A/N Good news: This is not the last chapter! Bad news: The next one is. There will be a short epilogue after this chapter to wrap things up. I'm going to try to get it up sooner than next Friday but with school I can make no promises at this point. It will be no later than next Friday, though. :)

It is black and blue. If you know what I'm talking about, chime in a tell me how it looks to you. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you've been living under a rock. :P

As always, special thanks goes out to all my reviewers. You guys are so awesome, and over 300 reviews! I am blown away! Thank you all so much! :D

Allinray

Son-of-hiddle

RossyGaray

Ophelia Lokisdottir

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ThePastReliesOnMemories

Princess PrettyPants

Ellamena

ImperfectIsPerfect

thewriterstory

Guest

aliceindeepdarkwonderland

maliha1205

Aka-Baka Hoshi

DragonsAddicted- Night Furies? I love Night Furies. Those two movies are toward the top of my list of favorite animated movies. I've always liked dragons for some reason, and Night Furies (or at least Toothless) is my favorite dragon. :)

tacomayor

Kimiyu

Questions Answered

As the feast progressed, Loki, Thor, and the other Avengers continued to talk and joke as they enjoyed the good food, no more of which was thrown at Loki, fortunately. It wasn't until about halfway through eating, that the conversation turned more serious as Steve finally worked up the courage to ask Loki a possibly touchy question.

"Hey, Loki?" Steve asked, gaining Loki's attention from across the table. "Ever since the battle, I've been wondering about something. Everyone seemed so surprised that you even knew what a lifeforce transfer was, let alone that you could do it. So I was curious, where did you learn to do a lifeforce transfer?"

The question had gained the equally curious attention of several others sitting near them and the eyes of all the Avengers, The King and Queen, and several others down the table, including Sif and the Warriors Three, were on Loki.

"The tesseract," Loki answered, leaning back in his seat and intertwining his fingers. "It didn't just take over my mind, it also showed me things, gave me knowledge that I didn't have before. Most of what it showed me were things that pertained to Thanos' plans but there were also other things, things that had nothing to do with Thanos. The transfer spell was one of them."

"Don't take this the wrong way," Tony said. "I'm not accusing you or insulting you or anything. It's purely curiosity."

"Ask me whatever you wish, Tony," Loki said agreeably.

"I was just wondering why you chose to fight Thanos first, then heal your father," Tony said.

"Because I knew the transfer would take most of my strength and I wouldn't be able to fight Thanos afterward," Loki answered. "I wanted to save my father, but I had to ensure Thanos' defeat first. No other warrior on Asgard could have defeated him, not the Hulk or Thor, not even Father could have. Thanos was simply too powerful. I knew before the battle began that Thanos was my fight. So did he."

"That's why he waited," Steve said in realization.

The others around him looked at him questioningly.

"Thanos," Steve elaborated. "During the battle, he far outmatched everyone, but all he did was cut down the ones who came at him. He never actively attacked. He just stood there waiting. He was waiting for you wasn't he?"

"I was the one he came for," Loki said. "I was the one who defied him and made him angry. I was the one he wanted to destroy. He and I both knew if we ever met again, it would only end with one of us dead."

"You knew you could beat him," Thor said.

"I knew I had a chance," Loki corrected, "which was more than anyone else had. You see, the way Asgardian warriors fight is basically just brute force, head on, hit and smash, not much else to it. Now most of the time that works fine as many of Asgard's enemies fight much the same and Asgardians are very strong. However, Thanos could not only match that level of brute force, he also had a lot of speed and agility to go with it. Not to mention his elemental and magical attacks. Thanos' fighting style included great brute strength, incredible speed and agility, as well as non physical attacks, plus strategy, thinking, planning, and even trickery. All of those things combined can easily overcome the average Asgardian fighting style."

"Thanos needed someone like you," Natasha said. "Someone with a little of everything included in his fighting style. You had the strength to match his but also the speed, agility, and cunning, plus your magic to fight off his energy attacks."

"Yeah, but even with all of that, the way you fought, it was almost like you could anticipate his movements before he made them," Bruce said.

"In a way, I could somewhat," Loki said.

"How?" Steve asked.

Loki kept his eyes on his plate as he absentmindedly moved his food around with his knife.

"When you spend enough time in someone's mind, or they spend enough in yours, you gain the ability to anticipate some of their thoughts, plans, and movements," Loki said vaguely.

"What do you mean spend time in someone's mind?" Bruce asked.

Loki sighed and laid his knife down before forcing himself to look up and meet their eyes.

"When Thanos took over my mind, he basically imprinted his own mindset onto mine. Everything I said and did on Earth was basically him."

"So he took over your body?" Steve asked.

"Yes and no," Loki said. "It wasn't a live connection. He wasn't standing on some distant planet controlling my body and seeing through my eyes. But the influence on my mind was him. It was..." Loki searched for the right words to describe it. "It was sort of like he made a copy of his mind and overlaid in onto mine. It was his thought process, his morals, his objectives. It wasn't actually him but it was like a distant shadow of him, a small piece I suppose."

"So he turned your mind into his?" Tony asked.

"In a way, that is actually a fairly close explanation. But it wasn't a complete transformation. He couldn't turn me into a different person. I was still there within my own mind. All he could do was... sort of..."

"Override," Clint supplied, speaking from experience.

"Yes!" Loki said excitedly. "Override me and lock me away in the back of my mind. He couldn't wipe me out or change who I am but he could push me aside, put in his own imprint, and let that control my body."

"Okay, but how did that help you in the fight?" Natasha asked.

"He took over my mind some weeks before I came to Earth. Because of that, I ended up spending several weeks occupying my mind with an imprint of Thanos'. I learned the way he thought; the way he viewed the world; the things he valued and the things he didn't care about; what he was willing to do and how far he would go for what he wanted; what made him angry and what pushed his buttons; what he was capable of and what he wasn't; as well as what he would do in a given situation and what would never occur to him. After that, I was able to predict with pretty fair accuracy what decisions he would make and what actions and attacks he would use during the battle, as well as what to expect, to an extent of course, what he was capable of in both offensive and defensive skills."

As Loki spoke, he forgot about the emotions that went with the memories. Without even realizing it, he had distanced himself so that his explanation became purely technical as if he was explaining how his magic worked, rather than talking about his mental captivity and torture along with the battle that had nearly claimed his life.

The feelings of fear and pain were forgotten, and as he spoke, he actually got a bit excited as he explained the inner workings of his mind control and the help it provided him in his fight. Because he wasn't thinking about the emotional aspects of it or even really thinking about the fact that what he was talking about was something terrible that had happened to him, it took him a moment to realize why those around him were silent and staring at him with such strange looks on their faces.

They were worried about the memories he was dredging up and what effect they would have on him. For a moment, Loki fell silent waiting for the emotions to crash down on him as he finally stopped to think about what he had been talking about, but they never did. Yes, they were less than pleasant memories, but he found that they didn't haunt him, at least not at that moment. Thanos was dead, Loki had survived, and he had come out all the better for it.

He felt more confident and accepted than he ever had in his life. He had friends and he was closer to his family than he had been in decades. Things were good, and he found that with that kind of support, the memories didn't have such a strong hold on him anymore. Once the light of day faded and he was left alone in the dark of his chambers, it might be a different story, but for the moment, the memories truly didn't bother him.

Something in his expression must have shown his thoughts. Not much, as no one but Thor saw it, but Thor, Loki had discovered, had become much more perceptive since his time on Earth, especially where Loki was concerned. His older brother had become quite adept at reading him, and now Thor could see enough to understand that talking about the memories didn't bother Loki.

The older prince's expression relaxed and he smiled.

"So he helped you to defeat him without even meaning to," Thor said.

Loki smiled in return, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"In more ways than one," Loki said.

His genuine smile put everyone at ease and they all relaxed a bit and stopped looking at Loki like he might break.

"How so?" Steve asked.

"All that time that my magic spent trying to heal me and sustain me for so many weeks and months, actually strengthened it beyond anything I was ever capable of before."

"So all the strain it was put under was kind of like exercising? Like pushing a muscle past it's ability and eventually it gets strong enough to handle what's being asked of it?" Clint asked, putting it together.

"Exactly," Loki said, excited as his friends followed his line of thought. "All that time Thanos was trying to break me, he was actually making me stronger than I've ever been in my life and conditioning me to fight and take him down. Without what he did to me, I never would have been able to defeat him."

"So, I guess you can say that, in a way, Thanos defeated himself," Bruce said.

Loki blinked at the revelation. All that time ago when he had defeated himself in that cell and made it possible for Thanos to take control of him, came to his mind. Apparently, he wasn't the only one who could defeat himself.

"Yes, I suppose he did," he said with a small, thoughtful smile.

"You know, as cool as what Loki did against Thanos was," Clint said, then turned to Loki, "and it was awesome by the way," he turned back to the others, "you guys are forgetting the part right before that when Loki picked up Mjolnir."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Tony said.

"You picked up Mjolnir?" Frigga asked in surprise.

"You didn't know?" Tony asked.

"It wasn't that big of a deal," Loki said, trying to brush it off as unimportant.

"Not that big-" Thor began incredulously before cutting off and turning to his parents. "Loki saved my life."

"You would have done the same for me," Loki said.

"Would one of you mind telling me what happened?" Frigga asked.

"A Chitauri had me pinned down and was going to kill me," Thor answered.

"I had used all my knives," Loki added, "I couldn't use magic and risk hitting Thor as well, and they were too far away for me to make it there in time to physically take the creature down. Mjolnir was close by and it was my only option."

"You should try picking it up again," Fandral suggested from where he was sitting a few seats away.

"I can't," Loki said with certainty.

"How do you know if you haven't tried? Come on, just try it," Clint urged.

"You might as well," Steve said with a shrug. "They probably won't let it go until you do."

"All right," Loki conceded. "But it will not work."

"Why not?" Thor asked.

"Because I'm not worthy," Loki said offhandedly.

Thor sent him a look that clearly said he did not appreciate his brother talking about himself in that manner. Loki saw the look and rolled his eyes before amending his statement.

"I mean, I'm not worthy in the same way that no one but you is worthy."

"Just try," Thor said.

"All right, I'll try, but I'm telling you it won't work. This does not have a worthy purpose," Loki sighed.

Thor raised Mjolnir and laid it on the table between himself and Loki. Loki looked at it for a moment, aware that all eyes were on him. He knew he wouldn't be able to pick it up, and yet, he felt completely okay with that. He had his own weapon now and when it had counted, he had been worthy to lift Mjolnir. He didn't need to lift it the rest of the time.

He reached out and wrapped his hand around the handle and pulled. Just as he had expected, nothing happened. Mjolnir was just as heavy and unresponsive to his touch as it always had been.

"See? I told you," Loki said with an unconcerned shrug.

"But it worked on the battlefield," Natasha said.

"Yes, because for that moment, I was worthy," Loki agreed.

"You said that picking it up here had no worthy purpose. What did you mean?" Bruce asked.

"I meant, I'm trying to pick up the hammer just to see if I can pick it up. There is no purpose there. That motive is not worthy," Loki explained.

"But your purpose during the battle was," Steve said in understanding.

"During the battle I wasn't thinking about picking up the hammer or whether I was worthy or not," Loki said. "My motive wasn't to wield the hammer or use it's power and I wasn't trying to prove myself worthy. I had only one thought, one purpose, one motive. In that moment, when I wrapped my hand around the handle, all I was thinking about was saving Thor. All that mattered in that moment, was saving the life of another. That's why Mjolnir let me pick it up. In that moment, I was worthy."

After that, desert arrived and they all lapsed into silence for several long moments as they all focused on eating. About halfway through eating his desert, Loki glanced up to see Natasha slowly eating, but staring at him as she did so.

To most people, Natasha seemed to have a blank, unreadable expression on her face. However, to the Avengers she was obviously thinking hard about something and to Clint, who knew her best out of all of them, Natasha was clearly looking at Loki with a considering, kind of curious expression as if she was trying to figure something out, or maybe trying to decide whether to ask Loki about whatever it was that she was thinking about.

"What's on your mind, Natasha?" Loki asked, surprising the others around him, and if Natasha's subtle change in expression was any indicator, he had managed to take her slightly off guard as well.

It was a bit amazing and perhaps slightly unsettling that Loki was able to read Natasha at all, let alone so soon after first meeting her. Tony had known her longer than any of the other Avengers, except Clint, and all of the Avengers had known her longer than Loki, and yet, the younger prince could still read her better than everyone but Clint.

"You said the tesseract gave you the spell that saved your father but you also said it showed you some other things too. What else did it show you?" Natasha asked.

"There weren't many things outside of Thanos' plans that it showed me. Some of the them I didn't understand even with the tesseract's help," Loki answered. "However, it did show me a few things about magic. It showed me ways to use magic that I had never thought of before. It showed me things about the universe and how it works, secrets about Yggdrasil and just how bound the realms are to each other and how much they rely on each other. The bonds run much deeper than anyone realizes. For instance, if even one of the worlds were destroyed through any means at all, it would throw the rest of the world tree into chaos. The realms rely on each other for balance, take away one and that balance is disrupted, it would be devastating for all the remaining worlds and would likely spell death and disaster for all life on them."

"We always knew the realms were connected but I never suspected the connection was quite so strong," Odin admitted.

"We picture the realms like a tree," Loki expounded, gesturing with his hands as he explained, "but unlike a tree where a single branch can be cut off and the tree as a whole still survive, Yggdrasil cannot survive without all nine realms. They're all parts of the same whole. Take one piece out and the rest dies with it."

"Each piece is vital. Take Asgard away and it's like cutting off the head," Bruce said.

"Or take Earth away and it's like ripping out the heart or lungs," Tony added.

"Exactly!" Loki said, excitedly. "None of the worlds are the equivalent of a branch or an arm or leg, they are all vital organs that cannot be replaced or survived without."

"I guess it was a good thing you didn't destroy Jotunheim then, Brother," Thor said.

Everyone froze at the reminder of Loki's past actions, waiting to see his reaction.

"Yes, I would have hated to eliminate Yggdrasil's air conditioning," Loki said.

Nobody moved for a long moment, then Thor started laughing, the rest of the Avengers and Loki joining in a moment later.

"What is air conditioning?" Volstagg asked.

The seven Avengers just laughed harder.

A/N So, I believe all important loose ends should be tied up now. If I missed any, please let me know. And feel free to let me know what you thought about the chapter! :)

Next chapter: Sadly, the next chapter will be the last. It's time for the Avengers to return home, and Thor and Loki see them off. But, of course, Tony couldn't let it just be a simple goodbye could he?