No bargain with death (MCU x reader)

6. the choice

"What do you mean, go on? Could you be a little more precise?" , demanded Strange. He sounded calmer than Stark. He had more control of himself than Stark but the same curiousity was burning in both their bones. Husbands through and through.

You considered telling a lie. You thought about making something up. But your mind was empty. There was no lie available. It had to be the truth. And nothing but the truth. Ugh. Life wasn't easy.

"Okay, but promise not to tell anyone what you are about to hear. There are secrets that are supposed to stay exactly that, secrets. No matter what happens, even if you are being tortured, you are not to tell anyone. That you must promise before I continue talking" , you told them. Wow. You sounded impressively serious. Like you would kill them if they told someone. Which, to be honest, wouldn't be hard to do.

They stared at you with wide eyes. Probably as impressed as you by your stern voice. Amazement and disblief were displayed on their faces. And the hope for something powerful, a knowledge worth everything. And... was that greed?

"I promise" , whispered Strange. He sounded so breathless. It was a honest promise. He wouldn't break it. And he knew how important it was to keep it secret. He probably had other things, bigger things he wasn't allowed to talk about. Well, the afterlife is a big thing too though.

Stark nodded. He'd probably write your words down and publish them in a newspaper if he felt like it. But for the moment he would stay quiet. That had to be sufficient.

Time to explain some things. Time to enrich their knowledge. You felt a little awkward, like a teacher. An unqualified one at that.

"When you die, your soul leaves your body to hover above yourself and to look down at yourself. This soul is invisible to most living eyes. It's nothing more than air, a sigh of the wind, a cold, invisible cloud. Before you ask, for me too. I can't see them. In this bodyless soul stage there are three things that could happen. You can only actively influence two of them. The third is being revived and staying alive. That's totally out of your control though. Unless you decide not to return to your body. That's a decision you can make" , you started.

Uff... That sounded awkward. They'd hopefully understand. You weren't a professional explainer.

"Wait, wait, wait!" , interrupted Stark, keeping you from talking on. Not really surprising. He either hadn't understood something you had just said (which, to be honest, wouldn't surprise you) or it was the scientist in him, surfacing. He wanted to know things.

"This means that, if someone does CPR on you you can decide if you want to come back to life?" , he asked. The scientist it was then.

"No. If your body is beyond repair, if the damage done is too severe, then you do not get to chose. The option of returning is gone, leaving you with the two other options: stay in stage one or continue on to stage two" , you explained. Strange frowned. He was thinking something through and it was interesting to watch him do so. He was, in fact, rather attractive. No wonder Stark had fallen for him.

"Did this happen to you when you looked at those memories? Did you get to chose? Did you choose to come back?" , asked Stark, keeping Strange from talking.

"N... No... I... I don't enter stage one when I have this memory induced cardiac arrests. My soul ends up somewhere else entirely but I do not know where" , you wondered out loud. Stark's eyes became gigantic orbs of wonder. There was an idea building in his mind. You weren't sure if you wanted to know what it was.

It felt better to have an answer to a question addressed to you than not to know.  And Strange and Stark were like eager school children, absorbing every information you offered them. Being a teacher had to be nice.