A/N: [SPOILERS if you haven't watched Thor: The Dark World's trailer]

So I thought that maybe it was a good thing to watch the trailer for Thor 2, and boy was I mistaken! I'm physically hurting after watching it and I can't get out of my mind how Thor said "when you betray me" to Loki instead of "if you betray me". And then I went to tumblr, thinking it would be safe and Thor-free but again I was mistaken and I ended up reading rumors/spoilers and noticing other things from the trailer and I'm feeling worst now. So… I had mixed feelings and ended up writing this story.

Hm, if you are one of those readers that like to read the story while listening to music then I suggest you listen to Live To Rise, by Soundgarden (Avenger's soundtrack) and Try, by Pink. I actually used some lines from these songs and they're in the story. Have a good reading.

Fire, Evil and Lies

"B-brother… please." Loki's voice was barely above a whisper as he was weak to speak louder than that. "I swear I didn't do anything."

The growl that came out of Thor's throat was enough to shake the walls of the dungeons they were in and did an amazing job in making Loki shudder at the floor. Thor got down to his brother's height and it was so quickly that Loki missed the movement.

And if I fail what happens then? Can I still count on you as a friend?

"I warned you, Loki." He grabbed Loki by the shoulders and shook him, making him hit the hard wall behind him in the process. It hurt, but it was nothing compared to how the blonde hadn't called him brother, how he spoke his name as if it was venom. "I warned that I would kill you. I have had enough of what you consider mischief, of your betrayals! You sat there looking me in the eyes as if nothing had happened. We have met countless times and not once you showed even a glint of remorse, nor had you said anything!"

Thor shook Loki one last time before he let him go and moved away from him, fearing he would kill him without speaking what was on his heart first. Loki's head hit the wall and this time he saw a white light covering his sight for a few seconds, he slid to the side, his body hitting solid ground a few seconds later. He had been hurt many times during his battles with Thor, Lady Sif and the Warriors Three and he knew this knew injury was bad.

But it seemed all his injuries were bad by the way his breathing was labored due to broken ribs or by how his left leg was bending to an odd angle. The pain he felt was immense and he feared what his brother would do to him. He felt barely conscious but he held on, thinking about how this all had started.

Thor had asked him for help and Loki joked about how his brother should be desperate to be asking him help. Of course that reminded him of when he spoke with Fury about how desperate the man was to call on lost creatures. And what was a Frost Giant to the Æsir, nothing more than a creature, a monster.

Loki started coughing and he felt the taste of blood in his mouth, he closed his eyes and let himself remember once again.

They had fought again, side by side and Loki was really putting an effort in showing Thor how he had changed once again, trying to earn his trust one more time. And he succeeded. They fought the enemy, saved Thor's precious Midgard and went back to Asgard. They found out that the Bifröst had been restored and Jane was there awaiting Thor.

Loki had succeded in earning back everyone's trust and they had won the war. Everything seemed to be returning to normal. That is, until Jane showed in the picture saying that Loki had visited her before the battle in New York, when she wasn't being protected by S.H.I.E.L.D., saying that Loki had done horrible things to her and messed up with her mind since she could only remember flashes of the encounter.

Thor immediately took Loki away from Jane and directly to the dungeons and proceeded in making Loki pay for his crimes with his bare fists and raw anger. Loki opened his eyes when he heard Thor's words and realized he tuned out on his brother.

"- you did to her. You will tell me this before I kill you, Loki!" Thor once again approached the injured god and grabbed his hair in his fist, making Loki raise his head and look at him. His eyes were slightly unfocused but he was struggling to maintain eye contact with Thor.

"It wasn't me." His words were still whispers but they were spoken with conviction. "I swear on my life, brother." He ignored Thor's threat on how he would be paying with his life and continued his statement, his body slightly shaking in pain. "After I fell I was at the abyss. It was Thanos that got me out of there and he played tricks with my mind too, or don't you remember? I can only assume it was him who hurt Jane."

We're insane but not alone, you hold on and let go.

Thor narrowed his eyes at Loki's words but remembered how Loki's memories had been different than reality. At first he had thought it was just Loki being Loki and trying to twist the truth, but later he understood his brother's memories had been tempered with. But no, this couldn't have happened with Jane, this was Loki's doing and now the man only wanted a way out of the punishment. Like he always did.

"Enough!" Thor brought his fist down, connecting with Loki's head and making him fall back to the ground, barely conscious.

Loki had never been hurt like this before, always using his magic to avoid the serious blows or escape them, but he knew there wasn't place for this right now… He felt himself somehow change though and opened his eyes to assess himself; lifting a hand to his face he saw the blue tinting his skin, his true color, his true form since his body couldn't maintain the illusion of being Æsir – normal – with him being so weak.

Thor snorted at him. "Finally some truth coming from you." He turned his back to where Loki was, angry eyes scanning around him and finally stopping at a torch nearby. Without thinking twice and blind with hatred he moved towards it, summoning Mjölnir at the same time. "Tell me, Loki: what happens when a Frost Giant is in contact with fire?"

Where there is desire there is gonna be a flame, where there is a flame someone is bound to get burned. But just because it burns doesn't mean you're gonna die… you gotta get up and try.

Loki's head moved up as fast as he could manage and he tried to scramble away from Thor but his brother was faster and pinned him to the ground with Mjölnir. Loki's eyes never left the torch which was becoming dangerously close to his fragile body.

"You never had a problem with ice or cold, but indeed I remember you never felt well near fire." Thor brought the torch down and Loki used the rest of strength he had to lift his arms to try to cover him. The last magic his body had must have felt the danger in Thor's actions because his skin changed making his appearance be Æsir once again.

He screamed as fire made contact with his arms and he tried to sink further into the ground to escape the torture. It seemed to never end and he only kept his arms in place due to lack of power. Thor wanted to hurt Loki more but something inside him made him stop and he threw the torch and Mjölnir away from them.

He frowned at the sight of Loki, he had somehow managed to curl up and he looked like death. He closed his eyes for a second and steeled his resolve. He went to get Mjölnir but he suddenly couldn't lift it; he snorted at it and continued trying to take it from the ground.

"You are unworthy, my son." Odin's voice sounded inside Thor's head and he stilled his movements. He didn't know what to make of that but his attention was brought back to Loki as he heard his quiet voice and turned around to listen to what he was trying to say.

"N-no need for that, brother…" Loki opened his eyes slowly and green met blue in a strong stare. "You have-" He coughed hard and his labored breathing became worse. "You have succeeded in your threat."

Thor left Mjölnir behind and moved to where Loki was as the words and their meaning sank in. Loki was already dying, by Thor's hand.

"Tell me why you did what you did, Loki. How could you despise me so much? I deserve to know at least that."

"Y-you still don't underst-and..." Loki's muscles were beginning to relax. "I did nothing to her. I wouldn't hurt you that way… brother." His last word was barely spoken as his eyes closed one last time.

Thor's knees gave up on supporting him and he fell to the ground next to Loki's tattered body; his hands were shaking and so was the rest of his body as he finally understood what he had done. Loki had been telling the truth but he chose not to listen to him, he let anger and hatred control him and because of that Loki had paid the price.

He hesitantly pulled Loki closer to him and moved the hair away from his face. He felt tears fall from his eyes and he held Loki closer to him. "I'm sorry… brother." He lifted one hand and covered his face with it, feeling pain inside his chest. "I should have believed you, brother. I should have-"

His voice broke off and he let himself mourn. His mind went back to the year before when they were in Midgard; his memories showing him various scenes of what happened until he remembered when he was fighting the Man of Iron. Thor opened his eyes only to narrow them a moment later. When he fought against Tony, he had summoned lightning and it had given power to the Stark as he had later confined in Thor. He remembered Odin telling stories about how Midgardians died when they were hit by lightning, but the Allfather also told stories about how the electric force could sometimes revive them.

Like the sun we will live and die and then ignite again.

But for that he needed Mjölnir. He looked at Loki at the ground and felt something different inside him, it was still anger but now it was directed at himself for hurting his kid brother like that, for not being able to fix things. Odin was right, he was indeed unworthy but it wasn't fair that his brother had to pay for his mistakes. He gently put Loki back on the floor and got up, his angry eyes directed past the ceiling.

"Let me help him!" His voice was loud but broken. "Please! Please."

He felt the familiar tingle in his palm that he always felt when Mjölnir was coming to him and knew he only had one chance in doing this so he summoned lightning and made them hit Loki's body – not too much though, he didn't know if it would work after all and didn't want to hurt more of his brother's body.

Loki pulled air to his lungs and everything felt painful.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." He heard Thor's words and slowly his memories came back to him. He opened his eyes and was immediately hugged by the Thunder god. "I'm sorry, brother, I'm so sorry."

"C-can't b-breathe-" Thor immediately stopped hugging Loki and held him gently. "-brother." Loki tried to smile but he feared that with the pain he was feeling all he could manage was a grimace; nevertheless Thor understood him, because that's what brothers do.