Saoirse- P.Parker

One

Ainsley Stark hadn't always been at a loss with the world and its inhabitants. She hadn't always hated everything to do with soulmates either. 

Rather her childhood had started off positive and she had loved everything about the world and found interest in the smallest of things. 

Born in the early hours of June 9th 2001 Ainsley was everything her father could have wished for. Anthony 'Tony' Stark had not wanted children when he was younger but upon finding his soulmate in the form of Caroline Goode he found himself easily swayed. She hadn't been after his money and when she told him the news of her expecting a child he found himself over the moon. Looking into the baby girls brown eyes which were an exact replica of his own he pondered as to why he ever thought against bringing her into the world. And in that very moment he swore that he would always put her before anything else. He would move mountains for her and would reign havoc upon anyone who dared cross her. 

Caroline hadn't been as thrilled to enter the lifestyle of a new mother. It had never been apart of her plan to fall pregnant and she wasn't ever sure she would have been able to carry a child to full term. However, as she laid there the bundle of supposed joy in her arms she found herself proved wrong. Though she never opened her arms to motherhood. Therefore, it should not have been a surprise when she refused to do much of any care for the baby and demanded that Tony get a nanny to help out. 

Tony could remember the first time he'd ever met Katherine Mann. She was only just in her twenties and fresh out of college. A degree in childcare backing her the young woman was one of few to pass the security check. The initial interview included a full investigation into her life and everyone she was connected too before she could even hide anything files were presented. Normally this would have scared off most young adults yet she took it in stride and was able to venture onto the next stage. It was most obvious she was the correct one for the job when she was introduced to young Ainsley. The baby was not much over two months old but took a shining to the young woman and that was when it was decided. 

By the time Ainsley was three the bond between Tony and Caroline was nearly non existent and it was slowly breaking the household to absolutely nothing. Though Tony persevered seeing as this was his soulmate, his forever, he was not giving up without a fight. He organised date nights, family time and did anything he could think of. Yet no matter how much notice she was given, or what he organised he often spent hours sitting alone waiting. 

Shortly after Ainsley's fourth birthday the arguments started. The once 'loving' relationship between the parents had crumbled to animosity and most nights resulted in Caroline, who had by then become fed up with anything to do with Tony Stark and the child she bore, screaming at Tony from one end of the house to the other. Though Tony stuck it out because she was the one. He wanted a complete family unit for his daughter, he wanted his daughter to have two loving parents forever. Just a week before her fifth birthday his illusion crumbled. The words she spoke would never be forgotten. 

"Give it up Anthony. Give up on us, on your hopes on anything you thought would happen for us. Because it's all a lie. None of this is real. We are not Soulmates!"

"I have the gift to manipulate feelings, images and memories. We do not share a soul mark we never have an we never will."

And it was true the area which once held the cluster of red, gold and blue stars he knew was his soul mark was not there. He watched her scrub at her arm and it still not be there. She had lied and that was it. The next morning she was gone a letter addressed to Ainsley was the only thing to say she had ever been in the room she had moved to not long after Ainsley's birth. And with her, she took what he thought to be his only chance at finding his one true love. 

Over the years Tony learnt to heal and hide the shame he felt. That he had been tricked and had spent years with someone who had never cared for him and who didn't care for his daughter. He built himself up to become the best version of himself for his daughter. He built an empire to ensure his daughter would be without anything. 

Other than the one thing he could never be.

Her mother.

Therefore, he had been shocked and eternally thankful to Katherine Mann. The young woman had stepped up and into the role of mother for the young girl. Providing her with the love only a mother could give and supporting her whenever he could not. 

In 2008 he became Iron man. But that was not the biggest surprise of that year. No it was the showing of Ainsley's own gifts obviously passed down from mother to child. 

At only 7 years old Ainsley had stumbled across an energy within herself a mighty force that enabled her to travel from one place to an other and project large bolts of built up energy. Tony would never forget watching her suddenly appear in his lab by stepping through a purple spiralling circle that connected the living room to where he sat. And all because she was struggling to spell tangerine. 

In 2012 Tony thought he had hit the jackpot. For came into his life none of then Steven Rogers. Tall, buff and beautiful, he was everything Tony could have hoped for in his true soulmate. Steve had taken greatly to the young Ainsley and doted on her as if she was his own. Ainsley had grown to love Steve as well fascinated on his tales of a time she had only seen photos of it also helped that he was stupidly strong and would happily carry all her shopping bags around when they went out. He was also tall and could grab the marshmallows her father hid on the top shelf in the kitchen.

If there one was thing Tony Stark had, it was shit luck. 

For not even his confirmed soulmate wanted to stick around. Rather they had gone to war against each other and now he was on the run. But he should have known for the last year or so Steve had been shying away from him and hiding things. And all because of a childhood friend. The same childhood friend who then went on to almost cause harm to his daughter had Ainsley not thought to blink herself away and to safety with her godmother. Steve then had the audacity to back his friend up and feint his innocence. 

Therefore, Tony Stark vowed never to love anyone who wasn't his daughter. No matter how much his heart yearned for a soulmate. His daughter and her happiness would forever be what he focused on. 

Through watching her father being betrayed over and over again at the age of 14 Ainsley had decided that soulmates were false. The betrayal of Steve really set her mindset. No matter how kind a person seemed at first everything was a false image. Humanity was screwed.

Edited:03.07.2020