𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐒 [𝖙•𝖘] [𝖎𝖒 - 𝖊𝖓𝖌]

⁶⁰. 𝑅𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛

"Where is — " Tony's eyes settled on her form. "Oh, good."

(Y/N) sniffled when she got up close and embraced him into a tight hug, finally seeing him up close and not behind a window. She inhaled his cologne that she used to poke fun at and let out an emotional laugh at having to smell it again. She let out a quiet sob at how much his figure had changed in the course of the past days, and how tired he looked. Tony melted into her touch as well, closing his eyes to savor the moment of her in his arms, having all that fear of her being dusted off disappear from his mind.

"I couldn't save him," he whispered in her ear, only loud enough for her to hear.

"It's not your fault," she muttered into the embrace. She pulled him even closer, if that was possible. "It is not your fault. We did what we could."

Tony lifted his face from being buried in (Y/N)'s shoulder to press a feather kiss to her temple. She closed her eyes at the touch, and with linked arms and hands, they walked toward the compound where they could assist his weak figure. Steve trailed behind them, keeping his distance to allow the couple to be with each other after being separated for a long period of time.

(Y/N) turned her head back to the spaceship in the middle of the field for a quick second, catching a glimpse of the blue woman sat by the end of the steps. She caught her eye for a short period of time, but wanted to make it count.

"Thank you," she whispered under her breath, making sure the woman could read her lips.

───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰ ───

"It has been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth."

Silence filled the room after Rhodey's words. The pictures from everybody's close ones were projected on the screens, switching from image to image. Nick Fury's picture came into the screen, and (Y/N) still couldn't register it in her mind; out of all people that wouldn't disappeared, she didn't imagine he would be part of them. Then, in the other side of the screen came in Peter's picture, and (Y/N) had to advert her eyes for a second to avoid shedding tears in public.

"World governments are in pieces," Natasha spoke up next, her tone being close to cracking. "The parts that are still working are trying to take a census and it looks like he did. He did exactly what he said he was gonna do. Thanos wiped out. . .50% of all living creatures."

"Where is he now?" Tony questioned and removed a hand from his forehead, sat in a wheelchair in the middle of the room with an IV behind him. "Where?"

"We don't know," Steve responded with crossed arms, leaning against a table. "He just opened a portal and walked through."

Tony's eyes fell on Thor's slugged figure, staring at the ground in silence. "What's wrong with him?"

"Oh, he's pissed," Rocket Raccoon answered, and Tony's eyes widened at the animal talking. "He thinks he failed. Which, of course, he did but theres a lot of that going around, ain't there?"

"Honestly, until this exact second I thought you were a Build-A-Bear."

"Maybe I am."

"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep space scans. . .and satellites, and we got nothing," Steve took a pause to think his next words through. "Tony, you fought him."