A/N I know this is once again the events of The Avengers but it does have a point and I tried to condense it as much as possible.

P.S. Who has seen the trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron? It looks AMAZING! :D I wish we didn't have to wait 6 more months to see it. :(

Thanks to my reviewers! I'm glad a few of you guys are still enjoying this story.

Ophelia Lokisdottir

FanFictionQueen1

embermoonlight

aliceindeepdarkwonderland

Son-of-hiddle

ImperfectIsPerfect

The Avengers

Loki had hoped that the memories would end there, that it would only make him relive everything up to his mind being taken over. He was greatly disappointed, however, as the memories continued beyond that.

Even with his magic, it hadn't been easy to make the connection between the tesseract and the jewel strong enough to create a doorway, but eventually he succeeded. Thanos placed the spear into Loki's hands. Then Loki was traveling to Earth through a blue corridor of light that felt more like The Void than the bifrost.

From the depths of his mind, Loki watched himself land in the underground chamber. He watched himself fight and kill. He watched himself take over the minds of others as had been done to him. All the while, he silently screamed. He screamed and railed and fought against the oppression in his mind that was making him harm others. He wanted it to stop. He wanted to yell at the people to flee, flee for their lives. But no matter how loud he screamed, no one heard him.

Loki found it more than a little ironic that The Voice that had whispered and screamed in the back of his mind before his fall was now in control of him and he had become the voice whispering and screaming in the back of his own mind.

Loki sat in his underground hideout and watched the one called Selvig work on the portal device. As he sat there, the gem in the staff flared brightly and Loki felt himself being pulled to another place, without his body ever leaving Earth. He stood on a floating asteroid, The Other standing in front of him and Thanos hidden in the shadows above on a rocky ledge.

"The Chitauri grow restless," The Other said.

"Let them gird themselves. I will lead them into glorious battle," he heard himself say as an illusion of himself, dressed in full battle armor, appeared in front of him to face The Other.

"Battle? Against the meager might of Earth?"

"Glorious, not lengthy," the illusion said. "If your force is as formidable as you claim."

"You question us?" The Other asked dangerously. "You question him? He who put the scepter in your hand. Who gave you ancient knowledge and purpose when you were cast out. Defeated."

'He who caused me to do the things resulting in my fall. Then took over my mind after endless torture,' the real Loki thought, but of course he was powerless to actually voice it.

Instead, what came out of his mouth was, "I was a king! The rightful King of Asgard. Betrayed."

'By who?' The real Loki thought scathingly. If anyone had done the betraying, it was him. He had betrayed his entire family and his realm. And now he was doing the same to another innocent race of people.

"Your ambition is little," The Other said. "And born of childish need. We look beyond the Earth to greater worlds the tesseract will avail."

"You don't have the tesseract yet," Loki drawled.

The Other spun around and was suddenly in Loki's face, his hand raised as if to attack but he didn't touch the Asgardian. The fake Loki never so much as flinched.

"I don't threaten," Loki said, raising the spear into The Other's face. "But until I open the doors, until your force is mine to command, you are but words."

"You will have your war, Asgardian," The Other said, lowering his hand and taking a step closer to Loki. "If you fail, if the tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he cannot find you."

A shot of fear ran down his spine as Loki realized the creature was now taking to him. The real him, trapped in the back of his own mind. It knew that he was trying to resist and The Other was trying to scare him away from doing so. However, there wasn't anything they could do to him that would be worse than what he had already been through. He was at rock bottom, he couldn't get any lower. The creature's threat meant nothing to him now.

"You think you know pain," The Other whispered from behind him, almost like he had heard Loki's thoughts. "He will make you long for something sweet as pain."

The Other touched the side of Loki's face and horrible pain shot through his body for a brief moment. Then it was gone and he was back on Earth, still sitting in the same place, never having physically moved. Nothing had changed. He was still trapped in his own mind and still at the mercy of the tesseract itself. The only difference now was the tendril of fear that coiled around Loki's trapped mind and refused to go away.

He eventually got up and moved over to observe Selvig's work. From the confines of his own mind, Loki studied the work the scientist had done so far. He had made a lot of progress and the machine would work perfectly. As he studied it, though, Loki noticed something. Instantly, he blocked the thought off, covering it with his own consciousness and hiding it deep within himself. Selvig had included a fail safe, a way to bypass the forcefield and shut the machine down. Selvig's subconscious was trying to resist in the only way it could.

And now Loki was doing the same. He couldn't retake control of his body, he couldn't stop this, he couldn't free these men, but he could fight back in some small way. He was already holding back the majority of his magic. He couldn't restrict it all from the tesseract. It was still able to use his magic for basic things like illusions and making doubles of himself, but it couldn't use it as the powerful weapon that it truly was. If it could, the Earth would be as good as done for.

Loki's magic was a part of who he was and although the tesseract had taken over his body, it could not take over his mind and his soul. It could only lock his mind away where he had no control. His magic was his and if he could control nothing else, he could control how and where the bulk of his magic was used. Two could play this game. So he locked his magic away within the part of himself that still belonged to him. Just as he did with the piece of knowledge that would likely end up being the key to stopping the Chitauri.

He had to keep the fail-safe hidden so the tesseract's power, and by default Thanos, wouldn't discover it. Now that the knowledge was in his mind, the tesseract's power could discover it if he wasn't careful. Loki silently vowed with everything in him that he would keep it secret if it killed him because this secret could either save them all or condemn them to death and subjugation.

)()()(

Next, Loki found himself in Germany and endured the horror of watching himself rip out a man's eye, powerless to stop himself. He wanted to be sick but he didn't even have enough control over his body to do that. He attacked authorities, he subjugated innocent people, and he had an, admittedly impressive, encounter with Captain America, one of the few people who could actually match him. He had felt grateful when Iron Man had shown up and the two of them had taken him captive. For a moment, he felt relief that he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else.

Then Loki realized it was all a trap. He had gotten captured on purpose and he almost wanted to cry in frustration at not being able to warn the others of the danger they were in.

When he heard the thunder on the plane, he had felt hope rise in him even as his face showed fear and worry.

Thor.

His brother was coming for him! Even if he believed Loki to be evil, Loki still longed to see him and he knew that, even if all others failed, Thor could successfully stop him. Thor burst onto the plane and grabbed him, flying them both out into the night sky. After they landed, Loki got his first good look at Thor for the first time in a year. Joy shot through the imprisoned Loki even as simmering hatred boiled through the other part of him.

"Where is the tesseract?" Thor asked.

"Oh, I missed you too." Although it came out sarcastic, the real Loki felt those words wholeheartedly.

"Do I look to be in a gaming mood?" Thor asked angrily.

"Oh, you should thank me. With the bifrost gone how much dark energy did the Allfather have to conjure to get you here? Your precious Earth."

Thor dropped his hammer and angrily pulled Loki to his feet, but instead of striking him as Loki was expecting, Thor gently gripped the side of Loki's neck as he had done many times in their youth. The real Loki hadn't realized just how much he had missed the gesture. He wanted to cry for the ache in his heart and the knowledge that he couldn't tell Thor how much he had missed him and how much he truly cared about him.

"I thought you dead," Thor said.

"Did you mourn?" Loki asked.

"We all did," Thor said, and the words both warmed Loki to know that they cared and saddened him that his family had to be put through such pain and grief because of his weaknesses.

However, the other part of him, the part that was in control, was full of sarcasm, hatred, and disgust. Unfortunately, that was the part that possessed the privilege of speaking.

"Our father-" Thor continued, but Loki cut him off.

"Your father. He did tell you my true parentage did he not?"

"We were raised together. We played together. We fought together. Do you remember none of that?"

'Yes, I do,' Loki wanted to say but that was not what came out.

"I remember a shadow, living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss. I who was and should be king!"

'No, you idiot,' Loki thought to himself. 'He didn't throw us, we let go.'

"So you take the world I love as recompense for your imagined slights," Thor said. "No, the Earth is under my protection Loki."

"And you're doing a marvelous job with that," he replied sarcastically. "The humans slaughter each other in droves while you idly fret. I mean to rule them and why should I not?"

"You think yourself above them."

"Well, yes," Loki said.

"Then you miss the truth of ruling, Brother," Thor said. "A throne would suit you ill."

Loki felt pride swell up in him. Thor had really grown up. He had gained a bit of wisdom and was much closer to the man Loki always knew he could be. Loki just wished he could tell his brother those things.

Instead, he felt himself angrily push past Thor and walk a few steps up the outcropping.

"I've seen worlds you've never known about. I have grown, Odinson, in my exile," Loki said.

'Yes, grown weak and insane,' the real Loki thought. While Thor had become a better man, Loki had become trapped in a hate-filled shell of who he used to be. That was the exact opposite of growing.

"I have seen the true power of the tesseract and when I wield it-"

"Who showed you this power?" Thor asked. "Who controls the would be king?"

'A monster,' Loki thought.

"I am a king!" his voice yelled.

"Not here!" Thor yelled back. "You give up the tesseract! You give up this poisonous dream!" Thor gripped Loki's neck again. "You come home," he all but begged. Oh, how Loki wished he could. He wanted nothing more than to go home and the knowledge that he couldn't, made his heart weep.

"I don't have it," the poisoned part of him said, causing Thor to jerk back in frustration. "You need the cube to bring me home, but I sent it off, I know not where."

'Liar!' Loki mentally screamed at himself.

"You listen well, Brother," Thor said, but was suddenly knocked off the ledge and onto the forest floor as Iron Man flew into him.

Loki was left to listen to himself say some stupid, cheeky remark, before sitting down to watch the fight below. All the while, unable to do anything but chafe at his imprisonment and bide his time, holding on to the one thing that could bring the entire plan down around him. It was a small thing, but at least he had some way of fighting back.

A/N Drop me a review and let me know if you are still liking this story or not. :)

Next chapter we wrap up The Avengers. Then we will finally get back to the present and move on from there.