Two notes before we begin. First, I realize it's the end of August and Endgame is already out on DVD. I started this Drabble the night I saw Endgame, but was struggling to write something I was proud of for about a week. I decided to set it aside to write for my actual stories. I came back to it several times without figuring out how to piece everything together, and eventually scrapped it. After a really good talk with Hope about my struggles with this storyline, I got a second wind and managed to write out a story I believe makes sense and is accurate of the canon characters. So let's all pretend it's still April for this Drabble, okay?

Second, as I was writing this Drabble, terminology started to get messy, so I'm cleaning it up and laying down definitions real quick so everyone's on the same page. In this Drabble, the terms "reality" and "timeline" are not interchangeable, and if I do accidentally use one instead of the other, I apologize for that. I will do my best to keep them straight.

Here, "reality" (used outside the context of the reality stone and what it affects) refers to similar, but completely separate universes. These realities official names are identified as "Earth-[insert number here]". For example, most Marvel comics take place on Earth-616. Miles Morales (Into the Spider-Verse) is on Earth-1610. The MCU is Earth-199999 (I know Mysterio said differently in FFH, but he was making everything up. You can check for yourself if you don't believe me). These Drabbles I write have their own reality as well; Earth-742.

"Timelines" here will refer to parallel/alternate timelines within an umbrella reality. The MCU (Earth-199999) created a few alternate timelines after Endgame. There's the main timeline which continues on to Phase 4, but when the Avengers caused disturbances in the different times they went to (New York 2012 and Morag 2014), they created different timelines. However, all those now separate timelines exist within the Earth-199999 reality.

Hopefully, that'll make this chapter a little easier to read, but if there's any questions about my explanation here, or any confusion about what's in the chapter, don't be afraid to ask!
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"Thank you all for gathering here today." Peter stated as he stood at the end of a long table. All around him were children running around and shouting, hands and faces greasy from pizza as they zigzagged out of the arcade and playscapes of the Chuck E. Cheese. Sitting on either side of him, staring up at him with confused expressions were Annalise, Shuri, Hope, Thor, Loki, and Shelby.

"Can I inquire about the purpose of this meeting?" Loki inquired.

Peter gave Loki a hurt look, before he looked around the table slowly. "Does... Nobody know why we're here today?"

"To see if Chuck E. Cheese really recycles their pizza?" Shelby asked.

"Hell yeah, brother!" Annalise cheered, her and Shuri high-fiving as Hope face-palmed.

"No- but that is why I chose Chuck E. Cheese as our location." Peter winked, before continuing. "No, seriously, today is April 27th. It's been a year since we defeated Thanos in Wakanda!"

Hope's brows furrowed. "Um... I think... Two of the people at this table were actually in Wakanda."

"Yes, me and Shuri! Really, we're reasons why we won if I do say so myself." Thor bragged, leaning back in his seat as his brother rolled his eyes.

Peter blushed slightly. "Okay, I may not have been in Wakanda, but I definitely helped! Me and the Guardians and Mr. Stark and Dr. Strange- we all fought Thanos in space!"

"Okay, and then Peter Quill failed miserably and Thanos still arrived on Earth with five of the six Infinity stones." Thor stated.

"Wow, five out of the six?" Hope inquired. When the heroes gave her a confused look, she flushed slightly at the outburst. "Sorry- it's just, no one really knows the whole story. We just know Thor saved the day."

Shuri cleared her throat. "Peter and the others on Titan were a great distraction to Thanos- even though their goal was to stop Thanos there, which they failed at- but it allowed me time to remove the mind stone from Vision's head without killing him."

"The Red Witch was able to destroy the mind stone before Thanos arrived in Wakanda." Thor explained.

"You mean the Scarlet Witch?" Shelby laughed. "I'm surprised she wasn't fighting in that huge battle that took place outside the city."

"She didn't really need to. Natasha had called Nick Fury after they rescued Vision and Wanda from Scotland. He had this chick from outer space on speed dial who showed up, and she and Thor basically wiped out Thanos's army." Shuri stated.

"Yes, and when Thanos raised his gauntlet to use one of those puny stones- I simply chopped off his head." Thor laughed, before looking around. "Where's a pint of beer when you need one?"

Annalise nodded, before glancing at Loki. "Where were you in all this?"

"Fighting valiantly, of course." Loki scoffed.

"Actually, Loki was among the first causalities. He tried to take Thanos on one-on-one with a dagger, but with two infinity stones, Thanos was well beyond hand-to-hand combat. Honestly, brother, if you had chosen to take him on with some of you magic, you probably would have stood a better chance-"

"Okay, thank you, brother, we get it." Loki blushed in embarrassment, hiding slightly behind his hand as he looked to the table.

"Wait... So, how are you here if you died?" Hope inquired, trying not to make the question sound rude, but there really was no gentle way of asking.

"After the battle was won, Strange opened a portal back to Earth, and with the time stone, he agreed to revive the heroes we had lost in the process of killing Thanos. Gamora,
Heimdall, my Asgardians and fallen on Xandar. It took some convincing, but I persuaded him to revive my brother. After all, he is a hero now, is he not?" Thor asked.

"No, he is." Annalise agreed. "I mean, it was a bit of a rough start, obviously."

"I mean, everyone makes mistakes." Shelby muttered. "Standing up to Thanos is probably one of the most heroic things to do, like, ever. And you did it for someone besides yourself. That's the definition of a hero in my book." Shelby's comment did not help the flush residing on Loki's face, so he stayed hidden behind his hand as she glanced at him.

Peter looked around the table sadly. "Okay, so maybe I'm not the guy who killed Thanos, or the super-genius who figured out how to save Vision and help destroy the mind stone, but I still had my part!"

"Yeah, you did. Which kinda makes me wonder why we're here?" Annalise gestured to herself, her sister, and Shelby. "Not that we're complaining or anything, but like, we definitely had nothing to do with defeating Thanos."

"Yeah, but you're my friends, so I wanted to invite you." Peter smiled, before it dropped as he looked around at all the empty seats. "It's a good thing I did, too, because I had invited, like, everyone else, except the Guardians and Captain Marvel, because they don't have phones and even if they did, space doesn't have signal."

"Don't feel too bad, Peter. It's hard to believe, but most of those heroes actually have important stuff to do with their lives." Shuri reassured him with a rough pat on the back. Peter only glared.

"Yeah, most do, but apparently not us." A teasing voice called out from the far end of the table, and the group turned to see Tony Stark and Stephen Strange.

Peter's face instantly lit up. "You guys made it!"

"Yeah, sorry we're late, kid. Morgan was being fussy, I didn't want to leave Pepper until she was put down." Tony explained.

"And I hadn't planned on coming until Tony showed up at the sanctum." Strange stated in a deadpan voice. This did nothing to damper Peter's spirit as they sat down on opposites sides of the table.

"Aw, every time I see little Morgan on Instagram, I just die a little." Hope swooned. "She's so cute!"

"Isn't she?" Tony inquired with a knowing smile. "It was on this very day a year ago that Pep planned to break the news to me over dinner. Of course, I already had a suspicion."

"Can you imagine if we hadn't stopped Thanos last year?" Peter laughed, though it was completely silent after he said it. Even the kids around the restaurant seemed to fall silent for a moment.

Strange's eyes were trained on the table. "As far as I'm aware, the outcome is pretty bleak. a little over half of everyone at this table would not be here today."

Everyone looked at Strange in alarm. "How do you know that?" Thor demanded.

"There are realities outside the one we're in now." Strange explained in a normal tone, as though this information was not completely mind-blowing. "I believe this is Earth-742; there are other realities where Thanos doesn't win, such as Earth-199999, what I call our twin reality, but even that reality... sees heavy tolls." Strange looked up at Tony for a moment, before looking away to avoid any questions.

But Tony caught this look, and his eyes narrowed. "Well, spill it Doc. What happened in 199999?"

"Well, the big difference is that, a year ago, Thanos did won." Strange stated. "Half of the universe's population was wiped out. Shuri, Peter, Shelby, and myself were all turned to dust, while Loki was never revived."

The mentioned individuals' faces paled, and Shelby raised her hand. "How... Did you know I died?"

"We're- are we not considering them heroes anymore?" Strange looked at Tony. "You invited them to your house party."

"Well, back when I thought they were Asgardians Warriors." Tony muttered.

"They're heroes in my book!" Thor shouted enthusiastically, throwing his arm around Hope and shaking her, causing her to blush profusely.

"Well, I looked in on that reality rather recently to check on individuals I had not originally known the status of." Strange clarified. "Scott Lang, Clint Barton, Hope van Dyne, and these three." He gestured to the two Canadians and Shelby. "By giving Thanos the time stone, the Stephen Strange on Earth-199999 has currently set into motion the only timeline left where Thanos would be defeated, but that timeline won't come to fruition for another 4 years."

The group was silent for a few minutes, eyes either trained on the table in thought, or looking around at the others' faces, studying them, trying to imagine a world without them in it.

Finally, Shuri spoke. "Can you show us?"

Strange shook his head. "It's not something you want to see."

"Yeah, I'm pretty content staying in a world where my friends and I are alive." Shelby whispered, subconsciously leaning closer to Loki.

"Are you not even in the least bit curious?" Thor asked, though even he looked hesitant.

"I am not." Loki stated decisively, seeming pretty bothered by the idea of having actually died. He didn't think it was possible.

"It could be... Interesting." Annalise spoke quietly, looking at Peter and Shuri with sad eyes.

Everyone's gaze fell on Tony. He was staring at Strange with narrowed eyes, still trying to piece together the initial look Stephen had given him. If Tony was not one of the casualties, then what was that look for? "I'm siding with the kids, Strange. This is something I want to see for myself."

Strange studied Tony out of disbelief for a moment, before he smiled, leaning back in content. "Unfortunately, even if I wanted to, I can't. It's not like I'm traveling to another timeline within our own reality, which I can open with the time stone- we're talking about two completely different universes. I can only peer into them with my mind, there's no physical way for me, or anyone else, to travel there."

"Damn." Shuri muttered, tapping her face with her fingers in thought. "If only there was a way to bend space instead of time."

Tony cleared his throat, smiling brightly at Shuri, before he turned in his chair to face Strange. "I may have a solution for that."

~~~~~

"Stark." Strange snapped, switching his angry glare from the space stone held in the palm of Tony's hand, to Tony himself, "I thought we agreed to scatter the infinity stones."

"Uh, we did that." Tony scoffed. "You and The Guardians took the power stone back to Xandar, the soul stone is kept on Gamora, who's off wherever she is in space, the reality stone is with Carol wherever she is in space, and you have the time stone."

"There was only supposed to be one infinity stone on Earth, and the time stone does not leave my person." Strange practically growled. "Carol was supposed to keep the reality stone with her, but transfer the space stone to the Skrulls' main refuge planet for safe-keeping."

"Sir, if you are implying that I had that Rocket steal the space stone off her before she left, then you're dead to me." Tony said sarcastically as he pointed at Strange in warning.

"You are unbelievable. Putting the Earth in more danger than it needs to be because you want a trophy." Strange snapped.

Tony paused, the joking manner on his face disappearing. The others in the group, who had been watching with slight entertainment, now took a couple steps back as the tension thickened uncomfortably. "A trophy?" Stark laughed bitterly. "Are you kidding me, Strange? Loki's attack on New York 7 years ago was fortified by two things- and you sent one with Carol off who-knows-where." He hissed. Loki scowled, shifting uncomfortably, but didn't say anything.

"Exactly, which is why we agreed to send it off-world." Strange countered.

"I agreed to nothing." Tony stated defiantly. "Loki- Thanos- whoever orchestrated that attack burned the Tesseract and the Scepter into my mind. Into my nightmares. And when we got ahold of them, I thought they were safe. One of was on Asgard with the King of the Norse Gods, one was packed in the head of a super-human robot, my "suit of armor around the world", who I would have entrusted with my life. And even then, neither of them were safe from Thanos. Vision was more flawed and more like a human than I had realized, let his guard down, and got hurt to the point that he couldn't defend the stone, and Klepto over there," Tony pointed at Loki without turning to face him, "has a fetish for shiny, blue cubes.

"Thanos is dead. The mind stone is gone forever. But, you know what? I didn't trust the Skrulls with one of the two things that still keeps me up at night." When Stephen didn't respond after a minute of silently staring at Tony, Stark sighed and reached up his hand, resting his forehead in his palm as he closed his eyes. "At least with it on me... I don't have to think about what might be happening on planet-whatever in some galaxy light years away."

"Missed opportunity to say "galaxy far, far away."" Peter muttered to Shelby, which earned him a glare of daggers from Tony. "Sorry." He squeaked, ducking slightly behind Shelby.

Strange took a deep, slow breath. "... Okay. All right, I see your point. The space stone... Can stay here. Even if it means two stones are still on Earth, both are safer with you and I than they are in any other remote part of the universe."

Tony gave Stephen a firm pat on the shoulder. "Thanks, Doc."

"Please, don't mention it." Strange muttered, before turning to the rest of the group. Even though they hadn't been apart of the argument, they were still recovering from the tense atmosphere and fierce word-exchange. Still, standing in the basement of the Avengers headquarters, they were filled with excitement and anxiety on what lies ahead of them. "I suppose since we've gone through all this trouble... We can take quick look into Earth-199999. I cannot empathize enough on what I mean by quick. I don't want to be responsible for creating more timelines in their reality, or ours, so stay out of sight and quiet. Everyone got it?"

"Yes." Everyone stated in agreement. Even Stark, who was still visibly irritated, nodded.

Strange nodded back. "Good. Now, because we're going to different reality, I need the space stone to open a portal there." Stephan held out his hand, and Stark dropped the space stone in his palm. Strange took the stone, and nonchalantly let it go in front of him. Instead of dropping to the ground, it hovered in the air level to his chest. He closed his eyes, reached out his hands in front of him, his hands leaning towards each other so that the tips of his thumbs and index fingers touched, encasing the blue stone in the middle of the triangle.

It began to glow bright, and everyone watched with fascination as Strange pulled one hand back, while waving the other, sparks beginning to fly as he began to open a portal. But this time, the sparks were blue as the infinity stone floated with Strange's circular hand motions, seeming to help him crave the portal. When he finished he held out his hand, which the stone promptly fell into. "Well, everyone, follow me to Earth-199999." Strange stated, stepping through the portal. The rest followed, some eager, some extremely nervous.

When the group emerged from the portal, it closed behind them, and they looked around. They were standing in a dark room surrounded by glass walls. It was dim and dusty, as if no one had been down there in quite a while. Not meaning centuries, no- the room looked like it had once been porcelain clean, the walls and floors consisting of a creamy white marble. There was a long table covered in flat screen monitors and small projectors. It was definitely all expensive, modern tech, but the room was cold, uninhabited and untouched for a sizable amount of time.

Tony looked around, recognizing this place instantly. "This is the old Avengers compound in upstate New York. Basement level." His hand brushed one of the pads to the monitors, and suddenly, the system burst to life. Projections of the globe, along with separate projections of different continents, countries, and states appeared above the table, with large, flashing numbers below each image. Everyone stared at the numbers in amazement; without speaking, everyone seemed to understand what they represented.

Scattered throughout the images of the casualties that had occurred around the globe, were the faces of the fallen Avengers. The group watched in horrified silence as many familiar faces blinked to life, before changing to another fallen comrade: Bucky, T'Challa, Shuri, Groot, Wanda, Sam, Mantis, Drax, Peter Quill, Dr. Strange, Peter Parker, Maria Hill, Nick Fury, Hank Pym, Hope van Dyne, and Scott Lang.

"Oh my god." Annalise whispered. "There's- so many gone."

"I thought you said Shelby and Loki died?" Thor inquired. "I don't see them flashing up on these screens."

"Well, Shelby's not an associate of ours in this dimension. But," Dr. Strange walked slowly to a monitor with a keyboard, where he typed "SHELBY FERRELL" into the search. A screen with Shelby's face materialized, with the large words missing spelled out in bold, red letters below it. Shelby stared at her image with a clenched jaw, as Strange typed "LOKI" into the search engine. "Loki's not one of the missing because he died. I mean, all of the people Thanos killed died... Just, certain ones won't be reversible." Strange explained as Loki's image appeared next to Shelby's. This one said terminated at the bottom. Loki looked to his feet.

"You said Thanos is defeated in the future in this timeline... And some of the deaths aren't reversible, which implies some are?" Shuri questioned.

"Yes." Strange nodded, stepping away from the monitor. "The explanation is... Complicated and drawn-out. But Thanos will be defeated 5 years from now. Most deaths you see up here, including us four," Stephen gestured to Peter, Shuri, Shelby, and himself, "will be reversed, and we'll begin life where we left off, though five years forward from where we last remembered being. A few deaths- namely Loki, Gamora, and Vision, cannot be reversed. And a few people-" Strange stopped, his eyes flickering from Tony to the floor, "some people will die fighting to bring everyone back."

"That's... Wow." Hope whispered, not quite knowing what to say to all this depressing information. Shuri's eyes switched back and forth between the tally of casualties for the country of Wakanda, to the image of her brother, where the words "missing" flashed below it. Shelby and Thor stared at the image of Loki sadly, as the God of mischief turned, evidently unable to look any longer.

When he did look up, he tensed, taking a startled step back. "We have company." He warned.

The rest of the group turned to attention as Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff swung the glass door open, Natasha with two pistols trained on Loki and Strange respectively, while Steve took in the spectacle in front of him, seeming unable to fully fathom what he was seeing as his eyes landed on Tony. "Tony..." He whispered. "What's going on here? Why..." His eyes went to Strange, Peter, and Shuri. "How- you- you were all reported among the missing. How are you-"

Nat interrupted the conversation as she lowered her weapon, Thor's presence catching her eye. "I see you decided to join the land of the living." Steve shook his head at the terrible comment- too soon. "You told us that Thanos killed your brother."

"He did." Thor nodded. "That, is in fact, not Loki. That is a ghost. Of Loki." Thor pointed to Doctor Strange, Shuri, and Peter. "Ghosts as well. I'm evidently being haunted by my failure."

"A-huh..." Steve muttered as he and Natasha exchanged unimpressed glances.

"All right, Thor, cut it out." Tony commanded, looking to Strange. "Can't you bipity-bopity-boop them away or something? Use the time stone to rewind before they entered the room?"

"I don't want to tamper in any way with this dimension." Strange snapped. "That's why I specifically said-"

Loki cleared his throat, cutting Strange off as he stepped forward again. "Please, allow me." He smiled, raising a hand. Natasha aimed her pistol at him again, prepared to fire, but as her finger reached the trigger, Loki snapped his fingers, and a green sound wave shot out from his fingers, striking Steve and Natasha. They collapsed instantly, falling like bricks to the floor. Loki turned on his heels, facing Strange and Tony with a smug expression, causing both of them to roll their eyes. "They will remember nothing from the last five minutes, but they'll wake in moments, so let's get home quickly."

"No, not home." Tony stated. Loki, Strange, and the rest of the group looked at him with shock and confusion. "Yeah, I feel like I gotta see how this ends. I'm hoping I'm not the only one."

"I want to see." Annalise nodded.

"Yes, please." Peter shifted nervously.

"I have to know if my brother makes it out of this." Shuri said with determination. Thor and Hope both nodded in agreement, while Loki and Shelby stayed silent.

Strange shook his head. "Sometimes... Some things are just better left unknown."

"Doc." Tony eyes trained on him with vigor. "We're not children. Well, some of us are on the younger side." Tony eyed Peter, Shuri, and Annalise. "But the point is, you need to stop acting like some sort of shield. Thanos is dead in our reality. He can't hurt us anymore. Is it crazy to see ourselves apart of a list of the dead, or to imagine ourselves in a world that has seen unspeakable tragedy, and some versions of us are left to pick up the pieces? Hell yeah it is. But none of what has happened, or will happen, to these people, will happen to us."

"Hate to interrupt, but our friends here will be waking up any moment." Loki called out, gesturing to Steve and Nat on the ground.

Strange pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head for a brief second, before the necklace containing the infinity stone opened. It began to glow brightly as Strange opened a portal, where the sparks were green, rather than blue or amber. "Hurry!" He snapped. Obeying his command, the rest of the group entered the portal, Tony taking the lead and Stephen taking the rear.

The world they entered... Looked like the aftermath of the apocalypse. The ground was uneven and ripped apart, as if bombarded over and over again with powerful bombs. The remnants of a building surrounded them. Still smoking from a fire that seemed to have only recently gone out was what remained of the structures, as well as piles of debris from the building that littered the ground. A thick layer of dust covered the churned up dirt like freshly fallen snow.

"What... Happened here." Hope whispered, although it wasn't really a question, more a statement of horror.

"This is a war-zone." Thor shook his head. "It looks as though a massacre occurred here."

"There's dust on the ground." Annalise observed with a grave tone, looking at the upturned dust that had fluttered up and landed on his shoe. "Didn't you say that Thanos snapped and turned everyone to dust?"

"Hey!" A familiar voice called out, and everyone turned, expecting to see Doctor Banner, but they were met by the sight of the Hulk jogging towards them.

They gasped, and Loki took a step back, putting Shelby in front of him as a kind of human shield. But as the Hulk approached, it slowly dawned on everyone that this wasn't... The Hulk they knew. This Hulk wore clothes; pants instead of shorts that weren't tattered and falling apart, a nice sweater, and a pair of glasses. On his right arm was a sling, and they instantly noticed that his hand and the right base of his neck were both burnt, charred, and scabbed.

The Hulk stopped in his tracks when he saw Tony, his accusing demeanor dropping instantly. "... Tony?" He whispered, beginning to approach them slowly again. "That's... Impossible."

Loki raised his hand to snap his fingers, but Tony held up his hand, signalling him to stop. "Bruce? Buddy, what happened to you?" Tony inquired in disbelief.

"What happened to me?" This Hulk/Banner hybrid stood face to chest now with Tony, and he reached out his good hand, placing it on Stark's head. "What happened to you? How are you here? I... Watched your arc reactor go out yesterday." He choked out the last part of the sentence, tears beginning to well up in his eyes.

Tony's jaw clenched and he looked to the ground, nodding as he took in a deep breath. "I died? How?"

"How?" The Hulk shook his head in utter disbelief. "You... You took the stones from Thanos, and you snapped away everything... His ships, his army, his henchmen... And him. But you're body- it was too much for you to handle. I mean, look at what it did to me." He gestured to his crippled arm. "And I'm built to take a hit like that."

Tony took in all this information, his face expressionless the entire time as all eyes were trained on him. "Who else?"

"What?" The Hulk furrowed his brows.

"Who else died?"

"I... I don't understand. Why don't..." Banner shook his head, apparently giving up on trying to figure out what was going on with this living Tony. "Um, Natasha. Natasha gave herself up to get the soul stone."

"Everyone else came back?" Shuri inquired.

"Yes... That's what this from. That's how you're here." Banner said with complete confusion. "Someone needs to explain to me what is happening righ-"

"Loki, could you please?" Tony asked.

"It would be my pleasure." Loki nodded, snapping his fingers. Just like that, the Hulk collapsed to the ground, dust flying up and lightly coating his hair, skin, and clothes.

The group was silent for a moment, everyone trying to secretly sneak a glance at Tony, to see how he was holding up. He was staring at Banner, deep in thought. "As I said, it's crazy to hear that the Tony in this reality won't be able to watch his daughter grow up. It's... Terrible." He looked up, flashing a strained smile. "At the same time, it makes you really appreciate how lucky our world was, you know?"

"That's a great way to look at it, Mr. Stark." Peter smiled hesitantly.

"All right, is everyone satisfied? Everyone got exploring parallel universes out of their systems." Strange asked. Shelby watched with a frown as everyone else either nodded or told Stephen "yes". "Excellent. Let's be on our way then." The sorcerer activated both infinity stones this time as he opened a portal to 2019 Earth-782, and the group passed through, leaving the heartbreak of Earth-199999 behind them.

There was a collective sigh of relief as they arrived back at the Avengers headquarters of this world, perfectly situated near Miami, Florida. "I... Never wanna do that again." Peter breathed, pushing back some flyaway hairs that had dropped down in front of his eyes."

"Me either. I'm glad I belong on this Earth. Seeing what could be... This world just seems a lot less depressing by comparison." Shuri muttered.

"I kinda liked it." Hope shrugged. "Not the death and destruction part, obviously. But the exploring part? The magic? That was really cool. I would love to be able to make portals like that one day."

"I don't know about everyone else, but I could use a drink." Tony muttered, rubbing his temples as he walked towards the door. "Anyone wanna join me? I have juice boxes for the under-aged."

"Legal in Canada, illegal in America. Life... Disappoints me." Annalise muttered as almost everyone filed out after Stark.

Strange raised a brow, watching Stark leave even though Stephen still held the space stone in his palm. Finding out everything that had happened in the other reality must have drained him enough to make him forget about the stone for now.

Strange went to follow the rest of the group, when he noticed one of them still remained in the room. Shelby leaned onto a window sill, gazing out as dusk fell over the marshes. She looked pretty upset about something.

Everything in Strange told him to not engage. Her problems were not his. She was probably just still thinking about the fact that she died in the other reality, which, granted, was kind of disturbing, but it wasn't her reality. Shouldn't she realize that? Still, Strange rolled his eyes, turning to face her. "What's your problem?"

Shelby glanced back at Strange, frowning. "I don't know..." She sighed, turning face Strange as she leaned against the window. "I guess I just find it really sad that this is the only reality where Loki lives... Like, he's wasn't even brought back to life in the end like everyone else."

Strange raised a brow. "You say that like it comes as a surprise. Loki's a known criminal, I consider a world without him slinking around a world better off."

Shelby looked up in shock at first, before she scowled. "What's everyone's problem? He has been nothing wrong since New York, but everyone thinks he's some monster."

"He's a murderer." Strange stated.

"So was Stark, if we're being technical." She countered. "And Dr. Banner. And Natasha. Bucky. Gamora. Nebula. Probably Rocket. Probably Quill. Definitely Drax- should I go on?" Shelby asked sarcastically. "My point is, all those people did terrible things before they became heroes. But no one but Loki catches any shit for his mistakes."

"Because those other individuals earned trust when they actually changed their ways. I believe Thor told everyone that Loki faked his own death to seize the throne from Odin? That was only 6 years ago." Strange questioned.

"So? His dad was a dick, and he wasn't a tyrannical dictator or anything. Just... a bit self-centered." Shelby shrugged.

"Was he not responsible for the biological bomb you got shoved in your chest a mere 5 months ago?" Strange inquired, quickly becoming irritated.

"Absolutely not!" Shelby fumed. "Everyone's just SO hellbent on making him out to be this scary villain, but since I've known him, he's done nothing to convince me that he is." She snapped.

Strange glared. "You obviously don't have any idea what you're talking about."

"No, that's you." Shelby countered.

Strange's eyes narrowed. "You know what? There is a timeline where Loki remains alive." Shelby watched with reserved curiosity as Strange activated both the time stone and the space stone, opening a portal that led to what appeared to be a dark, abandoned room. "Go see for yourself how good of guy your Frost giant is."

"Fine, I will." Shelby scoffed, marching forward into the portal, which Strange snapped shut behind her, grumbling to himself how disrespectful kids were these days as he walked after the rest of the group.

In the parlor, everyone was already enjoying their drink of choice. Shuri, Peter, Annalise, and Hope all happily drank their juice boxes as Thor and Tony took shots of neat whiskey, Loki watching as he babied his dry martini.

"Strange, what can I get for you?" Tony inquired, setting his shot glass on the counter.

"I'll take a shot of that." Stephen answered, nodding towards the whiskey bottle.

"Fantastic choice!" Thor cheered as he smacked Strange on the shoulder.

Loki's eyes scanned the room, narrowing as they came back to landing on Strange. "Where is Shelby?"

Strange picked up the glass Tony poured for him. "She's learning a lesson." He stated simply, before pouring it back.

Loki's lip curled in irritation. "What are you, her father? What right- " When both Thor and Tony went Loki a warning looking, he gritted his teeth, squeezing the glass cup in his hand so hard that shattered, spilling the drink and glass all over the table.

That caught everyone else's attention, and they all looked at attention to the heated conversation. Thor attempted to ignore his brother's outburst as he gave the doctor a confused look. "Come again?"

"Look, she got an attitude with me about Loki in the other dimension being dead. I told her it was better off that way." When everyone in the room but Tony and Shuri gave Stephen a pointed look, his brows furrowed angrily. "Does everyone in this room have amnesia or something? Or did I miss the meeting where we all decided Loki was off the hook?"

"I think Loki gets to be off the hook for helping to save Asgard." Peter stated with a frown.

"I'll remind you that the only difference between this Loki and the Loki on Earth-19-whatever is that my brother was brought back to life." Thor almost growled. "Our Loki did die trying to stop Thanos."

"So we forgive him for everything?" Stephen gave a half-hearted chuckle. "What about you, Stark? Is Loki not the only thing besides the space stone that keeps you up at night? Or is there somebody else that sent you up through that wormhole?"

Tony flinched slightly at that comment, before giving Strange a warning look. "Doc, I'm not saying Loki is one of Earth's greatest heroes. I don't quite trust him either." He muttered. "But... For 7 years, he has left the Earth alone. He has done heroic things... Whether doing them was in his own selfish self-interest or not." Tony leaned over the counter, looking up at Strange. "So, what did you do with Ferrell?"

Strange stared at Stark for a moment, taking in his words and weighing them. After a minute of tense silence, he sighed in slight embarrassment, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I... May or may not of sent her to an alternate timeline on Earth-199999."

"When?" Tony inquired.

Strange hesitated, his eyes drifting to Loki. "2012."

Loki's eyes widened to horror. "What?"

~~~~~

As soon as Shelby stepped through the portal, she was met by a stingy, bitter winter chill. It froze her in place, the heat from her body seeping out instantly as she wrapped her arms around her chest, trying to hold in some semblance of warmth. The portal shut behind her, leaving her alone in a grimy, tattered, abandoned room in a small house, as a fierce winter storm raged outside the broken window.

Except the building wasn't abandoned.

With a burst of blue energy, Shelby suddenly found herself frozen in place from her waist down. A blue aura of energy seemed to surround her legs and waist, stapling her to the point in space where she stood. She gasped, the skin underneath her clothes burning from the heat of the energy. On the bright side, she was no longer concerned she was going to die of hypothermia as a much less intense heat seeped up into the rest of her body.

From the shadows, a figure stepped into the light, though he carried his own- an object Shelby remembered as the Tesseract- which was last seen on Earth in 2012. Holding it was Loki; except, it wasn't the Loki Shelby knew. His hair was slicked back and greasier than Shelby's Loki, as well as much shorter and straighter. Shelby recognized the goddy green and black outfit he was wearing from pictures on the news 7 years ago, and the timeline was confirmed by the chains that kept his wrists bound, and the muzzle latched to his face.

"Loki." She whispered, both in amazement and fear. This Loki was fresh from the attack on New York. "How... Where are we? I thought your brother took you back to Asgard after New York..."

Loki continued to approach her, and leaned in close. Shelby's eyes scanned quickly over the gashes and bruises littering his face. His eyes were sunken in, his cheek bones jutted out far more sharper than the Loki she knew. This one was skinny and almost frail. She meant his piercing blue-green eyes. They stared at her in a puzzled manner for a moment, before they looked down to the muzzle that covered his mouth.

Shelby wrung her hands in hesitation for a fleeting second, before reaching up and pressing the center of the muzzle. The muzzle collapsed in on itself and fell to the ground. Loki's boot lifted and crushed in beneath his step.

Loki looked back to Shelby cautiously. "Interesting. You know who I am- you must know what I have done. And yet you helped me."

"Sometimes I do things against my better judgment." Shelby muttered back. The look in Loki's eyes wasn't exactly thankful.

Loki weighed her words, his eyes narrowing. "You mentioned that I was supposed to return Asgard with my brother. That was his initial plan, until I escaped, of course. So, I'm curious," he took a couple slow steps, beginning to circle around Shelby, as a predator does with wounded prey, "what brings you to the edge of civilization, isolated from anyone that might save you? What brings you to me, and how did you know of my brother's plans?"

Shelby wished she could back away. She kept reminding herself over and over in her head that this wasn't her Loki... And yet, it had been, at one point. "I'm... I know you. In the future. You're one of my closest friends."

Having made a full circle, Loki stopped in his tracks, looking at Shelby with confusion, before a sly smile began to play at his lips. "You are terribly cute. But... I know a trick when I see one. You're either an illusion of my mother's with the purpose of luring me back to Asgard... Or you're one of the ants in the army that is SHIELD."

Shelby watched as Loki's hands tightened around the Tesseract, and the handcuffs latched on his wrists glowed blue, before the lock sprung open, and the handcuffs fell to the floor. Suddenly, his hand shot forward and he wrapped his icy fingers around Shelby's neck tightly. She gasped, scratching at his hand in panic as he leaned in closely, his smile wicked and dangerous, though his eyes were bloodshot and desperate. "Well, you certainly aren't an illusion. Pity, I didn't think things would have to get messy this quickly." He muttered, and in his other hand, he let the Tesseract go as a dagger materialized in its place.

"No!" Shelby strained to cry out, giving up on freeing herself and giving up on Loki. She held out her hand, materializing her own weapon of choice- the double-headed axe- and swung it at Loki, forcing him to stumble backwards.

Loki glared up at her with astonishment. "You're a sorceress.

Shelby kept one arm outstretched with the weapon, guarding her as her other hand rubbed her neck, with was already beginning to bruise. "Just let me go so I can go home." She whispered.

Loki almost burst out laughing, springing back up onto his feet and grabbing the Tesseract, squeezing his fingers into the surface. The blue energy surrounding Shelby from the waist down shot up, encasing her body from the neck down. She automatically lifted her head, feeling the pressure of being trapped and encased, and she began to hyperventilate. "Oh, my dear, we're in far too deep now!" He almost laughed, twirling his dagger in between his fingers like it was a baton, before lunging at Shelby's stomach.

Shelby squeezed her eyes shut in brace for impact, but the hit never came. Instead, an unknown force ripped Loki off his feet, slamming him into the wall and pressing him against it as he was lifted a foot off the ground. He glared at the attacker, before his expression turned blank in shock. Next to Shelby, another version of Loki walked forward. This was Shelby's Loki; the wild, long, curly black hair, a more aged face, a more filled out body frame, dressed in more casual clothing rather than heavily armored attire. And this Loki... Was pissed.

He stormed forward, snatching the Tesseract off the ground and activating it, causing the energy around Shelby to dissipate and release her. She dropped to the floor, instantly shaking as the cold engulfed her once again. Still, she was grateful to be free as she slowly picked herself up. 2019 Loki dropped the Tesseract onto the floor, walking towards Shelby to help her get herself together as 2012 Loki's face contorted in disgust. "So, she wasn't lying to me." He observed with a sharp tongue. "Loki of Jotunheim, rightful heir to throne, reduced to a servant to Asgard, so desperate for companionship that he befriends a Midgardian." When 2019 Loki and Shelby turned to face him, he shook his head in disbelief. "You... Are pathetic."

2019 Loki raised a brow. "I'm the pathetic one, when you're hiding out in Russia to avoid the Avengers?"

"What, as opposed to letting them have me, and having to roll over to show my belly and ask for forgiveness?" The younger Loki spat.

"Forgiveness? I paid heavily for my crimes." 2019 Loki scowled. "I paid with my mother's life. My brother's- no, the entirety of Asgard's trust. I paid with my own life not once, but twice." He hissed, his hands clenched into fists.

"You've become a lackey." 2012 Loki growled.

"Were you not Thanos's?" At that name, 2012 Loki flinched noticeably. Shelby's eyes widened in surprise, looking up at her Loki in confusion. "I see the pain in still fresh in your mind. I can still see the traces he left on our face." Present Loki muttered, his anger seeming to diminish slightly now. "The resurrection, the torture. His vision of the future, our anger at our father, our desperation to escape him. All feeding into the mind stone and bending our will, just like we bent the humans."

"I cannot be controlled!" Past Loki snapped, though the pain in his eyes was unmistakable.

"Okay, this is becoming too pathetic to watch." Present Loki muttered, kicking the Tesseract towards his other self. "Take this to Asgard and deal with your issues head on. Oh, and do everyone in the universe a favor, and leave the Tesseract on Asgard when Ragnarok comes." He instructed, before reaching in his pocket and grabbing out a Stark communicator. He pressed the central red button, and next to Loki and Shelby, a large, blue and green portal appeared, with Strange, Stark, and the others peering in from the other side. Loki guided Shelby by the shoulder towards the portal, but Shelby managed to throw her middle finger up at past Loki before they returned to their reality. As the portal closed behind them, present Loki's magic disappeared with them, and 2012 Loki fell hard onto the icy floor.

"Oh shit, Shelby, your neck!" Annalise exclaimed as the portal closed behind Loki and Shelby.

"It's fine." Shelby whispered in hoarse voice, but the skin was red and swollen with blue and purple coloration beginning to bloom in the deep layers of the skin. It was plain to see that it was in the shape of a hand.

"Can I make an observation real quick?" Tony asked, not waiting for anyone to answer before he continued. "For someone who's supposed to be decently intelligent, you really make a lot of dumb choices. You literally could have died, and you just waltz right in there to try and see if your weaselly boyfriend is alive somewhere else in the multiverse. It would have been one thing if we didn't have Loki in this reality anymore, but- oh shit, who's that?" He pointed at Loki.

Shelby's face began turning red in embarrassment, but she offered no defense for herself as Tony rubbed his temples. "I don't know why God chose me, of all the Avengers, to be the designated babysitter for all you children, but I suppose here we are."

"Uh, you just said we're technically all adults-" Shuri attempted to point out, but one look from Stark instantly shut her mouth.

"Well," Loki broke the silence, clearing his throat, "if we're all done berating people for their mistakes, I'm going to take Shelby home."

"Not with her neck like that, you're not." Strange interjected. "I need to take a look at it."

"Right, I'm gonna let the man who sent her through portal in the first place treat her." Loki glared at him with malice.

"Watch it, icicle. I'm not afraid to banish you to dimensions hellish beyond your most twisted imaginations." Strange stated sharply.

"Ohh, big words. They're almost large enough to match your giant head." Loki teased, smiling. "I'm not sure you quite fathom how twisted my imagination can be."

"Okay, break it up, both of you." Thor warned, stepping in between his brother and the doctor.

"This is what I'm trying to get everyone to realize though. Loki. Is. Still. A bad guy." Strange stated, turning to Tony, looking at him as though asking for backup.

Tony presses his lips together, thinking for moment, before opening his mouth to speak. However, he was cut off by Shelby's voice croaking, "You're wrong."

Strange whipped around to face her, his cape fluttering angrily behind him. "Are kidding me? Did you not experience it for yourself?" He gestured at her neck. "How are you still defending him?"

"Because the only thing you can think of that Loki did that wasn't an accident is the attack on New York, and that wasn't really Loki." Shelby stated.

Strange seemed taken back by this statement. "What?"

"It was Thanos." Shelby whispered. "The mind stone in his scepter, it was feeding into the anger he felt about what had happened back in Asgard. Plus, Thanos had tortured and manipulated Loki into invading Earth."

"What's the purpose of that?" Tony cut in, but his question wasn't directed at Shelby. His pointed brown eyes were staring right at Loki.

Shelby's mention of his past seemed to have shifted Loki's mood entirely, as he now looked down at the floor, frowning. "He- He always told me it was to retrieve the Tesseract and test Earth's defenses in the process." He stated. "My reward was a realm of my own to rule... my punishment was death." Even Strange's features softened slightly at that statement.

Loki continued. "But I've always believed that there was more at play. I was the cast-out son of Odin, who ruled Asgard and protected the nine realms, which included Earth. By using me as his pawn, it would send Earth into chaos, and would in turn send Asgard, and then the other realms, into chaos in a mad attempt to fix my wrong-doings." Loki took a slow breath, his brows furrowed slightly, feeling trapped due to everyone's eyes being trained on him. "Though he would lose the space stone for a few years in the process, I fully believe he didn't really care if I triumphed. My victory or defeat meant Asgard's demise either way."

The room was silent for a long while, before Peter raised his hand. "Parker, this is not elementary school- just speak if you want to ask a question!" Stark exclaimed.

Peter put his hand down. "So, are we forgiving Loki?"

"I forgive Loki!" Shuri exclaimed.

"Me too." Hope smiled.

"He was forgiven the moment I saw him." Annalise admitted.

"Well, the most important forgiveness is Tony's." Peter muttered. "You know, cause he's like the leader and all. It's like getting the Godfather's blessing."

"You and I are going to have a discussion about comparing movies to real life after this." Tony pointed at Peter, before turning and facing Loki. Their gazes locked. Tony's brown eyes reflected hesitation; they were flittering back and forth between Loki's left and right eye, as if still sizing him up. Loki's soft green eyes seemed hard and uncaring, his face defiant, but his irises were churning with the pain of his past. Tony knew that feeling all too well, and now, he realized none of this was really Loki's fault. He was just as much of a pawn as the Avengers were.

"Loki, I gotta tell you, I have no trust for you. I've know how many times you've betrayed Thor, I still see the dead look in Barton's eyes from what you did to him- what you did to all of us. I've seen you put all the girls in danger, and because of your antics in the past, Shelby has a time bomb in her chest." He listed off everything, causing Loki's eyes to narrow, and for everyone else in the room to tense up. "So, I don't know if I can ever trust you... But, I do forgive you."

Loki's eyes widened in surprise as the girls, Peter, and Thor smiled and gasped with excitement, and he watched with slight disbelief as Stark extended a hand towards him, smirking. "What do you say, Reindeer Games? From now on, let's try to let bygones be bygones."

Loki hesitantly reached out and took Stark's hand, shaking it. "I have to admit, that... Would be wonderful."

Tony nodded, a slight twinkle in his eye as he lifted a brow. "Care for a drink?"

Loki smirked. "Absolutely."