Parasite *•.¸♡ 𝙏𝙤𝙣𝙮 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙠'𝙨 𝘿𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧 ♡¸.•*

Epilogue

The tower was quiet.

Too quiet.

Nothing could mend the pain of losing her.

There would always be an emptiness in the tower. A tribute to the lovely girl that Stark had adopted. The girl that everyone had grown close to and loved as their own.

It crushed them to know that Hydra had taken another life. The life of a girl too good for the world.

No one was more devastated than Tony Stark. He tried to throw himself into missions, thinking that maybe if he got revenge he'd find closure. It was no shock to find that the only thing he managed to do was wear himself to the bone. Pepper had to put a stop to it when he passed out from exhaustion a few too many times.

Pepper, of course, was devastated as well. It was her daughter that had died, after all. Ariana had grown so much since they first adopted her. She had her whole life in front of her. Only for it to all get taken away by Hydra. It was just cruel.

Bruce wasn't able to forgive himself. If only he had done more. He could have saved her. Unlike Tony, he didn't have anyone to pull him away from his work. He made it his goal to research and find a cure for the parasite. After five months he got the cure. It was five months too late.

Bucky and Steve found solace in each other. They made sure to take care of each other. If they didn't have each other, who knows the states they would have ended up in. But that was Ariana's doing. They had Ariana to thank for their ever growing relationship.

Natasha closed herself off. She hated herself for brushing Ariana's problems off. If only she had done more. It took Clint to get her to come out of her room for something other than a mission.

Wanda ran away to a little town called Westview. She spent her stay mourning what she considered her little sister. Life had a way of taking those she loved the most. Thankfully, Clint had found her and brought her back to the tower.

Peter was devastated. Just yet another person in his life taken away too quickly–so cruelly. It wasn't fair.

No one went in her room. Not a thing of her's was touched. They couldn't bear to look at it, much less remove it. It was a sacred space that no one dared to disturb.

Sometimes Tony would come in her room. He'd imagine her still sitting on her bed, maybe reading or on her phone.

It only hurt him more to look at her things, though. They lie there unused. Things that she would use if she were alive. She should be alive. Living her best life under his care.

But they didn't do enough. They failed. They failed the girl who deserved the world.