Come back to me (Loki x reader)

Loki

As you were pulled after Loki into the darkness, you thought you might pass out – not just from the dizzying experience of teleporting – but from the fact that you were holding on to his arm. He was really there, alive. Loki was alive. Just as you thought you might cry, your feet hit the ground and you clutched Loki's arm to stop yourself faceplanting, but you needn't have worried. Loki had already caught you. By the throat.

Before you had time to take in your surroundings, catch your breath, or do anything other than blink, you had been pushed roughly against the wall with Loki's hand tight around your neck.

"What. Are you doing." He said, his voice dangerously low.

Gasping for breath, you desperately grabbed his arm with both of yours, unable to talk. You doubted you would've been able to form a sentence even if you weren't being strangled by your previously dead boyfriend. You locked eyes with him, praying that he would recognize you, and then realized what a bad idea that had been. Your eyes really did fill with tears this time, half from the fact that you couldn't breathe, and half from the fact that, shit, you had missed those gorgeous eyes so much. But those eyes were different in 2012: clouded with hatred, fear and misery, and you could hardly bear to look at them.

"Hold on..."

All of a sudden, his grip relaxed, and you slid down the wall coughing and gulping for air. Had he recognized you? You saw the tesseract clutched in Loki's other hand and remembered what Tony had said to you. "No detours."

Oops.

"You're Y/N... you're one of my brother's Midgardian friends."

The back of your throat burned, and your eyes stung when you heard him say your name with such little recognition, but you forced yourself to stay calm. This was your one chance, and you were not going to waste it. You couldn't.

"But you look... older." Loki finished, watching you curiously as you struggled to your feet.

You had to mentally prepare yourself before you could look him in the face again, and this time you managed to hold it together.

"That's impossible... you were just in the lift, and the lobby, unless...?" he trailed off, still staring at you. You weren't sure how much longer you could cope with this for; you had to keep reminding yourself that you were here for the tesseract.

"Listen, Loki- "

The words stuck in your throat as you said his name, but no, you had to do this. You tried again.

"Loki. I look older because I am older – I'm from 2023, eleven years in the future. And I followed you here because I need you to give me the tesseract." You gestured to the glowing blue cube he was still holding.

He looked at you incredulously.

"And why is that." He questioned.

You opened your mouth, and then closed it again. What on earth were you supposed to tell him?

"Well, whatever your explanation, I'm afraid I won't be giving you the tesseract." Loki told you.

You started to protest, but he cut you off.

"Let's just say that if I give this to you, I die." He said shortly.

And that's when you realized where Loki had bought you. Thanos' ship.

Your brain went into a complete meltdown as a million thoughts rained down on you at once. What if you took the tesseract now? Would Loki die even earlier than he already had? You desperately tried to remember what Bruce had told you about changing actions in the past not affecting a certain timeline, or something along those lines, but none of it had really made sense. You wished you'd paid more attention now; you could feel the panic rising in your throat, but you immediately pushed it back down. You had one job, and that was to retrieve the tesseract and get it back to 2023. Even if that meant leaving Loki here, with Thanos.

"I'm sorry." You whispered.

The Loki in front of you may not have been the Loki you knew, but you did know how he ticked. You had spent enough hours training with your Loki to know how he fought, and right now while you had the element of surprise, that was enough.

Before he had even realized what you had just said, you'd lunged for the tesseract.

As you had predicted, he swung the tesseract out of your reach just in time and span out of the way, which was actually into the way as you'd correctly guessed where he would move to, and for a heart-stopping second your fingers brushed against the tesseract. The moment was quickly shattered as Loki shoved you backwards and was suddenly holding a knife up to your face, his eyes narrowed.

"You wish me dead?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"No, no, of course I don't..." you stammered, watching the knife fearfully. Would he really use it against you? You hadn't factored this into your predictions.

"Why do you insist upon taking this from me then?" he inquired.

Still nervously watching the knife, you knew Loki would soon grow tired of this, and possibly start using said knife. You had to think of a way to make him give you the tesseract.

"Thanos... he doesn't care what happens to you." You said tentatively, not knowing exactly where you were going with this.

Loki shot you a confused look, but before he could say anything you pressed on.

"I'm from eleven years in the future, I know what happens... to you." You told him. You knew he believed you, but could you tell him he'd been killed? Would that affect anything? Knowing Loki's levels or curiosity it wouldn't make much difference now, you'd have to tell him.

"What does that mean? What 'happens' to me?" he scowled, but you could see the fear in his eyes. Your heart was physically hurting in your chest, almost to the point where it was unbearable.

"It won't happen for another six years yet, but..." you stopped as you saw the realization set in in his eyes.

"He kills me." He finished for you, in a low voice.

He'd completely let his guard down, and you could practically see the cogs turning in his head, his eyes glazed over slightly. You felt awful, and sick to the stomach, but you knew you had to act now. Before he could realize his mistake, you ducked under his hand holding the knife and snatched the tesseract out of his hand. A second too late he comprehended what had happened and spun around in a panic, knife in hand.

But you were gone.

Clutching the tesseract tightly, you flew through the quantum realm again, and suddenly were back in a circle with Tony, Steve and all the others. You touched the side of your helmet so that your face was uncovered and took a deep breath of air. 2023 air. The tesseract glowed brightly in your hands.

"Did we do it? Did we get them all?" Steve asked immediately, looking around the circle.

"Y/N, thank god, we didn't know where you... Y/N?" Tony moved towards you worriedly, but then stopped talked as you looked up at him. He looked back at you sadly and wiped a tear away from under your eye. You hadn't even realized you were crying.

"You did good kid." He told you, looking at the tesseract and placing a hand on your shoulder gently.

"Nat. Where's Natasha." You heard Steve say as if from a distance. Your head snapped up; Tony span around... Nat wasn't there.

"Clint..."

Clint looked awful, even more awful than you felt. He opened his hand slowly to reveal the soul stone glowing brightly in the palm of his hand.

Devastation slammed into you like a truck, and your eyes filled with fresh tears as you watched Bruce fall to his knees with a loud thud. You hadn't thought it possible to feel worse than you had two minutes ago, leaving Loki alone on Thanos' ship with no tesseract, but you'd just been proved utterly and awfully wrong.

You'd managed to get all six Infinity stones, but at an unthinkable cost.

Loki. Nat. Your friends and family who had disappeared in the snap. How many more people you loved were going to be torn away from you?

"This is going to work." Steve said stubbornly, his voice thick with emotion.

You nodded in agreement. It would work.

It had to.