irondad & spiderson oneshots

xvi. the aftermath

Here's some infinity war angst for ya

Tony lets out a choked sob as he stares at the ground. His fingers dig into the dirt, ashes clinging to his bloody hands. His ashes. Peter's ashes. He takes a shaky breath, sitting up and flipping his hands over, palms up.

He can't help but tremble at the sight of his hands. Bloody and covered in what remained of his kid. Tears well up in his eyes and suddenly feels sick. He scramble forward, vomiting until there's nothing left.

Then he sits there, gasping and choking for air. "Come on Stark." A voice says, snapping him out of his stupor. He looks up and sees the blue alien lady from before.

"What?" He croaks. "You want to get back to terra, Yeah?" She asks. He frowns in confusion at her. She rolls her eyes. "Earth. You want to get to earth." She explains.

He nods jerkily and she grabs his shoulder, pulling him up. He grunts in pain, the wound on his side pulsing in agony. He follows the blue lady onto a ship and she sits in the pilot's seat.

He assumes that it was the Guardians' ship. "Strap yourself in Stark." She demands. He does so silently, wondering what her name was. "Who-" He chokes. "-who are you?"

Her angry gaze snaps to him. "Nebula." She answers. He nods, not knowing what to say. What to do. His kid was gone. So so gone and he couldn't do anything.

He had held him as he begged for his life, but he couldn't do anything. He drops his head in hands and the ships flies off. He couldn't find it in himself to care that he'd let all of his walls down in front of a stranger.

By the time they got to earth he would have it together. Or at least he thinks he will. He's such a mess and he has no idea what he's going to do. His only option was to find the rogues.

And since he'd never lost track of them, he knew exactly where they were. He finally looks up, staring out at the stars with sad eyes. He was lost. Peter was lost. Lost in the stars.

---

As soon as they get through the atmosphere he points her in the direction of Wakanda and exactly how to get in there. It wasn't hard for him to figure out. There was no doubt the rogues were watching from below with their weapons drawn, probably thinking he was one of Thanos' minions.

The ship lands down and sure enough he sees (some of) them waiting along with (some of) the Dora Milaje. The back door opens up and Nebula stands, waiting for Tony. He stands up, his vision whiting out for a second.

He grimaces and walks up to Nebula. The looks on their faces normally would've drawn a sarcastic comment from the billionaire but he didn't have it in him.

"Tony?" Rhodey whispers in shock. Tony only nods at him. "Who's this? One of Thanos'?" Natasha asks, glaring at Nebula. He shakes his head. "She was helping us fight Thanos." He murmurs, immediately recognizing his mistake.

"Us? Who's us Tony?" Steve asks. Tony shakes his head. "Nobody alive." He snaps. The others flinch, clearly having lost people. Tony sighs, taking a step forward and grimacing.

They all watch with wide eyes as blood seeps from his side. He looks down to see that the seal had dissolved. "Tony, what happened?" Rhodey exclaims, rushing forward.

He tries to smile but it turns into a grimace. "I got stabbed buddy. Isn't it obvious?" He asks. Then his eyes roll into the back of his head and he falls over unconscious.

---

Tony wakes up in a high tech lab, hearing someone sniffing. Tears sting his eyes as the memories fly back into his head. He sits up, the pain from the wound gone. He sees a young girl crying quietly.

"Are you Okay?" He asks softly. Probably a stupid question. The girl turns around and he sees the princess. She smiles even through her tears. "I'm fine Stark. I assume you want to see your friends?" She asks.

He flinches at the term friends but nods. She stands up and he follows her through a few strange hallways before coming to a large common room where the others were sitting and talking grimly.

"Tony." Bruce greets. The others look to him. He nods tiredly and drops down beside his science bro. "So, who's all gone?" He asks. The others all have conflicted faces.

"T'challa, Bucky, Sam, Wanda, Vision, and Loki are all we know of." Steve says grimly. Tony sighs rubbing a hand over his face. He wishes he could have taken Peter's place.

"What about you Tony?" Bruce asks. "The guardians." He says. The strange raccoon and Nebula look at him sadly. "The wizard." He says, a ghost of a smile on his lips as he looks to Bruce.

Bruce frowns. "What about the Spider kid that was with you?" Bruce questions. Tony sucks in a sharp breath, dropping his head in his hands. They all see his trembling hands and know that whoever they were talking about was gone.

"I'm so sorry Tones. I know how much that kid meant to you." Rhodey says, putting a hand on his back. "He-He could feel it. He knew what was happening." He chokes out.

The others still in horror. "He begged me. He-he didn't want to go. He turned to ash in my fucking arms!" He cries. He doesn't think things will get better. Because they probably never will.