Stars
The oranges sky and orange sand had no stars. None- whatsoever. If it had, Tony would be counting them. Tony had been bored. He could think up thousands of ways to get back to Earth. He could take Natasha and Gamora with him.
Hell, he just wanted to go home. At first, all he felt was unbearable pain. When he snapped, all he could think of was Peter, Pepper, and Morgan. Screw the rest of the world- Peter had to meet his sister.
So to refine from being bored, he explored. He thought up memories- thousands of memories with his little spider and only daughter- hoping they would meet one day. Daily memos, daily logs. It doesn't help.
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"Day 3 in the soul world. I miss you Pep. Hope you introduced the spider kid to Morguna."
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"Day 26 in the soul world. We don't need to eat, but it makes us feel better. Found a water spout, clean and not orange like the rest of the fucking world."
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"Day 70 in the soul world? Gamora had a breakdown. Thanos and his army- they're here. They've accepted that they can't come back and Thanos- fuck- Thanos apologized. We- we didn't know how to react. We accepted it no matter the issue."
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"Day- how many days has it been, Nat?"
"216, Tones."
"Right. Day 216 in the soul realm. Things have been getting weird- it's clearer than usual. So clear, you can almost see stars- which is weird because we've never been able to see past the sun on the horizon in all fuckin' directions."
"Stark. Who is that?"
"What? Gamora, don't make me nuts, what're you talking about?"
"That figure..."
They could see it in the distance. Confused, they looked towards it. A star.
Peter.
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peter pov
After killing myself, he knew there was no chance of him going home. But if it meant he could see Tony one more time, then fuck it.
His mind is broken. A nebula in his soul. In his head and his heart. So thin and spread out that he can barely feel it anymore.
Gasp.
He can breathe?
The sun comes from any direction. The orange fades into a thin line of yellow, with the rest of the world as a red-ish purple.
Glass.
So beautiful, the barely-there stars, that make it look like a mosaic. Turning in one direction...
Peter walks. And he walks. And he encounters many on his way.
Aliens that he found how to kill.
Thanos which he left after a clue.
He felt thousands of people- things but in their own way, people- all over his body.
He tries not to panic when his senses are still crazy.
Hearing a recognizable historical laugh, he turns in circles.
It's like the center of the world- silent, except in all directions.
Terrifying.
He's scared. And he wished that he wasn't. And he wishes so much.
But he has to wait.
So he walks.
And sure his mind still tortures him-
but he walks.
In circles on a planet he doesn't know-
In circles.
Until he hears a new voice.
"Day- how many days has it been, Nat?"
And he knows.
The voices in his head- of Ben, and Beck,
and Tony.
Oh my God, Tony is here, and he can see Tony and he's spiraling instead of walking towards them-
So he sprints.
He sprints and he runs so hard, he can almost feel the phantom pain of running, as if he were alive.
"Tony!"
Crash.
A small chuckle, sad but there.
"Kid? What- what're you doing here? I thought I saved you? Oh, you're not my kid. You're an older, grizzlier version of my kid."
He just smiles. He smiles, knowing he's not going back too.
"Pete? What's that smile for bud?"
Stars are always different when you're about to die. It's something that people say.
Stars are beautiful and so far away, you can just breathe in the beauty of colors, and stars, and he feels like he's dying all over again...
He just needed to touch him. And Tony would be back at home in his almost rotting corpse- well, not really a corpse anymore- and Morgan will have her dad back.
He turns to Nat, tears streaming down his face. "Hey, Aunt Nat. Let me get one more hug from you, yeah?"
And Natasha knows what he's doing so she tries to run, but she forgets-
He's a Spider Kid.
He's their Spider Kid.
He catches her.
"I love you, мама паук. Can you tell Dad I love him too?"
"Oh, my baby, of cou-"
She turned to sand, too.
And Gamora.
Gamora never got to meet the Spider that everyone loved.
But she wasn't going to leave him alone in this world.
"No. You will not."
"I don't need to hug you. "
He brushes his hand against hers.
"All I really need to do is this."
She turns to dust too.
And now Peter is alone again.
Not just in his head,
But in the soul world too.
Stars are always different when you're about to die.
And as he gripped the soul stone in his hand, making it crack bit by bit,
Feeling the power growl and follow his arm.
The Stars looked different.
He felt the phantom pain,
It was a lot like feeling a knife cut through his arm when being tortured
Or when he slit his own wrists with a blade that Loki had gifted him.
The power was incredible. And it hurt.
Stars always look different when you're about to die.
And when he crushed that cursed stone in his hand, the power created a burst of wind- sand of the landscape, just blowing everywhere.
Power loomed in the air, above his head... it loomed on his body, in his hair, on his mind.
And it hurt every fiber of his body.
So when he crushed that stone in his hand...
The stars looked different.