A/N: Hi.
Disclaimer: No. I don't.
Chapter three: Ghost
Loki knew he would have some explaining to do.
"Are the other Avengers alive?"
"Yes. Are you going to wake him up?" Bruce pointed at Thor. Oh. This was going to be wonderful.
"Where is the Tesseract?!"
"Nothing will stop Mjolnir from returning to my hand. Not even your face. Brother... Where is father? Did you kill him?!" Yes, just wonderful.
Loki released the spell. Turns out, it wasn't only his doing that had kept Thor under.
"You may want to step back." When the three obliged, Loki grabbed hold of the alcohol, drawing it out. Thor gagged, which then turned into vomit. Soon, the god of thinder was breathing raggedy, the smell of puke staining the air. The rabbit- raccoon?, creature started cursing very proficiently.
"Are you quite finished?"
"You're not real."
"I beg your pardon?"
"You aren't real."
"Are you sure you got it all out?"
"I don't see how there can be any more. I mean, when I called him melted ice cream, it was at least inside of him.
"Why wouldn't I be real?"
"Don't patronize me! You died! That mon-monster killed you when he he snapped your your- stop haunting me!" He thinks I'm dead. Maybe it's a sign. A sign to stay away. Yet. he couldn't stand seeing Thor hurt, seeing the pain and grief and guilt written in all of his features. Hear the anguish in his voice. I should leave, "Thor would be safer without me. I am the last thing Thor needs." "Everywhere I go, there is war, ruin and death." If that were true, why did leaving hurt Thor so much? It wasn't supposed to be this way! Thor was supposed to be happy. Not this drunken wreck!
"Thor, I have survived the Void, I have survived four Infinity stones, I have survived being stabbed through the chest, I have survived Hela, Sakaar and Surtur. All relatively in the past decade. Do you truly believe a snapped neck would kill me?"
"Then why didn't you come back?" It was barely a broken whisper, but Loki had sharp hearing. The frail brokenness physically hurt. It wasn't supposed to be this way! Thor was supposed to be strong. Thor was supposed to be the hero, the sun, not this broken thing. Loki was supposed to be broken, not Thor.
"I'm here now. That's all that matters. Your friends need you. Right now, you need to fill me on what happened the past five years." Thor's brow furrowed in confusion.
"Four?" "Handle me? Who are you? What, you think you're some kind of sorcerer? Don't think for one minute you second-rate." Where was Emelia? This couldn't possibly be the prophesied one.
"Long story, I've had direct contact with Time, Mind, Space and Reality."
"Time? When did you have Time?"
Loki and Thor were on Midgard, everyone crouding around Thpr to watch him call lightning with that cursed hammer of his. Loki hated that hammer. It was enough to be rejected by his own people, but to have a hammer reject him? How pathetic and weak was he? Of course, Thor wasn't the one who had been entrusted with an Infinity stone.
Mother had given it to him, saying power came with knowledge. So , while Thor was being the self-centered oaf he was, Loki was trying to find a guardian for the Time stone. With Midgard as defenseless and technologically behind as it was, no one would suspect the planet to house an Infinity stone. However, darker entities would sense it's presence, so he couldn't entrust it to just anyone. He wouldn't fail, and then Father would love him, notice him, just as Mother did.
...
Every species had magic within them, albeit different types, some individuals could simply tap into it easier. The stronger the bond, the more cooperative the magic is. However, one sorcerer wouldn't be enough, they would need sanctuaries, three to be exact. Small as Midgard was, they'd only need three.
There was one girl who stood out, she was as he could tell unaware of her magic, yet she knew it was there. An orphan, 14, bit older than he would have liked, yet he would have to make do.
Magic was like a horse, at first she needed a bridle. A sling ring, she liked to call it.
...
"You are risking too much, dealing with Dormammu."
"I can help more by living longer. There is one, in the far future that I need to train. He is meant to be the best of us."
"Fine. I trust you. Just be careful. Despite what many believe, rules are not meant to be broken."
"Roughly 5 centuries, 6 decades and 3 years ago."
"But-"
"Like I said, long story, time to go!" This was exactly why he lived near his secret pathway. Unless Thor wanted to call the Bifrost.
"I presume you can call the Bifrost?"
"Only if you prove to me you're real and promise me that you won't die."
"I won't leave you. I would ask if you mourned, but I think that is quite obvious." In one swift movement, Thor lunged, wrapping his arms around Loki as if he would disappear. Though, in his mind, that was probably accurate. Several seconds passed, until it started to get awkward.
"Look, this is all really touching, but we kinda gotta save the universe, so can we hurry this up."
"Thor, if you don't let go in the next two seconds, you're going to be awfully uncomfortable, seeing as you'll have a knife in your gut." Thor didn't let go, but Loki had been truthful.
"Ow!"
"I did warn you."
"I didn't think you were being serious!"
