A/N: Trivia time! When I pick names for the kids, I try to get some that were from Old Norse and Norwegian/Scandinavian descent. Eindride means "One, alone" and the nickname for that ins Endre but I liked Anders better, which is a form of the name Andrew, Emma was taken from the word ermen means "Whole" or "universal", and Kaia is a form of Kaja which eventually came from Katherine and roughly means "each of the two" or "torture". I like the first one better. I always go to Behind the Name for my name meanings, since I know everything is different.
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.
Gabby flipped through some pages of a magazine and let out a breath. She was finding it hard to focus on picking any kind of flowers, table arrangements, or even food. Not when there'd been no word from anyone in almost two weeks. Usually she wouldn't worry about that, but when Tony went up to Asgard, and no one still came back it put an uneasy knot in her chest. Obviously she wasn't the only one feeling this way. Looking up from the table she saw Kaia sitting on the couch with Emma while Bruce made lunch for them. They had all gathered at Tony and Loki's, waiting.
She sighed again and closed the magazine. It wasn't going to be very long before she went up to check on her own. Heimdall wouldn't let them up if there was danger. Gabby wondered how long until she gave in.
Tony was finding it hard to focus. His mind felt fuzzy, like a thick fog had settled in, making him lose track of time. Not that he'd be able to do anything if he managed to come up with an escape plan, not when Lanhr was able to use his body like a puppet. Whenever he tried to fight the influence of the elfs' magic he started to get a migraine.
"It's been a while since you've taken a pet." Tony didn't move as he heard voices talking from behind him. It was late and everyone else was asleep, perfect time to listen to a conversation. "Do you really want to continue with this one though? You know who he belongs to." Were they talking about him? Tony Stark was Not a pet, and he did Belong to anyone.
"The bastard Prince of Asgard? That sorcerer doesn't frighten me." Okay, maybe he did belong to Loki, but only in certain situations. Tony thought that Lanhr was sounding a little too full of himself and had never encountered Loki when he was in a bad mood.
"He managed to escape from the prison in Jotunheim, wiping out the entire detail of guards," the female voice sounded again. "If he finds us-"
"He won't, no one knows how to find us," Lanhr hissed back. "Only friends of the Fae can find them, and we have no friends to our group."
"Do you now listen to the stories of Loki?" She had stopped them, tone hard. "He is known to the elves, the dwarves, even the demons on Muspelheim. He is the reason that Hela is chained to her realm, enduring the tortures that souls of the damned must be put through."
"No, Hela was stupid." Lanhr snorted. "She had a fool's dream and got too greedy. My plan is iron clad, we are days from executing it and-"
"You think it will be ready that quickly?" Tony didn't like the surprised tone in her voice. "Lanhr, how much have you been giving him?"
"Enough that is needed. It will work, and the first person to doubt me will be the first to fall under my reign," Lanhr growled out loudly, good mood obviously gone. Tony closed his eyes when he heard the footsteps march towards him. He grunted when his shoulder was slammed into the wall he had been leaning against and opened his eyes. He didn't like the sight of Lanhr in front of him with a glow behind his eyes. He was pissed and Tony was going to be the outlet for his anger.
He flicked his hand out, a large magenta orb appearing in his hand, much larger than anything he had used on Tony before. "I would hear you scream this time." Tony frowned then gasped when Lanhr slammed his hand onto his chest, shoving the power into him.
His chest was on fire, it was burning and he couldn't get to it. The fire started to spread through his veins, he felt like he was burning up on the inside. He arches his back, pressing his head against the wall, breath speeding up as he tried to get cold air into his lungs to combat the heat. That's when the power fragmented.
Tony's eyes widened and for the first time in a week he screamed. Everything inside felt like it was being torn and cut by shards of glass, worse pain than the shrapnel in his body had ever caused him.
Lanhr stood up and watched him writhe in pain, watched the magenta swirl in his eyes, but it didn't satisfy him. Not yet. His finger crackled with more power, waiting.
Nathan turned his head on the pillow, smiling at the familiar feeling of fingers in his hair. "Time to wake up," a soft voice whispered to him.
"Mmmm, don't wanna," he mumbled out. The bed was warm, and he wanted to stay warm, he didn't know why, but warm was good.
"Come on Nate, I haven't seen you in a while." That was Kaia's voice, he liked hearing her voice when he started to wake up. He felt her fingers brush above his eyes and he slowly blinked them open. "There are those amber eyes I love so much."
Nathan reached up and took her hand, rubbing her knuckles and smiled at her. He looked around and noticed that they weren't in their bedroom. Right, Asgard. Kaia kissed him lightly and helped him sit up. "What are you doing up here?"
"We were getting worried, you've been gone for a while." Kaia ran her hand through his hair.
"We?" Nathan raised and eyebrow and Kaia motioned to the side. Nathan turned and saw Steve and Gabby on a couch, Gabby's head tucked under his chin as he ran his hand through her hair. "Have you seen your brother?"
"Yeah," she smiled. "Dad let me hold him for a couple minutes. He's smaller than Emma was when she was born. so he'll probably be the tallest of the three." Nathan snorted and smiled.
"He has a name now," Loki said as he walked over, sitting in the open chair, sans baby. "You were asleep when I named him. Eindride Anthony Stark."
"Or Anders to for short," Kaia added. "Dad's ego is going to get bigger when he hears his name." Nathan frowned. Tony hadn't heard the name yet? Did that mean he wasn't here? That didn't seem right to Nathan.
Balder walked over and caught Loki's eyes. He looked at him and saw the grim look on his face. Loki nodded once and got up, following him, leaving Kaia and Nathan alone again. "Is it about Tony?" Balder nodded once.
"They found him," he said quietly to his younger brother, not wanting the attention of anyone else in the room. "On Alfheim."
"At the peace talks?" Loki frowned. "What aren't you telling me?"
"He's in the dungeons, they're saying he was part of an assassination attempt, to kill Odin and and our uncle, Frey." Balder looked at Loki when he stopped walking. "I told you because I'm leaving to go there immediately. They need to be told of what has happened."
"I'm coming as well." Balder nodded.
"I figured as much. I will meet you at the bi-frost." He watched Loki walk off quickly and ran a hand through his hair. He started to wonder when things got so complicated, so quickly.
