A/N: Hope you all had wonderful holiday(s)! Another chapter! I cannot believe how long this story had gotten, or how much support it has gotten!!! Thank you all so so much!! I am breaking the pattern Abit and not putting lyrics, but they fit better with the next couple chapters.
Disclaimer: Nope, I own nada.
As Loki walked with Nebula, he couldn't help but worry about the coming fight. Thanos was on his way. Both he and Nebula had fought in worse conditions, as had Thor, but a sense of dread still settled in his bones. A teenager greeted them, looking like a younger Thor, so young and enthusiastic. So enthusiastic, in fact, that it seemed she might explode.
"I am Shuri. My brother said that you needed a new arm. I swear, it seems I'm making a lot of metal arms lately. The White Wolf just got a new one." She continued to rant as Loki and Nebula exchanged quizzical looks. Were wolves on Midgard different than any other wolves? They had arms instead of paws?
"Do you need a shirt? Or you know, armor?" Loki glanced down at himself, realizing he had forgotten. His skin crawled as he noticed that he was still exposed. Vulnerable. Tell me, Little Prince, how does it feel to have nothing, to be nothing? I suppose it must be normal. They don't care. They never cared. All you are is a worthless Jotun runt. You really thought I would ever consider a monster like you my brother? Thor picked him up, throwing him into the abyss where he fell and fell and - A sharp pain erupted in his leg where Nebula kicked him. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out.
Thank you. He mouthed. He then noticed that Shuri was staring at them, a black shirt in hand. He took it, nodding his thanks. Nebula turned her back to them, removing her own upper clothes so that they could work on her arm. The metal extended from her arm to her spine, traveling down to her middle. Loki hated the brand and the metal and the burns. Most of all, he hated Thanos for doing this to her. And he called it mercy. The girl reached out for Nebula's severed arm, but Nebula drew back. Just slightly, but Loki caught the action. It seemed that the girl, Shuri, did as well.
"I can do it." They both at the same time. Shuri looked back and forth between them, before nodding slowly.
"Okay. I'm gonna go now." Once she was gone, Loki turned to Nebula, who was already starting to disassemble the arm. Without thinking, he stopped her.
"Let me." She nodded wordlessly, a clear sign of permission. There seemed to be a lot of nodding in the past ten minutes. The skin around the metal was an angry red, parts charred black. Was this how he looked right now? The metal was rusted, infecting where metal met skin. Gently as he could, Loki worked silently, slowly separating the metal. It was tedious, especially without his magic, but he made do. When the last of the metal dropped to the ground, he poured the antibacterial on the infected skin.
She hissed in pain, an answer to his earlier question. Do you trust me? She had lowered the gun, but that didn't necessarily mean that she trusted him. It just meant she was willing to cooperate. Letting him see her in pain, albeit mostly hidden, that was a true test of trust. When you are raised by Thanos, you learn quickly not to show pain or emotion. You show no weakness.
"Why were you there?" He still couldn't figure out why she had been on the Sanctuary.
"I went to kill him. Obviously I failed." Oh. The oppressive silence returned as Loki began to hook up the new arm.
"Why did you do it? Leave us?" The brokeness in her voice reflected how Loki felt.
"We all did what we had to do to survive."
"So you go ahead and die? Great plan. And you always said that Thor was the oaf."
"What in the Nine did you want me to do? Wait for him to come catch me? Just sit in a cell, waiting for a fate worse than death, living a life worse than death? I was tired. I am tired. So many times I have begged for death to take me. And it was always the same answer. No." All my life, I have been told No.
"You think it was easy for me? Easy to be tortured since I was a child? Easy to have my body torn apart limb by limb, muscle by muscle, bone by bone? You think it was easy to stay there? Fighting my only friend, my sister, losing to protect her? You think it was easy to be abandoned and then learn that you were dead? I never abandoned my siblings."
"No. As I recall, you chased her across the universe trying to kill her."
"As if you are not guilty of the same crime." Loki hooked up the last clasp, probably a bit rougher than needed in his frustration. Frustration wasn't quite the right emotion... Nebula simply sat stiffly, emotional walls going back up in an instant. She pulled her top back on before getting up. Shuri came back with a bow and two quivers full of arrows.
"You may want to pick up the pace, a ship just entered the atmosphere." He and Nebula exchanged a look, argument aside. He's here. Loki grabbed both quivers and the bow, quickly thanking the girl in Xosha.
"And do not worry about running out of arrows, they will replenish themselves!" Shuri yelled. He and Nebula rushed out the door, slowing as they neared the group of heroes.
"If you are all done gossiping about me, a ship just broke the atmosphere, it's him." He wasn't sure how he was so calm. Was it because he wasn't alone? Granted, most of these people wouldn't hesitate to let him die, so, in a way, he was alone. As usual. Yet, he wasn't completely alone. Thor was there. Thor knew the truth. He knew the truth and he wasn't ashamed of his brother being so weak. An old Midgardian saying popped into his head; The truth will set you free. Perhaps they were onto something. An explosion drew Loki from his somewhat peaceful thoughts. He tossed the extra quiver to Clint, staring at the blue forcefield that had caused the explosion.
"That will not stop Thanos."
"Maybe not. But it will give us time to prepare." What exactly have we been doing this entire time? More explosions hit the forcefield until Ebony hit whatever was controlling it from the outside. Several voices, mostly his and Nebula's cursed as the Outriders started pouring in from every side. They were surrounded, fighting for their lives and Thanos hadn't even arrived yet.
It took about three near misses until Loki got used to the feel of the bow. It didn't help that the thing was made out of metal. Soon he and Hawkeye were having a competition of who could shoot the most Outriders. Loki had nearly forgotten the archer's skill.
Loki loosed three arrows at a time, blood and sweat mixing as his arm burned from exhaustion. Why was it so hot in Wakanda? The fates were truly cruel. Hadn't he been in enough heat in the past few days? The others seemed to be holding up alright. Thor was blasting lightning every which way, Nebula switching between blaster and dagger. Where was the Black Order? He got his answer soon enough, Proxima was dueling Nebula, Black Dwarf was against Thor, Corvus trying to get the Mind stone and Ebony was fighting him. Loki cursed silently. With his magic, he could defeat Ebony easily. Without it, not so much. His arrows shattered, the ground under him kept collapsing or rising. Ebony was toying with him and he hated it.
How do we defeat him? A glimmer of magic responded to the invasion. Was that new? Wanda was in his head. Again. He glanced to his right, noticing the witch was somehow next to him.
Sorry.
She was starting to withdraw.
Wai-wai-wai-wait, no, don't leave. I think with the right amount of contact, my magic will come out, then we can defeat Ebony Maw together.
You'll have to keep the memories in check. Without warning she invaded his head completely, her magic attempting to subdue his own. His magic responded as viscously as the memories.
Is the Princeling ready?
Yes.
There will be no barren moon, no realm, no crevice where he cannot find you. You think you know pain?
Chituari attacked from all sides, scratching him with their poisonous claws, tearing and ripping.
The whip fell upon his back, electricity coursing down his spine.
Loki, focus.
The poison dropped into his mouth, burning his insides like acid.
Loki, focus!
He collapsed to the ground, the red hot spikes embedding themselves in his flesh.
LOKI, FOCUS!
His eyes snapped open as he reined in his magic, slowly but surely getting it back under his control, green entwining itself with red. Ebony let out a hiss-like sound as their combined magic overpowered his own. Loki smiled, teleporting himself behind the weakening sorcerer and whispered,
"Remind you of anything?" Before cleanly slicing off his head with a dagger. His cache may have been empty, but there was more than enough energy around him to conjure the weapon. The red withdrew from his magic as Wanda left his head. He smiled, filled with renewed strength and hope as his magic returned. He was a fool.
The Tesseract portal opened behind Nebula, Loki, then Thor, then most of the Avengers bolting towards the titan. She was frozen, Thanos holding several figures wreathed in blue in front of her.
"-I had to kill the boyfriend, Peter Quill, to get your sister to tell me where the Soul stone was. She broke just before he bled out. That group of vigilantes had turned her soft. I had forgotten how fragile humans are. However, I am granting you the mercy of choosing who else has to die." Had turned her soft. Past tense. Gamora was dead? Loki froze in shock, glancing at Nebula. Were those tears? The titan noticed his arrival.
"Ah. The Princeling. I knew we'd cross paths again. Sooner or later."
"You should have killed me when you had the chance." Loki stepped forward, two daggers ready. He had killed Gamora. While he wasn't as close to her, her death hurt Nebula.
"I agree." Before Loki could react, blue surrounded him, the Space stone binding him in place. Thanos stepped forward, wrapping the gauntlet around his throat and slowly squeezing. Nebula rose the blaster to shoot him, but it transformed into bubbles.
Panic overtook his senses as air became sparse. He couldn't move because of the Space stone, so he was forced to stare into the Titan's eyes as his vision started to cloud. You will never be a god. Ozone filled the air and electricity crackled as Thor shot energy at the titan. Loki gasped for air as the titan was flung back several yards.
"Enough! I tire of you ungrateful people!" Thanos squeezed the gauntlet, red washing across the landscape. Loki cursed aloud as he realized what the titan planned to do. The battlefield was completely empty except for him, Nebula, the second-rate and the droid with the Mind stone.
"I have to do everything myself." Both he and Nebula attacked simultaneously, only to be thrown aside effortlessly. The titan used the Space stone to pull the droid and Strange to him, yanking the Mind stone out of the droid as he flew past. The red being grayed as it died. Time. Thanos, under no circumstances could get the Time stone. It appeared that his two companions thought the same thing, because the three of them attacked again, Nebula with daggers and blasters, Loki and the second-rate with magic.
It did nothing. Three people against a titan with five Infinity stones, they really shouldn't have expected to anything less. Yet, he and Nebula were filled with rage and hate and all three of them were desperate. It did nothing.
Purple filled the air as Thanos used the Power stone to weaken the second-rate's magic. It seemed to move both in slow motion and too fast to see. The Space stone froze the three of them in place, the Power stone pressing into the Eye of Agamotto until it shattered, leaving the Time stone in the titan's hand.
SNAP
A/N: Hi! So, I had to improvise quite a lot with how I built up to this moment, so that was fun. I have at least two more chapters planned, so thank you all for staying this long! Your support really means a lot! Thank you for reading!