Day 58
Meals were small, and getting smaller. Tony’s hunger pangs had become normal and left his mind as something that he didn't need to worry about anymore. Really everyday was it’s own gift because he had expected to die a week ago, but each days was also its own kind of hell. Slow drowning hell, but nights were worse. They were filled with dreams of pain and failure. Loss and desperation. Sometimes he would wake up and scream, other times he would wake up and cower. Occasionally Nebula would come and sit with him and sing him back to sleep. Who would have thought aliens could sing? Her songs didn’t have words in the traditional sense. They were more just melodic sounds, that somehow despite lack of words, told a story. Her songs told a mournful story. He was pretty sure it was her's.
The best nights were the ones where they did not sleep. The best ones were when they stayed up and played cards and told stories. Nebula’s stories were far better than his, but she still insisted he tell her his. He told her about the Avengers, about the compound and Pepper, and he told her about the missions they ran, and on one especially low night he told her about the civil war. The lies, the secrets, the attempted compromises, and in the end the betrayal, and his mistakes.
Nebula was a good listener. She would occasionally ask him questions, but for the most part she just listened. Some people when they listen silently one begins to question if they are indeed still listening. Not her. She listened, and he could see it in the intensity of her eyes.
“Why do you still do it?”
“Do what?” Tony looked up at her ashe plopped a peanut (or something very similar to a peanut) down on the table as his bet.
“Why do you still protect Earth? I mean what has it ever done for you?”
Tony thought about for a minute. He wasn't entirely sure why anymore.
“Because it needs to be done.”
Nebula nodded.
“It’s my home. I am not just going to sit back and let it be destroyed, nor destroy itself.”
“Even if it destroys you.”
Tony sighed, “Even of it destroys me.”
There was no doubt in his mind that it would.