𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄 || ( endgame )

↳ epilogue

new york cemetery
3 months later

the cold is creeping up her neck, it settles down on her shoulders and places itself onto her whole body

it's hurtful and it's devastating, just like staring at steve rogers grave is

she has come to peace with it, but it still feels like someone has cut her heart out, maybe it just always has to feel like that

she bents down and arranges the flowers she brought him.

"i love you, dad"
she tells him before she leaves

he had told her that he never planned to stop doing any of these dad things.

never turned into two months.

a short time when they had initially thought it would be the rest of evi's life, or at least most of it.

she felt like life hadn't asked her for permission before taking him, but when had life ever cared about her permission?

he had been happy, even if he had been at a hospital. she had dragged him there, insisting that he could be fixed

you couldn't fix something that wasn't broken, not when it was just time for it to leave.

these past few months have been quiet. she only spent them in wanda's and peter's company, she couldn't bare to see anyone else, even if the team told her that they wanted to see her.

she liked to be alone and sort out her feelings without anyone asking her how she felt or anyone telling her how to feel

peter and wanda understood that

———

"are you ready?"

"yes"

evi gets out of the passenger seat of sams car, and walks into the storage unit building.

in search of the one, to which her key belongs.

finally she stops in front of one door near the end of the hallway. she opens it slowly, not sure what is waiting for her in there.

it is a room full of boxes

she walks into it.

there are three boxes who stand a bit off at the side.

'evi, only open when you're ready' steve has written on it. she skips those at first

"what is all of this?" she asks herself out loud "what did you leave me here?" she raises her head, like steve would answer her. of course it's still quiet

she walks to the other boxes and takes out the key to open the first one, which is taped shut

when the box flies open she is met by various paintings, but not any ones.

children's

she takes out a few.

'wanda, eleven years' is written on one

'pietro, thirteen years'

'evi, seven years'

she begins to cry as all the memories slowly enter back into her brain, they take some time to settle down, but then it's as clear as ever.

steve coming to visit them.
steve taking them out to do something.
steve spending time with them.

she wonders if these memories had been there the whole time. in the future this was always planned to happen.

steve had kept his promise

she looks through all the boxes (except the three she doesn't dare open now)

there are not only paintings, but a ton of photos too, with her siblings and steve and also other children and people, steve probably knew and took to meet them

there are toys and with every little thing, a memory sweeps back into her head

they go ice skating
they go to the zoo
they spent a day picnicking in the wilderness
they get many gifts for christmas

only the four of them, but there are other people too, faces evi can't recognize yet, maybe she won't ever, but they are there

although he includes her siblings, many of the times, steve spends alone with her. pietro and wanda know that and they know why, they were always a bit quicker with these things than little evi was

she smiles at the memories she just gained, or she maybe always had.

a sad childhood turning into a happy one
all thanks to steve

he kept his promise, she repeats.
and even though, he isn't here, now:

he loved her,
he was there,
he came back.

always.

*