Avengers Imagines

Devil's Due (Pt. 4/5)

"Wasn't that a lovely introduction." There was no disputing it, you had made a statement. Your jacket made a sick, sticky sound as you slowly peeled it off, revealing the damage done by Steve's shield.

The gash ran diagonally — from the base of your neck to the top of your right breast — and it ran deep. Tony winced at the sight of what he was certain was bone peeking through. "Are you alright?" He reached out, adhering to his initial instinct of concern, then immediately retracted his hand. 'NO!'

He might as well not have spoken. You did not address it, it made no difference. "Terror is a curious little thing. In just the right amount, it can do wonders. The people must know I am powerful enough to be their saviour and, if they refuse to obey, their end. Empires have been built and fallen on that notion alone, boy."

You took his face in your hands, your voice echoing with the vastness of the cosmos. "I hardly wish to be remembered as the one who fashioned rivers out of the blood of her kind. I wish to be remembered as the one who claimed the mortal realm as her own."

Much to his horror, Tony saw the abyss around him come apart in vapor, swirling in the air before seeping into the depths of your wound. In spite of the unbelievable happening right before him, all he could focus on was the sensation of your palms on his face.

The void made it impossible to keep time. Tony had no way of knowing how long he had been there, what he did know was that after refusing to be part of your devious plan, he would spend months — it felt like years but he had to be realistic in his calculations — without any sort of contact with a living being, although he had his suspicions about the darkness being sentient in some capacity.

His senses were left bereft of any sensation. Sometimes he would scream and the void would devour the sound entirely. So efficiently, he could barely hear it himself. Pangs of hunger and thirst would agonize him to no end. More than once he had wished for starvation to take him, but the relief never came, only the pain dutifully turned worse.

With nothing but Cimmerian darkness all around him, Tony would wonder if he had become blind. Or deaf. He would wonder if he was dead and did not know it. There were times when he would scream your name until his throat was raw and his eyes stung, only for nothing to change. It was a fragile game you were playing.

When you appeared before him earlier that day, asking if the persuasion was done, he had no choice but to say yes — if only to see a glimpse of his world again; the blue of the sky, the green of the trees. Colour.

Tony had had enough time to come to terms with the fact that running away was not the answer. You were capable of the unfathomable. If he truly wanted to bring you down, he would have to do it from the inside.

While you were occupied with leveling the East Side, he spent the majority of his time analysing your strategies, attacks and defenses. He made note of your potential strengths and weaknesses. Being back in the armour was a surreal experience, and it was gone just as quick, the moment you took him off world.

There was no safety in the void.

The darkness poured into your wound, cementing it shut. You were whole again. Heat rose in Tony's cheeks. He was having trouble keeping his thoughts from running amok. So far, the only weakness he had identified in your regard was the void, the logic of which hung by a thin string, now he was seeing it is your ultimate strength — a failsafe against anything.

"For a long time I have wondered why fate brought us together." You mused quietly. "I always thought today, the day we declare war, is the day I would know. That there would be some sort of sign." Your hand moved down his cheek, finally settling on his chest. "Believe me when I say I looked for it. Nothing you did out there seemed like something I could not accomplish on my own. And that got me thinking."

"Those were your friends we saw today, fighting you tooth and nail, weren't they?" There had been no fight against Tony, but if push came to shove, you knew the choice would be made in certain inclination. Your hand pressed harder onto to his chest. "I do not know them, but I know you. I know the way you feel."

Something terrible tightened in Tony's chest, like a snake coiling itself to capacity. With your other hand still on his cheek, his nerve-endings were shorting. Of all things, you hummed. "You run from one person to the other, seeking validation, waiting to be loved. It started with your father, your godfather and now, these rampallians you call friends."

"For every single thing you do for them, what do they provide in return?" You raided his eyes for answers. For the first time, Tony was afraid you were pulling on a string that would bring him undone. "I have seen it in your dreams, Anthony. Feeling unwanted. Being blamed for mistakes they made, for having a conscience, for refusing to sacrifice others to serve your benefit."

Albeit the notion was impossible, Tony was convinced his body was no longer holding him up; that the moment you would take your hands off him he would collapse into a pile of bone and flesh and nothing else.

"I have lied to you only once." If he did not know better, judging by your inflection, he would think you were his significant other confessing your infidelity. "I did not build this abyss entirely out of my own spirit. Had it been so, I would not live to see the outcome. It has enough of me to call my own. No, I fashioned it out of the souls of those whom I reprieved of their lives."

"My void is alive with their screams. And everything that lives, eats." You pressed your lips to his forehead, murmuring words against his burning skin. "They wronged you, boy. For that you shall have your revenge. Their cries will forever be lost in this oblivion."

"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within? That can never recover." An unhinged smile glowed your face as you pulled away. "I now know why we were brought together. In my kingdom, you will rule. The collective forces of good and evil would not be able to bring you harm."

Fear is a powerful aphrodisiac — Tony had heard the words before. Never had he felt them reverberating through his bones, threatening his entire being. Every inch of his skin that was in contact with yours was tingling with unparalleled vigour.

He knew it was wrong, and yet what was unvirtuous affection against the feeling of unequivocal acceptance he had been deprived of all his life? Against unbridled care that provided without being asked?

For a brief moment, Tony allowed himself to explore the possibility — the 'what if'. The 'what if' that would commence with giving in to your touch, like his heart was begging him to.

Instead, he proposed the question that had been hounding him without relent. The question he was beginning to fear he had no answer to; an answer he needed lest things take a turn for the absolute worst. "How do you know I won't betray you?"

Tony bit the inside of cheek to keep from sniveling when you finally withdrew your hand from his face, occupying it with the task of gently squeezing his shoulder. "I have faith, in you as well as myself. You will stay by my side for as long as you live. Should you choose otherwise, I shall be forced to do the same."

"Promised to me before creation, you are mine, and nothing that belongs to me should know of sorrow. Tomorrow, we pay one final visit to your friends." Stimulated by unexpected touch, your eyes traveled down to your hand that had been resting on Tony's chest. He had wrapped his fingers over your palm, his face no longer pensive or twisted in varying shades of aggravation.

You allowed him the contact. An appeasing future was visible in the horizon — a future governed by forces that churned in the dark, forces that made you. "Tomorrow, you win."