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Malekith threw a blow hard enough to thrust Thor completely through a rift in reality opened by the Convergence. They'd been battling for what felt to be hours though Thor knew had only been minutes -How much time had he left before all was lost? Could he stall the Dark Elf long enough to save the Nine Realms?- and his body ached from hits far more powerful than that which he was accustomed to getting from any foes. There were few who could match an Asgardian in battle; Thor had never before met any who could fight as the Dark Elf leader could.
He felt his body rolling, rolling, rolling down a rocky hill until he came to rest atop a trail that seemed well-traveled by some type of beast. Mjolnir flew into his hand, stinging his palm with the force of its arrival, and Thor raised an arm to let the hammer begin to set him in flight, once more back into the fray. There was no time to try to determine which realm he had landed in. There was only the fight to be attended to, all Nine Realms depended on him to get back to Malekith.
Thor was mid-flight when thundering hooves came pounding toward him and an arrow knicked his shoulder while he stared in wonder at the brazen maiden riding toward him as if she intended to take him down alone with her primitive weapons. The next arrow she loosed Thor deflected with an arm-guard. It ricocheted back at her though she ducked it without slowing her steed in the slightest, already notching another arrow to let fly toward him with a yell that would have done any Asgardian proud.
"Hold! I have no fight with you! My battle is not here!" he called out as he batted her arrow aside with Mjolnir, the hammer destroying the projectile into nothing more than splinters, "I am Thor of Asgard and I have come only momentarily through means of the Convergence. I leave now to return to Midgard where I am seeking to save us all."
"I've no idea what ye're on about, but I'll have ye know, we dinna take kindly to invaders---flying about!"
She had seemed to be confused for a moment while ranting at him though Thor had no reason to blame her for that. It would be unsettling for anyone from such a primitive world to see an armored man of his size flying through aid of a weapon their realm could not possibly have ever seen before. There were few outside of Asgard proper who had ever beheld the prince in flight and there were no weapons of Mjolnir's ilk that Thor could name...not unless one counted the Tesseract or the Aether though neither of those could be wielded with the same level of precision that his hammer could boast.
Thor ignored her, all too aware of how fast the time of the Convergence was passing him by, and proceeded to thrust himself up once more, seeking the rift between realities he'd fallen through before. His body flew back up the hill he'd rolled down, limbs breaking off trees as he crashed through them, and Thor concentrated all his efforts on seeking the same exact rift via which he'd passed into this realm. There was a faint shimmer which he aimed for only to feel the stunning sensation of an arrow passing completely through his hand.
Mjolnir fell from his nerveless fingers as Thor stared at the wound in fascination, feeling every ache in every muscle from every blow dealt his way by the Dark Elf lord, yet completely unable to process the fact that a wooden protuberance was now the centerpiece of his fist. It was stunning enough, shocking enough, that Thor had no sensation of himself falling even as his body plummeted to the ground below. He felt the impact of his body hitting the earth though he managed to stop himself from rolling back down the hill with his uninjured hand, grasping a tree root firmly to keep himself from sliding down the mountainside. Thor couldn't call the hammer to him with his injured hand, couldn't release the root to call it with his other hand, and could only watch in horror as the shimmering light that signified the rift between realms vanished as if it were only a trick of the light.
"No!" he shouted out in despair, heart aching, heavy and broken in his chest, as he watched the rift close completely, and he buried his face into the brush of the hillside he was dangling from to seek what comfort he could before the end came.
Silence fell as the world seemed to feel the need to mourn with Thor for all that he'd lost. He was uncertain what pain would come to them as the Dark Elf unleashed the full destructive power of the Aether upon them, but Thor hoped that it would be quick if nothing else. It seemed that it should be a fast death given how it had been explained to him by the good Dr. Erik Selvig. He waited in the silence for the end to come until a voice broke through to him from above.
"Are ye---are ye able to make it back up here? I've not hit ye any way that is fatal. Tha's not a wound would kill a boy much less a great man of whatever kind ye are. See? Look up. Look up here. I'll help ye if'n I can."
He raised his head slowly, so slowly, it hurt, ached to move anything, every part of him ached, and his eyes watered against his will as he stared up at the female warrior who'd only just been trying to kill him.
"Tha's it. There we go," she coaxed, "I'm Merida. This is my home. You said ye're Thor, is tha' right? Thor of Askgourd? Well, I'm Merida of Clan Dunbroch an' I didnae mean to do more than stop ye. Come up here, Thor. It'll all be fine. Ye'll see. Me mother, she's the queen, Elinor, she'll care for ye if'n ye can only climb a wee bit. Can ye do that for me, Thor?"
No.
Thor couldn't do that. His wounds throbbed, the feeling of the arrow piercing its way through his hand -spreading the bones apart, lacerating the muscles and flesh- had finally begun to make itself known, and Jane was lost to him forever.
The Convergence had passed by and Malekith was going to win. They only had moments, mere moments left to them, and this warrior woman could not see it, did not know, could not possibly understand.
His cheeks felt scalded as fiery tears streaked down his face against his will and Thor heard himself rasp, "My mother was a queen, too."
Thor's last thought before he let go the root holding up aloft, letting himself fall to the ground below once more without consideration for any more wounds he might sustain in the fall before the end---his last thought of anything at all was how he hoped he'd see his mother again soon.
"No!"
It was Merida who shouted the protest that time though Thor could not imagine why as unconsciousness claimed him upon his impact with the earth. Why should she mourn his injuries when she had already cost them all their lives? Had already cost him his world? What was there left to care about now in the end of it all?
Thor neither knew nor cared though he hoped that it was all quick, for his sake, for his people's, for Jane, and even for Merida who fought as bravely as any warrior under his banner.
Surely heroes of their like deserved a fast end.
Surely that was only fair.
Surely.