Beyond The Stars (UNDER REVISION)

Making A Plan

I look around me. The warm, softly lit field has a calming feel. "Do you remember this place?" I snap around to see Loki standing behind me. 

I smile softly. "Of course I do." 

Loki takes my hand in his. "You're still as beautiful as the day I brought you here." I blush slightly and look away. Suddenly, I hear a giggling behind me. I turn to see Loki and I sitting the in grass. "No, no. Focus." 

"But look. Isn't he cute?" The other me says as I play with the illusion of the crab. 

The other Loki stands up, frustrated. "if you are not going to take this seriously, I will just-" The other me grabs his hand as the other Loki tries to walk off. He stops and looks back. 

"Please. I'm sorry. I'm just... Scared. I really don't want to fail at this. Please, Loki?" 

The other versions of Loki and I disappear. "I remember the way you looked at me that day. I wouldn't let it show, but in that moment, I realized why I had always felt so... at peace when I was around you. Even though you never were too serious, you knew when you had to be. You knew exactly what to say and when to say it. You knew that I needed this as much as you did."

I feel something change around us. The once sunny field turned into a dark, cold void. "Loki?"  I turn back to see that he's gone. The feeling of his hand in mine was gone. "Loki?!" I call out. "Come back! Please!" I spin in circles, searching for him, but he's... gone. "I miss you..." 

I shoot up, causing myself to get a head rush. I look up to see a confused face staring back at me. "You were screaming." 

I rub my eyes. "I'm sorry, Nebula," I softly say. I take a deep breath, realizing how sore my throat is. I look at the time. "Shit. I've got to get home. See you tomorrow," I stand up in a rush. 

"Did you write this?" I stop in my tracks and turn back to Nebula. 

I see her holding a very familiar cover. "Yes. I did." Nebula walks up to me. She puts her hand on my shoulder and does a sincere apologetic look. I feel my eyes sting. "Thank you."

I walk into the lab with my coffee. "Think about it. If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future. And your former present becomes the past which can't now be changed by your new future." 

"Exactly," Nebula agrees with Bruce. 

"So Back To The Future is a bunch of bullshit?" Scott says. 

I scoff. "Of course. Look, think about it like this. This is how Back To The Future does time," I hold out my hands, putting my fingertips against each other, making a line with both hands. "But this is actually time," I interlock my fingers together and twist my hands, essentially making a tangle with my fingers. "Time isn't a linear sequence of cause and effect, you guys." They all look at me as I sip my coffee. "Oh, yeah. The pad's ready for you," I smile at Clint. 

I sit in the room with my friends. "Okay, so the how works. We gotta figure out the when and the where," Steve says. "Almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones." 

"Or, substitute the word 'encounter' for 'damn near been killed' by one of the six Infinity Stones," Tony adds, holding the coffee I brought him. 

"Well, I haven't, but I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about," I press my lips, looking at Scott. I wish I didn't know. 

"Regardless," Bruce says, "we only have enough Pym Particles for one round trip each and these Stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history." 

"Our history," Tony adds. "So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in, yeah?" Tony looks at me. 

This time, Clint speaks up. "Which means we have to pick our targets." 

"Correct," Tony says. 

"And pick them very carefully," I sigh.

"Correct, as well," Tony says to me. 

"So, let's start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?" Steve asks. 

Everyone turns to Thor, except me. "Is he asleep?" Nat asks. 

"No, no. I'm pretty sure he's dead," Rhodes answers. 

I sigh and grab my empty paper coffee cup. Using the reflection in the display, I throw it at him. I watch as the cup collides with his head. "Wake up," I dully say. 

"What?" He looks around. 

"What do you know about the Reality Stone?' Steve repeats. 

Thor stands with a grunt. I roll my eyes softly. "Uh, where to start? Um.. The Aether, firstly, is not a stone. Someone called it a Stone before," He points to Steve and Steve narrows his eyes at him. "Uh, it's more of an angry sludge sort of thing, so someone's gonna need to amend that and stop saying that," He squeezes eye drops in his eyes. "Here's an interesting story, though, about the Aether. My grandfather, many years ago, had to hide the stone from the Dark Elves.  Ooh~" He laughs. "Scary beings. So, Jane, actually," He swipes on the monitor. "Oh, there she is. Yeah, so Jane was an old flame of mine. You know, she stuck her hand inside a rock this one time and the Aether stuck itself inside her and she became very, very sick. And so I had to take her to Asgard, which is where I'm from," He points to me. "And Dri. And we had to try and fix her. We were dating at the time, you see, and I got to introduce her to my mother..." He sighs. "Who's dead, and um, you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore." Bruce gives Tony and I a signal to stop him. We both stand.  "Yes, these things happen though, you know? Nothing last forever. The only thing that-" 

"Why don't you come sit down?" Tony asks Thor.

"I'm not done yet. The only thing that is permanent in life is impermanence," Thor laughs. 

Tony claps. "Awesome. Eggs? Breakfast?"

"No, I'd like a Bloody Mary." He smiles. 

I grab Thor's arm. "Why don't you get right on that, Tony? Make it like Mary before Jesus, huh?" I raise my brow at him. Tony nods and takes Thor out of the room. I sigh. "Please... Excuse him." It seems like I'm always apologizing for Thor's emotional rants since we've brought him back. "What he was trying to say is that we know exactly where the Aether is and exactly when. And that he has, uh, relationship problems," I chuckle, "Guess that runs in the family," I point to myself. "But also that life sucks and the Aether behaves like mercury, but with a personality. And that's it. How about we take a short break?" I nod and join Tony and Thor in the kitchen. "I'm so sorry, Tony," I say quietly as Thor sits at the bar. 

"I get it, Dri." 

I nod and walk over to Thor. "Alright. Why don't I get you a nice cup of water, huh?" I start fixing him a glass. "And maybe some breakfast? I can take you to that diner you like?" Thor simply nods. We both leave the facility and I drive him to the diner. As Thor eats, I stare at my small cup of tea. 

"What is it?" 

I blink rapidly. "What?" I look up at Thor. "Nothing." 

"You have that look on your face you always have when you want to talk about something." 

I take a breath. I'm not sure if he's ready to hear this. I breathe out slowly. "I think we can bring him back." Thor shifts in his seat. He doesn't say anything. Just stares at me. "I've thought about it from every possible angle. There is an 87.52 percent chance we can bring him back." 

"And the other 12 percent?"

"Thor, we can do it." He just stares at me. I see his eyes start to tear up. I reach across the table and grab Thor's hands. "We can bring him back."