Part I

The Fight and Fate

Torture was not the worst part. No, it was not. Of course the consistent beatings, stabbings, burning, and poisonings were more than he thought he could bear. Enough to last him a lifetime in fact, for the creativity of the Chitauri was boundless and his endurance limited. No, the torture was not the worst part of his confinement. It was the fact that he was going to give in.

He was going to give in because there was nothing else he could do. They would not let him die. They would not simply leave him to rot. The torment would not end until he yielded, and he could take no more of it. The strain on his body was beginning to wear on his mind. Especially when Thanos came around.

In the span of time when they let his body heal, all he had were his thoughts to keep him company…

"I have seen inside your mind, Loki. I saw what they did to you-"

"They did nothing to me that wasn't of my own doing." Loki snapped.

"They lied to you, Loki. Odin lied to you. He told you could become the king of Asgard-"

"Stop it!" Loki growled. He felt like a wounded animal cornered and defenseless, Thanos' words cutting like knives. But Thanos would not stop.

"He dangled the throne in front of your face and let you believe that if you were good enough, you could rule your beloved Asgard." Loki turned his face away and squeezed his eyes shut as if that would protect him from the torment of his words. "Odin knew he would never let you sit upon the throne, a Frost Giant, son of his enemy."

"Enough," Loki begged with a whimper. The fallen Prince of Asgard, begging.

"He knew he was going to give Thor Asgard all along, but he let you hope anyway. The ultimate cruelty. To let you think you could be one of them, give you a home where you could never really belong. What a jest. Odin must have felt some satisfaction in seeing the son of Laufey watch his world fall apart. After everything, he might as well have thrown you into the abyss!"

"ENOUGH!" Loki yelled, tears streaming down his face. He couldn't bear to listen anymore. Such lies dancing in the arms of truth. Loki didn't want to believe, but the agony of his doubt made every beat of his heart painful.

Thanos knew he almost had him and smiled. So he kept coming back.

"Odin favored Thor all those years," Thanos said softly, throwing Loki's own words in his face, "but it wasn't that you weren't good enough, Loki. Even you see that now."

And it was true. Loki had seen it ever since Odin admitted his true parentage.

Odin made him feel like he wasn't good enough to rule Asgard, even though he had told him ever since he was a child that he was born to be king. Odin made him feel beneath Thor, and no matter what he did or how hard he tried, he would always be in the shadows of the brilliant might that was Thor Odinson.

But it wasn't that he wasn't good enough. It was because he wasn't a true Prince of Asgard. He was a Prince of Jotunheim and no matter how much he loved Asgard, he would never belong to it. It was never meant to be his.

And the days after that.

"I thought that we could unite our kingdoms one day and bring about an alliance, bring about permanent peace through you. But those plans no longer matter..."

Loki's head snapped up and his eyes bored into Thanos'.

"Stop that," Loki demanded his voice nearly cracking. Thanos was playing back his memories in his head. He was playing back the moment when he began to doubt that Odin ever really loved him.

The moment his heart broke…

"There was one thing that Odin did not lie about, Loki Laufeyson. You were born to be king. But do you think that Jotunheim will welcome you back with open arms after you betrayed them and murdered their king? Will Asgard ever forgive you, a Frost Giant, their most hated enemy for trying to murder their prince? Those bridges are all burned. What is a king without a kingdom to rule? You belong nowhere…"

Loki's haunted gaze stared off into nothing, and every so often a tear would slip down his face to trail down his throat.

Suddenly Thanos was behind him, whispering into his ear. "I can help you, Loki. I can give you a kingdom in which they will be grateful for your rule. I will give you…Midgard."

Loki furrowed his brow, bewildered. "Earth?" Loki then remembered Thor's banishment and how his time there had given him a newfound love for the mortals that dwelled there…his love for that woman. The idea of possessing something Thor treasured somewhat appealed to Loki.

"How could you give Earth to me when it belongs to Odin?" Loki sneered, not believing Thanos.

"I have an Army…and with the Bifrost gone, there will be no way for the Asgardians to defend it." Thanos then whispered, "And I can give you power that you have never before dreamed of possessing. There will be none that can stand in your way if you will it."

Loki shifted his eyes, uncertain. "Why?"

Thanos stepped away, grinning. "The humans have something that I want. If you get it for me, my army will be yours to command to conquer and rule Earth."

Loki scowled, "Why don't you go and take your army to conquer Earth and retrieve it yourself?"

"It is not my Fate, Loki. It is yours…"

Loki hung here in the dark, his thoughts tormenting him, his mind fighting him.

He hung there waiting. For what?

For his Fate, he realized. Death was not his Fate as he had thought it was. Was this his destiny? Was he meant to rule Earth? Could he?

How many days had they tortured him? How many weeks had Thanos tormented him, weaving truth in lies? How many months had it been until Loki had started to believe?

The footsteps he had dreaded hearing for as long as he could place who they belonged to echoed against the walls as they drew nearer. The shadow of Thanos fell across Loki. He lifted his head to look into the colorlessness of Thanos' pale eyes.

Today was the day he gave in…

"What do I have to do?"

Thanos grinned. Victory was his.

A/N: Still going strong, though I don't even know how I am writing this without rolling off my bed and crying ;_;

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