Loki in Nightmareland aka The Abyss

A Glorious Purpose and a Second Chance

There went Loki, falling through the nothingness of space. Nothingness: how fitting. Spending the last moments of his empty, lonely life floating further and further from his false family, until he would eventually-

FLASH!!! Suddenly, a bright tunnel of multicolored lights enveloped him, and he began to warp through it, as if he were traveling through the now-destroyed Bifrost. Had he discovered another secret passageway, leading him not to his imminent death, but who knows where??? Loki thought he already found all the secret paths across the nine realms. As he began to ponder this, the light disappeared, and he fell once more through the void of space. He clearly wasn't in Asgard anymore, seeing nothing but space, floating rocks, and debris.

"Aghhh!" Loki hit something hard and spiky. And it was moving. He looked below him to find himself riding the back of what seemed to be a gargantuan, armored, flying whale. "What is this thing?!?" Then he noticed he wasn't the only passenger aboard this thing: he was surrounded by pale, ugly aliens in grey and gold armored plating, similar to the beast's. "Well, I've formed alliances with worse." Loki thought. They all stared at him blankly. "Hellooo." Loki greeted them. "Might I ask where we are, and where our destination is?" They charged at him, and he dodged them in a very smooth, dancelike motion. "Well, it never hurts to ask." Loki conjured his daggers and threw them straight at the creatures, boosted with his telekinesis. The whale-like monster underneath his feet began to undulate, shifting Loki's balance. One of the remaining alien creatures rammed into the teetering Loki, pushing him off of their ride and straight into its huge, razor sharp teeth. The beast bit down, and Loki disappeared in an instant.

The alien looked down to make sure of its victory, when BAM! Out of a quick flash of green light from behind, a pair of Asgardian leather boots kicked the pale creature into the gigantic beast's waiting mouth, and this time there was crunching inside. Loki shook his head with a half smile. Despite earlier giving up hope on his life completely, he still got satisfaction from outsmarting simpletons like these. Unknown to him, a dark figure watched his fight, impressed.

As Loki tried to steer the flying monster to somewhere he could land, a laser beam struck him from behind, and he noticed the reinforcements coming for him, flying fast-moving spacecrafts. He hurled more daggers and a few magical energy blasts at them, coming from all directions until he was surrounded. A few more laser blasts struck him, and he decided there were too many to fight. He whipped up a quick smokescreen, cast a duplicate of himself to take the enemy fire, and ran to the tail, using the momentum from its whipping movements to jump to the nearest soldier-flown spacecraft. He also used his telekinesis on himself for an added boost, and combined with the momentum from his huge leap, he knocked the alien pilots into space while he took control of the little vessel. The smokescreen spread far, and none of the enemy creatures could see the real Loki, still focused on his duplication casting, but Loki could just barely spot land, so he cleared a path for himself, making his escape and his descent. As he disembarked the spacecraft, he still felt as though he was being watched. Uneasy, he made his way across the asteroid, now just hoping to survive this ordeal and find some civilized company.

Then he saw in the distance what appeared to be some kind of protective structure, a steady flooring surrounded by a rocky formation, even with a floating throne at the center! Loki began to run toward it, finally finding a glimmer of hope. "Ahaha! Sanctuary at last!" He hopped from one rock to another, ever closer to what he believed was safety until- he stopped in midair. Struggling to get his feet back on the tiny bit of land that was underneath him, the hold on him remained. "What?!? What is this?!?" Loki grunted in frustration. "Why can't I move?!?"

"It is... exactly what you claim." Rang a mysterious voice from a strange alien creature in a black hooded cloak and an armored chest plate. "It... is... Sanctuary."

"Would you be so kind as to release me?!" Loki asked as calmly as he could manage while trying to access his magic and hide his growing terror. Little did he know that the creature that was halting his momentum was a good distance away, and this hooded fellow was only a messenger boy.

However, the 6-fingered hooded creature didn't correct him and just smirked. "Well, since you asked so nicely..." He motioned with one hand and Loki fell, clutching the edge of one of the asteroid chunks he fell between. "Come, follow me." As Loki quickly and gracefully maneuvered himself to the top of the rock, it floated with him in the direction of the mysterious structure.

"Who are you?" Loki asked.

"I am The Other." He replied.

"The other what? Is that your title or your name?" Loki looked over. "Do you live on this asteroid? Was it always like this, in such a desolate state? Is that your throne? And why do you have two sets of thumbs?"

"You ask too many questions: you will see for yourself soon enough."

As they reached the throne area, they met another strange-looking alien in black armor that looked a bit similar to Asgardian sorcerer attire, with grey skin, large wrinkles around his eyes, and no nose. Loki winced.

"Is that a-" The Other quickly put a hand over Loki's mouth before he could finish. "Quiet. It is not your turn to speak. I have found a lost creature seeking Sanctuary, my liege."

Loki looked to the grey alien without a hood, but he shook his finger and motioned to a large, muscular purple man in golden armor. The man smiled. "Welcome, child, to Sanctuary. You have done well to find this place. Alive."

The noseless alien put his hands around Loki's head, to his confusion. His long, ring-laden fingers barely touched him, but he felt dark magic.

"This is my son, Ebony Maw. The Other, he is merely my spokesman. I am Thanos, the last survivor of Titan. Who are you?"

The Other took his hand off of Loki's mouth, which felt very hot for some strange reason. Ebony's hands didn't hurt him at all, though Loki still wished for them to be removed from him. "I am Loki Od-" He paused. No, not Odinson. Not anymore. He had been rejected, by both sides. He had no family. "Loki of Asgard."

"Are you lost, Loki? Would you like to return to Asgard?"

Loki shook his head.

"What would you like?"

Loki looked down at himself. It wasn't too long ago that he'd lost his will to live, wishing he was never even born, but after escaping his near-death experiences in the abyss, he'd more recently changed his mind. As Ebony Maw finally walked away from Loki and back to his adoptive father, Loki looked back up to Thanos. "I don't know. My whole life was a lie. I... was told I was born to be king. I wanted to make the Allfather proud, prove my worth... but I have none. I- I have no desire, no purpose."

Maw stood at Thanos's side, looking the titan in the eyes as if relaying some sort of secret message. Thanos turned back to Loki.

"You are... an outcast. Rejected by your own people. I know your pain, cast out and mocked by the people I loved, and they paid the price. But you could be part of a family again, part of our family. And you will have your purpose... a glorious purpose!"