-Now the night is coming to an end-
They had done it. After years of torture and their band growing and breaking with every limb, every piece of her he took and replaced like she was a toy that needed upgrading. They had done it.
The man they had called father laying at their feet, a sword he had given her penetrating his heart, eyes unseeing and wide seeming to follow her every move as she stumbled back into her sister's arms, the both of them shaking heavily as the bloodred sky tinted lighter.
-The sun will rise and we will try again-
They cried, Gamora's newfound family standing behind her awkwardly not knowing what to do.
The other heroes from planet earth standing a bit further back as well.
None of them really knew her.
The one that had, the one that had listened to her as they travelled to his home planet, the one she had learned to calm down when it all got too much because he had done the same for her, had sacrificed himself for the universe to live.
-Stay alive stay alive for me-
Her sister held her like she was a lifeline. One hand on the back of her head actively hurrying her sisters face in the crock of her neck as if she would thus protect her from the now no longer existing threat the body that laid before them had always formed.
"We're okay. We're okay. We're okay."
Gamora would repeat that mantra until they were on the ship again, far away from the planet they had left his body to rot on.
And as everyone slowly started talking, finally realising that the fight was over, that they could go home, Groot sat next to her, joined by the child that had introduced himself as Spiderman.
"His last words, Tony's I mean... He-he wanted this. He needed to do this to finally be at peace with himself you know? To... To bring us back he let them take him instead. You remember what he said right? He... God, I can't... I don't-..."
Nebula laid a hand on the kid's right shoulder as Groot did so on the left, steadying him.
Showing him it was okay.
That he was okay.
Once again, as she chose her words carefully, she was reminded of how Stark had kept them all intact, grounded them, so to speak.
"Of course I remember spiderkid. We shall not forget him. I swear."
-You will die and now your life is free,
Take pride in what is sure to die-
They had all agreed to stay at the Avengers headquarters for a bit. Everyone that knew each other bonding and the once that didn't meeting each other and telling stories.
The gap that had fallen between the dusted and those who had been left behind, between the one who didn't remember and the one who did too well did not go unnoticed though.
Nebula had difficulties speaking to Manties, the Guardian she had grown most fond of besides Rocket, knowing what had happened to her.
The grim reminder that life was so fragile and the memories of them disappearing into thin air still painfully fresh despite it has been nearly four years now.
The constant knowledge that this could happen, looming over their heads, some more affected than others, the dusted got over it easier, having no memory of their time in the soulstone though some it still took longer than others.
The one that had been left behind were worse. A distance building between them and the dusted, not able to look at them the same with four years of grieving behind them.
Relationships, platonic or romantic, falling apart because of it. No therapist could help because most quit their job. Either knowing not nearly enough to be of any help or knowing way too much.
Captain America, who she learned was named Steve, had hidden in his room for two weeks straight before accepting Barnes into his field of vision again. Natascha and Bruce huddled closer while Vision and Wanda split up.
Both of them not able to be with one another after what had occurred.
Thor would not leave his brother out of his sight to the extent of sleeping in the same room as him. The black strand of hair he had braided through his own not disappearing for several months.
-I will fear the night again-
It was to be expected really.
Every single night they would all be shocked into a waking state either by someone who was screaming out in pain caused by a nightmare of because said screams erupted out of their own mouths and they were shaken until they woke up.
Nebula had to teach herself how to oppress the nightmares all over again as if she was in training again, being taken apart by his hands.
He would always haunt her nightmares. The colour purple making her feel physically ill whenever she saw it and when having fought her way back to the land of the waking she still felt his hands on her skin. Ripping her apart piece by piece by piece.
Eventually, they all learned to sleep through the scream, to go about their day and act normal when one of them came out of their room with bloodshot eyes. Learned to ignore the news when a reporter mentioned once again that the suicide and depression rates worldwide had skyrocketed with 110%, 'surprisingly low' Sam remarked. She was tempted to agree.
-I hope I'm not my only friend-
All kinds of mental conditions had risen in numbers in the time after everything was reversed. As had trust issues.
Friendships broke apart as none could be certain of anything anymore.
Because if one can turn to dust by the snap of someone's fingers, who is to say they won't leave again?
And if one thinks you will leave, why stay?
After a while, Clint and Natascha stopped talking. Both assassins had survived the snap, but the kids hadn't.
And god Natascha wasn't able to look at her old friends face without seeing the kids.
Nathaniel hadn't spoken since he returned, she told Nebula one evening in may as she packed her bags, saying she couldn't be around them without breaking down.
The kid was one of many. A mental disorder caused pulverising and materialising wasn't uncommon these days.
The Spiderman, Peter, she had learned, was one of them. As he returned he was fine.
But weeks went by and his hearing went away slowly. They said it was the enhanced senses that were acting up after the snap.
But it didn't leave. And Spiderman got a hearing aid. And he smiled so wide as they showed him that they had all learned sign language.
And he visited his aunts and uncles grave to tell them.
May hadn't been part of the snap. Though a victim she had been.
She had, just like many others, died as a result of the snap. She had been on a bus when it happened. The driver dusted and with him half of the once that had been driving the vehicle that surrounded them.
The bus toppled over and caught fire, nobody had found her and the other's body's until much much later.
-Stay alive, stay alive for me.-
But life went on. And Nebula and her sister had packed their bags. They were going to go and leave this planet with the Guardians. Missing being out in space was new to her, but Quill had new cd's now and a radio that had been build into them yet. And Groot had grown to have a deeper voice just as the spiderling.
So they said their goodbye's. And she pressed them all close to her.
And they gave them a group picture to put in the jet.
And she pressed both Peter and Barnes extra close.
Both men had been hospitalised for spiralling to deep and harming themselves in the process.
She made them promise they wouldn't anymore.
They could not repeat doctor Banners handy ways of taking his life without triggering the Hulk.
And Rhodey she held longer. Because he understood.
And Sam she smiled at weakly. Because he didn't and she didn't know which was worse.
-You will die and now your life is free
Take pride in what is sure to die-