Loki had been on edge for many months after the arrival of the sceptre. Thor had increased security and sent ambassadors to other realms to inquire after the known Infinity Stones. Unfortunately, the few that had been known also seemed to have all been stolen.

The crisp fall air smelled of leaves and woodsmoke, and Grace had pulled the tattered grey sweater she repaired every year from the back of the closet. It looked just as bad as it had when she had inherited it from Tony, despite the effort she put into trying to keep it in one piece. Loki had once joked that it was only held together by the power of love and she was inclined to believe him- even as well kept as things were in Asgard, a battered inherited sweater that had originally belonged to Tony's father should not still be in one piece after over a millennium. She snuggled up in it and spiked her bright blue hair. It was a day full of meetings with various members of the court, so she mixed a long black skirt with her Skid Row t-shirt and the miracle sweater. If anyone they were meeting with had a problem with Skid Row, she figured she would just be amazed by the fact that anyone else in Asgard knew who they were.

She met Alice at the breakfast table, the littlest member of the royal family bundled in a wrap on her back. Izzy Anthony Stark was only a few months old and spent most of his time either nursing or sleeping exceptionally soundly while strapped to his mother or in the arms of one of his many doting family members.

"Is your father already off doing royal business?"

"Yeah. He decided that it was best to get an early start."

"Unlike us. It'll be lunch by the time we get to the throne room."

"Oh, I am just so upset by the prospect of missing the court gripe about how awful someone behaved somewhere and oh, horrors, they should be removed from the court."

"I feel the same way. Just such a damn shame, isn't it?"

"At least Iz has the right idea. Sleep through it all and no one will bother you."

Izzy was still asleep when they arrived in the throne room just as lunch was being delivered, the large doors closed and the court ushered off to their own private banquet. The royal family had a small table set up and gathered together as they often did on days such as these. Even amidst the business of hearing the concerns of the court, they took the time to all sit together for a break.

After lunch, visits with the court resumed, but they were considerably more casual. The most impatient visitors had been met in the morning, and they were also most of those who insisted on a formal meeting. By the time the last person left, Grace had taken to sitting sideways in her chair, her legs over the arm, while Alice nursed Izzy on a long, fluffy couch. Loki sat beside her, admiring his grandson. Odin hovered, which was normal, while Sif and Thor sat at the foot of the dias- no one expected anything exciting to happen and they were starting to discuss which card game to play at dinner when something shook the floor. There was a thud from somewhere in the palace. Thor looked up, concerned. A dull roar. Then crashing. Another vibration and explosion. The sounds of a great clattering in the hallway. Odin tugged Alice and Izzy into a secret door under the dias and disappeared. The sounds of battle grew closer. Thor clutched Mjolner and started for the door when it burst open. Wave after wave of soldier from every corner of the nine realms poured into the room. Thor spun Mjolner until he heard Loki yell "stop!" Confused as to why, he glanced at his brother and saw a look of sheer terror on his face.

"It is him," Loki whispered.

Thor white-knuckle griped Mjolner as a large creature strode into the room; he held up one glittering hand, "It fits me well, don't you think?"

Grace could hear Thor's sharp gasp from where she stood beside her shaken husband, "The vault. What else have you stolen?"

"Why would I steal petty trinkets from the realms when this will defeat them all?'

Loki found his voice, "What do you want, Thanos?"

"The repayment of a debt."

"He paid his debt. Ten years of torture," Thor said.

"He paid for the failure to bring me the Tesseract. Now he must pay for the loss of a gem. It did not take me long to retrieve it, but the inconvenience...oh, I expect compensation."

"What must I do, then, to clear my ledger?"

Thanos' grin was cruel, "You caused me to lose something precious to me...so before I assemble this gauntlet and destroy you so completely that not even Hela will find you, you will lose something precious to you. I have heard you have a wife. In three days, I will return and you will kill her."

Loki could not speak; Thor, however, had no such problem, "You cannot simply march ino my realm and demand such things! I am king, You will wage war with me!"

"It would be a very short one. With this gauntlet, I can wipe this pitiful little place from the universe. Would you prefer that? If Loki cannot deliver, I will. If he runs, I will. If she runs, I will. And after he kills her, I will decide if a delightfully bloody war is worth my time or if I should just use the gaunlet and be done with you." He gestured for his soldiers to leave, "Three days, and you will be watched." In only a few moments, he was gone, the throne room silent.

"To the war room," Thor said, "We have much to discuss. Sif, summon Fandral." She left quickly and he went to Loki, "I must find out how he got here and what he did in the vault. Go when you can to meet with the others. We will think of another way."

Loki waited until Thor was gone, "There is no other way."

Grace had dropped to the couch, "Fuck. Fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck. And fuck again."

He sat down beside her, "I am so sorry, Gracie. Please, can you forgive me?"

"Well I'm not going to spend my last days with you pissed off. So yes."

"We have a long afternoon ahead of us."

"I'm terrified to tell Alice."

"I as well. Shall we head to the war room?"

When they arrived, Thor and Sif were pouring over sketches of the palace with Fandral as he described the assault. They sat down quietly, not wanting to interrupt.

Thor shook his head at something on the map, "They could not have used that passage. It is too highly guarded."

Fandral sighed, "It was, yes. And now they are all dead. Thor, they were swift, brutal, and more efficient than any force I have ever seen. I lost most of my best men. Those who did not die are bleeding in the infirmary. We cannot defeat this by might alone. Perhaps Mjolner could kill some, but with the gauntlet, Thanos will not die easily."

"But what about magic?"

"The All-Father grows weaker, and you know this. I do not think he could destroy the gauntlet. And Loki, while quite skilled, is not more powerful than your father at his peak."

"So what other options do we have?" Sif asked, "Could we call on our allies in other realms to defend us?"

"I will not lead my allies into a battle likely to end their home realms. Thanos would retaliate and leave them homeless."

Fandral shoved the sketches aside, "Illusion? Could we stage this so he would see her killed, but it would be immaterial?"

Loki answered, "No. He could always see through my illusions."

"And you are quite skilled in them."

"I consider myself so, yes."

"Perhaps we could disguise one of the prisoners who is scheduled to be executed..." Sif suggested.

Again, Loki shot down the idea, "He would know. And he would destroy the realm. Thanos relishes death. He wishes to see this, he will recognise a substitute and it would anger him."

Grace's face was blank, her voice empty, "Then we have only one option. You're going to have to actually kill me."

"Grace..." Thor began.

"We don't have any other options. If we fake it, everyone dies. If we don't...well, maybe it's just me. And that's better than everybody. Alice can disappear with Izzy and Asgard probably won't even notice I'm missing."

"You know that is not true," Sif said. "You are well loved- the people will grieve you."

"Thanks."

Fandral laid out new pages, "We still must plan how we will fight him after, if he choses not to just kill us all for the fun of it. I do not have many men left in the palace guard. We will have to train the army."

"In three days? Fandral, that is likely impossible." Sif fiddled with the edge of the table, "We are on our own."

Grace dropped her forehead to the table and covered her head with her hands, "Fuck Thanos and the horse he rode in on."

"Did he have a horse?" Thor asked.

Loki placed a hand on her back, "Gracie, we must have hope."

"No, no, honey, I don't have to. You have to kill me in three days to try to stop a crazy man from destroying all of Asgard. Not much hope there. Fuck him. Fuck him with barbed wire. And fuck everybody who fights with him. He should be shot of a cannon into the sun. Fuck him all to hell."

Fandral, Thor, and Sif returned to quietly sketching the palace and where Thanos had caused the most damage in his entrance. Loki felt useless and helpless. He had no idea how to comfort Grace and thought he likely did not have the right to, given that his actions had led to this and he was going to have to kill her.

The rest of the meeting seemed far too long. Reports filtered in of other attacks through the palace and then of Thanos' army wreaking havock in the city. Each attack ended the minute soldiers arrived, Thanos' people vanishing into the crowd, avoiding capture. With every attack came a new report, a pause in battle planning, and another glance from Heinrik that said he knew something awful was happening and would probably ask about it later.

The planning went rather smoothly, though. They roughed out who would be where, how they would fight, and what relics they would bring from the vault. Grace would occassionally give a word or two of input, but stayed primarily silent until it came time to discuss just how she was going to die. Then she began having breakdowns during the planning. They were patient with her. The first time, she swore primarily at Thanos. Then she took on Fandral ("Fuck you and the guards- why couldn't you stop him? Why did he even get to the vault to get to that damn thing?") Fandral tried to interrupt, but Sif gently stopped him. After, she apologised. Then she cursed out Odin for having the gauntlet in the vault in the first place, and in a location that anyone could find.

Later she cursed at Loki, "And if it wasn't for the fact that you were a teenage drama queen, we wouldn't be in this motherfucking mess to begin with. Fuck you, and fuck me for being the sentimental bitch who followed you here! I should have told Tony to fuck off and fucking get you from Detroit himself. Fucking hell, why did I decide to be so fucking nice to you?" She screamed into the table.

He wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on her back, "I do not know, but I am grateful for every moment we have had, and will continue to do so until the light leaves your eyes."

"Yeah, well that's going to be really damn soon. Too soon."

"I love you, Gracie."

"I love you, too...I'm sorry, I'm scared as shit."

"Then let us finish here quickly so we might find rest and some comfort in the quiet of the evening."

Thor took the hint and they wrapped up their plans. Grace left quickly after and practically ran to their quarters, hiding in the bathroom, heaving. Loki caught up with her and found the door locked. He sat down on the bed and picked up the fluffy penguin plush she had given him in Chicago so many years before. He curled up with it and tried not to think too much about what was coming.

Grace looked like she had been hit by a truck when she finally came out of the bathroom. She cuddled beside him on the bed. The door opened and closed. Izzy cried a little as Alice worked him out of her sling.

"Mom, Dad...what the hell is going on?"

"Thanos has returned. He has demanded repayment for the loss of the gem from the sceptre."

"I'm guessing he doesn't want gold."

"Oh no, far worse." Loki stroked Grace's hair, "Far, far worse. You may wish to be sitting down."

Alice plopped down on the end of the bed, "Shit, what did he ask for?"

"In three days, I am to kill your mother or he will destroy the entire realm."

She had no words. She stared at Izzy, stunned.

"And despite all alternative scenarios we discussed today, none will result in the realm not being simply ended because Thanos wishes it so and has the gauntlet. He is an agent of death, he will see her die, and he will relish it. There is no other way this can end."

"We have to run away."

"No. He will use the gauntlet if we do, and he would find and kill us. I do not think he knows of you, my darling girl, or he would have added you and Izzy to the bargain. He means to make me suffer deeply. You and Izzy must stay hidden these next few days."

"But I want to stay with you and Mom."

"You will, Al," Grace said, "But you're not leaving the palace. His men are everywhere. I don't want them putting the pieces together and coming after you. Just stay safe for me, OK?"

"Yeah. I can't believe this is real."

"Oh, far too much so. And I am regretting so much..."

Grace inched closer to Loki and he continued to run his fingers through her hair. Before long, she was asleep, as was Izzy. Alice set him in his basket and went to sit at the table across from her father. She made tea and they talked late into the night, neither feeling like sleeping.

Grace filled her last days with games, music, and comfortable clothes. She danced with Loki in an empty ballroom, finished a book she had been neglecting on the night stand, and watched the videos Tony had made just before his death. She sang, tried desperately not to cry, and spent a little extra time trying to get to know Fandral better. While they had never been friends, she hadn't really made the attempt to be, especially given that he had tried to get Loki killed when she was still living her Midgardian life. She wondered if he was lonely- he was never surrounded by women anymore and she had not seen him spending much time with Volstagg, either. She regretted not having talked to him sooner, especially after Hogun's death, when he had lost much of his jovial spirit. She wrote him a letter asking some very blunt questions and handed it to him, instructing him not to open it until after she was dead.

She wrote other letters as well, but most of them she burned without ever giving them to anyone.

On her last morning, she woke up early to watch the sunrise, coffee in hand. She made waffles for breakfast along with fresh whipped cream, the smell waking her husband and daughter. She tried to ignore the rising fear and instead played her favourite rock music, dancing with her grandson until it was time to send Izzy and Alice into hiding.

"I'm not going to say don't watch, but really, Al, I don't want you to have to see this. But your dad says I have to leave it up to you."

"I probably won't, but thanks...and I love you. Thank you for everything, and for letting me be me."

She smiled, "I love you, too, baby girl. We had a good run, and tell Izzy all the good stories- make sure Dad tells the crazy ones and tells him about Tony."

"I will." She hugged her mother one last time and then abruptly left, baby on her back, before she started crying.

The minute the door clicked shut, Grace broke down sobbing. Loki joined her. Then they curled up together on the couch for a few moments.

"Did you not wish to dress in something you had chosen before we depart?"

"Yeah. I should do that, shouldn't I. He'll be here soon."

She went, she dressed, and when she returned, she was wearing the long soft grey gown with the low draped back that she had worn both to swear fealty to Asgard and to pledge herself to Loki, "I figured it's what I made two of my biggest promises in...I might as well be buried in it."

He held her, kissed her, and let his tears fall on her neck, "My dearest Miss Grace...I swear to you I will never love another as I have loved you."

"Don't. I want you to find your joy again. And if that means you fall for somebody, I don't want you to think I'm in your way. I'll be dead and gone. You still have so much time ahead of you. Half your life, even. You need to live it unafraid and unencumbered by a promise to a dead girl."

"But..."

"No. No buts. You can survive this. You will. You are strong, you have a family to take care of. Go get shitfaced and then move forward. Always move forward."

"Do you regret coming here? Being a part of my world?"

"No. But fuck Thanos."

"You have expressed that quite frequently."

"Yeah, there's not much more to say about him. Fuck him to high hell."

Heinrik brought them the news that Thanos was at the gate. They went arm-in-arm to the throne room. Before they entered, Grace stopped and pulled Loki into an alcove.

"Please tell me if it will hurt. Honestly."

"Yes, my love, it will."

"Be quick. I hope to god this works."

"As do I."

Grace kissed him, a last kiss meant to convey every unspoken feeling from that moment and every moment she would miss. Then she stepped back to the doors, brushed the front of her dress smooth, and took a deep breath.

"I am Grace motherfucking Stark and I will end this."

Thor, Sif, Fandral, and Volstagg were in full armor. The army stood at the ready. The court had assembled as witnesses and, in some cases, as warriors ready to defend Asgard. Grace and Loki stood in front, focused on the large doors. When Thanos entered, the gauntlet glittered and shimmered, the stones in place.

"You are not the cowards I expected you to be. You are here. Most creatures would fear death to greatly to stand before me. Do you not?"

"I'm motherfucking terrified. But if my brother could deliver a nuke into an alien wormhole over New York City knowing he was going to either be blown to bits or die falling thousands of feet...I think I can do this."

"Your brother destroyed our Chitauri?"

"Fuck yeah. Tony Stark for the win, Chitauri zero. Eat that."

"And here I believed I was going to simply see the death of another simpering Asgardian courtesan. It appears I have a pleasure far greater."

"If it wipes the red from Loki's ledger, so be it. But no more. This ends now."

"Yes. With your death. Please, proceede."

She nodded to Loki. He drew a long, thin blade from a sheath at his side and faced her, cupping her face in his hand. He whispered something in her ear and she smiled. The blade slid between her ribs, blood pouring down her dress. She gasped, sputtering, her eyes wide, hands clutching for him as she sank to the floor, Loki easing her down.

He stared at the blood on his arms, staining his clothes. He threw the knife at Thanos' feet. Thanos laughed. The assembled stared in silent horror.

"Ah, Loki...I knew there was a reason I did not simply remove your eyes during our time together. By preserving them you get to see what you have done, to my delight."

He closed her eyes, then gathered her in his arms, "And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest..." He lifted her and rose, steadying his voice to address Thanos, "As my now-late wife would say, fuck you and the horse you rode in on." He left. The doors to the throne room closing hard behind him.

He did not hear Thor bellow, "FOR ASGARD!"

He did not hear the ring of steel as hundreds of weapons were drawn.

He did not hear the roar of the assembled as they charged forward.

All he could hear was the thundering of his own heartbeat as hot tears rolled down his face, every step agonising, as he carried her back to their quarters.