A GODS WEAKNESS [l.laufeyson]

SEVEN

"Now fight me!" With a gesture of Gungnir, Loki flings Thor to the ground. Thor rises to his feet and turns to Loki.

"I will not fight you brother."

"I am not your brother. I never was!"

"Loki, this is madness." Loki smirks at Thor.

"Is it?" Loki fires gungnir at Thor, however Thor dodges the blast and rolls to his feet.

"What happened to you on earth? You've gone soft. Don't tell me, was it that Midgardian woman?" Thor turned silent. "It was." Loki chuckled amused that Thor could ever fall for someone. "You'd be stupid to think you could be with her. Odin would never like a Midgardian here. He wouldn't allow it." Loki's remarks angered Thor. They went rushing to each other. Both them, and their weapons collided. The two battle... Loki unleashing years of pent-up rage and jealousy. Thor having no choice but to defend for himself. They both battle savagely.

Thor and Loki come crashing through the Observatory dome and land hard, rolling across the Rainbow Bridge. As Thor gets to his feet, he sees Loki dangling off the Bridge's edge.

"Thor! Help me!" Thor steps over to the side of the Bridge, sees Loki looking up at him desperately. "Please..." Loki's fingers start to slip. Thor reaches down to grab his brother's wrist, but his hand passes through Loki's. Just then, the real Loki materialises behind him. Thor whirls around as Loki stabs him in the chest with Gungnir. Loki lifts Thor into the air, impaled on the spear, and hurls him across the bridge. Thor, bleeding, rises to his knees. Loki strides up behind him to finish him off but when Thor swing his hammer around it passes through him. Instantly, another Loki appears next to him, Thor swings his hammer, but that too is an illusion. Loki after Loki appears. Thor futilely swinging at each one, never making contact. He falls back to his knees. The Lokis grin as they raise their spears, encircling him.

"I was always more clever than you."

"Yet still not clever enough." With that, Thor raises his hammer, rising into the air, summoning lightning. A massive bolt strikes Mjolnir, then channels outwards, splitting up, striking each one of the Lokis. All of them dissipate into nothingness, except one... the real Loki, who's sent flying back across the Bridge and Gungnir knocked from his grasp. Thor steps over to his fallen brother, lying dazed on his back. Loki winces and prepares for the worst but Thor steps away. Loki opens his eyes and tries to stand, but can't. He looks confused but then sees what the problem is... Mjolnir rests atop his chest. Struggle as he may, Loki can't lift it off. He's pinned to the ground. Thor looks about him desperately... at the Bifrost firing towards Jotunheim, gaining in strength at the surge of energy moving through the Bridge. He's at a loss of what to do. Loki watches him smugly.

"Look at you, the Mighty Thor. With all your strength, what good does it do you now?" Thor knows Loki's right. He's powerless to stop what's happening. He looks down at the Bridge beneath his feet, vibrating from the force and speed of the Bifrost energy feeding into the Observatory. Then he gets an idea. He realizes what he must do and what he must sacrifice. Thor extends his hand towards Loki, summoning Mjolnir. The hammer goes flying to his grasp. Loki looks confused.

Thor raises Mjolnir in the air. Clouds form above him, thunder rumbling. Lightning arcs off of his hammer as he channels the power of the storm into it, then... He strikes Mjolnir down upon the Rainbow Bridge. The blow is massive causing a rumbling along the whole bridge, shaking the Observatory itself like an earthquake. A crack appears where the blow struck and Loki rises to his feet.

"Stop! What are you doing?!" Thor lifts the hammer again and brings it down harder. The crack grows bigger. The Bifrost energy starts to stream out from it. Loki thinks fast. What's the one thing Loki would miss more in the entire world... Astrid. He would die if he was to never see her again. The same must go for Thor and Jane.

"If you destroy the Bridge, you'll never see her again!" Loki grabs Gungnir and runs towards him, ready to pierce Thor through the back.

"Forgive me." Summoning every bit of strength he has left, Thor raises Mjolnir one last time drawing lightning to it from all sides and brings it down with a final, terrible blow... The Bifrost shatters, rainbow energy exploding out of it. Both Loki and Thor are hurled into the air by the force of the blast. A wave of destruction moves forward along the Bridge towards the Observatory, breaking it apart as it goes. The Observatory rips itself apart. As Loki and Thor fall together, Thor grabs hold of one end of Gungnir, while Loki still clutches the other. They both fall towards the massive wave of Bifrost energy which spews out from the broken Bridge. They're an instant from being blasted by the destructive force of the energy, carried away by the current and pulverised by the debris, when a powerful hand catches Thor's leg. Thor dangles there, holding onto gungnir as Loki hangs onto the other end. Loki looks up, shocked to see his family. Odin, Frigga and Astrid.

Odin is there holding onto them on the edge of the broken Bridge, awakened from the Odinsleep and restored to his full strength. Loki searches his father's face looking for some kind of approval, some kind of redemption, but all he sees is disappointment and regret. He then looks up towards Frigga and Astrid. He could see he has truly hurt Astrid, even though she is smiling, relieved that they got there just in time, he feels that he has failed her and done nothing but put her in more danger. He looks into Astrid's eyes, while tears forming in his own.

"Astrid, I'm so sorry." Astrid's smile drops unsure on what he is doing. He then mouths to her 'I love you' before letting go.

"NO!" Thor and Astrid both scream his name and call out for him. But it is too late. The group can only watch as Loki falls into the rushing torrent of Bifrost energy. It carries him away along with the debris of the Bridge and the Observatory, disappearing out of sight. Astrid collapses onto her knees begging for it not to be true. Frigga can only hold her close to comfort her as much as she can, but she is also finding the loss of her son hard.

Odin pulls Thor up as Thor leans into him. Odins only words being "it's over".

Thor looks over at Astrid and with what energy he has left he shuffles over to her. Frigga passes her over to be comforted by Thor.

"I'm so sorry Astrid." He whispered to her gently. Even though he was Loki's brother, Astrid was the love of his life.

"I'm sorry too." She manages to look up at Thor and even though he is putting on a brave face, she could see the sadness in his eyes.

She felt her world was crumbling.