Show Yourself Into The Unknown

Summary: The one where Thanos is dead, Tony has weird dreams instead of nightmares, the Avengers watch dubious Disney movies and mystical creatures are more than real. Oh, and the Cloak totally ships it.

"Tony?" Said man looked over at the sound of his name, giving a small smile to a disbelieving looking Stephen who seems to have been wrecking havoc and destruction in his absence if the scene around them and Elsa's earlier words were anything to go by. Seems she wasn't exaggerating, as Tony had known she wouldn't be. He knew his friend well enough by now to know what to expect, though the amount of magic he'd managed to summon was impressive.

"Hey, Merlin. I see you've been busy."

"Tones!" Rhodey shouted from where he and everyone else seemed to be hiding between the sorcerers and the Asgardians so as not to get caught up in whatever it is that had been taking place. "Tony! You son of a bitch, don't do that to me! I'll get a heart attack one of these days!"

"You!?" The wicked witch of the west that had been fighting Strange exclaimed, looking at Tony as though he were something unnatural and vile. Elsa twitched in his grip and he had to scratch discretely under her chin to keep her from possibly tearing the man apart. That was out of their jurisdiction and in Stephen's. What happened to Mordo was not for them to decide. Besides, they were surrounded by the enemy and he'd rather not have her so exposed when she was still so small and only minutes old and vulnerable. "How are you alive?! The freezing temperatures should have killed you in seconds!"

Tony shrugged, a smirk tugging on his lips. "I guess the cold never bothered me anyway."

'As I have promised, my Ib.' Tony actually almost jumped at more the implication behind those words than still hearing Elsa's voice in his head. That, he was used to, even though she now had a voice to speak in the real world. The implication, though ... He remembered the exact moment that promise had been made. He had always thought the turn of lyrics in the song strange but he guessed he should have caught on to the truth and meaning behind them sooner. He had been surprisingly well with the cold, after all. He'll have to ask Elsa about that later, when they have the proper time to discuss it all. For now, he had other things to worry about. Like the reaction of his 'friends' and his friends.

"Now's not the time to play coy, Stark," Barton snapped from where he was hiding behind Loki. "If you had a way to survive entering the Well, you could have told us!"

"I thought you agreed you won't hide the updates you make to your suits, Tony."

Elsa gagged at Rogers' disappointed tone, finally drawing attention to herself and Tony tried not to smirk, he really did, but the dropped jaws were a bit too pleasing to see for him to control himself. The surprise and incredulity was expected, really. He knows people's opinion of himself a little too well. To learn that he could be worthy of a dragon ... He could understand why their minds might be blown. He wasn't even offended at this point. He'd been just as surprised himself.

"That's not possible," Mordo whispered to himself but the room was so quiet that everyone heard him as though he had shouted it at the top of his lungs. And as if they were showing their disagreement, the elements all stepped forwards and bowed as best as their forms allowed to the new dragon and summoner pair. Elsa took it with grace, apparently expecting such treatment, though Tony himself felt a little uncomfortable. For all that Starks might as well be, with their prestige, influence and privileges, they were not royalty. He hopes he doesn't have to get used to the elements themselves and other forces of nature and magic bowing and kneeling in front of him. It had taken years to get his ego under control, after all.

"Yes, well, it apparently is so I suggest you get used to it." That didn't mean he wouldn't capitalize on the opportunity to sass at other people.

"This is better than I thought," Red Skull suddenly exclaimed, ambling out into sight from whatever hide-hole he had been cowering in. "It all finally makes sense! I should have seen this coming. I should have realized it was you all along! Rare few souls were exempt to the all-seeing eyes of the Soul Stone's warden and yet your's I could never see! The only way to protect one from the Soul Stone's reach is through being bonded to a dragon! This is a favor the universe has done upon us, my brethren! We have both dragon and its summoner at hand!" The Nazi turned to his men, pointing a finger at Tony and Elsa. "Seize them!"

"Oh, please," Elsa muttered under her breath when the idiot agents, or a good number of them at least, moved forwards to follow the order immediately. Tony braced himself, a hand slowly inching towards his housing unit and bracing for a fight when Elsa opened her mouth and something that looked like blue flames burst from her jaws. Only the fire didn't burn. The HYDRA agents struck by it were immediately encased in ice within seconds, looking like frighteningly, horrifyingly accurate and realistic ice statues done by the hands of the best master artist in the world. The remaining seemed to have more brain cells as they turned on their heels and ran back the way they had come in. Unfortunately for them, the elements immediately ran after them and their screams echoed off of the walls as the guardians of the temple took care of them with ease now that their numbers were no longer increasing or replacing downed soldiers. From the sounds of it, the agents hadn't even tried to fight, their strongest instinct being to flee that they had apparently forgotten they had a means to at least put up a fight. It was over in seconds.

"I thought dragons breathe fire," Barnes could be heard commenting to someone, but he went ignored, everyone a little too distracted by the sight in front of them, the display of power from the young, just hatched dragon. With one breath, she had frozen them all and she was so small. It brought into focus just how dangerous dragons were and why everyone had been making such a big fuss about them being the first to reach both dragon and the hatcher given the power they possessed.

The fear was almost palpable in the air.

Tony did not feel it.

Elsa would never hurt him.

The others were fair game, if she ever went after them. They wouldn't even be able to do anything to stop her. The true extent of her potential power was only now becoming recognizable and they could only make vague guesses as to its limits.

"So you show your true colors." Stark turned his attention to Mordo even as he made sure not to lose awareness of Schmidt on his other side. His teammates seemed to be frozen in place - metaphorically, thankfully - probably from the shock of it all so it would seem it was up to him and Elsa to get themselves out of here and out of this absurd situation. At least they had the larger elements as their backup, obviously waiting for a signal from either dragon or her Ib to act.

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're blabbering about."

"That dragon cannot be even an hour old and you already have her killing. That speaks a great deal about your character, Stark," the green dressed sorcerer taunted as he started moving away from the spot Strange had cornered him in before Tony had arrived and seemingly shortsircuited the former neurosurgeon's brain. The irony in that didn't escape Tony and Elsa snorted at his thoughts.

"Still not sure what you're aiming at. She has her own free will. If she's decided to deal with them in the way she has, that's her business. I don't control her. She's not a pet. She's not an attack dog."

"She is yours to command."

"Excuse me, how many dragons and their summoners do you know to be an expert on the subject? 'Cause I just met her entire race's souls and I am one so I think I know at least a little bit more about it than you." There was some spluttering from his teammates and murmurs from the Northuldra warriors gathered with them.

"You are a disgrace to a once honorable line," Mordo says with disgust and sorrow and Elsa snarls, the sound far louder and more ragged than one would guess judging from her soft, angelic voice, small size and pretty appearance.

"Careful how you continue, Karl Mordo. Dragons do not take insults against their own very well."

"I fear not a little cold," was the challenging reply and then Mordo charged.

Elsa's eyes narrowed at the threat. "Very well." Even Tony blenched a little as this time, when Elsa opened her mouth, raging, red, orange and yellow flames poured out and devoured the sorcerer in seconds.

("I think I prefer the ice," a disturbed Winter Soldier can be just barely heard over the roaring flames in the background.)

Only the beginnings of a scream made it to their ears before there was nothing left of Mordo before he could get more than a few feet away from the newly bonded pair. The stench of burned skin and bones still reached their noses even as the wind element returned from where it had been dealing with HYDRA agents and swept it away. The young dragon huffed in disgust before returning to snuggling against Tony, warbling an apology. "I know you said it is not up to us to decide on his fate, but I will not allow anyone to come at my Ib with the clear threat to your safety as their intentions." She threw a pointed look at Red Skull and the red skinned man wisely backed off, hands raised in the air in surrender, eventually kneeling on the ground and letting himself be secured by the rock and ice giants, recognizing that he had been defeated.

"Tony!" Rhodey, Carol, Stephen and Hope called out, running over towards him with Nebula walking calmly behind them but the tension in her frame spoke of how she was only barely restraining herself from losing her cool in the face of finally seeing him once again alive. All five of them, and the approaching Vision, stopped, hesitating, just a meter from him, eyeing Elsa in his arms. His dragon snorted at them, clambering up to his shoulders and leaving him free for hugs, waving her tail where it was draped down one shoulder in amusement.

"You are not unwelcome unless you wish to stab him in the back."

At once, he was engulfed in crushing hugs, Nebula's and Vision's hands reaching for his own from beyond the apparently more touchier members of his 'welcome back from the dead' party. Tony chuckled and rested his head against Stephen's chest, letting shaky hands place against his Arc Reactor and try to feel for a heartbeat hidden beneath while leaning most of his weight on a shaking with repressed sobs and tears Rhodey.

"Shit, you can't do this to me anymore, man! I'm not as young as I used to be!"

"Warn us next time, shellhead!" Carol insisted, whacking him gently over the head.

"I'm telling Pepper on you." He actually shivered at Hopes threat, but mostly just enjoyed the embrace, squeezing Nebula's hand when her hand twitched. He met her eyes and she seemed to relax when she saw that he appeared fine and hid no pain. When he then met Vision's eyes, he was met with a confused frown.

'He cannot feel your mind as I am protecting it, even with direct contact to counter the blocks placed on the Temple,' Elsa informed him as a mere whisper in his mind, apparently content to let him have a moment with his friends, with people he considered family and were precious to him. 'He is confused but trusts you to explain at your own time. He shall be fine. Concentrate on your sorcerer. He seems rather shaken.'

Which seemed to be an understatement, all things considered. Stephen looked wrecked and he seemed unwilling to speak at all, as if afraid that saying anything might break the illusion that Tony was really alive. The genius felt his heart skip a beat and he moved a little from Rhodey so that he leaned on Stephen. The former doctor seemed to take a shuddering breath at just the feel of his skin, still warm with life, before the man seemed to deflate and rather suddenly, he tipped to the side. Had it not been for all the people surrounding Tony, the man would have likely fallen and cracked his skull on the rock floor, spilling his brilliant brains out. As it was, Vision caught him at just the right moment to stop his fall.

That didn't stop Tony's panic mode from activating. "FRIDAY, scan him!"

"He's fine," Wong said from beyond the little circle his friends had created, walking over to check on his fellow sorcerer himself regardless of his own surety of his words. "He's likely just finally managed to knock himself out from exhaustion. I have never before seen any sorcerer, no matter their age or their origin, manage to break through the wards and protections the likes of which are placed over this place. I'd be more surprised if he wasn't experiencing a magic burnout."

'In other words, he's exhausted himself to the point that he will likely need a couple of days of rest to be able to function properly again,' Elsa explained to him and Tony looked uncertainly between her earnest eyes and Stephen's slack features. 'Relax, my Ib. He is healthy. He just needs rest and plenty of it.' She paused. 'As do you. I believe I have been interfering with your sleep long enough. Worry not, for I will guard your peace from nightmares so you may catch your rest.'

"Yeah, I'm not going to have a nap right here," he replied, gesturing at Stephen distractedly. "We already have one sleeping beauty to take care of."

"Uh, Tony?"

"Hm?"

Rhodey was staring at him in a very weird fashion, which really said something since the man had seen him in all sorts of situations in their lives since they've met and became friends at MIT. Though, fair, neither of them had thought there would ever be a weirder situation than the whole Infinity Gauntlet debacle. "Please tell me you're talking to FRIDAY?"

"Uh, no. I was talking to Elsa." When he, Carol, Hope, Wong, Vision and Nebula gave him a plethora of weird looks, some concerned, others thoughtful, he gestured at the dragon draped over his shoulders like a scarf. "The dragon? We have a mental connection."

"None of our available books mention anything about dragons forming mental bonds with their summoners," Wong pointed out with a frown and Tony snorted.

"Yeah, well, did the writers of said books ever even see a dragon, let alone talk to one?" He challenged and Wong met it with a narrowing of his eyes, apparently accepting it and not backing down at the reasonable question, all things considered.

"They might have." And an equally reasonable answer, unfortunately.

Elsa came to his rescue again. This time, though, she spoke for all to hear, only the second time she had used her voice out loud for anyone but Tony. "Dragons would not have mentioned the depth of our bond to our 'summoners', as you call them, if some had indeed talked with the authors. It is a private and nearly sacred thing to my kind." There was a veiled warning there, one Rhodey met with raised hands in surrender and a gentle tone.

"Hey, I'm all okay with that as long as my best friend and brother in all but blood hadn't gone off the rails."

Dragon and hatcher both snorted at that, amused. "We ought to leave. Rest will do us all some good."

"Hold on. You can't expect us to just," Captain America floundered for the right words but remained determined in his stance that the matter is not to be dropped so easily. Tony wondered if he could sock the man a good one and not have to face to consequences for it. He wasn't sure anyone would want to piss off a dragon that had just frozen a whole bunch of people and burned a powerful sorcerer to no more than a crisp. "Let this go! You owe us an explanation!"

"Actually," Loki surprised them all when he pipped up, sauntering over to inspect the dragon from close up with something like awe and reverence in his red eyes. Thor was not far behind him, fascination in his own gaze as it fell on the baby dragon. Remembering what the two had said about how Asgardians had ultimately treated Elsa's kin, Tony had to fight the urge to shield her with his body and Elsa, from the way she had tensed on her perch, seemed to be fighting the instinct to freeze or burn the two Asgardians as well. "As I recall, friend Stark owes you nothing of the sort. And if memory serves me right - which it does - dragons and their summoners have no obligation to share their business with outsiders. I am sure it was heavily implied, if not outright stated, in one of our meetings before we all embarked on this endeavor. Not to mention that there is no things left to explain, as it has been made clear that the universe itself creates these bonds. Friend Stark had nothing to do with being born as he is."

Wanda looked ready to make a snide comment regarding that, probably something vicious and snide, but the Northuldra beat her to it by starting to sing the very same song they had sang just that morning to greet the new day and the dragon hatcher resting in one of their beds, along with the same clapping and slamming of weapons against the stone floor. The only difference this time was that the magic of the temple itself as well as the elements, currently present and just returned, joined in, making the place vibrate with amounts of energy that had only been felt before in the presence of the Infinity Stones. The circle around Tony opened when Aidna approached and placed her spear between them with an open invitation for him to grab hold of it with her. Rhodey jumped out of the way when the fire tiger bound its way over to rub up against Tony's side and Carol made an interesting noise when the wind snake mussed up her hair. Nebula eyed the water horse with suspicion but she and Vision eventually made way for the golems and took Schmidt off of their hands as they realized this was an important moment, or something like it, an initiation perhaps.

With them all standing behind Tony and the Northuldra, Wong, Thor, Loki and a propped up, still unconscious Stephen came to stand behind Aidna, their hands on each others' shoulders until they made a connecting web just as the elements did with Tony and Elsa behind them, Stark felt the energies shift and embrace him and his little dragon.

'It is the right of passage,' she murmurs in his mind, voice soothing and a purr in his words as though she were a pleased cat. 'A bridge formed between magic and reality, between energy and matter, between them and nature and we are the ones who must build it, maintain it and protect it. Accept them, Tony. We shall guide them into a better world.'

'Together,' he thinks back at her and confidently takes a good, strong hold of the spear offered to him, his hands gripping in between Aidna's so they hold the weapon together as equals.

A moment as magic gathers, a pulse ...

The Temple alights.