"And I... am... Iron Man..."

SNAP!

Tears were falling down your face uncontrollably as you squeezed your eyes shut. You kept your head down in your room and held a framed photo of your father, Tony Stark. You find yourself continuously crying, and you're at a complete loss on what to do.

To you, his death was like a blink of an eye. Everyone came back from the dead, but at what cost?

Tony Stark heroically died by snapping his fingers with the powerful infinity stones in his hands to defeat the Mad Titan Thanos.

The fact that Natasha Romanoff had to die in order to obtain the Soul Stone is another thing that devastated you the most. Given that Pepper Potts is your second mother, Natasha was like a third mother to you.

Your biological mother tragically passed away at the age of three from a rare condition that didn't give her much time to survive. Your biological father, Tony Stark, adopted you, and Pepper Potts cared for you as if you were her own daughter. You lost far too many significant individuals in your life. You feel completely disoriented, as though pieces of who you are were suddenly taken from you.

You brushed away your tears as soon as you heard a knock. "Who is it?" You asked solemnly.

"Morgan." Your half-sister, Morgan Stark, replied with her usual optimistic yet soft voice. "Mommy said it's time to go out."

You let out a long sigh and got off your bed. You opened the door, revealing a 5-year-old Morgan staring at you with her beady brown eyes. With a somber expression, you grasped her hand while holding the framed photo of Tony in your other hand. "Ready to watch a hologram?"

Morgan grinned broadly as she nodded. You felt sad for her. She is far too young and clueless to comprehend what death is. It's difficult to explain why Tony won't wake up from a long and deep sleep, even though you know she's clever and will discover the truth eventually. You are aware that you will soon need to give her an explanation.

You know that Morgan may ask you more questions, so you need to be ready.

James Rhodes, Pepper Potts-Stark, and Happy Hogan were already seated on the couch in the living room when you and Morgan arrived. Morgan took a seat next to Pepper as you moved to the Iron Man helmet that was set on the table.

Finally, a holographic image of Tony Stark sitting on a chair and contemplating something deep appeared after you hit a button to turn it on. You watched your father sigh as you sat next to Morgan.

"Everybody wants a happy ending. Right?" Tony asked. "But it doesn't always roll that way. Maybe this time. I'm hoping if you play this back, it's in celebration. I hope families are reunited, I hope we get it back and something like a normal version of the planet has been restored if there ever was such a thing."

Tony stifled a sigh. "God, what a world. Universe, now. If you told me ten years ago that we weren't alone, let alone, you know, to this extent, I mean, I wouldn't have been surprised, but come on. The epic forces of dark and light have come into play. And for better or worse, that's the reality Morgan and (Y/n)'s gonna have to find a way to grow up in."

Morgan was staring cautiously at the holographic Tony while you held her small hand and she held yours back. She was likely to be somewhat afraid because she had never seen her dad in holographic form. To comfort Morgan, you gave her hand a small squeeze.

"So, I thought I better record a little greeting, in the case of an untimely death, on my part. I mean, not that death at any time isn't untimely." Tony scratched the back of his head. "This time travel thing we're gonna try and pull off tomorrow, it's got me scratching my head about the survivability of it all. Then again that's the hero gig."

Tony shrugged. "Part of the journey is the end. What am I even tripping for? Everything's gonna work out exactly the way it's supposed to."

After getting to his feet, Tony stepped forward to stoop down and give you and Morgan a direct look.

"I love you 3000." He smiled before fading away.

With a sorrowful smile, Pepper let the tears fall from her red, swollen eyes. Morgan gave you a comforting embrace after noticing that you were crying. You gave Morgan a smile, gave her a hug in return, and planted a kiss on top of her head.

When you all left the house, a group of Tony's friends-the Avengers in particular-came into view. Most of the Guardians of the Galaxy were present, including Captain Marvel, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Ant-Man and his family, and Harley Keener.

Morgan was walking with Pepper, holding her hand, while you were walking with Happy. Harley gave you a sorrowful expression as you briefly paused to look at him.

You and Harley Keener have been friends ever since he met your father. When you two first met, Harley was about 11 years old, and you were 6 years old.

You thought of Harley as your older brother. After Tony returned to his normal life and you helped him build up a tiny lab in Harley's garage with new computers, equipment, and other supplies. Harley was overwhelmed with joy. Thanks to Tony, you were able to get him a new potato gun that you named Potato Gun Mark II.

You two stayed in contact through phone calls, or occasionally, with Harley's mom's approval, he would stop by for a visit.

Unlike you, Harley was one of the victims who were wiped out of existence by Thanos while you survived. Since you two were so close, it was painful and sad for you.

Harley opened his arms for you, and you didn't hesitate accept his hug. You hugged him tightly and buried your face on his chest. "Hey, it's okay," Harley whispered as he placed his chin on top of your head.

You looked at your mother, who gently placed down the flowers with the very first arc reactor that Tony had with the words "PROOF THAT TONY STARK HAS A HEART" marked. You looked around to see the people watching as the flowers floated away with the arc reactor.

Your eyes widened slightly at the sight of a very familiar young man with his aunt by his side, even if it was just his back that was facing you. He was dressed in a black suit and had brown hair that was gently curled.

Peter Parker.

You just stared at him in blankness as the tears continued to fall. Despite never having the opportunity to get acquainted with him, you are familiar with Peter Parker. Undoubtedly, Peter would be present at Tony Stark's funeral. Similar to Harley, Peter saw Tony as a father figure, as did his late Uncle Ben, who had sadly passed away.

You were aware of Peter's father and uncle passing away. Given that Peter also lost a mentor and another father figure in his life, you can only imagine how difficult it must be for him.

Peter was also one of the victims who were snapped out of existence along with Harley and the others. Peter was the reason why Tony reunited with the Avengers in order to recover the infinity stones, carry out their one-last team mission, and get everyone back.

After the funeral, you, Morgan, and Happy are on the porch, watching the water on the lake peacefully. Morgan was leaning her head on your arm. "How are you doing, Squirt?" Happy asked as he looked down at Morgan.

"Good," Morgan replied simply.

"You good?" You asked, to which Morgan nodded in response. "Okay. You hungry?"

Morgan nodded again. "Mm-hmm."

"What do you want?" You asked again, finally looking down at your sister.

"Cheeseburgers."

You and Happy exchanged looks before smiling sadly at each other and looking down at Morgan. "You know your dad liked cheeseburgers?" Happy told Morgan. "I'm gonna get you all the cheeseburgers you want."

Morgan smiled. "Okay."

-•-°-•-°-☆

It was kind of unclear if Harley Keener was one of the victims who were snapped out of existence, so I made him as he did so he would be a year older than you since he's 17 if he did dust off, but if he didn't, he would be around 21 or something like that.

(11.30.23 edit #1: This book was unpublished again and made major changes for the story. As you can see, I changed the information about (Y/n) and Peter knowing each other when (Y/n) was still young. It gives off the wrong vibe that Peter waited for her until she was the same age as him, so I needed to change that. I'm sorry if I didn't see that wrong sooner.)