'Is he dead?'

'He's breathing.'

'After getting zapped by lightning and crashing into Tony?'

'I was trying to catch him!'

'You were wearing your suit!'

'So you are saying I should have just left him falling and hope he survives?!'

'Guys!' Natasha pushed Steve and Tony apart before they bite each other's face off. 'He's alive, and that's the most important thing.'

'Without Loki.' Hela whispered her first words since they came from where she sat in the corner of the room. Darkness seemed to be washing off her.

Everyone immediately fell silent. No one knew how to comfort the goddess.

OOO

'Are you too scared to face any questions?'

Elixir didn't stir.

'Stop it.'

He turned over and faced his back towards Peter.

'Look, I am sorry about what happened to Loki. But everyone is worrying about you. You may as well get up.'

Elixir finally gave in and threw the covers off him.

'What's the time?'

'Nine. You slept through the rest of yesterday.'

He brought his legs in and put his chin on his knees.

'Is Thor and Hela angry with me?'

'You? No. Um, actually not sure. Thor was gone since the portal closed. And Hela didn't move from yesterday.'

'Oh. So they are.'

'What actually happened?'

'Loki threw me down the portal because I refused to leave him there alone.'

'Why did he want to be alone?'

'He didn't.'

'I mean, why did he have to throw you down and be alone?'

'To close a natural portal - at least for sometime, depending on the strength of the closure – you will need to close it from both sides.'

How could this be? Peter wondered. Doesn't this only happen in those super sad movies where one of the characters die for others to survive?

'Can I get some fresh air?'

'Are you sure you are fine?'

'I am.'

'Ok… You want to go to the top?'

'Please.'

'Yeah, no problem, why not?'

He helped Elixir get off the bed and steered him out of the medical wing.

OOO

Sam could sense unease washing off everyone. He wasn't exactly sure what happened yesterday. Something about a god running away into a portal and not coming back.

OOO

'JARVIS, turn the noise down a bit.' Bruce groaned.

'Of course, sir.' The British accent came from the walls, and the music died down.

'There has to be some way to get Rudolph back!' Tony cried out suddenly, waving his arms around.

'Tony, stop. If Hela couldn't think of anything, I doubt you could either.'

'What if we use the Tesseract to make a portal?'

'You have the blueprint?'

'Err, no.'

'Then how do you use it?'

'Why not ask Selvik?'

'I doubt he could have done it without Loki'

'Oh, ' Tony leaned back in his chair, rocking back and forth. 'Right.'

Bruce closed his eyes. Surely there is no other way around. If it's as bad as Hela said, he's as good as dead.

A bag of cats.

'You can't even be sure if he's still alive, with Thanos and all the Chitari on the other side.'

'Maybe he figured some other way out himself!'

'Tony.' Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose. 'Stop.'

The billionaire finally lost his Stark-face and propped himself on the table. He took his phone out and started typing furiously.

'Who are you texting?'

'SH.'

'What for?'

'I want somewhere to vent, and he never replies'

Just after Tony said that, a beep rang from his phone.

'What?' Bruce scrambled behind him to get a look.

'I found your story intriguing. Tell me it before I shoot John's chair.' Tony read.

'Whose John?'

'His house mate.' Tony muttered as he texted back.

'So basically one day this guy and another evil god that tried to take over the world last year dropped out of a portal. And the evil god wasn't dead, its just his soul or something went into the other guy, and so just yesterday the goddess of death who is the evil god's daughter got him back into his body and then to close the portal that Chitari soldiers come through the god of evil went to the other side of the portal and closed it, so he was basically stuck on the other side.'

'Other side?'

'Where Goldilocks calls Jutofine or something.'

'Funny, what is this evil god's name?'

'Loki.'

'Oh.'

'YOU MET HIM BEFORE?'

'Only once, sometime a few months ago. He appeared on the doorstep and John felt sorry for him and brought him in for about a week before he disappeared agin.'

'Wait, you are good at conducting right?'

'Deducing.'

'Yeah, that.'

'I merely observe.'

'What do you conduct of him?'

'Definitely some signs of depression, and abuse. Sunken eyes, scars that are some self-inflicted and some not, poor nutrition. Some sort of extreme pain in his stomach. Had some sort of sibling he had conflict with, and perhaps with the rest of his family as well. Wide range of vocabulary, especially when it comes to insulting, suggesting he read a lot. He has determination when he wants to do something, always wanting to prove himself, suggesting he grew up being looked down upon. Eyes suspicious but fearful, showing signs of an escapee. Always muttering things to himself, something about going to a cold place through a hole in his room, about a glorious purpose and a staff, suggesting he was a nuisance. In conclusion, he wasn't some sort of person to be with for tea.'

'BACK UP BACK UP WAT HOLE IN HIS ROOM?'

'He didn't describe anything in detail, but certainly he meant his bedroom.'

'GREAT THXXXXXXXXXX!'

Tony jumped up from his seat and flung his phone into the air.

'Where's Goldilocks?' He yelled.

OOO

Thor got Loki back, only to loose him again.

And this time, even worse. Thanos wasn't the kind of person that believes death is the worst thing that can happen to one.

He swung Mjolnir out into the sea, and after it disappeared out of sight, called it back into his hands.

The people fishing out on the other side of the cliff only stared at the sight, as the hammer went back and forth, back and forth.

Finally one of them had enough, and went over stand behind Thor. Thor pretended not to notice and continued.

'What are you doing?' The man asked asked.

'Nothing.'

'Something sad happened then?'

Thor stopped himself in mid-swing.

'How did you know?'

'I lost someone close to me and I tried to destroy an office. Um, that was a long time ago.'

'Oh?'

'I was really upset then, but people around me started dying off one after the other that-' the man quickly cut himself off. 'Sorry, I started rambling again.'

'No, it's alright.' Thor lowered the hammer to his side and turned around to face the man. He had messy black hair and round glasses.

'So, what happened?' The man crossed his arms.

Thor scratched his head.

'It was take a long time.'

'I don't mind.'

'My brother was told to be dead, then he was revived, then he was lost again.'

'You count that as 'a long time'?'

'I kept it short.'

'You will definitely get him back.'

'He will be back, that I can convince myself.' Thor sat down on a rock, while the other man sat on another opposite. 'But whether he will be welcomed at home, or if he wanted to even go back…'

'He didn't like you or your family, didn't he?'

'He was adopted.'

'If he didn't want to, then maybe leave him be if that makes him happy.'

'Father definitely would not be pleased.'

'True, but if you give him time and space, maybe he would come back one day.'

Thor nodded.

'What is your name?'

'Harry.' Harry stuck his hand out for a shake.

Thor took his hand and, carefully, shook it.

'I shall go back and see if there's anything I can help with to get him back.' Thor said.

Then he took off into the sky.

OOO

Harry 's eyes followed the man flying of into the distance, led by the hammer.

'Harry!' Ginny called out from somewhere behind. 'Who is that?'

'Don't know.'

'Hermoine, your thing was bobbing ages ago.' Ron grumbled.

'Oh!' Hermoine quickly reeled the fishing rod in.

'Accio.' Draco snatched a new lure out of the air as it flew towards him out from the fishing box, careful not to grab it by the hook like last time.

'Potter, wouldn't it be easier if we just accio fish?' He muttered as he strung it.

'But that's not the point of fishing, Malfoy.'

'Then what?'

'Enjoying the moment.' Astoria said and kissed him on the cheek.

'Fine.'

Harry could make out a smile tugging on his lips.

OOO

He was tempted to just fall and end everything. But he knew Peter would be watching, and he wouldn't be pleased.

Elixir glided over the city, staring down grimly at the bustling streets. It wasn't much different from the area around the facility, but he could make out with his hawk eyes some leftover destruction, maybe from the battle last year. A few pigeons tried to be friendly and cooed at him, but he scared them away with a shrill cry.

After a few more minutes, he returned to the balcony on the building. He perched himself on the railing just next to Peter and ruffled out his feathers.

'You said you collect forms right?' Peter asked.

Elixir nodded.

'Then where did you get an eagle form?'

Elixir morphed back into human and leapt down on the floor.

'On Midgard. I was in a forest chased by wolves and I saw it in the sky.'

'What forest?'

'Don't know. It has lots of squirrels and bears. They have strange ponds and water spouts as well.'

'I couldn't relate it to anything…' Peter mumbled. 'Maybe search it later.'

Elixir noticed something in the sky. A black shape rocketing towards them.

'Thor's back.' He sighed and went back into the tower, thinking about how to confront the god.

OOO

'We meet again, Trickster.'

Loki shivered, not out of the cold, but dread.

'Indeed.'

'I see you think your sacrifice will save Midgard, but it is still doomed, along with a few other places you might recognize.'

Thanos snapped his fingers and a projection of a golden city appeared next to them.

'What do you want?' Loki hissed.

Thanos sneered and raked his hand through the projection, scattering it into bits of light.

'A destroyed world. A lovely gift for a goddess of death.'

Loki's eyes widened.

'What?'

'I see you haven't kept up with the news. We were in a quiet relationship.'

Loki didn't get it. Wait, Hela is in love with this monster?

'She made a bad move then.' Loki muttered.

'Oh, she enjoyed the other gifts I sent her.'

'I hate dead flowers! They stink up the whole palace and it took a few liters of perfume to get rid of the stench!' Hela's words from one of the letters echoed in Loki's head. Oh, that's what she meant then. Dead flowers from Thanos.

'She will realize soon enough you are the worst.'

Before Loki could react, Thanos flung him into a boulder. He heard some bones crack as he slid down to the floor, gasping.

'With Death now on my side, what do you have?' Thanos snarled as he grabbed him and smashed him into the rock once more. 'Once I have destroyed this wretched world, I would win her love forever!'

Loki choked.

'What?' Thanos brought him up close and seethed.

Then the laughter came up from his lungs, hollow but taunting.

Thanos threw him across the room.

'You dare to mock me, weakling?'

'Her love?' Loki found it hard all of a sudden to catch his breath. 'Do you even know who she is?'

'She's a beautiful maiden left alone in the dark, neglected by the rest of the world.'

'You know nothing else of her?'

'Nothing else concerns me.' Thanos growled.

'Maybe you should listen more to her.' Loki stood up shakily. 'Then maybe you would change your mind about giving the world to her and all your other idiot dreams.'

'Lock him up with the other Jotun scum!' Thanos screeched at a few Chitari soldiers. The aliens quickly brought over chains and cuffs and bounded him up. Then they dragged him into the dark basement and banged the cell door on him.

The basement was crowded with innocent civilians before Laufey was gone. Now, it was again. He could hear a woman weeping through the walls of ice.

Loki stayed on the floor for Odin knows how long, then finally getting the courage to get up and crawl to the wall.

He knew the cells were magically sealed. But there's one way out. The idea was that if enemies did indeed locked the people in the cells, they will be able to escape, yet those who do not know of the secret, will not.

Loki felt around walls, searching for the hidden rune carving that will reveal a hole for him to escape through. But when he did find something, he realized to his horror, it was scratched out with some knife, rendered useless.

Loki felt all his hope dying away. This would be the end then. Thanos will destroy the world and Hela will be left alone with the git.

And being rescued would be just another stupid dream. Surely the others would believe him to be dead by now.

A Chitari soldier thundered past his door and a few seconds later, the weeping suddenly stopped.

Not a crept sounded in the basement.