Thanos groaned, flexing his hand in the gauntlet. The Space Stone activated, opening a portal immediately behind the Titan. Thanos leaned back, falling back into the portal. As soon as he fell through it, the portal closed, leaving Stormbreaker to fall to the dirt below.
"Where did he go?" (Y/N) asked, leaning further into my chest.
I opened my mouth to reply, only to be interrupted by someone approaching.
"Steve?" the man called out, confusion written across his face and saturating his tone.
My stomach sank lower than the pits of Hel itself as I took in what was happening. The man had begun to slowly disappear, flakes rising off of him as his feet completely turned to dust. He reached out to Rogers as he fell, turning completely to ash before falling to the forest floor. Steve stumbled over, reaching out to touch the nothingness that the man had left behind.
The plan that Thanos had always spoken of during my time with him had finally come to its horrendous fruition. Half of all living things would be wiped out, erased from existence. Thanos had never told me what he had planned on doing afterwards, simply that he looked forwards to looking down on a grateful universe. Try as I had, I had been completely useless in preventing the lives of half the universe to be spared.
"Oh no." I breathed, still wanting desperately for the events before my eyes to be false. "No. It can't…"
"What is happening?" (Y/N) asked, her eyebrows raising in confusion. "What just happened?"
"(Y/N), no…" Thor murmured.
"What?" (Y/N) asked, holding out her hand as we stood up.
My worst fears were realized as (Y/N)'s skin begin to flake as Bucky's just had.
"No," I whispered, helping her to the ground and kneeling beside her. "No, no, no, I've only just found you again. It can't end like this, you can't leave me, you can't-"
I was cut off by her lips pressed to mine, and her arms wrapped around me as tightly as she had ever held me. Tears streamed down my eyes as I looked to Thor, hoping, praying that he might have an answer to my unspoken question.
"I'm scared." (Y/N) gasped in shaky, tearful breaths. "What's going to happen?"
"I don't know, my love." I responded, my voice cracking despite my attempts to remain strong for her. "But you'll be alright." I lied, running my hand through her hair, brushing the delicate strands out of her face and taking in her stunning beauty. "You're my brave little Valkyrie, remember?"
"Loki?"
"Yes?"
"I love you." She whispered, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath. "I always will."
As the last of her evaporated before my eyes, my ability to remain calm left with her. Hot tears streamed down my face, my mind reeling in shock, disbelief, and grief combined. I was faintly aware of Thor's hand gripping my shoulder in attempted comfort, but his efforts did nothing to contain the unbridled rage and sorrow that clashed within me. I had been lied to for nearly my entire life, and one by one had watched the ones I cared most deeply for be injured or killed while I stood helpless to stop it. The world seemed to draw in around me, sucking the air from my lungs while repeatedly grinding my stomach through the floor as a new wave of anguish washed over me.
"What happened, where is everyone?" Rogers asked, panting.
"What is this?" another said, walking up in a suit of the Iron Man armor, "What the hell is happening?"
"He did it." I breathed, forcing myself to stand.
"Oh, God." Steve said, reality setting in.
Turning to face Thor, my composure cracked further. His face was awash with disbelief and grief as well, and it was all I could to to approach him. He reached out to me first, a gesture for which I was grateful. Sharing the embrace we should have shared on the ship, we mourned with each other for our people, our family, and the ones we now would never see again.
"What do we do now?" Natasha said, helping Rogers to his feet.
"We call Fury." Steve answered, his stoic "captain" persona taking over to lead in the stressful situation. "And we hope to God that Stark made it out alive."