The Seventh Stone (Stony Marvel Story)

(Chapter 11)

"This is an emergency?"

Morgan was gripping onto my leg, laughing as I shook it around. "I need to get out of town for a weekend," Pepper explained, gesturing to Morgan, "and she had no where to go. I had a feeling you missed her."

"You know I did." I picked her up and placed her on my back. She beamed and giggled, "Let's go on a mission!"

"Not yet, Maguna. Your meanie mom wants to talk to me."

Morgan pouted, and I set her down while Pepper groaned. "I am not a meanie mom. In fact, I am pretty awesome..." But Morgan was already gone, chasing Thor down the hallway. I could hear his heavy breathing from here.

"Any other reason you came?" I asked, dusting off my shirt. Pepper shrugged, looking around. "I just wanted to see how things were going with you. If you needed anything."

"No, we are all good here. Just about to go..." I paused, realizing that I had no living idea how to describe everything going on. Time travel sounded boisterous. A real functioning quantum realm was impossible to comprehend. Saving the universe was a lost hope for many at this point.

Everything was not "all good here."

The Avengers were about to put their lives at risk to save the universe, and we had absolutely no idea if we would survive.

"A what?" Pepper snapped me out of my anxiety. "Just a... uhh," I looked around, landing eyes on the living room, where Steve and Clint were sounding at the TV. A baseball game was playing. "A baseball game. Yep, we are, gonna go to uh baseball game."

"Since when did you become interested in sports?"

"Well, I have had a lot of time on my hands, you know, a lot of thinking, and I-"

"It's okay, I get it," Pepper laughed, shaking her head. She placed a supporting hand on my back. "Have fun tonight with them all, and for the love of everything good don't do anything stupid."

"No promises," I grinned, and she rolled her eyes, closing the front door behind her. I sighed, rubbing my hands on my eyes. I still did not know what to do about the money insufficiencies Scott and I were facing, and the machine still needed one more test run before we would all go out and bring back the universe.

Bring back our stars.

I turned my attention to the living room. Steve was smiling brightly at the TV, jumping up and down when his favorite pitcher scored. His smile lit up his entire face. His happiness was almost contagious, for it left soft sights of exhilaration.

But I could understand why we needed them. Reflection of our universe was key for our survival. We would look up and pray that there would be an answer to the paths we choose. We missed our lives. We missed the simplicity of better times. We missed being ignorant, we missed the comfort of disbelief.

Someone tapped me on the back, and I turned around to see Morgan grinning. "Thor wouldn't let me hold his hammer. He said I wasn't worthy." She mimicked the word worthy, sticking out her tongue. I laughed, saying, "You'll always be worthy. Just not enough to carry a big stupid stick."

She gasped. "I'm telling him you said that!"

The stars would light up what steps were perquisite to understanding. The things that had happened to us, that had happened to them, were not contradicted under any story. We needed to change the direction of our stories. We needed our stars to light back our universes.

She started running away, giggling as I chased after her. "YOU BETTER NOT HE'S GOING TO STRIKE ME WITH LIGHTENING!"

A lot of them did not want to come back down. They gave up with placing their feet on the ground. Most, in fact, felt great turmoil they did not wish to turn around.

She would not stop running nor laughing. I had raised such an evil child.

It may have been a long, long time till their feet would touch the ground. But we were determined. We owned it to them, we owned their lights back. They needed their stars.

Eventually, she stopped to catch her breath. In an instant, Steve came and swooped her up. She laughed harder, letting him spin her around in innumerable circles.

Their voices only got louder, their chants higher. "Bring home our stars," They would break down our doors and begged, slamming on their knees and crying in agony. They wanted to be free. They missed what it felt like to have the most important people stand right by their sides.

I stopped running. I paused and watched them, the most important people in my entire life.

I wished for a lot of things over those past five years. I wished for hope, reason, a chance to live again.

These were the people I had wished for every night.

I wished on all of the stars, on all the things beyond reason.

And I could not help but smile, smile really big, a smile to take up my whole face, a smile that would challenge the size of the universe itself.

I wished for them all to come home.

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"Since when did you like baseball?"

"That was EXACTLY what I was going to ask!" Steve exclaimed. Instead of responding, I told everyone to shut up. I needed to make sure everyone was here.

Scanning the car, I noted we had everyone but Scott. I groaned, "Where's Scott?
The air conditioner brimmed loudly as Bruce looked around and shrugged. "Just leave him," Nat replied, tossing popcorn into her mouth. 

"Do you want me to go out and look for him?" Steve asked me. His blue eyes pressed against my annoyed glare, and a spark dwindled in my stomach. The content simplicity on his face revealed an uncountable path of dreams and wishes.

What are you doing to me Rogers... 

As I was about to respond, Scott slammed his palm into the side door of the car. It made a loud bang that shook the car. Thor jumped up from his dozing off and electricity instantly sparked in his eyes. "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT?" He seethed, and the car started to rumble against his electricity. 

"Shh.. Thor, calm down, it's just Scott." Bruce gestured to the man, who was climbing into his car and attempting to apologize for his lateness because 'the taco did not sit well.' "WHO DARE WAKES ME FROM MY SLUMBER?" Thor roared, reaching out for his hammer. I sat back in my seat and put my head in my hands in indignation as Steve said, "Nobody wanted to wake you. Go back to sleep now."

The car started to rumble against Thor's electricity. "YOU WILL PAY MORALE." He held his hammer out to Scott's face, petrified against the flickering sparks. "Thor," I instantly spun around, "you have three seconds to calm the fuck down or we are not taking you to this baseball game. We will not make it because this damn thing is about to explode."

Thor grunted, put down the hammer and crossed his arms. The electricity started to exasperate from his eyes, and the car stopped convulsing. Scott threw me a grateful look, but I ignored it. However, once we started driving, Steve leaned over to my chair and whispered, "One hell of a move you did there, Stark."

I looked over at his bewitching grin, and I could not help but beam back.

What are you doing to me...