Good evening, everyone.
First of all, like I said in the impromptu review I was forced to write yesterday I would like you to know how I feel about all of you who, instead of giving constructive criticism decide to turn to the dark side (I know it's tempting, they have cookies) and give DESTRUCTIVE criticism. Believe me, I have nothing against other people's opinions and likes and dislikes; I have a very high respect for it, because I truly believe in diversity of opinions but this is just ridiculous. What this person (who I will not name, she's not worth it) tries to do it put everybody else down because of her lack of selfesteem, confidence, talent and ability and of course, hurting and offending and bashing other people is much easier than taking a look in the mirror and change whatever it is that bothers you about yourself, right? Usually I would just reply by PM and that'd be it but I think this time this person went too far, especially because I felt, like I said in the review that she was insulting you, my amazing and beloved readers by telling me not to believe in what you say to me in your comments. That was enough for me to get as green as the Hulk and make my reply public.
I want you to know, because I know several of you, if not all, are writing and have stories here in and I think it's important that you know that this person (you can read her username in the reviews, again, I won't bother) has done this repeatedly. She goes around reading random fics and bashing them, making it look like she knows best so, be very, very careful and either, ignore her, report her or simply put her in her place LOL.
I want to thank those who have commented about the situation and have stood up for me; you don't know what it means to me and of course, it makes it amazingly clear how intelligent you guys are... LOL ;)

Now... forgetting about that very unpleasant event...

Berianireth of Lorien, Steph the bat 11, outthere101, lost-sentiments, Leigh Tate, , MoonLight Crystal, LauDuJardin (thank you so much for standing up for me, Lau. Love you), RemeberingYesterday, Grinning-Loki-Locked (Thank you so so so very much, you have no idea what your words mean to me) and KiyUzumaki (What can I say? Seriously, guys, you are the best!). Thank you all for your encouragement, support and on going light. Bless you all.

Ok... very emotional... and very emotion chapter! I gotta say it's one of my shortest but I think the contents make up for that... or at least I hope they do LOL.

The song of the day (and you HAVE to listen to it while reading this and replay it as many times as possible until you finish reading) is: Love & War (With Choir) by Immediate Music.

ENJOY!


CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT – AM I A ZOMBIE?

"You have lost your mind, Loki if you think you thing you can defeat me" Thanos told him "Look at you… you are weak; your sword is destroyed…"

"But I have something you lack, Thanos" Loki replied

"You do?" The Titan chuckled "And what might that be?"

"Something to fight for"

Steve looked to his side at Loki and watched him with attention; he understood that, despite everything he had done he realized that, after all, Loki did truly love Emma.

Thanos lost his smile and growled at the two men who stood before him.
Suddenly, Thor, the Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow stood by their side, ready to fight and defeat Thanos while Iron Man approached to Emma and helped her out with the Gauntlet.

"The strength of your team is not enough to…"

Before the Titan could continue, the Hulk reached out and punched him in the face, throwing him towards the broken window. Thanos held on to the ledge, avoiding falling out and then pushed himself back up while the heroes watched him.

"Your time is over, Thanos. Surrender now and you will live" Thor declared

Thanos looked at them feeling enraged and humiliated and Loki shook his head understanding the look the Titan was giving them.

"Surrender was never an option, is it, Thanos?" Loki said

"Never"

Thanos made a large, saber-looking sword appear and in a second, rushed towards them.
Black Widow jumped up, dodging him and landing behind him, shooting him repeatedly in the back; it didn't really harm him but it distracted him, giving the others the chance to attack him.
Thor threw Mjolnir at him, hitting him straight in the chest but the Titan, recovering quickly, lounged forward, slashing Thor's upper arm quite deeply.
Believing to have the upper hand, Thanos then hit the god of thunder in the back, making him fall to the ground as he then hit Hawkeye in the nose with the hilt of the sword. But that wasn't enough to stop the archer. Taking one of his arrows, Barton spun around and nailed the poisonous arrow deep into the shoulder of the Eternal. Falling to one of his knees, Thanos saw Loki shooting another of his bladed disks at him, which sunk down into the Titan's abdomen.
Captain America threw his shield directly to his face and after receiving the hit, the Hulk punched him under the chin, making him fly upwards and then crashing painfully onto the floor.

"That's what I'd call team work" Steve said as the team surrounded Thanos who struggled to scramble up to his feet


As the others did their best to beat Thanos to a pulp, Emma and Tony worked on the Gauntlet with the almost complete Tesseract in hand.

"I thought that thing could burn your skin off" She told him as she held the cube in her hands "It actually feels cold"

"It's probably because it's lacking a piece… by the way, how do you suggest we do this?" Tony asked her and she scoffed

"You're asking me? I thought you were the genius here"

"I am but since you are from… you know… Asgard… I thought you might know"

"Very funny, Anthony… ok… let's see…" Emma said putting the Tesseract down and taking the Gauntlet "He said we needed the power of the Tesseract to take it out… why would we need it?"

"Maybe he meant that, if we touch the Gem if could affect us… in some way…" Tony suggested

"Yes… because, even when it is a part of the Tesseract, it works differently… that's it! You're a genius, Tony!" Emma exclaimed

"Well, yes, I am… but… why?"

"Hand over the Tesseract" She simply instructed him and he did so, placing it carefully in her hand

He then saw her reaching for the Mind Gem; he immediately stopped her, holding her wrist "What are you doing?"

"Well, you just said that the Gem works in a different way so, I assume that what Thanos meant was that, in order to counteract the Gem's effect we need to be touching the Tesseract at the same time to channel the Cube's power into the Gem… right?" She seemed to be babbling but strangely enough, Tony understood everything she said

"Sounds reasonable… but I'm not gonna let you do it"

"Oh, yes, you are" She told him and without giving him any heads up, she reached out and touched the Mind Gem, shutting her eyes and keeping them tightly closed

"Emma, don't…" Tony hurried to say but then remained quiet as he saw how the Gem wasn't affecting her "Em… open your eyes"

"Am I a zombie?" She asked barely opening one of her green orbs

"Not that I'm aware of" He replied and then smiled as she fully opened them "You were right, kid"

"It was only luck… ok… now… how do I actually take it out?"

"Pull it out?"

"Ok… I'll try…" Emma doubted as she replied and then grabbed the glowing blue rock, trying to pull it out but it was as if it was welded to it "Nope… not working. I think we might need Thor for this…"

"No… wait… Emma" Tony interrupted her

"What is it?"

"Put the Gauntlet down" He said "Very carefully and stand behind me"

"Why? What is it?"

"Just do it, please"

Emma nodded and did as he told him. Once behind him she insisted "Tony, what's wrong?"

"The radiation levels suddenly started climbing up… this is not good… they keep rising"

"Wait… does that mean…?"

"It's going to explode"

"What did you just say, Stark?" Natasha asked and Emma and Tony realized the team had been listening

"How do we stop it?" Tony asked Thanos

"It is too late now… it doesn't matter if you have the Tesseract" The Titan smirked

"What is that supposed to mean?" Clint questioned

"Your retarded green friend here damaged the Gauntlet's control over the six Gems when he punched it"

"So what? It's just going to blow the helicarrier up?" Steve asked

"Not just the helicarrier" Tony said "This thing has enough power to destroy one half of the planet"

Panic spread all over the faces of the entire team while Thanos guffawed hysterically.

"No matter what happens, Avengers… your planet and everything you know will cease to exist" He condemned

"And you with it so you better tell us how to stop it" Thor threatened

"It is useless" They heard Loki say "If it explodes and we all die, including him, he will resurrect"

"Because he commands death…" Emma repeated almost in a whisper "What do we do?" No one spoke a word and Emma stared at them indignant "Are you going to do nothing? Are you just going to stand there and wait for human kind to disappear?"

"Emma, there's nothing…" Tony started but she cut him off

"No, there's got to be… there has to be some way to…" She insisted as her voice trailed off, her eyes focusing on the Infinity Gauntlet "Yes"

Emma ran from behind Tony and reached for the Gauntlet, much to everyone's surprise.

"Emma, no! What are you doing?" She heard them all shout at her but she chose to ignore them

"Loki…" She turned to him "You said… when you told us about the Gems… one of them has something to do with Space, right?" Loki made his way to her and looked deeply into her eyes as he nodded "We can send it off… somewhere far from any planet, where it won't hurt anyone"

"Is it possible?" Steve asked, joining them

"It might work… but… the Gauntlet does not work on its own… even if we activated the Space Gem…" Loki said

"Someone would have to go with it" Thor intervened

"I'd say we send this clown with it but… he wouldn't do what we want, would he?" Tony pointed out and they all shook their heads

While they all tried to figure out what to do, the Gauntlet in Emma's hand started shaking and emitting gamma radiation which Tony read.

"Guys, we're running out of time" He warned

"I'll do it" Suddenly the least expected one spoke up. The team turned to Emma as she stood there with the jeweled golden glove in hand "I will do it" She repeated

"What? No! You're out of your mind, Emma… you don't even know how this works… you couldn't…" Steve blurted out as the others protested with similar arguments

"One of the Avengers should do it" Tony proposed

"Hulk" The green beast said, volunteering

"No, I'll do it… I have to do it for Adrianna" Clint added

"Clint, that won't bring her back" Natasha told him

"I sacrificed once; I'm sure I can do it again" Steve said

"This all happened because of Asgard. I shall take Emma's place" Thor offered

As they all discussed who would do it, Emma and Loki stood there in absolute silence sharing their thoughts through their eyes.
Emma's eyes filled up with tears as she looked up at Loki's face. He was giving her a small, sweet smile and she returned the gesture.
With a nod, she knew it all had come to an end.

"It is time" Loki said mostly to Emma but everyone heard it

"Time? Time for what?" Steve questioned turning his attention to them

"To end this" Emma replied

And then, raising her free hand, she shot a large energy projection at the team, pushing them away from her while Loki remained next to her.

"Emma, what are you doing?" Tony shouted as he noticed a force field form around her and Loki "Emma!"

Emma looked up at Loki feeling him reach for her hand and caress it lovingly "I am sorry for everything I said" She told him

"No… it is I who is sorry…" He replied and then with his fingers, touched the violet gem of the Gauntlet, making it glow brightly "It is ready" He whispered and she nodded

He closed the distance between them and surrounded her waist with his arms as she passed her arms around his neck.
Steve and Tony tried uselessly to breach the force field as they watched the lovers saying their goodbyes.

"Emma! Emma! Please!" Steve shouted

"Emma!" Tony repeated shooting rays at the blue dome

"I love you" Emma told Loki, a few tears rolling down her face

"And I love you, Emma… forever" He responded, his eyes also watering

Leaning down to her, Loki pressed his lips against hers and kissed her passionately, as if it was to be their very last kiss. It was their last kiss.

"Don't forget about me" He whispered against her lips and he felt her shaking her head

"Never" She sobbed "We will meet again"

"I lost you once and I found you" He grinned

"I thought I had been the one to find you" She stubbornly objected making him chuckle "Finding you is the best thing that has ever happened to me"

"You saved me, Emma… you brought me back to life"

Not being able to contain a sob, Loki leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead as she closed her eyes and reached out to touch his face.

Outside the dome, Steve and Tony suddenly saw Loki reaching out for the Gauntlet without Emma noticing.

"What is he doing?" Steve asked Tony

"I don't know…" He replied

Leaving Thanos under the care of the Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow, Thor rushed towards the dome "Loki!" He called

"Thor, what is he…?" Steve questioned

"No… no… don't do it!" Thor continued to shout

Inside, Emma felt the Gauntlet starting to slip off her hand and as Loki stepped away from her she realized that he had discreetly taken it from her.
She widened her eyes and extended her hand, demanding it back.

"Loki, give it back" She said

"I am sorry, Emma… but I cannot see you die again… I will not" Loki told her holding on to the Gauntlet

"I'm not letting you do this… and if you insist, I am coming with you"

Loki chuckled and smiled at her bitterly "Not this time, Emma"

Emma saw him raising his hand and suddenly an unseen force coming from his palm pushed her away, making the force field disappear.
Steve, Tony and Thor rushed to her as she stood up.

"Emma" Steve said but she wouldn't listen

She looked up and saw Loki touching the Space Gem again "Loki, no! Please!"

"I love you" He practically mouthed as a tear rolled down his face

He turned at Thor for a split second and after nodding at him, he returned his attention to Emma.
In a matter of seconds, a violet light surrounded Loki and he started to vanish slowly.

"Loki! Loki!" Emma yelled desperately, tears flowing freely from her eyes. She tried to run to him but Steve surrounded her waist, holding her back "Let me go! Please! Loki! No! No!"

The last thing they saw of the god of mischief were his glistening jade eyes and then he was gone.

Emma breathed heavily and sobbed as she stared with wide eyes at the place where Loki had been up until a moment. She fought Steve's grip and he finally let her go. Rushing to the spot she fell to her knees, burying her face in her hands as her whole body shook.

"Loki… Loki!"


IN THE NAME OF EVERYTHING WE HOLD DEAR! I can't say no more... I confess I cried and cried and cried like a hungry baby when I wrote this... not that I want you to cry but if you then that means my work here is done! *lmao*

Anyways, thank you so very much for everything, you are the best fans and readers anyone could ever ask for! MWAH!
Lost of love!

ASSEMBLE!

Angie.
xoxoxoxo

PS. The end is nigh...