A/N: Hellooo... And Long time no update...

I'm blaming my busy life as always, but for this one, I really had a lot of trouble writing. For one, this was too depressing that I had a lot of trouble just opening up the file that I was working on... :( And I just couldn't keep it going and had to scrap and start all over again multiple times. And for another, this fic was not a part of the original plan, which was just one short one-shot. But then I abruptly expanded this whole thing and had to fill in the gap with this particular story. Unfortunately, I don't consider this to be the best one I've written. I do hope that I'll get better as I go on.

Good news is, I'm working very hard to write not only this series, but all the other series that I have started, so I do believe that I'll be returning real soon (this time for sure!).

Okay, enough with my babbling. Here's the actual story. I hope you guys enjoy!

01. Morgan: Acknowledgement

Just like her brothers, Morgan was a bright kid. She possessed the genetically inherited intelligence that ran in her family. Thus, even at the young age that she was in, she knew what death meant - what it meant when Peter closed his eyes for the last time.

It meant Peter was never coming back.

It meant Peter broke the promise he had made to her.

It was quiet and peaceful. The way Peter's eyes closed slowly was not so different from that of when he would fall asleep. Maybe that was what it was; him falling asleep.

But Morgan could tell the difference. There was something more to it - something cold and scary. Something that made her hurt. Something that made her want to cry.

Yet, she didn't. There were no tears in her eyes like in Harley's nor did she sob like her parents. She looked down at Peter's calm face from where she was being held in Harley's arms. She stared at her lifeless brother. She didn't like what she was seeing. So she pouted, turning her head away and burying it in Harley's chest. And she felt his arms tighten slightly.

She never cried, not even once.

And she still wasn't crying two days later when the funeral ceremony took place.

Morgan snuggled deeper into her mother's side. Everything was uncomfortable - the black dress she was wearing, the heavy air among the mourning people, and the sight of the place that seemed to consist only of black and white. Then again, nothing had pleased her and nothing gave her comfort since the day Peter had left.

Morgan wanted the whole thing to end soon. She whined softly as she leaned into her mother, who quietly patted her in response. Pepper's eyes fixed themselves on the front of the room, where Tony had just gone up to the spot behind the podium and turned around so that he could face the attendees.

Morgan also looked at her father. She then took a short brief glimpse at Harley, who was sitting at her other side. His eyes were looking forward, most likely at Tony like Pepper's were, but there was no sign of light or concentration in them. Morgan returned her attention to Tony as well.

Tony looked down as if he was lost in his thought. He took a moment before clearing his throat and finally spoke up.

"I guess I should start by thanking you for being here to remember and... mourn Peter."

No sound came from the audience, making the air even heavier and thus Morgan even more uncomfortable.

Tony continued speaking.

"But I don't really see the need or point in doing so. If you've even at least remotely known Peter, then you'd know what kind of person he is- was. And that right there would have been enough for you to come all the way and be sitting here."

Tony stopped once again, his eyes drifting slightly downward into the nothing of thin air.

"That was the kind of boy he was," he then said. "He had that energy, that kindness that I could never event try to imitate."

Morgan immediately thought of her brother. She remembered how he made her laugh and how he laughed. How he would play with her and how he, Harley, and she would hang out. She thought of how real and close and, at the same time, distant they all seemed. Memories flashed through her mind, provoking her cravings for the embrace from someone - for a specific someone to hug her and make her feel warm.

"I guess he gets them from his mom because I certainly didn't have anything like those," Tony said. "A good thing, too. I'm really grateful for that."

Tony had what seemed like a forced attempt of a smile on his face, which turned out terribly into a painful frown.

"Like all my other children, Peter was... the greatest thing that happened to me. He was the light, the very heart of me, of all of us."

The way he gritted out every single syllable was enough to show just how much might he had to put into the simple act of talking.

"But more than that, he had so much potential. So much to give to this world. He could have been so much, so big with the greatness he had in him. And I'm sure that not only my world but the entire universe had just lost one of its brightest lights."

Morgan felt her mother sniffle next to him. She was also sure, even without looking, that Harley was probably crying again, too.

"Although we lost him... he will not lose us. We will remember him, we will not let him go. He will... he will not be forgotten. He will always be here with us."

With it, he finished up his speech. By the end of his words, Tony himself was shedding tears.

Morgan watched her father walk down and back toward where the rest of the family were sitting. She didn't pay much attention afterward. She couldn't recall what went on after her father sat back down in his seat next to Harley's. All she could think about that moment was how badly she wanted to get out of the place.

Morgan looked around. Most, if not all of the Avengers were crying. Ned had buried his face completely in his hands and didn't look up once. Sniffles came from here and there among the crowd.

It felt weird for her to sit quietly as people cried all around her. Even those that do not have a particular connection with Peter were crying. And yet, Morgan, Peter's sister herself was not. She had no tears welling up in her eyes.

Morgan knew death was a sad thing. She did feel sad, too. She felt like she was about to and a part of her even wanted to. Yet, she didn't cry. Or maybe she couldn't.

Morgan was about to squirm and twist her body in her body as a show of her bad mood when Pepper softly nudged her.

"Come on, honey," she said.

Pepper had Morgan stand up. She took the girl's hand in hers and led her.

Tony and Harley had stood up as well and walked out to the aisle and over toward the dark-colored casket that was silently lain at the side in the front part of the room. Pepper took Morgan and stood behind Harley, constantly trying to wipe the tears off her face. Morgan looked at the wooden box. Her parents told her that Peter was lying in that casket.

She looked up at her mother with a questioning look.

"We're saying goodbye to Peter," said Pepper. She had to sniffle a few times to be able to say the words.

Goodbye. Hadn't the family already said it when he fell asleep in the hospital room? Morgan wondered. Peter was already gone. Everyone said so. She watched him die. What is the use of saying goodbye if he is already gone?

Then it hit Morgan once again. Peter was gone. She didn't know why, but it made her hurt as if she thought about it for the first time. It was weird. It had already been two days since Peter had died. She had known for two full days that Peter had left this world. Why was she feeling something now?

Morgan saw Tony standing before the casket and looking down at the inside of it. He didn't say anything and she couldn't see his face from behind him. Still, the sight of it was upsetting. The same was the case for Harley. When Tony stepped away from the casket, seemingly wiping his eyes, his son took his place. Harley also didn't say anything out loud, but the way he looked down at the casket was not so different from the way his father did. He sobbed in a suppressed manner, obviously trying but failing to hide it.

As Morgan and Pepper came closer to Peter's casket with every step, Morgan felt more painful. She suddenly didn't want to see the inside of the wooden case. But when Harley was done with whatever he was doing in front of it, he moved on and Pepper stepped forward and brought Morgan nearer with her.

Pepper looked down with a loving yet sad face. Her eyes were bloodshot from all the crying she had been doing for the past three days. She took a moment of silence before she bent down and picked Morgan up in her arms. It was finally the time for the girl to take a look at whatever was waiting for her inside the casket.

And she did. Morgan looked down at the calm and eerie looking Peter. His face was the way she always had seen and remembered. He looked peaceful. He didn't seem tired or sick. He looked like he was sleeping. It reminded Morgan of the day Peter had fallen into the very state he was in that moment - how his eyelids moved for the last time to close and cover the bright eyes for the last time. And it made her think that maybe Peter could still open his eyes. That he could easily wake up with a smile as if nothing happened. That maybe he wasn't truly gone.

Yet, the ghastly and eerie atmosphere coming out of his motionless form crushed all the last hope that even Morgan herself didn't know she had. As her mother told her, this was the last goodbye. It was the reality, the stone-cold truth.

Peter was gone, and there was no way of him coming back.

The first drop of tear fell from her eyes.

A/N: Always, thank you so much for reading my fic! All the kudos and comments mean so much to me and motivate me to keep writing! 3

This is a chaptered story, but it won't be long. And also, to cheer you up from this very dark and sad thing: this is the last depressing story in this series and I have more happier ones coming up! In fact, I already have the next story done and ready, so it will be uploaded soon. :)

I hope you all have a great day, wherever you all are, and I hope to see you again in my other fics as well!

Best, Lisa :)