Tony screamed, till his throat was so dry and raw, a river could not sooth him.
Breathe, Tony. Breeeeeeeeathe. He coached himself. He was so tired, feeling extremely heavy. Like, he could not move at all.
What seemed like hours later passed, then, he heard that voice.
"Tony?"
Then he felt that touch.
He made to turn his head, but felt he could not. He tried again.
And again.
And again.
Until...
"Ah!" Tony tumbled over towards Steve, but kept rolling out of the bed. He flung his hands up to protect his head from knocking onto the floor.
But he kept spinning. He felt a tiny resistance.
Peeling his eyes open, Tony saw another room. It was empty.
"Steve?"
Suddenly, he looked in the mirror, literally flying backwards, as if he had seen a ghost. Upon closer examination...he was the ghost!
"What the hell?" Examining his body, tugging on his shirt, Tony realized he was not all there, like he was fading away.
Stay calm. Stay calm. Maybe they gave you too much pain meds and you're just having a trippy dream.
Tony scoffed. It was either a traumatizing nightmare, or what seems to be a hippie's dream come true.
Reaching his arms out, he literally swam forward, then saw the wall come really close really fast. He put his hands back up to stop himself, but found his hands had disappeared through the wall.
"Am I dead?" He sighed. Is this some sort of punishment for being an asshole all my life?
He pushed through the wall, and was stunned to see himself lying in that same hospital bed. Tony watched himself moan as if in pain. Flashes of purple darted in front of Tony floating. He dodged them easily, better than he ever could in his new suit...
Like, eerily similar to the attacks Thanos gave him back on Titan...with one of the Infinity Stones...that was purple.
"Tony?" Tony hovered over himself in the bed, looking at Steve, who was pitiful. "I'm right here. Please, try to wake up for me..."
"Steve! I'm right here!"
"Show me you're ok." Steve remained focus on the physical body.
He had no idea...
"Steve?" Tony moved to touch Steve, but the soldier barely flinched, as if he had an itch, which he promptly went to scratch the side of his head.
Tony saw Bruce explain that Tony was physically fine...but all he could worry about was Steve.
"He had a nightmare...and I wasn't there for him..."
Tony cried watching Steve cry. "Steve...please, if you can only hear this...hear me now...this is not your fault. Look at me, baby. Please...I'm right here..." He placed his ghostly hand on top of Steve's, who was holding his physical hand.
"His hand is getting cold!" Steve started to panic. He turned to Natasha, who was assuring him that Bruce had just said everything was fine. The monitors were not going off, Tony was breathing normally again. He was fine.
"Then why can't he wake up?"
Tony was wondering the same thing. He was trapped in this ghostly world all alone.
He watched silently as the rest of the team...wait, where was everyone else? People were missing.
"Peter?" Tony pushed through the closed door and into the hallway.
Piles of dust littered the otherwise clean hospital. Thor and Bruce were carefully walking around them as if they were landmines.
"Allfathers give me strength..." Thor whispered. Tony was shocked to see the god's appearance, and with a new toy to throw around. "Banner, all of these people..."
Tony mumbled the phrase to himself, confused. "Yeah, where is everybody?"
Flying outside, he found a female warrior sobbing with her hands shaking over a pile. A young male soldier was comforting her.
"S-she was right there! Running to me for help, and then just like that...she turned into a pile of dust!"
Tony was almost hysterical. "Oh God...Peter?"
He thought back to what Thanos had told him after he stabbed him.
When I'm done, half of humanity will still be alive...I hope they remember you...
"Oh no...Nonononono..." Tony flew around the building, into the field, back to his room, noticing how eerily quiet everything was.
Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
"You son of a bitch..." Tony cursed. "That bastard actually did it." Tears fell down his cheeks.
But if that was the case, why was he like this?
He's a plague Tony. He goes from planet to planet, killing half of the population...
Half of humanity
Perfectly balanced
I call that...mercy
"You have got to be kidding me..."
In all of the universe...the billions of lives on all of these planets Tony is just recently finding out about since the Battle of New York...Thanos has to count, because, well he is alive...
There is an odd number of people in the universe...
And exactly half...
Becomes...
"I'm only half dead..." Tony concludes...
Now he knows he is living in a nightmare when he screams at the top of his lungs, and the only response he gets from Steve...
Is shut down as a cat knocking over a book down the hallway.
"No, no, really..." Steve looks around the room. "I feel something, like this coldness that moves around the room..."
"I feel this...presence as well." Thor managed to stand up, growing more curious, his breakdown over for the moment. "It's as if we are not alone."
"Do you think it's the people who just vanished?" Bruce ponders.
"We would all feel a lot more, trust me..." Natasha shoots that theory down.
"What has he done?" Bruce rubs his forehead, wishing the Hulk would come out just to relieve some pressure.
Eyes cautiously open, unsure as to why, beings as there is no reason to, and yet, here they are.
Checking the surroundings, it is a dark, foggy...nothing.
It is a void, empty and alone, save for a panicky breath with a quick heartbeat.
Where am I? What is going on?
Realization hits.
Thanos.
He won.
And I died.