And the World Comes Crashing Down: Chapter 1

[ebony-twist.livejournal.com]

 Right, this is my response to piratepianist's challenge to write an AU in which Pepper ends up with Tony in Afghanistan too.  So, for your viewing pleasure, I present:

Title: And the World Comes Crashing Down: Chapter 1
Author: Ebony Twist
Rating: PG-13 (Better safe, than sorry)
Pairing: Tony/Pepper
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I can't say that I own them outside of wildly vivid fantasies.
Summary: When the rest of the world is beyond your reach, who else can you hold on to?

“Is it true you went twelve for twelve with last year’s Maxim cover models, sir?”

Beside Tony Stark, Pepper resists snorting into the bottle of water she snagged at the base, instead choosing to roll her eyes with as much dignity as possible.  Focusing her eyes back on her blackberry, she decides the more productive choice is to check up on the fifty two e-mails she’s acquired in the time it’s taken her boss to present his latest invention with his usual aplomb, picking her way through fan mail, semi-important meetings, important meetings, and extremely important meetings.  Still, her lips can’t help but twitch at the comment about the twins and when Tony drops an arm over her shoulder to include her in the picture, Pepper gives a small, ignored protest that remains unheard among Tony joking about gang signs and peace with the boy who couldn’t be a day over twenty with that sort of wide-eyed admiration for the infamous Mr. Tony Stark, her own remarks drowned out by arguments about how to handle the camera.

“Mr. Stark, I really don’t believe-“

The sky flashes with light, blinding Pepper and cutting her off mid-sentence.

“Just click it, don’t change any-“

But whatever argument the soldier was about to make disappears among crashing booms and the pain of Tony’s hand squeezing into her shoulder as he yanks her towards his body with all the force of the bombs exploding a few feet ahead. 

--------

The next few minutes feel surreal for him, almost like he’s watching the events from the comfort of his workshop, feet propped up at his desk and the volume blaring in his ears.  Except Pepper’s not normally clutched to his body like a lifeline when he watches movies and even he normally doesn’t like his noise this ear-shattering, and with those simple smatterings of logic, he slams back into reality just as the boy with the camera jumps out of the car and into the fire.  The panic that grips him feeds him adrenaline and fear, enough that when the kid who had just been staring at him like some little boy who’d just met his hero suddenly becomes a soldier he grasps forward, pleading for a gun, before he’s gone too, blown to bits and smattered against a broken window. 

“Tony, oh god, we have to move-“

Pepper’s voice chokes, and he can feel her body shaking against his and suddenly the panic goes from disorienting to overwhelming.  One arm firmly wrapped around her waist, he shoves the door open and drags her forward, away from the bombs and the gunshots and the destruction, back behind a craggy rock where they crouch for a few seconds of peace until his eyes catch on the machinery laying on the ground and for a second he’s back in his workshop and this has to be some sort of weird, crazy movie-dream brought on by having too much scotch and cold Chinese food at three in the morning before going off to sleep.

Then reality comes crashing through once again and he has seconds before he’s shoved Pepper behind him and they’re flying through the air, only not really, because they’ve crashed to the ground and why does everything hurt so much?  Dazed, he stares down at his chest and there’s red seeping through his shirt and a part of him wonders if that’s blood, or maybe he’s just seeing the strawberry hair that’s covering his vision too, the sweet scent of flowers mixing in with dust and blood and scotch.  His fingers stop grasping at his chest then so he can see if Pepper’s alright because suddenly she’s the only thing he can focus on and he’s not really sure why, but he’ll leave that thought until later because even worrying about her has begun to hurt his head and he needs to see her face before the blackness takes over completely.

Her freckles are stark against the pale skin of her face and there’s a gash on her forehead that looks nasty but she’s breathing because he can feel her chest rising up and down against his hand, the only solid feeling in the haze his mind’s started to sink into.  Contentment that she’s okay fills him, fills him enough that when the blackness starts seeping back forward he lets himself fall asleep to the rhythm of her chest beneath his head.

 
--------

 

The first time she wakes up, Pepper’s strapped to a chair and her alarm clock has come in the form of a barrel gun connecting with her cheek.  She thinks grimly that it will leave a mark, but that’s the least of her worries because one of her captors grabs her shoulders to shake her, demanding answers to questions she can’t understand and then he stops before grinning and running a hand down her cheek, caressing the bruised, battered skin with all the familiarity of an old lover while he whispers what a horrified part of her thinks might be promised threats. 

 

Pepper responds in a way she thinks Tony would have been proud of, and when the gun smashes into her skull once more, she can still hear the echoing, furious screams from when she bit his hand.

 
---------

 

The first time he wakes up, he’s stuck between dreams and reality, or more like nightmares either imagined or tangent.  Fire runs through his veins, and he bucks, clawing against hazy captors and burning, bright lights.  It takes a few seconds for his drug-clouded mind to coldly identify the harsh, piercing shouts as his own and the part of his brain that has always been just logarithms and algorithms and sequences classifies the identification away like he’s just discovered x and now he only needs y, z, and maybe a formula for them all to fit into.  The pain in his chest just increases, though, and soon what coherency he has left has drifted away, just like his thoughts, dripping through his hands as he tries to grasp onto them, except they’re like sand and soon his hands are empty and so’s his head and he’s back to fevered dreams filled with lullaby screams and strawberry hair that drips blood.

----------

The next time his jumbled thoughts decide to make some sort of logical sense, a plain sack has just been yanked off his head and he’s staring at an old-fashioned video camera while a thick Middle-Eastern accent dictates in some foreign language.  The unflappably scientific part of his brain labels the scene as a ‘ransom demand,’ or something along those lines and that becomes filed away next to his panicked, wild screams and an intense need to know that his assistant hadn’t managed to get caught in the shrapnel blast too. 

 

Even now, though, his thoughts are moving too sluggishly to do him any good and the sack’s back on his head before he can get past a vague sense of terror.  Now, though, he’s falling back into blackness that calls him into dreams of fire and bodies and boy soldiers fighting against the impossible.

 

Later, he will wish to go back to those dreams because even they are better than what has become his reality.

C

Comments

[jezunya.livejournal.com]

homygosh, wow. I can't even... Just tell me you're going to continue this. Please, please, please. Seriously, this is incredible. Very dark, and I'm terrified to think of how much worse things can be for Pepper being there, but incredible nonetheless. Just... wow.

[staarss.livejournal.com]

ok, call the movie studios, because they got it all wrong. they need to make THIS movie instead.

*freaks* can you please continue, because I think i might just have a heart attack if you don't.

Your writing is fabulous as well...the descriptions of the action, the emotion....really wonderful first chapter!! please continue...ill be watching and waiting!

(this was like the trailer of a movie, 6 months before it opens!,,uh, but dont wait 6 months to update!)

[takumachi.livejournal.com]

Please tell me there will a chapter 2! I really loved it.

Favorites part? Pepper biting the bad guys hand! lol Great.

[ebony-twist.livejournal.com]

Wow! Quick responses, and all of them positively lovely.
Thanks so much for the reviews, I definitely appreciate them. : )

Don't worry, chapter two's already underway. Yeah, this story's probably going to have a bit of a darker spin because honestly I can't imagine that Pepper being there would make this a picnic.

Hand biting was definitely fun lol.

[mariemjs.livejournal.com]

This is a fantastic idea, I seem to remember when the plot bunny was posted but you actually took to a whole new level, it's great writing and I can't wait for the next chapter, incredible job!!
*is already addicted to this AU*

[piratepianist.livejournal.com]

I think I started something XD

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I'm loving the beginning!

Anticipating chapter two! Always nice to see a more proactive and involved Pepper.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

♥! Love it. Tony being protective and Pepper being both badass and all too human and fragile at the same time . . . *needs more*

[aka-paloma.livejournal.com]

If you write more I will read it! So far this is a very interesting, very intriguing, and potentially very dark take on the tale. You've also managed to nicely build on the suspense and tension despite following the movie's early scenes quite faithfully, albeit with the inclusion of Pepper, of course.

I'm so curious as to what/who you will include/exclude and how you get both Tony and Pepper out of the cave and rescued in this AU version. I look forward to your updates. While I am a rather impatient person, thank you for making this a chaptered fic so this scenario can be explored in depth.

[shigoasakura.livejournal.com]

Veeery beautiful <3
I hope for the next chapter !

[niprhidel.livejournal.com]

Wow - this could be the start of a great AU, you do realize this yes?

*in other words* CANNOT wait for more! :)

[piratepianist.livejournal.com]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :DDDDD

AHH!! YOU WROTE IT!! I LOVE YOU!! Kay, now I'm gonna read it, lol.

ETA:

*smiling way too much* That was wonderfully written! You have a very good vocabulary and descriptive ability, and it stands out. I'm really proud of you for responding to the challenge with such amazingness.

WIN. XD

[house-kitten.livejournal.com]

I don't normally read AU fic...in any fandom. But now all I can say is...

MORE, PLEASE? *puppy eyes*

[wm-law2003.livejournal.com]

ooooohhhh...this is interesting!!

[amonitrate.livejournal.com]

Interesting concept. I'll look forward to seeing where you take it!

[ebony-twist.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! : )

The only thing I'm going to try to avoid with this is while it will be a darker take on the story, I'm really going to try to avoid any cliches and the like. But thanks for saying it looks great so far, I'm glad to know I'm doing a good job with staying true to the story and the characters!

Don't worry, chapter two will be out soon. : )

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

Wow, amazing. Such vivid imagery. I look forward to future parts.

[backporchpoet.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I started on that plot bunny a few days ago but I keep moving things around and whatnot, but I really like where you're going with it!

[redorchard13.livejournal.com]

oh!! *flail* i spent the whole fic mentally flailing about going <1>ohno tony go rescue her!! ohno pepper go rescue him!! oh no!!!
awesome idea. hope 2 comes soon.

[moo3350.livejournal.com]

This is fantastic, I'm so glad that I hadn't actualy started writting this same story line yet and went insted with a different idea, Becuase mine would look so stupid up a against this grate work I can't wait to read more.

Moo

[wolfenm.livejournal.com]

Fantastic premise! Can't wait to see where you go with it!!

[misschristmas.livejournal.com]

oh, dear. please - more. :)

[alafemmefatale.livejournal.com]

this is entirely too suspenseful, too nerve-wracking, too fantastic to languish for more than another minute or two without an update, so i demand that you post more immediately.

seriously, it's mindblowing. please continue:)

[midasu.livejournal.com]

This is good, this is so good. Will be waiting on the edge of my seat for the next chapter.

[ebony-twist.livejournal.com]

Thank you! : )

Chapter 3's on its way, just got back from a three week trip refreshed and with writing already done!

[csiroxmysox.livejournal.com]

okay, this SO needs to be updated!! too perfect, can't wait to read more!!

[bugeyedmonster.livejournal.com]

More please?

[poskxm.livejournal.com]

I love the story, I wish you had finished it.