Steve winces at his question, his eyes dropping away for a second. His hands tighten in his lap as he looks down, his lips pressing into a thin line. Tony swallows uneasily at the sight and he quietly replaces his oxygen mask, reaching out to Steve with his empty cup and forcing the man to look up at him as he takes it.
Steve's eyes don't quite meet his as he sets it aside, the plastic tapping hollowly on the bedside table beside them, the sound loud in the quiet room.
"You should rest," he says instead of answering his question, his eyes coming up to stare at his shoulder instead of his face as his hands pull back to sit limply in his lap.
Tony's lips press together, and he swallows again, his eyes on Steve. He can tell that he doesn't want to talk about it— and to be honest, he isn't really looking forward to the conversation either— but they will need to talk about it eventually, and he doesn't think he can stand living in suspense for too much longer.
If he waits, all he will do is try to speculate on everyone who might be dead — without being able to know if he is right or wrong.
"Steve," he says quietly, a note of pleading in his voice as he looks at him. His eyes jump up to meet his at the sound, and they flick away almost as quickly. Steve's mouth presses downwards before he lets out a long sigh, his hand running tiredly over his face as he slumps slightly in his chair.
"We… couldn't stop Thanos," he starts quietly, the words dropping like stones into the air. Tony swallows uneasily, his eyes darting over Steve as the man closes his eyes for a moment, before giving his head a shake, his eyes opening again as he breathes in through his nose.
"After…after you called, we found Valkyrie without too much difficulty," he says, his eyes coming up to meet his, his mouth twitching in a pale memory of humour. "You were right about her being unimpressed with her situation," he says, the barest hint of amusement in his voice, before it drops away again. "She explained what was happening though."
His eyes shift away, and he looks over to stare past the bed, his hands coming together tightly in his lap. "By then we were getting reports of what was happening in New York," he continues, without looking at him. "And it was obvious that we needed to get all hands on deck."
Tony nods, and listens as Steve continues to explain how Bruce and Natasha back stateside had begun calling in everyone they could get. "Bruce had Wong portal people over," he says, his eyes darting up to him for a second before dropping down to rest on the blankets. "Natasha couldn't get in touch with Scott in time, but Clint, Rhodey, and Sam came along, and soon we were all in Wakanda, trying to prepare the best we could."
Tony had been right about Wakanda being a good place for the stone. Apparently the Evil-Villain Twins had come after the stone not long after they had started assembling, but they had been able to fight them off without too much difficulty.
"We knew that couldn't be the end of it though," Steve continues, his hands tightening slightly in his lap. "They had given up too quickly, and from what Valkyrie had said Thanos had done to the Asgardians…"
He trails off for a second, before sucking in a breath and continuing. "T'Challa was preparing the Wakandan armies, and Shuri was doing her best to try to destroy the stone." Tony's eyes dart up at that, but Steve doesn't meet his gaze, his eyes distant as he swallows and breathes in.
"We knew we were working against the clock," he continues, his jaw clenching as he ducks his chin and flicks his eyes to him. "We didn't even know what had happened to you yet, and we didn't know for sure if we even could destroy the stone, but we knew we had to, and we had to buy as much time as we could for that."
Tony swallows, and tries not to think too hard about the fact that if he had been able to stop Thanos back on Titan, then Steve and the others would have had all the time they needed to destroy the Mind Stone.
If he had managed to stop Thanos back on Titan, then none of this would have happened. Stopping Thanos on Titan was really the only chance any of them had had. As soon as Thanos had gotten the Time Stone, things had become a whole new ballgame.
Stopping Thanos from getting the Time Stone was the only chance the others had. Even if Steve had been able to destroy the Mind Stone, it would mean nothing to a Time Stone-powered Thanos.
And Strange had given up the Time Stone in exchange for his life.
They had lost everything in exchange for his life.
"Thanos' army didn't take long to arrive," Steve continues, oblivious to his thoughts. "Wakanda's defenses were effective, but eventually we were forced to engage, mostly trying to give Shuri enough time to destroy the stone."
He shifts in his chair, his eyes going distant as he thinks. "It…" he swallows. "It wasn't really a winnable battle, not unless the stone got destroyed, but–" his mouth twitches upwards and his gaze shifts to him. "Thor came in the middle of the battle. He had a new axe and— and new allies. A racoon named Rocket, and… a tree named Groot."
Tony nods at that, a small smile of his own finding place on his face. "The Guardians," he says, nodding at Steve. "Nebula told me about them."
Beside him, Steve nods back and breathes in. "Even with the extra help, we were overwhelmed," he says, and Tony is sure that if he could see better in the dim lighting, then Steve's hands would be white in his lap with how tightly he is holding them.
"One of the attackers broke into the palace," he continues. "Valkyrie kept him from killing Shuri, but he got the staff, and…" he swallows, his hands twisting in his lap. "And… Thanos was coming."
Tony's eyes close, his hands tightening on his blankets, aware now that they are getting to the part in the story that happens after he had failed. He opens his eyes again as Steve takes in a shaky breath and runs a hand through his hair.
"We killed the one who had taken the staff," he says bluntly, his eyes dull. "But Thanos—" his lips press together and his jaw clenches. "It wasn't— there wasn't really a plan anymore. We couldn't destroy the stone now that it was out of Shuri's hands, and we were just trying to keep it away from him. Maybe if I had found Wong—"
He cuts off and breathes in, his eyes blinking rapidly as he squares his shoulders, his chin dipping as he swallows. "We almost—" his tongue works around in his mouth and he clenches his teeth. "Thor almost managed to stop him," he gets out roughly, his shoulders pushing back into his chair as he stares hard at the edge of the bed. "He didn't— we couldn't stop it though. And Thanos had all the stones, and all he had to do was— was snap his fingers."
His voice breaks slightly on the last word, and Tony flicks his eyes over him, swallowing uneasily as a sick feeling twists around in his stomach. Steve doesn't look at him as he continues, his eyes pinned to his hands as he speaks in a dull, empty voice.
"Thanos left after that," he says. "We didn't know where. He just–" he waves a hand vaguely, his eyes still downcast. "–left through a portal. And after that—"
He chokes off and Tony's stomach twists, knowing what is coming next. "Who did we lose?" he whispers roughly, and Steve's eyes flick up to meet his for the first time in a while. They drop again to focus on his lap, and he watches Steve's fingers knot together, apprehension swirling around in his chest as he waits.
"A lot," Steve finally gets out, his shoulders rigid as he stares intently at something on the ground. "We— um," he closes his eyes and breathes in. "T'Challa is gone," he starts off bluntly, his shoulders slumping as he opens his eyes and stares down at his hands. "Shuri too, their mother is now ruling Wakanda. Sam—" his lips press together, and his eyes flick up to him before glancing away. "We couldn't find him," he says to the edge of his bed. "Nobody saw it happen, but we're assuming…"
Tony nods, his eyes wide as Steve licks his lips before continuing to go down the list. "Clint's whole family is gone too," he says lowly, and Tony feels his stomach drop, his breath stalling in his lungs. The man's whole family… no wonder he had looked so broken last night.
"He had moved them to the compound bunker when you got taken from New York, and Natasha called him up," Steve continues, his eyes downcast and staring at something that he can't see. "We got back, after everything, and all of them were—"
He breathes in sharply and swallows, his shoulders squaring again as he looks up at him. "We think Scott is gone too," he says tiredly, the lines on his face suddenly deeper in the dark. "Everything is still pretty hectic right now, but we can't find him, or really any of his people."
Tony's heart clenches at that. For some reason he hadn't been expecting that. For some reason some part of him had assumed that Scott had survived, and to hear that none of his team seems to have survived the fallout…
In front of him, Steve isn't finished, and Tony finds his mouth is rather dry again as he looks at him. "Rocket's friend, Groot, died too," he continues, and Tony feels a slight twinge at that, knowing that Rocket and Nebula are now the only survivors of their whole group.
He gets distracted from that thought though as, next to him, Steve shudders and breathes in, his face tightening into something pained and dreadful. Instantly, Tony feels his whole body run cold, his eyes widening and his heart beginning to pound as he stares at Steve, suddenly desperately wishing he won't continue.
He doesn't want to hear what he has to say, but his tongue remains frozen in his mouth and his mind stays blank as he sits. His brain stubbornly refuses to try to speculate on who is left on the list because— because—
"Bucky is gone too," Steve manages, his voice rough and strained, his body tense and closed off. His hands shake just slightly in his lap as he stares resolutely at the edge of the bed. Tony stares too, frozen and speechless in his bed, his hands numb on his blankets as he tries to take in what Steve is saying.
Distantly, he knows that he had already known what Steve was going to say. If Bucky was alive, then he would have seen the man already. There is no way he wouldn't be by him or Steve right now, after everything that had happened.
The reason he isn't here is because—
"He was—" his eyes flick to Steve as the man speaks up, and he watches his throat flex as he swallows, his hands twitching in his lap as his eyes glisten and refuse to meet his. "He was there, and then he just… wasn't," he continues in a rough, soft voice, and Tony can feel his eyes widen even more as he realises that Steve must have been with Bucky when he had died.
"He was with you?" he asks, his voice catching slightly in his throat as his hands tighten further on his blanket.
At his words, Steve finally looks up at him, and he watches him blink his eyes dry, his distress from earlier shuffling slightly to the side as he sits back in his seat. "Yeah," he says simply, his eyes suddenly blank and his voice dull.
He blinks, and Tony watches as his whole emotional state seems to shift, like switching gears in a car. Steve's mouth twitches slightly, as though remembering something humorous, but the motion is more robotic than anything else. "You know," he says, his voice flat as his gaze turns to him. "He always said he would come fight if there was an alien invasion."
Tony nods dumbly, unable to keep his eyes off Steve as the man breathes in and gives his head a shake, his eyes flickering slightly as his shoulders settle into something straight and calm. He looks up and his eyes aren't empty anymore, but they aren't— there is still something missing in them, and Tony stares at him, his hands cold and his ears buzzing as he watches the man box up his pain and fold it away— practically in front of his very eyes.
A flare of panic rises in his chest at his behaviour, because he knows instinctively that it isn't right, and he doesn't really know what to do with it.
"Steve—" he tries, and the man meets his gaze, his eyes calm and controlled and so, so wrong.
"Fury is dead too," he says, and Tony can practically feel a wall settling between them. His heart pounds in his chest as he sits and listens to Steve determinately move on and report Fury and Maria Hill's death, and then Carol's subsequent arrival, with mission-like efficiency.
He wants to say something— he wants to. But Bucky's death seems to leave him tongue-tied, and he can only stare as Steve avoids the topic and finishes explaining how they had sent Carol after him.
"We didn't— we didn't know if you were alive," he says, a flicker of vulnerability sneaking into his gaze again as his eyes dart over him. "Rocket gave Carol the signal for his ship, just in case she could find the Guardians, and we gave her the signal for your suit, just in case…"
He trails off, and Tony stares at him, his mouth dry and his mind reeling from the rollercoaster this conversation has been. The shock of having a concrete list of everyone who is dead, and then Steve's sudden shutdown over Bucky, and then the knowledge of how hopeless it must have been for them, not knowing where he was, but sending Carol on what was essentially a wild goose chase anyways…
"I— I'm glad you're alive, Tony," Steve says softly, and he can only nod at him, his breath shaky in his lungs and tears threatening at his eyes as he looks at his friend.
Steve nods back at him and takes in a breath, his hands untangling in his lap and rubbing against his legs as he glances around the room and sits back in his chair. His eyes come up to meet his again.
"You should get some rest," he says, his words a shutting door as he ends the conversation.
His heart lurches at that and he feels something sharp and desperate rise in his chest as he looks at Steve. There is still so much in the air, heavy unsaid words sitting between them thanks to what had happened. Steve had answered his question, but it was like his explanation had been determined to only skim over the emotional turmoil their new reality.
He can understand why he doesn't want to get into it, but it is obvious to him that Steve is more deeply affected by Bucky's death than he will let on— heck, he hasn't even started to process it yet, and he can tell just by looking that Steve is hurting.
But the man isn't acknowledging it, and he isn't sure if Steve is simply refusing to do so in general, or if it is because of him specifically. His brain tries to hiss at him that Bucky wouldn't have even died if Strange had let him die instead, and the thought makes him nauseous as he looks at his friend. (But. Steve cannot blame him for what happened, he knows this. He does.)
(For one thing, Steve doesn't even know that they had lost because Strange had let him live.)
Oblivious to his internal dilemma, Steve continues, his eyes glancing over him as he talks. "We will be leaving soon," he says quietly. "Nebula tells us she knows where Thanos went. And we have evidence that he used the stones again two days ago."
Tony's thoughts are ripped away from his current concern over Steve, and he finds himself staring at the man, a cold pit opening up in his gut as he listens.
"Rocket and Nebula are just fixing the ship you came in," he continues, his eyes back to the same calm, matter-of-fact, blankness they had been before. "We're planning to go after him when it's ready."
Horror surges in his stomach and his eyes widen, his breath catching behind his oxygen mask as he sits up taller. His hands turn into tight fist. on his blankets as he stares at Steve, his heart pounding in his chest.
"Are you crazy?!" he bursts out, his breath fogging up the oxygen mask as Steve darts his eyes up to look at him. "You want to go after Thanos?!" he continues, his pulse loud in his ears and his breath thin in his lungs as his mind spins at this most recent revelation.
"Tony—" Steve starts, his hand twitching in his lap as he reaches for him, only to pause as Tony shakes his head, his hands trembling from where they are clutched at his blankets.
"You'll die," he says, his voice smaller and more vulnerable than he would like as he looks at Steve. "You said he still has all the stones— and you're going to go after him again— Steve, you'll die."
He can hardly feel his hands anymore as he stares at Steve and his mind helpfully plays back his last battle with the Titan. It had been seven of them against one, and Thanos hadn't even had all the stones yet, but they had still failed. He had nearly been killed— Thanos had pulled a whole moon down on them— going after him now is practically suicide.
"Tony, breathe," Steve says, and he jolts back to the present, Steve's concerned face beside him as he sucks in a frantic breath, his vision blurring. He drags in another breath, the oxygen mask pressing against his face as his heart beats painfully against his chest. His eyes dart over to scan Steve, the man watching him intently.
"It's okay, Tony," he says quietly, his hand next to him on the bed. "We're not going to die."
He shakes his head in denial, but he can't get a word in edgewise before Steve grasps his hand, the sudden warmth of his fingers shocking against the cold of his own hand. "It's okay," he says again, his voice soft and sincere as he tries to comfort him. "We have Carol now, and we'll be taking Thanos by surprise."
Tony swallows dryly and finds his hand tightening on Steve as he flicks his eyes over him. Even with Carol, even by taking Thanos by surprise, Steve has got to know that going after the Titan is a near impossible task.
(He had been trying to take Thanos by surprise. That had been his plan. And it hadn't worked.)
"You'll die," he says again, and Steve shakes his head, his hand squeezing his.
"We have to try, Tony," he says, his eyes staring into his. "Thanos has the stones, and he has already proven that he is willing to use them twice. We can't just leave him with them." His lips press together, and his eyes flick down for a moment. "And if we can find some way to reverse this, then— well…"
He shrugs, and Tony realises suddenly that he has no hope whatsoever of talking Steve out of this. Not only does this mission seem to be approved by the rest of the Avengers already, but a memory rises up in his mind that fills him with a special new type of dread as he stares at the man.
The memory is from years ago now, back when Bucky had first come to the Tower, and he had been using the BARF tech to help him combat Hydra's trigger words and regain his memories. He can still remember his surprise when Bucky had come to him one day, wanting to explore a specific memory that had related to Steve.
He hadn't known what to think at the time, but once Bucky had gotten started, it had very quickly become clear that neither of them were prepared for what they were going to see. The memory had been from when Bucky had been a captive of Hydra, and when the organisation had informed him of Steve's death.
He can remember how devastated the holographic Bucky had been, and in turn how shocked the real Bucky had been… but that isn't what catches his memory now. Instead, it is a secondary memory that he had seen play out afterwards, one from before Bucky had been captured by Hydra, the man still in the army and asking Peggy to look after Steve in case he died.
"If I die, Steve'll try to mourn all private-like," he had said, complete certainty in his voice. "Draw into himself and bottle it up until he finds himself another mission."
Tony swallows dryly, his eyes pinned to Steve's face as he realises that he is watching Bucky's prediction come true in real time. "When he does that, he won't stop pushin' himself until he drops," the man had said. "He'll find himself a goal and then he'll push himself to the end of the world if he has to, in order to complete it."
This is it, he thinks dazedly, the new mission he has found himself. It is too late to stop it. Maybe if he had been here a month ago… maybe then he could have done something to curb this. But he hadn't been here, and besides that, all the other Avengers seem just as willing to go after Thanos.
He gets it, he really does. But they had just tried with everything they had to stop the Titan, and it hadn't worked. They had lost, and he has only just come back to find out that some of his friends had managed to survive that attack. He had thought them dead for a month— and some of them are dead, but some of them aren't.
He doesn't want to risk losing them all over again.
Especially when he is stuck here, unable to do anything about it.
"I should be going with you," he finds himself saying without thinking, and he already knows, before Steve starts shaking his head, what he is going to say.
"Tony, no," he says, his hand tightening on his. "You just got back. You're skin and bones as it is. You need to stay and heal."
Tony's lips press together, and he swallows unhappily. Internally he knows what Steve is saying is true. If he were to go with him and the others right now, he would be more of a liability than an actual help, but if he doesn't go, and they all die fighting Thanos… he doesn't think he will be able to cope with that.
"Don't you dare die," he says, his breath short and his grip probably painful on Steve's hand as he looks up to stare into his eyes. "Don't you dare, do you understand? You better come back."
In front of him, Steve swallows and nods solemnly. "I will," he says.
Back in the bed, Tony pushes away memories of holo-Bucky learning of Steve's death in the ice, and he tries not to think too hard about the fact that he had made the exact same promise to Pepper, before he had left Earth and almost died a month ago.
oOo
The other Avengers — the remaining ones at least — come and visit him before they leave to go after Thanos. They are happy to see him alive, he can tell, but it is obvious that their recent defeat sits over them all like an ever-looming dark cloud.
With Thor and Clint, it is especially prominent, and he can't help feeling guilt as he looks over them. On some level, he knows that it isn't actually his fault that all this had happened… but he still can't help thinking that if Strange hadn't handed over the stone when he had — if he had left him to die and had tried to run instead like he had said he would — then maybe Steve and the others would have had enough time to figure out how to destroy the Mind Stone.
Maybe none of this would have happened.
Of course, he would then be dead, but…
He shakes his head and pushes the thought away. He can already hear Judith's voice in his head as she walks him through dealing with self-deprecating thoughts. The woman had had a lot of suggestions for that, but he doesn't really get a chance to focus on them because the thought of her suddenly reminds him that he will have to see if she is still alive at some point.
He already knows he won't be going to see her, even if she is alive. Earth is so much of a mess right now, and he knows for a fact that – if she is alive – Judith will be dealing with her own problems and grief, so it wouldn't be fair to try to get her to help him deal with a catastrophe that no one had been prepared for in any way.
But he still wants to know if she is alive.
He doesn't really know how he will be able to do that though, considering the state everything must be in, thanks to Thanos.
But, maybe, maybe, if the Avengers succeed in their mission, maybe they can reverse all that.
He holds onto that thought as, a day or so after he arrives back on Earth, the repairs to the ship are finished, and the Avengers prepared to leave.
"It looks like you don't have any permanent damage from your exposure to carbon dioxide," Bruce tells him, the doctor preforming one last check up before he packs off on the ship with the rest of the crew. "You lost a lot of weight though, so be sure to follow the diet plan I gave you while we're gone."
Tony nods at that, and flicks his eyes over his friend, trying not to think about how this could be the last time he is seeing him. "You decided to stay green?" he says instead, glancing over the Bruce/Hulk transformation with interest.
Across from him, Bruce smiles and nods. "Yeah," he says. "I did this for the battle in Wakanda too, and when I wanted to go back, he didn't think it was fair."
Tony raises an eyebrow at that, and Bruce's smile widens. "It's true, if you think about it," he continues, shrugging his shoulders. "In this form, I get the strength of Hulk, but my brains and sense. It's a constant balance though, we're both giving and taking. If I go back to being just me whenever I don't need the Other Guy, then the balance is off."
Tony nods slowly at that, and Bruce shrugs again, shaking his head. "It's not that bad," he says, flexing his large hands. "If the Other Guy is willing to step back a little on the emotional side of things, then I can stand being green all the time."
Tony grins at that, unable to keep himself from humming the first few bars of It's not easy being green, drawing a scoff and an eyeroll from Bruce once the man realises what he is doing. "It's not that hard," he says, his eyes dropping as he begins to get ready to leave. "Most people are too distracted now-a-days to worry about one random green guy."
Tony sobers slightly and nods, his mind flashing over to someone who probably would care. "Is Ross alive?" he asks, curious as to whether the man had managed to cling to life despite the odds. If he had, he wouldn't be surprised to learn if the man was still trying to make things difficult for them, even after this largescale disaster.
In front of him, Bruce's mouth quirks up into a crooked smile. "No," he says, something suspiciously like satisfaction in his voice. "As far as we can tell, he's gone."
Well. At least there is that.
oOo
Even though he knows he can't go off with the Avengers, it still feels wrong to let them go off alone, and he can't help the twisting anxiety that settles in his chest after they leave. He knows they have Carol, and he knows they are as strong as they possibly can be right now but…
But he really doesn't want them to die.
Steve is right though, Thanos cannot be left with the stones. He just hopes that the Avengers will be able to stop him, and maybe find some way to undo what he had done.
Either way, whether they win or lose, he won't really know until they come back to Earth… or don't.
There is a certain irony there, considering how they had just spent the last month not knowing if he was dead or alive after he had flown up into space. Now it is his turn.
Pepper stays with him after the others leave, and she informs him that Happy is still alive, although staying in New York — which is a relief— and that Aunt May is not.
"Steve looked for her after you and Peter didn't come back," she says, and Tony can't stop his eyes from darting over to the corner of his hospital room where his nano-suit is laying draped over a chair, the nano-pouch with Peter's ashes still attached. "It's hard to find people right now," Pepper continues, drawing his gaze. "So we could be wrong… but right now we don't think she is alive."
Their guess is probably accurate, considering the fact that Aunt May has yet to show up on their doorstep, demanding answers to the whereabouts of her nephew. His eyes drift back over to his nano-suit, and he can't help feeling a pang of loss at the news of her demise.
He also feels a brief flash of guilty relief at the news. He doesn't really know if he had been planning on giving her Peter's ashes, but he knows that — if she were alive — a meeting between the two of them would have been inevitable. He would have had to explain to her face that he had brought Peter up into space to die… and he knows that that conversation would have been painful on both sides.
At least they both died, he thinks, his eyes still fixed distantly on his bodysuit. If Peter had to die, then it is a good thing May is gone too, and if May is dead, then it is a good thing Peter hadn't survived to have to deal with the death of another one of his relatives.
Beside him, Pepper reaches out to grasp his hand, and he looks over, blinking slightly as he focuses on her. "I brought back— some of his ashes," he says, by way of explanation, and Pepper nods, her eyes bright.
"We'll have to think of something to do with them," she says softly, and he can only dip his chin, his eyes growing slightly damp as he breathes in, and Pepper's hand tightens on his.
oOo
It only takes a few days for the Avengers to return from their mission.
By then, he is strong enough to walk around mostly unaided by Pepper, and he comes out with her as the ship touches down, his one hand clasped in hers while his other hand lifts to shield his eyes from the wind the engines kick up.
His hand tightens on Pepper's as they wait and he swallows against the nerves in his stomach, hoping against hope that everyone had made it out of the battle alive. The trip had been too far away for them to keep him updated, but they hadn't sent out an emergency signal upon re-entering the solar system, so either no one is seriously injured or— or they are already dead.
The expression on Thor's face as he stalks down the ship's stairs doesn't really bode well for the overall success of the mission.
Thor's face remains as dark as a thundercloud as he stomps across the grass and passes him with hardly a word, his axe clutched tight in his hand and his cloak swirling angerly around him. Tony's eyes sweep over him anxiously, and he turns his gaze back to the ship, his heart beginning to pound a little faster as he waits to learn how many people on it are still alive.
Steve is the next to step out — the man looking worn and tired, but blessedly alive — and Tony can't stop himself from stepping forward. Pepper follows along after him as he steps up to Steve, his eyes wide and searching, their positions a mirror of when he had returned to Earth.
"What happened?" he bursts out, his eyes flicking over the man in a search for injuries. "Did you find him? Is he dead? Is anyone— Did everyone make it back?"
Steve's eyes catch on his as he approaches, and he offers him a tired smile that is probably supposed to be reassuring. "No one died," he says, clearing his throat as his voice comes out rough. "We all made it back." He swallows and his eyes close briefly before he opens them again. "Thanos is dead."
Behind him, more Avengers are starting to disembark, and Tony flicks his eyes over them, noting their ragged expressions and lack of enthusiasm over their apparent victory. His eyes jump back to Steve, his heart pounding heavy in his chest as his mind spins, grasping desperately for answers.
Something is wrong, but he doesn't know what it is.
"What happened?" he asks again, his hand tightening on Pepper's in anticipation.
It is a voice behind Steve that answers his question, Nebula stepping stiffly out from the ship, her expression tight and drawn.
"Thanos destroyed the stones," she says flatly, her expression a stone-cold wall. "That is what the second use of the stones was for," she continues. "They are gone."
AN: So now we know what happened back on Earth. As you can tell, it is a difficult situation for everyone. Steve is dealing with his grief as he usually does, which probably isn't too surprising, but it is difficult to watch from the outside.
We never get to see how Tony feels about the Avengers going after Thanos in Endgame, but I imagine it would have been distressing. Especially in this universe, where Tony is closer to Steve, and knows more about how his mind is working right now.