Chapter titles come from Lord Huron songs. Also, I hope to get the third and final chapter up before Endgame comes out, but it may be difficult so I might not be able to. We're in the home stretch, though! Please leave a review if you liked, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks so much and enjoy!

"I'm sorry you suffered, Peter."

The boy shrugged. "It was me or Mr. Stark. I-I guess I didn't even have to think twice about it."

Loki knew how that went; when you love someone so much that you don't even have to contemplate saving their life at the cost of your own.

His thoughts drifted back towards his brother. He wondered if he was alive, if he killed Thanos, if he avenged his death. Loki just wished he could have one more minute with his brother to tell him how damn sorry he was for everything.

"How did you get here then?" Peter asked.

Loki hesitated, and he heard footsteps approaching them. "A story for another time…we're not alone."

"Wh-what? I don't sense anything, my spidey-senses aren't activating, so there can't be—" Peter rambled before Loki clamped a hand over his mouth. Insufferable mortals; they just never knew when to shut up.

(Well, Loki would be a hypocrite if he said he was never accused for the same exact thing. But that was a conversation that could be held some other time.)

He went to conjure a knife as a form of defense, but nothing happened. His magic wasn't just depleted, it was simply gone. He'd never dare tell anyone but… he certainly was frightened. The footsteps drew nearer and nearer and Loki pushed Peter behind him, turning to face whatever was headed towards them.

He took a defensive stance, ready to strike, but the person walked closer and put her hands above her head in surrender. She had green skin—the trademark of the Zehoberei. Loki had thought they were all extinct… all except one.

"I am no threat, son of Odin," she spoke finally. Well, how lovely, she already knew who Loki was. "You and the boy are safe."

"Yes, safe and dead," Loki deadpanned. "I assume you are as well?"

"Dead? I guess… I guess you could call us that. We're inside the soul stone—"

"Wait, that's one of the stones Dr. Strange was talking about!" Peter had pushed past Loki's protective arm to greet the woman. "I'm Peter or, uh, Spider-Man."

Loki watched inquisitively as a look of longing passed across the Zehoberei's face. So, the boy reminded her of someone.

"Peter… that's a nice name. My-my friend's name is Peter." Her stone cold demeanor had softened and actually gave the boy a smile.

Loki would have gagged if the same thing hadn't happened to him when he met Peter.

"You seem to know who I am and the child's introduced himself, so who are you, hm?" Loki tried to act aloof, like he'd always been in life, but it appeared he wasn't really fooling anyone. Even Thor had finally been able to see past his lies. There didn't seem to be a point in putting up a facade of disinterest and hostility anymore.

"I'm Gamora, member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. I'd expect someone as cunning as you to remember me, 'god of Mischief'," she crossed her arms and gave a small smirk.

As if being the daughter of Thanos was funny.

"And yet, we're both dead all the same," the Asgardian shot back. He could hardly forget his time as Thanos's pawn, and this girl had the nerve to joke about it—

"Not for long. If we're all here, then this must mean we all died by Thanos's hand in his quest to receive an infinity stone." When Gamora received two confused glances in response, she rolled her eyes. "I thought you were the well-read one of Odin's house?"

Loki narrowed his eyes. "And how is it, dear daughter of Thanos, that you came across this information?" he sneered. At this, Gamora's expression turned dark.

How splendid; he'd hit a nerve.

"Thanos is not my father."

"He was your father when I'd heard horrific tales of the titan's favorite daughter, the Zehoberei, Gamora, who would carry out my execution if I did not cooperate," Loki pressed, his emotions getting the better of him. She called herself a "guardian", but no spawn of the mad titan could be remotely trustworthy—

"And you, 'Odinson'? You've no right to judge me."

—yet she made a good argument there. "No. I suppose I don't." A beat of silence fell upon them. Well, now that the "pleasantries" were out of the way, they could start figuring out what the Hel happened to them. "Peter here died in Thanos's attempt to secure the time stone. I gave up my life and the space stone. How did you get here?"

Her expression was haunted as she recalled her past, but Peter spoke before she could respond. "Wait. You're the Gamora? Quill and the others were worried sick about you!"

She snapped her head towards the boy. "You-you know Quill?"

"Yeah. He was with me when I… when Thanos came for the stone. He came up with this really great plan and then lost his shit when he heard something happened to you. And uh, there was that blue lady—I don't know if you know her. She never really introduced herself. She just kinda flew in on a spaceship and crashed it into Thanos. Now that I think about it, it was pretty badass—"

"Nebula," both Loki and Gamora said in unison. They glared at each other, and only Gamora continued. "Are they okay? Were they taken in the snap?"

"I uh…" Peter mumbled, his eyes fixed on his shoes, "I died before I saw anything. You-you mean he…?"

"Yes. The only reason we're here right now is because Thanos succeeded in using the six infinity stones to wipe out half of all life. Until the stones have a new bearer, we're stuck here."

That was not what Loki expected to hear. How could Thor have let this happen? He was by far the strongest being that he knew of, and if he couldn't beat the infinity stones…

Did Thanos kill him, too?

Loki didn't dwell on it—he couldn't. Thinking of his brother like that brought him only pain; more pain than he'd like to admit.

"Is there a way to undo it?" he asked instead.

"I don't know," Gamora said simply.

"What do you mean 'you don't know'? You seem to know a Hel of a lot about why we're here, so there has to be something…" Loki had to keep thinking—keep hoping that somehow he could avenge his brother's failure. Really, it was his own failures that got them into this mess. He couldn't think about that now, though. There would be enough time for guilt and grief once this was all over with. Once Thanos was finally met with the death he courted so furiously.

The sight of the gauntlet flashed through Loki's mind again, and he could feel it closing around his throat. Thrashing, struggling, there was no escape, he was stuck and there was no escape, not even giving up the Tesseract had saved him and Thor, they were doomed, he was doomed, the universe would fall, his brother would fail—

You truly are the worst brother.

No. He had to prove Thor wrong, he had to save his brother. He had to make up for everything he'd lost, everything he'd thrown away.

Focus. The gauntlet, the stones…

"There are six infinity stones, yes? There's three of us. Where are the other three? Who are they?" Loki shook off his anxious thoughts and began pacing. Moving was good, it meant they were going somewhere. They weren't just stuck.

"Vision! He was an Avenger with that yellow stone in his forehead. Mr. Stark didn't say much, but I found out it came from your scepter," Peter said, turning to Loki.

"The mind stone," said Gamora.

"They used my scepter to make a robot? How pathetic."

"You really think so?" a polite voice chimed in behind them. The android had silently walked to them, and Loki hadn't even noticed. Honestly? He could have done without the continuous awkward exchanges between all of the infinity stone sacrifices. He'd had a shit enough day already.

"Oh my God! No way! You're the Vision! Oh man, I've always wanted to meet you sir—well, under better circumstances, but still! It's an honor!" Peter exclaimed. He proceeded to gawk at the android while Loki frowned behind them. Again, he couldn't quite place the origin of the pit in his stomach when Peter instantly praised the Vision for being a hero, while Loki was instantly carded off as a villain.

Well, he supposed he earned that title.

"Apologies, I did not know you were, uh, here. I am—"

"Loki Laufeyson. The mind stone held many consciousnesses, Ultron, JARVIS, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, but yours was the hardest to subdue. So much anger and hatred, many times I had to restrain myself from acting on such feelings," Vision said.

Loki Laufeyson. Just the thought of the name made Loki want to vomit. So much self-hatred and loneliness bound into one word. Thanos primed the mind stone to manipulate the god, drawing on his weaknesses to mold him into the perfect minion. It was that version of himself that the Vision knew; it was that consciousness that became intertwined with the mind stone. It wasn't that Loki necessarily felt terrible for his deeds—there wasn't anything he could do to change them now—but the fact that he'd been beaten so easily by the titan ate away at him. He was vulnerable, and easily cracked under pressure to become the monster he feared he was as soon as that Jotunn grabbed his arm all those years ago.

All that he'd tried to prevent had come to pass, and the name "Laufeyson" was a sick reminder of it all. Yet, he'd called himself "the rightful king of Jotunheim" before he died. Laufey was never his father, not really. But that didn't mean he couldn't own up to his duty that Loki technically never got to fulfill. Not that it mattered anymore. The titan had still stripped everything from him, down to the last sight he'd live to see. How badly he wished to have been able to look Thor in the eye one last time…

No, he could not long for what could never be. Even if someone else were to acquire the stones and free him, Loki would be sent straight to Hel where he belonged. He would never see his brother again. There was no use in feeling sorry for himself.

Still, it would bring him some small comfort if…if… "I'd prefer if you'd call me Odinson. I am not the same person who invaded New York. I'm no longer under the titan's influence, and I know I am not Laufeyson. At least grant me the privilege of my dignity, Vision."

The android's eyes twinkled, if that was even possible. "Of course, Loki Odinson."

To Loki's great surprise, Gamora laid a hand on his shoulder. "You may think Thanos will have his hold over you forever, but you've already beaten him. By forging your own path in spite of him, you've broken free from his grasp. Trust me, I would know." She paused and released him, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I think we got off to a bad start. We are all going to have to work together to figure this out."

"So there's four of us, six stones. Loki, uh, died for the space stone, Vision had the yellow one—" Peter began.

"Mind stone," Gamora corrected.

"Right. That. And I… I'm here for the time stone. That leaves the soul stone, the purple one and the red one. Oh, hey, that's the colors of the rainbow!"

Loki fought the urge to roll his eyes. "How old are you again?"

"17. Why?"

"Gamora, which stone did he kill you for?" Loki said, ignoring Peter's question. He felt a bit bad for being so insensitive, but there wasn't any time for "beating around the bush". He could tell this was a sore subject, but Gamora responded anyways.

"He tossed me off a cliff as a sacrifice for the soul stone," she said without pause. "A soul he loved for a soul of power."

The rest of them went silent. Wasn't she technically his daughter…? Loki supposed Thanos didn't deserve to be called Gamora's father if he killed her for power. The god wasn't an expert on the subject, but he at least knew that couldn't have been an act of love. He was surprised the soul stone had granted its power to the titan.

"You were right," Loki said.

"About what?"

"You are no daughter of Thanos, and he is no father to you." The god gave an awkward smile. His brother once said he was incapable of sincerity, and that was more often than not true. So when Loki actually was sincere, well, he wasn't sure if he was doing it right.

Gamora didn't seem to mind. She gave him a watery smile, "Thank you."

Maybe these people were bearable to share this "space" with after all.

"That leaves us with the power and reality stones," Vision said. "I doubt we would have to go looking for the other individuals, since we all seem to end up here."

"The reality stone was with the Collector, I'm not sure where Thanos took it from though," Loki said. Sif and Volstagg had delivered it to the Elder, but who knew what could have happened between then and now. He tried to tell Valkyrie to find it, that Thanos would be looking for it, but he wouldn't be surprised if she ignored him.

Gamora shook her head, "No, we went to Knowhere, Thanos was waiting for us. But I doubt an Elder would let himself be killed for an infinity stone. He must have gotten someone else to take his place." She turned to Loki, "Thor—your brother said that Thanos 'decimated Xandar'."

"Yes, the titan wasn't too modest about that victory."

"Uh, what's a 'Xandar'?" Peter spoke up. The poor boy simply had no idea what they were talking about, but his eyes remained wide with wonder and awe. He reminded Loki a bit of himself when he was younger.

"It's a planet. Or, well, it was."

Loki wanted to scream. Seriously, how was it possible for people to walk in the middle of their conversations and give answers? Okay, so he had a new pet-peeve.

"Who-what? Where did you just come from?" Peter seemed equally annoyed and aware of the continuous intrusions.

The speaker was a young man who looked Asgardian or even Midgardian, but unrecognizable by those who were present. Loki thought he could have been Asgardian by the way he held himself, as if he used to have power before finding himself in the soul stone. But it couldn't have been seidr (Loki would know if someone was blessed with the gift like him and Thor), so that ruled out Asgard or Vanaheim. And his clothing seemed to be a collection of leathers and armor, reminiscent of Midgard. Not for the first time, Loki was utterly clueless.

"I tried to keep the power stone from him, I did, but he obviously had been preparing for this for a long time," said the man.

"Who are you?" Gamora asked, looking genuinely intrigued. She'd actually been to Xandar most recently, but she'd never met this man before.

"You guys wouldn't know me, I'm just Ian Drake. I was a member of Xandar's Nova Force."

...

The past couple years after graduation had been pretty uneventful. Living in the capital of Xandar wasn't as glorious as everyone made it sound, and sometimes he missed the grueling days of his training to be a part of the force. Most of the time he remembered how peaceful his old home had been. Far away from Xandar, he'd lived with his family and friends when he'd applied to be a part of the Nova Force. It was only a year of training, and he could go home to visit once he graduated.

He didn't have a home to return to, what with it being burned to the ground by Thanos.

He'd heard whispers and nightmarish tales of the mad titan, but he wasn't one to listen to ghost stories. So, imagine his surprise when a giant purple titan had ravaged his planet and killed his family, all in hopes to "keep the balance" of the universe.

His fellow peers offered him condolences, but soon the terrible tragedy that had befallen his home planet wasn't thought of only after a couple months. Just another faraway place that the mad titan had devastated. Thanos faded back into being a myth, but Ian Drake never forgot what happened.

How could he?

He'd lost everything that mattered to him—well, almost everything. It took awhile, but eventually Ian realized that while he couldn't go back in time to save his family, he could give others the future he'd never have. That was what he fought for.

When the titan practically decimated Xandar, Ian was there. He couldn't do a damn thing about it, and he hated being just as powerless as he'd been all those years ago. He was given a duty to protect the power stone—even though he had no idea what it was—and the rest of his comrades had fallen to the titan's seemingly endless army.

All this destruction, and for what?

Just so some titan could prove he was the most powerful being in the universe—just to show that he could prove he could weigh people's lives against each other. All in the name of balance.

"Balance," Ian mumbled to himself. The word left a bitter taste in his mouth. As if one self-righteous being could decide when life could stop or start.

He headed towards the vault that held the orb—which undoubtedly held the power stone—and grimaced as he sidestepped the debris scattered all around. He didn't want to think about the bodies that littered the ground among the debris either…

As he neared the room that kept the power stone, he noticed the door was busted off of its hinges carelessly. It was like Thanos wanted whoever dared to follow him to know just how powerful he was without the infinity stones. Ian jogged in anyways to find the villain cracking open the orb that confined the stone.

"I can't let you do that," Ian said. A burning rage took over him, and his hands shook uncontrollably. He could hear his family's screams in his head, see the smile on the titan's face, the burning homes—

"And what makes you think you can deny me my power?" the titan asked calmly. He spoke with a condescending tone, as if Ian was a simple child asking about a complicated calculus he would never understand. "The stones are rightfully mine; I've endured suffering you could never dream of enduring, child. I've searched for them to avenge what was taken from me. Please don't try to stand in my way, it will only end in torment for you."

"What if stopping you is the way to avenge what was taken from me?" he snapped in response.

The titan didn't answer, probably deeming that Ian wasn't worth his time. He continued to crack the orb, and a poignant purple light seeped through.

"So you don't even remember Vormir? You don't remember all the lives you took that day? All to prove what, huh?!" Ian spat, his anger getting the best of him. But as vengeful as he was, he knew an opportunity to stall when he saw one. The more time the universe had to prepare for the wrath of Thanos, the better.

The mad titan finally turned around to face Ian. It seemed the name of his old home was of some interest. "Vormir?"

"You decimated it in hopes of finding an infinity stone. You failed. So you killed them all, you bastard—"

"There was no stone, and yes, I thought I eradicated the population. You seemed to have escaped." Thanos shrugged, "Or ran. I don't judge." 'Two could play at the game of manipulation' was the gist of the statement.

The two were now face-to-face, the cracked orb still in the titan's hand. The power emanating from the orb was intoxicating, and Ian found himself drawn to it. He'd heard that the Guardians brought the stone to Xandar a few years back, but after what happened to his home he never wanted to hear anything about the infinity stones ever again. So he didn't pay attention to all the news surrounding the defeat of Ronan, and instead he just went on with his life in the Force. But it didn't matter if he wanted to know or not, he heard rumors all throughout Xandar of the stone's capabilities. Allegedly, the power stone was an ancient artifact that could kill any common life-form on contact, but titans and other powerful beings weren't as easily affected. Ian thought he fell more into the "common organism" category, so he didn't know if he'd be vaporized on the spot if he so much as looked at the infinity stone.

But now that the stone was in front of him, he couldn't help but reach out to it. Thanos didn't even try to stop him, knowing full well that Ian would probably die on the spot.

The pain was indescribable at first. Ian could hear screams coming from all around him, but he soon realized they were coming from his own mouth. Alright, so maybe picking up the stone was a bad idea.

He was about to drop it when he heard a voice that didn't come from Thanos or himself, but seemed to be coming from the stone. It permeated through his mind to the point where he wasn't sure if he was hearing the words anymore or seeing them before him:

Soul. Soul. Soul.

The stone was calling out to him like a younger sibling to the older. Ian had no idea why, but he was grateful something could distract him from the agonizing pain.

We need to stop him, Ian communicated back. If you asked him to try and explain how exactly he was doing that, he would shrug. He literally had no idea.

Soul. What will you give? Soul...?

Give? What else did he have to give? The titan took everything from me, he responded with tears in his eyes. I'm worth nothing.

If he was worth nothing, then why could he pick up the power stone? The thought barely crossed his mind, but it reminded him of just what was at stake. If he could give others more time, just a little more time to protect the future that they wanted to see…

Take me, Ian concluded, when this is over.

The stone looked fondly at him—he really didn't understand how that was possible, but decided not to question it—and in an instant the pain ceased and Ian felt as though he was soaked in ancient power. The agreement was made, and the stone's purple color seeped from his fingertips and blazed in his eyes.

"Well, I'm impressed. You can wield the stone. Such a waste to kill you now, but I'll be needing that." Despite the titan's previous statement, he sounded very unimpressed.

The stone smiled through Ian. "Come and take it, then."

The fight was truly spectacular, but no one would ever see it.

Thanos knew that if he were to achieve his goal of claiming all six stones, he would have to face formidable adversaries. Best to get the toughest out of the way first, then.

Ian could only last for so long, and as he weakened the titan eventually gained the upper hand. The gauntlet had a magnetic pull to the stone, slowly extracting the power from the young man's veins. The power stone once again formed into a solid and dropped from Ian's hand.

He collapsed, already feeling the exhaustion eat away at him. He did as much as he could, wasted as much time as possible. Ian knew that inevitably the menace would collect the power stone, but at least he got to beat up the bastard before that. He smirked at the thought.

"I don't know what you were hoping to achieve, child," Thanos exhaled, allowing himself a rest he didn't deserve. "The stones are mine."

"Not without a cost," Ian coughed. He'd promised the stones his life in order to buy time for the rest of the universe, and now his own time was running out. "Even if you succeed, y-you'll lose everything."

The bruised titan attached the stone, and it fit perfectly in the gauntlet. With an arrogant smile, he approached the weakened man. Using the gauntlet he formed a long spear, and held it over his adversary threateningly.

Ian Drake didn't flinch as the spear pierced his heart.

...

"So I guess everything I did was for nothing, huh?"

"Not entirely," Vision said, scratching his chin in deep thought. "The stone called out to you, it knew Thanos would succeed regardless of our efforts to stop him. I think, in some way, we were all meant to be here."

Ian's mood visibly lifted. "Well, that makes me a little bit feel better."

Loki rolled his eyes. Every single one of these "heroes" decided that their lives weren't worth the stones, and it made him want to gag. Again.

(And then he remembered he did the same thing.)

Before he could express his distaste at the thought, Gamora finally spoke up. She'd looked shaken the entire tale, and looked with a smothering pity at Drake. If Loki were him, he'd yell at her to stop feeling sorry for him. Actually, Loki wasn't even sure he noticed Gamora's expression. Fool.

"You said Vormir was your home?"

Ian turned to her, "Yes. No one's really heard of it though, so I'd be surprised if any of you—"

"The soul stone was on Vormir," Gamora blurted.

A series of emotions flashed across the young man's face, shock, anger, sadness, and finally regret. "What?"

"I died for the soul stone. It was the only one Thanos didn't know where it was. I found the map to it, but I burned it. He-he got the information out of me anyways."

"But he ravaged it! We never had a stone there we would have known…"

"Honestly, dude, at this point nothing really makes sense. I'm just going along with everything they say. It's been working for me so far," Peter shrugged. Gamora shot him a look, Loki couldn't place if it was disapproval or amusement. Peter seemed to take it as the latter. The god had to hide his smirk; that child was too pure.

"...Right. And, Gamora? It's not your fault he got the stone. I-I should have known it was there… I'm the last one of my planet, it's my responsibility to protect it but I ran away," Ian responded.

Gamora quickly reassured him, "It's not any of our faults, Ian. Thanos is a monster. We all did the best that we could."

Ian didn't look very convinced, and Loki wasn't either. If he didn't make as many mistakes as he did, maybe he wouldn't be in the situation that he was—Asgard wouldn't be in the situation that it was. Thanos wouldn't have killed half of what remained of their people, Odin might not have died, Hela might not have been released, Asgard wouldn't have been destroyed…

No matter how many times Loki wanted to forgive himself, the past always came back to bite him in the ass. All those he cared for paid the price. So no, he didn't deserve forgiveness, and yes, it still was all his fault.

Ian seemed to be thinking the same, but both men said nothing of it. They brought their attentions back to the situation at hand and the five people in the endless orange expanse. They seemed to be missing one more person.

"The reality stone is the last one. But I swear, if someone is going to walk into our conversation and interrupt—" Loki began, but he was inevitably—and hilariously—cut off.

"Interrupting you is what I live for, Lackey."

No. No no no no she could not be the sixth person! Of everyone in all the nine realms—! Spending eternity with Hela in Hel seemed a lot more appealing now.

"Valkyrie. Oh, I wish Thanos would kill me a second time."

"Oi! You should be grateful I actually listened to your lying ass and went back for the reality stone!"

Loki opened his mouth to make another insult, but closed it. She listened to him? How was that possible? "Why did you? Listen to me, I mean."

The warrior didn't even pause, "Thor would. I trust him, and he trusted you. Transitive property… I guess I trust you?" The last phrase looked like it took her immense strength to say, and Loki usually would have found immense satisfaction in that. Now, he just thought again of his brother.

"So, the Collector didn't die?" Gamora's question brought Loki out of his thoughts.

"No, the cheeky bastard had fled before I even got there." The group stared back at the woman blankly. "Oh! Name's Valkyrie, by the way. I guess I left out that bit."

"And uh, you two know each other?" Peter pointed to both Loki and Valkyrie.

"Unfortunately, yes," Valkyrie sighed. She ignored Loki's scoff, and continued. "I sent the rest of Asgard on a course to Vanaheim, and I used the Grandmaster's ship to get to Knowhere. I landed, found out the Collector dipped, saw Thanos appear and then boom," she practically shouted, and Peter jumped (Loki snickered at that), "purple light, and I ended up here."

"It must have been the power stone," Ian said, "it's destructive power is unparalleled, to all but infinity stones. That must have been how he found the reality stone. And I guess, you died in efforts to protect it…"

"Pretty boy's got a point, but getting blown up? That's got to be the worst way to go! I'd rather die in battle trying to take down the titan and his purple ballsack of a chin," Valkyrie said, exasperated. Ian turned to Loki and mouthed 'pretty boy?', but Loki only shrugged.

"We all want that, trust me," Gamora said with a ferocious glint in her eye, and everyone present shared her fury.

"And as we've all experienced, there are worse deaths," Loki mumbled. Everyone hung their heads in agreement, but Valkyrie snapped her head up.

"What happened to you, Lackey?"

"It's not important—"

"If we are going to work together, we have to be able to trust each other," Vision spoke up after having been silent for the past few minutes. "Wanda…" he said the name with such fondness they all figured that whoever she was, she had to be someone special. "Wanda had to destroy the mind stone before Thanos could get there, and she did. But then the titan arrived, used the time stone to bring me back, and he plucked the mind stone right out of my head."

The group was silent for a moment, but none looked more horrified than Peter. The child's face had become as white as a sheet, and he couldn't bring himself to look Vision in the eye. It was almost as if…Loki wasn't sure, but perhaps he was guilty? Why would he—

The time stone.

Loki was quick to reassure the young hero. "Thanos did not acquire the time stone because of you, Peter—"

"That's literally why I'm here, Mr. Loki. If I'd been faster, maybe I could have stopped him…"

"No one could have stopped him, Peter," Gamora also reassured him. "That's also why we're here: to set things right."

"She is right. And no one would blame you for this, especially not Tony," Vision placed a hand on his shoulder. Peter's eyes started to water, but he quickly wiped them away. He nodded vigorously and obviously was trying to keep his emotions in check, but was failing.

"It's alright, kid," Valkyrie patted him on the back, not at all lightly, "it's not like you handed it to him."

"Yeah, like I did."

All heads turned to the god of Mischief.

"What?" Peter's voice broke.

Loki sighed. He was going to have to relive his third death sooner or later, and if it would make Peter feel better at all then it was even more worth it.

"He had Thor. He unleashed the power stone against his head, and he kept screaming…" he swallowed, still hearing his brother's shrieks of pain no matter how much he wanted to forget. "So, I handed the Tesseract over to him. I hoped the Hulk could take care of him, of Thanos, so I grabbed Thor and dove out of the way. My plans all failed, though. Thor tried to fight Thanos again, and Heimdall sent the Hulk to Midgard at the cost of his own life. I was out of options." He turned to Gamora, "You know better than anyone how much Thanos values balance. There were two sons of Odin, only one would live and one would die."

"Loki—" Valkyrie used his real name for the first time, but hearing her say it only reminded him of home.

"I am nothing without Thor," he said, voice wavering. "No matter what I did to him, he always gave me a chance to earn his forgiveness. No matter how many times I claimed I wasn't his brother, I always was. So seeing him in pain? Watching him die? I would rather be strangled to death until my neck snapped and my windpipe was crushed a thousand times over than lose my brother." He felt moisture in his eyes and salty water tumble down his cheeks, and he chuckled at the amount of emotion he was letting show. "I believe love is weakness—I've criticized Thor for it. It's funny because it turned out to be my weakness."

"He-he snapped your neck?" Gamora practically whispered.

"I tried to use a dagger to kill him. I knew it wasn't going to work, but being the ass that he is I knew he'd kill me for it. I-I didn't think he'd make my brother watch, though."

"Shit!" Valkyrie cursed under her breath. "I swear to Odin, I'm gonna kill him."

"Right after I do," Ian said.

"He will die as many deaths as he caused, but the first will be by my hand," Gamora growled. She stomped towards Loki, and for a moment he thought she was going to hit him. Instead, she gave him a hug.

Loki's never been more uncomfortable yet grateful in his life.

Soon enough, Peter joined in on the hug and Loki embraced both him and Gamora back. If Thor could see him now…

Gamora stepped back, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. "I'm sorry if I overstepped I just…you remind me of my sister."

"And I needed a hug," Peter sniffled.

They all laughed.

Since all of the sacrifices of the infinity stones had assembled, the soul stone deemed it time to begin their mission. An archway appeared behind them, and the six looked between each other quizzically.

"Let's get this shit started then," Valkyrie said, turning on her heel towards the arch.