Chapter Eight: Ghosts of the Past
Wakanda was in ruins. Dust blew up in the air, making it hard to see. The ground was littered with bodies, both alien and human. Those who survived were assembled in Shuri's lab.
Thor was staring out the window. The view was once beautiful, but the damage done to the city and the heartbroken deaths of half the universe's population made the landscape seem like any other ordinary view.
It was quiet, except for the few sniffles and sobs coming from the group, until Bruce Banner broke the silence.
"What are we going to do now?" Bruce muttered to no one in particular.
Thor turned away from the window. The remaining Avengers and Rocket were sitting or standing in various places; all of them bruised, battered, and completely defeated.
"What is there left to do? We can find Thanos, but we are in no condition to fight," Thor pointed out.
"How do we even find Thanos?" Natasha asked from her spot standing next to Bruce.
"I'm sure Shuri can find a way," Bruce suggested.
"Shuri is not ready for that," the Wakandan warrior, Okoye, snapped and gestured the best she could toward the young girl. Shuri was crying into Okoye's shoulder ever since she heard the news about her brother. "None of us are."
"We can't let Thanos get away with what he did!" Bruce all but yelled.
"And how exactly are we supposed to stop him? You saw how powerful he was. There's no telling what else he can do," Natasha said calmly.
"I should have killed him when I had the chance," Thor muttered, causing everyone to stare at him. Thor shook his head regretfully. "I let my thirst for revenge cloud my judgment."
"Everyone makes mistakes, Thor. It's not your fault," Natasha assured.
Thor stared at her, his eyes misty. "Not everyone makes a mistake that impacts the survival of the universe."
Natasha looked away. Thor did have a point.
Rhodey spoke up for the first time since the battle. "What happened so that you wanted revenge on Thanos? Not to be rude, but you two haven't met before."
Thor took a deep breath before answering. "Thanos attacked our ship because it turned out that Loki had the Tesseract. He killed half of the remaining Asgardian civilians."
"Loki took the Tesseract? Why am I not surprised?" Rhodey said sarcastically.
Thor glared at his fellow Avenger. Natasha quickly stood up and placed herself in front of Rhodey. "It's likely that Loki would do something like that, but how did Thanos know he had it?" she asked.
Thor's anger melted away, only to be replaced by sadness. "Loki is connected to Thanos. During his time in the Void, he was being held captive by the Mad Titan. Thanos tortured my brother and gave him a 'mark' that connected the two together. He could hear and see anything that Loki did," Thor explained.
"Oh," Natasha said quietly.
"Speaking of Loki, where is he?" Bruce asked. "The last I saw of him was on the ship before I was teleported away. You never did say what happened to him."
A tear suddenly slid down Thor's cheek. The whole group was slightly shocked; they had never seen Thor cry.
"T-Thanos k-killed him. L-Loki s-saved my life," Thor stuttered.
"I'm so sorry," Bruce muttered. That was not the answer he was expecting.
Thor smiled sadly, tears streaming down his face. He didn't care that he was crying in front of his teammates. All he wanted was his brother back.
"After all these years, Loki still cared for me…," Thor continued, but nobody was listening. They were too focused on the sudden drop in temperature and flickering lights.
"...even when I thought that he was completely lost, he still came back—" Thor was suddenly cut off by a familiar voice.
"I always come back."
Shuri screamed at the smoky figure standing behind Thor. Steve and Natasha instinctively reached for their weapons and aimed them at the figure. Thor took a step back and summoned Stormbreaker.
"Of course, I care; you're my brother," the figure added, its form shifting to a more recognizable image.
"Loki?!" shouted many voices.
The person in question spread his arms and smiled. "In the flesh." Loki paused and furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "Well, not really, since this is only my soul that you can see. Hela still has reapers looking for my body. For such a handsome body, it's really hard to find."
The whole group stood there in shock, several mouths hanging open. Thor was as still as a statue, even letting his axe slip from his hand and land with a 'thud on the floor.
"What? It looks like you've seen a ghost," Loki commented.
Thor swallowed a lump in his throat. "How—"
"Hela let me into the Veil so I could relay a message to all of you. Apparently, she thinks that I'm the one who is perfect for telling you about everyone who 'died,' even though I'm basically your sworn enemy and probably now the second most-wanted person in the universe," Loki explained, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
"What?" Thor squeaked out.
"Thor just said you were dead!" Rocket shouted.
"Hela?! Your evil sister?!" Bruce questioned. Looks of confusion were exchanged among the group.
Loki held up his hands in defense. "Easy there, doctor. Hela is not evil, nor is she our sister. She's the sweetest, most innocent girl I have ever met, and I'd rather not have you make bad assumptions about my daughter," Loki said firmly.
"Daughter? Hela's your daughter?!" Bruce exclaimed.
Loki rolled his eyes and nodded. "Yes, but it's a very long story that I don't have the time nor the willingness to share."
Bruce looked like he wanted to continue questioning, but one glance at the Trickster erased all thoughts of doing so.
Thor ran both his hands through his short hair. He took a small step towards his brother, but Loki held up a hand to stop him.
"If you touch me, you'll just go right through. As much as I wish you could; you won't be able to hug me," Loki said.
Thor's face dropped. "I saw you die! How are you here?"
"What part of the word 'ghost' escapes your understanding?" Loki questioned.
Thor opened his mouth but closed it quickly. "Are you safe?"
Loki nodded. "I'm staying in Valhalla. There was a trial to see where I should go, but it was short. Most of the council members believed that I was, somewhat, innocent of my crimes."
"Can Thanos reach you? Does he know where you are?" Thor asked, worry heavy in his voice.
"We don't know. He could possibly find me since he has the Soul Stone, but we aren't sure what he can do with it. I doubt he'll care; he does think I'm dead after all."
"Can the Soul Stone actually control souls?" Bruce asked.
"No, it can only control trees." Bruce looked confused, causing Loki to sigh. "Yes, the Soul Stone can control, find, and harness the power of souls."
"Well, if Thanos can do all of that; he could find you, right?" Bruce tried to ignore Loki's sarcasm.
"Unfortunately, yes. Ghosts are just souls who haven't crossed over into Valhalla or Helheim. I am one of them; and sadly, he, can track my whereabouts in more than one way," Loki explained.
"Thor told us about your 'mark' thing," Rhodey added.
"It doesn't matter what he could do with me; what matters is the fact that those turned to ash aren't dead," Loki said. The group, once again, was taken aback. "That's why I'm here. To tell you about the victims of the Snap. Hela had a team of reapers look for them. None of their souls have appeared in Valhalla, Helheim, or in the Veil. That only means that they are trapped inside the Soul Stone."
"Can you see them? Are they alright? What about Bucky? Is he fine?" Steve blurted out.
"I'm not really sure who this 'Bucky' person is, but if he is in the Soul Stone, there's a chance that he might still be alive," Loki replied to a small sigh of relief from the Captain.
"Can we get them back?" Okoye asked.
"Hela is working on a rescue team as we speak. Since, he, has a crush on my daughter, it's less likely that Hela will be attacked while entering and exiting the Soul Stone," Loki answered.
"Wait a minute," Bruce said. "Thanos has a crush on your daughter?!"
Loki clenched his mouth shut and glared at the doctor. Thor stepped in between the two. "I believe that part is not of importance right now. We need to focus. Stop worrying about petty details."
The doctor turned and sat back down on his chair. He folded his arms across his chest in an attempt to calm himself down.
Loki cleared his throat and looked away from Bruce. "I understand that this is a lot of information."
"What makes you think we can trust you?" Natasha interrupted, causing Loki to face the former Russian spy.
"Excuse me?" Loki said.
"How do we know that you're not working for Thanos?"
"Do you really think that I would work freely for that?!"
"There's a lot of things that I'm thinking right now, and your help us is not one of them. You never help anyone freely, there's clearly something you want," Natasha continued.
"Natasha…" Steve tried to pull her back, but Natasha yanked her arm from his grasp and pointed a finger at the ghost.
"You hurt my best friend; turned him into a mind-controlled freak. You destroyed New York City and murdered thousands of innocent people. There are many things I don't forget, so don't come asking for our help when all you've done is cause chaos. I don't know what Thanos told you to say but don't ever think we're going to believe your little 'pitiful' story," Natasha practically growled.
The look on Loki's face should have been enough to warn the spy to shut up, but Natasha's anger had clouded her judgment.
"Thanos must pay really well to get you to cooperate. Or, maybe he offered you something. What is it? Thor dead at your feet? Infinite power? Recognition as king?" Natasha questioned. At this point, both Steve and Bruce were holding her back from the Asgardian. Thor was standing protectively next to Loki's side. "What did Thanos offer, huh?"
The last jeer snapped something inside of Loki. The dark-haired prince balled his fists, digging his fingernails into his palms. Anger flashed behind his green eyes. "Do you want to know what he offered?! He offered me torture in return for my pain. He tortured me until I was on the brink of death, and then he had his healers fix me only to start over again. I had to endure a year of suffering because I refused to help him collect all of the Infinity Stones. He laughed when I screamed in pain. I begged him to stop, but he continued, only ceasing to heal me. He loved it when I was broken and bleeding at his feet.
"And it wasn't just physical pain. He messed with my head; took away my feelings of love and replaced them with cold, hard anger. He turned me into a submissive slave, one who called him master and begged for forgiveness when I displeased him, in hopes that he would take pity on me. I wished for death, in fact, I welcomed it with open arms, but he never killed me. He got pretty damn close to killing me, but he never did.
"I thought that he just enjoyed my suffering too much to kill off such an entertaining slave; right until I thought I was free from his clutches. Right when I thought everything was going to turn out alright; right when I was happily rebuilding my relationship with my brother, he took it away. He destroyed my chance at living happily ever after; with my girlfriend, kids, and my brother.
"So, tell me, Miss Romanoff, do you really think that I want to work for him? I'm not asking for you to believe me, but if there is a chance that we can kill or stop that bastard, I'm taking it. I never wanted Thor to get hurt. I never wanted to attack New York. I never wanted to be used like a disposable animal. He ruined my life; I only wish for a chance to send his ass straight to Helheim," Loki choked out, his face red with tears pouring down his face.
It was silent for several, long minutes. Loki turned toward the window to wipe his tears. Natasha allowed Bruce to pull her down to a chair. Thor lifted a hand and tried to place it on Loki's shoulder, but it passed right through, causing Loki's form to ripple and almost dissolve before reforming again.
"What do we need to do?" Steve was the one to finally break the silence. It seemed like everyone silently agreed that they believed Loki, or at least give him a second chance.
Loki whispered in Thor's ear. Thor nodded and turned toward the group while Loki stood facing the window and hugging himself.
"My brother says that we need to be ready to go to Titan," Thor announced. "Hela should have reduced the souls by then. Thanos can only use one Infinity Stone at a time since the Snap weakened him. That gives us an advantage. We are going to hit him with everything we got, so call up anyone who is willing to fight. This time, we're taking the fight to him."