A/N: This is just a filler chapter and so is the next one, but after that we get into the main Endgame arc!

It was almost silent on the quinjet as they flew from Wakanda to the Avengers Compound. The Avengers who survived Thanos' snap - Bruce, Steve, Natasha and Rhodey - sat in the front while Rocket and Loki sat on opposite sides at the back of the plane. The only noise was the small chatter between the survivors sitting in the cockpit and even that Loki could easily block out. Too much was going through his brain already and he didn't want the conversation of idiotic mortals adding to that.

He leant against Ísbrjótur whose sharp end stuck into the floor, keeping it vertical even though the god was banging his forehead against it. Self-destructive words flowed through Loki's mind, calling himself pathetic, useless, worthless and other words in Asgardian. He couldn't believe he failed so badly, it wasn't that hard in theory. But even so, Loki fucked it all up like he usually did and just like every other time he makes a mistake, it was irreversible.

"Do you really think we can trust him, Bruce?" Natasha asked quietly from the co-pilot seat. "He did attack New York a few years ago and tried to kill all of us."

"I know, but he's changed. We all have, haven't we?" Bruce responded. It was a fair point.

"But it's Loki," Rhodey added exasperatedly. "Who knows if he's going to backstab us? Didn't his brother say Loki tried to kill him when they were like, five?"

"All we know is he's allied with us because of a common enemy. But when he had the chance to kill Thanos, he failed. He probably did it on purpose," Steve whispered back. Bruce ran a hand down his face, annoyed that this topic was causing them to run round in circles.

"As I said before, he helped save Asgard. Yes, Loki isn't the most trustworthy of people but if anything, Thor knew Loki would do what's right and at the end of the day, that's most important," Bruce countered. "Also, Thor believed in Loki. He never stopped."

The other three Avengers noticed the change in tense and jumped on it immediately.

"Believed?"

"Bruce, what do you mean?"

"Thor's alive, right?"

The last question brought Loki out of his dark thoughts and his heartbeat stopped for a moment. A single tear freed itself from under his eyelid and he choked on the breath he was inhaling. That didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the group either.

"Thor is dead." Loki deadpanned, staring at a particularly interesting spot on the floor. "Thanos choked him to death on the Statesman."

The Avengers were in stunned silence. Surely this was a lie.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. We've been there and talked about that," Rocket finally spoke. "We get it. Your brother's dead. A quarter of your people's population is all that remains and on top of that, you're king of them. Must be a really good day for you."

Loki glanced up at the raccoon. His breathing sped up and all of a sudden his vision went blurry and he couldn't think straight. That thought never occurred to him until now. He was King of Asgard. He never wanted the throne. That was always what Thor would've received, and Loki would be his brother's head advisor.

That all went to Hel when Thor decided to sacrifice himself and Loki let him.

Loki's hands shook so much that Ísbrjótur fell to the ground without anything except the floor to keep it upright. Everyone else stared as the god curled into a ball in the corner of his seat, his hands covering his face. Loki's entire body trembled as deafened sobs took over him. Loki wanted to control himself but the thoughts of the past few days finally caught up with him. He didn't care about his pride right now. He didn't care that the Avengers were watching him at his most vulnerable state.

His heart was beating at an unimaginably rapid pace. Loki wouldn't have been surprised if it ripped out of his chest. The crack of a neck snap and bloody flashes obscured his vision whenever he closed his eyes and his throat went tight.

Someone came close to him and laid a soft gentle hand on his own. Loki looked up and saw Bruce. The man was saying something that Loki couldn't comprehend. It was something to do with breathing - "Loki, you need to breathe," the god finally understood. "Inhale for four." Loki did what Bruce said; "Hold for seven," he choked a bit but managed to hold it; "Okay good. Exhale for eight." The exhale felt like an accomplishment itself, and after a few minutes of Bruce's help, he felt a bit more stable.

Loki forgot that the rest of the Avengers were watching and his pride that just came back crumbled into pieces. He looked at a scratch on the Quinjet wall. He would do anything to avoid looking at the pity on the humans' faces.

"Loki, do you want to talk about it?" The voice came from Agent Romanoff. The tone was serious and lacked sympathy, though Loki expected that coming from one of his (former?) enemies.

"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," Bruce was quick to add. Loki smiled - at least he had one person on his side (maybe two, if you counted the narcissistic raccoon).

"It's alright," he sighed. Loki adjusted his position so he could see the whole team and their stoic faces. He didn't want them to pity him - why would they? They'd only be upset about the loss of a teammate, a friend. The Avengers wouldn't comfort him for the death of Thor.

"Basically, Thor, Bruce, a Valkyrie and I destroyed Asgard while saving the people and when we were on the refugee vessel, Thanos came, killed half the people of said ship leaving about a quarter of Asgard's total population left alive. And that just happened to include Thor." Loki's mind screamed at himself to go into further detail, but if he only said the bare minimum he wouldn't have to think more about it. At least that's what he believed.

"What happened?" Rogers asked. He was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed, eyes narrowed.

"Thor sacrificed himself to save me after Thanos stole the Tesseract and acquired the space stone."

It must have been Loki's tone of voice that gave away that was the truth. The Avengers looked at each other, then looked back in Loki's direction.

"If it helps, I was told the same story," grumbled Rocket. "Even I wouldn't make the effort to tell the same lie twice."

"So Thor really is dead," whispered Rhodes. "Would've expected more from a go-"

A simple glare by Loki shot down that area of conversation. "So, when will we arrive?"

It didn't take long for the quinjet to arrive at the Avengers Compound in Upstate New York. Loki didn't ignore the fact that he was being escorted (not in a good way) out of the jet and through the corridors to a common room. Once the Avengers gave him some space, he flopped down on a couch and put his legs up on the coffee table and leant back into the cushions.

"You still want me in your headquarters," Loki drawled, cocking up an eyebrow. It meant to come out as a question but had a more mocking tone to it.

"It's the least we could do since you don't really ha-"

"Cut the bullshit." Loki snapped his fingers as he looked over to the Avengers.

"You're a war criminal who tried to invade the planet. We need to keep an eye on you." Natasha deadpanned.

Loki frowned. "Only one eye?" he chuckled.

"He has a point," Rhodey muttered, and headed to the open plan kitchen and threw water bottles to each member of the team.

Loki grabbed and placed the cold bottle on his forehead. He groaned and closed his eyes in delight. He'd gained a banging headache due to being around these unpleasant mortals for too long.

There were a few minutes of silence. "You may have fought alongside us against Thanos, but that gives us no reason to trust you." Steve Rogers said. The crunch of his empty plastic bottle didn't help Loki's headache.

"Fair enough."

The next few days weren't very easy for Loki or the Avengers. The tension was so strong that Loki swore he could cut through it with a knife. The two parties didn't trust each other one bit, albeit Loki and Bruce (an argument could be made for Rocket). At first, Loki expected them to lock him in a cell for the rest of his miserable life. But as the days passed and the Avengers started getting used to the god being around, Loki found it was clear they never were going to lock him up. It surprised him, but Loki wasn't going to argue about it. He liked having as much freedom as possible.

It was probably a week after the snap when a person Loki hadn't seen before showed up. She had glowing hands and a blue and red Kree suit. She seemed human. She introduced herself as Carol Danvers.

The Avengers didn't know her either. Nor did Rocket, who did nothing in the compound except complain about literally everything.

She wanted to know where Nick Fury was. The Avengers knew that Fury and his assistant had been two of the many victims of the snap, but Loki couldn't help but feel relieved that the Director of Shield wouldn't be at his neck any time soon.

Danvers didn't take the loss of Fury well. It seemed that he was a close friend of hers, and Loki didn't know what to think of that. Loki didn't trust her at all. She and the rest of the Avengers agreed on trying to get Tony Stark back to Earth. In all honesty, Loki had completely forgotten Stark had existed. He had no reason to remember the Man of Iron.

Apparently, Stark had gone to space trying to protect a certain wizard (the same one Loki had met during his short trip to New York) and the Time Stone. Loki'd rather have them forget about Stark and give up hope, but somehow the Avengers still cared about him after the Accords business, whatever that was. Stark was a lost cause. They'd never get him back. Loki didn't want them to get him back. It would be more dangerous trying than not. They could die trying, and Loki had a promise to keep.

Natasha, Rocket, Bruce and Rhodey were using a holographic map of everywhere in Midgard's known galaxy in the middle of the room while Steve, Carol and Loki stood off to the side. The two captains were deep in thought while Loki leant back against the wall tossing an apple into the air and catching it. They knew where Stark was, just not how they'd get to him. The quinjets were out of the question, and the Guardian's ship was still on Titan.

Loki bit into his apple. "This really has been entertaining to watch, but maybe you should do something better. Like, I don't know, give up?" He smirked at the couple of glares he was sent in response.

"You're being really helpful." Steve looked up. Loki didn't think Rogers had it in him to be sarcastic. "If you're so smart, why don't you find a way to figure it out?"

"Nah. This is better." He finished his apple and walked out of the room.

"What's his problem?" Rhodey muttered.

"He thinks the death of his brother's a suitable reason to be an a-hole," Rocket spoke. "Which in all fairness, it would be if he was such a bitch already."

The room was quiet. "You know I could just go and get Stark on my own, right?"

Natasha looked up. "Then why didn't you suggest that already?"

"As Loki said; this was sort of amusing."

Carol made her way to walk out of the room. "Give me a few days and I'll be back with Stark."