A/N: And here we are... The last of the intermediary chapters I have planned. It's nice and long, at least, coming in at almost 3k words. I'm gonna miss these two. I might do some during- or post-Infinity War fics if I'm still in the mood come May. Same with Avengers 4 come May 2019. Assuming these two both survive both movies. I feel like Valkyrie is pretty safe, being so new and all (unless they created her just to kill her like with Pietro, which I'm still upset about), but if they kill Loki, I'm going to cry. (I know Tom's in Avengers 4, but as far as I know, he's only been spotted filming an Avengers 1 flashback, so... not really confirmation that Loki's alive in the present.)
When Loki awoke, Val was curled around him, her breaths tickling the back of his neck. There was a new closeness in her touch, a new protectiveness in her grip. Lightly, he took hold of her hand, and she squeezed in return. But they said nothing, quieted by the weight of last night and what it would mean going forward.
If Loki closed his eyes, he could pretend they were back on Asgard. He could pretend they were surrounded by familiar golden halls, shielded from the universe by an army of guards. He could pretend that Mother and Father were still alive, happy that their son had found love. He could pretend that they had an eternity to look forward to, an eternity full of the love they'd both needed for so long.
But none of it was real. The walls were dull, holding no promise of a future. They stood at the head of a half-traumatized group of civilians, whose safety would be assured in exchange for Loki's banishment in mere days. Their newfound love would be tossed aside, outweighed by the needs of the many.
Val's fingers moved, tracing patterns over his heart. "Thor will fight for you," she murmured.
"But will it be enough?"
She stilled, her voice hurt as she asked, "Would you give us up so easily?"
Loki rolled over to face her. "No," he told her firmly. "But you know the position I'm in – the position we're all in. The civilians may love him, but the governments may be a different story entirely. And if Thor pushes the humans too hard, they'll banish us all. Because I'm the prince, because I care about every single life on this ship, my life is not my own."
Val smiled, the expression torn between wryness and pride. "You pick now to be selfless."
Loki chuckled a little, pulling her in for a gentle kiss. Gods, she was beautiful, her hair free and messy, her skin tinged silver in the starlight. "I have something to be selfless for."
Her smile faded to seriousness as she traced his jawline. "I could go with you," she volunteered quietly.
Loki shook his head. "Thor can give you a better home. The home you deserve."
"The only home I need," Val said, taking his hand again, "is you."
"I can't settle down, not if it's just me," Loki pointed out. "I was promised that, if I failed to take Earth and the Tesseract, I would wish for something sweet as pain. All that's kept me safe these last few years is Asgard, and the reports of my death. If Thanos finds me now…"
"I'll protect you," Val promised. "That's my job, even if I hated you."
"I think it's technically just your job to protect Thor," Loki retorted. "And besides, formidable as you are, his minions would crush you."
"If they're trying to get through me to get to you-" She pushed him onto his back, leaning on his chest to kiss him. "-they won't stand a chance."
Loki grinned up at her, his warrior angel. "I admire your conviction."
He cupped the back of her head and reached up to kiss her again.
Someone knocked on the door. "Prince Loki?"
He dropped his head with a frustrated huff. "What?"
"King Thor requests your presence on the bridge, sir. Urgently. Madam Valkyrie's as well."
Loki exchanged a concerned glance with Val, who was already sliding off the bed. "On our way," he called.
They dressed quickly, Loki tying Val's hair into a bun while she pulled her boots on, and then they made their way to the bridge. Heimdall and Korg were there, standing on either side of the vacant throne; Hulk was pacing the room, fists flexing; and Thor was standing over a console pulled out of the left wall. One look out the window made it obvious why.
There was a ship, a massive ship looming outside. It was roughly made, but the guns it toted were aimed at them and definitely big enough to pose a threat. Val moved to calm Hulk, while Loki went to Thor's side, peering over his shoulder at the console's readings.
"How long have they been there?" he asked.
"A few minutes," Thor replied. "I don't know why they haven't fired."
"Let's count that a blessing," Loki muttered. "It looks like a Ravager ship."
"Who?" Korg inquired.
"Groups of space pirates," Loki replied. "There are 99 factions, some all men, some all women, and some mixed. This one must be led by a woman, because the men tend to just shoot first and steal later."
"They are," Heimdall confirmed. "I think they are hesitating because their scans have detected children onboard."
"Why would that make pirates hesitate?" Val asked.
"Ravagers have a code," Loki explained. "They don't deal in children, and in some factions, that extends to not harming them at all."
"Reputable pirates," Korg mused. "Hm. Not a sentence I ever thought I'd say."
"I say we get out of here before they decide to fire anyway," Val suggested.
"We can't," Thor said. "Their ship is faster. Our firepower is about even, but I'd rather not get into a fight. Not with so much at stake."
"Smash them," Hulk said.
"We can't, not while they're over there," Val pointed out, patting his arm.
An idea popped into Loki's head. "What if they weren't over there?"
Thor shot a confused glance at him. "What?"
"They're pirates – they want our stuff. Let's just invite them over here to get it."
"We have nothing to give them," Korg reminded him.
"They don't know that," Heimdall said slowly, catching onto Loki's idea. "We invite them over on the pretense of showing them to our vaults of riches-"
"And smash them!" Hulk finished gleefully.
"That's crazy," Thor protested.
"No crazier than destroying Asgard to save it," Loki shot back.
"He makes a good point," Korg agreed.
Val unsheathed her sword. "It's been a while since I had a good fight."
"There are too many for us to fight alone," Heimdall warned.
Loki and Val exchanged a glance. "We're not the only ones who can fight and use magic."
Thor sighed reluctantly. "All right, then. Time for Asgard to prove itself."
-MCU-
A few minutes later, they were lined up in front of the docking bay. Thor stood slightly in front of them, lightning crackling around his hands. Loki, Val, and Hulk were on his right; Korg and Heimdall on his left. A few hundred civilians stood behind them, armed with daggers and swords. Loki flicked out his hands, conjuring his own daggers, as the door slid open.
A bald yellow woman stood there, clothed in ripped navy blue leather. She smirked at the sight of the makeshift army, exposed chipped and crooked teeth. "You intend to resist."
Thor lifted his chin, his eye glowing dangerously. "I intend to protect my people. If you wish to do yours the same courtesy, I suggest you leave. Now."
The woman reached behind her back, pulling out a bazooka. "I never back down from a fight."
"Very well, then," Thor said, taking aim with a sparkling hand. Before he could fire, the woman blasted away the wall with a battle cry.
"Ravagers, on me!"
"Asgard, attack!" Thor yelled. He fell on the Ravager captain, vivid lightning half obscuring him from view.
Instantly, half of the civilians vanished from view, just as Loki had taught them. The other half surged forward, unleashing the moves Val had taught them. Ravagers fell to their blades, but more streamed from the Ravager ships now parked in the docking bay. Hulk roared and dove into their midst, smashing violently. Korg, Heimdall, and Val ran into the fray, and for a few minutes, Loki fought alongside them.
Then he noticed something: A man slashing at what appeared to be thin air, only for an Asgardian to flicker into view and fall, clutching their new wound. Loki narrowed his eyes. A magic user.
Loki created a decoy of himself, setting it loose on some Ravagers to distract them. Then he, too, turned invisible, and made his way to the enemy sorcerer, hacking at Ravagers as he went.
If the trail of dying Ravagers hadn't given him away, the sorcerer sensed him and spun to face him. Dropping the cloak, Loki attacked, flinging a dagger at him. The man swept it aside with magic, responding with a thrown dagger of his own. Loki leaned away, but not before it grazed his neck. Realizing he was aiming for his old injury, healing well but still a vivid red target without a covering of bandages, Loki cloaked it, but he knew the damage was done.
The man launched forward, aiming a punch at Loki's neck. Loki ducked, swinging up hard to punch his gut. The man staggered backwards. Loki kicked out, sweeping the man's leg out from underneath him. He collapsed. Loki aimed his remaining dagger downward, ready to deliver the killing blow, when someone tackled him.
His breath rushed out of him in a gasp, his dagger spinning across the floor. The new attacker, this one a woman, punched him viciously in the jaw. Loki's head snapped to the side as stars exploded across his vision. He clung to consciousness, but was too disoriented to put up a real struggle as she flipped him onto his stomach. Digging a knee into his back, she grabbed a fistful of his hair and jerked his head back. Cold steel pressed into his throat, slicing into the old wound. Panic flared within him, lending him enough clarity to grab her wrist and fight to pull her off, but it wasn't working, the knife was digging deeper, blood was coming out faster and faster-
A bloodcurdling scream of rage sliced through the battlefield, and suddenly she was gone. She was skidding across the floor, clutched in Val's grip. As they tumbled to a halt, Val flipped her onto her stomach, locking her into the same position Loki had just been in.
"No one touches my Loki," Val hissed into her ear. Then she slashed her throat open, picked up the body, and threw it at the nearest group of Ravagers.
As she threw the body, Loki spotted movement behind her – a Ravager trying to sneak up on her, raising a sword to decapitate her. Bolting upright, he conjured another dagger and launched it. With its trajectory aided by magic, it sank deep into the Ravager's neck, and he dropped with a choked gurgle. Val spun around, bringing her fists up to fight, but dropped them when she saw that her would-be opponent was already dead at her feet.
Turning from full-blooded warrior to concerned lover in a heartbeat, she sheathed her sword and ran to his side, dropping to her knees beside him. She clapped a hand over his bleeding neck, and Loki felt it tingle and sting as she used magic to knit the flesh back together. "Thanks," she gasped, nodding at the dead Ravager.
"Thanks to you, too," Loki rasped, gingerly touching his jaw and wincing.
"Yeah, that's gonna hurt in the morning," Val told him. But she didn't try to heal it – a bruise could wait.
"It hurts now," Loki grumbled, getting to his feet and conjuring a new pair of daggers.
"We're nowhere near done," she warned, rising with him and unsheathing her sword.
"Believe me, I know." Loki looked around for the sorcerer, finding him upright and stabbing invisible Asgardians again. Pointing, he told Val, "We have to kill him."
Val nodded. "I'll go low, you go high."
Loki nodded, and together, they darted forward. Val split away, coming at him from the back. They reached him simultaneously, Loki slicing at his neck and Val at the backs of his knees. He swung backwards, dodging Loki's blow, but he didn't notice Val's sword until it was already slicing through his legs. He fell with a scream, and this time Loki succeeded in sinking his dagger into him. For good measure, Val hit him across the face with her sword's hilt.
"One down-" Loki started.
"-a lot to go," Val finished.
They rose in one fluid movement, looking around. The Ravagers' numbers were thinning noticeably now, the Asgardians slowly gaining the upper hand. Hulk was enjoying himself far too much; Thor's lightning continued to arc across the bay; Korg was shooting people left and right; and Loki caught sight of Heimdall's dreadlocks flying as he slashed through opponent after opponent. Satisfied that those four were safe for the moment, Loki shifted his attention to finding the person in the most trouble.
There.
A young Asgardian woman was fighting valiantly, but a group of Ravagers had trapped her in the corner – she was likely only still alive because they were toying with her, having fun with their prey before the kill.
That was their mistake.
He tapped Val's shoulder, getting her attention, and she nodded. "Hulk!" she called.
Immediately, Hulk barreled towards them. Loki barely had a heartbeat to feel a spike of fear before he had scooped them up and was flinging them across the room. Val landed gracefully, Loki less so, but together they sprang upright.
"Pick on someone your own size," Loki snarled.
The Ravagers spun around, eyes widening. The three Asgardians attacked in their moment of distraction, felling three of the five before they had a chance to defend themselves. Leaving the remaining two to Val, Loki pulled the young woman out of danger. She looked familiar somehow, but he couldn't figure out why.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
She was panting, her face and arms bloodied and bruised, but she nodded. "Thank you, Your Majesty."
"Any time," he promised, handing over a dagger. She took it, stiffening as she prepared to fight on, but her determination proved unnecessary.
"I surrender!"
It was the Ravager captain – her yellow skin was burned, gashes oozed green blood, and she limped badly as she backed away from Thor.
"Then leave," Thor snarled. He was panting and bleeding himself, but with lightning still sparking around his body and his eye glowing, he looked, if anything, even more deadly than before. "And take your survivors with you."
The captain shot him one last snarl. "Ravagers, retreat."
"Never challenge Asgard again," Thor called after the fleeing pirates.
As they fled, a young man came jogging up, his eyes locked on the woman. They greeted with a relieved kiss, hugging each other. Loki backed away from the pair, stumbling over a body. Val caught him, reaching up to wipe some blood off his face.
"Ow," he complained, nudging her hand away.
"Don't be a baby," she scolded teasingly. "Come on, let's go help the wounded. And then clean up Ravager bodies."
"Oh, joy," he said wryly. "My favorite part of battle."
Before they could take more than a couple steps, a woman came running through the crowd – it was Eir. "Embla!" she cried in relief upon seeing the young woman. And suddenly, he realized why she was familiar – she looked almost like a younger version of Eir.
"Mother," she greeted happily, throwing her arms around the healer.
"You're alive, thank the gods," Eir half-sobbed, clutching her tight.
Embla shook her head. "Thank the prince."
Eir turned to him. "You?" she exclaimed. She had softened to him a bit after watching him nearly die to save Val, but there was still genuine shock in her voice.
Loki shrugged a little, gesturing at Val. "It was a team-"
"Yes," Val and Embla overrode him.
"It was him," Embla confirmed.
Suddenly, Eir was hugging him tightly. "Thank you," she rasped. "My daughter is my everything."
"What am I, chopped liver?" the young man protested.
Embla patted his shoulder. "In-laws don't count, honey."
Loki patted Eir's back awkwardly, surprised at the affection. "I was just-"
Val elbowed his hip. "He means you're welcome."
"Yes," Loki agreed, glaring at her. "You're welcome."
She smiled innocently, turning on her heel to help with the wounded. Eir released him, still grinning through tears of joy, and they parted ways to help where they could.
-MCU-
Late that night – or early that morning, depending on how one looked at it – found Loki, Val, and Thor exhausted, their wounds still largely untended. But they were hunched over a table in the mess hall, doing their best to eat. Loki was mostly just drinking, thanks to his jaw, but he managed small bites when Val forced him to. She was snuggled underneath his arm, both of them leaning on the other.
But through the haze of exhaustion and pain, Loki could tell that something had changed. The Asgardians that filtered in were bowing as they spotted the royal family. But they weren't just bowing to Thor – they bowed to Loki, too. And there was no hint of reluctance or hatred in any of them, just respect.
Thor grinned. "They've all accepted you again, brother."
Loki blinked. "Really?"
Val tapped his bloodied knuckles. "This time, they saw you do more than provide a ship and punch a few zombies before flying off in a ship to get Asgard destroyed. They saw you fighting for them. They saw you nearly die for them. And then you stuck around, helping the wounded and carrying away the dead like they were your kin."
Loki blinked again. "Huh. Guess I did do that."
Val rolled her eyes. "All right, sweetheart, you need to go to bed."
"We all do," Thor agreed. They stood, slow and stiff, and limped off to their quarters.
-MCU-
When Val and Loki were somewhat cleaned up and tucked under the covers, they knew the issue they'd been discussing before the Ravagers was creeping back into their minds. But for now, for a few hours, they ignored it, and just enjoyed the time they had left to sleep in each other's arms.