AN: Reva and Loki talk it out... well, they try to.

*This story is now canon divergent. Please keep that in mind.

Reva was sitting up in the bed, with her back resting against the extra fluffy pillows the medical staff had provided her with upon Stark's insistence. There was a big high table right next to her, with essentials like water and medicines placed on it for her benefit. Beyond that, there were all kinds of monitoring machines, which were humming and beeping every now and then, keep a watch on her vitals, all through a non-invasive wireless device attached to her wrist.

From the looks of it all, it seemed that she still had Tony Stark's favour, though he hadn't said a word to her himself. With anyone else, she'd not have given it a second thought, but Stark not speaking to her at all… that had her on edge.

Of course, she knew that from his perspective, she was a traitor. She wondered just how many people shared that perspective with Stark, though. She knew, for certain, that Agent Barton did.

Well, from what she had heard of the Avengers' conversation while they were in her room, at least Thor was on her and Loki's side somehow.

Her and Loki… there was so much that she didn't know, but she knew that her and Loki were still on the same side. Earlier, she hadn't been so sure about it, but after the things she saw in Hel's mind, she stood on a firmer ground regarding Loki. But that didn't mean that she wasn't still angry with him…

She sighed and tried to stretch her arms a bit, taking in a deep breath. It scared her to do so, considering how severe she knew her injury had been. Though, nothing really happened as she stretched herself a bit and took deep gulps of air into her lungs. The expected pain didn't manifest at all. In fact, post waking up, she hadn't felt any pain at all; not in her chest, not anywhere else. The only thing she felt was weakness.

All in all, she was faring much better than she knew she ought to, especially for someone who had been stabbed through her chest.

She had also gotten a look at her medical reports. Her vitals were… not what she'd call normal, and she was sure she knew why. Also, there was no mention of a pregnancy in the reports. She wasn't sure whether she was relieved or just merely confused at that bit of information.

The door to her room opened, prompting her to cut her arm stretching midway.

Thor came rushing in, almost scaring her with the intense look on his face. He approached her straight up and took her hand in his massive one.

She could only gape and watch as he brought it to his lips and bestowed a light kiss on her knuckles. He clapped his other hand over it and squeezed hers, though not enough to crush it.

"I'm thrilled to have you as part of my family, Reva Anderson. Not just that, I'm very intrigued and fascinated as well, given how difficult my brother can be at times."

Reva sputtered, trying to make sense of his words. He was acting as though she had gotten married to Loki. Honestly, the thought hadn't crossed her mind at all until this very moment. And she wasn't yet sure how she felt about it.

"I'm… glad, I guess?"

A muted snort caught her attention then, and she finally focused behind Thor's mountainous form.

Loki stood at the foot of her bed, sans his armour, wearing a simple dark t-shirt and track pants. He looked paler than usual, with prominent dark circles below his eyes. Even his hair looked unkempt, draped around his shoulders in wild waves.

He wasn't looking at her, keeping his eyes downcast. His clenched fists were the only sign of how utterly anxious he was.

She took in a slow breath, attempting to calm herself. Seeing him, especially after the crap she had been through, was, simply put, overwhelming.

Thor noticed her shift in focus, for he let go of her hand and moved away immediately, making way for Loki, she assumed.

"You look like shit," she blurted out, as it suddenly dawned on her that she hadn't seen him in this worse a condition, ever.

Loki looked up at her then, as Thor chuckled but remained silent.

As their gazes met, Reva felt an intense urge to leap towards him.

His eyes looked so haunted, so weary, that she nearly forgot how angry she had been with him.

"Well, he did resort to using his life force to revive you," Thor said at last, as if he couldn't help himself from speaking up, ignoring Loki as he fixed a glare at him. "And he fainted afterwards, much like certain overcome maidens in your Midgardian romances of the old."

"What?" Reva wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry or to just scream… though, least of all at Thor's interest in historical romance novels.

"He exaggerates," Loki said through gritted teeth, never once unclenching his fists. Even his voice sounded tired as hell, making Reva wonder just how much it cost him to revive her.

"Oh, I do not exaggerate at all. After all, it was I who carried you all the way here." Thor turned to Reva then, and his jovial expression sobered a bit. "I'll be outside."

Reva nodded, appreciating that he understood her unspoken need to speak to Loki alone.

"I'm not sure where to begin," she said after Thor had left the room, shifting her gaze back on Loki, who was now trying to look everywhere but at her, "but you're in a mess."

His jaw flexed, and he seemed to struggle in finding the right words. "Oh, you don't know half of it."

"I may, in fact, know more than you do, you overbearing, arrogant asshole! I've had enough of your deceptions." She was seething now. Her concern over his physical condition only added to her anger with him.

"Well, I am known for deceit," he muttered, trying his typical tactic of sarcasm to counter whatever he was feeling. "But how do you know more than me, pray tell?"

"Because I had a tête-à-tête with your so-called daughter, and it wasn't a pleasant one at all." She wondered how much she could say about that conversation, since she was sure as hell that Stark and co. were listening.

Loki's eyes immediately found hers, and he looked decidedly shaken. "What?"

"When were you planning to tell me about your own little encounter with her?"

Loki paled, and finally those fists unclenched. Though, now his hands were trembling. Looking up from his hands, she found him glaring at her. She couldn't believe he had the audacity to be angry with her now.

"I'm so done with you, with all of this sneaky bullshit of yours! For once, Loki, just fucking tell me what the hell is goin—" She stopped midway through her rant as she saw his eyes losing focus. Then, his body hunched forward. "Loki? Loki!"

She threw the bedcovers off and tried to reach him quickly. Though, due to her weakness, it felt like her limbs were made of jelly.

Meanwhile, Loki had managed to not crumple to the floor by grabbing on to her bed.

"Loki, what the fuck," she exclaimed, taken by surprise and dread as she tried to pull him up by his shoulders. He was really heavy, and she was still in recovery. It made for a bad combination in trying to do so.

It took a bit of shoving his ass sideways, with him helping along by lifting himself up for a bit, but at long last, she got him on the bed.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Thor told you," he murmured, lying on his back, panting with the effort it took him to haul his body over. "I occasionally have bouts of weakness."

Reva felt completely out of her depth here, as she watched the man she considered extremely resilient reduced to a mess of weak and trembling limbs on her bed.

"Loki, we need to talk… but first, freaking get yourself together."

"I missed you too…" He managed a faint smile, but even that looked like an effort on his part.

"Shut up!" she growled, knocking his slippers off as she tried to get him to shift his tall frame fully on to the mattress. "Why do I feel like you're in this condition for more reasons than merely saving me from certain death?"

"You're welcome. It's becoming our pattern, isn't it?" He looked up at the ceiling, the haunted expression returning.

She shook her head. "Don't try to change the topic."

"I have told Thor, in a very summarized manner, and I'm willing to tell you."

"Well, I'm pleased to know that." She lay down as well, though she wondered if it was fine to just fall back into the easy familiarity she had come to share with Loki. After all that had happened, cuddling up with him felt… strange. So, she made sure to keep a bit of distance between her and him.

"It's those stones. They're leeching my seidr because I'm holding them in my interdimensional storage."

"Pull them out then."

He shook his head, letting out a derisive snort. "It's not that easy, Reva. Your realm is already in much trouble, and if Ultron gets his hands on them, it'd be even worse off."

"But how will you recover, then?"

"I don't plan to keep them for long, but I need to keep them safe."

She shifted on the bed, trying to dispel the urge to reach out and hold him. "I understand… but why is this depletion happening now? You always had them with you."

He sighed, rubbing his face with his palms. "I've acquired another one. I wasn't planning to, but it just… happened."

"Hmm." He wasn't telling her the whole truth of it, but she couldn't really blame him either. She was sure that with his magic depleted, he was unable to use it to block the spying devices in the room.

Pulling his hands away from his face, he met her eyes and gave her a rueful smile. "I am being honest, as you asked me to be."

Now she sighed, feeling exhausted, both emotionally and physically. "It's almost too late, you know. I almost died."

"I saved you."

"Thank you, honestly… but that's not the point."

He turned on his side slowly, facing her, his expression curious and something else… something she couldn't put her finger on as yet.

"Did she threaten you?"

He meant Hel, that much she could decipher.

"She tried to."

"Tell me." He put his hand upon hers on the pillow, his fingers entwining with hers.

Her eyes narrowed, and she pulled her hand away. "Not until you tell me everything, Loki. I'm tired of the lies and hiding."

His brows furrowed for a moment, as if he was trying to interpret her words for a deeper meaning, but then, his expression cleared and turned blank. "You weren't so adamant when everything was going in your favour. When no one knew of your association with me."

His tone was accusative and mistrusting, and she felt like smacking him for it. "Are you accusing me of being selfish now? Are you truly thinking that I'm this pissed off because of my reputation? Well yes, it does bother me that now many people here think that I'm a traitor, but that isn't my priority right now!"

He bit his lip and looked away. It seemed like a million things were going through his head. All bad.

She was about to say that he was her priority right now, when the door opened with a bang, distracting her.

Thor rushed into the room, looking extremely harried and close to a meltdown. That put Reva on high alert, because Thor was hardly ever thisaffected by any stressful situation.

"Loki!"

"I'm fine."

"I can clearly see that. But I didn't barge into the room for that. There is another pressing matter."

"What?"

Before Thor could utter anything else, Tony Stark's voice boomed from the invisible speakers in the ceiling, replacing the usual monotone of Friday.

"Uh, guys, this is some next level shit right here."

"What is going on?" Reva asked, looking at the brothers in confusion, who weren't really looking well stocked with answers.

"There is a distinctly alien ship on my helipad but it's blasting seventies' songs and asking for permission to land. We haven't a clue as to who this is, but one of them just mentioned Loki's name."

"What?"

"She calls herself Idunn of Asgard."

Now, Loki's expression changed from blank and glassy to panicked, while Thor's eyebrows went up in obvious surprise.

"Did you say Idunn?" he asked, pronouncing the name slowly and clearly, for Stark's benefit.

"Did I stutter?" replied Stark, sounding offended.

From the corner of her eye, Reva saw Loki cover his face with his hand, shaking his head.

The room was crowded… crowded with an assortment of people. It was a diverse lot, to say the least.

There was a talking racoon, a moving tree (who only spoke three words), a knife wielding guy who looked hulk levels of angry all the time, a pair of blue and green sisters… not to mention the duo who had brought them all here—Loki's Aesir friend and the ultra-tall blue guy with crimson eyes… who also happened to be her husband. They brought their six children with them too, who were still sleeping in their ship.

Oh, and there was a human among them as well, who smugly introduced himself as Star Lord, though his real name, as revealed by others, was Peter Quill.

The calm within the common room felt artificial, considering the weird circumstances. Well, at least the introductions had gone smoothly enough. Though, Reva did catch how Thor was watching Loki's friend, Idunn, and her husband, Thjazi, with narrowed eyes, as if he wasn't sure what to make of them. It wasn't a hostile gaze, just cautious and confused.

Through it all, Loki was looking the prickliest of them all. Somehow, that didn't surprise Reva at all.

She was sitting in a wheelchair, and so was he. While she had graciously accepted it, he had to be threatened into sitting in one by Thor, who was now hovering right behind them, Mjolnir in hand.

Tony Stark spoke up first, clapping his hands together. "Well, this is not strange at all. I mean, I'm a good host and all, but aliens showing up at my door is not a very thrilling prospect for me. Speaking from past experience—" He gestured at Loki, without looking his way "—no offence to youguys."

"Are you referring to the time he was sent to conquer Terra and retrieve the Tesseract?" the green sister—Gamora—asked, her sharp eyes moving from Stark to Loki.

The blue sister—Nebula—was already staring at Loki with her pitch-black eyes. "A mission he failed so spectacularly that we had to wonder whether he did so deliberately."

Honestly, these two struck Reva as the creepiest of the lot that had just arrived on Earth. There was something off about them, but she knew too little of them to understand what exactly it was.

"And what if I did fail deliberately?" Loki spat out, his voice filled with venom as he glared right back at her. "Are you two going to run to your most loving father for it?"

"He doubted our integrity because of you!" Nebula growled, taking a step in his direction, only to be pulled back by Gamora.

"I wasn't the one visiting you, was I? Your sister came to my cell, offering help and camaraderie." Loki left the wheelchair in a flash, looking poised to face off with Nebula. Much like Gamora, Thor grabbed him and kept him from moving in her direction.

"Are you telling me that rock of ages was not rocking on because of his diva tendencies?" Stark's eyebrows rose up so high that there was a good chance of them disappearing into his hairline. "I'm… so lost."

Thor gave him a nod of affirmation, though Reva wasn't sure that Stark was paying full attention to it.

Loki fumed as Thor held him by his arm. "You would know more about diva tendencies than anyone here, I suppose."

"Touché." Stark shrugged. "By the way, I liked you better as Luke. He had less of a stick up his ass."

"Really Tony." Natasha Romanoff rolled her eyes at him. "Get over it."

"Are you sure we're at the right place?" Peter asked Idunn, cutting through the arguments. She nodded, though she appeared to be debating that very thing herself.

"Uh, this is all intense and shit, but we have a reason to be here. Freaking focus, guys." It was Rocket, the racoon, who spoke up, walking to the middle of the room and climbing up on a sofa. He stood atop it and faced everyone, hands resting on his waist. "Here's the deal, people. We're here because there's a crazy dude called Thanos out there who's wrecking everything in his path… who also happens to be their so-called dad." He pointed at Gamora and Nebula, who bristled and glared at him.

"He's not our father!" they both muttered in unison.

Interesting…

"Okay fine." Rocket waved at them dismissively. "Like I said, he's crazy, he needs to be stopped. He just blew up a planet and we could barely rescue a few people."

A string of gasps and 'what?' followed, which obviously irked Rocket because his speech wasn't done yet.

"So these guys were in Xandar for some sort of inter-planetary conference." He pointed at Idunn and Thjazi, who both nodded solemnly. "We were there too, though no one asked for our opinion on anything, really. Anyway, everything blew up. We rescued them and went through some shitty times trying to relocate the survivors. We're here because, well, Thanos is after some specific things, called the Infinity Stones. And he may come here because Loki is here, and he has them."

Now it was Reva's turn to gasp aloud, watching, as everyone turned their focus on Loki, most of them furious. Except Stark. Yeah, he was listening in…

Loki opened his mouth to speak but Thor beat him to it. "Yes, he has them, so that no one else will get ahold of them."

"You knew about this?" Steve Rogers asked, speaking up for the first time, looking straight at Thor, a hint of mistrust in his tone.

"Ah yes, just the way I knew my brother was alive," Thor replied sarcastically, though equal measures of annoyed as well. "Of course not. He just told me after he woke up."

"Right, blondie, I wasn't accusing him. Just stating facts." Rocket thumped his palm against his forehead. "This is exhausting."

"I didn't even know there was a planet called Xandar," Tony mused, looking down at the floor. "And now it's gone."

"There are many such planets," Gamora revealed, finally letting go of Nebula, now that she appeared to be less murderous. "They'll be destroyed as well if we don't act."

"We have our own problem here, though." Natasha Romanoff twirled a metallic stick in her hand, which looked to be some sort of compact weapon. "We need to deal with that first, I think."

"What sort of problem?" asked Idunn, stepping around everyone to reach Loki. "Are you behind it?"

Loki rolled his eyes, then sat back into the wheelchair, appearing drained again. "Why do you think that I did something, Duna?"

"It's not him at fault… I am," Stark replied, his voice hollow. He pulled out his phone out and launched a holographic image of Ultron. "That's the monster I created, and he's trying to take the world down."

Gamora and Nebula both snorted at that, snapping Stark out of his funk, who looked a bit offended now.

"Is that… C-3PO?" Peter pointed at the hologram, looking extremely delighted.

Stark sighed, looking both amused and miserable. "Well, it was supposed to be closer to C-3PO and R2-D2, but it ended up becoming HAL 9000."

Back in Thor's chambers for now, Loki watched Duna, Thjazi and Thor as they conversed in hushed voices, cautious and awkward in a way that made it a bit amusing for him.

He wasn't smiling, though. He was anxious. A great many things were happening, out of his control and certainly not according to his plans.

Reva sat beside him on the bed, her posture stiff and her visage pensive. Though they were within touching distance, Loki knew that she was far away from him.

He lifted his hand to touch her arm, but stopped midway as he saw Duna turn her attention upon him.

"So, what happened to you to make you so weak?" she asked gently, approaching him.

Reva made to leave the bed, but he grasped her arm to keep her there. Thankfully, she didn't resist.

"My seidr is depleted," he answered succinctly.

Duna glanced at Reva, who wasn't meeting anyone's eyes and instead, staring away into emptiness.

"Well," Duna said, scrutinizing her from head to toe. "I suppose my apples can help with that."

That remark roused Reva from her inert state. She looked at Duna in confusion. "Apples? You gave him those apples?"

Suddenly, Loki felt the urge to leave the room. Alas, he was going through another bout of weakness and hence, restricted to the bed.

"You didn't tell her?" Duna asked him, her tone sharp and reproving.

"Norns help me…" He closed his eyes and lowered his face into his hand.

"I should've known, given how secretive he was about you," Duna responded. "Yes, those were my apples, and they grant strength and vitality."

"He fed lots of them to me."

"Because you needed them. And it seems now he, too, is in need of them."

"Might you also have anything to do with a very painful procedure, involving some sort of injection… which he administered to me?"

Suddenly filled with dread, Loki lifted his head to look at Reva. She was staring at him with narrowed eyes. Before he could speak up, Duna answered.

"Yes… that which made you strong and resilient, like an Aesir."

Reva didn't look away from him, though her face grew contemplative rather than reproachful, as he had expected. "I see."

Wanda stood facing the four Avengers, including Tony Stark. Pietro was right alongside her, his posture stiff. He was ready to bolt… and to take her along.

He was nervous; she wasn't.

Even if it appeared as if they were outnumbered and surrounded, they weren't overpowered. Not by any chance. The only being who could do that was not here in this room.

That gave Wanda a surge of confidence. They were both here of their own volition, not by coercion.

"You're telling us that you no longer hold allegiance to Ultron?" Clint Barton asked, twisting one of his arrows between his fingers.

"No, we don't. Not after what he did."

"You know that he has killed and injured other people? Innocent people, that is." This time was great Captain America levelling the accusation.

Wanda looked away, knowing that she had been gullible enough to believe Ultron's lies about wanting the same thing as she and Pietro did. Killing hadn't been part of it, only sabotage.

Pietro snorted. "Why do you think we are here? We didn't know about the killing of innocents. Our job was mostly about spreading confusion and scattering people. And then Loki took us captive."

Barton twitched upon the mention of Loki. Wanda took note of that.

"Speaking of him… she survived?" she asked, watching all of them closely.

The Captain answered, giving her a short nod. "We were told that your intervention helped in saving her, and that you wanted to surrender."

"I wouldn't call it surrender." She focused only on Tony Stark as she said that. "Especially not to Stark."

They all looked confused by her remark.

Stark stepped up then, his head tilted as he stared at her and Pietro. "Is there a reason for this hostility towards me? I mean, you're both still kids, and I can't see how I have any history with you two."

"You killed our parents," Pietro replied, his body coiling further as the bottled-up anger bubbled to the surface. She touched his hand to calm him down.

Stark reared back, his face a mask of shock.

"It was your weapon that killed them. We were having dinner together, when suddenly, a mortar shell with your name on it struck our house. Our parents died on the spot. The second shell hit, but didn't go off. We kept waiting under the rubble for days, wondering when death would take us too." Wanda took a deep breath, feeling her power sparking in her fingertips. "So yes, it was you who killed them. And we have wanted revenge for a very long time."

"Is that why you got yourself drafted for Strucker's experiments?" Natasha Romanoff stood the furthest from them, her arms crossed casually. "Because a weapon with Tony's name on it struck you? How about going after the ones who actually fired it?"

"Nat, if I hadn't made it and sold it, none of this would've happened."

Wanda's eyes narrowed. Did Stark just agree with her?

He sighed, stepping towards her, and for the first time she noticed that he looked completely exhausted. "I know I cannot bring your parents back, and I know that I'm a mess when it comes to doing the right thing. But I'm trying. Your problem is with me, so why cause so much harm and chaos to others? Why help Ultron?"

She hesitated, knowing that she herself had fucked up when she had decided to help Ultron. "He told us that he wanted revenge as well, against you. And that he wanted to build a better world, as he sympathized with our cause."

"He obviously lied and used you to get what he wanted. You kids caused a whole lot of trouble to everyone just to get back at Tony." Barton glared at her. "You even messed with the minds of people. Do you know how damaging that can be? I know. Been there. It wasn't fun, and it took me a great deal of time to recover from it. Now, I'm not sure what your game plan is here, but I'll tell you this much, you're misguided. Tony has been trying to help save the world, not damage it."

While Barton lectured her, she approached Stark and stood right in front of him. "Then let me see it."

"See what?" he asked, pushing Barton away as he tried to intervene.

"Your mind."

"I think that's enough." The Captain tried to interrupt, but Wanda didn't pay him any mind. Her focus was on Stark.

"You think you can hold us here?" She snorted, waving her hand at them collectively. "I can so easily take each and every one of you out, but I'm choosing not to. All I'm asking is a glimpse into your mind, to see if you're even half the hero everyone here is claiming that you are."

"I don't claim to be a hero, but go ahead…" Stark stared down at her with a resigned look on his tired face. He didn't move his gaze away from her as she reached into his mind, even as others in the room began protesting.

Let me know how you liked it.