The Avengers

Loki’s presence had clearly not been expected, but the speed at which it was processed and then accepted without a hint of a question was… telling. Whatever had happened–whether this be Earth or not–had apparently shaken Tony Stark to the point where this could no longer surprise him, even if Loki hadn’t quite began to understand it himself.

“You don’t know where it is?” Loki repeated, eyebrows raising slightly, while he kept his eyes on the other.

They were standing opposite one other, though neither of them seemed to be in a position to keep that up very long. But Loki, for one, wasn’t about to be the first to sink to the floor. The last time they’d been face to face hadn’t exactly made for friendly terms. No matter how insignificant their differences were at this point, Loki wasn’t about to show more vulnerability than he absolutely had to. He’d made that mistake once or twice before, and he’d learned fast.

Loki looked up, slowly taking in their exact surroundings, as if he might find some new evidence of what had transpired here. There was evidence of a fight, but that much was clear in Tony’s stance, and the damage done to his suit. But ‘a fight’ could mean any one of a thousand things. “What… happened?”

What hadn’t happened?

Tony didn’t know what Loki was doing here, on this strange planet, but he barely looked up from it. Starlord had landed on this planet too, with his crew, with the exact same goal as Tony. It was as if the whole galaxy was trying to stop Thanos, if that was what Loki had been doing, anyway. It wouldn’t surprise him if Loki had been fighting with him. Well, actually, hadn’t Bruce said that Loki had never actually played the part they all thought he had? Thanos had been controlling him, or something.

“This?” Tony asked, pointing at the rubble all around. “Thanos turned up, big blue guy, little bit purple... We fought for a bit, lost, then he got Strange’s--” he motioned to where the Doctor had been just before and then let his hand drop down. “He got the time stone and disappeared to get the last one.” Tony replied. “It’s over, we failed.” Tony raised his hands up in a shrug and then let his hands fall down by his sides.

Why was he here?

No one had come back for him. No one had gone through the trouble of figuring out whether he was dead at all. Perhaps because everyone else was dead. Or perhaps it was just the usual thing. Thor had said it, hadn’t he? He’d called Loki ‘the worst’ right before the end. Of course, Thor hadn’t seen through his act, because Loki had made sure to get it right. Before Thanos, he couldn’t afford to slip up.

None of it really mattered now. He had to figure out why he was here. And how he’d gotten here, but that was a question for later.

It was too warm and he was limping, although he couldn’t remember when he’d injured his leg. It must’ve happened in one of the countless battles he’d thought. Ah yes, a spear had been driven halfway through it, but he’d not been in a position to assess the damage. Nor was he now.

What was this place? It seemed deserted, though the climate–it really was a little too warm–and the many structures were in evidence of a once-standing civilisation.

Loki’s throat was dry, and so were his eyes. He couldn’t quite feel his hands, or his face. It was almost like he’d been frozen, while in actuality he really was too warm.

Perhaps he should sit down somewhere, try to recollect his memories and piece together how he had come here and how long had passed since… since…

“Tony…? Stark?”

Loki’s eyes were narrowed, while he looked at the figure fifteen or so metres ahead, seated on the edge of debris, a dead expression in his eyes, almost like he was a life-like statue. If not for the wind animating his hair, Loki might not have been able to tell.

He took a step, then another and another, forcing his injured leg forward each time. “Don’t tell me this is Midgard, Stark.” Because then he would be more than just a little too late.

Too late to do what…?

Everything was different now, wasn’t it? Everyone was gone. People he’d just met, people he’d sworn to protect... What was left? Who was left? It didn’t matter what Dr. Strange had said. They’d failed their mission. It didn’t matter that this was apparently how it had ought to go, if that was what Strange had even meant. It didn’t matter, because everyone was gone now.

Peter, these strange people he’d only just got to know, Strange... and who else? Was Pepper still down there, somewhere, or had he just lost her too, unknowingly? What about Bruce, Rhodey, Vision...

They’d failed. He’d failed.

Nebula was no longer at his side. She’d gone wandering and he couldn’t blame her for it. She too had people to mourn and sitting by his side was going to do very little.

He’d sworn to himself that he would never let New York happen again. He’d lived with that nightmare for six years and now all of it had happened again, but worse. So much worse. Incomprehensibly worse.

He jumped out of his skin at the sound of a voice, slightly familiar, yet utterly unexpected, and he was upright in a second, stumbling a little in his attempt to keep his balance, and a second later he was looking no other than Loki in the eyes. What was he doing here? Why was he still alive?

arranged marriage

sailor falls in love with mercreature

prince/princess falls in love with servant

members of rival sports teams are undeniably attracted to each other

bet to see who can kiss the new kid first

accidentally took a love potion/aphrodisiac and then ran into your crush

roommates at boarding school

assigned to a project in class

nerd and jock are secretly dating

have to hide in a small space together

Doing Victoria Ying’s supercool color challenge, ‘cause I gotta do some personal art in between all this client work or I’ll go crazy!

Going back to my neglected color challenge! I had a lot of fun painting this one. One day I want to do a Guardians cover… a girl can dream…