Wicked Game || CURRENTLY EDITING

Chapter 59: Like We're Stupid Teenagers

"Right. Well, uh, Wanda sort of brought Vision back with the Mind Stone... but he's not the only person who came back."

"Right, I heard something about a fake Jonathan," Pepper chimes in. Oh, God, how am I supposed to tell her this?

"Yeah, there was a fake Jonathan but I'm not talking about him," I clarify, making her knit her eyebrows together in confusion. I glance at my hands, not being able to look at her. "When Wanda was creating Vision, I was doing the same thing. I also brought someone back..." I finally decide to gaze at Pepper, who's staring at me with an unreadable expression. "Someone we both knew and loved," I conclude. She suddenly gasps, realizing who I mean. It's dead silent, the only noise I hear is my own heartbeat. She looks at her lap in disbelief and a tear escapes her eye.

"You- you mean..." she stammers, not being able to finish her sentence. I nod in confirmation, and she chokes out a sob. "Oh, my God," she murmurs as she cries. "What happened to him?" she asks.

I take a moment before eventually answering, "he's gone now... he could only exist inside that world." Her face looks even more pained, which I didn't think was possible. "I'm sorry, Pep," I cry. "I... I was thinking about how much I wanted him back and it all happened so fast. He didn't remember much about his life but he would get random flashbacks, and he remembered you one time!" Pepper slowly lifts her head to gaze at me when I say this.

"He finally got his memory back and we had to go into battle, which I'll tell you about later, and after everything happened, we all went home to say goodbye since Wanda and I had to take everything down. We said our goodbyes to Wanda's boys and Vision before going into the kitchen to say goodbye to each other. He asked about you and Morgan, he wanted to know if you guys were okay. Then he asked me what he was since he couldn't live outside the false reality. I told him that he was a piece of the Energy Stone that's inside me, a soul that I made physical," I explain. Pepper just listens intently and I feel myself becoming choked up.

"I finally got to thank him for everything he's done for me and tell him that I love him. He said he loves me too and that he was glad we got some extra time. He gave me some of his Tony Stark wisdom," I say, slightly chuckling at the end, making Pepper chuckle too. "He told me to tell Morgan that her dad loves her 3000... I'll tell her soon, I just need to figure out how to... and he also said to tell you that he loves you."

Pepper's eyes soften and she lightly gasps. More tears cascade down her face and I immediately hug her, causing her to hold onto me tightly as she cries into my shoulder. I cry as well, I hate that I'm the cause of her tears. We remain like this for a while until I eventually break the silence. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to hurt you," I whisper.

Pepper pulls away from me and wipes a few tears away as she gazes at me. "No, you didn't hurt me. I just... it's a mixture of emotions. You know, I'm upset that I missed him and he's completely gone again but... I'm happy to know that you got to say goodbye properly to him this time," she explains, wiping a tear off my face. "It's nice to know that he was thinking of me and said that he loves me," she concludes. I study her face, she looks distraught yet somehow more at peace now.

"So you're not mad at me?" I ask, to which she shakes her head.

"Mad at you? Oh, sweetie, no!" she claims, pulling me into her side. "It's the opposite. I'm thankful that you told me. I like the thought of him spending his last moments in a happy way... he was happy, right?"

"Yeah... he was. We were," I confirm. Pepper slightly giggles, satisfied by my response.

"Thank you for telling me. I really needed this," she cries. I nod my head and hug her tightly again. I'm glad I got that out of the way. I really thought there was a possibility of losing Pepper in the process but that thankfully didn't happen. Peter was right about this.