"Put your back into it Quill!" A racoon shouted as the poor Midgardian was carrying around with what basically amounted to a boulder.

"Careful or I might drop this on you." Quill replied dryly.

"This is fun." Drax said as he came walking and quickly passing Quill carrying a boulder twice as big as Quills with ease. Only for Gamora to come right behind him with her own boulder just as large as Drax's.

Wide-eyed Quill look at them, then at his own boulder. He was red faced and sweaty.

"I am Groot?" The tree alien asked as it came walking by, teenage looking and carrying… Two boulders.

"No! I got it!" Quill huffed. "Shut up."

Loki raised an eyebrow from where he sat slightly elevated from them, of course none of the people could actually see him.

Loki… Had to be very careful with how he used his magic. He was a long long way from his body, his anchor. It wouldn't be good to allow the link to be broken.

All though Loki had to admit… He really had no desire going back.

Yeah this kind of sucked, being a ghost whom couldn't be seen or heard. But at least he was free to move around, to observe.

Loki shivered by the memory of laying in that infernal bed, that constant beeping noise cutting right into his head not even allowing him to slip into his thoughts. Fed through tubes and given bloody oxygen.

That… That had to be hell. Loki would prefer going through Thanos's torture again if given the choice.

Still, if Loki had not used the space stone Thor would have been dead. And so would exactly half of the warriors who had fought Hela.

Unless Thanos just happened to be in a fowl mood and then it could have been all of them.

It was the right decision. Loki knew it was.

"Okay why the hell are we doing this again?!" Quill asked as he had finally dropped his boulder.

Rocket turned to him. "Did you see the seize of that Zeikon?!" he asked, his eyes suddenly huge and sparkling. His mouth open.

"Yes I saw it." Quill snorted.

Loki smirked by the memory, even in his astral from he could make a pretty damn convincing illusion and so he had. Made it look like he had pulled a massive and sparkling gemstone from his pocket. A Zeikon, a gem known for how it would shine in all the colors of the rainbow by itself, it could light up a room with its brilliance and was very saught after due to this very nature. It sure was a good thing this Racoon had no idea he was dealing with the literal god of illusions.

"A real Zeikon that big." Rocket gasped. "That could easily be worth 5 billion credits."

Quill blinked. "Seriously?" he asked. "You… You said billion right, not million."

"Billion." Rocket said.

"Wooow." Quill gaped. "We could upgrade the ship! She needs some tending for sure. We could give her a paint job with real gold."

"What?!" Rocket asked. "I just told what that thing is worth and you want to sell it?!"

"What else are we going to use it for?" Quill asked.

"Use it? I just need to have it!" Rocket shouted as he jumped up and grabbed Quill's color so his small furry face was now right up in Quills face. "I need it Quill. I need it! Do you understand?"

"Hey you know how it goes, we split the profit on our ship." Quill snorted.

"Don't you even dare." Rocket sneered.

"Take it up with Gamora if you are so unhappy." Quill replied.

That made Rocket blink in shock, then his anger turned to the biggest puppy dog eyes. "How could you?" he asked. "It is the rarest thing we are ever going to get our hands on! The rarest. It's like you don't even care about me!"

"Five billion credits split five ways?" Quill asked. "Yeah, between a billion credits and you. I'll take the credits." he stated finally grabbing the Racoon and tearing him off, then plainly dropped him.

Rocket pouted as he was sitting on his ass crossing his arms. "That's just typical." he muttered. "One thing, just one thing I ask for. Have I ever asked for anything else?" he asked.

"YES!" Quill shouted as he was headed for the boulders again. "Just yesterday you asked if we could buy a mechanical hand with a lazer thumb. What did you even need that for!"

"Dude! It was a robot hand with an inbuild lazer!" Rocket shouted as he ran after Quill.

"And the diamond cutter the day before that. Why would you ever need that?" Quill continued.

"You don't know! Maybe we'll need to break into something where you can only get in using a cutter made of diamonds!" Rocket exclaimed and they were both out of hearing range.

Loki sighed deeply, well as long as they got the job done.

Suddenly Loki halted, he looked up to see another member of this merry crew standing right in front of him. Looking at him, an alien with big black eyes. Antennas in her forehead and wearing green, she looked at Loki.

Loki frowned.

"Why are you invisible?" Mantis suddenly asked.

Loki blinked.

"This is weird." Mantis commented reaching out a hand. "I can't see you, but I can feel you." she said her hand gliding through Lokis astral projection. "You are worried… Sad and scared."

Loki frowned. Great! A freaking empath! He hated empaths! "Please don't walk around reading my emotions!" Loki asked loudly.

"Did you say something?" Mantis asked. "I'm sorry, I can't hear you."

Loki sighed deeply, no he wouldn't waste any magic on this.

"You are indeed very worried." Mantis commented. "Worried for someone and scared by something… So this thing we are doing must be very important right?" she asked. "Don't worry, we'll get it done!" she smiled sweetly.

Loki blinked, for a moment actually a bit stunned.

"We are heroes you see! We guard the galaxy!" Mantis informed, looking a bit stunned by that fact. "Rocket says we are mercenaries and it's for the money, but I know that isn't true. We help people all the time. It's really nice!" she beamed happily. "They even saved me! And let me be a part of the Guardians!" her smile was wide and her eyes shining. "Well, I should probably get back to work!" Mantis finally said as she turned and ran towards her destination.

What an odd group of people Loki mussed. Well as long as they got the job done, that was fine.


Thor sighed deeply, it was late evening and people were going to rest.

Thor would have loved it if he could spend his day training, but Doctor Strange had said he shouldn't and when Thor had tried to do it anyway… Sif of all people had put him in his place.

Instead Thor had taken to breathing exercises. It was supposed to help his magic, his thunder… He wished Loki had been there to instruct him. Thor couldn't help but feel like things would have made more sense of Loki had instructed him what to do.

Thor was sitting outside, looking into the flames of a small fire as Sif came. "My king… Are you all right?" she asked.

"Please Sif." Thor asked. "We have been friends for as long as I can remember. When there is no one around, can we please just be friends ones more?" he asked.

"That would please me a great deal." Sif said then walked over to Thor revealing she was carrying two big glass's of beer. One she handed to Thor.

Thor smiled as he accepted. "Thank you." he said and Sif sat down next to him.

"You seem worried Thor." Sif then finally said.

"Thanos is coming our way." Thor sighed. "I felt his power, I was overwhelmed by him. Like I was overwhelmed by Hela. Except this time, destroying buildings wont diminish his power."

Sif nodded as she hung her head. "It was… Really scary." she admitted. "The way he just grabbed you, stepped on you. And I couldn't even move to help. I was scared that if I moved he would kill you. And it looked like, he would have killed you regardless…. I never would have thought." she halted, then she swallowed. "I almost lost you."

Thor swallowed then nodded, he was shaking slightly to.

"If not for Loki." And Thor closed his eyes.

"I know." Sif whispered. "We would be dead... all of us." she closed her eyes as she swallowed. "He'll be all right Thor." Sif assured again, as she always would. "He's to stubborn to go like this."

Thor nodded. "Aye, I know… Why do he keep acting so foolish?" he asked.

"He's the god of Mischief." Sif commented. "I don't think a mischievous person is someone who would play it safe… Ever."

"Aye that's true." Thor sighed deeply.

"Thing about Loki though." Sif commented then leaned towards Thor. "He's a weed, he always comes back. You never ever get rid of him."

Thor chuckled slightly not objecting to Sif's body leaning against his. "That seems pretty true." he commented.

"Loki is a very difficult person to love isn't he?" Sif asked.

"That can't be denied." Thor admitted, sounding very tired.

"Hmm, no wonder then." Sif commented.

"What?" Thor asked.

"Well, I just couldn't help but think about it." Sif commented. "You are such an easy person to love. Loki is really difficult, no wonder he felt overlooked."

Thor sucked in a breath. "That doesn't make him any less worthy of love."

"Of course not, and that's not what I meant." Sif sighed deeply. "You are just… so bright and open and love everything you see. And you shout about your love while embracing each new thing you meet. Loki tends to keep to himself, he keeps a lot of secrets and keep them tight. He acts in secret and does what-ever he feels like doing. Damn tradition and rules… Thor. I know I did him injustice in the past. I never took the time to understand. Who he is… I want to do better. He deserves our love and respect. As much as anyone."

Thor smiled, a warm feeling crawling over his body and he laid an arm around Sif.

"Sif…" Thor whispered in her ear. "I had a thought."

"Hmm?" Sif asked.

"In day time, I belong to the people of Asgard. That cannot be changed. But since the other day, I kept thinking… What about the night?" Thor asked.

Sif blinked, then she smirked. "Well look at who took after his mischievous brother."

"So what's your answer?" Thor asked.

Sif turned her head so now she faced Thor, then she smirked. "Your wish is my command my king."

"Sif, don't talk to me about this as your king." Thor asked. "Not this."

Sif smirked, she raised her hands and then put them on each side of Thors face. Looking at his worn out scarred face, only one eye the other covered by an eyepatch. His hair short and weird. Thor was wearing a Midgardian hoodie and he had never been more attractive in Sif's eyes.

"As you wish." Sif replied. "My love." and she leaned over planting her lips on Thors and he leaned into her pressing her into his body.

This promised to be another fantastic night.