(A/N - I started writing this quite some time ago and recently talked myself into actually posting it. This was originally meant to collect dust in a folder on my laptop. I hope this is half as good as I imagine it to be.

Lemme know how it is and if there is something that you would like to see here.

Also, I'm currently a huge, huge Loki fan so this is more or less inclined towards Loki, but that does not mean that the others are pushed away. I hope not. Lemme know if that happens too.

Disclaimer - All characters belongs to Marvel. I only own my wayward imagination.)

CHAPTER 1

Moments after the snap
Location: Unknown

He was floating. He was sure of that. But where? Where was he? What was he doing there? Why could he not feel or see anything? What had happened to him? And the most important question: Who was he?

Unfortunately, he had absolutely no answer to any of the questions that flitted through his mind. He had no recollection of anything and all he knew was the darkness that surrounded him, enveloping him like a mother cradles a child. But he was torn, unable to absorb the comfort given to him. He needed to know. He needed to know who he was, where he was, how he got there and what in the name of Helheim happened to him?

Helheim? What was that? Why did he know and fear that word? Why could he not remember anything?

"See you in Hel, monster!"

What? He thought to himself – as much as he could in his current state, which wasn't much. A brief sort-of-memory came to him. A memory of a truly horrible looking being with curved horns casing his dark face. Algrim. That was the name of the monster, but before he could remember anything else, the memory had disappeared as if it never was there.

He tried. He really did. But there was no getting back the memory that he had seen and yet he did not give up. He may not know anything about himself, but he knew that he would not and could not give up. No matter what. And so he latched on to the two things he did remember – Helheim and Algrim. Now only if they were a bit more helpful in telling him more about himself.

"Frigga is the only reason you are still alive and you will never see her again. You will spend the rest of your days in the dungeon."

He almost leapt with joy as another broken memory revealed itself. Well, he would have leapt had he had a physical form. He was so sure that he didn't have one now.

Now, what was the memory about? Frigga? Who was that? Certainly someone beloved to him if it was considered a punishment to keep him from seeing her ever again. And what was that about dungeons? Was he in those dungeons now? But would the dungeons not be more… well… dungeon-y? Like a prison made out of glass and metal. But how did he know that? And why did he know that?

And who was Frigga? Why did it feel it to be so important to know and remember her? Frigga…Frigga…Frig – mother! Frigga was his mother. He remembered now. But why was he being kept from her? Why would anyone do that to someone? To keep them away from their own mother?

He was desperate to know her, to remember her. What did she look like? Where was she? Was she worried about him? Then it came to him – a picture of a beautiful, fierce woman with curly brown hair and a loving smile. Oh, she was beautiful and somehow seeing her face moved him to tears. Why was he sad to see her?

But before he could find an answer to that disturbing question, another memory, other words came to him.

"Remember this place. Home."

And he remembered an old man with an eye patch and flowing white hair. Old and wise – the man oozed these two feelings. But there was something else, something that felt oddly comforting to him, something almost similar to how the woman, Frigga had felt to him. Based on just that feeling, he deduced that this old man was his father as Frigga was his mother. He had to be. He certainly looked and felt the part.

"I assure you, brother, the sun will shine on us again!"

Brother? He had a brother. Where was this brother of his? Was he worried about him? What did he look like? And why could he not remember anything about his brother?

He was getting frustrated, not knowing where he was, whether he was even alive or not. It was all very infuriating and while he was grateful for the tiny pieces of memories and spoken words, was it really too much to ask for returning his complete memory?

"You will... never be... a god!"

He would have gasped and flinched if he had been physically capable of such deeds, but alas he was not and had to watch in paralyzing fear as a humongous purple face came to mind. The being was huge, menacing and his eyes devoid of any mercy. The Mad Titan, he was called. And on his hand was a golden gauntlet with some sort of gems adorning it. Something told him that those gems were not to be messed around with.

He was trying to think about why he was so familiar with the gems but he was starting to panic and he realized that it wasn't him – the floating him, but the-him standing in front of the purple face who was panicking. He was in an emotional turmoil, panic and fear clutching his heart in a tight grip and yet in between all of that he felt peaceful. He knew, oh, he knew what was coming but he was finally peaceful, finally able to let go of the horrible life that he had led in the past few years.

And then came the guilt and it crashed into him like a rampaging Fenrir mixed in with Hulk. He had no business feeling peaceful when not a little distance away he could hear his brother's strangled and helpless cries. He wanted to run to his brother but had a feeling that his death might be the only way his brother could escape and so he picked up his nonexistent courage and faced the Mad Titan for one last time. For his brother.

He would have closed his eyes at what came next but he wasn't even sure if his eyes (did he still have them?) were open in the first place. He saw as a huge fist came forwards and the titan lifted him by neck with ease, like he weighed absolutely nothing and he probably didn't for the monster. Somewhere towards his left, the strangled cries turned into shouts of horror and then pleading and he uttered his final words as all life was squeezed out of him and he was probably thrown somewhere to the side. A 'nobody' in the grand scheme of things.

"We were raised together. We played together, we fought together. Do you remember none of that?"

The once cherished memories were now an assault on his conscience. He desperately wished for them to stop. He didn't want to know anymore. He was willing to accept the unknown darkness around him – anything to take away the emotional pain. But that voice. That voice belonged to this brother of his and after a few moments of struggle, he accepted the memory. And then he wished he hadn't. The pain and anguish on his brother's face was too much for him to bear but he continued to hold on to the image of a red caped, bearded man with long golden hair, standing on what he figured was a mountain.

He didn't know why his brother was so upset with him but the other man's words brought back some age old memories. Memories of two young boys playing side by side and chasing each other around an enormous room. The next memory was of the same two boys but a bit older, hiding in an alcove and trying to hold in their laughter as they waited for someone to pass the corridor they were in. Another one, of the brothers with some other children, training with each other and showing off their talents to their parents who were watching them.

And now the memories passed at rapid speed – too rapid even for him to catch on to except for a few broken images. An image of the mother scolding the brothers as their friends tried to escape unnoticed – now the brothers were older and definitely planning something as they stood and whispered in a dark corner – another memory of the older one protecting the younger one from some kind of physical threat by acting as a physical barrier between the two – another one of him showing his brother some magic trick and making him laugh out loud – and the images continued in such fashion till he started to realize that something had gone wrong because now the brothers fought, but not side by side, but against one another on top of a rainbow bridge and then again on top of some weirdly shaped building. As the memories showed more of the giant chasm between the brothers, he felt an ache build inside him, eating him from the inside. He wanted it to stop, wanted to shout and scream and beg for this torment to stop. But he had no voice. He was no one – nothing.

He continued to watch helplessly as he was thrown into the dungeons for some sort of betrayal, then the terrible news of his sweet mother's death, then usurping his father and the look of utter betrayal and hatred on his brother's face at their father's death which was most definitely his fault. Then came the tyrant and mentally unstable sister, massacring anyone in sight and the brothers were united once again and despite the bleak circumstances, he felt joy erupt in him when he realized that the brothers were once again fighting together and protecting their people. He cherished the hug he shared with his brother after decades as they both realized that they survived even if their home didn't and then came the end.

His end.

"I, Loki, Prince of Asgard, Odinson, the Rightful King of Jotunheim, God of Mischief"

Loki opened his eyes.

X-X-X-X-X

Location: San Francisco Suburbs, Earth/Terra/Midgard

Cassandra 'Cassie' Lang was listening to her favorite music and drawing a picture for her daddy's house (the other picture that she had drawn had been torn up by the annoying Government agents). Her daddy was her superhero and it also helped that he was an actual superhero too. Cassie paused in her drawing as she tried to pick a color for Hope's hair. Hmm…black or brown? Nodding and humming to herself, she settled on brown.

Hope was her daddy's new friend and superhero partner (which Cassie had wanted to be but was apparently too young for it) and Cassie liked Hope. She always played with her whenever daddy came to visit and she always had good jokes but most importantly daddy was always happy around her, well apart from the time when Hope had hated her dad and they didn't talk and only fought, but that was a story for another time. Her dad and Hope had just saved the world a few weeks before and that was what she was drawing. Hope and Daddy fighting and winning against bad guys.

"What do you think, Lexi? Will they like it?" Cassie asked, looking up across the table in her room at Lexi, her pet giant ant. A gift from her dad. Now Cassie had another ant, Anthony the Second, who was most probably on the drum kit as usual.

Lexi came forward and nuzzled the paper with as much affection as an ant could have and the little girl smiled and said, "That is what I think too. They will love it." With that she went back to coloring the picture.

Unknown to her, just outside her window, two of her neighbors disappeared in a cloud of dust and it didn't stop there. No. It went on to her whole street, her suburb, her city, her world and finally the whole of universe. All because, somewhere, the Mad Titan snapped his fingers in a desperate and mad urge to bring 'balance' to the universe.

What got Cassie attention was the 'clang' that ran through her house as something dropped in the kitchen. Her mom was in the kitchen, baking cookies for her. Did her mom drop something? Was she hurt? Cassie quickly got up and motioned Lexi to follow her quietly and the two went down the stairs.

"Mommy?"

No answer.

Worried with the lack of reply, the brown haired girl wondered whether there were bad guys in the house again. That had happened once. That was when she got to know that her daddy was a superhero and she had gotten Lexi.

Tiptoeing to the kitchen, she peered around the whole place, trying to find a hint as to where mommy was. But it was empty. A bowl of flour was lying on the floor and the flour was spilled all around it but there was no trace of mommy or anyone else. Only some dirt. Where did that come from? And where were the bad guys?

"Mommy?" she called again, hoping that her mom had only dropped the bowl by mistake and wasn't taken by some bad guys but there was once again no answer. Now she was getting scared and wished that she had a super suit like her dad or Hope.

"Lexi, can you find mommy? Please?" she asked her pet, who at once went to find mommy and Cassie went to pick up a spatula to fend off any bad guys.

Together, the pet and owner searched the whole house but there was no one there, not even in the basement. Scared, the little girl went out of the house to call Mrs. Avery, their neighbor. But instead of their neighbor, Cassie found chaos outside on the street. There was a red bicycle fallen on the ground that belonged to Mrs. Avery's son and Cassie's classmate, Kyle. Mrs. Avery was going around, calling out for Kyle while Gina, the middle schooler that lived diagonal to Cassie's house was calling out for her aunt and so on. Everywhere people were looking for loved ones, the dogs were barking and someone's pet hamster ran down the street in panic.

Cassie Lang ran inside the house just like her mommy and daddy had always told her to whenever she felt scared and locked herself in. Running to the landline, she dialed her daddy's phone but no one picked up and so she tried again and again before giving up and calling Jim Paxton, her step dad. Jim was mostly cool other than the times he and daddy fought and Cassie really liked Jim, so she was hoping that at least he would answer but when even on the fourth ring he didn't pick up, she almost kept the phone down. That was when she heard a faint 'Hello?'

"Jim?" she asked in a mixture of panic, relief and anger.

"Yeah. Cassie? Are you okay? Is mom okay?"

"I can't find mommy, Jim. And daddy is not picking up the phone and…and…" Cassie took a giant breath and continued, "…and people are missing. Kyle is missing and so is Gina's aunt, Ms. Sanders…"

"Cassie, honey, it is okay. I'm coming home." As he said that, Cassie heard a faint beep as Jim unlocked his car. "Have you locked the door? And the backdoor?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Stay with Lexi and Tony II. I'll be there in sometime." Jim said in a calm voice and then swore lightly at the traffic.

"Okay. I'll try to call mommy and daddy's cell." Cassie said and hugged Lexi's giant head in search of comfort. Anthony II had finally let go of his drum kit and was now sprawled on the couch next to Cassie's.

"You do that. Don't be scared. I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"Ok. Bye."

And for the next fifteen-twenty minutes, Cassie kept on trying to get in touch with anyone – mom, dad, Hope and even Hope's dad, whose number was given in case of emergencies. But no one picked up. She looked up in fear as the front door unlocked and then breathed out in relief as Jim ran in the room and picked her up to hug her.

Between tears, she told Jim about everything that happened in the past forty five minutes and Jim calmed her down. He wanted to go and call out for Maggie but he had seen his own partner turn into dust, had seen their captain, their friends, suspects and civilians turn into dust particles and fall to ground. The roads were jammed with cars without their owners. Even now, he was getting alerts about accidents and panic that was starting to set in. And this was only San Francisco. Who knew what was happening everywhere else? Hell, he had even seen a news reporter on television, reporting from London, disappear into thin air.

He needed to get in touch with Scott and his people. This had to be some sort of superhero stuff. There had been news of an alien ship in New York. Again. Maybe this had something to do with that. Maybe Scott would know where Maggie went because Jim was a few moments away from a full blown panic attack and the only thing stopping him was the little girl in his arms. He needed to be strong for her. No time to breakdown now.

"Ok, Cassie. Which one of dad's numbers did you call?"

"All of them."

"Ok. Ok." Jim said, setting the girl down on the couch. "What about daddy's friends? Uncle Luis? Did you call him yet?"

"No." Then Jim went on calling all of Scott's associates till finally someone called Dave picked up and said that both Luis and Kurt were alright, but their clients had just turned to dust and disappeared.

"What about Scott?"

"He is not picking up but then again he was working on his superhero stuff so who knows where he is."

"Last known location, Dave."

"He went to meet Pym. So, probably his house at the beach. That's all I know man."

"Got it."

"I'll meet you there then."

"What? No. No." But by then Dave had already hung up and Jim sighed. He really didn't want to work with Scott's so called reformed friends but there seemed to be no other choice. Running a hand over his face, he turned to smile at Cassie and told her to put on her shoes. They were going to find out where daddy was.

X-X-X-X-X

Location: Titan

Tony continued to stare at the barren land, not seeing anything but not wanting to take his eyes off and face the reality. He had been in that same kneeled position for long enough that his knees were aching with a vengeance but the pain meant nothing to him. What could aching knees or a wound in the gut mean to a man who just lost everything? He lost the kid… his kid in everything except blood. There was no pain beyond that and yet there was. The pain of not knowing what happened back home. Whether his friends were alive or not, whether Pepper…? No, it was better to stare at the land and not see anything else than remember that he could have lost a lot more than his kid and newly acquainted friends.

While Tony was in a state of despair and shock, Nebula was overloading with emotions. Over the years, as parts of her body had been chipped off and replaced with machines, she had willed herself to turn into a machine. Unfeeling and uncaring. But now, after years of unresolved tension, she and Gamora had finally moved on and become sisters once again and once again Thanos came in between them. Like he had always done. Except, this time, he took her away forever, leaving behind a broken Nebula.

The blue alien was burning with anger and hatred, but the one emotion that surpassed them all was grief. Grief over her lost sister, grief over the death of her sister's friends, whom Nebula had partially started to like. In her current state, she even felt grief for the poor human child who had been dragged into a war that was beyond his years and had to pay the price. Despite all these emotions, what kept her moving forward was the mechanical part of her – the part that told her to go repair the ship so that she could get out of Titan and start searching for Thanos. The next mission. Always the next mission. But the emotional and still alive part of her would not let her move. It made her stay standing where she was, staring at the mourning human, wanting to join him and yet wanting to run away.

She was at war with herself.

It could have been mere minutes or even years, before Thanos' least favorite daughter felt herself moving forwards. Blinking her eyes in surprise, she wondered what had prompted her to move and then she saw it. The kneeling human (how was he still kneeling?) was swaying slightly as if his knees were no longer able to hold his weight, but even then he didn't move from his mourning position.

Normally, she would not have even cared. Would have just left him to his own devices and simply left. But these were special circumstances and in her grief clouded state, Nebula went to check up on the human.

"You." She said as she neared the human and realized that her voice sounded weird even to her own ears. She saw the man tense and stopped a bit away from him. "You are shaking… are you… hurt?"

"I'm… fine." Tony said gruffly, as he ran his hand over his face. Any chance of not facing the reality was now gone. With a start, he realized that the alien was right, he was shaking. His hands had slight tremors going through them and he was sure that they kept increasing the more he stared at them. His legs were completely numb and he knew that if he tried to get up, he would immediately lose balance.

A small part of his brain suggested that he was probably in shock. As soon as he had that thought, he realized that he was feeling cold despite the hot sun. Bringing his shaky hands to his chest, he pulled his hoodie close to him and zipped it all the way up. Tony gritted his teeth and tried to pluck up his strength as he stood up from his position. If he wasn't getting to ignore the situation, then he would for sure try to do something about it. Hell, he made his first suit in a cave in Afghanistan with scraps. He was Iron Man. He could do anything.

And so the hero kept repeating this as a mantra till he was safely able to stand up on his shaking legs. He turned his head right and then left, taking in the area and the situation. Gone was the emotional Tony of the recent years, the one who had successfully worked through some of his issues. Now it was time for the analytical and cold hearted Tony. Till they could find a way to reach Earth that is. He wasn't sure what he would find back home.

"Okay! I'm stuck on a god awful planet, in the middle of who knows where with a blue, cyborg alien. What next?" Tony mumbled to himself, rubbing his palms together to get some warmth back in him. Dammit! Why was it so damn cold here?

"We are on the ruins of Titan, at least a hundred light years away from any sort of habitable planet but a day away from the nearest jump point and we need to get off this planet before the night falls because it only gets colder here." Nebula said in a monotone. At Tony's raised brow, she tapped her mechanical ear in answer.

"Now, the main question is: How did you get on this planet?" she asked, looking Tony up and down as if that would give her an answer.

"That ugly ring thing over there." Tony said, pointing to the crashed spaceship towards his left. "We crashed it, so that's no use. I'm Tony by the way. Tony Stark, Iron Man." He extended his hand towards the alien.

Nebula stared at his hand for some time before remembering Quill trying to teach Groot different handshakes and tentatively gripped the Terran's hand. "Nebula, Galaxy-Class Killer."

"Assassin! That's great." Tony said enthusiastically, looking around for the ship she came in. "I know some assassins back home."

Natasha and Clint's faces popped up in his mind as soon as he said that and he wondered whether they had survived, if Clint's family, Pepper… Pushing the thought away from his mind, he went for his most trusted defense mechanism: humor and deflection.

"So, how did you get here, Smurfette? Can I call you Smurfette? You look like a deadly version of her if you know… she was like an assassin or something." He said rapidly.

Nebula tilted her head and stared at him. "You talk too much. It gets annoying. My ship did not have a good landing. I suggest we take the Guardians' ship and siphon some fuel from mine for the journey." With that she walked off towards a weird blue ship and Tony trailed off behind her, happy for something to do.

X-X-X-X-X

Location: Wakanda, Earth/Terra/Midgard

The silence that had settled over the surviving Avengers and their allies was broken by sounds of running. And a rhinoceros. Atop the animal was W'Kabi, released from custody only a few days prior to this battle. Following closely behind him was M'Baku, leader of the Jabari Tribe and some of their Tribes' warriors.

"Okoye!" W'Kabi yelled and jumped down from his ride, running up to his wife to check up on her.

The general lifted her head from the ground, where she had been staring at the dust that was once her king and friend. Turning to look at her husband, she said only four words. Four words that rang out clearly and halted all of the warriors in their stride.

"The King is dead."

Silence.

"Long live the Queen." M'Baku said after the initial shock of the words. He hoped that Princess Shuri had survived this battle, for now she would be the glue that held them together. And he liked the Princess. She was definitely brighter and snarkier than anyone else he knew and that was a good thing in his books.

Those words jarred Okoye and W'Kabi out of their shock and the general nodded and straightened herself up. She was now to protect the Queen of Wakanda. But for that, she needed to first find Shuri and so she barked orders and got transportation for herself and the remaining Avengers, who mostly worked on auto-pilot, still not having come to terms with the situation they suddenly found themselves in.

As they neared the palace, Okoye could clearly make out Shuri, Queen Mother Ramonda and Nakia standing on the landing pad. They must have been alerted of the warriors' return. Although it didn't seem like they were informed of T'Challa's fate, if their hopeful glances were anything to go by.

The leader of Dora Milaje steeled herself for delivering the horrible news as she walked towards the royal family. She could feel her husband and M'Baku following her, a step behind her, but standing in support of her. She could see some of the warriors helping Bruce out of his giant suit off to one side. She also knew that the heroes followed her at a respectable distance, only now coming out of their initial shock.

Focusing back on the task at hand, the warrior approached the current and the former Queen, looked straight into Shuri's eyes and brought her arms up in a cross over her chest, giving the Wakandian salute. By the sound of feet stomping and arm braces clanging, she knew that everyone else had followed her example and now the news was out in the open.

"No." a faint whisper left Shuri's mouth as she took in the warriors' stance. Soon, but not soon enough, she felt her mother's shaking arms go around her and Nakia moving to stand next to her, one hand on her back in silent support.

"Queen Shuri," Okoye muttered, just loud enough to be heard by Shuri and Ramonda.

Years of training and her childhood lessons were the reason that Shuri brought her own hands up in salute and said in a wavering voice, "Wakanda forever!"

As the warriors repeated her cry, Shuri turned around, her head held high and walked back into the palace. It would not do her any good to break down in front of the very people who now depended on her.

X-X-X

As he watched her from far, Thor couldn't help but admire how well the new and young queen held her own in the face of such adversity. The Avengers and their allies had watched the quick crowning of the new monarch by the hastily convened council. Apparently they had decided to forgo some tradition that took place. Thor was reminded of his own coronation aboard the spaceship – an event without fanfare or tradition, shared between a lost people and their equally lost king or in this case, the queen. Now, the council was gone and finally the mother and daughter had broken down into tears for their lost son and brother. The heroes stood to one side, unsure of what to do with themselves. Soon enough Okoye and Nakia asked them to go and freshen up before meeting up in the throne room to discuss their next step.