I know I said I wasn't going to write any more fanfiction. I guess I lied.
The sight of the young boy, sitting cross-legged in the center of floor, was met with an array of confused stares. All but one person, of course, who need not ask who the boy was -for he knew him immediately. Only Tony uttered what everyone else was obviously thinking.
"Um…is that…"
Thor chuckled to himself, but it sounded dry and painful. Because it wasn't amusement. It was acknowledgment. He cleared his throat, as though he could somehow erase the sound he'd just made.
"Loki looks…how he feels," he said.
His explanation was deliberately pithy. Certainly the others had ascertained by now, what sort of gifts for magic Loki possessed. Certainly they realized he was capable of altering his appearance, even subconsciously, if need be. Thor didn't really think he could bear to expand any further anyway. Only after he made the statement did he realize that he really couldn't even begin to assume how Loki felt at this moment. Did he really know how Loki felt about anything? Had he ever known? Either way, his choice seemed appropriate. Given the circumstances, Thor imagined that Loki might be feeling very small and helpless, much like a child. At least in this state, he was easier on the eyes. The condition that they had found Loki in -head closely shorn and face beaten almost beyond recognition- Thor could hardly bear to look at him.
"Well, at least he'll cost less to feed." Tony offered, softly, clearly sensing the heaviness in the room. No one laughed. No one even smiled. It was so quiet, it was hard to believe that anyone was still breathing.
"I have to ask," Steve began, breaking the awkward silence. "I mean…since no one else is going to…I have to ask…is he still…dangerous?"
Thor issued him a glare of disbelief. He felt the anger bubbling up inside him. He was angry at himself, mostly, but at this moment, whoever made themselves the target of his frustrations was surely a fool.
"Why…because he can turn himself into a boy? Is the mighty Captain Rogers afraid of a child?"
Steve shot back, immediately. "Are you forgetting what he did here?"
Thor closed his eyes, attempting to calm himself. How could he hope to explain? How could he hope to describe what his dreams had revealed to him…to this race of people who had barely begun to comprehend the value of such things? And at the same time, how could reconcile his own shame at not having realized it himself. Why did it take a dream to finally make things clear? Why did it have to be when it was too late to do anything about it?
"You just don't know," was all he could muster.