Now if you've read my other Avengers Story, 'The Souls', you'll know how bitter I am about Avengers: Endgame.
If you haven't read that, then you're about to find out just how bitter I am about Avengers: Endgame.
I am very bitter.
So I have made it my mission in life to fix it.
And for those who are waiting for an update to 'The Souls' I promise I'll get to that immediately, but I just had to get this baby out of my system first.
Okay, I'll shut up so you can read now.
-Leeh
:::
Thor was happy. He really was. He smiled as he walked around the remains of the battle field.
They had won the great war. They had lost many, many battles along the way, but now, they had won the war.
And Thor had to admit… he had some amazing teammates on his side. Really, really amazing friends.
In all his years with the Avengers, Thor had always known himself to be the strongest one. Despite what The Hulk always said, he knew with 100 percent certainty that he was the strongest one. But now, he was only about 90 percent sure.
Because Thor he had seen Tony Stark hold all 6 infinity stones, and survive. And sure, it would take him a long time to recover, but that young African Princess genius had assured them that she would do everything in her power to make sure that he recovered fully.
And also, he had seen that woman from space… she had gone hand to hand with Thanos and had left the great purple monster speechless.
And Rogers… Captain Rogers had been able to wield Mjolnir. Thor had only been a little jealous. Mostly, he had been proud of the little man. And happy that he had someone to fight by his side as his equal.
He hadn't had that since Loki…
Thor swallowed hard. He had tried not to think about him. Tried so, so hard not to think about his little brother, but now that he had started, he doubted he would stop.
Thor's feet dragged to a stop, right where he was. He sighed deeply, squeezing his eyes shut.
Loki.
He was dead.
Actually dead.
For five years, Thor had been grieving. Five years of eating and drinking himself into a stupor, because that was the only way he could deal with it. By not dealing with it.
He had been prepared to go on another five years doing just that, and he probably would have if Banner and that sweet rabbit hadn't come to fetch him for another fight.
He had had hope for the first time in years. Hope to redeem himself in everyone's eyes. In his own eyes. Hope to reverse Thanos's snap.
And that hope had panned out. They had done it. Thor had done it.
But Hope was a fickle thing.
A dangerous, painful thing. Because when those portals had opened, and all those people walked through them… Thor had had hope. Just a little hope that maybe Loki...
Maybe he would…
Thor swallowed down another lump down his throat. He shook his head quickly. He couldn't keep thinking about that.
He looked up, determined to be happy. Because this was a joyous day.
On the other side of the field, an aircraft had just landed, and the Iron Man was being levitated onto it by the sorcerer, Doctor Strange. Behind them, Tony's wife, the Iron Woman, followed, her face the epitome of strength as she held back tears. Instead, she was holding the hand of the man of spiders, Thor had never seen the boy before, but by the way he had interacted with Tony, Thor could only assume that he was Stark's son.
Shuri, as he had learned was the name of the Princess, was the last to board the aircraft, but not before sharing a hug with the man known as the Black Panther. He was the King of Africa, or something like that. There were so many new people, and Thor was having a hard time keeping up with them.
He had had a short conversation with Bruce who had basically filled him in all the new Avengers and new developments.
One of the biggest surprised was when he saw the Vision and Wanda embrace in a passionate kiss.
He didn't know if this was strange or not, but they seemed happy so... he was happy for them. In fact he was kind of proud. After all, he had been a key part in creating Vision, which basically made him his son.
Yes, Thor's son had found love with a beautiful, powerful woman. So yes, he was very proud.
Another new development that intrigued Thor was Bucky.
The Winter Soldier. Thor had seen this Bucky fight valiantly with a gun and his metal arm, taking out many of Thanos's minions as he went.
Only seconds after the battle was over, the man had dropped his gun, and had bellowed.
"Steve!"
Next to Thor, Steve had whipped around, letting Mjolnir fall to the ground as he cried out, "Bucky!"
The two collided in what looked like a painful embrace. And they hadn't let go for a while afterwards.
Thor had tilted his head at the scene, "I never knew Rogers had a beau." He had said as he watched them.
Behind Thor, the man with wings had smirked, "Beau? Yeah. Yeah, totally. Bucky is absolutely Steve's… beau. You should spread the word on that alright?"
Even now, ages after that moment, Steve and his beau were sat amongst some rubble. Heads bent close as they spoke softly to each other.
Thor smiled. He was so happy for Steve. He deserved love more than anyone Thor knew, after all he had lost in his long life.
He deserved happiness. They all did. He had even seen Valkyrie speaking closely with the strong woman, Captain Marvel. During all the conversations Thor had forced about Valkyrie's own love life, she had told him multiple times that she was not interested in any of that. But the way she stared at this woman now... she looked rather interested. Thor hoped this meant what he thought it meant.
Valkyrie didn't need a lover, but it sure would be nice to see her smile like that more often.
Hell, even the Black Widow was smiling. She and Clint Barton were walking the battlefield, his arm around her shoulder. It still baffled Thor that the two were not romantically involved. He had been amazed to find out about Clint's wife and children.
But he guessed that not all soul mates had to be of the romantic sort.
After all, Thor's soul mate was his brother…
Thor's smile slipped off.
Loki…
He had tried not to think about him. He had tried so hard. But seeing all this happiness… seeing everyone with the people they loved… he just wanted his dear little brother back.
Well… 'dear' may have been a bit of a stretch. Loki could be a right bastard when he wanted to be.
Thor couldn't even count all the times his brother had tricked him, or stabbed him, or turned him into an amphibian.
They had had their differences. Many of them. But in the end, they were always Thor and Loki. The princes of Asgard.
And in the end… in the end they had been together, They had been together like they never had been before. Fighting side by side. About to rule their home, side by side.
About to be the brothers Thor had always wished them to be.
His biggest dream had always been to once again be as close to Loki as they had been as children, and that had seemed to finally be coming true.
And then it had all been ripped out from under his feet.
His brother was killed. Killed and dropped at his feet.
Five years, and not all the food and drink in the world could even begin to try and cover that up.
He had had a blissful day of battle, where he had been too busy fighting to miss Loki. But now the fighting was done and… and it seemed that Thor was back to square one.
The smile had been completely wiped from his face. His feet glued to the spot and his teeth clenched as he tried to keep traitorous tears away.
He just really, really wanted his little brother back.
Thor drew in a deep breath as he opened his eyes once again.
He just kept looking down at his feet, afraid that if he looked up to see more families reuniting, he would cry for real. And he really didn't want that to happen.
If he cried for Loki now, he would never stop.
Thor was about to give up on trying to be happy for everyone, and head back to… well, he didn't know where. Just away from here for the moment.
He was about to turn away when he felt something slide over his foot. He turned his head, and smiled when he saw the serpent beginning to wrap around his leg.
Oh wow, it was gorgeous.
He really did love snakes.
Thor's smile was small, but it was real as he bent over to pick it up.
It was a beautiful black serpent. It seemed to glow in the dim light around him, making the strange markings along it's scales seem to shine a dark blue.
Thor's smile was slowly widening as the snake slithered around his hands and upper arms.
"I should take you home with me," Thor smiled at the snake, "Would you like that, little guy? Oh yes, I think I'll take you home with me."
"Well it's about time."
The smile froze on Thor's face.
Ear… Earth didn't have talking snakes, did it?
And… and certainly not snake's that sounded like…
It happened slowly, and yet it seemed so instant.
The snake grew in Thor's arms. growing until it was too big to be a snake, and then growing until it no longer looked like a snake. All the while, the smile on Thor's face vanished, until he was staring with wide eyes and a slack jaw.
Thor could do nothing but stare. He didn't know how long he just stood there, with him in his arms. His brain refused to function. Refused to understand what the hell was going on. Refused to think that maybe... maybe this was real.
The smile on his face, showed that he knew exactly what was going on in Thor's mind.
"Yes," he spoke again, answering the unasked question, "It's me."
Still, Thor said nothing. He couldn't tell his mouth what to do if he tried.
"I must say, it's been a terribly boring five years." he spoke again, not realizing that his voice was throwing Thor deeper and deeper into his state of shock, "Being dead isn't nearly as fun as it is when I'm just pretending. It was a relief when Stark's snap revived me. Would you believe me if I swore I'd never do that again."
He didn't receive an answer, and he hadn't been expecting one, but he still kept going.
"Of course if you were to believe me I'd still take you for a fool. I haven't just become a trustworthy Avenger all of a sudden." He rolled his eyes at that, "Although I must say, after all of this, I suppose I don't hate you all as much as I did. I do hate you the least of course, which I'm sure you know you should take as a great honor."
Still, Thor could do nothing but stare.
He smiled that barely there smirk as he stared right back, "I just told you I don't hate you brother. It took me five years of being dead to get that out."
Still, Thor stayed unblinking.
"Well, if you won't say something, would you at least put me down now?"
He didn't move.
"Seriously Thor, you should really put me down, people are starting to turn and stare."
Thor couldn't care less. He couldn't bring himself to think about anyone else. He could barely bring himself to think at all, let alone about anything but this. This right here, right now.
He blinked for the first time in a long time, starting to come back to himself. Starting to understand that this was happening. That this was real. that right now, in his arms, he was here.
But still, no words could make it past his frozen lips.
And then he spoke again, "Forgive me brother, for ruining this oh so tender moment, but i do have to say that I don't know why, but you look spectacularly terrible."
And that seemed to be the single drop to break the dam that was Thor. He let in a shuddering gasp, that sounded suspiciously like a sob.
"Loki," he breathed out.
Loki's smile widened, "There it is."
"Loki." Thor sobbed out again, "You're... you're alive. You're here, you're... you're here."
"Yes we've established that part, brother." Loki sighed.
Thor's sob turned into a loud laugh, and then his arms were wrapped as tightly around his brother as they would go.
"Loki," he breathed into his brother's shoulder, "Loki."
Now that his face was buried in Thor's hair and no one could see him, Loki allowed his smile to grow, and his eyes to squeeze shut. His arms wrapped around Thor's ample waist, and held him just as tightly. His breath hitched when he noticed the tell-tale wetness at the back of his neck. He felt Thor's shoulders shake under his cheek, and Loki did everything in his power to hold it together.
It didn't help that he could hear Thor's voice, smaller than it had ever been, whispering his name over and over again.
Loki held him tighter. "I'm here, brother," he said, his own voice breaking, "I'm right here."