Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tony Stark died in a cave in Afghanistan.

Ho Yinsen had been quite sure of it, as he had had his hands in the man’s chest when his heart had stopped beating.

He had done his best to try and get it jump started again, to get as much of the shrapnel out as possible and use the car battery to stop the rest of it from shredding his heart, but it hadn’t worked.

Despite his best tries and efforts, the dangerously smart young man died on his table, and he knew that, because of it, his hours were numbered too, now.

He did not mind.

At least he would get to meet his family soon.

He gave the still body one more look once he had stitched up his chest closed again, and then covered him with a piece of cloth, unwilling to watch the dead body as he waited for the rest of the Ten Rings to notice his death and come to kill him.

Then he turned the small tap of water on, carefully and methodically washing the blood out of his hands and from under his nails. He used the small mirror he had been given to clean his face too, and then grimaced slightly as he had to use his grime filled shirt to wipe it away.

He was just putting down the mirror when the reflection of something green caught his attention.

The professor paused in confusion, and then turned around to the table where Tony Stark’s body was laying. Or, more precisely, the ground directly under the table where Tony Stark was laying.

That had not been there before.

Ho stared at the flowers surrounding the table where Stark laid with confusion and slight trepidation and fear. Was he hallucinating? 

He recognised the flowers as daffodils, but he was quite sure they didn’t grow in damp caves in the middle of the Afghan desert. And he was also positive they did not grow in the space of the five minutes it took him to wash his hands.

So how-

He didn’t get to finish his thought before there was a sudden intake of breath and the dead body of Tony Stark sat up abruptly, like it hadn’t been dead minutes ago.

“Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji3un,” he intoned, scrambling backwards from the figure of the dead man now sitting on the table, watching him with a frown. “La ilaha illa Allah muhammadun rasulullah.”

Tony Stark - the dead Tony Stark - kept staring at him, and his eyes seemed to burn in the badly lit room. “Where am I?” His eyes scanned the room incredibly quickly for someone who had been dead minutes before. “Where is he?”

Ho Yinsen had absolutely no idea who ‘he’ was. But Tony Stark was quite possibly immortal or the devil, because the injured skin he had had to cut through to get the shrapnel out was healing before his very eyes, and the flowers seemed to be growing all around him - daffodils everywhere - and his eyes were burning and-

Ho passed out.

Persephone woke up in a cave she did not recognise.

She woke up alone, with a man she didn’t know, in a place she didn’t recognise, away from everything that was beloved and dear to her.

This... this wasn’t supposed to happen.

She looked at the man laying on the ground, and stepped off the contraption she had been laying upon, naked feet touching the green under it as the flora grew around as wildly as her confusion and fear did.

Something wasn’t right.

Persephone had woken up many times before, in many different lives, but she had never woken up alone. Never woken up far away from her beloved, away from her husband.

But he wasn’t here.

She couldn’t sense him anywhere near the cave, she couldn’t feel him, only other humans, so where was he?

It was wrong. Persephone wasn’t supposed to ever wake alone, they were always to be together (that had been their promise), and the sense of grief seemed to grow the longer she looked around and Hades didn’t step out of the shadows.

Why wasn’t Hades here? If he wasn’t here, if he hadn’t woken her, who had? Or better yet, what had the power of waking a goddess in a mortal shell?

She pushed down the grief and sense of loss, observing the place she had found herself in more critically. There was a veritable amount of blood and sharp materials all over the place. 

Pieces of a bomb. 

She spotted a mirror close to where the man had passed out and moved towards it, curious about her appearance in this new life.

The image she saw reflected back at her was both familiar and that of a stranger. A man, who looked far younger than he had the last time he had looked at himself in a mirror. A handsome man, with sunkissed skin and a mostly trimmed goatee. Brown eyes with small specks of warmth and darkness hidden within them. 

The longer she looked at herself- himself in the mirror, the better she recalled and assimilated the memories of Tony Stark. It was not the first time Persephone had found herself awoken as a man, after all. 

While Tony Stark could never be Persephone, Persephone had always been Tony Stark. Even before he could remember his previous lives, he had been the goddess.

There was a noise, and Tony looked down critically as the man who had passed out before him slowly became alert once more.

His senses were not as powerful as they could/would become, but he was still able to identify the fear and terror in the man’s eyes as his fingers caressed a patch of grass under them and then he noticed him, standing behind him and next to the mirror.

The man quickly scrambled away, muttering a prayer for his soul under his breath. Tony just watched him curiously as he did so. There was something familiar about the man, something-

“Yinsen,” he said, and Yinsen looked even paler than before. Tony continued, used by now to behaviour such as this. “You are Ho Yinsen. We met at a technical conference in Bern. 1999.”

There was fear in Yinsen’s eyes as he gazed up at him once more. “You are really alive,” he whispered, voice shaking. “What are you?”

Tony blinked at him a couple of times. He observed the trembling man seriously, ignoring the pang of missing at the fact that his husband wasn’t anywhere near him, the pain that just kept growing as if it wanted to drown him. “I cannot tell you.”

It wouldn’t do, after all. He remembered Salem, he remembered the Ottoman Empire, and he remembered the Romans. From what he could parse through the memories of Tony Stark, this lifetime was a simpler time than some of the ones he had had to suffer through, but one could never be too sure.

The professor nodded, as if he had expected as such, and then discretely looked over at the cameras. “They’ll demand the truth of you. In any way necessary.”

“Who are they?” questioned Tony, finally looking away from Yinsen. He looked around at the cave once more; he did not recall how or when he had ended up here. “Where am I?”

“The Ten Rings,” answered the other man. “A terrorist organisation. They kidnapped you after blowing up your convoy.” At the words ‘blowing up’ he looked over at Tony’s unmarked chest, and the car battery sitting beside the table he had been sitting on before, before looking away again.

Tony could stitch together what had happened from his tells. His healing factor must have been triggered when Persephone had awakened within him, and repaired all of the damage that would have killed him otherwise.

A kidnapping. Tony Stark and Persephone had both had very interesting kidnappings in their lifetimes; but something about the disgusting cave and the lack of Hades told him that this wouldn’t be as pleasant, if allowed to continue.

Thankfully, his healing factor was not the only thing that had awakened with Persephone.

He felt his mood souring, and fast. Who were these people that believed they could contain a goddess? Who believed they could capture him? Who thought themselves high enough to take him and harm his mortal body?

Had Hades been there, they would have been cast out of the Realm of the Dead for the rest of their mortal lifespans. But even though Hades wasn’t here (where was he?), the rage of Persephone wasn’t something to be taken lightly either.

For Tony Stark was Persephone, and Persephone was the wife of Hades, the Merchant of Death, and the Life among the Dead.

Ignoring Yinsen for the time being, he moved towards one of the walls of the cave and placed a firm hand against the warm stone. 

The desert wasn’t a place where nature thrived, but Tony would make it so. He closed his eyes, and felt for the souls who encroached these walls, counting the lives that covered this fraction of the mortal plane.

Persephone could not close her hands around the throats of her enemies and kill them, and neither could Tony. Not for lack of want, but for it was not in their nature. His hands were made to bring and sustain life, not to rip it away.

Because of that he couldn’t shoot a gun other than to injure someone (his magic would make it so, whether he was trying for a kill shot or not), couldn’t stab or beat someone to death. But there were other things he could do.

“Close your eyes and cover your ears, Ho Yinsen,” he demanded, not bothering to check if the mortal followed his commands. If he did, good. If he didn’t, Tony knew enough basic magic to wipe his memory of the events anyway.

Reaching for the life under the sand, he sent a ripple of his energy through the cave, feeling the vines coming to life from the sand and through the cracks in the stones, listening to the startled and terrified screams of his would-be jailers.

Who believed themselves to be predators and dared to make a goddess their prey.

He felt the gunshots directed to his vines, and smiled wickedly, eyes burning. Mistress Death, they had called him, once upon a time. It was a wrong moniker, but the meaning was not incorrect: he was Hades’ Queen, the Queen of the Underworld.

Ho Yinsen violently flinched when Tony looked at him, his entire body trembling in fear as they heard the unnatural cease of all screams from their captors. “What... what have you done?”

Tony blinked a couple of times, his eyes returning to their natural shade of brown, before he frowned at him. “Will you remain-” no, the speech was outdated. He needed to speak like Tony Stark spoke again. Memories were so complicated, the first few days of Persephone’s return (Hades used to help) (where was he?). “Are you staying?”

Without giving Ho Yinsen much of a chance to answer, Tony started walking out, ignoring the way patches of grass grew under his feet at each step he took, and headed towards the room filled with the most of the recent life.

He could feel the fear in Ho Yinsen as they walked the hallways.

Their captors all laid dead in the maze of the cave, each and everyone of them with a snapped neck or a hole in their chest. The vines had disappeared as soon as Tony was done, so the cause of their deaths was not visible. 

It would be, for most mortals, unexplainable.

The wrath of a scorned Goddess.

Tony stopped in front of the door to a room that was filled with the most bodies in the entire cave system. There were computers in the room, and they called to her as much as the small flowers and vines did.

They had secrets they wanted to whisper to her, they said. Tales of kidnappings and ransoms and betrayal and weapons and murder-

Tony frowned deeply at that, the longing and pain for Hades moved aside by this new pang of hurt.

Persephone did not care for mortals all that much, but Persephone was Tony. And while Persephone had been Tony all his life, Tony had been Persephone for less than an hour.

His memories had not fully come back, his memories of lives long gone, but his memories of his life as Tony Stark remained.

He touched the top of the laptop and his mind expanded.

Deals, lies, plots, death - oh, there was so much he wanted to tell Tony. So many secrets that were kept from him, so many words that he didn’t know about, so much betrayal.

How dare he come for Brimo? For Persephone the Angry? For Persephone of the Crackling Fire? 

He was Persephone Praxidike, the Bringer of Justice, and he would serve justice.

“What’s going on?” asked Ho Yinsen, looking green around the edges as he stood near the door, refusing to step inside the room. “W-What are you doing?”

Tony did not look up. He never did understand mortal’s aversion to death. Death was a part of them, so why did they fear it so? They needn’t to. 

He started typing rapidly, following the tech and his own knowledge as he hacked through the system. “This was not a simple kidnapping. This was an attempt at my life,” he said, not suppressing an angry snarl that had bird's-foot trefoil appear all around the dark cave. “How dare he.”

There was a video of what would have been his assassination, and it may have been the explanation as to why Persephone had awoken in him. A bomb - his bomb - exploding close to him, giving him an injury that would have cost him his life, had he been fully human (yet, that still did not make sense. She had never been awoken in this manner before, only by Hades, so why-).

The video was not sent, and there was a flurry of messages from one of the now dead men, a ‘Raza’ who claimed that he should have been told that their target was Tony Stark. And in the same folder, the plans for weapons they would have demanded him to build them.

Tony wished he had made them suffer a little more before killing them. Made them look him in the eye as he ended their pathetic existence.

“You can sit,” he said, after a few minutes of painstakingly trying to hack enough to give JARVIS notice. “Or you can return to our ‘accommodations’.”

Ho Yinsen swallowed. “Will you kill me?”

Tony looked at him in confusion. “Why would I do that?”

He gave a weak shrug. “It’s not like you need me anymore.”

Tony tilted his head to the side, studying him carefully. “I suppose I don’t,” he mused. Ho Yinsen stiffened, but Tony continued. “That does not mean that you have not helped me when you thought I needed it. The help was unnecessary, but I am thankful for it.” He reached over the table and plucked a bunch of keys that he threw at Ho Yinsen.

The professor flailed a little and caught them before they fell to the ground, before looking up in surprise. “What’s this?”

“You are no longer a prisoner,” explained Tony, eyes back on the laptop. “I would offer for you to wait for me to be done so that we can leave together, but I gather that you fear me. So long as you swear that you will never utter a word to anyone regarding what came to pass in this cave and what my nature might be, you will be free of me.”

“I swear!” quickly said Yinsen, not noticing the binding geas he had just entered.

Tony nodded, pleased with himself, and waved away the Professor’s thanks.

He wasn’t surprised to hear a car zooming away mere minutes later - long enough for Ho Yinsen to gather maps and supplies from the dead men, he supposed.

He wasn’t alone for long, however, and Tony smiled when he saw the small message appear.

J.A.R.V.I.S.: Identify yourself.

unknown: Creator Unit: Anthony “Tony” Stark. Access code: 290574-Sierra-Oscar-Riga-9-Alpha-12-Y. Protocol: “Family Feud”. Activation code 17-Charlie-3-Victor-Alpha-23819-Echo.

J.A.R.V.I.S.: Sir? Is it really you?

unknown: Yes, baby boy. I am alive.

J.A.R.V.I.S.: May I ask why you have activated the protocol, Sir?

unknown: There are traitors in our midst, J. I cannot return until the first one has been caught.

J.A.R.V.I.S.: I strongly advise against this course of action, Sir. 

unknown: I know for sure that Obadiah Stane is one of the traitors, I don’t know how far his reach expands.

J.A.R.V.I.S.: I see.

J.A.R.V.I.S.: Very well, then. How should we proceed, Sir?

+++

JARVIS did not approve of Tony’s actions or plans, but he knew better than to argue against his creator. 

For the next month or so, Tony travelled across the desert, systematically and ruthlessly dismantling the Ten Rings and stealing all the information on Stane’s double dealings from them.

While Hades had mastered shadow travel, Tony was the Goddess of Spring. His talents laid in the ley lines and travelling through them was more energy and effort consuming than the first. There weren’t ley lines everywhere, so, more often than not, Tony had to stop far away from where he wanted to go, and then had to walk miles for his destination.

But he was a Goddess with anger and vengeance in his mind, and nothing short of a beheading, a removal and destruction of her heart, or the natural end of his cycle as Tony Stark could stop him.

Tony enjoyed creating weapons. It was creation, after all, and he loved creation. He wasn’t afraid of the death that followed said creations, because he was the Queen of the Underworld too, and there was no Creation without Destruction.

But there was no justice or honour in arming those who were known to be her enemies. He rarely picked sides in battles, but this time he had. And Stane dared to use Tony’s weapons to hurt his favoured? To hurt Rhodey? His Paladin of Justice?

He’d rue the day he had ever met him.

So he destroyed these enemies carrying his weapons, ordering his vines to not leave anyone alive and stopping every few days to make contact with JARVIS and send him coordinates and incriminating contracts with Stane’s betraying metaphorical and physical fingerprints all over them.

On the month anniversary of Tony Stark’s kidnapping, he strolled through the American base of Ankara, Turkey, with flowers in his hair just as, on the other side of the world, Obadiah Stane was getting arrested for treason, attempted murder, and aiding and abetting of terrorists.

Rhodey, who had been forewarned by JARVIS about Tony making contact with the information that led to Stane’s arrest, was standing in front of the main door with many high ranking members of the brass.

There were tears in his eyes when Tony came into view, and Tony beamed at him (part of Persephone had hoped that he was Hades, but he knew better than that; Rhodey was a King, but he was not his King, not his husband). There were cheers from everyone, but Tony did not pay them any attention, throwing his arms around Rhodey’s neck, who sunk into the embrace as greedily.

“Next time, you ride with me,” he said - more like demanded, really - and Tony held him tighter, focusing on not letting his emotions spill to the environment around them.

Already people were looking at the narcissus in his hair in bemusement; Tony did not want to have to explain why flowers were popping up around him.

His heart ached at Hades still being missing, but he had his Paladin, now. He would be okay.

Rhodey and Pepper converged on him about three days after his return to Malibu.

Pepper still looked amazed at having him alive in front of her, but she was returning to her usual nature quickly. She wasn’t a paladin, not like Rhodey was; but she was still Tony’s (his Balance).

Both of them sat on the couch in front of a curious Tony, and Pepper put her laptop down carefully. “Okay. Shoot.”

Tony looked at her in askance. “Shoot?”

Pepper did not look impressed. "You’ve returned after a month of silence, with not a scratch on your face. Somehow you managed to get from Afghanistan to Turkey virtually undetected. You have sent a message to the Board that you plan on halting weapons production because of Stane’s actions. Half of the Ten Rings hideouts apparently blew up once you set foot on American soil, all at once. You wear flowers that according to the internet mean vengeance and rebirth in your hair all the time. And you look...” She struggled for a word, face scrunched up.

“Full of life?” hazarded Rhodey, and Pepper nodded.

“Yes! Full of life!” She threw up her hands. “What... like, what happened to you?”

Tony considered the two of them for a second.

Even JARVIS he had noticed scanning him every now and then, trying to understand a change that was not apparent in his physical body.

He did not have to tell them, but it was very rare for him to find loyal Paladins in his lifetimes. And why should he? Normally, he had had Hades, and who needed a Paladin when your husband was the King of the Underworld?

But Hades was not here, and Tony did not know where he was.

So he weaved the story for them.

He weaved a story. A story of the Lord of the Underworld and his Mistress, of Creation and Death, of the Goddess of Spring and her husband, of Kore and Aides.

Of Madness, who wanted to take the Mistress for himself, and wanted to sit on Hades’ throne. Of fleeing him and entering the cycles, lifetimes after lifetimes, to escape him.

Of Stones of Infinite Power, of Gods and Titans, of Souls and Time.

Of Hades and Persephone.

He weaved and narrated, he chronicled and recounted, and through it all, his Justice and Balance listened.

For a while, after he was done, they remained silent, watching them with expression that would have been inscrutable to anyone else.

Then Rhodey spoke. “You are the reincarnation of Persephone, the Goddess of Spring and the Queen Underworld,” he summed. “And Hades is...?”

Tony allowed the heartache he had been feeling since he woke up in the cave to show up on his face. “I have yet to find my husband.”

Pepper immediately seemed to archive the overwhelming news Tony had shared with them in favour of focusing on this piece of information. “Is there any way to find him? What can we do to help?”

“Unless he is awake and actively seeking me, it would be impossible for me to realise who he is even if I met him,” he said, smiling bitterly. Then he looked at Rhodey, who seemed very relaxed about this all. “You don’t appear freaked out.”

“Oh, I am plenty freaked out,” assured Rhodey. “But it also makes so much fucking sense. When you were coding JARVIS, BUTTERFINGERS, U and DUM-E, it was literally like watching you breathe life into lines of codes and scrap metal. Now, at least, it makes sense.”

“And you two?” he asked, looking at Pepper but meaning both her and JARVIS.

Pepper shrugged. “I like flowers. So long as you don’t start smiting board members or causing PR disasters by announcing your godhood, I am fine.”

Tony pouted at her, though inside he felt pleased. “But I wanted to smite Stane. I promise to make it look like an accident?”

Both his friends’ faces turned dark at that. 

“Stane is all yours,” told him Pepper, teeth shining as if she was Cerberus about to have a meal. “Death is too merciful for him. If you hadn’t been who you are...” she left the sentence hanging, but everyone knew what she meant.

It was Death, after all, that had brought him back to Life.

“And I am not all surprised at the fact that I am now a demigod,” quipped JARVIS, breaking the tense mood that had settled in the room.

“Hercules got nothing on you,” said Rhodey, laughing a little.

“I remember Hercules,” said Tony, lips curling in distaste. “He was pretty annoying. JARVIS is far better than he or Jason ever were.”

They all laughed at that, and Tony smiled too.

(Tony’s heart continued to ache)

The Tesseract waking up had not been in Tony’s long term plans.

It had been three years since Persephone had woken up in that cave in Afghanistan, and Tony had yet to find Hades. He did not despair, but the pain of the forced solitude away from his beloved only grew each day. 

It was already an unbearable ache that only the presence of his paladin of Justice at his side - blessed by Life - soothed. Tony had thrown galas, jetted around the world, spoke to people he normally wouldn’t have entertained, but it was for nothing. Hades wasn’t awake, and if he was, he wasn’t anywhere Tony could find him.

He wasn’t an American or European politician, wasn’t a warlord, wasn’t any CEO he knew, he simply... wasn’t there.

But Tony wouldn’t stop. He knew what Pepper thought, what Rhodey worried about, but JARVIS understood. JARVIS would have understood his need to look for him no matter what the odds were, better than anyone else.

The Tesseract waking up, however, threw a wrench in his plans.

He hadn’t expected it; hadn’t known that the wretched thing was on Earth to begin with. Last he had heard of it, it was in Odin’s vault after the King of Asgard had successfully taken it from the Mad Titan.

Its presence on Earth did not bode well for anyone.

He wasn’t surprised when Agent Coulson showed up at Tony’s tower, looking only mildly perturbed by the amount of flora around, to politely ask for their help in tracking the cube. Rhodey, in his capacity as Iron Man, and Tony, in his capacity as a tech genius.

He also hadn’t been surprised when an Asgardian had shown up and taken it from them, though he had been surprised by Loki’s tactics in taking the object.

Persephone and Loki had known each other for a long time, now. Every time Hades woke her up, Loki somehow managed to find out and showed up, delighted to spend time in their company. He and Hades needled each other all the time, but he and Persephone got along pretty well, all things considered. They knew each other. They understood each other.

So Loki’s actions confused Tony to say the least. Why attack Midgardians? Why saying he wanted to rule them? It was rather odd.

Tony was already on the Helicarrier when Rhodey returned, landing in the hangar, away from the Quinjet to step out of his suit, and he met him there instead of going directly to Loki to figure out what was his plan, as he had at first thought to do. 

He noticed the jealous and awed looks the various SHIELD agents milling around gave the armour, and felt a small smile forming on his face.

Persephone had never been one for taking sides in wars. No side was ever 100% right, and unless she was called to judge, she wasn’t interested in favouring one over the other. The few times she did, however, she was loyal.

Tony Stark was not interested in war either. However, he was invested in the safety of his Paladin. So he had come to a simple decision: outfit Rhodey only.

The suit of armour he had created for that particular purpose was a beauty to behold, and Tony had made sure that no one would ever be able to understand all the secrets within it, not even Rhodey himself. Many had tried to recreate it, but all had failed at it, starting with the failure to recreate the miniaturised Arc Reactor.

Only two people in the world had known how the miniaturised reactor worked. But ‘two can keep a secret if one of them is dead’, and Vanko junior had joined his father earlier than he had hoped.

Rhodey stepped out of the armour, moving his neck with a groan. “Asgardians pack a punch, uh?”

Tony frowned as he fell into step with him. “I thought you said Loki surrendered,” he said, which was another odd thing. Loki never surrendered.

“His brother showed up,” explained Rhodey, and Tony found himself pleasantly surprised at the news. Rhodey noticed. “I’m taking you know him?”

“Yes,” agreed Tony, humming thoughtfully. “We met a handful of times. He was pretty hot headed, so we didn’t hang in the same circles, but I don't mind him.”

Coulson noticed them appear on the bridge, and offered them a polite nod. “This way, Colonel Rhodes, Doctor Stark,” he said, motioning for them to follow.

They walked into the main room of the ship, where several people were already seated around the table. One was the man known as Steve Rogers, the man his mortal father Howard Stark had been obsessed with. A man out of time, who had cheated death with ice. Another was Doctor Banner, the one who had a second personality residing within him. Tony was not surprised to find that the man had two souls living in his body, for both he and the Hulk were their own people. Then came the woman who smelt of death, Natasha Romanoff.

For a second, when she had infiltrated his company, Tony had thought that perhaps she was Hades. But she wasn’t, she was simply a talented liar and assassin.

The last notable person in the room looked up when he and Rhodey walked in, a confused expression on his face as he watched them walk into the room. Then his eyes fixated on the flower behind his ear, and a look of recognition settled on his face.

He climbed on his feet, startling many, and rushed towards Tony, bowing down in front of him, and taking his hand in his. “My Queen!” He said, a smile splitting his face. “What an honour! It has been too long!”

Tony found himself smiling too, ignoring the confused expressions from everyone but Rhodey. “Prince Thor, it is wonderful to meet you again.”

“Again?”

Thor looked at Rhodey expectantly, and then he frowned. He looked back down at Tony. “Where is-”

Tony forced the heartbreak from being too visible on his face. “I have yet to find him.”

Worry settled on Thor’s face. “You have woken alone?” When Tony nodded, Thor made a disquieted noise, and wrapped his arms around him, holding him snug against him. “I am sorry, my Queen.”

Tony allowed the hug for a while, until Fury walked into the room, looking pissed off and then suddenly confused at the display. “What’s going on here?”

The two gods let go of one another, with Thor automatically standing at his left while Rhodey stood at his right. Tony looked right back at Fury. “Whatever do you mean?”

Fury’s eyes narrowed. “Since when do the two of you know each other, Stark?”

“And why does he call you Queen?” asked another agent, sounding more perplexed than derisive.

Thor glared at both of them, and the sound of thunder was heard in the distance. “Have care of how you speak to him.”

Tony put a hand on his bicep, while the other pulled out a small flower from his pocket (dimension), offering it to him. “It’s okay, big guy.”

Thor looked pleased at the claim and inclined his head towards him, allowing Tony to quickly braid it into his hair.

Everyone else was tense, having noticed the show of power from Thor and knowing that, if a lightning bolt hit the centre of the Helicarrier, they could possibly fall to their deaths.

Finally Tony focused on them all once more. “My friendships or my titles do not concern you, Director,” he said, coolly. Fury puffed up in indignation, and Tony pressed forward. “Now, didn’t you ask me here so that I could find the cube?”

The man seemed to consider his words, trying to figure out his best course of action, and then nodded. “Doctor Banner will help you.”

The Doctor looked wary, as Tony approached him with a ‘friendly’ smile on his face. “Doctor,” he greeted, head inclined in greeting. “Shall we?”

“After you,” said Doctor Banner.

The berserker hiding within him seemed intrigued by Tony, hence why he appeared so uncomfortable. Clearly, he was able to recognise power, even when hidden, and knew better than to allow Tony to get the drop on him.

They proceeded in relative quiet towards the room where Loki’s scepter was being kept, and then Tony stopped.

Between the two of them, Hades had always had the best knowledge of magic. Persephone knew the basics: how to erase someone’s short term memory, how to travel through the ley lines, how to create pocket dimension. And how to control plants, but Tony had always felt that that was less magic and more inherent in his godhood.

Hades could cast the best and worst spells in existence, with the power of Death itself at his fingertips. He was more than a wizard, more than a mage. He called himself a sorcerer, but he was much more than that too.

However, for all of her lack of magical knowledge, Persephone had been around for a long time too. Had been around long enough that, the second his eyes settled on the Scepter, the most vicious feeling crawled all over Tony.

“Doctor Stark?” called Banner, looking worried at where Tony had stopped in the doorway, face pale. “Are you all right?”

“That?” he asked, pointing at the Scepter on the table. “That’s Loki’s weapon?”

Doctor Banner nodded, confused by his reaction, and Tony bolted.

He walked back into the room they had just left, ignoring the confusion as he turned on Fury. “Loki. His eyes. What colour were his eyes?”

Fury glared at him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Stark?”

“Answer my question, Director!” said Tony, and the room fell into silence at the unexpected power behind his voice. “Loki. What. Colour. Were. His. Eyes.”

Fury’s mouth moved. “Blue. Are you-”

“Blue?” asked Thor, alarmed, while Tony felt sick to his stomach. “My brother has green eyes. What does-”

“He’s mind controlled,” said Tony, turning to Thor, who looked shocked. “The Scepter? I just saw it. It’s not just a Scepter. It’s the container for the Mind Stone.”

Thor’s alarm grew. “The Mind Stone? But the Space Stone...” He blanched. “The Mad Titan.”

“He’s coming,” whispered Tony, falling to his knees like a puppet with its strings cut. “Thanos is coming.”

Chapter Text

Stephen Strange died in his car, at the bottom of a cliff.

Karl Mordo had been quite sure of it, even as he had looked at the body through the scrying mirror. He had told that to the Ancient One, when she had ordered him to go fetch the world renowned neurosurgeon, but she had not listened.

Hence why, despite knowing that he would no longer be breathing, Mordo had stepped out of the portal into the cold air of February, watching the car smashed at the bottom of the ravine with both pity and distaste.

Mostly pity. The man had been in his prime of life, and the Ancient One had appeared to care very much about him. But even if she could do much more magic than he could ever dream of, he knew she had not learnt how to reverse death yet. 

The man was, as Karl expected, dead upon his arrival. His face was covered in blood - a head injury - and his hands had somehow moulded with the dashboard, and were still bleeding profusely.

It was a macabre sight.

Considering the position of his car, Karl doubted that anyone would have found him for a long time, had he not been sent there.

Perhaps that was why the Ancient One had sent him? To give him a proper burial?

Whatever the reason, he knew she had more wisdom than he, and he was not about to question her decision. If she wanted his body, then Karl would simply bring it to her.

With that, he fully stepped out of the portal, and started casting careful spells to get Stephen Strange fully out of the death trap of a car he had been using. It took him far longer than he would have preferred, but while he was mangled already from the accident, Karl had no interest in making him look even worse.

Once he had fully freed him from the wreck, Mordo used his magic to make him levitate out of it, and then lowered him slowly in his own arms, grimacing the entire time.

Oh, don’t get him wrong. He had no problems with death itself - he had caused, and seen, most of his share of death - but he did have a problem with handling the bodies after the deed happened. It reminded him of his family and-

Stephen Strange breathed.

Karl dropped him.

Hades woke up in Kamar Taj.

He knew it was Kamar Taj before he even opened his eyes. He felt the faint humming of magic running through the place, the sounds of spells being cast and the whispers of the catacombs from far below him.

He opened his eyes slowly, soaking in the feeling of magic all around him. It was strange, but not unsurprising, to wake up in Kamar Taj.

Hades had, after all, founded Kamar Taj. Not that many remembered Agamotto anymore. The few that did, never seemed to realise that Agamotto had not been a superior sorcerer because he was a superior human but rather because he was much more than a simple human.

It was all very amusing.

He didn’t feel amused this time, as he lifted his head from the pillow and surveyed the empty room all around him, his eyes growing colder and colder the longer he looked around and did not spot Persephone.

What was happening?

Usually, the presence of Persephone in his life was all it took for his magic to unlock itself. That was the pact they had made in that throne room, the promise they had made to each other before they embarked in this adventure.

He would wake up once his soul recognised hers being close to him, and once he had awoken, he would wake her too.

But now he was awake, and Persephone was not around him.

So who had dared to bring him to Kamar Taj and wake him? Who had thought themselves to have the power of making the choice for him?

Hades stood up from the bed he was laying on, dismissing the blood and water on its surface as the shadows seemed to converge all around him. He was dressed, mostly, so he did not bother looking for more clothes, instead striding out of the room with certainty.

There weren’t many people all around, but all of them stopped and stared at him when they saw him walking past, unnerved and confused faces on all of them.

Hades did not pause or acknowledged them at all, continuing to walk until he found the room where her energy was concentrated the most in, opening it without as much as a knock.

The other man in the room, stood to his feet immediately, but his expression blanched when he noticed Hades, automatically making him take a step back. His jaw had stiffened and his eyes appeared scared.

Hades maintained eye contact with him for a couple more seconds before turning to the other person in the room.

She had stood up during his short lived staring contest with the yet unnamed man, and was now bowing to him. “My Lord. Welcome back.”

“What is the meaning of this, Tao?” he demanded, voice harsh and clipped.

It seemed to raise the unnamed man’s hackles, which Tao appeared to notice.

“Mordo, could you give me and Stephen Strange a few seconds to talk?” she asked, in a voice that was not a question.

Stephen Strange, right. That’s who Hades had been, in this lifetime.

A doctor. A neurosurgeon.

Saved people’s lives.

It was very ironic, if you pondered a little about it. The King of the Underworld, the Lord of Death itself, working somewhere where people were saved on the daily?

On the surface, that’s what it looked like, at least.

But if you stopped and thought about it more carefully, it made even more sense.

What else existed in hospitals?

Death. Death upon arrival, people dying during operations, the morgue... hospitals were ripe with life, sure, but they were also ripe with death.

It was the perfect banquet for the King of the Underworld.

He did not pay any attention to ‘Mordo’ as he walked out of the room - still uncomfortable, afraid and irritated by him - instead focusing cold eyes on Tao.

She offered him a seat once the door closed behind them, and Hades - no, Stephen, took the seat, lowering himself on it while continuing to stare at her in a manner that had made people much stronger than her uncomfortable.

Tao sat down once he did, and steadied herself on the chair.

“You died, my King,” she told him, candidly. “It’s how you woke.”

Stephen had guessed as much, as he had been recalling Stephen Strange’s life in those past few seconds. The last focused memory he had was of himself driving at high speed in a dangerous road, late at night and then he must have died.

That, however, did not explain why he had woken up.

Unlike Persephone, Hades did not only have memories of the lives he woke up in - he also had memories of the lives he did not wake up in. He wouldn’t recall that he was Hades while living them, but once Hades awoke, he’d recall those lives from before too.

Those were lives in which something happened to him - like the bubonic plague, in one, and the Spanish Influenza in another - and caused him to die before he ever met her.

So, more than once he had suffered an injury or a premature death and his soul had gone on to the next cycle.

What was it about this death/injury that had caused him to wake up?

“Why?”

Tao shook her head. “I’ve been investigating, but I’m not sure.” A troubled look went over her face, and Stephen knew she had, at the very least, a working theory.

“What is it?” he pressed, eyes narrowed.

She tensed when she made eye contact with him, and Stephen worked on reigning himself and his magic in, making his eyes less cold and poisonous.

She swallowed. “The Time Stone has awoken a century or so ago-”

“Impossible!” immediately said Stephen, the shadows responding to his emotions and swirling around in fury and dismay. Tao became paler than ever as her own shadow followed after them, but Stephen was not paying attention. “The Eye is supposed to stop it. I crafted that Eye myself, nothing should be able to wake the Stone.”

“Nothing, but another stone,” pointed out Tao, and the room stilled, a cold that was not human enveloping the entire place like a cocoon of death.

“I beg your pardon?”

Tao forced herself to remain calm as she spoke. “There is another Infinity Stone on Earth,” she explained. “Has been here for a long time, but it has woken up recently too. Both it and the Time Stone woke up around the same time.”

Stephen willed the shadows to calm down around him, a flinty look in his eyes. “What sorcerer dared to think they were a match for the powers of Infinity?”

“Not a sorcerer,” said Tao, expression solemn. “A madman by the name of Red Skull. He worked for HYDRA in the 1940s, and somehow managed to work the Space Stone. Not control it, of course, but he managed to make it work enough that it teleported him across the known Universe.”

“It is your job to ensure things like that don’t happen, Tao,” said Stephen, voice dangerous. The shadows in the room twitched.

Tao forced her expression to remain stoic. “My first loyalty is to Kamar Taj, and to the sorcerers here. I was not checking on the war, and I was definitely not checking on what a Nazi science division with a love for old Norse myths was doing. So I did not notice them using the Space Stone until I felt the energy pulse from Red Skull using it.

“And even if I had noticed it, what would you have had me do?” she asked, now looking truly frustrated. “Bring it to Kamar Taj? Two stones in one place is begging for the trouble you’ve been evading for a millennia.” Stephen’s eyes turned stormy, and Tao quickly rectified. “I mean, trouble you have made sure wouldn’t come to pass. Already it’s pushing things to have the Space Stone and the Time Stone on the same planet. And it is not like I can use the Time Stone to check that wherever I put the Space Stone isn’t just handing it over to the Mad Titan. I cannot see past my death.”

“You used it,” inferred Stephen, but instead of being angry, he felt suddenly tired. If the stones had awoken, as she had implied, it would have been almost impossible for Tao, who knew what it was, to not use it. 

She was only human after all.

“When do you die?” he instead asked.

He did not particularly care that Tao had used forbidden means to prolong her life. In fact, he appreciated her long life. Sure, his brothers and the rest of his family still lived over the Olympus, but they had never been too close. 

Having a human who knew his plight and being able to speak to her every lifetime he returned to was... comforting.

Stephen liked it.

She had never been a Paladin, not for him, but she had been for centuries now, his Pillar.

Tao swallowed. “Soon. Dormammu is coming. He will not leave this dimension without eating it, if he can help it.”

Stephen grimaced slightly. It had been a long time since he had dealt with Dormammu. The being was not under the Olympians’ control, but Stephen knew he could handle him if it came down to it.

“You said you’ve used the Time Stone,” he then said, observing her carefully. “Have you...?”

For the first time that morning (evening?) her expression softened. “I have perhaps two years to live,” she explained. “But I have not seen Persephone. I am sorry, my Lord.”

Stephen pushed the grief back down.

He wasn’t used to it. He wasn’t used to not having his wife at his side. If she died, he died. She woke up when he woke up. In the lifetimes they did not meet one another, neither of them woke.

But now the Infinity Stones were calling upon one another, which meant the reason they had started the cycles was upon them, which meant their normal rules no longer applied, if the Universe itself had started defying them.

For all he knew, Thanos already had kidnapped his beloved-

“My king!” shouted Tao, and Hades paid attention to his surroundings once more, grimacing slightly when he noted that everything all around them was in disarray and the shadows were trying to break free. The room was colder than the bowels of the Rivers of the Underworld, and he was almost sucking the life out of Tao with his display.

He reigned his magic back in. “Apologies,” he told her, ignoring how terrified she looked as he once more stood up. “I will return to the chambers you have assigned me for the time being. Call me when Dormammu is upon us.”

With that, he walked back out of the room, not at all surprised by Mordo loitering not too far from the door. Most likely to be able to rush in if Tao was in danger, he mused, giving him an affable smile as their eyes met.

Mordo quickly looked away, and Stephen continued to make his way back to his room, more troubling thoughts filling his mind.

She had always been his anchor, Persephone. It was for her that he had entered these cycles. For her that he had given up part of his power. 

Now she was not close to him, and there was a chance that she could, quite possibly, be in danger.

Stephen did not like the situation one bit.

He had to find her - he had to.

Before meeting her, his life had not been the worst life in the world, but it had been lonely. Similarly to now, mortals, gods and goddesses alike seemed to have an innate discomfort for his presence. He could count on one hand the number of people who were not disquieted by being around him, and Persephone had been on top of the list.

She was, for everyone who did not know her, Peace, Spring and Life. And yet she cared for him. Yet she stayed with him. Yet she loved him. In people’s minds, that meant that he could not possibly be as bad as everyone feared.

(He was worse, and she? She was his Mistress, his Queen of the Underworld, a wickedness that was hidden behind a kind demeanour, and no one had ever known, had ever suspected)

She was the first person to truly, unconditionally, love him for who and what he was.

And now, she was not around him.

He needed to find her. He needed to, because if he didn’t have her... If he didn’t have her...

“Excuse me,” came a voice, and Stephen raised an eyebrow at the man in front of him.

“Good afternoon,” he answered, even more intrigued when the man masterfully hid his fear, staring back at him. “What can I do for you?”

“Perhaps you could try not to bleed on these new sheets?” asked/demanded the man, and despite his grief, Stephen’s lips twitched slightly at the man’s audacity. “I just changed them.”

“Mhm, I can try to do that,” simply said Stephen, head cocking to the side as he observed him. “Who are you?”

“Wong,” curtly answered Wong, not offering a hand in greetings.

"Just Wong?" asked Stephen, further amused by the man's obstinate refusal to appear nervous or afraid of him. "Like Beyonce? Adele?" Not a twitch in his expression. "...Socrates?"

Wong stared at him for a second longer, before speaking in that same flat and unfriendly tone. “The bathroom is directly straight in that direction. Clean clothes are in that drawer. Do not get on the new sheets with those clothes."

“Of course, Wong,” said Stephen, watching as the man rolled his eyes and walked away.

Uncomfortable, unnerved, but refusing to show it. 

A Paladin if he ever saw one.

Perhaps things would not be as awful as Stephen had been afraid of.

Re-meeting Christine Palmer was... uncomfortable.

Stephen had been aware of who - or what - she was to him before he had woken up. Of what he was to her. But still he had not expected the way she had thrown herself at him and pressed tightly against him, turning into a blubbering mess of tears and snot when he had turned up.

He looked down at her and awkwardly patted her back. “Uh. There, there.”

It did not look like it helped all that much.

“You asshole!” She managed, a few minutes later, once she had dragged him into an empty room. “Holy shit, Stephen, do you have any idea of how terrified I was? How afraid everyone was?”

“Clearly not,” he said, seriously doubting that anyone other than Christine herself had been worried.

While Stephen Strange had never truly been Hades, Hades had always been Stephen Strange.

No matter what form he took, he was still Hades. Rare it was for anyone to be comfortable around him, even in his mortal forms.

She glared, wiping her face free of tears. “Your fucking car was found at the bottom of a ravine, and you were nowhere to be found. And there was blood in your car and it looked wrecked, where the fuck were you?!”

Stephen had not been shouted at that way in a while. He understood suddenly why his mortal self had been so intrigued by this woman - though the romantic relationship between the two of them made him very very uncomfortable.

“I apologise, Christine,” he told her, putting his cold hands on her shoulders. She did not flinch at the contact, though he could see a hint of confusion in her eyes when she met his. 

He had always been pale, and his eyes had always been unforgivingly cold when needed, but it was somehow more pronounced now, and while she did not fully understand, he could tell Christine was able to see it. 

“Are you okay?” she finally asked, cataloguing every little change she could find on his person. Not all of his scars as Stephen Strange had disappeared once he had woken up, thankfully, so he did not look very different, at least at first glance. 

“Yes,” he answered, ending their contact and offering her the arrogant smile she had grown accustomed with as their friendship grew. “Are you?”

She glared at him, her lips twitching in a small but even more confused smile. “I am not the one who got into a car crash and disappeared for a week. Stephen, what the hell is going on? How did you get out of the car with 0 injuries? Where have you been?”

All expected questions that Stephen had no true intention of answering to.

“It’s a long story,” he told her, shaking his head slightly. “The short version is that I was saved right when I was on the brink of death. You’ll need several NDAs to hear the full version.”

Christine appeared even more worried than before. “Was it illegal? Were you... experimented on?”

“NDAs,” he repeated, shrugging when she glared.

Then she returned serious. “But are you okay?”

So long as Persephone was not beside him, he’d never be okay.

He had come to the hospital to end his job, actually. He had considered for a while, remaining at work. Hades had always worked better surrounded by death, just as Persephone had always worked better surrounded by plants and creation.

But working in the hospital was no way of looking for his wife, and that’s what he wanted to do (what he needed to do). Sure, there was a chance that he might meet her there one day, but this was not the only hospital in the world, nor was it the best.

So he was going to move around the world and try to track Persephone down - or whoever she was in this lifetime.

There was obviously the chance that she too was awake, but Stephen did not want to think about it. If he, who regularly worked with magic and sorcery in most of their lives, was confused and trying to figure out why he was awake, then who knew what it would be like for her?

Persephone always woke up after he woke. She woke up because he found her, and woke her up. He did not wish the grief that he was feeling on her, in the case that she too was awake and wandering the Earth looking for him.

He could only hope she was still asleep.

+++

His first stop after being done with Christine was the New York Sanctum. Once he had issued his formal leave from the hospital - to the bafflement of everyone around - Stephen had retreated in a hidden corner of the place and shadow travelled directly inside the New York Sanctum.

No one noticed him as he materialised from the shadows themselves, but Master Drumm did notice him as he walked up the stairs of the Sanctum, giving a violent double take at him and the robes he had put on when he had arrived.

He looked a little frightened as he approached him, a spell on the tip of his tongue. “Excuse me, Sir-”

“Doctor,” corrected Stephen automatically, watching the smaller man from the corner of his eyes as he continued to walk, forcing him to rush in his attempt to keep up with him. “It’s Doctor Strange.”

“Doctor Strange,” repeated the Master, looking panicked at the way Stephen clearly knew where he was going. “I was not aware that I was having visitors today; may I ask who sent you-” his voice trailed off as Stephen stopped mid step and turned to him, frowning.

The man looked very young and afraid, but Stephen didn't focus on that, too busy being disappointed to bother. “Are you not the Master of this Sanctum?”

He swallowed. “I am Sir, uh, Doctor.”

“Then you should be attuned to the feelings of the Sanctum,” he said, frown growing. “Do you not sense it welcoming me back?”

The way the Master simply looked around a little nervously was enough answer. 

“Fates above, what on Earth is Tao teaching you?!” he demanded, irritated. This was the Order he had entrusted the Time Stone with, and they couldn’t even focus on the feelings of the Sanctums around them?

What a waste.

“Ta- do you mean the Ancient One?” his voice was squeaky and afraid, but his consternation at him calling Tao by her real name was still palpable.

“Ancient One? She is not that old, does she know you’re calling her that?” he asked, moving again towards the Relic Room. “And you can send a message to her that I have come by.”

“I don’t think-” started the Master again, following him closely.

Stephen understood. While he was himself consternated with the fact that nowadays everyone could simply become a sorcerer regardless of their natural inclinations or not, the man was still Master of the New York Sanctum. Had it been Agamotto’s time, a killing blow would have been delivered first and questions asked after.

He should be thankful that an attempt hadn’t been made against his life, and he assumed only the fact that somehow he had made it past the Sanctum borders virtually undetected by anyone was doing him favours (not that they'd have succeeded. But Stephen had not come here to kill people, and didn't want to waste his time).

Still, he ignored the Master as the door of the relic room opened for him and he stopped before a familiar case holding a familiar friend within it.

Hades did not always follow the call of magic when he woke up. There had been many lives in which he and Persephone had both ignored it, choosing to live a normal secluded life. 

But when he chose to once more help/lead the Order, he would always go and see his dear friend friend. 

He made a sound of disapproval when he saw him lying in the case as if dead, and pressed a palm against the glass. “Hello, old friend,” he said, voice pitched low and completely ignoring the young Master beside him. “Do you remember me?”

For a second or two, there was no sound in the room at all.

And then the Cloak of Levitation, his first companion, trembled slightly, as if shaking itself awake. 

The Master made a sound of surprise, and then Cloak moved again, giving an almost human double take when its magic recognised Hades’ magic.

Then he moved, noticing him, and pressed itself against the case, trying to somehow phase through it to him.

A smile found its way on Stephen’s face as he disappeared the glass case holding his friend prisoner with a flick of his fingers, and found an armful of cloth in his arms, familiar weight enveloping him fully.

“I have missed you too, my friend,” he said, not quite laughing, but feeling some degree of that overwhelming grief lowering slightly.

The Cloak of Levitation had been his companion for millennia, now. For longer than his cycles as a human had begun.

It was a gift woven to him by Persephone when they had still been living in the Underworld, and Stephen had treasured it dearly since he had received it. One of the things he loved the most in the world, a treasure most dear to him.

The sorcerers always called it fickle, considering that to them, it barely associated with anyone since Agamotto - and the various incarnations of Hades that found their way to Kamar Taj - but the word they were missing was loyal. The Cloak simply had no time or patience for loyalty towards anyone other than his master. 

Not even Persephone, who had woven it, received the same type of loyalty Hades did.

The Cloak could not speak, but the embrace said it all.

Stephen came out of the shadows once everyone had left the room, watching the cube with narrowed eyes.

The Cloak of Levitation was on his shoulders, and the Time Stone was still sitting idly in Kamar Taj. He knew he should reclaim it, lest any other sorcerer fell victim to its siren call, but Stephen had to deal with this issue first.

The blue cube seemed to mock him from where he sat - and knowing how capricious and petty the Reality and Space Stones could be, it probably was.

He only stopped once he was directly in front of it, eyes narrowed as he stared it down. “Hello, Space.”

Hello, my King Hades.

So she was fully awake then. This was not good.

“What are you doing here? I don’t recall you being here during the last battle.”

There have been many battles since the one you call the last battle. 

Of course, Stephen knew that. But she knew what battle he meant and why he called it that.

Indeed I do, my King Hades. There was another battle, between the Asgardians and the Mad Titan, as he attempted to reach Midgard once more. They vanquished him, but Odin grew afraid of what my presence at his Court could mean for his planetoid.

Thus he cast me out and threw me on Midgard. And then, I was asleep as the Midgardians tried to make a weapon out of me, just as Thanos had wished. I would have remained asleep for far longer, but something happened.

“What happened?” asked Stephen, already knowing the answer. There was little, after all, that could wake up an Infinity Stone.

Tao might have assumed that it had been the Red Skull fellow she had spoken about, and Stephen might have let her believe it.

But he knew better.

Mind woke up, and he woke everyone up too.

The Mind Stone.

Of course it had been the Mind Stone.

Thanos' favoured Stone.

“So the Mad Titan is hunting again,” he surmised, feeling a cold sense of unease upon his spine. 

He should have known they would not remain safe forever. He had known. They had known when they cast the spell, that a day would come when the reckoning came again. That the shackles holding the Titan in chains, the shackles made by their godhood, would not keep him trapped forever.

That their attempt at evading him would not keep them safe until the Universe rewrote itself once more and he forgot about Persephone once and for all.

And the hunting begins once more.

Stephen glared down at the Stone who seemed to be humming quite happily to itself.

And why wouldn’t she? She was about to be reunited with her siblings once more, if Thanos’ plan worked.

Taking the Universe and Persephone for himself, and usurping Hades’ role as the Lord of the Underworld. 

The Infinity Stones did not care for ‘good’ and ‘bad’. So long as they existed and so did the Universe, they were quite happy with whatever happened. Some of them were more loyal than others - like the Time Stone - and others less so - like the Power Stone - but all of them were dangerous in the wrong hands.

And Stephen was having a hard time thinking of hands worse than Thanos', at the moment.

“Do you know how many stones the Mad Titan currently holds?” He wanted to ask if he had already found Persephone, but since the Time Stone and the Space Stone yet remained on Earth, he doubted it.

Mind and Power are in his grasp. What are you going to do, my King Hades? Are you going to stand in the way of the Mad Titan’s will?

Stephen scowled at the Stone, pressing a calming hand against the Cloak as it bristled around him. “Always.”

He would stand against him.

As soon as he found where Persephone was.

Stephen came for the Eye of Agamotto about five months after speaking to the Space Stone.

He had been in Kamar Taj several times during that period, but he had not gone to the stone, focusing all of his energy on finding Persephone.

But he had not, and every day the grief that that wrought only seemed to grow. He had gone to every single grave she had been buried in, looking for any trace of her, any hint that she might have been there to, that she might exist. Had tracked down every family tree he could find, but he had come out empty handed.

Despite claims that he did not have one, Stephen's heart broke every day he looked into someone's eyes and found no familiarity gazing back at him.

He had not given up, of course. He would die before he gave up.

But magic was an outlet for his grief, and thus Stephen had returned for the Eye.

The Time Stone twinkled when Stephen walked into the room where it was kept.

Normally, he would have shadow-walked directly in the room where it was kept, but Wong had strong opinions about him doing that, so Stephen was doing his best to not incur the amusing librarian’s wrath (his Paladin of Revenge).

“Hello, Time,” he greeted, watching the Time Stone in the Eye.

Hello, Lord Hades. Or is it Stephen, this time?

Where Space was chatty, petty, and happy to do as she pleased, Time was far more serious. Time had seen Everything and Nothing, for Death and Time were forever linked. Time understood that finding their siblings again meant nothing but destruction and while Power found joy in that, Time did not.

Time, like Soul, understood the meaning of Life, and the meaning of Death.

“It is Stephen, but either name works,” he said. “Is it Time?”

It’s always Time. Dormammu approaches, and after he comes, Thanos. 

He took a deep breath. “Will you tell me where and when Persephone is?”

When he had asked Space, he had gotten a laugh and nothing more out of the stone. Space quite possibly knew exactly where Persephone was at that very second, but the stone had not told him.

In protest, Stephen had woven the most dangerous of spells around her. They were not unbreakable, for nothing ever was, but it would slow down whatever sorcerer Thanos used to try and gain the stone back from.

Your godhood returns to you, have you noticed? 

Stephen had, in fact, noticed. But that wasn’t his question.

I have a date for you.

'A date'. So none of the Infinity Stones appeared willing to give him a straight answer, after all.

Stephen resisted the urge of feeding the Stone to Cerberus.

2nd May 2012.

More than a year away still.

The room’s temperature lowered significantly as it was cast into darkness, the Time Stone’s glow the only light remaining.

It was too far away. Stephen needed to find Persephone now, he wasn’t willing to wait that long to find her.

He knew better than to ask Time for an explanation of the date - what did it mean? Was it the date he found her? The date Thanos attacked? The date everything was over? He did not know, but Time would not answer him.

But Fates above, he wanted - needed - to find Persephone. He wanted - needed - to see her safe. He wanted - needed - to keep her out of Thanos’ clutches.

How could he protect her if he didn’t know where she was?

Will you fight, Lord Hades? Will you fight for us all? For all the Worlds and Realms of the mortal and immortal planes?

Stephen stared at the Stone, not hiding the antipathy in his gaze. "I will fight for Persephone."

She was the only one that mattered in this wretched world.

With that, he closed the Eye of Agamotto around the Stone, and lifted it to his neck.

If the Stones were not going to help him, he was simply going to continue doing this the old fashioned way.

He would find Persephone.

No matter what.

Stephen felt the Mind Stone calling out to him the second he came out of the Dark Dimension.

That made him pause, as he ignored Wong and Mordo talking squabbling about the ‘order of things’ beside him.

He had been feeling on edge all morning, considering it was officially the date the Time Stone had spoken about. When he had received notice of Tao’s untimely - yeah, right - passing that morning and had been told about Kaecilius and Dormammu, he had worried that was all there was to the date Time had told him about.

That Time had just wanted him to know he’d be fighting against the World Eater.

One day was too long of a time for him to be awake without Persephone at his side, and it had now been two years. Stephen was never going to give up, but the despair and his rage threatened to overwhelm him, so large and heavy they had grown. He had considered once more asking the Time Stone for an answer, once he had left the Dark Dimension, or even attempting to return to Olympus to invoke Eros' help - surely he would put aside old grievances for the sake of love.

But he had not expected the Mind Stone to appear on Earth, a low discontent hum that was far more insidious than that of any other Stones. Because the Mind Stone had always been Thanos’ favoured Stone, and according to Space, it was the first Stone the Mad Titan had in his possession. The Stone he had used to wake up Infinity.

He was sure that Thanos was not currently on Earth - he’d know if that was the case. But then how had the Mind Stone found its way to Earth? Who had brought it?

And why was he suddenly unable to locate the Space Stone anymore? Someone had cloaked it, somehow, and Stephen felt his teeth gnashing together.

He had spent centuries and no time at all in the Dark Dimension, and yet he had missed whatever the hell had just happened.

With a last nod at Wong, he listened to the humming of Time against his chest and shadow walked to where Mind was being kept, ignoring the shrieks and the sudden guns levelled at his person the second he stepped... onto whatever craft this was.

His smile to the various people in black, a man clad in the US flag and Thor (of course Asgardians were involved. When the Hell weren’t they?) was too sharp to be natural or anything other than a threat.

“Hello, gentlemen.”

Chapter Text

Thanos was coming.

In a way, supposed Tony, he should have seen this coming.

They couldn't keep running for the rest of their lives, and all the oddness of this lifetime in particular made a lot of sense if you considered the Infinity Stones getting involved and causing changes and problems that normally would not have happened.

But Tony had still not expected it.

The last time he had faced Thanos, they had barely escaped with their lives. They hadn’t realised he was coming until it was too late, and when he had finally arrived, they had underestimated him.

They had managed not to lose, in the end, but that did not mean they had won.

And that had been when Persephone and Hades had both been in full control of their powers and, more importantly, together. Now Tony was bound by his human body, and no matter how hard he looked, he could not find his husband anywhere.

And Thanos was coming again, and he would be coming for him.

“My Queen,” said Thor, looking over at him with worry clear in his eyes, ignoring the way everyone was itching to ask questions around them. “It will be okay. I shall be at your side, I will protect you.”

“You don’t understand, Thor,” he said. “You have never fought him. You have never seen his power.” Or the power of the stones. For Thanos to give away the Mind Stone to Loki when he had sent him to Earth, he had to have some of the others already in his possession.

“It seems like none of us understands,” said Romanoff, eyeing him with deep suspicion. “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”

Thor glared at her immediately, even as he helped Tony stand back up again. “Who are you to question him?”

She met his eyes evenly. “I’d have to know who he was, before I can answer that.”

Tony shook his head when Thor glanced over at him, his mind running as fast as possible trying to figure out what his next step should be.

Thanos was coming. Thanos had the Infinity Stones, if not all, then at least half of them. Thanos had Loki under his control, and he had hidden away the Space Stone. If Loki had already brought the stone to Thanos, then...

“As amusing as this all is,” said a voice and everyone immediately stiffened around them, weapons drawn. Loki was standing in the doorway, eyes bright blue and a manic grin on his face. “Now that I see our Queen is here, my previous plan to draw her out becomes obsolete.” He turned to face Tony with the same deranged smile that had once belonged on the Mad Titan’s face. “Mistress Death.”

“How did he get out!” demanded Fury, aiming his guns at the mind controlled god immediately. “Who let him out?!”

Loki scoffed at him, barely sparing him a glance. “It is amusing that you think that your stupid little Midgardian cells can keep me contained, Director.”

Fury’s lips thinned, unease clear on his face. He most probably had not considered what Loki’s skillset could be and how to actively stop him.

“Loki, you are stronger than this,” pleaded Thor, his hold on Mjolnir tightening as he put himself between the Trickster and Tony. “I know you’re still in there somewhere, brother.”

Tony would have scoffed if he hadn't so busy trying to prepare himself for the attack. Even if Loki was still in there, this was an attack from the Infinity Stones. A simple ‘you are stronger than this, brother’ wasn’t going to be able to stop them.

Fortunately for them all, even without access to all of Persephone’s powers, Tony had her memories.

And considering how long they had known Thanos to have had the control and the loyalty of the Mind Stone for, he had worked hard to develop a cure for mind control. 

He felt the slight shift of air when Loki cloned his form and moved, but kept his eyes on the other Loki, pretending he hadn’t. Misdirection and obfuscation, that had always been Loki’s game, and it was something he was pretty good at.

Unfortunately for him, Tony had been his friend long enough to start picking up on his tells and on the mark of his seidr, about how he thought and did things. Magic was not his thing, not truly, but how to foresee Loki’s mischief had been something he had been working on for a long time.

“Stand down, Loki,” commanded Howard Stark's favourite boytoy, his hold on his shield tightening. “There are too many of us for you to defeat.”

There really weren’t. Tony would hazard to say that the only one who could give him a serious fight was Thor, and that was only if he did not fall for Loki’s tricks. All of the rest... Loki had magic, and they didn’t. Rhodey might be protected, as his Paladin, but he wouldn’t win. And he wasn’t even currently wearing the suit.

Tony might know his tells and know how he thought - enough to use it to his advantage - but Loki was a god with all of his powers, and all Tony could really do was communicate with plants. And considering they were flying on a craft several feet from the ground, he did not see how plants could help him stop the god of Mischief, Chaos and Fire.

He felt the rush of air that signified Loki moving right behind, and he moved too. He spun around and smashed the powdered seeds he had taken from his pocket dimensions flat against his face.

Everyone gasped at Loki’s sudden appearance behind Tony, but Tony’s entire attention was on the dark haired man and how he let out a pained groan at the sudden contact, vacillating slightly. His eyes were green when he made eye contact with Tony, long enough for him to say, “Run.”

Then he dropped to the ground.

“Loki!” called out Thor, rushing towards his brother, worry clear on his face.

Tony did not even have time to think. 

He did not notice the slight shift of air and of the Tesseract before the portal was opening behind him. He did not notice the hands reaching out until they were grabbing at him and pulling him back.

He did not even have time to scream.

He only had time to see Rhodey’s horrified expression, before he was pulled in the blue portal.

Tony fell ungracefully on the other side of the portal, the blue disappearing as quickly as it had appeared, cutting him away from the rest of the people that Fury had assembled, and Tony knew what had happened before he even turned around.

“My Queen,” came the heavy voice from behind him.

Tony did not want to turn around. Did not want to see him standing over him again, did not want to find himself in that same position he had all those centuries ago.

But he was a goddess, and goddesses did not stay on the ground after falling.

So he turned around.

And came face to face with Thanos.

The day Thanos crossed the barriers to the Underworld, nobody was prepared for his arrival.

Tales of a Mad Titan who sought to court the favour of Hades’ wife and take the King’s place on his throne had long since made their way to the Underworld, but no one had truly taken them seriously.

Why would they?

Many had tried to conquer Death and Life, but none of them had ever managed it. These were, for Hades and Persephone both, normal occurrences. Just the ramblings of yet another Mad Man.

Yes, that he was a Titan was a little alarming, as the gods had defeated the Giants and the Titans a long time ago. His continual survival was a source of curiosity among the Olympians, but not fear. For he was only one, and his power would never overwhelm theirs. They were the Guardians of the Underworld, they were Olympians, they were Death among the Living.

Why would they fear the Last of the Titans, when his powers would never be a match to theirs?

They forgot about powers that could overwhelm their own. Magics that were as old as Uranus and Gaea, powers that could be their undoing.

They forgot about the stones of Infinity, stones strong enough to have survived in the Void of Chaos itself from the very beginning, stones almost stronger than anything else in the vast unknown of Universe. Stones that craved destruction and chaos and madness, who could twist the minds of anyone who was not prepared for their strength.

They forgot about that, but Thanos son of A'lars, the Last Titan, the Mad Titan, reminded them of this when he strolled through the gates of the Underworld, past Chiron and Cerberus, when they least expected it.

The Power Stone, angry energy with no real purpose, gleefully tore through the protections cast around the castle.

The Reality Stone, uncontrollable force, relished in reshaping the fabric of the Universe around them, turning Hades’ most powerful and crafted spells into wispy smoke that could hurt no one.

The Space Stone, chaotic and whimsical, went past any obstacle or force they threw in her way, ready to be reunited with their siblings once more.

The Mind Stone, most malicious of them all, tore through the minds of everyone who stood in their way, turning them into shadows of their formal selfs with barely any effort.

“We have to fight him,” had said Hades, as Thanos grew closer and closer to the throne room where they had momentarily barricaded themselves in.

“That is madness,” had immediately stated Persephone, grabbing at his arm. “He has four Infinity Stones. We cannot beat him.”

Her King had given her a cold look. “So what? You’d have me fall to my knees and beg this madman to spare us? You’d have me betray my Kingdom and invoke his mercy?” He had shook his head decidedly. “No. If I am to die, then I will die honourably. I will fight, and if I fall, then I will do so with honour.”

“The Olympians-”

“My brother and your mother are both too far to reach us in time,” had told her husband, expression dark. “They might have enough strength to stop him together, but it will be too late. We do not have enough Time.”

Persephone stared at him hard. “We will lose, husband. We will lose, and then he shall kill you and take me. He will steal me, force me to be his wife, force me to betray my nature, force me to part from you. And still you won’t run?”

Hades had immediately turned to her, his cold hands taking hers in his. “I would run in a heartbeat if I knew for sure it would keep you safe. But so long as he holds the Space Stone, there is nowhere he cannot find us. The safest place for us would be Olympus, but I cannot shadow walk there, and your ley lines do not arrive to the summit. The Mad Titan would be waiting for us by the time we get there. We simply lack time.”

Time.

“I wished this day wouldn’t come,” had finally said Persephone, closing her eyes for a moment. “But I have an idea.”

Hades had frowned at her, confusion clear on his face as the sounds of the Mad Titan's approach grew. "An idea?"

Persephone had nodded at that, before she had reached inside her pocket dimensions, and pulled out two small stones from within it. Both had rested easily in the palm of her hand, one shining a brilliant green and the other twinkling in oranges.

It did not take a genius to know what they were.

Hades had not let go of her, but his expression had turned into surprise tinged with some betrayal.

“Infinity Stones? But how?”

“It came to me,” she said, making the Soul Stone float on her palm. “The second I accepted my post as your wife. When I became your Queen, the stone simply seemed to claim me. As you are Death, and I am Life among the Dead.”

Persephone had not even been sure of what it was, at the beginning, when it had dropped into her palm while she was in her gardens. But even with her shaky knowledge of magic, it had not taken her too long to recognise it for the Soul Stone.  

“And what of the Time Stone?”

“The Soul Stone brought me to it,” she had explained. “It was buried under your throne.”

“For I am Death, and Time and Death cannot exist without one another,” had said Hades, accepting the stone in his own palm. His cold eyes had stared at it for a moment, before they had focused on Persephone once more. The betrayal had left his gaze, but the confusion had remained. "Why did you not tell me of this sooner?"

"The Soul Stone," had explained his wife, gazing at the orange stone sitting in her palm. "It spoke to me only twice. The first time, it sent me to retrieve the Time Stone. And the second, it told me to keep it safe. That they were mine to protect."

"Did you not trust me to protect it with you?"

"I trust you with my soul," she had answered, looking back at him. "But you would never give me an enemy to slaughter, would you?" Hades' lips had twitched in a smile, and Persephone had smiled back. "I wouldn't expect you to keep Soul intact either."

Hades' smile had turned weaker as the sounds of the Mad Titan's approach grew even closer. "I do not want to lose you."

"You won't," she had answered, the hands not holding the stones linking together. "I promise you this."

Hades' had nodded, expression turning cold and steady within the blink of the eye. “What is your plan, my Queen?”

They could hear the Mad Titan’s fast approach, the screams of the guards he was taking out like paper as he approached the throne rooms growing louder. “A spell of Time and Souls.”

Hades had stared at her in shock, his hold on her hand tightening significantly. “Do you know what you’re asking?”

“You are my future, and my past, and my present,” she had told him, nodding decidedly. “As long as you are with me, I can face anything that comes our way.”

“This will not stop him.”

“It will drive him back long enough for the Olympians to arrive and scatter the Stones once more.”

“He will free himself and gather them once again. He will continue to come after us until he is dead.”

“And then we shall be ready,” she had said, just as the door to their room was busted open from the outside.

The Mad Titan had stood in all of his questionable glory in the doorway, a golden gauntlet on his hand and four Infinity Stones glinting on it.

Hades did not pull Persephone behind him, even knowing that she was Thanos’ true goal. Instead he had stood beside her, equals in everything.

“Thanos.”

“Hades,” had answered the Titan, the stones glinting maliciously in his hand. Whispering. Reaching out to their siblings. “My beloved Death.”

“You continue to misconstrue who I am, Mad Titan,” had said Persephone, eyes narrowed. “I am Life among the Dead, I am not Death.”

“You are the Mistress Death,” had corrected her the Madman. “And you belong at my side.”

Persephone had looked beside her, but her words were clearly meant for Hades when she had spoken next. “Now, my love.”

“I shall find you,” had vowed Hades, to the confusion of the Titan.

Persephone had believed him.

Which had immediately turned into shock and anger as the chants left the god’s lips, the glow of the two Infinity Stones he had yet to find glowing in their hands.

“No!” he had shouted, aiming the Power stone at Hades immediately.

All the Infinity Stones were strong, but what was Power in the face of Time? In the face of Soul? In the face of Life and Death?

The light coming from the two gods had been blinding, but it did not matter, as they kept their eyes on one another only.

“I love you,” had said Persephone, holding as tightly as she could onto Hades. “Please find me.”

“Always,” had answered Hades, and then the world around them imploded.

“Hello, gentlemen,” said Stephen, barely blinking as all the weapons except those belonging to the Asgardians were pointed at him. “Prince Thor. Prince Loki.”

Thor frowned at him for a second, before his eyes widened in shock and he was bowing before him. “Your Highness! I... I wasn’t aware you were around.”

“Why would you have been?” he questioned, feeling more than a little curious at the paleness on Loki’s face, as he held onto his brother to stand up. “It is not-”

Stephen stopped, eyes trained on that single flower that was now braided into the young god's hair. He barely noticed the way the room’s temperature dropped and the mortals around him trembled, all of his attention on Thor. “Who gave you that.”

“Please, my Lord, allow me to-”

“Speak!” He demanded, rounding on the Asgardian, his wards raising and pushing back when a couple of stupid Midgardians shot at him.

“Thanos took her,” said Loki, shaking slightly as he got back on his feet. He looked ill, but Stephen could not focus on that. “Or him.”

Thanos had her. Thanos had Persephone. Stephen felt the frightened screams around him as the shadows came to life, but he could not even pretend to care, not when the Titan had managed to capture his wife, not when he had gotten his hands on his Persephone.

“Who is she?”

“Tony Stark,” said a dark skinned man, the only one of the mortals who did not look terrified beyond reason. “You’re Hades.”

Tony Stark.

Of course Persephone was Tony Stark.

He had seen the man, on the news. Inventor, engineer. Used to make weapons, and the one who had created the Iron Man suit. Stephen had not really paid much attention to him whenever he appeared on the news, but with hindsight, of course it was him. Of course he was her.

They could have even met, had the accident not happened.

A famous neurosurgeon and a famous CEO/socialite who-

The kidnapping, then recalled Stephen, feeling blood he did not truly need freeze inside of him. Tony Stark had gone missing for about a month, less than a year before Stephen’s accident. Kidnapped by terrorists, had said the media, and betrayed by the man he considered his godfather.

He vaguely recalled Christine saying something about how good he looked now, and how some vicious magazines claimed that he must have been lying about the kidnapping since he looked better than he had before it.

Full of life.

Persephone was awake, and she was in Thanos’ hands.

Persephone had been awake for years, and alone, and now Thanos had managed to snatch her away from Stephen. Persephone- Tony had been alone for years, in pain from the his own grief, trying and failing to find him, and now Thanos had him.

Now Thanos had taken him from him.

They were supposed to have time.

Stephen had been studying magic and spells and ways to kill Thanos ever since their cycles had started. Preparing himself for when he would have to fight him again, the Time Stone and his powers allowing him to recall everything he had learnt from his past lives.

Tony had not had that chance. The powers he had were tied to her godhood, and the spell of Times and Souls they had casted, used the power of their godhood to entrap Thanos and allow their resurrections in each cycle.

And now he was in Thanos’ hands and Stephen had failed him.

Stephen, Hades, his husband had failed the reason they had casted this spell to begin with. 

Thanos was going to win, and he would never get a chance of seeing Tony-

The scent of fresh pomegranate flowers hit him so hard that he blinked, finally hearing the screams and horror all around him. The shadows had taken over the entirety of the craft and the room was as cold as the Lete itself, considering the pallor on the faces of several humans in the room.

Even the Asgardians seemed to have chosen to stay as far away from him as possible, though Thor seemed to be considering using Mjolnir in the closed space while his brother held onto him and tried to dissuade him from his actions.

The dark skinned man from before was standing right before him, and he was the one holding the pomegranate flower. He too seemed afraid and a more than little nervous, but just like Wong, he seemed to be holding tightly on his emotions, trying to fight past his instinct to flee.

“Who are you?” asked Stephen, slowly pulling back the shadows.

There were gasps of relief and fear around him which he did not pay much attention to, focusing on the other man.

He stood taller, but kept the flower close to his face. “I’m Colonel James Rhodes. Iron Man and Tony’s best friend,” a pause. “Also, Persephone’s Paladin of Justice.”

But of course. Now that he was paying more attention, he could see the intricate weavings of Persephone’s blessing over the mortal.

Seeming to decide that Stephen wasn’t about to unleash his powers on them again, James Rhodes took a respectful step back. “Look, none of us know who the hell this Thanos is. Tony mentioned a Mad Titan before, but he never really gave us details on who he was and what he wanted. But he did talk a lot about you.

“He said that you are the most powerful and courageous man he has ever known. That you are afraid of nothing, not even oblivion itself. That you will fight even when you are down, and that you would raze the world to do what you felt was right. That if you were out there, you would be looking for him until your very own death. Are you that man?”

He was not a man, but Stephen could appreciate the sentiment. “Yes.”

James Rhodes nodded, satisfied. “Then this is not the time to freak out and do your weird voodoo thing. We need to find this Mad Titan, kick his butt, and free Tony.”

“You think yourself able to stand against the Mad Titan?” questioned Stephen, a little amused despite himself.

“Tony built my suit with his bare hands. I’ve been protecting that little runt long before he found out he was an Ancient Greek Goddess.”

“He’s a what?” asked someone in the background, but James Rhodes continued.

“A Mad Titan is not going to stop me, not now, not ever.”

Stephen studied him in a way he had been informed was really unsettling to most mortals, but other than showing some minor discomfort, James Rhodes took it, staring right back at him.

“I like you,” he finally said. “Thanos will be where the most stones are. Unfortunately for us, the stones aren’t going to be telling us.”

“But I can,” said Loki, finally letting go of Thor. He still looked frail, pale and generally terrible, but he was standing on his own two feet. “I’m the one who brought the Mind Stone here.”

Stephen narrowed his eyes at him. “I’m going to need a very good explanation as to why you felt the need to do that.”

Loki met his eyes squarely. “I let go of the Bifrost, and the Master plucked me out of the Void. He gave me the Scepter and a new purpose.”

Ah. If Stephen had had the ability of feeling sorry for him, he would have. “What do you know?”

“He knows you’re awake,” he told him, easily. “The Space Stone told him. He didn’t know where Persephone was until Tony Stark interacted with the Mind Stone. Then he knew.

“He has the Power, Reality and Space Stones with him. The Mind Stone is right here on this ship, but we all know how capricious it can be. The Time Stone, I can see it’s with you. The Soul Stone, we do not know where it is hiding.”

Stephen felt as if he had an idea of where the stone would be.

But, more importantly, “He wants to draw me out.”

Loki nodded, tersely. “He wants you to come after him.”

If it was a fight he wanted, it was what he was going to get.

For Tony? For Persephone?

He would burn the Universe itself to ashes.

“You will die for this,” said Tony, hands itching to grab the bars of the cage and shake it. But considering the burns from before, he knew better. “He will kill you.”

The Mad Titan just chuckled from his seat on the throne, and how quaint of him. To carry his own throne around so that he could sit on it whenever he waited for one of his enemies to come and attack him. Incredibly tacky. “I am counting on him trying, Mistress Death.”

“I have told you,” he said, through gritted teeth. “That I am not Death. I am Life among Death, you moronic cretin! I bring life!”

The Mad Titan smiled, shaking his head. “You just don’t know your own self. Your own power. That fool Hades has been holding you back.”

Tony’s hand smacked against the bars with rage, not even registering the pain. “Do not speak his name! Do not speak of my husband this way, you good for nothing monster!”

He did not even bother turning to look at him, caressing the three stones on his gauntlet with a slight smile on his face.

The only good thing that came from this entire mess, was that now Tony knew Hades was alive and awake. The Mad Titan had been clear on that since the beginning, claiming to have 'seen him coming', and Tony had both been ecstatic and terrified at the news.

Because Hades being awake meant he would finally be reunited with him. That he would be once more at Tony’s side. That they would be together again.

But it also meant that he was coming and, this time, he would not stop his fight against Thanos. And perhaps he had learnt how to permanently defeat the Titan, in the same way Tony had learnt to protect from and stop mind control. But Thanos had three stones, and the Mind Stone would undoubtedly return to him at the first chance. That would make it four stones against one, and no matter how powerful Hades was, those weren’t odds Tony felt inclined to bet on.

He’s here, whispered the Space Stone, and Tony was immediately up and alert, studying the place around them.

Despite everything that was happening, despite the battle that would undoubtedly come, his heart still started soaring in genuine happiness when the shadows became thicker in the meadow they were all being in, as the temperature dropped substantially around them.

And when Hades stepped out of the shadows, with Thor, Loki, Rhodey, a man he did not recognise, and Fury’s Avengers behind him, Tony almost forgot himself and grabbed at the bars again. He stopped just in time, but still kept his eyes on his husband.

Stephen Strange, he recognised quickly, and Fates, that made sense, did it not?

Famous neurosurgeon. Worked in a hospital. Disappeared for days after an accident in which he should have died, according to the news, and then simply disappeared from the limelight.

Tony should have checked up on that, should have guessed.

But it did not matter anymore, because he had found him, his husband was here.

“Hades,” he said, itching to break the bars and throw himself at him.

Stephen's eyes went past the Titan and on him, and Tony saw the number of emotions that went through him at the sight of Tony locked in a magic cell. “My beloved. At last,” he said, reverentially, before his eyes turned into ice when he turned to Thanos, snarling as if he was Cerberus. “How dare you.”

The temperature dropped further around them, but Tony had lived in the Underworld for millennia, before, and did not even feel it. 

Thanos smiled, not stepping off his throne. “You believe me afraid of you, Hades, when you are stuck in the body of a mortal?” He laughed long and hard, throwing his head back. “You weren’t a threat to me when your godhood ran through your blood. I shall make a quick work of ending you in this state.” He opened his hands, and the Scepter in Loki’s hand was forcibly ripped from him, the Mind Stone leaving it to rest on its spot on the gauntlet.

Stephen’s eyes still called for Thanos’ head on a platter, but he smirked. “Then why don’t we level up the playing field?”

Tony froze slightly. Surely he couldn’t mean...

Thanos’ eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m not running,” he said, still looking at Thanos but clearly not speaking to him. “I’m done running. It ends today and now.”

The mortals, the Asgardians and the unknown sorcerer all assumed battle positions beside him, but Hades took one step forward, hands lighting up with mandalas of spells Tony could not recognise, and a decisive glint in his eyes.

The Time Stone fluttered to Life around his neck, and Tony’s hands burned as the battle started.

Thanos’ army descended upon them then, blue Tesseract portals opening behind the Asgardians and the mortals, but none of them went after Ha- after Stephen, knowing he was for their Master to fight.

Stephen took to the air, the Cloak of Levitation bellowing behind him as he threw spell after spell against the Mad Titan, with strength and anger that would have destroyed a weaker soul.

But Thanos was not a weaker soul. He blocked the spells with ease, the Power Stone pulling the energy from them before they could even make impact and the Reality Stone twisting them into mockeries of what they were.

He was not going to win, not as he was now.

The only way for him to win was if it wasn’t Stephen fighting any longer, but if it was Hades fighting instead.

But for Hades to be fighting, it would mean a dissolution of the spell of Time and Souls. And if that spell was broken, there would be no coming back. There would be no more chances, no more cycles. 

Their godhood would leave the chains they had fastened around the Titan, chains who had grown weaker but still existed, and return to them.

But it also meant that if Hades died, if he was defeated, that he would never come back.

At the same time, the Infinity Stones had tampered with this cycle already. Who was to say that if they died humans they’d return? That they’d even have a place to return?

If they died, Thanos would take Earth, because no army, no Asgardian could stop the wrath of Infinity. Thanos would take the Time Stone from Stephen’s body, and then he’d have all five, as he waited for them to wake up in a new cycle once more.

It was not a real choice in the end, as he watched the two of them fight, a mortal man with an immortal soul against the Mad Titan.

If Tony did nothing, then Hades died.

That's what it came down to, and that was something Tony - Persephone - would never allow to pass.

Tony was not a witch and he was not a sorcerer, but he was Persephone.

He was the goddess of plants and spring, and he was Life among Death.

A guardian of Souls.

He opened his palm and within it shone the Soul Stone.

Outside the cage, the battle ravaged on. 

Thanos’ army was mighty, but not stronger than the god of Thunder, the god of Fire and Mischief, her Paladin, what was clearly Stephen's Paladin and the rage creature together. 

But the Titan was, and Stephen was only a mortal man.

No longer, he thought, when the Mad Titan succeeded in pulling Stephen out of the sky, making him crash harshly against the ground, greed and success glinting in his eyes.

“Say goodbye to your wife,” he told him, and Stephen smiled chillingly at him.

Tony smiled too, and let the power of Infinity fill him once more. He heard the gasps, the shock and the surprise, and paid it no mind as the song of souls once more filled her mind and body, as the plants and the Earth rejoiced at her return, as Light called out to her.

The Mad Titan looked outraged and shocked, but T-Persephone only had eyes for Stephen, for Hades, for her husband.

“Wake,” she ordered.

And the sun went dark.

Chapter Text

It took one single look at her for Hades to realise that it was indeed Persephone he was looking at. He had woken up only a few hours ago while purchasing food, and hadn’t been too sure which of the people he had interacted with had been the reason for this. But looking at her now, it was obvious.

“Persephone,” said Hades- said Dawoud, a smile appearing on his face as he approached her table.

The woman in the middle of the souk was dressed modestly, headscarf covering her hair and face, while she tried to count the dirham she had been given by the customer who had been talking to her before Dawoud had.

But her eyes glittered an almost golden brown, and Dawoud knew it in his heart that it was her he was looking at right now.

“Bessma,” he corrected himself, and she looked up, vaguely surprised to hear her name. “Salam.”

“Wa alaikoum as-salam, akhi,” she greeted, inclining her head but maintaining eye contact.

Most men would have found this disrespectful and complained about her to her father, but Dawoud only found this amusing. He did not think there was any iteration of Persephone that was anything other than a big troublemaker and rulebreaker. She lived to test the boundaries of everything she came across, and Dawoud had only ever found it charming and inspiring.

“How can I help you?” she continued in Arabic, one eyebrow raised when Dawoud kept observing her with what he was sure was a besotted smile on his face.

“Could I speak to you at a more private time and space?” he asked, and her expression went intrigued and wary at the same time.

“Alone with a man? Ibn Halib, I don’t think that would be appropriate,” she said, but the fact that she hadn’t immediately asked him to leave spoke volumes of her willingness to break the rules.

It was Persephone alright.

“Binta Issa, I mean nothing untoward, of course. We can meet within the confines of your home, if that would make you more comfortable. I just want to share some words with you that aren’t for the market or for anyone else’s ears,” he explained.

Kohl lidded eyes narrowed in interest and then she hummed. She quickly glanced around the souk to make sure no one was listening in, and then offered him a quick fleeting smile.

“Very well, Dawoud ibn Halib. Meet me after dhuhr behind Zhul Khifl’s family home. Do not be late, and know that abi is a mufti and will deal with you if I tell him you have hurt me.”

Dawoud had had the dubious pleasure of meeting her father Issa, and did not doubt it. “Thank you, Bessma binta Issa.”

She smiled back.

+++

The sun went dark, and Hades stood, throwing Thanos bodily off him with an ease that he had not felt since the beginning of the battle. His eyes were colder than the Stynx, and the taste of death was sweet on his lips.

He was Death, and he had never felt more alive.

The Mad Titan stood up from where he had been thrown, no hint of fear on his angered face. “You cannot defeat the power of Infinity.”

“I don’t need to defeat Infinity,” said Hades, and his voice sounded as if it came from the caves of the Underworld, from the rattling of an undead spirit within a carcass, from the buzzing of flies over a week long meal. A bident on one hand and a sword made out of the nightmares no one could survive in the other, he smiled - large, savage, bloodthirsty. “I only need to defeat you.”

And with that, he lunged.

+++

“Jerome,” called Eloise, breathing harshly. “Jerome, I don’t think I will be surviving this.”

Her husband was immediately at her side, taking her clammy hands in his. “Please don’t say that, Loise,” he begged, his voice sounding pitifully pleading to his own ears. “You can do this. You are stronger than this.”

“Might have been, at some point, on a day that wasn’t today,” she admitted, closing her eyes at the pain in her abdomen. “I am no longer the woman that I once was. You know this.”

“But you are that woman! You are a goddess, something like this cannot overtake you, you cannot let a human illness-”

“Careful with your words, King of the Underworld,” she said, opening her eyes to glare slightly at him. “You should not be uttering them with such ease on a ship full of puritans. Or do you want us to be thrown overboard and for both of us to die together?”

“I would die a thousand and more deaths at your side,” he promised, and Eloise smiled.

“I know you would, beloved,” she agreed, wincing as she tried to sit up. She only spared a sigh when gentle but firm hands forced her to lay back down. “But you know I wouldn’t ask you for it.”

“You think I would be happy to live, knowing you had perished? That I would be willing to continue this wretched existence without you at my side?” he asked, putting a hand on her pale and sickly cheek. “Eloise... Persephone. Please don’t ask me for that. Don’t ask me to find happiness without you at my side.

“We made this pact together,” he continued, pressing a kiss on her knuckles. “We made that decision together. To survive, so that we could live another day at each other’s side. So please, don’t leave me now and don't ask me to live without you either.”

“I do not wish to do so,” she said, eyes closing. “I want to arrive to this new land, this new world with you. To see the beauty the new colony has to offer us. To stand side by side with you on the promised land.”

“Then let’s do it,” begged Jerome, looking at her with heartbreak in his eyes. This was not the first time Persephone had died before him, but it was the first time something this pathetic - a human sickness - was taking her from his side. To see her in pain, knowing that there was no way for him to ease it, to fix it...“Please, my love. Fight for just a little bit longer. Don’t give up.”

He just needed her to keep her strength long enough for them to arrive somewhere he could practice his magic in. Perhaps he could find a cure in his magic that yet evaded him, and thus find a way to save her. He just needed her to keep fighting a while longer, to not give up just yet.

She did not open her eyes.

+++

Persephone emerged from her cage like a burning star, gold in her eyes and blood on her lips. Thanos’ army turned to her and she smiled - gleefully, vindictively, brightly.

The Chitauri had no souls, therefore no Life. Destruction was not murder, and she called for the plants around them, she called for the ones who hid beneath their feet, for those who had pledged themselves to her with their existence.

“My god,” said the man in the American flag as vines and green lush grew on the arid land they stood upon, devouring and covering every Chitauri who dared to move against them, taking them apart piece by piece, no chance for a return ever again.

And Persephone smiled at him once more. “I prefer goddess.”

+++

“Sybil where are you,” whispered Tabitha to herself, looking around with worry. It was now almost dusk, and the two of them had made plans to meet over an hour ago. And yet the other woman had not yet shown up.

Tabitha was starting to grow worried.

Things had greatly changed from the way they used to be. Now humans only believed in one god who saw and knew all, a god that they could not even communicate with. And if you disagreed with them, you were immediately labelled dangerous, crazy and ostracized.

Everyone was Christian, nowadays, though the teachings they had gained from Christianity greatly differed from what Tabitha was sure the actual message was supposed to be.

One of the teachings in this Bible was that a man shouldn’t lay with a man, and that a woman should not lay with a woman. And while Hades and Persephone were of different human genders, Tabitha and Sybil were of the same apparent them.

It was very hard living close to his husband (now his wife) and being unable to touch her, or even truly enjoy her closeness with her without suspicious looks being thrown at them, and without other people she did not care for whispering behind their backs, hawk like eyes following every single one of their movements.

Tabitha could not enjoy reading or learning the new maths, because it was not behaviour befitting a woman of her calibre. And Sybil’s spellwork was not something she could easily practice for fear of being labelled a witch. When truth was she wasn’t a witch, she was a god.

They had decided to take their chances and continue inland, in the hope to run into a native settlement. Natives were much less bull headed than the puritans, and would probably only offer the slightest curiosity at whatever Tabitha and Sybil were up to.

But Sybil had not shown up, and Tabitha was starting to grow worried. And she wanted to ignore it, wanted to chalk it up to Sybil losing her head in another fancy spell of hers, but something in her gut told her that this wasn’t the case. That something far worse might have occurred.

She remained where she was until the sun rose fully in the sky, before giving up. Even if Sybil showed up now, there was no way they would be able to sneak away with the sun illuminating their every move.

So she hiked up her skirts and kept her head down as she made her way back towards her home, where hopefully no one had yet discovered her absence. The only problem with that was that she’d have to walk past the main town square to head home, and she might attract some unwanted attention, but there was nothing else she could do. Being caught cutting through the woods would appear even more suspicious, and take up more time than she was comfortable wasting.

The smell of smoke was the first to penetrate her attention as she walked, head on the ground and steps fast. It had become a familiar smell in town, nowadays, since the witch hunter Jeremiah had strolled into Salem, and one Tabitha had come to despise quickly.

Then the jeers, as she looked up from under her hood. “Burn her! Burn the witch! Death to the witch!”

In a way, Tabitha had known. Had known when she had not shown up, had known when she had smelled the smoke and heard the cries.

But her immortal heart still paused in her chest, eyes widening in shock, outrage and fear at the sight of her beloved and two other women on a spike, surrounded by wood and a jeering crowd.

“SYBIL!” She shouted, not caring that anyone could hear her, as she rushed towards the other woman, trying as hard as she could to get to her spike and free her.

She was caught by strong arms before she could attempt even a step towards her.

“NO! Let her go, she’s not a witch! Please let her go!”

The two women with her were crying and begging, but Sybil’s face had remained impassive the entire time she had been looking down at the crowd. However, when Tabitha’s voice reached her ears, she looked up and the slightest traces of grief and pain appeared on her face.

“Sybil!” shouted Tabitha, desperately trying to free herself from the iron hold around her shoulders, unwilling to hear a single word from the people around her. “Sybil!”

Sybil did not say anything. She watched Tabitha's struggle for a couple of seconds, before glaring down at the witch hunter who was holding her in place. There was no trace of fear in her eyes, only some irritation and anger. 

Tabitha was the complete opposite, struggling as best as she could, wanting nothing more than to raze this entire town to the ground. But she was a goddess trapped in a mortal coil, and there was nothing she could do to free herself. Instead she was forced to stay where she was and observe, forced to stare at her beloved in front of her, as the first flame was lit.

Only when the fire caught did they let her go, mistakenly thinking she knew better than to throw herself in the flames to save someone who was not going to survive.

Tabitha had never been known for being predictable.

So she rushed forward, ignoring the screaming and sound of shock as she threw herself into the flames, the rotting smell of burned flesh reaching her nose before the pain even registered.

Sybil still did not scream, as both of them stood over a pile of wood, burning. But she did smile at Tabitha, a smile that was cold and not at all amused. “Cannot help yourself, can you?”

“You are my husband,” she gasped, trying to not inhale the smoke filling her nose. “You are not going anywhere without me if I can help it.”

“I wouldn’t dare dream of it,” agreed Sybil, and even as they burned, Tabitha could only smile.

+++

The Infinity Stones were strong, but what was Space, in the face of Time? What Reality couldn’t be altered with Time? What Power couldn’t be overthrown with Time? What Mind couldn’t be changed with Time?

Thanos fought, but Hades had been waiting for this, had been waiting to face this creature who dared to threaten him in his home, who dared to threatened his wife, who tried to take what was his.

“You cannot win!” shouted the Mad Titan, sweat pooling over his forehead as he threw a beam of power against him.

Hades evaded it, pulling at the Mad Titan’s shadow with his sword, aiming the bident at him once more. He could feel the man’s fear, his belief wavering with every attack he missed, with every injury Hades managed to inflict, and it was golden, it was magnificent, and it was to Hades a most tantalizing meal.

“I will not lose,” he answered, and threw Time at Reality, hard enough that Thanos’ attack was swallowed whole. The Titan wavered, and Hades struck again, slashing his skin, purple blood trailing down his body and unleashing a scream of pain from his lips.

Hades smiled.

+++

“I do not see the point of this,” said Lord Dominique Vaudey, watching the people dancing all around them with polite disdain. “What is this supposed to be in honour of, anyway?”

“Does it matter?” questioned his wife, Félicité. “It is a gorgeous party, don’t you think? Tres magnifique.”

Dominique did not see how this party was any way better or different from the countless other King Louis and his wife Antoinette insisted on throwing, but he knew better than to say as much to his wife. So he did not reply, instead contenting himself with observing the rest of the occupants in the room.

He had not realised until now, but the French nobility had not been the only one invited to this event. There was an abundance of French dukes and barons, but he could recognise the Portuguese, the Italian and the Danish Royal Families among the crowd.

“Should we go offer our greetings?” asked Félicité, noticing his wandering eyes. “It would only be proper.”

“If you want to raise the Court’s suspicion of our friendship with the King,” he muttered, but still obediently followed after his wife, as they walked past the dancing crowd and stopped in front of the Spanish and Italian Royal families.

He mostly tuned out Félicité’s greeting, offering only polite smiles and nods when the attention fell on him. He couldn’t wait to be done with this farce and finally go back home and-

The Italian princess looked up at the same he did, green eyes meeting his brown, and Dominique felt as if he had been suddenly hit with a lightning blast.

As if suddenly he had woken up from a long nap, and was now seeing around him for the first time in a long time.

Because he was not Dominique. He was Hades, King of the Dead, God of the Underworld.

And the Italian princess who had not looked away after meeting his eyes was no one other than his beloved Persephone. 

“Mon amour?” called Félicité, and it took every fibre in his body to not throw her away from him at the comfortable way with which she touched him and interacted with him. It was warranted, he knew this. They were married. She was his wife.

But she wasn’t. She might have been Dominique’s wife, but she was not Hades’ wife. Hades’ wife was sitting right in front of him, completely unaware that he even existed.

“Not now, ma chérie,” he said, not looking away from the princess. “Princess...”

“Principessa Maddalena of Ravenna,” filled in Persephone, appearing slightly amused.

“Principessa Maddalena of Ravenna,” he repeated. “Appears bored. Would you like to dance?”

Princess Maddalena blinked at him, a delectable pink blush appearing on her cheeks, eyes twinkling slightly. “But of course, Monsieur. But won’t your wife be upset by this?”

He turned his eye on Félicité, who looked mildly irritated but not as threatened as she should be. The woman actually smiled at Persephone. “Of course not. Why would I be upset?”

“Why should she be?” agreed Dominique, voice just a touch too idle, and Maddalena noted it, with the way her eyes twinkled and her smile widened.

“Well then, I don’t see why not. Lead the way, Monsieur Dominique.”

+++

Persephone would have destroyed every insipid little Chitauri and Outrider in her path, had Loki not appeared before her.

He was pale, and did not look at his best, but he still smirked at her. “While I thank you for waking me and for helping us here, this is not your battle, my Queen.”

“What are you talking about, he’s demolishing these things faster than everyone else,” said a little man with a bow and arrow. Persephone was curious, why was he using such archaic weapons in what could possibly be the battle of his life?

But she did not question this, instead looking at the other battle going on. Looking at Infinity against Death, the Mad Titan versus the God of the Underworld, Thanos against Hades.

“Together, you are stronger,” said Thor, lightning raining from his body and from the heavens above. “The Olympians have still not come. It is your battle my Queen, and you must be the one to stop him.”

They were right, of course.

Persephone might be afraid of Thanos, might be afraid of what the power of Infinity could do, if angered enough, but that faded in the face of her love for her husband.

Oblivion did not frighten her, not when Hades was beside her.

+++

“Mister Shaw,” said Margaret, appearing in the doorway. “There is a man at the door that claims to have a distant relation to you?”

Thomas looked up from the book he was reading, a frown on his face. “A man you say? Did he give you his name?”

“He did,” she said, and hesitated once more. “It was a most peculiar name, Sir. Loki Odinson, he said.”

“Did you just say Loki Odinson?” asked Catherine, mouth twisting in distaste even as Thomas jumped on his feet, immediately smiling.

“Dearest Margaret, why did you not say so sooner! Let him in, let him in!”

Margaret appeared surprise at the warmth in his voice, but she just nodded, giving him a half bow before disappearing towards the entrance once more.

Thomas turned to Catherine, who was still scowling at the fireplace. “Come on, my love. I thought the two of you buried the hatchet?”

“You were wrong,” informed him Catherine, huffing. “He and Agatha do nothing but cause trouble. I truly do not understand what you see in him, or what makes you both so friendly to one another.”

“He is fun to be around,” said Thomas, shrugging. “He is amusing and clever, and is not that afraid of you. Also, he is the only one who consistently finds us if we’re both awake and spends time with us.”

“No one asked him to,” muttered Catherine, which Thomas of course ignored.

The door opened once more, and Thomas turned around with a smile as a tall Victorian looking raven haired man strolled in, looking for all intents and purposes like the richest noble wandering the streets of Islington.

“Loki,” he said, opening his arms.

Loki waited a beat for the doors to close behind them before he too was smiling. “Hello, Persephone. You look as beautiful as ever, my Queen,” he informed her, pressing a kiss on the back of her hand before accepting the hug.

“You flatter me as usual.”

“There is nothing else I’d rather do,” said Loki, winking at her before he turned to face the other person in the room. His smile turned positively mocking. “Why, hello King Hades. Might I say, this form is a big improvement on what I am used to seeing you as. You look ravishing.”

“Your jests have never, and will never amuse me, Odinson,” told him Catherine. “Now please do let go of my husband, if you’d be so kind.”

Loki rolled his eyes but complied, sitting on the same couch as Thomas rather than Catherine. In part, for propriety’s sake. But mostly, because he had always liked Persephone better.

“It must get so dreadfully confusing sometimes,” he pointed out, summoning a cold Asgardian drink for them all. Thomas made a noise of confusion, and Loki explained. “One day he is your wife, the next you are each other’s husbands.”

“It does not matter that much to us,” said Thomas, shrugging. “Whatever body Hades comes in, I know he is my partner and my beloved. I do call him husband on accident, every now and then, if that’s what you were saying.”

“It was indeed,” he said, handing Thomas his cup. “But it is good to see you in good health.” His face got more serious. “I have dire news.”

Catherine stopped ignoring him, all of her cold and sharp attention focused on him. “What sort of news?”

“Nothing concrete,” he explained, hedging. “But I have heard whispers about the Mind Stone lately.”

Thomas almost dropped the cup of mead he was holding. “I beg your pardon?”

“Nothing concrete, but I have heard tales of a Scepter with the power of manipulating minds,” explained Loki. “I know not where they originated from or who dares wield its power, but more than a merchant spoke of such an artefact. And while once or twice could be a fallacy, several times is too suspicious to not investigate.”

“You plan on investigating?” asked Thomas, alarmed. “Loki, that is dangerous! That way lies the Mad Titan’s path!”

“It is unlikely that I will run into him,” pointed out Loki. “Was it this easy, then he would already have the Mind Stone and we all would know of this.”

Thomas looked over at Catherine, hoping that she would back him up, but his wife was frowning, clearly thinking. 

“My love, you cannot be seriously encouraging him.”

“Loki does what Loki wants,” pointed out Catherine, with a shrug. “But you cannot deny that knowing the exact current position of the Mind Stone would not be beneficial. It has always been the trickiest stone.”

“But-”

“It could still be a mistake,” pointed out Loki, reasonably. “Someone might have seen something that reminded them of the Mind Stone and brought back old stories. All I would be doing is checking for the truth. And if indeed it is the stone and I have reason to suspect the Mad Titan’s involvement, I shall call on the mights of Asgard, Olympus and yourselves. Thanos shall not win once more.”

Thomas was not comfortable with this line of talk, but he also knew there was nothing he could do to change Loki’s mind.

As Catherine had already said, Loki did what Loki wanted.

“If you must,” he sighed, quenching his thirst with the Asgardian mead. He did not drink it all, remembering quite clearly the last time he had tried such a feat as a human.

Human bodies were remarkably weak in the face of nice drinks.

“Now back to lighter topics,” said Loki, and smiled at Catherine. “King Hades, you should keep this hairstyle if you ever decide to go back to the Underworld. You look rather fetching like this.”

+++

“My Queen,” said Thanos, breathing harshly as he parried a blow from Hades.

The second of distraction in which he turned around to look at his wife cost him, the Power stone pushing against him, throwing him across the field.

Hades gritted his teeth, portalling back only seconds later, to find Persephone standing where he had been, her eyes only on the Mad Titan.

She shone like a star among all the destruction, a white flame among the dark soot of spilled blood and pain, Life among the Dead.

“Give up, son of A’Lars,” she spoke, when Hades stopped beside her. “You cannot win.”

“I will do anything to have you. You are my Mistress Death,” he said, standing on his feet once more, and Persephone snarled, vines springing from the ground and harshly pulling Thanos back down against it. 

Hades’ lips rose at the familiar sound of broken bones, while his wife stood at his side, her rage only serving at making her more bright and beautiful in his eyes.

“I am Life you absolute imbecile, and you will never have me.”

The Power stone lit up, and then they were fighting once more.

+++

“They are calling it the Great War,” said Lorenzo, eyes closed as he listened to the radio from the house beside theirs. “I suppose, for mortals, it must be so.”

“They have never seen continuous fighting and death at such a scale before,” agreed Diletta, slowly sitting down on the couch. “It must be frightening.”

“The entirety of their world arguing with each other over nothing.” Lorenzo scoffed. “Had I not learnt the stupidity of mortals first hand, I’d suspect Ares had a hand in this.”

“He probably still did,” pointed out his wife. “He likes fighting and war.” Then her face turned a little sad, as she watched the window in front of them. “I do wonder how the Underworld is faring in our absence.”

“Chaos, most certainly,” said Lorenzo, the hint of a smile on his face. “Cerberus and Charon must be doing their best, I don’t doubt them. But I do not believe their best is good enough.”

“Don’t let Cerberus hear you say that,” she joked, but with a bittersweet smile on her face.

Lorenzo knew what she thought. She never spoke her mind, but he knew that sometimes she wondered if they had made the right choice in coming here, in casting that spell of Time and Souls.

Lorenzo could not be sure, but at the time it had been either this or facing death. He had been ready to fight Thanos, but had had no illusions that they could have won. He had known they would have died fighting him (or at least he would have; Persephone would have been forced to marry that monster).

“We will go back, one day,” he told her instead, reaching out to touch her hand. He had trusted her judgement that day, and he still did, even when she wavered in her own belief. “When everything is said and done and Thanos is no longer a problem, we will go back and be happy together once more. Perhaps even manage to get Melinoe to visit us, every now and again.”

Immediately, a smile appeared on Diletta’s face at the mention of their daughter. “She gets it from you, are you aware of that, yes?”

Lorenzo could not even deny it, nor did he want to. “What is wrong with a girl being her father’s daughter?” he complained instead.

Diletta rolled her eyes, pressing a hand over her stomach. “I just hope this one doesn’t turn into yet another copy of you,” she said, with a forceful sigh that was only for show. “I don’t believe I will be okay being forced to live with yet another introvert.”

Lorenzo wasn’t sure if it was a curse or what, but they had never before managed to bring a child into the world from their unions as humans. They had lived a couple of lives in which they had known each other since childhood and grew old together, but this was the very first time one of them actually became pregnant.

He wasn’t sure why it was happening, but he knew Diletta had always loved children, and would therefore be an amazing mother to their future son or daughter.

And before that, they had only had one child together, Melinoe (he cared for Zagreus, but he did not consider him his son). He hoped that, despite their lifetimes and the spell, they would be able to see their mortal child grow up, and perhaps see the child’s family line continue for centuries to come. Maybe, if Zeus or anyone else was kind enough, they might even be able to make them a god or goddess in their own name. Or perhaps, they might convince Loki to procure a golden apple from Idunn.

Lorenzo could not wait to meet them.

They never saw the bomb coming.

+++

It was impossible to follow the fight after that.

Impossible to understand the raw power of Infinity as it was surrounded by Life and Death, by Existence and Time. A burning sun of energy and power, one Mad Titan fighting for his life against what he had brought against himself.

For the Infinity Stones might be immortal, but Thanos was just a Titan, driven crazy with want and greed, who had no hope of controlling the power he was wielding.

The Infinity Stones cared for nothing but themselves, and if they had to take Thanos’ power to fight back they would.

But even they could not win in the face of Time and Soul, in the face of Life and Death, for Infinity too could be destroyed, for Infinity’s loop started from their destruction, a conundrum that was both true and a paradox.

When the vines, sharp and strong, perforated his wrist, Thanos let out a scream of pain, the plant, the Life around him cutting his limb, fresh purple blood filling the ground around them.

Thanos choked, the gauntlet with Infinity dropping at his feet and immediately swallowed by a venus trap that was far bigger than it was supposed to be. And then his choking increased as vines encircled him before he could even attempt to move, doubling, tripling, multiplying until they were covering every inch of his body, every breath he took an exercise in pain.

And Persephone stood in front him, a phoenix, a flame, passion and anger, almost impossible to be gazed at directly, Life itself. “I am meant to cultivate and protect life,” she told him, watching him, power burning down her veins, splatters of ichor over her face. “But I’m going to enjoy your death.”

“Kill me then,” he rasped, breathing laboured. “If I’m to die by your hand, I will be content.”

And she smiled - large, vindictive and terrifying. “I am not your Mistress Death, you zealot. I am Life. I will not kill you.”

A spark of hope entered his eyes, but it was gone as Hades finally took a step beside her. “But I will,” he pronounced, and with that, he raised his sword. "And I will enjoy it, Mad Titan."

“Wait,” started Thanos, true fear entering his eyes. “Wait, I can-”

Hades enjoyed the terror, the desperate plea for a second chance, the wish for forgiveness in his victims. But Thanos was not a regular victim, and Hades would never make the mistake of underestimating him again.

He struck once and he struck true, the spear of the Underworld slicing his head from his neck and absorbing his soul inside of it, trapping the Mad Titan once and for all.

And then Thanos was finally dead.

The one who had caused him and his wife so much torment, the one who had brought them naught but pain for so long, the Madness who had dared questioned the might of Death and the wisdom of the Underworld and his King, finally breathed his last. 

And with blood on his lips and devastation surrounding him, Hades finally turned to his wife, beautiful and everlasting at his side, pure and dark at his side, perfect at his side.

“My love,” he said, and the ache in his chest, the ache of a heart that was not truly there dissolved as her eyes met his.

“Beloved,” she answered, and Hades wasted no time in putting his bloodied hands on her face, and with Death in the air, Life in their veins,  and Infinity surrounding them they met in a kiss that was millennia and years overdue.

Death became alive, and Life grew among the dead, and Hades and Persephone were together once more.

And the world around them exploded once more.

+++

Tony and Stephen did not wait, after the battle.

Tony knew he should reassure Rhodey of his continued safety, that he should ensure the safety of the other Infinity Stones - lest they enticed someone else - that there were tons upon tons of explanation he had to give.

But when Stephen traversed the shadows with him in his arms, their godly forms settling once more under their skin - but not trapped this time, not stuck - he had no complaints.

“My husband,” he called, not even paying attention to where Stephen had brought them. “I have missed you so fiercely.”

“You have been so brave,” answered Stephen, cupping his cheeks between his hands, thumb wiping a stray tear from his eyes. “I am sorry it took me so long to find you. I looked for you, believe me.”

“I know,” said Tony, nodding and forcing the tears to stop falling. He had missed him so. “I know you have, because I have been looking for you since Afghanistan, I have tried to find you, I tried-”

He felt cold lips pressing against his burning forehead and let out a slight whimper. He had missed this, had missed Hades’ touch of death, had missed his beloved being around him something fierce. “We are here,” promised Stephen, and kissed him again, kindly, sweetly, and angrily, and savagely. “We are here now, and I am here now, and I love you.”

“I love you,” repeated Tony, nails pressing harshly against Stephen’s shoulder, dragging him down in an equally hungry and tired kiss. “I love you, and I’ll love you until oblivion and after, until Time itself unravels, until Life and Death are one and nothing. And thereafter.”

“And thereafter,” he repeated, desperate fingers digging into his hair. “Always.”

“Evermore.”

“And forever.”

They did not return to the Underworld immediately.

They’d need to, sooner rather than later. But they had time, now, and were not in any rush.

The Infinity Stones were scattered once more. The little Avengers had tried to reclaim the Tesseract, but Stephen’s face alone had been enough for them to give up the claim on something they had no hope of understanding.

Similarly, they quickly gave up on the idea of forcing either of them to become part of their team after Tony's plants had destroyed the Helicarrier with nary a thought when Fury had ‘demanded’ it, not even breaking a sweat.

The Olympians had found this very amusing when they had arrived - late as usual - to help hide Infinity, as had Loki. Rhodey had argued that he might have gone too far, but had reluctantly agreed that this was better than what Stephen would have done, had they spoken to him or had he heard them speaking to Tony that way.

He had become even more protective, lately, and very quick to take offense.

Tony found it cute, everyone else found it frightening.

They had affairs on Earth, for the time being. Earth demanded a new Sorcerer Supreme, and Tony had grown fond of her Paladin and creations, as had Stephen. And since none of their Paladins wished to end their life prematurely, Stephen and Tony had agreed to wait for them to reach the end of their natural lives before they returned to the Underworld.

Now they stood in front of the Ocean, ignoring Poseidon’s attempts at gaining their attention, and watched the sun dipping into the clear blue.

Stephen kissed the back of Tony’s hand, drawing his attention back from where he had been lost in memories. “I’m glad I listened to you.”

Tony held tighter on Stephen’s hand. “You should always listen to me, I am your beloved wife and I have never been wrong about anything in my life.” When Stephen’s smile remained, he smiled too, and interlocked their fingers together. “And I’m glad I listened to you during the battle.”

“The Infinity Stones are gone,” he said after a few minutes of them silently holding each other. “Scattered around the darkest corners of the Universe. And even if they return, we will have Time.”

“And Soul,” added Tony, to which Stephen nodded. 

“What do you want to do now?”

Tony looked up at him, and once more he smiled. In the sunset, his eyes were golden, with a tint of orange. “I just want to lay with you.”

Evermore.

They had all the time in the worlds.