A/N

Longer chapter, less than a week after the last one! I'm really taking advantage of this week as much as I possibly can. Reviews give me life, I love to hear what you think:)

They were rushed up to Tony's lab the moment they made it back to the tower. Loki could hear the voices of the team arguing up ahead, but as they entered the lab and saw the form that lay slumped at the center of the room, all the voices seemed to fade away into static and mumbles.

He knew it was unconscious, he knew it couldn't hurt him, but he couldn't help the terror that flooded through him as he looked into the blank eyes of the Chitauri.

You can't hide, Laufeyson. It doesn't matter how far you run, Lord Thanos will always find you…

"Loki!" He blinked, and he was staring into green eyes instead of black, the freezing chill faded from his limbs as he recognized Natasha. "Hey, can you hear me? It's not awake, it's tied down. It can't hurt you."

He could feel the eyes of all the Avengers on him. Shame at his reaction replaced terror, and he forced down the panic that threatened to overwhelm him to flash his most confident smile at the group. "Sorry, I'm ok."

Nearly every person in the room had enough experience with trauma and flashbacks to recognize the look in the boy's eyes, but for the majority of them the alien in the middle of the room took priority over a scared little boy.

"So, we were hoping you could explain this for us?" Tony gestured to the creature. "It showed up about an hour ago, tried to take out half the team before we managed to knock it down. Any idea how it found us?"

"N-no. I know it was looking for me though." Around him, the faces of the team were suspicious. Forcing himself to swallow the nausea and terror that rushed through his veins at the sight of the monster, he approached it and pulled off the helmet. He didn't recognize the face. "It's probably just a scout, but I don't know if the fact that it was here means anything. He might just be really stupid and thought he could take you on…"

"But what if it's not? They might have found your location, there might be more on the way." Steve had his arms crossed, leaning against the back wall.

"Well, one of you can try asking him when he wakes up."

"They can speak?"

Shit. He'd forgotten none of them spoke the all-tongue. If he were to have his way, he would never hear one of these things speak again, but there didn't seem to be a way around it. "Yeah, they can speak, but I suppose not to any of you. Maybe if he was higher ranking he would know how, but…" he trailed off, words vanishing from his tongue as the creature in front of him slowly blinked its eyes open.

The team all tensed, hands on weapons, but Loki's entire focus was on the Chitauri.

"Laufeyson."

Deep inside the boy, something clicked. The memories the reptilian voice was bringing back were too much for him to handle, and something like a defense mechanism was evoked. Some old memory, a part of him that had as of yet stayed buried, pushed it's way to the surface of his consciousness and took over. The kind of confidence that can only come with years and years of practice pushed his fear away, not getting rid of it, but just covering it.

"Hello." His shoulders straightened and a smile flickered across the boy's face. "So, I guess you found me, congratulations. Guess you couldn't get past them, though. Too bad, I suppose you won't be able to tell Lord Thanos my whereabouts now."

The chitauri grinned "How foolish do you think us? I was sent to scout the city, when I do not return they will know exactly where to find you. Hell is returning for you, little prince, and you can't run any more."

The smirk didn't fade from his face despite the fact that he felt as though a hand was gripping his internal organs. "Airplanes. Fantastic inventions. I could be across the country in minutes, thanks to the warning you've given us." He knew there was no real point in arguing with the creature, but he needed to see how easily he would be followed.

It's smile turned into a snarl. "You cannot flee for the rest of your life, runt. Men like you are the scum of the universe, and you will get what is coming for you."

"W-well it's a good thing I'm still a boy, then." His mask of confidence was cracking, and he backed away before the Chitauri could see. He turned back to the door. "I got all I can from him. Kill him, imprison him, I don't care. Just don't let him go." He grabbed the crutches he had left leaning on the wall and turned to Natasha, quickly summing up everything the Chitauri had said before limping out the door. He couldn't stay in there for one more second with those beady eyes watching him. A voice was calling him back, but the adrenaline was fading and emotions were welling back up and blocking out his senses. He barely managed to make it back to his room before collapsing on the bed, shaking.

What the hell was that? His fingers grasped tightly at the bedsheets as he stared down at the flickers of magic that were dancing around his aching leg. It was a one-time thing, just trigged by fear. It doesn't mean anything, he tried to reason. He knew he was lying to himself though. It had felt too right, too natural to slip on that persona and manipulate the Chitauri to just be a weird instinctual reaction. It was something that was very much a natural part of him, like his magic or his green eyes. He could try and make up for his past as much as he wanted to, but as he watched the last sparks of magic fade away against his jeans he was reminded more and more that there were parts of who he had been that he would never be able to escape.

Hours passed. Loki could hear shouting through the walls as the Avengers argued, his own name coming up fairly often. From what he could make out, they were trying to figure out what to do with him. Tony seemed to be all for shipping him across the planet and calling Thor, but other voices, mainly Steve's, were arguing that they had a duty to actively protect him.

The light was fading outside, and any tears he had shed had long dried by the time his bedroom door creaked open. The Avengers had been silent for a while, and Loki had assumed they had all gone off to be angry at each other in peace, so he was surprised when Natasha entered his room.

"Hey, Loki. Steve's gonna bring you some dinner in a while, ok? It's his night to cook, but I don't think anyone else is going to eat." She sat carefully on the bed beside him. "How are you feeling?

"Doesn't matter."

"Not great, then. I'd ask why, but I don't think you'll tell me."

Loki sighed, looking down still. "Are you saying you didn't notice me basically turn back into the god of lies back there? Honestly, that thing was probably right, you should just hand me back to Lord Thanos."

She didn't respond for a moment, but once she did it wasn't to acknowledge what he'd said. "Why do you call him 'Lord'?"

He was too emotionally drained to soften his answer. "I had it beaten into me. It takes effort not to now." A bitter smile crossed his features as he thought about it. "I suppose if his point was to prove my inferiority he succeeded pretty well."

"Ok, well here's some advice, if you want it. Try to stop calling him that. You have to get him out of your head, get rid of the idea that he controls you. He doesn't own you anymore, alright? He doesn't have any power over you that you don't give him." When he didn't reply, she touched his shoulder lightly. "Think about it, at least. But until you figure that out, lay on your stomach and take your shirt off because you're bleeding again."

He hadn't noticed until she'd pointed it out, but there was in fact blood trickling down his back from a sharp pain near his spine. He did as she asked and lay down, wincing as the movement tugged at the injury. From the feel of it, he'd popped a stitch on his upper back that had as of yet refused to heal. Natasha had guessed it was probably magic, and Loki's memories of getting it were too fuzzy too offer a better explanation.

The med kit opened with a click, and he braced himself for the needle. He wasn't prepared for fingers though, and when hers brushed the old burn on his shoulder he jumped a little.

"He really did go all out to hurt you, didn't he." It was a statement, not a question.

He shrugged. "It's just a burn."

There was a pause. "No, it's a brand. I don't know what it says, I don't speak whatever language this is, but it's not just a burn."

A brand. For a split second, Loki's mind was back in those tunnels, and he flinched away from the memory the glowing red symbols ready to be pressed into his skin. He hadn't read them at the time, and now that he was thinking about it he realized he still had no idea what they had said.

Natasha's voice pulled him out of the flashback. "I guess there was probably magic involved with this, too. It is a brand, so it probably won't ever completely fade, but it shouldn't be hurting anymore."

"He wanted me to remember whatever it says. I guess it's not much of a reminder if I can't feel it." He breathed a laugh. "Not much of one if I don't know what it says, either."

"He didn't tell you?" she asked, surprise clear in her voice.

He shrugged, wincing when it tugged at the open cut. "Maybe he did. I mean, I wasn't really listening to what he way saying. I was sort of distracted."

Natasha had never asked for any of the closer details of his time with Thanos, and she could sense that this was getting too close to that for her to pry. If Loki wanted to talk, he could, so she fell silent and focused instead on stitching until the door opened again.

"Hey, I brought dinner." Steve dropped onto the bed, setting a tray beside him as he glanced over them both. "That still hasn't healed?"

"No. But it's stitched now, should stay for a while." Natasha tapped her patient's shoulder to let him know he could sit up.

"Stark still refuses to leave the kitchen table, so I thought we could all eat in here?"

Loki shrugged as he settled back onto the bed. "Fine with me. Are you upset with him?"

"He's being a little too himself for my taste." He passed them both plates. "Plus, he refused to let Jarvis turn the microwave on for me, so as far as I'm concerned he can find his own dinner."

Loki , who had immediately started on his food, choked on a bite of salad as he tried not to laugh. Both adults smiled, both at his reaction and at the fact that he was actually eating.

When he didn't eat at the table for one reason or another, Steve usually took it upon himself to bring the boy dinner. He'd lost track of the times he'd come back later to get the dishes and find them barely touched, if at all, and even though the kid was slowly getting stronger he was still unnaturally pale and thin. Those were things Steve could relate to, but more worrying than them was the demeanor that hadn't diminished at all with time. Dark circles gave proof of sleepless nights, accentuating the tired and haunted look in his eyes that didn't fade even when he laughed. When someone reached for him a little too quickly he would flinch away, and when he thought no one was watching Steve sometimes would catch glimpses of a familiar thousand-mile stare. The boy had been through things no kid should ever be exposed to, and he couldn't help feeling protective of him.

Romanoff always ate quickly, but the kid finished even before her. Steve resisted the urge to tell him to finish his food.

"So… I needed to ask you a few things. About Thanos."

The boy flinched, so slightly that it barely looked like more than a blink, and Natasha shot him a dangerous look. "Y-yeah, ask whatever you need to."

"How fast do you think he'll get here?"

Loki frowned, looking down at the bed. "We didn't send the scout back, and it'll take a few days before that gets noticed and reported to him. Then depending on the size of the force he sends to get me… anywhere from a few hours to a day after that."

"Ok. That's plenty of time. Tony may have been whiny as all hell today, but he did have a few good points, and I've got a decent plan. We're going to let the Chitauri go-" he held up a hand to stop Loki's quiet protest "- and then we're going to get you somewhere safe. Bruce, Natasha, and I will go with you. We know this guy's looking for you, and he's pretty powerful, so you need time to recover. It'll be much easier to protect you if you can run without really hurting yourself."

Loki was silent as he considered it. After a minute he nodded. "And I suppose, if he doesn't attack here, less people will be hurt."

"Yep." He reached for Nat's plate, adding it to the pile before standing. We leave first thing tomorrow, alright?"

He waited only a moment for them to nod before leaving. With the way Tony was acting, it would be up to him to get everything ready for tomorrow, and he knew it was going take most of the night.

The next day, the Chitauri Homeworld.

"My Lord, I have news"

Thanos turned to look at the Chitauri crouched before him. "I don't recall you having orders to report to me personally."

"I am sorry, My Lord, but I thought you would want to hear this as soon as possible." He paused, waiting to see if he would be killed on the spot. When he was still breathing after a moment, he continued to speak quickly. "I found the prince. He hides on earth, with the humans that defeated him last time. He fled this morning, but I know he is still on the planet."

The god on the throne looked at him thoughtfully. "Is that all?"

"Well, I do not know if it matters, but I spoke with the boy. He does not appear to be feigning innocence anymore, My Lord. He is not the cowering child he pretended to be, but more like the Mischief god that betrayed y- that betrayed all of us." He bowed his head a little lower, hoping his near slip up would not cost him his life. To his surprise, a low laugh came from the throne.

"Good."