After the War

Thoughts in the dark

Scott

The morning after the party started off pretty great. Meaning there were clothes on the floor and the sun shone a few bright rays on the woman sleeping on my chest. "Good morning," I whispered as she slowly opened her eyes. "Sleep well?" I asked. "Hmmm, a little tired still... you kept me busy long enough, but yes." "I liked keeping you busy." "I bet you did, yes." "Hmmm, I'm sorry, but that dress looked so good on you... I just had to take it off..." "That makes no sense... at all." "Maybe not for you... but... I almost never see you in a dress. And this one matched the color of your eyes and all... although it was slightly darker..." "Scott... are you daydreaming?" "Me? No. Just looking at an angel." She rolled her eyes, but she smiled as well. "Hey, Hope..." "Hmm?" "I love you." "I love you too." I smiled at her, "Breakfast?" "Breakfast sounds good. How about we get dressed first, though?" "Yeah, true, the others don't need to see us like this. Naked as our name day." "What?" "Game of Thrones thing." "Nerd." "Says you."

Breakfast however kinda killed the good mood that lingered after the party. Why? Because, according to everyone, it was time to arrange a funeral. Don't get me wrong, I know it was time to arrange the funeral and all, and I didn't mind it that much, I just don't think it's something you discuss first thing in the morning. Then again, we'd been postponing it for quite some time thanks to the U.N. on our backs and Bruce had been laying in the freezer. Of course the U.N. had asked about him while we were in court, saying that he had died miraculously had been enough proof for them and so we moved on from that. However, now we were back at the subject of Bruce again.

"It should be small," Steve said, "just us I think. His fans can come and pay their respects later," he turned to Tony, "Did he have any family?" Tony sighed, "As far as I know his family is dead..." "So, no family?" "None except for us." Steve nodded, "None except for us." Then he looked at all of us, "I know most of you didn't know him that well... or not at all... but I'd want to invite you to stay... he gave his live to save yours." Hope nodded beside me, she hadn't known Banner, she was one of the lives she had saved. And besides that, he was a scientist, like her. The Guardians decided to stay too, although I'm not sure about Groot, because all he said was, "I am Groot." The other Guardians agreed that they should pay their respects to a man who had given his life to save theirs. Carol stayed too, to honor Bruce. "He has saved the life of one of my friends, maybe of more, I'm not sure. I should pay him my respects."

So, yeah, the morning began great, aftermath of the party and all, then it quickly turned kinda sour, discussing funeral arrangements to... some form of sweet I think... cause it was sweet that we were kinda united now, I think. At least we all agreed to stay and pay our respects to Banner, a man not all of us had known, but a man we respected. And I think that's something good... I mean... someone we all respected and who had died to help us, to save some of us... it was something to fight for, apart from our own lives of course, when Thanos came to us... something that united us in some way even.

Natasha

Steve's speech, if you could call it a speech, had been short and clear. A small funeral where we should all pay our respects to Banner. The thought of this being necessary, a funeral for Bruce... It saddened me, it only made his dead more real. But I wasn't the only one who seemed to feel... off. Wanda looked quite uncomfortable standing quietly in a corner and I wondered what was going through her head. She was a mind-reader herself but she was always hard to read, even for me. Sometimes it worried me that I couldn't read her, that she didn't show anything, then I realized that that's what it must feel like for the people around me when I'm upset or anything like that... I never show anything either... the only one who figures it out is Wanda, and only because of her mind reading abilities. Sometimes she came to talk to me too... when I was feeling down... maybe it was time to return the favor.