Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. You are all absolutely wonderful. I truly appreciate all of your encouragement.

Conversation 57: Conversations That Will Only Make Sense in Hindsight

Quake: Hey, I'm sorry I didn't text you immediately. But I wanted to get off of this planet as soon as feasible. That took a little longer than it should have. Thankfully we're on our way to Asgard now.

Agent America: It's OK. We're still close enough that I'm getting these in real-time or at least close to real-time. Unfortunately, that's not possible with Earth.

Quake: We are also not getting things from Earth very quickly. I hope they get my warning to be prepared for the refugees.

Agent America: Send it to us, and we will also transmit it.

Quake: Done. Surprisingly enough, I can do real-time conversations with my girlfriend wherever she is. I heard that you're piloting your first spaceship. I'm glad you finally get to check that off your bucket list.

Agent America: Yes, it's the final thing.

Quake: That makes sense. You seem like a person who has checked off many things.

Agent America: When will you get to Asgard?

Quake: About six more hours. I just sent everybody to rest after the last planning meeting. Although that happened to keep me from quaking Loki's brother and the girlfriend's ex. The muscles don't make up for the ego, and seven PhDs do not buy common sense. Neither one believe that destroying Asgard is the only way to defeat Hela. In Bruce's case, he doesn't actually think that we made contact with another timeline.

Quake: Also, even if we did, we should not assume the situation is identical. Thor agrees because I don't think he's ready to lose his home. I hope we'll get them to agree by reading the notes from the other timeline. Especially Thor. Otherwise, I will have to quake him unconscious and leave him on the ship. I can get away with Bruce, too, because he's not green at the moment.

Agent America: Please don't do that. Thor came to the necessary conclusion in the other timeline. The others will follow his lead, including Bruce Banner. Who you should not be jealous of.

Quake: First, I'm not jealous. I know Natasha is not interested in him at all.

Quake: Also, I'm now wondering how Thor realized what needed to happen in the last timeline. He seems completely different from the guy who wrote the reports of what happened.

Agent America: Because he is. You know as well as anyone that grief and loss change a person.

Quake: I know. I hope to get out of this by losing as few people as possible.

Agent America: You will.

Quake: I'm just worried about a repeat of what happened with Lincoln. My girlfriend is waiting for the purple one to show up and spring some sort of trap she can't tell me about. It involves Vision. I know what happened to Vision in the other timeline, and I don't want that to happen to my girlfriend.

Agent America: Trust your girlfriend. She won't take unnecessary risks. Wanda and Vision were selected specifically for this mission. Natasha is the best one to lead them. They will be successful.

Quake: I hope you're right.

Agent America: Are you worried about yourself?

Quake: We have a plan even if Bruce and Thor are ambivalent. Everyone else is on my side. Time is also on our side because we're a few days earlier than last time. Maybe even more because nobody on the other side gave exact dates. But I think we're gonna get to Earth a lot earlier, which might help.

Quake: Also, I won't be going near the big evil sister. We are also planning to avoid the purple one. I'm really hoping doing this earlier than last time will help.

Agent America: Don't tell me any more details. Don't put any of your plans in writing. Not even in code.

Quake: I know. You taught me well. It's why I won't ask where you are or what you're doing.

Agent America: You learn quickly. You're the best person I have ever supervised.

Quake: You're the best SO. We have about four hours before we need to be on alert again. So I'm going to try to get some sleep. This might be the last chance for a while.

Agent America: You should.

Quake: Unfortunately, that's not going to happen because there is a loud Asgardian at my door.

Agent America: You should get that. Be careful. There are people waiting for you.

Quake: I will be.

Xxxx

Daisy placed her Stark pad mini and opened the door. Thor was already in her room before she could say anything.

"I wish to discuss the plan again. It's obvious you're not disclosing everything." Thor sat down in front of her.

"I told you what you need to know for the immediate threat." Or at least what Loki was willing to disclose that he was aware of. "I even gave you the notes from the other timeline." Again, redacted for what Loki did not want his brother to know. "Things have already played out similarly. This seems to be another one of those things. I know you don't want to destroy your home. I understand that. But we can't let Hela loose. It will be bad for everything, and we can't deal with that right now." Daisy explained calmly.

"Especially with Thanos coming to kill Loki."

"Shit. Ana kept that in?" Daisy is not surprised. Making a Stark AI do something they don't want to do is very hard. They are the best at loophole abuse. Maybe Daisy is lucky, and Ana also included what Thanos did to the refugees. She wanted to prepare the team for that, even though she didn't want them to know about Loki being killed.

"It was in the letter from my other self," Thor answered. "They were the words of a broken man who lost everything. Why didn't you tell me what's about to happen? About how I failed to kill the mad Titan? About how he took everything from me?"

"We don't have much time, and I felt it was best to focus on the immediate issue, Hela. You have the notes from the other timeline." She hoped that Ana could push the rest of the information to Thor and company once she was with Loki. That's not an issue right now.

"You just expressed disbelief that that information was in my notes. You weren't planning to let me know that Thanos broke my brother's neck in front of me, and I barely survived the encounter. I only survived because of Loki's sacrifice and a rescue from the Guardians of the Galaxy." She could feel his anger. His powers were just at the surface.

"Yes, I wasn't planning to tell you," Daisy explained, but Thor cut her off.

"Because you're hoping it will happen again. Loki did kill your father, daughter of Philip." He accused.

"No, because I was hoping to avoid it, and if we avoid it, there is no reason for either of you to know. I know that when your brother killed my father, he wasn't in control of himself. I understand that too well." Daisy said, remembering what she did to Gideon Malik under the influence of Hive.

"You acted earlier as if nothing can change. That we are destined to make the mistakes of our counterparts."

"No, I said there wasn't another solution to deal with Hela. Removing her power source is the only way to destroy her. I consulted Ana on that. We know that and can evacuate people instead of fighting her. We are already arriving at Asgard days earlier than the other timeline. That might be what we need to get ahead of Thanos."

"I agree with that part. I've already contacted Heimdall. He has prepared for us." Thor explained.

"Good. Did your other self tell you that Thanos attacked the ship and killed half the survivors?"

"Yes. Heimdall was also killed."

"This is another thing we can prevent. We're not planning to stay with the others once we have the Tesseract. You, Heimdall, and Valkyrie will go to Earth. Ana thinks she has a way to get you there faster. Loki, me, and Robbie will protect the stone. We will be far from you, so hopefully, Thanos won't show up and kill the refugees."

"I'm going with you." Daisy is not surprise at his desire to come with them.

"No, you need to be with your people. You're their king."

"I need to protect my brother. Besides, Krog will be with her and the man of green." Daisy realized that she couldn't argue with him right now.

"Let's see where things are once we deal with Hela. We have to win that battle first. Just because it was won in one timeline doesn't mean we will win this one."

"Of course, daughter of Philip."

"I don't want Loki to die. Thanos hurt him enough the first time that he's already worried. There's no point in him knowing how bad it went in another timeline. This isn't that timeline. Sometimes knowing how things are going to end becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy." Like with what happened with Lincoln. "I don't want that to happen."

"I understand."

Xxxx

Dear Loki:

I'm so sorry I failed you. I'm not sure if I actually believe the archer's wife when she tells me there is a timeline where you are still with me. Where I'm not a complete failure.

The first time I lost you, it broke my heart. The second time it crushed me. I lost everything. Even Asgard was gone this time, along with half the universe. It was my fault. I lost my heart when the purple monster broke your neck. So I wanted to destroy his like he destroyed mine. Except he lived. Yes, eventually, I did chop his head off, but it meant nothing. Nothing means anything anymore without you.

Now I'm given a chance to save you and more of our people. I wish there was a way to save Asgard, but there is not. However, it is just a place. Our people are what matter. You matter. I miss you so much that it suffocates me sometimes.

Be careful of the Mad Titan. He has that name for a reason. Do not engage. Please just take the stone and run. He cannot have them. He will destroy the world with them. Live to trick another day. It's what you're good at, my brother.

Please remember that I love you. I need you to live. At least in one universe, I need you to live.

To be continued…

So, I deliberately chose not to write out Thor's letter. Initially, I was, but that plan changed after writing the story Letters I Can Never Send. I decided it was more important to see the letter to Loki.