Chapter 19 - The Years After the Snap & Endgame

The world was no longer the same. The entire planet was mourning the loss of billions, and yet, there were no bodies to be buried. Nothing remained of the ones who had fallen to the Decimation. Name after name was read aloud at huge memorials, the one who survived clinging to each other in comfort. Loki knew Jane didn't come out unscathed. Erik and Darcy both fell to the Snap, as well as Nick Fury and Maria Hill. Even though Jane's interactions with the last two had been minimal, they were both instrumental in having her work given back to her after Thor and the Convergence.

Whole cities had been abandoned, leaving the world scattered with relics of lives having been lost. Jane and Loki were the only ones left in Puente Antiguo. Jane, knowing that her knowledge would be of help to the remaining Avengers, packed up her research and lab. Loki assisted her in teleporting everything to New York. Together they rented a brownstone a few blocks away from Avengers Tower. Loki kept a low profile while Jane worked to incorporate anything of her research that might be helpful in maintaining the peace on Earth as well as in the cosmos. It wasn't much, but she did work in conjunction to Bruce Banner every now and then.

Loki kept his ear to the ground when it came to news of Thanos. He actually knew where the Mad Titan had settled after his Decimation to save the Universe. It was a small planet only a few light years away, but with the technology that Stark had now, it was only a matter of a few hours to reach the planet. That is, whenever they found out. He kept this knowledge to himself, not even letting Jane know. His part to play was over, and it was time for the Avengers to play their role in restoring the natural order of things.

Slowly the planet began to heal, but the people struggled to find meaning. Everyone went about their lives in a mechanical fashion, but no one really lived anymore. It was almost like the world was plunged into the dark ages. There was no more laughter, there was no more joy. It was all anger and sadness. The atmosphere of the planet was so negative that even Loki could feel it pounding against his magical barriers. Several times over the years, he would teleport to the moon, just to get a sense of peace and clarity. With his magic, staying for prolonged periods of time in airless frozen deep space didn't bother him.

The only thing that managed to keep him sane while waiting for what Frigga had referred to as the Endgame was Jane. Together they forged their bond tighter and tighter. As they years passed, their awareness of each other deepened. Their magic was so interwoven that they could now speak mind to mind over great distances. Even when Loki went to the Moon, he could still hear Jane when she called to him.

"Loki!" Jane called to him one day. Loki was walking the sands outside of their old New Mexico dwelling when she called to him. Her mind voice was filled with excitement.

"Jane? What's wrong?"

"I think we have a way to defeat Thanos and bring everyone back." Her excitement fizzled along their bond. "Scott Lang just appeared outside of the Avengers compound upstate. He's been missing for five years, ever since the Snap. We all thought that he had died, but instead he was trapped in the Quantum Realm. He survived the Snap and now he's back."

"Time travel." Loki echoed at the same time she did before continuing. "It is possible. In Asgard, we called it Feldheim, the In-Between. When you or I use our magic to teleport, we actually travel through this realm. If a person is able to fully enter the realm and stay there, the rules of space and time don't exist. Anything and everything is possible in that reality."

"I thought you said that the Norns only granted you that ability."

"They did, at that time." Loki teleported to their brownstone, appearing in his library. "They are known to bend rules for their own devices. They are beyond and above all of us. Their whims shape our reality."

"So this is really possible?" Jane asked, shimmering into existence beside him, cast in an amber glow from the fading light of evening.

"Yes, but fraught with peril." Loki reached out and summoned a book on the Norns and the Feldheim. "This can give you more insight. However, you must not let anyone know where you got the knowledge. It is not yet time for me to reveal myself to the world."

It would be another year before the theory of time travel would be made into reality. Jane worked with Banner, Lang and Stark to build a more complex and stable Quantum Field generator that would be powerful enough to shrink people down in order for them to travel through the dimension to another time. In total, it had been just over five years since the Decimation. Loki let Jane work on the project, only with the promise that once the machine is ready to be tested and launched, that she was nowhere near it. He didn't want to test and see if their bond would survive that type of time travel. The space time warping that he had done was enough to last him a thousand lifetimes.

"According to Pepper, they are going to pluck the Stones from the timeline in order to create their own gauntlet to reverse the Decimation." Jane told Loki as they ate supper, the two women having grown closer in the years after the Snap. "Especially when they finally found Thanos a few years ago, he had used the power of the stones to unmake the stones."

"He would." Loki scoffed, even though he thought the strategy was brilliant. "Destroy the one thing that can undo your work, so that your goal is fulfilled."

"Pepper also said that Thor even beheaded him, even though it was too late to save anyone."

"I've checked in on my brother in secret. He has let that guilt get the better of him." Loki shook his head. "You would barely recognize him now. He's grown quite fat and lazy in his self pity and anger. He doubts that he is still the God of Thunder. I have never actually seen him this depressed before, and it worries me."

"Maybe this mission will help heal his hurt and then you can reveal yourself to him." Jane laid her hand on his arm gently. "After all, I know it has been hurting you to keep yourself hidden from him all these years."

"A reunion would be nice, but I don't know if he can ever forgive me for this last round of faking my death." Loki said bitterly.

"Yes, but you didn't orchestrate your own death or resurrection. That was the Norns, not you." Loki's other half reached out to cup his face lovingly. "He does know you, the old you. You will simply have to show him the man you are now."

She pressed a soft kiss to his lips before pulling back with a small smile.

"One thing at a time. Let the Avengers heal the wounds that Thanos has wrought, and then we can see about healing the wounds in your heart."

"You are wise beyond your years, my love." Loki sighed with a nod, thought popping into his head. "Are you sure you haven't been Touched with the gift of Foresight? Sometimes you sound just like Frigga."

Jane smiled at him, but shook her head.

"No, but I do have the hope, faith and love in both you and your brother that she had. She knew the both of you, better than you knew yourselves. She was your mother, and when we were together before she died, she told me many things about the two of you. It was her words that helped me realize that Thor wasn't the one for me. I simply didn't know that it was her other son that would be my anchor and guiding light."

The next morning, as the two of them ate breakfast, they both felt a ripple. It wasn't a physical ripple, but a magical one, rubbing against their senses and creating a feeling of static electricity. To Jane, it felt like a warm chill racing down her spine. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw reality shimmer, tinted red, and she knew that the timeline was changing. The remains of the Aether inside of her was fighting the change in the timeline, wanting to hold onto Jane with everything it had left. As soon as the sensation began, it passed. The world righted itself as Loki and Jane looked around in apprehension.

"The timeline?" Jane asked open endedly. Mentally she scanned her magical aura, pleased to see that it was still in tact and as strong as ever.

"Yes, the Avengers must have used your device to travel the timestream. To us, it will feel like nothing has really changed, but our magic recognizes magic and responds."

"Why does it seem like we are waiting around for things to change?" Jane had begun to chafe at not doing more to help repair the damage that had been done.

"Because we are, my lovely Jane." Loki replied partiently. "We have both done our parts to make sure that the mission taking place as we speak will be successful."

"I just hate being on the sidelines, not knowing what is going on." Jane huffed, reaching out to take a sip of her coffee.

"I know my love, but - "

Loki was cut off as a wave of rainbow colored lights swept over them, blinding their eyes and their magic. Everything felt like joy and summer, expectant and bright. Love glimmered and hope rejoiced. Jane managed to reach out and take Loki's hand, their combined magic shielding them from the power buffeting them. Chasing after all the emotions was desperation, the need to right a wrong.

"The aura suggests that it is your friend Banner who wields the Gauntlet." Loki murmured, eyes scanning the magic before them. Jane extended her senses, and she could feel joy filling the neighborhood outside. Life was coming back to the darkened planet, and it seemed that every life that had been extinguished was being restored.

"He's bringing everyone back." Jane could feel tears running down her face, but at the same time there was a chill in the back of her mind that she couldn't shake.

"I feel it too Jane." Loki said cautiously. "While Banner may be able to undo the actions of Thanos, the Universe will still seek something in return for the use of such power."

"Do you know what it is?"

"Unfortunately, I do not."