Loki was dreaming, but it wasn't so much a dream as a memory.

He was in the Asgardian Vault, where the silence hung around like a welcomed curse and the dim midday light shone through the entrance. There were guards outside so they had to be careful.

"Hurry up Loki, the guards are gonna hear," Thor whispered as loudly as he could. He was the stronger sibling, so he was standing on the ground perfectly balanced without a sweat. Loki was standing on his shoulders, reaching for the giant golden fist on the highest pedestal with outstretched fingers, yet the weapon was still out of reach.

"Can't you stand on your tip-toes?" he hissed, looking down at his brother. "We just need to be taller."

Thor made an inhuman growling noise. "I can do that, but you're gonna have to co-operate."

Loki took a moment to process what Thor had just said, then looked down at him with a comically outraged look on his face. "I always co-operate!"

But Thor's mouth had twisted and he shook his head curtly. "Nah ya don't."

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"I'm not calling you a truther!"

So Thor raised himself onto the balls of his feet, lifting them the few vital inches. The jolt threatened to make Loki fall, but he kept his balance. He'd heard of the 'fear of heights', but didn't understand it. Why should he be afraid when he had his most trusted person holding him up?

The few inches Thor managed to lift them was all they needed, and Loki reached out with widespread hands again. His fingertips brushed against the golden metal. "Almost... got it..." With a few crooks of his fingers the gauntlet slowly slid towards himself, until he could hold it with two flat palms. A surge of pride spreading through his little body, and he huffed a chuffed exhale before he was able to pull the treasure towards himself, loudly scraping it against the stone. "I've got it!"

"Great! Now pull it down and get out of-" he started when suddenly a commotion of running footsteps echoed through the tunnels.

The doors burst open, and in came running Odin, two guards right behind him.

"What are you two doing here?" he growled, glaring down at them. Though his face was calm, there was something feral in his one working eye, and it was that which finally caused Loki to feel cold all over.

The two boys froze over, neither moving a single muscle as they looked towards their father with absolute horror, not daring to say a word.

"Who's idea was this?" Odin asked briskly, his voice sharp and harsh. He wasn't waiting for an answer, his attention was focused on Loki.

"It was my idea father," Thor suddenly piped up. "I convinced Loki to help me."

Odin wasn't the only one who gave him a bewildered glare.

"That's not in your nature," the old man pointed out skeptically, his glare switching form the blonde-haired to the black-haired. "Are you sure it was you?"

Of course it wasn't Thor. Loki was the one who had suggested sneaking into the vault, and then trying to take the golden jewelled gauntlet. Of course it was Loki, who else could it possibly be?

"Yes father, it was me." He set Loki down onto the ground as gently as he could, before lowering his head in shame before their father. "I'm sorry father, I just wanted to prove our strength."

"Our strength?" Odin echoed, then gestured the door. "Guards, will you escort Thor back to his mother?"

Thor kicked angrily at the ground before he followed the two guards with a sharp, annoyed exhale. For a few moments Loki stared, but just when he was about to follow, his father's voice caused him to go rigid as ice.

"You let your brother throw himself under the bus for you, and you did nothing."

Loki didn't reply, but instead ran after the two guards and his brother.

"How the hell is this dude still alive?"

The Guardians of the Galaxy had heard the distant distress call of a ship in danger, and came in roaring to save the day like they always did. What they didn't expect was that they had come too late.

The parts of the ship were everywhere, torn apart by god only knew what. And a big ship it seemed to be too, for the destruction stretched out for miles. They weren't just late, they were far too late.

Just as they were wondering what could've possibly caused this amount of genocide, something bonked against their windscreen. Not just any something, a person.

Each of them had freaked out over the dead guy against the glass. Why wouldn't they? Just that the supposedly dead guy didn't turn out to be dead at all. His eye had opened wide to stare directly at them. It was just a pure amber-orange sheet, no pupil or iris. It stared right through their very souls, filling even Drax the Destroyer with a sense of cold fear.

So they pulled him inside out from the vacuum of space, and to their immediate surprise, the ragged creature was still alive. His heart was still slowly beating.

Beat, beat, beat...

The scene burst apart, yet another setting assembled itself out of the little pieces like wisps of paint in reverse.

"You've had another nightmare?"

Little Loki nodded his little head after a long moment's hesitation, his hand wiping away the water leaking from his eyes. "Yeah," was all he was willing to say.

But of course Thor already knew that it was bad even if Loki refused to say any more. He'd come crying to his room in the middle of the night for goodness sake! At least he had the common sense not to come crying to Odin in the middle of the night after last time. To who else was he to turn to?

Loki fixed his blurry vision to watch Thor sit up in his bed and yawn with sleepy eyes. "And you woke me up just to tell me you had a scary dream?" He didn't look pleased, his hair sticking up on one side where he had slept on it while his eyes resembled the sides of coins. "Well? You might as well tell me what it was about. Go on, I'm listening."

Loki hesitated, suddenly anxious. He was shaking, but not of the night cold- he was never cold for some reason. "I... I don't remember," he lied.

He did remember though, very clearly as if it had really happened before his very eyes. A strange city, cuboid towers full of flames. At first he'd thought it was Asgard, but this city's towers did not claw at the sky, pulling out the cloud with long, pointed fingers of gold. Many, many black creatures were flying about like summer flies, and flying slug-like millipedes knocked down entire buildings just by crashing into them. And there was a tall, unfamiliar long-haired blonde man struggling against him. However what he was saying, that Loki genuinely forgot.

Thor exaggerated his eye roll, sighing a deep sigh. "You need to work on your lying brother." He shuffled to one side of the bed, lifting up the duvet with one hand. He gave a short swing of his other hand, waving towards himself. "Get in here."

"What?"

Thor gave him a glare. "I'm not letting you deal with a nightmare alone, brother. You're sleeping with me." He shuffled again to make even more room in the small bed.

Loki hesitated, before slipping into the creaking bed beside his brother, getting comfortable in the small space as Thor covered them both with the duvet. He could feel Thor's warmth press against him, and he yawned loudly to announce he was once again very tired. Yet he could see that Thor had already closed his eyes, his eyelashes casting fine shadows against his cheekbones. Of course he would wake up next morning with his hair messed up and sleep in his eyes, but Loki would be the same.

Beside Thor he felt safe, no harm would ever come to Loki as long as Thor was at his side, he knew that.

"Goodnight Loki."

"Goodnight Thor."

Drax narrowed his eyes at the stranger, studying him visually until he came to his final conclusion. "This is not a dude," he corrected Quill, looking him straight in the face. "You're a dude. This here-" he looked back to the stranger. "This is a man. A handsome, slender man."

Quill looked up at him, a grimace forming on his bearded face. "I'm slender," he said modestly.

There was a look of doubt on Drax' face, and he opened his mouth to speak, but Rocket beat him to it.

"Who're you kidding, you're one sandwich away from fat," the definitely-not-raccoon barked, pausing in his instinctive sniffing to get used to the strange man's scent.

Quill puffed himself up like an offended peacock. "Yeah right," he snorted, but Rocket was snickering, his annoying little teeth shown.

"It's true, you have put on weight," Drax pointed out, and when Quill pulled an appalled look, he proved his point by drawing an imaginary outline at his stomach, exaggerating a lot so it looked like he was imitating pregnancy

So Quill desperately looked to the green lady for assurance. "Gamora, do you think I'm-" His voice trailed off when Gamora left his side without a word, which he instantly took as a 'yes'. He huffed in shock and offence, his mouth agape for a while before he collected himself. "Alright, I'm gonna get a treadmill, and I'm gonna commit!"

Just then did Mantis give out a horrified scream, bursting into hysterical tears.

The scenes changed again, this time like smudging your finger ever so gently against the surface of a still pool of water.

It was very dark, and very, very cold. Flakes of snow flew in the wind, and the breaths turned into puffs of water vapour. Yet it certainly was not calm.

Loki wasn't a battle veteran, but it didn't mean he didn't have training. Both he and Thor had been trained under their father- the best warrior in all of the Nine Realms. He had always battled against his father or Thor during training- he'd always prefer fighting Thor even though his brother was clearly the better fighter- and always imagined battles as two sides marching steadily towards each other before breaking into a charge. Or at least watching it from afar, watching the two sides clash.

This was nothing like that.

This was chaos, a blur of movement and shouting. His allies and his brother dived into the battle without even a glance back at him.

And then there were the Frost Giants- lots and lots and lots of Frost Giants. Odin and the other parents- except for Frigga for some reason- always told scary stories of these monsters to little children, making sure all Asgardians knew of the danger that the Frost Giants posed. He shivered when he remembered a specific story Odin had told him, where a gang of Frost Giants tore apart a little Asgardian girl. Of course it was fake- but it was terrifying to think of- even now.

Loki had begged, more than once, for Thor to let this stupid idea go, to stand by and not attack the Frost Giants so stupidly, pleaded for him to let it go. And Thor would've backed down if it wasn't for his giant ego.

And even then, the touch of the Frost Giants was deadly to Asgardians, it was common knowledge. Their skin was so cold it could burn flesh like a dry leaf.

At least the battle gave him an opportunity to practise his illusions and powers. It was going well for being put under such pressure, and Loki was surprised that he hadn't messed up yet. He did have quicker reflexes than Thor, which came in handy. It was always gratifying when the Frost Giants screamed at him when he evaded their spears and sharp hands.

But he was not fast enough with one. The chill was sent through his entire body when one Frost Giant grabbed him by the forearm, shattering through his metal sleeve with ease making it flake away like sunburnt skin. Loki braced himself for incredible pain, but what happened was much much worse.

The pale skin began to fade away, showing through the rigid blue scales with distinctive darker markings- like tattoos. Loki's heart stopped the instant he recognised those markings.

The Jotun that grabbed him had also noticed, and its burning orange eyes looked up at him. His look said it all.

Why are you on their side?

With a quick flick of the dagger the giant fell to the floor, releasing his grip on Loki, allowing the smooth pale skin to cover what lay underneath. Loki examined his arm, praying desperately that what he had seen was not real. Yet the look of the giant and his own eyes proved him otherwise.

Loki's eyes darted to Thor, who had that exhilarated smile plastered on his face as he swung his hammer away at giant after giant. He was yelling something in barely suppressed excitement.

I will hunt the monsters down and slay them all!

In all the time of this battle, that was the single moment Loki felt truly scared. So much so that he felt every inner organ turn itself inside out.

How could he be afraid of his own brother?

"What's up with you?" Rocket barked, but Mantis barely heard him over her own tears. She snatched her hands away from the man's head as if she's just burned them severely. Her cheeks were wet, and the tears kept on coming, screaming horrible sounds of terror at the top of her lungs. Her antennae ceased their bright glow, and she stumbled away from him onto the ground.

"Mantis?" The attention was shifted towards the newest member of their team.

But Mantis would not calm down. Her hands clawed desperately at her head, as if trying to tear out her thoughts or whatever was causing her to meltdown. It was as if touching the stranger's head had infected her, causing her very mind to break.

Gamora left Quill's side to kneel beside the strange alien, her hands suspended in the air to let Mantis her intentions were peaceful. "Breathe," she whispered to her, taking conscious control of her breathing so that Mantis could coordinate her own breaths with hers. It took a while for Mantis to completely calm down. "What happened?" Gamora asked gently.

Mantis took a deep breath before replying. "His emotions-" she looked up at the handsome stranger. "I never want to feel anything like that ever again!"

"I am Groot?"

Rocket flattened his ears. "Dude! You don't just ask someone what someone else's emotions felt like!"

But Mantis was already up on her feet, shaking the last of the man's emotions from her mind. "It felt like I was being ripped apart."

This memory was more clear than the others, and Loki could make out almost every single detail.

Sakaar was a city never seen by any sane eyes. The skyline was jagged, no clear pattern in the buildings with the portals still spewing out lost and unloved things. That's exactly how Loki felt. How ironic that a place could mirror him so much. It really was a shame the Grand Master was a lunatic, or else Loki would've really liked to stay here.

But did Thor really agree with him?

Did he truly think so little of him?

Could Loki seriously blame him though? After all he'd done, he was lucky if anyone who knew him even thought positively of him at all anymore.

"Loki I thought the world of you," Thor said suddenly. "I thought we were going to fight side by side forever but at the end of the day you're you and I'm me." He smiled pathetically at Loki. "I dunno, maybe there's still good in you, but to be honest our paths diverged a long time ago."

Loki sucked in a horrible bitter breath, his heart skipping a few beats. He'd expected something entirely different, not this. For a moment he had no idea what to say, so he blurted out whatever his defence mechanism came up with first.

"Yep... It's probably for the best if we never see each other again."

"Welp, that's what you've always wanted."

No, that wasn't what Loki always wanted, but he wasn't going to admit it. Never to anyone, not even to himself. He had never wanted...

Why did Thor suddenly act indifferent? Didn't he care anymore? Shouldn't he be...? Loki bit his inner lip to stop himself from making any noise, so hard his mouth bled.

Thankfully Thor's next words snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Hey let's do 'Get Help'."

"I understand what that feels like," Drax nodded sympathetically. "Whenever I think of my wife and my daughter-"

"Yeah, we know," Rocket cut across him.

Drax glared daggers at him before he continued. "He's like a pirate angel-boy." Much to Quill's dismay, and his grimace grew when he noticed Gamora lift one of the stranger's arms.

"They're so light and tough and... cold," she remarked.

Quill made a harsh noise in his throat. "Stop massaging his muscles," he ordered causally. In reply Gamora dropped the arm and gave Quill a pathetic look.

So Quill decided he had enough of his team fangirling over this unconscious survivor of who-knows-what, and he turned his gaze to Mantis. "Wake him up," he told her gently with a calm dip of his head.

The bug-like girl hesitated, reluctant to touch the stranger again, but place a single hand at his forehead. Her antennae began to glow with a soft white light, and she focused her power. "Wake-"

The stranger gave a terrified scream, leaping up from the table at once and stumbling a few paces forward before standing on shaking legs as if he was to crumble at any given moment. His shoulders heaved up and down steadily with each and every deep breath he took. He turned around ever so slowly, until both icy-blue eyes were staring at the Guardians.

"Who are you supposed to be?"