The Avengers are fractured, beaten, and broken.

They tried to fight him. They really did. But it seems even a god, a supersoldier, and a nanotech-suited genius are no match for a titan. And with the other Avengers under the rubble... who knows if they're even still alive? They're certainly not coming to help.

"In all my years of conquest," Thanos drawls, "of violence, slaughter, it was never personal. But I'll tell you now, what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet... I'm gonna enjoy it very, very much."

A stream of light shines down on the field, and with it comes an army – his army. Thor can hardly make it out from the ground. He can hardly see through the red that clouds his vision. But if Thanos's army is here, that means that maybe...

Maybe Loki's here, too.

He wants to get up. He wants to find him. But he can't; not when this whole army wants him dead. Not when Loki wants him dead. He can't go at them alone. He'd be slain before he even got close.

But he's not alone.

Portal after portal brings back their people – people he hasn't even met, most of them, but their people. He'd nearly forgotten they undid the Snap that stole all these lives. They're back, and they're back with a vengeance, and there couldn't be a better time.

He makes his way to the lineup, stumbling and limping at first until the pain begins to fade, to blend with the adrenaline coursing through him until he can hardly feel it anymore. His eyes scan the crowd for any familiar faces, but he doesn't recognize most of them. The Avengers really have made a lot of friends in his wake, it seems.

He's sure that Heimdall and Sif are around here somewhere. He'd seek them out if he thought it would make any sort of difference. But the odds that they all survive this – the odds that any of them survive this – are slim to none. Why waste time on reunions that won't last, when he's grieved them for years already? When this is over, if they're all still alive, he'll seek them out then. Right now, he has another priority.

They all charge forward, and though Thor doesn't want to fight, though his priorities lie elsewhere, he doesn't have a choice. He can't get through this throng of soldiers unless he kills them all on the way, and if that's the only option he has, that's the option he'll take. Every Chitauri soldier he kills, every Outrider, every Leviathan, it gets him that much closer to finding his friends – and, if the fates align, that much closer to finding his brother.

He succeeds at part of that. At some point, he catches a glimpse of Sif stabbing a Chitauri soldier. Later, he sees Heimdall from a distance. He feels marginally better knowing that his friends are alive and that they're here, but the longer he goes without seeing Loki...

Still, he doesn't stop looking, and he's glad that he doesn't. If he had, maybe he wouldn't have noticed the Infinity Gauntlet lying on the ground, or that Thanos was mere seconds from taking it for himself.

Thor launches himself in his path. He takes a swing at him with Mjolnir, then another with Stormbreaker. The first collides, but the second doesn't. Thanos grabs it before it can, and he pushes it away mere moments before the sharp metal can slice him apart. Thor holds Mjolnir up, using his hammer to push the axe forward, but Thanos is too strong. They're at a standstill, it seems, and all he can hope for is that he's not the first to break.

A green light surrounds the axe, and it flies from both Thor's and Thanos's hands, clattering aside and out of reach. He still has Mjolnir, of course. He still has a weapon. He's not out of options at all. But he knows that green. He knows that magic.

He looks around, eyes frantically scanning the battlefield until he sees him, standing at a distance with his eyes glued to the scene he just witnessed.

Thor feels a wave of relief pass over him.

Loki's here.

He's really here.

He looks so much like he did five years ago. His hair's a little shorter, the gash on his face is much newer, but he still looks like him. He's still Loki.

And he's running toward him and looking very angry. Maybe this isn't as much of a relief as he'd hoped.

Thor holds his hand out, calling Stormbreaker back to him, but Thanos throws him to the ground before he can grab it. Instead, Loki grabs the axe, and he eyes it up and down for a few moments with apparent intrigue.

"Thor!" Steve yells from... somewhere nearby, probably. "Thor, I know what you're thinking, but that is not your brother!"

Thor sits up, propping himself up with his hands behind himself as looks up at his brother – and he is his brother; Steve doesn't know what he's talking about – with wide eyes. He can't believe this. He'd begun to lose hope, to think that he wasn't going to be here; that he'd lost his last chance to see him again. He'd begun to think that he'd have to live with the fact that the last memory he has of his brother is watching his corpse fall to the ground.

He's never been so glad to be wrong.

"Loki," Thor breathes. "Loki, give me the axe."

Loki looks at the axe, and then, to Thor's horror, he looks at Thanos.

Not his brother.

Thanos.

"That's him." Loki's voice is quiet, uncertain.

Thanos just nods. "That's him."

Thor furrows his brows. They're talking about him? Why is Loki acting like he hardly recognizes him? He knows he's changed a bit over the years – his hair's a bit matted, his beard's a bit long, he's maybe grown a little too fond of pizza – but he's still him. Loki should know that. Loki has to know that. They're brothers. How could Loki not know it's him?

Thor watches his brother carefully. He's in power right now. Even Thanos has halted his actions, watching Loki with the same intrigue his brother is. Loki's holding Stormbreaker, and he's within fighting distance of them both. He can put an end to this in whatever way he wants. He just has to swing.

Loki looks down at Stormbreaker one more time, then holds it out to Thanos. "You'll want this, then, I assume."

Thor grimaces. "Loki..." Doesn't he see what he's doing? Can't he see that it's wrong? Can't he see what's going to happen to his brother if he does this?

Thanos shakes his head. "He's all yours."

Loki smiles, an eerie look in his eyes. "Thank you, Father."

Thor's eyes go wide. Father. So Loki really is that far gone.

But he's not an idiot. He knows that, for as bad as this situation is, it can still get far, far worse. So when Loki charges at him, Stormbreaker at the ready, Thor rolls out of the way. As he climbs to his feet, he stumbles backward, trying to put some distance between them, to give him the time and the space to talk some sense into him before either of them do something they'll regret.

"Loki, stop this!" Thor says quickly.

"It's only just begun."

He swings Stormbreaker at him, and Thor jumps out of the way. He tries to duck under and grab it by the handle, but Loki pulls it out of reach before he can. He brings it back down, nearly slicing Thor in half, but Thor holds Mjolnir up to block it.

"Loki, stop it!" Thor pleads. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Good," Loki says, "because I won't let you."

He pulls Stormbreaker back, and it slices against Thor's fingers. He drops Mjolnir instinctively, anything to get his hand away from the blade of the axe, and Loki holds his own hand out, a familiar green encircling the hammer.

Thor's so confused, he can't find it in him to take advantage of what could be the perfect opportunity to strike. "Brother, what are you doing?" He knows he can't wield Mjolnir. He's never been able to wield it. Why is he even trying?

It seems he's said the wrong thing, because when Loki looks back up at him, there's a new fury in his eyes that wasn't there before. Thor takes a few steps back. This is... not so great.

"Don't call me that!" Loki launches himself at him, swinging Stormbreaker down at his head, and Thor dives out of the way, holding his hand outstretched for Mjolnir to come to him. "I am not your brother!" he bellows, taking another swing with the axe. "You are nothing to me!"

"Loki, what are you talking about?" Thor asks, almost pleading with him to explain himself, to help make some sense of what's going on. "Put the axe down and talk to me."

"Stop it!" Loki swings Stormbreaker at him again. "Stop talking like you know me. You don't know me!" He swings the axe again. "You never knew me!" And he swings it again.

Throw throws Mjolnir aside and grabs Stormbreaker's handle in both hands. As Loki pushes it down at him, Thor pushes it away until it's stuck, unmoving against the weight of their force.

"Loki, it's me," Thor says breathlessly. "It's me; it's Thor. It's your brother."

The word only makes him angrier, and that gives him the push he needs to drive Stormbreaker down and down... until Thor lets go and ducks out of the way, and it slices into the ground instead of his face. Loki's grip loosens from the surprise, and Thor's able to call it from his hand. He throws it carelessly aside. They don't need that anymore.

"Loki, look at me." Thor tries to keep his voice calm and level, despite the pounding in his chest that's getting harder and harder to ignore. "You're my brother. You've been my best friend for a thousand years."

"I was never your friend," Loki spits. "I was your toy, made to be mocked and discarded when you didn't want me anymore."

Thor furrows his brows, his grip on Mjolnir tightening almost as though it were a security blanket. So Loki remembers him? He remembers that they grew up together, that they spent their childhoods together? So why...?

Before Thor can finish that thought, Loki shoots out a hand, and a blast of ice hits him in the chest, throwing him off his feet from the surprise of it all. Thor stares at him, eyes wide. That one is new. That one, he's never seen before. That's not his usual magic; that's...

Jotun.

A familiar shade of blue overtakes him, one Thor's seen a million times but never dared imagine on his brother. By the time Loki reaches him, the brother he'd known is gone, and a Frost Giant stands over him instead.

Loki holds out a hand, and an icicle grows from it, just long enough for it to rest against Thor's throat and sharp enough that it cuts his neck when he shifts underneath it. If he moves again, Loki will kill him. He can see that plain as day. He's at his brother's mercy right now, and mercy is something he seems to be running low on.

"You and your people thought my kind were monsters," Loki growls. "The Frost Giants thought I was just a useless runt. Thanos was the first person to see me for me, and for the first time, I was free."

"This doesn't look like freedom to me," Thor says.

Loki digs the icicle a little deeper, breaking the skin. "You threw me away," he hisses. "You threw me away, and now you have to pay the price." He crouches down and grabs Thor by the hair, pulling his head up until he has no choice but to watch Thanos and the gauntlet he wields. "My father is about to change everything." The icicle finds its way to Thor's throat again. "And you're going to watch as your world comes crumbling down around you."

Thanos's sights had been set on Tony, but, as though on cue, he looks to them, a small smirk on his face that Thor wants nothing more than to chop right off.

"I am... inevitable."

And he snaps.

Thor braces himself for the impact, for the destruction of all he knows and all he holds dear, but it doesn't come. Thanos just stands there for a moment, confused, then turns his hand over, and the Infinity Stones are gone.

Tony looks up at him from where he's crouched on the ground, and slowly, he lifts up his own gauntlet, alit with the power of the stolen Infinity Stones. "And I... am..." He grimaces, fighting for every word as the power of the universe flows through him, but even that can't stop him.

"No," Loki whispers, eyes wide with fear. He pushes himself to his feet, stumbling ever-so-slightly as he catches his balance. "No!" He takes off running, but it's too late.

"Iron man."

Snap.