A/N - It's been a month and yet Tony's interactions with both Nebula and little Morgan are still capable of destroying me. The idea of the two meeting wouldn't let me go, so here we are!
This can serve as an epilogue to my story 'All You Distrust, All You Save' but should work fine on its own. I hope you enjoy this and any feedback is appreciated!
If the funeral could be considered a quiet affair, the aftermath feels as though the world itself has frozen.
Hushed voices breach Nebula's sphere of awareness from far away. No doubt at least one of those voices is Rocket trying to entice her back to the ship, but she ignores them expertly, keeping her eyes fixed to the landscape beyond. The calm rush of waves lapping against a grassy shore and the lilt of birdsong is a pleasant enough soundtrack to her musings, and she has to admit that her view is a rather beautiful one. In the distance, the golden sun is beginning to sink and now only just rests above the treetops, but its light reflecting off the lake grants it an ethereal quality as the waters glitter and shine.
One can pretend their ritual has truly succeeded in sending Stark on a journey to another realm, rather than simply being a sentimental way of saying goodbye to the man who has saved them all.
As farewells go, it was a rather tender one; quiet and understated. A surreal contrast to the life they were mourning, but a far more respectful way to honour the dead than Nebula is used to witnessing. As they watched the disabled Arc Reactor float across the water and held their tongues in thoughtful silence, she is certain she heard Rocket decry the lack of fireworks - or any of the pomp and circumstance which made Yondu's funeral such a celebration - but she imagines everyone present lacked the energy for such an event. They have been fighting for too long, and no doubt a calm affair was all they could bear to organise for fear of breaking apart.
As her eyes scan the horizon, Nebula can see the Arc floating in the distance. It has travelled far in the hour since its release, but the sun has found it all the same. Silver metal shines under a golden beam, and Nebula can almost convince herself that the device is still functioning; remembers how its delicate blue light was a source of comfort during those lonely days in space. The machinations behind it remain a mystery to her, but deep down she thinks she always knew that the absence of that light was something to dread. Watching it flicker and die alongside its master on the battlefield only confirmed those suspicions, though she would happily have lived in ignorance for the rest of her days if it meant she could erase that image from her mind.
It is ridiculous to feel so strongly, she knows. Her experiences with Stark have barely lasted a month in total, between their turbulent return to Earth and their desperate attempts to fix their mistakes five years later. The notion of dropping by had occurred to her more than once in the interim, though there was always a mission to keep her preoccupied, and no doubt Rocket would rather have torn his own eyes out than return to the place of Quill's birth without good reason. His losses were still too painful. For the first six months he'd refused to even listen to music, sentencing the ship to a crushing silence. The ban only ended when Nebula stumbled in on him one day, listening to a gentle melody with a lone tear streaming down his cheek.
Nebula had compensated for her absence by asking after Stark during Natasha's conference-calls. She had learned enough to know that Stark and Pepper were finally married in a private ceremony only a month after his return. A year later she learned that Pepper had given birth to a child; a baby girl by the name of Morgan, who by all accounts had inherited her father's eyes and her mother's nose. Such news had been reassuring. After coming so close to watching Stark die as a result of her father's actions, Nebula gleaned satisfaction from the knowledge that he was continuing to live on as best he could, all while Thanos rotted in the ground.
It had been nice to see him again, once their plan to undo The Snap came together. He seemed to have aged more than five years in the meantime, judging by the splashes of grey in his hair and the lines adorning his face, but he had an air of contentment all the same. He seemed happy in his final days, in spite of the buried grief which served as a bitter motivator.
Nebula only wishes he'd lived long enough to bask in their success.
She's grateful for Stark's sacrifice, truly. For a horrifying few hours she had feared that her actions had doomed the universe to another slaughter, until the impact of that final Snap reverberated through her bones and shattered her enemies to dust.
If she has one regret, it is that she was not the one to destroy her father. Then again, she supposes she accomplished the next best thing by slaughtering her hateful past-self. With a blast through the heart, she has condemned that lost creature to an eternity rotting beneath the ground, while the version of her soul that was made better by the likes of Gamora gets to live on and thrive.
Time passes on. The sun finally dips beneath the distant treeline, while the sky adopts warm hues of pink and orange. Places like this are almost enough to convince her that Earth is beautiful, in contrast to the clinical environments that characterised the Avengers Headquarters. If she knew the planet could be so striking, perhaps she'd have made more of an effort to drag Rocket back here over the years. Then again, she supposes there's little point in mourning over lost opportunities now.
A twig snaps behind her, disturbing the veil of calm she's shrouded herself with, and she turns when the unmistakable sound of approaching footsteps makes itself known. Her mind calms slightly upon seeing Pepper approach. They have only properly met on one occasion – when the woman had thanked her profusely for aiding Stark's safe return – but Nebula's familiar enough not to call her a stranger. She cuts an elegant figure in her black dress, her hair arranged neatly around her face and her expression calm in spite of her pain, though reddened eyes betray her recent tears. She appears strong, however. Formidable. Every inch the woman Stark fell in love with, even now.
She's carrying a bundle in her arms that on closer inspection resembles a small human. Sure enough, two inquisitive brown eyes peek at Nebula as they make their final approach, only to bury themselves against Pepper's neck once more. The girl grips her mother tightly - their black outfits seeming to blend into one - and Nebula might almost have been able to convince herself that the child was asleep, if she didn't keep glancing up with curiosity before hiding away with a shy smile.
"Would you believe me if I told you that coming over was her idea?" Pepper asks as she draws up to Nebula's side, a warm smile cracking through her grief as she stares lovingly at her daughter. "You're very shy all of a sudden."
"Not like her father, then?" Nebula asks cautiously. The mere mention of Stark feels somewhat dangerous, despite her having spent hours attending an event designed to honour him.
If bringing him up is a slight, however, Pepper makes no mention of it. Instead she simply laughs, a lovely musical sound that contrasts with the afternoon's solemnity, and that seems to be all it takes for Morgan to emerge from her cocoon and glance up at her mother.
"Not at the moment, no," Pepper admits, pressing a soft kiss to her daughter's hair and looking at her with unmistakable fondness. "Any other time and they're thick as thieves."
The use of present-tense isn't lost on Nebula, but she makes no mention of it.
As though having surmised that this strange blue creature is not a threat, the girl finally emerges long enough for Nebula to get a good look at her. For a brief, silent moment the two simply assess each other, holding any conclusions close to their chests. Morgan takes so much after her father it's like staring at a clone. Her warm brown eyes take Nebula back to endless days stranded in space, passing the time with pointless games or mind-numbing repairs, and there's already an intelligence brewing that would make her father proud if he could see it. One has to look closely to find any resemblance to her mother, but Nebula believes she can spot it in her delicate cheekbones and small, pointed chin. No doubt a fair portion of her intelligence can be attributed to Pepper as well.
"Are you Auntie Nebula?" Morgan asks once her assessment is complete, all traces of shyness vanishing in a heartbeat as her high voice betrays only playful curiosity.
The familial title is so foreign that Nebula ends up staring dumbly for a few seconds, before meeting Pepper's gaze in an unspoken plea for an explanation. If anything, her confusion only serves to bring Pepper a great deal of amusement, as she lowers her head and tries to suppress a widening grin.
"One of Tony's old habits," she explains, returning her gaze to Nebula with a huff of laughter and a weak smile that only glances her eyes. "Everyone he considered a friend was automatically an 'Uncle' or 'Auntie' in his bedtime stories. If we bothered to list them all, Morgan would have the largest family in the world."
What a thought. Nebula has spent so many years without a family that the prospect of having one as vast as Morgan's feels more alien than the creatures she encounters on a daily basis. Her sister relieved some of that isolation for a time, until she too was gone and Nebula was rendered alone in the universe once more.
Morgan must be the same age Nebula was when she was torn from her own parents. There's a certain, horrifying symmetry in the fact that she too has had her father ripped away at such a young age. In contrast to Nebula's experiences, however, Morgan will spend the rest of her life surrounded by an extended family who will watch her grow with pride, compensating for the fact that Stark cannot do the same.
A small flurry of jealousy coils in her gut at the thought, and Nebula can't help but loathe herself for it. Such unpleasantries are easily smothered, however, when she remembers that she too can be part of that family if she so wishes.
"I suppose I am," she says, forcing herself to lose the bite that often laces her words. In its place she adopts a gentleness that still seems foreign to her ears, even after years of helping to save little girls across the galaxy.
The confirmation only emboldens Morgan further, and a large gap-toothed smile crosses her face as she sits up straighter in her mother's arms.
"Did you save Daddy in space?" she asks, eyes bright with curiosity, and Nebula resists the tug of her own smile pulling at traitorous lips.
No doubt the story of the Benatar becoming stranded in space and their eventual rescue has been highly dramatized as part of many a bedtime story. Nebula supposes she can spare Morgan the more menial details, and simply affirms her statement with a single nod.
"We saved each other," she says, because for all that she had stitched Stark back together and helped fight off infection, his mere presence had spared her from a crushing isolation that would no doubt have destroyed her completely. "He always spoke of coming home to your mother."
Nebula's gaze finds Pepper's as she utters those words, watching as she takes in a deep breath and closes her eyes against another wave of tears. She recovers quickly though, managing a kind smile when her daughter looks back up at her.
"Can I go to space with you?" Morgan asks Nebula with a sudden burst of excitement, evoking a warm, if slightly stunned, laugh from Pepper in response.
"Maybe when you're older," Nebula promises, not bothering to conceal the tiny small that tugs at her lips this time around. No doubt Pepper would disapprove highly of her taking her daughter beyond the safe confines of Earth. Especially having met the Guardians and knowing the sort of company Nebula keeps. "Space is rather dangerous for a child."
The girl's brows furrow in obvious disappointment, though such a serious expression on the face of a child is almost comical. There's a familiarity in that look that has Nebula's heart aching. No doubt she saw it on Stark's own face from time to time, halfway across the universe.
"Though I'm sure we could bring your mother along if that were a problem," she continues, hiding the joke behind a stoic demeanour that has Pepper releasing a startled burst of laughter.
"Absolutely not!" she insists, though any conviction is ruined somewhat by her failed attempts to stifle her laughter. Morgan doesn't help in that regard; seeing her mother so startled has left her descending into fits of giggles of her own. "I've had enough stress for one lifetime."
"I don't doubt it," Nebula concedes. Three weeks with Stark was enough to carve ten years off her own lifespan from stress alone. She can only guess what damage countless years have wrought.
In spite of everything, Nebula doubts Pepper would trade in those years for anything in the universe.
The spell seems to shatter there and then. Levity and warmth slowly fade away to make space for the heaviness that blanketed them earlier, though its return is not entirely unpleasant. A healthy amount of grief is warranted after all. Pepper and Morgan have lost an adoring husband and father respectively, and while Nebula's grief is hardly so all-consuming, she can't help but feel sorrow for the loss of one of the few friends she has.
No doubt they will all yield some comfort in the fact that the worldgets to carry on as a result of Stark's actions. Nebula has little regard for the concept of an afterlife, but the idea of Stark resting easy in the knowledge that he saved the universe is one she can appreciate.
"Do you want to go back inside?" Pepper asks Morgan gently, once it becomes clear that her excitement has drained to make way for exhaustion. Her small head returns to Pepper's shoulder - though any trepidation about being in Nebula's presence left her long ago - and she responds to the question with a weak nod while hugging her mother tightly.
With that, Pepper offers Nebula a silent goodbye with a weak smile that barely masks her own weariness, whispering something in her daughter's ear before turning back towards the house. Whatever was uttered is enough to have Morgan emerging from her hiding place, and she bids Nebula farewell with a tiny wave of her hand and a bashful smile.
Nebula returns the wave awkwardly, before watching the pair disappear into the warmth and light of the house. The voices Nebula heard earlier make a reappearance as the door opens, and she catches faint snippets of laughter and stories before silence can wash over her again. All the colours of the sky have slowly faded to a deep blue which in a matter of hours while be black, and she knows she has lingered for too long. Rocket alone has probably expressed his grievances about her absence once or twice, accompanied by several threats to leave her alone on this blasted rock.
As pleasant as this small corner of Earth is, Nebula cannot deny that she is keen to leave. Settling in any one place has never suited her, and as difficult as these five years have been, she has gleaned enjoyment from constantly travelling amongst the stars at least. How she will cope on a ship which is now much busier - not to mention louder - than usual remains to be seen. However, the relief of having everyone back with her, alive and well, will no doubt smother any minor inconveniences for the first few days.
With Stark and Natasha gone, there is little tying her to Earth anymore. And with her father reduced to ash - his legacy destroyed while he could do nothing but watch - Nebula's whole purpose for existence will need reconsideration. The Guardians will provide her with some basic motivations to pass the time, and she has a relationship to rebuild all over again with Gamora, but anything beyond that is hers to discover for herself.
Though now that she thinks about it, becoming 'Auntie Nebula' to a mini-Stark doesn't sound so terrible.
Perhaps, if she's persistent, she'll be able to convince Rocket or Quill to make a few return trips to Earth in future.