This is an idea that came to me yesterday morning after reading TamaraJagellovsk's story "Purpose" even though the idea of Loki being tortured like this is something that has been my headcanon for a while now (and it also comes up in my main fic Beyond Mischief). This thing is not really fleshed out (it was supposed to be an OS) and I don't know if I can or will take it any further (like Thor defending Loki against the Avengers and later Odin), so it would be helpful for me to know what you think of it.

I do not own anything etc. etc.

"There's no other love like the love for a brother. There's no other love like the love from a brother."

Thor lands on Stark Tower, Mjölnir firmly gripped in his right hand. Loki is standing on Iron Man's landing spot, that accursed scepter of unknown origin that could possibly do damage of proportions hitherto undreamt of firmly gripped in his.

Thor yells his brother's name, the battle raging above, beneath and all around them.

Loki turns towards him with a pinched face. A foreign face. A haunted face. A face that bears no resemblance to the face of his beloved little brother who let go of Gungnir and plunged into the abyss of space until the void between the branches of Yggdrasil devoured his body.

"Turn off the Tesseract or I'll destroy it," Thor commands, his voice trembling with anger. Anger and disbelief. He mourned for him, he watched his mother succumb to grief until she finally found a way to locate him and then he watched Frigga succumb to panic when she realized that wherever Loki was, he was suffering, and Thor's heart breaks all over again when he remembers how she has been pleading with him to bring her youngest son home.

But Loki does not want to come home. Loki no longer thinks of Asgard as his home or of Thor as his brother.

"You can't," Loki replies in a soft growl that is as foreign as his face. "There is no stopping it." He points the scepter at Thor, the spaceships of his—his?—alien army swirling through the sky behind his frame. "There is only," Loki continues, his breathing heavy, "the war."

No, Loki no longer listens to reason.

"So be it," says Thor because Loki is no longer Loki.

The person whose body strains into attack mode and lunges at him with the fierce roar of a feline predator is not his brother and Thor acts on pure instinct when he raises Mjölnir and smashes the hammer against the scepter, uru clattering against metal.

Loki fights back and parts of the building crumble away beneath them, crashing to the ground. Thor does not understand what is happening or what has happened or what might possibly happen, so he merely ducks Loki's blows and deals out his own until Loki grabs him by the neck and then hurls him away, smashing him onto the ground in order to level the scepter at an approaching Midgardian aircraft.

A wave of sizzling blue energy shoots out from the weapon's tip and crashes into the wing of the aircraft, instantly setting it on fire and sending it spiraling downwards.

Thor scrambles to his feet, his fair falling into his face. He gazes at Loki through the strands of his hair, gazes at this foreign version of his brother, and then his body moves of its own accord as a wave of strength floods through him and he hurls himself at Loki with his full weight, an angry roar rumbling out of his mouth.

Loki defends himself vigorously and Thor cannot stop himself from ramming his fists and his hammer into his estranged little brother's armored chest again and again and again until, finally, Loki falters. The scepter clatters to the ground.

"Look at this!" Thor cries, pressing Loki against the wall with the hilt of Mjölnir. "Look around you!"

Loki complies and his gaze sweeps the cityscape succumbing to the wrath of battle, taking in the fires and the smoke, and his mouth and eyes gape wide open in shock; consternation; disbelief; fear. Above all, fear. And suddenly, Thor sees his little brother again in those eyes. It is only a brief flash but he sees the brother who let go of his life and his past and his family because he felt there was nothing on Asgard worth holding onto.

"Do you think this madness will end with your rule?" Thor presses on, his voice desperate, his breath hitching.

Loki's gaze lands on Thor and the bottom drops out of the Thundergod's stomach when he sees the confusion and terror on his brother's pale face.

"It's too late," Loki growls softly, his breathing getting heavier, and Thor can see tears glistering in his eyes. "It's too late to stop it."

Loki's lips twitch as if there is more he wants to say but he remains silent and Thor just stares at him because, by all the Realms, how could it come to this? Loki's breath comes in sharp gasps now as panic rises up inside of him, glaring at Thor from in his blue eyes. Loki has not meant any of this to happen, Thor realizes, finally realizes, and the understanding slams into his gut like a barrow's load of uru. Loki never means things to happen, never means for his schemes to go awry and wreak havoc, but this is different. He is not doing any of this of his own free will. Thor has suspected this earlier but now he is sure.

Bring him home, Frigga's voice echoes through his skull. I know he is in pain. Someone is … Please, bring your brother home, my love.

"No," says Thor, his voice softening. "We can. Together."

His brother's confused eyes lock with his, his breath coming in rapid, shallow gasps, and a tear spills out of his eye.

"Loki," Thor whispers urgently.

A spark of madness flares up in his brother's eyes and Thor throws Mjölnir away so that he can reach for Loki's neck with both of his hands. As soon as his fingers touch his brother's skin beneath the cheek guard of his helmet, Thor feels the presence of someone else, someone malicious and ruthless, and a cold sweat of fear starts pouring down his back.

"Loki, listen to me," Thor pleads, panic creeping into his voice. "You might not remember anything of our past but you are my brother and I want you to come home." His voice hitches on the last word and tears well into his eyes.

Loki stares at him with nothing but naked terror in his eyes, his face pinched and pale. His skin vibrates against Thor's palms and even though the God of Thunder is not half as versed in magic as his mother and brother, he understands that the someone whose presence he feels is conversing with Loki and that Loki is fighting that presence. Fighting and losing.

"Loki, please," Thor cries out and then yanks his brother's helmet off his head and flings it on the ground. "Listen to me, please."

Loki shakes his head, a vague and clumsy movement. Thor blows out a breath and touches his brother's forehead. He never saw a merit in wielding sorcery and he does not know how to perform any thought projection or memory manipulation spells but he knows that he must try anyway.

Frigga would want him to try. Frigga needs him to try. Frigga depends on him to bring Loki home and he cannot betray his mother's confidence. He cannot come home without his little brother.

"Mother sent me here," Thor whispers.

Loki's lips part and he blinks, the foreign bright blue of his eyes slowly paling into green.

"She sent me here because she misses you. She knows you are alive," Thor hurries on, his words almost tumbling over themselves. "She wants you back. I want you back. You might think that you no longer belong to this family but you do! You do!"

Liar, booms a deep, menacing voice inside Loki's head, and Thor flinches, almost jerking his hand away. They did not want you then and they do not want you know. They cast you out, they threw you away and they never came for you.

"Be silent!" Thor screams.

Do you not understand that you need to finish what you came to Earth to do to prove your worth to them?

Loki's eyes narrow and the flicker of blue returns.

"Loki, no," Thor pleads softly.

Your brother thinks you weak, needy, and vulnerable. Can you not see it in his eyes how much he despises your weakness right now?

"I do not!" Thor screams and shakes Loki violently, his heart thundering against his ribcage. "Be silent, you wretched monster! Loki, please." His voice almost breaks. "Do not listen to that voice! Listen to me! Listen to your brother!

He threw you into the void.

Tears well into Loki's eyes and, suddenly, Thor can see what Loki saw and he can feel what Loki felt: He sees his own face, distorted, a devilish grin on his lips, his eyes full of contempt as he spits, "Monsters have no place in Asgard, Loki," and then he hurls Loki into the abyss of space and Loki's heart is shattering in his chest and the pain deadens him, hollowing him out, carving out his very soul, and stars are speeding by in a blur and Loki loses all sense of time and space and then there is a barren planet and a cave and pain, just pain, and nothing else but pain and his body is dying of thirst and his bones are breaking and his face is throbbing and the skin of his lips breaks open and there is the taste of blood, metallic and sharp, and it trickles down his throat and he almost chokes on it and there is no love and no emotions and no desire to hold on to anything because You are a monster and you are unworthy and no one will come to your rescue because they never loved you because of the MONSTER that you are underneath that delicate Asgardian face that you wear as a guise and they are glad that you are gone because you are a MONSTER! MONSTER! MONSTER!

Thor feels vomit shooting up his throat and it costs him everything to swallow it down and not to break into tears or faint.

Kill him, commands the voice. Kill the brother that never loved you.

Loki is crying tonelessly but his stare is blank and he is not moving, almost as if this presence lurking in the depth of his mind has finally broken him. Thor shakes his brother, gently, and he does not realize that he is crying until he speaks and his words come out between sobs. "I never tossed you into the abyss," Thor says, his voice hitching. "That is a lie! These are all lies! I wouldn't. Not ever. Look at me!" He grabs him by the shoulders. "Look at me, Loki! You are my brother. You are my family." He clasps Loki's neck and tries to lock eyes with him and he thinks that he can see a modicum of sanity left in his brother's empty eyes and he softly brushes his lips against Loki's ice-cold forehead. "I love you."

These three words jolt Loki with such an intensity that Thor flinches. Loki draws a sharp breath and then another and another, all color draining from his face.

"I love you," Thor repeats but he cannot be sure that his brother is hearing him because Loki's entire body is trembling, vibrating really, and he is gasping for air as if he were choking.

Pathetic, whispers the voice on a condescending chuckle before it finally fades away and then Loki's eyes close and his entire body goes limp and he crumbles to the ground.

"Loki?" Thor asks, panic creeping into his blood as he slides down besides his brother, who is finally his brother again, and his hands clumsily reach out to hold him. But Loki is not conscious. He is not breathing. He is … No …

"Loki?"

No answer.

"Loki!"

Please, bring your brother home, my love.

"LOKI!"

And finally, Loki stirs and glances up at him with confused green eyes. "Brother?" he whispers.

"Yes," Thor laughs through his tears, a wave of relief washing over him. "Yes, I am here."

Loki closes his eyes again and a trembling breath escapes his lips. "T-take t-the s-scepter," he gasps and Thor senses that it costs his brother everything to speak these words and he wishes that he could take all that pain away from him, "t-take it … it will … c-close … b-bring it t-to … Sel …vig."

"The scepter can close the portal?" asks Thor and Loki gives a weak nod.

"I will," says Thor. "Just hold on, alright? Please hold on."

Loki nods once more but he is already losing consciousness again.