Sunset Secret (Peter Parker x Reader)

Chapter 43

NARRATOR'S POV:
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MISSING: SCOTT LANG

MISSING: SAM WILSON

MISSING: JAMES BARNES

MISSING: T'CHALLA

MISSING: SHURI

MISSING: PETER PARKER

MISSING: (Y/N) ROMANOFF-STARK

Natasha looks away as the hologram flickers, unable to think about how she lost her. She could have done something, she was right there, but she didn't. Tony just stares, blankly, as the faces of the two teenagers he loved with all his heart show before him. He couldn't save them, and the knowledge is worse than anything in the world. Natasha fights tears as the sound of her voice in those last minutes comes back to her, begging and pleading and confused.

She has to do something.

He does, too.

But there remains a question.

A question that every Avenger wishes they knew the answer to.

What can they do?

FIVE YEARS LATER/ TONY'S POV:
~~~~~~~~
I turn off the sink, shaking the towel to dry it off a bit. A drop of something shiny catches my attention, and I turn my head to look at the picture frame. A small smile graces my lips as I wipe the water off of the glass, looking down at his face.

Inside the frame is a photo of when I gave Peter his Stark internship certificate. The paper was upside-down, and Peter had the goofiest smile on his face. I chuckle a bit, setting it down and looking at the photograph behind it. When (y/n) was still a little girl, around ten, and I was giving her a piggy-back ride. She had one of her hands up in the air and was laughing as I stuck a tongue out to the camera.

A lump forms in my throat as I think about them, about how they just... vanished.

About how we could bring them back.

Is it worth it? To sacrifice my second chance, to lose what I have?

A life with Pepper, my time with Morgan?

Her future, to see her graduate, to watch her grow up?

I can't just leave my daughter like that.

Except...

I adopted (y/n) as my daughter, too. And Peter was just like a son.

If I do this, I'm doing it for them. No one else.

And for them, anything is worth it.

DURING THE TIME HEIST/ VORMIR/ NARRATOR'S POV:
~~~~~~~~
"Damn you," Clint mutters, straining to hold onto the cord and Natasha both. She smiles, only slightly, as she looks up at him.

"Let me go," she tells him, fresh tears springing to his eyes, "it's okay."

Clint shakes his head, his grip on her hand loosening.

"Tell her I love her."

And then, she falls.

<><><>
just a friendly reminder that you are loved and you are worth it. you may be having a rough time, but i'm so proud of how far you've come. keep pushing through with your head up ♡