Hi! It took a while, but it's a rather long chapter. I hope it was worth waiting ;) Enjoy!

Chapter 16

"LOKI!"

Thor heard his own voice echo a million times. He felt like his insides where crushed and stretched out at the same time. Behind him he could hear Frigga scream even though she couldn't see a thing. The God of Thunder felt how the world slowly disappeared around him. All he could see was his outstretched arm which had missed The God of Mischief by inches and his brother falling down the hole. A sickening feeling took hold of the prince of Asgard while his surroundings changed. For a second he could see Loki fall into a dark and destructive wormhole, while he watched in agony, not able to do anything.

Not again! Not again! was all he could think while Loki fell further and further into the pit, hitting the edges painfully.

Suddenly everything went in slow motion. Loki hit the bottom of the pit and lay motionless on the ground. At the other side of the pit at least fifty SHIELD Agents lined up and pulled their guns, waiting for an order. Stark took off and flew over to their side. Thor could see him, but the words coming out of his mouth didn't seem to make any sense. Stark took his arm and tried to pull him away from the gaping hole.

"Thor!" Stark shouted. "Thor!"

After a couple of seconds the God Of Thunder finally seemed to snap out of his trance. Tony Stark waited before he was sure Thor noticed him.

"What the hell is happening, bro…" he asked. "I thought you said your charming stepbrother had left us… unless he has a ridiculously dressed twin, of course…"

Thor looked at the billionaire in front of him. Stark just kept talking – Jane was right, he just loved to hear himself – and even though the words didn't really found their way through, Thor managed to understand 'Loki…' and 'shoot…'.

Thor turned around again, ignoring Starks shouting and tight grip on his arm, and looked over at the SHIELD Agents. In the middle of the chaos he spotted Agent Hill, obviously hesitating about her next action. At least she understood that something bigger was at stake. Unfortunately Thor also saw a couple of new, idiotic looking Agents approach his friend. Probably to take over command and shoot Loki. Even though it took a lot more bullets to actually harm, let alone kill a god, Thor was quite sure that Loki wasn't capable of keeping up very long in his state.

What would Loki do? What would he do if he was in my place… Thor asked himself while throwing a look at his still unconscious – please let him be unconscious – brother. It was a question he used to ask himself more than once during the battles he'd fought in the past. Not that he would ever admit that, of course.

Stark kept shouting everything he could think of, but Thor wasn't listening and even the strong Ironman suit couldn't win from a God. Tony looked over to the other side of the void. He knew SHIELD was going to open fire any second. Why was Thor freaking out like this. All right, Loki was his brother, but still… Even Thor had been sure about The God of Mischief's death. After what Loki had done, Tony wouldn't really trust, let alone care about the young king.

The billionaire turned to Jane. Just like her husband, she was staring down the pit, pure fright reflected in her eyes. What was wrong with these people!

Tony couldn't find any reason for this couple's behaviour, but he wasn't stupid. He understood that there had to be a reason. A very good reason. Loki must have done something to gain their trust and whatever it was, they were prepared to stand up to SHIELD for it.

Stark wasn't going to lie. He didn't like SHIELD in the slightest except for a couple of its Agents like Coulson and Hill. If Jane and Thor were against SHIELD at the moment, he was on their side…

Suddenly Thor turned around. Behind him Agent Hill was trying to convince the newcomers to wait before attacking, but she was losing the fight. A sudden serious expression covered the God of Thunder's face and Stark immediately understood why Thor was called a good leader. Meanwhile, Thor stretched his arm towards the ground and opened his palm to call Mjölnir as discrete as possible.

"We have to get out of this place…" Thor said with a meaningful look. Stark nodded. He understood.

"Get them out of here!" The God of Thunder ordered the billionaire while looking over to Jane and Frigga. Stark frowned. What was Thor going to do!

"Thor, please.. Leave him!" Tony said, but Thor ignored him. The prince of Asgard looked down the pit while he slowly lifted his hand ready to catch Mjölnir. Loki still didn't show any sign of life and a nervous kind of fright took hold of Thor's heart.

At the other side of the pit, two Agents dragged a screaming Agent Hill away from the scene. A big guy with black sunglasses looked over to the other side of the pit. His eyes crossed Thor's. Both men already knew they were never going to like each other. Afterwards, the man said something in his earpiece to give the command to open fire.

On the moment that the general received the command and opened his mouth to shout the order to the other Agents, Mjölnir soared over their heads to find his way to his owner. Thor jumped into the pit and caught the hammer in mid-air. The God of Thunder landed next to Loki. He looked down, hoping his brother would move, but nothing happened.

"FIRE!"

Thor lifted his hammer skywards while taking a leap. With an incredible force Mjölnir hit the ground, making the Agents drop before they could target Loki properly.

The sound of at least fifty hasty guns, desperate to hit their target in time filled the air and muted Frigga's terrified scream while Stark took hold of her and her mother and took off.

Thor didn't wait for the rumbling to stop. He grabbed the still unconscious Loki and let Mjölnir take them away. The desperate shots and shouts faded beneath them…

-xxx-

Thor landed painfully on Stark Towers' balcony. Loki rolled out of his arms and smacked against the window. He stayed unconscious. Thor crawled to his feet and ran over to his brother. He dropped Mjölnir next to him and turned Loki on his back. Now that he could actually take a look at the young king, he wished he couldn't. Because of the fall, Loki was hurt more than once, but that wasn't the biggest problem. It was that fact that Loki wasn't healing that woried Thor most and which was extremely necessary at the moment. Thor checked Loki pulse. The young kings' heart was barely beating.

"Come on, come on…" Thor hissed. Thor took hold of Loki shoulders and shook him, wanting the youg king to wake up, but nothing happened.

"Come on!" he shouted. It had been a while since the God of Thunder had felt this hopeless. He looked down on his brother's body. Loki was wounded very bad. About every inch of his clothes was drained in blood, showing the bleeding wounds underneath. Also Loki's right arm was twitched in a abnormal angle. Thor rubbed his forehead and forced himself not to cry. He could feel a weird kind of tension around Loki's body as if he was energized. The Tessaract he assumed.

Suddenly Stark stomped outside. He was still wearing the Iron man suit and headed for the two brothers.

"Get that piece of shit of my balcony!" he shouted furiously while lifting his arms to point his weapons at Loki. Thor got to his feet and stepped in between Stark and his brother.

"Tony, please…" he started in a broken voice. "I understand you don't trust him, but I beg you… trust me! We have to get him inside!"

"Last time I invited Mr. Reindeer inside my house, he almost destroyed it!" Stark answered without lowering his arms.

"I know that…" Thor said when he got interrupted by the sound of a dozen cars coming to a stop. SHIELD had arrived. In the distance, he could see three helicopters getting closer.

Stark noticed it too. He turned back to Thor and seemed to hesitate. His thoughts from before crossed his mind. Thor had to have a reason for trusting his treacherous brother…

"Please…" Thor repeated. He didn't have the strength left to argue or fight with Stark. Finally Stark dropped his arms and sighed.

"I swear this on the sexy mega bunny I bought for Pepper: if he as much as scratches my wall or my floor, I invent something to kill a God with…"

Stark glanced at Loki and sighed once more.

"On second thought... I'm sure Pepper is going to kill him first because of all the blood… Put him in my lab…"

"Thank you…" Thor said before lifting Loki and taking him inside. Stark followed, walking as nonchalant as possible, waving at the helicopters. When he closed the glass door behind him he pressed a touchpad which was hanging behind his bar to life and pressed a red button which lighted up.

"Jarvis, complete lock down!" he ordered his loyal computer.

"Off course, sir. Password please…"

"I. AM. AWESOME." Stark responded clearly.

"Password correct…" Jarvis said. For a second the lights flickered shortly. Outside a blue-ish shield formed and covered the entire building. Stark strolled over to the bar and made himself a cocktail.

"Jarvis, give my balls some air, will ye…" he said with a smile. Immediately the Iron man suit started to click and move. Part by part loosened from his body and flew to the other side of the room where it landed in a glass case until the suit was formed again. With his glass still in his hand Stark sauntered to his lab.

There he found Thor. Loki lay motionless on a table. Thor was standing next to him and looked up when the billionaire entered the room.

"What was that?" The God of Thunder asked gesturing to the window where he could still see the slight shimmering of the almost transparent shield.

"Complete lockdown…" Tony said while putting down his glass. Thor knew Stark would explain, so he waited patiently.

"It's powered by the Arc reactor. It keeps out any kind of weapon, bullet or human, except if I want them to enter…"

"I thought SHIELD wouldn't dare to attack you…" Thor said with a smile.

Tony raised his shoulders. "Of course not! But this is so much cooler!"

Thor shook his head and looked at Loki again.

"Where are Jane and Frigga?" he asked after a while.

"Upstairs, with Pepper and Bruce. The little one is a little bit stressed out…"

Thor nodded again.

"Look, Tony…" The God of Thunder started, but he was cut off when a pale Jane and terrified looking Frigga entered the room. They were followed by Pepper and Bruce Banner.

Frigga squeaked when she saw Loki and despite her mother's attempts to stop her, she ran towards the table. The little girl grabbed Loki's in blood covered hand and shook it, hoping he would wake up. Her father slowly took her hand and forced hids daughter to let go.

"What wrong, Daddy! Why doesn't he wake up!" Frigga said with tears in her eyes. Thor took the little girl in his arms and looked at the small head wound. Bruce had cleaned it out.

"I don't know, sweetheart, but I want you to stay upstairs with Pepper. We don't know what Loki will do if… when wakes up…"

Frigga wanted to argue, but the pain in her father's eyes made her change her mind. She nodded and hugged her dad before walking over to Pepper. The little girl looked at her mother.

"I'll be up in a minute, sweetie, you go…" Jane answered. Her eyes were glued to Loki's bloody body. She waited until Frigga and Pepper had left the room before expressing her disgust. She raised her hand and held it in front of her mouth to make sure she wouldn't scream.

"Dear God…" she whispered while joining her husband at the table. Thor threw a comforting arm around her.

All the time, Bruce Banner hadn't said a word. He just stood in the corner of the room and watched The God Of Mischief in disgust. Just as Tony he was smart enough to understand that there was more to this, but he couldn't deny the fact that he still hated Loki.

Thor turned to both scientists.
"I understand that you don't like this, but please trust me when I say that Loki is different. He saved Frigga's life. He's been on Earth for a couple of weeks and hasn't done anything wrong. Loki is King of Asgard. He needs to live! I know that you have questions and I swear I will answer every single one of them, but I beg you now… please, help him!"

Thor had to try hard not to start crying. Stark scowled.

"I'm sorry, but this is madness. I agree that SHIELD sucks and I'm happy to take every chance to go against them, but that doesn't mean I going to help a freak who destroyed my house and city and gives me nightmares up until today!"

"I understand, but…"

"Give me one good reason why I should help… that!" Tony said angrily while gesturing to Loki as if he were pointing at a rat.

"Like I said: he's king of Asgard!" Thor repeated.

"Excuse me, but I thought your father was king Asgard!"

"Tony…" Thor tried. How he hated talking with Tony Stark… "It's a long story… and even I don't know the details, but…"

"And you still trust him!" Tony interrupted. Thor groaned and closed his eyes for a second.

"Yes!" he finally answered. "I trust him… for now… I made a mistake by keeping him here! I believe he's the king Asgard and I've always known he would be a good king!"

Tony turned quiet. He stared at Thor in disbelief. "Am I correct if I say that until a few weeks back you thought he was dead too?"

Thor wanted to answer, but another voice was first.

"You really trust him?" Bruce asked seriously. It wasn't a real question, but more a conformation. Thor turned to the scientist.

"Yes… I do…"

Bruce turned silent for a couple of seconds and sighed. He took off his glasses and cleaned them with the tip of his shirt while he slowly walked over to them.

"Don't get me wrong: I hate your stepbrother. I disgust him for hurting so many innocent. In my eyes he doesn't deserve to live, but unfortunately I'm not the one who can decide about that. As long as there is someone left who wants him to live, I will do everything in my power to save him. Understand that I don't do this for him! I do this for Frigga and for you, Thor. If he dies, it's not my fault!"

Thor suppressed the urge to hug the scientist. Bruce turned to Loki and inspected his body while he pulled up his sleeves.

"Wow! Wow!" Stark called out while jumping in between Bruce and Loki. "What the hell, dude! Did you forget what he did! That's freaking Loki! Kill the innocent and destroy New York - Loki!"

Bruce sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"Tony, you're thinking it too: they must have a good reason to trust him. That doesn't mean have to too. And by the way, this is a chance out of a million. I don't know if you get it, but you have the chance to examine a God/frost giant. And he probably knows a lot more about the Tessaract than we do."

"But…" Stark looked from Bruce to Thor and Jane and back. He couldn't believe what they were doing. "We don't even know what happened, let alone what he will do when… if he wakes up!"

"About time we found then, shall we…" Bruce answered kindly before turning to Loki again and pushing his glasses on their place. He took Loki's hand and checked his pulse. Loki's heart was beating in the most irregular way he'd ever felt. One moment in pounded so fast and hard that he couldn't tell the beats apart and the other moment it was barely beating at all. Bruce frowned.

"What exactly happened?" he asked ignoring Tony's expression of disbelief. Thor stepped forward.

"I'm not quite sure but… it seemed like… Loki absorbed the Tesseract Energy…"

Bruce looked up, not able to hide the flash of fear in his eyes. "You mean like what happened to Erik and Clint…"

Thor bit his lip. "Kind of, I suppose, but I don't think he's under control of anyone. When he used the sceptre, he actually took control of the victims and it only worked when he touched the exact middle of the chest. Now it was more as if… he … well absorbed… attracted the Tessaract Energy… against his will…" Thor added.

"What do you mean: against his will…" Bruce asked. Thor rubbed his forehead.

"I mean that he… he was doing it himself and I think he was controlling the Energy, but I don't think he really 'enjoyed' it, if that's the way to put it… From what I saw, I think he was pushing himself to his limits… which would make sense because I never thought that anyone could survive that much Energy."

Bruce seemed to think about Thor's explanation. After a couple of seconds he turned around to face Tony who was observing the scene with his mouth hanging open in disbelief.

"Jarvis," Bruce started. "I want every camera image you can find of what happened. And give me the Energy readings spread over two days, please."

"My apologies, Doctor Banner, but we're in a complete lockdown, I can only accept order from mister Stark."

Bruce sighed and looked over to Tony. The billionaire tried to make a decision. He looked at Loki who seemed to worsen every minute. He looked at Thor and Jane and finally made eye contact with Bruce.

"We're really doing this?" he asked while putting down his empty glass. Bruce nodded and Stark sighed while rubbing his temples. He threw his hands in the air and said: "All right then, do what he says, buddy!"

"Of course, sir…" Jarvis said before the screens which were spread across the room flickered to life. Within a few seconds every screen was filled with camera tapes, pictures, graphs and numbers. Stark walked to the middle of the room while he muttered: "Sure, let's safe the person who almost killed us…"

When he reached the middle of the room, Tony clapped his hands and immediately the room was filled with a projection of the street before it blew. Stark walked around the replica while he waited for Jarvis to add some details based on the camera recordings.

Meanwhile Bruce inspected Loki a bit more.

"Aren't Gods supposed to heal by themselves, a lot faster than humans, I mean? Or is Loki an exception?"

Thor shook his head. "No and that's what's troubling me too. If he doesn't start healing, he'll just bleed to his death."

"I wonder what's stopping him…" Bruce muttered. "Jarvis, please give me the Tesseract scanner."

"Here you go, Doctor Banner…"

The ceiling above the table opened and a white, weird looking bow lowered until Bruce could grab a handle on top of the device. With his other hand he pushed a small button next to the handle and the scanner zoomed to life. Slowly Bruce moved the scanner over Loki's body while he kept his eyes fixed on the screen which displayed the readings. One by one every light on the screen started flickering bright red to indicate extremely high and dangerous readings. Bruce frowned and let go of the scanner when he reached Loki's feet and walked over to the screen. He touched a couple of buttons to make sure the numbers were correct.

"This is impossible!" he shouted. "Normally his body should have exploded the moment that even one percent of this amount touched his skin! The only reason that Clint and Eric and all those others stayed alive was because the Energy was concentrated and controlled!"

"So that mean that Loki is controlling it…" Jane said. She'd finally managed to find her voice and had decided she wasn't going to be all useless.

Bruce pulled up his shoulders. "I would say so, but in his state I wouldn't speak about controlling it, more about surviving it…"

"You mean it's killing him!" Thor almost shouted. Bruce sighed.

"Look, Thor, I don't know. The Tesseract is a mystery to all of us. Even after years of research we can only guess about it workings. What Loki is doing, is something we thought impossible until now, but we also know that Loki wields some kind of magic we also don't understand. I don't know what Loki can do either. All I know is that he isn't very healthy at the moment. If I would see a human in his state I would say he's a dead man, I'm sorry."

"But can't you get it out!" Thor shouted. Bruce Banner was next to Tony and Jane the smartest scientist he knew. If he couldn't do it, then no one could!

Bruce took of his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Thor, I don't even know what he did. How would I know to get the Energy out!"

Thor wanted to answer, but nothing came out of his mouth. He looked at his brother. In his heart he knew that he was actually losing him now and there was nothing he could do about it. Bruce turned around to watch the other screens and the projection in the middle of the room. Stark was zooming in on different parts of the sight.

"Tony, can you show me the moment directly after the explosion." Tony nodded and repeated the order to Jarvis. The projection turned until Tony had a good view on the projection of Loki right in front of him.

"You go, Jarvis…" he said and the projection started moving forward again as if they were watching a film. A blinding blue light, immediately followed by bursting flames lit up the room. Because of all the debris neither Tony nor Bruce could see Loki.

"Jarvis", Bruce started while he joined Tony in the middle of the circle, " Play that again in slow motion and remove the dust and dim the light please."

The computer obeyed and played it again. Everyone could see how Loki turned to Frigga after Thor had screamed his name. He ducked down and threw his arms around Frigga just as hell broke loose. The ground exploded and Tony and Bruce could see how a transparent shield formed around Loki and Frigga to protect them from debris. The longer the explosion went on, the more the shield started flickering. Just before everything turned silent Loki looked over his shoulder to the void behind them. He closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them again the illusion of the Asgardian garden had formed.

The air was filled with a thin layer of blue Tesseract Energy.

"Jarvis, highlight the Energy flow!" Stark said without taking his eyes of the God of Mischief. Jarvis zoomed out and highlighted the Energy. The whole sight turned bright blue.

Loki slowly got to his feet, holding the terrified little Frigga in his arms. The blue flows floated in his direction and disappeared in his body.

"Pause!" Tony said. The image froze.

"How much energy is in the air Jarvis?" Bruce asked.

Bruce already knew the answer, but he just wanted Jarvis to confirm that Loki had in fact absorbed everything.

Bruce and Tony shared a look after which Tony clapped his hand, said: "All right, thanks buddy…" and the image disappeared. Afterwards both scientists turned to Loki and inspected the unconscious God for a couple of seconds.

"Thor!" Tony suddenly called out. "What do we know about the Tesseract?"

Thor pulled up his shoulders. "Not much, not more than you know. It's treacherous, dangerous and powerful. It gives you all the power in the world, but turns you mad. The legend says it's made out of pure anger, hatred, sadness etc. Every time it's used it becomes stronger because it feeds on your own hate, makes it stronger and lets it take over your mind. Most people don't survive the touch of the Tesseract or are at least never the same again afterwards. Look at what it did to Eric. Believe me, that wasn't just Loki in his head. The Tesseract was in Loki's head too."

Tony and Bruce's eyebrows shot into the air.
"You mean that Loki only killed a few hundred people including Coulson just because a little fancy cube turned him mad…" Stark asked.

"Loki can be quite mad out of himself, but not that careless… half of what he did was because of the Tesseract. It only made his feelings of revenge stronger. Don't get me wrong, he probably would have done it without the Tesseract too, but Loki has a weakness for power. He just longs to be stronger and that might be partly my fault…"

Thor turned silent. Bruce on the other hand wasn't really interested in Thor's and Loki's relationship, a bigger problem had occurred to him…

"But what does that mean now?" the scientist asked. "Is Loki crazy now?"

Everybody in the room looked at each other. They hadn't thought of that possibility yet. At the same time they all looked at Loki as if they expected him to jump of the table and start killing everyone.

"No…" Thor finally said. "No, he wouldn't do that! He wouldn't absorb the Tesseract if he knew that it would turn him crazy again!"

"Thor, you just said it yourself: Loki can't resist power. Maybe he couldn't stop himself. Maybe you have to accept that he is evil! That he is Loki!" Tony almost shouted.

"No!" Thor answered furiously. "I know what I said, but you don't understand what Loki looks like when he or we talk about the Tesseract. Loki is not a person who gets scared easily. He always manages to keep it cool when everybody else loses it! But the Tesseract freaks him out!"

Tony was taken aback by Thor's angry reaction. Jane put a comforting hand on her husband's shoulder and looked at the two scientist.

"It's true. I asked Loki about the Tesseract some time ago and he completely closed up within the second. And when Hill told us about the Tesseract, I swear I saw him freeze on the spot! Loki wouldn't do this unless there was no other way…"

"What would have happened if Loki wouldn't have done that?" Thor asked.

Bruce looked at Tony to check if they had the same theory. Both men had been working together for such a long time they didn't need any words to understand each other.

"I think that the Energy would have spread and polluted the air. There's a chance it might have found a way to or destroy or control the bodies it touched…"

"Loki is a king!" Thor interrupted. "What you are saying is exactly what he was doing! He was saving people!"

"It's only a theory…" Tony tried.

"It's true!" Jane immediately said. Everybody turned quiet again. Suddenly Jarvis voice sounded though the intercom.

"Sir, Agent Romanoff is at the door. Do you want me to let her in?"

Tony walked over to the wall and pushed a button so he could speak to Natasha Romanoff.

"Long time no seen, Natasha! What brings you here on this beautiful day?" he asked as nonchalant as possible. A deep sigh sounded from the other side of the intercom.

"Don't play stupid, Tony! I know Loki is there with you! Let me in!"

"How do I know you're not working on behalf of SHIELD? Because if you're here to shoot us up, then this day is going to end bad for both of us. We don't want that, do we…"

"I thought you knew me better than that, Tony! When are you going to learn that I choose my own assignments! I'm just trying to decided which side I'm on this time. SHIELD doesn't even know I'm here!"

Tony looked at the others in the room. One by one they nodded in agreement.

"Come in sweetheart…" Tony said before letting go of the button.

A sudden cough dragged everyone's attention back to Loki. The young king looked paler then ever before. Thor checked Loki's pulse.

"Bruce, he's extremely cold!"

Bruce walked over to Loki and checked his pulse too. Tony crossed his arms and shook his head.

"Well, he is a frost giant, isn't he…" the billionaire said in an attempt to be funny, but nobody was listening.

"He's losing to much blood!" Bruce concluded. "I suppose that that is a main cause why he's not healing. The reason why Gods heal so much faster must be in the blood. He's losing more than he can produce…"

"Can you use mine?" Thor immediately asked. Bruce looked up.

"That depends on your blood group and Loki's…"

Thor looked at the scientist as if he were speaking Chinese. "I don't think Gods work with blood groups…" Thor said after a couple of seconds. "Just do it…"

Thor walked over to Loki and pulled up his sleeve.

"Wait!" Bruce called out. "If you don't have the same blood group, Loki could die…"

"Well, there is more chance that he will survive if I do share my blood!" Thor responded. "I'm prepared to take that risk!"

Bruce hesitated for a couple of seconds but decided to obey the God. He walked over to a closet and took a syringe and a drip. As fast as he could he put the needle into Thor's underarm and attached the drip to Loki's arm.

"I'm not sure I'm doing this right, I'm not this kind of Doctor!" Bruce said while he was working.

"You're doing great, Doctor Banner…" Jarvis suddenly answered.

"Great, taught by a robot…." Bruce muttered while he let the blood flow from Thor to Loki's arm.

Jane watched everything without saying a word. She'd never been really great with blood and now she saw it flowing, she only just managed to keep her donut down.

At that moment, Natasha Romanoff entered. Her eyes scanned the room bit by bit. When she saw Loki on the table, she couldn't keep a small smile of her face.

"All right, can someone please explain the situation?" she asked after a while. Jane took her chance and walked out of the lab with Natasha in her wake. When they came back ten minutes later, Loki was starting to heal, finally. Natasha looked over at the young king and scowled.

"For now, I'm at your side!" she said to Thor. "But if he as much as threatens me, I'm out."

Thor nodded thankfully.

Stark and Banner were whispering to each other. They'd both thought the same thing: what if Loki woke up? What would he do… They were discussing if they would secure the young king or not, because only God knew how he would react.

Jarvis scanned Loki once more and informed everyone that there was no damage inside his body, not anymore anyway but the Tesseract Energy didn't seem to decrease. Bruce waited a couple more minutes before he detached Thor and Loki.

Natasha set silently in the corner of the room and watched the young king's every breath, ready to grab her gun at any time. She'd been in bed after an fourteen hour flight from Afghanistan to New York where she'd had her latest assignment, when a new message from SHIELD came in. At first she wanted to ignore it, but when she heard that Loki had been spotted, she'd been all ears and forgot about her jetlag. Natasha had seen images of what had happened, after which she'd decided to investigate the situation herself before choosing a side. It wouldn't be the first time that SHIELD got it wrong…

But Loki… Natasha wasn't going to lie: she didn't have any sympathy for the God of Mischief. The only reason she hadn't killed him yet was because of Thor and Jane.

"We have to get that Energy out!" Thor said after a while. Bruce, who had been looking at the screens which showed the scans of Loki's body, nodded.

"I agree, the Energy is burning him up from the inside, literally! It's exactly what the Energy does to normal humans, but it's slowed down because he heals as fast as he's burning…"

Tony nodded and crossed his arms. "Personally I think he deserves it, but since I seem to be the only one, there's only one question left: how do we do that?"

Both scientist looked at Thor as if they expected him to know the answer. Thor frowned.

"I don't know! There's a reason why the Tesseract was hidden in a grave. My father may have known the answer, my mother perhaps, but I don't. There's a chance Loki knows, though…"

"Well that's not really helpful!" Bruce said while pushing his glasses further on his nose. His eyes kept drifting off to the screens where he could see the blue Tesseract Energy eat away Loki's insides. What would happen if it reached his heart. Would the God be able to grow himself a new heart?

According to the scans, Loki was losing the fight. Every second they could see how the damage increased. Thor rubbed his eyes. Loki was actually dying this time, in the most painful way he could imagine…

(MEMORY)

"Why Loki? Why did you do it? What in the world has gotten into you, my son?"

Frigga, Queen of Asgard, set in the silent garden of the palace and stared at the colourful fish in the bright water. She just couldn't understand what had happened. And why? Everything was wrong! The sun was shining, the birds where singing, the fish were happily swimming in the same lousy way they'd done the day before… Why did it look like no one shared her sadness… except for Thor of course. Even though he tried to hide it…

A lonely tear made its way across her cheeks. Only one day before, Loki had fallen into the void, created by the Bifröst. One day without her son… one day to much…

Frigga had always known that Loki had been jealous of his brother, but never thought that it would end like this. Oh and how she blamed herself for not telling Loki the truth. All she wanted was for Loki not to feel discriminated.

-xxx-

Thor watched his mother in the garden. The same garden where he and Loki used to play as kids. Thor wanted to cry, but he had the feeling he'd run out of tears. Life seemed extremely empty and dull without his brother's constant sneering and his jokes. Had Loki always been jealous of him? How could he have missed that?

It was his fault! Thor was certain of that. Loki had been jealous of HIM! HE had driven him to this! HE had destroyed the Bifröst and by doing that HE'd created the void. Loki's death was on him…

A slim hand touched Thor's shoulder. For a second he saw Jane standing behind him, but when he turned around, he looked into the worried eyes of Lady Sif.

"Thor…" she said in a whisper. "At least try to get your mind of things… why don't you come with us… we are going on a ride…"

Thor turned fixed his attention on his mother again and shook his head. Whatever the female warrior said, she couldn't change Thor's mind. Lady Sif sight and left. Somewhere in her heart she felt the cold stab of jealousy. That mortal had taken Thor away from her. Sif shook her head. How could she! Loki was dead! And even though she had lost her sympathy for the God of Mischief over the last years, she still felt the loss of her long lost friend.

-xxx-

"Mother…" a low voice sounded. Frigga looked up, startled. She always tried to keep herself strong when her sons were around. Thor clearly seemed hurt by the tears on her face. The Queen quickly wiped her cheeks and tried to smile. Somewhere she wished Loki would turn up and drive his brother mad, but the garden stayed silent.

"Thor, my son…" Frigga said in a broken voice, while Thor set down next to her under the pavilion. She took his hand and gently squeezed it. Thor smiled softly in return. Both of them stayed silent for a couple of minutes, staring at the fish in the water who annoyed both of them more every second.

"I'm sorry, mother…" Thor finally said. Frigga couldn't keep the tears from flowing anymore, so she let them be.

"It's not your fault… It is no one's fault, not even Loki's…" she said even though she blamed herself.

"How am I supposed to be king if Loki's not there to stand at my side, to counsel me, fight with me… rule with me… I never was and never will be capable to be the King of Asgard without him…"

A single tear left Thor's right eye and dropped on his lap. He'd never shown his fears to anyone, but know that they were about to come true, he couldn't keep pretending.

Frigga frowned and held Thor's hand even tighter between her fingers.

"Do not say that… You will do great! Just keep Loki's memory alive and you will be the grandest king that ever lived…"

Frigga went quiet. She too had hoped Loki would be there to guide Thor when he became king. The two of them always completed each other perfectly. The Queen also knew that Odin thought the same thing and therefore he'd decided to delay Thor's crowning.

Thor swallowed. He fixed his eyes back on the pond. Really, that one big red fish was annoying him! How could that thing have the right to swim happily while he and his mother where mourning over the death of his brother! Thor opened his palm. In his hand he was holding a small dagger. One of Loki's daggers. Furiously he threw the weapon towards the water. He missed and hit a smaller yellow fish right of the big, irritating red one. Thor sighed. Even when he tried he got the wrong one killed… The God of Thunder had never been really good with daggers… Loki had been…

Loki never missed…

(END MEMORY)

Thor couldn't believe he was going through this again. And this time, he couldn't go and talk to anyone… Jane maybe… And what about Frigga? She would never get over Loki's death! Thor looked down on his brother.

"Wake up, brother…" he whispered silently. On the screens the Energy seemed to make its way towards Loki's heart as if it were a race. Everyone in the room turned silent and the only sound came from the lowering bleeping of the scanner which registered Loki's heart rhythm.

"Please wake up…" Thor repeated in a broken voice.

To his and the others' surprise Loki opened his eyes…

So... I hope you like it... I'm going on holiday and I'm not sure if I'll be able to upload anything there... but I'll be writing ;)

Please review! :)

And enjoy!

Rumple x