Chapter Text
Almost the second that he felt his feet hit the sand, Loki felt an alien surge of power wash over him. He looked around and saw a trail of shimmering energy leading to a far-off cave, and as his eyes drifted over the landscape surrounding him, he saw flickering images of Tony and Kosto. In one of them, Tony was trying to use his suit to leave the planet but crashing down. In another, he was following Kosto towards the far-off cave. In yet another, he was talking to Kosto, mouthing words in Norrœna.
Loki started walking towards the cave, and with every step the power grew. When he started to get close, the power hit him like a freight train, almost sending him flying backwards. He kept walking, and the power kept getting stronger, and the images got more and more vivid, and by the time he got to the entrance, it felt like he was shoving his way through a snowstorm.
He glanced into the cave, and he got a glimpse of Kosto, eyes wild and glowing yellow, and Tony, his eyes glowing almost as bright. They moved almost in sync, seeming to be able to understand each other with a simple glance. Their heads turned towards him, and he felt the sudden urge to run . Yellow had gotten control of Tony, and Loki realized he didn’t have the time to grieve or worry about the other man. He turned his gaze upward, moving to call for Heimdall to take him back to Earth, but before he could, he felt something slam into his back, and his vision went bright yellow.
When the blinding light fades away, he’s back in that damned swirling void, and he looks around frantically, trying to find Tony. All he can see is the swirling yellow and red. He faintly hears screaming coming from behind him, and he whips his head around, eyes settling on Tony, chains almost completely covering his body. He’s writhing in pain, the chains glowing a striking, harsh golden and moving around him as if they are alive. He’s crying out in pain, his voice hoarse with overuse. Loki feels sick.
He tries to run towards Tony, but he hits an invisible barrier. The swirling energy around him pushes against him, trying to keep him in place. He pushes back against the energy, but no matter how much he tries, he can't break through. It feels like a burning hot wall, firm and unyielding. He cries out in frustration, throwing his body against the wall.
Suddenly, he sees a flash of red, and he looks down to see his ring glowing bright red. The light filters through the golden wall, moving straight through, and he tentatively reaches out. His hand passes straight through. He surges forward, following the red light to Tony. He can feel tears pricking at his eyes at the sight of Tony like this, but he blinks them away, his sole focus on getting his boyfriend back.
He reaches the chains, and this time, when he touches them, red light surges through his hands and into the chains. He sees cracks form in them, golden light seeping out through the cracks as they spread and grow, breaking the chains into hundreds of tiny, glowing fragments.
Tony falls forward, eyes wide and glowing yellow. The red light filters towards his eyes, drawing out the yellow glow and leaving Tony’s warm brown. Loki watches as Tony’s eyes dart around frantically, before landing on him and pulling back. He looks at Loki in confusion, eyes void of any recognition.
Loki feels his stomach drop, and he opens his mouth to say something, to ask Tony if he still remembers him, but he hears a noise from behind him, and he freezes. Tony’s confusion contorts into pure fear, and Loki slowly turns around to see Yellow. His eyes are glowing gold like Tony’s were, and more golden light seems to ooze out of him, forming tendrils and reaching out towards Tony. Loki instinctively steps in front of the other man, willing his ring to send out the red light again.
It does, and when the light reaches the golden tendrils, it seems to merge with them, swirling the same way the void around them is. He feels something shift in the ring, and he looks down and sees a small, almost imperceptible crack in the stone, golden light seeping out of it. He focuses as hard as he can on willing it to keep going, trying not to worry about the crack. It still isn’t enough, and just when he thinks that this is it, he feels a hand on his shoulder, and another tendril of red comes from behind him, from Tony. He feels a surge of warmth blossom in his chest as Tony’s tendril reaches out to meet his own, their combined effort enough to push back Yellow’s. The red light slams into Yellow’s chest, sending him sprawling and throwing them all out of the void.
Loki’s eyes snapped open, barely having time to take in the sandstorm surrounding him before he surged forward, running into the cave. When he got in, he froze in horror when he saw Yellow reaching out towards Tony, his yellow power crackling unstably around him. Tony looks back at Loki, and their eyes meet as Yellow’s hand clamps down on Tony’s wrist, crackling golden energy surrounding both of them. Loki shouted in horror, rushing forwards, but it was too late. Tony was gone. Yellow almost was too, but the light went out too quickly, and he fell back down to the ground. Loki felt a sinking, horrible feeling in his stomach. Not again. He couldn’t lose Tony again.
Loki heard a small noise from behind him, and he looked down to see the golden glow gone from Yellow’s eyes, leaving the cold blue that he had once loved. The man’s entire demeanor shifted, turning back into Kosto. Loki stepped back shakily as the other man looked up at him in horror. He felt his breathing start to quicken, a million thoughts racing through his head. A wry, almost hysterical laugh bubbled up in his throat at the sheer absurdity of it all.
What kind of cruel joke was this, taking away Tony, the man Loki loved, for the shell of the man he might have loved eons ago? He started to sob, and he could feel Kosto’s eyes on him and he couldn’t leave Kosto here, he knew that, but damn if he didn’t want to. He couldn't even look at him without thinking about Yellow, about what he had done to Tony. Still, he knew that Tony wouldn’t want this, wouldn’t want him to leave Kosto here to fend for himself. He looked down at the ring, at the swirling images and golden crack, before shakily calling out for Heimdall. He felt the hum in the air around him as the beam of light engulfed him and Kosto, bringing them back to Earth.