POV: Stephen Strange
So, we’re stuck on Titan.
The group begins to argue on the best way to get back to Earth, but I step away.
There’s no point in arguing, they can’t hear over the sounds of their own voices anyway.
I sit against a pile of scrap metal, Levi lifting me slightly of the ground as I close my eyes.
The Dark Dimension is dangerous, meditation too far into it can be risky, but I have to try.
My breathing begins to level as I focus on deepening my concentration, falling deeper and deeper into the forbidden dimension to peer into the future.
Thousands of scenarios play in my mind, whizzing past my eyes at lightning speed.
The colors swirl and bleed as the scenes explode into reality.
Blood and destruction.
Death and torment.
The absolute desecration of humanity unfolds before me as I watch the Avengers fall time after time, I by their side.
But there’s something else in the mix of the visions.
A spark of selflessness in every possible future brings a sharp twinge of gold and heat into the vision fields.
I push in deeper, feeling the thickness of the dimension as it envelops my astral form.
I follow the trail of warm light through the veil of misery and distress, following it straight to Tony Stark.
I’m momentarily taken aback, does this selflessness stem from him in every alternate reality?
My mind searches through a few of them, pushing through the gore and struggle of battle to find that last fading ray of light, and in every reality, it’s him.
I watch Tony Stark die thousands of times, in thousands of ways, each time more brutal than the last.
Each time selflessly dying to protect strangers, his planet, his friends, his family.
Sometimes even dying to save me.
The snarky, selfish, sarcastic man I’ve become acquainted with in my own reality is nowhere to be found here as the raw, stripped away version of Tony sacrifices everything for those he cares for time and time again.
I know my time is limited, but I’ve only been gone a matter of seconds in the regular realm, they won’t notice if I’m gone a while more.
I break my astral body into two, leaving half my consciousness here to explore the possible outcomes of battle as my other half moves on to explore the possible depths of Tony Stark’s character.
The warmth of his form wraps around me as I dive into the plethora of his possible realities.
I watch as Tony walks down many paths.
Some are lonely, he walks down paths of isolation and sadness.
These are tinged in black, and I imagine they would reek of expensive scotch and cigar ash.
A few he walks with many women, hanging from his arms as they laugh idly.
These are tinged with red, black weaving in and out as he tries to hide the darkness bubbling within.
One path shines with bright whites and yellows, it’s heat brushing against my skin as I near it.
To my surprise, I come face to face with myself.
Tony’s arm slings lazily around my waist as we walk down the path, smiling together as we follow behind Peter Parker.
Me?
I’m a piece of Tony’s unparalleled sense joy in this reality?
I follow them down the path, my curiosity growing with every step.
As we near the end, it branches off into several futures.
Hundreds of realities extend from the yellow path, showing hundreds of realities where Tony and I live together happily.
I watch myself as I fall in love with Tony Stark again and again, each time more enchanting than the last.
A disturbance outside of my body reminds me of the grave situation we’re in.
The situation I must solve in order to secure any chance of this path becoming reality.
Regretfully, I pull myself away from the pleasant warmth, turning to leave the depths of Tony’s futures.
I run back down the yellow path, following its twists and turns as I make my way out of the labyrinth of possibilities.
My mind extends out into the dark, searching for the other half of my astral form.
I find its familiar glow in the distance, and we collide in the void with a crash, our thoughts and memories combining to form one plan.
14,000,605 possibilities.
14,000,587 of them result in the end of the world as we know it.
14,000,604 of them end in the death of Tony Stark.
1 ends in the yellow path, in Tony’s future intertwining with mine.
I’ve got one shot.
One chance to save the man I’m so suddenly in love with.
I expand my mind once more, pulling as hard as I can at any strings of reality that I can grasp to pull myself back into the reality of the regular realm that I left.
My body contorts wildly as I pull myself closer and closer.
Pain rips at my core as I feel the immense pressure of the millions of deaths I witnessed as the blood and gore fly past me faster and faster.
Vacant, dead eyes stare at me pleading silently as I pass them, the vacant eyes of my friends.
The lines between present and future begin to blur as I pull myself closer and closer to the edge.
Am I too late?
Did I stay too long in the dark?
Are they all dead?
Is Tony?
The atmosphere surrounding me gets thicker and thicker, threatening to drag me back under, to suffocate me in this dimension, when finally I break through.
Harsh light floods my vision as my eyes snap open, and I gasp wildly for air, looking around frantically.
Hands grab onto my shoulders, firm, but steadying, comforting.
Familiar.
“Hey, you’re back, you’re alright.” Tony says softly, his deep brown eyes looking into mine.
Like they’ve done it a thousand times.
They will.
I’ll guarantee it.
Tony Stark will not die in this war.
“What did you see?” He asks, his hands not moving from his comfortable grip on my shoulders, grounding me to him.
There are no words to describe to him the amount of pain and destruction I saw.
But there are also no words to describe the vastness of the color and light.
I don’t say anything.
Instead, I wrap my hand around the back of his head, pulling his face to mine.
Levi swirls up around us, shielding us from the view of anyone else around us as I kiss him deeply.
He breathes in sharply in surprise, but doesn’t stop me, pulling me closer instead as he wraps his arms around me, kissing me back.
“That’s what you saw?” He breathes as he pulls back, resting his forehead against mine.
I laugh softly.
“Among other things.” I say quietly, my tone turning more serious as I look at his face. “Tony—there’s real potential for things to go wrong here. I looked through 14,000,605 different futures. Only one ends well for you.”
His hands don’t move from around me, his forehead still resting comfortably against mine in the safety of the shield from my cloak.
“Well,” he says as he takes a shaky breath, “then you better start telling me how to do that one.”
He looks up at me with a sad smile, trying to hide the slight tremor in his voice.
“Mr. Stark? Mr. Doctor Strange Sir? Are you guys okay?” Peter calls from the outside of the cloak, his hand gently knocking against it as if it was a door.
“See?” Tony says as he gestures towards the sound of Peter’s knocking, smiling a more genuine smile at the sound of the boy’s voice. “I got a kid to take care of. It has to go well.”
I chuckle softly, hugging him closely to me once more before I’ll have to let the fabric wall down.
“And,” He murmurs, tilting his chin up towards me again, “I’m curious to see what this is all about.”
I tilt my head down so that my lips are barely brushing against his.
“I’ve seen hundreds of futures with you, Tony Stark.” I murmur, letting his breath spill softly against my lips. “Please, live them with me.”
He sighs softly, pressing up to kiss me with more pressure.
“Yes Gandalf.” He whispers. “Whatever you say.”
I laugh as I kiss him back, savoring the light that Tony brings to my world.