Chapter Thirty Four!

"Daddy, help! The Avengers are going to get me!" The high-pitched voice of a five-year old Lucy rang through the halls of the palace, followed by the sound of light footsteps headed in the direction of Loki's library.

The demi-god smiled, waving off the guards that started for the door.

The little girl burst into the room before either of the guards could have hoped to neutralize any sort of threat, anyway.

Loki chuckled as Lucy flung herself into his arms.

"Now just what reason would the Avengers have for pursuing a five year-old girl?" He questioned, watching Lucy in amusement.

She beamed. "I took over Midgard."

Loki couldn't suppress a burst of laughter. "Yes, they do get rather sensitive about that sort of thing," He paused as he heard a collection of footsteps and shouts headed their way, "well, now, it looks as though they are going to get you. Will you write to me while you are incarcerated?" He teased, grinning down at the scowling girl.

"Daddy! You are supposed to tell me to use magic!" She protested, leaping out of Loki's arms and crossing her little arms across her chest.

She resembled her mother so much when she was angry.

Loki smiled as he felt a familiar pain in his chest.

"Of course. You must forgive me; I am growing foolish in my old age. Now, do you remember the spell that I taught you last week? Uncle Thor will always fall for it." He said, pulling Lucy behind the bookshelf, where the Avengers wouldn't be able to see them.

Lucy nodded her head, furrowing her eyebrows and biting down on her lip as she concentrated.

She managed to project a mirror image of herself just as the Avengers burst into the room.

As predicted, Thor immediately fell for the trick, stumbling forward as he attempted to scoop up the image of the little girl.

Loki's mouth twitched into a smirk as he watched Thor look around the room wildly.

Lucy bit down on her lip in order to avoid laughing, but could not resist. She dissolved into giggles in a matter of seconds, revealing their location to the Avengers.

"Teaching Lucy all of your tricks, Odinson?" Tony questioned as Barton dragged Loki out from behind the bookshelf, pinning his arms behind his back despite his struggling.

Lucy followed the pair, scowling up at Barton.

"Anything to aid her in her fight against the mighty Avengers. I hear that she now rules Midgard." The demi-god drawled, eying the super heroes standing in front of him in amusement.

Steve Rogers chuckled before lunging forward and scooping up Lucy. "That's her story. Now we'll just have to torture her until she tells us how she did it." He replied, beginning to tickle the little girl.

"Uncle Brucey!" She cried through bursts of laughter, "Uncle Brucey, help! Don't let him torture me!"

Bruce smiled at the giggling little girl squirming in the super soldier's arms.

He was a sucker for Lucy.

They all were.

"Consider this my resignation, Captain." The scientist chuckled, wrenching the little girl from Steve's grip and placing her on his broad shoulders.

The Avengers sprang into action; Loki managed to break free of Barton's grip and assist Bruce and Lucy in their valiant efforts.

The occupants of the room were divided and set to work building forts and collecting pillows to use as ammunition against one another. Lucy howled instructions all the while. She enjoyed commanding the super heroes around just as much as Tabby had.

What felt like an eternity later, Lucy was finally too exhausted to continue the battle. She had fallen asleep curled up in the makeshift fort that Tony had engineered after double-crossing his own team in order to gain favor with the giggling five year-old on the other side.

The Avengers stood around laughing about the afternoon's battle for a few passing minutes before the majority of them found that they had other obligations to attend to; Director Fury had called each of them at least ten times.

Only Bruce Banner lingered behind as Loki scooped up his daughter and started for her bedroom.

"Here, uh, let me get the doors for you." Bruce quickly offered, rushing forward to assist Loki, obviously forgetting that the demi-god was perfectly capable of opening the doors for himself, thanks to the magic that the scientist had witnessed a number of times.

Loki did not point this out. Instead, he nodded his head and allowed the scientist to follow him through the halls of the palace. It was obvious that the man had a matter with which he wanted to discuss with Loki.

Sure enough, as soon as Loki tucked the little girl into her bed, the scientist shuffled his feet awkwardly and cleared his throat.

"Did you hear anything on how long...well, you know."

Ever since her first birthday, Bruce and Loki had discussed Lucy's life expectancy at length without any conclusive data. She was half god, half mortal. There was no telling how long she would survive.

Unable to deal with the uncertainty, Loki had searched far and wide for any information that would shed some light on the matter. Norse gods were known for being relatively amorous. He was relatively certain that he was not the first to find himself in this particular position.

He had been entirely correct, as it turned out. He was able to find a large majority of stories describing similar experiences.

Loki exhaled heavily before gesturing for Bruce to sit in one of the plush armchairs that Lucy was so fond of, taking a seat himself. Bruce plopped down, wringing his hands as he waited for Loki's answer.

"Her estimated lifespan is a millenium, give or take a decade or so." The demi-god answered, not taking his eyes off of the sleeping girl, as though he anticipated her disappearance at any given time.

Bruce let out a relieved sigh, his shoulders sagging as he relished Loki's words. He would not live to see two generations of bright-eyed girls slip through his hands. After basking in his own relief for a number of minutes, Bruce noticed that Loki did not appear to be enjoying the same intoxicating feeling. On the contrary, the demi-god looked as though he was silently enduring his own special brand of torture.

"You're going to outlive her." Bruce muttered.

Loki's eyes did not leave Lucy. "Evidently, witnessing Tabby Baker's demise was not a cruel enough punishment," he replied in a hoarse voice, "I must now be forced to helplessly look on as time takes my little girl away from me."

Bruce frowned. He had promised Tabby that he would look after Loki. This was likely an area of weakness for the demi-god. The scientist just had no idea what to say to a man who was faced with the prospect of surviving his beloved daughter.

"What are you going to do?" He finally inquired.

Loki shook his head, his eyes surveying the ground before seeking out Lucy once more. "I will not do a thing. When Lucy meets her fate, I will meet mine. You are a reasonable man, Dr. Banner. You must understand that the little girl sleeping before us is my sole reason for remaining alive. Without her, I have nothing."

"You're going to kill yourself when Lucy dies? Even if she lives a long and happy life?"

Loki aimed a sharp stare at Bruce. "I do not intend to endure life without a purpose. I attempted it for 1048 years and by the time that Tabby Baker entered my life, I had nearly gone mad of it. Now that Tabby has been taken away from me, my only remaining purpose in life is to make that little girl happy. Once that purpose is eliminating, I cannot enjoy living."

"What about Asgard? The citizens will still need a king. From the sound of it, you're pretty close to being the preferred heir."

"They shall have Thor."

"Is there anything that I can say to change your mind?" Bruce asked desperately.

"No."

And there wasn't. There was absolutely nothing that Bruce could do or say to change Loki's mind.

Loki would kill himself the second that Lucy's heart stopped beating.

That was what he told himself, anyway. But that was before.

That was before Lucy grew into a charming young woman with dancing green eyes.

That was before Lucy introduced Loki to a young Asgardian warrior that she swore she loved better than pancakes.

That was before Lucy skipped down the aisle in a white dress, clutching Loki's arm as though it were her old security blanket.

That was before Lucy forced Loki to feel her stomach, giggling as she insisted that the baby would only kick at the urging of its grandfather.

That was before the tests showed two heartbeats instead of the anticipated one.

That was before Lucy introduced Loki to his two bright-eyed grandchildren.

That was before he watched his two brilliant grandchildren learn spells that had taken him decades to learn.

That was before Loki watched his darling little girl ease into a comfortable life, surrounded by an adoring husband and two spectacularly naughty children; a life he constantly wished he could have given her mother.

That was before the funeral.

That was before a devastated Asgardian warrior and two broken-hearted children looked to Loki for support.

That was before Loki realized that at some point in his existence, his life had gained purpose beyond Lucy.

That was before he had a semblance of hope for the future of his life.

In the end, Loki knew that he could not, or would not, end his life, even after Lucy's death. As he sat in the courtyard, watching the twins tease and torment Thor's gaggle of grandchildren, he could not stop smiling.

Life wasn't perfect; Loki had no misconceptions about it. However, since meeting Tabby Baker, he had to admit: it had become damn near enjoyable.

He supposed that he had Princeton to thank for that particular fact.

~The End~

Hello! I hope that you enjoyed the story. It was a bit longer than I had anticipated, but after what feels like years, it's done! Just a few things before I completely walk away from the story:

Tomorrow I'm going to be publishing the first chapter of another Avengers story. It's a high school AU (something I can never get enough of!), so if you're interested in reading that, you can either follow me as an author for the notification, or just check in at some point tomorrow.

If for some reason you want to listen to the music that inspired various aspects of the story, I have an 8tracks playlist that I listened to throughout the course of writing:

/icolor-with-crayons/just-a-mischief-minor

(Fair warning, it is ridiculously long and can seem a bit random at times. I definitely won't blame you for not wanting to listen to it, but I figured since it existed, I might as well give you the option!)

I really appreciate everyone who's read and reviewed the story throughout its existence. It was really great, as were all of you!

Thank you all :)