Waking up in her bedroom, Emma rolled out and looked at her bedroom. Today, it looked different. It didn't look like a teenage girl's bedroom in the 50's, but rather a teenage girl's room in the 60's.
Emma gets up stretching and turns to look at her reflection in her vanity. Sitting on her vanity was a photograph of Peter with a small note written on it. It was his school photo.
Emma looks at her messy hair and sighs.
"If only I could magically get ready," She then shakes her head with a small smiles.
.
..
...
Emma pranced downstairs wearing a striped long sleeve shirt, but because the world around her was in black and white she didn't even know what the colors of her clothing was. She wore lacked pants and a pair of comfortable flat shoes. Her hair was down and looked full. She had a thick headband on top.
"Morning, Sparks." Said her dad.
Emma had a big smile.
"Shouldn't you be off to work, dad?" Emma asks.
Tony, who was reading the paper while sitting on the couch, turned to look at his teenage daughter. He gives her a smirk.
"And shouldn't you be at school?" He asks.
Emma finds herself laughing.
"It's spring break, dad." She said.
Tony huffs a sigh, "Wish I have a spring break."
Emma giggles and then walks over to her dad. She leans over and kisses him on the top of the head before walking into the kitchen. In the kitchen, she smells some amazing food prepared by Pepper.
Morgan was eating her breakfast, and despite the food in her mouth the younger Stark was trying to hold a conversation with her mom.
"Morgan, please don't talk with your mouth full." Pepper said.
Pepper watches as Morgan sticks her tongue out and then goes on to stuff her face with her eggs and bacon.
Pepper sighs and turns to her teenager daughter.
"Do you want some breakfast?" Pepper asks.
Emma, who was picking up a piece of bacon off a plate in front of Morgan, looked up at her mom. Emma placed the bacon in her mouth as she grabs another one.
"Em," Pepper said.
Emma took a bite and swallowed before speaking.
"I am gonna meet Peter," Emma said, "So I have to take breakfast to go."
Pepper sighs, "Of course you do." She said, "Well, at least eat something while you're out. I don't want you coming home hungry."
Emma smiles, "If I'm hungry you know I'll eat your amazing dinner."
Pepper rolls her eyes, "Har har." She said.
Emma kept the smile on her face.
Emma messes with Morgan's hair, then goes to Pepper and gives her a quick hug before turning to the backdoor to exit.
Emma walked out the door, and then walked down the driveway toward the sidewalk. As she finished her second piece of bacon, she got onto the sidewalk, and then she bumped into someone.
"Oops-," The person spoke.
Emma looks frantic for a moment for not paying attention. She looks up at the person so quickly.
"I- I am so sorry!" Emma exclaims.
The woman looks at her and smiles, "It's alright."
Emma had a deja vu moment. She's seen this woman before, right? She looked familiar, unless, unless she just has that sort of face.
Emma shakes off whatever confused thought she had and decided to be friendly, neighborly.
"I don't believe we've met," Emma said, "I'm Emma Stark, I'm Tony and Pepper Stark's eldest daughter."
The woman smiles.
"Oh, I've heard of your parents. It's nice to meet you." She said, "I- I'm Geraldine."
Emma kept a smile, "It's a pleasure to meet you, but I must be off. I have a hot date and I don't want to keep him waiting."
Geraldine also held her smile, "Ooh, well you better hurry off. It was nice to finally meet you, Emma."
Emma nods and then part ways with this new friend. As Emma walked onward in the direction to where she and Peter were meeting, something was lingering in the back of her head.
She knew her. Right? Not because she had just met Geraldine. She looked familiar and Emma doesn't forget a face.
As Emma walked onward, she paused and touched her head. It felt fuzzy. Her head was hurting by trying to place where she knew where she remembered Geraldine from.
Without her noticing, small sparks ignited from her hands before she lowered it and shook off whatever uneasy feeling she was having. Whatever was going on, she was going to talk to Peter about it. After all, if anyone would help her figure this out it would be her dear boyfriend.
.
..
...
Emma and Peter were having a picnic, he had everything all set up for her when she arrived. The pair were laying on the blanket looking at the sky after eating their lunch, and during their time cloud watching, Emma had told her about this feeling regarding Geraldine.
Peter raises his eyebrows.
"Geraldine?" He spoke, "What about her?"
Emma, who was laying on his chest, frowns.
"I- I don't know. I feel like I know her." Emma said.
Peter chuckles, "Well, duh you know her. She lives here in Westview like you and me." He said.
Emma sits up and looks at him.
"Peter, I'm serious." She said.
Peter furrows his brows.
"I- I don't know why but- but when I saw her face today, it was as if we had already met but- but not here." Emma said and then placed a hand on her forehead, "And then my head hurts when I try to figure it out."
Sparks pops from her other hand, but Peter doesn't say or doesn't notice, instead the boy sits up. He placed a hand on her shoulder and then grabs a hold of the hand popping sparks, and they were not longer igniting sparks.
"Em," He said, "Stop stressing yourself out."
Emma lowers her hand from her head.
"But- Peter," She said looking worried.
Peter cups her face and stares into her eyes.
"There is nothing to be worried about, okay. I think you're just trying to find a problem to solve when there isn't," He chuckles lightly, "I get it, being out for break is rough mostly because I would rather be in a chemistry lab being a mad scientist, but right now we're together."
Emma nods.
Peter gives her a quick peck.
"So don't overreact," He said, "Everything is fine. We're all fine."
Emma looks at him and nods again.
A part of her wanted to not believe in him, a big part of her wanted to say that there was something wrong, because her gut was telling her that. However, the part of her being held by Peter was telling her that he was right. That this was okay, because he was here. Because Tony was here.
Peter smiles.
"Okay, now that this is all settled. Let's go." He said.
"Where?" She asks.
"To watch the talent show, of course." Peter smiles.
He stands up and then lowers his hand, she looks at his hand and then to his face. He had his signature smile, but a little bit looked different like he wasn't Emma's Peter. But, her mind wasn't a hundred percent. Instead of asking anymore questions, she just accepted his hand.
.
..
...
Act after act, Emma was finding herself slowly losing focus on what was actually happening. The whole town of Westview was present at this thing, after all, Morgan did a little tap dance performance.
Just then Dottie takes the stage.
"I want to thank you all for coming to support Westview Elementary. For the children!" Dottie said.
"For the children." The crowd all exclaim.
Emma looked around, she didn't say it but saw as Peter did. As Tony did. As Pepper did. As Morgan did. As everyone in the town.
She frowns.
"And for our final act, I give you, Wanda and Vision." Dottie said.
Dottie leads the clapping, which then extends to the audience, as she steps down from the stage. She takes her seat as Wanda emerges from the curtains.
Wanda walks out further and gestures to the curtains.
Nothing happens.
Wanda looks nervous. After a couple of nerve wracking minutes, out popped Vision as he clumsily gets through the curtains.
"Hello, Westview! Good afternoon. It's so lovely to be-." VIsion then bumps into a railing.
He looks at the railing and seemingly apologizes to the railing. He then turns to the audience.
"I am Glamour, and this is my delightful assistant, Illusion!" Vision exclaims.
"I'm Glamour and he's Illusion." Wanda corrects.
Vision, "Right." He said.
Emma physically gets uncomfortable watching this performance, there was something off with Vision and she wasn't sure.
"Today, we will lie to you and yet you will believe our little deceptions because human beings are easily fooled due to their limited understanding of the inner workings of the universe. Flourish!" Vision said.
Wanda looks annoyed, "Just do it, you don't have to say it out loud, honey." She said.
Vision nods, "And now my wife and I will delight in your dumbstruck little faces. Flourish!" Vision exclaims.
Vision begins to fly and the crowd watches and gasps. Wanda begins to panic and find a way to make it look like she is controlling his flying, but that didn't stop Emma.
She looks at Vision flying and suddenly has a weird feeling of deja vu.
.
..
...
2019
Emma found her dad, Tony, sitting on the couch in the cabin. He was on his tablet. Pepper was in the nursery with baby Morgan, who has been fussy for the past few days.
It's been a year since the snap.
Emma, being seventeen now, couldn't believe it.
She walked down the steps and watched what her dad was watching on his tablet. It was footage of the Avengers fighting from CCTV cameras. Stuff from Germany, stuff from New York, stuff with Thanos.
Emma caught a glimpse of Vision floating in the air before speaking.
"Have you ever thought of making another one?" Emma asks.
Tony pauses the footage, "Can't."
"Can't?" She asks.
Tony pats on the couch and she joins him. She sits next to her dad and watched as he turns off the tablet.
"The Mine Stone was destroyed after Thanos used them all to do what he did. The stone was how I brought Vision to life," Tony said, "And besides, I- I can't bring myself to-."
He doesn't finish himself, but Emma had a feeling about what her dad was about to say. He didn't want to replace him.
"I get it," She said, "I- I was just curious."
Tony nods.
Emma bites her lip and looks away feeling a bit awkward.
"Tony," Emma said.
Tony looks at her.
Emma looks at her hands. She clenched her hands into fists and then looked at her man who took her in.
"I-." She stops herself.
Tony raises his eyebrow.
Whatever she planned on saying, it left her so she chickened out and went with something completely else.
"I'm thinking of finishing the rest of my online school this year, graduate early and maybe- maybe look into MIT." Emma said, "What do you say?"
Tony smiles, "I'd like that."
Emma smiles and unclenched her fists.
"We can start looking now." Tony grabs his tablet.
He begins searching classes and majors for MIT. He knew Emma was a smart kid. She was a science kid and understood seemingly enough of what Tony rambled on about, so he was confident in her knowledge.
Meanwhile, while Tony was rambling on about MIT, Emma looks at her hands and sees small sparks popping off of them.
Emma looks around and noticed the performance was over and everyone was cheering for Wanda and Vision.
She had zoned out from the entire performance, but for whatever reason Emma didn't seem to be worried. No one noticed her not clapping for the couple.
Emma glanced around at the audience and then felt a strange feeling. She looked at her hands and then noticed small sparks. It was in color, yellow.
Emma blinked once and then twice, and then the sparks were gone.
"Em," Peter says, "Did you enjoy their act or what?"
Emma looks over, "Oh yes." She smiles, "It was amazing."
Peter smiles.
Emma kept her smile on her face, but something was wrong. Something was off. Her eyes linger from Peter and then to Agnes.
Agnes glanced over at the young blonde, eyeing her before getting up with a rabbit in a cage. There was something about Agnes that was telling Emma not to trust her, that she was a walking red flag, but Emma wasn't sure why.
.
..
...
Emma was brushing her hair at her vanity. She wore her night gown as she was getting ready for bed. She had her radio playing music, it was a nice ditty, but low enough not to disturb Morgan.
She looks at her reflection and then to her hands. She stares at them trying to see if she could make those sparks happen again.
But nothing.
She sighs.
"Maybe it is stress," She said, "Maybe I need to just relax."
She inhales and then exhales.
But then after that, she looked back at her hands. Nothing.
"It has to be in my head." She says.
Just then a small spark appeared and Emma jumped off her vanity and fell onto the floor with a thud, but not too loud to warrant concern from her parents. She stared at her hands in shock.
"Wha- What?" Emma asks.
Before she could say anything else, the room was filled with color. Ridding away the black and white atmosphere. Emma could see as clearly as the day she was wearing a pink night gown. She stood up and ran to her vanity, she could see her bright blue eyes.
Emma looks from her vanity and then to her hands.
"Something fishy is going on here," She said.
(published on: 1/4/23)