(A/N: Prompt fill on tumblr for princeoffrost. Prompt: Angst focusing on Tony's mortality and/or death. Extra points if Loki ventures to Hel to bring him back. The first version of this got deleted when I was typing it and I nearly cried. This one is likely not as good :/)
Helheim
"You should be with him," Natasha's voice is level and cool, but anyone that knew her could tell that her emotions were getting away from her. Loki stared at her blankly, his own mask firmly in place though he knew that they could see through it and that Thor at the very least had seen such pain in his eyes at least once.
"No, I shouldn't be. I can't watch him die and he doesn't want me to," Loki says firmly, drawing his hand away from her touch. He had become more comfortable with such affectionate gestures over the years, their team was a family and they cared for one another. But Loki had always kept an extra measure of space between himself and them. Except when it came to Tony.
"You think he wants to die alone? You think he wants to leave this world wondering if the man he loves hated him too much to say good-bye?" Clint asked, obviously more torn up about the situation than the others. Loki understood the jab and it seared his heart every single time. He had been the one to take Phil Coulson away from Clint; he had been the one to deny them their good-bye.
"Please, brother. I know that you have a heart and I know that you care for him," Thor says and Loki just nods, he does not cry, he will not cry, he cannot cry.
His feet are like led but they carry him to the room that Tony will die in.
He almost loses his nerve when he sees the tubes and wires all surrounding Tony like a haze.
"I thought I wasn't going to see you," Tony says as Loki scoops up his hand and holds it gently between his own.
"You almost didn't," Loki says honestly, his mind is too taken over with grief and scheming and desperate hope for him to lie properly. Tony has never minded that Loki lies, and he smiles at half-truths, but full blown honesty leaves the billionaire afraid.
"We knew that this was coming. The magnet wasn't ever going to keep the shards in place indefinitely," Tony says, attempting to put cold reason between himself and his fear of death.
"All the magic of the nine realms at my command, I should have thought of something," Loki speaks bitterly, his voice cracking and this time Tony knows that it is a lie.
"Nice try Lord Voldemort, but death comes for everyone. Besides, I hear that Hell is actually ruled by a Princess and that she is secretly a sweetheart," Tony jokes and Loki goes still, his eyes widening.
"She is a very sweet girl, and I'm sure that she has a special place set aside for you" Loki agrees softly. Tony freezes and Loki wonders what he has done wrong.
"Most people would make an assurance of Heaven," the billionaire says and Loki understands at last.
"Helheim is not Nifilheim. Hel is the afterlife and my daughter is its caretaker. She shares its name, but she would rather you call her Hela," Loki says and Tony blinks twice before he speaks again.
"You think she'll call me Pops?" the billionaire asks and Loki knows what the sudden change in his voice means.
"I think that she might," Loki whispers and in a moment of sentimentality presses his lips to Tony's. Their kiss carries Tony into death and still Loki does not cry, the machines wail loudly and lament his death in Loki's place.
The Avengers enter the room just as Loki vanishes in a cloud of green smoke.
Loki does not need the Biforst to travel between worlds, but he knows that Heimdal has been watching him. The gatekeeper seems to know his destination and sends word ahead to Hela.
She meets him at the gates of her world. His daughter is a tiny thing, roughly six years old, her blonde hair turned black by her time in the land of the dead. She is flanked by two shades, both of whom he recognizes.
"You risk much coming here Daddy," she says and Loki shrugs.
"I have lost all. There is nothing that Odin can punish me with," Loki says and though it is a lie, Hela smiles.
"You can stay here with me then," she beams and Loki scoops her into his arms, his eyes shifting between the two shades.
With his free arm he reaches out and grabs Tony's shade by the wrist. At once the man stabilizes and looks like his old self, sans Arc Reactor. He draws Tony to the side and snags the other shade by the wrist as well. Phil Coulson looks startled and sad when he finally comes back into being.
"Hela, why is Agent Coulson here?" Loki asks and Hela smiles.
"Because I figured that if we were doing a jailbreak that you might want to bring a souvenir to share with the group," she says and Loki smiles as he whisks them away, his daughter certainly took after him.
There is no ceremony behind his arrival back on Midgard, a mild panic when they appear in the middle of the hospital room, but no ceremony.
Loki propels Phil into Clint's arms and begins dragging Tony out of the room, away from the bed where his body still lingers. They have Hela clasped between them and they are a family and Loki will worry about Tony being mortal another day.
(A/N: I really hate it when I lose the original.)