I'm not sure if I like this or not...

Thor and Tony

Thor watched as his brother twitched in his sleep. He was so peaceful like this. If only his dreaming state was similar to how he was when he was awake. Unfortunately for Thor, he knew this was an impossibility. Even if his brother was redeemed, he was sure nightmares would plague his nights.

His brother was in the same cell he was in when he was being held captive by S.H.I.E.L.D. while the Avengers cleaned up his mess. As soon as Thor's services were no longer needed, he would take his brother and leave for Asgard.

Loki was laying in his cell, peaceful in his slumber. However, it would not stay like that for very long. Even as Thor watched, a night terror was finding its way to Loki, interrupting his rest.

"What're you doing?"

Thor had not noticed anyone come in, but when he turned, he saw Tony Stark, more commonly known as Iron Man, standing behind him. There was something in his eyes that suggested he was more than slightly unsettled about watching a god in the dead of night.

"I simply wish to see my brother… without him sending witty remarks at me," Thor said.

"Sounds good," said Tony, "I thought you guys d…" he trailed off as he noticed Thor wasn't listening. He was looking in the cell. Loki's twitching had become more intense than before.

He was close to thrashing about, but he looked like his teeth were gritted and he was trying to stop moving. He came to a stop and relaxed, breathing heavily. He still hadn't awoken.

"Uhh, what was that about?" Tony asked.

"I assume Loki is having a nightmare." Thor said. "I hope, for his sake, it does not get worse."

""Get worse"? Like thrashing, screaming, scaring the fuck out of me, that kind of worse?"

Thor just nodded. He was staring intently at the sleeping figure, his mouth starting to move as if talking in his sleep, and his hands clenched the blankets tightly.

Sweat began to appear on his forehead, and Thor was looking worried. Loki let out a small whimper and turned his head towards them.

The two Avengers could see his face clearly. His eyes were scrunched tight, and his mouth was moving faster. Suddenly, Loki arched his back and screamed. It was terrible. A horrible screech that made Thor shiver all the way down his spine.

Tony was about to say something, but a glare from Thor made him shut his mouth. If his brother was in pain, he did not want a Midgardian interrupting him.

"Brother," he called, "wake up. It is just a dream."

Either Loki couldn't hear him or he was in too much pain to understand what was being said. He had stopped screaming, but he was still thrashing wildly.

Thor rushed over to the door of the cell.

"Stark, let me in," he said, in his best 'powerful god' voice.

Tony bit his lower lip before shaking his head slightly.

"Look, Thor," he said, "I understand that he's your brother, and you want to comfort him or whatever, but I can't let you in there. What if he's faking all of this so he can escape?"

"My brother would not do that." Thor said. "He would not allow anyone to see a weakness of his, even if it is not a real weakness."

"I… If he escapes, I'm blaming you."

Tony reluctantly pushed a few buttons to open the door. As soon as Thor was inside, he shut it again and left the room. He couldn't handle watching a god comfort his younger, evil brother, no matter what the circumstances were.

Loki

Loki's world was perfect. He was walking among the people of Midgard, watching in delight as the pitiful humans scattered in fear at the sight of him. Loki smirked.

Then, he saw something. A shadow. It crept into his line of sight, and Loki saw that it was just that: a shadow. It expanded and covered his surroundings until they vanished completely. Loki looked calm, but inside, he was scared, not that he would let anyone know that.

Loki started to unwillingly live his fears. He saw Thor, and watched as he was killed. He was stabbed in the chest by a frost giant, a monster. He saw Thor try and speak, but he collapsed and his eyes closed. His chest rose one last time before coming to rest, still.

"Thor…" he whispered. "Don't… you can't… THOR!"

Thor didn't look up. He was pale and bleeding, and the working part of Loki's brain said he was dead. The other part, however, the part that was in control, wanted to destroy the monster that killed his brother.

He looked at the frost giant, who just smiled a crooked smile.

Loki lost all of his thoughts. He lunged at the foul beast, attacking it with whatever he could find. The frost giant, and Thor, vanished after a few minutes, and Loki was still angry, but he was also scared. If that was only the beginning, what could be next?

Thor

Thor watched with growing concern when Loki paled in his sleep. His dream must be bad.

He almost had a heart attack when Loki started talking.
"Thor…" He whispered.

"I'm here, Loki," he said, placing his hand on Loki's.

"Don't…"
Thor removed his hand. Maybe Loki was semi-conscious and was telling him not to touch him.

"You can't… THOR!"
When Loki called his name, Thor knelt down next to Loki. He tried to shake him awake, but he wouldn't wake up. He would just have to wake up naturally, putting Thor through torture of the worst kind: being powerless to save someone he loves.

He was relieved when Loki started to calm down, and stopped moving. However, good things could never last, and Thor was powerless to do anything when his brother started shaking and shivering.

"Brother, fight the dream," he said. "You're stronger than anything your mind can create."

Thor pulled up Loki's blanket until it was up to his chin. He could see his eyes moving around under his eyelids and felt a wave of guilt wash over him. Maybe if Loki was treated better as a child, he would not be having nightmares that were this bad.

Thor took a chair from the side of the room and brought it over next to Loki. He sat down and braced himself for possibly the toughest night he had ever encountered.

Loki

Loki scrunched up his eyes and willed himself away from his location. He felt a cool breeze, starting out slow but gradually building speed until he was fighting to stay upright. He tried to pry open his eyes, but the wind kept them closed. He had no way of knowing what was going to happen.

Then, the roar of the wind vanished, but Loki could still feel it. He couldn't hear anything. Two of his senses – sight and hearing – were both gone, and it was still getting colder and the wind was getting faster.

He could feel the less secured pieces of armour bending and peeling away from the rest. He tried to grab onto the flailing armour, but they ripped of and flew away. Soon, the wind had blown away all of his armour, leaving him in his thin clothes he wore underneath.

Loki started to shake. He felt so naked and unprotected.

He tried to take a step forwards, but a blow to the side of his head knocked him over, sending him to the floor.

Loki grabbed his head, which erupted in pain. He found it harder to think clearly, and stumbled to his feet. He whirled around, not sure where his attacker was. The wind was still roaring, unheard by Loki, and his eyes were plastered shut.

His leg was kicked out from under him, forcing him to his knees. Loki got angry. He did not kneel to anyone, no matter who or what they were.

"I do not kneel," he said. At least, he thought he said that. He couldn't even hear himself speak.

A dark voice echoed in his head. "Then you must learn," it said.

Loki could feel something cold run down his arm, followed by warmth and pain from the trail it left. His attacker had a knife, and he was torturing Loki, who had no way of knowing where the next hit was going to be.

He grasped his arm and staggered to his feet. He tried to run, but a sudden burning pain in his left leg brought him crashing down to the cold, smooth surface beneath him. He felt a hand grip his hair and pull him up again. He staggered away, but soon fell on his knees when his pained leg gave out from under him.

"Kneel and the pain will fade," the menacing voice was back in his head.

Loki tried to stand again, but his injured leg couldn't cope. He sent a wave of magic to his leg, which numbed the pain so he could straighten himself. He avoided putting any weight on his left leg, and turned his head to where he thought the voice came from.
"No," he said. "I will not be ruled."

"Fair enough," it said, the words echoing in his head.

Loki stood still for a moment; nothing was happening. Then, his head erupted in pain. It felt like every bone in his body had turned to lava. He fell to the ground, writhing and screaming, trying to shake the pain away. Each time he moved, it only got worse, until it felt like he was being electrocuted, but a thousand times worse.

Loki's voice was hoarse from screaming, adding a sore throat to his long list of injuries. He wanted it to stop more than anything. He felt as though he was dying.

"Pl-please," he stuttered between screams.

The crazed thing didn't hear him between the rushing wind and how feeble Loki's voice was.

Through his jumbled thoughts and scattered mind, Loki thought he heard Thor telling him something.

"Lo… e… trong…" Thor's voice was echoed and quiet, and Loki couldn't comprehend what he was saying.

Loki focused on his brother's – not his brother, a part of his mind feebly reminded him – voice and not on the pain. He was thankful when he lost consciousness.

Loki and Thor

When he woke up, he mentally scolded himself for falling asleep. He looked up and noticed two things, the first being that there was a terrible pain in his neck from how he slept, and the second, much more important, was that Loki wasn't in his bed. He shot up and whirled around. He saw his brother in the corner of his cell, staring out of the glass.

It seemed he was thinking about something, because he didn't notice when Thor walked over and squatted next to him.

"Loki," he said softly, not wanted to scare him.

Loki's head whipped around, somehow managing to bang into the glass as he did so. He gave his brother a quick glare before massaging the back of his head. Loki didn't acknowledge Thor at all, returning to stare out of the window, looking uncomfortable.

From what Thor saw of Loki, he didn't look good. He was pale and he was shaking slightly.

He was going to address him again, but Loki spoke first.

"What do you want?" He asked, his voice hoarse from his earlier screams.

Thor raised his eyebrows. Loki thought he would be in his cell just because he wanted something?

"Nothing. I- I saw you having a nightmare, so I came in," he said, "to make sure you were okay."

Loki glanced up at him again. Thor couldn't help but think how vulnerable his brother looked like this, his knees drawn up to his chest, pressed into a corner.

"Get out." Loki's voice had turned cold, and Thor didn't know what he did to offend him.

"Brother, I do not understand," he said, "what did I-"
This apparently made Loki madder.

"Get out!"

Thor looked at Loki. His eyes were wild and he was still shaking badly. He got up slowly, and backed away to the door. He was still confused about Loki's sudden mood change.

"If you need me…" Thor trailed off before exiting the room to find Tony.

Tony and Thor

Inside the living room, Tony and Thor were talking about Loki.

"Dude, he's a maniac. Stop worrying about it," Tony said.

"Mind your words," Thor said. "Loki is my brother, and he is troubled."

"Yeah, he's mentally messed up," he muttered.

Thor continued as if he couldn't hear him.

"I was hoping you could help me find out what is wrong with him."

Tony ran a hand through his hair. He quickly glanced at his watch. Four in the morning.

"I don't know!" Tony said. "It's too early for this. Even if I knew what was wrong with him, why would I want to help him? He's a sick little god who thinks killing people is a worthy way to spend his time,"
Thor narrowed his eyes.

"I mean, I had daddy issues as well, but, hell, I got over it! I didn't let any of that stuff get to me. I was smarter than that. Your little brother is an idiot, taking anything and everything that was said against him and using it as an excuse for all of the crazy shit he gets up to."
Thor clenched his fist. Nobody could insult his brother, even if some if what Stark was saying was true.

"It'd be better off if we just ignored him and let him die in a hole somewhere."
Upon reflection, Tony would realise that saying to a god that he wanted his little brother to go and die was most likely a bad idea. And he was right. Before he knew what was happening, Tony had found out what it felt like to be punched in the face by the strongest god he had ever met. He blacked out on the carpet, leaving a puddle of drool in his wake.

Thor knew he probably shouldn't have punched his friend, but he couldn't stand anyone saying anything against Loki.

As he stepped over the body of an unconscious Tony, he vowed to himself that he would get the old Loki back, the one that didn't worry about anything and happily fought beside his older brother, before any of this nonsense started.

"I will find you again, brother,"

So, how was that? I don't think I'll write another chapter, because I can't really think of anything to put in a story that hasn't been done before. I don't know whether this is meant to be more whump, angst, brotherly-ness or whatever. I just wanted an excuse to bash up Loki (although in real life, I would probably hug him to death. :D)

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