Thank you for your kind reviews. The week's been hectic (I got my CSEC results) but at least now, things have stabilised... somewhat. I was planning on making this chapter the end, but the events just happened to unfold in such a way that it would have been too much for one. I hope you enjoy.

CHAPTER TEN

IF ONLY WE KNEW

"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.
Delicious Ambiguity."
―Gilda Radner

ASGARD

EARLY MORNING (BY MIDGARD'S STANDARDS)

Laufey regarded the fallen king with a sense of cold detachment, before turning to Heimdall.

"You have a great sense of loyalty to your king," he said, appraisal modest in his voice.

The Gatekeeper did not answer, wondering for a moment why he had acted without thinking thoroughly. If Laufey headed to Midgard, Thor and Loki were practically defenseless. Unless their friends…

He barely made out the King of Frost Giants words. "Such a feat is rare on Jötunheim. Quite surprising too that you left your post just in time. How is it…?" He shook his head. "No matter. What concerns me now is how to get to Midgard."

Heimdall turned around and proceeded out of the hall as the Allfather simultaneously was carried out by the guards.

"Gatekeeper!" Laufey called, "I demand an answer."

"I have nothing else to say."

There was a deep growl of frustration, and Heimdall didn't have to turn around to sense Laufey's quickly advancing form. He side-stepped almost as if nothing was wrong, and he spun around in the same breath, drawing his sword.

Laufey did not expect the motion, and momentum propelled him forward. Snarling, he conjured a small ice dagger and hurled it backwards.

Heimdall brought his sword down, and the ice shattered on impact.

The two now faced each other, eyes slits. The Gatekeeper had surprised the Giant. He hadn't heard of any incident, on this world or any other of the Eight Realms, where he had been directly involved in combat.

"That boy is my son," Laufey said finally, "You consider me the enemy because the Jötuns are no friend to your people. But your King has just as much blood on his hands as I do. Unlike him, though, I have never kidnapped the son of the enemy at ransom…"

Heimdall held up his hand. For someone who was not royalty, his being spoke of authority and demanded respect.

His tone was measured. "Don't you dare twist the Allfather's intentions. You left the boy… as good as dead. And besides, Loki was denied nothing here. Ransom? He grew up as a true Prince of Asgard."

"But he is my son."

"I do not ignore your claims. And by the time, the sun sets this day, you will have your answers."

"I want them NOW Asgardian."

Heimdall looked at him thoughtfully, but seemed to not be truly seeing him. His mind was elsewhere… searching Midgard. Laufey would not leave until he got what he came for, he knew. He was determined, stubborn… and a threat to all on Asgard.

The King was out of danger, for now.

But his sons?

Not yet.

"Follow me," he said, sword still in hand, gesturing towards the door. "The Bifröst is the easiest way."

MIDGARD

9:00 a.m.

Loki felt out of place entering Tony Stark's house. Though house didn't seem like the word to describe the building… which said something. Loki was a prince, and the Asgardian palace was, by no means, an austere edifice. But walking into this… 'house' , Loki truly felt at a loss for words.

"Cat got your tongue?" Tony asked, a smile playing on his mouth.

"No… it's just that… never mind." Loki sighed. "You have a very nice home."

"If you'd call it that," the boy replied. "I mean, thank you and all… but it's not really. I sleep here, I live here… but sometimes I feel it's more of my dad's office slash warehouse slash construction area."

Loki fixed him a curious look. "Why do you say that?"

"It's just that…" He face-palmed himself. "Look at me. Blabbering like an idiot. I have never told anyone that. Never." He looked at the young God of Mischief. "So, considering that, you now owe me something."

"I… owe you something?" Loki parroted.

"Yes… It makes sense. I can't be telling you my life story when you are not guaranteed to say anything in return."

"Why would I need to say anything in return?"

"Where have you spent the last ten years of your life? Wait… don't answer that." Loki smirked, as he continued, "I don't invite people usually by me. It's just that… I don't know. Weird right? You'd think I would have a party every week. But I don't. My father's rules and all… and not to mention not many people would come. But considering we're friends…"

"We're friends now?" Loki asked, confusion evident on his facial features. With Bruce, he had formally asked. Or… on this planet, was it the case? Friendship was automatically assumed?

"Well, I invited you over. And you came. Friends do that."

"But I scarcely know you."

"As do I. Which is why I am giving you a most generous offer. Anything you want to know about me… and I get five requests."

"Requests?" Loki repeated, not for the first, nor last time. Why was this boy so… confusing?

"You know… Whatever I want to know… Whatever I want you to do… you have to, else you owe me a Sprite."

"The 250 millilitres one?"

"No… the two litres one. I really do love Sprite…" he said, fading into thoughtfulness.

Loki pretended to consider it. "Okay."

"Shake on it."

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes… and extended his hand.

"Good," Tony said, once they were done. "Onto other matters. Are you thirsty?"

Loki shook his head.

"Hmm… I am. So let's head to the kitchen before we go up to my room."

Loki matched his steps, wondering why he was still there. Tony was forceful in his friendship, as compared to Bruce, whose friendship was relaxed to the point of brotherly. He said what he wanted to say, hark the consequences, or the implications.

And though Loki did know it at the time, Tony's 'requests' would only serve to let him into the Midgardian's world rather than his own.

…

Loki had a seat on Tony's bed as the boy cleared his desk, cluttered by what seemed wires, and other electrical components. The room was far larger than what he called his on Midgard, but gave the impression of being a claustrophobic's worst nightmare. Bookshelves lined the wall to the left; clothes lay scattered on the floor; wires from his lamp were disconnected and seemed to be powering a small device that glowed blue. Or was it the other way around?

"So… my bedroom," Tony said, raising his arms in a form of greeting.

"What's all of this?" Loki asked, pointing to the exposed wiring. "It seems rather dangerous."

He laughed. "Well, you're right about that. It's an idea I developed from my Dad. It's called an arc reactor- a power source run on radioactive emissions. Just a prototype though."

"Isn't that potentially lethal?"

Tony shrugged. "My house is an ammunition factory, and you have a problem with my reactor. Priorities, Loki," he mock-berated.

The raven-haired boy chose to ignore him. "Tell me something about yourself. Do you have siblings?"

"Nope. Mother is away helping people in Uganda."

"Your mother is a humanitarian, and your father is the reason human slaughter each other in droves?" Loki asked.

"It's messed up. But I choose not to think about it."

"So what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Do you share more with your father or your mother?"

"I don't know yet," Tony replied, almost wistfully, choosing to focus his attention on a piece of flaking paint.

Loki did not pursue the topic.

"And you?" Tony asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Request number one: On the first day of school, why did you say you were from Asgard?"

"Because I am," Loki replied softly.

"But how can you be?" Tony said, and Loki was under the impression that his scientifically hard-wired brain was having difficulty coming to terms with what was obvious. "I Googled it… most of which came up as Norse nonsense. Then went on Google Maps. An Irish Pub in Massachusetts, A Steel Storage, a couple hotels… and you don't seem to be from Germany."

"Why do you call it Norse nonsense?"

"Myths were prehistoric man's way of adding excitement to the ordinarily boring lives. Stories. No more. No less."

"So you'd call me a story? A work of fiction from someone's twisted imagination? No…" Loki said broodingly, "Long ago, your fiction had some level of truth in it. My father came to Midgard to destroy the Frost Giants in the first Ice Age…"

"So you believe all of it then?"

"It's rather hard to ignore."

"I don't get it."

"That's because you look for something that can be proven, when it cannot."

"Frost Giants caused the Ice Age?" Tony asked, making no effort to hide his mocking smirk.

"Is that your second request?"

He deliberated. "Yes."

"They did. We call them Jötuns on Asgard as well. They can conjure ice and throw them as deadly projectiles and, not to mention, their touch gives, what humans call, instantaneous frost bite."

"Hmmm… straight out of a story book," Tony concluded.

"It is beyond me how you fail to see the truth, Stark."

"And it's beyond me how someone as intelligent as you actually believes it."

"You have the Tesseract."

"My father has the Tesseract," he corrected, failing to see the implication of the statement. Then with a devious smile. "Would you like to go see it?"

…

Loki felt as though his role was reversed. Here he was, being led to create mischief by a human, no less, while he followed with a skeptical grimace. The halls in the house were wide, but seemed almost too formal to be called a home. There were no marks on the walls. Loki smiled when he remembered his mother, Frigga, putting him and his brother against the door frame measuring their change in height.

It seemed it was not the sort of childhood Tony had.

They walked in silence, leaving Loki with his thoughts. Tony, it seemed, led a life that was split down the middle. His father. His mother. Him. When your parents each had a polar view, where did that put their son? In the middle of it all?

In his entire childhood, Loki could not remember Frigga and Odin ever having a full-on disagreement. There was, he would concede, slight dissatisfaction when he had told his father he wanted to pursue magic, rather than combat. But his mother supported his venture, and in time, so too did the Allfather.

They… He wiped the tell-tale tear. He missed them.

"I read…" he heard Tony pipe up, "That the Tesseract was in Odin's artifact chamber till the day it came to Earth by accident."

"So I heard as well."

"You don't know?"

"It was a bedtime story," Loki sighed. "Mere rumours till I came here to realize it was true all along."

"My father wants to use it as a weapon."

"And I suppose it will do its job well then."

"How come?"

"Another request?"

"Yes," Tony said, perceptibly more irritable this time.

"It's a power source… an unlimited power source. Humans are incapable of handling its unparalleled power, I think. But maybe your father is the exception."

"As dangerous as the atomic bomb?"

"It makes it look like child's play."

Tony raised his eyebrows, when Loki shrugged. "I speak the truth."

"I know," Tony replied. "Come. This way."

The hallways became narrower now, though the coolness was maintained. For some reason, Loki felt an excitement building up within him. Tony stopped suddenly, and he ran into him.

"What in Vanhalla," he murmured, looking passed the boy. There was a glass partition, and a strange numerical keypad fastened the wall.

"I'd get you in, if I could," Tony said, "But the password is not anything my dad previously used."

"Did you try the factory setting?"

Tony blushed a deep scarlet. "Darn."

He seemed almost ashamed as he typed the digits- four 0's- and the door slid silently to the side.

"This… This…" Again, with the loss of speech.

"The Tesseract," Tony said dramatically.

"No duh," Loki said, and he burst out laughing. Sounding like a human, and finding his way back home… all in the same day.

…

They had to leave it alone. According to Loki, the Cube contained enough energy to fry both of them almost instantly, then destroy the town when it overheated.

Frankly, Tony thought he was over-reacting, but there was a way when he spoke about things- the way his green eyes no longer seemed guarded, and the frankness of his features- that made him believe him a bit more.

"Well, that was fun," Tony said at last, handing Loki a bowl of ice cream.

"I enjoyed myself as well," he replied.

A pause. "Loki, why are you here?" Tony asked.

The boy opened his mouth to reply, then shut it. When he spoke, it was with a decisive calm. "You are aware this is the fourth of your five requests."

"Yes… and I want to know."

"Our father banished my brother, Thor, and I. We were selfish… both of us. And at the time, I thought of nothing but wanting the throne of Asgard, and he, likewise. He sought war against the Jötuns while I said nothing to stop him."

He took a pause, and shoveled a spoon of ice cream in his mouth. "This is lovely," he whispered, "What do you call it?"

"Ice cream. Go on."

He pursed his lips before saying, "I had thought if he aroused father's ire, I may be the more worthy. However, father knew what I had done. Bringing the Frost Giants into the palace..."

He stopped, finally realizing something. "Wait… do you believe me now? About Asgard?"

Tony smiled, but it did not reach his eyes. "I don't know. I'm still thinking about it."

In a couple of minutes, both boys finished their ice cream, and Loki decided it was time to go home. "Thor's homework," he said as an excuse.

Tony merely nodded, but offered to go with him.

"Why?" Loki asked.

"I want to meet your brother… Formally, that is."

"I see."

"Don't forget I have one more request."

"How could I?"

"Just in case."

"I don't forget."

They reached Loki's block, and to their surprise, in the distance, they saw that the yard was not empty. Thor was there with Natasha (no true surprise there), but so was Bruce. He sat on the edge of the porch, swinging his legs.

Loki raised his hands in greeting, but was stopped short when he saw two other people walking towards his home.

Clint, with his arsenal of arrows. And Steve.

They had threatened his brother not too long ago. What if…?

He stared at Tony, who looked as if this was almost normal. "Are they…?" he voiced out loud.

"Most likely," Tony replied, "But he's the God of Thunder. They can't hurt him."

"We don't have our powers!" Loki exclaimed, almost to the point of panic. He left Tony's side and ran the rest of the way home, hoping his brother saw them in time.