A/N: Okay, so this chapter will be angsty.

Huge thanks to all those who favorited/followed this story. You guys are great!

Sorry for all the grammar/spelling mistakes that you might find. I'm not a native English but I'm giving my best into this. Ya know, using all my knowledge for this stories.

Tony couldn't tell how long he had been sitting in that corner. It could have been hours, days or even years and he wouldn't know that. Not that he cared about the time but he knew that if he sat there for too long then someone from the team would come and shake him. Not that he cared about that either. He was dead. Yes, he died the second he heard Bruce say those awful two words that shattered his world.

He could see a shadow on the nearby wall and he guessed it was Clint watching him as if he feared that the billionaire would do something stupid. Tony would have laughed at the irony of the situation if he didn't felt too numb. How that no one from the team knew that he was already dead? That the nature had taken away from him the only thing that he couldn't live without? What did they feared, that he might take a piece of glass and cut his veins? No, he was too coward to do that.

His eyes darted back to the room that was in front of him. The room that in the morning was her office. The room that she loved most from the whole Tower and the room that took away her life. Maybe if she would have listened to him and left the town. Maybe if she would have gone in Washington just as she did the last time. Maybe she'd be alive now. But there was no maybes, there was no way he could give the time back. There was only the present and it hurt, a lot more than he ever imagined.

Bruce told him that she died fighting. Of course, that didn't surprise Tony. He knew that she wouldn't give up without a decent fight even if her fighting skills were even worst than his and he was awful at hand to hand combat. She died after she was stabbed in the stomach by one of those aliens. Bruce didn't said that but his mere knowledge about medicine figured that her dead was painful.

He could only imagine her laying on the cold floor of her office, surrounded by piece from the shattered windows and aliens. Apparently there were two aliens that attacked her while she was trying to save the informations she had stocked in the Tower's system and sent them to Malibu. It was strange to know that she died while saving files for his company. Always the professional, he thought and a unamused smile formed on his lips at the idea.

He could imagine one of those sharp scepters of the aliens cut into her flesh. Destroy her beige skirt and white shirt in the process before making contact with her pale skin then the scepter tearing it apart as it entered her flesh. He could mentally see the terrified look on her face. Her ocean blue eyes wide with fear and her lips parted in a silent scream because he knew that she wouldn't actually scream in front of the enemy. She learnt that showing fear in front of the enemy was never a good thing. She learnt it from the numerous moments she had been in danger.

He could picture her pale hands clutching her stomach as soon as the alien took out his scepter from her flesh. He could see how the blood pooled between her fingers, warm and terrifing. He could see her engagement ring get covered into her blood as she slowly fell to her knees. He could imagine the aliens going in search for another victim and leaving her on the floor. He could imagine her curling into a ball as she always did when she was upset or had the slightest pain, clutching her stomach as the blood slowly slipped between her fingers and onto the floor.

Bruce also said that they found her phone next to her. It was the StarkPhone he gave her as gift for her birthday. Only a few months before the attack when they were in Washington to visit her parents. Of course, what Bruce didn't mention was that he saw a text she wrote for Tony in the waves of pain. He couldn't do that to Tony, that'd break him even more. He couldn't tell him that Pepper had a surprise planned for him as well but she left it for after the attack ended. He found that one in a file that was in her drawer when he searched for the first aid kit.

Tony stood up from the corner and found out that his legs could still carry him. That was a good thing. He completely ignored Clint's worried look as he dragged himself out of the tiny room and into the room that was supposed to be the main room. Or the living area as he used to call it. And then he saw her.

Apparently Bruce carried her lifeless body to the couch and found one cream colored sheet somewhere to cover her body with. He could only see a drop of blood on the sheet that reminded him that she wasn't just curled up under it, waiting for him to come home. No, she was gone. Forever. She'd never wait for him again to come from a mission. She'd never cry for him anymore because she was gone.

He slowly touched the sheet and gathered the courage he needed to pull it off her face as he knelt beside the couch. Once he did it, he almost broke down into tears as he saw her face. She looked as if she was sleeping only that she was sleeping forever this time. Her lips were dry and there was a small cut at her lower lip, something that would heal if she would have survived. There were a few cuts on her forehead as well and a deeper one at her temple with some dried blood on it. Probably she fell and hit her head against her glass desk but that didn't kill her.

His eyes wandered down her body until they reached the large circle of blood. Of course, the blood was dry now but he could only imagine the white fabric turning up red with the blood that pooled around the wound. The idea made his eyes water and he immediately covered the wound with the sheet once again before focusing on her face.

She was still beautiful for him. Even if her skin was white now and the freckles on her face were even more visible. She was still beautiful for him. Even if her strawberry blonde hair was messed up, despite Bruce tries to adjust it. She was still beautiful for him. Even if she was dead.

"Oh Pepper," Tony whispered, his voice hoarser than usual. "It is all my fault. I shouldn't have left you alone. I'm so sorry." By the time he finished the sentence, he was sobbing. He was sobbing more than he ever did in his life. The tears were falling freely down his face and on her pale cheeks as he leant in and placed one last kiss on her cold lips.

"I promise that I'll revenge you. I promise that I will find the bastard that led the invasion and make him pay." he added and gathered his power to can stand up from the floor. He took in a deep breath and covered her face with the sheet once again but not before he placed one last kiss on her forehead, not aware that Clint was watching him with tears in his eyes.

The billionaire closed his eyes for a moment but immediately opened them as he felt a hand being laid on his shoulder. He didn't need to turn around and look at the person that did that. He could easily recognize who it was from the smell of gun powder and metal he had on him. Tony sighed then turned around to face the world's best markman.

"Tony," it was strange for Clint to call him by his first name but yet he did it anyway. "I don't know what to say. Heck, condoleances are only craps. But I do know what to ask you. Will you be alright?"

Tony just shook his head lightly and held back the tears that welled up in his eyes. "I don't know, Clint. It's too soon for you to ask me that yet." he replied before he turned his back to the archer and simply left the room to be alone, with his feelings and grief. To be alone so he could curl up into a corner and cry himself to sleep.

Anyone knows what surprise Pepper had prepared for Tony but never got to give it to him?

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