A/N: This first chapter takes place almost exactly one year later from the end of Unseen Curve.

I don't own The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.


Sander sat on the edge of the bed watching as one of the healers carefully treated and wrapped his hand. "You're getting pretty good at dealing with us small giants," he commented quietly. The healer patted his cheek with her larger hand.

"I've had lots of practice with your sister and her wife, ad sometimes your father." Sander could at least appreciate that some of the palace staff listened to their request for a casual air around them when they were outside of royal functions. None of the Starks had been very comfortable with titles when they were visiting. "If you're still here, come back in two days to have that changed. If not, your father will know what salve to use. Your neck will be a little tender, but it wasn't as bad as your hand so it won't need to be wrapped. Unless you want me too?"

Sander wrinkled his nose a little then looked at the Jotun healer and nodded a little. "I have a bad habit of scratching at my neck when I get nervous or agitated. Also, my girlfriend will worry more if she sees it."

The healer nodded and pulled out another length of bandages. "I can't do anything to return the color to your face any faster, so you'll be on your own to explaining that one." Sander's good hand absently reached to rub at at the arc reactor. It hadn't taken Loki long to find the discarded reactor, and even quicker for Tony to replace it. It was tender around the edge, having pulled at his chest when it was first torn out.

Sander held his head straight and was unable to look over when they heard the door open and someone walk in. "Majesty," the healer murmured. "His hand is going to take at least two weeks to heal until he can go without coverings. A full six weeks before most damage is healed."

"Any permanent damage?" Tony asked as he came into Sanders view.

"Some torn muscle, but nothing that will affect the functions of his hand and fingers," the healer confirmed. "The skin, in both forms, will have some discoloration, and there's a chance there will be some scars. His neck will heal over almost perfectly though."

"Thanks, Barra." The healer nodded as she finished wrapping Sander's neck. "You might as well go and see Fay, your Father is talking with his brother."

"Uncle Thor?" Sander raised an eyebrow as he pushed himself up slowly. He grunted and reluctantly accepted the wooden walking staff that Barra pressed into his good hand.

"Balder," Tony corrected. "You don't want to be in that room. There's Emma, Balder, and both Loki's." Tony walked next to Sander slowly down the hall.

"She did it with a purpose," Sander said and Tony blinked. "She asked him he would take my place, and when he mentioned Fay she knew what she was doing." Sander glanced at Tony. "What does Dad know about fairy tales?"

"About the ones on Midgard? I like to assume that he's probably read about most of them, he's big on knowledge and history. I'm not for sure though." Tony raised an eyebrow at him.

"Whoever she was, she said that she had some kind of weird thing about stories and fairy tales from different places, different realms I'm guessing," Sander started to explain. "Before you two got there, she said something about Sleeping Beauty, and suddenly she's putting Tomas to sleep."

"Are you trying to say that she made Tomas into a fairy tale princess?"

"It's just a theory, but she was much more eager to take him after finding out that I could possibly be in love with someone," he told him, working through a thought. "It's possible that Fay could have been the one to help me had she taken me instead. And as far as I know, Tomas is still single, putting himself into his job." Sander shrugged a little as they stopped in front of the room he and Fay had been using. "I mean, it's just a thought, but it doesn't answer who took him or where."

"Any kind of answers are helpful," Tony said, squeezing his arm a little. "It could point us in some kind of direction. I'll find you when we find something out." Sander nodded, heading into his room.

Tony walked back down the hall to the room where he had left the small group before. Entering silently he heard Loki's frustrated voice. "-same power as last night!"

"And the body is still where we contained it last night," Utgard-Loki tried not to growl back. He knew that the anger in Loki's voice was personally directed at him. "That has not changed, this is an entirely new player to the game."

"How is it possible that these people have been able to come to this place, and take my family by surprise, not once, but twice? And how is it that no one can find out where they are from?" Loki's fingers start to glow with power, the green fluctuating between it's usual vibrant green to match his eyes, and a sickly green that Tony was starting to worry about. He walked over and took one of Loki's hands, threading his fingers through Loki's. "I want to know who this hel-hated harpy is! I want the body of the horeson who took my son."

"Now that's just being mean against hapry's,' Balder murmured, earning a glare from his brother.

"And why have you not delivered her to me," Loki snapped. Tony put a hand on the back of Loki's neck, giving it a small squeeze. He felt Loki's muscle tense under his fingers slightly.

"Don't you dare even think about snapping at me," Tony warned him, saying it quietly so that only Loki could hear.

"I'm still figuring out all the things I can do," Balder responded calmly. "It's going to take more than a year to figure out how to run a Universe. Rest assured I am still searching."

"There's good reason to think that he's going to be left in relatively good health," Tony said louder this time. "Sander has a pretty good idea of what might be happening. It might give us some clues to get him back quickly."

Tony didn't expect that it would take over a decade before they were able to get any answers.