AN: First of all, I want to thank everyone who left a review for the previous chapter. I was so nervous about it! But it seemed you all liked it, so that was a relief. Here is the sixth chapter and I hope you'll dig this, too. Enjoy!

The Lover That Went Wrong

- Chapter Six -

Tony's hand was running up and down his arm, the tips of his fingers touching his skin ever so lightly. He was caressing him in a way Loki hadn't experienced in a long time. His mother used to touch his face in such a loving manner as she would push a lock of his raven hair behind his ear. Thor used to put a hand to his shoulder, squeezing it kindly, telling him they had survived yet another adventure together. If he was lucky, Fandral sometimes threw his arms around him in a drunken state, calling him a good friend, telling him he admired his sharp tongue.

None of that happened anymore, but now Tony was here to hold him and Loki didn't even want to imagine Tony's hand vanishing from his arm. He suspected he'd grow cold instantly.

Pressing his back against Tony's chest as if he were trying to disappear into him, he felt Tony's arm around his waist tense ever so slightly. His grip on him tightened as if he were afraid that should he let go, Loki would disappear. And perhaps he would. Turning his head ever so slightly, Loki felt the pillow beneath him shift. He found Tony gazing at him, his brown eyes filled with uncertainty. He seemed burdened and older. Loki knew it was because of him.

He watched as Tony leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his temple. It was such a warm gesture that it made Loki release a breath he hadn't known to be holding. Turning in Tony's arm, the sheets of the bed sliding away from him, Loki kissed Tony's lips, one hand moving upward to cup the back of Tony's neck, his fingers tangling with Tony's short hair.

When the kiss broke apart, Loki sighed. His hands moved to take hold of Tony's black shirt and he shifted his leg so it rested on top of Tony's. With his head resting against Tony's chest, he could hear his steady heartbeat. It sounded calm and peaceful and if Loki closed his eyes, he could feel the slow rhythm lulling him to sleep.

"You know I love you, right?" Tony asked quietly.

His grip on Tony's shirt tightened and Loki felt his breath falter within his lungs. "I know," he replied. But there was a difference between knowing and actually hearing those words. Whatever ignorance he'd been able to cling to was now gone. The words had been said and Loki – and Tony – could never ignore or deny them.

Tony continued to caress his arm, his chin now lying on top of Loki's head.

In the end, Loki didn't know how much time passed. He only knew that he had fallen asleep with the sky outside completely dark, and when he'd woken, the sun was peaking over the horizon, but Loki still lay in Tony's arms, cocooned in his warmth, his safety.

A small voice in the back of his head told him to get out now that he still could. One quick spell and he would find himself in a desolated realm, alone, like he should be. For one long second, he actually summoned the magic needed for the teleportation spell, but then Tony shifted ever so slightly and Loki felt himself pulling the sleeping man closer toward him.

How foolish he had been. Tony might be afraid that Loki would leave him, but Loki was just as afraid to let him go.

Ever so softly, he whispered, "I love you, too." And then he freed himself of Tony's arms wrapped around him. He wasn't strong enough yet to leave and he couldn't bear the idea of Tony waking up to find him gone so he just got up from the bed and headed into the bathroom.

He needed to think. He needed to get a grip on himself.

It would happen soon.

-/-

"Goddammit!" Tony flew down to the ground when rubble of a burning building threatened to bury Natasha. Swooping her up in his arms – and ignoring her obscene protests because she clearly disliked feeling like a damsel in distress – he brought her to the top of the National Bank's building where Clint was positioned. The Hawk had his bow aimed at everything and anything that moved, but he hadn't fired an arrow in over fifteen minutes.

Natasha distanced herself from Tony the moment he let go and patted imaginary dust from her outfit, still muttering something about Tony and his knight-in-shining-armor-complex. Her red hair stuck to her sweaty skin and her chest was heaving up and down.

"What a bitch," She eventually breathed for Tony and Clint to hear.

"Tell me about it," Tony agreed whole-heartedly. The mask of his suit fell back with a sharp metallic click and cold air instantly engulfed his face, allowing him to clear his mind. He'd taken a few good hits from her and he still found it unfair that Asgardians possessed such strength. Honestly, life was unfair.

Letting his gaze fall from Natasha to Clint and back again, he asked, "Does anyone have any clue what the hell Amora is doing in the first place?"

Shrugging, Natasha grabbed her gun, checked the amount of bullets she still had left before deciding to reload it – not that bullets harmed The Enchantress. "I haven't the faintest," She replied, her voice dripping with anger. When she met Tony's eyes, Tony spotted a long cut running down the length her neck. Blood stained her skin and the collar of her suit. Her personal collision with The Enchantress had lasted perhaps five minutes before Thor had knocked Amora away from her, but the brief fight had clearly left Natasha exhausted and bloody. In truth, Natasha was lucky to be alive.

Tony watched as Clint stepped closer to his partner, his fingers momentarily brushing the side of her neck, examining the wound. He touched her so softly, so carefully, and Tony was momentarily reminded of Loki, of how he would sometimes touch the raven haired man or hold him.

"It's not too bad," Clint told Natasha. He threw her a reassuring smile. "It looks worse than it is."

Natasha returned his smile and nodded. "I know," She said. Reaching up, her hand briefly touched Clint's and then their contact was broken just as quickly as it had been established.

Tony hadn't a clue what he had just witnessed, or maybe he did, but it was neither his business nor did he have the time to think much more of it. And at the same time, he forced all thoughts of Loki from his mind. He should really focus on the battle at hand.

"Okay, kids," He said, drawing Natasha and Clint's attention back to him. Two pair of annoyed eyes turned to him and Tony couldn't help but clear his throat, suddenly feeling like an awkward intruder. "So Amora is jumping all over the city, burning and destroying buildings as she pleases. We need a plan."

"The Captain would be proud to hear you say that," Natasha grinned.

A few feet below the building, a rush of blue air flew past them. Tony and his two fellow Avengers whipped around and stepped closer to the edge of the building. They followed the strange occurrence, wondering why the hell Amora appeared to be fleeing, before a second later, they spotted a red cloak trailing after her, the whoosh of Mjolnir ever so familiar in their ears.

"Thor seems to have a lock on her," Clint said, hope ringing in his voice.

Amora disappeared all of a sudden and Thor was able to end his flight seconds before he crashed straight into the window of a penthouse. He landed on the ground full of fallen stones and glass, and even though Thor was too far away for Tony to hear what he was saying, Tony could tell it wasn't anything nice. He probably hated Amora more than everyone else considering their history. This wasn't the first time Thor fought her after all.

"Where is the Captain anyway?" Tony wanted to know. He scanned their surroundings, but he couldn't find his favorite star-spangled man.

"He's a few blocks down," Clint said. He was twitching one of his arrows in his hand, doing god knows what with it. Tony had long given up trying to get his hands on the technology. No one touched Barton's bow and arrows. He'd learned that the hard way. "He's getting civilians out of some building."

"Ah, Steve," Tony sighed dramatically, "Such an old soul."

"Standing around here chatting isn't going to help us capture Amora," Natasha said. She sounded irritated, but Tony didn't care. Natasha was irritated with them half of the time anyway – except with Clint, but Clint was the exception to everything in Natasha's book. "So either we come up with something decent to knock her out and lock her in a SHIELD cell or we just try and kill her."

Tony nodded. If only he had been able to finish his latest invention. He had started working on the weapon a few days after Loki had left all those weeks ago – before the real mess had started – but he had never been able to get it working properly. One day, he would have the breakthrough he needed, though. Then one shot to Amora's head would have her unconscious for days.

"I vote for kill her," Clint muttered, his grey eyes landing on the cut to Natasha's neck.

"We'll have to find her before we can kill her," Tony said, "Jarvis, scan the area of Amora's heat signature."

"Yes, sir."

"We'll know where she is soon enough," Tony grinned.

-/-

Smoke and the smell of fire made it difficult for Loki to breathe.

He could pick a better spot from which to observe the chaos transpiring around him, but the fact remained that the smoke cloaked his appearance. Neither Thor nor Tony nor any of the other Avengers had spotted his presence and Loki wanted to keep it that way for just a little while longer. Why, he did not know.

Perhaps he just liked to revel at the destruction around him without anyone bothering him. His heart was thrumming within his chest at the sight of it, making him long for a time where he would have been the one responsible for it. The fire and sound of stones crashing to the ground was divine and it fed him, made him feel something else than sadness for once.

It made him feel … angry. And he liked it. The muscles in his arms and shoulders tensed and Loki could feel his magic whirl and twist within him. He wanted to join in the chaos around him, marvel at it, let it consume him because that, that would be better than thinking about Tony, thinking about Fredric, thinking about Thor.

Lifting a hand, Loki shot a bolt of energy at a nearby building that had been left untouched so far. As the energy hit a random window, it spread through the glass and into the concrete. Cracks appeared and fire slowly started to devour the building. Screams could be heard.

Loki released a sigh and closed his eyes. He could feel himself calming down.

His thoughts diverted to Amora once again. He never did discover what exactly her plan was and last time he had tried to uncover, he had encountered Tony. Last time ... He had still been carrying Fredric inside of him last time.

He banned those thoughts from his mind.

At the moment, it seemed Amora just wanted to turn the city to ashes and Loki was fine with that.

Loki could feel the presence of another person approaching and as soon as she landed behind him, the small rocks covering this rooftop crunching beneath her feet, Loki spun around to face her. His emerald green gaze pierced hers.

Amora was grinning at him, her pale green eyes revealing only amusement. "It has been a while," She said.

It had been years – decades – since he last heard her voice, but it was exactly as he remembered it. She sounded strong and confident and just like he used to sound. She still looked her usual self, too, only a bit battered and bruised. Loki had seen the way Thor had knocked her around before she had chosen to run. Amora was a powerful sorceress, but sometimes not even her most powerful spell could match Thor's brute strength.

"Indeed," He replied. He smiled at her, memories of their past encounters filling his mind. They used to be close allies, wrecking their way through Asgard and other realms, causing chaos and destruction. Loki remembered those times fondly and he wondered what exactly had happened to cause their partnership to end.

"So tell me, my dear," He continued, never taking his eyes off of her. They might be old allies, friends, but Loki didn't trust her. "What are you doing here on Earth, destroying cities, killing mortals?"

Amora chuckled. She pushed her long blond hair behind her shoulder before tying it together in a messy bun. It still amazed Loki how normal she could appear at times. She almost looked human. "I'm merely doing what you should be doing," She said. She took a step closer toward, but Loki instantly stepped back. Amora halted, her gaze narrowing as she studied him and Loki wondered what she was seeing. "Tell me, Loki, why have you been with Thor and his merry band of dimwits?"

Loki said nothing, though his thoughts instantly drifted to Tony. What would Amora do to him should she get her hands on him? Surely she would tear his weak, mortals limbs clean off of his torso. The mere idea made him shiver.

"Did they capture you?" Amora asked, sounding genuinely concerned. "Did they brainwash you?" When she took another step forward, Loki didn't bother moving away anymore. There was no point and in any case, it seemed to please Amora for the corners of her thin lips curved upward ever so slightly. "What are you doing, Loki?"

"What are you saying?" Loki asked in return. When Amora stood directly before him, she brought a hand to the side of his face, the tips of fingers ever so faintly touching his cheek. It reminded him of touches long lost.

"I mean to finish what you started," She explained.

Loki could feel her breath on his face and he let its familiarity cloak around him, embracing him. They used to be close – very close – and a strange sort of longing filled him. She could be the solution to all of his problems, he realized. She could be the start of his downfall, too. Loki didn't know what he preferred.

"I will either rule this planet or burn it," Amora continued, "And you should be by my side, Loki. We both know we could make it work. King and queen. Feared and revered. Who does not bow will break."

"Mortals don't just kneel and bow down," Loki replied sharply.

Amora nodded. Loki could tell she was holding back a laugh. "I know," She said ever so softly. Her fingers trailed down his cheek, to the crook of his neck and Loki knew what she was searching for. He also knew what she found – his steady, calm heartbeat. "Separately we are strong. You did almost succeed in ruling them all, did you not? But together, Loki, we are unstoppable. You know that."

"I do."

Truthfully, the idea was appealing.

Amora's green eyes filled with something akin to satisfaction. When she leaned forward, her lips brushed his ever so lightly. "I miss our time together," She whispered. Her hand travelled down his chest and came to rest on top of his heart.

Loki's hand grasped her wrist, pushing it away.

"You wound me."

"You do not care," Loki said.

Her amusement faltered ever so slightly, but before Loki could react, he felt his brother's presence. Thor had found them which meant Tony and the rest of the Avengers weren't far either.

"I'll consider, Amora," He said, letting go of her wrist and stepping back.

Then in a wisp of green smoke, he disappeared.

-/-

Thor landed on the roof first, Natasha clinging to him – and wasn't it hateful that she didn't seem to mind Thor acting like a shining-knight-in-armor? Tony made a mental note to talk to Natasha about that later on, though he had a feeling she would merely punch him on the shoulder or something. She might be small, but she was feisty and she didn't like to be questioned, certainly not by him.

As Tony landed directly beside Thor, he let go of Clint–

–Clint who instantly pulled an arrow from his quiver and aimed it at The Enchantress who stood by the edge of the rooftop. Amora didn't seem very bothered with their arrival, however. She slowly spun around to face them, her light green eyes taking in all of their appearances, calculated gratification filling her sharp features.

Tony should have known right then and there that something was wrong.

"You're outnumbered, Amora," Natasha said. She cocked her gun, ready to fire if necessary, but Amora merely laughed as she gazed at Natasha. She clearly wasn't intimidated by her in the slightest and Tony couldn't blame her. They were all mortal after all. The only person Amora feared was Thor. "Will you come willingly," Natasha asked, "Or does Thor need to bash his hammer to your face first?"

"I'd like to see him try," Amora hissed with sudden fury. She lifted a hand and shot a beam of blue fire at Thor who had no choice but to jump aside unless he wanted to be burned alive – although Tony doubted Thor could ever meet his demise like that. Still, fire was never pleasant and Amora knew that.

Raising his arm, Tony intended to shoot a ray of pure energy at her face, but it was Clint who reacted first. He released the arrow he had positioned on his bow a moment ago and Tony watched with wide, hopeful eyes as it headed straight for Amora's throat, only it never pierced her skin for a pale, slender hand Tony knew oh so well appeared out of nowhere, long, thin fingers curling around the shaft of the projectile.

The rest of Loki materialized a second later.

Tony couldn't breathe.

"Loki," Amora smiled broadly.

"I have considered," Loki told her. His dark green eyes focused solely on The Enchantress and they held a look Tony hadn't seen in a very long time. He had hoped to never see it again. Gone was the sadness and grief – he knew Loki had buried that somewhere deep within him along with everything else he no longer wish to feel – and pure rage had replaced it.

"Brother, what are you doing?" Thor demanded as he lifted Mjolnir, but he didn't attack. Not yet. Tony doubted Thor wanted to fight his brother.

"Loki …" Tony should say something, anything. He knew exactly what was happening, what Loki was doing, that he was running, but he somehow couldn't wrap his head around it. Perhaps he didn't want to comprehend any of it. Blindness hurt less. "Please, don't do this."

He ignored Amora's questioning glance.

Throwing the arrow aside, Loki curled his hand around Amora's. His gaze lingered on Thor for a moment and then it landed on Tony, but Loki's features revealed nothing anymore.

Tony wanted to run forward, wanted to pull Loki away from Amora and demand that he ended this madness, but it was too late. They vanished into thin air.

Loki was gone.

TBC …