Fury led us into some kind of a conference room that was already full of people. Well, technically they weren't just any group of people. Seated around the table were the members of the Avengers. I fought the urge let my mouth hang open.

"Sir, no disrespect, but what the hell?" Agent Barton blurted as soon as he saw Loki. I recalled that during New York, Loki had used the Tesseract to turn him into a puppet. I couldn't exactly blame him for hating Loki with such ferocity.

Loki had a pleased smirk on his face and I resolved if it went further than that I was going to knock him down a few notches. "Olivia!" Thor exclaimed happily, nearly knocking Tony Stark out of his chair as he rose. He strode to me and scooped me up with excitement. I hadn't figured out why he seemed turn into a giant five year old around me whenever he was happy to see me. It really didn't make much sense.

"Th-Thor!" I wheezed, the force of his embrace crushing my lungs. "I can't-can't br-breathe!" He set me down on the floor and I instinctively grasped my chest as I caught my breath.

"It is good to see you, Olivia. We were all worried."

"Thanks, Thor." I mumbled quietly, embarrassed by his display.

"I wasn't." Tony chirped.

"I'm sorry, but why is he here?" Agent Romanoff echoed Barton's sentiments of Loki and I began to question exactly what I was doing there.

"Thor seemed to think he'd be of use." The colonel replied evenly, casting me a wary glance that said 'keep him in line.'

"After everything he's done? You want him to come along with us?" She replied with horror.

"I'm more interested in Amazon woman here." Tony gestured towards me. "What are you anyway, five-eleven?"

"Six-one." I replied flatly. Loki was all of an inch and a half taller than me.

"This is Doctor Grant-"

"Why is she here?" Natasha Romanoff was glaring at me like I was an intruder. I chose to stand taller instead of shrinking like I wanted to.

"Because for some reason, she's the only one who can keep Reindeer Games in line." Tony finished with snark. "I heard she made you cry, Loki. Is that true?"

Loki said nothing in response, his only reaction being an eye twitch. "You-you made him cry?" Steve Rogers asked curiously.

"I wouldn't exactly say that-" I began to feel incredibly uncomfortable at the constant questioning.

"Oh, you definitely made him cry." The look of satisfaction on Tony's face was nauseating. I felt the room begin to spin and I desperately wanted to hide under a rock. I had never been fond everyone looking at me. It made me feel too exposed and I felt my heartbeat increase.

Fury cast me a concerned look before speaking. "Moving on, if Loki's coming with us then so is she. I'm not taking any chances on him betraying us."

"And you're not concerned he's going to kill her?" Doctor Banner inquired.

"Why would my brother kill his wife?" I regained my composure in that instant. Never had I felt such an overwhelming desire to strangle another person in my life. Thor and his big mouth had blabbed what I didn't want blabbed.

One quick look at Loki told me he felt the same. It would have been to our advantage if we had appeared as rivals or begrudging allies than the truth. "His what?" Barton asked bewilderedly.

"So, you two finally made it official." Fury stated wryly. "Excuse me if I don't offer congratulations."

"You can't be serious." Their voices blended into a blur and I felt a searing pain in my mind. I clutched my fingers to my head, feeling a cold sweat begin to emit from my pores.

"Olivia," Loki began quietly, taking my free hand. "I think you should sit down." The voices faded to silence as he carefully led me to a chair. I fell into it, cradling my head in my hands.

"Did that? Did that just happen? Did anyone else see that?" Tony asked in surprise.

My limbs felt weak. My head throbbed. I would have given anything to turn invisible at that moment and not feel their stares on me. "Are you all finished? Can we get to business now?" Fury inquired hotly.

No one said a word and he began to speak of what was occurring on Earth. I wasn't listening. I didn't care. I was far too busy focusing on dispelling the nausea that plagued my stomach and surviving the excruciating pain in my head.

I was dimly aware of Thor and Loki each shooting me concerned glances now and again. Not that it particularly mattered, there was nothing they could do. I had just begun to get a grip on my nerves when I heard it.

"You're telling us this Hel woman is invincible?" Banner questioned.

"Hel rules the realm of the dead." Thor stated gravely. "There is only one thing that can defeat her and we do not have it."

"Yes, we do." I croaked, dropping my hands into my lap and glancing up at him. "I have them."

I didn't miss Loki's reaction. His nostrils flared and his jaw clenched. "No, Olivia. Absolutely not."

"But I have them. I have the Scythes of Memoriae. All I have to do is-"

"No!" He bellowed, the sound of it sending shivers up my spine.

"Look, I don't know why you think you can tell her what she can and can't do, but if she's got the answer I'm all ears." Steve interrupted.

"Stay out of it, soldier!" Loki hissed. "You know nothing-"

"Loki-" I began quietly.

"NO!"

"Brother, if Olivia has found the scythes, then we are all saved. I do not understand-"

"OF COURSE YOU DON'T! NONE OF YOU DO!" The intensity of his feelings was disconcerting. "YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ASK HER TO DO!"

I felt my heart sink. All I had to do was somehow, miraculously, kill Hel with one of them. What was so terrible about that?

"Loki, it's fine. I'll just-"

"IT'S NOT FINE!" His voice cracked and he looked at me with such desperation, such pleading that my words faded from my tongue. "You do not know what such a deed would require. Do you think you are the only one? The only one that time has ever chosen." His shoulders slumped and I felt a well of compassion spring within me.

His lip quivered so faintly that I was certain I was the only one who noticed. "The scythes possess great power but it comes at a terrible price. None have survived. The previous champions were corrupted by their power. They were utterly destroyed, reduced to no more than ashes." He paused to gather his thoughts. I watched his eyes close from concentration. "Only one did not meet the same fate, though he was stripped of his powers. Every wound that was ever inflicted upon him returned."

And then I understood why. Why he was so concerned, why he had been trying to protect me, despite not really needing it. "He died." He finished weakly.

"I nearly lost you once." His voice was barely audible. "Should you survive being corrupted, I am certain you would not survive the other."

"But she's fine. Look at her." But whoever spoke didn't know the things we knew. I had been stabbed in the stomach when I touched the Saeculum and my body had essentially fallen to pieces during birth. Loki was right. There was absolutely no way I would make it.

Loki ignored whoever it was. "Did you think I was unaffected during Sarah's birth?" I felt the sting of tears in my eyes. "I had to watch you writhe in agony. You implored me to make the pain stop; I would have killed anyone, done anything required to take it away, but there was nothing I could do. Your body broke and your bones shattered. Not once but several times. And I was helpless, save to watch you suffer." I watched a single tear roll down his cheek. "I cannot let you do this. I cannot lose you."

A hard lump stuck in my throat. He acted as if I wanted to leave him. Knowing what I knew then, I would never have sought the scythes out. But it was too late. And as much as I wanted to believe otherwise, I knew it had to be me. I had to do it. If I tried to run from it I would certainly be destroyed. It was so, incredibly unfair. "I have to." I replied weakly. "It's our only chance. Besides, if I don't do it, what do you think will happen? That time will just let me go?"

He bowed his head in solemn acceptance and I felt a wrenching within my chest. The silence seemed tangible, it clung to the air like a dark cloud. At long last, the colonel spoke. "We leave at oh-seven hundred. I think we all know what we have to do." The others all slowly rose and shuffled from the room, leaving Loki, Thor and I alone.

"Olivia," Thor began sadly. I wiped a stray tear from my cheek and stood. "You are the bravest of us all, lion-hearted one. It is an honor to call you my friend." He wrapped me in an embrace and I fell to pieces, sobbing into his broad chest. When I had gained composure, he released me, pecking me on my forehead as he left.

"Loki-" I started but he glowered at me.

"No." I reached out in attempt to grasp his hand but he strode past me, leaving me in the grim silence alone.