Author's Note: [In a certain trickster's sing-song voice] Surprise. I'm back! Did you miss me? Eh, you probably didn't see me coming, I'm still pretty new here. Anyway, now that Infinity War is so close that we can almost taste its sheer awesomeness, I've decided to write a little story as a celebration. It takes place in the upcoming film's timeline, but it's only based on what we've seen in the trailers for it, so don't worry too much. However, if you want to walk into the theater knowing nothing, I advise that you stop reading beyond this point. For those of you willing to keep reading, I hope you enjoy this story and get super hyped for the ultra amazing film like I've been!

Beta-read by my friend V. I do not own Marvel or its characters and plots. That credit goes to Stan Lee, Disney, Marvel Studios, etc. But I do own the plot of this story, and I own it proudly.

The deep, dark void of space enveloped the lifeless bodies drifting helplessly among each other. Some were old, some were young, some male, some female, but what all of them had in common was that their souls had left them. That is, except for one.

One man, a prince, still lived on. He was actually a king now, but what did it matter? His people, the figures suspended in the vast darkness around him, were all lost to him. The young king could only stare in utter defeat, taking in the death and destruction. He saw beyond all of the bodies the chunks and shreds of metal debris from what once was the ship that ferried his people. He never figured that he could feel so hopeful but then lose so much in such a small amount of time. In fact, in just the past few years, he had lost everything dear to him - his home, his friends, his parents, and now his people and his brother…

And there was nothing he could do.

There was no hope to bring back what used to be his. The once-mighty Thor Odinson had finally fallen. Oh, how much he desired to return to his old life; he often pondered how he would have lived differently and maybe better, had he not involved himself with affairs of the universe that proved to be too large for him. But of course, all of that hope of a good life was out of his grasp now. He had crossed paths with a monstrous being who practically embodied death, and he had led so many other innocent people to that cruel fate along with him. He had failed. As tears sprouting from his remaining eye crystallized in the cold and heartless void, the defeated king allowed himself to be embraced by the beckoning arms of unconsciousness.

"What are you doing laying down there, Thor? Had too many mugs of beer, I presume?"

Thor groaned and stared dazedly at who was hovering over him. After the haze in his vision faded, he recognized the twinkly-eyed man as his friend, Fandral. "What…" Thor mumbled.

Fandral bent down and offered his hands, which Thor took. "Come on, up you go," Fandral grunted as he lifted the larger man from the golden floor. Thor found himself in a large, shining hall filled with chattering people and a long table piled with food. It reminded him of his palace on Asgard… it reminded him a bit too much. Was he really here?

"Where are we? What's happening?" Thor asked his friend.

"Your coronation banquet, you bumbling fool," Fandral replied, but still with a playful grin. He laughed and patted Thor on the shoulder. "By the Norns, you must really be out of it. Let's go eat something, that will get you thinking straight."

He led Thor through the crowds of people to the banquet table. As Thor walked, he noticed that his red cape was flowing behind him, and he was wearing his usual Asgardian armor attire. Fandral did say that this whole event was for his coronation, so that would explain why he was dressed like this. But what Thor found strange was that he remembered nothing about what happened before he got here.

However, he soon stopped worrying about this as he gazed hungrily at the glorious plump meats and delicacies presented in front of him. Within minutes, he was pleasuring himself with Asgardian cuisines that he felt like he had missed for so long.

Looking around, Thor managed to pick out some familiar faces. A large group was gathered around another one of his friends, Volstagg, who was probably bragging about his latest adventures and victories as usual. Hogun, his other friend, listened intently with his arms crossed. He tried to maintain his typical straight face, but he snickered a little as everyone else roared in laughter at whatever Volstagg was acting out. In another area was the lady warrior Sif, having a conversation with some other women. Thor noted how every once in a while, she would steal a quick glance in his direction. He smiled back at her, but she immediately turned her head away as her face flushed a little.

Then, out of the corner of Thor's eye, there was some movement, a flash of green. Someone had just entered the large room, and despite the crowds, the young king was easily able to identify the newcomer. He advanced in the person's direction and found them leaning against a golden column, smirking back at him.

"Loki, you're here," Thor said. Why he felt so strangely relieved to see his brother, he did not know.

"Of course I am," Loki replied. "What did you expect?"

"I don't know, maybe bringing in another army to crash my celebration?" Thor joked, but there was an undertone of uneasiness in his voice.

Loki snorted as his trademark smirk widened. "No, I never play the same prank twice."

"Oh, is that so? Because I can recall a few incidents between us where you seemed to love repeatedly using certain tricks."

"That's only because you were stupid enough to fall for them over and over again. But I did get bored of them eventually."

They both chuckled as they silently reminisced over those old times. As a boy, Thor often got aggravated when he was fooled by his brother, which was probably why Loki enjoyed doing it so much. But in retrospect, they were still good memories of their playful childhood nonetheless.

Loki then sighed, and his grin faded. "You have to wake up, you know," he muttered in a darker tone. A somewhat sorrowful glint flickered in his eyes.

Thor's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?" But before Loki had the chance to respond, a voice bellowed from across the room.

"My king!" Volstagg shouted with arms open wide as he strode towards Thor. He embraced his friend in what would be a rib-crushing bear hug, if Thor was not almost as powerfully built. Volstagg then released him but still kept a hand on his shoulder. He inquired, "So how does it feel, being the new leader and protector of Asgard?"

"A bit overwhelming," Thor honestly answered.

Volstagg laughed, his eyes glistening with pride for his friend. Then he began to guide Thor back to Volstagg's audience and said, "You'll get used to it, I'm sure. Now come with me, you're going to miss the best part of my story! Don't worry, I'll catch you up. So I had recently engaged in a fierce battle with the great sea serpent Jormungandr…"

As Volstagg rambled on, Thor looked behind him and saw Loki still standing where he left him. After what Loki had just said to him, Thor grew nervous about the troubled expression that remained on his brother's face.

Then, a strange, unexplained shiver coursed through Thor's body. Volstagg turned to him and asked in concern, "You feeling alright?"

"Yes, I believe so," Thor replied, but he did feel fatigued now. Everything about today seemed wrong somehow, but he couldn't figure out why. The same question kept replaying in his head: What is going on?

After Volstagg finished his tale with an epic ending of unbelievable triumph, the guests in the hall began to grow lively. Many of them had become drunk, so they started to shout and dance, smashing their beer mugs onto the floor and spinning their maidens around them. Thor would normally join in these festivities with pleasure, but he didn't feel like it now, especially since he felt like he kept getting colder. While everyone else was distracted with each other, he silently slipped away to get some air.

A while later, he was leaning over the railing of the golden palace's main balcony, gazing out at the cosmos in the sky. For centuries, he had stared at them as a child, but now it felt different. It was almost as if he sensed an invisible tug towards them, like that was where he was meant to be.

"Was the celebration too much for you?" a woman's voice sounded behind him. Thor turned to meet an approaching Sif. He knew it wouldn't be long before one of his friends came looking for

"Not exactly," Thor replied with a lopsided grin.

Sif smiled back and soon stopped in front of him. "Then what's wrong?"

Thor answered, "I'm not sure. I suppose I just can't believe that all of this is happening now. I'm actually a king, with all these new responsibilities."

The lady warrior found another spot on the railing to lean back on as she faced Thor. "Well, it's good to have you back. We did miss you…" she trailed off as her eyes cast downward.

The young king only smiled at her, wondering if she knew that her attraction to him was sort of obvious. Yes, she was a strong woman and could most definitely live life without a permanent companion, but that did not stop her from admiring Thor as possibly something more than a close friend among her fellow warriors.

Thor then decided to ask, "Do you ever feel as if you're not meant to be where you are, like you belong somewhere else?"

Sif pondered this carefully, then she replied, "I suppose I've felt like that before. Everyone expected me to be a simple maid, but I proved that I could be a fierce fighter among the likes of you and Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun. Whatever you're truly meant to be, it will call to you." She stared at Thor for another moment and continued, "And in your case, I don't doubt for one second how well your ability to rule is. You'll lead us well."

Thor nodded in consent. He turned his gaze to the city down below, thousands of tiny lights in the buildings aglow as the dark veil of evening descended upon the kingdom. He knew it was his duty to protect these people, but he had a strange discomfort inside him, saying that he wouldn't be able to. Suddenly, another wave of coldness surged through him. He swayed on the railing, but was immediately steadied by Sif's quick and firm grip on his arm.

"Thor, what was that? You just looked faint," said Sif. Worry was evident in her eyes.

"I'm not sure," he weakly replied. A dull pain began to throb in his head. "It's getting cold, let's go inside."

Sif mumbled something under her breath about not feeling cold at all, but she walked with Thor back into the palace anyway. They soon entered the voluminous throne room, where none other than Loki was standing there as if he expected them to arrive.

Sif gave the god of mischief a scrutinizing glare. "Loki," she said with a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"My lady," he politely replied without missing a beat, a tiny smirk tugging at the corner of his lip.

Just as Sif was about to snap back at him for greeting her as his lady, a distant crash and some shouts echoed through the halls. It was coming from the room hosting the banquet. Sif began to step in that direction to investigate, but she hesitated and glanced back at Thor, then his brother.

Thor then took the opportunity to say, "Sif, I would like to speak to Loki alone. You may go sort out whatever is going on over there."

Sif opened her mouth to protest, but Loki interrupted, "You heard him. Be a dear and obey your king's orders, will you?"

Thor narrowed his eyes at him as a nonverbal warning, for Sif looked ready to murder the silvertongue right then and there. She ultimately managed to keep her composure and she strode off, but not without an evident hint of sass and mockery. Her long dark ponytail swished behind her as if the thing itself had an attitude.

After she left, Thor turned to the younger prince. Loki's sly expression dropped to reveal a more somber one as he began, "So you still haven't figured it out yet."

"I'm telling you, I don't understand," Thor retorted. "Stop speaking in riddles already."

"Do you remember nothing?" Loki hissed. As Thor soundlessly shook his head, the other sibling ran a trembling hand through his hair. He released a stressful sigh and explained, "I hoped that you would realize it on your own so it wouldn't be as much of a shock, but… I'll have to say it myself. None of this is actually happening. This land was demolished because of the prophecy of Ragnarok, you had the remaining Asgardians on a ship, but something else came and attacked us, don't you recall any of that?"

Thor felt deep inside like he did know about this, but it couldn't be. His friends were here, Asgard was here, and he was just now made king of this place. "That can't be true," he growled. But how much did he believe himself in saying that?

"Thor, believe me just this once," Loki said in a low, cautionary tone.

"How can I?" Thor began to shiver as he grew colder by the minute.

"Because we both know it's true, just listen-"

"Shut up!"

"NO!" Loki shouted as he clamped his hands on Thor's shoulders and shook him, effectively silencing the king. "Don't you want to know why you keep getting colder, or why your head hurts?! The ship holding your people was destroyed, and now you're drifting in space among all of them! You're dying! Everyone else - everyone who is here in Asgard right now is either dead or gone!"

"And you?" Thor inquired. Surely he might get a hopeful answer.

Fear and pain flashed in Loki's viridian eyes as he hesitated to continue. But then he shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter. I'm not important, but anyone who stands a chance of surviving him is. There's not much time left! You must wake up, do you hear me?! You have to stop him-"

"Stop who?!" The unnerving dread swelling inside Thor made him really not want to know, but he felt that he knew already.

Just then, a couple of guards who probably came to find out what the commotion was about immediately rushed towards Loki. "Release the king at once!" One shouted as both of them managed to pry Loki off of his brother.

"Unhand me!" the younger god cried out, struggling violently against the guards' steadfast grip. "Thor, you have to escape this impossible fantasy that you're dreaming about! It's never going to happen! Wake up before it's too late, or you'll die as well!"

"You're insane," Thor murmured. But was he? His vision began to blur, and the pain in his head intensified. His breathing soon became labored. He watched a frantic Loki being dragged away, and Thor did not know what to do.

As what seemed like desperate tears began to fill Loki's eyes, he continued to beg, "We know what he wants, you can't let him succeed! Brother, just listen to me, please! Wake up!"

Thor felt a strange force pulling him away from the world. His legs lost the strength to support him, and he collapsed just as a blinding white light flashed in front of his eyes.

Thor instinctively leapt up from the hard surface he was laying down on and took a few steps forward. He was panting, but the headache and chills soon dissipated, and he noted that he wearing his normal outfit again. Wait, my normal outfit-

In an instant, everything came flooding back to him, and he remembered everything as clear as day. The attack on his ship of refugees, dozens of bodies sprawled about among the flames, Banner enraged in his Hulk form, Loki with the Tesseract in his hand, offering it to the one who was about to kill Thor...

Thanos.

How could he forget? The fearful giant that death and certain doom swiftly followed. It was a wonder that Thor found himself still alive. And the merciless group of assassins who served Thanos, the ones who slaughtered Thor's warriors when those shadowy killers invaded the ship… he couldn't remember what fate they brought upon his brother. The last thing he recalled about Loki was the dark woman's intimidating spear being aimed at his head. But he still appeared to Thor in his dream, which meant that he was alive, right? Or perhaps that Loki was just another figment of his imagination, just his mind's method of coaxing him into waking up. He didn't know.

But what he did know was that Thanos and his followers had a set plan, one that would only end with the universe meeting a catastrophic fate. This mad beast had to be stopped-

A small cough sounded behind him. It wasn't until now that Thor realized he was on another ship, a significantly smaller one than the carrier that he was on before. He turned and met what looked like a middle-aged Midgardian man, an agile green woman with dark hair, a burly blue man with red accent marks all over his body, a small cream-colored woman with antennae and large eyes, a seemingly humanoid tree, and a raccoon standing on its hind legs. They all wore slightly shocked and confused expressions. Thor felt the same about them.

He decided to be the first to ask, "Who the hell are you guys?"

Author's Note: I'll be honest, I was close to crying as I wrote this. Just like any other typical MCU fangirl, I desperately don't want Loki to die. We can dread it, we can run from it, but destiny may still arrive for our beloved god of mischief. And so many others... We'll just have to brace ourselves and wait to see, I suppose. That is, unless you've already seen Infinity War at the Los Angeles premiere. If so, please don't spoil anything for anyone. Thanos demands your silence. Now that all of that drama is out of the way, I'd love some reviews! You know the drill, you can say something you felt like mentioning, or you can simply let me know that you enjoyed my story! Prayers, hopes, confessions, I'll take them. Just no flaming. And we will meet again soon! (Seriously, if you need to PM me because you need comfort after the trauma of Infinity War, I'm open for discussions. We'll suffer together.)