A/N
Make sure you read the last chapter!

His vision was blurry with tears, but in the distance he could still see the outline of a body. He had no understanding of time- it was just pain, and grief, and anger. The world trembled, rocks came crashing down in landslides. 

A fissure opened its maw, and Malekith's body was swallowed by the ground. Achilles wished it would swallow him too. Or maybe the world would break apart, and the void of space would kill him.

He didn't know when the figure appeared beside him, and he didn't know what happened after that.

~~~

Achilles woke on a cot, with soft white fabrics hanging as curtains, with gentle light filtering through them. For a moment it reminded him of the infirmary in a place he used to call home. But it was too quiet. The breeze was all he could hear.

Achilles sat up sharply, taking in his surroundings in more detail. Things were clean, and simple, there was no junk or clutter. Outside was unfamiliar flora and fauna. There was someone or something nearby.

He pushed the light blanket off of himself, and stood. For a moment he felt dizzy, and he had to take a breath to reorient himself. He wasn't restrained, and he wasn't naked. He figured those were two good things at least.

What was he doing here? How had he gotten here? The memory came crashing back to him like a freight train. Loki. 

He clamped a hand over his mouth as a sob tried to escape him and braced his weight against the wall as his knees nearly gave out.

Loki.

Loki.

Loki.

Loki.

Loki.

He inhaled shakily, and forced himself to stand. He took purposeful steps toward the next room over, and after a moment's hesitation, opened the door.

The figure inside was sitting at some sort of desk, but turned at the noise. It had a vaguely humanoid skeletal structure: Bipedal, with two arms, and a single head. It's 'hair' resembled something more like Davy Jones' beard from Pirates of the Caribbean. It's eyes were peculiarly colored and shaped, and sat more to the side of the head than a predator, but not completely to the side as a prey creature.

It's nose was several symmetrical  angular slits down the center of it's face, which oddly resembled gills. The creature also had those- a few on it's neck, and a few more under where the collarbone might be. It's hands had six fingers, with webbing in between. A long, thick tail ended with a fin, and there were dinosaur raptor like feet- wide, webbed, and clawed like the hands.

Definitely an alien.

The alien creature held still, watching Achilles cautiously.

"Where am I?" Achilles asked.

"I do not..." The alien said carefully as though rehearsed, with a slurred accent. "Speak your language."

Well shit. Now what?

The alien looked to a piece of paper,  where there was foreign writing. "I do not... Wish you harm."

Achilles frowned. Did it have lines? Notes?

"I am a healer." The alien said. 

Healer was better than other things, Achilles figured. "Do you have a name?"

The alien seemed to hear something familiar. "Name! Mauzi." 

"Your name is Mauzi?"

Mauzi hesitantly nodded. They pointed at Achilles. "You are-"

"Achilles." Achilles said.

Mauzi nodded again, and then looked rather awkward. They turned back to their desk, and fidgeted with something.

Okay. Achilles thought. There's an alien healer named Mauzi. Achilles frowned, and walked away. What was going on?

He went through the curtains, and was met with a very weird sight. He definitely wasn't on any planet he recognized. It would be hard to describe it to anyone who wasn't seeing it. There wasn't really a ground, per se- the building was kind of floating. On water.  

As far as Achilles could tell, the surface was covered in water, with tall fauna growing from underneath like mangrove trees. But these were alien plants. On an alien planet.

He was on an unfamiliar alien planet. And his alien was dead.

Achilles sat down, not touching the water. And he tried to breathe. Over and over again, his mind replayed the moment when he felt Loki's heartbeat die. Again and again, he felt Loki die.

Achilles himself felt like he had died. 

He felt another presence appear in the building behind him, but he couldn't bring himself to care. The person walked quickly towards Achilles- and Achilles' heart skipped a beat. No, it couldn't be...

"You're awake." Loki said, relief clear in his voice.

Achilles turned and stared. "Loki?"

"Who else could I be?" Loki asked, a brow quirked in question.

Achilles abruptly stood and closed the distance between them in a second. He wrapped Loki in a tight embrace, Loki taking a second to react. 

"What's wrong?" Loki asked.

"You were supposed to convince them that you were dead, not me!" 

Loki's features slacked. "Oh. You thought I...?"

"I felt you die! Your heart stopped and you- you-"  Achilles' voice cracked.

"I'm sorry." Loki said. "I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to do that to you."

Achilles held him tighter.

~~~

They danced around the topic for days, and days turned into weeks. Until one moment, Achilles finally said it.

"What happened with the Aether?"

Loki stopped what he was doing, and sighed. "You absorbed it."

"I absorbed it?"

"Indeed."

"What does that mean?"

"You have the power of an infinity stone in your body." Loki said. "I don't know what that entails, either."

"Do you think I could use it?" Achilles frowned.

"I don't want you to try and find out that you can't." Loki said darkly.

"That's a good point." Achilles sighed. 

"Are you okay?" Loki asked after a minute.

"I don't know." Achilles said. "If I just don't try to use it, is it like, even there? Does that make sense?"

"Not really." Loki said.

"Yeah, I didn't think it would."

"Do you feel it?"

"Kinda? It's hard to tell." Achilles said. "If I think about it hard enough, I can kinda imagine that something feels different rather than actually feeling it."

Loki nodded.

Achilles opened his mouth to say something, then hesitated.

"What is it?" Loki asked.

"Do you... Do you think...?"

"Do I think what?"

"With that extra power, am I...?"

"Immortal?"

"Yeah."

Loki took Achilles' hands in his, and spoke very softly. "I think so."

Achilles shut his eyes, and tried not to freak out. Loki wrapped him in an embrace. "It's okay," Loki said. "It'll be okay."

~~~

"I think we've stayed here long enough. Are you ready to go?" Loki asked.

"Go where?"

"Somewhere far away, perhaps?"

"That sounds nice."

"Some place where nobody knows who we are." Loki said.

A tentative smile graced the corner of Achilles' lips. "Yeah... Are you ready?"

"I am. Just waiting for you." 

"Okay. There's just something I have to do first."

~~~

Sep 17 2013

They stood outside an apartment, looking in through a window at the lit interior. Inside two teens were wrestling about, laughing.

Achilles gave a soft smile. He nodded at Loki, and they disappeared.

The teens stopped wrestling, one of them looking out the window.

"What, did you see something?"

"I thought I did."

The older one stood up and started walking to the window. "What was it?"

"Just my imagination."

~~~

Achilles took a deep breath, and set his shoulders.

Loki gave him a questioning look. 

"I'm okay." Achilles said. "Wait here for me?"

"Of course." Loki said, confused.

Achilles nodded, and left Loki on the beach of Montauk, while he walked into the tide. He gasped as the water met him, and a familiar power and comfort greeted him. The caress of the tide rejuvenated his very being. 

He let the feeling wash over him, and let it consume his senses. Back, forth, back, forth... Achilles stood still, his eyes closed, until he felt a presence change around him. When he opened his eyes, Poseidon stood in front of him.

"Hello Son."

"No." Achilles said calmly. "You don't get to call me that."

"I'm sorry."

"You should be."

"I know it hasn't been easy these past few years-"

"Hasn't been easy? Did you just take a guess?" Achilles asked.

"You were stripped of your life, of course it wouldn't have been easy." Poseidon said.

"Have you kept tabs on me?"

"No, I have not."

"Do you know what my name has been these past three years?" Achilles asked.

"No."

"Let me introduce myself, then. So that you understand 'Hasn't been easy' doesn't cut it." Achilles said. "Achilles Bane, elder brother of Ash and Angel Bane, Agent of Shield, infiltration dabbler, demolitions expert, with a specialization in mass murder."

It was a long moment before either of them spoke.

"You've changed." Poseidon said.

"Thanks to you, and the other Olympians." Achilles said. "If you'd left me alone, I would be minding my own damn business and be working some normal human job."

Poseidon sighed.

"Funny how that works, huh? In trying to avoid a monster, you created it." Achilles said.

"Why did you come here?" Poseidon asked.

"I wanted to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

"Why didn't you stand up for me?" It was a question that had been bothering him for years. And every time he thought of it, he felt like the scared seventeen year old who had woken up in Shield for the first time.

Poseidon looked down, into the sand. He reached into the water and plucked something from it, cradling it in his hand. "I made a mistake."

"Damn right."

"I thought that if I argued you would be killed. I didn't want that. So I thought it best if I kept my mouth shut."

"That went swimmingly, didn't it?"

"I don't expect you to forgive me, but I'd like to give you something." Poseidon said.

"I don't want gifts, Poseidon." Achilles said. 

"At least let me tell you what it is?" Poseidon asked, taking a few steps closer.

Achilles took a few steps back. "You know being this close to you hurts, right?"

Poseidon winced.

"If I wasn't in the water, I'd be coughing up blood or something."

"I didn't mean for this to happen-"

"Yet you fucking let it." Achilles said. "Let's wrap this up, okay? I've got places to go. I just wanted to tie up this loose end before I left."

"The ocean is never too far." Poseidon said.

"Sure, your waters on this planet." Achilles said. "I never said I'd be staying on Earth."

Poseidon opened his mouth, and closed it. He sighed. "I lift your banishment, Perseus Jackson."

For the first time in years, it didn't send pain shooting through his skull. It felt like a weight had been lifted from his chest, and the pain from close proximity with an Olympian faded away.

Poseidon looked weary. "I have one last thing." He held out his hand, revealing a familiar leather cord and bead necklace. "I found this some months ago, and I would like to return it."

Wordlessly, the young Devourer accepted the necklace. He looked over it for a long moment, and when he looked back Poseidon was gone. Closing his hand around the cord, he turned and walked back to Loki.

He slipped his empty hand into the god's. "Let's go." He said quietly, sure of only one thing in his confusion.

"Where to?" Loki asked.

"Anywhere you'd like."

A/N

Well, there we go... That happened