afterglow - tony stark

01

              Tony had a week to build the Jericho missile or...build something else. He'd already built the small arc reactor to replace the electromagnet in his chest; this miniaturized reactor would be their ticket out of here as it would power something big for fifteen minutes.

He made the blueprints for that something big and showed them to Yinsen. Yinsen put on his glasses to take a closer look and had an impressed look on his face.

Tony then looked at her as she stood slightly behind them, "Come here, Snow."

He pressed the gentlest touch of a hand to the small of her back to usher her forward. She was ushered to the spot in front of him to look down at the plans. He still kept his hand on her back; it was warm and...comforting. She'd never known a touch to be safe before.

"This is what's going to take us home," Tony pointed to the plans and she could feel his voice close to her ear as his head was next to her shoulder. "This is our ticket out of here."

She gave him a soft smile but she didn't really believe him. She'd long gave up hope that she was ever getting out of here; in fact, she'd been here so long that the cave become home to her. She didn't understand the concept of a life outside and how it could be any different.

_____

While Tony and Yinsen worked on the plans, she cooked and made sure they were hydrated. Yinsen always gave her a grateful thank you but Tony always threw her a smile.

She found it odd. In this place, in this cave, smiles were beat out of everyone. But Tony wasn't put down; instead, Tony never ceased to be able to give her one like all his smiles were reserved for her. It made the smiles that she thought had died in her come back to life.

As Tony kept smiling at her, she found she never failed to give him one back.

            During one of their breaks, Tony stared at the flower pot she was holding again, "What's with that?"

               "It's my flower," she said defensively, clutching it tighter.

                It was the only thing she had. A while ago, one of the men holding her prisoner felt pity and gave her a flower pot with some red flower blooming. Then the incident happened and she didn't quite understand it, but it saved her.

"But...it's dead," Tony said slowly as to offend her. There was just a sad, sagging stem.

"I like it," she huffed and looked away from him. She didn't completely trust him yet; she couldn't tell him.

"Alright," he chuckled. "You like flowers; even sad ones. Noted."

"What about that?" he questioned, always being nosy even when he shouldn't be, looking at the deep scar on her upper arm.

She looked down at it, being reminded of the incident, and the pain. The knife they used to carve the flesh on her arm. She answered a bit cryptically, "They got angry when I wouldn't perform."

"They got angry?" he said slowly like he didn't like the statement or the implication of it. "Well, they'll regret that, won't they? I'll make sure of that, angel."

Angel. It was a new nickname and subconsciously she knew what the word meant: the beings of Heaven. It made her a bit giddy that he thought of her so.

But, also, she'd never known someone to want to harm those that harmed her. It made her feel warm that someone wanted to look out for her.

Tony was surprised when she placed her flower pot down and then softly hugged him, "I think you're the best person I've ever met."

His heart pounded harshly as he slowly wrapped his arms around her. He started to genuinely smile but he had to throw in some sarcasm, "Wow, I'm honored when the bar is just so high..."

She giggled a bit before lifting her head from his chest to look at him seriously, "It is now."

Those bright, green eyes were staring at him with such belief. God, he wanted to be a saint in her eyes. He never wanted to let her down and he wanted to take her far, far away from here.

______

            Currently, during one of their breaks, they were all sitting down at a table. She watched as Tony and Yinsen played some dice game.

"You still haven't told me where you're from," Tony looked at the doctor.

"I'm from a small town called Gulmira. It's actually a nice place."

"Got a family?"

"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here," Yinsen said with a certain finality. "And you, Stark?"

"No," Tony said quietly.

"No? So you're a man who has everything and nothing."

                 Tony wanted to ignore that so he looked at his flower girl, "What about you, Snowflake?"

                She shook her head, "I don't remember."

            "You don't remember?" Tony asked as he rolled his dice. "Well, how long have you been here?"

               She shrugged, "Don't know exactly. I just woke up here when I was twelve."

            Tony paused in shock, "Since you were twelve?"

              "You've been here for that long and survived?" Yinsen said sadly. "You are very strong."

               "I hope you two get out of here," she wished.

               "Hey, you're going to get out of here, too," Tony said softly. "We talked about this."

                 She could only offer a small, little smile. Even if she did get out of here, where would she go? She didn't know the world and she didn't know how to live in it.

She'd always just be the cave girl, never feeling the sunlight, never seeing the stars in the sky. She knew fear and nothing else.