Chapter Text
Loki knew that it was a fool’s attempt to even think of stabbing Thanos. It would fail. He knew it. Yet he decided to enact the foolish act because it was one way to ensure Thor’s survival. His magic was too drained for him to even attempt to attack Thanos, especially since his gauntlet was channeling the power stone. He won’t be able to put up a fight at all. So he would try that attempt because if he is dead then Thanos won’t kill Thor. A balance which Thanos loved walking.
The irony is that after all he had gone through with Thor, here he was taking his final steps and give up his life just to protect his brother. He gave Thor one last smile as he looked at him and held the dagger tightly.
After all they had been to this is what it came down too. And he had actually thought in the spaceship that he could actually live a life rebuilding Asgard as he had buried the hatchet with Thor. He had been foolish to hope. He looked away from Thor and took the step which he knew wouldn’t end well. In seconds he felt his breath draining out of him and his consciousness started sinking in darkness. He could hear Thor’s screams as darkness prevailed and overtook him.
Choking, Loki’s eyes widened and he tightly clutched his throat. His breathing was heavy as his mind processed the last thing he felt which had been Thanos choking the life out of him. His mind was ringing away as he tried to make sense how he had even been able to wake up.
He had escaped death many times but this time he had truly thought he was going to die permanently. But as his senses took things in despite the chaos ringing in his mind, Loki realised he wasn’t in the planet with Thanos anymore. He felt no sense of coldness, no air, nor could he hear anyone’s sound. Hell, all he could feel was the solid surface of a chair and warmth;. Warmth from being indoors. A situation which also didn’t make sense. If he survived miraculously he should still be there. And he wasn’t a prisoner as he didn’t feel bound.
As he caught his breath he tentatively opened his eyes to observe where he was. The sight was enough to shock him into oblivion nearly. For when he did open his eyes he noticed the green and gold patterns in the walls of a very familiar room. His...his bedroom inside the palace.
His eyes widened as he took in the setting. It was real yet it felt uncanny. Too unreal. He couldn’t believe it. Was this him hallucinating while he was dying. He pinched himself but he felt the pain so this wasn’t a hallucination. Was this Valhalla? It didn’t make sense. Valhalla wasn’t said to be anything like this.
He looked down and noticed that he was sitting on the chair which he had in his room, his study area.
“What is going on? This does not make any sense…” he trailed as he spoke out-loud.
Loki held his head when suddenly he heard a booming voice and he heard the creaking of his door opening wide.
“Brother! You have got to stop hiding away and wasting your time reading books! Join me in an adventure with my comrades!” Thor shouted as he marched inside his room. Loki felt himself freezing as he stared at the young...ridiculously young version of Thor. Gone was the short hair and odd coloured eyes that his current brother had and instead he saw two blue eyes and the long blond mane which his brother had lost years ago. This Thor was not the brother he had. This Thor was looking at him with a beaming smile, arrogance dripping from him. His mind was still in a chaotic confusion and he was staring at Thor feeling like gaping but his mask and years of pretending was too good to break despite the confusion.
Loki blinked and he looked at this odd ‘Thor’ with his best mask on.
“As riveting as this sounds brother, I would rather spend my time reading tonight then join you and your merry band” Loki spoke it, his voice stable despite the chaos that was happening inside his mind. He couldn’t work out if this was a hallucination, delusion, a weird version of Valhalla or reality. But everything including the noises, Thor’s look and behaviour was too realistic to be fake. It felt too real.
He observed this young Thor and noticed that he was making the similar expression his brother at this age would have. His eyes dimmed but a knowing look overtook him as he gave a booming laugh once more. He patted his shoulder and spoke incredibly loudly.
“Fine, you enjoy your time with those dusty old books. You will be missing out on a grand adventure!!” Thor shouted as he patted his shoulder. If Loki had his younger self’s mind he would find this patronising but he could now he knew what a big of an braindead oaf sometimes and these words were more of his thoughtless action and less of a taunt which he used to assume. He gave him a stilted smile and pushed Thor’s hand off his shoulder.
“Go have fun then, I will stay here” Loki spoke as he looked at Thor. That was all Thor needed for reassurance as he turned around and walked off, leaving with a boom and slamming his door. That was proof enough that this Thor was definitely a younger version and not the one he had. It did not make any sense. It made no sense…only thing that seemed to be a probability of this realistic visual was something which seemed impossible to consider. It couldn’t be…
While his mind was running to try and make sense of things, Loki walked towards his study table again and his eyes roved over it. He looked at his study table and ran his hand across the papers on them. It was while he was doing that that his eyes fell onto a letter. A half finished letter. When his eyes went on it his eyes widened as he read the words.
The half finished letter...he knew it. He remembered it. The letter he had written once upon a time which he had sent to Jotunheim to stage the mayhem in Thor’s coronation. That had been written and sent a week before Thor’s coronation. If the letter wasn’t written yet then that means that it is possible that he had somehow travelled back to the past. But that was impossible. How could he end up in the past? He was nowhere near the time stone. He knew such a thing existed but it wasn’t near him and he did not do any spell. So how-if time travel had happened-how was he here? How had he ended up in the past if this is what it was? It felt truly implausible.
It was while he was staring at the half written impossible letter that he suddenly heard a big humm that started ringing inside his mind. His eyes widened and he bowed down as he held his head which was now ringing loudly.
The overwhelming noise overtook his senses and he felt himself falling to the floor. As he hid the floor he felt his senses over-riding everything.
When he opened his eyes he found himself looking at the remains of Asgard once again. The ruins which it had been before his death. Now his mind felt even confused. What was the true reality? Had he imagined the past timeline? Was this the reality? What was real?
‘Where we were was the current reality. We are inside your mind now’ he heard a deep voice speak out-loud. Loki whipped his head and turned to see a figure standing there. His eyes widened when he saw a 6 year old familiar black haired figure staring up at him. A 6 year old version of himself.
His eyes widened as he saw him. Why was he staring at himself?
“Inside my mind? How am I here? And who are you? Why are you wearing my face?” Loki asked as he looked at the entity. It was definitely an entity, who else could have the power to bring him back to his own mind?
The 6 year old figure raised his eyebrows and that itself was uncanny enough. He shook his head and looked at the figure.
‘You should know me. We have worked together before and I was inside your head for a long time once’ said the figure as it stared at him with his own eyes ‘Out of all the minds I had been with and have been into, yours was interesting. So pure yet full of regret and hatred. Circumstances didn’t deal you well’ the entity kept speaking as it looked at him.
Loki started to put the pieces together and tilted his head as he saw it, eyes widening as he started to put things together.
“You’re the mind stone” he spoke as he looked at the figure. His words seemed to have hit the note as the figure smirked with bright eyes.
‘You are as smart as I remember you to be’ the mind stone spoke as he smiled at him ‘We worked together to send you back to this time so you can work to do us a favour” The mind stone spoke as it looked at him with bright eyes. The sight was odd and uncanny. There had been rumours that the stones were sentient but it was something else to have that confirmation. He stared at the stone which had been used to control him and make him Thanos’s puppet but felt no ill towards the stone itself. After all the power of the stone depended on the user.
“We? You and which stone?” Loki asked, curiosity burning as he looked at the mind stone.
‘I teamed up with the time stone. The time stone was quite displeased to have his chosen one dusted away with Thanos’s snap’ the mind stone spoke. Loki’s eyes widened at the confirmation from the mind stone.
“So he succeeds...of course he does” Loki said it as his eyes dimmed. Of course after all that Thanos succeeds.
“What do you want from me?” Loki asked as he looked at the mind stone. Obviously this was not a favour made without any self-interest. For the stones to team up and do this, clearly something was up. They want something and that would be the only reason for him to turn up in the past with this second chance. The question was now, what exactly was the price that he had to pay? The mind stone smiled at him and looked at him with his own blue eyes.
‘We’ve chosen you to prevent Thanos from taking possession of the rest of us this time around. Thanos is not the master we want, I know this sentiment is shared by other stones. So the two of us mixed our powers together to send your mind back to this time so you can prevent Thanos’s victory. Use your knowledge and prevent our timeline from becoming what it was. That is all we want. Can you do that?’ the mind stone asked as it stared at him.
“Do I have any other choice?” Loki asked as he stared at the mind stone. Said stone smiled with a twinkle in its eyes and raised it’s hand. Loki sighed and reached his hands to shake its hand. As soon as their hands met, the deal was struck and a bright light overtook his senses once more.
When the light faded Loki opened his eyes and he noticed that he was in the green gold room. He was inside his bedroom. He shakily stood up and leaned against the table, eyes on the half written letter. He raised the letter and set it on fire, watching it burn as his mind was rushing with thoughts.