Heroes

A Sky Full of Stars

"It. Can't. Be. Undone." Tony choked out. "Or that's at least what the red, floating, guy had to say. Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay? Go grab your hammer, and you fly, and you talk to him!" Tony yelled, standing up and since Natasha was still curled into him, she got pulled up with him.

"Tony." She whispered softly in his ear, managing to get his breathing to slow down a little.

"It was supposed to be me." Tony said after a moment.

"What?" Natasha asked in horror.

"He sacrificed his life for that goddamn stone." Tony told them. "He bet his life on it. Made sure that I came home to you." He said the last part to his wife.

"Argh!" Bruce yelled and threw the bench, and he slowly turned around. "He's not coming back. We have to make it worth it. We have to."

"We will." Natasha said in a tone that was confident, yet heartbroken, squeezing her husband's hand with all the love she could muster.

—

Loki watched his brother and his friends argue down at the lake. The raven haired God leant back against the tree and let out a long breath, willing the unshed tears to go away. These last five years, he had gotten close to the hero they called War Machine. He would even consider him one of his closest friends, and now he was gone.

Without thinking, he pulled the cell phone out of his pocket and hit the familiar button. Placing it to his ear, he hoped that they would answer.

"Hello?" Her sweet voice asked.

"Jane." He stammered out, his resolve slowly weakening.

"Loki?" Jane asked. "What's wrong?"

"It's Rhodes." He said, letting his walls down, like he normally did around him.

"What about him?" Jane said softly, dread filling her stomach.

"He's...He's gone." Loki whispered.

"Oh my...How?" She asked.

"Him and Stark went to a planet by the name of Vormir to get the soul stone." Loki explained. "What we didn't know was there was a price for the stone...A soul for a soul."

"How's Stark?" Jane asked, her brain trying to process the information she was just given.

"About as well as he can be." Loki tilted his head at the billionaire, who had now stood up to yell at his brother. "It's a damn good thing he's got Romanoff, though."

"Loki?" Jane asked.

"Yes, luv?" Loki said.

"Come home." Jane pleaded. "Come home, now. Just come home and we can crawl in bed and never leave."

Loki shut his eyes tightly at her plea, he knew she wasn't serious about it, just scared. Hell, he was too. Rhodes' death had added a sense of reality to the situation, and any one of them could be the next to bite the bullet. The raven haired prince was silently waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"I can't." He spoke brokenly. "You know I can't."

His girlfriend let out a tearful chuckle, and it caused him to smile softly.

"You know the one time I want you to be that selfish bastard I first met, but I love you for the man you've become." Jane told him.

"I love you, and I promise to go against Valhalla and Hel to get home to you." Loki said.

"You better." Jane chuckled. "I love you."

"And I, you." Loki said and hung up the phone just as the original six Avengers were walking towards him.