BOOK TWO. After being manipulated and kidnapped by Restitution, Anna + Loki narrowly escape with their lives only to be separated by Odin. Stuck on Earth with Jane Foster, Anna finds herself missing the one man she thought she would always hate.
...
KURSE, the beast accompanying Malekith, mutters something to his master that Anna cannot understand. She fights against Loki in vain, blinded by tears, as his iron-like grip keeps her arms trapped against her sides. Her mind is racing frantically for something, anything, she can do to help Thor and Jane, but she is at a loss.
Thor writhes in pain on the ground, gripping his injured wrist, as Malekith narrows his eyes at Loki before turning his attention to the blonde Asgardian on the ground. Jane clutches herself, too terrified to move, and Loki jerks Anna roughly to the side as he circles Malekith and Kurse like a wild animal circling his prey.
"Please," Anna whispers through her tears, her voice cracking with emotion. "Please, don't do this, Loki."
He squeezes her abruptly, causing her to cry out in pain, before a fresh wave of tears falls from her eyes. Anna closes her eyes and finds herself wishing this entire situation away. If only Frigga had not died. If only Loki was not so angry with Odin. If only...
A flash of cold metal brushes against Anna's palm, shocking her out of her thoughts. She barely stifles a gasp, forcing her expression to remain as broken as it is, as her mind scrambles to make sense of what is happening. Her fingers wrap around the object, and it's sharp edges tell her that it's a blade of some sort - one of Loki's daggers, no doubt. A surge of relief, joy, and anxiety overwhelms her in that instant, and she nearly forgets how to breathe. Loki's thumb brushes against her palm alongside the blade, causing her heart to skip a beat as electricity courses between them, and she curses herself inwardly for doubting him.
"Look at me," Malekith spits at Thor, kicking him so he falls onto his back once more.
Once the leader of the Dark Elves is satisfied by his captive audience, he stretches out his right hand. Jane's huddled form rises from the ground, a swirl of dust spinning around them, as Malekith lifts her into the air. Anna fidgets, wanting to rush at him - to do something - but Loki gives her an imperceptible squeeze to indicate that it is not yet time to act.
The brunette astrophysicist's body is no longer in her control as it floats into the air, arms spread, with her head tipped back. Malekith turns to face her and twists his hand to begin withdrawing the Aether from her body. Swirling red pours from her eyes, nose, mouth, chest, and stomach - the blood red and blackened substance coming as one lethal cloud above them - until the last remnants are extracted from Jane and she collapses to the ground unconscious.
"Loki," Thor cries, pushing himself off the ground. "Now!"
In that instant, Loki releases his grip on Anna to push her forward to the ground next to Jane's unconscious form and thrusts his hand forward. A green light envelopes it, and Anna watches in awe as Loki's magic reverses the illusion and causes Thor's hand reappears. Without wasting a moment, Thor stretches out his hand to call Mjölnir to him and summons a burst of white-hot lightning.
Loki follows his brother's train of thought, racing toward Anna before skidding to a halt on the ground above her so that he might position himself as a shield over her and Jane. He raises his arm to protect, and his emerald eyes wide as they meet Anna's blue ones in the moment before the lighting strikes.
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It's as if time stops around them, the fear and the chaos dissipating, while Anna looks into those green eyes. Part of her knows that she should be furious with him, upset that he lied and left her out of Thor's plan, but she can only feel a rush of love and gratitude toward this man.
Before she can say anything to him, lightning cracks overhead. Thor sends it straight into the mass of Aether swirling above them, white and red combining in a deadly maelstrom, and Anna tucks her face into Loki's chest as it explodes in a cloud of darkness with a deafening roar.
Hesitantly, Loki lowers his arm from it's place over Anna's head and raises himself up to look at her before twisting slowly to stand. The dust is settling around them, and he meets Thor's gaze just as shards of blood red glass begin to float up from the ground.
The Aether gradually reforms it's fluidity while it merges into itself until the entire mass surges toward Malekith, allowing the Dark Elf to absorb all of its power with a cry of pain and exhilaration.
They failed.
Now playing: "Devil Devil" by Milck.
***** AUTHOR'S NOTE
Can I just say that you guys are the absolute best? The Ides Of July is currently at 97.8K reads, which means...drumroll please...it might hit 100,000 reads TOMORROW!
The crazy thing? IOJ hit 10K reads exactly two months ago tomorrow!
