Show Yourself Into The Unknown

Summary: The one where Thanos is dead, Tony has weird dreams instead of nightmares, the Avengers watch dubious Disney movies and mystical creatures are more than real. Oh, and the Cloak totally ships it.

"Hey, Nebs! Long time no see!" Tony greeted as he climbed down from Elsa's back, looking as good as ever despite the long years that have passed since the cyborg and the android have last seen him. "Vision! I feared you wouldn't be here for the visit. Didn't you say you'd go with Thor on that trip to wherever so Lokes and Valkyrie can have some alone time for once?"

Vision smiled at his creator as both he and his partner gladly accepted the hugs. They have missed him dearly, for years were long and slow ever since he started traveling the multiverse with his soulmates to find out what had truly happened to all the dragons, hoping against hope that there might be some egg, somewhere, so Elsa would not be alone and last. Nebula may have missed him even more than Vision had. The alien cyborg had come to greatly rely on having him around, after all, and to spend five years apart at a time or even longer if there were no emergencies had been hard on her in the beginning.

Especially when the people she had finally grown used to slowly started succumbing to their mortality.

Vision tried not to think about it, but as more years passed, the more he got used to having proper emotions and there was very little 'artificial' left about him. Learning from humans how to be human was humbling and painful but so rewarding that he would never regret it. No matter how sentimental he got when some of their remaining friends returned after a long time away.

The first ones to go were, of course, the old Pym couple, soon followed by Fury and then, eventually, Colonel Rhodes, Mr Hogan and then a few years later Ms Potts. While his creator had never even talked civilly with Hank Pym, Vision knew his creator mourned another connection to his parents lost and that was not even mentioning how devastated he had been at the deaths of his closest friends. Some time later, Mr Wilson followed after his fellow air force pilot, though he went down in battle while trying to extract civilians from a falling building during one of the alien/extradimensional attacks that had at one point become the norm on Earth. Sargent Barnes, despite hating flying, took up the Redwing as a legacy and flew it for a good ten more years before he finally retired. He had lived out the next thirty years as any normal man would, enjoying life, finding himself a wife and children in Agent Romanov of all people and the two of them finally succumbed to their lifestyles together, in sleep, a poisonous gas taking them. They had seen it coming.

Their two sons and three daughters carried on their names and wrought fear onto the world. Their godfather - Tony - had been quite proud. They had had both their parents' talents and skills.

Mr Lang and Ms Van Dyne (Mrs Lang) outlived the other 'normal' humans by a good twenty years, nearly reaching their hundred and tenth birthday. They had kept expanding on Dr Pym's quantum technology until it practically became a household commodity, creating a cleaner world. Their children and grandchildren continued their legacy with the Pym particles and had even found some other interesting things in the Quantum Realm, especially given that one of them had joined the Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj so they can learn more about the multiverse.

Major Danvers left the Earth after Colonel Rhodes' death. She only used to come around for emergencies, birthdays and death anniversaries of the people she had once called family until she, too, died, at nearly three hundred years of age. Mr Quill, too, lived a long life. He eventually got over Ms Gamora and found love again, had kids and went down in a blaze of glory while evacuating a planet when Galactus came for a snack - Vision still remembered the time Earth had been threatened. Bless Elsa and the fact that what was left of Ahtohallan was on Earth and therefore the planet must be protected - long after his companions other than Groot had passed away. He hoped that if there was such a thing as the afterlife that the Guardians of the Galaxy were reunited once again. Agent Barton lived out the rest of his life with his family peacefully, finally letting go of the Avengers after that last fight on Mount Everest. He had died of old age and passed on the title of Hawkeye to his daughter Laura. It was more than he had been expecting, given how his old partner had ended up. King T'Challa and Princess Shuri didn't really remain in touch and Doctor Banner tended to stick around Thor, who liked to go gallivanting across the universe when he had the time or got overwhelmed by his kingly duties, leaving Loki and Valkyrie in charge of New Asgard. Those four were the only ones still around from the old gang besides himself and Nebula.

The only ones Vision had no idea what had happened to was actually Captain Rogers and Ms Maximoff. He had been to Wong's funeral wake when the Asian sorcerer passed away peacefully in his sleep after a long hundred years of service to Kamar-Taj - sorcerers, apparently, tended to live long if they're not killed in the line of duty - and he had been one of his creator's pillars of support when eventually Mr Parker grew up and died as well, as all things must at one point, but he'd never seen hide or tail of either of the two of them ever again. Captain America had grown outdated by the time Tony Stark finally introduced the world to Elsa and the man had just left one day, apparently expecting the others to get up and follow him like they had the last time. He never returned, not even for Sargent Barnes' and Agent Ronanov's service. As for Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch threw a temper tantrum unbefitting of even young Nathaniel (he had been turning only seven at the time) when Vision finally took his creator's advice and pursued the romantic feelings he had developed for the blue cyborg standing at his side to this day. Neither of them were organic enough to have children but neither of them really knew how to be parents, either. They did settle for being the default babysitters for everyone else, though. They even trained the Young Avengers, the Neo Avengers and even the most recently formed Nova Avengers, so they had always been surrounded by people and kids especially, which helped them heal from some of the hardships they'd experienced in life.

It had been a good life.

Though maybe not as good a life as the last dragon, her Ib and the Sorcerer Supreme have been living.

Tony, Stephen and Elsa have been traveling the universe for centuries now, ever since the last of their mortal friends passed away, trying to figure out what had happened to all the dragons. Tony had the knowledge from Ahtohallan, the memories, but neither he nor Elsa were satisfied with that, not when so many were hunted to the ends of the universe and that opened the possibility that some dragon somewhere may have also had an egg waiting to be hatched by its Ib. Elsa and Tony held out hope despite the amount of years that by now still produced no results. They were stubborn enough to comb-pick the entire multiverse and they did need something to keep them busy for what might be a small eternity that will be their lifetime. Dragons tended to outlive stars and Elsa would still be considered a baby dragon had there been any others around. As long as Tony lived and she herself remained relatively safe, the multiverse will have many more years of existence ahead.

Doctor Strange, of course, followed after them on their crazy adventures. The good doctor had followed through with his promise of a date and he and the man he had bound his soul to in an attempt to save him had entered a relationship that did them both much, much good. Stephen at least kept a good eye on them, reminding them of their biological needs if they ever got too excited. They came back every few years to visit Earth and make sure everything was running smoothly, sometimes even bringing whatever stragglers they'd picked up on their journey. Earth was by this point a rather well known destination in the universe and everyone knew better than to try to invade/attack/destroy it, not when all previous attempts have proven futile and hazardous for the health of the attacker. Stephen still had his duties as Sorcerer Supreme but at least magic was not the problem when he needed to make weekly visits to Kamar-Taj and the Sanctums.

The three of them hadn't aged a day since the day Stephen bound his soul to Tony's. He had already been predestined to live long as the Sorcerer Supreme, but being tied to the Ib of a dragon had extended his life exponentially. It was humbling to see the two men looking so young and healthy when even Vision and Nebula had started showing signs of wear and age on their faces. The two men hadn't been all that young when they had stopped aging but they were good looking for a couple of two thousand year olds. They only showed signs of age and loss and grief and life lessons in their eyes now. They looked like they were preparing to face another loss as he looked at them now.

It was to be expected. Valkyrie had reached the usual life expectancy of Asgardians, Thor was close and Loki wasn't all that far behind, either. Tony, Stephen and Elsa had taken to visiting more often so they'd have some more memories of their not-so-immortal friends. They didn't want to miss those last moments they could have with them. Not like they had for the Guardians, or James Barnes and Natasha Romanov. Dr Banner will probably outlive them all, other than the three soulmates of course, though the scientist wasn't all that enthusiastic about that. Vision was honestly surprised that he hadn't tried to ask to join them on their adventures. Elsa could take some added weight.

And speaking of Elsa, she was the only one to have changed any. She'd grown to her full size, even though she could actually change sizes at will. She was now of the appearance of an adult, fully grown dragon and she was nearly the size of one of those 'space wales' that Vision had disturbing memories of its insides from when his basic coding belonged to JARVIS. Her features had sharpened, her claws had grown and her teeth were more prominent. She'd somehow become even more beautiful than she had been when she just hatched. Elsa had come into her power and shone like a star under the reflectors on the landing patch at the Nova Avengers Compound - it's been redesigned at least five hundred times by now, remodeled to fit every new person that joined the team - in the dark night. She could still change shape to appear human at any age, but she seems to usually stick to her own body and only changes size so she can cuddle with her summoner. No matter how many years may pass, the need for physical affection between those two never stopped and it never ceased to be 'adorable'.

"I wouldn't miss your visits for the world," Vision replied to Stark's comment in a gentle tone, shaking hands with Stephen when the shorter man stepped away. He took in the clothes they were wearing and arched what would have been an eyebrow if he were still trying to fit in to the human standards of normal and beauty. That had changed many, many years ago, especially when other species became regular visitors to Earth. He didn't have to be anyone else but himself. It was freeing.

What also appeared to be rather changed and freeing was the outfit the quintillionaire was wearing. Tony Stark was never out of style or behind the times, be it fashion- or technology- or knowledge-wise, and with years he proved that he was indeed like fine wine or the best whiskey. To this day, despite the huge changes technology underwent every ten minutes, Stark Intergalactic was still one of the leading technological companies. With not even the multiverse as the limit, Tony had taken to new and alien technologies like duck to water and most people were almost eager to teach him given how ready to learn he was. In the fashion sense, various peoples also loved to test their original or traditional local designs on the man who flew the stars in search for answers, because it was a matter of fact that Tony Stark can pull off anything.

Like he was pulling off the outfit he was wearing right now. Then again, Tony was used to skin tight undersuits for his Iron Man armors - which had gotten even more ridiculously advanced with new technologies and materials but that's a story for another time - so he knew how to work the light blue leather-like one he was wearing now with only what appeared to be a white silk see-through robe that formed a hollow triangle near his ankles up to just bellow his greatest asset and several belts around his waist, thighs and ankles that matched it in color.

And while Tony gladly changed his clothing fashion with every new civilization they visited, Stephen remained in his same old dusty robes for the majority of the time, though they seem to have managed to put even him into some rather interesting black clothing this time around. Black leather pants, black leather boots, a leather trench coat with gold trimming and red designs on his chest and, of course, his ever loyal and never wavering Cloak of Levitation around his shoulders, he matched Tony rather nicely. Stephen has spent the centuries of travel to gather more magical knowledge and become even stronger, which was rather scary given he'd already been strong enough to use magic even in a place as warded as the Temple of Ahtohallan - which, thankfully, remained undisturbed to this day except for when Tony and Elsa check up on it once a year - so at least there was someone out there to watch Tony's and Elsa's backs. Stephen had trained a few students on his travels and some of them had even joined them for years and years. Vision and Nebula never met any of them but the trio spoke very fondly of the 'baby wizards' that now terrorized the universe's and multiverse's idiotic villains.

At least they appeared to be having fun.

"We visited the Nu'miroji before we cane here," the sorcerer explained when he noticed the looks the android was giving them. "They insisted on dressing us up and apparently Tony has a weak spot for leather."

"Fashionable leather, mind you," corrected the dragon summoner with a mock haughty sniff. "Besides, I look good in this and it's good to see you out of those boring old robes for once, Stephen. One would think you're a monk with how you dress all the time, honestly! Even Vision and Nebula have more of a fashion sense then you and they prefer not to go out much. Hell, even Thor has better fashion sense than you and he thought dreadlocks were cool. Loki has to dress him up half the time so he doesn't embarrass either Earth or New Asgard."

"I take great offense at that, you douchebag," huffed the insulted intergalactic doctor - and yes, Stephen Strange had indeed returned to his passion now that he knew he would have time for both. It took him years to manage all the new medical knowledge he got to soak up but he was obviously a talented and born doctor just like he was apparently born to be Sorcerer Supreme.

"Whatever, asshole."

The affectionate name calling seems to have stayed the same as well. Even after all these years, Vision thought he will never truly understand their relationship.

"How goes your search?" Nebula asked before they could start bicker-flirting in that way that always almost ended with both hers and Vision's circuits near frying as they tried to figure out how and why and always end up stumped. It was best to end it before it began. The kids would want to see their 'uncles'.

"Quite well, actually," Elsa answered instead of her two companions, shrinking down to the size she'd been when she'd first hatched like she was wont to when she wanted cuddles and snuggles from her Ib. "We found a rumor about an old abandoned colony that had a few temples dedicated to dragons before it was mysteriously abandoned. We hope to go there after our visit."

"That sounds promising," Vision offered, knowing that even if it turned out to be empty yet again, at least they will have found more of Elsa's people's history. "Have either of you entered the Flow recently?"

"Yeah, just yesterday. You know we like to make sure our visits will be safe and stress-free, Viz." Vision had to smile at the reassurance and reminder. It was true that they did indeed try their best to make it so, even though circumstances don't always allow for it.

"Then may we tempt you with a cup of tea or coffee before we meet with the others? Loki and Valkyrie should be arriving soon and the children still have an hour or so more of training. We would like to hear about the newest adventures you've had."

Elsa, who shrank so she can wrap around her Ib's shoulders, yawned in preparation for a nap. "Only if we go down to the lab. I miss FRIDAY, Dum-E, U and Butterfingers."

"Probably for the best," agreed the good doctor. "We do have to discuss Vormir. It seems it's starting to get unstable. We may have to relocate the Soul Stone soon enough to a safer, more stable location. I don't think Vormir is capable of protecting it anymore."

"Just as good," Loki's voice drifted into their ears as he and Valkyrie walked through the little rift in shadows that Loki most often used to travel these days. "Thor reports that the Reality Stone also needs moving. Someone's trying to collect them again. It's best if we hide all the Infinity Stones well enough that we can't find them. Except the Time Stone, of course. That thing needs watching."

"Agreed," Tony and Stephen said together. Vision had long since gotten used to hiding the Infinity Stone that game him life behind a layer of 'skin' so it was not visible even when he used it in battle. He will never again make himself such an obvious target and with the amulet Doctor Strange gave him to hide its signature, it wasn't such an impossible mission. "The Power and Reality Stones have to be moved, obviously, and you're guarding Space and Mind and we've got Time. I'm not sure where we can put the Soul Stone, though."

"The Well of Ahtohallan could work," Nebula suggested casually. She shrugged when they all looked at her contemplatively.

"She's got a valid point," Valkyrie agreed with her only humanoid female companion in this conversation. "Only Tony and Elsa can go in there. The deeper you put it, the less likely is the chance anyone or anything can get it."

Tony sighed but he didn't sound all that displeased. Vision knew he liked going to the Temple and jumping into the Well. Tony had tried explaining it to him once, the feeling, what he saw down there, the amazing things to learn, how he belonged ... Vision had never understood the bulk of it and the man had never found quite the right words. "Fine. We'll go get it after our visit ends and out it down in the Well. But," he said mock threateningly. "We get to choose the movie."

"Ugh, no," Loki complained immediately, looking disgusted already. "You'll just pick those old Frozen movies again."

"It began our journey!" Protested the genius inventor.

"Doesn't mean we have to watch it each and every time you come to visit," Stephen pointed out and Tony pouted with deadly force at his soulmate. Stephen, who was wise to his ways, only looked away so as not to be manipulated. "Pick another movie."

"Not Tony Story. Fuck but that movie reminds me of the old Avengers team." They all had to shudder in agreement to that one.

"How about we show you the movies Terrans made in their honor?" Nebula suggested and Vision looked at her in surprise. Nebula had been the first to protest the idea of showing Tony, Stephen and Elsa the 'biographies' the world had written for them. The movies were great, accurate and extremely popular, but they had reawakened the IronStrange fan club and Tony had nightmares of the fangirls back from when he regularly inhabited Earth.

"And we can find the Disney movies that match them!" And, of course, the children had arrived. Vision couldn't help but smile how toddlers, preschoolers, preteens, teens and even young adults all flocked to Tony's and Stephen's side, eager for hugs and head pats and hair ruffles. They all heard from them regularly since across space communication was nothing new nor difficult anymore, but being here in person always excited the kids and these reunions always made for quite a heartwarming scene. Especially the way Tony tended to fold like wet toilet paper for five year old Morgan Antonia Parker, the great great great great great great great great great great grandniece of Peter Benjamin Parker. He'd always had an extremely soft place for the Parker family. He'll probably never let her change her last name and will pull the Eleventh and refuse to let the baby bear the father's name, either. It was endearing.

"Okay, okay! Slow down, you little munchkins! I'm not as young as I used to be!" Tony laughed as he allowed to children to heard him away, Stephen following right after his soulmate with grand amusement, as always. The rest of them just sighed in fond exasperation and went after them as well.

Perhaps they'll even let Tony put on the old Frozen movies again.

Sometimes you don't need to show yourself into the unknown to have fun, after all.

THE END