Thor cautiously moved about the spaceship, gripping Stormbreaker tightly, searching for signs if Thanos had already decimated Asguard. It was silent and the silence only became more unbearably piercing and the emptiness even more disquieting at the unsettling thought of this possibly being one of the few remaining moments before Thanos's massacre of Asguard.

Thor froze at the sudden sound of terrified shrieks. He was too late. Despite that, he sprinted to the sound in one last attempt to fix things. As the tall, steel double doors came into view, Thor swung Strombreaker at them, causing them to break open and clattered to the ground in a burst of electricity. He emerged from the dust and witnessed Thanos beginning to board their ship from the outside as his followers tethered their ships together and began killing off his people. The Mad Titan stared down Thor intensely with his dark, soulless eyes.

"It won't work!" Thor bellowed, "Your plan! It will only make things worse!"

Thanos stepped off the bridge as the heads of his followers turned to him, waiting for his response, "Step down, Boy. You don't understand our universe as I do."

"You murder the innocent and call it mercy!" Thor exclaimed, swelling up with anguish.

"A small price to pay. The ends of their insignificant lives with benefit all of the future generations."

Anguish morphed into anger as his body began to circulate with electricity. He flew through the air and let his axe penetrate Thanos's chest plate. Lighting erupted from the axe and Thor himself. He pushed the axe even further as images of Loki being choked to death, Heimdall being stabbed through the heart, and his friends' and allies' ashes drifting away flashed before his eyes. The Mad Titan cried out in agony and it sounded so loud in his ears he barely heard the familiar laugh behind him.

"Oh Brother, you idiot! You did this same thing last time, don't you remember?"

Thor froze in shock and turned his head slowly, catching a glimpse of the green cloak before Thanos grabbed him by the throat. The gauntlet felt cold against his neck as Thanos lifted him off his feet. He choked as the grip tighten, slowly forcing the life out of him. However, Thanos studied him before tossing him against the hard, metal wall.

Loki held out the glowing, icy blue Tesseract to Thanos, "You must excuse my brother's stupidity. He can be quite…" He paused, "Barbaric. At times."

Thor rolled his eyes. Despite the numerous times Loki had turned against him before, he couldn't help feeling a pang of disappointment, most likely because his brother's gruesome fate was still fresh in his mind.

"You have served this cause well, Boy." Thanos's voice came out low and raspy as his hand with the gauntlet closed around the cube.

Loki smirked, fading away in a wisp of green, "I know."

Rays of a blinding white light burst from the Tesseract, consuming the scene.

Thor tried to blink away the spots in his vision. He realized he was no longer against the wall, and the launch bay was now empty. Strombreaker hung loosely by his fingertips, its electricity conducted and a faint purple stain on its blade. He also realized he was leaning back to back with someone as he heard a soft laugh behind him.

"Oh, you should have seen his face!"

A million thoughts raced through his head, however, he let out a sigh, "I'm going to turn around and you're still going to be dead, aren't you?"

He felt Loki shrug, "Maybe. It'd make sense if I was. Rather convincing, wasn't it? The 'Great Mad Titan' certainly didn't see it coming…"

"Stop!" Thor cried, letting his head fall in line with his knees, "Just stop! I don't care how you did it. I saw you die for the third time and I'm sick of it!"

"Of what?"

"Of!" Thor struggled for a response, "You!" He blurted angrily.

Loki inhaled sharply, "You know, everything would be so much easier if you weren't such a drama queen and so dependent on your relationships with other people."

"Oh, so it's my fault I care about my brother!" Thor retorted.

"Quite frankly, yes. If you weren't so torn up about me dying, then maybe Thanos would have been stopped and you could have saved that silly, little world you care oh so much about, the first time around!"

"Oh please! You think that it's all about you! Every Asgardian was brutally murdered, in case you forgot!"

"You mourned me." Loki replied smugly, "I know you talked to the badger."

"Rabbit." Thor corrected, "And how did you…? Nevermind. You were probably aiding Thanos the entire time anyways. I wouldn't be surprised. What do you want? Why are you here?"

He felt Loki tense at his words, then he passed Thor the space stone; its protective, outer cube chilled against his fingertips, "I'm not aiding him. Not at this point in the game, at least. Just take the stupid tesseract, that's why you're here, isn't it?"

Thor was taken slightly aback, "Yeah." He turned the tesseract over in his hand, "Seriously though, how did you know about the Rabbit?"

He sighed, "You and your friends aren't the only ones who have been traveling through time using the quantum realm. I faked my death, knowing I could come back to that exact moment to finish Thanos off for good. It took a while, but I eventually made it. However, I didn't count on you making an appearance as well."

"Sorry about that." Thor commented sarcastically and bitterly, "Just trying to save the universe. Don't mind me."

"And you're doing quite a good job at it." Loki shot back, "Don't think for a minute that I believe you care about me."

"I do care about you."

"We both know what this is really about." He continued, "It's about those mortals, your friends. And may I ask where they are now?"

"Watch it, Loki." Thor growled in warning.

"Oh right! They're all piles of ash!"

Thor leapt to his feet, gripping Strombreaker as hard as he could, facing his brother, all the anguish from the traumatic events Thanos had caused swelled up in his throat, "You have no idea the pain he has brought us!"

"I have no idea?!" Loki cried, cutting him off, an unsettling expression settling on his brother's face, "Really, Brother? I have no idea of the pain? He was in my head for the last six years!"

Thor shifted back, stunned, "What?"

Loki closed his eyes and sighed, "Nothing. Just, forget about it."

Thor broke the long silence between them by awkwardly patting his brother on the shoulder, "Please. Tell me."

He wore a sad smile, "Sympathy doesn't suite you."

"Not sympathy. Just concern." Thor assured him.

There was another pause before Loki spoke again, "After I fell off the bridge in Asguard all those years ago, Thanos found me. I still wanted the throne, and he said he would help me obtain it. He gave me the staff with the mind gem embedded within it and the power of the blasted stone overtook me. I mean, I would have probably done something like that anyways on my own terms, but I guess, in a strange way, it all worked out. You have your silly, little team of dress-up playing friends, so…" He stared back at an unblinking Thor, "What is it?"

"Why didn't you ever say anything?! This whole time, Father thought-,"

Loki grunted, crossing his arms, "Oh, Father wouldn't have cared."

"He might have!" Thor sighed, "I would have."

He smiled sadly, "I know you would have, which is exactly why I couldn't tell you."

"Loki…" Thor shook his head regretfully.

"I figured Thanos would kill you anyway." Loki continued matter-of-factly, "But if it makes you feel better, I also didn't tell you to push that day back a little farther." His signature smirk crossed his face, "And besides, I'm me after all! I must have at least a few secrets up my sleeve. I like to keep people guessing."

Although their relationship wasn't perfect, Thor greatly cared about his younger brother. And maybe somewhere deep down in his everchanging, twisted heart, he cared about Thor as well. Adopted or not, friends or enemies, they were still brothers after all.

Thor bear hugged the mischievous trickster. After watching the universe fall apart around him and unable to stop it, it was gratifying to know that not everything was lost. He felt Loki lightly pat him on the back.

"Alright. Are you done?"

Thor smirked, letting him go, "I don't know. Are you done faking your own death?"

"Of course not. Where's the excitement in that?"

He groaned, "You son of an Ice Giant." He held up the glowing, icy blue cube, "It's about time we get this back to Earth."

Loki shook his head, "I'm not coming with you."

"Why not?" Thor asked in disbelief.

"This is your fight."

Thor gripped his brother's shoulder, "You're wrong. This is as much of you fight as it is anyone else's. We can stop him together."

"Oh, Brother…" Loki sighed, shaking his head, "One of these days your naïve behavior will get you killed." He paused, "But I suppose I should just be grateful that that day is not today."

"We shall avenge Asguard!" Thor cried joyfully.

Loki rolled his eyes and despite the situation, Thor smiled. There was still hope. His brother was alive. And together, they might just have a shot at undoing what Thanos did.

He grabbed his brother's forearm, activated his armband, and the two of them were whisked back through the quantum realm.