Back here again.
Loki never thought he'd see the giant rainbow bridge of Asgard again, and his heart was torn between nostalgic familiarity and dread. He tried his hardest not to look sideways at Thor, and straight on to the golden city on the horizon.
And towards them was walking a whole herd of guards, armed and ready. At least now they respected him, granted in the form of a threat.
"Welcome home!" Thor announced cheerfully, slapping his back, rough but at the same time gentle. At last Loki turned his eye to his brother, to give him an exaggerated, sarcastic glare.
Yet Thor was beaming at him.
"What are you laughing at?" Loki spat at him, wringing his hands in his binds. At least they unmuzzled him so that he could properly speak. And Thor's expression reminded him of the times he would win their petty games when they were children. And still Loki hated it. Still he turned out to be a sore loser.
"You do know Father does intend to make you face justice, do you not?" Thor said rather than replying to Loki's snap.
Loki grimaced and made an odd sound. "Don't remind me."
Still Thor seemed unfazed. He began fiddling around in the hidden pockets of his suit. Out he pulled two weird cuboid things wrapped in stained white tissue, unwrapped one of them, revealing the pastel-coloured inside- and took a bite out of it.
Loki shuddered, raising both eyebrows in question. Thor noticed his expression and shrugged his shoulders.
"Ah thnuck out thome Midgar-g-ian foo," he explained airily and with a full mouth. "Thtark call-g it thomething thpecific... ah..." he snapped his fingers a couple of times. "Shawarma! Dat's wha it's call-g."
"Shawarma?"
"Yeah, Shawarma," Thor shrugged his shoulders again and took another bite. "Want one?"
"What." Loki's eyes darted from Thor's face to the object he was being offered. "Are you trying to poison me?"
Thor furrowed his brows in visible confusion. "Why would I want to poison you brother? Aren't you hungry? When was the last time you've eaten something?"
When was the last time Loki ate? His stomach grumbled at him, wailing at its master to feed it. He hesitated before lifting both hands (which were still bound together) to take the thing and pried open the tissue, sinking his teeth into the soft food. It was... interesting to say the least, with meat and lettuce and other Midgardian things Loki didn't recognise. It was... bland but good, and soon Loki was eating gladly to satisfy his hunger.
"Unlike Asgardian food, eh?" Thor said with a smile. He picked a tiny red round vegetable from his shawarma, threw it into the air and caught it in his mouth.
Loki rolled his eyes upon seeing this side of his brother, but was surprised by the fact that he had somehow calmed down slightly. He was even tempted to try Thor's trick of throwing the little funny-tasting red spheres into the air and catching them in his mouth, though ultimately he decided not to.
The guards finally made it, and reality seeped back into him. It was as cold as the shackles around his wrists and neck.
Loki's pupils constricted when he saw the unfamiliar group, and he found himself biting back his tongue. He was breathing heavily, the air strangely musky to breathe in and it almost made him choke and cough. The ship was unfamiliar, yet much smaller than the Sakaarian ship he had stolen along with Korg and the gladiator rebels. The style was different from both Sakaarian and Asgardian, yet it made Loki's lower lip curl outward in disgust. If he didn't know any better he'd like to get out here as soon as possible.
Of course that wasn't an option. Not when around was nothing but the vacuum of space. How Loki had survived was beyond him- maybe his Jotun genes had activated and shielded him from the vein-splitting cold? But maybe he was looking too much into it- he had survived a lot more than he should've, like that Dark Elf stabbing. That was an unpleasant physical feeling.
The group that was presumably responsible for taking him out of the nothingness was now staring at him, and Loki was instantly reminded of Korg and his revolution of gladiators.
No, these guys were weirder, which was saying something. He'd spent a considerable amount of time on Sakaar for goodness sake!
The rag tag group had absolutely nothing in common. Not a single thing. A tall green lady and a broad green man with strange scarlet markings all over his shirtless body, one with long flowing hair like water, the other with no hair at all. And then there was a bug-like woman with pale skin, almost as pale as Loki himself- though her wide wasp-eyes did give him the chills.
The sentient tree and the two-legged animal weren't that much of a shock, since Loki did fight beside a living pile of rocks and his cyber-enhanced millipede friend, but there was an unusual tick about them, Loki couldn't decide if it was bad or good.
But the real surprise was the Midgardian, ironically. As far as his Migardian knowledge went, those humans from earth didn't venture into other worlds, or even space for that matter.
And it was the Midgardian who spoke first, which did throw Loki off-guard for that moment. Then again he shouldn't've been surprised. Almost all of the 'Avengers' were shoot-first ask-questions-later sort of people, or at least that was what he made of them during their brief confrontation all those years ago. Has it really been that long ago?
"What were you doing out there?" asked the human, narrowing his eyes at the newcomer.
Before Loki could do anything, the biggest of them all answered for him. "Well, he is the only survivor of that outside tragedy, where else would he be?"
The critter also gave his two cents. "Yeah Quill, did those sandwiches make mush out of your brain like they did your muscles?"
"I will shave you," the so-called Quill hissed through gritted teeth. "Or dye your fur pink."
"Lucky for me I don't take showers," replied the animal, flashing his short sharp teeth.
What the hell? Loki raised his eyebrow.
Even the serious-looking green lady rolled her eyes with an exaggerated sigh. "Really? You're bickering now of all times? When we have a guest?"
The attention was back to Loki now, so many pair of eyes- each of them different. Their gazes burned into Loki's skin, and once again Loki was hit with a desperate desire to get away from them. Yet he stood his ground, just as he always did. Against the Avengers, Malekith, The Grand Master... Thanos...
"Well then?" Quill's voice snapped Loki from his thoughts. "Who are you?"
Usually Loki would know exactly what to say and when, but for some reason his brain couldn't think of anything to say.
"Do you even understand what I'm saying to you?" the Midgardian snapped a little harsher, pushing Loki to reply.
"I understand every word," Loki's voice was coarse and ragged, so downtrodden even he himself didn't recognise it. He cleared his throat- realising how dry it was- before trying to speak again. "I am Loki, of Asgard."
"Asgard?" the animal echoed, pulling a thinking-face. What animal was he again? Loki tried to remember, though the thought quickly slipped from his mind. "What's Asgard? I don't think I've heard of a planet with that name before."
Well you'll never get the chance to see it, Loki hissed silently, trying his very best to keep the bitter memory of Surtur away from the front of his mind. He grit his teeth. "And who are you supposed to be?"
The human widened his narrowed eyes for a moment, before putting on a mean face again. "Name's Peter Quill- but you can call me Star-Lord."
Definitely not doing that.
He pointed to each member of his team. "This is Gamora, Mantis, Drax, Rocket and-"
"I am Groot," the tree interrupted.
Quill turned round to growl at the tree. "Yes we all know that Groot, you mind dropping that attitude?"
Oh geez... was he seriously stuck with these guys? They were perhaps even worse than the people of Sakaar. He always kept up a facade around those people, but he didn't feel like it right now. Why should he bother?
A blanket was suddenly shoved against him, and Loki couldn't help the reflex of raising his hand in counterattack. A firm green hand grasped him around the wrist and a tremor went through Loki's heart. Thanos!
"Calm down!" Gamora snapped at him. "Whatever had attacked you it's gone now, I'm just giving you a blanket. You're freezing cold."
Loki didn't feel freezing, but then again he never felt the cold until it reached extreme levels. He lowered his wrist and forced himself to calm down. Starting a fight was the last thing Loki needed right now, yet his guard was way, way up. He was not slipping up again, not when it already cost him everything.
"Thanks," was all he muttered, wrapping the blanket around his shoulders. It didn't offer much in terms of warmth, but it was better than absolutely nothing.
For as annoying as these people seemed to be, they were unusually welcoming. They let Loki sit at the side, with a bowl of steaming soup. It was bland and tasteless, but Loki didn't want to seem rude. Why did he care? What did it matter?
"Who attacked you?" Rocket was asking, genuinely curious about him. It was like he never seen an Asgardian before, or a Jotun posing as an Asgardian- no. An Asgardian, definitely an Asgardian. Just like the rest of his family.
"We were were attacked by Thanos." Because he was stupid and it was his fault. It was all his fault.
"Thanos!?" Drax gasped, which didn't suit his deep, gruff voice. "You survived an attack from Thanos?"
The lump in Loki's throat got bigger, and he looked at his feet. Why had he survived? Only because Thor gave himself up for Loki's stupid, useless life. It was probably Thor's worst decision, coincidentally the last one he ever made.
Quill made a sound like a sneezing cat. "Thanos? Oversized Grape-man?" He was the only one to chuckle at his own joke. "C'mon, we've already thwarted his plans so it's all 'meh'."
"It was Ronan we stopped that day, not Thanos," The green lady corrected swiftly.
Everyone's eyes were on her as she walked to the window and looked out into the darkness. "In all the time I knew Thanos, he only had one goal- to wipe out half the universe."
She pressed her face to the glass in thought, her reflection stretched across the curved pane. "He used to travel planet to planet killing half the population- massacre by massacre."
Drax nodded nobly. "Including my own."
Gamora continued with a sigh. "With all six Infinity Stones he could do it with a snap of his fingers like this-" she demonstrated with an ominous snap of her own fingers.
There was something about the way she spoke that didn't sit well with Loki- it made his skin crawl how much she knew about Thanos.
He himself barely knew anything about The Mad Titan even when he was put in charge of his army. He knew that Thanos needed the Tesseract, the Space Stone by extension, and all the other Infinity Stones, but why? Now he knew, but why did this random green lady know all this?
"You know a great deal about Thanos," he pointed out dryly.
Drax and Gamora exchanged a glance, before Drax finally said; "Gamora is the daughter of Thanos."
What did he say!?
Loki dropped the bowl onto the floor with a clatter, the soup spilling everywhere. His eyes fixed onto Gamora, who looked awkwardly at her feet. She didn't even look like him, yet Loki suddenly remembered the way she had grabbed his wrist, in an oddly familiar way. A flash of fear went through him, yet he bore his teeth quickly and barked. "Your father killed my brother."
Gamora must've heard the hatred in his voice, she flinched and took a step back from him. She wasn't the only one; both Drax and Quill had shifted into battle-position, guns and knives drawn, the other three guardians frozen on the spot.
It was then that Loki realised that he was standing on his feet, tensed and dangerous, and in the mirror he saw himself. Covered with ridged blue scales and dark markings instead of pale skin, his hands twisted into claws, his eyes two blazing infernos.
Oh jeez...
Loki sighed, his skin slowly stretching over his scales. Drat... He never lost his glamour, especially in front of other people, not to mention complete strangers. "My apologies," he said quietly, dropping his gaze to the floor.
"Dude! Do all Asgardians do that!?" the animal had leapt up onto the table to get a better look at him. An involuntary flinch went through his entire body. I am not Asgardian.
He turned to Gamora instead. "I know your pain," he told her gently, dipping her a nod respectfully. "My father wasn't that great either." He shook his head wearily. "He imprisoned my sister in hell when he couldn't control her. He banished my brother when he couldn't control him. And when he realised he couldn't control me, he locked me away in chains in the deepest dungeon." Gamora returned the nod, a flash of recognition shining in her eyes.
"I feel your pain too," Quill put in quickly, severing the eye-contact Loki had with the green lady. "I mean it's no competition but I've been through a lot-" Gamora turned away and even Rocket rolled his eyes. "My father killed my mother, and then I had to kill my father, which would be definitely harder than having to deal with imprisonment."
Why do I even bother with you? Loki sighed deeply and sat down again, turning his head away from the 'Guardians'. Some guardians, what did they guard anyway?
Guardians, sounded like the 'Avengers', except that the Avengers were actually terrifying to go up against. And they had Thor, which made them instantly and ultimately better. They had Thor...
"Hey space-angel," again Rocket didn't let Loki drift into his mind for long. "Why did Thanos attack your ship?"
Please... anything but that. Loki's mind was already distracted enough. "He took the Space Stone from me and killed half of my people." His fists tightened. "He's already got the Power Stone when he attacked Xandar last week-" the guardians shared uneasy looks "-and he's on his way to Knowhere."
"Nowhere?" The Mantis-woman questioned. "He must be going somewhere."
"Knowhere's a place," Quill explained, advancing still. "Why would he be going to Knowhere?"
For goodness sake stop asking me questions!
"The Reality Stone."
Quill narrowed his eyes at the Asgardian. "How do you know he's going after the Reality Stone and not any of the other ones?"
He wants a fight, Loki decided. "Use your brain, mortal. The Soul Stone doesn't exist, the Time Stone is protected by the wizard- whatever his name is- and the Mind Stone is guarded by the Avengers, therefore he's going after the Reality Stone. It's process of elimination, you should be able to figure that out."
Quill made an odd harking sound, barely stopping himself from punching Loki's teeth in. In any other circumstances Loki would've liked to see him try, though it would've been just a waste of time.
Hanging out with these so-called "guardians" was a waste of time.
The conversation melted away into meaningless background noise. Things were not meant to be this way! Everything should've turned out just fine, Thor said so-
Everything did not turn out fine. Why did his family die and Loki get to live? It was his fault, that's why. In a horribly morbid, twisted way; Loki killed his entire family.
Was it not him who gave the Dark Elves the directions to Frigga? Was it not him who stranded Odin on Midgard and left him to die? Who was it who released Surtur to destroy not only the entire planet but also his older sister?
And who had taken the Tesseract which lead Thanos to find the Asgardian refugees and his brother?
It was all his fault.
-Come on Loki! Let's see what's behind that riverbend!
-Thor... We've been walking for hours... Can we go home now?
-You're so boring! Don't you want to see what's behind the corner of the path? Over the mountain?
-Not really...
Now he would never find out what was behind the crook of that river, he would never stand side-by-side with his family in front of the huge Asgardian crowds. He would never see any of them alive again.
Not ever again.
A loud crash made Loki flinch and look back at the guardians, and he was not at all surprised at Quill and the animal going at each other's throats.
"I know you're a coward," Quill was shouting. "You just don't want to go where Thanos is."
"Shouldn't we get help elsewhere?" Rocket suggested desperately. "The Nova Corps anyone?"
Quill clicked his tongue. "If Thanos attacked Xandar, the Nova Corps don't exist anymore, and besides we don't have much time."
"You're only voting to go to Knowhere because you want to impress Gamora."
"Am not!"
"Are to!"
Loki stood to his feet. "You're heading to Knowhere?"
"Yes," said Quill.
"No," said Rocket at the same time.
Loki took a deep breath. This was the very least he could do. "Allow me to accompany you to Knowhere. I'd say I'm rather useful in a fight."
Instantly Quill took a stance. "You've already been beaten by Thanos, what help can you be?"
Oh he did just not.
"You'd be better with me than against me," Loki snapped, shifting his voice so it mimicked Quill's voice identically. The captain's mouth fell open in silent protest. Alright, Loki was going with this.
He stepped forward, adopting the bulky outline and short frizzy brown-blonde hair of Quill. "I can assure you, I am a most formidable ally." The look on Quill's face would've been funny if Loki could only enjoy it. It was too much like Thor's when Loki had first began shapeshifting- scratch that, Quill's expression was awful.
"It's settled then," Gamora took over the conversation- Quill couldn't even speak. "We're going to Knowhere."