"How's Bucky?" Steve asked over video chat. Emma was in her bedroom at the townhouse chatting with Steve on her Stark phone. She wasn't exactly sure where Steve was. He didn't mention it and she didn't ask but locations weren't of any importance to them.
"He's doing really great," Emma told her grandfather with a smile on her face. "I mean, being stuck on house arrest is boring for him but he's passing time with reading and TV. Weirdly enough, he really seems to like Game of Thrones. That's the one thing he and Peter seem to bond over so that's good."
"I could never get into that show," Steve commented although Emma could tell he was pleased with this news. Pleased to know that Bucky was doing fine. "Too much blood and incest."
"I don't really like it either," Emma said in agreement. "Papa's also taken up cooking. He likes experimenting with recipes and practicing during the week before testing them out on me on the weekends. They've been really good so far except that water chestnut casserole but don't tell him I said that."
"I'm glad he's doing well. Bucky was never a great cook from what I remember but I hope he's gotten better," Steve said as he chuckled. "How about you? Is school going okay? How's Peter?"
"School's fine. It's only been two weeks but it's going good so far," Emma told him before visibly pouting a little. "Peter and I only have two classes together but we have lunch together so that's good, I guess."
"What kind of hell is this?! You and Peter only have two classes together?!" Sam's loud voice could be heard in the background. "Guys, call the press. Emma and Peter only have two classes together! What kind of evil assholes are working at your school? How dare they get in the way of true love. "
"Calm down," Steve said, looking somewhere off screen to wherever Sam was standing. He then turned to face Emma again. "You and Peter not getting all the same classes isn't the end of the world, Emma."
"I wasn't complaining," Emma mumbled, embarrassed that she might've come off as the typical teenage girl who wanted to spend every waking moment with her boyfriend. "But everything else is going fine. I'm supposed to see my school counselor Thursday to start talking about colleges and what I have to do to get in."
"I'm sure it won't be difficult for you to get into any college," Steve told Emma encouragingly like the supportive parent he was. "You're an intelligent young woman. A lot smarter than I was at your age. Any college would be lucky to have you."
"Stop being such a mom, Steve," Emma said teasingly although she blushed at Steve's high praise. "Enough about me. How are you doing?"
"Everything's fine. A couple missions here and there but nothing too out of this world," Steve informed her. "Nat, Wanda, and Sam are all doing good too."
"You still haven't shaved that disgusting thing off your face," Emma observed, still noticing how he had his beard.
"It's part of my disguise," Steve said defensively and Emma shrugged.
"Not if I call the Daily Bugle and give them a tip about Captain America's beard," Emma said nonchalantly. Steve rolled his eyes.
"Please don't," Steve said before realizing how late it was. "I have to go. We're heading out on another mission and it's past your bed time."
"Papa doesn't care about bed times," Emma retorted, trying to pit her father and Steve against each other in hopes that Steve would just let her do what she wanted like her father did. Steve gave her an unimpressed look. "Well, I'm going to be having a talk with him so that he will."
"You're no fun," Emma told him and Steve just chuckled.
"I love you. Try and not give Tony too hard of a time," Steve told her and Emma smirked at him.
"I love you too and you know that I totally will," Emma informed him and the two finally said their goodbyes to each other before ending the call.
Emma was left alone in the darkness of her room. She missed Steve even though she was grateful she could keep in contact with him more now that he and Tony were on better terms. It had been a couple months since the Hydra takedown but Emma yearned for a day when things would completely go back to normal. A day where Steve could be here too.
For now, it was enough that she had her father and Peter.
It had been two weeks since the lake house and everything was going well for her. She saw her father on the weekends and they spent time doing things together. Whether it was training, watching movies together, or her father trying new recipes he learned on her. All in all, it was a blast.
Peter and her relationship had shifted to a whole new level. Somehow they felt closer than before if that was possible. The intimacy in their relationship had risen to new heights and they had even had sex a couple more times since that night at the lake house. Darcy would stay late working with Jane so Emma and Peter did only what two teenagers would do in the house when left alone.
Other than the new intimacy in her and Peter's relationship, things had gone back to normal or as normal as they could be. School was boring as usual but she had her friends and Peter to keep her occupied. After school, she and Peter would tend to their Spider-Man and Viper activities. There wasn't a ton of crime in the city but they kept themselves occupied with petty thieves and car jackings.
Emma was driven out of her thoughts when she heard a knock on her window.
She set her phone down on her bed and curiously, but still very cautiously, got up from her bed and walked over to her window. The blonde then realized she had no reason to feel cautious when she saw who was outside her window. She rolled her eyes and smiled as she opened the window.
"Well, isn't it the best night of my life. Spider-Man's outside my window," Emma said sarcastically as her boyfriend clad in his Spider-Man suit was hanging upside down in front of her. She noticed that he was hanging up from the fire escape above her window. "Now what would bring a famous superhero like you to my window of all the windows in Queens?"
"Sorry, Miss," Peter said, dramatically deepening his voice in that lame way he always did to disguise it whenever he was Spider-Man. "I'm just doing my nightly rounds in the neighborhood to make sure everyone's safe."
"So you come to every girl's house like this," Emma flirted with him as she rested her arms on the window sill and leaned out. Truthfully, she had only seen Peter an hour ago when she was in her Viper gear in the city with him but she left early because she wanted to call Steve.
"Only ones as beautiful as you," Peter flirted back and Emma gasped, pretending to be surprised by his words.
"Spider-Man, I have a boyfriend. You shouldn't talk to me like that. He wouldn't like it," Emma told him, sounding appalled that Spider-Man would flirt with her.
"I didn't know you had a boyfriend," Peter said, playing along with her. Emma nodded.
"Well, I do. His name is Peter and we go to school together. He's very handsome I'll have you know," Emma said as she told Spider-Man all about her boyfriend Peter Parker. "Not to mention intelligent, kind, thoughtful, and surprisingly good with his tongue."
Peter blushed under his mask but continued to play this game with Emma.
"If your boyfriend is so good then why has he left you all by yourself?" Spider-Man questioned, still keeping up the charade between himself and Emma. "If I were him I'd never leave you alone. You just never know when some other guy is going to come swooping in and steal your girlfriend away."
"You're seriously cocky for someone who never shows their face," Emma retorted. "How do I know what's under your mask? You could be an eighty-year-old man for all I know."
"Why don't you come here and find out," Spider-Man told her, smugness in his voice. Emma hid a smirk of her own as she leaned forward out the window, reaching out for his face. Her fingers trailed down the expanse of his mask and Peter shivered from her touch. She finally found where his mask ended and his suit began. The blonde pulled the bottom part of his mask down, revealing Peter's smooth skin and lips underneath.
"I guess you're not an old man then," Emma said flirtatiously before giving him an innocent look. "But I bet you're not nearly as good of a kisser as my boyfriend is."
"I guarantee you that I'm one hundred percent just as good as him," Spider-Man said, his voice was softer now at the close proximity between himself and Emma. "Why don't you see for yourself? Kiss me and see if I'm not just as good as your boyfriend."
"Okay but only as a test," Emma said in response, giving her boyfriend a knowing look. "Just don't tell my boyfriend."
"Your secret is safe with me," Spider-Man promised before Emma leaned forward and pressed her lips against his.
Emma's eyes fluttered shut as her lips moved against his lips and Peter felt overwhelmed by the kiss. He had never kissed Emma upside down before but it was different than any other kiss he had experienced with her. In a way, it even felt magical as corny as that sounded. It felt like he had flown to new heights and he suddenly felt drunk on these new emotions.
It was a good drunk though.
They finally parted after a moment and Emma opened her eyes, a blush spreading across her pale skin as she looked back at her boyfriend. It was definitely the weirdest thing she and Peter had ever done but Emma liked it. The upside down kiss was definitely one to remember and she didn't know why they hadn't thought of it before.
"Why don't you come inside, Spider-Man, and show me what else you're good at," Emma said suggestively, her voice soft and almost a whisper. The lenses of Peter's mask widened before he furiously nodded.
"Right away, Miss," Peter said quickly as he then moved down from his webbing, pulling himself out of his upside down position. Emma held her hand out to him and he immediately took it, allowing her to lead him into her room through the window.
Emma smiled at him, still holding him by the hand as she kept leading him into her room. Her lips crashed against his again as soon as he was away from the window. She easily tugged the rest of his mask off and carelessly dropped it on the floor. As their kisses grew more loose, Peter pushed the Spider button on his suit. His suit then began to loosen before it fell down his body, pooling around his ankles and leaving him in nothing but his boxers.
A thought suddenly occurred to Peter as he abruptly pulled away from Emma in the midst of their passionate kissing. Emma looked at him, both confused and frustrated that he pulled away so soon. Peter gave Emma an unsure look.
"Quick question," Peter said, his breathing still a bit heavy. "Am I supposed to be Spider-Man the entire night or am I just Peter?"
"You're Peter, you dork," Emma told him, not knowing whether or not to laugh at him or kiss him senseless. Probably kiss him senseless. That was much more pleasurable for her. "Now get over here and take off my clothes."
"No problem," Peter said as he nodded and immediately resumed kissing her, grabbing her and pulling her close to him. Emma moaned into the kiss, completely wrapped up in Peter. They began to move towards the bed as Peter started removing her shirt, leaving her in her bra. He pulled back to take a moment to appreciate his half-naked girlfriend.
"So pretty," Peter said in contentment, hoping to memorize the way she looked with her face all flushed and standing there in front of him almost shyly. He gently placed her on the bed and then resumed kissing her as he climbed on top of her. Emma felt his throbbing erection against her stomach as he attacked her lips and she was suddenly reminded of something.
"Peter, you brought a condom, right?" Emma asked as she pulled away from him and looked back up at him.
Peter froze.
"I uh…not really," Peter admitted and Emma narrowed her eyes at him.
"What do you mean not really?" She questioned and Peter blushed.
"I forgot to bring a condom," Peter said in a quiet voice and Emma grew frustrated. Mostly because he choose to tell her this when they were both all worked up and ready for sex. "But maybe we don't need one. Maybe I could pull out and we'd be okay."
"Are you insane?!" Emma snapped at him. "Do you want me to have your baby?"
"In a few years probably," Peter answered and Emma wondered how he could go from completely making her swoon to making her want to pull her hair out in frustration.
"Fine then. Do you want my father to kill you?" Emma retorted and Peter's eyes widened as he tried to imagine what Emma's father would do if he accidentally knocked her up. The man would murder him right where he stood. The scary part was that Peter didn't think Mr. Barnes would care about going to prison. He'd kill him anyways.
Peter gulped.
"I'd prefer it if he didn't," Peter said softly. Emma nodded before giving him a pointed look.
"This is why we need condoms," Emma explained to him. "I'm not going to have sex with you unless you use a condom."
"But I don't have one," Peter told her in confusion and Emma raised her eyebrows at him. Then it slowly started dawning on Peter. "So…I should get one."
"Or we could just hang out," Emma said, feigning nonchalance even though she really wanted nothing more than for Peter to get that condom so they could continue what they were doing earlier. "Maybe watch a movie."
"I'd rather get the condom," Peter said and he got up from the bed, quickly grabbing his Spider-Man suit from the floor. Emma sat up in bed and stared at him with a quizzical look on her face.
"What are you doing?" Emma questioned and Peter looked determined as he put his suit back.
"I'm going to go down to the bodega on the corner and get some more condoms," Peter told her in a serious voice that made Emma want to giggle. He talked about getting more condoms like it was another mission. "Then I'm going to come back here and we'll pick up where we left off."
"You're going to go get condoms as Spider-Man?" Emma questioned and Peter nodded before rushing back over to her to give her a quick kiss. His lips lingered against hers for a moment before he pulled away from her. He was then suddenly reminded of the condoms and why he was rushing around in the first place.
"I'll be right back and don't you dare move," Peter told her, putting his mask back on and pressing the Spider on his chest before the suit automatically fitted to his form. He put one foot out the window before turning back to look at his girlfriend who was still sitting on the bed watching him. He pointed his finger at her. "Don't get started without me either."
"I'll try not to," Emma teased, giving him a smirk. "Better hurry up, Spider-Man. The clock's ticking. I actually think I'm starting to get sleepy. If you're not back soon, I might just fall asleep."
"Please don't," Peter said as the lenses of his mask widened dramatically. The teenage boy then jumped out the window and disappeared into the night.
Emma fell back against the bed with a grin on her face, giggling to herself through the darkness of her room. She grabbed the stuffed Spirit horse Peter had gotten her for her sixteenth birthday and clutched it close to her. With much care and tenderness, Emma ran her fingers through the toy's mane of cotton candy textured hair. Emma thought of her boyfriend and couldn't help but swoon at his adorable dorkiness.
Over the past couple of months, Emma was coming to the realization that she loved her life. It was something she never felt before. Her life used to be entirely made up of self-loathing and she used to dread waking up each morning to another day of self-loathing but not anymore. Emma was happy with her life and entirely content. If this was what true happiness felt like, Emma never wanted it to end. She just wanted to stay like this forever.
The one desire she had was to stay this happy and with Peter at her side along with her father and Steve, Emma thought she could achieve that. She felt lucky to have found peace and happiness at sixteen. There were people that didn't have that. Natasha was an example of that. Someone who was still struggling to find her place in the world while Emma was starting to feel like she had already found hers.
Emma then had an unusual kind thought.
Emma found herself wishing that Natasha could find the peace and happiness that she found. They were so alike in many ways. It made Emma wonder if it was wrong of Natasha to think that the key to resolving her past was to wipe out all the red in her ledger by trying to save more lives than she had taken. But how could you wipe out that much red? None of it erased the fact that she had killed men, women, and children. Emma too for that matter.
Maybe making up the difference wasn't the key at all.
Maybe the key was to feel loved enough by other people that you could begin to like yourself. Emma didn't think she could right all the wrongs she made in her life but she thought if people like Peter, Steve, her father, and even Tony could look past all her sins and accept her for who she is then maybe she didn't have to try and wipe out all that red. Neither did Natasha.
Emma thought she had a long way to go when it came to stopping the self-loathing but this was a start. Maybe Natasha would get a similar start someday too or maybe she wouldn't because everyone dealt with their past in different ways. Tony strove to wrap the world in bubble wrap, Steve searched almost obsessively for missions, Peter helped the little guy as he always put it, her father drew all his attention to her, and Emma learned to like herself.
Everyone was different but Emma found that this was her way of moving on from her past and she thought it was working great so far.
"I'm back!" Peter sang as he crawled back in through the window from outside. He was panting and Emma knew he must've been in an awful hurry. Peter immediately yanked off his mask. She sat back up in bed and looked at him, raising her eyebrows at the plastic bag in his hand. "I got the condoms so no more running out of them. Maybe you should keep this box here so we have them for next time."
"I can't believe you were that fast," Emma told him and Peter gave her a sheepish smile.
"I kind of used the superhero card and cut in front of a few people in line," Peter told her, a blush on his face. Emma looked amused.
"Peter Parker abused his power? What kind of parallel universe am I in?" Emma said teasingly and Peter playfully glared at her. "I can't believe I'm hearing this."
"Well, desperate times call for desperate measures," Peter told her and hit the Spider button on his suit for the second time that night, causing it to once again fall off his body and onto the floor. Emma just couldn't believe she got to see that lovely sight two times in one night.
"Get over here, Parker," Emma told him and Peter did as he was told. He was surprised he didn't sprint towards the bed at this point. "And don't forget the condoms this time."
"Don't worry, I won't," Peter said to her as he joined her in bed, climbing over her as she then pulled him down for a kiss but hopefully this time without any interruptions. She sighed contently into the kiss as Peter's lips continued to move against hers. Their kisses grew more intense and desperate as the minutes passed by.
As Peter's lips left hers and started making a path from her jawline to the length of her neck, her fingers knotted in his hair causing him to let out a soft moan against her neck. Being with Peter like this made her feel like she was on cloud nine. Overall, she felt happy and loved when she was with Peter. His kisses were like a drug to her and the pure love and adoration in his warm brown eyes as he looked down at her whenever they were about to make love also made her feel intoxicated.
"I love you," Peter whispered into her ear softly. They probably told each other "I love you" on a daily basis which was the kind of lame couple stuff she used to make fun of Jane and Thor for. But Emma no longer cared about being cheesy or for falling foolishly in love with Peter. She didn't have time to worry about stuff like that. All that mattered was that she was happy in whatever way that meant.
"I love you too, Peter," Emma whispered back and Peter smiled against her neck, continuing in his mission of kissing every inch of Emma's body. Her eyes fluttered shut as Peter showered her with the love and affection she never knew she craved. It wasn't him that made her realize that this was what she craved.
Emma made that discovery herself. Three years after Hydra and Emma finally knew what it felt like to live her own life and to be happy with that same life.
Although…she probably did need to get on birth control if she was being perfectly honest.
Emma and Peter lay sleeping in each other's arms after that. Emma was curled up against his side and Peter's arm was wrapped around her, holding her close to him as they slept. She knew it was okay since Darcy never checked up on her at night and May was fine with the fact that Peter was sleeping over at his girlfriend's as long as he used protection. It felt nice for her and Peter to rest peacefully like this.
The two teenagers were tangled in dreams of their own.
Peter was having a good dream. A dream about an older version of himself and Emma on vacation somewhere sunny and tropical. They went swimming in the ocean with dolphins and made love on the beach. It caused the corners of sleeping Peter's lips to pull up into the faintest smile.
The same couldn't be said for Emma.
The sleeping teenage girl's lips were pulled down into the slightest of frowns and her eyebrows knitted together, perplexed by what she was seeing in her own dream. She fidgeted in her sleep, tossing and turning in Peter's arms. What was going on in her head was nowhere near as peaceful as what was going on in Peter's head.
That was for sure.
There was a dark cave-like place Emma found herself in. She knew this was all a dream but at the same time it didn't feel like a dream. It felt like something else. Not quite like it was real but not quite like it wasn't real.
The blonde hesitantly walked through the area she was in. She didn't know what it was. It was all very medieval looking, feeling dark and dank. The dark area was only lit by flaming torches on the walls which illuminated her path enough for her not to trip and fall on her face.
"Emma."
Something called her name in the darkness but Emma didn't think it was a voice calling her name. She didn't know how to describe it other than a feeling. She felt it through her entire body, the hair on the back of her neck standing up, but somehow she knew that it was calling for her. It wanted her for some reason.
"Emma," It called and Emma's eyes wildly searched the dark room but she couldn't see anyone.
"Who's there?" Emma called out. She was met by nothing but a deafening silence.
"Emma," It called again and Emma felt like she was getting closer to whatever was beckoning her. There was almost a electric feeling sweeping over her body and she could feel it's vibrations growing the more she walked.
Then she noticed the oddest thing.
There were odd looking objects, almost trinkets, sitting on various pedestals within the chamber she was in. This place reminded her of a dungeon from Harry Potter but why would someone keep valuables or even treasure inside a dungeon? It didn't make much sense to Emma. To hide it was one thing but this was different than hiding it.
This was burying it for no one to ever find.
She knew that Tony always liked bragging about what he had. He placed modern art, that he spent thousands of dollars on, on the walls of the compound's main floor just so that everyone could observe the kind of wealth he had. Emma thought it was stupid and conceited because Tony didn't even care about art but he was an egotistical jackass so it made sense.
However, what she couldn't understand was hiding a bunch of flashy looking trinkets in a dark looking dungeon like this.
There were several of the trinkets that took up the pedestals in the open but dark room. However, only a couple caught her eye. A large looking piece of rock that looked like it had been broken from a side of a mountain. There were ancient looking runes carved into the stone and naturally it made Emma curious.
A large looking golden glove also caught Emma's interest. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion because it looked flashy and gaudy sitting there amongst all the other trinkets. There were six empty craters covering the metal looking glove. Almost like pieces of the glove were missing from those empty craters for some reason.
"Emma."
The feeling, not the voice, that called her own name drew her away from the odd looking glove. She walked further down the passageway and Emma felt a pulsing sensation vibrating over her entire body. Emma then slowly looked down at her body and was left in awe of what she saw.
Her hands were glowing.
Emma's eyes widened in shock as she held her hands up and stared at them. She hadn't seen them this way since that day with Rumlow and even then she thought it hadn't been real. But if it hadn't been real then why was it happening again like this?
As the feeling or sensation grew closer, Emma's entire body seem to be enveloped in that same glow as in her hands. It was an orangish yellowish glow that made Emma feel like she was weightless or floating through space. She watched from the corner of her eye as her hair flowed freely upwards as the pulsing glow ran over her entire body. It was only then that Emma noticed the blue energy that seemed to flow from her hands like ink from a broken pen.
Never in her life had Emma felt power like this.
She didn't know if she felt excited or afraid.
Emma finally came to a stop as the humming sound was louder than ever. The glow around her was mesmerizing and Emma couldn't pull her eyes away from her hands. The blonde, however, suddenly felt like something was watching her. It felt like someone's gaze was glued to her and she finally tore her eyes away from her hands and looked up. Only to be met with a familiar sight.
The Tesseract.
The glowing blue cube was sitting on one of the pedestals all the other trinkets were sitting on but somehow she was drawn to the Tesseract unlike the way she had been drawn to the other trinkets. It was still calling her name but not through sound.
By sensation.
The Tesseract was calling her and beckoning her to come forward. The closer she got to the Tesseract, the more powerful she seemed to feel. The sensation running over her body was addicting and Emma couldn't stop walking towards the blue cube. It was almost like she was in a trance-like state.
It spoke to her but not in a way that people spoke to other people. It's language seemed to be built on showing her things inside her head. Images of the universe. Planets that were far away from hers and species of alien races that she had never seen nor heard of before. Planets and species that not even Thor knew of. There were secrets it wanted to show her and only her because the Tesseract told her that they were connected in a way that no one else would understand.
Emma felt hypnotized by the blue cube as it promised her the one thing that she always desired.
A way for no one to ever hurt her or anyone she loved ever again.
All it would take was one touch and everything she already had inside her would be unlocked forever.
The temptation was something Emma would never be able to resist and somehow the Tesseract knew that. It's why it made her these promises, hoping she would succumb to her desire and give in. A part of Emma screamed at herself not to touch the thing as her hand reached out for it but she couldn't stop herself. Her body almost seemed to be moving on it's own accord, drunk on the power that was coursing through her body and too tempted by the promises the Tesseract made her.
Emma's hand was mere inches from the cube when suddenly a hand reached out and stopped her from touching it.
The person's hand was covered in a similar glow to the one who that covered Emma's own hand and Emma's trance-like state was broken. Emma blinked a couple times before looking up at the person in question and noticed a woman standing in front of her.
A woman that looked as equally as confused by all this as Emma was.
The woman's hair was a darker blonde than Emma's. Her eyes were brown and confused as they bored into Emma's own blue ones. She was a bit shorter than Emma despite looking to have a good ten or so years on her.
Emma immediately felt like she knew this woman for some reason.
Emma didn't know how to explain it since she had never seen this woman in her life before but the feeling of electricity humming through her body seemed louder than ever at the woman's touch. She was astonished by all of it as well as confused.
"Who are you?" The woman asked her, genuinely confused by Emma's presence. Emma just stared at her for a moment, not wanting to give her name out to a random woman who couldn't seem to let go of her wrist. Normally, Emma would've broken the woman's hold and attacked her but something stopped her.
"I-" Emma was about to say but was interrupted as the glow around each of them seemed to intersect and connect, tying them together in a luminous sort of bubble. The woman looked around in awe.
"This has never happened before," The woman said softly, still not letting go of Emma. She turned back to look at the younger blonde. "I know you. I know I do. Tell me your name."
"I…" Emma trailed off again, dumbfounded by everything that was happening. Suddenly, her sense of rationality seemed to kick in and Emma shook her head. "No, this isn't real. It's just a dream."
"Wait," The woman started to say before Emma yanked her wrist from the woman's strong hold and then everything happened fast.
As soon as they stopped touching, Emma and the woman were both thrown apart by the energy from the Tesseract. Emma was thrown to one side of the dark chamber while the woman was thrown to the other side.
The jolt from Tesseract seemed to be enough to start to wake her up from the dream turned nightmare she was in.
"Emma?!" A voice called out but Emma knew it wasn't the woman's voice nor was it the Tesseract this time. The woman was struggling to get up after that blast from the Tesseract but her gaze was entirely focused on Emma as Emma's gaze was entirely focused on her.
"Emma, wake up! You're only dreaming!" Emma then recognized the voice as Peter's. She started waking up from the dream turned nightmare as her vision started fading. The woman along with the Tesseract and the dark room started fading to black.
However, the last thing she saw before she woke up from her dream was the woman. Her facial expression entirely confused as she stared back at Emma, her eyes never leaving Emma's face.
Not even for a second.
"Emma, wake up. You're okay…you're okay, I promise," Peter whispered to her as he held her comfortingly in his arms. He pressed soft kisses against her head as she finally woke up from the dream. Her eyes shot open and she was no longer met with the sight of the blonde woman nor the sight of the Tesseract. She could only see her dark bedroom and a worried looking Peter Parker.
"Peter, where is she?" Emma asked him demandingly as her eyes searched wildly around the room. Peter gave her a confused look as he looked down at her.
"Who?" Peter asked her.
"The woman. She was drawn to it just like I was. She was exactly like me," Emma said which all sounded like nonsense to Peter. The teenage boy shook his head.
"Emma, there's no woman. It's just us," Peter told her and Emma still looked lost. "You were having a bad dream so I woke you up. That's all it was…a bad dream."
"But I know her, Peter. I know I do," Emma said softly, trying to put the woman's brown eyes to memory. There was something about that woman that struck a nerve in Emma. "Maybe I met her somewhere or I maybe I saw her face in a crowd of people but I know her. She knew me too."
"Emma, it's just a dream," Peter said reassuringly to her and he pressed his lips against her cheek. "How could you know her if you don't even know where you know her from? See? She wasn't real and none of it was real. You're here with me now and you're safe."
"I guess you're right," Emma finally admitted as she started becoming rational again. It was only a dream but it felt so real. The woman's face was so vivid in her mind that Emma couldn't believe it was only a dream. Why did it feel so real? Even realer than real life? "Sorry for waking you up like that."
"Emma, it's fine," Peter told her, giving her a small smile. "Now let's go back to sleep. You need rest. We can talk about it more in the morning if you want."
"Okay," Emma said softly as she nestled against Peter again, forcing herself to relax.
Maybe Peter was right.
Maybe it was only a dream.
"I'll wake up if you have another bad dream. Don't worry about it," Peter told her as he closed his eyes, holding Emma close to him. Peter seemed to fall asleep in no time but Emma couldn't sleep. Her eyes remained wide open as she rested against Peter's side.
The only thing she could think about was the mysterious woman.
On the other side of the universe, in a solar system light years away from Earth, Carol Danvers had just woken up from a dream that was identical to Emma Rogers' dream.
Only...Carol didn't know that was the name of the girl in the dream.
Carol's eyes opened but the only thing she could see was the teenage girl's face along with familiar blue eyes that bored into her own. She knew the girl and there wasn't a doubt in her mind about that.
The dream was a dream but Carol knew that it was real. It felt too real to just be a figment of Carol's imagination. The dream was real and the girl was real too. The girl who was just like her which should've been impossible because there was no one else like her in the universe.
Right?
There was a strange new kind of power that felt like it had been awoken inside Carol. It was different than the power of a photon blast or even just the Tesseract itself. Carol had dreams of the Tesseract before but never was anyone else in them.
This had to mean something.
The girl had to mean something.
Carol just wondered who the girl was.
Author's Note: So this is the official end of Some Things Never Sleep. I'm both happy and sad. Happy because I've finally finished a story and I can continue on to the sequel but sad because I love this story so much and I'm sad to depart from it. Thank you to everyone who's ever read this story and also to everyone who's reviewed. To everyone who followed and favorited this story as well. I love you guys so much. You're the best. I can't believe this story has almost a million views on here and almost 2,000 follows. It honestly doesn't feel like that long ago when I first started writing it and now over a million words later...
Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to start the sequel for about a month. I'm just really struggling with this college class I'm taking right now. My instructor's literally no help so I'm really going to have to put all my focus into this class if I want to pass it. I might update a couple of my other stories in the meantime since the chapters for those stories are nearly complete. Good news is that once classes are over I have about a month before Fall quarter starts so I'll have a lot of time for writing.
Sorry for the cliffhanger by the way but it's kind of just a preview of what to expect for the sequel. It's my own end credits, I guess.
Guest: That's a really cool idea for an AU. I never thought of a scenario in which both Emma AND Peter survived the blip. That could be a one shot although someday I plan on doing an AU one shot of Steve and Emma on Vormir and how that would go down.
GIJose: Thanks for the super long review. I always love long reviews. I feel like the longer, the better. Yes, I want Emma and Peter to have a little bit of space which I think will be healthy for them. I mean, they're teenagers so of course they want to be together all the time but in the sequel they'll do things apart. I want to develop Emma and MJ's friendship more, build on Emma's relationship with her father, and also write Emma going to therapy. She and Peter will spend a lot of time together still but as we get into the Ragnarok storyline, we'll see how Emma deals with things without the help of Steve, Peter, or Bucky. She'll finally be on her own and forced to make her own decisions without their influence.
I really wanted to show the internship moment since it kind of happened off camera in the MCU. When I saw the picture in Endgame, I actually got the idea to give Peter the real Stark internship so he and Emma could have their own separate agendas. Peter could work in a lab with Tony as Emma reconnects with her father. I love writing a flirty Peter by the way.
The campfire scene was one of my favorites to write. Especially the smore bit. The smore part was my favorite scene in the whole chapter to write because it just felt like Emma and Peter being two teenagers instead of two superheroes. The whole chapter was kind of like that but I felt like the smore scene really demonstrated that.
MJ took a stand like that because she knows Emma doesn't really concern herself with politics or even feminism because in a way she never really has to face sexism. If she does then it's just like fuck you, I can totally murder you without even trying. A lot of people aren't capable of doing the same thing and I think Emma's eyes will be opened by MJ more in the future as she starts becoming more and more compassionate as she grows older. Emma will learn to care about things other than herself, Steve, Peter, and Bucky. There's going to be a TON of character development for her in the sequel.
Peter being sympathetic towards Flash was totally inspired by me seeing Far From Home. I always hated how shitty he acted towards Peter but maybe there's a reason he's an asshole. Despite how much I dislike Flash, I couldn't help but feel bad for him in FFH. His parents are the worst. I won't spoil anything but after everything he went through and then coming home, you'd think they'd care enough to show up and greet him.
They're teenagers so of course Peter was going to be cheesy about their first time. He wanted everything to be perfect because he loves her that much and he knows she's been through a lot. Peter totally swooned over the OUR playlist thing too. You're not alone there.
Emma spent all this time worrying about being too tainted for Peter because of Rumlow but she realized that her first time wasn't with Rumlow because she never consented. She was assaulted and it was totally separate from what she did with Peter. Those are both two very different things. Emma obviously has a low self-esteem despite how confident she acts because of the rape which made her feel worthless for years. Last chapter and the epilogue was Emma starting to value herself and that'll be more explored in the sequel.
The Star Wars reference thing is kind of a happy accident. I didn't totally realize the significance but Emma didn't either so I think that speaks mountains. She's come so far with trusting people that it's actually really nice to see. That marks one point of her life and when she said the quote again, it marked a new and different point in her life.
Emma's still very against marriage and kids but she sees herself someday caving into Peter deep down. She'll deny it but a part of her might want something like that too someday. It'll take a while before she realizes that it's actually something she really wants but she'll realize it a little too late.
I don't know. I still have a lot of ideas floating around for 'The Palace'. I feel like I might make Ivy an eventual villain in that story if I made it a Mysterio/OC pairing because I was already planning on Ivy and Tony to have a very complicated relationship. I'm also super interested in writing an OC who was an Avenger and then turns bad. The concept is really tempting to me but I'm still thinking things through and nothing's a sure thing. I just really need to make a lot of decisions in regards to that story because I'm all over the place with it. If I go the villain road with the story then I might make it an AU and not have Tony die.
I'm glad you've enjoyed the story so much and I can't wait to show you guys what I have in store for you in the sequel. I hope the epilogue, at least, gave you a taste. Thanks for the review!