Happy and Willow walked into the cavernous building, greeted only by more silence. The ride over had been marred by devastation and death... and silence. Neither of them had found the words to make it better. Nothing could.

Happy had ahold of Willow's hand as they turned a corner, heading straight for Tony's lab. All the lights were off. No one was here, but there also wasn't any little piles of ashes where people used to be either. There'd been enough of that to haunt Willow's dreams forever.

She sat down hard on the cold ground, not wanting to take another step. Tony wasn't here and she didn't need any more confirmation of that. Happy floated into her view, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. His mouth was moving, but nothing was coming out except for a dull buzzing noise. Her field of vision was blurring around the edges and closing in fast. Her throat felt tight. She couldn't make herself take a full, deep breath.

She laid down fully and let the cool tile take over all her senses as Happy rushed off somewhere. She didn't know what he was doing and she didn't care. She just tried to make her lungs work like they were supposed to.

She couldn't get it out of her head that Tony wasn't here. He should have been waiting for them, a serious look on his face, as he rattled off whatever ridiculous plan he'd come up with in the meantime. This wasn't right. She couldn't be alone like this.

Happy came back and put a damp, ice cold rag on the back of her neck and slid down the wall until he was sitting beside her. He pulled her hand back into his, like it was his lifeline as much as he was hers.

She realized, after an absurd amount of time she was sure, she could hear Happy breathing slowly next to her. She pushed herself up until she was sitting with her back to the wall too. There wasn't a part of her that didn't ache, including her heart. That was where the squeeze she felt all over seemed to originate.

"He's supposed to be here," she finally whispered.

Happy leaned over and put his head on her shoulder, but didn't talk.

Just as her own eyes started to close, exhaustion finally taking its toll, they popped back open again. It hit her so suddenly it almost knocked the wind out of her.

"I'm gonna call Carol."

Happy was awake too, "How? What? How?"

She riffled through the bag she couldn't remember bringing in with her and pulled out the only way she knew to contact her sister. She was Willow's last and final hope. She didn't know how far this particular issue reached, but it didn't seem to discriminate based on whether you belonged to Earth or not, from what little they did know.

The ancient and alien piece of technology felt heavy in her hand as she pushed several buttons at once. Then she heard it. The beeping was invading all her senses and it was getting louder. She let the communicator fall to her side as she followed it. Happy was walking beside her too, holding his hands over his ears. It was getting worse.

"What is that?" Happy called over the noise.

They walked through the maze that was Tony's office in search of it. The lights switched on as they made their way through. There was definitely more paperwork and strange contraptions than Willow remembered it having, but it'd been forever since she'd made her way out to see the Avengers on their home turf.

"There," Happy said, pointing at a computer screen.

It kept up, almost like a heartbeat. It was certainly the right rhythm; maybe a little fast. Willow sat down in his chair and pushed the space bar to wake it up.

"Ms. Danvers, it's nice to see you again," F.R.I.D.A.Y said loudly.

"You too, F.R.I.D.A.Y. Can you turn that down, please?"

"Yes, ma'am."

The beeping, and her voice, were now at a more manageable level.

"Would you like me to patch you through to Mr. Stark?" she continued.

"Mr. Stark?" Willow asked, disbelief coloring her words.

"Yes."

"He's alive?" Happy asked.

The scratchy noise of a damaged speaker system came to life around them next. It was just him breathing heavily, but she knew it was him. He was alive.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y, can he hear me?"

"Who is that? Who's there?" he yelled.

"Tony? Tony, it's me."

She was right next to the microphone, not that it changed anything. She just wanted to feel like she was close to him. She needed her best friend with her.

"Will?" he asked, giving a huge sigh of relief.

"You're okay," she said.

"Where are you?"

"Where are you?"

They asked each other at the same time and both gave an uneasy laugh.

"You first," he commanded.

"We're at headquarters."

"We? Pepper's with you? Oh, thank God."

"Umm, no. It's me and Happy."

"Oh," was all he said for a minute. "Do you know where she is?"

Willow took a deep breath and lied, "No. I tried to call. She didn't answer. But that doesn't mean anything. Okay? She's the head of a huge company. She's probably just bossing people around somewhere." He gave another uneasy chuckle. "Your turn."

"Uh, it's complicated."

"When is it not with you?" she teased.

"Very true."

They got quiet again and Willow hung her head as she waited for him to answer. She hated lying to anyone, but with Tony it seemed like the worst possible offense. They didn't do that with each other. He'd probably never forgive her, but she couldn't think about that right now. She just needed to get him home.

"I'm sorta on Titan."

"As in Saturn's moon?" she screeched.

"Umm, no."

"Damnit, Tony, I..."

"I know, Will. I know. I'm sorry."

"I'll figure it out."

"Will, I have no idea where I am. No ship. Kinda, sorta crashed the one I came in on..."

"I'll figure it out," she interrupted forcefully.

Tony didn't say anything else and worked on steadying himself. His heartbeat slowed, but not enough for Willow to be completely comfortable.

She looked back at Happy and shrugged her shoulders. She knew exactly what she needed to do and exactly what she was dreading. If Carol was alive, she could go and get Tony. It might take a while to figure out where he was, but it was better than nothing. If she wasn't... she shook her head to rid it of that thought. She couldn't get caught up in it.

She pulled up the communicator in front of her face again and pushed all the necessary buttons to call her sister. She slid down the wall again and dragged the microphone into her lap. And then she did the only thing she could do: wait.

^ chapter title from happylilprompts on Tumblr (via Pinterest)