Do you know what is like when you have this story that you want to write and you just can't ignore it. This is what happened with this chapter. After reading the Loki: Agent of Asgard comics and watching the Avengers: Age of Ultron, I just had to write this.

Basically, I want comic book Loki (Loki Earth-616) to mess with MCU Loki (Loki Earth-19999).

Chronologically, this happens at the end of The Avengers: Infinity Wars Part 2 (assuming Loki survives) and after Secret Wars #1 when Main Marvel Universe collides with the Ultimate Marvel Universe (assuming Loki-616 survives).

"MCU Loki talking"

"Comic Book Loki talking"

PS: When I wrote this I still didn't know much about the New Loki as the God of Stories. It might not be accurate.

God of Stories

I wonder if you knew, Thor. I wonder if in that moment, when Odin snatched your armor from your body, yelling at you that you were unworthy, if you felt like the lowest, most despicable person in the in Nine Realms.

I doubt it.

Even if the All-Father had cast you out, you were loved by your dear friends, by your mother, by your people, even by your father who, no matter how much he appeared to be furious at your dimwitted actions, still looked at you with nothing but pride and joy.

It did not matter that you had been cast out, you were already their king. You always were. You will always have your place in this world.

I see now why I failed. I tried to take your place; I tried to be the golden son for once. After learning of my heritage, I wanted nothing more but to prove myself as an Aesir and finally shine even greater than you ever did.

I should have known it would be useless. My actions only served to make you rise above adversity and become the king your father wanted. My darkness only made your light that much brighter.

I was always meant to be nothing more than your antagonist. Your very own villain and monster.

In the end, the hero always wins. He defeats the monster and lives happily ever after. The monster is always doomed to fall into the darkness and fade away. Its role in the hero's story was fulfilled.

That was not the worst part though, because I tried to think of myself as the hero and you and everyone else as the villains standing in the way of the golden future I was convinced that I deserved.

No. The worst part came after I was beaten, before I faded away as I saw you conquer your golden future. The worst part was staring at myself and see that you were right and that I got exactly what I deserved.

So no. You will never understand. How could someone who shines brighter than the sun understand someone like me, the weak and pathetic villain who was destined to wither in the dark?

I does not matter anyway. You will never see me again.

For months, the universe celebrated. People from many planets, all the Nine Realms, came to the streets, sang songs of victory and happiness, ate and drank and cheered to a much brighter tomorrow.

Thanos, the Mad Titan, Worshiper of Death, was gone at last.

Therefore, the people cheered, they buried their dead knowing that they had been avenged, hugged their children happily knowing they would never face such horrors again, hailed the brave heroes from the seemingly small planet Earth for doing the unthinkable.

All was well.

Calinka, a small moon both far and close to everything, had been more reserved on their celebration as their inhabitants were not as respectful as their noble neighbors were. It was a place for shady business, planned executions and stolen goods run by unabashed and desperate people.

A man wearing a dark cloak limped behind an old warehouse, trying his best to go unnoticed by the bounty hunters, the dealers, the murderers and the merchants. So far, he had succeeded. Whenever someone looked at him, they saw exactly what he was, a homeless and injured vagrant who was surely going to die soon in some filthy corner. They wasted no time on him.

They had no idea this pitiful bum had once been the King of Asgard, that he had defeated the weakened Odin All-Father and taken his place, that he had almost destroyed that same realm, tried to conquer Earth and been in league with the Mad Titan himself.

If they knew, they would probably kill him faster than his injuries.

Loki. Sometimes, when the fever and the pain clouded his thoughts, he blissfully forgot who he was, but the memories always ended up returning along with the rage and shame.

Loki, son of no one, brother of no one, from nowhere. Loki, the runt, the failure, the liar, the betrayer, the monster. Loki, who was no one and nothing and would die as pathetically as he had been born.

He winced he tried to move his left leg. Since it was dark, Loki pulled his cloak and his ruined garments to look at it. It worse than he imagined, the leg was getting purple and swollen, the wound was dark and covered with a pestilent pus. He covered himself up and leaned against the wall, shivering with pain and cold from the fever, his face bright with sweat and dirt. He already lost two fingers in his right hand and most of his teeth.

Loki knew he was dying. Even if managed to get some medical supplies, his left leg was beyond saving, it would have to be amputated. In addition, even if he did manage to remove the leg, he knew the infection had already spread to his blood and organs. He had studied enough with the healers to know when it was too late to save someone.

He was going to die here in this backwater moon, surrounded by the lowest of society, discarded, useless and alone while everyone else lived their lives glad that he was gone for good.

He closed his fist around a scrap of metal that he had found in the trash. It was sharp enough to cut his flesh, all he had to do was aim it to his carotids and slash his neck. He would die in seconds instead of the slow, pitiful death that expected him.

He had tried it many, many times over the last months, but he never did it. Despite how much he didn't want to live, he was also afraid to die.

Loki's hands trembled, but he forced himself to be steady. This time was different, he was already dying, but by taking his own life he would be taking back control. He was going to die by his own terms, not anyone else's.

Loki story would have end up like this, a dirty corpse on a shady alley with his throat sliced by his own hand. It would be a sad ending, but an ending nonetheless. Little did Loki know that someone was watching him, reading him and his life story, and that someone did not approve of this ending.

"Let us make things a bit more interesting."

A flash of light and a few raised voices stopped Loki from ending his life. Cursing the ones that had broken his resolve, the God of Lies pushed himself behind a few dumpsters, while a group of scavengers walked by, drunk out their minds, blabbing about their newest acquisition as if something (or someone) had taken away their inhibitions and made them nonsensically careless.

Loki remained hidden, he had already encountered drunken thugs with nothing better to do but beat the defenseless vagabonds on the streets. He was impatiently waiting for them to leave when heard about their stolen cargo.

A serum from a far off alien race that had successfully retrieved one Idunn's golden apples and improved it's effects. A serum that could heal any injury, cure all diseases and even turn a weak being into someone as powerful as an Asgardian, if he or she was strong enough for the serum that is.

They are lying, Loki thought. I have heard about the stolen apples a few centuries ago, but there is no way they would show up here in this forsaken place, exactly when I need them the most. No. It has to be a trick.

"Do you want to find out?"

Loki blinked and looked around. He had heard a voice whispering in his hear, but no one was even near him. His fever was obviously getting worse; it wasn't the first time he hallucinated or heard voices in his feverish state.

The scavengers continued their drunken conversation about the miraculous serum, how it was going to make them rich once they sold it to a desperate enough to try it, they even revealed the serum's location and their plans to move it to another ship.

Loki heard them, memorizing all the information that was too good to be true. When they finally walked away, the injured Jotun used all his remaining strength to stand up. Despite knowing that it was foolish, he found himself following the scavengers as if someone was leading him. As he walked, he could have sworn that he heard the sound of someone laughing and the cackling of magpies.

When he finally reached the scavengers hiding place, Loki waited until their insufferable laughter died down. He peaked through a window and saw that the fools had continued drinking until they had all passed out, leaving themselves and their precious cargo exposed and unprotected.

"You are a bitter one, aren't you? Then again, I probably shouldn't hold that against you. It would make me a hypocrite."

Loki ignored the voice as he entered the scavengers' house. He thought about slicing their throats while they slept, but decided against it since it would require too much energy and he would rather save his strength for his escape.

Thanks to the fools babbling, Loki moved towards the small box with contained the key to their cargo and walked silently back into the now deserted streets, only stopping a few times when the pain was too much to bear and his leg would refuse to move.

Just a bit more. Soon, it will be over.

Their ship was an old, decrepit model, which took him about two minutes to crack the security code. Once he got inside the ship, he saw the golden box they had described laying in the middle of other stolen and less valuable goods. A treasure in the middle of trash.

Loki used the key and opened the golden box. The serum was inside a crystal tube and it was barely enough to fill a small cup. Loki grabbed the tube and felt the strong scent of the golden apples he used to eat so regularly on Asgard, except this one seemed to be far stronger. Idunn's apples were a treasure, nothing compared to the smaller golden apples they received from other merchants. They only ripened once every five hundred years and Idunn rarely gave one away, even by the All-Father's orders, for they were as miraculous as dangerous. Either the apple healed every disease or it killed as the most horrible of poisons. It only used as a last resort, when there was nothing lose and death was certain.

As his knees threatened to give away, Loki opened the tube. He had no other choice. Either this serum healed him or it would finally kill him. To be honest, Loki was not sure which option appealed to him more. All he wanted was for this to be over, one way or the other. He was tired and in pain, he could not live like this anymore. If death were what waited him, then it would be an improvement, even if he feared what came after.

After this second of hesitation, the fallen prince drank the serum to the last drop. The crystal tube fell from his hands and shattered on the floor, and then the world was on fire.

"You were already burning. We all burn. This wildfire is common to all of us."

Loki screamed, or at least he thought he was screaming, he couldn't hear anything. The pain was nothing that he had ever felt before. He was burning. His skin, his muscles, his blood, his bones… every cell in his body was burning. No agony could even compare to what he was feeling.

"This is your trial of fire. The fire that will end your burning. Your story couldn't have ended any other way."

Loki heard it now, low and clear through the pain and the flames. He looked up and he saw him. The young man standing above his crippled body, looking at him with bright green eyes, his body shinning with an emerald light.

Loki was looking at himself.

"Who are you?" he yelled.

"Can't you see? I'm Loki. I am you and yet I am not."

Loki fell backwards; the world around them was also on fire.

"I've gone mad."

"Yes, you have gone mad. However, that happened way before I ever took notice of you. Though I could say that your madness was a result of my own."

Despite the pain, Loki tried to crawl away from this vision of himself, but the other Loki grabbed his shoulders and forced him to face his other self's face. He was missing a tooth and smiled at him dangerously.

"Who are you? What you say does not make any sense!"

"I suppose you're right. Your universe is new, you haven't experienced many things. You are not aware of the other universes that exist outside your own. So let me tell you. There are many universes, some similar to your own, others completely different. There are universes where you were never born, where you were born as a perfect Jotun, where Odin fathered you with a Frost Giant, where you were adopted as a child instead of a baby, where you always knew about your heritage, where you were Odin's blood brother instead of son, there are as many versions of us as there are stars in the sky. There are many stories of Loki beside your own."

Loki blinked, too weak and baffled to push this other Loki away from him.

"Are you saying you are another me? From another universe?"

"Aren't you smart? Yes. I came from another universe, a universe that has recently died along with many others. I came here because your universe survived the Incursions and I was curious about your story."

Loki didn't know what an Incursion was, but he was starting to believe that he was not hallucinating this other Loki, who he could feel grabbing his shoulders. There were theories about other dimensions that mirrored their own, though he had never given much thought about them.

"My universe was older than yours is. My story is also older. I have seen your story, Loki Laufeyson, I have seen how much it was based on my own but also changed into something new and unique. I feel your story also took elements from the Loki that belonged to the universe that crashed into mine. Interesting."

Grasping what little sanity he had, Loki tried to break free from the other Loki, his eyes showed nothing but contempt.

"What in Hel are you saying? What is this nonsense about stories? You talk about me like I'm some character in a book! My life is my own!"

The other Loki laughed.

"We are all characters, Loki. But you're right. You have a story of your own, no matter how much it was based on mine. Too bad you have such a terrible ending."

Before Loki could ask him what he meant, the other Loki grabbed his head and millions of images passed through his mind at an amazing speed.

"Your story could continue through many ways. You could join other villains like the Red Skull, or maybe join forces with Amora. You could try to imprison Thor in Hel, make him mortal, steal Sif's body and crash Asgard into Midgard… there are many things you could do as your story is heavily based on mine own, but you will not. Your story doesn't need to follow mine and my mistakes."

Loki's head hurt so much that he thought he was going to explode. He saw himself through his other self's eyes, he saw himself do horrible, unforgivable things. He saw himself fail and fall every time.

It was at this moment that Loki truly believed that this other Loki was telling him the truth and how bleak and dark his future was.

"Why? Why are you here?" he asked, staring at the Loki whose mistakes were going to influence his own. "Why show me your life if I cannot escape your influence? Why come here and show me I have no future?"

The other Loki smiled once more, but this time he seemed older and wiser despite his young face. His smile was gentle and his hands seemed softer on his cheeks. Loki didn't even realize that he had been crying.

"Like I said, I came here because I was curious about your story, but I was also surprised to know that you managed to influence my story as well. Your existence changed the end of my story, it forced me to gain a new face, your face, and it made me wish for change."

Loki felt the other Loki's hand on his forehead. The pain was still there, but it felt weaker somehow under his soothing touch.

"My story is filled with bad moments, for I was the villain to Thor's story. The antagonist that made him grow. I did not care at the time, I was burning. Before I knew it, I was trapped in the role of the villain, the one who always loses. Just like you are now."

Loki felt like someone was reaching inside his dark and bleeding heart, placing something inside. The pain came back in a jolt, as his whole body seemed to be bursting into flames.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?"

The other Loki didn't let go. Suddenly, his arms seemed much stronger than before.

"I am giving you a part of my story. I good one. What you do with it is your choice, though I hope you'll be able to find a better ending than I did."

Loki's vision blurred and he felt himself falling, but not before he felt his other self holding him in his arms. He seemed taller now, stronger. His eyes seemed filled with something similar to affection, regret and nostalgia.

"Who are…?"

"Who me? I'm the God of Stories. I'm Loki."

Loki closed his eyes and lost consciousness.

"Elsewhere."

Loki opened his eyes slowly and stared at a white celling. His eyes took a few moments to adjust to the brightness coming from a large window on his right.

He moved his legs and gasped. He could move his left leg without feeling any pain. Anxiously, he touched it only to realize that there was no injury. He also noticed that he was naked and that someone had covered him with an orange blanket.

Next, Loki felt his right hand. To his delight, he saw that his missing fingers were restored.

I worked. He thought as he sat down. The serum worked.

A shrill sound awoke him from his reverie. He recognized that annoying sound, but there was no way he could hear it on the desolate Calinka moon. There were no police sirens outside Midgard…

Midgard.

Loki's green eyes widened and he looked around. He noticed that he was sitting on a mattress and that the blanket covering him had some sort of stupid drawings of Midgardian pets all over it.

The room was bare except for an old sofa, two chairs and a small table. There was even a small, primitive Midgardian computer on the table.

"What in the…?"

Loki placed a hand on his throat. His voice cracked. He tried to talk again, but his voice kept cracking until it remained high-pitched.

Something else seemed off about his body. He looked at his hands, they were no longer the long hands that he recalled, these hands were small and soft. Trembling, he pulled off the childish blanket and stared in horror at his body.

He was a child.

He was in Midgard and he was a child again.

"This cannot be real. This is a spell or… or a dream… there's no way this can be real!" the boy shrieked touching his now soft face.

Loki stood up and almost lost his balance, he was going to need some time to get used to this body. He was about to run when his gaze was fixed on a body mirror that someone had left there strategically.

Immediately, Loki remembered the other Loki, the burning, the visions from his other self's story, his words about giving him a part of that same story.

Loki stared at the boy reflected in the mirror, staring back at him in both horror and disbelief. It took him a few minutes to notice the post-it note in the left corner of the mirror.

There were only three words written on it:

Journey into Mystery

Comic Book Loki gave the movie version his Journey into Mystery story, along with a few more things. Basically, he gave him the story of his rebirth and redemption. If you haven't read it, please do. Journey into Mystery, Young Avengers Vol. 2 and Loki: Agent of Asgard are wonderful stories and a must for a Loki fan.

I went a little meta here. MCU Loki was based and influenced by Loki-616 and the Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610). On the other hand, Loki's recent look in the comics was heavily based on his movie counterpart, his popularity also influenced his story and redemption.

As the God of Stories, I thought it could be interesting if Loki-616 interacted with his movie version.

I hope you liked this.