Chapter 67: The All-Father

A/N: Odin and Tony finally get a chance to talk. And the penny drops.

-x-X-x-

One of the Vibranium JARVIS Suits goes with Pepper, one comes with Tony. But as they arrive outside of the meeting room, Tony remembers what Thor had said on Earth and motions for JARVIS to stay put. In the end, it doesn't really matter one way or another… they're still in contact, even if JARVIS is outside of the room.

Stepping inside along with Thor, Tony takes in the meeting room and notes ostentatious round table in the center. He's reminded of the Round Table from Arthurian Legend, said to be made round because all of its knights were equals in the eyes of their king. Likewise, this table is round because it is made for a meeting between equals.

Odin himself does not sit, however. Instead the King of Asgard is at the large windows that provide the room with natural lightning. Looking out over the Golden Realm, he's quiet for a moment as Tony and Thor stand there. Then…

"Leave us, my son."

Thor jolts as if slapped, and his lips immediately press together before turning downwards in a frown.

"Father, I-!"

But Odin cuts him off, half-turning and lifting a hand.

"Peace, my son."

Thor falls silent as the All-Father fully turns to face them both. Tony also stays quiet, since for the moment, Odin's one visible eye is on Thor and Thor alone.

"You are my heir and the Crown Prince of Asgard. In the vast majority of situations similar to this, I would have you by my side so you could learn from the experience. Unfortunately, in this specific circumstance… I must speak with the King of Midgard alone."

Tony very deliberately does not wince at even Odin himself calling him King. At the same time, he's a little surprised by how… delicate the All-Father is being with his explanation. Indeed, while Thor doesn't look happy about it, Odin's words seem to have the desired effect. Grimace on his face, Thor wordlessly nods to his father and then to Tony before departing from the meeting room.

The doors close with a note of finality behind the God of Thunder, and Tony finds himself alone with the King of Asgard, perhaps the most powerful man in the Nine Realms. Only perhaps though, because frankly Tony doesn't actually know what Odin is capable of. It wasn't like the Asgardian King had ever come down to Earth to help them fight the numerous battles they found themselves in. And by the time Thanos finally showed up, Odin was dead.

There was an argument to be made there, one that Thor himself HAD made. Apparently, Odin was powerful enough that the Mad Titan had shied away from the Nine Realms until the All-Father's death. Tony didn't know enough to say whether that was true or not… but if it was true, he knew he had to tread carefully here. He wasn't even ready to face Thanos in combat yet, let alone someone who the Mad Titan might have feared.

"King Stark. It is a pleasure to finally meet face to face."

Right. First things first.

"It's probably best if we start there, your Majesty. With all due respect, I'm not a King. No royal bloodline that I know of, and no country that I rule. Earth… doesn't exactly have a unified government for me to control either."

Odin raises his brow at that, before finally walking over to the table and sitting down. Tony does the same, noting how the table lights up between them. As Tony is admiring the look of the thing, Odin hums.

"Indeed? Strange. This table was enchanted by my father King Bor over four thousand years ago. Only true Kings may sit at it and converse with one another in total privacy."

Tony jolts, his eyes widening as he looks over the table again. His mouth suddenly dry, he stares, wondering how that could be possible. Then, he looks up to see mirth in Odin's one eye… and realizes that the King of Asgard is silently laughing at him.

"… It would seem you know something I don't, King Odin."

Smiling in a rather grandfatherly manner, Odin inclines his head.

"Indeed, King Stark. Though in all fairness, you were not yet the King of Midgard when my son first fell to your realm. Nor were you a King when Loki invaded to try and conquer Midgard. With that in mind… can you perhaps guess when you officially became King of Midgard in the eyes of Asgard and therefore fit to sit at this table?"

Tony is very smart. And Odin is basically leading him right to the answer. Doesn't make him any happier to figure it out though.

"The contract we made with one another. You're saying THAT made me King of Midgard? I don't recall reading that in the fine print."

And he HAD read the fine print. Tony had read every inch of that damn contract, just to be safe. So to find out that there were apparently binding parts of it that weren't written down was… unfortunate and more than a little aggravating.

Odin nods, before smiling as though he's reading Tony's mind.

"Indeed, the contract. Do not fret. You are not bound to anything more than what you read. It is Asgard herself that is bound, and I as her ruler who must recognize you. It is not just anyone who I can hand a Princess of Asgard over to, King Stark. And for all her faults, all her failings, and all her crimes… Loki is still a Princess of Asgard."

Oh. Right. So basically, the only way Odin could make up that contract that put Loki in Tony's custody… was if he and Asgard formally recognized Tony as Odin's peer, a fellow King. And since Tony was from Midgard… Jesus Fucking Christ.

"Of course, just because Asgard recognizes you as Midgard's Ruler does not mean we will fight for your right to your realm. If you are to conquer Midgard, you must do so on your own merits. But that won't really be a problem… will it, King Stark?"

Tony pauses… and then snorts a little as he sees the amused look in Odin's one visible eye.

"I suppose you would know all about my plans, wouldn't you?"

Shrugging his shoulders, the much older man leans back in his chair.

"I know much through the eyes and hearing of my Gatekeeper, but at the same time you leave me feeling like I know very little. Yes, your schemes to claim your realm from the hands of evil men are known to me. I do not begrudge you either your aims or your methods. However… sometimes the things you do leave me truly perplexed."

And then Odin's eye sharpens and it's like he's looking right through Tony… or rather, looking INTO Tony.

"You have claimed the Aether. My father hid that away five thousand years ago for good reason. By all rights, the Aether should be consuming you even now. Only the Svartalfar, otherwise known as the Dark Elves, were said to know how to harness the Aether's power without sacrificing themselves in turn. Anyone else… the energy requirements alone would be extraordinary."

Tony lets Odin's words hang in the air for a moment before bowing his head.

"I've met them, yet. It took a lot… and I am not quite human anymore, but the Aether is satiated within my body. It is content to work with me and I can guarantee that I can feed it plenty of power for quite a long time to come. For at least as long as I need it."

Odin doesn't hesitate to latch onto that word.

"Need. You speak of need. I and my Gatekeeper have watched you for years now, Stark. Your actions at times make perfect sense, and at others leave us completely baffled. Still, one thing is certain. You work like a man possessed. You knew that my daughter had fallen into the grasp of the Mad Titan when even I did not know. And you told her that you gave up everything for knowledge. What does that mean, exactly?"

If Odin notices that he's called Loki his daughter, he doesn't comment on it or try to take it back. Tony wonders how Loki herself might react to knowing that the All-Father still thought of her as family. At the same time, he's also wondering what he's supposed to say here.

It's unequivocally clear now that Heimdall was not listening in all those years ago when Tony confessed the truth of his time travel to JARVIS. Neither Odin nor his Gatekeeper know about Tony's true nature. For a moment, Tony considers telling the All-Father anyways. It would be nice to have someone as powerful and knowledgeable as Odin on his side.

And yet, that's the kicker. If Odin knew that Tony had traveled in time, or ever so slightly across dimensions to arrive in this world, what would he do? Would he actually BE on Tony's side? Tony couldn't be sure… and that was why, in the end, he couldn't tell the whole truth.

"… My sacrifices are my own, All-Father. Too personal for me to even speak of. If we are apparently peers, I hope you understand that. However… I can tell you what power they wrought for me. I can tell you as I told Loki… that I have been cursed with knowledge. They came in the form of visions, granting me sight into the things that were to come… that might have come, if I had not changed much of it already by this point."

Odin frowns as Tony speaks, listening intently. At the end though, he tilts his head to the side.

"… So you were given visions of one possible future? And changing things has not given you visions of a new future?"

Tony shakes his head.

"Correct. And no, it has not. Of course, I have done as much as I can to keep some things the same where I was able to. However, that was only on Earth, or rather Midgard. The things I saw that did not take place on Earth… I had limited ability to alter."

That causes Odin's one single eye to narrow. The All-Father is not stupid. He understands as much what Tony is not saying as what he is saying.

"And what have you seen of Asgard that remains unaltered? I suspect that your child with Lady Sif is not something you saw in a vision, based on your surprise."

Tony suddenly finds himself wondering if Odin himself had conspired to keep Sif's pregnancy and daughter from Tony to see if it was something Tony somehow knew about or if it was a blind spot. And then, only after Tony had done something as inexplicable and insane as suddenly finding and retrieving the Aether after five thousand years, had the All-Father given up on that idea.

Pushing past the thought, he looks Odin right in his eye, speaking softly but clearly.

"I saw the Dark Elves first. They come in the next day or two. In my visions, it was not me who retrieved the Aether, but Jane Foster, the human woman that your son is fond of."

Odin inclines his head, acknowledging that he's aware of Jane. More than that, he ends up revealing.

"I know of this woman. I have been hard-pressed to keep Thor from visiting her on Midgard ever since the Bifrost was repaired. A relationship between the two of them could only end in heartbreak."

Huh. That explained why nothing had happened between the two so far. Deciding to take a small plunge into the personal lives of the Asgardian Royal Family, Tony shrugs a shoulder.

"With all due respect, my advice would be to let him and Jane have their time together. Based on what my visions tell me… they won't last long enough for her to die of old age either way. It will turn out to be a temporary thing. Very temporary. Keeping Thor away can only serve to make it less temporary if it ever does happen."

Yes, from what Tony remembered, Thor and Jane finally got together shortly after all this shit with the Aether came to a head. Then, their relationship lasted something like two years before fizzling out. Turns out that while they could do anything and everything together, Jane was still a professional at heart and Thor was still a warrior. Opposites might attract, but it was the similar that truly stuck together for the long haul.

Odin takes in Tony's advice quietly for a moment before giving a short nod.

"I shall take your words into consideration. But what is this of the Dark Elves?"

Right. Tony can only bullshit this based on what Thor told him.

"The Dark Elves came for Jane and the Aether originally. They infiltrate through the use of stealth ships capable of hiding even from Heimdall's sight, as well as an attack in your dungeons I think. Since I'm here now with the Aether, I can't imagine they won't still attack. If things happen like they did originally… your Queen may lose her life."

That, out of everything, gets Odin's attention. The All-Father suddenly sits up, looking very pressed.

"Explain."

"The Queen protected Jane in my visions. And Malekith, King of the Dark Elves, came for Jane and the Aether. Your Queen sent Jane away and used an illusion to trick him, but he took her life in the process. It may not happen the same way again. Jane isn't here now. The Queen has no reason to risk herself, especially not when I am far more capable of protecting the Aether than Jane was. Still… it was a possibility."

He can see Odin already making plans in his head to nip that 'possibility' in the bud. Clearly, it's not something that the All-Father wants to even contemplate. And yet… it's a testament to just how Odin is that he doesn't let it keep him distracted for long. Finally controlling himself, he gives Tony a nod.

"I believe you, Tony Stark. The fact that you know the name Malekith only serves to prove your words true. Malekith is spoken of only in our most ancient texts, some of which were personally written by my father. That the Dark Elf King still lives brings me no joy… but I do not doubt the authenticity of your visions. Still, you said the Dark Elves were first. What else will befall Asgard?"

Tony hesitates here. Because frankly, he hadn't gotten as much information about the fall of Asgard from Thor as he should have. He only knows a few key points. Still… he thinks it might be worth it. To try and stop what was coming for Asgard. Odin still has a few good years left in him and if he can somehow be saved, then he can still be an ally in the fight against Thanos. They just have to figure it out together.

"The vision was… destructive. And vague. All I know is that you die, Asgard burns… and a name. Hela."

Odin had gone still the moment Tony said he died. However, Tony has the privilege of seeing the All-Father go pale white at hearing the name Hela. If Malekith had just proven Tony's credentials, Hela was either going to seal the deal… or get him attacked by an angry, fearful All-Father.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Tony: "Alright but just between you and me, we both know I'm not actually the King of Midgard, right?"

Odin: "Well... you weren't, until you signed that contract granting you custody of an Asgardian Princess."

Tony: *Surprised Pikachu Face*

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