigyn admonished herself. Heimdal was not the type to do such. No, she was out here for a purpose and if there was but one survivor, they were worth finding. "Merciful Yggdrasil help me," she prayed.

Just then a small sound could be heard. It was fain in the midst of the way the wind whistled like a tempest all around them Sigyn listened intently. She closed her big, gold-doubloon eyes and concentrated on what direction the sound was coming from. It was a voice strained and weak, calling out into the darkness. It was accompanied, but a good amount of clatter, a certain banging. "I hear you! I hear you!" Lady Sigyn yelled back and she took off running as fast as she could. She was ablaze moving across the rubble, her head and long blonde-hair swung back and forth as she searched for the one calling out to her. "Keep yelling!" she told them and they responded. Their cry growing louder and stronger until finally she found them, lying in a ditch blood and water were piling up around them, their head just barely above. Lady Sigyn without thought leaped down into the deep ditch that they were in.

"Here! Here!" the person kept yelling out their voice sounding terribly pained. It broke off into a shudder and a sob. "Is anybody there? Is anybody there?" they thrashed and shook their head miserably. Their eyes were squeezed shut as hot tears cascaded down their bloodied cheeks.

"I'm here," Lady Sigyn called as she sunk to her knees in blood and mud. Her dirty hands went to rest on the forehead of the man. He could have been middle-aged, but he was so banged up that she couldn't truly be sure. "I'm here," she muttered softly once more as he opened his eyes.

"I... I... I" He gasped and looked up into her face. "Are you a Valkyrie-Angel, come to take me to Valhalla?" the man asked he coughed up some blood. Sigyn smiled down at him. The first Valkyrie for their immense valor had been given the eternal duty to continue to help those who resisted death to get to the other side in peace.

Sigyn's warm golden eyes smiled down at the wounded man. "No," she chuckled, "But I am here to help you," she assured him with a nod. "Come, let's see if you can sit up," she offered as she shifted her hand from resting on the man's forehead to the back of his neck. She tried to move him into an upright position, but he called out it pain.

"I...I... I can't feel my legs!" he screamed as he viciously gripped Sigyn's arm. "I can't feel my legs!" he continued to yell as his eyes grew wider. "I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!" he hollered at the top of his lungs.

"It's ok! It's ok, Calm down," Lady Sigyn whispered to the distraught Asgardian. He shook his head in protest and muttered no to himself more so than to her. The queen's lady-in-waiting looked around in panic. She then noted that there was one of his legs that looked like it had been blown clean off and the blood that she'd sunken into was from that limb. His other leg was being crushed by a large boulder. The Asgardian woman got up and attempted to push the rock, but it didn't budge. She pushed and pushed and pressed her hands against the stone in earnest, it scraped and cut her hands, but she couldn't get it to move.

"Don't leave! Don't leave, please," the man begged. His hand reached for Lady Sigyn's hand. Sigyn was immediately back at his side. She sunk back to her knees and bathed her skirt in the dirty, grimy, bloody puddle that was all around her. She took his hand and clasped it tightly. His fearful eyes looked up at her. "I don't want to die alone," he expressed.

"You...you won't. You won't die, my friend," the queen's hand-maiden reported. "I'm going to go and get help," Sigyn told him.

"No! No! NO!" he squeezed her hand in desperation. His tight gripped nearly crushed her fingers. "Don't leave," he whimpered.

"I'll come back. I'll come back. I'll come back with help, you'll see," Lady Sigyn explained with a chipper voice. Her hand stroking his head.

"Might not be here," he gulped and clenched his teeth as a wave of pain washed over him.

"You'll be here!" Lady Sigyn stated to the man matter-of-factly. "You've already survived so much," she smiled at him with tears in her eyes. "And when this day is won, you'll be alive to tell the story to your children and your children's children," she encouraged. The man's lips quivered, but he allowed a smile to form as best he could as he nodded in agreement to the woman's words.

The man swallowed. "Did you see, see what happened?" he questioned with blinking eyes. "Does Prince Thor live?" he tried to make his eyes focus for a minute.

"I saw the whole thing," Sigyn whispered and placed both of her hands over the injured man's/ "I do believe he lives, but I haven't seen with my own eyes," she confessed. The man sighed, "But see, see, see you must survive! You must survive so you can see our prince alive with your own eyes once more and tell your family!" she bobbed her head with a winning grin on her face. "I'll come back in 20 minutes, either way," she informed him. He agreed and then she was off.

Sigyn took off, she raced over the debris and rubble at breakneck speeds. She climbed and crawled and scrambled running for the destroyed city gate. She'd have to get to the field where most the residents of the Imperial City had evacuated to. She'd have to get some people to come back and help her. Her heart was pounding as she ran with all her might. That poor man certainly didn't have much time and he was counting on her. Lady Sigyn was running straight for the gate she felt a tug on shredded cloak. It was a red-haired girl. The little girl had no shoes and a bad laceration on her arm and she yelped and shrunk back with the fair-haired maiden turn around so abruptly. Despite the fact that the child was caked with heavy coats of mud that her look as if she had just taken a mud bath the flyaway strands of curly red-hair revealed her identity immediately. "Elga!" Lady Sigyn exclaimed and she immediately reached out her hands for the child.

"Lady Sigyn!" the little girl squealed back in delight. She jumped into the Aesir maiden's arms.

"Oh, my goodness! Oh, my goodness!" Sigyn couldn't help but wail in delight. She kissed the child all over her muddy face. "Merciful Yggdrasil and Norns be thanked!" tears slipped down her face. "Your father... your father," she sputtered in her excitement.

"Mama!" the child interrupted her. Sigyn batted her big eyes. She started frantically kicking her legs and the blood from her cut up feet splattered all over Sigyn. She pointed desperately. "Help! Help! Mama needs help!" she yelped.

Sigyn nodded, "Where is she?" she asked.

"Thurston is with her," the child explained. She scrambled and tried to get out of Sigyns arms. Sigyn started to set the child down, but then she looked at her bare feet, the red as tomatoes and were so cut up and raw that she scarcely could believe the child had managed to get this far.

Sigyn shifted the little girl onto her back. "Just tell me which way to go, dear" she expressed as the child wrapped her arms around Sigyn's neck. Elga eagerly instructed her on where to go. The directions were a bit confusing as a deep fog of thick red shrouded the entire square, but still Sigyn managed to find her way.

"Thurston! Thurston!" Elga called to her older brother. Crouched over a pile broken bricks a boy with hair as thick and curly and red as the little girls strained to move the heavy stones. Thurston was heartily built just like his father; he was growing into a fine warrior just like his namesake. Still, try as the youth might he couldn't get the stones to budge. Sigyn immediately rushed over to the boy who was sobbing.

"Mama, please hold on, help has come," he tried to put on a watery smile.

"It's ok, my son, it's ok," a woman's faint voice whispered. Sigyn immediately rushed to the side of Thurston. She put her hand on his shoulder.

Thurston turned to her, his pudgy face was smeared with mud and blood. He had nasty gash across his forehead, but still he was trying with all his might to move every stone that he could. He was exhausting himself lugging heavy rock after heavy rock. "Thurston, it's ok," Lady Sigyn muttered to him.

The boy shook his head. "She's trapped! She's trapped! She can't breathe!" he practically yelled as he pointed at the pile of rubble. She inspected the stones that seemed to be entombing the woman, there was a small hole and though it was black inside she could scarcely make out a silhouette.

"It's ok. It's ok, my son," the woman repeated.

"Lady Valka!" Sigyn called. "It's me, Lady Sigyn Arndottir," she explained.

"Sigyn?" she heard her name whispered back in a weak voice. Through the tiny hole opening, that she had for breathing a poked two bruised finger through the opening. She wiggled them about.

Sigyn immediately gripped them. "I'm here, I'm here," she nodded as she clutched two shaky fingers.

"My time is fading..." she said through shuddered coughs.

"No, no, of course not," Sigyn shook her head. "Don't talk like that. We'll have you out of here in a jiff," she expressed hopefully and winked at the children.

"Ash...filling... up...lungs," the wife of Volstagg stammered. "Take...the...children," she begged as she coughed violently.

"We're not leaving you, Mama," Thurston immediately stated, he nearly shoved Sigyn out of the way as he rushed to hold his mother's hand.

"We can go and get help Thurston," Lady Sigyn stated as she took the boy by the shoulder. She tried to offer him a glimmer of a smile to kindle his heart and courage, but still his eyes were trembling. "It's the best way to help your mother now," she tried to explain. "The others are in the Doojon fields right outside the Imperial City gates. Queen Frigga is there and other soldiers and healers... they can help" Sigyn's words came out rapidly.

"Go, Thurston...go...you...and... your... sister...go," a weak coughing voice came from beneath the pile of rocks. The grip from his mother's hand grew weaker.

Sigyn nodded vigorously to the child. "It's what your mother wants," she nodded at him. "Be a good lad and do as your mother says," she insisted.

Thurston pursed his lips together, his red brows furrowed and he shook his head. "I told father that I would always look out for everyone when he was away," Thurston expressed strongly. "We don't even know where my youngest brother is," Thurston shrugged. "I...I... I hope he's not dead," Thurston looked down. "I was at school..." Thurston started to explain. "I don't know if father is alive either," he shook his head and tears started to flow.

"Your father is alive!" Sigyn assured him. "I've seen him myself!" She boasted. "He's headed to the palace right now to rescue Prince Thor and help fight the Dark-Elves to stop Ragnarök!" the lady-in-waiting to Queen Frigga exclaimed.

"Fathers alive! Father's alive!" Elga shouted with joy.

Thurston's bloody face soon rippled with joy as well. "But I know, that Father, wouldn't want me to leave Mama," Thurston still clung to the woman's hand.

"Alright," Lady Sigyn started. There was a steadfast determination in the boy's eyes that the blonde-haired daughter of Admiral Arn knew that she did not have words enough to convince him to go against the promise he felt he had made to his father. "I'll take Elga with me, get her to safety, I'll come back with help for your mother. Keep trying to move as many rocks from her as you can!" Sigyn stated. She watched as Thurston hesitantly nodded. She reached out her hand to take Elga.

Elga immediately rushed toward her brother. She was shaking like a leaf. "No, Thurston, I don't want to leave you and Mama," she sobbed as she hugged him tight.

"You have to go, Elggy," Thurston told her firmly. "You're hurt and you have to get help."

"You're hurt too!" the child pointed out the terrible scrapes on her brother's face.

"Look you have to go with Lady Sigyn to get help. You'll be our hero," he assured her.

"A hero?" Elga questioned for the first time in the day the feeling of true excitement and not dread was in her.

"You will be sweetheart, there is another man who is also hurt and wounded. He needs help and he is all alone. We have to go! We have to save him too," she assured the red-haired girl. With that, reluctantly, Volstagg's young daughter crawled onto Lady Sigyn back so that they could go get help from the encampment where most of the citizens of the Imperial City had taken refuge.

Sigyn hurried across the disheveled and destroyed Center Square. The Aether ash clouds continued to mount and swirl and produce their heaps of red ash which showered down on the pair. The poor child coughed miserably as she clung to Lady Sigyn's neck. "I hope Mama will be ok," she said between her sniffles and coughs.

"Don't worry, dear we are going to get help, right now! Your mama will be just fine! She's a very strong woman," Sigyn encouraged the little girl as she leaped over the mangled bodies. The sight of so much blood and carnage made the queen's handmaiden want to vomit, she couldn't imagine what the sight was doing to young child like Elga.

"What about my little brother?" She asked and she started to hack horribly as the thick red ash invaded her throat. "We haven't seen him all day. His nurse took him to kinder-care," she expressed.

"I'm sure he's fine, your nurse is probably with him now," Sigyn said in a hopeful tone as the stumbled and staggered against the raised cobblestones that had once lined the square. Lady Sigyn was doing her best, but the ground was so destroyed the holes and craters blow about everywhere, spikes and weapons stuck up from the surface making it a minefield to negotiate through, not to mention the massive number of carcasses which littered the City Square. Lady Sigyn tried to be as surefooted as possible, but with the added weight of Elga on her back, she felt herself losing her balance. Eventually she came to a mound of broken golden bricks, piled high. She tried to take the hill and rush over it with the effortless grace of a gazelle, but she fell short lost her footing and she and Elga tumbled and slid down the mound. Elga screamed out as the stones scraped against her already battered skin. "Elga!" Sigyn screamed out as she opened her bright, gold eyes and looked around to find the little girl tossed to the side her body lying next to a fallen Dark-Elf soldier. Sigyn pushed herself off of her back and swiped her mud-caked hair out of her face as she crawled her way toward Elga. Elga screamed as she looked at the white-faced masked monster that had attacked her people and ransacked her home. She kicked and screamed as she looked down at the bloodless, expressionless face with soulless black eyes. "Elga!" Sigyn called as she reached out her hand toward the girls and snatched her back. Little Elga immediately clung to her for dear life. She buried her face in the tattered shreds of Sigyn's dress and tunics. She started sobbing fiercely. "It's alright, it's alright sweetheart," Sigyn whispered as she hugged the child. She rubbed her trembling back and then picked her up. "They're dead...they're dead," Lady Sigyn muttered as she toed the body.

The-red-haired, freckle-faced child snuggled her face against the crook of Lady Sigyn's neck. "So many are dead," the child whispered. "More of us than them," she looked down at her faceless enemy. "Soon Mama and Papa too," the little girl tearfully confessed.

"No! No! No, my dear," Sigyn told her forcefully as she hugged her tight. "Don't say that! Tis not so! Don't you believe that for one second!" the blonde-haired Aesir woman encouraged. "Your parents are going to be just fine," she promised. "There are more of us than there are of them," she reported proudly. "This day is not lost for us. You'll see a true Aesir never gives up without a fight!" she raised a proud fist into the air. "We won't slip quietly into the night, you'll see," she winked and smiled at the little girl. She could see that Elga was still skeptical, still fearful, "Look," she pointed out and despite the mud and blood that was on her face, her smile shined through unmarred. She pointed to the sky where despite the overcast of dark red and black clouds the tiniest glimmer of white light that dared to burst through. "The sun will shine on us again," she confessed as she swiped the tears from Elga's sweet brown eyes. With that Elga smiled and she hugged Lady Sigyn firmly around her neck and kissed her dirty cheek. "Come on let's go be real Asgardian heroes!" she declared. Sigyn took a few more steps with Volstagg's and Valka's daughter on her back. All of a sudden, she heard Elga mutter something about Valkyrie. "Yes, that's right, dear we will be just like the Valkyrie of old," Sigyn replied through a strained voice.

"No! Look!" Elga exclaimed as she pointed toward the sky. Sigyn looked up and overhead she saw a sight that nearly brought her to tears. She saw about 20 Pegasi flying high over the battered square carrying the warrior women upon them!

Lady Sigyn's gold eyes grew ide with delight as she beheld the mighty warriors. She sat the child down on her own bare, bruised feet. Sigyn started waving her hands vigorously shouting out to the Valkyrie who flew over their heads, making haste toward the smoldering Imperial Palace. "Hey! Hey! Hey, look here!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. Soon little Elga took to doing the same. The Valkyrie seemed to be passing them by. Their cries seemed to be drowned out by the howl of the Aether winds. They raised their voices higher and stronger. Perhaps it wasn't the famous shield-maidens who had heard them, but their winged steeds instead. One of the Pegasi, the one in the lead seemed to jolt its head to the sound of the cries coming from hundreds of feet below. The horses had been trained to rally toward the sounds of human voices crying out as a way to protect their riders and those who had fallen on the battlefield, but were still alive. From the Pegasus' jerky movements, the lead Valkyrie's eye was drawn downward. There she saw the image of two people jumping and screaming for their attention. She signaled to the rest of her airborne squadron. She waved her hand and they descended. The power of their wings all flapping at once was enough to blow Sigyn and the child away. Sigyn had to plant her feet firmly into the ground and little Elga clung desperately to the tattered remains of what had once been a gown. Elga's eyes were wide with wonder as she saw the bright white wings of the horses filled the young girl with hope once again. They looked like angels descended from on high to save them all.

The Valkyrie landed amidst the squalor and carnage that was now the once beautiful Center Square. The pair remained frozen gaping at the warriors. The leader of the warrior women dismounted from the back of her Pegasus mare. "Brunhilda!" Sigyn called. She was excited to see the familiar face of the Valkyrie general.

"Lady Sigyn!" she cried back and slung her fist against her heart. "Thank the Norns of old you are still alive!" she smiled at her.

"Merciful Yggdrasil," Lady Sigyn blew out and exhausted breath, "We are happy to see you," she beamed as she looked at all of the women.

"Queen Frigga dispatched us," Brunhilda expressed. "she told us what she saw. She said that she saw Loki free Prince Thor," Brunhilda said with disbelief and disdain mingled in her tone. "Though perhaps it was just the desperate hope of a mother," Brunhilda confessed and she let out a slightly bitter chuckle.

"I swear I saw it as well, tis true," Lady Sigyn swore.

Brunhilda nodded. She was unimpressed by the words. "We are here to fight to save Asgard, to save the Nine Realms and to avenge our fallen sisters," Brunhilda stated and the rest of the Valkyrie raised their hands in a mighty huzzah. "Loki's head will still roll this day if I have my way," the leader of the fabled warriors warned Lady Sigyn.

Sigyn held in a shudder. Brunhilda was powerful enough to do so and the loyalty that the Valkyrie possessed for their sisters was unmatched. She watched as the Valkyrie leader clenched her fists. "The day must be won first and the people of Asgard must be saved first," She reached her hand out the Brunhilda. "That is the priority, yes?"

"The priority, yes," Brunhilda said after a moment of pause.

"Good!" Lady Sigyn nodded, "Because there are those who need our help right now," she expressed breathlessly as little Elga came from hiding behind her shredded skirt-tails. Sigyn was about to explain, but before she could utter a word, Elga's voice chimed in.

"My mama is trapped. She's dying! She can't breathe!"

"Lady Valka is trapped, she doesn't have much time," Sigyn tried to state more calmly than the child she was with, but quite frankly deep within she had just as much anxiety as the child. Sigyn couldn't bear to lose any more friends to the senseless violence. First Dagmar, then Dyson, so many others had left too soon and for what. "She buried under piles of boulders. There's also another," Sigyn was panting. "A man, a man yonder," she pointed to the distance among the ashes and the boundless rubble and ruin. "He's lost his legs! He's bleeding out!" the blonde-haired lady-in-waiting blurted out her report.

"I see," Brunhilda nodded. "Ladies!" she called to the rest of her warriors. She gave them their orders and split them up into teams. "You 5 will accompany Lady Sigyn to the wounded man, I will go with you 4 to help rescue Lady Valka and your others will split into teams to look for the rest of the survivors. Pray to the Norns that there are still more and we can find them," she stated. With resolute salutes the warriors dispersed, they galloped off on horseback over the broken golden cobblestone street. "Come, Elga," Brunhilda reached out her hand toward Volstagg's daughter. "Take us to where your mother is," she encouraged.

Elga looked up at the proud, strong Valkyrie with trembling eyes, but didn't right away take her hand. Lady Sigyn gave the girl a tiny nudge. "Go on, Elga sweetheart, don't be afraid. This is to save your mother," she urged. "Besides," Sigyn's voice was in a moment light and bright, she gave a wink with her golden eye. "You get to ride with the Valkyrie! That was always a dream of mine."

"When you ride with the Valkyrie, you are a Valkyrie, little one," General Brunhilda explained. The general was tall and strong, her voice heavy and stern and hard for battle, but when a smile came across her face as she looked at her fellow warrior's daughter, she looked much kinder.

"Me! A Valkyrie!" she exclaimed and pointed to herself. The general nodded. With that Elga immediately took the warrior by the hand and scooped up and placed on the back of one of the Pegasus mares. "ONWARD! FOR ASGARD!" she shouted as the horse took flight.

Sigyn smiled up at the sky as she beheld young Elga and the Valkyrie take flight. "Lady Sigyn," another woman's voice called to her. She turned to behold another Valkyrie clad in sterling armor and in a cape as blue as the skies of Asgard on the clearest day. "Will you ride with me?" she asked. "Be my sister on this day?" she offered as she pat the winged-horse.

Sigyn leaped at the opportunity. Since she was a little girl, she had always loved the legends of the Valkyrie. She and her sister would play all the time, pretending to be the famed female soldiers, the rescuers of the those dying on the battlefield. To be a member of the elite guard who protected royal women for generations. For a time as a child, she had dreamed that maybe she too could be one. She was handy with a bow and arrow and was well versed in swordplay and perhaps with time and diligence and study she could have risen to the level of the shield-maidens, but there was more to being a Valkyrie than sheer weaponry, there was a mental fortitude and iron will and a devotion to Asgard and Asgard alone. To pledge oneself to a life of maidenhood well Sigyn had never been sure that that was what she wanted. She gulped as she took a step to ride on the back of one of the mighty Pegasi.

Immediately, they were off! The horse was so powerful and yet it moved through the ash invested atmosphere on wings that made it lighter than air. It was such a rush! She wanted to throw out her arms and scream out with exhilaration just like Elga. And maybe if the circumstances would have been more pleasant, she would have, but Lady Sigyn forced herself to keep her mind on the here and now and remember the man they were trying to rescue. Deep within she hoped that they would be able to save him. That he was alright. After a few minutes in flight, Sigyn's watchful golden eyes spotted the ditch where she had left the man, "There!" she called the Valkyrie who were with her.

Pegasi swooped down in quick synchronized motions. It wasn't just the swift descensions of the winged beasts that had her stomach feeling butterflies. She gulped and held her breath as she hoped and prayed that the man was ok. He'd been so weak and so afraid to die alone. It was a fate she wished on no one especially after the ordeals they had all faced. The hooves of the Pegasus that she was riding upon had barely touched the ground before Sigyn leaped from its back and into the ditch. She called the man as she trudged through the sludgy mix of water, mud and blood. At the sound of the voice the man slightly rallied. His eyes fluttered open. He saw the beautiful, white wings of the horses fluttering above his ditch, soon to be grave. He started muttering his prayers and the ancient rights that he had learned as a child. He ached all over his body and though sorrow filled his soul that this could very well be his end, he couldn't help but feel a sense of relief and peace.

"The Valkyrie Angels," he muttered breathlessly to himself, "They have come to bring me to Valhalla," his beaten face showed a smile.

Lady Sigyn knelt down by his side. "I brought the Valkyrie, but I'm afraid they aren't here to take you to Valhalla, not just yet," she winked and placed her hand on his brow.

"You...y-you came back," he sputtered helplessly.

"Of course, and with help," she assured him. She cocked her head back over her shoulder as the Valkyrie warriors mounted behind her. With precision they managed to free the man's crushed and mangled legs from the pillar which had fallen upon them. He could not move, he was paralyzed, but the Valkyrie were able to maneuver him and get him out of the ditch without further causing him injury.

"He needs a healer immediately," the Valkyrie who Sigyn had ridden with reported.

"But he'll live?" she inquired.

"Thank you...thank you... thank you," Aesir man muttered as the Valkyrie tried to use the equipment that they had to make him makeshift splints and stretchers to carrying him on horseback. His arms flailed about as he tried to reach out for Sigyn. She eased him by taking him by the hand and offering him her beautiful smile. "What's your name?" he asked blinking, fighting to stay awake.

"Sigyn," the blonde-haired noblewoman responded as she watched the man drift off.

"I'll get him back to the encampment," the Valkyrie explained once he was carefully tied down and secured on the back of her Pegasus. "I can fly you there as well, Lady Sigyn,"

Sigyn looked around, "I would like to go with the other Valkyrie group," she stated. "I want...I want to make sure Volstagg's family is alright," she explained. With that another Valkyrie scooped Lady Sigyn and flew her over to where Brunhilda and the other shield-maidens were working as quickly as possible to help dig Lady Valka out from under a mound of crushing rocks and debris.

"Come on ladies, put your backs in to it!" the leader shouted. "HEAVE! HO!" she called to them as she herself tossed rock after rock and boulder after boulder over her shoulder. The female warriors lifted the bricks and stones with great ease. They threw them as if they were nothing but balls, but still there was such a huge pile burying the wife of Volstagg that that work had taken longer than expected. Volstagg's children were also feverishly digging and trying to free their mother. Upon seeing the large pile that still had her friend trapped Lady Sigyn wasted no time in jumping in line and quickly excavating as many rocks and bricks and bits of rubble and refuse as she could. All the while her heart was pounding with nervousness with the thought of losing another friend. She couldn't imagine what Volstagg's reaction would be. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity the found Lady Valka's body. It was covered in filth and blood. She wasn't moving at all.

"Mama!" her children cried in unison. Their petrified voices did not nothing to rally her.

Elga squealed. "Mama! Mama, wake up! Mama, wake up!" she shrieked frantically. Her brother had to hold her by the arm to keep her from running toward their mother.

"Please don't be dead, please don't be dead," Thurston muttered to himself as he watched the Valkyrie carefully roll his mother's body over and examine her. There were contusions all over her. Nasty gashes across her pretty, plump face.

Elga looked up wide-eyed at her older brother. She shook her head as she heard his whispers. Maybe she wasn't supposed to hear, but she did. "No! Mama's not dead!" she shook her head. "She can't be dead," she clutched herself and then turned around and hugged her brother. The Valkyrie slowly and tenderly moved Valka's form out of the dirt and rock that covered her. The warriors immediately started to try to revive her.

"She's not breathing! Come on!" Valka declared. One of her soldiers rushed over and began to perform compressions on her chest and breathe into the wife of the famed member of the Warrior's Three. She repeated the action several times, but she still didn't start breathing on her own. The shield-maiden removed her helmet and looked at her commander sorrowfully. Brunhilda did not accept the answer. She urged her soldier to continue her ministrations. Lady Sigyn heard the children started to cry harder. Even Thurston who had so desperately been trying to strong for his sister and mother could not hold back the blubbering as he saw his mother's lifeless shell.

"Children!" Sigyn ran to them with her arms spread wide. Instantly she embraced both of them. They fell into her arms and pressed the tearful face into the crook of her neck. "it's ok, it's ok," she whispered. They watched over her shoulders as the Valkyrie gave one last effort to resuscitate their mother. They screamed in delight as they watched their mother's round belly shake like a bowl full of jelly as she started to have the spasms to cause her to breathe. She started to cough, hard. Out of her mouth spewed red and black ash. She was like a puffing volcano and it was the most glorious sight the children or Lady Sigyn could imagine. The Valkyrie cheered. Valka started to stir and attempted to sit up, but she was unable to as the arms of her children rushed around her. They cried and wept and showered her with endless kisses.

The Valkyrie slowly helped Valka onto the back of the winged horse along with her children. "Lady Sigyn," Valka called, her voice weak and hoarse as she spoke.

"Here I am, friend," the golden-locked lady-in-waiting to Queen Frigga stated. She gently clasped Valka bloody and swollen hand. Valka's eyes likewise were almost swollen shut. Still, through her black and blue eyelids she could see Sigyn's gentle face and she offered the young woman a smile.

"Thank you!" she mouthed with all the strength that she could must which wasn't much.

Sigyn nodded. Her eyes glistened with tears. "I'm so glad you are alright," she confessed as she gave Valka's fleshy hand a squeeze before the Valkyrie carried her off.

"Lady Sigyn," General Brunhilda's sturdy voice came up behind her. "We can take you back to encampment. Myself and the rest of the Valkyrie will continue to search for survivors and then we shall rendezvous with the others to fight. Who knows what the outcome will be," she shrugged. "You should go and be with the queen," the warrior woman expressed.

"I...I... I can't do that," Lady Sigyn shook her head. "I'm going with you to the palace. I'm going to fight for Asgard this day," she pledged.

"You are no shield-maiden, Lady Sigyn. You have sworn no such oath," Brunhilda shook her head and tried to discouraged the lovely young woman.

"Well, I was told that...'when you ride with the Valkyrie...you are a Valkyrie," Sigyn said with a wink.

******************************************************************************Sigyn and the Valkyrie made their way toward the Imperial palace. The mighty wings of their feathered horses flew full speed toward the spires and towers that made up the edifice. The startling white of the Pegasi in flight and the gleam of the sterling armor that the Valkyrie wore was a stark contrast to the hellish atmosphere that the Aether had created around the Center Square. As Sigyn held on to the back of one of the shield-maiden's she couldn't help, but be inspired by their beauty and courage. She had always loved the tales of the Valkyrie when she was a girl. Their exploits were legendary. In her early school days, she looked forward to the songs that they would sing about the fierce women. One of her favorite dolls had been a Valkyrie. In the moment she remembered her grandmother giving her the special gift. A collector's item, her garments an exact replica of the Valkyrie's uniform. She had a sword and a winged horse as well. She'd named her Anjelle. She and Anjelle had had many adventures together. When she played with her beloved toy she felt as strong and as powerful as a Valkyrie herself. Sigyn thought of Anjelle as she looked around at each of the warrior women who were flying around her. They each reminded her of Anjelle in their own way, they were powerful and lethal and beautiful. And as she beheld their airborne forms with the wings of their Pegasi outstretched around them and with their silver helmets and breastplates glistening in the faint glimmer of sunlight they all looked just like angels.

Each Valkyrie urged her steed to fly a little faster. They pressed their powerful ponies by spanking their flanks. All the while the women shouted their battle cry. "FOR ASGARD!" was carried on the wind and it resounded louder the crashes of thunder that rolled in from the distance. More Aether clouds seemed to gather and surround the Imperial City and all those dark, ominous garish clouds seemed to be rolling in to surround the palace. "Brunhilda!" the Valkyrie who Lady Sigyn was riding with called the leader of the Valkyrie. She pointed to the distance. Sigyn followed her finger and she was able to see a sight that made her gasp. A flat circle was forming in the air, in the distance, gliding across the sky over the mountainous peaks. "No!" Lady Sigyn gasped.

"IT HAS BEGUN!" Brunhilda's booming voice called to her soldiers. "Waste no time!" she instructed her troops. "Assume formation!" she continued. "Astrid team to the North. Bestia team to the south, Delta team take to east wing and Frigga Team on the west wall," she ordered. "Team All-Mothers, with me!" the general shouted as loud as she could and signaled over her shoulders. Without a moment's hesitancy Brunhilda's team soared behind her and they raced to the center of the palace right over the throne room. All the other Valkyrie took off in many different directions, they all flew eagerly to obey their leader's commands.

The Valkyrie that Sigyn Arndottir was riding with was a part of Team Bestia, she commanded her faithful mare to fly around to the other side of the palace following her sisters. Now, Lady Sigyn knew that the width of the palace was very wide and vast and yet it seemed like they got there in the blink of an eye, faster than the speed of light. Sigyn had to hold on for dear life to the warrior's shoulder to keep from falling off the back of the Pegasus. Once the six or seven soldiers were strategically in position with their horses poised and hovering over their assigned area. All the while Sigyn prayed for the strength to be as strong as the bold shield-maidens. She had said that she could ride with the Valkyrie and indeed she had wanted to. She wasn't afraid, but she doubted that she could be as fearsome as the warriors before her. The Valkyrie were fearless, they killed an enemy on site without hesitancy. She felt butterflies in her stomach as she recalled how she had already failed to do so. Something in the back of her mind reminded her though that it was necessary and that it had brought them this far. The blonde-haired lady-in-waiting to Queen Frigga tried to remind herself that she did not simply come from a long line of refined noblewomen, but she came from a line of warriors as well. Her father was a decorated admiral who had led armadas against enemies on the high seas. His father before him had been an admiral too. Her mother's aunt had even joined the ranks of the Valkyrie herself. She squared herself as she recalled the stories that she had heard of them. She reminded herself that their blood still ran warm in her veins.

She looked at all the Women with their sharpened swords, aimed arrows and ready whips. She only had an old rust sword and, the sword though she knew how to wield it was not her weapon of choice. She needed her arrows. She bit her lip, for a moment regretting having given them to Lady Jane Foster. Sigyn immediately shooed the thought away from her mind and felt ashamed. She knew Lady Jane had needed them more. Lady Jane was Thor's love and it was her honor to do anything to protect the heart of her beloved crown prince. Likewise, she had allowed a friend to perish because of her before. She wouldn't let it happen again if she could help it. "Merciful Yggdrasil protect us all," Sigyn muttered quickly to herself. "Norns seal our fates for victory,'' she continued. "all-fathers give me strength she said with her eyes squeezed shut and her hand desperately clutching to the shoulder of the soldier in front of her.

Lady Sigyn opened her golden eyes and she saw the Valkyrie diving off the backs of their flying horses and down into one of the courtyards. Lady Sigyn's eyes bulged out her head. They looked as if they were flying. "Are you ready, Lady Sigyn?" the Valkyrie who she was with asked.

"Ready? Umm to jump? Me... Umm no," she shook her head and laughed. "Can't you take me a little closer?" she questioned.

"No time," the Valkyrie explained. "The horses must stay aloft, for back up."

"Back-up?" Lady Sigyn questioned as she looked down at the beautiful white-winged mare. She knew that the Valkyrie took to extensively training their horses with pride, but this was more than she could imagine. Before Lady Sigyn could ask any more questions, she felt a strong push come to her back and felt herself being hurled through the air. Sigyn screamed wildly, panic filled her gut. She had been prepared to die in the heat of battle this day, but not from falling to her death. "AHHHHH!" her voice came out a shrill, desperate cry. She looked around; her bright gold eyes darted about wildly, her head shook, her arms and legs flailed about pitifully for a while. Then finally she caught sight of the Valkyrie, how they had jumped off the backs of their flying horses with grace and poise. She looked at them. The assumed formation. They all had their hands outstretched wide like birds, their legs and backs were straight and they didn't look like they were falling at all. They looked like they were floating. Sigyn's breath came out in panic huffs, but she did her best to stop her ignorant flailing and pull her body into the same position as the other women. Once she did so even with the wind and Aether ash rushing toward her face, she no longer had the sensation of taking a plummet, but felt as if the wind was propelling her. She caught the air currents and she couldn't help but smile. She looked around again and she noticed the soldiers switched their body shapes. Now they had taken on a more aerodynamic form. They pointed their hands downward like they were diving toward a pool. They sliced through the air like arrows.

"Brace yourselves!" the leader of their team called out. The warrior women all curled in on themselves. A tuck and roll kind a move as the made their landings. When they rolled out of their landings each of them was poised in valiant fighting stances with their weapons raised to strike and kill in the very instant. Sigyn was impressed with herself that she had managed to keep up with the warriors. Breathlessly she rolled on to her back. She let out a joyous hoop as she celebrated her survival. She got to her feet quickly and drew her broken, rusted blade. A few of the Valkyrie turned to congratulate their comrade, but all were frozen for a moment as they beheld the sight around them. The shield-maidens had been prepared to dive into the fray, into the thick of the fight, they were looking for an ambush, but they had not been expecting to dive into another mass grave.

The beautiful court yard with paths of white limestone, fountains made of marble that crystal waters flowed out of, lush trees and vegetation lined the courtyard and made it an oasis. It was a place where garden parties were held and maidens in pastel-colored gowns floated around prettier than the posies. Politics were discussed and games were played and the sounds of songbirds and the bustling courtiers could be heard, but now was only the eerie echoes of silence as the bodies of the young lied slain. The warriors looked around and were disgusted by the carnage. Now everything was bathed in read. It was polluted by the Aether ash. The fountains and statues had been destroyed, the trees toppled and the bodies singed and seared. Sigyn could not believe her golden eyes. She started to want to cry. These were mostly students of the university and academy, young people who had not lived long. "Check for survivors!" One of the shield-maidens shouted.

The women all started to look around. One of the earliest duties of the Valkyrie was to check the battlefield rescue the dead. It was their sworn duty and one that the Valkyrie found most sacred. It was this that they truly believed earned them their rewards in Valhalla. The women were prepared. Lady Sigyn watched as they unsheathed their magnificent swords and some stated to run off. "Stop!" the leader of Bestia Team called out as she saw her soldiers about to take off. "This is not our objective," she reminded them. "There is no time," she insisted sadly.

"But Shavera," one of the other warriors called in rebuttal, "Tis always the sworn duty of the Valkyrie..."

"Not this time!" the Valkyrie lieutenant barked. "Convergence gets closer by the second!" she once again pointed to the flat sphere that was forming and moving swiftly over the mountain tops. "We must stop Malekith," she urged them. "Besides," she said her voice somewhat soft. She breathed in the air. All her nostrils took in was the burning stench of death. "They are gone," she confessed.

"Wait!" Lady Sigyn called out as she watched the warriors begin their trudge over the slain. "The horses!" Sigyn's eyes lit up momentarily as she pointed toward the clouds. The Valkyrie swung their head as they faced her. "They are back up, right?" the blonde-haired lady-in-waiting expressed as she nodded her head vigorously with an elated expression on her face. Lieutenant Shavera nodded and sliver of a smile seemed to emerge from beneath her helmet. She signaled to the rest of the Valkyrie and they all whistled for their valiant steeds. The horses started their descent.

"The Pegasi know what to do," Shavera told Lady Sigyn as she placed a hand on her shoulder, "But we must move!"

And so, they moved quickly and swiftly and infiltrated the palace. "Lieutenant Shavera, do you copy," the words of General Brunhilda came to her officer from the communicator.

"This is Shavera, I copy."

"Have you infiltrated the palace yet?"

"Yes, sir," Shavera reported. "Your Team must try to make their way to the weapons vault. No doubt Malekith will be looking to utilize any weapons he can to aid he and his men. They have few soldiers. You must protect it," she commanded.

"It will be done," Shavera pledged in earnest. Shavera turned back to the soldiers who were under her command. "Well. you heard her ladies, this is where the fun begins," she tossed her head back and laughed. The Valkyrie cheered as they started racing toward the weapons vault. The more they pressed their way into the palace's interior the more they started to hear a screeching ringing out from the transmitters. The sound was enough to cause their ears to bleed. Still, the legendary warriors pressed onward. They winced and they flinched by they never stopped in their trek toward the weapons vault. Every few steps the Valkyrie would take one would launch an arrow toward the transmitter box silencing the screeching.

"AHHHH!" Lady Sigyn shrieked. They had only been walking through the corridors that rung with the piercing sound for a few minutes, but still it had been enough to cause Admiral Arn's daughter to drop to her knees holding her ears. "I can't! I can't! I can't take it," Lady Sigyn cried out. She had never heard such wailing in all her life.

"Up! Up! Lady Sigyn up!" Shavera called from the front of the line. "You ride with the Valkyrie now. WE do not leave a woman behind, nor do we stop for anything," she stated sternly.

A few other Valkyrie immediately hoisted Lady Sigyn to her feet. "You have survived too much to be defeated by mere wails," a particularly strong and stately Valkyrie chuckled. The woman quickly snatched off her own helmet she revealed her face. Her hair was shaven to one side. She had tattoos on her face and bright red stitch from her brow to her cheek. Sigyn gulped as she beheld the battle-scarred woman. She felt ashamed for having wanted to collapse and give up for mere sounds. The scarred Valkyrie handed her helmet to Sigyn and mashed it down upon her head. She laughed all the more. "it'll block some of the sound." she assured Lady Sigyn. As they all pressed on. "The sound of it is awful, though, isn't it?" she threw her head back and laughed.

"Just think of how cowardly our enemy must be that they try to scare us with their voices, they are too cowardly and weak to come out and face us in true combat," Shavera encouraged her troop. To this the women laughed and Lady Sigyn couldn't help but join in the guffaw as she made haste with the warrior women. The warriors continued to shoot down smore and more transmitters and they continued to go deeper into the heart of the palace, but they knew they would have to go into the palace bowels to reach the weapons vault. To counter the horrendous screeching that the Dark-Elves were making the Valkyrie raised their voices to sing the sacred hymn. One of the women had a particularly pleasant voice and she led the chorus. "The Fates love Asgard," she began and they all sang along to the hymn they'd all known since childhood. Lady Sigyn allowed the old song to feel her with hope and courage and strength. It was like she could hear all Asgardians from all time singing along with them. Their voices were perfectly blended and it nearly drowned out the clamorous insect like sound that the insect like screeching.

Lady Sigyn Arndottir didn't know how long they had been marching or how many rounds of the ancient anthem they had sung when they finally came to the beautiful golden steps that were also infused with crystal quartz that led to Odin's Weapons Vault. The women practically ran down the steps and each one took a defensive stance around the great doors of the treasure room ready and awaiting their enemy.

Malekith and his men were swiftly making their approach toward the palace bowels where the weapons vault was kept carefully concealed. Malekith did not know the way to the sacred chamber the way that the Valkyrie did. Still, he had few troops that he had at his rapid disposal they wasted no time. Malekith growled and released powerful Aether blast It blast through the walls that were made of gold and marble like they were made of sand. He left nothing in his wake in his onslaught. His soldiers followed his method and they used the last of their vortex grenades to suck up and destroy everything in their path. Still, producing so many Aether blast in rapid succession took a toll on the leader of the Dark-Elves. Very shock-wave that he emitted left the general weakened, shaking and breathless. One of his soldiers saw the way that the general was slumped over and panting and how he leaned heavily on his knees after a furious tempest of red and black ooze ruthlessly obliterated that which was around them. " Eee baba, nada guk, Malekith," one of his men said to him as he placed a hand upon his leader's shoulder. To this Lord Malekith merely twisted his bloodless lips and crinkled his pointed white nose. He gritted his teeth a let out a growl. He pushed the other Dark-Elf off of him. He had always hated even the slightest acts of tenderness. "Waste not your time on me FOOL!" Lord Malekith spat in his native tongue. "Convergence is nigh," he hissed as he looked at them with murderous red in his pitch-black eyes. "Can't you feel it?" he questioned of his men. Surely their connection with the power of the Aether could not be so weak. He could feel it. He could feel it with every fiber of his being. The Aether coursed through his veins and pumped his heart ten times faster than it should. "We must get to the Tesseract. The Aesir cannot prevail!" he raised his fist. The rest of the soldiers from Svartalfheim gave a roar of affirmation and they continued. "Our comrades shall gather what we need and rendezvous with us as soon as we reach the throne room," he explained to his band.

Once more the men began their march, when one of their pointed ears, started to twitch and rotate. "Lord Malekith!" the soldier cried.

"What is it now?" Malekith snapped. He turned around with his shoulders hunched and coiled like cobra. He growled only to reveal his pointed teeth. He quickly snatched a grenade from one of the Dark-Elves at his side. He raised the black-hole grenade high and aimed it at the soldier who had interrupted him. "If your words be not worth, I shall not even do you the honor of allowing you death by the Aether," he smirked. The warrior did not even speak he merely put one finger up and then cupped his hand around his pointed ear. Lord Malekith gasped. "Those relentless wretches," he fumed. "They've tried to silence us," he pointed out. "No matter," the general shrugged. "Men let out your wails," he ordered.

The men did as commanded. They screamed and screeched all the way to the threshold of the steps that led to the Weapons Vault. Malekith was breathing heavily and giddily as he thought that they would be able to slip into the vault undetected and unawares as he knew that most of the Asgardians were positioned in the throne room. He was agitated to find a small force ready to counter him. "Valkyrie," he rumbled.

"In the flesh," Lieutenant Shavera said as she saw the white faced general and a few of his elfin soldiers. She gave a sweeping bow and the Valkyrie followed behind her in one sweeping motion. The blond maiden was not in sync with the rest of her comrades. She staggered behind them in the bow and then was out of time with drawing her weapon. All the Valkyrie pointed their swords at the enemy.

"There is no need for your Asgardian formalities. It shall not spare your lives now," He retorted. "You will be given one final warning. Surrender now and we will give you the honor or quick and painless deaths, though it is better than what you deserve," Shavera announced.

"NEVER!" Lord Malekith bellowed from the top of the step.

"Oooh," Shavera smirked. She gave sideways glances to the warriors that were with her. "We were so hoping that you would choose option B," she gave the women under her command a wink. "VALKYRIE!" she shouted and raised her sword straight into the air. "SHOW NO MERCY! TAKE NO PRISONERS!" she yelled to her soldiers. The women yelled out in zeal. "Protect the Weapons' Vault at all cost," she gave them her final order.

A few of the Valkyrie immediately opened fire on their enemies. They launched arrow after arrow in an endless stream. While a few of the other Valkyrie went charging forward with their swords drawn. They raced right up the steps to confront the Dark Elves. A few of the Dark-Elves jumped in front of their leader protectively. They fired off the last few rounds of the black whole forming blasters. The basters created their vortexes and sucked up the arrows. For a moment Malekith laughed and thought that he easily had the upper hand over the small band of women. But the Valkyrie who were rushing up toward him. They slashed through his paltry forces as if they were nothing but paper. They cut them down at the knees with swords as sharp as hydra scales. The Dark-Elf soldiers tumbled down the steps falling on their backs as they screamed out in pain from their recently severed extremities. Their blasters started firing midair and at random. Vortexes formed all around sucking up the walls and ceiling and some of the staircase too.

Malekith screamed in horror as he noticed that their path was being cut off. "Don't just stand there, you imbeciles! TAKE THEM!" he commanded his small troop. The Elves marched in an unsteady two file line down the steps that were starting to shift and fall beneath them. The wrong step could have sent the soldiers hurling into the abyss below the weapons vault. The archers continued to shoot their arrows. They took out a few of the Dark-Elf shoulders with direct headshots. Their necks snapped back from the impact of the arrows and their ghostly white masks toppled off of their face, revealing bloodless face that were streaked with ink black blood. They then toppled over into the abyss below.

"That's its ladies!" Shavera rallied her warriors. "Keep holding them off!" she cheered.

Lord Malekith's eyes went wide as he saw his forces being taken out so simply and readily. He had not faced the might of the Valkyrie in 1000s of years, but he remembered their prowess, they were nearly unstoppable. The only thing that had been able to keep the women at bay was the undisputed might of the Kursed. He could only hope that his scattered soldiers had received the message through the shrill shrieks that he had sent forth and had found the Abominable Stones. He would use them. He'd use them if that was what it took. He'd use them to turn the remainder of them into Kursed beasts. He could not fail, Thanos nor himself again. Still, as he watched them fall one by one his blood boiling. Malekith clenched his teeth and his fists and his teeth as tight as he could. Immediately from his shot and stream, an ooze like a raging river, the red energy rippled and folded like waves. It burled down the steps furiously and rolled over the Valkyrie who were attacking his soldiers. He heard the scream as one Valkyrie fell off of the steps. He watched as how immediately the other women rolled under the bloody onslaught that he had unleashed and onto her belly and reached out her hand to catch her sister by the tip of her blue cape. She managed to do so. With great strength she hoisted the woman back up in the air. The woman flew high looking nearly angelic in her positioning. She unfurled a lasso that she had and proceeded to wrap Lord Malekith in it. The other Valkyrie saw her move and they followed suit. They unfurled the lassos that they had, they swung them mightily and they lassoed Malekith. They pulled tightly making sure to bind him.

"HOLD IT TIGHT!" Shavera shouted. "PULL!" she yelled and the Valkyrie did so they started to pull and tug and yank to snatch Malekith off of the step where he had positioned himself. The Valkyrie possessed a rope that was virtually indestructible. It was made from a plant that grew in the jungle where the Valkyrie's hidden temple was. It came from a vine that was thick and strong as iron. They tightened the hold that it had on the leader of the Dark-Elves. The ropes tightened and tightened and they started to cut through Malekith's armor. The ruler of the Dark-Elves let out a howl like an animal in pain. From there a powerful Aether blast sprang forth from Malekith, shards of powerful red energy shaped like knives went in every direction. They cut through the ropes like they were nothing. They pushed his own squadron to the sides and down the stairs and the blast hurled the Valkyrie back. Some falling into the chasm below. While others flew back against the doors and wall of the weapons vault. The Aether blasted down the door to the Weapon's Vault.

Malekith smirked as he beheld the power of the Infinity stone which he was channeling deep within had cleared an easy path for him. He and the 3 remaining Dark-Elf soldiers proudly marched down the sloping stairway toward the wide-open weapon weapons vault. The Valkyrie laid scattered on the floor surrounding the chamber. They lied there, helplessly gasping, coughing, shivering and convulsing from the effects of the Aether. Some lied motionless as Lord Malekith took stomping footsteps and grew closer to them. The Aether shards had torn right through their armor and leaving horrible char marks on the metal, clothing and flesh. One Valkyrie's helmet had been flung from her head and left the woman bleeding. Lady Sigyn had been flung back through the glass. She fell into a pile of crushed glass which scraped against her tender flesh and left her bloody for Lady Sigyn had on no armor. Her eyes were squeezed tight as she took a few minutes to process the pain and dared to imagine if she was still alive, but slowly the carcinogenic smell of the Aether ash all around her alerted her that she was. She looked around and saw that the warriors were down, the weapon's vault was wide open for intruders and her sword had been tossed across the chamber.

Malekith and his men stalked across the threshold of the Weapon's Vault. Their licorice eyes were wide with lust. "The spoils of the universe are ours for the taking, lads," he stated to his small band. "The Tesseract and the most precious of the gems shall be mine, but for those of you who perform valiantly, I will give you boons," he pledged to them. The Warriors allowed pleased sounds to escape their lips.

One of the elves who accompanied the general looked down at the battered Valkyrie. He noted the features of one of them. He inclined his head. The armor on her leg had been compromised, a gash ripped clean through the metal and he saw her seared, but exposed flesh. "If they live, I want one of the women," he proclaimed.

"Me too! Me too!" the other echoed.

"So long since I have experienced the pleasures of the flesh," he expressed. He reached his hand down to look at her face.

"Don't you touch her!" A booming, sultry voice proclaimed. She pushed herself up from the ashes and dark red dust and rubble which she had practically been buried in. She didn't hesitate or what for the other soldier to turn around, she immediately threw a chakram at the back of the lustful soldier's head. She knocked him to the ground and as her weapon ricocheted from one soldier's head to the next it knocked their soulless, white masks off their heads and they toppled like dominoes.

Lord Malekith screamed and rushed toward the leader of the Valkyrie forces who had rushed to defend her sisters. Lord Malekith pulled out his machete and immediately began to recklessly slice and dice at the air. His assault was feral. Skilled Shavera quickly out maneuvered and side stepped his wild parries and thrusts. She caught his wrists and disarmed him as she flipped him over her shoulder and laid him flat on his back. "Ladies! Guard the Tesseract!" Shavera ordered her soldiers. She called out but she gazed down in horror to find that none of her sisters in arms were stirring. She panicked for a moment.

"Looks like your all alone," Malekith mocked. "Valkyrie hate to fight alone," he reminded her. He had tortured many of fearsome females' eons ago. He knew their weaknesses. They had known no men. All they had was the love of each other.

The Valkyrie Lieutenant caught sight of a glimmer of golden hair, gleaming through caked patches of mud and she beheld the tattered hem of a blue gown moving across them ground. She soon saw the form of a maiden, crawling, no doggedly slithering across the floor. Shavera took a deep breath and then allowed a smirk to creep across her lips. "No more alone than you," she declared. She put her boot on Malekith's armored chest. She started to unsheathe her sword slowly. Trying to allow her ally the opportunity to reach the infinity stone. "I will end you once and for all and victory shall be at the hand of the Valkyrie once more!" she declared to her troops. The troop of warrior women stormed in they quickly made their way toward the Tesseract. They had to search the infinity stone out. Odin had it carefully tucked away in a private corner of the vault. She raised her sword high in the air. "In the name of King Odin..." she started.

The warlord hocked a thick, black spitball at the shield-maiden. "Millenniums ago, the king of Asgard sent your filthy kind to dispose of us. I thought how foolish of him to send women to do a man's job," he cackled. While Shavera wiped his nasty saliva from her fast. "Eventually we were able to count it as a blessing," he continued to chuckle as he licked his lips. "We had your kind. My men and I claimed your Valkyrie for ourselves," he taunted her. "When this day is won, I will make sure to take you and fill you with my seed," he hissed and laughed.

"You'll die first," Shavera proclaimed. Then she let out a great whoop before swinging her sword down. Malekith merely shrugged and as he did so he breathed the licorice and crimson tidal wave that thrust Lieutenant Shavera through the roof and out of sight. She was lost in a swirling whirlwind of hellish haze.

"NO! SHEVERA!" Lady Sigyn screamed as she watched the Valkyrie disappear and the walls and columns of the weapon vault come tumbling down. She watched in horror as the priceless artifacts and relics that the Weapon's vault held toppled from their pedestals. The Dark-Elf soldiers who had been hit by Lieutenant Shavera's chakram started to stir. "No," Lady Sigyn muttered desperately. She didn't even have a communicator, but she desperately needed help. All of the shield-maidens appeared to be out of the count. She was sure that there must have been one of the female fighters left alive, but she hadn't the time to check them. Besides upon hearing her shriek, Malekith had turned his soulless black eye toward her. His crusted white lips were licked by his vermillion tongue as he stared at her. Sigyn did her best to drag herself across the floor as quickly as she could, but debris was everywhere, jagged-edges of glass and strong, nails and metal cut into her skin. She scrambled as she slithered until finally, her golden eyes found the glorious stone. She had not seen it in person. But it was certainly beautiful, the dazzling, shimmering sapphire, cube took her breath away. It was wonderous to behold, but thinking of its power and what it meant for her people and all the people of the Nine Realms was what was truly awe inspiring. She tried to push herself up to her knees as the weight of the fact that she alone was, who wasn't a shield maiden was responsible for defending it for now. She gulped and hobbled toward the pedestal. Lord Malekith picked up speed as he saw her run and he was on her heals.

Sigyn made her way toward the relic, Malekith cornered her. He looked over her. He was not so tall, but taller than Sigyn, her clothing was torn and most of her ample chest was exposed to his lustful eyes. His pointed nose sniffed her. "You're no Valkyrie," he stated. "I smell fear on you," he muttered as his long black nails played with her cheeks.

Sigyn snapped her head. She attempted to bite him. "I'm not afraid of you," she declared and raised her sword toward him.

"Still, you ae no Valkyrie," he confessed as he continued to sniff her like a hound. "You're no maid," he stated. "Ahhh, Loki's whore," he chortled.

Sigyn brought up the blade which she held swiftly and slashed him across the face, "I am no whore," she shouted back.

Lord Malekith hissed as he grabbed his cheek. Thick, black blood trailed down his stark white face. Sigyn was surprised to find that the general bled. She went to arm herself once again, but was distracted as she watched Malekith's wound heal instantly from the power of the Aether. He revealed a horrendous toothy grin. "Oh, you soon will be," he grumbled and his talon like nails gripped her tender cheeks. Lady Sigyn screamed as she felt him try to pull her face toward him. She gave into it momentarily only to lure him into a headbutt. She whacked her cranium against his and it sent them both reeling. Malekith staggered backward holding his head. Sigyn fell to the floor.

Her vision was blurred and hazed as she tried to gather her wits. In the background the soldiers of Svartalfheim, saw that many of Asgard's prized relics were ripe for the taking. Relics like the Sun Stone, the Healers Eye, the Harp of Hadarah and many more. The men reached for them unwittingly, but no sooner had their fingers, but skimmed the mystical items, did they hear footsteps that made them shudder. The whole of the Weapon's Vault was set to trembling. Sigyn gasped as she finally reached the pedestal that held the Tesseract and pressed her back toward it and tried to shield it from Lord Malekith's sight. Malekith and his men watched as the colossal automaton stepped forth from behind a wall. It turned its head and its eyes were soon kindled as soon as it saw the enemies of Asgard holding one of weapons. The men stood gaping, clutching their treasures. One tried to run, but the Destroyer's eyes glowed bright for but a second and then a golden beam shot forth and disintegrated the solider.

The lady-in-waiting let out a scream as she beheld the sight of someone blown to smithereens in front of her eyes. The Destroyer made quick work of the other goons. "NOOOO!" Lord Malekith raged as he beheld the power of the machine. His anger fueled the Aether, the gem of destruction, could not be contained. It sprang forth from his being in a well-formed shape, like an arm. It was as if the Aether was trying to punch the giant robot clear in the face. The Destroyer was not defenseless against the warlord. It shot back powerful golden beams that formed a direct contrast with the red ooze. "AHHHHHH" Malekith screamed hollering with all his might as he focused the dark-energy at the golem.

Lady Sigyn managed to pull herself to her feet. She tried to shield her face from the two energies. They were so bright and glow that seemed nearly nuclear. She panicked. The two powers would destroy the whole weapons vault. All the relics would be lost. Sigyn looked around, this was Asgard's most sacred trove, but she supposed it was better that the relics be lost forever than fall into the wrong hands. Still, the Tesseract wouldn't be able to be destroyed as it was an Infinity Stone. Lady Sigyn tentatively dared to reach out and touch the Tesseract. She'd seen what the Destroyer had done to Malekith's soldiers. She was scared that it would go after her to and that she would meet the same gruesome fate as the Dark-Elf soldiers. Her heart pounded. Disintegration was such a terrible way to go. But still she had to try. Sigyn closed her eyes and slowly reached out her hand to obtain the gorgeous blue Infinity Stone. As she did so her hand brushed against another. She opened her eyes to find a pair of green ones staring back at her. "Loki!" she gasped breathlessly. Loki immediately put his finger to his pursed lips shushing the blonde maiden.

He gripped the Tesseract within his long fingers and took Sigyn by the hand, "Come on," he instructed her. She resisted and shook her head. "Don't be afraid, Sigyn," He stated.

"The Weapon's Vault," She pointed out. "All the relics will be lost," she pointed out," The robot and the Aether's energy combined and it was forming a sphere of charge that was ready to combust.

"Better than all of Asgard being lost," Loki reminded her. "Come on," he urged her again with another tug of her hand.

Sigyn was about to follow Loki and run, but then she looked around. Maybe the weapons were just weapons, but "The Valkyrie," she pointed out. The bodies of the warriors were scattered around, but Sigyn didn't think they were all dead.

"Sigyn, I...I... I" he stammered. "I can't rescue them now, they have done their duty," he offered.

Sigyn shook her head, "Haven't enough of your people died, King Loki?" she asked as she stared up at him with large, golden eyes filled to the brim with tears.

Now it was Loki's turn to shake his head in disbelief. He tried to look around but he could scarcely see the beautiful woman before him let alone the forms of the fallen Valkyrie in the midst of the tempest of red and black and blinding golden beams that were being produced by the destroyer. He couldn't see the women. He couldn't see if they were still breathing. Even if they were, he wanted to tell Sigyn that he was trying to save Asgard and the Nine Realms as a whole, it was impossible to save every single person. Still the look in her eyes, the fear and the innocence, the pain and grit that shined through her rich gold pupils, the way her cut lips trembled as the words dangled off of them. It indeed made his heart crumple. But it was the words themselves that stung Loki the most. As words always did. So many had died because of him, so many, hundreds more likely thousands. He stood there and watched them die; some he'd killed with his own hands. It was horrible. His Adam's apple bobbled as he swallowed. King Loki, the way she said it, it wasn't the sneer or mockery, it wasn't said by some cold and distant 3rd party who cared nothing about him or about what the title meant. It was said by someone who cared...who expected something of him. Someone who knew what it truly meant to be a king, because a king was a protector or his people. He'd been a dictator, but he hadn't been a king, not yet. She called them his people. Were they still, he hadn't proven to be one of them, but for all his life he wanted to prove to be a true son of Asgard this day. He shook his head; he mashed his thin lips together and started to speak.

CRASH! The sound of the sound of the explosion of the two colliding energies echoed throughout the Weapons' Vault. The whole vault shook. Piercing, blinding light erupted all around them, sharp, black shards of Aether formations flew in every direction. The whole chamber was rocked. Loki heard Lady Sigyn's scream as they both flew through the ground. The Tesseract flew form Loki's hand. He heard the clanking and crashing of what seemed to be millions of metals and glassed. In the midst of the dust and he watched as glowing spheres, golden boxes, silver crates, gem-studded chalices, weapons of every imaginable, shape size and color tumbled downward on the stone floor, some fell into the water. They could possibly be retrieved, but The Destroyer. Loki tried to focus his eyes. As he shooed the cloud of scarlet for his face. Loki sat up in pain as he beheld the massacre of the iron protector of Odin's Weapon's Arsenal. The wondrous golem had been decimated, the Aether had turned the iron in on itself and left the weapon mangled and disfigured, beyond repair. Loki's heart wrenched for a moment as he saw the machine, how many times had he and Thor played around the robot's feet, despite their father's warnings. They'd crawled up its legs and sometimes father got it to walk around and they'd ride upon its shoulders, laughing, pretending to be giants themself or blasting enemies of Asgard. It was just a machine, but it had protected this vault, protected their people, protected him so many times. Loki watched as it twitched miserable, the iron was corroded from the Aether, it was turning to rust. The head twitched and the eyes flickered as the head rolled toward Loki. The eyes tried to remain lit. "Destroyer, rest," was the king of Asgard's final command to the weapon as the large eyes went dark.

Loki bowed his head, but then quickly went to focus his attention elsewhere. He searched around for the Tesseract. The power crystal had flown just a few feet from where he was. Loki groaned as he pushed himself out of the costing of Aether ash and crawled toward the Tesseract. His hand scarcely skimmed the power crystal. When he heard a shrill soprano cry. Loki's head swiveled as he found the Dark-Elf Warlord holding Lady Sigyn by her matted gold tendrils with his black machete pressed against her throat. "LOKI HELP ME, PLEASE!" he heard her scream.

"Let her go, Malekith," Loki declared as he pulled out his daggers.

"Oh, so this is something you want?" the general sneered, he looked at her and sneered. Sigyn wriggled and bucked, but Malekith held fast.

"Let her go, or I'll drop the Tesseract into the abyss," Loki threatened.

Malekith's blackened eyes narrowed, he pressed the machete closer to Sigyn's throat. "Then she still dies," he grinned.

"Do it, Loki, it doesn't matter!" Lady Sigyn declared panting. "Save Asgard and the Nine realms," she shouted at him.

Loki's eyes darted back and forth. His palms became so slick that he felt like the dagger he held would slide right out of it.

"This will be the second of your wenches that's lost to me," Malekith taunted as he blew his hot, putrid breath near Sigyn's ear. "All these deaths, all these lives that you're responsible for," he clicked his tongue.

"Give me Lady Sigyn and I'll give you the Tesseract," Loki bargained as he presented the azure cube to the general.

"You take me for a fool," Malekith tossed his head back and laughed. "You may have tricked me once, your highness, but no more. "The Tesseract in my hand first or I'll put her head in yours," he gave his ultimatum.

"It's ok, Loki," Sigyn expressed she still tried to buck against Malekith's restraint. "I'm not afraid," she insisted.

Loki gulped as that made one of them. Loki was afraid. He was afraid to surrender the Tesseract, but he was even more afraid to lose another woman that he loved to Malekith. He thought of Dagmar, how he led the Kursed right to her. How he hadn't even been there. How he didn't even get to hold her hand or wipe a tear from her eye, smile at her or tell her the truth of how he felt one last time. He tried to comfort himself and tell himself that Dagmar knew how he felt about her, but with Sigyn...he'd never truly said. "Haven't I lost enough people that I love, Sigyn?" Loki offered back and he allowed a small wry smirk to play on his lips. Loki slowly bridged the gap between he and Lord Malekith. He placed his hand with the dagger behind his back. He was right before the Dark-Elf ruler who wore a sinister smile on his ashen bloodless lips. Slowly, Malekith's hand reached out for the Infinity Stone. Loki thought he may have heard Sigyn mumbling no next to him. Reluctantly his slender, nimble fingers released the cube just in time for him to perform a quick sleight of hand. Rapidly he navigated his other hand, the hand that was holding the dagger, into Malekith's side. He gave 3 swift jabs. His blade was sharp enough to cut through the tough raw hide that made up Malekith's armor. He left it in there for good measure. His newly freed hand that had just relinquished the Tesseract went to reach for lady Sigyn's arm, but when he reached for her his hand phased right through. The Image of a frightened trembling Lady Sigyn vanished in a flash of red.

Malekith was clutching his bleeding side, panting issued forth a feral scream from the pain of the blade, but somehow, he managed to choke on a mocking guffaw.

Loki looked at his empty hand. A strange feeling of bewilderment washed over him. he'd not felt so baffled and scared since the moment when he'd gone to Jotunheim and one of the Jotun's had touched his arm and his skin had transformed before his eyes. His green eyes flickered for a moment and he looked Malekith in the face. The general continued to laugh all the while he clutched his side. He wore a sick grin despite the fact that his thick, black life juices were tricking through his milky white fingers."Jokes on you trickster," he taunted and Loki was left gaping as there was no Sigyn.

Emerald eyes bulged and Loki's dagger flew again; slashing Lord Malekith's cheek. While Lord Malekith's head reeled Loki stuck another dagger under his chin. "Where is she?" he demanded.

Blood rolled down Dark-Elf general's pastey cheek, he caught it on his tongue like a refreshing rain water. He lapped it up and then smeared it on his pointed teeth. "Oh don't worry, I'll leave you to join her, while I claim these worlds," he declared and pushed the enchanter back with one strong gust of Aether energy. Loki's body slammed against the pillar and he bounced off the pillar and into the pool that ran through the center of the Weapon's Vault.

A/N: HELLOOOO READERS! We meet again! Wooohoo! Readers you made it. I know that was a long chapter and I appreciate you persevering through it. I give cookies! Here, take some chocolate chips, sugar and snickerdoodles! But you can give yourself a round of applause. I know that chapter was long and I was hoping I would get to more battle scenes, but as I always say these characters that we've all come to know and love take me on the journey they see fit. LOLOL Anyway, I hope you were able to enjoy it and please know that I continue to appreciate your support of the story. Now we are SOOOOOOOO close to the end... I know that i have been saying that for a looooong time but it is true. So if there is something that you would like to share about the story please feel free to let me know. You've been reading all this time so you might as well drop me a line;-). Also feel free to message me if you would like to know anything about the Lord Jesus Christ, everyday all over the world we are hearing about death and devastation and we all have personal problems to bear, but Jesus is the answer. JESUS LOVES YOU FRIENDS. Happy reads and writes and God bless.

PS: Did you all see Thor: Love and Thunder? How'd you like it?