2023 ― Upstate New York
"We won, you did it, Uncle Tony. You did it, we won."

Tony and Katherine both looked up seeing the gauntlet, knowing only one of them had to grab it. So Katherine rushed for it. Only to be grabbed by Thanos. When she tried to hit him, he threw her back, and when Tony tried to hit him as well, Thanos threw him back too. Thor came over and brought down his ax, and with Thanos distracted, he tried to grab the gauntlet, but Thanos grabbed him.

Thor brought his ax back down and Thanos blocked it, and Thor summoned his hammer as the lightning overtook his eyes. Then Katherine noticed her husband jump on Thanos' back to bring more power to the Mjolnir, but then Thanos was able to knock Thor and Steve off of him, and as he knocked Steve down, he gave him a hard punch to the face.

"Dad!" Katherine heard Amaya's voice as she and Christian had joined them. When Amaya saw Thanos move to pick up the gauntlet, she shot out her powers at him, trying to grab it from him, but when she saw Carol come down and start to give him blows, she let her powers drop and she ran over to her dad.

"Chris!" Christian heard and when he turned around, Wanda was approaching him. Between disappearing for five years, and being immediately thrown into battle when he 'woke up,' he didn't get much of a reunion with Wanda. Christian quickly grabbed her waist and pulled her into a kiss. From the moment he saw her disintegrate five years ago, he was heartbroken.

"Wanda, I love you, and I never want to be away from you again," Christian said and Wanda laid her hand in his hair as she pulled him into another kiss.

"You never have to be. I love you too, Chris." She whispered before Christian pulled her body close in a hug. Happy to have Wanda and his family back.

"Amaya. Where's Aunt Nat?" Christian asked. He noticed while fighting that he saw Nikita but not Natasha, and Amaya frowned as she looked at him. She knew how close Christian and Natasha were. Even though she was also close to Natasha, she knew for Christian it was different because Natasha mainly helped him get over his PTSD with Viper and they only grew closer after that incident.

She hated that she was going to have to break her brother's heart.

"I'll tell you when this is over." She said and Christian nodded his head. They all ran over to Steve to help him recover.

"Dad, are you okay?" Christian asked while laying his hand down on his dad's shoulder and Steve responded by immediately sitting up and pulling his son into a hug. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes, but he only held his son tightly and Christian hugged him back with equal strength.

"I'm okay now, buddy. Now that you're back." Steve whispered to him and Christian nodded his head.

"I missed you guys so much, Dad." He said. When he and Steve pulled away, Steve stood up from the ground and laid his hand down on his son's cheek. Then he leaned forward and kissed his forehead.

"We missed you more than I could ever explain to you," Steve said.

"Where's Mom?" Christian asked and then Katherine caught Amaya's eyes. She was still with Tony and they were still the closest to the gauntlet and Amaya pointed over.

"There she is." She said.

Tony and Katherine watched as Thanos knocked Carol away and when he looked at Dr. Strange, he held up one finger, meaning this was the ending that he saw, the only way they would win. Katherine's eyes widened as Thanos had all the stones, and their energy was radiating through him.

"No, no, not again." She said while getting up. She was about to lunge for him, but she noticed that Tony had already grabbed the gauntlet. "Tony!" She exclaimed. As Tony was mainly grabbing all of the stones and not the whole gauntlet, once he got them all without Thanos knowing, Thanos knocked him on the ground, where Katherine ran to his side.

"Tony..." She whispered while lifting his head from the ground, as Thanos adjusted the gauntlet.

"I am inevitable," Thanos said and Katherine watched as he snapped his fingers, and then looked shocked that nothing happened. Then she heard a groan and when she looked to her side, Tony had the stones in his gauntlet, the power radiating through him and her eyes widened.

"No, no, Anthony don't! The power will kill you!" Katherine exclaimed already feeling the tears come to her eyes as she shook her head, but Tony only looked at her before he looked up at Thanos and spoke one last line.

"And I... am... Iron Man." Tony said and then he snapped his fingers. The rest of the Avengers who didn't know that Tony had just snapped his fingers were still all fighting Thanos' army as they all started to disappear and disintegrate. As everyone focused on that, Katherine looked at her godson, who was resting against a rock, his breathing was deep and shallow, and half of his body looked like it was burned, much like Thanos did five years ago when he snapped.

"Tony... come on Anthony, talk to me," Katherine whispered to him as she gently grabbed his hand. She could only hear Tony wheezing, but he didn't talk. His silence brought tears to her eyes, and she shook her head. She couldn't lose him, not like this.

Rhodey landed beside them and bent down to Tony's level, and Katherine used her other hand to run it through his hair. Amaya, Peter, and Christian also came to the clearing, shocked to see the state he was in.

"Mr. Stark?" Peter said.

"Uncle Tony?" The twins said together. Rhodey stood up and let Peter, Amaya, and Christian take his place next to Tony as all the kids reached for him.

"Hey! Mr. Stark, can you hear me?" Peter asked.

"It's me, Maya. We won, Uncle Tony." Amaya said. Tears were coming to her eyes, as Tony wasn't even looking at them, he was looking past him.

"We won, you did it, Uncle Tony. You did it, we won." Christian said. His voice was starting to break as well.

"I'm sorry... Tony." Peter said as he started to cry. Pepper walked up and laid gentle hands-on Peter's shoulders as he and the kids stood up. Amaya immediately hugged Peter, while Christian walked over to his Dad needing a hug from him as Pepper bent down to take Tony's other hand, and with her free hand, she grabbed Katherine's free hand.

The two women who have been with him from the beginning were now here for the end. "Hey," Pepper said to him and Tony looked at her.

"Hey, Pep." He whispered. Katherine let go of Pepper's hand and put Pepper's hand on Tony's centerpiece, and Tony laid his hand back on top of hers, before squeezing Katherine's hand with his other hand.

"Friday," Katherine said to his system.

"Life functions critical," Friday responded.

"Tony. Look at me. We're gonna be okay. You can rest now." Pepper said. Katherine squeezed his hand while taking a heavy breath.

"Katherine..." Tony wheezed out and Katherine sniffled.

"I'm right here, T..." She whispered.

"I love you, Katherine... and thank you for being the best third parent I ever had," Tony said his voice breaking as he did which only brought more tears to Katherine's eyes to hear his words. She always knew that she would probably outlive Tony, but she never imagined the end going like this.

"Hey... look at me. I will take care of them, I promise. The same promise I made to your father, I'm making it to you. I will look after them, okay? I love you, Anthony." Katherine whispered. Her voice broke at the end. While Pepper left her hand on Tony's centerpiece. Katherine laid her head on his shoulder, nuzzled on his neck as she started to sob over him. She could feel his breathing slow to a stop. His hand fell off of Pepper's as his centerpiece went out.

The rest of the Avengers stood around before Clint dropped to his knees. As Clint dropped to his knees, the rest of the Avengers followed suit and did the same, out of respect for Tony, but for Steve, he more collapsed to his knees. Having to see Tony die, having to see his wife broken over it, knowing this was going to change her for a long time, and knowing that Tony died even though he was the one who was hesitant about doing the plan in the first place. It was unfair. As the rest of the Avengers took a knee for Tony, there was one who didn't stick around much after the battle.

Gamora was gone.

―

Well, that sucked, and I almost cried while writing this scene.

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xoxo.