Awakening

May 13, 2019

8:30 AM

*Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep-*

The sound of her blaring alarm clock jarred her out of her sleep and she very nearly tumbled off of her bed. "F…" She pursed her lips together in an effort to censor herself and inhaled slowly through her nostrils. The beeping persisted and she groaned, less than willing to get up.

She slowly rolled onto her back and stretched her arm past a thick pile of books and towards her alarm clock. Her fingers grazed its curved sides and pressed softly onto the rectangular button on the top. The alarm shut off with a small click and she let her arm flop onto her bedside table.

God, she felt unusually tired this morning. She sighed and sifted her hand through her unruly hair. Her eyes glanced up at the calendar on the wall. She had to squint and adjust her eyes to the light, but she could just make it out. It read Sunday, May 13th—

"—consider it Judgment Day." Gene glared at Tony and Pepper was shocked at that amount of hatred he harbored in his eyes for her best friend. Tony was equally stunned and rooted to the spot, unable to understand the meaning of his words. "Gene, what exactly are you saying?" Tony asked him warily as if advising him to choose his next words carefully.

"What I'm saying, Stark—or should I say Iron Man—" Gene paused to relish in the sight of Tony's horrified expression before continuing. "I'm saying that the Makluan rings no longer belong to you." He brought his right hand up to summon the rings from around his opponent's neck.

"What gives you the right to take them when Tony earned them?!" Rhodey shouted at Gene, his temper quickly rising. Hot anger flashed in Tony's eyes as he came to his senses and he grabbed the rings out of Gene's reach. Gene let out growl of frustration and advanced toward his target, but a hand grabbed his shoulder from behind. He whirled around and grabbed the hand from his body, yanking it toward him with unnecessary roughness.

He looked down and froze as he saw Pepper's pained, terrified expression within inches from his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but was unable to form any coherent thoughts with her clear olive eyes boring into his. "Why are you doing this?" Her voice was as light as a whisper and broke at the last few words.

"Hey!" Rhodey protested, reaching out to stop him from hurting her, but Tony held him back. Rhodey gave him an incredulous look, but his eyes were on the two across the room. "Wait…" Gene had calmed down, even if very slightly, in her presence and Tony needed to see how things would work out.

Gene pursed his lips together and met her eyes with a cold piercing stare. "You've been lying to me…this whole time?" Pepper uttered softly, her voice edged with hysteria as she was still unable to grasp the situation at hand. Tony and Rhodey stood motionless across the room, unsure of how to react.

Gene stared at her for several agonizing moments, before raising his hand to her cheek. He paused, hesitating, and his hand hovered inches from her face before slowly lowering to the ground. For the briefest of moments Pepper thought she could feel the warmth of his touch radiating on her skin, but she knew she was only imagining it.

She could tell by the look in his eyes and the faintest furrow of his brow that he was in turmoil with himself. Suddenly, he very abruptly turned, and snatched the rings away from Tony from a distance. "No-" Tony let out a startled cry, reaching out a second too late to stop him.

Gene slipped the rings onto his fingers and he took a step backwards from the two. "Gene!" Rhodey shouted as a warning and Pepper felt too numb to react. He ignored the other man and glanced at Pepper, whose eyes relayed that she understood what he was about to do.

She shook her head, pleading with him as a flash of light began to envelop his body. He hesitated for a moment but forced himself to make eye contact with her. The remnants of the sadness and regret she thought she had seen in his eyes were replaced with a cold bitterness.

"Goodbye, Pepper." His words were clear and final, his distinct voice ringing in her ears even after he had vanished.

Suddenly her heart tripped and she felt the walls in her throat constrict tightly. "Stop," She growled aloud to herself, digging the heels of her hands into her forehead to keep herself rooted to the present. "Stop. Breathe." For the next few minutes she lay there, breathing in and out and listening to the heavy silence in the room.

After her breathing rate had steadied, she slowly sat up and observed her room. Everything was still; nothing had changed. She moved to open the window; some light and fresh air would do her some good. The morning light was bright and stung at her eyes, but she welcomed it.

Seven years had passed, and she wouldn't let herself forget it. She had become a stronger person, even knowing that there was a possibility that she would never recover from what had happened to her. She had nightmares and panic attacks in the middle of the night for God-knows-how-long after that, but she had her friends to help her through it.

After that episode, things began to change for all of them. They all had their issues to resolve, most of which consisted of trust issues on Tony's and her part. But while Rhodey began to blame himself and Tony had become embittered by Gene's betrayal, she had reverted to a stage of depression that quickly spiraled out of control.

Her father didn't understand what she was going through—how could he? She figured that the only way he could deal with it was to assume that she was going through a bad break-up with Tony. She had laughed at the irony of it in all of her bitterness.

Within a few months' time, their lifestyles had become unhealthy to the point that they were life-threatening, and Tony nearly had a brush with death due to his recklessness as Iron Man. At that moment they realized that the world still needed Iron Man—still needed them—meaning that they had an important purpose to fulfill.

They worked hard throughout college, despite the fact that they had to go their separate ways. Rhodey almost immediately enrolled in the military, following after his father's footsteps. Tony was determined to attend MIT with a full scholarship while juggling his duties to Stark Industries. This led to a strain in his role as Iron Man, but they each sacrificed a little bit to ensure that it would work out. He eventually opened up a company of his own, Stark International.

Pepper realized after years of fighting alongside Tony and Rhodey that she didn't want the normal life. There was no way that she could sit back at a desk job, unable to have any lasting impact or contribution to change the world. As a result, she made her decision to work in the S.H.I.E.L.D division. At least this way they would all still be connected and she could gain more experience rising in the ranks.

Her job was unlike any other and required more strength and discipline than she was led to believe, but it was just what she needed. It had become her whole life aside from Rhodey and Tony, and they both often complained of this. It didn't matter to her though; she knew she belonged there and was damn good at what she did.

Regardless of how much time had passed, Pepper knew that Tony would never forgive Gene for what he did to her. But honestly, it didn't matter now. No matter how unsure of herself she felt, she knew that Gene's departure was probably the best thing that ever happened to her. It had helped her grow as a person and, in a major way, connected her to the two people who meant everything to her.

She realized that the person she needed the most had been with her all along to help her heal at her own pace. For several years she and Tony had been dating now, and she had never been so grateful to have someone like him in her life. He was always patient and understanding with her, and being with him was both comforting and comfortable. And, although he was frequently busy as CEO of Stark International and with upholding his duties as Iron Man, he almost always found time for her.

Almost as if on cue, her phone began to vibrate on her desk table. She reached for it noticed a bubble pop up on the screen with Tony's face in it. "Coffee at 10, right? Don't forget." it read. She smiled and went back to the window, leaning out to take in a breath of cold air before heading to the bathroom to get ready.