Author's Note: Happy Monday!

Tony: Those are two words that never go together.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. Also, maybe expect the next chapters to come this week. I have been writing like crazy, and they are both pretty long. So, hopefully, I might be able to post more this week. No promises, though. Also, I noticed that when I post fanfiction, if there is a scene change, the little horizontal line doesn't show up. So, I went through and tried to fix it, so hopefully it worked, so hopefully you can tell that there is a scene change, and hopefully that makes the chapters make a little more sense! Enjoy!

Chapter 25: Explanations

What was the feeling that you usually get when you wake up in the middle of the night realizing that you haven't worked at all on that five page essay due at midnight? Oh, yeah. Panic. That is exactly what you feel at the moment.

"How can I feel the Infinity Stones!" you shout-scream at no one in particular.

"Calm down," Tony says unwisely.

"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CALM DOWN?" you freak, rounding on him. It is a miracle that the room isn't covered in a layer of ice. "Do any of you have any idea how much power is flowing through me right now? How am I even alive? You know what, maybe I did die all of those months ago. Either that or I lost it!"

"Hey," Natasha snaps. Everyone looks at her. Natasha is not known for raising her voice. "Do you really think you are going to find answers by freaking out? How has loosing it ever helped anybody? Now, unless you calm down, I will personally taze you until you pass out, and then I will tie you to a chair so tightly that when you do wake up, you will have no room to freak out. Do we understand each other?"

Natasha was really scary when she got in your face, and you squeak, "Yes."

"Good," she says quietly again, which happened to make her scarier. "Now, let's think about this rationally. Loki!"

Loki jumped. Apparently, even Loki could be rattled by Nat. "Yes?" he asks timidly.

"Do you have any ideas?" she asks, raising an eyebrow and nodding in your direction.

Loki looks confused for a moment, before Natasha gestures silently to you again. "Oh," he says in understanding.

"What? Will someone please tell me what is going on? If none of you do, I won't have a choice in freaking out," you say. But you instantly raise your hands in surrender when Natasha rounds on you.

"I think we have no choice," Loki says. "We are going to have to show you your memories."

"What?" Steve and Tony shout.

"It is the only way," Loki says calmly.

"Yeah, the only way to make her head implode! Don't worry, that probably won't happen," Tony says to you.

"How do we know this is safe? It could kill her, Loki," Steve says lowly and dangerously. "If something happens to her-"

Steve doesn't finish his threat. He and Loki are standing very close together, and though they are roughly the same height, Steve isn't backing down.

"If something does happen, it will not be worse than letting her memories spill out and her power loose control. It almost killed her today, it will surely kill her next time. This way, we will have a sort of leash on the potential energy burst," Loki says.

"Wow, you guys are really good at this motivational stuff," you say. "Why would the energy kill me? I thought Wanda said it was…happy…" you trail off, realizing just how weird that sounds.

"While the energy itself may not want to cause you harm, the amount of energy flowing through you could potentially kill you," Loki says softly. "And I would rather avoid that if all possible."

Everyone looks taken aback. Loki has never let down his guard like that.

"I have the ability to show her the memories, but I think she should go in with some warning," he says.

Natasha nods. "Best to ease her in slowly," she says.

"Okay, so start talking," you say.

"Before Germany, you had no powers whatsoever. Not even an inkling of magic," Loki says. "But that changed. The one thing you did have was your resilience and loyalty. You wouldn't let anyone get hurt because of you, and that was your drive from waking up from…from the Mind Stone."

"So wait, the Mind Stone is how I got my powers?" you ask.

"Yes," he answers.

"But, Clint was taken over too, and he got no powers. Wanda had experiments that got her her powers, but they aren't like mine at all!" you say.

Loki raises his hand to stem the flow of questions. "Yes, but all of you 'woke' differently. How the Mind Stone works is it uses itself to take over the mind. It goes inside of you, much like a virus. The bit inside of Clint was literally knocked out of him by Natasha. Wanda doesn't actually have the Stone inside of her either. You, on the other hand, subdued the Stone's power. It is inside of you, but you have control over it. It gave you your powers the same way Wanda got hers, but the Stone is still living in you. It is a part of you. Essentially, you are the Mind Stone. You have its power at your will."

"That is why when Wanda touched me, my energy reacted so strongly," you say.

Loki nods. "And, all of the Infinity Stones are connected," he says. "That is why you can feel them all."

"And control them?"

"Not quite. You and the Mind Stone are one thing, but you and the other Stones live in symbiosis. Each benefit from the other, none needing to do what the other says. While you do have access to the other Infinity Stones, it is a little more like borrowing their power. You have used their power in the past when you needed."

"Okay," you say, hoping that you'll understand better later. You look at your hands. Is the Mind Stone still active inside of you? Is it's energy…your energy coursing through your veins this second? "Anything else?" you ask.

"You might not see every single memory. Probably just the most important ones," Loki says. "And, not all of them are pleasant, so be prepared."

"Do we know why I was in an alternate reality thing yet?" you ask.

Loki frowns at the ground, thinking. "Not yet. Hopefully this will help, though. However, I believe that I know why you came back."

"What? Why?" you press.

"Where you were, it made you forget everything, right?"

You nod.

"But, the movies were still coming out. And you said that they suddenly started making a lot more very quickly," he says.

Again, you nod.

"My guess is that each movie is you remembering something. You were beginning to remember so much that it knocked you back into this reality," Loki says.

"Woah. So Falcon and Winter Soldier, Endgame, Black Widow, those were all me starting to remember?" you ask.

Loki nods.

"But, what was that reality where I was anyway?" you ask.

This time, Loki remains silent. "It might be better for you to see," he says.

"This won't hurt like last time, will it?" you ask.

"No," Loki says with conviction.

"Good. Because you said that last time too," you say.

Loki smirks. "Trust me, Y/N," he says.

A soft smile breaks onto your lips. "All right," you say, but you can't help but feel nervous goosebumps prickle up and down your spine as Loki places his fingertips on your temples. Before anything happens though, Steve's voice breaks through, "Wait."

You open your eyes and Loki's fingers leave your temples. "What?" you ask.

Steve looks at you with intense sorrow. You don't know if you have every seen him this sad. He looks so torn that it seems to physically hurt him. "There is one more thing you need to know," he says.

He looks at the ground before speaking, whether to get control or to steel himself. He then looks up at you again, his face twisted with pain. "You died," he says.

You blink, but you actually aren't that surprised. You have been wondering if you ashed away or not. You guess that this is the answer. You nod. "Yeah, I kinda guessed that I did," you say. "But I won't go anywhere." You give him a brave smile. Steve puts a hand on your shoulder as Loki reaches towards you again. His fingers are cold when they brush the side of your face.

"Are you ready?" he asks. You start to see golden light flickering in his eyes.

"Yes," you say.

Then, you are plunged into darkness.