The moment Sophie and Soeren appeared in Loki's living room on Midgard, Loki took one look at Sophie's face and conjured a fluffy blanket. He wrapped this around her, made her sit down, and conjured a mug of hot chocolate, which he pressed into her hand. Soeren was told of what happened on Vormir, and for a moment, there was silence. Sophie heard none of this, she continued to stare blankly into nothing, clutching the Soul Stone in her left fist, holding the mug with her right. She had yet to drink.

"If we don't want Gamora to be next, we need to do something!" Quill shouted, agitated.

"You... you let him die?" Barnes asked Sophie slowly.

In the next instant, his face changed to one of rage, and he screamed at her.

"REED!"

Sophie blinked and looked up.

"Huh?"

She looked around, frowning.

"What is this? Why am I in a blanket?"

"You've had a shock," Loki said.

"How can you coddle her? My friend is dead because of her!" Barnes spat.

Sophie visibly cringed.

"I know," she whispered, "I'm sorry."

Soeren put himself between the two, glaring at Barnes.

"You will hold your tongue," he said with deadly calm.

"Oh yeah? Or what?" Barnes sneered.

"Or I shall cut it out," Soeren replied, staring back into his eyes solemnly.

"Gondoh," Sophie said sternly, getting to her feet, "What has happened to Gamora?"

"Oh no, we're not finished!" Barnes said, starting toward her.

Soeren grabbed him by the shoulder as he got within arms reach.

"You are," Soeren told him.

Loki went to Sophie, looking into her eyes.

"You are not responsible for his death," Loki whispered, too quiet for Barnes to hear, "Do you understand?"

"But I am," Sophie replied, "If the other you hadn't said what he said, I wouldn't have been frozen for seconds in shock. I would have instantly gotten ahead of Rogers. Those seconds gave him a head start, and throwing his shield at me guaranteed he kept it. It should have been me, Loki. In another life, it was me."

Loki's mouth tightened. He hated that other version of him for what he did to Sophie, but now he found himself in the odd position of being grateful to him for crossing into their timeline. Because he suspected Sophie was right. If not for those moments that Sophie stood in surprise, recalling his words, perhaps she would not be alive now, and he would be in the same position as his variation.

"Fine," Barnes spat, "But if you expect my aid now –"

Loki spun to face him.

"You don't want to kill the being responsible for this?" he asked quickly, "Because even though you say this is Sophie's fault, you know your friend's sacrifice would never have been necessary if not for Thanos."

Barnes glared at him in silence, then nodded once.

"Great, let's go kill Thanos!" Quill exclaimed, "And get Gamora back!"

"He's taken her?"

"Yeah, and the Reality Stone," Rocket said.

"Fuck," Sophie muttered.

She went to rub her eyes with one hand, and discovered it still had a mug of hot chocolate in it. She drank it down quickly, letting the liquid scorch its way down her throat.

"That needs alcohol in it," she commented to no one in particular, setting the empty mug down on the coffee table.

Sophie took a deep breath, closing her eyes, trying to get her thoughts together. She couldn't focus on Rogers right now. Thanos now had three stones. One was destroyed, one Loki had hidden and could summon at any time, and one was currently clutched in her fist.

"You need to destroy the Soul Stone," Loki said.

While his voice was soft, it woke Sophie like a thunderclap. She opened her eyes, staring at him, frowning slightly. Slowly, she shook her head.

"No."

"Sophie, we have to, that was the whole point of going after it," Loki said, "If it's not destroyed, there is a possibility Thanos can get this one too. Would you have your friend's sacrifice be for nothing?"

"The thing is... if I destroy it... it sounds crazy, but it feels like I'm destroying him too."

Loki took a breath.

"Sophie. Rogers is dead. There was nothing you could have done to stop it, there is nothing you can do now to bring him back."

Sophie bit her lower lip, nodding slightly.

"I know. You're right."

"In the meantime, we should be doing something," Strange spoke up, "As much as I understand you want your girlfriend back, she's only one life."

Just as it looked like Quill was about to punch the sorcerer, Sophie spoke.

"You could go after Thanos's followers," she said, "Interrogate them for information on Gamora's whereabouts. If they refuse, kill them. Leave Thanos to me. Once I've destroyed the Soul Stone, I'll go to his home world and wait for him. Feel free to join me once you've got Gamora."

They split up again, with Strange, the Guardians, and Barnes going in search of Thanos's followers. Loki, Sophie, and Soeren went to the open plain where she destroyed the Time Stone. Sophie put the Soul Stone on the ground while Loki summoned the Space Stone and placed it a ways away.

"You're not going to tell me I shouldn't do this?" Sophie asked.

"I'm starting to reevaluate my opinion on how strong you are," Loki replied wearily, "I've certainly learned you are incredibly stubborn. But I am also starting to realize that perhaps you are the only person that can define your limits. It matters not if I think you can do this. You think you can do this. I believe you know yourself better, and only you can determine what you are and are not capable of. Are you feeling well enough?"

"Actually, if not for Stormbreaker, I'd say I would need to rest and eat before destroying another Infinity Stone so soon, especially after getting blasted by a star. But Stormbreaker completely restored my energy and my health. So yes, I can do this. I'll be fine."

"Then let's continue," Loki said grimly.

Destroying the Soul Stone went the same as destroying the Time Stone. The Soul Stone exploded with the energy Sophie channeled into it, and once again, she was knocked unconscious by experience. When she woke, she was again in the healing room on Alfheim. Wordlessly, she picked up Stormbreaker and felt energy flood her system.

"Have the Geilää reported any attacks?" Sophie asked, getting to her feet.

"Not so far," Soeren replied.

"And Eitri?"

"We're still working to restore his hands, Your Majesty," a healer reported.

"Very well. Let's go on to Titan, then."

Loki extended his elbow towards Sophie, but she shook her head.

"Let's see how summoning the Bifrost goes."

"Let's at least not summon the Bifrost indoors," Soeren said, a worried look on his face.

"Ah. Good point."

Sophie took Loki's arm, and he teleported them outside. Soeren followed in his smoke form and reverted to his solid physical form once he was again by their sides. With Stormbreaker in hand, Sophie raised the weapon above her head, and the three of them were engulfed in streaks of light, taken away from Alfheim to Titan.

Okay, I gotta admit, that was cool, Sophie thought.

"Thanos is incoming," Loki said, looking up at the sky.

Sophie also looked up and saw a ship slowly descending on the surface of the planet. The three of them waited for it to settle, and for Thanos to disembark. But it wasn't just him. It was him and four others. Thanks to her spies, Sophie knew about these people just as much as she knew about Gamora's connection to Thanos. These beings were Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian, Proxima Midnight, and Corvus Glaive. Seeing them, Sophie's blood went cold.

They're not supposed to be here too. They're supposed to be scattered around looking for the Infinity Stones. It was supposed to be just Thanos that came here. Where are the Guardians, Strange, and Barnes then? Probably still looking for them. Which means the three of us are up against five. Not good.

"So... you are the one that beat me to the Time Stone," Thanos said, staring directly at Sophie.

"Yes. And I've destroyed it, along with the Soul Stone and the Space Stone," Sophie lied.

If he thought the Space Stone was also destroyed, all the better.

"You're lying," Thanos said, "It is not possible to destroy an Infinity Stone."

"I have done it," Sophie said seriously, "I give you my word on that."

Thanos regarded her for a few moments.

"I know you at least have the Time and Soul stones. My children did not find the Time Stone with the sorcerer, and when I went with Gamora to Vormir, we were told the Soul Stone had already been taken. But destroying them... you are not capable of that."

Sophie sighed.

"I can understand it's difficult to accept you have lost. You can no longer just snap out half of all life. Why would you want to do that anyway?"

Stalling Hela had worked, why not see if she could get Thanos monologuing as well? She needed to stall for time, to give the Strange, Barnes, and the Guardians to show up, or the fight with Thanos and his cronies would be quick and brutal. Thanos took the bait, using the Reality Stone to show her the way Titan used to look.

"This was my home. Titan was like most planets. Too many mouths, not enough to go around. And when we faced extinction, I offered a solution."

"Genocide?" Sophie said, brows raised.

"But random, dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike. They called me a madman. And what I predicted came to pass."

Thanos stopped using the Reality Stone to show how Titan used to look, and the planet went from beautiful blues and greens to the orange and brown it currently was.

"I understand. You want to prevent such things from happening again. But you must also recognize that murdering trillions is not the only way, certainly not the best way, to go about that."

"With all six stones, I could simply snap my fingers. They would all cease to exist. I call that mercy."

Sophie wanted to throw up as she realized she had seen this very moment years ago in a dream, in a vision. In some ways, it made her feel better about Ragnarok, as this moment confirmed to her that what she saw could not be stopped.

"Have you given any thought to what happens afterwards?" Sophie asked.

"I'd finally rest... and watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. The hardest choices require the strongest of wills."

"Mmmm. That tells me you're only thinking of yourself, not really everyone else. You see yourself as some sort of god who's allowed to make decisions on behalf of countless innocent people. Here's the problem. You wouldn't watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. It would be a universe of unimaginable pain as people's loved ones are ripped away, not to mention the logistics of such an adjustment. It would be chaos. You are not mad, Thanos. You are an extremist that has not given this complete thought. I can see the path your mind took towards this decision, you have a point that overpopulation in the universe is a problem, but I cannot condone what you seek to accomplish. Not only would destroying half of all life wipe out half the bad, it would also get rid of half of the good. If we want to solve this problem, it can be overcome through other methods. Through careful thought and planning, and it wouldn't happen overnight, certainly. But perhaps it shouldn't."

"You have done wonders on Midgard already," Thanos said, looking at Loki.

Then his attention shifted back to Sophie.

"But what of all the other planets who make no such efforts? For many, by the time they begin to implement changes, it will be too late."

"Well, unfortunately, it is a moot issue," Sophie said, smiling tightly, "Because I've seen to it that you can't get your hands on all six stones. So... where does that leave us?"

Sophie was hoping he might say he would cooperate with her, with them, to find a better solution. Instead, he went the opposite direction.

"It leaves us... with a debt needing to be paid. Since you have condemned countless planets to a slow and horrible demise, you will have to pay for that with your own life."

"That's not going to happen," Strange said as he, Barnes, and the Guardians exited a portal.

Oh thank the stars, Sophie thought, relieved at their arrival.

"We'll see," Thanos smiled.

The four beings with him rushed their group at that. Loki faced off against Ebony Maw, Barnes and Quill took on Proxima Midnight, while Rocket and Drax battled Corvus Glaive. Strange went straight for Thanos, while Cull Obsidian went for Sophie. Sophie had just enough time to summon her armor and spin out of the way before the great behemoth went blazing past her. She let Raivokkuus take over her body and shouted as she hurled the highest voltage of lightning she could muster at the beast, letting it fry him for a few long moments before Cull Obsidian dropped dead. There would be no saving Raivokkuus until the last moment for some dramatic bullshit later. No, Sophie was all about business, and it made more sense to hold nothing back, to go all out from the start.

With him dead, Sophie immediately turned to Corvus Glaive and snapped her fingers. A ripple of energy surged across the battlefield, Rocket and Drax stopped fighting in shock as their enemy suddenly turned to a solid statue of stone. But Sophie didn't stop there. She leaped into the air, shouting in fury, and smashed the statue to bits. Rocket and Drax stood in stunned silence for a moment before turning to help Quill and Barnes. Sophie stood back and took a quick look around. Loki was holding up well, as was Strange. Looking back at the fight going on around Proxima Midnight, Sophie realized her friends were to many around the single target. If Sophie went in there axe blazing, or with a shockwave of energy, she could hurt one of her friends as easily as the one they fought.

"Loki!" Sophie shouted in frustration, "I need a doll! Wax, no clothes, hair, or face, just a humanoid shape."

Loki's face was furrowed in concentration as he continued battling against Ebony Maw. He didn't even look in her direction, merely waved a hand at her, and the doll she'd requested dropped out of the air. Sophie jumped up to catch it and shouted over at the group fighting Proxima Midnight.

"Get me one of her hairs!" Sophie yelled.

"I'm on it!" Rocket shouted back.

He scrambled up Proxima's body until he reached her head. There, he yanked a handful of hair from her and leaped off her shoulder, propelling himself with his feet the way a swimmer would kick against the wall of a swimming pool. He threw the hairs to Sophie mid jump, who sprung up to catch them. Rocket hit the ground and rolled to a stop as Sophie landed on her feet, attaching the hairs to the doll she held in her hands. Frowning, muttering phrases under her breath, Sophie drew energy from her own aura, linking the doll to Proxima in her mind. With the razor sharp edge of her axe, she cut the doll's head off. Proxima froze for a moment, her eyes widening. Then her head simply... fell. It tumbled from her body and hit the ground with a dull thud. This time, instead of stopping, everyone turned toward Ebony Maw, but then they halted. Loki had already frozen his opponent solid. Sophie blinked as she looked at the scene.

"Shall I smash him?" she asked Loki.

He smiled and gestured with both hands at the ice statue with a bow.

"Be my guest."

Like with Corvus Glaive, Ebony Maw shattered in a cascade of flesh, blood, and other assorted material. Just as they were turning to Thanos, the Titan released a blast of power via the Power Stone. Sophie barely got her aura to turn solid before they were all hit at once and thrown across the field like a bunch of toys hurled by furious child. Dazed for a moment, Sophie lay physically shocked for a few long moments before she slowly sat up. Everyone was unconscious. But she didn't care about everyone.

"Loki," Sophie gasped, slowly crawling her way over towards him.

When she reached him, she pulled his head into her lap. He too was completely out of it. Truly terrified for the first time in her life, Sophie let her aura return to normal and looked up at Thanos, who was slowly stepping closer to them. One part of Sophie's mind was focusing on drawing in energy from the universe and channeling it into Loki. The other, larger part of her was focused on Thanos.

"You are truly a worthy opponent," Thanos said, "But even you cannot overcome three Infinity Stones. You should have saved some for yourself."

"She seems to be stronger than you as it is," Loki said as he opened his eyes and sat up, "For even you cannot destroy an Infinity Stone."

A shadow bloomed behind Thanos as the Titan smiled.

"Perhaps not," he admitted, "But I can destroy her."

Just as the hand with the gauntlet rose, his fingers closing, the shadow behind him rushed forward, enveloping the Titan's head in an instant. Soeren appeared between them and Thanos, but something wasn't quite right. He was solid now, but his arm was in Thanos's mouth to the elbow, his fist and forearm appearing in their solid form straight through the Titan's head. With a snarl, Soeren wrenched his arm up, taking Thanos's head with it in a burst of blood. Sophie and Loki, the only two awake by this point, were staring in shock, eyes wide and jaws agape, as they watched this. As Thanos's body fell dead, Soeren vanished into smoke. Thanos's head dropped to the ground, and when Soeren reappeared, he was completely clean and neat, not a drop of blood, a splinter of bone, or a glop of cartilage to be seen on his pristine black clothes.

"Oh my God!" Loki exclaimed, shock, disgust, and horror on his face and in his tone all at once.

"Holy shit," Sophie said, still staring at her bodyguard, "Soeren, you've earned a raise."

Soeren bowed.

"That is greatly appreciated, but truly not necessary, Your Majesty. I was simply doing my job."

Still dazed, Sophie and Loki turned to look at each other.

"And you once wanted to dismiss him," Loki said.

Soeren's brows rose, but he made no inquiry. Sophie looked back at her bodyguard in shock. She knew Soeren's unique abilities meant he could not be confined when he could turn into smoke and slip through the tiniest crack, or slough off the tightest of chains. She knew before now that it allowed him to travel throughout realms with the swiftest of speeds and meant he could blend in and act as a spy easily. She knew from combat practice he could turn to smoke and avoid getting cut in half by a sword. Now she saw how easily he could get past any defense an enemy might try, but this... this was a use she never would have thought for his skills. In that moment, Sophie decided she was very glad he was on her side.

People gradually began to regain consciousness.

"What happened? Did we win?" Rocket asked.

"Would we be alive if we didn't?" Strange replied.

Drax looked around, his eyes shifting back and forth in suspicion.

"That was... fast."

"Fights are almost always quick," Sophie shrugged, "Only a few seconds for individual fights, or a minute or so if the combatants are very skilled. Only in movies do they drag on and on for minutes on end or even half an hour. Guess they have to be dramatic and give the viewer something interesting to look at. Not at all accurate, though."

"Gamora!" Quill exclaimed, his eyes lighting up, "Where is she?"

"I'd guess on the ship," Sophie pointed with Stormbreaker.

Quill ran off towards Thanos's ship as the rest of them picked themselves up.

"Well... I suppose saving the universe gives you some grace period," Strange said, looking at Sophie, "We can argue about your methods at a later date. But we will talk."

Sophie didn't feel a need to respond to that, so she watched mutely as he went through a portal, dismissing them all.

Saved the universe, Sophie reflected, This brings my grand total up to two. Each time I've lost someone dear to me. And each time, I've felt the weariness in my bones.

Even now she was leaning heavily against Loki, as if he was the only thing that was keeping her upright – and perhaps he was. She was too tired to stand up straight and find out if she'd fall or not. Sophie looked up at Loki. When he looked down, back at her, she mustered a tired smile.

"Let's go home," she murmured.