Thor's mouth falls open, and his eyes are filled with disbelief.
"What did you do?" the thunder god demands loudly, hands out and not touching the Titan. Thanos' arm is now covered in scarring, burnt in his flesh, and the Infinity Gauntlet is smoking and damaged.
"What did you do?" Thor asks again, more insistent this time. His volume is rising. Thanos lifts his gaze from the gauntlet and looks at the golden god. The Titan doesn't respond, instead opening a portal behind him suddenly. His metal hand reaches back and shoves Loki out of the way and to the ground, a grunt escaping the younger being. The portal whisks Thanos away the next second, and with that, he is gone.
"Where did he go?" Cap asks as he stumbles over to them. He's taken a beating, but he's still functioning. "Thor, where did he go?"
Thor turns to look at the Captain, dread filling his gaze. The god doesn't know what to say because he doesn't know where Thanos has gone.
A voice comes from behind Cap.
"Steve?" Bucky calls weakly, confused. He takes a step towards them, stumbling as his arm vanishes, and the rest of him follows as he collapses. Cap jerks towards the spot his best friend's gun now lays alone, falling to his knees, a hand carding through the ashes.
"Oh my god—that guy just melted!" Peter screams, freaked out. The kid rips off his mask, looking panicked, before he turns and takes off. "I've gotta check on Mr. Stark!"
Thor looks around desperately, trying to discern what is happening. His mismatched eyes land on Loki, who's standing a few feet away from him. At first, Thor doesn't know what he's thinking, but then his brother kinda trips and sways on his feet, and the thunder god's eyes snap as wide as they are able to and he shoots towards him. Thor catches Loki before he can continue falling, and for a second, he sees pieces of his younger brother splitting away.
"No, no, Loki! Loki, stay with me!" Thor cries, hysterical. He cradles the trickster in fumbling hands, the panic filling his mind causing his hands to shake.
"Thor? Thor, don't, don't," Loki stutters, appearing confused and disoriented. A wave of anxiety crashes over him.
"Don't leave me, don't leave me!" Thor realizes he is crying, tears running down his face. He holds Loki tightly, one hand on the side of his head, trying to comfort him.
"What're you saying? Am I—am I disappearing?" Loki isn't quite sure what's going on, but from his brother's hysteria, it can only mean one thing, right? But Loki doesn't feel any different than before—beat up, exhausted, weak—but not as if he's literally falling apart. In fact, Loki is sure of the fact that he's not.
"Loki, Loki"—
Loki reaches a hand up and puts it over Thor's mouth, stopping his words.
"Stop, stop, brother, I'm fine, I'm fine; you're just imagining things," the god of mischief explains, out of breath due to his own panic. "You're freaking me out." He inhales deeply and exhales, then glances down to examine himself. No, there's no sign that he's disintegrating.
"W-what?" Thor stammers, his hysteria ending suddenly. "You're—you're not?" Thor also looks his brother up and down, and a sense of embarrassment washes over him, but along with it is also relief.
"M-my apologies, brother," Thor admits, a nervous smile breaking out on his face. "I thought—I thought I saw"—
"Simply your overactive imagination," Loki says. "I am just tired." He finds his own smile and sighs, going limp in Thor's strong arms. Norns, he's so tired. He thinks for a second about how nice sleep will be after almost none the past few days. However, a feeling of dread settles over him because he knows their little "hero" group (if he is indeed part of it currently) will be less than before.
"I am beyond grateful that you are still here," Thor murmurs into Loki's hair, resting his chin against the top of his head. The thunder god then shifts and kisses Loki's forehead lovingly before he scoops him up farther for an embrace. The trickster returns the hug with open arms, thankful that Thor has let him back in without so much as a fuss.
"I . . . love you, brother," Loki whispers hesitantly into Thor's armor. The thunder god tenses, most likely out of surprise, before Loki can feel him grinning.
"I love you too."
They remain together like that for another moment before Loki finally pulls away, looking red in the face.
"Mmhmm, anyway, we better, uh, get back to, uh, whatever we were doing," Loki coughs awkwardly, feeling a bit silly for their display of brotherly affection. He's not said "I love you" to Thor for years, and saying it now fills him with anxiety but also a sense of belonging somewhere again.
Thor nods, still smiling despite the circumstances of Thanos, and gets to his feet. He helps his brother to his feet and then pats him on the shoulder.
"No need for embarrassment—I always knew you still loved me," Thor says softly. They meet eyes. Loki holds it for a second before he glances away and starts to pick at his left palm, an old nervous habit of his.
"What the hell just happened?" the brothers catch Natasha asking as she stands with the other survivors around Vision's lifeless body. The Asguardians approach the group.
"He did it," Nebula says, her eyes downcast. Their cast of heroes is dramatically reduced—only Rocket remains from the Guardians, and only half from the Earth originals are still alive.
Cap sits next to Vision, elbows on his knees. He's breathing heavier, his eyes filled with sadness. All he says is, "Oh, god."
It is later in the night, and Shuri, T'Challa's sister, is discussing rooming plans with the leftover heroes.
"Only if it's not any trouble," Steve tries to say, but the young woman raises her hand and shakes her head.
"It is none. It is exactly what my brother would have done," Shuri replies, her voice sad. She tries not to think about how T'Challa is dead, how he's gone like the rest of them with no certain way of coming back.
"We have dozens of guest rooms in the palace," Okoye chips in, disguising her own sadness. "You are all welcome to stay in Wakanda for as long as you wish. And, if I am not overstepping, your company would be appreciated in wake of the circumstances."
"We accept your most gracious offer," Thor thanks with a nod of his head.
"Yeah, we could all use rest after what happened," Rhodey adds.
"I will show you your rooms, then. Follow me," Shuri says.
All the remaining heroes receive their own rooms to stay in, but most don't stay there alone after they are done sleeping. The emptiness is obvious, and everyone feels it. Company is more than welcome.
Loki thinks back to the ones who had not survived. The Boy of Spiders was entertaining and innocent, and it had actually upset Loki when they'd gotten back to the palace to find Stark sitting numbly by himself where the kid had once been.
The witch had also perished, which was an unfortunate loss of power. Wanda, he believes her name was, had very special skills that would have helped when they face Thanos again.
The raccoon has decided to spend the past day with Stark now. Loki thinks they are rather alike, and maybe they can help each other since they both lost a son in the Snap.
Loki has been sleeping for the past twelve hours. When he finally wakes, he eats and then heads to Thor's room, which is the one to the immediate right of his.
Thor is by himself in his room when there's a timid knock at his door.
"Come in," Thor calls, standing.
Loki's face appears in the doorway, and he waves slightly to his brother as he enters.
"Ah, Loki. Is something the matter?" Thor asks.
"No, no, nothing is wrong. I'm just . . . I don't know. Thinking," Loki admits. They sit down together on the edge of the bed.
"About what?"
Loki picks at his hand as he sits there, biting his lip. There's something he wants to tell Thor—something important. Something so they can move forward.
"Brother, whatever it is, you can tell me," Thor reminds the trickster. Loki nods in understanding, knowing this and many other things about the thunderer.
There's a pregnant pause, neither of them saying anything further.
"I'm sorry," Loki finally blurts out. Thor perks up, surprised. He blinks several times before he tries to speak. He doesn't even get to as Loki keeps going. "I'm sorry for everything—the Bifrost incident, New York, faking my death, betraying you on Sakaar—everything."
Thor looks into his brother's face, studying his expression. Loki is giving off discomfort, nervousness, shame—Thor thinks, for a moment, that this isn't right. But after he gives it more consideration, he realizes it's what he's been waiting for all along.
"Do you not have anything to say?" Loki snaps, frustrated at the lack of response from the thunder god. Thor starts, jerking out of his thoughts.
Maybe this was all a waste, Loki thinks, flustered. He's about to stand and leave when there's a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Loki, I forgave you a long time ago," Thor finally says, his tone filled with resignation. "I never hated or despised you, despite me telling myself I did at times. You are my brother—I've played with you, fought with you, lived with you—I treated your wounds and took care of you when you were sick. You use to come into my room at night and sleep in my bed when you had nightmares." Thor smiles sadly, remembering the good old days. "And for a long time, I thought that maybe we would never be close again. I told myself to let you go. I told myself you would never change, and that we could only be enemies. But when Mother died, and on Sakaar . . . I felt things I had not felt for a long time. Even when my perspective changed many times as you stabbed me in the back, deep down, I thought I could save you. And look at you—you're here again, by my side, alive. You're alive and you are once again on the right path." Thor sets a hand on Loki's neck, looking into his eyes. Green meets blue-and-brown, and Thor can see regret. "It is my fault for giving up on you—it is my fault you fell."
Loki avoids his brother's gaze by looking down, and he's surprised to notice there are tears building behind his eyes.
"You never came for me," Loki whispers.
"I know, and I'm sorry," Thor murmurs back, knowing what the trickster is talking about even without hearing it. "You were never as bad as you wanted me to believe. You were used, brother."
Thor wipes away one of Loki's tears with his thumb, and the younger god sniffles softly. The thunderer once again pulls Loki in to hug him and rocks him gently.
"You really never hated me?" Loki asks quietly.
"Never."
". . . I never hated you either, no matter what I said."
Thor smiles to himself. There's no limit to how happy that makes him, and he only wishes that Frigga and Odin were here to see how far Loki has come from when they were alive.
Loki finally decides his pride has taken enough of a blow and pulls away, straightening up. He tosses his hair over his shoulders, clears his throat, and tries to subtly wipe any remaining tear tracks from his face.
Thor sees the change and continues on.
"What happened with Thanos?" the thunder god inquires. Loki's eyes light up with a mischievous glow, and he smirks.
"If Thanos thinks he can kill me with my own weapon, at, well, moderate strength, he's got another thing coming," Loki responds snarkily. "It was fairly simple, truth be told. He picked me up at the end of our fight, and I truly was exhausted, but of course I had one more trick up my sleeve. Thanos thinks he can see through all my magic, but I didn't impersonate Odin for years with a simpleton's spell, brother."
Thor cocks an eyebrow at Loki, who pauses and gives an awkward laugh.
". . . Anyway, the whole song and dance, he stabs me with what he thinks is a real dagger, but at that point, in a fraction of a second, I'd hidden the real one and replaced it with an illusion. I had to fake die, again, but I'm really quite good at it, would you not agree? And so, I pretended I'd been stabbed, made it seem very real, and then used my magic to hide my heartbeat. Honestly, not that hard of a job, but it easily fooled Thanos and that's all that matters." Loki smirks, seeming proud of himself.
"Well, you did have me fooled," Thor admits.
"Not hard."
"Ha ha, very funny, brother."
"I'm a charmer, am I not?"
Thor and Loki share a laugh. When they are done, they sit in silence for a long while.
"You do know we will have to fight Thanos again," Loki says, turning to look at his brother.
"Ah, yes. We must undo what he has done. As soon as we are able, we will go out and search for Asgardian survivors—mayhaps we can find someone who will be able to assist us," Thor replies, "and then we will find a way to bring everyone back. But I think we should not fret over that as of now. We must rest."
"Hmm, yes. Hopefully we will be able to revert the universe to how it was."
"Indeed."
The gods leave it at that. Neither of them wants to think about Thanos currently; that mad Titan has caused more damage than he knows. But he will fall in the end.
Thor sighs gently. "How I have missed you, brother."
A/N:
And that's the end! Thank you all so much for your reviews, follows, and favs! It's been lots of fun writing this.
I'm not sure how I would add onto this story beyond this, so this is where it will stay. But expect some one shots and odd things in this universe, I think. I hope to write more in the future, at least involving Marvel. "Reunited" needs some serious work tho, OUCH.
I hope I can write a sequel when Avengers 4 comes out. XD
P.S: THOR AND LOKI DESERVE BETTER, REEEEEEEEEEEEE
