A/N: This chapter is like a recap of all the shit that happened but switching between point of views, how you like!
My goals is to upload a chapter every weekend, and I promise I'll do my best to keep up (I have a friend pushing me to finish anyway so I got the obligation.)
Talk to y'all next week!

Chapter One: The Recap

"Tony, please tell me you're not on that ship." Pepper asks, and he can hear the strain of her voice. She cuts out before he can respond, and he knows he can't go back.

It was only a minute ago that he had been walking with her, his best friend and voice of reason, through the park.

But then some man showed up, and he had Bruce with him. Bruce Banner, the best friend that he thought he had lost for three years. And so, he went with him, and he listened, and he learned. Learned about Thanos and the stones.

But then there was a ship and a fight. Long story short, he's on the ship now and not Earth.

"Pep?" He asks softly, one last time. He let her down again, broke another promise. He told her that he would stay safe, not disappear again. But he had to leave, had to follow Strange, has to find Thanos. He can't let Thanos live, not after New York.

So, he breathes, and he moves through another alien ship (how many has he been on now?) and goes to find Doctor Strange.

XXX

Peter watches Earth disappearing in the distance, and boy does it get his heart racing.

"I should've stayed on the bus." He jokes, but of course there's no one to hear him. "Sorry Ned." He adds and tries to shake his head clear.

He clings to the ship as it closes around him. He can't go back now, so he has to find Mr. Stark, and he has to save the magician.

XXX

Stephen wakes slowly, only to find floating shards around his head and no cloak. The alien stands before him, what did Stark call him? Oh yes, Squidward. Squidward is threatening him to give up the stone. He resorts to torture, and Stephen is unimpressed™.

It hurts, yes, but he's been through this, many times before. He knows pain, and he knows death. So, nothing Squidward does is going to scare him, and it certainly won't make his give up the stone. If he could die hundreds of times at Dormammu's hands, then Squidward is nothing.

Now all he has to do is breathe and wait. He thinks of Wong back on Earth for a moment, and of Thanos. Of Bruce Banner and what happened to him and Stark. But then the needles go deeper and all he can focus is on breathing. It's not like it matters anyway, he's alone in space now. All he needs to do now is focus on the stone, the rest can wait.

XXX

The boy saves Stephen. He doesn't really have time to process, but he loses grip of his cloak and is saved by the boy. And Stark, Stark helps save him, and he can't process it.

He can't think about it now; his focus still has to be the stone. But the boy is sweet, and Tony, even though he's a little rough around the edges, seems like he cares.

But none of that matters, even if they're the reason he's still alive, he has to protect the stone. He swore.

XXX

"Thanos has been in my head for six years." Tony says as he tries not to remember.

But he does, he does remember. He remembers fighting Loki, and when he tired to take over him. He was using an infinity stone.

He remembers the missile. It felt like the entire weight of the world was on his shoulders. It still does. He remembers flying through the portal and seeing all of the ships. Seeing all of the enemies coming at them.

He remembers falling and thinking that that was his end.

He remembers it all. And so to know that Thanos was the one who did it, the one who was behind the event that haunts him to this day. Well, he just really wants to punch the guy in the face.

XXX

"You're an avenger now kid." Tony says as he passes Peter. Peter doesn't know what to say, so he tries to stand taller instead. He's proud, ecstatic, he gets to be a part of the team! Mr. Stark finally let him join!

He wishes though, that it was under different circumstances. He loves the feeling of being an Avenger, but he doesn't want to lose it. And well, he's beginning to think that this might really be a one-way trip. It makes him wish that he had given Ned and May a proper goodbye.

XXX

Stephen sees it all. He looks into the future and it overwhelms him. Fourteen million futures, there are just too many outcomes. But not only that, he's overwhelmed by connection.

He doesn't know the Avengers much, he's never really cared about them. But now as he looks into the future, watching them every step of the way, it makes him care.

He cares a lot more about Tony now, too. He's a lot more than Stephen first thought, and he's amazing. Peter is too, the boy with all of the hope and ambitions in the world, and smart as a whip.

There are more options than one, for them to beat Thanos. But Stephen picks the one he wants. It might be selfish, but he thinks it's a pretty selfless outcome. He picks the one where everyone lives. Where Tony lives.

He picks the one where the Avengers will all find peace, in their own way. And the one where Tony gets to be happy.

It's selfless, really.

He just can't tell them.

Which is honestly just bullshit. Because he has to give up the stone, and Thanos has to win.

And honestly the fact that he has to give up the time stone to some wrinkly bald man who he could take in a heartbeat, bullshit.

He wishes he could see further, but it's fourteen million futures and he doesn't have the time. He just wants to make sure they're all happy.

But it's going to hurt, dying. Again. He doesn't have the time to overthink it, he just wishes he could apologize to Tony and Peter before it happens.

But he needs Tony to stay alive, so if he has to apologize for the rest of his life after, so be it.

XXX

Tony fights for everything. To he last breath he's determined to fight. Because Thanos is right here in front of him and he's going to kill him, he has to.

He has to protect everyone. He has to protect Peter. He has to keep Thanos from going to Earth, to Rhodey and Pepper.

So he fights until he can't anymore, and he tries so hard. But then Thanos breaks off his suit, and he gets stabbed with his own armor.

It hurts, more ways than one. Worse than getting his arc reactor taken out of his chest. He's not surprised this is how it happens, he's honestly just ready to die. It was bound to happen sooner or later. But to go like this, god. It hurts.

XXX

Stephen gives him the stone, it rips him apart from the inside out.

Tony hates him, he can see it in his eyes. Tony hates him. And he looks at him with anguish. "Why did you do that?"

He can't bring himself to be honest, he can't tell him. So all he can say is, "We're in the end game now."

He has to make sure Tony lives, and that he gets to be happy.

XXX

Tony watches the Guardians of the Galaxy fade away into dust. And he knows that Thanos won.

And it's all his fucking fault.

He tries to reach out to Strange, to understand. But he fades too. "Tony, there was no other way."

And he's trying to understand, why.

"I don't feel so good, Mr. Stark." Peter says from behind him, and his heart shatters.

No, no no no, not the kid. Not the kid.

He grabs him as he falls and tries to hold him as close as he can. Peter just keeps repeating, "I don't wanna go."

"It's okay, kid. It's gonna be okay." Is all he can try to mutter as he lays Peter down. He wants it to be true, more than anything

"I'm sorry." Peter whispers as he turns to dust, and it tears Tony apart.