Maddison Romanoff-Stark

It's hard to be anywhere these days when all I want is you

Today is the day of my parent's funerals. My mom's memorial ceremony is the first event of devastation today since we don't have a body to bury. However, we are giving her a gravestone because she deserves recognition.

I'm in a jumpsuit rather than a dress because my parents would want me to wear what I'm comfortable in.

I'm living in the cabin that my dad built. Yes, I'm living there alone, but I don't want to move out. It's almost like I can still feel my parents here.

Wanda is here helping me get ready because it'll be too hard for me to do it independently. Wanda puts my hair in two French braids like my mom used to do. She doesn't put any makeup on me because I'm not too fond of it, and my parents wouldn't want me to show up in anything that they didn't know me to wear.

We drive to the cemetery for my mom's memorial ceremony. I'm hyperventilating as Wanda drives. I'm officially saying goodbye to my parents today. Yes, they'll be with me in my heart, but this is it, I'm making speeches about both of my parents, I'm listening to testimonials about my parents, and I'm commemorating both.

Wanda's trying to get me to take deep breaths, but I can't. I won't be able to cry into my dad while my mom strokes my hair. I won't be crying into my mom while my dad says or does something funny to cheer me up. I won't be called sweetie, honey, angel, missy, squirt, kiddo, smartie, or any of the nicknames my parents made up ever again. Not by them, at least. I've retired those nicknames because my parents coined them.

We arrive, and Wanda holds one of my shaking hands. I have my speech folded up in my pocket, along with the photos I grabbed from my nightstand in the compound. I'm glad I grabbed those because the compound is destroyed.

Everyone is seated in front of a gravestone that says,

Natasha Romanoff

ⴵ

Daughter Sister Avenger Mother.

The front row is where Yelena, Alexi, Melina, Clint, and his family are sitting. The second row is where Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Steve, Bruce, Thor, Wanda, Sam, and Bucky are sitting. The last row is for anyone else like Rhodey, Peter, Scott, T'Challa, Okoye, Shuri, Carol Danvers, and a few others are sitting. Anyone else is standing in the back. I have a seat in the front row too. I have Wanda on the end of the second row behind my chair in case I need some extra moral support.

Soon enough, it's time for my speech, and I stand up and take a shaky deep breath. "I never thought I would have to do this so soon. Wow. Hi, I'm Madison Romanoff-Stark. I'm Natasha's daughter. First off, I want to thank you all for coming here. It would have meant a lot to my mom. My mom was many things. The Red Room's top assassin, the world's top assassin, Shield's best agent, The Black Widow, an Avenger, and I could go on for hours. She loved those titles, but her favorite ones were best friend, daughter, sister, and the most shocking one of all, mother. If you really knew my mom as I did, you would know that she has a serious soft spot for her family. Not only for me, but the Barton kids and her first family, Yelena, Melina, and Alexi. My mom could be described as sarcastic, coordinated, motivated, diligent, self-disciplined, street smart, bold, confident, private, loyal, practical, fighter, Ballerina, and charismatic. If you knew my mom for any given amount of time, you're probably familiar with at least half of those. Here's one that I didn't add to that list that I will add now. Reliable. Until the very end, I knew I could always count on my mom to come back from missions. I would often describe her as having a straight-A track record for returning from missions. I love that my mom always made time for me and treated me like a normal kid even though I'm not. Until six years ago, no one knew that I existed. It was a hard secret to keep. But, no matter what, after each mission, my mom would open her arms wide for me, and I would run into her open arms, and she'd stand there hugging me with my feet way off the ground. Those are some of my favorite memories. Of course, I love the memories of my mom's reactions when I used what's been titled "my double dose of sarcasm." I say.

I go on for another three minutes. The next three minutes were better, and I got to some of the funny moments. I end my speech by saying, "I want to leave you with a few words. My mom died so we could live. Honor her. Don't let her sacrifice go to waste." Everyone nods to my parting words, and I go back to my seat and wipe away a few stray tears.

An hour later, we drive back to the cabin for my dad's memorial ceremony since we had him cremated as per his request. Some of us are sitting in the living room watching a recording that my dad made in his Mark 85 helmet. "Everybody wants a happy ending, right? But it doesn't always roll that way. Maybe this time. I'm hoping if you play this back... it's in celebration. I hope families are reunited. I hope we get it back. And something like a normal version of the planet has been restored. If there ever was such a thing. God, what a world. Universe, now. If you told me 10 years ago that we weren't alone... let alone to this extent, I mean, I wouldn't have been surprised... but come on, who knew? The epic forces of darkness and light that have come into play. And for better or worse...that's the reality Madison's gonna have to find a way to grow up in. So I thought I'd probably better record a little greeting... in case of an untimely death, on my part. Not that death at any time isn't untimely. This time travel thing that we're gonna try and pull off tomorrow... it's got me scratching my head about the survivability of it all. No matter what, I'm proud that Madison was the one who figured it out. She's the one who made it work. Anyways, that's the thing. Then again, that's the hero gig, right? Part of the journey is the end. What am I even tripping for? Everything is gonna work out exactly the way it's supposed to. I love you 3,000." says my dad. Then I watch as he turns off the recording. He was sitting in a chair talking to us as though he was right in front of us. He looked directly at where I'm sitting and said, "I love you 3,000." which is what I said to my mom and him.

I walk down the stairs of my house holding a wreath with my dad's first Arc Reactor. The Arc Reactor is engraved with the message "PROOF THAT TONY STARK HAS A HEART." I'm followed down the stairs by Happy, Rhodey, Steve, Thor, and Bruce. Closest to the stairs is Wanda, then Sam, the Bartons, and then lots of other people that I know. Everyone who fought in the final battle against Thanos two days ago is present. Even Harley Keener, who helped my dad when I was four, is here. I get to the dock and carefully lower the wreath onto the water and pour my dad's ashes around it. I stand there watching the wreath float away, and the ashes float or dissolve.

After the wreath is far away, everyone gives me their condolences and asks if they can do anything. I tell them that just them being here was more than enough. I'm sitting on the porch with Happy, and he asks, "How are you doing, Mads?" "I'm okay. How are you?" I say. "I'm doing alright," says Happy. I nod.

Steve got back from returning the stones, and he came back old. I think he lived his life with Peggy. He gave Sam his shield. The only original Avengers left are Clint, Thor, and Bruce. My parents are two original Avengers. They're both dead, and given the age that Steve returned as, he's not going to be around much longer.

Everyone wants what's best for me. Clint's offered for me to live with him and his family, but I didn't want to. I think it'll hurt me too much to see Cooper, Lila, and Nate, with both of their parents and each other. I politely declined his offer, and he said that the offer still stands no matter what.

I'm living in the house that my dad built, and I'm going to school. Peter comes and visits me a lot and helps me with homework and such. Wanda used to stay here all the time, but November came, and she disappeared. It's December now.

Peter's over at my house, and we're both doing homework. I have three colors of highlighters out. Green, yellow, and red. I'm working on English, highlighting things that I do, sort of, and don't understand. "What's with all the highlighters, anyway?" asks Peter. "Green is for the things I understand. Yellow is for I'm working on it. And... Red means I have no clue. I'm mostly using red," I say. Peter gives me a look of sympathy. I got this method from when my dad used green, yellow, and red strings on his pinboard in his lab.

Even though I lost my parents, I think I'm going to be okay. I've got friends like Peter and Wanda where ever she is. I've got adults dropping in all the time, and I've got Friday to keep me indefinite company. If I'm lonely, I always talk to Friday if no is around. I also work on tech stuff. Besides, I'm Madison-Romanoff-Stark. I can make the best out of any situation.