Yet another version of Infinity War's opening scene...though this one's a bit more tragic (ahem, MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH).

Inspired by Dawnstorm101's "Never Enough," in which the same thing basically happens except with a LokixValkyrie twist.

"Thor."

"No."

"Thor."

"There has to be another way. There's always another way."

"You know I have to die, Thor."

The battle was at a standstill. Or, at least, it felt like one.

People were dying all around them, fighting and destruction was still happening, Thanos was winning.

And yet, all Thor could focus on was Loki, standing a few feet in front of him in some corridor of the ship, temporarily hidden from Thanos and his minions.

"He wants the tesseract-"

"I don't care about the damn tesseract!" Thor screamed. "I care about you!"

And Loki - Loki, his little brother - was crying. Thor watched, numb, as tears trailed down the dust and grime on his face, illuminated by the blue light of the cube that had doomed all of Asgard.

"Listen to reason, Brother." He put the tesseract back into his dimensional pocket and held placating hands out towards Thor. "I am the only one who can access the tesseract from this pocket. If I die, then he can't get it."

Thor registered vaguely that he wouldn't say Thanos's name. "But-"

"Please, Thor!" And that was wrong; Loki never begged. Oh, norns, why did the universe hate them so?

"If he gets the space stone, he is one step closer to killing half of all life in the universe, most of whom deserve to live more than me." It hurt, knowing how low Loki held himself. "But we can stop him right now. As long as he doesn't get his hands on the time stone, the space stone is safe. Don't you understand, Thor?!"

Thor swallowed. He did.

"Please, Thor," Loki begged again, and it hurt. It hurt so much.

Thor tried to blink away the tears that were threatening to fall. "Why does it have to be you?" he croaked out. It wasn't fair, really, to find him again and then lose him so soon.

Loki smiled bitterly. "As is the work of heroes, Brother."

"But I need you! You're," his voice broke, "you're my little brother. You're not supposed to die first." And he knew it sounded childish, so childish, but he was selfish, and he didn't think he could watch Loki die for real.

Loki sniffed a little, lifting a hand to furiously swipe away tears. "He took something from me, Thor, all those years ago." His voice was soft, so soft that it almost blended in with all the chaos happening around them. "In doing this, I'll sow the seeds to his defeat. In doing this, I'll help end what I started by attacking Earth."

He looked Thor straight in the eye. "Let me do this, Thor."

Thor's face crumpled even more than it already had. Loki wasn't asking for permission. He would do it anyways (could have already). No, he was asking for acceptance. For approval. For the knowledge that his brother wouldn't be mad at him in his last moments.

And Thor couldn't possibly deny him that.

"I understand." And norns, was that his voice? It was choked, and shaky, and rubbed so raw that it hurt just to listen to it.

Loki nodded and smiled. A small one, but a real one. It seemed so out of place here, surrounded by so much death and destruction, surrounded by his tears, dripping one after the other down his cheeks.

Loki ran to him then and threw his arms over his shoulders, engulfing him in a hug. (Thor held on just as tight.) They stayed there for as long as they dared, stretching time out to simply be in the presence of one another.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Loki murmured into his neck. Thor buried his face in Loki's dark hair and said nothing, swaying them back and forth.

He didn't remember when they had last held each other this close.

"I don't know what I'll do without you," he managed to choke out.

"You'll live," Loki murmured. "You'll save the world again and again. You'll rebuild Asgard. And you'll be a great king. You'll," he swallowed a little, burying his face in Thor's shoulder, "you'll find Sif. I sent her to Vanaheim a few years back. You'll find Valkyrie and Korg and Heimdall, and those stupid Avengers, because those are the ones you should hold close. You'll find Jane, and you'll love her because that 'mutual breakup' didn't seem all too mutual." He sobbed, and Thor held on impossibly tighter. "And later, all of this won't hurt so much anymore."

It seemed wrong. "I don't want to forget you."

"You won't," Loki murmured. He pushed Thor away and conjured up a dagger (his ticket to death). "The pain will fade, but you won't forget."

"How do you know?" Thor asked. Loki hadn't even died yet, and he was already hurting so much.

"I know, because you'll keep on living your life. For me. For everyone else you've lost." He lifted the dagger up to his exposed throat and laughed a little. "I don't want to see you for at least another thousand years."

"You won't," Thor promised. For Loki, he wouldn't.

Loki frowned. "It'll be quick. You shouldn't have to watch me die."

"Nobody should die alone." Loki nodded, a tiny bit glad that Thor would stay with him 'til the end. Thor watched as a few tears dripped down his chin, splattering the smooth surface of the blade.

"Say hi to Mother for me. And Father. And the Warriors Three."

"I will."

"I love you," Thor blurted out. He didn't remember the last time he had said that.

Loki swallowed, the front of his throat just slightly nicking the blade. "I...I love you, too." He closed his eyes, and his grip on the dagger tightened. "Goodbye, Brother."

Thor could only watch, an anguished scream caught somewhere in his throat, as his brother slit his own neck (quick, so he wouldn't have to register the pain). He shouldn't have had to do this. He shouldn't have had to do this.

He caught his brother's lifeless body as it fell, easing him - it - slowly to the ground. He cradled the limp body to his chest and let out a sob.

Elsewhere on the ship, the Mad Titan roared, somehow sensing that the gauntlet couldn't be complete.

And Thor. Well, Thor took off his cape and wrapped it gently around his brother's body, like a blanket, like he'd wake up the next morning and everything would be fine.

He could almost be sleeping, if it weren't for all the blood.

"Rest, Brother." He placed a gentle hand on Loki's forehead. "I'll see you in a thousand years."

And then he ran back into the fight, as heroes did.

And later, after the ship was destroyed with purple strands of cosmic energy and he was sent hurling into the Guardians, he'd belatedly realize that he'd left his brother's body to the vacuum of space.

It was fitting, really.

Loki had always liked the stars.