I am SO SORRY for the really long wait. I wanted to add more to this chapter, but couldn't seem to get round to it. Going to try and do better with the next chapter. Again, so sorry. Hope you all enjoy this, and I would love to hear your thoughts. :)
P.S. I have seen Endgame, but that isn't going to affect my story. I both love and hate that movie.
Thor gave a soft groan, moving his hands to his eyes, before taking a sharp breath and looking up at his surroundings. He saw that he was no longer in the cockpit of the ship, but in a completely different place. One that he had never seen or been in before… yet it had an air of familiarity to him.
He stared around the small room, calling out for the others as he made his way down a small tunnel, "Loki! Banner! Rogers! Stark!"
The big man entered a large room, his footsteps echoing loudly behind him as he stepped over to the hole in the wall. His eyes widened as he saw an orange and red stained sky, stretching across huge buildings. He slowly shook his head, backing away from the wall as he stared at the twisted, ruined buildings.
"Thor." He turned around to face Rogers and Stark who were walking into the room, their own eyes widening as they also stared out at the city. Stark frowned, exchanging glances with Rogers before speaking in a quiet voice, "I'd think we were in New York, but…"
Shaking his head slowly, he trailed off while Thor gave a nod of understanding, replying, "I thought the same. But then it looked like Asgard, and Sakaar…"
He shrugged his shoulders, looking out at the city in confusion. He turned back to his companions, their faces written with the same confusion that lay in his chest. But their attention was soon directed to Banner and Romanoff that entered the room, both panting and looking over their shoulders fearfully.
"Natasha." Rogers called, making Romanoff turn around to look at him, her chest heaving as she took deep breaths. She looked over her shoulder once more before pointing in the direction behind her and saying, "Hey guys, we… uh, we just ran into a few old friends."
The three men frowned at them, waiting for an explanation that Banner offered in small tone, "Chitauri. Just like the ones from New York."
He frowned and stepped closer to the wall that viewed the city while Romanoff followed him, adding, "Speaking of which… what's going on with that?"
Stark and Rogers shook their heads slowly, shrugging their shoulders while Thor frowned and looked around the room, asking quietly, "Where's Loki?"
They all looked around, their brows creasing. Thor took a deep breath and looked down at his hand, seeing that his axe was still there. He lifted it up and told his teammates, "We need to find him. Now."
He didn't wait until they gave nods of agreement, but stepped past them and began his search through the numerous tunnels that branched away from the large room.
A great weight was pressed against his chest, making it hard for him to breath as he gave raspy coughs, clouds of dust floating into the air above him. His left hand tingling with pain that had grown numb over time, but he could still feel a cool liquid running down his fingers as he struggled to free his arms and legs.
It was dark, there was no light and he couldn't see what was on top of him, nor where he lay. For a few moments, he wondered whether his eyes were closed and opened them to their full extent, but nothing came before him. His throat tightened as he wondered whether he had become blind.
He then tried to remember what had happened, and found that nothing came to him, not even his name. Now his throat was clogged with fear and making it even harder for him to draw breath as he moved his head around in the small space, his mouth opening in silent calls of distress.
After many moments, he finally forced himself to close his eyes and take as many deep breaths as he could, calming his nerves slightly. He then opened his eyes and moved his head around more calmly, noticing that his forehead was layered with what felt like dry blood and dirt, letting him know that he must have injured himself. His heart jumped up into his throat as he suddenly remembered a soft voice speaking to him, the image of a woman standing in a kitchen while passing him a bowl of warm soup telling him, "You should be more careful, Rune."
Rune. Yes, that was his name. And the woman was his wife, Sonja. He gave a quiet sigh of relief, glad to have remembered something. But then he frowned as more came to him. His name was Rune… yet it wasn't. He was called something else. Loki. That was his true name and Thor was his brother. He gave a small sigh, and shook his head slightly while thinking about what had happened in the ship after he had destroyed the Infinity Stones. That's why his left hand now hurts.
It was then that he wondered where his brother and the other Avengers were, making him look around him once more, straining his eyes for some source of light. He felt his breath catch in his lungs as he spotted the tiniest dot of light that he had ever seen in his life, making his chest swell with hope.
Not taking his eyes off of the light, he gave a quiet groan as he pulled his right arm free of the imprisonment that it had been in. Shaking it loose of the remaining numbness, he stretched his hand towards the light, feeling cool metal at the tips of his fingers as he tried his best to grip onto the small edge that surrounded the dot of light. Getting a hold of it, he gritted his teeth in concentration as he focused all of his strength into moving the metal aside, widening the hole and allowing more light to flow into the cramped hole that he was in.
Along with the light came new sounds, albeit muffled ones. He strained his ears, trying to listen for anything that sounded like voices and felt his eyes widen as he caught hold of a sentence spoken not too far from where he lay, "It's like a junkyard here. Someone needs to call the maid and get her to clean this place up."
"Help!" He called as loud as he could, hissing slightly as the weight on his chest grew heavier. He listened intently as the light scuffle of footsteps ceased and the same voices spoke again, "Did you hear that? Where's it coming from?"
The footsteps sounded again and came closer, making Loki inhale unevenly before calling again, "Help! I'm down here!"
Loud foot falls sounded above him, dust falling onto him from the ceiling while a soft scrapping came to his ears. Loud groans of effort echoed into the small space as the large stone above Loki was lifted, showering light into the hole and making him raise his hand to bloke out the bright light that shone down on him.
"Loki! I am so glad we found you, brother!" Thor jumped down into the hole and made to lift the other stone off of Loki's chest while the others watched him from above. Loki took a quick, sharp breath as Thor lifted the rest of the debris off of his brother's chest, legs and arms, making it easier for Loki to breath.
A quiet chuckle of relief escaped Loki's lungs while allowing Thor to help him to his feet, supporting most of his weight. Loki gave groans of pain as his brother lifted him out of the hole, the others grabbing their hands, helping to pull them out. After a few minutes, Loki found himself lying against a wall with his eyes closed while panting heavily, again soft chuckles coming from his lungs as Thor seated himself beside him.
The group remained in silence for a few moments until Loki opened his eyes and looked down at his injured hand, spotting the golden wedding ring that was covered with dried blood. He wrapped his fingers around the band and gave quiet hisses of pain as he pulled it off, the others watching with looks of shock and disgust on their faces until the ring finally lay in the palm of his right hand.
Giving a sigh of relief, Loki leaned his head back again and muttered to the others, "I never thought that I'd hear myself say this, but I'm glad to see you."
He waited as Thor gave a tired chuckle while Stark nodded and replied, "Trust me, all of us are very pleased that we won't need to tell your wife of your death… Rune."
Loki sighed heavily and closed his eyes for a few seconds, shaking his head slowly while muttering, "We all know that my brother would be the only one to tell her, Stark. You wouldn't have the guts."
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Stark yelled, his eyes wide with rage which quickly turned to confusion as he frowned thoughtfully before muttering, "Wait… did you call Thor 'brother'… and me by my last name?"
They all watched him in silence, each of them with raised eyebrows as they waited. Loki inhaled sharply, bowing his head for a second before looking up at them all from under his eyelashes and muttering quietly, "Sorry… slip of the tongue."
He watched as Thor stared around at the others with a look of shock, and was unable to stop the smile that stretched across his face as his brother turned back to face him, saying in a hopeful voice, "Loki… everything back to… normal?"
Loki frowned at him and raised his hands at him questioningly, glancing around at the others before turning back to Thor and asking him in feigned bewilderment, "'Normal'? What's that, Thor? Name one day that you consider 'normal'."
"The day you set an alien army on New York." Stark answered without hesitation, making everyone turn to him. Loki raised his eyebrows at him and muttered quietly, "Wow, Stark. Well then, I think it's safe to say that not everything is back to normal. Except maybe my desire to kill you."
He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, gripping his left wrist while his brow wrinkled with pain. Thor looked around at his companions, before turning back to his brother and asking him, "Are you okay, brother?"
It was a few minutes before he answered. Loki opened his eyes and rolled his head to look over at Thor, telling him while flexing his left hand, "The pain's growing worse. But I'll be fine. Anyway, where are we?"
Loki frowned as he looked around at his surroundings, only just taking in the large pieces of rubble. Thor gave a small shrug and also looked around, telling his brother, "We don't know. We were kind of hoping that you would know… brother."
Thor spoke the last word quietly, as if he was still trying to understand that he had his brother back. Loki sighed and shook his head slowly, replying, "Unfortunately, I don't. I hope you know the way out of here, at least. Somewhere to clean up."
He raised an eyebrow at the others and waited as they all exchanged glances, before all turning back to him and murmuring words of agreement, pointing to a tunnel that they had entered the room from. Loki gave a quiet groan and got to his feet, allowing Thor to take hold of his arm and guide him, his hands ready to catch Loki should he stumble.
Some minutes later, they entered a new room where they agreed to clean up and parted to seperate corners.
"I'm glad that your memory has returned, brother." Thor spoke softly, making Loki turn around to face him before giving a short nod and a small grin, which Thor greeted with a wider smile. Loki gave a quiet sigh and turned his back on Thor again, looking down at his tattered clothes. The two Asgardians were silent for a few moments, Loki moving to pull his shirt off while Thor made to walk away, before stopping and turning back to his brother, saying, "I'll see if I can find some water so you can wash off that blood."
Loki looked over his shoulder and gave a wider grin than before, nodding slowly and replying, "That would be helpful… thank you, brother."
The two exchanged smiles again and Loki waited as Thor turned his back and began walking away. Shaking his head slowly, Loki smiled to himself and pulled off his shirt, the thought of running water coming into his mind. A sharp pain exploded in his left hand, making Loki shout in surprise and pain, dropping his shirt and gripping his left wrist again.
It was then that a great wave of water dropped down onto his head and ran down his body, washing dirt and blood away while he gave cries of shock, calling the others.
"Loki! What is it?! Are you alright?!" Thor cried, running back to where his brother stood, the others following him closely. They all stopped and stared at the waterfall that was cascading down on Loki, who fought his way out of the current and stood to the side, shaking his head, making droplets of water fly from his hair while he continued to splutter.
Stark's jaw dropped as he stepped over to the waterfall and placed his hand under it, clear water running through his fingers and down his arm. They all turned to Loki who wiped his face free of water before exclaiming to them in a choked voice, "I have no idea what just happened. One moment I was standing there, next my hand hurt and then that…"
He gestured to the waterfall, but everyone suddenly frowned at him worryingly, Thor glancing around at his companions before looking at his brother and asking, "Wait, your hand hurt? Why?"
Loki shrugged helplessly, but couldn't reply as Rogers raised the attention of the others by saying, "What's going on with your hand?"
They all stared down at Loki's left hand, which seemed to have healed itself but was now glowing with different colours under his fair skin. Everyone looked at one another, while Loki slowly shook his head and muttered under his breath, "Oh… shit."
"You don't think…" Thor trailed off, waving his hand toward his brother while Stark and Banner bit their lips and stared down at the ground. Rogers and Romanoff frowned at them, before asking in unison, "What?"
Stark closed his eyes and rubbed his face while Banner gave a quiet groan and opened his mouth to answer, but Loki spoke first, "They believe that the Stones weren't correctly destroyed and that their power has been transferred into me."
He gritted his teeth in annoyance, while the others' eyes widened and they all hissed quietly, "Oh, shit."
Loki nodded shortly and muttered, "My sentiments exactly."