(6 Midgardian years of age)

It was raining. How fitting.

Loki was sitting on the couch in the living room, doing some reading on one of the tablets that was always laying around the tower. Currently he was enthralled by a work on DNA barcoding for species identification, but he still glanced up every now and again. He was alone in the tower, it had been awhile since he had been left alone, but with Natasha and Clint out on a mission and the rest of the avengers taking care of someone who had invaded new jersey with some sort of giant ants, there wasn't much else to be done.

Besides, he knew how to take care of himself now, at least for a few hours. They would be back soon anyways, and saving lives had to come before babysitting. Sure he'd jump whenever he thought he heard something, or cast glances out of the corner of his eye towards the shadows that would morph themselves into monsters from time to time, but really he was fine. For now at least.

Time wore on and he became worried. At least Natasha and Clint were supposed to be back by now. Maybe they had gone to help with the ants? Yes, that must be it. Still, a nagging worry was forming in the back of his mind. Five more minutes passed before he remembered that Jarvis was in the room. Loki was still a little unsure of talking to the Ai, but it was worth a shot.

"Um, Jarvis? Do you happen to know if Clint and Natasha are with the other avengers?"

The response was almost immediate and came from the ceiling.

"As far as I am aware, neither Agent Barton nor Agent Romanoff have returned from their mission. However, it appears that the ants are currently being contained and so the other avengers should be returning soon."

"Oh, okay, thank you Jarvis."

His worries were not calmed, but at least the others would be back soon.

It was a full hour before anyone returned.

There had been a second wave of ants that had everyone tied up, so he hadn't been expecting the elevator to ding. With his guard up, he peeked over the couch and relaxed when he saw it was Coulson and Natasha. Loki glanced to the back of the elevator, frowning when he noticed Clint wasn't with them. He looked up at their faces which seemed somber.

"Where's Clint? Is he helping with the ants?"

Coulson and Natasha glanced at each other, he could feel some sort of shared pain between them, but he didn't understand why. It was a second's pause before anyone moved, but before he could ask what was going on, Coulson had moved across the room and swept the little raven up in his arms. Tears began to fall as spoke, fighting to keep his voice calm.

"There were issues on the mission, some complications we couldn't have foreseen. We did everything we could, but Clint barely made it back to the ship. They had some sort of poison we couldn't counteract. He didn't make it. I'm so sorry kiddo."

Natasha had turned away as he went on, she wasn't able to watch. Her own tears were slowly making their way down her face. She wanted nothing more than to be able to be strong and help Loki through this, but she couldn't. Not while the image of Clint's final smile was still fresh in her mind.

Tears found their place on Loki's face as well, his brain was refusing to function as sparkling drops fell down his cheeks that had yet to lose their baby fat. His eyes were wide as he looked up at Coulson, wanting more than anything else in the world to be told this was a joke. That it wasn't true. For Clint to walk through the door and say surprise. None of that came.

Instead what came was sobs, was warm arms to hold him but that could not bring him comfort, he couldn't remember much but an overwhelming sadness.

It was five days before he spoke to anyone.

When he spoke, it wasn't to Coulson who had stayed with him. It wasn't to Natasha, who had tried her best to comfort him. It wasn't to Tony, Steve or Bruce, who had tried every little trick to cheer him up. It wasn't even to Thor, who had barely let him out of his arms. No, the day he finally spoke again, he did it to Clint as he lay sleeping without breath. And when he did, he said only two words.

"Thank you."

Before returning to his seat in the sea of black.