Loki's New Endgame

Chapter 4

Loki runs up to his mother, pulling her into such an enthusiastic hug that her feet leave the ground. He can't believe this worked. For the briefest moment, he held all the power in the universe. He had to use it to bring back his mother. Everything else came after. Whether he succeeded in anything else he tried, he doesn't know, but he has his mother back. That's the important part.

Thor wraps his arms around the both of them, hugging them tight. Loki almost can't believe it. An hour ago, he would have said he had no family left. Now, he has his mother and his brother back, and they love him. It's not the same as it once was, but it's something. He'll cling to whatever he can get.

"Now, boys," Frigga says, sounding amused but almost cautiously so, "you know I love you both, but I have a feeling something has happened that I ought to know about."

"No," Loki says. "There is nothing you need to know." It doesn't matter. Not right now. All that matters is that they're here, together, for the first time in ages. Everything else comes later.

Tony scoffs, ruining the moment. "You're kidding," he says. "All that power, and you used it to see your mommy?"

Finally, Loki and Thor let their mother go, but even as Loki turns to look at him, he keeps his mother in his sights. He's not losing her again.

"I told you," Loki says. "I have my own priorities."

Frigga looks around the room, taking in the sight. "And you must be...?"

"They're the Avengers!" Thor says eagerly. "The humans I used to tell you about."

"Ah." Frigga smiles. "The ones who helped you bring Loki back to us."

Tony stares at her in disbelief. "So you just don't care that Loki tried to take over the world."

"I do care," Frigga says. "And I am sorry for all the harm he brought to your world. I truly am. But I also care that my son was lost and he was hurt, and I care that he found his way home. As a mother, that is what is most important to me."

Tony shakes his head to himself. "No wonder he turned out the way he did," he says. "Asgard's just never heard of 'accountability,' huh?"

Loki narrows his eyes. He's sure he was held accountable for his crimes. He only caught brief flashes of the last eleven years in Thor's mind, but he would be surprised if he wasn't sentenced to the dungeon at the very least, even if he did somehow find his way out eventually.

"Do not speak of my family like that," Thor snaps. "You heard him. He was tortured. He was forced into it."

"What?" Frigga looks to her youngest son, who has to look away.

"No, he wasn't!" Tony says irritably. "He lied! He's a liar! He just wanted the Stones!"

"I have lied about many things," Loki says. "That was not one of them."

"Well, sorry if I'm having a hard time trusting you," Tony says sarcastically. "You did just lie about, you know, everything else."

Steve puts a hand on his shoulder. "Tony..."

Loki crosses his arms. "How would I know Nebula if not because we both shared the same fate under Thanos's control?"

"I don't know and I don't care," Tony says. "She —" He cuts himself off, looking around the room. "Where is Nebula?"

Loki furrows his brows and looks around, too. Where did she...?

He's not sure what comes first, the noise or the shaking of the floor. It hardly matters; a second later, the floor is nowhere to be seen.

And then he's falling.