Chapter 2
Peter spent twenty-two days on the ship just floating in space with Mantis and Nebula. They didn't understand his references or his sense of humor but they like the games he taught them to play with the little supplies they had on the ship. Whenever he had nightmares fill his mind and the sobbing never ceased Mantis would find her way into his room. She became comforting and her unforced smiles that came upon her face when she felt his comfort were adorable.
Every day he cried. The ship was small and broken beyond his mechanical ability so they usually stayed close to each other. Nebula usually found him whenever he was having a breakdown. He was always near the big window upfront of the ship. He would hug Tony's helmet and rock himself back and forth as he sobbed quietly.
The few times Nebula found him like that he swears it was on accident but he wasn't a hundred percent sure. At first, she stayed at a distance and watched him. He would usually calm down and that's when she would leave. But when she found out he would just continue after she was gone she started sitting with him.
At a distance at first but on the one-week mark, he had crawled closer seeking comfort in touch. He lay his head upon her leg and she tensed. It was cold but he has been so touched starved all his life he needed it. This is how he liked to be held he found out. May would hold his head in her lap or against her stomach, then she'd run her hands through his hair and over his back.
Nebula eventually got the gist of it and eventually just let him cuddle up. She was usually tense when he first did but as the minutes ticked by and it was clear he wasn't moving she relaxed. Never fully but enough. She never ran her hand through his hair though, never rubbed his back. He never expected it because it was Nebula. But he wanted it.
It was the end of his time though. He was going to die, run out of air, they'd run out of food yesterday, water was dwindling too. They'd run out of air before dying of dehydration though. Peter sat alone in front of the large window.
Space was very beautiful he had to admit. For all the ways he thought he would die, he never thought it would be in space, he never thought he'd ever get to be in space. He reached into the iron man helmet and turned on the recording. He needed to say his peace to those he loved.
"Hi May, Ned, MJ..." His face fell. "Tony's gone... It's only me and two of the, Guardians of the Galaxy," He chuckled, "they're bigtime like us avengers so..." His face fell as he turned to look out the window. "Mantis and Nebula are their names. They're cool nice to talk to. Mantis helps me sleep on the bad nights. Nebula lets me lay in her lap like I did with you May..." Tears come to his eyes as he speaks, "If this recording finds you, or anyone really. Just know that I tried. But I wasn't enough. I failed him. I failed the universe. I'm sorry, and I love you all." He went to continue speaking. He wanted to go on about how they needed to move on and how he hoped that they would find peace like he was going to very soon.
Instead of continuing through something bright caught his eye. He turned and squinted as it got closer to the ship. It looked like a star but it couldn't be a star. They didn't move like that and they certainly didn't stop right in front of the window. When his eyes focused he found that it was a woman. A bright colorful woman he thought to be made of a star.
She helped them back to Earth but along the way, they passed by a wrecked ship like theirs. Peter put his spider suit back on for the first time in twenty-two days. He and Nebula explored the ship while Carol stayed back with Mantis in case anything decided to try something on their ship.
The two only found a massacre of dead bodies. Peter recognized them as Asgardians. The two looked at each other deciding to go back to the ship and continue on their way toward Earth. As they moved to leave the destroyed ship there was a crash sound. As if someone had dropped something.
Nebula and Peter were immediately on alert ready to fight whatever it was that made the noise. The sound had come from behind a pile of rubble and bodies. The two carefully moved around it on each side. When they moved around it they found an alive Asgardian but he was in bad shape.
Peter went wide-eyed when the Asgardian looked up at him. It was Loki. The one who'd destroyed New York in 2012. Nebula looked back and forth between the two confused. She knew that Peter recognized this man from somewhere but she had no idea if she should as well. She didn't recognize the face at all.
"Peter? Should I kill him?" He snapped out of his gaze on the god of mischief and looked over at the blue-skinned alien.
"What? No!" He moved now finally out of his initial shock. He bent down and looked Loki over for injuries. Minor head wound, some gashes all over his body as well as bruises, then his eyes landed on two major injuries. A stab wound in his thigh while the other was through his side. "Uh, Mr. Loki you're not like evil anymore are you?" Peter asked and the god gave him a raise of his eyebrow.
"Everyone's a villain in someone's story child."
"Whatever we'll just tie him up if he tries anything. Ms. Carol can disintegrate him if he's bad." Peter said moving to check the wound on Loki's leg first.
"Where are you from child how do you know me?"
"I might've just been small when you attacked New York but I still remember."
Peter didn't look up at him after that. Nebula stood nearby checking on the ship to see if they could use any of it. Loki sat in silence after that only making sounds of pain when Peter helped him up. He smirked and complained and snapped back at the girls but he didn't acknowledge Peter until they were alone.
Carol told them she was going to continue their journey back to Earth. Mantis and Nebula went their own ways Peter wasn't really listening to what they were saying all that much. He found first aid supplies on the ship and was wrapping the god's leg currently. He'd cleaned all the wounds while Loki had been telling the girls what happened.
Now it was silent though. Stars and planet's whipped by while Carol pushed the ship toward Earth. Mantis was probably watching through a window somewhere. Nebula was either fiddling with her mechanics or just staring off into nothing. Peter just thought about how he'd saved this god. This guy who'd tried to invade the planet, take it over. Stupid conscious.
"New York..." Peter looked up at Loki as he was kneeling while dealing with the god's leg. "I won't say I'm not guilty. But when the Tesseract touches someone it can fuel certain emotions, mostly hatred. My hatred was always there but the Tesseract heightened it even more." Loki said as Peter rolled up the god's shirt to finally take a good look at the wound in his side. It had been around twenty-two days since this happened so he wasn't going to bleed out.
"A doctor can look at you properly later but-"
"Child, I am sorry," Loki said leaning down making sure Peter looked him in the eye.
"Don't call me child."
It was not long after that they finally made it to Earth. Carol was directed to land them in the Avengers facility backyard and she did so. Peter saw out the window the people. Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, Bruce Banner, Rocket Nebula, and Mantis had told him about, and... and Pepper Potts. Tony's fiance.
Peter helped Loki up from where he sat. He looked up at the god who gave him a strange look. He was probably confused as to why Peter was looking to him for comfort instead of one of the two alien women he'd spent twenty-two days with. Either way, his face softened at the boy. He was so small and innocent Loki couldn't find it in himself to snap at the boy.
"It will get better spiderling," Loki said to which Peter gave a sad nod before moving himself under the god's arm to help him walk.
Peter didn't like this. He hated that when he exited the ship people were horrified and sad. Maybe because of Loki, maybe because it was just him. No Tony. Pepper let out a shrilling cry that hurt Peter to the bone.
Mantis lay her hand on Peter's back. He felt his feelings ease slightly and he looked away. She could only ease them so much. Loki muttered to let him down on the ship's steps so Peter could reunite with his friends. Nebula helped Peter sit the god down before doing so herself beside him. Rocket went over and sat as well putting his hand on Nebula's. Neither were the comforting touchy type but they were the last. Mantis stood near them a sad feeling in her chest that she did not like nor had felt before.
The teen turned to the remaining and almost broke. Instead, he took a deep breath and told himself he had to be strong. He didn't know if May was alright, or if MJ, or Ned were, but that didn't matter at this very second. What mattered were the people standing before him.
Sam was in front of Peter before the boy could even turn all the way around. He grabbed the kid who looked like he was going to fall over. Peter grabbed onto Sam like he was the only thing that could keep him up. Peter didn't know Sam all that well but it was an adult presence and he wanted to curl up against him.
"I lost him," Peter said and Sam gave him a sad look before pulling him into a hug.
"Peter... we all lost."
Pepper was over just then Bucky not far behind her Bruce further back. What was he supposed to say? How could he possibly say the right thing? Was there a right thing to say?
"I-I'm-I'm sorry. I-I-I failed him. I failed y-you." Peter said but Pepper only shook her head and gave him a stern look with tears already rushing down her face. Peter had tear stains as well as new tears running down his face.
"No, you did everything you could," Pepper said moving to put her hands on his face. She cupped his cheeks and tried to wipe away the tears but they were constant.
Inside they all got metical treatment before being briefed on the whole situation. Peter found out May was gone. MJ and Ned were on their way to see him. He was glad they were okay but now he was an official orphan. What the hell was going to happen to him?
He made sure Loki was alright that Mantis and Nebula were too. Then they were all in the main living type area. Peter was in a wheelchair, Loki was leaning against the table having almost completely healed himself after getting his strength back. The others were scattered around the room all looking depressed and Peter hated it.
"It's been twenty-three days since Thanos came to Earth." Bucky started and Peter hated this already. He watched names and faces of Avengers and anyone related flash in front of him.
May Parker
He whimpered quietly when she flashed across his field of view.
Tony Stark
His whimper wasn't so quiet this time. It was Mantis who tried to calm him with her empathy powers but it only did so much.
Peter didn't listen as Bruce continued to speak about governments and how Thanos was successful. He had wiped out half of all living creatures. There was a pause and Peter watched more people flash in front of him. He reminded himself to check the Barton kids.
When he snapped back into reality things seemed to be much too quiet for his liking. Everyone was so depressed and he understood it he really did. Maybe hiding pain behind humor and fake smiles was just his thing then.
"Where is he?" Peter knew it wasn't going to be an answer he liked. Everyone was still gone so it was most definitely a fact that they didn't find him.
Bucky spoke about how he watched the alien go through a portal and Bruce continued by saying they haven't found him. After three weeks of hunting and they found nothing.
"You fought him, Peter-" Peter cut Bucky off with a scoff.
"We got our asses kicked. I got strangled and thrown into a wizard." Peter moved to the edge of his chair looking scared. "I've never been strangled before. I've always been strong enough to get out of it." His shoulders went limp as he leaned back in the chair.
"Did he give you any clues? Coordinates? Anything?" Sam tried and Peter shook his head shifting around in his wheelchair.
"I have nothing!" Peter's voice hurt to raise but he was angry. He was so angry and he needed to just scream. "You're asking me what I've got? My answer is nothing!" He stood from his wheelchair and Loki was up too, Nebula not far behind him. "I'm a fucking orphan! I've got no family! I've got no clues, no coordinates, nothing! I'm an orphan again, I've probably got PTSD, with little head trauma on the side! But that's not gonna help you will it?!" Sam didn't move he just looked sad for Peter.
"Spiderling you've made your point. Now sit." Loki's voice was calm as the god held him at the shoulder and hip. He wasn't stopping though.
"Steve was supposed to help him! I couldn't so where was he! He said together!" Peter pushed Loki away but stumbled as he moved toward Sam. He fell to his knees and they all rushed for him. "I'm fine!"
Bruce checked him out and gave him a sedative to help him rest for the day. Pepper was right next to him. Ned and MJ came along and even though he was sleeping they stayed. The three swapped stories about anything and everything. Pre-snap though, while being careful not to say the wrong thing.
The others made plans. Nebula and Rocket found out where Thanos was. Then they all talked it out knowing they were short-handing by a mile but they owed it to everyone who wasn't in that room to try.
Peter was out when they left. They all agreed that it was better that way because the kid would want to come. Sneak his way onto the ship if he had to.
When they got there they found that Thanos had only used the stones to destroy the stones. It was over. There was no way that they could get everyone back. Gone for good.