Chapter Ten: Learning About You and Me
"I wish to know more about you." Loki said a few days later, sitting down in front of the God of Fortification. He could now successively sustain active magic in the threads for almost an hour and a half.
"There's not much to know." Stark said with a shrug before taking a sip of his scotch. Loki scoffed loudly.
"You've lived and remember countless lives and you say there is not much to know? Surely you jest." Loki made a flippant gesture.
"I don't remember all my lives, just the important bits. Besides, after a while all the details become trivial." Loki could see a hint of well hidden sadness in Stark's eyes.
"I cannot claim to understand, but I doubt much if any of it was trivial."
"Maybe." He set down his glass. "I'm going down to the lab. Would you like to join me?"
"Won't there be mortals there?"
"No, my lab is private. Bruce is still in the tower, but I gave him his own lab. He won't bother us."
"Alright. I have been wondering what your lab looks like." Loki reached for the glowing threads on the table.
"Leave it. The distance will give you another challenge since you're progressing nicely." Loki was taken aback slightly by the complement. The older god had only given him one other, and that was to complement the orderliness of his mind.
"You give good advice and I've always enjoyed learning." Loki followed Stark into an elevator.
"A rare quality. Once I learn something I have to see if I can put the knowledge to use." Stark chuckled, scrubbing a hand over his goatee. "It's gotten me in trouble many times."
"May I have an example?"
"Dragons are ticklish. I was a fire giant, I think. The factoid had come up while I was drinking with a group of dwarves. I of course had to test to see if this was the case. The only dragon I knew about was owned by the queen of the realm. I snuck into the palace fairly easily and started tickling the dragon. It twitched like crazy and let out what was clearly laughter. I should have expected those laughs would be accompanied by fire. It didn't affect me of course do to my race. What the dwarves failed to tell me was that if you tickle a dragon for more than a minute it starts suffocating. Moral of the story: If you want to kill a dragon quickly tickle it."
Loki grinned widely.
"I honestly hope I get to utilize this information. Dragons are not easily sleighed. As a boy I dreamed of-" Loki cut himself off.
"Yes?" Stark inquired.
"Pardon me. I'm just finding it difficult to believe that I used to be that person. I was just so overwhelmingly foolish and naive. I can scarcely believe that is who I used to be." Loki shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.
"Trust me when I say I understand. In one iteration I was born in a whore house on Alfheim. I knew Ragnarök would come eventually, but I decided to live a peaceful life. I never went further than twenty miles away from that city for my whole 3000 years. I was the highest paid prostitute there and eventually became the madam of the place. I was renowned in all nine realms. Legends of my abilities even filtered to Midgard. Now look at me. I travel all the realms freely and I'm seen as a great hero." Stark paused and gave Loki a thoughtful look. "Things change, often for the better if you want them to."
Loki wanted to believe that Stark was just talking about the next iteration, but he had a feeling that he was talking about this lifetime, about his former life on Asgard.
"I plan on living this life to the fullest. I do not want to live in captivity."
"There is one tried and true way to stay free while being wherever you want to be."
"And what exactly is that method?"
"You just have to be so valuable that it would hinder them and their pursuits if you were hurt or imprisoned."
"How do you suggest I do that?"
"Do you want to return to Asgard?"
"I want to be able to see my mother freely. I want to get the truth from Odin."
"I have a solution for the latter part. Once I have fixed my cube and put it back in the Cradle I have to take it back to Asgard so that it can perform its function. If you came with me no one would dare stop you." Loki frowned as the elevator decended. From what Loki has seen Stark was likely to hold sway over such matters. Perhaps he finally could get the truth from Odin.
"Why are you trying to help me? I understand why you want me to strengthen my mind, but I don't understand why you'd help me beyond that."
"I assure you that I have purely selfish reasons."
"That's a hollow answer if I've ever heard one."
Loki could almost feel Stark considering him as they walked into the lab. Loki wanted to know what the other god was hiding, but knew pushing the subject would probably hinder that process.
Loki tried not to be amazed by all the technology, but he could not contain his admiration when Stark opened a hidden door revealing another lab with artifacts of legend, devices that surely did wonders, and active magic imbuing so many things.
"This place is amazing." Loki said while cautiously touching a vase that glowed. In an instant he was in a whole other world, one filled with a variety of flowers that graced the air with their scent. Before he could panic Stark appeared and tugged him back to the lab.
"I didn't think I'd have to tell you not to touch anything."
"Sorry. I may have been a bit overzealous."
"It's alright. It's an endearing feature." Stark flicked a gyroscope to life and strange music emitted from it. "Any item in particular that you want to know about."
"The Tesseract."
"Other than that one."
"It seems more important to you than the other items."
"That's because it is."
"And you're not going to tell me why?"
"Not yet at least. I don't trust you enough."
"Yet you're willing to teach me how to keep my memories for my next iterations."
"As I stated. It's only for selfish reasons." Stark shrugged, picking up an oblong tool and tossing it between his hands. It changed colors every time he caught it. "So is there any other item you want to know about before I start tinkering."
"Yes, what is glowing in your chest?"
"You're good at asking about the most interesting things." Stark tapped the item in question.
"I was always good at finding the pertinent information."
"I suppose you do deserve a bit of a reward for your impressive progress." Stark took off his shirt, revealing the strange object imbedded in his chest. "I'm sure you've noticed that my magic has two colors: red and gold." Stark brushed the object and the light went from faint blue to gold. "I met a mage in multiple iterations and he always had a terrible life. In one iteration I decided to take pity on him and teach him how to keep his past knowledge so that he wouldn't make the same mistakes and wouldn't be so trusting of others. Unfortunately the Norns abused him in every iteration regardless of what he did.
"Eight iterations later he sought me out and begged me to help him die a permanent death so that he would no longer have to suffer. When I say suffer I really mean suffer. Each iteration he was constantly beaten, raped, tortured, betrayed, his children were killed out of spite, and a slew of other horrible things. I was his only friend in all the realms, but I didn't know how to really kill someone permanently. We spent a few years trying to figure it out, but one day when I was in another realm bandits broke into the house we shared and killed him. It was extremely fucked up. It was twenty-five millenniums later that we met again. He had the same request and by then I had a solution.
"This device is a trap of sorts. It only worked because we were both willing. He imbued all his active magic into it and when he was done he died. I haven't sensed him in any iteration since." Stark brushed the object again and the magic inside appeared light blue.
"You have access to his magic." Loki stated as Stark pulled his shirt back on.
"Yeah, and he always had a larger reserve of magic then I did. It's really helped me out. Also it's nice to have the presence of someone else with me. When all the realms are destroyed it can be rather lonely with only Jarvis and Ms. Cook to keep me company."
"That must have taken a lot of trust on his part."
"Hey, you let me into your head multiple times. That takes a lot of trust." Loki chuckled.
"I let you in for selfish reasons. I wanted to be free and now I want to be stronger." Loki frowned. "I do find it quite annoying that I don't know your full reasoning for helping me."
"I guess I can give you one reason."Stark glanced at the ceiling before looking back at Loki and smiling. "I find you exceptionally good looking and interesting." Stark's grin widened, tilting his head slightly to the side. "Your magic dissipated from the threads. It seems that arousal distracts you immensely."
Loki pouted slightly, unsure if he should be annoyed that he had once again failed at his task or happy that the other god found him attractive. He settled on the latter.
I also posted an alternative start to this fic called Hidden Path, in case you're interested.