2016: Leipzig-Halle Airport

"This is going to end well," Nat sarcastically said as they began to walk to meet Cap's side.

And when Rogers and Co started to jog, Peter - Spiderman- had said in a panicked tone as he turned to face Toni, while still walking, "They're not stopping."

Toni went to reply on how they (team Toni) weren't going to stop either, when an aching pain spread across her chest making her stop in her jog.

Rhodey seeing that Toni had stopped immediately stopped and went to her side, "Tones?" He asked in a worried tone.

Toni went to speak but her throat lodged itself and out came a choke.

That choke got everyone's attention and stopped them (team Toni) from continuing.

Team Cap was wondering why they (team Toni) stopped when they say Toni fall out of her suit.

Vision went to put out an alert for medical assistance due to Colonel Rhodes demands as he thought Toni was having a heart attack.

"Rhodes?"

Everyone turned to look at what Toni Stark was looking at to cause such fear in her voice, and froze.

It was her hand.

But it wasn't what was on her hand.

It was what was happening to her hand.

It was turning to dust.

Rhodey immediately leapt out of his suit and went to Toni's side to gather her in his arms, seeing as she was going to slump against the floor.

"You're going to be ok, Tones." He tried to reassure both himself and his little sister, who was fucking disintegrating in his arms- goddamnit, where was that fucking medic, "I don't know what's happening but I need you to hang on. Can you do that for me? Tones?"

Toni had taken one of Rhode's hands into her own (that was less dusty than the other one) and smiled weakly at him, even if her tears reflected the ones in his own eyes, "I guess my luck finally ran out, Rhodes."

Before Rhodey could even answer, reassure her that she had more time, to even fucking breathe, Toni turned to dust in his arms.

Rhodey's arms dropped from the weight leaving it.

His arm was covered in nothing but dust.

His little sister.

Someone he swore to protect the minute he saw her.

Had died in his arms.

"What just happened?" Natasha asked in concealed panic as she stared at the spot where Toni Stark once was.

"Did Toni just die?" Clint demanded as he kept looking over to Natasha to make sure she didn't dust as well.

So many questions, but Rhodey only had one thought in his mind.

Toni had just died.

Toni had just died.

Toni had just died.

"Colonel Rhodes?" a weak and scared voice called him, snapping him out of his thoughts as he turned to see the Spider-Kid that Toni had brought turning grey.

He immediately leapt from his spot on the ground to walk over to the kid.

"I don't feel so good." The kid's voice went from weak to even more scared. to panicked.

The Spider-Kid stumbled forward towards Rhodey, his arms outstretched.

"I don't know what's happening. I don't know."

Rhodey instinctively cached him, thinking back to how he did the same for Toni.

He sounded like Toni.

Rhodey realised as he thought back to where he had heard those words before.

Those words are Toni, when she didn't know what was happening.

When she didn't know how to fix things.

Natasha came around also holding the kid. "It's ok." she tried to reassure him, beckoning Clint over to help since that was more his forte.

The Spider-Kid's head made itself to Rhodey's neck and he buried it there, his body shaking, "I don't want to go. I don't want to go, sir. Please. Please. I don't want to go."

Rhodey fell to the ground under the weight of the words, and the Spider dragging him down with him, his hold on Rhodey's neck, tight as ever.

Was that what was going through Toni's head?

Did she feel this way?

All thoughts screeched to a stop when the Spider had stopped shaking and looked to him, the lenses of the mask making it seem like the Kid was looking through his soul, and let out a choked phrase, "I'm sorry."

And then, just as Toni had, the Spider had turned to dust.

What the fuck was happening?

2018: Titan

"Rot...In....Hell."

"I hope they remember you."

Toni could barely process the titan's words through the intense pain that was shooting through her open wound, and she pressed her hand tighter against it, gasping in pain from the pressure.

She shifted back slightly, eyes never leaving the Titan, resting her free hand on the rock behind her and coughing wetly, grimacing as she tasted the metallic tinge of blood on her tongue.

Gritting her teeth, she managed to force her gaze back upwards, to the looming titan's form in front of her.

This is it, she thought, her heart pumping wildly in her chest to make up for the blood seeping through her fingers. I'm going to die.

Hearing the soft hum of the infinity gauntlet, Toni flinched, but her eyes never left the Titan's.

She swallowed harshly, her mind immediately made its way back to the important people in her life, and she felt a pang of guilt as she realized that she wasn't going to be able to say goodbye.

Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, DUM-E, U, Butterfingers, Harley and Peter--God, Harley and Peter.

Toni's heart gave a tug at the thoughts of her boys, and she unconsciously smiled with a bit of fondness.

But that fondness melted into regret as she realised, she'd never have late night movie marathons with them

That she'd never tease her sons over their crushes.

That she wouldn't be able to see them graduate.

"Stop."

Toni's head immediately whirled towards the source of the voice, stumbling a little from the nausea the action caused.

She quickly blinked away the spots forming in her vision, her eyes eventually landing on the injured sorcerer in front of him.

Thanos had shifted his gaze to the man as well, and he brought the gauntlet back down to his side as he waited for an elaboration.

Stephen panted for a few moments, before looking up at the titan.

"Spare her life," he stressed, "and I will give you the stone."

Toni immediately tensed at his words, and tried shifting forwards, gasping loudly at the fiery, throbbing pain the movement caused.

"STEPHEN!" She shouted to the best of her ability, trying to get her ex's attention but the man's eyes never left the Titan's.

Thanos studied the sorcerer in front of him, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"No tricks?" He asked, and Stephen shook his head, his gaze falling downwards.

"Don't," Toni choked out, her energy depleted from shouting and Stephen met the billionaire's pleading gaze, engaging him in a silent exchange of words.

I have to, his eyes spoke, and Toni didn't have the energy, nor the means to tell him otherwise. That man was as stubborn as he was.

The sorcerer then glanced at the sky behind them, holding a hand up as a star in the distance began to glow a pale green, intensifying as soon as Stephen's fingers captured it. 

With a sharp pulse of light, the stone appeared in front of him.

Taking in a laboured breath, the hero ripped her gaze from the scene in front of her, unable to bear the scene any further.

The titan then took one last glance at Toni, who didn't meet his gaze this time before he moved the stone over the slot on the knuckle of his thumb, letting it slip into the gauntlet.

A surge of power exploded out of the metal as the stone entered it, and Toni took a shuddering breath as she heard a ring emanate from the titan's form.

"One more to go." Each word was like another weight piled onto her chest, and the Titan gave a sickening smirk that made Toni want to throw up right then and there.

 It was disgusting.

 She couldn't believe that there was someone sick enough to smile while trying to--

Boom!

A bright spark of energy slammed into the top of the gauntlet, and Thanos's eyes widened before more pellets of energy rained down towards him. A loud yell echoed from the distance, and the titan pressed down a finger, creating a blue swirling portal behind him.

Toni, albeit a bit slower than usual (probably from the pain), recognized the man as Peter Quill.

Quill's eyes widened seeing the titan disappear, and he stumbled as he landed on the ground, quickly retracting his helmet.

"Where is he?!" He exclaimed, holding out a gun as his eyes darted around.

Stephen remained silent, and Toni brought her free hand over to her wound, pressing down on a button and wincing as she started to seal her wound shut. 

Understanding dawned over the captain's face, and Quill lowered his gun, his hand trembling slightly as he did so. "Did we lose?"

Toni looked away from the man, not having the heart to respond as her gaze flitted towards the sorcerer. "Why would you do that?" She muttered softly, unable to mask the sorrow in her tone. Stephen stayed silent for a moment, leaving nothing but the soft pants of the three heroes filling the air.

The sorcerer moved away from the rock he was on and walked to Toni, and helped her to seal her wound before he eventually lifted his gaze again to meet her eyes, his blue eyes so devastatingly plunged in oceans of grief and pain and regret, "We're in the endgame now."

Quill continued to stare at the two hopelessly for a few moments, his mind rearing as he tried to process the current situation. "You gave away the time stone." He said slowly, staring hopelessly at Stephen. "Why the hell would you do that?" There wasn't any fire behind the accusation, and Toni could only assume the man felt just as drained as she did. Stephen said nothing in response, and the billionaire mustered up the strength to sit up.

"You said you wouldn't," she whispered, setting a hand on the rock to steady himself. "You promised and you lied again Stephen."

Stephen only gave her a broken smile and held out his hand to help her stand up.

"What's going on? What happened?" a higher voice asked softly to his right, and Toni didn't need to look back to identify the voice of her son.

Peter looked around at the scene as a wounded Mantis and Drax slowly walked up behind him, and his doe eyes were wide and shining with worry. "Where's Thanos?" Before seeing his mentor- mother- laying against the side of her ex and took her away from the sorcerer, glaring at the man slightly before turning to his mother-mentor and asking softly, "Mo-Miss Stark?"

She said nothing.

"I gave away the time stone," Stephen announced softly after a pregnant pause, and various protests and exclamations immediately followed his words.

The sorcerer let out a pained breath, his face twisted in an expression that made him look ten times older, and Toni felt a pang of sympathy. "It was a last resort; I had no choice."

"Last resort?" Quill scoffed, disbelief working its way onto his face. "Last resort, are you kidding me? You gave that bastard exactly what he wanted!" Huffing out a small laugh, Toni shook her head and muttered under his breath, "Like you're one to talk."

"Excuse me, what?" Toni shakily pushed herself to his feet, wincing at the spike of pain as her wound stretched.

Meeting Quill's eyes, the billionaire shrugged. "I don't know. This is just a thought, but maybe if you hadn't gone all spastic about your girlfriend, we might have the gauntlet right now."

The guardian stayed silent for a moment and looked down at the ground, nodding a little. Toni could sense the anger bubbling under the man's skin as he said softly, "Okay. So that's how we're going to play this." Quill walked over to Toni, stopping just in front of her face, and stared her in the eyes.

"Listen here lady," he spat, unable to keep the venom from spilling into his voice, "I don't know if you're educated about the way emotions work, but that woman that he killed meant everything to me." He took a shuddering breath, his eyes glossing over lightly at the mention of his late girlfriend. "Gamora was the most important person in my life, and he killed her for a fucking stone. He killed his daughter, and my girlfriend, for a stone. So, excuse me if I lost it, Miss. I-Have-Money-Up-The-Ass, because I unlike you, I can't buy her life back."

"I know," Toni answered with a soft sincerity, and Quill blinked, taken aback by the lack of anger. "I know exactly what it's like to lose someone Quill, and I'm sorry. If I could bring her back I would, but I can't, and neither can you. And I get it, the anger, the frustration, but that guy? When the entire universe is at stake?" She took a pause to take a small breath. "You've got to keep your head in the game."

A silence passed over the group and Quill mulled over her words, and Toni waited.

After a few moments, Quill let out a soft breath, finally returning to Toni's gaze. "Look, I'm sorry, okay?" He muttered, voice softening towards the end. "I'm sorry." Nodding approvingly of the sincerity in his tone, Toni smiled weakly, falling silent soon after.

"What do we do now?" Mantis softly broke the silence, her beady black eyes sparkling with underlying anxiety. 

"We can't do much," Drax muttered from her side, his hand loosely clutching onto a gash on his ribs. "He left." Peter looked helplessly between the two, fiddling with his fingers in a (cute) nervous habit Toni had picked up on a while back.

"But there's got to be something, right? We can't just let him leave like that," the spiderling urged, turning back to look at the sorcerer for confirmation. "Right Dr Strange?"

Silence.

The teenaged hero twitched uncomfortably, "Dr Strange?"

Noticing the teen's discomfort, Quill took a small step towards Stephen, voicing softly, "Doctor, you said we won in a timeline. How's that looking for us?" The sorcerer shifted, slowly rising to his feet.

But collapsed making Toni rush to his side immediately.

The genius quickly moved towards him. "Stephanie, we alright?" she asked, slipping into the old nickname by accident.

When the doctor didn't reply and instead seemed to be caught in some kind of trance, "Stephen!" she retracted part of her armour, pulling out a handkerchief from his suit and gently wiping the man's forehead. "There. You calming down?"

"Where did she get the handkerchief from?" hissed Peter from behind her.

"I am not sure, but she reminds of Ovette. She must be the wizard's Ovette." Drax replied.

She felt Stephen's scarred hand on hers and turned her attention on the man, pausing in her dabbing.

Quill smiled at the interaction warmly, watching with a sad admiration at the closeness of the pair.

His attention was drawn from the two when he felt Mantis tense behind him, and he turned to look at her, eyebrows furrowing.

"Mantis? What's up?" He asked. The alien looked up at him, beady eyes shining with a tense fear, and he noticed the rest of the group turn towards them with curiosity.

"Something's happening," she whispered, and Quill felt her skin turn rough and patchy underneath his fingers, before crumbling under the weight of his hand.

He felt the blood drain from his face in horror as his companion started to flake away into ashy dust in front of him, disintegrating and being swept away into the wind.

Toni's hand automatically went to grip Peter's shoulder tightly, and she looked at Stephen, expecting an answer.

"He did it," Stephen said shakily.

"Quill," a soft voice spoke from behind the captain, and Quill quickly turned around to meet eyes with a disintegrating Drax. He watched in a stunned silence as another one of his teammates vanished in front of his eyes, and he felt his hands start to shake with building grief.

Hearing a breath hitch to her right, Toni's attention was brought to Quill, and she immediately tensed seeing the man's arms start to crumble.

"Be steady, Quill," she spoke softly, her voice trembling slightly. Quill met her eyes with a pained expression as the dust crawled up to his neck. "Oh man," he whispered, before crumbling into the wind.

As soon as the Quill's body disappeared, Stephen fell to a knee, coughing harshly.

Toni went to help him up before pausing to notice Stephen's legs starting to dry and crumble.

Toni froze, before placing her hands on his face, making the ex-neurosurgeon face her, "Hey. Eyes on me. We're ok. Me and you? We're ok, Stephen. I just you need you to-"

"Toni," Stephen gasped, breaking the billionaire out of her ramblings.

The doctor looked up at her, meeting Toni's grief-stricken eyes, and kissed her palm before saying softly, "There was no other way."

And he was gone.

Toni stared at the spot the sorcerer had once stood for a few long moments, her brain desperately trying to process what had just happened. She swallowed harshly, staggering back slightly, and sat herself down on a rock.

"Miss Stark?" Peter's voice was scared.

No, was her first thought as she turned around to face her boy in horror.

"I don't feel so good." NO! Toni thought. Please. No. Anyone but him.

Peter stumbled towards Toni, staring at his arms in panic as they dusted and undusted, forcing Toni to snap out of her thoughts and rush over to the boy she thought of to be her son.

"You're all right." Toni reassured him, pressing a kiss to the side of his head as she felt him tremble in her arms, "I'm here, Peter. I'm not leaving you."

Peter let out a sob that may as well have drove the shrapnel further into her heart, "I don't know what's happening. I don't know."

Toni shushed him, stroking his head and trying to calm them both down, "It's ok. It's ok to not know things, honey. I told you this remember. It's ok to not know things."

Peter didn't seem to hear her as he sobbed harder, pleading, "I don't want to go. I don't want to go, mom. Please. Please. Mom, I don't want to go."

Peter fell to the ground and Toni with him, the tears that had begun to stream down her face, hitting Peter's dusty suit.

Toni didn't let go.

Her hands remained on his shoulders and she went to tell her son, to reassure him, You're going to be ok. I'm here. I'm not going to let you go. You don't have to go. Just keep looking at me. Just look at me.

With a tiny whisper, Peter turned into dust.

"I'm sorry, mom."

Toni slammed her hand through where Peter once was.

Her hand was full of nothing but the dust of her child.

She sobbed, her body howling in pain but she couldn't listen to it right now.

Not when her heart was screaming for her to get her son back.

Toni willed it to be false, as she sobbed harder looking at the dust on her hand.

Willed her son back.

Willed another chance back to save him.

To be there for him.

To protect him better.

To tell him that she felt the same.

That she did want to be his mother.

A cold hand came to rest upon her shoulder and she didn't need to look to tell it was the cyborg, Nebula.

The sister of Gamora who was sacrificed for a stone.

Toni's hand came to rest upon Nebula's hand and squeezed it.

To tell her that she was thankful for the support.

And that she (Nebula) could grieve as well.

"Toni?" A hopeful yet broken voice spoke out.

Every fibre inside of Toni froze.

She could hear Nebula getting out her sword, against the unfamiliar voice.

But the voice wasn't unfamiliar.

Not to Toni.

No.

She knew that voice like her own soul.

She knew that voice because her heart had chose him to be her brother.

Turning her head, still in a crouched position, Toni looked to her right to see Rhodey.

Rhodey who was staring at her with tears in his eyes.

Hopeful eyes.

Eyes that were puffy from crying.

Why had Rhodey been crying?

Rhodey who took a step towards her making the sun-why was there sun?-reveal dust on his armour.

Dust.

Toni's eyes snapped back to Rhodey and that's when the fear overtook her and she ran (to the best of her ability) into her older brother's arms.

2016: Leipzig-Halle Airport