A/N: Now, a surprising number of you liked Timothy's parts, so I guess this chapter might turn out popular. *smile*

Thank you to karina001, Katherine Sanderson, GoldenLombaxGirl, neah20, Animejessi, Dragon Silhouette, Yami-The Lord of Darkness, Fanfiction Bard, and guest for reviewing!

Title: Fear of Infinity

Author: liketolaugh

Link: drive. google. (com /) open?id=0B4a0w418KzaUc1lJXzJtX1lTZzA (remove the spaces, remove parentheses - it did not want me to put that there)

Rating: T

Pairings: None

Genre: Drama/Adventure

Warnings: None

Summary: When Loki mentions two more Infinity Stones, aside from the Tesseract, that fell to Earth thousands of years before, the Avengers are thrown into a centuries-old war between Dark Matter and Innocence - also known as the stones of Mind and Soul.

Disclaimer: I only wish I owned D. Gray-man, and the Avengers are but a dream that is not my own.

Loki let out a long sigh and removed his hands from Thor's side. "Done. Honestly, Thor…"

Thor gave Loki a broad grin and a hug. "I will be more cautious with these foes," he agreed, without waiting for Loki to finish and not meaning a word of it. Loki let out a quiet chuckle, reluctantly hugging back because he knew Thor wouldn't let go until he did.

"That's so cool!" Timothy enthused as they separated again, eyes fixed on Thor's mostly-fixed wound. "The only one in the Order who could do that before was Miranda, and she can't hold it forever. But you just… fixed it!" He waved his hands happily.

"I am not in your Order," Loki reminded him gently, not looking away from Thor, gaze still intent. Thor gave him another broad grin, so Loki looked away, to Timothy, who shrugged dismissively.

"Right," Timothy said agreeably. But he knew better – Tony had a real Innocence, so he was an exorcist, and that meant that all of them were members of the Order. That was how things worked. "Anyway, can I learn to do that? Or can you do it 'cause you're an alien?"

"I can do it because I am Asgardian," Loki told him, fondness seeping into his voice despite his best efforts. "Sadly, Midgardians cannot perform our sort of magic." Though Link seemed capable of a different sort of magic…

"Aww." Timothy pouted. "Can Thor do it?"

"If he tried," Loki said, with a fondly exasperated glance at his brother, who ducked his head sheepishly. "However, his interests lie elsewhere."

Timothy widened his eyes. "But how can you not be interested in magic?"

"I prefer the thrill of battle," Thor admitted, giving Timothy a small grin. "It suits me well, I like to think."

"Oh." Timothy gave Thor a serious nod of understanding. "Okay, I guess I get that." He tilted his head slightly. "Is it hard?" he asked Loki. "Link said the magic CROW uses is hard, and you can't even heal with that."

"It is very hard," Loki agreed. "I have studied for centuries to gain my skills."

Timothy's eyes widened again. "Centuries?"

Loki smiled at Timothy's awe, and Thor chuckled. "Yes – you see, Asgardians may live for up to several thousand years…"

While they continued to speak, Natasha and Nyne were studiously pretending to ignore each other, while actually studying each other intently. Lau Jimin twitched. Natasha's eyes flicked to him. Nyne settled him with a touch, and Natasha shifted. Nyne followed the movement without so much as turning her head.

It was all very intense and slightly awkward.

They may not have been as far from their destination as the other group – though Lenalee, by Nyne's understanding, had lucked out – but they still had a short train ride 'til they arrived. (Why trains still stopped by these akuma nests, Nyne would never understand.) Thus, they'd spent the night at their destination (where Nyne commandeered a handily available contact of Cross' – that man had people everywhere) and then moved in.

"I'm not going to bite," Nyne said finally, a hint of amusement in her tone. "Not unless asked, anyway."

Without missing a beat, Natasha let her lips curve into a smile. "Well, you never know," she said lightly. She glanced at Timothy. "How long have you been training him?"

Nyne let her smile turn slightly fond as she thought of her apprentice, waving his arms excitedly at the two Asgardians, eyes sparkling. "A little over a year," she replied. "He's learned a lot, but he still has a long way to go before he's a full exorcist." She chuckled quietly. "I hear Marian trained Walker for five years before he was satisfied. Timothy probably would have been ready in another year and a half. However…" Her expression softened into a pensive one. "I suppose he won't need to."

And then she smiled. Natasha nodded thoughtfully.

"No, I suppose not," she replied lightly. "Do you believe Walker will be able to train Alexei well enough to survive in the time left?"

Nyne's face turned serious. "That depends on a variety of things," she replied, feigning carelessness. "If Walker is able to ask for help when he's unsure. If Alexei is a fast learner. Whether or not Walker can distinguish between winning and surviving." She shook her head, disgusted, though with what wasn't precisely clear. "It would take a miracle."

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Do you believe in miracles?" she asked curiously.

"No," Nyne replied without a second thought, then arched an eyebrow at Natasha. "Do you?"

"Not for a moment," Natasha answered, surprising herself with her honesty. She glanced up and sighed. "Here we go again."

"Hm?" Nyne glanced up, and then found herself slightly surprised. "Ah."

"Huh?" Timothy looked up, followed their gazes, and instantly brightened up, nearly bouncing out of his seat with the force of it. "Oh, oh! We're here!"

"So we are," Loki agreed.

Loki was getting flashbacks. Of the first mission. Perhaps all akuma nest missions were alike - tedious and tense.

Timothy had been bouncing anxiously for a while, having gone from excited to wary almost as soon as they entered the town, but Nyne had calmed him down with a sharp glance and now he was simply watching everyone carefully, more intent than Loki had seen him so far.

Thor, too, was still, and Loki found it unnatural, the way his brother was more wary than boisterous. Of course, Loki himself was equally alert, and Natasha, though she seemed calm, wasn't actually fooling anyone. He was sure that General Nyne was just the same.

For all his theoretical alertness, Loki was the last to turn when the akuma finally burst, and it took a tug from Thor for him to dodge just far enough out of the way to miss the hail of bullets.

Natasha made a motion as if to draw her gun, eyes focused on the akuma, but Nyne made a 'stand down' gesture, and, reluctantly, Natasha stilled.

"Timothy," Nyne ordered.

Timothy nodded seriously, and then, without missing a beat, collapsed.

Loki would have been alarmed and concerned, but in the same instant, the akuma stilled, and then burst back to life, moving as though it was testing its limbs. Loki's gaze sharpened with interest, and Natasha frowned.

"Timothy?" Nyne prompted, moving to scoop up the boy's body and throwing it over her shoulder.

"Yeah, um…" The akuma with Timothy's voice, which appeared to have been possessed by the young boy, seemed to be concentrating, still fidgeting and stretching. Then it lifted one leg, and stomped down. Cracks spread from the point of contact, and the akuma brightened. "Yeah! I can do this!"

He sounded very confident. Loki was still interested.

"Good," Nyne replied, pleased. She nodded to the street, where the other akuma had noticed the motion. "Then do so." And then, "Lau Jimin, activate."

The others took that as their cue.

Haha! Now, I'm going to take this mission to address some of the things I've thought of since I wrote the beginning (two years, wow) and solve some issues. *smile* So yeah, development. Ha. Thanks for reading, and please review!

Oh, and some of you may have noticed that there's a new Avengers/DGM crossover. It's called Cosmic Composite. It is also mine. *huff* It's a radically different idea, but it might share some of the elements (since I imagine their reactions to the horrors of DGM won't have changed much, though there won't be as much emphasis on those). I'd appreciate if you went and checked it out. *smile*