It seemed that his searching across the cosmos would be endless, every planet he could think of empty of the individuals he searched for. Until… until she put it on her head. Like a white-hot poker in the emptiness of the void, her presence called out to him. Earth… of course.
As he shimmered into existence on the plain, he looked over and saw her. The breeze whipped her hair around, and he immediately stepped up to her and wrapped her in his arms as tightly as he could. He dug his face into her neck, deeply inhaling in relief.
"I've missed you." he murmured into her neck, tears almost springing from his eyes. "I couldn't find you after the explosion of the ship, I thought you might be dead. I was trying to find you, but I couldn't feel anything until I realized my helm was gone, and that you must have taken it. I followed it, and here it is…" he leaned back from the embrace, a smile spreading across his face. "Here you are." he whispered.
"We will talk later, Brother!" Thor shouted angrily at him, shoving a creature away. "You will have a lot of explaining to do. Make yourself useful!"
Loki nodded in response, causing his knives to appear in his hands. "Let us avenge Asgard."
(Y/N) and Loki worked together, battling their way across the battlefield as a well-oiled machine. Noticing Rogers in distress, Loki assisted him before returning to (Y/N)'s side.
They were called away to a separate area, and Loki was grateful for the opportunity to redeem himself in the Avenger's eyes. Using his magic as best he could while they ran, he dispatched several creatures before coming up upon Corvus Glaive.
"Leave this place!" He shouted at the menace, brandishing his knives.
"I see that you once again have cheated what has long been coming, Asgardian." Corvus snarled in return. "I'll see that you cheat it no longer!"
With Roger's help, Loki disarmed Corvus, sending his lance soaring across the forest floor. As Corvus was distracted with Rogers, Loki took the lance and ran through Thanos' henchman as deeply as possible.
Just as it seemed that the tide of the battle might have shifted, (Y/N) paled.
"He's here." Vision murmured fearfully.
Cued by Vision's warning, Thanos stepped out of a Space Stone portal. The portal snapped shut behind him, the glow of the space stone dulling.
"Eyes up." Rogers commanded, engaging his shield. "Stay sharp. You three, protect Vision."
Loki, Wanda, and (Y/N) encircled Vision, hoping to defend him from the mad Titan.
While Wanda and Vision argued in hushed tones, Loki kept a watchful eye on Thanos' approaching figure. As he cut one Avenger down after another, Loki stepped forward to defend Vision.
"You lived." Thanos mused, staring at Loki in surprise. "You're craftier than even I gave you credit for." He glanced over to (Y/N), smirking as he continued. "And she lived too, You're a hardy group, you Asgardians. It almost makes me sorry to destroy more of you."
"You will destroy NO MORE." Loki hissed. "The things you and yours have done to me have stripped me of my life, my home, my parents, and my people. You will NOT take any more from me. You will NOT take my family."
"For all the things you learned from this stone…" Thanos said, the space stone glowing within the gauntlet, "For all the things it showed the both of you, neither one of you ever saw this inevitable end? And to think I thought you were of use at one time."
Thanos raised his fist, raising both Loki and (Y/N) from the ground, restricting their movement. With a simple gesture, both were thrown into a tree, the impact winding them and leaving them defenceless.
A blast of golden energy radiated from Vision, the stone in his forehead shattering into hundreds of pieces. Wanda laid on the ground sobbing, and Thanos approached her slowly.
Thanos and Wanda argued in hushed tones, and the gauntlet began to glow green. As Thanos turned his wrist to the side, time seemed to rewind, rebuilding the stone in Vision's forehead. Loki reached out to (Y/N) using what little energy he had to try to shield her as Thanos placed the Mind Stone into the gauntlet.
A surge of energy swept up Thanos' arm, reaching up to his neck.
Thor's voice boomed from the sky, throwing his new axe directly at the Titan. Thanos tried to counter it with a beam of energy from the gauntlet, but it was of no use. The axe continued its rapid descent, slicing through the beam until it struck Thanos in the chest.
Thor landed in front of Thanos, placing his hand on the axe.
"I told you…" Thor growled, pressing the axe further into Thanos's chest, the Titan crying out in pain. "You'd die for that."
Loki stood slowly, fear and hope slowly rising to meet each other as he watched Thanos take shallow breath after shallow breath.
"You…" The titan choked out, "You should have gone for the head!"
Thanos raised his gloved hand, and time seemed to slow, yet fly by as Loki shouted out. The Titan snapped his fingers, power radiating from the glove.
"What did you do?" Thor screamed at Thanos, all staring at the sizzling infinity gauntlet, "What did you do?"