Cornelia Street - Avengers

In The Fallout

"It wasn't a right or a wrong he could choose. He did what he had to do."

Berlin Medical Centre

(Can't Catch Me Now, Olivia Rodrigo)

...

A woman stepped out of the room, pale blonde hair slicked back against her scalp, so tight it pulled the corners of her eyebrows up. 

Her eyebrows were dark, too dark, so dark in fact it would have made sense for that to have been her natural hair colour. 

Her mouth turned down at the corners when she spoke, almost like she was perpetually sad, or exhausted. Perhaps she got that from her Mother, or perhaps her eyes were from her Father.

Every time Lucia frowned and tilted her head down, Tony's heart would swell at the sight. The exact expression like that of her Mother. The nurse's exhaustion would have made sense given the fact her eyes were lined with dark under-eye bags from the hours in which she-

Enough.

Tony had stared at every single thing in this goddamn waiting room, just trying to find anything to bring the sound back to his world, but it was all muffled. Like everything had lost its colour and turned to a disgustingly dull and grey voice world.

"She's asking for you," he finally heard her say, her monotonous tone piercing through his haze, as he paced outside of her room. He nodded, Tony pushed past and entered the room to see his daughter, sickly and grey, but sitting up in the medical bed. 

Her head limply turned as he entered, her face forming a smile, noticeable only by the slight twitch of her lips proving that she was glad to see him.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, eyes dropped to her Father's arm in a sling, but it didn't matter to him in the slightest, not when she was so close to death. "Your arm..." she whispered meekly, as he paused just at the end of her bed, too afraid to step closer.

"The doctors, ehm," he started, trying to keep himself from breaking down into tears as he spoke to her, "It could be poison. It's an unidentifiable substance, but this...this potential antidote, the only thing we could find on it was a name. Zemo. We're pretty sure he did frame Barnes, but he's also got the only thing that will save you."

Her eyes softened as she looked up at her Dad, a gentle smile forming despite her condition. She didn't care about the poison, Zemo, or even her own suffering.

"I never said it enough."

He frowned and stopped in his thoughts as he finally stepped forward, confused as to what she was talking about when he had just told her that she could be saved.

"Y-you never what? You never said what enough?" He stuttered.

"That I love you, Dad." The words fell from her lips as she smiled weakly up at him. A single tear fell from her eyes, as she watched his demeanour change, suddenly releasing what she was doing.

"I love you too, sweetheart," he choked out, rushing a step closer and reaching for her hand, his eyes brimming with tears. "I'm going to fix this. I promise-"

"And I'm thankful," she interrupted, hand tightening around his, jaw clenching. "You didn't have to bring me in, not after the pain I caused, but you did. I've never told you that, not properly."

"No, you do not get to say goodbye to me, you hear me!" His voice raised, his other hand flying to the underside of her jaw.

"I'm not, I'm not...I promise," she whispered. "I just need you to promise me something, that you'll move on, that you'll stop this war please don't... don't let the team break forever. Not over this. We've come too far."