starzangelus asked you: Thanos needed a way across realms, so he manipulated Jane's dreams so she would become an astrophysicist. Loki discovers he isn't the only puppet in the titan's schemes, and seeks Jane's help to stop him.
Wherein Loki sees the end... or so he thinks. (Avengers!AU. Drama. PG-13.)
She's small and mortal and so desperately unimportant that it staggers Loki (or would, were he the sort to be staggered) to know she is the lynchpin to all things. But as clockwork ticks — through Germany, through Fury's cage, through the monster and his escape — his thoughts tick as well, and there is no room for doubt. Loki has spent too much time in the mind of the Other (and the Other has spent too much time in his, far, far, far too much) to miss the clues. The secrets the Other is not even aware he carries. His inferior brain cannot even begin to process the destination of the road they travel — a road built with bricks laid by another, sealed with mortar ground from their bones. All of their bones.
But paths can be traversed from two directions. Doors open from both sides.
Jane Foster is the key to the door. The Titan fashioned her himself.
But it is Loki of Asgard who will turn the lock.
"You expect me to believe you," says Jane Foster. "You."
The scepter that feels so right in his hand could solve this conflict in an instant, but humans are broken by its influence. The ones of greater heart last much longer, but by the time Loki fled Selvig's mind had finally begun to disintegrate, and Barton did not seem far behind. (The tesseract only damages mortals, Loki reminds himself. Only mortals. Only mortals. He need not fear.) He will not risk Jane Foster's psyche unless absolutely necessary.
"Have you truly never wondered," Loki says (of all the places to hide her Fury could not have picked a more foolish location than Norway, one of the few places on Midgard Loki recalls with any clarity) "how you happened to be in exactly the right place to find Thor when he fell? How you brought about such a change in him in a mere three turns of your world? Do you think yourself so enticing, Jane Foster? Because I assure you, you are not."
Her cheeks redden. "And everyone says you're so charming," she spits. "If you are, you're out of practice."
"I've no time to charm you, nor inclination. The longer we stay in this location the more threats we will face."
"The more threats you will face, you mean — I haven't done anything wrong."
"It matters not. You are a pawn of a power beyond your comprehension. Pawns are sacrificed the moment their usefulness has ended."
Jane Foster narrows her eyes. "Right. So if I'm a pawn, what does that make you?"
The scepter feels heavier, heavier. It has been a month since he ran. He ought get rid of it. Throw it in the deepest water, the hottest fire. They will find him if he does not. He has left the Other behind without the promised battle and the guaranteed reward.
(There will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice…)
But that monster is a piece on the board as well.
A risk it may be, but he needs this power still. He cannot release it yet.
"In this scheme, I am little more than you," says Loki. "But a pawn which survives long enough to reach the opponent's side of the board becomes as powerful as it wishes. Is that not how your game works?"
She frowns. "I don't see how just surviving is supposed to stop the end of the world."
"Not just the end of your world. The end of all worlds." Thanos, the name of nightmares, the feeling on the back of his neck and poison snakes of wine beneath his skin — no, the snakes are Loki's, Thor's coronation, Gungar cool and heavy, but the scepter burns bright blue. (It only damages mortals. Only mortals.) "In the end, we are all doing little more scraping for our lives, are we not?"
"Very philosophical." Jane Foster pauses. "You're saying I'm the one who's supposed to let this Thanos into our dimension."
"You were made to do so. It is your fate, unless we change it."
"If we can change it, it's not fate. There's no such thing."
"For both our sakes, Jane Foster, I hope you are right." He could compel her obedience so easily, and in so very many ways. He does not wish to. Not unless he must. If she breaks there is no telling what will happen.
She examines his face with a scrutiny Loki finds deeply disturbing. "You're sick," she says after a moment, and very carefully. "You know that, right?"
"I've been told."
"No, I mean you look sick. Is there anyone who—" She stops, then takes a half-step back (sensible thing) before continuing: "Is it something your brother might be able to help with?"
"No," Loki says curtly. There is nothing wrong. (Only mortals.) "Though we may need his help, before the end. And his new friends." When it comes to the end of existence, rivalries over thrones can be set aside. Temporarily. "I grow weary of this debate, Jane Foster. You will come with me now."
Perhaps his skills of persuasion have not left him entirely, because Jane Foster nods, slowly, not taking her eyes from his. "All right," she says. "But you have to promise we'll talk to Thor."
"I promise," he lies. He extends his hand. "Come."
Her fingers are warm in his. Loki is surprised at how quickly, and how completely, he likes the feel of them there.
Thirty years, three thousand years, it makes no difference. All believe they operate of their own free will. As though the son of Laufey, of Odin, would know of anything he was not meant to know.
And Jane Foster — she they will call Sigyn, the spark that lit the fire that burnt them all — is exactly where she needs to be.
Further away than human minds can comprehend, Thanos Rex smiles.