Briana Stark

And, so, as Christmas morning begins, my journey has reached its end.

You start with something frightening, something desperate. Then, comes the selfishness, the mistakes.

We create our own demons and, often times, if we met them, they become our own villains.

Uncle Rhodey oversees the Vice President's arrest for conspiracy to commit murder as well as treason. Trevor Slattery is arrested and publicly exposed for his crimes, and according to dad, I don't think he minds all that much.

Dad kept his promise. It took a while, some tinkering, but he managed to fix mom and me. But dad doesn't stop there. His leather jacket hangs off me and I stand in between a supportive Uncle Rhodey and a concerned mom watching as dad lies on a hospital bed with doctors standing around him. His eyes calmly closed and his thumbs turn up just before the anesthesia takes over.

Dad has offered for me to get rid of the damage; to have the shrapnel remove as well. To his surprise, and mine as well, I politely declined the offer. Before, I would have done anything to get rid of this shrapnel, to be the person that I once was without the shrapnel. So I wouldn't have to live with the burden of waking up and staring at the arc reactor, that remains me of so many horrible memories that most people would choose to forget.

But then again, those memories, the shrapnel, in a way, it turned me into the person I am right now. And if I get rid of it, I'd probably forget about everything that happened, forget about the promise I made to Mika. And I can't forget, I don't want to. Sometimes you gotta have the bad days, the bad memories to remember the good days, the good memories even more.

Besides, everything that happened to me, I want to believe that it happened to me for a reason. That it happened to me because one day, I'm gonna do something great despite everything that was thrown my way.

Because nobody say that being a hero was going to be easy.

Even heroes go through stuff that they want to forget.

But I guess, those things can turn you into the person that you want to become.

In a way, you could call it destiny, I guess.

New Year Eve's comes around quickly. The New York City skyline stretches out behind as fireworks light up the midnight sky. I wore a purple dress and with my strawberry-blonde hair slightly curly, as I watched dad gently lays a necklace around mom's neck before they turn back to face other. Mom lays a hand on his cheek and they press their foreheads together. I walk over to them and squeeze my way into the middle of them, resting my head onto dad's chest.

So, if I were to sum this all up, from the very beginning to the end, make a conclusion or whatever, I guess I'd say that the arc reactor I need in order to live, it was never a curse. Like dad says, it's a privilege.

And, now, I'm a changed girl.

You can take away my home and my nightmares.

One thing you can't take away:

I am Iron Girl.

Iron Man 3 belongs to Marvel

Briana belongs to me