Okay this one was difficult cause it has some feelings in it and i'm terrible at writing feelings without making the character look like their not them selves, but i decided that i try my best and i hope you enjoy. There is a flashback but i don't know how i did. I wanted it to be short but not super short but it was hard to create feeling or anything...but i'll shut up and say no more so...Enjoy!
It was a few days after the first day back to school and they were just heading home. They—as in all three, Pepper, Rhodey, and Tony—were walking through town on their way to Rhodey's house. Where Tony was told he was living while his mother was away. They decided it was best to let him find out on his own. If he was told to soon he may think that they were trying to make his life with no memory miserable. In there theory.
Once they got home they hung out in the living room. Again they weren't trying to rush anything with going to the lab. That was for another day. So they just hung out in the house telling stories. Tony was healing from the head injury but still didn't remember a thing. It was as if the world wanted him to forget and to face the world as a whole new person that told the truth and wasn't Iron Man.
The stitches he got already dissolved and all that was left was a small bump and a bruise. He didn't get the constant headaches anymore when he thought to hard and he didn't remember much more than he had before.
They laughed when Pepper was done telling her story on how her cousin was evil and wanted to take over the world. They knew it wasn't real but the story was funny anyways. "Babies are evil and don't you forget it."
Rhodey nodded and turned to Tony who was staring into space. He waved his hand in front of his face and frowned. He was worried that he was remembering something bad. Or was it just that he was tired? He sighed in relief when he shook his head and looked back at Rhodey.
"Sorry just thinking again." He said with a small smile. He was telling the truth. He was thinking. Again he was trying to remember something. He tried lots of things. Nothing he tried worked. And Ever since he got back from the hospital, he was at Rhodey's house. His mom was still on her little 'Business trip' and wouldn't be back for quite awhile.
"So what are we gonna do now?" Tony asked eager to leave the house for once. They hadn't left the house for two days now and Tony was feeling a bit stuffy.
"I don't know... I guess we could go see a movie or something." Rhodey suggested.
Tony nodded in agreement. Of course he remembered movies. "Sounds cool."
Pepper was hesitant but she went with the two anyways. It wasn't that she didn't want to it was just she actually wanted to show Tony the armory. But she knew better. That they weren't gonna show him it til he remembers a bit more which hopefully he will, but who knows how long that'll be. It could be a while. Or could it be...permanent?
She shook her head and ran to catch up to the boys, who were already half way there while she trailed slowly behind, lost in her own thoughts on how they could help Tony more. They told him pretty much everything. Except for that: his mom was dead, He was iron man, and how he had lost his memory. He asked a lot about that one. She wanted to answer but it was kinda hard to when every time she opened her mouth to explain, Rhodey would do anything to shut her up before she spilled the truth.
The only reason they kept that stuff away from him was because they were the biggest part of his memory. But his mom died when he was only 5 so he shouldn't remember much of it anyways, but he seems so persistent at trying to find out where his mom was. Because they all knew that she couldn't be on her 'business trip' forever and they would have to find some other reason that she was gone. But they really wanted to have him figure it out on his own.
They arrived at the movies and looked at what was playing. Only the soonest one was a scary movie. It wasn't too scary actually it wasn't even scary, but it was very suspenseful. The next movie wasn't playing til Night time. Other than this kiddy movie that was for 5 or 6 year old's.
The movie seemed good enough after they pulled out a trailer for it on Tony's phone. So they bought some tickets and decided to wait in the lobby til the movie was close to beginning and just talked about what they were excited for in the movie. Tony was just happy to be watching a movie on the big screen. Pepper was happy to be watching a movie with tons of action in it. Secretly she was just excited to be next to Tony in the theater. But she'd never share that. Rhodey was excited for seeing one of his favorite actors on screen, but he also had a secret reason. To see Pepper and Tony sitting next to each other and watching a movie together. To bad it wasn't a scary movie. Then she'd probably be clinging to Tony like no tomorrow.
Rhodey was the one that watched to clock and once it reached 1:45 he got up along with the other two. Who came with Rhodey as they bought their popcorn and candy and etc.
"Wow I am so excited! You know for a movie that just so happened to be on with no other choices, I'm glad we got this one!" Pepper said with enthusiasm.
"Yeah." The two boys said in agreement.
Just before they went in Tony's phone vibrated. He answered it in a haste. "Hello?"
He stopped and stood outside the theater room. Waiting for the answer.
"Tony? Where are you guys. One minute you guys were here then in a flash you were gone! Is everything alright." Roberta's voice said through the phone.
"Oops sorry. We got bored and went to the movies. Forgot it was your day off." Tony said and looked at the time to see if the movie was starting yet. It was in like two minutes.
"Oh okay. Just curious. I didn't want to find out that you guys were causing trouble somewhere." She said and they both said their goodbyes and Tony rushed off to find where the other teens decided to sit.
They were somewhere up top and waved at him when they saw him looking. He walked up the stairs to the row that they were sitting at and made his way to them. He sat down next to Pepper. On the other side of Pepper was Rhodey. Rhodey smiled that he was successful at getting them to sit next to each other.
The movie started and was starting at the flashback of the main character. It was when she was little and she was in a subway with her mom. They were on a train on their way somewhere. And it showed some people just standing in the hallway next to the two girls. Just standing there. Staring. The little girl stared back at the man that was looking attentively at her. Later the girls left the train and the men got off as well. Following them still watching the girl. The little girl screamed just as one man pulled out a gun and the other two spread out and were now in front of them. Soon enough the mother was dead and was left with a screeching little kid.
Tony was the only one that seemed really interested in the scene. The other two watched it and liked it but wasn't as focused as Tony was on it. He was actually leaning forward. As if trying to get closer to the screen. But as soon as the scene was over, Tony wasn't exactly watching it. He was busy concentrating on the little bit of memory that was flashing in his head...
FLASHBACK...
It was a woman with dark hair. She had curly, but not too curly hair. She was standing there just waiting in front of the school. She was smiling happily as she watched her son walk out of the school from his first day there. He was running. He ran joyfully into his moms arms.
"Hey mommy!" The boy said.
"Have a nice day at school, Tony?" She said while rubbing the boys brown hair.
He didn't like being called that. It was supposed to be Anthony. And she called him Tony, but he loved it when she called him that. But he never said anything about it. He loved his mom so much it didn't matter. He just liked that she was there for him and not always working. Like his dad did.
"Yea! I made a new friend and all" He said as he turned and pointed to a kid that was waiting for his parent to pick him up.
"That's great, honey." she said while leading him towards the home. She started to whistle a tune that she always did since Tony was born. Tony after hearing the whistle, joined in but wasn't as good. The woman, Maria, was smiling so wide that she lost her whistle and so did Tony.
They walked and whistled some more and they saw an open cab and waved for it to come to them. Only when it pulled over the driver walked out. Though it must have been some one else. Cause this man had all black on. But he had white shoes and a white jacket and gloves.
He walked out towards them and quickly, knowing who the man was, Maria rushed to grab her son and sprinted away while trying to dial the police. But just as she hit call she stumbled and the phone dropped and she had no chance at picking it up. Nobody seemed to notice or take action in the chase. As she ran the man followed with a knife. And gun.
"Mommy I'm scared." The little Tony said as he saw the man sprinting after them.
"It'll be alright honey. It's just a little game." She said wishing it was true.
She looked around to see the man rearing up on their heels. He was getting closer and closer. SO she pushed herself harder and went even faster than she thought possible. She had to protect her son. Nothing else mattered. Just that he was safe.
"You can't run!" The man taunted and there was the sound of a gun shot. It was ear splitting and loud. Maria gasped and pushed her son in front of her and made sure she was covering him. It missed,but the man had more than one bullet. And the same ear splitting sound rang through the streets of New York.
Tony felt his mother stumble again. She tried to keep going, but the pain was unbearable. It began in her left shoulder and spread like fire through her body. The man yelled in victory and aimed his fire on the now open targeted kid. He readied his finger on the trigger and was about to shoot when a shock of electricity ran through his body and he fell down paralyzed. It was the police.
Tony didn't pay attention to the police or the man. Just to his mother who was slowly dying. She had tears running down her cheeks. She laying on her back staring at her son for the last time. The boy looked as lost as she was and she was the one dying. Despite the pain she smiled. "Tony everything will be alright mommy is going to be away for awhile, but I'll see you again when the time is right. Mommy loves you. Go straight to daddy."
She hugged him just before she went limp as the life left her body with her last breath. Tony just sat there staring at her still body. He knew that she was dead, but he wanted to believe that everything was alright though his tears proved him wrong.
FLASHBACK END-(HOPE I DID A GOOD JOB...!)
Someone was shaking his shoulder. There was the sound of dozens of gun shots. The sound of his name being yelled but it was as if it was being yelled through a tunnel. His vision was blurry due to his tears. Lots of shushing, but Tony had no idea who or why they were doing it. He forgot completely that they were at a movie theater and that the movie had lots of guns. But that only made it worse.
"Tony!"
"Tony! Come on!"
"Tony what wrong!"
He was hardly registering that it was his friends yelling at him. Only that he was being half carried, half dragged out of the theater room and out to the lobby. He completely shut out the rest of the world as he could only think of the gun shots and the words his mom said to him. He knew that was his mom. She even said it, well he did, but that didn't matter. Nothing did...
(Rhodey and Pepper POV 3rd person)
The movie was half finished when they noticed that they hadn't heard anything from Tony. Pepper should have already known. She had been sitting awfully close to him. It wasn't scary, but there was tons of pop outs and they always made her jump. But when she looked at him noticing that he hadn't even flinched and he hardly even moved since the movie started.
Only she found him sweating and eyes wide. His electric blue eyes were unfocused and he was trembling. If he hadn't look so scared she would have laughed that he was scared of the movie, but she realized that wasn't fear, but a distant look and sadness. It worried her and for about 5 minutes of shaking him and whispering his name and he didn't respond so she turned to Rhodey. Who climbed on the other side of Tony and did the same thing that Pepper did. With the same reaction. Nothing.
Then they began to yell. When all that failed, and all they succeeded in was making all the other people mad, they dragged him out and he hardly even helped to walk himself so they were pretty much carrying him. When they got to the lobby, they sat him down on one of the chairs. Some people came by to see what was wrong and some offered to call 911, but the two teens said that wouldn't help, but they asked for some water, cause all they had was soda. When they got the water they gently sprayed it on Tony. Careful not to get the monitor.
The only reaction was a shake of the head and the tears that were building up in his eyes spilled over his face. He blinked wildly and he began to tremble even harder. The first thing that came to Rhodey's mind was to call his mom.
"Hello?" She answered on the second ring.
"Mom somethings wrong with Tony." He said with out hesitating.
"What happened now?" She asked.
"I don't know we were watching the movie and he...he just froze. Right now he wont respond to anything. Not screaming. Not water being splashed. Nothing." Rhodey said slightly panicked. He had no idea what to do or what was wrong. But it couldn't have been good. Something had to make him be like that.
It wasn't just out of the blue...
"Rhodey listen to me. What was the movie about?" She asked.
"The beginning was about a little girl and her mother running away from some guy. He killed her mother, but left the girl. Then-"
"That's IT!" Roberta yelled through the phone causing Rhodey to flinch away from the phone.
"What?"
"That's how his mom died! It probably brought back bad memories..." She sighed. "Just bring him here. I'll tell you the full story now when you get back."
With that she hung up. Nothing more, nothing less. The only thing was, was how were they gonna get Tony out of there if he wasn't responding and could hardly walk. But he just told pepper to help him carry Tony out to get a cab. They were not going to walk all the way home like this. Not with Tony like this. Especially now. It would take ages and tons of sore muscles. Plus they'd never make it before dinner time. Once they hailed a cab they shoved Tony in and paid the driver to go quick.
"So what did Roberta say?" Pepper asked.
He told her what they talked about and she gasped. She never thought that his mom was actually killed the story everywhere was that she was in a bad car crash when she was on the way to visit a friend of hers. Not that she was killed. Apparently Rhodey had no idea either. He was just as shocked as her.
"Poor Tony..." She whispered practically to herself.
The cab stopped and they stepped out after thanking the man. They dragged Tony out and met the waiting Roberta and she helped carry Tony and they laid him on the couch. They sat in silence and watched as Tony shook and saw that he was on the verge of crying. He did have the tears. The first person to move was Roberta who sat and held his hand in a mother like way. And Rubbed the tears off of his cheeks. She hated seeing him like this. She was the only person other than Howard and now Tony once again that knew the truth to how Maria Stark died. The last time she saw him like that was when Howard died in the plane crash. But even then, he was in even worse shape over his moms death.
"Tony it's okay. Everything will be alright." She said in a soft voice.
That only made things worse. Much worse. His whole body tensed up and he squeezed his eyes shut. Roberta sat there for almost an hour rubbing the back of his arm before he fell asleep. She sighed and turned to the two teens that sat on the floor and stared at their friend worriedly.
"You want to know how his mom really died?" She asked.
Slowly they nodded and took deep breaths. Prepared to find out how their best friend's mom died. The truth and not the cover story.
Roberta began. "She was with Tony. It was his first day at school at school and he was only 5 years old. It was the first day he met Rhodey. He already met you, but only when I watched him."
The two nodded. She continued, "They were heading home and were about to get a cab. When a man stepped out and it was a criminal that searched and found women when they were alone with their kids and kill them both. He saw her alone with him and was in his stolen cab—At least that was what we thought he did with the car—so he decide to get them. Even in plain sight. In public.
"But Maria grabbed Tony's hand and ran as fast as she could. But he had a gun. And I believe a knife as well. But he shot twice and Maria covered Tony with her body taking one of the the bullets to her left shoulder. Leaving Tony wide open. But just as he was about to shoot the police showed up and caught him."
"That's what happened?" Pepper asked with tears in her own eyes.
"Yes. That's what Tony said. And some witnesses approved. He never spoke to anyone after that for months. Except that they called him Tony and not Anthony." She said and looked at Tony who was twitching in his sleep.
The two teens were so shocked that they didn't hear the next thing that Roberta said. They just sat there silent as a mouse. The didn't know what to do or think about the story. They knew Tony was upsetted by his mothers death, but when he had his memory he never talked about it. So they never knew what had happened to Maria.
"Guys I said can you help me carry Tony to his bed?" Roberta repeated and they nodded.
But just as they reached out to pick him up he woke up yelling. They all jumped back at his out burst. Roberta rubbed his back to comfort him. He calmed down, but remained silent. But he didn't have to same glassy stare he had before. Then he finally said something. "So my mom's dead and you didn't tell me?"
They flinched that he said that. They hadn't meant for him to remember it that way. Of course not, but it was that way and it was always gonna be like that. They couldn't change the past. Too bad though.
"yes and we're sorry. We thought that you'd take it better to find it out on your own. But again it's just what Dr. Yinsen was like when he said that you were fine. I'm sorry it was my idea. Well no it was Yinsen's but I went along with it." She said looking down.
Tony took a deep shaky breath and felt just how tired he was. And that was a lot. Almost fall asleep on the spot. Which didn't matter because he was on a couch and people do sleep on those, but he felt so uncomfortable on it. He wanted his own bed. Not the couch. But still he was tired enough to fall asleep standing up.
"Are you tired?" Rhodey asked as if reading his mind. But he was actually reading his face at how it was looking as if he had the worst flu ever. But it was just the pale skin from finding out that his mother was dead and not on a little 'business trip'. He also had large bags under his eyes and Rhodey wondered how he got them so fast. He didn't have them when they got home.
He nodded sleepily as his eyes drooped down even farther than they were before. He yawns a long long yawn and stretches and moves to get up. But is stopped by Roberta who went in front of him and gave him a quick hug before letting him go.
"Thanks Roberta..." He says and yawns again. "For everything."
He was tired but not enough that he was still upset that he only remembered that and not something else. Like Pepper or something else that he couldn't put a finger on. It seemed so close but to far to reach. To far to remember or say. But he let it slip, but knew once he was well rested he would think harder on it and at least try to remember something on Pepper.
But when he got to his room and laid down diagonally on his bed he saw Pepper spinning in the swivel chair in his room by his desk. His room. He did live here. Why else would he have a room? But when he saw Pepper flash him a smile when she noticed him looking at her through the thick cover of blankets, he swears that something about the smile was familiar. As if he saw it before. His body got warm instead of cold as it was since he found out what really happened to his mom. His heart seemed to race.
The last thought that ran through the teenage genius without a memory before he fell into a dreamless sleep was; Maybe Rhodey was right... Maybe I am in love with her...but is he right about her loving him?
Booya! Sorry i'm just excited to see how i did with emotions or feelings. Please review and tell me! I really want to know. Just so if i need to do more in the future i will know how i did.
get me? SO yeah... Please review and the next chapter should be up by friday otherwise this weekend...Hopefully sooner... That happens a lot i say it will be a while and the next chapter comes out long before i said it would but you get the idea. It will be soon.