Thanks to Marvel-Tolkien Fangirl, T. Alana M, bombshell1701, Maia2, Higashikaze, Myth Princess, SETO-KAIBA-LIFE, youmeandlokid, UltimateLoveStorys, Dazja, Tsukiau, ArainaHaldthin, thestralrider, jojotruth, Like it Random. Like it Loki, marylindsey370, TimeLady945, livelaughlove, no-MY name's Anonymous, Ardna, Yaraslava Rada, SoulMore, and Smiley for their reviews.

And a high-five to Ardna for giving me my 600th review!

...

"Loki?" Thor said quietly when he entered the room, not wanting to disturb his brother if he was sleeping.

"I'm awake."

Thor had to tell himself that the smell of fire and burning flesh was just his imagination as he walked around the hospital bed, which Loki was strapped to. Awkwardly, he sat down in a chair beside the bed, and struggled to know what to say. Loki looked back at him with a cautious expression. He was so small, so defenceless, that Thor had no idea how to deal with the situation.

"I want to sit up," the toddler demigod demanded.

"I don't think-"

"I want to sit up."

Thor hesitated. "I don't want to hurt you."

Loki's lips set tight and his eyes narrrows. "Thor."

"All right." Thor carefully removed the straps holding Loki into place, and then helped his brother to sit, rearranging the pillows the best he could to ease the pressure on Loki's back.

"Dr Banner told me that you gave me your magic," Loki said once he was comfortable.

Thor was glad for something to talk about. "I did what I could."

Loki contemplated him. "How?"

"I don't know," Thor answered honestly. "You needed it, and so I gave it to you."

"Have you regained it yet?"

"Not all of it." Thor thought about himself for a moment. "I feel… empty. It is very strange."

"Uncomfortable, isn't it?" Loki quipped, but there was anger in his voice. "Isn't it terrible to be barred from something so essential to your being?"

Thor opened his mouth to defend Odin's spell, but closed it again. He was certain that Odin had never imagined that the spell would result in a situation such as this. Thor certainly hadn't thought that Loki would use, or need to use, such a massive amount of magic once he learned the effects of it. But he knew that Loki didn't want to hear any of it. If their places had been reversed, Thor knew he wouldn't. Even now, he could not understand why his father hadn't sent aid. It had to be because Odin had known that Loki would recover. That was the only explanation.

Loki studied Thor for a moment, and though trying to decipher his expression. "What do you want, Thor?"

Thor's glance fell on Loki's arm. Loki pressed his inner wrist against the blankets to hide the scar and looked away. Thor didn't know how to proceed. Well, maybe just plunging ahead would be the best course of action. "When did you do it?"

"None of your concern."

"Loki, please."

Loki looked down and turned his arm to look at the scar. "It was shortly before I came to earth. Before Thanos decided to send me here for the tesseract." He was silent for a long time, staring at the scar.

"Why?" Thor asked, and instantly regretted the question.

Loki pressed his wrist against the blankets again. His emerald eyes fired with anger. "You think I'm a coward."

"No, Loki, I-"

"You don't know what it is like out there. I saw things that would leave you sickened and shaking with fear. And what I went through-" Loki cut off. "Get out."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean…" Thor trailed off, struggling to know what to say, but not about to obey Loki's order to leave. "What I wanted to ask is why didn't you come home?"

Loki looked away. "I couldn't."

"Yes, you could have," Thor said earnestly, leaning forward, wanting - needing - Loki to understand. "We would have rejoiced to see you alive. Mother hasn't smiled since-"

"No, I couldn't, Thor. I tried. I didn't know how." Loki looked back at him. "I couldn't find my way. I would have come home if I could have."

Guilt rose in Thor, but he didn't allow himself to look away. "This is my fault."

"Yes, it is," Loki replied swiftly.

"What could I have done differently?"

Loki's eyes went cold. "You did not just ask that."

Thor was surprised by the venom in Loki's voice. He didn't respond.

"You know exactly what you could have done. Not even you are that stupid," Loki spat.

"Perhaps I am."

Loki searched his gaze for a moment, and then laughed bitterly. "You threw me off the bridge! You threw me into the abyss! And now you dare ask what you could have done differently?"

"I threw you?" Thor repeated incredulously. "You cannot twist that to suit your own ends, Loki! You let go!"

"What?"

The wrinkle in Loki's brow and almost fearful way he had spoken stopped Thor's anger from building. Loki stared at Thor for a long time. He opened his mouth, but didn't speak.

"Loki-" Thor started.

"You threw me." Loki's voice was soft, numb almost, and a strange look of panic came to his eyes. "I remember."

Thor shook his head.

"You threw me off the bridge! I heard you shouting as I fell! I thought – maybe you didn't mean to, maybe you wished you hadn't..."

"Loki, I did not throw you off the bridge."

"Stop lying to me!" Loki cried, breaking eye contact. He hunched over and dug his fists into his eyes. "Just stop! For once in my life, I want to hear the truth!"

Thor glanced up at the door as Banner entered the room. The doctor stopped, eyebrows raised. "Sorry. I'll come back later."

Loki straightened so quickly that he cried out in pain. He didn't look at either Thor or Banner, but his brow smoothed. "Don't bother, doctor. Thor was leaving."

Thor shook his head. "Loki-"

"Go away, Thor."

Thor slowly stood. Loki's face was growing paler, and the ragged breaths that he was sucking in through his teeth were not merely from anger. Thor didn't know what to do. He looked at Banner, as if the other man would be able to give him an answer, but the doctor looked even more confused than he felt.

"Loki-"

"GO AWAY!"

Thor stepped back, startled by the violence of Loki's outburst. Banner hurried forward.

"You're going to hurt yourself if you keep doing that," he scolded. "Thor, please."

Thor's shoulders sagged. Without another word, he walked away.

#

"Have you seen my arrows?" Barton asked Steve as the captain was getting ready to update Fury on what was happening.

"You've lost them?"

Barton grunted in reply and walked away. Steve raised his eyebrows, shrugged, and continued on his way.

#

After much discussion, it was decided that Natasha would be the one to interrogate Loki. After all, it was her specialty. She had to be a little more wary with him, it was true, since he knew her techniques and would adjust his responses accordingly, but she felt that he wouldn't be trying to hide all that much from her. The Avengers were his only protection at the moment.

"Are you awake?" Natasha asked when she walked into Loki's room.

There was a brief silence, and then Loki grumbled, "Yes."

Natasha allowed a brief smile. He sounded just like a sleepy toddler, which was probably going to make things a little harder. He still had pride, and none of them had expected him to look so young and vulnerable. She walked around the bed and sat down in the chair, keeping emotion from her face. "Good. I have a few questions for you."

Loki looked like he had just woken up, and the way he tried not to yawn while staring petulantly at her made Natasha struggle not to smile.

"Well? I thought you had questions."

"I do." Natasha hesitated a moment. She couldn't help herself. "Stark was right. You're adorable."

Loki's expression hovered somewhere between angry and incredulous. "Did you seriously just say that?"

"It's true."

"You're just as insane as the rest of them."

"Hey, all I'm doing is stating fact. Besides, you attacked my world, I should be allowed a little payback," Natasha said, wiping her amusement at Loki's petulant stare off her own face. She settled down into a chair, studying him carefully. "But cuteness aside, I do have questions. And I would appreciate it if you are completely honest with me."

"Honest?" Loki repeated. "What is that human expression? Keep dreaming."

Natasha raised her eyebrow. "Do I have to remind you that we did save you from becoming a spore-sprouting zombie?"

Loki's gaze flickered to the ceiling. The petulant look was still there, but it lessened. "I am not so accustomed to honesty. Especially not in recent years."

"Fair enough," Natasha conceded. "But unless you want whoever it was you put that thing in you to come back and do it again, I suggest you try."

Loki looked back at her. "It was the Chitauri."

"It looked to me that they all died at the end of the battle," Natasha replied with a raised eyebrow.

"That was only on earth. They are a composite creature, organic and mechanic, as I'm sure you know. When Stark sent the nuclear bomb through the portal, it disrupted the signal from the mother ship necessary for their survival in a world that was not their own," Loki explained. "But that wasn't all of them."

"And why would they come after you? I thought that it was your army," Natasha layered on a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"It was more of a loan," Loki replied. He shifted and grimaced. "This was a... debt collection of sorts. I failed to get him the tesseract."

"Him?"

A brief look of panic flashed in Loki's eyes before he stomped down on it. He looked back at Natasha for a long time, and she could see that he was deliberating how much to tell her. Eventually he sighed, looking tiny and fragile. It didn't suit the Loki she knew. "Thanos. The Chitauri were working for a man named Thanos."

"And he's the one who did this to you?"

Loki snorted bitterly. "Not him personally. He sent his head minion. I only know him as the Other. Thanos wanted the tesseract to wage war upon the universe, and without it he would need to pursue other avenues. He would not take the time out from his plans to punish me. I'm not worth that much to him."

"But you're worth something, or else the Other wouldn't have journeyed to earth."

"Yes." Loki frowned. "I honestly didn't expect that he would spend the resources to seek me out like this, but the greater punishment with his attack would have been to the Earth for not submitting."

"And you came to us for help?" Natasha probed, already guessing the true reasons Loki came to Stark tower but needing confirmation.

Loki's face was emotionless. "No."

"Then so that we'd be the first to be infected."

Loki hesitated. "No."

Natasha studied him. "I see," she murmured softly.

"And what is it that you see?"

Natasha didn't reply to the question. Instead, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, which she unfolded so that Loki could take a look at it. It was one of the drawings that Dylan had made of him. Loki's eyebrows arched as he took in the drawing. His lips pressed together.

"So you met Bay," he murmured, looking at the caption at the bottom of the page. I cut out my heart that I might live.

"His real name is Dylan. He had a whole sketchbook of drawings like this one."

Loki looked back at her face. "That's kind of creepy, Agent Romanoff. One, that he kept drawing me, two that you keep one of those pictures in your pocket. You're not developing a little crush on me, are you? Because I'll be honest. You are far too young for me."

Natasha ignored the jibe. "You came back to Stark tower to die."

"No, I didn't," Loki responded, defensively and automatically.

"Then why?"

Loki's gaze turned away. "I don't like the Other, and I wanted to ruin his plans," he muttered. His hands curled into fists.

"Please. You've been wanting to die since before you arrived here."

"Have I?" Loki countered sarcastically.

Natasha pointedly did not look at the scar on his inner wrist, but Loki still pressed his arm against the bed to hide it. Natasha leaned forward slightly. "Why else would you tell all of Asgard that you're a Jotünn?"

"To punish Odin."

"By forcing him to sentence you to death," Natasha swiftly answered. "Are you going to deny it?"

Loki still didn't look at her. His eyes narrowed in anger. "If you're so intelligent, I'm sure there is no need to."

Natasha contemplated the little demigod. "I didn't get it at first, but I'm starting to."

"Starting to get what?"

"Why you want to die."

Loki clenched his teeth together. "And why is that?" he spat at her.

"Because life hurts too much. Because no matter how much you hate them, you still love Thor and your father. Because you are alone, and that there is nothing worse than that. Because cutting out your heart so that you can live doesn't work. Because you wish you could erase the actions you've taken, but what has been done cannot be undone. You've got red in your ledger, and you can't wipe it out."

Loki remained silent, and his gaze turned back to Dylan's drawing. His face was hard, and that was how Natasha knew that she had hit home. She frowned, wondering if she had perhaps pushed too hard.

"Where is he now?" Loki asked, jerking his chin at the picture.

"We put him in rehab. He's been clean for ten months. He's doing well," Natasha folded the paper back up and returned it to her pocket. "Plus any drug dealer who may potentially sell him anything knows that if they do, I'll hunt them down. And they would not find the consequent experience pleasant."

"Aren't you just his dark guardian angel," Loki replied sarcastically. "Are we finished?"

"Not yet. Is Thanos going to attack earth again?"

"I don't know."

"Is the Other still here?"

"I don't know."

"Guess."

Loki frowned, thinking. "Maybe. The Other wouldn't stay on the planet, so that he wouldn't run the risk of being infected. But he probably has a ship. He may have stayed to make sure that I did not escape punishment. Earth is a little world; I can't see Thanos expending too many resources on it. But then... I really don't know much about him, other than he loves the company of death. Actually, it's more like he worships death."

Natasha frowned as she contemplated Loki. He was obviously struggling to stay awake. She decided that they were done. She stood. "Is there anything else we should know right now?"

"Look both ways before crossing the street."

Natasha suppressed a chuckle. "All right. I'll be back later with more questions once you feel up to it."

Loki grunted in reply.

Natasha hesitated for a moment. "And Loki? You might want to start trying to find your heart again."

...

Just so you know, Clint didn't lose his arrows. I STOLE THEM! BWA-HA-H- *cough* Reviewers get one of Bay's pictures of Loki.