Author's note: Hey, reader! Thank you for passing by! While reading this chapter I recommend to listen to the song "Smooth", by Carlos Santana. Since I'm a non-native English speaker and this is my first long narrative in English. I might have made some mistakes although I revised everything. If English is your first language and you would like to let me know about any errors in this chapter and in the future ones, please send me a private message. If you like my story please leave your vote and comment. Thank you and I hope you all enjoy the fanfic!

Also, this story is for my friend Leticia De Freitas Bueno from YouTube. Visit her channel whenever you have the chance!

Chapter 1: Smooth escape

It was 2012, and the Avengers had just arrested Loki, the god of mischief and brother of Thor. The former spread chaos throughout New York, attacking the city with his alien army while determined to get the greatness he thought he deserved. Like many other overly ambitious men, Loki ended up blinded by his power hunger and lost the war to the famous hero group. He was with mixed feelings after being arrested: part devastated; part relieved. No one knew, but the mad titan, Thanos, to capture the Tesseract, a shiny blue cube also known as the Space Stone, and try to rule Earth, manipulated Loki with the stone. Not even Thor imagined that the trickster was just a pawn on Thanos' master plan.

Loki had blue eyes, medium black hair, and light skin. He was in chains and with a metallic mouthguard, keeping him from talking. The trickster walked in the lobby of a building with Thor, Tony Stark, and some guards. Nobody had decided yet what should be done with the Tesseract, the only certain thing was that the god of mischief would go to jail in Asgard. "Everything is over... I lost to my brother again. When will I ever beat that bastard? I'm done coming in second place all the time.", thought Loki, frustrated and getting less obsessed with world domination as the manipulation faded. His eyes could not stop staring at the silver suitcase where inside was the Tesseract.

Suddenly, Tony Stark fell on the floor, appearing to have a heart attack. Everybody panicked and went to his direction, leaving Loki alone on a corner and the suitcase on the floor, vulnerable. Thor came closer to Stark and said:

- Stark, can you hear me? – But Tony did not answer. He was almost having seizures due to his lack of oxygen and, although he would never admit it, Loki was feeling bad for him and even a little worried... but not enough to forget about the opportunity that had opened to him.

Unfortunately, a guard grabbed the suitcase, so he remained still. In the same second, Hulk arrived in the lobby by smashing a door, making people scream and run. He knocked down the guard, which made the suitcase open; the Tesseract was thrown away and landed by Loki's feet. The trickster widened his eyes and looked around, making sure everyone was distracted enough. That was his only chance of escaping his imminent punishment and, perhaps, recovering his glory.

- Come to me... - he whispered to himself, barely. Loki slowly bent down, doing his best not to make any noise, grabbed the Tesseract, and faded away in a blackened blue smoky cloud.

After getting his precious stone back, Loki got stronger and entered into a magic portal filled with dark-blue light while traveling at an insanely high speed. He shape-shifted into a butterfly, escaping from his chains and mouthguard, then into an eagle, and grabbed the Tesseract with its claws. If Loki were in human shape at that moment, he would have a massive smile on his face. The brother of Thor did not even care about ruling the world; he just wanted the Tesseract back to not feel like a complete failure.

Loki turned back into himself and held the stone with his hands. He stared at that beauty, thoughtful.

- What have I done? I was so blind... - he whispered. Loki was mad for power; however, he could admit that he crossed many lines by taking innocent lives and causing a huge mess. He was afraid that Thanos would kill him after the New York fiasco and thinking about other ways that he could have used to gain power.

- No... I did what I had to. It was worth the try. – He said, divided.

Less than a minute later, Loki arrived in a completely different place than he was before. He hid the Tesseract on his green, gold and black Asgardian coat and looked around, chocked. The god was utterly lost and felt that he was walking through an endless labyrinth. It was a dark place, and he heard the noise of chains clinging.

- What is happening here? Where am I? – Loki wondered. He almost tripped after seeing the weirdest scene he had ever witnessed. That was when the trickster realized that he was in a fortress, not a cave. From the second floor of the facility, he saw Thor in chains, covered in sweat and blood on his forehead. Thanos was standing with his incomplete gauntlet, and right in front of him... It was Loki. Another version of himself, as in another life.

- Bring it to me – said Thanos, with a mysterious look in his eyes. Loki could not believe in what he was seeing, and, after a couple of seconds, it hit him: he was in the future... and a terrible one. Loki was not really into the idea of Thanos winning even though he was working for him not long ago. After losing the final battle, the god of mischief realized that, deep down, he made a huge mistake by letting ambitiousness dominate his judgment.

Following a very nerve-wracking conversation, Loki saw Thanos grab his future self by the neck. He got terrified and took a step back, afraid that the lilac psychopath would see him. Thanos brought future Loki close to him and said something 2012 Loki could not understand. The mad titan then smashed 2019 Loki's throat until he died suffocated. The 2019 god of mischief's face was purple, his eyes getting red and he screamed in agony. After killing Loki, the titan threw his corpse on the floor, as it was an old doll.

- Holy... - Loki from the past whispered, desperate, with his heart beating faster and breathing hard. He never thought that after escaping with the Tesseract he would witness his own death. That was the scariest moment of Loki's life.

- No! – screamed Thor, running to his brother. "Why is Thor with an eye patch? When did he get a haircut?" thought the trickster, even more, confused than before. When Thanos grabbed the future version of the Tesseract, the stone started glowing strong, and Loki knew how bad that was going to end for him if he did not leave fast. He got the Tesseract from inside of his coat and put both hands around it, filled with fear:

- Get me out of here! Now! – Like an obedient dog, the Space Stone glowed and transported Loki more ahead on the future. One minute later, he landed on a destroyed Asgard. His home was in flames, being burned by the fire giant Surtur while Hela screamed in anger.

- This place was mine! Idiots! – She yelled while suffering in pain from the wounds that only got worse with Surtur's attacks.

- Not a good future. I must go a little further. – Loki said, biting his lower lip. He had no idea, but he went back in time because Ragnarok happened before 2019 Loki's death.

The Tesseract transported him through time once again. "The future only gets worse! I wonder what I will find next...," the god thought, getting more scared every second.

Luckily, he landed on a monotonous and unknown place on his third time-traveling attempt. Once he saw that no Thanos was murdering another Loki, no giant with horns setting Asgard on fire while Hela shouted, and no sign of significant tragedy, Loki sighed in relief.

- What is this place? – he whispered to himself, confused. He saw people walking on the streets, observed the architecture, and soon realized that he was somewhere in Midgard. Afraid of humans recognizing him, he created the illusion that he was wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses, a Boston Red Sox cap, a dark-blue polo shirt, black pants, and grey snickers. His straight medium black hair was totally inside the cap. He put the Tesseract on the left back pocket of his pants and created the illusion that there was nothing inside his pocket.

- This feels like one of those Midgardian spy movies Thor told me about. – Loki said, laughing, while he walked through the new city where he landed. "I see signs in English. Maybe I am in the United Kingdom or back in the United States. South Africa, perhaps." Loki thought, having fun by trying to guess where he was. It could be any city since it was a residential area.

While walking, Loki started wondering how different and less complicated things would have been if he had not joined Thanos. He knew what he was getting into, but only realized he exposed himself to a danger of enormous magnitude after seeing the assassination of his future self.

- I have always wanted power, but not like that. I will never go back to being Thanos' ally. In fact, I am never going to get myself involved in evil schemes again. I have had enough! – Loki said to himself, bothered with his situation in 2012. He wondered if the Avengers and Thanos were still looking for him in the past but quickly drove that thought away not to panic.

Loki lied a lot, but that time he was telling the truth to himself. He was determined not to follow the wrong path again because of ambition... and, although he would never say it aloud, will of showing that he was better than Thor. This feeling of always ending up in second place the trickster had motivated him to make the wrong choices in the past.

- My brother shall not disturb my peace so much ever again. Enough trying to prove myself. – Loki said, taking a deep breath, as he was getting ready for a challenge... and let go of that old obsession to win the brother competition was a challenge indeed. One of the hardest things the god of mischief would have to do.

Loki had to forget about his will of beating Thor on every aspect because, otherwise, he would never be able to live in peace. Moreover, he also had to stop letting his ambition blind him in order not to destroy a city again... or worse. He almost got Asgard destroyed when he was younger and threw Heimdall away from his position on the Bifrost security facility.

- I need to stay alive. I might have fooled death once, but I am not sure if I could do it three times. – Loki still had some mixed feelings about what he did in New York, but one thing was sure: he regretted becoming an ally of evil living beings. He knew the risk of doing something like he did in 2012.

When Loki was becoming hopeless and imagining he would have to sleep on the street, he saw a sign in front of a little house made of bricks. There were some steps to get to the door, one big window with partially opened shutters on the living room, and two more on the upper floor. It also had some bushes in front of the living room window, and the sign was between them.

- Let me see this - Loki whispered, removing his sunglasses and getting closer to the small white sign glued to a tall wooden stick. The message, written in big and black letters, was "Room for rent. Come here or call if interested" and then a telephone number. He approached the living room window and saw the lights on, so someone had to be in the house.

A few seconds later, Loki realized that a woman was studying in the living room while sitting on the beige sofa, looking worried. She had fair skin, light-brown eyes and straight hair of the same color. "Better to live with a beautiful stranger than on the streets!" thought Loki, with a mischievous smile on his face. He put his sunglasses back, adjusted his cap, went up the small stairs, and rang the doorbell. He was stressed because he could not pay rent and had to use his persuasiveness to live in that house.

The woman looked through the window and took a deep breath. Loki did not see it and kept waiting for her. Less than a minute later, she opened the door and shot him a mysterious look. He smiled at her and said, putting his right hand on the chest as he spoke, happy with the chance of living with a beautiful woman:

- Allow me to introduce myself... I am Luke Olson. I came here because I am interested in the room you announced. – Loki said, slowly stopping to smile. She laughed softly, extended her right hand, and answered:

- Nice to meet you, Luke. My name is Jane Foster and I'm the one who put the room for rent. – He shook her hand and could not help but gulp at that moment. He was in front of his brother's girlfriend, whom he wished to meet for a long time. Loki would have never guessed that Jane Foster would be the person in that house. "Jane is beautiful, but I wonder what made Thor think she is so special..." he thought, intrigued. The trickster thought that once he met Jane, he would feel anger, but a completely different feeling emerged: curiosity.