Reader from France
Thank you for reading and your lovely comment. I will be updating every day... so far, so good.
We have two lives and the second begins when we realize we only have one. - Confucius
Pepper stared in despair, as Tony's breathing slowed down to barely a wheeze. His eyes had started to close.
I do not know what to do. I do not know what to do. Think Pepper, think. The flame left Tony like a stream. It flows from one vessel to another. A vessel. Wait!
She gasped. He's transferred a part of the flame to the moonstone! "The moonstone!" She exclaimed out loud.
She pulled it out of her satchel. It was throbbing gently. She rubbed it and it seemed to burn at her comfortingly.
She held the moonstone in one hand, straight ahead of her, pointing towards the arc hole in Tony's chest. The flame began to glow. Pepper moved the stone closer to the hole and then yelped as the flame began to leave the stone and flow outwards towards Tony. She braced herself to keep her arm steady as the flame was radiating outwards with force.
The stone emptied, the flame was entirely in Tony's chest and Pepper gently closed the lid of the arc. She bit her lip with worry. Tony was still cold to her touch and his eyes were closed. He wasn't breathing either.
Don't tell me it is too late. Please Tony, wake up. Please.
Pepper started to cry softly. She leaned forward and gently hugged him, his body cold and stiff. She laid her head against his face and whispered to him, brokenly, "Please Tony, wake up, wake up, come back to me. Please Tony, don't die." She repeated this like a prayer, tears streaming down her face.
He was drifting in an abyss, endlessly, drifting or flying or floating? It didn't matter any more, as long as he got to where he wanted to go.
Where am I going exactly? And why is it so cold?
He clasped his arms around himself. It is cold, so cold. And so dark. It is nightfall? Where is the moon?
He heard voices whisper to him. Wake up, wake up. Come back. Please don't die.
Come back to what, he shouted back into the emptiness. Come back to what?!
Let me drift in peace, whoever you are, whatever you are. Let me float in solitude.
Please Tony, wake up. Wake up.
I know that voice.
Suddenly there was a light in the distance. A moon. White and pure, so high above him. He drifted towards the moon in the dark, no path or road to guide him.
I've always loved moonlight. Why can I smell lilies?
He felt warmth surround him, envelop him. The moon had turned blue and fiery. Flames surrounded it like a circular, fiery frame. Blue flames. Cerulean blue. I know that color.
Let me get closer.
The voice began to call again. Wake up Tony, come back to me, Tony.
A different voice, animal in nature, began to whisper. It was another familiar voice.
Anthony. Anthony, you must come find me. I cannot remain outside you. Find me, Anthony.
He was much closer to the moon, which seemed to be growing larger and larger as he neared it. He could feel the heat of its flames on his face and his body. The flames danced gleefully in front of his eyes. He could see himself in them, reaching out.
He closed his eyes to stop the dancing flames. Instead he saw them dance even more, this time in red and gold. A very familiar shade of red and gold. He knew it would be soft to his touch.
Come back to me, Tony, the human voice whispered brokenly. Please... please come back.
He opened his eyes and saw the moon was so close, he touched it in wonder and it pulled him into its blue flaming depths. He sighed as he felt its gentle, blue, glowing warmth engulf him.
Tony felt weak but alive. He knew he wasn't in the dream abyss anymore. His chest stung and ached, thanks to Morganna's scratches. Or perhaps gashes were a better word. They felt deep and sensitive.
He could also feel something soft and warm leaning on one side of his body. And then he felt wetness as well.
He opened one eye cautiously to see a mass of tousled, red gold hair. Pepper... he sighed.
He must have said it aloud because she moved backwards suddenly, out of surprise. Her eyes were wide and red. Tear streaks ran down her cheeks.
His mouth felt as if it was full of wool. He managed to murmur weakly. "Pepper, what are you doing here?"
"How... how did you enter the castle? I locked you in the inn room."
She stared at him, relief and joy evident in her wide eyes. He cleared his throat and looked around. I feel so stiff and weak. The flame. I remember ...
He jerked at his cuffs, trying to see his chest. Pepper cupped his jaw and forced him to look at her.
"Calm yourself, Tony. It's fine. I put the little flame from the moonstone into you. Morganna.." Peppers face tightened. "She took the rest. She drained it from you."
Tony closed his eyes. The flame. The dragon. I've got to get them back. Dragon, where are you, my friend?
Suddenly he felt so empty. The sibilant mocking voice in his head was silent.
He felt one of his wrists freed from the cuffs and looked down to see that Pepper had used a hair pin to pick the lock. She moved to his leg.
He said lightly, "So this is how you managed to escape the inn. Huh..."
She glanced up at him and smiled but didn't stop what she was doing. "This is also how I managed to escape the slave camp. I picked the lock on my chains."
She had freed one side of his body and he stretched his hand and leg in tandem, trying to reduce the stiffness.
"Where's Happy? Is he alright?"
"He's gone back to the inn to get your armor. He's fine."
Tony sighed. "Good to hear. I need to get the flame back at any cost. Facing Asmodeus without its strength, will be suicide."
Pepper looked puzzled. "Asmodeus?"
He told her what Morganna told him. About her deal with the demon lord and her desire to control the demon.
Pepper freed his leg and moved to the last cuff on his left hand. "But Tony, this plays in our favor. Don't you see? Morganna doesn't want this demon to learn of our plans. So she won't show him the flame. So we can still get it back."
He nodded thoughtfully. "You are right, Pepper. She will hide it from him."
"Tony, Morganna hasn't told you how she's manages to look so beautiful, has she?"
He shrugged "No. She was always a beautiful woman but she didn't have this damn power of lust."
The look in Pepper's eyes made him ask, "Why, what do you know, that I don't?"
It was his turn to be wide-eyed as Pepper told him the horrifying story of the young women in the dungeon and of Queen Jacinta.
Tony stretched out his left side slowly. He was finally free and standing upright in front of Pepper. He couldn't believe what she was telling him.
He said slowly "Morganna has... surpassed all known depths of depravity. This is truly horrifying. How many young women do you think she's killed?"
Pepper's eyes were shimmering with deep anger and sadness. "There are at least 8 women in the dungeons right now. From what I heard, at least 5 or 6 women a day, are taken to her. And she's been doing this for two weeks, ever since she came to power."
He said grimly, "We must stop her. We must destroy the jewel."
"What about the demon?"
"We can't kill it. It's too powerful. We can cage it and send it back to where it came from. First, I need my flame." He collapsed suddenly, feeling very weak. Pepper rushed to his side, supporting him.
He leaned on her, breathing in her familiar scent. He was very glad she was there. He whispered in her ear, "Thank you, Pepper. For coming back for me."
She looked at him with soft, warm eyes. "We will defeat this evil, my lord. Together. I won't let you down."
"And I won't disappoint you either. Now do you have any ideas, on where she kept the flame?"
Pepper grinned at him and pulled out a thin scrap of parchment from her bag. "I know just where to start."
A very subtle but sweet depiction in Iron Man is that Pepper''s love for Tony is what saves him from Stane's Sonic Taser.
Pepper does not throw away Tony''s arc reactor after removing it. Rather she frames it and gives it back to him as a gift. He feels collecting it is sentimental but ultimately it saves his life.
I've tried to twist the depiction here by showing that Tony's thoughtful gift to Pepper ironically ends up saving his life later.
Sorry for getting carried away with the whole Tony-moving-between-life-and-death part. I just couldn't stop writing it. And yes, it seems that Pepper pulls him back to life from the abyss of death. All I can say is ... when a man loves a woman...
Bloodborne inspired the giant moon bit. Beautiful video game.. any players out there? Give me a shout out if you do.
