Chapter 10: A better world

The first thing that Loki felt upon waking, was an intense light that damaged his eyes and the sensation of extreme tiredness that made his flesh felt unbearably heavy.

"Where am I?"

The world still felt confused, as if he was seeing everything behind a fogged window and he couldn't shake the feeling of missing something very important.

He tried to sit up but his body didn't answer him. Why couldn't he move his limbs? Maybe he was hurt?

He tried to reach his magic and thus evaluate the state of his body, but it didn't came to him. What was going on? Why couldn't he access his Seidr? What was the meaning of this emptiness that seemed to come from within him? He felt as if something important had suddenly been ripped out of him, something that was part of his identity, a piece of his very being.

Panic spread through his mind as if it were a poisonous plague. His heart hammered against his chest and he moved his head from side to side, gasping for air.

"You are having a panic attack" Whispered a thought across the back of his mind.

But then, a gentle hand pressed against his cheek and his agitation calmed down immediately. He approached that touch, feeling that familiar sensation, clinging to it, as though his life depended on it. Who was this person? Where had he felt this before?

"Loki, it's over. You are safe" He heard the man say.

Confusion clouded his mind, but that man was there, holding him.

He sank deeper into unconsciousness after that, and when he awoke, the world had cleared somewhat.

He opened his eyes with almost painful effort.

A room. Now all the memories came back to him. He was in his house, in the village.

And there, Tony was sitting by his bed, holding his hand. And despite not being able to feel his touch, he felt his warmth and that comforting sensation that was radiated directly to his chest.

His eyes moved towards him. His heart was racing.

Those dark eyes looked at him with deep affection and some veiled concern.

Loki tried to speak but a fit of coughing stopped his words. His throat felt dry as if it were a desert.

Tony brought him a glass of water and gave him to drink.

"Are you okay?" He said, slowly.

"A bit tired, but I'm... well" Loki answered.

Tony sighed and Loki could see the profound relief that crossed his face.

"You don't know how glad I am that you're awake," He said smiling for the first time since Loki opened his eyes.

"I'm happy to see you too, and in one piece, I should add"

Tony didn't say anything else, just approached. He reached out to put a hand around his neck and bring his cheek closer to him, hugging him tightly. His fingers twisted themselves in the back of Loki's shirt, squeezing hard, almost desperately. As though if Tony didn't hold him close enough, he might disappear.

"I'm just glad we're both alive," He said, almost in a whisper.

Loki closed his eyes, feeling his skin and the warmth of his body. Upon barely making contact, an electric jolt moved through his bones, like a head-on collision with a storm. And suddenly, all fog in his mind dissipated.

The touch of his body, felt reassuringly alive. His anchor with reality. The link between the dream and the next.

His muscles relaxed and he only surrenders to that feeling of deep happiness that seized him. Sinking into that fierce grip.

None of them moved. They just fell silent, feeling the sound of their breathing and the movement of their chest.

"The others…? Peter? Pepper?" Loki asked, after what seemed like a long time.

"Both well" Tony said loosening his grip, but keeping his hand resting on Loki's neck. His touch, comforting, protective "Peter had some injuries but they were minor, in a few days he was fine again and Pepper... Well, she is hard as an oak, nothing seems to stop her. She is well too"

"A few days..."Loki's stomach lurched "How long has it been?"

"Since the battle? four days," He said simply.

"Four days..." Loki thought, stunned. He had been unconscious for four long days. It seemed as if everything had happened only the previous morning.

His expression changed a bit, and suddenly Tony looked vulnerable. Fearful.

"For a moment... I was afraid you would not wake up," he said. "The healers said they couldn't find anything wrong with you, but I knew something wasn't right, possibly with your magic, for what you did in the battle. It's only in the last twenty-four hours that you started to move, to give signs of life. I was worried about you. God! Everyone in the village was worried"

At the mention of his magic, the agitation he had felt before waking, had begun to return. That emptiness he had tried to ignore became more prominent and as he looked at Tony, his mind began to consider how he might formulate that phrase that had begun to burn in his throat.

Loki breathed softly and after a moment, said "I've lost my magic"

Something sad passed behind Tony's eyes, and was gone.

"You are okay?" He said sounding concerned.

"I'm fine, it's just that I thought... the truth, I don't know what I thought," Loki said quietly.

He remained silent for a moment gathering his thoughts, and then added.

"When I lost my magic for the first time, I believed that it had disappeared forever, that it was irretrievably lost. But apparently, that was not the case.

Not even I fully understand how I recovered it, but my theory is that during all this time, it was replenishing itself, getting stronger.

In the battle, what I most wanted, was to be able to have something to fight with, defend myself, and then, my Seidr was there again, lending me its power.

I used what was left of my magic to isolate the power of the cube, but in doing so, I exhausted all my reserves. My Seidr is now out of my reach, lost again.

Without having access to my power, I fear that the cube is unreachable. It is irremediably forfeit within one of my temporal dimensions. Accessing it is impossible, even for me"

"I think it's for the best. I saw what the cube was capable and I don't regret it's lost. It's a dangerous force, one that in bad hands, could become terrible. If renouncing a power like that, is what humanity needs to achieve peace, so be it"

"Indeed," Loki said with an expressionless voice.

"Loki?"

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry you lost your magic. I know it must have been hard for you to have recovered it, just to lose it again. Your magic reserves were almost exhausted and even so, you chose to use what you had left to help us. I wanted to thank you. If it had not been for you, none of us would be here today. You have saved us all"

"Save them?" Loki thought, as he felt a lump rose in his throat.

Those words of gratitude, should have felt comforting, a sweet balm for his ego, but it just didn't. Instead, Loki only felt a sharp pang in his chest. One, he realized, had been carrying for a long time, even before the beginning of this entire war.

It was true that with his magic he had helped to defeat Red Skull but... Was it not because of him that all this conflict had started in the first place? The main reason for the war was to seize the 'God Loki'. His presence, was the main reason why Red Skull had taken an interest in the village.

It had never been his intention to cause harm to the people who had offered him such kindness and hospitality, and yet the damage was done. Lives had been lost. People who had trusted him, those who had become his friends... were no more.

He was not going to dirty their memory by making excuses. Neither the dead nor their families cared about pretexts. No regret on his part was going to bring them back.

All of their problems had started from the moment he arrived at the village. Maybe, Loki should never have sought refuge among these humans. If he had not been so naive as to have thought himself worthy of their kindness and acceptance, perhaps none of this would have happened.

In Asgard, they had called him the God of chaos and bad luck, and apparently, time had proved them right.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Tony asked, noticing his dismayed face.

Loki almost flinched. He knew he should say something, but he couldn't make himself move his mouth. "Don't thank me. It's my fault," he finally said, his tongue felt thick and heavy in his mouth. "I couldn't..." He cut off. "So many lost lives. Wherever I go, there's nothing but chaos and death, it's part of who I am, my nature." He took a breath, and finally said, "I'm... sorry"

"Are you mad? You have nothing to apologize. For nothing that happened was your fault.

I know you Loki, you are not chaos, much less death. You haven't shown us anything other than generosity from the moment you arrived at the village. You shared your knowledge with us and you have given us much more than we could have thought possible when we were just a small tribe fighting for our lives. If it were not for you, we would have perished long ago. We would have died before the war even began"

Tony looked away.

"In fact... if there is someone who must apologize, it's me, for being foolish enough to have been tricked by Red Skull. I fell for his trick and left the village. It was my fault that you were left without defenses by the time the enemies arrived. I was an imbecile and I put everyone in danger" Tony said with a hard expression.

"That's not true. You didn't have the means to know what Red Skull was planning. You commanded our troops like a true leader.

Not only that, but you killed Red Skull, you saved my life...

It was thanks to you and the rest of the villagers that we won this war. You came to save us when everything was lost and the other villagers fought like... like the greatest warriors I've ever seen. You and they, were the ones who made this victory possible"

Tony gave a long sigh and closed his eyes. A moment passed before he spoke again.

"I think... we're both a pair of hard heads. I do not think we should blame ourselves for the things that could have been, but we should be happy for everything we managed to save.

We, as a village, beat Red Skull and the invaders.

Loki, we won. It's over, it's finally over"

Tony's expression was a mixture of happiness, relief, achievement and also love... immense love. Pure, strong emotions that were reflected in his bright brown eyes.

Loki looked back at him, noting the intensity of that gaze. The sincerity expressed in each of those words felt like a direct blow to his heart.

Seeing those eyes, it made it much easier to recognize the truth that Tony struggled to convey to him, without the kaleidoscope of emotions that covered his mind of grim thoughts.

And Loki, found himself wandering in those brown depths, sinking into that look that seemed to want to delve into his very being.

"Yes... is true. It's really over" Loki said.

That truth floated in the air, permeating them with tranquility they had not felt for a long time.

From here, they could only walk forward. A new beginning awaited them. An opportunity to build a better future, strive to create a new world of peace.

Loki's face softened.

"So... what do you think we should do now that we don't have to fight for our lives or worrying about facing more enemies?"

Tony paused to consider this for a moment and then smiled slightly "I think breakfast seems like the next logical step"

Loki was looking out the window when Tony came back. His expression relaxed, serene.

Tony had in his hands, a plate of bread slices and a few small jars of butter tucked under his arm.

He put everything on a small table next to the bed, and then set out to heat the water and toast the bread over the fireplace. Soon, the room was flooded with the warm sensation of embers and that pleasant morning smell of breakfast.

They ate together sitting on the bed, munching peacefully in silence.

Tony was about to ask Loki if he wanted another slice of bread when he heard the man's voice interrupting the silence.

"You know? There are many things that I don't know about the battle, especially about your time outside the village. Would you mind telling me about everything I missed?"

"But of course! This is great. It's storytime! Nothing better than a good tale after a good meal. Where should I start?"

So Tony told him about the many battles he had had with the neighboring tribes, all his efforts to avoid the advance of the enemies and about how he had learned of Red Skull's plan.

Tony was finishing the story of when he and Clint got on the horses to go to the village when, to his surprise, Loki began to laugh beneath his breath.

"Hey! What, may I ask, is so funny?"

"Oh nothing, it's just... I was thinking about the moment when you and your troop came to the village, and I could not help but think that you have a great sense of timing. First, that archer with his so unerring arrow and then you, that appeared in the right moment to kill Red Skull. It could not have been just a coincidence. Admit it, you planned everything to arrive at the precise moment, just like the great heroes do.

You are such a diva, you know that? I know you have a penchant for the dramatic but couldn't you have chosen any other time? In case you didn't notice, all of us were fighting for our lives there" Loki said, with a mischievous smile.

"That's not true!" Tony said, with an indignant snort "Besides, you are accusing me of being a diva? look who's talking! You are the one who once made Peter and May wait with dinner served for an hour, just because your hair was not fixed to your taste"

"That's utterly and completely false... you know my hair always looks good"

Tony looked at him blankly for a second before bursting into a peal of mirthful laughter.

Loki also laughed. They both laughed. Hard. As if they had told the funniest joke they had ever heard.

Destiny was uncertain, but if they could still laugh like this, talk like this, then they had nothing to fear. And if circumstances had changed... well, it had not changed them. Whatever the future holds for them, they would face it together.

When Loki was finally able to shake off the last vestiges of laughter, he said.

"About that archer you mentioned. Clint, isn't it? His arrow was the one that saved Peter's life. I would like to… thank him"

"I'm afraid you can't talk to him, he's gone"

"Oh? And where is he now?"

"He returned with his family.

You see, Red Skull had taken as a hostage the members of his tribe. Children took as prisoners and a lot of families forced to take separate ways.

But when Red Skull was defeated, Clint approached the invaders and demanded the liberation of his people.

The soldiers, seemed not to hear him at first. They were in shock. They babbled and talked about the power of the great God Loki.

It was then, that Clint told them, his tribe now counted with your blessing and if they didn't do what Clint said, they should be subject to the consequences of your terrible wrath.

With the promise of indulgence in exchange for their cooperation, in the end, they agreed to Clint's demands.

Just yesterday, the group of soldiers who accompanied him returned. They said that everything had gone well, that the release of hostages had been a complete success.

After that, the enemies were allowed to return to their homes. But Clint didn't let them go without first reminding them of all God Loki could do to them if they betrayed his trust.

Personally, I don't think they will try anything else. You should have seen their faces, there was real fear there. They were terrified when they saw you use your magic"

Loki was speechless, the wrath of God Loki? And then he laughed again.

"It was time for that nickname to serve a useful purpose"

"And you were hoping that as time went by, people would forget about it. Now it has done nothing but spread, even to other tribes" Tony said.

Loki had now, a fond, amused grin now plastered firmly to his face.

The morning light spilled slowly from the window, illuminating his somber, peaceful expression, making his jet-black hair glow in a soft golden hue. The air was filled with a sleepy stillness and Loki felt his eyelids a little heavier.

They stayed like that, in comfortable silence, feeling the presence of another, filling themselves with that deep feeling of peace that their mutual company provided them.

"Loki?" Tony said slowly.

"Yes?"

"I know you probably don't feel comfortable talking about your magic but... I've been thinking"

He waited for Loki to shake off his drowsiness before continuing.

"You recovered your Seidr in battle, right? And you told me that you believe it was because during all this time it has been replenishing itself.

You know... that makes me think that maybe your magic is not completely lost"

"What do you mean?" Loki said surprised.

"Your magic has proven to be a somewhat unstable force, I can't predict how it will react in the near future, but... what if this is the same as when you lost it for the first time? Your Seidr may still be inside you, restoring his power, recovering silently.

What I mean is; If your magic managed to replenish itself once, what makes us think that this can't happen again?

Now you can't access your Seidr, but perhaps all we have to do is wait for it to recover. Trust that it will reappear when it's strong enough"

Loki's eyes widened in surprise. He had been so wrapped up in his own pessimism that he had not even considered that possibility.

Tony was right, there was still hope! He just had to wait and be patient, to have faith that time would heal all damage to his body.

Tony thought it possible to recover his Seidr and he was going to believe it too. "Someday his magic would return" And in his mind, that sounded like a promise.

"You're right. Thank you. And I don't mean just the comment of my magic. Actually, I wanted to thank you for many things: For..." Loki felt suddenly, a nervous flutter in his stomach, but when he looked up and saw Tony's reassuring eyes, the words seemed to simply sprout from his mouth.

"I wanted to tell you that... you are important to me. Your presence, your company, everything you do and have done is greatly appreciated. I am not the same as I was before and I believe that you are a fundamental part of what I have become. I... What I really want to say is, thanks for everything"

Tony then approached. Lying next to him, he slid his arm around Loki, and drew him in, until he could feel the puff of his breath through his shirt, and sense every beat of his heart. His hand was warm when he lifted his face and his lips felt extremely soft when he leaned in and laid a slow, solemn kiss upon his brow.

"I love you Loki" Tony said in a whisper.

Leaning toward Tony, Loki lay there, marveling at the heat of the man against him.

Everything was new to him, this intimacy, these feelings, and yet, it seemed as if for the first time in his life, everything seemed to be exactly in place. As if this were the natural state of things.

Loki gazed at the man beside him, serenely, a sense of fulfillment in his bones. One that Loki drank in greedily. He felt like he held the whole world in his hands.

Tony reached out and clasped Loki's face, brushing his hair back.

"Now..." He murmured. "You just have to rest and recover your strength"

Loki noted the intensity in his gaze, and felt blood warm his face. He watched Tony lean down and give him a slow kiss on his lips. And without thinking, he kissed him back. His eyes had closed before he knew it, and he craned his neck to get a better angle. The breath trembled in his chest, and a sigh passed through him.

A sound that set Tony's heart aflame.

"The battle is over. And once you're back on your feet, we'll have such a celebration, that nobody goes to sleep for a week"

Loki smiled at him and damn if it wasn't one of the most beautiful things Tony had ever seen.

After many celebrations, the villagers took on the task of reconstructing the damage that the war had caused. The losses were not few, but working together, in a short time, they rebuilt the village to what had been its former glory.

Taking advantage of the impetus of construction, they also set out to build new edifications. The village now had a tavern, a palisade for protection and a large market where people began to enthusiastically practice the concept of trade.

The fallen villagers were laid together in a grave on the hill-side, where later a great tombstone was set up with their names engraved. Those names would be memorized by the village scholars and would be inspirational material for numerous songs that would tell their noble stories of bravery.

The other tribes did not bother the territory of the village again. They had acquired new respect for their people and feared the reprisals of the powerful God Loki.

The confrontation would be known as 'The Great Battle' and was registered in the growing library that was recently inaugurated.

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Hi! A new chapter I hope you liked it!

Maybe this chapter have a little more fluff than I intended but after seeing Endgame, I really needed it! (No spoilers! I just going to say that!) Also, I suppose that our protagonists deserved to have their moment and express their feelings after being separated.

In relation to the next chapter, the truth, I don't know how long it will take for me to post it because I don't have anything written lol, but I will do my best to post it as soon as possible ;)

In the meantime, we are approaching the climax of this story! Chapter 11 will be more than anything a bridge chapter, and from then on, the chapters that come, will give shape to what will be the end of this fic! :O Stay tuned!

Don't forget to leave comments if you think that this fic deserves it. Thank you very much!