Hi guys! So, first fanfiction ever... first creative writing ever shown to anyone really. So, I'd really really love feedback about my writing style, but please be gentle. I am new, but very enthusiastic and ready to learn!
I realize that this story might be a bit behind the times because both Thor and Avengers came out a few years ago now... but watching Thor the Dark World made me want to write a story in which Loki is a protagonist, dubious though he might be. If you can bare with me through the exposition, I promise you a romance story :)
Anyway, this story begins in a possible future of the story line post all three movies, when the chitauri and their master come looking for the tesseract, and then winds up in an AU of Thor.
Oh, and Marvel owns all the things. Except for Aislinn. She's all mine!
...
Guardian
"You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain."
They haunted him, those words. The Other had made good on his threat. Thanos' war – if war you could call it - had been as short as it had been bloody. With all the other Infinity stones, Thanos required only the tesseract to complete his plan to dominate the universe and destroy the sentient races. He had come for it, and to seek revenge for Loki's failure.
Loki looked up despairingly at the ruddy red sky of the dying Asgard, once bright and clear. All that remained of the city was ash and rubble. There were no Asgardians left alive to watch him suffer. The Chitauri and Thanos had left him to die alone, a slow death from a sucking wound.
Pain would be nice. Pain would remind me that I am still alive. Just.
He lay panting, propped up on some rubble, waiting for the end. His breaths were coming slower now – ragged and harsh. He tried to take his mind off the situation by remembering what had become of the others. They had all fought bravely - even he, Loki, had fought with all his strength. Never had he sought the destruction of Asgard. He had wanted to rule it, whole and beautiful and pure- everything he was not. Not anymore. But had he? Had he really coveted the throne? Or was seeking it only a way of punishing his family for hiding his past, for being raised in a shadow. It mattered little. All his family and friends were dead now.
Hogun had been the first to die, in the opening waves of the invasion. He gave his life to protect the Bifrost, and send warning to the other realms.
Volstagg and Sif had died before the gates of the palace, trying to give the others time to escape inside, trying to distract Thanos so that some of their people would have a chance of fleeing into the void.
Thor, Odin and Loki himself tried to defend the great vault: attempting to send the artifacts into oblivion before they fell into Thanos' hands. Loki had watched the last members of his family fall before him, burned away into ash. Now he was alone, and dying.
It had been for nothing.
What of Fandral? Loki thought. He did not know the death of that merry swordsman. Just as well. One less dark scene to watch replayed in his thoughts as he died.
His vision began to darken, and the world began to spin slowly, like motes of ash in the wind. This was the end, and he was so tired. So tired…
Loki awoke with a start, still clinging to life. He must have slept for some hours, as the light was beginning to fade from the sky. He watched, half conscious, as the light seeped out of his world. He closed his eyes again as the sun set on the last day of Asgard.
He was trying to recall a happy memory from his youth to blot out the images of death and destruction when he first noticed a light shining through his eyelids. It caused a starburst of pinks across his vision. He opened his eyes slowly and saw a dark figure illuminated from behind with a brilliant white light.
Loki…. Son of two kings and the founder of this destruction. Do you repent of your actions, Guardian?
The words whispered inside his head, somehow totally neutral: Neither male nor female, and without emotion. Loki was unsure of his ability to speak in response, but the voice continued without him.
The universe is in its final days, Guardian. All the nine realms die as Asgard does. The races are all but ash, and tomorrow, there will be no one to watch the sunrise. All the work of Gods and Men, gone without a trace. The Whisper seemed to cast around itself, searching for something whole and unharmed for a moment, before its dreadful words intoned on in Loki's mind: Poor lost soul. Raised to be a king without a throne. Raised to hate your blood. You needed someone to choose you above all others, but you spurned love and light before it could reach you.
For these many years, you have despised sentiment and made a mockery of love. What did you call it - the basest sentimentality. Love alone could have saved you. Love alone could have prevented this. The figure gestured to the ruins of the Asgardian palace, its once proud towers broken and scattered. A shame, seeing as love and devotion is all you ever truly desired, little prince.
The Whisper ceased for a moment, gazing out over the destruction. If it grieved, it gave no sign.
It turned back towards Loki, lifting a pointing finger towards the prince. There was a child of prophecy, who was born to save the nine realms. You were born to be her protector, but she died alone crying out for help . While she cried out, the Asgardians looked on in horror as you tormented the people of Midgard. Heimdall the Watcher could not see or hear her as he watched you that day, Guardian.
Loki was completely unsure how to deal with this assertion. He had never heard of such a child, or of his duty to protect anyone.
There was a single moment in time, when you could have chosen another path and prevented these events. The Whisper continued, One moment of honesty, of selflessness. You could have spoken the truth, and all the events that followed would be different. Will you go back, dark prince? Will you begin again?
His heart, though beating weakly, seemed to leap into his throat. A chance to fix everything? Before it went too far?
Very well, The Whisper said, again not waiting for his response, If that is truly what is in your heart. You will sleep now, and when you wake, you will remember nothing at all about this timeline – except this single lesson: Too far down the road of darkness, and you will not be able to stop.
The figure reached a hand towards Loki as though making a gesture of mercy: palm up and open. From its hand leapt a tremendous light that surged toward his prostrate, broken body. He felt as though he were on fire, that he was coming undone from the inside out. The world dipped and stretched in a torrent of light and sound – almost like being in the Bifrost.
And then there was nothing.