A/N: I love love love this chapter :) hope y'all like it too! I also just bought Endgame on Blu-ray ahhhh

Word count: 1.9K

⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑽𝑰 ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:

✧.*༄ EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY,
THOUGH WE ARE ALL HURTING

The trip in the Benatar was relatively short due to the technology, which you were thankful for considering the fact that Rocket hadn't lied about the beer. You tried to be adamant about deciding the amount your uncle would drink, limiting it as much as you could enforce. You'd like to think that he drank a bit less than usual.

Arriving at the Avengers Facility felt like stepping into foreign territory. You felt out of place despite how you had changed and remade your evil intentions. Perhaps it was the memory of your invasion, your appearance at Stark Tower, your conversation with Tony with your father at your side.

Even though you've remade yourself, the memories still remained; maybe that's why you were hesitant to make your presence known. But, like your father, the master of illusions, you managed to cover that up.

You scouted out Tony first, and your eyes lit up as you called out to him, "Tony Stark." He looked up to see you walking over. "You master time travel, yet you refused to attempt to master my art. Technically, it wouldn't even be you doing the dirty work. That would have been me."

"Yeah, great to see you, too, Loki Junior," he said, playfully rolling his eyes.

"How have you been these past five years?" You were now walking alongside him, burying the out-of-place feeling somewhere ignorable.

"I've been using my new chance, if you will," Tony responded knowingly. The chat that he shared with you a while back was fresh in his mind since he contemplated his choice to help.

You hummed, letting silence fall among the conversation for a few moments. "You... have a daughter now," you decided to mention. Tony gave you a strange look in reply, unaware that you used a "spying" spell... You didn't like to call it that, though— it was the only way you felt connected to the others while you were confined at home. "My apologies. I admittedly checked up on you a couple of times."

"I should have expected that."

"You know, I'd love to meet her someday," you said with a soft smile. Tony was your favorite to look over for that reason; his joyful parenting exploits reminded you so much of your younger days, of the eccentric yet loving way that Loki was your father.

That was when Tony knew for sure that you had changed. He saw it in your eyes, longing but accepting. "What about you?" he asked.

"Not much. Trying to commune with the... dusted ones. And failing, but we don't have to mention that. Trying not to reminisce too much." Been failing at that, too, you added mentally. You then noticed Thor make an entrance, adorning shades and holding a beer can. "Oh, and babysitting that."

"Drifting left. On the side there, Lebowski," Tony said, prompting Thor to move away from the device that he was towing.

"And I also thought I told you 'last one' two cans ago," you noticed, taking the beer that your uncle had managed to snag. "Give me that."

As you disposed of the half-empty can with a spell, Tony noticed Rocket working on the Quantum Tunnel not too far away. "How's it going, Ratchet?" he asked.

"It's Rocket," he corrected. "Take it easy. You're only a genius on Earth, pal."

"That looks like it's coming along well," you noticed, eyeing the huge platform. The technology seemed extremely advanced.

"Yeah, it's almost done. Just babyproofing it for your drunk uncle."

"Ah, I see. That would be greatly appreciated," you said before addressing Tony again. "So if that one's almost done, that—" you pointed to the device that he had with him— "must be for the machine that I requested for oh-so-long ago?"

"You know what? I completely forgot about that one," Tony joked, "I'll get right to it." He then led you just around the Quantum Tunnel to show you a smaller platform that was still in the works. "This is where your little gizmo will go. It'll have a bit of time travel tech built in so you can go to that, uh, soul place—"

"Soul Realm."

"—just as everyone starts to show up there. And it'll sync with ours, so when we finish, you'll be pulled out, too."

"The time-traveling should also account for the fact that the Soul Stone is destroyed in this timeline. But how will I know who to look for? How will I be able to find anyone when half of the universe will be concentrated there?"

"Data files. Enhanced tracking. Don't sweat it. I'll even name the navigator after you."

"If you insist."

During the testing of the Quantum Tunnel, you remained by your own machine —the Projector— gently resting your hand upon it. With this, I'll be able to begin to redeem myself, you thought incredulously. If only Father was here to do it with me.

You were in the midst of debating the best way to travel to the Soul Realm when Tony called you over for brainstorming with the rest of the team. Everyone had been gathered in a conference room, holographic files for each of the Stones splayed out for consideration.

"Okay, so the 'how' works," Steve said, speaking of the success of the Quantum Tunnel. "Now we gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones."

"Or substitute the word encounter for 'damn near have been killed by' one of the six Infinity Stones," Tony offered sarcastically.

"I haven't," Scott piped up. "I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about."

"While we're on the topic, though, I'd like to quickly apologize to most of the people here that I've caused... trouble for in the past," you said sheepishly. "Just to finally get that off of my shoulders. It's an honor working with you all."

Scott's eyes widened as he looked at you. "Wait a minute— you're—"

"I'm the one that almost destroyed New York that one time," you finished, your tone bored as you recalled your previous immaturity, "yes, that's correct."

"Th-Then what are you doing here? With the Avengers?" he asked, slightly panicked. "You're not going to turn on us at any moment and—"

"No, I can assure you that I'm not going to betray you all. Father's done quite enough of that already," you assured, glancing at your uncle.

"'Father'? You're Loki's kid?"

"Yes. Five years have gone by, though," you mentioned. You tried your best not to let the memory of your father's death resurface. "I've changed, believe me. We all have."

The sadness in your voice made it clear.

"Regardless, we only have enough Pym Particles for one round trip each, and these stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history," Bruce continued.

"Our history," Tony said. "So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in, yeah?"

"Which means we have to pick our targets," Clint added.

"Correct."

"Well, to start, the Space and Mind Stones should be fairly easily accessible after my father and I are caught," you said.

Steve nodded. "And the other that you'll probably have the most knowledge about is the Aether."

"I... was imprisoned for most of that ordeal. I have an entry on it in my grimoire, but I'm not sure how detailed it is considering I wasn't there."

"Thor, what do you know?"

Everyone's head turned to your uncle, who was seated in a chair, unmoving. You mentally sighed. "Is he asleep?" Natasha asked, for his shades covered his eyes, making it impossible to tell.

"No, no," Rhodey said. "I'm pretty sure he's dead."

Naturally, you felt that it was your responsibility to grab his attention. You walked over and nudged his shoulder, making him stir. "Uncle Thor."

"Hmm? What?"

"The Aether," you said, nodding your head to the holograms. "Explain it, please."

He stood up and made his way over, allowing you to take his seat. "Uh, where to start? Umm... The Aether, first, is not a stone, someone called it a stone before."

"It's an Infinity Stone, Uncle Thor, like the Tesseract. It's just not in its solidified form."

"Oh. Thank you, Dear (Y/N). Here's an interesting story, though, about the Aether. My grandfather, many years ago, had to hide the Stone from the Dark Elves," he began, wiggling his fingers for effect. "Wooo, scary beings. So Jane, actually—" a picture of her appeared on the screen to accompany his story— "Oh, there she is. Yeah, Jane is an old flame of mine.

"Uh, y'know, she— she stuck her hand inside a rock this one time... and then the Aether stuck itself inside her. And, she became very, very sick, and so I had to take her to Asgard, which is where we're from. And we had to try and fix her.

"We were dating at the time, you see, and I got to introduce her to my mother... who's dead, and, um..." Thor's jovial tone was quickly taken over by a downcast one. "Oh, you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore, so... Yes, these things happen though, you know, nothing lasts forever," he said, overcoming his sadness so he could reassure you of your loss from long ago. You didn't let his attempts go unnoticed. "The only thing that—"

"Why don't you come sit?" Tony said, trying to bring him back to sit down. "(Y/N), could you move—?"

"I'm not done yet— The only thing that is permanent in life is impermanence." He watched you for a reaction, grinning upon seeing your small, grateful smile. The others didn't really have the same response, though.

Tony clapped halfheartedly at his explanation that ultimately turned into a speech and a life lesson. "Awesome. Eggs? Breakfast?"

"No, I'd like a Bloody Mary."

You rolled your eyes, this time playfully.

As the brainstorming continued, the group varied a bit as people entered or exited depending on their knowledge. Thor broke off rather soon, going to god-knows-where, leaving you to head back to the Projector. Tony rejoined you sometime later.

"I should be able to get it up and fully functional in a few minutes," he said as he began tinkering with it. "It's more of an amplifier than a guide, so I hope you know what you're doing with your magic."

"I've been anticipating this for five years, Stark. I've had plenty of practice and thoughts on the fundamentals of it. The best way to arrive should be through using something similar to meditation."

"Well, I'll leave that part to you."

Tony was teaching you the basics of how to activate the machine when Steve gathered everyone for a final time. You met back in the conference room, seeing the holograms now displaying the targets for the Stones. A separate one had your mission: REACH THE SOUL REALM.

"All right. We have a plan," Steve said. "Six Stones, four teams, two worlds.

"One shot."