Chapter 13: The whole Story

They had eaten Shawarma in a slightly destroyed place where the owner had been too stubborn to leave because of 'just an alien invasion' and the man had been extremely happy about his customers that could all eat a few rounds of his food. Everyone had almost eaten automatically, not really talking except for asking for another fill or something to drink.

After that they had made their way to Stark Tower – where Loki first of all repaired the damage he had caused as well as conjuring a few more armchairs so that their were enough for everyone to sit down. Once everyone had settled – Tony sitting on a couch, flanked by Loki and Phil, Happy and Yinsen on another couch, as did Natasha and Clint and everyone else on the armchairs.

Tony shifted uncomfortably in his place, trying to ignore the glances his teammates, friends and family gave him and was extremely glad when Phil took one of his hands in his own to give him strength.

He cleared his throat and began to tell his story, "I grew up on Asgard together with my twin, Loki, and Thor as the princes and future kings. Odin, Thor's father-" Thor wanted to interrupt Tony with something like 'he is still your father' but Tony gave him a cold glare and he swallowed his word before they left his mouth, sure that his brother would explain this reaction. "-always told us that we all would be kings one day but he always favoured Thor and we were kind of alright with it since we believed that it was because Thor was the oldest but the truth was different… Anyway Frigga, our mother, realised soon that Loki and I had a great amount of magic in ourselves and started early to teach us the Arts. We also trained in the areas that Thor was trained in; fight with swords, axe and knives but magic was always out first live concerning fighting technics, right bràthair?"

"That is correct Tony." Loki smiled at his brother and Tony continued.
"After some time Loki grew into a Trickster loving to see people laugh or at the least laugh himself about others and I grew to love knowledge, building new things by hand and flying with the help of my magic, which is why I became the God of Inventions and Wind. But sometimes I would help my brother with pranking some of the citizens of Asgard and most of the time no one could trace the pranks back to us – even if they suspected – except for mother who could somehow always tell." "It was creepy." "That it was…" "Mother always knew if one of us three had done something they should not have." Thor added to the small conversation and the three brothers definitely agreed that Frigga was secretly all-seeing just like Heimdall.

"Anyway, we grew up with mother's attention and Odin's indifference." Nick muttered in the seat he was sitting in, "Just like with Maria and Howard." and Tony ignored that correct assessment in favour of continuing his story to get it behind him. "On one of my solo trips to Jutonheim – you have to know that I travelled to every of the Nine Realms in search of new knowledge and occasionally to better relationships between Asgard and the other Realms, sometimes without Loki because he was confined to his quarters as punishment for the latest prank – I encountered a Frost Giant." Loki tensed beside him, as did Thor in his own seat – this had to be around the time of Tony's 'death', Tony was speaking about. "I think his name was Reòtagan. He and I had only run into each other by chance but it wasn't bad because we were soon attacked by some Frost Giants that had a grudge against Reòtagan – and not really surprisingly; me."

"Why isn't it?" Steve asked, not understanding why they seemed to have something against Tony if he was one of those that tried to form better relationships between the different races.

"Aesirs – as Asgardians are also called – and Jutons always had a bumpy, if not even bloody relationship. Before their greatest defeat the Jutons always fought against Asgard and after they finally lost… I think you can understand that most of them wouldn't really like the presence of one the ones defeating them on their planet." Steve nodded in understanding and signalled Tony to go on.
"Where was I? Ah, yes: Reòtagan and I worked together and quickly defeated the rouge Frost Giants. We exchanged a few words and became quickly friends. He called me 'little magician' despite the fact that I had given him my name, which was why I just called him 'giant' instead of his name." Tony smiled slightly at the memory, they may have only known each other shortly but they had really become quick friends and everyone else in the room smiled too. But then Tony's smile fell and the happy atmosphere vanished from the room as if it had never been there at all.
"Then we parted ways and – stupidly – forgot that our races couldn't just shake hands without the Aesir one getting frostbite. But we did shake hands and as expected my armour crumbled and despite the fact that we quickly let go – and Reòtagan trying to apologize for a mistake we both made – we couldn't deny the sight that was revealed before us…" Before anyone could ask what Tony meant – Loki and Thor knew, Loki surprised how similar and at the same time not the reveal had been for them – Tony let go of Phil's hand and suddenly human (Aesir) flesh disappeared and turned blue.

Everyone – except Loki and Thor – gapped at the inventor and Tony avoided their gazes (especially Phil's) until Clint broke the ice (pun not intended). "Wow! Now I can create new nicknames instead of just metal one!" The archer said grinning and Tony let out a relieved sigh as he heard Clint yelp in surprise and pain when Tasha kicked him for the comment.
Tony felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see his brother – now also slowly turning blue at the contact – giving him a encouraging smile and nodded towards Phil's direction. Taking a deep breath, Tony turned around to the man he loved to see: …Phil smiling at him. Tony felt a warmth spreading through him that he hadn't thought possible in this form and tentatively smiled back. The smile turned into a relieved grin when Phil suddenly said with his smile still in place, "My favourite colour always was blue."

Tony heard Clint snicker at the – yes, sappy – exchange but he didn't care because he felt that a weight in the form of the whole Nine Realms had fallen of him at Phil's acceptance. Since he remembered he had feared of his loves reaction but the fight and the sudden danger of the nuke had helped him to push it back and now, with the truth out, Phil still accepted, still loved him. The blue skin and red eyes slowly disappeared again as if they had never been there and were replaced by his usual skin colour and brown, green-rimed eyes.

Phil took Tony's hand back into his own and gave him an encouraging look to continue his story. The others didn't say anything but you could see it in their eyes that they wanted to know the rest and would support him no matter what – even those that didn't really know him yet like the Captain – and so Tony began to tell them what happened then…

"…You really are different from the others of your race… The honour would be mine, little magician."

"Well then I hope to see you again." He held out his hand, forgetting the consequences this could have for him and the blue giant reached for it, forgetting too. Their hands touch and his armour begins to crumble, they hastily let go. "I'm so-" The apology sticks in the giants throat as they both see the exposed flesh turn blue before return back to it original colour.

He gave the giant a panicked look, not wanting to comprehend what just happened but his brain giving him the answer nonetheless. The giant just stared back at him. "I won't tell as long as you don't want me to little magician."

He let out a pitiful sounding "Thank you my friend." and vanished in a puff of red smoke.

Tony reappeared in Asgard, on the Bifrost to be precise, and was surprised to see that Heimdall wasn't at his post but he couldn't really bring himself to care that the all-seeing being and his friend wasn't there, too much in turmoil at the discovery he had made only minutes before. He stared into the darkness of space, knowing he would have to confront his 'father' Odin but at the same time he didn't want to. He didn't want to hear lies and sweet words that only promised the false things and so he stared a bit longer at the stars.

After he didn't know how long, someone approached him and Tony knew it wasn't Heimdall – as he had hoped – but the one he didn't know how to confront yet.

Odin stopped a few feet away from his 'son' and Tony turned around to look the older god into the face. The look Odin gave him told Tony that the Allfather knew what had happened and before he could say anything Tony said, "I will tell him. He deserves to learn it from someone and not like I did!" There was no question who 'he' was and Odin gave Tony an angry look.

"You will do no such thing Tony. When the time comes I will tell him myself."

"Oh and when?! When he stumbled across it and will think himself as some kind of monster?! Why? Why didn't you tell us? Were you so disgusted with what we truly were that you kept it from us too? Tell me father, why you did that to my brother and I! You took us for a purpose, what was it? Tell me!"

"I will tell him when the time is right and you have no right to question your king. But I will tell you why I took you; I thought we could unite our kingdoms-" Tony laughed, bitter tears running down his face. "We weren't more than trophies then! By the nine, …I have to get to my brother."

Tony took a step forward but was blasted back. "You will do no such thing!" Tony jumped up, tears still running down his face and he screamed in anger as he ran towards the man he once called father.

The next thing he remembered was falling. Odin had really hit him with his magic, thrown him of the Bifrost with an angry and disappointed look… Darkness was everywhere, surrounding him and threatening to suffocate him. Tears ran down his face at the knowledge that his other half would have to live without him now in a place where they both had only been trophies in their "father's" eyes… He let out a scream in pain as the darkness continues to consume him and his own core tore at him… Where was he? …Who was he?

Blinding light… disorientation… A woman kneeled before him… "I am Maria and who are you?"

"Odin must have bound everything that made me, me. Which means he sealed my magic, my heritage, my memories and even my bond with my brother. The sudden restriction over my magic caused it to try to protect me and with the damage Odin had done to me, it could only do it in one way: changing me to the form of a four year old and since I had no powers anymore, I aged like any other human. Luckily I landed on the premises of the Stark household and was found by Maria, who took me in and cared for me as if I was her own son…"

As Tony had told them what had happened, everyone's faces had turned into angry and furious ones, displaying what they thought about Odin's actions.

Fury and Natasha were stone faces but both had their hands positioned where Tony knew were a few hidden weapons.

Clint was turning one of the explosive arrows Tony had made for him in his hands while Bruce had turned slightly green and was trying his hardest to suppress his other half even if he wanted nothing more than to let The Other Guy loose on the Allfather.

Yinsen looked as if he was contemplating if he could kill a god with poison and Happy as if he wanted to turn the god into a bloody pulp.

Even Steve who did know Tony the least looked furious at the things Tony had told them.

Phil had strengthened his grip on Tony's hand, he too looked as if he wanted to do nothing more than kill the Allfather really slowly for all the suffering he brought down – not only at Tony but Loki and Thor too.

Thor was crackling with power and Mjolnir hummed at his side to show that it was ready to take on the enemy.

Meanwhile Loki's face had turned into one that screamed for blood and the Trickster God had to suppress his magic so that he wouldn't unleash his anger at the ones present in the room and his hands were curled into fists that looked so tight that his nails should be drawing blood.

"During all the years in Asgard Tony and I always knew where the other was and when I suddenly felt as if someone had ripped a part out of me and I couldn't feel his presence anymore no punishment could keep me from seeking answers in hope of news that Tony was not dead as I feared. I ran through the halls of the palace and bursted into the great hall where I found Odin comforting a crying Frigga and a tear-eyed Thor. He didn't even reprimand me for bursting into the room and instead stepped towards me, layed a hand on my shoulder and told me in my face that he was sorry but my brother, my other half, was killed by a Frost Giant while he was visiting Jutonheim! He lied to me, in my face and I didn't even realise it! Me! The God of Mischief and Lies!" Loki suddenly ranted and Tony laid a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder, squeezing it to show that it hadn't been Loki's fault, that he had just lost his other half then and had been too shaken to see through the lies.

"I think we should pay Odin a visit." Came suddenly Fury's voice and the look he gave them all told them that it wasn't a suggestion but a plan that would be set into motion.

"I agree with the Director of the SHIELD." Thor boomed and everyone else nodded.

"Guys, you don't have to! It's in the past."

"Nonsense. No one messes with one of our family with getting away with it." Yinsen said, fully convinced that the others would have his back, which they had.

Tony sighed in defeat and then smirked and chuckled (evilly), "Oh Odin, is going to be in a world of pain."