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❝ FOOLISH CHILD... thinking the stain of your sins can be washed away by your tears. ❞
Ella Stark had never tasted peace.
She had fought every day of her life. As a child, her world had been set ablaze, and the flames of loss had ignited her breaking heart. In the aftermath of her parent's death, she'd been left beneath the protection of her older brother - but no love, nor fight could save her from the war within her head. So, eventually, she ran. As fast as she could, she sprinted into the arms of the military, enveloping herself with its numbing embrace. It wasn't much, but, in a world that's against you, it had become her purpose.
As all things do, it soon came to an end.
A stray fragment of shrapnel took not only her pride, but her ability to walk. Cast out from the people she risked her life to help beneath the pretence of a medical discharge, the grief within her furnace heart began to drown her within its fire. But, as he always did, - and would continue to do until his dying breath, - Tony Stark was there to help her gather her ashes.
And from these ashes, she was reborn.
Stark technology had revolutionised the world, but the creation of technology to help his little sister retake her life revolutionised theirs. It helped her to walk, and, with each new edition Tony made to the device within her spine, she regained what she had lost, along with something more. And, when the world needed her the most, Ella Stark broke away from her cocoon, blossoming into the hero the world would soon know as the Phantom, and, above all else, an Avenger.
The Avengers so easily walked into her heart, capturing it as their home.
It scared her, but, they helped her feel less alone.
Yet, she lost them all the same.
The Avenger's reign had trembled beneath the hands of the Sokovian accords, and, after Thanos sought out a power greater than any of them, they broke. It all happened so quick. Tony, Steve, Natasha. They were gone. The survivors were no better off. They were torn apart by their merciless grief. And, with not a bang, but a whimper, the icicles of guilt clawing at their hearts severed the final link of the chain holding them together.
