Fragments
“Where am I? Am I dreaming? As I drifted into the abyss. My memories are fragmented. What happened? Tony? Is Tony my name? What’s with this outfit? A flash of red, dark blue, am I a spider or something. I am so confused. I do not understand. I feel so lonely. I close my eyes….and I saw the face of this beautiful creature. Beautiful but his eyes are so terrified. Why? Someone please….answer me.”
"You must remember Zoel. You have to. The world needs you..he needs you”.
“Who are you? What is a child doing here? Is it only the two of us?”.
“You must remember. I saved you from your doom in that world hundreds of years ago, I thought it would be for the best. But it got worse. I am sorry. Do not worry your Highness I will get you out of here. I will seek his help.”.
“No! Don’t leave me! Who are you please?”.
“You named me Du’an. But now everyone knows me as the Soul Stone. I did terrible things. And so are my Brothers and Sisters. We will do this right. But right now you are stuck in this world in which I have no control. I want to make things right, but for now, sleep.”
As the beautiful entity perishes in the eyes of Peter. He is in a dreamless state.
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It’s been 5 years since the snap. Everyone tried to move on, go on with their lives. But Tony Stark will always have a never-ending nightmare.
Nightmares consist of only Peter. Perished in his arms. His beautiful Peter. They should be married by now. But Thanos destroyed everything. Thanks to Thor he is dead. But is it enough? He tried to get up from bed with a whiskey on his hand. But for the sake of his beloved’s memory, he tried his best to live every day helping other people affected by the snap.
“Friday, any scheduled meetings for me today?”. Tony spoke with her AI as he wiggles his way through the kitchen, opening the fridge and grabs some granola bars for his shitty breakfast. Dumping the almost empty bottle on his left hand.
“Good Morning Boss. You have a meeting together with Miss Potts this at 2 pm with the Peter Pan Foundation, you will be discussing several issues about children who lost their families 5 years ago. And their future”. The AI answered in a worried one, all these years F.R.I.D.A.Y.S programming is evolving. She is able to sympathize sometimes and she knows how hurt Tony is, after losing Peter.
“Thank you, Friday. I guess I need to take a shower now” Tony smiled sadly.
As Tony made his way to his bedroom, he stopped at his vast living room taking the photo of him and Peter during their engagement before Thanos happened. Peter with his beautiful angelic smile, eyes sparkling while showing his engagement ring in the photo. With Tony kissing him on his temple.
As he stepped inside the bathroom, he looked in the mirror. He looks so old, disheveled, his eyes do not shine anymore as it did before. He lost his will. PTSD hit him so hard.
“I should have died with you…”. He slumped into the floor, his back hitting the cold tiles of the bathroom and closed his eyes. He should cry but he can’t. Until he felt a warm hand caressing him.
“Tony, it is not the end of everything. Please don’t cry”. As Tony opened his eyes, he saw a child not more than 10 years old. Reddish hair flowing freely on her shoulders, a solemn smile on her face, and eyes that remind him of someone that he misses so much. He was enthralled. But reality suddenly hit him. He summoned a part of his Iron Man suit and pointed it on the intruder.
“Who are you? How did you get in here?” his eyes morphed into something. Is it sorrow? Anger?
“I will not hurt you Tony Stark. I am here to help. I am not a normal human being, I am sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. My name is Du’an. And what you see now is my soul forged into something else. I know what Thanos did and we can change it. I know you want him back. Help is on the way”. Du’an sat in front of a terrified Tony Stark, her eyes with conviction and deep understanding what the man in front of her is going through.
“What do you mean help is on the way? I don’t understand” as Tony wants to ask more questions to the entity in front of him, F.R.I.D.A.Y. interrupted.
“Boss, you have a call from Captain Rogers. He said it is an emergency”. Tony nodded and he listened to the call.
“Steve, what is it? Friday said it’s an emergency. I am talking to someone” the entity is still in front of the billionaire with a warm smile on her face.
“You won’t believe this Tony, but Scott Lang is here. He wants to talk to us about the Quantum realm. We need you here, I already called Bruce. Please hurry”. Tony can hear the urgency in Steve’s voice.
“Okay, I will be right there. As soon as I can”. Tony had a hard time standing up to take his shower. Du’an took pity and helped him up.
“See Mr.Stark, I told you help is on the way. Til we meet again” and she vanishes into thin air.
“What? Hey wait!” he just facepalmed and went into the showers. He can say that he is so very used with weird things every day ever since becoming an Avenger.
He needs to hurry to the Avengers compound soon. And he could feel that he will meet the child again. A nudge on his chest tells him that something eventful is happening.