Avengers Stories //Oneshots//

For Yinsen

Tony could remember the heat of the cave, the sand on his parched tongue, and the burning horror in his stomach at seeing his weapons in enemy camps. He could remember that burn turn to determination, changing hopelessness into fire with the help of Ho Yinsen. Yinsen never gave up on him. He was the only reason Tony made it through those three months - along with Pepper's voice in his head, coming to him in his dreams as if she were really there. He would wake up with sweat on his skin and her name spilling from his mouth. He kept going, all the way until there was a blue light in his chest and his heart no longer felt like it was fighting to beat, surrounded by sharp edges that were hungry to twist like knives. He fought to build, straining his muscles and warring with his body, until the first suit stood in front of him. The first Ironman suit.

He promised Yinsen they would get out together. They made a plan. He didn't realize Yinsen never intended to follow it. Tony had known death before - he'd been orphaned at seventeen - but holding a bleeding Yinsen, holding his friend as he took his last breath and joined his family again, would forever be sealed into his mind, along with his last words.

"Don't waste it. Don't waste your life."

There would be a million times when Tony wanted to give in to the darkness clawing at him. His dreams turned to nightmares of fire and screams. His godfather tried to destroy him. The thing keeping him alive tried to kill him. A portal opened up over New York. He let himself be manipulated by fear into building Ultron. He lost Pepper in a break. He lost the Avengers to a war that started within them. He lost his kid, Peter, on a different planet.

Because of Yinsen, he didn't give up. Tony didn't know how much borrowed time he had left - every beat of his heart was borrowed, another second ticked by that he didn't deserve, another breath in his lungs that should've stopped forever ago - but he knew he couldn't waste Yinsen's last wish. He'd been selfish long enough. He wasn't about to let his silent vow go - he would live every good and bad day for Yinsen, the man who gave him a second chance.

"I am Ironman."

Tony knew he was going to die.

The stones were in his hand, pushing unnatural power through him. It moved across his skin, diving into his body to his heart. He was burning again, but he had a good reason to be burning. To fix what had been broken. He'd married Pepper. He had Morgan and Harley. He got Peter back. He couldn't waste his life if his final act was to save the world he promised to protect.

But he needed one reassurance....

"You can rest now."

"Hello again, Mr. Stark."