The Howard family was buried in a quiet cemetery in Los Angeles, a private plot that belonged to the Stark family. The grounds were secluded and well maintained, though the atmosphere carried the heavy silence of decades-old memories.
Without hesitation, Tony personally dug up the coffin where his parents had been buried together. As he worked, he couldn't resist making a dry joke to himself.
"I never thought I'd end up as a grave digger one day," Tony muttered, tossing aside another shovelful of dirt. "And of all graves, I'm digging up my own parents."
"Leave the rest to me," Ethan Blake said calmly.
"Okay."
Tony stepped back without protest and gave Ethan room to work. There was a strange mixture of anticipation and tension hanging in the air as everyone watched what would happen next.
Ethan stepped forward and slowly lifted the lid of the coffin.
More than twenty years had passed since Howard and Maria Stark were buried. Time had done what time always did, leaving behind nothing but two skeletal remains resting side by side.
With a quiet motion, Ethan raised both skeletons using psychokinesis. The bones floated out of the coffin and were gently placed on the grass beside it.
Tony stared at the remains in front of him, and the expression on his face slowly grew complicated. Memories surfaced uninvited—regret, longing, hope, and fear tangled together in a knot he couldn't easily untangle.
Pepper noticed the turmoil in his eyes and reached over to take his hand. Her voice softened as she tried to comfort him.
"Don't worry," she said quietly. "Even if this doesn't work, I'll always be by your side."
Tony blinked in surprise and turned to look at her. The warmth in his eyes was impossible to hide.
"I believe in Ethan," Tony said with a small smile. "He's an incredible guy. I'm just worried about something else. When my mom sees me looking like this—forty-something and still unmarried—I have no idea how long she'll lecture me."
He paused for a moment, then leaned closer with a mischievous grin.
"Actually, Pepper, why don't you tell her later that we're already married? What do you think?"
Pepper's face immediately turned bright red.
Then she suddenly remembered something and shot him a sharp glare.
"Oh, you want to get married?" she said coldly. "Sure. But first you can explain Attilan to me."
Tony's smile froze instantly.
He silently cursed himself for getting carried away again.
At that moment, Ethan had already summoned the power of the system.
Howard and Maria Stark had only been ordinary people. Restoring them required very little energy compared to more powerful beings. Two portions of overwrite energy were more than enough to rewrite the reality of their deaths into the reality of survival.
As the energy flowed into the skeletons, the transformation began.
First came the appearance of flesh, spreading across the bones like living clay. Muscles formed, organs took shape, and skin followed soon after. Even their clothing gradually reconstructed itself as reality rewrote their state.
Tony and Pepper stood nearby, completely stunned by what they were witnessing.
"Dear God…" Pepper whispered, her mouth slightly open.
Even though she had mentally prepared herself for something unbelievable, seeing it with her own eyes was still overwhelming.
The scene in front of them looked nothing less than a miracle.
Tony handled it slightly better, but the difference was that excitement outweighed his shock.
He couldn't see the system or the energy involved. All he saw was Ethan lowering his hands as if the process had finished.
Tony couldn't hold back any longer.
"Ethan, how is it?" he asked quickly. "Did it work?"
"Of course it did," Ethan replied with a relaxed smile.
Almost the moment he finished speaking, Howard Stark suddenly gasped and woke up. His first instinct was to call out hoarsely.
"Maria!"
Maria was the name of Tony's mother.
Tony rushed forward the instant he saw his father moving and helped him sit upright.
Howard blinked several times, trying to focus on the unfamiliar figure in front of him. The man looked strangely familiar.
"You are…"
Howard frowned as he studied Tony's face.
The resemblance was undeniable. The man looked extremely similar to his son, yet the age didn't match at all. His Tony should still be in his twenties.
"I'm Tony, Dad," Tony said softly.
"Tony?!"
The realization hit Howard immediately. Panic flashed across his face as he grabbed Tony's arm.
"Tony, run!" Howard said urgently. "Sergeant Barnes was being controlled by someone. Run!"
Tony froze.
Of all the things his father could have said after coming back to life, the first thing he worried about was Tony's safety.
Tears instantly welled up in Tony's eyes.
At the same time, he tried to calm his father down and explain.
"Dad, Sergeant Barnes isn't here," Tony said gently. "It's 2013 now. More than twenty years have passed since you died. I asked a friend to bring you back to life."
Howard stared at him, stunned.
More than twenty years had passed?
And he had just been resurrected?
Fortunately, Howard Stark had always possessed an exceptionally strong ability to adapt to shocking information. After a brief moment of confusion, he quickly forced himself to accept the situation.
"Tony," he asked immediately, "what about your mother?"
"Howard."
At that moment, Maria Stark slowly opened her eyes as well.
Tony quickly helped her sit up and explained the situation all over again.
"Dad, Mom, let me introduce you," Tony said. "This is my best friend, Ethan Blake. By the way, he's the one who brought you back to life. But you don't have to thank him because he's a complete jerk."
Maria frowned the moment she heard that introduction.
"Tony," she said seriously, "you can't talk about your friend like that. I'm sorry."
Tony's expression stiffened. However, when facing his mother, resistance was completely futile.
"Alright, Ethan," Tony muttered reluctantly. "I apologize."
Ethan couldn't help laughing.
Just watching Tony instantly turn obedient in front of his parents made the energy he spent completely worthwhile.
"Hello, Mr. Blake," Howard said politely. "Thank you for saving my wife and me."
At the same time, he extended his hand.
"Hello, Mr. Stark," Ethan replied, shaking his hand. "There's no need to thank me. Tony is a very good friend of mine."
"I can see that," Howard said with a faint smile.
"Thank you as well, Mr. Blake," Maria added warmly.
Ethan waved his hand quickly.
"Please don't be so formal, Mrs. Stark. Just call me Ethan."
Tony quickly cut in before his mother could continue thanking Ethan.
"Mom, you don't need to be polite with this guy," Tony said. "Come on, let me introduce someone else. Pepper! Pepper Potts, the CEO of Stark Industries—and my fiancée."
Maria frowned slightly when she heard that.
Her dissatisfaction had nothing to do with Pepper. Instead, it was directed entirely at Tony.
If more than twenty years had passed since their deaths, that meant Tony was already in his forties.
And he still wasn't married.
Pepper, on the other hand, had been nervous ever since she saw Tony's parents.
When Maria frowned, Pepper became even more anxious and hurriedly introduced herself.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Stark!" she said quickly. "My name is Pepper Potts. I used to be Tony's assistant, and now I'm the CEO of Stark Industries. I help Tony manage the company."
Seeing how nervous Pepper was, Maria's expression softened into a gentle smile.
"Don't be nervous, dear," she said kindly. "I can tell you love Tony very much. I'm just a little unhappy with him. If he has such a wonderful girlfriend, why hasn't he married her already?"
"Actually, Mom," Tony suddenly said, "I just decided something. Pepper and I are getting married this weekend."
He knew he needed to settle this quickly.
If Pepper brought up the Attilan incident later and started counting his mistakes, things would get messy fast.
As expected, Maria's face immediately lit up with a pleased smile.
Pepper could only glare at Tony in silence. There was no way she could contradict him in front of his mother.
Tony responded with the smug grin of someone who believed he had just won.
"Potts?"
Standing to the side, Howard suddenly seemed to remember something. He glanced between Pepper and Tony, his expression turning thoughtful.
"Tony, are you coming back—"
Before Howard could finish his sentence, Ethan suddenly interrupted him.
"Mr. Stark," Ethan said calmly, "you've already been resurrected. At this point, what else could possibly be impossible?"
Ethan knew exactly what Howard had realized.
Howard must have remembered the Mr. Potts he had once encountered at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base. But things were different now.
With Ethan's presence in this world, the future where Thanos snapped his fingers would never happen. And if that future never existed, the chain of events that allowed time travel wouldn't happen either.
Howard paused for a moment before chuckling.
"You're right," he admitted. "Nothing seems impossible anymore. After all, I've come back to life."
Tony listened to their conversation with growing confusion.
His father and Ethan seemed to be speaking in riddles, and he had absolutely no idea what they were talking about.
....
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