Loki's eyes opened as he felt the warmth of the first ray of dawn on his face. From his prison he silently observed the rising sun as it rose majestically. His eyes ached at the growing brightness but he didn't look away. That was ordinary pain therefore he barely registered the discomfort. Sunrise in Asgard was once a familiar sight as the golden city came to life with a majestic glow. It the most beautiful city in all the Nine Worlds…and a place he was once proud to call home. Now the familiar sight did not move him as it once did. He felt removed, detached, disconnected from the city of his childhood. It meant nothing to him now.

And yet…his heart ached with the burdensome memories. Why? Why did he remember at all? He lost so much in the cruel hands of Thanos, his own sanity almost. And yet he remembered bits and pieces of the past: the loving arms of Frigga as she whistled an ancient lullaby, the day Odin praised him for his acute intelligence and the time when he and Thor-

He clenched his teeth as his hands curled into trembling fists. No! He did not want to remember any of his past! It had been nothing but a lie from the very beginning! He forced himself to think about something else, anything to keep those terrible memories dormant once more. His thoughts naturally drifted towards his miserable failure on Midgard. He smirked. Sure why not? I'm in a rotten mood already. Why not be a masochist and dwell?

It should have been easy. Midgardians aren't special. They're weak-willed, selfish, petty creatures who care for no one but themselves. And on top of that they're only mortal which makes them fragile. They should have been easy to conquer. It's a shame that Thor and this band of Avengers were up to the challenge. How did five little humans and one arrogant God defeat an entire army? Even now…he still didn't understand how. He sighed as his gaze dropped down his hands that now rested on his lap. Oh well, theorizing about it wasn't going to get him out of this mess. He didn't care about his up-coming trial in Asgard; he could easily postpone sentencing by leaking tantalizing information, they'd waste so much time verifying it that he knew them reaching a verdict anytime soon wasn't likely. They were the least of his problems. His brow knit with concern as he remembered the Chitauri's threat: If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he can not find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain.

He sighed as he rested his head back against the wall. Back then he had easily dismissed it, full of pride and confidence. He was a God after all. How could he possibly fail? Now here he sat, shackled like a common thief. How long had it been now? One week? Two weeks? Each day was as boring as the one before. His brow knit with concern. Why hasn't Thanos punished him yet? Initially he was very concerned about being tortured all over again and the terror hadn't fully ebbed even with the passage of time. Why? Why is he suddenly so silent? The anticipation was almost more than he could stand. He was always one step ahead of the rest, calculating and methodical, and now to be left completely in the dark concerning his fate was unbearable. Perhaps that was Thano's intention, to drive him mad in isolation…well almost isolation.

Just then the lock in the door clinked as the jailer unlocked it from the outside. Loki narrowed his eyes as Thor entered the room. Every day he came…and every day it irritated Loki to no end. Thor stood there in his resplendent robes, devoid of his usual armor. And that crown on his head…Loki scowled softly as the very sight offended him. That crown should have been his. He had been the more responsible one, more interested in seeking peaceful alternatives where Thor had gone smashing through with that silly hammer of his. Picking Thor to rule had been one of Odin's many mistakes…as well as allowing a sickly frost giant baby to survive.

"Hello brother," Thor said as he took a seat. "How are you feeling this morning?"

He was really asking that? What a moron. But what did he expect from a dumb blonde? A delicious smile spread across Loki's smug face. "Never better. In fact I daresay I've never had finer accommodations."

Thor smirked back in response to his brother's jest and folded his arms across his broad chest as he reclined back in his seat. "You never let anything unnerve you. You could probably eat a raw egg with a genuine smile." He chuckled.

He went on to reminisce about some of their past adventures but Loki effectively tuned him out. When Thor first started coming to see him, Loki had thought that Thor was subtly trying to get information out of him. Now after weeks of similar visits, it seemed that Thor was only interested in recalling supposedly great memories of their childhood together. Why bother? What Thor looked fondly back on Loki found offensive. No one likes to be reminded of being tricked. Now Loki had reached the end of his patience. "What compels you to come here?"

Thor blinked in surprise. "Is it not obvious?"

"Most things you do are, but this time not so much."

Thor's gaze softened. "I'm trying to reach you brother."

Loki stood up and approached the energy cell wall. "That's not so difficult, deactivate the wall and touch me. Surely you didn't need me to explain that to you."

Thor frowned at the veiled insult. "That is not what I meant."

"Then elaborate."

Thori sighed and shook his head in exasperation. "Does our past truly mean nothing to you?"

Loki's expression darkened. Did Thor really think he could undo years of agonizing torture with one inspirational speech? The damage was done and there was no going back. "I look as fondly on those times as I do at the prospect of being devoured alive by a poison-fanged Rhesfaran." He sneered.

Thor looked pained at this. "I agree that Father should have told you the truth sooner, but that does not mean that we didn't love you."

Loki pressed a hand over his heart as he faked a sympathetic expression. "Oh how it warms the heart, an Asgardian pitying a Frost Giant," he said sarcastically. "Truly inspiring. As if you could so easily dismiss your hatred of them."

"You are my brother," Thor said firmly as he stepped closer. "Even if we are not connected by birth. It is my hope that one day…you will realize that and come home."

"Here I am," Loki smiled coldly as he held his hand out. "And I feel welcome already." Then his expression grew pained as he felt a terrible twist in his stomach, as if his insides were squeezed by some invisible source. He was all too familiar with this sensation. The time had finally come, he realized with rising panic. Thanos was summoning him and Loki's shape started to blur and fade away.

"Loki! Stop!" Thor cried out as he reached out towards him. Loki didn't have the pleasure of saying last words but even if he'd had the chance to he had nothing to say to his fake brother. The sight of his prison cell faded away and was soon replaced with the dreary wasteland of Kalvogon. Before it fully came into focus he was slammed into the ground face-first.

"You're not fit to be a God," Thanos sneered. "You're not even fit to live, taking away valuable air from those more deserving of it!" His large hand ground Loki's face into the rocky terrain, cutting it up. Loki did not resist for he knew it would only prolong the pain. "Laufey knew the right way to deal with you when he left you for dead. Even in your infancy he knew you were worthless!"

Loki's left hand curled into a defiant fist. He was not worthless! He was the son of a King! It didn't matter that Laufey had abandoned him. Royal blood, the thirst to command and control, coursed through his veins. That alone set him apart and made him special. It was one of the few truths that he desperately clung to. None of this he said aloud of course, that would only worsen Thanos' temper. On he continued to rage as he slammed Loki repeatedly into the ground, hard enough that his nose broke. Then he wrenched the battered man to his feet and glared severely. Loki wiped the blood from his nose on the sleeve of his white prison robe. "I don't suppose you'd accept an apology?"

Thanos snarled and slammed him so hard into the ground that he fell several hundred feet through the rocky soil and landed in a stream of molten lava that flowed below the surface of the planet. Only then did Loki scream. Granted falling into lava would be painful enough for a God (not to mention lethal to humans) but for a Frost Giant the pain was ten-fold. Their sensitivity to heat was extreme. He then broke through the lava's surface with a gut-wrenching scream that made his lungs ache. He gasped for air as his limbs twitched uselessly and his eyes rolled back into his head. He was on the verge of blacking out. This has happened before…so very long ago…and he knew that in order to survive, he'd have to drag himself out of the molten stream. Moving through it made every cell in his body in agony as he forced himself to move swim to the shore. I won't die here! Not like this! He gritted his teeth. With a growl of determination he grabbed hold of the jagged rocks with his blistered hands and dragged himself up and onto the rocky ledge. Curled up in fetal position the once proud and dignified King of Asgard laid trembling like a newborn child as silent tears trickled down his scarred face.

Ominous footsteps echoed throughout the cavern. It could only be Thanos. He clenched his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. He wanted to give in to the darkness; to slip into eternal sleep, never to awaken to the miserable existence he found himself in. "You will find no peace in death," Thanos murmured as if he'd read his mind. For all Loki knew, he probably could. "Just as how you've found none in life." He kicked Loki onto his back and ground the heel of his boot into his chest. Loki's blood-shot eyes widened as he gasped for air. The pressure on his chest only exacerbated the already excruciating pain. "I gave you one simple task; retrieve the Tesseract," Thanos' chilling whisper sounded like thunder. "I gave you everything you needed to succeed: A scepter containing a portion of my power and several legions of Chitauri at your disposal. And yet you still failed."

Loki's emerald eyes were unfocused and his breathing grew shallower. He had no desire to fight back or protest against his cruel words. In the beginning he had…and ever since had been paying the price for his reckless words.

"Do you know why you failed?" Thanos growled. "Because you're even weaker than those miserable humans…and I have no use for failures." He grabbed hold of Loki's collar, his menacing eyes bore into his sending a chill down Loki's spine. "I saved you because I saw once potential in you. Then you were a poor, misguided fool searching for meaning…a reason to exist. I am that reason! You were meant to serve me! I alone give you purpose!"

Thanos continued on, purring lies about Loki needing him and how he should be more grateful to him. After all he could have left him for dead. "No one else recognized your worth. I alone believed in you Loki. You would be nothing without me." Loki managed a small nod. Vulnerable and delirious with pain he saw wisdom behind the abuse. There can be purpose in pain, power even. If he too harnessed that power, the Nine Worlds would be his for the taking. But he needed Thanos to show him the way. He…was… grateful…

Thanos grinned cruelly to see Loki submit to his will once again. It didn't take as long this time to break him; the Asgardian was so pathetic and spineless. But that worked to his advantage; Loki was a valuable tool, the perfect minion. And he was needed once more. "There is one way you can make up for your failure," Thanos continued in his enticing tone, drawing Loki in with the promise of redemption.

"Anything," Loki's voice cracked.

"Bring Miko Hayashi to me."

"W-where can I…f-find him?" Loki choked out. It hurt so much to talk, the pain started to ebb but it left him so weak.

"You won't," Thanos said. "She will find you."

Loki's brow knit in confusion. He was supposed to retrieve a girl? That's it? That didn't sound so hard. Then he gasped as Thanos' hand closed around his throat and squeezed. "I've gone easy on you but if you fail me again, I will kill you slowly by dragging your lives out one by one. Then you will realize that you have never felt true pain."

A/N: Well friends...the impossible has happened. I've written my first non-Naruto fanfic! Heck, this isn't even anime-based! But I loved the Avengers movie so much, (especially Loki's transformation) that I just had to write a story about him. So Loki fans please be patient with me as I get used to capturing his unique personality. I also think I ought to explain about Miko Hayashi, especially for those who are familiar with her in my Heart Series. This is that same lovable Kitsune BUT in this universe she never met Itachi or had her family. This is just another life for her so hopefully that makes sense.