To the surprise of everyone, Clint didn't wake the next morning. In fact, he just kept sleeping no matter what they had done. They all had tried to wake the archer at least once with various different ways. From loud noises to hitting him (which got Tony yelled at and shocked everyone when the Aether didn't react) to shaking him and even kissing him. But it didn't work. Their latest attempt was putting a cup of coffee under his nose. A trick that always worked no matter how bad the archer was. But, Clint didn't stir. Didn't even twitch.

"I thought you said he was a good host!" Bucky snapped, glaring at Loki when Natasha pulled the cup away with a deep worried frown. The trickster frowned, covering his anger with disappointment. It was always his fault when things involving magic didn't work out. Didn't matter what he told people about the fact that he didn't know everything. He was always to blame.

"My magic can't show me everything. I have no idea precisely how Clint's magic absorbs others or even how absorbing an Infinity Stone's magic as much as he currently is could affect him," Loki growled right back. Bucky snarled at the trickster and it took Loki a moment to realize that Bucky's own anger was a cover for his fear. Loki sighed. "My magic yesterday said that he was fine. My magic today still says he is fine."

"Then why won't he wake up!" Bucky cried. Loki stepped forward, holding out a hand to check the archer over again as if he'd get a different answer this time. Once again his magic said Clint was fine and technically should easily wake and yet, there was still no response from the archer.

"I don't know!" the trickster admitted softly. Bucky growled and got up off the bed, intent on storming over to the trickster. Steve intercepted him, holding the Sergeant back. Loki sighed deeply, realizing the rising tension between himself and Bucky were making things difficult for everyone. He shook his head. "I may have knowledge of magic but the Infinity Stones are out of my realm of knowledge. I know very few who would know and many of whom we cannot get in contact with."

"We're all worried about Clint, Buck. But fighting right now isn't going to help anyone," Steve warned. Bucky huffed and backed down. He sat down on the bed again and gently tugged Clint toward him. The archer went willingly and curled around the Sergeant a bit tighter. Natasha pursed her lips before turning on her heel and stomping off. There wasn't much she could do to help at the moment and seeing Clint asleep while knowing she couldn't wake him was something she couldn't handle at the moment.

Since he came from New Mexico, claiming he was from something like sixteen years in the future, Natasha hadn't seemed like she knew him anymore. Things had been changing too quickly and from the information she scoured over, it would have been similar if Clint had never come back with Loki and Bucky. But at least then she would have changed with him. Or so she wanted to believe.

"Russian Red?" Tony's voice muttered, drawing the spy's attention. She hadn't realized that anyone had followed her and to be honest, she almost wanted to be left alone but before she spoke, she looked him over. The genius looked nervous and just as worried as she felt. It took her a moment before she recognized that she honestly wasn't alone in this. Everyone was dealing with this. While none of them knew Clint long, the information they had all gleaned from the future had created a mini-family between all of them. "We'll figure this out. It... We won't lose him."

"I feel like I already lost him," she softly replied. Tony shook his head and gave her a sad smile.

"No, you didn't. He's different from who you know him as, I can clearly see that. Between you and Agent Agent, it's pretty clear that he's not who you know," Tony said. Natasha sighed deeply and looked away, covering the small cracks in her facade. "But, he's who I know and I promise you. You haven't lost him. He still cares so much for you. You are... One of the most important things in his life."

Natasha snorted, turning back to him and Tony gave her a bigger smile. Then, to her surprise, he opened his arms for a hug. She looked him over cautiously before raising an eyebrow. Everyone knew she wasn't touchy feely. And everyone knew that Tony wasn't all that touchy feely. "You serious?"

"Come on, bring it in," he encouraged, waving his hands a bit to entice her into his arms. Natasha snorted again and shook her head even as a small smile appeared on her lips.

"Thanks, but I'm good now," she soothed, feeling a bit better now. Tony's smile turned a bit victorious. Apparently he had just been out here trying to make her feel better.

"Just know. I'm always here," he told her. Natasha smirked and nodded now understanding the true meaning have having friends. It was good to have friends. It had always been Clint that talked her down when she was like this. But now, after only a year and a half of being with these people, Natasha knew she had a family.

Inside the bedroom, Bucky stroked Clint's hair in worry as he waited for the archer to wake. Feeling guilt, Loki sat on the opposite side of the bed, his magic swirling around the archer in an attempt to figure out what was going on or at least analyze what was happening. But there was no clue or difference. Clint was just asleep. Resting like normal or so it seemed. Nothing seemed to change.

After a little while, everyone else began to clear out of the bedroom. Tony and Bruce headed back to their make-shift lab to analyze whatever data they had collected from Clint, the Aether, Loki and the beginning signs of the convergence. Natasha and Phil had gone off to inform S.H.I.E.L.D of what was happening and look over the future information to start attempting to guess at what would be coming next. Steve and Thor often joined them but every now and then the duo would trade off checking in on the trio in the room to see if they were okay.

As the day passed into the night, Clint didn't stir. In the end, Loki had to head back to his room to rest after expending so much magic to examine the archer. Thor went with him, intent on making sure his brother was as okay as he kept telling everyone. Phil was finally able to wrestle Tony and Bruce to their beds (not that that stopped them from working) before heading to bed himself. Steve followed soon after and Natasha slipped back into the bedroom with Bucky and Clint.

"Still asleep," Bucky whispered as if it wasn't obvious the moment she entered. He looked up to face her with a deep frown set on his face. "Hasn't seemed to have an issue."

"Other than not waking," Natasha mumbled with a small shake of her head. Bucky nodded and looked down to his lover. "Everyone is working on this."

"I know." Natasha hummed before moving and sitting down on what was supposed to be Bucky's bed. She had received her own private room as the only female. Everyone else shared a double and currently Bucky was curled up with Clint on Clint's bed. "You going to sleep?"

"Can't. Rather keep watch," she admitted. Bucky exhaled a sharp laugh, looking to her again. Yeah, he knew the feeling. He couldn't sleep either. Clint had hardly moved and the few times he did all the archer had done was curl up closer to Bucky. It was worry some but still pretty normal for how Clint slept. The archer was a clingy sleeper. Bucky had thought that he would have hated that but he actually enjoyed getting cuddled. When questioned, Steve later admitted that in the winter the two used to cuddle close so they could stay warm. "What if we can't get this out of him? What if we can't wake him?"

"Natasha, Clint... He's been through a lot of difficult things and pulled through. You know this," Bucky attempted to sooth but his voice hitched a few times as he even tried to convince himself of this fact. The idea that Clint had been through more difficult things than the Aether invading his body and potentially killing him was not as good a thought as he wished it was. And judging by Natasha's saddened smirk, she felt the same. But Bucky pushed on. "He can make it through this."

"He wasn't always unscathed," Natasha pointed out. Bucky sighed and looked down at the sleeping man. Yeah... He knew that.

"We'll figure this out. Somehow."

The next morning wasn't any different than the day before. Clint refused to wake up for anything. Bucky locked himself at Clint's side, refusing to move for anything. Including the restroom. Natasha, Phil and Loki all faded in an out as the day went while Tony, Bruce, Thor and Steve tried to plan out what was going to happen tomorrow. So it came as a surprise to all of them when Clint began to stir around lunchtime. They had all decided to eat in the bedroom just so they all had an eye on Clint.

"Clint? Come on baby, wake up," Bucky encouraged, gently pulling on Clint's hair. In response, the archer let out a disgruntled noise before opening his eyes. The relief that flowed through the room from everyone stirred Clint even further. He perked up a bit as Bucky shifted the archer toward a seated position. A quick scan of the entire room and Clint knew he had missed something vitally important. But, he couldn't guess what.

"What's going on?" he asked, looking everyone over.

"You gave us quite a scare yesterday," Bruce answered as if that explained everything. Clint frowned. While yes, he knew they had been frightened after Loki had admitted what could happen, this tension seemed different.

"With the Aether?" he wondered. Bucky sighed deeply.

"You slept yesterday away and we couldn't wake you up," the Sergeant explained. Clint blanched at that. He had slept through an entire day? What happened to him? Why did he stay asleep? And why hadn't the others been able to wake him? "We aren't really sure what happened."

"I'm sorry," Clint muttered as if he had been in control over the situation. The last thing he really remembered was talking to Bucky after his dream with the Aether and falling asleep. After that he woke to this. Natasha muttered something lightly in Russian that basically translated to it's not your fault as she gently reached forward and placed a hand on his knee. Though those words were not the ones she actually used. At all. "Well, I'm awake now."

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Tony retorted. Clint smirked. This would be a perfect tension breaker for everyone.

"No problem, Colonel Comeback," the archer replied. Tony hesitated for just a moment before he let out a harsh snigger and went to say another quip back when Bruce held a hand to his face.

"We don't need a contest of who can come up with the better responses," he interrupted. Tony pouted and Clint just smiled. "Besides, no offense meant with this Clint, but we should get some scans on you to see if anything changed."

Clint winced slightly but nodded. Loki shifted forward and held out a hand, green magic swirled between them. The two stayed like that for a moment before Loki pulled away. "I sense no change, still."

"Alright, science to the rescue!" Tony joked, tossing his hand into the air in victory. Clint snorted but got up off the bed. Bucky reached forward, intending to help but the archer just waved him down. He was fine. If no one had told him that he slept the day through, he'd never have known. Whether that was a good thing or not remained to be seen.

Tony and Bruce spent most of the rest of the day doing numerous scans all over Clint. More than once, Tony complained about the lack of needed tech to do deeper scans and his desire to return to the tower. But, they were basically hours away from the Convergence so they couldn't leave.

Nearing dinner, Clint was finally able to slip away from Tony and Bruce. He went in search of Bucky, only to find out that him and Steve had headed out to scout out the future battle area. No one mentioned the large fight that Bucky had about leaving Clint behind, nor the fact that Clint had missed it. Phil and Natasha had gone to get food and so it was just Thor and Loki left. And even then, Thor was plopped in front of the TV and hardly reacted to Clint's greeting. So, Clint found himself standing with Loki in the trickster's part of the hotel room. They stood, looking out toward the future battle site.

"How are you feeling?" Loki murmured. Clint shrugged. "Everyone is worried about you."

"I'm worried about me," Clint said with a soft laugh. Loki smirked and the two dropped into a sort of companionable silence. After a while Clint sighed. "Have you ever thought that your life was a story that was being pre-told?"

"Destiny and prophecy has been used much in my life," Loki admitted with a distracted scowl. Clint pursed his lips. That wasn't really what he meant and while he wanted to question Loki further on it, he knew it was a sensitive topic.

"No, more like... Like your life is a book or something and everything just keeps happening to you cause you are the main character."

"Rather self-centered," Loki chuckled, glancing to the archer. Clint huffed a short laugh. That's what he had thought but the more he thought about what the Aether said, the more he could see the truth of the statement. Yeah, it was his life and it seemed like everything revolved around him because of that but it wasn't like anyone else had been affected by nearly every Infinity stone. "Is there a reason for this particular line of questioning?"

"Well, I mean... You've been through a bunch of different dimensions and shit. And you even said that the things that happen here aren't like any of the others..." Clint trailed off, unsure how to mention his dream with the Aether. Loki tilted his head to the side a bit in thought.

"I agree that this dimension is vastly different. But I still fail to see the relevance of your question," Loki replied. Clint sighed and lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck. The nervous tick had Loki solidly focus on the archer. "Has something happened?"

"I don't know... It's stupid," Clint grumbled, turning away with the intention of leaving but Loki quickly reached out to catch him. Sadly, they both forgot about the Aether and it's desire to protect itself. Apparently Loki attempting to stop him was considered an attack. The wave of red that burst from Clint tossed Loki across the room and into the far wall. Clint fell to his knee, out of breath. "Fuck."

"That was a mistake on my part," Loki grunted, carefully getting to his feet. His attention shifted to Clint, making sure to see if the archer was okay. "Are you good?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" the archer countered, nodding his head toward the Loki sized dent in the wall. Loki turned to look at it before back to Clint.

"I apolo-" Loki started to say when the windows beside Clint suddenly blasted away glass shards flying everywhere. Clint cried out in pain, having not been able to put up a shield of any kind and the Aether actually didn't attempt to defend. Across the room, Loki did the same before rushing toward the archer. Through the destruction, a creature stepped into the room. Clint smartly scrambled away and Loki placed himself between Clint and the creature. It took Loki a second before he hissed. "Kurse."

"That doesn't sound good," Clint admitted with a grimace. Loki shook his head as Kurse focused his attention on them. Clint took a step backwards, towards the door. "Beginning to think I should run."

"Yes," Loki replied even as he called upon some of his throwing blades. Kurse stepped toward them and Loki retaliated, throwing the blades toward the ex-Dark Elf. Clint flicked his wrist, intent on calling upon Izril but to his surprise, nothing happened. He glanced down at his hand and tried again. Still, Izril did not come. More than slightly panicked at the thought of the bow letting him down, Clint didn't try and escape. A loud grunt had the archer perk back up to see Loki getting lifted up by his neck. Growling, Clint hissed out a spell. He flung his hands forward, consciously making the decision that the spell wouldn't hit Loki but instead focus solely on Kurse. Thankfully, the surprise of the spell had Kurse dropping Loki to the ground. Before the monster could right himself, Loki got to his feet and pushed Clint gently a few steps away from Kurse. "Move!"

Without arguing, Clint spun and started to run toward the doorway which connected Loki's and Thor's hotel room with Bucky's and his own. He could tell that Loki was running after him and doing his best to distract Kurse, but the monster just kept coming. Clint busted the door down, entering the room without really looking. Loki was seconds behind but they both stopped not far in. Someone had beaten them to the room first.

"What the-" Clint started to say when the creature looked to him. Loki snarled.

"Malekith." Clint swallowed tightly. So this was the guy who stole the Aether from Jane in an attempt to do whatever he had wanted to do. Clint took a step back even as Kurse busted through the doorway. The archer winced at the noise as Loki shifted so his attention could be on both Dark Elves.

"You have something of mine," Malekith greeted. Clint growled and mentally spelled a protection shield on Loki and himself. After a second, he felt Loki do the same.

"You aren't going to get it," Clint warned. Malekith smirked.

"I enjoy how you think you can stop me." Clint furrowed his brow even as Kurse tossed something at him. He had no chance to do anything before the Aether took over. The last thing he saw was a flash of red energy bursting through the room.

"Why does he always get taken?" Bucky snarled. As soon as they had heard the carnage happening at the hotel, Bucky and Steve had sprinted back but they didn't make it in time. After the Aether had attacked Loki, Kurse and Malekith, the trickster was helpless as Kurse and Malekith recovered faster than he did. Thor had been busy protecting Tony and Bruce (not that it mattered once Hulk came bursting out), believing that his brother and Clint could easily defend themselves against the hoard of elves that had invaded and not knowing that Malekith and Kurse had arrived. Natasha and Phil made it to the hotel just after the second blast from the Aether and Natasha had opened the door to Malekith and Kurse leaving with Clint slung over Kurse's shoulder. "Swear that guy is working on frequent kidnapping points."

"That's funny," Tony whispered to Steve. Bucky, Natasha and Phil all turned and glared at him. Loki grimaced at the thought but didn't argue. Thor had long ago left, intent on searching Midgard for any trace of the archer. While they all knew where Malekith would end up, they didn't want to risk the elf removing the Aether and then ditching Clint wherever and without a way for the archer to return. Bruce was still Hulk and the green giant didn't look like he'd calm down anytime soon. It had actually been taking longer and longer for Bruce to return to himself as Hulk had started to be of the belief that Bruce actually wasn't doing all he could to rejoin the two of them.

"Tony, none of this is funny," Steve hissed. "We are missing a team mate and friend."

"I'm not... You know what, never mind," Tony muttered.

"I apologize, Bucky, for not being able to stop Malekith," Loki repeated. Bucky shook his head. He felt that he was as much to blame. The attack had surprised everyone. And the battle was really over before anyone could think up a plan to defend themselves. Hell, many of the other people in the hotel hadn't even had time to leave their rooms and run before it was over. The elves had stayed just long enough for Clint to get grabbed and Malekith to get away with him before they had vanished.

"It isn't your fault. We knew this was likely to happen either way," Phil soothed. Loki made a face at the statement but didn't argue. "Besides, we know that Malekith took the Aether out of Jane, this could work to our advantage."

"How? How could it work to our advantage?" Bucky snapped. "Without a good way to contain the Aether anyways, the damn thing is just gonna jump from host to host."

"I understand as such. But, it would at least be out of our archer," Loki pointed out. Bucky rolled his eyes.

"And into a megalomaniactic elf." Loki pursed his lips. He knew the downsides of the entire thing. They were trapped in a no win situation. If they let Malekith take the Aether, there would be no way of getting it back and Malekith would have his universe of darkness. But, if they let the Aether stay in Clint, it would end up killing him.

"How long until the Realms line up for Malekith to do what he needs?" Phil wondered, distracting Bucky and Loki from their tiff.

"Hours," Loki admitted.

So I know I missed last week. I had just gotten my Covid vaccine the day before and doing anything but laying in bed was kind of hard. Then I've just been exhausted all week and unable to post or even work on anything. Today was the first day that I felt up to doing any writing and even now, after spending about two hours (on an off) editing, I'm already feeling too tired to write more. Ugh.

Darius has now officially turned five years old. Hubby and I are freaking out... For those that don't know, Darius is our second child as our first child, Clint, passed away at five years old about almost three years ago now. Depression has been kicking my butt pretty badly and shifting medications has not been going well as of yet. But Darius is good. I don't think he understands why his parents have started freaking out at every sniffle, cough and sneeze, but... He does at least understand that Clint was five when he died. Darius had even mentioned on his birthday that Clint wouldn't turn six and yet he would. *sarcastically* Nice way to keep the memory alive... NOT!

But, at least he remembers Clint. He had a good birthday, getting to spend time with Gigi (my mother-in-law) and then later saw Hopa (my dad). He's been pretty good about attitude other than not wanting to get dressed in the mornings. Then again, considering I often spend the day in my pjs, I don't blame him, lol. And soon, he won't have to worry about it as school is almost out. Oh crap... School is almost out and I only have 10 full chapters written! Better get back to it... Hopefully.