A/N Look at this! An early update! You're welcome! And don't get used to this because it likely won't happen again. :P This will be the last torture chapter. We're getting closer to the end of the memory chapters. Just a couple more to go, then we'll get back to the present.

P.S. I forgot to mention this before, but all I know about Thanos is what I've seen in the movies, which is basically nothing. So I'm kind of making him my own character and basically making him however the story needs him to be. So if he seems OOC that's why.

Thank you to all my reviewers! You guys are awesome!

Ophelia Lokisdottir

FanFictionQueen1

Son-of-hiddle

aliceindeepdarkwonderland

ImperfectIsPerfect

embermoonlight

Warning: Descriptions of torture but not quite as bad as last chapter.

Finality

Thanos was frustrated. Loki knew it. For everything he had done to the trickster, for all of his efforts, Loki still hadn't broken. Thanos had exhausted nearly every method of physical torture he could think of and, although Loki's body was plenty weak, his mind was still just a little too strong to take over completely.

Thankfully, Thanos had finally tired of killing and reviving Loki. Unfortunately, he instead decided to try something new.

The next memory shown was one Loki really didn't want anyone else seeing. Thanos had discovered the futility of the beatings and whippings and other similar physical tortures and had decided to use temperature against him.

He had started by lowering the temperature, either not knowing of Loki's Jotun heritage or not aware of the implications of it. At first, as the temperature dropped, Loki actually became more comfortable, and as it dropped lower and lower, far past when a human or Asgardian would have been shivering and suffering, Loki felt fine, his body genetically built for the cold.

He tried very hard not to feel thankful for the benefits of his heritage, which were not only keeping him from suffering in the cold but as the room grew even colder, were likely what was keeping him from freezing to death. He wasn't subjected to the cold for long, though, as his lack of discomfort in spite of how low the temperature became, was soon noticed by Thanos and the monstrous man came storming back into the room.

"You are just full of surprises, aren't you, Little Prince?" he said, studying Loki's apparent comfort in the room that was so cold that ice and frost had gathered on the walls. "You may take cold well enough, but I'm willing to wager you don't handle heat quite so easily."

Then with another twisted smile, Thanos left and Loki felt a shot of fear go through him, he never had handled heat well. Asgardian summers had always been hard on him and now he knew why. Although he had been raised on Asgard and had acclimated somewhat to the naturally warmer weather, he was still genetically a Frost Giant which meant he thrived in the cold and withered in the heat.

Loki knew things were about to get very uncomfortable. As bad as all of the physical wounds he had endured over the last months were, this was going to be worse. Now he would be fighting his very DNA.

As the room rapidly began to warm, the ice melted on the red stone of the walls and a shiver ran through Loki at the sight. It looked almost like the walls were bleeding and it didn't help that the floor was still spattered with Loki's own blood from the repeated abuse. It didn't take long for Loki to begin to feel uncomfortable. Although previously his heritage had been a blessing, protecting him far past what an Asgardian could take, now it had become a curse as he began to sweat and pant long before when even a human should have.

As the temperature grew hotter and hotter, and the metal shackles began to burn his arms and the metal collar seared into his neck, Loki began to hallucinate, which was perhaps the worst torture he had endured thus far. It made him actually wish for the return of simple physical pain rather than the psychological pain he was feeling now. Because Loki couldn't hallucinate about just anything. No, he just had to hallucinate about his family.

It started with Odin. Loki looked up to see his father standing in the doorway and at first, his dazed mind thought his family had come to rescue him. He quickly learned that wasn't so, however.

"Father?" Loki whispered.

"I am not your father," Odin said. "You are a helpless runt I took pity on as a child. You are not, nor will you ever be, my son. Thor is my son and no other."

"Father, please," Loki begged.

"You are a Frost Giant," Odin said. "The monster parents tell their children about at night."

A tear slipped from Loki's eye to mingle with the sweat on his face.

Next came Thor. He stormed into the room as strong, brave, and majestic as ever.

"Brother," Loki sighed.

"You are no brother of mine!" Thor snapped. "No brother of mine would allow himself to be manipulated like that. And look at you! You are pathetic, crouching in a cell, quivering because it's a bit warm? You are weak! You always have been and you always will be."

"Brother, please. I-"

"You are nothing more than a worthless Frost Giant, something to be killed on sight!" Thor yelled.

A hitched breath escaped Loki in the form of a soft sob.

"Oh, don't tell me you're crying again," a voice said, and Loki looked up to see that Frigga had replaced Thor.

"Mother," Loki said, hope creeping into his voice. She, above all others, had cared for him. She would help him.

"Oh, I am ever so glad I don't have to pretend to be your mother any longer," she spat. "It was beginning to get old."

"Wha... What?" Loki breathed, feeling his heart completely shatter in his chest.

"Thor is my son. I bore him. You were nothing more than a political burden I had to bear for the sake of the kingdom. You were worthless for anything else and you even ended up being useless for the purpose for which you were intended."

"Mother. No, please, I- I-" Loki stuttered, his throat tightening with emotion.

"You are a Frost Giant. No Frost Giant may call me Mother," she said before she wavered and disappeared.

Loki had crouched there in that cell, bound and suffering for months, but none of it had compared to the words his family had thrown in his face, the words he had always sought to escape from but never could as they sprang from his own mind.

Ever since arriving on that Hellish planet, he had known he would likely never see his home or his family again and even if he did, all that awaited him was punishment. Manipulated or not, he still committed serious crimes and he had no idea how to explain. He wasn't even sure he deserved to be able to explain. He should have been stronger. He should have been able to tell that he was being used, and he should have been able to throw off the tesseract's influence. But he hadn't. He had been too weak.

He knew all he could expect back home was his family's hatred, if they hadn't already hated him all along, the pathetic runt of their enemy. It really was little more than he deserved. But even knowing all of that, he had still wanted nothing more than to go home, and to see them all again.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to the empty room, knowing they couldn't hear him but still wishing that somehow they could. "I'm sorry."

In the throne room, a tear slipped from Loki's closed eyes as the pain in his heart hit him just as hard the second time around. Unknown to him, his eyes were not the only ones that weren't dry. Thor had silent tears rolling freely down his face, Frigga was sobbing softly and even Odin had a tear glistening on his weathered cheek.

In the memory, Loki shuddered from the unforgiving heat as he sought to breathe past the lump in his throat and the sobs that occasionally escaped him.

"My Son," a gentle voice said.

Loki slowly raised his head to see Odin once more standing in the room. Anguish passed through Loki as he realized the mental torture was about to begin anew.

"My Son," Odin said again, still sounding gentle and even loving, but Loki knew it wouldn't last. "You are a Frost Giant."

"Must you all keep shoving that in my face?" Loki asked, trying to sound angry and spiteful but instead just sounding broken.

"You are a Frost Giant," Odin said again.

"I know!" Loki screamed. "You keep telling me over and over, as if I needed any reminding! I know what I am and I couldn't help what I was born as! If you hate me so much, you should have left me to die! Why couldn't you have left me to die?" Loki broke off with a choked sob.

"Loki," Odin whispered coming to crouch down in front of him. "The heat is hurting you. It's causing you to hallucinate and it's killing you."

"Because of my cursed heritage," Loki whispered.

"You can save yourself," Odin said.

"How?" Loki asked.

"You are a Frost Giant," Odin said once more and the meaning finally penetrated Loki's hazy mind.

It was what his mind had been trying to tell him through the images of his family and amid all of his self-depreciating thoughts. Each one of them had said it. He was a Frost Giant, which meant he was a natural born master of the cold. How does one fight heat? With cold. But in order to do that...

"I can't," Loki choked.

"Yes, you can. You must, My Son," Odin said. "You must if you are to survive, and you must survive. Survive, My Son. Survive and come home to us," Odin's voice echoed away as the hallucination once more vanished.

Loki took a deep, shaky breath. He didn't want to do what he was about to do but he no longer had a choice. Reluctantly, he reached inward and found the part of himself he had unconsciously been restraining even as it fought to be released. With a final, defeated sigh, he let it loose.

It began with his hands. Slowly, his fingers turned blue, followed by his hands as the blue crept upward. It disappeared beneath his clothing but Loki could feel it, a soothing cold that was like a balm against the burning heat. The shackles on his wrists hissed in response to the temperature change as Loki's arms were covered in cold. Then it moved onto his chest and Loki let out a startled gasp at the merciful relief from the heat.

From there, the cold spread down over his legs and up through his neck causing the hot collar to sizzle and wisps of steam to rise from it from the sudden contact with cold. Lastly, the blue spread over his face and he no longer felt the heat pressing in on him. He was shrouded by a shell of cold that staved off the heat and allowed him to begin to think clearly again.

He knew he looked a sight, blue skinned with blood-red eyes and raised, ridged patterns on his skin. However, the relief was actually worth it and there was no one there to see him anyway. Not that it really mattered. He was a Frost Giant. It was about time he began to accept that, whether he liked it or not. It was stupid to not use all of his abilities to stay alive even if those abilities left him looking like a monstrous mongrel who nobody had ever wanted.

In the throne room, Loki stared at his visage, being able to really see his true form for the first time. The memory of himself in Jotun form in the vault with The Casket had been too fleeting for him to really see.

He was so focused on himself that he completely missed the looks on the spectators faces, which ranged from shock and horror to awed curiosity. Frigga and Odin were two of the only ones who not only weren't surprised but weren't repulsed by the sight. To anyone who looked at them, it honestly looked as if Loki's Jotun appearance made no difference to them. But Loki didn't see that, just as he missed the looks on Thor's and the other Avengers' faces. Surprise was evident on their faces but otherwise they didn't look horrified as Loki would have thought, instead they looked more curious. The humans didn't have the basis of hatred for the Jotuns that Asgardians did, and they were somewhat more inclined to accept those that were different from them.

Thor's expression, though, was the one that was most surprising. He didn't have the same shock, already knowing of Loki's heritage and having seen Frost Giants before. The appearance didn't shock him, although seeing it on his brother was definitely different. Surprisingly enough, the main emotion on his face wasn't revulsion, or even curiosity like his mortal friends. It was awe. He was truly awed by Loki's Jotun appearance. He violently pushed aside and denied the feelings of prejudice that tried to rise up in him from so many years of growing up viewing Jotuns through the hatred that came from being old warring enemies.

It had been centuries since Asgard and Jotunheim had been at war. It was a war that Thor had never even had a part in. Therefore, he had no right to hold the same feelings as those who did. All he really knew of Frost Giants was what he had learned from childhood stories and that was not a basis to form such prejudices. He didn't know Frost Giants or their culture. He had only even met them once, and that had been when he had invaded their realm and started a fight. It was time he stopped viewing them through preconceived and baseless notions.

Regardless of what the Jotun race was truly like, Loki was Thor's brother, Frost Giant or not. He knew Loki and he knew his brother was not a monstrous, evil creature as he had always believed the Jotuns to be. Even if the Frost Giants really were, that didn't mean Loki was and Thor needed to look past the skin to the brother beneath.

So, as the memory Loki's skin changed from pale white to deep blue, Thor put aside his prejudices and other memories and looked at Loki objectively. By doing so, Thor was able to really look at Loki's true form and see it, instead of a monster from a childhood story. What Thor saw amazed him. He could honestly say that Loki's blue skin was actually beautiful. Although Thor would never voice that particular word, it was the one that fit best. Loki wasn't ugly or monstrous, his Jotun appearance was compelling and intriguing.

If only Loki could have seen Thor's expression, but the younger prince was too busy staring in horrified disgust at his blue skin and blood red eyes. He had called himself a monster, but he had never actually looked at his terrible appearance. He truly looked nightmarish, the visage of the evil villain from every scary story told to Asgardian children. He was a garish sight. Loki couldn't stand to look at himself any longer and couldn't bare to look at the faces of those around him so he fixed his eyes on his hands. They were the pale white that they had been all his life, still hiding the terrible truth beneath, that not only was he different, he was the worst kind of different. He was wrong in every way, a hated enemy to his adoptive people, and not worthy of life to his blood people.

He curled his hands into fists as that horrible blue flashed through his mind again. Why did he have to be different? Why couldn't his current appearance have been the real one and the Jotun blue been the illusory lie?

Loki's eyes were finally drawn back to the memory unfolding as his memory self was jarred out of his thoughts by the sound of the cell door being opened. His memory self looked up to see Thanos studying him as someone might an insect. It took a lot of strength of will to force away the cool protection of his Jotun appearance. He would not give Thanos the satisfaction of seeing his Jotun skin. He was Loki of Asgard and he would face Thanos as such.

Fortunately, his clothing covered everything but his hands and his face. So although he had to push the blue back off his hands and face, he was able to leave it beneath his clothes, keeping his chest and vital organs safe from the relentless and harmful temperature. The metal collar bit into his neck again as the cold receded and the metal once more began to burn him but he refused to let it show, carefully keeping the wince off of his face.

Even with keeping the cold beneath his clothing, Loki could still feel the heat press in upon him and sweat begin to gather on his face once more, he could feel his mind starting to grow hazy and disoriented again, perhaps not as badly or as dangerous as before but it was still affecting him.

Unlike other times when Thanos came into the room, this time he didn't speak. He simply stood there watching. Loki was beginning to wonder if he was hallucinating again.

"What do you want now?" Loki asked.

Thanos still didn't reply.

"Well? Why are you just standing there staring at me?" Loki asked, unable to help his curiosity.

"You're almost ready," he said with a maniacal grin.

"I told you before. I will never help you. Do what you will, but you cannot break me," Loki said.

"You're right," Thanos said. "I can't break you. For everything I've tried and for all my efforts, I have been unable to break you. You should take that as a compliment, no one else has ever succeeded in withstanding me, especially not for so long," Thanos said.

"Then why keep me? If you know I'm never going to break then why not kill me or let me go?" Loki asked.

"Oh, I never said you wouldn't break. I just said I couldn't break you," Thanos said, leaning down so his face was inches from Loki's. "You will break Little Prince, but it won't be at my hand. All this time has shown me one thing. Only one person can break you."

"Who?" Loki asked before he could stop himself.

"You," Thanos said.

Loki stared at the man with wide eyes, knowing he was right. Unfortunately, knowing it was true didn't protect Loki from it happening. With that realization, he felt something in his mind shift. With fear-filled eyes, he turned his head to see his hallucinations of Thor, Odin, and Frigga standing in the corner of the room silently staring at him, their faces full of hatred. Just like that, Loki knew he had unintentionally done what Thanos hadn't been able to in all his time as a prisoner. He had defeated himself.

Loki's dark thoughts, his own demons and self-depreciation, was what Thanos had needed. He needed Loki's mind weakened and Loki had done the work for him by warring with himself. He had been his own undoing and it was that soul-crushing realization that finally broke Loki Odinson.

Thanos was right in front of him. In his hand was a golden spear with a familiar blue jewel glowing in the end of it. Thanos moved the spear toward Loki. The trickster struggled to back away from it, shaking his head and trying to escape. The chains held him firm, not even allowing him to move more than a couple of inches in any direction. The tip of the spear grew closer and closer until finally it lightly touched the center of Loki's chest.

Then the world exploded in pain.

It was a cold the likes of which no Frost Giant could create and it was a burning fire, hotter than the surface of a sun. It crept outward from his chest, reaching down his legs, through his arms, and up his neck. Then it turned inward, clawing, grasping at his mind. He fought it, fought it with everything he had as it sank into his mind, ripping and tearing at his will.

It felt like being frozen and burned alive, dying and reviving. It was the single most painful and all-encompassing feeling Loki had ever endured in all his years. His mouth was open in a soundless scream as the pain paralyzed his lungs, trapping what little air there was inside. Outwardly, he made no sound, but inside, he screamed with every fiber if his being in agony.

After an eternity of fire and ice, life and death, it was done. Loki felt the chains open and fall away. He felt himself stand. He heard and saw Thanos ask if he was ready. He felt his own head incline in affirmation and heard his own voice say, "But of course," before feeling a maniacal grin spread across his face.

And the entire time he was trapped, a prisoner, completely locked away within the confines of his own mind.

A/N Let me know what you think. If you loved it or hated it. I would love to know! :)

Next chapter we will see some of the events of The Avengers from Loki's point of view.