Chapter 1

(Warning: Loki attempts to kill himself in this chapter through assisted suicide. It is unsuccessful but it's very clear what he intended to do.)

Thanos droned on and on about things Loki couldn't care less about as he approached. Behind Loki, were Thanos's lackeys. In front of him, stood Thanos, the power stone in his gauntlet and Thor in his giant hand. Loki made no attempt to run. No matter where he could go, Thanos would find him. There was no hope of getting out of this alive, Loki knew that and he had accepted his fate. However, as he stared at Thor, being tortured at the hands of a pure monster, Loki was unable to hold back his tears. Loki knew he deserved to die. Thor, however, hadn't done a thing wrong. He was just roped into the middle of all this nonsense, still fighting for justice. He was so foolish, yet so brave. Loki couldn't let him die. He just couldn't. However, if Thanos got his slimy hands on all the Infinity Stones, there would be no hope for anyone. Someone was gonna die either way.

"You talk too much," Thor grunted. Loki couldn't agree more.

"The Tesseract or… your brother's head." Thanos's gauntlet loomed dangerously close to Thor. Loki's gaze shifted between the two of them. "I assume you have a preference?"

"Oh, I do," he replied with confidence he didn't have. "Kill away." Thanos promptly shoved the power stone against Thor's head. He let out a scream of pain, struggling in Thanos's grasp to no avail. Loki's expression remained emotionless. Deep down, however, his heart was cracking. He couldn't bear to see Thor in pain. However, he forced himself to stand still. He couldn't let Thanos get the Tesseract. He couldn't… he just couldn't… Tears began to form.

"Alright stop!" Loki cried. Thanos recoiled. Thor remained in his grasp, however, gasping from exhaustion.

"We don't have the Tesseract," Thor spat. "It was destroyed on Asgard." Loki glanced up at Thanos, fear promptly hitting him like a hammer. He knows I've hidden it. Gazing at the floor, Loki raised his hand into the air. He had no choice. Loki couldn't bear to watch his brother in pain. So what if the universe loses half of its life? It wasn't a universe Loki would have to live in soon. In his hand, the Tesseract appeared. Thanos grinned.

"You really are the worst, brother," Thor grunted. The insult stung a little. Loki took a few steps forward, his gaze intent on Thor.

"I assure you, brother... the sun will shine on us again." In Valhalla… with our parents… if I even make it there. Thanos chuckled. Loki glared at him.

"Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian," Thanos growled, reaching toward the Tesseract.

"Well, for one thing," Loki backed away slightly, his snark returning for a few comments. "I'm not Asgardian. And for another…we have a Hulk." On cue, the Hulk barrelled into Thanos, knocking him away from Thor. Loki launched himself at Thor, wrapping his arms around his dear brother. The Tesseract had been forgotten as the remains of the ship became a battlefield. Dragging his brother into a safe place, Loki stopped to catch his breath. Then he examined his brother. Miraculously, there wasn't a scratch on him.

"Thor, we have to get out of here, now," Loki insisted, grabbing his brother's shoulders.

"No, we're not leaving without Hulk!" Thor shouted. "And defeating Thanos."

"Thor, listen to me, right now. We don't stand a chance. Even without infinity stones, Thanos is a powerful, merciless monster of a being. If you stay and try to fight, you will die-"

"Then I'll die a hero," Thor snapped, shoving Loki away. "And you'll die a coward!" Jumping to his feet, Thor raced across the ship, toward the Hulk and Thanos.

"I wasn't finished!" Loki called. "You idiotic lout!" He stood up, gazing across the ship. The Hulk laid on the ground, covered head to toe in scars. Thanos loomed over him. Swinging some kind of weapon, Thor lunged at Thanos. The attack grazed him like a papercut. In retaliation, Thanos swung his arm at Thor, knocking him across the ship. Thor was slammed into a wall before falling limp on the ground. Loki let out a muffled gasp.

"Allfathers." Loki glanced to the right. Heimdall lied on the ground, blood decorating his face. Panting, he struggled to raise the Bifrost sword. "Let the dark magic flow through me one last…" He choked out the last word. "Time." Out of nowhere, a multicoloured light filled the room. Loki recognized it immediately: the Bifrost. It enveloped the still weary Hulk, sending him through space before he disappeared in a flash. Thanos shambled toward Heimdall, grabbing the Bifrost sword.

"That was a mistake." Raising the sword, Thanos shoved it into Heimdall. He let out one last grunt of pain before he was stabbed again. Finally, Heimdall went limp, his orange eyes still open. Loki's eyes widened. At that moment, any last sliver of foolish hope he had melted away. There truly was no chance now. Heimdall, one of the most powerful and notable Asgardians, was dead. What was the point of continuing? Once the shock wore off, Loki made his way toward Thanos. The lumbering giant was removing his armour as he took the Tesseract. Easily cracking it into shards, Thanos took the Space Stone, placing it in his gauntlet. He grunted as blue energy surged around him. Whatever.

"There are two more stones on Earth," Thanos informed. "Find them, my children, and bring them to me on Titan." His 'children' kneeled before him like little bitches.

"Father, we will not fail you."

"If I might interject," Loki emerged from his hiding place. "If you're going to Earth, you might want a guide." Every pair of eyes in the ship were now intent on him as he slunk his way around the dead bodies of his people, faking a chipper attitude. "I do have a bit of experience in that arena."

"If you consider failure experience," Thanos taunted.

Loki's eyes narrowed. "I consider experience experience. Almighty Thanos…" The titan eyed Loki curiously as he began a monologue. "I, Loki, prince of Asgard…" he cast a glance at Thor. His brother was still against the wall, but his eye was now open and aware. "Odinson... the rightful king of Jotunheim… god of mischief…" Loki summoned a knife in his hand. "Do hereby pledge to you… my undying fidelity." Alright, just do it and he'll kill you. The suffering will be over. Surprisingly, Loki found himself hesitating for a moment as he met his brother's eye. I'll miss you, he mouthed. Thor stood up, limping forward. Loki whipped around, aiming the knife at Thanos. Loki's arm was enveloped in blue energy and his arm was forced into place.

"Undying?" Thanos taunted. Loki's eyes narrowed. His entire heart blazed with hatred as he stared into the eyes of his abuser. "You should choose your words more carefully."

"NO!" Thor's voice bellowed. A burst of energy flooded the room, and Loki was knocked backward. Gazing up, Loki let out a gasp. Thanos had grabbed Thor, his giant hand wrapped around his neck.

"NO!" Loki cried, leaping to his feet. He tried to rush to Thor's aid but he was forced back by the same blue energy from before. He struggled, but it did no good. Thanos glared at Loki.

"You. You wanted to die, didn't you?" Loki glared at Thanos, eyes narrowed and filling with tears. "You are no real threat to me, and killing you would be merciful." Thanos cast a glance at Thor. "Your brother, however…"

"NO!" Loki howled, struggling. "Please no!" Thanos tightened his grip. Thor gagged, struggling in the titan's grasp as the sound of a bone cracking pierced the air. "NO!" Tears poured out of Loki's eyes. This shouldn't be happening! It should be me! His wails of protest and struggling seemed to go unnoticed.

"Loki!" Thor's eye was bulging out of his head as Loki met his gaze, tears streaming down his face. "I love you, brother." Loki bit his quivering lip as he dipped his head to his brother. I love you too, brother, he mouthed. Finally, Thanos's grip loosened. Thor was thrown to the side like a piece of trash and the blue energy disappeared. Loki immediately rushed to his brother. Grabbing his limp body, Loki soaked Thor's armour with his tears.

"Thor," Loki murmured, pulling his brother's body against him. "I'm so sorry," Around him, Loki could hear the ship exploding. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself to slip into unconsciousness. The pain was over...or so he thought...

"How the hell is this dude still alive?" Loki remained still, ignoring the throbbing pain everywhere.

"No idea, he looks pretty scrawny." Loki's jaw clenched. Was this Valhalla or Hel? And who were these voices? They certainly didn't speak like any Asgardians Loki knew. Still, he felt no motivation to open his eyes.

"He looks like he's been through a lot." Loki flinched as a warm hand rested on his forehead.

"He is confused, lonely. He feels tremendous guilt… and loss. He is mourning." The hand was removed. Loki still kept his eyes shut, apathy overruling his confusion.

"He's also awake… I saw him move. Why won't he open his eyes?" Loki stiffened.

"Mantis?" The hand rested on him again.

"Wake." Loki's heart raced before he jerked up, eyes popping wide open. The sight that beheld him made him freeze. He only recognized two of the beings: a brown-haired man and… a rabbit? Loki guessed they were Midgardian. The rest, however, were clearly not from any realm he knew. One was a green-skinned woman with long black and pink hair and a black outfit. Another was a shirtless blue-skinned man. Beside him, sat a tree. Yeah, just a tree with eyes fixed on some Midgardian device. The last was another woman with long black hair and antennae coming out of her head. She looked a little bug-like.

"Where am I?!" Loki demanded, his voice hoarse.

"In our ship?" the rabbit answered, raising an eyebrow.

"Alive?" Loki glanced down, placing his hands on his chest. "How in the nine realms am I alive?!"

"We were asking the same thing," the brown-haired man replied.

"Alright, alright." Loki panted as he spoke. "Who are you… and what do you want… with me?"

"Nothing really," the rabbit replied.

"We wanted to make sure you were safe," the bug-like woman added, her voice soft. "You were the only survivor in that wreck." Loki let out a sigh. His thoughts wandered back to Thor, causing a pang in his heart. He pulled his legs into his chest.

"No 'thank you' for saving your life?" the brown haired man asked.

"I'm not a life worth saving. I wish I had died…" Silence descended upon the group as they all eyed each other uncomfortably.

"Well, buddy." The rabbit stepped toward him. "We can easily throw you back out into space right now if that's what you really want."

"Do it."

The rabbit staggered back. "You're… you're serious?!"

Loki nodded. "My people are dead, including my brother, and the universe is in grave danger. What reason do I have to continue?"

��Hey, hey, we're not throwing you out," the brown-haired man insisted, blocking the rabbit with his arm as he met Loki's gaze. "You're gonna stay with us for a while, okay?"

"Fine," Loki muttered, gazing at the ground. "Whatever."

"Drax, go get him something to eat," the green-skinned woman ordered, "He looks underfed." The blue-skinned alien nodded before shambling to a different part of the ship. The rest of them dispersed. That left just the bug-like woman, who stared at Loki with sad eyes.

"What do you want?" Loki growled. The woman stepped closer, grabbing Loki's wrist. He recoiled. "What are you doing?!" She sat next to him. When she took his arm again, her antennae lit up and her eyes instantly filled with tears.

"My name is Mantis. I am an empath," she explained, sobbing. "When I touch people, I feel what they are feeling and you… you feel so much pain. More pain than I have ever seen in a single person. These feelings, they cause you to want your own death. But why?"

"Didn't I explain why?" Loki asked. "There is no hope left in the universe and I have no one left to live for."

"What about yourself?" Mantis asked.

Loki raised an eyebrow. "Myself?"

"Why not live for yourself?"

"That's not a very good reason," Loki growled, yanking his arm away. "And stop doing that, it's creepy."

"It is creepy?" Mantis asked, her eyes filled with worry.

"Yes!" Loki snapped. "Reading someone's emotions is the same as reading their mind. It is an invasion of privacy, especially since you didn't even get my permission. Now I don't even know how many private things you know about me but whatever you saw, don't tell another soul. Understand?!"

"I will not tell anyone," Mantis promised.

"Good," Loki growled.

"And I am sorry," Mantis sighed, patting Loki's shoulder. "About everything you have gone through." Loki's gaze softened.

"I…" he looked away. "I don��t need your pity."

"Dude," another voice called. Loki glanced up. It was Drax, the blue-skinned one. He was carrying a bowl of something hot. The brown-haired man and green-skinned woman stood at his side.

"We never got your name," the Midgardian replied.

"It's Loki."

"Well, hi Loki." The brown-haired man extended his hand. "I'm Peter, Peter Quill, but my friends call me Star-Lord."

"Literally no one calls you that," Drax replied, dryly. Quill dropped his hand with a sigh before Loki could even accept his gesture. Drax turned to Loki. "I'm Drax by the way." He handed Loki the bowl. Letting out a gasp, Loki immediately put it aside, blowing on his hands. Loki's gaze shifted toward the green-skinned woman.

"And you?"

"My name is Gamora," she replied.

"What about the rabbit and the tree?" Loki pointed to them accordingly.

The rabbit turned to him, his eyes narrowed into slits. "Rabbit?!"

"That's Rocket," Quill answered. Leaning toward Loki, he whispered, "He's actually a raccoon but don't ever call him that." Loki nodded. "And the tree is Groot. You'll remember, it's all he ever says."

"I am Groot," Groot replied, not looking up from his Midgardian device.

"So… why are you all… together? Are you like the Avengers or something?" Loki asked.

"What are the Avengers?" Mantis asked.

"They defend Midgard, or, I believe natives call it earth?"

"We do," Quill replied. "And yeah… we're kinda like that. We're the Guardians of the Galaxy."

"We don't always save the universe," Rocket added. "But when we do, it's usually 'cause Quill wants us too."

"I am Groot."

"Yes, and sometimes for money," Rocket admitted.

"Then I suppose it would interest you to know that Thanos has two infinity stones." Silence descended upon the ship.

"That's bad," Quill stated, breaking the silence. No shit.

"But what's he planning to do with them?" Rocket asked.

"Undoubtedly something bad," Loki answered, taking his finally cooled down soup in his hands.

Gamora let out a sigh. "The entire time I knew Thanos, he only ever had one goal. To bring balance to the universe by wiping out half of all life. He used to kill people planet by planet, massacre by massacre."

"Including my own," Drax added.

"If he gets all six Infinity Stones… he can do it with the snap of his fingers like this." Gamora snapped her fingers for emphasis.

Loki raised an eyebrow. "You seem to know a great deal about Thanos."

"Gamora… is the daughter of Thanos," Drax informed. A fire lit within Loki. He stood up, placing his soup aside.

"Your 'father' killed my brother," Loki snarled, marching toward her with a knife in hand. Drax stepped in front of Gamora.

"Step-father, technically," Quill informed. "And she hates him as much as you do." Loki's gaze shifted toward Gamora, feeling a pang of sympathy. Thanos probably kidnapped her...

"Sorry for the outburst," Loki sighed, getting rid of the knife, "I-I understand. Family can be terrible sometimes." Quill nodded in agreement.

"Well, anyways, we need to stop Thanos," Gamora replied. "Which means we need to find out where he's going next."

"Knowhere," Loki answered, sitting back down.

"He must be going somewhere," Mantis protested.

"No, no. Knowhere? It's a place," Quill explained. "We've been there, it sucks."

"Loki, why would he go to Knowhere?" Gamora asked.

"Because for years," Loki took a sip of cold soup. "The Aether's been safely stored there with a man called the Collector."

"If it's with the Collector, then it's not safe," Quill replied. "Only an idiot would give that man a stone."

"How do you even know he's not going for one of the other stones?" Gamora snapped. Loki flinched at her increase in volume.

"I'd assume it would be the easiest to get," Loki replied. "He already has the Power and Space stones, no one knows where the Soul stone is, and the other two stones are on Midgard-or, Earth. His lackeys are going after them, most likely getting their asses kicked by the Avengers. So by process of elimination, Thanos is going to Knowhere. You're welcome." Loki sipped his soup.

"Then I guess we're going to Knowhere too," Gamora replied.

"Actually…" Everyone glanced at him. "Can you maybe… drop me off at the nearest habitable planet first?"

"You don't want to fight Thanos?" Quill asked.

"It is a fool's mission," Loki sighed, looking down at the ground. "He is already too powerful to stop. Doing so would mean all of your deaths."

"But not fighting would mean our deaths too!" Gamora snapped.

"Not necessarily," Loki argued. "It would only mean half of your deaths."

"How much better is that?!" Gamora demanded. Loki's eyes were wide. However, as he examined everyone on the ship, he understood her rage.

"It's not," Loki sighed. "It would be traumatic for you to lose each other, I understand, but I have nothing left to lose, besides my own life. So, please… I just want to be left out of this." Everyone exchanged glances. Rocket slunk forward, resting his paw on Loki's knee.

"Dude," Rocket's voice was soft, confusing Loki. "I understand not wanting to fight… when you have nothing left but admittedly, we need you."

"Why?" Loki asked.

"Dude," Quil interjected. "You survived floating in space for who knows how long."

Drax nodded. "You're clearly very strong."

"And very smart," Mantis added.

"We don't get a lot of smarts around here." Gamora nudged Star-Lord as she approached. "We could use you."

"Besides, what have you got to lose?" Rocket asked. Loki glanced at the Guardians. They all gazed at him silently, awaiting his response. I suppose I could get revenge on Thanos… Loki gazed at the ground. The idea of revenge did spark something inside him.

"Alright, I'll come with you… and help you fight."