"What brings you here?" Loki asked, standing poised, facing Thor, separated by a golden veil of a cell.

"Enough, Loki. No more illusions." Thor said.

The illusion vanished, and Loki sat disheveled with his back to the wall. Achilles was staring into space, as though unaware of the conversation.

"Now you see me, brother." Loki said.

Thor walked over to stand directly in front of the barrier.

"Did she suffer?" Loki asked.

Thor looked away. "It was quick. But I do not come to share our grief. I have a far richer sacrament in mind."

"Go on."

"Vengeance."

Loki stood, and walked over to the barrier. 

"I need your help to escape Asgard. I offer vengeance. And Freedom." Thor said, with a gesture to the barrier.

Loki scoffed. "I don't need your promises of freedom."

"Loki. Please."

Loki glanced away. "She is- was- my mother too."

Thor winced. And then something caught his eye. "Loki. Your hair..."

Loki's hand carefully brushed against the lock of his mother's hair. "She visited me. I didn't realize until later, but she knew."

"She knew she was going to die." Thor said.

Loki nodded.

After a silent moment, Thor sniffled and shook his head. "We should go."

"Do you have a plan to get us out of this cell?" Loki asked.

Thor drew a key from his pocket, proudly flashing it to Loki before using it to open the cell.

"Now how did you manage that?" Loki asked.

"I have my ways." Thor said.

"Which sound peculiarly like my ways." Loki replied.

Thor rolled his eyes. "What's wrong with him?" He asked, looking at Achilles.

Loki frowned. "Achilles."

"There's two of them." Achilles said, without moving.

"What?" Loki asked.

"There's two. One's... hidden away, I think. It's hard to figure out where it is. The other one is moving around. The one I felt earlier."

"We can figure it out later. For now, let's get a move on."  Loki said, cautiously.

"That was distinctly Midgardian, there." Achilles said, forcing his body to move.

"Who's to say it couldn't also be an Asgardian phrasing?" Loki asked.

Achilles shrugged. "We're leaving?"

"Clearly."

"Great. It was getting really stuffy."

~~~

"Why so clandestine? It's not like you, brother."

"Just shut up."

~~~

With Achilles' input, they managed to avoid running into any guards, or others. Loki noticed that Achilles seemed nervous. He was seeing the world without his eyes, so they constantly seemed out of focus- like a blind man.

"What's wrong?" Loki asked the moment Achilles froze, his face paled a shade. 

"There are two heading right for us. Close." Achilles said.

"What else?"

"The power is with them." Achilles said softly.

"You can sense that?" Thor asked.

Both Loki and Achilles turned to him. "What?"

Thor suddenly looked like he'd fallen into the spotlight. "Well, uh, you see..."

"What are you not telling us?" Loki asked, his tone cold.

"It's a little... Uh, complicated, you see..." Thor trailed off.

"If you can understand, then it's not very complicated, now is it?" Loki scowled.

"Do not insult me-"

"Thor!" A human woman called out, an Asgardian woman by her side. The mortal pointed at Loki. "You're..."

"I am Loki. You may have heard of-" Loki began, but was interrupted by the woman slapping him.

"That was for New York." She said, rubbing her hand.

"I like her." Loki said, smirking at Thor. "Who is she?"

"Jane Foster." The woman said. "And who's he?" 

"Jane, that is Achilles Bane. I would not recommend slapping him." Thor said.

"What? Why?" Jane asked.

"Guards. Coming for us." Achilles said. 

"What gave it away? The shouting or the alarms?" The Asgardian woman asked, eyeing the corridor.

"There's... Twenty some, I count. More might be joining up." Achilles said, his gaze drifting to Jane.

The woman narrowed her eyes. "I'll hold them off. Take her and go."

"Thank you." Thor told her.

As they turned to leave, she drew her sword and held it to Loki's throat. "Betray him and I'll kill you."

"It's good to see you too, Sif." Loki said, then stepped to the side and guided Achilles onward.

~~~

They came across a ship crashed into the palace. In front of it was an Asgardian with a red brown beard and mane of hair. "Thor!"

Thor and Volstagg shook forearms. "Thank you, my friend." Thor said, before he and Jane boarded the ship.

Volstagg stopped Loki before he could pass. "If you even think about betraying him..."

"You'll kill me? Evidently there will be a line." Loki replied, before walking past.

Achilles was the last to walk in, and he kept his distance from Jane. Thor looked around, and pressed some buttons, hoping for the best.

"I thought you said you knew how to fly this thing." Loki said.

"I said 'How hard could it be?'" Thor replied.

"Well, whatever you're doing, brother, I suggest you do it faster." Loki said.

"Shut up, Loki."

"You must have missed something."

"No, I didn't, I'm pressing every button on this thing."

"No, don't hit it, just press it gently."

"I am pressing it gently. It's not working!" With one last hit of a button, the ship hummed to life and Thor laughed. 

The ship crashed through several columns as it spun in place, until it faced the proper direction.

"I think you missed a column." Loki said.

"Shut up!" 

They launched through the corridor, and out into the air above. Achilles looked slightly woozy at the movement.

"Look, why don't you let me take over, I'm clearly the better pilot." Loki said.

"Is that right? Well, out of the two of us which one can actually fly?" Thor retorted. 

Jane collapsed as they flew over Asgard- Achilles made no move to catch her as he pressed himself into the wall opposite from her.

"Oh dear, is she dead?" Loki asked, giving Achilles a questioning frown. Why hadn't he caught her?

"Jane!" Thor said, glancing over his shoulder.

"I'm okay." Jane said, weakly.

Thor crashed the ship through part of a building. 

"Not a word."  Thor said to Loki warningly.

"Now they're following us." Loki updated. "Now they're firing at us."

"Yeah, thank you for the commentary, Loki! It's not at all distracting!"

Thor crashed through a statue.

"Well done, you just decapitated our grandfather." Loki chimed.

~~~

Loki looked at Jane and sighed. "She has the power of the Aether within her?"

"She does."

Loki understood then. Achilles had been sensing the power of an infinity stone. What would happen if the Devourer got too close to an infinity stone? As far as Loki could recall, it had never happened before. 

"What you could do with that much power..." Loki trailed off.

"It would consume you." Thor said.

Suddenly Loki wanted Achilles to be anywhere but here. He could see how anxious Achilles was already. He didn't want to imagine what could happen.

"You should say goodbye."

"Not this day."

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

"Would that satisfy you?"

Loki looked at Achilles, who was staring into the middle distance, a raw indescribable emotion in his eyes. "No. It wouldn't."

~~~

"Are you okay?" Loki asked Achilles quietly.

"No."

"What's wrong?" 

"Her. That power. It's... Overbearing. I'm drawn to it and I want to run away at the same time." Achilles said, 

"I'm sorry." Loki said, resting his hand on Achilles' shoulder.

"Not your fault." Achilles said softly.

Jane sat up, the Aether in her eyes.

"Jane?" Thor asked.

"Malekith." She replied.

Thor and Loki exchanged uneasy glances.

~~~

"Alright, are you ready?" Thor asked.

"I am. You know this plan of yours is going to get us killed." Loki said.

"Yeah, possibly." Thor said.

"You still don't trust me, brother?" Loki asked.

"Would you?"

"No, I wouldn't." Loki replied. In a moment, Loki had stabbed Thor and kicked him down the hill.

"Thor! No!" Jane cried out.

It happened quickly- The theatrics were played out in such a fashion that only Loki and Thor were capable of.

Achilles stood as close to Loki as he dared, who was holding Jane hostage. "Malekith, I am Loki of Jotunheim and I bring you a gift!" Loki threw Jane towards his feet. "I ask only one thing in return- a good seat from which to watch Asgard burn."

"He is an enemy of Asgard, he was locked in a cell." One of the elves said to Malekith.

Malekith walked over to Thor, who was squirming on the ground in pain. "Look at me." He said, using his foot to turn Thor. With his power, he lifted Jane into the air, the Aether being drawn from her body. Achilles shuddered as her body fell limp to the ground, free of the Aether.

"Loki, now!" Thor called out. Again, things happened quickly. Thor summoned Mjolnir, and blasted the Aether with lightning. It shattered into the air, but Malekith still reached out to absorb it. Thor dispatched two of the elves, and Loki saved Jane from a vortex and Thor saved Loki from the same one.

Algrim, or the Kursed one, fought Thor and Loki while Achilles went after Malekith.

"Malekith, stop!"

"And what would you do stop me, mortal?" Malekith retorted, walking closer to his ship.

"Fight you, duh." Achilles said, gripping the hilt of Backbiter tightly. "Are you gonna fight me or are you a coward?"

"That is a curious blade you wield. Greek?" Malekith inquired, pausing in his steps.

"Yeah." Achilles said, walking towards him with cautious strides.

"How old?"

"Er... Four or five years? Maybe? I don't remember exactly off the top of my head right now."

"Just four or five? Pathetic." Malekith swung an arm, launching an attack of sandy magic darkness at Achilles, who dodged with a roll. 

"Did you mean to miss?" Achilles asked, getting to his feet in a fluid movement and closing the distance between them.

"You are quicker than I thought." Malekith said, throwing his next attack.

"So you meant to miss." Achilles said, barely dodging.

"I'll make your death quick."

"I'd be impressed if you did." Achilles replied.

It was a close quarters combat then, with Achilles struggling to block and parry Malekith's magic blows, and still trying to make strikes of his own. Achilles was holding his own rather impressively, though a feverlike complexion was starting to grow on his face.

Malekith forced Achilles to stumble back a few steps, and he reached out, taking Achilles' neck in his hand, choking him. Achilles froze.

Malekith's eyes widened, and he withdrew his grasp, putting several steps of distance between them. "What did you do? What have you done?" Malekith demanded.

"I don't know." Achilles said, fear growing in his chest as he watched tendrils of Aether flow from Malekith to him. "What did you do?"

"I did nothing! You lying thief! Give it back!" Malekith roared, and dove at Achilles.  The closer they were, the faster the tendrils flowed from Malekith to Achilles. "It's mine! You have no right!"

"Get it away from me!" Achilles called out, trying to sever the tendrils with his blade, to no effect. "Make it stop!"

"It won't listen to me!" Malekith tackled Achilles, and tried to wrestle the blade from him. Achilles roared in pain, trying to free himself from Malekith's grasp. "Release it, this is your doing!"

"I can't!" Achilles gasped, trying to push Malekith off of him. "Get off! Get-"

"Release it!" Malekith screeched, trying to sink claw like nails into Achilles' flesh- unsuccessfully. His efforts to kill Achilles grew frantic and desperate.

Achilles stopped trying to escape Malekith, and the pain- Some logic breaking through the panic, and he buried Backbiter into Malekith's side. The dark elf screeched and recoiled, Achilles drew the blade back and struck again. Malekith fell back onto the ground, hands instinctively going to the wounds on his side. Achilles pushed himself up onto his knees and reversed his grip on Backbiter, before plunging it into Malekith's chest. The dark elf shuddered before going still. 

Achilles withdrew his blade, shuffling back a few steps worth of distance, the tendrils following him and latching onto his skin. They burned like acid where they touched, crawling around like serpents. The red of the Aether looked almost like ethereal blood.

Achilles used Backbiter to get to his feet, and he stumbled away from the elf's body, fear and pain propelling him to get away from the source of the red tendrils. The last of the Aether flowed from Malekith's body to Achilles'. Achilles screamed in pain, before collapsing to the dirt. 

Unable to move but still conscious, he could see Loki and Thor fighting. 

"No!" Thor cried as Algrim impaled Loki on the blade sticking out of his own body.

"See you in hell, monster." Loki hissed, using it's own vortex weapon against him.

Thor cradled Loki as they exchanged words. Achilles watched, helplessly. Then he felt it. Loki's heart stopped beating. 

"No!" Thor cried out in anguish over the form of his jotun brother's body.

Achilles wanted to scream. The pain in his heart was worse than the pain of his body. It wasn't supposed to go like this. The ground beneath started to shake, and tremble. 

"What's happening?" Jane asked, looking around. "An earthquake?"

"I don't know." Thor said, weakly.

He was dead. Loki was dead. Loki was dead. The ground began to split apart from the quake, ravines forming from the cracks. Boulders tumbled down the mountainsides in the distance.

"Thor?" Fear was growing in Jane's voice.

"We have to go." Thor said, forcing himself to stand. He would have to leave his brother's body behind. He didn't want to. Loki deserved a proper funeral. That, at the very least. Jane, living and breathing, was the only reason he could.

Achilles was bloody and still next to the body of Malekith. Both of them were gone. His brother and his brother's friend. Gone, in the blink of an eye. Was Thor the only one who would mourn Loki? 

They made a mad rush to try and find somewhere safe. Eventually, Jane's phone rang.

A/N

Hey there :)
I am alive. I'm not back to updating consistently, but I will continue to when I can. 

How was that chappie?