Death was a woman, or, at least, took the form of a woman. She also looked nothing like how Tony would imagine Death to look like. She was ethereal, with long blond hair that flowed down her form. She had sharp features and piercing green eyes to match. She did, however, wear a long black robe and carried a long scythe to match.
“Isn’t the robe and scythe a bit much?” Tony commented, trying to ignore the feeling of his stomach dropping. She raised an eyebrow with an amused smile on her face.
“You know who I am, don’t you? That was the point,” she vanished her scythe, but the dark robe remained. She almost seemed to float as she walked towards him, circling around. She didn’t do it to be intimidating, but that was how it ended up feeling. “Stark. The Merchant of Death.” Despite being utterly uneasy, Tony couldn’t help but scoff.
“I haven’t been called that in years, and you know it.” Death stopped directly in front of him. She stood at eye level, no taller, no shorter. Tony tried not to flinch away when her hand reached up to cup his cheek.
“You weren’t really deserving of that title, anyway,” she said cheekily. She stepped away. “You summoned me here.”
“Yeah, this is about your boyfriend.” She snorted, causing Tony to frown.
“I assume you’re talking about Thanos?”
“Am I forgetting any other booty calls?” Tony quipped. He had quickly realized that Death was nothing like he would have imagined her to be. However, her dark glare told him that there was still a certain amount of respect she expected. “He’s doing this for you,” Tony added on. She laughed.
“He’s not doing this for me. He thinks he’s doing it for the universe.” She started to walk around him again. “He’s doing this for him.” Tony frowned.
“What does he get out of this?”
“He’s the hero in his own story, Stark.” She smiled in a dreamy kind of way. “I can’t fault him for wanting to please me.”
“But it doesn’t please you, does it?” Tony speculated. He could tell he caught her off guard, because she paused again. “It’s a curse, isn’t it? You weren’t always death.”
“You’re on a thin line, Stark,” she replied with no real malice.
“You’re not even evil like people expect you to be. You were bestowed the job, weren’t you? You help souls cross over?”
“You don’t know anything about Death, Tony Stark, despite what you may think.” She looked upset but not threatening, so Tony continued.
“It feels good, right?” Her face became inches away from his own, making her eyes all the scarier. “Reaping the souls? That’s why Thanos wants to offer them to you?”
“Thanos doesn’t want to offer anything to me. I harvest the souls whether he wants me to or not. I suppose you can say it feels good, but—”
“It’s still a curse,” Tony finished softly. “Thousands of years of just harvesting dead people—”
“Souls,” she corrected with a quirk of her eyebrow.
“Souls…” Tony felt his heartbeat increase. “Let me take it off your hands.” Death’s head snapped toward him, giving him an incredulous look.
“What?”
“Don’t accept Thanos’ offerings. Let the souls live until they’re supposed to die, and I’ll take on the curse.”
“It doesn’t work like that.” She narrowed her eyes.
“Yes, it does. You turn the souls back, away from the light, every single one. I’ll take on the role of death, and your soul can finally rest.”
“You’re lying,” Death stuttered. Tony could finally see the mortal behind the ethereal being she portrayed. He saw hope in her eyes. Tony walked closer, keeping steady eye contact. “Why would you do that? You’re just a human.”
“And you weren’t? I’m just one man. I can sacrifice myself for half the universe.” She scoffed.
“This isn’t just any sacrifice. You’re not just giving your life. You’re giving your soul, probably a lot longer than mine if not for eternity.” Tony gave her a sad smile.
“Guess I’ll just have to hope someone like me comes along to put me to rest in hundreds of millennia.” Death just stared at him.
Tony was standing next to her when she turned back each and every soul that Thanos used the infinity stones to kill. He was also there when she talked to Thanos. Thanos never looked away from his face when Death explained that she was leaving permanently. He was giving him a hard glare when Death explained that Tony would never accept a soul that Thanos took away from life. He didn’t look away when Death placed a hand on his cheek before she whisked them all away.
Death explained how the job worked, saying how it was like intuition. She formed a scythe out of thin air and explained how it was his harvesting tool. It could take nay form he wanted, but Tony thought he liked the form of a scythe. She told him how it was his responsibility to harvest each and every soul that died naturally, no matter the circumstances. He should prepare himself for the death of his loved ones eventually.
“Will they be soon?” He asked her. She gave him a soft smile.
“Here’s a helpful hint,” she explained while handing over the harvesting tool. “Time is, has always been, and forever will be irrelevant.” Tony didn’t know what to think of that, and he didn’t have time to ask. As soon as she handed over the tool, as soon as he willingly accepted it, Death had stopped being Death. Tony watched as she slowly regressed in age until she was a sweet little girl, probably around six-years-old. Her green eyes were wide and stared up at him in confusion.
“Who are you?” She asked in a small voice. Tony smiled and helped lead his first soul into their afterlife.
Tony quickly realized what Death meant about time, but he wasn’t quite sure he understood it. He ended harvesting souls from many different time periods from all different galaxies. Maybe it was because time didn’t line up with each galaxy.
It did come naturally. No one could see Tony as he walked through battlefields, using the scythe to sweep up the gruesome bodies. They couldn’t see him with he walked himself into homes, moving past the crying relatives to the deceased ones lying in bed.
Tony hated putting up a chase. He realized this after the first few times souls would take off running when he explained that he was here to take them to the afterlife. He eventually took on the form of his younger self, the one before Afghanistan, the one before Obadiah ruined him. He looked innocent, and people tended to trust him more when they saw the baby face of the man unruined by the struggles of life.
Some people recognized him, and they thought it was a joke that Tony Stark had come for them. But that was only a small population. There were many other worlds and people who had never even heard of him. In fact, it was always a surprise when he heard that name. Tony didn’t know what to think when people’s jaws dropped and they let out a gasp, “Tony Stark?”
Sometimes, he changed his scythe into a crowbar. It reminded him of his first car all of thousands of years ago. It reminded him of his lab. Plus, it looked much less threatening. It also confused a lot of people, but it was easier to distract them with an explanation of why he had a crowbar when he led them to their destiny.
Sometimes, Tony would take a break. He would sit in the middle of a city on a planet he would have never known existed before he became Death. The people were never really that different from humans, culturally at least. Most were peaceful races. Natural deaths far outweighed murders and tragedies.
For the first time ever in the thousands of years that Tony had been doing his job, Tony was able to talk to someone who wasn’t dead. It was in the year 1944 in London. It’s the first time Tony realized people could talk to him if they knew he existed, but most people didn’t recognize Death as an entity.
“You’re not what I expected,” the woman admitted. She was frail with clothes the hung off her body.
“It surprises a lot of people,” Tony said with a smirk. He leaned against his harvest took, which he had turned into a cane for the time being. “You summoned me?”
“I didn’t mean to…” The woman stuttered out. Tony raised an eyebrow. “I was just scared. I didn’t know Death was a…man. Can you help us?”
“Us?” Tony looked out the window to see the gray skies of London. He recognized the war zone they were in. “I can’t kill all the Nazis, sweetheart. That’s not in the job description.” The woman frowned and shook head. She walked over to the table and grabbed a picture frame. She stood with three small children and a man in the photo.
“He’s hurting them. He was sent home, and he hasn’t stopped hurting them since.” She tried handing Tony the frame, but he didn’t take it. His eyes were solemn as he stared at her.
“I can’t.” She looked like she was expecting this answer, because her lips were already quivering before she let out sob.
“Please! You can save them! I know you can take his life.”
“Disrupting the natural order of things isn’t how I roll.” Tony tried to remain emotionless.
“So you have no regard for people, for our lives?” Tony was about to leave when he sensed where this was going. “Why are you letting all those people die? You look human. You have to understand.”
“I’m not God, Lady,” Tony responded. She looked alarmed. “Not that I’m confirming that there is a God, but I don’t have control over that kind of stuff. I don’t get to pick and choose who lives and who dies without consequences.”
“Consequences? What could be worse than millions of people dying?”
“The universe is much bigger than you,” Tony spat back. She flinched at his unexpected, harsh tone. “Saving millions of human lives could damn trillions of others. Life sucks that way.?
“I shouldn’t have expected anything from Death,” she bit back bitterly.
“I’m just the result, sweetheart, not the cause.”
Tony never really thought about what would happen on Earth after he left, but he was faced with that reality when he appeared on Earth in 2018. He felt nostalgic.
It must have only been a few days after he initially took a deal, if time worked that way. Everyone was gathered in the Avengers compound. Rhodey, Pepper, Happy, Peter, the Rogues, Thor, Loki, Barnes, and a group of individuals he had never met before were all gathered. Tony was surprised when he saw Gamora and Nebula, daughters of Thanos. He realized that they were all there because Thanos no longer had power. Tony was sitting on the couch as he watched Thor explain to his friends and family how he’d obtained the infinity stones and was leaving them in in trusted hands. Everybody looked relieved, but there was something unsettling in the air.
Tony looked at the TV, which he realized they had put on mute. He saw his older face on the screen along with “Breaking News: Tony Stark declared Missing” along the bottom. It was weird, because he had technically been gone for a long time. They didn’t know that, though.
He watched as Steve asked where Tony could be. Pepper and Rhodey looked torn up at the conversation. Tony was struck by the memory of the last conversation he had with each of them. He told Pepper that he would try and get more sleep. He told Rhodey to get excited for the War Machine upgrades.
He was walking around each of them, trying to take in the detail of the faces he hadn’t seen in few a millennia. He stopped when he suddenly locked eyes with Loki. Loki didn’t look away. Tony titled his head and walked closer. As he walked around Loki, he realized that Loki couldn’t see him but could probably sense him. Tony stood directly in front Loki, almost desperate to feel something.
Thor came over ask Loki what was wrong. His hand went right through Tony to be placed on Loki’s shoulder, but Loki swatted it away. Out of nowhere, someone gasped. Tony knew something had changed when Loki’s eyes focused a bit better, and he smirked.
“Stark,” Loki greeted, a mischievous glint in his eyes. Tony smiled and put some of his weight on his scythe casually.
“Actually, it’s Death now, but you knew that,” Tony corrected softly. Tony felt a hand on his shoulder, which was as unexpected as actually being seen. He turned his head to see Thor looking at him with a frown.
“Stark? What is this? Where were you?” Tony shrugged the hand off.
“It’s complicated.”
“What the hell?” Tony turned around to see everyone looking at him. He realized it was Clint who had spoken. “What happened to you? Why do you look pubescent?” Tony shrugged.
“It’s complicated.”
“Tony,” Tony turned to see Steve, who looked unsure of himself. “It’s good to see you.” Tony gave him a nod, to which Steve looked incredibly relieved. Tony was confused as to why until he remembered that they hadn’t left on a good note. Strange what time can do.
“You’re not Tony,” Rhodey said. Tony quirked an eyebrow. Rhodey was probably by far the most shocked by his sudden appearance. He was the only one who knew Tony when he was this young.
“Kind of.” He could tell that everyone was starting to get irritated by his short answers. Suddenly, Clint was marching angrily over to him. He put his hands on Tony, but Tony didn’t move an inch. He frowned. Most people didn’t try to attack Death, so this strength was sort of new information. He barely existed in time and space, so he never really thought about physical interactions with people.
“What the hell is going on,” Rhodey muttered. “What the hell is that?” Tony frowned and looked at what Rhodey was pointing at.
“It’s my scythe. What does it look like?” He replied sarcastically.
“Scythe?” Some man Tony had never met before said in disbelief. Tony just smiled.
“Yeah, I harvest souls with it.” As if to demonstrate, Tony took his weight off the scythe and swung it. Everyone took a step back at the action, and they all looked alarmed.
“This isn’t funny,” Pepper spat angrily. She marched up to Tony until she was inches away from him. She placed a hand on his face, and Tony shivered at the coolness from her engagement ring on his beardless face. “Why are you so young?”
“Well, this version of me is a lot cuter,” Tony quipped with a smile. “People trust me a lot more.”
“Enough of this,” Gamora spoke. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”
“Death,” Loki answered from behind him Every took their attention off Tony to direct it to Loki. “He’s taken on Lady Death’s role.”
“That’s Lord Death to you,” Tony added.
“You defeated Thanos?” Loki asked. Every looked alarmed at this accusation and turned toward Tony for answers.
“Technically, I didn’t defeat Thanos. He’s just not murdering half the universe anymore.”
“How?” Nebula is glaring at him. “How’d you do it?
“I’m Death. I just won’t accept any of the souls he kills—with the stones, that is. Sadly, it disrupts a lot of things if I decide to not take the souls he physically kills.”
“Death is his girlfriend,” Gamora commented slowly.
“Not anymore she’s not.”
“What did you do to her?”
“What did I do for her,” Tony corrected smugly. “I put her soul to rest.” Gamora, Nebula, and Loki looked startled by this information.
“I’m still confused,” Steve said. “Where’s Tony?”
“I’m Tony. I’m just Death now. It’s my job.” He started walking around, everyone’s eyes following him. No one else dared to move. “See, all those years ago, I made a deal with Death to take her job if she told Thanos to fuck off. She accepted with some persuasion. Not, I’m eternally damned or something like that.”
“All those years?” Pepper’s voice is quivering. Tony frowned when he realized he left out a bit of information.
“Yeah, it’s been a few thousand years since the deal. I’ve been doing a good job.” Tony leaned on his scythe again.
“Time is irrelevant,” Loki explained. Tony winked and pointed at Loki.
“Bingo.”
“You gave your soul away so half the universe could live?” Natasha asked in a small voice. Tony though that was the first time he managed to surprise Natasha with anything. Tony shrugged and nodded. “How…”
“There was no chance we were going to win that war,” Tony explained softly. He didn’t realize until he heard a sob that Pepper was crying. “I’m sorry.”
“You’ve been doing this for millennia?” Thor asked, looking at the floor. Tony doesn’t answer. “Why did my people have to die?” Thor was angry. He looked close to attacking Tony, but Tony didn’t lose eye contact.
“It’s not my choice. They’re in a better place now.” Thor didn’t look satisfied with this answer. Tony frowned as Thor ran at him, phasing right through Tony.
“Didn’t know I could do that,” Tony hummed thoughtfully.
“So, you’re gone?” Peter had tears in his eyes. Tony was reminded by how young the boy was when he left him. “Forever? We’ll never see you again?” Tony looked at him sympathetically.
“I’ll see you all again, eventually… no one lives forever.”
“Except you,” Natasha pointed out. Tony gave her an empty smile.
“This isn’t living.”
Tony found out the group called themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy. He realized he had heard of them before. Star Lord, he remembered vaguely. He held an infinity stone.
When Tony disappeared not long after the conversation, the group didn’t know what to think. Tony wasn’t just missing. He was gone.
When they declared him dead, they found out that he had left a lot of stuff to many of them. Money, housing, and possessions were in their names. There was so much prepared that it made them realize that he had been planning this for a while.
Rhodey was the first of them to die. Tony wasn’t sad when he had to reap Rhodey’s soul from his hospital bed. He was old and gray. His wife was clutching his hand while his only daughter was sobbing. Tony couldn’t hear either of them. He was smiling at his old best friend.
“I wasn’t scared,” Rhodey explained as Tony started to lead them away. Tony hummed. “I knew you’d be waiting for me, and—” Rhodey chuckled, “I was almost excited? That’s kind of screwed up, Tony. You shouldn’t make me excited for death.”
“Why not? Seems totally normal, considering that I’m Death.” They don’t hug as Rhodey’s soul started to cross over. It had been too long for that, but Tony gave Rhodey a genuine smile as Rhodey’s form regressed to his early thirties. He waved goodbye at Tony.
Pepper died of cancer when she was well into her eighties. She was grail and held onto Tony as he helped her cross. She kept looking back to see her family surrounding her bed. She couldn’t help but cry, and Tony could understand why. She had made a big family, with children and grandchildren. She told him she was ready to see her husband again. Her form regressed to not too long ago, maybe to her early fifties. She smiled at him, telling him she still loved him.
James Barnes died at 182 years old. He didn’t look his age at all, Tony laughed at his own joke. It got a smile out of Barnes who looked unsure. Tony wondered if he was scared of being dead until Barnes apologized.
“For what?” Tony asked. Barnes stopped walking, and Tony thought Barnes might cry. Tony didn’t say anything as Barnes covered his face, a few teardrops falling from his chin.
“Howard and Maria.” Tony tilted his head back, his mouth open in realization. He rested an arm on Barnes’ shoulder.
“Right, I didn’t stay alive long enough to tell you that I forgive you.” Barnes looked at him. I would say it’s not your fault, but I have a feeling you’re tired of hearing that. So, here’s your closure. I forgive you.” Barnes was still crying, but now he could cross over. Tony gave him a salute as Barnes’ form regressed to his twenties where he stood in his sergeant’s uniform. He saluted back before he was gone.
Rarely did he collect two or more souls at once, but he did make special cases when they ended up this close together. He recognized Thanos’ daughter, Gamora, in an instant. He realized the man standing with her must be the one and only Star Lord he met all those years ago. They were holding hands when he greeted them. Usually, he was first to talk, but Gamora was talking right away.
“I never thanked you,” Gamora said softly. Tony tilted his head. “For Thanos.”
“I didn’t do it for you…?”
“You did it for all of us,” Gamora said with tears in her eyes. “And only a few of us know about it. I’m sure they all missed you, but no one’s thanked you, have they?” Tony didn’t say anything.
“Thank you, for everything,” Peter Quill said. Tony nodded at him.
“You’re welcome,” he replied with a smile. He didn’t know what to expect with them. He watched as Gamora turned into the little girl she had been before Thanos abducted her. He almost forgot about Quill until he saw a young boy around her age place some bulky headphones over her ears, pressing play on his Walkman. The kids held hands and walked off together.
Peter Parker was still young when he knew Tony, but he never forgot him. Peter’s eyes were filled with tears as he came to Tony, leaving behind his wife and children in his mid-eighties. Tony had never really seen Peter when he was mature, but he recognized boy that idolized him all those years ago instantly.
“Mr. Stark?” Peter breathed out, reaching out. Tony offered his arm, which Peter took.
“I haven’t heard Tony in quite some time,” Tony admitted. “But ‘Mr. Stark?’ It’s probably been twice as long.” Peter gave him a watery smile.
“I can’t call you Tony, now,” Peter joked. “That’s my son’s name.” Tony smiled and nodded.
“Excuses,” Tony joked back. Tony had only really offered physical contact to those he knew in his old life, but it had never really gone beyond arm holding. However, he wasn’t alarmed when Peter threw his arms around him as he started to regress. When he pulled away, Tony was looking into the sad brown eyes of the fifteen-year-old Peter he was familiar with.
“Goodbye, Mr. Stark.” Peter started to walk off, and Tony gave him a cheerful wave so he wouldn’t be scared.
“You’ll see me again one day, kid.”
Steve was much older than Bucky when he died. Tony thought he was way past the 200 mark. Like Barnes, he didn’t look anywhere near his actual age. Steve looked surprised, so Tony guessed that he wasn’t expecting to die when he did. Steve locked eyes with Tony, and they widened.
“Howdy, Rogers,” Tony smirked. Steve didn’t move or say anything. “It’s the end of the line. I’m sorry, is that too much?” Steve didn’t say anything. “So, I’ve come to a realization when I meet people I used to know in my old life.”
“You’ve met people in your old life?” Steve asked. Tony nodded.
“Yeah, I’ve been all over.” Tony cleared his throat before walking over to Steve and offering his arm. Steve took it warily. “I never forget faces, but I do forget memories. Well, I don’t forget the, but I don’t think about them all the time.”
“You don’t remember what we used to do?”
“That’s the thing. I do. I remember the Avengers and Iron Man. It’s complicated.”
“Oh…”
“I remember Siberia.”
“Oh.” Steve looked uncomfortable and sad.
“I didn’t remember until I thought about how your time must be coming soon. Soon in Earth years, I mean. See, I didn’t realize what time being irrelevant meant until recently.”
“Huh?”
“No one has the years like I do to get over what you did to me, or what I did to you, I guess.”
“You didn’t do anything, Tony.” Steve whispered.
“Right… Agree to disagree. I did a lot in my old life. I held grudges, which hurts more people other than myself. I didn’t realize what time meant before, so I forgot to tell Barnes that I was sorry.”
“Bucky?” Steve’s eyes started to water. “Why would you apologize?”
“I forgave him for something he couldn’t control, because I knew that was what put him at peace. I never apologized for attacking him. I think I held the grudge for so long that I just forgot about it. See, if I could go back, I would never hold grudges. There’s no point. We all end up facing Death in the end.”
“Tony, I…” Tony stopped walking to stand in front of Steve.
“I’m sorry, Steve.” Tony didn’t say what for, because Steve was already crying. “And I forgive you. Whatever you’re feeling sorry for, I forgive you.”
“I’m sorry, Tony.” Tony shook his head and smiled.
“I don’t want apologies.” Steve’s eyes were filled with tears as he stared at Tony.
“I forgive you, Tony.” Tony smiled.
“Congratulations, Steve. You’ve officially put my soul at rest.”
Tony felt something as he watched Steve cross over, but he didn’t know what. He was a bit curious to see Steve regress back to when he was just a skinny twenty-year-old, before he got the serum. He shouldn’t be surprised anymore. Most people exceeded his expectations during their death.
Tony forgot he was Tony after a while. He was only Tony for half a century. What was that compared to hundreds of thousands of years as Death? He didn’t know what happened, but he speculated that the curse was placed on someone else. He wondered what someone did to obtain such a dreadful curse. He felt himself crossing over like he had watched so many souls do before him.
He remembered he was Tony, and he forgot that he was ever Death. He was not sure why all his friends and family were calling him Death when he saw them, but he started to cry when they finally called him Tony and took him in their arms. Tony was at peace.