Pull | Infinity War

Chapter 31: "Something...is happening."

Now Playing: Say Something: A Great Big World

Say something, I'm giving up on you

I'll be the one if you want me to

Anywhere, I would've followed you

Say something, I'm giving up on you

A/N: Hot Jesus, I'm so sorry 

Everything was going just fine and dandy: Tony had directed everyone to the rubble of their previous ship, scattered in large chunks. They were told to find engine parts, and if they did, contact Tony via commlink (He'd connected them all, somehow without Wi-Fi, at least, Iris was fairly certain the planet didn't have Wi-Fi.) 

Perhaps the only downside to the whole ordeal was that Stephen didn't so much as breathe in her direction. Tony even tried to pair them together, but Stephen went off with Tony instead, switching places with Peter. Iris tried to make eye contact with him several times, but to be honest, she was still a bit pissed after the argument. 

That went on for less than an hour, but everyone was called back together, in a circle, gathered to discuss ways of finding perhaps, a more intact ship. 

And that's when Mantis spoke up. 

She paused, head cocked to the side, the tips of her antenna's glowed. Her face turned into an expression of panic. "Something...is happening." 

And then her body began to disintegrate. 

Iris' mouth dropped and Mantis crumbled away to ash, Drax and Quill standing by her side, looking equally stunned. She felt her hand begin to shake. What had just happened?  

Drax suddenly looked up, just as panicked looking as Mantis had been. "Quill?" Then Drax too began to crumble away. Quill looked downright horrified, stumbling a bit. 

Tony reached his hand out, "Steady Quill." 

He looked up from where Drax and Mantis' ashes blew away in the wind, sorrowful and pained like he was missing something, or someone. "Aw, man."  

Quill disintegrated too, leaving Iris, Tony, Peter, Stephen, and Nebula still standing, all looking shocked. Iris watched the ashes of his body float to the ground, jaw trembling. "W-what's happening? Stephen?"

Iris looked to Stephen, and froze, eyes widening. "No, no no no, no Stephen." She rushed forward, falling to hands and knees next to Stephen. She grabbed one of his hands and his cheek with the other. "No, no no no, no, come on, stay with me please." Iris shuddered, literally fighting the impulse to cry. 

Stephen grabbed her hand back and placed his hand on her neck. "There was no other way...sweetheart I love you, I always will. You have to stay strong for me, please?" Iris shook and finally gave in to the tears. She nodded and wrapped both arms around Stephen, ugly sobbing into his shoulder. 

"I'm so sorry," She sobbed into his neck, and in response, he pressed closer. 

"So am I." 

Little by little, Iris felt Stephen fall apart in her arms. Her sobs shook her whole body now, tears flooding down her cheeks at a speed she'd only seen once before.

And then he was gone. 

Iris fell forward, right where Stephen's body had been, and made a strange whimper as she watched his ashes collect on the floor of the planet and drift away in the wind. 

The reality of it hadn't quite reached her brain yet, she was still in shock. Dimly in the background, she could hear Tony's panicked voice and Peter's- dear God, not Peter -voice, filled to the brim with distress. 

Iris sat back on her haunches, still trying to process the last minute and a half. She turned around (God, she really wished she hadn't, it only made more tears and guilt pile on her shoulders) to see Tony holding Peter as he faded into dust. 

She fell backward, truly realizing, that Stephen was really gone. Poof. Just like that. Her chest shuddered when she tried to take in a breath, and out came more tears. She reached out to the ashes left on the ground but froze when more wind picked them up and carried the dust across the rocks and metal. 

Iris turned back to Tony, now sitting on the ground, rocking back and forth. His head lay in his hands, and she had a sudden urge to lay down and just be done. With everything. 

But Stephen had told her to be strong, it was his last request, she'd have to honor it. God, she'd already lost him once, was that not enough? Iris couldn't decide which was worse: Watching and feeling him fade away in her arms, or waking up one morning and finding him missing for two years. Both hurt equally. 

But this time seemed to have a... different kind of hurt. At least when Stephen had vanished the first time, Iris knew he was most likely alive and well, just not with her. But watching him die? Watching him disintegrate in her arms? It had a sort of finality to it, a sort that Iris couldn't quite grasp. She wanted to know he was still okay, still out there something, still at home, waiting for her to open the door.  

But he wasn't. Stephen Strange was dead and was never coming back.

Nebula was the first to speak after the silent minutes of mourning they all shared. Her words chilled Iris and brought another fresh round of guilt and utter sadness to her. "He did it." 

So Thanos had won, back on Earth, the remainder of the heroes had failed. The Avengers, The Guardians, everyone, had lost. 

Iris stood up, the guilt suddenly replaced with raging anger. They were going to go back to Earth, and Iris was going to kick Thanos' ass to fucking Tomorrow Land. She clenched her fist.  

Stephen wanted her to stay strong? Oh, she'd be strong, strong enough to throw Thanos off a damn cliff. She turned to Tony, now with his head up. "Tony, how do we get back?" Tony didn't answer, at least, not right away, and Iris' rage faltered. She walked over and sat down next to him, leaning again his shoulder. "God Tony, I'm so sorry, " she muttered so quietly that she wasn't quite sure if Stark had heard her. 

After a moment of silence, Iris asked again. "Tony, how are we getting back?" And Tony Stark, the man who knew everything, who had a solution to every problem, deflated. 

"I don't know." 

 A L T E R N A T E   E N D I N G   C O M I N G   S O O N 

 T O    B E   C O N T I N U E D . . .  

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