Oh, chaos, I actually finished this thing. This is awesome! Enjoy the last chapter guys~

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or any characters associated with them.

Loki felt more than saw the archer slip away.

It was strange. It was as if he could still hear the magic thrumming against the other's chest while still feeling his thrum to the beat of his own heart. His own no longer flared excitedly when the Hawk was close. It was now only minutely interested, curious to the 'new' magic swirling nearby. It saddened him somewhat to know that some of what had been his had in essence abandoned him. Then again, he had put it there to begin with. He had abandoned it first, he supposed.

But that wasn't much concern to him. At least some of him would live on in another.

Stopping at the end of the hall, the trickster glanced out the window, watching the city below that he had come so close to destroying.

Would they accept him shouldst he attempt to return under the pretense of Asgardian justice? Would these Midgardians set aside the evil he had committed if the Chitari's control was revealed and he sought their forgiveness? Perhaps. The Midgardians had such short life spans, holding grudges wasn't worth the time and energy expended to uphold them. They tended to forgive and move on for the sake of humanity as a whole.

It amazed him how much these creatures he thought below him in reality surpassed Asgard in so many ways.

Rubbing his fingers together, a spark jumping from his fingertips, Loki closed his eyes. Reality shifted around him, warping and contorting from the hallway to the room he had shared with Thor the past week. He didn't feel like walking all the way up there and wanted to take every chance to use his magic before he returned.

Emerald green orbs revealed once more, he glanced around, surprised by the immaculate state. Passing it off as the work of someone other than Thor, he waltzed over to the closet and rummaged through it until he found what he sought.

After a moment, the trickster pulled a small rubber ball from the closet's mass, triumph in his eyes and a smile on his face.

Holding it in one hand, he lifted the other, green lines snaking across his palm. With a smack, he brought it back down, the ball disappearing to the place between places.

This deed done, Loki again closed his eyes and let reality shift around him again until he stood in the stairway leading to the roof.

It was odd how familiar this place now seemed. Only a week ago did he tread down these steps, in line with his brother and between the soldier and billionaire. How much had changed in a simple week, when he had been left to hold conversation with those he held disdain. How much could change in a single conversation; bonds restored, tales long suppressed finally revealed, and concealed tensions finally let loose.

He was reluctantly glad to find that he could feel such relief before going to his death on Jotunheim.

As he pushed aside the metal doorway, the sun shining in, and climbed to the gravel laden roof, the trickster blinked in surprise when he found more than just Thor waiting for him. All six Avengers, along with Jane and Pepper, looked back at him, smiles on their faces, though other emotions hid behind their eyes. A pair of brown shined with mild concern while olive green still remained suspicious. Blue grey was veiled, but determination slid through and bright sapphire held sadness despite the excitement in every other aspect.

"What are you all doing here?" he asked, voice confused.

Clint crossed his arms, expression betraying a natural roguish impulse. "Being defiant."

Loki scoffed.

"Oh, don't be like that," Natasha scorned, lips taut. "We're doing this for you, don't you even try to complain."

"Come now, brother," Thor interjected, ignoring the twitch that came from the trickster at the term. It was instinctual and expected; he didn't mind anymore. "We will stand by your side in this."

"You weren't there before," Loki countered, stance defensive as he stood a few feet from the large group.

"And circumstances have changed," the thunderer responded flatly. "Today, we put aside what has been, and embrace that which is new."

"And because we wanna see Asgard," Tony chimed in, earning several agreeing nods from the other occupants of the roof.

Emerald green eyes roved across the roof, curious and skeptical. They offered to stand by his side in a defiant gesture against the king of all the nine realms, all in the defense of the one who had so eagerly tried to kill them six months ago.

The Avengers were noble indeed.

"Alright," he acceded reluctantly.

Thor's grin widened and walked up to his brother, clasping a hand on his shoulder. Loki flinched minutely at the touch, but made no other reaction. They both turned their heads to the sky, shielding their eyes from the sun above.

"HEIMDALL," Thor called loudly, "OPEN THE BIFROST."

Loki caught Jane tense in the corner of his eye, noting that she was the only human of the group that had ever seen the rainbow bridge open. They waited, fully expecting the sky to be torn asunder and for light to come cascading down around them.

But nothing happened.

Scrutinizing the sky, Thor yelled again, his tone bearing confusion. "HEIMDALL?"

Still the sky remained the same, no Bifrost opening from above.

"Something must be wrong," Loki whispered aside the warrior, noticing the confused expressions on their faces.

Thor began to speak, wondering aloud why the gatekeeper would not have opened the bridge, but the trickster heard none of it. Instead, his eyes grew distant, open, but not seeing. He let tendrils of his magic spread out on a separate plane of reality, crawling across the tower in search of another path, a different gateway.

His fingers twitching minutely, he followed the green strings as they twisted and turned across the ebony plane. He was prepared to travel to another continent to find another gate should it be required. Thankfully, he didn't have to travel that far. In fact, he hardly had to move at all.

Emerald eyes suddenly snapping back to their normally vivid color, Loki took in stammering breath as his magic calmly flowed back into him. It was a startling contrast to the several painful times it had crashed back into him in the past week.

"Basement," he stated simply, his words garnering the attention of the others on the roof and stilling Thor's babbling tongue.

Noting the blue grey eyes that had watched him during his magical venture with curiosity and an analyzing eye, Loki wordlessly turned on his heel and started towards the stairs. A beat of silence passed between the gathered group before, one by one, they followed the trickster.

As they tread down the stairs, the entire stairwell remained silent sans the footsteps that echoed throughout. A moment later, Loki swore he heard someone whisper, "Race ya." Before he could even begin to imagine whose voice it had been, metal slammed against metal and two black clad forms were suddenly jumping quickly and violently down the stairwell.

Another moment passed before everyone else decided to join in on the spontaneous game.

Clinging to the railing as everyone else raced past him, Loki rolled his eyes, a mischievous smirk playing on his lips. Blowing out a low breath, he closed his eyes and once again let reality shift around him.

Oh, how he had missed being able to teleport.

In a second, he stood in the basement of the tower, several floors below. It was less of a basement, and more of a large garage for several cars that were all labeled with 'Stark' and a number. It was dimly lit, but he suspected it wouldn't be like that for long with the way the others were barreling down towards it.

Instead of waiting idly by, Loki walked to the wall closest to him, running a hand across the concrete with green sparks jumping from his fingertips every now and again. Emerald eyes roved across the dull grey, searching for something that would spark the thrum against his chest.

Light flooded the room, followed closely by one lithe spy and an archer arguing over who had reached the floor first. It was a minute or two before anyone else reached the basement.

"What're we looking for?" Clint asked, blue grey eyes roving over the cement walls.

"Cracks," Loki stated simply. "Or anything that looks as if it doesn't belong."

The archer nodded and muttered something to the group behind him that quickly filtered in. They spread out, everyone scanning the grey walls for anything out of the ordinary. The trickster traced a discoloration in the walls, concentration in his eyes. Vaguely, he could hear the echoing footsteps of his companions as they tread against the cement. Quiet conversation filtered throughout the room from those who had decided to search the walls in pairs.

His magic thrummed against his chest, still humming achingly against the burns. It was little more than uncomfortable at this point, thankfully. It remained neutral, neither flaring nor calming.

A sharp gasp of pain jerked his attention upwards to where Clint was violently shaking his hand as if it had been burned, hissing in annoyance more than pain.

Spying the vague purple lines snaking across the archer's palm, Loki straightened and strode over to his side. At his movement, companied with Clint's yelp of pain, did the others slowly file towards that section of the wall.

When he reached the archer's side, he wordlessly held out his hand, murmuring, "What did you find?"

Eyeing the offered hand suspiciously, but, having seen the violet veins as well, Clint clapped his hand into Loki's as he answered, "There was a crack, but when I touched it, it electrocuted my hand."

"Why would it do that?" Steve wondered aloud as he came to a stop beside the gathering group.

"It isn't normal," Thor answered, though he seemed unsure himself.

Loki remained silent, watching the receding web of purple on the archer's hand with a scrutinizing eye. Convinced it was little more than an instinctual reaction, he let it fall and turned to the thin, long crack that marred the east wall in the garage.

Silently and wordlessly, he stooped down to it and tentatively touched a fingertip to its surface. A spark of electricity jumped from the fissure to his hand and he instinctively pulled away, cringing at the pain circulating through his hand now. Noting that there were no green lines spider-webbing across his skin, unlike Clint, he flicked his wrist and surrounded his hand in a soft green aura.

Again, he reached out to it, ignoring the soft conversation behind him from his companions. This time, no pain sparked against his fingertips as he pressed them against the crack. His emerald eyes grew foggy as he searched through the fissure, hunting for where it opened on the other side.

A trail of green twisted and turned as it hurtled through an expansive ebony plane separate from reality. It followed the path to the point on the other side of the crack. When it connected, he jerked aside, eyes once again vivid with color.

"This crack is not a break in the structure of your building, Stark," he spoke plainly, still stooping to be eye to eye with the fissure. "It is a gateway between the realms."

"I'm sorry, a what?" Tony asked in bewilderment. "I have an Einstein Rosen Bridge in my basement?"

"No," the trickster answered quickly. His voice grew quieter, "This is very, very different…"

Straightening, he turned back to the group. "This gateway leads to Asgard, but the only times I've ever travelled through these paths was with myself. There is no possible way for me to keep it open long enough to transport so many."

Melancholy settled around them as the new information sunk in. "If Heimdall cannot open the Bifrost, then danger lies on the other side."

A beat of silence passed before a voice spoke up, "How many can you take?"

Tilting his head upward in thought, Loki bit his tongue, "Four safely, five not so safely, including myself."

No one spoke for a minute as they each pondered within themselves whether or not the risk was worth taking. Sure, they were willing to aid the trickster, but at what cost? Jane most of all deflated at the news, knowing her beau would not be willing to take her into danger.

"I'll go."

Loki blinked in surprise, unsure if he had heard the archer correctly. After all he'd done to him, he was still willing to stand by his side in a defense against the very actions to which the assassin had been a victim.

Natasha linked hands with her partner, eyes ablaze. "If he goes, I'm going," she smirked good naturedly. "Someone has to make sure he doesn't kill himself."

Clint scoffed at the idea, but did not deny it in any form.

"Why don't you just stay here?" Bruce asked quietly, as they turned back to the gateway. "You could just wait until the gatekeeper can open the Bifrost, can't you?"

"At this point," Loki began, "If there is trouble in Asgard it would only serve beneficial for me to come and aid them."

The scientist nodded in understanding, nudging the billionaire next to him and muttering something in his ear. Tony shook his head in negation responding with a quiet murmur to which Loki only caught the words, "power," and, "bridge."

Sapphire eyes locked with emerald and the thunderer nodded wordlessly. Taking a deep breath, Loki set his palm against the crack and let his magic filter into it, creating an intricate web of green veins that crawled across the cement wall. The crack itself brightened from a dingy dark grey characteristic of a normal fissure, into hot, burning white light the spread across the green lines.

The group, backpedalled at the light, shielding their eyes from the bright heat. Clint, Natasha, Thor, and Loki all stood directly before it, though the former three had to turn their sight away from it. A loud, piercing ring echoed throughout the room, shrill and grating.

Slowly, the light began to split, revealing what looked like the expanse of space. Stars and planets shined from within the ebony, glowing with vivid color. Loki opened his eyes again, breathing slightly quicker than before. Without another word, he pushed against the portal and walked through, his companions following short behind.

Nick Fury watched the hacked security camera from within the Helicarrier. Though indifference was what his expression betrayed, his eye shone with something far different, something far more deadly.

That vile trickster had the nerve to steal away with his two best agents to who-knows-where and their fellow Avengers had done nothing to stop it. Oh, how he wished the stupid camera had sound.

The portal had already closed with a bright flash. It was too late to stop them, now. He could only hope Thor had enough sense to keep a watchful eye over the duo until they returned. There seemed nothing more he could do, but give the other Avengers a piece of his mind for letting them go.

But another thought struck him, something that would benefit them far more than chewing out the three Avengers left behind.

"Agent Hill," he barked, turning away from the screen to the only other occupant in the room. She looked up at her name and nodded once. "How far along is Project: Ragnarok?"

"About eighty-seven percent, sir," was her obedient reply as she scrolled through schematics on her iPad.

The director nodded once to himself and disabled the camera feed.

"See to it that it is completed as soon as you are able," he said stoically. "We don't know when, or if, he will return."

"Yes, sir," Hill replied before exiting the room.

Fury was left alone in the room as the door swung closed, leaving it shrouded in shadow sans the faint lights on the machines. He reached a hand out, tracing the binding of a children's book entitled, Norse Mythology.

"If any of this is true," he muttered to himself, stowing the book in his trench coat, "then we will be ready for you, trickster."

To be continued in:

Ivory

I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, but I did just end this fic with a cliffhanger. Please do not hurt me. This chapter was going to be longer, but I decided this was the best place to end it. C:

Thanks to:

Jester's Pet Oriole, shila1387, Hawkeyefan101, Ynath Esrith, TheNaggingCube, SAMMY REESE, ladygris, Imori, Daughter-of-dreams, chibigirl121, kay, Lastavica, Maia2, Ireland Ranger, NoOne, RogueRecruit, Capitu, Dark Empress V. gforcejedi, PuraStones. Ghost Rider of the Aragon

for leaving your feedback throughout this whole thing! I really appreciate all of you guys! 3

Thanks for sticking around! I'll see you guys next time!

~Leviathina

Important Edit:

Ivory is now out and one chapter from completion as of the time of writing this. Check it out!