The Aftermath
Peter Parker was placed in a emergency camp to wait for his Aunt.
Stark wasn’t there despite wishing he could. The world didn’t need to know the infamous billionaire knew of his existence. Peter Parker hanging around Tony Stark, let alone any of the other Avengers, wasn’t exactly keeping his secret safe. It was a last ditch effort by him to make him seem like a normal child that just got caught in the storm.
Looking around, the teen looked at the dozens of people sitting around. All of them were victims of the snap awaiting for their family and friends to free them from this nightmare. Children, Mothers, Fathers, Sisters, Brothers, friends all fallen victims to the deceased mad titans endeavors. Now missing five years of their life, they’re forced to live in this newly strange world. Medics fixed the wounded, but couldn’t fix the broken.
Peter felt their mourning. The sadness etched deep down, filling the crowd. The cried for their old lives, wishing to return to their old lives. However that wasn’t possible. Not anymore. There was no returning to what was. The world had changed and moved on without them.
“Mommy! I want my mommy!” There was a sobbing child, crying out for their mother. It left a bitter taste in his mouth. An agent was trying to console the sobbing child, who was an unfortunate victim of the snap. Though nothing could repair the trauma of fading away.
“Do you have anywhere to go?” It was a teenager this time, she looked numb to everything around them. She was holding two small boys close to her chest. She was one of the many who lost loved ones in the five year time span. With no living family, she was the unlucky winner to being placed in the foster system along with her younger siblings.
“We can help you find a home and job…” The man shook his head in disbelief, still wearing his work suit. Many people were still trying to process the situation, unable to comprehend the sudden loss of their homes, jobs, and identities in the span of a few seconds.
Peter wanted to help them all. He’s never felt so helpless. He was supposed to Spider-Man, the hero people can count on to save them. He was suppose to help people but how can he help people when the damage was somewhere not even Iron Man could fix. The Avengers may of fixed the world, but they couldn’t fix the damage done to the dozens of people there.
“Oh my god, Peter!” The teens head shot up. His Aunt had barged into the camp doors looking like she just came running from out of a meeting. Her hair all frizzy, her glasses lopsided, clothes mismatched like she just threw on whatever was closests. Her eyes scanned the room desprently while Agent’s around tried to hold her back.
“Get your hands off me!”
“Miss you need to calm down-”
“Peter!” May cried out again from behind the guards, desperate to see her nephew.
Peter jumped off the cot, his sight growing cloudy. He ran towards the his Aunt, a happy smile on his face. “Aunt May!” He exclaimed, laughing with relief. May’s eyes fell onto the teen, tears spilling out of her eyes. The Agent’s stepped back letting Peter run into his Aunt’s arms. May grabbed tightly on the back of his shirt and hair, squeezing him tightly that the kid thought his bones would pop.
For a moment, Peter forgot about Titan, Thanos, Spider-Man, and the snap. He just buried himself in his Aunt’s arm, inhaling her flower rose perfume. Tears fell down his own cheek, glad to be reunited with his aunt. His missed her, even if it only felt he was gone for a few hours. He felt so thankful that his Aunt was still here, hugging him. Many others weren’t as lucky as him and would never get another hug from their love ones.
Peter just basked in the warmth radiating off his Aunt, it filled him and hugged him, telling him it was okay. Once both relatives managed to calm themselves, they pulled back reluctantly.
“I love you so much,” May told him in a broken whispering.
“I love you too Aunt May.”
After filling out the paperwork, making him a temporary legal citizen again until he could officially gain back his old oneThey offered supportive help like a new organization that’d was assembled to help victims of the snap insert themselves into normal life again. There was still more legal work to be done since he was technically dead for five years. He left the shelter, forcing himself not to look back. He couldn’t live with the image of the unlucky behind him wishing for a hero to save them from their nightmares.
However something inside him listened. It heard the cries of the broken, the lost souls calling out for help. He heard and found himself unsure of what to do next. What was next for them? The world had moved on without them. Where did they belong now?
Where did he belong?
Peter was sitting on the couch with his aunt, listening to her heartbeat and breathing while they watched the screen in front of them. They were watching A New Hope when May fell asleep on the couch. He watched the screen but his mind was far off in another life looking in.
“Mister Stark...I don’t feel so good…”
The planet was quiet. For once, there was silence over the orange planet. Not a single light of hope flickered. All that was left was the ashes of hope and devastation.
Peter felt the pain of his atoms ripping each other apart, and no matter how hard his body tried to heal nothing could stop the inevitable.
“You’re alright.” Peter wasn’t alright.
“I-I don’t know what’s happening...I-I don’t understand-”
His legs faded, falling into his mentors arms. His eyes wide with fear, clutching onto the man as tightly as he could. His soul was being ripped away. He was dying. His increasing warning buzz felt like a jackhammer in his head. It left the young hero frightened.
“I don’t want wanna go….” The universe calling grew stronger, trying to rip him away but Peter fought desperately, clinging onto his mentor like a lifeline. “I don’t wanna go..Mister Stark please. I don't wanna go please. I don’t wanna go.” ‘Don’t let me go,’ he wanted to say. His legs now fully gone, Stark let him down on the ground. His mentor’s eyes trying to comfort him by hiding his own emotion. Though Peter could always see through the man’s facades. He could see the man’s dread and fear in his eyes.
“I’m sorry.” Peter looked up to the blood orange sky, staring at the universe in the sky one last time before the darkness whisked him away. The only thing he could hear was the words of the mad titan echoing,
“Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same and now it’s here. Or shall I say, I am.”
Peter blinked. The visual of the planet orange now gone, the quiet in the past. Only the screen was in front of him, no Mister Stark, no ashes. His heart pounded against his rib cage, desperately trying to escape. His eyes watered like a child when frightened, desperately wishing somebody would hold them.
Even after death, the mad titan still managed to haunt him.
Peter attended the Miss Romanoff’s funeral.
It was bittersweet. Though a beautiful ceremony, the heartache among the crowd was overwhelming. He still held his head up high in solidarity of the hero. They never had met but he still felt loss. She was the reason he and a million others were here. He owed her everything.
While Captain America suited up to return the stones, Peter stood watching the lake where they sent off Natasha's Black Widow suit belt buckle. His heart mourned for the fallen.
“You know, I wish there was a way that I could let her know…that we won. We did it.” It was Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye. He stood at his side, watching the water drift with him. He wasn’t aware of the archer before until now. He felt his heart grow, feeling a warmth fill him.
“I know.”
Before he could stop himself, Peter placed a hand on the Avengers shoulder. “She knows,” He told him, unsure of how knew that. The archer turned to him, confused teary eyes but had a small smile on his lips as if to say thank you. The webslinger continued to watch the water drift endlessly along side the hero.
There was a shift in the air.
Peter felt himself turn around, look around the small cabin toward the time machine.
One single thought past through his head, ‘Goodbye Captain.’ He redirected his attention on the water and watched the the ripples form, his mind already have forgotten the strange experience.
Peter was with his Aunt when he first met her. They were discussing their what happens next in this new chapter of life granted to him when a small girl came trotting up to them.
“You’re the boy in the picture,” She stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
Peter glanced at May, confused when his Aunt bent down to the little girls height. “Yeah, Morgan this is Peter!” Who was this little girl? Why was she named after the law firm Morgan and Morgan? Was she somebody else's kid? Maybe one of Barton's kids?
There was a little gasp, the kid smilied widely up at him as if he was some lost recovered toy she found. “Big brother is back!” SHe wrapped her little arms around his leg, squeezing it tightly. He stumbled backwards, in complete shock. As far as he knew he was an only child and his parents were dead so the possibility of having a sister her age was impossible.
“Hey sweetheart, looks like you found Peter!” Mister Stark came walking out of seemingly nowhere. “Yeah! I found big brother!” The teen blinked, finally managing to connect the dots. This kid was Stark’s kid. Mister Stark actually had a kid. Part him felt uneasy at the thought. Last time he was actually with the billionaire the man barely managed to take care of himself. Now here he was with a kid who looked at the ripe age of four.
The world’s changed. It won’t ever be the same again.
The last thought left a bitter taste in his mouth. He shook his head, trying to shake the awful feeling in his head and heart.
“T-That’s amazing! I always knew you’d make a great dad, Mr. Stark,” The teen said, flashing the best fake smile he could muster up. Stark returned the smile, placing a hand on his back before formally introducing the two. Judging by the girl’s face, she was happy to finally meet her ‘big brother’.
Peter chose not to question it for now.
“You okay kid?” Stark was walking the Peter to May’s car. “Like really okay?”
No. I’m missing four years of my life, fought a sociopathic grape twice, lost to said grape, died in my mentors arms, felt all of the pain of having his molecules torn apart and try to repair themselves, killed aliens and got his ass handed to him, played hot potato with the infinity gauntlet, and went to space. He most definitely wasn’t okay.
Though Peter didn’t answer right away. In his heart he knew the answer to the question but he didn’t want to drop that on his mentors shoulders. The man had a family to worry about now. He didn't need some kid telling them that they weren’t okay. He didn’t need his problems.
Looking into the older adults eyes he saw Mister Stark had changed. He moved on and it hurt. He was older, wiser.
Peter could survive being burned, stabbed, thrown, kicked, and shoved but he couldn’t survive being forgotten. He couldn’t look at Mister Stark the same anymore.
”I’m fine.”
The man studied his face, taking in his distant expression.
“Usually when people say they’re fine, they really not. I would know. I’m the expert at pushing people away,” Tony told him.
“No, really Mister Stark, I’m fine.” Another lie. God he felt all the criminals out there for lying like he should be put in jail or something.
The Avenger looked at him, concern etched deeply into his face with hurt in his eyes.
Peter felt guilt build in him, rising up in the sink. He hated to see his mentor hurt but he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t even know his purpose to being here now. Everyone around him were people he didn’t recognize. His life was gone in a blink of an eye. Literally. There was no going back.
Peter wanted to cry.
To the teens bewilderment, he was suddenly pulled into a warm hug by the elder hero. It was another strange occurance where the Stark had hugged him when before it was always Peter giving the hugs then being told their relationship wasn’t exactly there. It was a strange but not unwelcome experience. Similar to the incident in space, Peter hugged back, this time holding on a bit tighter for support, inhaling the familiar scent of his mentor.
“You know, you can alway call me when you need anything. I’ll always be there for you every step of the way.”
Peter wasn’t sure what happened next. He could only describe it as an unexplained phenomenon. He felt something strong inside the hero’s hug. It was a light, glowing brightly despite the dozens of broken cracks inside. It was mending itself together slowly, but still managed to glow brighter than any star.
The two pulled back, snapping Peter away from the strange light, and bid each other goodnight before the teen hopped in the car. As the Parker’s drove away, his eyes remained on the hero who stood watching them. His gaze didn’t move until he couldn’t see the man’s face anymore. He watched the trees pass and stared up at the night sky. He count the stars, forgetting about his life for a moment.
For the first time since returning, forgotten made him into feather floating in a lake of water, just drifting slowly. It was tranquil and calming. He drifted all the way home, falling into his bed and let himself be free.