A/N: Hello and welcome to my story, I will say this once now that nothing in this story belongs to me except for a handful of OCs and the rest is all Marvel's or part of The Prose Edda (which by the way Marvel really took some artistic liberties, by the gods they're all like, super OOC, ya'll know Loki is not actually a frost giant and is Odin's ginger blood brother from the chaos realm, right? that he's actually associated with wildfire and his parents names roughly translate to lightning and twig? sorry, had to rant about that, y'all will be getting your Marvel gods here, don't worry)
Quick warning, this little preface has some major Infinty War spoilers so if you have yet to see it, close your eyes, scroll to the bottom of the page and get to chapter one as soon as possible which takes place about a hundred years or so before the events of the first Thor film.
Also, as this story is rated M (edited from MA to M), you can expect violence, coarse language, alcohol/drug use, and at least several scenes with sexual content so, ah, viewer discretion is strongly advised.
I will put trigger warnings on any chapters that may be a bit more brutal. I understand how a few words can take your mind back to a place of sheer torment so please do not feel uncomfortable letting me know if I should have put a trigger warning on a chapter.
Now, without further ado…
Preface
Earth
Wakanda
2018
"You should… have aimed for the head," the mad Titan gasped out as a victorious grin slowly painted its way across his face. Thor froze, registering Thanos' words. His hands were still gripped tightly around his battle axe, Stormbreaker, forcing the massive blade deeper into the center of Thanos' chest.
Gleaming gold shimmered in his peripheral vision and with a simple snap, the universe as they knew it came to an end.
The formerly flawless gauntlet was cracking and steaming, burning the purple flesh of its master.
"What did you do?" Thor gasped in dismay, suddenly feeling the weight of his failure. "What Did You Do?!"
His roar echoed around the forest and he could hear the sound of people rushing towards them, but Thanos was utterly disinterested. A swirl of blue energy formed around the Titan and he stepped back into it, vanishing.
Stormbreaker fell to the ground with a dull, metallic clang, splattering the forest floor with deep purple blood. Thor didn't pick it up. It didn't matter that it was one of the most powerful weapons in creation. It was useless now.
"Where did he go?" Steve limped up next to him, his head whipping around wildly as he scanned their surroundings. "Thor... where did he go?"
Thor couldn't bring himself to answer. He was sure Steve had already figured it out.
"Steve!"
Both men turned to see Bucky arrive in the clearing.
There was something wrong with him. His limbs seemed to be dissolving into a fine brown dust, taken away with the breeze. Bucky took a step toward them and tumbled forward. Only his machine gun hit the ground, raising a cloud of brown ash.
Thor watched in numb horror as Steve limped over to where his best friend had been standing and fell to his knees.
"Thor!" He heard his love scream and she came barreling through the woods and crashed into him, clinging to his chest.
Thor wrapped his arms around her and rested his head against hers in relief. "Thank Ymir," he said, breathing in the sweet honey scent of her hair. "I don't think I could bear to live another day if I lost you too."
"I can-I can feel them," she cried. "It's not like death. It's wrong. They just… they're gone."
"I'm sorry," he mumbled. "It's all my fault. I failed."
She pressed his forehead against his own and lifted a hand to his cheek.
"Look at me," she commanded softly. Thor kept his eyes on the ground, he was too ashamed of losing, it was his fault their friends were crumbling to dust around them.
She sighed. "This is not your fault. He had all the infinity stones, he can control the universe. Nobody can defeat that."
He felt her pulled away from him. He glanced down expecting to see her reassuring violet eyes, but all he saw was ash.