Ivy here.
I'd never really cared about prom, to be honest. It was just a fancy dance which girls agonized over for months. Not my style. Besides, finding a date was pain in the neck. There were far better ways to spend money.
Prom was early, in May (that's the way my school does things, it's complicated). It was my birthday. I was eighteen, home alone with my son. I had bought a cupcake, lit it with a single candle, and eaten it. The extent of my birthday celebrations.
Pathetic, I know. I was tired. And frustrated.
Carmen called me the night of the prom, excitedly chattering about her dress and makeup and her new ballet school.
"You know the Avengers party is tonight?" she said after a pause.
"Yeah. All I can say is that I don't plan to be anywhere near it. I've barricaded myself into my apartment, me and Phillip, and we have cut off all forms of communication or access except for this cell phone."
"Wow."
"Well, I want to have a peaceful evening."
"Don't blame you. Oh... did you hear about Edward?"
"Is he okay?"
"Yes... but he's going to the prom with Ariel."
"Oh."
"Doesn't that bother you?"
I wasn't jealous. Ariel wasn't after him romantically. If she really was, she would be more sensitive about taking him to prom. I had nothing to fear from her. "Carmen, I have, for the moment, effectively told him that we can have a relationship only under circumstances which will almost certainly never occur. Until I have worked all of this out, it would be wrong to stake some kind of claim on him. I can't turn a guy's affections down then get mad when he takes a girl to a dance which I won't be attending anyhow." My jealousy would be misplaced there.
"How... sensible of you. Pia turned down a guy once, then had a screaming fit when he asked out another girl."
"Isn't Pia fourteen? A little young for dating?" I face palmed. "I can't believe I just said that..." Eighteen and I sound like I'm forty. Then again, a lot of things I believe are considered old fashioned.
"Pia is too young for dating. She's not allowed to." There were sounds of shouting on the other end of the phone. "Ja, Pia, du bist zu jung!" (Yes, Pia, you are too young!) "Sorry, I need to go. Have to start putting my makeup on. My date will be here soon."
We said our goodbyes and I hung up.
Prom. Ah, prom. Something normal girls did. Something girls who didn't teleport between universes did. I missed being one of those girls.
I walked to my closet and pulled it open, digging through what I had on hangers.
In the back hung my one formal dress. It was dark blue, with sparkles covering the top and expanding onto the skirt, scattered like stars on the night sky.
Funny how time has a way of changing your opinions about things.
At fifteen, I would have laughed at the idea of being sad about not attending prom. Now, at eighteen, I wanted it so much. Just one night of things being the way they used to. Boys hitting on me and asking for dances, me rolling my eyes and smiling at their attempts to be charming. The ways things used to be.
And why should anyone have to know that I was there? A wig, my makeup, my one pretty formal dress. No one would suspect anything. The school was easily big enough that no one knew who everyone was.
I pulled the dress off the hanger and walked to the phone.
Three minutes later, I had a baby sitter for Phillip and was getting my dress on.
It was a horrible decision, really, to attend my prom. It was selfish, and stupid, and impulsive, and a bunch of other things. I knew it was, even as I applied my lipstick and blush. I just couldn't bring myself to care.
I lingered over my wigs before selecting a dark brown one. When people talk about what they remember about me, they mention my red hair. Brown hair looked alright on me and eliminated one of my most obvious features.
The babysitter arrived promptly and I teleported to my school.
The prom was about what I'd expected. Our school dress code is a little... loose, and a good many of the girls had taken advantage of that.
I glanced around, looking for my friends.
In the corner, I spotted Miranda and Jack. Neither was a particularly adept dancer, but they were obviously enjoying themselves. Miranda was dressed in a dark blue dress, and she'd straightened her hair, which was usually curly. Barefoot, they were about the same height, but the high heels of her shoes made her taller than Jack.
They were absolutely adorable together.
In the center of the floor was Ariel. Ariel had always been the type to dress in an attention grabbing manner and she'd outdone herself tonight. Her dress was a bright, attention grabbing shade of pink, with an enormous skirt with a diameter that probably rivaled her height. Granted, she's only four foot eleven. Sorry, four foot eleven and a half inches. Can't forget that half inch, can we? Anyhow, it was a dress that only Ariel could have pulled off.
She was with Edward, dancing. Both of them were very good, and had plenty of eyes on them.
Carmen stood on the side. She wore exactly the kind of dress I would have expected – feminine, lacy, and high waisted.
I walked over to her. "Lovely evening, isn't it?"
She stared at me for a moment, clearly not recognizing me with the wig and the makeup. "Yes, it is. Nice dress... sorry, but your name slips my mind."
"Irene," I replied. "Irene Ward."
Carmen's eyes widened. "Ivy?"
"In the flesh."
"Not funny! Are you insane?"
"Probably. How's your evening so far?"
She grabbed my arm and towed me out of the room, outside, onto the grass. "Have you lost all of your sanity? Everyone's here tonight, I told you they would be."
"I know. Hence the wig and the makeup. You didn't even recognize me until I told you who it was!"
Carmen shook her head. "Dummkopf. You're one of the craziest people I've ever met."
"I'm not at the top of the list?"
"Only because I have Pia as a sister. Plus some of my cousins are... what's the phrase you Americans use?"
"Off their rocker?"
"Something like that. Anyhow, you've completely lost your head, coming here tonight."
"You mean my mind?" I understood what she meant, but it was a weird way to say it.
Carmen released a shriek of frustration. "I'm so angry you're making me forget how to speak English! And I've been fluent in it for five months! I means days! I mean years! I haven't made a mistake like that one since I was nine!" She released another shriek of frustration.
There was a sudden sound of something zooming past our heads. I couldn't make out quite what it was, but I thought it looked like an Iron Man suit.
Carmen's face went white as a sheet. "Ivy... please tell me there's an explanation for that."
I shook my head.
Six more zoomed in.
The doors burst open and screams sounded.
"They can't be here for me," I said. "I'm dead. According to all forms of records and information online, Ivy Williams is dead. There's no way Ultron could know otherwise.
"That means..." Carmen said something in German I didn't understand. "Us."
Carmen, like nearly all the other girls that night, wore heels and a long dress. It did absolutely nothing to impede her sprint across the grass.
Kids poured out of the doors, screaming. Gunshots sounded inside.
I refused to teleport away, instead getting caught up in the mad scramble, searching for anyone who they'd be after.
I spotted Edward and fought my way through the crowd to him, grabbing his hand. "Come on!" I said, pulling him out of the crowd. "Where is everyone?"
He stared at me.
I yanked the wig off.
"Miranda and Jack are already out, I saw them go out the other door. Ariel too. Carmen..."
"Already gone."
It was then I realized his hand was sticky, and his jacket was stained with blood.
My heart plummeted into my toes. "Edward..."
He collapsed against me.
"No you don't," I muttered, dragging him along with the crowd. "Stay with me, Edward, or I'll time travel back to this moment and slap you for it!"
The Iron Legion were flying overhead, shooting into the crowd.
There was no way I could get everyone else together, and Edward was already bleeding out.
I ran, dragging him along behind me, into a patch of trees, and through the trees into a back alley shaded by them. Edward was little more than dead weight by now – still breathing, but in need of medical attention.
"Can't go to a hospital, they'd find us there," I said. "Your house isn't safe either, and it's too far anyhow." I thought long and hard for a moment.
There was one place left to go.
Somehow, I managed to drag Edward down a few streets, to an abandoned street with few cars.
I managed to drag Edward up to one of them, one with a white car in front.
The light in the living room was on. Good. He usually stayed up late, composing.
I banged on the door as loud as I dared.
No answer.
I rang the doorbell three times.
This time, the door was opened.
My brother stared down at me and Edward, both of us in formal clothing, covered blood.
"I didn't know where else to go, Ryan. Edward's been shot. Can I stay?"
He stared at me for a long moment. "You're dead. This is a nightmare. You're dead."
"No. I lied. It was me in that hospital room. With the baby. Please, Ryan. Let me come in."
He kept staring. "Well, if it is a dream, it might ease my guilt. Come in." He swung the door wide.