2. Drifting Off:

Here's my next Avengers one-shot. This one was inspired by the opening scene of the Avengers: Endgame trailer, with Tony recording his goodbye message for Pepper.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers, Tony, Pepper or Nebula.

—

Tony wearily lowered himself to the floor of the cockpit and leaned back against the chair behind him, groaning as the movement aggravated his injuries. He looked at the scratched helmet in front of him and sighed, wondering how everything could have gone so wrong.

It had only been a couple of weeks since he was excitedly preparing for his wedding with Pepper, yet after everything that had happened since, it felt like a lifetime ago. He had dreamed of marrying the woman he loved for so long, yet with all his flaws, he didn't think it would actually happen. He had been so sure he would have screwed it all up beyond repair by now. Yet despite everything, she had stuck with him, and had actually accepted his proposal. And when he brought up having a child, despite not yet agreeing to the idea she hadn't seemed entirely against it either.

Things with Peter had also been going great, especially now that his aunt knew what he was doing and had come to support it. As well as properly mentoring him in his vigilante activities, Tony had also grown closer to the boy as a person, often helping him with homework, letting him stay over, giving him advice. Happy even joked, when not stressed out about keeping the wedding plans from the media, that Tony had started acting like a father. Tony scoffed at this, but secretly wondered if he had been, and if Peter had seen him that way. He hoped he had.

Despite the rift separating the Avengers and his fears for the future, everything had been going great just a short time ago. Now, he was sitting in an alien ship, alone aside from the grumpy blue cyborg lady who had survived Titan with him. He had fought against a monster far more dangerous than he had ever previously encountered, and had lost the fight. He had a stab wound through his abdomen, held together only by the last of his remaining nanites. He had seen several of his allies disintegrate into dust, including all the Guardians, Strange and-

Peter, he forced himself to think, looking down at his hands, where he could still see the stains left by the dust from the boy.

He had no idea how many of his friends back on Earth had died, though to his despair he knew that at least half of them had. He desperately hoped that at least Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy had all survived. And to top it all off, the ship he and Nebula were attempting to use to get home had broken down and was drifting aimlessly through space. They had depleted the last of their supply of food and water days ago, and now they only had a few hours of oxygen left. And they had no way of signalling anyone for help.

In short, their entire situation sucked, and there was no chance of things working out for them.

Tony returned his attention to his helmet. Most of his suit's systems had been damaged during his time away from Earth, but his helmet could still record messages. He sighed sadly. He knew he would never see Earth again, and he didn't know if Pepper was even still alive. But if she was, he needed to send a final message to her. To ensure she wouldn't spend too long waiting and not knowing where he was. To explain why he wasn't coming home.

To say goodbye.

Tony reached a hand to the helmet and pressed the record button, hearing a click. He sighed, then tapped the helmet when he didn't see the eye pieces light up. "This thing on?" he asked himself. As the light came on and started recording him, he began his final message to Pepper.

"Hey, Miss Potts," he started. "If you find this recording," he paused to breathe heavily, "don't feel bad about this. Part of the journey is the end. Just for the record, being adrift in space with zero promise of rescue is more fun than it sounds.

"Food and water ran out, four days ago. Oxygen will run out tomorrow morning. That'll be it." Tapping the nose of the helmet, he said, "When I drift off, I will dream about you." Growing quieter, he finished with "It's always you." After pausing for a moment, he moved to end the recording, hearing the helmet power down, then leaned back, feeling numb and empty.

As he sat there stewing, he heard light footsteps approach from behind, before a metal hand touched him on the shoulder. "I'm sorry," Nebula muttered to him, a hint of compassion in her usually cold voice. After a moment, her hand slowly fell away from him and Tony heard her take a few steps away before sitting across the room from him.

As time passed, Tony reflected on everything that had happened. Everything that had been lost. Everything he possibly could have done differently to better their odds.

He had known something was coming. Ever since the Battle of New York, ever since the day he looked through the portal and saw what lay beyond, he had always known it wasn't over. That the day would come when the true mastermind behind Loki's attack would strike again. He had tried to prepare for that day, he had really tried. Even more so after Maximoff had shown him that nightmarish vision of the Chitauri conquering Earth and slaughtering his friends. He had drastically increased the amount of suits he constructed. He had attempted to create another A.I designed to protect the planet. But it had all backfired. Ultron went rouge and tried to wipe out all of humanity, damaging the trust people had for the Avengers and setting events in motion that would lead to the team tearing themselves apart. Rendering their planet vulnerable.

Tony wondered if they could have won had that never happened. Tony and his allies on Titan had come close to defeating Thanos on their own. If everyone had presented a united front, could they have succeeded? Could they have won?

It didn't matter, Tony thought to himself. The fact was they hadn't. And now half of all life in the universe had been extinguished. Including Peter, Strange, Quill and those two other aliens.

And in a matter of hours, Tony and Nebula's names would be added to the casualty list.

"Don't waste it," he remembered Yinsen's dying words. "Don't waste your life."

'Sorry Yinsen,' Tony thought, 'but everything I've done has been in vain, so I'm pretty sure I wasted it.'

Tony glanced over at Nebula. The only other survivor from the battle on Titan. The woman who had pushed him into leaving the site of Peter's death. Who helped him fix up the Guardians' ship and tried to help him return home. Who had, in her own distant and standoffish way, sympathised with his loss despite suffering a massive loss of her own.

Not wanting to wallow in his misery any longer, Tony turned to Nebula and told her, "I'm going to try to sleep for the last few hours. Don't wake me up, even when I start suffocating." He knew Nebula would last a little longer than he would, due to her cybernetic enhancements. "I don't want to feel my death."

Nebula looked at him for a moment, then nodded, her expression showing her understanding. "See you on the other side, Stark."

Tony nodded to her, then leaned back and closed his eyes, trying to will himself to fall asleep. As the minutes passed, he attempted to push all thoughts of Thanos and the recent genocide out of his head, and focused on his happier memories. He thought about helping Peter with his homework, and training and giving advice to the eager young hero. He thought about Rhodey, his oldest friend, sitting with him during his low moments and supporting him. He thought about Happy, his loyal security guard forever trying to protect him despite the stressful nature of his job. And as Tony started to nod off, he thought of Pepper, the love of his life, the woman who had inspired him to become a better person. Who had held him after his nightmares. Who had stuck with him despite everything. Who he had hoped to have a future with…

—

Tony found himself in his lab, working on his latest project. He looked and saw that he was building a new update for his suit.

"Mr Stark, Mr Stark," he heard an eager young voice from his side. Looking over, he saw Peter standing there, wide smile on his face, presenting his own work.

"Looking good there, kid," Tony said, then helped the young man add his piece to the suit. In his excitement, Peter accidentally destabilised one of the systems within the suit, sending sparks flying everywhere.

"Oops," Peter said, looking worried. Tony was about to reassure him that it was okay, when he heard a familiar ominous whirring sound.

"No, Dum-E!" Tony yelled at the robot. "There's no fire, don't spray us!" But it was too late.

…

Tony flew between the hills, searching for his adversaries. He'd heard that a Ten Rings cell was acting up in the area, and he'd come to try to eliminate them.

Hearing gunshots directed towards him, Tony immediately changed directions, dodging the bullets in the process, and fired his blasters at the terrorists. Hearing an explosion behind him, he turned and saw the remains of a destroyed tank, which seemed to have been aiming at him. Over the tank hovered another man in a metal suit.

Switching on his comm link, Tony called out "What took you so long, Platypus?"

"That anyway to thank someone for saving your life, Tones?" Rhodey responded, before flying past him. Tony chuckled to himself before following him, grateful as always that his old friend had his back.

…

"You know, Tony," the constantly stressed out Happy complained to Tony. "I already have a hard enough time trying to keep the media circus off your's and Pepper's wedding. I don't need you pulling off more ridiculous public stunts that draw even more attention!"

"You're right, Happy. I'm sorry," Tony patiently said, looking around the park and trying to think of a way to get his friend to relax.

"I'm already on edge-" Happy continued, irritated.

"You're always on edge," Tony interrupted.

"And whose fault is that?" Happy snapped. "Between your wedding, that case against me from that kid, my regular job, I've got a lot on my plate and I don't need your antics causing more trouble for me."

"No one is working harder than you, I know. Which is why I want you to de-stress. Just come with me and Pepper on our walks, take the day off, you'll feel a whole lot better-"

"No, I've got way too much I need to do and I - Bert!" Happy interrupted himself. "I see you. Get back here. You're not getting away this time. Bert!" Happy ran off after the fleeing man.

"I really gotta get him a girlfriend," Tony muttered to himself. "Maybe Peter's hot aunt?"

…

Tony lay in his bed, gazing at his sleeping wife. He never felt more relaxed than when laying here in the morning with Pepper, and despite normally wanting to be up and about at all hours, he was content to let the both of them sleep in longer.

"Mommy, Daddy!" a young voice squealed immediately after the door banged open.

'Or not,' Tony retracted his earlier thought before groaning as the tiny child jumped onto him. "Morning, Morgan," he said to his young daughter, smiling tiredly at her.

"Good morning, Daddy," Morgan exclaimed, giggling.

"Hey, what about me?" Pepper asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Morgan giggled and moved to hug her.

Tony smiled as he observed his wife and daughter, feeling happier than he ever had before. He felt like the luckiest man alive, having these two amazing people as his family.

"Hey, guys," Tony began, "I was thinking today we -" His voice suddenly cut out, and he felt like he was short of air.

"You okay, Tony?" Pepper asked, concerned, but before Tony could reply he was convulsing, struggling to suck down air that was no longer there. He looked towards Pepper - was that Pepper? For a second she looked like she'd turned blue, and sitting in a metal room instead of their bed. Suddenly she was Pepper again.

He didn't know what was happening. He tried to look for Pepper and Morgan, though his vision was started to blacken, and other images, such as the blue woman, a broken ship, and clouds of dust, were appearing in his mind.

Soon the images slowed down. His anxieties started to calm. And his vision blackened further. As he succumbed to the darkness, he heard one last cry from the woman he loved.

"TONYYYYYYY!"

—

I really hope that Tony doesn't die in this movie. And even if he does, I don't believe it'll actually happen this way. Despite that, after watching the trailer I wanted to write this scenario here. Hope you thought it was good.