"Hey Remus, it's Tony… I… I mean there has been a bit of a situation. Don't worry. Harry and I are alright, but I think it would be best if you were to come out here. Give me a call back when you get this message," I hear Uncle Tony say next to me where he is sitting on a bar stool, on his cell phone while watching me at the same time. I don't know why, but he's been staring at me for a little while now.
"Where are Daddy and Papa?" I ask tilting my head up to look up at Uncle Tony.
"I don't know, but I am sure they will call us back soon. Now, we are going to go hop onto a ship and take you back to the main ship to get checked out by one of the doctors on board. Then we will head back to Stark Towers. Deal?"
"Do I have to go to a doctor? I swear I am fine!"
"Harry, I am not doing this to upset you or punish you. I just want to make sure you are ok. And by looking at you I wouldn't guess you are. You have a fairly nasty cut on your forehead, and you said you don't remember how you got here. That makes me a little worried."
I nod my head, knowing better than to argue and knowing when to give up a fight that I won't win anyway. I follow Uncle Tony out through the back, and as we walk by the sheriff, he gives me a smile and small wave. He was talking to Thor about everything that happened.
I gasp when Uncle Tony suddenly picks me up. I turn to look at him but he is staring straight ahead. Steve leads the way to the ship with Uncle Tony and I following him, and Thor behind us. The aircraft looks very similar to the one that Loki and I were in before. Uncle Tony picks a seat near the back of the ship, away from the pilot and sits me down next to him. Steve sits on my other side while Thor sits across from us. Uncle Tony straps me and, then throws an arm over my shoulders, pulling me as close to his side as he can.
The flight doesn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. I couldn't help but stare at Thor and Steve trying to learn everything about them. Every time Thor catches me staring he pulls a funny face and I can't help but laugh. Steve just smiles softly at me.
"Are they superheroes like you Uncle Tony?"
"Yeah, you could say that Harry. We all work together to help protect Earth."
"Like from Voldemort?"
"No, not from him. He is a little out of our league. You know you don't have to worry about that right? Your Dad and Papa made sure that he was being taken care of even if you weren't there to do it. Just because someone says you have to do something doesn't mean it is true. You get to make your own future kid."
"I know. I just feel bad. I mean, what if everyone blames me?"
"They won't Harry. You are only six. There is only so much blame and responsibility you can put on a six year old."
"But, what if they force me to go back. Can they make me old again? I don't want to be old again, I want to stay with you and Daddy and Papa!"
"Hush Harry. Don't worry about things like that. You know that Daddy and Papa would never let anything bad happen to you or let anyone take you away. And neither would I. Now that you are here and are mine, I don't have any plans to let you leave me. I am sorry Harry. I never should have brought you onto this ship. I should have just called your dads immediately and waited for them to fly out to New York and stay with you. I never meant to put you in harm's way."
"I know Uncle Tony. It's ok," I say leaning more against him and giving him a small smile.
"No it isn't. But I can swear to you that it won't happen again. You may be willing to forgive me but it will be a while before I will be able to forgive myself. And I am sure the same could be said about your dads. But enough depressing talk! You know, before I came and found you, I went and checked on Patches. He couldn't believe that you decided to have an adventure without him! He will be so happy to hear you are back. Once you are all checked out, we will have to go get him," Uncle Tony says sending me a bright smile. I nod my head, and we quickly land back on the main ship.
When the doors open, there is a tall black man with an eye patch waiting for us. Uncle Tony sends him a glare, and scoops me back up into his arms. I don't know why he has suddenly decided that I need to be carried everywhere. Steve follows us, and together the three of us make our way to the medical bay.
As soon as we walk through the doors, a bunch of nurses rush towards us and lead Uncle Tony and I to a bed. He takes a seat sitting me on his lap with my back against his chest. The doctor comes over and starts to check me over when I hear Uncle Tony's phone go off. He starts to stand up and place me onto the bed, but I don't want to be left here alone! I grab onto him tighter and he sighs before resuming our previous arrangement. I smile at the doctor who laughs at Uncle Tony.
"Hello?" I hear Uncle Tony say before I lean back against him again.
"Remus! Bout time you called me back…where are you? New York?... How'd you get there so fast? Never mind, don't answer that… Look I can't really tell you exactly where we are because I don't really know... We are in the air… yeah I can do that, I'll text the coordinates to you… yeah, see you soon."
He hangs up the phone, tells JARVIS to do something and then turns back to me.
"Your dads are going to be here soon," he says with a smile but I can see he is worried. I don't know why, I mean shouldn't he be excited? I know I am.
The doctor forces me to turn my attention back onto him. He asks me a couple of questions before he cleans off my face, and cleans my cut before bandaging it. He says that I shouldn't have to wear it for long, and that I mustn't play with it. Well then, ruin all my fun. Plus bandages are always itchy.
"Where are we?" I hear Daddy say from the doorway. I didn't even hear them apparate in!
"Daddy!" I squeal, and I try to get off of Uncle Tony's lap, but the doctor isn't done yet, so he stops me and Uncle Tony tightens his hold on me. "Why does Harry have a bandage on his head?" I hear Daddy say to Papa and I glance up at Papa to see his eyes a very dark Amber. I haven't seen them that bright in a long time. They both quickly head over to us, and Daddy kneels down next to me too but soon has to move out of the doctor's way again.
"Tony. You have three minutes to tell me what the hell is going on before I go find answers on my own. And trust me, you won't like what that entails. I suggest you start talking," Papa says coming to stand next to us, and fixing a glare onto Uncle Tony.
"Like I said there was a bit of a situation. RJ I swear, I never meant for him to get hurt. I didn't think we would be on the ship long and I definitely didn't expect him to go wandering off. I don't know…. Pepper always says I don't think things through. But I swear I am sorry. I don't-"
"Maybe you should start from the beginning," Daddy says.
"Well, I got a call asking me to come into work and help out with an alien invasion. Pepper left for DC, and it was late, and Harry was already in bed so I left him a note and headed off to Germany-"
"You did WHAT?" Daddy yells, and I flinch back.
"Look, I know it was stupid-"
"Stupid! Stupid doesn't even cover half of it. You know how Harry is at night, plus he had just had his memories repressed. You know that he has nightmares! I've told you about how he reacts to them. Why the hell would you think it was ok to leave him alone?" Papa says, and Daddy places a hand on his arm.
"I know, trust me I know. Not long afterwards, Harry called me. He was really upset so I flew back and picked him up. I packed him some stuff and flew him here, to the main ship. I should have just called you two then. The ship was attacked, and I went to go check on one of the engines. Once we got it back into working order, we went to check in with the rest of the team," I can feel Uncle Tony stiffen under me and I know he doesn't want to finish the story. The doctor is still checking me over. I don't know what else he could be worried about.
"I left Harry in our room and I found out that Loki, the criminal I was after in Germany had escaped. Look Remus, I am really sorry. I was going to call you immediately, but before I could I heard from Harry. I thought it was better to get him as soon as possible rather than wasting time calling you," Uncle Tony continues. The doctor finally finishes and I turn to Daddy holding out my arms towards him. He gives me a half smile before picking me up off of Uncle Tony's lap and situating me on his hip.
"What. Happened. Tony?" Papa grits out. I look up at him and then back to Daddy who gives me a reassuring smile and puts my head against his shoulder so that I am more relaxed against his body.
"Loki took him. Harry stumbled upon him and Loki used him as a way to escape. Remus I swear-"
"Outside. Now," Papa says to him. Uncle Tony nods his head and pauses to kiss the top of my head before he leaves. "Are you alright pup?" he asks once Uncle Tony's gone.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Loki gave Uncle Tony a note. He said that I had more than one soul so he removed the extra. He said I wouldn't understand and to give the note to you or Uncle Tony. Uncle Tony said that he didn't know what to do about it and that he'd let you guys read it."
"Is that what made your head bleed Harry?" Daddy says, pulling me slightly away so that he can look me in the eye.
"Yeah. This black wispy thing came out of my head. When Loki hit it, it made all of the windows explode. He said he removed it as a thank you for helping him escape."
"I am glad to hear you are alright. We will be going home soon, but for now, I am going to go talk to Tony and I want you to stay here with Daddy, alright? Will you be alright?"
I nod my head, and Papa gives me a kiss on the forehead before going out after Uncle Tony. Daddy asks the doctor for somewhere to go, and he leads us out through a back door to a small sitting room. Daddy settles himself down on the couch and then adjusts me so that I am sitting on his lap, and I snuggle into him. I'm glad that Papa and Daddy are finally here.
"I'm sorry Daddy," I say after a couple of minutes have passed.
"What for pup?" he asks running his hand through my hair.
"For not listening to Uncle Tony and causing all of this to happen… is Papa mad at me?"
"No! Why would you think Papa was mad at you? None of this is your fault," he says adjusting me so that I am looking at him. "Yes, you didn't listen to Uncle Tony, but you shouldn't have been on this ship anyway, there should not have been a need for you to stay put or be careful. None of this is your fault. It is Loki's and partially Uncle Tony's."
"But how do you know he isn't mad at me too? He seemed awfully angry, and his eyes were amber, and he didn't even say hi to me, or give me a hug! He just asked if I was ok and then left with Uncle Tony!" I explain. I mean what other explanation is there then that he is mad at me. It makes sense to me.
"No, pup, he really isn't mad at you. Come on, let's go find him and he can tell you himself."