Phoenix

On a Roof

After the last drone fell to the ground and I stabilized the last building, I made my way towards the tower where I knew Peter was. I stuck my wand and knife in a boot. Just as I walked up a girl our age holding a mace hurried away.

"Who was that?" I walked up to Peter. He didn't look great. His eyes were ringed with read and his face was bruised. Blood was trickling down the side of his head.

"MJ." Peter watched her go with a smile on his face.

"Is she your girlfriend?" I asked.

"Yeah."

We stood in silence for a moment each of us out of breath from the fight. I had barely escaped a building falling on me multiple times and my magical core was drained.

Peter didn't look much better. If I looked closely I could see tear stains on his cheeks. I grabbed my wand a quickly muttered a healing spell. The cut of the side of his face closed and the bleeding stopped.

He touched the side of his face. "Thanks."

"Do you want to go somewhere and talk about what happened?" I asked gently.

Peter shrugged slightly. "We can go on the roof of my hotel... if it hasn't been destroyed."

"I don't think any hotels got destroyed. Sounds good."

Peter picked my up in the most platonic way possible and sung us to the roof top. We landed on top of a fancy hotel that seemed way out of the schools budget. I sat next to him on the roof, or legs dangling off the edge.

"What happened?"

Peter explained how Tony had given his glasses with high tech in them called EDITH to Peter. How Fury had contacted him and asked him to fight a threat along side someone called Mysterio. The threat had been defeated and Peter had given the glasses away. Then realized Mysterio had made up the threat so he could play superhero. How he had caused Peter to be run over by a train and planned to kill his friends. How Peter has beaten him and gotten the glasses back while I protected the civilians.

I hadn't met this Mysterio, but when if I did I would hurt him.

"Why did you give the glasses away?" I asked Peter softly once the story was finished.

"I just—" Peter stopped and took a deep breath. "The glasses were for the next Tony Stark, the next Iron Man. Everyone wants be to take his place. How could I live up to Iron Man?"

"Let me see the glasses."

"What?" Peter immediately went ridged.

"I just want to see the inscription."

Peter slowly took out the glasses case and handed it to me. I looked at the inscription which read to the next Tony Stark.

I traced the lines with my fingers. "You don't have to be the next Iron-Man."

Peter looked startled. "But everyone says—"

"That isn't what Tony wanted. He wanted you to be the next Tony Stark. He knew no one could live up to Iron Man because he couldn't. He struggled with that everyday. He wants you to be Tony Stark. A normal person who struggled with insecurities and self doubt everyday. But he also cared about people and making the world a better place. He loved learning and making something new. That's who he wanted you to be."

"He always said he wanted me to be better than him."

I looked Peter in the eye. "That's because he already thought you were."

I handed him back the glasses and the case.

Peter held them in his lap and stared at them. "I just— I miss him so much."

"I know." My words caught in my throat. "I miss him too."

Peter looked up at me. "You miss her."

"I miss her every day."

I looked out at the sunset and tried to ignore the stinging in my eyes.

"Do you think it will ever stop hurting?" asked Peter.

"Maybe, or maybe we'll just get used to it."

"I can't get used to this," said Peter.

I looked out at the sunset. "Fury and Coulson want me to take Mom's place as director in a few years."

"Really?"

"Yeah." I said. "They need someone to take their places. I guess they chose us. I should be happy about it. This should be a dream come true, but I'm afraid that if I take her place..."

"You'll be admitting she's gone," finished Peter.

I nodded.

"It's nice to have someone to talk to about superhero stuff," said Peter after a long silence.

"It's good for me too," I said. "To have some who gets it."

"At school they did a tribute video to Mr. Stark, Captain America and your mom. I had to sit there watching it and pretend it didn't mean anything," said Peter.

The sun had set and he stars were beginning to come out.

"Did you know that in Greek Mythology, when a hero died a constellation was named after him," I said with a sad smile. "Which one should Tony have."

Peter stared at the sky thoughtfully then pointed to the first star grouping that had come out. "That one."

"Why?" I asked curiously.

Peter's eyes glistened. "Because it's the only one brighter than the city lights. Even in New York everyone can see and and remember him."

"Hey! Peter!" We looked at the ground and saw an adult white a fanny pack who looked very annoyed. " I don't know what you are doing up there with a girl in that weird costume, but you need to be packed before you go to sleep!"

Peter turned to me with a startled expression. "I need to go."

I smiled. "Yeah. Call me if you ever want to talk about superhero stuff."

"I will." He swung down from the building into an open window.

I opened my phone to text Dad, but saw a text from Hermione. Apparently tomorrow night they were moving Harry from his home to the Burrow. I responded to Hermione that I would be there, then texted Dad that I needed to stay in London until school started. It was starting.

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Hey Everyone, I have a lot of chapters read to publish.

Forever and Always,

Me.