Chapter 22
Sydney found Tony in an empty tunnel.
He was sitting on the floor, back to the wall with his knees pressed to his chest. He was staring at the pictures in his wallet while his other hand was fisting the dog tags around his neck.
Also, he was shaking and breathing a little harshly. Like he was desperately trying to reassure himself without needing help.
Which Sydney knew from experience that he won’t be able to.
She knows that Tony didn’t have to deal with his attacks on his own for years. There was always someone there he trusted enough to help him. Steve was his constant source of reassurance. He would always be there for him. Helping him through it. And now he also have Dean there for him when Steve wasn’t around. The first time Dean had to help Tony through one of his attacks was when Steve got badly injured and was pretty much dying. Since then, Dean would always be there for Tony when Steve was out of commission.
But Steve wasn’t here. Dean also wasn’t here. And Tony was suffering alone.
Sydney knew that Tony won’t let her help him. He would rather die than letting his weakness show in front of anyone. Especially the fact that, to him? They barely knew each other.
But to her? She knew Tony all her life. He was one of the constants of her life. A huge part of her family.
The family that she was constantly around right now but unable to even be close to them like she needs.
She was making a decision as she stared at Tony’s hunched over form. A decision that could possibly end her own existence. But her existence was being threatened every second the three of them spend in that godforsaken era, so she decided to not let Tony suffer on his own anymore.
He was going to have someone from his family with him.
After making her decision, she walked over towards Tony and dropped on the ground next to him.
She immediately felt him tense and was struggling to gather himself as well as he could so she won’t sense anything.
Yeah, right.
“I know what you need.” She murmured softly so she won’t spook him even more.
“You don’t know anything about me.” he spat with a grimace, but didn’t look at her face. “You do realize that I just met you yesterday, right? Whatever you heard about me in your time is probably not true, so cut the act already.”
“I know for a fact that everything I heard about you is true.” She muttered with a small smile. “Because I saw them with my own eyes my whole life.”
“What is that suppose to mean? I paid for your college or something?”
Instead of answering, she pulled out something from around her neck, that she was hiding under her clothes, then gently took Tony’s hand, which was still fisting his dog tags, completely ignoring his flinch and his attempt to move away. She opened his hand to reveal the dog tags, then opened her own hand to show him what was around her neck.
He looked at her in confusion, then looked down at both their hands and froze. Sydney was also holding out dog tags, which were identical to the ones around his own neck.
He froze in place while staring at them, then he looked up at her with wide eyes.
“H-how did you get those?” he asked shakily.
“They were given to me by my dad before I left for my mission. They were given to him first by his father. My grandpa. The tags was giving to him years before, by his husband. My other grandpa.” She answered while looking directly at his eyes. “My name is Sydney Stark-Rogers.”
Tony was completely frozen in place as he stared at her. His face showed no emotions.
“This is impossible.” He snapped suddenly with a glare. “What you are trying to imply is impossible.”
“Yes. It sounds impossible.” She smiled, not even rattled by his harshness. “But I guess impossible things are a daily routine for you guys.”
“You are trying to tell me that Steve and I will actually have a kid who is going to get married and have you? I am sorry to rain on your parade but this is beyond impossible! If you haven’t noticed, we don’t really have the right parts to bring your daddy.”
“I can’t tell you how. I am already ruining the future right now, I can’t make things even worse. All you need to know is that every word I am saying is the truth. I am pretty sure you already suspected something.”
“Yes, I suspected something! But you are confusing and complicated. It’s like you have four people inside your head and you switch to one of them according to the situation you are dealing with.”
“Two of those four people are you and Steve, right?” she questioned with a smirk.
Tony hesitated while trying to keep the glare firmly on his face. And that was an answer enough.
“Why did you freak out when we thought Dean was going to die?” he asked bluntly, heart beating hard in his chest.
“Because if Dean died, I will cease to exist.” She answered honestly, while still staring at him intently.
She could almost hear his brain breaking.
“I am sorry, what?” Tony choked out.
Instead of answering, she pulled up the sleeve of her jacket and raised her wrist in front of his eyes.
His eyes landed on the plaited leather bracelet she was wearing. Specifically, on the metallic circle dangling from it where there was words engraved in it with a very familiar handwriting ‘Always with you’.
Tony flinched back like someone had slapped him, then gripped the sides of his head with his hands.
“Nope. Nope. Can’t believe this. nope.” He muttered under his breath as he tried to take all of this information in. “You are actually trying to tell me that, Steve and I will have a kid who is going to marry Dean and Castiel’s kid and they will have you?”
“Yup.” she grinned at him cheekily. “You could say I hit the genes jackpot!”
“Oh, god, here’s your Dean showing.” He shook his head violently. “Wait. If you are Castiel’s descendant that means you are supposed to have grace. Which means you are supposed to not be completely human. If that’s true how the hell Castiel didn’t immediately see the grace inside you? That if you are telling the truth, of course.”
“My mom is half human, half angel true, but my Dad is human, so as a result I don’t really have much grace. You could say that I am 85% human. The grace in me is very small I can hide it so it barely shows to anyone. I can’t even use it, it just heals me when I am injured pretty badly, and that’s it.” Then she smirked again. “And I am pretty sure Castiel did catch something unusual in me, but didn’t have time to place it.”
“Prove that you have grace.” Tony ordered, still didn’t want to believe her obviously.
“Would you believe me then?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Probably.”
She sighed in frustration then closed her eyes, when she opened them again they were shining a bright blue light that made Tony’s eyes get so wide they almost fell from his face.
“Proof enough for you?” Sydney asked snarkily while her eyes returned to normal.
“You-you-you are-“ Tony stuttered as he struggled to gather his violently scattered thoughts. “Oh God, this explains so much.” He whispered fervently, talking more to himself than her as he probably relived all his interactions with her since the moment they met. “You are like, the four of us if you put us in a blender this is just-“ he cut himself off and looked at her with unseeing eyes. “Steve and I are going to have a family.” He whispered, his voice filled with awe. “And-and we will be in-laws with the Winchesters. And-and-“ he stopped to calm his violently beating heart. “Wait, wait. Why are you telling me all of this now? You were so determined to not let anyone know too much about the future. What changed?”
“Probably the fact that this future is in danger.” She stated grimly. “I am constantly in danger of being erased along with my parents.”
“Because Dean and I are here.” Tony murmured in panic. “If something happens to one of us, or if we never managed to go back home, that future will never happen!”
“Pretty much.” She sighed in defeat. “I also kinda told you now to give you something to fight for.” She then grabbed his shoulders tightly and looked him straight in the eyes. “This is your family. An amazing future is waiting for you and Dean. I need you to fight for it, Tony. Fight for your current family and your future one.”
Tony stared at her for a long time, before a look of determination took over his face.
“Let’s go save that idiot.” Tony said in determination. “And we are going to fight our way back home.”