A Little Fall of Rain (Ironstrange)

Chapter 11

Tony POV

Tony woke up in a hospital room feeling mildly annoyed.

Okay, perhaps that was an understatement.

The moment Tony woke up, his eyes shot open and he tumbled out of the bed he had been laying down in. He scrambled up from the floor and fumbled for his belongings. Noticing the IV drip in his arm, he gritted his teeth and ripped it out. He leapt to the door, ready to run back to Stephen, when he heard a quiet cough behind him. He whipped around to find...

Pepper.

He sucked in his breath. She did not look exactly thrilled with him.

"Anthony Edward Stark."

"...that's me."

"You sit back down on that bed, or so help me, I will-"

"OKAY OKAY!" Tony yelped, thoroughly terrified of the woman across the room from him. He stared at the door handle, his hand trembling above it. He was so close, so close to getting to see Stephen again. He turned his head to look back to Pepper, who was giving him "The Look". He sighed, pulled himself away from the door, and retreated to his bed.

"Happy now?" he grumbled, his arms crossed.

"Well I'm not exactly thrilled, Tony. You're in the hospital. Do you... do you even remember what happened?"

Tony did not, in fact, remember what had happened. Regardless, he nodded. He wanted to get out of here as quick as possible so he could go see Stephen.

Pepper raised her eyebrow. "Really? Then please, enlighten me as to what happened."

"Erm. Well you see, I- um, we had- I was-"

"That's what I thought. Tony... you've already seen Stephen."

"I... I did?"

"Yes. You were in his room for no more than five minutes before... before we heard him calling for help."

"I... what?"

Pepper sighed. "We were hoping you could tell us... When we came into the room, you were unconscious across the room from Stephen. Something happened and... there's something else you need to know."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Okay. Shoot."

"Something... something is wrong with Stephen." Pepper let the ominous words fill into the room, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. She looked away from Tony, not knowing what to say.

"...uh, well, um, of course! He's been, like, knocked out for several months! Of course he's reacting like this, it's the first time he's been awake! Which is why you need to let me go see him!" Tony sputtered, fumbling for a reason for all of this to be normal and to simply get out of this.

"No, Tony, not like that. Some weird... sorcerer thing. He's completely and totally unresponsive to everything we do. He's been staring into nothingness, not blinking once. He's mumbling... terrible things Tony. Terrifying things. Non stop, all the time. And his eyes... It's like he's..."

Pepper's voice trailed off before she cleared her throat and continued, "Before either one of us can help him, we have to help you first."

"What, me? I'm fine. Let me go see Mr. Magic Man, I'm sure there's an explanation for all of this," Tony said as he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of his bed. Before he could get far, Pepper gently but firmly pressed him back down. Tony huffed, and Pepper responded with another Look. Tony sighed and stilled.

"Tony. Do you know how long you were unconscious for?"

"Aw come on, Pep! It's only been like a couple hours-"

"A week. Whatever happened in that room, it knocked you out for a week. And it's seriously messed Stephen up... I don't know how much of him is left."

Tony's jaw set as he shoved past Pepper to get up. He quickly began putting on his jacket and gathering his belongings as he spoke.

"Yeah, well, I don't give a crap. I'm fine. As for Stephen, you guys are just missing something. There's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this, and whatever it is, it's sure as heck not stopping me from going to see him."

"Tony, I don't think that that's a good-"

She turned around only to see an open door behind her. Cursing, she ran after Tony, quickly catching up to him.

"Ah, there you are Pep. Coming?"

"Tony, the doctors said that you-"

"TO HECK WITH EM! Now, where on earth is Room 221?"

They rounded the corner.

"There's Room 221."

Tony rushed toward the door and jiggled the handle. Locked. He sighed and turned to Pepper.

"Got a hair pin?" he asked, opening his hand. Pepper stared at him in shock.

"Okay, Tony, enough. This is getting out of hand. You can't just break into-"

Click.

"Just did. Don't worry about the hairpin, I always keep a spare for moments like this."

His hands, shaking, opened the door in front of him. He took a step into the dark room. The dim lights flickered. The hairpin clattered from Tony's grasp, hitting the cold floor. Tony's eyes widened as he stood, glued to his spot on the floor as he stared at Stephen.

His skin was deathly pale and gaunt, like the life was being sucked out of him.

His breathing was raspy and cold and haunted, as if each breath could be his last. It almost seemed as if he was already dead and this was just the ghost of his final moments. Perhaps it was.

His eyes were, as Pepper warned, staring into nothing, unblinking. They were both entirely black as a void, wide and faintly glowing in colors too impossible for the mind to comprehend. As Tony neared, he could see bloody tears streaming from them staining his face with scarlet.

His mouth was stuck in a wide smile, one much too large and showing too much teeth to be natural, especially for a man as serious as Stephen. His lips moved, his smile never wavering as a whisper dripped from them.

"Seduction, torture, all the same,

Promises corrupt,

Cease to follow, you will pay,

Death is so abrupt."

Author's Note: WHAT UP GUYS I'M BAAAAAACK! Boy, was I excited for that chapter. I really hope you enjoyed it! Very ominous... anyway, clearly, I'm back from my hiatus! I'm so so sorry for the long break, but I'm really gonna try to start updating again! Please note that I have exams in two weeks, so I probably won't be able to update again until after those. I should be updating a bit more often now though! Thanks so much for all your support; love you guys so much! Hope you have a great holiday season! <3 

-Ironstrange616