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fists and tried to endure the feeling of her insides doing somersaults, but she prayed it would be over soon. In the blink of an eye, she was now standing in the dungeons of the castle. Her eyes raked over her surroundings, and she had a warm, fuzzy feeling for a brief moment.

Every memory she had in this castle came flooding back. The fights. The laughs. Everything in between.

This really wasn't helping.

The trio found themselves in the corridors now.

"We need to find Jane. Thor, you have to do so without running into your past self. That might be really detrimental for your past self to see." Alex spoke.

"Shut up, Clark. You'll probably run into your past self with Loki, probably shag--"

"Here's the deal," Rocket interrupted him. "You're gonna charm her when you find her, and I'm gonna poke her with this thing and extract the Reality Stone. Our time watch thingies will bring us back when our time is up."

"I'll go find the real Thor and freeze him. We don't need any interruptions." Alex added.

"Alright. Be careful, Alex." Rocket spoke, out of character by being somewhat nice.

"Right, right, but first, I'll be right back. There's a wine cellar, that's just down there. My father used to have this huge barrel of ale. I'll see if the cellar has a couple of--"

"Hey, aren't you drunk enough already?" Rocket accused.

The sound of a door opening echoed throughout the hallway, and they all shot back behind a pillar. They could see Frigga walking with some maids, and Alex glanced over at a somber Thor.

"Who's the fancy broad?" Rocket broke their silence.

"It's my mother. She dies today."

Alex winced at his words. Suddenly, she thought back to that day, when she tried to stop it. Then, her mind went to the funeral. When Loki held her hand.

"I can't do this. I can't do this," Thor began to spiral. "I-I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't have come. This was a bad idea."

"Come here." Rocket spoke.

"No, no, no. I think I'm having...I'm having a panic attack. I shouldn't be here."

"Right here." Rocket motioned while Thor heaved.

"Rocket, don't." Alex sighed.

"This is...this is bad--"

Thor was cut off by Rocket slapping him across the face.

"You think you're the only one who lost people? What do you think we're doing here? I lost the only family I ever had. Quill, Groot, Drax, the chick with the antenna, all gone." Rocket spoke solemnly. "Now, I get you miss your Mom. But she's gone. Really gone. And there are plenty of people who are only kinda gone. But you can help them. So is it too much to ask that you brush the crumbs outta your beard, make schmoopy talk to Pretty Pants, and when she's not looking, suck out the Infinity Stone and help me get my family back?"

Thor glanced to Alex, who simply shrugged.

"Okay." He agreed, but lowered his head.

"Are you crying?" Rocket groaned.

"No...." Thor sniffled. "...yes."

"Get it together, Thor. You can do this. Come on. Alright?" Alex shook his strong shoulder.

"Yes I can." He tried convincing himself.

"Good."

Alex gave them a fake salute as she watched them walk away. She sighed, and turned over her shoulder. As soon as she did, she saw him standing about 6 inches away from her.

"Jesus, Loki. I would really appreciate it if one of these days you'd give a warning." She snarled.

Stepping around him, she walked down the corridor.

"Imagine my shock to find you alone."

"They're finding Jane, I'm finding Thor." She replied shortly.

"Thor just went back that way," Loki grinned.

"Past Thor."

"Oh, well, I know where he is."

"Oh, do you?"

"I do."

"Would you like to tell me?" She stopped walking and rose an eyebrow.

"I don't."

"Of course you don't," She muttered. "My past self is probably locked in your chambers,"

"You are. We won't have to worry about running into her." He spoke. "Though I wouldn't mind two of you."

"I mind just one of you."

He smirked. "We won't have to worry about mine either. I was out and about."

"With Thanos, I presume? All those times when you left me in the room alone, you were plotting with him. It all makes sense now, really."

They turned a corner.

"Your skills of deduction never cease to amaze me."

"Your skills of idiocy never fail to amaze me," Alex shot back. They turned a corner as Alex kept searching for past Thor. "I'm just upset I didn't notice it sooner. Quite stupid of me to actually believe you were ever sincere about anything."

"Darling, that's where you're wrong and always will be."

"Yeah, okay." She scoffed.

"As much as I love to provoke you, I really am not lying about this. I never lied about loving you."

Alex slowly turned on her heel to face him.

"I don't know how many times it'll take to get this through your stupid reindeer helmet, but Loki, you are full of bull--"

In a fluid motion, Loki pulled her into a smaller corridor and pushed her hard against the cobblestone wall. She opened her mouth to protest, but he brought his index finger to her lips. His eyes bored into hers and she didn't dare say a word. Their chests were pressed against each other, and she heard footsteps. He nodded to the hallway, where past Thor obliviously walked by. She closed her mouth, glaring at him.

"Really? Pinning me against a wall? You couldn't think of anything more creative?" She whispered.

"Anything more creative and we would've actually started doing something."

She gave him a sarcastically sweet smile, then dropped her face as she abruptly pushed him back so that he slammed into the wall behind him.

"Ow."

She shook her head, stepping out of the small corridor and holding her hand out towards Thor's back. She instantly froze him, and he fell over with an 'oomph'.

Loki straightened out his clothes, stepping out as well. "How long will he stay like that? I quite like it."

"Until I release it."

"That's new."

She stepped over Thor's limp body. "A lot can change in five years."

"Not everything." Loki's words almost sounded real to her.

"I have to get back and find present Thor and Rocket. This has been fun, but kindly show yourself out."

"Not before we take a stroll." Loki's grin was evident.

The room around them suddenly changed, and they were in Loki's chambers. The surroundings immediately took over Alex's emotions, as she truly never thought she'd see it again. It looked the same as it once did, even with the vines glowing. That was how she knew it was an illusion.

Just like Loki.

"Lift it." Alex ordered.

"Not until you admit you still love me."

She scoffed. "We'll be here a while."

"I've got all of eternity."

"I don't." She snapped. "I need to get back so that we can fix what you helped to destroy."

"Why do you think I helped Thanos?" He suddenly asked.

"Because you're a prick."

Loki laughed. "Harsh."

"I can get harsher."

"I did it so that you would survive."

"Bullshit. You nearly killed me through all this. How did you know I wouldn't vanish, hm?"

"I made him swear."

"What?" She uncrossed her arms.

"He had the power to destroy half of human life, of course he had the power to spare one."

She took a minute to process this.

"How did you know you could trust him?"

"Thanos was never a liar. A madman, but never a liar."

"You could've saved yourself. You could've vanished. But you didn't. Why?" She pressed.

"If I meant yours was spared, I didn't care about mine."

She grew angry. "You could've saved so many people, Loki. So many lives, and you chose just mine? Why not all? So many lives mattered so much more--"

"No one matters to me except you." He snapped. "Don't you get that? I don't care who has to die if it means you live."

"You could've stopped it."

"If I did, he'd kill you. He knew how much I felt for you. It was my mistake to be so vulnerable--I tried to push you away as much as I could. Those early days, I wanted you to hate me so it would be easier. But no matter what I did, it didn't change the fact that from the second I laid eyes on you, I was a goner."

She felt tears welling in her eyes. "You were always my weakness."

"You're my strength." He walked closer. "I had no purpose before you. Nothing mattered. Power, maybe, but all that vanished when I met you. You gave me a purpose, and that purpose was to protect you. So, maybe you didn't enjoy my methods--"

She scoffed.

"--But I did what I had to. All of it was to keep you alive. And if that meant you believed that I never loved you, then it was price I was willing to pay."

"You never gave me the choice, Loki," A tear fell. "I would've chosen to take that burden from you."

"That's the thing about love, Alexandra," He reached up and wiped the tear away. "We don't get to choose what it does to us."

"Alex!" A voice sounded in the corridor.

The illusion fell, and they were back in the hallway. Rocket and present Thor were walking toward her.

"We got it. Time to go." Rocket triumphantly spoke.

She turned back to Loki, whom she knew they could not see.

"When hell breaks loose up there," She muttered. "We'll see what side you're on."

She turned and walked with Thor and Rocket, pressing their wristlets to bring them back to present time. She gave one last look at Loki, who was smirking.

She was his.

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𝚑𝚎𝚢𝚢𝚢 𝚢'𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚑𝚘'𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚐 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚝𝚝𝚝𝚝

𝚒𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝