Loki was having a hard time wrapping his head around what had happened. He remembered his time in Hel, the grey landscape slowly wearing him down. The countless lost souls wandering aimlessly, just like him, until he found faceless warriors who hunted him down. They liked to hunt him, let their skeletal hounds tear him limb from limb. He would just come back and they knew that. They also knew he couldn't fight back all that much with his Seidr being drained away and kept that way. He only had his physical abilities and, while impressive, could only protect himself so much. It felt so long, an eternity of pain, Loki couldn't do it much longer. But I'm damned here for eternity, locked out of Valhalla...after all I've done. Loki was in the middle of being beaten to death again when he suddenly wasn't there, wasn't surrounded by grey, wasn't hurting.
He gasped in the vacuum of space, confused and breathless. He recognized the ruins of Asgard. Revived and returned to the ashes of my home. His lungs throbbed in protest, there was a lot of pressure in his head. Loki felt that something was off, something wasn't right. There were the echoes of alternate realities that could've been and some that were. New timelines? It was then he felt the stones, together, on Midgard. Not too far away, but my seidr is only just returning. It would take some effort to teleport there, but Loki could manage it. Except he didn't get the chance, familiar orange sparks began to form a circle around him. No way, that Second Rate Sorcerer survived me?! Loki calmed as the portal took form and swept him away. It seemed Strange had some kind of sense of humor as Loki's portal let him fall from far above the battlefield, breath heavy. Or strategy, no one is looking directly above them. Loki was falling fast but he was already sure of what to do. Taking a deep breath, Loki dropped his glamor and let ice flood his veins, red swallow green, blue taint pale skin. The ground was rushing up at him but Loki prepares himself to land on his right knee and left foot, positioning his right hand to strike the ground and left to steady him. He focused his frost seidr in his fist as he landed to slam his empowered hand to the ground were he landed. Ice spires burst in a ring around him and spread out a couple dozen meters. Loki had landed in a good spot, not too deep in the enemy lines and not far from the edge of them either. Loki stood tall and let his replenished seidr energize him. Loki looked at a younger Thanos, the Thanos that found him in the void. He looked surprised to see Loki.
"You're not the Loki I just released," Thanos stated, a hand raised to stay his army.
"No, I'm what's left," Loki growled, taking note of Mjolnir at his feet.
"Well, I'll just have to finish the job," Thanos growled, ordering his army to attack.
The command triggered the Captains own order to be sent. Loki ran straight at Thanos, sliding to his knees to avoid a clothesline. As he slid, he picked up Mjolnir and stood. He spun around and slammed Thanos' blade away, cracking one side. Loki felt right in his element as chaos descended the battle field.
"You cannot kill chaos," Loki growled.
"I can certainly try," Thanos snarled.
Both of them sprung at one another in a fury of strikes, dodges, and blocks. Loki wielded Mjolnir and Laevateinn, effectively dealing hard blows and swift swipes to Thanos' defense. As Loki was lunging forward to stab Thanos in the stomach, Thanos raised his now one bladed weapon to slice Loki in half. A large blade slammed into the side of Thanos' sword, shattering it. Loki felt Thor behind him and continued on to bury his sword into Thanos' flesh then struck with Mjolnir, lightning and metal. Laevateinn rang loud as Mjolnir struck the handle. Thanos groaned in pain and frustration at the hit, lightning coursing through him for a moment. Electricity fading, Thanos gripped Laevateinn tight and ripped it free then broke the blade on his knee. Only to be confronted by Captain America and Scarlet Witch.
"I liked that sword, damn it," Loki snarled.
"Worry not, Brother, I'm sure we can get you another one," Thor soothed.
Loki spun on his sibling and jumped at him, wrapping his arms tightly around his brother.
"Another one? What do you think Laevateinn is? Mjolnir?" Loki shot back as Thor returned the embrace.
"Hey! I loved Mjolnir! Stormbreaker is just… better?" Thor replied.
"You do not treat weapons like ditchable servants," Loki deadpanned, pulling away.
"Uh yeah, guys, we have a fight to win," Stark interrupted.
Loki and Thor turned their attention to Iron Man, silent.
"...Right...I'll just…" Stark trailed before jetting between them to slam into Thanos.
The Captain was kneeling on the ground and the Witch was hurtling debris at the titan while Iron Man flew around him, firing off shots when he could. Loki summoned Gram as he rushed to the scene, dropping Mjolnir by Rogers.
"You can have this, I fight better with blades," Loki dismissed.
Thor made a slightly offended gasp at Loki's treatment of Mjolnir but didn't move to take the weapon. Loki stopped by Scarlet Witch, assessing her magic. Not bad. Loki added to her power by releasing his glamour, frost flooding his system. Scarlet Witch was dealing debris piece after debris piece and Loki created ice spires off them to stab at Thanos when he dodged the pieces. After the third successful spire, Thanos ordered his ship to fire. Loki felt the other sorcerers create shields but decided to make the unnecessary. He raised his hands directly at the sky, diligently grabbing a hold of each projectile.
"Loki!" Valkyrie shouted.
Loki let out a maniacal laugh, relishing in his own power as he redirected the projectiles back at the ship. Loki let his power flood his veins, eyes glowing as he released the missiles, destroying the ship. Thanos and his soldiers stared in awe and devastation as the ship crashed to the ground.
"I will not let you win twice!" Loki shouted.
Suddenly, Spiderling shot past him, gripping what looked him the Infinity Gauntlet. Loki watched him go, followed by various women, across the battlefield. Loki saw an outrider diving for the boy from a ledge above the boy, unseen. He teleports himself to the boy, shoving him behind Loki as Loki slashed the Outrider across the neck with Gram. The boy didn't know what to do, it seemed. He stared at Loki wide-eyed. The women now surrounding the boy stared at Loki.
"Oh I feel out of place. Perhaps I can remedy that," Loki drawled.
His voice became smooth and a pitch or so higher as he shifted into a female. She gave the women a small, cocky smirk as she lengthened her hair by running a hand through it.
"Where are you trying to go?" Loki asked.
"I..uh...this needs to get- look out!" Spiderling shouted.
Loki spun around to meet Glaive's blade, quickly dispatching the alien with magic. Loki wove her seidr into Glaive and heated it up, boiling the alien alive. The gauntlet was passed to Captain Marvel, her and Loki locking gazes. She made her way to get to a van in the middle of the battlefield but was stopped by Thanos. He went to snatch it up, but Loki froze him in place. His army made to rush to the gauntlet, but Loki raised his hands out to them and encased them in his seidr with a scream of effort. They were resisting so much that Loki was straining to keep them in place. The shapeshift releasing with the effort.
"Stay," Loki growled quietly.
They squirmed in his grasp, the entire army.
"I said, STAY!" Loki roared, blood dripping from his nose.
Scarlet Witch, Wong, Strange, and the sorcery students aided him then, realizing what he was doing. Ebony Maw sent a large piece of concrete right to Loki's head, destroying his concentration and losing his grip, then stabbed Loki with sharpened pieces of metal. Spiderling caught Loki as War Machine, Rocket, and Mrs. Potts went to engage Ebony Maw.
"No!"
Loki heard someone shout. Everything was blurry and unfocused, Loki didn't know what was going on.
"Oh god…"
Loki forced himself to focus, Spiderling was looking at something. Loki followed his line of sight to see Thanos with the stones, Captain Marvel having been swat away. Iron Man made desperate moves to get the stones to no avail. Maybe… Loki focused, feeling the gems he had touched and spoke with: Mind, Stone, and Reality. Something encased his right hand and Loki knew what it was, but the gems were already gone. Loki looked to Stark, his hand raised as he stared Thanos down.
"No, it'll kill you!" Spiderling shouted.
Iron Man snapped his fingers, and, after a moment of bated breath, Thanos and his army faded away. Loki looked at Spiderling. The boy was sobbing silently, broken, and the air was tainted with despair. Loki pushed himself up, forcing the pain aside, as he stumbled to Stark, falling to his knees beside the fallen hero. It was bad, even for Loki's powers. But I can save him. Loki looked in Stark's eyes then to Thor's.
"It's okay," he said as he laid a hand Stark's chest.
"Wait, Loki, no-" Thor started.
Loki let out a groan through gritted teeth as the burns transferred from Tony to him. The wounds traveled up his arm, creeping onto his face, receding from Tony. Loki took it all, groaning in pain and breathing heavily, then focused his seidr away from the stab wounds. Thor came to cradle his younger brother as he started healing, arguably more painful than receiving the wounds.
"Get off me," Loki huffed out as he released his seidr to do as it pleased.
"Wow, Reindeer Games, I owe you one. I was sure I was a goner," Tony humored.
Pepper slapped him before embracing him, Peter joining them in the hug.
"I hate it when you do that, Loki. It makes me worry," Thor fretted.
Lok tried to get up but Thor held him to his chest, burying his face in Loki's hair.
"Let me go, Oaf! I'm fine!" Loki struggled.
"I missed you...Loki...I thought-" Thor started to shake.
"You should know by now, Brother, Lady Death cannot keep a tight grip on me," Loki joked.
"Loki-" Thor started.
"I missed you too," Loki interrupted.
"Aww, what a moment! Now give everyone a kiss!" Rocket humored.
"Rabbit!" Thor snapped.