Unicorn death or Dragon death
Hands down Unicorn death. XD Dragons can survive sometimes, I think. I mean, I haven’t personally written one where the dragons survive, but I’m sure it exists out there and there need to be more dragon good guys. Unicorns, on the other hand, are meant to be destroyed. XD
If I was ever actually interested in Bucky, the Winter Dragon would totally be a thing though. He’d survive in that one, and he’d make a nice pillow for both Tony and Human Steve. There would be much angst before dragon cuddles though, especially since Tony can still feel the bond that Steve and Bucky used to have. Due to him being an idiot, he thinks that means Steve and Bucky were meant to be together (despite there being no romance on the Bucky/Steve soul bond all together. Tony never quite got that notion) and go completely self-sacrificial. Neither Sam nor Peggy approve, and Pepper and Rhodey are seriously just trying to keep their idiot boss alive. Natasha, who is still technically KGB since it’s the height of the cold war, is there to take back the asset. She tries to kill Steve because the bloody dragon seems to think it knows Steve.
Unfortunately, Tony is still being self-sacrificial and he sees this as the perfect opportunity to exercise his death wish. He gets in the way of said killing, nearly dies himself. This sends the dragon berserk because yeah, the bond with Steve is still there buried under Hydra brainwashing.
Natasha skedaddles, because she’d had dealing with Tony Stark during WWII and she had never meant to kill him. She was surprisingly rather fond of the idiot, who had saved her life during the war (she was still a child at that point, because young Natasha trained like Dottie is a thing I want more of). One of Fury’s agents, a young archer from the States who had just started a family, finds her. He’d been sent to kill her, but ya know, he makes a different call. Clint takes Natasha back to his farm for a bit to meet the wife and baby while Fury pretends to grumble about strays, looks imposing, but is secretly a soft touch who is worrying about Tony and the others and now has to deal with someone else he will start caring about. She sees a different sort of life from the one she’s been forced to live filled with death and killing, and gets accepted as family, because Natasha needs family and Clint, Fury, and Laura are going to give it to her.
On the other side of the story, Tony’s still in critical and Steve and Bucky are on a rampage. They’re gonna start WWIII if they aren’t stopped. Fury sends out Natasha and Clint, the former getting a very cold reception from the Howling Commandos and Tony’s crew. However, Wanda pull out the olive branch and they manage to subdue the dragon and knock out Steve.
Natasha knows how to save Tony, since she had seen some of Bucky’s conditioning before. She helps Bucky unblock the memories of his time underground and then Bucky can do just enough dragon healing to heal Tony. There is a big battle going on while this is happening because Hydra wants Bucky back and the others are trying to protect them, but a Hydra agent still gets through. He hurts Natasha badly as she’s trying to help Bucky concentrate past the block, which snaps Bucky back. Bucky makes short work of the Hydra agent and Sam walks Bucky through the deeper healing for Tony and Natasha. Sam, of course, doesn’t quite remember the whole being a dragon in a past life thing, but bits of the past are slipping through and he’s always had a bit of a knack for saving patients who should have been lost.
Anyway, Tony wakes up with a dragon’s head on his chest and tail curled around him, because Bucky is now going to protect this idiot who his bond-brother loves, and Tony really doesn’t know what to do with More Dragons. He’s going to have to make his mansion bigger. Natasha is curled up against Bucky’s flank with the metal wing protecting her from anyone who wants to try to get revenge, his bond brother included. Tony is already starting to come up with plans to make Bucky’s wing better, since he can feel how much that hurts Bucky, and he can sense the growing potential between Natasha and Bucky, though he can’t tell if it’s a romantic bond yet or a platonic one. Either way, he’s not letting Steve continue to glare at Natasha any more, and he works with Fury to get Natasha a job at Stark Industries (under cover, because she’s really joining The Crew and going off on adventures with everyone) because Natasha Still Deserves Family. She’s getting a big one.
Steve takes a bit to calm down, but when he does, he can also see the potential bond between Bucky and Natasha, and actually listens when Tony says she saved him, and finally becomes good friends with Natasha in the long run.
And all is a Happy Ending until Fury calls them all about a rampaging Unicorn that needs to be put down.
I realized this was not at all asked for in the slightest, but there you have it.