"We're in the endgame now."

Final chapter.

Have fun :)

Epilogue to be posted next week though, of course~

"What's- what's happening?" Peter asked, hands shaky, voice shakier.

Loki struggled to find words that his panic didn't instantly strangle. "What do you mean?"

"My... my spidey sense. It's going off like crazy... I don't know what's happening." Loki noticed before Peter did, noticed the fingers of his left hand slowly drifting away in the air as they turned to dust. Peter raised the hand to his face when he noticed the disappearance of weight. His eyes somehow widened more than they were already. Loki could see the sweat glistening on his skin. "Loki? What's going on?"

"I don't... I don't know, Peter," Loki said softly, "I'm sorry."

Peter's entire forearm was gone, his right hand was starting to go. The realisation that he was dying seemed to finally set in. He looked like he was holding back vomit before he rushed forward to wrap his arms around Loki and press his head into his chest.

Loki didn't have anything to say, he could barely register how he was feeling. All he knew was that he should be the one dying, not Peter. Peter was a child.

And by the Norns did he look like a child now more than he ever had. Peter let out a shaking sob. "I want Aunt May."

Loki wrapped his own arms around Peter as he felt the weight of Peter's arms disappearing. "I know... I know..." He reassured because there were no other words. Loki's thoughts felt like fog he was scrambling to catch with a fishing net.

"I don't want to die. I don't want to go." Peter sobbed again. "Tell Aunt May-" Peter choked on his words before he looked up at Loki with pure unfiltered panic.

Loki was left grasping at empty air. He kept his hands up – unable to process, unable to move.

Tell Aunt May what? If he had known would he even have said it to her? Most likely not. He was ever the coward.

Loki felt completely dissociated. He didn't even realise he was crying until he tasted salt on his lips, didn't realise Strange was in front of him until a hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Loki," Strange said, "It's time."

"Fuck. Off." Loki spat out.

Ah, there was the emotion he was looking for.

Anger.

Loki thrived in anger, revelled in wrath. Sadness was a liability, grief was a hindrance, happiness was a distraction. Anger was a tool that Loki had long ago learned to twist into whatever purpose he needed it to suit. He hadn't felt true anger in such a long time. He felt powerful in a way he hadn't since the invasion of New York.

But this time he didn't have the mind stone limiting him and poisoning his mind. He would rip Thanos to pieces.

"Loki." Strange repeated, and Loki finally noticed the specks of dust drifting away from his shoulder. Strange held the time stone between his fingers without the casing of the Eye around it.

"What? Now you're using the time stone? After people have died? Peter was sixteen." Loki spat every word out, like they were acid on his tongue.

"I know," Strange said, "but I had to make sure you were properly motivated. I didn't want you to try changing anything else."

"You chose the death of a child as a motivator? You're vile. A rat in human form."

"I know, I know." Strange repeated again, passing the time stone to Loki who held it in the air between his fingers like Strange had done as to not touch it. "And I'm sorry, but I don't see you... I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? How about you say that to Peter!"

Loki didn't get a reply, just a mournful look before Strange fully faded away, his cloak left floating in the air.

Loki looked at the time stone in his hand. If Strange had given it to him without the Eye of Agamotto, it meant he planned for Loki to die using it, as everyone using the infinity stones without protection did. It would be far more powerful though, capable of using against Thanos with all the infinity stones he possessed.

Still, to die willingly was a difficult decision to make. If Loki wanted to, he could always take the coward's option. Thanos had already halved Midgard. It was unlikely Loki would die if he left it alone.

"Loki." Said a voice, and Loki turned to see Brunnhilde approach, looking relieved. "Sif and Heimdall... they both disappeared I was worried-"

"You're alive." Was all Loki could say.

The Valkyrie put on a smile that was obviously forced. "Of course I am! Can't get rid of me that easily." She said, grabbing hold of Loki's upper arm.

She stumbled forward as all the weight on that hand became unsupported. She looked at her hands in panic, both of which had disappeared. Her's progressed a lot faster than the other's had. She barely had time to look up before she was already gone.

Loki grabbed hold of the time stone.

Everything around him froze. The world was left completely still and silent.

Loki almost felt at peace until the time stone decided to rip into him. His skin slowly began to crack, the valleys filled entirely with green light. The time stone was patient, it would give him the opportunity he needed, but it would eventually kill him.

With tears streaming down his face and adrenaline coursing through his veins, Loki marched forward.

He passed Shuri, who was thankfully not one of Thanos' victims. She was on her knees, hands running through a pile of dust in front of her. Her face was scrunched up as she cried, and Loki was sure if time was moving, he'd be able to hear her screaming. Beside her, General Okoye stood, her spear seeming to be the only thing keeping her upright and her own expression the mirror of Shuri's.

A few people were dying that Loki didn't care about. Iron Fist and Luke Cage seemed to believe that holding on as tight to the half-way gone Daredevil and Jessica Jones as possible would prevent them from disappearing. The teenage tree and the raccoon were hugging a near gone Starlord. Black Widow stood with her arms wrapped around herself as she stood in front of a dust pile that had probably once been Agent Barton. Stark was holding the Wakandan shield that Rogers had been using close, likely regretting the animosity they had let grow between them – as if Loki cared. None of this – none of them – mattered.

He did feel a slight twist in his gut at the mechanical wings and metal arm he walked past, but didn't feel anything remotely gut punching until he saw Wanda nearly gone with Vision too far away to find her before she died.

Loki stood in front of the girl and begged the time stone for some assistance. He couldn't let her die alone.

Nothing else moved, but suddenly Wanda became animated again. "Loki." She jolted back in surprise. "I don't know what's happening. I can't fix it."

Loki stepped forward and held her face between his hands. "It's alright. Leave that to me. You're going to be okay." He placed his forehead against her's and stayed still until she was gone.

Thor was the last person he had to see. Thankfully, his brother didn't look like he was dying any time soon. He was however being blasted backwards, likely the result of him coming down on Thanos' shield with full force. The Hulk was beside him, looking angrier than Loki had ever seen him.

The time stone was easily the second most powerful infinity stone, beaten only by the reality stone. With it, he could do almost anything he wanted. Loki focused on Thanos' shield, reversing time on it specifically until it disappeared.

Loki considered using the time stone on Thanos directly until he was old enough to turn to dust, but he wanted more than that. He wanted Thanos to know he was dying, know that Loki was responsible for his death. He wanted Thanos to fear Loki as he had him.

He instead turned his attention to the stones themselves. The space stone had once been the Tesseract, the reality stone had once been the Aether. With a polite command to the time stone, they were both returned to their previous forms, and allowed to exist outside of time as Loki was currently.

Loki caught the flowing Aether first. Letting it burn through his veins like it once had Jane Foster's. It was agony, but his anger was enough to push the pain aside.

Next he grabbed the Tesseract, hanging suspended in air. Loki took it in his empty hand and crushed it, revealing the blue stone inside. The space stone tore at his body too, but it was hardly noticeable when the other stones were already doing the same and the time stone kept his life suspended in time.

With the space and time stones at his command, Loki focused on the last stone he needed: the mind stone. He borrowed it from the moment during his invasion after he had dropped his scepter on Stark tower, but before the Widow had taken it for herself.

In a split second, Loki was holding his old weapon again. He shifted the two stones to one hand so he could hold it comfortably. He grinned before he pressed the scepter's point to Thanos' temple, the time stone glowing in his other hand – allowing Thanos' mind to process outside of time. Loki also allowed his eyes and ears to catch up. His whole body would remain frozen, but he'd be able to see, hear and comprehend everything that Loki did.

His eyes widened at the sight of Loki with his scepter, two infinity stones in the other hand, red cracks in his skin obviously indicating that he had the reality stone too.

"I am Loki of Asgard." He said, looking Thanos in the eyes and savouring the defeat he saw in them. "God of Mischief, Goddex of Chaos, Goddess of Stories... and I think it's about time your story ended, hm?"

Thanos' eyes revealed everything. The rage, the defeat, the despair, the fear.

"I'm going to tear you to pieces and scatter you across the universe for everything you did. For Brunnhilde and Sif and Heimdall and Peter..."

"If you think Lady Death really cares about you enough to give you a warm welcome when you enter her realm, I can tell you that you're sorely mistaken. Not even Death could love you."

Loki blew a mocking kiss towards Thanos before he waved his hand. "See you in Hel."

He used the reality stone to split Thanos into the atoms that made him up, urging the stone to make it as painful as possible. With the scepter, he was able to listen to the screams Thanos wished he were able to exclaim and relish in the agony he felt. The infinity gauntlet dropped to the ground with a tud.

With the space stone he banished every single atom as far away from each other as they possibly could be. Unnecessary and overly petty? Sure. But that was practically the title of Loki's autobiography.

He let out a tired sigh. Finally: he was done. It was over.

He untied the sash from his waist, and sent it, his helmet and everything in his pocket dimension back to his room with the help of the space stone so that they didn't get caught up in the stone's destruction of himself. The sash brushed one of its ends gently across Loki's cheek before he sent it away.

He let the scepter return to its original time and nonchalantly picked the gauntlet up from the ground. He let the reality stone and space stone return to their rightful places in it before he turned to Thor.

He was scared to die again. He would have to unless he wanted to hold the time stone forever, but although Loki knew the stone was patient, it had let Loki do what he needed and its hold would release any time now.

Still, it was fine. He'd just die and then Thor would bring him back to life.

"And I'm sorry, but I don't see you... I'm sorry." Strange had said. But "I don't see you..." - what exactly? When Strange looked to the future and saw Loki using the stones, did he not see Loki coming back to life afterwards?

Maybe Thor wouldn't use the gauntlet to bring anyone back. Maybe Thor wouldn't use it to bring him back specifically – deciding the world would be better without him. Maybe the reality stone wouldn't let him bring back a life the stones had taken personally – maybe a life paid to use the stones couldn't be reversed.

His tears were heavier now. He had been faced with death before, but it had never felt so heavy and suffocating than it did now, surrounded by eternity.

More cracks appeared in his skin – green and red and blue – the time stone pushing him to move.

He spoke his final command to the time stone aloud. "Just give me time to say goodbye."

The time stone's aura flowed through him: warm and comforting. It tried to calm his panicking brain and despite how little it actually did, Loki appreciated the effort and felt a little better confronting his death – as if that could ever be an easy thing to face.

He let the time stone be pulled into the gauntlet, though it's warm presence stayed with Loki.

"Where Thanos?!" Roared the Hulk. Loki ignored him, ignored everything.

"Loki?" Thor said, who was suddenly standing before him. His hand was held out slightly, like he wanted to touch Loki but was hesitant to.

Loki looked at his brother and held out the gauntlet. "You have to bring back Sif and Heimdall and Brunnhilde and Peter and- and-" He choked on a sob and soon any other words were completely lost to him.

Thor grabbed the infinity gauntlet from his hands and threw the weapon of god-like power to the ground like it was worth nothing before he wrapped his arms around his brother.

Loki cried into Thor's shoulders, his sobs shaking his entire body as the cracks in his skin progressed further and further. "You have to- have to promise to bring them back." He eventually got out.

"I promise." Thor said, and Loki realised he was crying too. "You broke your promise though. No dying for two hundred years, remember? Not very honourable to go back on your word like that."

Loki laughed through his sobs. "I've never been one for honour."

"True." Thor replied. "But this time I know you're coming back, just like every other time. I have the infinity gauntlet now, I can make it happen."

"The Avengers won't be happy."

"Fuck the Avengers." Thor said. "The Revengers are cooler anyway."

"I think Strange said I wouldn't be able to come back."

"Fuck Strange too," Thor said easily, "No one tells me what I can or can't do. The only thing you're going to die of is old age, I won't accept anything else."

The cracks crept up his neck, and split one of his cheeks in two. "If I don't come back, I'm sorry and I- I love you."

"When you come back to life, I'm so holding that over your head." Thor replied, Loki's hair wet with his tears.

"Can't you just say goodbye, Thor?" Loki said – begged.

Thor paused. "I'll say... see you later?"

Loki pulled away a little as the cracks hit his eye, sending his world into a kaleidoscope of colours. He let himself laugh a little as one final tear rolled down his cheek. "See you later then."

The time stone let go.