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Thor's POV


I throw the devil's body off my little brother's, pulling Loki up into my arms.

"Loki?!" I shake him, but there is no response. "Loki, wake up! Loki, please. Gabriel!" my voice breaks as I use my brother's real name.

There is still no response. Loki is limp in my grip, his head slumping to the side and his eyes burned out. There are burns around his mouth as well and on the ground, there are two sets of wings burned into the pavement.

I feel for a pulse, but there is nothing, nor does he have breath. I stare down at him in horror. "No…" my voice breaks again, shattering like glass. Never have I shown such weakness in front of anyone. Normally when I am upset, I react with anger, but not now. Not when I'm holding my little brother's lifeless form in my arms. Tears blur my vision.

"Thor," I feel Steve's hand come down on my shoulder. The other Avengers are gathered around Loki and me, grim and horrified expressions adorning their features. "He… he's dead."

"No," I say, denial resonating throughout my voice. "No, no he can't be."

"Thor…"

"This is my fault," I whisper. "Loki, I'm sorry. You're not a coward, you were right to be afraid of Lucifer, please just come back."

"Thor," Steve crouches down beside us. "He's dead, Thor. Come on," Steve grabs my shoulders, trying to pull me away.

"No!" I push him away, making him fall back several feet, before hunching over, cradling Loki's body protectively in my arms, crying as quietly as I possibly can, which isn't very quiet.

The others stay where they're at, letting me grieve. I can barely notice them now that they're not trying to take me away from Loki. All I can think about is how this is my fault, how I never should have pushed him into fighting his brother, the devil.

It's my fault my little brother is dead.


Tony's POV


Reindeer Games is pale. I mean, he's always been pale, but now that he's dead, the first thing I notice is just how pale his skin is now that there's no blood pumping through his body.

Eventually, Steve managed to get Thor to let go of Loki so we could bring him back to the helicarrier. I can hardly believe it. The Rock of Ages is… dead. I… I'm going to miss him. I was starting to like him, to consider him a sort of friend. He didn't seem so bad once we found out he wasn't actually evil. We… we could have been buddies when this was over. And now we can't, because he's dead.

And it's our fault. We pushed him into doing this and he sacrificed himself… for us, for the world. And here we were, so arrogant as to believe we'd actually saved the world, when really, we 'saved' New York from an angel who was never even going to destroy it.

It seems so surreal, to look at him and call him an angel. I mean, I was-am?-an atheist. But here was a potential friend who was an angel.

"He was an archangel," Steve suddenly whispers.

All six of us are standing in the room together, staring down at Loki's body. Thor's eyes are so red they look kind of like tomatoes.

"What?" he asks, turning to look at Steve, sniffling. That's another thing that's surreal: seeing the god of thunder crying… this whole situation seems so unreal that I almost think I'm going to wake up at the Tower any moment now, but my rational mind tells me that that isn't going to happen.

"The archangel Gabriel," Steve says. "He was said to be the one to tell Mary she was pregnant with Jesus. He's supposed to be the messenger of God…"

"That's why his blade worked," Natasha realizes. "And why he was able to kill the devil. Didn't he say only archangels could rival archangels?"

"But he didn't rival him; he died and it's my fault!" Thor yells.

"Thor, Loki wouldn't want you to blame yourself," I say, "and he wouldn't want you to be so… so upset. He'd probably kick your ass if he knew you were crying."

Thor glares at me, about to say something else, when there's a knock at the door.

We all stare at it warily. No one else is on the helicarrier except some SHIELD employees, and wouldn't they just come in?

Hesitantly, Clint opens on the door. On the other side there is a short man with curly dark blond hair. He looks a little nervous.

"Who are you?" Natasha demands, her hand hovering above the holster of her gun.

"My name is Chuck," he says, "Or, at least it is now. Can I come in?"

"What are you doing on SHIELD property, Chuck?" Steve demands.

"I'm here to see Gabriel," Chuck says, "I believe you call him Loki."

"My brother is dead," Thor says, coming toward him, anger burning in his eyes. "You can't see him."

"I know he's dead," Chuck says. "That's why I'm here… and you can't stop me from seeing him. I have every right to."

"And why is that?" Thor demands, hand tight around his hammer.

Chuck just smiles, and then suddenly vanishes, only to reappear next to Loki's dead body. He brushes the hair off his face, and touches his forehead.

A moment later, Loki's green eyes snap open and he draws in a deep breath, sitting up. Chuck, smiles at him, placing a hand on his left shoulder.

Loki stares at Chuck like he just saw a ghost. At first, I can only assume it's from the shock of being alive again, but then he utters a single word that changes everything.

"Father?"

Chuck presses a paternal kiss to Loki's forehead.

"Good bye, my son," he says, and then he vanishes, leaving us in the room with the once more alive Loki.

"Was… was that God?" I ask.

Thor has run over to Loki, pulling him into a giant hug that makes Loki look like he's being squished to death.

"Thor, can't breathe," Loki says, "do you want me to die again?"

Thor loosens his hold, but doesn't let go. "You're never dying again, do you understand me?! I won't let you."

"Is anyone going to answer my question?" I ask again. "Was that God?!"

"I can't believe you killed yourself!" Thor continues.

"Hey, I killed the devil too," Loki defends.

"That doesn't mean you had to kill yourself in the process!"

"Hey," Steve interrupts them, looking eager whereas I look stunned, "answer Tony's question: was that God?"

"Yes," Loki replies, "that was my father."


No one's POV


After Loki's battle with Lucifer, Thor didn't let him out of his sight for a month. Slowly, the Avengers and Loki became good friends and he even worked with them, though he refused to ever call himself an Avenger; he only wanted to be called a Trickster. Tony lived in denial that Chuck was God, though deep down, he knew he was in denial. He and Loki became very good friends and often played tricks on all the other Avengers. Loki also kept his promise about resurrecting Phil. Gabriel never returned to Heaven, though he did go see his little brother Castiel and messed with the Winchesters again, something he always found to be good fun. Gabriel never returned to Asgard either, not wanting to see Odin again, though Frigga sometimes visited him and Thor at the Tower.

Finished


AN: Well, I hope everyone liked the end! I wasn't sure how to tie everything up, which is why I just did a quick little paragraph at the end to answer any questions the story itself left unanswered. I hope everyone is pleased with the outcome of the story.

Please review!

-DragonsintheMoonlight