Reign

Chapter 28: War Ashes

Ash sat in the middle of the garden with her ring pointed to the sky. She closed her eyes as she desperately hoped it would work. She fired a blue ray into the sky. It slowly expanded across the sky, giving a blue tint to everything that the sunlight was touching.

Everyone noticed it in the sky as obvious as it was, but they continued to fight on as they couldn't simply stop fighting to go back to Ash. 

Ash growled from effort as the energy soared through her body. The ring was difficult to hold up as it continued blasting out its energy.

Bolts of energy suddenly start to emit from the shield over the sky. Each bolt hit a different person who had their mind enslaved by Loki.

The Avengers had stopped fighting, as a majority of Loki's army was made up of the blue eyed slaves.

A few minutes passed as the blue shield retracted from the sky and went back to the ring. The moment that the energy beam was back into the ring Ash fell back into the grass, knowing that she was at least finished with what she had to do. 

But she then quickly pushed herself up with huffs of breath as she ran to the castle in an attempt to make her way back to where the Asgardians were fighting.

Ash first found Loki and spotted him in the middle of his throne room with his scepter in hands as he was surrounded by the Asgardian warriors. The room looked like it had been through a raging war, which is what it was, but Ash was in awe at the mere sight of the mess.

"Stop!" Loki suddenly turned his scepter towards Ash as his attention was turned to her. She stopped where she stood as she looked at him quietly.

Thor looked at Ash from behind Loki and exclaimed, "You are not supposed to be here! Let us handle this!"

"Thor, you said that you wouldn't take him away from me..."

"I am sorry, Lady Ash. He is dangerous."

"So am I." She raised her ring towards them in a threatening manner. "You won't take him from me!"

Loki butted in, "You've done that yourself, Ash! You said you love me yet you betray me! This is your doing!"

Thor knew Loki was distracted and so he went to make his attack from behind. But Ash didn't allow him to do that. A blast emitted from the ring and threw him off of his feet and to the ground near Fandral. Sif stepped in front of Ash with her sword raised but Ash quickly removed her by sending her in the same position as Thor.

Ash then stepped in front of Loki who had pointed his scepter away from her. They looked at each other in silence, Loki in anger and Ash in sadness. "They won't hurt you..." She quietly added, "I'm sorry... I truly only did what I could..."

He uttered to her, "Do not come here searching for my love. You will not find it."

She moved to softly caress his bruised and slightly bloodied cheek, but he turned and swatted her hand away, refusing her gentle affection. Her eyes filled with tears at his rejections to her but Volstagg suddenly moved behind her and grabbed her arms, pulling her away.

Loki didn't stop him. Loki didn't quite care anymore. The only one who had ever genuinely loved him had betrayed him and due to her, he was going to lose his throne along with everything else he had worked so hard for.

As Loki was glaring at Ash, a bolt of lightning suddenly threw Loki's scepter from his hands. Thor stood and threw his hammer at Loki, sending him flying into a nearby pillar. The pillar cracked as it bent where Loki had hit. The hammer then fell to the ground with Loki on the floor, cringing beside it.

Volstagg held Ash back as she so desperately tried pulling away from him to running to Loki's side. Hogun was a tad bit smart for Ash's likes. He was quick to take the ring from her hand. She clenched her fists as Thor walked to Loki, calling his hammer to him in the process, and keeping Loki pinned to the floor with it.

As Thor walked passed her, Ash called out quietly "Thor..."

He only glanced at her as he stated, "I intend to keep my promises... but I am sorry for putting you through this." He looked to his Asgardian friends. "As soon as we rid Midgard of these Frost Giants we will return to Asgard with both Loki and Ash."

"She is a Midgardian," Sif replied as she was leaning on Fandral for support. "The All-Father-"

"The All-Father will see her." Thor finished, "She has attacked us in Loki's defense. It is... in our duty to bring them both in."

Tony questioned from the doorway, "You're taking Ash to an Asgardian prison?"

The rest of the Avengers arrived as the Asgardian army was finishing up with what few Frost Giants remained across Earth. They were all looking uncertainly at the scene in the throne room.

Natasha stepped forward and shouted, "You can't just take her away to some prison on the other end of the universe! She-"

"She has fought us and will now face Asgardian law!" Thor looked at them with a serious expression written on his face. His expression drew silence through the room.

Thor continued by restraining Loki with a metallic piece, which was much like a muzzle for humans in Ash's opinion, along with some cuffs around his wrists. They put Ash in cuffs as well and they took them both together to wait in a Midgardian cell until all was prepared to go to Asgard. Ash was silent through it all after the Avengers arrived, which made them believe she needed nothing more than the cuffs. She looked at no one for the whole remainder of the day, feeling that she might just break if she saw any of their disappointed faces.

It was hours later and Ash only assumed it was well past midnight as the Asgardians finished ridding the earth of Frost Giants and threats who followed Loki. As soon as it was all done they were gone through the portals on Thor's final command.

As soon as all was clear throughout Earth, Bruce and Tony placed the Tesseract in a holder which allowed Thor to carry it with ease of not worrying about touching it. Ash's ring was even placed within it on top of the Tesseract. They left the castle in preparation to teleport to Asgard, but they stopped outside in the large front yard of the castle.

Ash stood silently next to Sif as all she did was stare at the ground, away from most everyone, especially Loki. But she was suddenly surrounded by others as the Asgardians stepped away for a moment. She didn't look up until she felt Natasha lift her chin. She looked at the Avengers who were around her but said nothing.

"You've been through a lot, kiddo... good luck out there in Asgard." Tony pat her shoulder with an encouraging smile.

Clint asked Ash, "We didn't get off on a good start when we first met, did we?" Ash shook her head and he continued, "Considering that you lied to Natasha and me about Loki's whereabouts... you did good today with saving the world, Ash." He ruffled her hair, receiving only a small smile from her.

Bruce shrugged his shoulders as they were all saying their goodbyes. "It was a pleasure to be your doctor."

"And your nurse," Tony added with a slight smirk.

"We're all going to miss you, Ash." Natasha covered as she moved in to hug Ash.

The other Avengers did the same as it was a big group hug with Ash in the center. Steve commented, "You were really the life of the party. We'll see you when you come back to Earth."

Tony said proudly, "Yeah, come back to Stark tower! Soon to be the Avengers home base! We'll all be waiting for you."

Thor broke up the hug as he took Ash back within the circle of Asgardians and said hiding the sadness in his voice, "We must go now."

Thor held out the Tesseract for her and she took hold of one side of its container. She glanced at the Avengers once more before closing her eyes and turning the handle of the Tesseract's container, sending her and all of the Asgardians vanishing from the grassy earth.

(A/N: Aww! Sad feels. Good bye Midgard! Good luck Ash!)