You asked for the next chapter to be up before the Infinity War. Here it is.

As all the rooms in the Stark Tower, the living room that was now accommodating all the Avengers was a spacious room with lots of light. The sizeable sofas were situated in the middle of the huge space. Behind them, there were clean windows instead of walls. Since Afghanistan, Tony preferred his living area to be as free and illuminated as possible.

At this very moment, the sofa and surrounding area is being occupied by all the Avengers including Doctor Strange, Director Fury and one God of Mischief. They are all holding hands.

Loki kept staring at his sweaty hand which was squeezing his brother's as if his life depended on it. He was shaking and breathing hard. One quick glance at Thor made it clear that the older god was not doing much better.

He has no right to feel this way.

Suddenly, Thor's hand seemed to be made of volcano's magma and Loki abruptly let go of it as if it could burn him without warning. Seemingly out of his senses, he basically jumped up to his feet. His eyes were unfocused, looking from the ground, to Thor and then to the wall.

This was a bad idea.

Such a bad idea.

Thanos was so real. And the only reason for Fury's impatience must have been that he is coming.

The Mad Titan was coming for all of them.

"Loki?" Thor finally seemed to snap out of his trance and he uttered his brother's name as a mere whisper.

Loki looked at Thor.

He focused on his one eye.

All he saw was Odin.

Loki brought his hands into tight fists as he felt a wave of anger and despair sweeping through him all at once. Unable to keep his magic inside himself, he released it.

The effect was immediate. The huge windows shattered with a loud bang. The shelves that covered the walls fell down with all the things they had been carrying.

It all happened within a moment.

After it, the living room was a mess.

Loki looked around surprised.

The last time he found himself so overcame by anger that his magic left into its own direction was…

"Mother." He uttered quietly.

He stared at Thor.

"Did mother know that he left me there?" Loki looked at Thor and the God of Thunder swallowed hard. The look in his brother's eyes was the one Loki displayed after having fallen to the Void.

His eyes were emotionally restrained as if there was never to be any warmth inside them ever again.

"No. I am sure she didn't." Thor managed to answer quietly, ignoring Tony who was looking around his living room frantically.

"Did you?" Loki asked, looking Thor straight in the eye.

"No." Thor answered. "Of course, not!"

Loki smirked.

Then he winced. His ribs shot pain through his body again. Loki almost forgot that his torso was under all the bandages still a bloody mess. Thanks to…

"Fury. Did you enjoy the show? I am sure you must have loved this." Loki addressed the Director and made a few steps towards him.

Fury, still in shock as the rest of them, didn't react. The only one whose senses seemed to be as sharp as ever was Natasha. She stood up to stand in front of the Director.

"Loki." She said resolutely. "Don't do anything you might regret."

"Oh, don't you worry. I will regret it if I don't do what I plan to do." Loki said, his voice without any emotions, so different from the one he had used earlier that day.

"Loki." Thor addressed Loki desperately. The situation was getting out of control.

"Oh, what is it, Thor? Such a surprise. You were playing the good brother for the last two days and so you are back on your friends' side now." Loki hissed angrily.

"I am on your side. I have always been on your side. Your anger just made you too blind to see that."

"Oh did it? So in the end, it is all my fault. As always. I forgot that my slights have always been just imagined. As we have all apparently imagined that Odin, the man who was supposed to be my father, left me down there, in the dungeons, despite knowing very well what would happen!" Loki didn't know when he started screaming.

Thor was lost for words for a moment.

"I didn't know Loki. I can't imagine why father would do what he did. It must have been…"

"Oh yes, I forgot. It must have been Hela, wasn't it? In the end, there is always a reason for everything the Allfather does. This is an excuse, Thor. The excuse of the winner, of the one in power."

"I am not trying to excuse what he did. But I am not Odin. I would never…"

"No, you wouldn't." Loki smirked. "He…Thanos was right."

"What?" Thor questioned alarmed.

"The first thing you told me when we met. You said…"

"Where is the Tesseract." Thor finished for him.

"After all that time, having seen me falling into the abyss, the first thing you told me was this." Loki's voice cracked a little, but the façade was back on within a second.

"Guys, I think we should all calm down and…." Steve began saying but a hit of energy sent him flying against the wall.

"Loki!" Thor screamed. Loki only smirked in return.

"Maybe he was right all the time. Asgard would never have anything but a hatred for me and I have been a fool to keep trying to win its affection. Maybe I should wait for him to come, finally give him the Tesseract and by his side watch all the rest of this ungrateful universe to burn." Loki's eyes flashed dangerously.

"When will you stop lying to yourself? Stop saying the things you don't mean!" Thor was screaming as well by now.

"How do you know that I don't mean this? I am the monster, Thor!"

"No, you are my brother."

"Clearly, as seen by Odin's actions, I am not!"

"Stop constantly rejecting your family, Loki!"

Loki gave Thor a long stare.

"I wanted a family. They just didn't want me."

Thor stared at him disbelievingly.

"How can you say that? Loki, please, calm down. I understand that all this is much worse than I ever thought possible, but you cannot blame everyone else around you without accepting your faults as well. We have always loved you. It was you who pushed us away."

"Oh was I? You know what he told me when you brought me back to Asgard in chains? Frigga is the only reason you're still alive."

A hint of guilt hit Loki right where his heart was.

He remembered the last words he said to his mother.

"Odin made me say such hateful things to mother, Thor. I will never forgive him for that. But you are right at one thing. Mother did love me. It's a pity that she was the only one. And now she's dead."

"How can you say that? After all I've done for you…" Thor began.

"Have you heard a word I said?" Loki interrupted angrily, his voice not going down. "Frigga is the only reason you are still alive. The only reason."

"Are you really so misguided to think that I would ask for your execution?" Thor screamed incredulously. One look into Loki's eyes which for a second lost the mask let him know that indeed, he was.

"Loki, I did not go begging the Allfather for your life because it never even crossed my mind that he would think about an execution."

Loki smiled sadly.

"Well, maybe that is the problem. You had a choice. Odin or Me. You chose wrong." Loki said and began walking away.

"Where do you think you're going?" Thor screamed after him.

"Not your business, Thor. But since I don't belong anywhere, I might as well go find Thanos and offer my services to him. In the end, he was the only one to ever show me some purpose."

"Loki, STOP THIS NONSENSE!" Thor screamed and walked towards his brother. Catching him by his shoulders, he tried to shake some sense into him. "Stop talking as if you were our enemy. If you don't stop, they might as well consider you to be one."

"I have done nothing wrong when we came here and look what they had done to me! And you didn't stop them." Loki said, his voice cracking at the end of the sentence.

"I am sorry. I admit that letting Fury take you was my fault. I…"

"You have never done anything. You left me with Thanos for all that time. I was in pain." The words kept rolling of Loki's tongue which no longer felt silver.

"Loki, I am so sorry. I have never stopped loving you. You must believe me." Thor looked Loki in the eyes.

Loki smiled.

Thor thought to have won.

"You should know…" Loki began saying in a neutral tone, "that when we fought each other in the past, I did so with the glimmer of hope that my brother was still in there somewhere. That hope no longer exists to protect you. You betray me and I will kill you."

Thor swallowed.

"I didn't mean that." Thor answered after a moment. His arms never left Loki's shoulders.

"Didn't you tell me just a second ago that I should never say things that I don't mean? Because people might think that they are true."

"Loki, it was after Midgard! I thought that you caused all the havoc because you wanted some petty revenge on me! I was angry and scared for Jane! I was not thinking clearly!"

"Well, maybe, had you not automatically suspected that your monster of a brother tried to enslave a random planet purely by his own will, you would have come to me to ask me. But you never bothered, Thor. You even put a muzzle on me to prevent me from saying anything. And then, when they told me I was to face a trial, they brought me to the Allfather but not for a trial, it was a condemnation. Then, they put me to the dungeons which you never, not even once, bothered to visit until the moment your precious mortal needed a help." Loki's eyes watered involuntarily, and he cursed himself for the bloody sentiment he was still holding.

"Brother," Thor began saying and did not falter when Loki rolled his eyes upon that name, "I don't deny the wrongs that I have done to you. But we will not move anywhere until you admit your faults as well! You sent the Destroyer to kill me and our friends before any of this happened!"

"Why would I let the fire die away if I wanted you dead?" Loki screamed at the top of his lungs.

"You told me that father was dead because of me and that mother has forbidden my return! Do you know how I felt, stranded on Earth without hope of ever coming back home?" Thor screamed back.

"No, I wouldn't, would I?" Loki screamed with sarcasm dripping of his tongue.

"How would you feel had I told you that mother did not want you to come home?" Thor yelled at Loki and once again shook his shoulders.

The Trickster felt his walls breaking down.

"I am sorry for that." Loki said finally, barely audible. It was such a difference from all the screaming.

"I am also sorry, brother." Thor smiled.

Loki smiled back.

Loki made a few steps back and Thor let go of him.

"Yet this does not change the fact that you all left me. Forsook me. And Thanos got hold of me. You're right, Thor. I could never go back to that heartless monster, but I will not stay with you either. I should have taken Korg and his stupid, easily manipulated friends as far from you as possible." Loki said and turned to leave.

Thor reached for him.

"Loki…" He began saying, but his hand has gone through his brother as if he was a ghost.

An illusion.

Thor blankly stared at the place where Loki has been only a moment ago.

He has fooled him again.

Loki was no longer there.

Tony coughed and looked around the shattered living room.

"Well. This went well."

I cannot really leave this without a few comments.

First of all, I am so sorry not to have posted a happier, fluffy chapter before the Infinity War. But this chapter had to be done. Well...bad timing.

Also, should anything bad happen to Loki in the Infinity War, my plan is to stand up in the middle of the theatre and say loudly: "Enough. You are all of you beneath me. He is a god you dull creatures and he will not be bullied by you."

And theatrically walk away.

Even if the Hulk is in the audience, this is still my plan.

Well...it is nice to dream sometimes.

Anyway, let's all keep our fingers crossed for the Infinity War not to turn into a Shakespearean tragedy and let's believe that our Trickster will find a way to fool all the bad guys as well as the good guys as he always does.