Help me -
I've fallen on the inside
And all the men in cloaks are
Trying to devour my soul

Loki could barely hear the world around him. He was sitting on the floor, looking at it, breathing heavily. He could only see the wooden floor and his blood staining it. Could register Thor in the distance, trying to fight dozens of guards while they tried to keep him restrained, while he bellowed and called for thunder. Could hear some of the Avengers talking hushed voices aomg themselves as they looked at him. Could almost hear the silence of half of them as breathed heavily on the floor. Could hear the Allfather trying to silence his first born.

A shiver coursed through him. Odin and his men finally had him and they had the worst possible of punishments imagined for him. Asgard would make him pay for all he'd done, they would put him through the worst pain and then laugh at his screams. No more cells, no more commodities, not even the luxury of a quick execution – only misery and hatred for centuries. There was no one on the whole realm that would intercede for him now, and every one would just relish his pain. Only Thor was opposed, as powerful as he was he was only one man. And he had half his team against him, apart from his father and all his manpower.

Barton and Stark were happy to hand Loki over to his horrifying destiny. Barton mostly because of his bad history with the god, and Stark, who may have shown sympathy in the past, just wanted to be rid of him. One less problem, he would say, one less threat for humans, one step closer to being back home, one step closer to everyone being safer. One step closer to the Earth being finally safe. So they were happy to hand him over to Odin – knowing he wouldn't bother them again without having to do the deed themselves. Maybe they would celebrate when Loki left. Clint would certainly sleep with a smile knowing that his former tormentor was getting what he deserved.

Romanoff was silent and unreadable, as usual. She had been there – she knew what it was. The moment where all your evil comes back at you. When you have SHIELD tell you you're going to be killed. When you know why and you know that you are helpless – that there's no escape. That after your endless journey of surviving, you're done for. She had tried to plead with sad eyes back then, and it had worked. But no one was going to give that opportunity to Loki, if they in which those Asgardians were restraining Thor was anything to go by.

Bruce was quiet, too, trying not to look in the broken god's direction. Everything had been too excessive, ever since they found out that Loki was hiding on Earth. It had been practically ten against one and all of it screamed extreme aggression. By the time they stopped and called the Asgardians, Loki had in him three bullets and at least five arrow impacts, not counting the times the Iron Man had thrown him around. And when Thor's face changed after hearing his father Bruce knew he didn't want to know anymore.

Bruce knew he should want Loki to go away. He'd done horrible things, and nearly all of them had died last time. He had turned Clint into his puppet against his will. He had used the Hulk and from what he know he had used Thor to escape the cell he was in. And he was from Asgard, and Asgard wanted to judge him so there should be no problem. Still, seeing the man's father be the judge and executioner and hold all that cruelty in his eyes... It had reminded him of things he would rather forget. So he avoided looking at Loki – avoided thinking about him, avoided hearing the All-father call his son a monster. Or at least tried. He didn't want to get in the middle of that. He didn't want to be there, didn't want to think about it. This was too much.

Thor had tried to hate his brother, had wanted to, almost believed it when he said they weren't really brothers. Loki didn't deserve his love, no part of it, not after what he had done. But he couldn't. No matter what terrible things he'd done in the past, Thor couldn't forget all that they played as children, all they had taught each other, all they had lived together. And then he Fandral came to Midgard with a heavy heart to warn him about what Odin meant to do with Loki. How he would make him an example of how unforgiving and severe Asgardian justice could be, a deterrent for other criminals, and a way of showing that Odin Allfather was as fearsome as he was powerful. Thor knew what that meant, or at least part of it, having grown up in Asgard. He couldn't bear the thought of Loki going through that, much less knowing that it was his own father the person who thought of such punishment. It would shatter whatever was left of Loki, eat his soul. Death would be better.

Loki had no strength, thrown on the wooden floor of that conference room on the Avengers tower where everyone had gathered. He was too weak to try to summon any magic, his arms trembling just to hold his weight up, his face and hands wet with blood. Maybe he could one last offence, make it look like he was trying to kill one of them in one last attempt to see if they put an arrow through his skull. Loki had been all his life an adept survivor, coming back from even the worst situations, but on this case... He would sooner be dead than good back to Asgard. With Frigga gone and Thor living on earth with his lady scientist no one would show him any mercy.

He was already dead.

"It is time" Odin said, stepping ahead. "Loki must return to Asgard."

"No." A voice said, before Thor could interject. "No."

Loki looked at the Captain, afraid to be hopeful. The leader of the Avengers speaking against his father? It was too beautiful to be true.

"You will not take him. Loki has destroyed many lives and many properties here on Midgard and he is no use to us in your land. And we deserve to punish him too, just like you do. I want him here, fixing things as payment for what he's done. I want his very life to be on service to us – I want that magic to rebuild, redo, and I want all of Loki's tricks for the Avengers. You want an exemplary punishment and we do too. Our lifespans are nothing compared to yours: once me and the generation affected by Loki's havoc dies out you'll have him back to do as you please. We gave him to you once, and we shouldn't give him away again without imparting our own justice."

"This is very irregular."

"Loki will be under our control at all times, and if he goes back to tricking us or if he tries to disappear he will be sent to Asgard, be sure."

"He speaks the truth, father. The people of Midgard have been most affected by Loki's evil, they should have some compensation."

Odin spoke with his guards and his councilmen, and agreed to the terms. Partly to appease Thor and partly to maintain the appearance of the king's justness – and partly because they were almost certain that Loki would betray the Avengers and be back in no time.

And finally they left.

Thor went to his brother and did something he hadn't done in years. He embraced him, held him tight as he cried.

"I was so afraid for you, Loki, so afraid."

Loki hadn't wanted to, but the relief of seeing those men gone combined with the unexpected affection from Thor have broken him down completely, and he was crying.

"They were going to torture me forever... they..."

Thor looked into his brother's bruised eyes.

"We will fix this, Loki. If you cooperate you will not have to go back there. It is not too late."

After some more moments of hugging and crying the Avengers (except the Captain) disbanded and left to discuss Steve's decision or just complain about about it. Loki finally gave in to the exhaustion, to his wounds and to all the emotional turmoil and collapsed in his brother's arms. Thor picked him up with ease and looked at his friend, his ally, his companion.

"Steven, I – there are no words to describe my gratitude. You are an admirable man and have saved my brother of an undignified end, while giving him a chance to redeem himself. You are worthy of legends."

Steve smiled softly.

"But this doesn't end here. He will have to work with us if he wants to stay here – fix what he broke. Or else he goes back to Odin."

"My brother is no fool, he knows what is best for him. And he will not forget this mercy you have granted him, how you have saved him."

As Thor took his broken brother to the medical facilities, he felt hope.

Hope that his brother could still be saved. Hope that he would him back, fighting by his side, like all that time ago.

This mercy had changed everything.

A/n: Crappy self-serving Loki angst with nice Steve. Absolutely inspired and created because of Muse's song Mercy which y'all should listen because it's beautiful. Sorry for the mistakes, my excuses are that a) am not english (hello from Spain!) and b) it's 2am. Did you like it? Yes? No? Could be a multi-chap. Anyone would be interested?

You know you want to review! ^^