5Summary: Tony see's Natasha in the Soul Gem after he snaps.
She Is Why Purgatory Was Invented
Thanos stared down at Tony, a smug smile on his face as he held the gauntlet aloft, "I am inevitable."
His fingers click together as he snaps -err well tries to. Tony really wishes someone had a camera right now to capture the look of complete outrage on the purple bastard's face. History deserves to have that. Tony holds up his right hand the six infinity stones shimmer menacingly against the red of his armor.
Tony doesn't hesitate. Strange's single raised finger flickers across his mind as he stares down the Titan raises his hand and says, "I am Iron Man."
His thumb connects with his forefingers and he snaps. An agonizing wave of sheer power rushes through his body. It feels like every fiber of his body is burning. It hurts and then suddenly he's numb and the colors of the world fade around him.
He can distantly hear a voice calling to him, he thinks it might be Pepper. He sure hopes its Pepper. He can't hear exactly what she's saying it's all garbled and drifts outside his ability to comprehend. It sounds calming though, no tears that's good. He never liked to see Pepper cry. She'll be fine though, Pepper and Morgan and everyone else. They'll be fine. The voice sounded like it was telling him to rest. That sounded like a good idea. His eyes drifted closed and then nothing.
He blinked awake to a world bathed in eerie orange light. He glanced around and was met with nothing. The ground rippled around him like it was wet but nothing changed. It's odd. Something about this place seemed unnatural like it was a facsimile of reality.
He'd died. He remembered the nanoparticles slipping the stones onto his suit and snapping. But, this sure as hell didn't look like heaven.
Tony had never really considered himself much of a religious man. Honestly, he'd been too busy most of his life to give it a second thought. That'd changed somewhat in that cave in Afghanistan. Tony vaguely remembered mumbling prayers alongside Yinsen. When you were looking down the barrel of a gun well, a little communing with higher powers didn't hurt. After that well his chats with god were far from standard.
Still, he expected with saving half the universe god might the decency to grant him some slack and let him into heaven. If this was heaven though, yeesh, no wonder people wanted to go down. To be frank, this place left a lot to be desired. Most notably any color variation besides orange and yellow.
Tony was distracted by his musings on the afterlife that he didn't notice a hand slip onto his shoulder and squeeze lightly.
He jumped, whirling around to face the threat. He half raised his left hand, expecting the nanosuit to wrap around him the way it always had.
Instead, he found Natasha staring quizzically down at him, her red hair carefully braided against her scalp.
"Romanov?" He whispered. She slid closer and wrapped him into a tight hug. He slowly tightened his grip around her. She felt real. He'd heard Clint explain what happened on Vormir. A sacrifice was needed and Natasha had done it. They were left without even a body to bury. He couldn't believe she was here, wherever here was.
"Did we do it, Tony?"
"Yeah, we did it." She nodded solemnly, releasing him from her hug, "Where are we?"
Nat's lips curled into a soft smile, "I think you already know that one playboy."
"The Soul Stone?" He hazarded a guess, "But how?"
She shrugged, "Last thing I remember is throwing myself off a cliff. Then I wake up here." She cocked her head to the side, "Can you hear it?"
A shiver ran up his spine, "No, I can't say I do."
Natasha smiled sadly, "We don't have much longer. Still, I'm glad to see you, Tony. Everyone else made it right?"
"Yeah, Cap, Bruce, Thor, Clint they're fine."
"Good, as selfish as it sounds," She intertwined her fingers into his and rested her head against his shoulder, "If someone had to go I'm glad it was me. The red's finally out of my ledger and I can rest knowing the others will be okay now. Just wish you didn't have to be here too. Morgan's a great kid she deserved to grow up with her father."
Tony didn't know what to say to that. She did, but she also deserved to grow up in a world that wasn't terrorized by the memory of a mass genocide. A world where Peter Parker never even got to grow up. No, it was better this way, a brighter future. Morgan would do great, he had no doubt Pepper would love her enough for both of them.
The orange seemed to be getting brighter. He squinted, "This usual in your part of the world Nat?"
She shook her head, "It's time."
He had a sinking feeling in his stomach, "Time? Time for what? What are you talking about?" He reached for Natasha, but she stepped beyond him and out of his reach.
"You don't belong here, Tony. You're going someplace better."
He frowned. That couldn't be. He looked behind him and saw white light washing out the orange, "Aren't you coming with me?"
Nat shook her head, "I can't the stone demands a sacrifice. There's no undoing it." She pushed him gently towards the light, "Don't worry though I'm not alone."
Something flashed in his peripheral vision and suddenly there was a green woman standing next to Natasha her hand resting on Nat's shoulder, "Tony, do me a favor when the other's get up to wherever you're going, tell them I love them," Her voice cracked uncharacteristically, "and I couldn't imagine a better family."
"Nat wait-" He started to turn around and dig his heels into whatever counted as the ground in this fucked up gem. Natasha gave him a knowing smile and a final push into the warm light.
The brightness enveloped him as Natasha's body faded from his view, "Be seeing you Stark. Don't start any fights until I get there."
Author's Note: So I might be just a tad salty about the fact that they didn't have any funeral/memorial scene for Natasha Romanov during Tony Stark's funeral so I'm writing all sorts of things as an ode to the one and only Black Widow. As far as I'm concerned this story actually happened and you can't tell me otherwise. If you're salty like me feel free to rant in the comments.
