AUTHOR NOTES

This story is slowly, unintentionally becoming an alternate universe/version of Endgame because I left the theater still waiting for my happy ending. So if I wasn't going to get one, I decided I was going to write one. I ended up getting so many different ideas that this turned into a different version of Endgame. It's not supposed to be a fix-it, but if you want to consider it a fix-it, then I'm cool with that. I'm mostly just having fun. Plus, I really want my happy ending.

I hope you enjoy it.

Dear Mr Fantasy

1 of ?

Loud and Clear

Taking a nuke through a wormhole...feeling the crushing, absolute zero of space and staring into the void of darkness as the conquest of Earth reigned was something Tony never wanted to face again. For a while, after New York, it became only a nightmare, but the paranoia nailed itself into the billionaire's everyday life and it soon grew into his focus and drive. The future was what the Avengers were to protect, but that future fell between their fingers as ash. How was this their legacy? Tony was able to ponder this as he sat at a table and watched the abyss of space engulf the Benetar. That was all he could really do to pass the time; drowned in his failure, teach Nebula paper football, and be plagued with horrendous pain from the stab wound Thanos treated the Avenger with.

Tony rested his chin in his propped palm on the tabletop. He gazed at the Ironman helmet and hardly recognized the colorful streaks of light which passed the ship as the Benatar traveled at an incomprehensible speed. There was only one person that was on his mind and that was Pepper...however, occasionally he wondered if Rhodey was still alive or how the remaining Avengers bid against Thanos. That was another way to occupy his time, in addition to the recordings that he started. "Pepper..." Tony breathed, still trying to gain control of his pain. The binding agent he had used to temporarily seal the wound was doing its job of holding the damage together, but the pain reliever was beginning to take a back seat. "It's day two since...he happened. I'm not really sure what to say...this may have left me speechless, but this isn't the first time I've gone missing, so I'm sure I'll figure something out. Nebula says we have to take a detour to another planet to get enough fuel to make it to Earth." Tony pressed his palm against his forehead upon feeling his body shake from sitting for too long. He really needed to lay down... "If we get lucky, it'll be another couple of days before I come home..." If he was alive by the time he reached home. "Listen, Pepper...I..." The thought of telling Pepper about his injured crept on Tony, but he didn't know if he could bring himself to tell his fiancee that he was dying. "I've been messing around with the ship's transmitter, hoping at some point it'll reach Earth, but nothing yet...I hope I hear from you soon, though...I love you," he finished before turning off the recording with a sigh.

When the helmet was turned off, Tony examined it briefly, wondering how it all went wrong. Gripping the table, Tony painfully staggered to his feet, but he didn't make it too far; just to a bench where he allowed himself to lay down and close his eyes.

THE QUINJET

The Earth was tainted quiet, silently weeping in accord to the tragedy that struck. Any speck of hope had been sucked into a realm unreachable to the haunted souls that survived. The Avengers mournfully sat in the center or the wings of the Quinjet as it soared over the beautiful, yet suffering planet of Earth which now laid under both spilled blood and dust. Unbearable anguish flooded the aircraft as they achingly left Wakanda behind to return home to America. For about seventy-two hours, the Avengers stayed to help the Wakandans clear the battlefield of those who were killed before the Snap and whatever debris there was. Okoye was trying to figure out how to lead her country forward as the entire royal family had fallen from the Snap.

In fact, the entire world was trying to make sense of what happened and how to pick up the pieces to keep the world going round. Whoever was left in the United Nations were scrambling to get a count of those that remained once the world was informed about Thanos. The world was an overwhelming mess now and the best anybody could do was return home and do what they could to help with clean up and get aid to those who needed it. They needed to figure out if there were officers left, doctors, construction workers, farmers who grew their food, and even animals that helped the ecosystems...everything on the Earth relied on each other for life and now half of all living things were gone...

Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Rhodey, Rocket, and Thor, in their moments of despair, didn't speak any words. They sat there together, feeling nothing but death in their grasp. It didn't matter how strong they were or how strong they pretended to be; tears welled in their eyes. A hole rested in their hearts, and it was something far more significant than they'd ever felt. Not even the worst of the past could level the catastrophe and misery that had disintegrated all happiness, laughter, and light. Never had they lost before, and it was a living hell. Sam, Bucky, Wanda, and Vision were gone... and the only thing they had was Vision's cold and colorless corpse lying under a sheet. When it was over, they'd spent a long time trying to call everyone they knew, in a frenzy to see what more people they lost. But the phones were quiet now, and there was nothing more to do...it was over, everybody was gone...they were all gone.

Rocket sat near the right side of the cockpit as Rhodey piloted the Quinjet. Being in an aircraft was something Rocket was familiar with, but he felt quite alone as he gazed at his reflection in the glass as the sun disappeared. The feeling of sorrow and alienation rolled over in his head and he tried remembering the last time he felt like this. Perhaps being experimented on, but...not knowing whether his friends were alive or not; that cut deep. However, so far, he was getting along with the humans, nevertheless, everybody was still trying to stomach what had happened three days ago. Rocket gazed around at each person, all of them keeping silent and to themselves. Briefly, Rocket made eye contact with Thor who sat in the left-wing, but the Asgardian shamefully looked elsewhere. Rocket knew the guilt that sat on the Avenger's shoulders, it rested on everyone's shoulders...they failed.

Bruce sat in one of the seats against the Quinjet's center table, meanwhile, Steve and Natasha where back to back with Bruce on the opposite side of the center. They had finally heard from Clint who sounded as if his emotions were spiraling. After Natasha had calmed him the best she could over the phone, she had told him to meet the team back at the Compound. He had nowhere else to go and in such a grim state, he had made it to the eerie and empty halls of the Avengers' Compound. They traveled as fast as they could to their teammate, who waited alone.

"We've got about an hour and a half before we land," Rhodey murmured, breaking the dark quiet. He was still incredibly tense, contact to Pepper and Happy had failed, leaving the Avengers with the presumption that they were dead as well, and Tony...Tony was still nowhere to be found if he was still alive.

"Will you let Clint know, please," Natasha said meekly from where she sat, giving it her all to keep her fear and sadness pulled together.

"Yeah, I notified him not too long ago, but I don't know if he got the message..." the colonel responded and just in the next second, the Quinjet's comm systems started blinking from an incoming call. When Rhodey opened up the line, he answered, "Clint?"

"Rhodey, hey," Clint's demeanor was still empty, but he sounded a little better than when they first spoke with him. "I got some good news, I found Pepper, she's with me now." That sentence was like a wave, washing relief among Rhodey, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Thor. It was the best thing they had heard all day. Truth be told, what had happened between Tony and the Avengers regarding the Accords, it diminished entirely because in the end both Tony and Pepper were still part of their family. Hearing she was on the other end of the line with Clint was everything at the moment.

"We copy..." Rhodey sighed, almost pulled to tears. "Is...Pepper, are you okay?" Steve got to his feet, grabbing a handle to hold onto as he stood in the left side of the cockpit next to Rhodey.

"Yeah...we've uh...we've been in New York City a lot," Pepper reprieved and all Rhodey could do was dip his head at the heavy sullen of her voice. "There's quite some damage after people started disappearing...cars, boats, and subways were crashing, planes were falling, people became stranded or trapped...whoever was left with Stark Industries...we're doing everything we can with whatever government, military officials, and first responders are left..."

"I think...that's the best any of us can do right now," Steve meant to reassure, encouraging Pepper's efforts, knowing that some people who didn't vanish probably died from the accident injuries.

"I tried calling sooner, but some of the power grids were down," Pepper said, "are you all okay?"

"Physically, yes," Rhodey uttered frankly, "Mentally, I'm not so sure." The assumption was well accurate as Natasha, Bruce, and Thor sat defeated, heads hanging and hands folded tightly together as they listened to the conversation while Steve and Rocket held their positions beside Rhodey. There was a sickening moment lingering as Rhodey waited for Pepper to bring up Tony, but she was edging around that subject until she couldn't take it anymore.

"Rhodey, Happy is gone..." The CEO's voice cracked, struggling to get the words out, and Rhodey wished he could be there for her sooner because in no way was this going to turn out okay. "And Tony...I told him..." Their hearts sank further as the emotion kept creeping, in a denying yet realizing stance that Tony was probably gone, either killed or dusted. "Rhodey, I told him to get off that ship."

Wiping the water from his eyes, Rhodey tried to honor what he said next, "...He was doing what he thought was right...he was trying to stop this." He paused for a moment, overwhelmed with grief as he shifted he gaze momentarily to a harrowing Bruce while Steve and Natasha exchanged a glance. "Where are you now?" He mumbled, returning his attention to the water below and the skies above.

"We're both at the Compound," Clint affirmed.

"You should both stay there, we're less than an hour and a half away," Natasha chipped in, not wanting to lose anybody else, even if it was just for a second. "We'll be there soon."

"Alright, stay safe," the Archer replied worryingly.

"Same to you," Steve said before Rhodey ended the call.

"For a genius, I don't think surviving space is the problem," Steve, Rhodey, and Bruce glanced at Rocket, "It's whether or not he survived Thanos."

NEW YORK

Whenever Pepper wasn't trying to help with the chaos, she hardly ate or slept. Most of the time she sat on the steps of the Compound's outdoor lounge, watching the skies and hoping she'd see an Earth-bound ship that had Tony safe and sound on it. Clint had gotten to the Compound first, mulling in the dread of losing his family, neighbors, friends...For some time he didn't care where the others were or what they were doing, all that clouded his mind was Laura, Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel. Then at some point, as he wandered the barren facility, he saw several photos of his teammates. All of them just being people, and after what happened between them, there was still a group photo in the study. Then his eyes found a picture of Tony and Pepper, and he remembered the many times the kids came to visit the Compound. Laura and Pepper got along really well together and when it ate at his soul, the Avenger decided to go find Pepper and there she was in the heat of everything trying to run Stark Industries' disaster relief. Seeing the good she was doing, he couldn't turn his back and spent the day together until they were told to get some rest.

So here they were, and when Clint saw Pepper sitting alone, he came outside and sat next to her on the stairs. As the sun dipped, the air chilled in the late April evening, but it didn't phase Pepper as she kept vigil. Clint looked her way and the looked in her eye, he knew it all too well from his own determination, but his light had died. They didn't know if Tony was dead or alive, but that fire was still in Pepper's eyes. "I hope he's alive," Clint said with a full heart and Pepper sympathetically looked at him.

"Thank you," she spoke graciously, appreciating his concern.

"What I feel now...I wish nobody would ever have to feel this way," he mustered with tears in his eyes, and it was followed by Pepper putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Even as the night prevailed and they were reunited with the remaining Avengers she didn't move, and by that time Rhodey brought a blanket out to her and sat with her for some time. At midnight, she and Rhodey both went inside where they ran into Rocket. "How's it coming, Rocket?" Rhodey asked.

"Well, we finally finished it. The transmitter is up and running in the Quinjet Hanger, so it's not up to us anymore, but hopefully, we can find my crew, Thor's missing Asgardians, and your missing man," Rocket explained more or less optimistically, handing Pepper a small device. "Here, if anything gets in the range of the transmitters, these little devices will let us know."

"Thank you," Pepper replied, accepting the device from the Guardian.

As he walked away, Pepper gave Rhodey an 'I just spoke to a raccoon' look. "You'll get used to it, he kinda grows on you after a bit," is what Rhodey said as they finally went to their quarters to call it a night. No matter how hard she tried, sleep didn't come to her, and Pepper simply watched the device's light blue glow that made her think of Tony. But the device stayed hush until twenty-four hours later when it finally sounded through the sleeping Compound.

"We got a ship!" Rocket bellowed through the halls, which roused everyone because they didn't yet know if this was hostile or friendly.

Bruce was already in the Compound's Hanger with the raccoon as Pepper and Rhodey fleetly approached. "Pepper!" The sound of the scientist's voice and the look on his face said it all and Pepper didn't need to ask.

She felt her heart stop and all the air left her lungs as she halted beside Rocket's makeshift transmitter. "Tony?" She called gently, and as Natasha and Steve entered the hanger there was no answer. Pepper glanced concerningly at Bruce before asking again, "Tony?"

When he did speak, they realized it took him so long to respond because he had actually choked up on tears of joy. "I hear you loud and clear, Pep," Tony finally said with a controlled voice, and it was enough to make Pepper cry.

to be continued...

MY WRITING CHOICES IN CASE YOU'RE INTERESTED

I decided Tony was only going to be in space for 4 days with Nebula because I wanted to see him go through with that stab wound. That was a serious stab wound and I highly doubt that without Hollywood Tony would've probably died. Also, the filmmakers may have had Tony in space for 22 days to introduce Captain Marvel, but I'm not the biggest fan of Captain Marvel, so I may not include her in this fic. I also don't have a 3 hour time limit, so I'm going to take the liberty to take my time writing this story. Hope you enjoy it!

Thank you for reading!

-Learlorde