Two Pieces of a Broken Heart

Chapter One

Fit for a KING

The Battle of New York was absolutely devastating.

Buildings toppled over one another like dominoes, rubble dots the sidewalks like blooming flowers, jagged cracks imprint the streets and citizens mourn over lost possessions and deceased loved ones. The Avengers may have saved the city from being wiped off the map, but they couldn't save the souls tarnished with fear that only Loki could have stricken. Nevertheless, the Avengers had given the citizens of New York something a lot stronger than fear, and that was hope.

However, the Avengers had gone to their separate ways. Tony Stark was busy rebuilding the penthouse of the Stark Tower, Bruce Banner travelled to Indonesia to start a new chapter in helping the less fortunate, Steve Rogers went back on missions and lived in his apartment in Brooklyn, Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton were currently in Russia, busy cutting ties and messy knots from Natasha and possibly SHIELD.

Midgard was safe.

But that is not where our story starts.

It has been three days.

It's not much. In the span of three days, mortals could have gone to work, gone home and the day was over, sleeping to return to the same routine the next day.

It was a different case for Loki.

The first day, Thor and Loki returned to Asgard, with the Tesseract in tow, out of mortals' reach. They had walked into the throne room, and Loki faced his crimes with a chin tilted high and a certain glint in his eyes. The AllFather had yet to decide the suitable punishment for Loki, so when Loki was cast out to the dungeons, Thor was relieved. He has heard stories in his childhood that Odin would execute prisoners on the spot, the blood being wiped off by some of Odin's most trusted guards, Odin's eyes glinting in sorrow yet in contempt all the while. Maybe he held love for Loki, never mind him being beyond reason.

The second day, Loki had tried to plot his escape. He tried to send the guards askew with fake emergencies. Although Loki's magic was depleted, he could still create holograms of fire and whatnot. When the guards found the loophole, even if Loki used his last drop of magic to create an illusion of a fair maiden screaming in the tongues of fire, they had planted their feet rigidly to the ground. Loki decided to use his words, now free of the muzzle, but he was speaking to deaf ears. He only stopped trying when Thor came, and spoke "you are no monster, Loki. As to why you want to become one, I do not know."

The third day, his punishment was decided. Indeed, Odin still held love for Loki, so he did not execute the god, rather, gave him a more suitable punishment. "He is to stay as a mortal, living in Midgard, in the household of the man by the name Stark, and shall stay in Midgard powerless. Loki. You shall only receive your powers and godly traits if you are deemed worthy. Thor, you shall accompany him" Odin had spoken. Loki had thrashed around, screaming profanity after profanity at Odin, but could barely look at Frigga, who wore a look of sorrow. Thor had gently told Loki to stop, but Loki responded only with fire and ice. How he could wield two opposing elements just by words was impressive, but it wasn't enough to sway the AllFather's decisions.

Now, they are standing on the Bifrost.

Thor and Loki stand, side by side, their backs turned on the AllFather behind him, responsible for conjuring up energy to transport the two gods -well, the god and the mortal- to Midgard. Loki was still chained, but the muzzle was taken off. The god had gone a tad bit shorter. Thor doesn't know if it's from the spell of mortality or if Odin wanted to get kicks out of Loki's punishment. "Are you ready" Odin's heavy yet powerful voice filters the air, and Thor nods. Thor glances at Loki momentarily, seeing the different swirling expressions in his emerald eyes. They looked down at the darkness of the void, and Thor briefly remembers their last encounter here on the Bifrost. The beautiful bridge now just a ragged shard of glass, waiting for its next victim to take the wrong step.

All-too-suddenly, a portal appears and Thor and Loki take one last glance at Odin, and then they are sucked in. Thor is aware of Loki beside him, but it feels like he is detached from his own body. Finally, when he opens his eyes again, he stands on the very tower and very place where Loki stuck a dagger into his abdomen. Clenching Mjolnir harder, he turns to look at Loki, who briefly stumbled before steadying himself with a disgusted sniff.

"Come" Thor's voice rumbled "We shall alert friend Stark of our...visit."

"I see your remodeled the place, but did not fix the crater I made when your lumbering giant...The Hulk wiped the floor with my body" Loki drawled flatly, satisfied with Tony's expression: a cross between panic and anger. Loki also found it amusing that in less than five seconds prior to seeing Loki, Tony already has one repulsor ray aimed at him. Thor clicks his tongue as they stand awkwardly in the top floor, and speaks "come now, Loki. Do not jest."

Tony is silent for a few seconds, his mouth open and his eyes unmoving. But before anyone could say anything, Loki was on the floor, pinned down by none other than Tony Stark himself. "What the hell are you doing here?! Thor, yeah, buddy, wanna tell me why this god is in my tower" Loki struggled against Tony's grip, but being a mortal had its obvious disadvantages, so Loki begrudgingly stayed put. Thor stood off in the side, watching Loki and Tony with a cross between amusement and cautiousness, before he begins the tale of how they ended up here. When he finished, Tony shot upwards to the ceiling making rubble rain down on the three. "Sir, you have just fixed that ceiling -" "SAVE IT JARVIS I'LL FIX IT LATER." Thor spoke worriedly "friend Stark, have care with how you pin my brother down onto the floor, he is now a mortal therefore he is weak" Tony sighed, and got up, and watched with sick satisfaction as Loki struggled to at least get into the sitting position.

After twenty solid minutes of trying to get up and failing, Loki finally stands and wobbles slightly, but before he could say anything, he is being dragged to the elevator. Loki rolls his eyes, but complies anyway. Tony angrily jabs the button of the lower floors, and when they walk out, Loki is immediately locked into a glass cell. Loki sighs inside his new home, and sits down on the cold metal bench, a new fire of anger erupting inside of him. Tony triple locks the cell, and makes sure that the systems are flaw-free.

"Let's assemble"

The Avengers plus Nick Fury arrive in two hours, which was surprising because they knew Natasha and Clint were in Russia (Fury's a big liar). "What...the hell is this" Nick Fury exclaims, and they all stand before Loki's cell. Loki feels like a laboratory experiment, or a rat under inspection, as they shout and argue outside. Thor tells his story for over three times, Tony and Clint agree that Loki should die, Natasha is helping Bruce calm down and Steve and Nick Fury are observing the whole catastrophe.

"Are you all blind" a rage-filled voice joins in with the rest, and that gets them to stop. They turn around to see Loki standing as closely as possible, a tightly clenched fist resting onto the clean, smooth and unbreakable glass. Loki snarled "I am in your presence and you talk about me as if I am not here! I have heard you...loud and clear. Yes, I am your prisoner, and yes I am now a mortal. What else is there to discuss?" the silence doesn't satisfy Loki like it is supposed to. Loki realizes he's not just angry, he feels betrayed. Nick Fury is silent before finally saying: "you are all to stay here for the meantime, play house. Loki, you are now officially SHIELD's prisoner and you will stay that way until you are...deemed worthy, or whatever that means" and Fury walks away. The rest of the Avengers walk away too, except Thor, who stays behind.

"I'm sorry, brother. I tried to -" "to what, Thor? What could've you done? What could've you said to have changed my fate?!" Loki retaliates fiercely. "As I have said before, Loki. You are no monster. You became the monster you never were" and Thor left.

Loki also realizes that this is the suitable punishment for him. His cell the suitable chamber for a would-be king.