Last time...

"I know I'm his brother, but-" were the only words he got out before she lunged, punching him so hard that he crashed into one of the trees.

"How dare you! How dare you call yourself his brother?! You blithering oaf!" She snapped in outrage. "You no longer deserve the title! What did you do? Ask once, get told no, and then pout because it's probably the first time you'd ever been told no in your whole bloody life?! Spoiled little shite that you are, that's probably what you're really sulking about, isn't it? Daddy said no, boohoo, poor Thor."

Thor pulled himself out of the grove he'd made in the tree, and grunted. "I do not understand why you would take such offense, Lady Hera."

If it was possible, she looked even angrier at him as she growled. "You will."

and then she was gone.

Chapter 42

"She's coming around." She hears, before groaning, and the voice responds. "Oh no you don't. Wake up, Potter."

"M'head is killn me." She disagreed, burrowing into her very warm bed.

"Headache potion."

She opened an eye, glaring distrustfully at the blond spectre holding the vial before her.

"Come on, Potter. Uncle Severus gave me this headache potion special, so I'm sure it's chocked full of poison just for you. Isn't that nice?"

"Why…?" Hera asked, sitting up enough that Jör slid a bit and had to get situated again. "How long was I out?"

"Not long. Stark picked you up and held you the whole time. Jör, I think Stark said his name was, sort of became a living blanket, and I have so many questions about that snake I can't even fathom them all." Draco relayed, keeping his voice low. "Stark's really worried about you."

She looked over at Tony, who was snoozing against the wall and still half covered by Jör. "He's a good big brother."

She froze again, suddenly looking more than a little green.

"Potter, what is it?" Draco asked, alarmed again.

"I think I'm gonna be sick!" and she was bolting for the loo before Tony was even fully awake enough to be aware of the fact that she was awake at all.

...

Hermione found her a little while later, having rushed her family into taking them to where Tony Stark was staying when she got off the phone, bent over the toilet.

"Hera?" She called out cautiously, as she stepped into the room.

She was answered with another bout of hurling, and Hera's sobs.

"Shh. Shh. It'll be alright." Hermione soothed, brushing the other girl's hair back. "Maybe you shouldn't go back there again."

"It was just a shite day, Mione…a really shite day…I'm fine, but who I was…Merlin, Hermione, they sewed his lips shut!"

"Hera…"

"I couldn't leave him like that…I couldn't…"

"Hera…"

"I took it…transferred it to me…They couldn't help him…Had been ordered not to…Physical compulsion…but they could help me…Couldn't leave him like that, Mione…His own brother…His own brother didn't protect him. What was I supposed to do?"

"Merlin help you and your saving people thing." Hermione swore under her breath. Hera had transferred herself over to Hermione's shoulder by this point, clinging to her like a limpet. "Come on, let's get some mouthwash, and maybe blow your nose. You'll thank me later."

The first day Heimdall 'sees' Hera, he's shocked at just how much like Prince Loki she looks. He's heard some of the trainees speak of a young girl Frigga had all but adopted, but she'd always been gone when he'd sought to find her. He'd also heard that this girl refused to be near Oðin in any capacity. There were spatial time distortions around the girl, and now Heimdall realized why she would not want to be near Oðin. The man was already willing to do anything, including punishing his son for a possible future slight, in order to stave off Ragnarök. Someone with knowledge of the future, able to defy Oðin, would be a prize too tempting to resist, or a threat to strong to ignore.

"My name is Hera Potter,…and Oðin does not speak for me."

It doesn't dawn on him what she plans to do till it's too late to stop her. She'd taken the punishment into herself, allowing Eir to heal Loki, as the Healer had not been the one to remove the thread. He was uncertain whether it was wise for Queen Frigga to tell the child what had happened to Prince Loki, but it was not his place to judge such things. What he was surprised by the most was the young girl's immediate need to boost Prince Loki's magic, as if the boy needed it, and her desire to find Crown Prince Thor. It was a solid punch, he'd give her that. He would keep watch for this Hera Potter, Heimdall decided, though he would keep his own council for now. It would be interesting to see what became of her.

"What if he doesn't want to be my brother anymore?"

The words were spoken softly, but it was the one thing she was truly afraid of more than anything she'd encountered so far in her admittedly short life. Hermione had wanted to ask about the basilisk that wasn't killing or petrifying them, she knew, but she hadn't. The girl hadn't even asked for any more clues about who she'd been before. All Hermione had wanted was for her to tell Tony what was bothering her, but that felt like it was more difficult than just facing off against another dragon. Draco had left earlier, after handing Hermione something that made her lose her mind in laughter for a bit, but even he had given Hera the advice that Hermione was trying to give.

"Hera, he's your brother." Hermione stated quietly, trying to reassure her. "He'll always be your brother. Just tell him. If it doesn't work out, you have places to go that you didn't have before. You'll make it, and you have us. We'll always be there for you, but I have a feeling he's not going to abandon you, no matter what happens."

and with that, Hermione walked out the door.

Tony was standing by the kitchen island, but with the open floor plan he'd seen Hermione leave, and was now cautiously making his way over to her like he was afraid he'd spook her.

"Okay, so…What's the likelihood of us pretending this never happened?" Hera asked hesitantly, turning to face him, shaking slightly, trying to take comfort in the fact that she was at least sitting down already.

"None." Tony replied sternly, making her grimace. "Hera, what you did took at least ten years off my life, and I still don't know what happened. All I know is that we couldn't wake you, like you were determined to stay in that state, lips sewn shut. I…I don't even know how to process that."

"I…" She hesitated, looking away for a moment, before plucking up the courage to try again. "It's okay, you know, if you don't want to be my brother anymore."

"Is that…Is that what you think?" Tony asked, looking heartbroken. Putting down his drink, he sat next to her. "Hera, you scared the ever loving mortal shit out of me. Your lips were suddenly sewn shut, blood everywhere, and I couldn't help you. I tried. I cut the threads, but it didn't matter. They just reconnected. Nothing worked. It was admittedly fascinating, but mostly scary as shit, and disturbing as all fuck."

"But that's just it! If that scares you, how are you gonna handle it when things get worse?" Hera hiccupped, trying to keep the tears at bay. "They will, you know. Things are going to get so much worse. I know what having this scar on my forehead means now. I know what's going to have to happen to me. It's not rocket science, Tony."

"I'm not giving up that easily, and I don't think you should either." Tony interjected sternly.

"He did. My brother…his brother just…His father told him to leave him there, and he just…did." Hera exclaimed, tears falling down her face now despite her best efforts. Tony was holding onto her as she cried, and she couldn't find it in herself to be embarrassed about it yet. "It was a fair contest, but the dwarves were sore losers, and they took it out on him…and his brother just…just stood there and watched his lips be sewn shut. The command hadn't been given yet, so no one was physically compelled to comply, but they just…Only his mother tried to help him, but his father stopped her before she could."

"And that transferred to you?" Tony asked, perhaps holding her a little tighter than before, but she shook her head no.

"No, I did that to me." She admitted, and he gently backed her away from him. She looked away, thinking this was the rejection she'd feared.

"Hera, why would you do that to yourself?" Tony quietly asked, his voice guarded. "How did you do that to yourself?"

"When I found him in the Healer's Hall…Tony, it was awful…" Hera explained, her eyes imploring him to understand. "He'd been like that for weeks! They were having to spell food into him because he couldn't eat, and they couldn't remove the thread. His mother was beside herself, and the Healer couldn't think of what to do without going against an order she couldn't physically resist. They couldn't help him,…but I could. So I cast the spell, transferred it to myself instead, so they could heal him and then me."

She was being hugged again, though it took her by surprise, and eventually she relaxed into it.

"This is what they meant about your saving people thing, and rushing into situations." Tony murmured into her hair. "Hera, I'm not going to stop being your brother because of that. I will panic, as is the way, but I'm your brother. That's not going to stop, no matter how many times you rush into situations with your saving people thing, or how many times I freak out about it."

...

"So,…I know dodging when I hear it." Tony crowed when the tears had dried. "You know who you were."

"What? No! Why would you think that?!" Hera denied, looking panicked. "I never said!"

"Oh, come on now, Thor, it's okay. You can tell me." He teased, bursting out laughing at the look of dumbstruck betrayal on her face. "It's the lightning bolt that gave you away, I'm afraid."

Only then did she realize he was joking.

"You're a bloody comedian, you know that?" Hera grouched, before her shoulders slumped in defeat. "I don't know if I should say it out loud, Tony. He's still alive right now. What happened to him to send him back to become me hasn't happened yet for him, and I'm still coming to terms with the fact that I used to be that person. I know things because of what happens to him, and I can't stop any of it."

"Can you use it?" Tony asked, thoughtfully. "Without messing things up, or altering them too much, can you use what you know?"

"Um…Maybe? I mean, there are gaps in those memories, so it's possible…I'd thought them dreams for so long…A lot of what I know about the future here he sort of pulled out of super secret spy agents' brains as he mind controlled them. There's a lot of information in here." She admitted, pausing at the shock that was evident on his face. "I can explain?…I think?"

"That'd be nice." Tony agreed with a slight grimace.

"Thor wasn't ready to be king, but explaining that to Oðin does very little, meaning absolutely nothing. So, he did what he does best. He manipulates a situation in such a way that it shows Oðin that Thor wasn't ready. Thor wanted revenge, to start a war, and all because a small group of Jötnar – frost giants – interrupted his coronation in the hopes that they could steal back something of theirs. The Casket of Ancient Winters." Hera explained.

"Very D&D." Tony commented appreciatively.

"I don't know what that is, Tony." Hera sighed, exasperated.

"Going on the list then. You'd make an excellent Dungeon Master with your story telling skills. We're so doing that later." Tony replied, already adding it into his phone. "Alright, continue?"

"Thor drags him with his friends on a raid into enemy territory, and one of the Jötnar grabs who I was, which forces the shift. That's how he finds out what he is. Instead of being told he was adopted from the start, that he was loved and accepted for who and what he was, he grew up thinking himself a freak and a disappointment of a son because something always felt…off." Hera continued. "Thor could have died. Oðin had to save them, because who I had been was sort of having an internal panic attack. Thor was angry he hadn't gotten his revenge, and Oðin has to exile him to Earth. Speaking of which, at some point down the road, I'm going down to New Mexico, because there is no way I'm missing that. Anyway, who I had been got into an argument with Oðin about what he was after Thor was banished, calling himself a trophy of war, wondering why he hadn't been thrown into the vault like the rest."

"Okay, question." Tony interrupts. This has been bugging him since he'd figured out who she'd been. "How are you a girl?"

"I have no idea. I'm kind of convinced that when Oðin found the babe in the temple along with the casket, the babe saw this big scary bloke with an eye patch that was saying something about being a son of Ásgarðr, and shifted into what the guy wanted so that maybe they wouldn't get eaten or something." Hera admitted, both kind of snickering at that. "This is super embarrassing, I'll have you know, but at least it's better than 'the talk' Petunia tried having with me. I learned more from books than I did that woman. I'm still waiting for some of it to kick in."

"Tell me you talked to your school nurse, or another woman." Tony asked, suddenly panicked.

"I did, but I have additional questions I will ask someone else later." She replied, patting his hand in a patronizing manner, and he couldn't even bother to be embarrassed with how relieved he was. "Anyway, Jötnar are natural shapeshifters, so in a sense they're…sexless, as in they don't have operational sex organs until they need them, and then they can have whatever. There are masculine and feminine inclined Jötnar, and those that just don't desire to be one or the other, but until they need the organs, they're just…on standby or something, like they are both and neither. It's complicated. Not me was able to shapeshift into other races, genders, species, it didn't matter, but he never felt comfortable with who he was. I guess, with the new chance and all, magic chose. Are we done with the sex talk now?"

"Easy there, Snowflake." Tony raised his hands in surrender, snickering. "I'm sorry for interrupting."

She huffed, but continued. "Anyway. Oðin falls into that hibernation thing of his that he named after himself like a total twat, and who I had been has to take up being Regent. His mental state is a wreck at this point, and he's just been handed control of an entire realm. Thor hadn't been in exile learning humility for long, but his friends wanted him back, and he couldn't…A Regent doesn't have that kind of authority, but try telling them that. They thought he was tricking them, because of course he had to be. They called him Silvertongue and Liesmith, because he used cunning and what they referred to as dishonorable womanly tricks and deceit instead of the more obviously honourable brute strength. A bit of mutiny later, and a lie or two, Thor's back and pissed. To be fair, 'Not me' may have told him his father was dead, which was only sort of partially accurate. Someone had been trying to kill him, lead by…'not me'…because it was the only way to get the would be assassin close enough so that…'not me' could kill him!"

"So…you assassinated the assassin?" Tony asked, to clarify.

"Not me did that,…but yes." Hera nodded sagely. "Not me's blood father was sort of a ruthless bastard, as far as I can remember. There would have been war, and pandemonium. It really had seemed like a good idea at the time, but I digress. So, when Thor gets back, and is pissed he'd been lied to …'Not me' is sort of in the middle of trying to mass genocide the planet his birth people are from."

"You…He tried to destroy an entire planet of people?" Tony squeaked.

"You go and discover you're from a race of people you've been raised to hate all your life, the monsters mothers tell their children is under their bed, responsible for killing everything good in the universe, and then see how you handle it." Hera huffed, both giving him a withering glare and blushing in embarrassment. Okay, point. "He gets it into his thick skull somehow that in order to prove himself an Oðinson, he has to kill the part of himself that isn't, and it's not like Oðin hadn't done something similar. How do you think 'Not me' knew what to do? Worked on the Dark Elves easily enough. It's not like Oðin got to be ruler of the Nine through peace and benevolence, and everyone holding hands as they all promised to get along. Anyway, in order to try and save the people he'd once hated, Thor destroys the BiFröst; the portal gateway thing 'Not me' had been using in reverse to destroy the planet. There's a backlash of energy, and we both fall off the bridge. Oðin wakes, and just barely manages to catch Thor, who had managed to grab a hold of me with one hand and Gungnir… Oðin's spear thingy…with the other. Who I was…you can't imagine how happy I was to see him awake. I could tell him it was for him. It was! He'd see reason, just this once. He'd be proud of me…but…but he just looked so disappointed. Always disappointed. It had been a terrible idea, and I'm glad it doesn't work now, but then…in that moment…I was crushed…I mean…He…I…"

"Pronouns aren't important, Hera." Tony gently encourages her. "I'll follow the story just fine."

"I'm not that person, Tony. I was, I know, even if it's still hard for me to accept, but who I was…Who I was died becoming who I am now. I was born Hera Primrose Potter. That is who I am now. It's important I remember that, especially with everything trying to assimilate in my brain." She insisted, just as quietly as he had spoken to her. "Your identity, who you think you are, is wrapped up in what you think you know; your family, your friends, your experiences within that sphere and out; everything. For a magic user, it's intrinsic to them, and it can affect their magical core when something challenges that. Experiences can shape it, change it, but when it gets called into question or shattered, their magic can turn in on itself and attack them, eat at them…drives them mad until it kills them, if something isn't done soon enough. The first rule of seiðr is to know yourself. When he found out he'd been lied to all his life, that he was raised to hate his own people, he couldn't reconcile that with who he thought he'd been. Something in him broke, because he no longer knew himself. His psyche…splintered, shattered, and everything his seiðr was built on along with it. When Oðin refused him, it destroyed what was left of it."

She looked uncomfortable, grimacing as she tried to think of a way to continue, but Tony had already figured this part out.

"He let go." Tony says aloud, if only for the confirmation. She nods, not looking at him. "Is that when he dies, when he becomes you?"

The grimace was not a good sign.

"I don't understand." He admitted, troubled by the implications. There was something he wasn't getting. "He lets go. Did he survive? What did they do for him? What happened?"

"He…He fell into the Void."

Something wasn't computing here, and he sighed. "I don't…Hera, I need context. You can't mean he…" It was there in the look on her face the moment he paused. "He fell into the vacuum of space? The literal Void? How is that even…I thought he fell off a bridge!"

"Ásgarðr isn't a planet." What the fuck? "It's…Honestly, I think it might be what's left of a planet; a planetoid, if you will." Taking a piece of paper, and a random nearby pen, she began to draw as she explained. "The histories didn't talk about what happened in any real detail, just that there was a great war. Something happened to cause the planet to break into pieces. A group of mages were able to save a bit of it. They talk about it like it was the only piece to survive, but I have to wonder if there are others that found a way as well. If so, Ásgarðr either hasn't looked, has no wish to acknowledge them, or they found a way to hide themselves from the Realm Eternal."

"What are you drawing exactly?" Tony asked, trying not to get sucked into the data dump she's just shoved at him. The technological applications alone…best not to think about it right now…Maybe later.

"I'm trying to draw how the BiFröst is set up."

"Hera, that looks like a black hole." He noted, seeing what she was working on.

"That's because it is." She confirmed without looking up, intent on drawing at the moment, as she just casually uproots what he'd thought was a fundamental truth. "Ásgarðr worked out ages ago how to harness the power of a black hole, used it to travel and subjugate the realms within the Yggðrasil, and then controlled the amount of access those other realms got to that kind of tech/magic."

That didn't sound salty at all.

"The BiFröst is connected to Ásgarðr by a luminescent bridge, looks like a translucent rainbow. Can not make that up." She falters now, and Tony – for all that he really wants to unpack BiFröst and all its secrets – puts one of his hands over her own. He knows what it is like to want to commit suicide, knows what it's like to make the attempt, to come out on the other side of a failed attempt uncertain how to feel about it. "Below the bridge, there's nothing but the Void of space, and no one survives that."

"He did."

"He wanted to die."

"…Do you?"

The question throws her for a moment, but she eventually shakes her head in the negative as she replies. "I know what it feels like to want it all to just stop, but…There are worse things than death, Tony."

Something about how she said that made him shiver, more so the haunted look in her eyes as she says it, because he understands that on some level she knows.

"He's found, tortured, beaten, roasted alive; because how else would a person torture a frost giant but with heat, for over a year, until he would have agreed to anything and everything just to get the pain to stop. He is then given a stone that could control others, which we're going to need to talk about more in depth later, all while the stone allowed others to control and keep tabs on him to an extent." Hera told him. "He gets stopped, but not one of them noticed how hard he tried to fight against what had been done to him, and eventually…he stops trying to tell them."

"That's some really specific info there, Kid." Tony commented, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that there was someone out there who could control a being like Loki, let alone everything else she'd just thrown him with.

"I know things about you that you haven't done yet; like you getting into clean energy, but only after make a miniaturized arc reactor, and a flying metal suit." Hera continued.

"You've got to be joking." Tony exclaimed, flabbergasted, momentarily sidetracked. "The arc reactor Howard built was huge, and it doesn't even work! It was made to shut the hippies up!"

"It'll work, and it will be small enough to fit right about here." Hera makes a circle with her hands, and places them above his heart. "On that note, do try not to get blown up if you can help it. The palladium poisons you over time, so I might have to raid a super secret spy organization for your father's notes, and see if we can work out that element he couldn't create. I imagine they'll still be in the same place Barton remembered them being. We'll figure out open heart surgery later, if you like. How are we doing, so far?"

"I think I need a drink." Tony admitted honestly. He's not even sure why.

"Don't mind if I do." She replied with aplomb.

"I mind if you do." Tony snorted. "No little sister of mine is going to become an alcoholic at fourteen."

"Fifteen, thanks to a bit of time travel in third year, and I would like to point out that theoretically I'm older than you." Hera commented, putting on full aristocratic airs as she continued. "Don't worry, little brother, I'll keep you on the straight and narrow."