Yay! Another chapter! I feel so accomplished! For those of you wondering what Laufey looked like, or what the heck he's doing with Loki when he's cruel, I give you... LAUFEY'S STORY! Enjoy! I hope you understand what he went through, and the full impact this will bring to the story.

Tony walked into the room, smiling at the two curled up on the bed. Laufey had begun to look just a little more human, and it made Tony feel a bit better. At least he could help both of them. Though he still didn't know the link between the two. The thought popped into his head out of the blue, and he resolved to find out.

Laufey woke up when Tony walked in and silently twisted out of Loki's grip, getting up and going with Tony to help make breakfast for them. "You look like something's on your mind," the nurse said, stretching out a bit.

"Yeah, I… I suppose so. I just… I'm curious. Maybe it's not my business, but you're not just a nurse to him. And you said the past doctors were not good to him… so why are you the good guy here?" Tony asked. He hadn't meant to sound abrasive, but he wanted to know.

Laufey blinked, not having expected Tony's curiosity to be turned on him, and leaned back. "Well…" he sighed. "What, you want my story?"

"Well, yeah, sure, why not? Loki won't wake for a while."

Laufey stretched out, sighing softly as he thought. "Alright then…"

The nurse looked up at the doctor, preparing his beginning. He was a tall man, taller than Tony, but far too thin. His skin, which he remembered as tan, was now deathly white, almost blue, and his eyes, usually bloodshot, were once green, just like Loki's, looked less green and more red now. He looked dead, blending in with the white walls, his simple nurses uniform of white drawstring pants and a pullover shirt thin and hanging on his thin frame. He didn't like the way he looked now, he wished he looked like how he had all those years before. Dark brown hair… tanned skin, green eyes. He'd been well sought after just for that, but then he'd entered nursing school… Laufey smiled lightly at the memories.

"I… I was young. Foolish. I'd just graduated, gone through my training, and had been working for about a year. I had a new wife, and a small child, and everything seemed… just right. I was able to actually get a job here, which at the time was huge news. And then I began hearing horror stories. Some little kid had been brought in for attempted murder, and was strong enough to require two nurses to subdue him. I wondered what hell the kid had been through, and for a while, I refused to work on the floor. I didn't want to come home with horror stories about children, I already had my own child. But eventually, more and more people refused to work on the floor, and they began to move patients off the floor, so they could still receive treatment. My curiosity got the better of me."

"I met Loki when he was six. He'd already gone through ten different doctors, and no nurses would work with him anymore. We were offered a bonus, and… well, I needed all the money I could get for my son. So I signed up for the horror story, and went to the abandoned floor. This floor, actually," he murmured, looking around at the memory.

"I met the devil first, just as you did. He laughed at me, told me to go home to my wife and child. He knew things of me that no child would know, and that no patient did know. I… I was curious. So I listened to him, waited for my chance. I didn't force him, I guided him to things, I asked him to eat, I begged him to sleep, I never forced him. I guess he started to… take a shine to me, because slowly he began to accept it. Doctor after doctor would come, and they'd try to force him, and I'd tell them that wasn't how to do it, and they'd be thrown across the room. But every so often, Loki would come back, and he'd be the sweetest little boy, still scared of his own shadow. It took a lot longer to get him to trust me, but I managed, stealing whatever little sweets and food I could from the cafeteria to give to him."

"He was always cold, so I did what I could to get extra sheets, even taking some from the extra rooms no one would use. It was difficult, since whenever the devil came back, he'd shred them, but I tried. And Loki saw that."

"But like I said, I was a fool. After Fury… I lashed out at the devil, yelling at him for doing such a thing, saying it was wrong, and he shouldn't have done it. I went so far as to grab his arm. I didn't… well, I didn't think I hurt him, but… maybe I held his arm tighter than I should have. He glared at me, I remember… he was angry, and he promised that I would learn. He never said what I'd learn. But I learned."

Tony listened, having already decided that Laufey probably was the only guy who was nice to Loki, was glad his assumptions were correct. He wondered idly why no one would help Laufey if he was the only staff member that could get along with the "horror story", but let it go. But when the story began to turn sour, Tony sat forward eagerly. Perhaps not happily, but more in an anxious need to learn as much as he could about that damned devil before waging war on it. Laufey seemed to notice, for he smiled weakly and sat upright, preparing the worst part with little more than pure dread.

"I learned… I still remember that day. Loki was barely ten, when it happened. I left that morning, kissing my wife and hugging my son before going to find Fury. I came home to something much different. I…" he sighed shakily, forcing himself to push through. "I thought there was an intruder in the house. I walked in… there was blood… I jus'..." he paused, struggling to continue.

"Hey… you don't… you don't have to tell me," Tony said hurriedly. He didn't want to make the guy cry.

"No, I… I should… I should tell someone. I… it was an intruder. I thought it was an intruder. It… it was the devil. He'd… I don't know how. But he found his way, he knew where I lived… he killed them. He murdered my family. They… there was blood everywhere, he… he marked the walls… words… it was like a horror movie. Listen, see, obey…. Obey. I hated that word. I… I found them… a-and him. He was… standing over them," he whispered, shaking. "He… It was the devil. I know it… he w-was horrid."

Tony listened in growing horror, his heart pounding in terror as he listened to the story. "H-how…" he coughed, realizing he was trembling. That thing inside Loki had managed to escape and kill people… it wasn't just… killing a guy who was in the room, it was going out, breaking free of a… basically a prison, and murdering a woman and a child. That was a lot more terrifying than threats. He'd actually done it. "Laufey… I…" He didn't know what to say. No wonder the guy looked so horrible all the time, he had the weight of that on him.

"That's… not all," Laufey murmured, looking down at his hands. "I… even then, I didn't learn. I fought back. I tried to hit him, to hurt him like he had hurt me." He sighed, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. "So… he hurt me." With that, he leaned back, lifting up his shirt.

His torso was littered with the scars of hard work, his muscles thin, but strong. The middle of his chest, however, was a mess. Perfectly centered, horribly drawn, white scarring stretched across his skin in a twisted web, spelling out "Obey." It had healed, but from the way the scarring was, it was obvious that lots of blood had been lost, and that Laufey had suffered.

Tony gasped, feeling his adrenaline spike as he thought of how to possibly escape the terror he was seeing now. The Devil had done that… the Devil. The Devil was real, to be able to do such a thing to Laufey, to hurt Loki like he had been. It was horrible and nerve wracking. Quickly he looked away, fidgeting. "Jesus, man… I… I'm so sorry you had to go through that," he said, rubbing his face and sighing. "Damn, I'm so sorry," he murmured.

Laufey chuckled weakly, pulling his shirt back down. "I learned. I only hope it won't take the same effect on you," he said softly, looking up at him. "The Devil has no problem with killing. He has no problem with killing without reason. I don't want him to do the same to you."

"Well, you've got nothing to fear, Laufey," he said, steeling himself as he forced himself to stand up and calm down. "I don't have a family to go home to."