The Souls

How long have we been in here?" Peter yawned. Mostly out of boredom rather than weariness.

"Too long," Shuri yawned, back, "Far, far too long."

"I am Groot," sighed the other teen, fighting a yawn himself.

"It has only been 52 hours." said Mantis.

Everyone turned to blink at her, "You've been counting?" asked Gamora, who then scoffed and shook her head, "Of course you've been counting."

Mantis just nodded, "I am full of boredom."

"Two days?" sighed Quill, "It's only been two days in here?"

"That's two days too many if you ask me," said Sam, stretching his arms.

Peter groaned again from his position on the floor. He had moved from his chair to the floor a while ago. Shuri had joined him and the two had spent a lot of time lying on the floor. The adults expected them to get bored, but apparently lying around was a thing that teenagers enjoyed.

Not long after, Gamora had forced Groot to go too, insisting that he needed to spend time with 'kids his age'. He was not at all happy about it, but after a hard look from the green lady, he dragged his feet over to the other teenagers.

Hours later he didn't seem to mind it much. He would never admit it, but Gamora had been right. It was nice being around other teenagers, and even though they couldn't communicate efficiently, they had become fast friends. Of course the circumstances under which the three had come together could have been better, but they'd take what they could get.

"Two days," Wanda sighed, letting her head fall back onto Vision's shoulder., "We've been dead for two days. And I'm already sick of it."

"Well get used to it, Red," said Sam, "Eternity is still a long way away."

"Oh come on don't think like that." Peter sat up, "It won't be that long."

Shuri groaned, "Peter, your optimism is getting on my nerves."

Peter just shoved at her shoulder, "I'm serious. It won't be long until the Avengers-"

The room groaned before he could even finish.

"By Odin's beard, if you do not shut up about the Avengers I will turn you into a Sloth."

"No please. Not again."

Peter wrapped his arms around his body as he shrank away from the god. He had learned the hard way that asking Loki to tell them of the great tales of Thor would earn you an icy glare. And then he'd learned that asking for the twelfth me would almost definitely get you turned into a Sloth.

Shuri and Groot had had a lot of fun having a pet for a few minutes, but after a tongue lashing from Gamora, Loki was forced to turn Peter back. To his credit, he stopped asking about Thor.

But the insufferable child never stopped going on about the Avengers.

"Look, all I'm saying," said Peter, after shifting away from Loki, "is that we should be ready to get rescued at any moment now. You heard what Doctor Strange said. We're gonna help in the final battle. Obviously we have to be alive for that to happen so my bet is-"

"Doctor Strange said that there is one in fourteen million chance of that happening." Quill pointed out. "I wanna be on your side, kid, but it's been two days, and sitting here doing nothing really makes it feel like a whole lot more."

Peter just shook his head "No. No, you guys... you don't get it. There's no way that Mr. Stark will let us rot in here. There's no way they'll just give up on us."

"Peter, if I may," Vision spoke up quietly, "I don't think that that's very likely. I don't believe Tony knows enough about the soul stone to even begin to think that we might be in here."

"The robot man is correct," Drax nodded, "We are going to be in here for the rest of time."

"No we wont!" Peter insisted, "They can learn about the soul stone. He and Doctor Banner, they're the smartest people in the world. They'll figure something out. I know they will."

"Peter," Gamora smiled tenderly at the boy, "I spent almost half my life looking for the soul stone. Studying it. Thanos tasked me with finding it for him, so I found out everything I could about it, and even I had no idea that it could do this. Store souls. I don't think it's likely that your Avengers will have found that out in matter of days."

Quill nodded, "And even if they did, there's no way they'd figure out how to get souls out of it."

Peter looked around with slanted eyebrows, from one face to another. Everyone was looking at him sadly. Like they felt sorry or him. Pitied him.

"How... how are you guys just giving up like this?" he asked, his voice small.

"Peter," sighed Wanda, "I'm sorry but... it's time we just let it go."

"But they-"

"Come on kid." Bucky sighed, "I know you want to believe that they're gonna get us out of here, but we need to be a bit realistic here."

"Barnes is right Peter, I'm sorry," T'Challa spoke softy, "By all means, we are dead. The Avengers-"

"But look at us!" Peter count help but burst, "Does this look like dead to you?"

"Peter," Vision spoke up, "You must understand-"

"Understand what?" he said, exasperated, "What I don't understand is how you're all so eager to give up! Why don't you trust that they'll help us? They're the Avengers. They save the world, that's what they do! They're going to save us! Doctor Strange," he turned to the sorcerer, "Tell them. Tell them that they're going to save us."

"The doctor has made it clear that he won't say anything about anything," sighed Wanda, "So he obviously has nothing to say."

Doctor Strange looked up at Wanda and tilted his head, "On the contrary," he said, "I have plenty to say." he straightened up in his chair, "I always have plenty to say, but unlike you people, I know when it is time to hold my tongue."

Drax frowned at the doctor, "Why on earth would anyone do such a thing?" he asked.

Mantis was the one to answer he, "I believe it means to keep quiet, Drax."

"Why should we keep quiet?" Drax scoffed, "Why do you say this?"

"He is telling you dimwitted fools to leave the boy alone."

All eyes turned to Loki in surprise. "None of you have the right to tell him to give up."

Quill was the first to cross his arms, "What's that supposed to man?"

"It won't matter much to you if you stay here forever, will it?" Stephen tilted his head.

Gamora narrowed her eyes at the sorcerer, "Of course it matters to us. That is not at all true."

"Oh of course it is," heads turned again, back to Loki, who was rolling his eyes at all of them, "You." he glared at the Guardians, "You're not desperate to leave this place. You've got most of your family here with you. And you," he turned to Wanda and Vision, "I's become blatantly obvious that not much else matters to you besides the other, so you don't need to return home." His glare shifted to Shuri, "You have your brother here. And you, your sister." T'Challa had the decency to look down, "And you two." he snarled at Sam and Bucky, "You're not fooling anyone but each other when you pretend to hate one another, so having a friend in here with you doesn't make it all so bad, does it. Now tell me, who does Peter Parker have?"

Everyone had the decency to look at least a little sheepish.

Who do I have?

Loki swatted the voice in his head away as he went back to the heroes around him.

"Some in here have lost more than others," he said coldly, "So perhaps you should think about that before you go on about getting over the fact that we're dead, alright?"

Loki's words were followed by a long silence, much to his own satisfaction.

The only one to make eye contact with him was Steven Strange, and Loki could almost swear that the doctor smiled. Almost.

And of course, Peter Parker. Much to his chagrin, the boy was beaming up at Loki, even though his eyes were shining with wetness. Loki snarled at the boy, hoping to repel him, but it somehow had the opposite affect, because the next thing Loki knew, Peter was getting up off the floor and making his way towards him.

Peter was still smiling when he sat down next to the god of mischief, ignoring the snarl on his face.

"Thanks, Mr Loki," he said with a soft sigh, not bothering to wipe his wet eyes, "You really think I might be right?"

"Of course not," Loki rolled his eyes, "Such optimism will do nothing but cause you great disappointment in the long run."

Peter's smile faded, but then quickly returned, albeit sadder, "Oh, Alright then. Well, thanks anyway." he leaned back on the sofa, playing with his web shooters.

Loki looked down at little boy. How dare he look so weak, sitting there like a kicked puppy. It was runts like these who got picked off, never winning in survival of the fittest. All these other soft hearted fools were looking at him softly, probably thinking of way to comfort him. To lie and tell him that everything would be okay and help was on it's way.

But not Loki. He didn't give a damn about weepy humans and all their unbearable hope. All that 'caring' was for the likes of Thor. Not Loki.

He certainly did not care. At all. No matter how pathetically sad he boy looked.

Loki let out a irritated breath, and inwardly cursed at himself.

"You remind me of Thor, Peter Parker."

Peter looked up slowly, blinking at the god who had forbidden him to even mention that name.

"Huh?"

Loki nodded, "He too has the insufferable ability to have hope in the most perilous circumstances. It is possibly the most irritating trait a person can have. Especially if that person ends up being right."

Peter straightened up, "So you.. you do think I'm right?"

Loki scoffed, "Of course not, I think we'll be stuck in here forever. I am merely saying that if Thor were here, he would agree with you."

Peter's eyes seemed to sparkle, "He would? You really think he would?"

Loki shrugged, "There was a time in our youth when myself, Thor and Lady Sif found ourselves somewhat trapped in Jotunheim. The temperature on that planet is cold enough to kill an outsider within hours. But of course, that oaf refused to accept death, no matter how hopeless the situation."

"Well what did you do?" Peter gasped, "How did you get out?"

"Thor made us walk. We were surrounded by nothing but ice and snow, but still he made us walk, convinced we would come upon help. He was wrong, of course. We didn't come upon anything. But still he made us walk, and eventually, we came back within Heimdell's sight, and he brought us back to Asgard. We shouldn't have lasted more than a few hours there, but Thor' s ridiculous need to 'never give up' kept us alive for sixteen."

Peter was staring and hanging onto ever word, as was everyone else.

"Of course Sif and I did give up a few times during those hours, refusing to move anymore and accepting the inevitable. And of course, Thor would be insufferable, dragging us or kicking us, or doing anything really until we started moving again."

Peter's grin had widened exponentially, "He saved your lives by being annoying?"

"Precisely," nodded Loki, "It wasn't the first time, and wouldn't' be the last. Even though it was always his fault we found ourselves in those situations in the first place."

Peter was in awe, "He sounds awesome." he breathed.

"Yes you would think so," shrugged Loki.

"And... and you said I remind you of him?"

"Yes, Peter. You are very much like him." the way Loki said it, it could very well have been an insult. But Peter knew better.

With a grin to rival the Cheshire cat, and without much more warning, Peter shifted closer to Loki and wound his arms around the suddenly very stiff god.

"You're really not as evil as Mr. Stark told me, Mr. Loki."

Loki said nothing, just let out a long sigh and waited until the boy would detach. He looked around the room, glaring a glare that dared someone to say something.

Everyone looked away immediately. Except doctor Strange. Again, Loki thought he saw him smile.

"Peter." he said quietly, "Get off me."

The boy just shook his head, which rested on Loki's shoulder, "Nah, I'm good."

"If you do not remove yourself immediately I will do it for you."

"I'm not the only one who's alone in here, Mr Loki." Peter whispered, "You can just pretend I'm Thor, alright? I won't tell anyone, I promise."

Loki opened his mouth to snap at the boy. How dare he have the audacity to suggest that Loki missed his brother. He could not be more wrong. Loki just let out a huff (a dignified huff, of course) ignoring Peter and staring straight ahead.

Unfortunately for him, straight ahead sat Doctor Strange. And this time, he was definitely smiling.