You returned back to the group with Tony, who were all now stood outside the ship, making your way over to Quill who glared at you and then looked away.

"Look, I'm sorry. It's been a rough couple of days." you said to him.

"Yeah, I figured." Quill scowled, but then held out his hand, "I'm Star Lord, but call me Quill."

"Y/N." you said, taking his hand and shaking it, "I'm sorry about Gamora."

"Yeah, well. I'll find her." he replied determinedly, "And I'm sorry about... the brother."

You nodded in thanks, not knowing quite what to say. Quill looked back at the device he was holding in his hand, shaking it slightly.

"What the heck happened to this planet? It's eight degrees off its axis; gravitational pull is all over the place." he muttered. You turned to see the bug lady jumping up and down joyfully in a low gravity spot. Suddenly the blue alien Tony had been stood on was in front of you.

"My name is Drax. That over there is Mantis. You are very powerful and moderately beautiful." he said, holding out his hand.

"Uh... thanks." you said, taking his hand and blanching as he bent down to kiss it. Tony raised an eyebrow at you from behind Drax's back; Quill sighed from behind you.

"Drax, man, stop being weird."

"I am not! I'm simply paying the lady a compliment." Drax stated.

"Okay, so," Tony said loudly, coming to your rescue, "We've got one advantage. Thanos is coming to us. We'll use it. I have a plan... or at least the beginnings of one. It's pretty simple: we draw him in, pin him down, get what we need. Definitely don't wanna dance with this guy, we just want the gauntlet."

You nodded in agreement along with Peter; not seeing Drax who had just broken out into a large yawn.

"Are you yawning? In the middle of this, while I'm breaking it down? Huh? Did you hear what I said?" Tony asked him in annoyance.

"I stopped listening after you said, 'We need a plan'." Drax informed him.

"Okay, Mr. Clean is on his own page." Tony said to the rest of you in resignation.

"See, 'not winging it' isn't really what they do." Quill said to Tony.

"Uh, what exactly is it that they do?" Peter asked.

"Kick names. Take ass." Mantis chimed in, having bounced over to join in the conversation.

"Yeah, that's right." Drax agreed, moving to stand next to Mantis in a sort of battle stance. You looked at Tony; upon his face was an expression of deep hopelessness.

"Alright, just get over here, please. Mr. Lord, can you get your folks to circle up?"

"'Mr. Lord'. Star Lord is fine." Quill scoffed, motioning for Drax and Mantis to come closer.

"We gotta coalesce. 'Cause if all we come at him with is a plucky attitude..." Tony started.

"Dude, don't call us plucky. We don't know what it means. Alright, we're optimistic, yes. I like your plan... except it sucks, so let me do the plan, and that way it might be really good." Quill interrupted. Peter's expression was one of wide-eyed confusion.

"Tell him about the dance-off to save the universe." Drax said to Quill.

We're all going to die here.

You turned to look at Tony in indignation; he just shrugged as though he'd given up.

"What dance off?" Peter asked.

"It's not a... it's not... it's nothing." Quill stammered, clearly embarrassed.

"Like in Footloose, the movie?" Peter frowned.

Quill's face lit up in excitement, "Exactly like Footloose! Is it still the greatest movie in history?"

"It never was." Peter replied. Quill frowned in deep disappointment.

"Hey, don't encourage this, alright?" Tony told Peter, putting an end to the whole Footloose affair.

"Okay." Peter said.

"We're getting no help from Flash Gordon here." Tony sighed, referring to Quill.

"Flash Gordon? By the way, that's a compliment. Don't forget, I'm half human. So that fifty percent of me that's stupid? That's one hundred percent you." Quill argued, pointing at you, Peter and Tony.

"Your math is blowing my mind." Tony said, right as you muttered "Not human."

"You're not human? Makes sense, you have purple eyes." Quill nodded, looking you up and down.

"Excuse me, but... does your friend often do that?" Mantis piped up.

You looked over to her and then followed her gaze to Strange. The minute you saw him you teleported over to him, hesitating to reach out and touch him. He was sitting cross-legged, floating slightly above the ground; the Time stone was glowing tightly in its case on the chain he wore around his neck, green vapour-like energy flowing from it around him. His cloak was flowing behind him as though the stone was creating a strong breeze, yet you felt nothing. His head was jerking rapidly from side to side, blurring before your eyes: he was looking for something.

"Strange, we alright?" Tony asked, arriving at your side. A second later Strange snapped out of his odd trance, pitching forward with a cry. You and Tony grabbed him before he hit the ground and helped him to sit up.

"You're back, you're alright." Tony said, watching him intently.

"Hey, what was that?" Peter asked from behind you.

"I went forward in time to view alternate futures. To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict." Strange told you, looking as though he'd just been hit over the head with a large hammer. You didn't blame him.

"How many did you see?" you asked.

"Fourteen million six hundred and five." Strange said. Your mouth fell open. Fourteen million?

"How many did we win?" Tony asked quietly. Strange looked up at you solemnly, not replying at first. You heard it in his mind before he spoke, stepping backwards in shock.

"One."

There was a very loud silence.

"What do we do now?" Quill was the first one to speak.

"Wait for Thanos to arrive." Strange said.

Mantis and Drax moved away to talk, and you, Peter, Strange, Tony and Quill stayed sat on the steps of the destroyed plaza in a shocked silence. The planet must once have been really quite beautiful; you wondered what had happened to it for it to get into the state it was in now.

After a very long time of sitting in silence, there came a sound. Peter heard it first, and then you. It was coming from the sky; a low, quiet rumbling sound.

"What is that?" Quill asked, standing up to squint at the sky. You couldn't see anything.

"Thanos." Tony said, making to get to his feet, but Strange shook his head, "No."

"What do you mean, no?" Tony asked, annoyed, sitting back down again. Finally the source of the noise became clear: it was a small ship flying quite low over the planet's surface; getting lower.

"There was one thing that happened in every single one of the realities I saw." Strange said, looking at the ship.

Then he looked at you.

"What?" Tony asked, looking between you and Strange in confusion. You too were confused for about two seconds, and then realisation hit you hard, followed by relief, sweet, sweet, relief, crashing over you like a tidal wave. You looked back towards the ship, which was landing just out of sight, and then back at Strange, who actually smiled at you.

You exhaled heavily, shakily got to your feet and teleported before you'd even stood up properly.

In your dazed state you misjudged by about forty metres and ended up running towards Loki instead as he climbed out of the escape pod which you now recognised from the Sakaarian refugee ship. He teleported and met you half-way, picking you up and spinning you around after you launched yourself at him, preventing you from knocking him to the ground. His relief combined with yours made you feel so lightheaded that for a few moments you couldn't tell which way was up.

He was here. Nothing else mattered.

You clung to him even after he set you down, relishing the feel of him almost crushing your ribs he was holding you so tightly, the smell of him, the way his hair fell over your head as he held you, everything.

I'm not letting go of you again. Ever.

Loki exhaled swiftly, gripping you tighter.

I don't regret letting go of you, I was relieved when Heimdall sent you away. But the minute Thanos was gone I wanted you back again.

"The minute you faked your death again, you mean." you spoke into his shoulder, your voice thick with emotion.

"How do you know about that?" he asked quickly, pulling away to look at you. At the sight of his face, so concerned and filled with love, all other thoughts fell from your mind and you kissed him, hard. He kissed you back readily, making a noise of content in the back of his throat.

You couldn't bear the thought of losing him. You wouldn't.

You kept your hands clasped behind the back of his neck as you pulled away; he opened his eyes and looked at you in that piercing way which made your knees go weak.

I love you.

You'd both thought it at exactly the same time. Simultaneous smiles broke out across your faces; you laughed through your tears. In that moment everything was right in the world.

"That doesn't get you out of answering my question." Loki smiled, his voice husky. You laughed, swallowing hard.

"We met some guys who saw Thor, who he told you were dead. Who told me that you were dead." you told him.

"Thor's alive?" Loki asked hopefully, his eyes lighting up.

Last I heard. Which is more than I can say for you.

I'm sorry.

"Please stop faking your death. I hate it." you said earnestly, almost laughing when you heard how ridiculous the sentence sounded. You could hardly remember what had been wrong with you a minute ago.

"Even if it saves my life?" he asked. You opened your mouth, and then closed it again.

"I'm just saying. I'm not a fan of wondering whether you're dead or alive every five minutes." you told him after a pause.

"You would know if I was dead." he reminded you, tapping your chest. You sighed.

We don't know that for sure.

I promise you we do.

Not one hundred percent.

Loki sighed and looked away, then back to you with an endearing look in his eye.

"How did you find me?" you asked, looking back at the escape pod, "Is there a tracker in my armour or something?"

"Of course not. I just... knew. I was headed for Midgard for a long while, and then just... turned around. And ended up here."

He wasn't lying. You shouldn't have been surprised, you knew that your soulmate connection stretched across realms.

"I was on Midgard, and then Ebony Maw and one of his cronies arrived and picked a fight with us. Maw showed me you, dead, which was... not great." you told him.

"You saw that?" Loki asked in horror, his face falling. You nodded.

I'm sorry. It had to be realistic.

I know that. Now.

You let your hands drop from around the back of his neck, but he caught hold of them in his own hands.

Love, I'm so sorry. I'm alright.

"Can we just... not be apart. Anymore, please. Until this is all over." you asked him in earnest.

"Fine by me." Loki replied unwaveringly. You were hit by another sudden, unpleasant thought.

"Valkyrie, Sif, Korg, did anyone else escape?" you asked him.

"Seven of the escape pods were gone; I took the eighth." Loki told you, nodding at the ship he'd arrived in. That was good news.

Relief was making you giddy; you grabbed his face and kissed him again. After a few seconds he smiled into the kiss and pulled away.

"How many others are here? The ship you arrived in looks pretty battered, I don't think-"

You could tell what he was going to say before he said it.

"We're not leaving. Not yet." you told him. Loki frowned, "Why?"

"Come on. We'll fill you in." you said, holding out a hand to him. He took it, and you teleported back over to Tony, Strange, Peter and Quill. They were sat exactly where you'd left them. All of them jumped as you appeared.

"I'd forgotten how annoying that was." Tony muttered, slowly getting to his feet. Peter jumped up in excitement, staring at Loki in amazement; Loki looked back at him awkwardly.

"Good to see you Reindeer Games." Tony said, holding out a hand to Loki, who looked away from Peter and took it. They were both genuinely pleased to see each other; you smiled. A few years ago you wouldn't have believed it.

"Stark." Loki nodded, and then he caught sight of Strange, who, incidentally, hadn't bothered to get up.

"Not you again." Loki said in annoyance.

"I'm afraid so." Strange confirmed apologetically. Then Loki's gaze fell to the Time stone around Strange's neck and his face fell.

"Hi Mr. Loki, I'm Peter Parker." Peter said, stepping forward and holding out his hand. Loki gave Tony an incredulous look before taking it.

Why is there a child here?

He's the new recruit.

Loki let go of Peter's hand and looked around, simply nodding at Quill who nodded back. You hadn't noticed, but Quill's expression was stony. If you'd had less on your mind you would have realised that he was excruciatingly jealous.

"So what's the plan?" he asked, turning back to you.

"We're waiting for Thanos to come to us." you said. He stared at you, and then turned to Strange, pointing at the Time stone.

"That's an Infinity Stone." he stated.

"Yes." Strange replied, his tone sarcastically praising.

"Do you remember what happened last time we tried to stop Thanos from getting an Infinity Stone? It was about, two hours ago?" Loki asked, turning back to you. You looked at him, hurt.

"It's different this time." you told him, trying to sound more certain than you felt.

"How?" he asked you desperately, his voice betraying his fear; he closed his eyes momentarily as he realised he'd shown emotion in front of several people who weren't you.

"You're not alone this time." Tony said. Loki nodded, inhaling heavily and looking back at you.

We have to try.

I know.