You had only one thought. One thought driving you forward, over the shredded world of Wakanda; the home of your newest friends, the land that had just fought its own battle for power only to find itself forced into the fight of a lifetime that no one asked for. Wakanda was on fire, her people burning with a rage like none you had seen before to protect what was theirs. To protect not only their legacy as a nation, but also their future as a world leader. A people who were now at your side and allowing you to know them at both their best and their worst at the same time. But, in all of this, all the terror and victory swirled in a mass of confusion that left your head spinning, you had only one thought to keep your feet moving when all your body wanted was to rest.

Where is Bucky?

One minute he was right next to you, refusing to leave, and the next he was in a sprint to join the rest of the team, leaving you to barely keep up as he yelled for you to try. The man could've just thrown you over his shoulder, but no, he had to make this difficult. If there had been more time, even a few seconds, you might have given him grief about it, but levity was now a luxury unable to be afforded.

"Steve?"

It was a single word echoed both around you and filled your head, spoken softly aloud but screaming out to you in a panic.

"(Y/N)? I need y-."

"Hang on, Buck, I'm almost there," you said in a hurry, pushing your body to its limit despite the pain radiating through it. That didn't matter. One thing mattered; one person. The loss you felt for Tony had to wait, because your soulmate spoke in a tone you had never heard from him before. He was scared. Your foot had just barely landed on solid ground in front of Bucky as Steve reached out to grab him, leaving your hands to simply pass through a haze of nothing. Your momentum carried you forward, and you allowed yourself to fall to your knees, your hands grasping at the dust that remained behind, trying to breathe through the immediate evisceration at the center of your chest. It made your last contact with him that much more precious in your mind, and it destroyed you to know that you had told him not to do it again, and now it never would.

"Steve...what the hell is this? Where did he go?"

But he didn't answer right away, his own horror just catching up to his mind and allowing him to understand where you couldn't. "Oh, god," he whispered, tremulous and terrified. Steve looked back to his hands and saw the remains that concealed his gloves, covering and seeping into them where battle had torn them away, mixing with the blood on his hands and into wounds that were just beginning to heal. It took a moment for him to return to himself, and when he did he hurried to take you in his arms and pull you close, realizing the immense pain that you had to be in. "Try to slow down, (Y/N), I've got you."

"This is what death feels like," you gasped. "This time it's real, Steve. He's gone."

---

"How is she?"

Bruce shook his head solemnly, his gaze dropped and hands folded gently behind him. He looked so small, so vulnerable, and so conflicted that Steve worried that he would be the next of the remaining to crack. "I can't get her to say anything. After how things went with us, and my...disappearing and all...I'm probably not the one she wants to confide in anymore. Don't blame her."

"I don't know about that," Steve smiled weakly, "I had the same luck, and she'll usually at least tell me to leave her alone. Have we heard from anyone else? Fury or Hill?"

"Not a word, Cap. We'll keep trying."

"Okay, then I think we need to start making our way back home, assess the damage there." Steve slowly turned and surveyed the area with a heavy heart, doing his best to not think about the truth he was seeing. Letting the hazy remnants of his friends and brave Wakandan soldiers become a blur in his vision so he could deny what horrors they really were. If he let himself think about the earth beneath his feet and what the soil was now made of, he might never take another step again. "Have you seen Thor?"

"Not for a while. He and Rocket wandered off somewhere but they haven't come back yet that I've noticed. Want me to take a pass overhead? I think the suit could still make it."

"Thanks, Bruce, but we've got a little time yet. Let's give them what they need and not rush."

---

"This loss will be significant and painful for some time, but it will lessen as the days pass."

"How's that working for you, Thor?"

"It's only been a day, Natasha, and once I have a moment to stop and reflect, I'm certain that it will be wise to stay clear of me."

"Well, keep me updated," she said softly. He had taken a seat on the edge of the bed next to her, though he was faced away as if looking at her would only make his own pain more acute. She fought the urge to reach out in an attempt to show her support, knowing he had lost everything before they had and that he still fought at their side as he had always done; he fought with that pain fresh, and she suddenly felt embarrassed to show him her own.

"You as well," he nodded. "Have you spoken to (Y/N) since...the...the uh..."

"The snap? No, I haven't, but I've seen her with Okoye, taking a count of their losses," Nat huffed in disbelief. "Honestly, I'm not sure how she's even upright at this point. I can barely think about anything other than watching our friends...and I'm scared for Tony, but she's out there taking charge and making Steve look lazy."

"That is why I worry," he quickly agreed. "She's detached herself from the reality of it and this state of mind won't hold. She's doing herself a disservice by delaying the inevitable. I'm going to find her. Will you be alright here if I do? I won't leave if you need me to stay."

"Of course, Thor," she waved him away with a small smirk; it was enough to give him a hint of solace. "You know me. I'll shake this off and be out there to help soon. I just need to do one quick thing."

"Very well," he answered, standing to leave as she watched. She waited until the door was fully closed behind him, pausing for a moment longer before she put forth one last effort. One last try to beg the universe to be kind after the trauma it had just endured. One last plea for a miracle, no matter if she deserved it or not after her failure to save them all. She laid back on the bed of her guest room with a shaking breath, closing her eyes to pull every ounce of her focus into this moment.

"Tony?" she whispered. "Now would be a fantastic time to hear me. I'm kinda hoping you've just been ignoring me this whole time, and I really wouldn't care about how rude that is to mute your soulmate when the universe is crashing." She paused for a reply, a small groan under her breath as she continued on despite her own logic telling her to stop. "Tony, come on, she needs you. Please just give me something that tells me you made it so I can help her get through this. Even if you tell me to shut up and stop nagging you, I'll take it and not even be mad, I promise."

She would never get used to the sensation, but this time the dizzying nausea was welcomed with desperate enthusiasm, and even if it never stopped, she would accept the lifetime of suffering through just to hear the voice about to fill her mind. "She made it?! Oh, thank God. I wouldn't be able to handle that if she didn't."

"Tony!" Nat sat up straight, swinging her legs over the side of the bed in a rush and standing on unsteady legs. Her adrenaline was surging and there was no way in hell it wasn't going to carry her to you as fast as her body would move. "I thought for sure...but then I saw how she reacted when Bucky disappeared-"

"Oh no, no, no, no, Nat, she lost him too?"

"Tony, it was awful. She looked like it was killing her, and I've never seen pain like that. Even pain that I've inflicted, and you know my methods.. That's how I knew in my bones that you were alive, because that didn't happen to me. I feel so selfish and...and helpless."

"Nat, I need to get to her, but I can't get home. I'm stuck out here with no way back. We have a ship but it's pretty beat up. We're doing what we can but some of this is alien tech."

"Is Pete-"

"N-no. I...I lost the kid."

"Shit. Tony, I'm so sorry. I really am." She heard his shuddering breath as his reply, the pain clear even in just that much, so she let that moment dissipate on its own. When he spoke again his voice was different; it felt distant to even his fully connected soulmate.

"Who do we have left?"

"Um...Rhodes, Thor, Steve, Bruce, and (Y/N). Rocket is stuck here with us, apparently his team was headed out to find Thanos when he left with Thor. We lost everyone else, Tony."

"His team was with me," Tony sighed heavily. "Bunch of weirdos, but you'd love 'em. The only one left of them is this blue meanie named Nebula, but I think she's getting used to me already. She's moved right into avoidance. Sounds like we're cut pretty thin all around, so have you got any ideas for me, Red? Can you get me home and to my wife?"

"Actually, Stark," she smiled, truly meaning it for the first time in as long as she could remember, "I do."