The waves will guide you

The days passed in a weird haze and soon it was time, time for many things. Loki had visited them once again and told them when the battle between Asgard and Jotunheim would take place and, as Tony guessed, to check if Peter was still human.

The boy had told him about their conversation and it had made the genius furious. How dare the little prince make Peter feel bad about his legs. They were beautiful as was the rest of him.

Finally Bruce turned to them, “I think it is safe to try, do you still want it Peter?”

The boy eyed the flask with the clear liquid inside and swallowed heavily. Did he? Did he really want to become a merman again even though it would mean to maybe leave Tony behind?

He looked at the older man askingly.

Tony looked at him with a soft expression and smiled, “Peter you are not a human, you were never meant to be. It breaks my heart a little, but…I think you should get your tail back.”

Peter looked into his eyes, the entire time. He could see that this was breaking his heart more than just a little and it made him almost cry. Why was this so hard?

In the end though Peter knew what he had to do, “I want it Bruce.” The scientist nodded. His smile was somewhat sad and Peter felt the same way, he had grown to really like the man they were friends.

Tony watched him and Peter could see the hurt in his eyes even though they had talked about this long and throughout. Well there was no time for regrets now.

Peter sat down on the couch and threw a blanket over his lap before taking off his clothes underneath. Just like the last time Peter poured the formula on his hands and wiped something on his legs, it wasn’t really that scientific, but Bruce didn’t mind since that way Peter wouldn’t have to deal with any more needles.

They waited and Tony shifted in his seat anxiously. It didn’t take long until Peter showed a reaction. He felt the heat rise inside his body and starting at his toes his legs began to tingle and he groaned at the feeling of it.

It felt like his entire lower half had fallen asleep to the point where it was semi painful and he grabbed the blanket twisting it in his hands.

Both Tony and Bruce had seen the footage of Peter turning human but seeing a transformation like this up close was weirdly fascinating. Peter’s long legs seemed to melt together and for a moment it looked like flesh coloured playdough which was kind of gross.

Soon enough however the skin changed and scales grew out of it. At first they were milky white not really looking like scales at all and Tony shot Bruce a worried gaze but the scientist didn’t looked concerned at all.

The scales were soon shed and after an almost painful groan from Peter, a set of new ones, together with fins grew from the flesh.

When it was finally over, it had felt like years thought it only had been like five minutes, Peter was panting heavily and Tony rushed to give him a glass of water.

“How are you feeling Pete?”

The boy downed the water and Tony watched how his gills flared a little.

“Good, a little exhausted but good.”

He put the glass away and together they examined his tail. Peter pulled the blanket from his lap while Tony ran a hand down the strong tail but stopped where the small scar of their first encounter had been.

“It is gone.”

Bruce nodded, “yes of course the entire tail regrew and a scar is not a genetic thing.” Tony nodded feeling oddly sad about that but Peter quickly took his hand and smiled at him, “no one can make our connection disappear Tony.”

The genius smiled at his words and kissed him, “alright let me suit up and we will beat the shit out of a few Jotuns.” Peter laughed and nodded placing a quick kiss on Tony’s lips.

The human stood and walked to the other side of the room, “get it on Jarvis.” The AI didn’t reply but only began to assemble the Iron Man suit around him.

Bruce watched him a little worried, “Tony.”

He spoke in hushed voice but Peter was too caught up in touching his tail to hear them anyway.

“I need to remind you that we didn’t test it and if it doesn’t work you might drown.”

Tony looked at him and smirked, “Bruce why don’t you trust me?” Bruce sighed, “I don’t like you being this cocky, it is doomed to fail now.”

Tony laughed but it was muffled since the mask was assembled around his face.

Finally Iron Man once again walked through the lab, “everything will be fine Bruce, you will see.” The scientist didn’t look convinced at all, but Tony ignored him. He walked up to Peter and the merman smiled at him.

“Ready to go?”

The boy held his arms up to him and grinned, “of course darling.” Tony grinned behind the mask and picked up his little merman bridal style and they both looked at Bruce.

“Don’t wait up for us Brucie.”

Bruce watched Tony and Peter disappear and with a heavy sigh he turned and gathered his things before leaving.

He said goodbye to Jarvis and walked out of the house and up to his car when he noticed a man with an eyepatch leaning against the hood.

“Dr Banner, my name is Nick Fury and there are a few things I want to talk to you about.”

Bruce stared at the man and swallowed, he got a bad feeling about this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Loki swallowed heavily and Frigga smiled at him, “you will win this for us Loki, I know.”

The prince grimaced and looked down on himself. He wore his royal armour and it felt weird. Normally they would only wear it for ceremonial things but now, since they actually were on war, they finally had a real reason to put it to use.

Loki looked up at his mother, “I am not sure mother, I mean we are so weak compared to them and…I am scared. What if my actions have doomed too many to a gruesome death?”

Frigga sighed and pulled him into a hug, “Loki, part of life is to make decisions and we don’t always make good decisions and that is okay.”

She looked at him and smiled, “but only the bravest and strongest dare to make hard decisions.” Loki looked at her and his gaze was filled with love and pure affection. He had missed his mother so much.

“I will stand to what I did and I will be a prince worthy of our people.”

Frigga smiled, “that is my boy.”

Loki enjoyed her company for a little longer before he swam outside taking his place next to his brother in front of the throne cave.

Both princes were clad in their armour and while normal mermen wore armour made out of bones and wood, the royals had what little metal the smiths had found forged into elegant looking chest pieces and arm bracers.

Thor’s armour had more silver while Loki’s had a few golden applications.

Both of the princes looked equally dangerous as they waited for their father to call them inside.

“Are you nervous?”

Thor chuckled, “of course not, are you?” Loki scoffed and both smiled before they looked away. Finally Thor patted his back, “I don’t know if I already told you, but I missed you Loki. I really did.”

Loki smiled and put a hand on his arm, “I missed you too Thor.” The brother’s shared a long look but flinched as someone behind them spoke.

“Are you going to kiss each other now?”

They spun around and stared at Angrboda.

The mermaid looked at them with a raised eyebrow.

She wore her usual attire, a woven west over her chest and her dark hair flowing openly around her head.

Both princes blushed a little and the mermaid chuckled, “just kidding, just how weird would that be?” Thor nodded, “yeah absolutely weird.”

Loki chuckled, “besides I would never dare to cheat on you darling.” Angrboda scrunched up her nose, “don’t call me that, it makes me feel weird.”

She shook her head and gripped her weapon tighter. It was the spear she stole but she had improved it with a tip made of stone and a few carvings in the wood. It fitted her in a way.

Finally they heard Odin call and they, all together, swam into the throne cave to officially charge into battle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The moment Tony dived into the water with Peter still in his arms was one of the best feelings Peter had ever experienced. Feeling the warm water of the ocean engulfing him while being so close to his mate was almost magical.

Once they were a few meters deep in the water Peter let go of the suit and swam away from Tony. He let out a shout full of happiness and shot through his element.

Tony simply watched.

Peter grinned and curled up, stretched, swam tiny circles and spun around like a merchild that experienced this for the first time. Laughing happily he swam up to Tony, “I am sorry but it…feels like, it’s been an eternity since I swam like this.”

Tony chuckled and probably smiled behind the mask, “no problem love, but we should get going I think, time probably is of the essence here.”

Peter nodded, “ah yes of course, how about we race a little bit and when I get tired you can carry me.” Tony chuckled and Peter could hear the smirk in his voice, “oh darling, don’t I always? Now let’s hurry.”

He fired up his repulsors and Peter flexed his tail shooting after him through the water. It felt good, feeling the cold water flow over his face, the fresh salty liquid wash through his gills, cleaning them.

Peter laughed loudly taking the lead as he let his tail work its earnest.

The kind of odd duo raced deeper into the water and while Peter seemed to not bother at all the deep did some on Tony. They needed to stop a few times so the human could get used to the pressure and while the suit was built to both protect him from the cold and water; the pressure was hard to manage in such a small craft.

The boy also guessed it was also something to help Tony to feel more comfortable in the deep. The last time he visited Asgard the genius had been driven by his love and desperation for the young merman and so had ignored his discomfort out of sheer necessity.

At least that was what Tony told Peter.

Peter was a little bit concerned about his human but the only thing he could do for him was either to stay with him or sent him home and he knew Tony wouldn’t accept being sent away.

So he waited and supported Tony the best he could.

At some point he wondered if it was really the pressure Tony was fussing about since whenever they stopped he seemed to talk to Jarvis and fiddle around with his gloves.

Finally they made their way to the battleground and Peter gasped as he saw the carnage.

The Asgardians were fighting back as good as possible but everyone could see that it was a lost cause. The Jotuns were stronger and greater in numbers.

“They will all die,” Peter whispered and watched with wide eyes. Tony looked at him, “no they won’t, go find your prince and I will join the fun.”

Peter nodded and wished he could kiss his mate before shooting through the water searching for Loki. He spotted the prince obviously arguing with Thor and swam towards them.

“Loki!”

“Peter?”

Both princes turned to him and Peter hugged the other merman tightly, “you came back, oh gods you came back and you are normal again.” Peter swallowed and nodded squeezing the other a little.

“Yes I am back, sorry it took me so long.”

Thor growled next to them, “I don’t want to break you two up or anything, but we are in the middle of a battle and I say call the snake!”

Loki glared at his brother, he did break the hug but he didn’t let go of Peter.

“It is too dangerous you oaf, now stop it!”

Peter looked back and forth between the two princes, “I brought Tony, he will help us, he is a great fighter.” They heard a scream and a loud crashing sound as something gold and red flew past them crashing into some rocks.

Thor raised an eyebrow, “you were saying?”

Peter grimaced but Tony already rose again and shot through the water blasting the Jotuns as he passed them.

Thor watched him with big eyes, “he is a fighter, yes but I doubt he will be able to keep up with a merman.” Peter snorted and grinned at Loki who just rolled his eyes, “he will do his part.”

Peter bit back a comment and focused on other things, “yes now tell me what about the snake?” Loki sighed and shook his head, “Thor wants me to call for Jormungandr and I don’t think this is a good idea, sure he would kill them all but that is the problem, he would kill them all.”

Peter nodded and looked at the battlefield, “yes he wouldn’t be able to differ between Jotun and Asgardians. That is indeed difficult.” Thor shook his head but before he could say anything a Jotun warrior came dangerously close to them and he went to charge at him.

Loki looked at Peter, “we are fighting a lost war Peter I don’t know what to do.” He shook his head his face bitter and his hands clenched tightly.

“And it is entirely my fault.”

Peter placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head, “no, it is not your fault Laufey was the one to wrong you.” Loki looked up and his eyes shone with affection but once again they were interrupted but not by Tony this time.

Angrboda pulled them both aside as a spear was hauled in their direction.

“You two idiots!” she hissed, “if you are not going to fight, get lost!”

She looked around and bared her teeth aiming her glare at the merman that had thrown the spear. Loki let out a breath but Peter was focused on the mermaid, “oh god a real Jotun female, I never saw one before.”

Loki scoffed, “believe me you don’t want to get close to them.”

Peter looked at him in surprise; there were a lot of things Loki had to tell him apparently.

Tony was surprised by the force he encountered. He knew that mermen were strong Peter had demonstrated his strength more than once to him but it was nothing against these weird blue mermen.

They were strong, fast and not the least bit concerned about his appearance, while the Asgardians seemed to constantly be on guard around Tony, even though he was helping them.

Fighting this deep underwater wasn’t like anything Tony ever did before; sure he had practiced but it was always a little different when the real shit went down.

He spun around as he heard shouting and saw a giant Jotun with some sort of crown and what looked like, an armour of bones slicing through the Asgardians. Tony figured that, that was either Laufey or his offspring.

Tony shot through the water and hit him in the face. The merman stopped and looked at him in disbelieve, holding his cheek like he just had been slapped. Tony almost laughed at that expression.

“You filthy creature how dare you!” the merman roared and Tony’s eyes widened as he lifted both of his large arms and let his fists come down on him like jackhammers.

Tony was thrown to the ocean floor and groaned as he hit his head inside of his helmet. A few parts of his suit turned yellow on his display.

“Why is that guy so hellish strong?”

“Sir,” Jarvis chimed up, “my calculations state that this specimen might be four times Master Peter’s strength at least.”

He stressed the last part out and Tony didn’t like that. He got up and shot the merman in the face making him move backwards through the water.

The giant beast shook his head like a dog and rubbed his nose.

Tony chuckled at that but frowned as he looked around, apparently the fighting around them had moved or the mermen had deliberately cleared a spot for them, because suddenly they almost seemed alone.

Well it was time for a showdown.

“Well ugly I hope you paid your insurance, because you will need it.”

The merman knitted his eyebrows together, “I have no idea what you are talking about human, but I also don’t care.” Tony rolled his eyes and lifted his hands, “you are not a bright example for your species.”

“I am a prince!” the other roared as he shot towards Tony. With a curse the human jumped, trying to evade the attack but the merman was in complete control of his tail and able to make narrow turns and so catch Tony’s leg.

Letting out a quite undignified yelp Tony was pulled back and slammed into the ground. He gasped as the air was knocked out of him and he looked at his display seeing that his leg turned yellow before returning back to blue.

He hissed and lifted his free foot to shoot the lovely prince in the face with his repulsor. Byleist groaned and shook his head roaring at the human, but he let go and Tony used that opportunity to get back on his feet.

The merman bared his teeth at Tony, but he was punched in the face before he could do anything else. This time however he didn’t just shrug it off. Tony had used more force and aided by his armour he did manage a mean swing at the merman.

Byleist was thrown backwards shaking his head but it didn’t much else.

“Oh come on!”

Tony attacked again and again but the results didn’t change.

The fight was just not even, Byleist was strong and agile in the water while Tony had some trouble steering through it. The prince noticed that and began to rely on his speed and agility to attack Tony viciously.

“Sir I would advise you to retreat, your opponent is clearly having the upper hand and you might get seriously injured if you continue to fight.”

Tony growled, “not happening Jarvis, tell me his weak points.”

The AI didn’t get a chance to answer since Byleist attacked again but this time he used a weapon. From somewhere he had acquired a spear and as Tony spun around the weapon pierced his tight.

The human let out a scream that was probably audible even without his speakers. The prince laughed and put some distance between them.

Tony groaned and fell forward, holding himself up only on his hands. His vision blurred from the pain and he had a hard time breathing. This bastard managed to pierce his armour and leg with a fucking spear maybe there wore a few weak points he had overlooked.

He managed to lift his head and glare at Byleist, not that he could see it though. The merman grinned at him like a shark and Tony knew he had lost.

The problem was, if he didn’t pull out the spear he would have to return above the sea and get help and if he pulled it out he would die. So he was fucked.

“Jarvis arg initiate the new protocol.”

The AI sounded concerned, “Sir it is not too late to get up and into a hospital, please consider this option fir-.”

“Now!” Tony screamed as he broke one part of the spear clean off. Jarvis said something but Tony couldn’t hear it, he barely felt the nick from the needle as he pulled the weapon from his flesh.

The merman looked at him in surprise but apparently didn’t consider him enough of a threat to finish him off, so Tony almost laughed as he blacked out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On another part of the battlefield Laufey deflected Odin’s spear with his tail, hissing at the old King.

“You are old Odin, I will defeat you and when your people cower before me I will snap you neck!”

Odin growled and swam backwards gripping his Gungnir tightly, “this war is pointless Laufey, pull back and let us live in peace again.”

The Jotun scoffed, he carried a sword that was in a surprisingly good state given that it was most likely found in a sunken ship.

“So you can steal from me again? This time my victory? Oh no you will die through my hand and I shall enjoy it.”

Odin sighed, yes he was old, he was tired and he wished he could see Frigga one last time before his death. Laufey let out a shout as he shot towards Odin.

The King blocked the attack with his spear hitting the larger merman with his tail into his side. Laufey growled angrily and swung his sword at Odin but he just ducked under it, hitting Laufey with the blunt side of his spear right in the middle.

Laufey was thrown back and he had a hard time breathing as he wrapped an arm around himself. The Jotun snarled and bared his teeth at his opponent but Odin remained unimpressed.

With a roar Laufey again charged at Odin and this time he used all his fury to beat the king. He attacked him, again and again until Odin’s arms grew tired and the spear slipped from his hands.

Laufey growled and raised his hand, backhanding Odin across the face and the old King was thrown to the ground. Laufey panted heavily as he floated in the water above the Aesir.

“I changed my mind I will kill you right now!”

He let out a shout bringing his sword down with every intention to kill. Odin closed his eyes and thought about Frigga.

A clang sounded through the water and as the dust and sand settled, both Kings could see the golden spear that blocked Laufey’s weapon.

Thor held it and his eyes were hard and determent, “step away father, my time has come.” Odin looked at his son, “aye son, it has.” He moved out of the way and two guards came to assist him.

Laufey sized Thor up and scoffed, “you think you can beat me Odinson?” Thor twirled the spear in his hands a confident smirk playing on his lips, “I know I can beat you Laufey.”

The Jotun laughed, “you are so funny, boy. I will kill you last.”

This time Thor laughed, “well bring it on old man.”

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter and Loki watched the battle when suddenly an idea came to Peter. He grabbed Loki’s hand and the two of them exchanged a look, “what if you call Jor?”

Loki looked at their hands before frowning at his friend, “are you suddenly dense? We have been over this.”

Peter shook his head, “no Loki, I don’t mean use him to fight just call him, make an appearance and show everyone how powerful the Aesir are.” Loki blinked and chewed on his lip, squeezing Peter’s hand as he thought about it.

“But what if someone provokes him? I am scared Peter.”

His friend sighed and nodded, “I am too Loki but…what choice do we have?” Loki looked at him, “we have plenty of choices Peter this just appears to be an easy one.”

Peter groaned, “Loki!”

The prince sighed, “I…can try. Will you help me?”

Peter squeezed his hand again, smiling at him, “I always will.”

“Hey red tail!”

They both turned when the shout reached them and frowned, Angrboda swam up to them.

“Your mate, the human he disappeared. He fought with Byleist and after that no one saw him again, but Byleist is back into battle.”

Peter tensed and looked at Loki who swallowed, “go find him I will deal with Jor.” Peter was torn but he shook his head, “no Loki, Tony can take care of himself. Let us save our people.”

The mermaid raised an eyebrow at that; the little guppy had more in him than she thought. She watched them go with mixed feelings.

Angrboda didn’t know why she even cared about the man; he was a human after all and none of her business. Then again he had proven to be a good fighter and even dared to take on Byleist all on his own.

With a huff she swam away, ignoring the battle around her as she moved to the point where she last saw the human. He wasn’t there anymore of course but the trail of their battle was obvious and she just needed to follow it.

After some time she found what she was searching for and her eyes widened. That was not what she expected.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Getting further and further away, Loki and Peter once again proved that the two were the fastest swimmers in the seven seas. Had their mission not been so serious they might have even enjoyed it, but that was not the case.

Loki was distressed and Peter concentrated as they raced next to each other. The cave where the giant snake lived was not too far away but still far enough.

Once they reached it Loki hesitated again, “Peter what if I screw up?” Peter floated next to him and took his hand, “you won’t we are in this together.”

The prince looked at Peter with a weird expression, “Peter I…” Peter looked at him and smiled, squeezing his hand, he wanted to reassure his friend, show him that he cared.

Loki however seemed to interpret his action a little differently. The prince suddenly pulled Peter up against his chest and kissed him, wrapping his arms around the younger merman.

Peter let out a surprised sound, blinking rapidly.

“Loki stop!”

The prince instantly let go and retreated when Peter pushed him, “Peter I…sorry I didn’t mean to, I am so sorry.” Peter just stared at him, “is-is that the reason you hate Tony?”

Loki looked away, “I don’t hate him…”

“Oh yes you do!” Peter stated with an angry flip of his tail and Loki winced.

“I am sorry.”

Peter let out a breath and shook his head, “Loki I love Tony. He is my mate you…I could have, you know but like this…besides our people would never accept us.”

Loki nodded, “yes I know but…is there a chance we might?”

“No,” Peter cut him off, “Loki if you had told me before I got banished I would have totally gone for it but now I have Tony and he is everything to me. Sorry.”

Peter sighed and rubbed his face, “please Loki just…let us get done with this, afterwards we can talk.” Loki nodded and swore to not let that happen.

He swam inside the cave to wake his pet and Peter waited outside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thor fought against Laufey and though the king was older he was more experienced than the young warrior. The prince however had more stamina than him.

It was an almost even fight.

Thor gritted his teeth as he tried to pin Laufey’s tail down to the ocean floor but the merman managed to pull away just in time.

Laufey put some distance between him and the prince as he panted heavily. Thor watched him with sharp eyes. Laufey was a good fighter and driven by hate and madness and as much as Thor wanted to enjoy the fight, he rather wanted to win and end all of this.

The King watched the young merman closely as he rounded him; Thor did the same his grip on the spear tightening.

“You fight with no intention to kill Odinson; this will be your demise.”

Thor rolled his eyes, “Laufey just attack me already.”

The Jotun hissed and shot towards the prince and their weapons met with a sharp clang.

-To be continued-