𝕻𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖚𝖑𝖚𝖒 - [𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲]

𝐱𝐱𝐱𝐢𝐢𝐢. 𝘱𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘴

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 — pessimistic truths

━━━━━━━

 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐒 that surrounded Emilia gave her little comfort. The sterile smell that wafted with each jostling breeze made her gut tighten and threaten to spill what little contents it still held. The smell reminded her of the hospital in which she'd watched her mentor succumb to her wounds and leave behind a protege that was hopeless and lost beyond all measure.

 Emilia often wondered what the Ancient One would have thought about everything that had come to pass since her death; the power Emilia had gathered, the flourishing of Stephen's gifts... Thanos. She would have known what to do, she would have known how to carry on. But she wasn't here.

 Bruce remained by her bedside and shifted silently on the steel chair he'd taken residence on. His eyes would flicker from the bed he faced, to the one that was settled behind him. Bruce had brought Emilia into the very room Tony had been placed within; he had seen the way their eyes would find each other; they were two people who shouldered so much and had been there when everything else had faded into nothingness.

 Tony had a knack for taking people under his wing and helping them in any way he could; perhaps that was because nobody had ever done the same for him. 

 Howard Stark had been nothing more than a dead-beat father that placed the stress and legacy of a corporation onto his son's shoulders. Obadiah Stain had betrayed him even after years of working side-by-side. After everything, Bruce truly believed Tony was merely helping people in a way he hadn't been helped. Tony Stark wanted to leave people stronger and happier, when his father and mentor had done nothing but the opposite.

 As for Emilia, it was only natural to stick like glue to the person who had been there to watch as the person she cared for most faded into ashes. Tony had experienced their loss and felt it just as deeply as she... And he reminded her of Stephen; it hurt to hear his sarcasm that could have so easily slipped from her lover's lips, to watch a grin curl beneath a goatee that she had once carved upon Stephen's face... But it was also a comfort.

 Unlike Tony who had surrendered to his weakened state, Emilia remained awake with eyes locked onto the ceiling. She listened to Pepper's whispers as the woman trailed a finger over her fiance's cheek. She clutched onto Rhodey's worried mutterings, and she hung on tight to the sparse words that Bruce would utter.

 "I'm sorry." Emilia said suddenly, and her hoarse voice echoed through the room. She swallowed heavily, flinching at the pain nestled within her throat, "For leaving without a word, all those years ago. You deserved better, Bruce."

 "You don't have to apologise." The man returned weakly, his fingers wiping away the sleep in his eyes. He had worried relentlessly when he'd found her empty home and his phone bare of any updates even after weeks and months had passed. But, in a way, he understood; he too had run away from the person that he was and the power that resided within him.