The explosion was followed by a burst of white light; bright enough that it made Tony thankful for his visor, as it evened out the colour scheme automatically and immediately.
Because judging from the others' reaction, it was really, really bright.
Thor was massaging his temples as if suddenly he had gotten a headache; Sigyn was gaping at Loki who was blinking rapidly to regain his vision, before he froze and turned slowly to the woman.
Then she slapped him, tears shining in her eyes. Loki's face was one that of resignation.
"You," she hissed, more ferociously than she was while being a valkyrie, "How could you?"
"Let me explain..." Another slap. Tony and Thor winced simultaneously.
"You lied to me!"
"Sigyn..." A crashing sound could be heard and the godling staggered backwards, holding his nose.
"You hurt all those people... For what?"
"For just one moment, would you..."
"You don't get to speak!" she shrieked, "You've had your chance, three years of it! Never once did you have the grace to say that, "Oh, Sigyn, I might be the homicidal maniac who invaded New York and killed your boyfriend!"
"I didn't..."
"Know?" she let out a histerical laugh, "All the good that does to us."
"I wasn't myself back then!"
"Oh, yes? Are you now? Or should I expect you to turn back into the raving madman any minute? Although I'm the one to blame - I should have recognised you sooner. I let you into my home," she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself before turning to the others, "It was nice knowing you guys."
She left, leaving the others standing there dumbfounded, with Loki in the middle who appeared to have turned into a statue.
Thor looked at him, reaching out.
"Brother..."
Greenish smoke appeared, engulfing Loki, then he was gone as well.
He was not seen for a month and two weeks.
For six hellish weeks.
Not even Thor had seen him, and he didn't answer neither his phone, neither the bell of his flat.
Apparently the children were over the shock of Halloween within two days; Tony knew that they can deal with it quickly, but he didn't suspect that this quickly.
The problem was, when they started asking questions and nagging him about the whereabouts of their favourite uncle.
It was bad enough with his own kids; but when Thor and company came over, the volume of the questions and their intensity doubled. Tony found that he started to develop a new sort of admiration towards the Trickster; dealing with not only two, but five hyperactive children at once, who were good enough to compete with said black haired man for the title God of Mischief - well, that took a certain kind of man.
But for the sake of everyone's sanity and the children's happiness, he had to take action.
Besides, he was starting to miss his Science Buddy No.2., who had come up with several ways of improving the suit, which came extra handy when combating Magneto.
That's why he found himself standing before Loki's door one Saturday evening, knocking, though no answer came, though the sound of a plate crashing against the tiles and the sound of a water tap being closed quickly did.
"Loki?" he said, and knocked again, "I know you're in there. I heard the water running."
Still nothing. He was starting to loose his patience.
"If you do not open this damn door, I'll blast it up and will not be paying for the replacement."
"You're welcome to try," said a hoarse voice from inside, as if the Trickster didn't speak a word for the last three weeks, "I think you might be surprised by the effect it'd have."
"Come on, Lokes. I just wanna talk."
"And I don't. So leave," came the answer from inside, with surprising hostility. The engineer blinked.
"You're being childish now."
"Takes one to know one." Right now, the eldest Stark began to loose his impatience.
"Open. The. Door."
Something creaked - probably the couch - and heavy footsteps could be heard, before the chains rattled and the door opened to reveal the god.
Tony has never seen the Trickster in such a dishveled state. The usual twinkle was gone from his eyes, his hair flying around his face in oily curls instead of the usual slicked back style.
He looked as if he had just taken a stroll through hair Hell.
"You have curly hair?" Mentally, Tony scolded himself for that. Loki lifted his eyebrows.
"Is that what you came to discuss?"
"Of course not," he answered quickly, "I was just surprised. Can I go in?"
"No."
"Oh. Okay." There was a short uncomfortable science. "Sooo... The kids want you back. We want you back. SHIELD and Coulson want you back. Will you come back?"
"No."
"Is that a no-no, or is your vocabulary restricted to "no" now?"
"No."
"Good, I was starting to wonder. So why won't you come back?"
The only colder look he had gotten from Loki was the one before they transported him back to Asgard after the invasion.
"I can't."
"Why? Just get some normal clothes, wash your hair, then we're ready to go!"
The Trickster sighed, running a hand through his unkempt hair.
"Tony, listen..."
"No, you listen," the inventor interrupted, poking the taller man in the chest, "You've been brooding
in here for three weeks. That's longer than I ever did. It's not right and you'll end up depressed by how unloved you are and we all know how that ends. Manhattan, in ruins. So get yourself together already."
"Easy for you to say."
"Then please, take the grace and point out specifically what part don't I understand!"
"That night, Halloween," Loki said, grimly, "It scared me."
"Like?"
"I loved it!" It broke out from him with such vehemency that Tony took a step back. "I loved seeing others getting hurt. It made me feel powerful. And it's not right."
Ah. There it was. The past came back to haunt him, just like it did so many times with Tony. Except that it was the Trickster; he never meant to walk that path, yet he did. Without anybody forcing him. And so now he despises himself for it. The engineer sighed.
"And so? You weren't entirely yourself, if you can't recall."
"I almost killed your children!"
"But you didn't."
"That's not the point!" Loki ran a hand through his hand. "I would have, if I could have. I wanted to. Odin's beard, if I..."
"Dude, you're worse than Pepper when her anxiety strikes. You didn't, because the you, that's now actually you, recognised them. There is no reason to worry. If you'd ever have a murderous rampage again, we'll be there to stop you. Now go and have a bath. I'll be expecting you tomorrow at the birthday party."
Tony honestly didn't believe it'd work.
Why would it? The guy seemed terrified of himself, much like Bruce used to.
So he felt quite relieved when he showed up at the door with a box of puppies in hand, shifting his weight from one leg to another.
"Hey," he said awkwardly.
Although a god saying "hey" will never be not awkward.
"Come on in."
When he didn't enter, Tony sighed and asked Dum-e to make use of the extinguisher if the guest wouldn't want to move in the next three seconds. That seemed to hasten Loki's decision.
It was also nice to see his jaw drop when a sheepish looking Sigyn stood up from the couch where she had been speaking with Pepper.
"Hi."
"Hi." She gave a nervous laugh.
"So... I had some time to think. I believe we should talk."
Half an hour later two quiet persons exited the children's bedroom.
"How did it go?" Tony asked, handing a glass of grape juice (the closest thing Pepper allowed to wine) to Loki, watching the kids playing with the pups.
"Could have been... Worse."
"Experience?"
"Yeah."
"So?"
"She wants to restart. With no lies."
"None?" Loki nodded, earning a frown from Tony.
"Does she know that you're also called the God of Lies?"
"Now, yes. And did you know that she is a descendant of an exile valkyrie?"
"No," Tony said, watching the woman sit down. "But it'd explain a few things."
The phone rang angrily, and Tony was even angrier as Loki answered it.
"THESE THINGS BREATHE FIRE!"
"I'm aware," he said, wincing the volume.
"TAKE THEM BACK!"
"Let there be fire!" Wendy sang in the background, followed by Peppers exasperated "no, no, bad dog!". Peter laughed.
"The children seem to like them."
"I don't care! Get these spawns of Satan you got from Hell away from here!"
"They're Hel-dogs, no spawns of Satan. I assure you, they don't look like them, at all. Besides, they're wonderful guard dogs, loyal to one person only, but protecting all they love. I couldn't think of anything better. Besides, I didn't think you'd mind the extra protection."
"Well, you could have... Aughh! He bit me!"
"That means, he loves you. Isn't that wonderful?"
You ever have that unsatisfied feeling when you write a draft, loose it, and recreate it, only it's terrible compared to the original? Yeah, I have just that.
