The flash of violet eclipses the landscape. Natasha can't feel anything, see anything.

And then there's grit digging into her cheek. It prickles.

I'm not dead.

Prying herself off the ground, Natasha listens. Silence. Her heart pounds.

"What the hell was that?" a voice yells.

Tony.

"Hey!" she screams, scrambling towards the voice. "I'm—" Holy shit. Steve.

His face is ashen. Natasha gasps.

"We need to get Loki, or Thor, with that staff," pants Bucky when he sees her, his face screwed up in pain. "Please, Nat."

She nods and dashes back off. What if they're dead?

"Natasha!" gasps Scott as he appears. "Clint's okay, just still in a ton of pain. I—are they—is it—"

She can't speak. Tears steal her voice. Scott rushes beside her as they look for their friends.

"Hey, you're alive," comes a voice. Sam. Covered in dust, he lands beside them, "Where's Steve?"

"Back there," Natasha manages.

Sam takes off again without a word, and Natasha presses on.

A crater, and then shards of rock float by, as if an explosion decimated the rotting moon. Natasha skids to a stop.

"Nat?"

Scott and Natasha whirl around to see Bruce, completely naked, rising from one end of the crater. He rubs his head as if dazed.

You're alive.

You made it.

Natasha runs towards him. "You—"

"Is anyone hurt?"

"Clint and Steve for sure—you need to—"

"Find them," Bruce finishes. "Screw dignity." And he takes off, and then Natasha hears the best sound she's ever heard in her entire life.

Laughing.

Familiar laughs. Thor's rumble, Rhodey's gentle cackle. Scott skitters to the edge of the crater and lets out a whoop. "You're all alive!"

They're all gathered on an outcropping below them. Starlord waves at her.

And Wanda and Vision are nearby on a rock, her red magic weaving what looks like red glass around them. It vanishes as Wanda pries herself up. Even from far away, Natasha can tell he's gaping at her.

Did her magic save him or something? Natasha wonders.

"Steve and Clint?" hollers Thor. He grabs his hammer and swings it, rising to meet them.

"Can your staff heal?" Natasha manages. "Bodies as well as minds?"

"We can get them to Healers," Thor says. "Heimdall! Take all of us!"

Light floods everything, and the moon vanishes before her eyes.


Loki watches as the Healers work on Steve, on Clint. They're all gathered together, letting the warmth of the fire wash over them.

"We actually did it," Peter Parker says gleefully.

"Don't get too cocky, kid," Tony warns.

Bucky hasn't taken his eyes off Steve. His hand clutches Natasha's.

Loki wanders away from the main group, towards Wanda and Vision. The man—cyborg, but a human at heart—still looks shocked.

I once believed what Thanos believed. At least he parroted it, when he came to earth. He believed being human was weak, that there was no joy. Only he didn't realize Thanos respected Asgardian lives little more than human ones. Likely no more than human lives.

Wanda offers him a small smile. He returns it and hunkers down next to them. "How're you feeling?"

"I can't believe I'm alive, and that I'm so relieved to be alive," Vision muses.

"I thought we were both dead," agrees Wanda. "It's like a dream."

"Your magic's pretty powerful. It protected you from the other Infinity Stones," Loki tells her.

She flushes. "Apparently so."

"I'm impressed."

"Really?" She grins. "I didn't know—I never thought I was capable of—I never thought I would be able to do that."

"Well, you were."

"I just didn't want Vision to die. And if he died, I didn't want him to die alone." Wanda's eyes water.

Love. It's a powerful force. Loki manages to nod.

A hand descends on his shoulder. Thor. He offers Loki a small smile.

"We're all still alive," Loki quips.

"Trust me, no one's more surprised than me." Thor shakes his head. Loki follows him away from Wanda and Vision.

They're all alive because of you, Loki thinks as he looks at Thor.

He's proud of his brother, and he wants Thor to know that even if he doesn't quite know how to say it, even if stubborn pride still clings to him, drags the words away from his tongue. "You—acted like a king today," he manages. Terrified, and fighting anyways. "Father would have been proud."

"Of both of us," Thor says, meeting Loki's gaze. "Don't' deny it. You managed to throw Mjolnir."

Loki clenches his fists, unclenches. He doesn't know how, or why. "I didn't want you to die for once."

Thor rolls his eyes. "Everything's a joke to you." But there's no animosity in it. "You were worthy."

"Maybe the old hammer's just getting senile."

"Or maybe you're worthy, and you just had to believe it."

Loki can't speak. He shrugs and glances at the floor.

Steve lets out a gasp. Loki whirls around, and Bucky's holding him.

"I'm alive?" Steve croaks out.

"Honestly, they are so slow," Loki complains. Thor rolls his eyes.

"You're alive," Natasha tells him.

"I'm… glad… good." Steve sounds surprised that he's glad to be alive. Loki knows what that feels like. Not even perfect men are unbroken.

"You need to rest," Fandral tells him.

"You scared the hell out of me," Bucky says.

You get a new chance, Steve, Loki thinks. A new chance to have a friendship with Bucky, with Natasha and even with Tony. It's a gift, and he has that chance with Thor.

"Where will you go from here?" Thor asks him. Resigned. He knows Loki can't stay here, won't endanger his reign. But he still wants him to, and Loki knows it.

Because he trusts Thor. Finally. It's a strange feeling, to trust.

"I always have a plan," Loki chokes out.


"Well, what are all your plans now that you've saved the world and all?" Fury asks as he leans back in his chair in Wakanda. "And where's the other supervillian? And those aliens?"

Natasha glances around the room they've gathered in. All alive. Clint with his legs healed by those healing stones, reunited with his children. Steve still alive, still breathing, even if the gray pallor hasn't entirely left his face.

"They went off together," Thor answers. He's here for a short time, only a few hours. Sif stayed back in Asgard. "To the far reaches of the galaxy."

"Loki went off with those Guardians?" Fury asks. "Does that mean we can expect him any time soon?"

"Loki helped save us," Natasha put in. "Multiple times."

"I don't think so," Thor says.

"Well, he's the person to ask," Rhodey says, jerking his thumb towards T'Challa. "I saw you and Gamora kissing. She's not going to stop by at some point?"

"Of course not," T'Challa lies. Natasha smirks. Fury likely doesn't believe it either, but he doesn't have to.

"The time has come for me to rule Asgard," Thor says. "My father is dead. My brother is—not able to rule."

Although Natasha's pretty sure that Thor will be calling Loki for policy questions. Maybe. Loki's definitely the better politician of the two.

"But you should know that you'll always have an ally in Asgard. Any more serious problems, and we'll return. Truly. Heimdall will be updating me about all of you daily, and I plan to visit."

"Do we get to visit for like a wedding or something?" Tony questions.

"Tony!" groans Clint.

"It's a legit question."

"Maybe. If Sif and I do wed, you'll all be invited, of course."

"Are you going back to space, Banner?" Fury asks.

Bruce shakes his head. Last night, he told Natasha that he planned to join Jane Foster and Eric Selvig in research, possibly under another identity that won't last very long. "You'll be able to reach me," he assured her.

"I'm off to see Cassie," says Scott. "If there's another galactic crisis, though, you know, I'll be there."

"He's off to be grounded," Tony announces, jerking his thumb at Peter. Natasha snorts as the teen shrugs.

"For all of you not looking for a vacation, we might need some help worming out that Secretary of State," Fury adds.

"Really?" asks Peter with interest.

"No," Wanda and Rhodey both tell the kid.

"How about you, Rogers?" asks Fury.

"Still a wanted fugitive, right?" Steve asks with a weak smile. Bucky frowns, and Natasha recognizes the guilt still etched in his face. He considers you worth it.

"Not in Wakanda," T'Challa says. Tony sets his jaw and stares at the floor.

We're always going to be guilty, aren't we? Natasha wonders. Life's more about learning to overcome it, not let it define all of who they are, than erasing it. Even with Bucky no longer at risk of turning into the Winter Soldier at the mention of a few Russian words, the words still alarm him, and the compunction and sorrow over what he did will never leave him, just like it will never leave Natasha or Bruce or Tony.

"If there's trouble, I'll show up," Steve says. "You know me."

Bucky nods at Steve.

"We'll see if we can change that 'wanted fugitive' status," Wanda says darkly.

"I just want some time to—to focus on friends, on my relationships with them," Steve says. "I don't think I appreciated it as much as I should have, not before."

"Neither did I," Tony says, offering Steve a small smile—brief, but it's there. Natasha and Bucky exchange a look.

"I've been thinking," T'Challa says as they log off the call with Fury. "You're quite good with that vibranium shield."

"Me?" asks Bucky, eyes wide.

"Maybe we can work on creating another arm from it, or a shield for yourself, or—"

"I'm still not a hero," Bucky says quickly.

"If you're not, what am I?" Natasha asks.

"You kind of are," Tony acquiesces. Bucky's eyebrows shoot up.

"Are you actually admitting you might have been wrong?" Steve asks.

"Don't get cocky," Tony retorts. "All I'm saying is… I'm not gonna get the dead back." He holds out his hand, and Bucky shakes it. Natasha's eyes blur.

A broken peace, but a peace nonetheless.


Thank you all for reading!