Archive of Our Own ^beta

"No," Loki says, not even bothering to look up from his book.

"Loki—" Thor begins again, his tone reproachful.

"No," Loki says again, and honestly Thor needs to wise up to the fact that his answer isn't going to change. "And I find this back and forth a little tiresome, don't you?"

"They're only trying to—"

Loki laughs. "Oh, I'm very much aware what they're trying to do." He looks away from his book now, squinting up at Thor. His brother looks exasperated, and tired. Thor always looks tired, though.

It's part of his new job description, Loki figures: Thor, king of the remains of Asgard, member of the Avengers team, controller of the Bifrost, God of Thunder, and brother to a wild-card of a man. Thor has so many people looking to him and the Aesir haven't even arrived on Midgard yet. It makes Loki want to do whatever he can to lighten the burden, but what Thor's asking is something he can't do.

Loki sighs and closes his book, giving up on it. "Look, Thor. I understand that you're here because your earthly allies would feel a lot safer if I was no longer in possession of this handy little trinket—" he taps his chest with his pointer finger, indicating the pendent underneath his clothing, "—but even if I wanted to hand it over, I honestly can't."

Thor opens his mouth, prepared to argue the point further, and Loki gets to his feet with a roll of his eyes. "Have the Vision or Wanda Maximoff been included in these little discussions?" he asks, cutting Thor off before his brother can begin.

Thor frowns, surprised by the question. "I—what? No, they have not. Just two days ago Vision almost lost an integral part of his being and is still on the mend; Wanda has not left his side, thus their voices on the subject have not yet been heard."

Loki smirks sardonically, and can't even find it within himself to be surprised.

Of course none of the heroic imbeciles consulted any of the three people currently on Midgard who have actually had personal contact with the powers of an Infinity Stone. Loki hadn't expected them to talk to him, of course—because despite saving all of their lives they still had a long way to go to reach trust—but he had expected them to talk to one of their allies, such as the being living with the Mind Stone in his head, perhaps?

With a quiet chuckle, Loki shakes his head. "No, of course not, why would any of you have common sense?"

Thor opens his mouth again, this time his expression affronted, but Loki doesn't give him the chance to speak. "We don't have time for this," he huffs, exasperated. "I'm not giving you the Space Stone because it claimed me, and I it. And don't we have other matters on our hands? Such as your friends on Titan and Valkyrie leading our people through the empty vacuum of space?"

Thor stares at him, his eyes going wide, and Loki goes over his words to find whatever is making his brother look like that.

"Stark and our other missing friends are on the planet Titan? And—and Valkyrie is alive?" Thor asks, breathless, and Loki frowns.

"Well, yes of course, why are—" Loki stops himself.

It clicks.

"Oh, right, yes, you didn't—ah, an oversight on my part. Before we joined, the Stone showed me the Universe around me so that I could see what everyone had to lose. It showed me Anthony Stark and Stephen Strange and a group of people I don't know on Titan, Thanos' home world. I also saw Valkyrie leading a fleet of eight escape pods from the Statesman, sixty Aesir total. And seeing as we only saved 200 people from Asgard originally that's not a bad percentage—"

Thor pulls him suddenly into a tight hug, laughing, and Loki stills in surprise.

"Loki, this is marvelous news! Come, we must tell everyone immediately!"

Loki's grumbled protests are ignored as Thor pulls him along beside him, headed for the main floor of the residence wing in Wakanda's palace.

The plan, from what Loki's gathered, is that the Avengers are going to lie low in this hidden nation until things once again calm down, and then they shall once again be on the move. Some of the members seemed to be arguing against continuing running, maybe confronting The Accords (whatever those are). But until then, everyone is staying in the king's palace.

Loki, though also staying there, has yet to venture out of his assigned quarters, past checking out Thor's. The rest of the wing is, of course, utterly beautiful, just like the entire country. And also like the entire country, it's absolutely covered in vibranium, the metal running through everything. Loki finds the substance and its uses fascinating.

"Brother, I—" Loki tries again.

Again, to no effect. "Hush," Thor interrupts with a crooked smile, squeezing his shoulder gently. "All is well! You are once again going to save lives!"

Loki wrinkles his nose. "What the Norns do you have planned?"

His tone does nothing to lessen the smile on his brother's face, and Thor doesn't even reply as they enter the large living room of the main floor.

Loki takes a look around, tracking everyone in the room on instinct. Sitting on the couches in front of the flat screen tv are Captain Rogers, the metal-armed man that defended Loki's back during the battle, Natasha Romanov, and the king of Wakanda, who Loki learned after the battle was named T'Challa.

They all glance up when the two Asgardians enter, a few eyebrows shooting up. None of the heroes are hostile with Loki anymore—considering he fought by their side and killed Thanos—but they're not yet friendly. The one or two interactions he's had with them since the battle have been mostly awkward.

"Hi, Thor. Loki. What's up?" Romanov says calmly, glancing between the pair.

"My friends!" Thor exclaims in response, a wide grin on his face. "'Tis good to see you. I come bearing news—Loki has a way to save our lost allies, as well as the surviving Aesir!"

"I'm sorry, I have what?" Loki says, simultaneous to the others' protests of surprise. Thor simply smiles through it.

"My brother has seen Tony and the sorcerer Stephen Strange on the planet Titan, as well as a group of people I believe to be Rocket and Tree's team. He has also seen—"

"Woah, woah, woah, wait," Captain Rogers interrupts, getting to his feet. "What do you mean saw?" He looks to Loki. "How did you see this?"

Loki scowls. "The Space Stone is a gateway to the entirety of the Universe. And when you wield it you can see..." he trails off, trying to think of how to describe it. He huffs out a breath. "It can also work something like a window, I suppose; you can look through many different windows and see many different parts of space. When I was working on taking the Stone from Thanos, it showed me what those I know have to lose. This included your friends on Titan."

The king tilts his head. "Can you still do it now?"

"Do what?"

A slight smile lifts the corners of the king's mouth. "Can you still look through these windows? Can you still see the events on Titan?"

Loki hesitates, and then says, "Most likely, yes." Then Thor's words from before finally make sense to Loki. You are once again going to save lives! "Also," Loki adds, lifting his chin, "I can go there and bring them back with me. It will take no more than ten minutes."

The room is dead silent at his declaration. Out of the corner of his eye, Loki sees Thor beaming. Then, the metal-armed man begins to laugh. Everyone looks to him, surprised.

"Sorry, don't mind me," he says, his grin crooked but still attractive. "It's just—I'm no longer the only crazy person trying to make amends."

Loki is really not sure whether or not he should take offense to that—he is not crazy—but when the man locks eye with him and winks, Loki simply smirks in return.

"Hey, Buck, you're not—" Rogers begins, but shuts up when the metal-armed man waves him off.

"Ah, calm down, Stevie, now's not the time for therapy." He tilts his head, turning his attention back to Loki. His gaze is critical, and though he's looking at Loki, when he speaks it's to the others. "I was there when he took the stone from Thanos, and was right next to him when he used it to kill Thanos. I don't even think this should be a discussion; if he can go to Titan and bring everyone back, why do we need to debate it? Seriously, guys, just let it happen. Not like he technically needs your permission anyway."

"I rather like you," Loki says, his tone slightly impressed.

The metal-armed man chuckles and shakes his head. "Bucky Barnes, good to meet ya." He gets to his feet and rolls his shoulders, glancing around. "So! I'm gonna get dressed and get my gun and we can head out, yeah?"

Predictably, that gets a reaction.

"Wait just a minute," Rogers says forcefully, looking between Loki and his friend. Romanov stands up. "Bucky, you have a point about letting Loki go—"

"Glad to have your approval," Loki scoffs under his breath.

"—but why does that mean you're going with him? This is a completely different planet Buck, this is traveling through space. And with a not completely reliable source." The captain glances at Loki, wincing. "No offense."

"Oh, none taken," Loki says breezily, his eyes narrowed. "It's not like I saved the entire universe a couple days ago, or anything, including all of you and your friends on Titan. But, sure. I'm not completely reliable."

"We are all very appreciative of what you did," the king says, speaking before Rogers can. He gets to his feet, meeting Loki's gaze evenly and sincerely. "Without your intervention, it is likely that we would have failed, and the loss of life would have been catastrophic. To show my gratitude—and the gratitude of my people—you, Loki, will always be welcome in Wakanda."

Loki stares at the king, his eyes wide, barely breathing. "I—" he clears his throat, squinting out the window and regaining control. He looks back to the king, squaring his shoulders. He gives a short bow, the manners Frigga instilled in him not going to complete waste. "Thank you, King T'Challa. Your nation's welcome will not be forgotten."

The king nods, a smile slipping onto his face. "Try not to murder any large groups of people, though. I think I would have to retract sanctuary if you were to do so."

"I'll try not to disappoint," Loki says dryly, and is surprised by how much he means it.

"Awesome," Barnes says, clapping his hands together. "I'm gonna get dressed—don't feel like taking my first trip to space in sweats."

This seems to draw Captain Rogers back to the topic at hand. "Bucky—"

"He should come with me," Loki says, with absolutely no idea why.

Maybe it's because he can see how badly Barnes wants to go visit another planet. Maybe it's because he can see Barnes' frustration at being constantly coddled by Rogers. Maybe it's because Barnes defended him without visible ulterior motive and had no hesitations in taking his side. Maybe it's because he likes the idea of someone actually wanting to go somewhere specifically with him.

Whatever the reason, he holds to it when everyone looks to him in varying degrees of incredulity.

"He should come," Loki repeats offhandedly, like this is some stupid matter. "It would be good to have someone watching my back, seeing as this is a planet I've never been to and there's a possibility of enemy combatants."

"Then we can choose someone—" Rogers begins stubbornly.

Loki rolls his eyes. "Alright, let me rephrase—it would be good to have someone who doesn't irritate me watching my back. Barnes is as good a choice as any. Now could we stop sitting around, please? It's been two days, Captain; your dear friends have been stuck on an alien world for two days. It's likely they're in danger. Do you really want to keep us here when we could be out there saving them?"

Rogers clenches his jaw. Romanov looks like she's resisting rolling her eyes. The king seems unbothered. Thor simply looks proud, the stupid oaf.

"Alright," Rogers says tersely after a moment, glancing between Bucky and Loki. "Alright, fine. But take someone else with you." He hesitates for barely a moment, but Loki notices it. "Someone who Tony would immediately trust when he saw. You're, well, you're you, and Bucky..." he clears his throat. Seeing the discomfort in the room, Loki raises an eyebrow. "Well, my point is just to have someone else there. Okay?"

"Sure," Barnes immediately agrees, his voice far quieter now. Only moments before he'd been so filled with life and now it's like something has pressed it down. Loki makes a mental note to inquire later; he's vaguely curious about whatever this squabble amongst the mortals is.

"Sure," Loki echoes, nodding. He smiles. "And I know the perfect person."

"I don't want to go back to space!" Bruce shouts, looking at him like he's crazy.

"Bruce," Loki begins with a winning smile.

"Don't Bruce me!" the doctor says, laughing incredulously. "I have had my fill of alien planets!"

"It's a quick trip!" Loki shoots back. "And it's a trip to save your friends, Bruce. Stark, Strange, the ones that belong to the racoon—they need rescuing, and I need someone to go with me that won't instantly antagonize them."

"Natasha could—"

Loki rolls his eyes. "Norns, Bruce, I would like to take this trip with someone who isn't waiting for me to turn on them."

"Thor—"

"If Thor and I show up with Thor defending me, Stark will just attribute it to Thor's own personal feelings," Loki argues reasonably. "Come on, Bruce; just a quick trip through a portal, oxygen will be available, you make sure Stark and company believe me enough to come back through the portal, and then you're home. Ten minutes, tops. It will go swell."

"I hate you," Bruce sighs tiredly, rubbing a hand down his face. "Fine. Fine. Let's go. Anyone else coming?"

"I am," Barnes says, entering the room. True to his word from before, he got dressed, wearing a similar outfit to the one he'd been in during the battle except this one was clean instead of covered in blood and dirt, and instead of holding that gigantic gun of his it's strapped to his back.

Bruce laughs again. "Oh, good. Bucky coming along won't make Tony upset or anything. That's a great idea."

Barnes' expression shutters and goes completely blank. Loki frowns.

"I'm certain there's some great feud here I'm missing but I don't really care what it is as long as it doesn't mean Stark will try to kill us over Barnes' presence. We don't need two out of three of us being attacked, one is definitely enough, thank you."

"Not a feud," Barnes mutters in response, crossing his arms over his chest in an upset fashion. "More like a...misunderstanding. A giant misunderstanding in which people died. Lots of people. Including my sanity. And Maria Stark. So." Loki's eyebrows shoot up. Barnes huffs a breath, something deeply sad in his eyes. "Can we go now? This is starting to spoil the whole new planet thing."

"Trust me," Bruce sighs, casting his eyes skyward, "it is not as fun as it sounds, Bucky."

Loki closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He casts his mind out, seeking Titan, seeking what the Space Stone showed him two days before. It's so easy, looking through space, because it's all him now. As Vision is the Mind Stone, Loki is the Space Stone. And it is fucking terrifying.

And there they are, that motley group of humans and aliens. Stark, Strange, and (holy fuck that's—) Nebula—the Mad Titan's daughter—are all arguing, while a young Midgardian boy stares on anxiously, a Midgardian male sits morosely on a rock kicking dirt, and a blue-red Vatarian talks nonsense with a girl of which Loki doesn't know the race. All in all, they're stuck.

"Well," Loki says, opening his eyes, "as you can see, our presence on Titan will be much appreciated."

Bruce and Barnes frown at him, confused, and a whisper in Loki's mind reminds him that he's the only one who saw what he saw. He clears his throat awkwardly.

In the past two days, Loki has avoided exploring his link with the Space Stone. Normally, he'd be over-eager to test out a newfound power, but this time is...different. This time, the newfound power is actually sentient, and this time, Loki doesn't know how much of himself is to be changed by his acceptance of the Space Stone, how much of himself is different because he's given part of his being over.

That doesn't mean that it doesn't rear its ugly head on him sometimes, though. Like this morning, when he woke up in his kitchen instead of his bed where he went to sleep, because the magic responded to some dream or another and he traveled while unconscious. Or yesterday, when he wanted to know where his brother was and between one blink and the next he could see Thor across the palace, getting something to eat.

This ancient power is part of him now, and him part of it—he can't ignore it forever and hope that his will remains solely his own. He is part of something bigger, now. Whether or not he wants to be, he made the decision, and now he has to accept it before the disconnect becomes out of control and the Stone takes steps to right him.

"They're all still there," Loki explains, "and luckily the idiots haven't spread out, so this should be relatively easy, putting aside the possibility of them attacking us, of course." He pauses, and adds, "Also, I would warn you both that there is a woman there named Nebula whom I knew when I was working for Thanos years ago—she's his daughter. Considering I'd be a hypocrite to call her our enemy, I won't."

"But you want us to be cautious of her," Bruce extrapolates.

"Precisely."

Barnes shrugs. "Sure, not like I'm a Trust Everyone kind of guy anyway." He raises his eyebrows. "Can we go now?"

Loki can't help but grin at the enthusiasm; it reminds him of himself, when he was younger. Anytime Od—his father or mother would go on trips to other realms or planets he would always want to go with them, would always want to go explore everything he could. It's what led him to discovering all of the hidden passages into and out of Asgard, his desire to see the universe, his wonder at everything new.

"Yes," Loki says, still smiling, "we can." He opens a portal with barely a thought, the Space Stone pulsing over his heart.

Loki walks forward, and Bruce and Barnes don't even hesitate to follow him through it.

Nebula is the first to notice them, when they arrive.

And thus, she is the one to attack.

More specifically, she is the one to attack Loki.

There are shouts of alarm when she darts forward—both from her allies and from his—but Loki focuses solely on the fight, and he can tell she does the same.

In his time with Thanos, Loki fought Gamora and Nebula on multiple occasions as part of all of their so-called training. Each time it was a challenge, because the two women are extremely skilled killers. Lucky enough for him, he's just as good. But it does take all his focus to avoid being murdered by a quick move on Nebula's part.

Oddly enough, Loki trusts Bruce and even Barnes to watch his back against the others present while he gives all his attention to the ferocious Nebula.

"Hel, Nebula!" Loki shouts, dodging a swing from her metal fist. "Will you calm down for five minutes?"

It is not a surprise at all when she refuses to listen to him. Gamora was always the more even-tempered, patient one of the pair.

"Stay back—!" Loki hears Barnes yell, a gunshot rings out, and then a cold hand touches the back of his neck.

He starts to jerk away, but it's too late; a quiet voice murmurs "Calm," and despite how he resists it, his limbs turn to jelly, his thoughts becoming uncoordinated. He drops to his knees, swaying.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no—! Not again, don't let Ebony Maw in, taking over my thoughts, making my body unresponsive, the Mind Stone taking my choices away, The Other ripping through my very being to make me cooperative—

"Mantis, back off!" Nebula's voice is very loud but far away, like he's hearing it through water. "Goddamit, don't do that to someone who was tortured by Thanos!"

"But he was attacking you," a squeaky voice replies, sounding confused. The hand pulls away from the back of his neck, and reality starts to flood back in.

"Technically she attacked him," someone says in response, exasperated. "Which is not, y'know, a surprise for Nebula."

"Shut it, Quill—" Nebula growls, then crouches in front of Loki. "You with me, little prince?"

Little prince. What they all called me.

Loki's eyes dart up, locking onto the sharp gaze of the woman in front of him. Sound returns to normal, his body responds to him, his thoughts are steady and clear. He glares at her, hating the shake in his hands.

"You should know better," he hisses. Because you went through the same things remains unspoken, but they both hear the words.

Nebula scowls back at him and pushes herself to her feet. She doesn't offer him a hand, and even if she had he wouldn't have accepted it. He stands on his own, brushing his clothes off.

"I didn't tell Mantis to do her thing," Nebula shoots at him, still glaring. She crosses her arms over her chest. "She saw someone fighting her friend and acted. I stopped her as soon as I could, alright?" I know how it feels, I tried to stop it.

Loki nods, accepting the apology she did not—nor would ever—say.

"What are you doing here, Loki?" the woman asks, gaze wary. She glances around, which leads Loki to do the same.

Bruce is standing with Stark, Strange, and the young human boy, glancing around nervously at everyone else. Barnes is standing a bit in front of the four almost protectively, his large gun now in his hands and pointed at the female responsible for taking Loki down. The Vatarian is sitting angrily on the ground and has a bullet wound in his thigh.

Barnes' gaze is hard and ready for action; he took down one threat and is aiming for the other, the one with powers. He, Loki realizes, is covering Loki's back.

Loki inclines his head towards the metal-armed man in thanks. Barnes offers a smirk in return, his eyes flicking over to Nebula, gun still pointed at the one with antennae. Loki has no doubt in Barnes' ability to take down both of the woman despite his divided focus.

The human male in the long maroon jacket looks severely lost.

Simultaneously, Nebula and Loki sigh.

Loki drags his gaze back to the titan's daughter. He grins. "We're the rescue party, sister dear. Would you like to get off this godawful planet?"

"Wait, sister—?" everyone seems to exclaim at the same time, save Barnes—still ready for attack—and the Vatarian, who seems to have stopped caring about the current goings on.

Nebula rolls her eyes. "Not exactly." Then her expression twists darkly, her eyes sad. "Well, you were as much my brother as Gamora was my sister, I suppose. Seems you, little prince, are all I have left."

Loki already knew that Gamora is dead—the Space Stone had shown him this team's mourning—but being confronted with it makes Loki far sadder than he'd thought he would be upon learning such a thing.

She was never actually his sister, nor was Nebula, but...well, they spent a lot of time together. They all underwent the same tortures, the same training, the same battles, the same oppressive ruler above them. They were all called My Child by the Mad Titan, no matter their personal feelings towards the man, and they all carried out his wishes. They cleaned each other up after battles and watched impassively as The Other and Ebony Maw tore into each of their minds. They felt no sympathy towards each other's plights but they also didn't sell each other out when a fault was revealed.

They weren't truly his siblings, but at a technical level...neither is Thor.

And now Gamora is dead.

"I am sorry she's dead," Loki says quietly. There is so much more he could say, but none of it feels quite right, or appropriate. If there was one thing he and Nebula always agreed on, it was that emotions do not need to be discussed.

Nebula nods sharply. "We all are." She rolls her neck. "You were saying something about a rescue?"

"Yes," Loki says with a winning smile, pulling the conversation back to lighter topics. "It seems you all are quite stranded here, thought we'd pop by and pick you up. There's a racoon and a Flora Colossus hoping to see your little group again. And the Avengers are keen to have you back," he adds, nodding to Stark and the human boy the inventor is standing slightly in front of.

"And we're supposed to believe they sent you?" Stark asks incredulously. His eyes flick also to Barnes, almost involuntarily.

Loki looks at Bruce, raising an eyebrow. "Have you just been standing there this entire time? Did you not start to explain?"

Bruce looks just as exasperated as Loki feels. "Tony isn't exactly easy to reason with sometimes!"

"Hey—!" the inventor objects. Behind him, the boy is looking at Loki with wide, curious eyes. Loki meets the kid's gaze and gives a little sarcastic wave. Stark tenses. "Don't you talk to him, Jafar, eyes forward." He glances over his shoulder. "You, too, kid."

"Oh my god," Nebula mutters under her breath. Loki nods in commiseration.

"Okay, I don't know what their problem is," the Midgardian in the maroon jacket says, stepping forward, "but I very much would like to take the free ride home. Something's wrong with my ship so we've been stuck here and it would be great to get off this planet with whatever voodoo you just used to get here in the first place. So they can stay here and pout if they like, but I'll definitely take you at your vaguely villainous word."

Loki blinks, and then turns to Nebula. She sighs.

"Yes, Quill always talks like that."

Having had enough of all the bickering, Loki opens a portal. Half of the group jumps in surprise. Stark and Nebula stare at the portal with wide eyes. Strange, oddly enough, doesn't looked shocked in the slightest.

"Is that—?" Stark begins, sputtering.

"That's the Space Stone," Nebula says slowly, her eyes narrowing. "How do you have the Space Stone?"

Loki gives the portal a double-take in mock surprise. "Is it now? Oh my. Well, that must've happened when I took the Space Stone from Thanos' gauntlet and used it to cut his head off."

The stares he receives are pure shock. Strange lets out a slow breath, like a giant weight has lifted. Bruce smiles. Barnes looks amused and lowers his gun. Loki can't help but smirk.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that?" he asks, offhand. "Thanos is dead. I, for clarification, was the one to kill him. Now, shall we?" he gestures towards the portal. Keeping it open is as easy as breathing.

"You killed Thanos?" the man Nebula called Quill asks on a breath. His expression is one Loki can't quite identify, somewhere between distraught and incredulous and relieved. "The big, purple grape that kicked all our asses?"

Loki glances at Bruce and Barnes, raising an eyebrow. "I do believe I said that twice, yes. Am I mistaken?"

"Quite correct actually," Barnes says, smirking. "Maybe he's got something in his ears—dunno, something to check out."

Loki smiles in return, delighted by the engagement. Bruce sighs in exasperation, giving Loki a look.

"What the hell," Stark mutters under his breath. He rubs a hand down his face, his eyes still a little wide. "You actually. He's. And you..." A giggle passes the inventor's lips, slightly hysterical. Then he suddenly zeroes in on Strange, his jaw dropping. "Holy shit."

Strange gives Stark a smile, more than a touch smug. "I told you there was one path where we win, Stark. If I didn't give Thanos the Time Stone then he never would've left here to go to Earth, Loki never would've recognized his connection and taken the Space Stone, and thus Thanos would not have died."

"For fuck's sake," Nebula scowls, "can we discuss this on Terra please? I don't see why we need to spend another goddamn moment on this stupid planet."

She strides forward towards the waiting portal. When she reaches Loki she stops, staring forward with her jaw clenched and not looking at him. "Good job," she mutters before taking the last few steps to Midgard. Loki knows that's the biggest Thank You he's going to get from her.

"Hear, hear!" the Vatarian with the bullet wound cheers heartily, reminding Loki of Volstagg. He struggles for a moment to stand up, and with a put-upon sigh, the human Quill helps him to his feet with a grunt. They begin hobbling forward. The woman with antennae follows quickly after, and Loki has to force himself not to tense or move away as she passes him.

"Well," Bruce sighs, "that went well, all things considered." He glances between Stark and Barnes, his gaze slightly anxious, and then nudges Stark towards the portal. "C'mon, Tony; let's go home."

"Right, yeah," Stark replies absently, looking around but not really at anyone. He briefly meets Loki's eyes, his stare hard, but then he sighs and begins walking towards the portal. "Thanks, Merlin. For, y'know." He waves a hand through the air.

"For saving everyone in the universe?" Loki prompts. "You're very welcome, Stark."

Bruce and Strange roll their eyes. The kid chuckles, and Loki takes a small amount of satisfaction from making Stark's child laugh.

As they're heading for the portal, the kid offers Loki his hand. "Hi! I'm Peterman. Wait, uh, Spiderparker." His cheeks flame, his eyes going a little wide. "Um, My name's Peter Parker. Or Spiderman. Hi."

Loki smiles, deeply amused and even a little endeared. He takes the kid's hand and—in the Midgardian fashion—shakes it. "Loki Odinson, of Asgard."

The boy nods, smiling back. As they step through the portal, the child doesn't even look around, still focused on Loki. "Aren't you like...a bad guy, though? Or something?"

Loki contemplates, tilting his head. "It varies," he settles on.

"So like...on a scale from one to ten—ten being the worst evil imaginable, like...like killing puppies, and one being I'll stick out my foot to trip you—where are you right now? As like a...a general mood."

"...Maybe a three?"

The kid gives him a thumbs up and a beaming smile. "Cool. Let me know if it gets above a six."

From further down the hall Stark calls the boy's name, and after a quick "Bye, Mr. Loki!" the kid jogs after his not-father.

For a moment Loki stares after him, blinking. Well I rather like him, the god considers with a slight smile, then turns to seek his brother.

There's some shouting between Stark and Rogers when they go into an isolated room, but Loki pays it no mind.

It has something to do with betrayal, and trust, and Barnes even—which makes Loki vaguely curious—but all it really amounts to is the two of them engaging in what could either be hate sex or passionate make-up sex. Seeing as they don't make an appearance until late that night, Loki doesn't get a chance to snarkily ask, but Romanov and the rest of the Avengers seem pleased so he figures it's probably the latter.

While all of that is going on, Thor hasn't stopped grinning (and not just because of his teammates making up). Loki feels like his brother mentions Loki's good deed to everyone they pass, and while Loki very much loves his brother's attention (not that he'd ever admit it to Thor or anyone), it's starting to become a bit much. If he didn't know any better, Loki would think Thor is trying to convince everyone that he's really an ally.

If Loki saving everyone and then rescuing their friends doesn't proclaim that's he's not an enemy, nothing Thor says will.

Loki manages to slip away from his brother—and the assessing gaze of Romanov, who has oddly spent the afternoon hanging around them—wandering the palace. He gets some strange looks from the Wakandans, but no one tries to stop him or question his presence, so Loki figures that the king was serious when he said Loki will always be welcome in Wakanda.

Loki most certainly is not choked up.

After a bit, Loki finds himself back in the Residence Wing, but he doesn't head towards his room or Thor's. There's something he needs to do, something he needs to see, and if he closes his eyes and concentrates, he finds that he knows the way there.

When he knocks, the door is answered by Wanda.

Her long auburn hair is pulled back into a messy bun and she's wearing a comfortable set of PJ pants and a sweatshirt. She looks tired, her eyelids drooping; Loki wonders if she's slept at all the last two days. He makes a mental note to ensure she gets a full eight hours this night.

Not quite what he was expecting, Wanda smiles. "Loki, it's good to see you. Come in." She steps to the side, waving him inside. He does as instructed and notices that she's wearing fuzzy animal slippers, like those made for a child. His lips quirk.

Following his gaze, Wanda laughs under her breath. "Shuri stopped by yesterday with a million fuzzy things; she demanded that we rest in comfort, and would not take no as an answer." She smiles. "They are ridiculous, and extremely soft."

"You look radiant," Loki says in response, because his mother raised him well.

Wanda shakes her head, but she's still smiling, so Loki counts it as a win.

"Did you come to see Vis?" she asks. She glances over her shoulder to a cracked door, presumably the bedroom if it mirrors the layout of his rooms.

Loki nods. "Yes, I wanted to check in on him. Both of you, really. You and he...well, you went under something quite traumatic only days ago, and you've remained in here since, for good reason. I simply wished to...ensure your contentment. For the safety of the Stone, of course."

Wanda shakes her head again, smile growing slightly. "Of course. For the Stone."

Loki opens his mouth, and then closes it again, no words coming out. Wanda's smile softens, and she reaches out, taking his hand. His eyes widen briefly before he regains control of himself, clearing his throat.

"Thank you for coming by, Loki. Vision mentioned wanting to see you, actually. But he's still..." A furrow forms between her eyebrows. "He came so close to losing the Stone, such a large part of him. It's been reconnected good as new, but it was still..." She sighs, looking up at him. "Traumatic, like you said. He's doing a lot of 'inner-work' to make sure there's nothing wrong."

Now, Loki has never been excellent at comforting people. Faking emotions, mirroring them—he's never had any trouble. But when it came to actually offering someone real words of comfort, he always managed to fall flat. His mother once told him that he struggled with others' vulnerability because he hated being vulnerable himself.

His mother was always far too perceptive when it came to him.

He squares his shoulders, and squeezes Wanda's hand. "He will be alright, and so will you. The Stone is a part of his very being, and his connection to its abilities will always be as simple as breathing. He'll see that soon."

I should know, he thinks wryly, I've got my own Infinity Stone riding shotgun now.

Wanda tilts her head. "And you, Loki? Are you alright? There's something different."

"He's accepted the Space Stone," the Vision says, drawing both Loki and Wanda to look to the now-open bedroom door. Vision looks tired as well, wearing fuzzy pajamas like Wanda, but there's something calm in his eyes, something settled that wasn't there the last time Loki saw the being. "It's part of him now, just like this entity—" he gestures to the Mind Stone, "—is part of me."

Wanda's eyes go wide, looking Loki over like she could somehow see the connection.

Loki offers Vision a tired smile, which the man returns.

"In order to take it from Thanos, I had to sacrifice a piece of myself to it. I'm still...figuring out quite what that means."

"You're afraid," Vision observes, and Loki goes rigid. Vision shakes his head. "I do not mean to offend; it is logical to be afraid of allowing an ancient power into your very being. But fearing it will only hurt you, Loki—you've accepted its claim on you, and so now you mustn't resent or resist."

Loki knows that. He does, really. But these last few years Loki has gone through a lot, a lot of which included losing some piece of himself to a higher power (his Aesir identity to Odin, his beliefs about the Nine to Thanos, his freedom of movement to En Dwi Gast), so he's struggling with voluntarily doing it again. He's worried what it will mean for him, what it will change.

"I know," he says quietly. "I've been locking it away but...I know. If I don't the Stone is likely to take steps to right me."

"And as entertaining as that would be to all of us..." Wanda adds dryly, "I have a feeling that would not end well."

"If you ever need anything in relation, I have some experience being held to the standard of an Infinity Stone," the Vision tells him gently. "I could always help."

"Right," Loki says awkwardly, glancing around. Sensing that he's reached the end of his feelings rope, Wanda releases his hand. Something strikes Loki. "Actually, there is something you could do..."

Dinner that night is a funny affair.

The presence of Loki in itself leads to some awkwardness around the heroes—though a majority of them are making a truly valiant effort with him, so kudos to them—but adding in Stark seems to have stilted conversation even more.

He keeps sending Barnes looks, like he can't decide whether or not he wants to chug a bottle of scotch or punch the metal-armed man. And the tension between Stark and Rogers is frankly hilarious, considering the fact that they just spent eight hours locked in a bedroom together. They still have a lot of issues to work out, that much is obvious, but equally obvious is how much they love each other.

It's gross, and hysterical, and adds even further to the awkward atmosphere.

Plus there's a couple random aliens around the giant living room where they're eating, which always requires an adjustment period for those not used to simply meeting different races of beings.

Sitting on the couch to Loki's left is Thor, shoveling down food like his life depends on it. To his right is Vision and Wanda, eating with far more decorum. The room is fairly large, giving everyone a far amount of room with still a couple couches to spare. Loki, upon entering, made sure to choose a location where his back wouldn't be to anyone. He knows it's highly unlikely that someone is going to attack him, but it's an old instinct that he doesn't feel the need to get rid of.

One couch away, he sees Romanov doing the same.

"We need to discuss what to do with the Stones," Vision says, quite suddenly. His voice cuts through all the conversations and the room falls silent.

Rogers straightens, immediately sliding out of the comfortable slouch he had with Stark and into his role as Team Leader. "Of course, Vision. We started talking about it the other day, actually, but we didn't want to disturb you—"

"This conversation very much pertains to me," Vision replies, his tone one of utter confusion. Loki struggles to keep a straight face. "How could you discuss something that resides in my head without my presence?"

Rogers shifts. Loki sees Romanov raise an eyebrow at Vision. "Right. Well." He takes a breath. "You're right, Vision, we shouldn't have. But now that we're all here—" he glances around at everyone, "—we can have a full discussion over it. Sound good?"

Every nods or murmurs their agreement. Loki sits back, watchful and ready to play his part.

"Great," Rogers says, smiling. "So, of course, we don't have to worry about the Mind Stone; it's a part of Vision and there's no reason to try and undo that when it's safe with him. All agreed?"

No one speaks against that, a few people nodding along. Loki sees the racoon, Flora Colossus, and Vatarian paying zero attention to the topic at hand. The racoon even seems to be attempting to measure Barnes' metal arm.

"Great," Rogers says again. "That leaves us with five stones."

Loki sees Strange opening his mouth, and beats the man to it.

"The Time Stone should be returned to Doctor Strange," he says, nodding towards the sorcerer.

Everyone looks to him in varying degrees of surprise, a few even with some suspicion. He raises an eyebrow, shrugging. "What? He's a capable sorcerer, has the backing of various other magic-users here on Midgard to aid in the Stone's protection, and has thus far protected the Stone well." He glances at Strange. "Well, save actually giving Thanos the Stone, but that was to the ultimate goal of killing him, so I think it can be excused."

"And what do you personally get out of it?" the one called Falcon asks. His eyes are narrowed but oddly enough his tone isn't accusatory.

Loki rolls his eyes. "Nothing. It's not like Strange and I are friends. He's not going to loan me the Time Stone." Strange smiles tightly at him, clearly sharing the sentiment. "Nor do I even want that temperamental thing. I get nothing personally. In a general sense, I get the feeling of safety that comes with knowing that someone who understands how the Stone works and is at least vaguely competent is in charge of protecting it."

"Thanks," Strange says dryly.

"You're welcome," Loki replies, completely sincere, with a flash of teeth.

"I agree," Vision says, nodding to Strange. "He is the Time Stone Keeper, and should remain so."

"...Okay," Rogers says slowly, glancing between the two magic-users and his teammate. "Any objections to returning the Time Stone to Doctor Strange?"

A couple people look at Loki, but no one voices any dissenting opinions. Loki even hears someone mutter, "What the hell, give the wizard the Stone."

"Well, that's two down then," Rogers says, sounding pleased and strong and leader-y. Loki glances at Stark and sees the inventor struggling to not have his emotions about the captain plain as day. (He mostly fails.)

"Three down, actually," Wanda says, and Loki holds his breath.

"What do you mean, Wondergirl?" Stark asks, frowning at her.

Wanda nods towards Loki. "Loki holds the Space Stone. It will remain safe there."

For a moment, everyone is dead silent. Loki blinks at Wanda as if surprised. Nebula looks up from her plate, which she had been staring very heavily at for the beginning of this conversation.

"Uh, Wanda," Rogers begins hesitantly, looking around as if seeking help. Next to Loki, Thor straightens, his eyes narrowing. Loki contains his smirk as Thor prepares to defend his honor, or whatever it is his brother thinks he's doing when he gets the impression that Loki is being put down.

"It's just that—" Rogers tries again, seeming as if he's trying very hard not to look at either Thor or Loki, despite his gaze only being one person to Loki's right.

"No, Wanda is right," Vision interrupts, drawing the room's attention to him. "If you wouldn't argue to take the Mind Stone from me, you have no cause of argument for taking the Space Stone from Loki."

"That's not the same thing," Romanov argues calmly, though her gaze is assessing. She knows something is going on, she just hasn't figured it out yet. She's still leagues ahead of the rest of them, though. "The Mind Stone is a literal part of you, Vision."

"And the Space Stone is now a part of Loki!" Vision shoots right back.

Time for Loki's role. He gives Vision a sharp look. "Vision," he says, quiet and tense, "don't."

Everyone seems to straighten, zeroing in on what the Trickster God apparently doesn't want them to know.

Vision sighs, giving Loki an apologetic look. "I apologize, but these facts must be shared. I can see what's going on within you clear as day, and they must know all the facts."

Until this moment, Loki hadn't been sure whether or not Vision would follow through with the plan. He'd been even less sure of Vision's acting abilities if the man did play his part. But Vision is perfect, every emotion perfectly real, no clear tells of the small deception he is participating in. Wanda, at his side, is equally perfect.

It was quite easy to get them to agree to trick their teammates and friends. Normally Loki would attribute that to his silver tongue, but in this case the pair seemed to genuinely believe in this course of action. It's very satisfying, having two heroes agree to deceive their teammates. Technically, neither of them has to lie, just frame the story differently.

Loki clenches his jaw, looking away from the pair.

"What's going on?" Rogers asks, just short of a demand.

"You remember after the battle when Loki told us all how he used his connection to the Space Stone to take it from Thanos?" Vision prompts, waiting for the nods, which he readily gets. Everyone is enraptured, waiting for whatever Vision is going to reveal.

Loki looks down, his elbows braced on his thighs, his hands clenched.

"Well it wasn't as simple as that," Vision continues.

"Of course not," Stark scoffs, rolling his eyes. "It never is with Loki. What deal did he make? What did he give up?"

"Himself," Vision says quietly, and the breath goes out of Loki's lungs in a real reaction.

"What do you mean by that?" Bruce prompts, his tone firm and even a little worried. Loki is almost touched.

"The Infinity Stones are ancient, almost sentient entities. Loki was a Stone Keeper in the past and thus had a connection to it, but a connection is not enough to take the Stone straight from the gauntlet on Thanos' hand. Loki tried, but in order to take the Stone—in order to save us—he had to accept the Stone into him, he had to allow the Stone to claim part of him. Loki gave up some of his autonomy and free will for the rest of his life."

Loki fights to keep his reactions purely fake, but the shaking of his hands is all too real. He folds them together in an attempt to stop it.

Loki gave up some of his autonomy and free will for the rest of his life. Norns, he truly did.

"That is why you cannot take the Stone from him, Steven. You can put it somewhere far away if you wish, but it will always be a part of him, and the separation would hurt him. His destiny is bound to it now, and it would be foolish to separate them." Loki looks up, meeting Vision's even gaze. "He will protect that Stone until his last dying breath from those who would try to use it. If you want to put the Space Stone somewhere safe, you've found the best location."

A feather could touch the floor in that moment, and they would all be able to hear it. The silence was near unbearable.

"Loki?" Thor says in that quiet, worried rumble of his.

Loki takes a deep breath and looks around, not quite meeting anyone's eyes. "I don't want it," he says, his words ringing truth. "I don't. Not anymore. I..."

He doesn't quite have the best track record with honesty, especially concerning his own thoughts and feelings. Ever since he was a child he struggled to communicate about himself. When he was sick or sad or angry or hurt—he always covered it up with other things, much to the chagrin of his mother, who only ever wanted him to be able to open up and be happy.

He clears his throat, rolling his shoulders. "I hesitated, when I learned what I had to do to get it from Thanos," he admits. "I knew it would mean giving over part of myself, would mean answering to this entity I would never be able to get rid of, and so I hesitated, even with the entire universe on the line." He smiles bitterly. "I'm new to this hero thing." He shakes his head. "But I did it, and now..."

He falls silent. The room stays silent with him.

Taking a deep breath, Loki looks up, meeting Rogers' gaze firmly. "Vision is right—the Stone will be safe with me, and I will defend it with my life." He pauses, smiling a little wryly. "It helps that my life is tied to it, of course, but that's not all it is."

Another silence. Usually, Loki is a fan. In this scenario? Not so much.

"That works for me," Romanov says. Loki looks to her in surprise. She raises an eyebrow at him, smirking. "What? You all made good points. Plus," she adds, glancing at her teammates, "he did kill Thanos, and then save Tony, so I feel like we can cut him a bit of a break."

Her posture and tone remain relaxed and open, but there's something briefly hard in her eyes when she looks at Loki. It's quick enough that if Loki was of a lesser intelligence he'd think he imagined it, and no one else seems to notice, but he knows it happened. And he knows it's a warning.

He inclines his head in return, a smirk tugging at his lips.

"Alright then," Rogers says decisively. "Any objections to this course of action?"

Loki prepares for the cries of outrage. But no one says a word.

Thor grins and clasps a hand on Loki's shoulder. Loki contains a wince. "Well decided, my friends!"

"Three stones to go," Loki says. He shrugs off Thor's hand but sends his brother a thankful look as to not offend. Thor beams in reply.

He wasn't lying when he told them all he didn't want the Stone, didn't want this connection he now has, but Loki can't deny the full-bodied relief he is feeling now that he knows they aren't going to attempt to take it from him. He doesn't even know what he would do, if they tried. The idea of the Stone being separated from him is...unimaginable.

Loki glances around and finds Strange watching him. He raises an eyebrow, prompting Strange to smile and salute him with his cup of a fizzing drink. Slightly surprised, Loki mirrors the gesture with his own glass.

"I would suggest returning the Power Stone to the Nova Core," Nebula says, looking skyward, "but Thanos kind of blew it up. The remains of the Core are definitely not strong enough to protect it."

"We could hold it here," King T'Challa says thoughtfully. "The vibranium everywhere would disrupt any technology possibly searching for the Stone, and Wakanda itself is an extremely well-defended country in case of attack." He smiles. "You should know; you came here for help, after all."

"That's a good idea," Stark agrees, Rogers nodding along.

"Four stones down," Bruce says, pleased. Everyone seems to share the feeling, some of the anxiety leaving and allowing tense shoulders to loosen.

"Alright, what do we do about the Reality Stone?" Romanov prompts.

Silence falls again, everyone thinking.

Nebula looks to Thor and Loki. "Why not the vault in Asgard?" she asks. "That place is extremely secure. I'd say we could even put both of the last two Stones there."

Loki feels bile rise in his throat, a pit settling in his stomach. Thor's content expression falls, his eyes sad and far away. Half the group looks to them as well, the fate of Asgard not having reached them yet.

"Asgard was destroyed," Thor says dully. "Hela killed half our people, then Surtur came and Ragnarok fell. And then Thanos slaughtered a majority of the survivors, and the rest of our people are being led through the void by Valkyrie."

"I only understood about half of those terms," the Falcon mutters to Colonel Rhodes.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Nebula says quietly, looking at the pair of brothers.

Her eyes briefly meet Loki's and he knows exactly what's going through her mind: none of Thanos' children have actual homes to go back to.

Back when Loki served under Thanos, he had an entire world waiting for him. His parents, Thor, even Heimdall and the people of Asgard. And even now, he still has Thor while Nebula has no one. He knows she doesn't feel good about it, but he knows that she's feeling a bit of vicious pleasure that he's one step closer to being on her level, one step closer to having no one but the other children of the Mad Titan.

Loki can't even fault her that feeling. If their roles were reversed, he would be thinking the exact same thing.

"Where else?" Rogers prompts, trying to draw everyone out of the gloom that had settled with Thor's proclamation.

Loki's gaze once again meets Strange's, and an idea seems to pass between them.

"Yes, that could work," Loki murmurs, nodding.

Strange, nodding with him, says, "It would take us a minute, but it's definitely possible."

"We'd need—"

"—some consecrated ground and—"

"—the presence of another Stone, plus—"

"—a place where the barrier was weakest would help—"

"—not to mention-"

"—a third constant," they finish together, and smile at each other in satisfaction.

On Asgard, magic-users were few and far in between. It made talking to another person about his spells and ideas very challenging since most—including Thor—didn't really have a clue where he was coming from. His mother and Lorelei had always been different since they were powerful themselves, but it's been a very long time since he'd been able to communicate so easily about a magical issue. Considering they're on Midgard, it's highly refreshing.

"...Is this the part where we tell them to get a room?" Stark comments after no one else says anything.

"Uh, guys?" Rogers says exasperatedly, "Mind filling the rest of us in?"

Loki glances around at the dumbfounded expressions surrounding him and Strange, and snorts a laugh. The sorcerer makes a similar sound, rolling his eyes.

"When the Convergence took place five years ago," Loki begins, "Jane Foster passed through just the right spot where the worldly barriers were weakest, and thus ended up in a hidden cavern where the Reality Stone was locked away. When she re-entered Midgard, she brought the Reality Stone out with her and back to our accessible universe. Theoretically, we could put it back in that cavern, where it would only then be able to be reached during the next convergence—five thousand years from now—or with both of us—" he gestures to Strange and himself, "—present."

"It will take us some time to gather all of the things we would need," Strange continues, "and we'll need a third magic-wielder to really stabilize the spell—threes are always better than twos—but we can probably do it. And it will be perfectly locked away."

"Completely inaccessible?" Stark asks, leaning forward with the hungry gaze of an intellect who wished to know more.

Loki and Strange both nod. "Unless a convergence is taking place or both Dr. Strange and I are present to open it, the Reality Stone will remain in its cage."

"That's fantastic," Bruce says with a grin. "How long until you can do it? What kinds of things do you need?"

Loki and Strange share another glance. "We'll figure out the specifics and get back to you," Strange says slowly, and Loki hums his agreement.

Rogers looks briefly like he wants to press for more information, but when faced with a probable win, he lets it slide for later. "Great, guys, that's awesome. Everyone good with that?"

No objections are made, and people start to smile, almost giddy with the idea of success.

"Only one left—the Soul Stone," Romanov says, satisfaction in her tone.

"Any way to smash it into a million pieces?" Quill mutters, glaring at the floor.

Nebula sighs heavily. "It won't bring her back, so shut up and let us figure out what to do."

"Did Gamora die for the Stone?" Loki asks quietly, watching the pair intently.

It's obvious that this Midgardian male was in love with the green assassin while she lived, and is still deep in his grieving period. Because of this, Loki turns his attention to Nebula—she might be grieving as well, but he can trust her to act rationally in the face of it.

"Gamora knew where the Soul Stone was," Nebula replies, her voices perfectly even, "and she burned the map so that no one else would know. But Thanos—" she looks away. "He was going to torture and kill me, so she told him where to go. They left for Vormir together. He came back with the Soul Stone, and she didn't. Then Mantis sensed his mourning."

"Vormir," Loki murmurs, marveling. "Helgantar System? That's where it was all this time?" He shakes his head ruefully.

While masquerading as Odin and ruling over Asgard, Loki had searched for the Soul Stone. Not personally—he had to remain on Asgard—but he sent out warriors to scour the galaxy. He'd known that it wouldn't be long before Thanos began seeking all the Stones in earnest, and he had wanted to get it first. He'd been completely unsuccessful in his searching.

There's something satisfying in the fact that at least Thanos didn't best him in that area. Gamora did, but that doesn't sting nearly as much.

"Well, we can always take it back to—what was it?—Vormir," Stark says. "Clearly it's been safe there from detection for years upon years, don't see why it can't be again."

Loki nods. "I can take us there, put it back wherever it was hidden on the planet. Considering no one but the people in this room know the location, it should remain secret." Some people nod, no one objects. Loki rolls his shoulders, releasing some of the tension there.

"Six Stones down," Rogers says on a breath. A grin tugs at his lips, a yawn following soon after. Almost as soon as he does it, tiredness seems to hit everyone; it's late, almost two in the morning, and everyone is still adjusting to not having a giant threat looming over their shoulders. A solid eight hours will do everyone some good.

Loki knows he will not be getting that much.

One by one, two by two, the group starts to dwindle as everyone heads off to bed. Next to Loki, Thor falls asleep right where he sits, and with a roll of his eyes Loki transports his brother into the elder's bed.

When Vision and Wanda get up to leave, Loki catches Vision's eye and inclines his head in thanks. Vision smiles in return, flicking his hand in a It's Nothing gesture. The Stonekeeper hugs Wanda against his side, and Loki tilts his head towards her with a heavy look. When Vision nods, he knows the being gets the idea—that girl needs a full night's sleep desperately.

Loki doesn't have any particular desire to stay awake, but he also isn't tired, and his dreams have never been kind to him even if he were. Remaining in the room with him, looking as equally reluctant to head to bed, are Nebula, Barnes, and Romanov. Loki wonders briefly where the young Mr. Parker ended up, seeing as he wasn't at dinner, but he dismisses the thought as unimportant for the moment.

None of them speak, all of them content in the silence, but there's something Loki is curious about.

"Nebula," he calls, getting the woman's attention, along with that of the two Midgardians. "Why kill her?"

She furrows her brow. "What?"

"Gamora," he explains. "Thanos—why did he kill her?"

Nebula's expression is incredulous. "Because he was insane? Because he was a megalomaniacal psychopath with a god complex the size of Terra? Because he never loved anyone or anything and saw her as his property to do whatever he wanted with?"

"I mean, sure," Loki says, looking skyward. "But I spent a good amount of time around them—he always favored her, no matter what any of the rest of us did. He wouldn't've just...killed her. Torture? Yes. Punishment? Like none but us could even imagine. But killing her? For no reason? After she just got him the Soul Stone? No, that doesn't fit."

Nebula scowls at him, barring her teeth, but he can see something thoughtful in her eyes as she considers. "So...what? You think she isn't dead?"

Loki winces. "I wouldn't go that far. But I don't think he just killed her. There was a reason. And I'm very curious to figure it out."

The next morning, the group going to Vormir gathers.

Loki doesn't much care about who is chosen, but they seem to have put much care into deciding. Romanov, Wanda, King T'Challa, and Strange all meet him down in the field where he spent the last couple hours, Strange once again wearing the Time Stone around his neck under his everyday clothes.

They all seem to want to say something when Nebula arrives and declares that she's coming with a challenging tilt to her chin, but none of them try.

Briefly, Loki is surprised that neither Rogers nor Stark are going, but Romanov snorts and explains that they're working through some things. Loki has no further questions after that.

"So how does this work?" Wanda asks curiously. She looks better, more energized; clearly she slept well, and now that she has a mission she's far calmer, focusing on a small goal. He's slightly surprised that she's left the Vision's side, but he refuses to comment on it because he thinks it's good for her to get out for a bit.

"How does what work?" Loki asks absently, looking around. Wakanda is truly beautiful. It's no Asgard, but so far what he's seen of this country is the closest Midgard has come to the sheer beauty of the Realm Eternal.

"You taking us to Vormir," Wanda clarifies. "How does using the Space Stone work? Do you have to—"

Loki closes his eyes, picturing the cliffs the Space Stone showed him days before even though he's never been there, and interrupts Wanda by opening a portal right behind him. Her eyes go wide.

"Like that," Loki says, feeling a tad smug. "Easy as breathing."

"Oh," she says faintly, staring at the portal in wonder.

"That is incredible," King T'Challa comments, examining the portal curiously. He glances at the group around him. "Shall we, then?"

Loki nods, and leads the way through the portal. Romanov follows right behind him, the vibranium case in her hands containing the pulsing Soul Stone. Loki wonders, briefly, if they can all feel the hum coming from within the box, or if that's just his new awareness when it comes to the Stones.

They all walk through the portal, and Loki takes an immediate step to the side and back, not liking how close to the edge of a cliff they've found themselves. The others follow suit, King T'Challa even laughing slightly as he ensures he doesn't go tumbling down into the waiting rocks and water below.

"This is where Thanos got the Soul Stone," Loki says. He speaks quietly, because there's something about this place the demands reverence.

Strange looks around exaggeratedly, raising his eyebrows at Loki, and says, "Where, exactly?" He, too, speaks quietly.

Loki scowls at him and opens his mouth to shoot back 'How am I supposed to know?', but before he can, a figure in a black cloak appears. They all stand quickly to attention, ready for whatever may come.

"It has been a long while since someone brought that object to this place," the being says, his accent strangely reminiscent of Midgardian German. "And never before have two Stonekeepers been here together."

The figure raises his head, greeting them all with a red skull for a face, his gaze haunted and tired.

"Welcome, Loki, son of Odin. Wanda, daughter of Erik. Stephen, son of Eugene. Natasha, daughter of Ivan. T'Challa, son of T'Chaka. Nebula, daughter of Thanos."

"How do you know us?" Nebula demands, her hand itching towards the knife at her belt. Loki subtly shakes his head at her.

"It is my curse to know all who journey here," the being tells them. "I guard the home of the Soul Stone, and guide those who seek it to this place." He gestures around them, and then looks to Romanov. "And yet you return the Stone, after Thanos paid the price to take it."

Paid the price.

"If it's your job to guard it," Loki says slowly, working things through, "why did you let Thanos take the Soul Stone?"

"Any who are willing to make the sacrifice gain the Stone. It is not my job to deny the Soul what it wishes, only to make its wishes known."

"And what are its wishes?" Romanov asks, tilting her head.

The being smiles, and it is a ghostly sight. "Soul holds a special place among the Infinity Stones. You might say it has a certain...wisdom. To ensure that whoever possesses it understands its power, the Stone demands a sacrifice. In order to take it you must lose that which you love. A soul...for a soul."

He sacrificed Gamora.

"Thanos sacrificed Gamora," Loki murmurs. "The only person the Mad Titan ever loved. He traded her life for the Soul Stone."

The being nods. Nebula lets out a feral scream and punches the stone wall, creating a dent and sending pieces flying. She heaves a few angry breaths and the regains control of herself, glaring out at the empty sky.

Romanov begins moving forward, holding the box out towards the being. "Here," she says softly, "take the Stone back for whenever the next sorry soul to seek it arrives."

"Wait," Loki stops her, putting a hand on Romanov's arm and halting her progress. She looks to him, waiting, and Loki is surprised to find that she doesn't look suspicious of his motives.

"What are you thinking?" she asks when he doesn't say anything.

"A soul for a soul," he replies quietly.

That's what the being said, about the sacrifice Thanos made. A soul for a soul. The trade the Soul Stone demanded. Could this actually work?

Romanov tilts her head, calculating, and then her lips part. She's followed his train of thought; he always knew she was cunning. One of the only people to ever successfully trick him.

"Clever," she compliments him, an approving tilt to her lips. "Let's see if it works." And then she hands him the box.

Loki nods his thanks and then opens the box, bathing all of their faces in a soft orange glow. He approaches the being, stopping right in front of him.

"In order for the Soul Stone to leave this place, a sacrifice of a soul for a soul had to be made. It would make sense, then," Loki says, smiling, "that a similar trade would have to be made in order to return it."

The being frowns at him. "I suppose so," he hedges. "No one has tried to return the Stone before."

Loki's smile widens, charming and innocent. "Wonderful. Then I'd like to make such a trade—the Soul Stone for Gamora Zen-Whoberi Ben Titan. A soul for a soul."

There was something almost...approving in the being's gaze as he turned away, facing the wide chasm.

"A soul for a soul," the being agrees, nodding. "Well go ahead," he says, jerking his chin out at the emptiness, "make your sacrifice."

Loki licks his lips, briefly anxious, and then doesn't hesitate to pick up the Soul Stone and chuck it far until it disappeared down from view.

Far above them, a vacuum in the sky begins to glow with a bright, white light, pulsing and making the air tingle with power. It fades for a moment, the world around them calming, and then everything goes white.

When Loki comes to, he finds himself lying in a shallow area of water, his hair floating around him. The sky above him is dark, but the outline of what looks like an eclipse is visible. And floating right in front of him is Gamora.

Loki pushes himself to his feet, looking around. He can see the mountain where he was what felt like only moments ago, where his allies must still be. He bends down and pulls Gamora gently into his arms, lifting her and making sure her head is supported, nestled in the curve of his neck. Her steady heartbeat is a comfort.

"Hello, sister dear," he murmurs. "Good to see you in the land of the living."

He opens a small portal around himself and closes it once he's back on the edge of the cliff. The red-skulled being is gone, the light around them faded, and his allies whip around to face him with wide eyes.

Before they can say anything, he opens a portal around them and quickly takes them back to Wakanda.

The instant they're solidly back in the field, Nebula rushes to his side, her hand reaching out towards Gamora. She feels for a pulse, and lets out a shuddering breath when she finds one, strong and steady.

She raises her eyes, holding Loki's gaze. "Brother," she says gravely, and Loki knows how much weight that holds for her, "thank you."

"She will be well," he replies softly. Nebula nods, looking down to the unconscious woman in Loki's arms.

"Come," King T'Challa says, "let us head back to the palace and share the news of our success. And I think there is a man who would very much like to know that she lives."

Nebula lets out a laugh, slightly strained with relief. "Yes, Quill will be very glad. As will the rest of Gamora's little team."

The next three weeks pass in a flurry of activity.

Loki spends a good amount of his time with Doctor Strange, working through what they need to do in order to lock the Reality Stone back where Jane Foster got it. Loki's ability to travel anywhere in the universe in the blink of an eye greatly helps them, and they end up doing most of their preparations in the New York Sanctum with Wong acting as their third magic-wielder to strengthen the spell.

At some point during all of their activities, Loki starts calling the doctor Stephen.

Loki also spends time with Wanda, helping her expand her magically abilities. She's incredibly powerful and still exploring all she can do, and Loki delights in helping her. She's a talented student, always eager to learn and quick to pick things up. She reminds him of himself when he was young, actually, in all her enthusiasm for learning and mastering her abilities.

He also spends time with Thor, of course, and with Nebula and Gamora. The instant Thor learned that Nebula and Gamora are Loki's "sisters," the thunderer was overjoyed, proclaiming them now family.

Nebula won't be able to get rid of him if she tries—Thor has far too much experience loving a prickly sibling who pushes him away. They have a brother for life, now.

And that means that somehow, Loki's found himself with even more adopted family.

He'll never admit it to any of them, but hearing Gamora and Nebula call him Brother makes a warm light glow inside of him. Thor seems to know, anyway, and always beams at him in turn.

Slowly but surely, the Avengers and all their allies begin to relax around him.

Bucky and Peter Parker are the first to follow the path of Bruce and completely accept him, with Natasha and T'Challa following soon after. Captain Rogers, when he turns, seems to take it upon himself to be Loki's therapist, offering on more than one occasion to be an open ear if Loki ever wants to talk about anything. Loki has no clue what gave him the idea to act as such, but Loki has a feeling that that might just be Steven Rogers' hero personality shining through.

Stark—Anthony—is among the slowest to come around, probably holding some resentment for when Loki threw the inventor out a window, but when he does, he does full-heartedly. Loki spends an entire day fending off questions about his magic and the universe at large from the eager Man of Iron.

There's a brief setback when Clint Barton arrives—the archer has a lot of well-founded anger at Loki—but the man has always had a skill for looking at the big picture, and thus he only glares at Loki with murder in his eyes for a day before he steadily begins to loosen up. They don't quite hit friendly yet (and Loki has enough respect for the man that he doesn't make light of the issue) but they do reach polite, which is certainly better than an arrow to the face.

What Loki does take great pleasure from, however, is that Clinton's two children take something of a shine to him, much to their father's slight irritation. Loki even sees the potential for abilities in them, though he doesn't know how that would be received so he doesn't mention it.

Natasha is a helping force in getting Clinton to accept Loki's presence, but Loki is under no illusion that she'd choose him over her love. He appreciates the help—and her friendship—all the same.

Stephen and Loki put the Reality Stone into its cage without a hitch, though they both pass out for a long time afterwards, utterly drained—Loki is out for two days, Stephen for four; he's going to lord that over the sorcerer's head for whenever the man starts getting all high-and-mighty.

Gamora and her team fix up Peter Quill's Milano, which comes in handy when Loki and Thor desire to find the ships carrying the remainders of their people. If Loki focuses, he can see them, but considering they're in the middle of space it's not like he can just portal himself in front of them without risking his life.

What he can do, however, is open a portal and be in front of them from the inside of the blue and orange Milano ship.

Valkyrie punches him when the doors between their ships open.

Thor laughs, but then she does the same to him.

"You pair of idiots!" she shouts, looking at them like children that need to be scolded. "It's been three and a half weeks. Where the hell have you been? I thought you were dead!"

"Fashionably late, as always," Loki says smoothly, smirking at her. She looks at him like she can't decide whether she wants to hit him again, get a drink, or kiss him. Loki grins at her, internally voting for all three.

Leading the eight Aesir pods the rest of the way of Midgard is set to take a month, and so Thor and Loki settle in for the long way home.

On the second night of their journey, Loki wakes up suddenly with the entire universe in his eyes.

It's beautiful, and overwhelming, and terrifying, and wonderous, and Loki finds tears falling down his cheeks as everything floods his minds. It's not like looking through a window, as Loki felt with the Space Stone in the past; this is like having the universe itself slammed within a centimeter of his pupil, his eyelids pried wide open. He has no choice but to look at it all.

He wonders if this is how Heimdall felt in the beginning, if he struggled to pull himself away from all that his gift let him see.

And Loki is struggling. Hours pass and the people in the Milano wake up, Thor coming over to make sure Loki rises with them. He knows his brother is in front of him, can hear Thor speaking, but he can't quite see the ship around him, or the line of Thor's jaw, or the worried slant of his eyebrows. All he sees is everything, and he starts to hyperventilate, panic setting in.

"Tell me what's happening."

Thor's voice breaks its way through Loki's clouded mind, just as Loki sees the place Asgard used to be, the nothingness that was once the Realm Eternal.

"I can't control it," Loki sobs, and can't even bring himself to be ashamed of his childishness. He feels Thor wrap him in his arms like mother used to do. "I can see everything—like Heimdall, and I-I can't—it's too much—"

"Breathe, Loki. In and out. You're alright, I'm here. Can you tell me why this is happening?"

He knew this would happen! He knew it, even Vision told him so. He couldn't keep using the Space Stone's teleporting power and deny the rest of its existence, couldn't resist its hold on him, couldn't pretend like it was just an object in his possession that he controlled. It's not, it is part of his very being now. And he'd acknowledged that the Stone would take steps to right him if he didn't do something different, yet he didn't do something different.

And Loki doesn't know how to explain that to Thor, especially not in his current state.

Loki watches a supernova explode, then second, and a third, and he lets out another sob.

"Loki!" Thor calls in concern, his voice filled with worry, and hugs Loki even tighter.

"It's the Stone," Loki gasps, trying to explain. "It's—part of me, but I've been—been ignoring it and now it's—I-I can't—"

There's a beat, both of them breathing heavily, and then Thor seems to square his shoulders. Loki feels his brother's hands go to his cheeks, tilting his head up, and then pressing their foreheads together.

"Listen to me, brother," Thor rumbles. "Nay, listen to yourself. It is part of you, Loki. Just like your seidr, or your mind, or even your hands. They do as you wish, but not without you accepting that, yes? If you fear the Stone, it will only hurt you. So listen when I say that you can handle anything. This is just a piece of you, Loki. So I want you to focus on-on me, alright? Focus on my breath, and my skin against yours, and—and the toughness of my clothing, and the weight of my arms around you. You say you see everything, so focus on now. Right in this moment, with me. And all will be well."

Loki has a second where he wants to spit, You don't know what you're talking about. But—what Thor's saying makes sense. So, he follows his king's instructions.

He listens as Thor sings a lullaby from their childhood, listens to the words and melody. He pays attention to the squeak of leather as Thor shifts. He focuses on the press of Thor's forehead against his own. He feels the puff of warm breath on his cheeks as his brother struggles to keep himself calm.

And slowly, the galaxy fades away and Thor is there with him, in the Milano, and Loki is too exhausted to do anything except cry. He wraps his arms around Thor and holds on tightly, and feels his brother slump in relief against him, his grip on Loki just as strong.

The next two days are a challenge for Loki.

He no longer has the ability to shut out the Space Stone, and so his every action is impacted by it.

He reaches for a plate, and suddenly it's flying into his hand so quickly it shatters. He goes to tell Thor something, and suddenly he's traveled to be right next to his brother. He glances out the window to see if all the pods are in formation, and suddenly he can see what everyone inside them is doing. He gets irritated and the toaster next to him folds in on itself in a quick action until there's only a tiny metal ball left.

It's hard, and aggravating, and Thor has to talk Loki down from destroying everything with a mallet when it all gets too frustrating more than once. But he's Loki Odinson, the strongest mage in the nine realms, and he's never been one to give up on conquering a challenge.

He begins to gain control on the third day, and by the fifth, he's mastered it. There are no more accidents, no more getting lost in the things past what's right in front of him. In fact, with these new powers of his under control, he has a whole new plethora of pranks he can try.

On the sixth day—the eighth day of travel—Loki opens a giant portal and all nine ships pass through without trouble, landing right in Wakanda.

Their friends and allies come out to meet them, watching incredulously as sixty Aesir disembark, taking their first steps on solid ground in over a month.

Loki can't stop grinning. He did this. He found them, he opened the portal, he got them to Midgard. The remains of his people are safe. He feels like whooping with joy.

The problem then presented to them, however, is where they're all going to go.

Late that night, Anthony starts on one of his rambles that Loki tends to mostly tune out, but he quickly zeroes in on the conversation when the inventor says, "...which means I've wrangled a nice little nation for you guys."

Loki jerks upright. "I'm sorry, what? How did you manage to do something as spectacular as getting us an entire nation?"

Anthony winces awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. For someone so arrogant, Tony Stark really struggles with praise.

"I mean, it's not really a nation," Anthony says, laughing a little. He looks exhausted; has he been sleeping this past week? "More like a patch of land large enough for like ten thousand Asgardians to comfortably live under their established ruling monarchy without being proclaimed as part of any already recognized Earthian country. I got you New Asgard! Or whatever you want to call it, really. It's yours, so. Sky's the limit, and all that jazz."

Thor laughs heartily and stands, pulling Anthony into a tight hung that lifts the inventor off his feet. "You, Tony Stark, are a marvelous man! May the Norns shine on you!"

Anthony chuckles, patting Thor on the back. He still seems a little awkward, but his eyes are bright with real pleasure.

"Yeah, don't mention it, big guy. Easy peasy, nothing to it. My guys at the UN are working on the paperwork to get you officially recognized by them as a country—you're gonna beat out Monaco as the smallest country, they have like 37,000 people—then again the UN counts Vatican City as a country and that's only like a thousand people, which you're still smaller than, but it's a smaller gap—ah, anyway, for that you'll need a name, so, just think about it." He shrugs.

Once again, Thor laughs, his grin not faltering. "Come, brother! We must go tell our people the good news!"

"You go on ahead," Loki says, smiling at his brother. "I'll be right along."

Thor nods his acceptance, too excited to question, and quickly departs.

Loki shakes his head fondly and turns his gaze back to the inventor.

"Anthony, how did you manage to do this?" he asks, the wonder in his voice genuine. It's a truly amazing thing, if what Anthony says is true. He's found them a home here on Midgard, something he and Thor had been looking at as a daunting task, and he's done it on such short notice. Loki would suspect magic if he didn't know any better.

"It was nothing," Anthony says for the millionth time, slouching in his chair like he doesn't have a care in the world. Across the room, Captain Rogers is trying his best to pretend like he's not listening in, but the pride on his face is unmistakable.

Loki raises a prompting eyebrow, and after a sigh, Anthony goes on.

"There's been a lot of clusterfucks in the world these last few years," the inventor explains, talking with his hands as is his custom. "And I and the Avengers and other smaller teams like us did a lot to keep things from getting worse and to take care of issues that arose. Stuff like that—it tends to win public opinion, even with all the shit going on around the Accords.

"So you add that to all the friends I made in governments during my years selling weapons, and you have a lot of people wanting to keep me happy lest I make a big mess for them and pull all their dirty laundry out into the open, or even give one little interview about how they're persecuting superheroes—it's a surefire way to get the every day folks to hate you. I simply reminded them of that, and of the fact that Thor Odinson is kind of a god, and a king, and would be extremely grateful if he and his godly people could have a place of their own on our crappy little planet."

Loki leans back in his chair, smiling. "Anthony Stark. Quite a clever man, you are. That is...truly brilliant. I'm quite proud."

Anthony scoffs, rolling his eyes, but he's smiling, too. "Oh hush, you'll make a girl all tingly with language like that."

Loki gets to his feet. "I'd better go after Thor, before he returns to drag me after him." He hesitates for a moment, feeling awkward, and then clears his throat and says, "Thank you, Anthony." The inventor starts to scoff again, opening his mouth to say something like It's Nothing, but Loki beats him there. "What you've done for us is extraordinary, and we won't forget it. I owe you one." He smirks. "Try not to waste a favor from a god, yes?"

He turns to leave, off to find Thor and their people, and hears Anthony call after him, "So no asking for strippers, then?"

Loki rolls his eyes and casts a small jinx, tying the inventor's laces together. Small pleasures, and all that.

As he takes the long way to the Aesir encampment, walking through the gorgeous Spring night in Wakanda, Loki can't help but smile.

The dawn is looking bright, after all, and the sun is once again shining on the Odinson brothers.