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This is the one.
All of their hopes, their only chance, dashed. The van exploded in a burst of blue light. Danvers flew backwards. The shockwave rocked them all.
This had to be the one, thought Tony. He wasn’t sure what he’d do otherwise. Strange had seen it, he must have. An unimaginable amount of realities. None of them with Loki.
The thought beat him over the head again and again, refusing to be shaken even as Thanos hit him, over and over.
Loki.
Thor refused to even speak his name. Except for one night, one horrible night, where he’d recounted in graphic, gruesome detail the death his brother had met. How Thanos had choked the life out of him, how Loki had been willing to sacrifice half the universe to save his brother.
Tony’s vision blurred with tears. He grit his teeth, and screamed as his plasma blasters burned into Thanos’s armour. With a well aimed kick, he was flying backwards. His suit collided with the rubble.
It wasn’t fair.
Blearily, his eyes swept over the devastation around them. Steve laid broken on the floor, Thor bloody in the ruins. There were too many. They had no hope, there’d be no mercy.
Then, an opportunity. Tony grappled for the glove. The stones came loose. He was thrown backwards. Thanos clicked his fingers.
Nothing happened.
He turned, confused. Tony knelt on the floor, broken and furious. He raised his right hand. The stone swirled around his gauntlet, and they slotted into place. Power surged through his veins in an unholy rage.
‘I,’ he said, voice shaking with white-hot fury, ‘am Iron Man.’
He snapped the metal of his gauntlet together. He wanted to burn the whole world to the ground, just to see Thanos suffer. He wanted to see him beg and bleed and burn. But, more than anything, he wanted the ache in his chest to go away. He wanted to feel whole again.
Please, he thought. Just let me see him again.
Around him, Thanos’ world turned to dust, and along with it the sick dream that had become Tony’s reality. The power of the stones ripped through his body like fire. Tony clenched his jaw, and glared. Thanos’ gaze swept across the decaying atoms of his army. He fell onto a piece of rubble. Tony watched as he turned into dust. Somehow, it was underwhelming.
It was less than he deserved.
Tony fell back onto a piece of rubble. The pain he’d expected to feel never came. He was just so tired. So very tired. The world around him reduced to a blur of grey, he felt nothing. His body had given up.
His teammates, his family, gathered around him. So many were missing. His heart ached with the loss. They’d won, but at what cost?
‘It’s alright,’ said a voice. A deep timbre, it was familiar and comforting. Tony forced his eyes to focus. Long, pale fingers caressed his cheek, and he stared into deep, green eyes.
‘Loki,’ he managed. You’re not really here, are you? You’re not real.
The spectre smiled. It was sad. A crystalline tear fell down its cheek. ‘You’re going to be just fine, Stark.’
Tony blinked. It was an effort. I’m scared, Loki.
‘I know sweetheart,’ said the spectre Tony had conjured. ‘It’ll be alright. You did it. You won.’
Am I going to die?
‘Yes,’ it said. ‘But don’t worry, we’ll see each other again, I promise.’
I love you.
‘Just as I love you.’ Loki’s spectre withdrew it’s cold hand. Tony watched it stand. ‘I’ll see you soon, Stark.’
Loki smiled. Tony blinked, and he was gone. In his place was Pepper, who held him close.
‘It’s alright,’ she said. ‘You did it. You can rest now.’
Tony tried to speak, to say that he was sorry, that he wished he’d been kinder to her, that he could have given her what she wanted from him. But, the tightness in his chest and the darkening of his vision threatened to overwhelm him. His hand slipped from her grasp. He fell into a void. He felt nothing. Time, space, everything stopped.
Then, out of the blackness and the nothingness, Tony heard a girl’s voice.
‘Mr Stark?’ it said. ‘It’s alright.’
Gradually, the darkness bled into golden light.
‘It’s alright,’ said the voice, warm and smooth and comforting. ‘My name’s Hela. My father’s been waiting for you.’