If only Loki had known what consequences he would face by taking the Tesseract from the Asgardian vault, he would've left it right there to be destroyed along with his home. If only he hadn't made that decision, everything would be alright now.

Now, everything definitely was not alright.

The people of Asgard were still weak from Hella's short yet murderous rule, and they were barely given any time to recover. They had not been expecting an attack so soon, and by someone so powerful.

And above all, Loki hadn't been expecting it. Yet the moment he saw that massive ship, the moment he realised, his blood froze in his veins.

Everything came rushing back to him. He'd forgotten all about the Mad Titan, and that he had failed him. It was because of him that two Infinity Stones had slipped out of his grasp, and then the threat that was made rang around his head.

If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us; there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice we can't find you!

Of course the consequences weren't pretty.

Everyone else was dead.

Half of the ship was blown into smithereens. Power pulsated through the atmosphere, the orange fire casting shadows over the rubble and slain people. The shrill voice that began to narrate stung Loki's ears.

"Hear me, and rejoice!"

Loki wished he could close his eyes, to shut himself out from this horror, but every nerve in his body screamed at him to keep looking. Even if he was in full view of them, he had to find Thor.

They had gotten separated in the first moments of the attack, and no matter how much he had looked for that familiar flash of white lightening, Loki couldn't see his brother past the madness of battle. And now that everything had calmed down, it should be easier to find him, shouldn't it? Loki could only pray that Thor wasn't dead.

Suddenly the horrible noseless creature appeared before Loki, that stern glare sending a nasty chill down his spine. It was beyond ugly, its voice like scratching nails across a chalkboard. Loki found himself taking a step back.

"You have become children of Thanos."

As if under a spell himself, Loki's eyes turned towards the biggest invader aboard, standing above everything else, high and mighty and powerful- everything that Loki had wanted. His cold eyes held Loki's, not allowing him to look away. Then the massive creature bent down to pick something up from the ground. Thinking it was a weapon, Loki took another step of retreat.

But it was not a weapon the Mad Titan had raised off the burning ground, instead an Asgardian, significantly bigger than the rest. Loki instantly recognised the groan of pain that came from him, and his heart dropped down to his feet.

And suddenly Loki couldn't move. His knees had locked in place and he stayed rooted to the ground. Not that he could back away any further, the Children of Thanos had already assembled behind him, forcing him to face their leader. Never before had he been so terrified in his entire life.

Loki wasn't listening to what the armoured titan was saying, but when he raised his fist to show the purple glow from the index knuckle, that was when the chaos around came into focus.

Thanos forced his brother to his knees, holding him firmly by the head. "You talk too much," Thor spat, rasping in breath after breath.

Thor was still fighting, even now. And what was Loki doing?

"The Tesseract," Thanos demanded coldly. "Or your brother's head. I assume you have a preference."

This was not good... at all. But what other choices could he have? The warriors behind him were ready to kill at any moment. So Loki put on a straight face, and answered as calmly as he could. "Of course I do-" he couldn't look Thor in the eye. "Kill away."

He instantly regretted saying that. Thanos raised his fist, the single purple stone shining brighter than ever before. All the purple giant had to do was press his knuckle into the side of Thor's head, and instantly Thor's rasping breaths turned into one long, ear-shattering scream.

" ALRIGHT STOP!" Loki shouted. Thanos gave him a sneering look as he took his fist away from Thor's head. Loki sighed and raised his arm, and between his fingers appeared the glowing blue cube. The Tesseract.

Thor mumbled something, something that Loki couldn't quite hear, but he felt the need to comfort him. Of course he knew what he was doing. There was movement in the distance that he could see in the corner of his eye. "I assure you brother, the sun will shine on us again." He was taking cautious steps forward now, but then stopped. "One more thing." He raised his head to look Thanos in the face. "We have a Hulk."

He'd been wanting to say that for a long, long time. The familiar, loud roar tore through the air, and the massive green beast charged towards them. Loki darted forward, tackling Thor out of the way as the Hulk crashed into Thanos, taring him apart. It took him a few moments to realise that the Tesseract had slipped from his grasp.

And watching the Hulk- the creature who had single handedly beat the shit out of two gods- get defeated by Thanos was not encouraging. At all.

Then everything was a blur again. The flash of blinding light, the sound of Himdall's death, it was out of focus like a faulty camera, the voices distant as if he was hearing them through a long tunnel.

That was until Thor lunged forward, a deep-pitched alien sound of rage emerging from him like fire from a dragon. However all the noseless freak had to do was wave his hand, and there was metal binding Thor where he was, forbidding him any movement.

And what of the Tesseract? Where was it? Too late.

Thanos shattered the cube as if it was nothing, the glass crumbling in his fist. Loki had a sudden, quick flash of memory. Hella had destroyed Mjolnir with the same effortlessness, without a second thought as if shattering the legendary hammer was something she did every other day.

Now the Mad Titan had two Infinity Stones. Power and Space. Loki desperately raked his mind for any cunning plan, but all his useless brain could think of was- two Infinity Stones? That's overkill.

"There are two more stones on Earth," he announced to his followers, however flashing them a look of disgust, as if he was displeased with them, or wished that someone else was in their place.

It was that moment Loki made another split second decision. It was his final, very desperate card.

"If you're going to Earth, you might want a guide," he said, stepping out of the shadows. It was easy acting indifferent, he had polished that art through many years. "I have a bit of experience in that arena."

Thanos once again met his eye. His stare was cold that it could freeze even a Frost Giant. "If you consider failure experience," said he.

Loki's look darkened slightly. "I consider experience experience." He glanced towards Thor for a split second before saying his next words. "Oh mighty Thanos-" he said aloud, then added in his mind- I am not referring to you. "I, Loki, Prince of Asgard, God of Mischief-" his trusted dagger slowly revealed itself in his hand. "Swear to you, my undying fidelity."

Quick as an adder, Loki threw the dagger upwards towards Thanos' throat, hoping to end this as quickly as it started. That was not how it went.

He couldn't move his wrist. He tried to strike forward, and when that didn't work, he struggled to retract his arm, but that blue smoke he had stupidly thrust his hand into held him in place.

The smile Thanos gave him chilled Loki to the bone. Loki suddenly couldn't breathe, and the floor disappeared from under his feet. He thrashed in a lame attempt to free himself. "Undying is the wrong word to use."

With those words Thanos threw the pathetic Asgardian round the axis as if he was just a mere twig. The hit was hard, and Loki couldn't hold in the shrill whimper of pain. His suit was all scarred at his back, where he had been scraped across the ground. He tried his best to ignore the agony as he got up to his knees. That was the moment he was done for.

"No resurrections this time," Thanos' voice echoed like a million shards of glass. The Power Stone began to glow so bright it looked like a mini star on his knuckle. It was ready to fire and obliterate Loki. Thanos fired, and Loki waited for the final blow.

Yet it never came.

It happened as quick as a strike of lightening, followed by the loud crash of breaking metal. A flash of movement. Somebody had darted in front of Loki, the thin purple beam of power striking him directly in the heart. The somebody tumbled to the ground, no longer moving.

Loki felt as if he had been skewered onto a long shard of ice, and the edges of his eyes began to sting as he slowly realised what had happened.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no... NO!

Loki didn't care when the dark violet infected the environment around, spreading through the metal of the ship like veins of poison. He didn't care when the Titan and his warriors disappeared behind a cloud of blue smoke.

Ignoring the pain in his neck and his back, Loki put his remaining strength into dragging himself to the limp body, and looked his saviour in the face.

"Please, wake up," he whispered, though he knew it was useless.

The God of Thunder was laying on his back, not moving a single muscle, his remaining eye glassy and staring into the space above Loki's head. He wasn't blinking.

Loki had never experienced being torn apart, but now he knew what it felt like. With a sad hiccup, he pressed his face to his brother's chest and let his tears soak into the bloodstained clothes which he held in two tightly bundled fists. But what good would that do? Thor's heart had stopped beating, and his breathing had faded into everlasting silence.