Events mentioned in this chapter are synced with events in the movie Guardians of the Galaxy

Loki paced in the king's study and breathed deeply through his dark frustration. Another search party had returned empty handed; no priestess, no information, nothing. They'd been sent to rest and the next party in the queue had been sent out in a direction previously searched with instructions to go even deeper, look even further.

This had been going on too long, and he was getting desperate. Every second she was out there in that monster's grasp without him put her further into danger and he feared the day he lost hope that she might still be alive.

Kagome was smart and crafty, absolutely able to defend herself, but she was also mouthy as all hell, and he didn't know how much disrespect Thanos would tolerate before he decided her usefulness wasn't worth it.

'And damn can that woman be disrespectful.'

It was always something that had amused him before, he himself being fairly irreverent, but now it only added to his stress.

He went back to Odin's desk and took out the plans he'd drawn up to have a rotating guard always posted near the Reality Stone left with The Collector in case Thanos went after it, which was likely. He'd already had extra guards posted near the tesseract, guards that were to inform him of any subtle flux in the powers inside of it.

Thus far it had remained quiet.

A knock on the study door sounded and triggered his Odin illusion, and the servant at the door entered at his quiet bidding.

"My king," the servant bowed, and then approached the desk with several long, rolled parchments. "The royal architect has delivered these for your approval. The plans you asked to be drawn up for a new theater stage and statues."

"Ah yes. Thank you my good man, you may leave them and go."

When the servant was good and gone he dropped his transformation and rubbed at his eye, still not used to the way the metal patch dug into his skin, and unrolled the plans and looked them over one at a time.

Superfluous, they were all extravagant and superfluous. Silly. Ridiculous. But they were distracting, keeping his subjects attentions off what he may be doing behind the scenes and focused on easy entertainment.

And if he used his new theater for Pro-Loki propaganda then it wasn't just a waste of precious "find-Kagome-immediately" resources.

He snorted at the plans for a great statue of himself, knowing exactly what his little wife would have to say about it. His mouth twitched up in amusement as he adjusted the dimensions of the statue of himself to be bigger. If he was going to buy her criticism for his vanity he may as well make it worth it.

He neatly rolled the diagrams back up and set them aside for later, and then made himself invisible to go to his rooms for a much needed escape before checking on the hopeless fool he'd replaced Heimdall with.

—————-

Thanos raged silently, but his aura swelled, swirled and buffeted against her with deep tides of anger, loud and harsh and consuming. It was nauseating, and Kagome longed to rush away to her room and bury herself under her thin, scratchy blanket. But ever since Gamora had defected and Nebula had been captured, he'd kept her close, way too close, scarcely letting her leave his side save for when she was locked away in her room at night.

He was the worst kind of company, waffling between waxing poetic about his self imposed destiny as savior of the cosmos and reminding her that she alone was responsible for the safety of her own family, one toe out of line and he'd go straight to them.

She was wilting, she could feel it. Her extended stay with Thanos after not only two years of grieving, the shocking blow of her family's lies and Loki's sudden reappearance was all proving to be too much, and she desperately needed to get away, far far away and just breath.

But Thanos did not trust her, especially not after his most beloved daughter had betrayed him, and the other had been taken away.

She glanced up at him on his floating throne and shivered at the twisted scowl on his face.

"Time for bed." He lept down and Kagome tried not to sag in relief and skip merrily down the hall when he led her to her room. The sound of the lock at her back didn't even cause the flinch of dread it used to, feeing a lot more like freedom than prison.

She would dwell on how concerning that shift in mindset was later. For now, she hopped into her bed and pulled the cover over her head. The lights clicked off as they always did, and she brought out her locket for her nightly gazing. As she allowed the shimmering hologram of her wedding portrait to illuminate her little shell of safety under her sheets, she allowed little blossoms of hope to unfurl deep in the recesses of her soul.

Gamora had betrayed them. She'd left. She'd chosen to go against their long held mission and pursue something for herself! This was huge, so very very huge, with a lot of potential for havoc against Thanos and the mission he'd put them all on, as Gamora knew what he was up to, and she'd be in danger of quickly losing her freedom if he couldn't be stopped before it was too late.

But the thrill of excitement at all of those possibilities died a little at her remembrance of Nebula's fate.

She'd been captured and that did not bode well for her. Her holders certainly had no good intentions for her but if she managed to return, Thanos' anger and disappointment at another perceived failure on her part was sure to bring her levels of pain he hadn't yet unleashed on her.

She secretly hoped they never found her, though she would miss her. She was just starting to crack her, she could tell Nebula wanted to actually settle into some kind of... maybe not friendship, but an easier camaraderie where she didn't feel such a need to prove herself.

And now they'd probably never have it.

'All the better. She needs to learn to be fine with herself and if she comes back here, Thanos will just take her apart again and make her feel terrible all over.'

She sighed and took one last look at Loki's face, taking all the love and longing it made her feel and stuffed those feelings even deeper down in her heart and soul where she could build strength from it for all that she could feel coming.

The promise of the safety of her loved ones was a good leash, but it was the only leash that tethered her to Thanos. She did not believe in his cause, nor did she feel any loyalty or familial bond toward him. No, the only thing staying her hand from just killing him were his threats against her family, against Loki, and the fact that she'd be stranded in deep space on a ship she couldn't fly.

But just because she couldn't kill Thanos herself, didn't mean she wouldn't allow someone else to do it.

And she would.

Despite what he believed about what her presence in his life meant, she was not his goddess, not his angel, and she would not protect him. He was a threat to those she had chosen to protect, and for that, she would see him dead.

A.N.: hope you guys aren't too disappointed that Kagome didn't meet the Gaurdians this time, but Thanos was never going to let her go that far away from him. She had to stay behind while Gamora was sent on that particular mission.

But we still have quite a bit of road to travel, and lots of friends to make along the way before we reach our destination. It's not over yet kids!