"-And making people slaves simply because they have red hair is idiotic! I mean do they not know how fucking awesome they are!? Like look at Pep! She can be downright savage sometimes. She's passionate and doesn't put up with any nonsense. Actually I can say that about every redhead I've met. Oh! You should have met the chick that I had to temporarily fill in for you. Fuck! Was she hot! And intense. She could kick ass. Poor Happy." The brunette had been pacing in front of Nik. It took a few seconds for Tony's words to snap Nik out of his thoughts.

"Temp-Why would you need someone to temporarily fill in for me? I was only out for a couple of days! Surely you could have managed for that long?" Tony's eyes widened and he looked at Nik sheepishly. Tony backed away with his hands up as if trying to tame a wild beast. "Ok. So you may have been unconscious for more than a few days. But really it-" Nik rose from the couch, anger shining in his eyes. "How long was I out?" Tony smiled nervously. "It really wasn't that long." A lavender tinted light started to surround Nik as he stalked angrily towards Tony. "How long Anthony?"

~Shit! Fuck my theory about redheads being fierce and passionate! He's fucking terrifying!~ "A few weeks maybe." Nik's eyes expanded in shock and rage. He was breathing heavily through his nose. "A few weeks!?" It was little more than a whisper but said so sharply that he may as well have screamed it. He was frozen in thought.~If I was really out for weeks, then what does that mean? Does Tony even still want me to be his personal assistant? Especially if he's found some attractive woman? What will he think when I tell him what happened? Was it because of the soul bond? What if I was right about soulmates dying shortly after each other? Was my body trying to fight that?~

Tony grew uncomfortable and more than a little scared by the silence, but what frightened him most was the fact that the incandescent purple gleam gathering around Nik's body grew brighter. The longer Nik stood there, the darker, more powerful the aura became. "Sir, I am detecting an immense level of energy in the room. It appears to be coming from Mr. Vilhelmson." Tony sighed. "Yeah J. I noticed." Tony carefully approached Nik. "Nik? Not that I don't like the little light show, but you're making J.A.R.V.I.S and me nervous. Plus purple isn't really my color."

~Loki has been dead for weeks. Tony has found a new assistant. Hadn't he said he needed me? Did I imagine that? Is any of this real? Fuck! Am I even on Midgard? What if I'm still on Vanaheimr?~ Nik's eyes flitted around the room swiftly like he was analyzing each and every object. The lights began flickering and the furniture trembled as the now deep violet glow emanating from Nik was blinding. Panic set in as Tony felt his heart skip a beat or two as he observed the scene around him.

"Nik? I need you to relax. I don't know what's happening but you're looking like disco Barney." Tony stepped closer to Nik. "Sir I would advise against that course of action. I am uncertain how this energy could affect you or the arc reactor." Tony paid no heed to the A.I and moved closer still. "Nikolas? I need you to listen to me ok? It's Tony." Tony moved cautiously forward. "Sir I must insist you wear the suit at the very least. A power of this magnitude could cause catastrophic damage."

"Noted Jar. Now beat it." He was about to place both hands on the other man's shoulders. "Sir-" "Mute." As soon as Tony touched Nik, blue eyes focused in on brown. Nik looked scared. "Tony" Nik gasped as he pushed the billionaire away with great force. Tony was sent hurling into the far wall hard. It took him a minute or two for Tony to get up. A scream jerked Tony's attention to the other man in the room. Nik had crumbled to the floor.

Hunched over on his knees, his hands clutching at his head as he let out an animalistic roar. That's when Tony realized that the purple power radiating out of Nik was receding. He seemed to be drawing it back into himself. Tony ran over and crouched down next to Nik. The redhead was panting, his breath coming in shuddering gasps. Tony laid his hand on Nik's back in order to help him up when Nik's body convulsed and he slumped more fully to the floor.

Tony knelt down and lifted Nik and carried him over to the couch. By the time Tony had gotten a glass of water and sat down, Nik was watching him. "Tony? Are you real?" Those three words seem to break Tony. He remembered wondering the same thing when he returned after being kidnapped by the Ten Rings. "Yeah Nik. I'm real." Tony handed Nik the cup and grabbed Nik's hand to give a little squeeze as reassurance. "So wanna tell me what just happened? What the hell was that purple shit?"

Nik hung his head and sighed. "I'm sorry Tony. I lost control of my seidr. I thought I was back on Vanaheimr. I was not in my right mind" Tony gave an incredulous expression. "Say-der? The hell is that?" Nik rolled his eyes. "Seidr is my magic. It's a part of me. I haven't used it very often since arriving on Midgard. It can get a bit unruly if I don't find a release for it." Tony was intrigued. "Magic huh? What can you do? Like pull a rabbit out of a hat?"

Nik laughed. "By the Fates, no. That's mostly just illusion or sleight of hand. Loki was really good at those. He could make multiple clones of himself. It was hard to tell which one was real, but if you look close enough you can see the clones were just slightly transparent." Tony found himself smiling along with Nik. "Who's Loki?"

Nik's face fell. "Loki is-was my soulmate." Tony touched Nik's shoulder. "Was?" Nik covered Tony's hand with his own. "He's dead. It happened at the Expo. I felt his lifeforce come to an abrupt end." Tony squeezed Nik's hand. "I'm sorry Nik." Then Tony's head jerked back and his face scrunched up in confusion. "Wait! You felt him die? How could you feel that?" Nik gave but a sad smile, still grieving his mate. "Magic Tony. The bond Loki and I had allowed us to feel each other."

Tony had a mischievous smirk and waggled his eyebrows. "I'm sure you didn't need magic to feel him." Tony snickers as Nik shoved him. Nik caught himself really smiling despite everything. "The soulbond lets us feel each other's emotions, know where the other is, and possibly numerous other things." "Numerous other things? You don't know?" Nik bit his lip. "We never needed to. Loki and I weren't ever far apart from each other. We didn't really get to explore the bond much. We were supposed to marry once he returned from acquiring a home for us. Unfortunately that didn't happen."

Tony tilted his head curiously. "Why not?" Nik frowned and began playing with his necklace. "Loki's father, the king, had me sent back to Vanaheimr and I haven't seen him since." "How could he just send you somewhere else?" Nik shrugged. "He was the king and I, a slave. As king he could do whatever he pleased." Tony rubbed his forehead. "Aren't you from Vanaheimr? Why wouldn't you be able to see him then?"

Nik sighed. "I am a slave. And in the eyes of everyone in Vanaheimr, I had been a rogue slave for four hundred years-." Tony's eyes grew large in surprise. "Four hundred years!? Fuck! How old are you exactly?" Nik got a far off look as he concentrated. "About fourteen hundred and fifty something I think?" Tony was baffled. "How the fuck could you be that old!?" "I'm not that old! I'm barely at the age of maturity! And I'm not sure how long I spent being retrained." A look of despair covered Tony's face. "Retrained?" Nik laughed bitterly. "Yes. To relearn my place in society."

By now Nik had taken the rune off and held it in both hands. "You know, I always wanted to know about that thing? You fiddle with it pretty often. It's hard not to notice it." Tony nodded to the necklace. "Loki gave it to me. It has his magic in it. He had one too. We would know when the other was in trouble. We-" Nik stopped speaking. He was suddenly pale as a ghost and his jaw was slightly ajar. "Nik, what's wrong?" The man in question looked at Tony, hurt and confusion written on his face. "If Loki had his rune necklace, he would've known I didn't leave him willingly. He would've known I was in Vanaheimr and in pain...He would've known."

The last part was whispered sadly. "So what are you saying?" Nik stood up and walked over to the ceiling to floor windows that surrounded the penthouse. He crossed his arms as he felt tears well up in his eyes. "I'm saying that something must have happened to the rune Loki had. He had it on the morning I last saw him."

~Did something happen to it whilst he was on Alfheimr? Had he gotten rid of it? It wouldn't have taken him long to know something was wrong with me. Did he give up on me after I was taken? Did my soulmate desert me when I needed him the most? Did he renounce me as his mate while I spent over a century being raped and tortured daily, thinking of nothing but returning to him?~ With that final thought, the tears Nik had been holding back, spilled over. Nik thought he couldn't possibly feel worse pain after losing Loki, but he was wrong. Losing Loki to death was nothing compared to having Loki abandon him.