𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐊𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 || ( infinity war )

↳ epilogue

space
day 22

he's becoming cold. or maybe it's the worry. he isn't entirely sure.

he takes the jacket from nebulas hands. it's still warm, and it smells like perfume. he could swore that she was here just a few seconds ago. she had just looked at him, before he went to sleep

how could she be gone so fast?

he pats down the jacket, opening the pockets, trying to find something, anything that would give a hint to what happened to her.

he opens a little pocket which is knit into the inside of the jacket like a secret.

he takes out a small and folded piece of paper. the words 'good girl' are written on one side, but he turns it around to find what he has been searching for

'don't worry' he reads, the words are messily written, looking like they were scrambled down with closed eyes 'i had to go. don't search for me please, there was no decision to make here. just promise me that you will make it out alive, tony'

tears collect in his eyes at the mention of his name. she was smart, she knew that he would find her letter.

'don't feel guilty' he sighs 'i know that you sometimes do that, you just don't tell anyone' he laughs at that, a few tears dropping onto the paper and making the words hard to recognize

he is about to fold it again, to put it into his pocket, before he catches the small words at the very ending of the ripped page

'please don't tell steve that i was here'

that is the last confirmation he needs. she wouldn't ask that of him if she planned to ever come back.

in the beginning he didn't really like her, now that seemed foolish to him. her pain was obvious, her anger understandable, especially for him

but after all the fights that they had, she was still a good person.

a person that would come to fight when it was needed, leaving her own wants behind. like she did when she followed peter onto the space ship, although she rarely knew him and could care less

a person that would sacrifice themselves, leaving her own wants behind. like she did when she left, trying to save nebula and himself, and giving away the possibility to see steve again

a person that wouldn't want to cause anymore pain, because she left her own wants behind. like she did when she asked him, to not tell steve about her, so he wouldn't have to grieve her again

a person like evi maximoff.

so when captain marvel saves them and brings them down to earth, back home, he steps down out of the ship with steve's help.

"couldn't stop him" he says

"neither could i" answers steve

"hang on" they stop from waking further

and now, when it really matters he looks at steve rogers, who is looking at him expectingly, with worry in his eyes, and he asks himself if it is really the right thing to do

with his right arm, he grabs the paper in his pocket, ready to pull it out and show it to steve. but he just can't

he swallows down all his doubts

"i lost the kid"

singular.

*