A/N: I've written three versions of this since the IW trailer released. LOKI IS NOT EVIL AGAIN, OK? I will fight anyone who says he is. I mean, just look at his face. He is terrified and about to cry and hurt. He is not giving up the Tesseract by choice.

Loki sank to his knees, staring around in horror. The ship was ruined, smoking and burned and blasted apart. But worse were the civilians. Dozens, hundreds of bodies lay strewn around the ship, unconscious or dead. The conscious ones were crying, moaning in agony and clutching dead loved ones. Loki was hurt himself, bruised and aching, but that pain meant nothing because Thor was gone, probably dead, too.

And all Loki could do to protect the shattered remains of his kingdom was make a deal with the devil.

An alien came stalking towards him through the wreckage, stepping over the Asgardians like they were garbage beneath his boot. He was bald, pale grey, and had no nose. He wore a tight black-and-white suit with pants that turned baggy above where they were tucked into his boots. Loki recognized him from his year spent in Thanos's clutches – Ebony Maw, Thanos's evil super-genius son. He sneered down at Loki.

"The Tesseract," he demanded, holding his wrinkled hand out.

Slowly, Loki summoned it, offering it to the alien while keeping a white-knuckled grip on it. His heart was racing, thudding against his ribcage. Ebony Maw's voice was half-muffled, drowned out by memories of Loki's screams during that year of hell. Gods, he couldn't survive that again.

You can't back out. You can't save yourself. Asgard – whatever's left of it – is all that matters.

Ebony Maw tugged it from his grip, smirking. "Excellent. A few years late, but this is probably better timing anyway."

"Are my people safe?" Loki asked, fighting to keep his voice from shaking.

Ebony Maw rolled his eyes. "Don't worry your little mind. They are worthless now, and will be left alone."

For a heartbeat, relief calmed him.

"You, on the other hand…" Ebony Maw started dangerously, sadistic joy painting his expression. "You defied him, and he is a man of his word. Therefore, as was promised, you will long for something sweet as pain."

Terror zipped through Loki's soul, and then Ebony Maw was kicking him viciously, knocking him out.

-MCU-

Thor paced around Strange's sanctum. It was crowded with heroes, both from Earth and beyond, and he knew that every single one could see his feelings. They could see the half-wiped off tear tracks on his cheeks, they could see the lightning sparking angrily around his hands, they could see his impatient flexing.

"Thor-" Tony started, reaching carefully towards him.

"Spare me your cautionary tales," Thor cut him off, forcing himself to suppress his lightning. "I will avenge my brother."

"We still don't know if he's really dead," Quill pointed out, his tone not quite managing optimism. "He could've just been captured."

"Or he could be working with Thanos," Steve suggested.

Thor whirled to face the captain. "He's not," he hissed.

Steve held his hands up. "I'm not saying it's willingly, Thor, I'm just saying he could be."

Thor shook his head, turning his back on his human friends. "Whatever you think of him, he is my little brother. He was trying to be good again. If he's alive, he's not working for Thanos."

Tony rested a hand on his shoulder. "If he's alive – and I hope he is – then I'll help you find him. We just… we gotta get through this first, ok? All of us."

No reckless revenge moves, is what he was saying. Thor knew that. He knew that his friends wanted him to live. He wanted to live. But he also knew that Thanos had stolen from him his last family member, the only one who never should've outlived him. The one he had spent years hoping for salvation for.

"I'll do what I can," was all he could say.

Tony smiled wryly, acceptingly, and Thor knew he understood. "Ok, buddy."

Outside, they heard a crash followed by screams. Glances were exchanged, powers activated, weapons unsheathed.

"Showtime," Strange said direly.

Thor swept out the doors first.

-MCU-

A pair of guards threw Loki into a small barred cell, slamming the door shut behind him. Loki hit the rough stone ground with a gasp, the impact jarring his new wounds and scraping up his arms. He flopped onto his back with a groan, really missing his shirt as he lay there regaining his strength. He rested his cuffed hands on his stomach, wincing as the metal dug into shallow knife wounds.

Dozens of them stung his chest and stomach, his wrists had been rubbed raw by his struggling, and his lungs burned from the waterboarding, but he knew the pain had hardly begun. Thanos had many minions, many crazed and creative and psychotic minions, who knew more torture methods than Loki cared to know existed, let alone undergo again.

He had to escape, and he had to do it now, while he could still walk.

Loki examined his surroundings. One wall of his cell was the same rough stone as the floor, but the other three were barred. He was in the middle of a row of similar cells, and there was another row across a walkway. The guards had left through a heavy metal door at one end of the room – Loki was alone.

He sat up, biting back another groan, and looked at his cuffs. They were thick, with a glowing green line running through the middle of each one – his magic. Using that would be out of the question while he still wore them, but the chain was thin, and he still had his Asgardian strength. Shifting into a crouch, he planted one foot on the chain and yanked – it broke with a sharp snap.

Standing, he moved to the bars. Carefully, he poked one, expecting a shock of some sort. When nothing happened, he waved his hand between two bars – still nothing. There was no forcefield, nothing but a wall of metal bars to pen him in.

Excellent.

Taking a breath to prepare himself, he grabbed one bar, planted his feet, and pushed. Slowly, squealing harshly, it caved to his strength, pushing out and to the right. Loki turned to the bar beside it and did the same, pushing it out and to the left. When he had finished, there was a gap just big enough for him to slide through, which he did.

Well, that was-

"Hey, looks like we put you in the wrong room-" a voice started saying. Loki looked up, seeing that the guards had opened the door. They froze, staring at him.

-easy.

Loki tore a piece of bar off and charged at the armor-clad pair. They tore their guns from their holsters and fired energy blasts at him. He tucked into a roll, swallowing down a hiss of pain. He reached them and kicked out, knocking over the guard on the left. Loki smashed his bar into the other's knee with one hand, snatching his gun away with the other. He sprang upright and shot them both in the face.

"Idiots," he muttered. "Thanks for that."

He rummaged through their pockets, finding a set of keys. He unlocked his cuffs, sighing in relief as he felt his magic come flooding back as they sprang off. Closing his eyes, he let it flow over him, then conjured a shirt. As its weight wrapped around him, he felt a little better.

Keeping both guns, Loki rose to his feet and peeked out the door, making sure no more guards awaited him. After cloaking himself from prying eyes, he slipped through the stone halls, finger resting beside the trigger just in case.

It took some wandering, but eventually he found a docking bay. It contained a few small grey shuttles – nothing impressive, but suitable for his needs. Shooting the guards and the people within, he opened the bay doors and hopped into one of the shuttles.

My brother may be dead, but his beloved humans aren't. Hopefully.

The engine sputtered to life, the shuttle shuddering a little as he took off. Following a map on the console, he steered it towards Earth.

"I'll protect them, Thor," he promised quietly. "It's what you would've wanted."

-MCU-

Thor flung out a bolt of lightning to shield Natasha as she was sent sprawling. He threw out another in a different direction to aid Quill. He kicked his own attackers as he did so, sending bolts of lightning arcing from opponent to opponent. As the electricity faded, Rhodey came swooping in from above, picking off the stragglers.

As the last one fell, Thor paused, panting heavily. Between his own opponents and helping the others from afar, he was exhausted. In all his centuries of life, he had never fought harder or longer. The others were feeling the strain too – they were falling more, missing more, getting hit more. But it was winding down, albeit gradually, and he thought they were winning.

"Thor!" Gamora yelled. "Behind you!"

He spun, but too late. Thanos scooped him up by the throat, sneering. "You and your brother, the fabled king and prince of Asgard. It was so easy to get you both into my clutches."

Into your… "Loki's alive?" Thor gasped, prying at Thanos's fingers.

Thanos chuckled, a rumble deep in his chest. "Oh, yes. But he's not enjoying it. Boy, do I wish I could be in that room with him. He's probably writhing in agony, screaming for his mommy."

Loki's alive.

Loki's in danger.

With a roar, Thor found new energy. From the core of his being, he unleashed a massive bolt of lightning, shoving all of its power at the hideous purple alien. Thanos roared as he flew backwards. Thor shot in the opposite direction, smashing into a few enemies as he crashed.

He hopped right back up and cleared the field in a single bound, smashing his foot into Thanos's face. "Where is my brother?" he snarled.

Thanos laughed. "It hardly matters, tiny king. By the time you find him, he will be a broken shell."

Thor growled, preparing to strike again, but Thanos was faster. He backhanded Thor, smashing him into the ground a few yards away. His head struck a rock. Stars exploded across his vision. Through them, he could see Thanos stalking towards him. Scarlet light was shooting towards Thanos. Thor knew he should move, but his limbs wouldn't cooperate. Thanos was launching into a grandiose speech about their inevitable failure-

For no apparent reason, Thanos paused, looking up. "What the…" Squinting, Thor followed his gaze.

A small grey shuttle was streaking towards him. With a frustrated growl, Thanos threw himself out of its path. It crashed, bursting into flames right where he had been standing. The scarlet jet stretched into a wall, shoving the flames towards him and away from Thor. Just before it crashed, someone leaped out of the back of the shuttle. The person landed between Thor and the flames, throwing up a green shield of his own as the flames overpowered the overtaxed scarlet one.

"Loki?" Thor exclaimed.

Loki's head jerked up, his eyes going wide as if he'd just realized whose life he'd saved. "Thor?"

In a heartbeat, they were hugging. Loki gasped in pain as Thor clutched him, and so did Thor, but neither stopped. "I thought you were dead," Loki rasped. He was… was he trembling?

Thor pushed him back a little, looking him over. He was pale, with dirt smudged over his face and into his mussed hair. There were small bruises around his right eye, and a nasty one on the left side of his jaw. He was panting harder than he should've been, there were tears in his eyes, and his shirt was too clean and definitely not what he had been wearing the last time Thor saw him.

"What did they do to you?" Thor growled, remembering Thanos's words: He's probably writhing in agony, screaming for his mommy.

Loki winced, shaking his head. "Not now. Please."

Thor wanted to press, but there was a brokenness in the last word that told him all he needed to know. He had been tortured, it hadn't been pretty, and there was more trauma to the story than Thor knew. And for that, Thanos would pay.

He nodded and helped his brother stand. Loki wobbled a bit, pain flashing in his eyes, but there was determination in his movements as he conjured a sword. "Ready?" Thor checked, lightning sparking to life around the hand that wasn't steadying Loki.

Loki's traditional helmet shimmered to life over his head, the horns gleaming gold. "Are you?" he challenged, squashing away his pain and fear as he scanned the battlefield.

Thor smirked. "Let's go."

Together, they plunged into the battle.

-MCU-

When the battle finally ended, Loki hardly had the strength to stand. He let his sword fall to the ground, slipping from heavy fingers. He started to follow it, sinking to his knees. Thor caught him, wrapping an arm around his torso. "I've got you," he soothed, easing him down to the ground. Loki turned to hug him, hiding his face in his brother's shoulder.

"We survived," Thor said, holding him close. "And we're together. That's all that matters."

Truly safe for the first time in too long, Loki was more than ready to believe that.

A/N: Just as Loki is not evil, he ALSO survives IW and Avengers 4. Am I understood, Marvel? There will be no redemption death arc. Only redemption and happiness. Thor survives, too, because if I have to comprehend one brother living 4,000 years without the other, I will implode.

I copied and pasted sections from Version 2 into this and torture was still a central part, but the first is pretty different. Maybe I'll post one or both of the other versions. Maybe I'll continue this. I don't know. I need this movie.