Warning: Blood, Mentions of torture

Disclaimer: I own not the characters of this story

Chapter 6 -Dangerous Burdens

When Loki woke up again it was already late in the morning, the sun fast on its way towards noon. He shuffled in the soft covers of his bed, letting out a contempt sigh at the warmth. He felt relaxed and rested something he hadn't felt in a very long time. He was back in his chambers in Asgard. In a while, a servant would knock on his door to wake him up and bring him his rich breakfast. It all had been a dream; everything was still the same, still perfect in their peaceful illusion.

Slowly, he opened his eyes to take in his surroundings. The soft yellowish walls of the simple guest room he found to surround him had nothing to do with the golden and green grandness of his chambers. As if a lightning struck him, the memories came back to him in a blurry haze. The pain from his abused body didn't register, as the shock of the previous night's events jolted him up from the soft mattress. He brought his hand to cover his mouth, as he took a few deep breaths to calm himself. How could something like that happen...? How could he have lost control like that...! The shame that washed over him left him trembling, pain and hunger forgotten, with a hollow feeling curling up in his stomach. He had let the mortal see such an undignified and weak side of him... Not to mention that he almost killed the only creature in centuries that had showed him even the tiniest amount of kindness and understanding in the Nine Realms. He couldn't stand it, couldn't stand the memory, the feeling of flesh crashing under his fingers, of himself crumbling in the hands of a mortal, his enemy.

He felt restless. As his breathing slowly calmed down, his senses came back, punishing him for ignoring them for so long. He grunted from between his clenched teeth but didn't budge. The feeling was too unbearable to stay put. Slowly and painfully, he willed himself to stand up from the safety and comfort of the bed, and he tried a few unsteady steps towards the door at the side of the small room, that was obviously a bathroom. He almost collapsed but managed to reach the door frame and hold himself up. One more pause in-front of the mirror above the sink made him want to cry again. His usually shimmering green eyes, were now dull and red, with thick dark circles surrounding them. His skin was a sickly shade of white and his usually sharp cheeks were slightly more hollow, a result of months of lack of sustenance. He was just a tired shadow, a hollow shell of his former strong, proud self. Though it had been quite a while since he had felt like himself, like he had control over his actions and decisions with his mind free of physical and emotional strain, this time he had hit rock bottom, with no means yet to find a ladder to climb upwards.

He opened the tap and splashed cold water to his face, spreading it through his hair with his fingers. The freezing water send chills down his spine, and he hurried to bury his face in the soft towel that hung from the stool next to the sink. While he was indeed born from ice and had frost flow in his veins, he really disliked the feeling of cold on his skin, just like he despised the cerulean form of his true heritage. As he removed the towel from his face, his eyes fell on the cuffs that still framed his wrists as bracelets. He stared at them for a while, missing the pleasant feeling of magic surging through his body, spreading the feeling of being alive into him. Reminding him that there was indeed something he was good at, even if the barbarians of Asgard never appreciated it. The loss of his magic took a great toll on his body and mind, the feeling of missing something vital and the helplessness not helping with his obvious depression.

He stumbled out of the small bathroom and out of the main exit of the bedroom, to the empty corridor. He didn't have a specific destination, nor was he trying to run, but the four walls of the room felt too much like a cage. He briefly wondered if he should search for Stark, but dismissed it immediately. He wanted to be alone. Even though there was no one there, he attempted to save some of his dignity by trying to stand properly and walk straight without limping too much. Didn't really work, the pain of his wounds stinging harshly, like daggers were once again inserted into his frail body. With trembling steps he continued down the corridor, ignoring all the pain and discomfort. That worked better, for a while, until the room around him started spinning. He fell to the side against the wall, desperately struggling to hold himself upwards by clawing the concrete. He fell on his knees, side still against the wall, breath heaving from the strain. His blurred eyes caught sight of something deep red dripping to his grey borrowed pants and leaving small round stains. He weakly lifted one hand to his face, realizing that the blood was coming from his nose. He was stunned. Even with his proud and stubborn demeanor, he acknowledged that he was in a pretty bad shape. He never realized it was that serious though. He tried to stand up again, deciding that his trip outside his room should have to wait, and planning on hurrying back to his bed, but his legs wouldn't listen to him. He fell back down with all his weight crashing on his knees. He wasn't sure if he heard something crack, but he couldn't care at the moment. He had spotted more red on him, this time staining the bandage at his middle and spreading fast.

"...by the Nine...!" he exhaled in an exasperated manner. Last thing that passed his mind before his senses failed him was that Stark would be quite furious by the fact that he would have to stitch him up all over again.

Once the hysteric god had calmed down enough he had immediately fallen asleep in Tony's embrace. Tony cradled Loki carefully in his arms and carried him to the bed, covering him with the blanket. His neck and throat still hurt and he was thoroughly exhausted. Still, he couldn't put blame on Loki. The god was damaged; his actions were purely instinctive defense, triggered by the trauma that the torture had caused. The questions that lingered in his mind but he never voiced flooded his mind again. Who had done that to the Trickster? He could imagine Asgard to be ruthless and the punishments severe, but how could Thor stand for something like that? Hell, the god had been fucking raped! How could someone that claimed to still value the villain as his brother and still defended him when everyone was out for him let that happen to his little brother? Unless he wasn't aware of this, in which case even more questions emerged, like how could the prince not know? Or was Loki somewhere where Thor couldn't reach him, in which case, the Thunderer would have lied when he said that Loki would face fair, Asgardian justice. Or was it something else entirely and Tony was missing the main point?

The billionaire rubbed his temples with his thumbs and sighed. He was too tired for this. With heavy steps he dragged himself to his room and collapsed on his bed as an uneasy sleep consumed him.

When morning came, the inventor woke up surprisingly refreshed, despite the dreams that still haunted him in his sleep. He dragged himself to the bathroom for the usual morning ritual. He was brushing his teeth when his eyes fell on his neck through the mirror. Two clear, deep purple and blue hand prints covered the skin, leaving no questions to what had happened to him.

"Damn..." How does someone conceal such an obvious evidence? Makeup was not an option -why would Tony Stark have makeup in his house anyway- and he really couldn't stand clothes that restricted his throat, like high neck-lines. He settled for a bandage and a button-up shirt with high collar that hid some of it. It wasn't like he expected anyone anytime within the day, but one can never be too careful.

With his mind and body still half-functional from the sleep, he walked to the kitchen, where his usual mug with black coffee already awaited him. He took it between his hands and moved to the next room, where a couch lingered in front of the huge glass windows that gazed over the oversized city. He crashed on the soft pillows letting himself sink back and relax.

"Jarvis, bring up anything new I should know."

"Yes, sir. "

A big holographic screen appeared in front of Tony, Many articles and statistics dancing around before organizing themselves for Jarvis to announce.

"Actors Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Hiddleston admitted in latest interview-"

"Pass...! Only the important ones Jarvis..." He cut the A.I. with a sigh. "Jesus, it's like you don't know me at all...! What's SHIELD been up to lately? Any tips about a mad Norse god on the loose?"

"Nothing indicating that they possess any knowledge about Loki Odinson' s appearance on Earth. They do however plan on experimenting on a new theory of extracting power from the magic scepter to gather information for a new weapon. The plans have been saved into your personal server for later study, sir."

Jarvis proceeded on filling Tony in the latest Stark Industries news and formal messages from the CEO of the company, Pepper -who was obviously still mad at him. Tony yawned in his palm and gulped down a considerate amount of the bitter liquid. He wasn't ready to be bothered with boring company stuff like meetings and marketing, he wasn't awake enough for that.

"How about the team? " He asked after another lengthy yawn.

"Mr. Barton and Mrs. Romanoff are currently employed in Italy. They will be back in approximately a week. Mr. Rogers is on standby, currently taking his morning stroll, according to SHIELD surveillance. Mr. Odinson' s whereabouts are unknown and Mr. Banner is currently heading to your location."

It took a few moments for Tony to register Jarvis's words and almost choke with his coffee.

"HE' S WHERE?"

Jarvis didn't have time to answer before the elevator's slight 'ping' was heard and Dr. Bruce Banner -aka. the Hulk- walked casually in the room with a pleasant smile on his face.

"Tony." He greeted shyly. "It's been a while."

"H-Heya, Brucie! " Tony forced his voice to stay steady and answer cheerfully. "What brings you here?"

"You called me a week ago to invite me over to try that new theory of yours - what was it again? - and told me to come by whenever I could." He said raising an eyebrow at the question. He figured Tony could be drunk again though and didn't push the subject. "So, here I am."

"Yeah...yeah I can see that. Come, sit down, do you want a glass of something? Coffee? Whiskey?" Cold sweat covered Tony' s body and he hoped Bruce wouldn't notice it. He should make sure that Loki was hidden enough, but Jarvis was not an option with the Hulk in front of him.

"Tony...is this a bad time? I could leave, I don't mind."

Tony's first thought was that 'yes please disappear', but Bruce was his buddy, he couldn't kick him out. Not to mention that it would be downright suspicious.

"No, no it's ok" he answered after a short pause.

He walked to the kitchen to pour Bruce a cup of the same black coffee he had and Bruce followed him quietly. The inventor offered his friend and partner the mug and the other accepted it with a smile. His smile turned to a worried sharp look though when his eyes fell on his teammate's bandaged neck. He took a couple of worried steps towards the inventor.

"Tony, what happened to you?" he asked with genuine concern.

Tony looked at him surprised and confused, until Bruce gestured to his neck, waiting for a convincing answer.

"Oh...that. It's nothing... I had an accident with the latest suit prototype. Nothing serious." He made the excuse on the spot, but Bruce looked convinced. Yay for years of experience on slipping away with almost anything due to his remarkable skill of talking his way out of situations like this. Also the team was used to seeing him in bandages from his dangerous experiments by now, which made that all the more believable.

Bruce believed him, but he still couldn't help but worry. It was his job after all, his first instinct as a doctor was to worry when people got hurt, and the second to help them.

"May I take a look?"

Tony flinched.

"Nah, no need it's nothing, really. Let's go, I have a lot of new stuff to show you!"

Bruce frowned but didn't push the subject. He knew Tony could be stubborn -well 'stubborn' didn't begin to describe it actually- so he knew it was a lost battle. He sighed and followed his 'science-buddy' to the labs. He really was curious at what new technologies Tony had cooked up in there.

All of the time, Tony was running options through his head. In his mind he knew there was little to no chance that Bruce would come across Loki, since the god was shut in his room, but still he couldn't help it. And he couldn't risk it.

Unfortunately for him, the only way to keep Bruce busy and not draw unnecessary suspicion -the kind of suspicion that breeds unwanted questions and brings a very worried Steve, Pepper and the team in mother-hen mode to the tower- was to lead him to his workshop and present him with his ideas. It'd be great to do that, but there was one tiny and probably not really concerning detail. To go down to his workshop they would have to take his personal elevator. His personal elevator was close to his room. To go to his room, they had to pass through the kitchen, and as a result pass the long corridor that led to an injured god.

But he had no alternatives. So he sucked his worries up and led the way.

Loki slowly tried to will his heavy eyelids to open. It was hard, he felt too tired for anything more than a few short and strained breaths. He could feel himself lying on the floor against the wall, his side painfully twisted against the expensive rug that covered the floor of the long corridor. He could feel his blood slipping through the freshly re-opened slash on his stomach, the soft material underneath him slowly but steadily soaking with it, leaving him with a really unpleasant feeling. He couldn't even move his fingers; he had lost too much blood. He didn't know for how long he'd been out, for how long he lay there with his life slowly abandoning ship. With strained effort, he managed to peek through his heavy eyelashes and notice that it was almost dark around him. There were no windows at that part of the tower so no light source unless someone turned it on manually or made Jarvis do it. He tried to use his voice... he may not be fond of Stark but right now he desperately needed him, but no sound could come out. Was it the end? Was his fate to die from blood loss sprawled on the floor like a broken doll...? True, death was what he desired, what he wished for everyday for the past many long months...But...

It was as long as he could keep himself grasped in consciousness. He trailed back into the darkness as a tear rolled unnoticed down his cheek.

AN- I apologize for the cliffhanger…! xP Hopefully chapter 7 will be ready soon, so you won't have to wait long.

Not much Tony/Loki interaction this time, and a lot of stupidity from the god, I hope you enjoyed it and it didn't seem much OOC…
As I have mentioned before I really enjoy shedding blood in my stories, so I try to drag out situations like this as much as I can, before I go on to the next one. Yeah, expect a lot of blood in this…! Also Bruce is in the picture! (yay for Bruce fans~ ^^) No bromance indented between the 'science-bros' but if you are a fan of that be free to use your imagination~

Please inform me about any obvious mistakes. Your reviews urge me to write more and more of this!

Sorry for my rumbling, I'll stop here. :P

Until next time~!

edit- It seems that a few people got confused about Jarvis not doing anything to alert Tony while Loki is bleeding to death, so I put this extra note here to answer your questions. Jarvis is programed (ordered actually) to keep Loki's presense in the tower secret. Loki wakes up while Tony is being debriefed by Jarvis (Jarvis didn't inform of that since Tony was busy), and walks out of the room while Bruce arrives at Tony's floor. So Jarvis doesn't get the chance to inform Tony of what's happening with Loki. I'm sorry, I know I should have made the chronological order and general situation more clear. More will be explained in the next chapter. Sorry for the confusion.