Chapter Text
τοῦ λόγου δὲ ἐόντος ξυνοῦ ζώουσιν οἱ πολλοί ὡς ἰδίαν ἔχοντες φρόνησιν I. p. 77. Fr. 2. Although logos [knowledge or reason] is common, the many live as if they had a wisdom of their own ὁδὸς ἄνω κάτω μία καὶ ὡυτή I. p. 89 Fr. 60. The way upward and the way downward is one and the same H. A. Diels: Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (Herakleitos) The Fragments of the Presocratics (Heraclitus)
A snap. A fleeting glance toward the ceiling. Then, the sudden disappearance of a memory immersed in green.
Bruce collapsed to the ground, his body drained to the core, every breath heavy with exhaustion. Pain radiated through his right side, from the palm of his hand to his neck and torso, burning in sharp waves.
Doubt flooded his mind instantly.
"Did it work?" he rasped. His head was a garble of thoughts, and none of them made sense.
Sound came to him warped and muffled. Thor loomed above, close to his head, mumbling something. Maybe an answer, or some soothing words. Maybe nothing at all, Bruce couldn't be sure.
Bruce squinted, trying to focus, to anchor himself. Then, something else caught his eye: a ship in the sky, a loud noise and then,
nothing.
…
The battle had shifted.
The fight had gotten a little more hopeful. For the first time, a spark of hope pierced the despair. Deep down, both Tony and Steve knew the truth: against Thanos alone, they stood no chance. Not even together, not even with Thor.
Still, it would have changed nothing. They would have fought; even if they would have died trying.
But fate had not abandoned them. Thankfully, help did arrive. Bruce's snap was successful, and, one after the other, every single one of the heroes that were slowly erased from the planet passed through the gateways conjured by Strange’s hand. Warriors, friends, legends, all returned to the battlefield. The world’s mightiest heroes stood united once more, determined to end the war Thanos had started.
But it wasn’t enough.
Even with an army at their backs, even after Captain Marvel tore through the heavens and obliterated the warship, Thanos managed to get hold of the gauntlet.
There was little to be done.
Tony lay beaten on the ground, bloodied and exhausted, his armor shattered around him. He slowly lifted his head, vision blurred, just in time to see Thor and Steve crushed beneath the Titan’s wrath. Captain Marvel herself was hurled aside like a rag doll.
But in the far distance, across the battlefield, Tony could also see him. The sorcerer’s gaze locked on his, as he raised a single finger.
This was it. This was their chance.
In that instant, Tony knew what to do. He stole the stones, the power of creation itself searing through his body. And as death closed in, he found his voice, uttering the same words that had begun his journey, and now would end it.
“I am Iron Man.”
…
A blinding flare of green consumed Tony’s vision, swallowing everything in an instant.
He had braced himself for agony. He knew the stones would tear him apart, set ablaze his veins and cause for his body to buckle under their cosmic power.
But, well…
He definitively felt the searing pain of tissues burning, right before the snap. But right now, nothing.
No fire. No pain.
He couldn't even feel many of the other injuries he had. F.R.I.D.A.Y. had already accounted for at least two broken ribs, multiple sprains, and countless bruises along his body.
Instead, he felt light. Unbound. As if his body had been left behind with the battlefield.
Opening his eyes, the truth, or at least something like it, began to take shape. Surely, he had to be somewhere connected to the stones; where else could he be? It was a simple conclusion he had to deduce from the fact that he didn't know where he was, and the last thing he did was use the stones. So, stone realm. Simple.
No briefing had covered this.
Bruce never mentioned ending up in a stone realm after using the gauntlet. Sure, they hadn’t really talked much afterward, but still, that seemed like a really big, important thing to bring up immediately after you get back. Like, "Hey guys, by the way, meddle too much with Infinity Stones and you’ll wake up in some cosmic fever dream." Right? Yeah, he probably wouldn't have said it exactly like that, but still!
Looking around, Tony couldn't really see much. Jagged rubble stretched endlessly, making every step almost impossible. A faint green glow clung to the air, illuminating everything just enough to keep him from stumbling.
Far off, in the distance, he could see the origin of the glow. Something strange writhed like living ropes, moving as if they were breathing, and stretching beyond the horizon, farther than his eyes could follow.
It was almost impossible trying to understand what they were.
Suddenly, as Tony was trying to get a better look around, the ground shifted beneath him.
A wide step formed under his feet, and after that, many others followed, forming a long staircase. It extended in front of him for so long that you couldn't see the end. Whoever, whatever, ruled this place clearly wanted him to follow.
And, well, it wasn’t like he had many other places to go.
One step after another, Tony finally reached the top. The path wound upward until it ended in a wide chamber with nothing but a figure in the middle. A throne sat in the center, or what might have been a throne once. It was fractured, its golden frame broken, stripped of all its majesty. Yet it still demanded importance in some way.
And upon it sat someone Tony never thought he would see again.
The twisting ropes he’d glimpsed earlier all converged here, their countless strands drawn into the hands of the figure seated upon the throne.
"Come, Tony" he heard a weirdly familiar voice say.
Tony was a genius, sure, but it took him an embarrassingly long moment to realize whose voice it was. As it dawned on him, he quickly ran the last few steps to finally face the speaker: Loki.
With arms outstretched, he held the branches together with an almost casual grace. His face was weary but composed, touched with a tired but knowing look.
Alive. Thor had sworn that he was gone, he had cried, mourned, even tried to avenge him. Tony remembered the dead look in the god of thunder’s eyes. And yet here Loki was.
"I was wondering when you would present yourself," the god said jokingly with a small smirk on his face, as if telling a joke only he would understand.
Tony almost couldn’t believe his eyes.
His mouth went dry. His brain, usually quick and sharp, only managed one word, “Loki?”
He had many other meandering thoughts in his mind, yet that’s the only one that managed to come out. Well, the confirmation of the god’s identity seemed the most fundamental anyway.
Sure, he looked like Loki, and his voice sounded like him too, for as much as Tony could remember. But how possibly could it be him?
The god’s smile deepened, though his eyes betrayed something heavier. Almost sensing the millions of thoughts in Tony’s head, he spoke, “I’m sure you are drowning in questions, and I’ll be glad to explain them, in due time. Do not worry, we have all the time we may need.”
Tony barked a humorless laugh, “Yeah, okay, that’s not weird at all. One minute I’m snapping my fingers, the next I’m in some interdimensional fixer-upper with the God of Mischief. What, conquering Earth wasn’t enough for you, huh, Reindeer Games? You had to take the weird in-between spaces too?” The attempt at humour was a thin mask for the confusion that was starting to take a toll on Tony's mind, something Loki seemed to recognize.
He chuckled softly, but there was no malice in it.“I have no desire to conquer this place,” he said. “I am merely living in it, and making it live.”
This was pushing all the wrong buttons in Tony’s head. This act. This knowing, gracious, good act. The gall. The sincerity. The… virtue of it.
He remembered New York as it was yesterday. The screams. He remembered Clint’s hollow eyes in the aftermath, his nightmares, his panic attacks, and his own. He knew Loki had changed in some way before his death, but this? This was different.
“This doesn’t make sense,” he snapped, raising his voice.
Loki only regarded him with calm patience. “I understand, you are confused. But by combining the power of all the infinity stones you intended to change your timeline’s reality in some way. That’s why you’re here. You were brought to a space beyond the bounds of your timeline. A place to oversee the story of your reality from beginning to end. And change it. The stones made it possible. Their power raised you above its narrow confines and delivered you here, to the End of Time. To me. I can imagine what your request will be, but you'll still have time to make your choices. If you'll voice them, I will grant it.”
Tony’s breath caught. Is that what those ropes are? Timeliness? And this place? The End of Time? What?
His thoughts raced.
Was this some sort of genie situation?
Did all those who used the stone end here? Did Bruce also get transported here to bring all the people back?
Did Thanos?
Something clicked.
“You’re telling me you granted Thanos’ request of killing innocents? You were the one that made the death of millions possible?” His voice broke into a roar, grief weaponized into fury.“That thing snapped his fingers and half the universe went up in smoke, and you just sat here, what? Holding your glowing ropes? Drinking space martinis with him while people turned to ash?” he shouted.
A shadow passed over Loki’s face. He shifted in his seat as the ropes in his hands contorted.
“These are not ropes,” he said at last, his voice low, reverent. “They are timelines.”
Slightly taken aback, Tony glanced around.
“Every single one branches out an almost infinite number of paths. Copious lives and possibilities, each different from one another, yet all correct in every way. I couldn’t see it before, but now I’m connected to every single one of them. I can see all stories since their prelude. Choosing or writing them isn’t my purpose, keeping them alive is. The stones, every single one of them, from any timeline, keeps them balanced.”
Loki stopped briefly, his mind slipping somewhere else for a moment, then continued.
“They are so very powerful inside of the time lines, and joining them even more so. To keep the branches thriving, I answer to their users. And if that means making changes, even drastic ones… then I must.”
The small, sombre smile that formed on the god's lips at the beginning immediately dissolved at the last words, duty strong in his eyes.
The words struck Tony like a blow. The sincerity in them, the weight. It didn’t fit the man he remembered.
He was almost speechless.
What could he even say? Most of this was so out of his understanding. Alien thought as gods, ok, sure. But infinite branches of infinite possibilities, balance and inner peace? This was Strange’s field of work. He knew nothing of chakras and that sort of thing.
“Okay, I -” Tony's brain was going through a million thoughts per second. “So if I just say, ‘Kill everyone’ you do it?” he asked.
“Of course, if that is what you want,” came as an answer.
Tony still had his eyes fixed on a far away point, deep in thoughts.
“You see all of it,” Tony murmured. “Past, future… everything.”
“I do.”
“And you already knew what I was going to ask.”
Loki inclined his head. “I did. But still, you must ask. The branch cannot change without your voice. Without your intent."
Tony hesitated. “You also know what happens after?”
The rhetorical question almost burned on Tony's tongue; anticipation was building in his abdomen.
A simple nod answered him.
Anxiety coiled in his chest, yet he pushed on to ask the next question. “I want you to tell me, could you do that? I knew I wouldn’t survive using the stones. I saw what happened to Bruce, even to Thanos himself, I knew from the beginning I wouldn’t survive, I just need to make sure” he said, with a small tremor in his hands “I need to make sure Pepper, Morgan, Peter, everyone is safe without me”
“Is that your wish from the stones?” Loki had to ask.
“WHAT?” Immediately snapped Tony “NO! Do I only get one? Can't you just show me?” he screamed.
“Mh, I couldn't.” That old mischievous smile presented itself against the gods face.
“But you're an old friend”.
A branch started to get closer to him, unfolding before Tony’s eyes.
He felt as if his eyes were glued to it.
A vision shimmered across it, showing him what would happen; he could see his last breath, Pepper close to him, her lips trembling as she whispered to him.
Slightly moving his eyes on the branch, he saw a young woman, bathed by a red light, smiling, radiant with life.
Tears welded in his eyes at the sight of her.
“Okay,” he whispered, voice raw. “Okay. You know what I want. Kill Thanos. Destroy his army, the same way he erased half of us. Wipe them out.” The conviction in his voice was almost palpable.
From the corner of his eye, Tony caught the faintest flicker of amusement on Loki’s lips. Mischief never quite left him.
“I’ll grant you your wish.” the god said. “With the stones, you’ll erase your enemies. You will win your war, and you will die peacefully shortly after, knowing that your family forgives you for your sacrifice”
Relief crashed over Tony like a wave. The weight lifted.
“But, for an old friend, I have another offer to make you.” Loki leaned forward, his voice a whisper coiled with temptation. “You could win and live. Watch your daughter grow. Grow old beside your friends. All I ask is one favor, something I cannot do from here. A task in your own timeline.”
Looking up, he saw a possibility. The possibility of everything going almost according to plan, or, at least, more positively so. His one condition for getting into this mess was to not lose what he had, and maybe he didn’t have to.
“What’s the catch?” he asked, his voice wary.
“There is none, friend. You will deliver a letter,” Loki said simply. “Ensure it reaches its addressee. Nothing more.”
Such a small request, weighed against everything Tony stood to gain. Too small. Suspiciously small. A deal with Loki, the god of lies, the trickster who had once tried to burn his world, it could never be that simple.
But then Morgan’s face rose in his mind. Peter’s grin. Pepper’s touch. The vision of that smiling girl.
Tony exhaled, slow, trembling.
“Yeah,” he said at last. “Fine. I accept.”