A GODS WEAKNESS [l.laufeyson]

FIFTEEN

     While on the ship with a battle between Volstagg and the guards just outside, Thor finally figures out the controls for the Harrow Ship and it begins to slowly rotate, taking out palace columns along the way.

"I think you missed a column." Loki comments, clearly amused.

"Shut up!" The Harrow Ship lifts off and bursts through a palace wall, twisting and swooping through the city of Asgard.

"Look, why don't you let me take over? I'm clearly the best pilot." Loki interjects.

"Is that right? Well, out of the two of us, which one can actually fly." As Thor maneuvers the Harrow Ship through the city, Jane collapses to the floor in front of the two gods.

"Oh dear. Is she dead?"

"Jane!" Thor calls for her. Jane replies telling him that she's okay. Thor swoops too close to a building and takes off to the top of it.

"Not a word." Thor stops Loki before he can make another snarky comment. Three of Asgard's flying skiffs appear on their tail.

"Now they're following us." The skiffs begin firing. "Now they're firing at us!"

"Yes, thank you for the commentary, Loki, it's not at all distracting!" As they swoop towards a tunnel, the wing of the Harrow Ship slices through the neck of the huge stone statue of King Bor.

"Well done. You just decapitated your grandfather." They exit the city and now fly over water, parallel to a bridge stretching towards distant mountains.

"You know, this is wonderful. This is a tremendous idea. Let's steal the biggest, most obvious ship in the universe and escape in that. Flying around the city, smashing into everything in sight so everyone can see us. It's brilliant, Thor! It's truly brilliant!" Thor reaches across and shoves Loki out of the open door. Loki plummets, screaming. Thor then picks up Jane and jumps after him.

Thor lands upon a flying skiff driven by Fandral as Loki is climbing to his feet.

"I see your time in the dungeons has made you no less graceful, Loki." Fandral can't help but laugh at him. Loki ignores him and looks up to the Harrow Ship which veers to their right, towards a mountain range and with the three skiffs still in pursuit.

"You lied to me... I'm impressed."

"I'm glad you're pleased. Now, do as you promised. Take us to your secret pathway." Loki takes hold of the tiller and begins grinning in genuine glee. Until now they've traveled alongside the bridge, but just above the waterline. Now they have to veer to the right and this brings them to the attention of another Asgardian skiff which gives chase and begins firing. Loki weaves from left to right to avoid lazer-fire, then lifts the skiff higher to bring them in line with his secret pathway.

"Fandral." Thor calls to his friend.

"Right. For Asgard." Fandral takes hold of a rope and drops off the edge of the skiff, using the rope to swing onto the pursuing skiff.

"Nothing personal, boys." He knocks the soldiers out, then salutes to Thor.

Loki now steers the skiff to a rocky mountain peak, where a very small narrow cave can just be seen.

"Loki..." Thor starts doubting the plan.

"It if were easy, everyone would do it."

"Are you mad?"

"Possibly." Loki steers the skiff into the cave. It is so narrow that the edges of the skiff smash against the walls of the cave. Iridescent crystals can be seen on the walls of the cave, and as they whizz through, the crystals light up with the same effect as that of the bifrost. Eveything blurs.

The skiff exits the cave and ricochets off the black sands of Svartalfheim.

"Ta-da!"

~

Upon the dead realm of Svartalfheim, the skiff glides over dead plains and broken cities. He places a cover over Jane who is still unconscious. Loki watches and shakes his head.

"What I could do with the power that flows through those veins." Loki could only imagine.

"It would consume you."

"She's holding up alright. For now."

"She's strong in ways you'd never even know." Loki scoffed at him. Jane was nowhere near as strong as Astrid. Nothing could change is mind about that. Not from what she's been through.

"Say goodbye."

"Not this day."

"This day, the next, a hundred years, it's nothing. It's a heartbeat. You'll never be ready. The only woman whose love you prized will be snatched from you."

"And will that satisfy you?"

"Satisfaction is not in my nature."

"Surrender is not in mine." The two brothers glared at each other.

"The son of Odin..."

"No." Thor quickly interjects. "Not just of Odin." Thor rises and steps towards Loki. "You think you alone were loved of Mother? You had her tricks, but I had her trust."

"Trust? Was that her last expression? Trust? When you let her die?"

"What help were you in your cell?"

"Who put me there? Who put me there!" Thor leaps towards Loki and knocks him back.

"You know damn well. You know damn well who!" Thor raises his fist to Loki but stops himself from taking the swing. Both brothers pause in shock before Thor backs away. "She wouldn't want us to fight."

Loki thinks about this for a moment and his expression lightens.

"Well she wouldn't exactly be shocked." The brothers half-laugh at each other.

"I wish I could trust you." He turns from Loki, who stares after him with an expression one could almost interpret as regret.

"Trust my rage. For it has been building up for sometime now." Thor turns back to Loki. Something has been bothering him for some time now.

"What do you think they wanted Astrid for?" No matter how much Thor thought about it. It didn't make sense. Loki looked down at his hands, fiddling with his cuffs.

"I think I know..." Thor continued looking at Loki waiting for him to explain. "Could you not feel it?"

"Feel what, Loki?"

It made sense to Loki. When Astrid snuck into the dungeons, he could feel something. When she mentioned what happened to her by the healers room and with her eyes, it clicked. He could feel her power growing inside of her. Maybe it was the Aether that awakened it?

"The day before the attack, she came to see me-"

"She what?!" Thor hadn't known of this. He couldn't believe that the guards let her in.

"Sif helped her."

"Of course she did." Thor chuckled to himself. It was so like Sif.

"She had told me that when she was wondering around the palace, she came across you and Jane with Eir. She was intrigued by the Midgardian so she stayed to see what the commotion was about. She had told me what happened when the guards went to grab Jane. She wasn't sure how but she felt her power awakening at that moment. She said her hands were glowing..." Thor suddenly realised what he saw wasn't his eyes playing tricks on him.

"So that's what it was?" Loki nodded at Thor.

"My only explanation is that Malekith could feel that power within her and wanted her for himself." Loki hoped he was wrong.