⇝ Chapter One

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Your heartbeat is erratic and unnatural as another explosion echoes from behind you. The concrete is digging into your bare feet with your hospital style gown pressed against your form because of the wind blowing it back. The sirens are almost deafening as they blare for miles ahead.

You feel your foot scrape against a piece of broken metal from one of the machines that had been used on yourself and many others during the experiments. The pain causes you to slow down for a second, leaving a trail of thick red liquid behind, but you continue forward when the skin repairs itself.

The pain remains like a bruise on your bone as you try to get farther away from the fighting and screaming and hell like the contents of Pandora's box being unleashed before your eyes. You hear someone shout that Test Subject 0009 is getting away, or in other words, you.

It only fuels your adrenaline to spike and for you to run faster toward the exit of the building. When you're merely twenty feet from salvation, the doors burst open and a white light floods your vision.

Then you wake up.

Suddenly, a gasp escapes your lips and you're sitting up in your bed. You're in The Avengers Tower. In your room. Safe. Alone.

The thoughts rush in your mind and you take a few deep breaths. The memories come back to you as you process what had happened. It's not unusual for you to experience those types of dreams, or nightmares, as everyone else calls them.

You call them simply memories that your brain shows you when you're unconscious. They don't frighten you anymore because the real nightmare was when it happened because it was real. You know that it's over and it will never happen again.

Once upon a time, you would have that one recurring memory every night when you closed your eyes, then every other night, now it's only every once in a while, if ever. It's something you hold close to you because it was the day you gained your freedom which shall never be taken away again.

You throw the covers from your body and proceed to get dressed for what you believe will be a relaxing day in the tower as your fellow Avengers are out on missions for the day, excluding Thor.

In your casual outfit, you make your way out of your room and down the long hallway until you enter the living room then make it to the kitchen where you see Thor choking down his poptarts.

"Morning," you say as you make your way to get a bowl of cereal.

"Good morning, Lady (Y/N)," Thor replies with a mouth full of his favorite food before swallowing.

"Have you made any progress with your brother lately?" you question, pouring (F/C) into a bowl then adding milk.

You have never met the infamous God of Mischief but you've heard countless stories. During the New York incident, you were deep undercover in a small town in Madagascar that Nick Fury assigned to you weeks before the almost downfall of Earth. You were needed, but he wasn't willing to risk your identity being revealed as the files you had to obtain were already a life or death situation.

When you got back to New York only three days after the battle, you were astonished to hear what happened in your absence. You were livid at Fury for not allowing you to help, but you got over it once you realized everything was fine and you had succeeded on your mission.

You also didn't expect another Asgardian--or rather a first Jotun--to be locked in one of Tony Stark's highly secured cells in the basement of the skyscraper. Thor's been trying to get his adopted brother to try out the 'hero thing' and he hasn't had much progress.

That was two weeks ago.

"Surprisingly, yes. He has agreed to start his training sessions when the other Avengers get back. I suppose he was tired of sitting in his cell. I told him it was either work to pay his debt to the Midgardians or rot away since he cannot return to Asgard."

You slosh around your cereal before sitting on one of the stools on the other side of the counter.

"I'm guessing we have to wait until they get back to even let him out of his cell?" you ask and receive a nod in return. "Okay, I've heard a few stories, but what's your opinion about Loki?"

Thor sighs before pulling a stool over to sit across from you. "Loki was very kind as an infant, but as he grew older, he became a trickster. Nothing that would cause harm, just his personal entertainment. I saw nothing wrong with it, but others saw it as pathetic that a prince would delve in to magic instead of becoming a warrior.

"He would get teased and it damaged him emotionally. It only made Loki grow more malevolent toward everyone, besides our mother. It helped, though, that he has always been smart. When he found out that he was Jotun and a frost giant, something snapped within his very core.

"That day, every trace of the real Loki was gone. He found out our father was only using him as a symbol of peace between our realms. We had grown up knowing frost giants were evil and merciless. Knowing this, Loki began hating himself and wanting to prove himself. That is why he wanted the throne and wants to be king. It is the only way he sees redemption."

You stare at Thor's sorrowful expression and unconsciously stir your cereal around the bowl.

"I can't help but notice how you call your parents 'our', insisting that Loki is still your brother. Why?" you ponder.

"Because he is," Thor states almost angrily. "Loki has always been and will always be my brother. Our father may have shunned him, but our mother and I will never follow suit. Both of us love him and will always protect him."

To you, it's almost as if Loki is misunderstood and perhaps the person who doesn't understand any of the situation is Loki himself.

You realize now that this will easily get complicated for everyone.

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