Author's Note: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR FUTURE CHAPTERS BELOW! MAY NOT BE A SPOILER BUT DEPENDS ON HOW YOU LOOK AT IT THOUGH.

Anyway, so I noticed that this fic is going a bit slower than I realized. I had/have this really good idea but it comes about two to three chapters after this. So I decided to fuse two chapters and cut out unnecessary parts to speed things up a bit. I don't know why, but I'm quite eager to get to the end of this fic to start the next one in the series.

ENJOY!

Odin listened attentively to the healer's reports. The girl as expected, was recovering quite well under the attention being given to her. She had even been coaxed to eat on her own. She had grown depressed since she had not been able to see her family and had stopped eating a week before. The young boy that had been with her was another story however,

His health was failing by the hour and it was evident that he would not last much longer. The injuries he sustained had caused internal bleeding that had been stopped temporarily and it was evident that his wounds had festered beyond help.

The Allfather nodded as the information was presented to him. He had suspected as much. He turned to his wife.

"Have the girl's parents been located yet?" The queen shook her head. She had relayed the information to King Njord and he had aken it upon himself to find both of the children's parents. Up until now, there had been no reply.

"I spoke with King Njord and he believes that they were among the several families that had perished in the fight against the Other when he abducted the children." she told him. Odin nodded.

"Keep searching until you are sure." he advised.

"Have faith Odin. The boy is not dead yet. Do not prepare the funeral pyre before he is cold." she replied. SHe stood, smoothing her robes.

"I will be tending to your youngest son should you need me." she said, walking off. Outside of the throneroom, she took a moment to compose herself.

"My queen...are you alright?" a faminine voice asked. The queen opened her eyes, slightly startled.

"I am fine dear." she said. The maid nodded, continuing with her work. Frigga climbed the stairs to stand outside of Loki's chambers. When she entered, she discovered Tony already packing Loki's things away. The god watched him from the balcony, looking paler than ever.

"What if your Director Fury does not want me in your realm? Where will I go then?" he asked quietly. Tony sighed, straightening up. He winced when something in his back popped.

"I don't give a damn about that one-eyed, bald Chewbacca. All I care about is you Loki. If he says no, then I'll sneak you into my tower. I'll up the security so no one will find out. And we'll get you a doctor. Or a healer from here if you don't think they can do anything for you." the inventor pormised.

Loki stared out at the sky, his face blank again.

"There is no cure for what ails me Stark." he said. Tony paused in his motions.

"What do you mean?" he asked. Loki shook his head.

"Nothing. I...I misspoke." he said. Tony sighed, clawing at his face.

"Loki, if we're going to make this relationship work then you have to trust me with stuff. I'm not gonna rush you but I just want you to know that I'm here for you. I'll wait as long as you need me to." he promised. Loki stared down at the floor, going silient for a few minutes.

"I don't want you to hate me." Loki whispered. Tony groaned.

"Loki I could never hate you. You're too special to me for that." he said. Loki said nothing.

Frigga decided to stop listening in on their private conversation and go in. The inventor wasn't all that surprised by her sudden appearence.

"Hey your majesty. Good to see you. Did you bring more of those delicious little cakes that Loki and I both love?" he asked hopefully. Frigga smiled.

"Not today Anthony. But I will make you some before you all leave Asgard. To take with you." she promised. She turned to Loki, eying him carefully.

"Is something wrong? You look pale." she observed. Loki scoffed.

"I'm always pale." he shot back. Frigga shook her head, going over to feel his forehead. She frowned, bringing her fingers back slightly damp.

"You're burning up." she said. Loki grimmaced, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm fine." he insisted, pushing her hand away when she went in for another feel, this time attempting to see his eyes. She sighed.

"You haven't been taking anything have you?" she asked. Loki set his jaw, refusing to look at her. Her eyes widened.

"Loki! Tell me it's nothing dangerous." she pleaded. He sighed.

"It is not...potentially dangerous. I am careful." he admitted. She looked up at him, fearful.

"What are you taking Loki?" she asked quietly. The god shook his head, trying to move around her. She placed a hand on his arm, stopping him for a moment.

"Loki, I don't want you to hurt yourself." she said. Loki pulled away, going back to staring off the balcony. Frigga turned to thee other man, trying to grt her attention off of her youngest son.

"Do you need help packing?" she asked Tony. The man shook his head.

"Nah. I think I'm almost done here." He picked up a long, glittering box over in the corner of the room. It was heavier than he had expected so he stumbled a bit under its weight.

"What about this?" he asked. Loki glanced over, doing a double-take when he realized what it was.

"Put that down!" Loki snarled, lunging for the box. Tony let it go when the god snatched it away, holding it against his body protectively. Tony stared at him wide-eyed not understanding what the reaction was for.

Loki placed the box on the bed and sat down.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so harsh." the god said. Tony forced himself to smile.

"It's ok. I don't mind if it's that important to you." he said. Loki shook his head.

"It's not that it's important. It's juts..." he paused.

"It's the only thing Odin ever gave me." Loki undid the clasps on the box and opened it.

Inside was a jagged looking sword. It was inscribed with Nordic symbols and a double guard cross. Tony let out a low whistle.

"Damn. Now that is a bad-ass looking weapon." he complimented. Loki shrugged.

"I was estatic when he first gifted it to me. for a moment, I thought he saw me as he saw Thor." he said. He shook his head.

"I was wrong. He only gave me the weapon so I would stop embarassing him with my use of magic. Perhaps he thought I would abandon my study of it if I became a swordmaster. Like Fandral I suppose." he said wistfully. Tony gripped his shoulder.

"For what it's worth, I think you would have been a great swordmaster." the inventor said. The corner of Loki's mouth gave an upward twitch.

"Thank you Anthony." the queen told him. The inventor nodded, continuing to pack Loki's clothes. Frigga glanced over at her youngest son, worrying again. She watched him stand and go into the bathroom, closing the door tightly. She turned to Tony.

"Has he been feeling well lately?" she asked. Tony shrugged. "He's been a bit crankier than usual. Maybe he's just frustrated about being cooped up in his room for so long." he suggested. Frigga nodded slowly.

"I know my son Anthony...but perhaps you are right. Maybe this trip to Midgard will get him into better spirits." he said. The inventor nodded. She walked over to the bathroom, placing a hand on the door.

"Loki...are you alright?" she asked. There was a muffled reply, which Tony assumed was along the lines of 'yes'. The queen tturned away, shaking her head.

Tony straightened, finished packing. He glanced over at the queen, a thought coming to him.

"What did you mean about him taking stuff?" he asked. Frigga smoothed her robes.

"I worry for him. Some potions, when mixed with certain herbs, they can become...addictive."

"You think he's taking something?" he asked. Frigga shook her head.

"I don't know. If so, I hope it is nothing harmful." she said. Tony frowned, sitting down. He glanced at the door Loki had disappeared behind, wishing he would come out already.

"You want me to watch him?" he asked. Frigga hesitated, not wanting to do anything to upset Loki.

"Not necessarily. Just...be cautious of his health." she said after a long moment.

Author's Note: Appologies to those of you who see Tony and Loki's relationship as well...not real enough. Some of you may think that Loki is a bit too unresponsive to Tony's affections or there are no affections expressed at all and there are suppoed to be since they're in a relaationship.

I don't really have any experience with relationships and really don't find it appealing to date someone right now. Sorry if things seem a little blah now and to anyone rooting for some explicit Tony/Loki. Promise that there will definitely be some soon and if not by the end of this fic then in the next installment of this series.

Also the sword I described is from the game Skyrim. I was looking up pictures of the kind of sword I thought Loki might use and it seeemed like the perfect one. It's really cool looking. You can look up 'Skyrim Nordic Rune Sword' if you want to know what it looks like.