Somewhat important A/N at the end of the chapter? It would mean a lot if you would read it and give me your thoughts on the matter!

"He's going to come after you..."

"Nah, man, I'll just get it later on."

"Unless you forget again. Remember what happened last time?"

Ned frowned as he recalled the memory, shuddering in fear. He quickly pulled out his phone and powered up the app, starting his next Duolingo lesson. Peter chuckled, remembering the fear his friend felt when Duo had threatened him for missing his last lesson. He had had to sit on Ned's apartment roof, dressed as Spider-Man for the majority of the night just to offer some comfort to his friend.

"What made you want to learn Russian anyway?" Peter asked, his head tilted curiously, "You're barely passing Spanish."

"So that I can impress the Black Widow if I ever meet her! And what if Spider-Man has to go to Russia? I need to be prepared!"

Peter just smiled as he listened to the familiar chime as Ned got the answers right.

"Невинных," The app called before another correct chime sounded. "Паук." Another chime. "Мяты." Chime.

Something stirred within Peter then, like a snake rearing its head from some dark corner of Peter's being. A shadow covering his mind and filling his body. The warning tingle at the back of his neck, normally to loud and demanding, was nothing more than a soft whisper.

"Рассвете."

"Сорок."

He could feel himself slipping away, each word fueling the darkness inside of him, powering it until he could barely feel himself. Pressing and fusing with him until he couldn't tell where he ended and the darkness began.

"Новые функции."

"Девять."

"Stop!"

Moving on instinct, Peter shot out of his chair and slapped the phone out of Ned's hand, sending it crashing to the floor, the screen breaking into pieces and a hush falling over the lunchroom to stare at the pair. Peter panted heavily, the darkness in his mind still there and clouding his actions. He wanted to run, but his legs wouldn't move. He couldn't move. Why couldn't he move? A broken sob escaped him as he tried to gain control of his body again.

Flashes of memories played in his head; nothing but pain and screaming. Underneath it all though, he could hear words. Those same Russian words... chanting over and over again. They were stealing away his mind, his control, his entire being. Ten words that were going to ruin him completely.

"Peter!" Suddenly he was soaking wet, causing him to rear back and look around. He took in the sight of MJ with an empty water bottle standing in front of him, Ned on the floor near the wall, and the majority of the lunchroom students surrounding them. They were no longer sitting at the table like they should have been... And a closer inspection of Ned showed the boy grabbing his stomach and gasping for air.

"What is wrong with you, Parker?" MJ demanded, making her way to Ned now that she deemed Peter somewhat safe. Though she never took her eyes off of him, distrust written all over her face.

He could hear the whispers then... The students talking about how he had attacked Ned. How he had punched him so hard in the stomach he had sent Ned flying backwards into the wall. How grateful they were that MJ had been able to stop him before he could attack Ned again.

He... he had attacked Ned.

He attacked his best friend.

Some part of his mind registered a loud beeping from his watch, but he couldn't process it. All he could focus on was the ragged breaths Ned was slowly pulling in.

"Ned-"

"Stay away from him!" One of the girls in the crowd shouted before another wash of cold drink spilled over him, this time he didn't have the luxury of water. He turned to look back at her, but the crowd gasped in fear and retreated away from him.

He could feel his eyes starting to burn as tears began to build in them. He took one last look at his friend on the floor, unshed tears in his own eyes as he started to regain himself.

"I'm so sorry," Was all Peter said before he turned on his heel and ran out of the cafeteria, the students parting like the Red Sea for him. There were shouts of his name from teachers that were just making it to the scene; some tried to stop him but he shoved past them. He needed to get out before he lost it again.

He could feel the darkness just below the surface, waiting for the right moment to pull him back under. If he lost control again... Who knew if he would come back from it, or what damage he could create...

So he ran.

He ran through the streets.

He ran through the alleys.

He ran until he couldn't breathe and then he ran some more.

He pushed himself far past any limit he had previously known of, his legs felt like lead and burned like the flames of hell, his chest clenched and screamed for oxygen. Unintentionally slowing down, he went as far as he could and only stopped until he was forced too.

The road in front of him was no longer there, instead just a large waterway.

His body took advantage of the moment of rest, his shaky legs finally giving out and sending him to the ground. He gasped for air, hardly able to get enough to fill his lungs before he expelled it from his body again.

Tears began to well up in his eyes once again, his emotions catching up to him now that he wasn't moving and threatening to drown him. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry out, but he still couldn't catch his breath. His head was starting to spin and he felt like he was going to throw up but he still couldn't breathe...! He needed to breathe-

A hand was placed on his shoulder, his body seized up before he jumped into action. Somehow able to stand on startled defense alone, Peter reared his arm back and let loose on his assailant without even thinking.

His punch was caught though, a cold hand gripping his fist. Peter's eyes followed the arm connected to the hand upward until he found questioning green eyes staring at him.

"Loki..." He breathed out, his chest still rising and falling rapidly. But he didn't care, he was saved... Loki would be able to fix everything.

The relief coursing through him came to a crashing halt once he realized that he had just tried to attack Loki. He was out of control... uncontrollable... a danger to everyone around him. Whatever was happening to him a hazard to society. First Ned and then Loki? Thank God it wasn't Mr. Stark, the man would have been dead from a hit like Peter's.

"Peter," Loki's stern voice chided, cutting through Peter's thoughts and pulling him back into reality. "You are hyperventilating, you need to calm down."

Peter shook his head slightly as he tried to take a step back, but Loki held his hand still and kept him in place. "Breathe through your nose, child, deep breaths, I will not let go until you calm down.

"Please..." Peter's voice was nothing more than a whimper, the best he could get out with the little oxygen that he had. But he needed Loki to understand... Getting Loki away to safety was more important than his breathing.

But it seemed that Loki didn't understand. Because instead of leaving, the man guided him to sit on the ground, kneeling down right in front of him while still holding his fist. "I told you that I wouldn't let go until you calmed down, I intend to keep my word. Now... breathe through your nose."

No other choice but to agree, Peter did what he was instructed to do. It was hard, he felt like he still wasn't getting enough air, but ever so slowly he started to calm down. His head wasn't spinning anymore, and his body finally accepted the oxygen; though he could feel the shaking of his legs and arms much better, the complete and utter exhaustion that coursed through his body. He wouldn't be able to run again if the need arose... But then maybe it was a good thing... If he did lose control, he wouldn't pose any threat to Loki.

"Peter," Loki started, waiting until he had Peter's full attention before continuing, "What happened today? Your heart rate spiked at school, Stark and I were on our way to check on you when the school called and said that you attacked your friend then ran away. Stark continued to your school to keep them from expelling you."

"I-I don't know..."

"The first thing you did when you saw me was try to attack."

"Explain everything to me now; how long have you been feeling like this? Have you been hiding injuries again?"

"No...!"

"An enhanced? Peter, what happened?"

"I don't know!" His voice broke as he slammed his eyes closed. His hands went up to his hair, tugging at his brown locks harshly to keep himself grounded. "I don't know what's happened! Everything was normal! But then Ned started his Duolingo lesson and... I don't know! The words... they did something to me! And I guess that I blacked out because next thing I knew, MJ threw her water at me and Ned was on the floor! Whatever's wrong with me, I can still feel it, deep inside, waiting for the right moment to strike, for me to lower my guard and let it take over again. I could kill someone, Loki...!"

It went quiet for some time before a voice behind Loki spoke out. "That sounds disturbingly familiar..." Peter jerked slightly, his muscles tensing as he moved to see Tony stepping out of his Iron Man suit. He hadn't even heard when the man had touched down.

"What...?" Peter blinked in confusion, staring at his approaching mentor. Tony walked next to Loki, tugging his pants up before crouching down to be eye level with Peter.

"Do you remember when we fought Cap and his friend in Germany? The Winter Soldier?" At Peter's nod, he continued. "A handful of words in another language can make him seriously hurt people too."

Peter held in a gasp, his eyes drifting up and to the left before snapping back to attention. "Hydra? When they caught me? You think this is them?"

"Certainly sounds like it..."

Loki's head tilted slightly, looking at Tony from the corner of his eye, "You can fix it though."

Tony held his gaze for a moment before standing back out, sniffing slightly as he shook his head and turned away from them. "I can't. But I know someone who can. I'll call a jet to pick us up and we can be there before morning."

Peter nodded slowly, closing his eyes as his shoulders slumped. He had thought that he had gotten away from that lab with his mind intact, that he wasn't there long enough for any real mental damage to be done, nothing that a pair of firm hands on his shoulders from Loki and Tony wouldn't fix. He never dreamed that they had damaged him so badly that he would end up attacking his friends... People that he swore to protect...

"Peter," Loki started once more, still kneeling in front of him and looking into his eyes with a hard determination that Peter had never seen before. "We will fix this. You will not stay like this forever, I will not allow it."

"But what if you can't?" Peter looked away from him, bringing his legs up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. "You say you can fix it, but you really don't know...! We could try everything, but there's no real guarantee that whatever's in my mind will come out...!"

"No." The word was firm, green eyes narrowed in what could be mistaken for rage, "I will not allow you to suffer with this. If Stark cannot find a way to fix it, then I will do it myself. I will do everything in my power to ensure that you will not be cursed with this darkness forever. On that, you have my word."

Tears welded up in Peter's eyes again, staring at the sincerity shining in Loki's own. For a moment, he dared to let himself hope. He let hope shine in him, just as much as it was in Loki, that he could be normal again and not have to worry about hurting anyone. Loki believed it so adamantly, why couldn't Peter?

Leaning forward, Peter wrapped his arms around Loki's neck, burying his face into the man's shoulder as he cried. While he would normally never even dream to do such a thing as hug Loki without his permission, Peter figured that now he would be allowed a special privilege. He felt Loki stiffen, but eventually cave and wrap his longer arms around him.

All the fear and guilt that Peter felt was let out on Loki's shoulder, every insecurity he now had, every worry about his loved ones and what would happen in the future, everything he felt was let out. But something was missing.

A short distance behind Loki, Peter could feel Mr. Stark standing there. He let go of Loki with one hand, reaching towards him. Nothing happened for a moment but then Tony let out a sigh and walked forward, kneeling next to Loki. Peter wrapped his arm around Tony's neck and positioned himself to rest perfectly between the two. And despite all the negativity floating around in his head and the darkness he could still feel in his chest, Peter felt now that he was surrounded by two of his parental figures, everything might just turn out okay in the end after all.

A/N: Ever since posting Family of Bears, a continuation chapter has been the highest on the request list. So I decided to finally cave in and write a part two! I'm not sure if there will be a part three... University is about to start again which means my writing and drawing hobbies will probably come to a crashing hold. And there's still so many requests...

For those who are curious about Peter's trigger words, here's the full list!

Невинных Innocent

Паук Spider

Мяты Mint

Рассвете Daybreak

Сорок Forty

Новые функции New

Девять Nine

Будущем Future

Двадцать три Twenty-three

Склад Warehouse

Now, I do have a question for all of you! Due to the high demand of my University classes and the Coronavirus still going around, I'm unable to get a job. My mom actually suggested this to me, and giving it some thought... It's really not a bad idea. But I'd like to hear your opinions on it as well. What if I sold prints/posters for Peter and Loki and other MCU characters? Peter and Loki, especially Lokison, is what I have the most of at the moment, but I have a few WIPs for Iron Dad and a few others. I'm still researching how to actually do all of this, like the proper printers and paper and stuff, but I kind of really want to do this. So what do you think? Would that be something anyone would be interested in? I'll post updates about it in future chapters and on my insta ( karmi_draws).

BONUS!

"By the way," Peter frowned as he looked around, "Where are we? I don't recognize any of this..."

"Of course you don't," Tony chuckled, dusting his pants off as he stood up straight. "See the land way out there?" He pointed across the water, Peter turning around to see the city skyline. "That's Staten Island. We're currently on the edge of Brooklyn."

"What?" His eyes widened as he turned back around to make sure Tony wasn't pulling a prank on him. "I ran all the way from school to the edge of Brooklyn?"

"No wonder you were having such a hard time breathing before." Loki frowned, glancing down at Peter, "You ran fifteen miles in a little over 30 minutes, it's a wonder you're not dead."

Peter stared in disbelieving awe at the feat he accomplished. That had to be some kind of world record… A world record that the world would never know about. He really hated keeping his powers a secret sometimes.