Chapter 25- Because life's not fair…
Still in Wakanda
"…And we have to do it before Thanos does. Otherwise we'll lose everything." "But wasn't the Teseract the Space stone? You said that." asked Clint. "Yes, it is. But due to the importance of space and time, it was decided to divide them. The space stone is divided into 3 parts, each representing one of Earths dimensions and then there is another time stone." "Any idea how we should find them then?" Steve joined the discussion. "The All-father sent it to Earth as a crown to a royal family. There a princess was born; she was to be the most powerful creature on Earth, the protector of the stones. No one knows what has happened since then, but it was only about 120 years ago." "Only? Thor, no human being lives that long. Well, even if she'd be all old and wrinkled and weak." Wanda got a good idea. "What about her ancestors? Or we could search museums. There aren't that many royal families in the world and the crown jewels are mostly on display, guarded but we can still see them. We could go and visit those places or look them up on the internet." "It's a good plan, but we don't know how it looks like." "I brought a painting of it with me." Everyone looked at Thor. Steve smirked: "Avengers, we've got a mission."
X-mansion
After the Avengers left, Charles gave me a speech about threatening people in his office. Once he was finished it was my turn to use what I learned about diplomacy and argumentation. "She wouldn't have gotten thrown against the wall nor would I have threatened her if she wasn't trying to get inside the Avengers heads. I was only protecting what is important to me. The Avengers are, as are all those kids here important. And the guys know things Emma and Magneto do not by any chance need to know." "I understand that, but… Ok, you are right, she shouldn't have done it." "Thank you Charles, can I go now, Logan is laughing behind the door." "Of course, just don't threaten anyone." "I won't unless the circumstances require it. Or unless someone really pisses me off." Charles waved me off. "Oh, and Charles, be careful, I can sense she's up to no good."
Logan, just like I said was standing behind the door smirking. "Having fun?" "No one ever dared to do that before, then you come around destroy Frosts ego and argue with the professor and leave him without arguments. You girl, have guts." "Ah, stop with the compliments. The only thing I did was to use what I learned through the years and that is if anyone threatens the ones you care about and then come up with a diplomatic excuse." "Nice." Logan dragged me in the elevator, one hand on my mouth. I freed myself biting his hand. "Ouch. Why was that?" "Reflex. Why did you drag me here?" "Excuse accepted. We, as in the X-men, are having a secret meeting tomorrow night and want you there." "OK. I'll be there." "Good. Good night." said Logan kissing my forehead. He exited the elevator and went to his room with a grin on his face. I blinked and shook my head. Why are you doing this to me?
Saturday night came quickly, thank god. Everyone was getting annoyed by Frost's ego. Magneto was also staying at the mansion. My best friend, also Emma (call it irony), sent me a message around midnight: Looking forward to see you tomorrow. Plane is going to take off soon, it's delayed a bit. Carl asked me to marry him .We can have a double wedding. We have a lot to talk about, meet me at the fountain at 10? Love, Emma. Carl was Emma's boyfriend or fiancé now. I smiled and typed back: Congrats! Of course, see you there. Can't wait to see you again. Love, Emily. God, did I miss her.
It was past midnight when Logan came to my room and motioned to follow him. We entered the subbasement. Everyone was in the infirmary. I didn't think it was the best place for a secret meeting. "We're meeting here?" "Yeah, best place we could come up with." "You do know there are hidden tunnels under the mansion?" "What?" We entered the infirmary, Logan still with a confused look. "Why is Logan looking so confused?" was Jean's first question. "I just asked him if we were meeting here or in the tunnels." "What tunnels?" Ravens face lit up in realization. "You're right, I totally forgot about them. Do you still remember where they are?" I nodded. When everyone was still looking confused Raven began to explain. "Emily and I met while Charles was studying in Oxford. We spent a lot of time together, became friends and because this place used to be just Charles and I, and he was always busy studying, we used the time to check out every part of the mansion. The subbasement was hiding most of the secrets. We stumbled upon some doors and well, we made ourselves a hidden room in one of the tunnels. Charles knew about the tunnels and the room. It should still be there." "Yeah, with tons of dust. But it'll do." We walked to a wall next to Cerebro. It should be somewhere here. But we can't go through the wall; alright we can change its density and do it that way. Charles must have made sure there is access to the tunnels. "Any idea how to get behind it?" "Wait, I think there's some kind of a switch, one of the tiles is movable, like a door handle." I stepped back from the wall, closed my eyes and sent a telepathic wave towards it. Like a sonar. Ah, we have a winner. I opened my eyes again and managed to find the right tile. The wall slid down and we somehow found the old secret room again. "So, why did you want to meet up?" I asked once we settled in the room. "We just wanted to hang out a bit, sum up the week as we always do, but we didn't want Frost hovering behind our backs." answered Storm. "I get that. She doesn't seem to care about anyone else than herself and her ego." Everyone present nodded. We talked about the past week for a while and then Jean decided to change the topic to something more interesting. "Well, since we are all gathered here now, I'd like to say something." Logan and I already suspected what it would be. Scott turned to her and asked: "What is it?" "Well, I'm pregnant." Cheer erupted in the tiny room. Scott took a moment to recover from the shock, then he pulled Jean into a kiss and Storm turned to us. "Wait, the two of you don't seem surprised at all." "Well, they kind of found it out first, even before I did. It has something to do with smell." Fortunately no one seemed to be interested in details.
"So, Emily, what are your planes for the next days?" asked Marie. "Well, I'm meeting my friend Emma today, she's returning from Paris as we speak and got engaged there. And we'll see about later. Probably go over Expo plans again and hang out with the Avengers." We talked till the morning came. After that we went to our rooms as quite as possible. I couldn't help but feel something was wrong, but I didn't know what.
Meanwhile at GNC
Tony's POV
"Do we have it confirmed?" I asked. "Unfortunately, yes. We should call Emily, tell her what happened and ask for further instructions." "No, don't. It's not something to tell over the phone. I'll go pick her up in a few hours, meanwhile, can't we launch a rescue? At least try? I know it's highly improbable for anyone to survive it, but…" "Actually, if you give the command, we can. In Emily's absence you are the one to approve missions." "Me? Why on earth would she do that?" "She did that like 20 years ago. We all agreed. Tony, she gave you authority over GNC, which involves the Wolf Pack. You aren't our commander, but you can authorize the missions." "So we can launch a mission?" "Yes. A direct command from an authorized person is all we need to overpower the UN Accords. It was clever from her to negotiate something like that. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to do anything without it having bad consequences." "Alright, every team available, suit up! Let's go and help the rescue teams, I'll go and pick Emi up and we'll probably join you, if you aren't back by then. Meanwhile, I order flags at half-staff. And Stark Industries will do the same. Now I have to figure out how to tell her." Every team, including the rest of the Avengers took off with their jets heading for the Atlantic. All flags have been lowered. I looked at the clock; it was time to pick Emily up.
Emily's POV
I finished packing the bag when I heard Tony's car coming up the road. It's not like him, to drive this slow. Logan stood there, leaning against the doorframe. "Let me help ya." He took the bag, leaving me to carry the box with pictures. Tony knocked the door and waited. He usually barges right in. Something is wrong, but what? Logan opened the door to let him in. Tony looked at me, faking a smile: "Ready to go?" "Yeah, sure. I'll just say goodbye and we can go." Tony took the box from me and tried to get the bag from Logan, too, but Logan insisted on carrying it to the car. While the two of them stood next to the car, probably talking, I said goodbyes. "I'm hoping to see you all at the grand opening of the Expo; I'll send the invitations soon." "We'll do our best." "You should stop by at GNC someday. Bye guys." "Bye Emily!" Logan gave me a hug in front of the mansion. "If you need anything or want a sparring session, you have my number." "I'll give you a call, Liana. See you soon." "See you."
I looked at Tony, something was obviously wrong. "Tony, what's going on?"
Tony's POV
"Emily, maybe we should wait till we get home." "Tony, you're scaring me. Please tell me what's going on." The Wolverine was still watching us from the steps. "I'll tell you, I just don't want to do it here." "Tony, please. I have to meet Emma at 10 and I don't want to be late so just tell me." How do you tell your fiancée something like this? There are no manuals on it, I think. I know she's going to break down, but she wants the truth. I will have to tell her anyway. Looking in her eyes, I can't help myself; I have to do this now. I took both her hands and looked down in her eyes. "Emily, we got a call tonight at GNC. I'm not good at this… You won't be late for a meeting even if we stood here for hours. Emily, the call was from Emma's parents. I'm sorry, but the plane crashed into the Atlantic. No one had the chance to survive." Emily's face changed from poker to horrified. Tears started to build up in her eyes. "Please tell me this is some kind of a sick joke or a nightmare." "I'm afraid not." She looked so fragile. One hand on her mouth she sank down to her knees. I managed to catch her so she wouldn't hurt herself and cradled her in my arms, while she cried. Wolverine was shooing curious people from windows; he heard what I told her. It was a nice gesture from him, I have to admit. The sky darkened, soft rain started to fall. The sky cried with Emily. "Emily, come on, I'll get you in the car, we'll drive to GNC, ok?" I felt a nod against my chest. We slowly stood up, Logan run up and opened the door. "Take care of her, will you?" "Of course I will, thanks for help."
We drove in silence; Emily's head leaned against the window, tears flowing down her face. I took her hand; she offered me a sad smile for that. "Teams went to help the rescuers. The rest of the Avengers are with them…"
Emily's POV
Emma's dead, she's gone forever. I'll never hear her voice again, see her smile. Tony held my hand. "Teams went to help the rescuers. The rest of the Avengers are with them. I authorized it, there'll be no problems. We figured you'd do something like that. What I don't get is why you made me the responsible person, but we'll leave it for later." "Thank you. Can we join them?" "We'll see. Depends on whether they're back or not. But, Emi, do you really want to go there? It will only cause you more pain." When we arrived at GNC, I noticed the flags were down. There was also a black one added to the three usual flags. I couldn't really see much, my vision was blurry from the tears. The building was silent, like it's normal for Sundays. We stopped in the big meeting room where the Wolf pack 1 (WP1), GNC's flagship team, was already waiting there along with WP2, WP3, WP4 and the Avengers. John, the leader of WP1 spoke up. "It's official, no one survived. We helped to recover the flight recorders but other than that there was nothing we could do. Most of the wreck is too deep to get to; some bodies were swimming on the water, but…" "I understand. Thank you, guys for everything. Emma was our teammate, our friend. Go home and get some rest." Everyone stood up and slowly with heads bent down left for their homes.
Tony's POV
I woke up late at night. The other side of the bed where Emily slept was empty and cold, the pillow still wet from tears she shed for her best friend. I searched the house, the yard, but she was nowhere to be found. Where was she? I started the car and slowly drew to the main entrance. The places I haven't yet searched were the office, apartment, training quarters and the rest of GNC. Turns out she wasn't in either of those so I went to check out the rest of GNC, starting with the park in the middle. It was a quiet place, she and Emma were supposed to meet there… damn it. I ran to the fountain in the middle. It was frozen, like water froze midair and the whole stone thing and the circle of few meters around too. On the fountains edge sat Emily, with hands on her lap, staring on the ground, pale like the ice around her. Her eyes were red from all those tears. The icy sparkle was gone; there were only tears and sadness in them. I slowly approached her, careful not to slip, sat down next to her and took her hands in mine, which caused her to look up. Her hands were cold, she was like ice. I wrapped my arms around her. After a while, I swear my butt froze to the stone, she spoke up: "Why does life have to be so unfair? And why when everything looks great, when people are happy, does it have to get destroyed? Why can't we be happy without it causing a catastrophe?" "We can't answer those questions, because we don't have the answers to them." "I know, Tony. I just don't get the 'why it always happens'. Why do people I love die around me every time I'm truly happy?" "I don't know, Emily, life is just too complicated to understand." "I don't want to lose you, Tony. What am I? The angel of death? Is that my fate?" "No, don't think like that. Come here, let's go home, sweetie. We both need sleep."
A memorial was held the following week. The bodies haven't been found yet. Every person from GNC was present, standing there, listening to Emily, as she gave the speech:
"Today we gathered here to say goodbye to our friends, colleagues, teammates, son and daughter, brother and sister. I wish this could have been a more joyous occasion, I'm sure we all do. Emma was my best friend; she was here through ups and downs. She was the sunshine when dark days came, capable of making everyone laugh. We all knew her as the biggest optimist here. She was crazy, funny, smart, exactly the kind of person you'd love to spend your time with. And Carl, he was a silent person. He belonged to the best technicians we had, always responsible, innovative. Both of them joined the Wolf pack, they were part of our flagship team WP1. They found each other and after years of dating went to Paris together. Both of them were so happy to go, it's hard to say which one of them was looking forward more. They got engaged there. Emma sent me a message shortly before they took off. But…they never made it back.
I'm glad I got to know them, but it hurts much more to let them go. Goodbye Emma and Carl, you will forever stay in our hearts."
I took her hand as she stepped down from the stage. I knew she wouldn't hold it much longer, so I hugged her and held her tight while she cried. After everyone left, with the exception of the Avengers and us, we just stood there, looking at the black polished rock with two names and three dates written on it. And the sky cried again, until Emily fell asleep…