Loki's Voice

Close Encounters of the Titan Kind

It had been a few days since the Other came to the tower. The damage was repaired quickly and in the end, no one had gotten injured. The only change was Loki. He was noticeably more jumpy than usual, and anytime anyone tried to help him, he either allowed them to or he would get angry at "being treated like a child by everyone" and they wouldn't see him for hours. Band practice had become rarer since the attack, which bummed out everyone.

Everyone (except maybe Fury... it's hard to tell with that guy) felt bad for the trickster. Tony and Bruce missed working with him on projects. Nat missed sparing with him. Steve missed their funny attempts at trying to mess with Tony. Clint missed having someone to talk to and having someone to prank the others with. Pepper missed talking with him about the other realms. Bucky missed the only friend he has besides Steve. And Thor just wanted his brother back.

For it being 10 days until Christmas... it sure didn't feel like it.

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Loki sat at his desk sifting through some pictures. They were of him and the team. He sighed as he looked at them. 'How could I do this? By staying here I have put them all in danger! Thanos will find and destroy my friends right in front of me.' Tears streamed down his face. He had been trying to close himself off from his friends so that Thanos would either ignore them or it would hurt less for himself when they were all killed and he was alone. Again.

Then he heard knocking on his door.

"Come in." He said, voice cracking a little.

The door opened and he heard heavy footsteps come towards him. 'Thor.' he thought.

"Thor, I'm not really in the mood to talk right now."

"Of course your not little one." said a voice that most certainly wasn't Thor's. It was the voice that has haunted him for almost an entire year now.

He stood up and quickly turned around, drawing his daggers. He was staring right into the face of the Mad Titan.

"I'm disappointed a little one. Not angry. Just... disappointed."

Loki was about to call for help when he felt a constricting around his throat. He looked at the gauntlet. There were two stones in his gauntlet now. Reality and Space.

"Hush my child. If you call for help, all of your friends will die."

He felt the constricting let go and gasped for breath.

Then there was a knocking at his door. "Brother, are you alright?"

Thanos looked at Loki

"I'm fine, thank you, brother," Loki said, trying to sound happy.

They heard footsteps going back down the hallway.

"What do you want from me?" Loki tried to ask calmly.

"The same as before, the stones."

"I don't possess the mind stone anymore."

"Well, there's a problem between us then. Well, let me give you some incentive to find it."

Loki looked confused for a second before he felt it. His magic was being ripped away from his very body. A green glowing stream of magic pooled into a glass orb with runes on it that the Titan was holding. He collapsed on the floor, his eyes squeezed shut as his magic was torn from his being. After it had finished collecting in the orb, the Titan went up to him and softly said, "The Mind stone, for your friends' lives and your magic. You have one week." He then disappeared. Loki felt pain, and only pain as his vision fell into the world of darkness.

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Thor came back from Loki's room to report to the others. "He wouldn't see me, but he was much happier than before. I wonder what causes the sudden change?"

Tony was about to say something when they heard a 'thud' coming from Loki's room. They all raced towards his room and kicked down the locked door. Loki was was on the floor, unconscious, and barely breathing. bruce went down beside him and tried to figure out what was wrong with the guy, but couldn't find anything. Thor tried with what little magic he knew to try and figure out when was wrong, but he sensed nothing. Thor tried again but then realized he literally sensed nothing. Loki has a strong magical aura, he would have sensed that immediately. But instead, there was nothing. Thor scooped him up in his arms. "We must get to the healing room, immediately!"

They all raced into the recently-expanded elevator(Tony decided he has way too many guests for a small elevator like the one before), and went to the med bay. Bruce decided to start asking questions now. "What's wrong with him?"

"His magic has been taken from him. His very being is made of magic. Without it..." Thor trailed off.

"What? What'll happen?"

Thor's eyes glimmered with tears for his brother.

"He'll slowly deteriorate."

"You mean..." Nat asked, horrified.

"He will eventually die without it."