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Published:
2018-06-23
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2019-01-02
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11/?
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Vindicated

Summary:

vin·di·cate
/ˈvindəˌkāt/
verb
1. To clear (someone) of blame
2. To defend, maintain, or insist on the recognition of
3. To demonstrate or prove the value or validity of; justify
4. To exact revenge for; avenge
 

In which we stop blaming the heroes for failing against impossible odds, Loki had a plan from the very start, the Avengers aren't great at giving up, the universe does not like being torn in half, and Fate allows those who try to fix it.

[DISCONTINUED]

Notes:

Hey guys
So I've had inspiration for this for awhile and it's actually the main reason that I made my account on this website. I know how it begins, I know how it ends, I just have no clue what I'm going to do in the middle of those two things. This will either be a disaster or a work of art.
Infinity War left me reeling, as I'm sure it did to every single one of you reading this. After watching, my brain started scrambling to find ways to fix it. This is my way of trying to fix everything, as well as an attempt to make everything that didn't sit right with me make sense.
This is probably going to be a long one, so strap on in folks and get ready for the ride.

Chapter 1

Notes:

Hey guys
So I've had inspiration for this for awhile and it's actually the main reason that I made my account on this website. I know how it begins, I know how it ends, I just have no clue what I'm going to do in the middle of those two things. This will either be a disaster or a work of art.
Infinity War left me reeling, as I'm sure it did to every single one of you reading this. After watching, my brain started scrambling to find ways to fix it. This is my way of trying to fix everything, as well as an attempt to make everything that didn't sit right with me make sense.
This is probably going to be a long one, so strap on in folks and get ready for the ride.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

 

Loki Odinson woke up unable to breathe.

He bolted upright, fingers clawing at his throat as he gasped for air, trying to loosen the grip of a phantom hand that did not exist.

You’re alive, it wasn’t real. Breathe you fool.

Loki inhaled sharply. The breath that filled his lungs was a gasp of relief. His heartrate slowed as he inhaled and exhaled methodically. He ignored the memory of his windpipe being crushed beneath a powerful grasp as he tried to bring himself back to reality. Loki gripped the earth beneath him. His fingers tore through wet grass and dug into damp dirt. He wrinkled his nose as he remembered where he had fallen asleep.

Loki was currently curled up amongst the roots of a colossal tree that he noted somewhat resembled a Midgardian oak tree, other than the fact that it was probably five times the size of what grew back on Earth. He had collapsed there, exhausted and unable to take another step, the night prior.

Stealing from Thanos was a more strenuous ordeal than he had anticipated.

The tree appeared to be a common species on the small, nameless dwarf planet that Loki had frantically fled to. He had passed out at the base of one of trees that made up the edge of a quite literally giant forest. He hauled himself upward on unsteady legs, using the trunk to maintain his balance. Loki slumped against it. The bark of the tree dug into his shoulders as he tried to ignore the way his head swam. He had overtaxed his magic, and now he was paying the price, but the reward was worth it.

A sudden panic gripped Loki.

What if I lost it?

By all common sense he knew the thought was foolish, but he couldn’t ignore the anxiety that had followed him since even before his fall from Asgard.

Anxiety and lack of reason were old friends of his.

He reached between the folds of the universe, searching for the pocket where he hid things that he couldn’t keep on his person. Loki’s fingers brushed against a small stone, and he pulled it out into his layer of reality. He stared at it as it rested on the palm of his hand. It gleamed a brilliant orange. The hum of its power prickled against his bare skin, and he couldn’t suppress the shudder of awe and greed that wracked through him. Loki stared for a moment, transfixed, before he shook himself free of its lure and put it back out of his immediate reach.

Remember what you are here to do, Liesmith.

As Loki stared upward at the two suns that inhabited the planet’s sky, he tried to ignore the burning sensation that stung against the palm of his hand.

Because not even a god could remain in direct contact with an Infinity Stone without consequences.

 

Wakanda

Five days before current time.

 

When Tony Stark set foot on Earth for the first time in five days, he was not expecting the wave of grief he had just managed to suppress to hit him full force once again.

Peter should be here with me.

He turned to look at the person who walked with him instead. Nebula, daughter of Thanos, and the only member of the haphazard team that had been wildly pieced together to battle Thanos that had survived.

Other than Tony of course.

But a part of him died on that planet along with the others.

As he trekked through Wakandan soil (because of course, they had to touch down at Wakanda, the place that housed the very two people he wanted to avoid at all costs), he felt a familiar anxiety choking off his airway. He halted abruptly.

“I shouldn’t be here. I failed them. How am I supposed to look them in the face?” the words tumbled past his lips before he even realized what he was saying.

Nebula turned to look at him, her mechanical black eyes perpetually emotionless.

“They failed too, didn’t they?”

And suddenly Tony could breathe again.

“Yeah. Thanks.”

Nebula inclined her head in his direction and kept walking.

 

The first person they met of course, because Tony’s luck never failed to be utter shit, was Steve Rogers.

Better than Barnes, at least.

Steve seemed to be taking a walk, because that was such a grandpa thing to do and so utterly Steve that it made him want to punch the asshole square in the jaw. He was far from the city, but with the super-soldier serum he could probably walk for hours on end without his heartrate increasing in the slightest. His own aging, weakening heart practically growled in jealousy.

Steve turned around to see who was approaching, and Tony almost laughed out loud when his blue eyes widened comically in shock.

“Tony!? Wha-”

“Fought Evil Space Barney on his home planet, got our asses kicked and lost epically, everyone else we were with turned into dust and floated away on the wind. Hurray Avengers. On the bright side, I made a new ally/acquaintance thing. Nebula, meet Steve Rogers. Rogers, meet Nebula. We flew a spaceship back to Earth together. It was nice, real bonding occurred. Oh, and nice beard, Cap.”

Tony marched on by.

“Tony wait.”

Steve’s hand was on his shoulder, and suddenly he was back in the frozen bunker, trapped in a malfunctioning suit that provided no heat, bleeding out and struggling not to cry. Tony’s breath hitched, and he tore his shoulder away from the man that used to be his friend. He whirled around to look at America’s symbol of bravery, and all he saw on his face was hurt and fear.

“Let me get something straight, Captain,” He spat out the title with utter contempt, and Steve flinched. “I will be civil, nothing more, nothing less. We are not friends. I don’t care what you regret, I don’t care what apologies you have, I don’t fucking care. Do not touch me.”

Steve stared, his mouth opening and closing like he was trying to speak but couldn’t make a sound.

“Glad we cleared that up.”

Tony kept walking, Nebula picked up her pace to fall in step with him, and Steve hung back from the pair uncertainly.

“I won’t be staying on Earth,” Nebula said quietly to Tony.

“Can’t say I’m surprised. Where will you go?”

“Wherever Thanos is.”

Tony stopped. He turned to her.

“How could you possibly think that-”

Nebula cut him off, “It’s all I know, Stark.”

Tony stared.

“The only thing I know how to do is hunt him. I have been chasing my revenge for the entirety of my free life. So, I will go find him, and when I do, I will try to kill him. If I fail and he doesn’t kill me, I will find him again.”

Tony whistled, “Alright Sasuke Uchiha, that’s intense. I won’t try to stop you, frankly I don’t know you well enough to. Just try not to die alright?”

She rolled her eyes, not understanding the reference but used to it after three days of being stuck in a ship with him.

“I don’t make any promises.”

Nebula turned and walked back the way they came, presumably to make use of the ship they landed in.

“You’re just going to let her go?” Steve asked.

Tony shrugged, “Like I said before, it’s not my place to try and stop her.”

They walked in silence, Tony in front despite not having a clue where they were going. Steve looked at him for a long time, and the heavy weight of his gaze was beginning to make Tony uncomfortable.

“I’d heard that Spider-Man went with you into space…” Steve trailed off as Tony’s jaw clenched. “Tony… God I’m sorry I-“

“Who’s gone?” Tony interjected. He couldn’t see Steve’s face, and he had to force himself to keep looking forward instead of trying to see what expression the blond was making.

“Tony…”

“Tell me, Rogers.”

The footsteps behind him stopped, so Tony stopped too. He kept looking forward.

“T’challa, Vision, Wanda, Sam…” Steve choked on his words before saying, “Bucky.”

Tony inhaled sharply. He felt a tinge of guilt over his previous thought of Barnes. Then a sudden panic gripped him.

“Pepper, is she-”

“She’s alive, Tony. I called last night to make sure.”

Tony couldn’t help his sigh of relief. Still, the losses were immeasurable. Vision he had been expecting, Thanos had to get the Mind Stone after all, but to hear it confirmed was like a stab in the gut. And how would Wakanda fare without its king? Tony had lost people before, but never this many all at once.

“I’m sorry… about Barnes.”

Tony could practically feel the surprise coming from Steve.

“Oh, don’t give me that look-”

Not that Tony could see the look, but he could damn well picture it.

“-I shouldn’t have attacked him in Siberia. That was wrong, I know that. You can’t get mad at the gun for killing someone, only the person pulling the trigger. Barnes was the gun. HYDRA were the ones who really killed my parents. I know that now, and I knew it then. I was just- I was so angry, Steve.”

When Tony turned around to look at Steve, he wasn’t expecting his eyes to be brimming with tears, but they were. Blue irises swam in an ocean of sorrow. Grief burned in Tony’s chest. Not only for the people he had lost, but for the friendship he only just now realized he missed.

“If you had told me, if you had told me I might’ve been able to process what was happening with enough reason to not get so wrapped up in my rage. But you didn’t, and that’s on you. I have no love for Barnes, but I don’t want him dead, not anymore.”

They stared at each other silently. Tony’s chest heaved. Steve blinked back tears.

“I’m sorry, Tony,” he whispered, gaze lowering to the ground.

“Yeah, I know.”

They kept walking.

 

Thor understood politics better than most would suspect, given that he was once a prince (even momentarily a king) of a realm that no longer existed. He was also smarter than what most people gave him credit for, mistaking his straightforward way of thinking and simple humor for ignorance and idiocy. So, when he had heard that the king of the small kingdom they resided in had perished in Thanos’ culling, he was prepared for the political backlash that would shake the royal family to the core.

The other Avengers staying there were not.

“This is stupid, how much longer are we going to have to wait for them to sort their crap out?” Bruce complained.

Thor, Bruce, Natasha, and Rhodey were sitting in the living area in the guest wing of the royal palace in Wakanda. The four of them were sprawled out amongst three couches, Thor and Bruce sharing the middle one while Natasha and Rhodey had each claimed their own. A bag of chips along with a container of salsa lay abandoned on the coffee table, where Natasha had propped her feet up.

“An event equivalent to the scale of the one that caused this political war would have taken decades to be sorted out on Asgard,” Thor informed him.

Rhodey groaned, and Bruce slid off the couch to land in a dramatic heap on the floor.

“It has only been two days. Have neither of you ever been burdened with the horrible boredom of politics before?”

“I have,” said Rhodey, “but I despise it.”

Thor snorted, “That is understandable.”

He turned his mismatched gaze to where his new weapon was propped up against the wall. Stormbreaker could take him anywhere in the universe. He could find Thanos and take his revenge. Thor looked at his tired, defeated friends. He thought about the people the Mad Titan had destroyed, the families he had torn apart, the lives he had taken. Thor felt a familiar rage building in his chest, an anger that had sat with him since he heard his brother’s neck snap and saw Heimdall die. For a moment he was tempted to try again. He wanted to pick up his axe, track down Thanos, and drive it into the monster’s skull. At least, until he remembered the futility of it all. Thor’s brief surge of fury settled back down into its constant ache in the back of his throat.

Thor sat forward and ate a chip with no salsa.

Bruce wrinkled his nose.

“Seriously? No salsa? That’s like eating a sandwich dry.”

“I like mayonnaise on my sandwiches, Banner.”

“No, that’s not what I- you know what, never mind. Enjoy your salsa-less chips.”

The door to the room opened, and all four of them turned to look as Steve strode into the room. Behind him followed someone a part of all of them had accepted they would never see again.

“Hey, I’m not dead,” said Tony Stark, peering around Steve’s broad shoulders to give them a little wave.

“Oh, hey Thor, long time no- oOF.”

The rest of Tony’s sentence got muffled by Thor’s shoulder as he pulled him into a bear hug. Tony hesitantly patted the significantly larger man on the back, until he started to get uncomfortable and squirmed out of his grip.

“Not that I dislike hugs Point Break, but I really couldn’t breathe.”

Thor took a step back and bowed his head apologetically, “I am sorry to make you uncomfortable, I’m just glad another friend made it through the past few days alive.”

For some reason that made Tony choke up.

“Yeah, I’m glad you’re alive too.”

Thor gave him a sad smile in return, which made Tony wonder just how much the God of Thunder had lost in the last week.

Notes:

I plan on trying and update every Saturday. Comments are great motivation you know ;)
I keep forgetting who died and who lived. I literally forgot about Rocket until just now. I'm going to spend the next fifteen minutes trying to figure out how to incorporate him into the story without it feeling forced. Whoops.