First of all, I need to thank everybody who is reading this story. Your reactions make me incredibly happy.

Loki didn't have a clue for how long he was helplessly curled up the floor of his cell, suffering from Fury's merciless torture.

The God of Mischief had no idea whether Fury was asking him some questions or was only using him as a punching bag to release his anger and frustration. Loki's ears were ringing and the omnipresent pain flooded his brain and clouded his mind from any rational thinking.

He couldn't even focus on his brother anymore. Yes, Thor would never let anyone beat him bloody without putting up a fight. Yet as more agony was consuming the paralysed god and the last drops of hope were leaving him, Loki came to believe that he wasn't even worth comparing to the mighty Thor.

Who was he anyway?

He used to be a shadow wandering through the Asgardian Palace; his official title of a prince commanding the only respect he ever received. Now he knew that he never deserved the respect as his title as well as his whole coming of age was a lie.

Then he became a prisoner of…him in the void. There he was transformed from an insignificant shadow to an unforgettable monster serving an even more hideous creature. That creature did everything in his powers to erase all the compassion he had left. For a while, the creature seemed to have succeeded.

After that, he was forcibly returned to Asgard, only to be relegated from a former prince to a prisoner so monstrous that everyone was forbidden from visiting him.

Finally, when he started to feel himself again and saw the lost brotherly love at the end of the tunnel, Loki was reminded of his own insignificance by being traded for the safety of the Asgardians.

Suddenly, Loki felt another of his ribs being broken. The affliction of spasm that passed throughout his whole body overshadowed all the other pain and made Loki remember Odin's last words.

My sons.

Loki was touched that despite everything, Odin still in some way considered him to be his son. However, when he ruminated about the occasion later, the old rage resurfaced inside him again.

My sons? Didn't Odin explicitly state that he wished Loki dead?

Frigga is the only reason you are still alive.

Remembering the words from his hasty trial, Loki considered the Allfather's words more hypocrite than ever. If it were up to Odin, Loki would have been executed upon entering Asgard. Odin's own words left no possibly for any other interpretation. They were clear enough. So by what right did he now addressed him as his son?

Loki hated himself because he knew that despite all of this, he still wholeheartedly wished for Odin to mean the words. Bloody hell, had Odin tried to embrace him, Loki would gladly allow himself to melt in his arms and feel like a son of someone again.

Loki was convinced that Odin was past forgiving for the lies he inflicted upon him and for the cruel words he said to him.

Your birthright was to die.

At the same time, had there been a possibility for him and Odin to be reconciled, Loki suspected that he would be unable not to grab it with all his might. He wanted the only father-figure he had ever known to forgive him for the atrocities he committed. He needed him to understand that had he been in control of his conscience, he would never have attacked Midgard. Had he not been afraid that the heartless Frost Giants may try to claim him and hurt his family, he would never have tried to wipe out Jotunheim.

It was frustrating.

The rational part of his brain was screaming at him that Odin deserved no forgiveness from him. The sentimental one was yelling the exact opposite. Then there was a little voice whispering that if Odin didn't deserve forgiveness, then he didn't either.

Loki's brain was drowning in contradictions.

He saw the light when he and Thor seemed to be brothers again.

Now the light was all gone.

Loki wanted to yell in frustration. He wished to throw all these contradictions into Odin's face but as usually, the Allfather prevented any possibility of further discussion by disappearing. It seemed to be his way of dealing with family situations. When Loki confronted him about his Frost Giant heritage with million questions, Odin fell into the Odinsleep. When all that Loki needed was to be given a safe space to try to explain what happened to him in the void, the Allfather killed all his hopes by automatically assuming that his adopted son committed the crimes only because he wanted a throne. Finally, when Odin seemed to accept Loki as his son once again, he actually died before Loki had any possibility to say a word to ask him if he meant those words or not.

Odin's judgement had always had a profound effect on Loki's emotional state. It affected him much more than he liked to admit. However, the implications of his brother's attitude towards him were even more painful for the raven-haired god.

Frigga is the only reason you are still alive.

Did that mean that Thor wanted him to be executed as well?

Loki spent countless hours wondering if Thor pleaded for his younger brother to be executed. His conclusion was that Odin said it only to hurt him; to punish him for attempting to kill the crown prince on Midgard. However, Loki never found the courage to actually talk to Thor about this moment. He knew that he wouldn't be able to take it had Thor admitted that after the Midgardian failure, he wanted him dead. Frankly, Loki was afraid of his own actions if Thor told him this.

Loki was spared from prolonging the trip throughout the painful memory lane by realising that someone dragged him up by his arms. He allowed himself to fully open his tear-stained eyes and when his pupils adjusted to the dim lightning, he understood that he was being held up by two SHIELD agents. He didn't notice them coming; since Fury had started kicking him, time and place stopped existing for Loki. All he could feel was pain and agonizing memories.

Trying to put himself together, Loki attempted to fully focus on the present moment. He was on his knees. However, all his weight was rested upon the two anonymous agents who were painfully gripping his upper arms and so holding him up. The weakened god was certain that if they let go, he would immediately fall back on the coarse ground.

He found himself drawing hoarse breaths, his body naturally trying to breathe as little as possible because every time his lungs tried to fill up with air, his chest seemed to be stabbed by millions of blades. The broken ribs were keeping his chest in constant pain.

Loki was aware of his cheeks being bruised and bleeding from the few blows he didn't manage to block out by his bound-up wrists. The skin where the manacles were secured was all gone by now and Loki counted it as another source of pain on his beaten-up body.

Yet all the pain enabled Loki to stay in the present time and after having understood his condition, his eyes went to search for Fury. Where was the Director? Despite the smallness and bareness of the cell, Loki couldn't see him anywhere. Did he leave? Loki truly hoped so but at the same time he didn't understand why the agents would be holding him up for no reason.

All of a sudden, Loki felt someone lifting his bowed head up by his hair. Loki's neck was violently pushed back and the god found himself staring up at Fury who was eyeing him with an annoyed expression. Before Loki had any time to understand what this could mean, he felt a cold, sharp blade touching his neck right under his Adam's apple. Involuntarily, he swallowed heavily which caused the metal to cut his skin. Trying to breathe as lightly as possible, Loki sought to understand whether Fury meant to kill him.

"Look at you, puny god. You are completely in my power." Fury hissed the words and tremor ran through Loki's body. Fury seemed to sense it and his mouth twisted into a vengeful smirk. He bowed his head until his mouth was right next to Loki's right ear. Loki could feel Fury's breath. It made him shiver even more.

"You are so weak. Helpless. Alone. Nobody cares about you. Thor is with his fellow Avengers now. He has forgotten about the burden of his useless, younger brother." Fury was whispering so that only Loki could hear him. The god closed his eyes to prevent showing that the Director's words have affected him.

"LOOK AT ME!" Fury yelled at the top of his voice while trying to push Loki's head even further. Without thinking, Loki obeyed and fixed his frightened eyes on his tormentor. He didn't dare to speak.

Something seemed to catch Fury's attention as he abruptly interrupted his stare at Loki and focused on something out of Loki's visual field.

"I wish we had more time together but unfortunately, there is a pressing matter that you must attend to." Fury said and without further explanation removed the knife from Loki's throat and with quick instructions to the agents, which were inaudible for Loki, left the cell.

Loki's tensed body relaxed immediately when Fury disappeared from his cell and he found himself hanging from the agents' grip like a rag doll. He had no idea what the Director meant but he was sure he would find out soon enough.

"Can you stand up?" An emotionless voice of one of the anonymous agents echoed throughout the cell.

Loki tried to compel his legs to cooperate but found himself to be too exhausted. Slowly, he shook his head.

He wasn't able to see the agents' reaction because his chin was resting against his jugular notch. He imagined the agents to shoot a glance at each other and soon he found himself being hauled out of his cell towards the dark corridor.

…

Stupid Thor.

Fury was walking in a quick pace towards the room where Thor and Banner were waiting for him.

He knew he could have broken the evil god. By the time his two assistants arrived to hold him up, Loki didn't seem to be fully aware of his surroundings. He must have been in agonizing physical pain and from Fury's experience, everyone broke in the end. Fury was determined to speed the process up as much as possible. Knowing the rough outline of Loki's history, he knew that by appealing to his inferiority complex and fear of being abandoned, the puny god should break rather quickly and tell him everything he longed to know.

Unfortunately, he found his interrogation interrupted by being informed that Thor and Banner were waiting for him, demanding to see Loki. He quickly told the agents to clean the prisoner so that the visitors wouldn't be able to see the full extent of the torture. Then, he left the cell to hold the two Avengers up until Loki was made presentable enough so that Fury wouldn't risk being attacked by his overprotective brother.

Fury opened the door to the fairly spacious room in which Thor and Banner were waiting. When he stepped into the room, he saw that Thor was wasting no time as the God of Thunder quickly fixed his gaze on him.

"Where is my brother?" Thor demanded. Fury noticed that his remaining eye flashed dangerously as he asked the question.

"I instructed two agents to bring him here. They should arrive in no time." Fury said officially.

"For your own sake, I hope that no one used any violence again Loki." Thor said, his tone warning.

"I interrogated him with adequate force."

"What does that mean?" Thor's voice was no more than a whisper now.

"He is a god, he will be fine. I didn't hurt him…much."

"What have you said?" Thor screamed and tried to make his way towards Fury only to be held back by Banner.

"Thor, calm down. Wait until Loki is here." The doctor said sensibly.

With difficulty, Thor assumed control of his rage. He kept glaring daggers at Fury but his stomach was in knots. Whatever the SHIELD had done to Loki, it was his fault. He allowed them to take his little brother despite knowing the grudge they held against him.

It was his fault.

…

Loki's handcuffed wrists hit the ground as he found himself being thrown onto the floor stone. A moan escaped his lips as the hit knocked the wind out of him. His chest was screaming in pain.

Loki had neither energy nor will to move and so he was just lying there on his stomach with his hands underneath him.

"What did he mean by wash him into a presentable state? Look at him – he can hardly breathe. How does he expect us to remove the traces of such an excessive torture in the next ten minutes?" Loki heard one of the agents saying.

"Don't ask me." Replied the other one. "Let's just wash the blood off him and then let's see what else we can do."

Loki couldn't make a proper sense from the words he heard but somehow it didn't sound too pleasant.

"Can you lift him up? I will…." The agent's words were interrupted by his sudden scream. Abruptly, Loki heard the other agent breathe out in surprise and soon he heard two dull cracks as the agents' bodies hit the floor.

Then there was a silence. Loki had no idea who disposed of the agents but he allowed himself to glance up in hope that it was his brother coming to save him.

When he saw the person's shoes, he immediately understood that it wasn't his brother. Loki was sure to have seen the boots before but he was too terrified to look up to see the full figure of the person.

Then Loki heard the words.

"Your saviour is here."