' your beauty never ever scared me, mary on a, mary on a cross '

MEMORIES, AS FAR AS LOKI LAUFEYSON WAS CONCERNED, were bittersweet parts of life. To live is to create memories, some to cherish, and some to lock away in a little box and seal it away for eternity. But gradually, the little box will damage, with people, places, things indenting it, knocking on it. Eventually, the cracks they leave will connect, a last shove sending the whole box into nothing but broken shards, its protection on the memories forever lost.

Loki Laufeyson had a box. In fact, he had many. His mind chose to shield away the world at any given purpose, tucking the memories away in neatly organised boxes and tucking them into corners of his mind. But within it belonged one particular glimmering box, one that had been cracked one time too many, one box on the brink of destruction.

And now? Seeing such a large fragment of the memories shoved in the box, it overflowed. The box shattered. And Loki was left to thrive in the sea of memories it released, head floating barely above the waves threatening to crash into him, letting him sink away.

Gamora. Thanos' pride and joy. His daughter. His child in ways the rest of his followers were not. The woman which brewed jealousy in all their souls, but not Loki's. No, in him, she brewed pity, pity for someone who dealed with a monster much longer than the rest of them.

But some part of him was relieved to see her, alive and breathing. Maybe not doing so well, but alive nonetheless.

And so he couldn't help it when her name fell from his lips in a startled gasp, "Gamora?"

Her head snapped around at the sound, and he was pretty sure she peered into his soul.

"Laufeyson? I-" She scoffed, something resembling a smile playing at the corner of her lips as she tried to push it away, "I thought you died when he sent you away."

"I don't feel very dead." He deadpanned.

"Okayy, you guys wanna explain orr.."

Suddenly, Gamora's face grew ashen once again, the wave of realisation crashing into her as she turned to look at the billionaire who had spoken up.

"Um," she fiddled with the sleeves of the coat that Wong had lended to her before continuing, "My father.. he kept in servants, if you can call them that. He would control them, make them do his dirty work and.. I met most of them. Including Loki."

He sucked in a breath through his teeth, the Avengers knew that his first attack on New York was during his time being manipulated, but he hadn't shared whom was manipulating him. But the story was out now, he thought wryly, so he may as well admit it.

An unsettling silence set upon the room, and Loki almost forced himself to break the tense air.

"Why is your father doing this, Gamora?" Steve asked finally, and the green skinned woman laughed plainly, no trace of emotion in her eyes.

"He thinks- he thinks if he reduces the population, there would be less resource shortages, less conflict. Other than that? He's a monster." She seethed, but it seemed like a part of her didn't believe it, or didn't want to believe it. It sparked up that pang of pity again in the God.

"So we just get them first," Clint said suddenly, "He needs all of them, right? Then we just need one at the very least. It'll hold him off."

"Even one of the stones holds immense power," Loki declared, his brain not even processing that he was speaking, "With five? He'd destroy us instantly. We need more."

"Then we split up, we get as many as we can." Stephen suggested, eyes flicking between the team. Loki sent him a nod, his previous dislike for the sorcerer slightly dissipating due to the circumstances.

"We set out tomorrow," Fury declared, and Loki was honestly surprised the man managed to stay quiet for that long. "For now? Get some rest, Wizard and the green lady can stay. I'm sure Stark has an extra room or fourty in his petite little villa."

"Petite? This place is like a-"

"Its a joke, Gamora." Loki supplied helpfully.

"Oh," she muttered, crinkling her nose before turning to Fury again.

"...Haha?"

"How bad was it?" A voice broke through the silence. "The whole.. Thanos thing, I mean."

Loki turned his head slightly, catching a glimpse of red hair as he did before turning away again, attention reverting back to the book nestled in his lap.

Wanda frowned ever so slightly, scolding herself for even asking. It wasn't her place, but he had been quiet for so long and it the question was brewing in her because she so badly wanted to help, to do something. But she felt like all she had managed to do was annoy him further.

She attempted to cover up any trace of disappointment in her tone as she whispered an 'okay' before attempting to retreat out of the room, giving him space he clearly needed.

"Wanda," his voice echoed towards her, and she turned around hastily as he sighed. She didn't want to pressure him, but considering he had already began, she supposed she may as well listen as she seated herself on the corner of the bed, unconsciously putting a fair amount of distance between them.

He chewed the inside of his lip thoughtfully as he gazed at the wall behind her before his eyes flicked back to her. She looked tense, nervous, maybe?

"Thanos would- well, you'd get the normal torture. Memories, threats, all that good shit," he grimaced, "But his signature move? Making us fight eachother. It was brutal, I don't even know how many times I fought one of them. But I think it was worse winning than losing."

Wanda just looked at him, urging him to say what he needed.

"Gamora, she uh.. she has- had? A sister. They fought a lot and everytime Gamora won," he sucked in a breath of air through his teeth, "He replaced a piece of her sister with metal."

There wasn't emotion in his eyes as he spoke, rather a shield which she was familiar with, but still disappointed everytime it returned. She thought they were passed the whole emotionless thing, but she supposed with something like this, it was his resort back into safety.

She nodded, feeling like she should speak, but words escaped her.

"You don't have to say anything. Can you just- I need to be alone." There was no malice in his voice, rather just exhaustion. The redhead nodded instantly, before opening her mouth as she decided he deserved a verbal response.

"Sure.. uh, do you need anyth-"

"Just go Wanda, please."

Wanda tried, she truly did try, to be understanding. He had been through a lot, and to have all of it rushing back? Clearly wasn't fun. But it still did not serve as enough to soothe the slight ache in her heart at being brushed off. He deserved privacy, and she would gladly give it to him, but the irrational part of her brain took over as she couldn't help but feel like he was sick of her. Was she too clingy, too over the top? She just couldn't leave it alone could sh-

"Wands, hurry up, It's Clint's night to cook and I want to be there to watch the monstrosity unfold," Sharon called out, knocking the witch out of her own train of self-deprecating thoughts.

"Yeah, I'll be right there Sharon." Honestly, the thought of it didn't entertain her as much as it normally would, but in the moment, Wanda thought she didn't have the right to be the one upset, so the witch forced herself up into the kitchen.

"No- you have to put the Paprika in afte- CLINT," Even in her mood, Bucky's distant shouting at Clint didn't fail to make her smile at the pure chaos that were her friends. It seemed everyone was trying to distract themselves from the situation at hand considering the amount of avengers circled around the kitchen and dining areas.

"Wait, Buck, check on the chicken its gonna- FUCK, THE CHICKENS BURNING-"

With a sigh of exasperation, Wanda decided she should help, lips curling in amusement as they gaped at her. She twisted her arms up, drawing the fire in the direction of her glowing fingertips before pushing them down suddenly, causing the flames to cower under the energy.

"Well, my chicken is still burnt."

That evening was Wanda's day to set the table, so absent-mindedly, she set out plates and cutlery for dinner, emough for all the usual team before remembering they had guests. With a sigh, she let her powers snake towards the kitchen to grab an extra two plates until she was startled by the sound of laughter, and they went crashing to the ground as she gasped.

Naturally, she turned around to investigate the source of laughter, only to find Loki and the woman she supposed was Gamora. So much for him being in a bad mood, she supposed wryly, before ducking back into the kitchen to clean up the plates she had shattered.

She considered using her powers, before deciding she'd take the time to do it by hand so she could linger in the kitchen. Was it best to be alone with her thoughts in the moment? Probably not, but as she began sweeping up delicate shards, she supposed it was too late.

Maybe he really was mad at her, because he was now lacking in the annoyed, exhausted tone he had previously had. Fuck, she shouldn't have pushed, she thought. Why didn't she just take the hint and left?

"..Wanda?"

She startled, not knowing why every little movement was throwing her off guard that day, as she turned to see Clint standing behind her looking puzzled.

"I- The plate broke I was just cleaning it."

He nodded, but a part of him still looked concerned, so she decided to get up and dispose of the shards, reaching in the cabinet for another two plates which she wouldn't break this time. Retrieving extra pieces of cutlery, Wanda walked back to the dining room, setting out the plates as she found majority of the team now sat down, before FRIDAY alerted them of someone at the door.

"Who is it, Fri?" Tony asked.

"It is Mr Parker, sir."

"Let him in."

"I'll go get him," Wanda suggested, earning yet another quizzical look from Clint causing her to try not to cringe at how obvious she was being. He definitely knew something was up. But she just had to be away, for some reason, everything about being in that room made her mind run twice as fast as she struggled to avoid Loki's gaze. She didn't need to see the inevitable happiness in them, the happiness that she didn't receive. The happiness that he deserved.

Her legs had already taken her to the door as she awoke from her trance and she was met by Peter who was looking over his shoulder and rummaging through his back.

"Woah-" he said, walking into her, "Hi, Miss Maximoff! Sorry for uh walking into you."

She couldn't help but chuckle at him, clasping her hand on his shoulder as she told him to relax. "Its Wanda, okay?"

He nodded. "Hi, Wanda. Is something up? Should I go?"

"No, no. I just uh, wanted to come walk you in. I needed some of that cold air anyway," she laughed, trying to play it off. Luckily, he seemed to accept it easier than Clint as he walked beside her, happily chattering about this project he had gotten with his totally-not-crush MJ.

It served as a good distraction as she laughed along with him and got rather invested in their story, before they entered the dining room and were met by Thor's booming voice pulling them both down to the table. Instinctively, Wanda went to walk to her seat besides the God, ignoring the pang of jealousy sparking in her as she found it to be taken. Instead, she sat next to Peter, letting him finish his story as she listened half-heartedly.

Throughout dinner, it began growing harder and harder to ignore the spark in her chest as she watched them interact. Because she was right, he did seem happy. Happier than he had been in a while, actually. But a single, whispered thought made the jealousy melt away for a minute. He deserved this happy.

He deserved the happy that she wasn't giving him.

a/n: whoop-di-do it was another filler chapter which wasnt proof-read lmao. my poor lil wanda needs to know shes enough :(( but for some reason, my venting is by inflicting pain on my comfort characters. theyll make up soon tho, and gamora and loki are just friends so dw LMAO. anyway, hope you liked this one <33