A/N: Here's a hefty update for you lovelies! Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement and patience. They do not go unnoticed.

~
A million shards of glass
that haunt me from my past
As the stars begin to gather
and the light begins to fade
When all hope begins to shatter
know that I won't be afraid
~

Loki soundlessly cursed the sand from his lips.

He had known well that the outcome of his offering held the potential of not going as he had intended for it to. It happened far too often to simply ignore. He also knew that properly carrying out a plan meant making time to prepare a contingency, even if it meant doing so alone. But never had he anticipated the blaze of bone crushing fury that came with watching Malekith's heathens put their hands on her. Those he and his flock touched were left burdened with inescapably dark fates and Jane, much like his mother, had not been theirs to taint.

Dark brown eyes filled his vision then, glossy and bewildered, questioning his intentions from the dusty, broken ground.

Loki set his jaw and filled his lungs with the sharp scent of foreign metal and ash in an attempt to focus.

The narrow corridors of the ship were barren of obstacles, leaving him to hold tightly to the corners for any form of cover. Magic would not be helpful here and neither would the swelling surges of rage that still clouded his rationale.

He kept low, sweeping his fingers lightly along cold steel to maneuver through the maze of passageways. Each turn was thoroughly scanned for enemies until he finally reached the heart of the ship.

A lone elf stood with his back to him at the command center, his mask declined and draped in the blue lights of the system screens.

Loki stilled in the shadows and inspected the room further. It was familiar, resembling the same controls as the ship that had delivered them to this hellish place.

No other adversaries were present.

He checked once more before emerging carefully from the foyer, hunching low along the wall with silent paces, a honed skill that those he had once trained alongside would swear was just another one of his tricks.

One pace forward.

He tilted his right bracer.

Then another.

Loki lunged behind him, grabbing the underside of the elf's jaw in one hand, forcefully placing pressure against his windpipe. His other hand pressed the flat side of a dagger against flesh.

The elf thrashed for only a moment before lack of available air forced him still. He struggled for ragged breaths under Loki's hold.

"Answer me truthfully or lose your tongue," Loki hissed, tilting his hand so that the sharp edge of the blade pressed an indention along the rough skin of his throat. "Where has the Aether been stored?"

The elf's mask twitched quickly from side to side. Loki lifted his knife hand and swiftly plucked the cover from the creature's face.

"Where is my prisoner?" He tried again, slow and quiet, the term in elfish dialect sounding more animalistic to him than any other language in his repertoire as it rolled heavy from his tongue.

The shock in the creature's eyes was short lived. They quickly turned as defiant as his silence.

Loki's grip tightened.

"Are you blinded or simply a fool? Your cause is a lost one." He titled his head in and changed tactics. "The only fate you will find by following your master's order is a well deserved death. The realms are aligning for the first time in thousands of years. Malekith will have all that power flowing through him, and for what? To waste it on turning them all to dust."

Empty grey eyes gave the slightest bit. Loki played on it.

"Tragic, is it not?" Loki forced his adversary to face him. "Why destroy those that could be yours to rule? If you truly believe that Malekith is going to share his precious darkness with the likes of you, I would be doing you a favor by killing you where you stand." He allowed his hold to slacken enough for the creature to inhale, taking a single step back. "Let me lead you. I will show you power you have never known."

He watched the contemplation flash through the elf's eyes.

A beat of indecision.

They set cold as stone.

Stained lips rose in a snarl and curled into a malicious grin.

"The darkness returns."

A sharp 'click'.

Loki followed the sound to find a prepped dark matter grenade glowing deep purple at the creature's waist. He reflexively shoved him away, sending his body tumbling backwards over the control deck.

Mid-motion, the far end of the room exploded in black and blue, sending sparks careening through the air in a spray of flame. Metal tore against metal as half of the controls were swallowed by a bottomless pit of energy. Whirling wires dangled from the gaping hole. The massive ship whined and trembled beneath Loki's feet.

As soon as he found his footing, he molded back into the shadows.

He could feel the lessening of force pass through him as the ship lost its speed. The engines must have been damaged by the explosion. That would be helpful in keeping them from reaching the threshold of Asgard any time soon, where he knew Odin would be waiting and ready, never minding who accompanied the enemy upon the vessel. The thought froze him for a moment.

Then the more immediate threat struck.

The damage also created a very real possibility of them falling from the sky. He would be perfectly capable of surviving the incident with nothing more than a few new scratches, but he doubted anyone else on the ship would.

His paces quickened as he neared the end of the hall.

He stopped short.

Rushed footsteps echoed from an adjacent corridor, starting low and growing closer with every step. Loki pressed his back flat against the wall, the handle of his dagger now a warm extension of his hand.

Two lackeys jogged past him toward the engine room.

Before they could complete their task, Loki sprung.

The first elf made the mistake of attempting to turn against the sudden pressure on his neck. It snapped like a twig.

The second elf got off a single shot from his blaster, passing over Loki's left shoulder. He felt the heat of it graze his ear.

Another lifeless body dropped to the ground across the first, followed shortly by a masked head.

At the same time, the ship fought against sky, dropping far enough into an air-pocket to effectively clear Loki's eyes before it re-steadied and leveled out.

There was no more time for distractions. Malekith surely knew of his presence by now.

He dropped his head, closed his eyes, and summoned her in his mind. He could sense her almost instantly, but it was not all Jane.

The sheer power that radiated from the Aether was a living thing in itself now, much stronger than it had ever been while she was with him in the cave. It pulsed through his bones and awoke every nerve along his skin, and called to him like the chords of an ancient song.

This could not have all been at her doing. No, someone else had agitated it.

His jaw locked shut. He willed himself, using every ounce of magic in his possession, to transfer his being to her side.

Whipping air cut all around him. The scent of it changed from metallic to sweat and rot.

And when his eyes re-opened, he went still where he stood.

He faced her prison cell. Latticed bars of blackened iron enclosed around her.

Jane writhed on her side just beyond them, sprawled along the floor, sending torturous screams of agony bouncing from every corner of the tight space. Their shockwaves sliced through his chest.

From where he stood, he could make out the faint red glow of the Aether as it snaked along the back of her clenched fists.

Loki fought his eyes off her, quickly scanning the cavity again for Malekith, certain that if he was not already present, he would be soon enough. The long room and adjoining cells were empty.

He holstered his dagger between the fabric at his right hip.

At the same time, another shrill of agony chimed through clenched teeth. His heart winced.

Before it could fully escape her chest, his hands were pressed flat against the bars of her prison as he tried to transfer through them.

Something blocked him.

He tried a more forceful second time, lifting his palms so that the pressure was placed against crackling fingertips.

It didn't budge.

A magic barrier kept him from passing. He knew this spell well, but never had he faced one so securely constructed. Where ever was Thor when he needed him?

His gaze shifted back to Jane.

Her consciousness had been taken from her, leaving her eyes closed and body defenseless against whatever onslaught the Aether was stirring behind them.

Malekith had visited her. He'd left his mark all over. Only the lowest of cowards would do something as vile as placing a vulnerable mind at the mercy of thoughts that were not its own.

A feeling he knew all too well. It replayed over and over in his memory like a distant nightmare, parts of it fresh and poisonous and others forced down, down into the deepest reaches of his being. Still, they haunted him in a way that hollowed his chest and robbed him of air, and as he ran his eyes over the panic etched deep in the draw of Jane's closed eyes, he decided at that moment that Malekith's death would come slow.

He crouched, testing the space between the bars. It was an uncomfortable fit, but if he unlatched his bracers from his forearms, he could reach her. Practiced fingers hurriedly undid the bindings, first the right, then the left, setting the golden metal gingerly on the ground at his side.

He pushed his hands through the diamond shaped holes, squeezing his fingers together and tucking his thumb beneath them so that they closely matched the shape. He leaned forward. A quiet growl escaped him as the sharp edges scraped against his wrists and forearms, unsheathing them from the sleeves of his long coat as they bunched up at his elbows. Streaks of black rust and scarlet cuts marked his skin.

His teeth grit together. The tips of his fingers just barely brushed against her right hand. He pushed forward a fraction further and caught hold of it, taking care to hold her steady against an unfocused outburst without bruising force.

She thrashed against him, her free hand not knowing whether to strike out toward the cell bars or pull back to her chest. He used her confusion to gain control of it with his opposite hand.

At first touch, burning in his fingertips encompassed him, the heady allure of the power just beneath them pulsing warmly through his skin. He pushed back against it and dug within, calling forth instead the calming cool of healing.

It required a steadying breath and a second try.

He carefully slid her closer to him. His fingers hued gold around her wrists.

Loki released one and dropped his knee against the ground to lean in as close as he could. The crown of his head pressed against iron. He lightly placed his fingers against the left side of Jane's forehead at the base of her hairline.

As if he'd flipped a switch, her body came to rest. He did the same with his other hand.

Her breathing slowed.

He exhaled with her, his eyes trailing over the soft curves of her face, lingering on the scowl of anguish lifting from her lips. How her crinkled eyelids smoothed to satin as they relaxed. The hollows beneath them were darker than he remembered. Her hair was disheveled, resting over his fingers in some places and across the floor in others. He ghosted his thumb along her cheekbone.

And still, somehow, she was not broken.

The pressure against his sternum released a fraction.

Until long lashes blinked open and her eyes focused up at him, a bright and piercing blue.

With the darkness came a new agony. What she imagined skin being torn from muscle must feel like. The deafening final screams of billions in her ears.

Her own blood scalded her.

Jane could do nothing. There was no controlling it. No way of wrapping her mind around it.

Just black.

She had no way of knowing how long she suffered until suddenly, finally, in a flash of white the pressure released her. She felt completely weightless, like resurfacing from the clutches of an angry tide. Free.

This must be what death feels like.

The thought bit, but it was her own.

Had Malekith killed her? Is that why it had finally stopped? If so, she was almost certain that he would have taken the Aether from her by now.

Relief and terror mingled at the back of her mind.

She could still feel the achy remnants of fiery pain, but it was an afterthought in comparison.

Death was easy, she decided. It was life that was hard.

Living meant having to overcome obstacles that would scar her for the rest of her days. Watching her own life become a prized possession that no longer belonged to her. Nurturing the weapon that would end the lives of everyone she ever loved.

It also meant defending them. Without stars overhead, she was no good with her back to the ground. Rising from it meant fighting back. Facing the biggest challenges she had yet to endure. She was no goddess of great strength, no empress of vast realms. She carried no magic or fine tuned skills of deception.

But in her chest, her heart still strummed, slow and steady.

And that was enough.

She grasped at anything her mind could hold on to. The ground jolted hard beneath her shoulder. A picnic in the mountains with her parents. Darcy's tired scowl and Erik's smiling face at the breakfast table on the last morning they'd shared together. Pressure throbbing in her head. Thor's lips crashing down on hers in the desert heat. Raw burning in her throat. Loki's dark eyes capturing the starlight. Cool fingers along her face.

Jane felt the moment her mind and body re-found each other in surges of warmth and power, starting at her temple and leisurely rolling all the way down to her toes. She curled them in her boots to test if she could.

The refuge she found in the void behind her eyelids, paired with the lovely feeling, caused them to take a bit more coaxing but as soon as she gathered the will, they blinked open.

Jane blinked again. Her eyes focused.

"Loki?"

A foot of space and iron separated them, his face close to the bars. It was not what she had expected to awake to, but she couldn't help the small sigh of relief that ghosted past her lips.

His sharp features were outlined in gold, the source of light coming from his hands resting gently against either side of her head. Dirt and blood marred his forearms. The faint light shimmered across every shade of green in his irises. She had just barely caught the flash of triumph pass through them before they locked heavily with hers. It vanished beneath something else. A look she had never seen before.

"What did he do to you?" His voice was low, dangerous.

Jane glanced past him to the shadows.

"I'm not sure," she hoarsely whispered. "But he was here. He told me…" a lump formed in her throat with the memory. She blinked her eyes to the ground.

Loki's brow furrowed. Eyes of glass searched the plains of her face. She felt the pad of his left thumb absently trail down her jaw.

Her right hand rose up between Loki's arms. There in the veins of her wrist still crept a faint red hue.

Her stomach turned. She tried to keep the sickness from reaching her face but Malekith's words echoing, fresh and real, in her ears made it difficult. She let her arm fall back to her side.

"You were right about the Aether," Jane breathed, her voice nearly failing her. "I was – am… feeding it. That's what he was doing," her eyes flashed back to him. "He was torturing me so it could grow stronger." The vulnerability left her angry, seeping warmth into her cheeks. "He tortured me."

Loki swallowed. His chin dipped. Drawn eyes flicked from hers to his hands.

"I know."

Jane's brow twisted. She blinked at searing tears in her eyes and tried to drop her face, wishing more than anything that she could pull her jacket tightly closed over herself and come out of it anywhere else in the universe. The thought made her faintly try to remember when she'd put it back on.

Malekith had been toying with her all along, a sick game of cat and mouse. The snake in the cave. The overwhelming, unbidden bursts of anger. Finding refuge in the darkness. The thoughts that made her want to simply give up.

That wasn't her. None of it was. It was the shadow figure in her nightmares taking advantage of every bit of slack she'd unknowingly given him.

Loki's thumb beneath her jaw gently coaxed her gaze back up and silenced her mind. He was closer now, his front pressed up against the side of the cage, his hands soft on her skin.

His eyes were alive.

"I know," he repeated, nodding a single time. "And he will pay for it with his life," he promised, "but right now we have to get off this ship."

Only then did she feel it trembling beneath them.

"How?"

If Loki could get in the cell, she knew he would have already. How was she supposed to get out of it?

His fingers flexed against her temple, the light emitted from them dimming to a soft amber. He slowly moved his hands up an inch, letting them hover near the sides of her face.

"Does it hurt you still?"

The loss of whatever spell he'd had on her allowed a pounding headache to take hold between her ears. She instantly felt every scrape and bruise needling along her skin.

With a deep breath, then another, she slid her eyes closed and kept the Aether rooted and calm in her core.

"No. No, I'm fine."

If Jane could hear the lie in her own voice, Loki could too.

She propped herself on her left elbow and pushed against it to sit upright. The room spun and wobbled. A secure hand was placed high on her shoulder, close to her neck.

Her attention flickered over to it. Somewhere deep down inside her an old instinct whispered.

It was easy enough to ignore.

"What do you need me to do?" The question was carried on a voice sounding much more like her own. She liked the sure sound of it.

Loki released her, slipping his arms out from the holes in the bars.

"The Aether is still in your system," he started carefully, "meaning that it is still at least partially under your control." One of his hands swept slowly along the iron caging. "Look here," he pointed to where one of the cross sections was chipped and bent outward. "These prisons have held up against forces unknown, but I am willing to bet none as strong as the power you carry."

He stopped and only looked at her for a moment. She held his gaze, nerves buzzing alive within her as she grasped where he was heading.

"I know what I ask of you Jane, but I am blocked from my side. I cannot lift the spell." His voice dipped with what she could only label shame.

It lit something within her. She used the wall to help herself to her feet. Her eyes sharpened on the spots where the iron was charred clean through.

Loki rose to stand on the other side, a mangle of emotions passing across his face.

The ship jolted hard. Both of them grabbed at the wall to keep their footing. The sound of metal being torn apart echoed through the hollow frame from somewhere far beneath them.

Jane met his eyes, her resolve set. "You may want to step back a little."

He actually smirked at her, the small turn of his thin lips cutting like a ray of light through the shadows. He held his hands up before him as he obliged her but there was no sense of mocking in his actions. Only compliance and something tender.

It gave her strength.

She steadied herself on her feet, taking a single step back from the bars to put a little more distance between them. Before they had whisked her off to the Asgardian prisons, the red haze had not been enough to blind her from what she had done to the healing room and those who were too near to her.

"You can do this Jane," Loki promised from somewhere in the shadows.

Something stirred in them at the far end of the hall.

Their attention turned toward it.

"Can she?"

Jane froze.

The intruding voice slithered through her like the rough scales of a serpent, raising the hairs at the back of her neck. The air felt heavy in her lungs. His scarred face conjured in the darkest part of her imagination before she actually caught sight of him.

Then all at once, she did.

He stepped forward, the same towering beast from the exchange keeping close at his heels.

She could only make out one of his eyes and the dark markings along half of his face. His attention focused harshly on Loki.

Loki tensed and coiled. His right hand dipped behind him. The unadulterated revulsion that radiated from his whole body turned the atmosphere stifling.

Malekith advanced, unaffected.

"You would have had me for a fool had I not been able to see your every move." He stopped right in front of Jane, starring coldly at her.

Her jaw set. She fought against the sudden urge to fall back to the farthest corner of her cell.

Loki made a move forward. The beast stepped in his path.

"Then you know who it is you are dealing with."

Malekith unhurriedly turned toward them.

"Look into her eyes and tell me, do your failures burn you, Odinson? You are as hopeless as your ancestors before you."

Both the question and mocking title uncomfortably edged into Jane. She looked over to Loki and softly shook her head.

He missed it.

A deep sound rolled from Loki's chest, rumbling low through air and iron.

"You will know soon enough."

The threat was venomous.

Jane searched and saw the glint of a dagger in Loki's hand as the muscles of his arms tightened.

If he attacked, this battle would not be a fair one against the two terrifying opponents between them, and she was on the wrong side of it to be any help.

Her heart beat in her throat.

"Wait," she called.

Two sets of eyes turned on her then.

She swallowed, moved toward the cell wall, and held each of their gazes firmly. First the heart wrenching uncertainty in Loki's, followed by the feigned interest of Malekith.

"It's ready."

He scowled back at her claim, lips tight, the black voids that were his pupils running down over her entire body.

Chill bumps rose along her skin.

Jane wrapped her fingers around the bars at shoulder level to keep them from trembling.

"It's yours," she continued, doing her best to keep her tone free of emotion. "It's shown me everything I needed to see."

Malekith tilted his head at this. She had clearly struck him off guard. Good.

He moved toward her cell then, holding a hand up to his watchdog as he turned in an attempt to follow.

The iron bars passed through his figure as smoothly as if they had not been obstructing his path at all.

Jane took two solid steps back from him before she realized what she was doing.

He looked down over her now, not as tall as Loki but still enough so that she had to lift her chin to meet his eyes. She could only hope that hers were not giving too much away. His scarred right cheek was raw and rigid. He smelled of the desert and burnt flesh.

Jane could sense Loki's movement to her right. He had done something to set the beast off and she could see their scuffle in only flashes of green and fiery orange from the corner of her eye.

She stayed locked on Malekith. If she could hold his attention long enough, they might have a chance.

"Explain." He commanded, his accent thickening the word.

Her thoughts raced. She had not expected further questioning, only pain.

"I- I've seen what you see," she began. "It's shown it to me a few times now. Your vision," she put a dash of emphasis on the word. "It was magnificent."

It struck her with a nearly bone fracturing force when in dawned on her that her deception was only half that. Each time the universe being consumed by an all-silencing darkness filled her visions, she couldn't deny that it grew to become a more and more attractive sight.

All-consuming death. A joyous rebirth. An absolute nightmare.

Jane dropped her gaze and blinked rapidly. Out. The Aether had to come out.

The ship jolted hard.

She threw her hands out at either side to catch herself as she tumbled backwards.

Instead of hitting the ground, her feet rose from it, weightlessly suspended in the air.

The last thing she could make out was Malekith's hand held out high before him in her direction, palm facing up.

Her vision was taken from her but she could feel everything around her apart from her own body.

A heavy bang reverberated against the ground, shaking her senses. A monstrous gargled yelp. Iron pulled away from iron, screaming like nails dragged across chalkboard.

Jane's eyes flew open just as she landed hard on her knees. A devastating weakness turned her muscles to mush. Overwhelming hunger curled in her stomach. She fought to stay upright.

The bars of the cell had been blasted inward and sliced clean through, their edges still spitting dark orange sparks. Malekith's monster lay deathly still along the ground, headless. Blood pooled thick at his throat.

Loki was in the cell now, his left hand clamped down over Malekith's shoulder and the other, his dagger hand, was caught by the Accursed just beneath his wrist. His eyes were wild.

Malekith's back was to Jane. She could see the flashes of deep scarlet as the last of the Aether absorbed into his skin and trailed lazily down the veins in his neck, disappearing beneath his armor.

Fighting against the ache, she held the back of her hands out in front of her at her waist. Her skin was a ghostly white, but only soot and dried blood marked it.

She was finally free.

A quick movement stole her attention. Loki blurred, his limp body stopping with sickening finality as his back collided with the wall.

Malekith was raising his hand out toward him deliberately slow. Red liquid rose to his fingertips.

A heartbeat passed. Jane used her last bit of energy to push up off the shuddering ground.

Her right hand grabbed at her thigh. She dug the balls of her feet against rough metal.

And fell with all her weight against his back.

The blade of her dagger sank to the hilt between his shoulder blades.

Jane sank to the floor.

Malekith arched backwards, his hands shooting out to either side in a gasp of pain. He stumbled back a step, half turning to look down at her.

"You foolish child," he spat the curse.

Jane glared openly back at him.

He moved toward her.

The walls crashed to rubble all around them. Blinding light flooded the room in a wash of white. Sand-soaked winds stabbed at her skin and tossed her hair. The ground fell out from beneath them.

A scream caught in her throat.

Before it formed, she was falling.

Her hands flailed out in front of her. She fisted them in fine fabric.

Arms wound tight around her waist. Her cheek pressed down against chilled steel.

And consciousness escaped her.

Malekith's taunts were nothing. A dull pin pricking at skin. An enemy's words would never hurt him again.

It was the blue in Jane's eyes that broke something, dripping hot and coursing through his blood with ire.

Loki readied himself to defend against a first move.

But it was Jane who had made it.

He had known well that her intelligence was superior for her kind, but this echelon of cunning was new. No tells of a lie touched her face. No twitches of the eye or unsteady breaths. If he hadn't have known well her love of the universe and a few of those in it, he would have almost believed her claims too.

Malekith played right into her hands, crossing the threshold of Jane's cell, and stopping much too close to her.

The Kurse beast that had once set him free now stood in his path. In exchange for his services, Loki had pointed him directly to his father's chamber.

You might want to take the stairs on your left.

But his father still lived.

Loki scrutinized him, remembering watching from the shadows as the beast was struck hard by Thor's hammer.

"I believed you to be dead."

The monster snorted.

"I had not yet finished my mission." The words cut from his mouth in Elfish.

They hit Loki like a physical blow.

You might want to take the stairs on your left.

To a room of golden walls and open windows, high up over of the noise of the kingdom. One where his mother would take him to read out on the balcony, basking in the afternoon sun. Where his gift of magic had been practiced and fine-tuned by her wistful teachings.

Where her body was found.

He felt his features split. A new form of fury lit his core and burned his throat.

A chuckle groaned from the Kurse.

And Loki's sanity fell from its axis.

He surged forward, driving his blade toward the exposed skin under the creature's horned helmet. It struck its mark, but did not pierce.

Loki was sent sideways in the air by a bruising backhand. He rolled, tucking his shoulder against the ground and gracefully stopped in a crouch.

The ship jerked, knocking them both off balance.

Loki braced himself against the wall and risked a glance past his opponent to spot Jane suspended in air. Her head was thrown back at a harsh angle and the Aether poured out from every inch of her, pooling in the air over Malekith's outstretched hand.

The Kurse toppled backward, twisting as he fought to right himself.

Loki took advantage of it. He propelled himself from the ground, landing high on the back of the beast's shoulders. He reach down and grabbed a dark orb from the elf's belt.

A sharp 'click'.

One arm reached around to shove the grenade between sharp tusks and into the creature's mouth. In a blurred swipe, his other hand drove the dagger up through the soft skin just behind his chin. It rose deep and locked his jaw shut.

Loki used the shift in gravity to push him forward, his massive body slamming hard into the iron wall of Jane's cell.

It had not even stopped twitching along the ground yet before Loki had the monster's master in his grip. He pummeled into Malekith, tearing him away from Jane, but was met with a force much stronger than anything he had imagined.

Malekith's hold on him was solid as stone, unlike anything he had every felt before, even under Odin's wrath or Thor's amusement.

He was easily shoved back against the unforgiving metal.

Malekith swiftly advanced on him, the Aether oozing from his fingers like blood.

The wind was knocked from Loki's chest. His right hand crossed his midsection, and as he hunched forward to find air, he sensed Jane's movement.

She fell toward them, suddenly disappearing from view behind Malekith's back.

The Accursed let out a hiss of pain and drew back to strike at her.

The ship disintegrated all around them without warning.

Loki dove.

His arms encircled around her, tucking her tight against him.

He shut his eyes and conjured a safe place in his thoughts. A place tucked away, high in the mountains. A sanctuary of refuge and protection. Where he had been healed beneath the stars.

The air sped faster and then stilled.

Rocky ground materialized beneath his feet.

He bent down to lift Jane's legs over his arm as he passed through the opening of the cave and entered its serene shade.

Loki continued much farther in this time, stopping only to pick up a half-filled canteen of water before leaving behind the wide open space they'd previously shared, and instead taking to the tunnels he had explored while she'd slept.

He adjusted the hand beneath her knees and snapped his fingers. Small orbs of flame dotted high along each of the walls of the tight passageway, illuminating it in soft light.

They opened up to another cavern at the back of the cave, much smaller than at the opening, but spacious enough.

He lowered her body down along the ground, not letting go of the back of her head until his knuckles scraped against rock. His first two fingers placed pressure against the side of her throat.

They received no answering heartbeat.

A forceful exhale emptied his lungs. His eyes darted along her face.

"No…" he muttered, nearly soundless. Dread tightened his throat. "No, no he cannot win."

The flaps of her jacket were hastily shoved aside. He placed his left hand over the back of his right and pumped them down against her chest. Once. Twice. A third time.

Again, again, again.

Dark locks of hair fell into his eyes. His vision blurred. He fought to control his force.

Fingers moved back against her throat.

Nothing.

A wave of unreasoning rage swept over him. He leaned in.

"Listen to me Jane," Loki ordered harshly, "this is not how this ends."

His palms were slick when they came together. He slid them past one another, up down, up down, until they flickered blue. One pressed flat over the right side of her chest, the other at her sternum.

Electricity surged from his core, to his hands, and through to her, arching her back completely from the ground.

Her whole body shuddered, but fell lifelessly flat against stone.

"Come on, fight back!" he cursed through bared teeth, drawing his hands back and rubbing them more forcefully together. Energy crackled and snapped at the friction.

He pushed them against her again.

Sapphire light branched along Jane's torso. Her body convulsed, then went still.

His fingers clenched to fists over the fabric of her shirt.

Then her chest lifted beneath them.

It was a small thing, shallow and weak, but he had not missed it.

Loki reached for her hand. He turned it over in both of his, his thumbs placing light pressure against the light blue veins there, just above her wrist.

And he found what he so desperately needed.

As faint as her breath, her heart beat ticked softly beneath his fingers.

It calmed his own.

He turned her hand over into his and let his head fall, resting it against the back of her knuckles.

For a long time he did nothing but breathe.

Epigraph: Writing's On The Wall - Sam Smith