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tainted dreams | epilogue

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A voice was heard in the background. Rosalie couldn't place a finger on the reason why she didn't feel scared. In fact, she didn't feel anything at all. Some of her senses were heightened despite the lack of a beating heart. She couldn't feel her heartbeat, was she dead?

The voice was still there when she opened her eyes, noticing how she was laying in the middle of a watery field. Her body refused to move, far too interested in the deep voice surrounding her like a familiar, warm blanket.

"Everybody wants a happy ending, right? But it doesn't always roll that way. Maybe this time."

Rosalie tried to stretch her arms up towards the bright sky but it was in vain, she still couldn't move a muscle. But her hearing was intact, the only body function that didn't suddenly give up on her. Listening closely to the words echoing around her, a soft gasp left her parted lips.

Tony's voice.

In the distance, his voice could be heard as if coming from an old record player. Her eyes roamed around the deep red sky, the weird color now ignored as she felt warmth all over her body. Tears were prickling the back of her eyes and the blonde couldn't help but let them flow freely down her face.

"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."

She gasped, her body finally allowing her to move. Quickly pushing herself upwards, Rosalie stared around but found nothing. The source of the voice wasn't present but she could still hear it, the sound merely inside her head. What she didn't understand was where it was coming from. Her imagination? Or was she hearing something from far away?

"So I thought I'd probably better record a little greeting, in the case of an untimely death on my part. Not that, death in any time isn't untimely. This time travel thing that we're gonna try and pull off tomorrow, it's got me scratching my head about the survivability of it all. But then again, that's the hero gig. Part of the journey is the end."

Now standing in the middle of the watery field, a whistle from behind her caught her attention. Her breath caught in her throat as she turned and locked eyes with him.

Tony.

She simply stared, mouth wide open and body paralysed. The man was leaning against a structure that Rosalie could have sworn wasn't there a few seconds before. His smile was pure, face clear and free of bruises and bloody scars.

It was then she noticed her own body and outfit. She was no longer holding her torso in pain, the blood that once stained her light hair long gone. In fact, she couldn't feel the stinging pain she had felt before everything went dark.

It was all gone.

Was that how it felt like to be dead?

"Everything's gonna work out exactly the way it's supposed to."

The last words left a tingle in the air, Tony's mouth completely still. He was not speaking the words Rosalie had been listening since she woke up, but she knew they once came out of his mouth. Perhaps a recording.

Who knew?

"Are you going to stand there and stare?" Tony crossed his arms and smirked. "I think I deserve a big hug."

Rosalie chuckled and felt unshed tears pooling in her eyes. She ran as fast as she could without falling face first into the water, her arms and legs wrapping around Tony's body. The man balanced both of their bodies and smiled softly, his hand reaching for Rosalie's hair to brush it out of her face.

"Is this heaven?" The girl asked, her voice failing. "Where are we?"

"I have no idea, I just know we're not exactly alive."

Footsteps sounded behind the pair and Tony was the one facing whoever was coming their way. His radiant smile that stretched to the rest of his features was enough to make Rosalie stand back and turn to check who stood there. 

"Cherub."

If Rosalie's eyes were wet with tears before, they became flooded as she felt her stilled heart beat faster than ever. No words needed, she ran back to Nat and felt the warm embrace of her mentor wrapping around her body like a blanket. She felt better than she had in days, possibly weeks. Or even months.

Nat was finally there with her.

"I can't believe you're here."

"I'm always here." Nat chuckled, arms tightening around the blonde's shoulders. "Did you miss me?"

"Is that even a question, woman?" Rosalie smiled through the tears.

The two women smiled, laughed and hugged each other for what felt like hours, both enjoying the other's company as if it would be their last minutes together. They were soon joined by Tony who engulfed both in a tight hug, an aura of pure happiness emanating from the trio.

"Where are we?" Rosalie asked both of them, a weird sensation crawling up her skin. "Are we dead?"

Tony and Nat glanced at each other before each grabbing one of Rosalie's hands, guiding her to the small bench inside the miraculous structure that appeared out of nowhere. The blonde was growing nervous due to the deafening silence.

"We are dead." Nat pointer at herself and then at Tony. "But you aren't -I mean, you're dead. But you have a choice."

Silence followed, Rosalie's brain replaying her words like a broken record. It all seemed very surreal to her, almost like Harry Potter's afterlife moment, right after being hit with the Killing Curse and meeting Dumbledore in The Middle.

"It's not like we know how this works, Rose. No one ever released a scientific theory regarding death and the afterlife, it's not my area of expertise."

She smiled at his words, slowly assimilating what they were indirectly asking her to do. Rosalie had to choose if she wanted to live or die. Her mind was in complete disarray, both options ringing inside her head.

"Well..."

There were two factors Rosalie wanted to consider before making a terminal decision. On one hand, there was Peter Parker. Her partner, her best friend and her lover. On the other hand, and as she looked at her family, there was Nat and Tony.

She had lived without Peter for five years, the pain had been unbearable. Rosalie had fallen apart from the inside and she knew she would never really recover from that traumatic experience. She wouldn't be the best friend she was before, the girlfriend she once was. Now that Bruce had given them an opportunity to start again, she was faced with this dilemma.

Of course she loved Peter. Of course she missed her best friends, Michelle and MJ. But she knew nothing would be the same ever again. She had spent five years without them, ageing and learning with experience and life. Something her friends had not done, simply due to the fact they disappeared after Thanos' snap.

The best memories invaded her mind. The times she and her two best friends sneaked out of their houses late at night to eat delicious ice cream and gossip together. The times she and Peter swung around town, fighting crime or simply enjoying their time together.

In the middle of these heartwarming memories came different ones, equally amazing. She saw Tony as he taught her how to control her powers. She saw Nat and little Rosalie, throwing knives at targets.

Staring at the pair in front of her, Rosalie let out a soft laugh. It was the purest of sounds, the sound of a person whose mind couldn't be changed.

Rosalie made a decision. And there was no turning back.

"I think I know what I have to do." Looking at the horizon, Rosalie understood where they had to go. "Let's go."

Rising from their sitting position, Rosalie grabbed their hands and smiled. Tony shook his head, Nat barely moved as they both understood what the younger girl wanted to do.

"Are you sure? What about Peter?" Tony voiced his concerns and held Rosalie's shoulders to shake her body. "You'll be leaving him forever."

"I know." Smiling, she looked at both of them and said the words neither would ever forget, for as long as they rested in the afterlife. "But my family is right here."

They knew her mind couldn't be changed. That was who Rosalie was, a determined young lady who never let anyone change her mind when she had a deep purpose that needed to be fulfilled.

The three started walking towards the bright horizon, the youngest member of the dysfunctional family in the middle with her two mentors circling their arms around her petite shoulders. Their hearts were filled with bitter happiness, the end approaching them with every step they took. And with each step they took, their once dead hearts started beating with the strength of a thousand butterflies.

But their ending was warm. They had each other.

With smiling faces, Rosalie faced the light and stepped forward with two of the most important people in her life. There was a small wave of regret crashing inside her heart because of Peter, MJ and Michelle and the fact she left them behind, but it was for the best.

Rosalie was happy. And Rosalie would finally rest after years of pain and despair.

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and it's over! i will publish an official "it's over" chapter so we can share some ideas and opinions about this story, and so i can say my last goodbyes to my amazing readers (:
i hope you liked this story, thank you so much for reading!!