"You went through a great deal to find me" He snickered, leaning on the wall. "So you know what I'm here for?" The other man asked. He laughed. "Of course. But why should I help you?" "Because I know how to bring your whole life come crashing down." the other man snapped as he stepped closer. "Fine. I will help you as long as you promise not to tell him." He snarled out, "As this is very ancient magic, I need a bit of your blood, an item from the deceased, and a symbol of your love." The other man provided a vial filled with a dark red liquid, a red and blue t-shirt, and a wedding ring. He took all these items and placed them in a bowl. "Are you sure you want this? There might be side effects."He asked. "I'm sure, just get it over with." "There is one thing I could do, if you want." He declared. "What's that?" the other man inquired. "If you write a note to him and put it in your pocket, he will have it when he wakes up." The other man scribbled something down on a piece of paper and shoved it into his pocket. "Ready?" "Ready." He said some words in another language and the other man fell down.
Tony woke up in a tightly packed box. The smell of dirt hung in the air. He felt velvet on the sides and silk on the bottom. He couldn't see much from the low glow of the reactor. He pushed against the lid of the box, trying to push it open. The lid stayed shut. Tony felt the pockets of his pants. There was a slip of paper, but it was too dark to read. He started scratching away at the top. As he scratched, the wood slowly crumbled, revealing a darker 'thing' above. The 'thing' turned out to be dirt, which made its home in his suit. But he kept scratching until there was enough room for him to dig up. He slowly dug his way in the darkness until light came dancing into the hole. Tony slowly pushed himself out of the ground. He brushed himself off and took a look at his surroundings. He was in a cemetery, judging by the headstones placed around. His eyes landed on a gate that led out. Maybe he could get a taxi back to the tower. He stumbled towards the gate. His legs felt like they were stuffed with cotton. He slowly made his way to the road. Cars rushed past without stopping. After about an hour of waiting, a yellow cab drove up. Tony signaled the driver and the cab pulled over. Tony plopped in. "Avengers tower, please." "Sure thing."
They drove on in silence until they reached the tower. During that time,Tony tried to remember what had happened. The Avengers were fighting, and then his chest hurt, and he got knocked out. "That'll be 18.97." The driver slurred out. "I don't have my card on me. Can you just add it to my tab?" Tony requested. "Sure thing. What's the name?" "Tony Stark" Tony answered. "Don't mess around sir. What is the name?" The driver asked again. Tony sighed. "Pepper Potts. She's a good friend of mine." "Code?" "16/5/16/16/5/18" "Alright, looks good. Have a good day." The driver said as Tony stepped out of the cab. He walked briskly to the door. He fell and steadied himself on the wall. He would need to practice walking before going on a mission. The door gave way and Tony fell inside. "Welcome ho-" JARVIS started before activating a lockdown protocol Tony recognized as an intruder alarm. Nat came sprinting around the corner and Tony only had enough time to go " Oh S***" before she slammed him into the wall. "Сволочь!" Tony didn't know what it meant, but speaking russian was never a good sign. "Вы приходите сюда, похожий на нашего мертвого друга, и-" Nat was cut off as the rest of the Avengers ran around the corner. Everyone stared at Tony. They stood in silence until Bruce spoke up. "Bucky, Nat, take him to the cell." The two nodded slightly and grabbed Tony's arms. "What's going on?! Why do I need to be put in the cell?!" Tony screamed all the way down the hall. They shoved him into a small room and locked the door.
The room was Tony's own invention, meant to keep beings such as Loki in. The walls were lunch tray gray and the floor was poop-your-pants brown. He slumped against the wall, slowly sliding down to the ground. His mind traced back to the paper, and he pulled it out of his pocket and opened it. "Sorry about this" -Love, Steve. Steve? Why did he write a note? And what was he sorry for? Tony thought on this until the door slid open. Bruce walked swiftly in and shut the door. He punched in a code on the keypad on the side of the door and a jet black table raised from the ground, along with two chairs. Bruce sat stiffly down in one, and Tony flopped in the other. "Now, would you like to tell me why you're impersonating my dead friend?" Bruce inquired. "Dead? I'm not dead. I'm Tony Stark. We live in this tower together. Don't you remember?" Tony pleaded, but Bruce didn't trust begged multiple times for a blood test, "To prove he was real" until Bruce finally relented and left. He came back a few minutes later with a butterfly needle, a pack of band-aids, a blood testing device, and a vial. Bruce slid the cool needle into Tony's right arm. He then attached the vial to the end of the needle. Once a few drops had fallen into into the vial, Bruce removed the needle and put a band-aid on the wound. He poured the maroon liquid into the machine. The machine whirred for a second before printing out a slip of paper. Bruce tore the piece of paper and read it. "Ok. This is getting more confusing by the second. Talk."
Tony told him everything, from blacking out during a fight to waking up in the box. Bruce's eyes grew wider and wider as Tony talked. "..And that's all I know." Bruce sighed and leaned back in his chair. "What do you remember from the fight?" "I remember getting hit with a blast. Then I blacked out." "Interesting." "What?" "You didn't just black out. You died." "No. That couldn't have happened." "I was at your funeral." "Where's Steve? I didn't see him. If I died, he should know I'm alive. I mean, he is my boyfriend after all." Bruce pursed his lips and looked down. "Steve's been missing for two months. He left without a word." "He just...left? No signs or anything?" "Nothing too out of the ordinary. He was grieving, but we all were. At first, we figured he had gone somewhere to be alone, but when he didn't come back for two weeks, we went looking for him. There was no trace of what he went or why he left." "Do you know what this means? Maybe it has something to do with why he disappeared." Tony brought out the note from Steve. Bruce snatched it up and examined it closely. "I'll have to go to the lab to get this tested. But first we need to talk to the rest of the Avengers."
Bruce had called everyone to the living room while Tony cleaned up. He took a shower and changed out of the dirty suit into something that was more casual. He put on a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, but made sure have the bracelet that would call his suit to him in case things went south. Bruce was going to tell the Avengers to not attack Tony on sight. Bruce called him in when he was done talking and he told what he knew and Bruce helped provide explanations. The Avengers stayed silent during the whole speech and stayed silent when they had finished. Clint stood up and wordlessly hugged Tony. The others joined in. Bucky and Vision weren't the hugging type, but they followed suit. Tony felt a hand clasp on his shoulder and turned around to a taller man with blue eyes and blond hair. "Steve?" Tony whispered, but Steve smiled and walked away. Tony broke out of the hug and followed him. Steve led him to his room and Steve sat on his bed. "Hello Tony." Steve said. His voice sounded distant and sad. "I know you have a lot of questions, and I will answer them the best I can." "Did I die?" "Yes. You died." "Why did you go missing?" "I can't answer that." Something seemed off with Steve. Tony reached out to comfort him, but when he went to touch him, his hand ghosted through him. Tony drew his had back in surprise and stared at him. "You.. You aren't…" "Real? I'm real, but I don't have a physical form." "Can the others see you?" He asked. Steve shook his head. "Only you can see me. It's a side effect." "A side effect of what?" "I can't tell you." "What are you doing?" Bruce said as he walked in through the door. Tony turned to him and looked back to where Steve was sitting. He had disappeared. "Nothing." "All right."
A few months passed. Tony continued to see Steve, but Steve refused to give up any info on why he left and what he meant by side effects. The search for Steve was still going on, but it didn't produce any results. No one had seen or heard from him. One day, the Avengers were watching one of Clint's favorite TV shows, "Green Arrow", when Tony felt his phone buzz and saw an unknown number calling. Telemarketers shouldn't be able to call, he thought. He answered it and held it to his ear. "Hello?" "Hello. Have the others listen in." Tony removed the phone from his face and said "Hey, this guy wants to talk to us." He set the phone down and put it on speaker. "Hello Avengers. I hope you didn't forget about me. Oh, and nice to meet you, Tony. Last time I called, you were talking backwards." Tony turned to the others. " You've talked to him before?" Bruce sighed. "He told us a cure when you went insane." "Do we know who he is?" "No." Tony turned back to the phone. "Why did you call now?" "As you must have noticed, one of you is missing." "Steve." Clint whispered. "Yes, him. Now, I know Tony has been talking to him." The Avengers turned to Tony. "What does he mean?" Bucky asked. Tony gulped. "I've been having hallucinations of Steve and having conversations with him." "Yes. You see, you weren't having hallucinations. You were communicating with Steve's soul." "Does that mean he's…" "Yes. He's dead. But not normally. He gave up his soul." "What do you mean, he gave up his soul?" "He asked to give it to another. You, Tony, are the recipient." "How can we reverse it?" "You have to find the person who did the transfer." A beeping sound was heard in the background of the phone. "Goodbye Avengers." The voice said and hung up. Tony looked up and saw Steve staring at the phone. "Who did the transfer?" Steve looked up and met his eyes. "I couldn't let you die." "Steve, who did the transfer?" "You didn't deserve to die." "Tell me!" Steve sighed. "Loki did." "Loki?!" "What about Loki?" Thor asked. "Loki's the one who did the transfer." he turned back to Steve. "Where is he?" "Tony, please…" "Where is he?!" "Ålesund, Norway." Tony turned back to the Avengers. "Loki's in Ålesund, Norway." He turned around and started walking towards the garage. "FRIDAY, prepare the plane."
After hours of searching, they finally found where Loki had holed up. He was in a lavish hotel. He was even in the presidential suit. He always did like fine things. Everyone was in their armor. No one could expect what Loki would be like. Thor busted down the door. They all went in to Loki lounging on the couch. "Why must you break everything, brother?" Loki asked in a snarky tone. "Bring him back." Tony demanded. "You mean Blondie? I will, as long as, once this is over, you leave me alone and not send anyone to capture me." "Deal." "Good. There are two ways to do this. One is Tony gives up his soul and he returns to normal. But, he dies in the process." Loki gestured to Tony. "And two?" "Two, you all give up a part of your soul, but he might not come back as he was before. I'll give you a moment to decide." Loki strutted out of the room. The Avengers turned to one another. "What should we do?" Bruce asked. The others stayed silent. "Let's leave and take time to make our decision." The Avengers nodded in agreement. They headed to a hotel on the other side of town. They didn't want Loki to hear their real names (Excluding Tony and Thor, because of obvious reasons). The Avengers went to the sleep and Tony headed to the bar.
Tony stared at his drink. His mind swam and bounced around. This was his 3rd..no,5th..no,10th drink. So much had happened in the last week. "You need to get to bed." "You need to back off." Steve sat in the chair next to him. SIlence filled the hole between them. "Why did you do it?" Tony asked, tilting his head towards Steve. Steve looked at him questioningly. "Why did you give me your soul?" "Why did I give you my soul? Because you didn't deserve to die." "How do know that? How do you know I deserve to live?" "Because I can feel it." "You didn't deserve to die either!" "Your life is worth more than mine!" "No it's not Rogers, and we both know it!" Tony stood up and started walking away. "I was going to propose." Steve said quietly. "What?" "Our date to the beach. I was going to ask you to marry me." Tony looked at him in surprise. He had never considered that Steve had cared about him that much, or that anyone did, for that matter. He walked back over to him and stared at him. He tried to kiss him, but he forgot he wasn't really there. "I love you. I'll bring you back. No matter what. I promise." A look of panic filled Steve's eyes. "Tony-" But he was already out the door.
Tony walked down the empty road. Steve showed up beside him. "Where are you going?" "I'm going to fix this." "Loki's hotel is on this road." Steve commented. "I know." "You're not..." "I'm going to fix this. I don't care what happens to me." Steve got in front of him. "You can't do this." "And why not?" Tony passed through him. "Because I can't live without you." "I don't deserve to live. Why can't you see the truth?" "Because that isn't the truth! You deserve to live as much as I do!" Steve knew he could do nothing to stop him. But he knew someone who could. He shut his eyes and focused on the hotel the Avengers were staying. He imagined himself in Bruce's bedroom. He opened his eyes and looked around. Bruce was sleeping in the queen bed in the middle of the room. "Wake up" Steve thought. Nothing. "Wake up." Bruce stirred a little. "Wake Up!" Brice opened his eyes. "Tony is in danger! WAKE UP!" Bruce shot out of bed. "Steve?" Bruce breathed. "Yes, it's me. Tony is about to do something very stupid and you need to stop him." "Where is he?" "Loki's hotel. Hurry!" Steve thought himself back to Tony. Steve pleaded with him not to go, not to do this. Tony ignored him and continued.
Tony opened the door to Loki's room. The slender man wasn't to be seen. He ignored Steve as he looked around in the different rooms. Loki was sleeping in king bed. "Wake up." Loki sat up a fixed his shirt. "It's rude just to barge into someone's home, especially while they are resting." "I want to do the trade." "I must get dressed. I wasn't expecting company." Tony walked out of the room while he got dressed." "Don't do this. Please. I can't watch you die again." Steve said. "This life isn't mine. It's yours. You deserve it. Not me." "Please." Steve's voice was small. Loki came in through the doors and looked at Tony. "Let's get this started. I need your blood and a symbol of your love. I'll get his body." Tony took a knife and Loki summoned Steve's body. Tony looked at him, cold and stiff. Seeing him like this, Tony couldn't help feel weird. Steve was always so full of life that it seemed he glowed. But now he was as pale as the white tile floor he laid on. Tony rested his hand on Steve. A chill shot through his body when his fingers ghosted over the cold body of his boyfriend. "Let your blood drip into his mouth." Tony obliged, and the blood seeped into his mouth. "And the symbol of love?" Tony reached up to his neck and ripped off the chain hanging around his neck. On the chain there was a little golden heart. It was one of the gifts Steve had given him for their anniversary. The front had a small Captain America shield on it. The words on the back read: "I will always be there to protect you". He handed it to Loki. Loki fastened it around Steve's neck. "Now, lay next to him." Tony laid on the soft carpet. He instinctively slid his hand into Steve's. Loki started to can't and it felt like a humongous vacuum was on Tony's chest, sucking out everything that he was. A wisp that was not quite white seemed to come out of Tony' arc reactor. The wisp floated to Steve. Before the wisp could touch him, Bruce knocked down the door. He had hulked out, and he grabbed Loki, ruining the transfer. The wisp returned to Tony's body.
"You messed everything up!" Tony yelled. Bruce had calmed down and they had gone to the hotel. "You were about to kill yourself!" "I was going to fix everything!" "You were going to die!" "Who cares?" "We all do!" Bruce took a deep breath. "I know you don't think your important, but you are as important as the rest of us. Do you think Steve would have given you his soul if he didn't care about you? Do you think we would have buried you if we didn't care about you? Your death wreaked all of our lives. On the day of your funeral, all of New York wore black. Peter cried and didn't eat for a week. We had to save Steve more times than I can count. I couldn't go into the lab because it reminded me of you! Every night, someone would wake up screaming and crying! So stop saying no one cares because they do. You impacted more lives then you know!" Tony was silent. He didn't know how to respond. Bruce left the room and Tony sunk down onto the bed. He buried his face in his hands and let go of the tears that he had held back. He cried for Peter, the little boy who died when his hero did. He cried for Steve, the man who was loyal to the end. He cried for the Avengers, the team that stayed together and never forgot. He cried until he fell asleep.
All the Avengers gathered in Loki's room. They had decided to all share a part of their soul. "Everyone gather in circle, except for you and me, brother. The soul must be human." They followed his instructions and everyone made a circle around Steve's body. "Everyone take this knife and cut your hand and drip it into his mouth." "Shouldn't we all say something?" Clint blurted. The others nodded in agreement. Bucky took the knife and slit a good size cut into the his palm. "We haven't reached the end of the line yet." He held his hand over Steve's mouth and let a few drops fall in. The rest of the Avengers took their turns, all saying something meaningful. The knife was finally passed to Tony, and he took it and opened up the cut from the previous night. "I love you, and I always will." When the last of the blood fell in Steve's mouth, Loki chanted some words in another language. Steve's body jerked once, twice, three times. Tony looked over to where ghost-Steve was standing and he seemed to be in pain. He was doubled over, and clutching his stomach. His image was cutting out, like an old tv. Eventually, he disappeared and didn't reappear. Tony looked back to Steve's body and it had stopped shaking. Everyone was silent. Then he started to breathe. They watched as the color returned to his body and roses formed on his cheeks. His eyes opened slowly, like he had just woken up from a long nap. He sat up and looked around with a questioning look on his face. "Who are you?" He asked. Tony felt his heart drop. He didn't remember them. "What's going on?" Tony asked, turning to Loki. "Because he did not get a straight soul, his memories are blocked. But he will gain access to them in time." Bucky helped Steve up. They escorted him to the hotel as Tony made preparations for them to leave tomorrow. They put Steve in Tony's room while they talked about what to do with him until he regained his memories. "We should introduce him to the life he has now, and tell him about his past and maybe he will remember." Nat declared. The Avengers nodded in agreement. "But who should do it?" Wanda asked. Everyone looked at each other. "I will." Tony stood up. He walked over to his bedroom and opened the door. Steve was sitting on the bed and looking out the window. Steve turned slowly to him. "Where am I?" "You're in Norway." "Norway?" "Yes." Steve turned his head back to the window. "Do I live here?" "No. You live in New York with the rest of us." "How do I know you?" "I'm your boyfriend." "What happened to Peggy?" "She died." "How?" "Old age." Steve turned to him. "Old age? But She's 21!" "What year do you think it is, Steve?" "1942." Tony looked at him. "It's 2017." "What?" "You had been frozen when we discovered you five years ago. We became the Avengers, a team that stopped the evil that was trying to take over the world." "I….I remember. It's coming back to me now." "Good."
They returned to the Avengers tower. Tony talked Steve through his past and every day he remembered a little more. A few months later, he remembered almost everything. The Avengers noticed small changes in his behavior, such as how he talked and how he acted. But those changes went away the more he remembered. After about a year, Steve took Tony to the promised date to the beach. He proposed, and Tony said yes without a second thought. They got married in two years, after 15 failed attempts because villains kept crashing the party. The Avengers kept trying to find out who the voice was, but nothing they did got any results. They called the number that he had called from, but all they got was a message saying that the number didn't exist. They eventually gave up. But, on their wedding night, they got a package addressed to them. It didn't have any address or name from where it was from or who sent it. They opened it and inside was a small gift. They then opened that, which turned out to be a button. They didn't think it was very interesting until they realised it was not from Earth. They found a small note attached, and it read: "To the two who will do anything for the other". They kept it, but never pressed it, but they knew they could press it if they needed help.
He set down the phone. The fire crackled and popped in tune to the keys clacking. "Why do you help them?" "You said to be nice. This is me being nice." "Well, you could at least tell them your name." "Then they'd come to find me." He turned the little device in his hand. It was a small light, in an unworldly technology. "He gave that to you?" The other man said, nodding towards the light. "Yes. He said if it lit up to call him." "Why can't he take care of them himself?" "You know why." "Ah, yes, because he can't 'interfere too much' as it will 'wreck the time continuum'." "Don't make fun of him. He is very intelligent. Even more then me." "Those are words I never thought I would hear you say." "What do you mean?" "You never admit someone is better than you." He was about to respond when a knock came at the door. "Boys! There's a man here to see you!" An old woman's voice said. "Send him in!" The door opened and a man in a navy blue coat came in. "Hello." Neither of them spoke a word. "They won't talk to you unless you sit in the chair." the old woman said. The man sighed and sat down. "How are you today, Doctor?" "How are they? Did you give them my directions?" "We did as you asked." "Thank you. Now, I must leave. I just came to check up on you two." "Alright. Goodbye." The Doctor left. "I see a new case." The other man announced. "Then come John. I've been waiting for a new case."