(1) (Violence/Fighting) (Injurie)
When Thor had come to earth in the middle of the fight, Steve had been relieved. Firstly that Thor was fine and then after that Thor raised their chance of victory by a lot, especially with his new Axe, and he even had more people with him. So when Steve realised one of these people were Loki, he had almost dropped his shield to the ground in shock. And when Loki exchanged a short look with Thor, sighed in defeat and then began killing the enemy, Steve hadn’t asked questions and just accepted it. Help was welcomed, he just hoped Loki didn’t plan anything. Just to be sure he kept an close eye on the Trickster, making sure to be near him at all times.
Which is how he got here, still fighting and having an eye kept out for Loki, who was a few meters away from him, busy stabbing the hell out of these things.
He rammed his shield in the torso of one of them and then threw it on a bunch of them. They all fell down from the impact and Steve immediately took his Shield out of the Corpse, already throwing it at the next one, all while glancing over to Loki for a second and then focusing on his enemy again.
He continued like that for a while, dodging, attacking, watching Loki out of the corned of his eye, dodging attacking, watching Loki and repeat, repeat, repeat.
He threw his Shield at a wave of them and glanced over to Loki again. He was currently stabbing at a group of the things, but didn’t notice one of them that was sneaking up on him from behind. With his shield still flying around Steve could only watch as it stabbed Loki from behind, just as the Trickster god rid of the last one in front of him, the blade cutting through his Torso. Loki froze in place and Steve‘s shield landed in his hand again.
He threw it at the one that had stabbed Loki and watched as it‘s head was removed from it‘s shoulders, then he hurried over to Loki, catching his shield again in the process.
Loki just stood there, the blade still sticking through his chest, as Steve came to a stop next to him. There was no blood yet, probably because the blade was still sticking inside him.
„Ah, how nice to see you again, it‘s been a while.“, Loki said and Steve only nodded at him, not sure what to say to him and instead analysed the Injurie with his eyes. The Blade had hone through him clean, no doubt hitting his lungs and multiple rips in the process. Steve briefly wondered how the hell Loki was still standing. There was no blood, but only because the blade was still stuck inside.
To his surprise Loki didn’t fall over or panicked like any normal person would, instead there was only annoyance in his eyes. Like being impaled is a minor annoyance. Even Thor would panic when stabbed like this, because that could definitely kill even them.
To his utter Horror, Loki brought his hands up to the blade and just ripped it through his fucking Torso fully, so he could grab it at its grip and throw it away with an annoyed glance. The wound was just a hole in Loki‘s torso, which he could look through and see enemys on the other side. There was no blood, instead it stitched itself together again and a few moments later it was as nothing happened. Steve was sure he gaped.
„Are you…okay?“, Steve asked slowly.
„Don’t worry about that.“, Loki said and then threw a Dagger inches away from Steve‘s head and hit something behind him, if the sound of suffering was anything to go by. „Focus on the fight, Captain.“ And then Loki turned and sliced the throat of his attacker from behind, then disappeared into the Chaos with a grin.
Steve stood there for a moment, wondering how the fuck they had defeated Loki in New York. An Attack snapped him back into reality and he beheaded his enemy with a swing of his shield.
Loki was right, he should focus on the fight and ask about that later.
(2)
Stark was staring at the screen in front of him.
When Thor had brought Loki with him, it had caused quite the panic after the fight. Thor insisted Loki was on their side and Cap said he had an eye on him the entire fight, apparently he didn’t do anything and even helped Cap once. Loki had watched the whole thing like they talked about tomorrows Weather. After an hour of arguing they agreed to have him under surveillance. There we‘re Cameras in his room (not the bathroom, for obvious reasons) and when he was outside someone had to be with him all the time. ( Thor did that mostly, due to obvious reasons and because the only reason Loki did go outside we’re political stuff. Though Tony was watching over him today.)
All That was decided a week ago and Tony had figured it would be best to check the camera‘s in Loki‘s Room, since apparently no one had done that. The purpose of that was not clear for Tony, because why would you set up cameras and then don‘t watch through them? So he had sat down and done exactly that.
There was nothing visible. Well, okay, the Room was visible, but Loki wasn‘t. Now, one might argue that he just wasn‘t in the room right now, but Tony had seen him enter it, like just five minutes ago. But the only thing the Video of that time period showed was a door opening and closing again, then a rustle as a few books laying around on the ground fell over because of absolutely nothing and then the door to the bathroom opened, closed and that repeated again a bit later. Tony checked thermal image, but it resulted in the same. It was as if Loki wasn’t there.
The Door on the screen opened again and Tony looked up from where he was sitting to Loki exiting his room.
…What?
„Hey Reindeer Games! Why are you not visible on the Camera?!“, Tony blurted out the moment Loki had closed the Door behind him.
Loki stopped in his movement and turned to him slowly.
„I‘m what now?“, he said as he hurried over to Tony, and the confusion in his face seemed legit. Huh? So it wasn‘t Reindeer Games doing then?
„Here, you entered the room, but on the camera you can only see the door opening and closing!“, he explained as he showed Loki the Footage. „And there‘s no thermal Image either!“ Loki only looked confused at that.
„Thermal…Image?“
„Oh right, Alien and stuff, Thermal Images scan your body heat and make it visible on Cameras.“, he explained. Loki‘s eyes went from confused to realisation. That bad kind of realisation.
„I do not know about the normal footage, but the …thermal image may be because of…what I am.“, Loki said and Tony could swear his eyes darkened a bit at the last part. Tony was only confused.
„What? But Thor is visible on Thermal Images?“, Tony said. Was Loki trying to trick him?
„Yeah, but I‘m.. adopted? He told you that.“, Loki said with confusion lingering in his eyes.
„And? You‘re still both the same Race.“, Tony realised the moment he said it out. Loki looked at him with realisation.
„Thor didn‘t tell you.“, he stated and there was something like surprise in Loki‘s eyes, but it disappeared quickly.
„He didn‘t.“, Tony confirmed. There was silence for a moment.
„Well, I can officially confirm you, I am not the same race as Thor.“, Loki said. And then mumbled something that suspiciously sounded like „sadly“. „My… kind have a much colder Body Temperature.“ That…made sense, at least for the thermal Image.
„Huh, makes sense… What are you anyways?“, he questioned without looking at Loki, instead focusing on the Computer, but he could swear he saw Loki wince in the corner of his eye. Ah, so he’s not a fan of whatever he is?
„…Frost Giant, I‘m a, a Frost Giant“, Loki said after a few moments of silence, and Tony raised an eyebrow.
„You don‘t look very Frost Giant-ish.“, he stated. „You look very, uh, Thor-ish.“ Loki let out a small chuckle at that.
„It‘s hidden by a spell.“, he said and Tony nodded. Great, Magic.
„Well, that doesn‘t explain why you‘re not visible on the normal Camera. Did you use a spell or something?“
„No… not that I could remember. Maybe some years ago? Some spells don‘t fade even after a long time has passed.“, Loki offered.
„Well, can you make yourself visible again?“
„I don‘t know. I can‘t remove a Spell without knowing which one it is.“, Loki explained, then after a moment of silence. „I can try with Spells to make ones presence stronger, but I don‘t know if it would work.“, he offered. Tony nodded.
„You try that. And right know.“, he said and Loki stood up. He snapped his finger and his body shimmered green for a moment, then it disappeared.
„It‘s active now.“, Loki said and Tony waved to the Door to Loki‘s room.
„Alright, we‘ll test it, go inside your room for a second.“
Loki did as told and opened the Door to his room ands walked inside, his back turned to Tony. Tony looked down at the Screen, only too be met with nothing.
„It doesn‘t work.“, he said and Loki turned to him. They shared eye contact for a moment and Loki snapped his finger again.
„Now?“ Tony looked on the screen. Still nothing. He shook his head and heard Loki snap his fingers again. Still nothing, so he shook his head again. He heard an finger snap once again. A head shake again. Another snap, but Loki remains invisible.
„That we‘re all the spells I know.“ Great.
Tony cursed.
(3)
Thor let himself fall onto the couch.
He had been in a long meeting with the other Avengers regarding Loki once again, as they still didn‘t trust him, even though he had proved himself often enough and done nothing suspicious since he arrived on Midgard. Though he supposed he could understand them, Loki had attacked Midgard and tried to take over it after all. They had been even more concerned when Stark had explained them that Loki was not visible on Cameras. Apparently Loki didn’t know why either, but Stark had said Loki said it could be an old spell, which mostly made sense. But they were still al even more suspicious and sure, Thor could understand why, but it was still annoying.
Why could no one else see that Loki had changed? Well, expect Bruce, who had spend enough time with Loki to realise he wasn‘t evil, and Val, who had burst out laughing when the Avengers told her what Loki did in 2012 and called them insane because „Lackey looks murderous, and he kinda is, but that is so unlike him, and I know him since a few weeks“ and then had been stunned when they showed her the Video Footage. Loki really had changed a lot, hadn‘t he-
Someone touched him on the shoulder and Thor startled, whipping his head around to see an surprised looking Loki, who’s hand still hovered where Thors Shoulder had been before. Thor blushed in embarrassment and stood up quickly, while Loki had taken on an amused expression.
„What is it, Loki?“, Thor asked, trying to distract Loki from his embarrassment. Loki let out a chuckle.
„Just wanted to ask how the meeting did go. Was it so bad that you were lost in your thoughts deep enough for me to startle you, despite the fact you can feel my seidir?“
Thor rolled his eyes. He could actually could not feel Loki‘s seidir, he hadn‘t been able to for a while now, but that was just Thor‘s lacking in Magic. He had never been good at it anyways. That didn‘t make it any less embarrassing though! Loki hadn‘t been able to startle Thor like this for years.
„How about I just tell you about the meeting-„
(4)
Loki, Bruce had found, was a completely different Person from the one who had attacked New York in 2012. Loki had changed a lot in the past years, and Bruce didn‘t even have to know him well to realise that. He was a lot calmer and less arrogant these days, he didn‘t insult people as much and dangerous smirks had been replaced by actual smiles. He was smart and knew a lot about politics, helping Thor everywhere he can, and a nice person to discuss things with. Bruce didn‘t get why the other Avengers couldn‘t see it, but he supposed they had reasons to be suspicious. He was sure they would realise it too, they just needed time.
Bruce wasn‘t particularly close to Loki, not really. They didn‘t talk much or anything, Bruce could just accept that he changed. But just because they weren‘t close it didn‘t mean he wasn‘t worried when he started to notice some things.
Loki very rarely ate or drink, and when he did it was only small portions and not nearly enough. He was sure that Val noticed too, if the glances she gave Loki whenever he declined food or water we’re anything to go by.
He rarely slept too, and Bruce only knew that because he often heard people talk about Loki just…sitting around at night. He had seen it himself too. Loki just sat somewhere and stared into nothing, lost deep in thoughts.
There was also the breathing thing. After Thanos had strangled him, Loki’s breathing had become…different. He took deeper breaths and those we’re random, not in a pattern like they should be. But the worst thing about it was that Loki’s Body just seemed to forget to breathe. Loki would randomly not breathe, then realise it and start again. It hadn’t taken him a day to find out that breathing was no longer something Lokis Body just did, no it seemed like he had to physically do it.
Bruce had no Idea why.
It was concerning, but the strangest thing was that it just didn’t seem to affect him. He didn’t get thinner or eye bags, no pale skin or exhaustion from staying awake all night, no chocking because of the lack of air when he forgot to breathe for almost a minute, Nothing. But Loki knew how to make Illusions. And Bruce did not know if loki was actually fine, or just pretending to be.
So he took todays Loki watch and when they we‘re alone he decided to talk to him.
“Erm, Loki, can I ask you something?”, he started awkwardly and Loki looked up from the book he was reading and shrugged.
“I just uhm noticed that you barely eat anything.”, he said and Loki tensed a bit, obviously not having thought anyone had noticed.
“I have no Idea what you’re talking about.”, Loki answered, faking confusion, but Bruce could see the way his eyes had darkened.
“I have not seen you eat anything in the last 4 Days, Loki.”, he protested and Bruce could swear Loki tensed a bit further. He closed the book he was holding and stood up.
“Perhaps you have simply not seen me do it, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t eat.”, Loki said and his voice had gotten defensive.
“I know that you haven’t eaten, but could you at least tell me why?”
“It doesn’t matter.”, Loki snapped and then retreated to his room without another word.
Bruce was left standing there, his bad feeling confirmed. Loki didn’t eat enough, but he had no Idea what to do. Telling anyone would only resolve into Loki getting defensive again. Though he did notice that Loki that Loki ate more the following days, so he decided to let it rest.
He ignored the fact that his bad gut feeling only got worse as the days went by.
(5)
Loki didn‘t use his seidir anymore.
At first Thor had thought he was paranoid, just because he didn‘t see Loki use magic doesn‘t mean he didn‘t use it. And besides, Loki had still been injured from Thanos Attempt to kill him, so most of his magic was most likely busy healing, so it wasn‘t strange for Loki not to use it.
But then it had been almost a week since Lokis Almost-death, the Injurie had healed too, and still, he hadn‘t seen Loki use his seidir once. Which was strange because Loki used to use his magic whenever he could, be it in sparing, fights or to let his books fly after him when he wasn‘t in the mood to carry them. Loki used his magic all the time.
Still, Thor had written it off as seidir exhaustion, after all Loki had used it a lot in the fight. But, just to be sure, he has asked Loki to use his seidir.
(-I just haven‘t seen you use it.“, he had finished off his rant about his worries to Loki. Loki had sighed.
„You worry to much, just because you haven‘t seen me use it doesn‘t mean I haven‘t used it.“, Loki had told him and That was right, was it? Still, he wanted to be sure.
„Just- Just use it, please? It doesn‘t matter what you do, just to- to ease my mind?“, he has asked and Loki had looked hesitant for a moment, before giving in with a sigh.
„Fine“, he had said and then disappeared right in front of Thor and reappeared a few moments later. Thor had let out a relieved breath.
„That prove enough?“, he had muttered and Thor had nodded. Because Loki had used magic and that proved that Thor was just paranoid.
So why did his gut still tell him something was wrong?)
And multiple days passed again and Thor still didn‘t see Loki us his seidir. But Loki had shown him he could still use it. Loki had turned himself invisible, for norns sake. What more prove could he possibly need?
It had been 4 Months since Asgards remaining people had arrived on Midgard and things we‘re stable. Things had been cleared with the Goverments of Midgard, the Avengers finally started to get less suspicious of Loki and he and his Brother got along better than ever. New Asgard was stable on Resources and growing.
Now he was on the Ship of the Guardians of the galaxy, flying towards where the remaining pieces of the Statesmen we‘re flying around in Space. He had left New Asgard with Loki and Val, trusting them to take care of everything while he, with the help of the Guardians of the Galaxy, was gathering the corpses of the fallen, killed by Thanos, which we‘re still flying around in Space. It was painful to do, but all of them deserved a proper funeral. He flew out and got the corpses inside, where the others took care of them.
He narrowed his eyes, searching for more corpses between the debris. He found one, hidden behind a big piece of metal. He flew over and his heart ached when his eyes landed on Heimdall. The guilt welled up in his throat once again, but he bit it down and grabbed Heimdalls Corpse by his arm carefully. He flew to the ship again and hauled the corpse inside, flying out again.
He searched again, flying around for a couple of Minutes, when he layed his eyes on another corpse. He flew closer and grabbed it, only to freeze in place when he realised who it was.
Loki.
Loki’s corpse.
Loki’s corpse
But Loki was alive, he was on Earth, in New Asgard.
Why was the Corpse of someone who was still alive-It hit him at once. Loki acting strange. His lack of using Seidir. The fact that Thor couldn’t feel him anymore.
That wasn’t Loki, was it?
Loki had died on the Statesmen. He had felt Loki dying, then he suddenly lived again?
No,Loki had died and someone else had token his place.
He grabbed the Corpse tighter and flew back to the ship, but this time he didn’t leave again.
“Is that the last one-”, Rocket greeted him. “I swear I’ve seen enough Corpses for a lifetime- Holy SHIT”
Thor carefully layed down Loki’s Corpse.
“Uh, Guys, you might want to come see this!”, Rocket called out to the other Guardians, who appeared from various parts of the ship.
“Rocket, I swear if you found another body part you want to keep I will-“, Quill stopped midway through his sentence the moment he realised who he was looking at. Gamora let out a breath as Draxs Face shifted to confusion.
“Wasn’t that guy on Terra just a few hours ago?”,he questioned, not noticing the tension in the room.
“Yeah, we all saw him with you!”, Rocket said.
“I- I don’t think that was Loki”, Thor breathed out. How had he not noticed it? How had he not noticed that it hadn’t been his little Brother? What kind of Brother was he that he didn’t notice that it hadn’t been Loki.
His Loki, the real Loki, was dead.
Thor choked out a sob.
Then he realised that, he had left the Imposter alone in New Asgard.
Oh gods-
——————-
Tony stared at the Message Thor had sent.
“Found Lokis Corpse. Loki on Earth is an Imposter. Are back soon.”
The others we’re equally shocked and Bruce had physically recoiled when he had finished reading.
Apparently the less murderous and more acceptable Loki that had arrived here wasn’t Loki at all. (Tony ignored the disappointment and feeling of betrayal that he felt because he didn’t care about the Relationship he had with “Loki”. They weren’t friends.)
“But he was just like him!”, the Valkyrie said any Tony winced. “That can’t have been an act!”
“But what else should it be?”,Steve muttered.
——————-
Loki was confused. Scratch that he was beyond confused. Banner had said something about needing his help with something, which was blatantly the worst lie he had ever heard, and he had lived with Thor most of his life. Still Loki had followed, because if they tried to murder him, he would wish them good luck because he was already dead. Not that they knew, and he certainly was not going to tell them.
Bruce opened the Door to the room he “needed help with”. It was completely dark inside and Loki raised an eyebrow at Bruce, who just gestured for him to enter. Loki hesitated for a second, then he stepped inside. Banner followed and closed the door behind him. The Light turned on and he was meet with quite literally the whole Avengers Team pointing their weapons at him.
So they we’re trying to arrest him the moment Thor left? Sweet. And he thought they finally started to trust him. He still couldn’t help the sting of betrayal in his “heart”, but he ignored it and didn’t let his facade of calm waver.
“Did I do anything wrong? Well, expect New York.”, he questioned, curious on whenever he did something suspicious or if they had just been waiting for Thor to leave the planet.
“We know, Loki”, Stark stated and Loki froze because there was no way they had figured it out. There was simply no way-
“What?”, he said, trying to act clueless, but he was positive they had all seen the flash of panic that had undoubtedly shown in his eyes for a second.
“Don’t act clueless, we know you’re not Loki.”, The Black Widow said.
Loki was now more confused than shocked. What? They thought he was an Imposter? His first thought was relief, they hadn’t figured out what had really happened on the Statesmen. They didn’t know and that was good, because he didn’t want anyone to know. His second thought was panic, because they thought he was an Imposter and they we’re going to arrest him. His third thought was confusion, because why did they even think that?! The only explanation was that Thor had found Loki’s…Corpse… He had hoped it had drifted away to far or wasn’t recognisable anymore, but as always Luck had not been on his side. Sweet.
“What are you even talking about?!”, he said, keeping up the act. They thought he was an Imposter. Maybe he could convince them that every time he “died” a body was left? He had a feeling that it wouldn’t work.
“Thor found Loki’s Corpse, so you can drop the act now and tell us who the fuck you are, or I swear to god I will bash in your skull.”, Stark threatened and Loki took a step back.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, But I would prefer for you not to bash in my skull, thank you very much.”, Loki said, making the Sentence sound so much like himself as possible. It worked, apparently, as a flicker of doubt showed on some faces, but it disappeared just as quickly as it had come.
“Don’t lie to us. Who are you?”, Barton pressed and Loki took another step back.
“I’m Loki and I have no Idea why you think I’m not, but can I somehow prove I’m me?”, he offered and they exchanged glances.
“Show us your magic.”, Banner said and Loki nodded. He lifted his hands slowly and focused on changing his appearance. His old golden Armour appeared the same way he had let it disappear in Stuttgart when the Avengers had “beat” him. He glanced as them in a “are you happy way” but they didn’t budge.
“What? I used my Seidir.”
“How about something that doesn’t change your appearance?” Stark said with a smile as sweet as honey. Loki cursed in his mind. He couldn’t do that. After his death the connection with his Seidir had disappeared, died with his body. The only reason he could change his appearance was because a Ghosts Appearance depended on the Ghosts thoughts, making them able to change what they looked like at wish. But anything else? Wouldn’t work. He couldn’t prove he was himself and the Avengers knew it.
“I can’t.”, he grits out and it was obvious they knew before he said it.
< “Who are you?”, the Widow said and Loki gritted his teeth because he was Loki , just as a ghost. And he wasn’t sure he could even convince them of that anymore.
“I’m Loki, even if I can’t prove it.”, he said, but obviously none of them believed him.
“I’ll ask again, Who are you?”, she repeated and Loki slumped his shoulders in defeat just as a new idea spiked his mind. He could do with half truths until Thor came back, he was sure he could prove it then. Some old tale only he and Thor knew about.
“I was wondering when you would notice.”, he mused. “It has taken you longer than I would have thought. 4 Months hm? I really thought you noticed with the camera incident.”
“What’s that go to do with anything”, Tony growled and Loki smiled.
“Oh, it was by far the greatest hint! But I could convince you it wasn’t anything, could I? I really thought I was done for, because let me tell you: There is not a single spell to make one invisible on cameras or increase ones presence.” Tony scowled.
“Just tell us who you are and why you’re pretending to be Loki.”, Barton demanded.
“And stop impersonating someone who is dead.”, Rogers, ever the respectful one, added.
“I’m not impersonating anyone.”, he insisted and let out a annoyed sigh at the looks he received. Stark looked really close to actually bashing in his skull. Loki did not care because while he could touch people, people couldn‘t touch him. Besides, it‘s impossible to kill someone already dead. „And you are far from the truth. I am not an Imposter, but I do have a secret that I do not plan on sharing, but it is not that I‘m an Imposter.“
„What else would it be? How do you explain the Corpse in Space then?“ Loki gritted his teeth because they would absolutely not believe the truth. So he voiced as much.
„You wouldn‘t believe the truth.“
„Try us.“,he was challenged and Loki carefully considered his options. They wouldn‘t believe him, he was sure of that, but he didn‘t have an Idea on an Excuse. Saying he couldn‘t die would probably be the wrong move (and he could very much die,Thanos was proof, it was just really difficult to kill him, only because his seidir would sometimes quite literally pull him back from being almost dead. Which was really painful by the way). Telling them that he was, in fact, a ghost wouldn‘t be much better. Maybe something about Time travel? No, that just sounded absurd, even with the Time stone. The truth it was, and if they didn‘t believe him he could prove by telling them something from the time he and Thor we‘re younger.
„I‘m a ghost.“, he said bluntly. There was silence in the room.
„Of all the things, you‘re going with that?!“, Stark blurted out and Loki shot him an unimpressed look.
„I told you that you wouldn‘t believe me.“, he said. „But I‘m serious. Check my pulse or heartbeat if you have to.”, he offered while holding out his wrist, and Banner slowly walked towards him and grabbed it, while Loki subtly touched him with one of his fingers so Banner could touch him at all. By the way his eyes widened and how he paled Loki assumed he realised there wasn’t one. Banner waited a bit longer, obviously still trying to find a pulse. He dropped Loki’s wrist after around a minute.
“He doesn’t have one.”, Banner breathed and Loki smiled at them. No one said anything.
“That-That could still be fake somehow. Whatever you are couldn’t have a pulse.”, Barton said.
“Yeah sure, because anything can survive without a beating heart.”, he deadpanned and if he wasn’t so shocked Stark would probably have laughed at it.
“So”, he said and sat down in the air, because he finally didn’t have to make sure he always walked where the ground actually was. “Loki’s Ghost At your service I guess.”
Hell broke lose.