Tony sighed deeply, he was resting in a warm embrace.
The body he was leaning against was soft, such a delicate hand played with his hair.
"You stayed up all night working again. Didn't you Tony?" Peppers soft voice asked above Tony.
"Sorry." Tony murmured.
Pepper sighed. "You need to take better care of yourself love."
"Hmmm." Tony replied. Her embrace was so warm, her hand so gentle. He was safe here, he didn't want to move ever again.
"Mister Stark! Mister Stark!"
Finally Tony cracked one eye open to see an enthusiastic teen holding a piece of technology above his head. "Look! It's a portable cheese burger machine! It makes Burger King burgers!"
Tony smiled amused. "That's nice kid…. You're a good kid. You know that?" he asked.
"I shall have twenty of those burgers of cheese." Sounded a deep voice from opposite the room and Tony glanced over to see a blond thunder god sitting on the couch, he wasn't alone though. A god with long smooth black hair was sitting right next to him, leaning back and for some reason holding a rainbow colored ice-cream. Not only was it rainbow colored but it was also sparkly filled with glitter.
"SURE!" Peter beamed and pulled out a big candyfloss which Thor happily grabbed.
Loki rolled his eyes. "Must you always be so childish Thor?" he asked, licking on his sparkly ice-cream.
"What is life if you don't take joy in the simple pleasures?" Thor asked in a grin as he basically swallowed the candyfloss.
Tony chuckled amused as Peppers hands slid through his hair. "You're good people." he smiled just as a new member stepped in, Captain America himself smiling at Tony. "I sure am lucky to have such friends." he commented looking at Steve.
Then he halted, something was wrong. Steves eyes were harsh… sorrowful.
Tony frowned confused. "Cap?" he asked.
"Why Tony?" Steve asked. "I thought we were friends."
Tony blinked. "Steve… I don't understand." he slowly sat up, suddenly, the room felt darker. Colder.
Steve shook his head as he stepped backwards.
"Steve… Steve where are you going?!" Tony asked as the good Captain moved further and further away.
"Mr Stark." Tony blinked then turned to Peter, the teen looked ash Grey. "I… I don't feel so good." he whispered.
"Peter?" Tony asked.
Suddenly Thor dropped what remained of his candyfloss and he held his torso.
"Thor?!" Tony turned to him and realized, red was dripping from his fingers and it fell down. The thunder god looked up, his eyes confused and scared.
"Oh god." Peter gasped and Tony turned to him, then he realized. Part of his face was crumbling it was turning into dust. "Mr.. Mister Stark." Peter looked up. "Help me! Please help me!" he begged as he reached for Tony.
But there was nothing Tony could do. Peters fingers reaching for him was crumbling, becoming dust. His tear full face vanishing and Peter stumbled.
Finally Tony got to his senses and rushed for Peter, grabbed the teen and held him tight.
"Mr… Mr Stark." Peter looked up at him with terrified eyes. "I… I don't wanna go!" he cried.
Tony was lost for words, what could he say? Suddenly he realized where he was, at a cold and barren moon. Everything was cold and dead, there was nothing here and Peter cried.
"Mr Stark." Peter sniffed and then he drifted away, drifted away like dust.
"No… NOOOOOOO!" Tony screamed reaching out for the dust but couldn't touch it.
"Fri… Friend Stark."
Tony looked up to see Thor, pale as a sheet as he pressed his hands towards his side, and yet blood was still escaping his fingers.
And then he fell down.
"THOR!" Tony screamed as he ran to the thunder god only to halt. Thor was not the only body laying at Tony's feet. There was Steve... Clint... Natasha... Bruce. All dead, all laying on the harsh cold ground of a dead cold moon. Their eyes empty, their mouths open.
"Tony…"
Tony turned to see the most beautiful woman he knew, strawberry blond her. Her face ash grey, her hands clutching her stomach and she looked scared. Terrified.
"Pe… Pepper." Tony breathed.
T hen, from Peppers fingers. The place she was clutching her stomach flowed blood, like it had from Thor. Then her face… started to fall apart, turned to dust.
"No…" Tony gasped. "PEPPER NO!" he screamed as he ran for her.
But she was so far away, miles away.
"Tony…" Pepper cried. "Help me… help."
"Pepper! Please!" Tony cried, but she was vanishing. She was turning to dust, he tried to reach but she was so far away. "Pepper! PEPPEEEEEER!"
"TONY!" a loud voice sounded. "Tony wake up!"
"No!" Tony gasped.
"Tony!… TONY!"
Tony's eyes flew open to be met with a pair of bright green eyes desperately looking at him.
"Tony!" A familiar voice sounded. "Tony are you with me?!"
Tony gasped as he tried to gather himself. "Lo… Loki?" he finally asked.
"Wake up!" Loki hissed. "You're having a nightmare!"
Tony gasped for breath, first then did he realize he was covered in sweat. He swallowed as he looked down, then he looked up again meeting Lokis eyes for a second time.
"Breath." Loki instructed.
Tony nodded then took in a deep breath and exhaled. Finally sitting up then groaned. Next thing he knew a cup of water was offered to him by the demi god.
"Thanks." Tony sighed accepting the rusty cup filled with water. He drank, as always tasting the rust in the water. But right now it just felt so good against his sore throat. Then he glanced up and saw Loki frowning at him.
"I…" Tony swallowed. "I'm sorry." he glanced down.
"It's not the first time you had a nightmare." Loki observed.
"No." Tony admitted.
"But this time you almost screamed, this wont do." Loki sighed.
"Loki it's not like I can control my dreams!" Tony looked up. "What do you want me to do?! I've been through some shit all right?"
Loki looked sternly at him, his eyes hard. "For how long have you suffered from nightmares?" he finally asked.
Tony silenced, then he glanced down. "Years." he admitted. "When I was taken prisoner in Afghanistan… Then you attacked and I was thrown into a wormhole of all things… Then terrorists attacked my home and for a while I was all alone in the wilderness. Then I accidentally build a killer robot who created endless replicas of himself and killed hundreds of people… Then to stop something like that from happening again I accidentally started a minor civil war with my own friends… Well, former friends." he swallowed. "Then Thanos." Tony quieted and he glanced up.
Loki sighed deeply. "How can a being who lives for such a short time accumulate that great of a mess?" he asked.
"It's a gift." Tony smiled weakly.
Loki rolled his eyes. "You can't be screaming in your sleep, people will notice." he stated.
"Dude I don't control my own dreams!" Tony objected.
"You humans are so difficult." Loki muttered then finally sat down next to Tony. Then without a word offered Tony what looked like some kind of fruit.
Tony blinked as he took it and looked at its odd purple color.
"It wont kill you." Loki muttered. "Believe me I made sure of it."
"Oh, sure. Sorry." Tony swallowed then finally tried to take a bite and his eyes widened. The flavor seemed to explode in his mouth. It was sweet! It felt like ages ago Tony had tasted anything remotely sweet. It was overpowering and Tony nearly cried as he chewed and swallowed. "This is so good." he whispered. "Thank you."
"I already had my own fill with food today." Loki sighed deeply, then there was quiet as Tony chewed and slowly ate the strange alien fruit.
Loki seemed annoyed, then finally he sighed. "Want to tell me what you were dreaming about?"
"Not really." Tony admitted.
"Good." Loki sighed relieved.
"Dreams are weird." Tony stated. "Pepper was there and you were there. You were sitting with Thor. I never even seen you two sitting next to each other in real life."
Loki groaned deeply. Clearly not happy about where this was going.
"And there was ice-cream and candyfloss, but then everyone died." Tony swallowed.
"If you are expecting me to find a deeper meaning in regards to your dreams. I am afraid I must disappoint you." Loki muttered.
"No, you don't have to." Tony sighed. "I already knew what it's about… It's gone. It's all gone." he collected his legs in his arms. "I…" he swallowed. "I miss them. And I wish… I wish I could take it back. There's so many things, I wish I could just take back." he closed his eyes, tears starting to emerge.
Loki was quiet and Tony sniffed, then he felt a hand on his shoulder and he glanced up to see Loki holding a hand on his shoulder.
"I… relate to that sentiment." Loki finally admitted.
Tony swallowed. "I… I wish I could tell them. That I'm sorry."
"I know." Loki sighed removing his hand. "I am afraid though, our actions can't just be taken back. And the people who are gone… They are gone. We're not getting them back."
Tony sucked in a breath. "If… If you could talk to Thor again. What would you say?" he asked.
"I don't know, does it matter?" Loki asked, Tony sniffed. "I suppose I…" he halted. "I would like to say that… That I'm sorry." he closed his eyes. "I am sorry I never told about Thanos. I'm sorry I stole the Tesserect from Asgards vault." his voice now became slightly broken. "I'm sorry I wasted all that time, caught up in my own petty lust for revenge… I could have done something. I could have stopped it. I'm sorry."
"Lokes." Tony breathed looking at him.
"What does it help though to be sorry?" Loki asked.
"It helps that we can do better in the future." Tony insisted.
"What future? We already lost." Loki breathed.
Tony looked at the demi god. "The world is still spinning, we're still here." his eyes watered.
And Tony knew, his first thought had been correct when he started to help Loki.
Maybe Tony wouldn't get out of here alive, but Loki… You Loki will escape. You Loki will go on. And you're going to remember this. All of this.
Ones again Tony's mind drifted to Doctor Yinson. The man who never planned to leave Afghanistan. Instead he had assured that his legacy would escape. Tony… Everything Tony had done since then, including this. Was because of Yinson.
"If you truly mean what you just said." Tony breathed. "Just don't do the same mistake again. You guys live for thousands of years right? You can make it right, you just have to try."
Loki looked at Tony for a long time. "I am afraid you don't know half of my crimes."
"Probably not." Tony admitted. "So I suppose you better get started when we get out of here."
Loki shook his head. "You humans… truly foolish."
Loki was denying, but for ones Tony knew. It felt right, he had made the right choice. Loki would make it, and Loki would make things right. Eventually.