Tony rubbed his eyes and yawned. He'd been up for over twenty four hours on the bridge. He was running on just coffee at this point. Normally when he was working on a project he could stay up for a few days, but this was boring and he didn't have much to do. He glanced at the empty science station and sighed. There was a part of him was wishing that Loki was on the bridge but he'd told Loki to take off as much time as he needed. So if Loki still needed time then he'd let him have it. It was important that Loki got the rest he needed. Tony cared about him.

He perked up slightly when he heard the bridge door swoosh open, sincerely hoping that Loki had decided to join him on the bridge. But he was surprised, and admittedly slightly disappointed, to see Commander Spock and Thor walk onto the bridge, "Commander Spock, Lieutenant Odinson, is everything alright?" He asked. He found the duo a strange pair to walk in at the same time. Though it could be entirely coincidental.

"We do not believe so," Spock answered, speaking first and in his usual Vulcan tone, "Approximately 17 hours ago Commander Laufeyson came to me, requesting for me to have the clearance codes to his personal files. He provided logical reasoning but I have come to believe that his reasoning was in fact a lie. Or at least a partial lie"

"He came to me as well," Thor spoke up, "Almost 12 hours ago my brother came to me, apologizing for when he left the family. He also told me to message father. It was very uncharacteristic of him to do so and he was shaking when he talked to me. I too believe that he told me at least one partial lie. It pains me to think that my brother would so willingly lie to us."

Tony swallowed slightly, obvious concern for Loki building. His expression made that much clear, "Last time I saw him, he was mostly asleep when I left for the bridge 28 hours ago," Tony remembered the last time he'd seen Loki. He'd gotten ready then kissed Loki's cheek. He still remembered the smile on Loki's face as he left, "What do you think is wrong?" He asked Spock and Thor.

Spock glanced at Thor warily then spoke, "We believe, that Commander Laufeyson may have plans to take his own life," Spock said as carefully as he could. It was a sensitive topic. And especially since this was Tony he was talking to and Tony had developed a close relationship with Loki. So he was as cautious as he could be.

Tony felt his heart stop and all the noise around him seemingly disappeared, except for the hum of his arc reactor. Loki… no, why? Everything had been fine. Loki hadn't shown signs of being suicidal. They had spent the night together, or well, night as in last time he'd slept. And now Loki could be thinking about taking his own life. All the emotions were overwhelming, "Jarvis," He said quietly, barely a whisper. His voice didn't seem to want to work anymore than that. He just… was in shock.

"24 hours ago Commander Laufeyson awoke from what I can only describe as a nightmare and quickly ran from your quarters to his. 15 minutes ago he left a note in your quarters. 10 minutes ago he bypassed authorization requirements and left the Avenger via shuttlecraft," The AI responded.

Tony didn't wait for Jarvis to finish before he bolted, "Barton! Romanoff! Follow Loki's shuttle!" He shouted as he ran off the bridge. He ran to his quarters as fast as he could ignoring the pain in his chest. Oh, yes, there was a lot of pain in his chest. Both physical pain and emotional pain. Why hadn't anyone noticed what was going on with Loki till now? Why hadn't Jarvis notified him sooner? He was so worried now and it was literally killing him.

He ran into his room and immediately say the note. He snatched it and as he read over it his heart shattered into lots of little pieces. Tears stung his eyes but he didn't really notice. Why was Loki doing this? Why would he have come to the conclusion to take his own life? The only thing that made sense was that if Loki wanted to actually go through with it, of course he left the ship. Tony wasn't entirely sure what to do now.

Spock and Thor were standing by the door and when Tony looked up Spock spoke up, "I found a will in Commander Laufeyson's personal files. He has left all his belongings to you," Spock could tell from the grief stricken expression on Tony's face what the note said. He didn't want to hurt Tony more, but he said what he had to say.

"I'm not letting him die. He has to still be alive," Tony said, a slight tremble in his voice as he forced the words out. He couldn't give up on the hope that Loki was going to hold up just long enough if not longer for a chance of rescue. He had to get Loki back. He just had to. He wasn't going to let Loki kill himself. He wasn't going to let Loki leave like this.

"Captain, we've found the shuttle Commander Laufeyson took. He's landed on an uninhabited rocky planet. We can start descending now and we'll land in ten minutes," Barton's voice rang out through the comm in the room. His logic behind descending was so that the whole crew would be there to rescue Loki. To show that everyone had come and everyone wanted Loki to keep on living.

"That's not fast enough! Prepare the transporter room to beam me down to Loki's location!" Tony shouted in response. He was so glad he didn't have to push any buttons because he'd replaced the original ship's AI with Jarvis. Tony bolted out of the room and ran, as fast as he could to the transporter room. He had to get to Loki. And fast.

Loki pursed his lips, running his hands through his already messy hair. His eyes were red from crying and there were light bags under his eyes from the last twenty three and fifty five minutes of no sleep and lots of stress. Yes, he was clearly an absolute mess. But no one was going to do anything about it except kill him. He landed the shuttle he'd taken and got out, shuffling along. He really had no energy left.

The three beings that had summoned him to his death were already waiting and somehow, by some power or another, he immediately knew what they were. He walked to them, till he was a few feet away then fell to his knees, hanging his head in pure submission. He kept his eyes on the ground. A few dry tears stung his eyes. He was a monster called to die.

"The abomination has come to face his sentence as he was summoned. This will be noted as the one thing in life he has done that was not a mistake. For even the breaths he takes are a mistake," One of the beings spoke, laying their hand on Loki's head. There was no mercy shown. Every word, every movement was cold, and held a tone that confirmed he was to die.

Another being stepped forward, "Long ago we came from our universe where we are alone with powers unimaginable to this universe. More powerful than the scrap you have. When we came we learned of the monsters this universe held and returned to our own universe, remaining where we are alone. But there was one that could not stay alone with our people and caused a child, half from this universe, half from ours to be made. A monster, an abomination. The mistake that never should have been. Now we have found you and sentence you to death."

The first being moved their hand from Loki's head than grabbed his neck in one sudden movement, choking him. Loki gasped for air and placed his hand on the being's wrist, though his hand quickly slipped because of how weak he was at the moment. He choked and tried to gasp and inhale but he could feel his life slowly slipping away as one of the beings counted down his last seconds to the 24 hour mark.

5

Blackness started creeping around at the edges of Loki's vision. His mind was racing in realization and pain. He was dying. He was actually dying. He was going to die the painful slow death he thought he had deserved for being what he was, and he was absolutely terrified. He hadn't realized that dying with be this terrifying. But here he was. He was actually dying.

4

He stopped struggling to breath. What was the point in struggling anymore. While it had been his initial reaction to struggle to live, he was supposed to die. This was his execution. Why fight it anymore. Accepting it was maybe just easier. The last of his life was slipping away. All thoughts emptied from his mind except for one very important thought.

3

His shoulders relaxed in a slumping motion. In fact his whole body went slack. No more fighting to live. No more thinking about the next breath he needed. No more worrying. No more bothering people with the mistake that he was. Just, nothing anymore. No more life. His last thought, a small thought, wordlessly escaped his lips. I love you Tony

2

1

"Stop!"

The sudden interruption startled the being enough that it released Loki's neck and by some miracle he found air was rushing back into his lungs. He gasped, blinking as he tried to regain his vision. He… he was alive?! How… why... After a minute he could finally see straight enough to realize who it was that had shouted. It was Tony. Tony had come to save him. He couldn't believe this

Loki scrambled to his feet the best he could and ran, or rather stumbled, over to Tony. He collapsed into Tony's arms and could sense the relief that he was okay that Tony felt, "I thought you were going to kill yourself. We all thought you were going to kill yourself," Tony mumbled, holding Loki tight and close. He was terrified of losing Loki. And after what he had seen….

Loki looked up to see the Avenger descending slowly through the atmosphere. Everyone had come for him. But most importantly Tony. Even after his note. He had friends, a family. He meant something to people. He was important. That realization hit him and suddenly all the creeping darkness in his mind was gone. Tony had come to save him. He clung to Tony like he was literally his only lifeline.

"What is the meaning of this?" One of the beings demanded to know. Tony and Loki turned to face the beings and Loki swallowed. He'd exceeded the 24 hours they'd given him and he didn't know what was going to happen now. He shrunk back slightly, trying to hide behind Tony. He was honestly terrified. He didn't want to die now. He had Tony.

"I'll tell you what the meaning of this is," Tony started, getting kind of riled up, "You just tried killing my best friend and I couldn't let that happen. Not after the thought of him dying any way scared the- ngh" Tony suddenly cut off. He placed a hand over his chest, grimacing. He brushed off Loki's look of concern for the moment. He mentally cursed himself. Now was not the time for the palladium to be effecting him so much like this.

Palladium. It was the only thing that he had found that was able to keep the arc reactor running. But it had started to rapidly erode and he had to frequently replace the piece powering the reactor. He'd looked for some other material, able to hold up and power the reactor like palladium, but he hadn't been able to find anything. Sure, the doctors could give him stuff to lower the symptoms, but there was nothing they could do to get rid of it. He'd already been told that without all this experimental stuff that they couldn't remove the shrapnel in his chest. So he kept the arc reactor in his chest that powered the magnet that kept him alive. But the one thing keeping him alive, was also slowly killing him. He wasn't going to tell anyone this though. He was just going to keep fighting as long as he could with his own methods. Though, the whole mess with his chest made it hard to run without pain and sometimes when he got overly upset it hurt.

Loki didn't let Tony just brush him off like that. He cupped Tony's face with one hand, "Tony, look at me. What's wrong? Do we need to get Doctor Banner and Doctor McCoy? Please tell me what's wrong," He asked, almost begged, speaking light and softly. It was obvious he cared about Tony's well being. He just cared about Tony, a lot. His face showed clear concern.

Tony placed his hand over Loki's then turned his head slightly and kissed the palm of his hand softly in a reassuring gesture, "I'm fine. Just a little worn out from all the running I had to do to get you back. I think I've had more than enough exercise for the month because of you," He joked to try and lighten the mood. He smiled softly, really trying to convince Loki that everything was okay. He didn't want to worry Loki, especially with the mess they were currently dealing with. But more so, he didn't want to worry Loki because he cared.

Loki sighed a little and decided to let it go for now. He would check to make sure Tony was actually okay later, once they were alone. Then he could grill Tony and make him tell him the truth. He paused for a moment and quickly looked over at the mysterious beings. He swallowed nervously when he saw that they were talking to each other in hushed tones.

"Because you have found the thing we desire most, you will be allowed to live Laufeyson," The one that hadn't spoken yet said after a silent minute. "We are part of the Megan, a race that belongs to a different universe where we are the only race. We once came to this universe and tried seeking a cure to the loneliness we felt many years ago, back when earth was young. But the humans of that time grew to hate us for our powers. So we left and returned to our universe, not before we had suffered deaths of many of our people. In the less distant past one of our own tried once again to find a way to get rid of the loneliness and came to this universe. They found the Bolians and a child of our two universes came into existence," They paused for a moment, letting the information sink in, particularly for Loki, before continuing, "You, Loki Laufeyson, are this child. Many of our people thought you were an abomination. A mistake with access to part of the power in our universe. The magic that allowed us to manipulate the very fabrics of our reality. You were thought to be an abomination because you were part of a universe thought to be filled with monsters and part of our universe. But we see now that not all in this universe are monsters and that there are good people here. We were the monsters for thinking there was not any good in this universes," The being finished explaining but they had one more question, "Please tell us, what is it that you have with this human that banishes the loneliness?"

Loki looked at Tony with a thoughtful look then took Tony's hand and faced the Megan again, "It's called friendship. A lot of beings in this universe have it. But what's even more powerful that we have with each other and again many other people have, is this special connection called love," He smiled, hiding his nervous and confused emotions well. He gripped Tony's hand a bit tightly

The Megan looked at each other as if they hadn't really thought if it that way before then out of nowhere they quickly disappeared. Tony and Loki soon realized that the reason for their disappearance was that Thor and Spock were coming running towards them. Though Thor and Spock never saw any of the Megan.

Thor and Spock stopped in front of Tony and Loki, "Commander Laufeyson, I understand that you may be currently struggling, but I must implore that you do not ever again attempt to take your own life," Spock said quickly, wanting to help his friend and make sure that he would be okay or at least have the help that he needed.

Loki was startled as he was pulled into a hug by Thor, "Wait? You guys thought that I was going to…? Oh dear. I am so terribly sorry," Loki rubbed his face as he fully realized what they must've been thinking, "I see now that my actions may have led you to that conclusion, but I assure you, that was not the case. I was being threatened, but the situation has been neutralized and I am fine." He explained.

Spock was satisfied with the answer for now but would probably definitely make sure that Loki wrote a report on the incident, even if it did end up marked as classified. A report was still a report and someone would know what had happened. Thor was just glad that Loki was okay. He cared for his brother. That was obvious. And then there was Tony.

Tony had ended up kind of dazed as he processed the new information. He was gripping Loki's hand almost like he was afraid it was all a lie and they were going to come back and take Loki from him. To be honest, Loki was the only reason he was pushing to extend his life at all. If he didn't have Loki then he would probably just let the palladium kill him.

Loki nudged Tony slightly, "Let's head back to the ship, okay?" He said, wanting to get back where he could hide in a corner with Tony and they could talk about everything that had happened. Because after all of that they more than definitely needed to talk, even if just to make sure they were both okay and to help each other process the new information.

Tony nodded and smiled. Everything would be okay in the end no matter what happened. All the time since leaving Earth had proved that. Even though yes, he was going to die. At least Loki would be okay, and it wouldn't be from a brutal death. He'd just spend whatever time he had with Loki and then peacefully pass away. At least as peacefully as one could from dying of poisoning. The four walked back to the Avenger in silence. Everything would be okay for now.