Thor and Ellie, under black cloaks, headed towards the prisons. As they approached Thor said, "Wait here, let me talk to him first, then when I give you a signal come and get him."

"Alright, be quick," Ellie said.

Thor walked forwards and slightly turned a corner, Ellie could still see and hear him, but Loki couldn't see her.

"After all this time now you come to visit me. Why? Have you come to gloat? To mock?" Loki asked Thor.

"Loki, enough. No more illusions." Thor said.

Ellie heard a pause before Loki spoke again, "Now you see me, brother." He paused, "Did she suffer?"

"I di not come here to share in our grief. Instead, I offer you the chance of a far richer sacrament." Thor said then paused.

"Go on."

"I know you seek vengeance as much as I do. You help me escape Asgard and I will grant it to you, vengeance. And afterwards, this cell." Thor said and Loki chuckled.

"You must be truly desperate to come to me for help. What makes you think you can trust me?" Loki asked.

"I don't. Mother did. You should know that when we fought each other in the past, I did so with the glimmer of hope that my brother was still in there somewhere. That hope no longer exists to protect you. You betray me and I will kill you," Thor said cooly. At this Ellie raised an eyebrow, it was awfully cold-hearted for Thor. "Now, will you help us?" Thor asked, after a brief silence.

"Us?" Loki asked.

"You didn't think I'd just stay on Earth did you?" Ellie asked, coming around the corner, Loki smiled, genuinely smiled and it took Thor aback as he couldn't remember the last time he saw his brother smile at anyone besides their mother like that. Ellie looked at her friend with empathy as she saw how clearly distraught he was over the death of his mother.

"It's good to see you, Bella." Loki said, "But how exactly are the two of you going to get me out of this cell?" He asked.

Loki suddenly heard a popping noise and then from right in front of him Ellie said, "Like this." She held her hand out for him, and when he grabbed it they suddenly appeared beside Thor. Ellie was about to step away, but Loki quickly wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her. She let out a surprised squeak. Thor's eyes widened like saucers.

Loki pulled away slightly and whispered in her ear, "I love you."

Ellie kissed his cheek, "I love you too," She whispered back.

"Alright... Well... let's go." Thor said awkwardly, "We'll meet you at the ship." Thor said to Ellie, who nodded and disappeared. Loki watched her disappear with longing before turning to follow Thor. "I didn't know it was that serious..." Thor commented.

Loki's previously content face turned into a scowl, "Shut up Odinson."

Ellie re-appeared beside Sif, who had Jane with her and was heading to the ship, they turned a corner and they were faced with a large number of guards. Ellie quickly grabbed both Jane and Sif and teleported them straight to the ship, where Loki and Thor had just arrived.

"Lady Stark, take Jane to the ship and see if you can start it," Thor said.

Ellie grabbed Jane again and teleported onto the ship, Ellie ran up to the control panel and started pressing buttons that looked like the power button. Nothing was working, but then Ellie thought of another idea. She put her hands flat on the panel and tried to channel energy from her to the ship, she figured that since Fury was going to use the Tesseract to power weapons, why couldn't she use it to power up a ship?

After a few moments of concentration, the lights turned on, and soon after Loki and Thor came in, bickering about something. Ellie didn't participate, she was too busy concentrating on the ship, it was the strangest feeling, almost like the ship was a part of her. Once she was certain it was going to stay running she removed herself from the mainframe.

"Alright," Ellie said, "I think I've got it."

She began to pilot the ship out of the great hall but managed to hit a lot of the pillars in their way.

"I think you missed a column," Loki said.

Ellie smiled, catching Loki's eye as she said, "Well would you like to try?"

"As a matter of fact, I would," Loki replied.

Ellie rolled her eyes and scoffed, "You only think you know everything."

Loki ignored the laughter from his brother and took in the smile of the woman he never thought he'd see again. Then Jane suddenly collapsed, "Oh no, is she dead." He remarked dryly, Ellie shot him a glare.

Thor quickly went to Jane's side, "Is she alright?" Ellie asked.

"I'm okay," Jane said weakly. Thor continued to speak to her in a soft voice.

Ellie looked at Jane with uncertainty but then turned back to the front of the ship, focusing on the task at hand.

She looked down and realized they were just above their target, Ellie pressed the button she thought opened the side door. She was right, and the door opened. Thor took Loki by surprise and shoved him out of it.

Ellie then went to Jane, "Do you want to take her, or should I?" She asked.

"I'll do it, go and make sure Loki doesn't murder Fandral would you?" Thor asked in amusement.

Ellie peered down the door to see that Loki had made an ungraceful landing, she gave Thor a thumbs up before teleporting down there herself.

"Ah Lady Stark, good to see you again!" Fandral said to Ellie, slightly nervously.

"Don't worry Fandral, I won't make such an embarrassment of you next time," Ellie replied with a smirk. Loki glanced between them with amusement, he was certain he was going to enjoy whatever story was behind that nervous expression of his.

"Oh, well I-" Fandral was about to start when Thor came down with Jane, "Well, that's my cue... For Asgard." He said, jumping off the side of the ship.

"You lied to me..." Loki said to Thor pausing, "I'm impressed."

"I'm glad you're pleased. Now, do as you promised. Take us to your secret pathway." Thor said.

Loki then took control of the ship and turned to towards the mountains, and it quickly began to look like Loki was about to drive them into the side of the mountain.

"Can we fit?" Ellie asked in Asgardian, in order not to scare Jane.

"Maybe." Was Loki's response, Thor and Ellie shared concerned glances.

"Loki, are you mad?" Thor asked.

"Possibly," Loki replied.

Ellie gripped the side of the ship and shut her eyes tightly, wincing at every bump and squeal of metal against rock, but when she opened her eyes she saw a vast desert that went on as far as the eye could see.

"Tada," Loki said as they emerged, and Ellie grinned at him, he smiled back.

"Lady Stark, you should get some rest while you can," Thor suggested, seeing that Jane had already fallen asleep.

"No, I'm alright. Besides, I'd rather keep an eye on the dark elves," Ellie replied.

There was a long period of silence as Ellie looked out into the distance, Loki was focused on his task of flying the ship, and Thor was watching Jane like a hawk.

Jane then started to rouse from her sleep and Ellie walked over to see if she was alright.

"You should say goodbye," Loki said quietly to Thor, as he watched his brother stare and Jane with concern.

"Not this day," Thor said.

"This day, the next, a hundred years is nothing. It's a heartbeat. You'll never be ready." Loki said. Except he wasn't looking at Jane, or even Thor, he was looking at Ellie.

"And what of you, brother? Have you not gone and done the same?" Thor asked. He gestured to Ellie, who was trying to soothe Jane since she seemed to be in a fair amount of pain. Something Ellie was familiar with.

Loki looked at him and attempted an expression of nonchalance, but failed. "That's... not the same."

"Oh Loki, for someone who lies so much you sure are terrible at it," Thor said, "It was difficult for me to realized that I had grown to love Jane but..." He paused again as he looked at Jane's peaceful form, "I am all the better for it."

Loki was silent for a moment, "You know nothing of love Odinson."

Thor looked at Loki with slight confusion, what did he mean? Was he implying that he didn't love Jane? Or that Jane didn't love him? Either way, Thor was confused. He was about to ask Loki what he meant, but then Ellie stood and walked back over to them.

"She's okay, but obviously, she's in a lot of pain," Ellie said.

Thor's eyebrows furrowed, "Did the infinity stones hurt you?" He asked Ellie.

She nodded, "At first, but it went away." She looked back at Jane, "I would try and take it from her... but I don't know what I'm doing, and I wouldn't want to hurt her more."

Loki's eyes darkened at that, "We also don't know what could happen to you if you take more energy."

Thor and Ellie froze and looked at each other before Ellie spoke, "Well... I don't think you're going to like this plan very much then."

About an hour or two passed as Thor explained his plan to Loki and they ventured further into the wasteland that was the dark realm.

After Loki's extensive questioning, Ellie saw that Thor looked tired, and realized that he probably hadn't slept in days. "You should get some sleep, it'll be a while until they get here, they haven't even started to move yet." Ellie said to Thor, who gave a glance towards Loki, "I'll make sure he doesn't run off."

Loki smirked and Thor looked apprehensive, but as he yawned again he conceded, "Alright." He then walked over to Jane and laid down beside her, wrapping his arm around her, pulling her closer to him.

Ellie looked at Loki whose walls seemed to have come down now that Thor wasn't there to see, "I'm sorry about your mother."

"She wasn't," Loki said quietly.

"What?" Ellie asked.

"Those were my last words to her, saying that she wasn't my mother," Loki said with a monotone voice, but his face told a different story.

"Oh, Loki..." Ellie said, she put a hand on his forearm and squeezed, "I'm so sorry." Loki gave her a small smile, but she could tell he was still very upset, as he should be, she hugged him.

Loki put his hands on her waist and said quietly in her ear, "I thought I would never see you again."

"Neither did I," Ellie replied then paused, "You know... I didn't know you were such a good artist." She smiled as he blushed slightly.

Loki then raised an eyebrow, "How do you..."

"Odin made me stay in your room so that he could keep an eye on me, probably thought I was gonna try and jailbreak you or something, although, I guess I did do that so..." Ellie trailed off smiling.

Loki chuckled and then looked across the desert, "How long until they get here?" Loki asked Ellie.

"They've just started moving, but they're really far away, it'll take them all night." Ellie said, "You may as well land the ship. If anyone was going to follow us I'm sure they would've done it already."

Loki hummed in agreement and found a dune to land the ship on, little did they know that the slight bump had woken Thor up, but he pretended to be asleep and tried to eavesdrop.

"What was that I heard about you humiliating Fandral?" Loki asked with amusement as they sat beside each other on the side of the boat.

"Oh well, I beat him pretty bad several times a few days ago in front of many people." She said, "You know you are completely right about them, they're just absolute fools," Ellie proclaimed.

"Oh, you do not know how many years I have waited to hear that from someone other than myself," Loki said. "Where have you been all my life?" He asked in amusement. Ellie smiled at him but didn't respond Loki smiled back and said, "I've been thinking about this, and if I thought we would ever see each other again then I would've done something much grander, but nothing is guaranteed anymore."

"Loki what're you-"

"Let me finish, let me finish." He said before continuing, "I know it's your birthday today, and I hope that this might overpower some of the horrible things that have happened in the past." Ellie wasn't quite sure where he was going with this. "Bella, before, you asked me what I had meant to do. I was going to bring you to Asgard, I would've declared you as my apprentice, had you eat a golden apple. I would've courted you properly, and we would've had the next five hundred thousand years together." He paused, "But then I... I destroyed that future and nothing has happened the way I wanted it to, we don't have five hundred thousand years, we only have tonight." He paused again to look at her face, which was a mixture of surprise and happiness, "So I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry, and... I love you."

Ellie was biting her lip and smiling, "I love you too."

Loki fished around in a back pocket of his trousers, he pulled out a ring. It was a thin gold band with an emerald inlaid in it. "This was supposed to be done at a better time," He started. "I believe the expression they use on Midgard is, will you marry me?"

"Oh, Loki... of course, yes," Ellie said. She was so happy, yet she was still grieving what had happened just the day before, and in a few hours time, they were about to be attacked by an ancient elf who wanted nothing more than to destroy the universe. But in that moment, Ellie let that all go. She kissed him, and he slipped the ring onto her finger. It felt right.