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Had anyone told Thor a few weeks ago that he would face Thanos from the past in a fierce battle, wielding Stormbreaker and Mjolnir – also from the past -, surrounded by his formerly dusted but now revived shield brothers and sisters, he would have likely sent them flying out of his cottage. However, the craziest things tended to happen to him, and this was no exception. So instead of drinking a barrel of beer and yelling at some idiotic Midgardian who had no idea about how to properly play Fortnight, he was currently being killed by Thanos. The Titan had a sure grip on Stormbreaker and Thor was too focused on him to summon his trusty hammer that lay barely a few feet away, behind the purple menace.
Thor saw the hammer moving, though he knew the movement wasn’t caused by him, and he wondered. Who could be worthy, apart from himself? He suspected Rogers, the Captain had always been a prime example of righteousness and, well, worthiness. He saw a greenish glow behind the Titan but couldn’t place the source. Mjolnir flew in a curved line towards Thanos, but the he managed to avert the weapon with some kind of powerful magical blast.
Still, the Titan’s grip slackened. Blood started to drip from the corner of his mouth, his gaze became unfocused. He coughed and stumbled, letting go of Thor, who rolled himself to the side. From his new position, he could see several daggers lodged to the hilt in Thanos’ neck, as well as the back of his knees, the places where his armor didn’t protect him. With a growl, the Titan gripped one and pulled it free.
At that moment, Thor’s heart stopped, just to hammer against his ribs at a pace that made him nauseous. In front of the Titan, barely 7 feet from him, stood a tall person with a horned, golden helmet covering his long black hair, a dark green and black leather armor and a dark green cape, billowing dramatically in the wind. Seemingly uninterested, Loki kept juggling Mjolnir in the air, catching the hammer at the hilt and repeating the motion.
“Seriously brother, all the hype for this hammer? It’s not even well balanced!” he drawled in a bored voice, ignoring the fact that the creature who had killed him in another timeline in a most gruesome way was about to launch another attack against him.
“You poor little trickster, you failed me, I am going to destroy you, once and for all,” the enraged Titan growled. He charged at Loki, but as soon as his fist touched the trickster, the green-clad god of mischief simply disappeared. Instead, he appeared directly behind him, twirling Mjolnir with one hand before bringing down the hammer with a bone-crushing blow to the back of Thanos’ head. The Titan swayed and Loki let go of the hammer. Instead, he jumped and took hold of Thanos’ throat from behind before slitting open his neck from ear to ear.
The Titan tried to grab the trickster god on his back, but his movements became more and more unfocused. Loki easily dodged the assaults. Finally, Thanos was on his knees when Thor appeared right in front of him. Lightning flowed through his body as the Thunderer brought Stormbreaker down on the Thanos’ neck, beheading the mad Titan for the second time.
Thor looked up at his brother, who merely smirked back at him.
“How…? How, Loki, how?” he asked, his voice breaking before turning more and more aggressive.
The trickster took a step back, casually flicking a dagger towards one of Thanos’ warriors who had tried to sneak up on Thor. Thanos’ forces were losing, but they put up a last, stubborn resistance.
“It is a long story, brother. Stark and Rogers have not told you about their failure during the battle of New York, have they?” he inquired, elegantly dodging an attack before burying another dagger to the hilt in someone’s chest.
“Failure? What failure?” Thor stumbled, throwing Mjolnir to wreak havoc amongst the diminishing numbers of enemy soldiers.
Loki chuckled.
“As I said, it is a long story. I will tell it to you later, hopefully with your friends' input as well, which will be rather amusing, I’d say,” the trickster answered, suddenly appearing close to Thor, just to slice the throat of a soldier that had managed to sneak up to the mightily confused Thunderer.
“I’ve learned a thing or two about my sadly deceased other self from your current timeline. It certainly pays off to be on good terms with the Norns. But all in good time. For now, let us fight together. Or do you need a break, you look as though you could use one,” he jibed at his brother, who had to admit that he felt a bit out of breath.
Thor still stared at him, unable to set his mind straight. Loki sighed dramatically.
“Really? I seemingly come back from the dead, save your life seven times so far, help you win this battle and you have nothing to say to me?” Loki asked, sounding aloof, though Thor knew instantly there was more hurt in his utterance than he let on.
The battle was dying down. The two brothers were no longer under attack. Instead of saying anything, Thor grabbed Loki and pulled him into a bear hug. Loki made an ‘oof’ noise, but after hesitating a mere moment, he slung his arms around his brother as well.
“Look. Even the sun is shining,” he mumbled, trying to detangle himself from Thor’s shaking grip. Thor only pulled him tighter, sobbing loudly. Loki finally gave up his resistance and resorted to patting his brother’s head. He would never admit it, but a single tear rolled down his cheek. The grin on his face was – for once – honest as he slowly began to register that now, after Thanos’ death, he was finally completely free to do as he pleased without fear, for the first time in several years.
When Thor let go of him, Loki raised an eyebrow.
“My, my, father would be so proud of you!” he mocked while prickling his brother’s enormous belly with a finger. Thor’s roaring laughter mixed with the victorious shouting from all over the battle field as Thanos’ forces were defeated.