his chapter has some different POV's. Mostly because of the content, I felt it was necessary to see the events from a different perspective.
[ Unedited right now. I swear I swear it will be done tonight. Or my beta will get no love.]

NOTE: The words in Italics that are not contained in "" [and that stand alone, not in a sentence] are the characters thoughts and not intended for others to overhear. [ although it does sometimes happen.]

The words in "Italics" are a conversation intended to be heard between the 'mind link'.

[Disclaimer: I do not, in anyway, own these characters. All rights belong to Marvel etc.]

Steve didn't trust Doom as far as he could throw him, and these days, that was pretty far. Victor Von Doom had lost a lot weight and some of his pompousness while he was captured by SHIELD. Still, It didn't mean he wouldn't pull a fast one on them. Oddly enough, Loki seemed to trust him. As soon as they returned to the tower, Bruce and the god had a long conversation between the two of them with Doom sitting awkwardly by their side. Steve figured if it was something he could help with, they would tell him. Still full full of doubt, he left them to it and went to visit Thor.

When Steve was still a young boy, his grandmother was suddenly no longer at home, but in the hospital. His mother would bring him in to spend time with her every day, talking about gossip and what Steve did in school. He always felt comfortable and happy to be there regardless of the other bunks of suffering people. His grandmother's smile never faltered, and she always had a story to tell. But by the end of that week, his mother no longer brought him in the room with her. Instead, she left him on his own to sit on a stool by the door. He had pretended he was a large, ferocious guard dog protecting his grandmother's room from intruders.

Steve could still remember the last time he saw her. His mother had let him skip his lessons that day to come with her, telling him to stay outside until she called him in. So he sat down and wagged his imaginary tail, pretending to bark at passers by if they seemed shady. Suddenly, from behind the door, he heard his mother crying. He gave in to his curiosity and opened the door just a crack to peer in.

Steve could not recognize the woman laying in his grandmother's bed. At the time, he thought someone has traded places with her and somehow his mother got it wrong. There was a single second where the stranger in the bed made eye contact with him, and smiled. Everything after that was a whirl of white coats and loud noises. He never forgot that stranger's face as he grew up. It wasn't until he was older that he realized it was his grandmother's dying face, not that of a stranger.

Here it was again. That other person in place of someone he knew. This warped version of Thor that lacked all the things that made him Thor. His spirit, his rambunctiousness, even his bright blue eyes had dulled. An empty, weakened shell that sat on the bed at gazed out the window with no interest in anything around him. Steve was no long the confused little boy. He was forced to accept that this was indeed Thor. His friend was dying and there was nothing he could do about it. So he sat on the chair by the door and he did the only thing he could do. He protected him.

Doctor Doom never considered himself to be the face of true evil. Yes, he was evil in the sense that he did what he wanted regardless of other's pain. Sure, he nearly took over the world here and there. But Doom never really felt he was the epitome of evil, just one of those dark kings meant to rule. He didn't want the entire universe, it was too big for him anyway.

But Loki? Loki was the closest thing Victor had seen to 'pure evil'. It wasn't the little trick with the invisibility, or even the destruction he brought to New York. It was the way the man's eyes sparkled at the thought of pain he could inflict on others. The slight tilt to his lips at the mere mention of vile deeds. Loki enjoyed violence. Not just brutal slaughter, but clever violence that left a hurt that would never heal. This god did not simply deal death, death was always by his side.

This is why, when Loki turned those dark green eyes his way and told him he would kill Doom if he stepped out of line, he listened.

"Understood?" Loki asked.

"Perfectly," Doom replied as calmly as possible. "Shall we get started then?"

"Will you need anything? I will fetch what you need to complete this."

"I assume you can open the door for us into his mind?" Doom inquired politely. Of course he knew, the god had told him already of his attempts to heal his brother. Loki nodded, an eyebrow raised in question. Victor smiled nervously. "Then I do not need anything. Normally, I would require my equipment to enter one's mind, but I see it will not be necessary."

Doom winced internally at his own rambling. He did try not to irritate Loki. Doom stood up straighter. "Show me him."

Loki and Banner shared a look that confused Victor. There was some unspoken communication that each seemed to understand perfectly, leaving Doom to feel uncomfortable yet again.

"Follow me," Loki directed, turning away abruptly to lead Doom down the hall. When they reached the bedroom, he was surprised to see the captain there. Rogers was sitting facing the door with a dark expression on his face, his only move upon their entering the room was to glare up at Doom.

"Leave us," Loki said more genetically then expected.

"I would like to be here for this."

"I assure you, you would not."

"I can handle it," Rogers responded firmly. "Considering what I've watched you and Tony go through, I think I'm prepared."

Again, against all of Doom's expectations, the god simply nodded and gestured to him to approach the bed.
He did, all the while trying to piece together the enigma that was Loki. How could a man so full of cruelty be a part of a group of heroes? He was clearly welcomed as a friend; trusted even. Were they simply oblivious to the shadows that lay at the god's feet, and stretched far into the darkest realms. How could these people be so horribly blind to his history? How could they look him in the eye, and not see every death he had planned for them?

"Doom," Loki interrupted his thoughts. The tone was not pleasant.

"I'm ready," he responded quickly. "You may proceed."

Loki nodded and held out his hand to him. Victor reached out with more confidence than he felt, and was whisked away before he could comment further.

Blank. Everything was so empty and blank. One could not even call this white, but a lack of everything. Light, color, sound, emotions. All the things that made up memories. All the things that made a man, and they were gone.

"How is this even possible?" Doom asked, reaching out with his magic tentatively. "It is impossible to erase as thoroughly as this."

"It is not erased," Loki corrected, his hand sliding along the white-washed wall. "You should be able to feel them there, lurking behind this barrier."

Doom frowned and concentrated. The god was correct, there were things behind the wall. Whether it was Thor's memories, or a trap, he didn't know. "How confident are you that this is what you're looking for?"

Loki turned those eyes on him again, causing him to visibly shrink. "I know." Loki paused and looked back at the wall, his voice softer. "I recognize some of the feelings and sounds. I am a part of many of them."

Doom leaned his head against the wall and listened. His ears picked up laughter, but his body felt the power that was holding it back. "This is a far stronger magic than anything I have yet to come across. Please tell me I will never have the luxury of meeting the being that did this."

"You won't," Loki said, a cruel smile forming on his face. "I will kill it before you ever have a chance."

Doom nodded and closed his eyes, sending tendrils of magic into the barrier carefully. He felt for the smallest cracks, forcing his power to fill them and expand. With each small crevice he found, he filled and pushed until it connected to another one. This went on until his magic filled every part of the wall, expanding slowly.

"You might want to stand back," he directed to Loki. "This will come down with quite a crash."

"If you harm him, I will not give you the pleasure of death."

"I know," Doom replied softly. He knew the moment he met him, the things Loki had planned for him. "Stand back and be ready to leave. The flood will be strong, and we do not want to be washed away further into his mind."

"Proceed."

Doom took in a deep breath and forced every crack in the wall open at the same time. There wasn't so much of a sound, as a feeling of lightning. The wave of memories, emotions, dreams came washing over them the second the barrier was free. Then Loki was there, ripping them both back to reality where they were greeted by a scream of a man, and the clash of thunder.

Thor felt the storm surge in the sky above the tower. The fire that tore through the clouds called out to him with its familiar voice. He screamed in reply to the lightning's roar. Seconds later he felt hands on his body, pushing him down. His eyes flicked between faces, trying to find the face of the storm. He needed to respond to his lightning, he needed to reconnect.

"My... hammer," he panted, finally recognizing his brother's face above him. Loki nodded and helped him up into a sitting position.

"I will have to bring you to it, of course."

"Hurry...I fear what the storm will do."

Loki nodded and lifted his brother with a strength Thor did not know he possessed. Steve joined him on his other side, slipping an arm around to help. There was an unfamiliar man standing in the corner of the room. He did not move to assist them.

"Where is it!?" Steve yelled over the rolling thunder.

"Still in the kitchen where he dropped it."

Rogers nodded and Thor frowned, confused as to why his precious hammer was left on the floor in the kitchen. He then remembered that no one was able to lift it, forcing them to leave it where it was.
"How long?" Thor grunted to his brother.

Loki glanced at him and smiled weakly. "Months."

"Tony?"

Loki's eyes faded to an almost gray color at the mention of his lover's name. He simply shook his head and looked away down the hall in front of them. Thor's heart burned with the realization of his brother's pain. Of course, Loki was unable to use the Bifrost. He knew his brother could travel to other realms, but he did not know where Tony was. He needed Heimdrall's eyes.

"I am truly sorry," Thor spoke through gritted teeth. "I should have had them attune the Bifrost to recognize you again."

"You were simply following the rules of Odin. It is not your fault, brother."

Thor smiled faintly and stumbled on between his two companions. They reached the kitchen slowly, the storm picking up with each step nearer to his hammer. His smile widened as it came into sight, leaning slightly against one of the cabinets.
Thor reached out and grasped the handle with confidence an the room exploded with lightening, throwing both Loki and Steve across the room. Thor roared with pleasure, his armor appearing once more on his body. He felt safe for the first time in months.

"HAVE YOU BEEN GOOD?!" He called to the storm. There was a rumble in response before the lighting ceased and the wind finally died down. With a hearty chuckle, Thor hefted his hammer and looked up. He found his brother peering over the couch, his long black hair standing nearly straight up.
"Ah, Loki," he said cheerfully. "I have not seen your hair in such a state since our coming of age ceremony!"

"Of course that is what you choose to comment on," Loki drawled, gracefully crawling over the couch and smoothing down his hair. "What did you expect with all this lighting?"

Thor beamed at his brother before pulling him into a bone crushing hug. It felt good to have his strength back. It felt even better to have his precious memories.

"Thor!?"

Thor turned, and before he could respond he was attacked by several people at once. Each had managed to get at least one arm around him in one of the largest group hugs he had ever been a part of.

"Am I ever so pleased to see all of you!" He cheered, looking around at his friends. He was surprised that even the Lady Widow was there, a small smile on her usually stony face. "I feel it has been far too long since I have looked upon your faces."

"Can't you just say you missed us?" Clint asked, his voice higher than normal. He looked as though he was trying not to cry.

Thor chuckled. "I missed you all."

They all started talking at once before Thor held up a hand, smiling apologetically. "My friends, I must speak to my brother alone for a moment. We need to move quickly if we wish to save Tony."

Bruce paled at his words. "Why do you say that?"

The room had gone dead silent, the tension in the air nearly tangible. Thor let out a breath and began, "You saw what happened to my mind after the creature left me. He may not have been able to tame the beast inside of you, Bruce, but his magic easily held me captive. This was only after several minutes, imagine what it has done to Tony's mind all these months?"

Clint made a choking sound, his hand moving up to cover his mouth. "He's fine. He's stronger than any of us."

Thor continued to frown at his friends, his heart breaking as every ounce of joy left them. "I'm afraid it may not be as simple as that," he said softly.

Loki gave him a warning look. "Do not tell them, Thor."

"Tell us what?" Natasha said sharply. The others stared at Loki suspiciously. He ignore them, his eyes remaining on his brother.

Thor shook his head. "They should know, brother."

"It will only cause them to lose hope..." Loki paused and turned away. "Just as I have."

"Since when have you lost hope!?" Steve shouted angrily. He looked half mad with his hair was standing up in the air, a wild, desperate look in his eyes.

They waited for a response from Loki. When they got none, Thor spoke up. "It is time," he said, looking at them sadly. "Just as time passed differently before, it will have again. It has been months here, it will have been longer or shorter there."

"What?" Bruce asked, his usually calm voice shaking. There as a slight hint of green to his complexion that was making everyone a little nervous. "What makes the difference between longer or shorter? How can we know which?"

"It will have been longer for him," Loki said at last, still looking away.

"Why?"

"Because he is not used to the traveling between realms. More than likely, he ended up on a previously used path. This coupled with his unskilled magic..."

Bruce stared at him, the last ounce of hope draining from him. "How long?"

Loki clenched his hands around his arms and didn't answer.

"How long Loki!?"

Thor watched his brother's dull, pain-filled eyes rise to meet them.

"Years," Loki said quietly and looked once more out the window. The storm was passing, the sun shining at the moment where a storm would be appropriate.

"Please," Tony muttered to the cold gray sky. "Please help me."

He ignored the sickening chuckle from inside the cave and continued to gaze up.

"Please help," he repeated. After a paused he sighed. "Well, fuck that. I guess that Heimdrall can't hear me or he's ignoring me."

"LIKE THE GIANT PRICK THAT HE IS!" Tony added with a shout. He winced and looked down at his knee. He had removed most of his suit before hand, leaving only the few bent pieces of metal around the bruised skin. It hurt so badly it went full circle and had gone numb.

Well, it could also be for the fact that he was freezing to death.
"Hey, Batman," he called back into the cave. "It's what, three hours for hypothermia to set in?"

"I will not respond to that name."

"You just did, chuckles."

There a long silence before Tony shrugged and looked back at the sky with his right eye. He smiled at the memories that came from seeing the landscape. Loki's panicked voice when he thought Tony had left him alone. The fact that it was expected of him was one of the saddest things he had ever heard. Now that knew about Loki's past, and more of his personality, he wasn't all that surprised. The image of the hateful, irrational god really match the real Loki. Not his Loki.

"He is not yours, mortal."

"Uh huh, sure. Keep telling yourself that when we meet up again and fuck like rabbits."

"Sex has nothing to do with ownership," the voice responded, sounding bored of the same conversation. "He has been with me much longer than you."

"Yeah, and will you look at that?" Tony asked sarcastically, tilting his he's back to grin upside down at the dark cave. "He hates your guts. Or lack thereof."

There was another spark in the darkness. Tony had gotten used to them now and no longer felt intimidated. Spend four days with the guy and you really begin to see around all his tricks.

Four days with nothing on other than a shirt and some jeans. His feet had been blue for the last two days. His fingers were starting to go numb as well. No amount of tucking them in his armpits seemed to help. Luckily for him, the cave was actually sort of warm. As in, possibly above 0°. Since he had no way of creating some magical fire, he was forced to curl up in the back of the cave to sleep. That meant he was surrounded by darkness and its whispers.

He ignored it. He really did. He didn't notice that the darkness knew things that Loki had whispered to him in the night. Tony ignored it when the thing re-told their story with the doughnuts and commented on how cute Loki was when he was grumpy. This darkness, this asshole knew all the little things that were supposed to be between just Loki and him. He ignored it. He really did. Because if he didn't, he might as well just freeze to death out here.

Maybe that's what I'm doing.
Maybe I'm not actually out here in the fucking freezing wind to talk to some asshole god.
Maybe I crawled out here to die.

"Goddamn it!" He shouted once more to the sky. "I'm not some fucking emo teenager! I just..." his voice trailed off into a mutter. "I'm just so cold."

There was another snap somewhere behind him. He rolled his eyes and glanced back, surprised to see a larger light in the cave. "What? Did the emo comment hit too close to home for you?"

There was no response, but Tony could feel the darkness waiting for something.

"Okay, time for the long crawl back into the cave." He rolled over and pulled himself across the ice. If there was one nice thing to be said about Jotunheim, it was that you could slide around like a penguin. If you, say, had a broken knee and very little strength. He somehow doubted the Frost Giants slid around on their bellies. He started to giggle uncontrollably at the mental image of Loki doing just that. There was a chuckle in response from the back of the cave.

"Hey, no," he growled, still pulling himself into the cave. "You don't get to laugh at that. That's mine."

"You should treat me with more kindness, mortal. For I am the only thing between you and your eventual death."

"I'm pretty sure all things die, so not a very good way to―" he stopped and stared at the sight in front of him. It was a fire. Not just a fire, but a pot, a pile of blankets, and something that smelled edible.
"What the fuck?"

"As I said, treat me with kindness and you may just survive."

Tony pulled himself the last stretch before he was nearly face to face with the fire. He felt like crying, it felt so good. He almost, just almost, thanked the asshole.

"Protecting your super-powered weapon, I see."

"Indeed, I cannot have you passing on before I teach you how to wield your magics."

Tony snorted and crawled into the pile of blankets. "You make it sound like were going to have so much fun."

"Oh, we shall have much time together."

"Sure," Tony said with a glare, wrapping up his feet with several layers of socks really hadn't cut it against the cold. "They're probably already on their way to save me, Batman."

There was that laugh again, closer than Tony had expected. He jumped, it couldn't be helped.

"Oh, foolish mortal. We have many years ahead of us before you see anything but this frigid world."

Tony's fake smile slipped easily from his face. "Years..."

"Yes. As you know, time moves differently on each realm."

"Yeah," Tony snapped, trying to dumb down the fear that was rising. "But I was here before. It was only a few days here and a year there."

"That was different," the voice responded. "Most of the time that was displaced was during your travel between the portal and here."

"This time," he continued on, a hint of amusement in his voice. "You tracked back through a previous path with your pathetic attempt at heroism. I simplyhadto help your magic along, lest you get lost somewhere in the void."

"What, you don't want me to drop by? Do you keep a messy home?"

The voice hissed in irritation, "Jest all you wish, but even I do not wish to be in the void."

Tony's eyebrows shot up. That was unexpected news to him. He just assumed the creature lived there by choice.
"So uh, you're saying that it's going to be longer for me, than for them?"

"Precisely."

Tony twitched and swallowed the scream that threatened to rip its way from his throat. He forced his one good eye to focus on the flames in front of him, no longer caring that it gave him warmth.

"I see."