While Taylor read the message Loki had left for her, the god was facing the consequences of reaching out to her before granted permission to do so. Thanos had put him into a forced sleep ad invaded his dreams; the one place Loki could still see Taylor. In his dream, Loki was back on Asgard. He was in the palace, which was usually busy, but this time it was abandoned and run down; almost like it hadn't seen life in years. The god started to carefully explore the once glorious palace, finding it completely empty. The walls, he noticed, seemed to be smeared with some sort of red substance, and it looked like some sort of battle had taken place ages before his arrival. As he continued to walk, Loki began to feel a nearly bearable sense of dread. And he didn't like it. Not one bit.

Further exploration of his former home would reveal that there had, in fact, been a battle there. And by the way the castle was crumbling; it didn't look like Asgard had been victorious. Loki also noticed that, on the floor, were familiar looking weapons. Not from the Asgardians, but still extremely familiar. Then he saw it; Thor's hammer. It was underneath a pile of rocks and rubble, but Loki had still noticed it. He used his magic to remove to debris covering it, and nearly collapsed from the headache it brought on. Even in his dreams he couldn't escape those bloody things. But Loki shrugged it off as best he could and knelt beside the hammer to inspect it. There were deep cuts on the handle, and what looked like blood smeared on it as well.

"What happened up here while I was gone..." He mumbled to himself as he stood back up and backed away from the weapon. There was a sudden chill in the air; one that made even Loki shiver. And Loki, of course, had to find out where the chill was coming from; because it /was/ coming from somewhere.

Quietly, the god continued towards the throne room, the feeling of dread hanging over him like a cloud as he got closer. The once golden door was also smeared with red, and Loki gulped as he placed his hand on the door to push it open. Once inside, he had to squint to see, as it was unusually dark.

That was when he saw it; the blood. There was so much blood on the floor... It couldn't have been from one person. That was also when it hit him that the red on the walls before, along with the door, was blood. Another chill ran through him, but this time it was caused by what he saw in front of the throne. Taylor was blindfolded with her hands tied behind her back, standing in front of the throne and shivering from obvious fear. Loki stumbled towards her, his emerald orbs wide with fear and confusion.

"T- Taylor..? Taylor, what the bloody heck is going on?!"

But before she had a chance to reply, an all too familiar scepter was shoved straight through her stomach, then roughly jerked back out, causing her to fall limply to the ground, dead.

Loki froze, his entire body going completely numb as he watched Taylor's lifeless body fall to the ground. And once he got the feeling in his legs back, he teleported to her side, dropping to his knees and cradling her cold body in his arms, tears stinging his eyes.

"No... No, no, no, no, no... Please no… Tay? Taylor, please don't leave me.." Loki was shaking violently then, and fumbling as he tried to remove her binds, her blood all over him and his hands.

"Consequences, Asgardian," growled a voice from seemingly nowhere.

Though he was openly sobbing, Loki had heard the voice, immediately recognizing it.

"Thanos," he hissed, but never loosening his grip on Taylor's body. Then, just before the creature would show himself, Loki woke up. His body was drenched in sweat and he himself was shaking from fear. You would think that the god would be used to the horrid nightmares, but how does one get used to watching their loved one die?

"Please stop this," he begged, his voice broken and cracked from the hours of torment he had endured in his sleep. "I won't try to contact her again, just please don't make me watch her die again… please…"

Meanwhile, Taylor had finally found what she needed to get back into her drawings, and basically her life in general. Whatever she'd read in that letter had been a great help to ease her troubled mind. A few days had gone by since she'd found it, and each day since the blonde had gotten up before sunrise and jogged around Stark Manor three times, before heading down to the gym for a sparring session with Happy. Tony was impressed. He hadn't someone this determined to get their life back since… well, since he had been in Afghanistan years ago. And she seemed almost most determined than him.

Taylor Stark was back, and she was ready to get her life back.

"So, Taylor," Tony had caught Taylor as she was getting ready for a boxing lesson from Happy. "You gonna tell me what's got you more fired up than a lighter?"

Taylor rolled her blue eyes, standing from where she'd been sitting and padding towards the boxing ring ad climbing into it.

"Nope."

"Oh, c'mon, Tay. Please?"

"I said no," she narrowed her eyes at her brother, then turned her back to him, nodding at Happy to signal that she was ready.

Tony sighed and shrugged his shoulders, glancing at his watch. He was late for his lunch date with Pepper (again) so he had to go anyway.

"Well…. I'll see you tonight, kiddo."

"Bye…Tony…"

"Eight o' clock?"

"Eight! Now go!"

Stark watched for a bit longer, then chuckled and retreated back upstairs to his car, hopping in and speeding off to meet Pepper.

Taylor continued to train downstairs for a few hours after Happy had enough, her only company her iPod and the punching bag. She pictured the punching bag as Odin, who she hated with a passion, which caused her to nearly murder it three or four times, if not for Tony being there to stop her. But today the blonde was alone, and determined. That punching bag would fall. Taylor continued to attack the bag, not letting up one bit. Then, with one last punch, the chain the bag was hanging out hit its limit, and snapped, the punching bag hitting the ground with a loud thud. A grin crept up onto the panting blonde's lip as she pushed her wet curls out of her face.

"I win. IN YO FACE, BAG!" The woman happily squealed, bouncing around the bag.

After her excitement wore down, Taylor retired to a shower, and then a late dinner. It was far past eight, so she really didn't care. The blonde had been supposed to have met Tony in New York for a dinner, at which he would introduce her to a few people he said she would love to meet. But seeing as her shower had extended past the time she was to be at the airport, Taylor just didn't show up. Typical Stark behavior.

Taylor had made herself a pepperoni pizza, and was sitting at the bar in the kitchen eating and sipping on a diet Coke when JARVIS' voive rang out through the room.

"Miss Stark, Mr. Stark has returned."

"Okie dokie, J. You might wanna get the swear jar ready; I missed the plane and stuff."

"It appears that he has brought a young woman with him."

Taylor raised a brow, looking up at the oven/TV screen where a live feed of the house's garage was being displayed. And it appeared that Tony had indeed brought along an unfamiliar brunette woman with glasses.

"Huh…. I wonder what he did to tick of Pepper THIS time."

There was no further response from JARVIS, as Tony had silenced him when he and the mystery woman walked into the kitchen.

"If I wanted to piss of Pep," he started, making Taylor jump, "then I would completely miss my scheduled flight."

"Hey, I was in the shower, Tony. Don't gimmie dat shiz." The blonde wrinkled up her nose at her brother.

"Whatever. Since you wouldn't come to her, I brought her to you. C'mere, glasses."

"Who's her…?"

The short, brunette woman stepped out from behind Tony, a bright grin on her face and light reflecting off of her glasses lens. The woman was short, about as tall as Tony, and she wasn't dressed nearly as fancy as he was. She had on a simple pair of blue jeans, black Converse sneakers, and a t-shirt that had 'Screw you' written in big, yellow letters, contrasting the otherwise black garment behind them. She also had a medium sized, floral print, shoulder bag. That was about it. The strange woman most certainly didn't look like anyone that would be at a Tony Stark party. But then again, Tony was known to pick up some pretty strange people at his events.

"Taylor," began the billionaire as he gestured to the young woman at his side, "this is Darcy Lewis. She works with the lady who met the brother of the guy you can't stop swooning over."

Taylor's eyes widened immediately as she recognized Darcy's name. She had seen the news stories about Thor's trip to New Mexico a few months before, and had been dying to meet the two women ever since. But never in a million years did she think that Tony would bring her to girl that tazed the god of thunder! She was beyond shocked, and utterly thrilled to meet Darcy.

"Oh. My. GOSH." Taylor excitedly squealed, jumping off her stool and running over to Tony and Darcy. "Darcy! Hi! I'm seriously thrilled to finally meet you!"

Darcy Lewis laughed at the curly blonde's obvious excitement. She had been filled in on the entire situation by Pepper on the plane ride back from New York City, and she found it absolutely hilarious that this woman had wanted to meet her so badly.

"Haha… Yeah. That's a first for me. Everyone's usually more interested in Jane, since she made out with your friend and stuff." The brunette shrugged her shoulders lazily. "Hey! It's cool to meet ya, though. Starky here's havin' me stay with you guys for a bit. Cool, huh?"

"Oh yes," Taylor nodded, a grin spreading across her now ruby painted lips. "Very cool…"