To bookloverZ: I am in fact in the process of publishing a novella called Asylion. Keep an eye out.
I saw Endgame (they did something similar to what I was planning), so I will be incorporating what I can. Anyway, spoilers for Endgame.
X
"Maybe you're not so bad after all."
"Maybe not."
"Thank you. If you were here, I might even give you a hug."
The bottle stopper landed in Loki's hand with a satisfying smack.
"I'm here."
Thor smiled.
"Come here, you."
For whatever reason, it wasn't actually awkward to hug, for the first time since Svartalfheim. Loki had some trouble relaxing into it, but wrapped his arms around Thor anyway. For a long moment, they simply held each other, feeling each other's breaths until they synchronized. Then it was over. Thor was still grinning; Loki rolled his eyes for what felt like the millionth time.
"Come on, brother, that wasn't so bad."
"Last time we actually touched, you were zapping me with an obedience disc. Before that, you were threatening me with your beloved hammer, which is tragically no longer with us. Then of course, there was Svartalfheim. You'll understand it's not the best of associations."
"About that. What happened on Svartalfheim, anyway? I checked for a pulse, I told Heimdall to send someone to bring you back, but-"
Loki shrugged and chuckled simultaneously. "You probably won't believe this, but I honestly have no idea. I woke up less injured than I was before, found my way back to Asgard, and I guess you sort of know what happened next." Proper laughs, now. "How long do you think whoever they sent kept looking?"
"Loki, the Statesman does have a brig, just in case you've forgotten."
"Actually, I made sure all they can remember is that they didn't find me. Or all they 'could' remember, anyway. They're probably dead."
That was a grim thought, but unfortunately likely. Asgard's entire population had been reduced to a few hundred on board the Statesman. Saving them from extinction may have only bought them a few centuries before they died out completely. Thor decided to change the subject.
"Okay, how did you get off Asgard? I didn't see the Commodore after you took it to the vault. I figured you'd found somewhere else to go, if you even wanted to leave..."
"Of course I came back. You're hopelessly lost without me, and accordingly, everyone here owes me a huge favor. As for 'how'..."
Loki opened that pocket dimension Thor would rather die than admit to envying. A familiar blue cube materialized between his hands. Thor didn't know whether to laugh or strangle his brother, which was nothing new.
"I had a little help from an old friend. It didn't want to die any more than I did."
Thor settled on laughter. "Grab anything else while you were in there?"
He'd meant it as a joke, but Loki answered anyway, trickster that he was.
"Gungnir and the Casket."
"Of course you did. Hang on to them for me, okay?" Loki nodded. Thor would never admit it, but he was mildly impressed. He grabbed Loki behind his head, just like old times.
"Brother, I have missed you. I'm sorry I didn't say this before, but I'm glad you're not dead. Let's go check on everybody else."
X
"Don't worry, brother. I have a feeling everything's going to work out just fine."
As if on cue, something caught Thor's eye. He turned to ask Loki if he recognized it, but stopped cold at the look on his face, which he could only describe as abject terror.
"Who are they?"
Thor couldn't remember Loki ever letting fear show. Maybe concern, once or twice, such as when he said they had to leave Jotunheim. Of course, he'd been absolutely right. But this was different. This was his brother's worst nightmare, far worse than Ragnarok. After what felt like an eternity, he finally spoke.
"You once asked me who controlled the would-be king. I- couldn't tell you, but you should have kept asking."
With that grim proclamation, Loki spun on his heel and began corralling passing Asgardians. "Come on, get in the escape pods. They can get you to Midgard; you'll be safe there."
Thor was dumbstruck. It felt so much like Ragnarok all over again, but there were even fewer of them this time, and Loki had jumped straight to evacuation. Time was supposed to be nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Something in the universe had broken and allowed all of the things to happen to them, within the span of a week. It would have made more sense if it were a dream, more specifically, a nightmare.
After a long moment, Thor realized he needed to help out. Valkyrie was already fully armored and drawing her Dragonfang. She was certainly good in a fight, but he knew that she couldn't help with this one.
"Hey." He grabbed her arm, and she swatted at him.
"Your Majesty, just because it's a crisis doesn't mean I'm letting you get all familiar-"
"Get in a pod."
She stood for a moment with her mouth open, incredulous. "There's a huge battle coming. We need all the help we can get!"
"If I don't make it, you need to take care of them. I'll do what I can to hold them off. Just go."
Without another word, he shoved her into a jam-packed capsule and sealed the door. He caught one last glimpse of her landing on top of the two young women who'd been keeping Skurge company at the Observatory. Then a ring of explosives fired and the pod shot off to hopefully land on Earth somewhere. Nothing further to be done.
That scene was repeating itself all over the ship. Thor had taken a head count the day after Ragnarok. The Asgardians numbered around seven hundred, about double the capacity of the escape pods. Half of his tiny kingdom would find their glorious death before the day was out.
Loki was helping Korg and Miek into what seemed to be the last pod. Thor tried to shove him into it, too, but Loki pulled a dagger on him. Nothing new, there.
"Brother?"
"I've dodged death too many times." With that simple statement, Loki dragged a nearby man towards the pod. "Get in there. Your family needs you."
Has the entire world gone mad?
X
It didn't hurt.
Somewhere inside, Loki realized his neck was broken, which explained the lack of pain. Thor was saying something, but the words wouldn't make sense.
When next he opened his eyes, it was to a world of blank orange. No sign of Thor, or anyone else.
He was alone.
X
Even in her strange limbo, Hela knew something was wrong. Or not wrong, itself, but not as things usually worked. Death was supposed to carry its passengers away to their designated afterlife. She was supposed to be gathering the evil dead.
What happens if the goddess of death dies?
She was dead, clearly. No pulse, breathing only by habit. The wounds that had killed her -caused by flying pieces of the planet she used to call home- neither hurt, nor bled, nor healed. Marks across her chest, abdomen, back, arms, legs, face, and skull were traced by odd shapes under her skin. No need to eat or drink, which was probably a good thing since she was in a full orange landscape, completely empty and utterly alone.
If this was her own personal Hel, it was brutally effective.