They were in the heat of battle and blood was staining the ground, it was unclear which side it belonged to. Thanos was coming down on them hard and they were losing, they can’t lose again not when they have lost so much before. They won the battle of getting their loved ones back, Peter is swinging around whilst screaming some Star Wars nonsense but he’s alive. Bucky was lifted into the sky by Sam and raining down bullets with a battle cry as Sam threatened to drop him if he ever made that sound again. Wanda, T’Challa and Carol along with the guardians were wreaking their own mayhem but the most important thing is that they are alive.
But they haven’t lost the war yet, Peter has the gauntlet and he is jumping and gliding through the sky with the Avengers family guiding him through, their youngest member carrying the baton in a race against time. Tony focuses on Thanos who is knocking down the defences that are in his way and is attempting to get to Peter, ‘that shrivelled ball sack better back the fuck away from his son’ he knocks a punch to Thanos’ chin and gets knocked back against the rocks with a jolt. Steve comes at him from the other side with Thor’s Axe ‘when did that happen?’ but alas even that doesn’t work as he just gets tossed back. Tony lifts his head to look across the field wearily and sees Carol holding onto the gauntlet as she speeds through the battlefield but Thanos has gotten her and the gauntlet falls onto the floor as he gives Carol a headbutt.
Tony’s eyes are fixated on the gauntlet as Thanos struggles with Carol and with a grunt he lifts himself up from the dusty ground, pushing his body to move forward towards the shining gold beacon.
But he was too late.
As he lunged for the gauntlet Thanos lifted it first and slipped it on. He spared a glance over to Strange and saw the symbol he was dreading to see but didn’t know it yet. One finger pointing up to signify that this was the one situation in which they won the war. Tony made another grab for the gauntlet and as expected Thanos snatched it up again, but he had what he was looking for.
Thanos gave him a disgusting smirk as he lifted up the gauntlet, victory present in his eyes as the soulless orbs stared back into Tony’s expressive brown eyes.
“I am inevitable.”
He snapped, and Tony could feel those around him in close proximity shudder in horrid anticipation, waiting to be dusted again but that would never happen again, not on his watch. Yinsen told him to not waste his life and he wouldn’t, he just wished that he could have told Morgan this instead of leaving her alone, let her know that daddy loves her and wanted to be there. Tell Pepper that he loved her one last time and hold her tighter than he ever had before. Tell Peter that he’s a good kid and that he is so unbelievably proud of him. Tell Rhodey and Happy that he is so grateful for their friendship and he loves them. Tell Steve that he was forgiven, all of the Rogue Avengers were forgiven and that they were his team and he loved them. But he couldn’t because he had to do this.
He lifted his own hand that held the six infinity stones and met his worst nightmare head on, this was his purpose and he was finally fulfilling it, maybe now he could finally rest and find peace.
“And I…am Iron Man.”
Tony went to click his fingers when he heard a blood curdling shout “WAIT!” turning his head quickly to see the guy from the guardians, Star Prince? Star Trek? Who knows but he was going to get them killed the fucking buffoon!
“Grab onto his hand to harness the power of the stones! Do it!” Tony opened his mouth to interject but he felt a heavy warmth in his left hand, turning his head he saw Steve with the same grim determination that he always seemed to have during battle. A shudder ran through Steve’s body as the burden of power from the stones decreased from Tony and passed through to him, Tony wanted to yank his hand back, but Steve just held it tighter.
“And I am Captain America.”
Steve held his hand out and felt a spark of electricity as Thor clutched onto it like a lifeline, a small cry leaving his lips as the power of the stones transferred his way and he stared into Thanos’ cold eyes with a snarl, taking back the pain from all that he had lost, basking in the loss he had felt for five years and felt happiness knowing that if Loki was here he would stand with his brother but this is the next best thing.
“And I am Thor Odinson.”
A small hand slipped into Thor’s and he turned his head to see Clint whose eyes were filled with determination, he had lost his best friend to this monster and he wasn’t going to miss a chance to fight with his team, they stood together.
“And I am Hawkeye.”
Tony felt a heavy hand take his right hand, squeezing tightly as the power of the stones surged through his other arm and he saw Bruce stand up straighter with a sense of purpose he had never had before. It was as though this was what he was made for.
“And I am their Hulk.”
The sheer strength of the stones surged through the five men and they had never felt Natasha’s loss before as much as they did in that moment. But deep down they knew that even death couldn’t stop Natasha Romanov, which is why what happened next should have shocked them but really didn’t.
“And I am your worst nightmare, Black Widow.”
Her hand slipped into Bruce’s and his eyes filled with tears as he couldn’t believe that she was actually there, squeezing her hand tightly as the power of the stones could not overpower the love he felt in his heart. Tony and Steve were sniffling softly, Clint and Thor were full on sobbing at this point because they were together, and they were going to win, they were finally going to win the war. Tony lifted his hand to finally click, Bruce’s hand moving to hold his arm instead and he drowned out the noise around him, he could do this.
“And we are the Avengers.”
He snapped his fingers and cried out as a strong jolt of power ran through his body, the others shouting and shaking too but the pain was lessening with each passing second, he mustered the courage to open his eyes and saw a chain of people assembling around the original six as Thanos’ army began to vanish. Carol Danvers took Natasha’s hand and she had Wanda, Peter, Pepper and the Guardians joining her. Clint had T’Challa, Bucky, Sam, Strange and Rhodey gripping onto each other’s hands and each person held their ground and stood with strength and determination.
A loud thud was heard from behind them and an angry growl filled the air, green tinged gas swirling around the air as an incredibly familiar voice screamed out.
“I have been falling for five years!”
Thor straightened up immediately and turned his head slowly as a nimble hand gripped his and Clint’s hand, the figure smiling lovingly as more tears fell onto the God’s cheeks. The figures other hand reaching up to wipe his tears away as he chuckled softly with his own sobs stuck in his throat.
“Hello brother.”
The line of heroes broke apart as the brothers embraced tightly, both shaking as they fell into each other’s arms. Thor leaned his head to the side to lean against Loki’s as he heaved a little, his body overcome with emotion, but he had his brother back, he had his best friend back and that was all that really mattered. Their reunion was beautiful, but a groan of pain made everyone’s head snap back to the front.
Thanos stumbled towards them but fell on the ground, Tony took a few steps forward despite Pepper and Rhodey protesting and kneeled down in front of the man who has plagued his mind for the past century. He kneeled down in front of Thanos and gave him a rueful smile, shaking his head slightly as he looks at the anguished man who was disappearing quickly.
“I hope that now you can finally rest.”
Thanos reached out to touch Tony but faded away before he could do so along with the few stragglers left of his army. Tony released a deep breath as he stood, looking around the battlefield with a small smile as it was finally over and they all made it out alive. This was some sort of dream come true he was sure of it.
He looked at his huddle of friends- no, family embracing Natasha and asking her rapid-fire questions about how she survived, Clint sobbing softly against her as she held onto him tightly and whispered soft Russian to him. “Hey shhhh I’m okay dumb hawk, it wasn’t me who fell it was a Skrull which is basically an alien that duplicated me. Turns out they just need to believe that a life has been lost and your anguish to be real, but I was alive the whole time, I made it back perfectly fine, see?” She lifted his chin to look at her and gave him a soft yet sweet smile, brushing his tears away and embracing him tightly.
Thor was rambling against Loki’s neck as the God of Mischief looked mysteriously wistful, rubbing gentle circles against the crying mans back as he hid his own tears in Thor’s hair. “I’m so sorry I said you’re the worst brother, I’m so sorry brother, I love you so much.” Thor sobbed even louder and clung to Loki like a lifeline as the younger cleared his throat in an attempt to not sound like a wreck and whispered. “I know you great oaf, I have always known” he lifted Thor’s head from his neck and gave him a mischievous grin as he gently punched his chest “and I love you too, all 10 thousand pounds of you.” The younger man then yelped and ran away from the God of Thunder as he bellowed for revenge and ran after him, all is normal there then.
Steve broke away from the group as he stood with Bucky, he had already hugged and cried with Sam who was now tending to Natasha and looking like a happy puppy in her presence. Bucky looked just as beautiful as he had looked all of those years ago and thinking about the past reminded him of how he lost the man most recently and he choked on a sob. He fell to his knees as two strong arms pulled him against Bucky’s chest, tucking his head under Bucky’s chin just like he used to do when he was sick before the serum. Steve inhaled the scent of metal, dust and something that was just pure Bucky and he had never felt more at home, he had his boy back. “You are never allowed to leave me again, ever.” Bucky let out a soft chuckle and ran his metal fingers through Steve’s hair, pressing a kiss to his forehead as he whispered softly. “I’m with you till the end of the line, remember? We haven’t reached the end just yet punk.” Steve slapped Bucky’s chest with a soft laugh and sat up to look into those dazzling grey eyes and sighed softly, yeah they weren’t at the end just yet.
Tony walked towards his small family and was immediately swept up into a hug from Pepper after she hit him admittedly pretty hard on his head. “First of all, ow” his easy grin disappeared as soon as he felt her shoulders shake with cries and he pulled her back, cupping her face and looking at her with concern. “Honey? Are you okay? You’re not hurt are you? FRIDAY contact first responders!” He received another slap and let out a very manly yelp as he held onto his head and accepted the sweet kiss his wife gave him. Pepper pulled back and wiped away her tears as she gave him a teary smile “the first one was for almost killing yourself and the second one was for coming back to me.” He rolled his eyes good naturedly and rubbed her cheeks gently with both hands, a warm smile gracing his lips as he said. “I’ll always come back to you, it’s you and me Mrs Potts-Stark.” She blushed slightly and nodded as she gave him another peck on his lips before tilting her head to the side and gesturing towards the sniffling teenager hugging himself.
With a pained sound Tony almost ran to Peter and started barking orders for FRIDAY to check Peter’s injuries and to see if anything was damaged but was cut off as a hyperactive ball of teenager flung itself at him. ‘This is a day full of hugs isn’t it?’ Tony just held onto Peter tightly as the boy rambled nonsense into his ear, getting snot all over his goatee but it was okay, this was his kid. “How could you do that Mr Stark! I only just came back, and you were about to leave me again! I was so scared.” Peter sniffled some more as Tony pulled him back to look into those brown puppy dog eyes and ruffled his hair the way he would do to Morgan. “I’m not going anywhere kid, we won okay? We finally won and I’m here to stay.” He nodded slowly as he took in the man’s words and then grinned brightly “We won Mr Stark! We won!” Tony laughed happily as the teen gave him another hug, his core family finally complete now that his awkward teenager was back. “Did Pepper tell you that you’re a big brother kid? You have a little sister, Morgan, and she knows all about her spider big brother.” The smile he got from Peter was enough to replace all of the light that had gone from the world five years ago, this was why he was ready to do the snap alone but he’s glad he had his team because this moment wasn’t something to be missed.
Peter eagerly ran towards Pepper and Rhodey and started yapping their ears off about Morgan and asking what she likes and whether he should be in the suit the first time they meet. Tony let them handle that barrel of energy and gingerly walked towards Wanda who was talking to Shuri animatedly, her previously hunched shoulders now upright as life filled into her again and she turned to look at Tony. Ah yes, she had found out. “Stark! Shuri said that she can bring Vis back! S///she saved all of his memories and programming and humanity before they killed him. She can bring him back.” She whispered the last sentence and Tony brushed her hair away from her face as he nodded softly with a genuine smile on his face. “I have his body ready in my lab, Wanda. Had it made four years ago so as soon as we finish here you can get your boy back, how does that sound?”
The girl who once despised him so much that she joined HYDRA to kill him now leapt into his arms and cried happy tears and Tony hugged her right back with the same enthusiasm. After a few minutes he set her down on her feet as she ran to the others to tell them the good news and he smiled as he watched families embracing, lovers coming together once again, friends laughing and loved ones joining together in a way they hadn’t before. Scott and Hope were embracing and oh that was a bit too much tongue for the battlefield. The guardians were all hugging and laughing at Gamora kicking Peter Quill in the nuts for the third time now? Wow brilliant. T’Challa held his sister, mother and fiancé close as they looked over their soldiers with a smile. All was right in the world again.
“Hey FRIDAY? “
“Yes boss?”
“Record this moment for me and send it to Morgan, tell her that her family is coming home.”
“Done boss.”
He walked up to Pepper, Peter and Rhodey again and swung his arms over Pepper and Peter, Rhodey clapping a hand on his shoulder and sticking close as he looked over his shoulder and shouted out to the crowd.
“Avengers!”
Multiple bright eyes turned to look at him with smiles and a few sniffles could be heard as he gave them a warm smile.
“Let’s go home.”