SOUR

BRUTAL

"All I did was try my best, this the kind of thanks I get?"

Anya Stark
(OC)

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Anya Stark sat on her bed and felt her shoulders slowly rise and fall as she stared at the floor. It felt like every inch of her body was in immense pain. She was in so much pain. She knew that there were people downstairs and they would all be done up in the same shade of black as her, all waiting for the event to start. Her feet lightly tapped the floor as a song made its way round her head as she continued to stare at the matted carpet. She hated looking around her room now. There were photos of her old friends and trinkets she had collected on trips and she hated it all. Everyone told her that her teenage years are the best years of her life. It was so wrong. Five years prior, she had lost all of her friends in the blip and had spent half of her teenage years growing up in isolation. It was hard to make friends, everyone sunk into a depressive slump knowing that everyone they loved had suddenly disappeared. She closed her eyes and felt the tears fall down her face. The hot liquid felt like it was burning into her skin as she let herself start to cry. She had promised herself that she wouldn't cry today, not in front of her sister or her mother or her family. She had held it together for the whole of the morning but she didn't know if she could keep that up. She heard a knock on the door and looked up as it opened. Steve Rogers had always been someone who had understood Anya as if she were his own little sister. When her dad wasn't around, Steve was until he went Mia for a few years. Anya felt conflicted about the man who had walked into her room. He was always there for her and then all of a sudden he disappeared and she had to get and manage her relationship with her dad all on her own. He walked over and she shifted further along the bed so that he could take a seat next to her.
"Are you okay?"
"That's such a dumb question" she snaps back as she wipes a tear away.
"I know I haven't been around recently and I'm sorry, but your dad dying is a horrible experience and I need you to know that I'm here for you, whether it be as a friend or your uncle Steve" he tells the girl.
She stays quiet before they hear another knock on the door and she looks up to see Peter stood there. His eyes were red and puffy and it was very clear that he had also been crying. The two had reconnected the day after Tony had died. Peter had been so confused to see the girl he viewed as his little sister, now grown up to be the same age as him. He had held her face in his hands at she looked at him and cried. He had cried too and the pair had caught up on all the boy had missed out on, happy to still have each other. Anya looks at Peter as he walks over and takes her hands in his, giving each other a small sad smile.
She turned to Steve and then back to Peter.
"All I did was try my best to be good enough and this is the thanks I get?" She asks as her voice break and she lets the tears slip down her face again.
The three sit in the room for a minute before Steve kisses the top of her head and walks out of the room. She turns to face Peter and he nods, letting her know it's time. She nods as well and he pulls her up on to her feet as he wraps his arm about her waist. The pair make their way downstairs where Pepper and Morgan are waiting for the girl. She takes the little girl into her arms and they make their way down to the little dock and the pair crouch down whilst all of Tony's friends stand behind them. Pepper leans down and places the small wreath in the water and the family watch as his arc reactor floats away. After a few minutes, Pepper and Morgan made their way back to the house with everyone following behind. Anya sat down and dipped her feet into the water, letting the cold liquid cover her skin. She took a deep breath in as she watched the arc reactor slip off the wreath. She felt her heart stop before she pushed herself off of the dock and started to swim into the middle of the lake. She heard people yelling her name but ignored it as she swam out to grab at the reactor. She couldn't let her dad slip away that quickly. She didn't know who she was outside of him. As she took the piece of metal into her hands, she felt someone grab at her waist and pull her back to the dock, letting herself be pulled upwards. She looked down to see Clint in the water and Wanda behind her as the pair silently left her, not understanding why she had been so stupid. She looked down at the reactor and let herself begin to cry again, not noticing or caring that she had been left alone.
"Why dad?" Her voice cracked.
"Why did you have to be the hero this time? You promised that when you got back, we were gonna fix all of this!" She wails.
She felt so mad at herself because she was so angry at her dad. He was always being the hero and she just wished that this one time, he'd let someone else take the pride. She let herself cry and wail and scream in pain. He had a broken ego and she now had a broken heart. She wanted to move on with her life but god, she didn't even know where to start.