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.

When Tony first came to in three days, it was to a pair of soft, warm if slightly cracked lips pressed firmly, almost desperately against his own. Before he could panic, he felt the scratch of a familiarly shaped beard - a goatee to rival his own - and his very soul gave a reassuring hum that had him relaxing into the sensations like he was made for it. He couldn't help the little moan that slipped from his mouth nor the whine that followed seconds later when Stephen stiffened against him before swiftly drawing away. Looking at the good doctor, Tony found that the man was adorable when he blushed like that.

Who knew Doctor Strange, almighty Sorcerer Supreme, could get so flustered with a single kiss?

"Tony! You're okay!" The second thing Stark registered other than Strange was his Rhodey-bear all but barreling into a suspiciously ice-covered medical room at the Compound and nearly slipping on the ice in his haste to get to the genius, who was in a hospital bed, only much more comfortable of course. A few others followed at a safer pace so as not to end up sliding across the floor like poor Rhodey and it was all the most important people in his life.

The third thing that he noticed, though, nearly had him going straight into an anxiety attack and that was the sight of Elsa, all but iced over in her own powers, on a bed next to his, completely unresponsive and completely out of his reach even through the souls they shared - though he did notice a new sensation on his end there and he wasn't blind to how Strange nearly fell over, eyes wide like he was on the trip of his life and high as a fucking rocket. If he couldn't feel her right there, behind a thick block of, ironically, ice between them, he would have thought her dead. As it was, it was clear that whatever had put him out of commission for this long had also impacted their bond and created an interference.

"The Empurikul ... They have weapons that block magic." Those were the first words out of his mouth and he had absolutely no idea where that information came from. It made everyone else stop in their fussing - or arguing, as was the case of Rogers and Barnes, the former trying to get into the room and the Winter Soldier trying, almost certainly futilely, to get it through his thick skull that he wasn't wanted in there - and stare at him in confusion, worry or intrigue.

"That would make sense why Elsa, a being of pure magic, would lose all control and be in a state like this," Stephen said after a long pause. "Taking away magic from her even for a moment is surely a death sentence. The raging weather and storms is probably from a too quick comeback."

"That, unfortunately, means that the blizzards won't stop until Elsa awakens and stops them herself." Aidna, who had apparently been called in at some point, muses and Tony doesn't like the sounds of that.

"What's going on?"

"You don't remember?" Stephen surprised them all by asking, making everyone look at him like he was crazy. Tony had been, after all, unconscious for the past three days - yes, three; it had taken a better part of yesterday and today for whatever Strange had been doing to have any effect and for the two of them to wake up from whatever meditative or entranced state that the sorcerer had put them in.

"Should I?" The hospitalized genius asked skeptically, wondering what was going on.

"Don't you remember JARVIS explaining everything - things I really have no idea how a construct of your own mind could know with no connection to the outside world at all - in your mind space?"

"No?"

"What do you mean, 'JARVIS explaining everything'?" Romanov asked from the doorway where Bucky refused to let anyone else enter the room without Tony's explicit permission. Tony swore he'll buy the guy a cupcake. Or a cupcake maker. Or a whole damned kitchen, since the guy seemed to have a thing for baking.

"Oh~!" It took Tony a moment to realize what Stephen was talking about when the words mind space and mind construct registered, but when he did, he gave the sorcerer a sheepish smile. "Uh, yeah. Elsa helped me with that some time ago. A fail-safe in case of an anxiety attack because, for years, only JARVIS' voice could calm me down. FRIDAY's great but I'm all but conditioned for JARVIS being my turn off switch for those things after so many years and so many panic attacks averted. Elsa helped me build him up in my mind again. He's ... He's everything he's always been except he can't exist out here, you know? So he's kind of just mine and Elsa's I guess. Though I do have to wonder why you know about him and why the hell you were in my mind space to begin with, Doc?" He arched an eyebrow at the man, not even trying to get into the theory behind how the magic that had created JARVIS somehow kept him in tune with the real world outside. That was some dragon magic that Tony was still trying to puzzle out. It was a nice challenge for his brain when he just needed to stop thinking about serious shit for a little while and Elsa's gift was invaluable.

He may never hear JARVIS' voice with his own ears ever again, but at least his greatest creation lived on in some semblance other than just the code making up a part of Vision's personality construct. This way, he gets to have them both.

For some strange - excuse the pun - reason, the blue dressed doctor suddenly flushed a little and it had nothing to do with the incredible smooch from earlier. "Perhaps we should push back the conversation of how you were saved from a frozen heart for later, as there are more interesting and pressing matter to discuss. Like where you aware that Infinity Stones like to drop by and check in on you in your own mind?"

"WHAT!?" More than one voice cried in outrage and shock, disbelief coloring the exclamation of surprise and making the volume raise beyond polite conversation-appropriate levels. Tony was disappointed that the noise didn't seem to rouse Elsa at all. But he knew this wasn't just a regular or even a drop dead exhausted sleep. Elsa's very core had been disturbed and she needed time to recover. Hopefully, she will be alright soon enough. He really was very worried. They had been together for barely two months and yet this shit had happened already.

"Well, more of an Infinity Stone dropping by rather than all of them," Stephen corrected, eyes never straying from Tony's own. He sounded rather displeased. "The Soul Stone seems to have developed a bit of a crush on you and shamelessly utilized the opportunity granted to it by both you using the Infinity Gauntlet and our new soulmate bond to sunbathe in the warmth and light of your soul fire. Apparently, you're the only dragon summoner to have gotten a soulmate outside of their dragon or another dragon summoner. Bloody opportunist."

"Soulmate? Wha-? Oh." Tony idly watched as every suddenly went very, very still, their shoulders tense and bodies stiff with tension, as if waiting for him to snap. Or more probably to freak out. "So that's what this is, huh. Neat." It would explain the acute awareness of exactly where Stephen was, the pull he felt from the man and how easily it was to read him all of a sudden. He probed down the line he felt connecting him to the sorcerer and smirked when the man in question gasped and flushed red. Well, that was interesting. As was the reflection of his won feelings, if a thousandfold amplified, on the sorcerer's end. "We'll talk about it later," he promised the man, figuring there were things to do. Something didn't feel quite right, after all, and he knew it was very much connected to Elsa's current state. How could it not be, when she was apparently the last of her kind? "What?" He asked when he saw the flabbergasted looks everyone was giving him, though.

"You're okay with this?!" Rogers, looking like a violated little old lady - or more like the old noble lady from that fourth pirate movie with Johnny Depp - all but screeched.

"Why shouldn't I be? True, not the way I would have liked for my feelings to come into the know but what's done is done and at least this way there's no misunderstandings, right, Doc?" If anything, Strange looked even more flabbergasted than before. Had the idiot even taken the time to check out his mind space while he had had the opportunity? If he had, he would have seen that Tony had had a brain-crush on him since the flying space doughnut and that it had only developed further after he reversed Thanos' Snap and Stephen had been with him every step of the way in his recovery and all the rebuilding efforts he had participated in to help other people cope better with the return of the world to how it used to be.

"But you didn't even give consent! This is a violation of your personal rights, Tony!"

"Yeah, I'd like to see you get through any of them," he waved a hand lazily to indicate his closest and dearest, including Stephen, much to his apparent disbelief - they'll really have to talk about this at a later date, it seemed. Blind idiot - all of whom are scarily protective and even more invested in his happiness, well-being and ultimate survival and were, quite frankly, really terrifying people. "If a decision or an action was being made that was not in my best interest. If no one else, then FRIDAY at least would start a nuclear war for me and she at least knew about my feelings for Doctor Cheekbones. This was definitely not non-con. It just happened while I was sleeping, which is a shame. Wanna give me a proper kiss now that I am awake, Houdini?" He winked for good measure and Stephen huffed, finally relaxing with a smile. That was a good start.

"So it really doesn't bother you?" Carol asked, more curious than anything. "I mean, it is quite a big deal, sharing your soul like that."

Tony snorted. "My soul was created in such a way that I would share it no matter how things turned out. You guys seem to be constantly forgetting that Elsa and I are quite literally born soulmates. She can't exist without me and I wouldn't be who I am if my soul wasn't in some way connected to her's. My new bond with Stephen is just in a different category, since it's a made bond and not one written into the very essence of my soul at its creation. This is nothing new to me. I may have freaked out a few months ago but I certainly won't now. Besides, what's there to mind or complain about being connected on a soul level with someone who seems to understand you just as deeply? I call this an improvement."

"Over what?" Wilson asked, sounding curious.

"Over my god damned life. Now, will someone please tell me what's going on? Because I can tell something is and it ain't anything good." When suddenly everyone in the room and just outside of it - huh, there was that snow demon boss that had turned sides at the last moment and helped them - seemed to be playing glaring hot potatoes, the billionaire sighed and turned to his most trusted source. "FRI?"

Several screens flickered into the air in front of him, each showing different things. News reports, scans from his own satellites, interviews with scientists politicians, meteorologists, military personnel, random stupid people people trying to brave the planet wide storm that threatened to throw them straight into a new ice age. People were panicking and cold. It was apparently near impossible to keep warm and the temperatures just kept dropping. Not a good sign for a planet made over 80% from water with beings consisting of more than 80% of water. Speculations were being made about the survival of flora and fauna in the wild, especially species from warmer climates.

Stark was just glad no one realized that the current danger was of a much larger scale than they realized. Like, multiversal. Existence itself dangerous. Small mercies. He didn't like that Earth will be the first to fall if things went to shit. At least he was alive, which meant Elsa had more of a fighting chance. He just needed to find a way to help her get better, sooner rather than later. Her instability seems to be rubbing off on the rest of the world. Just fanfuckingtastic.

"Well, this is a bit not good. Any ideas how to help Elsa?" He asked, looking up at all of their magic experts in the room, from Wong to Aidna to Loki and Thor to their new snow demon friend and finally to Stephen. He may be the dragon summoner here but he was next to clueless on how to care for his dragon in moments of magical instability. Mostly because such occurrences were so rare they might as well be nonexistent so not even Ahtohallan had much recall of- "Ahtohallan!" He exclaimed in an Eureka moment, startling Pepper and Rhodey into jumping away from his bed, which worked fine for him as they also got out of his way and left him a straight path for Elsa. His first step was a bit wobbly but Stephen was there for the next, supporting him even as his hands shook with the effort. Peter was on his other side in a second, taking most of his weight with ease and taking him over to the berth where Elsa had encased herself in ice as though to protect herself from the world.

"You should take it easy," Nebula threatened/advised as she and Vision came to hover by, if not literally this time around, in case he needed to be put back to the bed.

"Yeah, maybe later. I know how to help Elsa and I need to go back to the Temple of Ahtohallan so chop chop."

"The weather conditions there would kill even me, Stark, as it is now," Loki warned, pushing the former rouge Avengers out of the way.

"Yeah, well, the cold doesn't bother me," he dismissed and shook off the hands holding him up as soon as he felt steady enough on his own feet. He reached out a hand to pick up Elsa only to have it snatched away by Nebula.

"Don't. It froze my metal arm, it shattered under the cold and I had to replace it." Now that his attention was drawn to that little tidbit, he could see that Nebula's arm was, indeed, not the alien technology she usually used but a replacement she and FRIDAY must have made together out of his nanites, as it was silver, red and gold.

"Not to mention that the cold very much does bother you, Stark," Barton pipped in, sounding the slightest bit worried. "Your heart was frozen. A bit cliche, considering your love for the movie and the origin of Elsa's name, but it happened. You're not as invulnerable to the cold as you had thought. Just like in Frozen 2."

"What, are you telling me only a kiss of true love could save me? Please, that's just Disney levels of bullshit right there." He sent a brief apologetic smile to May when she cleared her throat in reminder to not use such language around Peter and then sent Rogers a glare before the man could actual make the reprimand he used to tease him about.

"Well, Stephen did have to kiss you," Wong pointed out rather pointedly.

"The Soul Stone said it was necessary," the doctor added and Tony couldn't help. He snickered. (He also resolved to once venture deep into his mind and find the Soul Stone and make friend with it. It clearly had a sense of humor he would appreciate.) Stephen's face went deadpan. "It wasn't necessary."

"Nope."

A murderous expression actually settled over the man's features. "Excuse me while I plan the murder of an infinite source of power and one of the six elements of creation of the universe."

"Oh, yeah. The Soul Stone and I are definitely becoming drinking buddies." Then he ignored every other attempt to stop him and finally touched Elsa. Or rather, the ice around her. Which immediately melted upon his touch, much to everyone's shock. Why they continued being shocked was beyond him, though, as they should know by now that his relationship with Elsa and magic and existence in general is way different from their own. Besides, Elsa had no reason to protect herself from him. They were two separate parts of a single soul meant to live in two different bodies and yet be connected in their own way.

"We're not letting you go back out there when you just woke up, Tony," Fury called as a command as he stormed into the room and the other sorcerers nodded. Tony nodded back, easily scooping up Elsa into his arms and tucking her against his chest. He understood they worried but it was unnecessary.

"Okay, that's fair." It's not like he needs them to, after all.

More than one jaw dropped unceremoniously onto the floor when he waved his hand almost dismissively and magic sparked in the air, creating a rift in space, leading straight to the entrance to the Temple of Ahtohallan, which, of course, looked none the worse for ware despite the ice that should have accumulated on the glacier hiding it in such weather. Then again, the glacier was magic. All in all, the cold hadn't done anything to the place and his path was clear.

He looked over his shoulder at all the gawking faces and smirked. People really needed to stop underestimating him. He was Tony fucking Stark. Exceeding expectations and breaking laws and limitations of science and human logical thinking is, unfortunately, what he did best, be it with his own brain or with his impossible survival of supposedly unsurvivable situations. Or with his solutions for supposedly impossible problems. Fuck impossible.

Besides, magic wasn't all that hard. Not for a dragon's Ib, who shares their dragon's instinctual control of magic, which was practically their life blood. Elsa might be out of commission but Tony sure as hell wasn't. If he knew how, he would have tried to help her on her own but he was new to this so Ahtohallan it was. He was pretty sure one of the spirits of Elsa's ancestors will help.

Without further ado, he stepped through and ran for the Temple, not even looking back to see if anyone was following.

Explanations can come later, as well as the inevitable scolding for his reckless behavior.

Elsa needed him now.