Chapter Text
Steve jerked awake, and had no time to appreciate the feel of Loki's arm wrapped over his chest as fiery red threads of power shot through the entire palace like red lightning.
Vision's 'voice' inside everyone's heads followed, "Thanos is back."
The alert siren went off, and outside the shield went up like a powerful clamshell to cover the city.
Loki was already moving before the scarlet thread vanished. He leaped out of bed naked, and in the three steps to the sliding door, his clothes became his black and gold leather armor. He shoved the curtains back to show the sky, as a massive ship burned its way through the clouds.
"Here we go," Steve said, joining him. "I have to change and get the shield that Shuri made me."
"Go. I'll meet you on the field," Loki told him. "Be careful."
"You, too." Steve could only look a moment more, as Loki vaulted over the railing and disappeared. He wished he had Loki's powers to change clothes with the snap of his fingers but yanked on his gear, and grabbed the shield. He was turning to leave when he saw the sketchbook on the desk. Taken by the sense that this could be it, this could be the end, he tore out that sketch of Loki that had led to so much more, folded it up, and shoved it into his tunic pocket to keep close to him and went out in the hall.
He met Natasha, Bucky, and Rocket -- all geared up as well. "Heavy hitters are outside, already," Natasha told him. "Shuri is still trying to get the stone out of Vision."
"Too late," Steve said and she had to nod agreement, that turned to a grimace as the entire palace heaved under their feet. Bucky grabbed her against his chest, metal arm up to protect them if the ceiling fell. And it occurred to Steve that maybe he hadn't been the only one who'd been finding some solace in between battles.
"What the hell did he hit us with?" Bucky demanded.
"The ship," Rocket declared grimly. "We are so screwed." The raccoon laughed and took off on three limbs, racing the hall in front of them, still laughing like a loon, while he toted a giant gun in his fourth paw.
They ran out into the air, Wakandan forces forming up ahead of them, with the Black Panther visible on a low rise.
It seemed dim, and when Steve looked up, he saw the immensity of the ship above them, hundreds of feet long and descending, shadowing the entire city. It already looked huge and it was still above the defensive shield.
"I think the rabbit has a point," Bucky observed dryly. "We're screwed."
"Maybe not," Natasha said. "Look." She pointed to a glowing red figure floating above the field, and a second figure joined her with a shining yellow stone in his forehead like a sign saying "come and get me".
The pair landed beside a billowing red cape and lightning curling around a giant axe and the fourth in green and black. The four heaviest hitters were together and that meant they were going to join powers. It was the only play they had. And Steve was seized with the awareness that if they spent it all against the ship, there would be nothing left against Thanos himself.
He leaped into a flat run, outpacing everyone else instantly, racing to join them.
A flash of violet light, blinding bright, crashed into the shield and the ground heaved. He stumbled, nearly falling, but kept going.
Closer he could hear Thor arguing with Loki, "We have to take the ship before it breaks the shield."
"Did you learn nothing from the Statesman?" Loki returned furiously. "We get one chance at this. One. We take Thanos, or this is for nothing."
"If the shield falls, he'll obliterate us from above, and we can't touch him!"
"No, he won't," Loki returned with a strange calm awareness. "You know he won't."
"You're bait," Steve realized in horror. "That's what this is."
Loki didn't turn his eyes away from the ship above. "He won't care about the rest of them. Let him come straight to us."
"To me," Vision observed.
Loki chuffed a laugh. "Not you alone. If I'm not distracting him, this won't work. In fact," he grimaced, "he's late. I expected him to be here, already. Steve..." he turned his head to glance at Steve. "You should go up where T'Challa is. If the ship lands, they'll need you."
Steve shook his head. "No, I'm not leaving you to fight him alone."
Loki's smile was bright and he pointed his thumbs to either side of him, where Wanda and Thor stood. "I'm not alone. Please," he added more somberly as a plea.
And Steve knew he couldn't stay. Tactically, it was stupid. He would be in the way, and they'd have to protect him. Thanos had at least two Infinity stones, maybe more by now, and Steve had no defense against them. But that didn't mean he wasn't terribly suspicious about Loki's plan and what he would consider an 'acceptable loss'.
Then again, this was no place for chiding or commands that he might never be able to obey, and Steve would not let regret be the last thing either of them remembered. He nodded acceptance. "Kick his ass."
"Kick names, take ass," Loki declared, lips turning in the deliberate joke, and Steve reluctantly turned away to head back toward T'Challa and Bucky.
The words tumbled free in shock. "Holy shit!"
There was blue smoke suddenly before him that resolved into several people, including one very large one, in armor, and a golden glove on one hand with brilliant stones shining in it. Steve scrambled back from him, back toward the magic-users, shield upraised.
"Well, Thanos finally shows himself," Thor snarled. "Butcher."
"So desperate to die, Asgardian?" Thanos taunted.
Loki stepped up to the front of group. "You'll always fail at it. Because you will never be a god." He said it with such venom Thanos flinched slightly, before raising his chin.
"I've killed better than you," Thanos retorted.
"Really?" Loki returned and waved a hand behind him. The air rippled behind him and from the air stepped hundreds of warriors in armor. Steve gaped in astonishment, wondering how this was possible? Where did all these warriors come from?
In the front was a tall man in golden armor, darker skin, and golden eyes, carrying an immense sword. He nodded to Thor and Loki in polite greeting.
Thanos stepped back. "You were dead."
A deep voice from beneath the high helm replied, "Gods never truly die, Thanos. Asgardians in Valhalla can be called back at need."
"And our need was great," Thor answered, hefting Stormbreaker. "For ASGARD!" he bellowed and launched lightning at Thanos with blinding fury.
When it cleared, the battle was joined.
Thanos retaliated, a blast from the Gauntlet that Steve desperately blocked with the shield and shut his eyes, bracing himself against the impact, but there was none, finding Thor was already in front of him.
Thor caught the blast on Stormbreaker, stumbling back, but he held it and called, "Loki!"
Power crackling, every hair on Steve's body felt alive with the fire, as Thor's eyes glowed white. And he sent all that power straight at Loki.
As Wanda did, and Vision too - white and scarlet and gold fire enveloping Loki in a blaze. Within that fire, Steve saw Loki, blue skin somehow still visible, and the Casket before him to catch the power.
For an instant all was still and silent, while the Casket shone like a star. Loki's voice was a whisper that carried to the far edge of the field, "For everyone."
Power erupted, and Steve had to put the shield up to hide his eyes, but only for a moment before dropping it again to watch. Was it ice, or something even deeper and more elemental? A power of creation as old and as powerful as the Stones themselves smashed into Thanos, and he was helpless before it.
When the fire cleared, Steve gaped in wonder to see that Thanos and his minions had become ice. His body, clothes and armor, were all transparent, with only the gold of the Gauntlet and the stones in it remaining untouched. He was frozen, yet not dead as cracks began to appear immediately, as if he was pushing his way free from within.
Loki called raggedly, "Thor!"
Thor leaped, Stormbreaker twirling, and when he came down, the great axe lit up and screamed in the air. When Thor landed with a heavy thud next to Thanos' body, the mad Titan's head lay in the dirt at his feet. Vision fired a beam of force that disintegrated the other icy sculptures to powder.
High above, a brilliant light flashed, and Steve looked up in alarm. But it was clear that someone was taking the better part of valor, having seen their leader obliterated, and was departing. A deep rumble filled the air as the giant ship ascended and, with a deafening boom that echoed through the valley, it was gone.
A cheer rose up from a hundred throats but Steve's gaze swung wildly back to Loki.
The Casket splintered in his hands, shards falling inert to the ground, leaving him holding only the handles before those too slipped from his fingers. His ruby eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed.
Steve rushed to him, throwing himself to his knees at Loki's side. His fingers could find no pulse against the blue skin. "Oh no, no, c'mon. I knew you were gonna do this, you annoying son of a bitch. Wanda, help!" He turned his head to find Vision, holding an apparently unconscious Wanda in his arms. "Oh. Is she okay?"
"Unconscious, but alive," Vision confirmed. "And Loki?"
"I can't tell."
Vision peered at him intently. "I regret that I detect no heart beat," he said after a moment.
"No," Thor declared, hurrying up to them and dropping Stormbreaker on the ground in his haste. "I thought that before, and then I heard it. He's not dead." He bent to scoop Loki up in his arms, but this time, Steve realized, there was no Casket for him to carry.
They made a somber procession back to the palace. The warriors gathering with T'Challa at their head to salute in Wakandan fashion as the pair of fallen magic users walked between them.
Steve realized there were people missing. "Where are the other Asgardians?" Steve asked, but then frowned, not seeing them. "Where did they go?"
Thor shook his head, and his expression was sorrowful. "They were not real."
Steve grimaced in disappointment - more for Thor and Loki's sake than his own. "Sorry. I wish it was."
"As did I," Thor answered heavily. "For a moment... I hoped... But that was all we needed." He looked down at Loki, after laying his brother on the bed. "As I hope this is but a passing quiet and he will rouse as he did on the ship. " He swallowed. "And on Svartalfheim when that beast skewered him."
Steve nodded once. "I saw the scar. I still have no idea how he survived that. Must be magic."
"Stubbornness," Thor added with a wry twist of his lips. "There is a reason his helm is goat horns." He paused as if expecting Loki to retort something, and when he did not, Thor set his fingers on Loki's neck to seek his pulse. "Come, brother," he murmured. "One more time. I know you wish to see Mother, but she needs to send you back. The captain awaits you." Then his face split with a grin. "Yes! Feel, Steve, he is with us!"
Relieved, Steve set his fingers where Thor's had been, and sure enough, after a moment he felt the little thump of a very slow heart beat. It was hard to know if it was real at first, or he was merely wishing too hard, but then it happened again and again, and he let out a long breath. "He's alive."
"You really do care," Thor said, and Steve flicked his eyes to meet Thor's a bit incensed.
"Of course I do!"
But Thor was smiling kindly, not skeptical. "I am glad to see it, friend. Glad that you accept this," he nodded downward, where Steve's fingers were still resting on the slim blue-skinned throat, "when even he does not." The smile slipped away for something more somber. "It meant everything when Asgard existed, I understand that now. But now, to you? Jotunheim means nothing."
"I don't know - it means a lot to me," Steve answered slowly. "This-" His fingers fluttered from Loki's forehead and down his cheek. "The eyes. Is what pulled me to him."
Thor clearly didn't understand, but it also didn't matter to him, as he smiled. "That's what he needs most. Be welcome, Steve Rogers. And if your path and his twine together here - or elsewhere - I will be proud to be your brother as well."
Steve's jaw loosened at that and at first he couldn't react, stunned by the approval and what Thor was suggesting when Steve hadn't said such words to himself, then offered his hand across Loki's body. Thor gripped his forearm strongly. Steve returned the grip. "Thank you, Thor. It means a lot."
Steve stayed in the room, tending to Loki, and this time Thor spelled him to give him a chance to eat. But Loki remained deeply unconscious.
Steve removed his tunic, seeing the terrible scar that remained of being stabbed straight through the chest. And still he didn't rouse.
He barely breathed, and his heartbeat remained thready and weak. But as long as it continued, he kept faith. Loki needed time to recover, even as Wanda did down the hall, though she woke sooner than he did.
But finally he did, stirring first with his breath strengthening, before those ruby eyes flicked open halfway, exhaustion still weighing him back down toward sleep.
"Hey," Steve murmured, "welcome back." He tucked his fingers between Loki's and was pleased as Loki's grip tightened briefly before his eyes slid shut again.
The next time he awoke he seemed more alert, recognizing Steve with a faint smile.
"How are you feeling?" Steve asked.
"Not dead." Loki's voice was painfully hoarse, and Steve grimaced.
"Yeah, that was a little too close for comfort. Here, I have some water." He offered the cup with the straw, but Loki's attempt to lift his head to drink failed. "Let me help." He looked mulish, as if he wanted to refuse, but when Steve slid his arm under Loki's shoulders to lift him, he didn't complain. Sipping only a little, his eyes tracked downward to his bare chest.
He stiffened, shocked, by the sight. For a few seconds, he was still and shut his eyes. Then his eyes flew back open and his breathing turned to harsh gasps. "I can't-- I can't shift back..." The terror in his eyes was awful to see, and Steve leaned over him, cradling his face between his hands.
"It's okay, it's okay. Take a breath. You're gonna be okay, you're just exhausted," he reassured him. "Everything is okay. Just breathe, Loki. Please, just breathe."
Loki did as Steve suggested, inhaling raggedly while he stared into Steve's eyes with a fixed glare. Steve didn't move away, staying close, as Loki calmed down.
"You'll get stronger again," Steve told him. "You were almost dead."
"Again?" Loki jested dryly.
"Yes, again. Too many times. You need to leave some heroics for other people. Me and T'Challa, we feel kinda useless, you know, standing around watching the wizards do everything." He smiled to make it clear he was just teasing.
"I am not a wizard," Loki retorted, sounding offended, which made Steve chuckle.
"Point is, let the rest of us do something." His hand sought the smooth black hair with the bit of curl to it. "Your life matters. You matter. Don't throw it away."
"I didn't know how else to kill him. He is dead, right?"
"Oh yes, he's deader than a doornail. Thor cut his head off after you turned him into a icicle." He had to chuff a laugh at that. "Good thing Tony's not here, or he'd be ribbing me about popsicles."
Loki frowned and admitted tiredly, "I have no idea what that is."
"It's just a dumb joke. But yes, Thanos is dead. And now you're safe." Ruby eyes flicked to his in surprise that Steve would say that or realize that had been one of Loki's worries. Steve's hand smoothed the side of his face with a gentle touch. "He nearly killed you before and hurt you before that. But now he's gone."
His gaze dropped away, lips twisting. "And yet despite identifying this weakness, you remain."
"Because it's not weakness," Steve said. "Confronting and defeating your tormentor is strength. Hell, surviving at all is strength. Let it go, Loki." He picked up Loki's hand, folded their fingers together, and brought their joined hands up for Loki to see. The flinch when he saw his own skin still hurt Steve in his heart, and he tightened his grip. "I see you. This you. Not a monster, not a shadow, not any of those bad things others said and you tell yourself. If you can't believe it yet, just believe me."
"You only see the good," Loki objected.
"Maybe so," Steve allowed. "But there's enough bad in the world already, isn't there? Recognize the good. You're quick to see it in everyone else but yourself, I think, but it's there."
Very softly Loki said, "And if the ledger is still awash with blood? How can that ever be clean?"
Steve grimaced, wishing he didn't know where that came from, but then decided he might as well lean into comparison. "There are far worse people to emulate than Natasha. You made mistakes, but all you can do is learn from them and do better. That's what she's done, and that's what you're doing. But atonement doesn't require you to do it alone. I need you to stop frying yourself with power because you think you don't matter. You matter to me."
Loki's smile seemed torn, as if he was trying to be amused but his lips quivered with a sharper emotion. "You're absurd."
"I'm right. And now we have time I can prove it to you." Framing his face, Steve leaned down to kiss his cool lips.
And when Loki fell asleep, Steve smiled as he drew back with a last caress of the side of his face.
Steve sat in the chair nearby and sketched him as he slept. They were little studies of face and his hands, training his pencil to learn those shapes.
They were both alive, the evil was destroyed, and the future unfurled before him in a new direction he would never have guessed a month before, but now he couldn't imagine any other path.
fin.