Forever

The ground trembled, pine leaves fell from their perches, far away birds took of… Tony would have wanted to feel annoyed, but it was sadness that gripped his heart.

The earthquake had broken, the short, precious, time, he had left to be as they were; wrapped into each other. Limbs, slick with sweat, and warm from sex, tangled and comfortable. Listening to their heartbeat and gentle breaths. Taking each other in, with care reserved for pray.

So it was with a heavy heart that he raised his gaze….

He woke to full alertness, at seeing the sky turn a sickening reddish colour, and dark clouds begin to gather faster than he had thought possible.

"What the…?"

Bruce, who had been already fully awake before the earthquake, (Too wound up by everything that had taken place), was already getting up before Tony could process their disentangling limbs, (something like regret set in the final, butterfly-light sweep, of the bio-ingenierists fingertips against his flesh.)

But before they were even standing, as suddenly as it started, the small earthquake stopped.

A frown made his way into Doctor Banners features, with Stark's not far behind.

"That's not a natural phenomenon." Banner knew everything that was to know about meteorology, and this was not.

Scientific curiosity, and barely nascent apprehension, grabbed at their guts.

Then, as unexpected as the redding sky, thunder cracked, the clouds swirled thicker and thicker by the second. Wind sweep the forest, moaning on the swinging branches, messing their hair…

"Rain?" Tony touched his own cheek, where something warm had splashed him. But as he looked at his fingertips, the liquid wasn't the expected clear one, but a bright red and sticky substance.

He looked up to see Bruce getting wet too, red spattering his hair and skin with crimson. The iron smell of it reached his nostrils, making him sick.

The biologist took a swipe of it from his hand with his tongue. It tasted metallic.

"Its blood."

"Blood?! Don't tell me, somehow, we managed to start the dam plagues." Snark taking his tongue, and masking the foreboding feelings Tony was determined to ignore.

Thunder cracked again, this time painfully louder, gaining their attention. The sky had become nothing but a thick mass of clouds … then, something seemed to illuminate them from the inside.

For a second they thought it must be lighting, until whatever was beyond breached the storm.

They fell like comets; fiery rocks coming by dozens.

Bruce tensed, suddenly painfully aware of Tony's presence, vulnerable, so terribly vulnerable without armour, at his side. And had a second to regret the state of the mark 6.

But before Bruce called for Hulk, the sky above them opened into a familiar multi coloured tunnel, bringing a flash of light and wind, that disappeared a second later, leaving Thor in its wake, but no reddish sky, not blood on their skin, or comets falling.

Around them the forest flourished under the early morning sun, calm and bright. The things they had seen, gone like mist.

"What the fuck?!" Tony exhaled, his heart slowing into relief he would never admit too.

At his side, Bruce began unwinding too. His eyes a warm brown Tony had seen shine green for a second, not a moment ago.

However, as he relaxed, Stark took in his asgardians friend state; Thor looked troubled, grim. It was easy to see the shadows gathering in his too truthful eyes. The Thunderer never had the talent his brother did, to lie. His feelings as easy to see as the sun in the sky. Yet, like the sun, they could be burning too, if you remained in their wake long enough.

And the ones he displayed now were burning indeed.

Regret, determination, pain… Tony saw them clear as day.

Mjolnir rested heavily on Thor's hand. His words came heavier still.

"Shield brothers, we must prepare for battle."

"What's happening?" Anthony asked, didn't care he was still naked, sweat drying on his skin, seed still warm inside.

Bruce didn't care either, accustomed to waking up naked after Hulk's outbursts. Both shyless men as far as body went.

Thor was not much different. As long as his life had been, nakedness and all its mysteries were well known.

His eyes lingered only on Anthony's side, where the wounds were still tender. Midgardians were very fragile, their lives so short... His heart hurt with the notion his friend's may end even sooner. However, he willed the thought away, as more pressing matters asked for words.

"The one responsible for this phenomenons, is the dragon creature we had been fighting."

His midgardian friends looked at their surroundings, expecting to see the monster near, as they had been affected by his powers. Yet, he was not.

"Where is him?" Tony asked.

Thor shakes his head once.

"No near my friend. That's what I must tell you. He is not dragon at all. Not even a creature on it's own, but a shadow. A manifestation of a very old, very powerful, being. One of the oldest inhabitants of the Yggdrasil."

"That's why you have been absent, isn't it? You have been learning about him." Tony inquired, and Thor nodded. "So what can you tell us? How we fight him? Both times we have, he just flicked off."

"I can promise that will not happen again. Before, he was no mortal being, but an avatar, a manifestation, of an intangible force. Now he is free, and embodied."

Bruce frowned.

What kind of force? What does he embodi?"

The asgardians answer was curt.

"He is fear."

"Fear as in the feeling?" Tony said.

"Yes my friends. Every strong power has the potential to gain life of his are uncomparable beings we call Titans. They usually seek solitude, yet this one…"

"So what's doing something like him,in Earth?" Bruce inquired. A very ugly suspicion taking root on his brain.

Thor's eyes darkened further at the question, filled with regret that wasn't his.

"It was imprisoned here, as this was the most peaceful realm of the Yggdrasil. Where he couldn't feed as easily of the feelings he seeks: Fear, terror and misery, are his most beloved feasts. And it was right for centuries. However, the Chitauri invasion has weakened the walls keeping him. The fear that has gripped humankind, at knowing themselves vulnerable to other races in the universe, reached beyond the seal and feed the creature. Ever since, he has been seeking to gather power through the cracks… until the seal has finally broken."

Thor's fingers flexed around the handle of Mjolnir.

"And as fear is what he harvests. He calls into the deepest and most painful memories of his preys. Weaves illusions like the one you were being enchanted by." his hand reaches for the amulet tied around his throat. The one his mother crafted for him, much like she had crafted his friend's, not a few weeks ago. What an unfortunate thing that they had left theirs at the Avengers tower.

And what a painful thing, he had to do this. However, he had hope it wouldn't come to the worst.

"I'm truly sorry this came to pass, but we don't have much time. He may be weak now, after so long imprisoned, but won't be for long. The illusion you saw, was not merely destined for you. It's enveloping all of Midgard, and if we do not stop him now, in just a few hours, he may have harvested fear enough to be impossible to restrain. "

"How do we stop him?- Asked Bruce. -It doesn't seem like mere physical strength would suffice. Asgard would have killed him already if that was so. Is it not?"

Thor nodded grimly.

"Yes. It is true. As a creature made of feeling, he cannot be killed, only imprisoned. That's why he must be sealed anew. My mother has weaved for us a spell strong enough for it, now that he is not in full strength yet. But we will need to trap him time enough for it to take effect. For that, I will ask for our green friends help. As I will ask too for your help too, Anthony. And that of out shield brothers."

They both nodded at the request, as the ground gave a new short tremor. Tony cursed under his breath, knowing they had not time.

"Now, my friends, we must take this plight."

oOo

In the end, all his faint was for naught.

New York was going mad around them. People trapped inside their own horrors, and attacking one another in panic and desperation. The streets littered by corpses, broken store windows and cars that had crashed against other vehicles, walls, storefronts… everything.

Screams and the smell of fire impregnated the atmosphere. And in the middle of all that horror, stood the Titan. A dragon like monster, three times bigger than the one they had fought before.

Yet, height was not the only difference. Were the first had been red, this was dark. His scales and claws as black and hot, as coal. His eyes, fiery petroleum pools of evil glint.

He was not mindless monster, for he acted with too much intelligence and assurance, for it to be true.

Their one advantage were the amulets that rendered his powers ineffective against them. But only them. This near the creature the talisman's range shrunk to the wearer.

The Avengers hadn't called for help. None could have helped. Everyone else had already been too far gone, when Thor had managed to find the rest of their friends, and take them out the nightmares they had been trapped inside, where they had been resilient, as they already knew what they were facing.

At the start of the combat the Avengers could match the entity well enough, nearly had it trapped, but… it became stronger the longer they fought, and they became more tired as time went on.

Hawkeye was the first to fall. His arm had been wounded by the fight against the Yellow Hulk not a day before, and even with the shoulder tightly wrapped and secured, he was not in peak condition.

It had been only a matter of time, before he was too slow to do much, when the Titans long spiked tail leveled the building in which roof the had been.

Only luck and quick reflexes saving him from death, as he managed to jump to a near roof. But the impact and the flying debris that hit him, left Clint lying flat, cracked by pain and unable to get up.

Not long after, Captain America, who was still wounded by his encounter with the Yellow one, but that refused to be left behind, and Black widow, got taken down. Both throw against a brick wall strong enough to break through it, by the explosion of fire breathed by the thing. An impromptu inferno that made a dozen nearby cars go up in flames, and left them third-degree burns, broken bones, and barely alive.

In the end, only Thor, Hulk and Tony remained. Tony, because he was too fast in his armour for the Titan to take proper aim… at least for now. And Hulk and Thor, because they were the strongest and most durable. Yet, Thor was rapidly gaining in wounds, and in hopelessness.

They weren't strong enough to take the Titan. Not as they were. Fear making himself known in his heart. And thus, feeding the creature further.

Heimdall's words echoing in his skull and gaining strength. Words he hadn't let himself think about...

However as their spirit wavered, he couldn't tune them out.

Was it truly the only exit left for them? Was the life of one man, so high a price to pay in exchange for a whole branch of the Yggdrasil?

His heart hurt.

Finally, as him and Tony descended to the street in need of a moment respire, Thor asked for words with his friend.

Protected enough by distance and the cars abandoned in the street, the asgardian and the terran had a second to take into each other.

Thor was sweat drenched, dirty from soot and blood. His crimson cape torn, the leather armour sighed, mane as dirty as the rest of him and dishevelled. There were deep gashes on his side bleeding sluggishly, were the Titan had managed to land his claws, breaking the protection to reach flesh.

Overall, the asgardian looked tired, body and soul. His eyes full of shadows his friend couldn't decipher.

Tony was not better off.

His armour spotty, black in places for the fire and intense heat. Scraps littered the titanium alloy, and its right arm was barely functional. As it was, he was lucky his fleshy arm underneath had not sustained something worse than bruises.

The armour was fast, and he managed to avoid a direct hit until now, but the longer they fought the faster the creature became. As of now it was plain for all to see that the Dragon was playing with them. Taking pleasure on the fight and their increasing desperation. Not even the Hulk was making much progress. As he too, sported gashes and shoot marks. Something that very rarely had happened before. And never that Hulk took on an opponent he couldn't defeat.

It was unnerving how things spoke so ill of the outcome.

Tony felt a pressure on his breast that had little to do with the Ark lodged there, and too much with everything else. So he ignored it.

"What did you want to speak about?" he drawled out.

"Please, take your helmet off my friend."

"Thor…"

"What words I will give you, must be spoken face to face."

Never had Tony hear the asgardian prince speak with such finality before.

"Okey…" very slowly he released the mechanism of the helmet.

And with it in hand looked into Thor's too blue eyes.

For the first time since they meet, the engineer could believe his friend was thousands of years old. As that warm, sky blue, gazing at him, was no longer the carefree shade he knew, but a heavier, colder one. Marred from countless losses, the certainty of an old soul who knows to accept them, returned his look.

"Anthony."

When Thor's heavy hand rested on his shoulder, it took him by surprise, and made Tony want to snap, but uncharacteristically, he reigned the impulse back. The gesture too caring, too strange, to hurl it back.

"So… ?" He drawled, unsure how to react.

"Before I came, Heimdall spoke to me the way to overpower the Titan." the words tore from Thor's throat feeling red with his friends blood.

"But you didn't speak of this before… because something about it is bad, pretty fucking bad, isn't it?"

Tony knew without words, felt Thor's pain radiate outward like ozone from the charged atmosphere of a storm. "How bad are we facing Thor? Ritual sacrifice bad?"

The gods mouth tightened, and the pressure on his shoulder augmented, till he could feel it through the titanium. His too blue eyes averted in pain.

"That bad, then?" Tony tried the funny diverting way, just wanting to erase the suffering on that gaze.

"Anthony, friend of mine." Thor lifted his gaze, locking their eyes. Tony though those were the irises of a God under torture. Too many wounds and pain, to come from the span of one mortal life. "What I learned from Heimdall was this; that The Yellow one is the only one who can overpower the Titan. As he is hate, an emotion who only grows with fear, unlikely the rage of the Hulk."

Tony frowned.

"You are worried about Yellow taking control? Don't be, he…"

"No, I do not fear for Bruce, Anthony. I fear for you." Thor's hand left his shoulder, to cup his nape in utter kindness. "For Yellows power to flourish in full, and be enough to take on the Titan, he must lose that who he cares for more than anything." Snow could have melted on his tongue as softly as he spoke his next words. "You must die."

Fear.

It wasn't the first time Tony had felt this kind of soul freezing feeling. In Afghanistan when he had been captured, when the chitauri invasion and the nuke had happened… it shouldn't feel so sharp now, after the familiarity he had gained with it. But…

"Die…" he muttered because he didn't think he could speak louder.

"I'm sorry my friend, there is no other way." Thor felt sick.

Tony's mind became razor sharp, taking on the calm before the tornado. He didn't ask if there was another way, if it had been, Thor would have spoken about it. Instead he forced a self-assured smile. Hadn't he been living in borrowed time already?

"Yea? So I die and the dragon-fear-thing gets handed his ass by Bruce?" Bruce…

His smile faltered. After the monster was out, and him dead, what would Bruce fee… Tony shut the thought down. He couldn't, wouldn't think about it. What would be the purpose? He won't be there to ease Bruce's pain, to comfort him with bad jokes and food. To warm him with warm tea, and warmer flesh.

He swallowed convulsively.

"Thor, can I ask you a favor?"

"I will endeavour to make it happen." Thor vowed. The certainty in his words so unbreakable as to feel like steel.

"Take care of Bruce. I modificated my will some time ago, so he won't need for anything material but… He will need you to tell him not to blame himself. He will try. Trust me, he will.-Just the notion made him nauseous.- And that I…" Tony faltered. What could he say? I love him, was such a lame phrase to convey the fiercely burning inside that scorched him...

Thor's had left his nape to grip his shoulder in firm promise. "I will tell him my friend." An understanding in his gaze, that told Tony he had understood without words.

"Thank you."

oOo

What the Norn's had weaved came to pass.

Anthony soared across the sky; a brilliant flash of red and gold, against the dying sun.

A magnificent bright flame, all the brighter for its brevity.

oOo

Tony rose taking to the sky, let himself get engulfed by the golden and bright orange hues of the dusk. He breathed in them, filled himself with the intense feeling that flying with utter freedom gave him. Drank it all down, just to drown his racing mind one last time.

He didn't want to think about the ones he would leave behind, about his own fear, about Bruce… he looked down, instinctively in search of the intense green of Hulk.

However, as he looked at the combat still raging on the street. the very thin calm he had managed to craft for himself, fractured and broke into razor sharp shards.

Down on his knees, Hulk struggled to get up, slipping on a puddle of his own blood, as it spilled to the asphalt from his stomach, where the monsters spiked tail was embedded.

Never, never had Tony seen so much of his beloved's blood.

That puddle of bright life, froze him in its deeps. For a second he could do nothing but watch the man he loved grunt, as the appendage trashes in his guts, making a new wave of crimson fall to the puddle already gathered, with a sickening wet sound.

As Hulk struggled with the pain, the Titan twisted like a serpent, and closed its long blade-sharp teeth, on green flesh. Thor's blow to his neck didn't even pause it.

Hulk roared in howling agony.

The freezing feeling trapping Tony, broke like frail China against the ground.

Rage and pain crashed into him with the strength of a train wreck, and launched Iron man into a mindset, he only ever experienced in battle.

"Jarvis, turn off the Ark's safekeepers."

"...Yes Sir." Jarvis took a second to acquiescence. British accent, a touch too concerned, that Tony knew for so long, it became a comforting cadence.

That his old friend didn't comment on the integrity failure it would cause on the Ark, and the danger to his life, meant he had eavesdropped through the helmet his conversation with Thor, and respected Tony enough to let him do this, no matter his own feelings.

Of course he did, he was Jarvis. Tony's first true accomplishment, his paranoid protector, and his best friend.

The hud displayed the necessary diagrams in rapid succession, as one by one, all security protocols were overrun and discarded, with the deadly grace and economy of motion, only Jarvis code could implement.

The safekeepers went down without sound, just when the Titan took out his tail with a vicious twist, delighting in Hulks pain laced roar of rage.

With a buzz of fierce electricity, the energy reserves of the suit went up to supercharged.

"Thank you, J"

oOo

He fell like an eagle from the sky.

His repulsors and the Ark bright as stars.

His armours red and gold, like that of a phoenix, aflame in blue.

The Titan saw him coming, but didn't try to evade the impact. Too strong, too empowered, to care.

Tony crashed against him in a explosion of blue.

oOo

At the start of the battle, when he had had to relinquish his body to the Hulk, Bruce had been drawn taut. Not knowing what to expect of the Yellow monster waiting him inside. If he would need to fight his way free, like last time they converged, or if he would be attacked with deadly intent this time.

However, when he fell to the dark recesses of his mind, the creature didn't come at him, didn't even deem to speak to him. In the absence of any light source, Bruce couldn't see his bulking shape, but he could still feel the thing near, still listen to his rustling scales on the stone floor, and the deep sibilant hisses of his breathing.

For whatever reason, Yellow seemed content in studying him.

And Bruce let him, after a few minutes of no threatening movement happening. Instead he occupied himself with trying to spy through Hulk's eyes, snatching images like broken films.

In the darkness of their mind, they saw the battle take place in fits and spurts.

Clint's fall, Steve and Natasha's burning… The Titan's terrible strength and speed, and how he became stronger and faster, the longer it got to subdue him. Until pain broke through to them, stabbing into their collective minds agony that gripped their stomach, and made them howl.

Bruce fell to his knees, vaguely registering the vibration in the ground, and the screech of scales forcible drawn against the floor.

Hulk was badly wounded. They were falling… a new wave of pain broke, as blade-sharp fangs pierced their leg.

They howled in tandem.

And suddenly, blue exploded blinding everything with magnificent light, taking away the teeth and the tail, and most of the piercing pain.

When the brightness diminished and they could see again, their surroundings were but a crater, at the bottom of which stood the Dragon. Half his scales looked charred to the flesh underneath, his tail was twisted and broken, bone poking out of crispy skin, and his face was but chunks of meat melting from the skull, as his eyes, white and sightless, rolled in their sockets.

Yet, the Titan was alive, twisting and hissing, as his wounds mended themselves with inhuman speed.

Hulk got up, his own wounds healing already too. When he saw what had caused the explosion.

There, near the monster, at the bottom of the crater, stood a blackened and wrenched thing of metal.

Dull red, and tarnished gold…

Bruce felt himself tremble, as Hulk advanced unsteadily. Felt the Yellow one sift in the darkness, jerky, strange. They were like puppets, moving without will, mind blank, heart thundering.

Surely, it couldn't be what it looked like. Surely, it was not…

Hulk extended his hand, huge fingers a breath away from what could have been a shoulder. They couldn't see the front of the thing, from how it had fallen to the ground.

"Don't touch it." Bruce muttered from inside, unable to make his voice stronger, paralysed. Deep down, there was a knowledge, already, he didn't want to acknowledge.

Hulk couldn't hear him, or didn't want too, as his fingers finally made contact.

… it was hot, and smooth. Very gently, heartbreakingly so, he pushed, and the thing moved to lay on its, his, back.

The mask, and the blackened hole where the Ark reactor used to be, where the only still recognisable features, everything else…

Their fingers came to rest on the side of the helmet. Blood was seeping through the cracks of the armour, kindly painting their digits red.

The same intense red hue, Tony loved so much.

It only made sense he would have that colour flowing through his veins.

He was still, quiet… it was unnatural. Tony was a vibrant being, he could never sit still for long, mind racing and body twitching to follow. Even asleep he was restless… coming suddenly awake, with ideas he needed to put on practice next second.

To see him so still…

The negation he had surrounded himself with, began to crack… Bruce couldn't breathe through the pain, couldn't move, couldn't think…

Then, the Titan sifted again, nearly healed, and hissed with malice, deep contentment on his red irises as he watched Tony's body.

And Bruce knew HATE.

oOo

Yellow rose through imposible pain, and scorching hate. His enormous shadow engulfed the sun, his claws opened gashes on the asphalt.

He raised his head to the sky, and howled a sound no man could have fully understood. Yet, Thor listened, and quivered with the inhuman suffering it contained.

"My friend…" the asgardian muttered, blue irises damp with unshed tears, for his lost shield brother. As he brought a fist to his chest, in respect for the warrior that had died.

The sky turned black with clouds, the streets echoed with the lament of the howling wind, and rain fell heavily, drenching everyone and everything.

Vapour rose from Yellow scales, as the hate he carried, so strong and terrible, burned everything that touched him.

He fell on the Titan with harrowing bloodlust.

oOo

The battle could scarcely be called such. It was blood, it was guts, it was teeth and claws and clashing bodies.

Viscera painted the asphalt red, as both tore at the other with vicious intent.

Son, it was clear the Yellow monster was stronger, and crueler, than the dark one. He tore out his tail with brute strength, and gave raucous laughter when the other howled in pain and hate. It did not matter the breath of fire, that blackened his golden scales.

As the Titan got more, and more, desperate, Bruce's alter ego got stronger and fiercer. The creatures powers, entirely useless, in one who had seen his worst fear already take place, and thus, had nothing else to be afraid of.

However, he did have one feeling raising higher and higher on his breast. Like a venom consuming him, hate devoured and empowered the Yellow one.

It was not enough to return the Titan to his cage, it wouldn't be to kill him either, even if it had been possible.

The creature who had taken Tony away, needed to suffer blinding agony.

A blow to the head threw the Titan to the ground, where Yellow could easily trap him. He sat atop the twisting serpent, and grabbed his jaw to keep it still, as he tore his eyes out of their sockets.

The howl of pain collapsed into gurgles when his jaw bone snapped too.

After that… it was a carnage.

The Yellow tore off limbs and wings, and when it was not enough, he broke the soft skin of the dragon's belly, to take out his guts.

He batted in blood and viscera, snarling and howling, taking pleasure in tearing away things as they healed.

Yet… it was not enough.

The void inside, where Tony had been, was a gaping hole he couldn't seem to fill.

He couldn't clench the pain, the need, the horrible emptiness.

No matter the amount of pain he inflicted in the one who took him, it was not enough…

Strange words, took a minute for his mind to register, among the bloodlust. And when he did, Yellow found it was Thor the one reciting them, hands aflame in light, as he manipulated what looked like a mixture of a box, and a puzzle. Brow furrowed in concentration, sweat beading his brow.

Soon the light grew tendrils that rose to trap the Titan, who tried to escape even now. However, Yellow embedded his claws into his flesh, viciously, and holded him in place, as the tendrils got brighter and brighter, and more numerous by the second.

Thor's voice raised with the howling wind, quickly turning into a hurricane.

The tendrils became a cage of blinding light, and terrible hotness, that still got brighter, and hotter, until it hurt to touch, and look at.

Yellow had to let go, hissing against being forced to do so, as the chant reached a furious crescendo. Then, something tore the air itself. A sound that was not sound, broke into a wave, throwing Thor and Yellow to the ground. And the Titan disappeared in a flash, leaving the street suddenly dark, and calm.

oOo

Minutes later, when Thor, wounded and still dizzy, managed to get up, he saw Yellow had relinquished his place. And it was Bruce, dirty, bloody and naked, the one cradling Tony's broken body to his chest, as tears trailed down his silent face.

oOo

(A week later, SHIELD headquarters)

" So this so called Titan, won't be leaving his cage again?"

"Not in the next thousand years at least, minister." Fury answered, as he stood surrounded by the holographic display of the Earth council.

It had been a week since the attack and the world was coming back to normal, the dead count not as high as it could have been.

A female member spoke then, precise in her intent.

"It's good to know. And what is the state of the Avengers?"

"Agents Barton and Natasha remain in medical care, but out of danger. As does Captain Rogers's for now. Thor's inhuman metabolism, let him fully recover in a matter of hours." He left one out of the report.

It didn't go unnoticed.

"As we spoke last time, Director Fury, this council must address the issue of Doctor Banner." The same female said.

"And as it was stated, Doctor Banner is still a member of the Avengers." Fury intercepted, with respectful iron will.

Another, elderly man, spoken then.

"He is uncontrollable. The Hulk was already a terrible risk, this new yellow creature can't be contained. He decimated a military base. It's too dangerous to…"

"That creature, as you call him, saved all our lives." Fury intervened.

"We can't confide in Doctor Banner's goodwill, Director. Even if he is in control as of now, he is not stable." A second, slightly younger woman, said.

"Not after Mister Stark's death." The man finished.

"We should consider disabling him."

Fury clenched his fist, knowing disabling, was just a smooth way to say, death sentence.

"I can't support such a decision. Doctor Banner had already been key to the handling of several world crisis."

"It's not your place…"

A heavy fall outside the room interrupted them, just as the door opened to admit Thor. The agents that had tried to stop him, groaning on the ground, and unable to get up.

"Thor, this is no way to…" the elder man started, but was again interrupted by the asgardian God.

"I truly regret my uninvited entrance."- he bowed curtly to the Midgardian council, knowing when to court favor, and earning a slight relaxation of their stances for it.- "However,-he continued- I come to relieve this Council of a great worry, as I have come to understand." He straightened into regal dignity. "I ask Bruce Banner be released into my care. I will bring him with me to Asgard, as we are better suited to deal with the Yellow one, should he emerge a new."

"It's a very generous offer, Prince Thor. But why would you want to take such responsibility?" The oldest woman asked.

"Because I made a bow to a very cherished friend "

oOo

(Bruce)

It didn't matter, that the world was coming back to normal, little by little.

It didn't matter, that Clint, Steve and Natasha, were well and alive in the hospital, getting treatment for their injuries.

It didn't matter, he would be sentenced to life prison, if not outright death.

Tony was the one thing that mattered, and he wasn't anymore.

Nothing mattered anymore.

oOo

Thor was brought by Fury to the crystal cell Bruce was kept in. A second model, built after the first Loki had destroyed.

The vision that greeted him was heartbreaking.

Bruce stood inside, seated on the ground, barely clad in the same shoot dirty clothes someone had managed to obtain for him on the wake of the combat. A greyish blue sweater too big for him, and a pair of old brown trousers.

He looked tired, haggard. His hair upkeep and dirty, his skin sallow pale, his gaze vacant. There was dried blood beneath his nails. Tony's, dried blood.

"Wouldn't you let him have a shower?" Thor frowned as he asked Fury.

"He didn't want to."

Thor felt his heart clench. But he shook the sensation away, as he approached Bruce.

Fury let the cell-doors security measures, take his retina scan and voice, before it opened to let Thor in.

The asgardian came to stay before Bruce, and fell into one knee, so he could speak face to face.

Bruce barely shifted his stare, letting Thor know he was aware of his presence, if nothing else.

"Bruce, friend of mine."- he spoke kindly, with the tone one would use to coax a wild, hurt, animal, near. Fury thought he was not mistaken.- "I have come to ask you with me to Asgard." -Thor extended a hand to touch Bruce's limp fingers… no, there was something he was pressing to Banner's hand. An amulet? -"There's someone waiting there, who would never forgive me if you did not."

Bruce's hand closed tightly around it, something like fear on his trembling fingers, unwilling to let it go. And nodded.

Thor gave a kind smile.

Fury didn't know what it meant, but he knew what he hopped it did.

oOo

(Asgard)

The golden city was everything its name promised.

Sun kissed metal gleaming in the morning light, making the palace into a gigantic jewel, at which feet the city spread out; white stone houses, and luscious green gardens, where the sound of happy, lively, people, was everywhere.

The smell of delicious foods tingled his nose.

Yet, Bruce walked among it all like a dead man; Eyes vacant and lifeless, skin pale.

The only sign of will were his left hand's fingers, tightly curled around the amulet.

Tony's charred amulet.

He had recognised the piece, the moment Thor put it in his hands.

Now it was his only tetter to his memory.

He trailed after Thor, through the palace's golden halls of high reaching ceilings. Insensitive to their beauty, and uninterested on their final destination. Be it another cell, or a guest room, he didn't care.

Finally, they reached a gallery opening into an enclosed patio.

Light from the golden morning sun, turned the tiles of the stone square honey hued, and made the greenery growing in a very small garden to the side, into a luscious space of fresh shadow.

It looked to be a training place, where a few shirtless men battled in pairs with wooden swords, beneath the watchful gaze of an elder; whose gold armour spoke of high range and respect.

As they entered the patio, the man raised his palm.

"We will take a break now, go refresh yourselves."

The battling couples stopped with relieved sighs and happy murmurs. Obviously tired, and sweat drenched.

As they moved to enter the palace, a man broke from the group to come greet Thor.

As he advanced alone, the sun bathed his sweaty shirtless torso, unblemished by scars and metal, touched his fresh face and goatee, younger and healthier than Bruce could remember, and shined on his raven, rumbled hair.

Bruce felt his heart lurch, suddenly aware of his surroundings, with crystal, painful, clarity.

It couldn't possibly be real, yet...

The man's eyes turned to him, caramel colored irises full of recognition. A smile broke across that mouth then, happy, full of mischief and life.

Bruce could do nothing but watch. Paralysed by fear, that this was but a chimera of his own imagination. Heart thundering inside, breath short… it was like watching the world turn back, and he just couldn't take it.

This couldn't be real.

He turned around, going for the exit, as the man approached, however, he should have remembered Stark's unbending stubbornness.

"Bruce!" The man called, and Banner found himself, suddenly, stopped by the arm. And as he moved to free himself, a pair of lips were on his, kissing the air out of him.

The warm tongue that touched his palate, was intoxicating, so familiar, so missed, so much loved...

The hand not closed around his arm, went up and sneaked into his locks, at the same time sweaty warm skin pressed against him. Facial hair tickled his cheek, and the others manly smell filled his lungs; sweat and metal, pine shampoo, electricity, and that musky, perfect, scent, that was pure Tony Stark.

No one else could smell like him.

"Tony…" he whimpered into warm lips, suddenly taken by the enormous realisation he was alive, in his arms, safe.

He returned the embrace with desperation, marring tanned skin with too forceful fingers. Tony grunted and gave a soft laugh, as he tightened his own grab and pressed his body into Bruce's punishingly.

They kissed again, clashing with such strong passion they broke skin against teeth, and still didn't care. Their tongues meet tasting everything from the other; spit, blood, the reddish taste of the inside of a cheek.

They only stopped because the need to breathe, and even then, they stayed wound together, faces inches apart; breathing into each other, and studying their faces, like they had never seen a more precious sight.

"How…?" Bruce asked, still trying to calm his breathing.

"How I'm alive?" Tony answered, a very un-Thony-like sweet smile, painting his reddish lips. "Well, I was revived by Thor's father. Kind of."

"...kind of?"

Thor spoke then, somewhat merciful of Bruce's confusion. His face was that of a happy proud father, looking at them.

"The all father has the power of raising the most brave warriors from those who die in battle, to serve in Asgard as enjeinhar. The night we trapped the Titan, I asked he raise Anthony, as he is a truly remarkable warrior, and a very cherished friend."

Bruce's confusion turned bitter, but he couldn't truly feel anger, when he had Tony back. However, he did ask hard truths.

"That was seven days ago, and you didn't tell anyone. Why? You could have spared us days of torture." Bruce's words came calm and barely above a whisper, suspecting if he spoke louder, his speech would turn into a snarl.

His own pain, the pain Pepper, Steve, Natasha, Clint… were surely going through. Thor could have put a stop to it long ago.

The Thunderer's face fell, darkening into contrition, however, not regretful.

"I'm truly sorry my friend. I would have spared you this suffering." - he said with a clear gaze that refused to look away.- "But I could not speak there, least someone listen. This magic is something your realm can't be trusted with, as things stay now. Too many would want their life lengthened. Their loved ones back… and Asgard wouldn't have helped." Thor said this in cutting certainty. "This, is a power only my father and one other do posses in Asgard. A very consuming one to the caster, and very rarely used. Is not good to cheat death too many a time. Do you understand friend mine?" His voice turned a gentler shade. "This could have created a conflict between our realms. I could not take the risk the knowledge got into wrong hands."

Bruce had to acknowledge the truth in his friend's words. Yet, he felt the others were owned it too.

But Tony nipped his ear, and everything else faded into the warm that flooded that empty, Tony shaped hole, that had been opened in him for too long.

"Less talk, more celebration."- Tony took the reins of the conversation, with expert charisma and selfishness. Effectively giving Bruce more happy things to think about.

He hated seeing Bruce look crestfallen, and he came looking heartbroken enough. - "I have been waiting long enough for you to arrive. So now I'm going to show you my new room, and we will christen it, till it feels homely enough. Got it?" He took Bruce's hand in his, and pulled him (looking stunned but flushed happy) along, stopping only long enough, to gift Thor a truly shameless wink.

The prince's laughter followed them down the golden hall, to their new, and bright, life.

oOo

It was almost spring now, the weather was becoming gentler, and the trees were beginning to sprout delicate green nubs.

Seeing the children play in the park in front of the hospital, Steve could hardly believe the terrible things that had shaken earth not a month ago.

"So, Bruce is happy?" He asked to his companion of the park bench.

Thor was dressed in human gear, jeans and a T-shirt, and looked perfectly comfortable with it.

"He's most content, yes."

Steve smiled, not taking his eyes from the laughing children.

"Then, it's good he's in Asgard."

The End

Note This fic took forever to write, but it's finally done, and I can't say I dislike the end result.

Maybe it's not what I first expected, and it had left me surprised by the twists and turns it took, abandoning the initial idea I had, to grow into this.

But I'm happy it has reached its end, and do it well. So now I'm kinda feeling like a proud mother. XD

Thanks to all of you for reading this little fic, and for your comments.And very especial thanks for D og, who helped me came to better understand Tony. Whitout her help this chapter wouldn't have been so felt.