Chapter 1
Peter was stuck in his body. He knew that was irrational, that he alone had full control over his body, but it felt impossible at the moment. Peter felt as though he was trapped in his body, forced to watch his idol, mentor, dad, crumble into non-existence. Watch him take his last breaths and smile at Peter. Why would he smile? Because Peter called him dad? That was the very reason he was dead. Stupid Peter just had to go and get too close to someone again. He just had to get so attached.
And now Tony was gone. Scattered in the wind. Why was he gone? Why was Peter here? Why was he being forced to lie on the in the warm sand, forced to take in breaths when he just wanted to stop. He wanted to hold his breath until he was no longer there. Until he too crumbled to dust. But no. His stupidly persistent body insisted that he keep breathing in the hot sandy air of Titan. The stupidly dusty air that burned his lungs with every breath.
Oh god.
The dust.
Peter’s mind was forcefully thrown into another wave of panic, painfully aware of everything around him. It was almost as if he could feel every single grain of sand sliding across his skin as he curled up tighter, trying to block out the bright light of of an alien sun. He swore he could feel every single flake of dust, of Tony, in the air around him, coating his lungs.
He began to cough. Quiet, rasping, painful, coughs that shook his entire body. He was aware of every flake of sin in his lungs and he needed to get it out. It didn’t take long for the coughs to turn into loud retches, putting Peter on all fours.
Eventually, something came up. A small amount of liquid from an apple given by Ned so, so long ago.
Ned.
How could he have forgotten. Tony might have not been the only one Peter cared about to leave. Ned, MJ, May. Half of the universe gone. How easy it would be for them be on the wrong side of the terrible lottery.
What would happen if he went home and was all alone. Reaching Earth and finding that his Parker Luck had done it again, scorching all of those around him.
But he was already alone wasn’t he? On a different planet with everyone around him dead, reduced to dust. So far from home that he had to refer to it as ‘Earth’ because New York was too specific. No one knew of Queens this far out. There were no towering skyscrapers to swing from. There were no loud horns and thousands of people.
There was just, silence.
No, wait, there was something. A dull thudding. His heartbeat? No, that was a different sound all together. This was honestly more like a shuffling sound.
Footsteps in the sand.
And then they stopped.
Peter flinched violently as he felt a hand on his shoulder, painfully aware of the touch.
“Peter,” it was Nebula, she was alive, “C’mon. I think I found a way off of this stupid planet.”
A way out? Was that possible? He groaned as he struggled to push himself into a sitting position so he could stare at the blue woman.
She held out a hand, ready to help him up, “I know you just lost your father,” the word hit him in the gut and made him want to curl back up into a ball, “but we need to get moving.”
All Peter could do was nod.
He pushed himself back onto his unsteady feet, ignoring Nebula’s awaiting hand. He couldn’t get too close to anyone again. He couldn’t get her hurt.
Looking slightly taken aback she lowered her hand and walked past Peter. He turned and followed her the best he could, stumbling the entire way. His boot clad feet had a hard time navigating through the sand.
Nebula saw this and slowed down, making sure she was always in his line of sight.
Peter was thankful and focused all his attention to putting one foot in front of the other. Pushing away all of the bad thoughts threatening to surround him, he followed Nebula until she stopped abruptly.
Looking up, Peter squinted his eyes, struggling to make out the blurry yet shiny shape through the haze of the heat.
“A ship?”