Ao3 | IronStrange? | The Life Lived

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Major Character Death
Angst
Once again, Infinity War spoilers

Chapter Text

You're okay.

He watched Grace Stampton walk across the stage and shake the university president's hand as he handed over her diploma. In the far-right corner, a cluster of people jumped up and down while waiving homemade signs in the air.

"Anthony Stark!"

Polite applause echoes through the room.

There's no one left to jump up and down.

There's no one left to make homemade signs.

Breathe.

He was flying across the night sky in the Iron Man suit. A bubble of joyous laughter worked its way from his chest and off the metal. It was the first time in months the happiness felt real.

Just breathe.

Steve hovered over him, shield held high in the air.

His chest constricted in fear at the sight.

Steve brought the edge of the shield down again, and again, and again.

Tears leaked from bourbon eyes. He was going to die here. Cold. Alone.

Open your eyes.

Pepper leaned against the headboard of the bed, twirling a strand of her strawberry blonde hair around her finger absentmindedly.

"Penny for your thoughts?" he asked, slipping between the covers.

Pepper turned to face him, a glimmer of fear in her eyes. "You'll always come back. You have to promise you'll always come back."

He couldn't.

Come back.

Wong shouts at Stephen in a mixture of languages he's never heard. It doesn't matter though. He doesn't need to understand the words to piece together what it's about.

Wong gestures lividly to the spot where the amulet holding the time stone once sat on Stephen's chest.

It's gone.

They had gone to Titan with the stone.

They had returned without it.

It's okay.

Peter launches across the limo. The teen's arms looped around him like steel bands as he sobbed relentlessly into his mentor's shoulder.

"I couldn't do it!" Peter howled. "I couldn't save them! It was just like Uncle Ben! It's all my fault...all my fault."

"That's not true," he murmured back soothingly. "You did your best. Sometimes...Sometimes bad things happen. Sometimes we can't win."

It's okay.

The Iron Man suit struggled under the weight of the rocket as he neared the swirling black hole in the sky. "It'll be alright," he told himself tearfully. "Everyone will be alright."

It's over now.

The sheets were ripped from his sweaty, trembling form. A cool cloth was shakily pressed to his forehead. "It's alright," Stephen soothed. "You're alright. I'm here. It was only a dream."

"Stephen?" he rasped, reaching blindly across the bed. He quickly found the hand he sought and intertwined their fingers. "You're here," he sighed.

"Always, Tony."

You're okay.

"Ninna nanna, ninna oh. Questo bimbo lo terrò," the lilted voice crooned lovingly.

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