Rising From the Ashes • COMPLETED ✓

39.) Epilogue One

EPILOGUE - THE AVENGERS

2017

Shuri and Peter talk to each other every day through the Wakandan cellphone and watch she gave him. They constantly send each other pictures and videos, whether for fun or to discuss ideas and projects. Shuri helps Peter with his homework while Parker helps her come up with designs. The void in the princess' heart is no longer there, and Peter's never been happier, especially since the crime rate in Queens has dropped to basically zero.

The two are practically inseparable friends.

Natasha, Sam, and Steve are currently traveling all around the world, helping bring down the remnants of HYDRA and other terrorist groups. Stopping crime is their forté.

The government can tell something's up and has been watching out for the off-the-grid Avengers, but the trio knows that nothing can stop them.

When Rogers, Wilson, and Romanoff get the chance to take a break from silently saving the world, Steve and Bucky video or audio call each other as the two promised, and so do Romanoff and Barton. Two pairs of best friends, one pair much more than platonic, smile at each other through screens and receivers.

Happiness fuels each of their days.

Meanwhile, Sam talks to and teases everybody, his past slowly merging away from his painful memory and into newer, happier ones. After all, Wilson doesn't flinch anymore at the sound of noises that resemble helicopters or planes. The anxiety that clenches at his heart once entering an airborne way of transportation has dissipated.

The ache in the Falcon's heart is fading, and he is soaring on steady wings.

Natasha no longer fears to go to sleep. When she closes her eyes, Disney films and the words that flashed on them are no longer burned into her retinas. The knife that was once under her pillow is now tucked away in her bedside drawer. The mirror in her bedroom isn't shattered or covered by fabric anymore, but polished squeaky-clean. She doesn't wince when she sees herself in reflective surfaces.

Instead, she smiles.

Bucky is slowly healing: Emotionally, mentally, and physically. He tends to the goats and the Wakandan farmlands in a state of bliss, the virtual talks he has with Steve offering more light into his fading darkness. He knows his past won't always control him.

Nightmares don't plague him as much nowadays.

Tony's been sober for more than a year now, and he doesn't plan on breaking his clean streak any time soon. Pepper is always by his side, offering him the sun when he feels like he's close to withering away. Panic attacks still hinder Stark, but the genius overcomes them, either with the help of Virginia Potts, Happy Hogan, or neither of his companions.

He is becoming stronger.

Slowly but surely, everybody is healing. The marvelous team of heroes was once burnt from the core.

Now, like a great Phoenix, the Avengers will and are spreading their fiery wings once more.

They are all rising from the ashes.

I'm about to cry. This book has been such a wonder to write. But it's not over yet. The final chapter, epilogue part two, is next!