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Chapter Text

Vormir, 965 A.D.

The air was still despite the evidence of storm clouds in the distance and the threat of rain. The light was dim, a heavy red, but it was still clear enough to see the figure appear from nowhere. Simply there one moment, but not before.

The figure was tall and cloaked with a large cowl over their head.

At first glance the figure appeared large, but when they started to move towards the mountain it became apparent there was something odd about their dimensions as the footprints they left behind in the sand were too small.

The wind picked up as the figure walked, seeming in no great hurry despite the rapidly approaching storm. The figure's cloak started stirring gently in the breeze but was soon blowing about, alternatively up against its owner or trailing behind them, revealing a dress underneath. It added more mystery to the figure's shape, revealing slender legs and a smaller upper body, but a strangely huge midriff, though the exact shape was concealed by the cloak's fastenings which kept it closed there. One hand had also come out to keep the cowl in place against the wind trying to unveil her face and head.

Despite the ever increasing wind which was rapidly building up into a gale, the woman moved with the same grace and speed as before as if the wind were no more than a gentle breeze despite all the sand it kicked up. Soon the woman was at the mountain and her cloak stilled as the wind was caught behind it. The sudden calm was eerie given what had come before, but still the figure moved with a steady pace, making her way up the side of the mountain towards the old structures above.

As she neared them a second figure suddenly detached itself from the shadows behind a stone arch, hovering in the air, its tattered clothing floating all around it.

"Welcome Sága, daughter of none."

"You are not of this time, Red Skull."

"It is my curse to know all who journey here, regardless of when they may come."

"Then you know why I have come."

"You should know-"

"I do," Sága interrupted. "Take me to it."

Red Skull hovered in the air a moment more before lowering himself to the ground. He cast her another glance before turning on his heels, silently leading the way. Together they walked out towards the twin pillars as snow began to fall, until finally they were at the edge of a steep precipice.

"What you seek lies in front of you," Red Skull said. "As does what you fear."

The woman moved forwards to stand upon the very edge of the cliff, glancing down without any seeming concern for her own wellbeing.

"The price-" Red Skull began.

"I sacrifice my unborn child," Sága interrupted calmly.

"Your unbor-" he began, eyes growing wide as they dropped to her swollen stomach. "How?"

One side of her mouth curled up into a wry smile as she turned to face him, but the movement was graceful, almost as if the ground moved to turn her instead of her taking steps to do so herself. Then she raised her arms, palms up, before she dropped backwards off the precipice. Her hair streamed upwards as she fell, a black curtain of silk, but her arms stayed stretched, swollen belly up, and she remained silent.

Chapter Text

Space, 2018 A.D.

"We are not going to make it."

Tony scowled at the pronouncement.

"Now there's no need to be so pessimistic," he said. "Just because a few systems are having problems doesn't mean we're doomed."

"It does when those systems include life support and the food processors," she retorted.

For once Tony managed to catch the comeback that rose within him. It wasn't her fault the spaceship was so damaged. After everything which had happened on Titan it was a wonder the ship had survived at all. Still, her defeatist attitude was getting to him.

Especially since the absolute last thing that Tony Stark wanted to do just now was think of death. Either their own imminent ones if they couldn't fix the carbon dioxide scrubbers and food processors, or older ones. Particularly the more recent ones as he knew that if he allowed himself to dwell on them, and particularly Peter's, that he would crumble and then they'd surely be dead.

"Well aren't you the optimistic one," he said instead, unable to not say anything.

"I am merely being realistic."

Tony sighed, not at all sure what to make of her. That she wasn't entirely... organic was immediately obvious, but she reacted as if she truly felt emotion, something even JARVIS hadn't fully learned just yet when he'd... which JARVIS had not had.

"Hey, what's your name anyway?" Tony demanded to distract himself.

"Nebula."

"Nebula?"

"Something wrong with that?"

And there were the aggressive tendencies Tony had noticed in her earlier. While handy during the actual fight, it wasn't exactly a characteristic he liked in the person he was stuck in a failing spaceship with.

"No, it's just not a name on Earth is all," Tony replied. "I wanted to make sure I had it right."

"Earth?" she frowned. "You are from the same planet Peter was from?"

Peter? Oh, right, Quill.

"Yes."

And wow, how easily she acknowledged his death. Clearly Nebula and Quill hadn't been close even if they'd both cared deeply for that... Gonorrhea? Gamora?

"You are one of the ones who thwarted Thanos' first attempt to obtain the Stones there," Nebula stated.

"Yes," Tony confirmed.

"The one who flew the missile through the portal, that is why Thanos knew of you."

Shit. That... Tony quite liked being famous in general, it had a lot of advantages, but being famous for something like this, when the guy whose army it had truly been was still out there?

Before he could worry about the new information any further, a bright orange light flared to life across the room.

"What the-" Tony began even as Nebula was suddenly armed.

Where the hell had those knives come from? Had she had those earlier? He couldn't remember seeing them before.

Then there was a shout and someone came tumbling into the room with them.

"Wait!" Tony cried, recognizing the voice just in time to prevent Nebula from impaling their unexpected guest. "Strange, is that you?"

"Stark?" it definitely sounded like the wizard.

Tony shared a wide-eyed look with Nebula before he returned his gaze to the dead man who was suddenly back alive with them. But wait, if Strange was here, did that mean Peter and the others would return too?

A quick glance around didn't reveal any more people or lights and the ship's sensors seemed to be registering just the three of them.

"What the hell just happened?" Tony demanded as Strange pushed himself into an upright position.

"I think I just died," Strange said, looking as if he couldn't quite believe it.

"You did," Nebula stated bluntly. "Along with half the people in the universe. So how are you back?"

Well, Tony couldn't fault her for getting right down to business even if her manners could do with improving. The question was did that need to be taught or programmed?

"I-" Strange began before he frowned as he looked around. "Where are we?"

"The Benatar," Nebula told him.

"The spaceship the others came to Titan in," Tony explained. "Ours didn't exactly survive its landing, remember?"

"And this one did not survive the battle intact," Nebula riposted.

"Oh ye of little faith."

"What is she talking about?" Strange demanded.

"Just that we have a few minor repairs to make."

"This ship has been irrevocable damaged and will become our tomb," Nebula interjected. "You have come back to die once more."

Wow and Tony thought he could be dark at times!

"No, I have not," Strange countered. "We don't need this ship to return to Earth."

"We don't?" Tony asked.

"No, I can get us there."

"Wait, you had a simple way back the whole time?"

"No, I only just learned this one."

"Learned it? When? Where?"

Strange shrugged. "Wherever I was. I didn't exactly have time to ask or investigate. As soon as I woke up, Heimdallr was there."

"Heimdallr," Tony repeated. "The Ásgarðrian Bifröst keeper? Mr. Voyeur? The snap killed him too?"

"No apparently he was killed before, but yes, he knows the secrets of the Bifröst and he taught them to me," Strange said before he waved a hand to cut off the comment Tony was about to make. "Time moved differently where I was."

"Okay. Earth first, explanations second."

"For once we are in perfect agreement."

Perish the very thought.

At least this way Tony didn't have to admit that he didn't have the first clue as to how to fix the damn ship. With enough time and some more tools, sure he knew he could figure it out, but both of those were in rather limited supply just now.

Just like he was missing all his suit sensors and Tony swore to himself that at some point he'd catch Strange doing magic where he could scan precisely what the guy was doing so he could figure it out. For now though all he could do was watch as Strange concentrated and mumbled under his breath. There were none of the funny light shows from before and just as Tony was about to ask if the magical well had run dry there was a rumbling sound and then everything was light and colors and he felt like he was being tossed head over heels through the whirlpool from hell.

It seemed to go on forever before he slammed into the ground and rolled, seeing sky and grass, sky and grass, sky and grass before he finally came to a halt, face down in the dirt. He sputtered, hearing similar sounds from nearby.

"What was that?" he finally demanded once he was sure his stomach would stay right where it was meant to.

"A first attempt?" Strange tried, finally relieved of his smug, know-it-all attitude.

"I think I'll skip the next, oh, hundred or so."

"Like your first try at something is ever fantastic."

"Hey!" Tony exclaimed looking up. "I'll have you know my Mark 0 suit kicked ass and flew me to safety after having been built in a cave."

Strange rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, the whole world knows of Iron Man's first flight."

"Hey!" Nebula cut in loudly. "Where are we?"

The question threw Tony off his intended reply and he looked around to find they were on the large lawn outside the Avengers headquarters. Not to mention that he recognized almost everyone running out to meet them, including some of whom he'd rather never see again. Figures. Thor, though, him he was glad to see again after what Bruce had said, especially now of all times.

"Earth," Strange said just as the group arrived.

"Tony!" Rhodey cried out, somehow leading the pack and making Tony think his friend must have flown at least part of the way. "Oh my God, are you alright? There was a flash of light and then all the alarms were screaming."

"I'm fine despite Strange's attempt to kill me."

"I'm the reason you're back on Earth rather than stuck on a dying spaceship!" Strange protested.

"What is that?" a dark skinned woman Tony didn't recognize demanded.

"Nebula," another new voice answered.

Tony turned to see who he was and his mouth dropped open at the sight. He shook his head once to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but no, it was still there. Warily he pushed himself to his feet before he looked at Rhodey.

"Did that racoon just talk?" he asked.

"I'm not a racoon!" the creature protested. "I'm Rocket."

"Rocket?" Strange repeated and Tony was glad he wasn't the only one.

"Okay, Rocket, sure, fine," he said. "Where did you come from?"

"We came from Niðavellir to help fight Thanos," Thor stated, stepping forwards with a dark look on his face. "And how did you come to use the Bifröst, Man of Iron? I was not aware you were familiar with it."

"He isn't, I am," Strange stated.

"Kinda," Tony snarked. "Though I wouldn't recommend traveling with him, he needs more practice first."

"How did you come by this knowledge?" Thor demanded.

"Uh-" Tony began, trying to get in first.

"Heimdallr taught me," Strange interrupted.

"Heimdallr?" Thor thundered, face hardening as lighting crackled along his fingers and geesh, that was new! "Heimdallr is dead, killed by one of Thanos' vassals."

"Yes, I know, he told me."

"He told you?" Rogers demanded, finally stepping forward and Tony scowled at him.

"Yeah, Strange was one of the people who died when Thanos snapped his fingers," Tony stated. "You know, the whole disintegrating away thing?"

"You came back from that?" the unknown lady asked sharply. "How?"

"Okay, stop," Tony held up a hand. "Introductions first and then we take this inside."

"I suspect we'll also need to compile a list of confirmed dead," Rhodey said softly, giving him a knowing look. "Pa- Spiderman? The footage from New York shows him there with you."

"Yes," Tony confirmed with a heavy heart. "He didn't make it."

"You took a kid off-world with you?" Romanov demanded.

"I tried to send him home, he wouldn't listen," Tony retorted. "And he wasn't killed during the battle, but after. And who invited you here anyway?"

"The time for petty grievances is over, Stark."

"Ah, so no one, you just decided to drop by, a group of wanted criminals."

"Look, Stark-" Rogers began.

"You're wounded," Bruce interrupted, eyes wide as he stepped forwards.

Oh, right, Tony had forgotten about that.

"Don't worry, I already sealed it," he said.

"What happened?" Bruce demanded.

"Thanos impaled him during the battle," Strange stated. "The metal was in an alien environment so the wound should be properly cleaned, sealed or not."

Tony scowled at the wizard, but he could hardly argue with his logic.

"Inside it is then," Rhodey declared. "The infirmary should do and FRIDAY can check the current status of anyone we need to know about. But Tony, we lost both Fury and Hill."

Great, so there went any potential buffer between himself and Rogers. This day just kept getting better and better.

Wounds tended to, Tony reluctantly moved to join the others, still reeling from the revelation Rhodey had whispered to him as Bruce had looked him over. How Pepper was among those killed when Thanos had succeeded. There she had been so worried about him and it had never even occurred to him at the time that perhaps he should have been worried for her. Of course that had been before he knew about Thanos' plan, but still the irony of it remained.

The introductions were crazy and the list the others had already compiled of the missing and confirmed dead was depressingly long. He was startled to see Barnes' name was on the list and he wasn't sure how he felt about that. Since Siberia he had been able to think about the whole situation far more rationally and with the additional information he had managed to lay his hands on through a variety of different means, he had come to the conclusion that Barnes was an unwitting and innocent victim in all of this. He had been weaponized and used as the tool and Tony of all people knew only all too well how the weapon itself could hardly be blamed.

So no, Tony no longer felt the need to either kill or blame Barnes, but the fact remained that it had been his hand that had wrapped around his mother's throat and choked her to death. And that Steve Rogers had known about it for years and never told him.

That Tony had not and would not either forgive or forget.

"Before we begin, I have a message for you, Thor," Strange said.

"A message?" Thor frowned but Tony was pretty sure he could see grief there too. He understood it well. "From Heimdallr?"

"No, from the other guy."

"Other guy?" Tony demanded. "You didn't mention another guy earlier."

Strange threw him an arrogant look. "We didn't have time to go into every detail and I hate repeating myself."

Ha, unlikely. Strange seemed like the kind of guy who loved the sound of his own voice. Tony should know. Though he had never met the wizard before, he had heard of him (as two of New York's elite how could he not have?), and how they were quite two peas in a pod as Pep would say.

"Who was the second guy?" Rogers demanded, cutting in and Tony transferred his glare from Strange to the captain.

"He's the one who actually resurrected me and sent me to the Benatar," Strange replied. "I saw him after Heimdallr."

"And you've never seen him before?" Romanov questioned.

"No, at least not from what I could see. Though humanoid, he was definitely not human," Strange explained. "His whole body glowed as if alight and kept shifting from pale to blue to... incandescent, I suppose. His eyes were orange and he had very long black hair that swirled around him."

"Swirled?" Tony nearly laughed. "Are you sure you were brought back sane? Lost a few marbles along the way, perhaps? Or did those go at Hogwarts?"

"Stark-" Rogers started.

"No!" Tony snapped, raising a finger at Captain Self-Righteous. "You don't get to tell me what to say or do, not after what you did."

"Be serious for once in your life, Stark," Romanov interjected.

"Oh, trust me, I am, Blondie," Tony retorted sharply. "Feel free to test me on it but just remember, I designed and built this place and my girl FRIDAY is embedded into every aspect of it. You're only here now because I have allowed it!"

"Tony," Bruce began.

"And, no, you weren't here, you don't get a say," Tony said, though he tried to modulate his anger.

"What happened next, Mage?" Okoye asked.

"As I was saying, the figure's hair swirled around him as if in a wind, though I felt none," Strange finally continued. "I believe it had something to do with all of the raw magic I felt."

"It can cause that?"

"Aye," Thor stated. "If powerful enough it can."

Tony had never heard Thor sound quite so vulnerable before and the big guy even looked almost teary. They'd not had a great deal of time to talk earlier, but 'Ásgarðr's been destroyed and my people are almost all dead' spoke volumes with very few words.

"Did he say who he was?" Rogers asked with a frown.

"No, simply that we were to prepare to fight Thanos," Strange replied. "Then he told me to tell Thor, and I quote, the sun will shine on us again."

Chapter Text

Vormir, 965 A.D.

Sága kept her eyes open as she fell, but she felt no fear, not even when she saw Red Skull's face as he looked over the edge of the cliff after her in shock. The wind was rushing past her current body until it wasn't.

She was no longer falling now and instead stood in Soul World; the pocket dimension where the Soul Stone was kept. An orange hued watery world as far as the eye could see, but shallow, a large pool rather than an ocean and she smiled. It was perfect.

A tricky world for a tricky Stone. Ephemeral and immortal; changeable and immutable.

Water was an element of transition and a medium for visions. Her medium.

Then there was light, a bright all encompassing and oppressive light, orange in color. The Soul Stone's very essence. There was whispering all around her now as if voices on the wind, but there was not so much as a zephyr despite the gale outside this little pocket dimension world. The words slithered around her at the very edge of her hearing, never quite coalescing into anything real, but there nonetheless.

Her feet left the water as power welled up all around her and Sága felt it, the power of not just one Stone, but all six of them and she knew Eson had been right. They were all connected to each other and she knew she had been right that the Soul Stone was the heart of them; the nexus from which that connection and power sprung. Of all of them it was the only living element, the only one not bound in cold hard physicality and constancy, but rather forged in change and chaos itself.

The only one able to change and being open to true manipulation and control. It was no wonder to Sága that this one was protected beyond all others and that the Stone itself demanded a price in order to be taken from here, this special place created especially to house it, and whence it would return.

Always.

The light brightened even as it shrank until Sága could see the Soul Stone floating before her. She too had changed, her son separating from her own body here as he had not yet outside and she raised her arms to capture his floating form as he rose up to meet her.

"Hello, Little One," she whispered as she took a moment to drink him in with her eyes before she had to look up and away to why she was here. "He is my sacrifice," she declared. "Take him and be one."

For a moment nothing happened, but then the Soul Stone floated closer to her, hanging in the air before her face for one endless moment, bright and pure, before it sank down to her son's little chest, hovering there for a moment before proceeding to sink down into him.

There was an ear splitting cry, a flash of light and Sága was falling again.

Falling and-

Soul World, 2018 A.D.

When Thanos opened his eyes all he saw was orange and water and he wondered if this would be his dreamscape forevermore. There were worse ones to be had, particularly if this allowed him to see his little one as he no longer could when awake.

"Does it bother you at all, to be known as the killer of so many?"

Thanos turned to face the voice and he smiled as he saw Gamora as she had once been, back when he had first met her.

"No, for I saved the universe from Titan's fate," he replied.

His little one snorted, looking at him in distain.

"Except for the Ásgarðrians," she said.

"Ásgarðrians?" Thanos frowned.

"Yes, how are they to continue? They were already severely diminished when you attacked the Statesman," Gamora sneered.

"We let some flee."

"A fraction of those left, half of which have now been killed. A fraction of a fraction, not enough to allow for the survival of their species. They will die out because of what you did, not survive because of it."

"They had an Infinity Stone, I had to act."

"They are still a species who will no longer exist because of your actions."

The words made Thanos frown. "A small sacrifice for the survival of the rest."

"And what of the døkkálfar? Are they a sacrifice too?" his little one shot back, quick and venomous as ever.

He had always liked her fire, if not how she had chosen to direct it as she grew older.

"The døkkálfar?" Thanos questioned, not recognizing the species.

"Of Niðavellir. Those whom you personally had all but one of slaughtered and him you maimed."

"How do you know of that? Or the Ásgarðrians?"

Gamora shrugged, looking up at him with adult eyes from her little child's face and the juxtaposition unnerved Thanos more than he liked to admit. Yet he was still glad for the chance to see her again as he never would while awake.

"I was sacrificed to the Soul Stone," she said tonelessly, brown eyes drifting away from him and voice surprisingly devoid of emotion where he would have expected accusation. "It turns out that ties me to it, so I know what it knows and it knows what the others know as they are now all tied together on your mangled gauntlet."

The words made Thanos look down at his left hand involuntarily, only to find it was bare. The gauntlet and Stones had not followed him into his dreams, just like before. How interesting. Did that mean his subconscious did not yet fully see them as a part of him? Or that it still could not quite believe he had accomplished all he had set out to after the needless fall and demise of Titan?

Or was it because he would rather not have that which he had killed his little one for together with her here in his last true sanctuary?

"So?" Gamora demanded as harshly as her little child's vocal chords would allow. "Were the døkkálfar merely another sacrifice?"

Thanos sighed. "Sacrifices must be made to achieve great things," he said looking at her pointedly. "But here there was a greater purpose as I could not risk them creating great weapons to be used against me as I sought the remaining Infinity Stones."

"And how many Titans are worth it?"

Spitting as always, his little one.

"Two are hardly too many."

"Two?" Gamora laughed humorlessly, eyes cold. "Do you truly believe it was merely two? That no other species might have been like the Ásgarðrians, tethering on the brink of not having enough people to ensure the survival of their species? Planets and races suffering the exact opposite situation of Titan once upon a time?"

The question threw Thanos as it was not one he had considered before. Most species thrived and far too much so for their worlds- or the universe- to cope and sustain them, but what Gamora said was true. There would have been some that did not.

"Without even trying I can tell there were at least forty-eight," his little one continued on bluntly. "Forty-eight species on forty-two planets which would have survived had you not wiped out half their numbers with a single snap of your fingers. Forty-eight species which will now die out, slowly to be true, but die out they will, though they might suffer the consequences of inbreeding first as they try desperately to survive what you have done to them in your mad quest to reshape the universe in your chosen shape like some demented god."

The words made Thanos rear back. Surely that was not how Gamora had viewed it? Though it might explain why she had decided to betray him and lie about what she had learned of the Soul Stone's location.

"And let us not forget about all of those species whom you had already reduced by half," Gamora hissed, her eyes all but glowing with anger and hate now. "Did you even think to spare them a second reckoning? No, you just wiped out half of the survivors again, reducing your most recent victims like the Xandarians by three quarters in total, thus decimating them even further. Not all of those will survive both assaults either, generating yet more Titans in your name."

Before he could even think to reply, Thanos felt the edges of his dreamscape ripple and shift and his precious little one flickered once, twice and was gone as he woke, water and sky replaced by the angry pulsing of the Infinity Stones in his mutilated gauntlet and he could feel the wash of power from where he lay almost as if the Stones themselves were alive.

Chapter Text

Earth, 2018 A.D.

The sudden, sharp intake of breath from Point Break and the way the big guy's eyes widened told Tony the words clearly meant something to Thor.

"Loki," the thunder god whispered, voice thick with emotion.

"Loki?" Tony repeated warily.

"Those words, they are the last thing Loki said to me before..."

"Before what?" Romanov asked with surprising gentleness.

Or no, on second thought it wasn't so surprising, she was a master manipulator and devoted liar after all. What was she by now, an octuple agent? Decuple? Something like that.

"Before he tried to kill Thanos."

"Wait, Loki tried to kill Thanos?" Rhodey suddenly spoke up. "Wasn't he Thanos' first attempt at taking over Earth?"

"With my brother it can be hard to tell," Thor admitted, though he had a rueful smile on his lips.

"I think I may actually have a theory on that, but I'll need some more information from you first, Big Guy," Tony said.

"A theory?"

"About Loki and the invasion of New York. But as I said, I need some more info from you first before I share with the rest of the class."

It was about some inconsistencies and seeming powershifts throughout Loki's time on Earth. It had been hardly more than a thought exercise before, what with Thor absent and Loki first on Ásgarðr and then supposedly dead.

"Did Thanos kill your brother then?" the talking racoon questioned. "Is that why you said you thought he was dead earlier?"

"Aye... Thanos, he..." Thor began, fists clenching and eyes suspiciously wet for a moment. "He grabbed Loki by the throat and crushed it."

Oh, ouch! Talk about up close and personal.

"He said there would be no resurrection this time," Thor continued. "Still, I had hoped Loki would do it just one more time."

"Your brother does it often then?" Okoye demanded.

"He has managed a few, though I never knew if he actually died or merely tricked us all into believing so."

"Have there been bodies before or was it more sleight of hand?"

"On Svartálfaheimr there was a body; I was holding Loki even as he died."

Tony opened his mouth to say something but even he came up blank for a moment. What did you say to your friend about the potential death of his maniac and sociopathic brother?

Although if his theory was correct- and it was looking more and more like it might be- well, then that would just change everything, now wouldn't it?

"Are we really saying that Strange, one of the people killed by Thanos' snap, has been resurrected by someone Thanos killed while acquiring the Infinity Stones?" Nebula demanded, skeptic tone completely blundering over the awkward silence.

"If it was Loki I saw, then yes, I suppose we are," Strange said.

"How?"

"No idea, necromancy has never been a field I studied."

"Thor, you have any ideas, Buddy?" Tony asked.

"Nay, my knowledge of seiðr- magic is limited," Thor replied. "But I have never heard of such a thing before."

"Would you have?"

"If someone could bring back the dead in a way other than creating draugr? Aye."

"Draugr?"

"Zombies, Boss," FRIDAY chimed in.

"Ah."

Of course zombies were real too, why not?

"Can we trust Loki?" Rogers asked. "Supposing it is him?"

"To wish to see Thanos' defeated? Aye, he killed Loki so my brother will wish his revenge. But beyond that I am uncertain."

"He did come back for us on Ásgarðr," Bruce spoke up. "He didn't have to do that, but he did. We'd be dead otherwise even if Ásgarðr would probably still exist."

"Wait, Loki destroyed Ásgarðr?" Romanov demanded sharply.

"At my command," Thor replied hotly.

"What?" Tony exclaimed. "Why?"

"It is a long tale, but apparently I have a sister whom Father had to imprison and she broke free upon his death and had taken over Ásgarðr," Thor explained. "She had banished Loki and me to Sakaar where I found Banner. When I managed to return to Ásgarðr I realized we would not win against Hela and her powers, so destroying Ásgarðr was the only means to save the remaining æsir from her. Therefore I asked Loki to take Surtur's crown and place it in the Eternal Flame so that Surtur would be reborn."

"And that destroyed Ásgarðr?" Rhodey asked.

"Aye."

"Thus fulfilling the Ragnarök prophecies about him, but not quite how people had expected," Tony mused.

Added to his other suspicions it was all starting to paint a rather interesting picture indeed. And a more hopeful one than any of them had any right to expect just now.

"You have that look, Tony," Bruce said.

"I know."

"What look?" the racoon (and Tony still couldn't quite believe that) demanded. "Is this another sarcasm thing?"

"No, it means he has an idea," Bruce replied.

"What idea?" Okoye asked.

"No, not until I've spoken with Thor," Tony responded before looking back to Strange. "Did Loki say anything else?"

"Only to hang on before he gathered his magic and then all I knew was pain before waking up on the Benatar," Strange informed them.

"Hang on? That's quite the Earth colloquialism, isn't it?" Romanov asked, looking at their alien companions.

And how had they suddenly come to have so many of them? Last Tony had known there was just Thor and he'd been off-world. Now they had Thor, Nebula... Rocket.

"I have only heard Peter use it before," their new bandit stated.

"Loki has always been very good at integrating himself on other worlds whenever we visited them," Thor explained.

"Like Sakaar," Bruce said.

"Aye."

"It was different for you two then?" Rhodey asked.

Bruce laughed once though Tony could tell there was no humor to it. "Thor and I ended up in the gladiator ring as contestants while Loki managed to ingratiate himself with the ruler of the planet and watched from the Grandmaster's box."

"Well he has always had style," Tony commented.

"Really, is that what you chose to focus on?" Rogers demanded.

"What? The abilities of the only one who has so far managed to score a victory of some kind against Thanos?" Tony shot back, glancing at the captain. "Yes, of course it is for I know that Strange, Spiderman, Nebula, Bandit's team and I sure as hell don't have anything to show for our efforts and neither do any of you from what I've heard so far."

A tense silence.

Well, it wasn't like Tony had expected an apology, not from Mr. Self-Righteous.

"What information do we have on Thanos and what he did?" Okoye asked. "If this Loki has found a way to reverse the effects then maybe we can too."

Huh, an interesting thought.

"No, even what Loki did should not be possible, not given Thanos has all of the Infinity Stones," Nebula stated.

"How about we start with what exactly the Infinity Stones are and go from there?" Rogers suggested.

Tony frowned as he considered Okoye's question, tuning out Strange's repeat explanation of the Stones. What did they know of Thanos? Based on what Barney had said on Titan he had convinced himself of the righteousness and need of what he had done. To the point where he had sacrificed someone he had at least thought that he'd loved. The reactions of the others would indicate this Gamora (and really who named their kid after an STD?) may not feel the same way, but that hardly mattered. There were plenty of abusing assholes out there who claimed to love the families they beat or coerced on a daily basis.

While not necessarily a means of being able to undo things, it did actually tell Tony a lot about just how Thanos had likely acquired all of the Stones, especially after what he had witnessed first hand on Titan. And speaking of which, that reminded him of something he had to ask Strange.

"So you're saying that even back when he had just two of them he was already more powerful than anyone else?" Rhodey was asking.

"Aye, no one else has ever had two of them simultaneously before," Thor confirmed.

"What?" Tony blurted out. "No, that's not true."

"Stark-" Romanov began.

"Loki had two of them during the invasion," Tony kept right on going. "The Mind Stone in the scepter and the Space Stone in the Tesseract."

"He has a point," Bruce said after a moment of silence.

"Aye," Thor agreed. "Though my brother was not using the power of either at the time, nor had he removed the Space Stone from within the Tesseract."

"And that makes a difference?" Rogers asked.

Thor nodded. "Simply holding an object of great power, though taxing, is far removed from actually utilizing it."

"Could this account for how your brother is able to do what he's done now?" Rhodey inquired.

"I do not know."

"Leaving that aside for the moment," Tony said. "What changed your mind, Strange? About giving Thanos the Time Stone? On the way to Titan you said you'd not surrender it even if Pe- our lives were at stake and then you did just that. What endgame did you see in that one future?"

"A chance to win," Strange replied before he had to explain to the others what he had done.

"So how did this chance play itself out?" Tony demanded impatiently. "How do we win given Thanos has already killed half the universe?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Exactly what I said," Strange retorted. "Do you think I'd hold back now of all times? I looked at the outcomes of all kinds of options. I didn't have the time to look at the details of all of them."

"You had the Time Stone!" Bandit protested.

"I looked at over fourteen million possible futures!"

"Fourteen million," Romanov repeated in shock. "And in how many of those did we win?"

"One," Strange declared.

Those odds... it was a good thing Tony laughed in the face of impossible odds and had spent a lifetime doing so or otherwise they'd be enough to crush him. The way Rhodey cursed and Bruce paled told him he wasn't the only one calculating them.

"Well, at least we know it's possible," he stated, throwing Rhodey one of his cocky smiles, making his friend roll his eyes, but he could already see a little less tension there.

"Do you know anything else of how this one future unfolded?" Rogers asked.

Strange frowned as his eyes took on a glazed look. "I glanced at so many, but there were a few flashes about this one that stood out. There was an image of a tree, but rendered in a bluish-white almost like lightning, but not."

"The Yggdrasill," Thor stated immediately. "The World Tree is described in many different ways, but Loki has often referred to it as thus, as if made up of sun and starlight combined."

"The effects of what Thanos did extended beyond the Nine Realms, though, right?" Tony inquired.

"Aye, Titan is not within the Nine."

"What?" Tony demanded when he caught Romanov's frown. "I always do my homework."

It was something she should be well aware of from her time as his PA, let alone how he became an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics overnight during Loki's invasion.

"Then I also saw the Infinity Stones, but the Soul Stone was in the center with the others arrayed around it in the form of a pentagram," Strange continued.

"The devil's symbol?" Rogers questioned in surprise.

"No, that's an inverted pentagram," Strange frowned. "A pentagram is actually an ancient protection symbol, dating back to pre-Christian times."

"Describe this pentagram," Thor demanded.

Rather than comply, Strange moved his hands and a pentagram appeared in the air before him.

"It is a commonly used protection symbol," Thor agreed. "I have seen it often in books or spells Loki and others have cast."

Great. It was with a sickening realization that Tony knew he'd have to seriously research magic. If anyone had told him this even a few weeks ago he would have laughed his head off, but if being an expert in the so called mystic arts was what it took to bring Pepper and Peter back, then that was exactly what he'd do. Science and logic be damned.

Besides, if Strange had done it after being a neurosurgeon, then how hard could it truly be?

"Have you ever seen the Infinity Stones arranged like that before?" Okoye asked.

"No," Strange denied looking at Thor and Nebula who both shook their heads in the negative.

"Well it gives us something to look into," Rogers said. "Anything else?"

"It was confusing, but I believe there was a scene, a battle somewhere in a frozen wasteland," Strange replied, brow furrowed. "There were some people who looked human but were dressed more like Thor fighting larger... blue giants? With red eyes, I think. Does that mean anything?"

"Aye, they sound like frost giants," Thor said. "Though we have not had war with them in over a thousand years, unless I was among those fighting?"

"No."

"A past event?" Romanov questioned. "What is the relevance of that?"

"I do not know."

"What caused the war, Thor?" Rhodey asked.

"Laufey- the king of Jötunheimr- had invaded Miðgarðr," Thor explained. "Father sent an army to prevent it and the war ended with several battles on Jötunheimr itself which is a frozen wasteland."

"Earth?" Tony asked, startled. "Why would this Laufey invade Earth?"

Thor shrugged. "We were always told the frost giants were naught but stupid beasts intent on war and blood."

Rhodey glared at Point Break and Tony already knew what his friend was thinking as it was something they had discussed before. Racism and stereotyping. It was something he'd been hopelessly blind to due to his privileged upbringing. Though they had discussed it a little before while at MIT, it had all really come exploding out of Rhodey the evening of their graduation after his best friend had drunk far too much. Ever since he had done his best to be more aware of it to try to be a better friend to his first true one. It was why Stark Industries had strict non-discrimination policies of all kinds as he'd let Rhodey, Pep and several others loose on HR to ensure nothing like that prevented the best from working for him.

"You said were," Rhodey prompted.

"Aye, I have since learned better," Thor seemed to hesitate. "I have said Loki is adopted."

Tony nodded. "Mythology says he is jötunn and the son of Laufey, though it does say Laufey is his mother."

"Mother? Nay, Laufey is king, so he is Loki's father."

"If he is the son of your enemy, then how did your parents come to adopt him?" Romanov asked. "Was it some form of fostering?"

"Nay, Father found him abandoned, likely due to his size as to the frost giants Loki is a runt."

Nausea welled in Tony. Someone would abandon their child because of their size? Yes, he had not long thought of becoming a father himself, but even he would never consider casting aside a child, particularly not for something so fickle.

The... racism? specism? Thor spoke of added yet another element to his theory and it fit into the ever growing puzzle that was Loki as if custom made, explaining so much. True, it took tantrum throwing and attention seeking to a whole new level- even for him- but they were talking about the diva of all divas here and a being whom humans in the past had deemed a god due to his power and magical abilities. So, really, blowing this out of all proportion simply fit the pattern.

"Jesus," Rhodey breathed, getting a dark look from Captain Faithful.

"It sounds like Loki is what ties all of these visions together," Nebula stated.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Romanov interjected. "A lot of people live in the Yggdrasill, so that's a tenuous connection even if it was shown as he often described it."

Thor sighed and looked pained for a moment. "Loki has always been fascinated by the Yggdrasill, studying it extensively and seeking out all of its hidden pathways."

"Hidden pathways?" Bandit questioned. "Those are real?"

"Aye."

Tony wanted to ask but he was afraid his mind would break. Freaking magic destroying all of his perfectly logical scientific explanations of physics and the universe. There were times he wished he could go back to before he had ever heard of aliens and magic despite all he had created and invented since.

For Pep he'd definitely give it all up in a heartbeat.

"I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not exactly comfortable with leaving it all up to Loki," Rogers stated. "Especially seeing as he's technically dead just now."

"If there is one thing my brother is good at, it is self preservation," Thor said. "As long as it revolves around that and defeating Thanos, we can know he is on our side."

"And after?" Romanov asked.

Thor winced, but Tony had caught the hesitance that preceded the action. Interesting. It was more than Loki would have elicited the last time Tony had seen Thor, so clearly something had changed. But if Loki had come back for his brother and their people, then he could start to understand it.

"He did fight with us on Ásgarðr and made what could have been a sacrifice play at the end," Bruce stated.

"But it clearly wasn't," Romanov argued. "And he might have known that all along."

"I will do what I need to in order to save my king and princess if it is at all possible," Okoye declared firmly. "If that means trusting this Loki as far as defeating Thanos, then so be it."

"Ah, we may need to be careful of those types of emotions and plays around Thanos," Tony interrupted. "He sneers at them and is quite happy to use them against us. It's how he thinks he gained the Time Stone."

"And the Soul Stone," Nebula added.

Thor winced. "And the Space Stone."

"Oh?" Rogers asked looking at both of them. "We already know how he got the Time and Mind Stones, what about the others?"

"Gamora knew the location of the Soul Stone and Thanos tortured me until she agreed to take him there," Nebula growled, fists clenched and looking like she wanted to tear something apart.

Tony could well understand the feeling and he'd gladly help her do so if he could.

"And the Space Stone?" Rogers prompted. "That was the Tesseract, right?"

"Aye," Thor confirmed. "Loki must have taken it from the vault when he went to burn Surtur's crown."

"Big surprise," Romanov muttered.

Thor sent her a dark look. "It is not what you think. Loki only handed it over when Thanos was torturing me."

Oh, yes, Tony was becoming more and more certain of his Loki theory even without speaking with Thor about some of it. If he were in other company he might already feel comfortable speaking of it, but he wouldn't, not with both Rogers and Romanov present.

"Ah, uh, do we know how he got the others?" Rogers asked.

"He already had the Power Stone when he attacked us, having decimated Xandar to get it," Thor said. "And the Reality Stone was in the possession of Taneleer Tivan in Knowhere. He would not have given it up lightly as he likes to collect powerful and unique things."

"Peter, Gamora, Drax and Mantis were going to try and stop Thanos from obtaining it," Rocket stated.

"So he uses our compassion and emotions for each other against us," Tony stated. "On Titan he claimed to want to do this to prevent the destruction of other planets like his was destroyed due to overpopulation."

"Overpopulation?" Rhodey exclaimed. "This is all supposedly for our own good?"

Tony shrugged. "I'm only saying what he claimed. Apparently he suggested the same when Titan was at a crisis point and he was ignored. He took things ending badly as proof that he was right."

"And that it would always end badly elsewhere?" Bruce shook his head. "What a warped way of thinking."

"You will not change his mind on it," Nebula spoke up. "For as long as I have known him, this is what he has done. Go planet to planet, wiping out half of all life before moving on to the next, always seeking information and knowledge on the Infinity Stones so he could do it all at once."

"That..." Okoye began before she shook her head. "I do not know what to say."

"I don't think there are words for it," Tony responded.

Chapter Text

Valhöll, 2018 A.D.

Frigga watched the ever increasing stream of people entering Valhöll with trepidation. Each moment she did not see either of her sons was a good one, but Heimdallr's report of the predicament both Thor and Loki had been in when he himself had been killed caused her to fear. Surely it was too much to expect both of them to have made it out of that alive?

Her mind knew it was, her heart hoped it was not.

"Frigga," Óðinn began, his fifth attempt to placate her.

Or to try to prepare her for the worst. She was not entirely certain.

"They are fighters, both of them," Frigga interrupted, loudly. "And they were together."

"Frigga-"

"They have survived worse," a pause. "Loki in particular."

"Heimdallr was quite clear in his assessment of the situation," Óðinn said more forcefully before pulling her close. "And..."

Frigga clenched her eyes as her husband trailed off, knowing what he thought but knew she would not want to hear. That her baby may not be worthy of Valhöll. She wished she could refuse to believe it; to deny it vehemently, but alas she could not. Not with what Loki had done on Miðgarðr.

She still believed in him, but she could no longer summon the absolute certainty from before. Not after how he had acted on his return.

Then Óðinn stiffened against her and Frigga felt her heart freeze. Nay, Norns nay!

"Still thinking the worst of me as always, Father," the far too familiar voice came from behind her. "I knew those final words were out of character. Did they make you feel better, knowing what you left Thor and me to face?"

Still dreading what she would see, Frigga turned around and relief swept through her when she could see no obvious wound. He was still just as dead, regardless, but she had not wished to see any more of his innards than she had already with his previous injuries.

Loki's outfit was not one she had seen before and it lacked much of his signature green, but he looked good in it regardless. His face, though, was marred by the hard look in his eyes as he looked at his father. Luckily it softened the moment he shifted his gaze to her.

"Oh, Loki," Frigga uttered before she moved to him, reaching up to touch his face. "I was hoping not to see you here yet."

A wry smile crossed his face. "I know, but it could not be helped."

"Tell me what happened. Heimdallr has clearly explained where you were."

"Then you should be able to guess."

"You can teleport," Frigga countered.

And, though she had no proof of it, she was almost entirely certain her baby had also mastered a far more mystical skill when it came to moving between places, one only theorized about before but never actually achieved. Yet.

He should have survived.

"Thor was tied down," Loki replied with a fleeting smile. "Or clamped down in any case. He could not flee."

And Loki would not leave his brother like that. Frigga had known her youngest did not truly want Thor dead despite what Óðinn and others had said. Loki and Thor were far too close even if they had grown apart in recent centuries.

"Besides," Loki continued. "Thanos was right there, I had to try."

Frigga's eyes grew wide as she realized what he meant.

"You tried to kill him," she breathed, hearing her husband's sharp intake of breath behind her.

Loki nodded once and now she was looking more closely, Frigga could see a hint of a shadow around his neck. Pushing his high collar aside it soon became clear precisely how he had died. Their knives always meant they had to get far closer to their opponents than most Ásgarðrians.

"Why?" she demanded.

Of everyone, he had to have known what would happen.

"He was never going to let me live, not after... Besides, it felt right and, in the end, was necessary though I did not realize it at the time."

That... There were so much in those words Frigga did not even know where to begin to try to unravel it all.

"What do you mean, he was never going to let you live?" Óðinn demanded and Frigga closed her eyes in dismay, dropping her head onto her youngest's shoulder.

Loki's arms came up around her and she moved closer to properly embrace him.

"What did you do?" Óðinn finished.

"You mean beyond deliberately sabotaging the invasion and failing to obtain him the Space Stone?" Loki retorted calmly, without any of the heat and venom which had been in his voice so often as of late. "How about the fact I lost him the Mind Stone as well as his army?"

Relief, pure and sweet, swept through Frigga at first. The invasion of Miðgarðr had not been her baby's idea! She had always known something had not been right as it had been so wholly out of character for the son who had not even realized at first he would be king after Óðinn had collapsed so soon after banishing Thor. But then it was swept aside by fear and nausea. Thanos had possessed her son and Loki was nothing if not stubborn. To make him do anything he truly did not wish to was not possible. At least not without guilting him and only she had ever been able to do so.

Thus it made Frigga feel ill to think what might have been necessary to achieve it. And then, once her baby had managed to break free from the Mad Titan and his scheme, had they welcomed him home or even asked what had happened? Nay, Thor had simply dragged his brother to the dungeon until his trial when Óðinn had already been treating Loki as guilty. Not that her youngest had helped matters any with his own words and deeds, but Frigga knew his thinking behind that.

"Why bother explaining when they will not listen?"

It had been a conversation on another issue long ago, but Loki's words had haunted her long after, their meaning and implication so disturbing. She had attempted to inform Óðinn of this, but clearly she had not done enough if her youngest had not felt able to speak of something as significant as this.

"You..." Óðinn began. "You wish to claim your defeat was deliberate."

"It was deliberate," Loki retorted. "As you would have realized had you not already been decided against me. I made every mistake I could without being obvious, which as one of my teachers in strategy and warfare you should have seen."

"I had not already decided against you!"

"Aye, you had, why else would you have sentenced me to death had Mother not interfered?"

The words made Frigga's hands upon her son's back spasm. Sentence him to death? Nay, Óðinn would not have! Not to their baby!

Yet at the same time her heart leapt. Loki had called her mother! After their last argument in his cell, the simple word flooded her with both joy and relief.

"I a- was king!" Óðinn roared. "I needed to do what was right for Ásgarðr despite any personal feelings. Wherever you go there is war, ruin and death."

"Nay, that is Thor. Attacking wherever he could find glorious battle as on Normheimr, Vanaheimr, Jötunheimr. The latter merely for being called a princess!" Loki snapped back, seeming reluctant to release her when she drew back. "And did you know that at the battle of Haragon your precious son and his companions celebrated their victory so hard our opponents- newly defeated and suffering the loses thereof- nearly picked up their weapons once more! That is how bloodthirsty and violent your favored son is."

Much as Frigga wished to interfere and halt this argument, a larger part of her was too much in shock. Not only at the words themselves and the things they revealed which she had not been aware of, but also at how wild and artless Loki was being with them. She was used to her youngest keeping his true feelings and thoughts close, so to see them all spilling out like this was astonishing in and of itself.

"Do I cause mischief and chaos?" Loki continued. "Aye, I admit it freely. Has it gone too far on occasion? Aye. But I am not the one whom brings death and destruction in his wake, for that you need to look at your own blood instead of assuming Laufey's will bring it simply by virtue of it being his!"

"You wish to complain of being judged harshly, after what you did to Jötunheimr?" Óðinn demanded.

"Jötunheimr is irrelevant!"

"Jötunheimr is precedent."

"Nay, it is not, I was king!" Loki snarled. "King with you collapsed, Thor banished and Mother by your side to ensure you survived. That left me with warriors who turned traitor, a gatekeeper who aided them, a council who would not listen and a war I had not started and done all I could to prevent. What should I have done, gathered the army?"

"It would have been the honorable thing to do!"

"And how many æsir would have died? Not to mention what would have happened had one of the jötnar warriors managed to get close enough to touch me, reverting me back to my jötunn form? What do you think would have happened then?"

The mere thought made Frigga pale and from the widening of Óðinn's eyes she knew he had realized the implications of it too. And not just the personal ones for their youngest, but the sheer confusion and utter chaos that kind of sudden revelation on the battlefield would have caused. It would have led to a slaughter.

"Was it desperate? Aye. Was I thinking clearly? Nay, how could I after all I had just learned?" Loki demanded harshly. "And my initial plan ended with Laufey's death, which would have ended the war with no further casualties. But even if you add all the deaths my actions on Miðgarðr resulted in to those turning the Bifröst on Jötunheimr caused, then my body count is still only a fraction of Thor's." A pause. "Or yours."

"Óði-" Frigga began immediately to try to cut him off.

"Mine?" Óðinn demanded darkly, ignoring her.

"Vanaheimr, Múspellsheimr, Jötunheimr," Loki rattled off without pause. "Three full-scale and very bloody wars during your reign, not to mention the countless battles and skirmishes to consolidate your power. And that is without even considering your involvement as crown prince in the war with Svartálfaheimr during which you and Borr slaughtered not only the combatants, but all of the noncombatants too."

"They were all working to the same goal!"

"So we are told now," Loki replied. "Hard to know for certain with what we thought was a full-scale genocide, one which I grew up hearing lauded and celebrated often. And let us not forget your delightful epitaphs. Böðgæðir, Hildolfr, Hjaldrgegnir, Hjaldr-"

"Loki, enough," Frigga cut in, gratified at least one of them listened to her when his mouth clicked shut.

Alas, it was but a temporary reprieve.

"I am certain Hela would have easily been able to add on many more battles and tales, what with her being your Executioner," Loki said instead. "Such as what truly happened at Hvergelmir and why it boils."

Óðinn jerked as if struck and Frigga frowned at her husband as he paled dramatically.

"How do you know of that?" Óðinn demanded, voice a rasp. "No one lives who..."

"You would be surprised at what I now know which I did not before," Loki replied cryptically, eyes going distant for a moment. "Death has been... unexpected in ways I could not possibly have imagined."

"Loki?" Frigga questioned urgently as he almost seemed to fade.

The moment she touched him, though, the impression vanished and he focused on her once more, expression brightening.

"I have missed you, Mother," Loki said, taking her hand. "Though Óðinn denied my request to attend your funeral to pay my last respects I hope you know I did not mean those last words."

"Oh, Loki," Frigga melted into him, embracing him once more. "I know you love me and I should not have asked you what I did."

"Frigga-" Óðinn began.

"Nay," she cut him off. "This argument is yours and Loki's, I have no part in it." Though thinking back to how it had commenced, one question did occur to her again and she pulled back just enough to be able to view her son's face. "Why did you not simply come home once you were free of Thanos instead of attacking Miðgarðr?"

Loki swallowed thickly as he looked away. "I was not myself and I bore the Mind Stone in the scepter. It... took time to fully throw off its influence and I knew I was being observed, my every move potentially analyzed and assessed."

Frigga nodded as she realized something.

"Their subsequent anger springing as much from not having seen this as the failure itself," she concluded.

"They thought me broken and malleable," Loki agreed. "They assumed all thoughts of outright rebellion were subsumed by what they had promised me in return for completing their tasks... and the fear of what would befall me if I did not."

An uncomfortable silence settled between them as Frigga could not bring herself to ask. Merely knowing her child had been tormented thus was already more than she could bear.

"Loki," Óðinn eventually said. "Why did you not mention this at your trial?"

"What trial? I had none, simply a sentencing."

"Still you said naught."

"Why would I?" Loki demanded. "You would merely have called me a liar, attempting to slither my way out of a just punishment. Your mind was already made up with your assumptions."

"I did not assume anything."

"You have been assuming everything from the day you found me, including why I was left in that temple."

The words shocked Frigga and she stepped back a pace to truly be able to see her youngest. Was he saying what she thought he was? That he had not been left to die?

"No one leaves a newborn infant exposed to the elements like that without intending for them to die," Óðinn argued.

"They do if they know they will be found almost immediately after they are left," Loki replied, suddenly serene. "My birthright was to die, you said at my sentencing, as a child, cast out onto a frozen rock."

"Óðinn!" Frigga exclaimed, utterly outraged.

How could he have said that to their baby!

"Frigga-" Óðinn began.

"You were right on only one count," Loki interrupted.

"What?" Frigga demanded, turning back to her youngest.

"My birthright was to die, but at Thanos' hands and not as a child."

"Loki, darling, what do you mean?"

The words themselves made no sense and Frigga felt nothing but horror at the fact he truly seemed to think he had been meant to die. That it could possibly be his birthright.

"It was seen before my birth, as did what came before and immediately after," Loki explained, reaching out to touch her cheek. "Do not worry, Mother, it was all with a purpose and one which means I have the chance to do what no one else can. Or ever has before."

"Who saw all of this?" Óðinn questioned, stepping closer as well, face lined in deep confusion.

"My birth mother," Loki said. "Whom was not Fárbauti-Queen as you simply assumed, All-Father."

Chapter Text

Earth, 2018 A.D.

"Thor? Buddy?" Tony called out leaning into the room the god had been assigned.

"Man of Iron," the big guy replied, coming out of the bathroom. "You wished to have words with me about Loki?"

"Yeah," Tony pulled the door closed behind him as he entered. "I just wanted to check a few things."

"Such as?"

"Well, I assume that as a prince of Ásgarðr he would have had all kinds of training on how to rule, in case something had ever happened to you. Right?"

Thor frowned. "Aye."

"And I assume how to fight battles or... well, uh, wage war would have been part of that."

"Of course," a sad smiled crossed Thor's face. "We are a warrior people and we learn how to fight early as boys. Loki... he ever excelled at unusual weapons- knives, staffs, scepters- rather than the more traditional."

Traditional? Was Hammer Boy truly commenting on his brother's choice of weapons? Really?

"But he was still good at it?" Tony asked instead.

"Aye, particularly at tactics and planning," Thor confirmed. "He managed to free my friends and I from more than one difficult situation during our quests."

Read: sticky situations.

And, okay, right, that's what Tony had thought. Although not the specialty in tactics and who could blame him? The invasion? Not a well-planned attack.

Well, at least not if it had been intended to succeed.

Their assumption that it had been planned that way was part of what had led to the whole bag of cats idea as it had been so crazy. But, if that had not been the case then that put a whole new spin on things entirely. And if Tony added in a few assumptions of his own regarding that thrice damned scepter and the Mind Stone it had contained? Ah, well, then it suddenly did become a beautifully planned thing once more.

One being played out on multiple levels to two completely different audiences and all without allowing either to see or even guess that there might be another layer to Reindeer Games' performance and actions. It became a multifaceted lateral thinking level approach and that alone made him yearn to gets his hands Loki again and try to unravel his thinking and simply to pick his brain. It wasn't often he came across someone who could impress him with their mental skills, but if he was right about all of this then Rock of Ages was definitely one of them, particularly if the whole charade had been done under the duress he thought it had been.

Not to mention that Tony simply couldn't help but be both intrigued and impressed with the show Loki had put on in order to achieve it all. But it all begged the question; was the guy truly as much of a diva as he'd seemed or had that all been part of the act?

Somehow Tony found himself hoping it hadn't all been faked. There weren't many people who shared his sense of 'fuck expectations sideways' and to do so in the same person whose intellectual abilities had already intrigued him so? Well he never had been good at resisting temptation and now he just wanted to meet the guy again on better terms. Not that he could immediately forget the whole defenestration bit, but then by that point his ability to fly had been known, so perhaps Loki had been counting on that? After all, if the god had truly wanted him dead, Loki's hand had been on Tony's throat just then and it would have been nothing for him to simply squeeze a little harder. Someone who survived a Hulk smash as easily as Loki had certainly had more than enough strength to easily pulverize one engineer's throat and spine.

And wasn't that ironic given how Reindeer Games had died?

"Man of Iron?"

Tony blinked to find Thor standing closer and frowning at him in concern.

"Sorry, Point Break, I was just thinking about something," Tony waved off.

"Does it have to do with this theory of yours?"

"Yep," Tony paused, both for dramatic effect and to allow for the inevitable follow-up question. It was his turn to frown when it didn't come. "Aren't you curious?"

"Of course, but you said you were not ready to share and Loki has taught me those such as you will not do so until they are prepared to."

Thor thought he was like Loki? Before this might have angered him, at least superficially, but given where they were right now and what he strongly suspected, he'd take it as a compliment.

"Unless you now wish for me to do so?" Thor asked, a rather knowing and yet sad smile crossing his face. "In order to demonstrate your cleverness?"

"Ugh, you're no fun," Tony complained. "Or Loki and I are too much alike."

"The thought had occurred to me," a pause. "You do not appear insulted or affronted at this possibility."

"Once perhaps, but given the complicated shell game he was playing during the invasion, no, I'm rather pleased at the comparison."

So he may not have been able to prompt Thor into setting up his revelation at first, but he definitely had the big guy's attention (and confusion) now.

"What is this shell game you speak of?" Thor asked.

"It's a confidence trick used to cheat people out of their money," Tony replied. "But basically it involves sleight of hand and other underhanded means to make it look like you are doing one thing when really you're doing something else entirely."

"My brother does like his tricks," Thor's brow was furrowed, clearly confused. "You... approve of this?"

"When it means he's sabotaging someone's plans to attack and conquer Earth? Hell yeah!"

"Sabotaging? Explain your meaning, Man of Iron."

Tony's eyebrows shot up at the more menacing undertone suddenly present in Point Break's voice and it rather abruptly reminded him of how Thor had reacted when they had first met. Both on the Quinjet and during their rendition of Shakespeare in the park immediately after.

Charge in and attack, ask questions and respect humans later.

With everything that had happened since it had been so easy to forget, but Tony made himself a mental note not to do so again. They actually knew precious little of what Ásgarðr thought of Earth and humans and given how Loki had turned out- one way or another- there were signs there that perhaps everything might not be milk and honey in the land of gold. Or was that just within the House of Óðinn? Not that it truly mattered as Óðinn is- was- the king of Ásgarðr and thus his views would essentially be their version of foreign policy when it came to Earth. At the very least he needed to carefully probe Thor's stance on the issue, especially if Point Break was going to be approaching them regarding potential asylum for the surviving Ásgarðrians.

"Just this, Loki's plan sucked, big time. Almost as if it were specifically designed to fail," Tony stated bluntly.

"But he attacked and brought an army through the portal!" Thor protested.

"A really tiny portal, did you notice that?"

"It allowed through the chitauri with their vile beasts and ships."

"Only the smaller ones," Tony shuddered as he had a flash of what he'd seen on the other side of the portal. "They had much larger ones which couldn't get through. By having a small portal, Loki essentially bottlenecked the invasion, giving us both time and a chance to win."

Thor mulled over his words, though his frown only deepened and Tony wondered if that was due to fear of seeing more good in his brother than was there or something else.

"And consider this," Tony continued. "Why open the portal above New York where everyone could see it?"

"I thought it required the energy from your tower?"

"Yes, but there are other energy sources available. From everything you've said, Reindeer Games is inventive and resourceful, I'm sure he could have gotten his hands on one, just like he did everything else he needed in order to open that portal."

"What are you saying?"

"That it makes no tactical sense to open the portal where he did, or when he did. Why not open it in some remote area where we wouldn't have been able to see what was happening? Then he could have gotten his entire army through before attacking us. In doing so the army would have been completely here already and able to focus all of their attention on fighting us, rather than having their focus split."

"Aye, but we already knew what he planned."

"Yep we did. Because he told us. In fact it was almost the first thing that he did upon arrival, even before he had fully secured the Tesseract," Tony stated. "In doing so, Loki gave us the maximum time possible to prepare and mount a defense against him. Something which he most definitely didn't have to do. Instead he could have simply attacked and taken the Tesseract. True, S.H.I.E.L.D. would have known something was up, but not precisely what. This could have made them be slightly more secretive in how they handled the situation, as they did when you first arrived in New Mexico."

"Loki told you?" Thor questioned.

"Yeah."

Blondie slowly shook his head, but Tony could see the first glimmer of hope there. "My brother never says what he is truly planning. That is left for us to figure out unless the goal is one decided upon together. You think it was meant as a warning?"

"A warning and show both. Remember how I said he was sabotaging someone's plans?"

"It was said earlier the invasion was Thanos' first attempt to obtain the Space Stone."

"Now you're getting it, Point Break. So, if Loki wished to deceive them as well as warn us, what better way than to make an appropriately villainous speech, announcing his intentions? To them it would seem like he was following his orders while to Fury it would have set off all kinds of alarm bells."

"You believe he was being observed," Thor said.

"Given what was in that scepter of his and how it influenced us when we were merely in the same room as it? Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if there was some kind of link back to Thanos or someone working for him. It would match with all of the energy readings I got off the damned thing."

"Do you have any other proof?"

"Two things. First, Loki's choice of target. He chose both us and New York city, neither of which makes any tactical sense."

"We are Earth's greatest defenders."

"Now we are, but when your brother first came here we weren't," Tony countered. "No, we were hardly more than a disparate set of superpowered individuals. It is Loki and the threat of his invasion that brought us all together. Remember how we argued on the Helicarrier?" The way Thor winced told Tony the god most definitely did. "Without that, we'd never have been able to come together to fight him off, which is why I think he allowed himself to be captured in Stuttgart and brought back to the Helicarrier."

"Allowed himself? You do not believe you captured him?"

"After seeing what you are truly capable of? Nope," Tony hated to admit it, but there it was. "Besides, did he try to run while Rogers, you and I were fighting after you dragged him from the Quinjet?"

Thor shook his head. "That had occurred to me. What is it about New York you view as a bad target?"

"The fact that it's capture would have been symbolic only. It's not the political capital of America nor a strategic military stronghold."

"My brother would not have been aware of this."

"After what he said and did in Germany? Yeah, he knew," Tony retorted before raising a hand as the big guy opened his mouth. "Trust me, what Loki said and did in Stuttgart was deliberately designed to provoke an old wound. If he did enough homework to know about that then there is no way he wouldn't have done enough to know that not only was New York not a particularly tactical target, but would again deliberately provoke a spirited and enthusiastic defense response."

There was a pause as Thor processed that and Tony moved towards the computer console built into every bedroom on site. He had known when he'd designed the place that those staying here would often require quick and easy access to all kinds of information, so he had taken steps to make that as simple and easy to achieve as possible.

"You mentioned that there were two further items, you have only mentioned one," Point Break finally spoke up.

"The second is better seen with your own eyes, but Thor, it isn't pretty."

"What is the importance of beauty?"

"No, what I meant is that it will be hard to see."

"Ah, I see. This is your... security footage?"

The words sounded as alien in Thor's voice as they no doubt felt to the big guy. Tony couldn't help but wonder what they had on Ásgarðr instead as he couldn't believe that they didn't have some sort of equivalent.

"Yes, of Loki's arrival on Earth. The quality isn't great as the base was on the verge of implosion, but S.H.I.E.L.D. had a constant backup of all its cameras for precisely this type of scenario. FRIDAY, if you will?"

The holographic display lit up and they could see the inside of the rather cavernous room the Tesseract had been held in the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility. It wasn't the best angle as it was farther out than Tony would have liked, but it did provide them with a good overview of the events that were to follow. Just now though all they could see was the innocuous looking cube and the scientists that skittered around the edge of the view on the left.

"Erik Selvig!" Thor exclaimed before his face fell. "This is when Loki captured him."

"Yeah," Tony confirmed before nudging one bulging arm. "Here he comes."

As he had seen the footage countless times since he'd illicitly acquired it (it wasn't like S.H.I.E.L.D. was simply going to hand it over to him no matter how nicely he asked for it), Tony didn't pay as much attention to it as he did to Thor. The big guy's face was grave as he watched what essentially boiled down to a one god smackdown of a team of what he had no doubt were highly trained and deadly men. It was part of why he now knew Loki had allowed himself to be captured in Stuttgart; the difference in Reindeer Games' fighting skills was simply far too marked for it to be explained in any other way. Especially given the condition the god had been in here.

"This does nothing to prove your theory, Man of Iron," Thor intoned when the footage Tony had spliced together winked out.

"Ah, that's because you're paying far too much attention to what Loki is saying and doing and not enough to how he is."

"Explain."

Tony didn't even need to give the command as FRIDAY was already bringing up several stills from the cameras. She was no JARVIS but she was no slouch either and he knew he wasn't being fair to her whenever he noticed a disparity. FRIDAY was able to do things JARVIS hadn't, so he really shouldn't rank them, but it was hard. He missed his old friend.

"Okay, here, does Loki look healthy to you?" Tony asked, pointing to the first good shot they had of his face.

He'd be the first to admit that he didn't know Rock of Ages very well, but even to him Loki looked ill; face paler than later, eyes wild with dark circles under them, sweating and posture almost hyperalert like a bow ready to snap in half.

"Nay."

Soft and wounded.

"Now watch here as they are leaving the room, he stumbles," Tony continued as FRIDAY helpfully played the relevant segment.

"He is wounded," Thor realized.

"Yep. And why would he come from his allies looking ill and wounded?"

Chapter Text

Soul World, 2018 A.D.

"Does what you did weigh even a little on your conscious?"

The sound of his little one's voice was the first Thanos knew of his sleep. He had not intended to allow himself to succumb, instead having sat down to simply enjoy the view of his new chosen home on Rhea. He sighed before he turned around, glad to see Gamora once more, but not wishing to deal with her venom and demands just now.

Her last set of questions and observations still disturbed him.

He knew what he had done was right and had saved the universe from Titan's fate, but he had not realized there were so many species who would be decimated due to it. Thanos had even used the gauntlet to check the number, wondering if perhaps his dreams were playing out some hidden fear of his he had never allowed himself to acknowledge least it caused him to stumble or hesitate in what he knew he needed to do.

Alas Gamora had been correct, both in the figure and the fact that the Infinity Stones were now connected enough to allow her access to the others from the Soul Stone.

"Hello, Little One," Thanos said in lieu of a reply.

"Well?" she insisted, crossing her little child's arms.

"Why do you appear as a child? Why not as you were?"

"What? When you killed me?"

"Sacrificed."

"Sacrificed, killed, same thing," Gamora spat. "You are the reason I no longer live."

"It makes all the difference as I would not have been able to sacrifice you if you meant nothing to me," Thanos replied calmly though inside he felt all of the pain and horror he had experienced on Vormir, both before and after her death. "I would not have harmed you for anything less than an Infinity Stone."

"Ha! Tell Nebula that."

"Nebula was never my favorite."

"You were ever a terrible father, but that is amongst your worst crimes. If you were truly a parent, you would not have so readily and obviously favored one child over another."

The words cut deep and Thanos had to fight to keep his face calm. Gamora was seeking to hurt him and to show she had succeeded would only mean she used this tactic more, not less. As he had no intention of attempting to remove her from his dreams, he had to ensure she did not realize how deeply she wounded him now. Then there was hope she would cease saying things like this in favor of allowing them to converse on other matters.

"How could I not when one was so much better than all of the others?" Thanos inquired instead.

"Nebula did far more and worked far harder to gain your love and approval than I ever did."

"Yet she never could match up to either your skill or your fire."

Gamora shook her head before she stared long and hard at him, an uncomfortable silence settling between them. Instead of allowing himself to become unnerved, Thanos used the opportunity to observe her. He still did not know why either Gamora or he himself chose to have her appear as a child, but he enjoyed it. She had grown so fast, as children always do, that it had been a long time since he had seen her like this and it brought back many pleasant memorizes from back when she had been less venomous and more open with him. From when she had sought him out rather than avoiding him.

"You will never understand," Gamora finally said instead with a little shake of her head. "But you never answered my question."

Thanos had known it was only a matter of time before his little one returned to that. She had ever been stubborn and relentless.

"Does what you did weigh even a little on your conscious?"

"No," Thanos lied, not even hesitating as he never showed weakness to anyone, much less his children.

For the first time since he had seen her after her death, Gamora stepped forwards towards him and out from under the pavilion she had stood in until now. She tilted her head as she peered at him closely, a frown marring her face.

"Not even knowing how many species you wiped out?" she asked.

"It may have been more than I had intended, but what is fifty when compared to the universe as a whole?" Thanos demanded, wishing she would stop probing at this.

Would she haunt his dreams forevermore asking only of this?

"Surely if Titan was one instance too many and is the reason you commenced this demented quest of yours to begin with, then fifty should be far too many?"

"Not if those fifty saved all the rest."

"And what of the others you sacrificed? Those you drove straight into Titan's fate?"

Now what was she speaking of? Part of Thanos did not wish to know, but he could not quite bring himself to reach out and seek consciousness. Not when being asleep allowed him to see his precious little one once more as he never could out there.

"I saved them from Titan's fate," he said.

"Depends on what you view Titan's fate as being."

"Say what you mean, Daughter."

"Titan destroyed itself through war."

"Because they no longer had sufficient resources to sustain the population."

"Yes, but it was still war which killed them all and destroyed your civilization."

"What is your point?"

"Simply this," Gamora said. "How many planets do you think will now destroy themselves or each other through wars started because of what you did?"

Thanos frowned. She was making no sense. "They have no need for war now, there is plenty for everyone."

"No need for war? How about to avenge the deaths of half their population?" she demanded. "Not everyone knows why that happened, simply that it did. There are many planets and species out there who view what happened as either a sign their gods or goddesses are displeased with them or as the actions of their enemies. Either way it means they now think they must act, to ensure it does not happen again. For those who think it divine retribution, they will seek to eradicate those they deem responsible for the gods' displeasure, while the others will seek vengeance on their enemies. Or simply to ensure that those enemies cannot wipe out the rest of them."

That...

For a few moments Thanos was not able to comprehend what she meant, but then realization struck and his stomach dropped. It had never occurred to him people could attribute his actions to others, but his little one was right. Not everyone knew what he had been planning, he had purposefully kept it secret for as long as he could least they attempt to hide the Infinity Stones from him even more than they already had. It had been in his best interests to not rally everyone else against him as their inability to view the necessity of his actions would make them think he was best opposed.

"The Xandarians blame the kree and have reignited their war with them," Gamora began. "The badoon each think the other society has violated an important tenant and brought divine wrath down upon them and are thus fighting to properly be able to punish the other society. The jötnar think their ancient enemies the múspellssynir are taking advantage of their recent weakness and Ásgarðr's destruction to wipe them out and so are preparing to retaliate. The jyn'ai are considering whether or not to attack the sleepwalkers, whom they feel may have caused the attack in retribution for the actions of one of their own several millennia ago. We then als-"

"I understand your argument," Thanos interrupted.

"Do you?" she snarled, twisting her little face as no child's ever should be. "For one who said they sought to avoid seeing Titan's fate play itself out elsewhere, you have created a lot of new Titans."

"It is not my fault those species are too simple to see the truth of what transpired and to recognize it for the blessing that it is. My own people were too ignorant as well and I have still chosen to ensure others do not suffer their fate needlessly," Thanos countered. "My actions have ensured the universe and all those in it bar the forty-eight you mentioned need not suffer Titan's fate. If they now seek to eradicate themselves for a different reason, I cannot stop them."

"So that's it? You're simply absolving yourself of all guilt and responsibility?"

"There is much in life we cannot control, Little One."

A laugh, though it was a dark and unpleasant thing Thanos did not care for.

"Of that I am very well aware," Gamora retorted viciously. "But this is not one of those instances. You caused this, the countless deaths when you snapped your fingers and all of those that will follow as a result of it. You can try to blame it on the individual species themselves, but the guilt and responsibility is still yours. They would have been at peace but for you and what you did."

"Until their populations grew too large for their planets."

"Not all who outgrow their home planet suffer Titan's fate!" Gamora spit. "The Xandarians began moving off-world, colonizing lifeless planets."

"And thus bringing themselves into conflict with the kree. Had they controlled their population sufficiently instead, that would not have transpired."

Thanos could not understand the way Gamora looked at him now, shaking her head. Why was it so difficult for everyone else to understand? Yes, he understood it was a dramatic solution, but that did not make it any less necessary. He had once hoped his children at least would understand this. Most had, but of course Gamora- his favorite of the lot- had refused to do so. It had long pained him, particularly when she had shown signs of spreading her ignorance and resistance, but he had already done what he could to teach her the necessity of it all.

If people did not wish to come to terms with the reality of the situation and its only viable solution then they should not have allowed it to get so bad.

Vormir, 965 A.D.

From one second to the next Sága was back out of the pocket dimension where the Soul Stone had been kept, flat in the middle of one of Vormir's many small pools and she knew immediately it would become her son's birth pool as the first contraction hit hard and fast.

Even with all of her powers she was helpless here and now, the ripple effects of what she had done with the Soul Stone interfering with her own power. Luckily she could still do some things like vanish the clothing in the way of her little one's entry into the universe. Then she allowed her body to take over, having witnessed what came next countless times since people had first come to live in her boughs.

There was pain, but it was such a novel experience for her it intrigued Sága in and of itself. Not to mention the novelty of the whole experience from the moment she had first allowed herself to conceive, right through the pregnancy, all the way up to now, the birth, all of it would have been worth far more pain. For those as old as her, new experiences were hard to come by. Just now she could not recollect why she had never elected to try this sooner.

To take physical form like this and allow said form to reproduce had once seemed odd and strange, but not after having felt the new life grow within her. And having experienced its growth in seiðr had been both amazing and pleasurable and she found herself surprisingly eager to see how her child grew and changed, even if she could not be there for his infancy. Not given why she had decided to do this.

Thanos and his plans to wipe out half the life in the universe.

Half the life she guarded and cherished.

Sága would not allow it, but by the time she had her first vision, eliminating Thanos from the timeline entirely had no longer been viable and now he was protected by Death, the cosmic entity whom had taken a shine to him and whom she knew he adored in turn. Thanos may claim he did this all for the good of the universe as a whole, but she feared it was more Death's influence than anyone else knew or suspected. Death had always hungered for the extinguishment of life, so death on such a colossal scale would be a true victory for her and even by Sága's own standards it would be a truly unique and overwhelming experience.

What Sága feared the most, though, was what would happen next. Once Death had experienced what she no doubt felt would be the ultimate pleasure, then what? Would Death be satisfied or would she want more?

And what would more look like?

Sága feared the end result could be the death or destruction of everyone and the entire universe and that she would not stand for even if her meddling with Thanos' plan could draw Death's very wrath down upon her.

Yet even in the Mad Titan's plan itself there was an opportunity to end it all. One Death would never see coming and so could slip past her very guard and strike just when Thanos was most vulnerable.

If everything worked as Sága planned it to. The problem was she had been forced to add a mortal element and that risked the plan itself as that always introduced unpredictability and chaos in and of itself. So she had tried to incorporate that chaos into the very basis of what she did, hoping that in doing so it would help stabilize the mortal element and prevent it from ruining her plans before they even began.

She would not have a second chance.

Despite all odds, the life she had sought to create had survived the addition of pure chaos, which gave Sága hope and had garnered her very first maternal feeling; pride.

Now she could only hope he continued to impress and fascinate her. And that he survived the final stage for her to get to know properly.

Sága screamed as the pain became worse even as she felt her son start to emerge from between her thighs. A few more pushes and he slipped free, landing in the pool with his first cry. She immediately sat up to reach for him, marveling at how he veritably shone with power as she did so. At first it was immediately obvious that he bore the Soul Stone as its power and presence all but radiated from him, eyes an orange glow in his pale face. But then the power died down, the Infinity Stone subsiding and integrating with its half mortal host and Sága breathed a sigh of relief.

She had succeeded.

She had rendered an Infinity Stone flesh and thus given it life. And the Soul Stone at that.

It was her greatest achievement to date and quite possible her best ever.

In more ways than one, Sága realized as none of her wonder and awe faded with the integration of the Stone into her son's very essence. The Soul Stone gaining a soul. No, instead her emotions remained as strong and bright as before as she beheld her child.

"I am truly sorry, Little One," Sága whispered, pressing a kiss to his brow. "But the universe needs you."

With a thought her clothes were restored and they were dry as soon as she stood. The next instant they were on Jötunheimr, invisible to the naked eye as she weaved between the warriors, jötnar and æsir alike, who were all locked in mortal combat. Not allowing herself even a moment to hesitate, she made for the temple, stepping inside and up to the main altar. With a final kiss, Sága lowered her son onto it, remembering at the last minute to materialize him a blanket.

"We will meet again," she promised.

Sága allowed herself another moment before she stepped away, vanishing from the Realm even before her son shifted into his father's jötunn form, knowing Óðinn was close by and would soon find him.

Chapter Text

Earth, 2018 A.D.

"Have you completely lost your mind, Stark?" Romanov demanded and Tony sighed.

It wasn't like he'd expected a good reaction from her regarding his theory, despite all of the visible evidence. Even ignoring all of the animosity which lay between them now, she and Barton had always been close.

"Nope, I'm just following the evidence like a good little scientist," Tony replied as he glanced at the others to see what they thought.

Rogers looked skeptical, but that was no surprise. Not only were they also at odds, but Captain America was first and foremost a soldier and in war things were often black and white. Or at least they would have been while fighting Nazis and HYDRA. He did hold hope Rogers might yet come around as he gave Loki's bad tactical decisions some more thought. They just made no sense, not for a trained... warrior.

Bruce, Rhodey, Okoye and Strange looked thoughtful as he'd hoped they would as they were either more removed from the invasion (Okoye), more open to logical arguments (Bruce) or both (Rhodey & Strange).

"You really want us to believe Loki was coerced into attacking Earth?" Romanov replied.

"See exhibit A," Tony retorted, indicating the images FRIDAY had up.

"Perhaps he was merely exhausted from getting here."

"Those are not the signs of magical exhaustion," Thor interjected. "Those I know well. Nor would Loki be able to so readily enslave Hawkeye if it were."

"Thor is correct," Strange said. "The type of magic required to enslave someone like that, it is not easy."

Well at least that was good to know.

"Those are the signs of heat exhaustion," Okoye spoke up.

Heh, that was one thing she would be quite familiar with given Wakanda's climate.

"He was exposed to extreme heat and more traditional forms of torture," Nebula stated from where she leaned against the wall at the back of the room.

Torture. The word was still enough to make Tony shudder and to cause what he himself had been subjected to in Afghanistan to flash before his eyes, but he did his best to push it all aside.

"You know of this?" Thor demanded darkly.

"Of course, The Other's pet was not kept secret, nor could he keep his inability to control him quiet," Nebula smiled viciously. "Thanos was most displeased with him when they realized precisely what your brother had done despite the compulsion placed directly into his mind with the Mind Stone."

"Wait, Loki was enslaved too?" Tony questioned, startled.

"Not as you mean, no. It did not work on him when Thanos tried it, he was most displeased as they needed his unique skills for the invasion to work as planned."

"Skills? What skill?" Rhodey questioned.

"The world walking."

"World walking?" Tony repeated dumbly.

What the hell was that? Why couldn't anyone speak plainly?

"You mean sky walking," Thor breathed, eyes wide. "Nay, that is merely a myt- Norns, of course Loki would find a way to do it and not inform anyone."

The awe and resignation which crossed the big guy's face told Tony that whatever this world or sky walking was, it was huge. He'd heard the terms before, when he'd been researching both Loki and Norse mythology, but neither he nor first JARVIS and then FRIDAY had been able to figure out what it meant. Surely being able to step up into the sky wasn't all that amazing given that Thor could practically fly with how he used his hammer.

"What is world or sky walking?" Bandit demanded.

"It is like teleporting, but between Realms instead of within one," Thor replied.

"Teleporting?" Bruce repeated in shock and Tony knew exactly how his science bro felt.

"If he can, eh, sky walk between Realms, does that mean he can teleport within one?" Tony demanded, casting aside everything else he wanted to ask and the denial he felt bubbling up within him.

People could not just disappear from one world and reappear on another!

The sheer number of physics laws that would break was... well quite frankly even he wasn't sure how many of them it would be, but it was high, that was for sure!

If Loki had indeed pulled yet another Daniel Jackson, then he was so locking the god up in his lab until he figured out exactly how that damned magic of his worked! There had to be a reasonable explanation for it which didn't involve treating the laws of the universe as if they were mere suggestions instead of, well, laws of the universe. Damn it!

"Aye, of course," Thor said, looking at him in surprise. "Were you not aware of this?"

"Aware of it? How the hell would we be aware of it?" Tony questioned before a new thought occurred to him. "Oh, God, this just proves my theory."

"How do you figure that, Stark?" Romanov scowled.

"Because if he can teleport than what reason other than playing possum would he have had to remain in the Hulk cage on the Helicarrier? Or on the Quinjet before that?"

The shocked look which crossed Romanov's face, even making her mouth drop open a little, gratified Tony far more than it really should and he made a mental note to get FRIDAY to gif it for him.

"What do possums have to do with it?" Bandit growled, fur suddenly standing on end as he sprang to his feet.

"Huh?" Tony replied.

"I've been called a possum more than once!"

"Possum? But you're a racoon."

"Racoon!" Rocket roared. "If someone doesn't explain what that is, I'l-"

"FRIDAY, back wall, information, video and images of racoons," Tony ordered, already turning back to Thor and glancing at Strange as well. "I'm right, aren't I? He could have gotten out of that cage whenever he wanted."

"You did not ward it against teleportation?" Thor frowned.

"We didn't know that was even possible!"

"Oh, then aye, Loki could have left it whenever he so wished."

"I can't believe this," Bruce said, dropping into a seat as he rubbed his forehead. "He really was playing us the whole time."

"But if he can teleport then why didn't he just get the iridium himself?" Rogers wondered. "Why the whole show in Stuttgart?"

"Because he wanted to be captured," Tony replied. "Obviously."

"Tony," Rhodey warned stepping forward. "Why did Loki want to be captured? Did he get anything off the Helicarrier?"

"Uh, no, I don't think so," Rogers said, glancing over at Romanov.

"I never heard of anything which was stolen," she replied. "Well other than the scepter."

So if Loki hadn't done it to gain something, then what?

"Us," Tony realized. "By doing what he did, he brought all of the Avengers together in one place."

"Of course," Bruce agreed. "It proves what you were saying earlier, of him wanting to incite us. If he hadn't pulled that stunt in Stuttgart, we'd still have been dispersed, but by allowing himself to be captured and then rescued, he gave us a rallying point. Not to mention it bought him time if he truly was being monitored."

"He was," Nebula confirmed. "And you're right, The Other would not have accepted ordinary delays, but one caused by a capture in the pursuit of a necessary part of the plan? While he'd have been furious at it, it would not have aroused his suspicions."

"Wouldn't he just have expected Loki to teleport out of the cage?" Rhodey inquired.

"He probably assumed we knew about the teleportation," Tony countered. "Or Loki pretended he couldn't for some reason."

"He may have pleaded exhaustion or depletion due to his injuries," Thor spoke up.

"Loki might also have had another reason to be captured," Bruce said, looking at him. "By not just stealing the iridium quietly, we knew it was missing and so were able to work out why he might want it."

"Thus alerting us to what he'd need to do next," Tony agreed.

"So you feel we should trust Loki now?" Okoye questioned.

"Well I somehow highly doubt Thanos would have been forgiving of his failure to obtain the Space Stone even before he tried to kill him."

"No, he would not," Nebula replied darkly, before she bared her teeth. "Father was particularly furious that Loki lost him the Mind Stone in the process."

Oh, he hadn't even thought of that! Now Tony really wanted a chance to pick Loki's brains as the number of different plans, motives and outcomes he'd been juggling was indicative of a near genius level intellect. Particularly if he'd been monitored and suffering the effects of severe torture the whole time. And this compulsion Nebula had mentioned. Speaking of which...

"I wonder if the Hulk smashing Loki into my floor might actually have been planned too," he mused.

"What? Why would you think that?" Bruce questioned, eyes wide.

"Well, cognitive recalibration seemed to be the best way to knock the Mind Stone's influence off of both Legolas and Selvig. Perhaps he thought it would help with the compulsion planted in his own mind?"

"I could have killed him!"

"Nay, there was no danger of that," Thor denied. "The jötnar are a very hardy people, even more so than the æsir in that particular regard. While it could have inflicted more grievous injury than it did, his life was in no danger."

In no danger? Damn, Tony wanted a suit as hardy as a jötnar. Jötunn? He'd watched the footage of that particular Hulk smash countless times and he still had to wince each and every time, despite knowing Loki would be able to crawl his way out of the crater and even manage to walk within the hour.

An outraged shout from across the room drew Tony's attention back to their enhanced racoon.

"Trash panda!" Bandit was shouting, little fists clenched.

"Problem?" he asked, causing the alien to whirl around to face them once more.

"Peter called me a trash panda saying it was better than being called a racoon!"

Ah. Perhaps he would have rather liked this other Peter if he'd met him in better circumstances. It was a pity he might never have that chance now.

Chapter Text

Yggdrasill, 2018 A.D.

"Hello, Níðhǫggr, have you been behaving yourself?" Loki inquired as the dragon flew up to land on one of the Yggdrasill's other branches.

Níðhǫggr hissed animatedly at him as always.

"He has missed you," Sága said, appearing on the bough beside him. "It has been too long since you came here."

"I have been busy, but I would have come more had I known the truth," Loki replied, throwing her a pointed look.

"You know I could not."

"Then you can hardly complain at my not visiting enough."

"But you have always enjoyed your time spent here."

"Of course, it is... calm, peaceful, accepting," Loki replied, closing his eyes briefly to simply take in the feel of being back on the Yggdrasill. "Like belonging or coming home."

"Oh, Loki," Sága sighed, reaching up to touch his face. "It is your home and always will be."

It still felt strange to Loki, knowing her and what she was to him, yet at the same time it felt like there had been a part of him which had always known. A part which had recognized her for what she was to him and had always yearned to get closer and be connected to her. It explained so much of his desires and drive from before, when he had still been alive.

"If I had but had the time, I would have come," Loki told her. "Alas, I did not."

"Not even when you took Thor and his mortal to Svartálfaheimr?"

Loki scowled. "And reveal to him my ability to sky walk? Not when I could so easily prevent it."

Though his mother pouted, Loki could tell she did not truly mean it. They had been acquainted only a short time, but already he felt he knew her very well, enough to know she would understand the sentiment. Sky walking had not merely been another skill he had acquired, it had been his passage onto the Yggdrasill itself which had already meant much, even before he had learned the truth of the World Tree's very essence and existence.

"They will all learn of it now," Sága pointed out.

"Everything is different now, not least of all me," Loki replied. "Besides, there will be none left who could oppose me."

"None who could even come close."

The realization she did not even hesitate or falter before that truth filled Loki with a sense of acceptance and love he had never felt before. Not even Frigga herself had ever been so happy or proud of him and his power as Sága was just now. Nay even his mortal mother had been held back by concerns and fears of what it could mean; of what he could do with it. And that had been with the seiðr he had possessed back then, hardly a fraction of the power he had come into now or would acquire when he finally moved against Thanos.

"Come," Sága said, taking his hand. "I wish you to view that which you have never dared witness before."

It took Loki a moment to understand what she meant. In all of his time spent upon the Yggdrasill there had been one place he dared not go. Even his ego had not been so great as to presume himself welcome there. Having been raised in the House of Óðinn, there had not been many he had learned to view as his equals, a mere handful of other leaders outside the Nine Óðinn had deemed worthy of such regard. Despite all of that, there had been one set of beings Frigga had taught both her sons absolute respect and reverence for, namely the three Norns. Holders of fate, both mortal and immortal alike.

Or so he had always been told. Loki was now starting to suspect it might not quite be so.

Sága laughed. "As quick of mind as of tongue, I see."

"One can hardly be quick at one without the other," Loki replied, still adjusting to having his mind read so easily. Surprisingly it was not nearly as intrusive as he would have thought. "Dare I ask what the most esteemed of three ladies are if not the deciders of fate?"

"Companions, messengers, servants."

"The Norns are your handmaidens?" Loki questioned, shocked to his very core.

"Yes."

"But..."

"Little One, I am a celestial, one of the greatest of beings to have ever existed in this universe."

At least Loki now knew where his own ego came from; it had been inherited.

"It is less ego and more simple fact," Sága smiled. "As you will come to learn once you become more familiar with your celestial half and all of its power."

"More familiar? I have lived with it for over a thousand years."

"Only parts of it- your shapeshifting for instance- the rest has been locked deep within you least it have been noticed."

"You trapped it inside me?" Loki asked with a frown.

"I would have had it been necessary, but it was not," Sága replied. "It never seemed to emerge on its own, something I also observed in Ego's son."

"Ego?"

"Not all of us were as modest in selecting our names as I was."

The words and evidence thereof caused amusement to flare within Loki. Though he could, on some level, understand the impulse he would never have wished to advertise any aspect of his personality so easily. The kennings he had accrued over the centuries- lie-smith, wordsmith, silvertongue- had been annoying enough to deal with for the suspicions and caution they awoke within those familiar with them.

A tug on his hand was all Loki needed to follow his mother down the Yggdrasill, towards the roots he had never ventured near. The trunk had been as far as he had gone before, wishing to see Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór for himself as they grazed beneath the World Tree. At the time he had found them surprisingly friendly and accepting of his presence rather than the skittish behavior he was accustomed to of most stags. Their behavior made far more sense now he knew of his true heritage.

"My Lady," a young voice greeted as soon as they appeared among the roots.

Loki looked over to find a face and body as young as the voice, fair of skin and beautiful as any maiden on Ásgarðr. She wore a simple purple dress, her long hair contained in a complex knot on top of her head.

"Urðr," Sága replied. "Where are the others?"

"They have gone to the Urðarbrunnr for water and sand."

Ah, so the Norns did dust sand over the Yggdrasill's boughs. Loki had thought he had seen some but it was hard to differentiate from the stardust which gleamed along the branches so he had not been certain.

"Shall I recall them?" Urðr inquired.

"No, they can meet Loki later, my son and I have much to discuss and not much time in which to do so," Sága responded.

"Of course. It is a pleasure and honor to finally meet you, my Lord. My Lady's creatures have spoken very highly of you, Níðhǫggr in particular."

"I- thank you," Loki replied, startled. "I have heard much of you too, Urðr."

"Ah, things perhaps not quite as they are?"

She had a sense of humor, Loki liked her. "Nay, not quite."

"Shall I bring some refreshments, my Lady?" Urðr asked.

"Please," Sága replied, causing Urðr to bow and leave.

"Where is sh-" Loki began before he cut himself off and waved a hand. "Let me guess, seiðr?"

"Naturally."

Loki was not entirely certain he was quite ready yet to call anything about his present circumstances natural, but perhaps in time he would. Instead he turned his attention to the network of roots which ran all around them. Some were thin, hardly thicker than his smallest finger, while others were more than twice the width of Thor's arms. They ran in every which direction, some spiraling in circles as if wrapped around something he could not see, others entirely straight. Light and energy raced along their lengths, running back up the way they had come, sustaining the trunk, boughs and Realms of the Yggdrasill.

It was a spectacle the likes of which even he had never seen before despite all of his prior visits to the World Tree and it filled him with no small sense of awe. Always one to analyze and question what he saw, it did not take Loki long to notice a peculiar pattern to the signals and he frowned, turning to follow as many of the roots with his eyes as he could. Was that what he thought it was? A few steps to the left and around a particularly large root brought a new part of the network into view, the section directly below the main trunk of the Yggdrasill itself.

What he saw made his breath catch in his throat and Loki froze in place. It was... But...

Everything he had ever learned of celestials rushed through his mind once more as Loki tried to understand exactly what it was he was seeing and all that it meant. Part of him found it obvious, but the rest of him was having trouble accepting it. Knowing and seeing. They went hand in hand, but not always easily or happily.

"Is that?" Loki asked.

"Yes."

Even the confirmation did little to help as what he was seeing was so astonishing and it took Loki several long moments before he could tear his eyes away and look at his mother's form beside him. This would take a while to become normal, even to him, as it was so very different from all that he had known before.

"Do not worry, Loki, I understand," Sága reassured him. "If anything it is my own fault for giving you away. Had you been raised by me, this would not seem so strange."

"Hmm. You wished to have words?" Loki finally inquired, drawing his attention away from the sight before him.

"Yes," Sága linked her arm with his, guiding him to where one of the roots flattened out and they could sit. "How are your plans progressing?"

"Very well. I have started connecting with the Soul Stone as well as working on wearing down Thanos' defenses. The second human I have chosen is also nearly ready to be resurrected."

"She is the one who will ensure they can aide you when you strike?"

"Aye."

Chapter Text

Earth, 2018 A.D.

The warning that it would hurt was such an understatement of the pain that if she had not screamed Shuri would have laughed. Instead she tried to contain her pain to just one scream as she felt her body reforming. Her mind, of course, wanted to know exactly how that was even possible, but the pain won out and she crumpled as soon as she rematerialized to the blaring of an unfamiliar alarm.

"I hate magic," Shuri muttered as she slowly tried moving first her fingers and then her limbs.

Granted, she wouldn't be alive right now without it, but after all of the times people thought what she did was magic, it was rather humbling to discover just how far outclassed she was when it came to the real deal.

She hated being outclassed.

"What the hell?" a male voice came from nearby. "FRIDAY, how did she get in here?"

"She materialized out of a flash of orange light, Colonel Rhodes."

That was not a human voice, Shuri realized as she pushed herself into a seated position with a wince. It was a very good imitation of it, but she could still hear the mechanical undertones.

"Colonel Rhodes?" Shuri said, glancing at the man who definitely resembled Iron Man's wingman. "War Machine? Of the Avengers?"

"Yeah, who are you?"

Shuri could vaguely recall someone mentioning War Machine among those fighting as well as something about Thor? Yes, she believed it had been the thunder god one of her guards had mentioned while she worked on Vision. She hadn't payed it too much attention, far too focused on the task at hand and the racing clock.

"Your Highness!" Okoye's voice exclaimed as the general rushed into the room. "You have been brought back!"

"I take it I am not the first?" Shuri inquired as more people entered the room even as the alarm abruptly stopped.

"No, there has been another, but only the one."

From the way the general touched her and the relief on her face, Shuri already knew the answer even before she asked. "My brother?"

"He did not make it," Okoye confirmed. "My Queen."

Oh God, no! Yes, she would absolutely love to upset the traditional order of things and the looks on the faces of half the council would almost be worth it, but hell no! She was not going to be queen. Not if she could help it.

"Queen?" Tony Stark questioned, his a voice she recognized from the videos of his lectures she had watched.

It had often been entertaining to see what Stark Industries was up to. And occasionally enlightening when they went somewhere she had not expected them to or invented something she had not thought of. Unfortunately all of the truly interesting stuff was not publicly available, like his Iron Man suits or the rumored AI he was said to have in his tower. Now that she would dearly love to get her hands on.

Perhaps that had been the voice she'd heard?

"Shuri is the younger sister of King T'Challa of Wakanda," Captain Rogers explained from where he stood. "With his death and her resurrection..."

Yeah, given both of those events she should be queen. Well, once she came of age at least, but it wasn't going to come to that. Not if she could help it.

"Was Loki the one to resurrect you too?" a blue skinned and cybernetically enhanced woman asked.

"Yes," Shuri confirmed, deciding everything else was irrelevant and could be discussed later. "He told me where Thanos is and gave me the final information I needed to get us there."

"Final information?" a red cloaked man asked. "I can get us wherever we need to go."

"Yeah, shaken and stirred," Stark muttered, earning himself a glare.

"No," Shuri interrupted. "You mean the Bifröst, yes?"

The cloaked man nodded once.

"Far too conspicuous and not conducive to a stealthy approach."

A pained laugh and Shuri turned to find Thor with a look of fond remembrance on his face. Inexplicably it made her think of T'Challa and her heart wretched as she thought of him dead, disintegrated as she'd been. To undo that alone she'd do whatever was necessary to make this right. If Loki could bring her back, then he could bring her big brother back too. And everyone else. They just had to ensure Thanos could not simply kill them all again with another snap of his fingers.

"A common complaint of Loki's," Thor said wistfully.

"And a smart one," Romanov agreed though seemingly with great reluctance. "We always knew of your arrivals on Earth because of it. If we are to catch Thanos unaware, we will not be able to use the Bifröst to get there."

"You mean to use the Bast," Okoye realized. "I did not think it capable of traveling at any great velocity."

"It isn't, not yet," Shuri said. "That was my next project, but Loki gave me the missing knowledge."

"You're talking about a spaceship, aren't you?" Stark questioned, eyes lighting up. "A vibranium spaceship."

"Yes, fully tested in space for all systems but a hyperdrive. That we'll need to create now."

"Did you hear that, Rhodey? I get to work on a spaceship with a princess queen!"

"God help us all," Colonel Rhodes mumbled.

"I can help too," a new voice said.

A quick glance showed the final alien she had been warned about. Even with the knowledge of who he was and what he was capable of, Shuri could not help that her first thought was of how adorable he looked. She shoved it aside though, not wishing to be like all of those men who had doubted her due to her gender and age.

"Rocket, right?" Shuri checked. "I was told your aid would be invaluable."

"You were?"

"Loki told me you were quite inventive and used to fixing ships."

"He put a disintegrating piece of junk back together long enough to rescue the rest of his team," the blue alien stated.

"Good times," Rocket agreed. "Though Quill's father did try to kill us and remake the whole galaxy in his image."

"Remake the whole galaxy?" Dr. Banner questioned.

"Yeah, he had these plant thingies dispersed on thousands of planets and once he connected with Quill's celestial half, he had enough power to make them grow. They were going to give him control over everything."

"Missouri, the Dairy Queen incident," Stark said, eyes wide.

"What makes you say that?" Romanov questioned.

"Because Quill said he was from Missouri. Odds are good that he and that strange alien event are connected."

"What is a celestial?" Dr. Banner asked.

"They are ancient beings of immense power and strength," Thor replied. "They lived long ago and were said to be immune to the ravages of time."

"Ego claimed to be millions of years old," Rocket said.

"Jesus," Dr. Banner breathed.

"It is said some of their kind once wielded the power of the Infinity Stones," Thor added.

"Of course they did," Stark muttered. "I don't suppose any trustworthy ones are still alive?"

"Nay, I had thought them all long dead, though rumors have always persisted of their continued existence."

Luckily for them they did not require a celestial, not if Loki was correct. Shuri knew the self proclaimed god couldn't necessarily be fully trusted, but he too had been dead and she knew enough of men of his nature to know she could trust his desire for vengeance.

"Dr. Banner, I believe your knowledge would also be most helpful," Shuri said, glancing at the man. "We need to get the Bast ready as quickly as possible."

"Of course, whatever I can do."

"Woah, wait, can we just slow down for a moment?" Captain Rogers asked. "What are you planning here?"

"I thought it would be obvious," Shuri replied. "We are going to complete the Bast so we can go to Rhea, where Thanos is."

"Yes, that was clear. But you just want to trust Loki and do what he says?"

"Oh, do you have a better plan?"

"Or a plan?" Stark snarked.

Shuri frowned. She was aware of the fallout between the two factions of the Avengers and, though no one had said anything, she knew Romanov's last minute change of side could not have helped. But surely now was not the time for this? Though given what T'Challa had said of how he had reacted after Father was killed... well if her brother could do that then she was not certain what learning Barnes had killed his parents might have done to Stark.

"Perhaps if I'd known of the spaceship we could have had one ready," Rogers replied, casting a glance at Okoye.

"At present it would take several decades to leave the solar system," Okoye replied calmly. "With that and our not knowing where Thanos was, I thought it irrelevant."

"Still, to trust Loki who has worked for Thanos before," Romanov said.

"Oh for!" Stark scowled. "We have talked of this, he was coerced into that!"

"Your Highness," Thor began. "What is my brother's plan? Did he say?"

"Not all of it, but he spoke of undoing what Thanos had wrecked," Shuri explained.

"How?"

"He did not say."

"The Infinity Stones, it has to be," Rocket said. "They caused this, so they can probably undo it."

"So we're just supposed to hand all of the Stones over to Loki?" Romanov demanded. "Over my dead body! We have Strange now, a human magician. I say we let him do it."

"I am the Sorcerer Supreme and a Master of the Mystic Arts, not a magician or wizard," Strange snapped. "And I can't."

"What do you mean you can't? You have already used the Time Stone!"

"One Stone and only then sparingly as doing so takes a great toll. I can't operate all of them."

"Indeed, no mortal can," Thor agreed. "To even try would kill them."

"You're mortal too, though," Dr. Banner frowned. "I mean you can die."

"Aye, apologies, mortal is often used for the shorter lived races."

"So you can do it?" Stark asked.

"If I had the necessary training, perhaps," Thor stated. "But even then there would be no guarantee, they might overwhelm even me."

"So attempting this is highly dangerous?"

"Extremely so."

"But Loki believes he can?" Okoye asked, looking at Shuri.

"Yes," she confirmed.

"Thor?" Captain Rogers asked.

"He is highly trained in the magical arts and is widely deemed one of the most powerful seiðr users alive. Mayhap even the most now Father is dead."

"I guess the question is do we risk being unable to reverse the snap by not letting him try?" Stark demanded. "I for one am not."

"Because your fiancée died," Romanov retorted.

"Yeah, her and Spiderman and trillions of others. I sort of care about that."

"I will risk it too," Shuri declared, cutting off the argument.

"Me three," Rocket stated. "And screw anyone who tries to get in our way!"

"Tell me what to do," Thor said, looking at her.

"We will need a plan for once we arrive on Rhea," Shuri said.

"Battle plan, I can aid with this."

"As can I," Colonel Rhodes added looking at Captain Rogers and Romanov. "We have to try."

"Fine," the captain agreed. "But I am assessing Loki's state of mind before we give him the Infinity Stones."

"Speaking of, did Loki actually say how he's coming back?" Strange asked. "Last I knew he was still dead."

"No, but he said he was close and already laying the groundwork for his own return, but he would need our aid distracting Thanos," Shuri replied.

"Distracting?" Romanov repeated. "Sounds like he wants us for canon fodder."

"I have often provided distractions for Loki," Thor said. "Seiðr takes time occasionally."

"Complex spells do," Strange acknowledged. "And I can only imagine this will be extremely complex."

"Right, so we will figure out a plan of attack based on all of the skills and powers we have amongst us," Captain Rogers said. "You guys work on getting us to, Rhea did you say?"

"Yes," Shuri confirmed. "And Loki said it would be best if we do not attack from the air as it would provide Thanos ample opportunities to slip away unseen."

"He's not wrong there," Colonel Rhodes stated. "Better to have eyes on him when we attack."

"Do we have any idea of the terrain on Rhea?" Romanov inquired.

"I have been there before," the blue cyborg spoke up.

"This way," Stark said as the others began assembling around one of the holographic workstations. "Or do we need to go to Wakanda to do it?"

"No, I will have the Bast come to us," Shuri replied, touching one of the kimoyo beads on her bracelet once they were in the elevator.

The bead rolled free onto her palm and a hologram appeared above it. With a few quick movements, she had remotely started the Bast and ordered it here.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to share after all of this is done?" Stark asked, looking at her bracelet longingly.

"That depends."

"On?"

Wary, tense. Ah, he feared she'd ask for weapons. As if she needed his help with those!

"Whether you share the basis of your AI with me."

All of Stark's tension melted away to be replaced with a huge smile. "I think this just might be the start of a beautiful and mutually beneficial relationship."

Chapter Text

Soul World, 2018 A.D.

Water, it was so vital for the survival of all but a fraction of the beings in the universe, himself included, and yet Thanos was starting to hate it. It and the color orange. Or at least to hate seeing them in his dreams. Strange they were not being connected with delight or fondness as witnessing them signaled he was about to see his little one again, but then he would rather resent them than her.

"How many people did you kill today?" Gamora demanded, sitting in the water.

Her appearance made Thanos tempted to tell her to stand and dry herself off, but he caught the words in time.

"I have achieved my goal, there is no need to kill anyone else," he said instead.

"Not even if those wronged seek you out for vengeance or thinking they can reverse what you wrought?"

"No one can reverse what I did, it is done."

Gamora snorted, leaning back against one of the pavilion's pillars to look up at him. "And what of those seeking retribution?"

"They will not succeed."

"But will they live?"

Thanos supposed it was a fair question. Ever since they had first met, his little one had seen him kill trillions. All with a very important purpose, of course, but still it had been the most consistent thing he had done ever since she was but a little girl.

"Yes," Thanos told her. "They will."

Her eyes grew wide with disbelief. "Why?"

"Because they cannot hope to harm me, not with the Infinity Stones, and I have already achieved all I set out to. More death is not necessary."

"Necessary," she shook her head as she rose to her feet.

"Yes, necessary," Thanos retorted, anger finally leaking into his own voice.

Her continued questioning of him was becoming tiresome. He would accept it if it was the only way to continue to see her here, but he would at least attempt to steer the conversation onto more pleasant topics. Or ones he was at least interested in.

"Who were they? Your companions on Knowhere?" he asked.

"My companions, or just Quill?" Gamora asked with an arched eyebrow.

How well she knew him, at least at times. Thanos nearly frowned at the reminder of some of what she had said and how clearly she did not understand then.

"We can commence with him who would kill you," he said.

"At my request!" she shot back, fists clenched. "He had promised me he would."

Now his anger flared within him as he finally allowed it to. "He should not dare to even contemplate such an action."

"It was necessary."

"It was pointless."

Gamora's eyes flashed and Thanos went deathly still as he saw their color shift, just for an instant. It was so fast he could have dismissed it as a trick of the light, but he knew what he had seen. His little one had brown eyes, always had, not green eyes.

"Who are you?" Thanos demanded darkly, fists clenching as he took a step closer to the pavilion and the one who looked like his daughter.

A vicious smile crossed those familiar green lips as an unfamiliar and a new look entered the once again brown eyes. "Finally noticed that?"

Finally? Did that mean it had never been Gamora whom he saw here, in his dreams?

"You are not dreaming," the specter replied. "You never have been when here."

Thanos resisted the temptation to look around, refusing to leave himself vulnerable to an enemy who may already have wormed their way past so many of his defenses. "Oh? Then where are we?"

"Soul World, the reality within the Soul Stone itself. A pocket dimension almost."

The words triggered the faintest sense of recognition within him and Thanos knew he had heard a whisper of a rumor hinting at what his opponent spoke of. He had tried to uncover more information on the Soul World, but he had not succeeded, the information almost entirely lost over the millions of years since the Infinity Stones had come into being.

"You have still not told me who you are," Thanos replied. "Are you too much of a coward?"

The other laughed, though the Gamora disguise melted away to reveal a small boy with black hair and the green eyes Thanos had caught a glimpse of earlier. He still did not immediately recognize his opponent, though.

"I was rather more curious to see if you could figure it out," the boy said, but even as he spoke he shifted and changed, growing taller. "But then you probably were far too certain of yourself. You had said no resurrections this time when you killed me."

"Loki," Thanos bit out, the words revealing his identity a fraction of a second before visual recognition followed as the form he knew appeared before him.

"Thanos," Loki replied, a wicked smile on his face.

Now he was paying more attention to his surroundings and what they felt like, Thanos could tell the godling spoke the truth. He was not asleep as he had always thought. That he had not noticed this before was a testament to how greatly he already missed his daughter and how desperately glad he had been to see her once more after he had thought that he never would. He would make the prince pay for manipulating him thus. And for betraying him as he had on Miðgarðr.

First, though, he had to know precisely what was transpiring.

"How are you here?" Thanos demanded. "I killed you personally before acquiring the Soul Stone or achieving my goal."

"Aye, you did. But if you had not then you would not have found the Soul Stone as it would not have been on Vormir."

"It was placed there millennia ago."

Loki nodded once. "And there it was to return whenever those who had sacrificed for it lost the Soul Stone. Or died."

"You wish to claim you were in possession of the Soul Stone?" Thanos laughed.

The mere idea was nonsensical, he would have sensed the Stone on the godling. Not to mention his former slave had not been nearly powerful enough to have the Soul Stone's power at his disposal. Even he had felt it was the most powerful of the six when he had acquired it.

"Did you think none would oppose your demented quest to reshape the entire universe in your chosen image?" Loki demanded, his words ringing familiar to Thanos and confirming the godling was at the very least aware of his other encounters with Gamora here. "Plans were put into place long ago. You asked me how I was here, well I did not lie that being sacrificed to the Soul Stone tied one to it."

Thanos' focus sharpened. If that were true, then Gamora was present in this... dimension.

"She is," Loki confirmed. "But she has no desire to interact with you."

The continued proof the godling could read his thoughts irritated Thanos, but he cast it aside in favor of focusing on what else had been revealed. "You were sacrificed to the Stone."

"Aye, as I said plans were put into place long ago. Plans which removed the Soul Stone from Vormir until my death," Loki replied. "Therefore had you not killed me, you would not have found it."

"Then killing you was useful as well as pleasurable."

The godling laughed. "Still you think you possess the advantage and are unassailable."

"I have already won, princeling. I achieved my goal."

"Aye, as did my mother."

The words and confidence with which they were spoken made Thanos narrow his eyes as he studied his former slave. That the godling was more powerful and cunning than he had at first assumed had already been proven when Loki had managed to thwart the invasion of Miðgarðr despite the compulsion Thanos had planted deep in his mind with the Mind Stone. Still, he knew the jötunn was a master manipulator and illusionist, so he knew better than to believe his words at face value, no matter how sincere the godling appeared. Still, he also knew how there were times when those such as Loki would speak the truth, knowing it was less likely to be believed.

"My death at your hands was part of that plan, clearing the way for the final step to commence; the ensoulment itself," Loki laughed, eyes alight with a crazed fire Thanos recognized only all too well. "Have you not found the gauntlet more difficult to use with every passing day? It's power more and more angry?"

For the first time fear awoke within Thanos, though he refused to allow it to show and hardly even acknowledged it himself. He would not allow himself to be incited into a panic based on mere words, particularly not from so renown a liar or word smith as the famed silvertongue. The fact remained, though, that Loki's words rang far too true for Thanos' own comfort. The gauntlet had become harder to wear, its power draining him as much as it had once energized him and quickened his magic.

The sudden doubts angered Thanos and he began to reach out for what he could feel of the dimension around him, seeking a way out. He would not allow himself to become trapped here, in this fake world, with a being he had already killed. The godling could claim whatever he wished, but Thanos knew he had killed him and there had been no tricks or magic at work, so there would be no resurrection. He did not suffer betrayal lightly. Once outside, he could deal with whatever was truly transpiring.

"Aye, indeed, let us leave and finish this once and for all," Loki said, palms suddenly aglow with magic.

Only instead of the green-gold hue Thanos had witnessed before, the godling's magic was now a bright orange. Then his world went white.

Chapter Text

Rhea, 2018 A.D.

As Nebula had informed them, Rhea was indeed a lush beautiful world which provided ample opportunities for a stealthy approach of their target. The need for such an approach still bothered Thor, even if he did understand it. It was not honorable and Thor wished he could face Thanos without the need for it. Too much was at stake, though, including perhaps his brother's life and for that he would do anything.

Thor smiled sadly as he wondered if Loki would be pleased with the fact that for him Thor was doing this. It was fitting.

"Rotten stealing little bandit!" Stark muttered beside him.

"Oh, get over it, Stark!" Romanov hissed. "He needed a second weapon."

"He could have asked!"

Thor frowned as he glanced at his shield-brother and sister. Much had transpired while he was away and he would have preferred not to go into battle with them so angered at each other. His and Banner's inquires into the events which had led to the fight were quite disturbing. Particularly when the Romanov and the captain had attempted to gain their favor. After what had transpired with Loki, Thor could not condone the keeping of secrets, as he knew it destroyed trust. Nor could he condone the dishonorable behavior involved in joining one side and then betraying it for the other.

"The rabbit does have a habit of stealing," Thor replied softly.

"Rabbit?" Stark asked.

"Aye. My eye was stolen from someone."

"Your eye?" Strange questioned.

Thor pointed at it. "I lost it during the battle with Hela."

"I had wondered about the color change," Stark stated.

Thor was about to reply when the communications device Stark had given them crackled at his ear.

"We have eyes on Thanos," Rogers stated.

"What's he doing?" Romanov immediately asked.

"That's just it, he seems to be asleep."

"Asleep?" Stark repeated in surprise. "What, outside?"

"Yes."

"This is not normal for him," Nebula remarked. "He is vulnerable here."

"That's like calling a sleeping Doberman vulnerable," the Machine of War retorted. "He's still wearing the gauntlet, though it appears to be damaged."

"Share your view?" Stark asked. "Got it. Huh."

"We were hoping for an opportunity," General Okoye reminded them. "We will not have a better one than this."

"Normally I would say it is dishonorable to attack a sleeping foe, but there has been no honor in his actions," Thor said. "And Loki would approve of me performing such an action in his name."

"My brother would not, but he would do what was necessary for our people," Princess Shuri replied. "Wakanda forever!"

"Wakanda forever," General Okoye echoed.

"We see him now too," Banner's voice said, speaking for the second of their three groups. "There's a structure behind him. A wooden home I think."

"Do you think the exterior is a façade?" Stark asked.

"Father often spoke of living simply here," Nebula replied. "We were not sure he would truly do so for any length of time, but he seemed to believe it enough to try."

"We can see him now too," Thor said as his group came to the edge of the lush plant life.

The land sloped down into a field whose crops stood high enough to conceal their further approach though Thor did not think it necessary as Thanos did appear to be slumbering where he sat.

"So whaddaya think, Brucie bear?" Stark asked. "Do you suppose this time we'll get a Code Green when we want it?"

Banner laughed. "Oh, yeah, just seeing him is making the Other Guy strain to get out. He wants a rematch."

"Well just hold it in for now," Rogers said. "Given that Thanos seems to be sleeping, I think we should try to get the gauntlet off first, before we alert him to our presence."

"It won't work," Nebula warned. "Father will wake before you succeed."

"We have to try," Romanov countered. "Besides, even if he wakes, we'll be far closer than we'd get if we simply charged right in."

"Those in category one approach," Rogers ordered. "Bruce, be prepared for a Code Green should Thanos wake."

Carefully, Thor made his approach, Loki's voice echoing in his head from all of the times had he failed to make a stealthy approach. Normally his brother would send him to be the distraction instead. He supposed he still was that even if most of the Avengers thought themselves to be the main thrust of the attack.

It felt surprisingly good to be part of one of his brother's plans again, even if Thor did not know precisely what Loki intended. It was something he had not allowed himself to think of during those past few years, but ever since Sakaar where his brother had not seemed so mad, his old hope had been rekindled against his will. Particularly after what Loki had said and done during the confrontation with Thanos onboard the Statesman. If his brother had truly wished him dead as he had occasionally thought since the incident with the Destroyer on Miðgarðr, then Loki would not have handed over the Tesseract.

While Thor was still not pleased Thanos had gained the Space Stone, its acquisition had given him hope regarding his brother. As had Loki's return for them and their people on Ásgarðr. His brother had not had to do that, especially not after how he had left Loki on Sakaar. It shamed him now to think of what he had done, but he had been so angry at Loki. Why could his brother not simply refrain from his tricks for once and cease causing endless chaos?

As Thor approached the crops with Stark flying by his side, he saw the Machine of War and Rogers approaching from Thanos' other side. Glancing towards the left he could see where Banner, General Okoye, Princess Shuri and the rabbit waited at the edge of the forest. It had been decided only those in category one would partake in close confrontations with the Mad Titan if at all possible as they were most likely to survive. Romanov, Rocket, Nebula and Strange would standby to approach if necessary while General Okoye and Princess Shuri would attack from afar with Banner remaining with them unless the Hulk was required.

Thor did not agree with all of the plan, but he knew Rogers needed to have one before attacking Thanos. The rest he knew would happen once they actually commenced battle.

"I don't like this," Stark stated as they came within striking distance. "Surely even as overconfident at he is, Thanos would have some kind of warning system in place?"

"Like I said before, this is not like my father," Nebula agreed.

They were now close enough to see more of the Mad Titan and Thor frowned as he caught the rapid movement behind Thanos' closed eyelids. It was accompanied by a restless twitching of his muscles and the occasional spark of seiðr from the gauntlet.

"Loki," Thor realized suddenly.

"What?" Rogers questioned.

"My brother is responsible for this. Thanos' slumber is neither natural nor restful."

Stark laughed. "Trust Loki to cause mayhem and chaos from even beyond the grave."

"Quick!" Colonel Rhodes said. "Before he wakes. Who knows how long a dead man can hold Thanos down?"

Thor met Rogers' eyes across the Mad Titan before they both leapt forward, reaching for the gauntlet. They had decided to attempt to remove it rather than take off the Titan's arm as they feared the potential backlash from the Infinity Stones at so aggressive an act. Much as Thor wished, he also could not guarantee he could do so in one blow, even with Stormbreaker after how his axe had failed to kill Thanos before despite all of the rage and force he had utilized when striking at his foe.

The blast of seiðr which hit them as soon as they touched the gauntlet sent Rogers flying back and made Thor grit his teeth. Luckily he had plenty of experience in dealing with unexpected bursts of seiðr from back when Loki had first been learning to control his own power that he could resist it, though it seemed to have struck harder at the captain than at him. The Man of Iron was immediately at his side, taking Rogers' place and together they began to pull the gauntlet free.

With a roar Thanos awoke, his eyes snapping open even as his fists clenched.

"Shit, look out!" Colonel Rhodes cried out as more power rushed from the gauntlet.

This time Thor was sent flying and he only just managed to twist himself around to land properly before he struck the ground. With a growl, he called forth his lightning and threw it at Thanos, striking the Mad Titan in the chest and away from his far more vulnerable shield-brothers.

"Code Green," Rogers snapped out. "Everyone attack!"

"You dare!" Thanos demanded, rising to his feet and sending both War Machine and Iron Man crashing to the ground with a mere wave of his hand.

The others rushed forward with the rabbit leading the charge despite his small size. Thor knew from the previous battle on Miðgarðr how much damage his little friend's gun could do. Now, however, when the rabbit tried to use it all that happened was for a flag to appear out the end with the word Bang! written on it.

"What the hell?" Rocket demanded.

"The Reality Stone," Nebula stated. "It can twist any of our weapons into whatever Father wants. Or any of us."

The words startled Thor as he had not witnessed the Aether performing any such actions while in Malekith's hands. As if to prove Nebula's latter words correct, though, a flick of Thanos' wrist had the Machine of War falling apart into all of the suit's constituent parts. With Colonel Rhodes still inside each part.

"Rhodey!" Stark cried out, diving to his friend's side.

Furious at the loss of yet another companion, Thor called forth his power and flew at Thanos with all his might even as he heard the first roar of the Hulk behind him. Instead of meeting its target, Stormbreaker unraveled in his hands, the head falling to the ground in the blocks of Uru used to create it while the handle loosened until all Thor held was what looked suspiciously like Groot's arm.

The shock distracted Thor long enough for Thanos to grasp him by the neck, much as he had held Loki just before killing him. The reminder of his brother's death unleashed his fury and he struck out with his power, calling down the biggest lightning bolt he could. Rather than strike the Mad Titan, however, it branched off, striking several of his friends instead and he stopped it immediately, relieved to see Rogers had managed to throw his two shields in front of Romanov and Rocket, neither of whom he thought could have survived a direct strike.

"Where is he?" Thanos demanded, shaking Thor like he weighed nothing.

Thor choked, scrabbling at the fingers wrapped around his throat while his legs kicked helplessly. Was this what it had felt like for Loki when he had died, struggling uselessly against Thanos' unrelenting hold?

Before Thor could even think to attempt a reply, the Hulk was there, smashing into them. Though Thanos was sent skidding back, his hold never loosened on Thor's throat and he could do nothing as the force of the blow caused him to swing wildly in the Mad Titan's grasp, pain lancing up and down from his abused neck and throat.

"Release godling!" Hulk demanded, arms snapping to the side, prepared to fight.

"You bore me," Thanos replied, flicking his gauntlet covered hand and sending Banner back, right into a newly appeared portal.

"Bruce!" Romanov cried out in alarm.

"Relax," Strange's voice came over Thor's communication device. "I saw the Bast in the background. He's not been sent into space."

"If he destroys the ship, we will be stuck here!" General Okoye replied.

"Where is he?" Thanos growled once more, cutting off Thor's air supply despite seemingly wanting an answer.

"Where is who?" Rogers demanded for him.

"Loki!"

The desire to laugh bubbled up within Thor. He had been right, it had been his brother who had been responsible for Thanos' distraction earlier. Had he not been on the wrong end of it so often himself, he would be far more appreciative of Loki's ability to distract and ensnare his chosen victims.

"You killed him yourself," Nebula said. "Just as you killed my sister!"

With those words there was a sudden barrage of attacks, all striking Thanos simultaneously, from shields, to repulsor blasts, to Wakandian energy beams, to bullets, to a vibranium spear. The Mad Titan roared, sending a blast of purple seiðr from the gauntlet, throwing everyone back before a cry emerged from Thanos' throat. The unexpected pain clearly caught him off-guard as Thor felt the grasp on his neck weaken. He immediately called forth more lighting but directed it through his hands this time, discharging it right into his foe's arm. He was released with another cry and dropped to the ground.

"What the hell?" Stark asked, already flying back towards them.

Straightening from where he had fallen, Thor looked back at Thanos to find the Mad Titan with an expression of pain of his face while his free hand clutched at the other, just above the gauntlet. The Soul Stone glowed an angry orange where it was placed into the battered metal.

"What just happened?" Colonel Rhodes questioned and Thor turned to stare at the Machine of War in surprise.

"You're back!" Princess Shuri exclaimed.

"From what?"

"How?" Rogers demanded.

"The pain is distracting Thanos," Strange concluded. "Strong seiðr takes concentrated effort, something he doesn't have just now."

Which would explain why some of their weapons had just worked when they had not earlier.

"For Groot!" Rocket cried out, leaping forwards, stolen repulsor raised high.

"Rabbit, nay!" Thor called out in warning but it was too late.

In pain or not, Thanos was still a formidable foe and he was clearly able to utilize the gauntlet to some level as Rocket's blast went wide, circling around its intended target to hit Rogers who only just managed to raise a shield in time. Then the Titan was reaching out, grasping Rocket by the tail. Before Thor could even think to attack, the rabbit had been thrown, sailing high over them all to vanish into Rhea's lush forest with a cry of alarm and pain.

"Where is Loki!" Thanos screamed. "I will teach him the price of betraying me. I will make him long for something as sweet as pain!"

The threat against his brother combined with all of Thor's pain and grief at losing Loki and he felt his power welling within him as never before.

"Thor, no!" Rogers cried out.

Thor ignored the captain, feeling lightning crackling and coursing all over his body as he charged at the Mad Titan, slamming into him with the full force of his rage and power. His strike coincided with another surge of power from the Soul Stone and Thanos roared as they were sent flying, crashing into the wooden house Banner had noticed earlier. Thor continued to channel his lightning into his foe, only vaguely aware as the others flooded into the house through the hole he had created.

A snap of purple seiðr finally knocked Thor aside and he crashed into General Okoye as he was flung aside. Thanos, though, kept trashing as orange light filled the chamber in an angry glow.

"What is going on?" Princess Shuri questioned.

"Something is wrong," Strange replied. "The Infinity Stones seem to be resisting him."

"Can we touch the gauntlet without being affected?" Rogers demanded.

"I don't know."

"Could you feel it, Thor?" Romanov asked.

"Nay, it..." Thor began, uncertain. "I did not seem to wish me ill."

"What the hell does that mean?" Stark demanded.

"We'll have to risk it," Colonel Rhodes stated, already stepping forwards.

Even as the Machine of War did so, more orange seiðr crackled across the Mad Titan's hand and arm, leaving behind burns and scorch marks wherever if fell. With another cry, Thanos clawed at the ruined gauntlet, wrenching it off and sending it flying across the chamber where it bounced once, twice, before disintegrating entirely. The remaining momentum kept the six Infinity Stones bouncing along until they hit the far wall and spilled onto the ground. For one endless moment no one moved, unable to believe that they had just succeeded, but then it was abruptly severed as raw power washed through the air once more, angry and uncompromising.

Red, purple, green, yellow, blue and orange light filled the chamber as the Infinity Stones shone with their power once more, rising up off the floor to swirl into the air, spinning. Thor glanced over at Strange, trying to gauge if the seiðmadr understood what was happening, but he too looked surprised. Then Thor looked back to find the Stones shifting into a new pattern and his breath caught in his throat as it became clear.

A pentagram with the Soul Stone at its core.

Suddenly the five surrounding stones began to spin around the Soul Stone, going faster and faster until they became a blur. Their light slowly dimmed even as the orange became stronger, shining so bright Thor was eventually forced to look away and close his eyes. Then there was a wave of power so great it knocked him off his feet and everything was orange.

Chapter Text

Valhöll, 2018 A.D.

The way her youngest had abruptly vanished- as if teleporting away- after his cryptic last words about his birth mother still haunted Frigga. Especially after it had become apparent that he was nowhere to be found in Valhöll. It should not have been possible for Loki to leave the Realm of the honorable dead, yet he seemed to have managed it less than an hour after first arriving. It was unsettling, particularly when combined with all that he had said and implied.

It had taken Frigga days to achieve a relative calm, but even now she remained a little on edge, unable to relax entirely. Not when there was something so mysterious occurring to her son and she could do naught to aid him.

"I thought I would find you here," Óðinn's voice came from behind her and Frigga turned to find him standing in the door to the balcony.

"Óðinn," she greeted, smiling as he moved towards her.

There had been arguments after Loki left, his words unable to cause anything else, but they had settled on a peace since. Though she could not condone his actions against their son, she did understand he had been unable to simply treat their youngest as his son alone. Besides, they were both dead now, so little could be done about it.

"What is wrong?" she demanded a moment later, noticing the Einherjar posted on either side of the door beyond her husband's shoulder.

"Something comes," Óðinn replied, eyes worried. "There is great power on the wind."

"Mayhap you are not as entirely hopeless as he thought."

The familiar voice came from behind her and Frigga spun around to see her baby standing at the balustrade, back to them. His clothing had changed into a style she was unfamiliar with, at least from this angle, and the colors had been altered. His green was still present but rather than being accompanied by black and gold, the rest of the outfit was a very dark brown and plum. He still had high boots and his long leather coat had many tails to allow for ease of movement in battle, but the vambraces on his forearms were different. They were a peculiar color she could not place, though they were partially hidden from view behind his long hair which now fell to his waist.

Instead of turning to face them, Loki remained as he was, one wrist clasped within the other hand at the small of his back and his free hand curled into a fist. It was a relaxed stance, showing no signs of the tension her baby's posture had held by the end of their last meeting. It too had started strangely calm, though, Frigga now remembered. It was almost as if Loki had been rendered strangely emotionless.

It was not a pleasant thought.

"He?" Óðinn asked, frowning.

"Aye," Loki replied, shifting and beginning to pace along the balcony, though he deliberately kept his head turned away from them. "Why did you do it? Take him in?"

Frigga's head whipped around to meet her husband's startled eyes. Why was Loki referring to himself in the third person?

"Do you mean why did I take you in?" Óðinn asked. "You were an infant. You would have died."

"That is not what you said before," Loki replied, stopping and bringing his hands before him to rest on the marble balustrade with a soft clink. "You spoke of political advantages."

"I was king! Of course such possibilities occurred to me, you of all people should be aware of this."

They had spoken of this. Frigga had demanded it after her baby's last visit when it had become very evident much had passed between Óðinn and Loki she had not been aware of. She could have slapped her husband when he had told her some of it.

"You were ever the one to point out the most practical and strategic realities, regardless of the more sentimental concerns they entailed," Óðinn continued. "It does not mean that was all you meant to me. Indeed those plans-"

"No longer mattered?" Loki finished, half-turning but tilting his head so his hair swept forward to mask his face. "Perhaps."

"Loki," Frigga said after a moment of silence. "Please look at us."

For a moment she feared he would refuse her request, his posture now stiff and unrelenting. But then he moved, slowly turning, hands once more behind his back and head down. Her eyes swept over his form out of habit, checking to see if he had any visible injuries and pleased when she found none. His outfit beneath the elaborate and sleeveless coat was clearly armored and made her think of the one he had worn the day he had been crowned regent though the similarities were vague at best. There was more of the unknown metal, but only a little, most of the highlights either green or plum.

The most intriguing detail, though, was the elaborate tree stitched into the left breast of his coat in a silvery-white thread. Being as familiar as Frigga was with Loki's sketches and illustrations of the Yggdrasill she recognized it immediately as one of his. Though similar in many ways to other depictions of the World Tree across the Nine, her youngest's drawings had always been unique in several consistent details, the coloring and shading of it being but two of those, both rendered here by the color of the embroidery.

Then Loki raised his head and Frigga's breath caught in her throat in shock. There, seemingly embedded into his forehead, were three gems; one yellow, one green and one red.

The unexpectedness of it stymied her thinking and she could only stare as she tried to understand what she was seeing. Or to comprehend what had happened to her son.

"Are those Infinity Stones?" Óðinn questioned in shocked disbelief.

"Mind Stone, Time Stone, Reality Stone," Loki said, pointing at each in turn as he moved from right to left across his forehead.

Frigga opened her mouth wordlessly for a moment, glancing between Óðinn and Loki, before she regained her voice. "How did you come to possess Infinity Stones in your forehead?"

It... she was not entirely sure what it was, but completely unexpected and wholly unpredicted were a good place to start. They were supposed to disintegrate mortals with a mere touch and it was said even one of the more long lived races would be hard-pressed to touch but two of them at once, let alone three or have them imbedded in their skin.

"I took them from Thanos," Loki said, voice oddly toneless, gaze blank as he glanced at them.

Then he took a step forwards and suddenly there were Einherjar bursting forth from behind herself and Óðinn, weapons raised protectively.

"Nay!" Frigga cried out even as her husband caught her in his arms, preventing her from interfering. "Óðinn!"

"Something is not right here, I know you sense it too," Óðinn replied.

Loki's held tilted and an amused smile crossed his otherwise blank face before he slowly raised his arms, fists closed. When they were at shoulder height he paused and Frigga's heart tripped in her chest. Óðinn was right, she knew something was not right, but that was her baby, of that she was absolutely certain. There was something different and perhaps even wrong about him, but that it was Loki she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Then Loki opened his fists and Frigga's breath caught in her throat as she caught sight of the blue and purple gems embedded into his palms.

"Space Stone," Loki said, wiggling the fingers of his left hand. "Power Stone," he continued, wiggling the fingers of his right hand.

Checkmate.

It took the guards and her husband a moment longer to realize it, but Frigga knew it right away. They stood no chance against even one Infinity Stone, let alone five of them. The head guard glanced over at Óðinn and her husband motioned them back, an order they followed with great reluctance. It was quite telling as a reaction for they were already in Valhöll, it was not like they could die a second time. Once they were off the balcony, Loki lowered his arms and Óðinn released her.

"How did you take them from Thanos?" Óðinn asked, but softly. "You are dead."

"No, he is dead, the one you took in," Loki replied. "I am not for I cannot die. I am timeless."

Frigga shared a look with her husband, trying to see if he understood this any better than her. Alas it was quite clear he did not.

"If you are not Loki, then who are you?" Frigga asked.

A smirk and then his form wavered, becoming seemingly vaporous before it vanished entirely, leaving behind only the Stones. Blue, purple, orange, red, green and yellow they hung in the air before them where a moment before their son had stood. They glowed and shone in the light of Valhöll's sun and Frigga could only stare at them silently. They seemed so harmless when viewed like this, harmless and beautiful. It was hard to believe how much death and destruction they had caused. Or had been caused to obtain them and by perverting their power.

Her baby had died because he possessed one of them.

Then Loki's form coalesced into being once more and he stood before them with the five Stones embedded into his body, though the wash of pure, raw power unveiled only a few moment earlier still remained.

Wait, five.

"Where is the Soul Stone?" Frigga questioned, eyes running over his form and not seeing it.

"As quick and astute as always, Frigga," Loki replied without actually answering.

His words, though, tore at her. Frigga he had said. Frigga, not mother. All of the relief she had felt the last time at being addressed as thus vanished in an instant and Frigga could not help but fear. What had happened to her baby?

Then, suddenly, there was someone else present, a woman who looked to be no older than Loki though Frigga knew it could not be true. Not with how closely she resembled her youngest. Tall, lightly curled black hair, pale skin and green eyes. This was her; Loki's birth mother. The one he had referred to more than once now since first appearing in Valhöll, the one whom neither Frigga nor Óðinn had ever given much thought to, simply assuming she was Fárbauti, wife of Laufey and Queen of Jötunheimr.

"Hello, Mother," Loki said, turning to look at her.

Frigga felt her heart trip in her chest at hearing that word addressed to someone other than herself. Especially so soon after he had failed to use it with her.

"Loki," the woman replied, narrowing her eyes as she looked at Loki. "I see," she said before suddenly she stood before him.

The teleportation caught Frigga by surprise, she had never known anyone other than her son who could do it. Before she could even think to comment on it, the woman had raised her hands and placed them on either side of Loki's face before her palms began to glow purple.

"Come back to us, Loki," she said.

Loki allowed the action, merely tilting his head curiously, as if the magic did not concern or affect him at all.

"Remember who you are," the woman said as Frigga drew closer.

"I-" Loki began but it was cut off as his eyes widened, emotion finally bleeding back into them.

"There you are," Loki's mother smiled, lowering her hands and taking a step back.

"Darling?" Frigga questioned softly, drawing his attention.

"Mother," Loki replied, finally smiling and stepping close.

She eagerly returned his embrace, closing her eyes in relief at finally being able to truly recognize her son and his form of address. "Do not do that ever again!"

"It was necessary," he replied.

"For what?"

"Everything."

It told Frigga nothing, but before she could question him further, her baby drew back and glanced at the other woman.

"You planned this," Loki said.

"Yes, Little One, I did," she confirmed, smiling.

It sent a stab of unexpected jealousy through Frigga. She was Loki's mother, in all but birth. What right did this woman have to show up now, over a thousands years later, to try and claim her baby? After everything which had transpired, but most importantly, how Loki had been left in a temple. Alone and abandoned!

"Little One," Loki murmured, eyes going distant once more and then his skin was shifting and changing.

Green bled across his skin even as he shrank and morphed, face and chest softening until an alien woman with dark magenta tinged dark brown hair stood before them.

"No, Loki," the other woman said, voice soft but stern. "That is Gamora, Daughter of Thanos, it is not you."

"Not me?" Loki asked, looking confused even as he shifted back. "Then why is she here?"

"Because Thanos sacrificed her to the Soul Stone too."

Sacrificed! Frigga had known the Mad Titan was a monster, but to sacrifice his own child for a gem- even if it was an Infinity Stone- was unthinkable.

Wait. Too.

"You sacrificed Loki for the Stone!" Frigga realized, looking at her in horror and growing rage.

"It was necessary," the woman replied calmly. "And my name is Sága."

"I do not care what your name is, you do not sacrifice your children for anything!"

"Mother," Loki said, reaching out to touch her arm. "It is fine."

"It is not fine!" Frigga protested, focusing her attention back on him and touching his cheek. "You are not a pawn to be bartered at random."

"It was not random, it was planned."

"He is correct," Sága confirmed.

"You had a child just to sacrifice him?" Frigga demanded. "That is even worse!"

"Not with what she is," Loki explained. "There was never going to be more before I existed, that all came later, but still before my birth."

"Yes, Little One, you are remembering," Sága encouraged.

"I remember you, all around me, warmth and safety. Your body, your heart, your power."

Frigga's mouth dropped open as she realized what Loki was saying. He remembered Sága from when he had been within her womb. It should be impossible, but her baby had hardly ever been normal. At first she had thought it merely a mother's warped view of a much beloved child, but once he had commenced his seiðr studies she had realized it was not. Not at the rate he learned, quickly outpacing her and any other tutors she acquired for him, veritably devouring all seiðr knowledge he could come by.

"I remember..." Loki trailed off, head tilting once more and eyes unfocused but not distant. "I remember the Soul Stone, its power and... essence as it joined with me. Then you were gone."

"Yes, it happened during your birth," Sága said. "Me for it."

"Nay, you for Frigga."

As he said it, Loki glanced back at Frigga, eyes half orange and half green. Glowing. It was unnerving but Frigga had never been one to allow herself to be frightened from what she needed to do. She steeled herself and reached out to touch his face gently once more.

"My little baby," she said, smiling as she remembered when Óðinn had first placed him in her arms. "Child of my heart, if not my body."

"You were a good mother to him," Sága commented. "I was only able to relinquish him in the end as I knew he would have you when I did so. That you would truly love him."

The words made Frigga feel conflicted. She wanted to hate this woman who had dared to sacrifice her own child for an Infinity Stone- who had dared to sacrifice Loki for one- but she was starting to understand there was something more transpiring here. Loki was not here by chance or whim, no there was purpose to his visit, an important purpose as he had clearly just come from Thanos, bearing all the Infinity Stones. Almost all of the Man Titan's power, none of which he would relinquish easily, not after what he had needed to do to acquire them in the first place, nor given the power they possessed.

The greatest power in the universe when any two were together and here her baby stood with five visibly embedded into his body. Mind, Time, Reality, Space and Power. Which left just one and she had seen it earlier.

"Loki, where is the Soul Stone?" Frigga asked, dread settling in the pit of her stomach once more.

It was the Stone Sága had sacrificed Loki for and for which Thanos had apparently sacrificed his own daughter for. Or at least one he viewed as his daughter as Gamora was clearly zehoberi and Thanos was not.

Instead of answering, Loki merely looked at her, eyes going distant and blank once more.

"Here," Sága said, reaching out and placing a hand on Loki's chest, the tip of her middle finger resting in the hollow of his throat.

"There?" Frigga asked, not understanding.

"Loki and the Soul Stone became one when I sacrificed him to it. He is the Soul Stone made flesh."

The Soul Stone made flesh.

The words echoed in Frigga's head, their meaning refusing to register as she knew she could not bear it.

"What did you do?" she hissed, voice low and dangerous as she turned to face Sága fully, wishing she could pull her youngest behind her.

"I ensouled the Soul Stone, brought it to life," Sága replied calmly but with a small smile as she looked at Frigga. "Loki and it are now one, he merely has to finish melding with it."

"One? Melding? He is my son!" Frigga exploded. "And you would treat him as nothing but a... a... thing to be used towards your own goals!"

"Thanos had to be stopped and Loki is correct, to one such as I there could never have been more before, when he did not yet exist," Sága explained, countering Frigga's rage with patience. "By the time I had already achieved his creation and added the necessary chaos, it was too late, I had to continue for the sake of half the lives in the universe."

Frigga wished to protest that she did not care about half the lives in the universe, that she only cared for her sons, but she knew it was not true. She was not so callous and she knew Loki might still have died at Thanos' hand even if he had escaped with Thor, for half meant he might have died with the snap. Still, acknowledging that and being able to act as Sága had were two very different things. But... it was twice now Sága's species had been referenced in terms of her ability to care for Loki before he had existed. As if knowing one would love their children had been entirely alien to her.

"Which species you?" Óðinn demanded, coming up beside Frigga, clearly having come to the same realization.

A smile as Sága shared a look with Loki. "We have many names, but you would know my kind as celestials."

"Celestials?" Frigga repeated, eyes wide before she glanced at her husband.

He looked just as shocked as her. As well he should be. The celestials were hardly more than a myth, mighty and powerful people from long ago, lost to the mists of time. Or so they had been led to believe, only sparse remnants of their presence were left scattered across the universe. Yet even those spoke of a durability and power far beyond that of almost any other species since. It...

It made a lot about Loki's skill with seiðr more clear, not to mention his actions after he had learned of his jötunn heritage. To have this in the very fabric of his being along with the jötunn element and the chaos Sága had spoken of earlier. It was no longer surprising her baby had veered towards madness when Óðinn had inadvertently destabilized his sense of self.

"What are you?" Óðinn demanded, glaring at Sága.

Rather than be offended at her husband's rudeness, Sága seemed to find it amusing and for that Frigga felt relieved. She was not sure what Óðinn was thinking, confronting such a powerful being like that. She knew he was aware of the commonly held beliefs regarding their true forms-

Oh. What are you.

Óðinn meant to ask what her true form was as it would not be the pale skinned and dark haired woman standing before them with Loki's green eyes. Nay, if other celestials were worlds or giants who could walk through space itself, then she would be something similar. This was naught but an avatar meant to allow for ease of interaction with them.

The irony that Laufey might be the smaller of Loki's birth parents was not lost on Frigga, but for now it was but a vague and distant realization.

"Mother, All-Father, she is the Yggdrasill."

Chapter Text

Rhea, 2018 A.D.

Thor blinked as he looked at the ceiling, mind scrambling to catch up with what had just transpired. He had not been flattened so easily since that time Loki had lost all control as an adolescent and depleted his magical reserves in one massive outburst. It had nearly killed his little brother and put Loki in the healing halls for over a month, though it had been considerably longer before the pest had been able to use his seiðr once more.

With a groan, he forced himself upright, eyes seeking out Thanos first and foremost, pleased to find him down too and hardly even stirring. Therefore he turned his attention towards the other potential threat in the chamber. Rather than finding the Infinity Stones as they had been earlier, Thor discovered a being there instead.

The figure was crouched down on one knee with his hands planted on the floor on either side with his long dark hair spilled all around him.

Loki.

He might not be able to see the figure's face and both the hair and clothes were different from any which Thor had seen before, but he instantly recognized his little brother. Intense relief swept through him and the hope he had hardly dared nourish with first Dr. Strange's and then Princess Shuri's resurrections blossomed. Loki was alive! His brother had done it, just as he had said he would.

Thor had never been so happy about his brother's seiðr use as he was now. Never again would he disparage Loki for it no matter what others said of it being ergi or unbecoming a prince of Ásgarðr. Not when it had saved his brother's life and could now help them save the universe from what Thanos had dared to do.

Then Loki looked up and Thor's breath caught in his throat.

Instead of green, his brother's eyes were a solid glowing orange and there were three Infinity Stones embedded into Loki's forehead. Mind, Time and Reality if Thor remembered the colors correctly. Aside from the shock of seeing them there, marring the face he was so familiar with, it was even stranger seeing the Aether in his brother. After all they had done seeking to prevent the destruction of the universe, to see it thus turned Thor's stomach unpleasantly.

It would appear Rogers would not have a say in whether his brother obtained the Infinity Stones as the captain had desired.

Before he could react any further, Loki raised a hand and Thor caught a quick glimpse of another Stone imbedded into his brother's palm before purple seiðr shot out. He whipped around just in time to watch Thanos flying through the wall of his home and out beyond.

"Are those the Stones?" Stark demanded.

"What just happened?" General Okoye questioned.

"Impossible," Nebula breathed, eyes locked onto Loki's form as his brother rose elegantly to his feet.

"My thanks for distracting Thanos," Loki said even as he strode towards where he had thrown the Mad Titan. "I will deal with him now."

"Now just wait a minute!" Rogers began, but Loki ignored him and leapt out of the primitive house, but not before Thor caught sight of the Space Stone imbedded into his left hand.

"I do not think he will listen to you," Princess Shuri stated, stalking towards the hole even as Thor did the same.

He only glanced outside long enough to locate Thanos before he too jumped out. The Mad Titan lay surprisingly far from his home and still appeared dazed, making Thor realize precisely how much power his brother had used to blast him away. Loki now strode across the distance, hands aglow with purple and blue seiðr, indicating the Power Stone was the one embedded into his right hand, much as the Space Stone was in his left.

"What the hell is going on here, Buddy?" Stark asked, flying through the hole to hover beside him.

"I do not know," Thor admitted. "I have never heard of anything like this."

"It should not be possible," Nebula stated.

Thor smiled. "My brother's specialty."

"Where is the Soul Stone?" Strange questioned. "I can see all of the others, but I've yet to see the Soul Stone."

"His eyes are orange," Princess Shuri replied. "Is that not the color of the Soul Stone?"

Fear thrilled through Thor at the words. The princess was correct, orange was the color of the Soul Stone, but what did it mean that it was now the color of his brother's eyes? He may not know much of seiðr, but even he knew that was not a good sign. It reeked of possession or enslavement, much as the Mind Stone had turned the irises of those it enslaved blue or the Aether had changed Jane's eyes. Yet there were differences as neither of those caused their victims' eyes to glow or become a solid color as Loki's now were.

"That could merely be the effect of his current magic use," Strange countered. "Many protective spells are orange."

Thor frowned at the words. His brother's seiðr had always been a green-gold, much as Mother's had always been blue. Did mortal seiðr not shine with the color of their wielder? Or was it not their own seiðr they harnessed? He could vaguely recall Loki dismissing human seiðmenn once with such a comment. At the time he has assumed it to be merely his brother's arrogance rather than a true difference in use or power.

Then Thanos was on his feet with a shout of rage. Too late Thor remembered pocket dimensions were not just a specialty of his brother's and so now Thanos was armed with a sword nearly as large as Stormbreaker had been.

"Of course he can pull weapons from nowhere," Machine of War grumbled. "Shall we?"

"Nay, do not interfere in my brother's battle," Thor warned.

Before any of them could protest, Loki sent a blast of blue seiðr at the Mad Titan, flattening him once more. Thanos flickered out of existence suddenly and Thor swung his gaze back to his brother just in time to witness the Titan's sword move to impale Loki as Thanos reappeared behind him.

"Nay!" Thor screamed, flashes of Svartálfaheimr rushing back to him, before he noticed the sword had not actually struck true.

Instead it had collapsed inwards like the toy spears they used to have, to play at battle when they were young.

Loki turned and looked up at his opponent with a raised eyebrow. "You who have wielded the Stones yourself should know better."

Then there was another flash of purple and Thanos took down the first few rows of crops as he was flung into them.

With a roar, the Hulk suddenly returned, batting aside the trees in his way. Thor called forth his lightning, prepared to fight his shield-brother should he try to interfere, but Loki glanced over before the Mind Stone flared and yellow seiðr ran down his brother's arm into his palm. A glowing yellow sphere resulted which Loki threw towards the Hulk even as he was already turning back to face Thanos, left hand raised with a shield to ward off the Titan's next attack. Thor kept his attention focused a little longer on his green friend, to ensure he was not harmed, but the sphere of seiðr was merely circling Banner's berserker and distracting him rather than causing any harm.

"What is Loki doing?" General Okoye asked. "He possesses the power to end the fight now."

"He's toying with him," Stark replied. "Like a cat with a mouse."

Thor frowned as he realized the Man of Iron was correct. Loki was being lazy and indolent, allowing Thanos far closer than he had to given his brother's preference had always been to strike from afar. The only reason could be because it amused Loki to watch Thanos try again and again, knowing he could never hurt him.

It was his brother's vengeance for what had been done to him.

Thanos screamed with rage once more as yet another attempt was thwarted and he was cast down.

A cry was the only warning they had before Rocket exploded back onto the scene, bursting from the undergrowth, his stolen repulsor shooting a beam of power at the felled Titan. Strangely enough, Loki paused in his own attack, allowing the intrusion and Thor frowned. It was not like his brother to concede ground in battle to another. The way Loki's lips curled up into a half smile, though, was familiar even with his strange eyes. It was the look his brother had when he was indulging another who amused him. It would have worried Thor had Loki not raised a finger to knock Thanos back when it seemed the Titan would respond to the rabbit's attack.

"Feel better?" Loki inquired when Rocket's cries of rage died down.

"He killed Groot!" Thor's newest friend replied.

"Groot will return, as will the others."

"No!" Thanos protested, pushing himself into a seated position.

"You still think you can defeat me?" Loki demanded with a raised eyebrow. "I hold all of the Stones."

"I see only five. You are missing the Soul Stone, the hardest of them all to control. As you said before, it returns to whence it came when lost by the one who sacrificed to claim it."

"Aye, before it always did. But as I said, you are not the only one who had a plan and my mother too succeeded in hers."

"Mother?" Thor repeated in shock.

What did she have anything to do with this?

"Mine, not yours," Loki answered, glancing over at him briefly before returning his attention to his fallen foe. "And she wrought a fundamental change to the Soul Stone, altering its very fabric."

"Impossible," Thanos dismissed.

"Improbable, unlikely, difficult but not impossible."

Stark snorted. "Sounds like your specialty."

Amusement flooded his brother's face and it caused Thor to realize how calm and emotionless Loki had been this entire time. Gone were all of the wild and almost mad fluctuations of his brother's mood and power, almost as if they had never been. Yet Loki was not as he had once been, before his botched coronation. Nay, this was an entirely new and different version of his brother, one which Thor had never seen before. This Loki was calm and collected, as if certain of himself and his power in a way his brother had never been before.

It made Thor feel wretched inside, wondering how he had never noticed before how Loki had seemingly chaffed at the restraints of being both a prince and his brother. In his heart he had always known there was something inherently chaotic and wild about Loki, but he had never paused to consider whether those aspects of his brother needed nourishing in some manner rather being constantly constrained and admonished as Father had so often tried to do.

"Alas, I can claim only partial credit for this," Loki stated. "The rest belongs to my mother, she who realized the possibility and ensured all of the elements were there for it to transpire. I merely actualized her visions."

"You will find the Soul Stone difficult to wield," Thanos proclaimed. "It resists manipulation."

"Nay, it resisted you, as Mother knew it would. As it should given you tortured and killed it."

"What?" Romanov demanded, echoing Thor's own sentiments and those of the others given the startled and confused sounds they made.

"One can't kill a Stone," Thanos argued, trying to rise only to be knocked back down by a lazy flick of Loki's wrist and a snap of purple seiðr from the Power Stone.

"You can if it has been rendered flesh," Loki said simply. "If it has been given life. If it has been ensouled."

Thanos went deathly still, eyes locked onto Loki's face and Thor frowned. What was his brother implying?

Then Thanos' eyes opened wide in horror and realization. "She placed it in you when she sacrificed you to the Soul Stone. You were the Stone."

"Was, am, always will be."

Thor collapsed back onto the ground at those words. Nay, they could not mean what he thought they did!

It was impossible. They spoke of sacrifice and Loki had not been. His brother had been slaughtered at Thanos' hand for attempting to kill the Titan.

"One cannot be a Stone," Strange stated. "They are not alive."

"Not until now," Loki replied easily.

Then his brother's form wavered and became transparent and Thor could suddenly see the missing Soul Stone. It was deep within Loki's core, at the heart of who he was, its orange power diffusing through his brother's very being, blending with the native green-gold. It... wonder, awe and terror welled up within Thor at the sight. That Loki did indeed possess all of the Stones meant their plan may yet work, but he was terrified for what it meant for his brother.

What did it mean to be an Infinity Stone?

Was Loki still the brother he had known and grown up beside? Given all of the changes he had already observed in the half hour since Loki's resurrection, Thor was not sure he still was and that filled him with a horror unlike any he had ever felt before. Even after Ásgarðr's destruction and both Heimdallr and Loki's subsequent deaths. To have his brother back only to find him irrevocably changed...

Another flash of light, blue this time, startled Thor back to the present only to find Thanos sprawled across the ground once more.

"You have lost and all you wrought will be undone," Loki stated as the Time Stone glowed a bright green in the center of his forehead, the seiðr pooling in his right hand. "Observe."

With those words, Thor watched as Loki threw the seiðr at Thanos whom it enveloped in a green haze. The Mad Titan's head snapped from side to side, eyes wild as they saw things no one else could and clearly not liking what he witnessed. It did not take long, but it did not need to. The Time Stone could easily ensnare Thanos for days in the space of seconds. Only Loki could know how long it was to the Titan, but knowing his brother as Thor did, he would not be surprised if it was weeks or months.

Thanos screamed in a very familiar rage as he was released from the Time Stone's influence and Thor could not help but smile. How often had he himself expressed such emotion after falling afoul of one of his brother's tricks?

"Thanos, son of A'Lars, survivor of Titan and devotee of Death," Loki intoned, orange and red seiðr building in his palms. "For centuries you have tormented the universe, blighting it in a mad quest to achieve your demented goals and deluding yourself in the righteousness of your actions. You slaughtered trillions and delighted Death whom has claimed you as Her favorite and protected you until now, but even She cannot stand against the combined power of the Infinity Stones.

For your crimes and the impossibility of your rehabilitation, you will lose not only your life, but also your soul. Both shall be disintegrated as you disintegrated half of all life in the universe, but your conscious shall remain. Trapped forevermore between life and death, unwelcome in either and alone for eternity to ponder your powerlessness and ultimate failure."

As Thor had known would happen, Thanos surged forwards in a last mad rush at Loki, but he never stood a chance. With a mere thought, his brother cast the red and orange seiðr at his former tormentor and Thanos screamed as it hit, lifting him off the ground entirely. Uselessly Thanos fought, flashes of his own seiðr hardly appearing before they were overcome as the orange Soul Stone seiðr attacked, sinking into the Mad Titan until only his mouth and eyes glowed with it. The red seiðr meanwhile struck at Thanos' body, unraveling it at the molecular level, causing it to start disintegrating much as it had for the Titan's own victims, but far less painlessly.

Thor what watched with no little satisfaction as that large purple body crumbled away, revealing a translucent double of Thanos underneath which was similarly being unspun by the orange seiðr. It blew away in a shower of iridescent sparks until there was nothing left of their greatest foe.

The feel of intense raw seiðr hung in the air for a few minutes more, raising the hairs on Thor's arms and causing Loki's new waist length hair to swirl around him much as Strange had described two weeks ago upon his resurrection. The action revealed a large stitching of the Yggdrasill across the back of his brother's coat in silver-white thread, similar to the smaller one Thor had noticed at his brother's breast earlier. It fit with Strange's visions, but he could not help but wonder why Loki chose to bear that symbol now. His brother always had a purpose for everything he did.

Then the raw seiðr slowly faded and died away entirely as Loki lowered his arms, letting them fall by his side. Satisfaction and relief crossed his brother's face as he looked at where Thanos had once been.

"Holy shit!" the Man of Iron finally exclaimed, coming to stand on the ground and flipping his face mask up. "That was..."

"More mercy than he deserved!" Nebula hissed.

"There is no place for torture among the just," General Okoye countered. "It would make us no better than him."

"She is right," Captain America said when it seemed Nebula would argue.

"Bruce, are you okay?" Romanov asked, drawing Thor's attention back to the Hulk as he rose to his feet.

Only he was the Hulk no longer, instead Banner sat on the ground where the Hulk had last been, now holding the dissipating sphere of yellow seiðr in his hand.

"Yeah," Banner replied, dazed before he shook his head and held up his hand. "What is this thing?"

"A meditation sphere," Loki replied, turning to face them. "It is used to teach students how to relax and clear their minds in order to focus their thoughts properly."

"Huh, that would calm the Hulk."

"Naturally."

Thor laughed. There was the brother he knew.

"Loki," he said, walking up to his brother. "I am very glad to see you once more."

Not allowing Loki time to react, Thor pulled him into a tight embrace, fists clenching in the back of his brother's leather coat. All of the fear, rage and grief he had felt on watching helplessly as Thanos killed Loki returned to him and he buried his face in his brother's neck and hair. He would deal with any potential alterations later, for now he was simply relieved he had not completely lost the last of his family.

"You oaf," Loki replied, voice strangely soft. "I did tell you the sun would shine on us again."

"You say much you do not mean," Thor retorted, forcing one of his hands to let go so he could raise it to clasp the back of his brother's neck. "And Thanos said there would be no resurrections this time."

"What would he know of it? He was not a god."

Thor laughed at the words, inordinately pleased when he felt his brother's arms curl around him in return. Never again would he allow Loki to pull away from him, not given how often he had lost the pest as a result. Nay, he would keep his brother close from now on, regardless of what Loki may do to make him try to doubt him once more. Stark and Loki himself had proven that he had underestimated his brother often in the past and he was resolved not to do so again in the future.

Chapter Text

Yggdrasill, 2018 A.D.

His mother's power and presence thrummed through Loki from where he stood... on her he supposed.

The thought still made Loki feel vaguely uneasy even though he knew Sága not only did not mind, but wished for him to be here like this. Being here, on her bough, still felt comfortable like coming home as he had told her, but now it also felt odd at the same time. Knowing he was quite literally standing on her. It...

Clearly the mortal part of him was still struggling to come to term with what it meant to have a celestial as a mother. The Soul Stone part of him know this was entirely normal for a celestial and that they had no problem with people- beings of all sorts- living on them. Still he had been raised an æsir- raised on one of the Realms which was deemed to be a fruit of the World Tree. Of her.

Irony shot through Loki as he could not help but wonder if that made the Nine Realms his siblings in a way as they were both born from and fruit of her body. In one way or another. His humor abruptly vanished as he remembered exactly what he had done to two of those Realms; namely Ásgarðr and Jötunheimr. Had that hurt his mother when he had so savagely attacked one Realm and set in motion the events to destroy the other altogether?

For the first time, Loki felt true guilt for what he had done to Jötunheimr. The jötnar had not deserved that he now realized, particularly not given Laufey had not even known he had existed. Part of him still wanted to blame Óðinn for it all and while the All-Father definitely had some of the blame for the situation, so did he. He had allowed his horror and disgust to blind him to the reality of what he sought to do. And after centuries of criticizing Thor for not stopping to think before his brother acted too. It was difficult to admit he had essentially done the same thing even if the circumstances were wholly different.

The Casket of Ancient Winters suddenly felt like it was burning a hole in his pocket dimension and Loki resolved to return it to Jötunheimr. His new awareness told him just how important it was to his father's Realm and he himself was sufficiently powerful to easily be able to intervene should Laufey's heir attempt to utilize it for anything other than healing his Realm. Laufey's heir-

Any thoughts of his potential half-siblings were abruptly forgotten as all of Loki's new senses prickled a warning. His mother's power pulsed beneath his feet in a way he recognized as an attempt to comfort and it made him smile. He knew he could stand against Lady Death, but the mortal part of him could not help but react in remembered fear, both at having always sought to do all he could to ensure his own survival, but also at the memory of what it actually felt like to die.

Hanging there in Thanos' grip, legs kicking futilely as he fought both for life and dignity... It was not something he would soon forget despite having already taken his vengeance for it from the Mad Titan himself.

With a roar and belch of flames, Níðhöggr flew up towards him before landing on Loki's shoulder, claws digging into his leathers to scrape at either his armor or his skin. He winced but merely raised a hand to touch the unusually small head that bumped his cheek.

"So, you can shift your size," Loki murmured. "You have been holding out on me, Níðhöggr."

A rumbling was the only reply, thankfully without flames this time.

Then suddenly She was there, Lady Death Herself, one of the four cosmic entities. Looking at Her was most peculiar and Loki frowned as he tried to understand how. She appeared skeletal, though not of any species he had ever encountered before, with more cavities in Her skull than many of the bipedal species he had seen. There were additional appendages on Her back, wing-like in a way but with remnants of both leathery skin and feathers. The rest of Her varied from pure bone to still possessing rotting bits of flesh, hair and scales. There were horns on Her shoulders and claws at Her fingertips. Curling around Her left leg and poking out between the fibula and tibia was what looked to be a forked tail.

It... She...

The rational part of Loki was surprised; She did not appear nearly as hideous as he had always imagined She who held dominion over death would. Not when compared to some of the corpses he had seen. The rest of him was terrified. His skin crawled, his stomach cramped and all of the small hairs on his body stood on end. It was the part of him that remembered death and which could sense the far less visible parts of Her. Those parts which would kill any mortal who merely laid eyes on Her. It emanated from Her, silent and invisible, killing all that was alive.

"You should not exist," Death hissed, Her voice like a death rattle, echoing in Loki's ears and head both.

"But I do," he replied simply with a small smile.

He could easily understand how his mere existence would stymie Her. He was life in that which should never have been alive. Life in something She had helped to create and which She had ensured possessed nothing so antithetical to Her very nature.

"You are an aberration."

Huh, Loki had been expecting something more along the lines of an abomination.

Níðhöggr's tail flicked out, hitting him on the back of the neck and Loki could not help but wonder precisely how closely Sága was linked to the creatures which lived directly on her true form. He knew they were the first living creatures she had created, though she did not view them as she did him. Still, it amused him to think of Níðhöggr as some sort of sibling pet. He was sure he could annoy and provoke Thor with the comparison.

"I believe are is the most important word there," Loki replied as calmly as he could.

It was difficult with his body wishing to shrink away from Her very presence, feeling like it was dying where he stood, but Loki resisted. It was the chaos part of him, he realized, it was being brought out in full by Her presence as it was what She was; true chaos. For what was death when compared to life? An ending and scattering of that which had been alive and ordered, separating out into its components parts. That part of him thrilled in being in Her presence.

The sheer duality of it all and the chaos it created within him only served to strengthen him in a way and Loki could not help but wonder what it did for Her. Was that what caused the... softening of Her words?

"Why have you come here, Soul Stone?" Death asked. "Why attract my attention?"

"You know what I wish to do," Loki replied.

She hissed and anger washed off Her, briefly diming the light of the branch beneath her feet before Sága surged back, brighter than before. "You would take that which is mine!"

"Nay, I would honor you with gifts. Such as I already have with Thanos."

"He is not dead," Death protested.

"Not fully, nay," Loki agreed. "But he has experienced the destruction of his body and you can enjoy that whenever you wish, or him, as his conscience will remain forevermore."

The lack of eyes or facial muscles made Her harder to read, but Loki received the distinct impression She was intrigued.

"Unlike a normal death, his is one you can have eternally," Loki continued. "It is permanent rather than fleeting and ephemeral."

He was relying on Death caring more about Her own interests in Her favorite rather than Thanos', but Loki did not think it was a big risk to take. Cosmic entities were not known for their empathy.

"Yet you would take all of the others from me," She stated.

"Nay, I would give you something new and unique," Loki countered. "Something you have not had before. True second deaths. All of those I would return have fully crossed over. By returning them to life, I am ensuring they will do so once more."

The early conversations Loki had with Sága had revealed to him the importance of novelty and new experiences to those as old as her and the cosmic entities.

"How soon?" Death demanded.

"For some almost immediately," Loki replied. "They will not wish to be resurrected and will prefer to return to their afterlife rather than remain alive. Others will suffer the realization that their abrupt departure from life caused the deaths of others. Or that some of those they loved killed themselves after their deaths."

"You would not resurrect those too?"

"Nay, simply those killed by Thanos' snap."

It was not that he did not possess the power to resurrect all of the others, but rather that Loki knew better than to try. If he did then people would forevermore request it of him. Furthermore, while the initial chaos would be fascinating and enjoyable, so sudden and massive a change to one of the very core aspects of the universe would only serve to unsettle it even more. Not to mention make himself the enemy of Death he had no wish to be.

"Many will not come back to me for decades if not millennia," Death stated.

"All the longer for you to savor the experience," Loki immediately countered. "We would not wish it to be over so quickly. Not as Thanos' gift to you was."

It was a delicate balance between offering Her something new and exciting and offending Her for merely suggesting it. Tricky as it was, it thrilled Loki as always. He had surprised many with his skill and fondness for diplomacy, but he saw it as a game. A way to challenge his opponents using merely words and thoughts. No strength, no weapons, no blood. Well, no physical weapons, many had learned to think his tongue a blade all of its own in the centuries since his childhood.

"Fleeting but beautiful," Death replied. "Greater than anything I have ever felt before."

That Loki could well imagine. However, it was not without it's own drawbacks.

"But there has been less for you since, has there not?" Loki inquired, voice deceptively soft now. "With so many gone, there are simply less beings left to die. So even if they do so at the same rate as before, you are left with less now."

Bereft was probably too strong a word, but it was essentially what Loki meant.

"It has been an unpleasant consequence," Death agreed.

Yet an entirely predictable one, but Loki kept this too to himself.

"Returning those who were taken would undo that."

Although She made no movements, Loki felt her waver. There was a connection there, between them, some of Her touch lingered on the Soul Stone from when She and the other three cosmic entities had made it along with the other five Infinity Stones. It was faint now after the intervening eons, but it was enough.

"I would have one more experience," Death pronounced, moving closer to him.

Loki already knew what was coming even before She raised a skeletal hand. He had expected it on some level though he had wished to avoid it, but he understood the desire and need for new experiences only all too well. Not only was it something Sága had spoken of, but on some level it was written into the very fabric of his own being. Chaos did not bear predictability and stability well. It craved change and the unexpected.

And what was he but the latter? Life where there should be none; a soul in that which had been a mere thing.

Lady Death's hand came out towards his face and Níðhöggr immediately skittered away, crawling down Loki's back and around to his other shoulder. The little dragon's head resting in the opposite crook of his neck, tail curving around his back for balance. Then She made contact and all other thoughts fled his mind as his body seized up and his eyes rolled back into his head.

It was death and ice and darkness; chaos and ending. It was the Void and every injury which had brought him close to Her embrace as well as Thanos' hand on his throat. It was the snap and his resurrection. There was recognition from deep within him, from the Soul Stone, and both sympathy and revulsion as that part of him recalled not only Her touch but that of Eternity and Infinity as well who struggled against Her. Entropy came back to him too and tried to side with Death, all four pushing and pulling, vying for dominancy which none had gained.

A pulse of power from beneath his feet helped Loki overcome the initial rush of feelings and power and brought him back to himself enough to feel as Lady Death's touch shifted up to the Stones in his forehead. Her bones and decaying flesh brushed over them, the tilt of Her head and open jaw all he could use to signal Her fascination with what She felt from him through all of this. Then She was stepping back, Her hand falling back down to Her side.

"Very well, little Stone," Death said. "I accept your offerings."

Offerings? Before Loki could protest She was already gone and he was left to scowl after Her. True, he had not wished to anger Her if it was at all possible to avoid it, but he would have had it been necessary. Which meant this was not an offer, merely a clever twisting of his intentions to make them appealing to Her so She did not bother him needlessly. Offerings indeed!

The shivering of the branches around him gave Loki the distinct impression his mother was laughing at him and he scowled down in the direction of her brain.

Valhöll, 2018 A.D.

Given that Loki had never quite been able to decide if he even wanted to go to Valhöll when he died, he was certainly visiting it often now. His hesitation had mostly been due to the fact he had always known Frigga would go there, so in a way it was fitting really she was the cause for all of his visits. But as for the rest, the feasting and the fighting, it had never appealed to him and had largely been responsible for his uncertainty over whether he had wanted to come here after his eventual death.

If it had not been for his mother and Loki's perpetual desire to be considered worthy and good enough, he would simply have eschewed the whole thing. Thankfully it would never truly be an issue now. Still, Loki could not help but scrunch up his nose as he looked around the large golden hall full of feasting warriors. Of course Frigga and Óðinn had to be here. He supposed he had been lucky the previous two times to find them elsewhere.

Heimdallr, of course, was the first to turn his way, though others soon followed as he was not keeping his power in, instead allowing it to carelessly spill all around him. He spotted Lady Sif and the Warriors Three seated near Heimdallr and why not, they had only committed treason and attempted regicide after all. Of course they deserved a place in Valhöll.

Loki dismissed them all without another thought, deliberately ignoring Heimdallr when the former gatekeeper attempted to catch his eye. Instead he walked forward in the suddenly far more silent hall, striding between the long tables. A few 'my Prince's reached him, mostly from those who had died either on board the Statesman or after, with the snap, though there were a few from others who had never dismissed or sneered at him as much. A quick sweep over the tables and he had already found nearly all of the familiar faces from court or the councils he had sat on.

Then Loki was at the high table and he found some faces he only recognized from royal portraits; Búri, Borr, Bestla, Vili and Vé. What a surprise it must have been for so many æsir to arrive here only to find a jötunn sitting at the high table beside a former king of Ásgarðr. He almost wished he had been here to see it.

"Loki," Frigga greeted warmly, rising to her feet. "I had not expected you back so soon."

"Mother," Loki replied, keenly aware they had all of the hall's eyes on them, but finding he was no longer concerned about it. Or of what they thought.

"So this is the one who claims relation to the Yggdrasill itself," Vili sneered, eyeing him. "He does not look like the World Tree."

There were some twitters of amusement from the hall, but not nearly as many as Loki would have expected.

"One should not speak of that which they know naught," Búri suddenly proclaimed, sending his grandson a stern look before turning appraising eyes to Loki.

The defense from one whom he had never met surprised Loki and he tilted his head as he studied Óðinn's grandfather. It was but a moments work to reach out with the Time and Space Stones to acquire the necessary information. Huh, how interesting.

"Father?" Borr questioned.

"He carries the feel and power of the Yggdrasill with him," Búri explained. "I know it well from the ceremonies and homages we paid the World Tree with the ljósálfar."

"If you will excuse us," Frigga said before she turned and swept from the hall, not even waiting for a response.

Loki smiled as he followed her. It was a part of her he had always admired and loved. As soon as they were out of the hall, she turned around and reached out to embrace him. He immediately responded even as he heard footsteps approaching and he felt Óðinn entering the antechamber they had come to. He ignored the All-Father to focus on his mother instead, but the position inevitably echoed oddly in his mind with the duplicate of it he felt.

"What is it?" Frigga asked, clearly sensing his distraction.

"It is merely odd, being in two places at once."

"You have a double elsewhere?"

"Nay, not a double. I can now truly be in two places at once."

"Oh. That- You are able to keep track of what is happen to each body?"

"Aye, I am also currently having my ribs crushed," Loki replied dryly.

"Having your-" Frigga began with a frown before her face brightened. "Thor."

"He never could modulate his strength."

"Nor did you ever truly wish him too."

"Nay," Loki denied before he gave in with a smile. "Aye."

"I would say I will not tell him, but I could not at present."

Sadness swelled within Loki and he tightened his own embrace. "I would bring him but I do not know what it would do to a mortal mind to be taken back and forth across the boundary between life and death."

Frigga pulled back just far enough so that she could look at him and lay a hand on his cheek. "Then I would ask that you do not risk it, no matter what Thor may say to try to convince you otherwise. I will see him again, though hopefully not for several millennia. In the meantime I will still have your visits to look forward to."

Loki raised his own hand to clasp hers before he turned his face enough to press a kiss to her palm. "Always," he promised.

"Good. Now, I assume there was a purpose for your rapid return?"

Her quick mind was one of the many reasons why Loki had never doubted his place within their family while growing up, as it had seemed so like his own. Her seiðr and skill with knives were but two more. They truly were well matched and he would never be able to regret having had her as his adopted mother no matter what else of his childhood and time on Ásgarðr he might resent.

"Aye," Loki confirmed, looking past her to Óðinn. "Thanos has been defeated."

Óðinn's eyes grew wide and as it had each of the previous two times he had visited Valhöll, the mere sight of the All-Father with both of his eyes struck Loki as odd. He had never known the man to have both, so to witness him thus felt... unnatural in a way he knew it should not.

"Is he dead?" Frigga demanded, a vicious undertone to her voice Loki recognized only all too well.

Let people think what they wished about the grace and beauty of Ásgarðr's former queen, but she had a core of steel underneath her calm exterior and she could be as bloodthirsty as any Ásgarðrian when it came to any who dared to threaten her family.

"He has neither body nor soul, but he is not truly dead, nay," Loki replied, allowing his own smirk to take on a sharp edge. "Though he will probably wish that he were."

"Good," Frigga stated.

The slight discomfort Óðinn failed to hide at his wife's sentiment amused Loki as it always had whenever the All-Father expressed it. Knowing what he did now of Óðinn's former temperament, back when Hela had still been alive and free, only served to add a cynical edge to his amusement. How typical of the old man to be so very hypocritical. It was a trait he had always known the man he had called father possessed, but even he had never dared dream Óðinn could possibly take it to such extremes.

How had the man sat there on Hliðskjálf and lectured him on being bloodthirsty? On seeking war or a throne? After all that Óðinn had done to conquer the Nine Realms and place Ásgarðr above them all?

"What next for the holder of the Infinity Stones?" Óðinn asked in what the old man no doubt thought was a neutral tone.

How easily Loki saw through it all now. It was startling in a way, how obvious it all was to him now. Startling, but also a great comfort. He would never need to worry about being deceived again as he had been by Óðinn and, much as he hated to admit it, Frigga. That would never be possible ever again.

The knowledge was an intense balm of relief to his wounded soul. It meant he could finally relax a little and not have to worry about being taken in if he let his guard down.

"Whatever I want," Loki replied blithely, just to have the pleasure of watching Óðinn's face spasm as the old man fought for control.

"Loki," Frigga admonished, swatting his chest.

He looked down at her, face a picture of innocence. "What?" he asked. "A stupid question deserves a similar reply, does it not?"

"Loki, son," Óðinn tried again. "That kind of power-"

He snorted. "I am very well aware of the power that comes with the Stones, I am one of them after all."

The knowledge clearly displeased Óðinn and upset Frigga, but there was nothing Loki could do about it. It was the simple truth and perhaps with time they would be able to come to terms with it more easily. How many could say they had raised one such as he? An Infinity Stone itself? While it was true that the Soul Stone had existed for eons before Loki ever had, it had not experienced anything even remotely resembling life until they had come together and he had truly ensouled it.

"But as to what I will do first," Loki continued. "I would undo the damage Thanos has wrought."

It took a moment for the meaning of his words to sink in but when it did, both of their eyes opened wide in shock.

"Can that truly be done?" Frigga questioned. "Can you bring them all back to life?"

"Aye," Loki confirmed, reaching out with all of his new senses, pushing past the awareness of Thor he still felt, easily accepting that version of himself was experiencing time at a far slower speed than the rest of himself. "I can feel them all, the lives Thanos cut short so abruptly and unnaturally. The disturbance of that great a working still lingers all across the universe, the seiðr so easy to read now that I know how to see it."

"But darling, death on such a scale will have drawn far greater attention than merely ours," Frigga cautioned.

Loki smiled at her. "I have already spoken with Lady Death."

"You have?"

"Aye, She will not interfere."

The look his mother gave him told Loki she was well aware it was not nearly as easy as he made it seem but she would allow him his victory. For now. He had no doubt she would question him thoroughly on it during his next visit, when they had more privacy.

"Thank you," Óðinn said, looking him right in the eye when Loki glanced up once more. "Ásgarðr would not be able to survive without it, too many were lost."

Ásgarðr. How quaint that Óðinn thought so small, though he supposed it was the consequence of being king; to always put your Realm first and above all else.

"T'is not just for Ásgarðr that I do it," Loki replied before a wicked smile crossed his face. "Besides, the chaos will be exquisite."

Ancestral Plane, 2018 A.D.

The sky of this particular afterlife drew Loki's attention as soon as he arrived. It's shifting multicolored hues different from anything else he had witnessed before. Was this how the sky appeared over parts of Miðgarðr?

"You do not belong here."

Loki nearly sighed as he turned to face the elderly dark skinned man behind him.

"I have never quite belonged anywhere, T'Chaka," he replied, noticing the others who walked over to them.

Behind the humans he could see a grassland with a few sparse trees that contained several large cats in their branches as well as leaves. Well, at least it wasn't all golden like Valhöll or Ásgarðr.

"You are the one who invaded New York," T'Challa said, coming to stand beside his father.

"I am," Loki agreed. "I am also the one who resurrected your sister and defeated the Man Titan."

"Why should we belie-" T'Chaka began.

"He has the Infinity Stones, Father," T'Challa interrupted. "You wear some of them as Vision did."

"I do," Loki confirmed

"What would you do with them?"

"Undo that which was done."

Their eyes opened wide and they shared a startled look.

"Why?" T'Chaka asked, suspiciously.

Before it would have annoyed or angered him, the suspicion. Now Loki did not care.

"Because it is not right and the universe is out of balance," he explained. "It affects everything from the seiðr down to the very stability of the planets themselves."

"And if we do not trust you?" T'Chaka demanded.

"If he is responsible for Shuri's disappearance I would follow her," T'Challa said.

"That does not mean the others need follow."

"They are my people, Father, and Wakanda needs them to continue to thrive. We must try."

Loki observed the exchange, trying to force all thoughts of Óðinn from his mind as T'Chaka acquiesced. He knew his words in favor of an idea Óðinn disliked would merely have furthered the All-Father's dislike of it rather than the opposite.

"We thank you for the offer," T'Challa said.

It would not have made a difference to Loki's plans if he did not agree, but the curtesy pleased him and made him more generous.

"Shall I return you to your sister's or Miðg- Earth?"

T'Challa frowned. "Shuri is not on Earth?"

"Nay, the battle against Thanos took place on Rhea."

"Then I would ask to go to her," T'Challa replied before he hesitated. "My people?"

"Will return to whence they came, unless doing so would cause them to perish immediately."

It was part of the sad reality many would have to face. That their abrupt deaths would have caused others to perish who would otherwise have lived.

He should have left it there, but Loki's curiosity was peaked. "What do you call this coloration of the sky?"

"Ah, the aurora australis. Beautiful isn't it?" T'Chaka replied.

"Very."

The younger king hesitated, studying him, before reaching a decision. "If you can truly do what you claim, you must come visit Wakanda after and see it for yourself."

Chapter Text

Rhea, 2018 A.D.

"Uh, Thor?" a voice questioned just as Loki came back fully into himself.

He released his brother and stepped back, finding the man out of time standing near Thor, a hesitant look on his face. Loki gave him a sharp smile simply to see uncertainty and concern cross the captain's face.

"Loki," Thor intoned, drawing his name out almost into two words.

His smile turned amused as he looked at his brother. It had been Thor's old way of saying his name; full of exasperation, resignation and a certain amount of amusement. Gone was all of the anger, pain and frustration. Apparently all he had needed to do to get his brother to forgive him was to truly die.

"So, L'Oréal, feeling better now?" Stark demanded.

The mortal stood far closer to him than Loki would have expected given he had thrown him out of a window, able to call his armor or not. The kenning took but a moment to understand, causing genuine amusement to shoot through him. He paused for a moment before raising a hand and running it through his hair just so. Stark gaped at him for a moment before roaring with laughter.

"Aye," Loki replied. "I do."

"I am missing something," the captain frowned, glancing between him and Stark.

"Aye," Thor agreed.

"Wait, does that mean you got all of my nicknames?" Stark questioned.

"Not then," Loki replied, seeking the information now.

"Ah."

Even as he said it, the mortal was stepping back, no doubt wishing he could do so far more subtly than his armor allowed. Loki was not entirely certain why even as the references behind Reindeer Games came to him.

"They are rather apt," he said, making the Reality Stone flare red for a moment.

"You... you're not offended?" Stark asked, startled.

"Why would I be? Rudolph was not excluded because of anything he did, but rather for what he was."

"How do you even know about our Christmas traditions?" the beast asked.

"I hold all of the Infinity Stones, there is nothing I cannot know or do," Loki replied simply.

"Yes, about that," the captain began, clearly uncomfortable.

Did the man truly think he could have any say in or impact on what Loki did? He gave him his most unimpressed look.

Thor sighed. "Loki."

He ignored his brother and maintained eye contact with the man out of time. Curious to see if the captain could hold it for long. Apparently not.

"Brother," Thor said, reaching out to jostle him.

Loki moved with it but then steeled himself so when his brother tried again, he was immovable. Instead Thor rocked back, shock flashing across his face before realization dawned as Loki laughed, finally looking at him.

"Pest," Thor muttered fondly.

"Oaf," Loki immediately retorted.

"Prince Loki," Princess Shuri said, stepping closer, another woman crowding close. From the look of her outfit, Loki thought her to be a guard or warrior of some kind. "You have successfully managed to carry out your plan."

"Do not worry, I intend to keep my word and undo the damage Thanos wrought with his snap."

"Thank you."

"Do you need anything from us?" Stark asked. "From what I heard, using the Stones like this takes quite a toll and Thanos was using a gauntlet to channel their power."

Loki gave Stark a dark smile. "That is because I was able to use his distraction to turn some of the Soul Stone's power back on him."

"Loki, Brother," Thor was suddenly by his side, voice strangely desperate. "Please say you were lying earlier, to Thanos."

"Lying?"

"When you spoke of being the Soul Stone."

"I was not."

The sound which escaped his brother was not something Loki had ever heard Thor make before and he frowned.

"How can one be an Infinity Stone?" Strange demanded, the Time Stone readily giving Loki information on the human seiðmadr. "They are neither sentient nor alive!"

"Ha! Shows what you know," Stark retorted. "The Mind Stone most definitely is sentient. It was what powered Vision."

"That does not make it alive."

The animosity between the two mortals intrigued Loki and he sensed the potential for great chaos there, but now was not the time. Sadly.

"What was Vision if not alive?" the widow demanded.

"One of Stark's constructs?" Strange threw back.

"The Mind Stone was with sentience, not of it," Loki explained. "But not alive, nay. Only I am."

"What did she do, your birth mother?" Thor demanded darkly, lightning crackling along his fingers. "Thanos spoke of sacrifice earlier."

Loki rolled his eyes. "She did what was necessary and Mother- Frigga- has already had words with her. There is no need for more and I will not thank you for the attempt if you do."

"But Loki-"

"Nay, Thor, she did what was necessary to ensure Thanos' defeat."

From the stubborn set of Thor's jaw, Loki knew his brother would not simply leave this and he knew the first meeting between Thor and Sága would be interesting. Not to mention amusing. In a way he could not wait to see precisely how his mother dealt with an overconfident Thor who reacted before properly assessing the situation. There were so many possibilities after all.

"Where will they go?" Rocket demanded. "Those you resurrect?"

"Most will be returned from whence they came," Loki explained. "But I can bring those who perished on Titan here along with King T'Challa whom has already requested to be brought back to his sister."

"What about Groot? He knows no one on Earth and I don't know how they will react to him."

Loki tilted his head as he considered Rocket. They were quite similar in a way, both unique beings created for purposes other than what most who sought to start a life did so for. They had also both been reviled for what they were and their mere existence. It was a type of kinship he had never quite experienced before and one he was not entirely certain how he felt about. But he could afford to be generous.

"I shall return Groot here," Loki said.

Rocket nodded, ears lowering in relief. "I can see why Thor missed you so."

The words startled Loki and he glanced over at his brother in surprise.

"What?" Thor demanded, reaching out to clasp the side of his neck. "Did you think I would not mourn you?"

Thor was already leaning forwards to press their foreheads together before his brother paused and looked at the three Infinity Stones warily. The hesitance alone proved to Loki how far his brother had come as it was not so long ago Thor would not have given the Stones a second thought, being so certain of his own invulnerability. Instead Thor shifted and pressed the side of their faces together, placing his mouth near Loki's ear.

"Do not ever do that to me again, Loki," Thor stated, voice thick with emotion. "I cannot lose you, not again. You are all I have left now."

Emotions lodged in Loki's own throat and he reached up to clasp his brother's wrist, squeezing it lightly. "I thought I was the worst?" he teased lightly.

A snort. "You simply had to take the Tesseract from the vault. You could not just have left it?"

"It called to me," Loki confessed when his brother pulled back and lifted Loki's left hand to examine the Space Stone embedded in his palm. "I did not yet know why, but ever since I first encountered it on Miðgarðr, it has called out to me. I had to take it."

His brother frowned, but was clearly seeking to understand, glancing from his eyes to the other three Stones in his forehead.

"They are connected, aren't they?" the beast suddenly questioned. "And as... one of them, I suppose, you felt a pull to the others you came across."

Loki glanced over at the unassuming form the beast currently wore and inclined his head.

"Did you know?" Princess Shuri asked. "That you were the Soul Stone even then?"

"No, he didn't."

The voice was a new one and Loki glanced over towards it before his eyes narrowed and he tensed. While he had never encountered her before, Loki had used his time while pretending to be Óðinn to gather as much information and intelligence on Thanos as he could. That included discovering those who were considered to be his children and this one was as distinct as Gamora with her appearance.

"Nebula," Loki said, using the Mind Stone to ascertain her intentions.

What he learned was far too familiar for him to deal with at present and he immediately terminated the connection, but not before he had determined that she was not a threat. Not to him at least.

"How would you know?" the widow demanded.

"Father would not have allowed him out of his sight had he known Loki was the Soul Stone," Nebula stated simply. "And The Other would have learned if Loki knew this of himself."

His free hand curled into a fist and Loki felt Thor tense beside him at both his reaction and the implications behind Nebula's words. He took a moment to think of the fate he had assigned Thanos too before he pushed it all aside.

"I was unaware of what I truly was until my death," Loki said. "It was only then I met my birth mother and she informed me of the truth."

"How could you meet your birth mother after death?" Stark demanded. "Is there really an afterlife of some kind?"

"Of course," Thor replied. "Valhöll, Hel, Fólkvangr, Helgafjell-"

"Okay, okay, point made!"

"What about Heaven?" the captain asked.

"There are many," Loki responded, not wishing to discuss exactly how many, he had already visited most earlier to warn them of his impending actions. "As for my mother, she is celestial and thus far more powerful than any mortal, so it was a small matter for her to come to me after my death to explain everything to me."

"Celestial!" Thor exclaimed and from the reactions of the others, they clearly knew of them as well.

Curious.

"Please tell me she's not a planet too," Stark commented. "Oh God, we're not standing on her, are we?"

For once Loki could commiserate with the mortal as he glanced down warily at the ground beneath his armored feet. The realization he had often walked on his mother was still one he was learning to accept.

"Nay, she is not a planet and you are not standing on her," Loki replied, but he was unable to help himself. Truly he could not, and really, why should he? "Now."

"Oh, goo- wait, what do you mean now?" Stark demanded. "How the hell could I have stood on her if she isn't a planet?"

"Is she like Knowhere?" Rocket questioned. "One of the space walkers?"

"Nay, she is neither a space walker as such, nor so small as a mere planet," Loki said, quite enjoying himself.

"Brother," Thor complained. "How could friend Stark have stood on her if she is not a planet? He has not left Miðgarðr until recently."

"Wait," the widow interjected. "Is she Titan? Is that why she got involved with what Thanos was doing?"

"Nay," Loki retorted, he had already said this. "She is the Yggdrasill."

Thor's mouth dropped open in shock as his brother tried to comprehend that and Loki moved his hand in Thor's grip to grasp his brother's arm, least he lose his footing.

"The Yggdrasill," the beast repeated. "That's this World Tree, right? The one that supposedly connects the Nine Realms?"

Rather than reply, Loki merely nodded, enjoying the sheer chaos his little revelation was creating through the shock and disbelief each of them felt.

"Wait... But... I thought that was some kind of metaphor thing," Stark muttered, shaking his head.

"Nay, it is a very real thing," Thor responded, finally finding his voice. "T'is on her we all live, those of us from the Nine."

"How is that even possible?" a second armored man questioned.

"Think of the Nine Realms as fruits on the tree," Loki explained.

"And this tree is your mother?" Princess Shuri checked.

"Aye."

"How does that even work?" the captain demanded. "You... She..."

"Magic is energy," Strange replied. "It is power and those who wield enough of it can create projections, illusions."

"And?"

"Theoretically, if the user is strong enough, they would be able to create an entirely separate form, solid and... uh, functional."

"Functional?"

"Able to bear children," Loki stated more bluntly, just to see the flush overtake the man's face. "Or sire them if the form they chose was male."

"It's not theory, I've seen it with my own eyes," Rocket informed them. "Quill's father was celestial, remember? Ego had a human form, which is how he created Quill and interacted with us even as we stood on his planet form."

Ah, so that was how they knew about celestials. Loki was rather interested in meeting this Quill now. Mother had mentioned Ego and his son before and he would be the first Loki had met since discovering the truth of his heritage who was even remotely similar to him. They were still vastly different, Quill being half human and he himself nearly half jötunn with the addition of chaos to compliment his celestial half, but as similar as anyone could be to him.

Loki rather enjoyed the fact he was so unique, there was something intrinsically chaotic about it.

The way Thor suddenly clasped his arm desperately made Loki look back at his brother to find an urgent expression on his face.

"Brother, if you are the son of the Yggdrasill, does that mean you are not Laufeyson?" Thor asked.

"Nay, I am still his son, but he never knew of my existence. Mother is the one who left me in the temple as she knew Óðinn would soon find me and take me back to Ásgarðr where she wished for me to be raised."

"Why?"

"For the advantages it would offer me," Loki explained. "To be raised an Óðinnson and with Frigga meant I would be able to travel the Nine and learn all I needed to, of seiðr, warcraft and diplomacy."

"She wished to use us," Thor concluded, face darkening.

"Thor, she is the Yggdrasill. She whom the Norns themselves serve."

His brother paled alarmingly once more and Loki sighed. Thor's desire to stand in his defense was touching after all of the scorn and anger Loki had faced from his brother lately, but Thor was still not thinking things through fully. Though his brother had received a few rather large shocks in a relatively short period of time.

"Now, you may wish to stand back," Loki said. "This is in all probability one of the strongest workings ever and so many affect those too close to me."

"I can handle it," Strange stated.

"I was further away when Thanos did it and it still nearly hurled me off my feet," the captain said. "It packs quite a ripple effect."

"Aye," Thor agreed, stepping back reluctantly. "I felt its effects for hours afterwards and I am used to being on the wrong end of seiðr."

Loki nearly laughed; his brother was not wrong. But he had issued his warning, if Strange wished to remain close to him, it was his choice.

Instead Loki raised his right hand and closed his eyes to center himself, taking a few deep breaths. For the first time since he had fully merged with the Soul Stone he was able to completely focus on it and it was an odd experience. The Soul Stone felt both him and other at the same time in a way he could not describe but which also bled over into his connection with the other Infinity Stones. They in turn felt more like well used talismans than newly acquired objects of great power he had yet to familiarize himself with. It was why he had been able to use them as readily as he had been since his resurrection, but now he was properly focusing on those connections and he could feel how they would soon become quite natural, to the point of being second nature.

Whereas initially he had been wary of being so closely tied to so many objects of such great power for he knew well how often seiðmenn had been consumed by fetishes they had utilized recklessly, now all of those fears were gone. The Infinity Stones wanted to be together after having been apart for so long. Though each represented a particular aspect of the universe, separating them out from each other had taken its own toll and now they were reunited they did not wish to separate. At least in as much as they could wish for anything. To Loki it felt more like some instinctual connection much as a plant directed itself towards the sun rather than anything more intelligent or cognizant.

Still, it meant Loki could feel how their powers worked with his own rather than against or parallel to it. Instead they flowed over each other and into each other, easily coming together and his to command and direct. Now as he began to snap his fingers he braided it all together before reaching out towards the universe at large. As he had told Frigga and Óðinn earlier, what Thanos had done had left behind magical echoes and it was a relatively simple task to reach out and connect with those traces. What became more difficult was allowing all of his power to split out and follow each and every single ripple back to the soul it connected to; his mind and attention split between a myriad of different souls.

Somehow the split of focus did not overwhelm Loki though he did not pause to ponder it. Instead he grasped hold of each soul and pulled it from its afterlife, his power and the Space Stone already returning each one from whence it came even as he began extracting the necessary information to recreate each soul's body or energy patterns in preparation for their resurrection. The ones which had been on Titan he redirected to Rhea along with that of King T'Challa and Groot. There was a flash of power and insight from the Mind Stone as one soul resisted with more power and determination than expected and Loki pulled it towards himself as well, easily accepting the Mind Stone's prompting as he would a nudge from Frigga.

Then he shifted his attention to the Reality and Power Stones along with the Time Stone to the process of actually recreating each individual living entity from the ashes they had become. For those on Rhea that also involved redirecting their matter from Titan and Miðgarðr, though he had already practiced that particular seiðr with his first two resurrections and so it came to him easily now. Then he took over with the Mind Stone, returning each soul to its body and reconnecting the many varied and disparate minds. It should have overwhelmed his own, to know how so many different levels of consciousness and intelligence worked and thought, but instead he was able to handle it all and was able to marvel at the sheer variety of different forms of thought and being there were.

The completion of each resurrection released the individual tendrils of his power and Loki's focus slowly integrated back into itself. His mind and awareness were still stretched far outside his own body, though, and suddenly he knew what Sága had meant when speaking of knowing and seeing all. It was so very far outside of what he had been able to imagine even upon his resurrection when he had first held all of the Infinity Stones as to be nonsensical. It also made him wonder at how a celestial could possibly even connect with a mortal if this was all they had ever known. How limited and fleeting they must seem even to those such as his mother who tried to understand them.

Then the feel of his fingers sliding away from each other and the audible snap they made brought Loki back to his body and his eyes blinked open even as he felt the last burst of pure raw seiðr from his working dissipating.

"Mr. Stark?"

"Kid!"

"Brother!"

"Shuri."

"My king."

"Wanda?"

"Groot!"

There was a rush of sound all around him as the others reacted to the newly resurrected among them and he stumbled as he still felt a slight disconnect with the body which had always been his and yet had not been his until just over a millennia ago.

"Loki, are you alright?" Thor asked worriedly, stepping close once more.

The feel of his brother's hands upon him helped and Loki nodded once, relaxing into the firm hold on his neck and the steadying hand on his opposite shoulder. Clearly Thor did not fully believe him as the next thing he knew, he had been pulled into a strong embrace. Rather than fight, Loki allowed it, closing his eyes once more and focusing instead on ensuring he had fully pulled his awareness back into his body and reconnected with it as he should.

It was odd to have to even think about something he had never even paused to consider before.

"I am here, Brother," Thor murmured. "All is well. You have done what you set out to. I am very proud of you, Loki."

His brother's litany went on and while the words themselves were unfamiliar and new, the body pressed up against him was not and Loki used the familiarity and strength of it to anchor himself. Only it was different in a way he did not think Thor had wished it to be. With a thought Loki corrected the difference, feeling his brother start in his arms as he did so.

"Did you just?" Thor began, one arm releasing him, to check his new hair no doubt. "Thank you, Brother."

Loki smiled before he forced himself to pull back, well aware of the fact they were surrounded by people he hardly knew and could not call friends even if perhaps they were no longer enemies. He glanced at Thor first, to ensure he had replaced his brother's hair to the length it had been before the Grandmaster's men had shorn it. The oaf's beaming smile helped steel him before he turned his attention the newly enlarged group around them.

"Thank you, Mr. Loki!" a boy in a blue and red suit chirped, drawing closer to him though still clearly nervous. "I don't know what happened and how or why you are now with us, but Mr. Stark said you brought me back, so thank you!"

The sheer enthusiasm and innocence of the boy made Loki blink before he inclined his head. "You are welcome."

It seemed the safest option and luckily it was all the boy needed to dart back towards Stark's side and chatter at the Man of Iron.

"I too must thank you for keeping your word," King T'Challa said.

A burst of nearly uncontrolled seiðr drew Loki's attention and he turned to find both the captain and the widow crouched near a woman with bright red hair and seiðr crackling in the air around her.

"Calm down, Wanda," the widow was saying, her posture wary.

"You need to regain control," the captain added.

"Where is it?" Wanda demanded desperately.

"Wanda-"

"Where is Vision?"

"Vision is dead," Widow replied calmly. "You know that."

"You said you got the Stones from Thanos, that they were used to resurrect us!" Wanda all but screamed. "If you have the Mind Stone and Vision's b- body, then we can reconnect them. Or Princess Shuri can and we can resurrect him too!"

Ah, so this was the mortal who had resisted his call to return to Miðgarðr and which the Mind Stone had prompted him to bring here. It now readily gave him the rest of the necessary information and Loki had to reluctantly admit to being impressed. It had been stupid, reckless and so full of potentially catastrophic consequences, yet Stark and the beast had managed to create something quite unique. With a little help from Thor, but then the oaf had never been difficult to persuade to take part in ill thought out or dubious schemes.

Still, the being called Vision was quite dead, the Mind Stone told him. Not only had it been removed, but Thanos had caused catastrophic damage to Vision's entire neural network while doing so. Those pathways were destroyed forevermore and while new ones could be created, they would not comprise Vision as anyone knew him. Not without a soul to anchor it all together.

"It is not that simple," the man out of time stated.

"Why not?" Wanda demanded angrily.

Loki was not certain if the captain glanced his way on purpose or whether the man had no control over the action, but either way Wanda caught it and looked towards him. Her attention zeroed in almost immediately on the Mind Stone and she rose to her feet with an agitated cry only to be caught by the captain and the widow. There was an aborted movement by his side as Thor reacted to the potential threat. It both irritated and touched Loki, as the instinctive nature of it told him far more of how Thor truly felt for him now than any words his brother might utter. Even if he was far better placed to handle a seiðr threat than Thor.

"What have you done?" Wanda demanded. "That is not yours, it belongs to Vision! Give it back!"

The words and attitude were far more juvenile than Loki had expected, but then she had been quite close to this Vision according to the Mind Stone so the trauma of losing him may be combining with that of her death and subsequent resurrection. Still, she would not gain that which she wished to.

"Your lover is gone," Loki informed her gently. "The Mind Stone was but one part of who he was and that can never be recreated."

With a scream of pain, rage and grief red seiðr burst uncontrolled from her, flinging both the man out of time and widow back. Loki threw up a shield all around her to contain the blast but that merely knocked it back on Wanda who sank to her knees.

Both the Mind and Time Stones told him this was not unusual behavior for her and Loki frowned before looking past her physical form and at her magical core which he was shocked to find weak at best. It should not even have been able to manifest any seiðr of its own and likely never would have had she not been experimented on with his old scepter. Anger and disgust rose within him and he was already stepping forward when the captain scrambled back towards Wanda, blocking his path.

"What are you planning to do?" the human demanded.

"Undo the damage done to her with the Mind Stone," Loki explained.

"No!" Wanda exclaimed, crawling backwards. "You would take away my power and make me normal again."

"You were not supposed to have the seiðr that you do."

"I don't care! It's mine now and you have no right to try to take it from me!"

"Who gave you the right to decide that anyway?" the widow demanded, coming to stand beside the captain.

"I was merely trying to help," Loki replied. "She can barely control her power, as she just proved by using it on you."

"It's not the first time she's lost control either," Stark spoke up.

"No one asked you," the widow retorted.

"And if it was only you getting hurt then I wouldn't, but it was her loss of control in Lagos that was largely responsible for the Accords, remember?"

"You have no more say in this than Loki, Tony," the captain declared. "She is learning control."

"She cannot hope to contain the power she now possesses," Loki countered. "She is losing herself to it instead."

"Brother, are you referring to mage madness?" Thor questioned worriedly.

"I am."

"If that is the case, then she must be controlled," Thor intoned gravely, continuing despite their protests. "If a seiðkona or seiðmadr of sufficient power completely loses control the effects can be catastrophic. The most recent on Vanaheimr killed thousands when she imploded."

"Wait, thousands?" the beast repeated in disbelief. "Imploded?"

"It is chaos in its purest form," Loki explained. "Once beyond the wielder's control the seiðr will burst outwards before collapsing back in on itself and then dissipating into the environment, taking everything with it whether it be living, stone, metal or anything else."

"No!" Wanda shrieked, striking out deliberately this time when her defenders exchanged a long and uncertain glance.

Loki allowed it to throw aside the captain and widow before he calmed it, teleporting to her side. Not giving her a chance to react, he pulled her to him, trapping her arms to her side with one of his own and placing his free hand at her temples. He then reached in towards her core, forcing the foreign seiðr from where it had been artificially anchored. It blasted outwards, seeking to do what it would have if Wanda had lost control of it. He tempered its power, but allowed enough of it out to burn the ground around them and cause it to shake noticeably, knocking all of the others off their feet.

"No, no!" Wanda complained, but already the mad edge was starting to fade.

He released his grip on her and immediately one of her hands reached up for the Mind Stone, scrabbling desperately at it. Had Wanda been stronger, she might have left scratches on his skin, but as it was she caused no damage.

"Vision," she moaned.

"He is gone," Loki repeated but more gently. "He fought bravely against Thanos."

"Bring him back! You brought us back."

"Only those killed by the snap."

"He was trying to prevent it."

"But he was not killed by it."

"So? That's a stupid difference!" a new voice declared and Loki looked up to find Peter Quill near him.

He had been expecting this.

"It is an important difference," Loki stated.

"No, it's not. They died at Thanos' hand, just like all of the others."

"So did countless others," Loki pointed out. "How far back would you have me go? A week? A month? All the way back to Titan's demise and every single life he took? Including all of the ones who would long since have died had he not killed them?"

"I-"

"And how would they feel to return to a universe so changed, everyone they knew and loved long dead and gone?"

"Then don't bring them back!" Quill shouted.

"And where do I stop? Who decides? Me? You?"

"You would have him become the decider of fate," Thor spoke up, offering him a hand to rise after Wanda had scrambled away.

"To play god," the beast muttered.

Loki scowled. "I am a god."

"It's an expression, it means to make life and death decisions for others."

"How about just those who fought to keep him from obtaining the Stones?" the captain offered.

"Which quite conveniently is everyone you like," Stark muttered.

"And does not solve the problem," Loki added. "There have been those defying that desire of Thanos' since he first heard of the Infinity Stones thousands of years ago. Nay, there will be no further resurrections. I will not do so and Lady Death will not allow anyone else to."

"Lady Death?" Stark demanded sharply. "Death's actually a being?"

"Cosmic entity," Thor supplied before looking at Loki with no small amount of fear. "Loki-"

"Relax, Brother," Loki reassured. "I have already spoken with Her and convinced Her to agree to this."

Thor stared at him wide eyed for a moment before laughing, though it did not sound quite right. "Only you could talk Lady Death into accepting a reversal of Thanos' gift to Her!"

"No, seriously, the Grim Reaper's real?" Stark demanded.

"When did you speak with her?" Princess Shuri questioned. "When you were dead? I didn't see her."

"Nay, it was just a few minutes ago," Loki replied. "To you I was being embraced by Thor."

"The Space Stone," Strange realized.

"Fine, you want me to say it?" Quill pushed forwards. "I'll say it. Just bring back Gamora and this Vision, no one else and we'll never tell anyone."

"Nay," Loki said firmly, looking him in the eye. "And you ask more than you know."

"The sacrifice," Mantis stated.

"What sacrifice?" Quill demanded.

"To get the Soul Stone a sacrifice was needed," Nebula explained. "Thanos sacrificed Gamora just as Loki's mother sacrificed him."

"So why the hell do you get to live?" Quill questioned.

"Because I was not killed in the process and I brought myself back when I did die," Loki replied.

"What difference does it make that she was sacrificed?" the beast asked.

"It is powerful seiðr," Thor responded.

Powerful and quite unique. It was not something which could be faked or created any other way and Loki was not allowing that to go to waste. Particularly not when he could feel how fragile and wounded Gamora was and how short-lived the happiness would be. Quill despite his father's species, would live a normal human lifespan and Gamora would not. Hers was determined to outpace Quill's by several centuries.

"I don't care!" Quill snapped.

"Magic is dangerous and should not be taken lightly," a being which resembled Thor if his brother were grayish with red markings stated. "I know someone who tried to evade a spell and they were never the same after."

It was not the same, but Loki would not say that.

"I-" Quill began.

"Sleep," Mantis said with a light touch and Quill dropped.

Why had she not done that earlier? It would have saved Loki the trouble of being attacked for a good deed. He was starting to remember why he did not do more of them.

"I am Groot," a deep voice said from behind him and Loki turned to find the flora colossus there.

He was younger than Loki had expected him to be.

"You are welcome," Loki replied, pleased there were at least some who were thankful for what he had done.

"I am Groot."

"Really?"

"Wait, you speak Groot as well?" Rocket demanded, appearing at Groot's side. "Did you take the elective on Ásgarðr too?"

Elective? Loki blinked before looking sideways at his brother, not surprised to find Thor looking ashamed.

"Explaining All-Speak too complex for you, Brother?" Loki teased.

"Shut up, Loki."

"I am Groot."

"Oh, that is not necessary, Loki does not require it," Thor responded.

"I am Groot."

"Speak for yourself, Thor," Loki retorted. "Of course, Groot, if you insist."

"I am Groot."

With that, Groot held out his hand from which a thin sprout appeared. It rapidly grew until there was a flower which then faded, revealing two large elongated pods. Loki could sense the bioluminescent spores contained within and his breath caught. They were exceedingly rare and hard to come by, the flora colossus not able to generate them under duress and generally being unwilling to grow them for anything other than their own use. To have them offered like this was rare and a valuable gift.

"Thank you, Groot," Loki said reverently as he reached out to take the two pods.

They came loose in his hands and he immediately secreted them away into his pocket dimension.

"What were those?" Stark questioned.

"A gift," Thor replied.

"A gift?"

"Groot wanted to thank Loki for doing what he said," Rocket interpreted.

"Yes, yes, he has done what he said," Strange interrupted. "The question now is will he voluntarily return that which he has acquired?"

"Acquired?" Thor questioned even as Stark backed up with an "Oh, boy!"

"Yes," Strange stated. "He may have taken the Stones from Thanos, but that does not make them his."

"You would claim ownership of the Time Stone?" Loki questioned quietly, seeing Thor tense out of the corner of his eye.

"Yes, I am its keeper."

"Are you now?"

"Ask Stark if you don't believe me, he knows I had it before."

"Oh no, I'm staying out of this!" Stark protested.

"I am not disputing your claim of prior possession," Loki said. "Merely your assumption that it grants you any more right over it than any other of its former possessors including Thanos."

"He killed and threatened to gain them!"

"And how did your order come to have it?" Loki asked and the confused look on Strange's face told him the mortal did not know. "They took it from another owner in a fight."

"No doubt they were misusing it," Strange retorted.

"Sounds like what Father used to say when he took an artefact from another species, does it not, Thor?"

A sigh and pained look. "Loki."

"So, what? You think that gives you the right to take them now?" Strange demanded. "We have guarded the Time Stone for centuries."

"I am merely pointing out your claim on it is no greater or more valid than that of anyone else who has ever possessed a Stone," Loki countered. "All of which were based on simple acquisition. The Stones were created by the four cosmic entities and originally belonged to no one. I say it is time for them to belong to themselves now."

"Of course you do," Strange sneered. "How convenient for you given that you've already decided to be one."

"Be careful what you say, seiðmadr," Thor commanded darkly. "That is my brother whose honor you impugn."

Loki's eyebrows shot up as he glanced at his brother in shock. "Now you defend me?"

"Aye."

From the look in Thor's eyes his brother wished to say more but Loki was glad he did not. This was a discussion for another time.

"He does have a point, Thor," the captain stated. "Loki has long been after the Stones and now that Thanos has been defeated it is best to separate them once more. To ensure nothing like this happens ever again."

Oh, that was rather clever of the captain, not quite implying he did not trust Loki, but still presenting a reasonable sounding argument to separate the Infinity Stones. Pity he was up against the silvertongue.

"You wish to reattempt the plan which failed the last time?" Loki asked simply.

"I... But we know about the possibility this time and can take precautions," the captain tried.

"It was known before too but the Stones had become far too dispersed to attempt any kind of coordinated plan," Thor spoke up, surprising Loki. "I know as I tried to find them all."

"So we keep them from becoming that dispersed."

"How?" Loki demanded. "On average a human lives to, what, a century? How will you ensure that level of coordination for even the next millennia?"

The captain flushed and looked at his companions, but none of them could offer a counter argument.

"How long do you guys live anyway?" Stark asked.

"Five thousand years," Thor replied.

"Oh."

"And that was before my melding with the Soul Stone or the activation of my celestial heritage," Loki said. "Now, well..."

He deliberately trailed off, not quite wishing to admit that unless he was killed he would no longer die on his own.

"I still don't like it," the captain stated.

Loki smiled. "It is not for you to like or not, Captain, as I do not obey your orders."

"Thor," the widow tried.

"Nay, I will not interfere here," Thor replied.

"Why not? You are king now and he one of your subjects."

"Loki may still claim Ásgarðrian citizenship if he so wishes and he will always remain a prince, but he is also the son of the Yggdrasill."

"And that makes him special somehow?"

"Aye. She is the reason both of our Realms exist or existed, she is the creator thereof."

"That does not mean she can rule us," the captain protested. "We are a democracy."

"I did not say she did, I merely wanted to inform you of her power and importance. If you were to move against Loki and she interfered, you would not be able to defeat her, nor would you wish to."

"Let me guess," Stark said. "We do and buh-bye Earth?"

"Aye. And the rest of the N- Eight Realms," Thor confirmed.

Loki touched his brother's arm, his own throat closing at the thought of Ásgarðr's demise.

"And that's of course assuming we could somehow overcome Loki to begin with," Stark added, voice strangely devoid of worry. "Which given we'd have neither Point Break's help nor the interference L'Oréal gave earlier with Thanos is pretty much impossible anyway."

"Whose side are you on anyway, Stark?" the widow demanded.

"Earth's, and Loki's already proven he doesn't just want to throw us under a bus by how he sabotaged Thanos' little invasion," Stark retorted, catching Loki completely by surprise.

Clearly the Man of Iron had been far more perceptive than he had given the mortal credit for.

"Not to mention he now knows Earth is somehow part of his mother," Stark continued.

"I will not fail in my duties as keeper of the Time Stone, nor allow one such as him to possess all of the Infinity Stones," Strange declared, stepping forwards.

Loki watched in amusement as the mortal seiðmadr snapped his arms to the side and orange sigils appeared in the air around his hands. The obvious and superfluous use of seiðr allowed him to see what Strange intended and so he was able to counter it before the seiðr had even left Strange's hands, dying in the air. Rather than deter the mortal, it merely angered him and he tried once more. And again.

"You know, Einstein thought that doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results was the very definition of insanity," Stark drawled in amusement.

He was by far the calmest of their audience as the others edged backwards with varying degrees of nervousness or fear on their faces. Well, all except for Thor who remained at his side and for once seemed disinclined to act, instead appearing happy to allow Loki to handle it. So, perhaps the oaf could learn.

With a frustrated sound, Strange changed tactics, stepping back and swirling his hands dramatically. Loki was uncertain if the human needed to do so in order to control his seiðr or whether he was merely being dramatic about it. Then a portal opened in the space between them and he could see what appeared to be a mirror dimension within it. Did Strange truly think to trap him within so simple a construct? He grew up on illusions and deception, this type of seiðr had been the first he had learned as a child.

Then Strange threw the portal at him, clearly believing he would better be able to challenge Loki within a world of his own creation. How quaint. With a thought and snap of seiðr from the Space Stone, Loki took control of the portal, redirected it and sent it flying back at Strange. The human seiðmadr tried to avoid it but failed and disappeared into it, as did the widow, Wanda and the other man who wore armor like Stark's.

"Rhodey!" Stark yelled. "Where the hell did you just send them?"

"Miðgarðr," Loki replied simply.

"Earth?"

"Aye."

"Safely? Not like ten thousand feet up in the air?"

Loki smiled at the rejoinder and the fact Stark was smart enough not to take his words at face value.

"I did not resurrect Strange and Wanda merely to kill them so soon after," Loki said. "They and the others are fine and at your new... headquarters."

It was a new word for him and the rapid evolution of the humans in so many ways intrigued Loki. It was so very different from the Realm Eternal which he had often thought of as the Realm Stagnant. He would have to investigate Miðgarðr more closely and he already had one valid invitation there. It would be most intriguing to see how the humans had changed since he had last been there prior to his fall into the Void. His brief time there during the invasion had been most interesting and he was particularly curious about Wakanda and Stark's inventions.

A familiar roar made Loki whip his head around and he stared up in shock as he saw Níðhöggr flying towards them. There were exclamations of surprise and alarm from the others as the dragon flew closer, accompanied by the raising of various weapons.

"Do not attack!" Loki called out. "He will not harm us."

Luckily the dragon was still in the small form he had taken earlier, so Loki was able to raise his arm for him to land on.

"What are you doing here?" Loki demanded as Níðhöggr came to rest on his right arm before the little dragon scrambled up to his shoulder, tail curling around his bicep for balance. "Nay, let me guess, Mother sent you."

A rumbling purr was his only response as Níðhöggr nuzzled at his hair.

"I swear to the N- I swear I will turn you into a worm if you set my hair on fire!"

"Is that a dragon?" Stark demanded of Thor before turning to Loki. "Do you have a dragon on your shoulder?"

Loki smirked at the mortal. "Nay, Stark, you are imaging things."

"Brother," Thor chided, eyes nonetheless glued to Níðhöggr. "He is beautiful."

Which of course made Níðhöggr preen, sitting up straight and spreading his wings to show them off properly.

"Wait, can he understand us?" the beast demanded, startled.

"Of course," Loki confirmed.

"But he's a dragon."

"And Rocket is a racoon."

"And Groot a tree," Stark muttered, eyeing the group which stood clustered together further away from them. "And Nebula whatever the hell she is."

"You said your mother sent him," Thor began. "Does she have many such creatures?"

"Aye, you have studied them," Loki replied coyly.

"I have?"

"Which dragon is associated with the Yggdrasill?"

His brother's eyes went wide as they darted between Níðhöggr and Loki. "But... Níðhöggr."

"Aye."

"I should cease to be surprised at those you elect to befriend."

"Care to share with the class, Point Break?" Stark questioned.

"Níðhöggr means Malice Striker, he is said to gnaw on the roots of the Yggdrasill," Thor explained, hesitating briefly before continuing. "Níð also stands for the loss of honor, marking one as a villain."

"That's a lot of negativity for a creature," the captain stated after a moment of silence. "Was any of it deserved?"

"Nay," Loki answered. "Níðhöggr has done nothing wrong, the stigma comes from the dragons of Náströnd who are said to feast on the corpses of the condemned dead."

"Jesus, you guys really go all out, don't you?" Stark shuddered. "Great, now I'm not getting that image out of my head anytime soon!"

"Does he truly live on the Yggdrasill?" Thor inquired with a frown. "Did your mother create him?"

"Aye, which I suppose makes him almost a sibling in some ways," Loki mused. "Though he is rather smarter than my other brothers."

"Loki!"

Stark at least appreciated his humor, Loki saw as he waited for Thor to catch up.

"Wait, brothers, as in plural?"

And there it was.

"Aye, Laufey had two other sons, remember?" Loki questioned. "And in addition to Níðhöggr there are the four stags of the Yggdrasill as well as Ratatoskr, Veðrfölnir an-"

With a growl Thor crowded close once more, though Loki noticed his brother was carefully not to jostle Níðhöggr from his perch. A wise move as he had no idea how the little dragon might respond. Until now he had only seen Níðhöggr on the branches of the Yggdrasill itself and he had not even known the dragon could leave his mother's true form.

"They are not your brothers," Thor stated, clasping the free side of his neck. "I am."

Loki's lips twitched despite himself. "Well, I was thinking more along the lines of sibling pets for the Yggdrasilli creatures."

"Oh, I like him!" Stark exclaimed.

"Stark!" the captain protested.

"What? He thinks like me. Isn't he awesome, Brucie?"

"I dread to think what the two of you could get up to," the beast replied.

Oh, now there was an idea.

"Nay, Loki," Thor declared raising his free hand to point a finger at him. "I know that look."

Loki smiled innocently at him. "I was thinking of diplomatic relations."

"Like that time on Álfheimr no doubt."

The reminder made Loki laugh. That had been a particularly good time.

"I like diplomatic relations," Stark rejoined. "They can be very productive and lead to the sharing of all kinds of new ideas."

"As if you need any more ways to create havoc," the man out of time grumbled.

"No one asked you, Rogers."

"Is there anyone you have not irritated?" Loki asked Stark before looking back to Thor. "And I already have an invitation to Wakanda."

"I told him he was free to come visit if he brought back my people," King T'Challa said when everyone turned his way. "A feat he seems to have done."

"We have not yet seen anyone else brought back other than those present here," the warrior woman stated.

"A fact easily discerned when we return home, Okoye," King T'Challa replied.

"Please try to behave yourself, Brother," Thor pleaded, making Loki scowl at him.

"Which one of us has caused fewer diplomatic incidents?" he questioned, cutting his brother off before Thor could reply. "Jötunheimr, Vanaheimr, Harago-"

"Aye, you have made your point."

"So, Loki, buddy," Stark began, sidling up to him. "I don't suppose there's any truth to that myth about Thor, his hammer and the wedding dress?"

Chapter Text

Ásgarðrian Asteroid Belt, 2018 A.D.

Space walking turned out to be quite similar to sky walking once his mother showed him how and Loki readily took to it, relishing all of the subtle ways in which it was different. Not to mention the world of possibilities it opened up to him. Sky walking had been a blessing in his youth and had opened up the entirety of the Nine Realms to him and while it would always remain special simply by virtue of the fact it allowed him direct access to his mother's true form, it was also limited to just the Nine Realms.

Space walking had no such limitations.

With it he could go anywhere he wanted and see whatever he so wished. The sheer number of possibilities was endless and thrilled Loki and he knew he would use the skill to go far and wide, exploring all parts of the universe. Yet he was also aware that for the next few millennia at least he would remain far closer to home, for while his mother's avatar could readily travel with him, Thor could not. Not with his brother's responsibilities as king of Ásgarðr.

It was the biggest reason he had never truly desired Hliðskjálf; the fact that as king he would be tied to it. His movements curtailed and his every action scrutinized. It was not a life suited for one born of chaos itself.

The reminder of all that had happened the last few years sobered Loki as he looked out over the asteroid field which was all that was left of the so called Realm Eternal. It was ironic in a way and he could fully understand all of the Ragnarök prophecies which had dogged his steps ever since he had been a child. If only they had known he would bring it about at the behest of Ásgarðr's rightful king rather than any whim of his own, how different things might have been!

Alas those days were long gone now and none still lived who had given him a hard time for it. Otherwise he would have reveled in ensuring they knew the error of their ways even if the situation itself left little to be satisfied with.

"What must I do?" Loki asked, looking at his mother.

He had no further desire to examine Ásgarðr's ruins and would not have returned here had it not been for Sága's comment that all was not lost if he did not wish it to be.

"First you must decide what you want to do," Sága said.

Loki raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"Do you want to recreate Ásgarðr as it was or create your own world in its place?"

Oh. Loki had simply been thinking of recreating Ásgarðr, but the latter was very tempting and he had always had a lot of complaints about his old home. Still, it had been his old home and, what was more, Frigga's old home. Did he truly want to leave all which she had loved and cherished lost forever? Then there was also what Thor would think, not that he had to inform his brother he had possessed the means to recreate Ásgarðr if he chose not to.

"Recreate," Loki finally replied. "I can create an entirely new world elsewhere if the urge strikes."

His mother laughed. "How easily you come into your powers and the possibilities they provide!"

It was not the first time a comment of that nature had been made to him, but to Loki it was as simple as thinking items through to their natural conclusion. It was not his fault most could not do so. He had never understood the need for false modesty, particularly not why it should apply to the talents that were his strengths but not those which were Thor's.

"Am I wrong?" Loki asked.

"No," Sága replied, smiling. "But you are certain to make my life far more interesting than you already have in your infancy."

It irked Loki a little that his mother still saw him as a child, but seeing how ancient she was he could also understand it. Besides, the fact Sága looked forward to the mischief and chaos he would cause rather than either dreading or seeking to temper it was not only novel enough, but also delightful enough, to more than make up for any slight to his pride on the age front.

"Tell me what to do," Loki requested.

"First you much use Time, reach out with it to see what was, what is and what will be once more," Sága instructed, moving close. "Then reach deep within yourself to your connection with me. To that which is not mortal, but immortal. Reach towards your celestial half and feel what once was."

Loki gave himself over to the seiðr, both green and purple, seeing and feeling. It was all still so new, like a muscle he had not yet hardened into shape through use and repetition. Ásgarðr swam before his eyes, several thousand years of her history passing in an instant followed by her destruction. It hurt, to know he had done that despite how necessary it had been, but then Ásgarðr was back, all of her pieces slotting back into a whole like the puzzles Frigga had used to love making with him.

Then his mother's hand was on his chest and Loki focused on her silent prompts, reaching deep within himself to the parts of his core he had never known about before. He could still feel the awe and disbelief he had felt the first time Sága had connected him to her and he had truly felt all the glory and power of the Yggdrasill and become one with her. It came easier now and he could feel what the loss of Ásgarðr had done to her. The raw wound it was to her true form when one of the Realms she had created and nourished was snuffed out and torn asunder. An apology was on his lips, but his mother shushed him and he felt only love and understanding from her.

"It was necessary and you did not know," Sága reassured him. "Now focus on the connection between me and where she once was."

The words made Loki frown and it took him a few tries before he could suddenly see what his mother meant. It was the broken threads of connection which had run through the very core of Ásgarðr herself and linked her with the Yggdrasill. In some ways he had felt them before, but he had never recognized them for what they were, simply believing them to be Ásgarðr's own seiðr and the connection all Realms within the Nine had with the Yggdrasill.

With the realization came understanding and Loki reached back with the Time Stone to see precisely how it had all been, slowly drawing on his new found celestial powers to draw the pieces of the newly formed asteroid belt back together again. It was painstaking and complex work, to ensure every tiny little particle went back into the right place, especially since many had to be recreated before he could do so, but rewarding as Ásgarðr slowly reemerged from her own ashes before his eyes.

When he began to come back to himself Loki could hardly believe or even comprehend the sheer amount of both seiðr and power flowing through him. It felt completely natural, though, and Ásgarðr lay before them once more. Her waters flowing out into space, down towards the very roots of the Yggdrasill.

"You feed off your own creations," Loki realized with a wry smile.

"And why shouldn't I?" Sága inquired. "I sustain them, they help sustain me."

It was true and rather ironic given how many Realms had notions of the circle of life.

"You have done very well, Loki," his mother praised. "None shall be able to tell what transpired here."

The words and sentiment warmed Loki, but they did make him frown as well. While he had wished to recreate Ásgarðr, his contributions had so often been overlooked before. Should he leave his own mark?

Unable to help himself, Loki modified things ever so slightly. It was only a little mischief, really, hardly even a proper trick.

"What did you do, Little One?"

How well she knew him already.

"Nothing," Loki replied, giving her his most innocent smile. She simply gave him a look. "Ásgarðr is so very golden. I merely redecorated a little."

"Added some green?"

"Aye."

Just a little. To Hliðskjálf and his brother's personal chambers.

Loki laughed, already well able to imagine Thor's reaction when he found them. If his brother asked nicely he would turn them back.

Maybe.

Chapter Text

Loki Soul Stone Idea:

Do a fic where either the Norn who sees the future or a prophet like Sága or Gróa sees what is to come and doesn't like it. Both fear how well the chances of success are and for the fact that Thanos succeeds at first. So they decide to change it.

Have a prologue on Vormir where Sága has gone to the place of the stone (he gives us her name?) and when asked for a sacrifice she either says herself (the best answer) or her unborn baby. She does the latter by merging the soul stone with its soul or replacing it. She realizes by giving it life, she can give it some form of control over its own destiny.

Have the future Norn see it all and chosen to send the vision to Sága so both ways are one.

This is why Loki cannot be restful as he is literally an Infinity Stone and so chaotic and far too powerful for his (even half æsir/half jötunn body). It is also why he cannot die as he is not quite so mortal as all of that.

Have the idea be to have the soul stone come to hate Thanos as he will have tortured and tried to kill it by that point so it has an inherent and basic dislike of him.

Have Sága be Loki's mother and Laufey never knew? She leaves him in the temple knowing Óðinn will come along and find him? Is this why Loki maintains his other form so well? If so does she apply to be nurse for the younger prince? And a wet one claiming to have lost her own child and Frigga takes sympathy especially when Loki calms for her? Or does the process weaken her and she dies on the ice of Jötunheimr?

So did Loki survive the start of Infinity War and come awake later or did he die, do the rest of Infinity War and then he fights back, once the glove is off (see end of movie again!) and take control of all of the stones which are almost like siblings to him in some odd, vaguely alive way? It was why he could use the Tesseract so easily and well, like calls to like and all of that.

He didn't know until he died and 'Loki' integrated with the rest of the Soul Gem to become whole and conscious and all of that, why it didn't happen right away if follow movie!

If so do the deaths slowly start to reverse or does Loki act through it on Thanos? Or both? Does he end up with all of the stones, like in his forehead or around it and cheeks? If so does Thor try to reach him and it is more the stone than Loki in order to protect 'Loki' and he throws Thor's words back at him from both Ragnarök and The Dark World?

Or is Sága the same type of being as the father of the main guy in Guardians of the Galaxy? So Loki is the half that and half jötunn? Is why he was so magically powerful and all as well as the Stone elements?

Perhaps have the prologue be the first bit of Sága arriving on Vormir and dropping and do the next bit as a scene later on? To not give it all away right away? The whole Soul Stone thing? That can be a mini update or interlude in the middle or so? If so, then do an epilogue with Sága and Loki meeting at the end or so. Will Loki be mad? It's given him a lot more power than he would otherwise have had, more even than the regular celestials (parents want to see their kids exceed them?) and on par with the cosmic entities? And he always felt safe & loved while on the Yggdrasill. Perhaps with the Stones he can now also understand her in a way he otherwise never could have. She will also not be threatened if he goes to visit Frigga or so. Sequel of that or snippets after? Second epilogue. Or earlier in the fic, just before the end she is there. Or near the beginning, just after not being fully dead. Second chapter after the first with the resurrection of the Avengers?