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When Loki fell, the world around him shifted.
The void was a merciless host and it wrapped him in its darkness as soon as he was within its power. Loki had no voice to scream; he could only watch as the nothing trapped him and pulled him down, towards a never-ending fall.
Time didn't exist in that place. There was no light and no life, none that he could feel, it was just... nothing.
He couldn't move. It was like being enclosed inside a cocoon, wrapped in layers of darkness and being held in emptiness.
Loki closed his eyes, there was no difference in having them open or not, and hugged himself, just wanting the void to be done with him, to consume him if that was his fate and just end everything.
It didn't happen, something complete different took place instead.
After who knows how long, there was a shift and suddenly Loki was falling again. Before his eyes were images and around his ears were sounds; he could feel everything and anything. It was overwhelming his senses and even if his voice was back he didn't dare utter a sound.
He could see.
There was Yggdrasil and its multiple roots, the worlds in it and those not part of it. He could see all at once; what it was, what it is and what it will be.
And he could also feel. It was as if he was standing in the middle of the intersection of millions of threads; crossing, overlapping, running side by side, some touching and others entangled, all around.
It was too much.
Loki found his voice and screamed, begging for it to just stop and getting millions of answers in return, making him scream even more. He moved around, pushing, cutting, ripping the threads only to be tangled in them, and then he was falling again.
The noise was subsiding, and he could see but not as much as before, it was better.
He closed his eyes and a cold sensation enveloped him, and he finally was allowed to rest.
---
Loki slowly woke up. He opened his eyes and saw white, bright and too-clean white. He closed his eyes again and grunted.
There was a strange smell in the air, like some of the potions kept in the Healing chambers, but much stronger. He also noticed that he was laying on something soft and he couldn't move freely. He felt a sting in the back of his hands and the crook of his elbows and he felt very weak.
"Hmm, hello?" He blinked and the far too white room forced him to kept his eyes closed.
"Turn off the lights, duh!" said a second voice.
"Wha...? Oh! S-Sorry…"
He heard steps and them a clicking noise, "Sorry about that, you would think these people know things. They obviously don't, but they can't help it."
"There is no need to be rude, Mr. Stark," said a female voice and the second voice, Mr. Stark, laughed.
"That is not being rude, Miss Carter, that was a fact."
Loki opened his eyes, the white room was not bright any longer and the light coming from another room was enough. There were two men and a woman around him; he noted he was lying on a bed and that the sting of his hands and arms was because there were some strange vials with liquid embedded in his skin.
Also, he was blue, literally.
"Be a good boy and fetch some water for our guest, hmmm?"
The first man, dressed in a white coat and wearing glasses raised an eyebrow but in the end left the room, leaving Loki with the man with the goatee and the woman with dark blonde hair.
"W-Where am I?"
The man, Mr. Stark he assumed, looked surprised and, for some reason, happy at the same time. "You speak English? That is fantastic, very, very fascinating..."
The woman, Miss Carter, Loki thought, gave Mr. Stark a glare and then looked at him, "Are you in pain? Cold? We were worried you were going into shock with the hypothermia."
"His skin is blue, surely he can't get worse than that!"
"No, I am... well, for the most part." Loki wanted to give a full fake story, but being in his Jotun form would not help him, "Is your tongue English? I'm not quite sure."
"You're speaking it." Mr. Stark moved to check his eyes and lightly ran his hands over Loki's head as if searching for injuries.
Loki was speaking the All-Tongue, and his head was still a mess. Getting out of this problem would be difficult if he couldn't think straight and make up a lie.
"I... Mr. Stark," he called for the man, who stopped fussing over him to look at him in the eye.
"Call me Howard," he smiled, "And what do I call you?"
He blinked, wondering why this person was being nice to him, seeing that he was a monster.
"...Loki."
---
Midgard, of all places he had to end up in Midgard.
Still, something was not right. He was in Midgard, but it was different from the last time he was in that realm. It felt different, too; Loki didn't know what to make of it.
Loki didn't have strength to complain, although. He was physically too weak to put up any kind of fight and he was also mentally exhausted, and as the events before his fall from the Bifrost and his experience in the void slowly came into his mind, it only deepened his gloom.
He was in a medical facility from one of the many Midgarian Governments and kept a secret from the world, which was fine by him.
Howard Stark was visiting him constantly, as he was the one that found him in the depths of the ocean, half frozen, weak but alive. Howard had been looking for someone and in turn found Loki and a shining cube.
Loki recognized the Tesseract, wondering how such artifact had been lost from Asgard's vaults, and finding out that he didn't actually care that much.
There was not much will to anything left in him, just barely enough to keep himself alive, as he truly felt lost with himself, so he just existed among the mortals that found him.
It was strange the way Howard would talk for long periods of time to him. The topics were not limited to his nature and the Tesseract. Loki had to give the man credit as Howard did not point out the monstrous nature that showed in Loki's skin at all; he treated him well enough, and when he made rude remarks, Loki didn't catch them half the time. He was not very good with the mortal's choice of words, he only noticed he was being rude because Miss Carter would say so and because of the change in Howard's voice, and the way he chuckled when the comment was not understood by Loki.
It was simple: Howard liked to talk.
He would talk about a world Loki didn't know, about science, the war that was ending and the friend he lost to it. Loki had the firm suspicion that Howard talked to him because he just sat there and listened, more than anything else.
It wasn't until one particular day that Howard showed him that that was not entirely true, at least not anymore.
"Can you believe these guys? They want to poke you with needles; I thought we were past that."
"...Poke me with needles?"
"Hemm... You are pretty strange by our standards and that makes some people nervous and nervous people do stupid things, like hurting others to prove whether they are dangerous... hemm... Experimenting?"
Oh, they wanted to study him in cruel ways, interesting.
"I am a monster; their behavior is to be expected." Loki said dryly.
"What?" Howard did a double take and narrowed his eyes, he stood from his seat next to Loki's bed and hovered over him, "Excuse me, but monster? As far as I know you are highly resistant to cold, your eyes are crimson and your skin is blue, but that doesn't make you a monster."
"No, but my very nature does, have I not said this before?"
"You said you were not human."
"Exactly."
"Whatever you are doesn't make you a monster, believe me, I know a lot of humans that are monsters, not for their nature, but for their actions." Howard rolled his eyes. "Steve taught me that much."
"Your lost friend?"
Howard sat on the bed and looked at his hands. "He was poked with needles too, you know? But not in a cruel way. He... He wanted to be strong, because he wanted to help; he was too good to be true."
Loki frowned and Howard gave him a small, sad smile.
"Too bad I didn't show him he meant a lot to me when I had the chance," He nodded to himself, "We all make mistakes. It takes time to realize them, but then you can only do two things."
"And those are?"
Howard held his hand up, "Try to fix them or move on. What is done is done, but what you do after it also counts."
Loki chuckled, "You know nothing."
"Believe me; I know quite a few things." They shared a conformable silence and then Howard returned to his previous topic, "I won't let them hurt you."
"I... do not know what to say."
"That's fine, you don't have to say anything. Just trust me and I will take care of everything."
Loki nodded, wondering how to address the strange warm and calm feeling that was pooling in his chest and lighting up his gloomy mood.
He liked it.
---
In his dreams, Loki saw threads. An endless number of threads of different colors hanging in every direction, some were bright, others dull, some were thin and ragged while others thick and strong, all of them infinite in number.
Loki dreamed himself standing in the middle of all those threads and when he touched them, he could see the images of a life, but if he touched one of the threads of similar aspect, he could see the same life, but changed – parallels on the events, differences in the outcomes.
He would move around the threads, touching, watching and reflecting on the images he saw, his mind working around the concept as the pieces of a puzzle.
One thread would be an event, the ones in similar aspect tangled to it the outcomes, the ones in different aspect were other events connected to the first one, until there was such a spider web formed that the possibilities of a single outcome were unlikely. For one cause, they could be multiple effects, depending on the decisions of those involved in the event.
Time lines.
The theory of how a person walked a path where he could take many different sub paths towards a destination. How one person had many possibilities and all of them existed and therefore were real and possible.
Loki looked up, towards the void that extended over his head, with its swirls and turns and the never ending white noise and then at the threads around him.
"Oh, my..."
---
In his current state of weakness, Loki could do little to refuse what was being asked of him. Howard kept his word and no kind of experiment was performed on his person, he was to help in the study of the Tesseract instead.
"So, it comes from the same world you do?"
Howard was calibrating the machine that was getting the readings of the Tesseract as Loki stood near it, his hand hovering over the cube.
"As far as I know," he mumbled and then touched the cube; he felt a stab of pain and immediately let go.
"What's wrong?" Howard was at his side, holding him by the elbow, looking between the cube and him.
"I know little about this particular object," Loki said in a low voice, "I wasn't allowed to wander the vault on my own."
Howard gently guided Loki to a chair and crouched before him.
"Whatever you can give me is fine, it would be better than walking blind." He smiled and Loki returned the gesture.
"What I do know, apart from its name, as I already told you, is that it holds pure power," he made a complicated gesture with his hands, "Energy... but it is very unstable, at least it feels that way."
Loki flexed his fingers, his sight on the Tesseract, lost in thought, until Howard stood in front of him, blocking the view.
"Hey," he called, "don't space out on me."
"My apologies."
"Hmmmm..." Howard rolled his eyes, "Let's take a break, shall we?"
Loki just nodded, wondering about the Tesseract and its presence on Midgard.
---
Working with the Tesseract was exhausting. The continued exposure to it in such direct form made Loki wary all the time, until it was evident that he was being affected.
The wariness became paranoia, and the headaches started. Loki would feel faint by the time Howard called for a break and would be unable to continue after it.
Howard noticed. He kept giving Loki worried glances and sending him to checkups afterward, but Loki wouldn't tell him what was happening just yet, mostly because Loki himself was having trouble understanding it.
It wasn't until the whispering started that Loki felt truly endangered by the influence of the Tesseract and would openly show an expression of pain upon his face, while the research sessions reached a point where he could not take whatever the Tesseract was doing to him any longer.
Loki held the cube in his hands and was hypnotized by the shimmering blue colors. A distant whisper talked about knowledge and truth, but only he could hear it.
"No..."
He took a couple a steps backwards and let the cube fall onto the table.
This is a truth I do not wish to know.
Loki heard Howard yell, but the noise was muffled, as if he was underwater, then everything was darkness.
---
"You should have told me the Tesseract was hurting you."
Loki read Howard's expression. The genius was showing concern, and he was also angry at least to some degree. Loki tilted his head, wondering if this display was because the investigation was not going according to plan because he neglected to give details or something else.
"Hurting is not the right term," Loki explained. "The Tesseract is... alive."
"It's an object."
"No, it is more than that." Loki frowned in concentration. "The Tesseract is pure energy and it reacts differently depending on who is affected by its touch... I was not expecting to be hurt."
He gazed at his hands, still able to feel the low, tingling sensation of the Tesseract's energy running in his system, and wondered what the cosmic cube wanted to show him.
Howard took his hands, making Loki look him in the eye.
"I don't want you to get hurt," Howard hissed. "It's not right."
"You asked for my assistance, did you not?"
"I never asked you to get hurt by doing so." Howard rolled his eyes. "Have you noticed I keep the research team at bay? I only allow those I trust near you."
"You mentioned something, yes." Loki blinked slowly. "But you made clear my assistance was required as payment."
"What?!" Howard's grip on his hands tightened, making Loki hiss. "I didn't say that!"
"I have nothing else to give but my service and knowledge!" Loki narrowed his eyes, a strange suspicion bubbling inside him. "I won't give anything else."
"Jesus Christ, don't even joke about that!" Howard let go of his hands only to get a grip of his shoulders, "I'm trying to keep you safe, Loki, do you understand that?"
"But why?!"
"Excuse me?"
"Why are you trying to help me?" Loki's hands curled into fists, gripping the bed sheets, his eyes fixed on Howard's, "You have no reason to help me without wanting something in return!"
Howard's mouth was just a thin line, his brow furrowed in anger, and Loki was pretty sure he was a little red in the face.
"There is something about you," he finally said. "I won't lie, when I found you in the ice the first thing that attracted me to you was the fascination of something that I had never seen before, but then you woke and it was no longer about novelty and knowledge, it was just you."
"I'm afraid I do not understand what you mean," Loki mumbled, unsure of where the conversation was going.
"You don't understand and I'm not good with words, this is fantastic," Howard let go of Loki and buried his face on the bed sheets, "If this was an equation I would not have any problems solving it."
"It may be much to ask for," Loki said, "But if you were to be direct, that might do the trick."
"Maybe," Howard nodded, "I could try that." He supported his weight on his arms and looked Loki in the eye, "I like you."
"You like me," Loki repeated and then chuckled, "You do not know me well enough. Once you do, you probably will change your mind."
"Not so far," Howard clicked his tongue, "You are a nice man, I like you and I want to help you because I can and my morals, not to mention the conscience I apparently do have, is screaming at me to do so."
"You feel morally obligated to me?" Loki's tone was filled with confusion, "You have no reason to."
"As a matter of fact, I do." Howard sat straight in the chair, "If I haven't found you in the ocean and brought you here, you may have escaped the ice on your own, who knows. The fact is I found you and put a very visible target on you for mad scientists to aim to, not to mention the government and other interested parties that are not to be trusted."
"I am not defenseless, they cannot—"
"We know that with the right dose of certain sedatives, you will be knocked out for days," Howard narrowed his eyes, not looking at him, "And there is the Tesseract..."
Howard pretended he didn't see the way Loki kept his hands fisted in the sheets to cover up the fact they were trembling.
"I..."
"I won't let them hurt you," Howard repeated, "Not because I want something of you in return, I just don't want them to."
They shared a silent moment and while it passed, something in Loki's mind changed. He sighed softly, a sad smile in his face.
"I apologize."
"What for?"
"For being difficult," he clarified. "It seems my trust dilemmas are ablaze presently."
"Do you have reasons for that?"
"Unfortunately, I do."
"Maybe you will tell me about it someday." Howard said, and it was as if a door had been opened for Loki; it was an offering.
"Yes..." Loki's smile didn't look so sad anymore, "Maybe I will."
---
Howard's determination to keep Loki away from the curious minds of scientist looking for weapons to keep making war was not well received, but Howard Anthony Stark was not just anybody and he would make this right.
---
Loki found himself visiting the plain where the threads hung from the endless space. He walked around them and with delicate and careful, measured touches he ran his fingers over the threads.
Sometimes he could hear voices talking, giving him instructions and guidance. From them he learned the gifts he was given and somehow understood how it worked. He also learned what had become of his fate once he fell from the rainbow bridge.
It wasn't a nice discovery. He found out by mistake and verified the information too many times until there was no way of denying the truth. His fall through the void had destroyed his connection with the balance of fates, giving the endlessness of the void an opening towards his entire being.
The thread of his own fate was ripped, but somehow it had laced across others to hang, making his possibilities endless and yet tied to many others. Loki's line of life was not stable, it existed, but he was now an instrument of fate.
A Seer.
As he stood in the middle of the endless amount of threads hanging from the lines of time, space and existence itself, he wondered what he should do now. Strangely enough he found his answer without really looking for it. He reached for the thread shimmering gold, the one that seemed to be calling for his attention, and read the line of events.
After the initial shock of what he saw, a small smile darted across his lips.
---
When he opened his eyes, the world didn’t make much sense. Everything felt different from when he went to sleep. Something was not right.
"Thank God you're awake!"
Howard looked distressed as he hovered over Loki. The demigod blinked in confusion and pushed himself to a sitting position, only to start a chain reaction, making a shock of pain travel to every single nerve of his body.
He drowned a scream by biting his knuckles and regretted the action when he tasted copper on his tongue. He looked at his hand, noticing the cuts and even lack of skin in the back of his hand.
"What happened?" His voice was horse, barely a whisper, but he couldn't remember screaming. Something had happened and he had no idea what it was.
"I'm so sorry," Howard looked over his shoulder and then back at him. Loki had not noticed it before, but there was blood on Howard's shirt and a bruise blooming across his cheek.
Loki's eyes scanned the room. He wasn't in the place where he fell asleep; this was a place meant to experiment in, a laboratory.
"But how?" He tried to sit up again and Howard motioned him to stop by gently placing his hand on Loki's shoulders.
"You were asleep and they... I'm so sorry, I should have been more careful, I promised you I wouldn't let them hurt you and yet... I'm so sorry."
"They did this?" He was panicking and Howard noticed. "But I didn't feel a thing!"
"Well, the lesser of evils." Howard's smile was bitter. "You were in some kind of trance and they drugged you and took you away, I took me too long to find you, damn it..."
"A trance..."
Maybe his long walk across the field of threads had done it. His consciousness was not present and his body was weak; that combination plus the chemicals protected him from feeling the pain of the moment, but the consequences were now piling on him.
"Help is coming," Howard said while cutting the straps over Loki's thighs, straps that Loki had not even noticed before. "My team is on their way."
Howard smirked and that allowed Loki to calm down, somehow.
Maybe it was the confidence of the gesture or that he could detect no lie in those words. Whatever it was, it helped.
"What are you planning?" His voice was barely a whisper and he stared at Howard with total attention. He wanted, he needed to know the answer to confirm a theory that had formed in his mind.
"I'm taking you out of here, of course." Howard rolled his eyes at him, as if Loki had asked a silly question. "Just you and me. Well, almost, we're getting some assistance and therefore company in the process."
Howard offered his hand to help him up and Loki didn't hesitate, he just took it.
This mortal knew nothing of him, this mortal had seen his true form and not recoiled. He'd had Loki at his mercy and helped him instead. He made a promise to him and was fighting to keep it.
"I'm going to be the cause of so many difficulties for you," Loki said with a trembling voice, a smile on his lips and tears in his eyes. "Please, believe me when I say that it is not my intention to do so."
"Loki?" Howard frowned, unsure of what the demigod was going through. "It will be all right..."
"It can be, but I do not know how to achieve such a state," he laughed. It felt bitter.
"Not alone, for starters." Loki felt the hand holding his tightened its grip and he looked Howard in the eye. "I'm here, yes?"
He thought about it and remembered the flashes he saw when he touched the golden thread and how the possibility of it becoming reality existed.
"Yes," he said firmly and gripped Howard's hand. "You indeed are here."
The color of his skin changed from the hand that Howard was holding to the rest of his body and the mortal watched in fascination as Loki's eyes changed from crimson to green.
"You are... that's oh, that's amazing!"
"I might be feeling better," Loki licked his lips, "Do I look better?"
"You look different," Howard pointed out, "Blue suits you just as well."
The team reached their destination as Loki blinked in surprise at Howard's words. The man didn't notice. So Loki observed how he gave directions to his team while helping him to get up.
As they helped Loki out of the building, several things went though the demigod's head. Howard was beside him the whole time, and neither of them let go of the other.
There was no way for Howard to know what Loki had decided. How he made up his mind and committed to not walk away from him. Howard couldn't know, but he would see it.
Loki knew things never went completely right for him, but this time he was going to do everything he could to make it perfect.
There was a possible future for him weaving around Howard Stark and Loki wanted that future. He was not going to let go.
At least, not that easily.
---
The world outside the military base Loki had spend the last few months in was not what he had seen before. It had the energy of humanity and the blessing of a goddess; that much Loki could feel.
He couldn't help but wonder if his fall through the void not only ripped the threads of his fate but his entire existence across time and space.
Well, at least he wasn't alone.
Howard seemed more energetic than ever. He was constantly having meetings with another group of men and women Loki didn't know, all of them engaged in the topic of the War that seemed to be all around the world. Loki stood in the corner of the room and said nothing. He was used to war, but not in those his realm was not involved with.
In between making deals with these people that were in favor of protecting the nation they lived in but not in working with a government that wouldn't listen, Howard spent a fair amount of time with Loki.
He showed him things that had nothing to do with the war. He talked about science, the knowledge he possessed and how his inventions worked. Loki liked to listen and watch, for Howard talked about the subject with a fierce passion.
In return, Loki would talk about his own nature and, as time passed and his trust in Howard grew, he showed him his magic.
Howard had seen Loki at his most vulnerable state; in his natural form and at the border of death; Loki felt that after that there wasn't much he could hide from him.
Still, he kept the theory of his newfound ability to see beyond the present and the paths of possibility to himself. Not because he didn't trust Howard with the knowledge, but because Loki himself didn't understood such skill yet.
Loki felt comfortable in the turn his life was taking, but he couldn't help but wonder if there was a catch.
---
"You, my friend, have a sick, sick sense of humor."
Howard was smiling while saying those words, so Loki didn't take them to heart and proceeded to act innocent instead.
"Do I?"
"I mean, I like the name choice, Lucas does suit you, just bear in mind I'll call you Luke half the time."
"Noted."
"But what in the world were you thinking to choose Usher as you last name?"
"I read it in a book and I liked the tone," Loki shrugged, "Lucas Usher."
"It shouldn't surprise me that you would choose an Edgar Allan Poe character to inspire you," Howard rolled his eyes, "So... I live with the last name of the House of Usher?"
"If you want to see it that way."
"You don't have a twin sibling that I need to worry about, do you?"
"No." Loki was trying to contain his giggling, "Not as far as I know."
"That's a relief; I don't want phantom thunder storms chasing us at night."
"...Yes, who would like that?"
---
A fateful night in the late summer of that year, he found out more about what being a Seer meant for him.
Loki fell in a forceful trance and found himself in the path of the treads without wanting to be there, this time in the company of four women.
Three of them Loki had seen before, at least in illustrations. The Norns Urðr, Verðandi and Skuld.
The fourth woman he had never seen before. Her skin was a washed off green color and her eyes were blue, her hair was long, down to her waist and Loki could have sworn it was made of twigs and leaves. She had a crown made of flowers over her head and was cradling thousands of threads in her hands as tears rolled down her face.
"Oh, he is here." Skuld motioned as she handed the green goddess more threads, "Come here little one, you need to learn."
"Son of Odin and Frigga by bond," Urðr spoke, "Son of Laufey and Fárbauti by blood. You don't belong to them anymore, little one."
"Yes," Verðandi took his hand and guided him near them, "You are ours now."
Loki didn't know what to say, but it felt that his words would matter little to the Fates that had just claimed kinship over him.
"I..."
"Do not worry little one, we will explain," Skuld assured, "For now we just want to show you a little of what we as the main weavers of fate do."
"Many of my children will die today," the green goddess said in sadness. "They would be killed by the weapons made by their brothers."
Loki stared at the threads and then at the goddess. She was the presence he felt in Midgard, she was Gaia.
"The war..." Loki hesitated and the goddess nodded.
"Yes, it would come to an end, but it will take many more than those already claimed," Gaia kissed the threads and handed them back to Urðr.
"I'm sorry my dear," Urðr did look apologetic, "But there is nothing else we can do."
"I understand," Gaia closed her eyes, "I will rest now."
"Sleep now, dear one, time will not always be as dark as it is now."
"I hope so."
Gaia smiled sadly and then walked away, the leaves of her hair falling as she walked.
"What will happen to those lives?" Loki asked, his eyes moving from Gaia to the threads being held by Urðr.
"They are about to end."
"What?"
"This is how fate works, little one," Verðandi ran her fingers over Loki's arm, "We wave the threads of fate and the paths are set by the decisions of their owners, but when those lives reach an end, we have to cut the threads."
"Sometimes it is not even their decision," Skuld took a bunch of the threads, running her fingers over them. "Fates are intertwined after all."
"Just like you intertwined yours to that man," Urðr pointed out.
"You are allowed to do so," the three of them spoke at the same time, "But never forget that you are one of us now, because Fate herself took you as her child when the thread of your existence was shattered by the Void."
"A child of fate?"
Loki watched how the three main Fates cut all the threads and could almost feel the pain of Gaia as they did so.
"Your task will not be as heavy as this you just witnessed, little one." Urðr was looking at the recently cut threads in her hands, "We will be your guides, we will teach you and you will find new meaning to your existence in our instruction."
"For now, you must return, this event will also affect the ones around you." Skuld nodded towards the path behind him.
"The one you want to weave you life alongside is calling for you," Verðandi announced. "Go to him."
He closed his eyes and woke up.
---
He found Howard in the study, sitting in an armchair nursing a drink, a hunted look on his face and fear in his eyes.
"What happened?"
Loki sat on the floor and gently took the drink from Howard's hands to set it aside, noting they were trembling.
"The bomb," Howard mumbled, "They launched the bomb."
Loki didn't know what he was talking about, but he had the image of the Norns cutting the threads in his head still fresh and their words regarding the future of Gaia's children.
"Japan can't stand after this," Howard reached for Loki's hands, his eyes far away. "They would have to agree to the terms of surrender."
"Howard..."
"It will soon be over, at least against them, the rest of the war surely will follow."
"Shss..." Loki ran his fingers through Howard's hair. "It will be well..."
"No, not really," He chuckled and pressed his forehead against Loki's, "Not to them... but we will be, yes? We will be fine."
"You are not making sense," Loki mumbled, "What are you speaking abou—"
"They won't take you away!" He said this fiercely and looked at him in the eye, "A new organization will take over, we are working on it, and with this I will assure our futures, you will stay with me, would you not?"
"Yes..." Loki hesitated for a moment, unsure of what was crossing Howard's mind, "I will."
"Because I found you, I saved you."
"You did."
"You won't run away."
"I have no reason to—"
Loki closed his eyes when he felt Howard's lips on his, his hands gripping his face near the point of pain. There was sorrow and desperation in the kiss, but there was also something real, something more.
He suddenly saw the thread he had picked to weave his fate alongside Howard's being ripped apart and he gasped when something inside him felt dead.
Had he been wrong? Was this not the path he should follow?
"Oh God, oh God... I'm sorr—"
"DON'T!" Loki shrieked, "Don't you dare say it!"
They silence felt too heavy for him to bear, but he didn't know how to break it. He was at a loss once again. If his future was not with Howard, was he condemned to be on his own?
It couldn't be. No. He refused to accept it.
He remained very still as Howard left the room, Loki didn't follow.
---
Loki sat in the path of the threads, his eyes searching for the golden thread he had seen, his life weaved alongside Howard's, but he couldn't find it.
"Weaving threads is a most complicated thing."
Urðr's voice echoed in the darkness, then her figure materialized a few steps behind him. She had a long thread in her right hand and a pair of long knitting needles in the other.
"You said I was allowed to be with him." Loki's tone was not resentful, he sounded more hurt than anything.
"You are."
"But he..."
"Fate is a changing thing, child, you have the thread but the way you knit it to others can constantly change," she took several threads hanging and then proceed to unite them by using the needles, then slowly started to separate them and then knit them again, but in different sequence.
"It's the same... yet the other has been changed."
"That is correct." Urðr let go of the threads and sat beside him, "You have much to learn."
"I have many questions."
"If it is in my knowledge, I will answer them."
Urðr did not disappoint him; she had many answers to give and more explanations to share.
He leaned that technically he was part of the Norns now, for there are many Norns across all time and space, but all answer to the same Fate and the Matrons Urðr, Verðandi and Skuld, the three most important Norns. They were the ones that took care of the roots of Yggdrasil and weaved the most important threads of Fate, such as he had seen in his encounter with them and Gaia.
Loki was a Seer; he could see the threads of fate, read them and even pull them a little. He was still too young and his power was not as great as other seers and weavers, but he could learn.
"You will be called when a new thread is weaved, for you have to be present at the start of such life to determinate how that fate is to begin."
"So... the legend is true?"
"Yes, there are many Norns – your sisters and brothers now – and they are present when someone is born in order to determine an initial path for his or her future."
Urðr took a few threads hanging around them and started to knit them together while humming.
"The people... they can change the paths we determine?" Loki asked, hiding the trembling in his voice for the fear he had to know the answer.
"Of course," Urðr said simply, "We only determinate the first path, when they reach the first crossroad, the decision is their own; then we observe, sometimes we push and pull, but ultimately all the knitting we do can be undone and redone. Their ultimate Fate is not ours to choose, just to observe."
"I don't know if I can do this..."
"We were adopted by Fate herself as her kind child, of course you can, she will whisper her words and we will teach you to interpret them."
"But my own fate, I chose and he—!"
"Your own is not as guided as these threads are," Urðr interrupted firmly, "You can knit it alongside others, but you cannot control it."
"I wanted to stay with him..."
"You have made your choice, now is time for him to makes his."
---
It was raining the morning Howard left. It felt like a bad cliché, but the weather matched Loki's mood.
He didn't ask any of the staff where Howard was, but he was aware of how the staff was whispering about a disagreement between them. Loki chose to ignore this.
He sat by the window in his room, an open book on his lap and the radio humming a song he didn't know the lyrics to.
"Master Usher?" one of the maids asked timidly and Loki just nodded his head to acknowledge her calling but didn't turn his eyes from the window, "Would you like me to bring your tea?"
"Yes, please."
Loki drank the tea but declined the pastries.
He didn't read the book on his lap and felt oddly calm by just watching the rain fall. The staff asked him small question about his well being and if there was anything he needed, but he politely declined all their attentions.
"You are sulking, young man."
Mrs. Barns entered the room carrying a tray with food and tea. Loki couldn't help but wonder why she was there; as Housekeeper she had far more important things to do than bring him something he didn't ask for.
"I admit I feel a bit under the weather," Loki mumbled, "nothing more."
"I'm not blind dear," she placed the cup in the table beside him, glaring a little, "And for the way Master Stark ran from the house, I will venture and say something happened between you two."
"Something did happen," Loki admitted absentmindedly, "I'm not entirely sure what just yet."
"Well," Mrs. Barns left a plate with assorted fruits and a few pastries with the tea over the table, "I'm sure he will come around, eventually."
"He..." Loki sighed, "I might have made a mistake."
"Of course you didn't," Mrs. Barns ruffled his hair affectionately and Loki couldn't help but smile, "He just doesn't know how to deal with matters of the heart as well as he does with matters of the head."
"Matters of the heart...?"
"I told you I'm not blind, my dear." She repeated, "Most people aren't, they just pretend to be so, it's easier."
Loki stared at her, lost for words. Mrs. Barns smiled and left the room and Loki could have sworn she was giggling by the time she closed the door.
---
He refused to look at the thread of Howard's life the next time he was able to enter the path of threads, so he didn't notice that his own thread of life was still knitted around Howard's.
---
Howard came back looking as if a truck had splashed dirty water over him, he smelled like alcohol and one of his shoes was missing.
Loki eyed him head to toe as the man fidgeted his fingers and bit his lip. He looked hangover, his eyes very red but otherwise fine. Loki didn't say a word and just moved from the door to let him in.
"I'm sorry."
Loki stopped and looked over his shoulder. Howard was leaning against the frame of the door, looking miserable.
"What for?"
"For running away like that," He made a pained expression, "I-I-I shouldn't have d-done that." Howard crossed the room in a few long straws and took Loki's hand, thumbing the back of his hands in small circles.
"If you don't want to talk that's fine—"
"No." Howard looked at him in the eye, "I have to say this. Look, I got scared, I panicked and I ran because I'm an idiot."
"I'm making you uncomfortable..."
"No, no, no, no." Howard took a deep breath, "I'm not a coward you know? I shouldn't care what society thinks of me, I don't, most of the time."
"Society?"
Loki narrowed his eyes, tilting his head in confusion, making Howard stare at him for a moment and then laugh.
"Oh, I'm such an idiot," he murmured. "You are a being from out of this world, of course you don't know about our stupid social standards."
"You ran away from me because of a social standard?"
"Sort of?"
"Not because of me?"
"Never because of you."
Howard's voice was firm and with bloodshot eyes and smelling like a single spark could set him on fire, the determination of his words was perfectly clear.
"Oh."
"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"
"I cannot say I do," Loki gripped Howard's hands and tugged him towards the house, "Could you explain it to me?"
"Yes, I guess," Howard swallowed, "In this society is not well seen when a man has another man for a lover."
Loki blinked several times, "That makes some kind of sense."
"Yes, but at the same time it doesn't and it's also stupid." Howard rolled his eyes, "It doesn't affect anybody outside the—what are you doing?"
Howard slowly let go of Loki's hands as a shimmer of green and white covered him, Howard never stopped looking and when the glow faded, he was looking at a female version of Loki.
"Will this do?" Her voice was not exactly soft, it was just as deep and characteristic as his male form, it fitted her.
"You, I mean, this is not necessary, you, Loki, you don't have to change who you are!"
Loki hugged herself, glaring, "It's just another form I can take, I'm still myself."
"But I love you the way you are, you know, blue or peach, both male."
"What did you just say?"
"I said that you don't have to change gender!"
"I'm both genders anyway, but I didn't ask about that. Before that, what did you say?"
"That I love you the way you are?" Howard answered, unsure. "You have both genders?"
"Yes, unusual for Aesir, standard for Jutonn," Loki waved the subject off, "You said you love me."
"I do."
"No you don't."
"I'm fairly sure I do." Howard rolled his eyes again. "I just had an existential crisis about it."
"You cannot love me."
"Why not?"
He watched as Loki paced around the room shifting from female to male and had his own turn in having a crisis.
"Because, because..."
"Yes?"
Loki looked mortified, "How can you love me?"
"I actually thought you would be glad," Howard blinked, "Are you rejecting me?"
"No!"
"Then?"
"I... I have deep feelings for you, but they were not supposed to be returned..." Loki closed his eyes and then felt Howard's hand on his check but he didn't look at him.
"Well, news flash, I just had an existential crisis because I'm indeed returning those feelings, I'm rethinking my whole life and I'm actually quite glad of the choices I made these past months. Whoever said I was not supposed to love you can go fuck themselves, I'm not letting you go."
"You sound like one of those overacted dramas the maids listen to on the radio..." He laughed, leaning to rest his forehead against Howard's, "I'm not exactly complaining."
"Good."
They shared a comfortable silence. Both thinking too much and nothing at all at the same time, but acknowledging that they survived their first crisis well enough.
"...You should take a shower."
"Hush you! Let me enjoy this."
---
To keep Loki's real identity private and for his own safety, Howard didn't make public his relationship with him, but when Loki used his skills and changed his shape to his female form, things got interesting for the media. Both Loki and Howard were very amused about it.
"This is most novel." Loki sat on the recliner in the study while reading the newspaper, "It seems that in the verge of change, just as the war is ending, you have found love again!"
"Again? I don't recall losing in first place." Howard rolled his eyes, "I just recently found it properly."
They shared a conspiratory look, talking more with their look than their words before Loki went back to the paper.
"They know a minimal part of the story," he blinked, "We have just been publicly out a couple of times for dinner and people are already talking; I didn't take you for a cinematic star."
"I know!" Howard took the paper from Loki, "Anyone else would be far more interested in Sinatra's love life than mine, but you darling, are giving them much to talk about."
Loki shifted to his female form and crossed her legs, smiling seductively, "And they don't even know my name."
"I don't know your lady name either and I'm the one dating you," Howard frowned, "You know... I was thinking about that twin sibling you said you don't have."
"Oh... that's clever." She bit her lip, "And just a tad eerie, considering the origins of my mortal surname."
"You will give them so much to talk over, maybe a great analysis of just what were your parents thinking in naming their twins after Poe's story, Lucas and—"
"Maria."
"Twin siblings Lucas and Maria Usher; heirs of the mysterious House of Usher." Howard made a gesture with his hands as if he was reading from bulletin, "It's frightening because I'm aware of what I'm getting into."
"Oh, do shut up." Loki shifted back to his male form and took the paper from Howard to set it over the table, "Tell me about the organization."
"We got a name," Howard smirked, "Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."
Loki stared at him for a long moment, then frowned and mouthed the name several times, trying to remember it.
"It's a bit long."
"We're working on it."
---
Loki took the thread of his life and weaved two mortal personalities out of it, taking them to heart, they became part of him, because deep down they always were. He was just showing them freely now.
Many things from Midgard he learned from Howard and from self study, and so this life began.
Lucas Usher was a scientist. His passion for knowledge and devotion to research was what made Howard Stark offer him a partnership in his company.
Maria Usher was a doctor. She was devoted to helping others with her skills and immersed in research to get new advances to medicine. All this was thanks to her brother's help and support, and even with the social setbacks of her gender, she would not stop her cause.
The fact that she was dating the genius engineer Howard Stark also had its perks.
But it was amusing that even if the Usher twins were a common topic to talk about, no one really knew the truth about them, and how could they? How could anyone figure that Maria and Lucas were two halves of the same person?
Loki smiled to himself. Even if sometimes did miss his old life, he was happy with the one he had now.
The only downside was that it would have to end someday, for his immortal life would surpass the mortal one of his beloved.
That thought made his heart ache.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
Howard's voice called for him and his green eyes encounter the brown of Howard's.
"Nothing you have to worry about.
"Come here, give me a hug!"
"My pleasure."
---
Unknown to Loki, there was others besides the Fates whose power was not completely anchored to space and time when they required it, and even after his fall Loki remained a Prince of Asgard.
That was why when the roots of Yggdrasil traced a name alongside Loki's in the tree of family; the Fates listened to the call of the goddess of youth so she could give her gift to the Prince.
---
His dream was different this time. He was in a wood covered in the low mist of the morning; he could feel the soft dew on his skin and the breeze moving his hair.
"Your grace."
Loki had no idea what he was expecting, but for Idunn to visit his dream never even occurred to him as a possibility. Now he recognized the trees as apple trees and the garden as hers.
"Idunn."
"The Fates have allowed me to see you," she said with a soft smile, "I wanted to congratulate you."
She was sitting on a long piece of fabric over the floor, a basket with sweets and other delicacies beside her. She extended her hand in invitation.
Loki eye her in doubt but in the end took the invitation and sat beside her.
"I am lost to Asgard now, Idunn."
"We mourn your fall, my prince," she said evenly. "But now... Now that I know that your life has not ended but only begun... yet I have vowed to say this to no one, for is not the time."
"Was this oath made to Urðr, Verðandi and Skuld?"
"Yes, my prince."
"Oh..."
They knew what would become of Loki's future, but they couldn't tell him. He had to sit and weave it himself.
"Would you accept my wedding gift, my prince?"
"Wedding...?"
Loki almost chocked on air when Idunn present him with a small basket of golden apples and a single crystal one among them.
"Your betrothed is mortal," she said softly, "It would be a shame if his life was to end before yours because of his mortality."
"You are giving me this?" Loki looked surprised, almost scared. "Why?"
"Because I can."
Her smile was sweet and amused at the same time. She needed no more reason than her will to give Loki this gift and if this dream was real, it would be foolish of him to decline it.
Loki took the basket and whispered words of gratitude.
They talked about many other topics then, and Loki told her that as soon as he was able to determine when he could speak with his family, he would.
---
"Hey darling, I was wondering if you would like to have lunch at the... Loki?"
Howard almost ran to his bedside upon hearing Loki's sobs. He was clutching several golden apples against his chest, smiling.
"It wasn't just a dream."
"You are scaring me love, are you well?" Howard sat beside him and took his face in his hands, "Please talk to me."
"If you had the option to spend eternity with me, would you do it?"
Howard dropped his hands and sighed, for a moment Loki misinterpreted this as a no, but then Howard took his hand and slid a single silver band in his ring finger.
"I wanted to ask you the same; I was planning something very romantic and probably over the top because I'm a show off."
Loki stared at the ring in his hand and tilted his head, remembering the meaning of such gestures in the mortal world.
He handed Howard one of the apples, his hand almost trembling.
"Please, eat it."
Howard was looking at him as he ate the apple, he made no questions. He just locked his gaze with Loki's and welcomed an eternity beside him.
There would be time for questions later, right now they were just living the moment.
---
Maria Usher accepted Howard Stark's proposal a Sunday evening and a few months later, she became Maria Stark.
The wedding was something "simple" according to Howard, and Loki couldn't help but roll her eyes. There were so many attendants Loki had the ceremony confused with one from Asgard for a second.
Yet he knew it was not, and strangely enough, he didn't feel exactly longing about it. Sure, he couldn't help but wonder what his mother and father would have said and even his brother, but he wasn't too invested in getting the answer to that question either. He had mixed feelings about it.
Instead she focused in being her female "mortal" self and showed the excitement she did feel in her wedding day.
She felt more than a little silly when she animated a clone for her brother to attend the ceremony, him being the one that was to walk her down the aisle.
It was just an illusion. Loki was walking alone, but that didn't bother him, because he was walking towards someone beloved to him.
In Loki's mind there was no one else but his lover waiting. No one was in the great ball room. There was no music, no noise, just them.
Loki was aware that he was readjusting time lines by doing this, but he couldn't see anything crumble while doing so. This path was safe, it was all right.
Before the mortal world, Howard Anthony Walter Stark married Maria Elizabeth Usher with the approval of Maria's brother Lucas Edward Usher.
Before the cosmos, the god of Fire and Chaos, the mischievous trickster of Asgard, now Child of Fate united his existence with that of a once mortal child of Gaia, a child that had been granted the longevity of the fair gods thanks to a golden apple.
They had an entire world, in private.
---
They ravished each other's mouths. Kissing like drowning men fighting for air, claiming each other, treasures to be safeguarded, to enjoy and savor.
It wasn't sweet nor gentle. It was a constant motion of lack of control, lust and sentiment fueling their dark desire.
The act was theirs and theirs alone, a definition in motion of how much they were obsessed with each other. It might look desperate, clinging, and even filthy.
But who was to judge, who was to see? This was part of the world in private, behind closed doors with the heart on the sleeve and the fire of pure wild desire.
He even may dare to call it perfect. It certainly felt like such.
"I can't believe you're here," Howard whispered in the dark as he kissed Loki again and again, tracing every inch of his body with his lips, making Loki hold his breath as the open-mouth kisses reached the most sensitive parts of his body, only to stop and instead be teased with soft butterfly kisses. Howard was fully aware of the things it did to him and of course he took advantage of it.
"I—Ah!—S-Share... T-The f-feeling..."
He could feel Howard smirk against his skin and Loki held back a laugh.
He not only liked this life, he was almost sure he loved it. It had the peace he never knew he wanted and the company he didn't know he needed.
It was a simple yet well received feeling. Maybe it had to do with the fact that his life was no longer laced only to chaos, but now he was attached to fate as well.
Maybe it was nothing of the sort and he was simply enjoying the moment.
"Hey..." Howard was over him, face to face, "Stay with me."
Loki's lips curled into his signature grin and in a swift and fast movement rolled on top of Howard, straddling his waist and looking almost predatory as he lowered his body to whisper in the inventor's ear.
"I'm not going anywhere."
Loki wasn't entirely surprised in finding out he meant it.
---
Verðandi was with him. Both were observing the threads moving and tangling among them, forming new paths and possibilities.
"Your choice of weaving your life alongside that child of Gaia is making many paths for the future," she said as both watched how the threads twisted and joined, "My sister Skuld has told me her vision of tomorrow remains uncertain, but my vision of the present remains unchanged."
"I do not know what present you see," Loki's words were not sincere. He did have an idea, but he did not understand its meaning, so he preferred not to make presumptions, for he disliked to be wrong if they were proven to be incorrect.
"Fooling yourself does you no good," Verðandi remarked, "As weavers of Fate and her servants, we live in a time apart from any other, we can say we move with fate herself."
"That doesn't change my statement," Loki insisted, "What present am I to see? The life I left behind when I fell into the Void?"
"That is but a reflection of the present, yes." Verðandi made a complicated gesture and many mirrors appeared around them, something playing as a projection in them, "Can you see? All these are presents happening in different time lines, many are alike, many are opposite, but all of them are real."
Loki observed the mirrors to see for himself that Verðandi's words were true.
"As there is not a single future, there is also not a single present," he whispered in surprise.
"That is correct." Verðandi tilted her head, "There are a few who can jump in between them, but for those without fate's blessing, it is not safe."
Loki felt tempted to touch the surface of one of the mirrors, one he knew was not the one he was living in, but Verðandi snapped her fingers and the mirrors disappeared.
"I am not allowed to cross?" he asked.
"It is not within your power," Verðandi confirmed, "You can see, but you cannot cross."
"But you can walk between them."
"I am the child of fate in charge of the present, the many of them, that is why I have such privilege." She said, "I'm showing you this because I want you to see that the present you have is made of the intertwining of a past changed and created to have the option of many futures, but you have to maintain vigilance and care of the most rooting and relevant things that are meant to happen in it as result of your doing."
"Weave the threads?"
"Correct." Verðandi closed her eyes, "Fate has let you knit your life alongside a child of Gaia, he was gifted with the youth of the gods of the land that saw you grown and now you are here. You must never forget that your intervention, as little or great as it might be, is very important for this line."
"Why?" Loki questioned, "It is because Fate took me as her child?"
"No..."
"Then why?"
"Fate gave you the roots of this line; it changed and reshaped itself for you, this is why your intervention is so significant. Those affected are and will be important to you, as you are and will be to them."
Loki nodded. He understood that the lives of those around him were changed because of his presence. The rest of the world keep on turning on its own, but those lines and threads he had touched were his to safeguard.
He could do that.
---
As time passed, he kept his mortal double life and his Seer life carefully balanced. He was careful, because even if things appeared to be fine, he had no guarantee of the future.
Fate was tricky, and he was but a child of hers.
He was having a recurring dream. In this dream he stood in front of a spinning wheel under a tree.
There was no one else there, but he knew this was the place the three main Norns rested in, and he also knew what the wheel was for.
Loki didn't touch it, he wasn't sure if he should.
He lost the count of how many times he had this same dream, and his decision of not touching the wheel remained for a while.
---
He was Lucas Usher when Howard introduced him to one of his business partners, Obadiah Stane.
The man was a real master in what he did. He was an inventor in his own right and his collaborations alongside Howard proved to be among the best, only surpassed by the ones made between Lucas and Howard.
He didn't like him.
There was something strange in his presence, but he kept his comments to himself, only pointing out the events that could result in a risk for Stark Industries. Lucas was Howard Stark's most trusted partner, so Lucas had to protect what mattered to him, without suffocating Howard.
It was in subtle but well designed ways. A late authorization, a rewrite of terms, among other things; Lucas was sure to make clear his position in Stark Industries to Obadiah, so he would never underestimate him.
He had a hard time working with him when Obadiah started to act overly friendly when he was Maria. The man was disturbing.
As Maria, he had to endure conversations that sometimes could be plain awkward, because most of the time the topic was not work related. Maria decided to avoid the man as much as she could just to avoid the problem all together. Loki had enough dealing with him as Lucas.
He, as both Maria and Lucas, was trying not to snap at the man for simply existing.
Howard found this hilarious, until Loki mentioned how friendly Obadiah was being with Maria. After that Obadiah had a business trip to Europe that was scheduled to take at least a few months.
You don't mess with Howard Stark's lover, period.
---
He was having the dream with the wheel again.
Loki walked in circles around it, his mind settled on not changing the pattern, yet a voice in the back of his mind was telling him that it was time.
He finally turned the wheel.
As he did so, a new golden and red thread was created. Loki took the thread in his hands, feeling a warm feeling. It was familiar and so close to him he clutched the new golden threads as though it were his.
He didn't notice his fate older sisters watching in the background with a serene expression on their faces.
---
Loki woke up with the image of the thread on his head, feeling something different, something new inside him.
He moved his hand to immediately settle it over his abdomen and cast a small spell.
"Oh..."
---
Howard didn't yell when Loki told him he was with child. He didn't actually do a thing. He just stood there with a perplexed expression in his face, which was far more than Loki expected.
So, as Howard's mind shut down, Loki sat on recliner and asked one of the maids to bring tea and some sweets.
It took a couple of hours, but when Howard finally reacted, it was with joy and excitement.
"I'm going to be a father!" he said at the top of his lungs. "I have no idea how to do that!"
"That makes two of us," Loki sipped his tea with the most calm he could muster, "We will have to make it up as we go."
"Names, we must think of names!"
Howard was looking around his study muttering something about finding a baby names book, a book that he of course didn't have. Loki decided not to mention this just yet, it was giving Howard something to distract himself with.
There was much to plan and even more to do and he felt ready.
---
Anthony Edward Stark was born in a late May afternoon.
His arrival was a time for celebration and there were many things to learn.
Loki was exhausted and all he wanted to do was to curl up with his newborn son and sleep, but he had a duty to perform.
He shifted in the plain of reality towards the halls destiny and lifted his son's thread of fate, watching the possible futures for him behind his closed eyes.
There were many things for him, for the battles, the becoming of a hero named Iron Man and the formation of a group of Heroes was present in most if not all of them.
Loki frowned, he didn't want his child to suffer, yet that was not entirely his decision, but he could do his best to give Anthony his support, always.
Also, there was the fact that, technically, Anthony was the son of two beings with the status of gods.
Loki was sure his son was, someday, going to give Asgard a mythical headache, no doubt.
With this in mind and the vision of the possible futures, Loki set the thread of destiny for his son, once he reached the first crossroad the decisions would be completely his own.
Loki was giving shape to his own future too, for he knew the line of events someday will cross with his brother's visit to Earth and the New Mexico incidents. Lucas Usher was already part of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (still working on the name), same organization that would deal with such incidents later on in the line of events.
He would worry about that later on; for now he had a baby to take care of.
---
"People are going to notice that you are not aging."
Howard was making funny faces at their son when Loki brought the topic. It was something they had talked about before but had left it for the moment.
"Well, yes, they might." Howard scooped Tony up and the baby drooled all over his tie, Loki smiled at that, "But you're the one with the magic touch, not I."
"Hmmm... I think I can work on something," Loki frowned, "Maybe a perception filter charm."
"Is this the part where you ramble about magic as if I understood it?"
"I learned science, and you do understand the basics of magic, I have talked about it one too many times and you are a genius."
"Well yes, but you know that more than the ramble, I just like to hear you talk."
"Oh, then I must make a full explanation of how the theory and practice of a perception filter charm works and how I want to modify it to just make people shrug off that your appearance and your age don't match."
"What about one of your illusions?" Howard suggested, "That would work too, make me look older as you make your twin personas age."
"I would, but a charm, something I can engrave in your flesh and stands on its own would be safer, that way the charm wouldn't be broken easily and won't depend on my power."
"What do you say, Tony? Do you want to have a science slash magic night of experiments and pizza with mommy and daddy?" Tony cooed and nibbled his father's tie.
"You are not giving pizza to the baby."
"Of course not," Howard rolled his eyes, "I'm drinking far much less, I have the right to stuff myself with pizza!"
"Your metabolism can handle it, so I guess that is fine." Loki picked up the phone, "Should I call the Italian place and tell the butler to pick up the food?"
"Yes," Howard sighed. "You know, when you mentioned the apple would make me more like you, you didn't mention my tolerance for alcohol would go up, it makes it very difficult for me to get drunk!"
"I wasn't aware you used to drink yourself stupid," Loki commented, "I was more worried about the 'stay with me and let's share eternity together' part than anything else."
"Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy," Howard amended quickly, "I was just surprised."
"So you switched from liquor to food, thank the Norns your metabolism is also improved."
"It also helps that I have far less reasons to, what did you say? Drink myself stupid?" He smirked, "You and Tony are my life. I love you like you have no idea."
"Oh, but I do." He smiled, "Like you have no idea."
Loki kissed his son's forehead and then shared a kiss with his husband as baby Tony talked baby sounds and clapped at his parents' happiness.
---
When Tony was three years old, Howard had an epiphany about the creation of a new element and set himself to work on it, even if the technology capable of creating it didn't exist yet, he knew it would be part of his legacy to his son.
Loki didn't mention this element would save Tony's life in a possible future, but encouraged Howard to work on it as much as he could, because the sole idea that there was a future where his son was in mortal danger and there was nothing in existence that could help him scared Loki out of his mind.
Now there was something that could aid him, at least in theory, thanks to Howard.
"I should film this!" Howard said suddenly, "Take advantage of the films I'm using for Stark Expo."
Loki was busy running around chasing Tony, who currently was in a sugar rush.
"You are going to be there to explain it to him," Loki almost tripped when his son ran around him in circles, "I don't see the point."
"Mommy, mommy, look at me!"
"Tony dear, you're making mommy dizzy..."
"Well, of course I'm going to be there, but just in case!" Howard prepared the film to roll, "Come on Maria, Tony is going to trip on something."
"I noticed," Loki huffed, "Maybe then he would actually listen."
"I really doubt it."
"Oh, shut up and make your movie!"
---
For all his years living as Maria and Lucas, Loki hadn't even thought of the possibility that Howard's natural genius and his own magic could not only to be inherited by Tony, but improved at some level.
How could he even know? Even though Loki was now very familiar with technology, he had never seen something like this before, much less anticipated it.
It was Howard who was the first to notice that something curious happened with any kind of machine when Tony was around.
Loki later on was able to feel the spark of magic in his son and both Howard and he first thought that any kind of incident with Tony and machines had to do with him not being able to control his magical potential.
It wasn't until Tony was four and he made several machines in his father lab turn on, overload and promptly exploded without even being connected to a power source that both parents concluded that it wasn't just magic and coincidences.
"They talk to me daddy!" Tony explained happily one day while drawing something that Loki recognized from one of his medical books, "And I talk back to them, it's so awesome!"
Loki did all the research possible to figure out what kind of magic his son possessed and the best approach for his education about it.
He even walked between realms gathering information; he needed to know because it was his responsibility to teach Tony how to use it.
It took longer than he expected because he didn't even know it was possible, his son was a magic user born of a genius of science and a prodigy of magic.
Tony was a Technomancer.
Oh boy.
---
Tony Stark was a genius, a magic user, the heir of Stark Industries and technically a prince too. Even if his mother was careful to not let that get into his head most of the time, he had the world on a silver platter as it was the sum of all the other factors on top of it.
He also had the weirdest life, honestly.
At age eight, he questioned his parents of how his mommy was not only his mommy but also his uncle and a Norse god. He did so out of curiosity. He already knew most of the details because his parents never hid these things from him, just never fully explained them. And of course Tony was not going around divulging such family matters to the world, this was just between them.
Loki and Howard gave a very long and detailed explanation of how they came to be together and how Tony came to exist.
"Oh, I got a few things wrong then," Tony pouted, "I thought I had figured out the whole story on my own."
"You could have asked before sweetie," Loki smirked, "I was actually expecting you to ask about this a lot earlier."
"Nah, I'm cool." Tony flashed a smile, "I got 60% right!"
"Of course you did."
"Because I'm a genius!"
"Yes, you are."
Howard was laughing too hard to say anything.
---
When he turned twelve, he had a retreat with his mother to a place far from the city, with the objective to work on his magical skills in more detail.
Tony made his Stereo Cassette Player blast with rock music even thinking it had no batteries. Loki sighed and once he was able to make the music stop he made Tony recite all the names of the stars they were seeing, which was a lot, because they were atop a mountain.
"But moooooom," Tony pouted once he had named around one hundred and twenty stars, "I'm tired."
"You know I love a good prank Tony, but I'm trying to teach you something here, would you listen?"
"Yeah..."
"Once we are done you can scream your lungs out along side that music you like so much again."
"Deal!"
Howard wasn't very fond of rock music, Loki thought it was fine and that made him the best mother ever and the envy of Tony's whole class.
Stark senior was pretty sure Loki was doing it to annoy him; Loki just smiled sweetly at him when Howard pointed this out, proving his point.
---
Loki saw that his son's life was about to reach the first crossroad, the point in time at which Tony would choose what to do and from there trace new paths for his life.
He dreaded that day, because he couldn't help Tony make the choice and it pained him, but he understood why it was important for his son to do this on his own.
Besides, there was nothing he could really do to make it better, not when such crossroads involved him in such scale.
He just hoped Tony would turn to the right people.
---
When Tony was fifteen, the plane his parents were traveling in had an accident, making it look like they didn't make it.
"I'm so sorry Tony," Obadiah patted the young Stark on his shoulder as he clutched the report, "There's no way—"
"They are alive," Tony interrupted and glared at Obadiah, "They are."
"I know it hurts Tony but... there's no way they could have survived..."
"But they did." Tony insisted, "They. Are. Alive."
"Tony..."
"They h-have to, I, they can't be, they are fine!"
"Come here, everything will be alright..."
Obadiah hugged Tony as he kept babbling about how his parents just couldn't be dead. He didn't tell Obadiah he knew this not because he was not accepting reality but because he still could feel their life signatures.
But they weren't there, they weren't at his side and he couldn't help but wonder why.
Had he done something wrong? Something to make his parents turn from him?
Obadiah hugged him tighter and for a moment he wanted nothing but to let himself drown in the feeling of safety, Obadiah support grounding him, yet something was amiss...
No, his parents had not abandoned him!
"I want to be alone."
Obadiah didn't look too happy at being dismissed like that, but left Tony to "mourn".
Tony stood in the entrance of his parent's room and had a panic attack. He cried, screamed and destroyed the hallway before running to the study and making the machines listen to him to let him down to his parent's secret lab.
They couldn’t be dead, he would have felt it. It was the most basic magic Loki taught him, feeling the life signature of your closest ones, a very important lesson he said.
But who would listen? No one but his parents knew about Tony’s technomancy, of the simple fact that Tony was not entirely human. Who would believe him that he just knew something was amiss with his parent's current status? Who?
He thought about what to do, if he should ask for help or not. He had to do something or he would go mad.
Tony was stood in the middle of the lab and closed his eyes, thinking.
"Maybe..."
He saw the organization’s name and remembered the few times he had openly listened his parents talk about it. How both were involved from its very beginning.
Tony closed his eyes and took the phone, hoping he wasn't making a mistake.
"Sorry, this is bad time." Someone said without even giving Tony the chance to talk and planned to cut the call, but Tony used his power to prevent it, first by extending his magic through the line, then with his words.
"Agent Fury," Tony's hands were trembling as he waited for the person at the other end to answer. He didn't know the man, only by name, but there was no where else to turn, Obadiah was not an option, he didn't believe him, maybe the agent will.
"I need your help."
There was a moment of silence and Tony thought he would scream until the agent sighed.
"You broke into your parent's lab, didn't you?"
"Yes," Tony hissed, "My parents, the plane—!" he bit his lip, "I... they can't be gone, I just know it, please…!”
Fury was silent for a long moment and Tony felt his world slowly go dark.
Had he made a mistake?
"You're right, they are alive," Agent Fury said evenly, "Your, hmm, mom... she, ehem, he told me you would know... I can take you to them, I'll pick you up in a couple of hours, be ready."
"O-Oh... O-Okay..."
"Its fine kid, you will be fine."
---
Tony had never meet Agent Nick Fury before. He had heard his parents mention him when he eavesdropped on their conversations about that organization that had an awfully long name. Both his parents seem to trust this person and Tony was so desperate he went to him as soon as he had the chance.
The tall, black, one-eyed man had a severe expression on his face when he reached Stark Manor; he seemed more annoyed than anything else. Tony was almost sure the sentiment was in part towards him, because he surely broke a bunch of protocols in contacting him, but Tony frankly didn't care, not right now, when he had the fear of never seeing his parents again.
The agent told him they were alive, but until Tony saw them, he would not calm down.
He barely mumbled something about his parents to Obadiah, who was about to protest and not let Tony go, but Agent Fury had words with him as another two agents lead Tony into the car.
Tony didn't notice he was having hard time breathing until one of the agents offered him a paper bag to breathe in. He accepted with whispered thanks and proceeded to use it to try and calm himself down.
Agent Fury sat beside him in the car, eying him from head to toe before carefully placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Your parents are alive, Anthony." His voice was calm, measured, as if Tony was about to snap and he wanted to prevent that. He probably was right; Tony didn't look fine at all.
"Are they?" Tony lowered the paper bag, "They have not called."
"It's complicated," Fury said, "They had been asking about you, I was about to contact you when you did it first."
"I want to see them!" Tony hissed, "Please..."
"You will," Fury assured him, "Try to rest; it will take a couple of hours to get there."
He didn't manage to actually sleep at all. Tony was far too stressed to rest and the couple of times he dozed off, he immediately woke up with the ringing of his parent's scream in his ear as his mind tricked him with a nightmare.
They arrived at the base and the only reason Tony did not run was because he didn't know where his parents were.
Agent Fury guided him to the medical facility, were he found his father unconscious and his mother looking tired and anguished.
Tony didn't even care that there were people who clearly would think of his mother as Lucas Usher, as he was wearing his regular appearance.
"M-Mom," he shuddered and Loki opened his arms in a silent invitation. Tony ran into his embrace, finally crying, "Don't do that again, never, ever, don't!"
"I'm so sorry love," Loki whisper in his child's ear, "Mom and Dad are very sorry we caused you pain."
"Dad!" He didn't let go of Loki, but looked over his shoulder to see his father, who was stable and just sleeping, there were cuts and bruises on his face, but otherwise he was fine.
"He is going to be fine," Loki assured him, "He can survive this, remember?"
Tony was practically in Loki's lap, feeling like a small child again and not the teenager he was, but he didn't care, not when the prospect of his parents' death had been too real for a few painful hours.
"Why didn't you call?!" Tony shouted, his hands trembling and his tears finally running down his face, "I thought you dead!"
"We couldn't," Loki brushed his son's face, "The plane was not an accident... we couldn't risk whatever is after us to harm you, oh, but you are such a smart boy, you came to us."
"Mom...!" He was angry, but he was also so very scared, "I, I dunno, I was—"
"Shsss, it will be well, we are going to be fine, you see? Your father is not regular man, he has not been for a while, and I never was and you are our son, we can survive this, yes?"
Tony buried his face in his mother's neck and nodded several times, hugging him tight, not wanting to let go.
Loki kissed his son's hair and rocked him to calm him down while looking at Agent Fury, who was observing them from the door.
He nodded to the agent, who gave him a small smile before leaving them alone.
Loki knew they were investigating the cause of the attack – for it was no accident at all. They also had to clear the rumors of their death by announcing them alive but in delicate health, like any other human would be in such a situation if survived.
He was relieved that Tony choose to step away from Obadiah and turn to Nick Fury instead, successfully passing his first crossroad of fates.
Loki could see many possible paths being created now, most of them had the constant of him and his family as one and for that he was grateful.
When Howard woke up, Tony shouted and screamed and cried again, not letting go of Loki's hand and taking Howard's in his other, refusing to be separated from his parents. It was too soon, he wanted them to ground him, to feel that it was real, his parents were alive, with him and it had all been just a terrible, terrible day that fortunately had already passed.
Loki knew better, he knew this was only the first stage in many things to come, both favorable and some not so much, some even tragic.
But he also knew the odds were, at least for now, in their favor, so the future may weave itself and they will face it as best as they can.
Holding his family close to him, he vowed to always do what was within his power to protect them. Sometimes he would have to stand and watch as he had to do so now, when Tony had to walk his first crossroad, but he was father first and child of fate second now and as long as he could do something to help those close to him, he would.
He may have lived half a mortal life now, but the challenges were just starting.
The End.