The dark abysses that was his eye opened up to the sensation of prodding and pushing. For a moment he couldn't see anything but bright white light, so intense he had to blink to make his eye focus properly. Everything was still white and infinite even when his eye stopped stinging from over stimulation. Where was he?
He couldn't open his other eye. Some strange pressure was keeping it closed shut, limiting him to sole vision in his left eye. He wanted to move so badly, but his body would not obey his thoughts. It actually caused him mental pain to attempt movement. What was wrong with him?
He could feel something poke his...insides. Literally. Cold metal wriggling around inside his body. He directed his gaze downwards as best as he could with no movement of his head.
Tony couldn't believe what he saw. A hole in his chest.
And people in teal outfits were sticking metals inside of him, cutting and slicing bits and pieces. Were they killing him? Were they trying to remove his heart?
Tough luck for them, Tony Stark doesn't have a heart. They were too late. Actually, they had the wrong specimen because he was sure he never had a heart. He didn't want to here. He didn't want to be here.
He didn't want to be here.
He wanted to be dead, nothing more in this plane of existence. He was scum of the earth and didn't want to plague the world any longer.
Didn't he do something before he awoke to the white? He couldn't remember.
Tony heard a voice somewhere. It was muffled, blended into the whiteness, but it was human. Vaguely. There were other voices. His eye darted from side to side, trying hard to find the source. He couldn't comprehend what was being said, the edges of words blending together.
"...Lookslike some sleepparalysis tome-"
How many people were there?
"Canwe get a...givesome high dose... Anesthesia."
He was feeling some pain creeping up from his chest. He wanted to scream.
"-poor guy, hadsuch potentialwith that brilliant mind-"
What? What did that mean?
"What a wastelook at thesereadings mustbean alcoholic ifthat bullet orshrapneldidn't gethim then-"
He was close to tears now. What was going on? He did not want to be here at all. The white of the room was starting to move closer. He felt like a beast stuffed into a cage two sizes too small. He was scared the white was going to come and choke him. It was too white, too sinister, too vast. His breathing was rapid.
Something cool touched his face. It freaked him out, breathing going in and out much faster. He could feel slight control creep back into his body, enough for him to let a soft groan. Hopefully his arms would come back to life so he could climb away or fight.
"Mr. Stark?"
He blinked. Who was that? Was that -
"Tony?" the voice tried again.
That was him. He was Tony. The voice was nice. It was soft, a strange lilt to it that was quite foreign. He moved his eye to find the source. Cool hands were gripping his face, a thumb stroking at his cheek.
"Tony," the voice said with more confidence. "I need you to calm down."
He found the source - it was directly above him. An angel.
The angel's face was a heavenly pale, mostly disguised by a surgical mask covering his nose down. Plastic covered his hair, but Tony was sure this was an angel he was looking at. The pair of eyes gazing down at him were inhumanly emerald and sparkled the brightest Tony had ever seen. It was as if the angel possessed a whole galaxy in his irises, eyes crinkled slightly as people who smile have.
Tony could stare for hours if he had the chance. The eyes were hypnotic, the pair of raven brows arched at just the right angle.
"Sleep tight." The angel said before Tony's eyes started to close without his will. He wanted to keep them open so badly so he could stare, but it was not going to happen that way. His body won over his mind and soon he was lost in blackness.
He jerked away, sitting up in his bed fast, head going forward as if he was just hit by a bus. Hands were on him immediately, guiding him back into the position he was in before. Tony squirmed in protest.
"You ripped out your iv!" A voice said in mild frustration, gripping his arm firmly to reattach the line. "Be careful, we want you to remain stable."
"Where am I?" Tony shot out immediately, eye darting around the room. His right eye was still shut. It hurt but the pain was bearable. The same could be said for his chest.
"You're in a hospital. Here, let me get some water for you sir."
"Why am I in a hospital?" Tony asked quickly. "Where's Pepper? What day is it? Why does my chest hurt? What happened to my eye? Who are you-"
"I can not focus when you blather on like that." The voice responded, clearly annoyed. Tony looked over in the direction and took in his appearance. The man was tall, dressed in teal shrubs, and had curly black hair that fell at his shoulders. His back was turned to the side table beside Tony's hospital bed.
Tony took in the room next. Standard hospital room, a little spacious, and a window on the wall facing him. There was a nice view of the rest of the hospital complex. He guessed he was about ten stories high, judging by how small the gardens looked from his bed.
"Here you are, drink this, sir." The man said and Tony turned to take the glass of water from him.
"Thank you," Tony said slowly and drained the glass before returning it to the man's hands. He looked familiar.
"I'll get you some more," the man went back to do just that. "Now, I can try to answer your questions as best as I can. What do you remember last?"
"A pair of green eyes," Tony said instantly. "They were beautiful, and like, I know it sounds so fucking cheesy, but I swear there were stars in those eyes. And then I was told to sleep and here I am."
Tony a quick intake of breath before the glass was pressed back into his palms.
"Do you...remember anything before I put you back to sleep during the operation?"
"That was you?" Tony finally actually looked at the man, at his face. He was beautiful.
Dark hair tossed over his shoulder, cheekbones regally high, brows curved up in a question, and those eyes. Those eyes were still stunning. A true angel, dressed up in scrubs, right in front of him. Was he in heaven? No, he didn't deserve heaven. A familiar shadow sunk into his head, the emptiness of depression reclaiming him once again.
The man chuckled, lips curling into a small smirk.
"I am nurse Laufeyson and I was part of your surgery. I am truly sorry for startling you by touching your face, but I had to calm you down. You were having an episode of sleep paralysis and were showing signs of waking up in the middle of the procedure."
"Well, you're pretty so I don't mind."
The nurse blinked at his forwardness but continued. "I will assume you do not remember what happened before the surgery?"
"I don't," Tony admitted. "I only remember going home, waking up in that white room, and you."
"You tried to shoot yourself, but you missed. So then you took a grenade and detonated it in your room." Loki said softly, volume dropping to a whisper. "Ms. Potts was alerted immediately, and you were escorted quickly to the facility."
Ah. It all was coming back to him now. How hurt he had felt, how lonely, how useless. He had a drink when he got home from that meeting over at Stark Industries. He was so tired of the constant pressure, his title of "Merchant of Death", the attack he had gone through a few months before, the hopelessness of such a bleak existence. So he had tried to put a bullet through his head.
For some reason he missed. So since he didn't make the target the first time, he went on down to his workshop, grabbed a prototype for his latest weaponry, and detonated it. There was no escaping death for him.
So he had hoped.
"I lived." he stated.
Laufeyson nodded.
"A lot of burns, shrapnel to the heart, some glass to the eye area, but overall alive. The operation was mostly successful, but you're going to be in a world of pain. The shrapnel in the chest has been removed, but there is going to be scarring. Your eye should also recover, the glass was only dusting your eyelid, but we put an eyepatch over it so that you can not disturb it."
Oh. So that's why he couldn't move it.
"Any other questions?"
"How long have I been here?" Tony asked.
"About four days now," Laufeyson said smoothly. "You're probably going to be in here for another week. The incisions were pretty deep and you have stitches from collar to waist."
Tony whistled. "Sliced me up like a turkey, eh?"
He earned a slight smile from that. "I would not jest about this though, Tony Stark. Please know it is a miracle that you are alive."
The nurse looked at him seriously, eyes crinkled with concern.
"You have so much potential with that mind of yours. Please do not give up on life now that you have another chance."
"What in the world am I suppose to do?" Tony snapped. "My father left me a company that I have to keep going or else the public will accuse me of pissing on his grave. It's been made clear that I'm not that liked in this world, thanks to that attack on my home a while back, and I can't just stop making weapons."
He also didn't want to mention the complications of his relationships, his friends leaving him, or how empty he felt.
Laufeyson just looked at him, an unreadable expression on his face. "What do you want in life, Stark?"
"To stop being my father." He responded numbly.
"You have so much potential with that mind of yours," Laufeyson repeated. "Perhaps you could use that potential to build a new name for yourself? Become the hero of your story? You have a second chance now."
The nurse started to move to the door. "I must go alert the doctor that you have awaken. Please think about my words. Sure, you need to keep that company of yours, but has it crossed your mind that you can change it's nature? "
"It hasn't actually..."
"Ah, there you go. Is there anything else you'd like to do?"
Tony thought it through. He had thought about opening up another company, one that would suit his own interests. One that would be more help to the world than something that damages it.
"I've always had a thing for alternative medicine. Don't judge me."
"Not judging at all, that would be helpful." Laufeyson approved. "Now you have plenty of time to plan your transition. I suppose when I return it'll be fully fledged."
"Ah, boo, you're really going to leave me alone now. It's gonna' be so boring here. Is there wifi here? Something for me to get on the world wide web with?" he joked, hoping to hide the anxiousness that crept under his voice. He didn't want to be left alone.
"Nope, no internet access for you at the moment. There's no television in this room either for some reason. You'll be fine. I'll only be gone for five minutes at the most."
"But I'll still be alone. If Pep's not here now, that means she's in a meeting. The rest of my buddies are definitely busy."
There was no way in hell Tony was going to lay there alone for even five minutes. His dark thoughts came back when he was alone. It was torture for him to endure it all. He needed some sort of distraction to avoid it.
"That's very unfortunate," the nurse mumbled.
He paused.
"You have me now if you want."
Tony blinked.
"Well I can't say no if you're offering, Angel."
"Actually it's Loki," there was that smirk again. "But I suppose that works too. I will be back soon."
And with that, he slipped through the door to go perform his duty. Tony watched him go, beginning to mull over his words.
He had been given a second chance...and an angel.
A/N: I'm still alive. I'm uploading this onto here since people still follow me over here. Just a heads up, my ao3 has more content! I'll be updating more often, I'm sorry I was on hiatus.