Who am I

Chapter 24

-May 7, 2016-

Sophiea walked into her room in the Avenger's compound in upstate New York. A weekend of heartache settling in on her. The Banners were planning a funeral for their eldest and only son. Sophiea was morning the loss of her fiancé.

She threw her bag on the bed and looked up at her desk, on it sat a vase of red roses and a note. She went over and picked up the paper.

'Dearest Sophiea,

I love you. I either say this too much or not enough. You are the love of my life and I can't imagine a world without you.

I'm glad that I don't have to live in a world without you.

I'm glad that I get to spend the rest of my life with you.

I'll see you when we both get home.

Love, Nathanial.

P.S. I hope that by the time you see this the flowers aren't dead.'

She held a trembling hand to her mouth and fell to her knees crying. Someone came running into the room and Sophiea felt a comforting embrace around her.

"Shh. Shh. Sophiea. It's ok. It's ok." Wanda's quiet voice penetrated her thoughts. "Sophiea please just breathe. You can't bring him back. I'm sorry. But you can't."

"Wanda. I just-he was there, in my arms."

"I know honey. I know."

....

Black. There was so much black. Nat always hated black. He loved bright colors. Sopheia sighed and wiped the tears from her eyes before making her way down the stairs to where the memorial service was taking place. Nat was gone and all the color was gone with him.

Eve met her at the bottom of the stairs. "I wanted to see you wearing white. Not black." Sophiea nodded, not trusting her voice.

They walked together to the chairs set up along the river bank. Sophiea drowned out the voices rambling on about how kind he was. How loving he was. How he died a hero.

She didn't want to hear it.

The ring on her ring finger glistened in the early morning sun. New and lonely.

"I'm sorry Sophiea." The familiar voice of her mother, Katiea rang through her head. "Losing the people you love at a young age is never easy. But you my dear, you are strong. And I'll be here with you for as long as you need me to be."

Sophiea smiled softly and gripped the chain with her mother's wedding ring. She wasn't the only one to lose their future in a heartbeat.

....

Months passed in a heartbeat. Each moment seemed to drag on forever, but raced by without a memory. Sophiea sat on her bed, legs crossed, phone pressed against her ear.

"This is Nat, Leave a message at the beep and I will call you back as soon as I can."

"Hey, Nat. Wish you would come home. I miss you." She bit her lip, tears already threating to escape her eyes. "I miss the way you called me love, I miss how your eyes would light up when you told me something funny. I miss you."

"I know its 3 in the morning, but I'm sleeping well. I'm feeling great really." the lies came easy. It was what she was telling everyone. No one knew all the nights she had woken up at 4 and couldn't go back to sleep. The nights where she cried herself to sleep and begged Nat to come back, knowing that he couldn't.

"I'm doing online school, but I don't want to work. Going to work doesn't feel right without you. So, me, and everyone else has been staying at the new complex. I think only Pepper actually stays at the tower anymore."