Oh my Nordic god! Look at who's – temporarily – back! Me! Rejoice, y'all, rejoice :p

So, a new chapter. Longer than usual. (A double chapter, to be precise). Going in an unintended direction – as in talk of Infinity Stones and wars concerning said stones. Which kind of changes my initial plotline a bit (potentially a lot); characters just do what they want, don't they? I just have to suffer along as they go their merry way and refuse to listen. In that regard, they also left you a cute gift – that was unexpected for me, though not necessarily unwelcome ;) – so I hope you're happy XD (Sorry about the big amount of mojo-talk again, though).

Previously on ASAF: "You're doing it so fast! And this is like, a super easy spell? That is, wow. You're just. You're amazing. Like, seriously. You're so crazy amazing, it's not fun." Tony was so sincere, the bond quivered in delight.

Loki couldn't help it, he laughed. He almost didn't recognise the feeling of pure joy that filled his chest with light, it had been so long, and there was nothing he could do to contain it. Tony was still holding onto the back of his now slightly burned hand, and Loki turned his palm upwards so that he was grasping Tony's hand instead, and he tugged it towards him. Before his brain even had time to register what he was doing, before he could tell himself how much of a bad idea this could be, he brought Tony's hand to his mouth and pressed his lips against his knuckles. Tony's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped open, and Loki didn't dare blink. His lips rested there for one second, two, three, and Tony's cheeks and ears darkened enticingly. Loki smirked and that broke the spell – Tony wrenched his hand away and let out a stuttering breath.

CHAPTER 28

"Thank you," Loki said, and he wasn't even certain what he was thanking Tony for; for his compliment, for allowing Loki's show of affection even for an instant, for his amazing intellect, for being his soulmate. He let his smirk widen; time to redirect Tony's attention, lest he start piecing together the too many snippets of information Loki was showing him and discover his deepening affection. "I am, indeed, amazing; this spell, like many others, is not supposed to be cast one-handed, and yet…"

"You—" Tony cleared his throat. "You cocky bastard. Don't get too full of yourself. Let's not forget what happened afterwards." He gestured at the scanner with his head and the spell's after-image skipped forward until it was already cast, hovering above the form of his hand and tethered by tiny strings of magic to the centre of his palm. The strings wavered and vanished, and the sphere expanded, the surface bubbled and exploded, sending a wave of light in every direction until they vanished to the limits of the scanner's surface.

It was Loki's turn to clear his throat. "An unfortunate mishap. I was… distracted by the display."

Tony's eyes narrowed. "Liar."

Loki looked away. "I was distracted." That was certainly true. "I believe you wanted to see more spells?"

Tony acquiesced, and Loki was soon back at work, more carefully this time, weaving simple spells; a simple air blade, an air-water illusion – Tony was in awe of the simple apple that seemed to be in his hand, even though his soulmate had seen much more complicated illusions such as multiple mobile displays of himself – a visible air shield, and an earth gravity enhancing spell that Tony decided to test by sticking his hand in the scanner and getting his hand pulled down so hard it smacked onto Loki's and the spell instantly faded. So much for his soulmate's physical prowess, then.

"That was painful, but still awesome. Everything you did was awesome. Magic is awesome!"

"I'm glad you agree."

"Just as awesome as science and great tech." Loki wisely remained silent. "Aw, come on! You've seen some of the stuff I make!" Loki looked at Tony's somehow both eager and pouting face, and he recognised himself when he was young and keen to prove himself and wanted at least one person – read, Odin – to say that his magic was 'awesome'.

"Fine. Your technology is 'awesome—" Tony's face lit up with pleasure "—when compared to the rest of Midgard."

Tony pursed his lips. "Well you know what, you blue-coloured Grinch, one day you'll understand how awesome humans and you'll regret ever having underestimated us, mark my words."

"I shall eagerly await the day, elskan mín," Loki smirked.

Tony paused. "Right." He blinked. "So, got anything else that could be useful?"

"There are many spells I could show you, however I doubt it will help in our quest."

"Quest! Ha! Yeah, sure, let's make it a quest – we'll get experience out of it and amazing loot in the form of a sceptre. And possibly an achievement too." And his soulmate's nonsensical streak was back yet again. "Nothing else coming to mind that could help us defeat the boss? The big bad taint?"

"As I have mentioned before, I am unfamiliar with the Mad Titan's magic – I only know he worships Lady Death, but I have no idea how it pertains to his magic."

Tony sighed. "Guess we might need to level up first, then." He let his arm fall down and stepped back. Their connection broke with an almost audible snap, only linked by their soul once again. Loki clenched his teeth and Tony grimaced. "Maybe gain access to some new powerful magic and beat his arse."

"We already have access to the most powerful form of magic that exists under the span of Yggdrasil's branches: soul magic. Though of course, as it is so rare, it has never been proven to be the most powerful of all, but it is said to be even mightier than love-enhanced magic."

"Seriously? Did you just talk about the power of love? Like, true love breaks the curse and all that crap? Seriously?" Tony gazed at him intensely, perhaps looking for some form of deceit – not that he would not be able to conceal anything of the sort. "Well, I hate to break it to you, pal, but that ain't gonna work. No way we can summon any love magic here."

Something trembled around his heart, but it was gone so quickly he could very well have imagined it. And dear Norns, did he want to imagine that feeling; the feeling that somewhere, at least one word in Tony's last sentence had possibly not been entirely true. He smothered any burgeoning hope with the strength and the ferocity of a raging bilgesnipe. He didn't have time for hope that was based on such flimsy evidence.

"We do not need love-enhanced magic, as we have soul magic readily available."

"Yeah, but wouldn't love-enhanced soul magic not be even more epically awesome?" That stopped Loki's thought process in its tracks and it must have shown on his face because Tony's confidence faltered. "You're gonna tell me, again, that I don't understand anything, aren't you?"

"No. That is— I—" Loki took a deep breath to reign in the thousands of possibilities that just lit up his mind like Midgardian fireworks. "I had not thought of that, but it could indeed work. It might also be the combination of two magical cores and love-enhanced magic that created the myth of soul magic's ultimate power."

Tony grinned. "And Tony Stark just proved he's a genius yet again! Where's the applause?"

"It is waiting for a true breakthrough, Sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. chimed in.

"Ha-bloody-ha. Anyway, love-enhanced magic, you gotta explain that one."

"There is not much to explain; it's simply sending your feelings of love alongside the magical energy while casting a spell. Not many people are actually capable of doing it, however. And more often than not it is not done on purpose by the caster – it has been observed the most often while in situations of duress, such as trying to save a loved one. But if one is talented enough, it can be used outside of such situations."

"You ever used it before?"

"I have never had the need." He didn't even know if he was capable of using it. He'd seen Mother use it before, but then Queen Frigga was a bright, warm, loving person, and Loki was anything but.

"Well, even if you can't use love magic, there's still soul magic, right? Could that be strong enough on its own?"

"It has repelled the Mad Titan's taint more than once without having been used purposefully. If I could shape it into something, perhaps…"

"Like a soul-made fireball or something?"

"No, not a spell. As far as I am aware, soul magic only exists in the form of raw energy, there is no spell that has ever been cast using soul magic."

"Wait, what was this then?" Tony asked, gesturing between them.

"That was a connection of magical cores. The bond, created by the fact we share a soul, serves as a bridge to share our magical cores, our physical access to magic. And we can only share that magic because our magical signatures are identical – because we are soulmates. The only reason I can somewhat use your Arc reactor as a booster without any channelling spells is because its energy has merged with yours. Soul magic… Soul magic can only be accessed when a soul is whole, which is why it is so rare. Half souls are not strong enough, and not physically connected enough to use it. The bond is what give us access to our soul; it connects us in all fragments of existence: body, magic, soul and mind."

"Erm, wow, okay. Yeah. Mind-blowing. That's the word. Either because I didn't understand this at all and you just blew my mind to smithereens, or because I actually got what you said and it blows my mind. I'm not sure. Also, this might be the most times I've used the word 'blow' in under a minute without being in a bedroom, so yeah. Mind-blowing." Tony nodded to himself. "Oh, and body, mind, soul and magic? As in, magic is not just like a subpart of the body or whatever? I mean, I was more of the Descartes kind of guy, you know, body, mind and that's it, but then you arrived and I had to concede to Aristotle and accept that soul is a thing. But now you're saying that there is like a whole part of human beings that humanity is not aware of? Mind-blowing. Unless it doesn't apply to us mortals, that is."

"Don't you have a magical core?"

"I— Okay. Is this why you have that whole 'I don't understand you people who don't even know magic exists' vibe going?"

Loki smiled. As always, Tony seemed to understand him so easily. "I believe I know why magic is not considered real here. Midgard used magic when I was young. However, just as the connection to Yggdrasil's branches has waned, so has your knowledge of magic. It is not your fault. And yet, even without magic, Midgard has come this far."

"Did you just accept that we mere mortals are actually awesome? You did, didn't you?" Loki opened his mouth to respond, but Tony held up his hand, palm forward. "Nope, you don't get to retract that. J.A.R.V.I.S. filmed it all anyway. I've got proof."

"And what if I was going to admit that some Midgardians might not be as subpar as—"

"Oh, yes, go right ahead, don't let me stop you."

Loki smirked. "Too late."

"Mmmh. I'll make you say I'm a super awesome human someday, you'll see. Anyway. Soul magic. Wanna give it a try?" Tony said, gesturing at the scanner.

"It could be dangerous. It is powerful and volatile, and using too much of it could damage—"

"Let's try."

Loki frowned. "Did you even listen to a word I just said?"

"You said dangerous. And powerful. And volatile. Three things I deal with all the time. Let's try."

"I doubt you damage your soul on a regular basis."

"Ha! You'd be surprised!" The fact that Tony seemed completely serious should be disturbing, and yet Loki felt like he knew exactly what Tony meant. He doubted his half-soul had survived his millennia unscathed. "Come on, don't chicken out on me now. It's for the quest!"

"I would be the one wielding the magic born form our soul, not you. Manipulating it, even though I've never done it before."

"You're a crazy good wizard so you'll figure it out, right? I trust you." I trust you. Tony was trusting him with the wellbeing of their soul. He… No, Tony just did not understand, did he? And yet, the look his soulmate was giving him. He knew. He knew what he was saying. Loki couldn't breathe— This was too much. How could he be expected to wield the power of legends? No one had ever trusted him with anything as important as this; no one had ever trusted him as much as Tony in this moment. This was Tony laying his life at Loki's feet, right there. How could he— All his careful plans always failed anyw—

Tony placed his hand over Loki's heart again, and it was like an electric shock. "Hey. It's fine. No pressure. You don't need to do it if you don't want to."

"No," Loki said, surprising even himself. "No, I'll do it." He would. He would wield the most powerful of magics. He was Loki Friggason of Asgard; who else would be capable of doing it but him? And was this whole soulmate situation not orchestrated by the Norns anyhow? If anything went wrong, he would just have to take it up with Lady Fate.

Tony grinned. "That's the spirit!"

Loki placed his hand over Tony's Arc reactor and closed his eyes. He vaguely registered Tony telling J.A.R.V.I.S. how to adjust the scanner before his awareness of their surroundings faded. The only thing left was Tony and him; their bodies, their rushing blood and beating hearts; their magic, flowing between them freely, almost lazily; their minds, Tony's excitement and trepidation and his vague impression of this sensation being 'weird', and Loki's equal determination and fear; their soul, their joined spark of life and being and self, a whirling mix of colours and shapes and temperatures and textures and smells and tastes, something intangible and indescribable and 'you' and 'me' and 'us'. Loki caressed it with the only part of him, of them, that could touch it; their magic. Their soul shivered, and an infinitely small part of it caught onto that tendril of magic, and the world exploded.

It only lasted an instant before Loki severed that new link, but it was enough. He didn't know where he begun and where Tony ended. He didn't know where they began and the world ended. There was the sceptre, the brightness of its centre, the darkness of Thanos' influence, the looming presence of Yggdrasil's branches however fragile those were, the millions of lives that lived around him, the energy of this Realm burning so fiercely. He was confusion and awe and fear and curiosity; unless that was Tony. For that one instant, he did not know. He did not know anything.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Tony panting and looking at him wide-eyed. "Uh huh. You've never used that before all right. You totally let it control you instead of controlling it."

Loki's jaw dropped. "What?"

"Don't tell me you didn't feel that. It pushed you over like a pin in front of a bowling ball. You let it push you. You gotta be firm. Like telling your broomstick to fly up to your hand: with feeling. Got it? Now try again."

Loki felt like a scolded child – and by of Tony of all people. Blood rushed to his face and the urgent need to protest this situation was overwhelming, but Tony gave his chest a little shove and Loki clamped down on the feeling. It seemed his soulmate had a different perspective on their connection to their soul. It might be due to their difference in species, or Tony's lack of magical knowledge, or something else entirely. It did not mean Tony was better at this than him.

Loki took a deep breath and tried again, firmer this time in his approach. And yet, the moment the connection was made his perception of the world started to fragment. He was ready to let go once more when suddenly he felt like someone joined him, holding onto the figurative hand with which he was touching their soul with an outstretched finger. Tony was there beside him, behind him, holding onto him in their magic and giving him the strength he needed to overcome the powerful presence of everything else. His mind cleared. He severed the connection again.

"Okay. Don't know what happened exactly. But it worked so never mind. Ready to see if you can shape the soul magic, as you said earlier?"

Loki swallowed and nodded. This was the challenging part, was it not? Actually controlling their soul magic without doing irreversible damage. He put his free hand inside the scanner once again. He closed his eyes and forged the link to their soul. When he started bursting at the seams, Tony was there, keeping him together, and Loki could look at the world again. That was when he pulled – pulled on their soul's energy, bringing a thread of it to his core, then to his outstretched hand. The scanner went haywire, beeping, the imagery trembling, but Loki ignored it in favour of watching that amazing energy dance over his skin. He coaxed it towards his index finger and outward, and it was like a flame of pure wild magic spouting from his nail. The scanner's image flickered, and then showed its own version of what was happening: a bright, vaguely cone-shaped spout of magic, the light points intensively spinning on themselves and stubbornly remaining in that vague shape that Loki had managed to wheedle it into.

"Can you make it thinner and pointier?" Tony asked, and his voice almost made Loki let go of his stiff grasp of the soul magic. "'Cause you know, if it's pointy like a blade maybe you can stab the curse to death. Cut those strands that look like they connect it to the centre piece." In his mind's eye Loki saw the representation Tony had forged of Thanos' taint earlier, and again Tony's idea, while seemingly insane, could actually turn out to be genius.

"Wanna try the love thing?" Now that choice of words was distracting enough to annihilate Loki's control at once. The thread of soul magic slipped out of his hand, and he barely managed to grab it at his core before it was gone entirely. "Sorry, that was poorly phrased," Tony said, passing a hand through his hair and embarrassment flaring up along the bond. "I mean, d'you think adding the love-enhanced business will help with your control over it or is that just adding on more energy or?"

Loki cleared his throat. Love-enhanced magic could be hazardous, not because of the magic itself, but because of the feeling manipulation it implied. One needed to concentrate on one's deepest feelings of love while using it, but because of the bond, Tony would be privy to those feelings, especially since— "That would imply opening our minds and not hiding any of our feelings during the process."

"Well, that's more your problem than mine, isn't it? I'm not the one who has a fancy mind-shield-bubble like you." That was exactly what he did not like about this. "You still need to tell me how you do that by the way." Unfortunately. "Don't worry, I won't hold it against you if you can't do it. I've seen you have performance issues before." And then Tony had the gall to wink at him, the little—

"Let us try," Loki said, regretting it the moment the words left his mouth. Tony's grin looked almost predatory all of a sudden.

"Cool. What do I need to do?"

"Send… your deepest feelings. Towards me. Through the bond. And do not hold anything back. Positive feelings only. Negative feelings would be more disruptive than helpful. I was told it was easier to gather those feelings of love by thinking of only one person" – me, if only it could be me – "instead of more than one," Loki explained with as straight a face as he could muster.

"Feelings, to the bond, no holding back. Simple enough, even I should be able to do that, right?"

"Perhaps."

"Why, thank you for the vote of confidence." Tony blew out a bracing breath. "All right, let's do this." He closed his eyes, but Loki kept staring at his soulmate's face.

He did not doubt he could conjure up the right type of feelings for Tony; the problem was conjuring up the courage to let them show. Instead he was stalling, observing his soulmate's face now that he had the liberty to do so unobserved. The tiny lines at the corner of his eyes, now relaxed as they were closed; the dark locks of hair that drooped over his forehead, whatever had been keeping them out of the way losing its power as the day wore on; the lonely moles and isolated freckles that were scattered on the tan skin of his chest; the strangely styled beard and the barely budding hairs on the rest of his cheeks –Midgardian hair grew as fast as their lives were short, it seemed.

Tony frowned, new lines marring his forehead, and that was when Loki felt it. The feelings being pushed at him along the bond, instead of them naturally floating along. It was a mix, difficult to tell apart, but from time to time he caught tendrils of specific feelings; interest, amusement, curiosity, joy, humour, admiration, surprise, respect, pride, wonder, fascination, longing, awe, care, affection, and others he could not distinguish. It was so beautiful and all encompassing, Loki forgot to breathe. Sure, these feelings were probably not meant for Loki, but they were beautiful anyway.

Suddenly the wave came to an abrupt stop. Tony opened his eyes, still frowning. "Is anything happening? 'Cause I don't really feel anything different, but then I might not even know if it works, you're the magic expert—"

Loki inhaled sharply. "No, it's— It's working. Don't stop."

The flow of feelings started to come back. "Okay… I just hope this works 'cause it's a pain to have to only think of your good sides." Annoyed, disgruntled, irritated, amused, said Tony's feeling. "It's difficult to forget that you're also a tricky bastard."

Loki could not stop a smile from splitting his face in half; all these feelings were for him! It may not have the burn of overwhelming love behind it that he had felt in Mother's love-enhanced magic, but it certainly was a step in the right direction – surely with this amount of feelings, Tony thought of him as a cherished friend already. Together they would never feel lonely again, and that was more than anything he could have hoped for in his until now much too wretched life.

Warmth bloomed in his chest. Loki let go of the last remnants of his mental shielding, and sent all his love and affection towards his soulmate. Tony's eyes, which had been closed in concentration once again, flew open and his mouth formed an incredulous 'o'. The wave of feelings coming from him stuttered, before coming back with a vengeance. Loki's core purred and hummed and shivered, the most soothing magical energy he had ever felt slowly coating his own.

Loki pulled on the tread of soul magic again, and brought it back to his outstretched hand. This time the scanner did not falter as much, and Loki let the magic glide to the top of his finger. It felt smoother, less wild, following his prompting with only a slight hesitation. The flame of magic became flatter, longer, thinner, until it was a blade the width of his finger. It only took a little push for it to become thinner still, rounder, a small sabre, a pick, a needle. The feelings coming over the bond became less varied, less focused, losing their affection and gaining exponentially in curiosity and awe. Loki's control suddenly snapped, and the soul magic slipped out of him quicker than he could stop it.

Tony turned to look at his face and stayed silent for a beat, two, his face frozen with the emotion he was sending Loki. And then he was a flurry of motion – stepping back, turning away, turning back, passing a hand through his hair, over his face. "That— I have no words for what just happened. There's no way that that can even be described in any language." For some reason, Tony was breathing hard and his face had darkened with blood, moisture beading at his temples. "But, that. Do you think it will work? Cutting the curse to pieces with that magic?"

"I have no idea. I don't believe such a thing has ever been tried before, and it goes against all the rules I know about magic. I am aware, however, that there are many magics in the universe that I know nothing about, therefore I cannot predict the effect soul magic will have over the Mad Titan's taint."

"I say: let's try? I mean, it can't hurt, right?" Loki could imagine hundreds of ways Thanos' magic could 'hurt'. "I won't let go of you, not even for a second, I promise. That sceptre won't be able to hurt you ever again, I won't let it." Tony's gaze burned with his determination, and even though he knew Tony was only a mortal and could not back up that claim in any way, Loki felt soothed by the sentiment. When Tony grabbed his hand and tugged, he did not resist, even when their steps led them to that side of the workshop, even when he could feel the taint in the air, feel it single-mindedly focus on him. Loki could not take his eyes off the sceptre, its blue glow still free of Tony's scientific representation of its power, the dark tentacle of the taint meandering around it like seaweed in the waves. Seaweed ready to grab hold of him and strangle him and drag him under until he drowned.

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

Tony felt Loki losing his previously hard-won determination; he tugged on the hand he was holding, and Loki locked gazes with him. He brought the blue-coloured hand up to his Arc reactor and held it there, before splaying his own hand over Loki's heart.

"Sir, I have been advised that dinner will soon be ready and both you and Mr Friggason are expected upstairs."

"Not now J.A.R.V.', don't you see we're in the middle of something important?"

"Sir—"

"No. Lock down the workshop. Don't interrupt us until we're finished. And display the holo of the sceptre's scan, true to size, just above the real thing."

Now that it was just as small as the sceptre's glowing stone, it was difficult to distinguish the threads that connected the curse, in blue, to the yellow core that it surrounded, but Tony figured that if Loki was to stab anything, he'd better see it true to size.

"Ready?" Loki didn't acknowledge him, but after a few seconds Tony started to feel the tell-tale sign of Loki concentrating on their soul; Tony was not himself anymore, he was not one but two, and they were one, and they were in the world and they were part of the world. They had their hand outstretched, outward, only it was inward and touching their centre, and their hand flickered, and Tony tautened the muscles of their hand, and while he was still not entirely one again, at least the world returned to its rightful place. Loki held their soul magic.

And if that wasn't weird and disturbing and complicated enough, now came the tricky part. Tony wasn't even sure how he had done it last time. Just, thinking of all his non-negative feelings for Loki, starting with him being an alien, and a wizard, and how cool and weird and mind-blowing was that? And he looked like a pretty okay guy if you forgot about the first impressions, and sometimes he looked so insecure it was almost cute – let's not investigate that feeling further – and as long as you forgot about the prissy-princess-with-a-chip-on-their-shoulder part, he was the kind of guy Tony could be friends with – even though he rarely did 'friends' – and maybe, just maybe they could have become friends regardless of the whole soulmate mess. Not that the soulmate thing didn't have positive points; Loki was stuck with him, more than any legal agreement (AKA marriage) or even genetical link (AKA family) could bind people together. Of course, that was a double-edged sword, as Tony with stuck with Loki too, but it could have been much worse. And at least Loki was pretty damn nice to look at too, no matter the skin he wore – though it wasn't the time to think about that, given the type of feelings that might dredge up and send along the bond. He just needed to focus on the interesting, the awesome, the just-nice/considerate-enough-not-to-be-annoying, the he-can't-leave-me, skip the mesmerizingly-handsome-and-divine-model-type-looks, and repeat.

In return he got a tidal wave of… feelings, a blend impossible to distinguish they were so tightly packed together, an indescribable, frustrating mix that he would love to dissect and understand. Instead he only got an affectionate warmth that flooded his veins and hugged him tight, a heat that felt searching and frantic – it was as hot as Loki's skin could be cold (and boy, could he make that skin cold). This was literally cold hands and warm heart. Tony did his best not to be overwhelmed by the force of it.

The other part of his mind that didn't need to concentrate on the love thing – because hey, he was Tony Stark, multi-tasking was a given – focussed on what Loki was doing with the soul magic. Loki had formed the magic into a thin needle blazing with energy; Tony could see-feel the magic of it, as Loki's hand wasn't within the perimeter of the scanner yet. The only thing he could do to help was just tense imaginary magic-muscles to maintain the form Loki had chosen. That would have to do.

Tony eyed the holographic display, so small that the links between curse and core were barely thick enough to be visible. Having access to the real-size thing was helpful to be able to judge the movements to be made, but… "J.A.R.V.', add a secondary display, zoomed in on the area we'll be working on." Nothing appeared yet, waiting for Loki to choose the starting point.

This was it. The moment of truth. The moment Tony's crazy and kind of happy-go-lucky theory would either be proven to be awesomely right, or everything could go horribly wrong and they'd both end up slaves to Thanos' spell or something even worse. Lady Fate, if you're real, I hope to God or the World Tree or whatever that this is not the end you had in mind, 'cause you're not gonna like it when I come up to wherever you are and punch you in the gut, lady or not.

Loki's trepidation was choking the bond now, muffling the love magic to a point that Tony almost lost control over it – and maybe that was his fault too, thinking about worst case scenarios – so Tony squeezed the hand on his chest and said, "Hey." Loki's eyes turned towards him, so red, so wide, so full of uncertainty. "Reindeer Games." Loki's eyes widened just a tiny bit more. Uhm, no, perhaps it wasn't the right moment for nicknames, especially one he used before their soul became one, when he was still under the sceptre's influence. Oops? "Loks." Better. Not reassuring in any way, but better. "Babe." Okay, that was maybe going a bit too far, brain! But hey, it had changed the quality of Loki's stare at least, now filling with surprise instead. Huh. Maybe just this once he'd continue on this track, knowing full well it could mean trouble later. "Listen up, gorgeous, 'cause I'm only gonna say this once. I don't care if I don't have any proof of what I'm going to say, and I don't care because I'll still believe it no matter what: you're awesome. You're intelligent. You're strong. You're handsome. You're sexy." That one had been hard to say, but it was nonetheless true and Loki knew it, he could see it in the twitch of his lips. Tony took a deep breath. Suck it up, you so-called hero. "And most of all, you're the best wizard I'll ever meet, so you can do this. We can do this. So get your shit together, snowflake. You're the great Tony Stark's soulmate – time to show the world you're worth it."

Loki's smirk was small and rather hesitant, but his voice sounded just like it always did, deep and self-assured and— let's not start waxing poetic about his voice right now. "If I'm as 'awesome' as you say, shouldn't you be the one to wonder if you are worth being the great Loki of Asgard's soulmate?"

"I'll start questioning myself after you prove yourself by exorcising the sceptre. Until then I'll consider myself equally awesome."

"As you said, we are doing this together. Ergo I would not be able to prove my awesome abilities, merely ours."

Had Loki just called him, a fucked-up, weak, mortal genius, equally awesome to a magic-wielding, super strong, super handsome alien prince? Tony cleared his throat – now was not the time to get all flustered and excited and red in the face and whatnot. They had work to do. "Okay. Let's prove we're an awesome team, then."

Loki barely hesitated this time. With a renewed grip on the needle of magic, his finger got closer and closer to the sceptre. It entered the scanning area and a thin concentration of light emerged from under Loki's pointy nail, bright and white – no, wait, was that slightly pink? Was J.A.R.V.I.S. trolling them, what with the love enhancing magic and all that? That little piece of shit— No. Concentrate, Tony. Send affection and shit to Loki, ignore the warmth coming in return, and tauten those invisible magical muscles that keep Loki's grip on the magic stable. Easy-peasy.

The needle-magic scraped the surface of the sceptre's big blue gem, and on both displays above there was a firework of angry blue sparks. Magical purple tentacles were writhing in the air, oozing a miasma of pure hatred with the putrid taste of death; they froze and turned towards Loki's hand before surging all at once and latching onto him, coiling around his arm almost up to his shoulder. Tony could feel the resistance of their combined magic, the struggle he was participating in remotely, and he could see Loki's arm tremble under the force of it. Loki pushed, the needle disappeared from view inside the writhing mass and lit up like a lighthouse in both displays before perforating one of the thin tendrils that that linked the curse to the core.

The scream Thanos' taint emitted was ear-splitting and Tony grimaced, teeth bared and clenched tight; he wondered if that sound was real or just delivered directly into his head. He'd have to review the footage later. The curse clamped Loki's hand tighter, Tony could feel it. There was like a sense of panic floating around his head, and he knew it wasn't coming from him, or Loki. It had to be the sceptre – the curse, if it could feel anything. Or perhaps it was coming directly from Thanos. Take that, arsehole! That's what you get when you try to fuck with us!

Loki very slowly moved to another tendril with surgical precision and cut it in half. And another. And another. Cut, pause to get you hand squished, reposition, cut, repeat. It was taking almost forever, and Tony had sweat tickling his temples and threatening to roll down from his hairline to his eyes, but it was fucking working so he was gonna fucking pretend like this wasn't sucking all the energy – life, magic, soul, who fucking knew – out of him and pouring it into Loki. And it wasn't even enough because Loki looked like he was about to collapse, but hey, they were like halfway there.

Loki stopped, breathing hard; one side of the gem was done and he wouldn't be able to access the other side from here. "Okay, hold on. I'll rotate the sceptre." Tony's fingers were very reluctant to unfurl from where they were squeezing Loki's other hand and pushing it as hard as he could against his Arc reactor, and when he finally placed his palm on the sceptre's shaft they were even more reluctant to curl around it. But he did manage to bite through it and give the sceptre half a turn before flattening his hand over Loki's again on his chest. And the harrying magical parasite removal continued.

What felt like an eternity later, only a few strands remained, and the curse's tentacles had diminished in size to a point where they could only coil around Loki's fingers. They were twitching and flopping around in dying spasms; even the high-pitched screams that were giving Tony a headache had diminished in volume. Just a few threads left. Just four. Three. Two. Tony held his breath, and Loki paused before the last one. Then he stabbed it viciously, all the hatred he'd been holding back for the love magic to work suddenly releasing and flooding Tony's senses, and the curse's scream stopped abruptly. All at once the blue representation of the curse that had still been floating around the golden core blinked out of existence and Loki ripped his hand away like he'd been burned. The love magic snapped, the soul magic recoiled and slipped out of Loki's hands, back to where it belonged; the bond felt almost non-existent for a second and Tony couldn't breathe. Loki slumped forward and Tony barely had the reflex to catch him.

With trembling thighs Tony lowered them to the ground without actually falling – God, the bastard was heavy as fuck – and they ended up on their knees with Loki's head lulling against his shoulder and black hair attached to said head threatening to enter his mouth. But that was fine. Everything was good. They'd done it! They'd fucking done it! Thank fucking God, or Yggdrasil, or whatever other beings out there who gave a shit.

Tony closed his eyes and was about to let the side of his head rest against Loki's as well when an ominous crack reached his ears and his eyelids flew open again. He stared up at the sceptre, bare of the scanner's lights. He couldn't see anything different from this vantage point but the sound had definitely come from up there. No. No, they were fucking done! He didn't have the energy to do anything else but sit here and breathe. Craaack! Fissures ripped across the dim gem, fracturing with the faint light coming from within, and Tony sat up straighter.

"Loks," he said, and he didn't want to call that urgent tone in his voice panic, but… A tiny piece of the gem fell off and clanged against the scanner's surface. "Loki." Did this just mean they'd killed the sceptre and this was just its body returning to dust or whatnot, or was it some sort of terrible power that was going to explode in their faces because let's face it, when had luck ever been on Tony's side – or on Loki's for that matter? Tony grabbed Loki's shoulders and shook him. "Loki!" he yelled (and he'd never admit his voice might have gone up an octave).

"What." The bond trickled to life. A second passed, another piece of the gem fell away. Loki's head whipped up, a lock of hair falling across his face, and his eyes met Tony's, full of concern. "What? What is it?"

"Is that"– he pointed at the gem and Loki turned to look –"supposed to happen?"

The answer must have been no because Loki sprang up – where the Hell did he get the energy from – and less than a second later Tony was yanked to his feet none too gently with Loki's hand firmly holding onto his own.

"So, this isn't supposed to happen?"

"I… do not know. It may simply be that this outer casing is being rejected by the still existing magic at its core. It may be that this gem was merely meant to hold Thanos' power in place, and now that it's gone it is no longer needed."

"It's not going to explode or something, then?"

"I do not believe so."

"That was your way of saying 'probably not', right? What about the small statistical chance that it will blow up in our faces? Shouldn't we, like, step back or something?" He could just as well have been talking to the floor for all the good it did; Loki stepped up close to the sceptre and leaned in, and of course Tony had no choice but to follow when he was reeled in by his bastard of a soulmate.

"You worry too much," Loki said, and wasn't that rich? He was Tony Stark, king of recklessness and taking chances and acting like he didn't give a shit about what happened to him. Loki had even chided him for being reckless only a few days ago, and now he worried too much? Tssk! He made it sound like Tony had lost his nerve or something. Tony stepped up close, shoulder to shoulder with Loki – naked shoulder to naked shoulder, and how come he'd forgotten they were half naked, damnit – and he nudged his soulmate aside so he was the closest to the cracking gem. There. Now if it exploded it would take off Tony's head first, and maybe Loki would have time enough to duck or something. Not that it mattered because if Tony died then Loki would too. Yeah, sure, why on Earth was he worried? It was just their funeral. (And wasn't that just a shit ton of problems right there; how the fuck was he supposed to risk his life as Iron Man knowing he would automatically cause Loki's death as well as his own? Not that it mattered if they died right now because of the amazing bout of exorcism they'd just done.)

That's when his crazy, crazy soulmate decided to tempt Fate once again and touched the top of the gem with his tapered nail and it crumbled under his touch. There were no explosions, no blinding lights, no implosions of the universe; just a small, glowing yellow stone hovering in mid-air in the same spot as where the centre of the gem would have been. As in, this was the central magical core they'd saved from the curse. "Huh," was the only thing that managed to pass Tony's lips, which was the perfect word to equally describe 'what the fuck', 'holy Hell' and 'awesome' (though technically it wasn't a word). A levitating stone of magic. It wasn't like he hadn't seen weirder things, right?

The bond was first full of curiosity and bewilderment, Loki's nail touched the stone; then came the dawning shock of surprise, the awe and wonder, and then that need. That clawing greed and the want to possess and take and have, have, have! Tony's eyes went from stone to Loki's face all the while, and he had to give it to him, that poker face was impressive. The only change was the slight widening of the eyes during the 'surprise' part. Loki's stillness during the now spiralling merry-go-round of 'want, want, want' and 'need, need, need' was utterly terrifying.

"Loki?" Nothing. Just Loki's gaze fixed on that stone and Tony's hand being crushed by a bone-bending force. The bond just continued to scream the same emotions in his mind. Alongside an overwhelming sense of alarm that didn't come from Loki. It probably came from Tony. Or Lady Fate, or their soul or whatever. Tony didn't care where it came from, because it was fucking right: something was very, very wrong.

"LOKI!" Still fucking nothing. Tony's hand was about to be reduced to bloody pulp if he didn't do something. So he did the first stupid thing that came to mind; he pushed Loki's finger aside and covered the stone with his palm – he wasn't crazy though, he didn't touch the levitating, shining thing – and the reaction was immediate. Loki gasped, jerked back, let go of Tony's hand and managed to actually fall on his arse in a very undignified sprawl. Tony would have laughed if the situation hadn't been so utterly not-funny.

"What the Hell just happened?" he asked. Loki's gaze was glazed and he was breathing hard, but his eyes slowly cleared and he finally looked at Tony.

"I— I apologise. I just— That. I believe that stone might be a forgotten relic from the most formidable of legends, and… You cannot fathom the things I could do if such an artefact was in my possession."

"Well, not to burst your bubble princess, but it was in your possession. Like, just a few days ago. And what you did with it didn't look that impressive to me."

"No, I— I wasn't the one trying to take over this Realm. The Mad Titan was poisoning my mind. Using the dampening and controlling encasement that hid the stone from me, and me from it. Now though." Loki's eyes glazed over again. "With this I could rule this Realm in less than a heartbeat."

No emotions were coming from the bond and Tony's blood ran cold. "Over my dead body." That had the merit to make Loki's eyes clear and widen, at least. The bond flared to life with an indignant squeak and a hint of anger.

"I don't want to rule this Realm!" The anger was edged on Loki's face now. "I don't want to rule any place! I'm sick and tired of royalty and politics and the bane of my bloodline. I don't want the responsibility of such power – everything I touch turns to ash."

"To ice, you mean."

Loki growled. An honest to God snarl like a rabid wolf – and why the Hell did that make Tony tingle all over? And tingle even more in a place that should not be associated with Loki? Tony felt his body start to heat up under Loki's crimson glare, and he really, really needed to find a way to change the direction of his subconscious' thoughts. "Sorry. That is actually probably very racist, in an alien kind of way. I say stupid shit sometimes. Just so you know."

"I had noticed."

"Why do I feel like you're thinking I say stupid shit all the time?"

Loki simply lifted an eyebrow and stood up in such a gracious and dignified way that Tony had to bite the inside of his lip so that he wouldn't comment on it. Or let his thoughts wander in the wrong direction. Stone. Let's concentrate on that supposedly super-powerful-magical-glowing stone.

"Okay, so. A legendary-level magical item. You say it could make you super strong, so why didn't Thanos just give it to you like this?"

"If he had, he wouldn't have been able to influence my mind. I would not have invaded this Realm for his sake had I known what hid behind the Mad Titan's suppressing magic. I wonder if… But he must have known what he had in his possession, surely. Why would he—"

"Give it to you? And risk it falling in the enemy's hand? That's what I was wondering."

Loki hummed noncommittally and stared at the stone again. Tony wondered if he would have to intervene again and just hide the whole weapon away if it hypnotised Loki and brought the call of ever-addictive power to his mind – and the bond – once more. But this time Loki's stare was merely one of reflection and guarded consideration.

"The Mad Titan wants Midgard. Midgard is the easiest access to the rest of the Nine Realms – strategically it is the best battleground for an army his size. He could annex Midgard, and Asgard would send its armies here to fight, as it has done in the past. That would leave Asgard vulnerable; Asgard is the peacekeeper of the Nine Realms and not all are satisfied with that. Thanos could then coax the other Realms into make an alliance and attack Asgard as one."

"What's his beef with Asgard anyway?"

Loki turned away from the stone and looked at Tony, head cocked to the side. "Beef?"

"Oh. Err, what's his problem with Asgard?"

"I am unsure. All I know is that he means to invade it."

"And so his big plan was to send you, with a super strong weapon in hand but that you couldn't fully use, so that you could find another super strong portal-making device to bring his army over? That sounds like a shaky plan to me. I mean, now his army is destroyed, he has no portal, and he lost you and his weapon. This Thanos guy doesn't look like such a big threat to me, based on this."

Loki scowled. "You shouldn't underestimate the Mad Titan. The only reason why his plan failed is because he could not have known that I would find my soulmate and that he consequently would lose control over my mind."

"Yeah, I'm not so sure he would have won anyway. Even if we weren't soulmates."

"Why am I not surprised," Loki deadpanned, and Tony could clearly hear the 'silly mortals' that Loki was broadcasting through his tone.

"Lucky for him there actually was a portal-making device on Earth anyway. Otherwise his plan would have sucked even more."

"The Tesseract's presence on Midgard is well-known among magic-wielders – it's exact location was unknown, like the story of your Holy Grail, but the legend of the Tesseract being hidden on Midgard by Asgardians many millennia ago is no secret. Not many agree on the Cube's origins or its exact powers, but all stories revolve about travelling great distances."

"Another legendary-level magical item, then."

"Indeed."

"You'd think a guy like Thanos would like to keep items like these" – Tony grabbed the sceptre's base and lifted the weapon off the scanner's stand – "close instead of sending it with his goons to the frontlines. No offense."

"Indeed. If I am right… The Legend of the Infinity Stones states that the Celestial Entities trapped six aspects of the universe into stones of infinite energy; Power, Time, Space, Mind, Reality and Soul. If someone powerful enough managed to bring them all together… They could alter the very fabric of the universe. It is not an artifact you part with lightly."

"Why does this sound like the plot of a bad Fantasy movie?" Tony muttered.

Loki ignored him. "If I am right and this stone is the Mind…"

"That explains why people could be controlled by the sceptre, then. Wait, can it still do that?" Tony looked at the weapon he was holding. "Should I not be holding this?"

"I am not feeling any malicious energy from this stone. And you would not know how to activate it anyway. You are in no danger."

"In no danger. Somehow that never seems to apply to me. So, this could be the Mind, you say? What are the others again?"

"Soul, Reality, Power, Time and Space."

"Space? As in the void of space, or the vastness of space? Or the capacity to travel through the vastness of space with, say, a portal?" Loki's eyes widened. "I mean, if there was a stone hidden inside the sceptre, can there be a stone hidden inside the Tesseract too? 'Cause that could be a reason for Thanos to take a gamble and risk one of these stones if you can gain an important stronghold and a second stone at the end of it." He wasn't sure Loki was breathing at this point. "Two stones in the hands of Thanos' armies during the invasion? No way that that would be a coincidence. Not if he's trying to catch'em all and become the Stone Master, right?" Tony wasn't sure Loki was listening anymore, his look was lightyears away. "And, like, rule the universe?" The bond was doing weird, weird things in the back of Tony's mind. "And all he wants us to do is surrender now or prepare to fight? Meowth, that's right?"

That, at least, seemed to wake Loki up – though Tony doubted it was the Pokemon reference that did it. The bond was going haywire with an unfathomable mix of feelings – Tony himself didn't even know what to feel at this point, he couldn't even believe his own hypothesis, it looked so much like a movie plot – and Loki just. Took two steps towards him. Grabbed his face with both hands. And planted a cold, crazily soft and slightly wet kiss on his lips. There was a little too much force put behind it, and Tony was pretty sure that hard thing that pressed against his lower lip was the edge of a sharp canine. It didn't last long, he was sure, but somehow it felt like it lasted forever – he squashed down the voice telling him it wasn't nearly long enough because what the fuck was that about. Then Loki stepped back, let go of his face and looked him square in the eye.

"You're a genius."

Tony wanted to answer with an obnoxious 'of course' or even a theatrical 'why, thank you, dear' but no sound was coming out of his open mouth. Except maybe for a pathetic, wheezing squeak. And really, he should close his mouth, he must look like an idiot. But his brain just wasn't cooperating – has stopped working. MindTM is checking for a solution to the problem. Please wait.

Let's recapitulate. Tony had made a hypothesis about Thanos' motives and the nature of the Tesseract. Loki had liked that hypothesis so much he had. Done that. You know. Made their lips touch. In his excitement. You know, in the same way you could jokingly say 'I love you' and 'marry me' when someone is doing something amazing. Tony had done that before. He'd never used a kiss like that, but… Cultural differences, right? Just like the French kissed— No, no, no, he wasn't gonna think about French kissing! But, you know, they touched cheeks or whatever. And the Germans kissed each other on the mouth as a greeting between friends. He'd seen that a while back when he was visiting Berlin. This was just an Asgardian thing. Nothing more. He was the one overthinking the whole issue. Loki was totally fine.

And for God's sake, it was just a kiss! And a super chaste kiss at that! How many people had Tony kissed in his life? And he meant kissed-kissed. Tons, exactly! This was nothing! Nothing at all. And they were soulmates anyway – they held hands at night, they couldn't keep secrets, and they could feel each other's feeling for crying out loud! (Loki was a huge mix of excitement and wonder and a hint of embarrassment at the moment). What was a kiss compared to all of those things? Exactly, this was nothing. Never mind that Tony's face was burning – more like his whole body was burning – and Loki's face had gone way bluer from the neck up. This. Was. Nothing.

There. Issue resolved. Restarting .

Tony cleared his throat. "So. If we're right about these things being those stones. Maybe Thanos wants to rule the universe with them. What do we do?"

"There is not much we can do. Not by ourselves. Asgard needs to be warned, in case we are right. Alliances would need to be made before Thanos has the means to. It would probably be best to mount a counterattack before he has the time to regroup. There certainly is enough reason to officially declare a war, given the Mad Titan's attempt to invade Midgard. And if Asgard and Midgard officially become allies, Odin would have to lend his resources to defeat this common foe."

"An alliance. Between Asgard and Earth. That's gonna be a pain, you realise. Earth is not exactly united. This ain't Star Trek. We're not ready for the Federation."

"Technically the alliance might not need to be public. It is your best fighters and your best weapons that Asgard would want pledged – only those concerned would need to know."

"Like, don't make the whole word panic under the impending doom of interstellar war. Got ya. As long as you Viking types don't want to seal the deal with a marriage and the merging of assets… I don't think we have any princesses that would fit the bill."

Loki smirked. "Not to worry. You 'fit the bill' just fine, Princess Tony Stark of Midgard."

Tony gaped. "Fuck you. I'm not a princess!"

"And yet you are already married to a prince."

That… Tony had forgotten Asgard's view on soulmates for a sec' there. "Oh God. I'm already the designated ambassador of Earth, aren't I? We're doomed. We're so, so doomed. Unmarry me. It can't be me. I'm the worst ever person for this job."

"I disagree. You are the one who, simply with your ideas, might save billions of lives and stop an intergalactic war in its tracks."

"Yeah, right. I only got there because you knew what these stones are and what they can do. You're the one with all the knowledge and wisdom."

"And you are the one who connected the dots. I do not understand why you insist on constantly selling yourself short—"

"I don't! I'm an arrogant son of a bitch! Everyone says so! And anyway, you're one to talk, Mister look-at-me-I'm-a-poor-orphan-and-no-one-loves-me. You're a fucking prince, with a brother who's ready to murder for you, with magic, and super strength, and you're super smart, and handsome, and—"

"Then I suppose we are more alike than we want to admit."

Tony wanted to argue back. Really, he did. He just didn't know what to say. They weren't that much alike. They were from a different species, born in different millennia for God's sake! They weren't the same at all. The only thing they had truly in common was their soul – but what was a soul, if it wasn't the 'essence' of oneself? Was there any way for them to not be 'essentially' the same? This was getting way too philosophical for Tony's taste.

"What should we do with this?" Tony shook the sceptre to make his point.

"It would be prudent to put it in your vault for now. And it might be safer to send it to Asgard as soon as possible, as Thanos will ultimately have more difficulty getting into Asgard's vault than yours."

"Right." Tony started walking towards the safe, Loki falling into step behind him. "How are we gonna tell Asgard all this, though?"

"That should be simple enough. We only have to call upon Heimdall."

"I see. Sure." Whatever that meant. "And then what?"

"Then we tell him that the one behind the attack upon Midgard is the Mad Titan, Thanos, and that we believe that his ultimate goal, apart from capturing Midgard and laying waste to Asgard, is to find all the Infinity Stones. And that we came to that conclusion because we believe he already had such a stone, Mind, in the form of this sceptre you are holding, and that the Tesseract Cube that he sent me to collect and use probably has Space within it. And then Heimdall will pass that message on to the Allfather."

"Uhuh." J.A.R.V.I.S. opened the safe and they stepped inside. "And how are you going to call upon that Heim-whatever?"

"I already did."

"What? When?"

"Just now."

Tony frowned. "I thought you couldn't use too much of your mojo? Interstellar calls can't be cheap, energy-wise."

"Heimdall is the one who uses his 'mojo'. Heimdall is the guardian of the rainbow bridge and his gaze spans the Nine Realms. Whenever someone calls his name, his gaze is drawn towards them."

"I am ever gonna feel like I didn't just fall through the looking-glass when you explain something? A guy who can see you from planets away. And who can hear you call him. That is just— Wait, it's not like a phone call, if he can always see you. It's a one-way Skype. What if you're, like, not in a state to be seen or something? That must be pretty embarrassing." Tony put the sceptre in an empty locker inside the safe and they turned to make their way out.

"Then I would suggest not calling upon him in those situations."

"Why are you smirking?" Loki remained silent. "Oh! There's a story there, isn't there! You called him to force him to look at embarrassing stuff, didn't you?"

"I might have, once or twice." That was such a big lie the bond almost stabbed Tony in the chest. "When Thor was doing reprehensible things in his drunken stupor, for instance."

"Oh my God, you pestered the poor Heimdall guy all the time, didn't you? You almost make me want to apologise for your behaviour even though I didn't do anything and I don't even know him. You're the worst." Tony laughed to swallow the last words he'd almost added; 'I love it'. He was too late to stop his fist from bumping against Loki's naked shoulder, though. They really, really needed to put their shirts back on. And then it dawned upon Tony that the Heimdall guy had probably seen that too – them being half naked.

Loki had of course to say Tony exactly what he didn't want to hear. "I feel like I should tell you that Heimdall does not have to be called upon to be able to turn his gaze towards you."

"You mean, like, he could be the universe's biggest pervert for all we know?"

"He just heard you say that, you realise."

"Oh shit. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply anything, Mr Heimdall. Though really, now that I remember you're listening: are you? A pervert?"

Loki burst out laughing and a smile tugged at Tony's lips. In the next step Loki bumped his shoulder – well, his upper arm, really, with the unfair height difference – against Tony's shoulder. A second later there was a blue arm draped over Tony's shoulder, and Tony shivered. He shivered because the skin was a bit chilly. He totally did not shiver for any other reason. (Also, his lips didn't tingle at all in remembrance of earlier).

"You really ought to meet Heimdall. I assure, you would never dare ask such a question if you were standing in front of him."

"You'd be surprised. I'm suicidal like tha—"

A dark shape suddenly dropped from the ceiling right in front of them, and Tony screamed.

There you go! A kiss, people! An honest-to-God kiss! Sure, it was super underwhelming, but it was still better than nothing, yeah? And we're pretty much finished with all the continuous magic-mojo-stuff :) AKA this is a great chapter XD

And now you get to wonder what the dark shape is until I manage to post another chapter, say in a few months :p Do debate in the comments to vent your frustration at my tendency to stop at cliff-hangers, mwahhahaha!

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