In the month following the Snap, Thor didn't really function. He felt as if he had fallen a great, great distance and then suddenly hit the ground again, with the colossal impact knocking all the strength from his body and spirit, completely breaking him. He had failed so badly it was difficult for him to comprehend it half the time. His body shook every time he thought about it. It felt as if he was the one to kill the world, because he had let his arrogance get in the way... again. He never learned.

He was utterly grateful when Lady Sif showed up at the Avengers Tower looking for him. He had not even realized Loki had banished her to Earth, yet here she was collaborating with Shield on various projects. Now there were two Asgardians alive at least.

He was even more grateful when Sif received word of Asgardian survivors who had apparently crashed to Earth along with the Hulk, caught up in Heimdall's last haphazard Bifrost. There were twenty in all, including Valkyrie and Korg incredibly, but those were the only two Thor had known personally. There would have been thirty, if Thor had killed Thanos when he had the chance and prevented the Snap. That thought was what kept the "king of Asgard" paralyzed in guilt, all authority abdicated to Sif and Valkyrie who between them managed the refugees rather well.

The survivor he hoped the most to see was Loki. If Loki was alive, he might feel in some small way redeemed, since Loki in the end had spent his own life saving Thor's. He did not want that sacrifice to be in vain...or on his conscience. Thor had proven himself to be perfectly useless, really. His life certainly wasn't worth his brother's.

It was hope that drew him out of isolation the moment he heard the Guardians' ship was landing, almost four weeks too late. When he arrived in the hangar to see two strange women helping a frail figure down the gangway, his spirit soared. When he recognized the arc reactor on the figure's chest, his elation was replaced by twin feelings of relief for his friend the Man of Iron and crippling fear for his brother. He stopped dead in his tracks, watching the scene unfold, afraid to learn the worst. Rocket had followed him, he noticed, the racoon equally worried about the ship's occupants, and equally disquieted to see the unfamiliar people walking towards them.

"Couldn't stop him," Tony muttered, as Captain America's strong arms took his weight. He looked terrible, Thor saw, thin and wasted.

"Neither could I," Steve said.

"I lost the kid," Tony said, voice raw with guilt.

"Tony, we lost," Steve said gently.

"Is, uh...?"

"Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" Tony's knees buckled as Lady Pepper ran to him. The relief on his face was indescribable and even warmed Thor slightly. Tony held his wife as she cried into his shoulder, Steve supporting both of them now.

"It's okay," Tony muttered, even though it wasn't.

Finally, Thor screwed up his courage and walked slowly forward past the tearful reunion to meet the strangers. One was a human woman, with an ineffable strength in her. She wasn't particularly tall, but she was blonde and reminded him strongly of Captain America except with a hint of severity and even brutality that Thor had never encountered in his friend. The other woman was an alien of a species he did not recognize, with skin the pure blue of a young Jotun but unmarred by tribal lines and with eyes black as ink instead of red. "Is there anyone else on board?" He finally asked them. The alien just stared at him, but the human softened.

"No. I'm sorry."

Just like that, Thor's hope was gone. He nodded wordlessly and just stood there as the women walked past him. He felt a small, fury hand grip his fingers and looked down at Rocket. His friend's eyes were huge and full of tears. "Rabbit," Thor whispered, and picked him up and hugged him like...a bunny. For once, the racoon had nothing snide to say and instead wrapped his own little arms around Thor's neck. Rocket had no one at all left, Thor remembered guiltily. After a moment, Thor loosened his grip, and Rocket climbed onto his shoulder. They walked onto the empty ship in silence.

There was Drax's weapons collection, gathering dust.

There was the Starlord's meagre attempt at a love letter, addressed to Gamora.

There were empty chairs at an empty table.

There was a pile of games Groot had picked up from somewhere and never had the chance to play.

There was an unmade bed in the medbay, unoccupied. Not even dust to mark where Thor's brother once lay.

Thor shrank to the floor and wept.

Author's note: "empty chairs at empty tables, where my friends will sing no more"... Les Miserables. You can interpret this chapter as you wish - did Loki like so many others vanish in the Snap? Or did it just shake him out of his spell, allowing him to sneak off the ship on Titan without Tony or Nebula noticing? Is the Grandmaster searching him out even now? Feel free to imagine what happens next or even write it (please tell me if you do!), but my story is over. Hope you enjoyed it.