Title: Ebenezer Stark
Theme: #59 - Future
Rating: PG-13
Length: 550 Words
Summary: Prelude to #60 - Dream. Tony is visited by the Ghost of Christmas yet to come, minus Christmas.
Author's Note: My least favorite to date. Hopefully I'll make up for it in the near future.

"You're a fool," Yinsen said, his face hidden in the shadows.

"Yinsen!" Tony exclaimed, trying to stand to greet his savior. "It's good to see you, man!"

"I wish I could the same for you," Yinsen said and, even in the dark, Tony could tell that the Arab was smiling. "You look a wreck."

"I've been working," Tony said, running his hands through his hair. "Really late hours, these days."

"That's not really what I meant.

"Tony Stark, you're wasting your life."

"What the hell! Have you seen what I've done?"

"I have," Yinsen said with a small nod.

"I shut down half of my company! We don't make weapons anymore!"

"I know."

"I built the suit! I fight the bad guys! I save innocent people! I am Iron Man!"

Yinsen moved so fast that Tony's chair squeaked on the tiled floor as he jumped back. Yinsen slammed his palm on the desk and Tony was shocked that bullet holes littered the man's chest, that there was no blood left in Yinsen's face.

"You're so damned drunk you don't even know you're talking to a dead man!"

Tony stared, then managed to swallow. Picking up his glass, he said, "Am I dead?"

Yinsen took the glass from Tony, raising it to his own lips. "No. Not yet, anyway."

"So, I'm still alive," Tony asked, watching Yinsen drink his very fine scotch.

"But, what's the point of living if you have nothing to live for?" Yinsen asked, placing the glass beyond Tony's reach.

"I have plenty to live for-"

"You're on the path of self destruction." Yinsen picked up a framed picture, a news article clipping but the only photo of the two of them together. "You'll start by losing her-"

Tony started to stand. "If you touch Pepper, I swear-"

"When did I become the bad guy?" Yinsen asked with a smile. "You'll lose her all on your own." He put the picture down, and then glanced behind Tony into the lab. "Then you'll lose the suit-"

"How can I lose the suit? I'm the only one who can use it-"

"-and then you'll drown like the rat you'll become."

"Drown? Literally or metaphorically?"

"Does it matter?"

"Metaphorically, then."

"You'll wish it had been literally." Yinsen placed his hands on the table again and leaned in close to Tony so that their noses were near touching. "I gave my life for yours, and this is how you'll repay me? What are you going to do about that?"

Tony woke with a start, sitting straight up in the dark. His heart pounded in his chest and he struggle to breathe. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why he was in bed instead of at his desk, why he was alone and there was no ghost hovering above him, and why-

He was sober. For once, he was actually sober.

"Jarvis?" Tony called out, swinging his legs off the bed.

The lights came on and Jarvis replied, "Sir?"

"Get Miss Potts on the phone." He found his house coat, rarely worn because it was his house after all, and pulled it over his shoulders.

"Sir, it is two in the morning, and Miss Potts has requested that she not be disturbed after-"

"Just do it, Jarvis. Just do it."