Hey everyone, hello from Belgium!
I'm on holiday right now, so hopefully I'll have even more time to work on this fic!
"Brother, do you recollect more than you previously said?" Thor questioned, a hard edge to his voice.
"Hey," Clint protested, slapping Point Break's arm before he moved forward and crouched before Loki, face open and soft. "Are you okay?"
Tony had noticed during his review of the security footage regarding Little Prince how good Legolas was with Loki despite all of his early protests and their history. Of all of them, Clint had the most reasons to hate their pint-sized would-be world ruler, yet the archer seemed to put all of that aside in favor of treating Loki as a kid. It intrigued Tony as he was sure there was a story there, but it also raised Clint in his estimation.
"I..." Loki began, trailing off and looking a little lost. "I do not know."
"What do you know then?" Clint asked.
"That I should not be recollecting events from Thor's adolescence, yet I am."
"What about other memories of events from that time? Like what you were doing then? Do you remember those?"
"Nay."
Okay, that was odd, but they were dealing with magic here, so perhaps regular logic need not apply. It didn't seem to with anything else regarding magic.
"Is that normal?" Tony asked.
To his credit, Loki didn't rush to reply, instead seeming to think about it.
"I believe it would depend on the spell and what the caster intended," Little Prince finally answered.
"Didn't she say something about learning a lesson?" Clint asked, looking back at him and Thor.
"Aye," Thor agreed. "Mayhap it had been to view events from a different perspective."
Tony blinked as he looked at Point Break. That was surprisingly perspective of Thor and might just be right.
"I believe 'tis not the first time you have done so either, Brother," Thor continued.
"Oh?" Loki inquired.
"On the first day, in the conference room, you spoke of what I said of the frost giants."
"Let me guess, that happened when Loki was older?" Tony stated.
"Aye," Thor confirmed.
"What about anything else?" Clint asked, turning his focus back to Little Prince. "Is there anything else you know or remember that you shouldn't?"
"'Tis not so easy to discern," Loki replied, his brow furrowed. "I have never had to attempt to sort my memories thus."
"I can aid you in this endeavor, Brother," Thor offered.
"That would be helpful."
"Excellent, let us know what you uncover," Tony said. "Especially if you find any kind of pattern to this."
"Shall we, Brother?" Thor asked.
"Not now, I promised the Man of Iron a healing potion," Little Prince replied.
"Yes, I'd like that first," Tony agreed.
"Stark," Clint intoned, turning to look at him.
"What? This could cut my recovery time down and I really want to get back into the lab to start working on a new suit."
"Another?" Thor questioned. "But the other has not been damaged."
"Nope, but this one will be totally different and far better."
Clint rolled his eyes. "You always say that."
"Ah, but this shall solve my dismantling problem," Tony explained.
"Oh? How?"
"Na ah, no spoilers, this is a spoiler free zone."
Natasha would have pushed him, but either Clint didn't care, or he couldn't be bothered just now, as Hawkeye merely rolled his eyes and dropped the subject.
Their resident Ásgarðrian mini-mage had been using the time to set up and was now mixing his ingredients in the bowl provided, which was being suspended above the table above a set of greenish flames.
"I assume I don't need to worry about scorched furniture?" Tony couldn't help but question.
Loki's lips twitched, though his eyes and fingers kept right on doing what they had been before Tony spoke.
"Nay," was the only response he got, but it was good enough.
He would love to have leaned forward and run his finger through that strange and enchanting green fire, but he didn't even need to shift to know just how bad of an idea that would be. Not when his whole chest already felt the way it did. If he really hadn't had to have the shrapnel out, he'd already be regretting his decision to have it removed. Luckily, he did, so he didn't.
A few words later (which Tony would never admit sent shivers up his spine and seemed to almost evoke power) and mini-Rock of Ages was done. Or at least appeared to be.
"That's it?" Tony checked.
"I said 'twas a simple potion," Loki replied.
True, but it still seemed too easy almost, and nothing good ever came of that.
"I suppose there are plenty of things doctors and nurses do which seem dead simple when we see them do it, but which are probably really hard to actually do," Clint weighed in.
They were going to have a little chat about Legolas' complete change of attitude later but, for now, first things first.
"So all I have to do is drink it?" Tony asked.
Loki nodded. "All of it."
"Okay," he said, taking the mixing bowl.
The... concoction was a dark green, but seeing as most of the ingredients had been green to begin with that wasn't really a surprise. It had some viscosity to it, but nothing which should give him any trouble to swallow, though it might mean it clung to the bowl a little more than most liquids might have.
He held the bowl aloft. "Bottoms up!" he cheered, before knocking it back.
The 'potion' (and Tony still couldn't quite believe he was having one!) tasted green. Or at least that was what he thought of it as; yucky and planty as it was.
"Uh!" he complained as soon as he could. "Why does medicine always have to taste so bad?"
Clint snorted and shook his head. "You're such a baby, Stark."
Tony stuck out his tongue as he tried to concentrate on how he felt. Though he was no biologist or doctor, he was keenly aware of being the first human in who knew how many centuries to have this potion, and he was far too much of a researcher not to try to take mental notes of his reaction.
"How do you feel, Sir?" JARVIS inquired.
"Fine," Tony replied, before he frowned and touched a hand to his stomach, looking at Loki. "Warm."
Little Prince nodded. "The potion works as a warm glow, commencing in the stomach and spreading outwards."
It was a pleasant sensation and not what he typically associated with healing. As it diffused outwards it concentrated on his chest, becoming warmer but not unpleasant. He did gasp as he could almost feel skin and bone knitting, and part of him wanted to pull up his shirt to watch, but he was afraid of interfering with the process and making it heal wrong.
"Tony?" Clint asked, a hint of worry in his voice.
"I'm fine," he gasped as there were further flares of warmth near his heart and... his liver? "It just feels odd." He turned his gaze to the Óðinnsons. "Does it go after non wound things too?"
"How do you mean?" Thor frowned.
"My liver felt warm."
Legolas blinked, before his eyes grew wide. "Holy shit, if it can heal that, then everyone will want this!"
No, the religious most definitely wouldn't, as they'd see it as sin inducing if it reversed the consequences of overindulging in alcohol or drugs.
"Your liver?" Little Prince looked puzzled. "Had you injured it before?"
"Not in the typical sense, but I drink a lot and used to do drugs," Tony replied.
"I do not understand."
Now it was Tony's turn to frown. "Doing both damages the liver as it needs to filter them out of the blood."
Loki looked appalled and Tony glanced over at Point Break, sure this had to be part of Reindeer Games' human prejudice showing through in his younger self. Those types of things generally formed early, after all.
Alas, even Thor looked shocked. Had the big guy been like Loki before and simply changed that much as Thor had once claimed, or was this simply a difference between their species? If so, it was a poor one and Tony didn't approve of it at all.
"Wait, you mean you can drink all of the mead you mentioned and not scar your liver?" Clint demanded, sounding as astonished as Tony felt.
"Nay, why would it?" Little Prince questioned.
"You'll have to ask Bruce," Tony replied. "But this is awesome. JARVIS contact Brucie-bear, it's science time! I want a full scan because that potion was awesome!"
And Tony had never thought he'd ever utter those words! His past self would think him crazy, but he could hardly argue with just how much better his body felt now. Besides, his words made Little Prince fairly beam with pleasure.
The itch of an unfulfilled idea drove Tony from his bed in the middle of the night, nice as it was to be wrapped around Pep after they'd celebrated his miraculous recovery thanks to Loki's marvelous healing potion. Already the SHIELD lab rats were trying to duplicate it based on the ingredients used, though he doubted they'd have much luck.
Much as Tony hated to be the one to admit the evidence of magic, he knew there was no way something as effective as what he'd been given had not already been discovered. Not with such common ingredients and humanity's long-standing propensity to mix herbs and plants together.
Which left magic.
Any irritation Tony felt over it soon vanished as he entered his lab, thoughts already distracted with other things.
"J, bring up the notes I made in the hospital," he ordered, pulling up his holograms.
Now he had a better idea to work from, Tony progressed rapidly, overcoming each and every hitch he came across quickly and easily. He bobbed his head in time to his music as he worked, completely losing track of time as he was in the zone. It therefore surprised him when he reached a natural stopping point without being interrupted by either Bruce or Pepper to drag him off to a meal or break.
"What time is it, J?" Tony inquired.
"Two in the afternoon, Sir," JARVIS replied.
"Of Thursday?"
"Yes, Sir."
Huh, would you look at that, it had hardly even been twelve hours since he gotten up. He could impress even himself at times.
"Begin making the nanobots," Tony said. "Let's start with two hundred, that should give me enough to play with to see if they behave as expected."
"At once, Sir. Shall I inform Captain Rogers not to put away the leftover lasagna?"
"He make it?"
"Yes."
"Then absolutely, I'll be right down."
With that kind of incentive, Tony quickly got to the Avengers common floor and made a beeline for the kitchen.
"Hey, guys," Tony greeted, already homing in on the one lasagna dish which still had its meaty and pastay slices of Heaven. "Mmm."
Bruce chuckled. "How long since you've eaten?"
"Just last night," Tony replied, taking the entire portion.
The brain burned more fuel than any other part of the body, after all.
"Practically a record for you," Natasha commented.
Tony shrugged as he looked up, frowning as he caught sight of Thor.
"You look terrible," he stated. "What happened? Did I miss a fight?"
"Nay, nothing as such," Thor replied, raising his head from where it had been slumped against the wall.
"Loki woke up screaming last night," Steve added.
"A nightmare?" Tony asked. "Of what?"
"We don't know, he didn't want to talk about it," Natasha said. "JARVIS called me when Thor had trouble as I was awake, reading. But it was bad, not only was he really screaming, but he was pale and shaky after."
"Loki used to have severe night terrors as a child," Thor informed them. "But they had faded by this age."
"Do you know why he had those?" Bruce inquired, softly. "It might explain why he is having them now."
"I did not then, and I was far too young myself to ask. Now, though, I wonder if 'twas not that some part of him recalls what happened to him as an infant."
Tony froze in shoveling food into his mouth. That didn't sound good.
"You mean the fact he was unwanted due to his size?" Steve questioned, carefully.
"Aye. He was left to die, exposed to the cold, when Father found him," Thor replied. "Mother said they struggled to keep him alive when Father brought him back to Ásgarðr, as he was so weak."
Shit.
Tony found his appetite abruptly gone and he shoved his plate away.
"How old was he?" Natasha asked, voice completely neutral, which actually told Tony all he needed to know of how it affected her.
"If 'twas not the day he was born, then 'twas but a few days after, which is why neither he nor I ever suspected we were not related."
Can I give my favourite characters a break? No, I cannot 😄
Poor Loki, even as a little guy he can't find much peace!
And, yes, Tony voluntarily had a potion. It's all about priorities.