Okaaaay! Chapter 7. That's it, that's the AN.

"Tony?"

Stark's eyes shot open, and the hero glanced around. He was … not actually sure where he was. Nothing felt familiar, nothing felt right. And everything was orange. Hoping it would take the odd coloring away, Tony squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again. No luck. It still looked like the inside of a citrus fruit. Suddenly Tony remembered the last thing he'd done, the searing pain extending from him hand up through his shoulder. He looked down and saw his right hand, perfectly whole and normal. It didn't make sense, but then again, he was in an orange-colored world.

He took a step forward, almost tripping as he paid little attention to where he planted his feet. He was slightly shocked to hear a splash when he stepped, and he finally looked down. His reflection stared back at him from an expanse of water, distorted by the ripples. The billionaire glanced around, taking in the body of wager that seemed to go on as far as he could see.

Although … there was one object, off to his left. A pavilion. Tony took a step, wishing the structure weren't so far away, and suddenly he was standing right in front of it. And someone was inside. The person turned around, but Tony knew who it was before she'd even started moving.

Natasha faced her friend. "Tony."

"Natasha." Tony's voice cracked slightly, and he moved forward so he was standing in the pavilion as well.

"Tony, what are you doing here?"

"I … I don't know. Is this real? Or am I in some sort of whacked up dream?"

"Up until now, I thought it was real. But now, I'm hoping it's a dream."

"Why's that? Disappointed to see me?"

"Tony, you aren't supposed to be here." Natasha's face had fallen, and she looked like she was going to be ill. "Did it … did it not work? Is everyone …"

"No, no. Everyone's fine. It worked. Mostly. Somehow, Thanos from the past got through. We had to fight, lots happened, and …" Tony trailed off.

Natasha seemed to understand. She closed the distance between her and the billionaire, and she put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Tony."

"Yeah. Me too. You shouldn't have had to do what you did."

"It worked, didn't it?" She waited for Tony's nod, then continued. "Then it was worth it."

Suddenly, something shifted in the air. It wasn't something tangible, and Tony couldn't tell what was going on, but he could feel it. Something was wrong. From the look on her face, Natasha could sense it too. The two of them looked at each other.

"Tony?" Natasha sounded unsure of what was going on, but before Tony could do anything about it, the ex-assassin disappeared. Not in the same way that the snap made people disappear, by turning to dust; one moment, she was there. The next, she was just … gone.

"Romanoff?" Tony looked around, trying to see if the redhead had reappeared somewhere else around him. Unfortunately, Tony found that he was alone. With one blink, the scene around him suddenly changed. His surroundings were no longer orange. Now, he was in a wide open room, filled with nothing but large objects covered by sheets. Not only that, but when he glanced to his right and happened to look at his arm, he found it mangled and bent, more like what he'd imagined it would look like after wielding the infinity stones. With the charred and burned limp also came the pain.

"Okay. Okay. This is a dream," Tony muttered to himself. He pushed the pain to the back of his mind, trying to focus on other matters. "This has gotta be a dream. Romanoff? Natasha!"

"She's not here, Tony."

Stark whirled around, his heart pounding as he recognized the new voice.

0-0-0

The elevator doors dinged open, and Peter stepped out almost before there was room for him to squeeze through.

"Slow down, kiddo," May said, even though she knew it was no use. Peter was already making his way down the hallway, heading towards Mr. Stark's room. When he got there though, his footsteps faltered slightly as he saw he wasn't the only one visiting the billionaire.

Standing outside, staring in through the glass window, was a young man. If Peter had to guess, he would say the kid was just a few years older than him. Peter made his way over so he was standing in front of the window as well, staring in at Tony.

"Hi," Peter said. The stranger gave a half nod in reply, not even really looking at Peter. He did look up though, when May and Pepper finally caught up with the younger teenager.

"Harley!" Pepper greeted, clearly surprised. "I didn't know you were down here."

"Hey Pepper," the new guy, Harley, said. He moved from his spot in front of the window and gave the redhead a hug. Peter watched the exchange in fascination.

The two broke off the embrace and Pepper turned to Peter and his aunt. "Peter, May, this is Harley Keener. Tony met him a few years ago. Harley, this is May and Peter Parker."

Once again, the only greeting Harley gave them was a simple nod, though it was actually a full nod, not the half one he'd given Peter before.

"Hey uh, how's he … how's he doing?" Harley asked, hesitating as if he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. Pepper took in a deep breath and glanced through the window at her husband.

"He's … hanging in there. He's a fighter."

"I remember." The ghost of a smile danced across Harley's lips. Peter wasn't sure what Harley and Stark had gone through, but whatever it was, Peter couldn't imagine Mr. Stark not being a fighter. Everyone stood around for a moment, shuffling awkwardly. Finally, May spoke up.

"'Kay kid. I think it's time to get back upstairs."

"What? May, hold on. You said five minutes. It's barely been two!"

May pursed her lips at her nephew's insistence, but she held her tongue. It had been less time than she'd promised. She held up her hands and took a step back, allowing her nephew to stay a little longer.

"Actually May, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about. Now is as good a time as any," Pepper said. May looked at the redhead, who gestured down the hall. May looked back at Peter, uncertainty in her eyes.

"I'll be fine, May," Peter assures his aunt. "I'm not going anywhere."

Reluctantly, May finally followed Pepper down the hallway a little. As soon as they were out of earshot, Harley crouched down next to the handprint scanner.

"Great. You be the lookout while I get this open."

Peter stared at the older boy, taken aback. "What?"

"I almost had the door open before you guys came down. Now, keep watch. Let me know if they come back." Harley pulled the scanner panel off the wall, revealing the wires behind it. Several of them were already loose, and Peter couldn't believe no one had noticed anything.

"No one's supposed to go in there," Peter said, even though he did nothing to stop Harley. The older boy looked at the teenager.

"Look. I don't know you, you don't know me. But I feel like you'd do the same thing if you had the chance."

Peter thought about it, and while he wanted to claim that he wouldn't, the teenager honestly wasn't sure if he would or not.

"Are you gonna help me or not?" Harley was already pulling at the wires again, not really waiting for Peter to respond. Peter looked around, unsure what to do, until he looked in the room and saw Tony laying there, alone. The sight of his mentor made the decision for Peter, and he stepped in front of Harley, blocking him from view.

0-0-0

"Obie." Tony watched as the old bald man drew closer. Hopefully putting on a face that didn't show his horror at seeing the older man, Tony turned fully to face Stane.

"It's good to see you again, Tony."

"Kinda doubt that, but hey. Terrible to see you too."

"No, Tony, I mean it. It's been too long."

"Since what? Since you tried to kill me? I don't actually think it's been long enough."

"Still got that edge, don't you? That's probably why you drive people away."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Stark snapped.

"Maybe I don't, but I think I do. There are so many people here who've wanted to see you again, Tony. I don't think we should keep them waiting anymore."

Before Tony could ask what Stane meant, a hand gripped what was left of Tony's right bicep rather tightly and spun the billionaire around. A very hot hand.

Aldrich Killian stood there, sneering at Tony as he tried to free himself from the heated grip.

0-0-0

Peter was so focused on keeping Harley and his shenanigans hidden that he didn't notice Tony start to twitch and jerk his head from side to side in the room.

"Are you almost done?" he hissed out the side of his mouth, trying to act casual as he watched for May and Pepper.

"Chill," Harley whispered back. "Shouldn't be much longer."

0-0-0

"All these years, Tony," Killian stated, tightening his grip even more. "I've waited all these years to pay you back for everything you took from me. Now, I have the upper hand. No one is coming to save you."

Nothing Tony did loosened the fingers, and even though the arm Killian was squeezing was a shriveled husk, Stark could still feel pain. The agony from the snap was being amplified by the heat emanating from Killian's hand.

"This is a dream, this is just a dream," Tony muttered, wincing as the pain in his arm spiked again.

"How often did you pray that your time with me was a dream?" a new voice asked. Tony's heart sank, and the center of his chest throbbed with a ghostly pain as he recognized that voice. Raza, the terrorist who held him captive in Afghanistan all those years ago, stepped forward. Killian finally released Tony, who stumbled away from the glowing red man, clutching his injured arm. Raza continued. "When we first captured you, you begged and begged for it all to be a dream."

"I don't remember that."

"The mind is a funny thing," Killian stated. "It can block out and prevent you from remembering traumatic things from your past."

"You begged," Raza repeated, stepping closer. Tony stared at the man, then sniffed.

"And what if I did?" He looked at all the men surrounding him, the men who had tortured and traumatized him over the past decade and a half. "Beg, that is. I'm not ashamed to admit it. You fellas represent some of the worst times of my life. Nobody wants those; we've all begged for trials to be taken away."

"Only this time, your begging didn't work."

"Maybe you need a refresher on the word 'beg,' cuz there's no begging going on here."

"No, Stark. You misunderstand me." Raza stopped a few feet away from the billionaire. Tony didn't like the feral smile playing across the man's face.

"Yeah? How so?"

"You failed, Tony," Killian answered. "Everything you did. Figuring out time travel, getting the stones. That was your way of begging with the universe to give you one more chance. And you failed."

Stark chuckled. "Yeah, don't know if you heard, but we won. Thanos is gone."

Raza still had that haunting smile on his face. "Yes, Tony. You defeated Thanos, but not before he killed everyone you love."

Obadiah cut in. "Rhodey. Pepper."

Now Killian interrupted. "Your spider protege. Your daughter."

Tony's pounded in his chest. They were wrong. He knew they were wrong. He'd watched Thanos turn to dust, and everyone had been fine. Pepper and Peter … they'd said goodbye to him. Hadn't they?

"This time," Obadiah continued. "Begging won't do you any good. Because you've got nothing left to fight for."

Stark was still reeling, trying to figure out if he had failed in keeping his family safe or not. So when Killian threw his first punch, Tony didn't defend himself.

0-0-0

There was a hiss, and suddenly the door opened partially. Peter turned around at the noise, anxious to get inside, but the gap wasn't wide enough for either of the two boys to fit through.

"What?" Harley looked at the wires in betrayal. "Why didn't that work?"

"Are you sure you did it right?" Peter asked, glancing between Harley and the hallway, trying to make sure Pepper and May weren't coming yet. Suddenly, the machines inside Tony's room began going off, and Peter and Harley's heads shot up to look in through the window at the billionaire.

The man was spasming in the bed, his arms and legs twitching, like they wanted to raise. Tony's head jerked from side to side. In an instant, Peter was in front of the door. "Get Pepper," he ordered Harley. The older boy looked like he didn't want to do what the younger one told him to do, but Peter gave him the best intense Stark stare he could (one that he'd been practicing since meeting Tony), and repeated himself. "Go get Pepper. Now."

To Peter's annoyance, Harley didn't turn and run down the hall as expected. Instead, he just turned in the direction that Pepper and May had disappeared to. "Pepper! Pepper, come back! Something's happening!"

Annoyed that he didn't have as much space as he'd have preferred, but knowing he wasn't getting anything better, Peter quickly slipped his hands into the space that Harley had gotten to open up. The teenager pulled, fast and hard, opening the door a little more, wide enough that people could get inside. Harley turned around just in time to see Peter slipping through the opening.

"Hey-how did-what just-"

"It just opened," Peter lied. He didn't care about the disbelieving look Harley shot him before the older boy went through the door as well. At the moment, the only thing Peter cared about was figuring out what was happening to Tony.

Sooooo ... what did you guys think? I honestly struggled with this chapter a lot. I wasn't sure if I liked the dream sequence, but I felt like we should see some bit of what Tony's going through.

Were you guys confused by the dream/soul world sequence? For clarification, the soul world was supposed to be real, like what they did at the end of IW (and what they were supposed to do at the end of endgame with Tony and Morgan, but I made it Natasha) and then when Natasha disappears I made it a dream. Thoughts?

Lemme know what you guys think!

Also, I have no idea if I did Harley right at all. None whatsoever. I wish we had more content of him. So sorry if he's OOC for what you imagined him to be ...