A/N: so i randomly got inspired and wrote a whole mf song in like an hour ahshsja it's called 'hey soulmate' and i just need to fix a few lyrics and chords here and there and somehow get my vocals to sound like billie eilish and BAM we have a song. but we all know im too lazy to do that and im too self conscious about my singing voice to ever let anyone hear it but it was fun writing it ig

anyway, this chapter might be the last one with a little bit of calm in it, the rest are just plain wild emotional rollercoasters so be prepared!! im currently working on a spin-off of this fic even though it's like over a year away from being published and my usually creative well is so dry. i have the vibe for the story, i just need a plot. but im super excited about where it's headed!!

alright ill stop talking lol. enjoy the chapter and start getting your tissues ready for next wednesday ;)

also that gif up there 🥺

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"You think I don't feel guilty!

You think I don't wanna beat myself up

for letting this happen to her!"
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1:08 AM

Tony landed loudly on the porch.

Pepper and Happy both immediately jumped up to see the condition Adelaide was in. Pepper touched her cheek, horrified with how cold her skin was. Even in the dark, she could see the blue veins surfacing and skin losing color. Pepper's mouth fell open and she stumbled back. Slowly, she lifted her gaze to Tony's.

"Is she...?" the woman whispered.

"No," Tony said. His face was grim. "But she doesn't have much time."

He marched past them into the house, shoving the door open with his shoulder. Pepper and Happy glanced at each other before immediately following after the billionaire as he maneuvered through the halls towards the bedroom. He gently laid the teenager down on the bed and pulled the covers over her body to keep her warm.

Pepper came to stand beside him, studying the girl as her heart beat in her throat. The tears began welling up in her eyes again at the sight of the condition she was in. A shaky hand raised up to cover her mouth to keep a sob from escaping.

"What...happened...to her?" she whispered. Tony swallowed hard. He stepped out of his suit and looked down at her. He closed his eyes, dropping his head shamefully.

"They tried to take her memories again," he whispered, "But her brain couldn't...couldn't take it. So..."

"So what?" Happy whispered, stepping forward when he didn't finish. Tony looked up at him through his teary, bloodshot eyes.

"It shut down. If she...If she doesn't wake up in the next twenty-one hours she'll..."

"No," Pepper breathed, shaking her head. Tony closed his eyes again. Pepper sat down on the sofa behind her, her hands covering her face as the tears cascaded down her cheeks. Happy couldn't look away from the kid even if he wanted to. His face was seemingly stuck in a twisted expression where he was on the border of crying.

"There's nothing we can do," the billionaire whispered. He looked down at the teenager again. "She has to wake up on her own."

The whole house was silent for a long time. They were all lost in their own heads, feeling similar emotions, but handling them very differently. Happy hadn't moved a muscle since Tony had told them everything. Pepper was still sitting on the sofa, silently sobbing into her hands. And Tony...Tony was staring down at the teenager, too ashamed of himself to even reach out and hold her hand.

"How did we let this happen?" Happy whispered.

All three adults felt an overwhelming sense of shame and regret and most of all, fear. Adelaide had been their responsibility. And they had let her slip right past their fingers. If they had just tried a little bit harder to bring her back, maybe they wouldn't have been in this situation tonight.

"It's my fault," Tony whispered shakily, still studying the teenager.

No one said anything.

Because they all knew that no matter how hard Happy or Pepper had tried to talk Adelaide down, the only person who could have brought her back was Tony. She loved the billionaire. If he had just asked her to come back into their lives, she would have done so in a heartbeat.

But now...it might have been too late for that.

Suddenly, there was a thump on the front porch. All three adults looked up at the the open bedroom door. They heard the sounds of padded footsteps running down the dark halls until they slowed down.

And then Peter appeared in the doorway.

"Mr. Stark," he breathed in relief, stepping inside the dark bedroom. He pulled off his mask, taking a step forward. He nervously looked around at the three adults watching him. He noticed Ms. Potts's tearful face from the sofa and Happy's unreadable expression. His gaze then flitted to Mr. Stark who was staring at him with bloodshot eyes and a clenched jaw. Peter swallowed. He had never seen him look this angry before. Not even when he had destroyed the ferry.

"I can explain," Peter said quietly.

"Then explain," Tony snapped. Peter glanced at Happy who offered no consolation. He looked back at Mr. Stark.

"Sh-She came to me," he started. He suddenly felt like his chest was constricting. "But I was really angry so I...said some things. I-I didn't know she would run away– I-I swear. If I knew, I never would have..."

"Her brain was wiped," Happy said and Peter's eyes snapped to him. "She only has twenty-one hours to wake up on her own before she..."

No.

Ada couldn't...That couldn't be true.

All night long, Peter had imagined what he would say to her when he apologized, but he never could have imagined this. How had this even happened? Vivian said Ada had only been gone for a few hours. Peter slowly looked past Mr. Stark, to see Ada lying unconscious on the bed. His lips parted at the sight of her. She looked...sick.

As the realization dawned onto Peter, his stomach began swirling with fear. He had done this. He had ran her out of her own home and this was the result of that. Ada could die tonight and it was all his fault. He stumbled back a step at the thought. The air in his lungs became thinner. How had he been so stupid? The last thing he had said to her was You know what actually was the biggest mistake of my life? You. It was always you, Adelaide. I never should have trusted you. What kind of shitty best friend was he to say that to her?

This was...This was all his fault.

Suddenly, Mr. Stark stepped between his line of vision to Ada and Peter blinked out of it, looking up at the billionaire's furious expression as he stalked closer.

"If anything happens to her, you're gonna be sorry, kid," Tony hissed quietly, gritting his teeth. This sparked an anger in the teenager. He had been a mess for the past two hours trying to find Ada. And when he finally did, she was on the verge of literally dying. And it was all his fault.

Peter narrowed his bloodshot eyes at the billionaire, taking a step towards him.

"You think I don't feel guilty!" Peter shouted back, his voice cracking slightly. His eyes began to fill up with the familiar hot tears again. "You think I don't wanna beat myself up for letting this happen to her!"

"You listen to me," Tony growled, marching forward across the length of the room and grabbing Peter by the collar of his hoodie, "That stunt you pulled at the ferry last week and what you did tonight with my plane mean nothing to me compared to her. If she dies tonight, I don't care what pretty excuse you make up. You're going to be done, you understand?"

For a moment, the room was absolutely silent. Peter and Tony were breathing hard from anger and fear as they stared each other down. The billionaire was quite literally shaking. Peter opened his mouth, looking away before looking back at the man. He felt his eyes beginning to sting slightly. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat. He had no clue why or how Mr. Stark cared so much about Ada, but he knew better than to ask.

"I care about her, too," Peter breathed so softly that it wouldn't have been heard if it wasn't for the pin drop silence in the room. Tony shook his head, gritting his teeth.

"Not as much as I do," he hissed under his breath, letting go of his collar and shoving him back. Peter swallowed harshly, blinking back tears.

"Hey, hey, break it up. This isn't the time," Happy said tiredly, stepping between them.

Tony ran his hands through his hair and let out a breath of frustration through his mouth. His anxiety was through the roof. Every nerve in his body was alight and aware right now. It was a sensory overload. He couldn't afford to lose Adie. Not tonight, not ever.

His life and happiness had become tangled in hers. She was the puppeteer pulling on his strings and he was helplessly following her every move. If only there was a word stronger than love. Without her, he was nothing.

Months ago, their relationship had been flooded by a fog of illusions that had pulled them apart. Illusions that fooled them to believe that they could live apart. Illusions that forced their eyes closed and whispered lies into their ears that they believed. In the fog, he had lost sight of her and somewhere along the way, he had stopped searching. He began worshipping the deceits dancing around him. But when the fog had lifted, everything became clear.

He wasn't okay. He was a shipwreck. He had been from the moment he had walked out of her life four months ago. Now, all the illusions were gone and the truth was the only thing laying between them like a shining oasis. The truth mocked and teased him. It laughed at him and pointed fingers for not listening to it earlier. The truth was a cruel, hard diamond that would draw his blood to torture him. Yet it was their only beacon of hope, and there was no denying it.

Without Adie, Tony was just a lifeless creature. His name held no meaning, wealth held no purpose, and existence proved to be futile.

Without Adelaide, it meant nothing to be Tony Stark.

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2:23 AM

Neither Tony or Peter had said a word since their fight of sorts.

The billionaire was pacing the room and Peter was sitting beside Adelaide with his gaze stuck on her. He was waiting for her to wake up at any second so he could jump up and apologize. The guilt was getting impossibly heavy to bear. He had put her here. He was the reason she was dying. The entire situation felt unreal. Like a terrible nightmare that seemed just realistic enough to feel true.

"How much time does she have left?" Peter asked.

His voice was raw and nasal from crying. The teenager had no idea how much time had passed since he had arrived. All he could think about was Ada waking up. The anticipation was eating him alive. Every second that she spent in unconscious was because of him. Because he had been too selfish to stop thinking about himself for one goddamn second and consider that what Ada had been telling him might actually have been true.

"Twenty hours," Mr. Stark said, swallowing.

Peter swallowed at the sight of her condition. There was no denying that she looked awful. It made him feel horrible. She had been his best friend! And all he had been in return was a selfish, narrow-minded asshole. He couldn't believe how he had treated her for the past four months. The pain he must have caused her seemed unfathomable to him. He wanted to wanted to go out there and beat up whoever had done this to her. Except, he knew that he himself was part of reason for this.

If she survived this tonight, it would be a miracle if she ever forgave him.

He looked back at her closed eyes. He wished she was only sleeping. But the paper thin skin and the sharp, jagged veins said otherwise. Her skin was losing color impossibly fast. It looked like she was getting closer to dying rather than waking up.

"What do we do?" Ms. Potts whispered, putting a hand over her heart. Mr. Stark pulled his lips into a thin line. Peter thought he was about to cry. The billionaire shook his head.

"She's going to wake up," he said confidently as he stared at her. He sounded almost like he was trying to convince himself.

"She will."

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A/N: i knowwww tony's acting a bit rough with peter but just considering his daughter is literally dying, let's cut him some slack. if it were peter in adie's place, im sure he'd be just as emotional

aNYWAY NEXT WEEK YOU GUYS CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED IS LITERALLY NEXT WEEK AHHHHHHH!!! SEVEN. DAYS. AWAY. OOOH MY GODDD YOU GUYS ARE GONNA FEEL A FUCKING ROLLERCOASTER OF EMOTIONS AND HATE ME SO MUCH BUT ITS FINE. AND THERES GONNA BE A COVER CHAMGE AND A PLAYLIST AND EDITS THAT WILL MAKE YOU CRY AJDJSHSAKJDDJDJDJ IM SO EXCITED YOU DONT EVEN KNOWWWW

ok so chloe ting update: unfortunately, i decided to give up the slim thigh challenge after a week cause i really just wasn't feeling it when i was working out and it didn't give me the same rush of adrenaline like the summer shred challenge did so im probably gonna do that one again starting monday or something lol

question: how much do you realllyy love adie? you wouldn't mind if something happened to her, right? ;)