Eric Selvig sat in a car near the second war with Thanos. He knew what he had to do, but he didn't want to. Life was just starting to get back to something that could be considered normal.
He takes a shot of whisky to settle his nerves and thinks back to the moment his life had taken a turn; most people think it was when Loki had tapped that staff to his chest. However, it was earlier than that. He rubbed his side where the glass had stabbed him while running from the Asgardian death suit, that's when it had all gone to hell... Whatever Thor had done with that rock to heal the wound had made things worse.
It started as just a small cough here and there and it just kept getting worse, the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong. Turned out that whatever that healing stone was made of was attacking his cells and the odds of him making it to the end of the year were about 1%, so he did his work to the best of his ability and waited to die.
Loki showing up changed everything, the moment the staff touched his chest the cough went away and never came back. It was almost like whatever the staff was made of had balanced the war inside him, it took a few years but he had finally put it all together, Loki had hit him with what was called the mind stone and for some reason, it got between the Asgardian power and his DNA and even after he was free from Loki's power, remnants of the mind stone stayed and kept him alive.
There were moments he would swear he could even hear it talking to him in his head. He knew the connection was strong because he got a headache every time someone used the stone and when Thanos had snapped the first time it had caused more pain than he had ever experienced in his life, the second snap almost killed him, and it left him in a coma for a year.
Now it was the voice in his head that had him so close to the war, the stone was telling him HE had to end the fight, so he followed the instructions and nearly drove off the road when he was hit with the pain from a third snap. This left him here on the side of the road, then taking another shot started moving the car forward again.
When he got to the point that he couldn’t drive anymore due to the crater and all the people fighting he got out, he somehow knew exactly which way to go to get to the stones. It was a nightmare trying to cross the battlefield but after nearly being hit by two wizards and almost eaten by whatever they were fighting, he seemed to make it to the middle of it all where he saw Tony on the ground and Thanos wearing a glove with all six stone on it.
Eric took a breath and before Tony could jump on the bad guy he stepped forward, a shock wave went through the ground that stopped everyone in their tracks. It was like someone pushed pause on a remote. Tony and Thanos turned and looked at him, a look of horror came over Tony's face as he recognized Eric, but Thanos looked annoyed by his presence.
Eric focused hard on what he was about to do, he could faintly hear Tony saying something, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see Tony coming at him. However, Eric toned it all out, he came for one thing, and lifting his arm like he was reaching for something he simply said “MINE!” It felt like he was shot as the mind stone hit him in his right shoulder with a force that took his breath away, he felt his knees buckle but before he hit the ground, he was hit with five more in rapid succession all in a row across his chest.
Everything went black for an unknown amount of time; Eric’s world was an explosion of pain, and he thought he felt another shock wave and when he finally opened his eyes it looked like an explosion had cleared everything around him. He tried desperately to breathe, before raising his hand and snapping his fingers, and with another surge of unbelievable pain, the world went dark.
Tony looked up at Thanos, he knew what he had to do, and he was ready, but as he moved to take back the infinite stones he felt a shock wave go through the ground and he turned around, his whole world froze as he locked eyes with Eric Selvig.
After the battle of New York Tony had found Eric on the roof of his tower and ever since then he's been keeping an eye on him, calling once every two weeks to make sure he was ok, he had found out that Eric was somehow connected to the mind stone, so it hadn't come as much of a surprise that after making it back from space Tony found a message from Eric telling him of the excruciating pain that had come over him. Unfortunately, by the time Tony was strong enough to go in search of Eric, Thanos had snapped again, and he was in a coma, and all Tony could do was keep him close and comfortable until he woke up a year later.
Eric hadn’t been the same since he woke up, he was quieter and had more bad crazy days than good days. Two days before Steve, Bruce, and Scott showed up Tony had gone to see Eric and he was having a crazy bad day because he kept repeating the same thing. "He missed it 14 million and 1, He missed it 14 million and 1, He missed it 14 million and 1." Safe to say the visit wasn't very long and he all but forgot about it until he saw Eric on the battlefield looking scared and determined at the same time.
Tony jumped up and bolted for Eric yelling for him to get down to run, this was his sacrifice to make, he was the one who signed up for this not Eric. It all happened so fast, and Tony didn't hear what Eric said as he raised his hand reaching out to Thanos, but whatever it was, the stones responded by hitting him in the chest. Tony froze, Eric was hit five more times in rapid succession before he hit his knees and then his hands hit the ground, and before he could get to him a surge of power came from him and pushed everything around him a good fifty feet away.
Tony was caught by Thor who helped keep him on his feet, but Thor’s attention wasn’t entirely on Tony it was mostly on Eric. Both men watched as Eric slowly lifted himself to where he was still on his knees but now looking at Thanos, he lifted his hand and with a determined look on his face he snapped his fingers.
They watched in horror as a look of pain spread across his face and then he went down. Tony moved forward slowly, blinking back the moisture in his eyes, he didn't even notice Thanos and his people disappearing into dust or the building and everything else around them transforming back. All eyes were on the same spot, the unmoving form in the middle of it all.
Tony moved closer afraid of what he would find, he had been trying to keep this man alive since New York and now the weight of his failure was too much to bear. Tony's knees hit the ground next to Eric, it took longer than he would like to admit to notice the movement, at first he thought it was a trick of the light but there it was again a slight rise and fall of Eric’s chest, Tony let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, Instinct kicked in and he heard himself yelling for Strange.
Things happened in a haze with Thor poling Tony away while Strange barked orders Cap, Bucky, T'chala, and Clint rushed over and gently lifted him and took him into the building, that's when he noticed his surroundings, the only sign that a battle had occurred here was the battle-worn people everywhere, everything else looked like nothing had happened.
Inside Strange had Eric taken to the med-bay, after a few minutes the whole place was alive with people trying to figure out what had just happened, Tony and Thor sat outside the medical room waiting for Strange to come out and tell them Eric was gone.
Tony felt Thor move a little and turned to see what he was doing, but instead found himself looking into the eyes of a confused, scared, and angry Asgardian, his voice was low as he asked, “What the hell just happened, and why was Eric out there at all.” Tony didn't know how to answer that, and they just looked at each other for a minute, but before a reply could be given Strange came out and he looked more confused than anyone else.
Strange started by saying, “He's alive, but I couldn't tell you how. The only injuries I could find were six bruises across his chest, no blood, no burns, and his vital signs are all normal.” He paused for a moment and then went on, “Whatever happened out there hasn't affected him physically, but we will have to wait for him to wake up to see about the mental effects.” Strange then moved to look at some of the other injured people around them.
Before Tony could fully comprehend what, the doctor had said Thor was up and moving to Eric's room he got up and followed. When they entered the room, they found Clint sitting on Eric's left side.
Ever since New York Clint had kept in contact with Eric always saying that it helped both to cope with what Loki did to them. Tony moved to sit next to Clint while Thor sat on the other side of him, and that's how they stayed for almost fourteen hours, by this time a large portion of the army had returned to their homes, Thor didn't really move the whole time, Clint took a few hours here and there when his family showed up, Tony did the same when Pepper and Morgan stopped by. However, the three of them were all there when Eric started to stir.
The first thing Eric noticed was the pain in his chest, the second was the whispering in his head, it was no longer just one voice but more like six if he was counting right, the third was the sudden realization that three people were sitting close by. However, the thing that shocked him was that without opening his eyes he knew exactly who they were, and where in the room they were, he also knew how many people were in the building. The first to speak was Clint asking him to open his eyes and telling him HE was safe. He felt Thor's hand on his shoulder to drive Clint's statement home and he could feel Tony's eyes on him.
When he finally got his eyes open the light felt like needles and then the room seemed to change colors for a minute and he felt Thor's hand jerk away from him and all three of them took an involuntary step back, they looked nervous suddenly, the voices in his head were trying to decide whether they could be trusted.
When the room returned to a normal color he tried to speak, his voice sounded horse to his ears and Tony moved to get some water and after a few sips Thor got straight to the point asking, “What the hell did you do?” Clint and Tony gave Thor the, we were going to wait on that question look, but Thor didn't care and focused his attention on Eric waiting for a response that would explain everything.
One of the voices in Eric’s head said something about Thor needing to mind his own business but he chose to focus on the voices outside his head and he simply said, “The mind stone told me to do it.” That seemed to stun them for a minute and then he went on, “The stone said if I didn't repossess them from Thanos then Tony would die, and as far as I'm concerned it wasn't a choice. The stone said my life would change but I would survive.” The room was quiet as they Processed what he said.
Tony was the first to talk, he looked unsure when he said, “Thanks for saving my life.” It was quiet again and then Thor spoke up with a look in his eyes that Eric couldn't quite place and a tone in his voice that made the whispering in his head go quiet, “What about your life won't be the same?” The others looked at him and then back at Eric waiting for the answer. he simply said, “I won't ever be alone again.” Looking down he took a breath and then followed it up saying, “I can hear the stones talking to me and I can feel the power flowing through me.” He could feel his eyes watering up when he looked up and said, “I feel like I'm going to lose myself and all that will be left is the stones.”
As Tony stood there watching in horror as Eric broke down in front of them, he moved in closer, sat on the side of the bed, and wrapped his arms around him while quietly telling him that everything would be ok, and they would get through this together. This isn't something he was good at, but someone had to do it, he heard the other two agreeing with him, and then Thor spoke up saying, “I will find something that will keep you in control of this power and if such a thing does not exist then I will have it made.” There was no doubt in his voice and with a squeeze of Eric's shoulder he left the room. Clint looked at him for a moment and then said, “There is no reason anyone else has to know he has this power, it will only make him a target. I will tell all the others that when he snapped the stones went back to where they belonged and now, he's resting.” Then looking at Tony he said, “And you can give them some fake science reason for why it didn't kill him.” With that he also squeezed Eric’s shoulder and went to inform everyone still out there of this false information, leaving just Tony and Eric.
Tony looked at him in the eyes and with a smile said, “Look at that, everything will be just fine, we're going to get through this together.”
Eric looked at Tony and let the gravity of what he and the others said sink in, he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face, the mind stone was right he would never be alone again and at this moment that didn't seem like such a bad thing after all.