( the first thing elena felt, after four months of being cut off from her emotions, was fear.
like the ajna endgame, red and green teams were sent to murder the hell out of the remaining apex species, along with whoever volunteered from the other teams. elena got the distinct impression tony wouldn't have volunteered if not for her — as a yellow, he wasn't required to participate, even if it was highly encouraged. she was going, though, and tony wanted to keep an eye on her, so there he was, flying around like a moron while elena ran around the ground. the one thing substrata had going for it compared to all the planets they'd been to so far was an apex species she could actually eat, and elena tore into human necks with probably a lot more ferocity than was generally required. it kept her distracted, though, so that she didn't look up to check on tony until she heard the distant boom.
it wasn't a particularly loud boom, really. probably not something that should have distracted her, considering all the gunfire already going on around her. but something about it caught her attention, and she whipped her head up to the sky just in time to see tony start to fall.
at first, she wasn't concerned. she wasn't anything. she knew he would right himself and everything would be fine, so she didn't need to worry. but he kept falling, dropping faster and faster —
she could see it happening, tony hitting the ground, dead or paralyzed from the impact — useless to the cdc either way, none of the instructors would care to mourn him. no one would care to expend the resources necessary to bring him back. steve would rage at the loss of a friend and die trying to make it right, barnes would need not to feel again, the crew would be a lifeless, dark thing without tony stark in it —
elena's heart skipped a beat.
without thinking, she ran forward, as fast as her legs would carry her, blurring through the battlefield with no care given to what fights she was interrupting as she went. she could hear honey's voice in her ear as clearly as if she was actually speaking: why bother? if he sucks enough to die then he deserves it.
tony stark does not deserve to die. not here, not like this.
back in mystic falls, elena could clear the gym at her high school easily, that gives her at least a fifty foot jump. higher, if she really worked for it. tony was falling fast, quickly closing in on the ground, and she only had seconds to make her move. she leapt, grabbing tony and pulling him close to her chest, and had just enough time to angle them so she hit the ground first before his momentum slammed them back onto solid earth.
everything after that was a blur. she could remember the excruciating pain of impact, tearing the mask off the suit to make sure tony was still breathing, screaming for someone to get a nanite gun, and then... after that it was just flashes. the two of them being transported to the medical rover, elena insisting tony be looked at first, head pounding and heart racing and everything is too loud, all the voices of all the people she's wronged over the past four months, all the humans she killed in the course of their work here —
she didn't leave the med bay. she's still there when tony wakes up, sitting at his side, and she's trying to come up with something to say when he speaks first. his comment gets a laugh, at first genuine, if a bit strained, which morphs quickly into a sob, and before elena can stop herself she's crying. she curls up tight, hands over her eyes, trying to breathe, get herself under control, but everything she hasn't let herself feel for four months has finally caught up to her. it was held at bay at first with concern for tony's well-being, but he's the exact same asshole he's always been, and now there's nothing to distract her from it. )
no subject
like the ajna endgame, red and green teams were sent to murder the hell out of the remaining apex species, along with whoever volunteered from the other teams. elena got the distinct impression tony wouldn't have volunteered if not for her — as a yellow, he wasn't required to participate, even if it was highly encouraged. she was going, though, and tony wanted to keep an eye on her, so there he was, flying around like a moron while elena ran around the ground. the one thing substrata had going for it compared to all the planets they'd been to so far was an apex species she could actually eat, and elena tore into human necks with probably a lot more ferocity than was generally required. it kept her distracted, though, so that she didn't look up to check on tony until she heard the distant boom.
it wasn't a particularly loud boom, really. probably not something that should have distracted her, considering all the gunfire already going on around her. but something about it caught her attention, and she whipped her head up to the sky just in time to see tony start to fall.
at first, she wasn't concerned. she wasn't anything. she knew he would right himself and everything would be fine, so she didn't need to worry. but he kept falling, dropping faster and faster —
she could see it happening, tony hitting the ground, dead or paralyzed from the impact — useless to the cdc either way, none of the instructors would care to mourn him. no one would care to expend the resources necessary to bring him back. steve would rage at the loss of a friend and die trying to make it right, barnes would need not to feel again, the crew would be a lifeless, dark thing without tony stark in it —
elena's heart skipped a beat.
without thinking, she ran forward, as fast as her legs would carry her, blurring through the battlefield with no care given to what fights she was interrupting as she went. she could hear honey's voice in her ear as clearly as if she was actually speaking: why bother? if he sucks enough to die then he deserves it.
tony stark does not deserve to die. not here, not like this.
back in mystic falls, elena could clear the gym at her high school easily, that gives her at least a fifty foot jump. higher, if she really worked for it. tony was falling fast, quickly closing in on the ground, and she only had seconds to make her move. she leapt, grabbing tony and pulling him close to her chest, and had just enough time to angle them so she hit the ground first before his momentum slammed them back onto solid earth.
everything after that was a blur. she could remember the excruciating pain of impact, tearing the mask off the suit to make sure tony was still breathing, screaming for someone to get a nanite gun, and then... after that it was just flashes. the two of them being transported to the medical rover, elena insisting tony be looked at first, head pounding and heart racing and everything is too loud, all the voices of all the people she's wronged over the past four months, all the humans she killed in the course of their work here —
she didn't leave the med bay. she's still there when tony wakes up, sitting at his side, and she's trying to come up with something to say when he speaks first. his comment gets a laugh, at first genuine, if a bit strained, which morphs quickly into a sob, and before elena can stop herself she's crying. she curls up tight, hands over her eyes, trying to breathe, get herself under control, but everything she hasn't let herself feel for four months has finally caught up to her. it was held at bay at first with concern for tony's well-being, but he's the exact same asshole he's always been, and now there's nothing to distract her from it. )