Thanos. The word felt almost like blank ink dropped into water. Loki stilled, almost froze, while the word spread out in his mind. Anyone who knew him, other than Thor, wouldn't have noticed, but the long baseline that let Loki identify in a sentence or two that Thor meant serious business also meant that Thor would be able to identify genuine fear.

The god of mischief wasn't actually afraid of much; he never had been, as he was generally certain of finding a way out of anything he found a way into. But he was deathly afraid of Thanos. He'd spent nearly a year with the Mad Titan, and no part of it had been pleasant. Yes, he'd been an 'honored guest' and then an 'ally', but... really, all one had to do was look at his Children to realize that Thanos wasn't even kind to successes.

What he would do to a comprehensive failure was not to be thought of. So Loki had carefully Not Thought of it, even if he'd had nightmares about it.

It wasn't impossible that Thanos had come specifically hunting him. He'd lost not one but two Infinity Stones, after all, and from what Thor had said he hadn't bothered hiding since his Odin-ruse had been uncovered.

Stupid. "...I see." Half the survivors Thor had mentioned dead, at least, and never mind that they might not have been a stable population in the first place. Loki didn't even consider that Thanos might have been fought off.

There was no fighting him. It didn't work. "Go on."