Beautiful Peace (Avengers Fanfiction)

Chapter Eight

Seren was grateful that Kit didn't say anything about LJ's vision and painting of them all during dinner. But he also didn't talk to her all night either. Really no one did. Between the talk of grades, events of the day, and tomorrow's events, Seren barely got any small talk. For that she was also grateful.

But at the end of the night when Kit started to yawn, they both knew their dreaded moment had come. They had to sit together in the truck for the ride home. By the time they'd both said goodbyes to Luke's family and loaded up, Seren was ready to talk. She asked Kit if he was okay, noticing he started pushing the speed limit as they got on the backroads heading down to his house. He didn't answer her.

"Kit," she addressed again. Nothing but wide eyes on the road. "Kit!" Her tone rose, but still it gained no reaction. "Christian!" She finally yelled, and he slammed on the breaks. Seren flew forward but caught her self before she hit the dash. She scowled at Kit.

"No! It's not- I'm not okay!" He yelled back. "Things are happening way too damn fast!" He hit the steering wheel in front of him and pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out an uneasy breath. Seren softened her expression, thinking he might be crying.

"My parents disappear out of the blue, in the stupidest way possible, then my little cousin shows me this amazing future I have with a girl that I've known for one day! I don't know how to process any of this! Serenity, I can't feel anything," croaked Kit, turning to face Seren, revealing glistening cheeks under the low light of the truck's headlights.

The sudden burst of emotion surprised Seren, and she started getting a lump in her throat at seeing Kit so weak so soon. How was she supposed to respond?

In the silence Kit looked ahead and started driving again, going the speed limit this time all the way home. Seren only just noticed what was happening when they were in the driveway. She couldn't stay here! How inappropriate! As guilty as she felt, she told Kit she couldn't stay and got out of the truck, walking along the bed, away from the house.

Kit at first let her go, but soon scrambled out of his side and ran along the bed until he was facing Seren midway on the edge. "Wait," He cried, and Seren stopped, glancing at him. "Please stay. With me. Nothing will happen, I swear, I just- I don't...I just..." He looked to the house with sad eyes. "I don't want to be alone."

Seren's heart melted.

***

The kids got home late anyway, maybe around eleven. But at three a.m. Seren heard commotion, it seemed to come from below her room. She didn't think that was a good sign. Was it Kit bumping around down there? What exactly was down there? She was too curious, and she hadn't been sleeping anyway, so she hopped out of bed, tiptoeing around expecting to find stairs that lead below ground or something. Sure enough she found some, and there was definitely something happening down that path.

Still just as quiet she started stepping down the stairs. The hall was long and dark, but at the end was a light. From where she stood when she reached the end of the flight, there were some cars down here. This was the garage.

Another something fell, followed by a cry, a literal sob. Seren moved so she could see about the corner with at least one eye. Kit's back was to her, hunched over a table with shards of metal sprawled all over it. Seren didn't know it, but the metal pieces were left overs of Kit's welding project...a Mother's Day present he never got to finish and give to Pepper.

Kit threw a good sized piece of metal against a car in anger, causing Seren to flinch at the ear piercing pitch of metal on metal. Afterwards Kit stomped to the other side of the garage, a remote in his hand.

It was challenging for Seren to keep him in her view without being spotted, but what she eventually saw was as Kit pressed a button on his remote, a door in the wall opened to reveal one of the famous Iron Man suits. Kit stood there before it, his shoulders broadened into a perfect posture, but they were shaking.

This is the moment it all sank in for him. Poor Kit, thought Seren.

Before the moment sank in for her and she started to become choked up, Kit lurched at the suit and tore it down, all the pieces of the armor clambering apart and scattering before its attacker. Seren flinched again at the noise, her eyes closing against the pounding in her head. When she opened them Kit was on his hands and knees, crying uncontrollably now.

"WHY!!!" He screamed, picking up a piece of the armor and chucking it against another car. That's when Seren decided to step back, and she pinned her back against the wall so there was no chance of her being seen. For a second she was thinking about running in there to help Kit calm down, but now she realized it would be no use. Besides, he needed some time to let his emotion out anyway.

And that idea was affirmed when Kit threw yet another piece of the armor he'd knocked over, the head of the suit whizzing past the wall Seren was hiding behind and making a hole in the parallel wall. She gasped then ran back up the stairs, praying she wasn't heard during her panic to get as far away from Kit as she could.

***

The next morning some sounds awoke Seren. It sounded like a mix between a gun and a rocket. The clock to the side of her bed read eight a.m. Oh no, she and Kit are late for school already...unless Kit was already awake and he already knew this.

With the sound outside booming again, Seren got up and ran out to the porch, feeling certain she already knew the source of the noise. From out of nowhere a flash of red came whizzing past her. It was Kit in the Iron Man suit. Groaning, Seren stepped off the porch to watch Kit some more as he zoomed into the sky. It was obvious he wasn't experienced, but Seren wasn't afraid to get in his way for some reason.

***

Kit tried his best to keep his eyes ahead as he passed the house. He was sure he saw Serenity, and he didn't want to hurt her with his awful driving in this thing, so he took to the sky, instantly losing control.

Without Kit's consent the suit shut down (consequence of him tearing it apart and reassembling it in five hours, he thought) and he started falling to the ground. He started yelling at the autopilot, and his thrusters started whirring again.

Tony had explained to Kit about how to work the suits before, but never gave him a test drive. He said Kit had to be at least eighteen before he started using the suits, and even then Tony didn't know what Kit would use them for. Even he hadn't used them since Kit was born. He gave them up, like Pepper had always coaxed him to do.

But Kit was determined to figure this out. This was as close to Tony as he could become. He'd already assembled the suit, now he had to learn to use it properly. It was proving harder than he anticipated, and Kit's anxiety dominated mood wasn't helping.

The thrusters came back to life right before Kit hit the empty field below him, but sent him in a parallel line to the field, and into a single lonely tree in the center of it. He didn't feel much of the impact, except for his neck cricking. For a while he just laid there, tangled in the tree, trying to catch his breath.

Looking to the side toward the house, he spotted Serenity running toward him, then he tore the mask off the helmet of the suit so he could really breathe as he sat up.

Serenity fell to her knees beside him. "Christian, what are you doing?!" She asked in shock. All Kit did was shake his head and look past her, like a small child threat couldn't explain their behavior. Serenity reacted badly. Attempting to pull him to his feet, she yelled, "Come inside! Calm down! And take that stupid suit off!"