A/N Update time! Wanna see what happens well what are you waiting for come along lets go!

The past is never dead. It's not even past - William Faulkner

Everything had changed but around him everything remained the same. The world around him in the park continued as though nothing had happened and yet there he was and there was Odin and Loki felt the ailing fear of dread wash over him.

The last few weeks had simply been one bad moment after another, and now it was all coming together, to this very moment. This was the conclusion with an benevolent God.

And truthfully, he had never given the idea of God much thought, God had randomly appeared in his life over the years, especially at holidays, sometimes only at holidays, like Easter and Christmas. When the media and the world wouldn't let you escape the ideology of an all-powerful, all knowing mighty God that was apparently watching over everyone. But he had never given it all a lot of more thought not until his brother revealed himself to be one, and his father was one and then the hardest thing to digest and swallow was that he himself had been a God a long time ago and was again becoming one that was hell-bent on destroying him.

The universe wasn't made up of all the things he thought it was. He was no longer just a boy, he was filled with so much darkness and the only thing lighting his way now was the memory of his family. His family that was gone.

Odin walked slowly and seemingly in some sort of pain over to a park bench that sat beneath a giant oak tree that's branches like strong hands stretched out and gave shade to the warm day. Odin sat down on the bench with difficulty and he rested back on it as though he were tired.

And now for the first time, Loki really looked at Odin, and all he saw was a weary old man, no different from any other old person who Steve always reminded him to respect. No Odin did not look to be the mighty All Father, the All father who ruled Asgard and other realms of the universe. No there was nothing there that spoke of anger and fury but mostly power, there was just that old wrinkled face, and it looked like there was nothing to fear there.

Odin looked up at Loki and patted at the empty space on the park bench beside him beckoning Loki to come sit next to him and Loki stared at him thinking, that this was not going the way he had thought it would. Firstly the sky had not opened up like he expected it too, like he just a little bit wanted it actually to happen. Because would that not have been something to behold, the sky opening up and transferring him faraway from here, from earth to an entire other world.

The rest of what he thought would happen though did scare him. He had imagined some kind of fight and soldiers, an army perhaps, he had seen blood being shed and that blood would have been his own for all his indiscretions but that was not happening either. He just had Odin now looking like any old grandfather figure sitting on a park bench out to enjoy the last sunshine warm days before an imminent winter arrived.

Loki went to sit down next to Odin and waited for the inevitable to happen.

"When you were a young child and I found you in Jotunheim..." The darkness inside Loki had a voice, and the voice that mostly spoke to him spoke out in fury at Odin's words.

"Really Father? A history lesson? Is it meant to make you feel better, or is it to convince this child that you are a wise and noble king" the darkness asked. "This wonderful story of a merciful king who had compassion on a runt that no one, not even his own kin wanted, please do not leave out my favorite part, the part where you betrayed that monster with hollow promises and lies."

"You betrayed us too!" All of Odin's weariness disappeared and it was replaced with rage. "I loved you like a son, your mother loved you like you were her very own and you were filled with nothing but deep seated hatred and jealousy because you desired a throne. You wanted to kill your own brother. When family does that to family someone always pays a price and not only did we pay but the innocent people of earth paid too!" Loki squeezed his Iron man bracelet tightly. He fought the darkness that was nearly overwhelming him and he fought the darkness with memories. Good memories. Memories that no one could take away from him, not even his former self and the darkness began to shrink away from him and disappear.

"I hate to say this, but I agree with Loki I didn't come here for a history lesson there is no memories of you and me and when I was a child, there is just me and Thor and everyone else, so save the heroic story. I don't want to know what you did for me because the truth is you've done nothing for me but hurt me! And I just want the Avengers back." Odin looked at Loki and smiled. And then he's gaze travelled across the park where a couple were walking their baby in a stroller, there were telltale tourists snapping pictures of everything that looked foreign to them and there was a girl jogging with earphones plugged into her ears. Loki envied them and their normality and he felt his patience with Odin wane.

"Are you listening to me?" he demanded with fire in his voice and then the fire died down as quickly as it started. "I am here because that's what you wanted, so please I want my family back." His voice was now weak and pleading. He needed them back and he needed for all of this madness to be over.

"I don't have them." Odin whispered his eyes were still on the rest of the world that was carrying on with its business, business it seemed that Odin was far more interested in than Loki himself and his needs.

"What?" Loki asked and Odin finally turned towards to him. And he studied Loki's face for a long time. It was hard to comprehend that this was not the Loki he had found in the aftermath of a battle in Jotunheim and taken home wrapped in nothing but flimsy cloth. That baby who neither he nor Frigga thought would last his first night in Asgard because he was so malnourished and weak. No. This wasn't his Loki but he still carried that same face and it reminded Odin of everything that had gone wrong in their lives, all the mistakes he as a Father had made. And all of the things that if he had the luxury he would go back in time and change.

He reached out to touch Loki and Loki flinched away from him.

"Your brother has done a better job at raising you than I ever did when I had the chance. I see his influence on you and I am humbled by it."

Blah, blah, blah, Thor, blah, blah, blah, after all these years it's still grating.

"If you think Thor did such a great job why did you take them?" Loki asked squeezing his Iron man bracelet.

"I did not take him or the others."

"Am I supposed the believe that?" Loki asked confused, this all felt like a game and he had no idea how to play it. And the darkness inside him grew.

"It is the truth." Odin insisted.

"You've been threatening us and then we got attacked and I am supposed to believe that you had nothing to do with that?"

"Thanos took them. He is a ruthless and wicked man who covets death and seeks nothing but her approval. He murdered his own family for the Mistress Death." Odin whispered. "Your elder self had many dealings with him. Dealings that aided you in your assault on earth. And it's all coming together now again, something catastrophic is about to happen. Your past, the present and the future are about to collide Loki."

"And?" Loki asked as the hair on his neck stood up with a tingle of terror.

"You will fulfill your prophecy."

"My prophecy?" Loki laughed when really he shouldn't have laughed but his life was sounding more and more absurd as the days went by. There was nothing normal about him anymore. Sure he had felt differently from other children all his life who grew up in their coddled environment where there was no agents and avengers watching over them but now he was alien like. "My prophecy is to finish high school and according to Thor and the others I have to go to university and get a degree in some shit and get a job or something. That's my prophecy."

"No, your prophecy has always been to bring forth Ragnarok." Odin replied and Loki squinted at Odin.

"Ragna…" Loki paused. "Rock?"

"The end of all days." Loki nodded as inside him the dark mass cackled with laughter.

"Just that huh? The end of the world? I'm going to make the world end, if Tony was here he would tell you that I can't even make my bed." Loki thought of the last time he had seen Tony in his room and Tony making a joke of the state of his room to lighten the mood. Loki looked away from Odin he had a knot in his throat and he could feel the onset of tears in his eyes. If you come home Tony, Loki thought, I will clean my room every single day.

"If Ragnarok happens there will be a future that consists entirely of misery and suffering and nobody would die everyone will end up in a kind of hell for all of eternity." Odin reached over and touched Loki's hand and Loki's world went entirely black.

He saw it. The end. The sky opened up and fire rained down from the sky in a storm. There was no light, there was no happiness, there was horror. There was screams and people running for help and not finding it. All they found was more torture, more terror. There was prayers to a God that no longer listened, a God that was no longer available. He saw blood and tears, the smell of death and decay, the smell of rotting flesh. He saw the past and he saw the future. He saw the end of everything and in everything he saw the Avengers.

Odin let go of Loki's hand and the end vanished. He stared at Odin stunned and with clarity and mostly fear he knew this was not a game, this was not a joke.

"Do you understand now how serious this is?" Odin asked and Loki couldn't find his tongue. He simply nodded and looked at the world around him, it was all going to be gone, everything, and all these people would be damned from their idyllic safe lives and he was to blame. "A lot rests upon you Loki." Loki nodded again trying to get rid of the images that was burned in his mind now.

"So," he said quietly. "You gave me my old self back along with all his Godly powers so I can die in order not to fulfill my prophecy of ending the world?" Loki asked and he wondered did Thor know of this? Did Thor know that Loki could bring around death and damnation? He wanted to ask Odin but he was afraid of the answer. Because if Thor knew what Loki could do some day it had been irresponsible and reckless to bring that back into the world.

"That is not why I brought back the other Loki."

He's lying.

"Then what the hell do you want from me?"

He's lying. He wants us dead. Haven't you realized that by now?

"Thanos wants what the older Loki wanted and that is Ragnarok. If Ragnarok happens all realms will fall into chaos and disorder and he would be able to claim himself universal ruler of all that is left behind." Odin sighed. "He's found a tablet, thee cosmic tablet, it has nine indentations that represent nine mythical stones from each of the nine realms, if he has all nine stones and he wields the cosmic tablet's powers he will bring forth the end of all the nine realms. Which is exactly what Loki was going to do if he had lived." Loki thought of Thanos, what did such a mad man look like? Why would he want to rule over everything that was destroyed? Why did the other Loki want such things as well? What madness had inspired him to such macabre goals? Why would Thor bring back to life such a vile monster.

"Because he loves you that is why he brought you back." Loki looked at Odin surprised. "And he never knew that you would bring forth the end of all things, and even if he did, I am certain he would still have brought you back. He always loved you from the day I introduced you as his baby brother."

"But Loki was so evil."

I'm right here you know I can hear you.

Loki paid no attention to the dark voice he commanded it silently to shut up and it did.

"He wasn't always that way, and that's the Loki, Thor always remembers and clings to when all of us had forgotten and now I see he has that Loki again." Odin stroked the side of Loki's face and this time he didn't flinch away from the caress.

"How many of these stones does Thanos have already? I'm guessing it's a lot because how quickly you showed up here on earth and changed me."

"Five. Thanos has five stones." Loki looked at him stunned. Five? With four to go Thanos was more than halfway and almost done with his universe ruling puzzle.

"You let him get five of them?" Loki asked.

"I did not allow him to get those five stones. Loki this is not something he conjured up overnight, it is a plan he has been working on for years and years for what is a blink for a God but for humanity it is centuries. That is how long he has been planning this."

"Okay, so for years and years you did nothing and just waited for him to gather up a tablet and destroy everything?" Odin laughed and Loki smiled it seemed like Odin hadn't laughed at anything in a very long time and Loki knew that feeling all too well.

"And let me guess when I shouted at Heimdal to open the Bifrost you have Asgard closed because you have four of those precious little stones he wants?" Loki asked.

"Still as sharp as a whip." Odin complimented.

This is the most attention this man has ever paid us.

There is no us, Loki told the darkness within him. There is only me.

"So you just keep the four stones up there in Asgard locked up in a vault and you go get the Avengers from Thanos and no one has to die. And when I say no one I mean me."

"I don't have all four Loki, I have three and you have the last piece of the puzzle my son, you have the last stone, the most powerful of them all." Loki's ears only heard that two words. My son.

"I don't have anything." Loki said as though Odin should have been privy to that information already.

"You don't. But he does." Odin said. "And he's hidden it somewhere only he can find it but I fear sooner rather than later that Thanos will find it."

Inside Loki the ugliness grew, it was disease. It was descrutive. It was evil. It was angry. It was vile and it was scratching and clawing at his innocent young heart. The pain ached and throbbed throughout his body.

It was so painful, he was close to passing out from the pain and there was a scream, the scream of agony was coming not from within him, it was his own cries of torture coming from the very depths of his soul.

Loki reached out and grabbed hold of Odin's hand to help him. He was shaking and trembling.

"He…" Loki tried to catch his breathe. "He knows where it is. And he's not happy that you know." Loki felt the twist of pain in his heart and he screamed again. He was going to die, he thought, this was the end, this was his very own Ragnarok.

"Thanos has realized that you are here on earth, and you carry his old comrade within yourself, you can not hide anymore and you can not escape." Loki flinched at another sharp stab of hot pain went surging through his body.

"I don't know where the hell this stone is!" Loki screamed.

"Fight him." Odin held Loki's hands tightly. "You can do this."The darkness took hold of it's host and spat at Odin's face.

"Is that why you brought me back, thinking that I would tell this insolent child my secrets old man? I will never tell you where it is. I will take it to my grave again." It yelled.

"Loki you have to embrace him, you have been fighting him but now you need to embrace him."

"He'll kill me. And the end of the world will happen whether you like it or not." Loki whispered breathlessly.

"You've been dreaming of his life, you have experiences flashes of what he went through, you've seen his memories. You are him and to some degree you are the good parts of him, and if you wanted to you can control him and see where he hid the ninth stone." Odin said.

"He is stronger than me."

"But you've learned to keep him at bay have you not?" Odin asked.

"Yes, then it is you who is becoming stronger."

"I can't do this."

"If you don't Loki all will be lost." A girl's voice suddenly spoke to him.

He saw her, it was Leah who appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Leah who he thought he may never see again. His only friend. His BFF. And he watched her in bewilderment. What was she even doing here? How did she know where to find him? And she walked toward him slowly and with meaning. But there was something different with the way she was walking, the way she was moving, the way she carried herself with grace, it was unlike her it was almost regal. And that was not the Leah he knew. He thought his mind was playing tricks on him, he thought Loki was playing tricks on him.

Leah began to change the closer she got to him and that was when Loki became convinced that it was a trick. Leah this person who looked like his friend but most definitely was not grew taller, her walk became more stately, her face changed from the teenage girl Loki knew into an older woman, with a gentle smile and soft light ringlets of hair crowned her porcelain skin.

The pain inside Loki's body subsided. He found he could breathe again but he was mostly mesmerized by how beautiful this woman was but more importantly he wanted to know who she was.

Mother…

The darkness spoke not with venom but for the first time he spoke with love and adoration and it was all said and felt in that one single word that echoed in Loki's mind.

Mother.

"Mom?" Loki asked unsure of what was happening and if she was really his mother.

"Yes Loki, I am your mother."

"You were Leah a couple of seconds ago, why would you be Leah?"

"Because I was her all along." She said and Loki's mind raced throughout all his memories with Leah who had shown up so unexpectedly in his life and very quickly became a fixture in his life.

"Why? Why did you pretend to be my friend this entire time?"

"It was just so I could watch over you and make sure you were okay that is until Odin discovered what Thanos was planning and everything fell apart." She opened her arms and he went rushing into them he held her tightly breathing her in, she smelled of everything good and pure in the world that was heading straight to hell.

"I've wanted to meet you for so long." Loki's voice broke under overwhelming pressure.

"I know, but I did not want to uproot the good life you have with your brother and his friends."

"They're gone." She held him at arms length there was still that beautiful smile on her face, she was graceful and elegant and he thought he could stare at her forever

"You will bring them home." She said squeezing his hands tightly.

"Will you help me?" He asked.

"We wish we could Loki, but this fight it is yours and yours alone, you need to find where Loki hid the last stone only you can do that." Loki listened if the other him was there but he was gone. All the darkness had disappeared when the light that was Frigga had appeared. The darkness had gone into hiding in the deep crevices in his mind.

"What if I can't." Loki asked.

And she smiled a smile that was warmer than the sun.

"But what if you can?" And he found himself smiling as well.

"I might die in the process." He told her and she embraced him.

"I will not let that happen I promise you that." Loki wished she hadn't said that Tony had made a promise to always be there for him and that had not worked out. And now she was making that same fragile statement. Promises. They were such fleeting things that was said out loud for the sake of it but could not always be kept.

"And when we have the stone we will bring back Thor and the rest of the Avengers.' He held her tighter. His eyes were closed and first he felt the cool breeze grow stronger. It grew strength and he opened his eyes and looked up at the heaven. The sky that had minutes ago been a startling blue had grown dark and grey and angry. The wind was howling and the grey clouds began to move, to make way for a startling bright bolt of red that first spun in the sky along with the clouds and then like a tornado it lowered itself in a funnel shape and the moment it touched the ground the earth began to shake beneath them. The solid safe ground became unsafe. Frigga wrapped her arms around Loki as though to protect him.

"What the hell is that?" Loki asked.

"That my dear boy is Thanos." Loki looked over at Odin who now looked less like an old man instead he looked like a warrior reborn and was ready for a fight.

"He knows you are here." Frigga said and she let go of Loki. "Run!" She ordered him.

'What? I'm not going anywhere without you." He didn't add that the last time he had left people behind him they had ended up missing. No. He was not running from a fight again.

"I said run! If Thanos gets his hands on you Loki there is no telling what he would do to you to get that stone and we need it or else everyone will die."

"But I just met you and…" The sky opened wider with a crack and an army of alien looking creatures flooded the sky.

"We will see each other again…BFF." She whispered and he laughed even though fear ran through his body like a current of electricity.

"BFF." He repeated after her.

"Now run! And find that stone!" He looked over head and there was more and more creatures filling the sky and filling him with dread.

"Loki go!" Odin commanded and this time he did what he was told he ran and he ran and he never looked back.

A/N Soooo remember when I said Leah was not going to be a love interest as some of you suggested and asked? And I said no I'm not going there, well now you know why I couldn't go there because Leah was Frigga this entire time and imagine that gross factor right there. Also that's why when Loki visits Leah a few chapters ago, he thought it odd there was no pictures in Leah's room and it looked unlived in etc cause again she was Frigga. And someone also asked where is Frigga when all this shit is going down and she was there all along and I really wanted a HA YOU DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING MOMENT And I kept it a little secret I don't know how you feel about that twist, let me know!

Also no prizes for guessing that yep Thanos took our pretty little Avengers! And the whole tablet and stones thing I just made that up, Thanos did once upon a time look for universal power in the form of a cosmic cube I wanted to use the cube in the story but it doesn't work so well like a tablet that needs different parts to complete it, and I have no idea how Ragnarok is supposed to happen all I know is Loki brought the rock to the end of the world party. And me and my buddy we put our heads together and ta-daa that's what we came up with. Fun fact, in the Infinity comic Thanos also invaded earth after finding out that the Avengers were off the planet, so I just worked with Thanos removed them instead.

And writing plot is all kinds of difficult I am gonna go back to writing little ficlets…no I am not…for the moment at least. Up next, we've had two chapters without the Avengers its time to bring those suckers back in the story!

As always, thank you for reading, and sending me messages, reviewing this story and favoriting it, it means so much to me and special shout out to the "guest" reviewers nice to see you guys! I hope you liked this part of the story and we shall see each other very soon. Take care and be good to each other.