A Murder of Crows ://: ~Loki~

//Time//

"You can't be serious." 

"I am! My God Tony! For the last time, he was crying!" Clint hissed for the 20-somethingth time.

"But...Loki?" Tony sounded so confused. Sure he had seen the god acting vulnerable, but Clint was describing a man sobbing in his room alone. Thor had red, puffy eyes.

When the elder god had heard about his brother, he had burst out sobbing. He had also tried to run to comfort his brother immediately, but Tony had asked him to wait until they better understood the situation. 

Tony turned to the TV. 

"Friday?" He asked. A small click meant that FRIDAY was indeed listening. "Can you show us the film from the camera in our guest's room at 5:00 today?" FRIDAY clipped out to collect the clip, and Thor cast a nervous glance at the clock.

It read 8:00 pm. The others would come to eat soon, but that wasn't what worried Thor. It had been three hours since the time that Clint had seen Loki. Three hours of his brother crying all alone. 

The TV turned on.

The most heartbreaking sobs he had ever heard began to play from the screen. Thor's head snapped to the TV, and there, alone on the ground, sat Loki. 

His brother was curled into a ball, his eyes puffy and red, his clothes soaked with tears and he was cradling his arms to his chest at an odd angle. Thor almost began to cry just at the image. 

Then, FRIDAY clipped back in. 

"Boss, there is more from before Barton got to the scene." The AI chimed. 

"Alright show me," Tony said, his voice was quiet from shock.  

The TV rewound to a few minutes earlier. They saw Loki enter his room, pressing his shaking hands together, and casting a spell around the room. Then, he stumbled to the desk, opening a drawer and pulling out a glass shard. Tony's eyes widened, Thor looked confused and scared, and Clint had looked away from the screen. The engineer swallowed a lump that had grown in his throat. 

Tony knew exactly what was going on. 

The scene unfolded before them. Loki clutched the shard in one hand, drawing blood from his palms. Then, the god sat down and pulled his sleeves back. 

His arms were covered in bandages. 

Tony dreaded what was beneath those bandages. 

Loki slowly unwound the coverings with shaking hands. 

Thor made a strangled sound in his throat, Clint squeezed his eyes shut, and Tony just winced.

The man's arms were covered in deep, healing scars. All the way up to his shoulders. A few of them were still open. 

Loki gripped the shard harder. 

Tony reached for the remote. 

Loki sliced his arms open wide, over 

and over 

and over

and-

"FRIDAY TURN IT OFF!" Thor screamed. His voice wasn't angry, it was the voice of someone who had just had their heart torn out. Tony turned to look at the god, and he felt a sharp stab of pity of the man. His eyes were wide with horror, his head cradled in his hands, and huge shaking sobs racked his body. 

Tony took a hesitant step towards the man, but he didn't know what to do to comfort him, so he hung back from him. Even Clint had tears in his eyes. 

Tony felt a stab of guilt. 

Why couldn't he muster any tears?

Tony took a breath, turning his attention back to the AI.

"F-FRIDAY?" he asked, his voice shaky with shock.

"Yes, boss?" The AI responded.

"C-can you tell me," He paused gulping. "if there are a-any events like this one from the past week?" He shut his eyes tightly, dreading the answer. 

"There are a total of 18 events like this one over the past 5 days." Tony staggered. 

18? What the hell!?

More loud sobbing drew his attention. It was Thor. The god was mumbling to himself, though all Tony caught were the words 'how long', 'why', I'm sorry', and 'brother' spoken on repeat. 

"What the actual fuck is going on here?!" A voice snapped from the doorway.

"Language." Retorted another. 

Tony turned, hoping to explain, since Clint was now trying to comfort Thor, and the man in question was certainly in no state to explain. 

In the doorway stood Natasha and Steve.

Nat looked confused and worried, as did Steve.

"U-um," he paused, trying to keep himself from shaking. "it...it's a long story." Tony replied.

"Why is Thor crying?!" Nat yelped, rushing to the god's side. Steve followed.

"Um...I-I could...um..." Tony paused. "I could show you..." He said simply. Steve looked suspicious. 

"Clint, can you take him next door?" Tony asked. Clint just nodded. 

Tony wasn't sure the god could handle watching that again. 

Tony wasn't sure he could handle watching that again. 

Take one for the team huh?

He took a deep breath. 

"FRIDAY?"