Watching Infinity War, I refuse to believe Loki of all characters would die in the first ten minutes, after making such a foolish gesture as to try and stab a huge titan with a tiny knife. Since it is completely out of character for someone as tricky and cunning as Loki, who gave cryptic messages/hints to his brother throughout the attack, I do not believe he is permanently dead, or dead at all.
This one-shot is my little unstable theory, but anything to save our favourite character which is Loki.
Maybe leave a review of your own thoughts on my personal headcannon, maybe it even makes some sense to another being in this world. It's a terrible fanfiction, I know, but enjoy.
_
The ship was under attack.
Not just by any enemy, one that made Loki's, prince of Asgard, heart stop cold. He had known that Thanos would track him down, he had known that, but is still felt surreal that he would finally be caught, just as he had at last began to bond with his brother, the God of Thunder, Thor. Of course his luck ran out.
He turned to his brother, knowing all hopes of sharing the bond they once shared as children would now be shattered. "Brother, we must evacuate the ship immediately."
Thor snapped his head around to face Loki, to scan his expressions for the fear that was etched across his face. "Who is this new enemy?" He asked, his tone not forgiving of any nonsense.
"There is no time, we must evacuate this ship, brother, the women and children first-"
"No Loki, you need to slow down and tell me why we should run. Who is in that ship that shakes you to your core?" Thor asked, gripping both of Loki's shoulders so he could look into his mischievous brothers emerald eyes and to prevent him from dashing the length of the ship.
Loki took a deep, shaky breath, closing his eyes before finally opening them to look Thor in the eye. "His name is Thanos, it was he who influenced my attack on New York those years ago, it was he who imprisoned me and manipulated me. He is the one enemy we must not attempt to fight, not as we are now, brother." Loki swallowed his fear the best he could, before continuing, "he showed me power I could only dream of possessing, power we simply can not match."
That was all Thor needed to hear to snap into action, he ran out of his quarters, but not before shouting out one last order to his brother. "lead the evacuation! Get every last man, woman and child of this ship, then get yourself off!"
Loki stared after him, stunned at the sudden change of character in his brother, he pleaded with himself to calm and level his breathing, before running out of the quarters to begin the evacuation.
"Heimdall! Korg! Evacuate everyone, women and children first, do not let them come to harm!" Loki ordered, picking up an Asgardian child and placing her onto an escape pod. He turned to Valkyrie, who marched up to him.
"What did you drag us into now, Lackey?" She asked, threatening. She was holding a small dagger up to his neck.
"Now is simply not the time!" Loki replied, his voice leaving no room for back talk as he pushed people onto the pods in order to save every last life.
"Where is Thor?" Korg asked.
"Buying us precious seconds." Loki replied as he came up to the two of them, looking sympathetically at the two whom he dragged into the chaos.
"Both of you, get into an escape pod."
Korg saluted the young prince, before heading off, but Valkyrie stood her ground, glaring into Loki's pained eyes.
"I am not leaving. I will fight to the death if I have to, but my duty to the king is undying, and I will not allow your mistakes lead up to his death." She spat the last word.
Loki stared back, stunned at her viciousness and quite frankly, he statement about his mistakes leading to Thor's likely demise... stung. He had only just began to mend to bridge that separated them, he had almost been given the chance to prove himself worthy of Thor's love.
To Hel if he was about to throw that all away.
"Brunnhilde, I must ask you a favour that might lead to your own death today." Loki whispered, so no one but Valkyrie could hear him.
"Will it save Thor?" She asked.
"If I may be allowed a second of optimism; it will save everyone." He said in a heartbeat.
"Then what am I to do?" She asked.
Loki looked to his left, where Bruce Banner was evacuating the last of the Asgardians.
_
"You really are the worst, brother." Thor groaned as he slowly recovered from the agonising sensation in his head. Loki had given Thanos the tesseract, a relic Thor had no idea Loki retrieved and possessed when releasing Ragnarok onto the now fallen Asgard.
"I assure you, brother. The sun will shine on us again." Loki said, addressing the brother Thanos had captured beforehand.
Thanos moved away from them, chuckling under his breath. "Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian."
"Well, for one thing, I'm not Asgardian... and for another, we have a Hulk." Loki replied before the green beast in question launched himself at Thanos in an eventually vain attempt to subdue him.
It did not take long for the strongest Avenger to be taken down.
It was time, now. It was save Thor or let him die in the hands of possibly the strongest madman in the universe.
"If I might interject... if you're going to Earth, you might want a guide." Loki said, coming out from his hiding place. "I do have a bit of experience in that arena."
"If you consider failure experience." Thanos sneered.
"I consider experience, experience." Loki retaliated, calmly. "Almighty Thanos, I loki, Prince of Asgard... Odinson,"
Loki glanced at Thor, with whom he directed a meaningful look, before looking away and down at his feet.
"The rightful king of Jotunheim, God of Mischief, do hereby pledge to you, my undying infidelity." Loki finished. An agonising second passed, but it felt like eternity, before Loki lunged the dagger at Thanos' head, only to be stopped by a force just inches away from his head.
"'Undying'? You should choose your words more carefully." Thanos threatened darkly, before reaching and enclosing his large hand around Loki's neck, lifting him feet above the ground, choking him.
Loki tried frantically to release the grip, only for it to tighten and crush his airways.
"You... will never be... a God." Loki gasped as he grew too weak to continue resisting.
A few seconds passed and a deafening snap resonated across the room to where Thor was restrained and gagged. He struggled against his restraints, trying to get to his brother, now limp in suspension. Thanos walked up to Thor, his footsteps thundering against the cold metal floor, and dropped the lifeless body at his feet with the promise of "no resurrections this time."
Leaving the ship with his children, Thanos released his hold on Thor, for him to drag himself across the ground to mourn his brothers demise.
_
Thanos, with his children, left the crumbling shipwreck, left Thor mourning his brothers death, blissfully unaware of one more escape pod leaving the abandoned spacecraft.
The eyes of Valkyrie scanned the large enemy ship, which turned to leave, to head towards Midgard and wreak even more havoc as Thanos searched the remaining infinity stones.
Leaning back in the chair, the form of Valkyrie shifted and the last of an unsuspected illusion dissolved.
A warrior died in the place of a coward, a coward who vowed to the warriors drifting spirit that she would not die in vain.
The occupant of the pod turned to a screen and sent out a distress signal, for the right people to find Thor, hands shaking and with usually straight, black hair instead in messy waves that suggested lack of care.
Emerald eyes looked around the pod, the has-been safe haven for the fallen Valkyrie, now with alcohol bottles looking more empty than ever. His tear streaked, pale face, unleashing more emotion than he had ever cared to show before now, mourned the loss lives yet to be lost, but guaranteed to be.
Thanos would not win this war, not if Loki had something to say about it.
As Valkyrie's last words to Loki were: "For Asgard."