A/N: Time frame wise, this is set 8 years after Burning Curve, for reference. :)
So updates might be a little slow as I deal with some big personal stuff. If you're interested you can read about it at my Tumblr. megaranoelle . tumblr . com
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.
Tony licked his lips as he sat on the bed, one knee pulled up, his chin resting on his knee. Loki had left to get him something to drink and something to eat. Tony knew he should eat, but he honestly wasn't feeling hungry. His mind was still reeling over what had happened.
He looked up when he saw Loki walk in, placing a tray down on the table. "Did she say why?" Tony asked Loki quietly. "Why me?"
"You heard what she was saying," Loki said, sitting down next to Tony. Tony's foot started to jiggle on the bed restlessly.
"I can't be a Fate, I can't just, take over for her." He glanced over at Loki. "She was the Fate of Future, she saw the future, she was the first to see what would happen. I can't do that for the rest of my life. I would never be able to touch anyone ever again, never be able to look at anyone."
Loki leaned over and pressed his lips gently to Tony's to stop him from talking. "She may have given you her powers, but it doesn't mean that you have to take over her exact role. If that were so then you would have gone to Yggdrasil immediately." He rubbed Tony's calf, trying to get it to stop moving. "We need to talk about what happened, and if Skuld said anything to you before you woke up."
"He's looking for you, and he wasn't happy when I wouldn't tell him who you were," Tony said, looking down at the bed.
"Who?" Loki asked, frowning. He didn't like seeing Tony so unsure, not throwing around sass and jokes.
"I guess he goes by Adir. It's complicated and yet not at the same time." Tony let out a little sigh. "This one is filling me with a lot of confidence, Lokes."
"We didn't exactly think that we would be able to handle Pandora's Box either," Loki reminded him. "And we handled that."
"And you failed to tell me that you wrangled control over pure evil spirits," Tony said shooting him a look. "That's kind of big, Loki. That very well could be one more reason why this man is looking for you." Tony leaned his back against the headboard. "She showed me that, just like she showed me everything that was supposed to happen to you. You're the only person to not follow the path set out by fate. Do you even know what that means?"
"No, I actually don't," Loki told him. "I could make a couple of guesses, but I'm not a Norn."
"Well, apparently I am now, and I do know." Tony rubbed his face and let out a breath. "Sorry, I'm getting snippy. I'm stressing, and I'm lost, and I'm a little bit scared."
"We have an upper hand though," Loki insisted.
"Not against this man," Tony shook his head. "He's like, he's God. he Created the Universe!" Loki stopped, looking at Tony. "He created everything, and if he didn't make it himself, he's responsible for it being made. He's a psycho who doesn't like when people get too powerful, because he thinks it's threatening to his power." Tony looked at Loki, a number of emotions running through his eyes. "And because you're the only one to pretty much fight fate, there's nothing to limit your powers. You write your own fate as you live it. That's Never been done before."
"Except by Adir," Loki said after a moment and Tony nodded.
"Exactly." Tony deflated a little as he breathed out. "And I would rather not see you go up against him, not when he dropped me like a blade of grass, and you being pregnant. Becoming a Norn, or whatever I am now, hasn't given me more powers, it's just given me more visions that I won't exactly get a headache from." Tony let himself slide down, his head leaning on Loki's leg. "I can't lose you, not again."
Loki ran his hand through Tony's hair gently. "You should get some actual sleep," Loki told him. "It's still late. And when morning comes Melisande is going to see that you're awake. Bruce will want to check out, and our other children will be concerned."
"Stop making sense." Tony turned a little, closing his eyes. "I'm emotionally exhausted." Tony stretched out, pulling one of Loki's pillows into his arms. "Don't do anything stupid right away, yeah? I know you."
Loki kissed Tony's head. "I'm going to take this tray back out. You get some sleep and I'll be back, I promise."
"Good." Tony kissed his leg before shuffling around to lay down the right away. Loki watched him for a second before getting up, grabbing the tray with the drink and snacks and left the room. Tony was right, he was pregnant and couldn't face this Adir, not with his magic unpredictable and weakened. He had an idea of what he could do, but he knew that tony would be upset, beyond upset. There weren't many options though.
Loki went back into the bedroom and saw Tony still holding onto his pillow. He rolled his eyes softly and walked over to his side of the bed. "Tony? Are you conscious enough to hear me?" Tony grunted a little and mumbled. "I have an idea, that you're probably not going to like-"
"You're gonna do it anyway," Tony almost slurred out, eyes still closed, almost in a deep sleep. "Don't plan on going away, do you?"
"I don't plan on it, no," Loki shook his head. "I would like to make new protection spells around the mansion, but I can't do that right now. I would like to try something that you probably won't like, but it shouldn't be long term." Tony groaned again. "I'll take that as an affirmative." Tony snorted.
"You're going to make me pregnant, aren't you?" Tony asked, turning onto his back. "Let's get it over with. I'd rather be safe than think about how weird this is going to be." Loki gave a small smile as he took one of Tony's hand, placing his other hand on Tony's stomach. Loki's hands started to glow and Tony wiggled a little, wrinkling his nose up a little. Loki took a slow breath and when he pulled his hand away from Tony's stomach it was now sporting the five month baby bump that he previously had. "This feels weird," Tony mumbled. "Go do what you have to do, I have to try and get comfortable now."
"Perhaps you'll get used to it," Loki said as he kissed Tony's cheek. "Maybe you'll offer to carry the child for the last four months for me." He smiled when Tony snorted loudly. "I'll be back, get some sleep." Loki got up, shutting the light off in the room as he went out.
The rest of the mansion was still quiet, everyone else still asleep. Loki started over by Melisande's room, putting up extra protections runes on her door, before moving to the other bedrooms where the others were currently sleeping. He wanted to do rooms separately before placing an inclusive spell around the entire building. Although he had an idea of who they were up against now, he had no idea to the personal power that this Adir held. He hated not knowing for sure.
As he entered the living room the dim lights suddenly went out. Loki raised an eyebrow. "JARVIS?" He continued up towards the windows but stopped when there was no answer. Listening closely he didn't hear the low level buzzing of the electronics in the house. The entire mansion was dead.
"This is the power that I've been looking for." Loki turned around quickly and saw a man walking towards him. He glared and watched the man stop a couple of feet in front of him, part of his body barely visible from the moonlight shining through the windows. "It took me a while to find you Loki Odinson, but it paid off."
"You must be Adir," Loki face him fully. His sense were on high alert, he felt like a dog with his hackles up, a threat in front of him.
"I see that Skuld came here in her last moments. Did she come to warn you?" Adira tilted his head in curiosity. Loki could see the arrogance of the man, could sense how the man held no fear, how he thought that he was the most powerful being and that nothing could hurt him. Loki knew that everything could die, one just had to figure out how. "Did she wake your Anthony Stark?"
"I don't think that you're here to make idle chat." Loki just wanted this man out of the mansion. He suddenly had a bad feeling that he wasn't going to be able to get back to Tony like he promised.
"You're right, I'm not." Adir took a step forward and a spell lit to Loki's fingers in defense. "I don't feel like drawing attention to this." He let out a little sigh. Loki felt the barest hint of a traveling spell and he quickly changed his own spell a split second before Adira lashed out, grabbing Loki's arm. "Shall we take this to the Void?"
Tony turned to his side, frowning, then let out a sigh. He opened his eyes and saw the sun starting to stream through the windows. He slid his legs over the bed and padded to the bathroom a little awkwardly. Stopping for a second he looked down at his tight shirt and vaguely remember What Loki had done. "Explains the sudden need to pee. He's probably going to get a good chuckle out of this later."
After he used the bathroom he walked back into the bedroom but didn't see Loki in the bed. He pushed open the door and went down the hallway, frowning when just the low level lights were on, the automatic lights not taking over.
"Loki?" Tony called out, trying to ignore the knot in his chest. "Loki, did you mess with the power breaker by accident?" He walked into the living room, and took a breath. The air felt weird to him, almost familliar. It was the same feeling when Adir had appeared in the car next to him. "Loki, please answer me. Please don't like something stupid have happened, like I warned you about." He took a couple of breaths.
There was a sudden low level buzz that started in the living room and the lights came back to life. "I'm sorry sir, I regret to inform you that a foreign source disrupted my main power source last night," JARVIS stated.
"Where's Loki, JARVIS?" Tony swallowed thickly when his AI didn't answer right away with his location.
"I am unable to locate Mr Odinson." Tony closed his eyes and licked his lips, putting a hand to his stomach.