fossilised | it's a new plot!

The sweetest of smiles lighted onto celestially tinted lips. Frigga lifted lily white hands towards Loki with every intention to embrace her son. “You have come far from the days of your imprisonment. I have watched you and your brothers with all of the love in my heart.” She could not say that Loki was her favourite in front of Thor, not when it was likely the last time that they would meet like this, but the way she broke out the ‘you’ from the set of sons she had ought to have made Loki understand that he still held the greatest part of her affection.

After all, none had shared her gifts, not even Baldur, though he had shown some acumen with seidr, moreso than even Thor, born with lightning in his blood. It was different to be born with a magical inclination and to be born with the ability to commune with all magic, everywhere.

It was a long time before Frigga let Loki go and since Thor was starting to look sore-hearted, she opened her arms for her too. It was a briefer hug, but she held onto his hand and reached once more for Loki’s. Together, she held them tightly before she offered her youngest one more piece of advice.

“In all the many branches and trunks of the World Tree, there is one that suits your heart beyond all others. The nature of your relationship with this soul changes with every instance but it is the singular compliment to yours. Seek this one out to provide you access to your untapped strength. Your father was my match and he resides with me, always, though we are long apart. His strength added to my own. All great masters of seidr, if they are lucky and fortunate, will find and cherish their counterpart. I expect you to do the same.” She did not have the same advice for Thor, and so to him, she smiled and said: “There will be no finer All-Father. It gladdens me that you have discovered the source of your own strength on all your own. Embrace this. You will need it in the battle ahead.”

Thor dragged Loki into another embrace with their mother before he cleared his throat.

“Heimdall!”

And in a flash of light, they were pulled back to Earth.

Loki had no idea what his mother meant when she spoke of a soul that would be the pair to his own. He doubted any soul could be the pair to his own, his was a unique and chaotic soul, and he had no interest in tying himself to someone else. Especially not if it meant that they would have to watch out for each other, he was much better at watching out solely for himself.

But her words and her forgiveness, that embrace, that soothed a part of him that had been damaged since she died. Regretting the final words said to her had weighed on him since it had happened, he had never imagined that she would actually fall in that battle and he wouldn't be able to take back those words, but-- that was one of his greatest miscalculations.

He had no chance to ask anything or thank her before Thor was calling for Heimdall and they were suddenly back on the ship again. He glared sidelong at his brother and stalked away towards his own quarters. Even though he knew that they had had to leave, he had still wanted more time and now he blamed Thor for taking that time away from him.

Perhaps he would just leave. He had no interest in fighting Thanos.

There was no time to spare, not for Thor. He watched Loki depart without heavy heart. He knew his brother was fickle, he knew that he detested fighting. And he knew that he could not count on him to join in this. He did not blame him, he’d just long since understood that Loki’s default mode was and would always be anger. Thor returned to the bridge of the ship where Valkyrie and Hulk were having some sort of drinking or throwing or both contest. He held up his hands for attention and ended up catching a flagon of beer that Valkyrie looked annoyed at. “Give it here,” she said, her own brand of respect more in action than word.

Thor did not, however, give her more to drink. “We have a problem.”

“That seems usual. Give that flagon here.”

Thor ignored her. “Where are the Avengers? Scott Lang and Sam Wilson?”

Valkyrie stalked over and grabbed the flagon from him and he let her without incident. “They left yesterday to secure a place in Norway for us. They’re expecting you to— Hey!” Thor had already turned away from her.

“There are greater needs. We will soon be under attack from worse than my sister. Ship! I wish to make a call to Friend Rogers! Take us to the site of his home!”

It would be easier to land the ship in the woods around HQ anyway.

“Have him Assemble All Avengers!” Nothing happened and Thor frowned. “Ship! Call Rogers and—“

“Thor?” Korg broke in, clearing his throat. “See the ship isn’t voice activated? Miek’s just been fillin’ in for it when you talk but he’s at the gym. Should I call for him? Or can I just direct yah to the button to press?”

Thor opted for the latter.

Loki was conflicted about whether to stay and fight or whether to run. He knew that Thanos would want to inflict revenge on him personally, and if he wanted to stand any chance of escape then he would need to abandon both of his objects of power before he fled. He was, however, loath to do that when he had worked so hard to gather both of these things to himself, which meant he should stay.

He was still mulling over the options in his room when the ship began to move again and when Steve answered the call to Thor.

Steve looked tired. Drained. Not in the way of a man who had been doing a lot of physical exercise or who hadn't slept enough, but in the way of someone who's heart has grown heavy and who has suffered a lot of blows to his soul. He still made himself smile when the video answered, genuinely pleased to see his friend even if the loss of his hair and his eye were big changes.

"Thor! We missed you at the meeting, it's good to see you again. Let me offer my condolences for your father, and my, uh, congratulations on becoming King."

“I should not have fled the battle so quickly,” Thor said, jovially enough. “It would have done us all well to be once more reunited. I also am sorry that I neglected to email. I had been on a quest to discover the truth behind the visions shown to me by the one called Scarlet Witch. It took me many places and ultimately, I was unable to prevent the destruction I was shown. Yet, I know this excuse does not sit well with humans and I give you instead my heartfelt apology. I also am pleased to inform you that my next point of conflict need not be mine alone! We will once again take together to the field of battle. It will be glorious for all not immediately killed.”

Thor meant well. He just did not understand how any of this might be absurb and horribly frightening at the same time to a mortal.

“I am coming to discuss tactics with you in person. Would you please have the Avengers assemble before our arrival? Ship, how long until—”

Korg cleared his throat in interuption. “Uh, Thor, about that talking to the ship—”

Thor rolled his singular eye. “Right, aye, I do remember. Korg, how long until we arrive?” Thor asked as they broke through the clouds and started to land on half an acre of forest about to be utterly flattened.

Korg frowned. Sort of. It was hard to tell. “About now?”

“Oh. Well let us continue this discussion in person. Turn off the screen now, Korg.”

At least Steve was used enough to Thor and his weird ideas about what constituted glorious to not be afraid, although the idea of a large battle coming was not one that he liked the sound of. He certainly couldn't have the Avengers assemble before Thor arrived if he was arriving right now, but he put the call out anyway.

Sam and Scott were in Norway, obviously. Natasha, Clint, Vision, and Wanda were here in the Tower, so they were easy to get together. Tony didn't seem to be picking up, though he left messages with FRIDAY to try and get him here (which would be passed along in case her boss did want to go), as well asking him to pick up Peter from Queens on the way if he could manage it.

He really hoped he would.

Not that Tony was his best friend or anything, he wasn't, but he was the only link that he had to Bucky right now. That was probably pathetic, but it didn't stop it being true.

Feet up from spending the afternoon looking under dust covers at a house he had very little dealings with since he was little, and having found nothing really amusing to tinker with, Tony cracked one eye open as FRIDAY stated that she had a message for him from HQ. He wasn’t sure where James was, they had each gone their own way after the hand holding in the kitchen and after Tony assisted the man in resetting his arm so that it would properly heal, mostly because they didn’t need to constantly be in each other’s company, no matter what they had rashly rushed into a decision on half a day before.

“Let’s hear it,” Tony said, blandly, and FRIDAY played the message for him, speaking over Steve’s voice in case it triggered James…or worse, was about him. He groaned and had the AI switch from voice mail to broadcast. “James, gotta go. You can come or stay, but it sounds like Thor decided to bring some new and wonderful alien menace back with him from space. Pretty sure it’s Loki anyway, which is fine. We dealt with him before. Anyway, I have to pick up Parker from Queens on the way…which actually isn’t on the way but whatever.”

Tony pulled himself up, paused for a moment at the silence, and happily headed down the stairs towards the front door. He was two steps from the bottom when a powerful hallucination hit him, freezing him to the step as he sucked in a breath. It was a familiar one, similar to the vision that Wanda had shown him with one distinct difference…it wasn’t stylized. There was no heap of dead Avengers. And while Steve was there, he was bearded like he was now instead of smooth faced and curled up on his side, gasping and telling Tony to run.

James had gone to look out his own room, choosing one high up over the ocean with floor to ceiling windows so that he could look out on the churning waves no matter where he was in the room. He spoke to FRIDAY occasionally, he found her quite a soothing presence because she was knowledgeable and friendly without actually having a physical presence to be a threat.

His head snapped up when Tony's voice appeared in the gloom to tell him that he had to go and why, torn between wanting to go and make sure he wasn't hurt, and holing up in his new safe space just for one single damn night. In the end he made his way down to the front door, at least to see Tony off if not to go with him, only to take the last few steps at a run when he saw how frozen the other man was.

"Tony? Hey-- Hey! Tony! Tony!"

He set his hands on Tony's shoulders, shaking him lightly, worry marring his face and heartrate picking up.

"FRIDAY, what's happening here?"

There wasn’t a whole lot that FRIDAY could do but tell James that Tony’s heart rate had spiked and that he was in an advanced state of shock. The whole of it lasted a frightening ten full seconds as James watched, unable to help, until Tony blinked through tears and nearly collapsed against the other man. If James hadn’t been there, Tony would have very likely hurt himself falling.

He was shaking pretty badly, tongue dry as he babbled something about the vision not being about Ultron.Wanda had shown him something beyond his worst fears, she’d shown him something of the future, something that had scared her too, but she hadn’t known why. Tear-filled eyes eventually tracked back to James as Tony scrambled up to his feet. He didn’t need to be graceful and he wasn’t trying to be either.

“Something bad is going to happen,” he told James. “Something I thought we stopped-- It’s-- It’s that thing again. That thing where I just know-- I know it sounds crazy but I think it’s actually just voices-- I have to go.” He gripped James suddenly by his upper arms. “It’s going to be dangerous. It’s going to be really bad. I think Steve is going to get himself hurt and I have to go.” Steve wasn’t his best friend, but he felt a connection there. A strong one.

And he was honestly terrified of a place in the world without Cap.

"Okay-- give me a second to tool up and we'll go."

He didn't question whether what Tony had seen was true, and he didn't call him crazy, he just accepted it as if there could be no question that what he said was the truth. He was scared down to the marrow of his bones to imagine a danger that could mean the end of Steve; just because he wasn't ready to speak with him, it didn't mean he wanted anything to happen to him.

And he definitely didn't want anything to happen to Tony either, especially not when they had just tentatively decided something probably dumb.

"I'll fight by your side, just promise me that you'll pull me back after the fighting is done."

Tony nodded sloppily, as if she wasn’t entirely sure what he was agreeing to. That wasn’t true of course, he was well aware of everything that might happen to James if he had to fight, but Tony would rather them both being alive and having to go through some horrible mental shit than to have one or both of them dead. He squeezed James’ arms again, but did not try to touch or kiss him in any other way. FRIDAY announced that the quintet was ready, and that was enough to get them both on the move again.

It wasn’t too long before Tony landed. He’s already called Happy to get Peter up here, but a car would take at least two hours if the traffic was bad. He just couldn’t risk sending a plane to the middle of Queens, no matter how important. As the small aircraft lighted on the field, though, he turned back towards James and felt his eyebrows narrow.

“I have a lab here. It’s— Wait. Why am I telling you? You probably already know,” he half complained. “FRIDAY will let you in if you haven’t figured out how to do it yet. She won’t have the cameras up.”

James would be safe. No prying Steve Rogers eyes.

"No, I don't want to go there. If I'm going to fight for you, with you, then I have to face him."

No prizes for guessing who 'him' was.

"You go and get the kid you need to pick up, and I'll go on ahead. If I have to do this then I need to get it over with before I change my mind and run away again. I'm not ready, but if there's a big fight coming then I don't get to be not ready."

He was more scared of facing Steve than he was of most anything else. The fighting he could handle, even if he slipped back into being something he never wanted to be again. Blood and pain and death, these were all old friends now. Even the hated cold didn't scare him as much as the sight of those blue eyes.

Steve felt old. He felt as old as he probably was, old like time was already knocking on his door. The last year had been hard on him. His team was great and as Nomad, he still managed to do a whole lot of good in the world before being allowed to come back home. The trouble was that he’d had a mission for almost three years straight now. He’d had someone to look for, someone to try and fend for. And now there was just himself because Bucky — because James — was safe already.

He had already spoken at length with Thor about the trouble coming but Thor didn’t seem to know a whole lot about it and he had other forces to pull together. The Earth wasn’t really ready for this thing, not when it was reeling from so many other things all going on at once.

It was hard. Steve needed to convince three hundred plus governments of working with him. And that was just too staggering to think about.

He stood gazing out the window until the sheen in the glass darkened. He assumed it was Natasha, she had always been good on sneaking up on him even with his hearing, but when he turned, he almost didn’t believe his eyes.

They softened immeasurably and his shoulders sagged just a little. “Hey.” It has been a long time since they had spoken, or since James had spoken back to him, and he was afraid to ruin it.

James was beyond scared to be here.

He was scared, not because he thought he might flip out and hurt Steve, but because he knew that he wasn't what the other man was looking for and he didn't want to hurt him that way. He had tried to be Bucky in his head for a while, but he just wasn't, and god knows he might never be again.

"Hey."

His voice was quiet and a little raspy.

"Tony told me that there's a fight coming and I'm going to stand with you, figured we should talk if I'm going to be watching your six again."

Steve was speechless, which was not exactly a first, but he hadn’t heard Bucky’s voice in so long that he wanted to relish it. No matter what was being said to him. “Thanks, pal. We probably need all the help we can get. I’m real glad you decided to join us.” He didn’t pick his wording carefully, but he did try to pepper his phrases with words that made James know that he was here on his own merit and not because it was demanded or that he was forced.

He also really didn’t want to force the guy into a conversation with him based on their past or how much he was missed. All of that was understood. James had to know that Steve really did miss him…and if Tony told him what he’d said, he would know that Steve wasn’t going to force a friendship. It was better instead to just talk shop, and so that was what Steve did, heading over to the table where a few of Thor’s outlandish battle plans had been placed out.

“Got to say, I’m not sure what to expect. Thor’s pretty sure it’s going to be worse than what happened with the Chitauri in New York. Our new normal when it comes to space invaders is going to get throttled up a notch. The don’t have hive mind robots this time… Thor seems to think that their troops are going to be easier to stop, but there’s going to be a whole lot more of them.”

[ooc: continued: bus about what happened if you want <3 I'll be around all tomorrow if that helps.]

James wasn't sure what to do with this. He loved Steve a little bit in that instant for not forcing his affections onto him or calling him Bucky or-- any of the things that he had been afraid of, but it also hurt to see him move directly onto shop talk as if he couldn't trust that James wouldn't run away in any other circumstance. It was hard, and he had no idea what the right thing to say was, so he just said whatever came into his head whether it was right or wrong.

"I remember you, you know?" Sorry for ignoring the plans for the moment. "It's weird, I remember more about you than I remember about who I used to be. I know your birthday and your favourite colour and what your smile looks like when you eat peanuts. I don't know my own Ma's name, or what my favourite food was, but I can remember how much you meant to me. That's why it scares me to talk to you, because you mean so much to me and I don't even know who me is."

That was probably going to make things worse, but it was out there now.

Steve looked up sharply from the plans, all done in paper and little models and not the digital plans that Tony would likely draw up and project for them to manipulate in the near future, Steve stood again, slowly, not bothering to try to look casual or to school his face. He was good at stoic. He was fantastic and serious. He had a good game face…but this was something else. This was Bucky’s attempt to reconnect with him and Steve wasn’t going to push that aside.

Not when his friend just said that he remembered more of the way Steve meant to him than he remembered anything else about himself. That was heartbreaking on so many levels.

“Want to have a seat?” He did not use ‘Buck’ or even ‘James’ to follow that up. It was better to keep some distance. He pulled a chair out for himself and he sat in smooth, well crafted leather. His palms were sweating and he rubbed them on faded jeans, shoulders hunching to look smaller than he was. It was almost like Steve still saw himself as being that shrimp from before the serum and was doing his best to come off that way around other people.

He took a breath.

“It’s okay if you don’t remember-- Her name was Winifred, by the way. It’s all right. Things like that will probably come back and if they don’t and you want to know, you’ve got me to fill in the details. But I meant what I asked Tony to tell you. It’s all right if you’re not the guy I remember…because I really look forward to getting to know the guy you are now.”

Every second more that he spent in Steve's company just brought back more memories, little tiny pieces of time like sparks of electricity, and it was both wonderful and terrifying. He wanted to run away from it and he wanted to pull Steve into his arms, but he knew somehow that doing that second one would make this irrevocable.

"I'm going to still stay with Tony."

He didn't really owe Steve an explanation on what he was doing with his life, but he was going to do it anyway.

"But he said something was coming that could hurt you and him, so that's why I want to fight. And I guess-- I guess if you want to get to know me while we do that, I'm okay with it."

Up to a point. Sooner or later Steve would find out about his perversions and that even being punished by HYDRA for those perversions hadn't stopped him from pursuing them.

Bucky's assessment, and his pointed declaration of where he would be for the foreseeable future just made Steve nod in acceptance. They weren't going to move back in together and be roommates, after all. "Tony will never come out and say it, but I needs to have people around. He's been spending too much time alone and not even Rhodey can get him out of that shell of his. I'm sure he does appreciate that you're there."

He could never guess what the two were getting themselves signed up for by staying together, and so he just smiled, shoulders relaxing further.

"I really don't know what's going to happen. Thor sounds happy about a fight, but he always is. And you know I can handle myself. Nothing that I can't handle. But I guess once I've got em on the ropes, you could come in and mop up?"

Steve had fallen back into their usual banter. It had been years of life and decades of sleep between then and now but Bucky had been a fast and easy friend. And it wasn't the wisecracking.

It was just that Steve felt safe and whole when he looked at him. His eyes were the same. Yes, they were clogged up with angst and wounded, maybe beyond repair, but Steve loved him anyway.

This was a difficult situation. Perhaps the right thing to do now would be to confess and tell Steve exactly what a reprobate he was, so that they didn't even try for a fledgling friendship before everything got ruined. But he just couldn't, which meant that they were both in for a world more pain when Steve finally figured out that the man he glorified as his former best friend was a monster beneath it all for reasons that had nothing to do with how many people he had killed.

He stepped towards Steve, as if to lay a hand on his shoulder, but he was interrupted by an explosion that rocked the building and sent debris crashing down towards them. The mainframe of the compound was directly linked to FRIDAY, so how had anyone snuck up on them without them noticing?

A swarm of black clad soldiers flooded in through the holes in the walls and surrounded the pair of them, barking orders in a language that even Bucky didn't recognise with all his training as the Soldier. Something was wrong here, very wrong. His hand went for one of the guns hidden about his person, but there were so many of them.

"--run!"

It was their only option until they got backup, go for one of the windows and run for cover.

Steve Rogers didn't run, not even when it seemed like the only option. He used a chair to throw out and pin one of the soldiers rushing towards them. It bounced off. Steve turned to grab another when Bucky shot out the window. He wasn't about to let his friend go alone and he was right here, there was no other choice but retreat. Steve ran after Bucky, clearing the window easily, and ran in a zig-zag down the side of the hill.

The Avengers that were still at the Compound circled them, ran with them or flew above them. There was smoke everywhere. The buildings were destroyed, coughing up black memories that no longer mattered. They had to flee for their lives, and so Steve led that charge, as always, yelling for FRIDAY to let the others know.

Not that she needed to. Creatures, some humanoid and some absolutely anything but, had descended upon every major city in the world. Tony and Peter had watched the portal open up as they left New York City traffic behind. The Asgardian Arc had just landed over Norway in time to see another in the distance over Tromseo.

DC was overrun much too quickly, leave the Avengers there almost no ability to rendezvous with Steve.

Rogers hunkered down in the woods as FRIDAY gave him the status report. Tony raced to get Peter somewhere safe. And Thor charged across the ship to find Loki.

As the Avengers from the Compound fled into the woods, it was only natural that some of them would get separated. Wanda never made it to the small clearing where they were supposed to be gathering, and nor did James. Both of them had been snatched by humanoid soldiers and rendered unconscious quickly. These were not Thanos' forces, not yet, these were merely forerunners who knew that the Mad Titan was coming and wanted to pick over the spoils of a doomed world.

Loki could be found in his room, having not seen the portals open up because he had been sleeping at the time. Curled up on his side and looking, as he ever did in slumber, more like a boy than a man grown for how he still pillowed his face on his hand.

Of course he snapped awake as soon as the door opened, brow furrowed in annoyance. "What is the meaning of this?"

"While you have slept away your troubles, Midgard is under attack!" Thor didn't sound too heartbroken about that. The smile might have something to do with it. "It's not Thanos.... I believe it's the Grandmaster! I have many words to say to him!" In truth, Thor was wrong. The Grandmaster was dead, but the scrapers that had killed him had come to enjoy the technology he had profited from... And then some of the others left had turned that technology on it's head.

Why wait for universal refuse when they could enjoy the sport of finding prizes themselves?

The source didn't much matter to Thor, who was now as always itching for a fight. He might have mellowed a bit along the way to this point, but after Ragnarok, all he wanted to do was beat things. It was tough to be All-Father. A little bit of recreation to blow off steam was well needed and appreciated.

"Join me in battle!"

It was good that Thor stated this wasn't Thanos because Loki might have been tempted to flee right then and there. It seemed that he still had some grace period before the Titan arrived, though, so this might be a worthwhile way to kill some hours. He would like to leave Thor and the Asgardians with a positive image of him, in order to counteract the hatred they would feel after he left them to die.

So he stretched and let his clothes materialise around him as he did, stiff leathers and soft green fabrics, and the helm that he was so proud of to adorn his head. He might not have the raw power of his brother, but he was hardly a slouch on the battlefield either.

"Then let us go, our enemies will not wait for us to finish talking, and we have a realm of weak mortals to protect."

Like heroes. And wasn't that a funny turnabout?

Thor wouldn’t think so. That Loki had taken to this life easily was just a test of his strength of character. Their father had made a similar turn in his life. He’d turned from battle and blood and chaos to a kind and gentle ruler. And wasn’t that good enough of a precise time for Thor to back? He liked to think so.

It was a merry time for the most part, Thor and Loki waging war on the enemies of Midgard, especially in a town where people still revered them. It would bolster Loki even further to find himself cheered for, even worshiped.

For Thor, that was par for the course. But this would be completely new for his brother. And it glasses the All-Father intensely.

Together, with Hulk and Valkyrie, Korg and Miek, they boarded one of the massive ships that had landed. Thor didn’t recognize any of the technology, but that was usual. He did, however, note the surprising amount of people that they had collected. More gladiators?

“Is this happening elsewhere?” FRIDAY, on a chip Stark had given him long ago, was capable of answering the question. It made Thor angry to day the least. “We must return to New York!”

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oh my god the busy of today

That’s okay! I’ve had a case of the sads. Jen and I had a huge fight yesterday.

oh no I'm so sorry, I'm running out to the bus now but send me a plurk and I'll chat to you on the

<3 is okay Fossil! Have a good game!

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