Reunion

Growing up, Harry had learned early on a few key facts about surviving in the world. The Dursleys had taught him the importance of hiding his achievements, dumbing down his tests and assignments, and not drawing any attention to himself of any kind. The magical world had then taught him to stand on his own two feet, to live not survive, all because the world was a fickle thing.

Again and again, Harry had been told that he was nothing, a nobody. That he was someone that should neither be seen nor heard, someone who should only do what he was told to do, even in the magical world, this did not changed. So, he learned how to overcome that. From the very first time he entered their world, the magical community already had a specific picture of him painted in their minds. So, they took how he behaved for granted, thinking he should already know everything to understand in the magical world.

He had been an angry teenager, acting up almost all of the time. Only his two closest friends could level that out, and even then, he was rash and had problems with authority and what was expected of him, but he survive; somehow, he always survived.

"Oh, sweet Merlin!" Harry felt his heart trying to beat out of his chest as he gripped harder at the large, green arms that were holding him against an even larger chest. That he had not been crushed yet was a miracle. But it did not take long before they came to an abrupt stop, still with several miles behind them.

The landing jolted him hard before Hulk came to a complete stop, and the green beast was not even winded by the jumping trip they had gone on. He blamed the fact that his day had been so awful and that all his senses were tense and peaceful, but his grip on the big arm was rock hard, and he could not get his arms to listen.

"Fairy, let go?" Hulk grunted, somewhat annoyed.

Harry swallowed down some bile and made his grip slack, "Yea-h, sorry." He swallowed and tried to find his legs, only to be put down on the ground like a toddler that had yet to start walking. Not that he minded anything of that, as his body was in no condition to stand on his own. "And, I'm not a fairy."

"Small, have wings," Hulk commented like it was the most obvious thing, "A fairy."

Harry looked up at the green giant," That… " did not make him a fairy, but he didn't have the chance to say it before his head started to spin. So instead, Harry put his head down between his knees, took a few deep gulps of air, and vented out hard, trying to breathe evenly. The adrenaline was still pumping in his veins, and it was probably thanks to it that he had not collapsed already.

The whole situation suddenly crashed down on him; he felt all of his emotions inside of him swirling violently. And worst of it all, he could feel how his grip on Harald's part of his soul slipped. And wasn't that a messed-up way to think? Harry let out a groan; if this was like how it was to be reincarnated, he wanted a raincheck. It all messed with his head and senses, and he could no longer keep the two apart.

Why did he always have to kill to survive? He didn't enjoy it; even if he were the master of death, it was almost the opposite. But, death came to everyone, in the end, so he cherished the living. Still, it felt like he had committed a grave sin.

A sudden flash of memory invaded his mind, the image of his aunt's dead body lingering in the fallen rubble. He could feel the magic swirling around him like electricity. Was it over? Was she dead? She did not look it, so perhaps she had survived?

No, no, that's impossible! Right? It had been a direct hit to her chest, and he had heard the noise of crushed bones. So even if a so-called 'god' was almost immortal because of how slow they aged, they could still be killed with enough damage, look at Harald, and what he had gone through, so she had to be dead.

But, he did not know that now, did he? No, Harry did, he had felt it, but at the same time, it was as if the part of his brain he was now using didn't want to listen to that logic.

Harry felt how his breathing was going out of control, and dizziness made him break out in a cold sweat all over his body. He could feel it and his mind registered that he was breathing too quickly and with too shallow breaths, yet he could not slow them down. Harry let out a dry sob, his hands dug into his hair as he tried to get the pain to distract him from the floods of emotion that hit him, but it was not working. The shallow breathing made his mind spin faster and faster, and his fingers tingled as the panic held him in its grasp.

"- Fairy?"

Why, oh why was this happening right now? His magic tried to break out, and he forced it down as much as he could. Harry gritted his teeth as hard as he could and tried to get his own body under control; tears were streaming down his cheeks as all the emotion was welling up inside of him. He had no idea if it was Harald or him, and honestly, did it matter? It did not.

"Fairy not calm?"

Harry wanted to laugh, but the fast breathing was not helping at all. He could hear Hulk but could not quite register what he was saying. Harry tried to hold his breath to stop the ragged sobs that tried to tear out from his chest, making everything ten times worse. His throat was already starting to feel raw, like he had swallowed a sack of nails and rough-edged shrapnel. Harry had been ready to kill her, right there and then. He had wanted it so badly, to kill her, hear her scream in pain as she drew her last breath, especially after that previous reveal of her plans.

Harry felt a surge of anger in his panic; it had been his right to kill her! She would not have been let off the hook so easily, not like this. He felt cheated. His wings drew closer around him, blocking out most of the light and holding in the magic in his own space, not that he noticed anything of that as the panic dragged through him. His head was spinning, and yet, he still could not control his breathing.

"Hey, hey, easy there."

Harry flinched to the side, startled by the new and unknown voice; his wings were suddenly drawn back and his hands out in front of him as he barely held back the urge to blast the owner of the voice away. He stared up at the unknown man before his vision went out of focus.

"It's alright, you're safe now," The gentle, male voice said, ad Harry tried to get his head to stop spinning, without any success. "He is gone now and will not hurt you; I promise. So breathe."

He? What was the man talking about? Harry could not even think as he saw a male with chestnut hair and soft brown eyes come closer. He suddenly could even feel a weak hint of magic inside the man's core, not much so he was likely a squib, yet it felt safer to know that the man was someone who had magic.

"Come on, breath with me."

Harry saw the man reaching out to one of his hands slowly, giving him time to refuse before warm hands held his cold, tingly ones as the brown-haired man brought his hand up to his chest.

"Here, feel the movement, and try and follow, you don't need to think, only feel it," the man said softly, and Harry felt how the man's chest was slowly rising up and down underneath his fingers with every inhale and exhale he took. Harry stared at his hand and tried to force his own body to adapt to the rhythm, deep breath in and slow out, in and out. The silent commands began to repeat in his mind like a mantra as he slowly started to get a grip on his body.

"There you go."

It took a while, but Harry's breathing slowly started to even out, and he gradually became more aware of his environment. Finally, every sensation began to filter through his panic attack. The cold breeze that was chasing his wet forehead, the tingling of warmth underneath his hand that moved as the unknown man breathed, the vibration of his chest as he spoke. Harry blinked one time and then another, trying to make his mind work as he started to see the unknown man with the calming presents before him.

"Good," the man smiled down at him,

But Harry had no idea of what he was looking at, though. Perhaps he hit his head too hard or broken something; Because he could not even begin to imagine what on earth could make him hallucinating a half-naked man crocheting in front of him. And secondly… What in the nine realms was this strange feeling ebbing out of the man? He felt this strange sensation of… energy; it made him feel both safe and strangely protected, it didn't make any sense. Luckily enough, the male seemed to have some kind of magic core.

"Do you feel any better now?"

Harry looked up slowly and stared for a second before he nodded and drew back his hand, "Yes, thank you," he said, throat still raw.

"It was the least I could do" The man stood up, one hand holding up his trousers and the other scratching his neck as he looked away from Harry.

Harry blinked slowly, his mind still trying to work correctly, so Hulk had left him on a farm like he was a stray, with a half-naked man that looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but there. But he could have sworn that he had heard Hulk's gruff voice in the middle of his panic attack. His Cheeks heated up in embarrassment as this stranger had witnessed him having a panic attack. Gosh, how could he always find himself in this position? He hated to show his weaknesses.

Harry sighed; well, nothing to do about it right now; at least he got away from his aunt. But she was finally gone; it was a small victory even if he was not the one who could execute his revenge. He reached a trembling hand up and tugged out his shrunken trunk from underneath his shirt. He tried to control his movement, but the numbness in his fingers was making it complicated. But he let the magic tickle his palm as the action did not need any words, only intention.

With the older, still half-naked male in front of him, Harry was sure enough that he was a normal wizard or even a squib; he could afford to do some magic. He needed his potions right now if he even could dream of functioning in the coming battle. So as the trunk grew, Harry sat upon and opened the lid before he put down his whole arm in it and brought out his, what Hermione called - whatever you required in case of an emergency- bag and pulled out two vials of potion with the correct label.

Harry pulled off the cap of the first bottle and swept its contents without blinking, have done this enough time to know what to expect. Slowly he felt the fatigue disappear as the potion sank his throat as he drank the rest of the bottle's contents. Then, as he finished the first one, he raised the next electric-blue potion right away, threw his head back, and drank everything at once.

Harry sighed in relief as the headache subsided and his muscles ached less than before. It may be a short-term solution, but there was no time to rest. He needed to find Loki and fast. Harry looked up at the brown-haired man staring at him with wide eyes, shock written over his face. Oops, so not a wizard? Well, Harry could not find it in him to even regret what he did.

"I apologize for disturbing you; it was not my intention to trespassing on your land," Harry said in a slightly overly polite voice; why had Hulk just left him here? At least he could not point him in the right direction. Was he even near New York?

"I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone that I was here or… the little trick you just saw," Harry said as he shrunk his bag again and stood up on slightly unsteady legs but stretched his arms in the air and stretched the stiff muscles. The muscles protested by the movement but soon gave in, and he felt the wings follow in the movement. But the tiredness and the gnawing desperate feeling were gone, and he felt surprisingly refreshed.

The dark-haired man opened his mouth to say something but closed it again, and Harry could first see him with a steady gaze and cast black spots that penetrated his field of vision.

"Ah, what? No... I don't live here…. Are those ... wings…? "The man started, and Harry looked over his shoulder and tried to hold back a groan of discomfort when he saw how dirty and messy they were.

"Yes, they are real and really filthy," Harry said with a grimace as he pulled one of the wings forward and began to gently correct the feathers that laid in the wrong way or order. The feeling of his fingers against the sensitive tips made a shiver go through him with pleasure. If there was one thing he was beginning to feel, he always needed to have his wings in order. Yet, it was still an unusual feeling to have something like wings sticking out of his back.

However, it still felt completely normal; he blamed Harald for that part. But right now, as he did not have time to groom them now, perhaps later. He spread them out and struck his wings one last time before pulling them close to his back but still leaving them out. He had not forgotten that they were in an unknown place, and at any moment, he might need a quick retreat. He looked around in one last attempt to see the green giant without any success.

But then he remembered something else the man had said under his panic attack; he had been told that he was safe and that 'he' was not here. That was strangely put, and the man did not live here? Harry let his green eyes travel over the man with a calculating gaze.

"So, you did not see someone else with me?" he asked, pulling out the tassel that had held his hair in place, letting the long black lock of hair fall wildly over his shoulders before collecting it in a messier man-bun once more.

"N-no, he isn't here anymore and will not come back if I have anything to say about that" The brown-haired man looked away while clenching his jaw shut.

Harry's gaze was drawn back to the brown-haired man when he heard his tone change, and he seemed to get tenser; his eyes narrowed a little. So, his theory was not so stupid after all. Could this man be Hulk?

"Are you sure?" Harry asked him, tilting his head slightly to the side

"Yes...positive, he will not cause you any more harm or anything, so you don't have to worry about that. I'm sorry that he caused you any harm or panic in the first place. That should never have happened."

Harry blinked, surprised by the man's nervous answer; why was he acting like it was a bad thing? And he continued to talk about the Hulk like he was another whole other being. But, then again, he probably was, or else would the male remember what had happened.

"There is no need, he is the one who helped me in the first place, and I need to thank him. He didn't do anything wrong or anything I wouldn't have done."

"Wait, what?" The man asked, suddenly stepped back from Harry, "He did what?"

"He saved me. Even if I would have won in the end, he finished the fight faster than I predicted that I would have. " Harry answered honestly. As the man did not move or pose a significant threat at that moment, Harry took the time to let his gaze wander to the side. They were on a farm; an old and broken house stood not too far from them, and a half-demolished barn behind it. Nothing someone could live comfortably in, so he was probably safe for now.

"Do you know a way out of here?" Harry suddenly asked.

"Well… no ... I do not," The man said as he avoided looking around, always keeping Harry in his sight. "Excuse me for asking, but -what- are you?"

Harry looked over at the man again, slightly amused, "So you are asking me what I am and not who?" He smiled; the man shrugged.

It was strange, the energy and weak magic that was leaking out from the brown-haired man, that is. Harry knew that his looks had changed quite a lot from his appearance before, yet his lightning bolt scar was still visible on his forehead. There was no way he would break the statute of security if the man were a squib, even if he didn't know about him.

" I'm a wizard, with magic and all that."

"You have magic?" The brown-haired man asked, suddenly his whole body going stiff as if he were in danger. "…Like Loki?"

How he said Loki's name like something vile made Harry's eyes widen; how… did he know about Loki? "Perhaps… what is it to you?"

The brown-haired man suddenly looked a little green in the face, and Harry narrowed his eyes at him, ready for the Hulk to come forth. This man could only know about Loki if he had been in contact with the god, and somehow Harry did not think he was one of Thanos's minions. So that meant he was one of the people who had locked Loki up in that glass cage.

"He attacked us," The man said, not relaxing even a bit. "Killed a lot of people the other night."

Harry frowned at that; he suspected as much. Loki had always had a darker side to him, and if his aunt had twisted his mind, it was a highly probable that he would go out on a killing spree.

"If you know about Loki, then you perhaps have heard if Thor is here?" Harry suddenly asked; he hadn't seen the blond god, but he could not believe that Asgard would allow Loki run amok on a planet like this without stepping in.

It appeared to be the right question as the brown-haired man looked much more human than before. "You know Thor?"

"You could say that," Harry said, rubbing the nape of his neck; the man did not need to know it was both long time ago and in another life. Should he find Thor first before hunting Loki down then? If he were being manipulated, it was a possibility that Thor would only make things worse, as he had never had the patience to wait or the right mind to think up a strategy.

No, Harry had to find Loki on his own and break whatever spell his aunt planted in his mind. Then, after all that, he probably would need Thor's help. The dark-haired man looked doubtfully at Harry, then he suddenly gave off a deep sigh and pinched between the bridge of his nose as he came to a conclusion he did not like.

"So ...?" Harry asked, "What's your name? or should I still call you Hulk?"

The brown-haired male hesitated before answering, ".... Bruce."

He nodded, "Pleasure to meet you; I'm Harry, now-" Harry clapped his hands together. "Which way is New York?"

Bruce looked at him and opened his mouth but did not have time to reply as a strange pressure wave suddenly came over the sky, soon followed by an intense bang. The clouds started to move in a particular direction and darken somewhat,

"Shit," Harry murmured as he stared up at the sky, feeling the shift in the atmosphere. This was not good; it was probably some portal. Was it that army he had seen in Loki's mind? Thanos's scout group?

"That does not look good," Bruce said, and Harry had to agree.

A pressure wave of energy hit them again, and this time the clouds shifted in a neon-blue glow. Harry looked over to the half-naked man, "Do you believe you can transform back into Hulk and have him jump there?"

Bruce shook his head. "No, that's not something I can do; I can't control him like that."

"We do not need to control him. We need him to get there fast," Harry mused; they needed to get there as fast as they could, but if he could not make Hulk do what they wanted, it could go badly. Whatever Loki was doing right now was causing chaos. They had no time to stand here and argue. Harry had a feeling that they would need Hulk to take down the army that Loki had been given.

He went over to an old car that had a drape over it, and with a smooth movement, ripped out a large piece and let his magic flow into the old fabric, cleaning it, and starting to change its shape into a pair of trousers and a shirt. It wasn't much, but better than letting the man run around half-naked.

"Here," Harry tossed the newly created clothes to Bruce, who caught them easily

"What? How did you do that?" He held them up before himself and felt the material, astounded that it was real, "This is impossible!"

"No, it's magic" Harry grinned before freezing when a cold sensation swept over him, his gaze fixed on the sky and the feeling that spread from there, from Loki. He needed to get there, and quickly, whatever happened, it was devastating. Making up his mind, he looked over at Bruce, who had hesitantly put on the clothes and had a strange look on his face, muttering that none of this was making sense let alone possible.

Harry held back a snort; with magic, everything was possible; even the word impossible had possible in it, it was only your own mind that limited you, or your focus, or intent. Well, there were a few things, but nothing was truly impossible.

"I'm sorry about this," Harry said, and without further warning, took the other man's arm and vanished from the spot with a loud bang, not caring to mask his apparition.

Seconds later, they reappeared in the city, people screaming all around them, though not from the sight of two men suddenly appearing before them. That was probably the least of their problems as aliens swooped around them, and explosions could be heard from somewhere in the background.

"Oh god," Bruce covered his mouth as he was getting a little green in the face, "Oh god, what the... hell... was that ...?"

"Sorry," Harry said, "there was no time to explain, and it was the easiest way to get here," He told him and let his eyes swoop over the destruction all around them, and by the norns, he was so bloody done with this, why did it have to be another war zone?

"Did we just teleport right now? Did we actually teleport?"

Harry glanced over at the brown-haired man and felt how it tickled along his back, he could feel how his magic stretched in all directions. The energy was so thick in the air that it almost made the hairs on his arms stand up.

"There was and is no time to explain, sorry," Harry hurried to say and started walking towards the chaos, sure that his soulmate was in the middle of it. He looked around, and wherever Harry looked, he could see dead bodies and destruction; his gaze swept over the crowd that ran behind a barricade. This would not work; he needed to get higher up. He looked up at the buildings, which felt as if they could fall at any moment, so there was no point in going up there.

Loki was right there. Harry felt his heart speed up; finally, he would see him. He looked towards the most prominent building with 'Stark' printed on its side. He was up in that tower; Harry was sure of that. He looked at the soul mark that was now visible underneath his shirt; he could feel a ticklish sensation over his skin, almost like the flowers were dancing at the closeness of its partner.

"I hope we meet again," Harry said to the still astonished Bruce behind him, "And thank you for your help back there," and seconds later, he disappeared with a loud 'pop', leaving a confused Bruce in the ruin of the city.

. ⬝ : * ̈ ̈ *: ⬝ . 💓 . ⬝ : * ̈ ̈ *: ⬝ .

Loki looked out over the beautiful view that spread out in front of him, screams echoing alongside explosions. A golden glow swept over his face, and he felt the non-existent new weight of his helmet as he stood, proud of the chaos he had created.

He breathed in contentedly and could taste the fear and pain in the air, it was so electric, and the metallic taste made him shudder with anticipation. The sudden thump of his brother, on the other hand, destroyed everything, and he quickly turned to the angry god.

"Loki! Turn off the Tesseract or I will destroy it!" Thor held out his hammer and glared at his brother; this madness would end right here, right now.

"You can't, and there is no stopping it," Loki pointed at him with the scepter, "-There is only war."

Thor's face darkened, "So be it."

Loki jumped down with a war cry, and Thor danced out of the way with ease and swung back in response. Unfortunately, the scepter blocked Thor's hammer as it flew at Loki's head, making blue sparks fly all around them, and he took a step back to recoil from the force. But Loki did not let him regain his balance and continued to attack.

It was like the old days when they had trained together, and Thor had constantly challenged him to duels to show who was the best and teach him his place. But, of course, Loki would never forget the humiliating feeling when the spectators had all laughed at him, how they had whispered among themselves about what a failure he was, how magic was only for women, how he was weak.

Loki never understood how they could say so. Just because he had too much magic, he was singled out. Loki roared in pure anger when he struck out at Thor, who ducked as Loki fired a ball of scepter magic at him. The chitauri army swarmed all around them, blowing out bits and pieces of buildings. But this passed Thor and Loki, who danced around each other, exchanging blow after blow. It was not until a large aircraft interrupted them and Loki's attention was taken away from him that Thor took the chance he needed to gain the upper hand.

Weapons were forgotten; as Thor began to strike with only his fists, letting his punches rain down on Loki. Anger and a horde of other emotions seeped through him; the feeling of being betrayed was the strongest. How could Loki do something like this? He roared and let his fist hit Loki straight in the solar plexus and then grabbed him.

"Look at this! Look around you!" he bellowed, staring at Loki, who for a second looked completely despairing, almost lost. But he did not care; this had been going on for too long, "You think this madness would end with your rule? "

For the first time, sky-blue eyes met with the dark jade green. "It's too late, Thor," Loki breathed out hard, staring at his brother. "It's too late to stop it; I... I cannot do it."

"No brother, we can do it," Thor gritted out. "Together, please, brother" he held on tightly to Loki's arms, afraid that if he let go, he would lose his brother yet again. For a second, Thor could see the desperation in his brother's eyes, and suddenly as if by lightning, Loki's eye colour changed. It was nothing that Thor had noticed before as a blue membrane swept over them, probably with a new spell. Loki's facial expressions were morphed into a snarl, and before Thor could understand what happened, he gave off a painful grunt, as a knife was embedded in his waist, between the pieces of his armour.

"You were always the sentimental type," Loki grinned. "Once a fool, always a fool."

"Loki!" Thor bellowed, angry as he attacked again, fury fueling his movement, but he did not hold back this time. Instead, he lifted Loki over his head and slammed him into the ground as hard as he could; Loki let out a strained sound before he, seconds later, rolled over the edge of the balcony and started to free-fall down.

Thor pulled out the knife and threw away the awful little thing, and looked out over the destruction that was spreading. Then, he bent down and picked up his hammer from the ground, and began to spin it in preparation for flying away from there.

However, a sudden loud noise behind him in connection with the feeling of magic, caused the hammer to change direction quickly, and he threw it at the new intruder, without seeing who appeared, in the belief that it was an alien who followed Loki.

Harry barely raised a barrier in pure reflex before something compelling struck into it. The blow caused yellow-blue cracks to appear in his shield, and the magical power of the wave made him take a step back. Even though he had not physically received the blow, it felt like the vibration was singing straight into his arms. He held his arm outward, ready to attack, when he stopped and stared at the owner of the said hammer.

"... Thor?" And quite rightly, the blonde mountain of muscle stood in front of him, which felt very strange, one thing to see the memories and another to experience it in real life.

"Who are you? And how did you appear out of thin air!?" Thor stared at him and called to himself his hammer, which had flown away, and held it menacingly in front of him, ready to let it fall against the barrier again. "What sorcery is this?"

Harry held up his hands. "Hey, hey, take it easy; I do not mean any harm."

"No!" Thor sucked in a harsh breath as he looked at his opponent, and he did not like what he saw, "You have no right to take that appearance," his voice boomed, "what gives you the right to mock the dead?! " He demanded as he threateningly walked forward.

"Bloody hell," Harry muttered, his luck was non-existent, and Harry wanted a refund. "We do not have time for this"

"No! you are not going to get away, imposter," Thor growled as he pointed his hammer at Harry. "You have no right to…."

"-I Have all the rights in the world!" Harry snapped; every minute that passed, the bigger the group of Thanos's minions got, and given the chaos going on around them, he had a sure feeling that Loki had something to do with this. "Harald is who I once was, and I'm him Thor, not an imposter or anything."

"Did Loki put you up to this?" Thor asked, "Is this one of his illusions to stall me?"

With almost a head and a half taller, Harry did not feel safe to stay in place as he took a step back, shield hard in front of him. "No, Loki does not even know who I am right now!"

That was not the right thing to say as Thor attacked the shield again, and this time, it didn't just crack, it splintered, bursting into hundreds of dancing pieces. Harry rolled away and missed the hammer by barely an inch, smelling the ozone produced by the magic hammer. Harry threw himself away again, even though he was an experienced warrior and had since then started both combat and physical training. This body was still so different than the one he was used to, too short, too agile.

"Stop it, your dunderhead!" Harry shouted as he dodged again. But, when the hammer was thrown back without him expecting it, it hit his shoulder, and Harry let out a scream at the burning pain that shot through him. Harry lost his balance when Thor's massive legs kicked him in the stomach, and he slid along the ground and swore when he felt a metallic taste in his mouth, feeling Thor approaching menacingly.

He growled low, and when the next blow came against him, Harry quickly dodged and let his magic leak out of him. He felt the tingling along his arm and the shoulder blade, and the falling sensation in his stomach when he realized that he was airborne for a second. His wings suddenly protruded from his shoulder blades, ripping off most of his shirt as they did, and Harry withdrew himself with a hissing sound.

He flew out in the air, and to a safer distance from the angry man in front of him, Harry's magic swirled around his whole body, and the shadows sought him out; it was like they felt their master calling on them. Harry held out his arm with his soul mark for the world to see

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Harry shouted and glared down at the blond man, "We do not have time for your ignorance Thor. Look here!"

Thor stared at him with his mouth open, which closed and reopened without any sound coming from it for a good while. Then, suddenly, the blond prince took a step back, shock and disbelief written all over his face. "What? No... H-Harald? how can this be, you… you… no ... "

"Who else? I said it was me from the beginning but did you listen? No, of course not ...! " Harry growled, the pain in his arm lancing up his shoulder, shit that hurt. He had wholly forgotten that magic tools did much worse damage than a usual weapon could do. That Thor only needed to see his soul mark to believe him felt like a joke; he knew that the pattern was unique to each pair. There was no way another couple could have the same designed as it was a sign of their united soul.

"But you are dead! We all believed that you were lost in the void; it has been so long that everyone thought you would never come back to us. "Thor shook his head so that the hair danced around," No, "he suddenly said, he was not going to be made a fool of yet again.

"You are only an illusion created by Loki to stop me. There is no chance…that..." that they had given up the searched as he was still alive. But Thor could not find the strength to acknowledge his failure.

"We both know Loki is not in his right mind to create this kind of illusion" Harry lowered himself towards him and landed on the ground.

"Prove it," Thor demanded; he could not get his hopes up, this could not be.

Harry blinked and held back a sigh; what did the man not understand about 'we do not have time for this?' He pulled a hand through his sweaty hair that had come of his bun already. "You want me to prove what exactly at a time like this?"

"That you are Harald, that this is not some mind game or a plot for something else."

Harry had to admit that the variation of Thor in front of him was different from the one he had in his memories. Even though he looked the same, it seemed like he had matured a bit, given that he did not trust him verbatim or dismissed him completely.

"I was nine years old when I first met Loki. He had been poisoned, and I nursed him back to health," Harry said as he stared right at Thor, "the next morning, a bumbling band of four warriors broke the silence of the woods in search of your lost brother. I do believe I heard you arguing over whose fault it had been to drink from the enchanted river of wine and pass out from it."

"How…"

A red blush spread over Thor's cheeks; Loki had not been with them at that moment they all collapsed. But Harry was not done; he had so many juicy blackmail materials from Harald's memory, it was like remembering a movie or a book. It was just there.

"And when you were younger, you thought it was a wonderful idea to borrowed your mother's dress…."

".... Alright! alright, enough!" Thor held up his hand. "I believe you; I believe you" how could he not, as these were some of the most personal memories. Thor started to grin as he walked over to Harry, ignoring the reflective twitch that ran over the more petite man when Thor wrapped his arms around him.

"You are real," Thor muttered like he still could not believe it; how could he? It was a gift from Valhalla. A miracle. "Where have you been all this time? We searched all of the realms, and then Loki finally lost his mind."

"It's a long story, which we do not have any time for now," Harry replied and took a step back, uncomfortable with having him so incredibly close. "What exactly happened with Loki, Thor?"

"He is trying to take over the earth?" Thor gripped his hammer again in anger as he remembered where they were, and even if he was happy to have his brother-in-law back, he was disappointed in his brother. "Perhaps he is seeking revenge, like the last time, or maybe he has some kind of vendetta against humankind? Do you think it is because I care about Midgard?"

Harry held back another sigh, and there he was back again to his egocentric thinking; that was the Thor of Harald's memory. Yet, the feeling of happiness inside him was his own, and Harry smiled slightly and shook his head. "Not everything is about you or Asgard, and besides, his action is not wholly his own," Harry said and then frowned. "He does not do it to attack you; Earth was targeted by the one who is controlling Loki. That reminds me, why haven't you done anything before now?"

"What do you mean?" Thor asked

He… could not be serious, right? Harry stared at the blond god, opening his mouth before closing it again, and pinched the bridge between his eyes. "I have both felt Loki and seen him before I came here; he is not of his own mind, Thor; he is being manipulated."

"WHAT?" Thor boomed as he threw out his arm in an angry gesture.

"He did not recognize me as I spoke to him before, I may not be the Harald you both knew, but what I can remember, I do look like him," Harry said as he walked over to the edge.

"What do you mean by that? you are Harald- "

"Yes, and no," Harry scratched his scalp, high enough to see all the destruction taking place, "I do not know who I am right now, a bit of both, I believe. But! that is not important right now; we need to stop whoever is hurting Loki."

That caught the blond man's attention, "Do you know who is hurting my brother?"

Yet again, Harry could not help to feel frustrated, nor was it anger at the blonde's word. Did they not know? Hadn't he noticed when something had suddenly gone wrong with Loki? His aunt had been doing something to him for a long while, yet no one had seen what had happened right under their thick noses.

But he held in that anger; he could not let that cloud his judgment from the real threat right now. He looked up at the portal.

"That is a portal of a scout group known as chitauri," Harry said and met his gaze, "and they answer to Thanos."

Thor let out a huffing sound, "That cannot be right, the mad titan? he is not real, only a story to make children behave"

Harry snorted. "Yeah? And who do you think it was that killed Harald the first time around? He certainly did not look like a fairytale to me." He walked over to the side, trying to single out Loki from the masses.

Thor stared at him in surprise, and then there was something else, a flicker of shame? Of dread? "Then… then why hasn't the All-father stopped him?"

Harry paused, "I have no idea, Thor, why do you not ask him that? I have a few things I also need to talk to him about," like how he could end up ignoring his youngest son to such an extent that he could no longer see the difference in who he was. Harry gritted his teeth. No, one thing at the time.

"Come on; we have to find Loki and stop this madness; he has wreaked too much havoc as it is."

"Agreed." Thor went up to the edge and started spinning his hammer "follow me," he said before flying away like a bolt of blonde lightning over the warzone that was the City of New York.