Previous Work: My Head's Above the Rain and Roses id: 12922982

Everyone ready for this? 'Cause I'm not. I mean, this fic is completed, but I still have the constant worry I'm going to catch up with myself... Anyways, let's get this show on the road!

Disclaimer (and this is the only one you're getting): I do not own the Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Incredible Hulk, or any other related recognizable characters and/or properties contained within. All rights go to Marvel Comics, Marvel Studios, and any other interested third party (I don't think I could name them all.) This work contains lines from Thor (2011) and the Avengers (2012). All credit for those lines go to Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz, Don Payne, J. Michael Straczynski and Mark Protosevich, and Zak Penn and Joss Whedon (here on out referred to as Thanos) respectively. Further credit must go to 20th Century Fox and John Hughes for creating the fictional "Angels With Filthy Souls" film series for the real-life film series Home Alone. If any of those people happen to be reading this, I would appreciate a full-length "Angels With Filthy Souls" film for Christmas, please and thank you.

The title of this fic comes from the Black Veil Brides song "Unbroken". All credit goes to Andy Biersack, Jake Pitts, Jeremy Ferguson, Blair Daly, and Sean Beaven.

Cover image edited by MewWinx96 in Adobe Photoshop CC. All of the likenesses belong to each of the credited actors/actresses respectively.

This fic is rated T and for the most part doesn't show anything worse than what was in the Avengers (2012), although some things are implied (such as physical torture) or outright shown (psychological torture), and an instance of strong language (I'm pretty sure someone drops an f-bomb at some point), be advised if these things disturb you. The biggest warning I must put here is that this fic, while rated T, does depict relationships that do not comply with cannon and that some people have an ideological, moral, or otherwise bigotted opinion about. If you do not like the Steve/Tony pairing or are turned off by the other disclaimers, please do not read this fic. Death threats will be taken seriously.

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 (Midgard Time)

This wasn't where he wanted to be. Just hours ago he was the sitting Regent of Asgard with his "brother" banished and his "father" deep in the Odinsleep. There was no one that could stand in his way. Sif and the Warriors Three? Mere child's play. Sure, they were the fiercest warriors in the realm, but they fought mostly relying on their brute strength. Loki had watched them for years. He knew all their weak points and was certain with his agility and mastery of magic he'd be able to beat them easily. Once he "saved" his "father" from being killed by Laufey, Loki would erase Jotunheim from the entirety of the Nine Realms and rule Asgard as he should forevermore.

Thor wasn't supposed to come back. He sent the Destroyer to ensure that wouldn't happen. Somehow, though, Thor had proven himself worthy of wielding Mjolnir and had his powers restored. The Bifrost had been destroyed, and now he and Thor were dangling off the bridge, the only thing keeping them from falling into the black abyss of space being Odin's grip on Thor's leg. Loki had failed.

He had to resist the urge to laugh. Of course, it would end like this, so pathetic. His one and the only mistake had been that he had underestimated his "brother's" capacity to "change". In fact, Loki couldn't believe that Thor had really changed. It had to be some sort of trick. There must have been some sort of loophole in the enchantment "father" had placed on the hammer, or maybe that mortal woman his "brother" was so taken with had something to do with it. In the end, it didn't matter. He had lost his rightful place on the throne. His "father" was once again King, Thor was once again Crown Prince, and Loki was once again nothing; just a monster that haunts the dreams of children late into the dark night, completely and utterly pathetic.

He looked around at the vastness of space that surrounded him. He had no options here. He was a traitor to the throne of Asgard, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. If he allowed Odin to pull them back up, he'd be stripped of his title and locked away in the dungeons forever. He'd never have his "father's" love, never be Thor's equal. All he'd be is a monster in a cage, cursed to live under the scorn of the people he once ruled. He looked back up at Thor, who was struggling to keep a tight grip on the staff. That's when Loki made his decision. He just had one more thing he needed to say first.

"I could have done it, Father," he called up to Odin. "I could have done it, for you; for all of us!" Loki hadn't been expecting any sympathy, and he sure as hell didn't get it.

"No, Loki," was Odin's only response. So, without any fear, sorrow, or hesitation, Loki let go of the staff, all the while with Thor begging him to stop. He couldn't be stopped, though. He fell slowly into the dark void of space, keeping his eyes on pretend sibling and parent until he felt himself being pulled into the twisted vortex created by the destruction of the Bifrost.

Being over a thousand years old and having traveled to all the Nine Realms and the worlds contained beyond, Loki knew a thing or two about space. Specifically, he knew that when one floated off into the vast abyss of space without the proper enchantments, biology, or protective gear they'd bloat to twice their normal size and either be cooked alive by the nearest star,or instantly freeze to death if there were no stars generating heat nearby. For the most part, Loki felt normal. Just weakly twitching his fingers, he could feel that they were still their normal size, so he could assume the same about the rest of his limbs. He also clearly hadn't frozen. In fact, he honestly wondered if his newly-discovered Jotun heritage made it impossible to freeze to death. He then realized he probably didn't want to know the answer to that and directed his mind towards a more productive activity; taking stock of his situation and figuring out where the hell he was.

This hadn't been what he had intended to do. He didn't even think escape was possible. He thought he would die getting sucked into the endless void of space. In fact, he'd been counting on it. This, however, was much better. At least he was still alive.

Digging his fingers into the ground underneath him, Loki could feel that he was lying on a dry, almost sandy surface. He tried to lift his arm to get a gauge of the gravity of whatever he was on, but when he tried, he felt pain shoot up his arm and radiating up and down his spinal column. Whatever this place was, it had a strong force of gravity. The only way he could have sustained such painful injuries would be if he fell from a great height and impacted hard enough with the ground to break several bones, but not kill him. All useful clues in narrowing down his location.

Slowly but surely, Loki started to peel open his eyes. He was greeted with the sight of stars, but not the stars he was familiar with. It looked as though he was in an entirely different corner of the galaxy than where Asgard's little pocket universe existed. He tried to spot the constellations his mother and "father" had taught him and Thor to look for as children in case they had ever became lost in the forests surrounding Asgard. He couldn't find one of them. He scanned the sky for something, anything familiar, but found nothing.

Turning his head to the left, he looked over towards the horizon. Short line of distance. Given this and the dirt that covered the rocky landscape, Loki concluded he was on an asteroid, which in his mind, didn't make sense. Asteroids didn't have breathable air or a strong center of gravity. That was the first sign to Loki that something wasn't right here.

Loki fought against the pain and lifted his right arm to his abdomen. Struggling for a second to find his voice, he whispered the familiar words of a healing spell. He knew in his weakened state, trying to use magic to heal himself would counterintuitive given that it would drain all his energy, causing him to pass out again, but at the same time, if he didn't heal himself he'd just be a sitting duck. The pain running down his spine started to fade, as did his perception of reality.

Hours later, Loki awoke again. This time, however, he knew he was anything but alone. He heard footsteps in the distance. They were soft,as if whoever or whatever was approaching him either didn't weigh anything or had adapted to the surface of the asteroid and learned to move across it with flawless ease. Loki didn't dare move and kept his eyes shut, hoping that if he pretended to be dead, whoever it was would leave him be and move on. He wasn't so fortunate.

The footsteps approached him, but Loki didn't move. He tried to breathe as shallowly as possible and he kept his eyes closed. Something, some little subtlety he overlooked must have given him away. He should have used magic. Even if it would have caused him to use up his energy and pass out again, making him completely vulnerable to this stranger, at least they would have thought he was dead. No, instead they saw right through his act, grabbed him by the hair, and started pulling him across the coarse surface of the ground.

As he was dragged, Loki saw there was no point in keeping up the façade and tried to fight back as best as he could. Although whatever had been wrong with his spine had now been fixed, he was still in an immense amount of pain from the other 128 broken bones throughout his body. Nonetheless, he still tried to hit, kick, twist, and do anything he could to get this person to let him go. He shouted that he was the (now former, but he didn't mention that) Regent of Asgard and demanded that they release him immediately and even tried to stab his captor with one of his concealed daggers. They immediately grabbed his hand and arm, twisting his wrist until he let go of the dagger with a loud and agonized scream. Once it hit the ground, the stranger quickly scooped it up and held the blade to his throat.

"That was only a taste of what lies in wait for you should you try resisting again," the masculine-sounding creature said. "Submit or you shall know true pain." Loki tried to put whatever he could into his expression to show that he understood. The creature then continued to drag him to wherever it was he was being taken.

Eventually, they came to a set of steps which floated in mid-air and led up to another rock, upon which Loki could see that a throne had been erected and a rather large one at that. Slowly, the creature dragged him by the hair up the steps. He made sure to jerk him as hard as possible and Loki fought as hard as he could not to cry out or flinch. Eventually, Loki was deposited on the ground in front of the throne. Loki knew he couldn't stand, so he mustered up all his strength to turn and look towards the throne. There, he saw the dark-robed creature kneeling in front of the throne, which appeared to be capable of turning in any direction as it was currently facing the galaxy beyond them.

"My master," the creature said. "I have brought you a gift."

"Oh?" A deep, bone-chilling voice said. "What is this gift?"

"A tool," the creature said. "A key to another world, a world rife for destruction."

"I like the sound of that." Loki froze as the throne began to turn around. He instantly recognized the figure sitting in it. Real fear crept through his veins. Of all the people in the universe to run into, this certainly one of the ones you didn't want to.

His name was Thanos, commonly regarded as the "Mad Titan". Not much was known about him, other than his reputation for going from world to world, eliminating half it's population and leaving the survivors behind reeling in his wake. Just the simple mention of his name in some parts of the galaxy would strike fear in the hearts of millions. Loki was one of those millions. His heart slammed in his chest as Thanos got up, descended his throne, and walked over to Loki to regard him.

"He doesn't look like much," the Titan observed. Loki bit his tounge.

"He calls himself Loki," the creature said. "A son of Odin and the Sitting Regent of Asgard."

"Asgard?" Thanos questioned. "Ah, yes. I remember, we tried to invade ages ago, but whatever forcefield they had put up kept us back." That was the first time Loki had heard about that. It didn't surprise him, though. It was becoming clear to him that Odin was the true God of Lies, not him. The only good thing about that revelation was that thankfully, Heimdall had most likely managed to stop that from happening without even alarming their people. "What do you expect me to do with him though?"

"I believe he can prove invaluable to us," the creature said. "He can get us through Asgard's forcefield." Thanos gave a horrifying facial expression that most would describe as a grin, but Loki would say was more akin to a non-verbal death sentence.

"I like how you think," Thanos said. "If he truly is King of Asgard, his people are probably looking for him. I'm sure they'd open the gates right up once they saw we were returning their King, safe and sound…"

Loki's heart beat at a frantic rate. Even though he'd been tossed aside by his "father" once again in favor of Thor, he didn't want to see Asgard destroyed or its people eradicated. He wanted to rule them, not wipe them from the universe entirely. So, he thought fast, trying to come up with anything he could say to prevent the Titan from attacking the realm he had once called home.

"You can't do that," Loki's weak, hoarse voice protested. Thanos raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?" he said. "Why not? What could you possibly do to stop me?"

"The question is not what I would do," Loki said. "Tis what Asgard will do. They would never let you into their domain."

"And why not?" Thanos asked. "You are their King. Certainly, your people would do anything to have you back on the throne, safe and sound."

"You are mistaken," Loki said. "The people of Asgard would never allow me back into their realm."

"What makes you so certain of this?" Loki swallowed hard. He was going to have to tell the truth, or at least a version of it that suited him.

"I am the rightful ruler of Asgard," Loki said. "Cast aside by both my kingdom and my supposed family."

"I thought as much," Thanos said. "So, you're nothing, then."

"No!" Loki struggled to sit up as it became clear that he was going to have to bargain for his own life. "I can still be of use to you!"

"How?" Thanos said as he crouched down, putting his hand on Loki's neck. "You have no real power here. You think you do, but you don't. Give me one reason why I shouldn't snap your neck right now."

"I know things," Loki said. "Things you would like to know. I can help you achieve unlimited power." Thanos seemingly chuckled at that.

"I'd expect nothing less from a weaver of lies." Thanos' hand tightened around Loki's throat.

"I know where you can find an Infinity Stone!" Things went silent. Thanos removed his hand from Loki's neck and Loki took a deep, relieved breath.

It was no secret that in addition to destroying worlds, Thanos also searched for the Infinity Stones. No one knew his motivation or purpose behind it, but rumor had it he had stolen the Mind Stone from the royal vault of a planet he conquered some time ago. No one had seen it for years and Thanos killed anyone with intentions of taking it back from him on the spot. Regardless, Loki knew that if Thanos was willing to destroy an entire planet just to get one Infinity Stone, he'd probably be willing to do anything to get another. Loki could use that to his advantage. His life depended on it.

"I'm listening," was the only prompting Thanos gave. Loki took a deep breath and tried to keep his voice as steady as possible as he explained.

"The Space Stone," Loki started. "'Twas locked away in a mystical artifact known as the Tesseract and hidden somewhere on Midgard. Er, Terra, as I believe it's called in this part of the galaxy." Loki paused for a second to make sure his choice of syntax was correct. Thanos gave him a look that told him to get on with it. "I overheard… Odin, saying once that it had been removed from where he initially hid it, but he could sense that it was still on Terra. I have great skill in the mystic arts. Dare I say I even match that of Odin. I could locate the stone and retrieve it for you."

"And you would get what in return?" The obvious came to Loki's mind, but he didn't dare say it aloud.

"Complete subjugation of Midgard, Terra," he quickly corrected. "After you have conquered it, of course." Thanos nodded in agreement, which made Loki hesitate for a second before revealing the rest of his terms. "However, Asgard is not to be touched." Thanos gave no reaction to this part of the deal. "That is my only offer. Otherwise, you will never get your hands on the Space Stone." Thanos continued to say nothing. His expression remained unreadable. Loki began to fear the worst.

"Alright," Thanos finally said. "I'll consider it." Loki let out a breath that he didn't know he'd been holding. "But first you're going to have to prove something to me." Loki swallowed hard.

"What would that be?" Thanos smirked. Loki was then grabbed by the neck and once again dragged across the rocky surface of the asteroid. When they reached the edge, Thanos lifted him in the air so that way he was eye-level with him. The smirk turned into a full-blown grin.

"Your worth." Loki was then thrown from the asteroid, just barely lucky enough to hit the ground of the larger asteroid below it. The wind was completely knocked out of him and he struggled for a few seconds to breathe. As far as he could tell, the vertebra that he had just repaired was now once again broken. Pain shot across his body at a mind-numbing pace. Loki fought to keep his head above water as darkness creeped in the edges of his vision.

This was good. Not ideal, but good. Thanos was, at the very least, considering his offer. That kept him alive for a bit longer. It also allowed the edges of a plan to form in Loki's mind. He wasn't entirely sure of all the details yet, but he could easily work with the foundation he had built. Once given complete control of the remains of Midgard, Loki could easily create an army to invade Asgard. Humans were very feeble-minded creatures. As soon as they accepted him as their new ruler, he could easily lead them into battle and regain control of the throne of Asgard. He could see it already. Oh, it was so glorious.

He also could see the person who had captured him before coming up on the faded peripheral of his vision. He reached down and grabbed Loki by the hair again, pulling hard.

"Come now," they said. "It is time for you to learn the true meaning of pain."

At that point, Loki blacked out.

At least I didn't start off with OCs that nobody cares about this time, right? Ehehe... People are either really going to like this or really going to hate this, and I'm not sure which is better. In my mind, Loki's actions prior to his redemption are sort of a gray area... Like some people have noted, Loki at the end of Thor and Loki at the beginning of the Avengers are very different people. It's pretty clear that something happened to him between films and that thing was most definitely Thanos (take your pick of the two.) However, I wouldn't go so far as some fics do to say that he was COMPLETELY mind controlled by Thanos. I still do believe that he knew what he was doing when he took every last life he did in this film, and while there will be some very clear points where Thanos and/or the Other are trying to control Loki's thoughts and it is confusing him a bit, in the end, the decision to end every life that he did was Loki's. I hope that comes across clearly in my writing, otherwise, the death of the author strikes again.

Anyways, if you like this, feel free to favorite, follow, leave kudos, comment, review, PM me, make fan art, compose songs, sell me your kidneys, promise me your first born... You know the drill!

Remember kids, stay far away from Thanos.

Originally uploaded to FFN on 12/18/18.