He opened his eyes to a world in a constant sunrise/set. Looking around he spied a small structure with silhouettes of two people. He stood up from the water, which seemed to fall off of him as though it was glass. He made his way over to the figures and when they turned to him, he froze.

"My dear, Anthony." The woman murmured softly as she rushed over to him, throwing her arms around him, one hand gently cupped the back of his head whilst the other moved up and down his back comfortingly. "My sweet boy." Another hand touched his shoulder as two more arms hesitantly wrapped around the two of them.

"Mum? Dad?"

"Yes sweetheart." Maria murmured as they pulled out of the hug, Howard moved to Maria's side and wrapped an arm around her waist,

"Am I…dead?" His parents chuckled,

"No, Tony. You're simply recovering." Howard informed him, though it didn't really answer much.

"Oh, sweetheart, we're so proud of you. So, so proud." Maria's hand reached up to cup his cheek, Tony placed his hand on top of his mother's, his eyes fluttering closed as he sought the comfort she gave off. Watery chocolate eyes opened slowly and stared in disbelief.

"Really?" Not that he'd admit it but his voice cracked slightly,

"Of course. You have had such a tortured life, sweetheart, but you've never given up. You've done something incredible and we are so very proud of you. So proud." Tears trickled down his face, much to his embarrassment. Maria wiped them away gently. "My darling son," She murmured leaning in to hug him once again, "I know things are tough between you and Rogers, but forgive him. I know deep inside you want his friendship again. I know what he did was wrong, but you need to come to an agreement. You need peace." She whispered into his ear and said nothing when she felt him choke back on a sob, "I love you so much, sweetheart. I'm afraid I must be going now." She murmured as she kissed his cheeks in typical Italian fashion,

"What? No. Mum. Please. Please don't leave me."

"We'll meet again, my son. Not for many years." She whispered as she faded away leaving Tony standing with tears streaming down his face, a hand touched his shoulder suddenly making him jump and turn around.

"Dad?" He asked through a layer of tears,

"Yes, son."

"Why…why are you still…here?"

"I have some things to say." Howard felt his son tense up, "I want you to know that I am proud of you, Tony. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being cold. For being everything but a father. I am so proud of you and I only wish I had been a better father. I love you too, Tony and I wish I had told you, but I made mistakes. Fatherhood wasn't…it wasn't something I was made for. In fact, your mother and I struggled to conceive, the fact that we managed to have you, should've made me realise just how special you were." Tony was silent, shock was consuming him, Howard had never told him that before.

"Did you know about…about the Soul Stone?" Overwhelmed and unsure what to say, he blurted out the question. His father was silent for a few moments as he contemplated how to answer,

"I…I had my suspicions that something was different with you, not in a bad way but I suspected that there was something unusual and despite being a scientist, I thought perhaps it was something…magical. Then one day when I was studying the Tesseract…you wandered into my workshop and…there was this buzzing." He murmured, "You were focused on the Tesseract and your eyes began to brighten as orange seemed to leak into them. I guess I began to believe something about you was…special then. From then on I noticed that you felt almost the exact same as the Cube." Howard looked down at his hands and noticed they began to fade away and become transparent, "I guess my times up then. I meant what I said, Tony. I am proud of you. So proud. And I'm so sorry for never being the father you wanted, the father you needed and deserved. Believe me, when I say this, I love you." Surprisingly Tony clutched his dad's body in a hug,

"Don't go. Please. Please, don't leave me. Not again."

"We'll meet again, Tony." Howard murmured as he faded into nothingness, leaving his son crying in the Soul World all alone.