Author's Note: Hello, dear readers! We are officially done with Memories chapters! Woo-hoo! I hope you all enjoyed the Endgame chapter I posted last week. Also, as a heads up, chapters will start to get shorter since now, I don't have a script to write off of. Now *gasp* I have to come up with something...original! Also, I haven't had many Avengers talking in my Author's Note, so here you go!

All of the Avengers: ENJOY!

Chapter 35: Awakening

You thought you would suddenly gasp awake as though waking from a nightmare, but you slowly woke up as though waking from a deep sleep.

You opened your eyes and sway a bit as the room spun. Someone puts a hand on your shoulder to steady you.

"Easy, it's all right, you're right here," Steve's voice says.

"That was…weird," you say as you think over everything that you just saw. "How long was I out?" you ask. You can finally see everyone huddled around you, their faces slightly frowning with concern.

"Only about fifteen minutes," Steve answers.

"Really?" you ask, somewhat disappointed. "It felt like eight weeks or more…" You paused as you think over all of the scenes and years you saw. It felt more like you were watching a movie than a memory. You thought that you would feel more connected with the Avengers and everything would fit back into place, hardening your friendship with them, but instead, you just feel like you. You are a little disappointed that you didn't quite relate to your 'memories' as much as you thought you would. "I passed out a lot," you observe suddenly.

Everyone around you gives somewhat hesitant nods.

"It was kind of your thing," Tony says cheerily.

You slump where you are sitting. "Great. Why am I called Timberwolf if I could be called Sleeping Beauty," you say grumpily, and Steve smiles. You felt as though you haven't seen that smile in a long time. It's the one that makes his entire face seem brighter. It doesn't feel familiar or anything, but it does feel like you almost earned it in a way. Even though you don't feel like you have known them for years, you still have a friendship with all of them.

You turn to look at Loki. "Did you see all of that?" you ask.

He nods. "I have had my suspicions about what happened at the end, but I was never sure. Now I understand," he says.

"I'm not quite sure I do," you say.

"Do you remember what happened when Wanda destroyed the Infinity Stone?" he asks.

"Yeah. Another time I passed out," you say, trying not to say the word 'died'.

"Yes, in a way," Loki says knowingly. "That event in time happened, but then, after it happened, the Time Stone intervened a few minutes before and redirected your time-stream. It is almost like an author writing something, then erasing it, and rewriting it."

You nod in understanding.

"That is what you did with all of us. You also turned all of time back five years so you could regain the missing time with everyone," Loki says. "You changed everyone's timelines away from their death. You used the Reality Stone to help 'iron out' the creases in the fabric of the universe so that this is now the right reality."

"You even brought Peggy forward in time," Steve says. "As of right now, we are courting."

"So, what about the other reality? The one where you are all movie characters?" you ask.

"When you gave the Stones your orders, you told them to make it so that none of Endgame ever happened," Loki explains, remembering the movie title. "The Reality Stone did what you asked. You were actively controlling it, making it perfect this universe, but as soon as your hold started to loosen, it turned around and made another reality. A copy, but where none of this ever happened. It made everything related to the Avengers disappear. However, it couldn't hold back all of your memories. So, it turned them into movies so that you actually never lived any of it."

"Wait a second," you interrupt, holding up a hand. "So…does that mean that all of the movies…were my memories?"

Loki nods. "Yes. Whenever an Avenger movie came out, it was you remembering something. Whether it be you remembering stories that we told you from events in our past or your own experiences."

You stare at nothing for a few moments, trying to let all of it sink in. There was just so much. "Why am I here?" you ask after you think you have had enough time to process everything.

"Do you remember what you told us when you were writing down all of the movie titles?" Loki asks.

You shake your head, rubbing your temples. "It felt like weeks ago," you say. Steve gently rubs your shoulder when he hears the stress in your voice.

"You told us that more movies were being made a lot quicker now. There were at least three new TV-shows coming out within the span of a few months," Steve says. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Your memories were appearing faster and faster. The alternate reality was unable to sustain you remembering so much, so it threw you out," Loki continues. "You were starting to remember more often. That is why the 'movies' were coming out so many so quickly. At least, those are all my best guesses…"

You give a small chuckle. "Those are pretty good guesses."

"Well, seeing your memories helped. I knew that you saved us, I just wasn't sure how. I didn't tell the other Avengers because I wanted to wait to see what was happening with you," Loki says.

"Wait..that one time when we were walking from the gym after training. You said that you owed me your life," you say. "Was this what you meant? I mean, in Ragnarok and Dark World, we were practically constantly saving each other's lives as we fought."

Loki nods, looking slightly embarrassed or shy about the subject. "Yes. I knew that you actively chose our timelines. Using the Infinity Stones like that was an incredibly large risk. You cut off my timeline before I was killed so that I didn't die. Essentially, you pulled me out of the way of a speeding truck at your own expense," Loki says softly.

You sit back on your heels, looking at your hands. You really don't think that you could ever have that much control over your powers. But you are glad, with all of your heart, that you did for that one moment.

"Not to sound sentimental," you say softly, "but I am really glad that you all exist."

You feel a lump forming in your throat when you look at all of them. These characters which you have grown up with, which you are now only getting to know, they were always there for you. Even when you were in the theaters, watching their movies, they were out there, waiting for you to come home.

Then you realize: home. This is where you belong. And you wouldn't trade it for anything else.

Steve is the first to bend down and hug you. "I'm really glad that you found your way back to us," he whispers so softly that only you can hear.

Then, Natasha kneels down next to you and wraps both you and Steve in a hug, leaning close enough that Steve can't hear. "I'm really glad that you found your way back to us."

You close your eyes, smiling in relief, joy, and love as all of your friends slowly pile on their hugs, each whispering the same message over and over to you, each person quiet enough or close enough that only you hear.

"I'm really glad that you found your way back to us."

Loki is the only one not to join, but he watches you all with a slight longing look in his eyes. His pale lips are slightly turned up in a soft smile.

He slowly and silently stands, watching everyone. Loki is too guarded to let himself get entangled in a group hug. You know that, so you aren't hurt as he starts to walk away. He still gives you the creeps sometimes, and he has his dark days. He is secretive, cold, vengeful, and regretful trickster… But he helped you.

As he walks away, his fingers brush yours, and you suddenly feel as though a one-way, telepathic tunnel opened up from you to him.

Thank you. His voice echoes in your head, which honestly, makes you feel cold. But his words hold so much. Basically, he said the exact same thing that everyone else did.

As he walks away, the tunnel closes once his hand leaves yours. Right before it closes completely, you whisper back-

Thank you...

The rest of the day, you all relax around the TV room. The movie screen is black, since Steve thought it best not to watch another movie in case it was in German, at which point, he sent Clint an eyebrows-of-disappointment-look.

A few of the Avengers are either on their phones or reading a book, but most of you are just sitting there, trying not to think. You feel as though someone has pounded you on the head with a sledge-hammer.

Repeatedly.

Loki warned you that it was an after-effect of all of the memories. You were still very nervous about the other universe. Loki said that the reason he had encountered a problem when he first tried to read your mind was because of the Infinity Stones. They were basically tricked into thinking that you were still in the alternate universe, so they were trying to protect you. He also warned you that you may never actually remember everything because of what he did to show you your memories. However, you are actually okay with that. You still feel different from the person you saw in your head. You still don't know Steve or any of the others any better because the memories were only of the large, impactful moments of your life.

You sighed, running your hands through your head as you realize that you are thinking again. You flop across Steve's lap. His only response is to flip the page of his book.

"Who wants ice-cream?" Natasha says. Even though her voice is soft, the sudden sound makes everyone jump. "Nothing better to heal a head-ache than ice-cream," she says knowingly.

"Yes!" Tony shouts first. "I want some! Extra chocolate, I need my energy!"

Thor's eyes instantly light up at the mention of dessert, and a goofy grin spreads over his face.

"Okay, that is a 'yes' from Thor," Natasha says. "Let me rephrase this: all who do not want ice-cream, raise your hand."

Everyone avoided eye contact as Natasha smiled and silently walked out of the room.

"Hey, Steve, I have a question," you say softly, still hanging over his knees like a limp cat.

You hear his book close, and he gives a slight chuckle of amusement. "Yeah?" he asks.

"If everyone is okay, then where are they? The only person I have seen outside of the original Avengers has been Wanda. Where is Bucky? Or Vision? Or Fenris?" you ask.

Wanda had gone upstairs right before you woke back up since she knew your powers would be out of balance. She said that she was going to be absent for a while just to make sure that you were safe.

"You saved us from Thanos, but there are still skirmishes here and there. Usually, they aren't anything incredibly serious," Steve explains. "There is still enough going on that it keeps us busy. Every once in a while, something larger comes along, but it usually doesn't take us very long to take care of."

"We send the younger generation out because we are old and want retirement," Tony says from where he is slumped over the back of the couch on his phone.

You give a slight smirk.

"It is actually very rare that we have everyone here at once," Steve continues. "They also have their own homes to be at. And, they usually have perimeter checks or something to keep them busy."

"Oh," you say, shifting your weight slightly to get more comfortable.

"Bucky should be back soon," Steve says softly, and you suddenly jump up, making him grunt.

"Sorry," you say as he rubs his knees. "Bucky is coming back? When?" You feel extremely excited to meet Bucky. You hope that you will get along with him. Meeting other Avengers always gives you a thrill.

"Fenris is with him," Loki reminds.

"Yay! So I get to meet two puppies!" you say.

"Two?" Steve asks.

"Memes, Steve," Tony grunts.

At that moment, Natasha walks in with giant bowls heaped with ice-cream. There is so much chocolate sauce on Tony's that there seems to be more chocolate than ice-cream.

Natasha gives you a bowl the size of your head that is filled to the brim with cookies-and-creme and splattered with chocolate. "Ooooh, I like it when you dish up ice cream," you say, grabbing the long sundae spoon and digging in (literally).

Natasha sets the tray down on the coffee table before plunking into the couch next to Clint, her hair flouncing.

As you eat, your eyes flick around the group, and you find it amusing how much you can tell about them just by how they eat their ice-cream.

Tony is almost already done with his and is sticking his face in the bowl and licking it clean. The bowl is glass, so you get a visual.

Bruce is standing off in a corner, taking tiny bits of ice-cream. His bowl seems a little smaller than the rest.

Thor and Loki are occupying a couch, though Thor is taking up more than half of the space and Loki is in the noticeably shadier part of the couch. Thor scoops up a giant chunk of ice-cream that is about three inches in diameter before stuffing it in his mouth. He chews for a few moments, looking just like a three-year old. Then, he grunts and scrunches up his face, rubbing his forehead with his fist as a brain-freeze hurts his head. Loki side-glances him before smirking to himself at Thor's brain-freeze and then eating his own ice cream. Once Thor has swallowed all of his ice-cream and the brain-freeze has gone, he proceeds to grab another large chunk of ice-cream that repeats the process.

Loki almost seems to eat the ice-cream elegantly. You almost think he should raise his pinky in the air since he eats his ice-cream almost as though he is drinking tea. You didn't even think someone could eat ice-cream like that. Occasionally, though, he watches as Thor suffers another brain-freeze before scooping up his own hunk of ice-cream and mirroring Thor, smirking at his older brother as he is not tormented by the cold. Thor then mutters something unintelligible at Loki, which only seems to bolster the trickster's mischievousness.

Clint, who is sitting scrunched up next to Natasha, occasionally tries to steal some of her dessert, only for her to successfully spoon-fight him way before going back to her bowl with a bit of his ice-cream on her spoon.

Steve seems to eat his ice-cream the most normally. He is slightly hunched over his bowl, his shoulders so broad that they cast a large shadow over his dessert. He eats reasonably small bits of ice-cream, but his icy eyes watch his friends.

You curl up against the edge of the couch, cradling your bowl as you watch all of your friends.

This is home.