Hello, readers past and present!
(Contains Spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War)
What if Thanos had killed Thor instead of Loki? How would the plotline of the movie been different? And would more or less lives been saved?
Please enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Marvel and any of its characters and content, but I can always dream.
The Sun Has Gone Out
He could do it. He could do it. He just had to be strong.
He couldn't do it.
"Alright, stop!" Loki yelled. He should have been strong. He shouldn't have cared about Thor's pained screams as Thanos dug the gem into the god's head. He shouldn't have cared about the bodies that littered the floor of the ship that had once been their salvation. He should have found delight in fact, in Thor's demise, in Asgard's demise. The things he had hated for so long, but he couldn't bear to see them destroyed for some reason.
Thanos relented, and Thor collapsed to the ground. Loki couldn't help but be relieved he wasn't dead.
Was he really going to do this? He could still tell Thanos to carry on with the torture. He could still pretend he didn't care.
He held up his hand, releasing the magic that cloaked the Tesseract from detection. It's pale blue glow illuminated the room, making the faces of the bodies on the floor look peaceful, as if they were simply asleep.
He felt the rush of power that flowed through him every time he held the Tesseract in his hand. He ignored it. He knew if he didn't, he'd never let it go. And then where would he be?
"You really are the worst brother," Thor muttered. Loki pretended he didn't hear the insult. Instead, he looked his older brother in the eye and gave him the best thing he could offer: hope. His brother lived off of it.
"I assure you, brother," said Loki, "the sun will shine on us again." He began to move towards Thanos one silent step at a time.
"Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian," said the purple Titan.
Loki had to crane his neck to look Thanos in the eye now. "Well, for one thing," he said, "I'm not Asgardian." It used to feel like freedom, telling people he had no relation to Thor. He used to do it just to remind people he didn't really care about any of them. Now, though, the habit brought a twitch of guilt.
"And for another," he continued, "we have a Hulk."
And right on cue, Banner burst through the rubble, green and monstrous and ready to beat the crap out of Thanos. Loki seized the diversion and lunged to the left. He needed a blade, a knife, a sword, anything. He didn't bother checking Thor; if the man was still yelling and/or saying stupid stuff, he was fine.
Weren't there any blades in that blasted room?
Loki searched the mass of bodies until he found a knife. He would have preferred something a bit nicer, but when did he ever get what he wanted. The knife would have to do. Although Valkyrie would probably poke fun at him later for using something so elementary.
Thanos and Hulk were finished fighting, and from the looks of it, Thanos had won. Losing was probably a first for the Hulk, who seemed to have been beaten unconscious. Loki couldn't help but wonder how Thanos had done it, and in so little time, too. Then he remembered that the Titan had an Infinity Stone.
Suddenly, Thor came up and swang a metal pole at Thanos. A metal pole. The idiot. The noseless one called Maw summoned some metal from the wreckage with his mind, creating an effective prison for the god. Loki tensed, but told himself he had to wait for the right moment. And this was certainly not it. He needed to stay in the shadows until the time was right.
Suddenly, a blinding flash of white light filled the dark room, and everyone automatically looked away. When their heads turned back, Banner had vanished. The Bifrost. Heimdall must have summoned it.
Thanos looked down upon the man, who was on the ground from his wounds. "That was a mistake," said the Titan. Heimdall turned his head to Thor, and Thanos dug his spear into Heimdall's chest.
Was all this really necessary?
Thor cried out for his friend. Loki felt a twinge in his abdomen for the man who had watched over Asgard for so long, but at least the Mad Titan hadn't killed Thor. Heimdall's loss wouldn't impact them too harshly.
You're going to die for that!" Thor cried, and Loki could hear the sadness in his brother's voice. Maw pressed a finger to his lips in a shushing motion. Loki didn't blame him; Thor's heroism could get a bit annoying sometimes. He felt it was too far at Maw magicking the metal clamps around Thor's mouth, though.
Still, Loki stayed in his hiding place. He'd know when the time was right.
"My humble personage ows before your grandeur," said Maw. Suck up. "No other being has ever had the might, nay the nobility, to wield not one, but two Infinity Stones. The universe lies within your grasp."
Loki bristled, but still didn't move. He'd know when to make his move, and now was not the time. Thanos had to think he'd won. That didn't mean Loki didn't wince when Thanos utterly shattered the cube, though, and pulled out a shining blue gem. The Space Stone. He couldn't suppress a shiver as Thanos placed the stone into the gauntlet, next to the power stone.
"There are two more stones on Earth," said Thanos, "find them, my children, and bring them to me on Titan."
And Loki had thought Odin was a bad father.
"We will not fail you," said Maw. Now.
Loki firmly held his knife and threw it as hard as he could at the mad Titan's head. He had read a book on Titans once, and knew the only fatal wound was a head wound.
Thanos didn't even flinch. A blue glow surrounded the knife, keeping it from delivering a fatal blow. Thanos looked right at Loki when he said, "You do have nerve."
The next couple of moments seemed to happen in slow motion. Thaos turned the gauntlet towards Thor, and a purple blast issued from it. It hit him like a battering ram, and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that the God of Thunder was dead. Even gods couldn't survive something like that.
Thanos and his minions then disappeared into a wormhole the Titan opened with the space stone, but not before Thanos used the power stone to destroy the ship. As it burned around them, Loki sank to his brother's side, letting his tears fall freely because there was no one there to see them. And what did it matter? He would join his brother soon, anyways.
The ship exploded, lighting up the Outer Space around it for miles, but the God of Mischief didn't feel a thing. He knew his life was supposed to flash before his eyes, but he severely hoped it didn't.
He had been wrong. The sun would not shine on them again. It had already gone out.
I don't know when I'll be able to update, this, but I'll try to do it as often as I can.
Thanks for reading!