The Daughter of Iron Man

Epilogue

I watch as the sunlight glistens across the lake. A gentle breeze makes the leaves on the tree's surrounding me dance. All around me I hear birds singing and insects buzzing. Occasionally, I see fish from the lake swim too close to the shore. Then just as quickly, they swim away making the water ripple behind them.

A baby wine catches my attention, and I look down as my baby sister wakes up from her nap. She stretches her arms and legs the best she can, loosening the light pink blanket wrapped around her as she does so. She's disoriented by our surroundings, and the sunlight seeping through the trees makes it harder for her eyes to adjust.

"Shhh, you're okay." I say, gently rocking her. Her eyes adjust, and she watches me with her big gray eyes. "Did you have a nightmare?" I ask, pretending that she can understand me. "It's okay, I have them too. And so does your daddy."

Carefully I pull her closer to me and adjust the blanket, but she's too fixed on me to notice.

"The world hasn't been kind to our family. Someday, I'll explain it to you. Why the demons came, and why we nearly lost countless times. But the trials we've been given are what made us stronger. They're what made us hero's so that other people wouldn't have to suffer the same way we did. I'll explain to you why our father became Iron Man. How I became Blue Raven, and why she died so that I could become something better."

I slowly lift my arm, blue light rolling around my finger tips. Water follows, rising from the lake. It breaks off in droplets of water surrounding us, the sunlight hitting them at different angles. They continue moving around us and she remains fixed on them.

"I won't pretend that life is easy, because it's not. Not a single day has gone by where I didn't learn something new about myself or someone else. But what I can promise you, is that we will always be here. We will be by your side to help you fight your demons. Our family isn't perfect, but we don't give up on each other. We're all kinds of stubborn." I smile. "But you will be smart, and you will be strong."

"I should know, because we are the daughters of Iron Man."