A Revelation of Rain

The Far Place

Stephen read all night. 

At dawn, Holly brought him a tray of breakfast, and for the first time in a long time he ravenously ate everything on it and sent it back empty. Then returned to his studies. The books piled up on his desk in stacks eight tomes high. He paused only when lunch time rolled around. And then again at dinner. 

When night came, he was still reading. He left his body on the sofa in the library and allowed his Astral self to keep reading. Holly crept in around midnight to tuck a pillow beneath his body's head and another beneath its feet, to drape a blanket over him and then tiptoe out. He hardly noticed. 

He was busy LEARNING. 

Yes. The Astral Self could be recovered. And if a vessel was provided, it could even be made to connect with that vessel again and bond with it. Effectively bringing a dead being back to life! Not only was it possible, it had been done before! 

Three days passed in almost constant studying. But at last, on the night of the fourth day, Stephen was ready. He knew what he had to do, and where he had to go. There was an infinite number of places that Tony's Astral self might have gone, but Stephen had a few ideas where to look. 

After carefully instructing Holly to guard his physical form and wash him down if necessary, Stephen laid down on his bed and breathed in and out carefully. 

"If I don't come back for some reason...." he began, looking to the girl who stood at the bedside. Holly laid a hand on his shoulder, her face serious. 

"I am to wait seven days, keeping you alive with a nutrient infusion fed through your veins. If you do not return on the eighth day, I am to contact Master Wong and have him come to the Sanctum to defend it, then burn your body on a pyre on the roof."

"Yes."

"And I am to join you on the pyre and burn with you, because I hate job hunting."

Stephen actually laughed, patting her hand.

"You're ridiculous. Wong would keep you on as a servant. You don't need me." 

"No, sir. But the world does. Be safe." 

He closed his eyes, focused with all his strength on the separation of spirit from corporeal form, and within seconds he was rising from his body. Not to float into the library, but rather up and through the ceiling, beyond the Sanctum and high above the world. 

Turning north, he made for Stark Tower, and for Pepper and Morgan. If Tony Stark's Astral form still existed on this plane, he would be hovering near his family. 

An hour later, stepping through a wall into the uppermost floor, Stephen looked around what was once Tony's bedroom. 

Pictures of him sat on every surface. Images of Tony and his wife, his daughter, at the lake and in the city, smiling for the camera. Alive. Happy. Healthy. He'd made it through the Snap. He and his wife had a little girl. He was safe. He could have stayed that way. 

He chose to die for the whole universe, instead. 

Stephen moved effortlessly without walking, down the hall toward the sound of voices. In the bedroom at the end of the hall, Pepper was tucking Morgan in for bed. The little girl was sleepy, holding in her arms a stuffed Iron Man toy. She looked up at her mother as the blond woman whispered loving words, soothing words, and then slipped out the door to turn off the light. 

In Tony's bedroom again, Pepper sat on the edge of the bed and put her face in her hands. 

She was beautiful even in her grief. Golden hair draped over one shoulder, her slim body clad in a blue nightgown, spine erect and strong, and her sobs were even controlled to keep from waking the child that she would now have to raise alone. 

Moved by her grief, Stephen began to Manifest, reaching out to touch her shoulder. 

"Don't."

It's Tony, of course. He was hovering in a corner, standing with his arms folded, watching the woman who was his wife, who was his universe, as she cried. Stephen paused, staring at the man he'd come to find. 

"Don't touch my wife, Doc. The last thing she needs is some asshole like you in her bedroom. I'm here to keep men out." 

"You know it doesn't work that way, Tony. And I was only going to comfort her."

"You think I care? I can comfort my own wife, if I can figure out how."

"Tony, you can't Manifest. You're dead. There is no tie to a corporeal form. You died."

"WHAT THE HELL ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO DO, DOC?! You think I LIKE being dead?! You think this shit is FUN?!"

The temperature in the room lowered by a few degrees. Pepper shivered. 

Stephen lifted his hands to her, warming her flesh without alerting her to his presence. She sighed, and turned her face as though to bury it in his chest. Gently, Stephen's ghostly scarred fingers stroked her hair. He looked up at Tony, who was glaring at him from his corner.

"Do you want to live again?"

"Damn you. Of course I do."

"Then I need you to come with me. I have a plan. If you ever trusted me..."

"WHY SHOULD I TRUST YOU?!"

"There was no other way. Fourteen million, six hundred and five possible resolutions to the conflict. One outcome where we won. You had a high price to pay. Tony, you paid it. But I can make this right. I can give you back your life."

Tony's arms uncrossed, his dark eyes softening. And then, the miracle of an actual response not dipped in anger. 

"How."

"Come with me, and I'll show you."