"Thy love is a dagger? Why then, my love be its sheath." After the Battle of New York, the Avengers need a few days to build a transport device for the Tesseract. With the Helicarrier damaged and surveillance offline, SHIELD sends a valuable "asset" to guard Loki in the interim: a young woman who sees the truth in all things, and cannot lie. Even long presumed dead, her memories lost to her, Loki would know her anywhere. And this changes things. Three years after the Incident, Loki reappears on Earth to fulfil a promise. The Avengers prepare for another war, but some of them begin to realise that Loki's plans are not what they assumed- and there are far worse things waiting beyond the stars. Meanwhile, the Ancient One has made a dangerous gamble, and Stephen is starting to see the stakes unfold. The fate of the universe hangs in the balance, on the fulcrum of a handful of choices and a love that has outlasted infinity. (Loki was never looking for redemption. It came as an unexpected side-effect.) [Cross-posted from AO3, at a friend's suggestion.]
5 parts