Chapter 1
Loki’s were known to survive absolutely everything that came their way. Falling off the Bifrost? Easy. Getting killed by a dark elve? Even easier. Getting pruned? It is a bit more of a hassle but doable. They survived every single challenge any Loki faced, of course having exceptions, like Thanos. But this was one of those rare exceptions. As Victor Timely turned into spaghetti Loki knew they were all done for. That was it, no more resurrections. For that was going to be the end of time, the end of everything as they knew it. That feeling, that horrifying feeling of defeat and denial grew in every single person in the room, but they all had different ways of coping with such a feeling. Some pleaded under their breath, others tried to use their science even though there was not enough time for anything to be done, and others, like Loki, simply accepted their terrifying fate.
The scariest part was how beautiful the scenery was, the explosion of the timelines radiated a certain color, a certain energy, that made it terrifyingly beautiful, even if it meant the end of everything was right there, growing faster and faster, eating up everything in its path. Loki could only stare, in disbelief, in agony, in regret, in fear. He had never felt so many emotions at once, he had never felt so much despair and regret. He had never been so quick to shed a tear.
The blinding brightness of the loom explosion filled the room, no one could see anything anymore. It may be better that way. So they could not see the horror of the end. Loki tried to move, to protect himself from the blast, but in the end, he felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. No pain, no heat, no nothing. What he did feel was coldness. An immense amount of it. Maybe it was the absence of everything, maybe it was death itself, greeting him.
Even still, he could only think of his friends, Mobius, Sylvie B-15, Ob, and Casey, who were close to him but far away, out of his reach. They had all tried to prevent the temporal loom from failing. Their calculations were right, in theory. What good was theory to them now? They were confident, they had hope, yet, they had failed, and now everything would cease to exist because of their failure.
Loki then thought of his mother, Frigga, one of the only people who had ever believed in him. How much patience she had shown him, how much love. He wanted to see her again, he wanted to apologize for absolutely everything he had done wrong.
With each passing millisecond the coldness grew, it did not bother him at first, for he was a frost giant. But after some time it started to hurt. It hurt so much, but there was nothing he could do. He wanted to die already, so he did not have to feel such pain, such sorrow. He wanted to hold someone close, perhaps Mobius, so he would not be alone through it all. But as the pain became greater he started to feel something else. Something he recognized. Which was relatively new to him, a feeling he had yet to familiarize himself with.
He was slipping through time. Just like before. Loki did not comprehend how this was happening, but what he did know, was that the time slipping had come back for a single propose, to save him. Or at least give him a second chance to fix everything. He could feel his body change and rip apart while also coming back together in a different place all at once. It was painful, agonizing even. He had to handle it, he had to power through. Loki had to save his friends, he had to stop the time loom from exploding, and he had to save the timelines. He could feel his clothes change into a past version of himself, as wounds opened around his face, he could feel them sting and bleed.
However, this time it was different, it was violent. The time slipping had happened as an autodefence mechanism, it was activated too quickly, too randomly. Which made the end of his shifting rougher. It pushed him backward, making him fall over and pushing people to the ground in the process. It kicked the air out, forcing him to stay on the ground to catch his breath. Yet, the people around him had another idea, they pulled him by his arms and got him standing again. Loki tried to protest but found that he could not speak, for he had a type of muzzle that prevented him from speaking a word, he also found his hands to be restrained by Asgardian handcuffs.
Shit. He knew exactly where he was. New York, 2012. Right after he attacked the city.
He looked at his side, where a group of S.H.I.E.L.D agents were putting back the tesseract into its case.
“How did you do that?” Loki looked at the person speaking, his vision was blurry from the time slipping, and he had to squint his eyes to see well. The man was blond, tall, and had blue eyes. Shit, it was his brother, Thor. “Loki how did you do that? Mother never taught you anything of the sort.” Loki tried to speak, defend himself, and explain the situation, but the muzzle prevented him from doing so. Thor noticed that the muzzle needed to go if he wanted answers, so he reached out and took it off.
Loki moved his jaw at the new feeling of freedom, “Do what?” Loki asked. Thor, annoyed at his brother’s answer grabbed him by the collar.
“Mess with Stark’s heart, almost steal the tesseract, and do the last weird thing that you did,” Thor explained.
“I did not do that.” Loki answered, “I swear I did not mess with Stark’s heart or try to steal the tesseract again.”
“Oh right, like you’ve never done anything bad in your life!” Thor grabbed his collar even harder, starting to push him back.
“Brother, I promise you that was not me.” Loki wanted to tell the whole truth, that it had been the Avengers time traveling, but he couldn’t, he couldn’t possibly reveal the future to Thor. Loki felt his eyes tear up, he wanted to apologize to his brother for everything he had done, he wanted to be set free so that he could look for Mobius and the others. Yet, his sudden change of character did not trick his brother, for he pushed him against a wall and demanded more answers, his tone filled with more rage compared to his past dialogues.
As Loki started to open his mouth to defend himself he felt the ripping and coming back together of his atoms as he time slipped again. It was short and did not take him anywhere, as if someone turned off the lights and turned them back again. Very much like when it had happened in the elevator with Mobius. In the few seconds in which he disappeared, Thor had stepped back, most likely in shock at what he had just seen, giving Loki some space to drop to the floor in pain. His time slipping was becoming more violent, quick, and damaging.
“You have to help me.” Loki whispered, “Thor, please, I have never asked you for anything, but please just this once, help me.” He wanted his time slipping to stop, he wanted to find his friends, and he wanted for once in his lifetime to be okay and with the people he cared for. Thor arched his eyebrows, he wore an expression Loki could not quite comprehend. He looked mad, sad, and confused, all at once. Thor breathed in and sighed, he looked at his brother, and Loki looked at him. Loki could feel his eyes water, he dropped his head and closed his eyes. He wanted Mobius back, he wanted his friends back.