1. Unexpected Knock on the Door

William Nolan woke from a nightmare, the nightmare he had every single time when he was about to forget who he was ten years ago. Living in New York, in America, helped him to escape from his painful memories, but it wasn't enough for him to entirely forget.

The nightmare always began with a gunshot, and it always ended with spatters of blood. It didn't go into specific incidents in his past, but just the fact that the two elements which symbolized murder were present caused him to sweat and possibly scream in bed.

He didn't scream this time. Instead, he just panted, and took a look around at his surroundings. He was sitting up in his bed, with his Macbook Air beside him—he must've fallen asleep working late last night—and there was a white closet to right side. Next to the closet, there stood a door. A door that led to the living room. The door to the "normal" life.

Suddenly, that door opened and a little girl who looked like nine or ten, in her pink unicorn pajamas, ran in.

"Daddy!" She called out, as she jumped onto William's bed, hugging him.

"How did you sleep, my little princess?" William asked with a warm smile.

His daughter—Ava Nolan—was an everyday reminder to William, that normal life was possible, no matter how much tragic your past was. Seeing her immediately relieved him, the nightmare slipping out of his mind.

"Pretty well, Daddy. How about you?"

At this, William bit his lip. The nightmare and his painful past have flown right back in, making him close his eyes for a second.

"It was great, Ava," he answered with a forced smile.

Ava's smile widened, and she clung onto William, as he carried her into the living room, then into the kitchen.

"What do you want for breakfast?" William asked.

"A bagel with strawberry cream cheese," Ava said.

"Comin' right up," William said as he opened the refrigerator.

It was a very simple and regular morning for the Nolans, but what they didn't know was that they would have a visitor, one who's probably not so normal, in the next hour or so.

.

"No signs of him in Germany, either."

Tony Stark let out a long sigh and tried not to turn to the direction of where Thor stood, but it was too late. Thor was standing right in front of him, and it was almost impossible not to look at him, especially if this was a matter of his brother.

It has been six years since Loki attacked New York, and although the Avengers eventually succeeded capturing Loki, therefore putting an end to his invasion, Loki went missing not long after.

At first, the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. of course suspected that Loki has escaped on his own, in order to avoid his punishment he would face back in Asgard. However, as time passed and inspections continued, it came to known that Loki might have been abducted, by some unknown forces. They found some traces of Loki's blood and dark magic in some form. Even though there were objections, refusals, and many arguments, it was eventually decided that they should look into all possibilities.

Six years had passed by, but they couldn't locate him anywhere in the world or realm. Thor has returned to Asgard many times to seek power from Odin himself, but even Odin could not figure out where Loki went, or if he was even alive to this day. It seemed like Loki wasn't anywhere in the nine realms, but Thor wasn't about to give up on his brother.

The rest of the Avengers focused on finding any clues or signs that would lead them to Loki, such as traces of spells on Earth. Finding a hidden, missing person was tremendously difficult and time-consuming task, so it took them about a year to analyze every single event, person, incident in one continent. Europe required more precision, because it was believed that if Loki was living anywhere on Earth, it had to be somewhere in Europe.

But since Germany turned out to be another failure, the hope that Loki might be alive was gone. It was the last stop, and he wasn't there.

"I'm sorry, Thor," Natasha Romanoff said.

She wasn't quite happy when the majority of the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents agreed to search for Loki. He was a criminal—a brutal one who killed 80 people in two days. His invasion of New York has left the city scarred, and that didn't seem to go away to this day. There were still people who hated Loki—the families who lost their loved ones because of him. She only changed her mind because of Thor. It is true that Loki has committed some unforgivable crimes, but he was Thor's brother, only brother. Adopted or not, terrible or not, Loki was Thor's family.

"…Search is done," Steve Rogers said.

He didn't know what else to say, because he knew saying "I'm sorry" or anything similar to that won't make things better. No one understood that more than himself. After being frozen for 70 years, Steve has lost so many people, including Agent Peggy Carter, his first love. When she closed her eyes forever two years ago, Steve couldn't help but regret being alive for a moment. It could've been better if he just froze to death 76 years ago, then he wouldn't have to go through losing love of his life. Sayings such as "I'm sorry for your loss" didn't make things better. In fact, they had an opposite effect on Steve, since he truly felt that he lost Peggy.

"No—it isn't," Tony objected.

Everyone in the room turned to him, including Thor. There was no hope in his eyes, but he was still curious what Tony would say next. For the last six years he had known him, Tony always had a reason when he objected things.

"Tony, we looked everywhere. I mean—everywhere. Even Thor's father couldn't figure it out. Loki's gone, Tony, we need to accept that now," Bruce Banner raised his voice.

He was the last person to agree to search for Loki, along with Natasha. He couldn't understand why all of the sudden they would look for the enemy they just defeated. If Loki got kidnapped, why would it be their business? Why would they—the Avengers—care for Loki? Although his negative feelings towards Loki have died down over the years, now he was ready to end his search once and for all. He wasn't going to hold onto some myth or theory that he might be alive out there somewhere.

"Not everywhere," Tony insisted. "There's one more possibility."

"And where would that be?" Thor asked.

Tony looked around the room before giving his answer.

"…Alternate Universe."

.

It was when William and Ava were halfway done with their breakfast when they heard a knock on the door.

"Who would that be, Daddy?" Ava asked, with curiosity.

William frowned, since he had absolutely no idea who would be knocking on their door at ten in the morning. Some of his colleagues were coming over later in the afternoon, but even if they had mistaken the time or perhaps decided to come early, it didn't make sense.

"I don't know," William answered with uncertainty.

He slowly walked across the living room and opened the front door with some hesitation. When he did, he couldn't help but stare at his unexpected visitor. He was quite tall, 6'3" perhaps, and had long blonde hair that came down to his chest. He was wearing a silver armor with red cape. He also had some kind of hammer in his right hand.

What surprised him the most though, was what the man called him.

"Loki…It's been so long."