Summary: Loki fakes his death, arrives on Earth to fight Thanos and reveals to Thor that he’s not dead.
Word Count: 1.1k
Warnings: Infinity War spoilers.
Loki had died before. Loki had died many times before. Thor had cradled Loki’s dead body before, and Loki turned out, to not only be alive, but he also came to Asgard’s rescue. Why should this time be any different?
Loki had taken the Tesseract to save himself and allow him to escape Asgard’s destruction. Thor realized on the trip to Nidavellir with Rocket and Groot. And Loki had also given it up to save his life. Loki, his little brother, had given his life for his.
But he couldn’t be dead.
Thor would not be able to stand it if this is how Loki died.
Thor had lost his mother, his lover, his father, forced to kill his estranged sister, and then the majority of his people to the mad Titan Thanos. He couldn’t have lost his dear little brother too.
Not again.
And Thor didn’t believe that Loki was truly dead. He knew Loki better than any living soul. Thor knew the way Loki’s mind worked, knew about the subtle verbal and physical clues that Loki gave him. Thor knew Loki.
And Loki was not dead. Not this time.
Granted, he had believed that Loki was dead the previous two times, but Loki had never given him any sign that he was not truly dying. In fact, those “deaths” were played perfectly for Thor to believe it. This time, that was not the case.
One, Loki had given up the Tesseract, which he wouldn’t do, not after half of his people were slaughtered.
Two, Loki’s exact words were “I assure you brother, the sun will shine on us again” which Loki wouldn’t have said unless they were true. Loki had the chance to say anything, to bid farewell or make a snippy comment at Thanos, but instead he chose to remind Thor that this was not their end.
Three, Loki’s final words reminded Thanos, and Thor, that he was a god. The God of Lies to be exact. The God of Lies who speaks more lies than any other, who uses magic better than everyone else and who is a master of illusions.
And four, after he died, Loki had turned to the same ashen grey colour he did on the Dark World, and that was just another one of his illusion. No matter how real it seemed to Thor.
So, Thor was almost certain his brother was still alive. But he had no proof. And he had no idea where his brother was now.
Until I know Loki is alive, I will let my grief and rage lead me to killing Thanos, Thor decided.
And he did.
Thor forged Stormbreaker through his grief, he called upon the Bifrost with his pain, and he began killing aliens on Midgard with his rage.
Midgard, his second home, the place Loki attempted to take while under Thanos’ control, the place they were headed when Thanos attacked.
Midgard. Loki should know to go to Midgard.
And Loki did.
Loki needed Thanos to believe that he was dead, but he didn’t want Thor to think he was. He needed Thor to know that he was going to be okay, and Loki hoped that Thor understood all of the clues he was giving his older brother.
See, Loki knew Thanos, and Loki knew that Thanos knew that he knew, which meant that he was a threat to Thanos that needed to be eliminated. Thanos was of extraordinary strength as he was able to wield an infinity stone. But so could Loki. Yes, Thanos was the most powerful being in the universe with two infinity stones, but Loki wielded two infinity stones not long ago, which placed him on equal footing as the Titan. So, Loki had to die. But killing Loki was no easy feat.
Loki was smarter than Thanos and he was a master of mystic arts, meaning that faking his death was a little too easy for Loki. The problem was in the aftermath.
Without the Tesseract, it would take Loki too long to get to Midgard. It would take Loki too long to get to Thor.
Loki used all his tricks, all the magic and backdoors to the universe he had learned in his time to arrive on Midgard. Once on Midgard, he used a simple tracking spell on Thor to arrive at his exact location.
But, by then Thanos’ minions were destroying Wakanda and Thanos… Loki knew that Thanos would be coming soon.
Loki drew his daggers and wandered into the war for Midgard. Loki had been in many battles, not unlike this one, so it wasn’t as overwhelming as it was for some of the others.
“LOKI?!” Loki heard and quickly turned around to find the person who called him. He knew it wasn’t his brother, but whoever it was recognized him, so maybe they knew where Thor was.
Thor needed to know he was okay.
It was the soldier, Captain America.
Loki cut through the beasts on his way towards the soldier, and Steve cut his way towards the God, raising his shields when he neared Loki.
“I come in peace, I assure you.” Loki spoke calmly to Steve as he fought off the aliens.
“You didn’t last time.” Steve replied as he fought.
“Last time I was under orders from Thanos, and I can assure you that I want him dead just as much as you. I fight for you, not again you, Captain.” Loki turned to Steve and extended his hand. “I give you my word.”
Steve nodded, but didn’t take his hand. Loki retracted his hand before speaking. “Have you seen my brother?”
Steve pointed towards away from them. “He went that way. Just follow the lightning.”
Loki nodded in thanks and headed off in the direction Steve had pointed him in.
It didn’t take Loki long to findThor, but it did take him too long to reachThor.
Thor was flying and destroying things and Loki was grounded. And there were so many beasts, too many beasts, to cut through.
“Thor!” Loki called once he got close. “For Odin’s sake, THOR!”
Thor landed near to Loki with a crash, lightning running through the ground and killing all the beasts around him.
“Loki?” Thor asked softly with a huge smile, walking closer to his brother. “Loki! Brother, I knew you were alive!”
Thor quickly embraced his brother and Loki hugged him back. In the midst of the battle for the planet in the war against Thanos, the brothers made their reunion.
When Thor drew back from the hug, Loki forced a smile and snippy comment to cover the wetness of his own eyes. “You have two eyes?”
Thor’s smile widened before he wiped away the tears gathering in his eyes. “And you’re alive.”
Loki nodded. “I am. I’m here and I’m to help you stop Thanos and save the realm.”
