Chapter Text
Tony’s POV:
Pain. That was all there was.
Pain in his arm.
Pain in his chest.
Pain in his face.
God, his face hurt.
It felt like every nerve in his body had been dipped in acid and set on fire. Every breath scraped against his lungs like broken glass. He couldn't move. Couldn't think. Couldn't focus on anything except the agony ripping through him.
Had he won? Had he lost? Was he even alive? Voices drifted through the ringing in his ears.
Distant.
Muffled.
Like he was underwater.
"Mr. Stark?"
The voice sounded familiar. Important. But his brain refused to cooperate.
"Mr. Stark? Can you hear me?"
Peter. Right. Peter. Tony tried to turn his head. Tried to answer. Nothing happened. His body no longer belonged to him.
"We won, sir. We won."
Won. The word echoed through his mind. Won. That meant—
Thanos. The army. The Stones. The snap. Then another voice cut through the fog. A voice he'd recognize even if the universe itself was ending.
"Tony."
Pepper. His eyes slowly found her. Her helmet retracted. Tears filled her eyes.
No.
No, no, no.
Pepper wasn't supposed to cry. Pepper was supposed to be smiling. Pepper was supposed to be safe. Pepper was supposed to be at home with Morgan.
Morgan. The thought hit him harder than the pain. His daughter. Five years. He got five years. Five years he never should have had. Five years of bedtime stories. Five years of pancakes. Five years of hearing tiny feet running through the house. Five years of being Dad.
It wasn't enough. It would never be enough. But it had been everything.
Pepper knelt beside him. Strong. Steady. Even now. Especially now.
"Tony."
Her voice cracked. And suddenly he understood. He knew exactly why she was looking at him that way. Why Rhodey was standing behind her. Why Peter sounded like he was trying not to fall apart.
Because they all knew. The same thing Tony knew. This was it. The end of the line. Funny. After everything.
The cave.
New York.
Ultron.
Titan.
All the near-death experiences. All the impossible situations. This was how it ended. Not with a genius plan. Not with one final sarcastic comment. Just him sitting against a tree. Surrounded by the people he loved. Dying.
Pepper reached for his chest. His arc reactor. As if trying to convince herself that he was going to live. Her fingers trembled. Only slightly. Anyone else would've missed it. Tony didn't.
"We're going to be okay."
The words nearly shattered her when she said it. But she forced them out anyway. Forced herself to smile. Because Pepper Potts was brave. Braver than he'd ever been.
"You can rest now."
Something inside Tony loosened. The pain began to fade. The fire burning through his nerves started disappearing. The battlefield sounds drifted away. Peter's crying faded.
The weight of the armor vanished.
Everything became lighter. Softer. Warmer. He looked at Pepper one last time. Beautiful. Always beautiful.
Then darkness swallowed everything.
Darkness.
Silence.
Nothing.
For a moment, Tony wondered if this was death. If this was all there was. No pain. No fear. Just endless black.
Then—
Light exploded behind his eyes. Tony gasped. Air flooded into his lungs. His body lurched forward. Painlessly. His eyes snapped open.
"What the FUCK?!"
Pepper’s POV:
The battle was over. She knew it before anyone said a word. One second she was fighting alongside the Avengers. The next, Thanos' army began to crumble. Creatures dissolved into ash. Ships vanished. Entire legions disappeared before her eyes. Exactly the way half the universe had vanished five years ago. Only this time, it was happening in reverse.
They won. Somehow. They won. Relief flooded through her.
Then she saw Tony. Everything else stopped mattering. The battlefield vanished. The cheers vanished. The victory vanished. There was only Tony.
Tony leaning against a burnt tree. Tony barely moving. Tony looking far too still.
Her heart dropped into her stomach.
No.
No.
No.
Not again. Not after everything. Not after Morgan. Not after finally getting him back. She ran.
Ignoring the pain in her armor. Ignoring the destruction around her. Ignoring everyone. Just Tony. Only Tony.
Peter reached him first. The poor kid sounded terrified.
"Mr. Stark? Can you hear me?"
Pepper's chest tightened. Not Spider-Man. Not an Avenger. Just a kid watching someone he loved die.
"We won, sir."
His voice broke.
"We won."
Pepper reached them. Peter's face was soaked with tears. Tony wasn't responding. Not really. His eyes moved. Barely. His body twitched occasionally. But she knew. She knew. She'd spent too many years worrying about Tony Stark. Too many years wondering whether he'd come home.Too many years imagining this exact moment. And now it was here.
She gently guided Peter away. Rhodey stepped forward immediately. Taking Peter before the boy collapsed. Pepper dropped beside Tony. Her hands shook. Not much. Just enough.
"Tony."
His eyes shifted toward her. Recognition flickered. A tiny spark. But it was there.
"-epper..."
The broken word nearly destroyed her. She wanted to scream. Wanted to beg. Wanted to demand that he stay. That he fight. That he do what he'd always done and somehow survive the impossible.
Instead she smiled. Because Tony needed peace. Not guilt. Not fear. Peace.
"We're going to be okay."
The tears finally escaped. She couldn't stop them. Didn't try.
"You can rest now."
Tony's eyes softened. The tension left his body. The pain disappeared from his expression. And Pepper knew. The moment arrived. His breathing stopped. The arc reactor light faded. His hand slipped from hers.
Gone. Tony Stark was gone. Pepper bowed her head. A sob escaped her. Small. Broken. Raw. She pressed a kiss to his cheek. One last goodbye. One last I love you.
Then something impossible happened. The Infinity Stones began glowing. The gauntlet lit up. Energy surged across the battlefield. Pepper barely had time to react. The world exploded into white.
And suddenly—
She was standing in her old bedroom at Stark Industries.
The room she'd slept in years ago.
The room she'd left behind long before Morgan.
Long before the wedding.
Long before Endgame.
Pepper stared.
"What the hell?"
Peter’s POV:
Mr. Stark was dying. Peter knew it. Everyone knew it. But that didn't stop him from trying.
He stumbled across the battlefield. Ignoring his injuries. Ignoring the exhaustion. Ignoring everything except the man who had changed his life. The man who had believed in him. The man who had pulled him out of Queens and shown him a bigger world. Mr. Stark. Tony.
Peter dropped beside him.
"Mr. Stark?"
Nothing. His voice cracked immediately. He hated how scared he sounded. But he couldn't help it. Not now. Not again. Not after Titan. Not after being dusted. Not after finally getting him back.
"We won."
Peter swallowed. Hard.
"We won, sir."
No response.
"Mr. Stark?"
His eyes blurred. Tears streamed down his face.
"Y-you did it."
Tony's gaze shifted slightly. Maybe. Peter couldn't tell. Everything hurt too much.
"We won."
The words became a desperate plea. As if saying them enough times would somehow save him. As if victory should mean nobody had to die. As if heroes were supposed to get happy endings.
"I'm sorry, Tony."
The title disappeared naturally. Without thinking. Without meaning to. Just Tony. Because suddenly Mr. Stark felt too distant. Too formal. Too late.
Pepper arrived. Gently pulling him away. Peter didn't resist. He couldn't. His legs barely worked. Rhodey caught him before he collapsed. Peter watched helplessly.
Watched Pepper talk to Tony. Watched Tony look at her. Watched the life slowly leave his eyes. And when Tony finally stopped breathing—
Something inside Peter shattered. A hole opened in his chest. An empty space that would never be filled again. His mentor. His hero. Gone.
Then his spider-sense exploded. Not tingled. Screamed. Danger. Wrong. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Peter barely opened his eyes before he saw the Stones glowing. Energy erupted across the battlefield. The world vanished.
And suddenly—
He was sitting on his bed.
In Queens.
In his apartment.
Peter stared around wildly.
His posters.
His desk.
His backpack.
His room.
Impossible.
Absolutely impossible.
"M-Mr. Stark?"
The Avengers’s POV:
Victory should have felt better. It should have felt worth it. Instead, it felt hollow. Empty. Because they had won. And Tony Stark was dying. Steve Rogers stood frozen. Unable to move. Unable to look away. Every mistake he'd ever made replayed through his mind.
The argument in Siberia. The shield. The Accords. The years apart. The phone call Tony never answered. The friend he'd failed. The brother he'd lost.
And all Steve could think was:
You made the sacrifice. You always would have. I was wrong.
Beside him, Thor stared silently. He had buried his father. His mother. His brother. His people. His world. Now another friend was slipping away. Another person he loved. Another name added to a list already far too long.
Clint Barton lowered his head. Natasha was gone. Now Tony too. The last proper conversation he'd had with Stark involved prison cells and arguments. Some friend he turned out to be.
Bruce Banner stood motionless. His damaged arm hung uselessly at his side. He should have done more. Should have helped more. Should have been the one making sacrifices. Not Tony. Never Tony.
Wanda Maximoff remained silent. Her grief mixed with guilt. Tony had suffered because of her actions. Because of Sokovia. Because of Ultron. Because of mistakes that had spiraled out of control.
Bucky Barnes stood nearby. Equally silent. Equally guilty. No matter how much therapy he'd received. No matter how much healing he'd done. The memory remained. The blood remained. Howard and Maria Stark. The thing he'd taken from Tony.
Sam Wilson looked down. He hadn't known Tony as long as the others. Hadn't shared decades of history. But he'd known enough. Enough to understand what the world was losing.
And Rhodey—
Rhodey didn't know what to feel. His best friend. His brother. His partner since MIT. The guy who stole his fries. The guy who never shut up. The guy who somehow turned weapons manufacturing into superheroics. Dying. And Rhodey couldn't fix it. Couldn't joke it away. Couldn't fly them out. Couldn't do anything.
So they watched. And grieved. Together. Then every single Infinity Stone began glowing. At once. The battlefield trembled. Reality warped. The universe itself seemed to inhale.
Every Avenger felt it.
A pull.
A yank.
Like something grabbed hold of their souls and ripped them sideways. The world disappeared.
Light.
Darkness.
Weightlessness.
Voices.
Confusion.
Then—
"What the FUCK?!"
Tony Stark's voice.
Very alive.
Very loud.
The Avengers blinked. They looked around. Recognized the room immediately. The conference room. The one inside Avengers Tower. The same room where they'd argued. The same room where they'd divided. The same room where everything began falling apart. On the table sat copies of the Sokovia Accords.
And suddenly every single one of them realised exactly where they were. The day the Avengers broke. The day everything changed.
And this time—
They remembered everything.