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I
Tony draws in yet another agonizing breath.
The snowfall has ended some time ago. Final rays of sunlight shine through the lingering clouds, painting the horizon in a thousand shades of red and orange. It’s an incredibly beautiful sight, which feels like a big final ’fuck you’ from the universe directed specifically at Tony, who’s dying in a bunker in the middle of fucking nowhere, betrayed and abandoned and regretting just about every decision he’s ever made.
He has no idea how much time has passed after Steve Rogers and the Winter Soldier walked away and left him bleeding on the concrete floor. It sure feels like forever, waiting for something, anything to happen, breath after breath, the cold and the pain slowly creeping into his very bones. His suit is practically useless with its energy source crushed by Captain America’s shield and its connection to JARVIS cut off.
All Tony can do is lie there, wondering where exactly things went so horribly wrong.
The shield is still lying where it fell. Tony’s eyes keep wandering back to it as if staring could somehow reverse the damage it has done.
He’s going to die here, isn’t he? Might as well just face the truth. Strangely, the prospect of impending death doesn’t terrify Tony as much as it used to; at this point, it must be long overdue, anyway.
But it does hurt that it had to happen like this. That it had to be someone he had considered a friend. Tony no longer feels the searing anger, nor the all-consuming grief; he’s just tired, so tired, and cold. He can feel himself finally starting to drift off, but whether it’s to sleep or a more permanent destination, he can’t tell.
But before he gets the chance to find out, Tony gets pulled out of his miserable thoughts by a strange flicker in the air. He furrows his brow, trying to force his eyes to focus on the little flashes of light that seem to gravitate toward a specific spot near the wall. Suddenly the air seems to collapse in on itself with a whoosh, forming some kind of portal that emanates an eerie green glow.
It’s not that Tony hasn’t encountered – and created – unusual, even inexplicable things before. What makes the situation worth including in the ’top five weirdest things that have happened to Tony Stark,’ is that through that opening steps a disconcertingly familiar-looking figure, its silhouette momentarily backlit by green sparks of electricity.
The portal closes, and there stands Loki of Asgard, looking about as out of place as one would expect a Norse god to look in an abandoned Siberian bunker. Loki’s gaze swiftly scans his surroundings and eventually settles on Tony. A furrow appears between the god’s brows.
Even though Tony’s hazy mind is struggling to comprehend what it’s seeing, he’s actually not feeling particularly concerned about this new development. He doesn’t have enough energy left for that. It’s not like things could get much worse at this point, anyway –
The thought fades away as Tony feels himself slip deeper into unconsciousness. Distantly, as if spoken at the other end of a long tunnel, he hears the words, ”You’re a difficult one to keep alive, Stark.”
In a desperate attempt to stay awake, Tony’s brain clings to those words. They don’t make much sense, do they, but there’s something in them, something important… Tony’s mind makes a feeble attempt to reach for that thread, wanting to unravel it until he finds the beginning, but the thoughts keep slipping away, always just out of reach. Did Loki even say anything at all, or is it just Tony starting to lose his grip on reality? Maybe Loki himself is just a hallucination. That would really suck, though, because if Tony’s going to have hallucinations now, he’d much rather see Pepper one last time.
Pepper. The thought of her awakens a hollow ache within his chest that has nothing to do with physical pain.
Her flaming hair would look so pretty in this light...
With that thought, Tony lets go. It’s almost a relief to fall down, down, down into darkness and quiet. The last thing he sees is Loki’s solemn face hovering above him, then everything goes black and the pain fades away.
II
Loki did not mean to make a habit out of saving Tony Stark’s life. But somehow that was the position he found himself in.
The first time happened not long after the unsuccessful Chitauri invasion. Loki had barely managed to escape from the so-called Avengers, and he knew he should have stayed far away from Midgard. Preferably a few galaxies away, to avoid any search parties SHIELD, or Thanos, or Odin himself might send his way. For a while, he did manage to avoid Midgard altogether, constantly moving from one planet to the next, keeping a low profile and only causing a little bit of trouble here and there. But in the end, he couldn’t resist the temptation of returning.
It was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance trip. A calculated risk, no doubt, but Loki needed to know what exactly had happened after his escape and if some kind of alliance now existed between Asgard and Midgard. Skywalking on an interplanetary scale was quite tricky, requiring a fair amount of seiðr, especially now that he no longer possessed the Tesseract. But for a reasonably skilled mage, it was doable.
Naturally, Loki counted himself well above ’reasonably skilled.’
He stepped out of the realm between the worlds and onto the bustling streets of New York City, wearing an illusion of an ordinary Midgardian man. For a moment he simply stood still on the corner of the street, mentally shaking off the remnants of Yggdrasil and letting the hum of the city wash over him, the noise and the people and the comfortably mundane chaos that seemed unique to Midgardian cities.
Though that mundane chaos turned into panicked chaos in a matter of seconds as something big and green crashed into the side of a building high above the ground with terrifying force.
People screamed and scrambled out of the way of falling pieces of concrete. Conscious mind catching up to instinct just in time, Loki managed to restrain himself from dropping the illusion and conjuring up armor and daggers. He could not afford to attract attention here, so he forced himself to stay put as the Hulk emerged from the rubble and dropped back to street level, looking a bit charred around the edges. Accompanied by a deafening roar, the green beast jumped through the air back toward the direction he’d come from.
Well, then. It seemed there was a battle going on.
Loki brushed himself off and found his way to the roof of a nearby building, weaving more layers of protective magic around himself as he went. From up there, he had a good view of the surrounding area – but if anything, being able to see what was going on made things more confusing.
There was a strange creature perched atop one of the smaller buildings, screeching and furiously flapping its wings. It looked like a giant bird of prey – a Midgardian eagle perhaps, only Loki was fairly certain that Midgardian eagles did not breathe fire from their beaks, nor were they big enough to carry a grown man in their talons. And they probably did not possess the aura of an ancient and powerful being, either.
Loki had heard tales of firebirds such as this one. With steely beak, with iron claws, with one wing cut the water and the other grazed the sky, he recited in his mind. But how the creature had ended up on Midgard, he could not fathom. Perhaps it was lured by the power of Thor’s lightning? In any case, it would most likely flee as soon as it realized this planet was not worth its time.
Loki settled down to watch the proceedings, sitting on the edge of the rooftop with his legs hanging off the side.
The Avengers had the bird surrounded, but their efforts to subdue it seemed rather futile. It kept spitting flames at everything that moved, and neither Captain America’s shield nor Iron Man’s repulsor blasts seemed to be doing any damage. Thor, on the other hand, appeared absolutely delighted to fight something that didn’t fall dead to the ground after a single strike from Mjölnir.
It was good to see that Thor was well and, even better, apparently quite occupied with playing hero to Midgardians. But Loki had seen his adoptive brother fight dangerous creatures countless times before, so Thor’s hammer swinging did not manage to hold his attention very long. Instead, he found his gaze wandering to someone else entirely.
Iron Man was flying reckless loops around the creature, narrowly dodging beating wings and bursts of fire. Loki’s eyes followed the flight of the red-and-gold armor, and he couldn’t help but admire how far the mortals had come, creating such wonders despite their lack of magic. And yet, all the more extraordinary was the human inside the suit, the human arrogant enough to challenge gods and clever enough to walk away victorious. Loki smiled to himself, remembering his previous encounters with Stark.
Had the circumstances been… different, he just might have accepted that drink that lunatic of a man had offered him.
And had Loki examined this thought just a bit further at this moment, he might have realized some rather important things sooner than he did.
But he didn’t have the time for that, because at that moment, Iron Man dodged just a bit too narrowly. The torrent of flames didn’t really seem to catch him, and at first it seemed like a near-miss; but it quickly became clear that these flames weren’t just ordinary fire.
Loki watched in alarm as Iron Man dropped like a stone. The armor fell towards the ground, apparently completely unresponsive, and Loki just knew that there was no chance Thor or the Hulk or anyone else would make it in time, no miraculous last-minute save this time around –
There was no reason for Loki to act, no personal gain in getting involved. Quite the opposite, actually, because interfering with the lives of the mortals truly was an unnecessary risk. Yet, he did not hesitate to send his seiðr to stop Iron Man’s fall, he just did it, almost instinctively. The reckless inventor was by far the most intriguing Midgardian Loki had met, and it would simply have been a terrible waste to let him die or get seriously injured. This world, and others as well, could surely use such a brilliant mind as Tony Stark’s.
The armor floated the rest of the way down slowly and gently.
Loki didn’t linger. The moment Stark was safely on the ground, he gathered his magic and stepped back through the fabric of the universe, leaving the Avengers to deal with the rest.
~
Afterward, Loki spent some time wandering about the galaxy, doing whatever happened to strike his fancy. He visited remote towns and abandoned temples and learned about new cultures and their own unique forms of magic, and made sure to never stay in one place too long.
But try as he might, he never quite managed to forget about what had happened on Midgard. It was as if a persistent idea had made a home in some distant corner of his mind, the idea that he somehow needed to be aware of the affairs of mortals.
So, Loki returned to check in on Thor and his companions. He told himself it was for the sake of staying one step ahead of them – certainly nothing to do with being concerned about one Tony Stark, absolutely not.
He had hoped to quickly drop in and out again, but once again, fate seemed to have other ideas.
The moment his feet touched the ground upon Earth, Loki knew that the mortals had somehow managed to recover the Scepter. Just standing there on the street in front of Avengers Tower, he could feel the all-too-familiar energy of the Mind Stone resonating with his own seiðr, creeping into his very bones, whispering of cosmic powers beyond imagination. The feeling of the Mind Stone’s magic curling around his own was still just as thrilling as it used to be; but Loki now had first-hand experience of the consequences of using that power.
Tempting as it was, he could not use the Scepter again. Not if he wanted to keep hold of his own mind.
Unfortunately, letting the mortals keep the Scepter did not seem like a viable option, either. From his previous experience with Midgardians, Loki knew they had a tendency to meddle with things they didn’t understand – SHIELD and the Avengers even more so than most. They did not know the cost of bending the Mind Stone to their will.
Then again, why was that Loki’s problem? The sensible thing to do would have been to leave, right now, and not come back. Surely, Thor would stop his companions from meddling with a Norns-damned Infinity Stone?
No, actually, Thor would not do that, because he was an idiot.
Loki sighed.
Maybe he should take a look, just in case.
Getting inside the tower undetected wasn’t at all difficult. There were no magic wards, just cameras and locked doors, which didn’t stand a chance against a few carefully-cast spells. Loki supposed Stark’s technology must be capable of tracking energy signatures, but – rather ironically, thought Loki – the Scepter’s presence took care of that problem, too. The Mind Stone’s energy was strong enough to hide his own seiðr, and all he needed to do was follow that energy to its source.
Inside what Loki supposed to be the Midgardian equivalent of a forge, he found the Scepter. There he also found Tony Stark and Bruce Banner studying the weapon, which had been placed on a table upon a stand of sorts. Concealed by magic, Loki sat on an empty workbench and observed.
The two appeared to be discussing the Scepter’s properties in strange terms that the Allspeak failed to translate properly. There was also a third voice, seemingly coming from the ceiling itself, that chimed in every once in a while to offer some additional bit of information. Loki found the bodiless voice both alarming and intriguing but decided it was irrelevant for now.
”D’you reckon I could give it a little poke?”
This was spoken by Stark; of course it was, because Banner, being the reasonable one out of the two, would never suggest such a horrible idea.
”I don’t think that’s a good idea, Tony,” said Banner. ”We don’t really know anything about this thing.”
”Yeah, that’s exactly why. We’ve been staring at the Glowstick of Destiny for, like, twelve hours straight, and even JARVIS can’t make any sense of it! Maybe I should swing it around a bit, see if it can shoot lasers or something.”
”We’ve seen this thing make people into mindless slaves, and you want to swing it around a bit?”
”Well, I’m supposed to be immune to it, right? The arc reactor blocks the Imperius Curse thing, all I need to do is put the suit on. So if someone’s going to touch it, it should be me.”
”Why does anyone have to touch it?”
”It’s for science!”
Banner groaned.
”JARVIS, just try poking the blue thing a bit and see if that changes the readings at all,” Stark said. ”But try to be careful.”
A robotic arm that had been hanging motionless above the table slowly lowered its claw towards the Scepter’s heart. Loki could feel the change in the Mind Stone’s energy – it was growing restless, trying to curl away from the approaching metal.
”Sir, I’m detecting irregularities in the Scepter’s alpha wave pattern,” said the voice that had been referred to as Jarvis. ”Theta wave frequency increasing.”
Stark was watching the proceedings intently. ”Keep going.”
At this point, any reasonable person would have given up trying to delay the inevitable, since Tony Stark seemed so intent on getting himself killed in an utterly pointless way. But Loki, being rather fond of the concept of defying one’s fate, wasn’t ready to admit defeat. Even if he could feel the storm gathering inside the Stone, ready to burst outward.
Oh, Norns.
Loki let his seiðr surge forward to meet the Mind Stone’s power. The Scepter started glowing more brightly, almost contently as it got hold of his magic and started drawing it into itself. Loki held his breath and let it happen, feeding the Mind Stone suggestions of calm, peace, sleep through the connection.
The Stone seemed to consider for a second, still a bit uneasy – but then, to Loki’s great relief, it agreed to settle down. It did not react at all as the metal claw gently nudged its surface and retreated. Then, presumably for good measure, Stark jabbed it with his finger, which caused the Stone to pulse annoyedly, but apparently it couldn’t now be bothered to do more than that.
”Well, that was anticlimactic,” Stark said, turning to look at some readings on a screen. Loki would have rolled his eyes had he not needed all his concentration to begin carefully untangling his magic from the Scepter’s.
”Yeah, what a shame it didn’t explode in your face,” Banner remarked dryly.
If only you knew how close that was , thought Loki.
Suddenly, the sound of muffled footsteps could be heard from outside the workshop, and a second later Thor appeared in the doorway. He stood there in his usual I am Thor son of Odin and I demand your attention pose, the majestic impression only slightly hindered by the fact that he was wearing pajama pants with little Mjölnirs all over them.
Ever the eccentric, Stark greeted him, ”Oh, hey. What’s up, Point Break?”
Thor didn’t seem to mind the informality. His gaze moved searchingly through the room, sweeping right over the place where Loki sat hidden by magic and dwelling on the Scepter for a moment before settling on Stark and Banner.
”Is everything quite alright?” he asked. ”I’ve got this strange feeling that something’s going on…”
Thor trailed off. Stark and Banner glanced at each other.
”Uh, yes, we’re fine,” said Banner.
”Though not much progress on Sparkles,” Stark added, nodding his head in the direction of the Scepter. ”Maybe that’s what’s bothering you – Asgardians might be more sensitive to this thing’s energy or something?”
”I do not think it’s that,” said Thor. He turned to look around the room again. With terrifying accuracy, his gaze landed directly on the place where Loki was, his blue eyes seeming to stare right into green ones as if he knew – but then his gaze moved away to scan the rest of the space, and Loki dared to breathe again.
”Are you okay, Thor?” Banner asked, a slight crease between his brows.
”Oh, I’m fine, perfectly fine! Well, if there’s nothing wrong, I suppose I should leave you to it – ”
”Hang on, I think we might be in need of a break,” Banner said. ”Right, Tony?”
Stark sighed and replied, ”Ugh, fine. Let’s go get some coffee, then. Keep an eye on things, J, will you?”
”Certainly, Sir.”
Then Stark followed Thor and Banner out of the workshop. The lights dimmed, and the space was filled with the Scepter’s eerie blue glow.
Loki sat there for a while, thinking.
Then he got up, walked over to the Scepter, and carefully placed his hand upon it. Instantly, the Mind Stone’s magic rushed through him even stronger than before, and he had to forcibly push it away with his seiðr.
Once he felt in control again, he lifted the Scepter off its stand and – just as the lights turned back on and a warning alarm started blaring through the workshop – disappeared into the space between the worlds, the Scepter held tightly in his grasp.
Another few seconds, and Loki had placed the weapon onto a writing desk located in Queen Frigga’s private quarters in the royal palace of Asgard.
Mother would not approve of Loki’s sneaking into her rooms, nor the fact that he had left without seeing her. Nor stealing yet another powerful magical artifact, either. But she would understand.
Loki, too, did feel a little sorry he couldn’t stay, but he pushed the thought away and stepped through the fabric of reality once again.
Afterward, sitting under the starry night sky of a distant world, Loki listened to silence and thought about things.
He knew he was getting all too invested in this foolish game. He didn’t have any regrets about it, not yet – but attachment was a dangerous weakness he could not afford. He needed to stop before he did do something regrettable.
So, Loki began moving farther away from Midgard, and then just kept doing that, trying not to think about one curious mortal with an extraordinary lack of self-preservation instinct. From now on, Tony Stark would have to take care of himself.
Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. Loki didn’t manage to forget, not exactly, but it all faded into the background of his mind as his thoughts became occupied by all kinds of new and exciting things he encountered upon his journeys.
Loki was quite literally galaxies away from Midgard when he felt a faint tug of seiðr within his mind. A strange, barely-there pull of magic that sent a feeling of uneasiness rippling through his body.
He stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of a busy marketplace, trying to reach for that new strand of energy he had not known existed – that should not have existed, for he had never consciously created it. He had never before felt anything like it.
Within seconds, Loki’s mind had followed the almost-indiscernible connection back to its beginning, a beacon glowing dimly somewhere beyond the stars. Back to Midgard. Back to Tony Stark.
He is in danger.
Cold dread rushed through Loki, and he knew he would never be able to reach Midgard in time.
III
Tony floats alone in the darkness for what afterward feels both like a blink of an eye and an eternity. Eventually, a faint sensation breaks through the nothingness, reaching for him. It’s indistinct at first, just barely there – or maybe it’s Tony himself who’s too far away to reach. Slowly but surely the feeling becomes more tangible, taking the form of words that start stubbornly dragging Tony back into himself.
Wake up, Stark. You need to wake up.
The pain creeps back. It radiates from his head and chest through his whole body in waves, and his bones feel ten times heavier than they should. But there is no biting cold on his face, nor the weight of the crushed armor around him, and he can’t hear the howling of the wind, either, though the sound of his own labored breathing is ringing obnoxiously loud in his ears. He’s lying on something a lot softer than the concrete floor of a bunker – presumably, a bed.
”Stark?”
The familiar voice is coming from somewhere near.
Tony forces his eyes open and blinks at the bright sunlight. It takes a few moments to get his surroundings into focus. He gets a vague impression of wooden walls and high windows, and then his eyes settle on Loki, who’s sitting next to the bed in a white shirt, loose strands of hair framing his face. For a fleeting moment his green eyes, firmly fixed on Tony’s face, seem to glow, but the light fades before Tony can be sure it even existed.
They stare at each other.
”I’m not dead.”
Despite Tony’s voice being rough and barely audible, Loki seems to understand well enough. With the tiniest hint of a smile he says, ”I should hope not.”
Huh. Did Loki save Tony’s life? The homicidal-slash-megalomaniacal alien invader Loki, who at the moment doesn’t look the slightest bit homicidal nor megalomaniacal? There’s no way Loki would do that, not unless he thinks he can get something out of it.
”Where am I?”
”Vanaheim.”
A vague memory of Thor explaining something about a ’world tree’ awakens in Tony’s mind. Vanaheim…
”Wait, you mean, like, in space?”
Loki seems amused. ”Well, not exactly in space, but on another planet, yes. First time?”
”Yeah, sort of.”
Loki nods in acknowledgment and explains, ”This used to be my mother’s house, in the time before she was taken to Asgard; a place to retreat to for some peace and quiet. She rarely visits anymore, and I did not have the energy to travel outside of the Nine Realms, so – well, I took the liberty to bring you here.”
”So you did save me, then.”
Loki doesn’t say anything, but the look on his face is all the confirmation Tony needs, so he says, ”I should probably thank you.”
”You can thank me by not dying.”
”Is that still a possibility?”
”At the moment? I don’t think so. I managed to heal the worst of your injuries.”
Doesn’t really feel like it, Tony thinks. His head is still pounding and every little movement hurts, but he’s not swaying at the brink of unconsciousness anymore, which must be a good sign.
As if seeing Tony’s thoughts on his face, Loki says, ”It will probably take a few days for the rest to heal.” Then, a slight pause as he hesitates. ”You can stay here until you’re feeling better. If you’d like to, that is.”
O-kay then. Why does Loki seem like a decent guy all of a sudden? He hasn’t made any demands or threats yet and doesn’t really seem to be planning to.
Tony gives the mage a doubtful look. ”I’m not gonna get stabbed, am I?”
Loki smiles a bit sheepishly, an expression Tony never imagined he’d see on that face. Though it does look kind of adorable.
”No stabbings as long as you’re here”, Loki promises.
~
The next day, Tony’s feeling well enough to get out of bed. Loki’s nowhere to be seen, so Tony sets off to explore his new surroundings on his own.
It’s a beautiful cottage, like straight out of some fairytale. Very different from what Tony would have imagined Loki’s evil lair to look like.
The rest of the house follows the same theme as the bedroom Tony slept in: wooden walls, high windows, surprisingly cozy and down-to-earth but still somehow rather extravagant with expensive-looking furs, delicate carvings accented with hints of silver, and strange glass ornaments that catch the sunlight and reflect it onto the walls and ceilings as speckled rainbows. There’s an open space in the middle of the cottage, sort of like a living room, with a fireplace and a huge bookshelf.
Outside the front door Tony finds a veranda with more elaborate wood carvings. A lush green forest surrounds the cottage on all sides, and the sky above it is clear and bright.
All in all, Vanaheim doesn’t seem all that different from Earth. It’s sort of how a painter might depict a place like this on Earth: a bit more wondrous and pure than the real deal.
Loki shows up before midday with a leather bag full of food that he apparently acquired in the nearest town. Strange fruits and berries, some kind of dried meat with herbs, fluffy bread, and cheese. It’s all tasty enough, even though it’s a bit of a downer that burgers and fries apparently aren’t a thing around here.
Loki acts just as friendly as the day before, asking how Tony’s feeling and sharing interesting facts about Vanaheim and its people, but he soon heads out again, leaving Tony to his own devices. Before leaving, though, Loki magics up the half-destroyed Iron Man suit from his pocket dimension. Just the fact that Loki has a fricking pocket dimension tickles Tony’s curiosity, but more than anything he’s happy to get the suit back. It’s pretty badly damaged, and he doesn’t have the right tools here, but he reckons he can still get something done.
It seems Loki is purposefully giving Tony as much space as possible, choosing to spend most of his time outside in the forest or reading in another room, which Tony does appreciate. It actually makes him trust the mage a lot more than he would otherwise.
By now, Tony’s made up his mind that Loki doesn’t seem to have any malicious intent behind all this. Well, obviously Tony can’t know that for sure, but all this does seem a bit too excessive to be all for an act. Besides, whenever they’re in the same room together Tony gets the feeling that Loki’s… genuinely enjoying his company? And, strangely enough, that doesn’t at all bother Tony. On the contrary, actually.
The day goes by quickly as Tony continues working on his suit with the strange-looking Asgardian tools Loki provided via his laws-of-physics-breaking pocket dimension. Either Tony loses track of time – or the day hereis actually shorter than on Earth, since that’s the kind of thing that happens on foreign planets. Be that as it may, Tony regains awareness of his surroundings when Loki returns inside the cottage just before sunset.
To indicate that he doesn’t mind Loki’s presence in the living room, Tony asks, ”So, what have you been up to?”
Loki takes the hint and sits down in an armchair. ”Setting up magical wards around the house, mostly. And then just wandering in the woods since that seems to have a refreshing effect on my seiðr. I’ve been using a lot of magic lately,” he says. Then he looks at the suit that lying half-assembled on the coffee table – which is not actually a coffee table, since, alas, there is no coffee on Vanaheim, but that’s what it looks like – anyway, Loki looks at the suit and inquires, ”Have you made any progress?”
Tony would happily follow the tell me more about your magic line of questioning further, but Loki probably wouldn’t appreciate that, so he replies, ”Not that much. I’d need spare parts and stuff to properly fix it, so I’m just tinkering, you know.”
Loki smiles. ”It seems you’ve already mostly recovered.”
”Yeah, well, I’m still a bit sore all over, but miles better than yesterday.”
”Good to hear. Would you mind telling me what happened before I found you?”
It’s a question Tony knew to expect, but his heart still sinks as he remembers once again why exactly he ended up on this little vacation with a space-traveling supervillain.
So, Tony brings Loki up to speed on the recent political tension and disagreements within the team, as well as the mess with HYDRA and the Winter Soldier. Well, he doesn’t tell everything, and he skips over most of what’s been happening between him and Steve, but he tries to give enough to satisfy Loki’s curiosity. After all, the mage probably does deserve an explanation.
Loki listens intently. When Tony’s finished he says, ”I’m sorry that happened to you. Have you thought about what you’re going to do now?”
”Well, I’ll just – keep going. I’m assuming there will be some awkward conversations and a whole lot of politics thrown at my face when I get back to Earth. Gotta deal with those, and –” Tony thinks about Rhodey, and Peter, and Pepper, and Happy, and everyone else who deserves a whole lot more than Tony has been able to give lately. ”There are some other things, too, that I’ll have to take care of.”
Loki doesn’t ask, and he doesn’t judge. All he says is, ”If you feel ready, I could take you back to Midgard tomorrow.”
Tony accepts the offer with a nod.
As the night falls, Loki takes Tony outside to watch the stars. The night sky of Vanaheim has a deep purple color accented by dozens of swirling nebulae, and the stars shine bright without any city lights obscuring them.
Tony feels a bit disquieted when he realizes those stars are completely different from the ones he’s used to seeing at night. Of course they are different, he’s not even in the same galaxy anymore, but somehow the strange sky makes him realize just how far away from home he is.
Loki seems to notice his silence.
”Are you alright?”
”Yeah. Just having an existential crisis over the realization that I’m not actually the center of the universe.”
”Yes, that happens to all of us.”
”Even you?”
Loki makes an amused sound. ”Someday, perhaps.”
”That’s more like it. Though the sky is actually really cool.”
”One of the things I love about Vanaheim.”
”You mentioned this place used to be, like, your mom’s summer cottage, sort of?”
”Something like that, yes. But that was before she was married off to Asgard.”
Right. Loki grew up as a prince, so political marriages and other royalty stuff must be the norm for him.
Loki continues, ”As the Queen of Asgard, she has a duty to its people. It would not be looked upon kindly if she appeared too attached to Vanaheim, so she rarely visits home anymore. Though she did sometimes bring us – Thor and me, that is – here for a few days when we were children. Thor never really appreciated the place, he thought it was rather boring.”
Tony can picture in his head a little Thor swinging a wooden sword around, waiting impatiently to get back to Asgard. ”I… can see that happening, yeah. You seem to like it here, though,” he adds tentatively.
”I do. This place was a rare chance to get away from the palace and the people. I always wished I could just stay here and not return to Asgard.”
Huh. Who would’ve thought Loki, who seems to have a thing for being treated like he’s the king of the castle, doesn’t appreciate having servants and guests running around him in circles? Actually, upon further thought Tony can totally see why Loki might not fit in with the Asgardian court. And there’s also the fact Loki’s adopted, which must have caused some extra hassle, too, so maybe it’s not that unexpected that Loki just wanted to be left alone as a kid.
”What about you, Stark? What do you think of this place?”
”It’s beautiful,” Tony says earnestly. ”Almost perfect. I’d have to build a workshop in the basement, though.”
Loki laughs. ”Of course you would.”
~
The next morning, Tony and Loki eat breakfast together on the veranda.
They don’t talk much, but it’s the comfortable kind of silence that feels peaceful rather than unsettling. Tony thinks he can sense a change in the air – even though nothing that special happened yesterday, it’s like something invisible has shifted just slightly overnight. It feels sort of like regaining your balance at the edge of a cliff, realizing you’re not going to fall, after all. Tony’s pretty sure Loki can feel it too.
They finish eating, but neither of them makes any effort to get up from the table. The weather is just as beautiful as yesterday, and it’s pleasant sitting outside as the sun slowly climbs higher in the sky. Simply put, feels like a good moment to shed some light on a few things.
”I have questions,” Tony begins.
”I assumed you would. Go ahead, then.”
”Why did you save me?”
Loki seemed a bit reluctant to answer that particular question earlier, so Tony let it be, but now that he feels more confident that Loki won’t jinx him or set him on fire for pushing, he’s going to get some answers.
Loki considers his question, staring absently into the shadows of the forest. ”I should probably begin by telling you,” he says softly, ”that this wasn’t the first time.”
Wait, what?
”What do you –”
Then the puzzle pieces join together in Tony’s mind.
”Oh, so it was you! You saved me from the flaming hot cheeto bird.”
”The what?”
Tony can’t help but laugh at the incredulous look on Loki’s face, despite the discomfort the movement still causes inside his ribcage. Loki rolls his eyes but doesn’t actually seem at all offended.
”You stole the Scepter, too, didn’t you?”
Loki makes a face that says, I’m not going to admit it, but I definitely did.
”That one really bothered me, you know,” Tony says. ”No matter how hard we tried, we didn’t manage to track it, and then Thor comes back and tells us the Scepter somehow ended up in Godland!”
”Apologies for the inconvenience,” says Loki, not actually sounding at all sorry.
”No but really, we could have done so much with that thing, we just needed a few days to study it. Why did you – ”
”It was for the best,” Loki interrupts. ”You nearly caused an explosion with that thing.”
”I would never –” Tony begins to protest but realizes that Loki’s not going to fall for his bullshit the same way company investors back home do. ”Okay, I would. Fair enough.”
Loki raises an eyebrow.
”Why is the Glowstick of Destiny so dangerous, then?” Tony asks. If he can’t pick the Scepter apart himself, getting some specifications from someone familiar with it is the next best thing.
Loki doesn’t answer immediately. When he does, his voice suddenly sounds rather colorless. ”The Scepter contains a powerful cosmic artifact that has the ability to affect minds. It is very nearly sentient, and rather unpredictable by nature. It warps the minds of those who seek to use its power – gets in your head, as they say.”
Okay, that actually sounds terrifying.
”So, messing with it is not a very good idea?”
”I would strongly advise against it.”
”Sounds like you’re speaking from experience,” Tony says – opening his mouth before his brain catches up to the conversation, as usual.
Loki gives him a blank look, and Tony can clearly see there’s something pained hiding beneath.
Oh. Of course. That explains what the hell has been going on with Loki’s sudden personality change.
”You mean – that’s what was going on with you? Back in New York?”
Loki inclines his head slightly. ”Well, there were other factors at play as well, but yes, essentially.”
”Oh, I’m – I’m sorry.”
”There is no need for you to be. You had nothing to do with it. Though I’m sorry for what happened in New York.”
”Yeah.”
They sit in silence for a while, both lost in thought.
Eventually Tony says, ”How did you find me? In the bunker, I mean,” he adds to answer Loki’s questioning look.
”I’m… not quite sure, to tell you the truth. Though I do have a theory.”
”Let’s hear it, then.”
”You see, I was very far away from Midgard. Still, I was somehow able to sense that you were in peril and reach you faster than should have been possible. I think that the Scepter somehow created a link of sorts between us, a connection of cosmic energy.”
”So you’re saying that we’ve got, like, a Force-bond thing going on? Woah. Though it’s kind of an overused plot device, you know.”
Loki doesn’t bother to grace that with an answer. Again, they sit in silence for a while.
”You still haven’t told me why you’ve been running around saving my life,” Tony says.
Loki looks at him with an unreadable expression. ”Surely someone as intelligent as you would have figured that out by now.”
Tony thinks he has figured it out, but the thought of getting this wrong feels kind of terrifying, so he says, ”Maybe, but just in case?”
”Alright.” Loki takes a deep breath, as if bracing himself, and says, ”Because I care about you. I tried not to, but you’re just – ” Loki gives a self-deprecating laugh, ”– just too damn intriguing.”
”You find me… intriguing?”
”Very much so.”
Tony gives up trying to hide his smile. ”Well, it’s good to know the feeling’s mutual.”
The stunned look on Loki’s face quickly turns into a matching grin.
~
They sit and talk for a long time. Then they walk around and talk some more. Then they eat again, and Loki conjures up little fireworks that keep flying rounds in the air above the dinner table as he explains the basic concepts of magic to Tony.
And for this one day, Tony forgets all about the outside world.
Let’s just see where this takes us, yeah? Make this whatever we want to.
I like the sound of that.
The more time the two of them spend talking and messing around, the more Tony is in awe of how well they seem to go together. He finds Loki absolutely fascinating, sharp and witty and powerful – not to mention incredibly good-looking.And he can keep up with Tony’s hyperactive mind and challenge him like no one else before.
If only they had more time to figure this out.
”I have to go, you know,” Tony says as the sun starts sinking beyond the trees. They’re lying in the grass beneath an ancient-looking tree whose branches almost reach the veranda, eating berries and just enjoying the warm evening air.
”I know,” Loki replies. ”I cannot stay here, either. Sooner or later someone will think to search this place.”
”Where will you go?”
”Somewhere far away from the Nine Realms. I don’t really know yet.”
”Will you come visit me on Earth sometime?”
Loki smiles softly. ”Of course.”
That promise is the only thing that can convince Tony to face the reality waiting for him on Earth. ”We should probably get going, then.”
The two of them get up, Loki with significantly more grace than Tony, who is still feeling a bit sore. Tony takes one final look at the cottage and turns to face Loki. ”Alright. Beam me up, Scotty!”
Loki rolls his eyes good-naturedly and takes Tony’s hand in his. The world around them explodes into color.