Thor and Odin had left Asgard on a delegation, leaving Loki home with Frigga, Sigyn and a year old Eira. The women were sitting in Loki's castle, playing with the baby while Loki himself was busy running the place in the absence of his father. After a busy and tedious day playing king, Loki found a minute to go back home, where his girls confronted and convinced him to take them on a picnic. Loki arranged for their travel and while Frigga and her granddaughter rode in her carriage, Loki and Sigyn raced their horses to their favorite picnic spot on a hill. The family enjoyed two wholesome hours together: talking, eating, playing, and teaching their princess to walk.

Eira and Loki fell asleep in the warmth of the evening sun and Frigga and Sigyn were up talking when they were interrupted. A wounded servant came running their way as he screamed intruders, snapping Loki awake and the women readied to fight. Loki handed a wailing Eira to his wife and disappeared as his armor came upon him. The women got inside the carriage and the patrol rushed them to a safe place away from the castle. Still, Sigyn was anxious as she could feel her mortal enemies coming near.

"They're here." She told her mother in law as she tried to calm her daughter.

Frigga could only hope her husband and son could make it back in time.

It wasn't long after that the battle reached the door of their safe house. The guards outside tried their best to put up a fight against the intruders while Frigga and Sigyn tried to hold the protection spell cast around them. Suddenly, there was a blast of blue light and all those outside fell to the floor. Frigga and Sigyn took a battle stance behind the few soldiers there to protect them. The door opened and Loki came past, calling for his wife. Sigyn ran to Loki, her hands to his face as he held her. He kissed her breathlessly, then looked in her eyes with regret.

"Celestials."

Sigyn kissed him and ran to her daughter, getting her ready.

"Has Odin been sent for?" Frigga asked as she and Loki began to put up a stronger protection spell.

"Yes, but it might take them too long." His daughter's cries burdened him more, yet even more strengthened his belief in sending her away.

"Hush, my Elska. You mustn't cry." He called to his baby. "Kjære, you must quiet her."

Sigyn cradled her daughter and began singing her a lullaby.

#Constant as, the stars above
always know, that you are loved
And my love, shining in you
will help you make your dreams come true
will help your dreams come true.#

The protective barrier started tensing as the enemy neared.

"They'll be here any minute! She has to go." Frigga informed

"I need more time, please!" Sigyn cried.

"Love, it was your idea in the first place. She has to go, or they'll find her and-"

"Okay, okay. She is asleep." Sigyn kissed her daughter's head one last time.

"Good, because we are out of time."

Loki hugged his wife as she held their sleeping baby, then took the bundle from her arms and put it in the "box" to send her away. A green cloud formed above the baby just as the doors burst open. War cries filled the air and the cradle vanished not a moment too soon.

§§§§§§§

Loki stood next to his father and brother, each fully clad in armor. All of Asgard surrounded them, holding spirit orbs in their hands. His mother slowly stepped up to him and rested her hand on his shoulder, urging him to continue the rituals. The prince closed his eyes and stepped closer to the boat, on which lay his love, dead. Loki opened his eyes and through their watery haze, looked at Sigyn for the last time, and then with a heavy sigh, pushed the boat away. The fire archer stepped up to Loki and handed him the flame, and without looking, Loki lit the arrow, which landed on Sigyn's casket far away in the middle of the water. The sky became ablaze with all the other flame arrows that landed in the sea. Thor squeezed his brother's shoulder just as Odin hit down his staff, and Sigyn's casket flew across the abyss. Loki's eyes dropped their withheld tears as his wife's pure white essence glittered up into the sky, leading all the other spirit balls to their destinations amongst the stars.

As soon as the lights dimmed in the sky, Loki smoked away to his room, which didn't have any intact furniture. His sorrow was taken over by his anger, and the angrier he got, the colder he felt. After finally he broke down the mirror, he stood above the shattered pieces, remembering the sweet moments he'd shared with Sigyn right in front of it. That time when he'd made her fall on top of him so he could love her. That day when she had asked him for a child. That mirror had been the longest witness to their love. But now, through the broken pieces, he didn't see a man with a loving wife. He saw himself, a broken, angry man...

A man whose skin was turning blue, with circles appearing on his forehead. He threw the piece of glass in his hand on the ground, glittering all over the floor.

Now he had something else to be frustrated about. Was he a jotun? He couldn't be!! His father was Odin, mother Frigga, brother Thor. He was Aesir. Just like them. But he had been "born" right at the end of the great battle. Loki couldn't believe what was happening. Less than 24 hours ago, everything had been perfect. He'd been home alone with the three women he loved: his mother, his wife, his daughter. But now, his daughter was on her way to where he did not know, his mother was wounded, and his wife was dead. The castle was breeched and they had won, but the impact of what they lost drowned the glory of victory. The Celestials had crossed into Valhalla undetected, and while they took everything from him, they left him with something that he needed answers to. Questions he held on to till after Thor's failed coronation and banishment.

§§§§§§

"Stark, you know that's a one way trip." Steve's voice said in Tony's ear piece, but he ignored it.

"Save the rest for the turn, Jar." Ironman said as he grabbed the nuke.

"Sir, should I try Miss Potts?" The sentient Jarvis realized the finality of the moment.

"Might as well."

She didn't pick up.

Ironman guided the missile past the buildings downtown heading straight for his power beacon, but just at the last minute pushed the nuke upward, blowing past the team standing on the roof. Loki clutched his daughter's hand as the hero attempted one last suicide mission.

Ironman and the nuke disappeared into the wormhole as everyone watching on the helicarrier cheered. There was no cell reception in space, nor enough oxygen. Tony had just enough to watch the missile hit the mother ship, the blast directing him back through the portal.

The team on earth had their eyes glued to the wormhole, hoping against hope that their friend could make it, but they were running out of time.

"He won't make it," Loki whispered to his daughter as he squeezed her hand, willing her to do something about it.

Kiera kept her eyes on the portal, repeatedly wishing in her mind for her idol to make it. Let him in let him in let him in.

"Come on, Stark."

"Close it," Steve ordered, and Nat was obligated to follow.

Simultaneously, the opening of the wormhole phased up, passing Ironman as he fell to earth, and the portal closed. The Chitauri army dropped dead upon losing contact with the mother ship.

Thor and Steve caught sight of Ironman falling in the sky.

"Son of a guy." Steve said relieved. Tony's death would not be on his conscience.

"He's not slowing down!" Thor realized and had prepped Mjolnir to fly, but was beaten by Hulk.

Hulk grabbed Ironman and crashed into a building to slow his trajectory downward, and landed next to the boys, laying Tony down.

Thor pulled off Iron Man's face plate and Cap listened for a heartbeat, all eyes on the arc reactor that was not glowing. Suddenly Hulk roared, his only way of communication. It echoed in Tony's ears and the superhero gasped awake, shocked as he looked around.

"What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me."

Steve chuckled at Tony's untimely one liners. "We won."

"Alright, Yaaay! Alright. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. You ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it."

Thor laughed and disregarded the Midgardian's joke as he looked up to Stark tower. "We're not finished yet."

"And then shawarma after?"

Loki and Kiera sat on some steps in Stark tower, discussing their future when the rest of the avengers joined them, weapons at the ready. Loki scoffed a laugh at Tony.

"If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now."

"Oh thank GOD!" Tony sauntered over to the bar and managed to collect some surviving alcohol while the others relaxed as well.

Kiera ran over to her brother and after the two siblings hugged and worried, they walked out to the balcony.

"So... you're a goddess?" Steve joked.

"And you're a superhero! With Ironman!" Kiera teased right back.

"Haha. Yeah. So where do we go from here?"

Kiera tried a magic orb in her hands and the two watched it phase out.

"I... found my past. So I was thinking, if it's alright with you, I'd like to go back with my dad."

They leaned down over the railing to see incoming SHIELD vans.

"Yeah I suppose that would be good. You deserve it." He put an arm over her shoulders.

Kiera, smirking at someone she saw down by the vans, wrapped her arms around her brother's waist.

"Yeah and maybe you go find your future." By now Steve had noticed Sharon guiding her team into the building. "You deserve it."

"We'll see. Let's go inside, see what they're gonna do with your dad."

They decided on blaming it on Loki, who didn't mind much what Midgard thought of him so long as he had his daughter on Asgard with him.

Going Home

"I don't think you understand what you've started..."

"...letting The Avengers loose on this world. They're dangerous."

Fury: "They surely are, and the whole world knows it. Every world knows it!"

"Was that the point in all this? A statement?"

Fury: "A promise."

Fury turned off the video call and walked out of the conference room to meet up with Maria Hill.

"So, how does it work now that they've gone their separate ways. We get into a situation like this again, what happens then? "

"They'll come back."

"Really sure about that? Why?"

"Because we'll need them to."

He smiled as on one screen he observed Bruce Banner working in his new lab along SHIELD scientists, and on the other watched Black Widow and Hawkeye practicing in the game room. Across the pond, Tony Stark and Pepper stood entwined together as they watched over their new plans for the tower as the rebranded Avengers Tower. Steve Rogers held Sharon's hand as they walked in the park in the shadows of the tower, smiling up at the last standing letter now hanging purposely on its new home.

And Kiera? With her uncle by her side and her dad chained and muzzled for show, held on to the boxed tesseract as the God of thunder used his hammer to summon the Bifrost to finally take them...

Home.