Author's note: Just a warning – I will be mixing Marvel universe with Norse Mythology, so not everything about Asgard is necessarily going to be like in the movie.
If Tony hadn't known better, he'd say that Thor is nervous. Okay, so maybe gods of thunder don't get nervous, but at least they fret.
"Now," Thor repeats for at least the fourth time, "keep in mind that this is an unofficial visit and we will keep a low profile during your stay." He makes a brief pause as his gaze sweeps over to where Loki is standing before it returns to Tony again. "The unfortunate truth is that my brother has, both through his acts of mischief over the centuries and his more recent doings, made a lot of enemies in Asgard, which is why it's wise if as few people as possible are informed of his return now that he doesn't have his magic or powers anymore. No one will dare to harm Loki in my presence, of course, but as a prince of Asgard I will have some official business to attend to during your visit. However, as long as my brother remains in my chambers with you around to keep watch over him while I'm away, he will be safe. We take guest rights very seriously in Asgard, and as long as you're a guest under my roof, your… authority over Loki will be respected, provided that he behaves as it's expected."
Loki gives Thor a glare. "How about you not speak as if I weren't present?" he snaps, sounding like he's straddling a precarious ledge and someone is tugging him towards the gaping abyss below. The god is wearing his Asgardian clothes again, though they've been washed since last time. The green and black apparel looks strangely off on him after all the time spent wearing band shirts and sweatpants and T-shirts and slacks. Tony isn't sure if it's the alien clothing creating an illusion, but Loki somehow looks darker, more brooding than before.
Thor turns towards his younger brother, and there is steel flashing in his eyes as he grasps Loki's shoulder in an unrelenting grip. "Please remember, brother, that once we have arrived on the other side of the rainbow bridge we will not be in Midgard anymore, or you might bring misfortune upon yourself." Thor's voice is as unwavering and insistent as the hands on Loki's shoulder, and the younger god tries to twist away, but his attempts are unsuccessful.
The fingers dig a little deeper, and Loki stops his squirming to meet the insistent stare with his own sullen one. Thor gives him a little shake, as if to further accentuate the importance of what he's about to say. "As much as it pains me to say it, you cannot go around acting like you have been doing here in Midgard. That kind of behaviour is not acceptable in Asgard, even if Man of Iron has allowed it until now."
"I know that," Loki snarls, tense like a rubber band pulled taut to the point of breaking. "You do not need to remind me of what will be expected of me in Asgard. I am well aware."
Thor's voice softens, a calm breeze in stark contrast to Loki's edginess. "I am only telling you this for your own sake, Loki. I do not wish to see you harmed in any way. But you will need to be able to swallow your pride if you are to prevent worse things from befalling you."
"I will manage," Loki retorts, turning away.
Tony makes a grimace. No matter what Thor says, he really has a bad feeling about going to Asgard with Loki in tow. But as this seems to be the only way that Loki might ever have his freedom again, he can't really refuse.
"Very well, then," Thor nods as he looks his two travel companions over. "Are you ready to depart?"
"As ready as can be, Scotty. Just beam us up there." Tony slings his duffle bag across his shoulder, even though Thor has already told him that it will not be necessary to bring luggage, as everything he could possibly need will be provided for him in Asgard.
However, Tony still thinks that if he's going to stand before the Allfather himself, at least he wants to be wearing clean underwear. And he isn't sure about the general hygiene level of a people who probably have neither running water nor central heating. Not to mention that Thor is always wearing the same outfit whenever he isn't going incognito in Midgardian clothing, so Tony might as well bring his own stuff along. He sure as heck isn't going to be wearing any of those extremely uncomfortable-looking Asgardian fashion statements, if that's what Thor expects.
Thor tugs at the thin chain around his neck, bringing up a silver medallion from beneath his shirt – their combined travel ticket and transport to Asgard.
Tony eyes the thing suspiciously. Runes are carved all over it, and the entire piece is sure to be brimming with magic, even though he can't feel a thing of it. For all he knows, it could have been one of those gothic pieces of cheap jewellery favoured by certain brands of angsty teenagers.
Thor catches Tony's drifting, slightly suspicious glance. "I know it might not look very impressive, but this medallion has been crafted with my father's most powerful magic, and will offer us all safe transportation to Asgard and back. Have no worries, friend, I have used this to travel between our realms several times, and there have been no troubles or problems whatsoever."
"Are you still sure it's good for transporting all of us at the same time, though?" Tony waggles his fingers to indicate their little group. "I mean, you're only one but there's three of us now and the medallion might, I don't know, drop someone on the way for exceeding maximum weight allowance?"
Thor smiles at him, the kind of smile that Tony remembers giving to little children asking him to explain how his suit works.
"The number of people is of no importance, Man of Iron. Father's medallion will work, do not worry," Thor says with the deadpan confidence that is typically displayed by people who have no clue whatsoever about how the things they're talking about really work.
Still, Tony can't find any further immediate objections for the moment, as much as he doesn't like this one bit.
"Okay, then. At least I've paid my insurance fee, so what do I have to worry about?" He throws his hands out in a questioning gesture, not expecting a reply. At least Loki, who's well-acquainted with magic on a personal level, doesn't question their means of transportation, which is a lot more comforting than Thor's empty reassurances.
"Gather around me," Thor says, medallion in his hand, dramatically raised to the skies.
Tony and Loki shuffle closer and come to a stand in front of Thor. Loki is looking tense, taut like a bowstring, but Tony is quite sure that it has nothing to do with the intergalactic inter-dimensional trip in itself, but more with what lies beyond. After all, it's his entire future hanging in the balance, when it all comes down to it.
Thor grabs hold of them with one mighty hand, clutching them both to his chest in what would have been an awkwardly intimate gesture from anyone else but the God of Thunder. His fingers close around the medallion in his palm, and for a while nothing happens. Tony is about to make a quip about empty tanks and gas stations, but then there is a faint hum in the air, followed by a strange bluish light emanating from Thor's hand.
In one moment of compressed singularity, the hum turn into a loud crack and the faint light into a blinding blue flash. The next thing Tony knows, his stomach lurches, like it's being turned inside out, and there's a sudden, violent jerk in no sensible direction, neither up nor down nor to any side. The world explodes in a kaleidoscope of lights and colours and little blinking pin-point stars in the distance before he's enveloped by a compressing blackness, an empty void swallowing him up.
He's spit out again in what feels like only a fraction of a second later, ungracefully falling to his hands and knees, his insides heaving and head spinning like he's just stepped out of a cosmic roller-coaster.
Luckily, his breakfast makes the wise decision to remain where it is, albeit after some obvious hesitation. And he's really grateful he didn't have that bottle of scotch he'd been considering emptying before going on this intergalactic field trip, or it would probably have been somewhere else than his stomach right now.
But at least he can feel solid ground under his feet – okay, hands and knees – and slowly, he lifts his head, blinking, still a little wobbly.
And he almost falls on his ass in surprise at the marvellous, imposing sight that greets him as his eyes ascend from the ground. Holy hell, is that Asgard? Truth be told, despite Thor's boasts, he'd been expecting something more along the veins of… a pimped up Viking village, not something taken straight out of a space-fantasy postcard.
Woah.
The place towering before him is enormous, spires and pinnacles reaching for the sky. His own tower would have looked like a stomped-down mole-hill in comparison to this alien Eighth Wonder of the World. Like a palace and a fortress and a futuristic metropolis all in one, the massive city glitters in the sun, like it's been covered with fine-coated gold, basking in the splendour that is no doubt millennia of mysterious history and ancient magic.
As he gapes, Thor's hand is suddenly on his shoulder, the unexpected weight nearly making him fall flat on his face again. "So, what do you think, Man of Iron?" he says with pride overflowing his voice.
"It's, uh, a hell of a lot more, epic than I imagined," Tony manages, not quite sure what to say that will do it justice. He manages to stumble to his own two feet, albeit unsteadily, trying to get his bearings and tear his eyes away from the majestic thing in the distance that is currently occupying his entire field of vision, stretching from one horizon to another.
It is only then he notices the odd… texture of the ground beneath his feet and he looks down, for the first time really noticing what he is actually standing on. To say nothing of that what is flanking him, which seems to be… nothing. Only a gaping void of emptiness opening up beside him, and he is standing on this flimsy bridge that doesn't even-
"Bifrost, my friend," Thor pleasantly informs him. "Or at least what's been rebuilt of it so far. Bifrost," he repeats, "the bridge spanning worlds and connecting realms throughout the void."
And Tony gets that sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he can't help but gaze into that mind-shattering, bone-crushing emptiness below. It seems to him a man could throw himself off this bridge and fall for an eternity through that shapeless, all-encompassing nothingness, and he shudders at the thought.
"Tell the construction workers that they should really put a railing up here. Someone might trip and fall."
He can hear Loki make an incomprehensible sound somewhere behind him at that, a strange mixture between a snort and a choke.
"Let's continue," Thor urges them on with a wave. "There is no point in us dallying here."
And Tony picks himself together, following after the retreating red cape sweeping before him as Thor walks toward the gleaming kingdom in the distance with decisive, brisk steps. Loki walks a pace behind, but where Thor's steps are determined and resolute, his are unenthusiastic and reluctant.
The ground beneath Tony's feet glitters like hoarfrost in the sun, its bright colours intermingling and blinking like stars a thousand galaxies away. It's like watching a prism dispersing a million rays from the sun, only to concentrate them again a second later.
And it's beautiful.
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