A/N Okay, first off, you guys are AMAZING! Thank you all so much for the reviews and the birthday wishes! I read, and loved every single one of them. Secondly, oh my word! We've surpassed 200 reviews! I am so ecstatic right now you don't even know! Thank you guys for all the support! You make me feel so special. :D

So, school started back this week. Only a week in and I'm already overwhelmed. May cannot get here fast enough. Don't worry, though, I promise school won't affect updates. I'll make sure you guys still get a chapter a week until this story is finished.

Those who were fans of my previous story Steven Anthony Stark, or who love the Tony and Steve father/son stuff, might like to read the one-shot I recently posted titled A Father's Love. It takes place before Steven Anthony Stark and features Tony and a young Steve.

Thanks to all my awesome reviewers! You guys truly helped make my birthday one of the best ones I've had in years! :D

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To the Death

The armies of Asgard watched in silent anticipation as Loki stepped forward to meet Thanos. If the onlookers were expecting trickery and strategic, evasive movements, they were sadly mistaken as Loki faced Thanos with no doubles or throwing knives in sight.

No tricks, no unique or clever strategy. Just face to face combat. Loki was angry and he was going to end this.

The masses watched in awed silence as Loki met the fight head on, just as any warrior of Asgard would. The difference between Loki and any warrior, though, was that Loki had the speed and skills to match Thanos, rather than being cut down without effort as all other challengers had been. It was a terrible, yet beautiful sight to behold as the younger Prince of Asgard showed a side of himself few knew he possessed and even fewer had ever seen.

Loki and Thanos attacked, parried, jumped, spun, and whirled in a oddly beautiful dance of kill or be killed, each trying to gut the other. It was clear all of Asgard had underestimated the younger prince. They had sneered and looked down on him for his tricks and seemingly cowardly tactics in the face of his inability to fight as a true warrior. However, it was one thing to choose the strategic method when it was the only way he could match others. It was an entirely different matter when he had the physical skills to back up his clever mind. It was much less cowardly to be able to match any in all of Asgard and still seek creative and less dangerous methods of combat, a feat that often was much harder than simply facing a foe head on.

Just because Loki preferred the strategic and intelligent approach to fighting, didn't mean he didn't know how to fight physically as well. In the culture he grew up in, not learning to do so would have been foolish. But Loki being Loki had added his own flare to fighting. He had studied a myriad of fighting styles growing up. Aside from the straightforward form of fighting favored by Adgardians, there were signs of cleverness that usually accompanied dwarf styles of fighting, liberal amounts of grace and fluidity that were very obviously elven in origin, and surprisingly there were also traces of Frost Giant aggressiveness among other minor influences from several other races, including Midgard, all mixed together with something that was uniquely Loki.

It appeared as if he had taken the best and most effective skills and techniques from each of the strongest fighting races and combined them all into his own special fighting style that emphasized and played to his strengths, focusing more on agility and speed and less on overwhelming brute force.

Loki focused his every movement until he was practically dancing around the battlefield, executing every action and strategy with precise, fluid, and lightning fast movements, matching Thanos' every move as they both thrust and parried with their chosen weapons. For several minutes, they both attacked, blocked, spun, leaped, and even flipped, each matching the other evenly, until Thanos sent an overhead swipe toward Loki.

Loki brought the spear up and caught the titan's blade on one of the notches near the end of the spear. The sword wedged on the notch, locking their weapons. Thanos capitalized on it first, yanking his sword and twisting it hard.

The spear was wrenched from Loki's grasp and sent skidding several feet. Loki quickly leaped backward putting some distance between himself and Thanos as he tried to figure out a way to retrieve the staff.

Thanos, however, wasn't going to give him the time to come up with a plan as he sent a bolt of energy at Loki. Loki swept it away from him with his magic and Thanos sent another bolt after the first. Loki once more deflected it without too much effort. When his other self had told Thor on Midgard that he had grown in his time away, it hadn't been a lie. Loki truly had grown in many ways in that year, not the least of which was the strength of his magic. All that time his magic had spent healing him, sustaining him, and simply keeping him alive had strengthened it like a muscle exercised every day until it was far stronger than it ever had been. Thanos had unwittingly conditioned Loki for this fight and the irony made Loki smirk.

His smirk was not appreciated by Thanos who had actually been thinking along the same lines. The realization, coupled with Loki's smirk just enraged the titan. That was when he changed tactics. The energy blasts ceased and Thanos raised a hand toward Loki.

Loki felt power gather to the titan and in a rush of heat and a roar of sound, bright orange flames shot out of Thanos' gauntlet and straight at Loki. It was so sudden that Loki's reaction was purely instinctive. After all, what fights fire better than ice?

Loki threw his hands up and ice provided by his heritage and fueled by his magic leaped forward to meet the flames. The two forces met halfway between the two men and held there for a moment, neither ice nor fire gaining the advantage.

A brief flash of surprise flickered in Thanos' eyes, gone so quickly not even Loki should have seen it, but he had seen it, and knew exactly what had caused it. Thanos hadn't expected Loki to use any of his Jotun abilities. He had seen how ashamed Loki was of his true heritage and hadn't expected him to even acknowledge it, let alone publicly display it as his entire kingdom looked on.

Loki, for his part, had to take a moment to register what he was doing. He had only used any of his Jotun side a handful of times and never like this, and yet it had been instinct to him. His first thought was that he should be disgusted or ashamed as he watched the cold blue creep over his hands and felt it climb up his arms. He knew he should be feeling some kind of revulsion, but as he felt the rush of power flowing from him and the cool rush of the ice as it poured from his hands, he couldn't bring himself to hate it. It felt so right, as if there had been a part of himself lying dormant his whole life, which, in truth, it had. Now it had been awakened and Loki couldn't fathom how he could have never missed it before. He couldn't imagine not having and using this part of himself now, and he knew he would never be able to stuff it back in its box and ignore it again.

Even as he acknowledged all of this, years of fear and hatred, years of conditioning rose up within him and demanded that he fight back the blue that was passing his shoulders and spreading across his chest. For a moment, the urge was so strong that he halted the spread of blue where it was, without really thinking about it. At that point, it was habit. But as soon as he did so, the fire gained a few feet, inching closer to him as his ice weakened in the face of his internal struggle. Thanos let a smug and predatory smirk cross his face. Loki was doing the same thing he had in his cell on that remote planet. He was defeating himself. By trying to hide his blue skin, he was handicapping his ice abilities. He was trying to dampen the physical aspects of his biology and in doing so, was tamping down all aspects of his Jotun heritage, but that knowledge didn't make the urge to fight it down lessen any.

So far, the only visible skin that it covered was on his hands and that was easily overlooked, but if it covered his face, everyone present would see. His mind was screaming at him. Don't let them see. Don't let them know. By now everyone in Asgard knew what he was and some had even seen it themselves in his memories but that didn't mean he should remind them of who he was.

Who he was.

Those three words brought his thoughts to a screeching halt. For so long, he had always thought of his Jotun heritage as being what he was. Until now, it had never registered how wrong that was. He wasn't a what, he was a who, and being Jotun was who he was. Thor had tried to tell him that the first night Loki had woken his brother with his screaming, but it hadn't truly clicked in his mind until now. Whether he wished it differently or not, he was Jotun and that wasn't going to change. It was time to stop running from it and stop trying to hide it like some terrible affliction. It was who he was and at that moment it was also saving his life.

The main reason Loki had hidden and ignored it was because of what others would think and how they would look at him, but Asgard knew what he was now. Yes, some might despise him now, and possibly even more so if he showed them the irrefutable, visual proof of his difference from them. And there was a chance that no one would accept him for it, but for the first time in his life, he truly didn't care what they thought as the memory of his brother's words from several nights before rang through his mind.

"This visage is a part of who you are. Do not fear it and do not be ashamed of it. I'm not."

His family knew who and what he was. They had seen it for themselves. Thor had seen it up close and in person, and Odin and Frigga had known his whole life. None of them despised him. They loved him and accepted him for who he was, regardless of his blood. There was a time not so long ago, when that wouldn't have been enough, but now, as Loki stood, outwardly fighting Thanos and inwardly fighting himself, he found that it was. His family unashamedly accepted his heritage and that was enough. Even if all of Asgard turned on him, it would be enough. Now it was time for him to accept himself.

Just like that, the war that had been raging within him for so long ended, and for the first time, Loki felt as if he had actually won. He may always have reservations about his blood and he may always have to fight against the part of himself that grew up fearing and despising Jotuns, but for that moment, that side of himself was silent and he felt freer than he had in a long time as he quit fighting the blue and instead urged it on. It flowed across his chest and up his neck, covering his face and turning his eyes blood red in seconds. As the last of his smooth, pale skin gave way to textured blue, the power flowing from his hands multiplied as if a floodgate had been opened. Ice surged from his hands, pushing back the fire with such ease as to take Loki's breath away.

Thanos' smugness disappeared in an instant and he cut off his attack in favor of diving to the ground as the ice rushed over his head. He tucked and rolled coming back to his feet just in time to see more ice coming at him.

Loki quickly broke off his attack as Thanos ducked underneath it, but as the titan was rolling back to his feet, Loki capitalized on it. Loki took a step toward Thanos, swinging his arms in a downward arc and bringing them up to point his palms toward the titan. Ice appeared on the ground next to Loki and surged forward, following the direction of Loki's hands. It looked almost as if Loki had taken the ice and thrown it forward along the ground, even though he had never actually touched the cool substance. The four foot wide stretch of ice surged across the grassy field, covering the more than ten foot distance between Loki and Thanos before shooting up at a forty-five degree angle from the ground and forming sharp, deadly spikes headed straight for the titan.

The ice might have been successful in harming him if Thanos' reflexes had been even a moment slower, but he was able to bring up his sword at the last second and swipe it through the most threatening spikes, cutting them away before they could impale his chest. One of the other spikes, however, grazed him, leaving a cut across Thanos' upper arm.

The cut wasn't dangerous by any means but it did draw blood. Thanos growled. He hadn't expected to be bloodied in this fight at all let alone be the first.

Loki didn't give Thanos time to recover as he threw a hand forward, fueling more ice into what was already present, causing the cut away spikes to quickly regrow. Thanos swiped at them, cutting them away again but was still forced to take a step back to avoid them. Loki didn't let up, throwing out first one hand then the other, making the spikes regrow and hungrily reach toward Thanos. Thanos swung his sword from side to side, cutting away the spikes with every swipe, but continually having to step back as the spikes moved closer to him.

Loki sent a few more surges of ice forward, driving Thanos back until he had Thanos just enough off balance. With one hard push, Loki thrust out both hands, sending ice rocketing along the ground over top of what was already there. It surged forward and combined with the spikes, covering over them. It formed a blunt iceberg-like mass that shot forward, slamming into Thanos and sending the titan flying backward.

Loki knew that wouldn't keep him down long. As soon as the ice hit Thanos, Loki was moving. He sprinted forward, making a bee line for the staff that still lay where it had fallen some twenty feet away.

Thanos flew through the air head first, his body parallel to the ground. He tucked his knees to his chest, flipping himself heels over head, and planted his feet into the ground. He held his sword out to his side and dug his free hand into the dirt as his momentum slid him back a few more feet.

He came to a stop, crouched down with his hand and feet dug into the ground, leaving ruts gouged into the grassy field. As soon as he stopped, he was moving again, this time in the opposite direction. He lunged forward, pushing off with hand and feet, and surged toward Loki who was running toward him, the staff on the ground between them. They sprinted headlong toward each other, Loki's goal to reach the spear, and Thanos' goal to cut Loki down before he got there.

Loki's eyes flicked between the staff, and Thanos barreling toward him. He could make it. Just barely, but he could.

The gap between the enemies rapidly closed and Thanos raised his sword, swinging it toward Loki's throat as the two men met. At the last second, Loki threw himself to the ground in what looked similar to a Midgardian baseball player sliding into home. Thanos' blade passed over his head, missing him by inches, and cut through nothing but air. Loki grabbed the staff as he slid by before planting his feet and using his momentum to get back to a standing position. He spun to face Thanos, feeling the blue of his skin drain away to pale once more. He wasn't just Jotun and he wasn't just Asgardian. He was both, and for the first time, the change between the two felt natural.

As Loki came to a stop, he held his position, staff at the ready as, several feet in front of him, Thanos did likewise. Both men paused, facing each other with weapons raised, ready for anything.

All was silent for a split second before cheering erupted from the crowd. The fight wasn't over, but Loki had won that round.

Loki didn't take his eyes off of Thanos, but he let himself feel a moment of happiness at the cheering. His people were cheering for him. They never cheered for him. Thor yes, but not him. Now, though, they were cheering and supporting him and it was genuine. Even after seeing his Jotun form they were rooting him on.

Unknown to Loki, many of the onlookers actually found his ice fighting intriguing and many others found it amazing. They had never thought about how dangerous ice really could be or how deadly. Most of those present were too young to have been involved in the war against the Frost Giants and many of those who had, had forgotten the skill and effectiveness of the Frost Giants' abilities, the memories of the war having been faded by time.

Now they were all seeing the amazing and even beautiful, in a dangerous kind of way, aspects that ice possessed when used in such a powerful and skillful way. Yes, many had been taken slightly aback by Loki's blue skin and red eyes. It was easy to forget the younger prince wasn't Asgardian when he looked like one and when everyone had believed him to be his whole life. Hearing about his heritage and actually seeing his true genetic appearance were two different things. However, after a few seconds, and Loki's awesome display of power, his blue skin was quickly forgotten and he was once again their prince who was, bit by bit, earning respect from every warrior present with every action he took.

It had taken many years, a heritage revealed, and a ruthless and sadistic enemy for people to finally begin to see their youngest prince, but at long last, they were finally looking at him, and seeing someone who was just as strong, brave, skilled, and heroic as his older brother. Asgard had two golden princes, it just took them shamefully long to realize it.

So, as soon as Loki retrieved the staff and regained his feet, pausing to stare at Thanos, the army broke into cheers for their prince who was giving Thanos a proper fight, and winning too. The cheers only angered Thanos, of course, and he leaped forward, his sword raised.

Loki brought up the spear, catching the sword without effort. They slashed and parried, their weapons clashing. Loki blocked yet another swing from Thanos' sword and moved in close, until he was face to face with Thanos, their weapons locked between them.

"Give it up, Thanos. You're not winning this one," Loki said.

"You forget, Little Prince, I know your weakness," Thanos said with a devious grin as he looked over Loki's shoulder. "Sentiment."

Loki followed Thanos' gaze and saw Thor and Odin in the titan's sights. He turned back just in time to see a cruel smile spread across Thanos' face.

Thanos violently shoved Loki backward. The prince stumbled several steps before regaining his balance. He turned back to Thanos but it was already too late.

"No!" Loki yelled just as Thanos reared back and threw his sword, sending it flying at the unprepared Thor and defenseless Odin.

As fast as the sword was flying, though, Loki moved faster. Faster than he ever had before in his life, as he had never had such a vital reason to do so. In what did not seem like a humanly, or Asgardianly, amount of time, Loki had covered the distance between himself and the sword's trajectory. Just as the sword was about to fly past him and out of reach, Loki leaped into the air, stretching and reaching out. At the last moment, his hand closed around the hilt of the sword, catching it in midair and stopping its deadly flight toward the two royals.

As soon as Loki's hand latched onto the sword, he twisted his upper body, turning himself in the air. The moment his feet touched the ground he used his momentum to complete his spin, whirling around and swinging the sword as he went. He loosened his fingers and the sword slipped from his grasp to fly with a dangerous amount of speed right back at Thanos.

Unfortunately, Loki wasn't the only one who was capable of that particular trick. Thanos shifted his upper body to the right so that it looked as if the sword would simply harmlessly pass over Thanos' left shoulder. But at the last second, Thanos' right hand snapped up and caught the sword's handle just before it slipped past, reclaiming his weapon without so much as moving his feet.

He remained crouched, motionless, for a long moment, before straightening. He lowered his sword to his side and spun the blade in a circle once, cutting an arc through the air beside him. Loki seemed to be the only person unfazed by the titan's catch of the weapon, as if he had almost expected Thanos to do exactly what he did. Loki's only reaction to Thanos was to crouch into a balanced, ready position and spin his staff around once in his own hand, answering the taunt.

Both adversaries stood facing each other, motionlessly. One breath. Two. They both sprang forward and the fight resumed.

Once again, sword clashed with spear as both men attacked and parried. The weapons clanged as Loki and Thanos swung, spun, and slashed at each other, neither gaining the upper hand until Thanos decided to try the underhanded rout, again. While the prince was focused on Thanos, the titan hid his left hand behind his back and unleashed a deadly ball of energy. The sneak attack arced in a circle so it swung widely around them both to head toward Loki's back.

Loki was so distracted by Thanos that he didn't see the ball of energy flying right for his turned back. He did, however, sense it at the last moment. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and heat warmed his back. He ducked to the side and the attack flew past him. The crackling energy was loud in his right ear as it missed his head by inches and slammed into the ground.

Loki was able to avoid the energy blast, but he wasn't able to avoid Thanos' sword. The titan struck forward with it just as Loki dodged so that the prince had no choice but to either be hit by the blast or by the sword.

The blade bit deeply into Loki's side, but adrenalin and magic dulled the fire that should have shot through him and Loki ignored the wound. Letting anything distract him would only get him killed. Loki was fortunate that Thanos hadn't gutted him, only catching him with one side of the sword instead of the entire blade. It was still a fairly serious wound but it wasn't instantly fatal as a full on stab would have been.

None of the watchers saw the quick strike land as the blade swiftly slipped inside the edge of Loki's coat, slicing the prince's side, and withdrawing again just as quickly, the coat keeping the evidence of the injury hidden from view.

Thanos, however, knew he had hit Loki and he had been expecting the injury to make the prince falter. He didn't, though, and that made Thanos falter. The instant he did, Loki capitalized. He gripped the staff horizontally in both hands and brought it up, thrusting it forward to slam into Thanos' face.

It did little more than bloody the titan's nose and make him stumble back a step but it also angered him, just enough to push him over the edge, which was exactly what Loki wanted. Thanos' biggest weakness was always his rage. Like many people, when Thanos let his emotions have control he got sloppy and made mistakes. This time was no different.

With an angry growl, he took a step toward Loki, swinging his sword wildly and clumsily, leaving himself wide open. Loki ducked under the swing, tucked and rolled head over heels, and came up in a crouch as he thrust the spear upward, right into Thanos' gut. The curve of the spear slipped under his ribs, up through his lung, and into his heart.

There was just enough time for Thanos' face to transform into shock as he registered that Loki had won. Then he was falling backward off the spear and to the ground, dead. The whole world seemed to pause, going still and silent at the sight before them. All of Asgard stood in frozen shock and even the Chitauri stood silent and still at the sight of their leader dead on the ground. Then a deafening cheer rose up from the warriors of Asgard at the triumph.

Loki lowered the spear and stayed crouched on the ground for a long moment, panting heavily in fatigue and pain. His side was white hot fire, sweat rolled down his face, and his arms trembled sightly with exhaustion, but he couldn't stay there long. His work wasn't done. Finally, he forced himself back to his feet, not showing any of the weakness or pain he was feeling and turned to face the remaining Chitauri. All he did was stand tall, the bloody spear gripped in his hand at his side as he stared at the creatures for a long moment.

Thanos' death and Loki's threatening stare was all it took for them to suddenly turn tail and run, retreating as fast as they could back through the portal.

"Demons run when a good man goes to war," Tony said solemnly.

The four humans, including Bruce who had came down from the Hulk in time to see Loki's fight, were all silent and somber for a long moment.

"You've been watching way too much TV," Clint stated.

"Yeah," Tony sighed.

"It kind of fits, though," Steve said.

"True," Clint admitted with a slight shrug.

Bruce and Natasha just shook their heads.

As soon as all the remaining Chitauri disappeared through the portal, it closed behind them. Loki dropped his gaze to the staff in his hand. He lifted it up in front of him and stared at it for a long moment. The weapon had been used to cause too much pain to too many. It was time for Loki to ensure that it never did so again.

He took the spear in both hands, raising it horizontally up in front of him. All around him, all eyes were on Loki and the entire crowd seemed to hold their breaths, unsure what was about to happen next. Then Loki sent a burst of magic through the staff as he brought it down hard over his raised knee, breaking it in half. The jewel in the end of the spear flickered and went dark as the golden sheen of the staff seemed to somehow dim and tarnish. Loki held up the two pieces, seemingly staring down all the pain and heartache the weapon had caused him. Then he let both pieces slip from his fingers to fall to the ground right next to the dead titan.

He turned and walked away without so much as a backward glance.

The battle had seemed to last forever but it had only spanned a mere fifteen or so minutes, not even enough time for the healers to arrive from the palace to tend to the fallen king. But it was still much too long for Loki, who made his way back to the grievously wounded Odin, not knowing if his father yet lived but hoping he did.

As he approached, his eyes met Thor's for a moment and Loki's heart twisted painfully at the grief and pain he saw in his brother's eyes. Thor wasn't supposed to look like that. He was supposed to be happy and unburdened, not weighted down with sorrow. However, Loki was about to do something that would hopefully alleviate Thor of that pain.

The tesseract had shown him much, things that pertained to Thanos' plans as well as things that were completely unrelated. One of those unrelated things just so happened to be a very powerful spell. Something good was finally about to come from Loki's encounter with the tesseract. It was about to save his father.

Loki reached his father's side and knelt next to him, gently placing his hands on his father's face. Then he closed his eyes and reached his magic out, trying to find Odin's lifeforce. It took him a minute of searching to find it and when he did, a shot of fear ran through him. Odin's strength and lifeforce was fading, slipping away. It was so weak and Loki desperately reached out with his own and grabbed onto the flickering lifeforce to keep it from slipping any farther away. But even as he did so, he felt resistance. Odin was fighting him, a feeling of refusal washing over Loki. And although he didn't hear actual words, the meaning was still clear.

No, Loki.

Those words, which had once shattered him, now had a whole new meaning. With Loki connected to Odin's lifeforce he could sense the king's emotions and memories. There was no way either of them could lie even if they wanted to as they were connected through the energy that made them who they were, no barriers or lies could exist in that place. And Loki felt the truth.

Even all that time ago, on the broken rainbow bridge, as he dangled over the abyss and Odin looked down at him and whispered those words. No, Loki. Even then, he hadn't been trying to shatter Loki, even though he had anyway. He had been trying to break Loki out of his madness and bring him to his senses. He had been trying to get his son back, but had once again said the wrong thing and Loki had let go.

The pain and grief Odin had felt, but never shown anyone, after that, had been so all-encompassing as to be crippling. Even as Odin outwardly remained the king, inwardly he was broken and overcome with sorrow, which was only surpassed by the guilt and blame he had placed on himself, believing it to be his fault that Loki had chosen the destructive path that had ended with his suicide. The self-directed hatred Odin had felt in that time rivaled the self-loathing Loki himself had carried for so long. Apparently, in that tendency, Loki and Odin had much more in common than the young prince ever realized.

But now, those words meant something else. Odin didn't want Loki to save him. The king knew what Loki was about to do and he knew what the cost was going to be, and he would rather die than let Loki risk his life to save him. Odin was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice of a parent. He was willing to die for his son. But rather than have the desired effect on Loki and making him withdraw, Odin's refusal did the opposite. It was that willingness to die for Loki, and the overpowering love that Loki felt from his father that made him even more determined to do what he had set out to.

Odin continued to fight, but he was so weak, it was a simple matter for Loki to override the king's efforts and do what he wanted to. Loki had always done whatever he wanted, regardless of the consequences. Why should his final act be any different?

Despite Odin's resistance and his pain at the thought of losing Loki again, Loki pushed onward and started the spell he had learned from the tesseract. As he worked the spell, he felt his strength ebb from him and flow into Odin, slowly at first but noticeable. Little by little, Odin's strength returned and he was no longer fading from this world. But with every moment that Odin grew stronger and farther from death, Loki grew closer as his strength drained from him.

He was slowly but surely trading places with Odin. It wasn't just strength he was giving to the king, it wasn't just healing, it was some of his very lifeforce. Loki was giving away what was keeping him alive. He was, in essence, slowly killing himself to save his father. And he didn't regret it one bit.

He had always loved his father and to know that his father truly loved him in return was all Loki needed to make the sacrifice worth it.

He would not lose his father, not when they were just finding their common ground, when things were finally becoming good between them for the first time in so many years. Loki would not lose him so soon after finding each other again. If it meant Loki's death, then so be it.

But as Odin grew stronger and Loki grew weaker, Loki's ability to stop Odin from fighting him grew weaker as well, until Odin was strong enough to stop the lifeforce transfer. Breaking off the flow of power, like plugging a leak, so no more of Loki's precious life would drain out. Odin put a stop to it as soon as he possibly could, but the damage had been done. The king could feel how weak his son was and even though he had stopped the spell, Loki's lifeforce was still weakening.

Now it was Loki who was slipping away.

A/N And another cruel cliffhanger. I just keep doing that, don't I? Well, I would apologize but I'm not really that sorry. Funny how I hate when authors leave me hanging and yet I do it to people all the time. I guess I'm just hypocritical like that. :P Anyway, please let me know what you think, even if you're just mad at me for leaving it there for a week. :)

Next chapter we have some of the aftermath of the battle.

Oh! BTW, have you guys seen the newest Age of Ultron trailer? It is AWESOME! I freaked out when I watched it, possibly worse than I did when I saw the first one. Ugh! As if I wasn't wishing for May enough already!

I don't know if you guys might be interested in seeing a YouTube video I did for Age of Ultron. I edited together some of the official trailer footage to the song "Centuries" by Fall Out Boy. I'm really excited and pleased with how it turned out. If you want to see it, the link is at the bottom of my profile.

Apologies for the insane A/Ns this time. A lot happened this week. Now I'm done talking (or rather, writing). :)