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It had been two months.
Two months of searching. Two months of being insufferably apart. Two months of feeling that distinct ache in his chest.
Tony knew the pain was distinct because he had felt it once before.
He'd felt it when he watched Pepper slip right out of his grasp that evening at the oil tanker, swallowed in the flames of Aldrich Killian. It had gripped his heart with such an icy terror, such a dreadful recognition.
His soulmate had died.
Of course, that hadn't been the case then. Pepper had lived, had risen like a Phoenix from the ashes. They had gone home together that night, bleeding and broken but alive nonetheless.
This time was different.
Tony had rewatched the footage at least a thousand times at that point. The footage where his kid, his soulmate, had been taken by a psychopathic wizard on a sidewalk in Queens.
No Spider-Man suit, no mask. Just his kid, Peter Parker, walking home alone from school with nothing but his cellphone and his backpack.
Those first twenty-four hours had been critical. Tony had recruited (or, well, damn-near forced) Stephen, Rhodey, Natasha, Steve, Sam, even Nick Fury as his "search team," had demanded in a red-faced, fiery state that they "resort to any means possible" if it meant getting his child back.
But those twenty-four hours turned into days. Weeks.
And now, months.
The only useful information they had come up with had been the wizard's name: Glacies. A wizard with uncontrollable ice magic and a clear grudge that resulted in the kidnapping of innocent children.
The name wasn't useful in the end. Not even Natasha Romanoff was able to find anyone from it, nor was Stephen Strange.
They promised him every day that he would be the first to know of any updates.
But sixty days had provided no leads, no updates, no sightings, no traces.
Gone as if he had never even existed in the first place.
Tony had memorized what his kid had been wearing; his nerdy math pun t-shirt, a pair of worn jeans, a jacket, and a pair of converse. He had been wearing his blue Jansport backpack, the fifth one both Tony and May had bought for the kid in the span of one semester. He'd had one headphone in his ear in the security camera footage. Tony knew Peter sometimes hated wearing both earbuds at the same time: they overwhelmed him too easily.
Glacies had materialized in front of Peter out of nowhere. His kid would have had no way of ever expecting him, not even with his enhanced senses. Peter's helplessness in the moment only festered and grew into Tony's unbearable helplessness, his heart bearing a constant ache and his right wrist feeling much heavier than it should.
His mark had faded. What was once written across his wrist in a vibrant red had long since dimmed into an icy blue.
He knew, logically, what it meant when it had first happened. His right arm had been paralyzed by an icy rush, had caused him to double over in pain before it all zoned in on his soulmate mark and drained it of all color.
Rhodey and Pepper had both tried to explain to him as gingerly as possible what this implied.
Peter was dead. His heartbeat is what kept the mark alive, and now it was lifeless.
But Tony also knew what he felt, and what he felt was certainty. What he felt was an unwavering conviction that his child was not dead.
After everything they had been through, there was no way on Earth that Peter was dead.
But then, Tony received a visit.
Exactly two months and one week after Peter's disappearance, Stephen Strange and Natasha had both unapologetically and unexpectedly walked through a portal right into his living room, faces grim and fiery.
"Stark."
Tony jumped, half-asleep on the couch in the middle of his penthouse living room. Red-rimmed eyes made contact with Natasha's determined ones first, then with Stephen's. He was standing in a heartbeat, swaying in place and swallowing thickly.
"Is...did-did you-?"
"We found Glacies," Stephen said, holding a hand out and avoiding eye contact. Tony inhaled shakily but was walking forward nonetheless, dressed in a black shirt, black pants, and black shoes, the glow of his chest dim beneath the fabric.
"Where-where has he-?"
"Japan."
Tony turned to Natasha, breath caught in his throat. As sure as he had been that Peter was alive, he would rather die than be given hope only to come up empty-handed.
"Nagano, Japan. We, uh...figured it was in our best interest to start searching in the...snowier climates."
Cold. Snow. Ice.
Lost.
Peter had been in Nagano, Japan, trapped with some psychotic ice wizard, probably freezing and lonely and desolate and just as broken as Tony felt.
As much as Tony's mind swam with questions, it also screamed Peter's name, urged him to follow Natasha and Stephen wherever they had found the son of a bitch ice wizard Tony had dreamed of killing with his bare hands.
"Well?" Natasha quirked her head to the side, her lip tugged slightly in a smile and her eyes resolute.
"Grab a coat, Stark. Let's find your kid."
⎊
They stepped through the portal and found themselves on a mountain.
Tony blinked as he adjusted to the cold bite of the air, his breath clouding out in front of him though that was the least of his concerns as he noticed the snow falling in front of him.
Well, the snow floating in front of him.
Everything in front of him was...frozen. Snowflakes were suspended in the air, ranging from different shapes and sizes, and a river to his right was frozen over, completely still and silent.
No wind, no slight breeze, no new snowfall.
Only a mountain, seemingly frozen in time and space.
Attached to the mountain was a large, crystal-like mansion standing tall in front of them, glistening in the pale sunlight hidden behind thick, frozen storm clouds.
"Woah," Natasha breathed out, gesturing her head to a nearby cliffside. "Check it out."
Tony and Stephen frowned, following her to the edge of the cliff following the river. Tony held his breath as he craned his head over the edge, eyes narrowed in confusion.
A waterfall spilled over the edge, nothing but a great frozen wall of ice reaching down into a great frozen body of water below.
Under different circumstances, Tony would go as far as to call is beautiful.
But at that moment, it only made his stomach turn, reminding him of the extent of Glacies' great power.
"Stark?" Stephen all but whispered, normally calloused eyes melting into something more caring as he studied Tony's face, waiting for his call.
"Is she in there?" Tony whispered back, venom lacing his words thickly as he brought red-rimmed eyes to meet Stephen's gaze. "Glacies?"
"...I'm positive."
⎊
Stephen forced the great doors of Glacies' ice palace open with a bang.
The sound echoed and bounced throughout the structure, the creak of ice rumbling beneath their feet. Natasha and Tony stuck closely together, keeping warm as Stephen lead the way with great trepidation.
The ice palace was glowing blue and yellow, distinct details lining the walls. A tall staircase was spiraling up to the middle of the palace, branching off into different staircases with different paths to different rooms.
In the center of the palace was a statue of ice, barely catching Tony's eye as it blended into the icy background. It was small. It looked like a person on their knees, he wasn't sure.
Tony swallowed thickly and turned to Stephen, brows pinched together and heart thundering in his chest.
"...Now what?"
Stephen cleared his throat, nodding to the stairs. "We split up. Quietly and carefully. Remember, Glacies has little to no control of her powers. She must not be angered."
Tony chewed the inside of his cheek.
That would be difficult.
But he nodded nonetheless, sniffing and making his way determinedly up the steps, his hands stuffed in his trenchcoat pockets.
"I'll branch right."
"...Okay."
Tony made his way up the steps and branched to the far-right staircase, sparing only a few seconds to admire the craftsmanship of the structure before he imagined the thought of his kid there in that palace with him, waiting to be saved.
He should have been here sooner.
Tony should have been here much sooner.
He sucked in an icy breath before, finally, he made it to the top of the steps, looking up and around at the large threshold standing before him.
There she was.
Seated in an icy throne overlooking an iced balcony, she sat watching a pale, hidden sunset, snowflakes frozen in front of her in a stagnant wind.
"...Where is he?"
She rose from her throne slowly and gracefully, turning over her shoulder and making unsurprised eye contact with a grieving, heavy-hearted Tony Stark. A knowing smile reached her face, unapologetic and far-too deserving of a swift punch from Tony's fist.
"Do you like my palace?" she asked, voice quiet though it bounced and echoed throughout the room. Tony gritted his teeth and breathed in and out shakily, doing everything in his power to control a breakdown. "I'm not usually a good decorator."
Tony took that moment to look around the room when he saw them.
Ice statues lined the walls of the room. Each one was different, each iced face frozen in screams of terror.
Tony's heart sank right down to his stomach.
These were people.
People that Glacies had stolen just like Peter, people that she had frozen and brought to her palace to be frozen in time just like her mountain.
Tony's jaw dropped, wide and glossy eyes meeting her calm and menacing ones.
As much as he needed to, he couldn't bear to look at the rest.
He was too utterly terrified of seeing Peter's frozen face, helpless and scared and a trophy of Tony's greatest failure.
This was his fault.
"Do you like them?" she sauntered forward, black hair cascading down her shoulders as the train of her white dressed followed behind her. "They're my collection."
Tony stifled a mini-heart attack, closing his eyes for only a moment before opening them to find her standing in front of him, dark eyes staring daggers into his soul.
Tony made a mental note that her breath wasn't clouding out in front of her the way Tony's was.
"Though...my favorite one isn't in here."
Tony blinked, heart hammering in his chest as he cast his glance to the side and continued scanning the throneroom for any sign of a frozen Peter.
He never found him.
"...I had to put Spider-Man front and center."
Tony's breath caught in his throat, a terrible realization dawning on him and coursing through his veins like ice.
The statue in the foyer.
His eyes went wide in horror before he was turning on his heel and stumbling out of the throne room, trembling hands carefully gripping the freezing railing of the stairs as he all but flew himself down them, panicked breaths echoing throughout the palace.
"Stark?!" Stephen's distant call echoed, followed by the sound of his steps as he and Natasha found themselves sprinting down from their branched staircases with wide eyes and pinched brows.
"Tony? Tony, what's-?"
Tony didn't answer, finally landing at the base of the steps and practically sliding to the center of the foyer.
A pale ray of light from outside cast a melancholy glow on the ice statue kneeling in the center of the room, previously unnoticeable to Tony though now, it was everything.
It was Peter.
Crouched on his knees with his hands held out in front of him, Peter's frozen form held a terrified expression, eyes shut tight and hair frozen in a mess of haphazard curls. His punny shirt and worn jeans were still there, crystallized and glowing blue just like the rest of him.
Tony fell to his knees in front of him, eyes looking his kid up and down feverishly for any sign of life.
A blink. A shift. A breath.
But Peter was frozen just like his surroundings, his cheeks peppered with snowflakes and his fingers dipped in frost.
Tony finally found it in him to exhale, though all that came out was a shaky, desolate, heartbroken breath.
"No," Tony choked, trembling hands raising to cup Peter's scrunched face. He sucked in a breath at the icy feeling, Peter's glass-like face biting at Tony's fingertips.
Peter's hand were held out in front of him defensively, fingers sprawled out in protection. It shattered Tony's heart all over again, a frozen image of Tony's failure to protect his child.
His child that had nothing left but his hands for protection.
His eyes trailed to Peter's wrist, where Tony's name was still visible across his skin.
That's when it made sense.
The day that icy-hot pain had shot through Tony's veins...that was the day Peter must have been frozen by Glacies, placed front and center in her palace like some sort of sick trophy.
Tony wasn't sure when his breathing had escalated into a panic attack, but the next thing he knew he was blinking away tears and sucking in freezing breaths and holding Peter's frozen face in his shaking hands, utterly devasted and completely inconsolable.
"No, no, no, no, no. P-Peter, please, no."
The lack of response was expected but still tore through Tony's glass heart like a knife, shattering in his chest and stabbing all over. He pressed forward and took Peter into his arms to the best of his ability.
His arms had been so utterly starved of his kid being in them that even the ice-cold touch of Peter's form held next to him sparked a dim warmth within, though not enough to thaw the cold-raw terror gripping his entire soul because one of the one people in the entire universe that had been made for him was sitting frozen in front of him.
The implications that brought with it were even more unbearable.
Peter had been alone. Peter had been taken. Peter had waited for Tony to come and save him, only for Glacies to look Peter in the eye and still freeze his heart solid.
Tony would forever and always wonder how anyone could look into his kid's eyes and inflict any form of harm, though he also knew that no one saw Peter through Tony's eyes.
Someone was touching him. Hands were on his arms, his shoulders. Trying to console him, trying to bring him back from the brink.
"I see you've found my most prized possession."
...That was enough to force Tony right back into reality, his heart in flames and his vision pure red.
He looked up from Peter's solid shoulder slowly, gaze venomous and breaths shallow as he found Glacies standing at the head of the steps.
"...Turn him back."
"Oh, it's not that simple, Stark."
"Turn him back...now."
"Stark," Stephen warned, his voice quiet yet urgent. "Don't anger her."
"That is not in my best interest," she replied, slow and calculated. "The more trophies I have, the more powerful I become."
Trophies.
Trophies.
Tony swallowed bile, trembling from head to toe in pure rage.
"Turn him back right now or I swear to god-"
"You'll what? You have no suit. You have no powers."
Tony chewed the inside of his cheek when it hit him.
The solution was obvious.
"...Take me instead."
"...Tony, absolutely not."
"Stark-"
"...Okay." Glacies descended the rest of the steps, her lip quirked in a smirk as she sauntered forward.
Tony let out a breath as the sound of Glacies snapping her fingers echoed throughout the foyer.
He watched with his breath held in his throat and his eyes as wide as saucers as Peter's chest began to take color, his once icy-form melting into his real self.
Finally, the last of the ice disappeared in his face and he was letting out an exhale, falling back on his elbows. Tony watched with wide eyes as his kid huffed on the ground, hair snow-white and fingertips still blue and frosty.
He looked at them in wonder before his gaze trailed up to find Natasha's, Stephen's, and finally Tony's. Peter's eyes were wide, his mouth hung open in disbelief and his entire body still shivering uncontrollably.
"...Tony?"
"Peter," Tony reached forward carefully, his brow furrowed in confusion as he reached a hand forward to cup Peter's face. It was still freezing, his cheeks peppered with frost and his hair peculiarly glistening white.
He looked up at Glacies, eyes searching hers feverishly for an explanation.
"What-what did you do to him?"
"Not even I can thaw a frozen heart. Only an act of true love can, Stark. Everyone knows that."
Tony didn't get a chance to respond before she snapped her fingers again and everything went black in Tony's eyes.
Peter was left to watch in horror as Tony became an ice statue just as Peter had before him, face frozen in terror and eyes holding a distinct defeat in them.
Stephen tapped his wrists together before he was activating his shields and glaring daggers into Glacies' head, Natasha following suit and positioning herself for battle.
"Turn him back, Glacies. You are in violation of sorcerer law."
"And who are you to tell me that I'm in violation of 'sorcerer law'?"
"I'm the Sorcerer Supreme, asshole."
She huffed a laugh, tapping her wrists together. "We'll see how long that lasts."
With that, she materialized a portal much like Stephens', disappearing without a trace.
Stephen wasted only a moment to blink in shock before he was turning to Natasha, who was looking at the ground with sad eyes at the bitter reunion before her.
Peter was trembling all over, reaching a shaking hand forward and staring devastatingly into Tony's frozen eyes, taking in the detail of snowflakes and frost peppered all over him.
"Tony...Oh, god, no."
"...Kid," Natasha whispered, crouching down and swallowing around the lump in her throat as she watched Peter's lip tremble, watched the way his eyes began overflowing with tears that spilled over his frost-covered cheeks. "Hey, it's okay. It's gonna be alright."
Peter didn't listen, instead shakily lifting his right wrist and staring in horror at the now-faded name written across it.
"This is my f-fault," Peter croaked, teeth chattering through shaky breaths. "I-I should have-should have seen her. I should have seen her before-before she took m-me."
Strange lowered himself to his knees, too, closing his eyes. "Peter, you could have never known Glacies was coming."
"B-but I should have. I should-I should have sensed it. I didn't-I didn't mean f-for this to happen."
Stephen and Natasha both lowered their heads as Peter closed his eyes and threw himself into Tony's frozen form, tears flowing uncontrollably from his closed eyes and shoulders bouncing with each sob that escaped him.
"'M sorry," Peter breathed out, sniffing and bringing his lips to kiss Tony's frozen forehead. "'M sorry, 'm sorry, 'm sorry."
Natasha sighed quietly, leaning slightly to her left and making sorrowful eye contact with Stephen.
"...Please tell me that you have some sort of spell to fix this."
"...It's out of my hands. Only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart."
She sighed again, closing her eyes and shaking her head in defeat.
That's when it happened.
The sound of sparkling ice echoed in the foyer as Peter pulled out of the hug with a frown, watching curiously as his hands slowly but surely returned to normal, his once icy blue fingertips returning to their normal pink color.
He gasped under his breath, eyes darting up and watching in wonderment as Tony's chest took color just as Peter's had before, icy figure melting into his natural state of being.
"Thank god," Natasha breathed out, sitting down from her knees in relief.
Tony exhaled loudly, huffing as he blinked the ice out of his eyes and looked down at his hands, warm and alive and pure flesh and blood.
His eyes met Peter's, disbelief tracing his features as he watched Peter's hair return to its normal color.
"Tony?"
Tony's eyes lit up, taking Peter in in his state, alive and no longer lost without a single trace that he had ever existed.
He was there, sitting in front of him on his knees, cheeks rosy and curls lively and skin not made of ice.
"...Hey there, sub-zero."
Peter couldn't help the laugh of relief that escaped him, tears still fresh on his cheeks before Tony was lurching forward and wrapping the kid up in his arms. Peter melted in the warmth of Tony's trenchcoat, wrapping exhausted arms around Tony's middle and breathing him in.
Tony planted a kiss into Peter's mess of hair, breaths of relief echoing throughout the great palace and causing Tony's heart to swell and overflow with a love he had been so utterly starved of for sixty-seven entire days.
"You're okay," Tony sniffed, rubbing soothing circles on his kid's back. "You're okay, baby. I'm sorry. I'm here."
Peter squeezed his eyes shut and swallowed around the enormous lump lodged in his throat, tucking himself tighter into Tony's hold.
"Hey, kiddo?"
Peter pulled out of the hug slightly, red-rimmed eyes meeting Tony's quizzically.
"Yeah?"
"...From now on, I'm picking you up from school. Understand?"
Peter let out a laugh but nodded nonetheless, falling back and supporting himself on his hands.
"Yeah, okay."
"Well, Stark, Parker, this was sweet, but-"
Stephen was cut short by the distinct sound of ice creaking and groaning beneath them. Peter went stiff, looking up and around with wide eyes as the palace threatened to cave.
"...We should probably run, right?"
The ice groaned again much louder than before, all the indication Stephen needed to conjure a portal beneath them and send them falling through.
Peter felt the iron grip of Tony's arms wrapped around his shoulders before Peter, Tony, and Natasha each cried out in alarm, all four of them falling on a cushion of soft, glistening snow. They sat only a few feet away from the palace as it crumbled in its place and collapsed in on itself, shattering into millions of tiny pieces of glass.
They stared at it with wide eyes, blinking at a now-empty mountainside.
Peter blinked, shifting uncomfortably in Tony's arms and huffing a sigh.
"...Good riddance."