A/N: This is a follow up to "Who's to Blame?". Not exactly a sequel.

The way I decided to do this is that it'll be one chapter for how each of the Avengers forgives Loki, and one for Pepper (because she's awesome and I want to include her), one for Jane, and possibly Selvig (opinions if I should are welcome), which will lead up to the wrap up of the story and what happens regarding Odin. Also, there will be fair amounts of Thor and Loki brotherly fluff included.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers, and I never would wish to.

Prologue

Escape

Thor strode purposefully back toward the throne room after escorting Loki to the dungeons. His anger must have been all too apparent, judging by the way any people he passed immediately shied away.

Before Loki had been shut up in the cell that would supposedly be his home for the next thousand years, Thor had embraced him tightly promised him he would not leave him there, that he would get him out.

Loki had merely looked at him hopelessly and shook his head, the gag still fastened around his face, not allowed to speak even before he was shut away.

Thor had never been more determined to prove someone wrong.

When Thor reached the throne room, he stopped outside the doors and peaked inside when he heard something surprising- or maybe not so surprising. His mother was laying harsh words on Odin, tears of anger and heartbreak streaming down her face.

"Loki is our son! Your son! How can you do this to him! You know what he went through, how afraid he was! Thor spoke the truth; they would not have killed him! They would have made him suffer every day for eternity! How can you punish him for that!"

"That is not what I am punishing him for. I am punishing him for his treason against Asgard." Odin's voice was stern, but not harsh, and not raised.

"Do you have any idea what this will do to him? He will be worse than before, more hurt and angry! What will he do then? There may be no hope for him at the end of this ordeal!" Frigga snarled, looking very much like she would like to slap her husband. "And what of Thor? He loves his brother dearly. You remember what he was like when we thought Loki dead, it was almost as though we had lost both our sons. How do you think he will be by the end of all this?"

Thor entered the room at the mention of his name. "I am inclined to agree with mother on this matter." He said, struggling to keep his voice calm, but not entirely succeeding. "Not to mention that he now has the knowledge that you now view him as Laufey's son, instead of your own."

Odin was silent, his expression hard.

"Such knowledge will destroy him completely. We can save him. Rethink his sentence, I beg of you father. We cannot do this to him." Thor said, a pleading tone mixing with his anger.

There was silence before Odin gave a great sigh. "How can I ignore the words of my wife and son? I will think it over."

Thor's relief was little, as it was no promise of salvation for Loki, and he could see his mother felt the same, but at least it was something.

"Until then, Loki's sentence still stands. No one is to see him. Do you understand?" Odin spoke as if he were speaking to both Frigga and Thor, but his eyes were upon Thor as the words left his mouth.

"I understand." Thor replied, standing to leave. He would not go against Odin on this matter and visit Loki. At least, not yet.

"Thor, I have made a decision."

Thor stopped in his tracks as he was making his way out of the palace when he heard Odin's voice. It had been nearly a week since Odin's initial decision. Thor had decided to give Odin a full week, and if nothing changed, he would take matters into his own hands. He still considered that a possibility, depending upon what Odin said.

"Loki's punishment will be cut in half. Now he will spend merely five hundred years in solitude."

Thor did not turn but shook his head. "That is still far too great."

"That is the minimum punishment for a crime of his type. I cannot lessen it more than that."

"Why not? You are the king and he is your son."

"I will not have this argument again Thor. Loki knew what he was doing, and he knew what the punishment would be." There was no bitterness in Odin's tone, no emotion at all. "The time will go quickly. We will have Loki back with us before long." With that, Odin left, presumably going back to the throne room.

Thor inhaled deeply before continuing on his way.

Yes, he would have Loki back before long. He would make sure of that.

It was very late, long past midnight, as Thor strode through the dark halls towards the dungeons, a soft blanket folded over his arm. He portrayed an outside air of calm, but his mind was working on what he was about to do, playing what actions he was going to take over and over again.

The level of the dungeons Loki was being held in were not the lowest, but it was still dark and cold. There were two guards posted outside the door of his cell, both looking very much like they would rather be somewhere else.

"My lord, what brings you here so late?" One of the guards asked as Thor halted in front of them.

"It is cold here. I have brought a blanket for my brother."

"I am afraid that we cannot allow the prisoner to have it." The guard replied.

"Surely my brother should not be allowed to freeze for five hundred years." Thor said gruffly.

The two guards exchanged glances, and right as they did, Thor dropped the blanket and delivered blows to both guards that had them lying on the floor, barely conscious.

He didn't bother trying to find the keys to open the cell; he simply took Mjolnir from his belt and smashed the door down with it. He hurriedly stepped inside, knowing he would not have much time before more guards appeared. Heimdall would be seeing his actions, and would alert the All-Father. He looked frantically around the cell and found Loki cowering in a corner, looking at Thor in shock. Thor was instantly at Loki's side. "You know how to travel between the realms! Do it now!"

Loki, despite his bewilderment, flung his arms around Thor, and Thor felt a great jerk around his neck as he was pulled backwards and then was lying on hard ground, surrounded by darkness that was broken by artificial light.

Thor sat up to survey the surroundings. He recognized it after a moment. They were in New York; on top of one of the tall buildings he remembered being called a "sky scraper". He looked around for Loki and saw him sitting not far from him, curled up so that Thor couldn't see his face. Thor made his way to his side. "Brother?"

"Why!" Loki cried, lifting his face look at Thor. "Why did you do something so foolish? Accusing the All-Father, attacking the guards, and then helping me escape!" His eyes were rimmed with red, making Thor think he had spent some of every day he was in that cell crying.

"Because everything I said was true. All of it. None of this would have happened if it had not been for the All-Father's poor decisions." Thor said, pulling Loki close to his side.

"I deserved that sentence."

"You did not."

"The All-Father was right, I broke under torture and I knew what I was doing both then and when I attacked the Jotunheim." There were tears in the corners of Loki's eyes, which dripped down and were hurriedly wiped away.

"I have seen the extent to which they inflicted pain on you, and even I would have given in under such agony. As for what happened with the Jotunheim, I know your heart was in the right place. I am not saying you are entirely blameless, but it was not completely your fault. Both the All-Father and I allowed it to happen."

"How would you have allowed-" Loki started.

"I am the one who foolishly decided to go to the Jotunheim, which is what lead to you finding out the truth. I am sorry Loki."

"I'm the one who's sorry. I never meant for any of this-" Loki began in a slightly trembling voice, only to be interrupted by Thor again.

"I know, I know." Thor said, kissing Loki's temple.

Loki allowed a few more tears to fall, and he turned his eyes to Thor's. "Thank you Thor."

"You are welcome brother." Thor replied, smiling brightly.

They both climbed to their feet, dusting themselves off.

"You'll never be able to go back for helping me." Loki stated hesitantly, as if fearing Thor would reply with some kind of regret.

Thor shrugged. "It was worth it. I saved you. The All-Father's judgment was unfair."

"And another thing, I note you now call your father by his title." Loki noted.

"You are my brother, and he has said you are not his son. Therefore, neither am I." Thor gave Loki a small smile, as a hint of surprise passed over the trickster's face for a moment.

"…And what of me? Where am I supposed to go? No realm would have me. I merely chose Midgard because it was the first place I thought of."

"We will go to my friends. They will offer us a haven."

Loki looked at him in complete disbelief. "Have you gone mad? They'll kill me on sight."

"They will not, and I would not let them if they tried."

"Even if they don't, they are not going to help me." Loki snapped.

"They owe me a favor, and they are people of honor. I believe they will." Thor put an arm around Loki's waist, causing Loki to wince, and it did not go unnoticed. "Hold onto me." He commanded, lifting Mjolnir up.

Loki clasped his arms around Thor's neck even as he scowled. "You are not-"

"I cannot recognize Stark's tower from the ground, but I can easily from the air."

Loki grumbled a curse as they lifted up into the air to go in search of Stark Tower.

"Tony, we really need to talk about that business meeting tomorrow." Pepper insisted for probably the fiftieth time.

"Not now baby, there's science happening." Tony replied, tinkering in what would be the next model of the Iron Man suit.

Pepper gave Bruce, who was standing at a computer typing out calculations regarding the work being done on the suit, a pleading look.

Bruce held up his hands, clearly asking not to get involved.

Pepper sighed, setting down the papers she had been holding on a table. "Tony, when are you going to get seriously involved in your company?"

"I am seriously involved."

"Then let's talk about this meeting."

"Pepper-"

"Sir, two men have just arrived in the top floor lounge, and your presence is requested." JARVIS's voice interrupted.

Tony frowned, abandoning the suit. "You let people into the tower?"

"One of them you authorized to have access, a Mr. Odinson."

"And the other?"

"Mr. Odinson says the man is his brother."

Bruce and Tony exchanged urgent looks before bolting out of the room, leaving a very bewildered Pepper behind. They arrived at the top floor lounge quickly, and found a serious looking Thor standing by the glass windows, with Loki hovering behind him, staring at the hole in the floor that had been made when the Hulk had flung him around, looking almost nervous.

"Thor? What're you doing here?" Bruce asked, breaking the silence.

"I have an urgent matter I need to speak with you." Thor replied, getting straight to the point. "I request a haven for myself and my brother."

Tony and Bruce exchanged glances again.

"JARVIS, tell Steve to get in here, call Clint and Natasha, and get me Fury." Tony ordered.

"Right away sir." Came the ever-pleasant response.

"You have got to be joking." Fury said, looking at everyone in the room seriously from the monitor he was using to communicate with the Avengers.

"He isn't." Tony replied, staring over at Thor from his seat at the long conference table.

"Thor, he's a war criminal." Natasha said, a surprising air of calm around her. "If he stays here, we have to turn him over to SHIELD."

"What would be his fate if that were to happen?" Thor asked, from his place in front of Loki near the back of the room, as if to protect him from the gazes of Fury and the Avengers.

There was silence before Natasha answered. "He would be executed."

"Unacceptable. I shall not allow it."

"It's the law around here." Clint grumbled, watching Loki closely as he hovered behind his brother, eyes constantly turned toward the floor.

Thor took a deep breath, and turned back to Loki, grasping his tunic, and making Loki frown at him.

"No! You are not going to-" Loki didn't finish as Thor yanked it up, exposing Loki's chest and abdomen.

There was a dead silence in the room.

Harsh scars crisscrossed and overlapped all across his body, some of them an angry red from not having healed properly, some as wide as Loki's own hands, and a few with the look of being infected. Another thing they all noticed was that Loki was unhealthily thin, obviously having been starved.

"This is what the Chitauri did to him. This is how they convinced him to move against Earth. They would have continued forever until he submitted, because they needed him." Thor's voice was trembling in rage.

Loki slapped Thor's hand away, and pulled his tunic back down, his expression a mix of irritation and shame.

"…I thought you guys were like gods. Why haven't they healed?" Steve asked, breaking the silence, his tone full of sympathy.

"They were inflicted by a magic that leaves a permanent mark. The scars will never go away, and some have not healed properly because he was never given proper attention from our healers upon returning home." Thor answered.

"Why?" Bruce asked, shock evident on his face.

"I fear Odin was harsher than I would have ever expected with Loki. He does not even consider him his son anymore."

At that, nobody failed to notice Loki's eyes return to the floor, hanging his head slightly.

"You owe me a favor. I normally would not insist upon it being repaid, but this is an urgent matter to me." Thor paused. "Please."

Loki's eyes shot towards Thor in surprise, as did Clint's and Tony's.

"What about your father? Won't he come get you?" Fury questioned, his expression unreadable.

"The Bifrost is broken and will take time to repair. I do not believe he would use the tesseract to come here, bringing it back to Earth, after what happened the last time it was here." Thor responded.

Tony chewed his lip before he spoke up. "It's my tower, my decision. And my decision is yes."

All eyes fell on him.

Tony didn't elaborate on his choice, but gave Fury a pointed look.

Fury sighed. "All right, I agree. I'll keep this under wraps, no one and myself but you will know about this. But be sure he behaves." With that, Fury cut the communication.

And barely a moment later, Bruce walked right up to Thor and Loki. "We should get you to the infirmary, so I can look at those wounds."

Loki fought to keep his surprise from being expressed. Bruce was addressing him directly.

Thor nodded in answer for Loki, pausing for only a moment to look at Tony. "Thank you Stark." And then he followed Loki and Bruce, putting a supportive arm around Loki's shoulders.

"You know," Clint said after a long uncomfortable silence, anger, with a touch of confusion, all too apparent in his voice. "He looked really bad when he first showed up. All pale, and sick."

"How are we supposed to treat him now?" Steve said, slowly sitting back down. "Any normal person would have died from the looks of those scars, which means he was probably tortured even more than any human could take."

Natasha stared straight ahead of her, seeming to only be focusing on breathing evenly, Tony doing the same.

The question remained unanswered.

End Prologue

A/N: It took me a very long time to actually figure out how I'm going to do this story, and even longer to come up with a title that didn't sound too damn corny.