Thor had stopped believing.

For so long, he had believed that Loki could be saved, that his brother had something good inside of him left. Not anymore.

He had threatened the world he loved, twice, had killed many innocent men and women, had brought a dangerous alien species just to try and get some power. And make everybody see how superior he was. Hell, Loki had even played with Thor's last lingering love for him and used it to stab him. Well, not anymore. He was tired of the lies, the constant betrayal.

Thor had realised how useless, how illogical his feelings towards Loki were now. No more. Now he was just an enemy, and he would be treated as such. Loki was never to be trusted again. Thor even thought it was better not to see the man again for a while, to not be trapped in one of his brother's little schemes. Although he doubted the man in the cell was still his brother - no, the Loki he knew had died long ago and never came back. This Loki sometimes acted like the one he once knew, only to try and see the hope in Thor's and then kill it going back to his venomous ways again.

Because there was only venom in Loki now, Thor was sure. His hatred had erased all traces redeemable qualities in his brother, left him nothing but an evil man. An evil who only played tricks and could never be trusted. It was sad, but it was also very true. His Loki was no more. His brother was a criminal, heartless and cold. Thor had given up on sentiment. He had given Loki too many chances already. No more trust, no more concern. He would focus on the people who loved him, people who had never betrayed him. People who deserved the affection more than a killer and a liar.

And thus, Thor ignored Loki for months, trying to adjust himself to this new feelings. To forget the hurt. He wouldn't go to his cell. Wouldn't have anyone talk about him.

He went to Midgard, again, to help out the Avengers. The Chitauri had come back, and with a vengeance. But nobody knew much about them. Where their hiding place could be, who was their leader, what did they want. And they didn't speak English, so communication wasn't easy. After days and days of tiring fights, the Avengers sent Thor back to Asgard to who so far, they knew was the biggest authority on those aliens: Loki. He had been with them for months, even made a deal with them, surely he would know something that would help them. But Thor didn't want to go there alone, and so he took Agent Romanoff with him to see if she could help him what of what Loki said were lies, and what truths and maybe trick him into telling them what they wanted to know.

Natasha wasn't terribly surprised when they got to Asgard. It was more or less as she had imagined, bright, shiny, a sort of Camelot in outer space. The people wore something that seemed to mix vikings and game of thrones, and they talked fancy, but understandably, just like Thor did. Anyway, they weren't there for tourism. They had a mission. So without any sort of tour around the strange world or introductions, Thor took the Midgardian to the prison where Loki was being held.

There weren't many people around, just some guards every now and then. Thor had explained Natasha that his brother was in a special cell that prevented him from doing any magic and that he was usually alone, unable to talk to other prisoners. But, that time, it was not the case. There was someone coming out of Loki's cell. Odd. Further inspection revealed that this person was Eir, the healer.

"Prince... I thought you were away." Eir stated, looking at Thor, confused.

"I was. I am only here to complete my mission, as me and my fellow warriors need some information from Loki. This is the Lady Romanoff, and this is Eir, one of the best healers on the realm."

Natasha shook the woman's hand, hoping they wouldn't lose too much time with small talk.

"What were you doing here, Eir? Is something amiss?"

"Loki has been feeling unwell for quite some time now. I only came to assess if his condition had worsened or improved. Try not to be excessively harsh on him, will you, Thor?"

But Thor refused to be soft. He would be as rash as it was necessary to get the information he needed. Nothing more, nothing less. This was a prisoner who had key information on the mission they needed to complete. Only that.

No more concern, no more kindness. Loki had only responded to it with aggression and insults. He wouldn't reply in kind, but he wouldn't be loving either. Natasha, on her part, thought this could be a good thing. If Loki was sick he wouldn't be put up a terrible fight. He would probably just give them the info so he was left alone with his pain. And he was proud too, he probably wouldn't want a former enemy to see him at his lowest. Yes, this could be good.

When they got in the cell, it became harder for Thor to stay detached. Loki was sitting on his bed with his back and head against the wall behind him, eyes closed and a grimace of pain in his face. He didn't even seem to have heard them come, lost in his thoughts. He was much thinner than when Thor had seen him last and there were shadows under his eyes. Maybe he was really sick.

Or maybe they were all lies.

Lies, just like everything else.

Natasha had to admit that she, too, was taken aback by Loki's appearance. She imagined he would have lost part his glow being a prisoner and all, but she didn't expect him to look this bad. She wondered for a minute if all the damage he had sustained while fighting them had contributed to this. She had always imagined him plotting revenge in his cell, concocting new brilliant plans. That was not what had happened, apparently. But she had to focus. Focus, Natasha.

"Loki" Thor's voice boomed on the cell. "Tell us what you know about the Chitauri."

It had to be fast, it had to be clean. It had to be done before Thor had time to worry and somehow ended letting Loki in his heart, again. No, they had a mission and the rest did not matter.

Loki opened a pair of glassy watery green eyes. Thor. Thor was there, but this was obviously not a social call. The thought of having to talk about the Chitauri did nothing except increase his stomach pain. He had wanted to have visits, yes, he had even longed for his brother's company after the occasional nightmares, but now he wanted only to be left alone in silence. Oh, and Romanoff was there too. This was surely a serious matter which meant they wouldn't leave easily. He sighed.

"Thor, Agent Romanoff, how lovely to see you again.· He said, a bit ironically. "Now, why do you need to know about them? I thought their race had gone extinct after Stark exploded that nuclear device."

"Well, they aren't." Natasha said, trying to read better their former enemy, but she could only see exhaustion and pain. "They're back on earth, attacking with no clear purpose, and we don't know how many there are. We need some means of communication and maybe some idea of how they work, their weak points, their possible hiding places."

Loki's eyes were watery as he moved uncomfortably through the bed where he was sitting, trying to cover himself with a black blanket. He didn't want to talk about this those days, didn't want to revisit that useless alliance that had only gained him pain.

"I am afraid I won't be able to provide much help. I only came into contact with the Chitauri using a messenger, someone called The other. He was the one who spoke to me and then to the Chitauri hordes to convince them to do what I wanted them to do. I never knew of any hiding place or chain of command. I only knew that I was their leader, and that they would follow me in exchange for the tesseract."

Avoiding, not giving any information at all. Thor had been expecting something like this, but it didn't make him any less angry.

"Loki, no more lies. I am certain that you spoke with more than one person and learned more than that in all the time you were there."

His brother didn't answer, just gave him an icy stare.

"If you do not share what you know willingly, then we will have to force it off you."

Loki let out a small laugh.

"And what do you plan to do, oh mighty one? Have Romanoff play his mind games on me? Force Amora or one of the others sorcerers to cast a truth-spell on me? Threaten me with your hammer? Please, do. Relieve yourself... torture me if you will. The answer is not going to change because I am, for once, telling you the truth."

Thor reflected for a moment. This was not things were supposed to be going. The plan was get the information and leave to join the rest of the Avengers, continue the battle. But Loki was obviously not willing, probably enjoying the attention, probably doing whatever necessary to make Thor's life more miserable. He didn't know what to do, so decided to seek counsel in his friends. They had known Loki for a long time too, they could offer a different perspective.

"We are finished, for now. But I will return soon, and I expect you to be more cooperative, Loki."

"I will stay here a bit more, if you don't mind." Natasha said, and Thor nodded.

And so he left, angry. Why did his brother always had to make things so complicated? And why was he feeling so bad for Loki? Part of him just wanted to hold him, and ask him what was wrong and get him some more blankets. Tell him to take better care of himself and ask Eir what had happened to him, to make him so look so unhealthy and weakened. But he couldn't. This was probably just an act, something thought to fool him and the rest of Asgard and trick them into releasing him so he could escape. Well, he was not falling for that again.

On the cell, Natasha tried to start a decent conversation, now that they got rid of Thor's hostility. That was obviously going nowhere. She took a quick look around.

"So, this is where they put you." She said, trying to sound casual. "Could have been worse."

"Indeed."

"Talking from experience?" Natasha asked, but the god didn't answer. He just left his blanket on a side of the bed, suddenly overwhelmed by the heat. He was a bit flushed, despite the paleness. Natasha doubted, not sure of what to say next.

"There is something strange here, you know. Because, for once, I believe you. But you spent a good while with those things, you should know more. We both know you're not stupid."

There was a silence. Loki closed his eyes again, trying to forget about everything. Romanoff asking delicate questions, Thor's coldness, his own self. But the world refused to disappear.

"What are you hiding, Loki? If you don't remember anything else... Did they make you forget? Or is it you who doesn't want to remember and has shut down your memories?"

Loki suddenly looked at her, a hint of fear in his pale eyes.

"What do you know, Romanoff?"

She didn't know anything... but she could deduce.

"I know that you had a deal with them and you didn't deliver. I know that there is a dark period time between the time you were on Asgard with Thor and the time you appeared here with the sceptre..." She was getting some vibes from Loki that she didn't like, but followed. "A period of time in which they could have done what they wanted with you... after all, nobody was going to come, you were supposed to be dead. They could do as they pleased."

There was it again. The fear. If Romanoff found out and told the others... if ever The Other and his master believed he had not kept quiet, then... Things could go very wrong. His head hurt like hell, but he held his gaze, trying to look whole and detached.

But Natasha was not buying it, and she was concerned. If those guys had scared Loki into silence, then they were more dangerous than they thought. Now, that information had become vital, but she would have to be careful to get Loki to talk. Very careful.

Loki felt memories coming back, of days and nights haunted.

Darkness and blood.

Two single tears made their way down his cheeks.

Natasha watched him in silence. This was a powerful warrior, someone with confidence, agency, a man of the royalty. And now he was crying in front of a stranger, of an enemy.

"Loki... What have they done to you?"

A/N: Hope you enjoyed as usual!
And not to worry, I will finish my other things, I haven't forgotten Dignity or Torment... but one can try to be a multi-tasker, right?
Hope you found this interesting, we'll see if it is continued.
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