love me till I'm me again - loki odinson

tell me you will hold me in the golden afterlife

This is the Asgardian refugee vessel Statesman. We are under assault. I repeat, we are under assault. The engines are dead, life support failing. Requesting aid from any vessel within range. We are 22 jump points out of Asgard. Our crew is made up of Asgardian families. We have very few soldiers here. This is not a warcraft. I repeat, this is not a warcraft.

They were all dead. All of them. Not even a soul left to be safe. Thor listened to the broken record went on and on with his wounded up body and numb heart. Numb. Everything felt so numb. Despite the burning heat melting the side of his skull, all he could feel was nothing. And somehow, the nothingness within his broken heart hurt more than any torture he had ever been through, more than the agonizingly pain Thanos was causing him.

What kind of a king had he been? Thor asked himself. Not only that he couldn't stop Ragnarok, he also led his own people - children and families - into the grip of the Mad Titan. He couldn't save any of them. They were all dead, and it was his fault.

"The Tesseract or your brother's head," Thanos threatened, and for a moment Thor almost believed Loki had freed himself and escaped long ago. Only when the Thunderer lifted his gaze up from the blood-covered ground did he find his brother standing there with blank expression.

Why hasn't Loki left? If this was to prove himself to Thor that he changed and overcame his way, that he could be an ally to Thor then Loki had already proved that when he fought side by side with his brother after the shadow of the Mad Titan's spaceship landed on them. There was nothing else left for Loki to prove. He should run. Escape while he still could. Why was Loki still here?

Thor's ears ringing so bad from the previous commotion and the burning on his scalp that he could barely hear the conversation between his brother and Thanos, but he thought he heard Loki said something along the line of 'kill away' then Thanos tightened his fingers, and the burning turned so intense that Thor couldn't hold himself back from screaming in raw pain. This is where it ends. The God told himself. This is where I die. Thor closed his eyes and let his throat continue being ripped apart by his own holler. He couldn't care less that he was showing weakness. He gave up. Gave up like a failed king that he was. Thor was ready for death to release him from this shame. But it never came. Just when he was about to let go, he heard Loki shouting "Alright, stop!" And it stopped. Just like that. The pain stopped.

Thor reopened his eyes and looked at his brother weakly. Why. He wanted to ask. Why wouldn't you let me go, brother? But instead, he shifted his gaze up to Thanos "We don't have the Tesseract. It was destroyed on Asgard." Said the Thunder God. And Loki gulped. Thor didn't notice it though. Didn't notice the God of Mischief taking in a deep breath before he held his hand out and blue light emerged from his palm. It was until now that Thor saw it and the sight made him hold his breath unconsciously "You really are the worst brother" Thor hissed through gritted teeth. The Tesseract was there in Loki's hand. The lives that lost, all for this damn thing. Loki had it all the time and he waited until his people, their people got killed before he gave in and surrendered?! If Thor wasn't being held captive, he'd punch the light out of his brother by now.

Loki looked at him and their eyes met. And despite how mad and disappointed Thor was in his brother, there was something in Loki's eyes. Something that sent shivers down Thor's spine. What was Loki doing? What was he doing?

"I assure you, brother. The sun will shine on us again." Was all Loki said before he turned his gaze to Thanos. The simply sentence that should reassure Thor somehow gave him chills. Whatever it was Loki was doing, Thor had a bad feeling about it. A very very bad feeling.

"Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian." Thanos almost chuckled at his words.

Loki, however, just gave him his signature mischievous smile. "Well, for one thing, I'm not Asgardian. And for another... we have a Hulk."

With that, everything happened in an instant. Thor didn't really know what was going on when Loki suddenly leaped at him and pulled him away, sheltering him by using his own body. And Thor saw something green flashed across his face. And before he knew it, the Hulk threw Thanos to the nearest wall and was pouring down his anger on him.

Thor wanted to say something, to react in any way as Loki was still on top of him, shielding him from all the harm. But it hurt. Every cell in Thor's body was aching so bad it rendered him limp and speechless.

~~~

Everything that followed felt like a blur for Thor. He couldn't acknowledge how things turned out. Couldn't figure how things led to this, but the next thing he knew he was looking at Thanos lifting Loki off the ground with his hand around Loki's throat.

And Loki was struggling, convulsing, his feet kicking in the air and his hands digging into Thanos's gauntlet. He was crying, chocking. Only then did it all become clear for Thor. No no no. Thanos was killing him. He was killing his brother. And Thor just... watched. He just watched blood running down Loki's eyes and then the cracking sound and Loki suddenly stopped moving. He didn't move anymore. His body turned limp and was just dangling in Thanos's grip. It took Thor that long til he registered what happened. And the moment it hit, the Thunder God felt the whole universe crushing down on him. His body went rigid as Thanos dropped Loki's corpse to the ground, tossing it in front of Thor as if to mock.

Then the numbness returned. Thor didn't remember crawling toward Loki's lifeless body. Didn't even notice piece and piece of the ship was falling and he should be escaping to save his own life. None of that mattered. Not anymore. All Thor remembered was clenching so tight on Loki's body, burying his face in his brother's chest as though he was desperately wishing he could feel the raise of the chest or the sound of heartbeat, there weren't any.

"Loki, no..." Thor sobbed. His brother was dead. What kind of a brother had Thor been that not only he couldn't protect the only family he had left, but he also watched, literally just watched as he was being brutally murdered.

It was all too late.

Loki was gone. Dead.