The Souls

Boredom struck again. This time, with a vengeance.

It hadn't been this bad before.

Individuals had been moyvig from group to group, talking about inane things, learning about each others planets and adventures. They had fought and then made up and fought again.

Loki had been asked again and again to conjure and create random things, mostly by the three teenagers. His natural instinct of course, was to refuse, but eventually, even he bored of doing absolutely nothing, and lett them have what they wanted.

But even games and cards and puzzles grew tiring when one had nothing else to do.

They had learned quite early on that sleeping wasn't a possibility when one was dead. Drax, who very much enjoyed his sleep, was absolutely furious to find that nothing would happen when he closed his eyes.

Even Mantis had nothing to do. At first, eveyone had refused to have her touch them, wanting their secrets to stay secret, but after a while, they didn't care enough to try and stop her. She had learned so much about everyone, it was almost overwheming. But now, anytime she touched someone, to feel what they felt, there was just... boredom.

Pure, utter, boredom.

The third day dragged onto the fourth, which crawled onto the fifth.

Yet every hour felt like a day.

Sam was almost positive that he was suffering most of all. After all, he was technically the only human here.

Well, the only normal human anyway.

Bucky was an immortal super soldier. Peter and T'Challa had freaking superpowers. Shuri was a genius pricess. Wanda was a witch, an Strange was a wizard.

And Quill, was basically an alien at this point.

Sam was just a person. Yeah, he had been a little bitter about it before, but he had grown out of that quite quickly. But now he was ready to blame his normality on his extra irritablity.

His eyes were a glare as he looked around.

T'Challa was rubbing at his temples with his head thrown over the back of the couch. Shuri lay across his lap, changing position every few seconds, apparently trying to find a comfortable position. T'Challa had grown tired of telling her to stop moving.

Doctor Strange was actually sitting on his chair instead of hovering above it, for once. Even he seemed tired of all this, and for a long time, Sam had been certain that the sorerer wasn't humn enough to feel things like boredom.

For a long time still, they had all believed that he had something to do with them being in here, or at least knew way more about all of this than he was letting on, but the Doctor hadn't said a word. So apparently they had been wrong, becasue no one would let themslves suffer like this if they didn't have to.

So they had withdrawn their suspicions.

Well, except for Loki, maybe. He spent so much time glaring at Strange, it was like he was angry at him in particular. He semed to be absolutley positive that Stephen wasn't telling them anything for the sole purpose of being irritating.

Loki did not seem like a person who enjoyed being kept in the dark.

Of course, his animosity could also be personal, becasue as they had found out, Loki and Stephen's first and only meeting had not been pleasant, what with Stephen sending him hurtling through nothingness for a half hour, and Loki trying to throw huge knives at him.

Now he just stared at Stephen through unblinking eyes, as if trying to look into his mind. That was apparently something he could only do through touch. He had tried a few times, of course, casting tricks and glamours to make himself unnoticeable enough to get close to the wizard, but a vigilant Strange would always be just out of reach.

For a little while, they had all had to suffer through Loki's tricks, for his own amusement, but it seemed that this level of boredom affected even the most powerful of gods.

The Guardians weren't any different. Quill lay with his head on Gamora's lap, and his feet swinging over the edge of the chair. Gamora would sigh occasionally, and then yawn, and then stretch her neck, and then sigh again. The only thing that seemed to be keeping her sane was the methodical way her hand combed through Peter's hair, while her other hand balanced her knife, letting it jump from finger to finger. Sam shook his head that. No way would he let a notorious assassin play with a knife so close to his chest. Quill must have really trusted her.

Or he was just too bored to care.

Wanda and Vision were in a similar position. Her red hair was flowing over Vision's thighs and her eyes were closed. She could have been miataken for asleep, if it weren't for her hand. Vision had it in his grip and close to his face as her fingers waved delicately, soft red flames curling around them. Vision had been staring at the flames as if hypnotized, for ages now.

Well, anything to stay entertained.

Peter and Groot were lying on the floor, propped on their elbows slapping cards onto the floor lazily, one by one.

It seemed they were playing 'Go Fish', but they had stopped saying the phrase about 12 rounds ago.

Drax was glaring at the empty space above, his arms crossed in front of his chest. He kept squeezing his eyes shut, as if hoping something would happen, and everytime it didn't, he would grow even more irritable.

Mantis watched him with a worried look on her face. Well, she might have been worred. She always looked worried, so Sam couldn't really be sure.

With a small sigh, Mantis reached out a tentative hand and placed it on Drax's shoulder. He immediately jerked out of her grasp, but Mantis didn't let go. Only a second later, Drax blinked at her, and then miraculously, a small smile touched his lips. He let his head fall back again, and he was no longer glaring. Mantis sat back smiling too, not letting go of Drax's shoulder.

She had done this quite a few times for him. Sam had to wonder what it was she was showing him to make them look ao peaceful. He wished she'd do that with the rest of them, but this particular gesture seemed to be reserved for Drax. The two were a strange pair, Sam had to admit.

Sam's glare settled on the last inhabitant on the Soul Stone.

Bucky.

The two hadn't had a big fight in quite a while. Or any fight, for that matter. They bickered quite a lot, of course, that was unavoidable.

Sam used every possible opportunity to bring up Bucky's alleged feelings for Steve Rogers, amd Bucky managed to call Sam every bird he could thing of, except Falcon. 'Pigeon' being his favourite.

But they also had their jokes, and the occasional look of amusement between the two of them, and they shared embarrassing stories about Steve, or shared turns telling his triumphs to the star struck Quill and Peter.

So yeah, they had their spats, but so did everyone. As much as he hated it, Sam was loathe to say... they were... getting along.

Sam still refused to call Bucky his friend. But he couldn't with good conscious say that he hated the guy any more. In fact, he wasn't sure if he ever had.

The revelation made him extremely uncomfortable.

His rivalry with Bucky Barnes had become a part of Sam's identify! Going from that to not-disliking him was jarring.

He had to fix this.

"Hey Bucky?" Sam said slowly.

Bucky turned tired eyes to the man next to him, "Yeah?"

"I got a hypothetical situation here." he shrugged, aware that he was speaking louder than he needed to, "Kinda need your input."

"Sure. what is it?"

"Say Parker here is right..." Peter looked up at hearing his name, "and Stark really does come to get us out of here."

Bucky frowned, "...yeah?"

"You think he'd leave you behind?"

Bucky blinked a few times, and then turned to Sam slowly. His eyes hardened into a glare.

"Why would Mr. Stark do that?" Peter scoffed, unable to help from interjecting.

Bucky's glare only hardened at Sam.

"Don't." he hissed at him. He was, of course, ignored.

"Nothing, just... Tony doesn't like Bucky very much." Sam shrugged.

"Why not?" Quill asked with a yawn as his head turned on Gamora's lap.

It seemed that everyone had now turned to this conversation, much to Bucky's chagrin.

"Wilson, I swear to god."

Sam smiled innocently, "Well, we already told you he used to be an assassin."

"Sam..." he hissed.

Gamora scoffed, "Well if that were the case, your Stark would leave me behind too."

"Me as well," nodded Drax, "Gamora and I have killed many in our days."

Sam shrugged, "Yeah, but neither of you killed Stark's parents, did you."

Bucky let out a slow breath as Sam smiled at him.

"You son of a bitch."

For a little while, there was silence.

Peter sat up, away from his game of cards. His wide eyes were trained on Bucky, "You... Bucky you... you killed Mr. Stark's parents?"

Bucky turned to the kid, regarding him awkwardly. He cleared his throat, "I... uh... well... yeah."

Peter's mouth dropped open in shock, "Why'd you do that?" he shook his head, "I mean, you're such a nice guy."

"He is now." Sam interjected, "Not so much in the past."

"God, I hate you." Bucky snarled, closing his eyes.

Sam almost sighed happily. That felt nice.

"Oh come on, Sam," T'Challa looked disappointed at his friend, "We all know why that is."

"Look I'm not saying it was Bucky's fault," Sam put his hands up defensively, "Just that Stark probably has not forgiven and forgotten."

"It happened long enough ago," Loki rolled his eyes, bored enough to be involved in chatter, "Stark should get over it."

Peter sighed, exasperated, "You can't just get over your parents getting killed."

"Why not?" Loki shrugged, "I killed my birth father, I indirectly caused my mother's death, and the father that stole me died only a few days ago. And I am completely fine."

"Yes well Loki, you're dead inside." Wanda pointed out.

Loki had no choice but to nod in agreement.

"And besides, what happened was not Bucky's fault," Shuri said, having finally sat up off her brothers lap, "he was brainwashed, remember?"

Peter's eyesbrows shot up at his friend, "Wait how... how did you know about this?"

"I'm the one who fixed him. I know everything."

Peter saw that he should have realised that, but still. He couldn't be the only one who was shocked by this news.

He took a look around at the relatively cool faces.

Why was he the only one shocked by this?

"Why am I the only one shocked by this?" he exclaimed, "This is a big deal, right? I-isn't it?"

To both Peter, and Bucky's surprise, it didn't seem to be.

"I mean, Mr. Bucky I am in no way placing blame or holding something against you when it was clearly against your will, but... how am I the only one shocked by this?"

Bucky, although thankful that Peter didn't completely blame him, was surprised at his statement, and even moreso at everyone's reaction. Or lack thereof.

"Well, I already knew." admitted Vision

"Tony told you?" Sam was surprised.

"Well... in a way, I suppose." Vision cleared his throat, "He spoke of it in my presence. Only, he did not know I was in the room at the time."

Suspicious eyes looked at him from all around the room.

"So, you were eavesdropping?" Mantis asked.

"I... I wouldn't call it that," Vision said, looking decidedly uncomfortable.

"But basically... you were eavesdropping." Drax confirmed.

"In my defence," Vision pointed out, "I was not aware that Tony and Pepper were having a private conversation when I entered their bedroom through the wall. By the time I realised, I had heard too much, so I merely removed myself without their knowledge."

Again, there was a silence.

"Vision, that's called eavesdropping," T'Challa sighed at him.

"Uh huh," Shuri nodded, "and when you tell your girlfriend, it's called gossiping."

"How do you know he told me?" Wanda frowned.

Shuri smirked, "I didn't. I do now."

Wanda smiled back as she rolled her eyes at the princess.

Sam shook his head at the digression, "Again. This is about Bucky. Killing. Remember?"

Quill was the first to shrug, "I've met a lot of killers. Plus, I too killed my dad. I'm not dead inside though. My dad was a dick."

"Of all the people I've killed, I wish my father was one of them." Gamora muttered next to him.

"I killed my father too, I suppose," Vision muttered, "If Ultron can even be considered my father..."

"Our dad died too," mentioned Shuri, not wanting to be left out, "He wasn't a dick though. He was pretty great actually."

"Yeah, mine too." Wanda nodded

"Same here." nodded Peter, "And my mom. Also my Uncle Ben, who was also like my dad for a while. You know, before he died."

Sam stared at the group, "What the fuck. does no one here have parents?" he exclaimed.

"I am Groot."

"Hey, Rocket's not your only Dad!" Quill threw his arms towards the kid, "I'm kinda like your dad, right?"

Groot just blinked twice, and then went back to looking at his cards.

Quill crossed his arms, shaking his head.

"That is one disrespectful kid." he muttered.

Gamora couldn't help but snicker as she patted his thigh in comfort.

Sam just shook his head, "I don't understand, when did this stop being about Bucky killing Tony Stark's parents? Are we all seriously forgetting that Bucky killed Tony Stark's parents?"

Shuri glared, "No. We are just acknowledging that everyone has a past. Sometimes that past involves a few assassinations, and thats okay."

Sam still shook his head when it seemed that everyone was agreeing with her. Surprisingly, Bucky seemed even more surprised than Sam at this turn of events.

Bucky shook his head slowly, "This is one disfunctional group of people."

Drax looked around with a smile, "Yes, that is true."

Still Bucky shook his head, "Never thought I'd meet a group of people who don't immediately hate you for killing Tony Starks parents, amongst others."

"Yeah me too," muttered Sam.

Bucky glared at him, "Seems like its just you then, Wilson."

Sam rolled his eyes, "Oh come on, I don't hate you Gramps. I just wanted everyone else to. It makes me happy when you're uncomfortable."

Bucky blinked at the man next to him with clenched teeth, "You're a piece of shit, Wilson."

Sam just shrugged, not denying it.

"Just admit it Sam. you were wrong." Shuri smirking.

"Admit what?" he scoffed.

"That everyone has a past." she repeated, "And sometimes that past involves a few assassinations, and that is okay."

"Is it though?" Sam sighed heavily, "Is it okay?"

"Well I would say it is," said Loki, "After all, I tried to destroy the earth, and no one has held that against me."

Everyone blinked at him.

"I... I'm pretty sure people are still mad, Loki."

Loki shot Wanda a look, but it was Stephen who spoke up, "Well you tried to destroy the Avengers, and yet here you are, a part of their team."

"Precisely," nodded Loki.

Wanda kissed her teeth, "Alright, I'll shut up."

"And also, Mantis here assisted in the murder of all of Quill's siblings." Drax spoke up, wanting to make a contribution, "he certainly does not hold that against her, do you Quill."

Quill turned to Mantis slowly, blinking, "you know, I never actually thought of it that way..."

"It would be best if you did not," Mantis said softly.

"It just occurred to me that really, you're all a bunch of criminals, huh." Sam wondered.

Gamora narrowed his eyes at him, "Weren't you arrested for like treason not so long ago?"

Sam shut his mouth amd nodded, "Touche'."

"Well I guess it's good that you all have that in common." said Shuri, "If Stark comes, he'll be saving a whole bunch of criminals." she laughed, "Except me of course, I'm an absolute angel."

T'Challa couldn't help his loud laugh at that, "I will agree that you are not a criminal, Shuri. But angel is quite pushing it."

"Well my records clean," Peter spoke up.

"I am in no way a criminal." Strange felt it necessary to mention.

Quill scoffed, "Yeah but Stark like, hates you. So he might leave you behind just for the hell of it."

Even as they all laughed, Peter grinned, "Mr. Stark won't leave any of us behind guys, trust me."

Sam narrowed his eyes, "You... you do know that this is still a hypothetical situation, right kid?"

Peter scoffed, "Of course I do. We don't know exactly how we're getting out."

"If," Sam emphasised, "If we're getting out "

Peter's grin faded, but he didn't say anything. Making his thoughts quite obvious.

"Really kid, still?"

"Sam drop it," Bucky tried, but he was ignored.

"You're still seriously on that whole 'Saviour-Stark' idea? I thought we all knew that it was a joke."

The mood had suddenly sobered down again. What had been a fun, somewhat nihalistic conversation had started an argument that was not at all new to them.

Peter was looking down as he spoke, "I thought we were all finally starting to be optimistic," he sighed, "Guess I was wrong."

"Damn right " Sam scoffed.

"Dammit Sam would you leave it alone?" Bucky growled.

Sam sat back with a clenched jaw.

It felt like the mirth had been sucked out of all of them.

Bucky was glad that Sam had a least managed to shut up a bit. It might have lasted too, if Peter hadn't decided to speak up again.

"Honestly though Mr. Falcon, I don't see what's so hard with seeing the things my way. Doctor Strange told us in the beginning that there was a chance. A miniscule chance, I know, but is it such a bad thing to hold on to that?"

"Chances that small don't count for nothing kid, trust me I would know. Keeping your hopes up with something like this ain't gonna get you nothing but disappointed, alright? I think we've all had enough disappointment to last a lifetime, don't you?"

"I don't think this will be one of those times. I know it won't. I can feel it "

"And what in the hell good are your feelings when we're all dead? Huh? Don't you get that there's no point in getting your hopes up?"

"Why not!" Peter exclaimed, finally raising his voice, "what do you have against having a little hope? Why can't you just see things the way I do? Just once?"

"Because we are dead!" Sam threw his hands up, "We. Are. Dead. Get it through your head! I watched half of Wakanda turn to dust, before I poofed along with 'em. I saw Steve's hand hovering over where Bucky had disappeared right in front of him. I watched people die, and then I died too. We all did. Dont you get that?"

Peter bit down hard, his jaw clenched as he glared at the Falcon.

"The Avengers ain't looking for us kid, they're mourning us. It's been five days, and they've probably accepted it. It's probably about time you do too."

Peter and Sam stared each other down neither of them willing to back down, and neither willing to change his mind. Finally, Peter opened his mouth to fire back, but he was interrupted.

"Don't listen to that moody bird, Parker." came the drawling voice.

There was a beat of utter silence. And then a combined gasp, as they all realised that that voice... that voice was new.

Simultaneously, heads turned away from their circle, and everyone's wide eyes locked on the newcomer.

Shock radiated off every one, words stuck in their throats and eyes were wide and unblinking, as for the first time in five days, they saw someone new.

All were speechless. Well, all but one, for at the back of the group, Doctor Strange only smiled. It was time.

Natasha Romanoff smirked at the stunned faces, and her eyes locked straight onto Peter Parker.

"Looks like your stupid optimism paid off kid." she winked, "You'll all be out of here in a minute."