ONE SHOT: Loki's Death
It's a common thing to say that the righteous suffer while the sinners thrive. That the good die young while the bad live long fulfilling lives.
Well, I'm afraid life just isn't that black and white.
Maybe the righteous do suffer, and perhaps the good do die young, but us sinners have to face the consequences of our actions eventually.
So I guess this is just me facing mine.
Death has never really scared me, exactly. It's more of an unpleasant thought that I tend to push to the back of my thoughts. I've had some close calls, I've evaded death a good few times... and yet...
Somehow this time is different. Somehow this feels like it will be for real this time. For the first time ever I'm not confident about weaseling out of the situation.
Thanos wouldn't have believed me anyways, he's smarter than that. But my brother, I think he's what really did it for me. Maybe if Thor wasn't here I could actually try something. I can't chance it, though. Not this time.
I avoid making eye-contact with him, lest my last moments in this universe be spent watching the disappointed gaze of my sibling. Because of course I've been a disappointment to him, as I always have been.
If I could just do something... if I could just save us this one time. God, I'm pathetic.
I give Thanos this whole grandiose speech that I can barely hear over the ringing in my ears. I've never felt this way before, I've never been this scared.
It's not death. I'm not scared of death. It's leaving Thor that terrifies me. All the things I've never said to him... all the times I've been too much of a coward to admit that I actually care about him.
Yes, he and I have had our fair share of disagreements, but he's my brother. Maybe not by blood, but by choice. As much as I hate to think about it, even now, at the end, I care about him.
Truly.
Thanos at least has the courtesy of listening to my little monologue before suffocating me. I'm almost accepting my fate, I'm almost okay with it, until I hear Thor's muffled screams.
I make the mistake of looking over at him in these final moments. Of seeing his face tear-stained and shaking with anger. It's enough to break through the nonchalant facade I've been putting on up until this point.
It's in these final moments, looking at my brother's horrified expression, that I realize I don't want to die. I can't die. I've come too far for this.
Even if I've been a disappointment to him up until this point, I cannot possibly bare to fail my brother now. I will not let my final moments be spent thinking about all the things I should've said and done.
I have to survive this, if only for Thor.
Thanos thinks I'm dead, I mean, I feel pretty dead. He tosses me half-hazardly on the floor of the already body-littered spaceship. There's some noise, and then Thor's crying over my body.
I'm much too injured to move, let alone speak to him. There's so much I wish I could say, but I'm already too far gone to voice any of it. This isn't the end, I know it's not.
We'll meet again, Brother. I promise.
The sun will shine down on us again.
These are my final thoughts before everything goes black. Before the ship explodes and I'm thrown into a vast expanse of nothingness.