SPACE
Tony woke slowly, dreams of fire thrashing through his veins and gold in his eyes fading slowly from his mind, to the sound of Loki whimpering softly beside him.
Frowning, Tony rubbed the sleep from his eyes, brain struggling to comprehend what was happening until he heard another whimper, felt the tense coil of muscle beneath him, and abruptly sat upright, suddenly wide awake as he looked down upon his fitfully sleeping boyfriend.
Loki’s eyes were squeezed tightly shut, fingers curled into fists in the blankets, body so tense he was trembling with the effort, whimpers and incomprehensible pleas falling from his lips.
Immediately, Tony shifted, moving to lean against the headboard and drag Loki carefully between his spread legs, back to chest, his arms wound tightly around the god to keep him from lashing out when he woke.
“Loki, c’mon, babe. I need you to wake up for me.” When nothing happened, Tony merely continued murmuring soft, soothing nothings, slowly but surely urging Loki awake until, with a soft gasp, his eyes flew wide open.
Immediately, he began to thrash, attempting to free himself from his bindings, until the sound of Tony’s voice filtered through the panic, at which point he abruptly slumped into Tony’s hold, exhausted.
“There you are, sweetheart,” Tony murmured softly, pressing a kiss to Loki’s sweaty hair.
Loki tipped his head back to rest against Tony’s shoulder, eyes dull, body still trembling, and whispered,
“When will I be free?”
Tony’s heart clenched painfully in his chest, and he merely held his god closer, eyes squeezed shut against the heartbreak and fury alike that the question lit up within him like a spark.
“Soon, sweetheart. So, very soon. I promise.”
Loki just nodded, pressing his face into Tony’s neck and breathing deeply, slowly, calming himself before murmuring softly.
“We must get the next gem.”
“Now?”
“SHIELD has it- night would be the best time, would it not?”
“No, yeah, of course-”
“Sir!” JARVIS exclaimed suddenly, voice alarmed and almost frightened. It immediately put Tony on alert, and he sat bolt upright.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“There has been a situation at SHIELD HQ- you must get there immediately. It is not…” JARVIS trailed off and when he spoke again, his voice was soft, subdued. Defeated. “No one has survived, sir.”
Tony felt the bottom of his stomach drop, fear and panic settling heavily in his heart, and he was almost afraid to ask, hands beginning to tremble, voice soft as he asked, “Who, JARVIS? Who was there?”
“According to my surveillance, sir…” JARVIS hesitated, and Tony snapped fitfully.
“Who?”
“The Avengers, sir. Nick Fury, Maria Hill. Hundreds of unnamed SHIELD agents. And…” Another hesitation, before- “Thor, sir. He came with warning of Thanos’s attack, but...it appears he was followed.”
Tony felt...numb. Lost, frozen to the very core.
Shock, he thought distantly, fingers clenching and unclenching on empty air.
Gone.
All of them.
Not a single survivor.
Tony turned his head, his eyes locking on Loki’s, watching the god as he trembled with how tense he was, muscle in his jaw twitching- and Tony knew what was coming before it happened, had just enough time to dive off the bed and onto the floor before Loki was screaming, agony and grief so strong in the sound that Tony felt his heart clench even as he covered his head as ice froze the room rapidly before exploding outwards in a shower of sharp, icy shards.
Slowly, Tony raised his head up above the edge of the bed, firmly locking his rampant emotions into a box in the back of his mind to be dealt with later, and made his way forward again, ignoring as his knees crunched on ice as he crawled across the bed and pulled his blue, trembling boyfriend into his arms as Loki sobbed, fingers clutching in Tony’s shirt desperately, like a lifeline.
Watching him, Tony felt his own eyes prick, tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling, willing them not to fall, blinking rapidly, rocking Loki slowly, whispering sweet nothings to him.
It took a long, long time before Loki’s tears dried and when they did he sat up, rigid and determined, firmly back in his pale skin, eyes red rimmed and sparking with fury.
“We must go to the site and see if we can recover the gem, or any clue as to where he would have taken it if he has,” Loki stated calmly and Tony merely nodded, let himself be swept away by Loki’s matter of fact tone, by his command, giving himself in to his boyfriend so he wouldn’t have to deal with his own roiling stomach and grief.
Slowly, methodically, he dressed, pulling on a tee shirt and jeans, tying on each shoe, before taking Loki’s hand and allowing him to teleport the pair to the site- where he immediately found himself folded on his knees, emptying his dinner in the rubble.
It was...it was a slaughter.
Broken, bleeding bodies, some so torn apart they were barely recognizable as human.
He saw some of them, too.
Banner.
Thor.
Widow.
Cap.
Shuddering, he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and stood, heart racing, breath too tight in his chest and struggling to get out.
He paced away, hands pressed into his eyes, shivering, thoughts racing too fast for him to fully comprehend- they would have to contact Aunt Peggy and let her know, there’s no way she would have heard from in there but she deserved to know; he would have to find Bruce’s girlfriend, too- what was her name, Betty?- and compensate somehow, as Tony was the whole reason the guy stuck around anyways; Natasha didn’t have any family, he knew that, but still, her funeral would be beautiful, he would make sure of that-
-a hand cool wound around his arm, tugging at him, but he didn’t pay that any mind, he had too much to do-
-and he wasn’t really sure what to do about Thor, but they would have to alert his parents somehow, though Loki could probably do that; and god, Tony would have to tell Clint’s family, too, and how awful would that be? The guy had children for fucks sake-
“Anthony!” A hand slapped at his cheeks and he found himself blinking back to reality, breathing hard, eyes wide, before he just- shook apart, tears running down his cheeks, face pressed into Loki’s chest, hands clutching at Loki’s shirt, desperate for something, anything solid, real, there.
Loki soothed him gently, hands running through his hair, along his shoulders, down his back, letting him cry, letting him break.
And slowly, Tony put all the pieces back together, filled in the cemented cracks, rebuilt the walls until he was whole, cracked and crumbled but whole, a bone deep exhaustion warring with grief-fueled determination settling deep in his soul.
He met Loki’s red rimmed but equally determined eyes with his own and nodded, once, firmly, at the question he saw there, eyes moving back to the bodies of his friends almost of their own accord.
“We have three. That’s going to have to be enough.”
“Four.”
Tony whirled at the voice, feeling himself heat up from the inside out, ready for a fight, but then paused, eyes landing on Strange, who stood somberly among the wreckage, holding out another small box.
“I felt the attack on the stone, and I knew there was nothing I could do but keep it safe. I portaled in and took it before Thanos could,” Strange explained and Tony couldn’t even find it in himself to question why he didn’t stay, why he didn’t tell them, why he didn’t do more, why he didn’t save them.
Tony knew enough about survival to know exactly why, which is why he wordlessly took the box and handed it to Loki.
“Thank you, Stephen,” Loki murmured softly before his arm was once again around Tony and they were teleporting to the lab.
Immediately, Tony allowed the suit to fold around him, eyes meeting Loki’s as the god allowed his armor to appear on him.
It was time.