This is a response to GirlofLightning: I'm glad I made you happy! I couldn't very well just leave Loki dead, well...I could have. And originally, he was supposed to mind you, but I would have been torn to tiny bits and pieces and fed to Bilgesnipe, so...But I'm glad that I made you so happy! :)
And a huge thank you to all who reviewed last chapter or over the course of me posting this chapter. They really make me feel good. :)
"Can we please do this this time without any unwanted interruptions?"
"Don't know. Thor still has to show up and I don't want to be halfway through this process and suddenly be like Oh, looks like levels are fluctuating again. I wonder what's going - and then BAM! Thor drops through the roof, scrambles the electric, and you end up a woman," Stark said matter-of-factedly through a mouthful of eggs, earning him an elbow in the ribs from Pepper for his rude table manners, and Phil's eyes widened over the rim of the glass of orange juice he was drinking.
"Is there a possibility that could happen?" he asked, not sounding pleased whatsoever with the idea.
"No, Phil, Tony's just messing with you," Banner said out of force of habit from where he was reading the newspaper. "Yep, the public is officially hating us again but loving us at the same time. It wasn't like we destroyed the city again! I mean, we kind of did in terms of confidence in the system, but other than that..." he sighed and put the offending paper down. "Crowds are fickle things aren't they? They swing one way when one critic says something and then another one pipes up and they all swing in the other direction. Makes you wonder if any of them have any independent thought anymore..."
"Why do you think I wanted to take over this world?" Loki asked sardonically. "You all are like cows milling around aimlessly thinking one thing one moment and the complete opposite the next." Everyone looked at him, taken aback and slightly wary. "What? Has my sense of sarcasm changed since I died?"
"Apparently not," Clint muttered and Phil laughed, looking over at the glass wall that over looked the city once more. "You keep staring into the sun waiting for him, you're going to make yourself blind," he warned with a mouthful of cantaloupe and Romanoff rolled her eyes.
"Were you raised in a barn, Barton? Don't talk with food in your mouth," she said in her serious manner that was actually her joking face. No one could tell the difference.
"No, I was raised in a circus."
"Same difference," the Russian retorted and Clint held his hands up in defeat.
"Fine!"
"Hey, you know what? That thing you said, you keep staring into the sun waiting for him, you're going to make yourself blind'?" Phil asked and everyone looked at him. "Wasn't that what Fury told you when they went missing in the first place? You know, the first time with Thanos?" Loki's expression darkened. "Sorry."
"Don't hold grudges, Loki, it's bad for your health," Bruce said, again only half paying attention to what was going on. He had picked up the newspaper again.
"Something I quite adequately learned from you humans. Apparently I excel in that aspect of life."
"Really not something you want to excel at," Steve warned from where he was reading a newspaper as well.
"Again, has my sarcasm become entirely undetectable?"
"No, you're just a lot more..." Pepper trailed off, trying to find the word she was looking for.
"Caustic," Banner supplied and she shook her head.
"I was going to say something along the lines of more sardonic but - "
"So you mean caustic," the radiologist said pointedly, raising his eyes from the words before his nose.
"Well, let's just say death has a way of re-prioritizing your personality traits," the god explained and looked down at his eggs once more. "This certainly looks more palatable than when I cooked."
"Yeah I only ate what you cooked to be nice..." Phil admitted and several of the avengers choked on their food around the table.
"Excuse me?" Loki asked affronted. "I didn't mean that my food wasn't worthy for any living being, just that - "
"It kinda wasn't," the boy answered and smiled when Loki looked even more taken aback. "You become more sardonic, my replies get better. It's an direct relationship."
"Since when do you talk about direct and indirect relationships?" Tony asked after stopping his examination of his bandaged foot.
"Since always. You just didn't know about it." Tony looked around at Loki and threw a roll of bread at his head.
"What?!"
"You rubbed off on him, Reindeer Games," he said in mock anger. "Now we have to deal with sassy Coulson - "
"Oh, he's always been sassy, where have you been, Tony?" Romanoff asked and there were smirks all around the table at the innocent way it was said.
"Loki, can I ask you a question?" Phil began cautiously and the adult gaped.
"Not another one, please! I'm still recuperating from last night!"
"It's not my fault I'm inquisitive!"
"Technically it is," Nat commented, but Loki cut in before an argument could start.
"You were asking so many though! What was it?"
"What was what?" the boy asked, frowning.
"Your questions - "
"OH! First it was you died, how did you get back. Then it was did it hurt; what was the afterlife like; it isn't run by a god in a white shining robe, is it; if you have a daughter that means you're married; you're not married, so how do you have a daughter; then it was how did your wound heal; it's still healing, can I see it; then it was did Tony step on my broken mug, sorry; then it was was the afterlife scary; is your daughter scary seeing as she's the goddess of the underworld; then it was why did you decide to come back; and finally it was how did you end up outside the tower." Loki looked at him in an unamused manner.
"I remember very clearly now," he said in a peeved tone, and the boy immediately went on the defensive.
"I was curious! It's not every day someone comes back from the dead..." he muttered and Loki sighed.
"Fine." Phil looked up hopefully. "One more question, no more!"
"Were you looking for your violin this morning?" he asked meekly and Loki frowned.
"Actually, yes. What happened to it?" he responded, suspiciously eyeing the fidgeting boy before him. "Phil..."
"Sorry?" The god rolled his eyes.
"What did you do with it?" His tone clearly said that the adult simply expected it to have a few broken strings or something.
"I, uh...threw it off the tower?"
"WH-at?!" Loki cried, choking on the sip of water he had just taken.
"I was angry...And they left it in my room so...yeah."
"So yeah?" Loki continued as though that wasn't an adequate response.
"Yeah!" There was a loud bang and everyone looked over their shoulders simultaneously to see a dejected Thor walking into the house, head bowed. Loki cleared his throat awkwardly and watched as his brother passed by the table without a single glance upwards. He looked as though he hadn't changed or showered in a few days and Loki frowned. If he had been with Jane, he would have taken care of his appearance. So that meant...
"Where have you been while I lay dead in my room?" Loki asked accusingly and instantly regretted it. the hammer fell to the ground with a loud, massive bang and Thor spun around, a glimmer of disbelieving hope in his eyes. Loki raised a cautious hand and waved slightly. "Hello."
"Loki..." he breathed as though he couldn't believe his eyes. In fact, it looked as though the tall man was having trouble breathing as his brother stood up and walked over to stand before him, that slight half smile on his lips. "It cannot be..." he continued through his shining tears. At the table, Banner and Steve felt the need to look down while Nat, Clint, and Pepper gave secretive smiles at the scene unfolding before them. Tony was the one who was furtively wiping at his eye with a napkin. Phil slipped from his seat and ran over to Thor, smiling.
"You can touch him. He's not going to go anywhere," the boy said in his helpful manner and reached out to grab Thor's hand and start to guide it to Loki's arm. But even then, there was a slightly resistant pull against Phil's lead. But that changed when the god of thunder's fingertips came into contact with the very whole, very real fabric and then the arm beneath.
"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" the blonde man shouted in happiness, which was ironic given what he had just bellowed, and tackled the Frost Giant in a massive hug.
"HEY, I'VE ALREADY DIED, TAKE IT EASY!" the younger sibling shouted from within his brother's crushing bear hug.
"YOU'RE ALIVE!" he cried again and Loki nodded.
"I won't be if you don't let go!" he managed to gasp and finally had teleport out of Thor's grasp. "Yes, I'm back brother," he gasped, making sure no ribs were bruised or broken. Fat lot of chance on that first one, he thought bitterly as he felt a few tender spots on his sides.
"Hel?" Thor laughed through his tears, and the dark headed Asgardian shrugged.
"Who else?" Thor brushed his tears away and frowned in thought and Loki fought the temptation to stop before he hurt himself.
"That's cheating, you know," he said accusingly and laughed again, trying to drive the tears from his eyes.
"What?" his sibling asked him and looked up, merriment and mischief dancing behind his dark eyes.
"Coming back from the dead using your daughter - " Thor began in explanation while the rest of the table got to thinking as well.
"Isn't that kind of like some form of blackmail?" Clint asked and the god of mischief ground his heels into his forehead.
"Well, I'm ALIVE doesn't that count for something?" he asked, annoyed and a voice answered him.
"I think it does." He looked down at the smiling boy seated at the table and grinned back.
"Thank you Phil."
"Of course he agrees with you," Nat muttered as she stabbed her fork into an egg. "He holds you in the same status as Rogers now."
"NO he doesn't," Steve argued and Phil shook his head in agreement. "If Phil threw my shield over the edge of the tower I would probably chase him down."
"I wouldn't do that!" Phil cried, mortified. To him, Captain America's shield was practically the Holy Grail. "I felt so bad about using one of your preliminary shields as a level when I was helping Tony in his lab that one time..."
"I remember that!" Tony said, suddenly rejoining the conversation. "That was entertaining."
"When was this?" Pepper asked and Tony waved her question aside.
"Oh when I was dying."
"Yeah, you never explained that to me," Pepper said warningly as she picked up her plate along with Steve's and Bruce's. "Phil are you done?"
"Yep," he said and went around picking up unused utensils and placing them back in their respective drawers. "Can I help with anything?"
"Well, why don't you just go and get your clothes for the procedure. We're going to go and do that right now, remember?" Phil nodded eagerly and after placing a few more of the dirty plates from the table on the counter he ran off to his room. But when he was safe within the confines of those four walls and wearing the many sizes too large clothing, he sat on his bed and simply waited. He was starting to feel that fear creep back into the pit of his stomach and he didn't like it. Then again, he wasn't exactly thrilled with being a kid for much longer. But still he hesitated. He was trying to pinpoint what it was and finally figured it out.
It was Loki. Loki had been dead, and it had been his fault. Life had suddenly come to a stop, but now it was racing ahead at breakneck speed, going too fast. It was as though someone was fast-forwarding their lives to where they would have been had Thanos not been hunting them. Then again, he had to thank thanos. Without that dreadful freak of nature...
None of this would have happened. When he realize that he had to start laughing. Without all that heartbreak, that terror, that pain, and that trauma...none of this wondrous, spectacular experience would have happened to him. Loki would have remained a demon in the dark, a monster that chased him in his dreams. He wouldn't have become a friend, practically family. Phil gave one last laugh and nodded, looking at the ground.
"Thanks, Thanos," he said and looked up to see a stricken looking Loki before him. "Let me explain that first - " he began, still laughing, but the man cut him off.
"Thanks, Thanos?! What, were you happy I died?"
"No! Without Thanos, none of this would have happened. I would still hate you, you would be a prisoner in Asgard, and well, these last few months would have been very boring and long for me," Phil explained with that same contagious smile and Loki shook his head, initial suspicion and anger fading just as rapidly as it had come.
"That is true...though I wish it weren't," he commented and picked Phil up, carrying him out of the room. "Ready to go and get his over with?" Phil nodded vigorously.
"It's really gotten to be a pain sometimes," the boy added and watched with only mild trepidation as he found himself standing in the middle of the Prestige thing once more. He stood up straight and took a deep breath.
"Here goes nothing," he said and at that moment, taking that subtext clue, Bruce and Tony turned on the mechanism, Pepper, Clint, Nat, Thor, and Loki looking on in mild worry.
Phil felt tingly.
Well, that was what he felt at first. Once he was done feeling tingly, he immediately began feeling like various muscles were cramping but then again that was to be expected seeing as really what was happening was he was being returned to his normal size.
Oh right, wasn't this the procedure that was a fifty fifty chance or something like that, he thought idly to himself. Ah, well. Too late to weep and moan about it. Isn't like I exactly have the privilege to say oh no thanks, I don't want to do this anymore.
And then, quite simply, he felt nothing. It was a strange sensation, not feeling anything. Then, he realized that it wasn't that he was feeling nothing, its that he had gone completely back to normal after feeling all weird, so it felt like he wasn't feeling anything. Slowly he became aware of the sounds about him and the fact that apparently he had fallen over.
And then something nudged him with considerable force. Judging by the feel of the poke, it was a shoe, or rather a boot. Looking back on it, only one person had been wearing boots at breakfast.
"Since you just kicked me, Romanoff, I assume everything went accordingly?" Yep. Definitely didn't sound like his five year old self anymore. He opened his eyes and was met with the sardonic gaze of his coworker. "Yep."
"Need any help?" another voice asked and he readily took Barton's hand to help haul him to his feet.
"Thanks Barton," he muttered as he momentarily regained his balance.
"How do you feel?" Steve asked and he looked around at where the man was standing, watching him as though he was afraid the agent was going to pass out and fall over at any second.
"Taller," he answered and was gratified with a small smile that flickered across the super soldier's face. "Definitely feels good to be back, thanks Stark, Banner."
"Why is it that the moment he goes back to being an adult he goes all agent on us?" Tony complained and Coulson threw him a baleful look. "I mean we're back to last name status again!"
"Not my fault that that's how I am as an adult."
"People change," Thor commented and Phil looked over to him. "It is good to have you back, Son of Coul."
"It's good to be back," he responded and soon he was immersed in conversation with the rest of them as they made their way back up the stairs. But none of them noticed how Loki hung back, a look of sadness in his eye.
He didn't fit in anymore. the one thing that had bound him to the others now separated them.
Because Phil Coulson was no longer a little boy who was completely innocent and helpless. Phil Coulson was now the man he had stabbed.
A/N: I'm sorry to break it to you guys, but this next chapter is going to be the last one. :( Childhood Innocence is coming to an end...but it will be a good end, and a happy end and a...you get the point. :)