What do you know, I've updated! YAY! :D I'm actually glad I did! Now, I feel like I'm not falling behind too much! :D And sorry for the short chapter, but hopefully the next chapter will be up soon!

Disclaimer: IMAA is...well, I was about to say it, but...well you know...

Pepper blinked her heavy eyelids. She could hardly stay awake now. She had to fight to even keep her eyes half open. Her head hurt. And saying it hurt as if it was hit with bricks, wasn't exaggerating. It hurt. So much so, that she could hear her heartbeat in her head. As if her heart was pounding inside her head instead of her chest.

Which reminded her. She was now in a t-shirt with some shorts. Normal enough.

She was starting to wonder if anyone was going to visit her. At least to tell her why she was there, but that's where it ended. She couldn't much think of anything else. If she tried, her mind practically forced her to think of something else. With that going on, she lost track of time. It felt as if it could have been days she was in there. Weeks even. But how would she know. The lighting never changed, there was no clock or window, and no one came to tell her what day it was.

Which, honestly at the time being her head hurt too much to care really. She couldn't think straight for the most part and even so, she didn't want to. She just wanted to rest. That's all.

But something told her not too. She felt that sleeping, or letting herself pass out, would be bad. So she fought it with all her might. With all that she was.

But in the end, she failed.

…

Howard didn't think as he tackled Sim to the ground. He wasn't seeing straight. Hell, he wasn't even seeing at all. Let alone thinking. He just lunched. His mind didn't pay no attention to the possibility Sim was still holding that shard. He didn't pay attention to the fact that he son was screaming in pain. That was what kept him going.

No one. NO ONE, hurt his son. No one will hurt his son and act as if it was a joke.

Everything was a blur. Every punch, every kick, or every tackle that might have been thrown, was a fast blur of red. The seething color of red. Everything was red.

That was his son, who'd been declared dead. Who's been 'dead' for 2 years. That was his son. His son who he loved more than anything. More than life itself. He wasn't just about to let his death become real just after he found him. He wasn't about to let this person – thing – hurt his son anymore.

He didn't know who was winning, or who was losing. He didn't care as long as Tony was safe. As long as this – thing – wasn't hurting his son.

…

The screams stopped, in favor of Tony passing out. His rigid body going limp. Blood was starting to pool by his side, and around his face.

Rhodey didn't hesitate to rush to his side. A few servants surrounding the two, in worry. He mumbled something's to himself, but didn't let himself get distracted. He could worry about the shock of his 'brother' still being alive later. Right now, he had to stop the bleeding. That was the first priority.

He put his gloved hands tightly onto the profusely bleeding wound, hoping to at least slow the blood loss down. But hopefully stopping it completely. The unconscious Tony, flinched under his rough touch, but he didn't loosen his grip. In fact, it tightened. The bleeding hardly slowed down.

He was starting to panic. He hadn't thought that maybe using his shirt would help slow the bleeding down faster. But what if he removed his hands for just that long and something happened? What if he bled out before he even got his shirt off? After all he was wearing one of those stupid tuxedo coats over his shirt, which was a button up. He'd never do it fast enough.

What about the large cut on his face? And the broken fingers? And the BLOOD LOSS? Rhodey's breathing picked up to a fast paced, panicked one. He'd only just got his 'brother' and best friend back, and now he was about to lose him. Just because he couldn't stop the bleeding.

"I'm so sorry, Tony…" He said, just barely holding back tears. "I-I couldn't help you."

There was a light touch on his shoulder. He didn't look away from his pale and bloody friend. He wouldn't until the last second. He wasn't missing this last moment with his best friend. If he was going to dye, Rhodey was going to be right there when it happened. He would both watch and feel his 'brothers' last breath.

There the touch was again.

He ignored it, to focus how much pressure he put on the wound. But the touch got harder, so he mumbled something just loud enough to be heard, "I'm not leaving him!"

But apparently he wasn't heard, for the touch became a light push. He looked away from his friend. "I'M NOT LEAVING HIM!" He shouted, sounding almost desperate. Then he mumbled under his breath to himself, "Not yet."

…

Pepper's eyes snapped open roughly, her dreams consisting of fire and even more fire. At first she'd question why she was having nightmares about a fire, but after a while, she'd remembered exactly why. It brung tears to her eyes whenever she remembered.

That stupid fire!

It took her friend! No, it took the one person she couldn't live fully without. But then her mind would tell her that it wasn't the fire. No, even thought she was positive the fire happened, the fire had nothing to do with Tony's 'death'. She realized that the real thing that took him away from her, was right next to her. Technically speaking of course. The answer was right there!

Sim.

He did this.

He was going to pay!

She yelped when she felt pain in her head as if someone just struck her. She winced even more when there was a sharp pain in her arm, where he arm bent. What was happening? Why was she hurting? She couldn't see any damage done to her skin. Not even a red mark.

Was someone finally coming to tell her why she was there? Was she finally going to find out where she even was?

There was a second sharp pain that felt like needles, in her side, where her ribs were. She winced, and held back a whimper. What was happening?

…

Howard winced as he started to come to his senses. He'd just been punched. Ouch. It was a pretty rough punch too. He didn't care, he hardly flinched. He just sent a punch of his own. A punch filled with rage and agony for his son. He would continue to fight, so he could see he son!

He caught glimpses of his son being tended to by Rhodey. Good. Well, it seemed good until he heard the fragment of what Rhodey was saying. "I'm so sorry…" then "Couldn't". What had that meant? Did that mean he couldn't save him? Had the full sentence been "I'm so sorry I couldn't save you?"

T-that couldn't be! His son wasn't dead! He wasn't! He refused to believe that even after all that he fought for, his son didn't even make it!

"STOP!" A voice shouted.

Howard was thrown to the ground, his head hitting against the railing. The last thing he saw was the bottoms of the dress the female servant's commonly wore, standing between him and Sim.

Okay, I'm pretty sure not many of you will be happy with me, but I don't know. I JUST LOVE CLIFFHANGERS! Well, at least leaving them, i don't much like reading them, but oh well!

Fun Fact: When I fall in love with a show/song I'll never get over it for a LONG TIME! I mean it! I still love this one show that I've loved since i was about 8 or 9 years old. And I still LOVE IT!

So a few of you noticed my poll, and I'm telling you, for those of you that hasn't voted yet, you'd want to very soon, because I don't want this Poll to go on that long! It's for what I should work on next!

Oh and I haven't really said this much lately, but I do have a pepperony contest going on still, so just write a pepperony story and I'll check it out! Just mentioning, it, but I'll leave you guys alone about it, I don't want to seem obsessive.

Well, I'm going to go, so :D bye! :D