I keep taking months of breaks from this story. I'm so sorry, I DO mean to finish it, I promise. It is not abandoned. My life just takes these crazy turns all the time and then I have NO time at all.
Love you all!
Seventeenth Installment: Possibilities
Memories were peculiar things. To most people, they were fleeting images and impressions. Flashing through the mind in no particular order, flickering through grasping mental fingers and leaving only vague imprints behind. To Loki, they were living things. Vivid and bright, they slithered through his mind in high definition. He could recall everything from specific colors to smells to exactly what he was thinking at that precise moment.
Sometimes, perfect recall was more pain that it was worth.
But at this moment, a few specific snippets of his own past kept floating through his conscious thoughts. The sweet, heavy moments in Nidavellir when he'd finally allowed Stark to claim more than just his body in trysts meant strictly for physical gratification.
The moment when I began falling for this sentimental fool.
The bed in their suite was comfortable. A gift from the people of Vign, it was more than big enough for two lovers. Of course, the pair of them usually only took up about one-third of it, what with Stark's propensity for snuggling. He usually slept glued to Loki's side or back.
And for the last six mornings, Loki woke to find the human leaning up on one elbow watching him sleep. He didn't know why he found this habit so endearing, but he did. It annoyed him, in fact, that he found it so endearing. All six mornings, Stark would immediately smile upon his waking.
On the seventh morning, however, Stark didn't smile. He slowly leaned down and fused their mouths together.
The kiss reminded him instantly and strongly of that night in that bed in Nidavellir. That night when Stark had made love to him over and over, rarely ceasing to kiss him for more than a few seconds at a time. A deep kiss filled with passion, promise, and sincere emotion. A kiss that demanded nothing, not even a response to it.
A tender expression of profound feeling.
Loki melted under it, allowing Stark to entangle their fingers and press his hands down into the mattress alongside his head. Stark pressed along his right side, leaning over him. His tongue slowly curled around Loki's own, sliding with delightful ease, dragging up and down while softly sucking it into Stark's mouth. When he released it, it was only to drag his tongue across the roof of Loki's mouth in a slow sort of pulsing thrust.
Shifting to get more comfortable prompted Stark to move. He grasped Loki's hands a little tighter and pulled them up over Loki's head, allowing the man to plant his elbows down onto the mattress. It gave him better leverage, and he utilized it with skill. His thumbs kept stroking over Loki's fingers, and his tongue plunged deeply into the god's mouth.
For once, the warm and spiky feel of his arousal didn't nip at Loki's senses. A kiss for the sake of a kiss. And frankly, it felt wonderful. Loki realized somewhat distantly he couldn't ever remember feeling so . . .
So . . .
Cherished.
Who was the last person to give so freely of themselves to him? His mother? Probably, but even that wasn't anything like this.
The pace of the kiss changed, Stark's movements going from deep and slow to quick and teasing. He now flicked his tongue, nipping softly at Loki's own tongue and lips. Loki found himself trying to follow each one, leaning up until the strain on his neck forced him to flop back down. It broke the kiss, and he gave Stark a faint glare.
The man grinned, eyes roving all over Loki's face before he resumed his kiss. Now back to the deep and languid motions. Loki melted once more. He loved this, and he could really get used to it. For a moment, frustration tried to bubble up inside him. His mind wanted more, but his body did not. It was irritating to be caught in a sort of Limbo.
It bled away quickly. No point in hating what couldn't change. He would heal eventually. Until then, he could still enjoy the closeness of the man he . . .
The intercom chimed softly. "Sir," Jarvis' voice said, "we've reached the solar system. I've plotted a course to bring us close enough to scan but far enough we should avoid detection."
Stark peeled himself off Loki, gazing down at him with altogether too much sentiment. He sighed faintly. "Thanks, J." He released one of Loki's hands to stroke a thumb over his jaw. "I'm gonna get in the shower. Feel like joining me?"
Loki closed his eyes. So far during the flight, he'd been incredibly lazy. He wasn't quite ready to end that. "No."
He could practically hear the man's disappointment. He didn't protest, though, stealing one more kiss before climbing off the bed and heading to the bathroom. Loki rolled onto his belly and stretched out. It felt weirdly wonderful to lie still and do nothing. To know everything of import was in capable hands, that there were no pressing concerns needing his attention.
During our search for the witch, I was in control and did everything. And that was how he'd wanted it. Now, Stark was in control and taking care of everything. And that was how he wanted it.
Though his body was still in pain, it was diminished and tolerable. Burying his face in a pillow that smelled of Stark, he let his thoughts drift. They drifted right back to that night indelibly etched into his memory.
I suppose I never told you how much I enjoyed your ministrations that night, he mused. Not, he thought with a faint grin, that there was any way Stark couldn't be aware. Loki wouldn't let just anyone do those things to him. It still puzzled him a little, why Stark loved him.
"Jarvis," he said, "how sensitive is your scanning capability?"
"Quite, sir," the AI voice replied. "Mister Stark and I have been working on that since we departed from Vign."
Knowing Stark had installed various display modules in the cockpit, Loki regulated his breathing in preparation to slip into a meditative trance. "Is it sensitive enough to scan possible occupants of the habitable worlds and generate images?"
A slight pause. "A general scan wouldn't provide such specific results. But a more targeted scan, I believe we could accomplish it."
"Good," Loki murmured. "How are Nine's energy levels?"
"At 93%, sir."
Loki felt a rueful smile tug at his lips. For the whole time they'd been flying, he hadn't needed to "refuel" the ship. Jarvis was a little too proficient at minimizing energy consumption. At this rate, it will take years for me to drain the poison. I'll have to have Stark devise ways to use more energy.
As if reading his mind, Jarvis offered, "Comprehensive scans of the solar system will take time and require a greater energy output."
This time, his smile was more pleased. "Good. Use as much energy as you need."
"Yes, sir." Another pause. "Is there anything you need?"
"No," Loki replied.
Skaði entered the cabin, heading for the bed. Her politeness seldom extended to waiting for an invitation to enter, though Loki didn't particularly mind. Halfway into his meditative trance, he gave her the briefest acknowledgement when she climbed onto the bed and sat beside him.
"The energy of this solar system is very different from the other one," she said, putting her hands on Loki's back and beginning to massage.
This habit, he knew, she'd picked up from Stark. It was one he'd done nothing to discourage, because she was very good at it. It pushed him further into trance.
"In what way?" he rallied the cognizance to inquire. He'd refrained from doing any scanning of his own, which was a first. Relying on others completely.
"It's stronger. Fiercer." She paused. "Sort of like Midgard. It feels . . . tumultuous. Not dark and quiet like most of the Nine Realms."
That, Loki mused, could mean any number of things. The most likely scenario involved a race or races of people involved in conflict with one another. Perhaps that meant this wasn't the safest place for them to begin their search -
"I think the people here use magic," she concluded.
- or perhaps it just meant they needed to exercise caution.
"Does that mean there are sentient life forms in there somewhere?" Stark asked.
Immersed as he was in trance, Loki hadn't even sensed his lover emerge. He was too relaxed to be startled.
"Yes," Skaði confirmed. "A lot of them. We're too far away for me to be more accurate yet."
"Sir," Jarvis said, "we've reached the system's first planet. Maintaining high orbit on the dark side and commencing scans."
"Thanks, buddy," Stark said from somewhere to the left of the bed. A soft snort. "Is he even awake, princess?"
"Yes," her voice sounded amused, "but he's in a healing trance. It's a good way for magic-users to regenerate their seiðr."
"I thought he wasn't able to do that yet?" Stark said, sounding hopeful to be wrong.
"Well, he isn't," she answered, "not really. But this healing trance will encourage his body to return to a state of balance, which will speed the process once he's purged enough to actually do so."
It took exercising a little self-control to remain in his trance with all this talking about him going on, but Loki was a master of many things. He let his normal guardedness melt away, and his mind floated on a sea of silent, dark calm. This was a state he'd seldom been able to reach for only one reason.
He'd never been comfortable enough to trust his safety to anyone else.
o0o
Tony smiled to himself, somehow aware of Loki's consciousness slipping further away. Truly, his love looked so much better. He finished dressing and beckoned to Skaði. "Come on, princess. Let's let him drift."
Hopping up, she grabbed his hand and skipped at his side to the cockpit. She had picked out a pale pink frock for herself today, trimmed with lace around the hem and sleeves. The innocence of it only made her eyes stand out more.
"I wonder what kind of realm this is?" she said, her pigtails bouncing with her gait. "I'm not as good at sensing that kind of thing as Loki, but it feels really different from Midgard."
"That's good," Tony said, lifting her up into the copilot chair even though it was completely unnecessary. He half expected her to feel heavy, but she didn't. "More different it is, the better."
She nodded, staring out the viewports.
"Bring up the scan results, J," Tony ordered, sitting in the pilot chair.
"Yes, sir," Jarvis said. "There are two habitable planets with similar atmospheric conditions to Earth. There are six moons with artificial atmospheres and what appear to be large cities. Scans indicate densely populated cities all over the planets. I estimate a combined total of fifty-six billion on the planets alone."
Tony raised an eyebrow. That's a lot of people. Wonder what they're like.
"They all appear to be carbon-based life forms," Jarvis went on, and some genetic charts appeared on one of the holo monitors, "like humans. I'm detecting significant differences in DNA structure of some. There appear to be six chemical bases instead of four, and these bases only share remote similarities to those found in humans."
Tony whistled, impressed by Jarvis' ability to pick up such a minute detail over such a distance. "Helluva sensitive scanner we programmed, buddy."
"The power source with which Master Loki provided allows a degree of attention to detail I've never observed before," Jarvis explained. "Here is an estimation of their forms."
On one of the monitors appeared the 3D model. Honestly, Tony had no idea what he'd expected. Tentacles and multiple mouths and limbs and heads? Nothing so grotesque appeared, but it certainly wasn't humanoid.
A squat body walking on four multi-jointed legs. These legs, ending on clawed "feet", spread from the body like spokes. The body itself appeared rather bulbous with no distinct head. Large eyes—three in total—and a small mouth. Three arms, each ending in an appendage that sort of looked like a hand. Small, round ears.
Ugly, maybe, but not grotesque.
"Huh," Tony mused. "Wonder what they're like."
"The size of the cerebral cortex in their brains is proportionally identical to a human's," Jarvis said, "indicating an advanced reasoning capability."
Tony found himself wondering if Loki's brain was similar to a human's. He put that query on the back burner.
"There appear to be highways between the planets and moons," Jarvis continued.
"So they definitely have space travel," Tony said, nodding to himself.
"I'm also picking up traces of energy readings toward the other end of the solar system," Jarvis said. "This could indicate there are more inhabitants beyond my scanner's range."
Finally turning to Skaði, he frowned at her expression. Her eyes had gone completely black, and her shoulders seemed tense. "What's up, princess?"
Her frown deepened. "It feels really dark and twisted," she said.
"What does?" Tony asked, feeling a bolt of alarm. "J, you getting any weird energy readings?"
"Nothing outside of typical energy consumption," Jarvis reported.
Skaði shook her head. "No, this is different. It's not from things. It's from memories. Impressions."
Tony frowned, propping his feet on the console and crossing his ankles. "Not sure what you mean, princess. Pretend I'm not like you and Loki and can't sense these things."
She gave him the briefest grin for a comment that normally would make her giggle. "When things happen, impressions of them are left behind. The space itself remembers what happened, and shadows are left behind. Sometimes these shadows fade really quickly. Most times, actually. But sometimes, when something really big happens, the impressions are stronger. The shadows last much longer. That's what it feels like. The impressions out there are really, really strong. And they feel hateful. I think it's death. A lot of death. People killing each other a lot."
"Okay, I'm officially not interested in this place," Tony said, immediately sitting up. No way would he ignore a hunch from the friggin' Aether. "J, get us out of here. Nice and quiet, please."
"Yes, sir," Jarvis said.
A split second later, a loud and persistent claxon blared. It was a sound needing no translation: the universal signal for something going wrong.
"What's going on?" Tony demanded, though his screens and console told him before Jarvis could verbally reply.
Practically right on top of them, four large ships had appeared out of nowhere.
"They jumped out of the slipstream right above us," Jarvis said, voice calm as ever. "Sensors didn't pick them up until it was too late."
A problem, Tony thought as his fingers flew, he would remedy as soon as they were away from here. "Forget quiet," he grunted. "Get us out of here."
The whole ship shuddered. Another alarm pinged, this one quieter, and Tony's eyes flew to the diagnostic screen. The diagram of the ship was blinking red.
"We appear to be trapped in some sort of gravity well generated by the ships above us," Jarvis said.
"Anything you can do, princess?" Tony asked, quickly going over the readings of the field to see if he could recalibrate the ship's engines to the correct vibration.
She was glaring upward, her eyes blood red. "No. If I leave this body, I won't be able to go back into it."
"It's all right, dearest," Loki's voice said, and the god himself glided into the cockpit. "We don't know if these people are hostile. Let's assume they're not."
His calm permeated the entire cockpit, and Tony tried to relax a little. Only a little. A moment later, the ship's comm unit crackled to life. A deep voice boomed over the speakers, garbled and saying nothing Tony could understand. Big fucking surprise.
"It's a general warning to power down and prepare to be boarded," Loki said. "We're trespassing in 'Myrkdon space'. I assume that is what these people call themselves."
"Like hell I'm allowing that," Tony growled. "Jarvis, how's that recalibration coming?"
"Sixty-five percent complete, sir."
Not nearly enough.
Loki put a cool hand on his arm. "There's something about this solar system," he said, voice soft. "I'd prefer not to leave it just yet." And he gave Tony a rare smile. "Have faith in my ability to talk us out of any situation."
Tony gazed into those incredible eyes for another long handful of seconds. Then he made the decision he hoped he wouldn't regret. He began the engine shut-down cycle. Surging up, he planted a kiss on Loki's lips.
"All right. We'll try it your way, babe. But if these bastards try to take us prisoner, I'm blasting our way out of here. You with me on that, princess?"
Skaði's expression was dark. "Absolutely."
Loki's smirk suggested he believed that was impossible, anyway. He leaned forward and brushed his lips over Tony's cheek. "Thank you, Captain." Said with a hint of a purr.
Tony resisted the urge to push him down onto the console and do unspeakable things to him. The potential danger looming above needed his full attention.
He'd revisit that urge when he knew the danger had abated.