I AM SO SORRY FOR SLOW UPDATE! Ive been really busy with band camp, and im on the drumline, so that too. (yippie!) THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS, and ESPECIALLY THE FOLLOWS! I love you guys :) REVIEWS ARE LOVEEE!

\(-_-)/ im out.

The Truth Chapter Two

"Once upon a nightmare,

Once upon a time,

You got lost and found that:

You don't belong to anybody.

You're all just the same.

Just another number,

Cross it out whenever you don't behave."

The song "Buried Alive" by Black Sabbath blared at Tony from the hidden speakers in his workshop. Tony downed his glass of scotch in one huge gulp and smiled drunkenly at the pleasant burning sensation it left in the back of his throat. He was about to pour himself another glass when Jarvis interrupted.

'Sir, Bruce Banner requests your presence.'

Tony groaned.

"Do I have to?"

'I believe so, sir.'

Tony groaned again.

"Fine," Tony whined, "send him down."

'Already done, sir.'

A moment later Bruce was walking down through the glass door that slid open for him thanks to Jarvis. He furrowed his eyebrows in concern when he caught sight of Tony. Tony's hair was tangled and oily with sweat, his jeans and tank top were filthy, as was his face, and his eyes were blurry due to the alcohol.

"Tony…" Bruce scolded. Tony shot him a halfhearted glare and proceeded to pour himself another shot. Bruce walked over to sit next to him on the couch and looked at him with sympathy.

"Tony, I know you're taking the breakup hard, but drinking isn't—"

"Shut up!" Tony yelled at him, cutting Bruce off, "I don't want to hear it, and I don't want to talk about it!" Tony's eyes were stinging. 'I am not going to cry in front of this man.' He thought. But just thinking about not crying made him cry. Against his will, a tear slipped down Tony's face and he growled, angry ay himself. He looked down at his feet, ashamed.

"Hey, hey…" Bruce said placing a caring hand on Tony's shoulder. "It's okay to cry every once in a while."

Tony's shoulders shook as more tears coated his face.

"I want her back, Bruce," Tony said. "I screwed up and she doesn't understand how sorry I am."

At that very moment Pepper walked through the sliding glass doors, her heels clicking on the concrete floor.

"Mr. Stark, I have some paperwork for…" she trailed off when Tony looked up and she saw his red eyes and wet face. She looked away. "I'll come back later," she mumbled and started to walk away. Bruce made a "go get her" gesture with his eyes. Tony stood and strode across the room as Pepper was about to open the door.

"Pepper," he said grabbing her upper arm to stop her. She stopped and glanced at him over her shoulder.

"I'm busy, Mr. Stark." She said. Tony grimaced.

"Tony. Please, call me Tony," he said, "Just listen." He turned her around by her shoulder and looked her dead in the eye.

"Pepper… I'm sorry. I'm really very sorry. I made a stupid mistake. I was drunk, and not thinking strait and I made a mistake. You're the one person who keeps me sane." He smiled slightly. "I want you back so badly. I love you more than I can put to words, more than anyone could put into words," he took a shaky breath; "I need you."

Pepper sighed heavily and looked at Tony sadly.

"Tony… I can't do this anymore. Between being the CEO of Stark Industries, juggling your drinking," she gestured to the almost empty bottle of scotch in Tony's hand that he hadn't realized he was holding, "and all your one night stands with any woman with a beating heart, I can't handle the stress anymore. You have a near death experience every other day for God's sake! I'm sorry, Tony. The answer is no."

With that, Pepper turned and pushed the door open and walked up the stairs, leaving Tony standing there with his heart shattering. After a moment Tony let out a frustrated yell and threw the bottle of scotch at the fall wall, shattering it with a satisfying crash. Bruce jumped up and moved to stop him, but not before Tony had cleared a whole table of machines and tools. Bruce grabbed a hold of Tony's wrists and Tony tried to jerk loose but Bruce held fast and Tony sagged in his grip.

"I think you need some time to calm down," Bruce said wrapping one of Tony's arms around his shoulders. "C'mon. We'll get you some coffee and then a hot shower."

"Coffee this late?" Tony slurred.

Bruce raised an eyebrow.

"It's eight in the morning…"

Tony groaned.

The guards threw Loki down on the floor of his cell and the door slid shut. He crawled over to the mat that served as his "bed" and curled into himself. He shuddered as sobs wracked his body. He needed to escape, to get out of here. He wouldn't survive much longer if this went on, and not because of starvation or anything of the sort. If this occurred again Loki was probably going to kill himself. Being defiled again and again, Loki couldn't take it.

Loki calmed himself down and tried to find any trace of his magic. There was little hope at all that his magic was there, but Loki was on the edge of desperation. He scrunched his eyes closed and focused with all his being on finding his magic. After ten minutes of hopeless searching Loki found just the slightest hint of magic. It wasn't quite enough to teleport out, but if he rested he would be out soon enough. Loki curled into a ball on top of his mat and pulled the scrap of cloth that served as a blanket around himself tightly.