New Asgard, way back when

When the deep silence of the night was broken once more by the sudden rattling of breaths caught in a chest congested with imaginary blood and poison, and desperate arms that once grappled only empty air found themselves clinging to Stephen's shoulders like a lifeline, Loki fought back tears of frustration, terror and sheer relief.

"Stephen," he gasped. His vision blurred as his pupils fought with the white of his eyes for dominance as the pull of restless sleep warred with wakefulness. His nails dug deep into Stephen's back as if to reaffirm his physical presence was not just a phantom.

"I'm here." Stephen murmured into his sweat-soaked temple and Loki choked down a whimper as he leaned into the embrace, grateful for the reprieve from his never-ending nightmare. Was it still a nightmare if everything felt so real?

Stephen tightened his hold around Loki despite the sharp pain prickling into the skin of his back. He could not care less if Loki had drawn blood, if that could tether him to the waking world for good. "Same dream?"

"I don't understand." Exhausted, Loki pressed his forehead to the base of his lover's throat, whose Adam's apple bobbed up and down as Stephen fought to keep the curses to himself. "I should be rid of them already."

"Do you think it's a spell?"

"No. My seidr would have rooted it out if there was any." Loki shook his head. "This is all me."

He was aware of Stephen's hand running through the short strands of his hair. "Perpetuating nightmares for reasons unbeknownst to me."

"Your subconscious is trying to tell you something."

"Is that the neurosurgeon in you speaking?"

"The neurosurgeon, the sorcerer, your concerned lover...I am one and the same. There is no separating the psyche, Loki."

"I am so tired, Stephen."

"Come lay back down."

"No. It will only come back and there's only so many times I can die in my sleep in one night before I lose it for real."

"I'm here now, Loki." Stephen's searching lips sought Loki's in the dark, and once they were found, he locked their lips in a tender kiss. One of his arms found its way around the crook of Loki's neck and coaxed him to lie back down. "I can help you. Let me help you."

Loki's eyes fluttered slowly to a close as he fought to control his breathing. His heart was still racing but Stephen pulled him in closer and as their chests met, his heartbeat began to slow as if trying to mirror Stephen's own, steady and reassuring and safe.

"Do you trust me?"

Without hesitation, "I do."

So lulled was he into the promise of a respite from another ghastly nightmare, Loki did not resist when Stephen planted a palm on his forehead, his magic warm and tranquil. "Now sleep."

"So which is it going to be?" Stephen held out two brown packages. "The reuben or the grilled haloumi and avocado on rye?"

"I'm not very hungry, Stephen. Perhaps later?" Loki implored, mounting one last-ditch effort at deflection.

Stephen shook his head. Bizarrely the Cloak seemed to give the impression it was doing the same, its lapels twitching around in a grand gesture of chastisement. "That's what you said a few hours ago. You should know better than to bargain so carelessly with me, Loki, you know I will always hold you to your word."

"I did it the Midgardian way too, you know. Lined up and everything."

No, not with the puppy eyes. "Please?"

Finally, Loki gave a long-suffering sigh. "Okay, Strange, you win. Since you asked so nicely."

When Stephen immediately broke into one of his rare, extra-wide smiles, Loki could not help feeling peculiarly warmed inside, not just at Stephen's thoughtfulness, but at how much he looked like Stian when he grinned, down to the twinkle in his smiling eyes.

Their baby boy may have Loki's colouring, but whatever sunny, all too human disposition he may have inherited, he got it all from Stephen.

Loki sniffed, not unfondly. He supposed it could have been worse.

"Stian, come away please…you're too close to the edge."

The Valkyrie appeared in his line of vision from seemingly out of nowhere, and walked toward the edge of the cliff. "Come on, little Prince."

Loki momentarily lowered his green and gold shield around Stian so the Valkyrie could get close and pick him up.

"He's a stealthy crawler, this one, our little Revenger." She propped him up on one hip and smiled as Stian reached out to make a grab for her hair. "Do you want me to take him back to his room, Highness?"

"No, I'd rather he stay and play for a bit longer." Loki raised his protective shield again as Brunnhilde lowered the little Prince and guided him to stand, holding onto the rock formation his parents were sitting on. "He's just starting to cruise, let him have a feel of these rocks, it's good for stimulating his sensory modalities, or something or other."

Stephen raised a mildly impressed eyebrow.

Loki rolled his eyes. "You like leaving your articles and journals and parenting guides lying around. My subconscious is surely bound to read one or two in passing."

"Yes, and my subconscious is mentally making note to tell on you if you don't start eating one of these." Stephen countered Loki's death glare with a cool gaze of his own. "Tall, blond, and sparkly? Remember him?"

Loki's glare remained steely and steady. But alas, despite his moniker as the notorious God of Lies, he was a man of his words. To Stephen's mild surprise, he picked up one half of the haloumi sandwich. "I didn't see you leave this morning?"

"I got up before dawn because I thought I heard Stian. Rocked him back to sleep, felt like a poor man's breakfast, popped out to the deli and came back." Stephen leaned back on his hands and crossed his ankles in front of him. "You were still sleeping, and I didn't want to wake you."

"Yrsa?"

"She looked half dead on her feet, so I told her to go home and rest. Roped the Valkyrie in to babysit."

Loki only nodded. He still looked a little rough around the edges. After the bad night Loki had, Stephen had half a mind to talk him into taking a nap later; he could only hope his power of persuasion could hold out for a little bit longer.

He watched as Loki took a tentative bite and chewed none too enthusiastically.

"Beautiful day, the sun is out and I thought why not make it a picnic."

"Thank you," Loki mumbled through a mouthful of food. For such a small bite, he was sure taking his time and chewing the hell out of it. "I am touched, truly, but you needn't have bothered, Stephen."

"Don't think too much on it, Loki. I wanted a sandwich so I went out and got one, that's all," he said lightly.

Loki smiled. He could see right through Stephen. "Yeah? So where's your ham and rye then?"

Stephen smirked. Because two could so play at this game. "Aw. So you do remember my favourite."

"You remembered mine first." Loki surveyed the spread in front of him pointedly. "Down to the halving of the pastrami, the vegan seitan instead of corned beef, and the Russian dressing on the side."

"Yeah because you're weird like that."

"You're not eating?" Loki was halfway through his half of the halloumi sandwich. To Stephen's delight, his random choice of what-new-things-Loki-hasn't-tried-but just-might-like his Ice Prince seemed to have found agreeable and to his liking.

"This is all for you, Loki."

Loki nodded. One hand still holding on to his sandwich, he returned the weird reuben sandwich back into the food carrier with the other. At Stephen's frown, he said placatingly, "I'm saving it for later. I'll reheat it and eat it for supper."

"There's no need. I can just pop out and get you a fresh one." Now that Stephen knew he could get Loki to eat as long as it did not come from Asgard's kitchens, he would just need to UberEat the hell out of his portals. Definitely no worries there.

"This will suffice, Stephen. Thank you," Loki said gently, shaking his head. It was only when he did that that Stephen finally realised what was so different; Loki's hair used to flap about his face in the breeze but now despite the gale blowing inward from the sea, Loki was unperturbed.

"What did Thor mean when he said he liked your old hair?"

Loki took the last, serendipitous bite of his sandwich for it meant he had an excuse to avoid answering by chewing as slowly as possible.

At long last,

"This was how I looked like," Loki said simply with a shrug. To an untrained eye, the gesture was carelessly nonchalant, but to Stephen it was anything but, as his next words foretold. "Before I fell."

It was too nice a day for the usual doom and gloom so Stephen did the proverbial reversing the gear to steer them both back into the happy. "It's a good look. Why didn't you keep it?"

"It belonged to the old me who died in the fall." Loki looked out into the horizon. "I either kept my hair long in contempt of him, or in memory of him. It varied from moment to moment."

"And now? How do you feel about it now?"

Loki tilted his head sideways and stared at him in mild curiosity. "How do you feel about it?"

"I can't get enough of it to be honest." If Stephen was being truthful, he could stare at the tantalising outlines of all the muscles in Loki's neck for hours.

"I can tell. You've resorted to staring, Doctor."

"Ah, sorry." Stephen slowly uncrossed his ankles. He righted his position on the rock until he was sitting cross-legged and facing Loki full-front. Now that he had been caught, he might as well do it openly. "Like I said, it's a good look."

A gentle breeze swept past them. Somewhere in the distant, Stian was laughing, squealing in delight.

"Thank you."

Loki's eyebrows crinkled slightly. "Whatever for?"

"For letting me see you like this," Stephen said softly. "It's like, you know, when some guys say they like seeing their girlfriends without make-up. It's something like that."

"Is that what I am? Your girlfriend?" There was no anger, no indignation in Loki's voice. Only amusement.

"Don't debase yourself like that. It's unbefitting." Stephen waved a hand in disgust. "But having said that, you do have a habit of hiding behind your many personas."

"I have stopped wearing my glamour around you, you know that."

"I know." He watched as Loki unwrapped the other half of his sandwich slowly.

Unable to resist, Stephen leaned in and kissed him.

Taken aback by the sudden intrusion of personal space, Loki was too slow to turn away. "Eyes are watching, Strange."

"Let them." Another kiss landed on Loki's cool, soft lips. "I want to take the layers off one by one."

Stephen sought his lips once more, "Kiss by kiss."

"Goodness. I can't believe you've bought me at the price of a sandwich," Loki murmured, the curve of his lips moulding into a smile against Stephen's still searching ones.

"You bought me at much less." He could not resist the temptation anymore. His head travelled downward until his nose was buried in the crook of Loki's neck, where it had longed to be for the past hour. "You practically got me for free."

Loki laughed silently, either at Stephen's cheesy lines or the tickling sensation he knew his rough stubble was grating against the sensitive skin of Loki's jawline he could not tell but he cared not one damn bit.

Stephen snipped at the long, white neck, breathing in Loki's familiar, intoxicating scent. There was something about the cliff, something in the ocean-scented air, something in the magic-imbued atmosphere that was driving all impulse control into oblivion.

This was where Stephen had first said the words, was it not.

"I love you."

"I love you too." The answer came without pause or hesitation and Stephen stilled.

Loki had automatically replied in Mindspeak without a thought, and he immediately realised his faux pax the moment Stephen ceased to breathe; the sudden absence of the warmth of breath against Loki's neck made him draw back in horror – "Stephen…"

"Say it again." Stephen's fingers were now curled around the hairs at the back of his ears as he gripped the sides of Loki's face.

As Loki's green eyes searched his for any sign of mockery, Stephen waited patiently for he knew there was none to find.

When it finally came, it was soft and tender. "I love you."

A thrill coursed down Stephen's spine for now he knew it was not just a figment of his imagination, a creation of his own mind. And maybe, just maybe, Loki could finally open up to him, for he now vowed to do the same.

"Come what may," he whispered.

"Come what may," Loki echoed.

That did it. Stephen grabbed the back of Loki's head and crushed his lips once more, this time staking his claim with a deeper, more raucous kiss, if only to match the emotions threatening to bowl him over in a sudden avalanche of passion and infatuation and pure love –

"Your Highness!" "Prince Stian!"

The spell broke. Stephen's head whipped around.

Loki gasped in horror, his hand stretched out, green tendrils of magic flickering from the ends of his fingers –

no I'm not going to make it, it's too late to stop

And a flash of silver dove into their direct line of vision, obliterating all sight of their vulnerable little boy, and the arrow slammed into the back of the Valkyrie's left shoulder

and she screamed.

Stephen's shields lifted in a giant dome of golden energy enveloping them all as he ran the last twenty yards toward to where Brunnhilde was huddled over Stian who had begun to wail, Loki close behind him, his Asgardian battle armour materialising into place.

"Search the parameters." Despite the throbbing pain burning in her shoulder, Valkyrie barked a terse order but the Einherjar were already on the move, marching off into all directions. Loki dropped onto one knee next to her, and Stian, still crying from the shock, immediately crawled into his lap.

"Oh Stian. I'm sorry, I am so, so sorry…" Loki fiercely kissed each of Stian's cheeks in turn before crouching over his fallen friend. Worriedly, "Val!"

"The things I do for you, Lackey," she groused, her face pale and sweaty as she tried to ride out the pain.

"Stay still," Stephen growled. He muttered the words to a numbing spell and cupped his hands over the base of the arrow where the shaft was protruding from Brunnhilde's armour. "This will sting a little."

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," she gritted through her teeth. "Quickly now, there is poison."

"One, two – " and Stephen yanked. Brunnhilde bucked violently with the traction but did not scream, her whimpers of pain dampened somewhat by the anaesthesia conferred by the numbing spell.

Propping Stian against one thigh, Loki swiftly grabbed the familiar-looking golden arrow and sniffed the bloodied tip. "Venom is serpentine." He closed his eyes as he concentrated. "Tiger snake."

"A neurotoxin then." Stephen searched his brains for the right spell needed to neutralise the poison. His hands began to glow with the golden hue of healing energy as they pressed firmly into the back of her shoulder. "How are you doing, Valkyrie?"

"Just peachy." No longer on her knees for her muscles had long since stopped responding to her commands, she buried her face into the crook of her arm as the Sorcerer Supreme's sentient magic coursed through her body, seeking out the venom drop by drop. "Tell the Einherjar to search the trees too…just…in case."

"They won't find anybody." Loki's voice was hard. "This arrow is seidr-fortified, custom-designed to break through my shield. And no physical archer shot this, it was conjured and propelled by means of magic."

"That's why I hate magic."

"I'm sorry, Val." Loki's cold hand wrapped around hers. His healing seidr too was seeking permission to enter, and despite the situation, she just had to snicker.

"This isn't going to kill me. Would have killed the little one though." She waved away his concern. "Could never let that happen."

Loki's eyes smarted. "Thank you, Valkyrie."

"Yeah, yeah." The pain was receding now. The weakness began to disappear and she was regaining control of her fingers, her limbs, and it was becoming much easier to breathe. This Sorcerer Supreme was good.

"You good?" Stephen asked once Valkyrie had climbed to her feet once more. Circumducting her left shoulder gingerly, she nodded, giving him a wan smile.

"Yeah. Good thing he didn't get my sword arm." She breathed out the last tail-ends of clamping tightness in her chest away. "Thanks, Fancy Man. I owe you one."

"I owe you." Stephen shook his head seriously. He pried Stian out of Loki's reluctant arms and kissed the top of Stian's head. "I owe you my life."

"Pish posh." She waved the awkwardness away. "Call of duty and all that crap."

"More importantly…" She turned her eyes toward her Prince, looking grave and solemn. "This isn't over."

To say Thor was livid was an understatement. The royal council chamber was bristling with so much static electricity, everybody's hair was standing on end.

"General Brynjulvson. Do you mean to tell me your investigation thus far has brought up naught?" He glared furiously at the elderly man sitting to his right whom he had singled out in his wrath. "Not a single inkling as to the identity of the perpetrator? The motives behind his actions?"

"Pardon me, Your Majesty for I have no defence nor valid explanation to excuse my incompetence. I beseech you, my Good King, to show me mercy and bestow upon me another chance to prove myself worthy of your trust in this matter."

The General bowed his head. "I had attempted to extract information without recourse to violence but perhaps…a more persuasive means of questioning must be employed to procure more expedient results."

Loki's face was pale. "No, General. I will not allow such atrocities to take place. Not in my name."

"Loki," Thor said quietly.

"No, Thor." Loki's voice was equally soft, yet no less adamant in its conviction. "No violence. No torture. I do not condone it."

"So what do you suggest?" Thor clasped his hands on the table. "What would you have me do, Brother? When your life and that of your son are in such peril that such bodily harm had come to you, repeatedly, right under my nose?"

And right under yours?

Stephen did not miss the way Thor's eyes lingered in his direction for a fraction of a second. He cleared his throat. "Permission to speak, Majesty?"

"Proceed as you will, Doctor." Thor unclasped his hands and opened his palms. "You have more news from our friends Stark and Banner, I presume?"

"As I have said earlier, the first attempted murder was likely done by one proficient in the ways of magic, specifically, shape-shifting which I understand is a very specialised skill that not very many sorcerers and seidr-wielders have." Stephen tapped his index finger soundlessly against his thigh. "Now I do not know how many magic users there are in New Asgard currently but that should narrow it down a little, General, if you so wish to renew your effort in looking for likely suspects."

"The latest attack on Prince Stian this morning proved this theory. The arrow was imbued with magic strong enough to penetrate Prince Loki's protective barrier," Valkyrie quipped from where she was standing behind Thor as their eyes met across the table. Stephen nodded.

Valkyrie hesitated, "Majesty, the arrow used was a standard Asgardian military issue. Our Master of the Archers has confirmed that it dates back to more than a decade ago, but one thing for certain is that we have stopped using such arrows, and we certainly have stopped producing them after the fall of Asgard."

Thor's countenance had gone so still Loki feared he had stopped breathing.

"Thor."

"One of our Einherjar?" Thor whispered. "Did one of my Kingsguard do this?"

"Your old Kingsguard who would have had such arrows in their possession had all died holding the fort when Hela came to Asgard." Valkyrie shook her head. "As Captain of your present Kingsguard, I can assure you this arrow has passed none of our hands."

One of Thor's hands reached up to stroke an eyebrow as if warding off the beginning of a headache.

"There is another thing, Thor," Stephen said hesitantly. He took a deep breath to gather the courage to break the more disturbing news.

"Dr Banner has managed to isolate the poison from Loki's stomach contents. He identified it as a toxin called temetrol." He reached under the table for Loki's hand and true enough, it was shaking. "It was in the milk."

Loki's face had drained of all colour. "What kind of poison is that?"

"It comes from a poisonous plant called White Snakeroot, native to North America. It contaminates the meat and the milk of the cattle that may have consumed it, usually by accident for it used to be a wild-growing, common woodland plant. Historically it killed a lot of people, before the introduction of safety measures in modern dairy practices such as large pooling of milk from various sources and pasteurisation." The shadows in Stephen's eyes darkened, his grey eyes appearing almost black in poorly-concealed fury. "The concentration of temetrol in the sample was enough to kill ten men, explaining the rapid onset and severity of symptoms."

Stephen leaned in his chair as he allowed half a minute to pass for his audience to process the information before he continued. "I have interrogated the kitchen staff and they have all confirmed that all the milk used in the kitchens comes from a reliable supplier, sourced directly from the largest milk company in Oslo."

"And as it happens, milk was not required in the preparation for that night's dinner menu and despite Loki's impromptu request, no new carton of milk was found to have been opened," Stephen reported. "Einar did not remember receiving any pitcher containing milk that night, let alone taking it to Loki and pouring it in his food."

"So…what does that mean?" Thor's brows furrowed. "Magic milk? From a magic cow?"

Loki rolled his eyes.

"It means there is an opportunist among us. Ever watching. Ever waiting," Loki said flatly. "And he is close."

A chill ran down Thor's spine at Loki's next words. "This is no longer about the throne or the line of succession. Perhaps it never was."

Loki's hand fell away from Stephen's as he buried his face in a trembling hand he would have remembered to hide had he not been so overcome by a sick, churning fear. "This is personal."

"What am I going to do, Stephen?"

"Do rephrase that, my dear."

Despite the dire situation, Loki simply had to smile as he remembered the memory of that fateful night when Stian, then still unnamed and unannounced, came crashing into their lives.

Loki leaned his head against Stephen's bare chest and closed his eyes. "What are we going to do?"

Stephen's fingers brushed lightly up and down his arm. "First you are going to eat your reuben sandwich as you promised –"

Loki groaned.

"And I…am going to dream walk."

Loki stiffened. "What."

"I am missing something, Loki."

"You wish to look inside my head for clues?"

"With your permission, of course." Stephen absently brushed his lips against the top of Loki's head. "Your subconscious is a powerful tool, Loki. It is trying to tell us something. I can feel it."

The grip around Loki's arm tightened. "I think that is why the dreams are not letting you go."

"But I can't exactly do much snooping around when I'm too busy choking on my own blood, can I?"

"Exactly. And I have a feeling that that is where I come in."

Loki shuddered at the thought of going through another nightmare again tonight. He fought the hundred ways he could put his objection into words but a part of him knew it had to be done. The Valkyrie taking an arrow for their son was the last straw.

"Alright, Stephen. I trust you."

Stephen pulled back to stare at him, his eyes silently asking, You do?

Loki buried his face once more into his chest. "I do." His green eyes turned to steel. "Let's get this bastard once and for all."