Sophia Holmes and the Dark World (Sherlock's Daughter/Marvel) *Completed*

Chapter Seven

As we continue to fly, we discuss our plan. Sooner or later, the Dark Elves will return and we can't guarantee being able to retrieve the Aether from Jane in time.

Jane's eyes fly open, but her eyeballs are coloured red. The Aether has taken over her. She rises and looks ahead.

"Jane," Thor says.

"Malekith," she says, somehow able to sense him arriving.

Loki lands the ship and we walk over in time to see Malekith and his men landing in the distance.

"Alright, are you ready?" Thor asks.

Jane and I nod. "I am," Loki replies, and we rise from our their hiding place. Malekith spots us immediately. "You know this plan of yours is going to get us killed."

"Yeah," Thor replies, "possibly."

Loki holds up his shackled hands for Thor to uncuff him. "You still don't trust me, brother?"

"Would you?" Grudgingly, Thor takes off his cuffs.

"No," Loki replies, waving his hand ever so slighgly to create a green shimmer over Thor before stabbing him with his dagger and throwing him down the hill.

"Thor!" Jane cries. "No!"

Malekith watches and starts walking towards us as Loki grabs me by the arm and drags me down the hill to meet Thor. "You really think I care about Frigga, about any of you?" Loki asks, kicking Thor in the stomach. "All I ever wanted was you and Odin dead at my feet!" Thor raises his hand, attempting to summon Mjolnir, but Loki cuts off his hand. Thor cries out in pain and Jane rushes over, but Loki throws me to the ground and instead grabs her, turning to face the Elves. "Malekith, I am Loki of Jotunheim and I bring you a gift!" He throws Jane at Malekith's feet as I look up at him. "I ask only one thing in return: a good seat from which to watch Asgard burn."

Malekith walks over to Thor, squirming in pain on the ground. "Look at me," he says, using his foot to turn Thor, before lifting Jane in the air and starting to extract the Aether from her. As the last of the Aether leaves her body, Jane falls to the ground.

"Loki, now!" Thor cries and Loki waves his hands again, removing the shimmer over Thor, causing him to have his arm again. He quickly summons Mjolnir and shoots lightning at the Aether to destroy it. But it doesn't work.

We watch with horror as Malekith absorbs the Aether and turns to leave on his ship. That wasn't supposed to happen.

Two of the Dark Elves move toward us, and I start shooting - only to realise that the bullets don't work. Aware they're getting ever closer, I draw my sword. I stab one and Thor takes out the other with his hammer, but just as soon as we do, a device is thrown into the air which stops directly above me. Before the vortex can open, however, I'm pushed aside. As I land on the ground, I look up to see Loki taking my place, but is quickly being lifted up into the vortex himself.

"Loki, no!" I cry, scrambling up, but he's already out of my reach. Just as he's being sucked in, Thor flies up and tackles him from the side and the pair land safely on the ground beside me. Breathing heavily, they both stand.

As the engines of Malekith's ship fire up, Thor uses Mjolnir to launch himself at one of the Elves.

Loki quirks me a look as we watch. "Concerned, were we?"

I shoot a look back at him, before giving a small smile. "Thank you."

He nods, returning a slight, genuine smile, but our attention is brought back to the fight as Thor is brought down by one of the Dark Elves and thrown far behind us.

The white-masked monsters start to surround us and Loki draws his knives as I prepare my sword. At the same time, we launch at the Elves: I stab one immediately and kick another back as I take it out before cutting their head off. Another one comes behind me and I duck as one of their weapon flies over my head, before spinning around and disposing of its owner. I stand up again as Loki is finishing off his third, his hair a mess over his face. We exchange a look, before turning to sprint over to Thor where he's being continually punched by one of Malekith's main fighters.

Loki grabs a spear from the ground and impales the Elf from behind as we reach him. He turns slowly around, then pulls Loki into the blade that is sticking out from him the other side.

"Loki!" Thor cries beside me, as Loki is lifted up on the end of the blade. I've just got my dad back, I can't lose anyone else.

The creature throws Loki against the cliff, then starts walking towards him. I see another vortex device on his belt and slip past, activating it. It flashes red and Loki looks to it, grimacing. "See you in hell, monster!"

He looks down sees the device ready to detonate, but before he can do anything, he explodes in front of us.

Thor and I run over to Loki's side and I see already that he's too far gone. The spear has pierced straight through his chest and is slowly killing him.

"No," Thor roars. "No, no, no!" Oh, you fool, you didn't listen!"

"I know," Loki says, squirming in pain. "I'm a fool. I'm a fool!"

I can feel the tears forming already as I reach for his hand. It's ice cold. "Stay with me, okay?" I say, struggling to keep my voice level.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"Shh," Thor says, crying.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Thor says, nodding his head. "It's alright. I'll tell father what you did here today."

Loki tilts his head to look at me. "I didn't do it for him." He closes his eyes and I watch as his Asgardian form lifts away to reveal his true, Frost Giant form. 

"No!" Thor cries out in anguish and I let go of Loki's hand and sob quietly.

Thor holds Loki tight to him, tears streaking down his own face now as Jane stands a short distance away, watching us mourn.

"Thor..." she says after a moment, but he shakes his head.

"I can't leave him here," Thor replies through gritted teeth. "My little brother ... I can't leave him alone. He will be afraid."

"Thor ... I'm so sorry ... we need to go."

Slowly, we get to our feet and I look down at the blue body lying perfectly still amongst the sand and feel a pang in my stomach.

It's my fault. He did it for me.