Ternion (FrostIronStrange)

Part 14

A voice called him, accompanied by an incessant tapping to his jaw.

''way,' he mumbled, trying to move his head. His arms and legs felt heavy, he must have done too much work in the lab. Pepper's going to kill him. She warned him time and time again not to fall asleep over his desk, that his back won't thank him for it.

'Tony!'

The tapping migrated to his mouth.

'DUM-E, go away,' he growled. He knew the bot is trying to help, but he wanted to sleep.

'Damn it, Tony, wake up!'

The slap jolted him awake, heart loud in his ears as he saw Loki over him, face ashen, eyes wild as they darted over his face. Seeing Tony awake, his eyes closed for a moment, his lips mouthing something silently.

'Drink this. It'll neutralise the toxins in your body.'

Loki sat him up slowly, tightening his hold as Tony whimpered in distress.

This is one bitch of a hangover.

'I need your help. Stephen is in trouble.'

He wasn't sure if it was the disgusting concoction Loki forced down his throat, or the panic lacing Loki's voice that cut through the fog in his brain, but he felt his eyes widen as he saw Stephen motionless on the floor beside him.

'What's going on?'

'For the past few weeks, months even, your mind has been under attack from an entity called Nightmare. He has been feeling off your terror, your nightmares.'

'You're telling me I had some sort of...parasite living in my head?' Tony shouted, hand's frantically running over Stephen's body, reassuring himself that the sorcerer was still breathing.

'He hails from the Dream Realm, feeding on the negative emotions created from mortals' bad dreams. He had attached himself to you because your life energy is constantly renewed by the spell Stephen has placed on you. A never-ending source of torment and power.'

The voice in his head.

'Why...why didn't you tell me?' Tony couldn't decide how he felt, his emotions were a kaleidoscope. Fear, anger, confusion, swirling around too fast for him to pick one.

'We were attempting to reassure you of your fears, to weaken his hold on you. If we had alerted you to his presence, he would have ripped your astral form from your body, trapping you in his realm to torment you for the rest of your life.'

'Is that...'

'Currently what it intends to do to Stephen's astral form? Yes.'

Everything he'd been feeling, the doubts about their relationship, about himself had faded, leaving a gaping hole in its wake. He felt wrong-footed, not sure how to make sense of things.

'I thought I was going crazy. Everything I've been feeling the last few months, the doubts, the voice in my head.'

'That was Nightmare. He was heightening fears you already had, dragging them into the daylight hours.'

'Was that who you were talking about? You weren't leaving me?'' Tony's voice was tiny, timid and so unlike him it made him furious.

Loki suddenly whirled on him, eyes flashing in anger. 'How dare you even think that of me! I gave you my love freely, have shown you every devotion and yet you doubted me.' Loki got to his feet, pacing in a furious circle. 'I cannot break the hold it has on his mind, my magic does not work that way,' he was muttering under his breath, refusing to look at Tony.