Chapter Text
Tony caught his breath at that. Never be with Pepper again? Never see Morgan, their daughter? Never enjoy the life they'd shared together? "It would be unfair to her, wouldn't it," he said dully, staring at the Elder Ones as if that would help block out his reeling thoughts. "I wasn't a good boyfriend for years, and--"
"No," Time told him sharply. "The two of you had your squabbles, but you were fated. You were no more a poor partner than she, although both of you doubtless exasperated the other at times, but such is the nature of marriage. But coming back to her, would be unfair to both of you. You are weighed down with a thousand memories of the life that you might share together, and if it doesn't fall the same way it would be like a dagger to the heart. Not to mention your daughter. Even if the same girl is born in the same time, she will never be the same girl that you helped raise. Not only that, but with your foreknowledge you will doubtless change things, and any of these things might be something which would have shaped Pepper's character in the other timeline. You will be chasing a ghost of what was, and Pepper will be competing with a man who has seen the scope and breadth of worlds, and witnessed an alternate of her come to the alter with her. You may be too close to her, or too standoffish, unable to allow the relationship to develop organically. She may not be ready to take the next step when she was in the other timeline. Simply put, this has nothing to do with your worthiness as a partner."
"We would not have you lose everything, however," said Reality, and she was smiling. "You will know what we mean in time, but, simply put, their is still happiness waiting for you."
"I don't understand. Wouldn't any relationship I form be false and tainted like that, even if it wasn't with Pepper? Like, say I decide to go steady with Maya Hanson-- wouldn't that fall apart because I'd blame her for Extremis, even if that hadn't happened yet?"
"A certain part of that is unavoidable. The best solution would be to send another back with you, but this act we are about to do-- this pruning of a rotted timeline-- is too fragile to allow more than one soul to pass through."
"Oh. So...should I just not go looking for a relationship, or?"
Soul looked horrified at that. "No, of course not; it would not be right for you to be so alone. You are free to pursue whomever you want; I only suggest that it be someone that you have never had romantic or sexual history with, in order to allow any relationship to develop more organically." She smiled. "And we will be beside you for as long as you need us, so if you ever need advice, we will be there."
Tony swallowed, then straightened. Right, he could do this.
Mind took a step forward, a streak of hieroglyphics glowing behind her like a chemtrail. "Are you ready, Antony Stark?"
"You must be sure," Space added. “There is no going back if you are to do this. There is only going forward.”
“It will not be easy. You will have to work just as hard as in the previous timeline, only, this time, you will know a bit more.” Time said. “And I must warn you, some things are fixed, in the timeline. It is rather like your mortal theory that, should someone decide to go back in time and kill Hitler, another would grow up to fill the gap. That said, you have our support, which means that you have a bit more dynamic range than an ordinary wizard who tried to play God with the timeline. And, since you have memories of things that have been, many things which might have served as a lesson in the past timeline will not be needed now, meaning that them may be changed easily. Such as the death of one Ho Yinsen.”
Tony sucked in a shaky breath. “I can save him?”
“I cannot guarantee that he will thank you for it, with his life in ruins and his family dead, but he will doubtless in time grow to appreciate his life again.
“You will know when something cannot be changed,” Power boomed, and Tony tensed even though he knew that she did not mean any harm. The air became more charged at every word that she said, and everything within the mortal man seemed to cower. “We will warn you, in your dreams.”
There was a moment of utter stillness, broken only by Time’s relentless transformations and Reality’s shifts, and Power’s faint, sizzling magic. And then Soul spoke up.
“Antony Stark, are you ready?”
Tony wasn’t, really, but that wasn’t going to stop him. “I…yeah, I am. What do I have to do?”
The Elder Ones just smiled, and before he could ask again, the world dissolved into a vortex glimmering with a thousand vibrant colors. Flashes of other worlds flickered by: worlds where everything had gone different at some critical moment, worlds that had never been anywhere close to similar, worlds where HYDRA had won, where Loki had never come to earth, where Thanos had been killed at birth, where the Snap had never been reversed, and on, and on, and on....
And then, a thousand worlds later, he opened his eyes to the Afghan desert exploding behind him.