Too Little Too Late

Loki

When Tony Stark had snapped his fingers, he probably had asked something along the lines of all the people killed by Thanos to be returned to their loved ones. Or everything destroyed by Thanos to be returned. Something approaching. That was why Loki found himself in the middle of New York, disoriented, as were everyone around him. Thor was, whether Loki liked it or not, the last member of his family. Thinking fast, Loki immediately put a glamour on, making him look like anybody but himself. The last time he was here, things weren't actually going in his favour. Not that he had a choice in the matter. He did what he could considering the circumstances. Something that Odin didn't even want to listen to. Something that Thor didn't explain to the Midgardians.

The buildings were being reconstructed by the magic of the gauntlet but everybody had their eyes on Stark. He was giving back the green stone to the sorcerer. That man would need to be taught a lesson at some point. Falling for thirty minutes was a little too close to that time when Loki had let go, plunging from the Bifrost. So what if Strange didn't know about that. That sorcerer was way too arrogant. But the vengeance would have to wait. Loki didn't want anybody to know that he was alive again, especially not Thor. Not yet anyway. Too many things had happened. They weren't the same anymore.

Loki wondered how his life would have been if Odin would have told him the truth from the start. If Odin wanted him on the throne of Jotunheim, maybe he shouldn't have raised him in the hatred of his ancestors. The old man wasn't very logical all things considered. Loki would have wanted to know everything about his birth realm. He would have studied the Jotuns, maybe understood them more. The colour of his skin, his form or even his magic wouldn't have felt so wrong, so shameful. The Aesir were warriors not prone to seek peace with the other realms. They wanted to dominate. Loki on the throne of Jotunheim would have been an easy solution, maybe too easy. More important than anything, he would have known from the start that the throne of Asgard was never for him to sit on. His relationship with Thor would have been a lot different then.

Being a Jotun, knowingly or not, always meant not to be trusted. No wonder, he had been given the title of God of lies. Even if back then, he had never lied in his life. His mother, Frigga, was really strict on that and he wanted to please her more than anything. On the contrary, he tended to tell the harsh truth to people who didn't want to believe in it. Some truths were hard to hear. Loki knew that first-hand now. He should have then understood how in high esteem his so-called father was holding him. How his brother was only defending him when it would help himself somehow. How his strong mother, all powerful she was, couldn't say anything against Odin's will. As if Loki had been set to fail whatever he would do from the very beginning.

Loki stayed on Earth for a while. Curiosity killed the cat, they said but he wanted to see what would happen in the aftermath. A country called Norway had accepted the refugees from Asgard on their land. They respected the history they had in common. Loki went there, not that he cared about the Aesir. That invisibility spell was very useful. Thor was finally being the king he should have always been. Loki knew his brother. He could see the signs. Thor was about to bail. Ironic was it not. The blond god had been so sure of his capacities not so long ago, arrogant even, so eager to take the throne. He had it now. The reality was never as good as the idea, the dream of what it was to reign over a nation.

Loki also went into the compound. He remembered his initial fight against the Avengers. Captain America was not really a threat, until the man of Iron came into the picture with his loud music and jokes. Every U.N. personnel was talking about Tony Stark appearing when all hopes were lost and saving them all. Steve Rogers had made promises to the world that he couldn't keep. Without the intervention of the man of Iron, Thanos would have won. Loki had thought during his own invasion that the Hulk was the one to be feared. The green monster beating him had been kind of proof of that. When he had been unable to use the sceptre with the mind stone inside on Stark, his opinions had changed.