A/N: So... I know this was supposed to be complete before, but some people have asked for more, and while I think this is probably not exactly what they meant, it's still more. It's also the last part. This time for real. Enjoy (and maybe review?).

~shades

There is smoke. So much smoke. Tony forces himself to watch.

It's the only thing he can do.

~*oO*o*Oo*~

The Avengers are gathered when Thor delivers the news, Fury standing at the head of the table like a king of his private little universe, the others sitting around. Perhaps they've all been waiting for this.

Tony swallows. Thor's lips are set in a grim line, and then they open.

"Loki is dead."

Tony swallows again. Nails dig into his palms. A part of him almost wants to laugh because he is pathetic and he can't understand why he doesn't seem to feel anything at all.

Somebody kicks him, and when he turns, he finds Bruce looking at him with his eyebrows arched. Tony offers a smile. That's good news, after all.

~*oO*o*Oo*~

He pulls Thor aside after the meeting. There's a strange kind of tension in his body that he doesn't want to think about too much. He's only hoping his request won't sound too strange.

"Listen, buddy. Is Asgard accepting intergalactic guests?"

"Occasionally. Why do you ask?"

"I want to see Loki's funeral."

Thor frowns. This can't be good. It doesn't look good at all, and Tony is silently praying Thor won't ask why.

He doesn't. Instead, he shakes his head. "There are no funerals for criminals."

There is a moment silence.

"The what happens to his body? Can I have it?"

The 'why?' comes this time. Tony shrugs. Loki attacked Earth. Surely they can ask for a little favour in return.

Thor hesitates, but nods his agreement. Tony doesn't understand why his eyes look so sad.

~*oO*o*Oo*~

He pukes. It's wrong, and he doesn't want to, but he pukes, and does it again barely a minute later.

He can't believe it.

"You tortured him to death?"

At least Thor has the decency to avert his gaze. "He wasn't supposed to die."

Tony grits his teeth. Later, when he is nursing his hand, he realises punching Thor might not have been the best idea. But he figures hearing somebody say a person should stay alive so they could be put through more torture is a pretty good reason to risk broken knuckles.

"Father only wanted answers."

Tony snorts because that's bullshit and his hand hurts and he doesn't understand what's happening to him anymore. Thor's expression is grim.

"But he refused to speak. I'm afraid the Tesseract might be lost to us."

Tony just shakes his head; thinking is too hard right now when's trying to get the state of Loki's body out of his mind even as he knows he is going to return to it.

He throws Thor out, too.

~*oO*o*Oo*~

His fingers are gentle. It doesn't make much sense, because Loki can't feel anything anymore, but for some reason, it seems important. So Tony swallows the bile that rises in his throat and continues to wash Loki's body. Well, the parts of skin that are there to wash. The rest he wraps in bandages.

When Jarvis notifies him of Pepper's wish to enter, he instructs the lab to be kept on lockdown. Perhaps the others know about Loki. Most likely they don't. Thor left so fast, and Tony hasn't talked to any of them since he returned to Malibu.

In the end, he is left standing beside the worktable Loki is lying on, watching the god's face. His alabaster skin is even paler than he remembers—of course it is—almost transparent, and marred by dark bruises. At least his eyes have been closed from the beginning. Those sharp green eyes that saw too much. (Too much of Tony.) Showed too much. (Gave too much in return.)

He should dress the god, but the idea of seeing Loki in Tony's clothes makes him bark out a short, jagged laugh. It isn't fair. He can't do that. Loki should be lying here in his best armour, but Tony can't give him that.

He drinks himself to sleep.

~*oO*o*Oo*~

Morning offers no reprieve. If anything, it makes matters worse. He's done all he could do for now, and so he does what he always does when given a bit of time—he thinks. Thor mentioned the Tesseract. Loki had, too. He'd talked about so many things when he'd thought Tony would take his secrets into the grave.

Perhaps he still would. But he remembers something, and for now, he has work to do. Just to make sure. Just to…

Jarivs plays him the footage without protest, letting Tony listen to all those late-night conversations. It's only now that he realises how much knowledge he was offered.

Loki talked about the Tesseract and the Casket, and Loki talked about magic and space and the place in between, and Tony ends up with his head between his knees, gasping for breath. He knows, he knows exactly where the Tesseract is now, knows precisely what Asgard wanted to know and Loki refused to share.

There's a knot in his stomach, only getting tighter by the minute. Could his words have made a difference? If somebody bothered to ask him and Tony answered, would there have been a little less pain, a little less blood spilled?

A part of him is furious with Loki for invading his mind. Another part is just furious with Loki.

The whole of him feels sick.

~*oO*o*Oo*~

Would it be possible to get to the in-between? Was it a real place that existed no matter what, or was it Loki's personalised bubble of space? If so, what happened to it when Loki died?

It is about reaching between the particles, prying them apart in exactly the right way. He knows that much, but he doesn't know how. The Tessaract is on the other side of the barrier he's trying to breach. Perhaps the technology they managed to build with it could help?

But there is no time to try. Not before…

He watches Loki's body, and he understands how the god must have felt.

~*oO*o*Oo*~

In the end, he does dress Loki in black pants and a shirt. It looks all wrong, and Tony's sorry, but he can't do anything about it. He has no suitable weapons to give him, no possession of Loki's to add, and flowers just seem plain ridiculous. In the end, he ties his favourite scarf around Loki's neck to hide the bandages.

~*oO*o*Oo*~

Pepper isn't there. Nobody is, he's made sure of that. But there are flames and smoke in the distance, and he, unable to move from where his feet are touching the edge of the cliff.

In the morning, the news spread. Tony's yacht, bursting into flames. Resting at the bottom of the ocean.

He tells the journalists to piss off and forbids anyone to pull the wreckage back out.

~*oO*o*Oo*~

He considers the scotch but puts the bottle down. Pepper smiles approvingly, and he nods back. Then he locks himself into the workshop.

She knows they can't save their bond anyway, and he knows he will get to the Tesseract, and whatever he will do with it, giving it to Asgard is not going to be an option. And if he starts feeling like giving up, he'll only need to remember everyone could know where to search for the Cube if only they'd bothered to listen to Loki soon enough. Will only need to remember that Loki was telling the truth when he talked to Tony during those stretched-out nights. Will only need to remember the pain.

Pain is good.

Pain means being alive. And he can keep hurting as long as he needs to.