I paced in the cell back and forth, back and forth. There was one 'window', that was obviously two-way glass. With a choked cry I sat cross-legged on the white tiled floor.
There was no clock in the room, so I didn't know how long I had been in there or how long I had been sitting on the floor on the verge of sobbing out bitter tears. But sometime during my personal conflict, the door opened and my best friend walked in. He stood above me and quickly looked at the camera in the corner of the room, before crouching down and placing a hand on my back. "Luna, you need to stop crying. You're getting yourself worked up and you're going to get sick."
"Stop Steve." I muttered, attempting to stop, once again, the flow of tears that wanted to escape from me
"No Luna, I'm not going to stop. You're my friend and I care about you. I don't want you hurt." He started to rub my back
"Just stop Steve!" I pushed him away. I fell to the floor, and didn't attempt to get up.
"Luna," He stood above me, "you can't possibly think that he actually loves you."
I looked at him, without saying anything.
"Do you ever reflect back to when you lived with him? Did he ever tell you he loved you? Or that he was glad that you were there with him? What about when he left? Did he ever make sure you weren't dead? The only way he found you on Earth was from you helping Clint with the cube. That's it. He didn't search for you, longingly, himself. You were just a convenient distraction from what he was going to do." Steve's expression softened when he looked at me, weak and vulnerable- lying on the floor. He crouched down beside me once again, "He was just using you, Luna."
A few tears fell from my face. Steve left the room. I was all alone once again.

...

Loki paced in his cell, back and forth, back and forth. Occasionally stopping to stare at the camera in the corner of the cell, keeping a watching eye on all of his movements. He sensed that they were watching him, waiting for a show. He smirked at the thought.
But his mind soon wandered from the thoughts of complete and total takeover to what would become of everything after. He would be king, of course, and the Chitauri would get the resources and control over the places he could care less about, one of those places being the countryside and uninhabitable places. The Avengers, as they called themselves, would be either dead or his prisoners. Though it was highly doubtful they could get over their obvious differences. The epicenter of his power would- and should- be a city of great importance. A city like New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles. Maybe even the capital of the entire 'free-nation'.
Suddenly, Loki looked up from his deep thoughts to see the infamous red-head, Black Widow, walk towards him
"There's not many people who can sneak up on me."
"But you figured I'd come?" She tilted her head slightly, amused
"After... After whatever tortures Fury could attempt to conduct, you'd come as a friend, as a balm, and I would cooperate."
"Attempt?" She sat in a chair near the 'cage' he was in
"He asked me to let him know if 'Real Power wants a magazine or something'." He looked anything but amused when stating what she could have just seen or heard on the monitor that was most likely at their beck-and-call whenever it need be.
"Ah. Understandable. Anyway, I want you to tell me what you did to Agent Barton."
"I'd say I've expanded his mind." Loki smiled at her from her place on the chair
"And once you've won, once you're king of the mountain, what happens to his mind?"
"Is this love, Agent Romanoff?" Loki asked her quietly
"Love is for children. I own him a debt." Natasha told him determined
"Tell me." Loki uttered, rather softer than he did the last time those words had escaped his mouth- when he talked to Odin and also when he yelled at Luna.
"Before I worked for SHIELD, I had.. made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set and I didn't care whom I used it for, or on. I got on SHIELD's radar in a bad way and Agent Barton was sent to kill me. He made a different call."
Loki glanced away for a moment, before staring at her in a way that made her feel like she was a child. And she did not like that. "And what will you do if I vow to spare him?"
"I definitely won't let you out, if that's what you want."
"Oh, I know, but I like this. Your world in the balance- between destruction and utopian dreams- and you bargain for one man."
"Regimes fall every day. I try- tend not to weep over that, I'm Russian, or I was."
"And what are you now?"
"It's really not that complicated. I've got red in my ledger, and I'd like to wipe it out." She looked determined
"Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? Drakoff's daughter, Sao Paulo, the hospital fire. Barton told me everything. Your ledger is dripping, it's gushing red, and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything?" Loki came close to the glass, madness and malice dripping off his face in a frenzied fashion "This is the basis of sentimentality. This is a child's prayer, pathetic. You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors." He shook his head, "But they are part of you and they will never go away. I won't touch Barton. Not until I make him kill you, slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear. And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work. And when he screams, I'll split his skull."
He noticed her gasp and turn away. Whether it be from out of fear, pain, sadness, shock- he didn't know nor did he care. He wanted her to feel as much pain as he was. He had everything taken from him and finally, when he thought he had gotten a good portion of it back, her Avengers, her idiotic bumbling heroes, had taken it away. "This is my bargain, you mewling quim!"
"You're a monster." She sounded like she was on the verge of tears
"Oh no. You brought the monster." Loki's face lit-up with a smirk
Natasha turned back around to look at Loki, she was not crying, nor was she fazed by his speech on her demise. He then realized how immature he was- how stupid he had been. She was manipulating him into telling her his plan. "So, Banner? That's your play."
Loki's best bet was to play it off like he had no clue what she was talking about. He placed an expression of utter confusion upon his face, "What?"
Natasha pressed on her earpiece, "Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab, I'm on my way, send Thor as well." She then turned to Loki, speaking confidently, "Thank you, for your cooperation." And left.

...

Luna waited a while for someone to come in, to talk to her, to give her a pep-talk, to say she was an idiot for believing that things would be the same as they were back when there was only Loki and her on Asgard. Even then, things weren't simple. Things were tough, hard. Things were anything but ideal, but they stuck through it. They persevered- or so she thought. The more she looked back on the past, the more she saw how he wasn't there for her. How everything had changed once Loki was in a, as he stated, mad scramble for power. However, instead of doing what was best for her health and sanity, she felt like she could fix him- fix these new faults that were coming to light. But every time she came close, his bipolar-ness, his hate, his... his... everything was just too much to bear and she was sent crumpling back down the spiral she had climbed to get to his level- to try to help him. But she had realized it now, he didn't want her help. And she didn't want his pain. She didn't want his suffering. What she wanted, was an escape from the insanity he had pitched her into. She wanted to be free.

...

AN: Not as long as it would have been liked, I know. But I had to get this out of my hands and out to the readers before I wrote something even more depressing or wrote something I didn't want in here. I'm kind of in a somewhat fragile state at the moment. Some stuff is still continuing from over Christmas Break (I was cyber bullied again (3rd times the charm!) surprise!) and it's been hard to cope with some things from that. Not to mention I took a major blow today, so I kind of just vented out what I'm feeling and mixed it in with what's going on with Luna. I honestly want to pull a 'Crimson Peak' and (if any of you have in fact seen the movie, if not I won't spoil it) do what Lucille did to her sweetheart near the end (I'm still crying from that part though the way she did that just... super effective :) I'm weird, I know.). Anyway, have a great day. I'll try to. And I hope to have my other fanfics updated by 1/25 at the latest. -C (1656)