Prologue
Crack.
That's all it took. Not even a significant amount of Thanos's power, just a small hand movement was enough to extinguish me like an insignificant insect, disposable and forgotten.
But Thanos had his ways — he relished in toying with his prey, savoring their despair until it grew stale, until no one else even dared to acknowledge its existence.
What about Thor? Is he going to be all alone?
Now that Loki's dead, what would happen to his brother?
He has those funny dressed mortal hero friends. He felt bitter about the fact that his brother would probably move on from his death like all the rest of the times. Only mourning when he died, but after some time, finding peace, accepting it and moving on.
Loki wanted to laugh, but he didn't know if it fit the situation – I just got murdered by the mad titan, not a big deal.
But still... Loki sighed internally.
At that exact moment, Loki longed for a miracle, yearning for a reality-bending spell to bring him back to life. He wished that he could return back in time, if only he had his magic and wasn't dead.
Loki couldn't bear the thought of Thor drowning in guilt over his death. However, he knew his brother all too well, his stubbornness and dedication to those he loved would likely consume him. Despite his powerlessness, Loki couldn't help but wish for Thor to find peace within himself, to let go of any remorse and carry on.
Thor's unwavering care had always been a constant presence in Loki's life, ever since their childhood days when their lives were devoid of the darkness of death and destruction.
And me. Loki reminded himself.
When there was death and destruction, there was Loki, the cause of people's pain and suffering. He had led the dark elves to her, driven by his own desire to catch Thor off guard, some wear dark elves shouldn't have been much of a problem to his brother, he'd handle them. Then Thor would visit him and Loki would drop some hints of who might've 'accidently' given the dark elves his location. But it hadn't been Thor who the dark elves met, it was Frigga. And because of Loki, she had died.
Some time passes by as Lokis self-loathing thoughts cqme to an end.
At least i'll see mother again...
Just as Loki begins to find some sort of peace within him, a heart-wrenching sound reaches his ears – a broken sob.
Thor.
He's here, he's crying, hurting.
I'm sorry, brother. I'm sorry i couldn't be a better brother to you.
In that moment, a desperate longing seized Loki's thoughts. If only there were a way to alter the fabric of time, to turn back the clock and preserve the life of his mother, but also Thors mother. His desire to save Thor from these memories was so much that he even wanted erasing his own existence from Thor's consciousness, if it were within his power to do so.
But he was dead...
Dead gods don't do much of that, do they now?
Loki mentally shuts his eyes, allowing his mind to conjure a bittersweet scene: Thor, wearing a genuine smile, stands proudly while his mother, Frigga, stands beside him, radiating love and warmth. Thor would be surrounded by his friends, experiencing pure joy and laughter. In this scene, Loki is faded in the background, erased from the picture.
"Is that what you wish for? Very well then..."
Caught off guard by the unexpected response, Loki finds himself shutting his eyes. Suddenly, everything goes quiet. So peacefull, is this what valhalla feels like? Almost too silent, it surely wouldn't be Thor's favourite. He'd like it more, well... lively.
Loki feels himself chuckling despite the way he had been feeling just a few seconds ago. But that feeling was still there, only not shown by Loki himself. He couldn't show weakness now.
"Oh brother, i'll truly miss you..."
Having heard clearing of someone's throat, Loki's gaze sweeps across the colourless surroundings that stretch out before him. A sense of curiosity fills him as he attempts to locate the source of this unexpected interruption.
Yet, as Loki's eyes scan the area, he can only perceive an unvarying shade of grey. No darkness or brightness interrupts this color. It is a world stripped of vibrancy, devoid of any distinguishing features.
Then his eyes adjust to one particular skinny-looking man with a dark suit, a good hairstyle and a buseness bag just howering there next to the man with a serious expression—eating some spaghetti by a small, round table—Um, okay? He looks around again and when he only sees this one guy he takes the seat right in front of him.
"I've been anticipating you mister Loki."
The man says while eating his spaghetti somewhat gracefully.
"And who may you be, gentleman?" Loki says with a sly smirk, his fingers twitch slightly and then a golden plate and a teacup appear out of thin air. Loki grabs the teacup and takes a sip from the steamy liquid.
"Refreshing as always." Loki takes a sip of his tea, feeling the warmth spread through his body. As he glances at the man, he notices the mischievous grin on his face. The man then speaks up, addressing Loki with a hint of admiration, "You truly are a fascinating young man, Mr. Loki, if I do say so myself." And Death continues eating his spaghetti.
Loki raises an eyebrow at that "young man?" He hadn't heard that one in a few centuries. Technically if he counted his human age, he'd be what 17? 18_That's still an adult in human years, so why?
"You're still a child in my eyes mister Loki... after all I've been curious about you since you were a youngster, constantly seeking attention from your family members... especially that rascal Odin, he's never known how to handle children, especially his, even if he shared no blood with them."
Loki just stares at the man in bewilderment. Did he just address Odin as a rascal? And wait, did he just point out that he knows that he's genderfluid?
There's silence and then there's a chuckle coming from Loki's mouth. "A rascal you say?" Another 5 seconds and the chuckle dies, so does Loki's enthusiasm as he savours a small amount "You didn't answer my initial question... who are you?"
The man smiles, grabs a dry tissue and gently touches it against his lips to wipe absolutely nothing "I have a great many of names mister Loki, but you may call me Death." He says as if discussing the weather.
Those green orbs light up in curiousity for a glimmer of a second, but then Loki masks it away under a sassy tone. "Well, you must know me then, Death." Loki says, as if matching Death's pace and takes a small drink again, finishing his tea.
"Yes, in fact I do mister Loki... your antics were and always will be my favourite pass-time, I'm a huge fan, i'd like for it to go on..." Death says with honesty written all over his face, then the table disappears and Death's face goes serious "That's exactly why you're here, mister Loki."
Loki tilts his head slightly to the side, curiosity added to the feeling of mystery. "What are you implying by that?"
"Exactly what you heard" He adopts a leg-crossed posture and shifts his gaze to Lokis eyes "Since you have amused me all these years, I'm giving you gifts, two of them which you must already have figured out—it's sort of like, clearing my debt."
Loki blinks. Wait, does he mean? "You really"—before he could finish his words, Death was already nodding "indeed, mister Loki... Your mother is alive... time is reversed and it costed your existance from that universe."
Loki goes through a lot of emotions at the same time: shock, gratitude, bliss. Loki manages a smile of gratitiude towards Death and then his brow quirks as he thinks about the words again. "Wait, what do you mean 'from that universe'?"
Death smirks. "Don't tell me now that you think i'll just let you die like this, mister Loki?"
Death just sits there, as if letting Loki to have that moment for himself—it lasts for 10 minutes and then Loki is back with a "so, what's next? Is another present incoming?"
Death smiles and says "certainly—as I have already stated, my amusement depends on your liveliness, but currently you're dead, so i'll be bending some rules here, but not to worry, i'm Death, who's going to stop me if i do?" Loki chuckles. "You're absolutely correct..." Then Lokis chuckle is replaced by a serious expression. "So, what you're implying is that... i'll just come back to life?"
Death shakes his head. "No, my dear boy... you'll reincarnate in the body of a human." And lokis mind is suddenly blank. What did he say? Loki's lips curl into a sly grin. "Interesting. And you expect me to accept your proposal?" Death just returns the smile with more authority. "No, i know you'll definitely agree." He said with a very confident tone of his voice. Loki is intrigued almoat immediately, but his caution is still lingering. "And who might that mortal be?"
"Let's just say... he's just a boy, he has his whole life ehead of him and... the rest is up to you to figure out i suppose."
Loki nods understandingly. "Can I at least know his name?"
Death smiles, his dark eyes softening "Harry Potter."
"So what now? I just wait? How does this whole reincarnation thing work?" Loki is thirsty for knowledge and Death is just full of secrets, he needs to get more information out of him. Death is just watching him like a parent watching his child do something stupid, Loki feels like he's about to get babied, but he doesn't let the blush of shame appear on his face, he just clears his throat and waits.
"Don't worry... I'll give you conditions you won't be able to say no to: firstly, your soul will be transferred to a body of a 10 year old Harry, secondly you'll have magic, just a tad bit different from the magic you've learned about..." And Loki's sold on the second one. "I'll have magic." And he feels like a weight fell from his heart, he spread his wings, currently waiting to fly off for the first time again.
Death notices the sudden change of Lokis demeanor, how the young demi-gods eyes sparkled back to life, he can't hold in the laughter following that almost too cute childish innocence on his face. Loki snaps out of his thoughts, his eyebrows furrow and he frowns at Death. Death laughs even harder this time. "Sorry, sorry mister Loki, it's just been a while since i've seen such look on your face" Loki pouts and defensively crosses his arms. "What else is there that I should know before i transfer?"
Death smiles and shakes his head. "It's all good now. I can't be ruining all the fun process of the intel collecting now, can i?"
Loki sighs and stops pouting like a child. He just stands there and waits for the inevidable to happen. Then he has a moment of hesitation. "Umm... excuse me, Death? Am I... going to see my family ever again?"
Death waits for a few seconds before answering. "Unfortunately young man... no, i'm sorry."
Loki nods his head slowly, forces a smile one last time and nods again to Death this time. "I'm ready." And he hears steps closing in on him and then he loses his footing.
His eyes widen—No... no,no,no,no,no.
He's falling... not again... I can't do that again.
Panic overwhelms him. Then he looks up and sees Death, up in the air, waving at him, he read a barely audible "good luck" on his lips, he calms down a little, knowing that someone is there for him, even if it's Death repaying debt to him, he still feels warm inside.
He barely notices when the scenary changes, everything is turning darker and darker, until he blacks out.
What's waiting for Loki is far more than he can imagine. The first thing he notices when he opens his eyes is what a bad sight this kid has, or, had now, since he's sort of possessing his body. The next thing is the aching pain he feels in this tiny body. What kind of physical activities does this little child need to do to be hurt so badly.
And then he notices the smell... it smells sort of dusty in here. He reaches out his small hand to take the glasses, which he clearly needs now. He efficiently slides them up the bridge of his nose.
And he gasps. What the... where is this boy sleeping? It's some sort of staircase, he can clearly tell, no child would ever want to sleep somewhere so unhygienic and disgusting.
He covers his nose and winces when the pain shoots through his arm. Norns forbid... what has this boy been through?
He reaches up to touch his hurt head, but when his hand feels something had dried there, the boy is clearly mistreated here. He inspects it using a very simple magic spell, he quickly draws his hand back and stares. "Blood..."
Loki sighs and tries to focus. Okay, you can do this, this is merely a childs play, i'll just live and get it over with. He looks around to find something, anything laying around to see his reflection, but he couldn't find anything.
Too much to request for a tiny mirror? Then he hears some heavy footsteps up the stairs, it rings right through his head, theres debris fluttering down the cracks of these steps, then there's a loud voice of an enthusiastic sounding boy. "Wake up cousin, it's my birthday" How much does that kid weight? Then he hears the kids foots hop on the stairs like explosions, getting closer to his door and then there's a bang.
"Get up, get up, or else i"ll tell dad you didn't do as I told you and he'll punish you." The fat kid laughs and when Loki tries to get up and walk out as he instructed the boy has the nerve to push Loki, no, Harry back inside. How dare that human, he's getting on my nerves... Loki sighs. "Calm down." He whisperes to himself.
Getting the courage was harder than expected, Harry has no energy at all, he's frail, all bones... Sort of reminds me of me when I was...
He straggered to his feet and walked out of the tiny cupboard, it took his whole strength to stay on his feet... He looked around and after some exploring he found a mirror.
The thing he witnessed in the reflection made him want to look away. No... this poor child... Two pair of pain-filled green eyes stared back at him. The boy was disheveled, skinny, too small for a ten year old. Then he saw the dried blood. There's a wound, probably from yesterday, but where and when did the child get it? Not only that, that doesn't worry him too much, what's that thunder-looking scar? It gives him some sort of odd feeling...
"Whatever, i'll worry about that later." Then there are loud, big footsteps coming his way, they're too loud. It's not that fat kid... this is someone else. He was about to back away from those footsteps when a hand came flying his way and he crashed against the wall. "Freak, why are you out of the cupboard?"
Loki slid down the wall, head buzzing from pain. He was too shocked to say anything back, his eyes were widened and his body was trembling uncontrollably. He heard some gasps coming out of his mouth, he tried to utter words of insults, only for them to come out as "u-uncle Vernon." That's weird, is this the boy talking? He's never heard this mans name, so it must be the kid... I pity him.
Then he gasped as the man reached out, grabbed him by the throat and raised him. This is a very familliar situation. That's when he started panicking. Uncle Vernon here, shouted in his ear. "Dudley told me you lazed around in your bed all day and didn't do your chores , do I need to take measures in my own hands, boy?"
Loki was mad, really mad, but he was also scared, shaking, he would've gotten rid of this man if he wanted, but... he feels powerless in this position... He's choking me... Then he sees a skinny hand clutching onto the fat mans hand. "Vernon... let the boy go, you might catch his freakishness."
What's wrong with these people? What did this poor boy ever do to them? Without any warning, he's falling, head hitting the floor and his mind flashes with images of Harry Potters life, everything from his first candy to his last near-death beating, which happened yesterday.
Wait... near-death beating? No... Harry Potter died yesterday...when his own uncle beat him almost to death and threw the already abused body of the kid into the cold cupboard, which finally finished him off... All this because he asked for food.
Lokis mouth is widened with shock and anger for the boy... How could anyone do this to a child? Then he's kicked in the stomach. "Get up boy, make the food." Loki wants to strangle these puny humans. "You dare order me around? Who do you think you are?"
He finally uttered the words. Oh, how good it feels, he got it off his chest. Now he's going to need to do some easy tricks, it's going to be easy.
He stops time, wobbles his way to the kitchen and hides there, he cuts his wrist and drips the blood down, he makes a clone exactly like himself and concentrates on making it as real as possible.
He needs evidence... If someone comes looking for the boy, he's going to need this as evidence that he had no other choice, that he had to protect himself... Now he's going to resume time and watch the play unfold in front of his eyes.
He watches as the fat uncle kicks the clone in the stomach. The clone folds and coughs. Then he hears some clear beating sounds and some bones cracking audibly, screams and gasps and cussing.
Then there's silence.
He recorded everything... absolutely without fail, if someone ever asks, his stupid cousin was taking a video for his own amusement. I'll plant that memory in his head. He thinks.
If there's a boy who has magic, but "uses it differenly", then there must be others such as himself... Those who take count of people who're born with magic, i'm sure of it.
Now, I'll go and... He smirks in anticipation... This'll be just spectacular.
He claps his hands and says. "Well done uncle... you did just great... now it's only a matter of time before you perish." The words slip out like poison and spill all over the relatives disgusting, confused faces. "Now... let's get started with the real game shall we?"
Vernons face was red, turning purple as he gets more mad, "what sort of freaky trick did you use, boy? You don't do that in my house, you hear me? Don't you ever do that again, or else not getting any food will be the least of your worries when I'm done with you." Harry laughs, "you're only bark and no bite... honestly, what did I expect from a pathetic abuser who hits a child anyway?"
He muttered to himself, "worthless pig."
Vernon screams something at Harry and leaves the room after kicking the boy and leaving him on the floor. Loki didn't quite catch what the uncle said, now that his concentration was only on gathering his thoughts to find the best solution to torment and kill him for good.
The aunt walks up to him now and tries to drag him to the stairs, but he stands, unmoving, concentration unbreakable, he uses a basic spell of simple balance, for now, moving him is impossible, he'll just sit on the floor and focus on finding good enough spells to torment these bastards.
After a couple of minutes, Petunia gives up, rambling nonsensically about crazy brats and leaves. After Loki has gathered his thoughts and put together a great plan, he smirks confidently and gets up, putting off the spell of balance... Now he knows what he's going to do. What he must do.
Petunia must've already told Vernon about the abnormality i used, so now, they're going to see more. I'll allow a few hits just so it won't be suspicious, getting out of here without a scratch. Here it goes.
First, he turned off the lights, they brought out candles while making a fuss, and Harry quietly walked towards them, stood there, smiling. "Petunia, Vernon... today i'll be leaving your residence, if you'll be so kind as to let me go willingly."
They looked shocked, Vernons face turned some colours with anger, as usual and he charged at Harry, punching him in the ribs. Harry took a few blows, then he spit out blood and stopped, getting up from the ground and blinking, his green eyes had lost the shine, the life. Vernon started screaming in pain as his insides burnt.
Petunia will suffer from a curse that will causes immense psychologicall damage, which will make her go through a mental transfer after she murders her husband and disables her son.
Loki had it all planned out. Now it was time for some demonstration.
Silently, he snuck up on Petunia and put his palm against her head, turning her into his pawn. Meanwhile Vernon was still screaming on pain as an undetectable torture spell worked on his stomach, working its way to his lungs. It was a beautiful sight, Petunia just sitting there, frozen as Harry's and her own abuser was screaming in pain.
Dudley was watching all this with an idiotic expression, it made you wonder if he ever cared about either of his parents. Harry rolled his eyes. Well, this has been fun, but... everyone's gotta get into their roles, isn't that right?
He retreated his hand from his now unstable pawn and let her get what she wanted, what she had always wanted. So, Harry enjoyed watching her pushing Dudley off the stairs, making his legs stop working. Harry made sure not to get that on camera.
Now Harry's bully of a cousin was whining and clutching his unmoving legs. Loki decided he's gotten bored, so he sighed. To the main event, he floated a knife right into Petunias hands, she made her choice by stabbing her husband repeatedly. An amusing sight. took the time to catch all this on the camera while also not letting Dudley be exposed to it, because, otherwise he'd be suspected. Clearly Vernon also abused her, so she'll be a likely suspect, with all the evidence supporting this theory... at least for the police.
Harry makes Petunia lose her counsciousness, Dudley is dumb, no one will believe him, but one should always be carefull with these things. Harry places the appropriate images in his head, how he witnessed an abusive father being murdered by his loving mom and how she also "accidently" pushed him down the stairs, making him disabled and finally, how his mother fainted from the shock.
Perfect script. As expected from the god of mischief. Now, he has to run quickly. A normal child wouldn't stay here in a situation like this, when his crazy aunt can wake up and kill him anytime. Before he goes, he walks up to the mirror and decides that he doesn't want the glasses, he's also used to having the same face for centuries, so he changes his features to look more like Loki. "Perfect." This'll do.
Then he ran and didn't look back, as long as he goes far.
Are you watching me, Death?