Chapter Ninety Six

They wouldn't stop talking.

We all sat in the Tardis together. The Winchesters, the Avengers (plus Loki), Harry, Sherlock and John, and the Doctor and I.

I should have come up with a name by now.

It was something that I could focus on. While everyone talked about…whatever, I forgot, I was thinking up names for our group.

Guardians of the Galaxy is out, because they're already a thing.

Defenders of Dimensions? Maybe. We do come from all different dimensions.

Everyone was getting so loud I couldn't think.

"Quiet," I said. It was a quick, sharp, word. I didn't look up from the floor.

Silence.

I looked up. "What?" I asked.

"Those are the first words that you've said since…we won," Loki said.

I shrugged.

"Do you have any ideas?" Harry asked. "We're wondering how to put the world back together again."

"It's still deteriorating," the Doctor said. "It can't handle the combination."

"Make a pocket universe," I said quietly. It was obvious.

"What?" John asked.

I sighed. "Make the area where the worlds are combined to a smaller place. Make it a small pocket universe, that's attached to this one. The dimensions should all snap back in place."

I looked back down, thinking about different names, not even noticing everyone's incredulous stares from finding the answer so easily.

The Dream Team? No, that's still stealing a name from somewhere.

...

Everyone else was gathered in the Tardis with us. With the help of the Tardis and Jarvis, we managed to snap the universes back into place.

We said our goodbyes to each other.

I should have known that this would end.

Slowly, we dropped everyone off at their respective worlds.

And then it was us.

The group whose name I was still trying to find.

"Is this goodbye?" Steve asked, looking around at the group.

"No," the Doctor said. "We'll see each other again, but for now, you need to go back to your own worlds. You need to get on with your own lives."

We left Loki with Thor and the Avengers.

And then they were gone.

And then it was just the Doctor and I.

...

It was like in Season 3, when they lost a year. Except we lost five.

Everyone went back to their normal ages. Except for me. Because I was Asgardian, I stayed the same.

But it was almost as if it had never happened.

Except we remembered.

I knew what to call us now.

The Shadow Sacrificers.

Sure, it's not the best name, but it fit us.

We were in the shadows. We didn't get recognition.

And yet we sacrificed so much more than you could ask for. We didn't sacrifice ourselves. We killed our friends, our families for everyone.

For people who will never know the true story.