The screams of the Asgardian citizens stopped before the fight on the Statesmen reached its end.
With his hands trembling at his sides, Loki recognized the silence for the defeat it was, even before Thor was captured, and though he struggled against the rubble warped around him like metal tendrils, keeping him trapped and immobile as his friends risked their lives for him, Loki knew well his efforts were useless.
Nothing they'd done had mattered since Thanos had tracked the Tesseract's signature to their vessel.
It seemed almost absurd to think that he could very well be responsible for the fall of Asgard twice within a single lifetime, let alone within the span of a handful of days.
Since he'd returned to Thor's side, his mind had conjured castles, even considered – for an instant – the possibility of a future, but now that future lay in the ash at the Mad Titan's feet, in the soot staining Thor's agonized expression as he watched Heimdall die, in the blood of their people wetting the ground with near-black puddles.
Loki had been a fool to think he might live through this, but Thor still had a chance.
He just needed time.
And the bluffs rolled easily from his silver tongue, tasting like bile, acidic and sour, despite their sweetness of sound. As Loki stepped forward to pledge his allegiance to the Universe's great destroyer, he couldn't help catching a glimpse of Thor's despair, couldn't quash the desire within himself to offer some subtle reassurance that this was not yet another betrayal. The blade conjured in his palm, concealed by his vambrace, bit determinedly into his flesh, yet Thanos didn't look fooled, merely amused, a scientist watching a rat perform an unexpectedly delightful trick.
Closer.
Loki grit his teeth, struggling as he was to keep an eye on Thor and the Children and Thanos. It seemed that the sole being believing his lies was the one person Loki didn't want to fool, which was a death sentence in more ways than one.
A little more.
He lunged-
"Undying?" Thanos scoffed as Loki threw his remaining will against the blue aura arresting his movements. He might have tried to fight the rain. "Poor choice of words."
It was true.
He'd intentionally made the thought of killing him, if only for irony's sake, far too tempting, too inviting to resist, and once he was dead, Thanos would have everything he'd wanted – his life and the Space stone.
But Thor would survive this day.
It was hardly heroic – dooming the universe for the sake of one man. And Loki doubted Thor would do the same were their positions reversed, however… Loki failed to remember when he had ever claimed to be a hero.
The bone-crushing grip wrapped around his throat was expected. A relief, even.
But as the pressure grew around his flesh and behind his eyes, a cruel smile crawled up the Mad Titan's cheeks. It didn't worry Loki until the grip around his throat loosened enough to allow for air to pass through, because that wasn't supposed to happen. Thanos was meant to kill him, and leave Thor to mourn.
It was, after all, in his nature to be cruel.
But, instead, the Mad Titan set him down on his feet. Even without looking, Loki knew there was hope in his brother's eyes. Unfortunately, all he could feel was dread. "You pretend to be strong, Laufeyson," Loki forced himself not to flinch at the old address, as his mind chased itself into knots trying to decipher what new game Thanos was playing. Then he looked over to Thor, "but I know whose name you cry out in the dark."
And Loki felt his heart freeze in his chest. "No."
He lurched, blades once more appearing in his palms, drawing from his own seidr, and the illusion that kept him Aesir, but shackles of cold, gray flesh clamped over him, seizing his arms, forcing him to watch as Thanos moved towards the immobile and helpless Prince of Asgard. Thor looked to him, a question in his gaze. And fear. Fear from the son of Odin, the one and only worthy king. Though his bruised throat protested at the abuse, Loki pleaded, "No, please!" Thanos didn't hesitate. Thor's eyes widened, realization setting in like an infection. "Forget my conditions. I'll do anything you ask!"
When Proxima and Corvus tightened their grips on his arms, he slumped deliberately, as though defeated, and in their instant of surprise, ripped free to plunge a dagger deep into the muscle of Corvus' shoulder, who reared back with a roar at the same time that Proxima backhanded Loki across the mouth with a blow that would have left a human broken beyond repair.
Tasting blood, Loki whipped his head up to see Thanos place his gauntlet on the interior hull, his golden-plated fingers tearing at the tacky upholstery until he reached the machinery and pipes within, then with all the ease of plucking a flower, dug into the structure to tear out a gaping hole.
"Stop it!" Loki screamed over the cacophony of air rushing into the vacuum, writhing, bucking against his captors, though they were all that prevented him from being sucked out, as well. He'd tear his own arms off if that was what it took. Even as Proxima's nails buried into his skin, the pain barely registered. "Thor owes you nothing! It was I who betrayed your trust!"
For one horrible fragment of time, the titan looked down at him with pity.
"And, if I recall," muffled sounds of panic and rage bubbled behind Thor's gag as Thanos reached for him, "you were promised a fate worse than pain." And he plucked Thor out of his bindings, then without giving him even enough time to speak, cast him into the bottomless abyss of space.
Abruptly, Loki stopped fighting.
He stared wordlessly after the retreating speck of Thor's form, unmoving even after he was released. He didn't acknowledge the Titan's departure through a rift he'd carved, nor a last parting barb thrown his way, "Where are your words now, Silvertongue?"
And as the ship warped and creaked and groaned around him, its interior decompressing, its exterior panels stripping away to expose his unprotected form to the abyss, what little artificial gravity remained brought him crashing to his knees.
A single thought passed through his mind-
It's cold.
- before the world exploded into light and all that he was vanished into oblivion.