The Darkness Within
Darkness, that was all Loki could see. For the first time since childhood he was scared. He was scared of the bright blue eyes that sometimes illuminated the pitch black of the Void. On this occasion the darkness was better. Loki remembered falling. Falling for so long. He remembered the faces of his former family as he let go of the Bifrost. He remembered Frigga; it was the thought of her that kept him alive in the darkness.
After a while the glowing blue eyes became more and more frequent, many came at once. Loki could hear them; whispering, muttering in a language he didn't understand. He tried shouting at them at first, he begged them for help but they never came forward. They left him bleeding in the dark.
Before long one of the creature came forward; it was bigger than even Thor and extremely ugly, its pale brown skin wrinkled in age. Yet his eyes still shone that brilliant bright blue light.
"Loki Odinson, I am Thanos, the Mad Titan," It bellowed. Even though Loki was scared he was too determined and stubborn to let any fear show; he stared at the titan, refusing to blink, to show submission.
"Listen I need you to do something for me, I need you to help me get the Tesseract." Thanos said calmly. Loki knew of the Tesseract from the tales he had been told as a boy. The great blue mind gem. One of the six infinity stones that had the power to control everything.
"And why would I help you?" Loki hissed, mind racing. Thanos chuckled.
"I hoped you'd say that. It's no fun when they co-operate"
Loki had been dragged into Thanos's ship and thrown into some place that resembled a prison. Rusty bars confined him in a rectangular pen, and pacing back and forth like a caged animal Loki watched the strange creatures walk by. They had blue/grey skin and the same bright eyes he remembered from the void. There was hardly anything in the cell; just a bowl with something that was once probably water and in the corner a pile of straw. Here he was less than an animal let alone a prince.
Loki soon grew tired of pacing so he curled up in the straw. Memories flooded back to him like an unstoppable wave: Thor's coronation, his true heritage and Odin's last words to him-'No Loki'.
Loki shifted uncomfortably as the memories overtook him. The man he thought of as his father had cast him out so easily, after everything Loki had done for him- he had killed his OWN father, attempted to wipe out his entire race. All to prove that he was a better son. He'd saved the bastards life: something he regretted doing now. But throughout all of the self-loathing and anger Loki's mind flashed back to memories of his childhood; the time when he and Thor went on an adventure in the woods near the castle, the time when he first showed Frigga his Magick, a simple turning water to ice spell, kind of ironic considering his nature as a frost giant. But her smile was one of the best things he could remember in this horrible situation.
Loki drifted off to sleep whilst thinking about the woman he once called mother, although as soon as he fell into unconsciousness the black memories of the void took over.
Loki was startled awake by someone opening the door to his cell, the rusted metal screeching against the cold stone floor. Loki's black hair was damp with sweat and his breathing was erratic. The voids darkness clung to him like the claws of an animal dragging down its prey.
"The great prince has risen," Thanos mocked as he walked into Loki's cell. Behind him stood a similar, smaller figure, upon whom Thanos noticed Loki's eyes linger. "This is the Other, you'll be spending a lot of time with him, young prince." Thanos smiled, sending a chill down Loki's spine followed by a thick feeling of dread. Loki hissed at the titan as he chuckled.
"What do you want?" Loki growled
"I've told you, I need your help."
"With what?"
"The destruction of Midgard."
Loki fell into a shocked silence, he had always loved Midgard. He had spent a lot of time there in the past, he'd witnessed many important moments in its history. Even though Thor had now claimed Midgard his own Loki still loved the realm- the last thing he wanted was to destroy it.
"I will never help you destroy Midgard!" He spat at the Titan.
"We will see about that." Thanos nodded to the Other who walked out of the cell. He returned moments later with a golden sceptre with a blue glow.
"This is powered by the Tesseract; it can channel its powers." Thanos said taking the sceptre from the Other, walking towards Loki he continued, "One of the Tesseract powers is mind control, you know."
Loki pushed himself against the wall as Thanos drew nearer, as if trying to get away from the crazed creature. Thanos came closer pointing the sceptre at Loki. When the sceptre made contact with his chest Loki felt a surge of Magick try and flow through his body, but his own Magick fought back and pushed the strange power away.
Thanos growled in frustration as he flung the sceptre at the Other who whimpered at his master's rage.
"His will is currently too strong, he must be broken!"
Afterwards Loki was dragged into another room, where a stone table stood in the centre, chains attached to it. There was a mass of torture devices hung upon the wall; whips, knifes and ropes. Fear soaked through Loki's skin, drowning him in the rancid emotion.
He had struggled against the creatures he now knew to be Chitauri, trying to escape at first but now he acting as if he was unbothered. They chained Loki to the table, laughing at him the whole time. When they left Loki lay there, comatose, not moving. When Thanos and the Other came in Loki appeared unfazed by their presence, but when Thanos stuck a knife deep into his leg he couldn't help but react.
Over the next couple of months the torture was relentless. Thanos stabbed, hit, whipped, electrocuted and even tried to drown Loki. The fallen prince screamed until his voice was hoarse. Starved of food and water he stopped fighting when Thanos came in the middle of the night. He whispered twisted lies into Loki's ears. How Thor pushed him, how Frigga never loved him, how Odin had used him, how he was a monster. And slowly but surely the mad titan broke the second prince of Asgard.