What did you guys think of the Avengers trailer today?

What did you think of the title?

It was major depress for me... unsurprising. I won't give away my assumptions for what all will go down because all of them will be in this series, so... yeah. But I will gladly listen to all of yours!

///

Thor left to go back to his new friend. Tony and Nebula gave it their all for a while, choosing to go on a journey through space for... 

For anything, really. 

You went along with them. You were happy to. Tony was all you had. 

But it happened gradually. He drifted off, he faded away into the background. You were thinking, praying, hoping for an answer of any kind - a hint at what you needed to do to get your family and friends back. Anything. 

"Anything," you hissed, grabbing fistfuls of your hair. You tugged at the roots. "Come on, come on-"

"What are you doing?" 

You looked up, pulling your hands from your hair. Tony was standing in the entrance to the small section of the ship you were sitting in. 

"I'm thinking," you told him.

He stared at you for a long moment.

"There's got to be a way to get them out of there, Tony. My dad said-"

"There is no way," he said. 

"I know it's-"

"No!" He held up his hand to stop you. "Just... just stop. Stop right there, kid. You don't get it, do you? You don't get that we're stuck in space, in the middle of nowhere, and we have nothing. We are out of food. Out of water. Smurf girl here has no idea what to do, and the big bad guy you're after is her dad. You are chasing after a dream. We're going to die up here, and then it'll be the end. We failed. I'm sorry, kid, but we failed."

You shook your head. "No... we didn't fail. I know things are hard, but-"

"But what?" he asked. "It's over. We lost. Can you get that through your head? Your dad died in front of you. Peter died in our arms. Can't you see that nothing matters anymore?"

Your eyes filled up with tears. You slowly stood up. "My dad died with faith in me. Faith I won't understand. But I want to try. For him. For Peter."

"Then I can't help you," Tony said. He lifted his shoulder in a half shrug and slowly trudged away.

When he was gone, you dropped to the floor and cried, homesick for your dad, Peter, your life before everyone you loved disappeared-

All of it.

//

Tony sighed, reached out his hand, and touched the side of the helmet. "Is this thing on?"

When it buzzed with life, recognizing him, he sat back and swallowed. 

"Hey, Ms. Potts," he started. "If you find this recording... don't feel bad about this. Part of the journey is the end. Just for the record, being adrift in space with zero chance of rescue is more fun than it sounds. Food and water ran out... four days ago. Oxygen will run out tomorrow morning... haven't told the girl that yet, though. But that'll be it." He got closer to the helmet and shook his head. He was weak, but he wanted to finish. "When I drift off, I will dream about you. It's always you."

He turned it off. 

And leaned against the side of the ship.

His breathing was shallow. 

He was going to die. And maybe it would be slow. Maybe he would fall asleep and wake up in discomfort a few times. Maybe he wouldn't be able to sleep at all, not until the very end. But he wanted a few moments of happy dreams before he finally went to whatever was out in front of him. Hopefully his dreams would be good.

Sometimes he would dream of Pepper, or Happy, or Rhodey, or Peter... or he would have dreams where he finally got that girl back to her dad somehow. But other times, the dreams weren't happy. And then he'd wake up, and things would be even worse. 

His bones were starting to ache.

Yeah, this was definitely it.

He let his head fall to his shoulder. He closed his eyes, took a few breaths. Inhaled. Exhaled. Opened his eyes. Tried to move his legs. Couldn't. Felt his head get all fuzzy. Wondered if the air was already getting thinner. Closed his eyes again. Thought about Pepper. He didn't feel good. Thought about Pepper.

"Tony?" 

Not now, he thought. He was seeing her bright orange-red hair, her face lit up with a smile. She probably hadn't smiled once since he left...

"Tony? Tony, hey!" 

He felt a hand on his face, on his shoulder, on his head.

"Tony! No, you can't do this - not to me, not now!"

Couldn't she leave him alone? What was the point of keeping him from slipping under now, when they'd all be choking on air in the morning?

"Tony, please!"

He opened his eyes and they focused on her- 

On the scared girl kneeling in front of him-

And his heart squeezed in his chest-

Because he had promised that he would take care of her and fix things-

And he was the first one to give up.

I'm sorry, he wanted to say. I just don't see us getting out of this. We watched them die. We can't figure out how to fix this with just us three. Nebula won't even speak to us for more than a minute. There's nothing we can do. This is the end, and I am so sorry, I shouldn't have promised you a chance if there wasn't one...

"Tony!"

He shook his head slightly-

And then her head turned to the side of the ship. Her eyes widened, and the reflection of orange appeared in the darkness of her eyes. Her jaw fell open slightly, and she froze. 

Tony slowly turned his head. Focused his eyes. And right before him he saw a woman stepping through the wall. Her hair floated above her head, surrounded by rays of yellow and gold and blue hues. 

"I'm losing it," Tony muttered under this breath.

But the woman said- "Tony Stark?"

Like she knew him.

Like she was there to find him.