Tony Stark and Loki belong to Marvel, Jormungand and Hela belong to whoever wrote the myths, and Erika belongs to me.
Tony lay in bed, his brain moving a million miles a second. Loki lay beside him, dead to the world, so to speak—it might not be the right euphemism to use, especially after listening to what Loki had to say.
Tony still thought about that day—about waking up next to Lorna, thinking she was still asleep, then finding out she was gone. Gone, but not dead, it turns out—just in a different body and on another planet. Realm. Whatever.
It was almost too much for him to handle, and he was close to doubting the God of Lies; or he would be, anyway, except that he would have know if Loki was lying.
Apparently, he'd always been able to tell. Not Loki's parents, not Thor or his friends—just him. Plus, Thor told them that for right now, Loki couldn't work his 'God of Lies' mojo.
After that kiss, they'd just talked. That was it. Loki sat on the bed, his back to the headboard, and Tony put his head in Loki's lap. They stayed there and Loki played with Tony's hair while telling him about Asgard, and how it never changes. About how he'd gotten bored and had come to earth, and how they'd met.
Tony believed him then, because it was the first memory of Lorna he had, and if Loki had the same memory .. . . .
Well, it wasn't hard to connect the dots.
After he finished talking, Loki just sat there. Waiting.
"Can you give them back?" Tony had asked, referring to his memories.
Loki had shaken his head, though Tony couldn't see it. "No," he had replied. "My magic is gone—I cannot reverse what I did, even if I wanted to."
Tony had craned his neck back to look at the god. "Do you? Want to to, that is."
That time Tony saw his reaction. He had nodded. "There is nothing that would give me greater pleasure."
Tony had sat up and kissed him. "Well, all you have to do is be a good little boy and prove to Daddy that you're worthy to get that back, right? What's so hard about that?"
Loki had stared at him funny, then. "Thor had to almost die before he was deemed worthy, and I am not at all willing to sacrifice my life just yet. No offense."
"None taken."
Loki asked about Tony's arc reactor, but Tony didn't really feel like reliving hit transition into Iron Man, so he promised he'd tell Loki about it later.
They had lain down then, with Tony mentioning something about running tests for armor in the morning. He was having a hard time sleeping, though, with all this new information. He supposed that for now, it did no good to worry about it, and he forced himself to fall asleep.
"Got any threes?"
"Go fish."
"Damn." Erika pulled a card from the top of the deck between her and Jormungand, who looked bored.
"When is there a winner?" he asked, stifling a yawn. "This game bores me."
Erika huffed out a low breath and looked around. "We could always play Xbox instead."
Jormungand tilted his head. "Ex Box?"
Erika made up her mind and put her cards back in the pile. "Yeah, I know for a fact Dad has all kinds of games." She gathered the cards and put them back in their box, then stood up and went to turn on the TV and Xbox. "Okay, we've got Call of Duty, Asassin's Creed, I think Dad downloaded Minecraft . . . . Just Dance, Just Dance 2 . . . . Ooh! This one!" She pulled out a game and loaded it in the disk dispenser.
Jormungand picked up the cover and examined it—a dirty looking little girl with a needle was standing next to what looked like a diving suit with a drill on one arm. The word "BIOSHOCK" was written across the top of a water rusted piece of metal with city engravings on the bottom edge.
"Bioshock?"
Erika handed him the controller. "You'll love it."
"Shoot him! He's right there, shoot him!"
"I am trying, but he keeps moving!"
"A-Doy, that's the point! He's behind you, use incinerate!"
"What?"
"The plasmid! Shoot him with fire! The thing that lets you incinerate people!"
Tony had a relatively short list of things that could still surprise him, but walking in on Erika screaming instructions while Loki's son—a legendary serpent who was supposedly big enough to encircle the earth—played video games was one of them.
"It's too early for this," Tony mumbled, shuffling towards the kitchen for coffee.
"Morning, Daddy!" Erika called.
Tony mumbled a reply.
Erika was up on her knees, watching him from over the couch. "Daddy, I have a question."
"Hn?"
"Having Jor here isn't too much trouble, right?"
"Nh-hn."
"So . . . would it bother you if I had a few more people over?"
"Nh-hn."
"Okay, I'm taking that as a yes." With that, she flopped back down on the couch.
A huff from Jormungand, then, "She's going to give him a heart attack, you know."
Erika waved him off. "Nah, he'll be fine. Besides, all will be forgiven when he tastes her French toast—that chick can cook."
The sound of a coffee mug smashing against the kitchen tiles was heard, followed by Tony's cry of "Jesus Fucking Christ!"
Erika cringed. "Well, better than a heart attack.
Jormungand sniggered and continued his game.
Erika was right; once Tony had a bite of Hela's French toast, all was forgiven. He instructed Jarvis to save the recipe for further use, to which Erika pointed out he wouldn't even be able to cook it.
"Mine is a special recipe, known to none but me," said Hela, placing a plate in front of Jormungand. "Eat, Brother—you look like you have not been eating well."
Jormungand huffed but took a small bite.
"So," Tony said after a moment of silence. "You are . . . . ?"
"Hela Lokadottir, daughter of the Frost Giantess Angrboda and Asgardian mage Loki, queen of Niflheim, realm of the dead." Hela gave Tony a small curtsy. "As you can see, living among the dead has taken its toll on my complexion."
"No kidding," Tony mumbled. "Jarvis, what've you got for me?"
"Scans show only 50% living tissue, sir; there is no scientific explanation that I can find."
Tony whistled. "See, if Jarvis can't explain you, you're something special."
Both Hela and Jormungand frowned and looked up at the ceiling. "Who was speaking?" Jormungand asked. He stood up hastily.
Tony raised his hands. "Easy, Bean Pole—it's just Jarvis."
"Just A Very Intelligent System," Erika said around a mouthful of French toast. "He's just a computer, Jor, sit back down."
Jormungand didn't move.
"For Christ's sake, Jormungand, sit your butt down and finish your food."
Jormungand mumbled something about doing what he wanted but sat down anyway. His suspiciousness was replaced with humor when the human know as Hawkeye wandered in and took a carton of milk from the fridge. He drank right from the carton and choked when he finally noticed Hela. She smiled and waved and he waved back, clearly unsettled. "Stark, what the hell is going on?" He asked through clenched teeth.
Tony motioned from Hela to Hawkeye. "Hela, Clint. Clint, Hela."
"That doesn't explain anything."
"Yeah, I know."
A/N: I really tried to come up with a better way to end this chapter, but after so many re-writes this was the best I could do.