Post by Maplestone360 on Aug 29, 2018 6:47:35 GMT -5
Yeah. So. I am a huge Marvel fan. And Infinity War broke me. And it's been almost half a year since it came out, but I still haven't gotten over it in the slightest, so I was like "Forget it. I'm writing about it." And I did.
Just a little one-shot. But spoilers obviously. And since Infinity War is nothing but pain, my writing is therefore nothing but pain. If you're a Marvel fan, read at the risk of your own happiness.
(I also put it in a little layout because why not.)
Just a little one-shot. But spoilers obviously. And since Infinity War is nothing but pain, my writing is therefore nothing but pain. If you're a Marvel fan, read at the risk of your own happiness.
(I also put it in a little layout because why not.)
There had been a time when Thor had thought he’d known all the answers.
He’d thought everything would turn out just fine. That, even though fate had been particularly tricky to him as of late, all of that hardship would work out for good.
He certainly hadn’t thought that he and his people would be stopped in their tracks just as they managed to narrowly escape the last apocalypse the universe decided to hurl in their way. And he certainly hadn’t even begun to imagine what he might have left to lose if they were.
But Thor had been terribly, horribly wrong.
Loki had never meant for the horrors of his past to catch up to him.
He’d spent years trying to evade them, struggling to overcome what the monsters had done to his mind. They had torn it apart, bit by bit, then put it back together in ways it was never meant to be. Over and over and over. He simply hadn’t been strong enough to resist.
He’d thought, after that, there was no hope for things to ever be the same. That after all the mistakes he’d made, no one would ever love him again. He’d told himself that he didn’t care, that he could do things his own way. He could take whatever he wanted. He could act however he pleased. Who his actions hurt didn’t bother him. He himself had been hurt too much to care.
Loki had believed in those lies. He’d believed in nothing else. But no matter how much he tried to run, eventually, he would have to face his fears.
In time, his brother came back to him. Then he was forced to pay for his mistakes in a myriad of terrifying ways. Now, Asgard was destroyed. Its people were battered and bruised and homeless. And if he hadn’t done the things that he did, all of the consequences could’ve been avoided.
Loki had once prided himself in being an exceptional schemer. But it seemed that he was far more nearsighted than he’d realized, and every single plan of his could only end awry.
Now, he didn’t see how anything could possibly get any worse. How else could he mess up and hurt everyone around him? Surely things could only get better from here?
But, yet again, Loki had been terribly, horribly wrong.
Thor and Loki were standing together when it happened. For a while now, they had been waiting in their Sakaarian ship Loki had so cleverly stolen from its planet—the whole story was complicated. Thanks to him, the Asgardians had a way to escape. But not even the Statesman could protect them for long.
Thor had just finished assuring Loki that Earth was a good place to rebuild their home. The planet was large, and the humans would be merciful. Loki had every reason to be doubtful, however, after everything he'd done. Earth would likely be less forgiving to him. But Thor would never let them cast Loki away. He would protect his little brother with all his strength.
But even on that positive note, everything still managed to become impossibly worse. Another ship arose from beneath them, engulfing the Statesman in shadow. And Loki recognized it immediately. To Thor's surprise, he insisted that the Asgardians evacuate as quickly as possible. He said that no one was safe. That to stay was to perish. Thor didn't understand, but due to the sight of the vessel, which made the already large Statesman look miniscule, and of the expression of utmost terror on his brother's face, he felt inclined to agree.
Loki couldn't imagine how or why the being haunting his memories had managed to find him again. He was simply on a ship with a people who had just lost their home. What could there be to gain from that?
But then it hit him. The Tesseract. It had been in Asgard’s vaults before they were destroyed, and he had taken it for himself. The very object his pursuer had been after for years. The reason he had gotten in this mess in the first place.
Taking the Tesseract was probably the most foolish decision Loki had made yet. And now he had been tracked down and cornered because of it.
Though he didn't understand, Thor followed every suggestion Loki made without question. He ordered an evacuation, and within minutes, half of the Asgardians had already escaped in a fleet of pods and made it away from the scene. But when the enormous ship began firing at the Statesman, Thor figured he should know what in the world was going on.
When he asked, Loki told him. That the powerful being behind all this was named Thanos. That going from planet to planet and massacring half its population was what he did. That if they didn't escape, Thanos would do the same to them.
How Thanos had managed to find them, however, Loki didn't say.
In minutes, the blasts Thanos fired at them broke the Statesman in half. Some of the Asgardians had managed to escape earlier, but many had not. Now, the rest were all trapped in the growing wreckage of their ship as chaos unfolded. What happened next, no one really knew. Only that, in seconds, they were all knocked off their feet, and that Thanos had arrived.
Loki was forced to watch as every remaining Asgardian around him fell because of his mistake. Thanos and his children had invaded the Statesman, inflicting their wrath upon its passengers. He was the only one to be spared.
It was as if Thanos was mocking Loki with this dramatic display, reminding his victim that he would always be the most powerful being in the universe. That no one could stop him. That Loki would be kidding himself if he thought he could.
Loki hated it.
Thanos had lifted Thor from where he was lying nearby and was now strolling toward Loki, proclaiming that he knew what it was like to lose. He was surely going to use Thor as a bargaining chip to get the Tesseract.
Loki hated it.
He was not going to give in to Thanos’ will. He was not going to cave to the pressure. He would not be weak. Not this time.
But Loki hadn't fully realized what the stakes were. He hadn't thought through what being strong might mean. What he would have to give up.
Loki tried at first. He tried to be defiant, to refuse Thanos’ demands with a smile on his face. But Thanos was resourceful. And he knew how to get what he wanted.
When Thanos started torturing Thor with the Power Stone, Loki found that he couldn't resist any longer. He couldn't bear to see his brother in such unendurable agony. He knew what it was like to be tortured. That after you've gone through it, you'll never be the same again.
Loki knew that to give up the Tesseract was to aid Thanos on his quest to “balance” the universe. And he cared. But he cared about Thor much, much more.
Loki loved Thor. He would do anything for his brother, even if it meant giving up.
So, he did.
When the pain stopped, Thor was dismayed to see that the Tesseract was not, in fact, destroyed. However, Loki had taken it. The pieces fell into place in his mind, and he was disappointed, but not exactly shocked. He should've known what sending Loki into the weapons vault in the last moments of Asgard could mean. He wished that Loki hadn't given in, but honestly, wouldn't he have done the same? He would rather die than hand it over, but would he rather Loki die? . . . No. No, he wouldn't.
However, it seemed Loki had a few more tricks up his sleeve. The first, sending the Hulk after Thanos, didn't work. Thanos beat their friend easily. And when Heimdall made one last stand, using the ancient dark energy to summon the Bifrost and get Hulk to safety, Thanos stabbed him through the heart in a swift and brutal retaliation. It seemed that the Mad Titan was simply unbeatable.
But nothing could've ever prepared Thor for the next solution Loki tried.
So, not even the Hulk was strong enough to defeat Thanos. Loki hadn't anticipated that.
He'd hoped that, even though Thanos did have the Tesseract now, it wasn't over. That there was still a way he could make up for his mistakes. To help Thor.
There was only one thing left he could think to do. And, of course, Loki wouldn't even hesitate.
If there was one thing Loki was good at, it was deception. He’d had a great many years of practice, even tricking others when he really shouldn’t have. But, now, he finally used it for good.
Or, he tried.
Loki tried to give Thanos false belief. To make it seem like he’d switched sides yet again. To cause his opponent to let his guard down. To think he’d actually be loyal for once in his life.
But, what Loki didn’t quite realize is that, even from an outsider’s perspective, if you looked closely enough, you’d be able to tell where his true loyalty lied. By how the sight of Thor’s torture had been just as painful for him to endure. And how he had continuously looked for ways to defy Thanos. Even how he had been with Thor in the first place, instead of taking off the first chance he got.
And if Loki had only been concerned with saving himself, he could’ve been one of the first to snatch a pod and get away from Thanos as quickly as possible. But he wasn’t. At this point, he was only concerned with protecting the one thing that meant everything to him.
But even that wasn’t enough. Thanos wasn’t just known for his strength. He was incredibly perceptive, cunning, and cruel. And he saw Loki’s last trick a mile away.
Before he knew it, Loki was trapped in Thanos’ inescapable grip, being lifted off the ground, the very life being crushed out of his lungs. In his last moments, he was reminded of every one of his bitter regrets, how things could’ve been better if he’d only had the prudence to see it. However, above everything else, he hoped against hope that maybe Thor would be okay.
And, before the scourge of his memories could end it all, Loki worked up the strength for one last act of defiance.
“You will never be a god.”
Thor had been forced to watch his brother and his friend give their lives in an attempt to stop Thanos without even being able to move a muscle.
After the Hulk had been defeated, one of Thanos’ children had used a sort of telekinetic power to bind him and trap him with the wreckage of his own ship. He couldn’t even speak. He’d been completely and utterly helpless.
Thor had never experienced such powerlessness in his life. Not even the time he had been banished to Earth came anywhere near it. He had been mere steps away. It had all gone on right in front of him. He had been consumed by such a fierce and desperate desire to be able to just move and do something that he’d thought he might crack from the pressure. But he couldn’t. He had been trapped in a hunk of discarded metal. All he was capable of doing was watching as everything he had left was snatched from him.
All it took was a heartbeat. A blink of an eye. Just like that—gone.
Now Thor had nothing left to live for.
It had been difficult to accept at first. He had already lost so much. He couldn’t believe that fate would allow him to lose any more. But, well, life wasn’t fair. If life was fair, someone like Thanos wouldn’t even exist. Tearing apart families wherever he went. Leaving unfathomable destruction in his wake. Stripping countless people of all their hope. But Thanos did exist. And Thor was feeling firsthand just how devastating his warped idea of “balance” could be.
When Thanos had went as far as detonating the Statesman with the Power Stone as he teleported away, Thor was left with a sense of irreversible brokenness. It was done. Non-debatable. No more clever resurrections or faked deaths. No more fighting side by side with his brother and his friends. No more people he could lean on and always count on to be there for him when things seemed impossible to get through. None. All of it was gone forever.
Thor didn’t see any reason to keep fighting. Thanos had proved himself unstoppable, hadn’t he? Everyone who tried to defeat him failed. He was the most powerful being in the universe. So, Thor had let the violet light of the Infinity Stone blind him, overcome him. Then, after it, darkness.
However, even though it seemed like the end for Thor, he was wrong again.
Miraculously, he had been found before the emptiness of space could cause his body to permanently fail. They woke him. Spoke to him. Helped him. Possibly the strangest crew of morons in the galaxy, but a family nonetheless. One of them was even an adoptive daughter of Thanos who had somehow managed to escape from his clutches. All of them were adamant in the belief that he needed to be stopped.
It was then that Thor remembered that he wasn’t the only one out there who had suffered because of Thanos. And everyone else still had loved ones that they would be devastated to lose. Was Thor going to sit by and let Thanos destroy all of their lives as well, or was he going to stand up and make the monster pay?
Surrender was not in Thor’s nature. Running straight to his problems and facing them head on, however, was.
So, Thor decided he would do his part for the universe by devoting every last drop of his strength to putting an end to Thanos’ countless years of slaughter. His anger, loss, and regret would fuel him as he made Thanos suffer as he had suffered, even if it was the last thing he did. And he would do if for Loki, for Heimdall, for Asgard.
And if he failed, if his efforts proved futile… well, then, what more could he lose?
He’d thought everything would turn out just fine. That, even though fate had been particularly tricky to him as of late, all of that hardship would work out for good.
He certainly hadn’t thought that he and his people would be stopped in their tracks just as they managed to narrowly escape the last apocalypse the universe decided to hurl in their way. And he certainly hadn’t even begun to imagine what he might have left to lose if they were.
But Thor had been terribly, horribly wrong.
Loki had never meant for the horrors of his past to catch up to him.
He’d spent years trying to evade them, struggling to overcome what the monsters had done to his mind. They had torn it apart, bit by bit, then put it back together in ways it was never meant to be. Over and over and over. He simply hadn’t been strong enough to resist.
He’d thought, after that, there was no hope for things to ever be the same. That after all the mistakes he’d made, no one would ever love him again. He’d told himself that he didn’t care, that he could do things his own way. He could take whatever he wanted. He could act however he pleased. Who his actions hurt didn’t bother him. He himself had been hurt too much to care.
Loki had believed in those lies. He’d believed in nothing else. But no matter how much he tried to run, eventually, he would have to face his fears.
In time, his brother came back to him. Then he was forced to pay for his mistakes in a myriad of terrifying ways. Now, Asgard was destroyed. Its people were battered and bruised and homeless. And if he hadn’t done the things that he did, all of the consequences could’ve been avoided.
Loki had once prided himself in being an exceptional schemer. But it seemed that he was far more nearsighted than he’d realized, and every single plan of his could only end awry.
Now, he didn’t see how anything could possibly get any worse. How else could he mess up and hurt everyone around him? Surely things could only get better from here?
But, yet again, Loki had been terribly, horribly wrong.
Thor and Loki were standing together when it happened. For a while now, they had been waiting in their Sakaarian ship Loki had so cleverly stolen from its planet—the whole story was complicated. Thanks to him, the Asgardians had a way to escape. But not even the Statesman could protect them for long.
Thor had just finished assuring Loki that Earth was a good place to rebuild their home. The planet was large, and the humans would be merciful. Loki had every reason to be doubtful, however, after everything he'd done. Earth would likely be less forgiving to him. But Thor would never let them cast Loki away. He would protect his little brother with all his strength.
But even on that positive note, everything still managed to become impossibly worse. Another ship arose from beneath them, engulfing the Statesman in shadow. And Loki recognized it immediately. To Thor's surprise, he insisted that the Asgardians evacuate as quickly as possible. He said that no one was safe. That to stay was to perish. Thor didn't understand, but due to the sight of the vessel, which made the already large Statesman look miniscule, and of the expression of utmost terror on his brother's face, he felt inclined to agree.
Loki couldn't imagine how or why the being haunting his memories had managed to find him again. He was simply on a ship with a people who had just lost their home. What could there be to gain from that?
But then it hit him. The Tesseract. It had been in Asgard’s vaults before they were destroyed, and he had taken it for himself. The very object his pursuer had been after for years. The reason he had gotten in this mess in the first place.
Taking the Tesseract was probably the most foolish decision Loki had made yet. And now he had been tracked down and cornered because of it.
Though he didn't understand, Thor followed every suggestion Loki made without question. He ordered an evacuation, and within minutes, half of the Asgardians had already escaped in a fleet of pods and made it away from the scene. But when the enormous ship began firing at the Statesman, Thor figured he should know what in the world was going on.
When he asked, Loki told him. That the powerful being behind all this was named Thanos. That going from planet to planet and massacring half its population was what he did. That if they didn't escape, Thanos would do the same to them.
How Thanos had managed to find them, however, Loki didn't say.
In minutes, the blasts Thanos fired at them broke the Statesman in half. Some of the Asgardians had managed to escape earlier, but many had not. Now, the rest were all trapped in the growing wreckage of their ship as chaos unfolded. What happened next, no one really knew. Only that, in seconds, they were all knocked off their feet, and that Thanos had arrived.
Loki was forced to watch as every remaining Asgardian around him fell because of his mistake. Thanos and his children had invaded the Statesman, inflicting their wrath upon its passengers. He was the only one to be spared.
It was as if Thanos was mocking Loki with this dramatic display, reminding his victim that he would always be the most powerful being in the universe. That no one could stop him. That Loki would be kidding himself if he thought he could.
Loki hated it.
Thanos had lifted Thor from where he was lying nearby and was now strolling toward Loki, proclaiming that he knew what it was like to lose. He was surely going to use Thor as a bargaining chip to get the Tesseract.
Loki hated it.
He was not going to give in to Thanos’ will. He was not going to cave to the pressure. He would not be weak. Not this time.
But Loki hadn't fully realized what the stakes were. He hadn't thought through what being strong might mean. What he would have to give up.
Loki tried at first. He tried to be defiant, to refuse Thanos’ demands with a smile on his face. But Thanos was resourceful. And he knew how to get what he wanted.
When Thanos started torturing Thor with the Power Stone, Loki found that he couldn't resist any longer. He couldn't bear to see his brother in such unendurable agony. He knew what it was like to be tortured. That after you've gone through it, you'll never be the same again.
Loki knew that to give up the Tesseract was to aid Thanos on his quest to “balance” the universe. And he cared. But he cared about Thor much, much more.
Loki loved Thor. He would do anything for his brother, even if it meant giving up.
So, he did.
When the pain stopped, Thor was dismayed to see that the Tesseract was not, in fact, destroyed. However, Loki had taken it. The pieces fell into place in his mind, and he was disappointed, but not exactly shocked. He should've known what sending Loki into the weapons vault in the last moments of Asgard could mean. He wished that Loki hadn't given in, but honestly, wouldn't he have done the same? He would rather die than hand it over, but would he rather Loki die? . . . No. No, he wouldn't.
However, it seemed Loki had a few more tricks up his sleeve. The first, sending the Hulk after Thanos, didn't work. Thanos beat their friend easily. And when Heimdall made one last stand, using the ancient dark energy to summon the Bifrost and get Hulk to safety, Thanos stabbed him through the heart in a swift and brutal retaliation. It seemed that the Mad Titan was simply unbeatable.
But nothing could've ever prepared Thor for the next solution Loki tried.
So, not even the Hulk was strong enough to defeat Thanos. Loki hadn't anticipated that.
He'd hoped that, even though Thanos did have the Tesseract now, it wasn't over. That there was still a way he could make up for his mistakes. To help Thor.
There was only one thing left he could think to do. And, of course, Loki wouldn't even hesitate.
If there was one thing Loki was good at, it was deception. He’d had a great many years of practice, even tricking others when he really shouldn’t have. But, now, he finally used it for good.
Or, he tried.
Loki tried to give Thanos false belief. To make it seem like he’d switched sides yet again. To cause his opponent to let his guard down. To think he’d actually be loyal for once in his life.
But, what Loki didn’t quite realize is that, even from an outsider’s perspective, if you looked closely enough, you’d be able to tell where his true loyalty lied. By how the sight of Thor’s torture had been just as painful for him to endure. And how he had continuously looked for ways to defy Thanos. Even how he had been with Thor in the first place, instead of taking off the first chance he got.
And if Loki had only been concerned with saving himself, he could’ve been one of the first to snatch a pod and get away from Thanos as quickly as possible. But he wasn’t. At this point, he was only concerned with protecting the one thing that meant everything to him.
But even that wasn’t enough. Thanos wasn’t just known for his strength. He was incredibly perceptive, cunning, and cruel. And he saw Loki’s last trick a mile away.
Before he knew it, Loki was trapped in Thanos’ inescapable grip, being lifted off the ground, the very life being crushed out of his lungs. In his last moments, he was reminded of every one of his bitter regrets, how things could’ve been better if he’d only had the prudence to see it. However, above everything else, he hoped against hope that maybe Thor would be okay.
And, before the scourge of his memories could end it all, Loki worked up the strength for one last act of defiance.
“You will never be a god.”
Thor had been forced to watch his brother and his friend give their lives in an attempt to stop Thanos without even being able to move a muscle.
After the Hulk had been defeated, one of Thanos’ children had used a sort of telekinetic power to bind him and trap him with the wreckage of his own ship. He couldn’t even speak. He’d been completely and utterly helpless.
Thor had never experienced such powerlessness in his life. Not even the time he had been banished to Earth came anywhere near it. He had been mere steps away. It had all gone on right in front of him. He had been consumed by such a fierce and desperate desire to be able to just move and do something that he’d thought he might crack from the pressure. But he couldn’t. He had been trapped in a hunk of discarded metal. All he was capable of doing was watching as everything he had left was snatched from him.
All it took was a heartbeat. A blink of an eye. Just like that—gone.
Now Thor had nothing left to live for.
It had been difficult to accept at first. He had already lost so much. He couldn’t believe that fate would allow him to lose any more. But, well, life wasn’t fair. If life was fair, someone like Thanos wouldn’t even exist. Tearing apart families wherever he went. Leaving unfathomable destruction in his wake. Stripping countless people of all their hope. But Thanos did exist. And Thor was feeling firsthand just how devastating his warped idea of “balance” could be.
When Thanos had went as far as detonating the Statesman with the Power Stone as he teleported away, Thor was left with a sense of irreversible brokenness. It was done. Non-debatable. No more clever resurrections or faked deaths. No more fighting side by side with his brother and his friends. No more people he could lean on and always count on to be there for him when things seemed impossible to get through. None. All of it was gone forever.
Thor didn’t see any reason to keep fighting. Thanos had proved himself unstoppable, hadn’t he? Everyone who tried to defeat him failed. He was the most powerful being in the universe. So, Thor had let the violet light of the Infinity Stone blind him, overcome him. Then, after it, darkness.
However, even though it seemed like the end for Thor, he was wrong again.
Miraculously, he had been found before the emptiness of space could cause his body to permanently fail. They woke him. Spoke to him. Helped him. Possibly the strangest crew of morons in the galaxy, but a family nonetheless. One of them was even an adoptive daughter of Thanos who had somehow managed to escape from his clutches. All of them were adamant in the belief that he needed to be stopped.
It was then that Thor remembered that he wasn’t the only one out there who had suffered because of Thanos. And everyone else still had loved ones that they would be devastated to lose. Was Thor going to sit by and let Thanos destroy all of their lives as well, or was he going to stand up and make the monster pay?
Surrender was not in Thor’s nature. Running straight to his problems and facing them head on, however, was.
So, Thor decided he would do his part for the universe by devoting every last drop of his strength to putting an end to Thanos’ countless years of slaughter. His anger, loss, and regret would fuel him as he made Thanos suffer as he had suffered, even if it was the last thing he did. And he would do if for Loki, for Heimdall, for Asgard.
And if he failed, if his efforts proved futile… well, then, what more could he lose?
