A/N First off, I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve and New Years Day! And I hope everyone has a great 2015!

I'm not as sure about this chapter as I would like to be. Some parts feel a bit like filler but there were some plot holes that needed to be filled and there were some things I needed/wanted to include before the big battle finally began. Hopefully you guys won't find this boring. :)

Thanks again to my reviewers! You guys make me feel like I might actually have some tiny trace of talent for writing. Your constructive criticism and encouragement really helps me a lot and means the world to me!

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aliceindeepdarkwonderland

Ophelia Lokisdottir

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Paula Galtarocha

RossyGaray

Son-of-hiddle

OkieDokieLoki

Aka-Baka Hoshi

Trubosswritr55

Ellamena

Calm Before the Storm

Thor and Loki finally found the other Avengers all standing crowded together, with their backs to Thor and Loki, around a broken vase. It looked like it had been knocked off the small table it had been sitting on in the hallway and smashed against the floor.

"It wasn't me. Clint broke it," Loki and Thor heard Tony say.

"Because you tripped me," Clint shot back.

"It wasn't on purpose," Tony replied.

"I knew this was going to happen eventually," Natasha said, handing Bruce ten dollars. "To be honest, I'm surprised it's taken you two this long to break something."

"I resent that!" Tony said. "Wait. Why are you giving Bruce money?"

"We had a bet on how long before you two broke or destroyed something, or offended someone. Bruce won. I didn't think you would last this long," Natasha said.

"You two bet on us?" Clint asked indignantly.

"Actually, the three of us bet on you," Natasha said, motioning to herself, Bruce, and Steve.

"Et tu, Steve?" Tony asked, feigning hurt.

"Hey! I bet that you wouldn't break anything," Steve said, raising his hands in surrender.

"That's my boy," Tony said proudly.

Loki and Thor watched the entire exchange with amused grins before Loki finally cleared his throat from behind them making the five humans spin around, Tony and Clint seemingly trying to hide the evidence of the vase with their bodies as they stood close together.

"Uh... Hey guys," Tony said with an innocent smile. "How long you two been standing there?"

"Long enough to hear you argue over who broke the vase and that Bruce won the bet," Loki said with a smirk.

"Yeah. Sorry about that," Clint said, rubbing the back of his neck as he and Tony stepped aside to show the broken pieces of the vase.

"Don't worry," Thor said. "Loki can fix it."

"How?" Steve asked.

Loki waved a hand and the vase reassembled and floated back up to its place on the table as if it had never been broken.

"Okay, that was pretty cool," Tony said.

"Having a brother like Thor has taught me how to repair things over the years. I've lost count of how many times I've fixed that particular vase," Loki said with a laugh.

"That skill is going to come in handy with friends like these two," Natasha said, gesturing to Tony and Clint who looked at her indignantly but didn't comment.

"Well, I've had more than enough practice," Loki said, glancing at Thor with a smirk. Thor sent Loki an expression similar to the one Natasha had received from Tony and Clint. Just like Natasha had, Loki ignored the look.

"So, Lokes, where were you?" Tony asked, somehow managing to not come off as nosy, despite the wording of his question.

"I was talking to my mother," Loki admitted.

"Everything okay?" Steve asked.

"Yes," Loki said. "It is now."

"Good," Tony said.

"I noticed during the whole planning process earlier, no one ever really mentioned a time frame. Any idea how long we'll have before Thanos gets here?" Natasha asked.

"I don't know for certain but no more than a few days at most," Loki said.

"Whatever happens, we're with you. However we can help," Bruce said.

"Thank you," Loki said.

"It's what friends are for. I just wish I had my shield," Steve said. "I left it in Dad's tower back in New York. Traveling to another planet and ending up in a battle wasn't exactly in my original plans a week ago," he said with a smirk.

"Yeah, and I don't know how much help I'll be without my suit," Tony added.

"I believe I can help with that," Loki said.

)()()(

It was dark in Tony's tower in New York when Loki, Tony, and Steve appeared in the penthouse. Tony staggered and nearly fell down, and Steve swayed unsteadily. Loki seemed completely unaffected but all three men jumped slightly as an alarm suddenly sounded.

"Whoa, whoa!" Tony yelled. "Jarvis, shut off the alarm."

"I apologize, Sir. You did not enter via your normal avenues and the presence of Loki triggered my alarms." Jarvis said as he shut off the alarm and turned on the lights in the penthouse.

Loki glanced around warily. With everything that had happened in the last week and a half, he had forgotten that he was still considered a criminal on Earth. No one there knew he had been found innocent of his crimes and he was almost half expecting to see men with weapons suddenly appear out of nowhere thanks to the alarm.

"No, it's okay, J. He's a friend," Tony said, patting Loki on the shoulder and giving him a reassuring look.

"I am pleased to hear it, Sir. I will include him on your friends list."

"Thanks, J. And then bring up the suit would you?"

"Of course, Sir. May I ask why you need it?"

"I'm taking it back with me," Tony said. "We can't stay. We're just here for our stuff."

"Understood."

While Tony waited for the suit, Steve left to collect his shield and uniform from the guest room he had left them in. The two of them were the only ones who needed anything from Earth. Bruce had his weapons built in and Natasha and Clint were always armed, so that just left Steve and Tony needing the trip to Earth. Fortunately, Loki had the ability to take them.

"Do you travel like that often?" Tony asked Loki.

"Sometimes. More so now that the bifrost is still not fully repaired yet. Why?"

"How do you stand it?" Tony asked, still looking wobbly and a bit sick from the rough ride that was Loki's teleportation.

"You get used to it," Loki said with a shrug.

"I'm not sure I want to do that enough times to get used to it," Tony said.

"You don't have to travel with me again. You could always stay here," Loki said sarcastically.

"Don't get all bent out of shape, Rudolph. I have a right to complain about the motion sickness and balance issues. Why couldn't we have just used the tesseract? It didn't make me feel this way."

"Yes, because my father is really going to allow us take the object Thanos wants most, with us on an errand run," Loki said dryly.

"Good point," Tony conceded as his suit appeared from the hidden hatch in the penthouse wall and flew to land next to him. "So why do you even need a bifrost when you can just do the same thing?"

"Besides how impractical it would be for me to be the entire kingdom's only form of transport, it also takes a lot of energy to travel between the worlds. Just myself or a small group is easily manageable for me when I'm at full strength, but I could never manage the whole Asgardian army if it was needed. The level of strength that would take would knock me out for days at best and kill me at worst. Plus, what if I transported several people to another world, then something happened to me? They would be stranded in an alien, possibly hostile realm."

"Okay. Okay," Tony said, holding up his hands. "I get it. It's not feasible and the bifrost is really important. I guess I can also see the reason why you didn't volunteer to run us back and forth between Earth and Asgard before now."

"To which reason are you referring? The fact that I'm not a taxi or that I didn't want to listen to you whine about a little bumpiness?"

"A little!" Tony exclaimed. "You call falling, spinning, flailing, and bouncing until you feel like your brains are being scrambled 'a little bumpiness'? I swear I lost a few IQ points."

"Exaggerate much?" Loki asked.

"Yeah, Dad, it wasn't that bad," Steve said, walking back into the room, carrying his shield and uniform.

"Says the super soldier and the Norse warrior from outer space. You guys forget that some of us are normal humans," Tony grumbled.

"As your Earth saying goes, suck it up, Tony," Loki said, but his tone was teasing not mean.

"Just love the sympathy I'm feeling here," Tony whined.

"Relax, Dad," Steve said, patting him on the back. "It's just one more jump. Then we'll be back on Asgard."

"Fine," Tony sighed. "Beam us up, Scotty."

Loki rolled his eyes and the three of them disappeared from the tower.

)()()(

It would be another two days before there was a new development and when it came, it came in the form of yet another nightmare.

Loki's nightmare began the same way that it usually did, but unlike the ones before it, at some point, Loki wasn't sure when, he actually realized it was a dream. That had never happened before. The dreams had always pulled him in and claimed him until he woke to discover it wasn't real. This time, though, he knew.

As he watched Asgard burn and his family slain, it didn't have nearly the same effect on him now that he knew none of it was real in the slightest. Without his mind trapped in the dream, Loki was able to analyze the dream in a detached way and see just how unreal it truly was. He couldn't believe he had ever been drawn into the fiction playing out before him.

This was what Thanos wanted to happen, but it was simply Thanos' fantasy, nothing more. It was no omen or prophecy. It wasn't even so much a threat, as just Thanos trying to scare him, and this time the titan was missing the mark. Loki didn't know if it was something he was unconsciously doing to remove himself from the dream's grasp or if it was a fortunate fluke, but either way, it wasn't working.

It soon became apparent that Thanos knew that and wasn't happy about it as the dream changed slightly from the one Loki usually had. Instead of Loki turning into Thanos as he typically did just before waking, this time, Thanos himself appeared and Loki knew it was no longer just a dream. This really was Thanos touching his mind from across space.

Oddly enough, Loki still felt no fear. He knew he should, as Thanos was capable of hurting him in his own mind. The titan had done so before. But something told Loki that this time was different. Loki had no idea how he was doing it, or even how he knew he was doing it, but somehow he was blocking Thanos' full influence.

Carefully, Loki focused, reaching out with his senses, feeling where all of his power was and what it was doing. He followed the internal paths of his magic until he found it. He had unconsciously taken a tendril of his magic and wrapped it around his mind, shielding himself from any harmful aspects of Thanos' touch and grounding himself to reality. It was a skill he really would have liked to have discovered sooner. It might have saved him some sleepless nights.

Although Thanos could still manipulate his dreams, the titan couldn't trap him in them or make him believe they were real, nor could he cause Loki any pain. All he could do was project images into Loki's mind as he was doing now with his own likeness. Otherwise, Loki was safe from him. And that was perhaps why Thanos looked so angry. The titan never liked being thwarted by anyone in any way, no matter how small, and yet, Loki was doing just that. It felt more satisfying than Loki could have imagined and it brought a small smile to his lips, an action that only seemed to anger Thanos further.

Good.

"You won't be smiling for long, Runt," Thanos snarled.

Rather than fear, Loki felt a spark of triumph growing in his chest. Loki had long since discovered that Thanos didn't let his emotions loose easily, he kept a tight rein on them and stayed disturbingly calm most of the time. But he did lose his temper at times and when he did, all his control often went out the window. That was Thanos' weakness. Once he let his control slip, he was easily manipulated. Now was Loki's chance to get information from Thanos. When the titan was blinded by his emotions, he got sloppy, and when he got sloppy, he let things slip.

Loki gauged Thanos' mood and decided he was just angry enough to make this easy. Loki didn't even respond to Thanos' words. He just let his smile grow.

"Smile while you can, Little Prince. By this time tomorrow your family will be dead and you will be begging me to kill you," Thanos growled. "Enjoy the next sunrise for it will be the last you ever see."

"That's all I needed to know," Loki said with a glint in his eye.

Then he grabbed hold of the tendril of magic connecting him to reality and pulled. His eyes flew open and he sat up in his bed, the smile still on his face.

Thanos had given him exactly what he needed.

)()()(

Even though it was the middle of the night, Loki didn't waste any time in gathering his friends and family into the throne room.

Loki's parents, Clint, and Natasha were all wide awake, looking like they hadn't just been woken up in the middle of the night. Steve and Thor looked like they had just woken up, but were both alert and fully awake. Bruce looked half asleep but mostly aware, and Tony looked like he may or may not actually be conscious yet. However, Loki's next words were enough to snap him fully awake.

"I believe Thanos will be here at dawn," Loki said. Thanos had gotten just a bit too specific in his threats and the comment about the sunrise had been all Loki had needed to figure it out.

"How did you find out?" Steve said.

Loki smiled slightly. He was grateful that Steve had simply asked how he found out rather than if he was sure. Loki was used to people questioning his information and was glad that his friends didn't do the same, instead trusting that he knew what he was talking about.

"He was fool enough to reveal it," Loki said.

"He was fool enough or you were good enough to trick it out of him?" Thor asked with a knowing grin.

"They don't call me trickster without reason," Loki said, grinning back.

"Good job," Tony said, slapping him on the back.

Loki was taken slightly aback. He had never been praised for his trickery before, only chastised. Even when he managed to trick enemies, he had only ever received derision. It was nice to be praised for his talents and efforts. It felt good to be valued and appreciated.

"Thank you," he said.

"It's only a few hours till dawn right?" Bruce asked.

"Yes," Loki said. "We will need to be ready."

"Do you know how they will be coming?" Natasha asked.

"Probably through a portal," Loki said.

"Like you did on Earth?" Clint asked.

"No, more like the portal the Chitauri came through above Stark Tower."

"But that was powered by the tesseract," Steve said.

"Remind me what is in the vault right now," Loki said.

"You're saying Thanos can tap into the tesseract and use it to open a doorway here?" Thor asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he's already tapped into it," Loki said.

"But I thought he needed you to do that. That's why he kidnapped you and took over your mind in the first place," Bruce piped up.

"He has Red Skull now. Thanks to his little time travel trip, Red Skull has a connection to the tesseract. That connection will be enough to open a doorway," Loki explained.

"Then why have we been keeping it here?" Clint demanded. "Why didn't we get rid of it?"

"And send it where?" Loki asked sarcastically. "What other innocent world would you prefer that Thanos attack?"

"Right, sorry," Clint said.

"No, I apologize," Loki said, rubbing his tired eyes. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

"No problem. You got a lot going on at the moment and it was kind of a stupid question," Clint said. "Besides, it doesn't matter what we did or didn't do with the tesseract, that ship has sailed. Thanos will be here soon. We need to focus on that."

"So, Thanos and the Chitauri are going to come through in the vault?" Thor asked.

"No," Loki said with a shake of his head. "He must tap into the tesseract to power the portal but he will be able to open it anywhere on Asgard."

"Do you have any idea where?" Tony asked.

"I don't know for sure but I do have a guess," Loki said. He raised his hands in front of him and conjured a holographic looking image of Asgard out of green magic. He focused in on one area and enlarged a vast field. "I think he will come through here."

"How sure are you?" Odin asked, speaking up for the first time.

Loki let the image disappear and met his father's gaze for a long moment before speaking.

"I'd be willing to bet on it."

"I will order our forces to be woken and assembled there," Odin said.

Loki nodded, his gaze silently thanking his father for believing him and taking his advice.

Odin nodded in return, his expression softening toward his son, which coming from Odin, was basically the equivalent of an affectionate touch. He turned to leave the room to call his generals and give them their orders. Frigga squeezed Loki's arm, giving him a soft smile, which he returned, before following her husband.

"Now what?" Bruce asked.

"Now we make our final preparations. Then we wait," Loki said.

The others nodded and began to file out of the room. Loki started to follow them but stopped as Thor grabbed his arm.

"Brother, I wish to speak to you for a moment," Thor said.

Loki nodded and the two brothers waited while their friends left the room. Once the others were completely gone, Thor turned back to Loki, a serious expression on his face.

"I want you to promise me something," Thor said.

"That depends on what it is, Brother," Loki said with a teasing smirk. "Knowing you it could be anything from giving you my desert or going on a highly dangerous and very forbidden adventure."

Thor, however, didn't laugh and his serious expression didn't change. Loki's smirk faded in response.

"I want you to promise me you will not do anything reckless or foolish during the battle," Thor said.

"What? And leave you to have all the fun?" Loki teased.

"I am being serious, Loki," Thor said.

"I will make no such promise," Loki said, his teasing mood leaving him.

"Why not?" Thor demanded.

"Because I am not a child. I can take care of myself and make my own judgments," Loki snapped.

"I never said you were a child!" Thor threw back. "I just want you to promise not to risk your life unnecessarily."

"It's my life! I can do what I want with it! What does it matter to you anyway?" Loki snapped.

"I don't want to lose you!" Thor answered.

"And you think I want to lose you!" Loki shot back.

Thor opened his mouth to respond but then changed his mind and instead reached out and grabbed Loki's right wrist. Loki looked at him questioningly but didn't fight Thor's grip. Thor placed Loki's palm against his chest, right over his heart. Then Thor covered Loki's hand with his own. With the absence of Thor's armor, Loki could feel the strong, steady beat of his brother's heart against his hand.

"Feel my heart beating," Thor said. "When you fell, when I thought you dead, it stopped, and it only began again after I finally got you back," Thor reached out and gently gripped the back of Loki's neck. "I cannot lose you, Brother. I've already endured that loss once. I would not survive it again. My heart would not survive, because you, Loki, are my heart." Thor pulled Loki closer to him and lowered his forehead to rest against Loki's. "You are my heart and my soul and I cannot exist without either of them, just as I cannot exist without you."

Suddenly, Thor found himself wrapped in an embrace and it took him a moment to get over his surprise. Loki very rarely showed affection like that. He usually accepted and returned hugs and physical contact readily enough, but very rarely did he initiate it himself, which made those moments all the more important and precious. Thor eagerly returned the embrace, holding Loki close as if he was afraid he would lose him at any moment.

"I promise not to risk my life for no reason," Loki said softly, "but if it comes to anything important, if it comes to you, you cannot ask me to put my life over yours. I cannot and will not promise that."

Thor knew it was the best he could get.

"Just as I cannot promise the same when it comes to you," Thor said, pulling back to look Loki in the eyes. "Just know that when this battle is over, I expect you to be there with me on the other side."

"Always, Brother," Loki said, squeezing Thor's shoulder before letting go of him.

Without another word, both brothers turned and, side-by-side, walked out of the room to rejoin their friends.

)()()(

Red Skull. Red Skull was coming.

Red Skull was coming and it terrified Tony.

Seventy years before, the insane Nazi had almost succeeded in killing Steve. Yes, Steve had beaten him. Yes, Steve had survived. However, that knowledge did nothing to lessen Tony's fear that Red Skull might not fail the second time around.

Tony closed his eyes and swallowed hard, trying to fight back the terror that threatened to overcome him. Steve was alive. He was fine. He was right there in the room with him. Steve was trained to fight. He could handle himself and he had the serum to help protect him.

The serum. It had kept Steve alive in the war. It had kept Steve alive when he faced Red Skull. And it had kept Steve alive in the ice. The serum had given Tony's son back to him. The same serum that Howard had helped to give to Steve.

Tony never thought he would be grateful to his father for much of anything, but stranger things had happened. Tony may not have ever really gotten along with his father but now Tony was beyond grateful to the man for the life of his son.

"Dad? You okay?" Steve asked, breaking Tony out of his thoughts as he came to stand beside his father.

They were alone. The Avengers had all split up, each person going off to spend some time either by themselves or with a particular person for some quiet solitude to mentally prepare for the battle.

Bruce had gone back to his room to meditate and center himself before it was time to let the other guy loose. Natasha and Clint had retreated to one of their rooms to sit quietly and clean their weapons. Their silence and familiar pre-fight routine comforted them both. Thor and Loki of course hadn't left each other's side and likely wouldn't until the battle forced them to.

All the plans were in place. All that was left was to wait. It was the calm before the storm and before long they would all have to fight. In a battle like the one coming, anything could happen, which was why Tony and Steve had retreated into the library where they were alone and it was quiet so they could spend the last remaining hour together... just in case.

"Yeah. I'm okay," Tony said.

He turned away from the window he had been absently staring out of, and looked at Steve, his eyes soft and full of love, seemingly trying to commit his son's features to memory.

"You know I love you, right?" Tony asked softly.

"Of course," Steve said. "I love you too, Dad. What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just..." Tony trailed off.

"Everything will be all right," Steve said. "We've made it through this once. We can do it again."

Tony reached out and pulled Steve close, hugging him tightly. Steve returned the embrace, so happy that he could hug his father again. After two years of not being able to do so, every hug Steve received from his father was precious and valuable to him.

"Just, please be careful, okay?" Tony said, pulling back and softly caressing his son's face. "I don't ever want to lose you again."

"You won't," Steve promised, covering his father's hand with his own. "You know," he said, his tone turning light and teasing, "I did make it through a war, Dad."

"I know, but I'm your father, which means I'll always worry about you. It's what parents do," Tony said.

Steve smiled and hugged Tony again. "I know, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

"I love you, Steve. With all my heart," Tony whispered.

"I love you too, Dad."

A/N So there you have it. That last part may be a bit cheesy but it didn't want to cooperate very well so I did my best, and hopefully you guys didn't hate it. Also, I know the stuff about the tesseract and the portal is probably a bit weak and kind of nonsense, but since it's my story, I decided to take some creative license to make things work out the way I want them to. Like I said, I'm not too sure about this chapter so please let me know what you think! :)

Next chapter, the battle finally begins. It's not going to be an easy one or a short one. It's going to be a hard fought battle and the price of victory may be higher than anyone anticipated. Hang on tight guys. It's going to be a bumpy ride!